ABC's

This is just a little video I got of Spencer repeating his ABC's. Most of the letters in the middle all sound pretty similar, but he's getting there. He's also started saying "have a good day!" because that's what Bryce always says to him when he leaves for work.

Today we are just trying to get all packed for our trip to Utah tomorrow! We are pretty excited and hopefully the plane ride goes well. I'm just grateful we aren't driving so I'm sure it will be wonderful even if Spencer gets a little crazy. :)

Week-end Trip To Texas

A few weekends ago Spencer, my sister Chelsea, and I took a short trip down to Houston to visit my brother John and his family. Spencer did pretty well during the long drive. But we were all happy to be out of the car once we got there. Spencer and Sam had fun playing together. We are still working with Spencer on sharing and being gentle and not biting! He is really into biting lately. Sam is a pretty tough little kid so he dealt with Spencer's occasional shoves and bites pretty well. One time Sam was sitting in his high chair eating. Spencer came over and was kissing his toes. All of a sudden we hear Sam crying and realize Spencer decided he'd rather bite the toes than kiss them! Hopefully he will grow out of this stage soon. :)

While we were there we took a trip to the beach. I didn't pull my camera out much during the trip (I didn't even get a picture of Spencer and Sam together!) but I did bring it to the beach. I was a little nervous about how Spencer would do at the beach. Mostly because as we were walking out to the car Spencer fell and skinned his knee pretty bad. So the whole car ride to the beach he was crying. I think mostly because he could see his knee. He would cry a little and stop, then he'd look down at his knee and start crying hysterically again. And salt water stings! But after he got up and his shorts covered up his hurt knee he was totally fine! He didn't even notice his knee at all, even when he was in the water. It took him a few minutes to warm up to the waves coming at him, but after that he loved it! He was chasing the bird, running around in the water, picking up the sand and throwing it in the water. We had a great time.

Spencer digging up sand...probably his favorite part of the beach.

Chasing a bird..

Other than our trip to Houston not much else has been happening around here. Bryce is busy finishing supplemental applications for PA school and after those are finished he'll be busy with a few online classes. I am still working a few nights a week and am trying to find things to keep me busy while I'm there. So if anyone has any really good books to recommend, please let me know! Spencer just keeps growing and is such a fun little boy! I can't believe how big he looks in some of these pictures..

Spencer loves reading stories. And he also loves to sit in his bumbo!

A little while a go I bought Spencer a little potty. While we are still far from ready to potty train I figured we'd get him used to sitting on a potty and see how much interest he had in it. And mostly he just likes to play with it and pull it apart. I'm sure that will cause problems when he actually starts using it but oh well. So far he has only used the potty like it was meant to be used once. And I had to keep sitting him back down on it because he kept trying to get up and walk around while going poop. And after he did his business we took the potty and showed daddy. Isn't it funny how exciting going to the bathroom is when you're almost 2? TMI? Most likely...I apologize if anyone can't handle talking about poop. Or if you don't think it's kinda funny. You probably shouldn't be reading our blog if thats the case. :)

I just put this picture on because I can't believe how big Spencer looks!

Spencer loves to be in the car. While pretending to drive he found daddy's sunglasses and thought he was so cool.

They're a little big, but still so cute.


Grandma Stacey got Spencer an early birthday present that he could enjoy with this great weather we've been having. A new bike!

And he absolutely loves it! He keeps trying to go down to our neighbors driveway, which is a pretty steep hill. I always stop him before he gets there which causes quite a scene. The boy has no fear.

Photo Shoot

So I decided to try my hand at freezer paper stenciling the other day. I've always heard that it's really easy and have wanted to try it out. And seriously, it was so easy! And turned out pretty cute. So Spencer and I had a little photo shoot to show off his new shirt.

He was pretty resistant at first.

But after we gave him a sucker...

He was willing to give us a few good smiles!

The shirt did have a purpose of course. We tried to be as creative as we could when we told our families that we will soon be a family of four! A big brother shirt isn't very original but it worked. :)

So, in case you haven't guessed it already...we are expecting a new baby and Spencer will be a big brother in February! We feel very grateful and blessed to be able to welcome a new baby into our home soon. And although we know it will probably be quite an adjustment for Spencer, we know he'll make a great big brother!

A New Bed

Recently we inherited some bunk beds from my aunt. They don't need the bunk beds anymore and were getting some new furniture and asked if we'd like to take them off their hands. We of course said yes! So then a few weeks ago we decided we might as well move Spencer from his crib/toddler bed to the bunk bed. Bryce and I had talked about it for a day or two and then one morning I just decided to do it. So my mom, Sarah, and I put it all together before Spencer's afternoon nap.

