lovin' life

the sweet 16

2012-02-27T07:45:00.003-08:00

a year ago today baby sprouted her first tooth. and baby girl looked something like this.

and finally, last night, on the eve of her first tooth anniversary, baby girl let us count her pearly whites (for the first time in several months!) and there were 16! SIXTEEN i said! and at least two or three of those just barely finally broke through a few days ago. perhaps that's why baby girl woke up THREE times during the night on friday while happily sleeping all the way through thursday night, saturday night and sunday night?!

anyways... now her mug shot looks something like this...

and a close up...

this baby girl can eat raw veggies, nuts, and steaks with the best of them.

happy sweet sixteen [teeth] baby girl!!! you're doing great!

my honey

2012-02-26T23:54:00.001-08:00

i have such a wonderful husband. he's really great all the time but lately he's just blowing me away. so much of my time now goes to young womens stuff and honey is just really picking up the pieces for stuff i can't get to anymore. 3 sundays a month now i have meetings before church. so honey goes to his 6am bishopric meeting and then rushes home so i can get to the church by 7 30 for my meeting. while i'm at my meeting, he wakes baby up, feeds her, dresses her, packs snacks, and gets them to church on time. he's really risen to the challenge on that one.

he's done more dishes in the past two weeks than in the past several months combined. and he's doing the undesirable stuff too that i'm too wimpy to take care of... like putting out the trash and recycling... i totally used to do that before it got so cold and so dark. now i just ask my honey and he'll go around the house to collect all of the trash, including the diaper pail, and take everything to the curb.

it makes me think of when i was pregnant and so super sick. when i was at home, i laid in bed for every single waking and non waking moment. and my honey really rose to the challenge of it all. he did all of the dishes and cleaning. he fed himself. he brought me leftovers in bed and begged me to attempt to eat them and was my own personal cheerleader every time i tearfully took a bite. he brought me my toothbrush with toothpaste on it so i could brush my teeth in bed and only have to get out once to rinse my mouth. he did everything. and even when the sickness went away and was one week later replaced by the most extreme fatigue ever, he still waited on me. and was so patient every saturday when instead of going to sporting events and other things on campus, i just wanted to lay in bed. it was like his whole existence was just for me... just to make my life easier. he has such a precious, quiet way of serving. it melts my heart. i really wish i was as patient and full of selfless service as he is. buuuut instead, i'll just try to be so super especially grateful. because i really do have so very much to be grateful for.

especially because this afternoon he had me laughing so hard i could barely breathe. laughing soooo hard i couldn't see through all the tears as they soaked my face and spotted my pillowcase. oh my goodness. it was pretty awesome.

putting my time in

2012-02-25T23:56:00.001-08:00

with the exception of about two hours playing with baby girl this evening, i have spent the last ten hours doing young womens stuff. writing personal fb messages to the girls, going to their homes for visits/to drop off the new strength of youth pamphlets, answering emails, writing more fb messages, studying lesson material for tomorrow... yikes. and it's almost 1am and i need to be waking up in about five hours to shower and get ready before ward council and church. faaaabulous.

honestly, i have no idea how this is so time consuming. i get involved in what i'm doing and then i look up and it's two hours later. i mean, seriously?!?!

in other news, baby girl loves attempting to dress herself and put on/took off the same skirt at least twenty times tonight (pictures and video to come) and honey did a sink full of dishes again without being asked.

those two are just too sweet to me.

baby tevas

2012-02-24T14:52:00.000-08:00

mother, we finally got the package in the mail! thank you so much for all of the wonderful goodies inside! baby girl especially enjoyed her present!

can't you just hear her saying "woooow"? because she was.

once she realized what they were, she immediately wanted them on.

and couldn't stop looking at them.

and a video because she was just so cute prancing and tip toeing around in her new pink sandals!

needless to say, they didn't come off until it was time to get dressed for nap.

thanks mother!

atlas shrugged

2012-02-23T22:17:00.000-08:00

i tried to read this book several years ago... on our hungary trip. i managed to read the whole traveling pants series and maybe even another book or two (lots of time on trains) but for some reason could not get farther than 25 or 52 (can't remember but i swear it was one of those) pages into atlas shrugged. i really need to read it though because my honey is obsessed with it.

anyways, tonight we watched the movie... part one. it was awesome. but my christopher said it was ehh. "the book is just soooo much better!" he keeps saying. well of course. and this is one of the few combos where i've seen the movie first. i'll have to fix that and make sure to read the book before seeing part two.

like i think i want to start the book this weekend. or maybe tomorrow.

who's read it already?!?!

the big camera is back!

2012-02-22T20:54:00.000-08:00

sooo happy to have our big camera up and running again.

this morning we went to play with kirstyn and michaela. hung out at their place for a bit and then went on a long walk to enjoy the beautiful weather today. came home for lunch and a short nap. baby girl has been so hit and miss lately with her crib. sometimes she's totally fine and happy and then sometimes she'll whine and then cry for a few minutes before going to sleep. this afternoon was a cry nap... which normally means a short nap. soo she cried for a few minutes before going to sleep and then an hour and a half later i heard her up and crying again and she wouldn't go back to sleep. she wasn't in a terrible mood which was wonderful but it did leave us with a whole lot of time to kill before honey got home. starting your afternoon an hour and a half early makes a big difference. so it was wonderful that first counselor chelsey came by with her handsome hunk, griffin. they left, we made dinner, we ate dinner (homemade cheddar broccoli potato soup that i just made up on my own!) and watched the debate. another excellent day.

ps- baby girl specifically requested to wear a flower in her hair today. after nap though i didn't put it back in. when i was doing something on my computer she wandered off and went upstairs. i thought she was going to the ball pit but she came down a minute later. what had she brought me? why, a tiny little rubber band for me so i could put her hair up! ha. i seriously laughed out loud. she climbed up a flight of stairs, went to her bathroom, opened the drawer, got out her comb and rubber band package, got a rubber band out, and carried it back down the flight of stairs and into my room to give to me. seriously hilarious. i love this kid.

baby buffet

2012-02-21T23:04:00.000-08:00

tonight with the young women, we discussed the dress and appearance section of the new for the strength of youth pamphlet and then learned hair tips/tricks/styles and made delicious smelling bath salts. it was a ton of fun and easy to do. mostly because i have awesome counselors and advisers that do everything for me. it's wonderful.

anyways, turns out that the hardest part was getting baby food jars for our bath salts since we didn't want to spend budget money on jars from hobby lobby or something. i texted every mom in our ward with a baby under 18 months and wasn't having much luck. turns out though that kirstyn had a bunch of jars leftover from when michaela was in that stage... i just needed to take the baby food out of them. so initially i'm thinking i'd just put the food down the drain because baby refuses to be spoon fed but then i thought maybe i'd give her the benefit of the doubt. and actually, she ate a jar and a half of those big stage 3 gerber meal things when she woke up from nap... but i still had several jars left and no where to put the food. to save myself from dirtying up a million little tupperwares, i put the food in an ice cube tray and covered it with plastic wrap to put it in the fridge. but baby girl saw it and started saying please so honey took over... and after watching the two of them for a few minutes, i decided i needed to get some of it recorded.

as is always the case with taking video, the best part happened before i started recording, but whatever... it's better than nothing! too bad that that music is so loud the whole time though... goodness how she loves that thing. but listen out for my favorite part at the very beginning when she says "this one" so clearly while she points. that's what she was doing before i got the camera out and she got lazy and would just point and mumble instead. sooo, enjoy!

i still can't believe she was eating that stuff! seriously, it's so difficult that she won't let us spoon feed her (unless it's from an array of ice cube molds apparently) because it rules out soups, yogurt, applesauce, and other stuff that she can't manage on her own. and when i sit back and actually let myself think about it, i can't believe all the stuff she says these days... i don't even notice so much of it because she's talking all. the. time. seriously amazing.

and ps- i am sooooo very happy to report that the long missing battery charger to the big camera has been found! apparently i thought it would be easy for me to find if i left it conveniently plugged in behind the sofa, so it would be ready for me next time i needed to use it. hmmm, we might have to rethink that one going forward. but right now....so so glad to have that back. thank goodness!

blessed are the meek

2012-02-20T23:45:00.000-08:00

for they shall inherit the earth (matthew 5:5 and 3 nephi 12:5).

yesterday during our young women lesson, i talked with the girls about the word meek. we'd read doctrine and covenants section 25 verses 5, 14, and 16 and i wanted to make sure they knew the definition of the word "meek" since it was mentioned multiple times.

5 And the office of thy calling shall be for a ^acomfort unto my servant, Joseph Smith, Jun., thy ^bhusband, in his ^cafflictions, with consoling words, in the spirit of ^dmeekness.

14 Continue in the spirit of meekness, and beware of ^apride. Let thy soul delight in thy ^bhusband, and the ^cglory which shall come upon him.

16 And verily, verily, I say unto you, that this is my ^avoice unto all. Amen.

basically, it's counsel and revelation given to emma about her wifely responsibilities. and then in the last verse, verse 16, it's basically a "ps- this is actually for everyone... not just emma." so i had the girls write down their future to do list of wifely responsibilities and i wanted to make sure they knew what everything meant so they would be clear on how to fulfill it.

we talked about how the work "meek" gets such a bad rap in society these days. that people associate it with being weak, submissive in a bad way, and basically crouching in a corner because you're too afraid and insecure to stand on your own. then we talked about the true meaning of meek..."showing patience and humility; gentle, long suffering." also that it's submissive in a good way, like how the scriptures say to be submissive like a child to his father. i shared with them how my mother has always been a perfect example of this and how it's because of her that i have always striven to be meek... which i really don't think is a very common thing for people to strive for in 2012. we talked about how the scriptures are never old fashioned... they are always for our day and they're always right, even when they disagree with society. i really wanted the girls to know that meekness is an amazing quality they need to strive for. and tonight only confirmed that for me.

honey and i were watching celebrity apprentice tonight. we really love that show and it's the start of a new season. i don't feel like explaining the whole concept of the show but basically, if your team loses a competition then the person in charge takes the two weakest people of their team and the three of them are judged by donald trump and one gets fired and has to go home. so tonight donald trump was asking the team leader about the performance of his team and basically who the two weakest people were. the ones that didn't raise as much money, work as hard, etc. and the team leader said "george. there are a lot of strong personalities on this team and he just doesn't seem to have one. he is really quiet and meek." MEEK. he was saying that george should go home because he's not as macho and vocal as the other guys. he was too much meek and not enough assertive. and the thing is, donald trump was very surprised and taken aback that the team leader would use a word as offensive as meek. donald trump actually defended george saying that he was a strong, smart, quiet type and that he didn't think meek was the right word at all. and eventually the team leader took it back as well. and WHEW, because heaven forbid should you ever on television use a word as offensive as meek!

so really i have no conclusion or wrap up... just this random story about how once again, society has it wrong and the scriptures have it right. and it also reaffirmed to me the importance of keeping up with pop culture because it's insanely important to know what you're up against. so for that reason, if nothing else, i am suuuper pumped for the rest of this season of celebrity apprentice!

ps- george didn't get voted off. no worries.

i'm a member

2012-02-20T23:15:00.000-08:00

i've had the parker costco on my speed dial since i moved here. i like to call from time to time to ask things like

"do you have egg nog in stock yet? what's the quantity and how much does it cost?"
or
"i know you can't check sizes/colors in your system, so could you go do a physical check of that giant stack of boots and tell me if you have the gray ones in a size 9?"
and
"have you put halloween costumes out yet? can you tell me if you have that carters ladybug costume with the striped tights in a size 12-18 months?"

it's been very useful to have their number right at my fingertips. and they're oh so helpful. the ironic part of this all is that i didn't have a costco membership.

i'm a costco shopper but i'm also a mooch. i only go to costco with people that have costco cards so they can buy my stuff and i can pay them back. so that's why i've called the parker costco so much. because i wasn't going to tag along on a costco trip when the specific item i wanted wasn't going to be there. it's been wonderful. especially because every time i called with questions it always made me feel so sneaky.

