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. :)

Adoption

I have to post a somewhat sentimental "mushy" post here guys. Just to warn you. If you're not into that, skip this post, or read on at your own risk. ;)
I've been thinking a lot lately about how absolutely lucky we are to have Sydney. Yesterday as I was walking Sydney to the park in her stroller, I thought, this is my absolute dream come true!


A friend and I were talking about our babies yesterday and how we both usually wake up before our babies actually cry. Whether it's because their breathing patterns change, they start rustling, or because we just have a connection with them, it happens. I already knew it, but it was a nice reinforcement that giving birth isn't mandatory for being a mom. It doesn't matter how we got this little monkey, she's ours. She knows and loves us and it's so fun to be her parents. I don't want to turn this into a "you should all go have kids" because that's not what it is. I just feel incredibly blessed to have been able to be a part of this adoption.

I love my baby. I love feeding her, playing with her, dressing and bathing her, and I don't even mind changing her! I know a lot of women don't feel fulfilled enough staying at home with their kids (and I know that many other women are not actually able to stay at home - I'm not judging anyone here), but I couldn't imagine a more fulfilling and wonderful way to spend my days, weeks, and months than with this amazing little person. Plus, after taking so long to get this little squirt, how could I let anyone else raise her if it's humanly possible for me to stay home and do it? I couldn't miss a single moment - every new discovery is an absolute joy. Aaron often says that I have all the fun, and he's totally right. Taking care of kids is sometimes hard and is a lot of work, but gosh it's great. I'd totally rather change 6 poopy diapers than go to the office each day. :)

April Fools!

This is a song that I learned in Elementary School that I loved. Just had to share it! follow the link at the bottom to actually hear the music for it.

YOUR HAIR IS THE COLOR OF TOMATO SOUP,
APRIL FOOL, APRIL FOOL.
THERE'S A GREAT BIG GORILLA IN THE CHICKEN COOP,
APRIL APRIL FOOL!

Refrain:
OH, LOOK OUT THE WINDOW, WHAT D' YA SEE?
PEACHES ON THE CHERRY TREE.
I FOOL YOU, YOU FOOL ME,
THIS IS APRIL FOOL'S DAY!

2nd Verse:
THE CAT'S IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CUSTARD PIE,
APRIL FOOL, APRIL FOOL.
THERE'S A DOG IN THE KITCHEN AND HE'S TEN FEET HIGH,
APRIL, A PRIL FOOL!

(Refrain)

3rd Verse:
THE PIG IN THE PARLOR HAS A BIG CIGAR,
APRIL FOOL, APRIL FOOL.
THERE'S A TWO HEADED ELEPHANT IN DADDY'S CAR,
APRIL, APRIL FOOL!

(Refrain)

4th Verse:
THE COW IN THE CLOVER GAVE THE HORSE A K ISS,
APRIL FOOL, APRIL FOOL.
YOU CAN'T EVER SING A SILLY SONG LIKE THIS,
'CEPT ON APRIL FOOL'S DAY! APRIL APRIL FOOL!

http://www.msu.edu/~eulenber/John/Songs/AprilFool.html

That's My Baby

I wanted to share our big news with everyone. On the 22nd we had the opportunity to go to the new temple in Rexburg and have Sydney sealed to us! It was such an amazing experience and we are so happy to have been able to do it. The next day she was blessed, so it was an all around great trip. I want to post more pictures, but at the moment I don't have a cd drive and my camera card has been (most likely) permanently lost. This means a lack of picture posting for a bit, sorry! Hopefully I'll get some more pics on here soon. My mom made her beautiful dress out of my wedding dress material (which she also made) and my sister made her cute bow. She was sooo beautiful!

Big Week

In addition to turning 6 months old, having her first flu shot, and getting her highest fever ever (see previous post), we had a few other milestones/picture worthy events:

Made pizza with mom

First BBQ of the year (at our house)!
First time in court
Sydney also rode the swings for the first time ever but the camera was not present, so we have to go back. Aw, shucks. :)

More about the court photo - on Wednesday we took Sydney to the courthouse and were able to finalize Sydney's adoption. She is now lawfully ours forever and ever. Yay! It was a great day, despite the fact that little Stinky Pete here pooped her diaper in the courtroom. I don't think the judge noticed though - he was too busy admiring her painted toes and she was grinning at all the attention. We now have our final adoption paperwork and can take Sydney through the temple with us! Hooray! What a great week. Also we had Book Club, and I finished 3 books this week, so it was the perfect icing on the cake!

