Adventures in Hartley Land

3 Month old Ruth and crazy big sister Rosalie

2012-02-17T17:15:00.000-08:00

Ruth is making her crazy face at me, so funny.

I did crazy hair and braided all of Rosalie's hair, she looked so cute, but would only wear it for about 5 minutes. She cracks me up.

3 Months is a fun age, we are finally getting more understanding of Ruth. Things were a lot smoother at the beginning of the month. We are still having sleep issues with her. She is just not a sleeper. During the day her naps are about an hour, then she wakes up but is still tired and will only be happy for about 5 minutes before deciding she wants us to put her back to sleep. She is very particular with how she wants to be held to fall asleep, and it seems that the only one that is able to do it is me. She does not like to fall asleep for anyone else really, which is a bit exhausting. She doesn't really seem to love other people holding her much. She will tolerate other people holding her for a little while but gets fussy and wants to be back in my arms. Rosalie loved to be held by everyone, so this is really different for me. Rosalie also slept really well, so I'm completely confused with this child. Ruth likes people, from a distance, she will smile for everyone and loves to watch others from the comfort of my arms. She will be happy for them for a short amount of time, but then wants me again, and she really just wants me to hold her all of the time. She wants to be held, but is not snuggly at all. Rosalie would nuzzle my neck and snuggle on my shoulder, and Ruth wants to be looking around, or held with her head in the crook of my arm to fall asleep. It makes me kind of sad, and I try to force her to snuggle, but it does not work. Ruth's favorite place to sleep is in my bed, with or without me. Sometimes I give up at night and just bring her in bed because then I know I will get some sleep. She seriously will wake up every 5 minutes sometimes and start crying because I put her down. So if it is 2 or 3 and I can't handle it I let her win. I know this is not a great idea, but I need some sleep too ya know. She still wants to eat all night long, but I have stopped feeding her, which is why she doesn't want to go back to sleep sometimes. between midnight and 4 I will not feed her, just because I know she can go longer than every 2 hours which is what she seems to want to do. She eats around 7 pm, has her bath and goes to bed by 8, then will sleep until around 10:30 sometimes 12:30. She is just so all over the place with that. I can hardly keep her on a routine with her crazy waking. She is so fun and happy though. She smiles a lot, and talks, and is just such a joy. I just can't seem to figure her out, because she is soooooo different that Rosalie. I know that no kids are the same, but I guess it makes sense that my pregnancy was so different too. Maybe different personalities of babies cause different pregnancies and symptoms and such. Ruth loves to suck on her hands, and brings them together on her chest and holds them like that a lot, it is really cute. She also likes to grab her blanket and suck on that. She can hold her head up really well, she pushes up on her arms at tummy time. She loves baths, she loves talking to people and looking at faces. She doesn't really like toys, but she loves to try and grab at hands and faces. She loves the TV, I try not to let her watch it, but sometimes when she is being extra fussy the tv will settle her down. She loves and fears Rosalie, you just never know if Rosalie is going to be sweet or mean to Ruth. Rosalie loves Ruth, but sometimes just gets feisty and chooses to taunt her in some way. Today Ruth rolled over for the first time from tummy to back, she cried so hard, it must have scared her. We blessed her last Sunday and it was beautiful, I'm so grateful that our family could come and the Sean could bless her. This last week was a bit harder sleep wise because I had a cold, and Ruth was on antibiotics for a staph-infection. She seems to like to create drama with health any time there is going to be some sort of family thing. Like before Thanksgiving when she choked on her spit up and gave me a huge scare by not starting to breath right away and gasping a lot. And then right before her blessing she got a staph infection and had to go to the dr and be on antibiotics. I just hope this is not a continuing trend. She is so fun, and changing so fast, it will be interesting to see how her personality changes and get to know who she really is. So far I know that she is stubborn when it comes to sleeping.

I have one just like this of Rosalie.

This is how the pictures of them together seem to always end up, I just don't get it. Ruth does not always cry when Rosalie is around, but that is how the pictures make it seem.

holding her little hands together.

With Gammy and Pops at the zoo.

Blessing day.

My friend Kalina did a little photo shoot for me, this is a preview.

Rosalie is growing and changing a lot too. She has gotten a little taller (she no longer looks like a toddler) in the last few months and has had a dramatic change in her speech. She just says so much and in complete sentences and some of the things she says are just so hilarious. Like when she can't hear her game on the iPad she says, "it can't hear us." I just love it. She is soooooo social, she is always asking for one of her friends to play or go do things. She loves to be out and about, as long as she is going to see one of her friends. At the grocery store she talks and waves to all of the other shoppers. She also loves to eat samples at the stores. She is also having a hard time with sleep since losing the pacifier, and I also am not quite sure how to deal with it. She also claims she is afraid of the dark and monsters, so sleep is a struggle, she comes into our room once or twice each night. She finally has interest in stories and reading books and is recognizing letters, I work with her and do little preschool lessons about each letter, it is a lot of fun. She loves songs and singing and now fills in the blanks of songs. Sometimes she makes up the words and it is so funny. She loves to talk on the phone with my mom and sings to her, it is probably one of the funniest and cutest things ever. She has a lot of personality and I love it. She loves to help me out with cleaning and doing things for Ruth, but sometimes she likes to defy every single thing I ask her to do and also loves to torment her sister. I just don't understand why sometimes she will randomly run up to Ruth and smack her, or shover her head to the ground and try to kick her during tummy time. Sometimes I wonder if it is because she needs more one on one attention. I try to spend most of the time that Ruth is napping doing something with Rosalie, but there are times when I just have to clean the apartment, or shower, and I just can't giver her 100% attention all of the time. We are still struggling to get the 2nd part of potty training going with her. I got her pull-ups and told her that they are not diapers, but she still chooses to use them rather than the toilet for the major event. I have convinced her to sit and try to go a couple of times, so hopefully we are on our way to being diaper free with her(except for bedtime). She is so fun, and I just love watching her learn and grow. I just hope that I am being a good mom and teaching her well. It makes me sad when I notice that she copies the things that I don't want her to copy from me. So in teaching her I am also trying to change my bad habits.

Rosalie loves to go out on her scooter, this was at a roller rink that had a toddler day and let you bring in all riding toys.

Rosalie wanted to try out the skates, she was not quite coordinated enough to do it, but we had fun trying, and boy was I sore the next day from it.

Rosalie loves to help me bake, so that she can lick the batter.

At the zoo, waiting to feed the giraffe.

She LOVED feeding the giraffe, this is something we will have to do again. Rosalie is such an animal lover, she takes after me like that.

Gammy and Pops rode the carousel with Rosalie, she loved having them on there with her.

I love my girls, I love them so much. I'm so lucky to have them, and I'm so lucky that I get to stay home and raise them. I'm lucky to have Sean who works so hard for us and makes this possible. Children are seriously the best blessing, even though at times they make me crazy and sleep deprived. I hope this sleepless phase goes quickly and that I will remember to enjoy the fun and wonderful moments that happen throughout the day.

Ruth is 2 months

2012-01-22T19:38:00.000-08:00

Tummy time. She doesn't normally lift her head much, she uses tummy time to find her fist and suck on it. Although she does have a strong neck and can hold her head really well.

She was not too pleased about me wanting to take pictures, she just wanted to nap.

Our little cheetah girl. She is just adorable, and we love her. I have found that this month has been easier. I have figured her out more and know what her cries mean, and what she wants. She does't really cry too much, just if I make her wait a really really really long time to eat, or when she wants to go to sleep. She hasn't quiet figured out how to fall asleep on her own. It takes a lot of effort on my part, bouncing, rocking.... We are going to start working on that soon though. She is also starting to form a pattern for her day and that makes things much easier too. She still wanted to eat every 2 hours until this past week and we were able to stretch it to every 3 hours. Finally I can have a little more of a break.

She is just beautiful, I love baby skin that is so soft and pink.

Ruth loves her mobile. Rosalie loves to climb in the crib and watch it go around with her. They just smile and Rosalie laughs and it is so cute.

Rosalie "holding" Ruth.

It got really cold one day so I put this hat on Ruth. I think she looks so cute in it.

More things about her at 2 months:

She is very smiley.

She loves to lay on the floor and look around, especially at the TV or bright lights.

She prefers to keep her head turned to the right, although she is able to turn it to the left.

She cries really hard for Sean and when he hands her to me she stops, making him feel bad.

She likes to fall asleep with her head buried in the crook of my arm, covering her eyes.

It takes a lot of effort to get her to sleep.

At night she goes about 4 hours in her bed, then wants me to snuggle her the rest of the night.

She is not the easiest sleeper.

Her goopy eye went away this week.

Her herniated belly button is starting to go away.

She holds her head even when I pull her up to the sitting position.

She hates the bassinet.

She loves sleeping in her carseat, bouncy seat, or swing.

She loves wearing hats, she sleeps way better when I put one on her.

She is generally very happy, she only cries when she can't fall asleep, and when I make her wait to eat.

We love our Ruth.

New Year

2012-01-22T19:28:00.001-08:00

To bring in the new year, we made homemade ice cream and root beer floats.

Rosalie said her resolution was to take over feeding Ruth for me. Just kidding, but that is what she told us she is doing in this picture.

snuggling sisters.

"feeding" Ruth again.

The new year brought out Ruth's smiles. She just became such a happy girl, her cold also went away.

smiling. It was really hard to capture it and hold the camera.

She loves watching her big sister, she is just mesmerized by Rosalie.

She doesn't look too happy, but they really love laying down next to each other, it is really cute.

Christmas in Austin

2012-01-22T18:28:00.000-08:00

Rosalie had her first lesson in gift wrapping from her dad.

Rosalie dressed up as Rudolph.

Ruth did too.

Rosalie spent most days outside in the freezing cold playing in the backyard. We were ill-prepared for the cold so she just borrowed a hat and gloves. She didn't seem to mind the weather though, and had a really great time tromping around with the dog.

Rosalie and Coco looking outside. They were such buddies the whole time.

Rosalie saying cheese, while eating a Christmas cookie.

Ruth all smiley and happy.

sweet girl.

Christmas eve jammies, snuggling with Aunt Aubrey.

Nice photography work of Sean's. Us coming down the stairs at 6AM Christmas morning.

Rosalie checking out her haul.

Opening her American girl doll from Nama and Hapa.

The scooter and helmet that Santa brought.

Grumpy in her beautiful Christmas dress from Gammy and Pops. She loved it, she saw herself in the mirror and said she was a princess and began to twirl. So cute.

Ruth in her cute dress from Marci. We have a beautiful dress for her too, but I was scared she would ruin it with spit up.

We had a really fun Christmas hanging out with my family. We went to Pappasito's on Christmas eve and chowed down all all sorts of yummy treats. We had Christmas dinner with our family friends the Tueller's, and Rosalie had a blast playing with their daughter Olivia, who is a senior in high school. She had so much fun with all of her toys on Christmas. It was so much fun doing Christmas with her at this age. She got some paper dolls and legos, and she enjoys making Sean play both of those with her. She loves her basketball hoop too, but is not quiet coordinated enough to throw it in, she is working on her dunking skills right now. We had a great time.

Christmas Festivities

2012-01-04T06:07:00.000-08:00

First we trimmed the tree while listening to Christmas tunes.

Rosalie's favorite is Mariah Carey Christmas cd. for a while that was all she would let us play.

Next, Rosalie helped put up the stockings.

Then we made some gingerbread.

Rosalie sampled the dough first.

We turned that dough into a house.

Beautiful isn't it?

