Have Baby, Will Travel

We're back from our trip and we had so much fun!!! It was sad to leave though.

We started our trip by flying to Utah. Tanner was such a good sport. Our first flight was a little rocky, but then Tanner got the hang of it- and now he's a pro. During our first flight I couldn't count the number of dirty looks the couple across from us gave me. Tanner wasn't real keen on being stuck on my lap for 2 hours- so he was sharing his feelings with the entire back half of the plane. But after that- he was so worn out from the day of traveling that he slept through our second flight that got in to Utah around 10:45 pm. He was so exhausted. Oh and Chris and I were about ready to collapse. Its so much harder to travel with a baby!
Well we got into Utah- and Sarah and Joseph came to get us from the airport. We drove back to Joseph's apartment and pretty much collapsed. Tanner was so tired that he slept through the night- 11 hours straight. I felt so bad for the little guy. But that wasn't even the sad part. We soon discovered that Tanner only knows how to take naps for about 10 mins when he's not in his papasan swing. So that makes for one very tired boy. Sunday we mostly just hung out at Joseph's and we went to my Aunt Jan's for Dinner.


My Utah Family after dinner at Aunt Jan's.


After church on Sunday, I had to get some pictures of Tanner in his sweater vest and Tie.

Tanner got introduced to Matt and Ange's little boy Noah- who is about 5 months older than him. Noah wasn't real fond of Tanner- he threw a plane at Tanner's head. So I guess its safe to say Tanner is no longer really fond of him either. He slept 10 hours the next night, after shopping and visiting family all the next day. Then Tuesday we just relaxed at Joseph's before getting ready to head off to Oregon for the next week and a half.


Joseph really needs a baby- he loved holding Tanner. I don't think I actually held Tanner for more than maybe half an hour the entire time.


And Aunt Sarah is pretty convinced that Tanner belongs to her. She is so in love with him.

Tanner did much better on that flight- it was only 1 1/2 hours long- and he slept the entire time again. Such a blessing!!!
Oregon is a crazy blur to me still. We had a lot of fun- but it was so busy all the time. We spent our first weekend in Oregon at my in-laws cabin in central Oregon. We were told we were going down to "play", but soon learned that "playing" means something totally different to the men. They worked on the cabin all weekend- putting the wood floor down and other very loud projects. Baby Chase and Tanner hardly got any naps- so once again- very tired babies.


The boys were planning on doing some hunting while they were there, so we dressed the baby boys up to match them. Here is Tanner all dressed in Camo- Ready to help dad snag a big one.
We had fun though.

For only being 2 1/2 months older than Tanner- Chase is so much bigger. I just love these little boys!


It snowed our second night there- so Tanner got to experience his first snowfall. By the time we got out to take pictures there was only about an inch left though.

The next week we played alot with my sister-in-law Stephanie and her little boy Chase. Chase is 2 1/2 months older than Tanner.


They would just stare at each other like this, it was so funny.

Cousin Chase attacking Tanner with kisses.

It was so funny to watch the boys interact together and Chase is a doll. I just love that little boy. It felt like we never moved from Oregon once we got there. Everything was the same except for now we all have babies. Which made shopping and going out a little more complicated.
Tanner learned so many new tricks from his cousin- one of my favorites being a very high pitched squeal. Tanner sometimes feels inclined to share his new talent, like at dinner, when chase is napping, or while watching tv....pretty much anytime. He's become so much more vocal now too- he just talks and talks and he will stand up when I help him- His legs weren't strong enough to hold up his big belly until recently. I feel like he's grown up so much in the past two weeks. CRAZY!!!
We also took our Christmas card picture while we were there. It only took us about 150 tries to get one that was good. Here is the one we chose, plus a few others.


My little family

Kissing on our boy

Tanner was so done taking pictures at this point.

Thanksgiving dinner was delicious- a little crazy, but very tasty. Chris' side of the family is a little more colorful than mine. But luckily no one too crazy came this year. Not like two years ago when his lesbian cousin came with her girlfriend- that was interesting. Anyways- both of Chris' brothers and their wives and babies came. It was fun. So there are three boys in Chris' family. All three boys got married within a year of each other, then about two years later each of their wives had baby boys within three months of each other. So now there are three baby boy cousins- its so cute. I fell in love with my little nephews and their adorable little personalities. Tanner isn't too sure about having to share the spotlight, but he adjusted to it after a while. He was mainly concerned with not getting his hair pulled out by his older, more mobile cousins. They don't have hair like Tanner, and they were determined to steal some.

We took some cute pictures of the boys Thanksgiving day- they each had matching sweater vest outfits and I just couldn't resist a picture.



Here are the Mom and the babies


Cute faces found the camera.


