Until next year

Merry Christmas from our family. See you in 2011.

She's cool like that

This little girl sat on Santa's lap like it was no big thing. Sure she looked at him like, who is this guy? But when I called her name for a picture, I got her classic look. Isn't she sweet?

We celebrated St. Nick's on December 5. We each got a new ornament from Santa in our stockings.

The opening of her first present. She preferred to gum it, no teeth yet, pretty impressive.

We headed down to Salt Lake to see the tree at Gateway and the lights at Temple Square. Amelia's favorite was the water show. But I'm pretty sure she loved it all, considering she's looking at anything but the camera in every picture we took that night.

Amele is 9 months now. She weighs 18 lbs and 6 oz. She is 29 inches. She is getting her knees up, she kind of rocks on her knees and elbows. Ha ha, she may be going for a low crawl. She also bounces her bum to music, any music. My phone plays the theme from How I Met Your Mother (naturally) whenever I get a text. She dances to it every time. And as I speak she is pulling all her toys and books off the bottom shelf. She's not a baby anymore.

We love you Amelia.

Our Big News

Juan has been offered a job.

We have accepted.

We will be building our post-student life in the same state that Juan's dad grew up.

It is a 21 hour drive from Utah.

We will know 2 couple friends in the area, and a dear friend from freshman year that lives 4 hours away. That makes 5 people. Total.

It is currently 60 degrees there, in December.

That's all I've got. I know nothing about this place, but I know it's right for us. 

Oh wait, I do know one more thing.

The stars at night...

Apparently they're Big and Bright.

Clap clap clap clap

Deep in the Heart of Texas!

Juan has accepted a job with Dell right outside of Austin, Texas. 

After much prayer and research, we will be headed there September 2011.

So I've got 9 months to soak up my dear Utah. This holiday season is quite special knowing it's the last I'm here for all of my childhood traditions.

I'm thrilled. I'm scared. I'm SUPER excited actually. And most of all, I'm grateful that we have a job come graduation. What a blessing.

Please share any Austin, Texas tidbits with me in the comments. And I mean ANY.

Our Thanksgiving

Amelia's first Thanksgiving was spent at my parent's house (upstairs) with just 11 of us total. Smallest Thanksgiving I've attended in years. Juan and Amelia helped me make the Sweet Potatoes which let me tell you, I don't usually like, but I woke up from my after-turkey nap craving those Sweet Potatoes. Yum.

In the kitchen, helping me cook.

Our Thanksgiving table picture, with my mom's beautiful tree in the background.

 She knows how to do the actions to the whole Patty-Cake song now. She claps, rolls, and throws. She was doing it with us all day, but when I went that night to get it on video, I got this face:

Not a chance, mom.

 She does not do the actions with us often. She sometimes will skip to throwing, and does that action the whole song. Yesterday my mom was trying a few times to get her to clap and roll. She would not cooperate, and then later when I was changing her diaper with just the 2 of us, she did all 3 actions in perfect timing with the song. She likes to prove she can do things, just not in front of others.

And this is her season, folks.

 Doesn't she just look like she belongs in Who-ville? Knocking on Cindy Lou Who's door asking if she can come out to play? 

Happy Holidays!

All Things Amelia

She weighs 17 lbs 11 oz. She gained almost 2 lbs in 1 month. Phew!

Does she look like she's chunking up?

She bonded with her Aunt Kelly. It was their first time meeting.

She loves the pediatrician's aquarium.

Even when she got her shots, she only cried for 10 seconds. Happy baby.

Isn't the coat to die for?

Happy Thanksgiving!

5 Years, Me and The Husband

Every day I watch re-runs of the Match Game on the Game Show Network. I love that show. Almost every contestant is a housewife and they all gush about they're wonderful husbands. I wish I could go back to 1975 and be on that show just to say, I'm married to a rotten husband. I'd love to hear the audience gasp.

May I dedicate this post to my 'rotten' husband, Juan.

We are not together today for our 5 year anniversary, Juan went and scored himself a job interview out of state.

Consequently, we celebrated a week early. At a breath-taking hotel in Park City, gorgeous. Our anniversary is at a brilliant time, 1 week before ski season. Great deals this time of year.

We shopped, ate, watched 4 minutes of Sleepless in Seattle before we both fell asleep. Mills was there with us, couldn't let her miss out on the fun.

Me and Juan, we're pretty good together.

