four months

  

I went to a Relief Society dinner tonight, and someone had brought their tiny two-week old baby.
Was Ellie really ever that tiny?
And was that really only four months ago?  Incredible.

Ellie is four months now, fat and happy.
She had a growth spurt a few weeks ago, and her chubs just got chubbier.  Her wrists are now wider than her hands, and her ankle fat nearly engulfs her little feet.  I bought some 3 month size mary jane shoes for her the other day, and her toes didn't even begin to reach the enclosed front of the shoe.  I guess she has small feet?

  She's at the point, though, where she's just so stinking adorable that I can't even contain myself.
I'm constantly squeezing her thighs, nibbling on her cheeks, kissing her fingers...I can't get enough of her!  I thought she was pretty cute when she was born, but goodness-she just gets cuter every day!

She is curious, always looking, watching, paying attention to the people around her.
She is happy.  That's usually the first comment I get about her from strangers--they say something about how she's such a happy, content baby.
And believe me, I'm perfectly aware of how wonderful it is to have an easy baby like her.  She's dreamy.

She doesn't laugh as much as Nicholas did at her age, but when she does laugh it's so much fun-a big belly laugh.

Two weeks ago, she woke up one morning and realized she has a voice.  And suddenly she became a very loud little girl.  She has the most surprising, adorable squeals and exclamations. 
Most of the time, she's content, but if something ever begins to bother her,
she does not hesitate to let us know,
and she isn't quiet about it.

She wiggles her feet around when she "talks," her toes are usually curled up when she's sitting up, and when she lays on her back, she lifts her feet up and wraps her toes around each other like this.

Oh, and the sleeping?

Well, something happened.  My champion sleeper isn't sleeping so much lately.
Today her naps were 15 min, 5 min, 10 min, and 5 min respectively.  And the past week she's been waking up 2 or 3 times a night...
I'm not sure what's going on; I'm trying to get it figured out so we can have our sleep again,
but if it doesn't come back, I can say with complete confidence
I enjoyed every single moment of sleep I did get these past four months.
It was oh so good while it lasted.

When she does sleep, though, she likes to have something on her face.  I often find her with her fingers resting on her nose, or with a blanket on her cheek (and just so you know, she cuddles with those gauzy swaddling blankets--nothing that will smother her.)

She plays with toys now, and
in fact, she gets quite agitated if she drops her ball or if you take a toy away from her.
She's going to be a spunky one, I think.

one little word: march update

As the months go by, I see that my decision to use the word "choose" as my one little word for 2012 was an inspired one.

I see myself changing.  I am progressing, little by little, and it feels good.
Instead of spending time discouraging myself by thinking about all the things I should be doing,
I focus on the progress, and if I start to feel antsy,
I tell myself to start doing one more little thing right.  As a result, I've gotten better at daily scripture study, less computer time, a tidier house, more playing with the kids, and a happier attitude overall.

Maybe the biggest thing I'm learning is that the Atonement isn't just for when we make a mistake.  When we bring our weaknesses to the Savior, the power of the Atonement can help us move forward and reach our goals.  Little by little we can change when we turn to Him for help.  

Each month I plan to focus on one particular aspect and try to make good choices in that area.

In January, I planned to work on healthier eating.
And even though I only made little choices here and there, now I'm cooking at home more, Nicholas is eating a wider variety and healthier things, and I've eliminated all junk foods from my house, choosing to snack on fruits and vegetables instead. (Well, most of the time.  I do have a pan of chocolate-chip banana muffins cooling right now. And last week I made cookies.)

In February, I focused on nurturing my relationship with Kent.
I've learned more about the ways that Kent receives love, we've made an effort to communicate better, and we are kinder and more forgiving. 

