Road Trip

We went on a little trip down to Missouri for my Grandpa Cook's funeral. Even though it was a somber event, we decided to make it a little fun along the way.

(And all these pictures were from my phone-not too bad!)

We stopped at a little pull over spot so I could feed Simon and the kids could run around a little. 

They kept hollering "BEST TRIP EVER". So funny.

On the way back home this rock river bed was completely full. It had rained all that morning so its good we stopped on the way there and not on the way back home!

Zethan is always doing his own thang!

Daddy and his Simon boy. Simon was just so happy to be free and outside!

 Climbing the river banks.

Some more posing.

Simon loves the grass! And the dandelion weeds. I mean flowers.

Then we stopped at a State Park to do some hiking. It had these wooden board walks and railing. So that was nice. It made the ups and downs a little easier.

One

I hiked with Simon strapped on. Its kind of a process to get the big fella in there!

Two

Three...Almost in there

See all those steps!! Simon thought it was just great walking with the air in face and the kids running ahead of him. The wrap is super duper comfy to wear actually, but it seemed to me that it wouldn't be comfortable facing out like that for him. But he seemed to love every second!

More posing and more steps.

Then we thought we could take a shortcut back to the beginning and not have quite so many steps to go back up. But turns out it was just a little round about thing that you didn't even need to hike. We got some extra exercise in! 

Way across there you can see some old rock ruins. It was a castle type thing built a long time ago and then it got destroyed by a fire. That is where we started and then hiked down down down and around and around.

This sign was at the beginning of the descent. I would not classify myself as being in good physical condition and was a little leery of actually attempting this, but alas, my dear Husband said, "aww come on, it'll be fine" And he was right. We all made it. Titus has boundless energy and was always twenty steps ahead-that is why there are hardly any pictures of him. Lillie got a little tired sometimes. Zethan got super tired and Matt carried him on his shoulders a few times. Zethan even said as we were about done, "Can we NEVER come back here again. Too many steps"

Simon enjoyed it though and after I got a second wind it was really not too bad actually! The weather was excellent!

There are the steps that were the beginning of the down down down hike.

Then there is Matt looking at the water that was at the bottom.

It was a giant spring. Gallons and gallons of water were just rushing downstream and it was just coming from the ground. Pretty awesome.

More walking.

A neat little walk through a rock wall path.

Lillie snapped this picture for us.

Then we found a little cave. At this point Zethan was getting a bit grumpy and not walking to walk. We told him he could just sleep in the little cave and we'd pick him back up on our way home the next day. He wasn't so sure about that but thought if he did have to do that, that "the turtle that was a nice turtle-the one that was looking at me would come be my friend" (We saw lots of turtles sun bathing along the river)

Taking a break from the wrap.

I put him back in facing me because he was getting tired and sure enough he fell asleep as we hiked.

Then it was on with the rest of our trip. Lillie was a super star traveler. She just had her head phones and ipod and hardly made a noise. 

It was a nice little get away.

Simon 8 Months

My my my, how time is FLYING by. I can't believe my little newborn is already 8 months old!! He is just growing and learning so much these days! He fills our home with much joy and sweet giggles. We all just love him to pieces.

He sits very well on his own now. Sometimes if he's not careful he will fall over and hit his head on things but not too much anymore. He can even go from laying on his tummy so a sitting position by himself now! Yesterday he even had managed to get himself sat up in his crib when I got him up from his nap.

He is starting to pull his knees up under him but he just scoots backwards. It mostly annoys him that he can't go forwards. He can ever so slightly inch forward when he stretches with one hand and then the other if there is something in front of him that has caught his attention. But mostly he rolls around and then sits up to go where he wants. He isn't super mobile but enough that we have to keep the floors clear of little things that aren't good for the babes!

He has been super happy lately. He doesn't seem to be teething at this time and the last "teething' spell didn't produce any teeth so we still get to enjoy his completely gummy smile! So adorable!

The kids still love to love on him. Lillie is getting especially good at helping out with him. She loves to hold him and especially in public where she can show him off. And probably show off her "mommy" skills!

His sleeping is not super great. He eats 1-2 times a night and sometimes will wake up even once or twice besides those and I try to just give him his paci to appease him. But he usually sleeps better the rest of the night if I just go ahead and take the time to feed him the first time or two he wakes.

He really likes our bed. If he is having a bad night and I can't get him to sleep well, all I have to do is cuddle him right in between Matt and I and he will go right to sleep. I try to let him do that too often, but I kinda like it, knowing he is just growing so quickly! And he isn't wiggly to that is nice! He is just so sweet and cozy by us. Matt forgets he is there so doesn't really like him in there for fear he squish him! Haha! Well I guess it isn't really funny, but you know =)

We found out that he actually travels quite well! We made a 6 hour drive to Missouri for my Grandpa's funeral and he did much better than Zethan ever did. Or does for that matter. We just had to stop to feed him and let him be free from his carseat for a little and then he traveled well the rest of the time. There and back both! We were proud of our little guy.

He mostly takes two naps a day. One in the morning around 9:00-11:00 and one in the afternoon from about 1:00-3:00. But those times can vary greatly actually. But that's a rough estimate. And sometimes he will take a little power nap then late afternoon/early evening. He goes down for night around 8:30.

He is currently in 9-12 month clothes and this size he has stayed in the longest out of all the sizes. But he is going to need to be bumped up to 12-18 month clothes pretty soon. He weighs about 21 pounds.

We moved him from his cradle to a pack n' play. He was outgrowing his little cradle and then he decided that he would try out pulling himself up on a laundry basket. So it was time to get out of the short-sided cradle. And it is only a pack n play because we haven't taken the time to set the crib up! We never got around to setting it up for Zethan either! Ha! And besides, then he will be used to it for vacation time this summer! Yay!

He can feed himself little puffs and pieces of things no. He has gotten good at picking those little things up with his thumb and finger. If is means getting food into his mouth-he is all over it!


Still planning on not having another sonogram to
check on his tumor until he is about a year old. So nothing has changed on that front! We are still praising God for his many blessings on our family!

Family Photo

It only took 7 months to get a family picture that included baby Simon! And these were taken with the camera on a tripod and the timer set. Zethan just wanted to do his own thing. And the kids eyes are so funny in the kid picture-it was just so so bright! But we had a good day celebrating what Jesus did for us all those years ago!

Lillie Singing

Lillie's class was in charge of their Elementary Chapel today. They call it sharing chapel and the kids get to sing songs, read poems, play instruments and do various other talents that the Lord has given them.

Lillie and a couple of her friends did a little song together. They did Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee- two girls played the piano and then Lillie sang. I admit, I was a little nervous for her. But she did so Awesome! And I was just so very very proud of her! Really, all the kids did a great job!

She also said an Easter poem earlier in the program. She did so great! She was so shy to even say it out loud at one of our Easter celebrations, that I thought maybe she would not do well-but I was WRONG!
She did it perfectly!

And sorry for the video quality, I just used my iPhone and then I was also holding Simon and we were at the very back! So it is wiggly and kind of quiet and you can hear Simon's little noises. But I think if you turn it up, you can hear Lillie's singing! Great job, Sissy!!