"Porter Asleep with Carrots on Face"

Sounds like a catchy and very accurate title doesn't it? This is just before little Chase's blessing on Sunday. Porter had slept well throughout the night, but apparently was ready for a nap when we started to feed him. This is his favorite food, he loves his carrots. Although he fell asleep, he would still open his mouth for us to feed him more while he was snoozing. He finished his entire bowlful of food while asleep.
But, he woke up once we got there, and had smiles for everybody.

6 months!

This is Porter at 6 months old. Yes, his hair is a little disheveled, but he did just wake up from a nap and we have some pretty bad bed-head here at our house.

I am so amazed at how big he has gotten over the past 6 months. Today we had a doctor's appointment and Porter now weighs 16lbs 8oz (which is exactly double his birth weight) that puts him into the 23 percentile for his weight. However, to make up for the lack of pounds, he is 28 inches long putting him into the 88 percentile for height. So, we have an incredibly tall, very skinny child. The doctor told us that he is perfectly healthy, and agreed with us that the reason for his lower weight is the fact that he doesn't stop moving. The kid is burning calories so fast!

Porter has grown so much, and now at 6 months he:

*Loves to smile and laugh

*Can sit up without support

*Grabs at everything in sight, and once he's got it, it's in his mouth

*Still has no teeth, but with all the drool it's only a matter of time

*Gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth, so it's also only a matter of time

*Loves to jump... and jump... and jump... and jump

*Absolutely loves Dot, the blue polka -"Dot" duck from his Aunt Lainey

*Loves every kind of fruit and veggie known to man, along with rice and oatmeal cereal

*Loves baths and just recently figured out how to splash (I had to mop up the bathroom tonight)

*Moves around like you can't believe, can't be left alone for a minute

*Sips juice out of a regular cup

*Just happens to be the cutest kid in the world!

Thanks Papa and Gramma

We had such a fun weekend with Gramma and Papa M. They came down to visit us this weekendand we were very happy to have them for our company. We enjoyed lounging around in the evenings watching movies and playing games. Let me just say that Mom and I kick butt at Rook! We had so much fun and we look forward to having them visit again!


Porter is 6 months old today, and tomorrow we have our 6 month appointment. We'll let you know how big he's getting!

A Bit of Irony

As I read Carri's comment on being a Pioneer, I had to laugh. I just recently found this blog when I was reading your comment. I think she is delightful and she makes me want to go live out on the prairie, wear cowboy boots and have a whole herd of wild mustang on my ranch (oh, she makes me want to have a ranch too).
This woman is a hoot and a half.

Possibly even two hoots.

An Ode to Mothers

To all mothers who did not have the luxury of disposable diapers, I salute you. This very day, I had an experience which truly made me feel for those of you who suffered through those difficult times. I know that I have no idea how truly terrible the experience of cloth diapers truly is, but this experience makes me not want to take the disposable ones for granted.
I picked Porter up from the floor and sat him on my lap when I felt my leg immediately get wet. I picked him up and noticed a brown spot starting to seep from his pajamas. I quickly rushed him to his room and started to strip him down. The poop started where his diaper ended and ran all down his leg. As I got to his little footie I realized that there was a heap of poop at the bottom of his pant leg. I don't know how he shot it right to the bottom of his leg, but there it was. His foot was buried in about 2 inches deep in thick poop. (He was wearing the footie pajamas, so it contained the poop quite nicely). After hosing Porter down and getting him dressed again, I had the experience of scrubbing the thick poop out of the adorable pajamas. An experience I don't look forward to doing again.
So here's to all you mothers who have had this experience more than once.
And thank you disposable diaper creator, thank you.

I know I've said it before.

And, I know I'll say it again. The man I'm married to is fantastic. This dead tree is now keeping us warm for the rest of the winter thanks to him. Kyle decided to go about it the old fashioned way and chopped it down with an axe instead of opting for a chainsaw. I was very impressed. Especially considering that I tried to help him haul the bulk of it back to the truck, and sadly I could barely lift one end. Kyle chopped it into fairly decent sized pieces, but I have no idea how he carried them all back to the truck.

Wait, yes I do.

Kyle's tough.

That's all there is to it.

This guy will do dishes, change dirty diapers and chop down trees.

There's nothing he wouldn't do for his family.

I think I'm in trouble.

Kyle laid Porter down in the front room today (I was sleeping after my shift last night), and Kyle laid a couple of penguins out for Porter to play with. We keep most of Porter's toys in a little basket in the front room, and this basket was sitting about 2 feet out of his reach.

Kyle went into the kitchen to wash some dishes (I know... he's so great... anybody jealous?), and when he came out about ten minutes later to check on Porter, this is what he found.

Porter originally started out where the little purple penguin is, the basket wasn't turned over, and only penguins were on the floor.

Many people have told me after seeing Porter jump, that when he started moving I was in trouble.

I think I'm in trouble.

Apparently I was taught wrong.

When I was in school, I remember being taught about my colors and I'm pretty sure that I got an A in that course. Check me on this... blue + yellow = green, red + blue = purple; red, blue and yellow are primary colors and you can't make them from mixing any two other colors. I'm right, right? Am I great at my colors or what?

