Aquarium

This is one of our favorite family activites. We went twice last year, once with this field trip group and once as a family. We keep getting free tickets, so there is no excuse not to go. When we go as a field trip, we pay a very discounted price which includes unlimited rides. This is such a sweet deal because when we go, we have to ride the shark train five times as least, hit the carousal multiple times, and do the ferris wheel at least twice. We also enjoy going through the aquarium multiple times because then we might actually see everything since Dallin doesn't pause too long at each exhibit. I'm not sure why the aquarium has a white tiger, but he is also a hit. Since this was a field trip, Zane was working. I was a little nervous about being by myself with a two-year-old and a baby, but lots of people stepped in and helped when I needed two hands (or had to feed.) Here are all the pictures from our fun day!

Dallin touching sting rays and apparently not happy about being in a picture with his mom. I sure hope he doesn't think he is too cool for me already!

He was much happier to hang out with his best friend Ruby

My super cute boys all bundled up. My relatives in Utah would have been in short sleeves and shorts, but it was cold for us!

Since I was holding Gavin, I didn't get a picture of us. Gavin and I were on the dolphin next to Dallin. Gavin really enjoyed the carousal.

Hanging out with cousin Caleb on the Ferris wheel

Content to be cuddled

The scary white tiger!

Best Friends

The shark train: this train goes under a huge tank filled with sharks. Every bedtime story now is about sharks. We have read every book we can find on sharks and looked at tons of pictures. It is Dallin's new favorite animal.

The huge brown eyes with the eyelashes- Isn't he adorable!

Enjoying my day with my boys

Gavin's a sitter!

Gavin's been a supportive sitter for awhile, but now he can sit for long periods of time playing with toys without me worrying about him falling. This is one of my favorite stages. He can entertain himself and is stationary!

Love of Books

We missed the moment, but Haley and I walked into this room with Dallin and Caleb surrounded by these books and looking through them (by the time we grabbed the camera they discovered the truck too.) Dallin is really into looking at books right now and being read to. His favorite though is for daddy and mommy to make up stories. We are not the best story tellers, but he loves them. He is constantly asking for me to tell him another story. The stories usually involve something scary like a monster, banshee, or alligator attacking something and Dallin saving the day (sometimes he saves the day with the help of El Materdor and Lightning McQueen). His friends have all become characters in his stories especially his girl friends. Dallin helps make them up with us, picks the character, and the adventure. Right now, every story involves sharks since we just went to the aquarium and our theme for preschool this month is under the sea.

I love that he loves books and stories so much!

Pictures Are Here!

The whole group of people who joined in our special day plus the kids who stayed in the waiting room. (We are missing a few special friends who didn't want to be in the pictures...you know who you are.)

Just the family- My Grandma Skolmoski visited us from Utah and joined us.

This picture cracked me up. Typical Caleb and Dallin

All the grandchildren

Our cute forever family

Kids with Grandma and Grandpa

So sweet

We love these boys!

Thanks Kara for taking such great pictures!

Climbing and Jumping

Dallin was invited to his first birthday party. It was at a local gym and he had a fantastic time. Surprisingly, he was a little shy at the beginning and made sure I was right by him before he tried any of the activities. This place is really perfect for Dallin. There was a lot of climbing and jumping!




We can't wait to play at this place again!

Outside Work Got Done!!!

When Zane and I both try to do outside work together, we usually get about 30 minutes in before one of us needs to stop and do something for one of the boys. This day though, we both worked for two hours straight. It was amazing.

Dallin was a fabulous helper with raking all our leaves that we ignored during the Christmas break. He enjoyed jumping in the leaves, but he also used his rake to help rake and then put them in the bag.

After about an hour, Dallin was done with leaves and spent the next hour playing with this box and his cars. Boxes make the greatest toys!

He took a nap through part of the work and then enjoyed watching everyone from this seat the rest of the time. The leaves and grass were very entertaining!

Playing Together

They entertain each other and I love it!!!

