Having Fun

Talmage has really been having a lot of fun playing with toys lately. He tires of a toy rather quickly but is always very excited to see something new! The other day I took a bobby pin out of my hair and stuck it between my lips for a minute. He had been kicking, talking, looking around, etc. when he looked at my face, froze, fixated his gaze on the bobby pin, and immediately reached his hand up to hit it, grasp it, and discover what exactly it was. I love knowing that he is so familiar with what we look like that he can tell when something is amiss. Anyway, here are a few pictures of him just playing and having a good time!

Just being silly

He was in his swing the other day and I looked and saw him like this...just chilling, hanging on for dear life...

I strung some toys between two chairs for him to play with, which he loved.

I was mending some clothes at the time, and when he got quiet, I thought I knew what had happened. Sure enough, my suspicions were confirmed! See him sleeping with his eyes partway open?

Some of his favorite toys lately are his spoons. I was hesitant to let him play with them at first, because I didn't want him to gag himself or poke himself in the eye...but he's a fast learner! :) One or two triggers of his gag reflex was all it took for him to recognize how far into his mouth he should push the spoon.

I was taking him to get his pictures taken at JC Penny. I fed him and was then changing him into his clothes when I realized that he was probably going to soak them with spit-up since I had just fed him. So I put him on his tummy to hopefully get most of the spit-up out. He was having so much fun! The pictures? Well...that's a story for another day.

Just hanging out while I cooked and Sam played peek-a-boo

He loves stuffed animals!

Happy Birthday, Breanne!

Yesterday was my sister Breanne's birthday! You have probably read a fair amount about her already, since she just came to visit and I blogged about it, but I figured I should do a birthday post for her as well!

I decided to write about one quality I admire in Breanne. That is her ambition. She has this drive, this unquenchable thirst for knowledge, that she thrives on. I guess that's the reason she speaks Hebrew, Arabic, and Mandarin. That must be the reason she will graduate from college next year with two majors and two minors. That must be the reason she refuses to take fewer than 18 credits each semester (the maximum allowable), and usually gets special permission to take even more. That must be the reason she has lived in Jordan, Israel, and Taiwan. That must be the reason she plays the piano and organ and sings with a voice like an angel. That must be the reason she read the Book of Mormon once each month for a year when she was in high school with a different study emphasis each time. The list goes on and on...she sets her mind to something and pushes toward it with inexhaustible determination and an iron will. She is a great example to me and stands as a firm witness of Jesus Christ.

Happy birthday, Breanne!!! I look up to you so much.

Chewing His Feet

A few posts back I commented on how Talmage loves playing with his feet. Well, it's progressed into that fun baby habit of chewing on them! It is so delightful.

A Visit from Aunt Breanne

Warning: SERIOUSLY picture heavy post!

My sister Breanne got back from Taiwan, where she was serving a mission, a couple of weeks ago. Shortly after she got back, she decided to take a road trip to come and visit us! We had so much fun visiting with her and exploring different things. On the first day, we went museum hopping. Houston has a museum district full of interesting museums. On the second day, we decided to take a trip to the beach. We found out about a nature center/fish hatchery/aquarium on the way there that we stopped to see.

This was a really mean crab. Although his pincers had been removed, if you even moved your hand toward him he would violently poke your hand! Harmless, but kind of unnerving.

Talmage was very excited about all of the fish...

This one had some kind of tumor or something on its right eye...do you see it??

There were a lot of fish and even a shark swimming around in the tanks!

Walking around the wetlands exhibit

Is it just me, or does he look so mischievous in this picture?

His shoes had a hard time staying on...after he kicked them off for the umpteenth time I decided to let him go barefoot. He loved it.

Then we continued on to the beach! Talmage had a serious blowout, so after we spent about half an hour cleaning him up, changing his clothes, and rinsing out his old ones in the ocean :), we started playing in the water a little bit.

There were dead jellyfish dotting the shore! I was a bit wary of them since when I was 5 or 6 I had a nasty run in with some jellyfish tentacles and ended up with welts up and down my legs for weeks!

They felt really weird...

Love those feet!

I guess the Taiwanese people do this a lot in pictures!

Before we left, Breanne had the brilliant idea to take jumping pictures.

The next day, we went to Houston's Chinatown (see the Chinese store in the background?), where we stocked up on Taiwanese food to try! It was so fun to have Breanne there, introducing us to that culture. And she even got to speak Chinese to people there, as well as at one of the museums we went to! Houston really is a melting pot. Then we went to the baptism of a woman and her son and hit Cici's pizza on the way home (all-you-can eat pizza, salad, and dessert for only $3.99/person!). My family occasionally went to Cici's pizza when we lived in Katy, so it was fun to go back with Breanne. On Sunday, we went to Church where Breanne sang a beautiful musical number! Then, on Monday morning, we were sad to see her drive away.

Breanne took this picture of Talmage...isn't it adorable? He loved having her here so much! She made him laugh so hard over and over again. He thought she was absolutely hysterical, and he definitely loved having someone to hold him all day long! Thanks for coming to visit, Breanne! We certainly enjoyed it.

Horse Jumper

Isn't this the cutest toy ever? Some people in our ward gave it to us, and Talmage loves it! It makes horse noises and everything. I think it is so cute to see him jumping up and down in his horse. Thanks to the Morgans!