Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

Sorry for the hiatus on the visitor posts. Here is some more of what we did with Haylee, JC, and Kaitlyn. On Wednesday we trekked down to Colorado Springs to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. I had never been before but had heard amazing things about their giraffes, so I was excited. FYI, if you go, print out this coupon to make it a little cheaper. Anyway, we went and the giraffes were right at the front of the zoo - first animals you see. There were tons of them and there were about 5 babies. You could buy 3 big giraffe crackers for $1 and feed the giraffes, which we did and really enjoyed.
At one point I turned away for a second and broke a piece off my cracker to give to the giraffes. I was also holding it away from Sydney so that she wouldn't grab it, but when I turned back (seriously it was about 1.2 seconds) Sydney had her hand out and the giraffe was licking it! I'm such a good mom.
Here is Haylee feeding one of the babies.
Here are Haylee, JC, and Kaitlyn watching the meerkats (look at the funny one sitting on his bum!)
Me feeding a bird about 5 seconds before another one pooped on my arm. For any of you not in my family, this happens to me frequently. When we were walking around the mall in DC a pigeon pooped on my head. When we went to the botanical gardens in DC, a pigeon pooped on my leg. When we just went to the zoo, a non-pigeon pooped on my arm. Needless to say, Haylee was cracking up.
A really beautiful toucan we saw

Sydney got all tuckered out looking at the animals.

The monkeys that put on a show for us (click on this pic to make it big - the monkey on the left has a little 1 month old baby on her).

Sydney with the gorillas. The baby on the left has a really interesting story. He was abandoned by his mom and raised by keepers the same way a gorilla would have raised him. Read the story here.

In the end, we had a good time at the zoo and saw some fun animals. I was frustrated with the overall layout of the zoo (talk about confusing to find your way through), and it was annoying that they were doing so much construction and that not all of the animals were in their enclosures, but other than that, we really enjoyed our time with Haylee and her crew. We're so glad you guys came!

My First Mother's Day

It's 5 AM. Why am I blogging? I woke up about 20 minutes ago and went in to check on Sydney. She was really restless and woke up, so I decided to re-swaddle her so she would sleep better. Sydney still wears size 2 diapers and is just getting ready to move up to size 3, so we put her in size 3 at night to avoid accidents. Well, this child just peed through her size 3 diaper, through her onesie, through her pjs, and into her blanket. The diaper pad was downstairs and I didn't want to go fetch it, so I stripped her down in her crib, changed her diaper, and proceeded to rinse out all her clothes and linens that she got wet. I'm hoping she'll go back to sleep after that still. It was too ironic not to post. Happy Mother's Day to me.

Going Private

I kind of hate that the time has come to go private. With the many crazy things in the world and on the Internet, we feel like it would be best to not allow strangers to have so much access to our lives. I would love for all of you to continue reading, whether I know you're here or not, so please leave me your email address in the comments so I can invite you to view my blog! Please please please let us know who you are if you want to be invited! We will be going private next week, so leave your email and keep checking!

The Aquarium

Next Haylee, JC, Kaitlyn, Sydney, and I all piled in the truck to go to the Denver Aquarium. We'd heard really good things about it and really bad things about it, so we decided to check it out for ourselves. It's pricey to get into - $14 but we were so impressed with everything! It honestly should be called a Water Museum instead of an aquarium, because it had sections for almost every type of habitat water exists in. There were rivers, deserts, ocean, shipwrecks, coastal regions, rainforests, and a couple others I don't remember. It was really cool to see all the different fish, sharks, sea turtles, jellyfish, stingrays, etc. as well as a few other creatures you don't usually see in an aquarium such as toucans, parrots, and even tigers (all in the rainforest area)! We loved it all and totally felt like we got our money's worth (and for those of you who know me, I'm pretty frugal, so that's saying a lot!).

Here are JC and Kaitlyn looking at some river fish.

And then at the flash flood (I can see how this would scare some kids, but both of ours enjoyed it)

Dude Crush

I was surprised at how much Sydney loved everything there was to look at. She wanted to look at and touch everything. It was really fun!
This diver came over and put his hand on the tank and Sydney put her hand on his!

Being Piranhas with the Piranhas

The tigers

We found Nemo... and Dory
And the Squishies

Met the sharks

And petted the stingrays

Here is a video of JC feeding the stingrays! It was the craziest thing I have ever seen!

