Krista & Jeremy

Thrift Store Shopping

2011-11-21T12:38:00.000-08:00

These boot go for $298 new at Bloomingdales. I saw a pair of them at the Goodwill in Seattle on Saturday for $50. Of course I recognized them as something really nice and expensive, and tried them on. But, they were 2 to 3 sizes too big.

We have started shopping a lot at the Thrift Stores around here. Whenever we need something, first we go around to the thrift stores, then we may go check out some sale rack at another store, but once you get used to paying $2 or $3 for items it is hard to go back to paying regular price. And, if these boots had fit, I would have spent the $50 for a $300 pair of boots and been one very happy new owner of beautiful boots!

Pumpkin Farm

2011-10-22T15:36:00.000-07:00

The first Saturday in October they had a Farm Tour up here. A bunch of family farms opened to the public and showed off some of what they have been growing. We went to the farm that was closest to our home which happened to be a big pumpkin farm. They also grew all sorts of crazy looking squash that they were selling.

Isobel was excited to go with her friend and see everything, but the moment we asked her to smile she would make a stink face!

Both of them were a little unsure about sitting on this pumpkin. I love how they are holding hands too.

Proof that we were there too. Notice the apple that Isobel is eating? Well, they were selling apples and I wasn't planning on buying anything, but she grabbed this apple and took a bite out of it before I could stop her. It was a small apple and the first time she has eaten one whole. And, she ate the WHOLE thing...core and all! She handed me the stem when she was done, she ate everything else.

Little Helper

2011-10-15T16:24:00.001-07:00

We needed to get a new faucet, and Isobel "helped" Jeremy put it in. She even stood on his belly so she could work above the counter too! :)

It was freezing in our house a few days ago, so we made cookies to try to heat things up a little bit. Isobel helped poor everything into the mixing bowl, and she touched every single cookie as I put them on the cookie sheet. And, of course, she licked her finger after every touch. She is now a cookie dough addict like her daddy.

Finally Finished!

2011-10-10T15:50:00.000-07:00

I bought an old pattern at a garage sale a couple months ago, and I am finally finished with the dress. I picked out fabric, and thread pretty quick, but getting started on the sewing took a while. The pattern was written in 1965, so some of the directions seemed like a foreign language to me at first. Once I got started it wasn't that bad, but I am still far from becoming a good seamstress.

I picked little green flower buttons. I was going to use some big hot pink buttons, but after sewing the whole thing, and adding the lime green trim I had to go with green buttons.

I'M PREGNANT!!!

2011-10-09T20:11:00.000-07:00

I am 12 weeks, so I guess we are in the mostly safe zone now....

We are super excited! For some reason getting pregnant wasn't as fast as it was for Isobel, so we had a completely different experience of monthly disappointments. So this time when we finally got a positive test, I cried again, but this time they were tears of relief instead of fear like they were the first time around.

If everything goes as it should the baby should be here near the end of April.

I am happy to be nearing the end of the 1st trimester, and hopefully nearing the end of the worst part of morning sickness. I was sick with Isobel for a LONG time, but I think it peaked at 12 weeks, then just dragged on for many many more weeks.

Isobel, loves babies and I am glad she already has some baby exposure with her cousins and right now with her friend's baby sister. She already knows a few things about how we treat babies, and things we do not do to babies. I am sure, though, having a baby around 24/7 will still be a bit of a shock to her.

All About the Child

2011-09-21T13:06:00.000-07:00

1. Isobel loves her princesses! I got her to put on her frog pj's the other night because I told her they were the 'frog princess'. She also knows 'Bella' (Beauty and the Beast), and carries around her 'Rella' (Cinderella) book with her most days. It even sat in the cart with her at Costco the other day.

2. Isobel love TRUCKS! I walked her through the toys at Costco to see what she reacted too, and she was practically screaming "TRUCK!!!" at all the bulldozers, dump trucks, and John Deer tractors they had. The only other thing she seemed excited about was the Hello Kitty mini-refrigerator. They even had princess dolls that she hardly reacted too, which surprised me a lot!

3. I bought some cloth diapers for a few reasons, but one of them being that I was hoping they would help Isobel feel more uncomfortable when she wet her diaper and move her more toward wanting to potty train. Well, I like the diapers a lot, and they work great. So great that she hardly feels wet at all! I got pocket diapers that have a fleece lining against her skin, then an absorbent layer is stuffed inside. The fleece does such a good job that sometimes it doesn't even feel wet while the insert is soaked!

4. Speaking of potty training, she still likes to sit on the toilet, and wash her hands, but she will not actually do anything on the potty.

5. She Loves our new kitten, Jack. She likes to pick him up and carry him around the yard. He must not mind because he walks up to her when she is outside, and doesn't run away as she is grabbing him. Also, if you get close enough you can hear that he is purring like crazy while she is practically strangling him.

The garden is exploding with squash!

2011-08-08T17:40:00.000-07:00

I took this picture this morning, and it shows how much everything has grown in the last month. I am picking Zucchini almost every day now, I have a bunch of TINY cucumbers, and even a few tomatoes. My potato plants are starting to fall over and die, so we will be digging up potatoes soon! Right now my cabbage, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts all look the same, but hopefully soon they will start showing their differences and start growing their yummy edible parts. A bunch of my peas on the far fence are flowering, and we have tiny pea pots growing on them too.
Here is the biggest pumpkin so far. It is on the Cinderella Pumpkin plant. They don't become super large, but I have heard that they have a short and round shape that looks a lot like Cindrella's carrage. I have two of these plants and they have shot out vines that I am finding every where in the garden. Today I cut off a few of them because they were taking up too much space on another row.
Our corn is a little on the short side, I blame the cold summer, but they are starting to flower and show some silks. One variety has the typical yellow silks, but these red one are pretty.

My lone sunflower. I planted over 12 of these and this one is the ONLY one that sprouted. So we will have sunflower seeds to snack on for a day....

Squash!

2011-08-05T16:06:00.000-07:00

Back in June Jeremy brought home a few squash plants they they didn't need anymore at work. They all had little tabs saying what they were, but they didn't mean anything to me. I also, for some reason did not look up what they were going to be until today. They are all growing, and some of them are starting to even grow their fruit. There are six different plants, and two of them we will need to wait until the fruit grows to know what they are because the names on the tabs have completely been washed off. The ones that still have names I found pictures for. So here are my mystery squash.

Carnival Acorn Squash...

Two plants are Delicata Squash, one is a Honeyboat Delicata, and the other is a Baby Delicata.

Buttercup Squash.

I have never eaten any of these, but it is fun growing them! I mostly like squash when it is made in a salty manner. If you have ever eaten any of these, let me know how you made it...

Emotions

2011-07-24T15:25:00.000-07:00

Isobel of course is the entertainment when we go out so we are trying to add to her bag of tricks. We are working on making facial expressions for different emotions. She has a few of them down pretty well now, and I find her making some of them at other times too.

Surprise!

We had a picnic for pioneer day yesterday and she made the surprise face every time she poured her water our of her cup and it hit her feet, over and over and over again!

Sad!

(I know it looks mad but she is sticking out her lower lip. We are still working on this one)

My new hobby!

2011-07-09T14:56:00.000-07:00

For a few years we have tried to grow a garden, but we haven't been successful! The first year the squirrels ate all the small plants, the next attempt the ground was to hard, and we didn't give it the attention it needed. This year I am determined to have a good garden, and grow lots of food. We live in the middle of futile farmland, so if I can't grow food here, I will give up on gardening!

To start this year, I read through two different gardening books, "Carrots love Tomatoes", and "The Backyard Homestead". I made my plan based on the companion planting suggestions from Carrots love Tomatoes. Then I started planting seeds around Memorial Day. It has been so slow to get warm here that most of the plant are growing very slowly.

I always need to have a picture of Isobel....She has been insisting on wearing her swim suits all the time....here she is wearing 3 suits!

I took this picture on July 1st.

This picture is from Today, July 9th....My plants grew a ton this past week!

Another view from today. One big difference from the last week is I planted some Marigolds and Petunias throughout the garden. They are both supposed to do something to keep pesky bugs away. Most of them are between my bush beans to keep away the bean Beatles.

I really enjoy seeing the plants growth! I always get super excited each time I see new plants sprout. I try to get out and weed most days (the weeds are thriving in our great soil!), but I can only weed when Isobel is sleeping. She really likes to 'help' me out, but she is still learning that she is not allowed to walk in the rows, on the plant, or pull up the plants....

Look we have a beach too!

2011-06-30T21:55:00.000-07:00

We went to Rosario State Beach today for a picnic and of course the first thing Isobel did was go and get in the FREEZING cold water with all her clothes on. She went in waist deep before I was able to convince her that it would be better to swim in just her diaper.

...but within seconds of me taking off her clothes she decided it would be best to just run naked in the water. Next time I will remember to bring her swim suit, no matter how cold it is in the water or outside. It was super nice outside, but still in the low 60s and I sat on the beach the whole time with long pants and a sweatshirt on while my child ran naked.
Isobel played in the water until she was covered in goose bumps and shivering uncontrollably. She finally let me wrap her up in the towel and warm her up. Luckily I did think to bring her a change of clothes so she had something dry to wear home.

Oh the Joys of 2 year olds!

Trying to think positively

2011-06-02T18:39:00.000-07:00

It is June, and it has not even broken 60 degrees outside. To me that is depressing. I am worried my garden won't grow and I don't like that my heater still keeps turning on! In an attempt to try to find the good in a cold spring, and possibly a cold summer I thought of a few good things to try to make myself feel better.

1. We can play outside any time of day and never get too hot!

2. Mowing the lawn in the drizzling rain keeps me from breaking a sweat.

3. I don't have to buy summer clothes for Isobel, she can keep wearing her long pants and sweater from the winter months.

