Our Lil Leprechaun

Wow! It's amazing to look at Patton's previous picture and see how much he's changed. He's gotten so much bigger. We took him to the doctor's 2 weeks ago and he was 9 lbs, .8oz, and 21.75 inches. Every time we go to the doctor's they always tells us how absolutely perfect he is. . . and we couldn't agree more!

He's so much fun to have! I think one of the things I love the most is seeing him interact with the world for the first time. We showed him a mirror a couple of weeks ago, and he was absolutely fascinated by it. His mouth got into a big "O" and his eyes got huge. It was adorable! He's also holding his head up pretty good and he just started smiling last week. I'm not fast enough with my camera to get a picture, but I know I'll get a good pic one day. :). But when he looks right into your eyes and gives you a big smile. . . it just melts our hearts!

We're so grateful to have Patton as a part of our lives. We truly feel like our missing piece has been filled. We love you lil guy and we look forward to seeing you grow! :)

Our Lil' Guy

It's hard to believe that it's almost been 3 weeks since our little guy arrived. Time sure flies! I guess I was naive in that I didn't realize how much work a baby is. I mean, I knew they required a lot of work, but I didn't anticipate how much work he is! He's totally worth it though! :)

We think that Patton's going through a growth spurt because he's been eating and sleeping lots this week. We also noticed that some of his clothes are getting too snug for him. This makes me very excited because I have LOTS of clothes for him to wear! :)

He's really been such a joy for us and Sam and I have seen our marriage grow since we've had him. Sam really is the best dad! He's so patient and loving. I know Sam's looking forward to having Patton grow a bit so Sam can have someone to play baseball with!

I think I've been introduced to motherhood quite rapidly. The first night we had Patton, he peed all over the window next to his changing table. He also managed to throw up in my mouth (talk about disgusting!). Ah, the joys!

We look forward to seeing our little guy grow! :)

Patton Lee Evans

Well, here's our little guy, Patton Lee Evans. He was born on February 11th, 2011, at 6:59PM. We found out last Wednesday that they were going to be inducing our birth mom on midnight on Feb 11th. We were so excited! The hospital ended up being too crowded at midnight, so they had her come in at around 3AM instead. All day long we received updates from our social worker, Sarah, letting us know the progress of our birth mom. That night, we received a call from our birth mom letting us know all about Patton. We were thrilled!

On Saturday, we went to the hospital to meet our little guy. Sam and I were both so nervous, but so excited! Meeting Patton was so different than what I thought it would be. I really thought that I would burst into tears and be all emotional, but everything was so calm, peaceful, and spiritual. It was amazing!

We visited our birth mom and Patton for about 2 hours on Saturday. We truly had the most amazing visit, and then we went home.


That afternoon, we downloaded all of our pictures from the hospital onto our computer. Then we stared at the pictures all night. We were so excited to bring him home!


Sam with Patton


Placement was set for Sunday night. Sam and I were so excited and nervous the whole day! I was so nervous on how the whole placement would work out. But once again, everything was so calm and peaceful. The placement itself was very emotional on all sides, but we all knew that it was the right thing for little Patton. By the time that we left the hospital and came home, it was after 11PM. We were all so exhausted, but so ready to become a family!

I find it interesting that this placement happened right around Valentine's Day, a time when we reflect upon love. Our agency, LDS Family Services' motto is "It's About Love", and I truly saw that this weekend. We truly felt the love of our birth mom and her family for Patton. We know that he is SUCH a loved little spirit! Sometimes it really just overpowers me with how loved he is!

As Sam has said with taking care of Patton, we have never worked so hard for something and we have never loved something so deeply. He truly is a lot of work, but he's worth all the nights of 3 hours of sleep (we've already had 2 of those this week. I know it'll get better!). We are so incredibly greatful for the most amazingly strong birth mom! Her love and sacifice has blessed us forever. We know that her decision was a difficult one, but we're so eternally grateful to her for allowing us to have a family. We pray that she will be blessed forever for her decision. We just can't say enough good things about her and her decision, and we truly love her!