well, that will all change now because tonight we took the plunge and got a costco membership. the strange thing though? it was probably the first time i've felt weird or uncomfortable shopping there. whereas before i should have probably felt scandalous for shopping there without a costco card, i didn't. but this time i definitely felt scandalous shopping there without a costco cardholder friend/family member.

anyways, this is just one more step towards becoming a "real person." real person = true adult. is there going to come a time in my life where i actually feel like an adult instead of feeling like a kid pretending to be an adult?!?!

ps- i think i have the best life ever. it would be impossible for me to not adore my life. part of that is because i have an awesome life and part of that is because it's just in my personality. for the past six months or so, my goal has been to make my honey as happy as i am. i want him to realize that he has all the same blessings that i do and he should be as obsessed with our life as i am. i think he knows it but it's just not his personality like it is mine. anyways, we were driving home tonight when out of the blue he said "y'know, we have everything." and then went on to list stuff. the funny part about it was that it wasn't "our kid, the gospel, each other and our eternal marriage..." it was "we have everything. a house, [something else i can't rememer], a costco membership, and gym membership, season sports tickets..." ha. and then the conversation veered in the direction of how we never actually use those tickets because we're too cheap to get a baby sitter. so does that mean i'm making progress in my goal?! it was a sweet moment but it was also kinda hilarious.

i love my life.

busy sunday

2012-02-19T23:46:00.000-08:00

today was fabulous. church was great. my lesson went much better and wasn't so terribly traumatic like last week. after church we got home taught while baby napped and then we woke her up and headed to the in laws for dinner. honey had to leave after that for some random church meetings but baby girl and i stayed til 8 30 or so and got a ride home with brian and kelsey. it was a lot of fun although definitely one of our busier sundays.

i just love a good sunday filled with church and family. it really doesn't get any better than that.

in other news:

while i was at the in laws, i played their piano. a super easy version of "i heard him come." made me realize how much i miss playing the piano. i'm going to renew my efforts to try to find a cheap one on craigslist or goodwill or something.

the battery charger for my big camera has been lost for over a week. i used to keep it in the closet in the craft room upstairs but it was so inconvenient. so i finally moved it downstairs. and now i can't find it. so for the last week i haven't been able to use my big camera at all which means i have to take my point and shoot out of my purse to take pictures around the house and then it's never in my purse when we got out. so i'm getting frustrated with that. tonight i missed soooo many good pictures when we were hanging out with honey's family. and since i'm using a really crappy cell phone from six or so years ago, that camera can't act as backup.

i feel like i went from three cameras to one and i'm not coping well. seriously, how on earth did i misplace my battery charger?!?!

our new ceiling fan!

2012-02-18T23:14:00.000-08:00

and every single other picture from my camera today.

whoops

playing hello! goodbye!

i dreaded baby being able to open doors but i hadn't anticipated the hours of fun that would come of it. now i embrace it.

still groggy

playing hockey

check out the piles of snow that will. not. melt.

yup, that's my fall wreath still on the door. i'm not crafty more than once a year so that'll probably be year round for me. ;-)

loooove the ear flaps on this hat and the little window it creates for baby's face

check out that latter contraption... it's actually two ladders, of different heights, tied together with ropes.

that's when you're thankful for eagle scouts that know their boy scout knots.

the finished product!

i saved up birthday money from my in-laws and christmas money from my parents so really, today feels like a wonderful ceiling fan birthday christmas combo sort of day. i'm so very excited about this ceiling fan. it will be fabulous during summer (we have no AC. didn't know they made houses without AC? me neither... until i fell in love with this one and found out!) and i'm already loving it during winter because it gets dark so early and now we have light! we have had zero light in this room since we moved in. really, zero... we have a table lamp but never turn it on because of the harsh shadows and it doesn't light up a room this big. so we've been living in the dark. especially because 5 out of the 6 light bulbs in the entry way pendant light have been out as well... but with our makeshift super tall ladder we fixed that too!

LET THERE BE LIGHT!!! i am giddy with excitement.

and because i know that anyone that knows my honey is wondering how we got that ceiling fan installed... well, we have a wonderful friend that came over to do it for us. he liked the challenge and we liked not paying lowes a $275 installation fee. oh happy day.

and two videos

2012-02-17T22:23:00.000-08:00

of absolutely nothing in particular. i pretty much just press record and follow where ever it takes us.

ps- because i don't want baby girl to flip out every time she sees sugar, i've been giving her bites of whatever i'm having when i'm eating something in front of her. so now she's familiar with "treat"... a term that we used to use for anything from the kashi wheat squares i pull out of my purse when we we're running errands to a bite of chocolate or a lick of a sucker. so it didn't take her long to start saying it and requesting "treat! treat!" when she'd spy us attempting to be stealth about something. she's really good about knowing she only gets one or two tiny tastes but i guess she doesn't know under what contexts. because this morning when i got her out of her crib, we walked into the kitchen and she pointed at the cabinet over the fridge saying "treat! treat! pleeeeaaase. treat! treat!"

ha.

tonight

2012-02-17T21:47:00.000-08:00

here a few pictures of how we killed time tonight since my honey didn't get home til 10.

from nursery... found in the junk drawer

in the tent

invented tonight. and we call it the "fat bunny" face.

hmm too bad this got zoomed. baby looks super cute.

oh how i love my baby's blues

and of course when we get the self timer working and the camera isn't zoomed.... we get the fat bunny face again.

she loves this new thing where i lay on the floor and she bounces up and down on my stomach.

and then occasionally she'll lay her banana down on my stomach in between bites. fabulous.

life doesn't get any better than this.

i got burned out yesterday. so i took the rest of the day off from life. and today as well. haven't answered emails or worried about other stuff i have to do. i kept baby in her pj's all day and we didn't even leave the house. i cleaned out my junk drawer, picked up the whole house (minus the craft room... because it's a disaster... but i did make a tiny bit of progress in there), cleaned out my car, and did dishes. with baby girl, i read tons of books... and ummm, actually i think that's it. i'm pretty sure the only thing she wants to do is read books. oh, and sing and dance. all day long we just read and sing and dance. i realized this late this afternoon and decided i should pull out some play dough i bought for her a long while back. i figured she's old enough to not be messy with it and to not eat it if i told her it wasn't food. well... she's not ready for it yet because it went exactly how things went with crayons the first time i gave her a shot at those. literally to a T.

hand baby crayons/play dough and show her how it works. let baby try it. pull it out of baby's mouth and tell her it's not for eating. show her once again the proper way to play with it. give her a minute... look away for a milisecond... freak out... pry baby's mouth open to dig out crayons/play dough... baby cries and screams. try to reintroduce crayons/play dough again in a very positive way. not happening because baby is still terrified and traumatized. so i guess i'll do what i did last time and wait a few ~~weeks~~ months.

i wouldn't feel so bad except i'd totally hyped it up and told her about this new and fun and exciting activity we were going to do together. i'm sure she's thinking to herself "MOM, just stick with FOOD."

better luck next time.

receipt nostalgia

2012-02-17T20:37:00.000-08:00

if i ever have to have a job, i want to be a professional organizer. talk about fulfilling.

anyways, today i thought to myself how i've been getting caught up in a bunch of stuff and not really doing anything that involves only me. i was in need of therapeutic alone time but i didn't really know it... until today... when i was getting it... by organizing. i was on the phone with my friend kirstyn. she'd called to ask me if i could come over next week to assess her apartment and tell her if there was a way to organize everything so that there would be room for her new baby that's coming late summer. if there wasn't going to be enough room, they'd need to start shopping for a bigger place to live. that's more than you need to know though. all you really need to know is that it's a dream come true for me when a friend will let me help them organize!

after we hung up i was so excited i looked for something of my own to tackle and i decided i had enough excitement and motivation to tackle my junk drawer... which has never been cleaned. we moved into our house mid june and this drawer has been a black hole ever since. occasionally i'd take out a few magazines or mailers or something to make space but that's it. seriously, it's been my catch all for everything that lands on the kitchen counters. because i can't stand clutter and i like everything to look neat. so i just slide it in this drawer and never look back. it's been a great system until lately when literally i couldn't fit anything else in it and stuff was getting tricky.

so today i emptied the entire thing. i stacked every receipt in there which is actually every receipt i've collected since june. i sorted, organized, found a new home for things. did you know there were actually six flashlights hiding in that drawer? SIX! there were so many crumpled receipts and stuff in there i didn't know there were any flashlights... much less SIX. it was shocking. i really should have taken before and after pictures because i loooove those. but that didn't occur to me until this very second.

anyways, because i'm a nostalgic kind of person, i took a picture of a couple of my favorite receipts. two of which i may have actually posted on here before... because i love them that much.

the first two are from kohls. i only go there if i get one of their "$10 off any purchase" coupons in the mail. and then i hit up the clearance rack for baby stuff that's 80 or 90% off... because i'm that cheap. check out the total and total saved. i'm pretty sure i'm not their ideal customer.

and while i was going through stuff i found an extra long receipt with a total more than double the grocery norm. well what do you know, it was my very first shopping trip here in parker! i'd flown in with baby girl and my in laws and honey was driving the u haul. and my mother in law took me and baby girl by walmart on our way home and i remember being sooo excited to just get to our house since i hadn't seen it since before we decided to buy it. anyways... that's where i was on june 14th 2011 at 7:17pm... just in case you were wondering.

and now i hear my honey! home from wisconsin!!!!

fujairah pictures

2012-02-16T23:30:00.000-08:00

finally got some more cruise pictures up on facebook. these are from fujairah, our first stop.

and faaaabulous.... i just checked picasa and realized i still have 1090 pictures to weed through and edit. yup. that's a four digit number. niiiiice.

i'm a hoot

2012-02-15T21:27:00.000-08:00

yes, baby girl, you most definitely are.

happy valentines!

2012-02-14T21:09:00.000-08:00

summary: exchanging gifts was the extent of our celebration today since i had yw tonight and we went on our valentines date saturday night. i gave honey a homemade card (juicy stuff written on the back) and snickers, chocolate twizzlers, and vegetable soup... just a few of his very favorite things. he gave me a homemade card (the most heart melting words on the inside) and two yw leader books. first, why always the need for so many flowers and the word "fun-tastic" and everything?!?! second, if i'm completely honest and humble, from what i can tell they actually are pretty awesome and have some super duper fun[tastic] ideas for activities. which is fabulous because i completely lack ideas and creativity. neither of us gave anything to baby girl but she did actually get a package (from honey's aunt - more bows!) and a card (from my grandparents). neither of them made mention of us... but whatever. we have each other. it was a good day.

and a special pat on the back to me for surviving yet another gift giving holiday. i am not a gift giver.