4. We can save money by never buying sunblock.

That is about all I can think of right now....

Isobel Update - Stuff I don't want to forget

2011-05-11T21:37:00.000-07:00

****Something I forgot to put here. Isobel LOVES to be outside. Everyday she will get her shoes and socks, and find some of my shoes, then go to the back door. The whole time she will be saying, "side, side". We don't have any outside toys for her, but she finds plenty to do. She throws rocks in the puddle, chases the cat, talks to the dog across the street, and just runs. She will also help me with stuff I am doing like pushing the wheel barrow and filling it up with grass clippings.

1. Isobel is very determined to get her way. She will throw a fit - kicking and screaming - anywhere! Yesterday, was super nice and sunny outside. After we spent most of the morning out in the yard I brought her in for lunch. She threw a huge fit, including trying to push me towards the door, and bite my legs when I didn't move. I put her in her bed so I could make us food, and once she quit screaming she laid down in protest. I went into her room to get her for lunch and she just laid there. I rubbed her back and asked if she wanted to come eat, and she turned her head away from me. I told her to call for me when she wanted to eat and left her in bed. Three and a half hours later she woke up and finally ate lunch.

2. She loves to talk on the phone. The other day she called my mom on the phone and held the phone up to her ear and talked for over 20 minutes. We did it again with her other Grandma a few days later.

3. She insists on picking out her own shoes. Sunday, her outfit was brown and gold, but she HAD to wear the black patent leather shoes. She also trades her shoes throughout the day. This is partially my fault for buying her too many shoes.

4. She has already learned that if she snuggles she can get her way....she will give me hugs when she doesn't want to get dressed, or have her diaper changed, etc....especially at bed time when she doesn't want to go to sleep.

Quilt Project

2011-05-01T20:05:00.000-07:00

For quite some time Jeremy has been asking me to make a quilt for our bed. A few weeks ago I decided I was up for the challenge to making a queen size quilt. We first picked out a pattern, then a color scheme. Buying fabric was quite an ordeal, but we got that done too.

First I cut everything into 2 1/2 inch strips...

My massive pile of strips to be sewn together.

Here are six of the squares that I have sewn together, but this is not what the final product will look like. After I finish these squares I will be cutting them in half and sewing them back together again.

I have 96 of these squares finished, and a lot more to go...basically this quilt is going to take A LONG TIME....

Happy Easter!!!

2011-04-25T17:23:00.000-07:00

Easter baskets....Jeremy can't stand the plastic grass they sell to fill the baskets, so two years ago I filled the baskets with underwear and socks. This year I decided to make it a tradition, and bought everyone some new socks and underwear again. The boys were super excited because they got their first boxers.

It took a few shots before I got a smile...and I did plan on getting a picture with the boys too in their new ties, but it just didn't happen....

Bed Head!

2011-03-26T14:03:00.000-07:00

Almost every time I go some where with Isobel some one makes a comment about her how much they like her curls. The best comment was a woman at Costco asked me if my baby cried while I curled her hair.

I also think her curly hair is super cute, BUT I do envy the mother's of little girls with perfectly straight hair. It falls so nicely and I doubt their daughters ever look like this in the morning!

Pictures!

2011-03-19T23:02:00.000-07:00

The week that I made my goal to take pictures, I lost my camera. I spent all week searching the house trying to figure out where I put it. I almost convinced myself that it fell into the trash and that we would never find it because the last place I could remember seeing it was on the counter right above the trash can. I just took pictures with my phone....poor quality, but the moment was documented....

We went the Children's Museum. Isobel enjoyed this little water fall. She kept saying, 'bubbles!'

I found the camera in the car...so I took a picture! How do you like her bangs? I am trying to grow them out, and normally she has her hair tied back or in a bow. She wears bows so much now that she asks for them, and sometimes throws a fit when I pick a bow that she doesn't want to wear.

This is at our mall's play area, again with my phone's camera. This week she figured out how to climb up the bridge and slide down herself. She can also climb into the red boat by herself too.

I am attempting to sew Isobel a dress. It is my first clothes sewing project to do all by myself. If we still lived in CA, I probably would have made most of this at my mom's house, pulled out a lot less stitches, and she would have done half of it....As you can tell, I am not quite finished. Also, I made it in size 3, that is why it looks so big on her now. The dress now has the sleeves finished. All I need to do is hem it, and add two rows of ribbon around the bottom edge.

I took this picture tonight. She had crusty hair from her food and needed cleaning. Recently, this is the face she makes when I put the camera in her face and ask her to smile.

sorry no pictures

2011-03-13T22:40:00.000-07:00

I know my goal was to take pictures then post them here....

I couldn't find my camera. I lost things all the time growing up, so i have become very good at finding lost things, but I could not think of where I had put my camera. I finally found it Saturday in the glove box of the car. I took a picture of Isobel in her car seat, and put the camera back into the glove box.

The new goal for this week will be to take the camera out of the glove box, take more pictures, up load the photos and post them here.

Since I have no new pictures of Isobel, here are a few facts about here....because this blog has become all about her...

New words for the week -
Bite, more, truck and i am guessing count- she says "ca ca ca" and points at The Count from Sesame street. Still, her words are mostly just first syllables, but there is enough to know what she is saying. Jeremy taught her truck, which I have heard can be a scary word to teach toddlers because they may pronounce the word with a bit of an 'F' sound....BUT the part that Isobel has mastered is the TRU....so I think we are safe.

She now loves watching Sesame Street videos. They keep her attention for about 10 to 15 minutes. So far she hasn't started counting or singing the ABCs, but I have gotten a lot of really annoyingly catchy songs stuck in my head. Plus, now whenever I sit at the computer to turn on music, she comes up to me with DVDs saying "ca ca ca".

Another newish thing is she LOVES her pajamas. Most every morning she throws a fit when I take them off, then I pretty much have to wrestle with her to put on her clothes. Sometimes at night she forgets how much she loves her pjs and gets upset with me again when I take off her clothes and get her ready for bed, but it is normally just a morning thing.

Goal for the week....

2011-03-06T23:13:00.001-08:00

take pictures, post them here.....

Happy Bath Time Hair

2011-02-28T20:13:00.000-08:00

Rub-a-dub-dub we have fun in the tub!

Where we live...

2011-01-26T13:47:00.001-08:00

We are back in Mount Vernon, and this time instead of living in the most ghetto apartments in town, we are in the middle of the farm land. Today we FINALLY have some nice weather. Isobel and I went on a jog/walk to enjoy the weather and see a little more of the neighborhood. I did not look up a run because I knew it would be impossible to get lost. What I didn't know is where we live if you do a jog 'around the block' you will jog for 4 miles! I ended up just running 1.5 miles really slow then walking the rest of the way. I took a few pictures with my phone along the way.

We are surrounded by farm land. I know there a few tulip farms about a mile away. Some berry farms, then other farms like our landlord's growing organic vegetables.

An old barn on the corner of our road.

We passed two farms with Alpacas.

We live in a flood plain. It has been raining at least 4 days a week since we got here. The river has become huge, and there are a lot of extra ponds right now in people's backyards and fields. We have a basement here in this flood plain. The whole thing is sloped to the south end, where it has a 1 foot step down. Right now that south section is flooded and our sump pump seems to be always going.

Growing Girl

2011-01-25T17:13:00.000-08:00

Isobel went in for her 18 month well baby check up yesterday. She is right on track with everything, and growing up a little bit too fast for me. I found her little paper today with her stats from her 12 month appointment. In the last 6 months she has gained 4 pounds, grown 3 inches, and her head grew another inch!

weight- 25lbs 9oz - 60ish%

height- 31 5/8 inches - 37%

head- 19 3/8 inches - 90ish%

Some highlights from her appointment were,

-1st she threw a fit when I took her shoes off. She screamed so bad that the nurse let me put her shoes on to weigh her.

-2nd she screamed when I put her on the scale. Almost as bad as she did when I tried to put her on Santa's lap. It took a few tries to get her weight because she kept turning and trying to step off the scale.

-3rd she flipped out again when the Dr wanted to check her belly. I got her to cooperate by having her show the Dr her belly button. She is very easily distracted with noses, eyes, and belly buttons.

-4th once she was finished with the Dr or the nurse she would say 'bye-bye' and wave at them.

-5th after her toe was poked and she got three shots she still blew kisses to the nurse.

Daily To Do List...

2011-01-19T22:40:00.000-08:00

Balance Practice!

Get stuck in small spaces, only to realize you aren't stuck at all!

Climb on everything!

And of course, Look cute all day long!

Finally Christmas!

2011-01-10T22:40:00.000-08:00

I know, these are a little late, considering it is already a little more than two weeks after Christmas, but I think I have a few good excuses.

1. We moved all our stuff from Eastern Washington to Western Washington on the 18th of December.

2. We left right away on the 19th to drive to California and spend Christmas with both of our families for two weeks.

3. We drove back to Washington and finally started unpacking all of our stuff New Year's weekend.

These are a few of my Christmas favorites. I really wanted a cute picture of all three kids together in front of the tree. We got a great photo last year, but this year it just didn't happen. At least two kids look awful in each picture. I have no idea how we were able to get such a good picture of all five of us after completely failing on getting one of just the kids.

Notice how all three kids are looking up. I think my brother was standing there making faces trying to get them all to smile or something.

Bling Bling!!! She loves necklaces and bags. Here she is wearing every necklace that grandma got her, carrying her purse on one side, and her very own shopping bag on the other. Something you can't tell from the picture is the balls she is holding are the kind that light up and sparkle.

