Grandpa's Favorite Toy Store

We took the little guy on his first field trip to Grandpa's Favorite Toy Store - the Home Depot.

He loved it! He's really started looking at anything and everything that is UP these past few weeks. He loves looking out the windows and looking at the fans and lights in our home. He's even starting to enjoy being tossed up in the air, which he didn't enjoy before.

So he loved looking at everything. We took him down the light aisle. We couldn't capture a good picture, but take my word for it - he thought it was pure awesomeness.

We were trying to think of how we could take a picture to send to Grandpa so that he would know where we were. We thought the orange bucket satisfied the criteria.

He's already gone back with daddy.

And we know he'll get to tag along with grandpa someday too.

The Bear

So, winter has arrived. It's been COLD! And for all of you that know me, you know that I hate being cold.

The one downside to our basement apartment is that we don't get to control our own heat. (I really think that is the only negative aspect of our home. Seriously.)

So, with this cold weather, and now snow, I've had to figure out how to stay warm while the little guy and I am home all day. We have a small space heater which we use to keep BJ's room warm at night. I know, we are awesome parents to give up the heater for our son. At least, I think I'm pretty awesome for my sacrifices. Thankfully we have a heated blanket on our bed that helps!

Now, I can put on sweaters and cuddle in blankets. The little guy, however, doesn't stay all curled up in blankets too well, except for when he's sleeping. And he doesn't keep socks on if he can help it. And for some reason it seems silly to me to bundle him up in sweaters and jackets while we're home. (Why it's ok for me, I don't know.)

But what we do have, is this:
Let me just tell you that he loves it! Every time I put him in, he starts giggling and cooing. It's the cutest thing E-V-E-R!So, here's just lots of pictures of our little teddy bear.

He's gotten really good at getting that finger into his mouth.I tried playing with the settings on my camera and caught some sepia pictures.
I thought they turned out nice.I really like his expression in this one.That finger again, in sepia.

Best Teddy Bear Ever!

November - National Adoption Month

The Gift of Life

I didn't give you the gift of life,
But in my heart I know.
The love I feel is deep and real,
As if it had been so.
...For us to have each other
Is like a dream come true!
No, I didn't give you The gift of life,
Life gave me the gift of you.

--- Unknown

We celebrated adoption by joining in the Salt Lake Adoption Walk.

The best thing about it was that it got us out of the house. :)

It was fun to see a whole lotta orange.

Here's a self-family portrait. Sadly we're missing half of Joe's head, but this really is the best looking one of the bunch.

BJ was definitely the cutest black kid there, not that there was any doubt. Especially with this cute smile!
He was also probably the youngest kid there too.

We're looking forward to many more years celebrating such a wonderful gift for our family!

Cousin Playdate

So, like a month ago my cousin Brittany and I did a playdate. We had 4 kids between the 2 of us; we both were watching another kid in addition to our own. It was one of the first and only times I ever ventured out with both boys, and lucky for me, I had my mother-in-law's car so that made the juggling of people and vehicles easier on my end.

It was really nice to spend some time with Brittany. We grew up living pretty close to each other so she's one of the cousins I am closest too. We're also closest in age in the family.

Her little girl D'Anna is about 7 months, and BJ here was about 3 months. D'Anna is pretty tiny, but such a cutie!

Family Pictures...

...wonderful roommate.

Katrina was my very last roommate I had in college before I got married, minus my stint abroad while being engaged. I had never met her before moving in. I was terrified. It was my first semester back to school after my mission. I had had some good roommates before, but I had also had some that I really didn't get along with. I was returning to school with no friends and no family. I'll even admit that when I found out she was a freshman, I was a bit concerned.

But all my worries, doubts, and fears about my roommates were dispelled. Katrina was my answer to prayer. It was the best semester of my college years, even if I hadn't gotten engaged. :) She was the friend I needed and could count on. She let me mother her and give her advice. We cried together. We laughed together. I remember coming in and jumping on her bed and waking her up so I could tell her I was getting married. Oh, I just love this girl!

So, Joe and I have been so excited to have her take our first family photo. She was awesome and just snapped away, which is terrific with a little baby. The little bugger would hardly crack a smile, that is, until it was all over. So yeah, go check out the preview she put on her blog. I'm so excited to see the rest!

Halloween

These are all much of the same, but different enough that I felt they deserved to be represented individually.

Our landlords are big on garage sales. A couple weeks ago they were out and about and found some baby costumes for $1, and this is what they brought home for our little guy:

"You've got to be kidding me!"

"At least it's warm and fuzzy."

