7 Months & Growing

Our little Spud is growing like a weed - a "Dyl" weed I guess! He is now 7 months old and 70 times cuter than I thought possible! We can't get enough of this guy and we spend a good portion of each day telling him and each other how much we love him and how we can't believe how cute he is.

On March 3rd he learned to sit all by himself! He probably could have done it a little earlier had I thought to try it! He balanced really well from the first try and wants to be sitting anytime he isn't sleeping! If he falls over, he does a continuous crunch until someone helps him back up.

Grandma & Grandpa Hanson came for a visit from Ely in March. Spud is so cute with them, I love how he is looking at Sam in this one! Grandpa Sam put shaving cream on his little nose. It was so funny watching him try to look at it and wonder! A great shot of Spud & Daddy! He LOVES that daddy!I took him for his 6 month appt (a few weeks late) on the 23rd of March. He had only gained a half pound since he had RSV in Feb! The doc thinks the RSV (which he handled like a champ)just slowed him down a bit. He weighed 16 lbs 12 oz - 24th percentile (he had been in the 42nd in Feb). He was 27.4 inches long - 70th percentile (previously 55th, so I guess he is long and skinny). His cute head is 17.1 inches around - 31st percentile. He had been right down the middle with everything, now a little small. He eats like it's nobody's business though - so we don't mind him staying little! He loves pretty much everything I try to feed him - except MEAT! He hates any of the baby food with meat in it. It is hilarious to watch him eat it. He takes a few bites and then starts gagging a bit and twitching uncontrollably. He also will not take anything somewhat solid. He does the twitchy/gag thing with the tiniest bit of bread or anything!

Here he is on the 23rd - pretty happy for a kid who just got 4 shots. I guess he was in a tylenol-induced daze! The sweet little man is just getting more fun! He laughs and smiles all the time. People always ask me if he ever cries - I am spoiled! He does cry, and he is starting that "spoiled cry" these days and giving me fits for taking things away from him or not feeding him immediately. I take pretty good care of the kid - he has nothing to complain about, so he'll just have to deal with it! We are working on clapping hands - which he does a little. And he seems to be waving at people the last couple days - I'm not convinced that it's on purpose though. But, I think he is a genius anyway!

Happy Easter!

We had a nice Easter, I love when Conference is on Easter - it makes it such a nice, relaxing day! Dylan thought his new stuff was awesome and he was so cute and happy all day. We had a great time with the Beckstrom's (Grandma Rolayne's family) - but my camera battery died before I could get any pics of our cute cousins holding Spud. Dylan got this beach chair which he loves just looking at, a ducky, and a "Spud Bunny" Potato Head (which is pretty hideous, but I had to get it for my Spud)!

Why do we bother giving him toys when all he really wants is to eat paper & wrappers.

Spud's Easter card from his Grandma! He loves paper for some reason so this card was the best thing ever! Thanks Grandma Mia!

We also found this Beach Ball someone gave us and blew it up. He LOVES it!

Celebrating Jonny with Patty

March 30th would have been my brother Jon's 32nd birthday. He only lived to see 26 birthdays and it's very strange for me to be older now than he was when he died. He was an amazing guy, even with the life ending drug addiction he suffered from for about 6 years. He did more than his share of bad things in life - but always let me know he loved me, never denied that he knew and believed the gospel of Jesus Christ, and was a famously good friend. We are 4 years apart and he adored me as a baby, held me down and farted on my face as a teenager, and told me he admired me as an adult. Not too long before he died I was introduced to the sounds of Patty Griffin by my dear friend, Liz. How could she have known how badly I would need Patty that summer? She has several songs about death that helped me then, and have continued to help me cope with my brothers death. I have taken many lonely road trips for work in which I had to pull over to cry while listening to Patty and thinking about Jon. It was quite fitting that Patty came to town on his birthday! Listen at www.pattygriffin.com. Or watch this video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spnBPl7Xpko it is a song called "Goodbye" which describes so well how I feel about Jon.

It is so amazing to see someone live that you have only listened to in your car! We loved the show - she is amazing! Go listen to her, it will change your life (it changed mine, and Steve's too)!

Aren't we cute? Doesn't Spud totally have my face?
The cutest picture of Jon ever. He loved to dress up in my dads Army duds.Visiting Jon on Christmas - in RehabUs at the show, Steve has a hard time with the camera sometimes. Below is Liz, who I love! I owe so much to Liz and Steve for helping understand what "good music" really is!