Weighing in at....

Today I got Dylan weighed and he is already at 7 lbs. and 11 oz. He is only 2 weeks and 5 days old and has already gained over a pound in weight. He is getting so big already. He is starting to feel like a little brick. This picture was taken yesterday at 2 weeks and 5 days.

Dylan Sleeping

Dylan loves to sleep with his arms up. Sometimes he puts both his hands behind his head and it looks like he is just chillin' watching TV or something. It is so cute!!!

Dylan at 2 1/2 weeks (but who's counting?)

Here are some cute pictures that I took today. Holly's sister, Cylista, made this cute blanket for Dylan. Don't you love it?

Here I caught him right in the middle of a yawn. "All of this laying down makes me sleepy!"

"I can't wait until I get my new swing from my mom and Grandmas. Then I won't get all scrunched up anymore."

Yes of course, Braxton just can't get enough of his little brother. I love how sweet he is to Dylan. I can only hope it always stays that way.

Dylan is loving his baths now that I am using the yellow sponge bear. It works SO much better.

After bath photos

Here are some cute pictures of Dylan just after his bath.



This is one of the few times that Dylan held the binkee in his mouth by himself. Usually we have to hold it there for him. We actually have only had a few bad nights with him so far. The first two, he had a bad tummy ache. But the third one (Christmas Eve night) and the last one it seemed like he was just fussing because he wanted to be awake. As long as we gave him some kind of attention he was fine. One time I held the binkee in his mouth for him for over an hour. Ugh! But I'll tell you what... anything is better then a screaming baby with colic. So, I am definitely counting my blessings!

Merry Christmas!

Dylan was so excited about all of his gifts. Can't you tell? He especially liked his Broncos Binkee from his older brother, TJ! I bet you'd never guess who helped him pick that out.
Here is Dylan with all of his presents. Holly's family all got him several presents too. It was fun seeing everything that they got him.

Dylan had a great first Christmas!! He was also suppose to get a swing from us and both his grandma's but the one I want was out of stock, so hopefully he will get it soon.

Our first family picture

Today we went to my parents house for Christmas Eve day and they took family pictures of us. I am sad to say that after taking a TON, this was the best one we got... with my camera anyway. I'm hoping we got better one's on my dad's camera.

Dylan's first bath (11 days old)

Dylan's belly button cord finally fell off so he got his very first real bath today. Tyra helped me out by taking the pictures for me. I had to feed him his bottle while she took the picture though, because it was the only way I could keep him from crying. It seems like for one reason or another, my kids first baths never are a very good experience. I was so excited to try out my new baby bath tub. It came with a soft cushiony lining inside it. Well,.... it floated. Thus making it VERY difficult to bath a baby in. Next time I am definitely going to use my old bear cushion. My other kids loved that. The little wash rag that is on him was one of those little blocks that you put in the water and it turns into a wash rag. Holly got it for him. It was pretty cute!

First Doctors Appointment

Today was Dylan's first doctors appointment and he passed with flying colors!! He already weighs 7 lbs. 2 oz. They said that when he left the hospital he weighed 6 lbs. 7 oz., so he is doing REALLY good! I asked Holly if she wanted to go with me to his appointment but she said that she wasn't quite ready yet. Dylan actually got circumsized today too and she said that she didn't want to see him crying, which is completely understandable. I didn't either. He is SO sore. I feel terrible that it is my fault. But I guess it is better to do it now, while he won't remember the pain, right? Up until now, I think I have only heard him cry a few times.

Dylan is such a good baby. (KNOCK ON WOOD!) TJ and Tyra had colic so bad, so we are REALLY hoping that Dylan won't. So far, so good. The only bad thing is that I still haven't been able to stay at home with him even ONE day. Every day since we brought him home, there has been somewhere that we have had to go. I can't wait until things calm down a little bit and we can get back in a good routine. I hope he is a tough kid and can deal with all of this running around. In the hospital he didn't pass his hearing test, so I have to bring him back to the hospital in about a week or so and get him rechecked. So far he seems to hear fine. He also has been doing pretty good through the nights. He gets up about every 3 to 4 hours to eat and then he goes back to sleep. YAY! What a GOOD baby!

Dylan 8 days old

This is Dylan laying on a baby blanket that my Grandma Dona made for him. I think it was cute that she put a teddy bear right in the middle of it. She is such a sweet grandma. We love her so much. Thanks Grandma!

Holly went to court today

Today was Holly's court hearing. She invited us to go, but I had all kinds of things going on and couldn't make it. I was the carpool driver for Braxton's preschool that was right during court. I felt bad that I couldn't go. After court she called me and said that everything went well. Her mom and sister told her that she was very professional! Later in the day my social worker called and he said that Andrew, Holly's social worker, said that it was one of the best court hearings he had ever been too. He said that Holly did really good. That made me feel good that she is doing so well. Now that the court hearing is over we just have to wait the six months before his adoption can be finalized. Then we can get him sealed to us and blessed. I can't wait! I am actually really glad that it will be during the summer. I'd really like to get some nice family pictures at this one. Hopefully it will be warm. Anyway, please pray for Holly that she will continue to do good. We are so proud of her.

Dylan at 4 days old

Here is our sweet little guy taking a nap.

I was playing with Picasa's editing tools and this is what I came up with. How fun! Now if photoshop was just as easy, I'd be in heaven!

Dylan's birthday celebration!

