Why, hello!

Hello and Happy New Year from the Gustafson's! Sorry we fell off the planet there for a bit... I can't really guarantee that it won't happen again, but in the mean time I'll give y'all an update!!

We finished off the year well. Hayden is now eating solids, scooting (not crawling) around like a fiend, sitting up by himself, and as of this weekend, pulling himself up to a standing position using the couch (or similar object/surface). Suffice it to say that he's keeping me and Todd on our toes! He was 7 months old on Christmas, and everyday I think about how quickly his 1st birthday is going to creep up on us!! I've always heard it again and again from other parents, but it's true what they all say - kids grow up sooooo fast!! I'm just amazed!!

Now that the holiday's are over we are happy to let our lives get back to normal... normal work schedule, sleep schedule (for Hayden, obviously), and no more back and forth to see Grandparents for a while. I have to admit, I'm perfectly happy just hanging out at home all weekend. If people want to see us, then let them come... but I'm not going anywhere!!

We are all excited about Caitlin and Jason's engagement, and I cannot wait until next January to see my beautiful little sister in her wedding dress!!

Well... until next time... here are some pictures for you all. (Now, since it has been 3 months since my last post, I had like 200 pictures to look through and decide which to post... this was very difficult! I think that these are the creme of the crop!!)



Hayden was rolling over, grabbing the blanket, and then rolling back the other way, making a "Hayden Taco" if you will... It was too cute!! (October 08)

Hayden's first Thanksgiving bowling experience. Uncle Jeff helped a lot!! (November 08)

One of Hayden's first sitting up poses - I just love the look on his face!! (November 08)

So, this was just meant to be a picture of Hayden with his mittens on, but he went to cough right when I took the picture!! Doesn't he look darling?? (December 08)

Here's our family Christmas photo, taken at the Broadmoor. Hayden was so tired, and he had a fever - but you'd never know by that awesome grin on his face!! (December 08)

The kid absolutely loves his solids! One night I let him go at it with the food while there was still a tiny bit left in the container - he loved it!! (December 08)

Hayden's first Christmas!! He really did quite well with the presents. I decided that next year I'm just going to wrap empty boxes, I don't think Hayden would even notice!! (December 08)


Christmas - by this time I think that the only thing going through his head is.... "Can we go home yet?? I'm DONE!!" (December 08)

Here's a picture of Grandma and Grandpa Rip with all of their grandboy's to date!! So cute!! (December 08)

One of Hayden's new favorite places to chill... he just like to crawl anywhere!! (January 09)

"Bouquets of Freshly Sharpened Pencils"

Have you ever seen "You've Got Mail" with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan? In the opening scene, they are talking to eachother about how fall is their favorite time of year! Tom Hanks character says to Meg Ryan's, "If I knew your name and your address, I would send you a Bouquet of Freshly Sharpened Pencils..." obviously referring to the beginning of the school year, fall, etc... Well, I LOVE FALL! I've recently decided that fall truly is my FAVORITE time of the year. If you think about it, most people consider Thanksgiving and Christmas "winter" holidays, but winter doesn't actually begin until, like, 2 or 3 days before Christmas - so really all of those wonderful holiday's, fall under the wonderful umbrella of FALL!!!

So far, our Fall has been wonderful! I love getting up in the morning and getting Hayden into the car and smelling the fresh air. It reminds me of the short walk that I would take as a child to get to school each morning. There's nothing like a good memory that is associated with a scent!

Obviously, it has been a fall of "firsts" for us with Hayden. Every experience is heightened with excitement as Todd and I see our little boy perk up and play with the leaves or laugh when the wind blows delicately on his sweet cheeks...

Last Friday when Hayden and I got home, Todd had been in the back yard raking leaves. Now, we have two HUGE trees in our back yard. So far, we have filled two full trash cans, 11 regular bags, and 3 of the orange pumpkin bags full of leaves!, and we're only about half way!! Well, anyway... So we got home and Todd and I thought that it would be fun to take a picture of Hayden in the leaves. Well, we tried it, and all that he wanted to do was eat the leaves. Obviously, we had to take the leaves out of his hands, and he did not like that!!


So then I suggested to Todd that I hold Hayden and we take a picture together.... This one turned out MUCH better....


Then on Saturday we went to the Pumpkin patch with a group of our friends. It was a fairly long drive. All of the pumpkin patches that are in town had a pretty small crop of pumpkins this year b/c of the weather, so we drove about an hour south to the "Happy Apple Farm" in Penrose. It was a georgous drive! (What a beautiful state we live in!)

We took a short hayride from the parking lot to the patch, and then we began our search for the perfect pumpkin!!

Hayride to the patch

Picking out the perfect pumpkin with Hayden

"We got ours" Family Photo!!

And here is the picture of what I affectionately call my "Colorado Springs Family"
From left to right, back row, Sara, Jonathan, baby Tarren, Evelyn, Dan, Todd, me, and Hayden
front row, Andrea and Addison!!

We all had such a wonderful time!! Isn't fall the best!!!

Excer-sauceres and First Feedings...

Well... as I knew would happen, it has been a couple of weeks since our last blog! What can I say... full time Mommy and full time job means not much time for blogging!



This pic is just of Hayden and Mommy hanging out around the house - we felt it was cute enough to put online for the world to see...



Last weekend we drove up to Denver for Lindsay's baby shower and we stayed at Dad and Kristyl's. They hadn't seen Hayden in a while and had a lot of fun with him! We had to cut our trip short because Todd was sick, which was probably good because Kristyl overdid it in the short time that we were there... I don't even want to imagine what sort of agony she would have been in if we'd have stayed another night!!!! Sorry Kristyl!!!



We recently attained an excer-saucer aka. "the best invention EVER"... This wonderful thing has kept Hayden entertained for what feels like HOURS (although it's really probably just 15 minutes, but when you've been trying to make dinner for weeks and are finally able to one night - it feels like forever!!)


And then we come to our first feeding.... This clip is about 2 min 30 sec, it's not super exciting, but it's there if you want to see it. It was fun, I don't think that he actually swallowed any if the food, perhaps tonight (attempt 2...)

Pictures of Hayden

Here are some pictures of Hayden, because just like any proud mom, I've gotta show him off!!!


Hayden and Todd chillin' on the couch - I think he's only 2 weeks or so in this one



Casey and Hayden and Todd's softball game - He's mommy and daddy's "lil swede"!!



Hayden chillin', just waiting to go to daycare!!



Here he is, scooting across the floor already!!



Hanging out with Nana after Hayden's first time swimming! He did such a great job!!



Snoozing on Casey's shoulder - look at those cute lips!!!



Hayden and Todd at the Hotel in Estes Park - Todd wasn't ready to get up yet!!!

Welcome to Blogger

Well, thanks to my 3 sisters, the Gustafson Family is now officially on Blogger!!

Our life is centralized around our little boy. Hayden had his 4 month appt yesterday, and has been very cranky for the past 18 hours as a result of his shots. That is always fun for everyone involved... Luckily for us, he is still as cute as can be, as you can see from the picture of him above that was taken this morning. Hayden is a joy, his is always giggling and cooing. This, in turn, always keeps me and Todd smiling!!

As semi-interesting things begin to happen, we will update you!!

xoxo, Casey