I know I just posted yesterday morning, but I am so amazed at how fast babies pick things up! Like I have said before, we don't have stairs, so Donovan doesn't get any practice going up or down. Last night, we attended a few graduation parties for Bradley's soccer girls and one of the places had stairs. Donovan was immediately drawn to them, of course, and got to the top in about 10 seconds, maybe less. It amazes me how fast he remembered, even when he was climbing stairs at Joyce's he was pretty slow, but he went up those things like they were nothing! He tried to go down head first though, that wasn't very smart (don't worry, I was right there to catch him). I think he went up those stairs about 10 times, and got mad when we made him leave. He is such a little stinker! He still hasn't figured out how to walk, but is standing on his own for more than one second. We will keep working with him, I am sure when he starts he will be an instant professional. He has done very well when it comes to physical ability so far so I'm not worried, it is probably a blessing that he isn't walking yet!

Finally turning green...

Usually at this time of year, Iowa is luscious and green. This is what it usually looks like in late March or early April, but for some reason (maybe the freezing cold) the leaves and grass have just barely been turning in the last few weeks. It is still pretty, but could be so much prettier. The trees and green are the only thing about Iowa that I like more than Utah, so it has been a disappointing spring.Not too many stories or pictures from this week. I have been sick so I was pretty lazy for most of the week.

Donovan usually doesn't like to have things on his head, but for some reason he doesn't mind bubbles. He is still standing up in the tub all the time and has slipped twice. He even fell out of the tub yesterday while Hannah was here. We were both in the bathroom with him so I was able to catch his little head before it hit the ground, but it scared him pretty bad. He was reaching for his bubbles outside of the tub, for some reason he likes to play with bottles (shampoo, bubbles, body wash, etc) while he is in the tub. Obviously he reached a little too far. If you didn't know, the Jazz lost in game 6 to the Lakers, you can blame Donovan if you want. He was chewing on these the day of the game, maybe he jinxed them. Or maybe he gave them good luck and that is why the game was close at the end, but his luck just wasn't enough.
This is how Donovan watches TV. He usually watches Mickey Mouse Clubhouse every morning for about 2 minutes like this and then he is done. He loves to see Mickey in the beginning and watch the "Hot Dog Dance" at the end. He loves Mickey.
This is Donovan's favorite mess to make. He likes to follow me into the bathroom when I do my hair and is usually content playing with his bath toys, but he figured out how to unroll the toilet paper and thinks it is a lot of fun. Now whenever he comes in, I immediately take the TP off the roller until we leave the bathroom.

I am trying to expand Donovan's toy collection. He isn't very good at this one, he only knows how to push them down after I make them pop up, but he's working on it.I am also trying to expand his music repertoire. Brad and I love Disney songs, you can ask my family, I used to watch Beauty and The Beast almost every Saturday just because I liked the songs. Brad bought almost all of the Disney Classic CD's from Amazon (they were a steal) and we got them on our computer. Donovan and I have already been listening to Newsies, which is one of my favorites, and he really enjoys that. He probably enjoys it mostly because I dance and sing with him, and he loves to dance and sing!

Donovan's 9 month check up

We can no longer call Donovan fat. He is only in the 80th percentile for weight now, which is 23 lbs. He is still in the 95th for height at 30 inches, so he is still pretty tall for his age. Everything looks good, he only had one shot, thank goodness. He has a very hard time sitting still, so I was a little nervous about shots. He cried a little, but found the cord to a blood pressure cuff and was entertained for a few seconds after the needle went in. He has been a little whiny since we got home, but took a pretty decent nap, which was nice since I have been sick and needed a nap myself. He is getting into stuff right now, so of course he is happy. Dr. Jones told us he should start to understand the word "no", which we have already naturally started telling him, so we will see if he starts to listen when we say it to him. He has his moments, sometimes he will listen to me and stop what he is doing, but when he is bound and determined, I have to physically remove him from the area of temptation. I am sure it is no different from any other child.

