jazzercise

this is what baby wore today (and maybe yesterday but that's beside the point).  i picked out her shirt and leggings.  she picked out her shoes and glasses and then i topped it off with a bow and we declared it purple day.

today i had my 16 week appointment so i dropped baby girl off with kirstyn and michaela and when i came back we all hung out until it was time for us to go home for nap.  and at least three times kirstyn commented on baby looking like she'd just been to jazzercise.  she said she asked baby girl at one point "did you just get done with jazzercise?!" but apparently baby girl just smiled and laughed.  i'm kinda surprised she didn't say yes.  she says yes to almost everything.  

 

 

 

 

i feel like maybe she could also be a celebrity mom out running errands or heading home from a yogalates class or something.  you never really know with those celebrity moms.

ps- THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR EXCELLENT SUGGESTIONS!!!  they were wonderful and i feel much better with the options i'm going to present to my christopher tonight when he gets home from salt lake.  it was only a day trip (he left at 4 30 this morning) but this time it feels like he's been gone forever.

advice please! baby's birthday gifts

i am terrible at making decisions.  especially when i have to include my honey's opinion.  that makes it just that much more difficult.

for christmas we were wanting to get baby girl a play kitchen.  i wanted a pretty wood kidkraft kitchen and honey wanted a cheap plastic kitchen and baby girl didn't get an opinion.

she also didn't get a kitchen... because we never decided on one.  poor baby girl.

most all of her toys are hand me downs or craigslist finds or random crap around the house that she finds to play with like ice cube trays.  i know she would think a plastic toy is just as cool as a wooden toy but the thing is... i know i won't.  i want it to look pretty and feel sturdy.  and i want it to last more than six months.  so now i'm down to the wire trying to figure out birthday presents for baby girl and even though i'm over that whole kitchen thing, i'm having the same plastic vs. wood dilemma.

you see, baby girl has three main obsessions right now.  they are shoes, the beach/pool, and babies.  she is completely satisfied with her shoe situation and we've already purchased her a cool blow up baby pool slide thing for our backyard that i think she'll love so really, i want her other presents to be baby related.  especially because it's flattering to me as a mother and i hope it will get her psyched and prepped to be a big sister soon.

i haven't yet let honey check out the options because i want to figure out what's out there first but here's the deal...

i'm thinking he would like to spend $15 and get this little plastic set that is an all in one sink, crib, and highchair.  i'm sure baby would love it.

i would like to get something super high end but would never let myself spend that kind of money on something of this nature so really i would want to get something like this highchair, this cradle, and maybe this stroller or splurge for this one that has the bassinet.

so give me your opinion.  spew your advice.  i like nice things but i'm also really cheap.  like how baby girl's actual highchair that she uses was free and her stroller was only $15 (that's less than any of the doll strollers i've seen).  i need to make a decision fast so we can get presents here asap.

what should i buy?

stuffed peppers

SUCCESS!!!  SUCCESS!!!

i made this recipe for stuff peppers tonight and honey and i were both extremely impressed!  when i was browsing through my favorite cookbook i came across a recipe for stuffed peppers and thought, "oooohhhhh!  that actually sounds good!"  but instead of just making that recipe (it cooked in the microwave and ours would have been too small for that), i got online and looked up a million stuffed pepper recipes and this one sounded the best and got rave reviews.  and it didn't look too too difficult.  i really wanted something more than just "good" because honey and i love stuffed peppers but our only experience with them was either eating them in hungary - the real deal - or eating them in the states made my someone using a hungarian recipe.  i had big expectations. 

and honestly...it was, for me, kind of a lot of work (though it wasn't anything challenging) but so so soooo very worth it.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

i made it mostly according to the recipe but with a few changes out of necessity and because i'm lazy.

- i had only bought two giant peppers from the store because i was planning to half the recipe.  then i remembered that i hate fractions (and normally part way through cooking i stop remembering to half things and it's a big disaster) and that it's twice the work (math) for half the food.  so i just cut the peppers in half length wise so i could stuff them more.  and that way you get more meat mixture... which i loved.

