February 2009

February is the month of love, right? Here is Peyton and I sharing a little kiss. He has also started responding "Luv ew" when we tell him that we love him. It is just the most heartwarming thing. The teachers at daycare crack up every morning when I drop him off, tell him that I love him, and he responds. They think it is so cute.

My brother's girlfriend, Jill, gave Peyton this ball pit for Christmas. I'm sure everyone knows that Peyton just loves balls. She thought that giving him 50 balls would be much more fun than giving him one. We finally got around to setting the ball pit up for him. It took Kyle and I (mostly Kyle) about 2 hours to blow the bottom of the pit up. We were out of breath after that. Needless to say, though, Peyton absolutely loves the ball pit. For the first few days, he sat in there a lot of the time.

Here's Peyton's Valentine's Day shirt. He had to wear it on the 13th though, because I wanted him to wear it to daycare. The shirt says "Heart Breaker" and I'm sure that's exactly what he is going to be one day with that adorable face and those long eyelashes. He's going to have fight girls off.

For Valentine's Day, we got Peyton an Elmo balloon (because Elmo is his very favorite), some heart-shaped cookies, and a Valentine's themed Sesame Street coloring book. Peyton is just now starting to like coloring. I think he liked his gifts, especially the balloon. He carried it around the house for about a week.

My parents came over on the 15th to give Peyton his Valentine's Day gifts. They got him a bunch of balloons and a bee that sings "How Sweet it is to be Loved by You." There was also some candy and a little Elmo figurine thing. Peyton also received a special package in the mail from Austin with some candy and a little M&M guy filled with M&M minis. Peyton definitely liked the M&M guy and refused to put it down for about a day.

One night for dinner, we had quesadillas. If Peyton sees someone dip their food into a condiment, then he must have his food dipped too. I was eating sour cream with my quesadilla, so Peyton wanted it too. He really enjoyed that sour cream (and maybe the quesadilla too)!

One night Kyle was letting Peyton drink some of his Gatorade. All of the sudden Peyton started saying "more more" and doing a motion with his hands. I looked up the sign for "more" on the internet and it was what Peyton was doing. I found out later in the week that he had learned that at daycare. I was pretty impressed. He does the sign whenever he says "more" now.

One more picture, which shows my happy boy.

January 2009

January was a pretty uneventful month. One milestone that Peyton reached was proficient use of a spoon. He loves to eat applesauce. It is one of his favorite foods and he always asks for it by saying "Apple! Apple!" Now that he learned how to use the spoon, he refused to let us feed him anything anymore. Applesauce is pretty runny, so most of the time we end up with a mess. But that's ok. It is important for him to practice and get good at feeding himself with utensils.


January 11 was my mom's birthday. We just went to my parents' house for dinner and cake.

And that's about it for January. Hmph.

December 2008

December was another busy month. Towards our goal of going to every NFL stadium, we took a trip to Indiana to see the Colts play the Lions. We chose Indianapolis this year because Kyle's brother's family just moved to Indiana. We got to see Ryan and Becky's new house, and have Christmas with them while we were there.

We left from BWI on Saturday, December 13. Our gate at the airport was right near one of the ends of a people mover. While we were waiting for our plane, Kyle took Peyton to ride on them to waste some time and to let him get rid of some of his energy before we had to get on the plane. Well, let me tell you... Peyton has never had so much fun in his life running from one end to the other, getting on the returning one, and then running back. He just went back and forth and back and forth. He was cheezing and giggling the whole time! After a little while, Kyle was tired and told me it was my turn to chase Peyton. Somehow Kyle and I were exhausted but Peyton wasn't at all.

We boarded the plane and chose our seats. A lady with a baby just a few months younger than Peyton sat down next to us. It was pretty crowded, but it was ok because the babies were staring at each other. We all thought this would keep them occupied during the flight. However, the flight attendents came over and told the lady that she had to move because there were only 4 oxygen masks in the row, but 5 people. No one else came to sit in that seat, so we had the row to ourselves. After takeoff (which was delayed, of course, but only by about 30 minutes) we let Peyton sit in the middle seat. He did really well on the flight. Here he is eating a candy cane before takeoff. He sure loved that!

