Quiet moments..

I am sitting here in my living room, listening to the clock ticking and thinking about how messy our apartment is and what I want to get done tomorrow. But as I sit here, I can't resist the urge to go in and peek in on Eric sleeping. I don't know what it is about a sleeping baby, but there really isn't anything more precious. I feel like I could just sit and watch him for hours. I wonder what he is dreaming about, cuddles, endless streams of milk, playing, or his newest discovery, sink faucets?

I leave the room and sit down and can't help but feel overwhelmed with gratitude and love. I hear Tanner in the other room studying his smartypants little heart out and am reminded as well how much I love him. I think, "what would my life be without them?" I am so blessed. The Spirit fills my heart and I ponder further; I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ. The knowledge of His plan is what has brought this great joy into my life. I can't imagine going through life without the gospel.

Every time I look into these beautiful blue eyes and giggle with him about his cheerio covered face, I feel pure happiness. I know even more in my heart that our Heavenly Father loves us and that because of the blessings of the temple we will be together forever--this brings a peace to my soul that I can't describe. I am beginning to realize why the scriptures tell us to love others and serve them to draw nearer to the Savior, because serving my family has been the most rewarding and sacred experience of my life. The most special moments I remember were always when I was loving and serving someone else. I feel a renewed sense of faith and motivation to follow His will and always remember Him.


Thankful doesn't seem a strong enough word to describe how I feel, but it is how I feel as I sit and ponder and my soul is filled with peace.

Eric's little goat laugh..or evil villain laugh, I'm not sure which

Eric is now 6 1/2 months old, it's amazing how fast he's changing. He's still our happy boy, though he's decided he's not really into the whole napping thing, so instead of 2 good naps, he takes 3 'crapnaps' as I like to call them, because not long after, he starts feeling tired. But he still sleeps about 11 hours at night, so we can't complain. Here he is in all his baseball outfit glory, showing off his sitting skills like a little champ.




This blankie from my friend Rachel is his favorite. I like it because he loves to pull his blankets over his face while he sleeps and it is thin enough he can breathe through it. Some mornings I come in and it's wrapped around his head, not even on his body. It also has fun uses, such as a hat/shawl thing:



Or a turban:


He also loves to suck on his blanket and other fabric. I don't know what he loves about it, but he does. He even sucks his thumb sometimes, but only with his blanket over it so he sucks it through the blankie. If he wears long sleeves, he'll catch his thumb under it and suck on it. It's so cute. Here is Daddy trying to compete with Eric for a nibble on the blanket.

I went in the other room to put something away and came back and found this:

Tolerating Mommy and Daddy, who thought this was so funny.
Eric has this cute little church outfit and I was worried that he would grow out of it before he could really wear it very much, so I took some pictures. He looks like such a little stud! He also has cute little converse shoes that I love.
Standing up!




Here is a video of Eric under his blanket. I love this little fake laugh he does for us at the end.



This is Eric's growl/talking and what I listen to most of the day.

White Coat Ceremony

Last week Tanner had his white coat ceremony. Med students get shorter white coats and then when you finish and become a doctor, you get one of the long white coats. There are 202 students in Tanner's class, it was so neat to watch. I am just so proud of Tanner, I can't describe how I felt watching him, so happy/excited/nervous for him! I just love this man. Above is the two of us after it was over. The pictures loaded in a weird order, like always.
They did it in groups of 8.


So proud of his daddy!

Getting the coat put on..


He looks so professional, doesn't he? The speaker was great and talked about keeping your humanity and empathy, don't let cynicism get you down about the medical field. It was really inspiring, especially to me since I work with doctors. He talked about building relationships with patients and overcoming the previous ideas that doctors know everything. He was great and I knew as we sat there that this is the perfect school for Tanner and I'm so glad we're here. What a great way to start the next four years!

