Halloween!

Here is Ian with his cousins for Halloween. From the left: Brian, Lizzy, Ian, Troy, & Sam. They all looked so great! Lizzy loves to hug and kiss on Ian. Ian is the Itsy Bitsy spider. I just had to get the outfit when I saw it because since Ian was a little baby his favorite song has been "the itsy bitsy spider".

Introducing,.....Our New Baby Girl, Sydney!

For some of you, this is the first time that you've heard about this. It all happened so fast that there was literally no time to prepare. So, I will attempt to tell a shortened version of the story. On Monday evening the 26th of October, we had just gotten done reading stories, brushing teeth, saying prayer and getting Ian to bed. When we came out of his room we heard someone talking on the answering machine. It turns out that it was our case-worker, Spencer, with LDS Family Services. He wanted us to call him back. Spencer usually doesn't call just to talk. So we called him back. He asked if we were ready to do something fast and Dan said "Yes, when is the baby being born?" Spencer told us that the baby was born yesterday (the 25th of October), and that the birth-mother has chosen us to place her baby with. He asked if we could be in Dayton the next morning, and we told him of course we could. So the next day we left for Dayton and ended up spending most of the week there. Sydney was born on Sunday, October 25th, 2009 at 6:25 a.m. Her birth mother didn't even know she was pregnant until she got to the hospital that morning and gave birth a few minutes after arriving. Surprise! The birth parents made the agonizing decision to place her with us because they didn't feel they could give Sydney what she needed. We are so grateful for the blessing of adoption and for the unselfish acts of love that the birth-parents make on these children's behalf. We are so grateful that the Lord wanted to bring this beautiful sweet spirit in this little girl to our home. We love her so much.
Sydney had jaundice and they thought some other infection so they kept her in the hospital until the morning of the 1st of November, when we were finally able to bring her home. We also want to thank Whitley, Grandma Annie, Aunt Lynn, and my friend Kelli for helping us out with Ian while we were in Dayton with Sydney. We couldnt' have done it without any of them, and we appreciate their love and support. We have AWESOME friends and family!

Ian is having a little bit of a tough time adjusting to it though. After we brought her home Dan was holding Sydney when I got Ian out of bed and he came in and immediately starting throwing a fit because daddy was holding this other baby and not him. He is getting better though. He has since given Sydney a few kisses and has patted her head. I'm sure he'll be a great older brother, and Whitley of course adores her, and is such a big help all the time. We don't know what we would do without her sometimes.

Ian's First Pumpkin Carving

So we got out the pumpkins to carve and Ian wouldn't even touch the thing at first. It was funny, but then when we were just about done he decided it was fun and he liked it.

Whitley, Ian, & Kelsey

Whitley was goofing around with Ian and her friend Kelsey one day and they couldn't resist taking pictures of their silliness!

Recycle time

Dan took Ian outside with him to get the recycling bin and put it away,....but Ian had different ideas about what to do with it........

Random Family cuteness!

Daddy and Ian playing outside

Dan and Ian have this little game they play when they are outside. It's very cute!

More bath time!

I just love taking pictures of Ian when he is in the bath because he does so many funny things. He likes to drink the water in the tub. I told him not to drink the water in the tub because it's yukky, with the soap and all, so he decided he would try to drink it right out of the faucet when I was running the bath water.

Big Sissy hanging out with Ian

Here is some cute video of Ian and Whitley playing and hanging out together.

Ian and his buddy Alex

Our friends Aaron and Caroline have a little boy, Alex and Ian and Alex have become great friends. Unfortunately they are moving to Utah so that Aaron can get his Masters degree, which makes us sad, but here is Ian and Alex on one of their last playtimes together. And this one is Ian trying to give Alex a kiss.

New job

Whitley has a new job. Well technically she got it in May but has been going through training and all that for it, but here she is cute little monkey in her new uniform. She is working a decent amount of hours, and they really seem to like her there, so hopefully she will be able to keep this job until she goes off to college.

A Great Visit!

We had the awesome opportunity to be able to see Ian's birthmother and her parents, and Ian's full biological brother Benjamin. It was so nice to see them and spend some time with them in our home. We are so greatful for them and are honored to think of them as family. Here are a few pictures. Ian and Benjamin look so much alike. Above is Ian and his birth-grandfather Bob

Below is a picture of Benjamin when he turned 3.

New popper!

Ian got a new popper toy and he loves it. Here is some cute video.

18 month Dr. Checkup

Ian went for his 18 month Dr. checkup. He is doing great! Here are his stats:

Height: 32 inches (50th Percentile)

Weight: 23lb. 5 oz. (24th Percentile)

Head: 47 1/2 cm (25th Percentile)

So he is doing great. Getting even more picky about what he will and won't eat though. He doesn't like milk much at all, so I have to sneak it into a lot of things that he eats, but all in all he is doing great!

RAISINS!

Ian loves raisins, they are one of his favorite snacks. Needless to say he pulled the bag off the counter and proceeded to dump them on the ground so he could have them! He also doesn't like to wait. He is now just the perfect height to stand on his tippy toes to get things off of the counter. It's very cute to watch him try to get something, but hard for mom to remember to put things far enough in that he can't reach them. It's so fun to watch him discover new things every day that he can do.

Snuggling with Daddy

Ian is such a daddy's boy. Whatever dad is doind he has to be right there. Here is a rare time when he is snuggling, as he doesn't sit still for very long.

And a rare snuggle with mommy too!

Roller Coaster

So Ian rode his first roller coaster today. Granted it was a little tikes one, but he loved it none the less and it just reinforces what I have always thought, and that is that he is a little thrill seeker! Anything to have fun,...he's not afraid at all. Here are some cute pictures of him riding it!
Then after he rode on it for a while, he was hooked and we ended up bringing it home from Grandma Annie's. He loves it. Everytime he goes outside we have to get it out.

My First Haircut!

Well,....daddy said that Ian looked like he had a "baby comb-over" so we decided it was time to get a haircut. I just didn't want to do it until now because first I wanted to have enough hair to cut off to put in his baby book. I also knew that after he got his haircut then he would no longer look like my little baby. It instantly changed him from my little baby to a little boy. It makes me a little sad but I knew it was time. He look so so cute with his new haircut! Daddy loves it too. He calls him his "little butchy hair boy".

Here are a few before pictures, and then some after pictures and a video of when we did it. He was tired before we even started which probably didn't help at all. My friend Kelli cut it while I held him and my other friend Caroline took the video. We didn't tape the whole thing, but he got very very upset towards the end. I guess he just couldn't take anymore.

He was so tired, but he still did good.

And now he looks like a little boy! So cute!