Then a crazy elf named Elf came to hang out.

Rosalie and Ruth all dolled up in their Christmas red.

Then we visited the big man himself, Ruth was screaming so we spared him the agony of holding her at that time.

Then we got some yummy treats from friends, and Rosalie ate them all.

Christmas at my parents' house to follow.

Ruth 1 Month Photos

2012-01-02T20:31:00.000-08:00

I realize this is a month late. I dressed Ruth up in the little dress that was mine, and that I put Rosalie in when she was a baby and I took her 1 month pictures. It is crazy looking at them now and seeing how much she has grown in this last month. At one month she was still just a little eating, sleeping, pooping machine with a bad cold. She only liked to sleep in our arms, had very few times during the day of being awake. She mostly was awake in the late evening and didn't want to go to sleep until around 11 or 12. She wanted to be rocked or bounced and was pretty exhausting. She didn't cry much, unless you put her down and she wanted to be held. Here are a few of the pictures of her. I also threw one in of Rosalie at the bottom. They look almost identical. You can tell it isn't Ruth because there is a different bow on the headband.

This one is Rosalie, can you tell? Even their hair looks the same at this point, because Rosalie's darkened a little and Ruth's has lightened. But I still think that Ruth's hair is darker than Rosalie's ever was.

Thanksgiving

2012-01-02T07:59:00.000-08:00

We had a blast visiting Sean's family for Thanksgiving. Though our trip started out with a crazy flight filled with lots of spitting up drama, the week turned out peaceful and fun.We went on walk/runs on the beach each morning. I only participated on Thanksgiving day, but it was so much fun. Rosalie especially loved searching for sea shells that Linda laid out for her to find.

Making a sand pile.

Ruth's first time at the beach, snuggling with Gammy, she was so little.

Rosalie, with Pops in the back ground.

Rosalie loves her sister, giving her kisses.

This is what Rosalie calls hugs, she snuggles her cheek up next to Ruth's.

Enjoying the sunset on the beach one evening. Isn't it beautiful?

Picking up rocks.

Our ghetto girl in her diaper.

Ruth enjoyed the sunset as well.

At the animal farm, feeding the bunny...

holding the guinea pigs...

and riding the horses.

Ruth enjoyed snuggling at the animal farm.

Riding the train,

Sean loved it,

and so did Rosalie.

She also loved playing in the corn box.

Rosalie had so much fun playing with her cousin Ellie, here they are enjoying a cousin breakfast. They played so well together the whole week, we hardly saw her while we were there.

Lounging by the pool in the back yard. Rosalie wanted to swim, but it was not quite warm enough.

It was a really great week to get to see family and relax. We had fun, and it was great for Rosalie to get to know her cousins Alice and Ellie. There are so many stories from that week, but I figured I would just post the fun pictures.

Ruth's first 2 weeks and a few other firsts

2011-12-04T19:41:00.000-08:00

For her first week at home we started out wating for the pediatrician to clear us so we could leave the hospital, we were finally able to leave around 2pm. Then we took Ruth on her first car ride to Costco, where she went shopping for a few essentials for the first time. Then we went home for a relaxing weekend with just Sean and Ruth and I, while Rosalie stayed in Austin and visited grandma. Rosalie had an amazing time, then came back to us on Monday with grandma.

Sean worked that week and my mom stayed with us and helped around the house. It was nice having her here to entertain Rosalie so that I could once again adjust to having a new baby around. Grandma took us all to Ruth's first trip to chick fil a. Then she took Rosalie to play at toys r us, and to Walmart, and to the butterfly museum. It was a good week, Ruth didn't get too smothered by her sister. Sometime during that week Ruth got her first bath, but it was undocumented. So her second bath has all the pictures, and you will notice her umbilical cord had fallen off by that point, it fell of really early.

all snuggled in her towel after her bathfirst bath together, it was chaos

Rosalie loves to "hold" Ruth, she asks for it all day long.

For Ruth's second week Sean had paternity leave. The first day after my mom left was chaos. Ruth had her first blow out diaper, and her first huge spit up which required me to do a lot of laundry, and Rosalie fell asleep in panties in my bed, and that gave me some laundry to do as well. I spent the whole day doing laundry and feeding a baby every hour( or so it seemed). After that is settled down a bit, Sean took Rosalie to the gym and to run errands every day to ware her out, he also took her on a date to the movies, she was so excited. We had Ruth's first dr appointment and she weighed in at 6 lbs. 9 oz. gaining weight like a champ. She eats so often that it makes sense that she wo use gain fast. Those weeks went by so fast, it is crazy how much they grow in such a short amount of time. We are still trying to figure out how to juggle these two cute girls, but it is fun.

One thing Rosalie did during Sean's paternity leave was to go on her first movie date, she went with Sean to see Puss in Boots and she absolutely loved it.

Some things we had learned about Ruth at this point:

She has pretty curly hair when it gets wet.

Her eyes look like they will be blue.

She loves to eat, and can't seem to fall asleep without nursing, which will be a challenge to get over.

She seems a little mixed up about night an day.

She loves to eat.

She doesn't mind the constant kisses from her sister.

She loves to sleep with her head tilted back at an odd angle.

She falls asleep during tummy time every time, she likes to sleep on her tummy I guess.

And there are more things we are learning each day, we love her.

Of the pictures below, can you guess which one is Rosalie?

this one is Rosalie of course, but they sure do look a lot alike. Not so much in these pictures, but I will post some where they are identical later.

Halloween

2011-12-04T19:28:00.000-08:00

I know this is late, but I had to post some of our festivities because this is the first year that Rosalie was really into it.

First we went to our ward Halloween trunk or treat and she dressed in her pumpkin costume, she even wore the hat the whole time. She loved saying trick or treat and getting the candy and then would say thank you. It was really cute, she did not like the dark hallway set up for the haunted classroom and got a little scared when we walked past that, but the people in costume did not even phase her. After that she ate candy the whole way home in the car, so I hid it from her the next day, and she kept telling me that the ghost had stolen her candy, something she learned from an episode of Little Einsteins.

The next day we went to our apartment complex party and she dressed up as a sea horse. I did not get many good pictures because she is not very cooperative sometimes, but she definitely looked adorable.

Then we went to the Boo at the Zoo and tric or treated at the zoo and walked around and saw the animals. She took the sea horse costume with her but decided that she did not want to wear it, but we had a good time anyways.

On actual Halloween day we spent it with her in her witch costume, and went to buy pumpkins and carved them that night. She was so excited to put fire in the pumpkin because we had just watched an episode of special agent oso where they carved pumpkins and put candles inside. She really enjoyed the entire process and so did we. It is really fun doing the holidays with toddlers who are so excited and love discovering the whole new traditions.

her witch costume, minus the hat

scooping guts, she loved and hated this part, it was funny how grossed out she was, but kept doing it

getting out the guts

wearing her hat to carve the pumpkins

carving the pumpkins

our masterpieces

Ruth's Birth

2011-11-21T09:19:00.000-08:00

I went to my regular appointment on the 2nd and the Dr. stirred things up, but I felt fine. I had a few contractions, but nothing major so I didn't expect to go into labor. I even got scheduled to be induced by the 4th if I didn't have her. I was just so anxious to meet her. I was feeling fine physically, just a little tired. It was kind of a crazy day, I had to get rides from two different people to get to my dr appointment and home, because our 2nd car was in the shop and Sean had to work at a client. So Sarah, my good friend that picked me up, and I went to lunch with Rosalie. After that I came home took a nap and did some laundry and made dinner. Around 8:30 when I was putting Rosalie to bed I started getting contractions around 7 minutes apart. I kept thinking they would go away, because I had been having contractions every evening around that time. They were a little more painful, but not unmanageable, and I could easily talk through them. We went to bed around 10:30, Sean asked how I was doing and I told him I was sure it would go away and I would be fine. I couldn't sleep though, every time I would start to fall asleep I would get a contraction, so I laid on the heating pad for a bit to try and relax, and that didn't help, so I got in the shower and tried to relax. But at that point it was midnight and they were like 3.5 minutes apart and not going away. My contractions weren't regular, some would be 3.5 minutes apart and some would be 5 or 7, so I just kept telling myself it would stop.

Well at 1 I packed things up and woke Sean up and told him it wasn't stopping and we probably needed to go to the hospital. I called Sarah, who I had asked in advance if I went into labor in the middle of the night if I could call her. Amazingly she was still awake because her husband was in California for work and because of the time difference she stayed up late talking to him on the phone. So she was at our house within 10 minutes and we set off for the hospital.

We arrived around 1:40 AM to an obnoxious desk lady who would not get off the phone to admit us, she made me fill out more paperwork (what is the point of pre-registration if you have to fill out the same stuff when you get there in labor?) and once that was finished she showed me to the labor and delivery room. There we waited for the nurses to come and check us in and all of that fun stuff. The contractions weren't terrible, but I was soooooooo tired and they would not let me fall asleep. I did not want to have a baby in the middle of the night because I didn't want to be tired, but I didn't really get to choose. Finally the nurses got everything sorted out and ready, and around 3 I finally got an epidural so that I could get some sleep. This time it worked on both sides, but it was different. I could move my legs still and feel them, but I think he got it too high or something because it made my arms kind of heavy and my chest was really itchy from it. Sean and I got some sleep at that point, maybe around 2 hours, and it wasn't really sleep so much as just some rest.

My mom and sister arrived around 5:30 and were in the waiting room, then my water broke at 5:45, it was so weird. It was a loud popping sound, and made Sean wake up and ask what happened. We got the nurses and they took care of things, then my mom and sister came in and waited with us, since there was no going back to sleep at that point. I think I was only a 7 when my water broke, then things went pretty fast. At that point my epidural was no longer working and I could feel a ton of pressure with every contraction, and by pressure I mean it was really uncomfortable. They came in at 6:15 to check my progress and I was a 10 and then I stared feeling like pushing, but the Dr wasn't there yet, and the on call Dr was no where to be found. This is when the real pain started, and I was told not to push. How can they tell you not to push when your body just wants to push and get the baby out. I waited for like 20 to 25 minutes of "not pushing" in a serious amount of pain. And the Dr. finally arrived and suited up. Once they got me all set up to push the Dr said just go for it don't even wait for a contraction, and I pushed twice and out she came. It HURT! I was shaking and semi-crying at that point. But I managed to do it. And seriously I have no faith in epidurals, that is 2 times now that something didn't work out right.

Anyways, I was so relieved that she was out and after that everything is kind of a blur. It was 6:57 when she was born, so Sean called Sarah to check on Rosalie, and of course she was up early that day. So he left to go pick her up while I tried to feed Ruth. For some reason right after Sean left and before they gave Ruth back to me, I just broke down into uncontrollable tears, I just could not stop crying, I think it was a combination of things, the pain, the emotion of her finally being here, exhaustion, and relief. Then they handed her back to me, and a funny thing, the nurses just unsnapped my gown without asking and handed me the baby, and my mom and sister were trying to take pictures, so if I look naked, I'm not, the gown is on, just unsnapped, and I couldn't really move to fix it because of the blood pressure cuff and the iv and the baby. It was funny.

Then they took Ruth up to the nursery and took me up to my mother baby room. And Ruth stayed in the nursery most of the day waiting for the pediatrician to come check her out and to get her bath. It stunk because my dad was flying through Houston and was able to come to the hospital between flights, but was not able to see Ruth because she was still in the nursery.

It took forever to get out of the hospital on Saturday, but we finally got home, Rosalie stayed with my parents in Austin for the weekend, and we were able to recover a bit. It was really nice and peaceful, and we are so glad Ruth is part of our family.

