Ah... TV :)

Enjoy! Click the photo or link to view T's latest slideshow :)


TV...

A Day at the Orchard

Yesterday we (Brendan, Tegan, Chris, Jen and I) decided that we should head to the Minnesota Harvest apple orchard today, so Jen and Chris came over last night to watch the Badger game (ON WISCONSIN!) and then stayed the night so that we could all head down to the orchard mid morning today. After a 2 hour (YES, 2 HOUR!) nap this morning we finally went and woke Tegan up at 11a.m., got some lunch in his belly and all 5 of us piled into the Tribute for our little road trip down Hwy 169.

Somewhere between leaving home and arriving at the orchard the temperature went up a few degrees and the humidity level increased drastically, because we became down right sticky and uncomfortable quite soon after getting there. Regardless, we did taste some apples, partake in some delectible apple desserts and take a tractor pulled wagon ride into the orchard to pick our own apples. Ever since T's first taste of applesauce we knew that he liked apples. Now that he gets juice we give him apple and yesterday (actually what partially gave rise to today's trip) Tegan had his first bites of apple, right off the core. Needless to say, he enjoyed his 2nd and 3rd and 4th tastes of apples today... these, though, were fresh from the trees. Yum, yum! I also think he especially likes eating apples because his gums are sore and swollen from his teething. [I swear I saw little "buds," as they call them, in his gums tonight at dinner. ] Tegan also had his first taste of apple cider. I just hope it's ok that it wasn't pasturized... I know I wasn't supposed to drink unpasturized juice when I was preggers. I'm sure he'll be fine, though. It was only a few drops.After dinner T was really fussy, again, I think it's the teething, so I gave him an apple core (that still had a lot of fruit on it) and he went nuts... he was SOOOO excited and just LOVED knawing on it for a good long while. I can't believe he's able to get pieces off even though he doesn't have any teeth!

Ok... all for now. I'm exhausted and the dust from the tractor/wagon ride did not do anything to help my allergies, to say the least! G'night to all!

~jenn

Playin' at the Park

Tegan's new favorite place to go is our neighborhood park. Right now his favorite aspect of the park seems to be playing in the gravel. I'd never seen this activity until this past week as it's something that T and Daddy enjoy doing together. It's one of they ways they get to be boys together. Now, Brendan claims that Tegan never tries to eat the rocks, but here's the first thing he did when we sat him down the day I went with them :)

So of course this is what followed...

Needless to say, we've gone to the park as a family a few times since the day pictured above and T had since decided that it's not worth it to try to eat the rocks. I think he made a VERY good choice! Tegan also really enjoys playing with the steering wheel... or any wheel or anything that spins for that matter.
Then it was time to tug on the climbing wall chain.
By this point Mommy wanted in on the fun, so T and I took a ride down the slide.

WEEEEEEEE.

After a little more playing in the rocks it was time to go home. We washed up (T's hands were dirty, to say the least) and also changed into clean clothes (the ones from the park weren't clean either) and it was time to read a story. Tegan loves books! Ever since he was little it has been something that often calms him down if he gets upset about something. As you can see, he's really getting into turning the pages back and forth. Because of this we never get too far into a book despite the fact that his books are only a few pages long. :)

Lastly, a new milestone for Tegan was achieved today. No, it wasn't crawling... but it does start with a C. It's CLAPPING. We were, surprise-surprise, at the park and Tegan started clapping. It was very cute! We clapped for his clapping and I'm sure that confused him, but then he clapped some more.

Love to all!!!

~j

Tegan's Photoshoot

Well, we had Tegan's 6-month photos taken today (even though he's 7 months old). Our neighbor, Ben Dodds, is an amazing photographer and I was SO pleased that he was able to take T's pics! All I can say is that the pics are beyond beautiful and bring tears of joy and amazement to my eyes each time I see them... enjoy!

Tegan's Slideshow

Tegan's Blogpost on Ben's website

~jenn

It's Been a While

Hello all! Sorry it's been a while since my last post about Tegan. Daycare continues to go well! Tegan is full of smiles, giggles and loving hugs every time I pick him up. I'm SO glad he enjoys it... what a blessing! Praise God!!!

