lemon bars and trains in the dollhouse

abigail's favorite strawberry shortcake book is the one where lemon meringue makes lemon bars that are salty instead of sweet and then she apologizes to plum and makes her lemon bars again and they turn out great.  so abigail and i made lemon bars and she thought that was the coolest thing ever because it was just like the ones in the book! 

abigail kept talking about the "snowmaster."  i couldn't figure out why on earth she was calling this the snow master until she corrected me for the millionth time.  "nooo, the snowman stirrer!"  laughed out loud at that one.

we were having such a good time baking together but abigail got noticably anxious when i told her we needed this loud mixer.  so i broke out the noise reduction headphones we used when we took her to sporting events as a baby.  worked like a charm.

what's not to love?  she kept her book open the whole time so she could look at lemon meringue's lemon bars while we made our own.

there i was, nursing brady on the floor (i'd just changed his diaper and was too lazy to get up) when somehow, abigail tipped over the glider.  flashback to when brady was a week old and i was nursing him and abigail tipped the christmas tree over.  and also when i was nursing brady at a week old and she tipped over a lamp and the lightbulb crashed shards of broken glass all over my bedroom floor and brady's freshly folded clothes and blankets.  ahh, the good old [nightmareish] days.

he can't crawl yet but he can sure roll and scoot.  he gives me frequent scares when i put him on the floor and then he disappears.  i layed him on the carpet and freaked out a few minutes later when he wasn't there.  brady?!  and then he peeked his smiley face out from behind the corner.  that kid is a playful one.

abigail never stops talking.  ever.  it kind of drives me crazy sometimes when it's all directed at me.  but when i'm just listening to her constant chatter narrating her toys?  it is to die for!  her train, gordon, had a conversation with the dollhouse postal lady.  "hi, i'm blue."  "i'm blue too!"  and the time that every single member of the dollhouse, along with trains gordon and henry all rushed upstairs exclaiming "ohhh!  a bathroom!  yes!  it's a bathroom!  see the bathroom!  yes!  we're all in the bathroom!"  and on and on and on and on.  so much bathroom talk.  i have some videos.  we'll see if i ever get them uploaded.  they are pure gold.

recaps

i am so blessed.

wednesday was a fun day.  i wish i had written about it when i actually remembered it because at the end, i was all "this has been such an amazing day!" but now i can barely remember what even happened to make it good.  we were out of the house by 9:30 for visiting teaching at a playground and then more visiting teaching at another friend's house.  we got home at 12:30 and chris (still not sure why, didn't even ask) had stopped by home for a bit for lunch.  he took off just a few minutes after we got home but it was fun seeing him.

thursday we went to a splash pad in castle pines.  it's awesome because it was really nice (isn't everything in castle pines?!) but much smaller than the splash pad in centennial.  and way way way less crowded.  sooo i had zero anxiety trying to keep an eye on abigail while keeping brady out of the sun and not running around the whole time.  my friend and i just parked ourselves at a little table in the shade and hung out and snacked while we watched the girls run around in the fountains and in the playground area.  i so wish i'd known about this a few months ago but i'm already excited to take the kids back next summer when brady is old enough to run in the fountains too!  brady fell asleep in the car so when we got home, i had some great one on one time with abigail.  we made oatmeal banana cookies* (cookies is a generous term for these things since every ingredient is healthy and they have no added sugar but abigail loves them just the same) together and really, it was just great girl time.  kind of a blast from the past of before i had brady and we did that sort of stuff all the time.

friday we returned a whole ton of books to the library and picked up a hefty stack of strawberry shortcake books i put on hold online.  then we swung by kohls because i had one of those $10 off any purchase cards that i needed to use before tomorrow.  i normally shop their kids clearance but the last few times i've been severely disappointed.  needing a new swimsuit, i shopped that section instead.  i found ONE that i liked alright that was modest and in my size.  70% off and using a $10 off coupon means i just got myself a new $40 swimsuit (welll, the top half) for $1.50 and it didn't even take all day and driving around to tons of stores.  which is the best part because swimsuit shopping is the worst.  well, maybe not the absolute worst but it's pretty bad.  on my way home, i dropped abigail off at her friend's house (okay, maybe they spend more days together than not but it does warm my heart when she randomly starts talking about how much she loves elle) while i headed home to get brady down for a nap and get stuff done.  later, my honey got home by 5:00!  who even knew that was possible?!?!  and we all hung out as a family for a loooong time and enjoyed feeding brady his weight in food.  to say he is obsessed with real food would be a major understatement.  for dinner tonight he got probably a half cup of mashed up sweet potato, a third of a banana cut in chunks, and an egg yolk mashed up in some jarred food.  and i would have kept feeding him except that christopher told me he was worried brady would get a stomach ache.  ha.  maybe his full belly will mean he'll be an awesome sleeper tonight.  his sleep has been uncharacteristically good lately and it's pretty exciting stuff!  and he's pretty much weaned from his reflux medicine which is also pretty exciting.

saturday- my parents come in town for the long weekend!  so ridiculously excited!  let the games begin!

*the blog i got this recipe from adapted it from 3 tablespoons of oil to just 1 tbsp oil and 2 tbsp applesauce.  i am apparently fresh out of applesauce but i had a ripe pear.  so i peeled it and mashed it up to an applesauce consistency and it worked just great.  and brady enjoyed the leftover "pearsauce."