Today we went to Tommy's parents to celebrate all of the December birthday's in the family. We have SEVERAL! Now, with Dylan, we even have one MORE. He got some really cute gifts from everyone. This little green reindeer was from Tommy's cousin Leslie. She is such a sweet heart. I will try and get a picture of all of Dylan's gifts as soon as I remember to do so. Doesn't he look enthused? I guess I can't blame him considering he only got out of the hospital YESTERDAY!

Here are some pictures of some of our family members holding Dylan at the party. I thought I got tons more pictures of people, but this is all I got. This is Alison and Troy with him. Everyone was so sweet with him. It is so good to have such loving family around.

This is the first time Tom saw Dylan. He greeted him with a big "Hello" which he always does with all of his kids and grand kids. I used to love it before Tommy's brother, Jade, got married because every time Tom would see me he would say, "Well, how's my favorite daughter-in-law?" Now that I am no longer his only one, I never get to hear it anymore. Sniff, sniff!

This is Tommy's cousin Leslie. She is the one who got him the little green reindeer. She is actually from Ohio, but she and her brother, Jeremy, both live close by now. It has been so fun getting to know them better.

All in all, the party was a success. They always are! Great food and good company!

3 days old and smiling! (or was it gas?)

Here is our sweet little Dylan at 3 days old holding Tyra and Braxton's hands.

When Tommy tickled him.....

...we got THIS.....

...and then THIS!!!

I love that these pictures look like he is smiling and laughing!

This next picture has a cute story to it. One day a little while back Tommy and I were at Walmart with the kids. When I was checking out, they went over to the arcade play area. Well, the kids kept boobing about wanting to try and win a prize from one of the machines. Now, this was the kind of machine that no one EVER wins ANYTHING from. I kept telling the kids that it would be a waste of money. But Tommy, being the sweet dad that he is let Tyra try. What do you know?.... She didn't get anything. Tommy kept arguing against me saying that people do win it SOMETIMES. So, then he let TJ try. Sure enough... no dice. Next was Braxton. Tommy got him all lined up and positioned right and then he said, "Ok Braxton. Push the button!" Well, he did and guess what? Yep! He won this little orange and purple stuffed animal. By now, all three of them felt like it should be theirs. After much deliberation they all decided that it should be the new baby's. So, here is a picture of Dylan with his new little stuffed animal from all three of his siblings!

Dylan's Adoption Placement

Our social worker told us to be ready anytime around 11:00 this morning to go do placement. He finally called us and said that placement would be at 2:30 in the afternoon. All morning I ran around the house aimlessly cleaning and picking up things. That is what I do when I am anxious about something. Sometimes it would be nice if I was anxious more often!!! We left a little early and we brought the kids to Alison's house. Then we went and picked up some flowers that we had ordered for Holly.

When we got to the hospital Jared (left) and Andrew (right) were there to meet us. Jared is our social worker and I have to say that he has been wonderful. He has done more for the adoption couples than anyone has in all four of our adoptions. It has been so nice working with him. Andrew is Holly's social worker and has been awesome too! At first they had us stay in the waiting room forever and finally I asked why we had to stay in separate rooms while we waited. I didn't understand the point of that. So finally they let Tommy and I go visit with Holly and her family until the hospital had the baby ready. He was suppose to be ready at 2:30 pm and wasn't ready for a few hours after that. It was nice though because it gave us time to talk.

Tommy and I got Holly a Willow Tree figurine. It was named Guardian. On the box it has a message that said, "Love and protect thee forever." I feel like all of our birth mothers are continually being watched over by angels while going through the process of adoption and I also feel that the babies they place have a guardian angel with them helping them get to where they need to go. We looked forever to try and find the right one and as soon as I saw this one I knew it was right.


When the hospital finally had Dylan ready and before we did placement, Andrew had everyone in the room share their feelings about this adoption. That is when the tears started to fall. It really was neat to be able to hear every one's perspective on it though. I would write down what everyone said, but for one, some of it was too personal and for two, I don't remember it all. But here are some pictures of how the placement went.








Here we are with Holly's parents and younger brother. From left to right: Joleen, Phillip, Lorraine and Dylan, Tommy, Holly and Curtis.



Here we are puting the baby in the car seat to take him home. I still can't believe that this moment has finally come. The baby quilt that Tommy is holding was made by Holly's mom, Joleen. It is SO adorable! I just love it!!


After the placement we went back to Alison's house to pick up the kids. So, other then my mom, who was at the hospital, Alison and her family were the first one's to see our little guy. Here Alison is wrapping him up like a little burrito!

The kid's couldn't get enough of their little brother. It was so sweet!


Here are the kids with their cousin's Alexis and Siler.

Alison went through all of her baby boy clothes for me. She has ALWAYS been so good to give our kids hand-me-downs. the best part about that is she always has cute clothes!!! I love my Alison!

Today was so wonderful! I wish I could put it into words. For over two and a half years now, I have felt like this day would never come. I am so unbelievably grateful that we got Holly as a birth mother and that she chose us to be the parents of her little boy. She and her family both are so sweet. We have definitely gained another family already. We are all so comfortable around each other. It is really neat that she only lives 10 miles away too. Heavenly Father always knows what he is doing. It is so hard sometimes to live on His time table, but it is so worth it when we do. It would be so nice sometimes to see the eternal perspective that He does, but on the other hand, life wouldn't be nearly so interesting. Holly, we love you SO much. You mean the world to us. Thank you again for allowing us to have this sweet little spirit in our home and family. I hope and pray that we can be the parents that you want us to be.

WELCOME HOME DYLAN !!!!!!