Christmas

Christmas this year was a lot of fun. Having Talin with us this year made it a lot more fun. On Christmas Eve we spent the day with Brandon's dad and his wife. First we opened presents at their house, went to lunch at Bajio's and then went and saw the movie "Tron." I was a little disappointed with the movie. Plus I spent a lot of time in the hallway so Talin could run around and use up some energy. Later that night we went to Grandpa Prescott's house and ate pizza and did a few more presents. It was a great day.

On Christmas morning we got up bright and early and drove to my parents' house in West Jordan. Our tradition is to have breakfast on Christmas over there, and boy is it yummy! Then we all opened presents.




Talin wasn't really interested in opening presents. He got distracted by other things & people around him that he didn't want to sit still and open presents. Oh well, maybe next year he'll be more into it.




That afternoon we drove up to my Aunt & Uncle's house in Farmington and ate more food and opened more presents. It's good to see my extended family since I really don't get to see them that often anymore.

Brandon and I didn't open our gifts or the gifts we got for Talin until Christmas night. We kind of spoiled each other this year. Brandon got me a cricut, a mixer, and some shirts (that he picked out all on his own!). I got Brandon some parts to go with his new rifle his dad got him. Brandon also bought a gun few a months back and that was part of his Christmas too - talk about an expensive hobby! For Talin we got him some clothes and jammies, a ball, bath toy, cell phone (fake one of course), a fire station with cars, a wagon with blocks, and some books.




The day after Christmas we went to church and then spent the day at Brandon's mom's house. Of course there was more food and presents. (I've been trying to watch what I eat and exercise to get ready for a cruise we're going on in a couple weeks, but I blew it this whole weekend. I was pretty depressed by the time Monday rolled around haha).



Talin got so spoiled this Christmas. He has more toys than I'm sure he knows what to do with. And his birthday is this week too!

Well another Christmas come and gone, and another year too! Where has the time gone!

11 Months & Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year was a lot of fun. We trade off families each year and this year we went over to my mother-in-law's house. It was just her and her husband, Brandon's sister and her husband and their little boy, and us. We played some Wii for a little bit (Just Dance...so fun!) and then ate lots of turkey and stuffing. Brandon decided, that instead of spooning sweet potatoes into Talin's mouth, that he'd just plop it on his high chair tray. And boy was that a fun mess to clean up!

Because we spent the day at my in-law's house, Talin wasn't able to get his afternoon nap in. He zonked right out on his Grandpa's lap...so adorable!

Well, Talin is now 11 months! I seriously can't believe he is almost 1! Where did the time go??? Talin has 4 teeth now - 2 on bottom and 2 on top, and 2 more are coming in on top. His biggest accomplishment yet was that he started walking a few days after Halloween! It's now his preferred method of getting around. He loves being so mobile. Lately he loves pulling all the dvd's off our shelf and throwing them on the ground. Much like what he does with his food in the high chair now too haha. He likes to try and see what he can get away with. We put up our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving and Talin has been so intrigued with it. He tries to pull the ornaments off (no surprise there), so we have to keep a close watch on him. We also got him his big boy car seat this week. No more heavy car seat to lug around, thank goodness! He likes to be able to see me driving and see everything that's going on outside. Talin really has become a little person. He's no longer my baby! I just love him so much and I am so blessed to be his mommy!

Talin loves the camera and I think he's ready to lunge after it here.

Here Talin is showing off the ornament he pulled off the tree. My sister drove up from Sugarhouse to watch him last night while we went to the Jazz game. Talin absolutely adores her.

Showing off his ornament again!

Halloween & 10 Months

I know I say this every month, but Talin is growing so much. It amazes me the things he understands. He learned how to say dada and can pretty much say it on command. He has a little walker toy that he pushes around and just loves it! He's not walking on his own yet, but is SO CLOSE. I had to start Talin at a daycare this month. Luckily it's only on Mondays and Wednesdays, so not too bad. Still, I was really worried about it..how we would do there, if he would fuss a lot, sleep much, etc. So far he's adjusting to it pretty well. He cries a little when I leave but every time I pick him up he seems happy as can be. He has a hard time getting much sleep there because the cribs are in the same room as the toys so it gets kinda noisy at times, making it hard for him to want to sleep. The girls that take care of him are really nice and give him lots of attention, which is good.

So anyway, on to Halloween....

The Friday before Halloween we went with some friends to Cherry Hill's "Spooky Hill" because I had some free passes from work. It was the same Cherry Hill, only it was decked out for Halloween. We got to ride on a little train with the babies and see some ghosts and other "scary" things. I think Amanda and I enjoyed it more than the babies did lol. Then on Saturday morning I had Young Women in Excellence at the church. Later that night we went to Brandon's dad's house for some YUMMY Chili. After that, we took Talin in his costume and trick-or-treated to 3 houses. We'll spend a lot more time out & about when Talin's a little bit older. This year it was more for us than for him hehe.


