November

At the start of November we helped my parents finish painting the outside of their house. Valerie went into the hospital for less than 48 hours - her heart was racing and they didn't really know why.

Daniel has data for his thesis (FINALLY!) We're shooting for a defense in March (February if everything goes well.) He just is doing some more work with the data and then will be able to analyze it and write about it (simplified, but we're still super excited about it!)

Another eventful day in our lives - we took our puppy to the vet and on the way he decided to jump out the window! (He hates car rides.) Luckily we weren't going that fast and he only got a few cuts - plus we were on our way to the vet so he got checked out ;).

Eric relearned how to climb out of his crib and so we invested in some sleep sacks (wearable blankets for infants-2 year olds) and they have worked like a charm to keep him in his crib, although he does complain when we put them on him occasionally.

Daniel and I had been substituting in the primary for a few weeks and then were called to teach the class we'd been subbing for. We get to teach the 3 and 4 year olds in our ward. It's been fun, but they can be a handful. One Sunday we had 10 kids in our class, luckily we usually only have about 6.

All my parent's family came out for Thanksgiving and it was nice to be able to see them. We had a great dinner. My sister had really bad morning sickness so it wasn't super fun for her, but she did find one dish that she could eat - twice baked potatoes!

My grandfather got an infection in his leg at the end of them month and had to get IV treatment every day for a week. My mom took him in every morning which took a good chunk of her time. Valerie has been doing well this month and we're super excited about that!

Photos:
Eric was making a 'stew' - he was placing potatoes in the colander and stirring them while I was cooking dinner one night.
He also likes 'talking' on the telephone. He steals it whenever he gets a chance, and has changed his Uncle's name in the directory.
Eric enjoyed his first ice-cream cone this month. YUM!
He enjoyed playing in the snow as well! It only snowed a bit and then it all melted. We're actually enjoying temperatures above freezing (and above normal!) It's great. I do miss snow, but I'm sure wel

October

At the beginning of October Daniel had a job interview. We were excited because it was in the area, only about 30 miles away from my parents house. Unfortunately the job went down hill after learning about it... Basically he would have been working in a person's basement, with security cameras on him, they weren't set up for taxes yet so he'd have been a consultant for who knows how long. Oh and did I mention that this guy wanted a 2 year minimum commitment? We ended up turning that one down.

Eric's been talking a lot and we finally made a list of words he's been saying (as of the beginning of October): Mama, Papa, Eyes, Nose, Grandma, Grandpa, No, Daniel, Dennis, Breathe, Cough, Baby, Happy, 'Aw man', Cow, Please, Moo, Neigh, Yes, Hi, Bye, What, Back, Uh-oh. Eric has also learned the ASL sign for Bear and growls when he does it!

My sister has been in the hospital at least once and to the ER a few times. She finally got off her IV antibiotics for her bone infection. Happy Day. She seems to be doing well on that front.

Here are some pictures from this month:
Eric dressed up as a farm boy for halloween. This picture was the least movement he had the whole night!
Decorating cookies...
Smelling the roses! Then he picked all the petals off them!

It's been a while...

Whew! I can't believe it's been since the beginning of October that I've updated this! Unfortunately tonight is not going to be the night I write about October or November... Really I'm just going to say that I haven't forgotten this site completely and I will be writing tomorrow! Until then I hope you have a great night!