- i didn't have any celery.  also, i didn't have any pepper to mix in with the onion and nonexistent celery because of the way i decided to cut them and there was no "waste" or leftovers.  

-i didn't remember to boil the peppers until i was ready to stuff them - whoops - and the oven was already preheated and i was on a time crunch because i actually knew when my christopher would be getting home so i just boiled a bit of water and then rotated the peppers through a few mins each.  they had plenty of time to cook in the oven anyways.

-i thought i had tomato sauce but turns out it was tomato paste.  so i poured that in and added a can and a half of water.  also, all of the reviews said that the recipe was perfect as is but that the sauce was so good they would double it.  so my measurements aren't exact for the sauce (i still just did the one can of tomatoes) but with all of that tomato paste and water it was a great amount of sauce and although it looked like a TON while cooking, it was the perfect proportions for eating.

- i thought i had garlic but actually i'm out.  this made me super sad but in order to not completely miss out, i added garlic salt.  

- the recipe calls for oregano which i learned, i don't have.  but the recipe also called for basil and i happened to have italian seasoning which is oregano, basil and other awesome stuff.  sooo, i was really generous with that.  i tasted the sauce as i went to make sure it wasn't too bland.  i was worried after all the tomato paste and water!

-i was also more generous with the worcestershire sauce... 2 teaspoons instead of 1.5 just because i love that stuff.

- when i did the meat mixture i added the full 1.5 cups cooked rice and i added 1.5 cups of sauce instead of the 1 cup that it called for.  according to my bathroom scale, i used about 1.5lbs of ground beef that i pulled out of the freezer.  what a pleasant surprise when it happens to be the exact amount called for in the recipe!  i also mixed in juuuust a bit of grated parmasan cheese in the meat mixture... not enough that it would be cheesy inside (it was tempting though!) but just enough to keep adding flavors in there.

- i sprayed a 9x13 pan and somewhat covered the bottom with the tomato sauce mixture, then placed the stuffed peppers on top and poured the rest of the sauce over it all.  covered with foil and baked for an hour. sprinkled with mozzarella (all of the recipes suggested sharp cheddar cheese but that seemed off base to me since it had a very european italian feel to me) and let it get melty and browned which only took about 10 mins.  the peppers were excellent but the cheese really made it happen.  those bites were the best!

soooo, all of those extensive notes for myself are to say that this will become a regular for us.  honey said it was the best thing i've made in months.  which, even though this is the first time i've actually cooked in the last 30+ days, i'm pretty sure means this was incredible.  the peppers were enormous and we each ate a whole one because they were just that good.  baby girl liked it too although she wasn't CRAZY about it but probably because she's not a huge fan of meat (unless it's bacon, sausage, hotdog, or anything else loaded with flavor, fat and sodium).  next time i'll have to make even more because apparently they can be frozen after for up to a month.  i would totally do that this time but i'm pretty positive they'll get eaten out of the fridge just fine in the next few days.  two containers of this...

probably won't last long at all.

brownie cookies and my day

this afternoon i found this recipe to make so i'd have something delicious to bring to our young women pool party tonight.  it looked super easy and delicious.  well, the girls were all impressed but let me tell you... it was not easy.  the batter was so difficult to work with, even after i added more flour and tried putting it in the fridge to set a little.  who's made these before?!  cooking sarah, what did i do wrong?!

ps- i did a huge shopping trip today for the first time in over a month, so i have my recipes planned out and i'm so excited for a few new things i'm going to be trying.  cross your fingers it goes better than these cookies!

