What to Expect...

It was October of 2005.  I had finally convinced Max  We had decided that we were ready to start our little family. We were both so excited and on a random trip to Walmart to buy groceries I immediately found myself in the baby aisle. Dreaming away. Soon, soon I would be shopping in the aisle frequently. Getting a nursery ready. My heart was racing. And then I saw the book that I had skimmed through repeatedly over the years at the homes of all of the families whose children I had taken care of..."What to Expect When You're Expecting". I grabbed that book and threw it in the cart. I mean, I was going to be needing it soon enough anyway! And when we got home I dove right into it. Preparing myself, so I would know just what to expect.

Fast forward 7 years to March of 2012. When the most beautiful, perfect baby boy ever imaginable was placed in my arms.

Nothing on this Earth could have prepared me for what that moment was going to be like. It was beautiful, took my breath away, seemed unreal, hurt my heart, and a million other emotions. And then there was the journey to get to that point. I was definitely not prepared for that! Now believe me there are a plethora of books on adoption, infertility, and every other subject imaginable available. And yes they are full of good information. But even if I had known back in October of 2005 that it was going to be a long journey to parenthood and had read every book to prepare myself I wouldn't have ever really known "what to expect". I am a unique individual and things will affect me in ways that wouldn't affect you at all. That is the beauty of us all being fearfully and wonderfully made. (Psalm 139:14)
And can you believe, I wouldn't change a thing? I love the way God uses the situations and problems in our lives to change us and glorify him. How amazing and beautiful. Bad things happen in life. We go through rough times. God didn't make those things happen to us, but he allows us to experience them so he can work through us. Those are the times that teach us to rely on him completely. So here is to the unexpected and the way that God will use it to shape our lives in a way that glorifies him!   
Ps...And what happened to that tiny baby in the above photo?!? Somebody figure out how to slow time down already!!

Growing Up

Mr. Liam is growing up. 

He scoots, rolls, and tries to crawl all over the house. 

He loves his sippy cups after eating and already likes to try and do it himself. 

He thinks cheerios are pretty amazing. 

Sometimes he would rather just play with the whole box if only Mama would let him. 

He is still the happiest baby around and is just growing up WAY TOO FAST!! 

Well...maybe not quite as fast as Applebees thought he was when they gave him this coloring book and crayons on Sunday. Still not as bad as when they offered his little friend Vivi (who is a month younger than him) chocolate milk to go with hers. Definitely worth a good laugh though! 

Our Weekend in the Black Hills

2 weeks ago we had to head to the Hills for our monthly work trip. Fall was always our favorite season when we lived in Spearfish so we decided to make a weekend of it and invited my parents to join us. We had a blast being tourists for the weekend. 

While Max was working in Sundance on Friday we stopped at the local museum. I found this little gem from the past there and thought it was too good not to share. Times have certainly changed! 

We definitely enjoyed having the Pizza Ranch directly attached to our hotel! Liam definitely thinks he is pretty awesome sitting in the big kid high chairs at restaurants now. 

After Max finished working we headed to Devil's Tower. Liam finally got his National Park Passport that we forgot to get for him when we were in the Rockies. 

We were all excited to get out and hike around the tower. 

Liam was ready to go!!

It was a prefect fall day. Our little family had the best time. 

So amazing. You have to see this in person. Pictures just never do it justice. 

The guys enjoying the Wyoming views. 

Our little nature lover. This kid can't get enough of trees!

He also discovered pine cones for the first time. 

He still adores the pool! I will have to post a swimming video soon. He is ridiculously adorable going crazy in the water. 

His besties came to play too! Miss Avery...

and Mr. Harper. 

We took lots of back roads through the Hills and saw beauty everywhere! 

We also attended the wedding of a good friend. They couldn't have picked a more beautiful weekend!

Liam wanted to take a stroll through the park after the wedding. 

But he fell asleep to the sound of the creek when we went down the canyon that afternoon!