Happy boy after thanksgiving dinner

The day after thanksgiving we headed home- ridiculously early. Memo to myself- never ever travel on the day after thanksgiving again- especially not a morning flight.
But we're home now- and Tanner is re-adjusting to having a quiet environment again. I'm hoping he can figure out how to take long naps again, because the entire time we were away he never took a nap longer than 40 mins. We were lucky if he slept for a total of 1 hour all day. So he was kind of cranky alot. So cross your fingers my good sleeper will return soon!

Tanner Meets Grandpa Herb and More

This past week Tanner got to meet his other Grandpa. Grandpa Herb flew in from Oregon for a seed meeting in Kansas City, and he drove down to see us. Tanner adored his grandpa. They had a lot of fun together- Tanner smiled and talked so much to him. Sometimes I'll be talking to him, and its like he's trying so hard to tell me things, but he just can't get the words out right. Its so funny!

Luckily, Tanner hasn't reached the stage where he is scared of strangers- because he gets passed around so much, and smiles and talks to everyone!
While Grandpa was here we went to the fish hatchery in Norfork and walked around there. It was kind of random- but it was a nice way to enjoy the weather.

Family picture at the fish Hatchery.
Its a pretty big hatchery and it was a beautiful day. It was really nice the whole time Grandpa Herb was here. In the high 70's and clear skies.

Every time the sun got in tanner's face he would cry- so we put this hat on him. He doesn't like hats- but this helped with the sun. I can't believe its November with the weather we've been having.
Unfortunately, Grandpa wasn't feeling 100% so we took him back to his hotel room so we didn't get to do a whole lot.

On Saturday, Tanner and I went with my parents to Laura's cross-country meet. It was the State competition. Laura did really good- placing 15th out of over 70 girls. Each girl was in the top 10 from her team- so she really was racing against the best of the best. Her team won the championship. It was another beautiful day. I think the high was about 80. I had Tanner in a little hat because I was afraid he was going to get sunburned. He isn't out in the sun very often and his skin is so fair. Poor kid is going to burn so easy- I'll have to smother him in sunblock whenever we got swimming.

Here is Tanner with his Nanny- watching Laura and her team at the awards ceremony.

Tanner blowing bubbles while we all watch Laura compete at her cross country meet.

Also, We've been working with Tanner trying to get him on his tummy more. He really hates being on his tummy. He just screams and yells until you pick him up- so you can see why we don't put him on his tummy very often. However, I want to make sure his motor development is on track- so we have about 10-20 minutes of Tummy time everyday. Its such torture.

Holding his head up high- this is really good for Tanner. He held it there for about 2 minutes. Trust me- that's definite improvement!

Again today, he tried so hard to get his head up. Its amazing how something we think is so simple is so hard for babies to learn.

Here is Tanner after he's given up trying to hold his head up. Isn't that pathetic? Poor little guy!

Tanner and I had to go to church alone today because Chris had drill for the National guard. It was the first time for me- having to get Tanner dressed and ready by myself on a hectic Sunday morning. By some miracle- we made it there on time and didn't forget anything at home or in the car.

Tanner in his Sunday clothes. I just love getting him all dressed up.

We leave on Saturday for Utah to visit my family and friends there. We will be there for a few days then on to Oregon. I'm sure I will have lots to write about when we get back- two weeks later. But until then- HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO EVERYONE!

Tricks and Treats

I've had so much fun this year with Halloween. I've made lots of fun treats and having Tanner just makes the whole holiday more fun. He's so fun to take pictures of and to play with. He's such a good baby that I just can't get enough of him. I made Tanner's costume last week, but then when I had him try it on six days later- we sat him up- and the zipper ripped out. He's such a little chunker. So then I decided to remake it- but I waited until two days before this time. Luckily he didn't out grow it this time.
So after making Tanner's costume twice- we finally got our act together- this is the herb family- Halloween 2009.Chris is Zeus, I'm Hera, and Tanner is Hercules.


Here is a close up of Tanner- He's so fun and didn't cry at all!


We had a blast. We went to the ward party for a little bit. Tanner hasn't been feeling very well this week after he got his shots on monday, so we didn't stay long. We ate some Chilli, saw the costume parade then headed to my parents house. We watched the orginal Dracula and Frankenstein with them while Tanner slept. It was fun- I'd never actually seen the original movies.
While we watched we enjoyed the halloween treats my mom and I had made a few days before. Here are some of the things we made

Scary Snack Mix

Ding-a-ling Spiders

Candy corn pudding cups

Donut hole eyeballs

Oreo magic dragon
I also made these little halloween place settings. Teethy grin plates, mummy napkins and pumpkin glasses.


All in all, a great halloween. I can hardly wait to start planning our costumes for next year. It will be so fun, because hopefully Tanner will be walking by then, and we will get to go to the kid's halloween festival and the hayride. And he'll be old enough to understand more of whats going on. I hope everyone had a safe and fun halloween!