Spencer in his new bed. There's a little space between the wall and the headboard and footboard. So I just used Spencer's old crib bumper and quilt to get rid of the space.

Spencer has been sleeping really well in his new bed. During his first nap he woke up once and I heard him on the monitor and he kept saying "oh no! oh no! oh no!" so I think he woke up a little confused. :) And one night he fell out of his bed. I went in to get him and he was just laying on the floor with his blanket still asleep! He didn't even wake up! I just put him back in his bed and he slept fine the rest of the night.

I think the big bed has been a good change. We always give Spencer his teddy bear and a little train at night. And the new bed gives Spencer plenty of room to play with his train in the morning, so I usually don't hear any noise from him until 7:30 or 8.


While we were moving everything around we found a little TV. Sarah hooked it up to the cable and Spencer had fun watching Sesame Street while we worked. He of course also loved "helping" us put the bed together.

Summer Fun

I can hardly believe it is August already! School starts here next week! Isn't that crazy? Not that it affects us...but it's still weird.

It has been so hot here lately too. August is definitely the worst part of the summer. Yesterday it was 104! Needless to say we play inside most of the day and occasionally venture out to get the mail or play in some cold water.

This past week has been pretty exciting for us because we had some visitors! Spencer's cousins Benson, Grace, and Breeny spent a few days with us and then my sister Jessica and baby Jilly came down a few days later. Spencer had a lot of fun following the big kids around. We have learned he has a few issues with sharing...especially with baby Jilly. Anytime she would pick up a toy he would run over to her and grab it away while saying "no no no no". But by the end of their trip he was doing a lot better and was actually giving some of his toys to Jilly to play with. So that's a good sign anyway.

One morning while they were here we decided to play at the park. It was early and a little cloudy so it wasn't terribly hot outside yet. We did leave as soon as the clouds moved away though. But it still gave the kids enough time to run around and have a good time together.

Spencer and Sabrina on the see saw.

We also spent a few mornings at the splash pad. Spencer and I just recently discovered the splash pad and I can't believe we didn't know sooner. It is free and so much fun!

Spencer playing in his favorite part of the splash pad. (don't you just love how Sabrina is in the background laying out? haha)

He loves to cover the water with his foot or just touch the water so it splashes his face. This time when he uncovered the water with his foot he forgot to move his head! :) Such a silly kid.

The kids decided they wanted to make a bat house. Actually, it was mostly Benson who wanted to make a bat house. He is such a smart kid, it's really amazing sometimes. But he loves animals and I guess has been reading about bats or something. Anyway, one night he kept asking if we could make a bat house and so I told him we would in the morning. I was just going to have each of the kids make a little one out of shoe boxes, but they all wanted a really big one. So I found the biggest box we had and decided they'd probably have fun playing inside of it after we put it outside to see if any bats wanted to live in it. :) So I cut a door on one of the sides. And we decided to make it even more fun by finger painting the box! Benson only painted with us for a few minutes and then he wanted to make food for the bats to eat (which was jell-0 with raisins and carrots in it) but Grace, Breeny, and Spencer had a lot of fun decorating the box and getting really messy.


Painting our bat house. Isn't it beautiful?

More painting. After a few minutes we figured out the best way to paint was to just dip their hands in the paint and rub it in everywhere. It made for a very colorful box!


And they all got very messy. Grace somehow got some paint on her lips! It's a good thing I made sure to buy washable fingerpaints.

For Family Home Evening while they kids were here my mom did a lesson on patience. She used Elder Uchtdorf's talk from this past General Conference. He talks about a study done with 4 year old children on willpower. Basically they put a marshmallow in front of the kids and told them they could either eat it right away or, if they waited for 15 minutes, they could have two marshmallows. So my mom gave each of the kids a marshmallow on a plate and told them that if they waited to eat their marshmallow until after Grandpa read them a story that they could have something special to go with it. I was so impressed that Spencer hadn't eaten his marshmallow after a few minutes that I ran upstairs to get the camera so I could get it on video. He kept picking it up, but would put it back down, look around at everyone else's marshmallows, listen to the story for a second and then pick it back up. So I run get the camera and as soon as I start video taping him he takes a bite and it's over after that. :)

Really I was just impressed he waited at all. He loves his marshmallows, as we have seen previously! We'll have to try it again when he's four and see how it goes. All of the other kids of course waited through the whole story. And after the story we got to make s'mores in the microwave with their marshmallow!

And even though Spencer cheated and ate his marshmallow he still got to have a s'more. He was a little upset with himself for not having the willpower to resist his marshmallow, but he got over it pretty quick.

Our little Spencer will be 22 months in just a few days! 22 months! Which means he isn't that little anymore. Well, he hasn't been little for a while I guess but I can hardly believe he'll be 2 soon. He woke up one night and I went in and tried to rock him and I realized how big he really is getting.

