One Small Step - One Giant Leap for Adam

Adam walked on his own tonight! His first steps were from Mommy to Daddy. He took about five steps in a row. He was so proud of himself he was squealing in delight. We pulled out the camera to try to catch him in motion, but had technical difficulties. By the time we got the video setting working Adam was tuckered out. Footage to follow...

Mail Drop

Adam and Mommy mailed off the invitations for his birthday party this afternoon. This was serious business.

Primary Days

Our Primary class at church did the presentation for junior and senior sharing time today. We gathered in our classroom in between for some snacks and down time. We also took some pictures of our Primary children. When Mommy turned around she found Adam on the table eating chalk and playing with the eraser. How did he get up there?

Birthday Balloons

Adam turned eleven months old today. We pulled out a video taken on his one month birthday. It is amazing to see the difference that ten months makes for babies. We love you little Adam.

I Can Do It

Adam is learning to use the spoon to scoop food from his bowl to his mouth. If there is one thing to motive him it is homemade ice cream. Good job buddy.

For the Love of Tomatoes

Adam has discovered a new love, cherry tomatoes. Daddy brought home cherry tomatoes that his boss Michaela brought in from her garden. Adam loves popping them in his mouth. Thanks Michaela!

Having a Ball

Yipee! Mommy toss the ball up again!


I love you so much! Let me give you a big hug.

Mouth Washed Out

Adam washed his mouth out with soap today! He figured out how to open the baby wash tube with his teeth. He then squeezed some in his hands and mouth, making a gooey mess. Mommy did not even hear him say any bad words first.

Summer Explorer

Adam stops to inspect some twigs and leaves on the driveway.

Memorials and Candles

Today is Meshanna's birthday.

After church we headed downtown. Our first stop was Arlington National Cemetery, where we watched the changing of the guard at The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. This was Adam's first time at the Arlington National Cemetery. He was surprisingly quite during the ceremony.

Our second stop was the National Mall. We walked from the Washington Memorial to the Lincoln Memorial. This was Adam's third time at the memorials.

After we got home it was time for birthday cake and homemade lemon ice cream. We placed 36 candles (or close to it) on a chocolate raspberry truffle cheesecake, and watched in awe as Aunt Meshanna blew them out. Happy Birthday, Aunt Meshanna! We love you and are glad we got to spend your birthday with you.

Superman's Guests

At four this morning we got house guests. Aunt Meshanna and Loran came to spend the weekend with us. When Adam saw Aunt Meshanna he snuggled right in and gave her a hug. After we got them situated we headed back to bed, to try and catch some sleep. Adam was very excited by their arrival and could not get back to sleep until sometime around six thirty.

Adam wore his Superman Suit for the special day (yes, for those of you who wondered it still fits).

Though Adam warmed right up to Aunt Meshanna, he seemed a little uncertain of Loran at first. Adam spent a long time watching and studying him. In the afternoon they joined us while we ran errands. They kept Adam company in the back of the car as we drove. Before long Loran had won Adam over. He soon had him imitating the funny sounds he made.

We enjoyed spending the day visiting with our guests, and when bed time rolled around we were all ready for sleep, even Superman.

Wow!

Adam is getting more and more expressive all the time. He has picked up many new words, and uses his hands more while communicating. Among his new favorites are: wow and dog. It is so cute to observe him when he gets excited and says "Wow". When he helps to feed the dogs, or if we see a dog on an outing, he will repeat over and over "dog, dog, dog". You know he really likes something when he uses the sign language sign for "milk". We use this sign for nursing mommy's milk. It has become his stamp of approval: This is as good as Mommy Milk!

The Tale of a Dog

Our dog Minuet turned twelve years old today.

Minuet began her life at the Guide Dogs for the Blind Campus in San Rafael CA. At 9 weeks of age she came to live with Emily and the Bairn's in Snowflake AZ where she was raised as a Guide Dog Puppy in Training. At 14 months she returned to CA for formal Guide Dog training. After six months of intense training she was dropped from the program because she got spooked.

Emily, now living in Phoenix with her aunt, took her back. After a few months they moved back up to Snowflake for a year and a half. Emily then left Minuet with her family for eighteen months while she served a mission for her church. Upon Emily's return Minuet and Emily both moved to Phoenix once again, first living with aunts and grandparents, then into a rental house with her sister Katie and brother Benjamin.

During this time Minuet thrived being able to accompany Emily to school as she studied to become a veterinary technician. After Emily's graduation, the two returned to Snowflake for another three years.

They then moved to Virginia and stayed with the Moss family in Lexington while looking for a more permanent place to live. After six months they moved six miles down the road in Buena Vista. A little over a year later Minuet acquired Nathan as a new member of her family and moved to northern VA, to the city of Alexandria. One year later she again moved, this time to Springfield VA, and shortly thereafter got the newest addition to her pack, Adam.

