Mesmerized by Nemo and Dory...

Loving the fishes! Isn't this just the cutest?!?

Man do we ever love the Georgia Aquarium! Yesterday we ventured down to Atlanta for a little family outing to see the fish and we had so much fun. It was Sawyer's first ever trip to the aquarium and to say he loved it would be an understatement. He was in amazement. Mesmerized. It was SO much fun to watch. As for Hayden, he is apparently an aquarium pro. You would have thought we had been 100 times the way he took us from exhibit to exhibit. He knew exactly what he wanted to do and he acted as our tour guide from the moment we got there until the moment we exited the building. He pretty much called every fish Nemo and Dory, but other than that minor missed detail in the naming of the fish, he did a great job being our Georgia Aquarium tour guide! I'm pretty certain Sawyer loved the fact that all the fish were called Nemo and Dory, because he would crack up laughing each a every time Hayden called out their name. My favorite part of the whole trip was watching Hayden instruct Sawyer. We would sit Sawyer in front of the tanks so he could touch them and see the fish up as close as possible, and each and every time Hayden would go sit or stand along side of him and tell him how to look at the fish. He was very specific. There were certain fish he wanted him to see and a certain way he wanted his head to turn. For the most part Sawyer loved the instruction, but there were a few times Daddy or I had to intervene just so he didn't push Sawyer over trying to turn him or his head. If Sawyer wasn't doing what Hayden wanted him to be doing we would hear "Momma/Daddy, Saw not seeing right fish." It was so funny to me that he wanted Sawyer to be facing a certain direction or turning his head a certain way to follow one specific fish. He could not understand that maybe Sawyer didn't want to watch the same fish as him. At one point I did attempt to explain this to him, but he quickly let me know "Saw want do what Hayen(he leaves the "d" out of his name when he says it) want do." Priceless I tell you, priceless.

One of the many instruction moments! If only this was a
video so you could have heard him as well. Hilarious!

One of the many times they were thoroughly
enjoying each others company!
Love these boys!

We saw some of our Georgia Aquarium favorites while we were there...

And even spotted some we had missed the last time we were there!

Like this cool guy!

And this GIANT Japanese spider crab!

I thought this Discus was so pretty!

And Daddy loved this White American Alligator!

Hayden could not get over how many of the "same" fish
were swimming together at once. He was amazed.
They were definitely one of his favorites!
Oh, and explaining the difference
between his school and this
school of fish was very
interesting to say
the least!

As for Sawyer... he loved all of the fish! But he especially
loved this tank with the "real" Nemo and Dory!:)
Didn't surprise me one bit they
were his fav. It was only
appropriate!

How cute is this?!? They do have things in common!

Like I said... Hayden was pretty much in charge of which
fish we looked at and when! His little pointer
finger was working in overdrive all day!

And Sawyer was pretty much in the aquarium most of the day!
He loved the fact that he could reach out and
touch the fish/bang on the glass!

And he especially loved waving to them... and me! Not too sure
what happened to the camera here, but I had
to include the waving pic!:)

I also had to get my pic with Sawyer. It was
after all his very first trip to the aquarium!

And, at one point I thought it would be a good idea to get a picture
of me with both boys... this one pretty much sums up how
crazy it is with the two of them at the moment!

Anytime I am holding Sawyer it is pretty much a given that Hayden is going to walk over and want me to hold him as well. That is pretty much what happened in this pic. I was holding Sawyer and we were going to look at the fish together, when along came Hayden! It can get pretty chaotic, but it sure is sweet how they love on their Momma!

So sweet...

And happy!

When I say he enjoyed his first trip to the aquarium,
I mean he enjoyed every.single.fish! I'm pretty
sure he didn't miss seeing one of them!

Hayden was enjoying it so much he decided to get comfortable!

Sawyer even got brave and stood at a few of the tanks!
I just love this picture. Isn't it crazy how a
picture that doesn't even have
a face can say so much...

You all know how much Hayden loves slides, so you can imagine when we saw the famous whale slide what we had to do right?!? Yep. We slid down. Over, and over, and over! And when I say we, I mean we. All four of us ventured down it! Hayden's orders of course...

Coming straight from the belly of the whale!

If you could see how small and dark the inside of this
slide(aka the whale's mouth) was you would
understand why Sawyer's face looks like
it does. Oh, and did I mention
how fast it went?

But of course none of that bothered slide expert Hayden... he loved it!

Along with this stationary seahorse he kept calling a "ride!"

I told you this boy LOVED his first trip to the aquarium!

