Well, October is flying by as I thought it would. I wanted to post a few things before November comes around. We have been doing well despite some colds we have been passing back and forth. Easton caught his first cold a few days ago and it has been hard to see him so sick. He’s actually doing fine, but has been so congested and that makes it hard for him to eat, which is not so fun for me either. He seems to be improving, so I’m not too worried about him now.

Easton has learned to crawl in a matter of a couple of weeks. Sydney was not crawling this soon, maybe the army crawl, but not on her knees. He has become quite fast and is curious to explore the house. Last night I had this panic attack when I realized what this means. He’s going to be hard. I wrestled with him for about ten minutes trying to change his diaper and get his pajamas on. He just does not want to stay put for stuff like that. He’s mobile and he knows it. He really loves to try and catch Duncan, our cat. He is so amused by him. Duncan is too fast though, but Easton will catch up to him soon.  I am pretty certain that Easton will be pulling himself up into a standing position real soon. He reaches up on things like he wants to stand up, but it may be a while. He is also such a vocal baby. He is always making sounds and screaming as loud as he can, he especially loves screaming back and forth with his sister. It’s their favorite game. Oh, and he had his 9 month check up last week and he weighs in at 22 pounds. Not as much as I was thinking, but still big. He was not a happy camper at this appointment. They had to prick his finger for a blood sample and he did not like that one bit. He was pretty grumpy the rest of the time. The doctor thinks he’s a healthy boy though.

Sydney is my little helper. She has taken it upon herself to make sure Easton doesn’t get into anything, even it he’s only trying to get his own toys. When we go shopping, sometimes I’ll bring an umbrella stroller and let Sydney push Easton in it, so I can push the cart. He seems to enjoy that a little more than riding in the actual cart. She does a pretty good job of pushing him, but does occasionally run into walls and people. Josh and I were laughing to ourselves last night as we talked about how clumsy we both are and then I mentioned that Sydney is actually really clumsy too. Right after I said that she ran into the door of our entertainment center. It’s amazing how our kids are born with certain tendencies as ourselves.

Her preschool has been on break the last couple of weeks, so she’s been a little bored. I try to spend time with her when I can. Her favorite thing to do with Josh or I is to play Princesses (Josh is very good at playing Princesses). She loves to pretend and especially loves it when we play pretend with her.

Sydney has said some pretty funny things lately.

One day while Josh was trying to get Sydney ready, he asked if she could put her shoes on by herself.

She said, “No Dad.”

Josh said, “Why not?”

Sydney said, “Because I’m a girl.”

I have one speculation as to where she got that. Perhaps she has been watching one too many Disney Princess movies.

Here’s another conversation she has with Josh.

Our fridge makes a running water sound when there is condensation and when Sydney heard it she exclaimed, “Daddy, the fridge is going potty!”

Seriously, this girl makes me laugh all the time. She has a great sense of humor.

Last night Josh had to work and so I took the kids out shopping with me. I know, crazy eh? We stopped by Target for the applesauce/juice deal and anytime we go there Sydney loves to look at all the Disney Princess toys. She found a set that included Jasmine, which is her favorite princess at this moment, and was so excited. I told her she could ask for it with Santa, but that we had to put it away. She quickly put it on a shelf and pushed to the back, mind you this was not where it was supposed to go. I asked, “Sydney why did you put it there?” She replied, “I want to hide it, so other kids don’t get it.” :0 I have no idea where she learned that! Okay, maybe I do, please don’t judge me.

I’ve been good. I’m pretty much over the cold I had last week, so it wasn’t as bad as the 3 nasty ones I got last year while pregnant. I’ve been really trying hard to get our house cleaned and organized, so that’s kept me very busy. I let it get out of hand all for the sake of some good deals. I did get some good deals though and we now have some profitable things I can sell at our next garage sale.We held a garage sale a few weeks ago and it did pretty well considering there wasn’t as much traffic as we hoped for. A couple of members from our ward stopped by and I was pretty embarrassed for them to see my stockpile for sale. But, they thought it was pretty neat. Now they know my dirty little secret.

Josh has had a few vacation days off from work the past month. It’s the last time he can really take any time off before the Holidays, since it will be busy at the store. It was so nice to have him home and get some things done that we had been putting off. Things like going to the dentist. We are holding another garage sale to fund that little visit and future visits. I can’t speak though, I had a cavity and have to get my wisdom teeth out soon.

