A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That

I was reading an article the other day and it stated that children around Atreyu's age should be able to say about 15 words. At first I thought that he must be behind but then Jesse and I started writing down all the words he could say and it was like 17 or something. I can't believe how much he is learning so quickly right now. He learns something new everyday and it is kind of fascinating to watch him figure out new things. He still likes playing with (and in) the bucket and he recently decided that my shoes made a wonderful toy.

Like any child, Atreyu has also found the joy of sweets! He loves them! I usually have a little candy dish on my counter but I had to put it away because that's all he wanted to eat. We do let him indulge occasionally (more so when Grandpa is around). Here he is enjoying a Winter Oreo.

We are all doing well. Jesse is almost 3/4 of the way done with his first semester back in school and he's doing pretty good keeping up his grades. In exciting news (for me at least) I got a Dyson vacuum and I LOVE it! It kind of grossed me out to see how much stuff it picked up out of the carpet on it's first go. It is a wonderdul vacuum and I would definitely recommend it to a friend.
We are all looking forward to seeing family next week for Thanksgiving. We would like to give a shout out to Jenny and tell her we hope she is starting to feel better so that they will for sure join us all for Thanksgiving! We love you Jenny!

Our Little Builder

As Jesse was putting together a night stand, our little Atreyu was watching and decided that he should help too. As soon as Jesse put down the screwdriver, Atreyu picked it up and went to work. It was so cute! We eventually gave him his little toy hammer to help with the rest of the project. He is so much fun and learning all the time. It's bittersweet watching him grow up. I love that little boy!

Happy Halloween!!

We got back from our cruise on Halloween so I had to get unpacked, do laundry and get ready for Halloween all in one afternoon. Jesse stayed home and did homework and answered the door and Atreyu and I went trick-r-treating. He was Baby Mario and I was Princess Peach. It was fun going out with him even though we didn't go to many houses. He knew that he needed to hold out his bucket and people would give him candy. As soon as he had it, he was ready to leave. I had a great time going out with him. I love Halloween and I think, like all kids, he is going to love it too.

Caribbean Cruise 2011

We had the opportunity to go on another cruise about a week ago with my mom and Jesse's parents. We had such a great time even though our itinerary got changed a bit due to a hurricane. We left Tampa on Sunday and we were supposed to go to Cozumel on Tuesday, Belize on Wednesday, Isla Roatan on Thursday, and then Grand Cayman on Friday. Because of the hurricane, however, we went to Belize, then Cozumel and completely missed out on Isla Roatan and Grand Cayman. We went to Progreso instead but that was our only other stop. We were lucky that we went to Progreso though because that is how we got to Chichen Itza, the Mayan capital. It was so awesome being there and also a little bit eerie.

I feel so lucky that we have had so many opportunities to go on cruises and see different parts of the world. Atreyu was good the whole time and I loved having our enitre little family there instead of leaving him behind. We sailed on the Carnival Legend.

In Belize, we went snorkeling at the world's second largest barrier reef and in Cozumel, everyone else went zip-lining while I stayed with Atreyu. Jesse also bought me a beautiful Tanzanite necklace and then we also got one free. I am pretty spoiled and it really makes me feel special that Jesse does stuff like that for me.

Here are a few pictures we took at the airport in Tampa while we waited for our flight. Atreyu loved this play area.