Christmas!

So I haven't been able to post about Christmas and the Holidays yet because I got a new camera and haven't hooked it up to my computer yet and my computer monitor is dying on me. I will post pictures once I get everything working and possibly when I get a new monitor.

Christmas was wonderful. It is such a different experience when you finally have kids of your own. Zeke loved his presents, well eating the wrapping paper was his favorite. He got a dump truck that he can push and walk behind but he doesn't really have a desire to walk just yet.

We had a Christmas Eve party at my Grandma's house and we had a delicious Finnish dinner then Santa came and brought all of the kids lots of presents. Zeke loved Santa Claus he just sat on his lap and played and pointed to his beard. We were getting a family picture and Zeke pulled off Santa's hat which was attached to his wig. It was pretty funny.

On Christmas Day we opened presents and my sweet husband got me a camera! I lost my little camera about a week before Christmas and was pretty sad that I wouldn't be able to take pictures of Zeke's first Christmas. I have always wanted a digital SLR and I am so excited to learn how to use it better. Thanks Brandon.

After we opened presents we headed to the Butterfield household to talk to Ben who is in Mexico serving a mission. Sadly we missed talking to him by 5 minutes because of the very snowy wet roads. We then went to my parents house and got stuck on their lane so my dad had to get his little bobcat out and move all of the snow. It was quite the adventure driving in the snow storm!

It was a great Christmas and I am looking forward to more great Christmas memories!

Temple Lights!

Last week we went to Temple Square to see the lights with some of our friends. It was really cold!!!! I am so glad my mom told me to put Zeke in my little brother's old snowsuit because it was so cold. Did I mention it was cold? Zeke was so good just sitting in his stroller all bundled up he really enjoyed all the lights and riding on trax.

Zeke's signs

Zeke is such a smart little boy! He now does about 6 signs. He signs mom, dog, milk, more, eat, me, and dad. He also does a couple other signs that I have no idea what they mean, but I have heard it is normal for babies to make up signs to babble when they have hearing loss. He also points to himself when he wants something then will point at it. It is so hard to get pictures of him signing but I was able to get him signing mom. The sign for mom is just putting your thumb on your chin with your hand open like Zeke is doing. We are going to start having a deaf mentor come every Wednesday night to teach us sign language and he said we will be pretty good and fast at ASL in about 6 months. He is deaf and so when he speaks he signs and Zeke will just stare at him and then just start signing different signs. He babbles in sign and it is so cute. We were at Costco the other night eating in their food court and Zeke noticed the people sitting at the table next to us and they were signing to eachother. Zeke starting signing mom and would point. It was such a sweet thing for me to see.

When we found out about Zeke's hearing loss I was so worried that he wouldn't say mom and babble like other little babies who could hear, but it is so rewarding to see him figure out how to use his hands and sign. I wouldn't have it any other way with Zeke. He is such a blessing to me and I have learned so much. I just think that it is so amazing that he already knows about six words and he is only 10 months and that he is so quick at learning them. He is such a smart, sweet boy.

Happy Turkey Day!

We had a really good Thanksgiving! We went to both of our family's dinners, Brandon's for lunch and mine for dinner. Zeke loved the mashed potatoes, gravy and he especially loved the pumpkin pie. Here are a couple of pictures from Zeke's first Turkey Day!

Grandma and Zeke enjoying appetizers before dinner.

Cousin Nissa loves Zeke! She loves giving him hugs.

Mmmmm! Pumpkin Pie!

Tag! 4th folder, 4th picture

So I have been putting this off for a little while, this is my 2nd time getting tagged to do this but I just haven't yet. I don't know why I kept putting this off because this has been the easiest tag I have ever done. I got tagged to post the 4th picture that is in my 4th folder. This is the day after Zeke was born when we were still at the hospital. He had little claws when he was born and his temperature was always low so they had to put him under the little heating thing and he would always scratch his little face because he had to be naked. What a cute little guy!

I love you Zeke!

I am going to tag Elissa, Meredith, Nicole, and whoever else wants to!

My little busy boy!

The other day the weather was so nice so I decided to take Zeke outside to play in the leaves. He loved it except for I think he loved eating them more! He was so happy to be outside playing. I think he sometimes gets bored inside the house
So I was at my mom's house and Zeke was crawling around and he decided to take a shortcut and crawl through all of the chairs. He had so much fun and he would crawl through them every time he passed them. Zeke is such a busy little body. I am usually exhausted by the end of the day just from chasing him around.

It was pretty cute to watch him. At times his entire body was only touching the chairs and not the ground.He made it!
My mom's kitchen is almost finished but there are a few cabinets that aren't quite finished. Zeke had a great time crawling into the cabinets. He is such a silly little boy.

Disneyland!