If you have never been to the Black Hills in the fall you have to make it a priority. 

Gorgeous fall scenery is everywhere you look. I can't help but be in total awe of God's creation when fall comes along every year. 

We got to enjoy a gorgeous sunset on our way back from the Prime Rib and Crab Legs buffet we enjoyed in Deadwood Saturday night. 

We decided to take the back roads home and go through the badlands. 

We got to stamp in another National Park in Liam's Passport Book!! Another reason to come and explore South Dakota. 

We had a wonderful weekend with my parents. And it was so wonderful to be out in nature on a beautiful fall weekend. We were definitely counting our blessings!!

Mr. Giggles

6 Months Old

Half a year old!!

I can't believe how fast the time has went. We have been soaking up every minute of your preciousness. You have the sweetest little personality and the older you get the more it amazes us and cracks us up! 

You are still teething like crazy, so most pictures involve some, if not a TON of drool! And you have lots of hair coming in now! Majorly exciting. 

You are such a happy boy all the time. And your laugh is just infectious! 

This will get a post of its own soon but here you are in your very special high chair!

You want to be on the go all the time now. You prefer to be standing and moving all around so you really love your walker. 

You eat any and everything. You are seriously loving apple cinnamon yogurt at the moment. 

You never stop jabbering now, until someone or something new shows up. Then you get really quiet and just stare until you get them/it figured out. Totally adorable. 

You like to stand up against things and make me think you are just going to go straight to walking instead of mastering this whole crawling thing. 

You have also discovered how to spit and think it is absolutely hilarious. 

We love you so much sweet boy. We thank God every day for the blessing you are in our lives!

5 Months

Little man, you are 5 months old now! How is that possible? You spent your 5 month birthday at the Fair. 

You had a blast all week at your first ever Turner County Fair! You loved all of the animals and watching all of the people. 

You are growing so fast now! At 5 months you were 27 inches long and weighed 17.4 lbs! You currently love seeing how high and loud you can make yourself squeak. 

You don't spend much time laying around anymore. You are trying to get the whole crawling thing mastered. You sit up on your own now. You get so frustrated when you are laying down and want to sit up. You want to do it yourself, so you just do these constant baby crunches. You are going to have the nicest set of baby abs around by the time you master it! You love to be going every where in your walker. Being outside is always your favorite! And you go crazy bouncing around in the jumperoo! 

You are a very hungry boy. You are already eating solids. The cereal wasn't cutting it anymore so at 5 months we moved to baby food. You can't get enough of it. There hasn't been a veggie or fruit you didn't like yet!

Your bottom two teeth are much further in now and you are currently working on getting a few more. You are still always full of smiles. You talk constantly to us now and it just melts this mama's heart. Last night I couldn't put you to bed because you just kept talking away to me and playing with my hair. I thought my heart was going to explode with joy. 

Although there are times we just want to slow time down, we are just having so much fun watching you grow. The bigger you get the more fun you are and the more we get to see your little personality shine through. We are so proud to be your parents buddy! Happy 5 months!!

Hitting the Road

Max had a conference in Cheyenne, WY last week so we decided to make a family road trip out of it. Especially since we would be so close to Estes Park, where we went on our honeymoon. It is one of our favorite places to visit! 

We ate lots of awesome food on our vacation!

Here we are in the mountains we honeymooned in...8 years later!

We saw tons of wildlife!

We took Liam to Grand Lake Lodge. I have always dreamed of doing family vacations here when we had kids! 

They have these awesome swings all across the front deck where you can swing and watch the lake!

We will definitely be back with Liam for some family fun as he gets older!

We took Liam on his first hike in the mountains. Look at that face!

He loved every minute of it!

The Rockies are so beautiful! Definitely go if you get the chance. 

It got a little cold on top of the mountain...we were in heaven!

Of course we had to enjoy one last yummy breakfast before we headed back to South Dakota!

We can't wait to go back again soon!