Quick story before I finish, I was rocking Donovan while he was having his bottle before bedtime and when I picked him up I noticed he had poop up his back and on his pajama pants, so naturally there was poop on my pants as well. So I cleaned him up and put on mismatching pants and put him in his bed wide awake. He was really quiet so I didn't worry about him and about 5 minutes later he was pounding on the wall, pretty loud I will add. I had to laugh before I went in and he was sitting up grinning and reaching for me. I rocked him for about five minutes and he didn't get sleepy so I put him back in his bed and he was asleep within 2 minutes. He is such a silly boy sometimes. And FYI, he has only gotten poop on me twice now.

Happy Mother's Day!!

For my Mother's Day, Bradley and Scott made dinner for Lenna and me. It was really good and it was nice to not have to cook. I had been planning on sleeping in this morning, but Brad has been sick and he didn't sleep very well last night, so I got up with Donovan a little before 6. He had a very good morning and was very happy, so I was okay with it. We went to church without Brad too and were only planning on Sacrament Meeting, but Lenna's nursery helper was late so I went in to help her, and by the time her helper got there Donovan was so happy I decided to stay and let him play. He didn't even notice I was there until snack time. He just crawled around and explored. I wish we could go to nursery every Sunday, he would enjoy church a lot more! All in all, it was a good first Mother's Day, but hopefully next year Brad won't be sick.

Good news, I finally started running again. I started up on Thursday so it has only been 2 days (Thursday and Friday), but I am pretty excited to get in better shape. I forgot how much I actually liked running. I remember I liked running in high school, but lost the love for it in college, not sure why. I got pretty lazy after our sophomore soccer season and haven't been able to motivate myself to seriously run since. Now that I have had a baby, I have to exercise and not eat quite as much as I used to in order to keep my figure the way it was pre-baby. We have a stroller that works pretty well when I run even though it technically isn't an official running stroller, so I can't use Donovan as an excuse to get out of it. Anyway, enough about me.

Donovan had a pretty good week. His nasty top tooth finally cut through. He had a blister on it for the last week. That tooth took FOREVER to come in. I am NOT excited about molars and eye teeth coming in, for some reason he has a really hard time teething. It was the reason for his one and only fever. Poor kid. We also got into a really bad habit while we were waiting for that stupid tooth. We felt so bad that we would give him bottles in the middle of the night because it was the only thing that calmed him down. I was surprised that it only took us 3 nights of screaming and crying to break it. We weren't quite ready to let him cry it out, so we would rock him until he fell asleep, or at least calmed down enough to not scream when we put him back in his crib. He has slept all through the night the last 2 nights, and I needed it! He is getting much more independent too. He is really good at finding things to play with while I am busy with housework, but still struggles if I am working in the kitchen. He has to be right by my side, if not in my arms, when I am cooking or doing dishes. He especially loves to make messes in his bedroom when I'm not in there with him. It only takes him about 2 seconds to get everything on the floor. He loves his books too. He especially loves his lift the flap books, he is really good at turning pages and lifting flaps. I think he likes it because he gets to be close to me. It is really cute, when I am reading him a story, he will look up at me and grin. It melts my heart, I know that sounds cheesy, but there is no other way to explain that feeling. That feeling alone makes being his mom worth every frustration. He can be such a little stinker, but at the same time such a little sweetheart. He can be so affectionate sometimes. My favorite thing he does now is the thing we used to make fun of Mason for. He will randomly lie down on the ground, stick his hands underneath him, and rest his little head while he "settles in". It only lasts a few seconds, but it is just so cute...even though it looks like he is...I can't even say it, but if you saw it you would know what I mean and you would probably laugh. This wasn't quite on the floor, he found the pile of blankets and thought it might be a comfy spot to "settle in". He is such a good helper too. He helps with laundry, taking off his own socks, and taking off his daddy's socks.

Not a whole lot happened with Donovan this week, he is getting better with his walker, but when he falls on his knees, he just walks on them instead of getting back on his feet. He also loves to climb on anything and everything! He is starting to "dance". I don't know if you can really call it dancing, but when I play music he rocks up and down on his little bum until he lunges forward. Sometimes he does it without music, so that is why it isn't technically dancing. This video is a little long, but it shows how much he loves music and a little bit of his dance.

