A great start to 2011

So, I am terrible at updating this thing. My friend Angela was asking on Facebook if anyone had a blog and I remembered this.. I really need to be better about updating this.. so maybe that can be my new years resolution! Yes, I know it's February, but hey, gotta start somewhere, right? I'll try to update this on a monthly basis at least to keep all of you guys that we love, but don't get to see often, up-to-date.

So far, we've had a pretty good 2011! Leeland is growing up so fast and getting so big. He's not only walking like a pro, but he runs now! He is such a sweet boy, but he is learning how to assert himself..aka is learning to throw fits.. haha. It can be very trying of our patience, but we do our best to stick to our guns and stay cool-headed. Leeland is jabbering all the time now, as he is learning to talk and make all kinds of new sounds. The only words he says reliably right now are "dada", "dog", "mama", "more", and "milk". Not even all of those are crystal clear yet. He has said some crazy things a time or two like "dinosaur", my friend, Melissa's name, and other things he's asked about. He's not repeating those yet, but boy, is he like a little sponge right now! He wants to know what everything is! Leeland is also getting very good at pointing, especially when we ask him to show us something in a book.. it's pretty cute!

At Leeland's last check-up a few weeks ago, he was still only 17 1/2 lbs, and 31 inches long! His percentiles are in the average range except for weight, and he's weigh below off the chart for that, but what else would you expect from a Siefken, hehe! He always gets a great, clean bill of health, and our pediatrician is always so sweet and encouraging to me, telling me that I am doing a great job.

Leeland really enjoys playing outside and going new places now. I try to take him somewhere out of the house once a week, and I try to take him out on daily basis, provided the weather cooperates.

As far as happenings other than Leeland, Brent and I have been getting into herpetology. We now own 12 geckos- 11 leopard geckos, and 1 crested gecko. We are currently in the process of breeding the leopard geckos. We have had two successful pairing so far, so we should have our first eggs in a few weeks! Brent and I love all kinds of critters, and reptiles are, in general, pretty easy to care for.. especially when you have previous experience. We found a local online forum here in Knoxville that is a community for other people who are into keeping reptiles as well. We've made some great friends from there, and it's proved to be a great resource. All but one of our geckos have come from someone that belongs to the forum. Right now, we keep most of our geckos in what is called a rack system. They live in plastic boxes that are all in a shelving unit that has heat tape in the back that keeps them warm. It's not the most luxurious way to live, but they don't mind, and it saves space and is a very efficient way to keep a bunch of reptiles. We are having a lot of fun, and we have a good little variety of geckos right now. It's been really neat to learn all about the genetics and what you'll get when you breed this one to that one, etc. It's a great hobby. We are very excited to see what kind of babies we'll get!

This past weekend, we actually met up with our forum friends and a bunch of us went to a place in Sevierville called Rainforest Adventures. It's basically an exotic zoo. They have all kinds of neat reptiles, birds, and furry critters! They even have caymans and lemurs! We got to see a live show, and that was really fun! We got to pet all kinds of exotic animals- including a porcupine, a young alligator, and the BIGGEST albino Burmese python that I have ever seen! She was easily twelve feet long! I talked to a parrot who told me "Happy Birthday!" and held a blue-tongued skink. We all had a great time getting to see all the critters and look around. We got Leeland this little stretchy, rubbery type centipede bug thing.. haha, it's hard to explain. Anyways, he LOVES this thing! He carries it around everywhere, and even sleeps with it! It's like his little lovey. It's funny.

Here soon, we plan on going to the Dixie Reptile Show in Birmingham, AL. It'll be a great place to acquire more critters, as well as get a great deal on food for all our guys and maybe even another rack. I will be sure to take pictures and do a blog update about it afterwards!


We've also been working on upgrading our salt-water aquarium. The biggest change is new LED lights-- they look awesome!

Okay, whew! I'm done for now! I'm going to leave you with some recent pictures of Leeland, and of our geckos so you all can see what I am talking about! We send our love to everyone reading this, and we hope all of you are well! <3