Summer Fun

We went to the Wisconsin State Fair this week and had a good 'ole time. The State Fair here is a much bigger production than it is in Utah, people let you pay to park on their lawns because there are so many people trying to get in. I thought it would be funny to put Eric in one of these silly picture boards. He apparently didn't find it quite as hilarious and made his most irritated face; which backfired, because it made the picture even funnier, ha!
They had a barn for little kids to look at the animals-Eric was interested for about 2 seconds, which we weren't surprised about.
These are cream puffs, which are a famous treat at the fair and was very good I must say.
Another embarrassing photo-op courtesy of mom.
Some of the weird fair food-chocolate covered bacon, which was gross (according to Tanner, I didn't try it) and deep fried butter, which I didn't try either, but it was basically just buttery deep fried batter because the butter just melts inside.
Deep fried peanut butter and jelly, this was pretty good actually, for about 2 bites.
Eric eating some cream from the cream puff. He loved it and was mad we only let him try a few licks.
I was just holding my finger out waiting for Tanner to take the picture and Eric's hands starting shaking he was getting so excited for me to put it in his mouth!
Krispy Kreme cheeseburger. I thought it sounded disgusting, but I tried a bite and it wasn't bad, just sweet and salty really. But I didn't go back for a second bite, it wasn't that good.
One of the toys kept out on the lawn. Eric loved it and just looks like such a big boy sitting up in it!
Gotta love that chubby little face.

Happy to be outside.
Tanner in his 'white coat.' Doctors get the long ones, students' are shorter.
Here are some videos of Eric. The first is him shakin' what his momma gave him. In this case it was a set of toy keys that I gave him. The next is of him eating peaches. I don't know what's funnier, the look on his face when he's eating it, or that he opens his mouth for more each time.

Happy half birthday Eric!

Our little man is 6 months old today, I can't believe it! He is such a good boy and we love him so much, we can't imagine our lives without him. Here he is at his 6 month appt, which he had today. He is



18 lb 5 oz-75%



27 in-75%



He's come a long way since his wee 6 1/2 pounds! He was so cute, smiling at the doctor and trying to get him to look at him. He was so brave when he got his shots, he was really upset at first but calmed down after just a few minutes and was so good, poor guy. Our pediatrician is amazing! After only one visit I love this doctor, it was so great having a good experience after our last one wasn't so great.




Eric has learned to sit up! He can't stay up very long yet, but he does pretty well and when he gets tired he tries to keep sitting but just slowly leans farther and farther forward until his poor face is almost to the ground.
Some of the other things Eric likes or does:

Eric loves the swings. We just discovered this, he thinks they are the shizniz.

He loves to talk in his sweet, high little voice and lately he likes to stare at me and wait for me to respond before he talks again.

He still loves his Sheboygan and goes nuts laughing over it. Who knew a bright orange giraffe could bring someone so much joy?

He can roll back to front now as well, though only one direction.

He fake laughs.

He LOVES his daddy. Tanner just has to look at him and he gets the biggest grin on his face.

I don't know that he understands it really, but when we read a book, I put his hand under the page and he grabs it and turns the pages.

He HATES green beans. When we kept trying for another bite, he suddenly just burst into tears. I don't think they're all that great either.

Kicking. If Eric is upset, excited, tired, happy, whatever, he kicks those little feet.

He has officially figured out that EVERYTHING is supposed to go in his mouth. I think everything he sees he sizes up how difficult it would be to get it and chew on it.

He sleeps with his blanket over his head. I have tried to stop this, but no matter how I tuck or pull the blanket off, I come back in and it is in a pile on his face. I don't know why, but he loves it. When he is tired, I can tell because he grabs his blankie and pulls it in his face.

He loves popsicles. So much that when they are gone he cries for a good 10 minutes. After just 2 tries, we learned that he doesn't really need to eat popsicles all that often.




Lastly, this is Eric's new cousin Michael. He was born last week and is such a cutie! We only wish we could see him in person.
Happy birthday Eric, we love you!