I'm not going to try to catch up on the last couple months but I'll just say that I can't believe my little baby is almost a year. Britton is now 10 1/2 months. He now has four teeth, has graduated from baby food to table food, and received his first hair cut this week. I didn't think I would cut his hair this early but as you can see from the "Before" picture below, he had grown a mullet so a haircut became necessary. Below are the "Before" and "After" pictures. Other fun milestones over the past few months include waving, clapping, playing peek-a-boo, and giving kisses.

Before

After

Halloween

I promise this picture was taken on Halloween - I've just been horrible about updating our blog. Britton was Hobbs for Halloween and Darren was Calvin for our ward Halloween party. We dressed Britton up again on Halloween day but didn't take him out for trick-or-treating 1. because he can't have candy and 2. because he had a fever on Halloween which is the reason for the dazed look in the photo but his fever was gone by the end of the night. So we celebrated the holiday with pumpkin soup, pumpkin crescent rolls, pumpkin carving, and Halloween music.

Seven Months - Crawling and First Teeth

Britton has been mobile for a few weeks, rolling and scooting his way slowly around the room but Tuesday night of this week he finally figured out the whole crawling motion and now he has taken off. He can already move from room to room and he especially loves to crawl when you're not watching. I swear I step into the kitchen to grab something, look back, and Britton is on the opposite side of the room getting into something he shouldn't be. His favorite areas of our living room are the bookshelf and the TV stand. He loves pulling on the DVDs out and turning on the DVD player which also turns on the TV. We might have to do some rearranging of the room for his safety and my sanity.

Britton also has his two bottom teeth now. They both came in two weeks ago. He was a little fussy that Friday night so we just put him to bed an hour early but he slept fine and was still his happy mellow self through the whole teething experience.

Backpacking with a baby and Britton's half birthday

I can't believe its almost October and Darren is already finishing his first quarter of dental school. His last day of class is tomorrow and finals are Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and then he has next week off before the new quarter begins. Yeah! We're going camping and boating with Darren's parents. I also can't believe Britton is 6 months old. Sept. 9th was his half birthday and we let him have strawberries (pureed) to celebrate. He has graduated from just rice cereal and now eats rice cereal, oatmeal, spinach, avocado, bananas, watermelon, and strawberries.

A few weeks ago we went in to wake up Britton from a nap and he was sitting up in his Graco. He did it a few times that week but now he often moves from a laying down to a sitting up position so I think its safe to say it's no longer by accident. The routine usually is: we lay him on his back, he rolls on to his stomach, he goes on to his hands and knees and rocks/scouches and then sits up. We need to start child proofing our apartment.Britton's first camping trip.

Britton is a great napper and a great hiker; the two go nicely together.
This was our first backpacking trip with Britton. He was great hiking; happy and napping during the day, but we decided he was too heavy for backpacking. He did very well the first night but not so good the second night. There were some birds that went crazy at like 10:30 and woke us and Britton up. Britton was not happy and I felt bad for the other campers around us.
Britton's 6 month photo. Results from 6 month check up: 28.5 inches (off the charts) and 20 lbs 8 oz (91st percentile).
Darren took Britton to the beach and let him play in the sand.
Raspberry torte that we made....delicious!

Starting Solids

We had decided to start Britton on solid foods when he turned six months unless he showed signs of really being ready for them sooner. Well this past week he was being pretty fussy during the days, putting everything in his mouth and staring at and reaching for our food so we decided to give solids a try. We started him on a teaspoon of brown rice cereal one to two times a day and he seems to enjoy it. Also he has been much happier in between feedings. Feedings are messy but fun as he tries to figure out how to control his tongue, take bites from a spoon and swallow. Some of the faces he pulls are priceless.
Darren spent most of Saturday studying for his test on Monday but we did start off the morning with a delicious breakfast. We saw this creation on Pinterest and decided to make it ourselves. It was simple, fun, and tasty. We'll definitely be making this one again...five ingredients: bacon, potatoes, egg, cheese and green onion. We served it with a side of buckwheat which complimented it well. Later in the day Darren took a break from studying so we could go to the temple. We took turns watching Britton and performing initiatory ordinances in the temple. It was a beautiful day so I took the advantage of the beautiful temple grounds and weather to take some pictures of Britton while Darren was in the temple.

Summer in San Francisco

So we've been living in the city for about a month and a half now and we're really enjoying it. Dental school is going well for Darren. It's challenging and keeps him busy, but he is enjoying it too. I love being able to be home with Britton and still work. The combination keeps me very busy and was an adjustment, but it's been working out well.

We're enjoying being close to Darren's family and being able to visit on the weekends. We've also spent a couple weekends exploring the city. There are so many great restaurants and parks in San Francisco. Golden Gate Park is huge and exploring its various parks, lakes, and trails is a favorite Sunday activity for us. We live in a little Russian pocket of San Francisco and hear Russian daily which is a lot of fun for us. Most the signs in our neighborhood are in English, Russian, and Chinese and there are several Russian stores nearby. I've scavenged the little Russian markets for favorite foods from our missions and enjoy the opportunity to speak Russian with the store owners. Our neighborhood library also has a Russian section with Russian children's books that I've checked out to read to Britton.

Below are some pictures of Britton. He has grown so much and become much more interactive in the past month. He'll be six months in September, and we'll begin the new adventure of solid foods.

We love living near the beach and Britton loves the waves. It's so much fun to watch him giggle and laugh each time a wave crashes on the shore.

This is Britton's Jungle Toy. I only put him in it when I'm showering as a safe place since he's mobile now. Apparently he wasn't ready to be awake that morning.

Britton is now able to sit up on his own and never wants to recline. His laugh is very cute and he laughs best for his dad.

I know it's summer, but the weather in San Francisco is pretty much the same year round and usually ranges from 50-70 degrees. Today was a colder day so we decided to dress Britton is this adorable outfit for church. It's a 9 month outfit so we bought it thinking it would be perfect for Winter (Britton will be 9 months in December), but as you can see it isn't any too big (Britton has been wearing 6-9 month clothing since he was 4 months).

The Joys of Parenthood

So, it's been a while since I've gotten around to updating the blog. A lot has been going on as of late. The month of June just flew by and was full of trips to Oregon and getting ready to move and then moving. We are now in San Francisco and I am starting up dental school tomorrow! Exciting/crazy times. Britton is still full of surprises. Just today we had to bathe him 3 separate times because of wicked bowel movements. Loads of fun. But in any event, here are some recent pictures of our adventures together.

I believe this one was at Zions.

This was down at Mesa Verde in Colorado.

This is overlooking Canyon Lands a twilight.

Good ol' Delicate Arch. We went down to Monticello to visit Nicole's grandparents and some of the national parks nearby.

Britton getting a little tired of the car seat. This is his unhappy face.

Yaquina lighthouse in Newport, Oregon. We spent 10 days back there with all of Nicole's family when her brother Alan got back from his mission.

One of the attempts of the family picture. I think we took over 30 and none of them having everyone looking...but what can you expect with 10 grandchildren?

Britton and Annie.

Britton never looks at the camera when he should.

Grandma and Grandpa Miller with the grandchildren.

We took Britton to the beach a few times.

Britton's first time swimming! He loved it.

After the move down to Cali, chillin' in my parent's pool.

We took Britton up to the lake boating with us. Again he liked the water.

Nicole decided to try slalom skiing and got up!

Britton now rolls like a champ from his back to his stomach.

He has also discovered his tongue.

He also really likes his bouncer toy thingy..whatever it is called. His feet just barely touch.

Well, that's life for now. We are enjoying San Francisco and hopefully dental school goes well!