In March, my goal is to get moving.  Because of being pregnant, a record-hot Texas summer followed by a Utah winter, I've mostly been indoors for a year now. A year!   I'm feeling so antsy to get outside, get moving, and get in shape.
It is supposed to be in the 60's by the end of the week here.  You can bet I'll be taking the kids out for a long walk.  And maybe I'll convince Nicholas to let me dance with him the next time he does "Viva las Vegas" from the Wii Just Dance.
Little choices.

more Nicholas speaks

Because I don't have anywhere better to record these
(I need to get one of those kid quote books I've seen on amazon)
I'm going to tell you about a few more things that Nicholas said this week.


1.  On Saturday we were at my parents' house.  My mom asked Nicholas if he knew where Sarah was.  He tapped his chin with his finger a few times, "Hmmm," he said, "she's in the closet."  (she was not, she was over at the computer)
Laughing, my mom asked him why Sarah was in the closet.  Without pause, Nicholas said smartly "oh it's just peaceful in there for her."

He'd never used the word peaceful before. I have no idea where he got that idea.  I do not put him in the closet, nor do I spend any time in the closet.
Although, if it really is peaceful in there, perhaps I should.

2.  Tonight we told Nicholas it was time to do Family Home Evening after he finished dinner.  At first he complained "No, I don't want to go night night!"  So we corrected him and said it wasn't bedtime, it was time for Family Home Evening.
His head popped up and he said "Like a party?!"
Well, sort of a party, Bud.

3.  I took the kids to the mall today so I could buy my dress for the Spring Event next month.  As soon as we entered, Nicholas said,
"I'm going to be excited! We need to go see Santa!"
After I managed to explain to him that Santa is only at the mall at Christmastime, he spent the rest of the time telling me that "Santa is going to be in his rocking chair and he goes rock rock and he makes Christmas trees!"

This last one was him being hilarious without actually saying anything.

4. I was nursing Ellie a few days ago while he was watching the Lion King and eating applesauce. I got the chance to watch his face while he was watching.  It was the part in the movie where there's the stampede.  Nicholas has seen that movie many, many times, so he knows what's coming.

During the lead-up to the stampede, his hand froze in front of his face with a spoonful of applesauce. His eyebrows got higher and higher and higher.  As the stampede started and you see the shot of all the wildebeast coming down the cliff, his mouth dropped open, eyebrows up, eyes wide. 
Then, as the stampede continued, Nicholas started to eat his applesauce really fast, shoveling the bites in as if he could save Simba if he just ate fast enough.

It was all I could do to not laugh out loud.  My kid is awesome.

from his mouth

This is either a "pinky" or a "fie-sa-pie-sir."

I love this kid.

house-selling leap day

 Today:

• We sold our house.  It's done and final and we are so happy.

• My Ellie-girl turned 4 months old

• Nicholas was happy and helpful and adorable.  That's three happy days out of the last four days.  Maybe we're coming out of the post-moving-post-baby-sister craziness?  Oh how I hope!

• Kent sent me tulips today for Happy House-selling Day.  I love tulips.

• I kept the computer off all day and it felt great.  We baked snickerdoodle cookies, I cleaned the whole house, a friend came to visit, and I even got a little bit of crafting done in between a few rotations of diapers and feedings and napping.  I liked it so much that I want to make this a more regular thing-going computer-less while the kids are up.

• To celebrate closing on our house, we wanted to go to Sub-Zero Ice Cream. We braved the blizzard outside, and kept a 2-year-old awake in the car by telling him about the chocolate ice cream he was going to get. But it was closed so we tried out a Japanese Sweets place.  Tempura ice cream and mochi balls.  Nicholas was happy with his little cup of M&M's and his tiny scoop of chocolate ice cream.

It was a good good day.
Now I'm off to bed.
Hopefully some of today's goodness will carry over to tomorrow morning. DMV trip scheduled first thing in the morning.  I need to get my Utah driver's license... DMV with two little kids? Gonna be great.

lots

We close on our house in Texas tomorrow! 
It's very exciting, but a little strange,
it feels like it makes this move completely final.

I don't know, I think sometimes I imagine myself just here on an extended vacation.

