15 Months?!?

We cannot believe that our not-so-little-anymore Dean is already 15 months old! He has his check-up tomorrow and I'm sure as usual, he'll be skinny, tall, and have a large head. :) I feel like he's grown so much taller and heavier since his last appointment that I'm curious to see what the official stats are. Dean is such a joy. He is the sweetest boy and just loves being around us. I've recently discovered that he likes to lift up his shirt and I couldn't figure out why. Now I know. He loves having me rub his belly and back on his bare skin. His vocabulary is really increasing. He can say the following (that John and I could immediately recall when we were talking last night): duck, dog, shoes, milk, mama, dada, and he can meow, woof, and quack. Why quack, you might ask? Just google "elmo's ducks" and all of your questions will be answered. Any time he sees a computer, ipad, or cell phone he starts quacking thinking that we will play him his favorite video. He does a very good quack for a 15 month old. We bought him a stuffed mallard duck toy for Christmas and can't even wait to see how much he does or doesn't love it. He's not huge into stuffed animals, but the duck might do the trick. His molars are coming in so we've had a rough few days, but he is just the best little boy. Whenever he's being grumpy or refusing to nap, we know it's because something is wrong. He is such a good-natured little guy and loves hanging out with us. He has also taken to piling pillows up and laying on them. I left the room for a minute, heard him chuckling, and then came back to see this:

We love you Dean and are so grateful you're part of our family!

Egg Rolls & Sauce

Some of you might have noticed a blog I have linked on our sidebar called Egg Rolls & Sauce. What you didn't know is that it is a blog my older sister Kat, her sister-in-law Kate (who has studied culinary arts and makes amazing things and has great tutorials), and myself started a few months ago. We have been posting recipes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday sharing things that are already in our repertoire as well as new things we've found on the internet. I hate figuring out what to feed my family for dinner. We started this blog as a way to help every other mom (and dad) out there have more options of delicious, simple, fast, easy, cheap, etc. recipes to use for their own meal planning. I won't bring it up again, but we finally decided there is enough content and we are happy-ish for the moment with the overall look and feel of the blog. For tomorrow's post I am sharing the recipe for these bad boys:

We do have a pie crust tutorial from Kate as well as several pie recipes planned for the next few weeks, so tune in if nothing else to learn now to finally master that pie crust that eludes all of us every single year. I always give up and go buy Pillsbury crusts...

Take your chickie to work day

Dean is the sweetest boy ever. Lately he will feed us some of his Cheerios as we're feeding him. He is so caring and always likes to help wipe up any messes and be helpful.

To illustrate another story of his sweetness, today as we were saying goodbye to John for the day, Dean kept giving his favorite chickie toy to John. John kept giving it back, but then I asked Dean if he wanted to let daddy take the chickie with him to work. He got so happy. What 14 month old wants to share his favorite toy?? So, John took chickie to work. Here's some pictures of chickie's adventure with John. John is just as sweet to take pictures to show Dean when he gets home.

Halloween

This year I wanted to make sure Dean could dress up. We didn't go anywhere last year, since he was only 2 months old. I was worried we were going to have a repeat of last year. He woke up burning up and screaming. I think it's just molars coming in since he keeps grabbing his mouth while he's screaming. :(

I found some inspiration on Pinterest and made a bow tie and suspenders. Dean went trick or treating as a nerd. He looked so cute. I'm pretty sure I had more fun dressing him up than he had being dressed up.

Thoughts on General Conference

General Conference was amazing, as usual. As I was listening and bawling during the announcement that the missionary ages have been changed to 18 for young men (instead of 19) and 19 for young women (instead of 21), it was reaffirmed once again to me that we have a Prophet on earth today, and that Thomas S. Monson is that man. I am thrilled at how many lives this announcement will change, not only the young men and women who choose to serve, but also the people they will meet. Having more missionaries means more people being able to hear about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I was also amazed at the difference that one year will make. Last October, Dean was colicky and we were so tired that John and I basically took turns sleeping during conference, gleaning little during our "awake" moments. When I was "awake" (I put that in quotes because, really, who is 100% awake while they have a 1 month old baby? NOBODY) I was either feeding Dean, or trying so hard to get anything from conference. I do remember loving Elder Andersen's talk entitled Children, but I think it was because I felt how important it was to care for that screaming one-month old. I literally remember nothing else.

