11 Months

Dellin is 11 months today and such a happy little guy. He has been the perfect 2nd child in every way.

He LOVES Sterling Henry and wants to do whatever he is doing.
He LOVES having carrying anything in his mouth. He has something in it all day.

He likes his bottle. We are hoping he likes milk more. We will find out next month.
He has 5 teeth and has been a pretty good teether.
He stands and cruises but is not interested in walking yet.
He has the BIGGEST SMILE EVER!
He loves to wrestle and chase/be chased by Sterling Henry.
He doesn't like it when Sterling Henry bites him.
He has the saddest cry. He can turn it on and off pretty fast.
He is a total snuggle-bug.
He is tall for his age but skinny (not my genes).
He is a tease.

We LOVE our Delli Belly boy! He makes us laugh everyday and is the reason we are having another baby so close. We only hope they're all this easy.

Preggers

Here are a few questions I have been getting A LOT lately.

Are you excited? YES!

How old is Dellin? 11 Months.

How far apart will they be? 16 Months

Did you plan it? YES!

You are going to have your hands full aren't you? YES, but they are already.

So... you want a lot of kids? YES!

Will you be moving? YES! (Not sure where but somewhere bigger, with a washer/dryer, and NO STAIRS!)

Will your next kids be this close? Hopefully.

Having a family is different for everyone. Some people can plan, others can't. Children are a HUGE blessing and we feel very lucky to be having our 3rd.

We leave to Utah TOMORROW! (I couldn't resist using Christmas colors.)

National Tree and Trains

The boys got to spend lots of time with dad this weekend which basically mean we all had a wonderful weekend. We went to the National Tree on Friday night last minute. The boys needed to get out of the house, so we packed them up and headed out. It was cold but we were well prepared with warm clothes and lots of hot chocolate!

Here is Sterling Henry all bundled up. I am obsessed with his new dog mittens. He kept them on all night.

The National Christmas tree is always beautiful but particularly pretty this year. Here is our little growing family.

Last year just a month before Dellin was born.

This was 3 years ago before I was even pregnant with Sterling Henry. We went that year with our friends Wes and Ann. Ann and I spent the night talking about kids and wondering if we would ever be able to get pregnant. 3 years later, we both have 2 kids. Life can turn around pretty fast!

They have trains set up all around the base. Little Man was in heaven and could have looked at them all night.

We even got to visit Santa's workshop. He is a busy man.

Yesterday we went to the Botanical Gardens to see the train exhibit. We are standing in front of Machu Picchu. They had scenes from all over the world.

We ended the weekend by attending Matt and Eliza's annual Neil Diamond Christmas party.

What a weekend!

We leave to Utah in 4 days... YIPEE!

Recent Projects

Here are some of the recent projects that I have been working on.

Baby booties. I made the pink pair for my new niece Norah Jane Christensen.


A new hat for Dellin.

This is Sterling Henry's latest project. He likes to decorate the tree with binkies.

We love you Santa!

We had our ward Christmas party on Saturday. It was a wonderful evening and we had a special visitor.

I love these pictures.

This one is my favorite by far...
Thank you Santa for making my boys so happy!

Family Stockings

I put up our Christmas decor 2 weeks ago...


I debated putting up one for baby #3...
Now it feels complete.

We can't wait to meet this baby in May!

Temple Christmas Lights

On Saturday we went to the temple to enjoy the Christmas lights. Colby and Maria joined us. We stopped at their house first and had Maria's delicious pizza and then off we went.

It was FREEZING. The lights were beautiful and worth the cold trip. The boys loved all the lights and didn't seem to mind the cold.

Sterling Henry is currently obsessed with Colby. He probably asked Colby "if we were going to see the lights" on the way up about 100 times. We love having Maria and Colby here.
We have lots more Christmas activities planned if we can just brave the cold...

Finally!

We bought a tiny Christmas tree the first year that we were married. I finally threw the thing away after loosing a piece to the stand and having it fall over every second. I couldn't wait to get a new one this year. Growing up we always put white lights on the tree but I was obsessed with the colored lights at the store. We put it up last night, and it is so fun having a tree in the house. Sterling Henry is in heaven, and Dellin hasn't tried to eat it or pull it over yet.

Sterling Henry stood this close to it all night.

We don't have tons of decorations on it, but that is the one of the perks to colored lights―it looks more decorated than it really is. If it were up to me we would always have colored lights on the tree. But Sterling isn't convinced... yet!
And the stockings are up too.

I believe it's going to be a good Christmas this year. Sterling Henry is starting to understand how exciting Christmas can be, and that is making it all so much more fun!

"I wanna watch a show!"

This last weekend was huge for a lot of reasons. Sterling Henry still sleeps in a crib, which I love and hope he will FOREVER! He has never attempted to climb out. On Saturday however, we put him to bed only to see him reappear 45 minutes later. He not only climbed out of his crib, but now can open doors... GREAT! He sat down on the couch and announced, "I wanna watch a show!" You betcha! He had this smile on his face that was priceless.
He still has been going down at nights and still naps but it is a bit alarming to know that he can get out. I knew this day would come. I had just hoped that is would be when he was 7 or 8.

We also got together with good friends who were in town for the weekend. The Wheatleys and the Hatches.

Boy shot.

Girl shot. (I don't feel like a giant around my girlfriends, but whenever I see a picture of us, I realize that I sort of am...)
Great weekend minus the the crib issue.