This was at my work. A few of us brought our babies in their costumes. There was a dragon, monkey, and of course a dinosaur.


A girl that is in Young Women's with me is a photographer and she was giving out this cute template for free. I took the pictures however. You can tell that they are definitely not professional photos ha ha.

9 Months

We took Talin in for his 9 month check up the other day and he weighed in at 21.1 lbs. and 29 in. long. He got his first flu shot and he didn't even cry or anything. He's such a tough little guy. He continues to walk along furniture and he can stand up on his own really well. He just needs to learn to start taking steps. Lately he is always saying 'Gu gu gu gu.' I wouldn't be surprised if his first word started with a G. He loves to eat and sits and begs when Brandon and I have food. He is worse than a dog hahaha. We ate at the Brick Oven last night with his Nana and Grandpa and they gave him all kinds of pasta, pizza, bread, etc., and he loved every moment of it. It amazes me how fast he is growing up, and it's crazy to think that he'll be a year old in just 3 months.

Getting ready to eat a nice meal of...carrots. Yum.

He's a speedy little crawler. There's no stoppin him.

He loves to pull himself up on our pant legs.

Just reading a book.

8 Months

Another month gone by. Talin is crawling everywhere! He can even climb up the full set of stairs by himself. Now we just need to work out the going down part. He always wants to go face first. He also pulls himself up to stand really well. I think once he figures out his balance a little more he'll be walking here pretty soon. I bought him a little walker toy that he can push around, so that will hopefully help. He still has just one tooth. He's finally back to sleeping through the night consistently again, thank goodness, so I don't think any more teeth are coming in at the moment. We took our first trip with Talin a couple weeks ago to my uncle's cabin. The trip ended badly, but we still had a good time with family while we were up there. We brought the camera and video camera and we didn't even use either one the whole time...oh well. I can't believe in 4 months we will be celebrating Talin's 1st birthday! So crazy how fast the year has gone by and how fast he is growing up.



We also just brought home a new puppy last Friday. She's not replacing Kuda. She'll hopefully fill the void that's missing. Her name is Sasha and she is a cutie pie. She and Talin are a little rough with each other, and Talin gets frustrated with her already LOL. She kinda smothers him and licks him everywhere and she tries to take his toys even though she has her own. They're funny to watch. Hopefully they'll be best of pals over the months to come.

Goodbye Kuda

We had to say goodbye to a family member last weekend. He was the best pet we could've ever asked for. He was so kind, gentle, and loyal..seriously the best dog I have ever come across.
We went up to my uncle's cabin in Idaho last Thursday. We had Brandon's dad watch Kuda while we were gone. He didn't want Kuda in the house because of all the hair, totally understandable, so he was going to keep him in the back yard. Anyway, we were so excited about this trip because it's the only thing we had planned to do all summer and we were so ready to get away. Well we had a good time during the days, but the nights were a nightmare. Talin would constantly wake up all disturbed and wouldn't go back to sleep unless we were holding him. He's never slept in the pack-n-play before and never slept in a strange cabin. And we were so worried about him waking everyone else up. So we decided to leave a day early, Saturday instead of Sunday. We figured it would be the best thing for all of us. Well up there in Idaho we had no cell service because we were in the middle of a forest. Once we started driving away and got service again we had a bunch of voice mails. First we got a voice mail from a guy named Mike who said Kuda had been hit by a car and had a broken foot. Brandon called the guy and he said Kuda was picked up by Animal Control. We were so upset and worried about him, but we couldn't do anything because we were still in Idaho. Brandon also had a message from his dad saying that Kuda had gotten out of the backyard Friday night and they drove around for 2 hours looking for him. I guess an 80 year old man hit him with his truck and started knocking on people's doors because he didn't know what to do with him and didn't want to handle the situation. He knocked on 2 people's doors before Mike helped out and called animal control to come pick him up. Kuda got hit around 10 pm Friday night and didn't get picked up till Saturday morning. He laid in pain for hours! It just makes me sick knowing that guy didn't want to do anything about it. He has no heart. Well since we were still in Idaho, Brandon's dad went and picked Kuda up from Animal Control and took him straight over to the vet. As soon as we got home Saturday evening Brandon rushed over to meet his dad at the vet. Apparently Kuda also had a broken back and was having a hard time breathing. Brandon called me to tell me that his injuries were worse than we thought. The vet said Kuda would need surgery on his foot. He said that he would still always be in pain and would bear his weight down on the other foot which would eventually lead to him having arthritis. Then he said if we were even able to find a doctor that would touch the back surgery, that would cost at least $1,000. We don't have that kind of money to spend. So we had to think about what would be best for Kuda. Even if he had the surgeries done he would always be in pain and wouldn't have a very good quality of life. I took Talin to my mother-in-law's and rushed to the vet right away so we could have him put down. I was an emotional wreck all the way to the vet. As soon as I got there Brandon and I just hugged and cried together. The vet wheeled in Kuda and he looked horrible. His fur was all black from tires and laying on the pavement all night. He looked up when we said his name, but he was so out of it. We pet him and said our goodbyes and then we watched him get uthenized. It was awful. It was sooooo hard to let him go. But I just knew that he was out of pain and in a better place. The rest of that night we just cried and cried and thought about all the memories we had with him. We only had him for 2 years. When we moved into our house and Brandon would work graves and long days, Kuda was the one that kept me company when I was lonely. He was my bud. He was my protector. People might read this and think, 'What's the big deal? It's just a dog?' But he was more than that. It really felt like we were losing a person, a part of our family. We loved Kuda so much. At least we have the memories to look back on. He was the best dog. We will never forget him.

