We made it!

We moved! We have our tree up and ready for the big day, stockings are hung and I found and watched "A Christmas Story" at least five times so far. Thank you Mom for the cute decorations and the yummy cookies! This little snowman I think is my favorite.

We have been so busy these past few weeks that I'm afraid I haven't had time to write at all. However, I received a somewhat threatening email and phone call from a beloved sister of mine, stating that I must keep everyone updated more often. We signed up for internet, and our modem should arrive on Christmas Eve! So, I should have access to post blogs forever!
We would all like to thank those of you who spent so much of your time, energy and supplies to help us move, without all of you it would have taken many trips and so much more time than one weekend to move. Thank you all so much for your love and support.
We are all doing well. I started my job and Kyle is getting a taste for being a stay-at-home dad until school starts in a few weeks (I think he likes it!) And Porter, well, he enjoys just about everything.

Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas to All

These past few weeks have been such a blur. With the upcoming holidays and our move, things have felt like a whirlwind! This year I, like Angie, was having a difficult time getting into the holiday spirit. All of my Christmas movies are packed away. My decorations are packed into the trailor. And for 3 days in a row I found my bare tree on the kitchen floor because we couldn't quite get it to stay standing. But the other day, as I was packing (I don't do anything else these days) I found a Christmas CD that I bought a few years ago. Peter Breinholt is one of my favorites. He makes me happy. One of my favorite songs is his "Christmas Eve" song, and that did it for me. I don't know why that song did it, but it reminded me that Christmas is not over, nor is it all about the decorations or a tree. Thanks, Pete. I just needed a little reminder.

Although decorations aren't up, a tree isn't standing and I don't have Charlie Brown Christmas playing over and over in my house, Christmas is yet to come. I have been given the gift of anticipation. In one week I will have my tree decorated, we will be having a quiet, beautiful little Christmas just the three of us, sitting around a potbelly stove, sipping hot chocolate, and watching "The Christmas Story" until the cows come home. And this year I plan to add in a holiday tradition, like Angie (yet again), we will be reading the real Christmas story from Luke 2 on Christmas day just for a reminder.

And thanks for the cute shot Kari.

He's an ambi-turner!!

Porter has been rolling from his back to his tummy for weeks now, but only when rolling to his left. Well, today he did it! He became an ambi-turner! He can now roll onto his tummy from his right or left. This kid amazes me every day.

A boy and his duck.

The duck was lovingly given to Porter by his Great Aunt Lainey, before he was even born. The duck's bill is just the right size to fit into Porter's mouth and that's normally where you will find it! Porter can stay entertained for hours on end in his jumper with his duck to kiss/slobber on. If only the duck had a name. I'm at a loss, there's a U on the duck's chest, but I'm just not sure what to name it. Porter doesn't seem to care though. As long as he has something to chew on, he's happy.

We have a house!

A very important thing to have if you are moving I suppose. We headed this past week to secure us a home and we found one! This little beauty is full of character and charm. From the vibrant orange front room to the seafoam green bedrooms/bathroom to the Dewalt yellow kitchen it has charm coming out its wazoo! Luckily, we were told that we were more than okay to paint (the previous renter was an art major, and he didn't want to let one little ounce of colorful talent go to waste by painting the house some normal color. We have loads of storage space, and our own sunroom (again, a place built by an artist, so the potato bags on the walls are there on purpose I suppose.) It's just right for the three of us.
The back of the house and sunroom.Our front room (I think I'll paint that wall a chocolatey brown!) Small kitchen, but enough for what we need.Unfortunately, I can't do anything about the lovely tile in the bathroom!

We again are grateful to Jill and Kenny and Aiden for letting us stay with them while we looked for housing. We would also like to thank them for letting us borrow Aiden's jumper. It took Porter all of two minutes to figure it out, and less time than that to find out he loved it!

Chase

This year has been a huge year for babies in our family, and the last one planned for the year joined our clan on November 26th at 7:14 in the evening. Daniel Chase Torgerson was born, 7lbs. 14oz and 18 inches long. Kyle and I had the privilege of seeing little Chase that night and taking a few photos (as I always tend to do!) This is Chase, almost 3 hours old and cute as can be. I can't believe how wide awake he was.

The awake thing didn't last long.Proud Daddy Daniel and Chase

Thanksgiving!

And not one picture that turned out! I completely forgot to pull out my camera at Thanksgiving, but rest assured we had a good one! So much good food, family, and of course the games. We played Bingo/Yankee Swap at Thanksgiving this year and it was great fun! Thank you everybody for the tasty eats!

