Family Photos

I love getting pictures of our family done. I absolutely love having beautiful pictures of us around the house. And the last time we got family pictures done was when Ivan was 3 months old. My favorite photographer is Janneke Marquez, Michael's cousin, she does such a fantastic job with capturing our personalities and her pictures are always edited to perfection. But she lives 4 hours away. This is why we haven't had more family pictures done since Ivan was so little. I've been searching for a good photographer in the Rexburg area and haven't really found anyone I liked. Then Michael told me there was some posting on the school bulletin that sounded promising. I found her facebook page and was pretty impressed with her work, not to mention her prices. So we booked her. We spent about 30 minutes playing outside and taking pictures and it was actually pretty fun. We took the pictures just off the side of the road and Ivan was totally fascinated by all the cars driving by and especially the airplanes overhead. The following pictures were taken by Peyton Stuart from Paint the Sun Photography.

In other news, Ivan is super cute. He loves putting his dirty clothes in the hamper. He loves giving high 5's and fist bumps and headbutts. He has 4 teeth on top and 2.5 teeth on bottom. Still no molars. He is measuring in the 10th percentile for weight, 20th for height, and 45th for head circumference. He loves milk, but will only drink it from a bottle, a sippy cup is not ok. He loves peanut butter. When he gets peanut butter on bread he'll just suck the pb off and leave the bread. When he gets those sweet and salty granola bars with the peanut butter layer on the bottom, he'll eat the peanut butter off and spit out the rest of the granola bar. He loves string cheese, mac & cheese, ramen, jelly toast, nutragrain bars, captain crunch, granola bars, peanut m & m's, and the baby food pouch things. He loves playing hide and seek and peek a boo, being chased down the hall, playing with rocks, playing outside, reading books, and watching animals. We took him to the wildlife museum on campus and he spent the whole 45 minutes running back and forth from all the animals saying "what's that" and pointing at them. We took him to CAL Ranch and he loved looking at the chicks and rabbits. We got a rabbit out for him to look at and he would not touch it! He loves pointing and looking and talking to animals but is a little afraid to touch them. Well, until you make him touch it and he realizes it's so soft, then he's less afraid to touch it. I took him to feed the ducks and he thought that was the best thing ever. He gets super excited for animal noises and thinks that flying animals are probably the coolest. Ivan likes to climb. He can climb from the floor onto the recliner then onto the kitchen counter. He likes to climb onto the back of the couch to see outside the window. He pushes his high chair around the kitchen so he can climb onto the bench, onto the table, then onto the high chair and sit in it. He really likes sliding down the stairs and doing anything that dad does. Michael makes this cool bird noise and Ivan tries to imitate it by screaming really loud. It's cute and loud. He loves loves loves his pacifier. He would have it all day if I let him. He gets it at bed and in the car and when we're out places. He likes stacking things or putting pieces together. His vocabulary includes the following words: dog, what's that, where'd he go, wow, uh-oh, ooo (like the aliens from the crane game in Toy Story), dad, hi, hey, and a whole lot of jibberish. He loves Baby Einstein. I could have that turned on all day and he would sit and watch and talk to it. Lately he's started to like movies altogether, especially those with animals in them, animated or not. He is my little helper around the house too. He helps me with the laundry when I switch loads from the washer to the dryer. I put wet clothes on the floor and he picks them up and puts them in the dryer. He helps with the dishes by putting utensils in the utensil tray. Usually he puts all the forks together and all the spoons together and everything else where ever it will fit. And he loves it. He claps after every time he gets to help me and cries if I don't let him help. It's been a little hard to let him help though. Obviously I could do it better in a lot less time, but I figure if I let him help now he'll want to later. He's really good about picking up toys and putting them back, especially if there is a basket to put everything in. He hates taking baths but loves to be in the shower with me or Michael. He likes the shower so much that I can't take a shower with him awake or else he'll scream and cry until I'm done. He has built up some pretty bad separation anxiety, too. Not so much when Michael leaves, but when I leave he usually freaks out. Totally inconsolable for 5 or 10 minutes. Poor kid. That's what I was most afraid of when I started staying at home all the time. It's hard to leave him with anyone, even his dad for any amount of time. At least I don't have to go anywhere. And that's all for now.