Dallen loves...

His Daddy

Dallen loves to play with his Daddy. Especially when they get to sit in the big leather recliner, or as we refer to it, "THE MAN CHAIR". My two boys are the loves of my life!!

Blankies...or basically anything he can manage to get into his mouth.
He is becoming more and more coordinated with his little hands. Blankets and small stuffed animals are light enough to lift all the way to his hungry mouth. He is holding his own bottle sometimes even, but either it gets heavy quickly or he gets lazy and makes mommy hold it ;)

The Ladies

While visiting at Aunt Joan's house, her many beautiful little girls were all over little Dallen and he loved it just as much as they did!! Maybe he is ready to have some sisters :)

LOTS of FUN

I know it has been forever since I last posted (like 10 days)!! But we have been having lots of fun. Dallen sure keeps me busy these days. He is so playful and fun. It is amazing how much he interacts with us now. Every day he is like a whole new kid, getting cuter with each new day!! Here are some cute pictures of the fun times we have been having.

The whole gang went to CiCi's all you can eat pizza bar to spend some time with newly home Grandma. It was a good thing the restaurant was practically empty when we arrived because our families took up 4 huge tables and about half the restaurant. There were at least 18 kids in our group and several adults acting like kids. It was crazy and a blast but let it be known that we definitely went for the company and not for the food!!We had such a good time at Aunt LeAnn's (as always) hearing all about Grandma's mission and celebrating her homecoming. Charee and I were more like kids than anyone else! Our families were around to take the kiddies, so can you really blame us? Thanks for playing with me, we are quickly becoming best friends :)

Dallen has always loved this little game that I like to call "Steam Roller". I lay him flat and grab him by the ankles and roll him back and forth.
>Well, now that Dallen has fully functioning grabbing skills, he grabs the blanket when its time to turn. I guess we are gonna have to call this game "Burrito Roller" now.The last one is especially for my Mom, Dallen's MiMi!! It makes me sad this is the only way she gets to see him grow and I have seriously been slacking in the photo department!! Sorry Mom :) We love and miss you.

Grandma comes home

Mark's Grandma has been serving a mission in East Texas and has happily returned home yesterday!! She began her mission in Puerto Rico but due to some health problems was sent home a little early. When she returned from Puerto Rico, Mark and I happened to be in El Paso visiting when she came home the first time. It was then that she guessed (before we had announced) that I was pregnant. After a few weeks at her son's house, she was so eager to finish her mission so they sent her to the Houston, Texas mission (where her grandson also happens to be serving!) While she was gone, 6 new great grandbabies were born, 4 of which she got to meet at the airport (including our little Dallen). We are so excited to have her home and can't wait to play. Grandma Dorothy has such an amazing spirit and a sweet heart. We are so proud of her for weathering the storms and spreading the good word. Welcome home Grandma!! We love you :)

NO FUN!

Sorry for the lack of posts the last couple days but unfortunately the only thing worse than a sick mommy is a sick baby :( Both Dallen and I have some kind of stomach bug and it is NO FUN. At least we have each other to comfort while Daddy is at work. He did such a good job of taking care of us yesterday though. We love Daddy! I think we are approaching the recovery process and all will be well soon! Here are some pictures in the meantime to keep everyone smiling.
Dallen watching football with Daddy in the "man chair"
Dallen and his Daddy wearing their matching shirts
This shirt is still kind of big but I have been dying to put it on him since my Mom bought it at the little surf shop back in like September!! It's too cute :)

You can call me TARZAN!!

So I finally set up this playmat for Dallen because I noticed him starting to want to play with things. He has been noticing colors and sounds and toys and it is so fun. I thought he seems to young to play with this already but boy was I wrong!! He LOVES it!! The little monkey that hangs from the top is his best "frenemy". What? Well, for the first maybe 10 minutes he talks and laughs and plays with the monkey. Then out of nowhere, he turns on him. He starts yelling at him. It is HILARIOUS! I just move him to another corner where he can look in the mirror and he is happy again :) It is so cute to watch him play in here and he actually lets me walk away for once and let him play on his own. He is definitely the little Tarzan of this jungle!

Are you for real?

This morning when Dallen woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed at 10 AM, I sang him Happy Birthday!! I've done it all 3 months on the 8th because for the whole first year its technically his birthday :) Cheesy, I know, Dallen thought so too...

At first he just looked at me like:
Are you for real?

Then, he thought curiously like:
Why is she singing to me?

Then he thought wait a minute:
is it my birthday?
He wanted proof.

Once he realized he was the big boy:
He got so excited!


But by the end of the song, he decided he would rather just watch TV:

Happy Birthday big boy!! I can't believe how fast the time has gone by. I love you baby boy ;)

Ladies Man!!

Dallen is just shy of 3 months old, but shy is definitely NOT a word to describe his personality. Especially when it comes to the ladies, just look at the evidence:

There's Chloe...


And there's Mackenna...

And his latest girlfriend, well...


She doesn't have a name yet!

Do you like my hat?

Why all the hats? Because of what is underneath. So unfortunate!! At first he lost the hair on top of his head, then the back and now the sides. Of course, this is not all at once, so its patchy hair not just all bald or all hair. It is kind of hilarious. At least he has the most adorable face on the planet to make up for it :) I love my little patchy bald man!

The Reason

My family came to AZ for the week. I was so sad that I missed out on Christmas so I convinced them to come see me. I am so glad they made the 6+ hour drive to ring in the New Year with us. I know that there were many reasons they came...friends, family, food, fun...but we all know the real reason they came...Thanks for coming everyone, whatever your reason!!

Happy New Year

Thanks to the Klepinger family hosting, we had so much fun welcoming in the new year. We had party hats, many hors d'oeuvres, martinellis, blow horns, games and tons of fun!! We enjoyed fireworks from the backyard and rang in the new year with family and friends :) Happy New Year everyone!!

Slumber Party

So last night we finally got home around 11:30 at night (driving back from Texas) and it was a freezing 50 degrees in our place when we got in. We didn't want our poor baby to freeze in his own little bed so we gathered up all the blankets we could find and had a little slumber party in mommy and daddy's bed. After sleeping for most of the drive, he was wide awake when we got home. So the slumber party started with some chit chat and giggles and ended with loves!! Who needs girlfriends to paint toenails and throw pillows when you've got a little one as cute as Dallen :)
I am worried this sleeping with mommy is going to become a really bad habit, but I can't help it when he is so stinkin cute!! It's gonna be so hard to move him to his own big boy room with the new year. He has been so cute lately. In just the last week, he has become so responsive. He smiles and laughs at just about anything and everything. I just love this little guy!!

Baby's 1st Christmas!!

We had a wonderful day and thanks to so many, we had a plethora of gifts. Dallen wasn't a very active participant, but at least he wasn't crying! I was sad that I couldn't be with my family this year, but we were so glad to spend it with Mark's WHOLE family. We got a picture this year because we were all here, so exciting! Hope everyone had as merry a Christmas as ours. We love you!

Really, Merry Christmas!!

This is our real Christmas card. Yesterday's pictures was taken when we were taking family pictures and apparently Dallen was sick of it! Sorry for all those who may have been offended, I just thought it was hilarious :) We really do wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Blessed New Year!! We love you all :)

Mark, Jacki and Dallen