For me, having just one child was harder in many ways because Dallin always needed me to entertain him. He still needs that although he is getting better at playing with his cars by himself. Gavin though is completely happy to look at Dallin, play with Dallin's toys, laugh at Dallin, and just play with Dallin. Dallin is thrilled that someone thinks he is so funny and is such an admiring fan. It is wonderful.

When Gavin is crying, all I have to do is ask Dallin to go make him happy. Dallin is thrilled to make silly noises, growl like a lion, and even do a high pitch screech that hurts the rest of our ears. Gavin laughs and encourages him.

Gavin is really into touching everything. It cracks me up when Dallin tells me that Gavin pulled his hair, "hit" him etc. I've tried to explain that Gavin is just a baby and doesn't know what his hands are doing, but that doesn't work. So now I tell Gavin to please keep his hands to himself and to say sorry to Dallin. Dallin usually gives him a kiss then so everything is all better.

Where ever I put Gavin, Dallin will soon come seek him out and join in the fun. So when Gavin was put in the pack N play to play while I cooked dinner, Dallin jumped in with the Banshee and I cooked dinner without the usual crying in the background. Wonderful.

I love when Dallin asks where Gavin is and gets frustrated that is sleeping again. I love when Gavin is crying and Dallin tells him, "It's ok. I'm right here." I love that Gavin is rarely fussy or bored in the car. He just watches Dallin make funny faces at him. I love that Gavin is so tough. He apparently loves having Dallin head bunt his stomach. It seems counter productive to ask Dallin to be softer when Gavin is laughing so hard. I love when Dallin gives Gavin kisses and tells Gavin he is his best friend.

Having two boys is wonderful! How I hope they still are best friends when they are teenagers.

Six Months

Gavin turned 6 months old on December 26th. It was a big day for him because it was his baby blessing day. Zane gave him a wonderful blessing during church and of course he chocked up after saying the first word. It is nice that he gets so emotional because it gives me time to write down the blessing. After church we had a luncheon at our house where Gavin got even more attention.

Six months was also a big month for Gavin developmentally. He finally decided to roll over. (He definitely has a stubborn streak in him!) He is also close to sitting up on his own. He still leans over too far and struggles to pull his head back. His hands are also everywhere trying to grab everything.

He started jumping in this toy and it is his favorite.

He met some family members for the first time: Great-Grandma Skolmoski (4 generation picture)

and Aunt Kara and Uncle Clayton

Gavin is still a very happy, giggling baby. Despite his size, he doesn't eat a lot. He will go 7 hours between his first and second bottle with a cereal feeding in between. Every once in awhile he will cry for a bottle, but for the most part, I don't know when he is hungry because he just giggles. He likes to drink between 20 and 24 ounces a day and if I don't squeeze that in during the day, he will want it at night. Sometimes though, he just isn't interested in having his bottle and he will end the day with only 10 ounces. This makes for a bad night.

The doctor said Gavin is done with breathing treatments for now. His sleeping has improved, but he still wakes up every day between 5 and 5:30 a.m. We put him back to sleep and then he will sleep until 6:30 a.m. We haven't been able to break the 5 a.m. wake up habit. Lately, it has taken at least 20 minutes to put back to sleep. One day, I might actually get a night's sleep without interruption. That's not our story right now though. I don't see any improvement in the near future either because Gavin sleeps wonderfully if he is swaddled, but if he gets out, he will wake up multiple times during the night. He is getting too big and too strong to be swaddled. I'm not sure what we will be trying next.

Here are Gavin's stats:
Height: 27 in (75%)
Weight: 19 pounds 8 ounces (80%)
Head: 43 cm (30%)

Interestingly enough, here are Dallin's stats at 6 months:
Height: 27 1/2 inches
Weight: 19 pounds 8 ounces
Head: 45 cm

I wonder what this does to the nature vs nurture argument. Maybe height and weight has more to do with nurture in the end.

Chrilden's Museum

Our adoption group enjoyed a fun day at the Children's Museum over the Christmas break. This museum was huge. We didn't have time to delve into all its secrets, so we will have to come back! We also enjoyed spending time with other families whose lives have been blessed by adoption!

