Dad, baby, and Oreos: A new tradition

Garrett has always been a pretty good eater when it comes to solid foods. Desserts are no exception. In fact, when we were first teaching him some of the baby sign language, we tried to teach him "more" for a couple weeks. Then one day, I gave hime a taste of some chocolate pudding and he busted out the "more, more" sign for the first time.

Well, now we have another favorite: "Oreoreoreos". Garrett and I have a new little tradition of eating oreos before bath time (a necessary thing). He has learned to dunk, to open up the cookie and eat the cream first, and to love that little chocolate "tookie". But we have a deal between us, that we don't eat oreos unless we're both there, together.

Garrett is quite the little cookie monster. He loves the little "khee khee khee" laugh and the cookie monster voice. He will even talk in that voice some times.

It has been a messy little tradition, but Garrett keeps us laughing and smiling all the time. See for yourself:

WARNING: You may be tempted to find yourself some oreos and take the plunge too!

Wonderful Words!

Garrett is absolutely hilarious to listen to lately. He is quite the chatter box and knows many words. One of his favorites is "cheerioioioioios." I LOVE that he does the "eeeooooeeeeooo" part at the end. Too dang cute. He pretty much will try and say whatever we ask him to say which is fun to hear! A few of his favorite things to say are "more" with his sign, "puppa" which is his stuffed white dog that he LOVES, "uh-uh and na-no"and "mama and dada". He also constantly says "nown" when we are holding him because he wants to get down to crawl around and explore! Garrett gets so excited when we come home to so "Madee" (Maggie, our dog!) and loves to put things in any "box." He is getting more and more animal sounds including our most recent favorite of skunk (he holds his nose and says P.U.!) Colin has also taught him the sign for "candy" and he loves to say and do it when I share my fruit snacks with him or say "cookies" when he and his dad eat "oreoeoeoeoes"!! It is fun to watch him wave his little hand and say "hello" and "bye-bye" to anyone, everywhere we go. A couple of weeks ago we were in church and he had his arms folded for the prayer. He was quiet for about 5 seconds and then started waving his hand (with his arms still folded) to the people sitting in back of us and in front of us! I also had a proud mommy moment when we were sitting at the piano the other day. Garrett started pointing to the pictures displayed above the piano saying, "mama, dada and baby." He then looked over at another picture of Christ and said, "Jesus." AWWWW! No it was not a picture of Colin and his mullet! And there is nothing more precious than when he says "love you" and gives me kisses before he goes, "nahnight!" We just love this kid and think he is the smartest and cutest thing on the planet! We hope you enjoy these cute videos of him!

All that I am or hope to be...I owe to my angel MOTHERS!

Thanks to my sweet husband for the last post! I sure do love my boys. I feel so lucky to be a mom of the most wonderful kid ever! He always keeps me laughing, smiling and dancing! It is so fun to spend every day with him and be there as he learns new things. I look at him every day in amazement with all he knows, all he does, and all I hope and want him to be! He truly has taught me so much since he joined our family. I still can hardly believe that I gave birth to him...what a miracle! I am so grateful that he has been so healthy and strong. Garrett has such a fun personality and it is hilarious to watch him with all of his facial expressions! (I wonder where he gets that from?!) I love that he is a cuddler and that I sing him his special song "Always" everyday! Most of all, he makes me want to be a better person. I love you chicken!




Thanks goes out to my mom for being great! I love you. You have taught me a lot and I respect you for all you have done for us. Garrett is pretty lucky to have you as a grandma. My grandma is pretty special to me too. She is such a great example to me in sooo many ways. Just when I don't think I can do it anymore, I think of my grandma and all she has accomplished! She truly is amazing!

Thank you to Colin's mom for the mother and grandma she is! She is always willing to help and is a great example to me of showing love to those she cares about.

I feel so blessed to have so many women in my life that are such great examples to me of being a wonderful mom. I love you all and hope to be more like all of you one day!

Garrett and his Mom

With Mother's Day this past week and Trish's birthday just a few weeks before that, it's about time that I posted something about Garrett and his mom. It's no secret that mothers have a special relationship with their children and that is no exception here. Maybe it's the 9 months of carrying the child, maybe the rewards of all the sacrafices moms make, or maybe Garrett is a bit of a mama's boy. Whatever the reasons, there is certainly something cute and special about this relationship.

Take a look and see for yourself how much Garrett loves his mom, and of course, how much she loves him in return.

Garrett loves that his mom used to be a school teacher and has tons of books for him to read.

Garrett sporting his "I heart Mommy" shirt


Easter Sunday, cute mom with her cute son. And look at those smiles!

No smile here, Garrett just wants some of Mom's birthday cake.

Trish always likes to include Garrett in the fun things that she does.
Here, she is holding him while taking a swing at her birthday pinata.

Kisses for his mama.


No April is complete without our annual trip to the Tulip Festival,
one of our birthday traditions for Trish

The beauty just blends together. You can't tell where the
flowers stop and my wife and son begin!


After church one Sunday. A couple of cutie pies.

Those two sure are cute together, and they have a lot of fun. Let's make list of a few more things that Garrett likes about his mother or that they both have in common:

• When I get home from work and get Garrett up from his nap, one of the first things he likes to do is find his mom.
• Like many kids, his first word was "mama".
• He went through a phase where he always wanted his mom when he would cry. She was a cure for his sadness and tears.
• We could tell from a couple ultra sound photos that Garrett would have his mom's nose.
• Garrett and his mother both love to eat strawberries and cherrios.
• Trish and Garrett are both good nappers; sometimes even taking multiple naps in a day.
• When Trish holds Garrett and strokes his little hands he is calm like a summer's morning.
• Garrett and his mother both love it when daddy comes home from work.
• Trish and Garrett both like to eat snacks during church.
• "Brush your teeth each morning, brush them every night. Brush them after eating keeps them clean and white," is a song that Trish sings to Garrett, and as a result, he loves to brush his teeth.

It is such a blessing to have these two in my life. There isn't a moment that goes by that I'm not thankful for my wife, and for the wonderful mother she is to our son, Garrett. We love the time that we spend together and I know that Garrett loves having a mother that takes such good care of him. He is a happy boy each and everyday because it is easy to happy with Trish as your mom.

We love animals!

Garrett is definitely an animal lover. It all started with his dad's obsession of monkeys that we have seen since Garrett has been born. Then, I randomly gave the nickname of "chicken" to Garrett and has been most consistent on saying "bock, bock" when we ask what a chicken says. I think right now Garrett loves birds the most, but he definitely has an interest in all animals. We thought it would be a fun thing to get a family pass at the zoo to enjoy together this year and we recently went to Wheeler Farm to see all the animals too. He was definitely more into watching the animals this year and said many of the animal sounds too! I think we have many more years ahead of us with his love for animals and hope to have some great times as we see and learn more about them.

Tractor ride at Wheeler Farm!

Garrett with the preschool kids at Wheeler Farm.

What a great spring day for the zoo!


Proud as a peacock!

Garrett loved the exotic birds!

Garrett signing, "bath" as he watches the penguins play in the water!

Mommy and son watching the penguins.

The elephants were active and eating.



"choo-choo" says Garrett!

Getting ready for the train to start. It certainly wasn't too exciting, so we were glad that we have a discount with our zoo membership!