* maybe if i get my act together i'll post pictures from these days.  just maybe.

8 months for brady!

happy 8 months, brady boy!

 

here's what brady has been up to this past month...

brady has mastered sitting!  he went from not sitting at all, to sitting for long periods of time within the space of about a week.  right now, he's working on gracefully getting out of the sitting position and within the last day or two has shown significant improvement.  i'm normally not looking exactly when it's happening, but from what i can tell, he does a sort of tuck and roll to get from sitting to laying on his back.

which only lasts for two seconds because this kid rolls like nobody's business.  the first several times he rolled, it was in his crib when he was fully swaddled.  within a day or two he was occasionally rolling back to belly but i never seemed to catch it.  and since then, it's been constant rolling all over the place.  i think it's just been within the few days that he's been rolling as a means of getting from one place to another.  i can put him sitting somewhere, leave the room for two minutes, and come back to see that he's five feet from where he started.  abigail thinks it's especially cool when he does several rolls in a row without stopping.  i'm loving the rolling because it makes him so happy and really keeps him entertained.  the only downside is that he'll get stuck under the coffee table or roll into the brick fireplace.  like yesterday when he was in his room and rolled all the way over to where i have his fan and he was tugging on the cord.  glad i found that situation before he pulled a fan on his head.  so many hazards with a mobile child.

brady got his first haircut.  which was really just a trim of the hair around his ears.  but still... i'm counting it.  speaking of hair.  it's lightening up.  in pictures it frequently looks dark, but if you look at the actual hairs on his head, they're all just as blonde as abigail's.  we'll see how that turns out.  

brady loves his binky.  he always has a binky when he sleeps in his crib and most often has a binky when he falls asleep in his carseat too.  and very frequently when he's just hanging out.  he is super stealth about getting it in his mouth too.  sometimes i'll be holding him and holding a binky and somehow he gets it off my finger and into his mouth without me even realizing it.  or now that he can roll, he just rolls on over to his binky and pops it in his mouth.

which brings me to one of my favorite things that he does... spits his binky out.  if there's something he wants in his mouth, he spits his binky out with such force!  i first noticed it when he was hanging out on the floor of his bedroom after a diaper change.  when i leaned over to pick him up, out popped the binky, propelled a foot away.  it kept making me laugh out loud so one night i showed chris.  "watch this.  he's hungry and ready to eat.  when i pick him up, he's going to spit his binky out as fast as he can... maybe before i even get my hands on him, but definitely before his body leaves the floor."  and then it happened... just like i said it would.  the only part of that that makes me sad it that i know he just sees me as a food source.  it's not like he stopped crying because he wanted me to hold him... it's just because he wants to nurse.  and he does it every time he wakes up during the night too.  and even though it's not as funny, he'll do it when i put him in his bumbo that has some food on the tray already.  or if he's sitting in his bumbo with his bib on and he sees me bring a jar of food over to him, out pops the binky... right into the catcher part of the bib.  seriously cracks me up.  although how so am i?!  when it first started happening, i kept thinking to myself, "i never remember abigail doing this!"  and then i realized... oh, it's because she never had a binky in her mouth.  this kid... he's mastered the binky.

as far as size... his onesies are size 6 months (they're carters though... and carters clothes magically fit for-ev-er).  he almost never wears sleepers because it's so hot but the ones he has... i thiiiink they're 9 months.  some clothes are 6-9 months and HUGE.  but he's got a handful of things that say 18 months that fit him great.  and the outfit he wore today?  size 3 months.  so basically, sizing in baby boy clothes means next to nothing.  he's wearing a size 2 diaper during the day and a 3 at night.

speaking of night time, that size 3 diaper still frequently leaks during the night because he still wakes up a million and one times and needs to nurse before he falls back asleep (except for an hour ago where i heard him wake up and cry for two minutes and he actually fell back asleep before i went up to check on him).  there's really no "normal" because every night is different.  this kid is the epitome of unpredicatable.  but, if i had to find a method to the madness, he frequently goes to bed between 8 and 9, sometimes wakes up during the 11 o clock hour, very often wakes up around 2:30 (give or take), and a lot of times again betwen 4:30 and 6:30, and then gets up for the day sometime around 10.  so a good night means he only wakes up that one time at 2:30, and a rough night means he wakes up at midnight, three, and five.  every time he wakes during the night, i nurse him.  at least half of the times he wakes up, he needs something else (normally a diaper change (when do they learn to stop pooping during the night?!) and/or a reswaddle).  it's always quick.  naps are good.  he goes down without a problem and sleeps for 1.5 to 2.5 hours.  it used to always be 2h20 (like to the minute sometimes) but ever since i started weaning him from the swaddle, it's varied.  normally he just takes two naps during the day, but if we started the day early or are out late and not home for a normal bedtime, there's a short (like an hour... give or take) evening nap in there.  i know i shouldn't, but lately, i've just been keeping him awake way longer than i should because he's actually happy.  so even though i know he'd go down great for a nap after a 2 hour wake time, i'll keep him up playing with abigail and myself because he's happy and it just seems more fun to not have to worry about napping yet.  i'm so much more lax about napping and schedules this time around.

