Cutest Monkey Ever

This year Taren dressed up as a monkey to go out trick or treating. He was such a big boy, having just learned to walk he insisted on walking up to each door on his own. He not only had to walk on his own, but he insisted on picking his own candy. :) He is our independent boy!

( cute curly tail & banana in his pocket)

Here are some more fun fall pictures...

Pumpkin patch fun


Helping Daddy clean out the pumpkin


He decided to stick his foot in there too... goofy boy!


Helping "carve" the pumpkin, he wanted to stick his toy in the mouth


Finished product, Taren gave him a pipe. :)


Playing in the leaves with Papa & Gram & his cousins.


He is getting so big!!!

And off He goes!

He walked for the first time last night! More then his usual 2 steps too!! It was great! He just kept going back and forth between the 2 of us!! Oh boy! He is never going to stop & slow down now!

All by Myself!!

Taren is now in the fun stage that he wants to do EVERYTHING by himself. He has always been very independent, however, there were still somethings I was able to help him with. Not really any more though, he has now learned to feed himself with a spoon. Last night at dinner he decided he wanted to feed himself his dinner with a spoon & this morning he ate his yogurt all by himself. Wow! He is growing up way too fast!!

Here is a video of him eating with a spoon all on his own for the 1st time last night at dinner

Move those Hips!

So much personality in such a small package! Taren loves to dance! Anytime there is music he will start to rock out. Even if he just gets excited about something he will start to move. He is such a crap up! Here is a video of him "moving those hips". Notice how he takes a minute to "pet" the dog. :)

Always Talking!

Taren loves to talk. It is rare that he ever stops talking. You can usually hear me across the store. Joseph doesn't have to look hard for us :) He defiantly has plenty to say & makes sure he is heard! Here are a couple videos of him jabbering away.

So Proud of Daddy!!

For those of you who do not follow hunting, Bow season opened this last Saturday. Joseph is a faithful bow hunter & loves to get out as often as possible during season. Since Joseph & I have been together (6 plus years), he has not had much luck at getting anything. However, day after opening day I get a picture text from Joseph who was out for the weekend hunting.

(Text read: we will not have to buy meat for a long time!)
Amazing! 2nd day of season & he gets a NICE size elk! Not something that has ever happened for him! He said it was the perfect set up, straight out of a movie where you can't believe it is happening. Everything was perfect. After 6 hours of packing his elk out Joseph came home sore & exhausted, but on cloud nine.
(Packing the elk rack out.)
We are so proud of him! This is a very exciting event for our family! Lots of celebrating & congratulations all around.
(Taren helped make a "good job daddy"sign)
I would love to be able to say that I am so thankful he got something the 2nd day of hunting season, since I was not prepared for him to be gone every weekend. However, I am not so lucky as to be able to say that. :) He will still be going out with his guys to call for them & just be out in the woods like he loves. Plus he says he still has his deer tag, bird tag & bear tags that he can use.. :)

ALL BOY!

This week Taren & I went camping & Taren is ALL boy! We were not even there an hour before he was head to toe in mud & getting into everything! We had a great time with our friends! Just wish the weather would have stayed nice.



Not even an hour after we got there, he crawled under my friends trooper & got oil all through his hair & his pants .



MESSY!!! Everyone kept trying to clean him up. I just gave up & let him get dirty. We showered before bed but otherwise it was a waste of time & effort to clean him up every few minutes.



He kept wanting to go for the puddles, so finally I let him. He had so much fun in that water!!

WATER!

This week I pulled out the kid pool we have so Taren could play in it & cool down. He was so excited!
While I was blowing it up in the living room he wanted to be inside of it!

Then when I took it outside to fill it up he got in fully clothes & would not get back out. He loved the pool!


Taren playing with his friend Honor on a hot day.

Getting Closer!

Taren is getting so close to walking! We are so proud of him. For a long time now he has been walking tip toed. His home nurse says that is normal for a preemie to do, but if it continues we will have to have early intervention come in & work with him. Our appointment is this afternoon & Taren is doing so much better! I am excited to hear what the nurse says. He is walking flat footed about 50% or more of the time!
Yesterday Taren started to walk only holding one of my hands! this is a huge deal. We have been trying to get him to do this for a while now but he refuses unless we are holding both hands. Since yesterday though he has been walking holding only one hand non stop. He is so excited & proud of himself! Here is a video of his progress!

A LONG TIME!

Wow! I had no idea how long it had been since I last posted a blog! I am so sorry to all of you who love following Taren's life. Time has gotten away from me & now I am 2 months down the road shocked that time went by so fast.
Where to even begin. Taren has grown & changed so much over the last 2 months. Everyday he is learning something new & exciting. Joseph & I love to watch him discover new things! We could not be any prouder as parents.

New things in Taren's life & New adventures we have had.
* He is getting closer to walking everyday. He is taking more and more steps by himself. He is occasionally walking with me holding onto only one hand.
* He loves his bath time! He will spend an hour in there every evening before bed if we let him! He loves to splash & play with his toys. He is starting to dunk his head under the water & then come up laughing thinking himself hysterical.