And Mills, she couldn't let her dad miss out on anything while he was gone. So at 8:55 pm last night, she pulled out all the stops and introduced us to what we like to call the swim-crawl.

Things I am Loving

I'm only 38 pages in, but I am loving it. I thought it was a Sci-Fi like Star Wars or something. But I am feeling more of a Hunger Games vibe.

This little number that is on its way in the mail for Amelia. I love winter sometimes.

Her new tub! She can sit up in it, but I don't have to hover over the bathtub quite yet. As you can see, she loves it too.

Olivia the Owl. It is the cutest little carseat toy I have ever seen. Saw it on someone else's carseat at Target and I had to have it. Ordered it on Amazon for only $10.

Home-made baby legs. My friend Angie sent me some when Amelia was born. I picked up these 2 new knee socks at Target for $1.50 each and copied hers to make my baby legs! Technically my mom did the sewing, but I could have done it. Afterall, I am a seasoned sew-er.

This is halloween, this is halloween

This is my favorite church dress/tights combo yet. And for Halloween day, Perf.

Our little sweetheart was a ladybug for Halloween, of course. How can you resist a cute ladybug costume for your baby girl? It just can't be done.

We had a family party and Millie just drank in all the people and kids and their crazyness. She is so reserved and shy. Her little smiles are so sweet, and she is giving them more freely now.

And starting on Halloween day, she learned to clap. I clap with her every day, especially during her feedings. And she's been studying my movement. Well she decided it was time to perform. Here's a cute little video. She gets SUPER excited and gets in a few claps.

She also loves when I pat her mouth while she's talking. She will go aaaaaah and lean into my hand and make me do it. She thinks it's so much fun. She is still rolling around and can manage to get anywhere she wants with a few rolls and some pivots on her tummy.

And I just quick have to brag about Juan. It is recruiting season at BYU and Juan is looking for a job for when he graduates this summer. He took a test to work for the IRS (one of my top choices, all those benefits!) and he got the results back today. They rated him as Superior. The very top notch, their first picks at interviews. I have been calling him Superior Juan all day. He's a genius.

Playing House

We are away this week. In a home. With a mini van and bikes on the front lawn. A fenced in backyard with a dog. And 5 kiddos. Sounds like a painting.

The kids (minus Amelia) belong to my brother. We are playing parents, the grown-up kind. With just one baby, I still feel like a kid myself. We live in a basement, we have 1 car, we can take Amelia everywhere with us and she adjusts. This 5 kid thing, phew, kids are busy. Soccer, piano, reading, homework, instruments, chores. I'm exhausted for them.

And like always, I want 5 kids of my own. Maybe even 8. I thought to myself the other day, I can't imagine a stage in my life where I wouldn't want a newborn baby in my home. I suppose I'll grow up and my life will progress with time, but really, I can't imagine it. I'm smitten.

Click

The past week or so, something in Amelia has clicked. 

• She is eating again! I think it must have been teething, she still hasn't popped her first tooth. But now she will open her mouth and eat the food, even if it doesn't seem like she enjoys it. At least she's cooperating!
• She laughs when we tickle her now. And then cries when it gets too much.
• She plays peek-a-boo and cracks up.
• She smiles a whole lot. Before it was hit and miss. Now I feel like she smiles anytime I want her to.
• She tries to click her tongue like us. And she is still doing her shy, hand-by-her-side, very delayed wave.

 We went to our favorite park this weekend. Here are some more happy swing shots. Aren't they extra fun with her in the pictures?

 She'll get the hang of our self-taken family pictures one day...

And Mills sat up by herself all day today and played. It's so funny, she acts like she's so busy fussing with all the toys around her and will not look up until I call her name a few times. She finally looks up at me like, can't you see I'm busy mom?

7 Months

Here are the stats:

• 16 lb 1.5 oz, skinny mini
• 27.8 inches, still tall
• And still a big head

No ear infection so that is good news. We need to work on her eating habits. She currently arches her back and tries to run away from anything on a spoon. Unless it is our grown up food, that she would climb over any obstacle for. Too bad almost everything we eat has meat or dairy that she cannot have yet. I will have to do meal planning now with her in mind. I am just going to try every day 4 times a day and she'll have to learn to love food, right?

Any advice out there for picky-eater babies?

I'm a Spoiler

Miss Amelia rules this household.