nursing is so fast.  like five minutes.  and he never needs to be burped.  he rarely burps, and if he does, it's completely on his own.  spitting up is virtually nonexistent.  he doesn't do the windshield wiper thing while he nurses, but sometimes he yanks at my tank top strap while he nurses and pops it.  i'm not a fan and he knows it.  if abigail is around when i try to feed him, he will not eat.  will. not.  she is the ultimate distraction.  so when they wake up at the same time, i normally go to her room and tell her i'm going to get brady and that i'll be back in a few minutes.  that way i can make sure he gets a good first feeding.  it's tricky timing wise and whatnot, but it's worth it to go the extra mile eliminating distractions.  he's got good ears.

solid foods are going really well.  i never need to straight-jacket him anymore.  after the first several times i did that, he got the hang of things and realized that he preferred not to have his arms tied down.  since then, he his table manners have improved dramatically.  brady always eats in his bumbo.  one of these days we'll transition to the high chair but right now the bumbo is easiest (complete opposite of how things were with abigail).  he eats everything i give him but there are some clear winners and losers.  he really loves peas and green beans.  LOOOOVES.  like if i get distracted while i'm feeding him, he starts grunting at me with an open mouth.  from what i can tell, he's not a huge fan of the jarred dinner type meal foods.  stuff like "turkey vegetable medley" or "sweet corn and rice."  so i'm not sure if it's the combination of flavors, the texture, the meat, the rice, the corn...  and he didn't seem that keen on avocado.  but he really likes everything else.  squash, carrots, mango, sweet potato, peaches, applesauce.  applesauce it actually how i get him to eat other stuff he's not crazy about.  although tonight i gave him tiny chunks of peaches on his tray and when he slowed down in his enthusiasm for getting them in his mouth, i started putting a chunk of peach on a spoon with a little bit of green beans, and he was all over that.  as far as rice cereal, i've only done oatmeal.  i almost always mix it in with jar foods (or whatever food i've mashed up... like pears) to make them thicker and easier/less messy.  food is always room temp or slightly warm.  he's not a fan of cold anything.  also, he loves puffs.  i just use them to keep him occupied and give him practice with his coordination, but he's getting good enough that i'm already paring back because i know they're just flour and sugar.  giving him chunks of peaches tonight almost felt mean though, they're so slippery and tricky to pick up.  way more difficult than the puffs that stick to even the driest of tiny fingers.  oh... and the kid loves hummus.  like the rest of us.

as far as temperament.  when he's happy, he is the happiest kid i've ever seen in my whole life.  the smiles and laughs are out of control.  just making eye contact with a mischievous face will send him into a fit of giggles.  he loves the suspense of watching my hand as it comes to tickle him.  and he's ticklish on pretty much every inch of his body.  my current favorite is pinching his thighs, but he laughs just as hard when i go for his belly and his neck.  under his arms, his feet, his back, his cheeks, and every other random place (i'm pretty sure abigail has tried them all at least once) yields laughter of some sort.  it is absolutely incredible.  i love tickling him before naps/bedtime.  it's like he's slap happy or something because he can't stop laughing but he can't stop rubbing his eyes either.  so he's just laughing so hard while he's taking out his whole face with his sleepy fists and i just delight in every bit of it.  within the last few weeks, i've noticed that he wakes up super happy in his crib (there's a good chance he's done this for a long time and i've just never noticed) and just hangs out and babbles and coos until i come get him.  he's tolerant of abigail's vigorous affection, loves being in his carseat (probably more so than being held) and is just overall a really really happy baby.  he still has his moments when he's just plain angry at life but it's getting more and more infrequent and when it happens, it's almost always accompanied by a very good reason (normally a short nap or just lack of sleep in general).  when he's crying, it's often within four minutes of his laughing and me telling him that he's the happiest baby ever.  he only knows how to go zero to sixty.  there's a reason i call him my bipolar child.  he only knows the two extremes.  thankfully, he's on the super insanely happy extreme way more often than not. 

i know there's tons of stuff i'm leaving out and hopefully i'll come back and add more to the post later (and pictures and links to the stuff i've already written), but as of right now, this is my snapshot of brady at 8 months.  he's so great.  it is positively remarkable the transformation that has happened since he was born.  i am in awe of this sweet little spirit.  and so insanely impatient for him to grow up just a little more.  he is going to be a crack up... i'm sure of it.

it'll come

today was hanging out on the back patio, haircuts, painting toes, a french toast breakfast, lunch at the hilliers, costco with em and mom, and outlet shopping with em and mom and dad and slavic.  the weather and company could not be more perfect.  i need more time in my days.

i have a million drafts and a million more pictures that will eventually get posted as well.  it just might be a few days since i'm busy having fun with everyone in town for brady's blessing tomorrow.  life is good and i am tired.  happy baby blessing day to my sweet brady boy!

nightly news

the thoughts swarming in my head

my honey has been traveling a lot lately.  way too much for my liking.  like every week... sometimes days at a time.  it has given me more appreciation for how much i need him.  i don't feel like i "needed" him as a parent until brady came along.  now i need him.  i need him to be home so i don't have to take two kids to young women with me.  i need him to listen to my day.  i need him to do the dishes that have piled up and pour a bowl of cereal for baby girl.  and i need him to just physically be there next to me.  having brady has brought us closer.