He is starting to say quite a few words. He will usually try and repeat most words but there are only a few he will use on his own. His favorites right now are "where is it" and "oh no". He says "where is it" at least 50 times a day. The other day I was reading him a Dora the Explorer book we got from the library. And if you've ever watched the show Dora has a backpack. And when they use the backpack they sing a little song that starts out "backpack backpack". So I was singing that to Spencer and he started saying it to. And speaking of singing, Spencer loves to sing songs in nursery. I helped in nursery this past week and he does all of the actions and just loves to sing songs. His favorites seem to be the three little monkeys teasing mr alligator and popcorn popping. And I think it's so hilarious that he loves singing time in nursery, but anytime I try to sing songs with him at home he starts crying and screaming until I stop! I try to sing songs with him anyway, but he seriously gets mad at me until I stop. It must just be my voice! Who knows...but it's kinda funny.

The other night while Bryce was making some spaghetti for dinner he heard Spencer start yelling "dad! dad!" and heard the piano and so he figured he'd better go see what was going on. So he goes to the piano and there is Spencer standing up on the keys stepping up and down with his hands up in the air! He sure is a crazy baby but that's why we love him!

Our Little Fish

Swimming is one of our favorite things to do. Sure it takes a lot of time to get everything ready to go and then it takes a lot of time to clean up afterwards. And it is a huge hassle when Spencer poops in his swim diaper...that's definitely my least favorite part of going to the pool. Let's just say that swim diapers are not meant to contain poop. But it is still a lot of fun and Spencer is really loving the water right now.

There was a cute little frog swimming in the pool with us. Spencer was a little hesitant to hold the frog at first, but they became good friends after a few minutes. Spencer would only hold the frog for a few seconds though. And then he would dump him right back in the pool.

*This reminds me of a kind of funny story. So one day when I was little I found a cute little baby frog. I carried it around on my shoulder all day. And it never tried to jump away from me so I just knew it really liked me. Well, I found out at the end of the day that it was dead. And I thought I had killed it because I didn't give it any food or water. But thinking back I'm almost positive it was dead the whole time. And how disturbing is it that I was carrying a dead frog around all day?

Anyway, here are a few videos of Spencer swimming. It's amazing that at the beginning of the summer he would cry and cry until I took his floaties off. And now he loves having them on so he can swim by himself. And he doesn't like being helped too much. Sometimes I will just hold his tummy so his face stays above the water but he always tries to move my hand. The other night we went swimming and we had taken Spencer's floaties off because we were ready to leave and he kept trying to jump in the pool! Bryce was in there so he let him jump in and go under the water for a second...thinking he would learn his lesson and not do it again. But no, he got out and jumped right back in!

100th Post!

I just noticed that this will be out 100th post! I thought that was at least worth mentioning.

Our Fourth of July weekend was pretty low key. Bryce took Spencer out to see the Vaclaw Family fireworks show on Saturday night. And he liked it! He didn't cry or act scared. Bryce said Spencer did want to be held the whole time though. And for the first ten minutes after every firework he would say "oh wow!" On Sunday we went to church, had BBQ chicken sandwiches, corn on the cob, and homemade ice cream for dinner, and then lit a few fireworks and sparklers in the front yard. Spencer loved the sparklers.

Our summer seems to be going by pretty fast. So we are trying to enjoy every minute of it. Spencer is now 21 months old! And he is getting to be quite the little swimmer. He has come a long way this summer. At the beginning he hated floaties and really didn't even like being taken out into the water. And now he will wear his floaties and can even float and "swim" by himself! He likes to try and drink the water most of the time so he hasn't quite mastered keeping his chin up very well, but he loves to kick his legs and move his arms. I'll have to take some video of him next time because it is just so cute.

We've been trying to keep ourselves busy inside since the humidity makes it feel 20 degrees hotter than it really is. One morning I let Spencer do some finger painting.

It started out pretty well. He got a little on his tummy.

And then he went crazy! He enjoyed painting himself more than the paper. I just stuck him in the shower afterwards so clean up was pretty easy. But he loved it so it was all worth it. And we'll probably even do it again.

This is a video Bryce took of Spencer right before bed one night. Bryce was behind the camera helping Spencer know to say either mom or dad. And notice how he usually ends up saying both mommy and daddy. He's a smart kid. And a pretty cute one too.

This is in honor of the world cup, which has been very popular in our house this summer. Spencer loves to kick the ball around with daddy. He is usually so impressed when daddy kicks the ball in the air or does cool tricks. And Spencer has started doing this thing lately where he has to pat the soccer ball on the floor a few times before he kicks it. I guess to get it in just the right position. He's such a pro already. :)