The little tiny girl is a year old, hard to believe. She is a wonder and a daily inspiration for us. Meredith was never much on the pacifier, but all of a sudden Delaney has taken to it with gusto. We think it makes her mouth feel better with her teeth pushing through. We hate to see her become an addict, but if it makes her feel better, so it will be. As you can see, she loves to stand and will walk around the coffee table or around the kitchen chairs. She has also discovered that the cupboards actually open and that the household appliances contain treasures within.

Hopefully you've enjoyed her first year with us. We may post a little less frequently in the future, but will do our best to keep you posted. Delaney loves you all.

Birthday Videos

Our Micro-Preemie Turns One

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DELANEY

WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU!!

Winter seems to be going quick around here. When it's so cold you have to figure out ways to stay entertained and active; particularly when you have little blond girls that get cold quickly. One way to pass the time is to have an indoor bike day at your local fair ground. It's nice for Meredith and her friends to be able to put on some bike miles and actually stay warm. It's inevitable though that you need to be outside- just dress warm. Delaney loves to go outside as long as she's bundled up. Today we took a family trip down south to look for an injured cow moose without any luck. It was a good excuse to play a little in the snow on a sunny Colorado day.

Guess who has a birthday coming up in a few days?

Delaney continues to entertain us with her antics and her zest for life. She's been a little off lately which we attribute to her emerging teeth. She finally has an incisor up through the gum and when she lets us peek it almost looks like she has another one on the way as well. She's going to need them because she's clearly established herself as a carnivore. On a separate note, she's finally starting to put it all together with walking behind her walker. In just the last few days she started standing without aid and balancing for 10 or 20 seconds. Then today out of nowhere (with her sister's encouragement), she walked across the room behind her lion. Check out the video.

Oh, and Meredith got to experience her first bighorn sheep trap...

We're in winter mode around here. Brandon has been doing his annual deer & elk classification flights and as is par for the course, winter weather has been slowing his progress. There have been some nice days though- the Basin is quite photogenic when it's calm and sunny. Prompted by his pilot, he took a unique photo of the West Elk's reflecting off of Blue Mesa Reservoir, which we thought was worth sharing.

When it's not too cold we try to get Delaney out of the house. She got her first pair of sunglasses recently and seems to enjoy them. Her and Grandma Annie dog get along good both in and out of the wagon. Last week Delaney had her most recent doctor's appointment, and officially weighed 13 lbs, 10 oz and is now 27 inches long. Our doctor gave us the green light to feed her meat and eggs so Delaney is now officially an omnivore, recently enjoying both elk hamburger and Sockeye salmon. Eggs weren't of much interest to her so we'll have to keep working on that.

Elk were marauding at our northern horse pasture so we had to move our horses into town. It's nice to be able to see them more often and Meredith enjoys coming to plow snow and load hay with the tractor. It gives us a good excuse to walk to the office from our house and stretch our legs. Delaney seems to always be asleep when we get there but she'll be a cowgirl soon enough.

Happy New Year!

The cold finally arrived in Gunnison, so it's been tough getting out-especially with a little-bitty blond girl that's not used to the cold. Like every winter, Brandon has been super busy at work. The good news is that some of his projects require a little volunteer help, so Meredith becomes his wing-man. Brandon started baiting bighorns north of Gunnison, and even Delaney was able to come get her first view of a very special animal. In the second to last picture, you can see Delaney's little head in the photo as Brandon puts on a sheep clinic.

Meredith also got to go on her first pheasant hunt with Brandon and good friends. The pheasants did not cooperate but we had a fun time looking for them. The highlight of the day was watching a train run over a penny, which is now one of Meredith's special treasures.

The cold also came with snow, so we finally were able to hit the sledding hill with our new Christmas sleds (thank you Frohlicks). Delaney was out for a little while, but we learned that she may not be quite ready for the Arctic winters. She just needs to grow a little bit. If you haven't watched the video we posted recently, check it out. Delaney is figuring out how to work her vocal chords.

Happy New Year to everyone! It's gotta be better than 2010.