my next door neighbors that i've always been more than mildly obsessed with?  know who i'm talking about?  the ones in our ward where the husband saved my life that one time and the wife has gladly given/loaned me sugar, ketchup, cream of tartar, a bundt pan, and even $5 (yes, i showed up on their doorstep on a friday night to borrow cash so i could attend a local middle school play... why doesn't everywhere take credit card?!  like garage sales too), and the daughter that was my beehive president and is more mature than i will ever be.  and their dog, duke, that passed away last summer... i almost cried when that happened.  well, they moved.  to utah.  it just happened last week and i'm not even kidding that i've been working my way through the five stages of grief.  i'm currently in the "depression" stage and i'll let you know when i get to "acceptance" if that day ever comes.  unfortunately i'm somewhat confident it never will.  i haven't met our new neighbors yet although i have full intentions of taking over a plate of rice krispie treats (who doesn't love those?!) once it stops snowing.  and i'll give them the copy of their house key that i have.  i hope that's not awkward.

i'm compiling a list of quotes from abigail.  her speaking skills are awesome and so so cute.  and so are her mannerisms and everything else about her.  for years and years i have said that two is my favorite age.  baby girl just confirms that.  two is magical.  i'm nervous for three though... i've never been a fan of the threes.  but for the next few months, you better believe i'm going to soak up baby girl being two.  i thought i enjoyed her as a baby but honestly that was nothing.  she just keeps getting better with age.

i need to write a two month post for brady.  this will be difficult because i am still trying to figure out who the heck he is.  there has got to be a rhyme and reason to him, right?!  also, let's have a group fast that he will start sleeping longer stretches at night.  because FOR THE LOVE. BRADY!  the idea is that your nighttime sleep improves with age!  you are two months old... abigail was sleeping 12-13 hours a night at this point.  every. single. night.  i know you've got reflux but work with me here... i'm begging you.

how did i ever live with out my iphone?  seriously seriously seriously.  it is worth every single penny.

so glad the hockey lockout is over.  i really do love that sport.  i love watching games with my honey.  and it's only been a few weeks but my fantasy hockey team is currently undefeated.  and there are 14 people in the league.  call us a power couple but honey is actually the only other undefeated team in the league.  it's pretty cool.  and yes, i realize how ridiculous i sound right now.

i spend my mornings and my days being so exhausted and then when night time comes, i have such a hard time clearing my head so i can fall asleep.  that does not serve me well in my already sleep deprived state.

i haven't been cooking much at all lately.  i have still been eating cheese eggs on toast once a day (sometimes breakfast but sometimes lunch or dinner) and other than that, my diet is mostly chocolates, creme brulee (i ran out yesterday but mark my words i'll make another batch!), and chocolate cookies from one of honey's clients.  i have never been a healthy eater but i can honestly not recall the last time i've eaten so much sugar on a daily basis.  i'm trying not to think about it.  anyone want to come cook for me?  i would gladly trade all of the chocolate in the world for a pan of lasagna.  right now, it's all about convenience.

i used to be concerned about huge world problems... like people living in third world countries, problems close to home... homeless people in atlanta, and keeping up with family and friends (i used to actually be social).  moving to parker, i started living in a bubble and while i thought about homeless people, my life was enough removed that it didn't stress me out on a daily basis (it's terrible to say but i hate that i care so much).  so my concerns turned to my calling, being a good mom, keeping in touch with close family and friends, being healthy, keeping a clean home, recycling and not using too much gas/electricity/water, and other random stuff like that.  well brady has narrowed things down even more and now i pretty much just focus on what happens within the walls of my own home.  every day i wake up and i try to be a good mom, be a good wife, and keep my house clean (it's actually impossible for me to be happy or a good wife/mother if my house is cluttered or dirty so really these are interlocked).  i have had to let go (at least for the time being) when it comes to keeping in touch with people (i have GOT to start doing better at this... especially calling my grandparents), being healthy (christopher doesn't even bother asking what's for dinner anymore.  he just comes home and pours himself a bowl of cereal and makes himself a quesadilla.), trying to do a good job at my calling (i just try to keep up with what is required), and a million other things.  i'm still stressing on a daily basis about homeless people but i try to channel that energy to being a good mom.  i'm taking a lesson from president hinckley... my mantra as of late has been, "the greatest work you will ever do will be within the walls of your own home."  and i'm taking it day by day.

when 20 days of journaling died

wednesday- almost cried as i drove 2 hours to girls camp.  got there and was fine.


thursday- girls camp is great.


friday- morning time: i love camp!  evening: "honey, please text me closeup pictures of baby girl"


saturday- home from girls camp!  shower and no nap.  family date night at casa bonita.  food sucked.  tattoos galore.


sunday- taught lesson at church (be changed for good), nap, dinner with honey's fam.


monday- broke my strict "no being productive during nap time" and did five loads of laundry and housework for 8 hours straight.  watched bachelorette with honey.  cut another knot out of baby's hair.


tuesday- pool with baby, nap, and finished up all the potato goodness i cooked up on sunday.  need to record my recipes since i made them up on the spot and i'm sure i won't remember them longterm.


wednesday- 4th of july!  eliches and old spaghetti factory with honey's fam.  jumbo crab ravioli with pesto alfredo sauce was to die for.  pretty sure my jeans won't fit tomorrow but it will have been worth it.

sooo happy fourth and don't give up on my blogging!

good things come to those who wait... right?!

back from the beach

we made it home.  late last night but better late than never.  yesterday we woke up early, packed, drove in the car for eight hours, got to the airport, ate at the airport varsity!, waiting around for a few more hours for our flight, endured three hours of flying, waited for our ride, made it back to parker, and rolled a sleeping baby in her crib after a very very long day.