Priceless

2010-12-12T16:42:00.000-08:00

We went to our ward Christmas party last night, and I dressed Isobel up so we could get a cute Christmas picture with Santa.

So what do you think? Cute?

I tried, but she had a death grip on me. I even tried letting go, and it didn't make a difference.

Almost 18 Months

2010-12-09T08:31:00.000-08:00

I never write what new things Isobel is doing and I know in just a month or two I am going to forget when she started these new things. So, most likely unless you are her grandmother, this post will be very boring.

Words:

go = gone

dog

sh = shoes

tickle - she loves to tickle anyone and she always says "tickle, tickle, tickle" as she does it.

mama

dada

die! = bye - i put the exclamation because she is so excited to say bye, and it is just too cute that it comes out die!

She signs: more, eat, please, thank you, all done, milk

Food: She still loves bananas, second favorite would be oatmeal with a little brown sugar, yogurt. She has just started to like apples. Odd things she will eat are things with a strong vinegar flavor like pickled garlic, or yesterday she couldn't' get enough of a cucumber and tomato salad that was cover in dill, oil, and vinegar. She has also started being a little picky with some foods, but if I cover it with cheese she will eat just about anything.

She is learning how to clean. She likes to put away the wipes and throw away her diaper after I change her. The other day while I was washing dishes she found the rag that was on her chair and started cleaning the fronts of the cabinets and the floor. Most of the time she is good at putting away her toys when I am cleaning them up.

Now, she isn't all cuteness and perfection...she has become quite possessive of things that she claims as hers...we were at a friends house with a few other families and she claimed the baby doll stroller as her toy. If anyone else came near her she would scream and shove them away. I tried to get her to share, but it only worked if I held her while other kids played with the stroller.

My least favorite new development is an ear piercing scream. If she doesn't stop this one I may go deaf. When something is taken away that she wants, we put her down for a nap and she doesn't want to be there, or if she is on timeout, she screams.

My favorite new thing is she love to give hugs and kisses now. She runs to me and squeezes me around my neck. She also hugs and kisses her little friends. All the other moms get to enjoy her hugs too.

Scarred for Life

2010-12-01T18:48:00.000-08:00

Remember when the Princess was just a few weeks old and we put her in a bucket to see how much she weighed? Well, I think she remembers......

....and it must be a happy memory because she has been playing in this bucket all day!!!

Homemade Christmas....sneak peek

2010-11-27T18:05:00.000-08:00

Jeremy and I are doing a Homemade Christmas this year. We have bought a few things, but for the most part our gifts this year will be made by the two of us. Since I can't post pictures of what I have made for anyone because that would spoil the surprise (plus most everything is just half done too), here is a picture of one of Isobel's presents. I wanted to try it on her to see how it fit her. I am mostly satisfied, but I wish it was a little longer on her so she wouldn't grow out of it so fast, but I would have to repeat the pattern again, and I don't have enough yarn left to do that. Plus, I have so many more projects to finish...I think I will go get one more ball of the yarn and maybe I can add more on later.

I think the halter top is just so cute on little girls. I don't think I will have the same opinion when she is 16 trying and trying to wear one, but for now I think they are super cute!

What do you think of the snow?

2010-11-25T08:25:00.000-08:00

Monday morning we woke up to a completely white landscape! Isobel stood at the window all morning just staring at the stuff and seeming interested, but....when we went outside for the first time she was not a fan of the snow at all!

warmer days....

2010-11-10T18:46:00.000-08:00

It is supposed to snow some time this week. I enjoy the change of seasons, but I mostly enjoy Spring and Summer. So here is a picture of warmer days...(and a cute little girl)

Some Day.....

2010-11-08T08:05:00.001-08:00

For some odd reason we seem to always get the Pottery Barn Kids catalogue. It even comes with Jeremy's name on it. We love all their stuff even though it is more expensive then we will EVER be able to afford. Our favorite thing about it is looking through it for furniture ideas. Jeremy wants to build most of our furniture once we have the money to buy him tools.

This last catalogue we received had this little girl bed in it.

I think it is the cutest thing ever! It is not recommended for children under the age of 6, so I figure by the time the princess is that old we will be done having babies and we will know whether or not we can make it for a single bed or figure out how to make this into bunkbeds. Jeremy is also convinced that he can build all the kitchen appliances that are under the bed out of wood....

Baby Brooklyn

2010-10-22T14:02:00.000-07:00

My brother Cameron and his wife Celine had their baby this past Monday. We are super excited for them. I got really homesick at the beginning of the week because I wanted to be there, hold the baby, and help them in any way that I could...but in stead I just get to see pictures. She was 6lbs 5ounces, and she looks so beautiful in all the pictures they have sent to me.

(I took this picture off of their blog....thanks!)

Recent Project - hat and sweater for Brooklyn

2010-10-20T21:46:00.000-07:00

I made a hat and sweater for my brother's little baby girl. I gave them the items over a few weeks ago so these pictures are long over due.... Cameron loves penguin so poor Celine is gifted with everything penguin also. And now the baby will also be sporting penguins. I was super excited when I was looking for a button for the sweater and found the little pink penguins, I thought they were the perfect touch. Notice there is a little penguin in the middle of the flower on the hat.

I altered the pattern a little by changing the collar from knit to crochet. I wasn't a fan of the knit collar, plus it was going to be one more thing that I was going to have to sew on. I preferred crocheting it directly to the sweater and having at least the area around the baby's neck without a seam.

Short trip to Seattle

2010-10-03T22:22:00.000-07:00

On August 28th I officially became an Aunt (on my side of the family). Tyler and his wife had a little baby girl. We went to visit and meet her a few weeks ago, and Charlie seemed to really like her cousin....upon meeting, the first thing she did was pop the baby's pacifier right out of her mouth. I told her she had to be nice and gentle, she took that to mean, rub the baby's head so hard your fingers bend backwards...but the baby liked the head rub so much she fell asleep.

While we were there we went with my parent to visit some other family and Charlie got to go on her second ferry ride. She was not a fan of how windy it was outside....

We saw the baby a few more minutes before we headed back to Eastern Washington and Charlie got to hold the baby for a few quick seconds. She seemed to think it was great for about 15 seconds before she tried to shove the baby off of her lap.

It was such a short trip, but I am so glad we met my little niece while she was still so tiny!

Caught!!!

2010-09-30T16:06:00.000-07:00

I found her after she had pulled every tissue from the box....she thought it was hilarious!

Next, she quickly stuffed all the tissues back into the box...

Such a good helper, right?!

First Trim

2010-09-27T22:13:00.000-07:00

I need to catch up a little. I finally up loaded pictures today for the first time in a month and a half.

First thing i want to put up here is that I trimmed Charlie's hair a little in August. I trimmed up the front a little because her hair was hanging in her eyes and any time i tried to use a hair clip to keep it out of her eyes she would take it out and eat it....so i gave up.....

Before...

During....

After....

Bumps and bruises....

2010-09-08T14:15:00.000-07:00

I noticed yesterday that it seems like most everything I have to say about Charlie these days has something to do with how she fell down, tripped, got knocked over, bumped this or that....etc. It makes it seem so much more real that I do have a toddler! She technically hasn't been considered a 'baby' since she started walking, but I didn't really think of her as a toddler yet. Now she walks, runs, and climbs!

For posterity sake, here are a few of the things she has done in the last week to make me gasp, hold my breath, or laugh.

-knocked over by a kid in a swing - I was watching her at a playground. Took my eyes away for a second and I hear her start crying. Looked up and she was on the ground under the swing, and the little boys kept bonking her in the head each time he went by. In his defence, he isn't much older than her and couldn't slow himself down. Has she learned her lesson to stay away from swings when other kids are in them?....No.

- fell face first off the merry-go-round - I put her on the merry-go-round and told her she had to stay sitting. She did a great job sitting until I looked away. The moment I looked up she was standing and trying to get off while it was still moving. She ended up with a face full of wood chips and dirt. Does she now stay sitting....for the most part, but we have only tried once since.

- fell backwards down the stairs - She knows how to climb up stairs (chairs, sofas) very well, and she has figured out how to get down off of most things too, but she gets really excited and likes to dance around once she has climbed up something, and on Monday she learned that dancing on the stairs is a bad idea. Some how she made it out without a single cut or bump! She still runs away from me to climb stairs at every opportunity.

I am not looking forward to the day she falls off of a chair, or, even better, tips a chair over that she is standing on....

We are alive!

2010-08-27T12:50:00.001-07:00

We moved back to Pullman last Saturday, and this is the first time I have been on the computer since then. I am busy unpacking, but it is starting to get discouraging because my progress is not very obvious.

It has been great being back in Pullman. It is so easy for my to stay busy and keep Charlie entertained. I have also gotten back into walking everyday, and I have a few friends here training for a 1/2 marathon so I also went running twice this week. I logged 19 miles this week, and I am exhausted!

I am hopeful that this weekend we will get most of the big stuff out of the front room when Jeremy is here to help and our apartment will finally start looking like someone lives here.

Family Pictures

2010-08-08T22:30:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago a friend here offered to take some family pictures of us. Here are a few of my favorites...

I love that she captured this face!
and this one too....

and all three of them together....

Recent Project

2010-08-05T08:17:00.000-07:00

I made a tank-top for my first niece on my side! I wanted to talk about it on here, but then it would not have been a surprise to the mom and dad to be.

I used the same pattern that I used for Charlie's tank top, but I made a few changes. Charlie's tank top is super wide, so I made this one with fewer stitches and I also made the top inch around the chest with a size 6 needle then moved up to the 7 that the pattern calls for.

I wanted to make it super cute but to also be very feminine. I saw on line that people had made this same tank top using different lace patterns. I finally decided on the knotted eyelet lace because it was the only pattern I could figure out how to do on the round.