The day after Thanksgiving we headed to Huntington to pick out a Christmas tree. Since we will be moving, we decided that it would probably be best if we picked out a small tree. But, as we walked through the endless gorgeous tall trees, I decided we wanted a Christmas tree not a Christmas shrub. So we ended up loading a 6 footer on top of our car! Although I will not decorate it until we move, I figure I can still enjoy the smell of pine in our home before we move!

Also, for those who don't know, Kyle loves to have his hair pulled (I have no idea why). And since Porter has started grabbing everything in sight, Kyle saw this as an opportunity to put him to work. Kyle lays down and lets Porter grab and pull as hard as he wants! (Isn't there something about child labor laws?)

4 Months!

I can't believe how big this boy is! We went to the doctor today and Porter's weighing in at a whopping 14lbs 2oz. He's 25 1/4 inches long and the sweetest kid in the world (I figure that I have a fairly objective opinion on that). He has started eating rice cereal which he scarfs down like it's going out of style. He's getting so strong. He loves to jump. He rolls across rooms. The moment he's placed on the floor he's rolling onto his tummy. It's really hard to imagine that he only arrived 4 months ago! (And by the way, Dave, he's eating ONLY rice cereal!)

Last night, Porter woke up at about 4 am. This hasn't happened for over a month or so, it's not a very common occurence. So, I head into his room to put a pacifier back in his mouth thinking he would be out by the time I got back into my bed. Two minutes later I hear a piercing scream followed by a loud "BAM BAM BAM" I sat straight up in bed and heard it again. I ran into Porter's room to find him laying sideways in his bed kicking his legs against the one side of his crib, while his head hit the other side. This kid just can't stop jumping, even if its 4am!
Sorry there's no picture to go with this story, but at 4 in the morning it's one of the last things you think of, and the lighting is terrible!

Grateful

This past week was...well...less than great. It was a pure rollercoaster of a week .... and not one of those rollercoasters that I like either.
I didn't even yell "Woohoo".
Now that week is over and done and the rollercoaster has ended (I hope), I am looking forward to the Holiday season that is upon us! I love Thanksgiving, and I have an endless number of things to be grateful for (more than just that last week ended).
One of the things I am most grateful for is this little boy. He is so cute, so fun and so big. I put a pair of 9 month jammies on him last night and they fit!
He keeps me happy during rollercoaster weeks.

I'm grateful for him.

Invisible what?

On one of our family vacations to California, we listened to Phil Collins all the way there and back, and as a result I thought that I had learned the words to many of his songs. On my journey to visit Angie and Miss Sophie two days ago, I heard one of his songs on the radio that I have not heard in ages. As this song started I was so excited and I started belting it out without even thinking about the words. I realized after the first chorus that I used to sing it very, very wrong. The song is "An Invisible Touch" and the chorus starts out by saying, "She seems to have an invisible touch yeah..." And as I sang out, the words that I proclaimed were, "She seems to have an invisible tuff shed!"
Let me tell you, if you sing it with my lyrics, the song takes on a whole new meaning.

November 8, 2006

I was getting ready to head out for pizza with Kyle, and he was finishing up his time-cards for work. As I walked into the bathroom I saw it. I had taken it about 20 minutes before and I had completely forgotten it was there. But this time something was different. There were two pink lines, not one.

Nine months later we had this...

Kari said it would happen...

Kari said it would happen. She warned me not to help it along because it would happen soon enough, and she was right.

For the past 4 days Porter has been rolling onto his side and struggling to roll onto his stomach. I don’t know why, but yesterday he was determined to make it happen. Any time I laid him down on the floor he was immediately turning onto his side and trying to roll-over. I have never seen such dedication in such a small human being. For some reason I always thought that when babies roll-over for their first time that it was some kind of accident.

Porter’s was no accident.

Yesterday morning, Angie and I were hanging out when Porter got so close to rolling over from his back to his stomach… if only that darn second arm weren’t in the way he would have had it. So, after his very long struggle, I laid him on his stomach to see if he would roll from his tummy to his back. Within seconds he made his move, and found himself face-up. He acted as though this were a piece of cake, looking at me as if to say, “Of course I can do it that way silly woman.” I became ecstatic and immediately put him back on his belly. He did not remain there long, however, as he rolled for the second time (I have proof on video for those who do not believe!)
Then, later in the evening with both Kyle and I at home he did the unthinkable. Porter rolled over the other way. He was so dedicated to roll onto his tummy. He worked at it for so long before he succeeded. When he made it the first time, I left him there to bask in his success (for a few minutes anyway). But when I rolled him back over to give him the chance to do it again he got mad. I had just undone everything he had worked for. He didn’t do it again last night, but this morning I have enjoyed watching turn number 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. He is now getting the idea of rolling back and forth. I can’t believe how quickly he is growing up. What a smart kid.
So last night it happened… just as Kari said it would…he became mobile.
Before, during and after.

