December - before Christmas

Here are some random pictures of Declan from the beginning of December.  He loved the Christmas tree and lights.  Every morning the first thing he wanted to do was turn on the lights and before bed we would turn them off and he would say, "night night Christmas tree."  It was so cute.  

We opened presents at our house a few days before we left for Idaho.  We wanted to give Declan time to play with his new toys before we left for a week.  

 Declan's favorite movie since he was about 18 months old has been How to Train your Dragon.  This is Toothless from the movie and he makes this really annoying sound and has a bright blue light when you press a button.  The morning after we opened presents I woke up to this dragon in my face....thank you Zach for picking out this present.

 Declan with all his presents from Zach and me.  He had so much fun opening presents this year!  It was fun to watch.

November

I can't even remember what happened in November...except for Thanksgiving.  I was still pretty sick most of the month so I think that's why it is all a blur.  That's the nice thing about pictures, they help remind me of events.  Declan mastered this new trick...

He was quite proud of himself the first time he did it.  He started yelling, "See mom! See!"  

Zach took him to the park a few times so he could get out of the house.  The kid needs to run.  He also really likes to swing and go down the big slides!

We put up the Christmas tree early in November.  I know, I know....we didn't decorate it though until December.  Declan LOVES Christmas lights.  Every morning the first thing he wanted to do was "wake up the Christmas tree."  Every night before he went to bed we would turn off the lights and he would say, "night night tree."  It brought some cheeriness into our gloomy November. :)

 He also rediscovered how much he loves his shopping cart.  It had to eat breakfast with him every morning, watch cartoons next to him on the couch, and he pushed it everywhere!

 In nursery one Sunday they traced the kid's hands and made them into turkeys.  Declan asked everyday after that to make a "hand turkey."  Here he is with his favorite hand turkey.
For Thanksgiving we went to Idaho Falls and spent it with Zach's family.  My parents were in North Carolina visiting my brother and his family.  We missed seeing them but it was nice to be able to just stay in one place while we were home.  Declan had a lot of fun playing with Paige and all his aunts and uncles, and of course grandma and grandpa.  All the girls went to Breaking Dawn on Thanksgiving night and we all spent a lot of time shopping.  Zach and Lyndon put up Christmas lights on the house and Declan loved "helping."  He talked about the Christmas lights on Papa's house forever!

One night while we were in Idaho I was able to meet up with some high school friends for dinner and frozen yogurt.  It was so much fun!  It was the first time the five of us had been together in about 5 years.  Way too long!  It was awesome to catch up on each other's lives.  Also, it was really funny to show up and see who was pregnant since none of us had told each other yet.  Amber and I are due on the same day and Lisa is due in July.  

Zach's sister, Hilary, took some pictures of our family when we were home.  Declan was not cooperating at all though so this is the best one we got. :)  

 Hilary's "artistic" photo of Declan and me.

 Declan loved picking the apples off the tree in the backyard.  I lost track of how many he ate that trip!

One of the last days in November my friend, Kami, and I took our boys up to Bennington Lake to throw rocks in the lake.  Declan loves doing this.  He has a pretty good arm too!  He really likes to throw the big rocks - don't get in his way. :)

Whew, maybe I'll post about December before the end of February.  Don't count on it though.

October

The day after we got back from Portland my parents came to visit again.  This time they came to take care of me.  Oh, and of course play with Declan.  This pregnancy was a lot like my last one when it came to the morning sickness.  I say it was similar but it was different in so many ways also.  When I was pregnant with Declan the morning sickness hit me one night after work when I was 8 weeks along and didn't leave until I was 21 weeks.  This time, the nausea came and went for awhile and then right before we left for Portland it hit full force.  Also, it seemed harder this time since I had a 2 year old to take care of and I felt horrible just letting him watch t.v. but I really couldn't anything else.  By the way, why do they call it morning sickness when it lasts all day long?  Really, it needs a different name.  Anyway, it was so nice to have my parents here and take care of not only me but all of us.  Declan loved having someone play with him during the day again.  I had my first doctor's appt. while they were here and my mom was able to go and see the baby.  My doctor prescribed me a different nausea medicine (phenergan) since I wasn't keeping anything down and the Zofran was having some crazy side effects. 

When it came time for my parents to leave, Declan and I went with them!  I am SO glad we did too!  The phenergan definitely helped with the nausea and I was able to keep food down with it but it turned me into a zombie.  Seriously, I would take it and within an hour I couldn't keep my eyes open.  Since my parents were home to watch Declan I got a lot of sleep.  We stayed in Idaho for 2 weeks.  We did go up to the cabin one day while I was there, which was fun.  I wouldn't call the trip overall very fun though.  Declan had fun, which is what I really wanted.  We stayed with Zach's family a few nights while we were there also but of course I didn't take any pictures.  All the pictures I have are from my parent's camera.  Zach's mom and sister, Sara, took me to Boise where we met up with Zach at the end of two weeks.  We have the best families to take the time out of their lives to take care of us!  Thank you all again!

 {He was so excited to see this little patch of snow!  He leaned over and put some in his mouth!  I about threw up.  Zach taught him about eating snow last year and somehow the kid remembers everything!!}

 {Pointing to the BIG puddle!}

 {He walked into a spider web when he was walking into the tee pee and now every time he sees this picture he talks about a spider.  I told ya, he doesn't forget a thing!}

We made it back to Walla Walla just in time for Halloween.  Some friends in our ward invited us over for soup and then we trick or treated around their neighborhood.  Declan was a dragon but he refused to wear his hat with his costume.  He definitely loved ringing the doorbells and getting candy.  Within 2 minutes of putting him in his car seat to go home he fell asleep (it was only 7:30 and he usually goes to bed at 9).  He stayed asleep when we got him out and even while we took his costume off.  It was a great Halloween for all of us!! :)