In her twelve years of life she has moved eleven times, lived with seven different dogs (not including the dogs at Guide Dogs for the Blind), and twenty one different people (again not including her time at Guide Dogs for the Blind).

Through it all she has been a trooper, always ready to make the best of whatever life dishes her. Happy Birthday Minuet! We love you! It has been a pleasure having you as part of our lives and family.

Grass Between His Toes

Adam enjoying some outside time on the front lawn.

I Want This One

Adam is becoming much more vocal about choices of clothes. While he and Mommy where out running errands they found some clothes that had been marked down in price. Mommy held up a couple of shirts and asked Adam which one he wanted. He quickly smiled and grabbed one with a red race car from the Disney movie Cars. When it was time to get ready for bed the new shirt was laying on the bed where we were going to get him in his pajamas. As Mommy went to get him dressed he got fussy and wiggled away from the pajamas. He then grabbed the new shirt (many sizes too big), and smiled. He was delighted that we let him wear it tonight as a nightshirt.

Ouch!

We love helping Adam discover the joys of this world and his new body, we also know that rough things will and do happen, that these are part of life too. We knew the day would eventually come when our little boy would get a bloody nose. He is into climbing everything. This afternoon he had climbed up on an inflated air mattress on our guest bed, and lost his balance. He landed face down on our Wii balance board, giving him his first bloody nose. The screams, tears, and blood flowed freely. Mommy gave him some TLC, and he was off to explore again. This time he climbed into a tub of fabric, softer right? As he went to exit the tub, it tipped over, sending him face first onto the floor. It was a rough few moments.
In the moments when life has been hard, we have been supported by family, friends, even strangers. And in those moments when we have felt all on our own, we have been lifted by one greater than us who bore our sorrows in Gethsemane and on Golgotha. To all those who have been there for us, we say thank you.

We Turned Two

Tonight to celebrate our wedding anniversary we went to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner. This was were we went on our first date almost three years ago. The food was fabulous and the company was unsurpassed.
The past two years have been amazing. Everyday we gives thanks that we have each other. With the addition of Adam it just got better. We have been blessed with a precious friendship and love. We truly love being a family. Even if we spent every minute together it would not be enough. It's a good thing we have an eternity ahead of us.

5 am?

What were you doing at five am, we ask?
In our home Adam had just woken from a seven hour sleep in his crib. (That in itself is noteworthy as he usually sleeps only an hour or two before waking up and coming to bed with Mom and Dad.) When Mommy went to get him she discovered that his pajamas and crib sheet were soaked. Adam was apparently much sleepier than his bladder and his little diaper could not keep up. An emergency early morning bath pursued. Adam could not understand what had gotten into Mommy. The look on his face during the bath said "I would rather be sleeping". He was relieved after we were in bed again were he soon fell asleep nursing. He did not rouse again until after nine. He definitely inherited his Daddy's dislike of getting up early. When he did wake up he had a dry diaper and went potty right away in the toilet.I guess he did not want a repeat of 5 am.

Dinner amd Dessert All Churned Into One

We are very curious people. We recently got a new ice cream maker, and have been trying out different flavors. Somehow we came up with the idea of combining two of our favorite foods; pasta and ice cream. We decided to give it a try. We used a custard base then added rotini pasta, sautéed garden tomatoes, fresh basil, and garlic. We dubbed it "Frozen Pasta". Adam loved it, Daddy gave it three out of five stars, Mommy thought it was not bad for our first attempt. With a little tweaking we might have something here.
What will we come up with next?

Feel the Power!

Adam has an obsession with power cords. He seeks them out, pulls them, tastes them, and waves them in the air. We have tried redirecting him to explore other things but he always comes back to the cords. To Mommy's dismay he has now decided that power strips are fascinating, and why not with all those cords attached! Daddy caught this picture while Mommy was out of the room. This has been our biggest power struggle with him yet.

Off to OCS

We went to Olive Garden tonight with our Summers family. Miranda is heading off to Officer Candidate School tomorrow, and will be gone for six weeks.

Adam and Grandpa waiting for Grandma and the girls to come.

Adam and Aunt Caitlin studying the appetizers together.

Grandma captures the moment as Adam breaks into laughter.

We wish you the best Miranda. We are proud of you and look forward to your return.

Can't Go Through It, Can't Go Over It

Adam was trying his best to get through the gate to get to Waltz. At one point he pulled himself up with his feet about six inches above the floor.

Fruitful Errands

Adam enjoyed the fruits of the the Farmer's Market today. After running errands, fresh peaches were a welcome snack. He claimed one of the ears of corn and hauled it around with him for quite a while. Why don't all trips taste this good?