Camping in November

We went to Huntsville State Park last weekend on a camping trip with our friends Tahlia, Jeff, and Lily Butler and my sister Haley and her family. We just stayed over night Friday night, but we had a great time together and enjoyed some wonderful food. It actually got pretty chilly that night and didn't warm up very fast the next morning. We weren't as prepared as we should have been for the cold morning. It probably got down to the low 50's/high 40's that night, but that is cold to us Houstonians!

It got cold about halfway through the night, so we took Dallin out of the pack-and-play and let him sleep between us in our sleeping bag. He normally doesn't sleep well next to us, but we each took one hand to warm it up, and he slept all night holding our hands. When he woke up the next morning, he looked at me and then turned and looked at Zane and then smiled a huge grin. He was so excited to wake up between us!

Dallin's morning feed

I tried to feed him his bottle cold because that was how he had it during the hurricane, but he would have none of it. (I think the bottle was a little colder having been outside all night than it was during the hurricane on those hot, September days.) Zane had to hurry and start up the stove to get him some warm milk!

Our little family inside our tent

We went on a hike (nature walk really in Houston) and Dallin promptly fell asleep.

Well, he wasn't the only one. His cousin, Caleb, fell fast asleep too.

Dallin and Caleb playing in the "cage." Dallin couldn't stay in the cage long though because leaves would blow in and he would promptly put them in his mouth. Eating leaves leads to choking and throwing up with Dallin (thank goodness he has good reflexes), so he had to sit on some one's lap or in his stroller most of the time.

Snuggling up with dad

When we got home, I put Dallin on the ground with his toys. He was so excited to be able to move around freely, that he immediately popped up and started crawling. He now crawls all over the place. I'm really glad he waited until 9 months to crawl, because I enjoyed the sitting up and playing with toys stage a lot!

National Adoption Day

Saturday is National Adoption Day. It is a day to celebrate adoptions and bring awareness to adoptive and foster care children. One of the many talk radio shows that I listen to is broadcasting about adoptions today and wanted comments from people before the show to help him know what to talk about. I decided I wanted to share a little bit of our story with him in my concern for some political issues of our day. Here is part of what I wrote:

I heard that Obama would like government-funded abortions. If that were a law last year, then we would never have gotten our son. Our son's birth mom got pregnant, didn't know what to do, and so tried to get an abortion. Luckily she didn't have enough money. When she went to try again, she was too far along for an abortion. (The laws of the land protected our son. They of course need to go further in protecting the unborn.) Her mom then told her that she should give the baby up for adoption. She contacted LDS Family Services in Houston and picked us. This was a very hard decision for her because over the course of the pregnancy she grew to love her baby. We spent a month before he was due together getting to know each other. I went with her to a doctor's appointment and heard the heart beat. We were both thrilled. Texas laws require that a birth mom can not sign away her rights until after 48 hours of the birth. We watched our birth mom spend two days in the hospital loving, holding and cuddling her baby. She then signed the paper work and handed our son over to my husband and me. There was not a dry eye in the room as she gave up this little, precious baby to a couple who could give him more. We have an open adoption which is healthiest for all involved. She knows her son is healthy and is loved by us. Our son will grow up knowing he has so many people who love him in his life. He will understand that he has a birth mom who gave him the gift of life and parents who gave him everything else. We love all birth parents. They are our hero for making the harder, selfless decision and loving a baby so much to give him life. By the way, our birth mom is so grateful she didn't abort her baby. She is so proud of him and shows his picture to everyone she meets. She would never consider an abortion again if she ever got pregnant even though she knows how hard it was to give her son to us. But really, after you have held a sweet, precious, new born baby, who could ever think of killing one?

To our birth mom- We love you. Thank you for giving us Dallin.
To Dallin- We are so grateful we have the privilege of being your parents. We love you.
Our daily prayer to God-Thank you for bringing us all together. We have seen and still see miracles in our lives.

I'm a big boy!

Dallin turns 9 months old next Wednesday, the 19th. I took him in to his doctor's to get his flu shot last week and they decided to do his 9 month appointment at the same time. I'm so glad I took him in early because the doctor quickly informed me that Dallin would not be getting his flu shot since he had an ear ache and pink eye. I knew Dallin had a little stuffy nose, but he never had a fever. He was a little cranky, but last week we were also dealing with the time change which Dallin didn't like at all. I noticed his eye was a little pink that morning, but I wasn't concerned about it. We were lucky and caught everything fast, so his pink eye never spread to his other eye and really looked like it was gone after two days. I never got a picture of him looking sick because he never looked or acted sick. He is always a happy baby.

