Baylor's 1st Birthday!

Our precious baby boy turned 1! Wow, cliche, I know, but TIME FLYS! He has brought so much joy into our little family. We were so excited to celebrate with new toys, cake and ice cream, but on the night of his birthday he didn't feel well and he woke up that night in pain. The next day a trip to Dr. Jed, our pediatrician, and we had the painful news - ear infection. He caught a cold and his bottom teeth are bulging and Ear Infection:( We are still treating the ear infection a week later. As soon as we're off the nauseating antibiotic we will celebrate with cake and ice cream Big Guy! He did get some really fun toys, which he is enjoying more than we could have imagined! Here's Baylor taking a spin in his new car. When he woke up on his birthday Josh and I were so excited we burst into his room and burst into a lively rendition of "Happy Birthday to you...." Baylor started to cry, whoops, maybe we were off key, but we overwhelmed him, so we stopped and pushed his new car into his room. Love at first sight - he squealed and circled it, stroked the tires, pushed it - realized he could make it go and squealed even louder - ONE is FUN! He loves to cruise the neighborhood in his hot rod!

BiG GuY!

Big Guy - Little Body! That is Baylor. We went to the mall tonight. I needed some things and Mr. Baylor loved marching through the stores. He grunts and with a deep voice says "Doe, doe, doe..." He takes short but heavy steps, looks like he marches and does so with his chest puffed out. He's absolutely adorable and his personality is to die for!

He loves people. Last night we went to a wedding reception and I think he thought he was the star of the occasion. He squealed and marched around - completely loving all the attention he was getting. Josh and I can't help ourselves, we're so amazed by him, we smile ear to ear watching the little guy!

Walk, Walk, Walk!

Baylor has been taking steps for a couple weeks, but still crawling most places. However, today he stopped crawling. He is walking across the house and squealing and beaming in excitement. We are so pround of him. He never has allowed us to hold his hands. Mr. Independent knows he has learned this skill on his own and prefers no help. He is amazing! Walking is so fun... he's very balanced and hasn't fallen very much, he's loving his feet on the hardwood floors rather than his more tender knees, he can reach and see new things.....yahoo Baylor, Mommy and Daddy are so excited for you! He feels like such a Big Guy! He's on the go and so excited to explore! I love how he takes short steps and puffs his chest out! You're as cute as they come Baylor!

Our Angel Sage

Today we celebrated Sage's birthday! Our little angel is with us often. We are so grateful to have her spirit bless our lives! Her birthday was tender as we drove up to Lewiston to visit her memorial and place flowers there. We remembered her birth. Truly a beautiful experience. We know she is ours forever. We will see her again. She has work on the other side and when our work is done here we will be with her. Sage we love you. Thank you for loving us. My pregnancy was my time with her. We carried her 32 weeks and I cherished every kick and movement from her. She is spunky and she is perfect, too good for this world. Josh and I know we need to live our lives that we can be with her someday.

February Favorites

Here's a list of Baylor's February Favorites- in no particular order...

Squirty bath toys
Laptops
Cell Phones
Peek a Boo
Mom and Dads made up songs
Crawl Crawl Crawl
New Toys
Loves to Read Books
Chase Vaccum
Chase balls
Clap Clap Clap
Squealing like a Piggy!
Saying Ma Ma Ma Ma for everything
Grins ear to ear when Daddy comes home

Pictures of Our Little Family

We met up with my old roomie Des and her husband Chad and their cute little girl, Samara a few weeks ago. We looked at some houses in Millcreek, took some pictures and ate Cafe Rio. Really fun. Thank you Des for the pictures. Missing a nap is Baylor's excuse for not smiling:) Good excuse little buddy, I'd be serious too.

Grade 3 Locks

My next door neighbor called me last Friday wondering if I saw anything strange in the area. She returned home around 7 p.m. to find her basement window had a rock thrown through it and her front door had been kicked in. Her husbands laptop gone. "I don't want to concern you, but did you see anything?" Concern me....who me.....concerned?? Of course I'm concerned! I did not see anything but concerned is an understatement. I'm so upset for my sweet neighbors. They moved in only 6 months ago and have a 2 month old baby. She had been gone that day since 1 p.m., so apparantley these brazen morons did this crime in daylight on our busy, busy street, I might add. She said earlier that week twice there had been a knock on the door and when she went to answer no one there. They have one car, which her husband takes to work. So, without a garage it appeared no one was home. Well, last Friday someone threw a rock through her window, then when no one came out of the house, they came back and kicked in the door. Her basset hound throws himself at the back door when he hears his family come in the front door, so they figure the robber heard that and ran off quickly with just the laptop. Suffice it to say we are looking more diligently for a new hood. This is just the umpteen time, I've been "concerned" or scared out of my mind, in other words. This past week we had installed grade 3 security locks for the front and side door.... they have double strike plates and we also had a metal plate put in the door frames. Josh also gave me a refresher course on how to use his guns. I plan on just bringing the posse to their attention. See posse picture. No one would get past Biance, look at that face....GRRRRRRR!

OUR PROTECTION POSSE

The Best $50 We've Spent

For Valentine's Day Josh snagged a pair of BYU Basketball Tickets, 5 rows back from BYU's Bench!! $50 for these killer seats! What a game too! Mom came down and toured the campus with Baylor - Thank you Mom! Josh and I loved these primo seats! The game was neck and neck and BYU did not pull it off - but what a game! Josh and I left hoarse from cheering and tuckered out too from the adrenaline rush. We Love BYU basketball! Happy Valentine's Sweets!