"I don't know what you're laughing at, but what I'm looking at is pretty darn funny."

Hope you had a Smooky (aka Spooky) Holiday.

We went to a ward chili cook-off with a "social interactive activity" for the entertainment, aka square dancing. It was a lot of work but a lot of fun.
We spent Saturday with our friends, the Jones, eating soups and rolls.

And then on Sunday we made squash soup, pumpkin spice cake - yummy!!!, and visited with family. All in all, a good way to welcome in the fall. If only I had gotten me some candy...

October

So, here's the rest of our life from October:

When I got back from Indiana, we stayed at Joe's oldest brother's house and hung out with their younger 3 boys while the parents were in China. It was fun. The boys loved having BJ around! They even took care of him for an evening for us. The boys did a great job with meals and cleaning, and I really felt my presence was superfluous, but it was fun anyway.

The little guy had his 2 month check-up and got shots. The shots weren't too much fun, but he did well. He weighed 12 pounds, 11 ounces (I could have sworn he was up to 15 pounds) - 75th percentile, and was 23 inches long - 50th percentile.

We went back up the mountain for another fun afternoon of polka with Joe's older sister Suzette, and her family. BJ finally got to meet his cousin Josh, who, for some odd reason, had been a little MIA around family gatherings since July.

I did catch this picture of cousin Megan holding the little guy. This was right before Joe got all of us up to do the Chicken Dance.
It was a fun evening with the Asplund clan. They pulled out a mean tail-gate party. It had felt like such a long time since I had seen them, so it was fun to reconnect.

I captured these pictures of the sunset as we were heading home.

The pictures don't do it justice - it was a beautiful sight!

Here's the little one all bundled up for the mountain top.
It had definitely gotten colder since our last polka experience, but it was definitely the warmest Oktoberfest ever, considering there wasn't any snow.

The next evening, I was able to join Joe again up the mountain to finish up the Polka season. We were able to ride the tram up with all the other performers and those involved in Oktoberfest.

Here's Joe at the top

It was a really fun evening with delicious food. We got to sit at a table with the rest of Joe's band. There were "thank-you's" and toasts and just an enjoyable time. I'm grateful the little guy behaved for his cousins while we were gone. It is nice to have Polka season over with; I get to see Joe on the weekends, he gets a weekend, and as he put it: he "gets to be Mormon again!" Next order of business: I want to learn to play the accordion!

The rest are just some cute pictures of the most popular member of our family:

I know it's a little blurry, but I just love his smile!

Got the flash going and those bright, shining eyes again.

He's laughing. It's adorable!

Showing off how far he can lift his head. He's got some strong neck muscles.

Almost 3 months. Wow, time flies! This was October 18, 2010.

I was watching another little boy several days a week. He was 8 months old. He just adores BJ! He could be screaming and mad at me, but the minute he saw my little guy, smiles and giggles erupted. For being such a hard baby, it was pretty endearing. Before our trip to Indiana, BJ wouldn't even acknowledge his existence. And anytime this little one got near BJ, he immediately went for pulling hair, poking eyes, or hitting. I know he didn't mean to, but it's what he did, so generally he wasn't allowed to be very close.

But when we got back, he seemed a little different. Without realizing it, I let him down after his nap, forgetting that BJ was doing tummy time on the floor. And this is what happened next:

It was super cute!

BJ finally acknowledged the lion by doing the only thing reasonable - pulling his hair.

Showing off during tummy time again.

"Mom, why do you always put those things in my face?"

Capturing his smile and sweet personality

This is what we usually get once he realizes we have a camera:

I sure do love my boy!

My Much Needed & Loved Getaway

I got to go to Indiana and visit my sister for 2 weeks at the end of September/beginning of October. We had planned several months ago that I would go out and help her after she had her baby #3 and after my mom had left. We made the plans before we knew I would be a mommy myself. So when it came time to actually buy the tickets, I was a little hesitant to be gone from Joe for 2 weeks with the baby. But my sister really wanted me to go, and I'm so glad that I went. I really needed to get away from life and have a break before I ended up having a total and complete meltdown.

I wasn't great at taking pictures, tho I did take some. But you'll have to visit my sister's blog to get better (and more) pictures than I have here. I already stole some of the pictures from her blog. :)

So first off, my little boy got to meet his cousins. It's a big deal to me because 1) I'm so close to my sister, and 2) I grew up knowing and spending a lot of time with my own cousins (and we still do things together too.)

Here's our little guy with his cousin Aurora. Aurora is 5 weeks younger than BJ, but they are pretty close to the same size.

