13 month update

Story time with daddy

He likes to listen to the Halmark toy sing Jingle Bells.

Jacob said we had a good picture of Dane by the tree, obviously not! haha

It seems so crazy to think that Dane is starting to understand things that I say. Our parent educator said that his vocabulary should really start to build now and that we would notice more by what he understands than what he actually says himself. Just in the last week or so I have noticed that he understands when I say lets take a bath, do you want to lay down? and are you hungry? I just didnt expect him to really understand me already. Sometimes I wish I could just push pause you know?

Right now we have our tree up and it has not been the challenge I thought it would be but he does like to test me by touching it when he knows he is not supposed to. I figured he would really think the tree was neat but so far he doesn't seem to care too much about it. He does like to look at the lights people have on their houses though.

13 months old

Dane is now 13 months old and hallelujah he is sleeping through the night!!!! I wasn't sure the day would ever come that he would stop waking up at 5 am to eat but he finally did. Unfortunately I can't get my body to stop waking up then. He is now walking all over the place and almost running. He is completely off of the bottle too. He has about 8 or 9 teeth these days but it is hard to get a good count because he has no hesitations when it comes to biting you if you stick your fingers in there. He does like having his teeth brushed so we are taking care of them. He is talking like crazy too. Most of what he says I can't figure out but I think he is using the words milk and more correctly. Tonight he talked for like 45 minutes and I have no idea what he was saying. His new thing is social laughing. He will just bust out with a big fake laugh. I just can't help but crack up when he does it. Most of the time he will get this big ear to ear cheesy grin to go along with it. He is also mocking people too. Jacob has been sick lately and in the morning you can hear him in the bathroom clearing his throat. When Dane hears him he will start making the same noise. This is a really fun age. Dane loves to play with his dad no matter if it is with toys, wrestling around, or assisting him on his xbox. It is one of the most heart warming moments when I get to sit back and watch the two of them play and laugh together.

Taking a good pic of Dane these days is nearly impossible. The little guy always blinks!

That classic cheezy grin I mentioned before.

Dane playing with his favorite toy outside while daddy raked up leaves.

Styling in his awesome hat that our talented friend made him. Thank you Susan so much!

Dane spreads the news

Jacob and I found out a few weeks before Dane turned 1 that we were going to have another baby, we are Due May 31, 2011. Since part of the fun is being able to tell the parents we decided to let Dane in on it. We ordered a cute shirt online and sat back to see how long it would take the grandparents to figure it out.





Lets just say that men aren't the most observant (right Bob?).

Surgery Day

Well we thought the day would never come but on November 2nd we actually went through with the surgery. We had to be there by 8:30 so we could do all of the pre-surgery screening and paperwork. We met with the Anesthesiologist, the Doctor, and the Nurse to answer any questions we may have had. All in all we felt really good about the surgery. The hospital does a great job of preparing you for what is about to happen. Once he was prepped and ready the nurse took him and we went to the waiting room. I am not sure how long everything took but about 50 minutes later they called us to talk to the doctor and he informed us that everything went great and that Dane was in recovery. About 15 minutes later we were able to meet up with him. I think the only scary part was while we were walking down the hall to meet up with him we heard this baby screaming with the intensity of a newborn and I was thinking to myself "that isn't my baby's cry" and it was! I just about lost it but the nurse assured me he was not in pain but instead was just scared from waking up in a strange place. They let me pick him up and he calmed right down. Once he calmed down and was able to drink some liquids they sent us home. The whole hospital trip lasted about 3 hours. The recovery took about a week and a half but he was running and playing that same night. He was on some pretty good pain medication so he was none the wiser. All I can say is I am so relieved to finally have it all over with. Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers during this whole event.



On our way to Childrens Mercy Hospital. Dane was just excited that he was able to bring his sheep dog. His sheep dog is what he sleeps with and I do not let him take it outside his bed. You should have seen the smile on his face when I let him take it out.

All prepped and ready to go.

Halloween 2010

These pictures just do not do him justice I tell you! Dane was Chewbacca for Halloween and it was the cutest costume on him. Although we didn't trick or treat we did hang out with all of our friends and enjoy some chili.

Tucker as Popeye, Dane as a wookie, Asher as a dragon, Porter as a pirate, and Mattie as a lady bug.

12 month photos

Danes 1st Birthday

Danes first birthday was absolutely perfect! He woke up feeling great and in such a happy mood. He took great naps and the whole day just fell into place. I couldn't have planned it any better. We invited all of Danes family to come and spend the special day with us. We celebrated with his favorite food (tacos) and then watched him dive into his own personal birthday cupcake. After we cleaned him up, so he didn't look like a smurf anymore, we opened gifts and played until it was time to go home and go to bed. Thank you to everyone who made the day so special. And for those who are curious he had 5 hair cuts before his first birthday. If you estimated the amount of hair we cut off it would be almost 8 inches off the top. Can you imagine what he would have looked like if I had not given in and said he could get a hair cut????

