So many fun things going on!

Tyler has less than a month before he turns one. Incredible! It's been awhile since the last post so you will see some pictures from the 4th of July and from this past weekend. On the 4th we had a party at our house. We had a good number of people and it was fun hanging out and eating good food. Then that weekend we went to a surprise retirement party for Dan's relative. It was good to see his extended family and again there was good food! This past weekend we went to a hot air balloon show. It was fun to see all the different balloons and watch them take off. Of course Tyler had no idea what was going on. He just sat on the blanket and played with his toys.

Tyler is pulling up on everything now. He's quite a pro at it. He will also stand by himself for a few seconds. He can walk behind one of his toys too, he's just a little unsteady. I'm not ready for him to walk, I just got used to him crawling! We're still working on that darn sippy cup. He's just not interested right now.

The yummy dessert I made for the party

A family pic

Dan and our friend Nate discussing how the farm animal magnet works

Tyler up close

Tyler with Aunt Holly

Balloons getting ready for take off

Ballons in the sky

A very colorful balloon

There were some unusual balloons

Tyler hanging out (anything and everything goes in his mouth)

Tyler with mommy

Tyler with daddy

Wow! Another post already!

I know, it's a blogger miracle! Or we just had a busy weekend with lots of picture taking. Last week Tyler hit 10 months. scary. Over the weekend we went to Dan's nephew's (Hunter) high school graduation open house in Cedar Rapids. We haven't seen Hunter or his sister Whitney in a long time. It was the first time for them to meet Tyler. They sure have changed! That was Saturday, on Sunday we went for a boat ride. The boat belonged to Dan's brother's wife's parents. Got that? They also have a lake cabin that we had lunch at. It was nice...I always enjoy a boat ride. The kids seemed to enjoy it too. Although it was during Tyler's nap time so he got a little cranky towards the end.

On Saturday Tyler started picking up food and putting it in his mouth. I'm so proud of him! I had been working with him on it for awhile now and he never seemed to have any interest. Next to work on is the sippy cup!

His 10 month picture. It's getting harder to get the picture. He won't sit still and he always tries to eat the sign.

Tyler says, "I love getting a bath!"

Grandpa helping him walk

He has only pulled up a couple times. He likes to put one leg up though, teasing us, like he's gonna do it.

It's the new style of hat for babies!

Me, Dan, Whitney, and Hunter

Tyler is fascinated by Owen's silliness

"Help! I'm drowning in my life jacket!"

Brandon driving the boat

Tyler and grandma on the boat (with Ariana to the left and Brandon to the right)

"Ahhhhh. I love the wind in my hair."

We have a crawler!

Tyler has been crawling for a couple weeks now. It's kind of a different crawl as you'll see in the video. It's also easy to tell when he's crawling because he makes happy grunts while doing it. Sometimes he crawls normally but he doesn't go as fast. He's not pulling up on things yet but he's really close. I'm also posting a video of him playing with one of his toys. For months now he would pick up a ball and put it over the hole but would never let go. Now he's letting go and it makes me so proud! I just know he's destined for Harvard. I can't believe in a couple months he will be a year old. wow! Let's try not to think about it. And now, some pictures!

Tyler Crawling

His 9 month picture

I've progressed to using his Big Boy Towel (made by Aunt Carrie)

Sitting like a big boy on his firetruck

He got a cute hand me down cow costume but unfortunately it won't fit at Halloween. So I put it on and took pictures!

Playing with his friend Kara. Kara was nice enought to let Tyler chew on her favorite Minnie rattle

Dan with niece Ariana and nephew Evan

Owen love his cousin Tyler!

Tyler playing with his toy

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