When we got into Indy, we had to pick up our rental car. There was only one person working the rental car counter and a handful of people in line in front of us. By this time, it was past Peyton's nap time so he was getting pretty cranky. We planned to arrive in Indy at nap time so that he'd sleep the 2 hours to Ryan and Becky's house. With the delay of our flight and the long line at the rental counter, we were running behind. Finally it was our turn and Kyle signed the contracts. Then we had to go outside to another counter to get the keys. The man working out there just wanted to talk and talk and talk. It was cold, Peyton was sleepy and grouchy, and I was getting pretty annoyed myself. Finally after dealing with the rental agency for an hour, we were on our way to Ft. Wayne. Peyton passed out immediately and slept the whole way there.

We had a good time at Ryan and Becky's house. Their new house was really nice. Becky cooked us a delicious dinner of chicken alfredo. Yum. Then we exchanged Christmas gifts with Sara and Lindsey.

Peyton enjoyed playing with his cousins. He wasn't even jealous when Kyle or I held Sara. Hopefully he'll stay that way when we have another baby. That might be a different story though.

On Sunday, Kyle and I headed back to Indy for the football game. Peyton stayed with Ryan and Becky for the day (thanks guys!) He couldn't have cared less that we were gone. He'll stay with anyone. He's so laid back.

Anyway, it was pretty cold outside, so thankfully they had the roof closed. I wore a Peyton Manning jersey and Kyle wore his custom Moreau Lions jersey. I was rooting for both teams, as I really didn't care who won. I just wanted to see a good game. And a good game it was. The Lions actually had a chance to win, but blew it late in the 4th quarter. Oh well, that kept their winless season alive. Here are some pictures from Lucas Oil Stadium. The stadium is really nice. We had seats right on the 50 yard line. They were really good as well.

On Monday, Ryan had to go to work, so we met up with him for lunch. After that, we headed back to Indy to catch our flight home. If you're keeping track we drove back and forth between Indy and Ft. Wayne 4 times, 2 hours each time. Yikes. For anyone who knows me, I don't have to mention how much time I spent sleeping in the car that weekend. The plane ride home was pretty uneventful. We got lucky and scored a free seat in our row again. Peyton sat there and played with the armrest and the window shade the whole way. I'm thankful he's so well behaved.

When we got back home, it was almost time for Christmas. Here are my two favorite guys in their Santa hats.

My Aunt Bev has bought me a chocolate Advent calendar forever. Well, since I'm a little old now, she buys them for Peyton. Each day, you open a flap and eat the candy inside. This was Peyton's favorite time of the day all through December. He couldn't wait to eat that candy and would run over to the calendar as soon as we would get home from daycare and point to it until I gave him the candy. Here he is on Christmas Eve, after eating his last piece of chocolate. It took him about a full week after Christmas to realize that there was no more candy. He'd still run over to where the calendar was and point and whine. Eventually he finally forgot about it though. On Christmas Eve, we met up with my dad's side of the family for dinner at Sabatino's in Little Italy. Here's everyone except Peyton, who just didn't fit in the shot, I guess. I do like how Kyle is trying to turn his head around to face the camera though.

When we got home from dinner, Peyton got dressed in his Christmas pajamas. Next, it was time for me to continue on the tradition of reading Peyton "'Twas the Night Before Christmas."

Then we set out cookies and milk for Santa and a carrot for the reindeer. We also left Santa a note.
The next morning, Santa came! He left Peyton way too much stuff!

This was our gift to Peyton - it is Elmo's Restuarant. Peyton loves this thing. It comes with a lot of food, utensils, and cooking equipment. It sings a few songs and says lots of phrases.

My parents and Jeremy came over for breakfast. Kyle and I cooked up some delicious pancakes, sausage, bacon, and eggs. After we ate, it was time to see what Santa brought. Peyton took a really long time to open his gifts. At first, he had to hand each little piece of wrapping paper that he tore off to someone. Eventually, we convinced him that it was ok to just throw it on the floor.

Here is what Santa brought, along with all of the wrapping paper!

Next, we exchanged gifts with my parents and brother. This was from Jeremy - my favorite gift! Kyle got me a Guitar Hero too, but I opened it after I opened the one from Jer, so Jer's counts as my favorite. Haha, sorry Kyle.

Peyton got a zillion gifts from Grandmom and Pop-Pop. He was getting pretty tired by this point, but he opened them up like a trooper. He really likes this musical instrument set.