and then i went to the store to get milk.  you do not want to be within ten miles of me if there is no milk in my fridge.

and then like zombies, honey and i passed out somewhere between 1:30 and 2am.

and then i had to wake up at a pleasant 5:57am this morning for ward council.  which is nothing when you think that honey had to wake up at 4:30 am to get meeting agendas and church stuff done.  all three of us reeeaaaallllyyy enjoyed that long nap time this afternoon.  i think i slept for at least three or three and a half hours.

ps- colorado is experiencing a heat wave and has hit record breaking highs.  i have girls camp later this week.  and might i remind you that we have no AC?  i put my kid to bed tonight in just a diaper.  hopefully she's still wearing it when she wakes up.

and pps- the beach was incredible.  family fun and games, pride and prejudice, hours upon hours reading and sleeping in the sun, listening to baby girl say "baby beach" about a hundred million times a day, eating great food all the time, kayaking with a pod of dolphins, and leaving behind the real world for an entire week.  i'm pretty addicted to my computer and even though i brought it with me, i only opened it the first night after we got there and then wednesday on my cooking day to find a recipe i needed.  and i kept my phone on silent and plugged into the wall for a full EIGHT days and neglected all calls and texts.  a technology cleanse so i could more fully enjoy my week at the beach with family?  absolutely necessary.  pictures and posts to come.

notes to prompt me later

we're in north carolina!  atlanta flew by and i'm sad we're not going to be back til september.... but WE'RE AT THE BEACH!!!

thursday was a bundle of fun.  it involved sleeping in (as was the case every day this week... yeay for a jett lagged baby!), running errands with mom - costco!!!- , ditching a sleeping baby to go play at sarah's house, delicious waffle dinner at my brother walter's new house with his beautiful wife and my mom, dad, sister liza, and baby girl.  waffles with cinnamon, butter, syrup, whipped cream, and tons of special costco peach mango orange preserves... well, that's just heavenly.  and even though i was too full and nauseous to move, somehow i got home to put baby girl to bed and made it over to lynell's by 9:30.  ish... i was a little late.  hung out with lynell, diana, tarin, and weed til after midnight before calling it a night and heading to the car.  and then weed and i didn't drive away til after 2am.  so much fun.  if only my dear friend rachel had been there.  those girls were my life in highschool... and as far as lisa and diana go... they were my life in.... well, my whole life.  since birth do we never part.  k, i need to go to bed.

friday was excellent as well.  errands, staining the floor and a nasty smelling house, nap time, picnic lunch at the chamblee airport park, aunt jane arrived, made french toast bake in the garage, and picked honey up from the airport at 11 30.  for the fifth time this week didn't get to bed til after 2 am... or 3.

today we drove to the beach.  and baby girl did not sleep for a single second of it so this is officially her first day of her life that she has ever gone without a nap... like was awake for 12 hours straight!  the car ride was pretty good considering it was like sitting next to an add octopus in a carseat.  having so much fun with everyone at the beach already and baby girl looooved jumping waves and getting her clothes all wet.  no pictures of it because i was too busy enjoying the moment but it was sooo worth it.  perfection with sand.

official posts with pictures to come.  maybe.  but don't hold your breath.

can this count for three days of journaling?  i know i'm cheating.

ps- on page 350 or something and i'm absolutely loving atlas shrugged.

twisty slides

ps- on wednesday, we went to the park.

let's play "where's baby?"

 

 

 

 

 

 

there are videos too that maybe i'll add later.  right now i'm too lazy.

i could not even keep track of the number of times she climbed up the play structure to slide down that twisty slide.  it was constant for the second half of our park visit.  and i know i've said it before, but she doesn't need me for any part of it.  just climbs on up and slides on down.  i take pictures to look like an interactive and involved parent.  i'd ask if she wants me to go down with her but i'm too embarrassed for the other moms to hear my kid say "nooooooo" to my offer.  

she's growing up really fast.  and my heart is bursting at the seams.

the cell phone saga

meet my current cell phone... as of less than four hours ago.

it's a samsung sway.  and i actually got it several years ago right before we moved to california... sooo fall of 2009.  it was cute and sleek and had all these cute font options and everything... i was in love.  but then for the next 8 or 9 months as i was loving everything else about my phone, i was hating the super short battery life.  standby time was less than 24 hours and the talk time was about 1 hour before the battery was drained and the phone shut off.  it was a huge pain.  after a million equally terrible refurbished phone replacements (can't verizon just admit it's a crappy phone that shouldn't be on the market and refund my money for a working phone?!) i gave up.  we struck a deal with the store manager that i could get a brand new phone as long as i started my two year contract over again from the current date.  so basically he let me out of the other two year contract and i started a new one, getting a new phone with it.  it was better than nothing but i was still annoyed to have to start a new contract.  and during that 8 months, verizon had changed their policy on phones and data packages so there were about 4 options for phones that didn't require a pricey data package... and they all sucked.  oh well... i got one anyways, just excited for a phone that i could talk on for more than an hour and didn't have to charge multiple times a day.

enter the lg cosmos.

i tried to console myself that maybe this phone would be cool because it slid open to reveal a full keyboard and might be easier for texting and stuff.  and actually it had a few things on there that i really liked... like the way it grouped my text messages by person.  i used this phone for almost a full two years.  until 2.4.12 actually... when i posted this post... after dropping my trusty lg cosmos in the toilet.  it actually dried out and worked somewhat after a few days but the wires were loose so to speak.  certain buttons did random unrequested tasks.  and occasionally it would just start scrolling through my contacts quickly and indefinitely until i turned off the phone.  i said goodbye to the cosmos and hello to...

