Ian is 9 months old!

So we went to the Dr. for his 9 month checkup. Here are his stats:

Height: 29 inches (75th percentile)

Weight: 19 lbs. 8 1/2 oz. ( 35th percentile)

Head: 45 cm (43rd percentile)

He's growing like a weed. If you ask me though, I could have sworn he was about 25 lbs. I couldn't believe it when the Dr. told me how much he weighed. He also had to get 2 shots. He got the last of his Hepatitis B vaccines, and a flu shot. He will go back for his flu shot booster in the beginning of November.

Now he is getting even more teeth. He now has 5 teeth in (3 bottom front and 2 top front) and is getting 3 more in. So when he is done with this round of teething he will have the front 4 teeth on both the top and bottom. That explains why he has been a little crabby! As of his 9 month birthday, he no longer wants anything to do with formula. He just won't drink it at all. I don't know why,......maybe he just doesn't like the taste of it anymore, the only thing he will drink is water! He loves it!

As of about 8 months he will no longer eat baby food. Well, he will only eat baby sweet potatoes if he's in the mood and baby bananas. Other than that, he wants nothing to do with it. He wants EVERYTHING that we are eating. Regular people food. Doesn't matter what it is. If we happen to be eating or drinking something in front of him, it doesn't matter what it is, he wants some. One time I was eating grapefruit for breakfast after he had eaten his own breakfast and he wanted some, so I gave him just a little piece because he was getting all mad because I kept telling him he wouldn't like it, but I gave him a little piece and you should have seen the sour look on his face. It was hillarious! Sometimes I think he can't possibly like what we're eating he just eats it because we are. Last night I made a Chicken Bruschetta sandwich which had a mixture of tomatoes, garlic, basil, and balsamic vinegar to put on top of the chicken, and he ate it. I couldn't believe it.

Here is baby talking. Dan swears he's acknowleding him as "Da Da!"

Ian loves to kick!

Ian rolls his way around the house looking for things to kick! He will go from one room to the next kicking end tables, doors, walls, other miscellaneous furniture, and the window seals in our office.

Ian is 8 months old!

Baby started to get his teeth!! He got 2 teeth on the bottom in the front this month and then when I started looking around I could see that he was getting 4 more. His upper front 4 teeth! It's so cute. Here is a picture so you can kind of see his new bottom front teeth.

He's been a little bit crabby because of getting so many teeth in at the same time. I have been giving him Tylenol when he needs it and these teething pills. They are Hyland's teething tablets and they really seem to work well. They are all natural you know Homeopathic but he is funny because every time he sees the bottle he wants his little pills. I don't know if he likes the taste of them or what, but it's very funny! Dan calls them his "Happy Pills". He rolls everywhere he goes. Sometimes when I'm just hanging out with him in the living room I will turn my head and find that he has rolled himself right under a chair and can't get out. It's so cute! He rolls around so that he can kick things too. HE LOVES TO KICK! Everywhere he rolls to it's to find something new to kick! Sometimes I wonder if his heels hurt he kicks so hard! There's a video above you can watch of him kicking!

Here are some more cute pictures of him!

He thinks he is so cute whenever we put something on his head. It's funny!


I love this profile picture of him! You can really see how big his cute little cheeks are! It just makes you want to pinch them! And that lip!

Ian rolling around knocking & scratching

Ian is 7 months old!

This is his cute little "gummy" smile! I love it. You can't get him to smile this big normally!
He loves his little jumpy seat! Sometimes he jumps so high I swear it's going to come off the molding!

I know that I say this everytime but I can't believe he is already 7 months! It's just going by way too fast!

Family in for a visit!

The whole family at the grove.

Grandma Diana with the 2 grandbabies!

Some of Roni's family was able to come for the Ian's Blessing and our sealing in Palmyra. Her dad, Les and stepmom, Diana and her sister Angela, and her husband Kurt, and their three kids, Kade, Avin, and Cole. We did lots of fun things while they were in town. We sat out by the firepit roasting marshmallows, we went out to Amish country, we went to Palmyra for the pageant, we went to Cedar Point on a 90 degree day with about 85% humidity, and we went to the beach. It was so nice to see everyone. Of course we missed, Melanie, Gina and Lena. Hopefully we will all be able to get together with everyone sometime soon!

Ian getting ready for the beach!

We are a forever family!

Today we were sealed in the Palmyra New York Temple. Roni's family was in town and wanted to see the pageant in Palmyra so we decided that instead of driving to Palmyra then coming all the way back to Cleveland and then driving to Columbus (which is our disrict's temple) that we would get sealed in Palmyra! It was so awesome! Ian was as good as gold the whole time until the sealer put Ian's hand on ours and we had to hold it there. He didn't like that at all and started crying at the top of his lungs. We will always remember how we felt finally being sealed as a family!

