Birthday Balloons

I apologize for the look of this post, but I'm embarrassed to say that I have used the max number of pictures that I am allowed on the blog. So, I (aka Blake) had to find an alternate way to post pictures. 

Anyways, my parents were here during the week of my birthday and my Mom and Beckett brought a bouquet of balloons to my work. Beckett was so proud of the balloons and wanted to show them off to everyone. Once we got them home, he never let them go. 

Gathering all of the balloons

Balloon gazing

This is how he ate breakfast, lunch,
 and dinner every day

He loved to sprint back and forth

Grandaddy tied a weight on the
 bottom to keep them all together

It was a sad day when our balloons finally deflated.

First Haircut

I know that I'm a month late, but Beckett got his first haircut last month. We went to a place called Kuts 4 Kids, which was recommended to us by several people. Mr. Will did a wonderful job and can do an entire haircut in about 5 minutes. He did a great job keeping Beckett entertained enough to keep still. I debated whether or not it was time for a haircut. It took him 16 months to actually grow hair, so I was hesitant to cut it all off. The back of his hair started getting really thick, while the top was still lacking, so he was beginning to sport a nice little mullet. That's when we decided it was time...

 

There was a play area for the kids, so we didn't even have to use the 4
grandparents that we brought for entertainment ;)

Beckett sporting his rat tail for a just a few more minutes

Testing out the seat

 

 

Hot mess

 

He sat so still and enjoyed every minute of it

 

My little baby has suddenly turned into a little boy

 

Trimming around his ears. The sound of the razor caught him by surprise.

Trimming the 'stache

Family picture after his haircut. He and Daddy now have the same "do",
but Beckett's hair is too blonde for pictures.

 

Happy 17 Months!

Energetic, destructive, and LOUD. Those are probably the three best words to describe you this month.

Communication has been the biggest struggle this month. You know exactly what you want, but aren't able to communicate it. Daddy and I take a lot of guesses, but we're rarely ever right. You do a lot of grunting and pointing, trying to let us know exactly what you need. You've recently gotten better about trying to communicate and use words, but we can't understand much of it, which makes you even more frustrated. 

Eating cheerios. My favorite part of the video is

 the disappointment in his voice when we drop it. Too funny!

Your new favorite word is "okey dokey" and you use it often. You also say the word "hokey pokey" which sounds very similar to okey dokey, but when you start spinning in circles that helps clear things up for us. You're really great about saying "thank you" all of the time, but have suddenly forgotten how to say "please." You like to let us know that you're "all done" at the dinner table, but you don't always mean it, so we continue to try to feed you until you tell us about 3 times.

You are very destructive. You love to dump your all of your toys out of the toy box and throw all of the pillows and remotes off of the couch and onto the floor. You own about 30 balls and you love to throw them at everything (walls, windows, door knobs, light switches and picture frames). Your arm is now strong enough that you have to be strongly redirected hourly (at least) about where you can and cannot throw the balls.

Playing with the balloons that they surprised me with on my birthday.

 Beckett hasn't stopped playing with them. It'll be a sad day when they deflate.

You are noisy. You like all of your musical toys and aren't happy unless they are all playing at the same time. You like to dance to the music on tv and have just started singing along to songs with me. Your timing, rhythm and tune are all off, but it makes for an interesting, yet original, duet. You've recently learned to scream and you scream when you are both happy and mad.

You went to your first Oklahoma State football game and loved it. You loved the cheering, the music and the mascots. You made it through the parade, the tailgating and the entire football game. You were such a trooper!

Reading your Oklahoma State book in preparation for the big game: 

You will do anything to entertain, and if we laugh at you once, you'll repeat it 100 times. Even if it involves running into the wall or hitting yourself in the head with a ball.

You have the grandparents trained to clap at anything you say. Here's a video of you entertaining all four of your grandparents and your great-grandfather. I can't imagine why you're spoiled ;) 

You got your first big boy haircut this month and now you look even more like a little boy than a baby. Boohoohoo. I refused to get your haircut until you had enough hair on top to cut, but the back finally got so thick and long that I decided to go ahead and have it cut to keep it from turning into a full-blown mullet.

I just hung the paper lanterns in your room (they were in your newborn nursery, but not in your apartment nursery), and you are obsessed with them. You run into your room pointing and saying "ball" and get upset when I won't take them down for you to play with.

The only time you stop moving is when you are sleeping. You run everywhere and rarely ever walk. You run into other rooms without even slowing down to turn the corners. You've run into the end of our table several times and I refuse to buy a coffee table because I know it won't be worth the money we'll have to spend on hospital bills. You are climbing on everything and never worry about falling off.

You are a HUGE fan of McDonalds. We don't go there very often, but you love their french fries. Every time we go, I order fries and tell you that they are "hot, hot" and have to blow on them before I can give them to you. Now, any time we pull into the McDonalds parking lot, you immediately start saying "hot, hot", "hot, hot."

Oh, and have I mentioned your love for guacamole? You've been a little more picky about food recently but for some reason will eat a bowl full of guacamole. Strange...

Sidewalk Chalk

Little Picasso or graffiti artist? Guess that's still up for debate.