Guess who is turning 1!!!!!

Here is my 1st birthday invitation, isn't it awesome? Thank you to Laura for doing this for us.

11 month photos

Me, Daddy, and Uncle Chris saying Go Huskers!!!

it is not easy being this handsome

I am turned around like a big boy :)

Walking on the porch is one of my favorite things to do

11 month recap

Dane is officially walking all over the place. When we are home he walks from room to room frequently but I have realized that when we are out places that he crawls more often. It is so cute to see him come around the corner swaying side to side like the stay puft marshmallow man. He also talks quite a bit more these days. He is not using any real words but he has a lot to say.

This week we also left the formula behind and started the whole milk. He did ok with it until I tried to give it to him in his sippy cup rather than his bottle. For about three days I just kept trying the sippy but would give him a bottle before he laid down. Today he only had one bottle and managed to successfully go to bed without one. He also slept through the night last night which was so nice. It seems like he does that about once a month. I could sure get used to sleeping without interruptions.

The last couple of weeks we have been going to the ymca and Dane is doing great in the child watch area. It is really a relief to see him doing well when I am not around. I worried that since he was with me all the time he might have a hard time. He stays with family but hasn't really had many opportunities to be around strangers. I think it is good for him to play with the different kids.

The big first birthday is right around the corner and I am so sad to see him growing up so quickly but also so excited to see the new things he does. I will get pics up as soon as I can.

Pumpkin Patch 2010

Dane seemed to really enjoy the pumpkin patch more than I thought he would. He fed the goats but when we went into the barn he didn't like the smell or the pig so Jacob took him out. He was also scared of the grouchy geese. Unfortunately we did not get to ride the train because they had already put it up for the night but maybe next time.

This fall I am 2 1/2 feet tall!

Me and my buddy Asher just being cute!

I taught daddy how to drive this train. I couldn't believe he didn't know how.

Me doing my best Yosemite Sam impersonation.

Doing a little drivers ed training with Asher.

This tunnel was my favorite! I went back and forth like 4 times all by myself.

11 months and so cool....

Dane is now 11 months old and he is so close to walking. The other day he walked across our living room floor from myself over to Jacob. He is really trying to master it too. The other morning he would crawl over to his toy, stand up, walk to me and then do it all over again. It is like he knew he was practicing. He has also turned into the king of injuries. That kid always has some sort of scratch, bump, or bruise going on and right now he has all 3 on his face alone. There is no denying that this kid is all boy!

Now that he is 11 months he pretty much thinks he can do things all by himself. He will not let me feed him from a spoon at all. If he can't pick it up and feed himself then he just wont eat it most of the time. He seems to really enjoy meat in particular. The pediatrician said it is uncommon for a child his age to love meat but he does. Right now he is fighting a cold so he is not eating much. I think he would live off of goldfish if I would let him. The other night he found a container of them in my purse and he tossed it around the room over and over until they started falling out of the container and then he would eat them and toss it around more waiting on more to fall out.

The kid has so much energy it is unreal. The parents as teachers visitor we had couldn't believe how active he was. He had one 15 min nap all day long and his visit was at 3. Towards the end of the visit Jacob actually got him to sit for a couple minutes while he read him a book and she said "If I had not seen it with my own eyes I would not have believed he could do it." You would think that he would sleep better since he runs all day long but he is not. He is still getting up at least once a night to eat. Lately it has been around 3 am which is earlier and he is even going to bed between 8 to 8:30 now.

Surgery was postponed again. The night before he came down with a fever. I ended up taking him to the doctor and he had an ear infection and a cold. I noticed last night that he has two more teeth coming in on top as well so I guess those are all legitimate reasons to be fussy. :) We are now rescheduled to do his surgery on the 2nd of November.

Story Time

Today I took Dane to Story time at the public library. The class is for babies up to 18 months old. There were about 6 other babies in this class. The facilitator had us sing songs, dance, and read books. I think Dane really enjoyed it. We sang songs like "head, shoulders, knees, and toes" and "where is Thumpkin". I was impressed that the class kept his attention as long as it did. I think we will definitely go again. I have been trying to find more things to do with him that are free. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks we will get to go to the pumpkin patch and apple orchard.

All in all today was a great day. When it was time for bed Dane let me rock him to sleep. This is such a special time for me because he almost never let us rock him to sleep. I just can't think of anything better than him curling up on me in a blanket, I cherish those moments so much.

First BIG owie

We had a friend come over the other day to help us with a home repair and before going to work he decided to play with the dogs for a minute. They were so excited that someone wanted to pay attention to them so when he went to go help Jacob the girls AND Dane were right behind him. Unfortunately, Ariel knocked Dane over during the process and he smacked his mouth on the hard wood floor. His lip was enormous as you can tell and his mouth was bleeding. You can tell it pretty much skinned his poor lip. He was such a trooper though and now they are buds again.