Welcome to our World

How quickly the last 2 months have flown by! I just cannot believe how fast my babies are growing. Danny is walking and trying to talk while Michelle is smiling & gooing like a pro. Danny has grown out of his 12 month clothes & Michelle has grown out of her 0-3 mo. sleepers... due to inheriting her Daddy's long, skinny feet. I wish there was no such thing as housework or errands so I could simply enjoy my 3 children while they are young. It seems like each one is growing up faster than the last one because I am all that much busier. So it seems we cannot take a picture of Michelle unless it's a special day I have made a sign for! I guess that's what she gets for being the 3rd child in a family with the child spacing we do. Poor thing. She is simply adorable when she is asleep. I get to see a lot more of her asleep than I saw Kaelah & Danny. This girl cannot seem to sleep longer than a nap without having someone to snuggle with. And when I type 'sn...

Exactly one year ago today we got a call from our case worker. He told us there was a birth mother thinking of placing her son with us for adoption. Usually he didn't make such phone calls before an official decision was made, but he felt that this little boy was meant for us & we needed a little warning b/c the due date was June 12. Low & behold, 4 days later he called to say Dani had chosen us to be her baby's parents. 2 weeks later, we were bringing Danny home from the hospital. It is difficult to believe Danny's birthday is only 2.5 weeks away. When I look back I feel he & I were a little gipped with me getting pregnant so soon after he was born & becoming a big brother at only 9.5 months, but he is so healthy & happy. There is no way he could have been any better of a baby... I'm convinced he is the easiest/best little guy to have ever graced the planet. We are so blessed. He is truly a joy of a boy.

The first week & a half of May was full of things to celebrate. Both of my parents had their birthdays -- my mom the big 60! -- and then Mother's Day. As an activity to celebrate my dad's birthday & Mother's day for my mom & I, we took a trip to the Downtown Aquarium for the very first time. (My mom had already been showered with presents & Dan got to come along b/c he was footing the bill. lol.) It was wonderful! We were all impressed with the exhibits & felt it was a good value and perfect amount of time for the children. Next time we'll just go to the restaurant instead of packing PB & J because their lunch menu prices are great too. We'll certainly be going back there someday. Oh, & Michelle was terrific -- pretty much slept the whole time while I walked around with her in the Baby Bjorn. I am actually quite shocked at how easy a baby she is, especially since I'm her mom. (; Here's a picture of Grandma with her D...

Shannon treated us to Baskin Robbins while Daddy was at Boy Scouts! On the last Wednesday in April the city fire department was having a fund raiser & ice cream was only 31 cents a scoop. And if you know Kaelah, she loooves fire trucks & ice cream. She is still talking about it almost a month later. It sounds like this, "And later we can go to the ice cream shoppe & see the fire trucks." Kaelah is constantly making plans lately. (: Here's a video of Michelle & I waiting in line. This was her very first outing. I guess she kind of got to eat the ice cream later. lol. After the fade to black you'll see Kaelah & her ice cream. I had gotten her Reeses Pieces due to her love of peanut butter & got myself bubblegum that I always got as a little girl (it's been decades!). As soon as Kaelah saw how pink it was, we traded. That's all right, hers tasted better & she was too cute with all that pink goo. P.S. We got to see lots of...

It took less than a month after Michelle's birth for me to start hounding Craigslist for a swing set. Funny part about giving birth for the first time: realizing you don't feel good enough to take your 3 children to the park. Sounds like a no brainer, but the thought had seriously not occurred to me. And luckily we got a steal of a deal within a week of looking... and the man selling it was nice enough to even bring it to the house for us too. Life can be so wonderful.

Here's one of the 2 holidays this brother & sister get to share the same number of. I hope they & Kaelah are the best of friends someday! Of course tiny Michelle didn't get much out of the day except sleeping, eating, & diaper changes, but the rest of us had a great, symbolic, lunch due to Grandma & an Easter egg hunt in the backyard. Now that I look back on it, the best part may have been able to capture our 3 children in the matching Easter outfits Grandma bought them. The 2 babies are growing up so fast!

This time of year always seems special. It's not just that spring is finally in full swing, even though that's wonderful indeed. Here's just a glimpse of some of the things I've been thinking about concerning this time of year: 10 years ago I was finishing my freshman year of college. I was so jealous that my guy friends were all filling out mission papers or getting their mission calls already. 9 years ago I was turning in my own papers & ah hum, meeting my future husband. 8 years ago I was on my mission in Taiwan. It certainly was the right place for me to be. 7 years ago Dan proposed at the tennis courts we had played on when we first hung out. 6 years ago we moved to Colorado so Dan could begin is dream job. It's such a strange thought to me because the longest I've ever lived in the same town was in Iowa City for 6 years as well. I found myself mentally preparing to move & thought about what we should pack & what we should leave behind...