THANKSGIVING DAY CELEBRATION

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. We spent it with friends and had DELICIOUS food. We ate a 1pm which I thought was perfect. We had the rest of the day to sit and talk and make room for pie.

Here is some of our feast.

Sterling Henry was being such a pill about taking this picture. He sat up to eat before anyone. He was HUNGRY, as you can probably tell.

I made mashed potatoes, a lemon sour cream pie, and these delicious place setting treats. I think that sour cream lemon might be my new favorite pie. I was really happy with how the pilgrim hats turned out and they were really tasty!
Sterling's sister Rachel delivered her little baby girl, Norah Jane yesterday. We can't wait to meet her at Christmas!

We sure have a lot to be thankful for in our family.

Thank You!

I have so much to be thankful for today.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Fort Washington

I am so happy to be married to someone that is so adventurous and fun. I would never do half of the things that we do on my own. Sterling is so good and planning things and following through with them.

On Saturday we went to Fort Washington. It is something that we have wanted to see for a while. The day was beautiful and after spending the morning/afternoon in our pajamas, we got ready for the day and headed out. Sterling Henry especially loved spending the time with his dad running around outside. We wore him out!

Outside the fort. This is a drawbridge... very cool!


The fort is right on the Potomac and has a beautiful view.

Our little growing family.

Me and my boys. They had all these cool underground tunnels.

The sunset was unreal.

Sterling x 2.
I love day trips and love living in an area where there is more to do than we have time for!

BOY TIME

By the time dad gets home from work, Dellin is already in bed. Sterling Henry usually stays up and watches Nascar with dad while dad eats his dinner. The other night Dellin would not go to sleep so we busted him out and let him partake in our nighttime white-trash dinner with dad. Of course we pulled his highchair over and let him eat with the boys as well.

He loved it.

Nascar really brings families together!

Sometimes they switch out Nascar for sharks or a sweet dinosaur show. My boys have got it good.

WEEKEND FUN!

The only thing better than going to the zoo is going to the zoo two days in a row and dad coming along the second time. Friday and Saturday were both so beautiful so we spent the day enjoying the weather.

The boys with the flamingos. The flamingos at the zoo are probably one of my favorite things. They make LOTS of noise so naturally Sterling Henry loves them too.



We usually go in the morning and the cheetah is never out. We got to see him Saturday afternoon. Sterling Henry loved it.

This is my favorite sign at the zoo. I always forget my camera but made sure to grab a picture this time. Aggressive Cranes... YIKES!

The boys watched lot of Nascar together. Dellin makes this face almost every time I take his picture now. Love it.

And this is the boys this morning in their new matching cowboy shirts and new haircuts. They really are the cutest!
Great weekend with dad. We look forward to lots more!

"I'm standing and I can't get down!"

I really love this stage. Dellin is such a crack-up right now. He pulls up to stand on everything and then can't get down. So he either screams till I come and get him, or he falls. We are working on trying to get down on his own.


I can't believe that this little boy is 9 1/2 months old. Where has the time gone???

Darling boy.

PLEASE COME BACK MOM!

My mom has been here for 11 days and just left yesterday. We had the best time. The boys just love their grandma and really enjoyed spending so much time with her.

Unfortunately we were all sick for 3 days while she was here so we spent a lot of time just hanging out. It was perfect. We did manage to get out and see a few things.

We went to Hillwood estate and gardens. It was founded by Marjorie Merriweather Post—the heiress to the Post cereal empire. Both of her parents died when she was 27 and she became the richest woman in America. Her 3rd husband was the American ambassador to the Soviet Union. They lived over there for a time, and she bought up lots of Russian art, china, and many other beautiful things, that probably would have been destroyed otherwise. She has one of the largest collections of Russian imperial art outside of Russia today. She also had many French pieces as well. We LOVED it!

The backside of her house. The gardens were amazing.

Her husband's daughter lived with them in the Soviet Union and put together an art collection of their time there. They have in displayed in this darling Russian dacha. I loved seeing all the pictures of the people and especially the children. It reminded me so much of my mission.

We hit the Leesburg Outlets while my mom was here and scored these awesome Hot Wheels shirts for $1.50 a piece. Thank you Old Navy Outlet!
Dellin's face in this picture is priceless.

We decorated Halloween sugar cookies.

Jacob and Tyra moved their family to New Jersey this summer. So we've been trying to get up and see them but haven't been able to make it work. We planned to go up for a few days with my mom but then the boys got sick. We did meet them in Lancaster Pa. one day. We had a blast despite the rain. We loved seeing Tyra and the kids.

I've been to Lancaster a few times but this time we went to Amish Village. You get to tour a real Amish home, a school house, farm and many other things. We learned a lot about the Amish people. I highly recommend this tour if you are ever there.
It was hard to say goodbye to my mom yesterday. She makes life so easy when she's around. It is so nice to have someone to talk with all day. We are missing her like crazy but realize that she can't stay with us forever. Thanks Mom for everything. (And thanks Dad for going without her for so long.)

We are looking forward to the holidays when we can see all our family again.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

We went to our ward trunk-or-treat last night. We had a blast! Sterling Henry got a kick out of just walking up to people and asking for treats.

I wish I would have had someone take a picture of us with grandma. We are having a blast with my mom here. Lots of pictures to come...