2.15.12 post edit: i left my computer up this evening... while i was making a mac and cheese recipe my mother emailed me a while back... and honey saw this post. he asked me why i didn't make mention of the valentines cards his parents sent to baby girl and us. one card for baby girl and one card for us. honey said i needed to give them credit. hmmmm. well, the reason i didn't mention it was because i'd already forgotten. since we got them sometime last week. i guess the early bird doesn't always get the worm. anyways, here i am, setting the record straight. let my sins be washed away.

monday pictures

2012-02-13T20:46:00.000-08:00

monday:

up to her ears in coloring

coloring

smiles. blurry.

more smiles. blurry again.

we play this game where baby brings me a little people animal or puzzle piece animal (in this case a cow) and i sing a song about what sound it makes. baby's obsessed with it. i'm going a little weary of it.

we colored. we laughed. we danced.

my thoughts today

2012-02-12T23:55:00.000-08:00

in highschool and college i took adderall. i don't anymore for a number of reasons including the $100/month price tag, not being safe if you are pregnant, trying to get pregnant, or nursing (which will probably always be my life for the next 10+ years) and just wanting to make the lifestyle changes/choices that will help me manage everything without the need of medication. let me just say, i was doing really well with everything until i got my new calling. i'm a wreck these days. seriously just trying to get by and not screw up anything major. the plus side is that the add is really just focused on young women stuff. so hopefully with practice i can get it under control. in the mean time, i'm just trying to stay afloat.

if my house is messy, i can not function. absolutely can not. i also get mean, snappy, and stick to my bed... mourning my messy house, and hiding under the covers too fearful to face it. tonight honey took out the trash and recycling and when he came back inside, he saw me on the floor with baby, playing with her favorite look and find book, and what did he do? he went to the sink and washed every dirty dish that had accumulated this weekend! i made my heart sing! i honestly couldn't even believe my eyes that he noticed there were dishes in the sink and that he did them without me even asking! i think my husband is fabulously attractive all the time, but i swear he is the very most attractive when he's doing the dishes. made my day. it is so very important to me to start my days with a clean house (ps- house mostly just means kitchen... it would be impossible for me to keep my entire house clean all the time... my baby makes sure of that).

today at church i realized that having at baby that loves nursery definitely comes with it's own challenges. don't get me wrong, i am grateful to the moon and back that my baby loves nursery, but it's kind of a little overboard. during sacrament meeting, baby girl did well for the first 20 minutes. after that, she kept running up the aisle to the door that leads out to the hallway. this is embarrassing because we sit up front, on the fifth row or something< and i was chasing her up the aisle to the back of the chapel every 3 minutes. i didn't want to take her in the hallway though because i was really interested in the speakers/musical number and i am determined to not make the hallway thing a habit. she's never done that before and it didn't take me too long to realize that she was trying to skip out on sacrament meeting to get to nursery. i tried to explain to her that nursery didn't start til after we said a closing prayer and i pointed out all the kids in the chapel to show her that no one was in nursery but she didn't get it. does anyone have any suggestions on how to deal with this?

on that same nursery topic, after sacrament ended i walked her to nursery. she was walking, holding on to my left hand. my right hand was holding my huge young women binder, on which i was balancing my clutch and my scriptures. nursery has two doors. at the beginning, one is closed, and the other is open, with a baby gate in front. we accidentally walked past the closed door to the gate, but since my arms were full, i couldn't lift baby over the gate... so i told her we needed to walk to the other door. "NOOOOO! she squealed" so i tried to lift her over the gate one handed but stopped for fear of detaching her arm from her little body. so i insisted we walk back to the other door "you can go to nursery through THIS door back here...i promise!" well, a group of moms in the hallway got a big kick out of what happened next as i literally dragged my screaming, crying, tantruming baby backwards 10 feet to the other door. as soon as i got it opened and she saw it was nursery, she immediately stopped crying and ran in as happy as could be, tears still fresh on her cheeks, and never looked back. holy crap, baby. seriously?!?!

i woke up at 6:20 this morning... because i go to ward council now. it was a little nerve racking because everyone there is a real adult and i still feel like a kid. i didn't say anything the whole time until the very end when we were going over auxiliary goals and even though everyone else had several months to get their goals together and i had only had a week, i put forth some pretty awesome goals. i even spoke with confidence and the words just came. it was a triumph moment for me. but since they still haven't called a laurel adviser yet, i was in charge of teaching the laurels third hour of church. the words weren't coming, i felt so scattered i might as well have been on drugs, and there were only three girls since the rest were either out of town, dealing with a family emergency, skipping class, or some other variety of "couldn't come." it just wasn't happening. i had been so excited to share with them the joys of homemaking and our divine potential as women but seriously, it was like i was in a stuttering, stumbling haze. and then BISHOP came in. made me a million times more nervous and it made the girls comments go from sparse to none. longest 25 minutes of my life. none of the girls remembered their personal progress books so they didn't have anything to journal on and the journal paper/pens i'd brought for them were in my diaper bag that my christopher had taken out to his car. fail and fail. i think i kept repeating myself the whole time, i wasn't sharing any of the stuff i wanted to, and i think i was stuttering. who know's though because it's all foggy to me. can you tell i'm still absolutely mortified?!?! and when i got home everything came rushing to me... all of the thoughts and stories i wish i had shared and the thought of "WHY ON EARTH DIDN'T I JUST PUT BISHOP ON THE SPOT AND HAVE HIM DO IT ALL FOR ME?!?!" uuuuugggggghhhhhhh. this is the kind of the equivalent for me of that one sunday i royally screwed up leading the music in sacrament meeting. seriously, the sooner i forget about this, the happier i will be.

okay, literally, this very second, my first counselor just texted and gchatted me and told me that since it was the second sunday, the laurels were supposed to go into relief society for the third hour. SERIOUSLY?!?! it could have been avoided?!?! oh my goodness i need to get over this. forget it. forget it. forget it. i am so traumatized.

after church we ate and played and put baby down for a late (can i even call it that anymore?! it's kinda the norm these days) nap at 2 15. at 4 15 i finally let myself fall asleep thinking, "i won't have trouble sleeping tonight because baby'll wake up soon so it'll just be a short little power nap." not the case. because when i woke up at 5 45... baby was still sleeping. how does one child require so much sleep?! anyways, i blame her for not waking me up. totally not my fault.

i know i've mentioned it at least a million times before but, i am insanely in love with my electric blanket. i turn it up on high until it transforms my bed into a sauna. a dry sauna.

i've been writing this post over the course of over an hour. i need to stop taking naps.

okay... now it's been close to two. i need to stop gchatting with chelsey.

and now it's 1am and i'm going to bed. wish me luck.

dates all day!

2012-02-11T20:40:00.000-08:00

today was pretty awesome. this morning there was a church worldwide leadership training and since honey and i both needed to go, we made it a date. and then afterwards we went on a double date to gotcha yogurt (sadly there was no samoa ice cream this time but it was still fabulous) with kirstyn and her husband. two dates in one morning?! what a treat!

dropped honey and baby off at home and headed to the church for a young women basketball game. we had six leaders there to cheer on our girls! sadly though, only two of our girls showed up! we have around 25 young women so this was very sad indeed. but the other team had ten girls so everyone split in two teams and they played anyways. goal for next saturday: get the girls to the game!

we all enjoyed a low key nap time and then honey's brother, john, came over at six to babysit. honey got a bunch of restaurant gift cards from work (apparently it's the thing to send with your business christmas cards) and a couple of them were nearing the deadline. so we've been out to eat a few times this week. ;-) last night was the best though, we went to bonefish grill and it was amazing. i literally died with every bite of the corn chowder. it had lump crab (whatever that is? is that just lumps of crab or a specific kind?!) and it was heavenly. i want to go back and just order several bowls and call it a meal. we also had bread with a little dish of pesto olive oil dipping sauce whatever. i need to do that at home. it was awesome. and my entree was pecan parmesan crusted rainbow trout and garlic mashed potatoes. i. was. stuffed. mostly though, i was motivated to try to make that stuff for myself at home!

before we went to dinner, we went to dave and busters. i can't even remember the last time i went there. we had so much fun, although i think it was mostly just being together and doing a college sort of date. because really... those games are kinda lame. except skee ball. everyone loves skee ball.

so, i'm noticing that my honey and i love each other more when we spend one on one time with eachother away from phones, computers, and tvs. hmmm it's like our prophets really do know what they're talking about with all of that "continued courtship" stuff. ;-)

no corn, thanks

2012-02-10T22:57:00.000-08:00

this morning started out really great. slow and low key. baby and i didn't even get out of bed until close to 10:30. so really, we were on track for an amazing day. we ate breakfast and played dress up... compromising on the clothes baby got to try on. then it went south. baby found a travel size bottle of lotion she wanted me to open but that would be disastrous so i held my ground with a firm no way. HUGE tantrum. and it continued on and on and on. this baby is obsessed with lotion. and chapstick and a few other things... but lotion is high on that list.

anyways, whenever baby is getting out of control, i find that the very best solution is to inundate her with love and attention. it's normally because she knows i'm giving her the shaft. so i let her choose not to put a shirt on and when she insisted on not just a ponytail or a bow but a ponytail with that certain enormous giant flower (disclaimer: this was a regift that my friend gave me when baby was born. her mom had gotten some giant flowers for her daughter who hated them. so we have a bunch of these but baby has never worn it. promise.) so since we weren't leaving the house i granted her topless self that wish and she was just as happy as could be about it.

and then we ate lunch.

that pile of corn on the right used to look just like that pile of taco soup on the left.

but someone apparently only likes the beans and tomatoes.

this is the last picture i have of it because then i started taking videos.

but before i knew it, the tray looked like this. two piles of scatter corn.

and that white stuff on the left is from the sour cream. she eats it plain, by the fist full. i'd say she ate at least a half a cup of it this afternoon. at 5 grams of fat per 2 tablespoons, i think it's a good way to put on some pounds.

and then for the few minutes between lunch and nap, we played peekaboo.

"what's she eating?" you ask? oh, it's just some day (or two) old cheese. i guess she stashed a slice in her tent. and then she found it after lunch and decided she wasn't that full after all. fabulous.

she's such a goof.

so there you go. that was our "morning." which was actually more like 10:30 til 2:30 if you can call that morning.

and here's my bit of unsolicited advice: if your kid is driving you nuts or having yet another meltdown. try dropping everything and just focusing on them. i stayed up til after 11 tonight doing dishes and cleaning and i wanted to have a panic attack today with how dirty my house was, but y'know what? it was totally worth it. because every time i give baby girl 100% of my attention, even if it's just for a few minutes, i love her more and more and i love my life more and i am just happier overall as a result of it. end of story.

today's pictures

2012-02-09T21:39:00.000-08:00

this morning kirstyn and michaela dropped by for a little playdate. while we were looking out the window, anxiously awaiting their arrival, we found this little snow bunny. and then, since the camera was already out, i actually remembered to take pictures today!

i love seeing all the bunny tracks in the fresh powder... then i feel like i know what they've been up to.

this was our view from the window by our front door. we live in the country.

bunny watching

why are the cute pictures like this always blurry? maybe because my kid is happiest when she's in motion?

we were playing peekaboo and she popped her head out of the cabinet and i caught this face.

i love her eyes. and that little hand. i love toddler hands.

and i looove that lip.

she found these wipes i left out and helped herself to some nose blowing. i wasn't paying attention until i heard a big snot and realized "oh, my baby is doing my job for me. great!"

look and find books are winning right now. it's just one constant quiz. she brings the book, and waits for me to ask her to point to things.

it's got the board book pages so it's super heavy. she normally drops it several times on the way to where ever she's carrying it.

in this picture you can practically hear her grunting with exertion. ha.

tonight we went to my sister in law, kelsey's, pinning ceremony from nursing school and out to eat with her family and the hilliers. i love being close to family so we can celebrate stuff like that together. even if it makes me really really miss that i can't be close to my family at the same time.

still kinda sick

2012-02-09T14:36:00.000-08:00

and still loving every opportunity to blow our nose.

waterproof cell phones

2012-02-07T23:32:00.000-08:00

why don't they make those already?!?!

where's mitt?