The last change that I made, was I made the tank top a little longer than called for. I wanted to baby to possibly be able to use it as a dress, then again as a tank top. Plus since I had made the top smaller I knew it would fit better and not fall so low like Charlie's top.

I tried to get Charlie to model the top, but she was more interested in trying to get her tank top on her head....

Happenings....

2010-08-04T10:50:00.000-07:00

1. We finally found a pool that we like...only down side, it is over 20 minutes away, and we have to pay $13.50 just to swim! But they have a zero entry pool that is nice and warm for Charlie, a slide, and a diving board. We had a lot of fun swimming there, and I don't think the boys cared at all that we were indoors.

2. I finally tried to give Charlie some whole milk. She takes a couple of sips then throws it on the floor.

3. We are moving again in twoish weeks! That will be the third time this year!!! I don't have much stuff here, so I should be able to get it all packed pretty fast, but I am still not looking forward to packing again!

4. I can't believe summer is almost over for us. It went way too fast!

I want to do this....

2010-07-30T19:36:00.000-07:00

I think little girls in Petticoats are SO CUTE!!! The problem with them is they are EIGHTY DOLLARS! A lot too much $$$ for me!

I have started looking at a crafty blog called Make it and Love it and she just posted a tutorial on making one of these super cute Petticoats. For all you people that can sew here is the link...

But for me....it still looks a little scary to actually try!

Things I don't want to forget...

2010-07-25T17:47:00.000-07:00

1. Charlie has started blowing on her food. I think she got it from us blowing on things before giving her a bite. Yesterday at a ward potluck she was walking around with a cookie and she would blow on it before every bite.

2. Charlie loves playing with clothes. She drapes them over her head and if it stays she will walk around with it on her, even if it is completely covering her face and she can't see.

3. C, Jeremy oldest son, has just started to notice girls, and notice that they notice him too. Yesterday someone had a friend at the ward potluck...the girl with the pink hair...and he pointed her out to us when we left, then proceeded to talk about all the things she did at the dinner the rest of the way home. She was at church today, and again he spent the ride home telling us about how she kept looking at him during primary. I am sure it had nothing to do with the fact that he kept looking at her.

Checking in....

2010-07-19T16:54:00.000-07:00

I haven't had much time to just sit and write about what we have been doing! So here is a little update.

First, it finally warmed up here! It was in the 80s for three days, and I didn't complain at all about being hot! I thought it was great to be outside in a t-shirt and shorts...go on a walk in flip-flops! We also went and played at a splash park that is a few blocks from our apartment (pools are hard to come by here). The water was FREEZING, but the boys still enjoyed getting wet then playing on the playground with their wet t-shirts and swim suits.

Charlie, on the other hand, didn't like the water at all, and cried any time I tried to put her near it. We spent most of our time sitting in the grass and eating gold fish.

Both of the boys thought the water was really cold, and that it felt better with their shirts on. So the few days that they could have been outside with out a shirt, they both kept them on and continued working on their farmer's tan!

Two Saturdays ago we went to the highland games. Both of the boys got to fight warriors with swords!

Last week Monday we went to Edgewater park, and the boys took turns taking Charlie down the slides.

Then on Tuesday we went to Lion's park and everyone enjoyed the swings. (no, I did not coordinate the boys outfits...they did that themselves!)

Later Tuesday evening Jeremy took the boys to go see 'Reptile Man'. He had all sorts of reptiles. The boys thought it was fabulous and i am glad Jeremy was able to take them, and I could stay home!

Wednesday, Charlie and I took a flight to Houston Texas for my youngest brother, Aaron's wedding. Charlie love the pool at Aaron's in-laws. They have a gentle beach entry where she could sit and play. I think she also like that the pool was a comfortable 90 degrees!

At the reception she spent most of her time pushing chairs around, but once the music started she was on the dance floor! She walked around waving her arms then she would stop, put her hands on her legs and bounce.

The wedding was great! (A little too hot for Charlie, she is screaming in most of the pictures outside the temple). I am glad we went, but I don't think I am going to try to take a flight with a baby again without Jeremy.

Thoughts....

2010-07-03T16:16:00.000-07:00

1. One week down as a mother of three! Everyone survived, no tears were shed, and everyone is still happy to be here together!

2. I have had no free time! We went to the park at least once a day. Both of the boys have already read over 400 minutes each and gotten their 1/2 way stamp from the library with a prize.

3. I have fallen behind in my gift making. We made a goal to have a homemade Christmas this year, and I am also trying to do homemade baby gifts. I don't know if it is really 'cheaper', but it is a lot more fun, and we are putting a lot more thought into our gifts, especially because we are already working on deciding what to give people and it is only July.

4. I REALLY feel lucky that Charlie's hair is growing in so well! I have been asked if I already gave her a hair cut, but it is just growing in super even! I also am LOVING her little curls. I waited patiently hoping her hair would curl and they are just too cute!

5. Jeremy and the boys went to go help someone weed their overgrown garden. It was nice to have some quiet time while Charlie took her nap...but I really do enjoy having the boys here, they are keeping me super busy and I love it! The cold and cloudy weather has not bothered me as much this week at all!

6. It is rumored that summer will finally be here next week....It may possibly make it over 70!!!!

The Birthday Girl!!!

2010-06-21T09:40:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday!!!!

2010-06-21T01:15:00.000-07:00

Your Birthday!

5 Days

2 Weeks

3 Weeks

4 weeks

5 Weeks

6 Weeks

7 Weeks

8 Weeks

2 Months

3 Months

4 Months

5 Months

6 Months

7 Months

8 Months

9 Months

10 Months

11 Months

California here we come!!!!

2010-06-17T10:55:00.000-07:00

I have a few requests.....

1. At least one day warm enough to go to the beach.
2. A few days warm enough to swim in the pool.
3. More than two days in a row of sunshine.

Basically, I just want to feel warm for a week before we come back to Washington.

Little Mountain

2010-06-14T19:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday one of our new friends from church showed us one of the small hikes in the area. There is a hill called Little Mountain with a few trails. There are also two lookout points up top where you can see all of Mount Vernon. There is also a grassy area up top where Charlie enjoyed playing when we finished out hike. The ground was really uneven so she kept falling because she has not learned how to go down hill yet!

This is the Southern lookout. If it wasn't so cloudy you would be able to see all the islands and the water.

What a great day!!! (with too much shopping!)

2010-06-12T22:05:00.000-07:00

Today the weather was perfect! We had a blue sky and it was in the lower 70s. I decided we needed to be outside, so Charlie and I got ready to go on a walk to the post office...I was super excited to finally put her in some of her summer clothes! Jeremy picked out these shorts for her back in March and she is now wearing them for only the second time!

Before we made it to the post office, we saw the farmers market! We had to go and take a look and see all the vendors. We tried some REALLY good goat cheese and homemade bbq sauce. There were also some fresh strawberry that you could SMELL from 5 feet away that were picked just that morning!

- we ended up buying rhubarb and Gouda goat cheese!

Next we walked through down town, and we went into a few shops. I had to go into the quilt shop...we walked through there really quickly the other day and I saw the cutest fabric. I thought I could just see it, leave the shop and never think about it again, but I kept thinking about it, and what kind of blanket I could make with it...SO I went back and followed my mother-in-law's advice and just bought it! I got enough fabric to make a baby quilt...at some point in time in the far off future I do plan on having another baby, and if it happens to be a girl, she will have a quilt with this fabric.

-shopping total, 4.25 yards of fabric, plus two pairs of shoes and two books for Charlie from a consignment shop.

We finally made it home, and put Charlie down for her nap.

Earlier in the week I bought a bunch of strawberries...the plan for those was to make Jam. I put it off all week, and finally got working on it during Charlie's nap. Jeremy helped out a lot and we were able to make it rather quickly. We now have seven 8oz jars of Strawberry jam. I am excited to try it. It was my first time canning anything! It was a lot easier that I thought it was going to be.

Around 4pm we went to Edgewater park to enjoy some more sunshine. When we were done Jeremy wanted to go see if they had a pet store in the mall, which they didn't, but once again I spent more money!

- purchaced a much needed hand mixer!

It was a long day, but so much fun. We ended it with some Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp. There was way to much for just the two of us, and if we don't make friends soon to share our dessers with we will be going back to Pullman a little softer around the middle!

Road Trip!

2010-06-11T09:54:00.000-07:00

One week from today we will be on the road on our way to California! I am so excited to see our families and for them to see how much Charlie has grown. The last time they saw her in person she was just starting to crawl. Now she is walking and always on the move. I hope no one is disapointed that she doesn't give hugs or kisses...but she does poke you in the eye and try really hard to pull off lower lips.

I am crossing my fingers that California can give us some good sunshine! It is a very GLOOMY spring here in Western Washington this year. I haven't gone a day without a sweater, not that I have a ton of cute warm weather clothes...but Charlie has a lot of fun clothes she has not been able to wear yet...except inside with the heater on!

Making sure she is the cutest baby at the park....

2010-06-10T09:19:00.000-07:00

I am still attempting to knit little clothes for Charlie. I made this tank top for her last month. A friend in our Pullman ward found the pattern on Knitty.com. (It is called Katja or you can find it just serching for baby halter top.) I also found today when I uploaded pictures to my ravelry page, that over 500 people of made this tank top and posted it...so who knows how many other baby girls are running around with this same shirt!

I like the finished product, but is a little big around....but i still have more yarn so I can unravel the bottom a little and make longer for her when she grows...

These shoes are made for walk'in....