She weighed in at 6 lbs 2 oz. and was 20.5 inches long born at 6:57 AM, she has brown hair that looks like it has some curl in it, and her eyes look like they will be blue or green, but not brown because they are too light for that. We love her so much already!

This past week

2011-10-28T05:42:00.000-07:00

Well last week I went to my dr appointment and was having a regular day, picked Rosalie up from the sitter and did a couple of things and came home to find we had been broken into. They took all of our electronics and some jewelry and a few random things. It shattered our happy little world. I had been getting everything ready for baby and felt that the house was finally in order and settled and was ready for her to come any day. Luckily she is still hanging out in my belly so that we could pick up the pieces and re-organize. I have had a roller coaster of emotions, hours where I cry uncontrollably, hours where I'm fuming mad, and hours of acceptance, normal emotions of grief.

This last year has beena really bizarre one for our family, we have had trials from all ends of the spectrum but we are still managing. It hasn't been easy, but I'm so grateful for the things we have, and right now I'm so grateful that baby Ruth is about to join our family. She is going to bring joy and happiness that only a new angel from heaven can bring, and I can't wait to meet her. I have anxiety about how I can handle two kids, but I think this will be one of the greatest blessings for us and for Rosalie to have a sister. I know this started out a bit negative, but i had to get through that in order to move on. I'm grateful for my husband who works so hard and supports us, I'm grateful for the love and support we received from our family and friends through this crazy time, and I'm grateful for the gospel and the knowledge I have that gives me strength through trials.

The dr said Ruth will probably be here by November 4th and we just can't wait, I have a list of things I want to get done, and I hope to take Rosalie trick or treating, she has so many costumes and looks cute in all of them, once I can I will post pictures of those. For now there are no pictures for my blog, but soon.

Our Little Family

2011-10-18T06:08:00.001-07:00

My 34 week belly, I'm terrible at posing.
Sean and me, he hates this so much.
Sean's face says exactly how he feels about family pictures, but I thought this was cool.
Rosalie's favorite climbing ladder at the park, she doesn't look for pictures, I swear she purposefully looks away and avoids it.
The slide, Rosalie loves that too, she was looking at dogs during this picture.
Rosalie absolutely loves the swing, which is why we thought we would do pictures there. We got some real natural smiles from her. She does not pose for the camera.
We would hold the swing and then make her fly really high, so she would smile, she loved it, and we got a couple of good ones. Ruth is there too, in my belly, but we will probably have to get a few more pictures once she is born.
They seriously adore each other, you can totally see it in this picture. There is nothing I love more than hearing Sean make Rosalie laugh hysterically. Those two have so much fun together, and it really makes me melt. Sean is the best dad and really loves his little girl, it is so fun to see him with her. Although sometimes he gives her what she wants even if I say no, she is sneaky and knows how to manipulate the system already. Thanks to Sean for posing for a few shots, and to Linda for asking for a family picture for her birthday. I finally had an excuse to catch him on camera. And thanks to Nicole for spending time on a Saturday morning to help us out.

Rosalie

2011-10-09T16:24:00.001-07:00

I'm seriously lucky to have this girl as my own. She is so much fun and so interested in the world and such a great kid all around. I am excited to give her a sister in a few short weeks, but I'm sad I'm losing my baby. She is so grown up lately, she sleeps in her big girl bed, she cleans her toys, she tries to cook food on her own (this scares me to death). I've decided that these next five weeks I'm going to spend every minute I can just loving her before I get busy with a newborn and lose that time. We will be having lots of craft time--painting and play dough, tea parties, pretend food, baby dolls, trains, playing with little animals, and going on adventures such as the zoo, the park, and whatever else I can manage the energy for. I just want her to know I love her even though I will be super busy soon. She is the best, and she will be an amazing big sister.

34 Weeks

2011-10-01T17:39:00.001-07:00

I've made it this far, only 6 weeks left. If I can make it that long... I keep having lots of contractions, especially at night when I'm trying to get to sleep. I have lots to do, so hopefully it all gets done in time. I also hope that I can keep up with Rosalie these next few weeks. I'm just so slow and tired, and chasing her is tough, as well as bending over to get anything she has thrown or to pick her up... It is definitely a much different experience being pregnant and taking care of a 2 year old. But it is oh so much fun. I am so excited for Rosalie to be a big sister, I just know she will be amazing. She is such a caring little monster, and I call her little monster because sometimes she is just that. I also get so sad sometimes thinking about how I'm going to lose my alone time with her, I really cherish the time we spend snuggling together and playing, I hope that I can still manage to have some time just for her. Well I just thought I would post that pic of my belly, courtesy of Nicole. Hope you all enjoy.

Rosalie's song

2011-09-21T14:31:00.001-07:00

Rosalie has recently started singing random songs all of the time. She likes to pretend to play on her guitar purse and sing a song and makes me dance. She is so entertaining and we love it. Sorry that the video is upside down, the phone is not very clear on which way to hold it in order for the movie to be the right way.

August Recap

2011-09-20T11:22:00.000-07:00

Blurry I know, she moved last second, but here we are having a tea party with her puppy and she is pouring the tea and stirring it with a spoon. So fun.
I made a baby car seat cover, it was a fun easy craft.
Rosalie learned the joy of watercolors. She has a love of arts and crafts like me, it is so fun. The only thing is that when I went to clean it all up she threw a huge tantrum.
Sean worked from home one morning so I could do my glucose test early and he could stay with Rosalie. This is what I found when I got back.
Rosalie started carrying around her stuffed puppy everywhere. So I showed her she could put it in her little purse, she thought that was really nifty.
Snuggles with her dad. I just love watching the relationship between these two. He loves her so much and she adores her dad, it is so great, he is so loving and affectionate with her. She is using his hand as a pillow if you can't tell.
Rosalie loves to color, sometimes she colors herself.
We spent a week with my family. Rosalie loves her uncle Grey, and would sit next to him whenever he was around.
Every time we are at the store and see bikes Rosalie wants to "ride" them. She hasn't figured out how to peddle, but her feet finally reach the peddles. We should probably get her one this winter when we can actually enjoy the outdoors. She also insists on wearing a helmet, what a safety conscious little girl.
Snuggling with Uncle Grey again.
Rosalie also learned to love playing with playdough. She loves to make little men and put buttons on them. That is my only cookie cutter I own, so she uses it to play. It is really cute, except that she demands we sit with her and pretty much do it all for her aside from putting the buttons on.
New toy at the grocery store, she insisted on riding Pooh Bear. We had just seen the Winnie the Pooh movie with her, which she loved, so she was really excited to find him at Walmart.
Rosalie began liking dress up. She had only ever worn dress up shoes, but this month she started liking to wear the jewelry and hats too.
My belly started to get bigger, this is around 29-30 weeks.
Rosalie got a box of new clothes from her Gammy and absolutely loves this dress, if you notice she is wearing her clip on earrings and there are necklaces next to her which she was spinning for the picture.

The month of August was hot, we didn't do much outside other than swimming and we played at home and watched a lot of movies (I feel bad admitting that one). Rosalie had love affairs with Monster's Inc., All Dogs Go to Heaven, and Tangled. She also started to do a lot of imaginative play which was a lot of fun, and she had a vocabulary explosion. She learned a bunch of new words and is saying all sorts of funny sentences. She also was battling constipation, which is an on going issue. Something I really have no idea what more to do about, we have seen the dr and are giving her stuff, but I think she has a mental aversion to going #2. Until that clears up she is still only semi-potty trained. Oh well, she is just growing so fast and sometimes I don't mind keeping her in diapers and having her still be a baby. We love her so much. August was a good month.

Another new post below.

Some of Sean's Vacation

2011-09-20T10:51:00.000-07:00

Astros Game, not exactly Sean's vacation week, but I'll count it.
Watching the Fireworks, Rosalie did not like the sound they made. And as we were leaving the stadium she kept saying, mean fireworks.
4th of July we went to the park and nearly melted.
Fireworks at the Astros game.
Grocery Shopping, she loved that helicopter.
Yogurtland, finally reopened in time for Sean's vacation week. We went as a family and Rosalie absolutely loved it.
Moody Gardens. Sean's phone had all of the pictures from the Aquarium Pyramid, mine are all from the Rainforest Pyramid. So that's all you will see.
Rosalie is looking at a butterfly on the flowers, she was so good and didnt' grab them, but absolutely loved looking at them. It was really hot and humid in this area, and she did not want to leave it. I will have to take her to the butterfly museum sometime here in Houston, she just loves nature.
There were all sorts of animals in the Rain Forest Pyramid. Most were in areas we couldn't really get close. There were bats, and parrots, some sort of big cat, turtles, fish, and these monkeys. The monkeys were loose and walked up so close to us we could almost touch them. It was incredible. And when we were leaving they started calling out to us like they wanted us to come back.
We went to a swimming area that is a really small lazy river and a few slides. Rosalie really enjoyed it, but was getting worn out because she did not have a nap. So we got dressed to leave and Sean bought her an ice cream treat. She LOVED it.
In the car on the way home, she fell asleep mid drawing. She was so so tired, she didn't even stay awake until we got on the free way which was about 5 minutes from where we were parked. So fun!

The rest of the week we spent swimming at our apartment pool. And hanging out around Houston. Sean also had a fun eye dr appointment, and dentist appointment. I'm sure he loved using his vacation days for that. We were so glad to have that week in July to spend as a family, I should have documented it then, but I'm lazy lately.

July 2011 in Pictures

2011-08-14T14:51:00.000-07:00

I've been terrible at blogging, and taking pictures with anything other than my phone. So here is July, minus the week of Sean's vacation which has so many pictures it deserves its own post.Shopping at Costco, Rosalie loves the samples.
She also loves to smell the flowers.
Belly shot at around 22-23 weeks.
Favorite pastime of Rosalie is making faces into the camera of my phone, with it facing her so she can see of course.
Eating breakfast in a bucket.
Playing with mom's jewelry, I'm now missing 2 pairs of earings, but I think I lost them not her.
She was obsessed with laying in the baby bassinet one day. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with Ruth gets here because Rosalie is always trying to commandeer the baby stuff.
Yogurtland, a family favorite. Rosalie has to have her own, there is no sharing it with her because she eats it all!
Helicopter at Walmart, she loves that thing as long as you don't put money and turn it on. I'm fine with that, sometimes I tell her it is broken though so that I don't have to sit there with her for 5 minutes. Poor kid.
Eating frosting off the beater. She loves baking.
French braid. She kept moving so I didn't get a good picture, but I was so excited about it.
Swimming with dad, another favorite pass time.
Keeping cool in the pool, something we did for most of the month of July. It is so hot here.
Chilaxin and watching tv with snacks. Notice the arm behind her head, it is so funny to me that she lays like that.
Walking to get the mail and making me hold on to her stuffed animal's hand, unfortunately I didn't get a great pic of it.
Donuts, one of her favorite treats. But she mostly just picks the parts with frosting and sprinkles off and leaves the cake part.
Pigtail braids, her hair is getting so long, I love it.
Pigtails, so much fun.
Ouchies, this is actually a really long story. Rosalie scraped her ankle, no big deal. But then she sliced her toe pretty bad, more than a scrape but not needing medical attention. So I was washing it out and trying to stop the bleeding and holding her and she passed out. So then we ended up in the Dr. office for the afternoon trying to find out why she passed out. We think it was a combination of low blood sugar, because Rosalie refuses to eat breakfast and this was at like 10 AM, and being scared from having her first cut that bled a lot. She got her finger pricked at the Dr. to check her blood, but she ended up being fine at that point because I had pumped her full of juice and a sucker and lots of snacks. It was pretty scary seeing my baby so pale, her color took forever to return, and luckily Sean was working from home that day and was able to help calm me down when everything happened. I'm just grateful she is ok and that it was nothing major, but at the time I was a crazy person.
And last, a belly shot at around 25-26 weeks.