Josh also purchased a ton of legos and has been putting sets together to resell with his brother Joe. I don’t quite get legos, but I’m sure Josh doesn’t get scrapbooking or my obsession with shopping.

I’ll let you all go, but I must depart with some photos. I do have some videos I’d like to post, but I still need to figure out how to post these on here.

Sydney tried out a big bike at her cousin’s house last weekend. She did pretty good.

Halloween sneak preview. I couldn’t help it.

I looked like this…

And our family went from the 3of us…

To the 4 of us…

When we welcomed this little guy into our lives.

It’s a pretty significant day, the nine month birthday. I waited nine agonizing months for this baby to arrive and now it has already been 9 months since I’ve had the opportunity to be Easton’s mother. I sure love him and am so grateful that he is a part of our family.

And here is the “little guy” now.

This should be my last entry for a while. This looks a little more easier to use than the last carrier. Don’t these ladies look so happy to be carrying their kids? I know I don’t look that happy when I carry Easton around for long periods of time.

Here is another giveaway. This looks cool. I’m very interested in making my own baby food to save a little money.

http://www.dealectiblemommies.com/2009/08/bloggy-baby-bash-day-8-beaba-baby-cook.html

This looks interesting. I’d love to try it out, but am afraid I wouldn’t be able to figure out how to put it on. Here’s the link to enter.

So, just a warning, I will be posting several of these prizes in hopes that I might win one of them. I will try to post something other than contest entries later.

I saw this at a game store in the mall and thought it looked kind of fun, so I am entering to win this. You all can enter to here until tomorrow night.

‘Deal’ectible Mommies is celebrating their blog birthday and having all sorts of giveaways. This is one I really want to win. I am losing hope in finding a bottle for Easton and this seems like a product I need to try out. Don’t these look fun!

Last week was pretty busy for us and this week is shaping up to be the same, but we’re having fun with it.

Sydney started Preschool last Thursday and I must say this is the best investment I have ever made. Even Josh told me I was smart for signing her up. She is loving Preschool. When we dropped her off the first day she was a little bit nervous for us to go and almost cried before we left. We bribed her with a My Little Pony, if she was good on her first day then she would get to open it. It seemed to work out because she let us leave and when she came home she was very happy and couldn’t stop talking about what they did in Preschool that day and about all the kids. I love the whole learning and growing process I am seeing in her while she is away from me. It was kind of weird the first day having her away, but it has allowed me to accomplish some tasks peacefully and in a more timely manner than if she was around. But, I am happy when she comes home and tells me all the things she did that day. She comes home with at least 3-5 different activities or artwork that she made in class, so I am starting a bin to collect it all and plan on taking photos of everything before we have to toss some of it. I have a feeling she will have quite a collection. Sydney also loves her teacher. She calls her Ms. Feather (her name is Ms. Heather). She is in our ward also and so on Sundays she calls her Mister Powell at church (instead of Sister Powell).

Easton just turned 7 months old last week and is sure growing up fast. Whatever happened to my little baby I wonder? He is starting to master sitting on his own, which is one of my favorite milestones. It’s a nice change from having him lay on the floor all the time. He is still figuring out the balance thing, but for just starting he is doing very well. We got this toy for like $3 a couple weeks ago while Kmart was having a huge clearance sale on toys and he seems to really like it. It’s been helpful at keeping him up and sitting.

The kids and I went shopping yesterday, (I’m getting braver) and at the first store I carried him in the Baby Bjorn, but by the next store my shoulders and back were killing me, so I sat him in the cart and strapped him in and he didn’t cry. He thought it was kind of fun. He kept his arms straight out to his sides as if he was trying to fly. He looked so cute. I’m looking forward to not having to always carry him around in the store, but I have a feeling I’m going to have to make my trips shorter.

Easton is also eating more meals a day now. He probably should have been eating more solids a while ago, but he seemed fine either way. Now I can tell he is more hungry even after nursing, so we are trying out all kinds of new foods. I’m thinking about trying to make my own baby food. There are some flavors that I may still buy, but has anyone ever made their own? It doesn’t seem too hard. I’ve been a little bit more adventurous when it comes to cooking, so throwing in some baby food recipes shouldn’t be hard. Oh, and this baby WILL NOT take a bottle. Someone give me advice on what to do. I can’t nurse him forever, in fact I think my body is trying to tell me to stop. Is there a bottle that I should try out? We only use the Avent ones, so if there is a magic bottle for babies who love to nurse, please share this knowledge with me.