**NEWS FLASH** Baylor is Crawling!!

What has the B-man been up to this past month! He started to crawl middle of February and we can't stop the little guy! All this action works up quite an appetite as he is eating more and more solid foods! Yum! A little avocado here and some multi grain cereal there....a little tahini, egg yolk, flax seed and you've got his favorite meal - make sure it's warm...does not like cold food! He started to clap his hands on January 25th and he claps when we cheer "Yeah!!" or often when someone smiles at him! He loves to crawl! He cruises around the house following Mommy and Daddy or even better the Vaccum! Another favorite of his is the dirt eater. Great motivation for me to pull it out at least twice a day so he can squeal and chase it around! On the subject of squealing and screaming it's his way of hooping and hollering to let us know he's having a great time! He LOVES his voice! He's no respecter of where or when - he just loves to yell and scream - "Yahooo!" He makes mommy and daddy smile all the time! One more thing he's crazy about right now is a set of animal bath toys that Aunt Di and Uncle Mitch got him - they squirt water out their mouths and he loves to chew on all the different animals. Josh and I feel so blessed to have him in our home. It is so fun to watch him grow and discover!

Flew to the Sun!

Back in October I found great deals on flights to Phoenix. The last day the $50 flights were good for was February 9, 2010. So I quickly booked my mom, Josh, Baylor and I a flight out of the cold. It was a much needed break from our winter weather. Grandpa and GG's house was our first stop! We enjoyed the great company and food and an exciting trip to Kiwanis park and little lake where we paddled around with Di and our precious, chubby new niece Adele. Who is every bit as beautiful as her momma. Baylor loved to chase AJ and Rosie, Grandpa and GG's little pups. He'd been army crawlin' around for 2 weeks at that point and was excited to show off his new moves. He loved the sun! It was therapy for all of us! Thank you for having us Grandpa and GG!

Our next stop in AZ was Jason, Mel and Carson's house! They surprised us with the great news they are expecting in September!! How Exciting! Carson is the brightest, happiest guy! We loved enjoying his smiles and energy! Again we took walks often and enjoyed our family and the sun! Nothing better than family and sun! We loved being there but it was good to get home and try to get Baylor back into his routine! He's a tough little guy when it comes to sleeping in unfamiliar places. Oh the sun, hope spring comes soon for us!

4 years - I love this Man!

Josh and celebrated our 4 year anniversary 12-17-09. 4 years has helped me to see more than ever he is my perfect match! Thank you Josh for loving me so much. You express love so easily and often. I never doubt your great love for me. I feel so blessed to be your wife! We are similar in so many ways, yet different in just enough to help each other become better. He truly is my better half. He does so much for our family. He always busy caring for Baylor and I or our 7 chickens or our dogs, Max and Bianca. He is the hardest working man I know. His greatest joy is helping others. At work he is in the service of helping people with their real estate needs. At church he is dedicated to each member of our ward. He is so personable and see's to it to shake hands and check in with as many people as possible. He does such a great job serving in our bishopric. He loves the Lord and exemplifies him more than anyone I know. He is such a wonderful example for me. At home his service is as great as his love for us. He doesn't shy away from the demands of our little family. He jumps in to help, I'm amazed at his positive attitude and enthusiasm no matter the task. I love you with all my heart sweet pea!

Catching Up - Baylor's First Christmas

Wow, Christmas with a baby is magical. Josh and I haven't put up a Christmas tree in a few years because we aren't home on Christmas day or the days surrounding, traveling to families home's to celebrate. So this year we were excited to introduce Baylor to a Christmas tree, ornaments, sparkly lights, ribbon, crinkly paper, the nativity set, lights and manger scene on temple square...all the wonderful things that celebrate the birth of our Savior. I think he loved the tree lights and curling ribbon the most. He has such a sweet spirit about him and enjoying the holiday season with him was so fun! He sat on Santa's lap, and showed little fear, still too young to understand stranger danger. He adds so much happiness to our little family. I tell him often "you make everything more fun!"

We celebrated Christmas with a Christmas Eve breakfast with Josh's family. Nyle and Terry were here for Ben and Becky's wedding and we enjoyed visiting with them before heading to my mom's. Christmas day we spent with her in Cove. We took a walk through the snow covered alfalfa fields, visitied Sage's memorial where my mom had put up a beautiful fresh Christmas wreath on a shepherd's hook, had delicious prime rib, watched Baylor play with some new toys (stacking cups, books, and rubber ducky to name a few) and then played a roaring game of Apples to Apples. We love games!

We felt so much gratitude this season for a wonderful baby boy to love, work going well for Josh, and for loving family and friends.

New Year

New Year and always something new around our home with Baylor who does new things everyday! He is so wonderful! He is doing very well sleeping at night, getting up 1-3 times a night during the 12 hour block. Way to go Baylor, a huge improvement from November when every hour and a half he'd wake. His naps are around 1.5 hours a couple times a day, which is much improvement from 45 minute naps that didn't leave him feeling at the top of his game. So we are learning and he is learning. And holy cow is there a learning curve. I prefer a handbook specifically for the little guy, but it must be out of print because I can't find it.

On January 18, 2010 he began to da ta da da...........ARMY CRAWL. He actually uses his hands to move from toy to toy and across the room. My jaw dropped when he scooted towards a toy Aunt Mel bought him. I told him "Your Amazing!" over and over. He was excited and just squealed like a little piggy he was so happy! See Video Below

He's been really grunty and vocal lately! He can hit high notes and low notes. So low actually for several days I thought for sure he was painfully constipated. I was giving him prune juice...blah:p and put away the iron rich rice cereal, just to discover he was pooing fine and he's just enjoying his ability to make all sorts of noises. His vocals made sacrament meeting more interesting. Little did I know he had prepared a talk to give!

He is such a joy. Josh and I are amazed at how fast he grows and how our love for him is so overwhelming! We just give each other the eye, you know, the "can you believe how cute he is" eye.