Every day I wake up with these goals in mind:

• She will fall asleep on her own for all her naps, I will not rock her to sleep each time.
• If she wants my glasses or the remote, I will not give them to her.
• I will not carry her everywhere I go just because she cries when I leave the room.

And every day I break my goals. It is hard to stick to my guns. It is hard to realize, in the moment, that not spoiling her now will lead to long term happiness for the both of us. I like the quick fix.

I do have an excuse right now, she's been pulling at her ear and I suspect an ear infection is causing this extra need to be held all the time. We're seeing the doctor tomorrow.

But excuse or not, I have a lot of learning to do.

Quite the Life

We went on a walk to the library yesterday. It was 70 degrees, the sun was in and out of the clouds, the wind was blowing. It was perfect. I could live in that weather every day. And the girl, she loves the outside. I offered her a toy while she was laying in her stroller and she looked up at me like, what do I need a toy for?

We've been spending a lot of time outdoors lately.
Each day we climb our way out of the basement and go to the backyard. She loves laying or bouncing on the trampoline. This is the life I guess.
She also loves the swing. She gets a look of terror if I push her too high, but it quickly turns into a smile. We hung out in Provo while Juan took a test. It was beautiful outside and she just sat and ate puffs and chewed on her book. She prefers to eat her books rather than read them.
And here she is discovering grass. She moved her body around the whole perimeter of her blanket feeling at the grass. The jury is still out on whether she likes it or not.
And one last look of ponder. She's got so much going on in that brain of hers.

Yummy Finds

The first 4 years of our marriage, I was either going to school or working full time. Juan and I had the agreement that since we were away from the house an equal amount of time, that we would split household chores evenly. In reality, Juan ended up doing mostly everything- dishes, laundry, dinner, and we traded off cleaning the bathroom. But still I would say, "when I stay at home, I'll take over, I promise."

You know how when you say something like that, in the back of your head you don't even believe the words you're saying?

Well let me tell you. I'm doing it.

And while I'm not a great cook, I have been trying new things and am finding I somewhat enjoy it.

(Random picture from the internet. Mine almost looked this good, ha ha.)

I made Thai Peanut Chicken the other night and loved it. I followed the recipe, and doubled the sauce like the people in the comments said to. I loved how it had a spicy kick, and Juan liked it as well.

I know this doesn't count as cooking, but this dessert is super yummy, especially frozen. And was so easy to make!

My favorite cooking sites are mrshardingcooks.blogspot.com and www.ourbestbites.com. I am trying this orange chicken next. And while I'm at it, I better not pass up these. Best chocolate chip cookies ever? We will see.

Please share yummy recipes or cooking sites.

Shy Girl

First of all. The very next day after I posted these words:

"She's an awesome napper. 2 hours in the morning, 2 hours in the afternoon, 1 hour in the evening. And don't forget, a straight 10 1/2 hours through the night!"

She was done with her awesome sleeping. She takes 1 hour naps, if even. And she woke up at 3 am for 3 nights in a row. She even woke up at 12 am and 3 am in 1 night. Yikes. Lesson learned, I guess.

One night, I found her like this. She was so tired, she fell asleep while rubbing her eyes:

We have had Ginger & Sam in town this weekend and sometimes Amelia just gets tired of people. Last night while we were playing games, she was hiding from us all. I caught this cute video of her:

And in this second video, we had been trying to teach her to wave. I know she's only 6 months. But when I brought her downstairs, I caught her practicing to wave! Ha ha, she has to get it just right on her own time before she's going to show us.

Half a Year

Unbelievable.Time can slow down now.
Please.
Miss Millie Pie is 6 months.

*She rolls everywhere, I'll blink and think, how'd you get there facing that totally different direction?

*She is choosey with her smiles. She still will not smile for grandma every time, it's about when she wants to do it.

*She studies people. A lot. She will just stare and stare. She's going to be a smart one.

*She reaches for me. It melts my heart.

*She's still a snuggler.

*She's an awesome napper. 2 hours in the morning, 2 hours in the afternoon, 1 hour in the evening. And don't forget, a straight 10 1/2 hours through the night!

*She squirms through church. I'm convinced she's wondering why we spend a whole 3 hours without talking to her. I make faces at her and play with finger puppets, but not one peep is coming out of my mouth. I just picture her thinking, what's wrong with these people?

*She weighs about 16 lbs, and is wearing size 6-9 mos clothing. Right on track. And I'm having a hay day with all the new clothes she gets to wear. The dress in this picture is to die for. Loving it.