2010-06-03T19:13:00.000-07:00

Charlie is walking a bunch now, and I wanted to see how she would do outside. We went shopping today and tried on shoes. Nothing seemed to fit her feet! She has short, narrow, but virtically chubby feet. Based on age she should wear a 4, and almost a 5, but she bearly fits in a 3. First I had her try on all the cute pink shoes with little flowers and thing, but none of them fit right or they would just slide off her feet. So we ended up with these plain white tennis shoes. They don't slide off, she can't pull them off, and she seems to be able to walk in them. I did think it was funny when I put them on her at the store she just stood there like I had put weights on her feet.

At home we took a little walk around the block to break in her shoes. She wore shorts today so she didn't try to crawl at all. She did, however, stop to pick up every rock, try to grab a rose bush, attempt to eat a stick, and scream and cry every time I picked her up and took her away from whatever she was trying to put in her mouth.

Also, since we moved Charlie has not been sleeping well. She has been waking up earlier than normal, and taking only hour long naps in stead of her normal two to three hour naps. She has been really cranky and pretty much driving me crazy!!! So this evening it was pretty much sweet bliss when she fell asleep nursing for the first time in months. It was so nice to see her so peaceful and actually snuggling with me.

Please bring Summer soon!!!!

2010-06-02T20:42:00.000-07:00

I am ready to:
-wear a t-shirt outside
-put Charlie in her cute summer clothes
-go swimming outside
-get at least a little bit of a tan
-go a day without wearing a sweatshirt

It was cold and WINDY all day today. It was supposed to rain a full inch, but it never happend...I am waiting and thinking that it will be happening soon!

Mount Vernon

2010-05-30T20:38:00.000-07:00

Today is our first offical day in Mount Vernon. We moved everything yesterday and the 6 hour drive took a little over 8 hours, do to some technical difficulties with the tarp covering all our stuff flapping a little too much in the wind.

Today I have a similar feeling I have had many times.....new person in the land of strangers and unfamiliarity!

It is a downer emotion after the anticipation and stress of packing and moving!
I felt like this the first few days after I got transfered to a new area on my mission, especially if I did not already know my new companion...(so at least I know my companion, Jeremy, and I have Charlie here too.)

At church today, I hung on to Charlie like a comfort blanket! She is a great conversation starter, and she does a great job of breaking any awkwardness by trying to make friends with anyone. I also found out that she was most likely getting more attention than the teacher in Relief Society. She was showing off her new walking skills when she slipped and bonked her head on the door. There was quite a loud colective gasp from the whole room, and I could almost feel the anticipation building waiting for her to scream!

The whole point of the post is I wanted to say that I understand a little better a comment that I heard a few weeks ago about making new friends. The person basically said, making new friends is like wearing nylons, super uncomfortable!

(ps-we did meet a lot nice people today, and so many people came up and introduced themselves that I don't remember a single name...so hopefully soon I won't feel the tight squeeze of nylons)

Walking!

2010-05-28T20:38:00.000-07:00

Charlie is officially walking now. She is still wobbly and falls all the time, but she can make it pretty far sometimes. I have a few little videos but none that are good enough to post yet. It is as if she knows I am trying to get her on camera, so she only takes two or three steps before falling.

This evening we went to a little birthday party and she was walking width wise across a ping-pong table to Jeremy and our friend's husband. The best part was she would just walk right off the table into their arms! Jeremy is already convinced that for her 18th birthday she will be walking right out of an airplane to sky dive...I think we should wait for her to have her 1st birthday before we start planning that far in advance.

...side note....why do babies have to grow up so fast! I feel like it is just crazy that she is almost a year, and she has gone from being so helpless and dependent to now where she can walk, feed herself, and falls asleep all on her own! I don't like that her little cheeks don't seem so round anymore or that her little body is getting longer and looking less and less chubby everyday (but no worries, she still has plenty of chub left...it just isn't as pronounced)!!!

Joys of Spaghetti!

2010-05-27T07:56:00.000-07:00

Two nights ago, after Charlie had already eaten her dinner, I started eating my food. She came right over to me and started begging and screaming wanting me to share my food with her. On any normal day I will give her a bite and then she will go back and play. Not this time....She kept begging and screaming so much that I stripped her down and put her in her chair and shared my Spaghetti with her. She loved it, and I couldn't get the noodles into her mouth fast enough

She loved sucking the longer noodles into her mouth! I am not sure if she chewed them at all or if she sucked them in and down at the same time.

Social Anxiety

2010-05-26T10:22:00.000-07:00

Before Charlie I used to think babies....
-preferred their mom's
-didn't like strangers
-fussed when mom left them with a babysitter
-clung to their mother when they were in public surrounded by new people...
Basically I thought that babies needed to be familiar with people before they were comfortable with them....then I had Charlie!

She is so OVERLY FRIENDLY that it is almost scary! When we meet new people she wants to meet them too. She wants them to hold her and she will fuss and cry if I pull her away from her new friends. At Library singing time there are lots of moms and dads with their own small children to hold, but Charlie still squirms when I am holding her, and tries super hard to play with the moms that are sitting next to us and grabs at their shoulders trying to get them to hold her.

People think it is cute that she wants them to hold her, and it is really nice that I can drop her off at someone's home and leave without her fussing at all, but I think her over friendliness is about as extreme as the babies that won't let anyone but mom hold them or touch them. It is also a little sad that my baby only prefers me to strangers when she is hungry...

Princess Knights

2010-05-23T22:45:00.000-07:00

Charlie got invited to her first birthday party. We played games and had angel food cake and strawberries. All the babies wore tutus and it was too cute having five babies girls all dressed up! It was impossible to try to get a picture with all the girls, but here are a few of Charlie.

I have thought about making a tutu for Charlie, but it has never materialized into anything more than a thought. After seeing how cute she was in it, I may have to start looking at tulle and pick out some colors.

Someone is teething!

2010-05-21T18:44:00.000-07:00

and is not very happy about it either!

In less than two weeks Charlie has cut three of her middle four teeth up top, and the fourth tooth is about to come through. She was not fussy at all for the first three, but this last tooth must hurt because she is cranky and if i actually get my finger in her mouth to feel if the fourth tooth has come in she pulls her head away really fast and sometimes starts to cry. I am giving her baby pain killer, but it doesn't seem to help much. She is also chewing on everything, and drooling like crazy!

Lost Camera!

2010-05-18T23:19:00.000-07:00

I have things I would like to write about, but they all need pictures...I last remember seeing my camera last week. I put it in the diaper bag, and now it isn't there....I will hopefully find it soon!

knit dress

2010-05-10T21:38:00.000-07:00

Jeremy convinced me to try to learn how to knit (he wants me to make him things). I started by just making swatches and trying different stitches, increase, decrease, and add in new colors.

I made this little dress for Charlie a few weeks ago. It took me about two weeks to make. It is a pattern that works as a dress now and she can wear as a tank top later.

She was not in a good mood when I was trying to get a picture of her in the dress. I think it is a cute dress, but that it would look better on her if it had a little more of an A-line.

Happy 1st Mother's Day to me...

2010-05-09T21:49:00.000-07:00

Jeremy is too cute sometimes...I know cute is not a word I would usually use for him, but it works for today.

So, Jeremy left on Friday for western Washington. We have been planning on him leaving and going to work on his project right after finals were over and it didn't occur to either of us that this Sunday was Mother's day. He was already on the other side of the state when we both put two and two together, but it was already too late to change plans. He did however surprise me with flowers today. He enlisted one of our good friends to bring me some red roses and a poem...the poem however, I believe was our friends idea (because I saw him writing it up during church today.)...it was really great to still get a little something from Jeremy even though, I know he would have preferred to be here with his girls, making me good food, writing a nice note in a card.

Now, I really liked the poem that our friend wrote so I wanted to share....

Mother, what a blessed

phrase,

To you this day we sing

your praise

While Jeremy could not

be here

to celebrate your first

real year

of having passed your genes

along

he wished to write you

quite a song

but minstrel he is not

alas,

so he tried to catch you

some fresh bass

no luck he had with

baited line

They would no bite,

they were not kind

So next he tried to break

a piece

from the summit of Mt

Everest

but Hillary's step proved

icy cold

plus all the oxygen was

old

so instead he charged a

trusted team

to bring you flowers and

make you scream

he wants you to

know

you're the bestest mother

west of Ohio!

I did have a good Mother's day. I went with these same friends to their brother and sister-in-law's house for the afternoon. We went on a little hike, where Charlie got to ride in a baby hiking backpack for the first time, and ate a great dinner.

I am so glad that in this short time that we have lived here we have made such good friends. I just knew this morning that I would not have to be at home by myself all day, and that someone would invite me over for dinner. I had a great Mother's Day. It would have been better if Jeremy was here, but sometimes we have to do things we don't like in order to get what we really want in the end!

Again....the baby....

2010-05-02T22:19:00.000-07:00

Today Charlie seemed off. She spent almost all of church demanding the attention of everyone around us, and never wanting to sit or even stay near me and Jeremy. Any time I tried to hold her on my lap she would squirm and fuss. She spent most the first meeting cruising around our row playing with everyone around us. The second hour she made friends with a family with pretzels and became their new best friend. Normally she crawls back to me every few minutes, but not today...she was perfectly happy hanging out with her new friends and forgetting that mom existed. I know it is silly, but I felt rejected by a 10month old.....

Charlie took her nap when we came home, but just fussed the rest of the day after she woke up. We fed her, changed her diaper, and did everything we could think of to make her happy, then finally gave up and put her to bed a half hour early...she sat in bed for 2 hours talking to herself and playing in her crib. Normally she is such a good night sleeper, so we were surprised when she finally started screaming and would not stop. She was fed again, put back to bed, and stopped making noise around 9:00pm...

Basically, Sunday is normally a hard day for all of us, and today was no exception!