And yesterday, my friend Allison sent me a photo of the daffodils I planted last year in the front.  They are beautiful this year-so much thicker and with more flowers than last year.

I guess I just am hoping that the new owners will love the house as much as we did.
  

But, now comes the fun part:
getting started on our house here!

We've looked at lots of, um, lots.  A surprising majority of them happened to be literally right next to a train track. (How are there so many train tracks in Utah?) 
So those were crossed off the list right away.

It took some looking, but after a while we narrowed it down to the general area that we want to live, thinking both about Kent's possible commute times as well as thinking about opportunities we might have in the future for different jobs, etc.

At this point, we have two separate lots that we are looking at, and we like them both for different reasons.

   

Lot 1:  We like this one because it is in a very nice, well established neighborhood.  As we drove to the lot, people in their yards waved at us.  The lot is north-facing, which is definitely not ideal, but it's a corner lot, so we're hoping we can build the house west-facing instead.  Across the street is a beautiful section of horse pastures and orchards and a nice view of the sunset.  Just a couple of miles away (but far enough that you would never get any traffic or noise from it) is a big shopping area with Target, Costco, Lowe's, Walmart, Khols, and lots of restaurants, which would be so nice.  The schools have very high reviews.

 Lot 2:  I love the view from this one.  I like the open fields, the mountains, the countryside feeling.  But if anyone ever developed the empty lots around it, our view would be completely gone.  This one is closer to Salt Lake, but farther from Kent's work.  It's closer to a train track (about 1.5 miles away) so we would definitely be hearing that.  It also has good schools, but it's quite a bit farther from any shopping.

We are leaning towards the first lot, but we still need to visit the Church ward there because that can make or break the location for us.  I'm hoping we end up liking it because I'm so anxious to get this all started!

eleven

The ever talented and lovely Katie tagged me...

Eleven random things about myself:

1. We are in the process of choosing a lot to purchase to build our home on!  Our house in Texas closes on Wednesday--hooray!  The picture is of the lot that is our favorite at this point. We need to do some research--schools, wards, commute time, etc.

2. My mom used to give me flowers to plant for my birthday every year, and even still I always think about planting flowers in May.


3. I like the anticipation for a big event (vacation, etc) sometimes more than I like the actual event.  I love Christmastime way more than I love Christmas day, for example. 

4. I like eating at home more than eating out.

5. I've been listening to a lot of Pandora lately. I rotate through Contemporary Singer/Songwriter, Josh Groban, and Paul Cardall stations, depending on if I need music to calm me and my children or music to motivate me to clean/get to work.

6. I like vanilla wafers more than I had realized.  But only the store brand/cheap kind.  They're more crunchy.  Nicholas and I polished off a box of them this week.

7. I eat pizza and sandwiches with the intent of saving the best-looking bite for last.  It's usually the bite right in the middle, so I eat all around it.

8.  But corn on the cob? I eat that with the intent of eating the best-looking bites first, in a scattered crazy a-little-here-a-little-there fashion. I'm a weirdo.

9. My most prized material possession is a bookcase my grandpa made me when I was maybe 14.  It's beautiful and I hope to keep it forever.

10. I don't like to make business phone calls (insurance, bills, requests, etc.).  I can do it, and I will, but I'm always looking for a way to avoid it.

11. I am at the point post-pregnancy where my hair is thinning drastically (as in, my ponytail holder has to be twisted two whole more times than it used to and I have to arrange my hair to hide the thin spots) but my waist is not.  Sigh.  Last time, my hair did grow back eventually...I'm hoping it will do the same this time.

And the eleven questions I was to answer:


1. What do you wish you knew one year ago?
  I don't know.  It would have been strange to know a year ago that this year I'm now living in Utah.  Would it have made the year better?  Or harder?  I might have done more things with my friends, more things to enjoy the beautiful Texas winter, but I was pregnant and sick and maybe I would have just felt guilty that I couldn't enjoy it more, and I would have had "the move" hanging over my head all year... When it comes down to it, I'm glad I didn't know.