Ian's Blessing

Today Ian was blessed in Church! It was so neat. Dan of course did the blessing. The following people stood in: My dad, our Brother-in-law Kurt (my sister Angela's husband), Bishop , Bro. Chapman, Bro. Lund, Bro. Ruffell and a good friend of ours, Elder Cluff. Almost all of Dan's family came also, Dan's Uncle Bob, Annie ( Dan's Mom), Rich and Lynn and their kids, Brian and Elizabeth (Dan's Brother and his family) Ed and Lisa (Dan's other brother and his wife) and Cory and their two kids Troy and Sam (Dan's other brother Tom's wife and their kids). We thought it was very nice of them to come for us on this day. Ian was all dressed in white and he looked so cute! He was so good all through the service too. And when they took him up to get blessed he didn't make a sound! He was so cute! Dan said that someone in the circle told him that he peeked at Ian while the blessing was being given and Ian was just looking around at those in the circle and smiling. The blessing was wonderful! Here are the basics of what was said in the blessing: "We stand before thee to give our baby a name and a blessing and the name he shall be known by is Ian Micheal. Ian I give you a blessing that you may be able to discern between good and evil. I bless you to know that many people on this earth love you, and that you are in our home because you are loved by us and your birthparents. I give you a blessing that you will always have confidence and humility and I give you a blessing to know that you are here under special circumstances, as part of a divine plan as layed out in the prexistence for you. I bless you that as you stay faithful to the things you are taught and perservere through hardships and trials you have in your life that your family will be there for you. " It was beautiful and very emotional for us. We know how blessed we are to have this beautiful little child in our home, and that the Lord has been watching over each of us, as adopted parents, as siblings, as birthparents. We hope and pray that Ian will always know how much he is loved by us all.



These pictures are of Roni dressing Ian for his blessing and at church after the blessing.

The Adoption is Final!

We are so excited! Today Ian's adoption was final! We all went together as a family to Columbus to go to the courthouse! It was a long day for Ian. He slept right through it. At 3:22 pm we were pronounced a family by "Judge Giorgione." It was a very happy moment for our family! From left to right is Spencer Zitzman (our case worker with LDS family services) Whitley, "Judge Giorgione", Roni, and Dan who is holding Ian who is asleep!

Ian is 6 months!

I can't believe he is already 6 months old! Time flys by so fast! He's getting bigger and bigger and the little baby in him is going away! We are just trying to treasure every single minute because he is growing up too fast! I took him for his 6 month checkup at the Dr. and he is now 18 lbs. 11 oz. and is 26 1/4 inches. This puts him in the 55th percentile for both his height and weight. He's growing to be so big!

Ian loves Sissy! Whitley can get Ian to laugh when noone esle can! One thing he does a lot now is "blow raspberries" especially when he is eating! Food goes everywhere but it's so cute!

Ian is 5 months!

I can't believe that Ian turned 5 months on May 21st. He is getting so big. So,....... we first tried feeding him solids at 4 months! He didn't want anything to do with them as I posted earlier. Well now, I tried again on his 5 month birthday and he ate like I couldn't believe. He ate 1 package of sweet potatoes and one package of bananas and about a 1/3 of a cup of rice cereal that I had made him. He ate so much I was worried about him throwing it all up. But he didn't! He loved it! Here are some pictures on his 5 month birthday eating for the first real time his solid food! And you may not be able to tell but he really is getting a lot more hair!

Ian laughing

I just love the sound of Ian laughing. It just makes everyone in the house happy!

Sunday Sundae

I can't believe it but we actually got all of the nieces and nephews on Dan's side together for Sunday Sundae. Of course getting them all to look and smile at the same time is another story, but we're so glad we got a picture of them all together. From left to right we have: Whitley, Ian, Elizabeth, Troy, Chelsey, Brian, Sam, & Corey.

I just wanted put down a few things about Ian before I forget them. When he was really little baby, you would always know when he was going to cry because he would start coughing. The cough was just the little prelude to tell you that he was getting upset and you had better do something about it. It was so cute. Dan always used to ask him when he went to pick him up if he needed some cough medicine. Now he is older and he just starts crying as loud as he can when he wants to get your attention.

Sissy being silly with her brother!

Spring is finally here!

Spring came early and everything is in bloom! Everything is so beautiful this time of year! These are some of the trees in bloom in our yard and on our street!

Whitley's Prom

She looked so pretty for her big night!

Ian is 4 months!

He is growing so fast. We went to the Dr. for his 4 month checkup and he had to have 4 more shots. On the positive side though, he now weighs 15 lbs. 2 oz. (which places him in the 60th percentile for his weight) and he is 24 and 3/4 inches long (which places him in the 50th percentile for his height.) He still doesn't want anything to do with solid food yet. I have tried a couple times and he just makes a face, spits it out, and gags just to add a little drama!