This time, I only fell asleep for one talk (President Packer). I think that is a life-time record. I always, ALWAYS fall asleep during Elder Scott's talk (and then some). He is almost always in the afternoon, and even if he weren't, I'd still fall asleep. His voice is sooooo soothing. BUT this is the first year probably in my entire life that I haven't fallen asleep during his talk. I will say it is because I was busy watching Dean play on the ground and acknowledging as he was holding up toys or bringing them to me, but thanks to Dean, I DID IT!! John has already made an MP3 cd for each of our cars and we are already reviewing the talks as we are driving around doing our daily duties.

Dean is getting so close to walking. He will be brave and walk short distances between things. Once he makes the decision that it's "go" time, he'll be just fine. He always catches himself with his hands when he falls, a trait I know he did not get from me. Dean does now have 5 teeth, with at least 3 more on their way. He is such a sweet boy and we love him dearly. Today he stole his boogie wipe (it's a real thing) from my hand after I was done wiping his runny nose. He took it and then proceeded to wipe my nose. Some might thing that's gross, and really, it is, but he is always so sweet and tries to take care of us as we are taking care of him. He will often grab the kitchen towel and wipe spills off of the floor or "wipe" down the oven while I'm cooking. He is a great little helper already.

Birthday Cupcake

Now that it's almost been a full month since Dean's birthday, I'm finally getting around to posting the pictures of his cake-fest. I made mini cupcakes for his birthday and he literally couldn't have been happier. We hadn't really let him have any sugary deliciousness prior to his birthday, so I think he thought he had won the lottery. Look closely at the last cupcake picture... Do you see that pile of crumbs? I was covered by the end of it as well, but it was so much fun.

Life without the binky is still going well. He still cries for a few minutes before going to sleep, but he is doing SO well considering how attached he was to it. He still amazes us each day with how smart he is and how much fun he can be.

Binky Free's the Way to Be

That's right, folks. We officially got rid of the binky. It's been a little rough, but Dean kept throwing them out of his crib and then falling asleep without one anyway, so we decided it was time to part ways with his favorite obsession. He will cry for a little while whenever we put him down to sleep, but he's been such a champ. I've been taking it away from him during waking times unless he was screaming, so I think he's been getting ready for awhile. I just love hearing his cute little words and squeaks and seeing his adorable personality more. Here's some recent photos:

Today

In order to avoid doing dishes and dissecting (trimming?) chicken before I freeze it, I thought I'd take a minute to chronicle the awesomeness of today.

Dean went in for his 1 year check-up today, which I loved because today was his due date last year. He's up to 21#6oz and 30" long. As the doctor put it, "His head is his largest feature"... He's always up in the 90 something percentile for head size. He got 4 shots, screamed and looked at me like I had just let someone torture him, which I kind of had....

As I was trying to gather everything to leave, Dean wouldn't let me put his pants on, so we left the doctor's office half dressed. By the time we got home, he had pulled off all of his 4 band-aids and was bleeding everywhere.

He is trying to transition to 1 nap, which is hard on us both, BUT means he is sleeping for about 11-12 hours at night with only waking up on rare occasion due to teething. (The doctor also said today that he's a "slow teether". I didn't need him to tell me that.) This often means I have to get very creative to keep him awake and happy towards the end of the day. John had a really, really long day today, so in order to keep myself sane, I decided to take Dean on a walk around 6:15. He proceeded to fall asleep on our walk, so I proceeded to poke him every few minutes to keep him awake.

We made it home and I immediately started gathering things for his nightly bath. He loves the bath and splashing everywhere, so he was very happy to be there. I was also happy to have him there, until he POOPED in the tub. He hasn't done that since he was about a week old. I guess the good news is that I only put in like less than 1" of water, so I cleaned everything up, and put him back in the tub. After bath time, thanks to "The Piano Guys", Dean stayed awake for about a half hour longer than he would have otherwise and I put him down around 7:30, which I feel very good about considering he woke up from his one and only nap at 12:45.

Parenthood... it's not for the faint of heart.

Happy Birthday, Dean!!

We cannot believe that our cute, little baby went from this:

to this:

Thankfully, we all survived those first few horrible, colicky months and have learned to LOVE being together.

