ok... REWIND! Our boy needs some recognition!

Wow.... I can't believe it's taken me this long to update our blog... well actually I can, this summer has been CRaZy! Awesome, amazing, encouraging, but crazy..... So we are going to REWIND a bit and I'll fill you all in about our life in Iraqi Kurdistan soon :)

This post is all about our big boy!

He deserves a little love after a summer of putting him to sleep at all kinds of different places, us trying to move out, live out of suitcases, random eating, etc.

Month 13 and 14 were fun for us as he's starting to be able to communicate more and be more mobile. But here's a glimpse of what he's up too.

• His favorite toys: I called it "Dino" for a long time until I was informed it was a turtle. So then I called it Mertle.
• His favorite sign: "Please" Which is so hard when he asked so politely not to let him have everything he asks for. Ice cream, pick me up, cell phones, etc.
• His favorite word: "Daaaawggg"

• His favorite emotion: scrunchie nose
• His favorite food: Ice cream (he's his mama's boy!)
• 
• His favorite song: "He's got the Whole World in His Hands"
• Firsts: Happy Meal, water slide, lake swim, horsey ride, haircut, plane ride
• 
• Auntie Alice gave him his first haircut! It was also the first day he repeated a word. "Can you say Alice?" and he said "All-is" We have the smartest kid :)
• When we stayed with my parents in St. Ansgar, we spent a couple hours at the STA pool! Zander loved it! Especially the slide, every time we went down with him he would sign "please"

Camping trip at Lake Hendricks with my fam. I was a little nervous because the lake was a little gunky, but he had a blast with my dad!

Zander did great on his first airplane ride. Gave him suckers to help with the take off and landing, and he slept most of it. It helped that they gave us 4 seats for the price of 2!
• His lovies: ISU blankie (G'ma Kriener) Teddy Bear (Great G'ma Kriener)

Those are just glimpses of what he is doing for past 2 months! Not to mention all the "see you soons" we had to say. Since we have been living out of suitcases for past 3+ weeks, he's pretty good at taking everything out of them too and throwing it over his shoulder! :) But today, we finally got to unpack all of those suitcases! And Zander is starting to get back into his routine. As much routine you can have while living in the middle-east. We are ALL learning flexibility and patience :) More on that later!