2012-02-06T22:58:00.000-08:00

who's ready for a rousing game of "where's mitt?"

tonight was my first time at a political rally. sadly, i got caught up this afternoon doing a bunch of very worthy things. and it made us miss the rally by about two minutes. or just one. we'll never know. either way, the gym was full beyond capacity and the fire marshall wouldn't allow for anyone else to go in. i was insanely sad though and kinda close to crying. i get sad easily. i actually get any emotion easily. i think that's what they call emotionally unstable.

anyways, we went to the overflow area and right after mitt's speech ended, the doors rushed open and a bunch of people came out and we flew in. that place was packed.

but we found mitt!

look at what a jovial guy he is! something about him just gives me the warm fuzzies.

he reminded everyone to vote in the caucus tomorrow. don't worry mitt! i'm registered and it's on my calendar!

this is my blog. and on it i have endorsed overnight diapers, a cookbook, and now, a politician.

so there you go, mitt, go ahead and enjoy my full endorsement. i'm sure you'll receive infinitely more votes tomorrow night as a result of it. you can thank me later.

and in other news...

today i quilted.

another sunday

2012-02-06T00:07:00.000-08:00

i really love sundays. i really love every day, but sundays are extra special.

i completely hadn't expected any adjustment time but it feels super weird to sit with the congregation during sacrament meeting since i'm not on the stand leading the music. like seriously, super super weird.

we decided that in young womens, we're going to have a combined lesson the first sunday of each month, instead of breaking up into classes. as members of the presidency, we're going to take turns teaching it. today was my turn. i prepared a lesson on "finding joy now" with the main theme coming from that verse in mosiah 2:41 where it says,

41 And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and ^ahappy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are ^bblessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out ^cfaithful to the end they are received into ^dheaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it.

i'm terrified of speaking in front of groups, and the idea of giving a lesson is especially daunting because i can't just type it up on a paper and read it. well, i had faith and just stood up there and started spouting whatever came to my mind... for over 30 minutes. i was afraid it would just come off as one huge ADD hot mess so the first things i said were "teaching is not my thing" and "the objective of this lesson is to know that we receive joy and happiness when we keep the commandments, so if you ever get lost, that's what you're supposed to be learning. ha, i'm glad none of the bishopric was there. but really, all in all, i think it went okay. it's amazing how much i love those girls already. even the ones i don't know yet.

baby girl was so good during sacrament meeting. at least six times she fully emptied and reloaded the entire contents of my purse. the family behind us was loving it. especially the dad. after the meeting he extended his arms to baby to hold her and she wouldn't go. i told her he was going to take her to nursery and she dropped all reservations and lunged towards him. ha. this girl looooves nursery. honey said that when he went to get her after church, she saw him and turned around to keep playing. when he called her name some more she went to her friend michaela and grabbed her arm. someone wasn't too eager to head home.

at church today i met with a member of the bishopric to ask about a couple of things, namely, when i could expect them to call a laurel adviser. as we were finishing up he said, "are there any other questions you have?" to which i replied, "actually, yes. i'm going to call a meeting with my presidency this week. what are we supposed to talk about at those?" i wonder if anyone is second guessing that revelation they received. just kidding. kinda.

two weeks ago i started unbroken and after two pages wanted to return it to the library and never look back. but everyone and their brother.... just kidding, i everyone and MY brother, said it was amazing and that i had to read it. 200 pages in i still wasn't liking it but was forcing myself through it. the last 100 pages i read all this afternoon. sadly, the thing that kicked me in gear was that i got an email from the library that it's due on tuesday. but, that was the thing to make me read a few more pages and get hooked til the end. it really is an incredible story. and written in easy language that would make it a really quick read. unless you're like me and you lead a really sheltered life that consists of rainbows and butterflies. then it'll be emotionally difficult to read and with every page you'll want to pull louie out of the book and tuck him in a warm bed while you feed him comfort foods. i guess i'm glad i read it, but i'm also glad it's over... which is extremely rare for me with books i read. but this book made me intensely sad and i'm kinda in a hurry to forget about it. and typing that out makes me feel guilty like a really bad person.

moving on.

tomorrow i'm taking dinner to a family in our ward. whenever i take someone a meal, i take this taco bean sort of soup i make that i'm in love with. someday though i'm going to need to branch out. anyone have any good suggestions for meals that are great to take to people?

there is so. much. snow. holy cow, it's like every road and sidewalk that's been plowed has a ten foot wall of snow built up on either side. none of it has gotten dirty yet and it's all still perfectly white. it is stunning. i mean seriously, it is absolutely breathtaking. on our way to church i commented to my christopher about how it looked like a blanket of diamonds. to say it was shimmering seems like a gross understatement. driving by a small field covered in untouched snow, it was hard to look at it straight on. the sun was reflecting from it so brightly and it was glittering out of control. oh my goodness. i really can't get over how gorgeous it was. it left me speechless.

i forgot how long cold's linger with you. baby and i got sick over a week ago and i kept waiting for it to get worse but it never did. baby's only symptom was/is a runny nose that i wipe a million times a day. luckily for both of us, she still loves blowing and wiping her nose. my symptom was a sore throat that got worse and worse until it turned into that light feathery cough that you choke on whenever you try to speak. as far as being sick and having a sick baby, this is as cush as you could ever hope for. that being said though, will it ever go away?!

and lastly, before i go to bed, i'd like to express my appreciation for the superbowl. on the weekends, nap time in our house goes something like this: baby goes down for a nap, i get in bed with a book... that will hopefully soon lull me to sleep, honey tells me he's not going to nap, i fall asleep for about 20 minutes before i'm woken by our crying baby, looking to my side, honey has passed out. i don't know how he does it, but it seems like honey always manages to fall asleep right as our baby is waking up and then i'm on my own for the next two hours, bitter that we're not all in bed (bitterness comes from the fact that baby's weekend naps are freqently shorter than her normal naps during the week). today though it went like this: baby down for nap, me reading unbroken, honey went to church for clerk stuff and came back, i'm still reading, i fall asleep, i wake up at 5:30 realizing that honey had closed our bedroom door and gotten our baby up from her nap an hour before. so i'll say it again, thank you superbowl, for keeping my honey awake this afternoon so he could play with our post nap baby while i enjoyed some sleep. because really, he'd been awake since 5 am and there is no way on earth that would have happened otherwise.

ps- honey put baby girl to bed tonight and immediately brushed his teeth and got in bed with me (i am always in bed with my electric blanket... because it is heaven on earth) for scriptures and prayer. he was asleep before 9 pm. how precious. i sure love that guy.

honey's pictures

2012-02-04T22:35:00.000-08:00

honey took these pictures earlier today. we will call them "honey's 2012 contribution to our blog aka shrine to our baby."

neighbor's car. yesterday it was carefully shoveled around. today, completely snow blown again.

a better angle

and yet another

and another. honey must sure love that snow covered car.

the high pile of snow from shoveling our driveway after another night of snow.

you can tell how windy it is because very little was accumulated on the top of fence posts and tree branches. but drifts were quick to build up in certain places.

to give a little reference as to the height of the snow pile. and baby girl is pretty tall these days. ps- honey dressed her. can you tell? ;-) she kinda looked like a homeless baby whack job. in the most precious way possible.

check out the snow drift happening with that skinny tree right there.

every time i see this picture i think "quick! freeze!" like as if she's camouflage and trying to blend in with her background.

enjoy this tidbit from this 9news article...

According to the National Weather Service in Boulder, Denver broke a single-day snowfall record on Friday with 12.5 inches of snow. The previous record was 9.5 inches on the same day in 1932.
Denver also broke the three-day snowfall record for February with 15.9 inches. The previous record was 14.1 inches in 1912.

the sources all vary, but from what i could tell from the news and online, in parker, we got between 16 and 18 inches. YIKES.

i'm just wondering how long it'll take to melt.

our snowy weekend

2012-02-04T21:59:00.000-08:00

on thursday, my insanely amazing visiting teacher brought me another two boxes of clothes for baby girl. in case you were wondering... 99% of the clothes baby wears are from tracie's first three boxes of clothes she gave us for baby girl. love love love love love.

anyways, we dressed up in some cozy clothes and hung out inside for most of the day.

we still use this baby walker

baby girl is so happy these days. and she completely cracks herself up.

reading the ensign

her new favorite thing now is looking at books/magazines and pointing to everything.

along those same lines, i can ask her to point to most anything on the page and she gets it right.

she seriously amazes me every day. i can't believe how much she soaks up!

glamour shot looking far and away. ha.

this is how she hugs dora. straight over the shoulder.

smooches

more shoulder hugs

she has such active concern for inanimate objects.

why is it that kids always run everywhere? it is so urgent to get a new book... immediately!

a while ago i made a healthy recipe for stuffed shells and wasn't that impressed...so i froze the rest... and decided to stop trying to cook healthy recipes. since then, these shells have just been taking up room in my way too small freezer. getting them out again i was glad to see that baby still liked them.

especially because they're perfect for her. ricotta cheese, meat, tomatoes and lots of spinach. win win for both of us.

late thursday night it started snowing. this is friday morning.

by saturday morning it was up to the top rail of the fence in some places.

let's play a let's find game. can you find my walkway, my driveway, our sidewalk, the neighbor's driveway, and the sidewalk across the street? me neither. but they're all in this picture.

five minutes after i finished shoveling 2.5 feet of snow from our driveway friday during nap time. thanks to president ure next door for helping me finish up the bottom part. we have the best neighbors ever ever ever.

honey shoveled again this morning so the piles on the sides of our driveway are way higher now.

the neighbor across the street shoveled before he went to work, when he got home the snow had gotten so deep he couldn't get his suv up his driveway. he had to abandon his car in the middle of the street, shovel his driveway, and then pull his car in before shoveling the other half.

it was really pretty fun. i actually like shoveling snow and since my neighbors in the house next to me, across from me, and diagonal, were all out too, it was a big party with the six of us. except they didn't have as much as i did because it was their second time of the day shoveling. this is our walkway right after i finished shoveling it. already an inch deep in places from the 20 mph wind gusts.

on paper, i would really hate living here. as it is, i'm completely in love with it and can only think about how great it is. i love colorado and i really really love parker.

january randoms

2012-02-03T23:15:00.000-08:00

first off, this is the cutest girl in the world, yes?

yes

since we left baby's boot in mom's car when we got dropped off at the airport, mom had to mail it to us.

thanks mother!

we love having the boot back!

we also really enjoyed using the packaging for our evening coloring.

we really enjoy trips to the mailbox when the weather is nice. what about when the weather isn't nice? well, then we just don't check the mail. ;-) true story.

like i mentioned in this post, it is so crazy how the snow stays if the sun doesn't reach it. seriously, the left and right sides of the street might as well be two different climates.

so some houses are covered in snow, and some have not a single speck. this house is lucky. our house is one of the ones covered in snow.

the sun was really bright. hence the squinting.

this picture deserves to be in here twice. for some reason i love it more than i love most. ps- her hat looks like that because she insists on putting it on herself. i love it.

daddy daughter street hockey. see the foot of snow in our yard?

she likes to fetch the ball and put it back on the stick.

and our neighbors have no snow. i hope that was a selling point specially listed with their home right up there with granite counters and fresh paint.

they are so cute.

that night, we went to petsmart and the pet store at the mall. i think that was two weeks ago tonight. y'know... back when colorado wasn't covered in two feet of snow.

and these are from our group visiting teaching outing to gotcha yogurt... which after only two visits, i am totally in love with.

and you can tell baby loves it too. she was soooo patient and well behaved. it surprised even me!

so these pictures are all from two weeks ago... when i was still taking tons of pictures... before i had my wonderful "it's gonna be okay" experience.

but at least now i'm a little more caught up.

playground family time

2012-02-03T22:27:00.000-08:00

two weeks ago (wow i've been bad about getting pictures off my camera) we went to the playground in our neighborhood.

we did some swings

some seesaw

actually, a lot of seesaw

seriously

big slides

i thought we needed a close up of that one. can you say "awkward legs"

totally independent

we sent her down the slide by herself. she did great. we call it beginners luck.

the second time looked like this.

third time. ;-)
and then she kinda didn't want to go down the slide by herself anymore.

on the big kid swings. she loved it more than this picture portrays though. i swear.

she thought it was so cool that we were swinging together

and then she decided it was time to get off. which scared me. obviously. but she was fine. obviously.

this kid seriously loves the seesaw. hardcore.

walking home. you know she's big when you don't even take her in the stroller anymore.

we'll go ahead and put this with the outtakes

then we got home and warmed up a bit

and that concludes this post on our trip to the playground.

that awkward moment

2012-02-02T09:34:00.000-08:00

i love those "that awkward moment when... " jokes. like " that awkward moment when you step into your closet and you don't go into Narnia." or "that awkward moment when you put a dish in the sink while someone is washing them." or even "that awkward moment when rebecca black doesn't know which seat to take." they all make me smile. even the picture ones.

so when i was going through pictures a week or two ago i saw this one of baby girl playing with her friend, elle. and i immediately thought "that awkward moment."

sooo, wanna play along? give me your best "that awkward moment when..." for this picture because i've thought of a few i already like but i'm sure there's gotta be something better.

he's back!