honey's phone from 2006.  

i don't even know the name of this thing.  but it's six years old.  and it looked it.  iphone friends that had previously made fun of my cosmos for being a dumb phone were now speechless with the return of this ancient flip phone.  this phone had the mp3 option so if you pressed that "play" button you see there on the front, it would blast out your stored music.  i think there are less than 10 songs on there.  all from a chris merritt cd we bought at a provo street concert that first summer we were married.  talk about fond memories. and by the way, i sure miss our provo house.  anyways... this phone had some cons... short battery life (because it was so old) and that even if the phone was on silent, if that play button got pressed in my pocket or purse, it would blast out chris merritt.  which seemed to keep happening at very inopportune times.  like a baptisms and such.  or when i was leaning over the crib to place my drowsy babe inside... BAM!  CHRIS MERRITT!  and baby startled wide awake.  anyways... the main plus side was that a dance party was only a click away, and i really enjoyed that it was an extremely easy phone to text on.  oh wait... maybe the biggest con ever?  it was made before texting was big so the inbox held a grand total of... wait for it... 56 texts before it would start rejecting messages and telling you to clear out your inbox.  chris had some texts on that phone "locked" that couldn't be deleted... so really i only had space to receive about 30 texts before i had to start deleting them to clear more room.  that took more time out of my day than picking out what clothes to wear.  which trust me is a lot.  because i HATE picking out clothes in the morning.  loathe entirely.

anyways, i was able to overlook those cons and appreciate that i had a working phone.  i just kept brainwashing myself that i must have the easiest phone ever to text on.  my life with this est. 2006 phone was great until one april morning about two weeks ago, when my phone stopped making sound.  it wouldn't ring, it wouldn't alert me for texts, it wouldn't make a noise if i set the alarm to wake me up in the morning.  and if i made/answered a phone call, i couldn't hear a single thing coming from the other end.  it was a phone that couldn't make phone calls.  but at least i could see missed calls and respond with texts.  if i needed to have an actual conversation with someone i could either use honey's phone in the evening, or if it was family/close friends, we would just skype.  it actually was only inconvenient a handful of times.  one being that one of my best friends, jodi, doesn't own a cell phone because they give her migraines.  she only has a house phone... which doesn't text.  the only other annoying times were twice when i had a back and forth text conversations with christopher that took ten minutes when it could have been replaced with a 20 second phone call.  other than that, i really didn't mind not ever hearing my phone ring.  although i will say one weird thing is that it wasn't completely mute.  it would ring if my christopher called (he had a different ringtone than everyone else) and it still would blast chris merritt in awkward situations.  i asked my mother to send me her old razr phone asap monday morning.  because honestly, it's really scary knowing that if something happened to your child, you'd have no way to call 911.  it came in the mail wednesday afternoon (having a mute phone for almost a week, this was SUPER exciting!)  i literally tore it out of the box, and flew out the door to hit up the verizon store before our relief society activity.  it took about 10 mins to transfer activation and contacts and i was out of there.  when i asked the guy why the sound only worked sometimes he explained that it was a software error but that since the phone is so old, they don't make software updates for it anymore.  bye bye honey's 2006 phone.

hola mom's old razr.

this is actually the third razr phone i've had in my lifetime.  the first one was pink and i was in love with it.  like IN LOVE.  it fell in the toilet.  i was so sad and crushed that honey surprised me with a new pink razr off of craigslist.  after using it for a long time, the screen went haywire and i had to get a new phone... i think that's when i got the sway.  ANYWAYS... this was my phone from last wednesday night until this morning.  not even a full week.  i was very grateful to have a phone that had sound but three things about this phone absolutely killed me.  first, it used iTAPEN to text... not word.  for someone that's been texting with word for the last several years, this made my texting about as efficient as a 90 year old on an ipad.  also, there was  a six second delay between the time you pressed a button and the time the screen changed.  my phone would make a little ding, i'd see that the screen said "message from _____" and click okay to view.  an then i'd wait. one, two, three, four, five, six... actually, maybe it was longer than six seconds.  and if you really want to know how long six seconds is... watch it tick away on a wall clock.  like a little miniature eternity.  anyways... when i thought the suspense was just too much to bear, the message would finally appear.  you think this is something you'll get used to after a day or two.  i am here to tell you that is not the case.  it is actually just the opposite.  anyways, the third con... battery life... go figure.  just because it was so old it needed to be charged twice a day.  once over night and then once during the late afternoon.  so the max it could be unplugged was about 7 hours.  not at all inconvenient.  regardless, i am extremely grateful to my mother for lending me this phone... i appreciated it while it lasted.  which as i said was about 6 days.  because after our young womens kickboxing activity last night, i had to stay for a youth conference meeting.  and i had baby girl with me because honey's out of town.  well, she was doing really great on my lap for the first half hour but then got anxious and fidgety.  i don't know if i had my phone in my hand or in my lap or in my pocket or what but at one point, baby was squirming on my lap and the razr phone fell to the ground.  the back popped off and the phone turned off.  with most phones, this is pretty common if it's dropped.  so i picked it up, popped everything back in place and turned it on... the keypad lit up but the screen did not.  and has not since.  i could answer incoming phone calls but without a screen couldn't make outgoing calls, see missed calls, text, or do anything else.  having a phone without sound is infinitely better than a phone without a screen.  

