First Time Swimming!

While on our vacation in San Antonio, we went to Canyon Lake to go swimming. Dallin loves bath time, but the late was just ok for him. He was a little apprehensive, but didn’t cry. Unfortunately, we were only able to go out once because then a huge, Texas rainstorm hit and we were running to the car. Well first, grandma protected the babies while I ran after our canopy that blew away with the wind that preceded the rain storm. What an adventure! (Sorry, no pictures of me running down the beach after the canopy!)

I love to eat!

Dallin's doctor told us to start him on cereal. At first more came out then went in, but now he loves it. He only cries when we don't get it in fast enough! The second picture was when we were on vacation. Dallin ate his cereal and then fell asleep in the high chair before he finished. He was definitely tired!

Uncle Clayton Changing a Diaper

One of the funniest parts of our recent vacation was watching my younger brother with the babies. He is still very awkward, holding them away from him in case they spit-up. By the end of the vacation, he was getting better.

Clayton brought his girlfriend with us to San Antonio. Although 3 years younger than Clayton, we all soon thought she was way more mature than my brother. While we were at the lake, Clayton grabbed someone's towel and started drying off. We told him that wasn't his, and he replied, "Well who brought me a towel?". Then we started eating lunch, and he asked who made him a sandwich. In his defense though, he did have two older sisters growing up who thought he was super cute. We may have babied him too much!

First family vacation...

We went on our first family vacation with Dallin to San Antonio. We rented a house with my family, and all my brothers and sisters came except for one sister at BYU and a sister-in-law who was put on bedrest right before the vacation. Dallin had many firsts...first trip to Seaworld, first tube ride down a river, first time swimming in a lake, first fire works, and first road trip (well mini-road trip.) Dallin was wonderful through it all even the rain storm that hit us while we were on the beach at Canyon Lake (that's Texas weather, one minute sunny, and the next a rain storm.) He and I ran like crazy back to the car as the wind and rain came pounding down. He was pretty scared for a little, but then calmed down. He did enjoy getting in the water before the storm though. Being all together has some ups and downs. We stayed up late every night laughing and playing games, but the babies still got up at 7 a.m., so no one got a lot of sleep. Every time you try to take a nap, some baby is being loud somewhere in the house, but the good times make up for all of it. Again, Dallin is a fantastic baby and very adaptable to any situation! (This picture is at the Japanese Tea Gardens which were beautiful. They are free and totally worth going to.)

Turner's Come to Visit

The Turner's, the family Zane lived with in high school, finally had enough courage to come to Houston and brave the heat. We enjoyed visiting together, went to NASA--where we really experienced heat as we waited in line for an hour and a half for a tour, and went to President George Bush's library. We had a great time and Dallin was fantastic as we ran around places.

Cousins

Drew just turned 3 years old. He is a great helper with Dallin and loves to play with his swing. He lets me know when baby Dallin is sleeping, happy, or sad. Caleb is 10 months (6 months older then Dallin). We sometimes call him "Little Monster" because he likes to pick on Dallin. Dallin is now starting to fight back though!

Pictures of Dallin

Our Brave Boy

When Dallin was 6 weeks old, he started throwing up almost every bottle. Dallin and I would cry most of the day as he couldn't figure out why he kept throwing up and I couldn't fix it. We went to many doctor's appointments trying to find out what was wrong. Finally the doctor figured out he had pyloric stenosis which means his pyloric muscle was growing too thick and not allowing any food to get into his intestines. His stomach would then blow up like a balloon and eventually the food came bursting out. We were refered to a fantastic pediatric surgeon who quickly got on top of things. We were sent straight to Texas Children's hospital where Dallin was hooked up to an IV. Tears and nerves continued as we watched doctors and nurses poke Dallin and put needles into him. He wasn't allowed a bottle, but eventually (after much crying) he took his pacifier and didn't let it go again. This pacifier saved us. We spent the night in the hospital, and the next day Dallin went into surgery. It was so hard for me to let them take Dallin, but our doctor kept cracking jokes to calm me down. Dallin was so brave and so good. The surgery lasted only 45 minutes, but it felt like forever. After 28 hours, Dallin was finally allowed a 2 oz bottle of pedialyte. He sucked that down and then was furious he couldn't have any more. We had to start very slow to make sure Dallin didn't throw up again. We fed him every two hours gradually increasing the amount until finally after 48 hours, Dallin was able to have some formula. It still wasn't much, and he still got mad when we took it away. Grandma and Grandpa came to visit us in the hospital which helped relieve Zane and me. Dallin was great though and didn't throw up again, so after spending two days in the hospital, we were released to go home. Once we were home, Dallin didn't take any pain medicine. The doctor said that if he cried, he was hungry. Dallin drank so much formula that he regained his weight and then some. He is now a chunky baby in the 80th percentile for his weight (he was in the 25th when he was born.) He sure was a trooper through the whole experience!

Welcome Home Dallin!

Dallin's two best friends, his cousins Caleb and Drew, were Dallin's first visitors along with Grandma and Grandpa. Everyone came rushing over to our house as soon as we got home to meet Dallin. Before they got there, Zane and I were wondering what to do. We had spent the last six years trying to figure out how to get a baby, that we hadn't thought a lot about what we do when we got one! We figured everything out pretty fast. I love staying home now and hanging out with my sister and sister-in-law while the little boys play!

Adoption: Our Special Miracle

This is a picture of Dallin's birth mom and me holding his hands, and Zane putting his hand on top. Dallin was 48 hours old when we received him. The placement was very special and spiritual. We love his birthmom for the wonderful gift that she gave us. She is a special person who loves Dallin very much. Adoption really is all about love. All three of us believe that Dallin was meant to come to our home and that his birthmom was lead to us. Dallin's journey to our home happened because of the many guardian angels watching over him guiding him to our home.