Numbers

What's happening in our lives?  Let me count the ways:

23 - # of hours we drove in a car to visit Lance's family in UT 

Go BYU Cougars!!

15 - # of days until Elisabeth's first birthday.  Where did the time go?

12 - # of pounds I have left to loose before I am at my goal weight...I can fit into my skinny jeans again!

11 - # of  months we have had our sweet baby girl in our lives.

Elisabeth at 11 months with her lamby

8 - # of days before I return to graduate school to finish my MS degree.

7 - # of nephews we have in our family now.  Welcome Joshua!

5 - # of days Elisabeth and I got to spend with my sweet nephews, my

 brother & sis-in law in WV this past week.  

Elisabeth with her cousins, Alex & Andrew. 

My family sure can create some adorable offspring!

4 - # of times Lance has played the Wii Fit game he got for his 29th birthday

2 - # of pounds Sofi has left to loose. Who would have known beagles can be overweight?

1 - # of packages of Peeps that Sofi stole, ate and tried to "bury" in our leather sofa.  

Purging

My house has been in the "as soon as I can get to it" state for many months now. I have boxes of stuff piled in many rooms in the house, waiting for the moment for me to go through their contents and either find a home for the items in my house, sell them on Craig's List, or give them away. As Elisabeth's 1st birthday looms in front of me along with a huge wave of visitors this summer, I figured it is now or never.

So, purge, purge away! I LOVE SPRING CLEANING!

Warning: My posts will still be few and far between. Thanks for your patience as I put my life in order. My family sorely needs this to happen for all of our sanities!

Dispelling Rumors

I realize my frequency of posting has decreased significantly as of late.   Just to dispel any rumors, I thought I should let everyone know that I am *not* pregnant.  Someone emailed me to ask if the reason I wasn't posting was due to morning sickness.  Sorry!  (Though, I wish that were the case.)

I blame my lack of blogging on my new calling as the Primary secretary in our new ward (our ward boundaries were redrawn), a new smocking project for Elisabeth, my gym membership, and the beautiful spring weather.  

I have many postings in my head, however, and hope to transfer them to my blog soon.  Thanks for your patience!  Here is a video of our two girls in the meantime.

Marriage Contracts

I was kinda hoping that the parents of either of these two boys would like to enter into a marriage contract with us to marry our daughter.   These boys sure are handsome and have fun dispositions.  Any takers Lindsay or Amanda?  I think either young man would make a great match.   More importantly, their parents would make spectacular in-laws!

As part of our mini-trip to UT this past weekend, (more about this later...) we were able to spend time with some good friends.  I was happy to meet up with Lindsay and Amanda again outside of the cyber world (I religiously follow their blogs), and meet their little guys.

I love how the Lord brings people into our lives.  I feel the need to publicly state that I am so grateful to have Dave and Nancy N. and their ever-growing brood (of which the handsome babies above are the newest members) be a part of our lives.  Nancy took me under her wing when I was a shy, nervous fledgling at BYU and became a surrogate aunt to me, offering a listening ear and help whenever I needed it.  Her family became my family and I will never forget her kindness!  She was the person to which I gave giddy updates about my blossoming relationship with Lance and was one of the first people to find out about my official engagement.  I admire Nancy and LOVE her, her significant other, her children and grandchildren. 

Thanks for letting us share some ice cream, goldfish, conversation, and friendship Sunday night!  

Music to our ears

I think sleep training is the hardest thing about being a parent so far. Nothing stresses me out more than getting my baby to take good naps without it being a traumatic experience for both of us. Elisabeth needs her naps to function properly.

There were a few months where she wouldn't go down for a nap without crying. I persisted in forcing naps upon her even though my anxiety levels were quite high through the whole process. No one likes hearing their baby cry in protest for 10-20 minutes before the little one finally drifts off into the land of nod.

Just a few weeks ago she started to go down for a nap without a fuss and with a big smile on her face. She has replaced her crying with something much more enjoyable - singing! Elisabeth sings herself to sleep for her naps. I started putting on some quiet kid's music and giving her a small doll to hold in her crib. Apparently the combination of these two things make her happy enough to sing away until she finally gives in to sleep.

How cute is that?

A little discretion, please

Today I stopped at a semi-fast food restaurant to pick up dinner as I had a church meeting to attend and wasn't able to make dinner. While I was waiting for them to make my kabobs, a very nice and slender woman kept smiling at me and looking at me with tenderness. I couldn't figure out what her problem was until this dredded question spilled out of her mouth:

"How far along are you?"

What?!?! How far along am I? Nevermind the fact that I am actually below my pre-pregnancy weight and can fit into the majority of my clothes again. Apparently, I must have always looked pregnant.

My reply was a terse "I am not pregnant."

Her face turned a wonderful shade of red and she looked as though she was going to throw up. Good. You should be embarrassed lady. Next time keep your small talk to yourself or use a little discretion. How depressing! Now I think I am going to open up one of our forbidden boxes of Girl Scout cookies and have a few - maybe the whole box.

Heck - If I look pregnant, I might as well stop depriving myself of the simple tasty things in life.

On Cloud Nine

A lot can change in nine months:

Elisabeth, Papa and Puppy - 2 days old.

Elisabeth, Papa and Puppy - Exactly 9 months old

Major nine-month milestone:  Stood up on her own after her nap on her 9 month birthday.

Another milestone:  Elisabeth waves "hi" and "bye"

• She went from being in the 95th percentile for weight to the 75th percentile.  I like this change, though she is still our Chunka Munka.

Our curious little explorer is crawling all over like a little speed demon, constantly using the "more" sign in sign-language at the dinner table (there is NOTHING this baby won't devour), saying "mama," "dada," "oh-oh," "na na" (her word for no), "Nona" (the nickname of her babysitter) as though she really knows what she is saying, and filling our home with happy giggles everyday.   She still has her non-perfect moments when have to resort to calling her by her first and middle name, but we can't help but love our little girl.  (Who will actually be 10 months this week.  I am a little behind with this post!)