My mom and dad invited us to Disneyland for a family vacation and we had so much fun. It was Zeke's first time so he got a 1st visit button. Zeke was such a good baby to take to Disneyland. He would sit in his stroller and not complain and when he was tired he would just fall asleep without complaining. He went on some fun rides like Pirates of the Caribbean, Buzz Light Year, Snow White, Finding Nemo, Peter Pan.

Here is a picture of Zeke with his 1st visit button.

We rented a bus! Okay not really but it felt like a bus because it was so big! We wanted to all drive together and since there were 10 of us we were lucky to get a big van.

My mom, dad, Elissa, Gabi, Nissa and Zeke waiting in line for the Nemo ride.

Zeke loved the Nemo ride he just stared out the little window at the all the fish and water, he especially loved all the bubbles!Zeke too tired to finish his bottle! Isn't he sweet? Zeke and I waiting in line for Nemo.
My sisters! Elissa, Victoria, Gabi and I.
Zeke in his Mickey hat. He would only wear it when he was asleep!
Mickey and Minnie. Zeke really liked Mickey Mouse!

Victoria and I with Goofy

Happy Halloween!

I love Halloween and it was so fun to have a baby to make a costume for and get all dressed up. Zeke was our little Zebra for Halloween and he was so cute! Usually he hates hats on his head but he didn't mind his Zebra hat. We went Trick or Treating and he loved it, I think he loved it because we were outside. We went with cousin Nissa, Aunt Gabi, Aunt Elissa and Grandma, it was a lot of fun. Can't wait for next year. Last week we went to Boo at the Zoo and it was so crowded but Zeke loved looking at the Zebra's he was so intrigued!Zeke and mommyZeke enjoying a sucker! I had to give him something to keep him still while I took the pictures. :)

Zeke enjoying the Zebra's. I don't know why but he just stared at the Zebra's.

Pumpkins!

For family night this week we carved pumpkins with our friends, Grant and Natalie and their two boys. It was a lot of fun. We decided to try something a little bit different while carving our pumpkins so we used some power tools. Zeke didn't know what to think about the slimey pumpkin seeds, but I think he enjoyed himself. He really liked eating the top of his pumpkin.Brandon using the saw to cut open his pumpkin!

The finished result!

Welcome to Holland!

I absolutley loved General Conference. I have really been thinking about what President Monson talked about, he said that we need to find joy in our journey which can sometimes be a really hard thing to do. It is especially hard with Zeke's hearing loss I have days where it is just hard and I don't want to compete with keeping his hearing aids in. With Zeke's hearing loss, a lady from the School for the Deaf and the Blind comes to visit with us once a week. About a month or so ago she brought this story for me to read and it has been on my mind a lot lately so I thought that I would share it.

It is called Welcome to Holland by Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability – to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It’s like this…
When you’re going to have a baby, it’s like planning a fabulous vacation trip – to Italy. You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum, the Michelangelo David, the gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It’s all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, “Welcome to Holland.”
“Holland?!” you say. “What do you mean, Holland?” I signed up for Italy! I’m supposed to be in Italy. All my life I’ve dreamed of going to Italy.
But there’s been a change in the flight plan. They’ve landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven’t taken you to some horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It’s just a different place.
So you must go out and buy a new guidebook. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It’s just a different place. It’s slower paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you’ve been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around… and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills… Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy… and they’re all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life you will say, “Yes, that’s where I was supposed to go. That’s what I had planned.”

The pain of that will never, ever, go away… because the loss of that dream is a very significant loss.
But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn’t get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things… about Holland.

When I read this it touched me so deep. Zeke is such a blessing in my life and I really wouldn't want him any other way. He was and is supposed to be the way he is, and even though I wanted Italy I have found so much joy in Holland. I am so grateful for Zeke and the things he has taught me and will continue to teach me. Zeke is my Holland and I am looking forward to my journey in Holland. I really couldn't have asked for a better baby. Zeke is so full of life and so happy and such a sweet and special spirit. I love him and I love being his mom and I am finding so much joy in this journey to Holland.

Best Friends!

Zeke has a best friend named Drake. They are about 5 or 6 months apart and get along and play pretty well. I think that their favorite game is to pull out eachothers pacifiers and put them in their mouths. They also really like to play on the keyboard.

MILK!

This is going to be a quick post but I just thought that I would let everyone know that Zeke did his very first sign. On Sunday I made Zeke a bottle of milk and Brandon and I were both doing the sign for milk asking Zeke if he wanted it. Well he got a big smile on his face and signed milk! Hooray! 8 months and he already signed his first word. I am so happy, I love being a mom! I am so happy that Brandon was able to see it with me. Zeke also does the sign for dog but I don't know if he knows what it means because he does it all the time when there are no dogs around, but I guess it could be because he wants to see a dog. The sign for dog is patting your leg with your hand a couple of times so it is a pretty easy sign to do. Anyway, hooray for milk!