Then…

As many of you know, Jonathan and I have been taking care of this little guy. His name is Dane and he will be 8 months old on May 2nd. He is a sweetheart and we are having the time of our lives taking care of him! He is such a little blessing in our home and he is such a very good baby.

He has been with us for almost a month total. Only going home for about 3 days during that time so we’ve had him more than we haven’t. When we first got him he had been quite sick with a nasty cold so we spent a lot of time dosing out antibiotics, baby tylenol, and sitting by the nebulizer for breathing treatments, and tons of snuggle time. 😉

Along with all that he has been teething and working pretty hard on his first two bottom teeth. Poor little guy… He got hit hard with a double whammy! He has one tooth that has popped through and I fully expect to see the second one just anytime. He is doing so good and it seems like everyday we see him do something new and different.

In the morning when he first wakes up and you go in to get him, as soon as he sees you he always gives a big smile. When he wakes up we usually put him in the bed with us for a little morning snuggle time and we have fun laughing at his giggles, and jabbering!

He loves sitting in his bouncy seat, loves his swing, loves playing in the floor with toys, he loves his booster seat and eating baby food! Sometimes I think we both wear more than he actually eats, but that’s ok too. 😉 He loves bath time now which is awesome cause when we first got him he was terrified of getting a bath and screamed the whole way through it. He loves his paci and is quite attached to it. When he is sleepy he loves to have a blanket on his face to sleep and usually pulls it all the way over his head. (Be advised… if you try to pull it off before he is fully asleep he doesn’t appreciate it to much.) 😉 He loves the cartoons Special Agent OSO and Handy Manny. In fact.. loves them so much that I have woke up through the night to feed him and realize I’m singing the theme song from those cartoons. 😛 I love sitting in the floor with him, playing with his toys and trying to read him books while he tries to eat it. Of course… everything he gets his hands on tends to go straight to his mouth. It won’t be long until he starts crawling and keeping us on our toes more and more everyday!

He even seems to like our dog, Max! However, Max doesn’t always share the love. Instead I think he gets a little jealous. When this picture was taken, Dane wasn’t feeling too good so Max crawled up close to him and I decided since it was such a rare moment and so cute I just had to have a picture. Max is VERY good with kids and has never once tried to bite or even growl at anyone. Even when Dane grabbed a handful of fur and yanked real hard Max still did nothing but let out a little whimper. LOL I quickly released him and before I could do anything to stop him, Max respond with a good slurp to the side of Dane’s face! YUCK 😛 (Thank goodness for baby wipes)

Peaceful sleeper!

When we first got Dane I borrowed a pack-n-play from Jonathan’s Mom for him to sleep in. I was in a thrift store one day looking for some other things and came across a baby cradle. I have always loved the wooden cradles and thought that someday if the Lord blessed us with our own children that I would love to have one for our baby! While I was in the store I was on the phone with my Mom and when I saw the cradle I mentioned that I would love to have it but couldn’t afford it. She told me to see if he would drop the price to which he gladly did! I told my Mom and she drove to where I was, loaded it up, and delivered it to my house! I was so excited and I was just beside myself that I finally got to have one and Dane loves his new little bed!

The best part about this story though is that my Mom had recieved some inheritance money from my Grandma so this cradle was purchased by my Mom in honor of my Grandma! If she were still here she would have loved doing this so I’m so thankful for how she is a part of our lives and still giving just as she always did!

Now…

Dane is almost 2 1/2 years old now. He’s definitely not the baby we’re waiting to see crawl or take his first steps any more. Instead, he’s a very active toddler! While he has always had a pretty laid back attitude to anything that is going on around him, he is also into everything! More and more lately he seems to have found one speed.. RUN!

He is a sweet boy who still loves to give cuddles, hugs and kisses. He is a Mommy’s boy and Daddy’s boy depending on what he wants at the moment. 😉 He has become a  little bit of a picky eater since he stopped eating baby food and we’ve jokingly said that we might be raising a vegitarian but little by little he is growing to like more things and while I’ve not had a green bean thrown back at me in a while he still hates them! lol

He can’t stand to get his hands dirty… Yes, he is a boy and a quirky one at that! 😉 He loves playing outside and will sit and play in the dirt for a long time but as soon as he realizes he is dirty he always comes running and says “Mommy, dirt off!” This has carried over into meal time as well so he won’t hardly pick up foods that would make his hands messy. Instead he has recently gotten very proficient with utensils!

He loves bath time still and usually if he cries now it’s because we make him get out! He is still a happy little guy in the morning and has always been an early riser! He is always ready to offer a big smile and a good morning hug. He still loves his blanket and paci. (We are slowly trying to break the paci but it’s not going too well). He started cutting 2 year molars a while back and those things have been boogers to say the least!

Dane LOVES church, he enjoys Sunday school, singing those sweet little songs, learning Bible stories, learning to pray. While it’s all very simple, it is very basic truths that are being instilled in his heart at an early age. He loves family devotions every night and loves praying and listening as Daddy reads from the Bible.

Dane loves anything that rolls… trucks, cars, trains, balls… and apparently you can’t have too many! 😉 He also loves many other things. Planes, dinosaurs, animals, books, puzzles, eating crayons and play-dough (like most 2 year olds), He celebrated his 2nd birthday with a Toy Story themed party and we all had a blast.

All in all Dane is our AWESOME little guy and he is a good little boy! I’m so thankful and grateful for this wonderful and special blessing God has given us!