Monday, September 29, 2014

17 months

Porter is 17 months old now!
At 17 months Porter is confidently walking and starting to go pretty fast! He can stand up without pulling up (he started a few days after his 16 month update) and wants to be walking at all times. If he's in the stroller, he wants out and if we're carrying him, he wants down. He's still content in the shopping cart and in the high chair...probably because Paxton is contained too. 
He thinks he's a big kid now. He wants to do what what Paxton is doing and has no patience for baby things. He thinks he can climb what Paxton climbs, run where Paxton runs and swim like Paxton swims. 
He says lots of words...from the ridiculous things Paxton has taught him (like "um I don't know" and "app buh-day" (happy birthday) and "no no no no no") to the more normal and useful words like "yes", "help", "eat", "down", "bah bah" (bye bye) and "out-sah" outside. He answers "yes" to pretty much any question we ask him and has started saying "kish" (kiss) when we give him kisses. He can count to two (da, du) and does it whenever he's carrying two things. 
He knows tons of animal noises (sheep, goat, cow, pig, duck, tiger, lion, dinosaur, monkey, cat, dog, bird, bee, and fish). 
He is pretty easy most of the time. He's good at restaurants, he's good at the store, and he can play by himself at home. He is starting to test his limits and likes to throw things (I wonder where he learned that...) and get things he knows he isn't supposed to. He has some separation anxiety and sometimes will cry in his crib wanting me to come hold him. 
He is wearing 12-18 month pants and 24 month or even 2T shirts and pajamas. He's still short and fat. His feet have grown a ton since he started walking. He was in 3.5s at 15 months and when we got him measured a few days ago, he was a 5.5. 
He loves cars and toys that make noise but his favorite is being read to. He likes to play with Paxton and do everything he does. He loves his milk and will drink so much that he throws up. He likes cheese, fruit, bread and butter pickles, spaghetti, mac and cheese and fruit snacks. 
He doesn't like being out of my sight, having his diaper changed, having his hair brushed, vegetables, or meat (although he will eat almost anything when we're at a restaurant). He hates loud noises and when we won't let him play with our phones. 
When we ask him how old he is, he will hilold up one finger. He can say his name "p-p-poe-tah". 

Sunday, September 28, 2014

Richmond, Norfolk and Virginia Beach

We are trying to take full advantage of the fact that we live so close to so many neat things to do, so last weekend, we decided it was time to check Richmond off the list. Jared had to be in Chesapeake, VA for a meeting on Monday but we wanted more time so we left Saturday morning. 

After a quick breakfast...
...we hit the road! Richmond was only about two hours, so we made it in time for lunch. 
We had heard good things about Carytown so that was our first stop. It was a neat area with lots of shops and restaurant and TONS of people. We stopped at a pizza place for lunch. 
As we were walking around after lunch, we saw a cupcake store and knew we had to stop. 
After some more walking around, we headed to Maymont Park. Everyone we talked to said we couldn't miss it. We walked around the zoo area for a little while which was nice, but it was lots of walking for only a few animals. Some of us couldn't handle it. 
We stopped for a water break. 
After Maymont, Jared really wanted to see Hollywood Cemetery. 
It was really pretty and historically interesting. As we were driving around the cemetery, we saw the river. It looked a lot cooler than we pictured it, so even though we had some tired boys, we decided to try it out. 
Paxton had a blast. He loved splashing and walking around and dropping leaves and rocks down the waterfall. Porter didn't like not being able to do everything Paxton did. 

For dinner, we tried a place called Honey Whyte's in downtown Richmond. By that time, the boys were exhausted...
Paxton was basically delirious...
We were going to try the hotel pool that night, but the boys had had enough. They went to bed while Jared and I watched the OU game. 

In the morning, we went to Dixie Donuts which is supposed to be one of the best breakfast places in the area and there happened to be one right across from our hotel. 
After breakfast, we started towards Virginia Beach. We stopped outside Norfolk at Air Power Park to see the airplanes and let the boys burn off some of the donut sugar.  
They played on the playground for a little while and then started asking for lunch. We went the rest of the way to Norfolk and stopped to look at the U.S.S. Wisconsin.  
Then we finished up the trip to Virginia Beach. We ate lunch at Pier 23 on the beach and watched the Blue Angels airplanes flying around. 
Then we went to the beach. 
After a packed weekend, we knew we needed an easy night that night, so we took the boys down to the hotel pool where Paxton threw Jared's wallet in the pool.  
The boys took a shower and changed into their pajamas and we ordered a pizza for dinner. Both boys were out by 8:00. Porter was up off and on all night with a tummy ache and ended up sleeping with us.

The next morning, Jared was up early to head to his meeting while the boys and I headed to the zoo. 

After losing my phone and listening to Paxton whine the whole morning, I decided to give in to their requests to play in the fountains. 
Two soaking wet boys cried the whole way to the car and after changing into dry clothes, we went to pick up Daddy and go home.