pps- today was an amazing day.  i don't know how, but the little every day things i experience bring me such joy and happiness.  today, baby girl slept in til after 10, we had a great breakfast, and were headed to the library by 10:30 to meet up with jodi and elle.  our massive grocery shopping trip at walmart afterwards only took an hour flat and it was simple and productive (just like i'd prayed it would be!) and my testimony was strengthened by that experience.  lunch time with baby girl was awesome while i put away groceries, and right when she was done, she requested a nap... 2:00... right on time!  i hung out, talked to my mom, made cookies, and got everything ready for the pool party.  baby girl was still sleeping (or at least hanging out quietly in her crib... who really knows?!) when i left at 6:00.  the pool party went great and when i got home i had the energy and motivation to put everything away and clean the kitchen while baby girl gobbled up cherry tomatoes, carrot sticks, broccoli, celery, and prunes.  yeay for the veggie platter leftovers providing a satisfying dinner for my baby!  although i should note that that prunes weren't part of the platter... they came from the fridge, because for some reason my kid thinks they are a special treat.  ha.  and tonight is the first night in over a month that i'm going to bed not sure what to do tomorrow.  between house guests, going out of town, girls camp, and more friends in town as well as random stuff like actually clean the house, do laundry, quilting, etc, i haven't felt on top of things in a long while.  sooo, while i still have plenty of stuff to do, nothing right now is marked "urgent" and i can breathe a little and maybe make a dent on my "would be nice to do" list.  life is good to me.

monday monday

today was a great day.  we slept in, quilted with my mother in law and sister in law, hung out, napped, and watched the bachelorette.  anyone else out there rooting for jef?

anyways, here are pictures.

i've been loving this quick and easy patriotic breakfast for the past week.  for the record, eggo waffles can taste delicious when accompanied by butter, syrup, whipped cream, and fresh berries.  adding the nutella to that is over the top and will make you want to barf.

as mentioned yesterday, shoes don't fit in the highchair so they get ditched on the floor for mealtime.

brown pair is mine, black pair is honey's.  and books aren't allowed in the highchair either.  ironically, this book on the floor is a library book (always are kept in a safe pile upstairs by the glider where we read) about treating books well.  read it, don't eat it!

this was baby girl's version of breakfast.  when possible, she gets the healthier version of whatever i'm eating.  unless it's eggs... then we get the same thing.  or unless i eat cake or candy for breakfast... then she gets oatmeal.  today it was plain waffles, blueberries, and two boiled eggs (she still won't eat the yokes... but then again i didn't either until i was in highschool or something).

she is obsessed with boiled egg whites.  anyone have any suggestions for uses for boiled egg yokes?  because i normally just throw them away...

i showered before baby girl got up this morning.  i always let my hair air dry almost all the way because i hate blow drying, it's colorado and it only takes about four seconds, and it's healthier for my hair.  actually only the first two are true.  the last is just an added bonus.  so after breakfast i asked baby girl if she wanted to come help me do my hair...

she eagerly ran to my bathroom and brought me my straightener.  this girl knows the drill.

then she ditched her shoes,

looked around for more,

and then headed off to find more...

running really, really fast.

 i actually kept track of the shoe thing this morning.  well, for the first little bit.  baby girl slept in today and i didn't get her out of her crib til after 10am.  probably 10:15ish.  when i looked at the clock at 11:50, i counted up the number of pairs of shoes i'd seen her wear already that day.  total count in the first hour and a half of her day?  SEVEN pairs of shoes.  and i actually didn't help her put on a single pair... all of those were shoes that she managed to find and wear on her own.  also, we never left the house and a good portion of that hour and a half was spent eating breakfast in her highchair.  and of course she wore most of the shoes more than once... seven is just the number of different pairs in the picture.  

and just in case you noticed, yes, her shirt does indeed have shoes on it.

month of pictures

except that it's really only like three days of pictures with the first group being a month ago today and the last group being today and the picture in the middle being sometime in between.  apparently i forgot about that camera in my nightstand.  whoops.

soooo flash back to june 8th, 2012 when we were gardening/raking dead leaves from the lawn.

 

we took out the rock pile around our trees and replaced it with grass.  raising little grass seedlings is almost as challenging as raising a child.  although it happens faster.

she stands at the curb and waits for us to come hold her hand so we can cross the street together.  it's precious.

we believe in child labor.

but don't call cps on us... she's okay with it.