No, it's not a green teddy bear...

It's Porter the Frog! He is the cutest darn frog I have ever seen. Porter didn't seem to like his costume very much because it covered his hands (so he couldn't suck on them), but I think he still looked adorable! I have never liked Halloween, but I finally found the fun part of it! Dressing up Porter was fun! (for me, not for him).

Porter hated his costume.
He did seem fascinated by the flippers though. Isn't he adorable? These are my nieces and nephews on Halloween (all except Aiden). This is Riley as a ninja. Wesley was Scooby-doo.Sophie the sweet pony. And Captain Jack the Pirate!
This is the new addition to the Gordon family...his name is Toby. We were very grateful to stay with Jill, Kenny and Aiden this past weekend while we looked for housing and interviewed for a job. I'm pretty sure I got the job, and we may have found a home, so it was a successful trip!

Ducky Bread

So a few months ago Kyle and I found this adorable park called the Paul Reem Nature Park. We were looking for a place where we could have a luncheon after Porter and Sophie's blessings when we stumbled upon this little beauty. The Provo river runs just along side of it and there is a big bridge from the little parking lot across the river and into the park. It is completely surrounded with trees and shrubs, and right now most of the trees are beautiful reds and yellows. My favorite part about this place though, is the little duck pond in the middle. Last night we stole Jack and took him and Porter down to the park to feed the ducks. On our way out the door Jack asked if he could take his gun... to shoot the ducks. We explained that we would feed the ducks, not shoot them, and Jack responded, "Yeah, yeah! We feed the ducks "ducky" bread!" He was so thrilled when we got to the park, and for the next 20 minutes he proceeded to feed and yell at the ducks. "Ducks, here's food! Ducks! Here's ducky bread!"

They also have a fun little playground there and Jack had a blast learning to slide down the firemans pole. Jack jumped out onto it with no hesitation, and it quickly became his favorite thing at the park.

And Jack wasn't the only one who enjoyed the playground.

What would we do without it?

I've never been a big fan of pacifiers until about 12 weeks ago. I really don't like seeing 2 or 3 year olds with pacifiers in their mouths, but a 3 month old... that I can handle. Porter has started getting his fingers around the handle of the pacifier and pulling it out of his mouth. This particular time, he pulled it out and fell asleep while still trying to get it back in. (sorry the pictures are so poor, but they do get the idea across)

It's okay to be a little sappy, right?

I am so lucky. Here is my handsome man, holding and feeding our little boy. I've always known that Kyle loves and adores little kids, but I never knew how much he would love Porter. The two of them are inseparable from the time Kyle gets home from work until Porter goes to sleep (and sometimes not even then do they separate).

From reading Porter a book to changing his diaper; from feeding him to rocking him to sleep; from playing with him to licking his eye, Kyle loves and does it all. The world's greatest dad.

I am so lucky.

One of my favorite things...

It's just one of my favorite things in the world. I love Fall.

I love that you get to start wearing sweaters, drink hot chocolate, and wrap up in warm afghans. I love knowing that winter is just around the corner... literally... it snowed yesterday. I love listening to Peter Breinholt music (it just wouldn't be Fall without it) and of course, I love the leaves. I love the beautiful colors that make up fall, and I love taking rides through the canyon to see them. Two nights ago we headed up through the canyon and although most of the reds were gone, we managed to find a few that were left. Porter had just woken up and didn't look too happy during the first shots. But he got happier as we went along.

Three of my favorite things... all together.

Porter, or Calvin?

My all-time favorite cartoon is Calvin and Hobbes. I could read them all day long! I just love how Bill Watterson can portray so many expressions with such a simple little cartoon. One of my favorite comics is where Calvin's mother tells him that if he keeps making a funny face, it will get stuck like that forever. So, Calvin continues to walk around making the face, totally excited to have it stuck that way. This is that same face.


Almost as soon as he pulled that face he pulled this one. So... it's not stuck like that forever.

Can you believe it?

Yes, it's true. Porter is a sitter. He can sit. Look at how cute he is as he sits. His arm may be getting a little support by the boppy, but nevertheless he is sitting! No extra help from mom or dad, just sitting all by himself. Last night I was holding his little hands and sitting him on the ground, when I let go of one hand and he stayed balanced! So, I put him in the center of his boppy, to act as a cushion if he were to fall, and I let go. Although he teetered (and nose-dived) a few times he was able to stay sitting long enough for me to grab some snapshots. He did such a good job, and although I didn't stay very far away, I only had to save him a couple of times. What a tough little kid!