Haylee's Visit

My sister Haylee and her family came to visit this last week and we had such fun! They came Monday and left Friday and it was great to have so much time with them. The weather at the beginning of the week was beautiful. On Thursday it snowed, so that wasn't the greatest, and the baseball game Aaron and JC were going to would have been miserable on Friday since I think it was about 25 degrees that night, but other than that we had a great time! On Tuesday we headed out for every kid's favorite place: the park
Sydney meeting cousin Kaitlyn (she's almost 4 - Sydney's such a chunk!)
Kaitlyn being a cowgirl
Sydney, Kaitlyn, and I on the slide

JC and Kaitlyn making faces

JC and Aaron tossing Kaitlyn in the air. She must have gone 10 ft in the air!

Bag Tag

Long ago I was tagged to post everything in my diaper bag. As the bag itself was getting dirty and in need of cleaning, I finally got around to getting it done tonight.

Here's the deal: You must identify it. It ended up being a great excuse to clean it all out. Here's what was in my bag:
1 changing pad
6 diapers
1 pkg wipes
1 bottle
3 pacifiers
treats for me: 3 pkgs yogos, 1 granola bar, 1/2 bag nuts
1 bag of formula
1 bag of baby puffs
1 spoon
1 pen
baby tylenol
1 epi-pen (I'm allergic to bee stings)
1 extra onesie
Sunhat and Sunglasses
gum and mints
27 cents
KY Jelly (now you know how we get those bows to stick to her head)
1 shout wipe
5 alcohol prep pads
kleenexes
Lotion
Aquaphore
1 bow
3 burp cloths
tylenol/ibuprofen, etc.
lip gloss
baby sunscreen
deodorant (for those "oh, crap" moments)
purell
eye drops
a lot of Sydney's random toys including a baby ipod, a stress heart, an old cell phone, mardi gras beads, airplane bags of peanuts and pretzels, 2 dragonfly toys, 1 teether, 1 set of measuring cups, a lid, a koosh seal, 2 rattles, baby keys, a fake credit card (probably a bad idea to give her one so young), an easter egg spinning toy, a tiny rubber mat, and a photo.

I now tag Karen, Jordan, Abby (both), and Linda.

Milestones

First time eating dirt. She got ahold of one of the plugs of grass from when we aerated last fall. Yum.

Not sure what she was eating here.
In her great rocker shirt from Dave.
First real faux hawk
First time all bundled. It was cold on Thursday.

Abby, I'm as bad as you. When I saw Sydney eating dirt I knew I had to take a picture before I cleaned her off. Obsessive. She still thinks graham crackers are the best things EVER, and also eats tomatoes (dad's so happy), saltine crackers, french fries, cranberries, baby cereal puffs, and many other things. She hates mashed potatoes (she actually threw up when I fed them to her). She has 2 teeth (she got them April 11 and I thought I posted this, but never did. Sorry. Still trying to get a picture of them.) She talks a lot, grabs everything, and really likes guys (she loves both her uncles that have been visiting her!). That's it for now!

At Home Photo Shoot

The other day I decided that I needed to take some good pictures of Sydney, not just the ones with her sitting in front of out tv with American Idol playing in the background! I realized that the landing on our stairs gets a ton of great natural light from all the windows. I got a white sheet and hung it over the stair wall, gathered "props" from around the house, and went to work! Here are a few of the results. She's nearly 8 months old! Time is flying!

This is currently my favorite outfit that she fits into right now. You should see the pants in person, they have cute buttons on the bum pockets and everything. Too cute, and they were $3.25 at Target. Gotta love it.

Week in Review

I just thought I'd post some pictures of what we did last week. The weather was beautiful on Monday and Tuesday, so we took advantage of it and went to the park a whole bunch (Have I said how much I love the park and love having it so close to my house?). Wednesday and Thursday it snowed. Blech. Friday it was better again, as was Saturday (except for the windstorm).

Sydney and Aaron at the park on Monday night
Sydney and I on the slide at the park.
Sydney making her latest "I'm not happy with this" face (and David Cook in the background) Sydney waking up from a nap. I just thought she looked so funny all swaddled. Look at her little feet!Last night, playing with one of her favorite toys - a piece of tule. She's got cheap taste.

I also set up and did a photo shoot of Sydney this week, so I'll post those pictures soon as well.

Saturday

As we had an unusually busy day on Saturday, I thought I'd post them for you! Saturday morning Aaron went with a bunch of guys from our ward shooting clay pigeons. What a stud.

While he was off being manly, a friend and I decided to drag our babies to a community garage sale nearby. I love the concept of community garage sales. Everyone brings their stuff out, you drive like 3 miles and hit 15 garage sales, etc. Well, I realized that this community was an over 55 community, which made me think they would have tossed most of their stuff when they moved in, but apparently not! It was pretty funny because everything was sooooo old! It made us laugh. We did go to one other garage sale that was better, but all in all it was just a funny morning.

