Gerber Baby!

I can't believe this little angel is 6 months old. How the time has flown. He is so much fun and makes us laugh all day long. In just a few short days we get to take him to the temple to be sealed to our family. I can't even put in to words how excited we all are. I ordered his temple/blessing outfit months ago and I am so glad it fits!! I had to capture this moment and took Duncan for a photo shoot. We ended up with 176 prints...how to choose????

What's Duncan been up to????

Duncan is the apple of our eye...and not just Me and Steve but the big kids as well. Duncan loves his french teething giraffe.
Duncan thinks he is ready to go to school with the big kids.
Duncan went to his first 24th of July Parade and loved everything there was to look at.
Duncan went to his first drive-in movie. He was so exhausted from the all the excitement that he slept through the movie.
Duncan LOVES the big kids. They light up his world!!!
He is a seasoned traveler. Already having flown twice to Portland before he was 5 months old!
Duncan loves animals. In this picture he is adoring Aunt Meg's horse. He loves our dogs and they entertain him during the day.
He has been sitting up since he was 5 months old and that has made bath time heaven.
Duncan LOVES to be outside. Here he is in the bike trailor. He also loves going on walks or I set him outside in his excersaucer to watch the kids play.

Love him

Oh how I love him! But he doen't love the pokey grass! 5 months old and sitting up on his own.

Happy boy!

Duncan had is 4 month WCC. He is 16lbs and 25 3/4 inches long. His doc said his sitting up ability is extremely advanced. We could have told him that! D is very strong. He was born with the ability to hold his head up. The doc couldn't get over how happy D is. He said he is one of the happiest babies he has ever seen!!! ; )

Swimming for the first time

He is so afraid he is going to miss out on the action! I think this is the curse of having such older syblings. He wants to know what they are doing and fights nap time.

Getting the hang of eating some real food.

We celebrated Jonah's 9th bday. He had a party with his friends at Black Diamond Gymnastics. Then we had a quiet celebration at home on his actual birthday. I love Jonah to death! He will try anything and always wants to be my helper. I had him write Duncan a letter to put in his baby book. In the letter he told Duncan he felt "eternally great" the first time he saw him! Melt my heart!!!!

4 months

We can't get enough of this guy!

Adoration

Caleb is reading Duncan Sports Illustrated. Duncan was born to the television being on Sports Center. He has no hope growing up with his brothers and dad....he will love sports.
Alexa and Jonah can't get enough of Duncan. I usually have to make deals like "When Alexa is done with her homework it's her turn to hold Duncan". This little boy has not shortage of people who want to hold him....but it makes it hard for me during the day when everyone is gone. He prefers to be held all the time!!!

First bath in the hospital and then at home!

Duncan did not love his first bath in the hospital! Can you blame him? The nurses at the hospital were so sweet to us and to Duncan. The nurse that gave him a bath told us how cute he was! She said there are cute babies and there are sweet babies. She said we should be happy he is not one of the "sweet" babies. I guess that was code for a not so pretty baby :).

All happy after the bath time.
Granny B gave Duncan his first bath at home. He actually loves to take baths.

First days at home

We brought Duncan home a little over 48 hours after he was born. The outfit he is wearing was chosen by his birth mother.
I was so overwhelmed by the love that was shown to our family. On a daily basis we received packages in the mail, cards, gifts and little treasures left on our front porch. It made me cry every time. The above picture if a gift that was left on our front porch.
He had lots and lots of visitors and I wish I had captured each one on film. My mom came and stayed with us for several days.
His one and only cousin came by.
His Utah Grandma adored him.
And both my brothers came in from out of town to snuggle on him!

First photo shoot

New baby!!!!

If you haven't heard we have a new baby boy!!! It has been a whirlwind in our home since January. Many of you have asked about how Duncan came to us. I thought I would share the basics of his story with you. We were approved for adoption by LDS Family Services in December. Upon our approval I sent out a letter to friends and family letting them know we were looking to adopt. A friend in Oregon suggested I contact a private agency in Orem because they were waiving certain fees. We contacted them and were signed up with them at the end of December. The nice part was all of our info from LDS could be sent right over to them. They told us they would be showing us to woman and would only call us if there was a woman they wanted to show us to that had certain things that we didn't agree to. (You check a whole bunch of boxes when you are going to adopt and if the birth mom doesn't have one of those things they call you.). So we waited and truly thought we would have at least a year or two of wait time.

At the end of January I had to have emergency surgery for an Ectopic pregnancy. It was a total shock and threw us for a loop. The recovery was pretty hard. About a week and a half after the surgery I was still on the couch recovering when I got a call from the private agency asking if we would like to be shown to this particular birth mom. Steve and I asked to hear from her OB to know the baby was developing well. They got back to us and said the baby looked great. This was on 2/3/11. The next day we got a call in the evening from the agency stating they had the birth mother there in the office and she wanted to talk to us on the phone. We had so many emotions heading in to that phone call. The phone conversation was beautiful. It was filled with tears and laughter. During the conversation Duncan's birth mother, Camille, told us she had chosen us!! I cried for several hours straight that night. It was an overwhelming feeling that can't be put in to words. This lovely woman was giving us her baby to be raised in our home! This baby that we had been praying for and waiting to have for 3 years!

We spent that weekend frantically buying the essentials and getting the finances for the adoption squared away. To say the least I couldn't sleep or eat for days. We met Camille on Monday 2/7 for lunch. It was a fun lunch and we walked away realizing this was really going to happen. Duncan wasn't due until 2/14 so I was comforted that I had at least a week to prepare for him. But NOPE....the next morning, 2/8, I was getting the kids of to school and my phone rang with the news that Camille was in labor. Duncan was born several hours later!!!

We were able to be in the delivery room, I cut the cord and we spent the next 3 days with Duncan and Camille. The birth was an amazing experience that taught me a tremendous amount about the Atonement....we will save that for another day. For now enjoy the pictures of our main man!