Dean is truly the light of our lives and our greatest joy. He is so much fun to have around. He is constantly moving, and talking, and loves to know exactly what is going on at all times. If I'm cooking, he HAS to be up at the same level as me (really, I have to be holding him) because he HAS to know what's going on. He loves watching machines work, and is truly the sweetest boy who has ever lived, or at least that's what we think. :)

His skills that I can remember off the top of my head include:

giving me lots of kisses daily

waving "bye-bye" and sometimes saying it

clapping for himself when he does something he thinks was pretty cool

saying "dada", "mama", and more (we're also pretty sure he has a word for "dog", though neither of us could repeat it)

turning the light switch on and off

standing independently for a few seconds before he realizes he's not holding onto anything

making us laugh harder than we ever have before

He is the best and we are so excited to see what Heavenly Father has in store for him. We love you, our little Dean man!!

A Good Helper is Hard to Find

Bear with me, the spacing is weird and I cannot fix it..... We love our house, but it has some weird quirks. Including some loud neighbors. In order to help remedy the situation (i.e. to help stop Dean from being abruptly awoken from a nap by noise), we are in the process of switching Dean into the spare room. This is quite the task, considering the spare room had wallpaper on half of it, and a hideous chair rail as well. Unfortunately, like most of our home improvement projects, I don't have any "before" pictures, but trust me, you should pat us on the back when we're done. One problem with switching Dean into the spare room is that Dean's current room (which will become the new spare room) doesn't have a phone jack (one of the quirks), which means we would have to move our router into a different place. We didn't want it in our room or downstairs in the kitchen because I often have Dean in these rooms during the day with me to play. Luckily John's dad was so wonderful to come help us pull the phone line through into what will become our new spare room. Problem solved. Dean is so curious and wants to see what's going on at all times, so I couldn't possibly keep him away from the "project" as it was going on. Unfortunately, you can't put an almost one-year-old on the ground with screws, screw drivers, pokey wires, drywall saw, etc. So I did the next best thing, which worked like a charm. I put Dean in his crib, right next to John and Jan so he could be in on the "action". He loved watching and I had to run and grab our camera. It was a cute 3-generation shot:

Once Dean realized I had the camera out, he then proceeded to ham it up for us. I cannot believe that his first birthday is NEXT FRIDAY!!! I can't believe this time last year I was so pregnant and ready to burst. I'll reminisce more on the past year next week for an official "birthday" post.

Olympics

That's right, folks, the London Olympics start TODAY!!!! My family lives for the Olympics. We always watched whatever we could growing up and I can't believe that they're FINALLY HERE again. It's been 2.5 years since Vancouver and that has been a hard, long wait. Are there more important things in life? Absolutely. But I am thrilled to be able to soak up as much of the Olympics as I can without abandoning my normal responsibilities. Thank you NBC Olympics app and airplay. If you need me for the next 16 days, I'll likely be at home watching whatever is going on, hopefully diving, gymnastics, track & field.. really, anything that's going on.

Summer

I don't really have anything new to report, I just can't open our blog and see the French onion soup in a sourdough bowl one more time or I might explode. Good thing I know I will be able to get some here in about 5 months. And good thing I also emailed Panera that they need stores in Utah. You should join my email campaign. I'm just saying....

Summer term is quickly ending, which is great to be able to finish classes so quickly, yet it makes for a very intense 8 weeks. John has enjoyed his persuasive writing class and I am enjoying him only having another 17.5 more credits to go. WOO HOO!

I got called as the Personal Progress leader in our ward. It has been fun to be in YW again, even though I'm pretty sure I'm more self conscious than the girls are. I still am trying to figure it all out. It's all done online now, which is great.

Dean is still working on those blasted teeth. His top 2 are so so so close to at least being through his gums and I am hopeful it will help him to be happier and less clingy once they come in. He is officially weaned, which I have mixed feelings about (mostly joy). He is getting much better at using a sippy cup, loves to carry around my hair brush (weird, I know), is cruising all around, goes all the way up the stairs, and has even figured out how to climb onto our bed (it's only about 2 feet off the ground). John and I are always amazed by how fast he's changing and growing. He is such a joy, even though he still doesn't sleep through the night. And now the dumping of photos:

Texas

Dean and I took a trip to visit my parents and returned about a week ago. We had so much fun spending time with them and I know they enjoyed spending time with Dean. They haven't seen him since his blessing in the beginning of October. Dean was the perfect angel baby on the way down. He could not have been any better. The flight attendants and everyone around us were enthralled and wrapped around his cute little fingers.