Silly Faces :)

2010-04-29T14:31:00.000-07:00

We went to the dr...

2010-04-26T16:14:00.000-07:00

and we were so happy that there are no shots at the 9month appointment!!!

Charlie really liked our new dr mostly because she got to suck on the stethoscope during the exam. I really liked the pediatrician that she had in San Diego. I knew I wouldn't be able to get someone just like him, but I wanted someone similar. Pullman is small so there were not many choices, but I really enjoyed her new doctor. She is an all around Dr., pediatrician, family practitioner, and OB. She has her own 2 year old and Charlie did really well with her.

9month stats:
Weight - 20lbs 55%
Head - 18.2inches 75%
Length - 28inches 50%

She has slowed down gaining weight. She still eats as often, but if she is not eating or sleeping, she is MOVING...so she burns plenty of calories.

A few other current facts -
can stand independently (only when she wants to, never on command)
loves swings at the park
walks with a walker
favorite syllables - dadada, hey, AH
She is a little bully...i prefer when she plays with babies that are older/bigger than her...she can't pick on them as well...she steals binkies, toys, and the other day used another baby to help her stand up...
will not sleep with a poopy diaper (I always make sure she is clean before she goes down for a nap, but if she poos, she will scream and cry until she is changed before she goes to sleep)
no stranger anxiety
has enough hair for pigtails
claps when we say 'yay!'

Just because

2010-04-09T20:17:00.000-07:00

Nothing happened this week that is interesting enough for me to even remember...I guess that isn't completely true. We had some friends over for dinner on Wednesday, and for the first time in our married lives, I did the cooking for our company...and they liked my food!

Charlie is no longer miserably sick any more, but she still has a nasty cough and a runny nose. She now recoils at the site of a rag if it comes anywhere near her. She would prefer to proudly wear her boogers on her face!

I am not doing a great job taking pictures of our little nugget and I know pictures of her are the only reason most people look at this blog, so this picture is from a few weeks ago when Charlie fell asleep in the stroller for the first and last time. ( I made her hat too...it is a little big, but maybe it will still fit her next year.)

Sick baby

2010-04-07T11:51:00.000-07:00

Charlie has been sick since Saturday. Last night she finally got her appetite back for food! She has been eating the same number of meals as normal, but she hasn't been too interested in her food, and was eating about 1/2 as much as normal. She has, on the other hand, been very interested in nursing!

She had watery eyes, a runny nose, sneezing, and coughing. It was sad to see her so miserable, and with her red raccoon eyes.

One thing that we found entertaining while she was sick was every time she sneezed it was quickly followed by, "dadada". AHCHOOdadada....

Updated Side Bar....

2010-04-03T13:02:00.000-07:00

When I started writing here I had about 5 friends who also had blogs. That number has doubled a few times over and my list of blogging friends got so long that I stopped adding to it. I kept adding people to Google Reader and basically ignored my list of links. I finally sat down today to do an update to my blog list.

I made a new link on the side bar called Blogging Friends and Family. I added a link to most every blog in my reader and a few more. I even put them in categories...

So if you used to get to a blog through a link here, it is now on the Friends and Family page. They are all also in the new format that shows when they were last updated.

Baby Hunger.....

2010-04-02T19:31:00.000-07:00

This face gets a lot of attention!

This last weekend at my mission reunion my friend's husband made the comment, "I wonder how many babies will be made because of her?!"

NO PICTURES!!!!

2010-03-30T11:43:00.000-07:00

I just spent the weekend in Utah going to a gymnastics meet, a mission reunion, and visiting with a lot of friends, and I didn't take a single photo! oops!

the little pat on the back was nice.....to the ego

2010-03-24T00:01:00.000-07:00

Tonight we had our Relief Society Dinner, and I signed up to bring dessert. I don't sign up to bring food to things because I want to impress, just because there are blanks on the sign up sheet and I know they need the food.

I planned on making cookies but last night I got a phone call asking if I could make a cake and bring frosting on the side.

Note- I don't make cakes...not often, and I only like to eat them if they are really good. I also am picky about frosting...(i will eat basically anything that is offered) I just prefer my mom's buttercream, and the white buttercream frosting at Costco (because it is like my mom's) to most anything else.

One thing my mother taught me about cakes is you NEVER leave the cake in the pan...it is for baking not serving. It is so ingrained into me that I had to make my cake in the two round pans so they would have to be taken out (i actually never even thought of putting it in a 9x13).

Back to the point. I made a devil's food cake and sour cream chocolate frosting. (i did have the idea of also making a cream cheese frosting to put in the middle with strawberries, but I didn't want to risk clashing flavors). I just happened to be standing near the table with my cake when I heard the girls at that table talking about how delicious it looked and tasted....

It gave me a little ego boost that I wasn't really expecting. I guess since marrying Jeremy and eating all his wonderful food, my food/cooking/baking ego has not received much boosting. I had no idea that I missed that...I still don't think I will try cooking to impress, but it does give me some motivation to try a little harder again...

PS- Jeremy does make sure to tell me when I make something that he really likes. I think the lack of boosting is that he doesn't really like chocolate and my favorite impressive desserts are all chocolate...

Randomness!

2010-03-23T10:46:00.000-07:00

I take tons of pictures of the baby, then I never upload them. I normally upload a months worth of photos at a time...so here are some from the end of February and beginning of March.

I put some gel on Charlie's hair after her bath to see if it would stay curly. IT DID!!! I tried it again two weeks ago and it didn't :( So the jury is still out on if she will have curly hair.

For everyone in California that wants to know what it looks like here....this is a good example. Drive outside of town and this is it! Farm houses, farm equipment, and wheat fields for miles!

Favorite things....She loves to carry around a spoon, crawl with the DVDs under her hand, and she LOVES socks! Also, the diaper bag has become a new toy since she has learned how to open the zipper and pull things out. She mostly just finds the binky that is attached to a hook in the bag and stands there sucking on it.

I made another hat! This one was for a new born (still a little big though). I really like making the flowers but I want to get some cuter hat patterns...

Another episode of 'Daddy got me dressed'

2010-03-22T09:59:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I handed the baby to Jeremy after she had finished a bath and asked him to put a diaper on her and get her dressed. I did not hand him clothes to put on her....so this is what she wore for about 10 minutes until I finished what I was doing and changed her again.

And somehow she still got around even though the shirt was way to long for her!

Open Wide!!!!

2010-03-13T09:23:00.001-08:00

Last night Jeremy thought it would be fun to pelt the baby with puffs and try to get them in her mouth. She was a good sport and sat there laughing with her mouth open and eyes squeezed shut...
I tried really hard to get a picture where the puff was hitting her in the face, but this is the closest that I got....you can see the puff falling on to her leg.

Trying to accomplish something....

2010-03-08T10:36:00.000-08:00

Just a token picture of the baby! This was the first time she fed herself...it is cottage cheese....she had a lot of fun getting it all over her face, hair, chair....

There are so many things that I would like to do...but if I don't write them down I don't remember it and then nothing gets done....

Jeremy said it perfect the other day - When I am bored my motivation to do anything goes down, so I get even more bored!

In our lesson on Sunday the teacher said that she sat down to try to come up with 100 goals!

Way too many right!?

She thought the same thing, but still tried anyway and found that she had to get more creative and really think about all those things she has always wanted to do.

I started making a list on my phone and so far I only have 22. But they range from super short term to some long term goals.

Examples -

-I want to sew Charlie a dress that she can wear this summer. I already have the pattern I just need to get fabric.

- Give all homemade presents for Christmas

- Read a CS Lewis book

- Read 1 non-fiction book a month for 12 months

I am a goal maker, and most of the time a goal keeper too! I also, know that if you share with someone that you have made a goal you are more likely to achieve your goal...so now everyone knows that I want to sew a dress for Charlie that she can wear this summer! I better get moving!

Naps again!?

2010-03-03T12:11:00.000-08:00

I feel like all i think about and talk about these days is NAPS! When they baby was a new born my life was controlled by her feeding schedule, now it is her nap schedule.

She has never been good at sleeping during the day, but has been a great night sleeper. Since moving to Pullman I have worked really hard to get her to take two naps a day at a semi-regular time. Some days it works great and others we have a VERY cranky baby!

Yesterday was one of the most frustrating nap days ever!

In my ideal world Charlie would wake up at 8am, take a nap at 10:30am and 3:00pm, then go to bed at 8pm. There may have been a few days where that actually happened, but not everyday!

Yesterday went as follows:

7:30 - I wake up and heer the baby talking to herself - I have no idea how long she has been awake.

9:00 - Charlie is acting really tired and cranky. I put her down for a nap and she proceeds to talk for an hour, possibly sleep for about 20minutes, then talk for another 30ish minutes until she decides she is done with nap time and starts screaming!

11:30 - we go for a walk up to campus to a book fair. It is a long walk and she sits happily in her stroller the whole time.

2:00 - I get home from the book fair and notice that she fell asleep in her stroller sometime on the way home. She is obviously tired so I feed her and put her to bed.
She talks and screams for about an hour and a half.

4:45 - I put her down again to try to see if she will take a nap. She falls asleep for about 40 minutes.

5:30 - I try to feed her dinner, and she fusses, so i nurse her and she fusses, decide to just change her and put her in pajamas and she screams!

6:25 - The baby is back in bed

6:30 - The baby is sound asleep and stays asleep until 6:00am! I fed her and put her back in bed and she went back to sleep until 8:30!

Sleeping for 14 hours was great, but going through another day without naps is not worth it.....

Afternoon walks

2010-03-02T09:38:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we had a blue sky, light clouds, and warmish weather! I couldn't stay inside and miss out on such a beautiful day. The Baby and I went for a walk down the road to Barns and Noble (the smallest one I have ever seen!!!). Two things happened on our walk that were such polar opposites that I had to tell everyone about it!