We had a great month and are just happy to have each other and do fun things together. I am going to try to get the pictures from Sean and will post our staycation week then.

Beach Day

2011-07-06T06:55:00.000-07:00

This was back over Memorial Day weekend, but I couldn't blog from my phone and the pictures were on my phone. I think I need to find an app or something to blog from my phone and add pictures. But here they are.

digging a hole in the sand and filling it with water.

Proof that I was there.

Digging still.

foot in hole

Pouring the water from the bucket into her hole she dug.

Walking along the sand

The next day, we were so burned...

We had a blast, and Rosalie would actually let us go out into the waves if we held her, but she was not a fan of the shallow part of the water. She was hilarious, and we definitely had a blast. Aside from getting burned in weird patches where the sunscreen missed us.

Here is a video of Rosalie playing in the sand. I hope it works, I can never get videos to work for me.

Baby Girl 2

2011-06-22T17:13:00.001-07:00

Her profile, so cute, with a smooshed little body.

Her little hands, five fingers on each, super duper adorable.

Teeny tiny feet, can't wait to kiss those little toes.

Cute profile with her hand up by her face.

I can't believe that it is a girl, I was in complete shock. This pregnancy has been really different. I have been opposite with all of the foods the I could eat in the beginning and my cravings are for sweets and chocolate, and I just want diet coke. But with Rosalie I couldn't stand desserts or diet coke. And this time my skin is really clear, no acne like with Rosalie. I just didn't think it could possibly be a girl. It will be fun to pull out Rosalie's old clothes and get it ready for baby girl, and Rosalie will love having a little sister. I got the bassinet out today and Rosalie wanted to climb in, but I wouldn't let her, so she put her dolls in it instead. I'm really excited to start making baby preps and decorating/rearranging the room. It will be fun to make them a matching little girl wonderland. I think it will be fun. Poor Sean is now going to be super outnumbered. I hope he can handle it. He does say he is excited though, so now we just have to figure out a name that is as cute as Rosalie.

As soon as I get a decent belly pic I will post it, so far all I have are a couple I took of myself in the mirror with my gym clothes on. I will have to find someone who is good at picture taking and get myself all cute. But my belly is not much bigger than it was with Rosalie, I just barely started showing last week, and even then people didn't realize I was pregnant. So I must just look chubby. Oh well, the joys of pregnancy.

11/11/11 will be exciting, hopefully she is like Rosalie and comes right on the predicted date.

Rosalie is Mischevious

2011-06-18T06:25:00.000-07:00

Wearing Sean's hat. She loves doing that in her car seat when we are going somewhere with Sean, she copies him and has to wear a hat just like his.

Rosalie is always getting into something. She mostly loves to mimic things that I do, like preparing food, cleaning, etc. I turned my back the other day and she had somehow found a knife and was cutting a tomato I had out to slice for dinner. She is always digging in my drawer with the measuring cups and miscellaneous kitchen utensils. And she Also loves to do things like put on Sean's glasses, or our shoes, and pick out clothes for us to wear. So cute!!!!

Sean's glasses.

The flossers.

She got all of the flossers out one day and for some reason decided to poke them into the couch standing up. I thought it was hilarious, she is very creative.

Potty Training

2011-06-14T08:37:00.000-07:00

We are working on potty training. I'm really relaxed about it, so it is kind of a long process. She does really well when I remember to keep her out of diapers, but she just refuses to do a certain business without her diaper. Hopefully she will figure it out soon. But for now she is doing great. Here are some pictures of her training her doll.Changing the diaper.

Not quite able to get it on.
Then she decided to put the baby on the potty because the diapers were too difficult. Don't worry, the potty is completely sterile and clean, I had just bleached it.

So proud of the baby in the potty. What a funny and observant little girl she is. Rosalie loves to mock real world things that I do.

April 2011- Strawberries and Rosalie's Birthday

2011-05-25T13:36:00.000-07:00

I have been a bad blogger lately, sorry. Here is an update of what we did last month.

We went to the strawberry farm, and then made some yummy freezer jam. Rosalie hates getting her picture taken lately and will just not hold still.
She is purposefully not looking at me in this picture and is scowling to let me know she doesn't want her picture taken. Silly girl. She just never stops moving.
She was trapped, so I could catch her face on camera. And she was showing me her strawberries that she was eating. She ate a bunch of them and just wanted the whole bucket full.
Look mom a half smile, haha she is a cheese ball.

We celebrated Rosalie's 2nd birthday, I cried because my baby is growing up. But we had a really fun day with my family who drove down to see her. After Rosalie woke up the table was decorated with roses from Sean and a bunch of balloons blown up just for her and all of her gifts, she was so excited to see everything and everyone, but we did not get a picture of the display.

Opening a gift, she loves tearing the wrapping paper.
Here she has noticed that there are princesses on the paper, so cute!!!!

On her "car" from Grandma and Grandpa. She loves to press the button to make it go, but will no longer sit on it, she is terrified that it will move. So funny.

Rosalie's birthday dinner, one of the few times she actually sat at the table. She just wanted to explore the restaurant the entire time.

Rosalie was terrified of that bear at the restaurant, she just wanted to get away from it.

Watching Mickey cartoons on Aubrey's Ipad. She LOVED that thing, it was so cute.

Opening another gift, her makeup kit. She loves that thing because she can put makeup on like me and she loves to brush and play with the hair stuff. She is such a mimic.

Gammy and pops also sent her an amazing sand and water table which I don't have pictures of it being opened, but she absolutely loves it and I have pictures of her playing with it for another post.

She loved the candles on her cake, she blew them out twice, and we even made her pancakes with candles for breakfast. I think the candles were one of her favorite parts of the day.

Digging in before we could get it away from her.

Sneaking a bite of the cake first. She is so funny.

We had a really great rest of the month too, I just don't have pictures. My mom has them on her camera. We went to Austin for Stephen's Mission farewell and Easter and my mom's birthday, all on the same day. And then we stayed a week to hang out with Stephen and the family before he left on his mission. It was a nice week and Rosalie loved hanging out in the yard with Elvis and exploring. She loves outside and she loves dogs, so it was a perfect combination. Other than that we haven't been up to much. I will add more pictures and posts soon and vow to be better at this.

Happy Birthday Sean!!!

2011-04-12T11:41:00.001-07:00

My love is 27 and he is the best and I can't believe I have him for my own. Happy Birthday Sean!!!!

I didn't have candles, so I used that pillar, silly me. And Rosalie thought it was her cake and wanted to eat the whole thing. A melt down ensued. Sean made us have cake on Sunday so that he can be healthy today. We love him so much and wish we could celebrate him all week long.

Lately

2011-03-11T13:29:00.000-08:00

I have been a terrible blogger lately because I have been a terrible photographer lately. But here are a few from my phone.

Rosalie just loves to be naked lately, it is so funny.

She loves laying down like this to watch her movies.

Making faces.

She didn't want to do a photo shoot, but since I put her hair in pigtails and she insisted I do the same, I made her take some pics.

She wanted me to make that face.

Smiles.

Cute pigtails.

Sleeping Beauty!

She loves her Cinderella doll, she wants to take it everywhere with her. Thanks Grandma!

Rosalie is so much fun and we just totally love spending time with her. She is so talkative and knows exactly what she wants. It is pretty funny listening to her. She also sings and dances and loves watching movies with lots of fun music in them. She loves her snacks and she loves playing with her friends. She loves reading books. It was the cutest thing the other night, she made me read like 50 verses in the scriptures the other night, she just kept demanding that I read. As long as she has her own scriptures in front of her then she will sit still and listen. She is also really great about praying, it is so cute to hear her repeat us. She is just growing up so fast, and sometimes it makes me sad. She will be 2 in 5 weeks and I just can't believe how fast that has snuck up on us.

Sean is busy working, it is busy season you know. He seems to like the work, the stuff he does is interesting and challenging to him and he enjoys that. He has started doing some stuff in Austin and we might be going there for his work every once in a while. He has also enjoyed spending time with Rosalie and playing at home and reading to her and playing piano and guitar with her.

I have been busy baking. I have learned to make cinnamon rolls/orange rolls, dinner rolls from the Lion House, whole wheat bread, tarts, and a few other things. I just love food and baking and decided to try out new things. I just love doing things around my house and making it a better place and improving my skills at those types of activities.

Rosalie and I also keep busy hanging out with friends at the park, going to the zoo, going on walks and anything we can to enjoy the beautiful weather here. We will probably spend the summer in the pool once it starts to get hot, so we might as well enjoy the cooler air now.

I promise I will be better at blogging and picture taking from now on.

Book Review

2011-03-04T07:15:00.000-08:00

http://www.quinnheder.com/2011/01/sample-preview-book-1-search-for.html

For all of you who love to read you should really check out this book. It is a cute cute cute novel and easy entertainment. I would recommend this over the Twilight series any day. It is not mythical vampire crap, but about the old west, but not in the dirty cowboy movie type sense. It is great, I really think it is fun. The best part about it is that Sean's Uncle is the author. Go check it out, you won't be disappointed.

Christmas

2011-01-29T16:04:00.001-08:00

We had a really awesome Christmas, here are a bunch of pictures to document it.First night there.
Christmas Eve, being goofy.
In her Christmas Eve Jammies riding around on the plasmacar.

Here she is dancing, you can't tell from the picture, but it is pretty hilarious.
Opening presents, didn't get very many.
Hanging out with Grandpa.
Wearing Christmas gifts and brushing her teeth with her new banana toothbrush, while watching a Christmas movie. All instead of opening presents. Silly girl.
Tent.
Disneyland...

Walking in her new heels.
Hugging cousins, at the animal park. Rosalie loved that little petting zoo. She went crazy.

The girls loved the train, they were laughing so hard.

We had a really fun time visiting Rick and Linda and seeing M&M and their family, and Mimi too. It had been too long since we were all together, and it was a blast. We were really glad to have that time to be carefree and enjoy ourselves and enjoy the season. Rosalie loved being there and having Lucy around, we were so happy that she pulled through her pneumonia (from eating chocolate) and that everything was fine. Christmas really is the most wonderful time of the year, I was grateful to be there and have a little escape from real life. We can't wait for our next California vacation.

December

2011-01-21T14:19:00.001-08:00

(Unfortunately the photographer took it right before she smiled and wouldn't take another, so lame)
December was a busy month, which was really good. Rosalie enjoyed everything that had to do with Christmas, the tree, the lights, the candy canes, even Santa. We attended Sean's work party and Rosalie got to see Santa, she was so excited that she ran right to him and sat on his lap. I think all she really wanted was the candy cane though, she is obsessed with them. I am grateful that we had the season to help heal us after a rough November. I am not saying we were better, but we had things to look forward to and that helped.

Rosalie enjoyed playing PS3 with Sean, his early Christmas gift. She holds the controllers and presses the buttons and everything, it is so cute.

