Finally back in IL!

As you could tell, Dane and I are back from our wild Miami adventure, Dane's first plane trip, to visit my sister Bethany. I'm working on adding all the fun from that trip, but in the meantime, will add all our recent pictures of the little man. It's amazing how much he seems like a little toddler to us already. His personality is blooming and it's a joy for us to see how happy he is. What a blessing to have such a fun little guy to care for!

Happy Halloween!

Here are some fun photos from Daner's first Halloween. While we didn't trick or treat, he was enough of a treat for us:)

Sweet Potatoes, Apples and Pears, Oh My!

Dane's been practicing with his solids at feedings lately, with mixed results. He's done great with oatmeal and rice cereal over the last couple months, but we've started also trying fruits and veggies, now that he gets how a spoon works (most of the time, he gets it:)) So far, he's loved peas, gotten gassy and unhappy after pears and gotten slightly constipated with sweet potatoes. It's so fun to see him tasting new things for the first time! He also loves the fresh fruit smoothies that mark and I make for dinner frequently, possibly also liking them because the cold feels good on his gums. He makes some hilarious faces while testing out the new foods, which makes us laugh. He also loves it when we do a "zzzzzz" noise with the spoon; it makes him giggle every time. This was one of his recent pear feedings. After this face we're not sure if he likes it!

Flying Penguin...Blub, blub, blub...

Ah, the things that Dane loves lately. He had a great night, last night, and day, today, with his Grandma Anderson and Great Grandma Miller. His favorite has been all kinds of games, peekaboo, tickle fingers and the newest, Flying Penguin. See him giggling like a madman below:)

P.S. Dane gives a shout-out to his Dad on the last call night of this rotation!!! Woooooooohoooooo! See you tomorrow!

Fall Photo Update

Our family has been super busy this fall; with Mark's schedule and the weather being so cold so fast, it almost seems like we missed fall completely. However, we've definitely managed to have some fun family time over the last few weeks and so wanted to put up an update of pictures. Dane is starting to be super consistent at rolling from his back to his tummy, so we've been working on tummy to back and he's getting stronger every day. He's also finally starting to kick his cold, which will be great. He (and WE) need some sleep! Mark's surgery rotation finishes up this week, so we'll get back to a much more normal schedule with him home most nights, instead of at the hospital. Yay! We're also looking forward to Dane's first trip on a plane, as we're going to visit my sister, Bethany, in Miami. She's only met him in person once, many months ago, so it will be super exciting for her to see how much he's grown and changed since then. Unfortunately, Mark has a couple call nights at the hospital that week and won't be able to join us, but my parents decided to go as well, so I'm thankful for that. I'm sort of nervous about all the details and how he'll do, but he's getting more stable by the week, so I'm keeping a positive outlook. If you have any tips about what to do or not to do with an infant during travel, I'd LOVE to hear them! Anyway, hope you enjoy the updates.

Good Sport

Even sick and having a really rough time teething, Dane was still willing to go along with our goofing around. Our little green mustached babe needs to get those teeth!

Bottoms Up!

Yesterday, Dane finally got control of a skill he's been working on for a while: holding his own bottle! We still need to help him get it in the correct orientation, but once he's got it, he'll drink away for as long as we'll let him. He's been having some major difficulty with eating because of teething (we think), so it's good he's interested in drinking water to help prevent dehydration. Mark and I have been struggling to handle this stage as well, as Mark's been on a very busy and stressful 2-month rotation, surgery. He's been on call about every third night, which is hard on us all, as I don't have any help with Dane, whose sleep has also been negatively affected by the teething, and Mark feels like he's missing out on a lot with the little guy. Mark's also been on call for the last 4 Sundays, which makes our church attendance suck. We miss people. Mark misses the sun. Anyone have any good advice for teething other than lots and lots of Tylenol? He'd just gotten to a point where his eating and sleeping were consistent and then, BAM, teething...but, despite it all, we're still so in love with our little bear and love seeing him grow and change right before our eyes!