Then Aaron and I both spent the rest of the day working in the yard. He dug a giant hole to plant our new tree in that we purchased Friday night (a globe willow). Then our neighbor kindly helped him roll and heave the thing into place. Thanks Caleb! I meanwhile, was not just cooling my heels. Our landscaper did not put enough dirt in our garden when he did it and the stuff he did put in was mostly the original clay crap that doesn't grow anything. We ended up buying a ton of steer manure, peat moss, and sand to help break down the icky stuff in there, but it all had to be mixed together. That's what I did. The good news - I finished it all right about the same time Aaron finished the tree. The bad news - still not enough dirt. We need to do more this week. Blah. Sydney sat on a blanket and watched for awhile, until the wind kicked up and blew my shirt halfway up my back (can we say, show your religion day?), blew a bunch of our bought dirt away, and blew it all over my slobbery kid and her toys. She was covered in brown stuff. Needless to say, we all ended up having baths that night.

Confession

Ok it's confession time. This morning on the news they were doing a bit about the rising cost of groceries and how buying 1 container each of bread, cheese, eggs, chicken, and milk now costs $40. Last year at this time it cost $32 and next year they think it will cost $48. Their suggestions to combat this additional expense? Use a grocery store club card, go for generic brands, and even start clipping coupons. Now I'm sure that many people at this point in the news hour went, GASP! Coupons? Coupons are not worth it! Why clip to save 50 cents? No, they're not for me! But I must admit (here's the confession part) I secretly LOVE coupon shopping.
There, my secret's out. I love clipping coupons, taking them to the store with me, and finding my items that I need and matching them up with my coupons. I love getting to the register and watching my total price drop when my coupons are applied. I love to scan through all the grocery ads and find the best place to use my coupon. It makes me feel like I'm cheating the system or something because I refuse to pay more for something than I feel is right. (Wow, that sounded kind of pathetic! I guess I'm really easily entertained!) Anyway though, I really do love doing all of that.
Here's an example: On Tuesday I went to King Soopers and purchased some Pillsbury Biscuits (in the exploding cans!). They were 10 for $10, but if you bought 10 you got $5 back. So I bought 10 for $5, but then I used a coupon for each can of biscuits that I bought, and the store I was at doubles coupons! I ended up getting 10 cans of great Pillsbury biscuits for about $2. I then proceeded to do the same thing with scalloped potatoes, rice cakes, granola bars, yogurt, and a bunch of other food. I bought in bulk, I used my coupons and my club card, and I was a little bit giddy as I watched my total go from $62 (after my club card savings) to $19. That was just a good feeling. :)
Now you all know my secret. Think what you will, but I'll still enjoy paying far less for my items than most people. It's my dirty little secret. Shhh. ;)

Baby Food

I'm kind of amazed at the ridiculously high prices of baby food! I mean seriously people, why are we charged $1.18 for 2 little tubs of food? It seems like highway robbery to me (sort of like the formula and, oh yeah, most things for the little guys of our worlds? Anyway, I thought it would be kind of fun to do a "how to make your own baby food" post. Here we go.

1. Cut sweetmeat squash in half (or quarters depending on the size of the squash and your pan)

2. Place in baking dish with 1 inch water

3. Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour.

4. Scoop out squash and blend in the blender until smooth

5. Put pureed squash into freezer-safe containers

6. Freeze large portions, refrigerate small portions.

7. Feed to your hungry baby abd enjoy not buying squash at the baby aisle any more.

What a Good Eater

This kid loves her food. She's almost 7 months old and she's tried a lot of different foods. She'll eat most of the foods we give her, although occasionally we have to convince her by eating some ourselves. So far she likes: squash, sweet potatoes, corn, carrots (not fresh), apples, blueberries, mangoes, guava, bananas (frozen are her favorites), pears (pureed only, no chunks allowed or she spits them out), rice cereal (mixed with fruit), chicken broth, graham crackers, animal crackers, pasta, bread, and pizza sauce.

She refuses to eat any green vegetables (we've tried peas, beans, spinach, and broccoli) and spits them all out at us. At least she eats as many foods as she does, even if she is pretty particular about some of them! We'll count our blessings that she's such a good kid!

Sydney eating her favorite frozen bananas. She's naked because she gets sooo messy!

Also, since I originally wrote this she has now tried croissants and cranberries, both of which she liked. Actually she loved the croissants and I had to share more of mine with her than I really wanted to. What can I say, she takes after me! I love them!

Anniversary

I guess this post is a day late, but here's celebrating 1 year (and 1 day) of being needle free. Hooray Hooray. Yesterday was much better than April 3, 2007 when I was sick as a dog because of my vicadin and in a lot of pain because of all the digging going on down there. Ouch. It kind of hurts just thinking about it. If you don't know what I'm talking about, click here for the full story. Jordan, I'm sorry if this still makes you sick. :)