Fall Fun and Crafts

This is Tanner at Nanny and Papa's house- he was so smiley- he loves to sit and smile at Papa. And he loves to rock and fall asleep in Nanny's arms. I love that they love to watch him.

Tanner wearing one of his Halloween onsies and hat. He hates wearing hats- but he was being very tolerant. I just love this boy!

We went to this nursery to find a pumpkin and it was such a beautiful day that we had to take some pictures!

We finally bought our pumpkins and carved them Tuesday night. It was really fun- Tanner laid on his pillow on the table the entire time and watched us. We got a pumpkin for each of us, and after carving our own, Chris and I turned our attention to Tanner's pumpkin. Chris' pumpkin is the silly face, mine is the haunted house, and Tanner's is the little zombie boy.





Oh and Tanner and I took some fun pumpkin pictures too while we were carving- he's such a good sport.



Then I was talking to my sister Sarah about our Halloween costumes and how I really wanted our costumes to all match and have some kind of theme. She gave me the idea of making Tanner a mini Hercules costume to go with mine and Chris' Greek god costumes. Its been a fun little project. I'll post pictures after Halloween, because I want to get a family picture and I will only be able to get Chris into that costume once.


Also I finally finished the wooden block letters for Tanner's name in his nursery. I really like how they turned out- and the colors are pretty close to his bedding colors.

This is Tanner at my grandmas before we left to look at the fall colors.


Yesterday Tanner and I went over to my Grandma's to hang out with her and we took a few pictures on her front porch with all her cute fall decorations. Then we all took a drive around to look at the fall colors. It was fun, and the maple trees are beautiful this year. I've missed the fall colors- in Idaho it just changes from green leaves to bare trees.
Oh- p.s. Tanner is two months old today- I can hardly believe it- he's such a little man already! Here are some other random pictures


Here is a picture of our home. Its a duplex- so I only took a picture of half of the unit.


Here is Tanner with Chris and I eating sushi- he just wanted to sit on our laps the entire time. I think he is going to be a sushi lover!

This is our little chunker. I love his rolls!

I love dressing Tanner up in little man clothes. Except- it makes him look so old, he's only 8 weeks old here.

The Start of Another Week

This is a classic Tanner pose- He loves to lay against his Dad. And that pot belly is no optical illusion- he is such a chunker!

Tanner and I playing together- he is so fun to watch because he makes the funniest faces. And last night- I'm convinced he was trying to laugh- it was the cutest thing ever!

I just love to snuggle this baby- he is so cute and cuddly. He loves to be held and snuggle up to you.

This is what Tanner wore to church yesterday. I love this little outfit- too bad its starting to get cold and the little shirt has short sleeves.


Tanner all bundled up before we go to cheer Laura on at her Cross Country meet- after I got him in the car seat all bundled, he slept the entire meet. The cold and wind didn't even bother him with that car seat canopy.


I think that God must have blessed us with an awesome baby because if Tanner would have been a hard baby or had colic- he would probably be an only child. I'm SO glad Chris and Tanner are such good buds- Chris loves to come home at lunch and see Tanner. He holds him most of his lunch break and Tanner loves to smile and play with him. Its a nice break for me- because I'm pretty sure Tanner gets tired of seeing me all day.

I can't get over how much he has grown during these last few weeks- he's started gaining weight and now he doesn't know how to stop. His little face has really filled out. He's doing a lot better at nursing- it only takes about 15-20 minutes and he's sleeping 6 hours stretches- if not more at night. He slept through the night twice last week. I'm hoping we are on our way to a full night's rest every night. I think at that point- we'll put him in his nursery.

I'm so grateful that I get to stay home and be with Tanner during the day- I think I'd miss way to much if I was still working. On Thursdays my Mom will watch Tanner for a few hours while I have some "me" time- but by the end of my 4 hours- I'm so ready to hold my baby again. Its crazy!

We're getting really excited for Thanksgiving. We are leaving for Utah on Nov. 14th to visit my sister Sarah, my brother Joesph and his wife Julieta, and Jon and Julie Arndt. Hopefully we'll get to see Kelsey- she's getting off her mission in two weeks, and Christie and her family. I haven't seen Bree since she was three months old- now she is 1. I'm so excited. Then we're heading out to Oregon to spend Thanksgiving with Chris' family. And I have two new little nephews I haven't met yet- so that will be fun. We'll have all three little boys together. I can hardly wait. I really miss my sister-in-law Stephanie- we got really close when we lived in Oregon for 5 months- and it was like loosing one of my best friends when we moved to Arkansas. So it will be fun to hang out together again.

It hardly seems fair that my life is so awesome right now, I can't help but think that God must have some big trial up ahead, because no one person should be this happy.