Unfortunately, my kindergarten teacher must have failed me. I have discovered that red can be made from two colors, and those colors are carrot orange and warm brown. I discovered it, and do you want to know how? That's right. This is my wall. It's red. The paint sample that I picked out was much more brown than this, but apparently when brown mixes with carrot orange it produces this.

I think I like it. Kyle was sweet enough to paint it one night while I was at work. I think it's great!Changing subjects...how cute is this kid? This is the new kissy face that Porter has been making. He keeps pursing his lips and I love it.

Baby It's Cold Outside!

When we woke up on Sunday morning there was no snow to be seen. The sun was shining and bright. It was a perfectly beautiful day. At about 2 in the afternoon it started snowing... and didn't stop... at all. Throughout the night we got about 6-7 inches of snow and by Monday morning we woke up to find this. I have always wanted to live down a street with trees lining each side and now I do. I love the look of our street before its plowed. I have to agree with Kari that I love the blanket of snow on everything. It makes me want to stay inside and drink cocoa next to my new...
Stove! We would like to welcome Nelly the pot-belly stove into our home. Actually, Kyle says I have to name her Nelly the Not-So-Pot-Belly, due to the fact that she's just a stove and does not have the features necessary (a pot-belly) to have it in her name.

Anyway, we lit her up for the first time tonight and the house got so hot we had to open all the doors and windows, our fans were on high and we still were sweating. So, if you noticed a slight elevation in temperature and you hear that another polar ice cap melted last night, don't worry, it's just Nelly, hard at work.

I don't think it would be right to post a blog and not include a picture of the most handsome boy in the world. Do you?

Love and Warmth

I think there are some people out there who love this little boy. More than just Kyle and myself. This Christmas Porter received two very special, beautiful quilts to keep him nice and warm down here in the frigid weahter. He (being the happy boy he is) loves them both and is mesmerized by both of them. I know that they must have taken so much time and effort from both his Aunt Kari and his Gramma Lynnae. Aunt Kari made the beautiful little house quilt and Gramma made the intricate animal quilt. It was difficult to get a good picture with all of the animals on it, but there is a chicken, a frog, a turtle, an alligator, a cow, a giraffe, a camel, a crab and a lion on the front of it and on the back is my favorite square of all. A block that says "Made with love for my sweet Porter, by Gramma Lynnae to keep him warm when Gramma's not there!" Well Gramma, it's cold outside, and your blanket is doing just that!

When we sat Porter in front of the house quilt on Christmas day and he just stared at it. I love this picture of him sitting so calmly in front of it. You wouldn't even think that five minutes later he was grabbing it and shoving it in his mouth now would you?So thank you for the beautiful quilts. Goodness knows we need them. This morning when we woke up almost all of the snow was gone from our front yard and driveway. It started snowing around 2 pm and we now have close to 6 inches. The quilts will be put to good use!

So much to say...and too many pictures

This holiday season was great. I was worried that with the move and a new job and all of the changes that were occuring that it would be a miserable holiday, but nothing could have been farther from the truth! We started out with taking a trip to Moab shortly after our move and spending the weekend before Christmas with Kyle's side of the family. We really enjoyed ourselves with new baby Chase and little Aiden around...scratch that... Big Aiden around (he doesn't look so small anymore when compared to his cousins). We played games, watched movies and weren't so happy when we had to head for home on Christmas Eve.
However, we didn't quite make it home on time as we had planned. Kyle decided to take me on a little detour through Spanish Fork Canyon so that we could spend "Fiesta" with my family for Christmas Eve. We stopped in just long enought to say hi, eat a chimichanga or two and we were off for home.
When we made it home, we found presents and decorations that I assume Santa left just for us! I'm sure Santa's elves were hard at work putting together our Christmas balls, the adorable "Joy" lettering, a garland of adorable paper and stockings and a cap for Porter (I guess if you whine about not being able to decorate very early in the holiday season, Santa hears and rewards you for it!) So thank you to Santa's Elves for the holiday cheer.
We woke up on Christmas day and I went to work for a few hours, but I was home in plenty of time to enjoy the holiday with my boys. It was a wonderful Christmas.
We also got to take off for my parents after I finished work on my birthday and we had so much fun staying with my parents, and a wonderful birthday dinner on Sunday with the family.
We also were privileged to spend New Year's Eve with Angie, Phil and Miss Sophie. We stayed up until 12:30 or so, playing Nertz, Scum and watching Raymond. We stopped just long enough to watch the ball drop and kiss each other a happy New Year.
With all of the traveling, I think we wore out Porter. But thank you to everyone for such an enjoyable holiday. We can't thank you enough.
We took so many pictures and I have so many to go through that I've got so frustrated picking out the best ones, that these are the ones I finally gave in to and decided to post.
This is Porter after his long Christmas day...

Porter and his Daddy, with the fabulous hat that Aunt Kari sent for us.Porter sure loves his keys...Angie, Phil and Sophie stopped by just a couple days after Christmas, to see our house and let Sophie spend time with her cousin.

More to come, I promise.