The dynamic duo.
Making cookies with me, she jumped right in there when she saw me bring out the supplies, I had to finish them when she was asleep because I couldn't get anything done. I thought it was really cute how much she loved it though. She only eats the frosting though, haha.
We also went and spent a weekend with my family and had a mini Christmas with them. They babysat Rosalie and we were able to go to see Harry Potter 7, it was awesome. Rosalie loved to go and walk the dog while we were there.
And steal baked goods from the counter, she only really licked the frosting off.
We went to see the lights on this crazy culdesac that goes all out for Christmas, one house even had a snow machine. Rosalie loved being with "Ama" and "Bapa."
Then we came home and gave Rosalie her Christmas gift from Santa at our house. She loved the slide and sat on it to watch her shows, slid every toy imaginable down it, and slid down it in all directions.

After that Sean had a busy week at work and we headed out to Cali for some time with the Hartley clan. We had a blast, and I think that deserves it's own post, so until I have more time, I hope this will make you guys happy, and feel a bit more caught up with what is going on.

P.S. Rosalie is growing so much and talking so much, I almost would have to do a daily update to keep up with all of her shenanigans.

November

2011-01-21T14:12:00.000-08:00

November started out just fine, but did not end well, which is the reason for my blogging hiatus. We had planned to go to Florida with my family and when we were about 2 hours away from our destination we got a phone call from my mom. Our friend's plane had crashed and it did not look like there were any survivors. He was the pilot and was flying with his MIL and Uncle. A really thick fog had come over that area all of a sudden and the airport they were landing at did not have to proper equipment to handle it. They missed the runway by 30 seconds air time and landed in the water. We were all devastated. We continued to drive and meet my family and be with them at that time. We arrived at around 2 in the morning, went to sleep, and then got up and helped everyone pack so that we could all go back to TX. We spent Thanksgiving alone. Not because we didn't have many kind offers from people to go be with them, but because we just couldn't handle being with anyone. The following week we attended the funerals. These people were not just our friends, they were our family, and this has forever changed our lives.

I could not find anything happy to blog about for a while, which is why I haven't posted anything. I had so many plans to have beautiful pictures of Rosalie playing on the beach and having fun with my family. But I have nothing. I am still very sad, but things are getting better. I just continue to pray for their family that they will recover from the loss.

Sorry

2011-01-20T13:35:00.001-08:00

Sorry my blog stinks. I don't feel like fixing it because nobody really reads it. I don't know if I am going to keep it up or not.

October 2010

2010-11-04T11:38:00.000-07:00

Our little witch!!!

I have been a terrible and lazy blogger lately. I just have dreaded getting on here and posting for some reason. We have really really enjoyed it here so far. It was still a pretty warm month. Texas doesn't exactly have a Fall, but it was still cooler than the month of September, on some days.

We started off the month by going the the zoo, Rosalie was not sure what to think, but we still had a blast. She was not too into the petting zoo because she had spotted a slide right next to where we were and since she is obsessed with slides that is all she could think about.

The next day Sean started work. We dropped him off and Rosalie cried. She was not happy to leave Daddy behind. It was a slow first two couple of weeks, but things have picked up for Sean at work and he is really enjoying it now. He had the opportunity to go to a recruiting event at BYU and loved returning to Utah, even if it was only for a day.

Sean's first day of work also happened to be my birthday, so we celebrated by having Sushi and Angel food cake. I also got an amazing new phone and some sweet thoughtful gifts from Sean, diet coke, chocolate, and flowers.

While Sean was away we visited my parents in Austin and had a blast just hanging out with "Mama" and "Bapa" as Rosalie calls them. Rosalie also enjoyed chasing Elvis around the house and feeding him, as well as exploring the backyard. She loves to be outside, even if it is hot humid and yucky out.

The photos of Rosalie in the yard are courtesy of my little brother Grey, he loved following her around with the camera.

There she is feeding Elvis his dog food like it is a treat.

Then we got a few good days of cool weather and enjoyed it by going to a "pumpkin patch" aka a Baptist church with pumpkins and bales of hay, haha. We just didn't feel like driving an hour out to the really nice pumpkin patch when we didn't really have the time after Sean got home from work. We still had fun though because Rosalie was so excited about all of the "pumpies," as she calls them. She kept picking them up and throwing them like a ball though, luckily no one got hurt. She is at a funny age now where it is almost impossible to get her to sit still or look at the camera, so I did my best. You can tell that is was a very windy day, look at Rosalie's crazy hair.

running to get more pumpies, and making faces at the wind, she did not like the wind
moving so her head is a blur
here she is about to throw the pumpkin, and some ladies walking by laughed so hard.

trying to sit on a pumpie

Next on our Adventure list was the ward Halloween Carnival. It was 90 degrees and 100% humidity that day, and they did not turn the AC on in the church. We were a little miserable, but we had the cutest little monster there. Rosalie had a blast seeing all of the kids dressed up, and running around the gym. She kept saying basketball because she saw the hoops in the gym. I again could not get her to hold still or look at the camera for a picture, so all of the pictures I have are of her running, but they are fitting considering she was Wonder Woman.

Rosalie had a blast, unfortunately we didn't get to stay for Trunk or Treat because it was getting late and it was so dang hot, but she didn't seem to mind.

Something Rosalie learned to love this month is climbing, she climbs on everything, the shelves to get her movie down, the high chair, the toys at church, on the table, everything. Here I caught her in the act.

Rosalie also loves to dress up, here she is in a hat and gloves.

I don't know what to do with my hands
Cheesey!!!!

Lastly we carved pumpkins on Halloween, and Rosalie painted a pumpkin. We totally had a blast!

We have been having so much fun down here, at least Rosalie and I are loving it, and I'm pretty sure that Sean is too. It is great to have lots of new friends, and now that it has cooled off again we are just enjoying the weather. Life is great, we are so lucky and so happy!!!!!

September is flying by

2010-09-25T18:49:00.000-07:00

We have been keeping busy this month by having lots of fun!!! We have explored some oHouston, but the humidity and rain has kept us mostly indoors.

We have experienced a couple of tropical storms and found that Rosalie is terrified of thunder. She just wants us to hold her every time she hears thunder, and it wakes her up.

First thing we did was enjoy the Museum of Natural Science and the Butterfly Museum. We saw the dinosaurs and jungle animals and gemstones and minerals, then we went and saw lots of bugs. Rosalie loves butterflies, she says bu-er-by for butterfly, and moves her little hands to show how the fly. We tried to teach her to do it like Napoleon Dynamite does it in the move. The butterfly museum is great for kids, they have all sorts of insects and bugs in little enclosures to look at, then you walk into a jungle like area that is filled with beautiful plants and butterflies everywhere flying free. Rosalie loved that place, and of course I forgot my camera.

Next thing we did was take Rosalie to the Aquarium to see the fish. She LOVED the fish. She even got to touch some stingrays and see a tiger, a random part at the end of the exhibit, but she thought it was awesome. We also got to ride a ferris wheel, a train, and a carousel, but she didn't think they were as fun as the fish and tiger.

Mammy's turtle!

She just kept saying wow to the fish, it was really cute, they totally baffled her.

Then we went to visit my family in Austin. We had a blast, Rosalie chased the dog around the house and fed him snacks. We also did some shopping, and then Sean came and we just hung out with the family. As usual I did not take pictures.

We have had the chance to see some friends while we've been here, and go swimming, and go to the park, and go on runs, and go to the gym. We are just loving having this time together.

Rosalie is loving going to the gym kid's center, and she has started doing all sorts of new fun things. She now colors, for a very short time. She talks a lot more. It is surprising how fast she picks up new words, and I love hearing her try to repeat us. She loves babies, and when we take pictures she demands to see the baby in the picture. She still loves animals the most, and so we have little toy animals and rubber lizards that she enjoys playing with. She has started to love doing songs with movements, like head-shoulders-knees-and toes, itsy bitsy spider, popcorn popping, wheels on the bus etc. She loves music, and dancing, and the guitar and piano. She absolutely loves chocolate, sweets, and pretty much anything with sugar.

eating a nutella and peanut butter sandwich, she thought it was divine.

Charlie Chaplin goatee thingy from a chocolate bar she ate, so funny.

She loves bubble baths.

She loves this box, it is her playhouse.

She loves playing with her bows and shoes.

She puts on her own shoes, except for her boots which she hasn't figured out yet. She sometimes pretends to be shy and puts her head on our shoulders and won't look at new people, or she doesn't want me to put her down and will cling to my neck and arms, so cute. She hates when I do her hair in ponytails or pigtails, but I try anyway. I can't get her to keep headbands on anymore, but she calls them pretties because I called the pretty to try and get her to keep them on.

She doesn't really enjoy the weather here, and neither does Sean, nobody loves humidity, but we will get used to it. It is really fun being near my family so that she can spend time with them. I haven't been this close in proximity to my family for a few years, so I'm enjoying it. I just wish the world were smaller sometimes so that we could be closer to all of the people we love, someone needs to invent an easier way to travel fast.

We still have a few fun things we haven't gotten around to because of weather or diaper rash preventing us. We plan on going to the beach and to the zoo and to the children's museum. I have found on Tuesdays and Thursdays after a certain time all of the museums and stuff are free, so we have taken advantage of that. We have also been trying out lots of places to eat, so far our favorite was an authentic New York Pizza place, gotta love Houston and the food diversity choices.

We have plenty of room here for visitors, so if anyone wants to come see us in Houston we would love to have you. That's all for now folks...

The Move

2010-09-03T17:26:00.000-07:00

Somehow we survived the move. It was a crazy week leading up to our trek to Houston. Linda came to visit and help us pack, we are so grateful, and we had so much fun.

We went to Sammy and Ben's wedding.Rosalie got to meet Abuela Marcia at the wedding. It was such a long day and Rosalie was a really good sport about it all. We were happy to have the opportunity to see family one last time before leaving Utah.At first Rosalie enjoyed the packing and all of the boxes, she loved to climb in them, and use them as her little huts. By the end of the 2nd week of intense packing she was more than annoyed and concerned. Every time I would put things in a box and start taping it shut she would start to cry. I think she did not like us putting everything away that she knew and was comfortable with.

My mom came to bring my little bro Stephen up to BYU and move him into the dorms.

The morning of the day we left we sent Rosalie off on the plane with my mom, thanks a million for taking her. Then some awesome guys from the ward, my little bro and his roommate, Sean and Rick all did the heavy lifting and got everything into the truck before 1:00 pm. By 2:30 we were on the road to Texas. We made it to Gallup, New Mexico the first day and stayed there for the night. Then we got up as early as we could, we were all exhausted, and drove all the way to San Antonio. We stayed really close to the River Walk and the Alamo. Rick went and ran on the River Walk, and as we were leaving we drove by the Alamo. Sean's comment was, "that's it." He couldn't believe it was so small and felt that we Texans talk it up. I think that he just doesn't understand the history behind it, I never said it was a big building.

We arrived in Houston on Monday, and after a little delay in the apartment office, we proceeded to unload the truck, in the pouring rain. Sean's friend Jamie came to help, and he was awesome, we could not have done it without him. We were done by four and started unpacking boxes. It was great to get so much done in such a short time. Rick left on Tuesday, and Rosalie came back home on Wednesday. We tried to get a lot done before she got here so that it would feel like home. She has adjusted pretty well, she has her moments where I'm sure she is worried that something is wrong. She has found her way of beating the heat here, it is pretty much refusing to wear a shirt, and trying to pull it off once I get it on her. We walked around WalMart getting some essentials with her shirt halfway up, as she struggled to remove it. Silly girl! I will post apartment pictures as soon as I feel it is cute enough to document. Below is Rosalie's heat technique.