It even looked like he might take off crawling at one point.
Don't worry though... he decided to stay put!:)

Oh how I love that Hayden just had to cover his
mouth for our family pic! I guess you'll
just have to imagine the smile
that is under there!:)

We also ventured to the new Dolphin Tales show while we were at the aquarium. It was pretty cool getting to see dolphins do a show in the middle of Atlanta, but a little scary for Hayden. Honestly it's not scary, he's just going through this phase right now where the "scary" music and really dark scenes get under his skin. He did make it through the show, and loved the parts where the dolphins lit up and jumped really high, but it was definitely not one of his favorite parts of the day. He just wasn't crazy about the really dark parts with the eerie music. Within a 30 second time frame I would hear "Ooooo, tool(his word for cool)" and then have a face buried in my shoulder. He really did want to like it, he just couldn't. Poor guy. He clapped for like 5 minutes when he realized it was finally over! Sawyer on the other hand thought it was great. He thoroughly enjoyed the entire thing! Well, it was probably a little on the long side for him, but he really did enjoy it.

Right before the show started...

These "pint size" tanks definitely beat out the dolphins
in the excitement category for Hayden!

I kid you not when I say they were both asleep
before we could even walk to the car. Don't
you just love Sawyer's drool?!? Ha!

We might have been outside the aquarium for 2 minutes tops before they looked like this. It was like as soon as they knew we were done at the aquarium they could take a nap! It wasn't like we were keeping them awake inside, I'm guessing they just didn't want to miss anything. I don't blame them though... the fish were pretty awesome!

Until next time...

We'll see you again soon Nemo and Dory. Thanks for helping make our day at the Georgia Aquarium super special!

All in 2.5 seconds...

Love him!

Hayden turning 2.5 that is. It is just crazy how fast it all goes by. I have always said Hayden has the ability to light up an entire room, and that has not changed one bit. He can make you smile in an instant. His sense of humor is unmatched. The boy wakes up going at full speed(a lot like his Momma!) and doesn't slow down all day long. Most of the time he is asking me what we are going to do next before we even finish what we are currently doing. His type A personality just wants to know the schedule... no big deal right?!? Well, right, until that schedule includes something he isn't too excited about. He is known to throw a good tantrum! The child can turn up the volume and turn on the waterworks in an instant. Amazing. It is always justified of course(in his mind anyways!). He likes to get his way and he makes sure you know what his way is. For example, he does not want to be potty trained. He has not been interested in the idea of using his potty for quite a while now and I don't see that changing. He is just fine in his diaper... actually likes it to be exact. Doesn't even mind when it's dirty. I'm pretty sure we will have to force the potty training when we are ready to take the plunge! The words "NO" and "POTTY" are understood perfectly in his vocabulary. He can talk very clearly when he needs to! Although he talks all.the.time, most people don't understand half of what he says. He talks way too fast and hasn't mastered enough of his words for most people to understand him. Me on the other hand... every.single.word. understood perfectly. I know, that alone is probably half of the reason he doesn't talk more clearly to everyone else. He gets better each and every day, so I know it won't be long before the whole world can understand him. The problem then will be getting him to be quiet long enough for you to get a word in! Forget being in a room with the two of us together! His favorite toy at the moment is Woody(and Woody's hat... the hat must accompany him at all times!) which brings out Hayden's imagination to the fullest extent. I didn't even know kids at his age could have such a big imagination, but now I do. I often hear them "talking" and "singing" together, and always, always hear them laughing! He has even be known to get Woody's opinion when he is doing something he might should think twice about doing. It is safe to say Woody has helped keep him out of quite a few time out sessions by talking him out of doing something naughty. "Otay" I'll overhear him telling Woody, "Otay, not do that." Thank goodness for Woody! Truth be told, Hayden is actually a rule follower. He likes to please and really tries hard to do whatever it is that you want him to do. I think he is making Woody a rule follower too! I love that they are such great friends and have such a good time playing together. Sometimes I feel bad for Woody because it seems like he gets thrown around an awful lot, but I have come to find out that is just part of their relationship. Woody must like it because they laugh about it together all.the.time. I love that his imagination is so big, and I hope it is something that never leaves him. It is so much fun to watch. Although his imagination is big, he's not all right brained! He still loves doing his puzzles and he is really loving spelling lately. We spell everything around here. So much so the other day we were in Target and he read the letters on a sign at the checkout counter. "D-A-Y" he said, and then "Hey Momma, those letters say day." Who knew all the spelling he was doing was going to help entertain him in Target! I think the spelling fascination is enhanced because his favorite show at the moment is Super Why!, which is all about reading and spelling. Yay for a somewhat educational show! As much as he likes his shows, it sure does help me say yes to him watching one when I know he is learning something from them! He knows all of the theme songs to each and every show and has different dances for each one of them. One day I will have to introduce you to his singing voice. Hilarious. And his favorite song at the moment being Old MacDonald makes for an even more hilarious singing voice! Speaking of singing, he hasn't really mastered his ABC's yet, but he thinks he has. Really funny by the way! He can however count to 10, but still needs reassurance from us the entire time he is doing it. The odd thing is, he needs no reassurance on his incorrect ABC's!:) Go figure! He loves his brother to pieces and gets so much love from him in return. He thoroughly enjoys helping with all things Sawyer including feeding, bathing and screaming "Shooo Weeee" every time I have to change one of his poopy diapers. At least he will throw that stinky diaper away for me! He is my big helper. Yep, he is still pretty much attached to my hip. Of course I like that about him. When he decides to leave my hip I'm sure I'll shed a million tears. We spent his half birthday at the place he loves most... the "part." AKA, the park. If you ask him 100 times what he wants to do, 100 of the times he will say "d part Momma, lets dough to d part!" So, naturally, we visit quite a few parks around here. Of course he had to get what he wanted on his half birthday! His favorite things to do at the park are sliding and swinging, but he will try any and everything they have for him to try. Lately he has really wanted Sawyer to be doing everything with him which is so cute. I know they are going to have a blast playing together for years to come. Sawyer certainly had fun joining in with him today! We had fun celebrating your half birthday with you today Hayden! We love you!