For dinner, we headed to Kate and Dave's. Here is Peyton opening up his basketball hoop from them. He loves playing basketball. If only he was tall, he definitely could be in the NBA. Dinner was turkey and all of the fixings. It was yummy!

A few days after Christmas, we got together with my dad's side of the family at my parents' house to exchange gifts. All of the kids got gifts from everyone, but the adults did a Secret Santa type thing. Kyle and I got Kim and Bo and they got us. Crazy.

This horse was not a Christmas gift, but here is Peyton riding it anyway. I just like the Santa hat.

Jill got Peyton a ball pit. What could be better?!

Uncle Jer and Peyton sharing a slurpee. Cute cute cute. Well, Peyton is at least. Just kidding, Jeremy. Kinda.

For New Year's Eve, we had Jeremy and Jill over. There was supposed to be a few more people, but they cancelled on us at the last minute. Peyton helped me make some brownies for dessert.

Peyton was prepared for the celebration.

Jill and I were quite sophisticated...

We played lots of board games, like Mad Gab, Pictionary Man, and Scruples. Unfortunately, I got a severe migraine and the Excedrin just wasn't helping. Admittedly, our "party" was kind of lame. We wound up sitting on the sofa just begging 12:00 to hurry up and get there. At approximately 12:03, we were all heading for bed.

November 2008

November was a much less interesting month than October. A few exciting things did happen though. Peyton got his first haircut. He was getting a little shaggy for a while, and Kyle had been pushing for a haircut for months. I was holding out though because the back of Peyton's hair would curl and it was too cute. Eventually though, I realized that it was time for that hair to go. Peyton did so well while the lady cut his hair (of course). He sat in the chair all by himself and was very still for her. He watched what she was doing in the mirror. He even let her use the clippers on his neck. I was one proud momma. Peyton looked so much older with his short hair.

Peyton, post-haircut

The only other thing to happen in November was Thanksgiving. Peyton and I got up early to watch the Macy's parade. He was getting really sleepy toward the end of the parade, but I made him stay awake to see Santa come. He barely made it. In the afternoon, we headed to my cousin Nadean's house for dinner, as we do every year. Here is our family before dinner.

We all got ready to sit down to eat, but there was a slight problem with the turkey -- it was undercooked. Oops. No big deal though. We were having fun just hanging out with our family. Luckily, my other cousin, Kim, had cooked a turkey at her house early that morning. They drove to her house to retrieve the other turkey, as that was quicker than waiting for the original turkey to finish cooking. Once we finally got to eat, we were all stuffed. Dinner was delicious. Somehow I managed to not wash the dishes once again. Even though I'm grown-up now, I have been able to disappear each year when it came to be time to do the dishes. Go me. Although now my secret might be out...

In between dinner and dessert, my cousin set up this train track for Peyton to play with. The train was motorized, but Peyton just wanted to grab it off the track. That was really frustrating for my little cousin Dougie who loves trains. It was killing him that Peyton didn't appreciate the train the way he does.

I played Guitar Hero for the first time. And let me tell you, I rocked at it. I was beating everyone! Love it.

Peyton provided the musical entertainment before dessert. He rocked out with the tambourine and on the drums. That boy loves to drum on anything he can get his hands on. Real drums were a treat.
During dessert, Kyle thought it would be a good idea to squirt whipped cream directly into Peyton's mouth. Needless to say, Peyton loved it. This picture is crappy, but funny anyway.

October 2008

Warning: Long post with lots of pictures to follow!

On October 12, Peyton turned one. ONE! That year went by so fast. He grew so quickly and changed so much. Every day, it seemed, he learned something new. I think the next years are going to go just as fast.

Peyton was lucky to have his birthday fall on a Sunday, so we were able to have his party on his actual birthday. The theme was baby Sesame Street. It actually turned out to be a really good choice of themes because Peyton adores Sesame Street now. He knows all of the characters, but Elmo is his favorite. But anyway, back to his birthday... We had the party at our house, which worked out well because it gave our family a chance to see our new place. We had it catered by Beefalo Bob's and the food was really good (well I thought so, at least). Lots of our family made it to the party, including Linda from Michigan. Some special people were missing though, including Aunt Bev and Kate and Dave, and a few others who were all out of town or busy and unable to make it. It was a nice day, so we also got to sit outside.

