Best toy ever when it's 109 degrees outside!

Two O

Vaughn turned 20 months old today. In just four more months, it'll be the transition of saying Vaughn is two, instead of how many months he is. It's too hard to calculate much more after 24, I guess. Umm...where was I? Oh yeah, Vaughn turned 20 months today.  He's getting big.

We were outside playing in his pool (surprise, surprise) while Dave installed lights on the new playhouse. I'll be posting more about that later! That one sentence doesn't even do this new massive amazingly priced structure in our backyard any justice.

Vaughn's 20 month pictures today were taken with him in a swim diaper. I think these two pictures really represent Vaughn at this time in his life - especially with that big belly of his!

He is so sweet with that round little face and beautiful blue eyes, but then changes in an instant with a whack in the  face or diving off the back of the chair as he inspires to be a skydiver. The second picture just cracks me up for two reasons. He's eating a stick. And I let him.Oh and I guess, there's a third reason, his belly!

Vaughn was on a mission to find Dave, but got distracted when he found a stick. Vaughn loves sticks just as much as he likes dirt. 

 Vaughn took a little break from looking for Dave by going into the bottom of his playhouse. He didn't realize there was a little step and fell into the dirt. May I remind you this was shortly after swimming so he was still wet. I asked him to sit down since he was already covered in sand and dirt and what did he do? He started to throw the dirt in every direction he could. 

Again, very typical of Vaughn at this age: Curious. Falling. Dirty. Crying. Content. 

Throwing dirt at me. 

 

 Tomorrow he'll be 20 months plus one day. I have finally given up on trying to stop him from growing. Bring on more dirt. I'm ready.

"Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each others' faults because of your love." Ephesians 4:2

Monkey says, "ah ah, ah ah"

Saturdays = Familyday, most of the time. This past Saturday, even though it was expected to be over 100 degrees, we went to the zoo! Let me repeat slowly. 100 degrees. Over 100 degrees. The zoo. Outdoor zoo. Hey, we got a great parking spot AND had a great time.

It was a little sweaty. Our cheeks became just a little red, but we had a blast! Vaughn even got wet.

The new orangutan exhibit is so cool - literally. The misters were quite nice. The big metal orangutan was a little scary, compared to the real things.Vaughn was very curious to see the huge "dogs" swinging from the top of the fence.

 

 

A turtle and a bird. Enough said.

Vaughn yelling at the "ucks". He also "qua, qua'ed" at them.

Attempt of a family photo with a manual focus lens. Not too bad.

Here, peacocky, peacocky!

 On the way home, Vaughn enjoyed his strawberries as he watched Mickey.

This sums up my day!

Nay nay go bye bye

Vaughn has had the opportunity to get lots of loving from his Aunt Nay Nay since he was born. She was there at the hospital on his first day of life, for his first birthday and many memories in between.

Last week, we got to spend a little time with her before she left for South Carolina, her new hometown.

We will (all) miss having her live so close and can't wait for her to visit!

Love you, "Naw Nay" (as Vaughn calls you) :)

C to the A to the M-P-I-N-G!

It's been too long since we've been camping! After some failed attempts to get out of the Valley, we finally made it to Canyon Point near Woods Canyon Lake, east of Payson. It was beautiful! Vaughn had an absolute blast with the one and only MY-LEE or MAW-EE. He probably said her name over 100 times. We enjoyed hanging out with Molly's parents, too :)

Dusty, Jamie, Molly and Dixie were able to get a great site by going up on Thursday. We left on Friday after work. After an unexpected detour (I'll spare you the details), we didn't get to the campground until 11:00pm. On Saturday morning, the babies were ready to get dirty!

 Since we had a camper and it was just a little cold at night, the tent was able to come down. Vaughn was quite the helper. The weather was perfect except for the wind. There was a red flag meaning we couldn't have any fires until after 8pm.

Molly is the most content baby I know. She hung out in the play yard and the tarp. She was laughing and smiling and eating any toy she came across. Vaughn, on the other hand, was running around or tripping all over the place. He loved the freedom, trees, and dirt. Lots and lots of dirt.

After nap time, we went to Woods Canyon Lake where we saw a Bald Eagle! Aunt Jamie was in heaven. Vaughn preferred to throw stones in the water.

 

 The Arizona Thompson Family! Vaughn and Molly were a little distracted. Thank goodness for my awesome wireless remote! I don't think I've ever mentioned how awesome it is!

 Our last stop was a hike on the Mogollon RIM! It was so windy, we had to be careful not to get blown over the edge. Vaughn was tired and not loving the wind so our hike only lasted a little while.

  We are so incredibly thankful to have family close. We absolutely love going camping with the other half of our Arizona Thompson family. It was refreshing in so many ways. So we don't go too long before our next trip, it's already scheduled! Woo Hoo!

18 Month Well Baby...

...a month late, but we got him there! With the craziness of Easter, scheduling Vaughn's 18 month appointment escaped me. Does it count that I called for the appointment right around his eighteen month birthday?

 

My little man is getting so big - far from his first few appointments in this very office. In fact, this will be his last appointment there as they are moving locations, and we might switch to a pediatrician closer to home. 

Here are the stats: 

Height: 34.5 inches - he's taller than 91% of his male friends; aka: 91st percentile

Weight: 28.6 pounds - 88th percentile

Head Circumference - 92nd percentile

Big feet, big hands, big eyes, big belly and big head - couldn't have been any different from his first six months of life. Well, he did have big feet from day one and the big eyes sure did follow. There are no concerns though. The doctor said he is right on track from where he's been from 12 months and he's a healthy growing boy. We discussed some of his sensitive skin issues, moles, watery eyes and some other things I won't mention. 

He did Ah-MAZING! The Urgent Care doctor from a few weeks ago really changed his whole perspective on being at the doctors. He just sat there and let the MA and pediatrician do their thang. He only squirmed a little when the doctor made a comment about how chill he was being all naked and sprawled out on the table! Yes, she said something along those lines. When he got his shot, he didn't even wince or cry. I almost passed out, but he did great!

Vaughn's a big boy who has met all his development milestones for 18 19 months.

And the growing continues!