Drinking from a big boy cup

In other news, Tegan is down to 3 bottles a day. He just wasn't taking his 11am bottle much at all and didn't seem too hungry at his 3pm bottle, so I decided to drop the 11am bottle and push the 3pm to about 3:30.

After 3 days the change has been well accepted and Tegan now takes each of his 3 bottles very well again, though he does still occasionally see the bottle as more of a toy than a means to receive nourishment... as you can see, he's starting to get a bit skinny. HA!

Last weekend we went up to Maplelag for a 2 day 3 stage race for Brendan. This was the 3rd trip there for me, 2nd for Tegan and 4th or more for Brendan. We love it there!!!

Playing on the couch at Maplelag

Tegan, Brendan and I were joined by B's recently empty-nested parents and we all had a fabulous Labor Day weekend! Needless to say, Grandma and Grandpa Moore LOVED spending 2+ days with their grandson.

Grandma Moore & Tegan

They even took T for a few hours one morning and let Brendan and I take a much needed nap. Thank your Devin and Gary!!!

1st bath in the kitchen sink

This weekend was the first in a long while that we had absolutely no races, so it's been really fun so far. My parents took T for the night last night, so Brendan and I were able to spend some time together w/o Tegan, though we did spend 1/2 the time talking about T and all the cute little things he does. We definitely were ready to have him back come this morning. The house was just too quiet without him.

OH, one more 'news' item about Tegan. He is just beginning to wave. So far he really just waves at himself and watches his hand moving, but I'm told that he did wave goodbye to someone yesterday while he was with my mom and dad... how fun! Tegan is very thrilled with this ability and stares very thoughtfully at his hand frequently, studying how his fingers are moving. It's truly too cute!

Waving "Hello" to himself :)

Another interest of Tegan's we've discovered is his fascination with things that spin. Brendan discovered this when he took T to the playground/park and let him play with the steering wheel mounted in the little fort thing... no pics of this yet, but I did snap a few pics today of him playing with Brendan's bike tire.

Well, that's all for now! Love to all!!!
~jenn

Mighty Prayers Needed!!!

Hello to all who are frequent readers of my blog and those who have happend to stumble upon it. I am dedicating this post to my dear friends Jessica, Mitch and their family who are in need of some mighty prayers. Jess sent me a text [message] today that their 2 year old son Eli and her mom, Donna, had a nasty fall yesterday. Eli is currently in the ICU with severe head truma and I am unaware of how Jess's mom is. Jessica, herself, is approx. 31 weeks pregnant, so the last thing she needs right now is this stress. As this is all I know there is nothing else I can report, but if you could please send up some prayers for the fast and healthy recovery of Eli and Donna as well as for God to help comfort and calm Jess, Mitch and their extended families I and they would be greatly appreciative... the more prayers the better!!! Thank you so, so much!!!

~jenn
:UPDATE:
I just got a call from Jess and Eli has been taken out of the pediatric ICU, though is still in the hospital. He suffered a skull fracture and bleeding on the brain from the fall. Apparently Jess's mom, Donna, was walking up her driveway carrying Eli. The family's dogs were chasing each other and ran into the back of Donn's knee causing her to fall foward and Eli's head hit the asphault driveway. When Eli was unable to walk and became extremely sleepy Jess knew something was wrong and took him to the ER or Urgent Care (I'm not sure which). After a CT scan showed the skull fracture and bleeding on the brain Eli was med-flighted to a hospital in Madison, WI. Donna (Jess's mom) is doing fine from what I understand and it seems that they expect Eli to make a full recovery. As of today the bleeding on Eli's brain seems to have stopped and possible begun to be reabsorbed (hence his release from ICU), so he is on the mend and is back to his normal, happy spirits. PRAISE THE LORD!!! Please continue your prayers for the continued recovery and comfort of Eli and his family!!! Thank you from myself and Jess!!!