After church I laid down to take a nap with Amy. I may look like I'm sleeping, but my sweet little niece never really let me fall asleep, and she obviously didn't take a nap either.

Then we went outside to take pictures. It was suddenly very cold!
My dad was able to come out for the weekend too and we were all able to be there for Aurora's blessing. She wore the same dress that both of her sister's were blessed in; and Tracy and I wore the dress when we were blessed as babies too.

I can't get Blogger to let me change the order of these, not that it really matters.

Grandpa and Grandma with Adelynne, Amy, and Aurora.
The Belt Family

My sister and her 3 beautiful princesses.
Me with my sister and Aurora

Tracy, Aurora, Me, and BJ

My sister and her new baby Aurora

Then inside, Grandpa started getting creative:

They are so cute! I'm so excited to finally be able to have babies with my sister. These 2 also have another cousin about 8 months older than them. I'm looking forward to when we can get them all together. They'll be fun to watch, especially as they get older.

Before my parents went home, we went down into Indianapolis and went to the Children's museum. I didn't take a lot of photos, but like I said, just check out my sister's blog.

Here's Adelynne digging for bones.

Amy acting as "mother dinosaur" and counting her eggs.

Dustin and Amy working the tractor.

Afterwards we went and had ice cream...for dinner. It was tasty!

Amy's dazzled ice cream face.

Adelynne enjoying her 2nd cone. She totally has Grandpa wrapped around her finger.

A cute picture of BJ smiling. You can even see the slobber and drool around his mouth. He had just started smiling before our trip, so it was fun to see him light up.

I couldn't miss out on pictures of the "little guy" with his Grandpa. This was one of the major reasons I was excited to go on our trip - so BJ could finally meet his Grandpa. The onesie that he's wearing, which says "little guy" was the first outfit that we ever received. My dad had picked it out because 1) so far, BJ's the only grandson, and 2) my dad's name is Guy. I sure hope that BJ will have a special relationship with his Grandpa. He's the greatest there ever will be!

Now some more pictures from our trip:

A sweet sleeping smile.

Smiling at Aunt Tracy

Gotta love those bright eyes!

This was a cool artistic photo my sis took of Aurora. S
he taught me how to do it on my camera too, but mine didn't turn out as clear as hers, cuz she's got a much nicer camera.

I was in Indiana over Conference weekend. I wanted to make it fun for the girls, but also allow us adults to pay attention and get the spiritual influences and inspiration that we needed too. So I printed off some coloring and activity pages for the girls. And I also printed off some Bingo cards. Then I got this:

to play Bingo with. The girls didn't love having to wait to eat their candy, so we made a rule that when they heard the word on their card, they could pick one candy for their Bingo board, and one candy to eat. My mouth still starts to salivate when I look at this picture. I tried to get some of our favorite candies. But after all that sugar, I did a few rounds playing with baby carrots and grapes. I was pretty sick of carrots by the time I finally got Bingo. (Carrots are not my favorite food, but I know they're good for me anyway.) I think I ate about 30 carrots.

I also included our Jensen Family Conference tradition of making cinnamon rolls. I had a great helper:

More pictures:

Sweet sleeping boy in his sweat suit.

Cousin tummy/nap time

Amy and Adelynne loved giving Brek a bottle.

More cousin bonding

One of my other favorite things from the trip was Amy's excitement about babies. She loves being a big sister, and have 2 babies in the house seemed like a dream come true. She would always come into the room, notice the babies and say, "Let me see that silly (or sometimes she used cute) little face." But she said it in such a funny voice. It had me cracking up every time. I still find myself quoting her.

So here are those silly and cute little faces:

Aurora, 1 month

BJ, 2 months

We finally got some pictures of Aunt Tracy with her favorite nephew. Sadly, I didn't really get any pictures of me with Aurora. Next time. :)

Sure do love these 2!

Thanks Mom and Dad for flying me out! And thanks sister for such a wonderful vacation. I definitely wasn't ready to leave and come home, but luckily I still had a few more weeks away from reality.

Oh, and for those that are curious for how BJ did on the flights, I really couldn't have asked for a better baby. I was slightly terrified when I got on the first flight because I had forgotten to fill up his bottle with water, and the flight attendant was quite rude and unhelpful about it. But the little guy just slept the whole way. I sure enjoyed the looks of panic on my fellow traveler's faces when they saw me traveling with such a young baby. My fears matched their faces. But he was angelic and hardly made a sound. Same with flying home. He woke up for a little bit, but was smiley and content. Whew!