Chalk butt :) 

Somehow, the chalk ended up in this
tree quickly followed by an "uh oh". 

New Yard, New Pool

We finally got to enjoy playing outside on our new patio. Today was one of the first days this summer that it wasn't over 100 degrees, so we were able to play outside for a little while. I bought Beckett a small pool today at Walmart, so he was able to enjoy it this afternoon. I really wanted a water table rather than a swimming pool because I don't want him to want to go "swimming" every time we go outside and have to continuously fill and dump a kiddie pool. But...Walmart sold out of the water tables so I decided to get this tiny pool that wouldn't take much work for now. We have a cement patio, so I wanted one that Beckett could enter and exit pretty safely by himself. This little pool worked perfectly.

Checking out the new pool

Testing it out

"Someone's been climbing on my
chair" -- Mama Bear

The sexy lifeguard

What child loves to throw water into his own face? This one! 

Drinking the pool water. 

Making mud pies

Pool bum

Splash Pad

We frequented the Splash Pad at the park this summer. Beckett was usually one of the youngest kids there, but he handled the fountains like a champ.

Chasing a ball around

Trying to drink the water

He loves letting the water splash into his face 

Happy 16 Months!

A few days late, of course, because that's how I roll.

Wearing Mr. Potato Head glasses :) 

What has the family been up to?  

We moved a little closer to Daddy's work last week and really love our new house. You and Karsten now have a little yard to play in and you'd live outside if we'd let you. Daddy finally has the "he-man" garage that he's been wanting for a while. We're very excited about getting to grill again, but unfortunately we've been under a burn ban since we moved in, so it looks like we may have to wait until the fall to grill out.

Our house has stairs and a doggie door, so you've been a busy boy lately, trying out all of the new "toys". 

Your grandparents have been a HUGE help lately (as always). Your Grandpa Freeland helped us move the big furniture into the house in 116 degree temps while Grandma Freeland babysat. Grandma also cleaned our old and new place and scrubbed a total of 5 bathrooms in two days. She is a saint! Your Kaki also came for a few days right after the visit. After Mommy and Daddy got home from work one day, Grandma and Kaki had almost the entire house unpacked. Grandpa Freeland has been working hard to hang pictures and fix things around the house. I think it's safe to say that Blake and I have the best parents EVER! We're working on getting Grandaddy here to visit with Kaki, but he's busy trying to get things ready for the next school year. 

This is what happens when the grandparents are around. 

Mommy got a little part time job in the university bookstore. Right now, she's been working a lot, but things will slow down majorly (10 hrs a week or less) after the school year begins. You've been attending an hourly daycare on the other side of town. You usually go for about 3 hours a day when Mommy has to work and you really enjoy getting out of the house to play with other kids for a little while. 

Daddy had a small battle with a tick and the tick won. He was very sick with Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and we visited the doctor's office a few times. We did find it funny when we went to check him in and the nurse said "Are either of you over 18 years old?" He is so much better now, praise Jesus! 

What have you been up to lately? 

You have been repeating everything that Mommy and Daddy do and say. We have to be very careful these days. 

"Picking up" dog poop like you see Mommy and Daddy do
 (there's not actually any dog poop there, you just
 took the bag and rubbed it along the ground!)

Trying to blow up your float after watching Mommy do it.
 (Notice all of the drool around the plug.
That's from Beckett, not Mommy)

You love to sing and dance. It's so cute listening to you sing. You've been practicing some new dance moves and the "Hokey Pokey" is one of your favorite songs to sing. Daddy and I love watching you "shake it all about" and "turn yourself around". 

You are obsessed with lotion right now. You love to play with your lotion bottles and pretend like you are pouring it onto your hands and rub them together. You pretend like everything is a lotion bottle and I've even caught you pouring your milk from your sippy cup onto your hands and rubbing them together. Yuck! 

You've learned to throw the ball pretty hard. I had given up on you ever throwing the ball forwards because every time you tried to throw it forwards it would go backwards behind your back. All of a sudden, one day it clicked and you started nailing me with the ball. It's amazing how hard you can throw it and it makes us all flinch when you throw. 

Found all of these underneath the bed
while I was packing for our move. 

You are starting to get to the age where you like playing with other kids. At the library you went around trying to kiss all of the girls. Thankfully, you were still about a foot away from them all when you tried to kiss them, so it was more cute than creepy ;) 

Bubble time at the library

You've never given real kisses, you've always leaned your forehead to our lips and made the kissing sound, "mmmuah". Although it's not a real kiss, it's still very cute. It's so funny because you won't give anyone kisses on the lips, except for your stuffed animals and the characters in your book :(

Oh, and of course, you kiss
yourself on the lips

You are still flirting with everyone woman that you see, especially waitresses and cashiers at the grocery store. You always wave goodbye to them and blow them kisses. 

Showing off for your Aunt Shirley,
who came to visit from Missouri

Temper tantrums...oh dear. I don't even want to talk about these right now.

At your last doctors appointment, you weighed in at 26.4 lbs (50th percentile) and measured 33 inches (90th percentile). You got three different shots and didn't cry for any of them. You are such a tough boy! You did, however, give the nurse the stink eye and I can't say that I blame you for that.