Rice Cereal

The time came for Colton to eat rice cereal. We dragged our feet on this for a while as we both saw this as the sign that our little baby was no longer a "baby".  It went alright, I am sure he will get the hang of it as we try more.

Excuse our voices, what you do for your kids!! 

Seriously, this is what you guys eat??? 

Are you kidding me, this is horrible!!! Where's my bottle!!!! 

Wait, maybe this is not that bad

Yep, it's bad!!! 

Starting to get the hang of eating (15% in mouth, 85% of out mouth)

Hope next time goes better. However, his faces were great!!!

swimming

We took Colton on his first swim the other day. He was a fan!! We are thinking the nickname my brother Alex, gave him might stick "Sting Ray". 

Final

Today was a big day for our family. We had our finalization hearing for Colton's adoption. All in all it went very well.  We do have a few funny moments from it (thanks Dan). The judge and everyone else at the court house were so kind. It definitely made for a special day. Colton was all smiles at the judge, which he told me made his day!! He is such a blessing to our lives and I can not imagine life with out him!!!

Tonight we celebrated by having some family and friends over. 

We forgot to order the cake and had to pick one up last minute at Costco..
Dan said... "Colton picked it out, what can I say they like weird things"
We will do better for his birthday. What the cake was lacking in style it made up for in taste!!

Colton was pretty excited about his cake!!!
Sorry buddy, you can't taste it. 

We have truly been blessed to have such amazing support as we traveled down our adoption road. We love this little guy so much and are so thankful that everything is done and final. 

FOUR MONTHS

Happy 4 months. 

You are growing up so fast little man.
You have such a fun personality and we are loving getting to know you.
Your smile is contagious and your laugh is the sweetest sound we have ever heard!!
You are eating 6-7 ounces
 You are smiling and laughing all the time
Wearing 6-9 month clothing
You love the jumperoo and exersaucer
You are VERY strong for your age. It is amazing to see what you can do. 

you are "talking" all the time and your faces are priceless

Screaming has become a fun past time for you. You love to hear your voice!!

You love playing with your daddy.

 He is always doing something crazy to get you to laugh

Tummy time is becoming something you don't mind and you are moving all around. 

You have rolled over several times and even laughed the last time you did it as to show how proud you were of yourself. 

You are able to sit up for a few seconds on your own and love to sit on the couch by yourself

Your smile and laugh can make our day

You still love your pacifier sometimes.

You are so handsome and such a sweet little boy

 We are so lucky to call you our son. 

O Christmas Tree

Every year Dan and I go cut down our Christmas Tree. It has become one of my favorite traditions. We normally go to a very large tree farm at least 45 minutes away, but this year with our little man we decided to stay close to home.

As you can see Colton was very excited about cutting down our tree this year!! 

 He did wake up when we picked one out and he approved!!

All bundled up 

A little smaller than we normally pick but it's still a beauty

He LOVES to sit and look at the tree

SANTA

Our local nursery each year offers free pictures with Santa. We thought it would be worth the try. Colton did great with his first visit with Santa. However, after watching several other kids, it left us wondering what it will be like next year!

Just don't look at him and everything will be OK

If you won't take it off, then I will!!! 

This is becoming a theme when we go places!! 

Free picture we got from the nursery 

laughing

Dream Come True

OK, going to get a little sappy and sentimental for this post... because I can. Because I am so thankful.

This Christmas I am especially thankful. For years in the past Christmas was always a bitter sweet holiday. Dan and I both found ourselves wishing and day dreaming about what it would be like to have kids and do the special things we do at Christmas with them. To be honest, when we started our adoption journey, we both honestly did not think we would have been matched or even have a child at Christmas. I think we were both mentally preparing for another year... of just us. However, as we have learned through our marriage, God ALWAYS is in control and ALWAYS loves us and knows our hearts desires. 

Well, in August he gave us our hearts desire plus. This year I am so blessed. This year, Dan and I get to start "family" traditions and we aren't missing any opportunities. 

I am so thankful for a God that loves us and blesses in ways we could never imagine or dream. This Christmas as I decorated our house.  It was so much fun. It was fun because we had a little guy that I was doing it for. HE LOVES LIGHTS. However, I think it finally hit me that we really were a family when this came in the mail. 

I know you might be thinking that is silly, but honestly, there were times when I never thought I would see this in my house. It is the most beautiful thing. Something I cherish and smile every time I look at it. It says to me

 FAMILY

So as I decorate our home this year I think about how God sent his son to earth for me. He gave us what was most precious to him. I also think about Colton's birth mom and what a loving sacrifice she made so that we could be a family. There are no words or things I could do to ever express my gratitude to her. 

I have been so lucky to be able to be home with our little guy. I am savoring the last month and a half left before I go back to reality. I am loving all the toys, messes and lack of sleep because it means something... it means we have a son.  Don't get me wrong there are days that are long and days when we wonder what the heck we are doing, but then I look at his face with that great big smile and all is right in the world. 

I hope that during this busy time of year, you have a moment to reflect on what Christmas really is all about. 

Merry Christmas from a grateful heart.

I love my GG

Colton is so lucky to have such a wonderful great grandma. She was the first one to play peek a boo with him and he has loved that ever since!!  We were able to see her along with many other family members at Thanksgiving. We wanted have a few pictures of him with GG. I think they turned out great!! 

Looking forward to seeing you soon!!!