Stuffy Noses

The last three weeks, Tag and I have rotated two different miserable colds.  He has had a nasty ear infection that laughed in the face of the first antibiotic and 3 weeks later he still pulls at his ears.  He has been stuffy and not sleeping well.  I also have been extremely tired, stuffy, and coughing like an old smoker.

I'm not sure who gave it to whom, but that's not important.  What I am trying to figure out is how to stop the madness!  Joann hasn't been feeling her best either, and the lack of sleep with her husband stuffy and sleeping rather loudly at night, and her son waking every time he coughs has left us all quite tired and miserable.

Other than that, we're great! We are visiting St. George and grandma Brinton for a few weeks and I took some fun photos but left the camera cord in Woodland Hills, so you'll have to wait.

Here's a photo of Tag enjoying a swing a few weeks ago.  He cried when Joann took him out he was having so much fun.

Adventures Continue

It's been a beautiful fall in Utah and it seems all we have wanted to do is be outside.  Tag is getting more fun to be around each day, as his interactive skills and unique personality has really started to blossom.  So much so, that I find myself turning on the video camera more than the camera these days, making it challenging to find photos for this Blog.

While Joann and I have dreamed of our own home again, we have enjoyed our time in Woodland Hills.  Tag absolutely adores his Momsie and Papaw (Marina and Charles, his grandparents), as have we.  We have made some good friends in the neighborhood and despite the arduous drive it is to get to Salt Lake, it is really a nice place down here.

Tag is getting super close to walking.  His favorite things to do are:

1. Ascend and descend the stairs.  Minus a few falls, he has this mastered.
2. Push a five gallon bucket across the wood floors.  He is happy doing this as long as I will follow him around and get him unstuck from rugs, walls, and anything else that stops his movement.
3. Look at pictures of animals.  Especially when I make the sounds of the animals.  He will look up at me and laugh each time I make a sound.  His favorite sound is the sigh of a horse.
4. Getting thrown into a pile of pillows.  I will countdown from 5 to "blastoff" and throw him (albeit gently) into a pile of pillows.  After catching his breath, he laughs and immediately turns onto his stomach and backs up towards me for another round.  I can already tell there's going to be hours and hours of fun pillow fights in our future and my nieces and nephews will attest that this is one of my favorite things to do with little kids.
5. Throw a ball.  When he was only a few months old, he would kick the ball.  Now he's much more interested in picking it up and throwing it.  He does it more frequently and comfortably with his right hand, but when he uses his left he is stronger and gets more distance.  I'm still hoping he's a lefty.
6. Electronics.  He loves to push buttons on anything expensive.  I'm not sure what it is about boys and electronics, but Tag is a lover of these "toys".

Here are a few recent photos of Tag's recent adventures:

Tag, checking out his new cousin, Baby Kaya Spence.

He was fascinated with baby Kaya.

Tag's first ride on a horse at Thanksgiving Pointe.  He LOVED it.

"Wait, Mom, I'm not so sure I'm ready for NO HANDS, yet!"

"Can anyone see this cow?  It's HUGE!"

James Spence teaches Tag the fine art of cow grabbing.

Tag cried when we left this goat. I think he could have spent the night touching it. 

Early morning stories with Momsie.

Momsie enjoys a little cheek for breakfast.

Story time with grandpa Howard.

"Grandpa, you can do a better horsey sound than THAT!"

James Brinton (whose Dad, Andy, was a collegiate wrestler) gets ready to show Tag "down dog".

"Wait, Tag, you don't wanna wrestle?  Okay I'll follow YOU!"

Tag gets his first marble.

"These look delicious!"

11 Months

Tomorrow Tag turns 11 months old.  Is it possible that he will have been in our lives one year already?  On the other hand it seems like a lifetime ago that I wasn't a father.  I won't spend time on this entry talking about the learning and time warp... I'll wait until he's got a digit under his belt.

I really need to write at least once a week, or so much happens that I feel overwhelmed at the prospect of catching up.  This has been my dilemma this last week.  Not to mention I caught a terrible cold (as did Tag) that has had us both laying pretty low.  When the little one gets sick it creates a ripple effect of sleep deprivation for all involved, which encourages sickness all around.  It has not been a fun week, physically.

My family knows that I am a Halloween purist and junkie.  This means that not only is it my favorite holiday, but I refuse to be one of those parents who take their kids trick-or-treating before they can say "Trick or Treat".  More importantly, I am strongly opposed to trick-or-treating in the afternoon as well as this new phenomenon in Utah called "Trunk-or Treat" where people line up their cars next to each other, open the trunks of their cars, and the little goblins walk 3 steps between cars to get candy out of the trunks of the cars.  Are we this spineless and lazy as a society to fall for such a ridiculous sellout?

My favorite memory as a kid was rushing from house to house, kind of scared, trying to avoid ghosts and frights, and knocking on strange doors hoping to strike it rich.  Taking kids around in the afternoon?  What is that?  Sure, there are some freaks out there, but this is just wrong.  And the car thing is the laziest sellout I have seen.  Come on parents, think back to when you were a kid, get off your couch, find a safe neighborhood, and suck it up for an hour!  They are only kids once!

Speaking of Halloween, we did have fun at a party dressing up with Tag.  Quite a few years ago, I created DARREL.  I used to say he went to Payson High School (but didn't graduate) and he's now on the bronc-riding circuit in Amarillo, TX but is visiting Utah because his sponsorship ended.  Well, since we now practically live in Payson, I thought the neighbors would enjoy meeting Darrel, the woman who loves him, and his out of wedlock son.  Here are some memories of Tag's first Halloween:

Lil' Darrel meets Darrel for the first time.

Lil' Darrel sportin' his skull n' crossbones do-rag.

Darrel and the woman he is currently with.

Joann also got a pretty funny elephant costume too and we had a little photo shoot.

Mighty hunter draws near to big game elephant.

Hunter is no match for mighty beast.

Impossible to shoot a smile like that.