* Swim Lessons! We signed Taren up for parent & me swim class this summer. He had a blast! On Tuesday nights he swam with mommy & on Thursday night he swam with daddy. He loves being in the water, especially during the songs where he gets thrown up into the air & then dunked.

* Wednesday mornings we go to story time at the library. He enjoys playing with the other kids, singing to the songs & listening to the stories. Most of all he loves to climb up & down the 3 steps they have in the room ( that is my boy! always on the move!)

* Taren loves to clap his hands & wave good bye.
* He has discovered talking on the phone. Anytime that Joseph or myself are talking on the phone he comes over & takes it out of our hands. He gets very excited to hear the person on the other end talk.
* 1st camping trip!! YAY! We took Taren on his 1st camping trip this month. He loved it! He loved being outside & exploring everything! Loved going down to the river to swim. Even enjoyed crawling in & out of the tent.

* Zirberts! (where you blow on someones belly & it makes noise) Yep, he has learned how to blow zirberts & loves to do it! any exposed skin is now fair game. He loves to come over while we are sitting on the couch in our shorts & give zirberts on our legs. Very cute! but a lot of slober to clean up after :)
* Finally July 14th, Taren got his 1st tooth!! We are so excited! He has been working for months trying to break the tooth through & he finally did! I must say, I have become obessed with how cute his tooth is & love to see it!! ( I know proud mommy)
* NASCAR! Taren went to his first race! He is defiantly my dad's grandson! The noise of the race (we were right next to the track) didn't faze him at all. He loved standing at the fence & watching the cars & everyone he got to meet.


* Beach time! This last weekend we took Taren to the beach with my family & stayed for the weekend. He loved every minute of it! Loved running towards the water with daddy, loved hiking along the point during low tide & loved every minute of playing in the sand! Most of all he loved all the attention he got! He had his 2 cousins to play with all day long & had his grandparents to love & spoil him.


Words Taren is now saying: mommy, Daddy, dog, & just started saying done.

Thanks for being pacient with me & my lack of time & self disapline with keeping up on blogs. I am going to attempt to be better, but making no promises :)

Taren's 1st Year of Life

I had a great time putting together my very 1st video. I hope you all enjoy it. Just a little reminder of what God has brought us through. Covers the 1st year of Taren's life. Our little thunder/ achiever.

Our Little Dear Devil

Taren is always ready for the next "dear devil" adventure. Anything from throwing him in the air & catching him, to hanging him upside down. He loves it all! He is going to be the one who rides every ride at the amusement parks when he grows up. Recently we took him on the trampoline at Joseph's parent's house. He loved it!! We let him jump holding our hands & he had a blast. Then Joseph picked him up and jumped high with him, even tossed him in the air a couple times. He squealed with delight the whole time. Looks like we are going to be spending a lot of time over at Grandpa & Grandma's house in the summer when he gets older. :)

Picture Wednesday

Sorry I have not had more time to post more blogs. Taren is such a busy boy it is impossible to get on the computer, let alone write a blog. But at least I was able to post some pictures for Picture Wednesday!! Hope you enjoy them. Just a couple of fun ones from these last few weeks.
1st picture: a start of a cheesy smile, his new thing is to smile cheesy at you.
2nd picture: he doesn't care for the grass. Tries not to touch it the whole time! :)
3rd picture: Mommy & Taren
4th Picture: loves going for walks!! Always makes the cranky mood go away!
5th picture: Having fun with his toys
6th picture: playing with his new race car from Papa & Gram

Surgeon Follow Appointment

Today was Taren's follow up appointment with his surgeon who placed his shunt. Besides waiting for over and hour at his appointment before anyone came into the room (which is impossible with a 1 yr old who wants to get down & move!!). His appointment went great. The MRI looked awesome!!! The shunt is looking perfect & he has healed great from surgery. His ventricles have actually gotten smaller which is not always the case, so his surgeon was very pleased about that. His surgeon is even more hopeful than before that Taren is in the 40% that does not become shut dependent, & will not need to come in in the future for shut malfunction surgery!!

Also, Last month when I went into Taren's routine Dr. appointment, the Dr. I saw there thought perhaps his frontal suture was beginning to close up to early causing a slight bump the runs down from his hair line to nose. When this is the case, surgery to correct this is often the case. We were prying that this was not the case for Taren. His surgeon took a look at his forehead & said that is is perfectly fine & does not require any surgery. It was not pre-closer but that it formed a slight ridge when it closed. He said Taren has a broad forehead so he thinks as he grows you will no longer notice it. (it is not very noticable now anyways) If at age 10 it is still noticeable they can do a cosmetic surgery to take the ridge away.. (no thank you!) :)

Thank you for everyone who was praying for this appointment. We are very happy to hear good news & that Taren is doing so well. He is our achiver!! We are continueing to pray that his shunt will not malfunction & that he will be in the 40% that never has to go back in for surgery!

Taren's 1st Time in the Sand!

This last weekend Joseph & I went with some good friends of ours to the beach. It was not Taren's 1st time at the beach, however, the last time we took him he was still newborn & did not get to play in the sand. S0 this time was his 1st time getting down & playing in the sand. He enjoyed the sand alot. He actually really enjoyed eating the sand. Sat there and eat handful after handful of it. :( Here are some cute pictures of our time.