Haircut

2010-08-17T10:26:00.001-07:00

Got my hair cut, what do you think? I got new bangs, I hope I don't look weird. Give me some feedback please, I can take it. Sorry the picture is not great.

Mischief Managed

2010-08-12T07:20:00.001-07:00

Rosalie loves to get into things she is not supposed to, especially the pantry. Here she found herself some chocolate chips and was going to town. We always know she is up to something when it gets really quiet in the house. She was so pleased with her loot.

The other day she came out of our bathroom with the toilet brush in hand grinning like she had just won a big prize. She found it pretty amusing that I was so disgusted and ran it back to the bathroom.Just now it got quiet and I turn around and Rosalie is attempting to play Sean's guitar.

She looks up at me with the funniest smiles when she gets caught.
Here is a grumpy Rosalie, but with cute pigtails, that was the best picture I could get of them, she climbed on top of me and was flailing her hands in front of the camera.
And now, here is the little flyer. She has finally figured out how to push herself around on the little airplane. It is so stinkin' cute! She sits on it and says wee, and pushes herself backwards. She can only go a little bit forwards, but she is definitely getting the hang of it, and has a blast.
Mischievous smile.
Watching her show while riding the plane. Funny girl.

Another new favorite of Rosalie's is to hide in this closet. Ever since I cleaned it out to pack things for our move she has used it as her own little club house. Here she is playing peek-a-boo with me. Silly girl!

We love our silly Rosalie. She definitely adds to our family and creates entertainment/chaos. She is also learning so many new words and tricks. She spins and plays Ring-around-the-rosies, she walks on tip toes, she sits on the big balls and bounces like a trampoline, she says movie and proceeds to bring us dvd's and even takes them out of the box, she loves to play with little friends, she brings books and sits in my lap and loves to have me read to her, and she loves to take out all of the things from the fridge every time it is opened. She keeps us busy and we are so lucky to have her.

Rosalie's new picture face

2010-07-24T08:46:00.000-07:00

Can't seem to get any good pictures of Rosalie lately, this is the face she gives me when I take out the camera. So cute though!

What a silly little girl she is. We just love her, even when she is in a terrible mood. Yesterday I had my first experience being that mom with the screaming child at the store that you feel sorry for. I just let her cry and kept shopping. What else could I do? I did grab some jelly belly's and let her eat them, that calmed her down. Of course I wanted them too, so it wasn't too big of a sacrifice to get them for her, haha.

She went to the Dr for her 15 month appointment and was pretty crazy, she did not want to stay in that tiny little room and kept knocking on the door for them to let her out. She hated her shots of course, she was just so sad, but she survived. I think she was super tired when I went to the store and then to the Dr. She is transitioning from 2 naps to one which is making for one crazy uneven schedule lately.

Last night she ate her dinner with me and then had her bath and I got her dressed for bed, but bed time was still at least 30 minutes away, so she just snuggled on my shoulder and we watched the slideshow screen saver on my computer and named everyone in the pictures. It was sooooo sweet. We don't get many moments like that anymore, where she will just snuggle with me and not try to escape to go terrorize the house.

That's what has been going on with Rosalie, sorry it is not a very exciting post, I will update with more cute things she is up to again soon.

P.S. We are moving in 5 weeks, I am freaking out!

4th of July

2010-07-14T11:46:00.001-07:00

First thing we did was get in our running gear and head on over to see the hot air balloons. Rosalie loved them, she thought they were the coolest thing ever. The wind was really strong though, so not many of them made it into the air.
Running around excited about the balloons.
Posing for a picture.
Dada
Watching the balloons.
She is blowing the balloons, so funny.
In her giant Mona Vie shirt that she wore as a night gown, doing her new favorite thing, climbing.
Waiting for the parade to start.
So cute.
Eating her first shaved ice, she loved it.

We had a really fun family weekend despite the fact that we all got sick. We enjoyed spending time together and watching the fireworks. Those were just too hard to get a picture of because I had Rosalie in my arms. They were pretty loud and it didn't even phase her. She would look at the sky every time that people clapped at the Stadium of Fire expecting more fireworks. She loved when the jets flew over head, and seemed to enjoy the music of the concert, despite the fact that it was way passed her bedtime.

The parade was so fun, she loved the big balloon floats and the police sirens even though they were really loud. She stayed in my lap for a really long time watching the parade, I was impressed with her ability to stay still for that long. Then we went to the carnival in the afternoon and had some shaved ice and checked out the general festivities. It was a fun weekend, I'm glad we got to spend that time together.

Recap on the month of June

2010-06-28T14:26:00.000-07:00

The month of June has been a busy one. We have been enjoying ourselves at Seven Peaks and Sean has been busy studying for the CPA exam and working very hard. Here are some of our highlights.Rosalie's first day going to Seven Peaks, she was so funny looking in her bathrobe before I got her all dressed in her swimming gear before we left. She would not stay still and kept trying to get my camera.Pouring her snacks into her toys, she is so mischievous lately it makes me laugh.
At Stephen's graduation in TX. We definitely had an interesting flight there and back, but we survived. Isn't she so cute with her Auntie?
The High School graduate and parents.
Proud sister.

The family. Rosalie was so tired, I'm pretty sure she conked out on my shoulder right after this picture was taken.
Sleeping at Grandma's house, such a funny position.
Father's day. She loves her dad, and he is so wonderful to her. I have been so bad about posting lately that I didn't get a tribute out to him or my dad on Father's day, I really wish I had. Both of them are such amazing men and I am grateful for all that they do. I love Sean, we are lucky to have him, and Rosalie is super lucky he is her dad.
Watching her videos. Sometimes it is so nice to just sit her down to watch her movies like this. It was a life saver on our flight to TX, I forgot to charge it on our way back though and it was sorely missed. She loves her Einstein videos now, it is great.
Cute pigtails. Rosalie is getting so big, her hair is getting long, and she is just growing up. She now loves to climb up on the couch and on chairs and she knows to move things to use them as steps, she is just too smart. She says so many new words and it is fun to watch her learn new things. She absolutely loves other kids and is enjoying the pool a lot. She is a little fish, luckily she does not let go of me in the water so that I have some peace of mind. We are just so in love with our little monster.

Rosalie's 1 yr. Photoshoot

2010-05-21T13:14:00.000-07:00

I am really going to miss living so close to an awesome photographer. McKenzie Deakins is the best, we were lucky to have her around to get pictures of Rosalie this last year. Here are some of the ones she took today. I love them!!!!!

Below

2010-05-10T13:09:00.001-07:00

Three posts below and more to come about our trip to Cali, enjoy!

Rosalie's Birthday Party

2010-05-10T12:47:00.000-07:00

My mom and sister helped out with the decor, I think it turned out great.

Rosalie and Ellie totally enjoyed opening the gifts and playing with them, it was so fun, and they were so cute!

Rosalie enjoyed her pizza and her cake, she was very upset with us when we took the cake from her. She had had so much candy that day we just didn't want her to get a sugar rush. She definitely had an amazing time. It was so great having all of our family there to celebrate with us. Rosalie is such a special girl, we are so blessed to have her in our family.

A few things she is up to lately:
-started taking a few steps by her party, and now she pretty much walks all over
-says several things, you just have to interpret them her favorites are uh-ho, oh no, no, and uh-huh
-she stacks her blocks and then knocks them down
-she plays pretty well independently
-she loves to throw balls, lately she picks one up that is as big as her and carries it around and laughs
-she loves to snuggle and rock any soft thing we hand to her
-she loves dogs, and yells dog whenever she sees one, while we were in Cali she knew Lucy was around and would yell dog really loud until she found Lucy
-she loves books, but not when we try to read them to her, she just likes to look at them on her own
-she tries to feed herself with a spoon or fork and gets annoyed when we try to feed her or cut up her food
-the list could go on, but my hands are getting carpel-tunnel so I will spare you
hope you enjoyed our little monsters birthday pictures

Sean's Graduation

2010-05-10T12:46:00.001-07:00

My Seanie graduated with his Bachelor and Masters in accounting a couple of weeks ago. We are so proud of everything he did to accomplish this goal. Way to go Sean!!!! Below is our traditional jumping graduate shot.
We celebrated the occasion by going to lunch with Sean's family at GoodWood. Then after the ceremony my family joined us at our house for dessert. It was a pretty crazy day considering my sister was graduating as well. I'm just so proud of Sean and Aubrey for all of the hard work they put in to get their degrees.

Rosalie's Birthday

2010-05-10T12:36:00.000-07:00

On Rosalie's actual birthday we had a fun day as a family. Rosalie woke up early as usual and had a yummy birthday breakfast of waffles and strawberries. Then we played and after her morning nap Aubrey joined us and we went to lunch at Cheesecake Factory. Rosalie got to ride in her big girl car seat for the first time, and she seemed to love it. Rosalie enjoyed her bread, bananas, and pizza. We had a great time together. Rosalie and Sean then got some cute little birthday sundaes and we sung to them. It was a fantastic day, we enjoyed celebrating Rosalie.

Happy Birthday Rosalie!

2010-04-17T07:15:00.000-07:00

1st day of life
1 Year Old

You have grown so much and we are so lucky to have you, Love you tons!!!

Easter

2010-04-07T20:37:00.001-07:00

Our little family together.
The Easter bunny brought Rosalie a sweet basket, and he hid it for her to find.
On her own without any coaxing Rosalie found the Easter basket, I was not quite ready for her to find it.
Enjoying the spoils.
Easter table, food is not ready yet.
Our Easter girls before their egg hunt. Yest I made Mimi and Aubrey participate because we didn't have any other little kids, and Rosalie just thought all of the eggs were balls and would throw them.
Climbing up the stairs "collecting" eggs.
Enjoying the eggs, she is a very funny girl. She still finds the eggs in our house, I haven't stored them yet, and says ball and then throws them in and out of the bucket they are in. We had a very fun Easter, it was great to make a feast and have company to enjoy it. We missed our family though, but it was fun to have a piece of each here with us. Love you Aubs and Mimi!

Up and Down

2010-03-23T18:51:00.001-07:00

Rosalie just wants to go up and down the stairs over and over and over again. She does not want to be put in the stroller to go on a walk, she does not want to play in the yard, she does not want to do anything but crawl up and down the stairs. Here are some pictures of Sean and Rosalie going up and down.

11 Months and St. Patty's Day

2010-03-17T19:46:00.000-07:00

Our Silly girl is growing so fast. 11 months, I just can't believe it. We had a really fun day today, the weather was so nice. We went to the park with some friends and Rosalie had a great time begging everyone else for food even though I had snacks for her, and swinging on the swings, and crawling around and trying to eat wood chips. Here are some things she is up to lately:
-Eating pretty much everything we eat
-Standing on her own
-Crawling up the lovesac and tumbling over the edge to get down
-Raiding the fridge and dishwasher and pretty much anything that has a door that she can't get into unless we open it
-Throwing tantrums when she doesn't get what she wants
-Watching Youtube videos of Elmo
-Making animal sounds, she has the elephant down, we are working on Monkey and Owl, she just makes those noises already, so they are easy to teach
-Trying to talk, but not really saying anything
-Wanting to walk, but not quite balanced enough yet
-Taking forever to fall asleep for her naps and bedtime, but playing and talking in her crib before she falls asleep
-Smacking my face when she is frustrated, I think we need to break this habit
-One new tooth, she laughs when I touch it and say ouch, luckily she doesn't try to bite us at all yet
-Folds her arms for prayers, tonight she even did it on her own when I said time for prayer, so cute
Pretty much she is just so much fun and we love having her, we are excited for our family to come and celebrate her birthday with us next month, along with Sean's graduation. Life just happens so quickly.
Swings are so much fun.
Weeeeee!
Spikey do.
Our bathing beauty, she loves her baths.