Mmmm...Cafe Rio...

If you didn't know, Iowa and Nebraska do not have Cafe Rio. I have been craving a Cafe Rio pork salad for a few months now and Brad finally told me I should find a recipe...and I did! It isn't exactly Cafe Rio of course, but it is really good if you like theirs. I am a little sad that we wasted it on the missionaries (Lenna and Scott will know why that is not mean, it is true). These Elders actually call people to ask for dinners, we are nice and feed them, but are anxious for transfers. Anyway...here are the recipes.

Cafe Rio Pork
3 lbs pork roast (butt or shoulder)
3/4 cup coca cola
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
3/4 cup ketchup
1 cup brown sugar
2 limes, juice only
1 cup tomatillo dressing (recipe below; you can leave this out if you want the pork to be more sweet)

Place the pork in crock pot. Top with garlic and coca cola. Cover and cook on high for 4-5 hours or until you can shred it with a fork. When pork is tender, remove it from crock pot and shred. Drain crock pot before returning meat. Return meat to crock pot and mix in the remaining ingredients for the sauce. Cover and simmer on low until ready to serve.


Creamy Tomatillo Dressing
2 jalapeno peppers
3 cloves garlic
2 tomatillos
1 handful cilantro
2 limes, juice only
2 cups milk
2 cups mayonnaise
2 packages Hidden Valley ranch salad dressing mix

Blend all ingredients except mayonnaise in blender until smooth. Whisk in the mayonnaise and chill until ready to serve.


For the salad, I put beans, rice, pork, lettuce, avocado, and a couple sprigs of cilantro on top of a warm tortilla before putting on the dressing. It was really good. I hope at least one person enjoys this recipe, I know my mom will!

He's working on it...

right now Donovan seems a little scared about walking and standing on his own...who 'da thunk? He is pretty content with grabbing fingers and taking off, dragging whoever the fingers belong to along for the ride. We tried a few times to get him to use the walker Mason is letting us borrow, but he would either just stand there or bend his knees. We can get him to walk a little ways with it if we start him out, but when he realizes we have let go, he crashes. Who knows? Maybe he won't walk for 3 more months!

Brad is really good at making Donovan laugh. I wish I could get him to laugh like this.

Too bad it was really Hannah. We are pretty jealous of her "making Donovan laugh hysterically" skills. He actually laughed for a long time before I got the camera out, I wish I would have captured more.

Random pictures and a fun video

It has been pretty warm around here, so Donovan and I got to play at the park a few times. He is pretty much in love with the swings. When I try to take him out and he isn't ready, he will cry. At least he knows what he wants!He just chilled out and watched the kids play around him. He is getting pretty comfortable with the swings, as you can see.
"Quit taking pictures of me in the tub mom!!" I know I will probably get this look for real someday, I'm sure I won't be quite as embarrassing as my mother (no offense Mom), but I am sure he will have moments when I embarrass him.
"mmmm....these bubbles taste good...." I think he looks a little more like a Goodman in this picture.
Donovan loves his "fridge farm", his cousin Mason has one and it seems to entertain him pretty well at their house, so I got one and he will play with it while I do the dishes...
unless he decides he wants to help unload the dishwasher,
or put dishes away. He loves to open our drawers, and when I close them, he goes back and opens them again. He had a pretty bad diaper rash at the beginning of the week, so I would let him play around bottomless after I would change his numerous poopy diapers this week. Is it just me, or do babies poop about 10 times more when they have a diaper rash? I swear he was pooping at least 4 times a day compared to 1 or 2 regularly. It is better now, thank goodness, I was not enjoying the sound of screams while cleaning poo off of his bum. Poor Pluto...What can I say, I just like this picture. He likes to bite Pluto's tail and ears as well. He looks so carnivorous in this picture!

Now for the video, I'm really not sure what he was laughing at. I promise, I wasn't even making faces. He started laughing randomly during his bath and while we were looking through his pictures. I guess sometimes he just thinks funny things.