Josh is doing great. He has been moved to the Park Mall, which is a lot closer to our house. It takes him close to twenty minutes less drive time both ways, so that will be nice. He enjoys the team there and is looking forward to a less busy and crowded store I think. Josh has been pretty much teaching our 7-8 year old class at church by himself. Easton just doesn’t make it easy on me at church. I’m hoping with his newly acquired sitting skill that I can help out more with our calling. I’m just not a good teacher at all. I don’t have the patience and I don’t feel comfortable speaking in front of the kids. I know it’s weird. Anyway, I think Josh is much better at it than I am, so I’ll let him do it.

I started work last week. The woman I work with is out on leave, so I am trying to figure out things. But, it’s been fine so far.I’m working hard on getting myself and my home a more organized place. I found this website that has lots of tips and printables on organization. Of course I’m probably just adding more work to my to-do list here, but eventually everything will be sooooo organized that I will have a lot more time to do other things. Right? Not much else with me, except that I am really proud of myself for planting a little garden this year. One of the tomato plants has a large tomato growing and a few of the cherry tomato plants have some growing as well. I’m hoping we’ll get to enjoy them soon even though it is so hot for them. I also planted some flowers from seeds and they are doing amazing, even in this heat. Oh, and one of my4 Hibiscus plants from QVC survived (I got a refund in those) and the blooms are huge, but only last for a couple of days. Pretty fun.

Oh and I just tried this recipe a few days ago and it was really really good. I’d never made a real cheesecake before and it was extremely easy. I ate half of it. :0

PS: I did try the Peanut Butter Pie I posted a while back and it was good. I thought it was a little rich and peanut buttery for me, but still good.

Here are a few more photos from our photo shoot I haven’t posted. I’m posting our Schmutz family pictures next and then some of Marie and Brian’s!

Easton was pulling my hair. He loves hair and pulling it.

This is probably one of my favorites.

I love both of these songs and together it is pure magic. The piano is one of my favorite instruments, but paired with a cello or violin it’s my absolute favorite sound.

I’ve never heard this before, so forgive me if this is an old video. I love it!

LOVE STORY (Taylor Swift) meets VIVA LA VIDA (Coldplay) – Piano Cello – by Jon Schmidt

So, the last couple of weeks have been very busy. Almost nonstop busy and I am hoping this week I get a little break, but I’m afraid that won’t be happening. I did finish editing close to 50 photos out of close to 1200 that I took last week. Between editing our family, Marie’s family, my parents, and a wedding from last weekend, I am all edited out. The good news is I have plenty, and I mean plenty of photos to share over the next few days. So, be prepared.

Some exciting news here is that Sydney will be starting preschool this Tuesday. I had been toying with the idea for months and wasn’t sure if we could pay for it, but decided that my extra hours at work could at least cover that expense. Sydney really needs to be with other kids and another adult figure. Ms. Heather will be her teacher and she is actually in our ward, so I am excited that it will be someone that we know and will care for Sydney as if she was her own. I took Sydney over to her house to meet her and get familiar with the house where the Preschool is held and Sydney was her usual shy self except she really loved the dogs. She was all over the doberman. Ms. Heather was relieved that she had at least one kid that wasn’t afraid of her dogs. I had to fill out a form and a few questions about Sydney and one of the questions was what is her favorite color. I asked Sydney and she told me blue. The teacher was pretty surprised by that, but was glad because I guess the girls she teaches always fight over who gets the pink paper when they do any kind of crafts. Hopefully Sydney won’t conform. I am excited for Sydney, a little bit worried for her, but I think she will love it. Another funny thing about Sydney is we have this chart (more like a blank piece of paper) where she earns stickers for going, excuse the language here, poop in the toilet. We were having problems with her going at night and I was tired of it, so I decided to try a more tangible rewards system. I find toys that I know she will love or that she picks out and after she earns ten stickers she gets that item. It has worked out really well. I think she’s only had one accident and is almost done with her second chart. Anyway, this reward she is trying to earn is this mini Snow White doll that comes with a few outfits. Sydney is so excited about it. So excited that she has been trying to poop all day as much as she can. It’s quite funny. She wants this doll sooooo bad. I’m hoping she’ll earn it tomorrow, so she stop begging me for it.

Here’s a few photos we took last week. We took these on our own by using a remote for our camera. It worked out surprisingly well.I’m excited to have some recent family photos to print for the frames around the house. They’ve been empty for over a year!

Not as sassy in this photo. Kind of cute actually.

This is what happens to kids after taking too many photos in 100 + degree heat.