Dallin is 22 pounds 8 ounces (90%), his height is 29 inches (80%), and his head circumference is in the 92nd percentile. No wonder his shirts don't fit over his head! For Christmas he will be getting 18 month clothes and he is only 9 months old! It is a good thing he is so big though as he needs to hold his own with his cousins Caleb and Drew. The big question the doctor had was if Dallin was crawling. There were 6 babies born the same week as Dallin in my church (we had quads born that week.) Dallin is the oldest and he is the only one not crawling! He is so content to roll all over the place. He moves like crazy and rolling gets the job done. In the last week he has started pulling himself on all fours and moving his hands and feet twice. If the toy isn't in reach after that then he flops down and starts crying or rolls to a different toy. Sometimes if he is really determined he will get up again and try some more. I'm sure by next week he will be crawling all over the house. Zane is really glad that he waited to do this new development while he was home since the week before, when Dallin was sick, he was out of the country in Chile on business.

Dallin's latest pose. He loves to roll around and then rolls up on his side and smiles for the camera. His shirt says, "If you think I'm cool, you should see my dad." Dallin wanted to send this picture to Zane while he was in Chile.

Dallin crawling. He is wearing his very cool pj's made by me with help from Grandma. I decided to get really serious about learning to sew. My mom won't be around forever and so it is time to learn some better skills. My mom thinks it is about time!

Dallin's latest trick is to crawl/roll under the piano bench and play with pedals or any feet hanging down. This surprised one of my piano students when he did it for the first time. It is time to bring in the play pen (or the cage as it is called in my family) during piano lessons. Gone are the days when he sits quietly and plays with toys during a lesson.

This is his I know I'm not suppose to be under here look, but I'm too cute for anyone to care.

Halloween

First Halloween with a baby! Can I say that Halloween is so much more fun with kids. In the past, Zane and I would join one of our siblings' families and go out trick or treating with their kids. Thanks for always including us and sharing your kids with us!

This year we went to our church's trunk or treat party where I handed out candy and Zane walked around the parking lot with Dallin in the stroller showing him off. He did snag some candy for himself. Dallin, I think, was confused why he was wearing such a hot outfit. We had a nice, warm Halloween. Dallin's highlight was when Zane gave him a Butterfingers to play with. He sucked on the wrapper and finally those new teeth he has bit through it. He got a taste of chocolate and loved it! The worst part of Halloween for Dallin...having his dad take away that chocolate. Oh well. By 7:30 Dallin was done and wanted to go to bed. We had a great time socializing with friends and seeing all the cute costumes.

Halloween Fun at the Pumpkin Patch

A few weeks ago (I’m a little late updating the blog) our family joined up with Jared, Kari, Drew, and princess Sam at the pumpkin patch. We had a great time having tricycle races, riding a hay ride, seeing the pumpkins, and going fishing in a pond. Everything was fun except the fishing. Jared was determined to catch a fish, and by the time he did, the hook was stuck in the fish’s mouth and neither Jared nor Zane could get it out. Everyone who knows me knows how tender my heart is. It just can’t handle seeing anything tortured, which is why my sister and I never caged up our parakeet and let him fly free around our house, to my mom’s dismay. I digress though. After many attempts to try to get the hook out, I finally ran and found a worker to come help us. To Jared’s and Zane’s credit, it was hard for the worker to get the hook out too, but finally he did and the fish swam free. I think we can say there is no more catch and release fishing for Jared and Zane. Family picture with the pumpkins. Zane was the smart one to wear shorts. It felt nice and cool in the morning, but by afternoon we were sweating.

Looking like a stud on the rocking horse

Tricycle races or bumper cars??? With the boys you never know!

Dallin with one of his best friends Drew. Drew loves to hold Dallin but only for a little because Dallin is just too heavy! No matter how much sqeazing or poking Drew does, Dallin just laughs. Drew will have a little shadow one day. Dallin thinks he is the coolest.

Dallin, happy with the scarecrow

Can I suck on this too? Mmm yum

Too cute!