2012-02-01T20:51:00.001-08:00

3 days and 7 flights later and my honey is back home!

we are all very excited about this!

the nap that never happened

2012-01-31T22:29:00.000-08:00

that whole "so now i'm going to nap" thing ended so very sadly for me. i took out my contacts, had my bed warming up with my worth it's weight in gold electric blanket and was literally about to climb in bed when i heard my child start to cry. well, she was so congested she couldn't breathe so she would start coughing which also meant she couldn't breathe because she was just choking on phlegm (disgusting word, i know) sooo my 3 hour nap of a baby today was more like a 25 minute nap of a baby. the important things like nap and shower were tossed aside for really awesome things like wiping snot, wiping snot, and wiping some more snot. i lead a really glamorous life.

instead, we took kelsey to pick up her car from the shop which was a blessing because it was an hour and a half in the car and baby was very happy and content. what is it about cars that does that to kids? makes them sleepy or just content enough to sit in a five point harness forever when at home they couldn't sit still to save their life?! anyways, that was great and we got home a little after five so i just pretended that my baby got a normal nap and just woke up. i wasn't very convincing to myself but what can i say, we can't all win every time.

tonight was mutual and i had so much fun with the young women. they are a really awesome group of girls. my mother in law is super awesome too though because she came over to watch baby girl for me while i was at church tonight. that is a very fabulous thing not to have to drag your sick baby with you.

i didn't get her to bed tonight until 9:45 again. whoops. especially since she didn't get a real nap. i can't remember the last time i've seen her so tired. i put her in her crib without a binky, which hasn't happened since she started getting sick last week) and she was too tired to even get adamant about asking me for it. she asked for it and i ignored her and told her goodnight and left and then i heard her just roll over and cuddle up. ha. EXHAUSTED.

and so am i.

slumber party

2012-01-31T14:17:00.000-08:00

last night my sister in law kelsey came over. we had pillow fights and giggle fests and... just kidding, no we didn't. but we did stay up and talk til somewhere around 3:30 in the morning.

so now i'm going to take a little nap.

glamour shots

2012-01-30T00:13:00.000-08:00

today after church we explored our backyard and took a few pictures. like 75 or something. sadly, i got no decent shots... except of the neighbor's dog. turns out, discovering nature is way more interesting than "look at the camera!"

how did my baby get so big?!?!

baby girl loves new experiences

i swear this patch of frazzled hair that hangs between her eyes is going to be the death of me.

this is duke. his full name is the grand duke of ure (pronounced like"yore" and "your"). it's so cute and clever because that's their family's name. as a side note, it was president ure (who saved my life that one time). baby girl loves duke, and i love the ures. so really, our house could not be more perfectly situated.

see what i mean about the hair? it kills me.

it's 1am. can you guess why i'm blogging at 1am? yes you can. it's because my honey is gone again. he left after church today and won't get back til wednesday night. normally he's just gone two days and one night. this time it's three nights. three! so today i took advantage of his absence by spending hours skyping with my family, organizing and cleaning random neglected parts of our house, and keeping my baby up way past her bedtime. i don't know why i do this. the logical solution to being lonely is to put your baby to bed at her normal bedtime and then put yourself to bed right after. i did not do this. i kept my baby up until almost 10pm and then found random crap for myself to work on until the wee hours. not smart.

but i won't do that tomorrow because my sister in law kelsey is coming over for a slumber party! in case you didn't know, honey works with his dad and his brother. they're all in new york this week so since my christopher is gone at the same time as his brother, then it's the perfect excuse for the sisters in law to have a sleepover! and baby girl doesn't know about it yet but you better believe she's gonna love it. probably mostly because she'll get to go to sleep at a decent hour. she loves sleeping.

i swear i'm a really good mom.

best $7 ever spent

2012-01-28T22:28:00.000-08:00

tonight honey and i went on a date to a banquet for one of his clients.

but last saturday night we went on a family date to target and got a $7 castle tent.

my little pony has now entered our house. and we're really happy about it.

ps- honey's favorite thing to do in the evening is take out baby's rubber band from her hair and let her look like a whack job.

i have mixed feelings about it.

scriptures make me feel light as air

2012-01-27T22:17:00.000-08:00

a week ago i wrote a post on the anxiety i feel from having such an incredible life. normally writing stuff out helps me clear it from my head... which is why i tend to blog late at night before i go to sleep. when i wrote this post though, it didn't make me feel any better. it made my fears and concerns just that much more real. i was worried but i was also prepared to pray a lot to help me find peace and understanding.

well, back in november my good friend kirstyn gave an excellent talk in sacrament meeting about the book of mormon and reading scriptures. it spoke to me so strongly that i started the book of mormon again and i have been reading my scriptures every day since then... which i know for many is a basic sort of thing, but for me this is pretty incredible. also incredible is the positive effect it has had on my life already. anyways, i read my scriptures after writing that post and it was 2 nephi chapter 4. let's review, my concern was that i was overwhelmed with the goodness of my life. preface summary italics writing leading into chapter 4? "nephi glories in the goodness of god to him - nephi puts his trust in the lord forever." wow.

i mean, the whole chapter is great but especially verse 15 on. parts that especially struck me were when nephi says repeatedly of how he rejoices in the goodness of the lord and that his soul delighteth in the things of the lord but also in verse 17 when he grieves because of his iniquities... because i have that guilt wondering why my life is so good while others have such hardships. but he says "i know in whom i have trusted. my god hath been my support..." and when i read verse 21, "he hath filled me with his love, even unto the consuming of my flesh." i thouht, nephi, you have certainly hit the nail on the head for this one. so i read on and took some very sound advice from this nephi of old (he's always been a favorite of mine) when he said "rejoice, o my heart, and cry unto the lord, and say o lord, i will praise thee forever; yea, my soul will rejoice in thee, my god, and the rock of my salvation." and "o lord, wilt thou encircle me around in the robe of thy righteousness!" and especially, "o lord, i have trusted in thee, and i will trust in thee forever." and "yea, i know that god will give liberally to him that asketh. yea, my god will give me, if i ask not amiss; therefore i will lift up my voice unto thee; yea, i will cry unto thee, my god, the rock of my righteousness. behold, my voice shall forever ascend up unto thee, my rock and mine everlasting god."

so, it's been a great week. i've been enjoying it in the moment and not anxious about not being able to preserve every moment of it. i've barely taken any pictures and the few that i have taken haven't even left my camera. i haven't uploaded or edited any pictures this week. i haven't taken any video. and get this, even though i had this incredible spiritual experience that could have been so wonderfully preserved, i didn't sweat it. i didn't get out my computer to instantly record my every thought and feeling. i just accepted it, took it into my heart, and went with it. and it's been really great.

everything is scary if you don't have faith. even really good things that you should be excited about. so, i give you my thanks and appreciation for the uplifting words and comments i've received concerning that post and my post about my new calling. thanks helping me get back on track. i feel really good about how things are going.

ps- but really, who'd noticed that it's been a whole five days and multiple posts since i posted a picture of my baby?! i don't know if that's ever happened before.

some thoughts about food

2012-01-26T16:49:00.000-08:00

this morning for visiting teaching we went out to gotcha yogurt. one of those self serve yogurt places. i love that kind so i can get exactly what and how much i want. what a genius idea. my base was girl scout samoa ice cream. delish.

i am rocking out to blasting josh groban - you raise me up - on pandora. baby is even singing and dancing. she loves it too.

that time in the evening when i'm supposed to prepare dinner? my least favorite time of day. that's right now by the way. i just texted chris and asked him if he wanted to eat leftovers. "sure." i love that guy.

a girl scout just came by my door selling girl scout cookies. i'm so glad they still go door to door. i've been holding out for the door to door girls... which is why i haven't bought any from my friends (aka as friends' daughters). what can i say? i'm traditional.

i'm also "that neighbor" because i answered the door barefoot in my pink fluffy bathrobe at 5:30 in the evening to do this. and then had to wait out there like that while the girl ran home to get some change. she brought back 12 quarters. ;-)

honey just got home. his first words? "honey's wearing her bath robe?" ha. second words? "man, honey's really rocking out in here!" that time it was a piano pachelbel variation thing. loved it.

yesterday at walmart i bought 11 bananas thinking that would last us a few days. we already had our two for yesterday and two for today. so now we have about three more days of bananas left.

today was such gorgeous weather. we went to the playground and did slides, swings, and seesaws oh my. it was wonderful.

i didn't make dinner last night either. whoops. i'll do tomorrow for sure. hold me to it.

peachy pork chops and a cookbook endorsement

2012-01-25T21:18:00.000-08:00

the other day i was at walmart and saw boneless pork chops on sale. so i was daring and i bought them. this is only my second time ever. the first time was when i made molasses grilled pork tenderloin similar to this recipe. except that i'm cheap so i didn't use a tenderloin... i used a less expensive cut... it was still great. anyways, i got home and opened up a real paper pages cookbook that i love (yes liza, it's the easy weeknight favorites) so i looked up pork, picked the recipe that sounded the best, and lo and behold i already had all of the necessary ingredients so i could make it that very night! i was loving life so say the least. i thought that was the coolest thing ever to just buy some meat and be able to make a meal out of it! go ahead and laugh. anyways, i made the peachy pork chops similar to this recipe i found online. but mine was quicker because you broil the meat. anyways, start to finish, you can do this in 15 minutes and it tastes super gourmet. i think next time i'll serve it over rice because the sauce would be really good for that. i still don't like cooking and it still stresses me out and gives me major anxiety, but occasionally i find those recipes that make me feel like a pro. baby steps. because really, i am determined to improve my feelings towards cooking. i don't need my food to taste any better... that's normally not the problem. i just need to not hate the experience so much. ;-)

so anyways, if you're in a rut or in the mood for an actual paper cookbook. i very very highly recommend this one. the recipes are quick, simple, and sooo delicious. they truly are 30 minutes or less and all use really common ingredients so it's cheaper and there's no waste. and if you check out that amazon link, you'll see that it unanimously got 5 stars. except for that one person that rated it 4 stars because she'd ordered it and reviewed it without yet using it. she should go back and change her review to 5 stars... y'know... in my opinion that's what she should do.

dubai pictures on fb

2012-01-24T23:43:00.000-08:00

today i posted pictures on facebook. they're only pictures from our first 24 hours in dubai but it's a start, right? i'll get other pictures from the trip up eventually. so, should you be dying to know what we did our first day in dubai, click here. if not, click here.

it involved A LOT of walking.

today flew by

2012-01-23T22:29:00.000-08:00

i'm finding lately that instead of doing things i know need to get done, i'm just sitting down on the floor and playing with my baby. i loved her a month ago, but honestly, i can't say it enough, my parents are baby whisperers because baby girl is soo much more agreeable and happy and fun loving ever since our trip to atlanta. so instead of vacuuming (i honestly can't tell you the last time i did that) i just read more books, do more puzzles, and play with more little people toys. i don't have to do a lot, but just sitting down and playing along side of baby girl makes all the difference to her. it is amazing and i'm soaking up every bit of it. i love it.

so that's what this morning was, even though we should have ran errands because we've been out of whole milk since saturday and baby girl ate her last banana for morning snack. i didn't really care though, we had a really fun morning here at home. then it was lunch and nap.

i put her town for nap at two... exactly 3 minutes before the previous young women president came over to meet with me and give me the low down. baby woke up at five. and at 5:30 we said goodbye to the yw pres (yes, we met for over three hours and i still feel just as overwhelmed) and started on afternoon snack and making dinner. what is it about making dinner that gives me anxiety and makes me eighty million times more add than i usually am?!?! it's supposed to be a quick and easy corn chowder soup and i think i made it over the course of an entire hour. not exaggerating.

honey came home at 6:40 and grabbed a bit of soup along with some hugs from baby girl and then took a conference call from 7-8. honey and baby had some quality time reading books in their favorite red chair and then they went up for bed. honey came back down and we watched the debate (those things make me squirm... i can't handle contention) and then an episode of big bang theory and more political commentary on the news. now it's 11:30 and time for bed, scriptures, prayers, and sleep.

