Eric's 9 month pictures...

So actually these pictures were taken 7 days after Eric's 9 month day, mainly due to our full memory card and no computer to empty it onto... We used my sister in law's computer to empty it when we stayed with her (thanks!) so we were able to take these pictures.

Eric is growing great. He's trying to learn to walk, he's cruising and crawling. He likes to get into EVERYTHING, but I suppose that is normal for babies his age. He is such a good kid though, he usually doesn't mind when we take things away from him that he isn't suppose to have, or catch him from going places we don't want him to go (such as the stairs.) He is also getting two of his top teeth to go along with his two bottom teeth, except the two on the top are both on the right side and the ones on the bottom are the middle two.

Here are the 9 month and 1 week pictures:

Starting to crawl away...
I'm coming to get you, Mom!

I'm coming...
Yep, I'm almost there...
You didn't really want to have me sit still while you snapped cute pictures of me

Up close and personal - this is usually where Eric ended up while I was taking the photos...

Playing with his green monkey.

And the monkey's feet.

I just loved this cute grin

Eric with his monkey

Happy New Year

I was just thinking about the past year... It's been interesting.

Jan-March 13 I was still working part time on campus in the Geography Department. Then Eric came the day after his due date. Daniel and I really love having Eric in our lives. He is such a cute kid and brightens our lives each day.

We moved at the end of June and then in Mid-September. Both were hectic and we were very grateful for the help we had!

Since moving in with my parents, my grandmother died and my little sister has been in the hospital twice. My little brother has had pneumonia 3 times. So life has been hectic for the past 3-4 months.

Daniel has been having hang ups with his thesis and so is still working on it... Sort of. Our computer decided to not start in early December and after learning that it would take 400-600 to fix it we decided to buy a new tower. The new tower is here but the data is still at the computer repair place, we haven't been able to get it as they were closed from before Christmas until today.

Our computer died a few days before my sister went into the hospital. She was admitted out here and transferred to UVR Hospital (a 2 hour drive) with what they think was pneumonia with a few other complications. She had to be put on a respirator for a day or two and had a mask that forced air into her lungs. She got over the sickness and was about to be released when she started having almost constant seizures. They transferred her to the University hospital (3 hours from here.) Once there they tried one medicine that tried to work but did not work enough to stop her seizure activity, so they had to put her in an induced coma. They started that on New Years Eve. They have just started to take her out of the coma (earlier today - Monday, Jan 4), which will take 5 days for her to wake up completely. The hope is that she will be seizure free as she wakes up. That is what we're praying for.

My older brother came out for Christmas and so it was just my dad, two brothers, Daniel, Eric and I for Christmas. We're still waiting for Eric to open his Christmas presents when Valerie and my mom get home. Daniel and I got a new computer for Christmas, which we opened as soon as it got here! Due to our computer dying and our memory card being full and living in a rural area (not being able to buy a new memory card for our camera), Eric's 9 month pictures were taken 1 week late and will be posted in the future. Probably next week as our plan is to go to visit my mom and sister later this week.

Hopefully 2010 will not be quite as eventful as 2009. We are hoping for a move and a full time job (as well as a Thesis being completed and Daniel getting his Masters)!

We're still alive and ticking... random tidbits

So since we've moved here life has been VERY hectic...

My sister has been to the ER about 5 times, in the hospital for 4 days, my little brother has had pneumonia twice and my grandmother died. Can you believe we've only been here for 2.5 months with all that happening?

Daniel has had some more trouble with his thesis, and has recently sent a very detailed email to his thesis committee so hopefully they will be able to help him with some more of the issues he's been having.

We went to Thanksgiving at Daniel's parents house and while there Eric took a nose dive from a high chair which ended up in a trip the ER for us. He's doing fine and is pretty well healed by now, but we were just worried about how much his mouth was bleeding. He really enjoyed the popsicle the nurse gave him to take down swelling. However since it was a grape popsicle it made his mouth look terribly bruised!

Beware of a rant: While visiting Daniel's parents we were finally able to resolve the issue we had with his ring... after almost 2 years (due to not being close to the store or any branch location.) We finally have the same type of ring that I bought him (ie. comfort fit) then the one we got back after they treated the white gold (we had it done on a visit for Christmas from grad school but didn't realize it until we were on the road back - in Nebraska).
Of course it was with a snotty attitude that they exchanged the rings (almost exact phrases were: "I'm losing money on this" {apparently their rings are a heavier weight now then when I bought Daniels} and "We don't know what happened but I'm doing this because we don't want you to tell people 'we screwed you over'"). We weren't exactly impressed with the customer service we received (we had the insurance plan through their store so they should have been nicer... although at the location I bought it where we tried first they all but accused us of buying a less expensive ring and trying to get a better one out of it. NOT HAPPY there either, especially after we waited 30 minutes to finally see the manager (we were on our way out of town after going to my mission reunion and visiting Daniel's sister). So just to let you know if you want jewerly, don't go to Samuels/Shubachs. At least we did get the same type of ring back.

I was lucky enough to win a $25 gift certificate to a webiste that had aretesian chocolates. Basically I can tell you that mint chocolates are good, lavendar are not (at least in my opinion.)

Daniel's sleep is doing a lot better. We got him a light box so he can continue his light therapy in the mornings without having to brave the cold.

That is just about everything that's happened. Life's been crazy. Below is a family picture that I posted on my food blog (thus the very faint watermark in the background - I forgot to save the cropped version and don't have time to redo it right now.)

8 Months

Here are pictures of Eric at 8 months:

He's mobile and likes to army crawl towards the camera...

Eric also likes standing.

Look at how much he has grown!

He has the cutest smiles!

Trying to get the camera!

Just moving away from where I wanted him.

Woohoo, I'm getting away from the picture area!

Okay, I'll give you a good shot, then maybe we'll get over this sooner than later.

And I'll play with the monkey.

So the above shots were from the second time we tried to take pictures, the first time all we got was:

A VERY unhappy baby!

Eric at 7 months

I have not been so good about uploading Eric's monthly pictures, but this past month has been out of the ordinary, so I'm sure you will understand. I started taking pictures and the first one turned out great, none of the rest turned out as cute, but we did get a few more good ones. The main problem was that Eric wanted to come get the camera:

One moment he'd be back against the couch and the next, he was up in the camera. Look at those beautiful blue eyes!

This was not the best picture, but it was close behind!
I love the shots of Eric playing with his green monkey!
Hugging the monkey, he's just so cute!
My little contortionist!

Oh, you're taking pictures?

And finally, this is the picture I LOVE the most, I think it turned out so great! Just look at that cute smile!

One Reason

In the post I let you all know that we were moving in with my parents for a while, I said this: I know there is a reason we're going back to live with my parents for a bit, and when I learn what that reason is, I'll let you know.

Tonight I know one reason that this move was suppose to happen. My grandmother (mom's mother) died this evening. Since we moved here, she was able to see Eric before she died (unfortunately due to an infection she had, she couldn't hold him.) I am grateful for that.

Eric at 6 months...

So I know this post is later than I wanted it to be... what can I say life is crazy! I may post on that in the future, we'll see... Here's the pictures, I'm skipping captioning them this time... I want to hear yours!

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