Obsession with Ruffles

2010-03-15T09:40:00.000-07:00

I am obsessed with home decor lately, and especially ruffles. I want to get ruffled bedding, pillows, towels, and shower curtain. I also found ruffled dishes and tablecloth. I made the pillow above using a tutorial from a fun blog I found floralshowers.com. I wish that all these fun decor items were a lot less expensive. One day though...

Look who loves Pasta

2010-03-14T20:46:00.000-07:00

She looked so funny I had to take a picture, she is just the messiest eater, and she loooooooves pasta!

Where a Kid can be a Kid

2010-03-13T14:16:00.001-08:00

Our friends Ali and Quinn came in town to visit and we met them at Chuck E Cheese. Rosalie had the best time ever. She ate a whole slice of pizza and some fruit. Then we rode rides and played games. The kids had a blast. Thanks for inviting us Ali.

Rosalie is here with Chuck E.Rosalie, Macie and Quinn on the jeep, they were so cute.
Rosalie riding a car with a Dog.

Yummy Dinner

2010-03-12T16:01:00.000-08:00

This recipe came from http://www.ourbestbites.com. I love this blog, she has the yummiest recipes. Sean and I loved them, even Rosalie ate some. Try it soon and you will love it!

Crispy Coconut Chicken Fingers
Recipe by Our Best Bites

12 chicken tenders (ya know, more or less...)
1-2 eggs (start with one and crack another if it runs out)
1/2 C flour
1 C sweetened coconut flakes
1 C panko bread crumbs
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
3/4 tsp table salt
3/4 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (you can leave this out if you want to skip the spice for the kiddos)

preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Give coconut a rough chop so it's about the same size as the panko pieces

Combine it with Panko and spices in a shallow dish. Mix well to distribute all of the spices.

Place the flour in another shallow dish, and the egg in another. Give the egg a quick beating.

Working with one chicken tender at a time, dredge in flour...

then dip in egg...

And then finally coat in the coconut Panko mixture. Press in with your fingers to make sure the entire thing is well coated.

Place chicken tenders on a foil-lined baking sheet (for easy clean up!) that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. I give mine a teeny drizzle of olive oil on top to help them crisp nicely, but it's optional.

Bake in your 450 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until juices run clear. Try not to overcook them because chicken tenders go from perfect to overcooked really fast! If your tenders are on the small side, they could even be done in about 15 minutes so keep an eye on them. If they're big they can take more like 25. The coconut will be nice and golden and the panko crisp, but light in color still.

Playing with Rosalie

2010-03-06T14:27:00.000-08:00

Rosalie has been so fun lately, she is just such a joy. We really enjoy playing with her. I have been really bad about taking pictures, but here are a few recent ones.

Getting stuck between the couch and lovesac.
Funky hairdo, she looks so funny and cute, I love it. Oh, and that is her Valentine's day gift we gave her, a fun outfit.
So smiley.
Exploring as usual.
Loving the bubble bath, she likes to stick her face in and try to eat them. So funny!
Not quite wanting to smile for me.
I found my shoe like this in her stroller, she puts the funniest things in and then pushes it around the room.

This picture is for Linda and Rick, they were asking to see our new Entertainment center we got. We absolutely love it!!!

10 months old!!

2010-02-19T13:51:00.000-08:00

Rosalie is 10 months old now, time just flies! She is so hard to get good pictures of, she does not pose for me anymore. She is just such a fun little baby.Getting into her shelves in her room,
handing me the sticker and laughing when I try to keep it on,
trying to jump off the chair,
trying to climb and get things that she is not supposed to get,
and just pretty much laughing at my struggle to get her to hold still are all the things I had to deal with while trying to get a good picture. Silly Girl!

Here are some of the things she is up to lately:
-crawling faster than ever and getting into absolutely everything
-she loves to pull things off of the shelves
-she loves to eat a lot, and loves trying new foods
-some favorites are: mac n cheese, strawberries, waffles, bananas, grapes, cantaloupe, cereal of all kinds, frozen yogurt, cafe rio pork but no other meats, and much much more
-she loves patticake
-she combs and brushes her hair, so cute
-she waves at everyone, but only if she wants to
-she snuggles with us and everything she thinks is soft
-she feeds her dolls bottles and snuggles them
-she dances, even when there is no music if she is really excited
-she is really close to saying "dog"
-she says mama and dada but not to call us over or anything, she is not verbal, but she knows what things are
-if I ask her where is the dog, duck, frog, etc she can point it out or give it to me
and lots of other things I just can't think of at the moment

Rosalie's bows

2010-02-19T13:39:00.000-08:00

I just can't seem to keep them in her hair, every time I put them in, this is what I get. This is my life lately, so cute!

Glad to have these smiles back

2010-02-16T09:37:00.001-08:00

Last week was quite crazy.
We battled RSV starting Sunday night. Rosalie started wheezing pretty bad by Monday, and I took her to the Dr. early Tuesday morning and he told me exactly what I did not want to hear. Luckily her RSV wasn't too bad so she didn't have to go to the hospital, but it was not responding to breathing treatments, so she had to tough it out on her own.
We were planning to leave for California on Thursday and decided to go through with the plans hoping that the beautiful weather would do her good. The drive was a little tough for us, Rosalie normally is very sweet and just sleeps through it all, but she woke up in a fit. I ended up holding her in my lap for a couple of hours towards the end of the ride. I know it is not the safest, but it was the only thing that would calm her down, and we really wanted to arrive sooner rather than later. We got there late and greeted Grammy and Pops and the men gave Rosalie a blessing, her wheezing had gotten a bit scary. We gave her a bath with this bubble bath for colds and it helped soothe her.
She was a lot better the next day, not quite herself, but we took her to the beach and she went on swings for the first time. She loved them. She was laughing so hard and enjoying them, and I'm pretty sure she forgot she was sick and not feeling great. Saturday her wheezing was completely gone, and now she just has a cough. We love our little monkey!
We spent a lovely Valentine's day with Linda and Rick, Rosalie got a cute new outfit as her gift, and then we decided we would leave late that night so Rosalie could sleep on the drive home.
We were about 1 and 1/2 hours away when we heard a weird sound from the car and had to pull over. A pipe connecting the muffler to the engine had fallen off the car and so we had to call Sean's parents to come and get us, and have a tow truck pick up the car. It was quite an ordeal and I think it will get it's own post later. Luckily everything worked out and we are now back in Utah.

Latest Project - Quilting

2010-01-31T08:04:00.000-08:00

So I didn't get the chance to make Rosalie anything before she was born, and I decided I wanted to make her a blanket, so I looked up online how to do it an voila, a rag quilt:
The hardest part was cutting up the edges after I sewed everything together. It is not perfect, but I had a great time doing it. I think I see more projects in the future.

In other news, my good camera broke this week and is in the repair shop. The man said that someone had dropped it, so something is loose in the lens. It will be back in two weeks, but I was so sad, so no good pictures for a while.

Getting Crafty

2010-01-20T15:54:00.000-08:00

So I have several friends that are having babies this winter and decided I wanted to make them a little gift to give them, here is the result for girl gifts, a ruffle bottom onsie.

I used Rosalie as a model, that is the size she just barely grew out of so it fits tight, and she wasn't too thrilled to have me putting anything on her. And yes, I did put it over her pants because it was just so much easier.

I think it turned out cute, what do you think?

9 Months Out

2010-01-17T15:33:00.000-08:00

Rosalie has been out of my belly for 9 months now, the same as she was in-ish. I can't believe how fast the time flies. She is feeling a little sick today, so I didn't subject her to my crazy mom photo shoot. I will do it tomorrow hopefully.
Some of her latest activities include:
-clapping her hands
-crab crawling
-cruising along furniture
-playing under my desk, her favorite spot before she figured out she can get anywhere she wants in the house
-giving hugs and kisses, she loves to snuggle with everything, the couch, the floor, my leg etc.
-pulling all of her toys out of the toy chest, or dolls out of the doll bag
-knocking over towers of blocks
-exploring everything
-dancing to any kind of music
-eating all sorts of new foods

She is so much fun, she still is not afraid of other people, she kind of got like that at around 5 months so maybe she won't be afraid anymore. She is very social and it is great, she loves new people and places. She is so funny when she crawls, I need to get it on the video camera, is just looks hilarious. She has not been sleeping well the last couple of weeks, and I thought it was teething, but still no tooth has appeared, who knows when that will happen.We have been so lucky to have her, I can't believe how fast time flies, she is getting so big!

Rosalie's new tricks

2010-01-09T15:56:00.000-08:00

Rosalie loves to play catch!

Rosalie loves to make funny noises with her mouth!

Highlights of the Trip

2010-01-09T15:41:00.000-08:00

Here are some highlights since I am just catching up on here.
We went to see Sherlock Holmes on Christmas day. It was fun to go to a movie again, we hadn't seen anything together since Harry Potter 6 came out. Sean went golfing at our friend's country club. The girls went out shopping. We went and saw Avatar in 3D, really fun movie. We ate Pappasito's, Rudy's, Brisket, Jimmy John's, Great American Cookie Company, J&J's and Nothing Bundt Cake. We really filled ourselves with some yummy goodness. Rosalie played with my parents each morning from 7-9 while Sean and I slept in, it was fantastic. My brothers built giant towers with Rosalie's toys for her to knock over. We watched movies on the big screen my dad put in the game room, 106 inch screen and blue-ray projector. We had family pictures taken. We worked out and went running outside in the nice warmer (not warm though) weather. And we kept Rosalie up way past bed time to try and bring in the New Year. She almost made it, it was her that was refusing to sleep, I wasn't trying to keep her up on purpose. And then we had a crazy flight home on New Year's day. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with family and the time we spent in TX, we have never been able to stay for so many consecutive days there together, so it was great. I was of course terrible at taking pictures, but we have a few from the family photo shoot.
Our little family.
Big girl walking while holding onto Daddy's hands.
Proud Grandparents!
My beautiful sister Aubrey.
My cute brother Stephen.
My cute brother Grey.
Rosalie flying to me, she loves it!

Traveling on Christmas Eve and Festivities

2010-01-03T19:53:00.001-08:00

It was a pretty crazy day traveling on Christmas Eve, we started the day at 4:45 when Rosalie woke up. I fed her and we took off for the airport. We were so lucky to have great friends, the MacDonald's, who gave us a ride so early in the morning. We got to the airport and the line was pretty long to check our luggage, but it went by pretty quickly. We made it through security with no problems and were on our way. The flight was ok, Rosalie wasn't terribly restless, and I was able to get her to sleep for a little while. If I moved she would wake up, so it was a little bit difficult, and she was very sweaty so it was hard to stay still. We made it to TX in a daze and met up with my brothers and dad. Once we got to the house we had a yummy brisket sandwich for lunch and just rested for a little while before Rosalie got to 0pen her first gift, the Christmas PJs. Then we went to the Coleman's house for our traditional Pappasitos dinner for Christmas eve. We had a great time and were completely stuffed.
Here is Rosalie in her cute PJ's.

Well, I am terrible at pictures when we are actually doing something, so I didn't take any on Christmas morning, but we did get a video that Sean will edit and I can post sometime soon. We had a fabulous Christmas morning and Rosalie enjoyed ripping up the wrapping paper and then later playing with her gifts. It was a great day and a wonderful First Christmas with Rosalie. More to come on our fun trip!