i swear i'm gonna be eighty before i know it. every day goes by so fast. time really does fly when you're having fun.

a new calling

2012-01-22T21:41:00.000-08:00

today was my last sunday leading music at church. i'm kinda sad about it. i got released from three callings (ward music chairperson, sacrament meeting chorister, compassionate service committee) and got one new one. today at church i was sustained and set apart as the ward young women president.

please pray for me.

a trip to the mailbox

2012-01-22T21:32:00.000-08:00

these are pictures from thursday when we had such gorgeous warm weather. we had such a lovely trip to the mailbox before lunch and just ended up staying outside forever until i remembered that eventually my baby would need to eat and nap. only then did we go inside.

icy driveway

purse? check.

made it to the mailboxes!

checking all of the empty package boxes

oops. dropped a little people nativity sheep.

got it back in the purse.

and we're off!

ps- notice in this last picture that the left side of the street is still covered in snow and the right side has not a speck in sight. the sun in colorado is very very powerful. y'know... since we're a mile high.

insomnia... from the good life

2012-01-21T23:47:00.000-08:00

i frequently have trouble falling asleep at night because my head is overwhelmed with thoughts of how great my life is. and frequently during the day i do that awkward squealy voice is cracking giggle laugh while i get butterflies in my stomach and hop in place because i'm loving that moment so much. i can't think of a time in my life that i have ever been happier than what i am right now. that's a really good thing, right?

lately i've been wondering (not kidding, i just wrote "wonderful" on accident... words like that are just always on my mind) if that's really true. i've been worried about that lately for a few reasons.

reason one: i love my life so much that i'm getting a lot of anxiety about not being able to preserve time. you can't freeze a moment. each second only lasts that one second. and you'll never experience that second again. it's gone. forever. sometimes that's really great when you fall down and scrape your knee, but when you're me and you're playing with your baby all day and loving every second, you just want to take videos and pictures and blog about it but you also just want to enjoy the moment without having to look through a lens. and the worst part is that no matter what you do, nothing will really preserve it. putting together that puzzle and reading those books and watching your baby light up and scream "DADDY!!!!" while banging two pan lids together like cymbals can feel like the absolute best moment of your life... but there are so many... and they slip away and become fuzzy like all the rest. i know more come, but i want all of them. i want to keep them all in a little glass jar that i can see and hold and go to any time i want. but i can't. and it stresses me out in a very very bad way.

reason two: i love everything soooooo much just how it is, that i'm hesitant for anything to change. tomorrow something will change for me. i'm excited about it but i'm also sad about it. and really, i'm worried how it will affect my day to day life. worried about "what if these changes make me not love my life as much?" or if i'll wish i could go back to how things were before. and this feels like i'm opening a can of worms but i'll go ahead and say that something else along these lines is that i'm hesitant to get pregnant again because i know it'll change things. i'll get sick, i'll be consumed with migraines, and i'll be miserable. i guess i don't know that for sure because maybe it'll be different this next time around, but even if i got lucky, i'm sure i'd go through some sort of morning sickness... which will probably make me a less enthusiastic mom. and then i'll have a baby.... a tiny little newborn. and it'll be hard (because there is no freaking way i'm going to get an angel baby again) and i'll be tired and taking care of a toddler will become a chore and not the joy it is now. i know this happens to people because i've heard many accounts of similar stories. i know i can handle having two kids and three and four and five but right now? my life is more than perfect with just the one and i don't want to rock the boat. because that's kind of something you can't go back on. there are a million more things i could say about this and explain the million ways in which i am torn, but instead, i'm going to go to sleep and pray my little heart out that i can get some of this emotional turmoil resolved.

tell me i'm not the only one though. have you ever thought that maybe your good life is really just the calm before the storm? comfort me. please.

overnight diapers

2012-01-20T22:32:00.000-08:00

so there i was laying in bed, ridiculously early on a friday night, unable to fall asleep... when i got a text from my college roommate sawah. she asked me a bunch of questions about baby girl, one of them about soaking through diapers at night. so even though i should have rolled over and continued my attempts at falling asleep, i didn't. i texted her back and then got online. and then getting bored again, decided to write this post. about diapers.

i am sure that in addition to her fast metabolism, the reason baby girl is so skinny is because of the insanely large volume of liquids and solids ending up in her diaper. seriously. if it wasn't gross (and if i owned a scale) i would weigh her diaper pail bag after a week's time because i am sure it would weigh well more than my baby. anyways, all of that is gross, hopefully no one is reading this.

two months ago i was at my friend kirstyn's and she had huggies overnight diapers in her kids room. i thought "great. now diaper manufacturers have figured out a way to market diapers so we can pay twice as much per diaper just to feel like better parents." but then i asked her about them. she said michaela used to soak through every night and with these diapers it's only once every other week maybe. i wasn't sold.

but then when i was preparing to go to atlanta, i told my mom to buy some to try, because i didn't want to be doing laundry every day while we were in atlanta. it's already enough of a pain to do laundry when you're traveling and staying in someone else's house... i didn't want to be washing sheets and sleepers every day and giving my kid a bath first thing upon waking.

well... they worked. night after night after night. i was shocked and loving it. then i started rationalizing... well, baby girl hasn't been drinking that much since we got here so maybe it's just because of that. then we came back to colorado and used up the two nighttime diapers we brought with us. now we were back to a regular luvs size 4. and night after night baby girl would soak through and wake up completely drenched up to her neck. it was disgusting and it was causing me to do laundry more than once a week... which is a big huge no no for me.

until a week ago, i couldn't get baby girl to drink more than one sippy cup of fluid during the day. i would fill a sippy with milk every morning and she would take sips every once in a while and then towards night time she would drink quite a bit more and then by the time i put her to bed there was normally only about a fifth of it left. then i discovered that if the milk (or water) is room temperature or warmer, she'll gulp it right up. multiple sippy cups a day! this is fabulous but it also meant that while she soaked through her diapers at night before, now it was monumental... even using a size bigger than her regular daytime diaper.

well, i priced it. i pay 13 cents per diaper for baby girl's size 3's. size 4 huggies overnights (what she was using in atlanta... i thought 4's would be way too huge since it's for 22-37 lbs but she needs it because it is 100% full in the morning) were 33 cents per diaper. i have never paid that much for a diaper... ever. but i did the math... i only need one a day so for 20 cents a day, i can avoid tons of extra laundry, giving my terrified-of-baths-baby a bath at 8am every morning when our house is still 60 degrees, and being a terrible mom for letting my baby marinate all night in urine? well, i'm sold. if i can buy the badge of "good mom" for 20 cents a day, i'm totally on board.

am i even making sense anymore? i feel slightly delusional at the moment, like someone who has been in solitary confinement to long... which for me is apparently 1.5 hours.

anyways, the take away message from this is: if your kid is soaking through diapers at night, spend $20 (target, walmart, and amazon mom all have them for that price) and try out those special night time diapers in the blue box with stars and moons on them. you will love me for it.

ps- it's really too bad i'm not a popular blogger... they actually get paid for reviews like this.

18 months

2012-01-20T14:34:00.000-08:00

baby girl is a big girl now! she finally [barely] broke 20 lbs! congrats baby girl! we ~~knew~~ were hoping you could do it! what a big accomplishment even though it doesn't make a difference to anything. like how we'll still keep her rear facing in her carseat. because it's supposed to be safer, the aap recommends it, and baby girl doesn't seem to mind at all.

this will be the longest, most scattered monthly update ever. i've written it over the course of several days so even though i've done my best to make it logical and organized... i make no guarantees for how it's turned out.

last month, baby girl got this little people nativity set. she wasn't too into it. then we left and came back and you can tell how much she's grown by how she plays with it so differently in just four weeks time. she really enjoys it now. she stands all of the people up and even tries to stand baby jesus up on his feet which is hilarious because he can't stand up and she'll try relentlessly before we finally tell her to give up.

check out those legs. like a cheerleader.

putting everyone in the manger

still sleeps with her head in the crib bumper so she allllways wakes up with crazy bedhead.

she loves attempting puzzles now and even though she can't always get the pieces in, she knows where they all go and she tries tries tries and she actually pretty frequently gets them in!

cheerleader legs again

upside down sheep

can't figure out why it doesn't slide in

and then she made a sled out of her puzzle board and slid around the kitchen. creative.

baby girl still loves oatmeal and eats a bowl almost every morning for breakfast. i buy giant costco boxes of the quaker old fashioned oats and between baby girl and making granola, we go through that stuff fast. when i can, i make the oatmeal (just two minutes in the microwave) and set it out to cool before i go upstairs to get baby up from bed. that way when we come down, her food is all ready to be eaten.

when she noticed her oatmeal outside she was a whole mess of grunting, pointing, and signing "please" to get that stuff on her tray ASAP.

the morning i got to atlanta from dubai, we made baby girl some oatmeal and had it cooling on the table while she sat in her highchair. it was taking far too long so i picked it up and put it in the freezer (we were in atlanta so it really wouldn't have helped to put it outside) and baby girl almost started crying. she was trying to be strong but her concerned look and quivering lip were too obvious to hide. it was simultaneously heartbreaking and hilarious. it's a little sad that i laugh at least half of the time my kid cries. it's just so cute.

baby eats her oatmeal in chunks. i felt like a genius when i figured this out. that way i can unload the dishwasher or get stuff done in the morning.

still eats with both hands. normally at the same time but sometimes favors the left.

eating is serious business around here.

bananas. this kid can throw back a banana faster than you can say "choking hazard." i never knew she loved bananas so much until recently when she's been able to communicate so well. i give her half a banana at a time and she takes full adult sized bites. normally she's done and asking for more before i've even had a chance to look back and check on her.

her gigantic bites make her look like a monkey, don't you think?

how bout now? monkey, right? yes.

"let's just stow this under the chair for a minute while i chew my current bite."

baby girl adores her daddy. she points to the door and asks and talks about him so much when he's gone. and if it's the evening time, i can bribe her to do almost anything by saying, "first we have to _____ and then daddy'll be home and we can play with him!"

a common dinner occurrance. he likes to share his dinner and feed her in his lap.
butternut squash and grilled cheese sandwich.

the phone fetish is still going strong. she still makes everything a phone. "hi!" "hello!" all. day. long. the latest obsession now though is holding things up to both ears. and they don't have to be matching items. any two things will do.

