utah part 1

July 27th, 2010

At the end of June/ beginning of July, Addie and I went to Utah to visit my family and to give Jacob some extra stress-free study time.

Addie took up typing,

discovered her toes,

starting climbing over our shoulders,

napped (although usually for only 30 minutes at a time…),


Oh those thighs!!!

celebrated the 4th in style (and with Chinese food,)

visited friends,


My childhood best friend Courtney


College roommate Emily and baby Lucy- we switched babies for this photo!

(We also had a visit from Shareka)

licked and sucked on things,

and generally looked adorable.


(This one is my favorite.)

It was a pretty good trip.

We were going to head back to Vegas for 2 weeks before returning to Utah while Jacob finished studying for the boards and for my cousin’s wedding. At the last minute we decided to stay the entire time and Jacob came up to visit us for a few days. More on that next time…

P.S. You may notice a line cutting through some of my photos. Something in my camera broke so a bunch of the photos ended up with this problem. Thanks to my parents I now have a replacement camera. Thanks Mom and Dad! I promise an even more ridiculous amount of photos of Addie in the future.

for jacob

July 22nd, 2010

I’m very behind on blogging. You’d think with all the extra hands in Utah to hold the baby I’d have time to get my photos edited but not so. But Jacob said he’s missing his girls so here’s a post just for him. Miss you!

P.S. Thanks for taking these photos, Dad!

things i love thursday

July 15th, 2010

- This adorable striped romper from Polarn O. Pyret. Addie needs this. She looks good in rompers.

- These sandals. They’re super comfy and I wear them with everything. I can’t say no to ruffles.

- Addie’s new sandals. She wears them with everything too. (And they really take me back to my childhood!)

- Lark Rise to Candleford. It hasn’t been playing on our PBS station so I’ve finally been able to watch it at my mom’s house. It’s delightful.

- So You Think You Can Dance. I like Lauren and Kent. And it’s fun seeing All-Star Neil.

- Peanut Butter Cup shakes from Arctic Circle. Guilty pleasure, yes. I’ve never had a better shake than at Arctic Circle and so it’s a special treat when I’m in Utah!

- This fantastic new blog about kids birthday parties: Hip Hip Hooray!

- Almond milk. Trust me.

- This purse. Love love.

- Recipe for Santa Rosa Salad. I make this all the time and everybody always raves about it. I promised several people I’d post this so here you go!

SANTA ROSA SALAD
1 box long grain wild rice (Uncle Ben’s ORIGINAL)[I used two packets of the microwave style, cooks in 90 seconds, 1- Wild and Brown Rice and 1- Santa Fe]
3 chicken breasts, diced
4 green onions, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
3 oz. Chinese Pea Pods (Snow Peas), ends cut off and cut into thirds
1-2 medium avocados, diced
1/2-1 C. chopped pecans
Cook rice as directed and cool. Boil chicken breasts approximately 15 minutes or until cooked through. Dice the following into VERY SMALL pieces…chicken, green onions and red bell pepper. Cut ends off of Snow Peas and cut into thirds. Combine all ingredients (except avocado and pecans) and refrigerate overnight.
DRESSING:
2 cloves garlic, diced (or 1/4 tsp. garlic powder)
1 T. Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/3 C. vegetable oil
1/3 C. Nakano’s Seasoned Rice Vinegar
Combine in BLENDER or beat well with hand mixer. Refrigerate overnight.
NEXT DAY:
Pour dressing over salad and mix well until coated. Refrigerate 2-4 hours before serving. Immediately before serving, add diced avocado and pecans – mix well. Serve on lettuce leaf.

3 months

July 8th, 2010


(We’re in Utah at Grandma and Grandpa’s so no striped chair and yellow pillow this month!)

Dear Adelaide,

From Easter to Independence Day- how has it been three months already? This month you have been bursting with your darling personality. Everyday you seem to get more adorable and charming, if that’s even possible. You smile and smile and giggle and coo. Sometimes in the middle of the night when I set you back down in bed after nursing your eyes pop open and you smile and giggle at me in the dark. Silly girl. You’re usually smiling away at me during your diaper changes. It’s hard for you not to smile when someone is smiling at you, even when you’re crying. It’s funny to watch you try to cry and smile at the same time. You think things like blowing raspberries are really funny. You’ve really started “talking” to us lately and this month you even started “singing” along when someone sings to you. It’s our favorite one of your tricks! You seem to be constantly blowing little spit bubbles on your lips. And one funny thing this month is that you’ve suddenly started to be jumpy about sudden noises.

We celebrated your blessing with our family on June 6th. You daddy gave you a sweet and tender blessing and was joined in the circle by Grandpa, Ian, Grandpa Stephenson and our bishop. You wore the same blessing dress that I wore when I was blessed almost 26 years ago! You looked so precious and you were an absolute angel during the entire thing. It was such a special day and we rejoiced yet again to have you in our forever family.

You had your first round of shots this month. You cried at first but by the time we got to the car you’d fallen asleep. You seemed to bounce back pretty quickly.