1. There are a lot of pedestrians on the sidewalks here in Pullman, being a college town it is mostly easier just to walk and take the bus everywhere. I was came to a driveway and paused for an SUV so they could pull forward and I would walk behind them so they wouldn't have to wait for me. They didn't pull forward and looked like they were waiting for me to cross. I walked across at a slight jog to be as fast as I could for them, and shortly after I had passed and was about to get back onto the sidewalk one of the young men in the SUV yelled "B%*!!?*" at me!

2. Near our apartment there isn't really consistent sidewalk. There is always sidewalk on at least one side of the rode, but I have to keep crossing the street to be on it! One of the times I stopped to jay walk so I could stay on the side walk a young man in his car completely stopped in the middle of the road so I could cross even though there wasn't another car in site and I easily could have crossed after he had passed me.

I hope I can teach my kids to be more like the second young man!

Randomness....

2010-02-28T14:55:00.000-08:00

1. We went to Spokane yesterday to get out of Pullman. I really like Pullman, and have enjoyed the small town feel A LOT more than I thought i would, but I did grow up in San Diego and for some reason it is oddly comforting to be somewhere with tons of people and traffic even if it is just for a few hours...

2. Last night I looked at a picture that I took of the Eiffel tower. It is an awful picture, but it just reminded me of how much I really like Paris and how much I miss traveling! I have no idea when I will ever go to Europe again, or if I will ever be able to convince Jeremy to go any where near France. I don't think he will be tempted with the Louvre, or Musee d'Orsay....I don't really pick favorites much, but I am quasi tempted to learn French so I have an excuse to go back to Paris.

3. The baby was a drooling beast today at church. She soaked the front of her dress in the first hour!

4. In Spokane we went to Target. I really like their baby clothes! They just have some CUTE dresses right now. Jeremy and I were looking at them, and we couldn't decide on one that we both liked, and thankfully another great thing about Target is the dresses were only $10, so we just got two. My favorite, with flowers, and Jeremy's favorite, plaid.

5. Saying I want to try new things when it comes to cooking is just not right because I don't really cook in the first place...so I am trying to learn how to cook now that I am 28! This weeks challenge was Eggplant. I made Eggplant Parmigiana on Tuesday. It tasted really good and Jeremy loved it, but I spent Wednesday and Thursday sipping peppermint and chamomile tea with a sour stomach....

6. The baby's hair is getting long enough that her head bands are not working so well anymore, but last night at Target I tried to see if I could get a clip in her hair. There was enough hair to clip onto, but it slipped right off and it was HARD getting it on her head!

Reminiscing

2010-02-27T10:08:00.000-08:00

Two years ago we were on vacation in Seattle....

One year ago I was pregnant, showing, and wearing stretchy waist bands....

Now I am in Pullman chasing around this little on that climbs on everything!

Time flies!!!

8 Months!

2010-02-20T20:09:00.000-08:00

I can not believe that it has really been 8 months since Charlie was born! Here are a few things we have learned about her.

-she hates getting dressed!

-loves taking a bath and playing with her bath turtles.

-will play with anything that crinkles or makes noise.

-she will sleep 8 to 10 hours straight at night, but won't take a nap longer than an hour (and she will only sleep for a full hour if I am lucky!)

-pulls herself up to stand using whatever she can - the wall, my pants, the sofa...etc.

-loves playing peek-a-boo! She goes nuts laughing!

-crawls all over the place.

-she prefers mom, but still hasn't showed any sign of 'stranger anxiety' ( I don't know if that is a good thing or not).

-she screams really really loud!!! (we live on the 3rd floor and I could hear her when I was in the parking lot)

-she is a big flirt! She smiles, acts shy, and giggles with men of any age.

-she really likes going over to other people's homes and playing with their toys.

-always sleeps on her belly.

and something we learned the day she was born that is still true -

She loves to EAT! She has never refused anything I have given her. She doesn't eat green beans and peas as fast as other foods, but she still eats them. She has fed herself cottage cheese, and is good at picking up small pieces of food and feeding herself. She would be happy to eat all day! (I had her sit on the scale and it said 19.4....)

Random Baby.....

2010-02-18T08:32:00.000-08:00

No matter where we are, if I put her on the floor she will find something! She loves these, and I am guessing because they are shiny.

She has gotten really confident on her feet. She let go and stood on her own two times almost two weeks ago, but I don't think she liked it at all because she refuses to try again. Jeremy wants to get her to try again, but I don't mind if she stays at the crawling and standing with support stage a little longer.

Another hat that I made for her. I first made it a little small, took it apart a little and tried to fix it. Now it is too big!

Jeremy got her dressed. I thought it was cute, but a combo I wouldn't have tried....heart dress and striped baby legs!

Nap Time....

2010-02-16T12:52:00.000-08:00

Making Space

2010-02-15T22:59:00.000-08:00

In an attempt to make more space in my cupboards we started looking for pot racks (they all seem to be about $100), but they are expensive. So, Jeremy made one and all the materials were about $20!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!!

2010-02-14T18:51:00.001-08:00

babayada.....

2010-02-08T16:10:00.000-08:00

The baby finally figured out that if she opens and closes her mouth as she makes her 'ahs' or screaming sounds, she can make even better noises! It mostly sounds like 'yayayayaya', but whenever Jeremy thinks it even remotely sounds like a 'dadada' he gives her a treat!

New hobbies....

2010-02-05T21:41:00.000-08:00

I am trying to teach myself how to knit....a little scary....

I have two friends who are AMAZING knitters. One of them even owns her own yarn shop in Vista. (if you live any where near there you should check it out! Here is the website http://cleverknits.com and she also has classes on how to knit or crochet if you are interested in learning!)

A long time ago I taught myself to crochet, and I tried to learn how to knit, but it just didn't make any sense to me! Right now, here in small Pullman, I have a group of women that get together every Thursday to knit. So far I just go and talk and crochet (I made a cute flower this week to go on another hat that I made for Charlie). I really want to take advantage of weekly help and learn how to knit. Then when I move to Western Washington I can meet up with one of my amazing knitting friends and she can help me learn some more complex patterns.

note*** the tightwad in me has a hard time justifying making clothes and hats and things that I can find cheaper on a clearance rack, but I think I have myself convinced that it is okay by saying that anything I knit or crochet is NOT to save money...it is a HOBBY and will come from the hobby money fund, not the clothes buying fund***

Happy February!

2010-02-05T10:45:00.000-08:00

1. The baby got a cold this week! It was so sad. She would sit in her high chair with her red watery eyes and just stare at me. She still sounds a little congested but as of yesterday she seems better.

2. Jeremy claims that the baby said Dada yesterday! I was at Knit night and still have yet to hear it. He later told me that the Dada was part of a longer, dadadadadada sound she was making.

3. I still love to crochet, BUT i have looked at to many cute knit patterns that I have decided to learn how to knit! I have figured out the basic knit and purl and I can cast on...now i just have to learn how to increase, decrease, finish off, pick up a dropped stitch and all those other things. It still feels weird to hold two needles, but I am hoping it starts to feel second nature soon!

4. I had a bad day on Tuesday. I just felt all depressed and couldn't figure out why...by the time Jeremy came home I was really upset and about to cry! I have been doing all sorts of things to try to keep busy, but it didn't seem to be helping much. I have decided that I am just not used to spending so much time by myself! I know the baby is here, but there isn't much two way conversation. I think we will have to get together with other moms and their babies more than just a little every morning because feeling lonely is not something I want to be doing much longer!

Something to think about....

2010-01-31T15:42:00.001-08:00

What are five things you can do this week to make your (fill in the blank) happy this week?

My husband - Hmmmm?

My baby - feed her, keep her diaper clean, play with her, make sure she sleeps well...

My one and only complaint....so far

2010-01-30T10:33:00.000-08:00

(one of her dresses from the Carter's outlet...and my friend Andrea knit the hat!)

There are no good places to buy baby clothes!!!

The only place around with cute stuff is Old Navy, and their baby girl clothes are made for skinny babies and my girl is delightfully plump! (I did get her some pants there for about $2 that fit her thighs, but they are super long 12-18mo pants).

There is also WalMart and Macy's, which are a little too cheap and expensive (respectively)!

The good thing is I am not tempted to buy Charlie more clothes. She already has a bunch of 12mo, 18mo and even 2T clothes, so I don't need to buy any more clothes...but it is still fun to look right!

It will be a happy day when we are near a Target and an outlet mall with a Carter's store.

Mystery Meat....yum

2010-01-26T23:35:00.000-08:00

Tonight we had the missionaries over for dinner. (secretly I wanted to feed them so i would have the motivation to finish getting all the boxes hidden away!). Jeremy made enchiladas and had the missionaries convinced that they were going to be eating the meat of some rodent that he had caught and killed.

After they were at least half way through eating their food, I told Jeremy he had to tell them what they were really eating. One of them still looked worried. When he said that it was rabbit that he had raised and culled himself they started eating with more ease.

But just as an FYI to any new friends that have happened to find this blog...if we invite you over to dinner you may eat rabbit...most likely we would warn you though...missionaries unfortunately are trained to just eat what they are given by their mom's before the leave home...so we have to test their training!

@ Sam - it is really very good! It has the same look and texture as chicken. It has more flavor which is good considering chicken is practically flavorless. It is one of the most healthy meats to eat. It has more protein and less fat than all the other commercial meats. Plus, our rabbits were not given hormones to grow faster, and we know they lived a good life...for rabbits (we gave them the good hay!).

Thoughts...

2010-01-26T15:37:00.000-08:00

I want to write but i don't have anything really to say so here are a few random small things...