"hi!" with a rubber ducky and electric razor cap

the other extreme fetish? shoes. i have no idea where she got this from because i hate shoes but regardless, it is so adorable seeing her try on every pair of shoes she meets.

what a little clown

baby girl's hair is concurrently getting longer and more unruly. it was pretty cute while we were in atlanta because the humidity made it curl, back in colorado though, not so much. the good news though is that baby girl loves for me to put her hair in a ponytail! i gave up on bows and flower for a while because she puts so many things on her head and moves around so much that they always slip out of her fine hair. but now that i know she likes getting her hair done, we'll probably be doing the pony tail. baby girl goes to her bathroom, opens the drawer, and hands me a tiny rubberband. then she sits on the counter and looks in the mirror while i wet, comb, and do her hair. then she'll frequently run back to her closet and request a flower or bow... ha. so many preferences!

with a little style help from her daddy

aaannnddd she looks like a boy

back to bananas. did i mention she'll request a banana every snack time, meal time, and just whenever she sees our fruit basket? even if she's just eaten, i'll honor her request for a banana and she'll polish it off like it's nothing. lately she's been averaging two bananas a day. i don't even bother putting her in her highchair to eat one because it is gone. so. fast.

when it comes to bananas, she's like a ferocious animal in the wild... or a monkey... like on her pj's.

banana with a shovel

and licking the shovel clean

baby girl is really good at looking for things. she's so helpful when i ask her to find her sippy cup, a toy she's been playing with, or something of mine that she's taken and now i can't find. she knows all the best places to look for things and it's especially cute to see her look under chairs and sofas and beds.

notice that she still has a fist full of banana.

even with all of the bananas though, baby still eats a very well balanced diet. mostly oatmeal, fruits, veggies, cheese, and whole grains. meat still isn't her favorite but she'll eat what we eat for dinner... which normally includes meat of some sort. tacos, pork, meatloaf, chicken... she'll always eat at least a bite or two but normally more.

baby girl really enjoys sitting in adult chairs, benches, etc. before she just used to stand or climb around but now she'll go up to a chair at our kitchen table and pat it while looking at me and signing please. if she pats something, that means she wants to sit there. it's the same patting people do when they're indicating to someone that they want them to sit next to them. like that one scene from that first date in how to lose a guy in ten days. tell me you know what i'm talking about. i love that movie.

baby girl is consistently telling me when she poops. pointing to the back of her diaper saying "poop." or if it's really wet, she may point to it and say "diaper." i was originally planning on starting potty training at 2.5 but maybe we'll start a couple months earlier if she seems to be interested. we'll see how things go. i can't believe i just said "potty training." yikes.

baby girl continues to make funny faces and cracks herself up.

typical. and don't you think she looks like cindy lou who?

baby girl is a packer and an unpacker. she's really good at cleaning up, but she's also really good at unloading the contents of every drawer, cabinet, basket, etc. really.

baby loves coloring.

this is what baby's coloring looked like a month ago. i wish i had a more recent picture though because she colors like a mad woman now.

baby girl is even more affectionate with inanimate objects. she'll blow kisses to me every time i ask, but she saves the real hugs and kisses for anything without a pulse. dora, little people, the wall, you name it. many times, she's walked up to the wall, kissed it, laughed, kissed it again, laughed, kissed it again, laughed, kissed it again, laughed, banged her nose while kissing it too excitedly, and cried. it's hilarious. but it also makes me wildly jealous of our walls. she'll also kiss my feet when i'm in bed on the computer and she wants my attention. that's kinda fun.

baby's 18 month well check went really well. apparently 18 months means you're a big kid because the nurse weighed her on the big kid scale in the hallway and did her height with the ruler on the wall in the hallway too. when the doctor came in she commented on how much weight my baby had gained. "21.5 lbs! wow! what a big jump!" then i had to break it to her that that was in the hallway with eight layers of clothes on and probably really inaccurate. so she went down the hall and got a baby scale, we stripped baby girl down to nothing and what do you know, she barely broke 20 lbs. i had the idea to feed baby a large banana right before we went to the doctor so it would be sitting in her stomach like a big crescent of lead, mercury, really heavy substance, whatever. since she was less than an ounce above 20lbs, i credit myself for her breaking into the twenties. it was a stroke of genius. really, how embarrassing for your 18 month old to only weigh 19 lbs? i think this is also the reason that this was the first time EVER that her weight percentile has gone up. seriously. it goes like this...

birth - 84%
3 weeks - 46%
2 months - 26%
4 months - 19%
6 months - 12%
9 months - 9%
12 months - .98%
18 months - 2.89%

ha.

1.17.12 - 18 month appointment

20 lbs .8 ounces 2.89%

2' 7.5" 45.35%

hc 45 cm 12.51%

aside from onsies, which are still size 6-9 months, baby girl is wearing mostly size 12-18 month clothes because that's what we have winter clothes wise. i still have bought her almost nothing because we've been blessed with tons of gifts and handmedowns. so even if some stuff doesn't fit right, we try to make it work. dresses are a bit big, as are sweaters and jackets but we can roll the sleeves up. pants are super tricky because when they fit in the waist and legs, they're too short. if they fit in the length, she looks like a thug. we have one pair of jeans that fits well. and because it's so cold here, i layer leggings or tights under them which makes them stay up better but it makes it more difficult for baby girl to more around and get up after a fall. isn't that just the nature of jeans though? that's why they have spandex now! anyways, shirts fit mostly fine although sometimes roomy and short. tights are getting too short in the length. shoes are a size four. diapers are size three. hats and hoods are always requested... especially if we go outside. yesterday as we were leaving walmart, walking from the register to the exit, baby girl leaned to the basket of the cart, got her hat out of my purse and put it on her head. then she just looked at me like "that's what we're supposed to do before we go outside, right?!?!" but really, she loves jackets... especially with hoods, and requests to wear them every day. also, her favorite pair of shoes is her red patent leather church shoes. she also tries to wear those all the time.

our typical day looks like this:

8ish - (although really anywhere between 7 30 and 9 30) wake up

until 9 30 - get dressed and eat (either order though)

until 10 30 - play/ get me dressed and ready, head out

10 30 til 12 30 we try to go out every morning, mostly either story time, play date, or walmart and errands

lunch

1 15 or 1 30 nap (this time totally varies on wake up time, how late errands keep us, and baby's mood.

a good nap is 3 hours. sometimes it's only two, sometimes it's over three. yesterday was 3h20m, the day before was just over 2 hours. it varies, but normally it's at least 3.

until 5 - wake up, maaaybe redress (she gets flannel footies for nap during the winter) but probably eat a banana and stay in flannel pj's til bedtime. we play and attempt to make dinner and take pictures. since honey's work schedule varies so much, this is always just cozy unstructured time at home, normally in the kitchen. this explains why most pictures of baby girl include bad lighting, a messy kitchen, bedhead, and flannel footies. it's because our pictures are taken at 6 pm while we wait for daddy to come home.

6 30 or 7 30ish - dinner

until 8 - playtime

8 - head upstairs and get ready for bed (teeth, special nighttime diaper, warm pj's, space heater (she has a love affair with her space heater), books, snuggles, prayer, crib) which can last as long or short as we want it... but it's normally 10 or 15 minutes.

i normally expect one wake up which can be at any time during the night, as early as 10pm, as late as 6am. i just hand her a binky and she lays down to go back to sleep. if i give her a binky to go to bed at night, she'll sleep all the way through (this was the case in for the whole month in atlanta when i gave her a binky every single time i put her down for nap or nighttime) but i don't give her a binky for nap so i don't want to give her one for bedtime either and i really don't mind getting up once during the night. side note: most recently, even at walmart or church, she doesn't need a binky... just a snack or something to hold and she'll sit nicely for an hour or so.

baby girl has twelve teeth fully in (four top front, four bottom front, four molars. and has been getting in two more on the bottom for over a month. soooo slow getting all the way up. she's also been on so many flights i lost count about a year ago. probably mid twenties i think. and we have two more trips before she turns two so we'll add four more flights to the tally. and she loves doing the motions to pat-a-cake. sooooo i think that's everything of major importance i can think of. how'd i do? ;-)

but really, this right here is the typical life... pj's, running, bedhead, and smiles.

more often than not, this is what we're doing. and i'm loving every second of it.

colorado weather

2012-01-19T21:05:00.000-08:00

today it felt like atlanta weather. it was soooo nice and pleasant outside. baby girl and i went on a walk this morning with kirstyn and michaela and then came home and walked up and down our street exploring for a while until lunchtime. baby girl didn't wake up from nap til after 5 but we immediately rushed outside and played on the driveway and sidewalk until after dark.

the funniest part was when i called my mom around noon and said "it's so warm here! it feels just like atlanta!" and then as baby girl went running down the driveway i grabbed her hand and said "careful baby girl... it's ICY. can you say, icy?" and then mom replied "yes, icy, juuuust like georgia. there may be a few differences still." HA.

my camera batteries died so i couldn't get a picture of it while it was light but with the way the sun is, half of our street looks like spring and the other half is covered in snow. we're on the covered in snow half so the grass in our yard has at least a foot of snow still on it (most of which was already there a week ago when i got back) and our driveway still resembles a glacier. maybe because earlier this week it was in the teens. like on tuesday when i went to baby's doctors appointment i didn't even bother grabbing a jacket because it looked warm and sunny. i had on a very light sweater and assumed that would be enough. half way to the appointment we passed a bank that had a marquee (is that the correct term?) with the time and temperature on it 14ºF. FOURTEEN?!?! and i have no jacket?! i guess i can call myself a coloradoan (ps- that is the correct term... and spelling) now.

i vow to be better about shoveling our driveway before driving on it and packing the snow down into the beginnings of a never melting glacier.

neat and tidy

2012-01-19T14:12:00.000-08:00

baby girl continues to exhibit signs that she's inherited my ocd tendencies.

last night we started with a girl, a banana, and a polka dot chair.

then the girl got thirsty. so she got her sippy cup with typically sits on the foot rest of her high chair. she just swapped it out with the banana.

swap again

and again

and again. and then she returned, banana in hand, to that little polka dot chair.

baby girl also figured out that her nativity set little people can fit in her little people pink car. she was thrilled. and now she loves for the wiseman to drive the shepherd all around the ~~land~~ kictchen.

such a sense of accomplishment!

and then just this afternoon i was cleaning up lunch and baby got out this purple colander hat.

she had a merry old time for about 2.5 minutes...

and then i found it had been promptly returned to the exact location from whence it came.

and because i feel like it, i'll share another cleaning story that happened last night. after work, honey came home for about 5 minutes to grab some dinner and change clothes before his friend came by to pick him up to play some racquetball. since he was getting a ride with a friend, he left out the front door... which we really only use for guests that come by our house. when he came back, he returned home through the front door and left his shoes (we don't wear shoes in the house... our carpets are in bad enough shape already), hoodie, and phone in a pile right there. then he walked in the great room and sat down in the red recliner. baby was stressing out. over and over again she pointed to the pile and told honey over and over some gibberish about it. and then she told me. she was pretty distraught. so then she took matters into her own hands. first, she got honey's phone, the next trip, his hoodie, and then his shoes. and as much as i tried to get her to give them to her daddy, she insisted that they were for me. i guess she sees me do all the cleaning. so then i gave the shoes back to her and, holding the hoodie, had her follow me to the master closet where we put the shoes and hoodie in their correct places.

and then all was right with the world.

centerpiece

2012-01-18T21:23:00.000-08:00

honey did this

i think there's a reason the trends for toddler photography are different than those of bizarre newborn photography.

ps- today was really great but especially this evening. i can't get over how much fun i have with baby girl. i just sit down and she entertains me with books, puzzles, and antics. it's a dream come true.

peekaboo

2012-01-17T20:13:00.000-08:00

and she says "peekaboo" too... which always adds to the fun. as if we were lacking fun.

skyping

2012-01-17T14:45:00.000-08:00

this morning we woke up early again. honey woke up at 5 30. i woke up at 6. at 6 15, we each figured out that the other was awake. ;-)

so we hung out in bed for a long while and then we heard baby girl upstairs, so like two kids on christmas day, we raced up as fast as we could to love on our baby. the three of us got ready together and then while i finished up, honey made eggs and fed baby girl. it was such a wonderful husband dad sort of thing for him to do, i didn't even get upset later when i found a wrapped up poopy diaper sitting on the stair rail. i'm not sure what the deal is, but my honey has an inability to change a diaper and actually throw it away. i find diapers ALL OVER the house. bathrooms, stair rails, sofa, bed, changing table, floor, closet, kitchen table, kitchen counter, you name it. anywhere but a trash can. it's comical really.

anyways, we were all ready and fed by 8 15 or so. insanely early. so we had time to kill before heading out into the real world.

we skyped.

there were some near misses with bashing keys and tossing a sippy full of water, but seriously, most of the time was spent nicely skyping and not touching.

i. was. amazed.

and the morning was excellent.

sweet moments - nap time

2012-01-16T21:51:00.000-08:00

today was a really great day. for the first time in a week, i slept in past 6am (honey and i are having trouble getting back on schedule and we keep waking up super early (think 4-5am), completely awake. i actually slept in until 8 and was so confused when i woke up and my room was bright. i guess i'm too used to waking up in the dark now. anyways, the best part was that baby girl slept until after 9 so i had time to shower and get ready and make her breakfast and everything. my days are sooo much better if i can just get clothes on before my baby wakes up. ha. so since i was showered and dressed, our morning was great. baby was being so fun and also really patient while i got laundry and cleaning and stuff done.

then nap time came. i asked baby girl if she was sleeping and wanted a nap and she nodded her head and we both headed up to her room. this is normal for her but really? this can't be too common among this age group, right?! so she got a new diaper and some footie pjs and we sat in the glider to read a book. but she kept telling me [somehow] that she wanted that blanket i keep draped over the back of the chair like in this picture. i thought that was weird because she's never asked for it and when we try to get her to cuddle in bed with us, she hates being confined under the covers. but she insisted that's what she wanted. so i laid it over us and she pulled it up to her chin and would snuggle it up her to face. i was in heaven. but this sort of stuff (when it happens) normally only lasts for maaaybe 10 seconds before she's off running again. she is a busy sort of girl. but this time, she stayed still.

so i got out he bear she bear, which i love, because it is so fun and clever and upbeat. she stayed absolutely motionless while i read through every word on every page. that. has. never. happened. she's normally anxiously turning pages as soon as i've read one word. so i asked her if she wanted to read it again. yes. so then it happened again! i couldn't believe it, so i tried my luck a third time. and she stayed still and listened and only got a little squirmy during the last couple of pages. there we were, she was reading a book from my sister, wearing pj's from my mother, and snuggling with her blanket from my wonderful friend carolyn. it was amazing.

when baby girl gets squirmy reading she's normally ready to get in her crib. so i asked her and she nodded her head yes (why is it that when she figured out how to nod her head, she decided the word "yes" was no longer necessary to her vocabulary?! seriously, it was her first word and now she NEVER actually says it!) and we got up. and then she hugged her arms around my neck and put her head on my shoulder. so i couldn't let go! not at a precious moment like that! so i sang her a few verses of i am a child of god and then we prayed. and normally baby girl puts her hands together for prayers (we never taught her this... she just does it. and LOVES it.) but this time she just looked up and then wrapped her arms around tighter. it was adorable.

and then i put baby girl in her crib, gave her the blanket, we blew some kisses and then i walked out of the room and marveled about how incredible my life is.