We finally moved you into your own room and crib this month. Although you’re a noisy sleeper I loved having you near me all night long so it was a hard decision for me. The first night I could hardly sleep without you. I kept creeping in your room to check on you. After Daddy fell asleep I almost snuck you back in (I knew he would tease me) but decided to leave you since you seemed fine. You’ve been perfectly content sleeping in your own room ever since. In fact you’ve started sleeping about 6 hours for your first stretch most nights which has been great for all of us. If you get to bed around 9 PM you usually wake at 3 AM, and then around 6 AM, and after that you keep me guessing! Naps during the day are irregular. We haven’t quite been able to figure out a schedule. What I do know is that you get tired about 1.5-2 hours after waking (sometimes after only an hour, especially in the early morning) but the length of your naps is totally unpredictable. You usually do one 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon but not always. (You are snoozing away in your swing as I type this.)

As far as we can tell your acid reflux is finally getting better. We give you Prevacid three times a day and it tastes like strawberries so you like it. Hopefully before too long you won’t even need it anymore.

We’ve started to have a real struggle with nursing this month. You had finally gotten the hang of it during May but for some reason you started to struggle with it one day and we’ve been having a hard time with it ever since. You will almost always nurse at night time when you’re sleepy but during the day you get too impatient and I often end up pumping and giving you a bottle. The bright side to that is you’ll take it easily and from anyone so everyone gets a chance to feed you. And I can leave you home with someone while I a run an errand and you’ll be fine. I’m still hoping to get back to nursing more frequently though because it would be better for both of us.

This month your motor skills have been exploding. You’ve continued to kick your legs and wave your arms like crazy when you’re awake (no wonder you get tired so fast.) You love to pull yourself up to stand on someone’s lap and stretch those little legs. You started “climbing” up when you’re on someone’s shoulder. In fact, you’ll climb all the way over Grandma’s shoulder and dangle down the back whenever you get a chance. (She holds your feet so you don’t fall.) I call it your caterpillar crawl. If you can get your feet against something you’ll push your body around. On the changing pad you push yourself back if I don’t hold you. In the bouncy chair or swing you push down with your feet and try to arch yourself up. One night I went in to get you when you woke up and you’d pushed with your feet until you were sideways with your head dangling off the side of the Nap Nanny! YIKES! We’ve been sure to buckle you in every time since then to keep you safe from your wiggles. You finally managed to get your hands to your mouth and you suck on the sides of your little fists. You’ll actually suck on or lick almost anything close to your face: your clothes, my clothes, the blanket, the Baby Bjorn, you even lean all the way over and lick the side of the Bumbo chair! I have to admit, it’s pretty funny to watch. You started reaching and finally managed to get a grasp on some things a week or two ago. After three days of reaching and staring you finally found your toes! It’s just so fun to watch you discover things.

You respond to my voice when you hear it. You usually pause your crying when you hear me (and start back up if I don’t quickly pick you up!) You will often sit in your chair or swing and just watch me do whatever I’m doing and your eyes follow me around the room.

We made our first road trip this month when we drove to Utah. Honestly, I was terrified. You still don’t care for your carseat. There were some rough moments but you thanks to some new carseat toys (especially the climbing bug from Aunt Rebekah) you had some mellow awake times. You’re making progress! We hope you won’t always hate being in the car.

Your three month stats are:
Weight: 11 lbs 9 oz
Height: 22.75 inches

Everywhere we go we get compliments on what a doll you are. Of course, we already know that. We’re crazy about you sweet girl.

Love,
Mom

Month one and two.

addie visits the pool and other various adventures

June 24th, 2010

We took Addie out to the pool one afternoon when it wasn’t too hot. She was underwhelmed. The suit is 3 mos and she’s nowhere near filling it out. I had to twisty tie the straps to keep them up.

Checking out the cute baby in the mirror.


(Jacob would like me to point out that he’s shirtless from the pool, not nekkid!)

Just hanging out.

One of the few times she fell asleep without being swaddled.

Speaking of swaddling, she stretches her legs out so long that even though she’s only 30th percentile for height, she’s outgrowing the miracle blanket! This day she kept stretching her feet and getting annoyed that she was hitting the bottom so I pulled her legs out and she fell asleep like this. I got such a kick out of it.

Sleeping in the car seat. I could eat those cheeks!

I put her down for a nap one day and heard her in her room awake not five minutes later. I walked in there and saw this. How could I be annoyed at this face?

Morning stretches.

Sad face! (It gets me every time.)

Jacob’s first Father’s Day! He was studying so it wasn’t too exciting. We had steak, potatoes, salad and Pellegrino for dinner: all he needs to be happy. For dessert I made a peach cobbler. He actually took these food photos because he wanted to remember it! Thought that was cute. I made him a personalized Father’s Day card from Shutterfly and gave him a framed photo of him and Addie.

We borrowed a Bumbo chair from a friend to see if she’d like it. I think she’s a fan!

Oh I just love that bald head!!

Tomorrow she and I are off to Utah for a week. Hope we both survive the roadtrip part in one piece.