7 Months

Talin is officially crawling! He's been really close for the last month or so, but he just started to get the hang of it about a week & a half ago. He is all over the place now and trying to explore everything around. Time to baby proof the house! I also noticed yesterday that he has his first tooth getting ready to pop up. He was gnawing on my finger and I felt something kinda sharp on his gums and sure enough, his first tooth on the way. He's had a couple firsts this last month: first time on a swing, first time on a boat. He enjoyed both of them. I had a cute video of him on the swing recorded on my phone, but I have no idea how to transfer it to the computer LOL. He gets more and more fun with each month that goes by. He's definitely not the little tiny baby he once was. He's growing up so fast!

Here he is enjoying his baby food. He tries to grab the spoon from me and feed himself.


Just chillin on the floor.


Having so much fun.


Talin LOVES Kuda. He always wants to play with him, but Kuda's sometimes a little nervous. Probably because Talin always pulls at his hair. Hahaha.

6 Months

Wow, I can't believe Talin is half a year old already. Time flies! We took him to his 6 month well check up yesterday. He now weighs 17 lbs. 11 oz. and is 27 & 1/2 inches long. My baby's growing! We gave him baby food for the first time yesterday - butternut squash, yum. He seemed to like it. He sits up really well on his own, and I think he might be crawling soon. We will see though. No teeth yet. I think it might be a couple more months on that. These last 6 months have been amazing. I almost forget what life was like before Talin came along. He is such a blessing and we love him so much.

On another note, Brandon got a HUGE raise at work which will be really nice. Especially since my hours at work have become less and less. I work from home 3 days a week and it's almost impossible to get in a full 8 hours when I have Talin to take care of. I'm very lucky that my job allows me to do this though so I can spend time with my baby.

5 Months

I can't believe another month has gone by. Talin's personality gets cuter and cuter every day. He loves to touch anything in sight especially our faces when he's being held. I feel like he will be crawling here pretty soon. He is really good on his tummy. He pushes off his back legs pretty well and is really strong on his arms. We will see though. Talin was sleeping through the night up until a couple weeks ago. Now he is harder to put down at night and I have to get up with him once a night and then again in the early morning. I don't know what happened. I was sure enjoying my full night's sleep. I'm not sure how to get him back on track. If anyone has suggestions I would sure appreciate it! We took him to Primary Children's last week for his second ultrasound. Everything looked good with his kidneys, abdomen and pancreas..yay. As far as me and Brandon, there really are no new updates. Brandon is back on his 7 on 7 off work schedule and I have girl's camp coming up next week. I will only be going up for 1 day though because I can't be away for too long since I'm nursing. I'm sure all you mothers know the feeling. Well that's all for now.

Mother's Day

Brandon surprised me for Mother's Day and had portraits done at JC Penney of Talin and him. I couldn't have asked for a better Mother's day gift. The pictures turned out great!

4 months

I'm a couple days late posting this, but Talin is 4 months now! I took him in for his 4 month well check up and he is 14 lbs. 6 oz. and 26 inches long. He's in the 95th percentile for height and his head is in like the 15th percentile (hopefully this has nothing to do with his intelligence haha). He also has eczema, poor little guy. It started flaring up on his face first and then spread to the back of his head and a little bit on his back, arms, and legs. Luckily the doctor prescribed us hydrocortizone cream and that has really been helping. In this last month Talin rolled over for the first time from his tummy to his back. He has also discovered his voice and loves to make funny sounds. He is a really happy baby, although he has his moments like most babies do. I am really enjoying this stage so far. It is so fun to watch him discover the world and learn new things. He is just so stinkin cute!


Talin is starting to play with toys now. He LOVES his exersaucer.

I just barely took this picture as Talin is taking a nice little nap in the bouncer. He has never really taken binkis, but he loves his thumb! He always sucks on it when he's sleepy. Too cute.