Crazy Baby

2009-12-23T18:16:00.000-08:00

This is how I found Rosalie asleep in her crib when I went to check on her this evening. She scooted to the foot of the crib and grabbed that pillow and put it under her head. She has recently learned to sit herself up which makes bed time a struggle on some nights, I guess she was too tired to even attempt to lay back down, so cute!

Christmastime is Here

2009-12-22T06:37:00.000-08:00

I love the holiday season, I love our family traditions, I love the spirit of the season. I just get so happy listening to Christmas music, and I even sing along with it in the car. I love decorating, making treats to give to friends, and going to see Santa. Here are some pictures of our latest Christmas happenings.

I made cookies for our friends, these are the jam thumbprint cookies, and I also made Grand Mom Hartley's secret recipe cookies.

That is the snow on the mountains and the lights on my front railing, I love that I was able to put a little something outside this year, I know the picture is not much, but I still wanted to show my little decor.
There is our little tree with our presents underneath. I put that baby up the second we got home from Thanksgiving. I was just so excited.

Waiting in line for Santa. That was a huge ordeal, but we got it done. I think Rosalie was grumpy by the time we finally got to him.

She is trying to look at Santa, he was holding her really awkwardly, it did not make her happy.
And here we have her crying because I think she did not like Santa. I think it was a combination of things, the way he was holding her, the fact that she was a little tired and hungry, and she didn't know who the heck he was. Usually she smiles the second she sees my camera, and I have never seen her cry with someone she doesn't know before. I really think it was the way he was holding her arms down, it makes her really mad when I do that.
Oh well, Merry Christmas! Hope you enjoyed our funny pictures of Rosalie.

The Great 8 months!

2009-12-17T17:54:00.000-08:00

getting into my papers and loving it.

drinking her juice, sometimes she makes us hold it for her even though she can do it.

We forced Rosalie to stay on all fours for the picture, now she rolls over every time I try to get her like that. She is very stubborn and does not want to crawl.

Rosalie is eight months today. I haven't done the monthly mom photo shoot yet, but I will tomorrow. She has learned so many things this month, especially in the last week. It is so fun to watch her learn and grow.
She pulls her self up to sitting position in her crib and then tries to stand herself up, but I moved the bar so that she can't reach it. This makes bed and nap time hard at first because she sits her self up and starts to play, or gets stuck at the foot of the bed wedged into the corner.
She pulls herself up to standing position, and wants to stand all of the time, it makes my back really sore when she wants me to hold her hands to stand.
She takes steps when I hold her hands and walks around, very slowly.
She still doesn't crawl, she can get on all fours, but if I put her on all fours and try to get her to crawls she smashes her face in the floor and proceeds to cry very dramatically.
She somehow is able to scoot forward a little when she is sitting on her bum, because that is how she got to my basket of papers that she is so happily standing at in the above photo.
She now says gaga, and baba along with mama, still no dada.
She makes all sorts of funny noises with her mouth.
She makes the funniest facial expressions.
She snorts her nose, like the noise the bunny rabbit says.
She was doing the noise the elephant makes by blowing with her mouth for a while, she moved on to new noises though.
She gives me "five."
She waves hello, but she has her hand facing herself, it is so cute. We can't quite catch it on the video camera yet because she doesn't always do it.
She gave her book kisses and snuggled it last night, it was so cute.
She says awwww when she snuggles.
She is learning to be soft, but gets bored and proceeds to smack our faces or pinch our lips.
She loves her little snacks, she is very good at picking things up with her thumb and finger.
She loves all of her food except for green beans.
She loves her juice and her sippy cup. She really loves our water bottles the best though.
She is squirmy and all over the place and knows exactly what she wants, we just sometimes don't understand and she gets frustrated.
We love her to bits!!!!

New Hobby

2009-12-16T12:37:00.000-08:00

the bad quality photos comes from my phone, sorry.

don't look too closely at the onesie or you will see my mistakes

I have found a new hobby. I just needed something new to do to keep me entertained, and I had a few baby shower gifts to make so I decided to take up sewing/crafting. I called my friend Mallory, a home-ec teacher to help me get my sewing machine up and running. And I went to the fabric store, so much fun, I just wanted to buy everything. There are so many beautiful fabrics I had a hard time only getting a few. Then I got started. I first made a few tie onesies for my friend's little baby boy Max. Then I decided to try something girly and make some fabric flowers. I love how they all turned out. The onesies I sewed the tie on after using an iron-on applique so that they wouldn't fray. The flowers I made by hand.
This hobby totally beats the alternative of what I would really like to do. I want to be the most amazing baker, but I feel like I would gain 50 to a 100lbs if I started making everything I want to try. So I have started with sewing. I think I will try the baking thing when we have a bigger budget for ingredients and I have more time to spend at the gym to work off everything I have tasted while I am baking. I one day would like to own a bakery, that way I can make things and not worry about eating them all by myself. But for now I will sew.

Rosalie's Christmas Photoshoot

2009-12-14T10:12:00.000-08:00

My little girl is just so fun and so pretty. I just had to get her pictures done again. She was so cute, at least she kept her bow on, but this time her shoe would not stay on. Check out the picture where it is actually in mid-air. I love McKenzie, she did such an amazing job.

Thanksgiving Fun!

2009-12-03T16:32:00.000-08:00

We did lots of fun stuff for Thanksgiving week. We were able to visit Sean's family in their tiny apartment (temporary) in Southern California. It was so much fun, and I'm so glad that everyone survived a week of sleep deprivation so that we could visit. Rosalie just did not want to sleep the entire time we were there. Since we were all snuggled close together in the apartment and you could hear through the walls, she kept everyone awake.
The view was amazing, the weather was amazing and I am so happy that they are living in such a fun place. Even though I am sad that they had to move a home full of memories, one that Sean even admitted to missing, I'm glad that they are in such a beautiful fun place with so many things to do.

We went to Rick's cousin Eric's wedding.
Rosalie was able to meet her other set of Great-grandparents.
We went to Downtown Disney.

We visited the walk of fame in Hollywood. This was the only picture we got of hollywood, nice I know.

We experienced terrible California traffic. All I had to do to make Rosalie stop crying was to get the camera out, what a diva. It worked magic in that traffic though.

Rosalie wore her first bikini, and we went swimming in the beautiful 80 degree weather (in a pool not the ocean).
We made new traditions for Thanksgiving.
We went Black Friday Shopping.
We went to a swap meet, I love swap meets, wish they existed all over.

And now the traditional thankful thoughs:
-My amazing family born into and married into
-My sweet, funny, smart, sassy, crazy little Rosalie
-Sean
-Having a job/job offer
-Our little apartment
-Food
-Clothes
-baby toys that keep Rosalie busy
-Friends
-Library story time
-Diet Coke and Advil
-My sister who is one of my best friends, something I never really thought would happen
-Walmart
-Amazon.com
-Makeup
-Shopping
-Christmas trees and decor and the entire holiday season
-And much much more...

7 months!!!

2009-11-18T16:59:00.000-08:00

My Rosalie is getting so big, and so much fun. We just love her little personality, most of the time. Here are some fun new things she can do:
She can throw a real temper tantrum at times.
She is all over the place, wiggling like a little crazy person.
She hasn't quite figured out that she can mover herself yet, she still just uses her feet as a central position and moves in a circle using her arms.
Sometimes she moves backwards, but never very far, but she can get up on all fours every once and a while.
She also rolls all over the place, it is pretty funny.
She now says "baba" and "bama" and any combination of ba and ma.
She thinks that I am hilarious, which makes me feel pretty good.
She loves to smile and make her silly face with her tongue sticking out. S
he always wants to eat whatever we are eating and enjoys trying little bits of new foods. She especially loves crackers/biting biscuits.
She is always trying to look at what is on the ground to play with when we are holding her, but when we put her down she gets upset.
She goes to bed really easily when she does not have an ear infection, I can just put her down and she goes to sleep, after the routine of course.
She still wakes up once a night, but it is after going nine or ten hours after going to bed, if she would go to bed later it wouldn't really disturb my sleep, but since she goes to bed at 6:30 or 7 she wakes me up at around 4.
She loves her Auntie Aubrey, especially when we go out places with her.
She loves going out anywhere, and also watching other kids or babies.

We are just enjoying every little moment with this sweet, spunky little girl.

I won a prize!

2009-11-18T16:39:00.001-08:00

I never win anything, so you could imagine my excitement when the manager from smith's call me and told me that I won a Holiday dinner. There I am with my certificate to purchase everything necessary for a big ole meal, including the floral centerpiece. Happy Holidays to me!!!

Rosalie had a photo shoot

2009-11-02T11:32:00.000-08:00

Rosalie had a photo shoot with McKenzie Deakins, and it was great, she looked adorable and McKenzie did an awesome job. I was so excited to actually get her pictures done for six months/Halloween. Check out her blog, and totally schedule your pictures with her, she is fantastic and friendly www.photobymckenzie.blogspot.com

Queen Bee

2009-10-31T14:35:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween!!! This year didn't go quite as I expected. I totally planned on going to the Hartley House to greet the trick or treating children and have a cute little family costume. Unfortunately they moved, yesterday. We are very sad. Rosalie is our little queen bee. She is so cute. Enjoy the pictures I took this morning. She is going through a phase where she makes this really weird face instead of smiling, so I did the best I could.

1/2 a Year!

2009-10-19T16:56:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my baby is six months old. She is so much fun and is growing too fast. She can sit and roll and sometimes she scoots backwards, but not too far yet. She definitely says "mama" when she is upset, and she reaches for me when she wants me to hold her, it is so cute.
Some things she loves:
All of her baby foods, she has tried all of the basics and seems to enjoy it all
The bulb syringe, but only when I'm not using it on her
Cell phones, we even got her a fake one to play with
Sitting and playing with all of her toys piled on her lap
Being part of the action, she hates being left alone in a separate room, even for a minute
For me to hold her when I do just about anything
Her Einstein jumper
Eating paper
Drinking our water, and playing with a sippy cup
Playing with anything that is not a toy, jewelry, spoons, purses, shoes
Watching other kids play
Smiling for the camera, she is a little model
Playing with her monkey toy, I always find her eating it when I go to get her after a nap
Petting Lucy, the Hartley's dog
Her medicine, she has her first ear infection and she just loves the pink stuff, weird
She is just a very happy, social, fun little girl and we are so lucky to have her

More reasons to love October

2009-10-17T19:41:00.001-07:00

Pumpkin Patches and Witches Night Out!!! Those are two amazing reasons to love October.

We had so much fun with Marci and Ellie while they were in town, we already miss them a ton. All of the girls went to the pumpkin patch and the little ones sure looked so cute exploring everything. Rosalie had her first taste of dirt. I think she loved it, haha. Pumpkin patches are just so beautiful, we totally enjoyed picking out our own pumpkin and riding on the hayride. I picked a huge pumpkin, bigger than Rosalie, and I plan to try something very fun with it. Here are some pictures of the beautiful patch.

We also attended Witches Night Out at Gardner Village. It was so much fun. I wasn't planning on taking Rosalie, but Sean was really sick, so she tagged along. I'm so lucky to have such a happy baby, she enjoyed the whole thing and was a very good sport. We started the evening at the Cheesecake Factory with a scrumptious dinner, then we made our way to the event. We danced, we shopped and we just had a blast. Rosalie even tried out the limbo. I'm so glad we could have all of the girls together for this, including my sis.