ADORES her daddy.

this made me laugh out loud.  she's really got a sense of humor and knows how to be funny and appreciate funny things.

what a good helper.

oh hi there.

 

i'm in love.

i love her little maycock nose and her tiny mouth and her little baby neck and her tiny arms and her wispy baby hair and pretty much every single thing about her i just can't get enough of.

baby running.  she falls down a lot.  constant scrapes on her knees.  although even if it draws blood she probably cries less than half the time.  tougher than i'd be.

 

my handsome husband.

and remember when i wrote about having to cut baby's hair which was really just clipping out a bad knot?  well, this is the picture from it.

too bad it happened again a week later.  crossing my fingers this doesn't become a regular thing...

and then tonight i got out the camera because honey (ps- tonight my honey and i were talking and baby was trying to get our attention and she did.  because eventually we noticed her saying "HOOOONEY!!!  HOOONEY!!!" over and over again.  oh dear.) and baby girl were having such a great time jumping on the bed.  baby girl loves jumping and she's discovered that it's infinitely more fun to jump on beds.  honey piled up our pillows and just started tossing baby on top.  she couldn't get enough of it.

 

 

if you're ever next to baby girl when you hear her say "i jump" then turn around and catch her!  because "i jump" really just means "i trustfall" and it looks just like this.

 other randoms as of late...

baby girl's shoe fetish is still fierce and showing no signs of letting up.  she has taken to wearing shoes all around the house now.  she's not allowed to wear shoes on the bed or our sofas and if she's wearing my shoes or honey's she has to take them off before getting in her highchair because they won't fit through the holes.  sooo, she'll hop on the bed/sofa/whatever, slip off her shoes, drop them on the floor and hang out.  when she climbs off to get milk from the kitchen or something, she sits down, puts her shoes on, and runs off to do whatever before coming back and repeating the process.  today at church my friend danielle was picking up her little boy from nursery and couldn't find his shoes.  she and the nursery leaders were looking all over before they finally found them.  on baby girl's feet.  on any given day at home she'll wear at least seven different pairs of shoes.  and that's just at home.  it's tough to say if she likes babies or shoes more.

baby girl loves the pool.  also called the baby pool but mostly referred to as the baby beach.  she talks about it all day long and constantly requests to go there.  "baby beach?  i want baby beach."  so i say "sorry baby girl, we can't go right now because it's too hot/sunday/nighttime/etc."  and then she proceeds to ask for the pool instead.  good try baby girl but we can't do that either.

baby girl looooves nap time and bed time.  she's also started requesting naps all. the. time.  i normally feed her lunch right before nap so now she thinks that she can ask for a nap after every meal and snack.  so sometimes our days look like this.  wake up and get out of bed.  eat breakfast.  done with breakfast.  "nap?  i want nap."  hmmm.  what to do when your kid is throwing a massive tantrum because you won't let them take a nap at 9:30, 11:30, or any other time of the morning?!  nap time is at 2.  you can have a nap at 1:30 if you're particularly devilish but don't try it.

baby girl's vocabulary is still exploding.  communication with her these days is so easy that it's getting more difficult for me to notice when she says new words and phrases.  tonight she heard the garage door and exclaimed "daddy's home!" as she ran to the door.  it wasn't until my honey walked in that i realized that's the first time she's said that.  normally she'll just say "daddy!" or "there's daddy!" so this was definitely new.  other frequent and useful words include on and off... who would have guessed?!  if she wants to, she'll pick up on new words the first time she hears it like one time when my christopher referred to her little toys/figurines as "guys" when he said "go pick up your guys."  it stuck hardcore.  now it's always "i want guys."  "there's more guys."  and "it's guys' nap" as she lays them all on their backs on the sofa.  when we were eating popcorn several weeks ago she picked up that it was called popcorn and was constantly requesting more pop.  tonight she saw a picture of homemade bagels online (sawah, we were looking at all of your facebook mobile uploads because baby girl saw the picture on my newsfeed of joshua eating and requested to see more baby eat.  and then we scrolled through a million pictures of yours... literally a million) and commented "cake!  that's more cake!" which is pretty impressive because she is very rarely in contact with cake.  on the opposite note.  there are certain things she refuses to say.  she will not say "sorry" "night night" or "thank you."  she still blows a kiss for thank you (her version of the sign language) maybe out of pure laziness?  who knows because although she won't say "thank you" she will say "no thank you" because i've started requiring that.  when i offer her things i prompt her that the answer is either "yes please" or "no thank you" although tonight she started saying "no please" so i guess we still have a ways to go.  she's also randomly said stuff like "excuse me" as she pushed past chris to get through a small space and a million other random things that always surprise me when they happen.  it just blows my mind how many sentence combinations she uses and the number of new words she says every day.