2. What are you looking forward to in the next three months?
  Making friends here, Springtime coming, and Ellie learning to sit up on her own (it's a very good day when they can sit up and play).

3.  Who did you last say "I love you" to?
  Ellie.  While I was in the shower and she was sitting in her bouncy seat.  Just a few minutes ago. I say "I love you" very, very often throughout the day. I want to be certain my children are familiar with hearing that.  And my husband also.  I kiss them lots, too.


4. What was the best book you read in 2011?
     I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

5. What food won't you eat?
    I prefer not to eat carrots, olives, and mushrooms, but I will eat them if they are given to me (and sometimes even enjoy them).  But offer me a marshmallow peep, twinkie, or any other super sugary food and I will turn it down every time.  Bleh.

6.  What do you most admire about the opposite sex?
     I really admire the way that men (most of them) can shrug it off, forgive, and move on.  I can't even begin to count the times I've been grateful for Kent's ability to love me and move on when I have done something stupid and immature.


7. Do you believe in God?
      I believe that I have a Heavenly Father who loves me and who is intimately involved in the details of my life.  I believe that Jesus is the Christ, that He lives, and that through Him we can all be saved and return to live with God.  And I believe that the Holy Ghost is a gift to man to provide witness that this is true, to guide us to doing what is right, and to protect us from making wrong choices.


8. Beach vacation or mountain retreat?
   Beach.


9. Smart phone or regular phone?
   I have a regular, plain old, make-calls-and-send-texts phone.  But being married to a man who is an Android Developer for a living...I think I'm slowly being converted.  I get a phone update in June. We shall see.



10.  Do you like tea, coffee, or hot cocoa? Which one is your favorite?
  Because of my Church's health code, I have never tried tea or coffee.  And I don't feel bad about that at all.
Hot chocolate, though?  I LOVE it.  

11. If you could pick any neighborhood from a movie to live in which one would it be and why?
  Whew. This is hard.  Most movie neighborhoods have something drastic occur...right?  The last movie I watched was the second Sherlock Holmes, and I'm positive I don't want to live in that neighborhood.
I'm afraid it's been so long since I watched a movie that I just can't remember.

my view

The view from my new kitchen window

From my point of view,
I'm relieved to have the move done...again.

I'm feeling sorry for my Nicholas, who seems to be coming a bit unhinged.
Too many changes in too short a time.   In the past four months, we've
given him a sister, had many comings and goings of family members, moved,
then moved again, taken away all his little friends... it's really
little wonder he's gone a bit crazy about it all.
But sometimes, Kent and I are THIS close to losing it ourselves.
Of course, those are the moments right before he sidles up to us and pats our cheeks and says, "I just LOVE you, Mommy."
Yes, we'll keep him.
We just want him to settle in and move past this everything-is-ruining-my-life phase.

This is just a phase, right??

My view as I walk past the kitchen

From my point-of-view,
my daughter is going through a massive growth spurt.
Nursing every hour and a half or so,
and feeling heavier every time I pick her up.
And ooh boy do I love those cheeks of hers!

My view from the front door. (On Saturday)

 From my point of view,
the un-packing is mostly done.
Now comes the organizing.
Is it weird that I kinda look forward to this part?  That I'm thinking it will be fun to sort all my canned food?

From my view,  I'm struggling to convince myself that
"it's just things" when I think about how the moving company
badly scratched and dented the tops of all three of our dressers
and dinged the corner of my piano.
(Because we had them put it all in storage we didn't notice until now...long past the 30-day time limit for us to submit a claim or complaint.)
But it is just things and now I have a reason to paint my bedroom dresser like I've always wanted to.  I'm thinking a nice soft gray maybe?

The townhouse from our parking spot.

 From my view, we're very happy to be in this new place,
and excited for spring and summer when we can use the playgrounds and pool and our cute little backyard.  Utah summer is going to be good!