Hayden thoroughly enjoyed his time on the swing...

Especially when Sawyer was swinging next to him!

They could not stop laughing at each other the entire time!

Honestly I had as much fun as they did! It is so much fun for me to watch them have such a good time together! By the looks of the pictures on the swing I know you would have to think that it was Hayden's favorite part of the park, but boy would you be wrong. He LOVES to slide. "I'll side down, I'll side down" is what I hear the entire ride to the park. Then "Bye, bye side down", accompanied by a wave and all is what I hear as we are leaving the park. It is amazing how much fun a slide provides for him!

Holy static!:)

Ready to slide!

So happy!

This is by far the biggest slide he has ever gone down...

And he loved every single second of it!

Even the getting to the top part!:)

Pretty brave of him huh?!? I really can't believe I even let him attempt this, but he begged and begged so I finally gave in. Truth be told, once he climbed to the very top he asked me to come and get him down, but because I had Sawyer I told him he would have to slide like he had told me he wanted to do. Honestly I thought I was going to have to take Sawyer with me to go and get him, but turns out after a few minutes of talking to himself and doing what I like to call "pumping himself up" he found the courage to slide. I could literally hear him mumbling to himself from the bottom. Once I realized he was actually going to do it, I was nervous and excited for him all at the same time. I almost didn't want him to enjoy it because I knew he would want to do it over and over again, but at the same time I hoped it was fun for him because he was so excited to do it. I promised I would be at the bottom to catch him, and like I said before he LOVED it! Didn't even need Momma to catch him. Fun times!

Another day he got super brave and decided to try
going down backwards on his tummy!

AND, he even tried to get Sawyer to go down with him a time or two!

Thank goodness Sawyer let go... I'm pretty sure his trip down
the slide would not have been a great memory for him!

I am excited for the day they can actually safely do this together, because I know they are going to have so much fun. Everything is more fun when you have someone to do it with... especially when you are Hayden! He makes tons of instant friends the minute we get to the park. He really loves when someone will entertain him by chasing him around and doing everything he is doing. I'm sure it won't be much longer until that friend chasing him around is Sawyer! Until then I am going to enjoy watching Sawyer do this...

Sitting as happy as can be!

He will just sit and watch Hayden play the entire time we are at the park. Occasionally he naps in the stroller, but usually he gets up on the playground with Hayden and watches every move he makes. I do get up there and help Sawyer go down the slide a time or two, but for the most part Sawyer is happy just sitting and watching. He loves watching everything his big brother can do! I'm sure he's taking notes for the future!

Loving the playground!

Slide, slide, slide...

Sometimes I think Hayden has as much fun climbing up the playground apparatuses as he does sliding down! He has gotten pretty good at all the different ways to get to the top...

Hayden doesn't just play... he enjoys every single minute!

And just for the record... walking is not in Hayden's vocabulary!

Until it is time to leave that is...

Then we usually have a mini-meltdown!:(

And 9 times out of 10 the ride home looks like this!

All that playing at the park wears him out! Well, that and the fact that his favorite morning activity is this...

Looks like a ton of fun right?!?

That's right... he likes making a mess just like Sawyer! The only difference is Hayden knows how to clean up his mess all.by.himself. Talk about exhausting!:) Doesn't stop him though... he's always chop full of energy!

He loves splashing in the water at the park!

And finding the perfect rocks to throw into the water!

Ready to go see what kind of a splash he can make!

Believe it or not he enjoys navigating his way through all these tree roots!
The first few times we went to this park this year he wanted me
holding his hand the entire way, but now he doesn't even
want me around. Of course I am always right there next
to him in case he goes for a tumble. It is actually
harder than you would think to make your
way through all the nature...

But it is so worth it!

I tried to get him to sit on this rock and let me get a picture of him
but as you can see he did not want to partake in that activity!

I did however think this turned out super cute! Nice pout!

Happy 2.5 Sweet Hayden!