and as somewhat mentioned above... she thinks the only purpose of a laptop is to look at pictures of babies. so we both enjoy spending our time online browsing blogs and facebook albums.  she also thinks the only purpose of a blackberry is to watch clifford.  "i want more woof."  ironically, she's pretty bored with the ipad but maybe that's because we only have random boring free kid apps on there.  any recommendations for FREE apps she might like?  leave a comment and i'll pass them along to my honey.  although it's not suuuper urgent because she only sees it during sacrament at church and she's also fine without it.  today she was an angel and i was smothering her with kisses for that whole first hour.  i love my kid all the time but i really do love her more when she's wonderfully behaved.  and she doesn't care about my cell phone.  rarely she'll request to see baby pictures on my phone but they're so small and i'm so lazy that i normally just say no and she moves on to the next thing.

pregnancy posts will start happening soon.  i need to get on that for my sake because i have so much going on in my head that i need to get out.  i visited my dear friend, used-to-be-pregnant chelsey in the hospital saturday night and it got me so insanely excited to have a baby.  with baby girl, my recovery experience in and out of the hospital with pure absolute misery... my own personal version of hell.  and when i went to visit chelsey she just looked so happy.  she was friends with the nurses, her room was really nice, she was moving around just great, she looked super cute (of course) and happy and it just gave me hope that maybe my experience this time around won't be like my first.  soooo, thank you all for the congratulations and well wishes... we are beyond excited and loving every minute of this thing we call the present.

holiday crasher

i know it's july and it's early to start thinking about the holidays but i can't help it.  first, i blame pinterest for my eagerness for hot chocolate and all things pumpkin and cozy.  second,  i'm working on bracing myself for our first christmas at home as a little family.  we won't be traveling for the holidays this year.  in our five years of marriage we've been lucky enough to spend christmas and new years with either my family or honey's family and it's been awesome.  this year, we're going to be celebrating alone as a little family.  so i've been mentally bracing myself for that.  i'm going to have to make a bigger effort to always have christmas music on, make holiday treats, and actually go all out decorating our house with holiday stuff.  you see, it's going to be an important time for us because we're expecting a special holiday crasher.  a new family member is going to visit us.  actually, it's going to be a little baby.  and if it doesn't cry too much... we'll keep it for good.

my belly is round and my heart is full.  little baby hillier, i'm giddy with excitement for you to join our family.

service yields love

yesterday was a fabulous fun filled day with the turnages since they were in town visiting.  they came over around noon and we partied clear until after 9 when all of our kids needed to go to sleep.  by the end of the day, i was exhausted and our house was a wreck.  so while i took baby girl up to bed, honey cleaned the kitchen, including taking care of a massive pile of dishes that had been accumulating all week.  when i walked downstairs to my spotless kitchen i was overwhelmed with love for my sweet husband.  i've been slacking on our love journal lately and it has really shown in my increased irritability and under appreciation for my honey.  but today?  not the case.  every time i looked at my kitchen i knew my honey loved me and i knew i loved him.  i'm a non abstract sort of person when it comes to showing love and affection.  i need phone calls, texts, letters, and blatant "i love you so very much" professions of love.  and let me tell you that when it comes to the in-your-face, i-love-you-this-much facts... a clean kitchen is the ultimate trump card.  because as long as my kitchen is clean, all is right in the world.

including my marriage.


and on a somewhat related but not really too much note, baby girl started saying "honey" because she has picked up on the fact that that's what her parents call each other.  hearing "hello honey" out of her little baby mouth tonight... oh my goodness i about died.