18 months = nursery

2012-01-15T20:13:00.000-08:00

i know i should do an official post, but tonight it's just not gonna happen.

today baby is 18 months.

honey dropped her off in nursery and she didn't even look back. i wanted to go in and hang out with her but knew it would be for me and not for her. and i didn't want to do that and then have it screw her up or make her cry or clingy or something. so i didn't even go in. and when relief society ended, there was my honey and my baby waiting at the door. apparently she had a blast. the nursery leader said so. she said she looked at the door briefly a few times but then would just go back to playing. maybe i'll let myself go in next week... i missed her so much today even if it was nice to actually listen and learn something from the sunday school and relief society lessons. i hope it's not a first week fluke... i hope baby girl continues to love it. i think she will but that could just be history talking. i have a tendency to assume that since she's been easy going so far, she'll continue to be nice and easy going.

anyways, this kid is the most hilarious thing ever these days. and she's been so much more fun and easy and well behaved since we got back from our trip. because ever since we moved to colorado, baby has decided that when she's at home with me, she needs to be held. well, there was so much to do at my parents house that she never wanted or needed to be held. and now that we're back it's the same. not to mention that either my arm got weak or my kid gained fifty pounds. because if i hold her for more than two minutes my arm gets tired. i used to be able to hold her for an hour straight and never even notice it.

sooo that's how our day at church went.

other things that happened today: baby and i woke up in time to see a gorgeous sunrise (pictures will be added later) since we're both a little jet lagged and off schedule. we have 9am church now so we got to wake up, eat breakfast, get ready, go to church, come home, eat lunch, take a nap, snack, play, eat dinner, and go to sleep for the night. what a wooooonderful sunday. infinitely better than having church during the 1-4 nap time and then trying to figure out what to do with a kid that's falling asleep in the car and napping from 4 30 to 6 and never getting a decent lunch or dinner.

and finally some sunrise pictures... just a few days late.

scrunched up laughing face

seriously, when you look out your window and see this, how can you not love colorado? i now attest that a gorgeous sunrise is the next best thing to popcorn popping on the apricot tree.

bedhead

2012-01-14T19:50:00.000-08:00

i guess these are the only photos i took on my camera today. sooo, bedhead it is.

this is the typical style upon waking.

and i have no idea why she was so sad. but she continued to cry between bites of banana for at least three or four minutes. so random. although maybe it has something to do with those two bottom teeth peeking through.

ps- my baby is growing up so fast. today while i was sitting in bed, she pointed to the stack of books i keep on my nightstand. more specifically to the green hymn book (because i lead music) and i kept trying to stall because i didn't want her to play with my hymn book... or my scriptures... or any of the other books sitting there. so then, i kid you not, she pointed at the book and looked me directly in the eye saying, "i want that book." i about died. and then she said it about fifty more times. so then i tried to pawn off a different book on her. no go. "that book" [as she points to the green hymnal]. seriously? four word sentences? i'm not ready for this.

frequent words as of late include shoes, boots, poop, diaper, backpack, book, milk, and NOOOOOOO!!!!!!

i'm gonna throw out this random for you

2012-01-13T19:23:00.000-08:00

i found it on facebook and thought i'd pass it along.

i thought it was inspiring and quite honestly... it's pretty awesome.

click here.

ps- this jett lag thing is kicking my trash. i've been up since 5 am so i'm gonna go to sleep riiiiiight now. at 8:23.

back home... in colorado

2012-01-12T19:44:00.000-08:00

baby and i just got home tonight. i was so sad to leave atlanta. of course. my visits always seem to be too short... even when they're weeks long. my biggest struggle this time was getting the time to spend with everyone i wanted to spend it with. i spent lots of time with friends but i still wanted more. to hang out with more friends and more time with the ones i saw. and my sister liza. i totally thought i would get more time with her but things were so busy and hectic over christmas i feel like it just flew by without us ever getting a quiet moment. same with my brother walter. i thought that with him being at home i'd get to see him more. but turns out, he's rarely home. i got to spend tons of time with my mom though. and of course that was amazing. every moment spent with her is always amazing.

packing this morning was a feat. i managed to spend two minutes each with buddy (walter), ms adams (my old piano teacher), and cory's sister sarah (my pen pal and in-real-life friend) before taking off. and mom and dad and baby and will (my nephew) and i all had a lovely lunch at the varsity.

the flying experience was exhausting. mostly because i was searching the atlanta airport for baby's missing pink boot. she was wonderful on the plane though. an angel for the first three hours. and slightly difficult for the last 20 mins. so that was a success. she even slept for over an hour which was fabulous because when we flew a few weeks ago she did not. and i don't think she's slept on about half of the flights we've taken in the past 6 or 7 months. so i'm appreciative.

i am so cold right now. colorado is cold. my house is cold. the water that comes out of my faucet when i wash my hands has bits of ice still in it from sliding down the rockies and into my pipes. but really, i'm glad to be home. in my own bed and with plenty of space to not live out of a suitcase and child proofed for baby. i just need to not cry tomorrow morning when i'm lonely and miss my mother.

okay, i'm so tired. i'll add pictures tomorrow... since there's no way i'm getting out of bed right now. and really i just want to go to sleep because i've been exhausted for the past month.... every since i stepped foot in atlanta.

ps- baby girl is amazing. like on our branson trip, in atlanta, she got a binky to go to sleep for every nap and night time. but tonight we get home and honey puts her to bed (without a binky) in her own crib and there she peacefully falls asleep without even a squeak. this girl loves her crib. i wish they would invent a portable crib already. non of this pack n play stuff.

so sad to be leaving. and she must hate packing too. like me.

i checked every drawer in the dresser and nightstand to make sure i had everything. i did. but i happened to stumble upon some shaving cream baby stole from the bathroom.

this is the giant stack of sweaters and shirts i borrowed from my mom this trip. thanks mother! i wish we could share clothes ALL the time!

they had so much fun together this trip.

we planned to have dad leave work around one and meet us at the varisty for lunch. but then at 12:40 we found him on 400 as we were about to go through the toll booth. so we drove to the varsity together. this was taken somewhere on spring street. (turns out he'd taken someone in the ward to a doctor's appointment.)

on the way, baby fell asleep. whoops.

cousin will just hanging out. with lightening mcqueen.

my parents have got to be the most excellent grandparents ever.

sneaking some onion rings.

still eyeing the onion rings of course.

my parents are hilarious. i told them i wanted to take a picture and this is what they gave me. although i may have mentioned it looking candid. not sure though.

will had applesauce and meatballs

baby girl had a banana, a meatball, and a few bites of onion ring and chili slaw dog. i learned she's not so much a fan of the slaw... just everything else.

oh, and frosted orange. i'm sure craving one of those right now.

these two have a fiery love/hate cousin relationship and it's hilarious.

this afternoon though it was all about the love.

baby girl used to only love hoods. but now she loves hats too. and loves to put them on herself.

this is when we heard it rip.

this varsity had has been loved a little too much.

i have a good life.

baby girl learned "grandpa" the very first time we asked her to say it. and she said "grandpa" a whole lot this trip.

i wish i'd noticed the missing boot when i took this shot. or thought to look at this picture on my camera before backtracking through all of security and retracing my steps through the atlanta airport and getting on my hands and knees to look under cars and trucks parked outside of S3.

ps- when i told her to say bye to my mom she clung tightly and whined and didn't want to come to me. can you say "uh oh!"

visting with friends

2012-01-11T20:24:00.000-08:00

back (in pictures)

2012-01-10T19:30:00.000-08:00

back

2012-01-10T18:06:00.000-08:00

we made it back to the states this morning somewhere around 6 am this morning. the flight was about 16 hours. that's a lot of hours. and i've barely slept in the past two days. like four hours... maybe. honey had a connecting flight straight to denver and headed to work straight from the airport. i've been hanging out here in atlanta all day with mom and baby girl. just trying to keep my eyes open.

i'm so glad to be back with my baby girl. spending today with her has been absolutely incredible.

anxiety

2011-12-31T15:05:00.000-08:00

honey and i leave for the airport in about 10 minutes and i'm freaking out about leaving my baby. i cried about it for quite a while last night and i expect that'll happen at least once more while i'm away but please please please pray from me and cross your fingers too. don't bother praying for my baby though, she'll be fine.

ps- we're going to dubai.

the day of almost no pictures

2011-12-30T23:51:00.000-08:00

i didn't even start taking pictures today until after dark. whoops.

a bit different

2011-12-30T00:04:00.000-08:00

today was a bit different. morning got a slow start. our water got cut off for a couple hours and then came back dirty. we got delicious takeout mexican from los bravos. during nap time honey worked and i went to sarah's house to play. came home at 6 for family dinner and party prep. people came over to visit and play. at 11, i went back to sarah's house and helped her clean and organize. i am obsessed and i may have gotten a bit pushy and carried away but we got a lot done. then i came home at 2:30 and got ready for bed and whatnot and now it's 3 and i still need to read scriptures and pray. yikes. maybe my sleep deprivation will help me sleep on our flight saturday night. i don't think i've mentioned it before but we're going on a trip. anyways, the biggest difference about today? i only took 18 pictures. the other days? i've been averaging about 150. per day.

more shoes!

and walking in the shoes

she was so proud of herself. and clapping.

the most beautiful and delicious mint brownie bites. made by my sister emmy.

sara snow!

this is such a non flattering picture of us. we're actually both drop dead gorgeous in person.

and that's all folks!

games, lights, and monkeys

2011-12-28T21:28:00.000-08:00

today was packed.

1988 home videos

more shoes

carrie elise maycock hillier age 2.5

granny and papa 25 years ago

reorganizing entire cabinets of candles

playing horse. i lost.

my honey

more horse.

loooove this loveseat

playing sequence

all of us playing sequence

baby loooooves this hoodie

christmas lights at the atlanta botanical gardens

i swear my honey isn't really that big or burly looking

see? no hat = looks normal

i was all about our couples photos today

cousins!

matching pjs... appropriately, they are monkeys.

because these kids spent forever tonight jumping on the bed. for-ev-er. like the action shot?

and now it's time for bed. this will be my third time since i've arrived in atlanta that i'll be getting to sleep before 2:30. i haven't gone with so little sleep since before baby was born. it's taking a toll on me.

so i'll have to revisit today with more stories and pictures and videos. ;-)