Dan's kayaking adventure

I keep forgetting to post pictures from Dan's kayaking adventure for his birthday. He went with two friends and fell in twice (his friends did not fall in). Luckily, one of his friends had his camera with him and captured the whole adventure!

Dan with his friend Mike

A nest and its owner

I think this picture speaks for itself

His other friend Tony

Garage sale season has begun!

I'm in garage sale heaven. We've made some great purchases and my mom even found a couple things while visiting last weekend! Tyler is SO close to crawling. He can really twist his body around and is very mobile. I know that he is just going to take off soon. His two teeth are very easy to see now. He has also gained quite a bit of weight and is almost 20 lbs! Now instead of getting comments about how small he is we're getting comments about how big he is! You can see in the pictures how his face has really filled out.

My mom came to visit a week ago and spoiled Tyler! She got him a baby pool and Tyler enjoyed splashing around in it. We also went to visit the Des Moines Botanical Center. We had a nice Mother's Day, Dan grilled some steaks for us and Tyler gave me a gift certificate for a massage at a place downtown. He is such a generous kid!

This weekend Dan and I celebrated our four year anniversary. Dan's parents came to watch Tyler on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday we went to the Des Moines zoo which was really nice, we had a good time. Then we went out for a very nice Italian dinner. We stayed at a relaxing hotel in Des Moines Saturday night. We had breakfast delivered to our room this morning! We were determined to be lazy. =) It was nice to get home and cuddle with Tyler though.

We've had some really nice weather so Tyler and I played in the backyard. He was fascinated by the grass. I figure he's thinking, "what's under here??"

I wanted to include this picture so you don't think he's always happy.

His Eight Month picture. Notice how he ate a piece of the sign in the upper right corner.

A rare family photo

Playing in the pool

Hanging out with Grandma at the Botanical Center

And now we're back to blogger

Sorry to keep switching it up on everyone. I think we'll probably stick with blogger for now. Even though the other site was easier to add pictures to, the site was often down or wouldn't load for me. I don't have too much to add right now. I still need to get Tyler's 8 month picture. I can't believe he's 8 months already! I need to start planning his first birthday party! He is getting his first tooth in which is exciting. He can grow teeth all by himself! He is quite smart. So the real reason I'm posting is so you can see my new haircut. I cut off 10 inches and donated it to Locks of Love. So far I am really liking my new style. I timed myself and now it only takes 8 minutes to dry and style it. My long hair took 10 minutes just to dry! Oh, and I also threw in a picture of Tyler so I wouldn't upset the grandparents.

Before:

After:

And of course, Tyler:

Our blog has moved!

I'm through with Blogger. We've moved to http://thorpefamily.blogsavy.com/ I made the first post today and it was much more user friendly!

Blogger drives me crazy

Obviously Blogger is giving me problems but I assume you get the idea below.

The wonderful world of Tyler

So much is happening in Tyler's fourth month. He is rolling all over the place. If I put him on the floor on a blanket he never stays on the actual blanket. He is very interested in toys now. He loves to reach out and try to grab whatever is in front of him. He also tries to put everything into his mouth. He has mastered putting his pacifier in his mouth which is very helpful to us. We started him on rice cereal about a week ago and he was intrigued by it. At first he didn't know what to do but each day he gets better at not pushing the food out with his tongue and being able to eat the food off the spoon. A few days ago we introduced carrots to him and he really liked those. Much better than the rice. Today we started peaches and again he enjoyed them. Now that he's tasted those he seems less interested in the cereal.

Right now he is suffering from a cough and an ear infection. Actually, he's pretty happy most of the time. Night is the roughest but that has been improving. He really enjoys drinking the amoxicillin though. He is getting close to growing out of his 3-6 month clothing and moving on to the 6-9 months (which he has A LOT of). It's always fun to move on to the new, cute outfits.

Tyler at Christmas with Aunt Marisa

Opening one of many presents

Posing with his stocking from Grandma Marsha

Hanging out with Grandma

His official 4 Month picture

His first taste of cereal

"I love carrots!"

Cheering on Iowa State with Grandma

It's been awhile....

I'm finally updating the blog. You've probably been wondering where we've been. Things are going well with us. Over Thanksgiving Tyler starting reaching out and grabbing at toys. It's fun to see him look at a toy and then reach for it. We had something exciting happen tonight. We went to Target and while Dan was entertaining Tyler with a hippo puppet Tyler laughed! And he kept giggling! It was the most wonderful sound. We of course bought the hippo and I will spend all of tomorrow trying to get him to laugh. We have been trying to teach him to fall asleep without his pacifier and it's been rough. He does seem to be improving though. He continues to smile a lot and he loves it when people talk to him. He's also been making a lot of sounds and it's so cute. I'm looking forward to Tyler experiencing his first Christmas! And now, some pictures!

Daddy and Tyler hanging out




















Tyler on election day




















His 3 month picture
















Cousin Owen holding Tyler




















Mommy and Tyler




















Dan, Megan, and Tyler with Tyler's Great-Grandpa Joe
















Posing in his jammies




















His adorable smile!

Two months old!

Tyler is napping in his crib now and last night he spent the night in his crib and did pretty well. Hopefully he will find out how much he loves his crib! He is two months old already. The first month was long but the second month went fast. He is smiling a lot...we are anxiously waiting for him to laugh. He has grown out of 0-3 month size. He had his two month appointment with the doctor and is average height, weight, and head size. He got four shots and didn't cry too much. He was a good boy. Now for some pictures!

He really likes this hat















His official two month picture















Tyler with his monkey rattle that daddy bought him















Giving his monkey a big hug















For Halloween Tyler was a lion. Roaaarrrr!!!
































Tyler with his buddy Jude who was a pea in a pod (don't they look thrilled?)















Dan modeling the eyeball cookies I made

Pumpkin picking!

We made our way down to Des Moines on Saturday to pick out our pumpkins. My friend planted three pumpkin plants and they practically took over her yard. It's pretty crazy. She told me not to buy any pumpkins and to please come down and take some of theirs! Being new parents we of course had to take plenty of pictures of Tyler. On Friday Dan took the day off and we went to Ledges, a nearby park. Dan had to snap a few pics of me and Tyler enjoying the fall weather. It was a gorgeous day and the trees were beautiful! I love fall!

Tyler and I enjoying the wildflowers




























At the pumpkin patch. A friend of ours made the pumpkin hat for Tyler.

He's already a month old

Hard to believe but it's true. He is just starting to smile at us but he refuses to do it too much for the camera. We'll keep trying. He still doesn't like his crib but he loves sleeping in his swing. I can't understand why he won't sleep in his crib when right now he is draped across my lap sleeping. How is that comfortable? Soon we will be going pumpkin picking and I hope to get some cute pics from that. He has an adorable pumpkin hat that I am waiting to put on him! For now though, these pics will have to do.

Tyler lounging on the couch














His official one month old picture














A close up of his cute face














Tyler with Uncle Brad














Tyler with Grandma














He was all smiles for me this morning and I managed to capture this picture