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?!

more travel anxiety

tomorrow morning at 6:30am we're leaving for girls camp.  this is so sad for me to admit but i would give anything not to go.  my appetite has been super weird lately and the heat and altitude has been giving me bad headaches and making me faint/dizzy every time i stand up.  but that's not really it.  because, i mean, i really really really loved girls camp when i was a kid.  i probably loved it more than any other girl there but this time it's not the same.  why?  because i have a kid and a husband now.  but mostly because i have a kid now.  i hate leaving her, even for date nights.  my time is much happier and more enjoyable when she's with me.  i love nap time as much as the next person but aside from that, i don't ever feel like i need a "break" from her.  so my biggest reason for not wanting to go to camp is actually that i'm going to have to be away from my baby.

i spent the whole night with her since my christopher spent the night in bed trying to rest off a headache.  i hugged her and kissed her as much as i could.  we played dress up, alphabet blocks, drug dog cards, a bunch of new toys from liza, and a million other things.  and then it was time for bath and bed.  after we prayed i held her in my arms and told her how much i love her and that i'm going bye bye tomorrow and will be gone for a few days while she plays with her friends and daddy and grandma, grandpa, and uncle nate.  she was excited about seeing uncle nate.  i told her i'd be back soon and then we could play some more and that i would miss her while i'm gone.  i cherished holding that little body in my arms and fought back tears as i mourned the hours and days ahead that i would miss spending with her.  i laid her in her crib and told her goodnight.

then i went straight downstairs to my laptop, opened up my blog, and scrolled through post after post after post of pictures and stories about her.  i left her for ten days when we went to dubai.  four days while we were in napa.  and this will only be four days while i'm at camp.  i won't lie... dubai was really hard.  but napa was not as bad.  and this?  well, my heart is breaking.  and my tears are spilling.

i know she won't even notice or care that i'm gone.  i am 100% not at all worried about her.  i am 10000000% worried about myself.  i know i say it jokingly quite a bit but i am absolutely and completely sincere when i ask you this time to please please pray for me.  specifically that my heart won't hurt so bad and also that none of my girls will see their young women president crying in her tent because she wants to go home.

and now i just need to dry my eyes, suck it up, and pack my bags.  but really, please pray for me while i'm gone.  i would really appreciate it.

screen shots

from yesterday.

shortly after i had baby girl, i signed up for a million and one email things that would hopefully send me coupons or alert me to good deals on baby things i would need.  well, it's been almost two years and i've been trudging through them daily, forgetting that they're only an option.  luvs email?  haven't actually opened on of those in who knows how long... i wonder if i'm missing out on something.  so i opened up the email titled "get BIG savings on a whole lotta luvs - one week only!" and was... not impressed.  first, amazon is way way cheaper.  second, it says the every day price is $15.75!  a whopping 75 cents qualifies as "BIG savings" these days?!  maybe next time they should title their email "$15 box of diapers!  this week only you can save a huge 75 cents on your purchase!  in case you're not that great at math, it's a whole 4.7% off the every day low price!"

and then i unsubscribed.

this left me more time to moan about the current colorado heat wave going on.  because i'm nostalgic, when i checked the weather for parker, i also checked the weather for atlanta.  108* on friday?!  with a tropical storm?! 

 i'll try to limit my moaning for the duration of the week.

yesterday i spent an hour on the phone with a very polite guy, eric, from the costco computer customer service line.  my warranty for my computer ends in 12 days and i've been having some issues with my battery so i decided to call in and see if there was anything costco could do for me.  this experience went as well as it possibly could have because talking to this guy never made me hate him.  even a time or two when something came up he would say "i'll let you check on that and give you a call back in ten minutes."  he was wonderful.  the downside?  apparently my computer battery sucks but it doesn't suck enough to warrant a replacement battery.  

eric said to keep running the test for the next 12 days.  so now i'm basically just crossing my fingers that my battery will die already.  although i'm sure that'll probably end up happening on lucky day 13 or something.  i guess i'll just have to start saving my pennies.