1. The baby has become a terrible napper! She used to be so good at taking a morning nap, and semi good at taking an afternoon one...now all she wants to do is fall asleep right after she is done eating then sleep for about 5 minutes while i am holding her. Once I lay her down she wakes up before I can even leave the room and proceeds to scream or play for at least 30 minutes....I have started going to the kitchen and doing dishes so I can't hear her, but I only have so many dishes!

2 I really like our aerobics class! After the first time I went my abs were super sore. I haven't done much to get them back into shape since having the baby.

3. Jeremy made Rabbit Curry last week for a ward pot-luck. Everyone that ate it thought it was great (because it is one of his best dishes!), but no one really knew what they were eating. We weren't going to stand by the pot and say, 'just so you know that isn't chicken!'. Today one of the women in the ward asked me for the recipe, and I suddenly felt guilty and deceitful. All I told her is Jeremy made it and I have no idea how he makes it, (which is true, but for some reason I still felt bad)

4. We are finally about as unpacked as we are going to get! There is only one box left in the kitchen because it is full of food! I have been creative with things. There are canned foods under the futon, and behind the futon I stacked all our boxes with food storage then covered them with a red sheet that matches our throw pillows.

5. The baby is finally practicing crawling again. She is getting around faster, but the older babies still got her beat! She is still pulling herself up all the time too, and now she likes to let go with one hand, and flap the free hand up and down to test her balance. I have read that some babies become content to stay at a certain stage for a little bit...it said that babies that learn to sit up early tend to be the last to learn to crawl because they are content just sitting. Well, I don't think Charlie is content with anything physically. I don't think she will be content until she is RUNNING and climbing up the book shelves.

6. I got my new phone in the mail today! No more white screen of death!

Make sure it is MAGIC!!!

2010-01-22T10:18:00.000-08:00

I heard something yesterday that I really wanted to share.

When you are working on finances and being frugal find the best deals for your needs, but when you are looking for something you want make sure what you get is magic so you really use it and get the full value of the product.

It took me a little to really catch on to this idea, then i realized i kind of already have done this...When we found out I was pregnant last year, I started looking at baby stuff...there is A LOT of stuff that you can buy. And it seems like everything is $100 or more. I instantly got worried and started saving $40 a pay check to an ING account called 'baby'. By the time Charlie was born I had only used that account to buy one thing, a breast pump (but i also had some gift cards that helped make that purchase). Most everything else we either received as a gift or we got free. (we got a lot of free stuff - crib w/mattress, bouncy chair, swing, stroller/car seat). We had everything we needed....

Something that i wanted was a running stroller. I went on line and found one and it was love at first site...i couldn't even look at other ones anymore. The problem was is was EXPENSIVE! But I had saved up enough money that I could buy it cash no problem. So I stewed over it until we found out that REI was having a sale and we could buy it for 20% off. I still stewed over it and we finally decided to go and get it and made it to the store 1 minute before closing on the last day of the sale! I have had my 'magic' stroller for a few months and I use it all the time. I LOVE IT!

If I had convinced myself that my magic stroller was too expensive and bought one for 1/2 the price I may not have been so excited about it...i doubt I would use it as much, and I don't know if we would have gotten the whole value out of that product.

Lesson learned here...

1. Patiently save for what you want

2. When you find the one thats magic, get it, it will be of more value to you than the non-magic one....

3. Not everything has to be magic, just the major wants...most of the other thing you can either do without, or get it really really cheap!

ok..that was a lot longer than i was planning on writing...

Just because we want to....

2010-01-20T12:26:00.000-08:00

So I really like having my blog open, but for some reason i think it is weird to have children completely exposed to the public...that is why I call Jeremy's boys C and bubba. I finally came up with a name for the baby...here on the blog and on any other internet thing we are going to call her Charlie. Jeremy calls her Charlie whenever she is crying or fussy, so it is an easy thing for me to remember and it seems natural to call her that on here.

If you are wondering where the name came from it is from a youtube video called Candy Mountain... here is the link if you want to see it...Candy Mountain

What would you do for a kiss???

2010-01-19T20:00:00.000-08:00

Jeremy really wants his little girl to give him kisses. Normally when he leans in for a kiss she will look at him face on, then turn last minute and gives him the back of her head.

Today he came up with a plan...have you ever heard of Pavlov's Dog?

Quick version: Dogs salivate when presented food, ring a bell when putting out food many times. Then ring a bell with no food, dog salivates to sound of bell.

So today Jeremy wanted to try out his own theory. He put a candy cane in his mouth stuck it out a little, made kiss noises, then stuck the candy in the baby's mouth. 2nd try he stuck the candy out a little, made the kiss noise and she came right to him, mouth wide open and sucked on the candy again, she had us in tears laughing. He tried without the candy and she kept turning her head like normal.

A little bit later....

We were eating dinner and giving her her peach puffs again. So Jeremy tried to get kisses again. He would put the puff on the edge of his lips and she would go right up to him and eat it right off his mouth! This time around after a few puffs he would make the kiss face and noise and she would go right up to him, mouth wide open, and give him 'kisses', and he would give her the prize of a puff after the kiss.

So at least for this evening we have trained our daughter to give kisses...She even gave me one of her little kisses...

We will see if she remembers tomorrow or if we will have to reteach her with more puffs!

little observation....

2010-01-19T12:11:00.000-08:00

I think we may have a little lefty here...the last few night when we eat dinner, Charlie gets really fussy if we don't share with her. I got some Gerber Puffs and give her one at a time to keep her busy so we can eat. Last night I noticed that she sits with her right hand in her lap and only reaches with her left to pick them up and feed herself. It is the only thing she has done where she has shown a preference to one hand. I will have to look and see what hand she is using when she picks up her toys.

She has started putting things in her mouth then carrying them around like a little puppy...

Baby you are freaking me out!

2010-01-18T19:24:00.000-08:00

A little while ago my baby discovered how to pull up on things, but she had no idea what to do. She would just pull up then go down. This past week she learned what feet do...first by doing this on short things.....

Then she found that in her crib she can grab the bars and pull, and again her feet will support her....
She has been grabbing at the futon but hasn't been able to pull herself up because there is really nothing for her to really grip, but again she is determined to freak me out and today found a way to pull herself up and stand at the futon!

Is she really supposed to be able to do this already? I feel like she is become less and less a baby everyday! Like last night she was being fussy and we were trying to comfort her, and she just got worse, so we just put her on the floor not knowing what to do, and she just started giggling and moving around to play with her toys...so i guess Jeremy's Aunt was right when she said that, "She's ready for college!!!"

Sunday number two...

2010-01-17T15:03:00.000-08:00

This was the first time since my mission that i went to church for the second week knowing a lot more people than i did the first week.

One thing i really like about this new ward is it is a student ward and because of that they are used to people being there for just a short time. So they take advantage of the time you are there in stead of just kind of dealing with you for this short time because you will be gone soon anyway.

I love how friendly people are and that enough people came up to talk to me today that I didn't even get a chance to talk to the people that I met last week. Also, I had two Mormon small world moments...

1. The guy that i danced the quickstep with in the Dance 184 Dancesport competition is in our ward. At the time he was engaged to be married. Now he has three kids and is here in Washington getting a PhD in Economics.

2. There is another new girl, and today was her first Sunday. Turns out she served in my same exact mission in Brazil...just she arrived in the MTC the same month that I left to go home.

It is crazy, but after spending on two weeks here I am kind of sad that we won't be here for more of Jeremy's school. There are a lot of fun people and even though Pullman is small it hasn't felt like a small town.

Now about the baby....Charlie went with Jeremy to the third hour for the first time...and she had the attention of half the Elder's quorum. She is a little FLIRT! Jeremy said that she kept tapping the man in front of them and when he would turn she would giggle and talk to him. Last week she was flirting with the guys that sat behind us too. I think if she is this bad now at 6 months we better be worried for what is in store for us in a few years!

Life as a SAHM in Pullman....

2010-01-15T14:01:00.000-08:00

Pullman is small, about 27,000, but I am surprised at the amount of things they have for us to do...community stuff and through the church.

Through church:

walking group 3 days a week

aerobics class the other two days a week

play group once a week

knitting group every Thursday

Book Club once a month

Community stuff:

at the library they read and sing songs with the babies

they have baby swim class (which i will never do, but they are available)

and that is what i have learned about in the last week....so we have plenty to keep us busy...or we can just be bums and sit at home in our pajamas all day. Today is a pj day....

What are some ideas to get your husbands involved...

2010-01-12T22:59:00.000-08:00

Do you ever have an issue getting your husband excited about something you really want to do?

I was at church tonight with all the other women and the topic was food storage. We talked all about different things, then near the end the teacher asked what people have done to get their husbands excited about food storage. I was surprised she even had to ask that question because Jeremy is more interested in emergency preparedness than I am. The only reason we have food storage is because he wanted to get it, so I was shocked to find out that there were a lot of girls there that have a tough time getting their husbands to even be willing to spend a little extra money to have some extra food on hand.

Sometimes I think we are sort of an odd couple because there are a lot of things that Jeremy just does that I am finding other men don't do as much, (i am not saying all, just some). Like he was super involved in naming our baby. (He already has the next boy and girl name picked out too, even though i have not yet agreed to them). He loves to cook, make bread, and it was his idea that we start making our own baby food.

Back to the question I started with....i don't really know if i have a problem getting him involved with things. Either he wants to do it, or he doesn't. We are both quite stubborn that way. I do try to influence him sometimes...but most of the time he is the one trying to get me on board with one of his ideas...

What do you think?

Have you found that your spouse does things that are not socially normal? Are the gender roles in your family a little flip-flopped sometimes?