A Little OCD with Organization

This week I got sick of having all of my grocery bags full of food storage just sitting in front of my food storage shelves. (They often get left there when I get back from the store since Sydney has often had it by the time we get home. !) So Thursday while Sydney was taking a nap I went and organized everything. Yay. I need to take inventory more often to see what I do and do not need to buy. For example, we have about 30 boxes of Frosted Mini Wheats, which I really like, but I am buying them faster than I eat them! Definitely do not need any more of those for awhile. But I do need more pickles, peanut butter, and pineapple (alliteration not intended).

I love when all of my food is lined up by type, flavor, etc. It looks so pretty. I think I might be OCD in this way. I love to organize books, cds, etc. My movies are in alphabetical order by category/shelf, Sydney's books are organized by height & type, and now you've seen my food storage.

Tonight I went grocery shopping and ended up buying 30 lbs of ground beef and 20 lbs of chicken. I love sales. I grew up in a family that could have invented food storage - my mom does home canning for everything and has a large food storage room, a garden bigger than my back yard, and 1 extra freezer and 2 fridge/freezer combos. Needless to say, it was sort of ingrained in me. We got a freezer when we were still poor college students and moved it out here with us when we came. I'm not sure what we did before we got it. Where did I pack all my meat? Oh that's right. We couldn't fit anything in our regular little half freezer because it was packed with meat. Hmm, anyway, this definitely holds a lot more, and it all looks so pretty stacked in there. After putting the new beef and chicken away, I organized the freezer my meat types. Ground beef and breads on the top shelf, chicken and turkey on shelf 2, hams, steaks, ribs, and roasts on shelf 3, then pizzas and other various items on the bottom shelf. Too bad it can't stay always so organized!

6 Months Old

Sydney is 6 months old now! It's pretty hard to believe, but it's true. She's now tasted squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, rice cereal, and peas, and beans. She's loved all the yellow/orange veggies, but when she tasted peas it all ended. As you can see below, they haven't gone over so well, both canned and frozen.

Watching her e-card from her Auntie Jessica! Thanks again!
On Monday we took her in for her 6 month well care visit and found out that she weighs 17 lbs 7 oz, so she's gained a fair amount in the last 2 months (she was at 14 lbs 13 oz). She's a big healthy girl and she got her immunizations and a flu shot. She was perfectly silent through the first 2 shots, and on the third one she realized something was going on she didn't like. She started screaming and she was pretty much mad the rest of the day. She ended up getting her highest fever ever that night (102.1!) and not only refused all solids, but actually wouldn't drink a bottle until we got the fever to break with some Tylenol. It wasn't until she wouldn't drink a bottle that I got nervous since anyone who knows Sydney knows that she's obsessed with bottles and has NEVER turned one away in the history of the world. Thank heavens it did pass, although that was a long night. She had a fever the next day too, but not as high, and with some Tylenol, we kept it away until it left on it's own for good. Yay. Only one problem. Since the shots, Sydney will not eat solids. I'm practically force feeding her! I've gotten her to eat a little rice cereal, and she's decided that squash and sweet potatoes are ok again, but she's so incredibly anti carrots and all things green you'd think I was feeding her rotten potatoes. That stinks.

Sydney

Often while laying on my lap now, Sydney likes to push her legs on my stomach and kind of fall off. Here are some silly pictures we took the other day.

Just hanging out!
Everything is upside down! That's more like it!

The Zoo

On Friday the weather was beautiful (72 degrees!), so my friend Karen and I took the kiddos to the zoo! It was so much fun and we really enjoyed just getting out of the house and seeing everything!

Sydney and I at the elephants

Karen and Eli checking out the bears
Sydney being much too busy eating her stroller to be looking at the bears
Eli's favorite animals - the geese!
Two tired kiddos ready to go home!
As we went into the zoo I turned to Karen and said, "This is the cute part of motherhood!" I always imagined going on walks and to the zoo with friends and all our babies. Obviously there's so much more to it than that, but as we went through the gates (and saw some other friends of ours!) I still thought to myself, "I've arrived." :)

We've Had a Busy Week!

Things have been busy at our house over the past week or so! Sydney changes so quickly, it's like something new happens every day! Here are a few things we did:

Ate a whole tub of sweet potatoes (first time finishing a whole one in one setting!)

Tried on my new shorts
Did a bit of sun bathing on the front lawn
Went to the Zoo (more on this in the next post)Read some stories
Tried some carrots (yum!)Grew out of my long johns because my thighs are so big that they don't want to snap.
She also learned how to roll from her back to her belly on Friday and is figuring out the whole sitting up thing. She found her voice - again (she lost it while she was sick and had to relearn how to squeal, yell, and just talk). My how they grow!