Gavin was content to stay in the stroller and watch the world around him. He slept when he was suppose too, smiled at everyone, and of course giggled.
Dallin enjoyed playing and exploring.

Just the Two of Us

On December 27th, Zane and I celebrated our 9th year anniversary. Being married to Zane is the best. He had two weeks off of work during Christmas and spent the entire time focusing on us. He spent the week before Christmas watching the boys a lot while I get last minute Christmas projects done and then he worked on his projects which are really my projects. With extra family in town, we hosted dinners, game nights, and a New Year's Eve party. He didn't complain when I said over and over again, "People are coming over! We need to clean up the house!" and just started cleaning. Zane carries a lot of weight on his shoulders with a high pressure, very busy job, but he always finds time for our family and is always willing to help. He even helps with the endless preschool prep of cutting, laminating, and cutting some more. For Christmas, we decided to switch out some of our kitchen appliance (some turned into a lot actually) and he spent every free moment he had last week trying to figure out how to put these appliances in and finally succeeding.

We spent our anniversary this year very simply (remember he had just bought me a bunch of appliances) and went out to dinner together. I didn't have to cook or clean and we had a wonderful dinner just the two of us. It was perfect. I'm looking forward to many, many more wonderful years with such a wonderful man.

Baby's First Christmas

Typical first Christmas: Ate wrapping paper
Played with toes while big brother checked out the new baby toy

Stocking full of practical things like baby food and new paci's.

The best part of Christmas for Gavin was lots of people around who love to give him attention!

A Very Mater Christmas

Every Christmas and birthday, Zane and I spend a long time pondering the best toys to get Dallin. Really we are looking for the miracle toy. Dallin is a very social kid. Even as a baby, he liked to be in the middle of the action. He has a difficult time playing by himself. If I'm not playing with him, then he is following me around the house trying to help me or getting mad if I'm doing something that he can't help me with (when I'm making dinner, Dallin has a very hard time.) We keep thinking we could buy a toy that he loves so much that he would play independently with it. We have not succeeded yet until this Christmas.

Eli is Dallin's friend and our neighbor. He has cool toys. Dallin tells me about Eli's cool toys constantly. If the garage is left open, then Dallin will sneak over to Eli's house to play with the cool toys. It wasn't hard this year to figure out what Dallin wanted for Christmas...anything Eli has. Eli has a lot of Mater's. You can buy a Mater for most of Mater's Tall Tales (which is now Dallin's favorite movie.) So, this Christmas, most of Dallin's presents had to do with Mater. One toy Eli has is the Banshee from the Disney Cars Ghostlight movie. It was difficult to find this toy, but luckily Santa worked his magic and it was under the tree Christmas morning.

Zane and I were really excited for Christmas morning. The two toys that show up in Dallin's made up bed time stories the most are El Materdor and the Banshee. Grandma gave Dallin El Materdor on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning he had his own Banshee!

He didn't have the reaction we were looking for. I think he was confused with presents just showing up under the tree. Within a few hours though, Dallin informed me that he had cool toys like Eli. These toys sleep with Dallin and hang out in our car a lot when we are doing errands.

My dream has come true. Dallin will wake up each morning and instead of asking to watch TV, is excited because his cool toys are still out and he can play with them. Zane and I have also caught Dallin actually playing independently at times. It is beautiful to see and I discovered how much I love Mater and the Banshee.

A couple of nights ago we were playing as a family. When Dallin told us our characters, we assumed we were going to pretend to be these characters as we play wrestled (Dallin's favorite game.) Apparently that wasn't the plan. Instead we were going to play with the El Materdor toy which is a one person toy. You push a button and El Materdor rides around a track to jump over the bulldozer and land on a ramp that if you land right, the roses fall over. I got to be the bulldozer (which if we were going to wrestle, would be a fun character) and Zane was the roses (which is a totally lame character wrestling or just playing with the toy. Zane though figured out a way to make the roses cool. I wish I caught that on camera.).

Christmas was a success and so much fun. Just wait until I blog what I got for Christmas....

I know I'm way late, but Happy Mater Christmas everyone!