so this morning we went to the park with friends from church and although it was hugely inconvenient that i wasn't able to text anyone that i needed to, it was once again the panic that, in an emergency, i wouldn't be able to call for help.   i went straight home (i was in such a hurry that i left abigail buckled in her car seat in the garage while i ran upstairs to look for more phones.  we have a plastic bucket upstairs where we keep random electronic stuff like old phones.  rifling through there i found my old samsung sway that i'd completely forgotten about!  i grabbed that and its charger, got in the car and went straight to verizon.  it was almost 12 30 which is creeping up on lunchtime but i wasn't worried because last time it only took ten mins to activate a different phone.  well, for other random reasons, it took over an hour inside the verizon store and multiple calls to customer service from both of my parents as well as the verizon rep helping me.  baby girl did great but i definitely had a headache when we walked out at 1 30.  it is no simple task to entertain a toddler in a verizon store for an hour.  but i have a functioning phone now (i'm sincerely hoping the battery life is not as terrible as i remember it... although at least i'm in the habit of twice a day cell phone charging now) and i'm thrilled!  because as stated before... this is a cute little phone, it texts with word, and i think i'm going to love it.  so let's just all pray that i'm not cursed and that the software on this phone won't give out anytime soon.  because as i'm sure we can all guess... they most likely don't have updates for the sway!

i kind of feel like i need a family tree or ancestry.com or something to showcase my cell phone lineage.  until they invent that sort of thing, this picture will have to suffice.  the cosmos begat the mp3 flip phone, and the mp3 flip phone begat the razr, and the razr begat the sway.  and thus ended the ten weeks in the spring of 2012.

although i find this a little amusing because it was actually the low battery life sway that begat the cosmos.  so is the circle of life cell phones.

so there you have it, as promised in this post (which was, ironically, before this most recent phone break), my rant about cell phones.  and in case it wasn't clear, i will clarify that we don't have a house phone so my cell phone is my only phone.  and if there was ever an emergency, it is my only way to call for help.  no working cell phone = no way to dial 911.  so, for safety reasons, i make it a point to always have a sufficiently charged and working cell phone.  

thoughts on my mind

things have been pretty busy around here and i've got a bunch of stuff i need to post, mainly for liza the food stuff i've been making, but i'm having trouble finding the motivation and brainpower to do so.  so instead, here's a whole bunch of nothingness.

first, i don't know that i've ever purchased anything from pottery barn.  ever.  but i get their catalogs (um, i just tried to spell that catologues... see?  brain power gone) in the mail practically every other day and i love looking at the pictures.  because they're pretty and glossy and they give me inspiration and guidance on certain decorating decisions i'm deliberating (like right now trying to figure out a bed frame and new bedding) and y'know what i'm absolutely loving about their stuff this season?!  that it is all monogrammed with my initials!

$50 bar soap

well, my old initials.  for carrie elise maycock.  i guess now i'm cmh for carrie maycock hillier but whatever.  pottery barn is sporting my old initials and for some reason it's just one of those little things that makes me smile.  cMe all over everything!  check out their monogram shop online and see for yourself.  but don't buy anything.  because it is ridiculously expensive and poor quality.  anyways, it cracks me up.   ps- i want to find something similar to this bedding... i think.

we have a huge master closet but there's not enough room to organize all of our clothes because it's just a rod and a shelf... terribly inefficient.  i dream of one of those super awesome built in closet systems like look like this

and sometimes i find pictures of closet systems looking like this.

and i can't help but laugh at the picture because honestly, who spends hundreds of dollars on a closet dedicated to two dresses, two pairs of shoes, a pair of pants, one blazer, a purse, a box, and a blanket?  not me.  the only time those things should be together alone is in a suitcase.

today we set up the furniture where we want it in the guest room... it's just lacking a mattress.  which it won't have until we can find a king bed/bedding (see above) we like so that we can move our queen bed upstairs.

i have got to be the most indecisive person ever.  our house looks like we just moved in because i can seem to get enough of an opinion on rugs, pillows, art for the walls, or anything else.  i do, however, feel 100% certain that i need chandeliers in my master closet although i'm having trouble convincing my christopher that that is a necessary purchase.

i've had home stuff on my mind lately, can you tell?

lately, i've been a crazy combination of excited and wanting to accomplish things but unmotivated, tired, and overwhelmed as well.  and it's taking a toll on my calling and making me feel really behind/not on top of things but i as i mentioned before, i just can't seem to gather the brainpower to overcome it all.

tonight we were supposed to have a cozy little movie date night after baby went to sleep.  honey redboxed extremely loud and incredibly close and i was excited about it exclaiming "yeay!  i've been wanting to see that!"  well after half a second of it i said, "umm, just kidding, i don't think this is the movie i was thinking of and actually, i think i'll have my laptop out while we watch it so i don't get scared or spooked" which morphed into "actually, if you don't mind, i think i'll just hang out with my computer in bed while you watch the movie because it sounds super creepy."  so we're having a great movie date night... in different rooms.  although i can somewhat hear it and i'm really glad i'm not watching it.

i bought this dress tonight.