We mostly spent our time with my mom (Nana) running errands, shopping for a swimsuit for me, and just hanging out. After the first day Dean adjusted to his new sleeping arrangements and slept like a champ. Mom also made some crib rail guards out of leftover fabric from Deans quilt. She worked hard to make them and they are wonderful.

Dad (Papa) was super busy with work. His partner was out of town and he worked very long days. But we met him for dinner and the nights he was home he walked Dean around until he was almost asleep.

Here's a few pictures of our week. An explanation on the troll: I still have stuff in my parents attic, so every time I visit, I always get to look through my stuff, throw some of it away, leave the rest of it there. I found the trolls this time around. I'm still waiting for them to make a comeback....

This must be what happens when you've been married 31 years: you buy each other the exact same card for your anniversary. Oh Mom and Dad. I still am chuckling about this.

Uh oh

We're in trouble.

Teeth

I don't understand the following scenario: Dean woke up after only napping for maybe 20 minutes screaming. I held and snuggled him for probably a good 45 minutes with intermittent stopping of said screaming. In the end, I just couldn't calm him down. It was all this guy: thanks, puppy for calming the teething baby.

Downtown

My older sister Kat and her family were in town this past week, driving back to Texas from their visit to my brother-in-law Jeremy's family in Idaho. Dean finally got to meet them. We had fun just hanging out during meals and enjoyed an excursion to SLC on Saturday. John has his final this week and needed to spend time getting ready for it, so Dean and I made the trek alone. I was really worried about how Dean would handle being in his car seat and then the stroller for so long, but as usual, I had no need to worry and Dean was a champ. We walked around temple square and Laura and I couldn't help but talk about all of the weird wedding dresses. I think we both saw one that was decent. The rest were....interesting.

We made our way to the church history museum and looked at the artifacts quickly and then spent time looking at the AMAZING art in the international art show. I loved seeing all of the different art pieces from around the world. Unfortunately Dean's diaper didn't cooperate like he did, so I had to leave. I didn't have a change of clothes. He was freezing from being wet, but was still so happy. We didn't see much if the new City Creek mall, other than the immaculate parking garage but seemed really nice. Hopefully we can go back and enjoy it soon. The pictures:

Dean and I in the mirror after the diaper pee-pocalypse incident.

Olivia, Ben, and Adam (Kat's kids)

A stained-glass door from the art exhibit. I like this a lot.

Dean and I looking tiny in comparison to the temple. I wanted to record Dean's first temple-trip and some general pictures since John missed out. :( Did I mention we missed him the entire time, but are glad he could get some studying done.

Dean chillaxin' in his stroller. He's learned to "put his feet up" and enjoy the stroller.

Dean and I next to the temple. I hate those hats for babies, but what else am I supposed to do to help prevent skin cancer?

9 months already?

I cannot believe that our little man is already 9 months old. He has been changing so much and I must admit, I've cried when I realize he's not my little baby anymore. We cut his hair for the first time on Monday and I started bawling. He also started pulling himself up to stand on Saturday. That did it. He looks like a little man when he's standing and my heart just couldn't handle it. We had his 9 mo well visit yesterday and he's up to 19 lbs and 28.5". He didn't cry at all when they pricked his heel for his hematocrit and didn't cry or fuss at all when the doctor was poking and prodding him. What a good boy! And we were told that his top 4 teeth are trying to make their way in. Grrreat.

The term is winding down. John only has one more week of class and then onto finals. He has worked so hard and has probably averaged 4-5 hours of sleep on most nights for the last 9-10 weeks. It has been so much work, but I'm sure it will be worth it to just be done with American Heritage. Dean and I went and wandered around BYU last Saturday while John was taking his midterm. Dean loved seeing all of the people and he especially loved that the windows were basically at ground level in the Wilk. And it was raining. What more could a little man ask for? I shot this picture of Dean in a pile of warm laundry and the other two are from our BYU adventure on Saturday.