quick NE family trip

My family was able to make a quick visit and come to Vicki's funeral- they drove 18 hours and were here for just 16 (counting sleep!) it was quick- but it was fun to see them. and it meant so much for them to be here during this time.

i got to feel baby swanson kicking!!

going over nursery projects :)

breakfast at subway- my favorite!

fam plus mom

fam plus dad

grandparents and the grand babies (and shelby)

Rome just wants his cousin to get here already :)

Weekend in Branson

This past weekend some of our friends (Dustin, Hilary, Austin, and Mandy) invited us to go along with them to Branson. A year ago we went to MO for Dustin and Hilary's wedding here.

We left early Saturday morning- and got to Branson in time for lunch. Rome slept only a little on the way. The afternoon's plans were for the girls to go shopping and for the guys to go play golf. The afternoon went fast and we went to dinner with the guys.

We had a fun experience with our hotel- we found it on hotels.com and got it for a great price. However, when we arrived to check in, the told us they had messed up our reservation but to fix it, they'd let us stay in a theme room (I know SUPER cheezy :) The clerk gave ty the choices, and he chose the only one with the king size bed. He got back to the car and never told me any of this. We went up to the floor that our room was on. He stopped at the door with the sign, "Garden of Eden" I thought he was joking. He smiled and told me that this was indeed our room. We didnt know what to expect as we opened the door- we had a bright bedspread full of tropical flowers- there was a mural on the wall of waterfalls- but best of all there was a HUGE Hot tub right by the bed. Roman was in HEAVEN! he LOVED LOVED LOVED it and in the 12 hours we spent in our room he had 3 baths :)

On Sunday we met up for breakfast followed by getting our old fashion pic taken.

We then went mini golfing and go kart riding. Everyone was so kind to Roman- while golfing he'd chase the balls and put them in the hole himself. it was funny.

He fell asleep during go karting. we ate a late lunch and went back to their condo to watch the Duke ball game. we stopped by the landing on the way home where we saw a dog that was as big as a bear. It was a big intimidating but Roman walked right up to him and hugged him. it was sweet.

We arrived home later that night exhausted and ready to get back into a new normal.

bye bye and catch!

Rome's been booming with new things!! in the last two days he's learned how to catch and how to wave bye bye.

and yes, he climbs on this by himself (and the bed and the couches... he's a monkey!'

one year with bear...

He's ONE! from now on we don't do the monthly bear pics :( i joked with ty that i'll do the bear pics once a year to college.. can't you see him at 18 taking a pic with the bear? haha!

here's some stats...

-he's been walking for 4 months. ON to running!

-he can climb onto things and get on the couch.

-he has no fear and has been jumping off of boxes, coffee tables and our beds. Sometimes he's great and laughs. other times he cries...

-when it is too high, he'll get off of it by going backwards.

-we can give him trash and he'll throw it away... (we've found toys and other things in the trash now because of this new game... uh oh!)

-he attempts to brush his own hair or my hair with our brushes.

-he dances and sings with music

-he cries when its time to come in from outside

-he's almost to 10 teeth!

-he's in the 95 percentile in heigh (32 in) (he's only 28 inches shorter then me- is that not crazy?!?!)

-he's in the 80 percentile in weight (24-25 lbs) (he's 27% of me! that's just cray too!)

-he gives hugs to toys, kauzie, and kids

-we're on the last pack of size 3 diapers. we'll be moving to size 4!!

-he's wearing 18 month clothes and some 24 month

-When i tell him "no" he knows that its something he can't have. he gets this fake sad face and gives a little cry. then he's over it and moves on :)

Some battles that are coming SOON (advice would be AWESOME!!)

I want to get Rome to sleep on his own. Right now i'm bouncing him to sleep and then he sleeps with us. I want to start getting him to his room.

Weaning. I was going to start on the monday after his bday. but he wouldn't eat anything so all we did was nurse. Today was the first time he ate something. I'm starting the reasearch and hopefully we'll start that soon.

I feel bad for the poor kid. He's losing milky milk and his sleeping situation is changing... is this too much?

11 months

This is way delayed- here Romie is at 11 months...