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.

no gum necessary

tonight i had to cut baby girl's hair a tiny bit.

last night we got home late and she was the most tired i've seen her maybe ever.  then we had to wake her up early for church this morning.  so during lunch she's begging for a nap which isn't uncommon but i still knew she was tired from the travel.  normal naptime is 2 but i had her down by 1:30.  at 6:15 i still hadn't heard a peep from her so i finally went up to her room to make sure she was still alive (anyone else do that when their kid takes a super long nap?  i swear i can't be the only one) and i heard her in her crib just happily playing away.  i got her out because it had been almost FIVE HOURS and saw that she had the most ridiculous knot in her hair.  she likes to twirl her hair with her finger... especially when she's tired.  i think this must be a recessive trait in our family because my brother got it too... although he doesn't limit the hair twirling to when he's tired.  so i tried working it out with my fingers.  and i kept doing that while we played outside for two hours and then i decided i'd have to be done with conditioner so before bed i gave her a long bath (yeay for the beach because my baby went from dreading and crying during baths to begging for them and crying when i tell her it's time to get out!  crossing my fingers this lasts...) and let her play in the water while i massaged that knot with conditioner FOUR times.  it got better but not all the way.  so i got her out, dried her off,

and clipped out that little knot.

and that is the story of baby's first unofficial haircut.

and to liza: it's true that baby girl hadn't napped when we left your house after the zoo but i put her down for a nap when we got home and she slept for a few hours until i woke her up.  late nap better than no nap!

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.

pink toes

i realized this morning that i never actually got a picture of baby girl's little toes.  

"show me your toes!"

don't judge me for letting her wear her too small tevas.  she's absolutely in love with them and i swear i'll send them to the basement as soon as we get home from our trip.

 ps- note to self: stop taking pictures in extremely low light situations.  they look ghetto.

aaaannnnndddd now i'm all caught up on atlanta so far and back on track with my 20 day journaling goal.  time to go to sleep!

an important day in history

weed came over tonight after institute to hang out for a few hours.  she was alarmingly skinny.  so one thing led to another and we discovered.

 

 

WE WEIGH THE SAME!!!  safe to say this is the first time in the history of our lives that this has ever been the case.  

so we documented it.

ps- i think i'm pretty safe posting this because weed does not read my blog.  much like the rest of the world... which gloriously leaves me very free to post whatever my heart desires.  oh the perks.

pink pedi

this afternoon when we got up from nap time, baby girl had a little snack while i painted my mother's toes in preparation for the beach.  baby girl was intently observing the situation so i asked her if she wanted her toes painted too.  she did... so i put some newspaper under her feet and gave her a coat of pink polish and a clear top coat while she remained in her little snack chair.  then i took some newspaper and fanned her toes and my mother's to help them dry faster.

so tonight before dinner, baby girl saw the stack of newspaper still on the floor and picked up a paper to hand to my dad.  she then picked up another paper and laid it on the floor in front of her booster seat.  and then i couldn't help but die laughing when she sat down and somehow instructed my dad to start fanning her feet.  so i explained the situation to my dad and captured a bit on video.  this girl cracks me up.

pretending to polish her toes

and then pretending to fan them dry.

 what a good grandpa to play spa pedicure with his littlest grandkid.  i love it.

ps- my parents completely gutted and renovated their kitchen and put in hardwood floors throughout the entire main floor.  they were getting prepped today to be stained later this week so everything on the main floor has been moved to the basement, the garage, or the upstairs part of the house.  for this reason, everything is a bit of a disaster and that is why baby girl eats her meals on a booster seat on a sheet on the playroom floor.  "after" pictures of the kitchen renovation to come... eventually.