honey and i maaay have gotten into a little disagreement about this dress concerning the modesty issue.  it's definitely long enough and not too tight, and contrary to what that picture would have you believe, the front is not revealing (although that could have more to do with my umm body type than anything else).  the issue came up in... THE SLEEVES.  first, i'm going to have to wear it around the house a bit and see if my g's are noticeable through the arm hole (i haaate when the arm holes are too big for my arms) but mainly, my honey is convinced that this dress is sleeveless.  i told him they're cap sleeves (now that i've seen the website description i have a proven source!) but he strongly disagreed and said that if you asked 10 people about this dress, 10 people would say there are no sleeves.  i would LOVE to hear if anyone regards this as sleeveless.  it's cut the exact same as my downeast shirts.  anyways, thoughts?  and don't tell me it's not a good color on me because i got it super marked down and that was the only color available.  so i don't want your thoughts on that part of it, got it?

and now it's time to retrieve my passed out honey from the sofa and go to sleep!

it's 6:00 somewhere

i think i've mentioned it before, but baby girl's most cranky time of the day was that awkward chunk after she woke up but before my honey got home.  we didn't have enough time for an outing, i was normally trying to make something edible (some people call it "dinner") and baby girl would just whine and cry and beg for me to hold her.  

well... it's better now.  far from perfect but much much better.  instead of having her nap from one to four, i put her down at two or a little after so she can nap til 5 or even 5 30 sometimes.  this is excellent because it minimizes the time in that whiny awkard pre-daddy pre-dinner stage that was pretty much earth shattering for baby girl... every single day.

now we get up from nap, put our play clothes on (yes, both of us do this... i frequently have trouble napping in my play clothes), grab a banana (just for baby girl) and head outside (both of us do this part too) to get the mail and play until christopher gets home.  granted, this plan would not be possible without this fabulous warm weather we've been soaking up but whatever... it's amazing.

and i know it happened a while ago before she overdosed, but baby girl is obsessed with bananas.  she's back to eating several a day.  but unlike her previous banana kick, she kinda treats her banana like a toy or lovey.  something to be held while she plays and goes about life in general.  previously i would give her half a banana that would immediately disappear, and two seconds later i'd give her the second half, which she would also immediately polish off.  these days...  she wants the whole banana.  so she gets half in each hand.  when i put the first half in her hand she then points and grunts for the other half to be put in her empty hand.  so she has half a banana in each hand.  the first half is gone normally by the time i throw away the peel.  the second half stays there forever.  and i mean like up to an hour or more sometimes (yesterday she gnawed on a granola bar for almost an hour and a half at the playground).

she got this banana before we went out to play.

"let's go play, mom."

"my bicycle is right over there and it's beckoning me."

"mom.  for real.  stop taking those unflattering pictures of me and let's get on with this 'outside play' you lured me with."

she couldn't figure out how to steer with one hand.  she kept alternating her free hand, putting it on one handlebar and then the other and then back to the first.  i couldn't help but laugh at it. 

 

GLAMOUR SHOT!  we'll add it to her portfolio for america's next top [baby] model.

we have a dog problem in our neighborhood.  i'll rant about it some other time.

 

 

we also have a problem that the neighbor kids taught my child to cross the street without holding my hand.  will rant about that later too.

today though was a minor success in that my child waited at the curb for me to accompany her.  honor and obey your mother dear child of mine.

this parent likes to give his child fruit snacks before dinner.  and that's all i'll say about that.  notice the banana still in hand?

she was still holding it over 45 minutes later when we all came inside to eat dinner.

john's birthday dinner

today, honey's brother, john, turned 18 and we had a lot of fun celebrating with him tonight!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

check back later.... three of these are supposed to be videos.  and when i get more sleep and more patience with blogger, i will grant you those three wishes videos your my heart so desires.

our morning routine

after we get baby out of her crib, our morning follows a pretty basic routine.  baby normally takes off running around the hallway and guest room upstairs to get some energy out.

huge nighttime diaper.  almost looks like cloth it's so big.

then she gets a fresh diaper and clothes.  it's typical that she picks out at least one element of her outfit.  i pick out the rest to match it which often results in a tantrum of some sort.  this child has got major opinions about what she wears.  anyways, then she puts her diaper in the diaper pail without me even asking.

for some reason she picked out her pink snow boots for today.   i call them her moon boots.

and she checks out the toilet.  always.  lots of interest in that lately.

then when i start to go downstairs, if she doesn't already have her hair done, she'll normally tell me that that's what she wants to do before we head down for breakfast.  this is the drawer with her comb and rubber bands.

she sits on the counter and combs through her hair.

her left hand is holding the teeny tiny rubber band.

and then she normally attempts to lay the rubber band on her head, just willing it to form it's own ponytail.

like so.

and then i step in to actually form the ponytail and make her give me loves and hugs and kisses in front of the mirror before we go down to breakfast.

she normally takes a few detours and scopes stuff out... like my unattended laptop.  whenever she finds something off limits she says "nooooo" and "no touch" repeatedly while she touches it.

and then her oatmeal is normally outside cooling down on the back patio (i make it before i go up to get her) but she's always anxious to get eating.

this morning, since i'd already laid out some fruit, she didn't waste time pawing at the sliding glass door at her outside oatmeal.

straight for the banana.  go figure.

she polished off the entire banana in about two minutes flat.  then when she got in her chair, she ate all of the kiwi and most of her bowl of oatmeal.  breakfast of champions for sure.

tune in tomorrow for part two of this ever exciting morning!

ha, i crack myself up.