Happy Halloween!

Well, Happy Halloween! We had a fun week full of Halloweeny activities. Wednesday we carved pumpkins with Dan, Choka, Zayaa, Danny, and Ariunaa. I carved our pumpkin to match the monster/dinosaur on the outfit Derek was wearing that night. I thought he was pretty cute - Derek and the monster.

Then on Friday, Derek and I went with Kensington, Shanda, Christof, Ashley, and Tyler's mom to American Fork High for a quick round of Trick-or-Treat. Derek wasn't too impressed but he scored a couple pieces of candy for me. I wish I would have taken a picture of Derek and Kensington together. I was having a hard time holding everything.

After Trick-or-Treating at Tyler's Alma Mater, we took Derek to his first Jazz game. We went with our neighbor, Karl, and Tyler's brother, Eric. Derek was not impressed with the basketball game either. He whipped his head around every time anybody clapped or yelled. He and I spent most of the game outside by the concession stands. It was fun because he was still in his costume and most people, when they walked by, would stare, smile, coo, and such, at him. You can see us in the hallway if you click here. They took our picture for one of those websites where you can buy memorabilia with your picture on it. We went in and watched maybe the last ten minutes of the game. Jazz won. Woohoo!

Outside the Energy Solutions Arena

On Halloween, we went Trick-or-Treating at the University Mall with Dan, Choka, Zayaa, Danny, and Ariunaa. Here they are:

I love it. How cute are they? Ariunaa was especially cute carrying her little candy collecting bag around. She's a good little Trick-or-Treater. Danny was the cutest Spiderman. And of course, Zayaa was beautiful as a butterfly.

And here's one of our little family.

We also got his picture professionally taken. I couldn't resist. I think babies in costumes are just adorable. Here are a few of them:









Anyways, Happy Halloween. I love you all.

Katie Wilson, I thought of you when we were taking these pictures. I think of you every time I see a baby in an outfit with ears. Hope to talk to you soon! Miss you!

7 Months

My Derek is 7 months old today. I had just figured out how I could take a shower, get ready, do laundry, etc. and then Derek started crawling. Now I am back at the not knowing what to do stage. We'll figure it out though. I need to baby-proof. I also need an exer-saucer. It would make things a lot easier. At least then I would be able to take a shower without a baby crawling to the edge of the tub, looking up, and screaming at me until I get out.

Derek cut his first tooth! I don't know if you can really see it in this small picture, but it's there, on the bottom.
He eats some solid food now. I'm still not pushing the whole thing that much.

He crawls. I already posted a video. I was too excited to wait until the month mark to post it. He's pretty fast. I think he's chompin at the bit to start walking. He loves to walk around with the help of the furniture, mom, dad, or any other willing person with some fingers to hold on to. He hasn't quite mastered the side stepping action yet that is required for furniture walking.

He still loves the gummy bear song. That is what he's looking and smiling at in the picture above. It was the only way we could get him to sit still and smile. It's his favorite song. The Rainbow Song from the Muppet Movie is still his favorite lullaby.

He went to the doctor last week to get some eye drops. He caught pink-eye from one of his cousins. He was really good through the whole thing and is all better now.

He babbles and growls. He mostly does canonical babbling but has recently started dabbling in variegated babbling. I can't be sure if it's arbitrary or communicative, but when he cries, he looks at me and says, "Mama." I'd like to believe he knows what it means but that's probably wishful thinking.

How cute is his little face? What a doll!!

We love our little Peanut.

Wish

It is simple. I wish that Stephenie Meyer would finish "Midnight Sun".

My Baby is Crawling!

What? I know, right?

6 Months and On the Move

Derek is 6 months old! He's such a cute little thing.

We had his 6 month well baby check up yesterday. He's 14 lbs. 11 oz. (25th percentile) and is 28 inches long (93rd percentile). He's doing well and is happy most of the time.

He's babbling a lot now. Loves to blow raspberries. Loves to jump. Loves to walk with the assistance of mom or dad. He can sit up now. He sits in the high chair at restaurants now, which is fun and makes things easier when we go out to eat. He can stand up, holding on to something. He likes to do that. The first time, Tyler let him hold on to the bed frame and let go of him. I was nervous but Derek looked so proud of himself standing there on the bed (with dad close of course). He scoots around on the floor. He rolls and scoots, rolls and scoots. He's even started to try to get his knees underneath him and push. He hasn't quite figured it out yet though. If he can get his foot on something he knows that if he pushes it he can move forward and is starting to try to dig into the ground to move forward. Crawling is soon at hand! I better start baby-proofing.
He loves music. He still "sings" himself to sleep. He likes to play piano with mom. He loves the theme song of Dharma and Greg. He LOVES the gummy bear song. He gets so excited when he hears it. It's kinda funny. He loves to read books. He actually likes to be in his swing. He also loves to hang out with his cousins.

We love him so much.

For your viewing pleasure:

My Haircut

This is my new haircut. I put it on Facebook forever ago, but I thought I would post this for those friends and family who stalk me here. I really like it. It was instant self esteem. It's amazing what a new 'do can do for you.

Garlicky Spinach Tortellini Soup

Okay Megan, here it is! Sorry it took me so long to put it up. Try it. It's amazing.

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
6-8 cloves of garlic
4 C low-salt chicken broth
6 oz fresh or frozen tortellini
14 oz canned diced tomatoes with liquid
10 oz spinach, washed, stemmed; coarsely chopped if large ( *I just use a bag of baby spinach)
8-10 basil leaves, coarsely chopped (or dried basil)
Grated parmesan cheese

Melt butter in a large saucepan over med-high heat.
Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
Add the broth and bring to a boil.
Add the tortellini and cook halfway, about 5 minutes for frozen pasta, less if using fresh.
Add the tomatoes and their liquid, reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook until the pasta is tender.
Stir in spinach and basil and cook until wilted, 1-2 minutes.
Serve sprinkled with parmesan.

Recipe and picture from thenest.com