Here is a picture of Peyton's big cake, as well as his special cake to eat.
As you can see from the next picture, Peyton really enjoyed his cake! It took him a few minutes to get into it though. At first, he couldn't figure out why so many people were just staring at him and snapping pictures like crazy. Once he figured out the cake though, he was in heaven.

I'm not sure why the store would put icing in that shade of blue on the cake. They knew exactly what it was for. I was so worried that he was going to be stained blue for a few days! Thankfully, my mother cleaned up the high chair for me and Kyle gave Peyton a bath. Look at that water! It looks like it could have been from the Caribbean.

Peyton got what seemed like a million presents. I've only included a few pictures here. I think we took almost 150 pictures that day. I won't bore you with them all. Ha. Jill did a fantastic job of snapping a photo of each gift that Peyton received. Surprisingly, Peyton did not receive any repeat gifts, and only got one toy that he already had. My parents got him the Power Wheels Lawnmower. It took him a while to figure out how to ride it, but now he loves it!

Towards the end of his party, Peyton started getting really cranky. We figured that he was just exhausted from the day. After everyone left, we laid him down for another quick nap while we cleaned up. He didn't sleep long. When he woke up, he was coughing pretty badly. I'm sure everyone knows about his "asthma" by now. The doctors won't diagnose him with asthma until he is two years old, but it is fairly evident that it's what he has. He uses a nebulizer when he gets sick. We gave him a breathing treatment and put him to bed at his normal time. Around 10 pm, he woke up and was crying inconsolably. We could tell that Peyton was having a difficult time breathing. It had never been this bad. Kyle and I decided, with little debate, that we had to go to the hospital.

We arrived in the ER around 11:00 pm Sunday night. They gave Peyton treatment after treatment and nothing was helping him. Finally, around 2:00 am the doctors admitted him. We went upstairs to our room in the pediatric wing. Peyton had to have the oxygen cannulas put in his nose. It was at that point that I lost it. He just looked so sick. I started to cry and Kyle comforted me and reminded me that I had to be strong for Peyton. Peyton didn't get any sleep up until this point. When we got settled into the room, he finally fell asleep. The doctors came in every two hours to give him breathing treatments and to check his stats.

Kyle went home to tell Linda (who was staying at our house) what was going on while I stayed with Peyton. He also had to take Linda to the airport in the morning so that she could get home. Thankfully, Linda let Kyle take her to the airport very early so that he could get back to the hospital. We just hung out at the hospital all day Monday. Peyton continued to receive treatments every few hours. He was tied to his bed due to the oxygen in his nose and the oxygen monitor on his toe. This didn't go over so well with a one year old who just wanted to run around. Monday night I stayed at the hospital while Kyle went home to go to sleep so that he could go to work for at least a little while on Tuesday. The fold out chair that I slept on was not so comfortable and the doctors came in every two to three hours during the night to give Peyton treatments. Peyton slept through most of them, but needless to say, I didn't get much sleep. Tuesday was more of the same. They let him get off of the oxygen and go to the playroom down the hall for short periods. This helped a lot with Peyton's 'cabin fever'. He was able to get some of that pent up energy out.

While he doesn't really look sick in this picture, believe me, he was. But he was discharged on Wednesday. I begged Peyton not to make it an annual event of being in the hospital on October 12.

On a happier note, we took a trip to the pumpkin farm on October 19. Here is Peyton riding an old tractor.
There were a few animals there, including goats, turkeys, and peacocks. Here were are checking some of the animals out.
There were lots of activities set up, like a hay maze, hay ride, and giant slide. Here is Daddy and Peyton at the bottom of the slide. Peyton really liked it!

This is the three of us on the hayride.

Peyton picked out a good pumpkin. It's almost as big as him.

The next weekend we headed to the Baltimore Zoo for ZooBoo. The kids wear their costumes and there is a trick or treat trail set up, along with lots of other activities. We hung out in the Halloween section for a little while, then toured the zoo. Peyton might have been a little young to enjoy the zoo. If the animal wasn't right at the front of the display, he didn't see it. He did like looking at the animals that were close up though. Here are some pictures from our day.

On the night before Halloween, we carved our pumpkins. Peyton had no reservations about digging into the pumpkin and pulling out the seeds.

On Halloween, we took Peyton trick or treating to a few houses in our neighborhood. It was nice to meet all of our neighbors. Here is Peyton in his turkey costume. Don't worry about Peyton's teeth or belly -- I took care of eating his candy.