He's here! :)

He's here!!! :). Our little guy arrived at 7PM last night, he was about 7 pounds, 1 oz, 20 inches (I think). We were able to visit him and our birth mom for about 2 hours today. It was an amazing visit. We just love our birth mom! Our little guy is just absolutely perfect! He has dark blonde hair (and lots of it!). Placement should be within the end of this weekend. I'll make sure to post some pics once he gets home. :)

Waiting. . .

This is seriously how we've felt this week. We're so excited to meet our new little guy, but he's decided that he's not quite ready to come yet. Wednesday was the due date. At that time our birth mom was dilated to a 2 and her doctor decided to induce her on Thursday night at midnight (we're thinking the doctor has a vacation next week because they were originally going to induce her next Tuesday). However, the hospital was too full last night, and so they didn't start inducing her until about 4am this morning. And now the waiting continues. . . we know we'll get to see him soon, but we're just so excited!! Hopefully he'll come today! :). I'll keep everyone posted!!

The Nursery

Well, we've been working on it endlessly, and now we're happy to say that our nursery is finally finished (for now)!! Here are some pics of it. Enjoy!

This is a painting of Hannah holding the prophet Samuel when he was a baby. The painting is titled "For This Child I Prayed". When I first saw it a year ago, I completely fell in love with it and so we bought it. We thought it looks perfect above his crib.

Here's his crib. You can kind of see the owl and porcupine on the bumper. You can also see part of his mobile.

The tree that Amanda and I made (it turned out SOO cute) and our way comfy glider. We know that'll come in handy!

His bookcase (notice all the books. . .I haven't even touched the books in my classroom, or the huge box in our shed. This boy will be well read to) and an extra bed for those sleepless nights.


Another view of the bookcase and bed

I know the lighting is terrible, but this is an old dresser that we sanded and repainted and made into his changing table. He already has some cute clothes on his changing pad that I need to put away.

Some pics of some of the accessories in his room.

So, I have his hospital bag packed and his car seat all ready. Now we'll just wait until he decides to come out! The due date is a month from today, but we'll see when he actually decides to come. :)

Things I loved about this Christmas. . .

Things that I loved about this Christmas. . .

Hanging out with my wonderful hubbie. Doesn't he just look so mysterious? He's really not. I'm sure he's figuring out how to turn my blogging into a profit. j/k.

Watching my nephews open their Christmas gifts. We got my nephew Logan a toy guitar. What 5 year old wouldn't want a toy guitar?! He went to town on it. He even was laying on his backing wiggling his legs in the air as he was rocking it. It was awesome. Unfortunately his daddy didn't think it was so cool. He mentioned something about payback with annoying toys. We shall see!

Hanging out with my family &
enjoying my new camera (It has a panorama function. How awesome is that?!)

Baking lots and eating my wonderful chocolate trifle dessert (nobody gets in the way of my desserts! haha)

Observing the odd ways that our cat Franklin sleeps (how is that even comfortable for a cat?)


Decorating the nursery! We're almost done with it. Observe the adorable chipmunk in the crib. I found him on Etsy and I could NOT resist him. So of course he found his way into the nursery!! I need to think of a cute name for him! I'll post more pics when we're actually done with the nursery.

Hanging out with some old friends in high school. I seriously can't believe it's been 10 1/2 years. Gosh I feel old. Everyone looked great though (minus the mini-vans that everyone was driving. Haha. I know my day will come too).

Sam and I going to the Redlands temple. This was the view from the temple to Big Bear. It was breath-taking and the session was pretty awesome too!

SNOW!! Now, I normally don't like snow. But when Sam's home, and I know that we don't have to work or go anywhere, I do enjoy it. We got 2-3 inches, but it melted the next day. It was good while it lasted! :). I snuggled up with a good book while it was snowing. It was awesome!

Alas, my Christmas break is almost over (I go back to work on Monday. *sigh*). But I'm excited for next Christmas! Only 12 more months to go!