keswick park videos

today we went to a park by my parents' house.  it was a little ghetto with all of the non-child friendly giant drops and crazy slides (umm, they were painful to go down... what's up with that?!) and stuff that probably wouldn't be up to code these days but oh my goodness baby girl has never squealed and giggled so much in her life.  like for a solid hour while we were there.  sooo, i got no pictures because i was too busy enjoying things but i managed two videos.  they're very typical and ordinary and i love them both.

baby girl was very sad to leave.  she threw a 30 second tantrum when i told her we had to go.  which is kinda a big deal for her.  maybe we can go back thursday or friday.  or in september...

ps- that outfit she's wearing is size 12 months.  marianne... thanks again!  we're getting two full summers wear out of it!

french toast bake, the varsity, and atlanta!

first off, before i forget...  i have to post this amazing and easy french toast bake recipe.  i pinned it to my pinterest forever ago and forgot about it until i was browsing my food board for some mealtime ideas.  since we had the derenthals in town saturday night to sunday and i had ward council sunday morning, i thought this recipe would be perfect because i could make it the night before and just throw it in the oven before i left for church.  and POOF!  i'm an amazing hostess.  anyways... christopher said it was a little too sweet for him but tracy said it was the most divine thing she's ever tasted.  and my goodness it was delightful.  and just for history's sake... and because i'll want to know for next time and surely not remember... i cooked mine for 52 mins and then left it in the warm oven for another minute or two (i think).

second... and more importantly... baby girl and i made it to atlanta!!!  the drive to the airport was kinda rough with baby girl being tired and whiny (i had to wake her up at 8 because we needed to leave at 8:15) and refusing to eat because it was too early in the morning... but the rest of the day was great.  she was an angel for all of the checking in, going through security, getting moved from gate to gate, and waiting for our delayed flight.  the actual flight was as good as it could possibly be with a 23 month old that was awake the entire time.  although i actually fell asleep several times so maybe she wasn't as well behaved as i think she was but i we survived without any tantrums.  and although no one directly complimented my child on her behavior, the guy sitting next to me commented to the guy next to him "they did really great"... referring to my child and the kid in the row behind us.

the best part of the day though was that my mom flew in from buffalo (she drove out there with my sister emmy who is ENGAGED to a wonderful guy from buffalo!!! - i've been meaning to do an official post on that but short story = i suck... i swear it'll happen eventually) 30 minutes before we got in so she could meet us at the gate!  and although i actually enjoyed the rare experience of flying into T (it's the closest to baggage claim since it goes: baggage claim - T - A - B - C - D - E - F, it was wasted because we actually hopped on the train and went all the way down to F to visit the new varsity that just opened up a few weeks ago!  it was amazing and delicious and even though it's more fun to go to the real thing, this was the perfect option for us because we were getting home by way of marta and my brother in law and it was either airport varsity or none at all.  and although the onion rings are always delicious... they were especially piping hot and perfectly crispy today.  oh my heavens!  perfection!

and then we hopped on marta, hopped off marta, drove home with jeff, ate and hung out til bedtime and then our day was complete.  i'm pretty sure this is the first day that baby girl has ever not taken a nap.  like the first day that she has woken up in the morning and then gone to bed that night without falling asleep in the middle.  although i'm not actually counting it as legit since we lost two hours and i would never in my right mind put her down for bed at 6pm.  but if it's 8pm east coast time... i'm all for it.  sooo, as i said, if we'd be in colorado she would have just gotten a late nap... but since we had the time zone change i just kept her up.  my mom can attest to the fact that by 7:15pm atlanta time, baby girl was begging me to go to sleep.  "naaaapppp.  i want naaaaapppp.  baby naaaaaaappppppp."  well, okay baby, you can have your nap (nap = naps and nighttime sleep)... in 45 minutes.  hang in there.

and on that note, i'm off to take a nap myself.