Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Vivian is Three Months!

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I’m so glad I tried having baby number two!  I had thought that I couldn’t stand another three months with a newborn…but after my first baptism by fire it was much better the second time around!  Vivian is now officially in the “Gerber” stage and she is a darling!  I need to figure out her nap routine now that she’s not falling asleep at any given moment so that’s my new challenge for the coming month.

Here’s Vivian interacting with Jared one night.  She likes to imitate him when he sticks out his tongue…It’s pretty cute!

She’s a little more nervous about being passed around than Christian was but it’s nice to know that she likes me.  She is really liking Christian too and it’s so fun to see him interact with her.  I think it’s so adorable that when he plays prince he makes her his damsel in distress…I’m just wondering if by the time she wants to play princess if he will still want to play with her!

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I love these kids so much and they are such fun I may decide to have even more!

Vivian’s Blessing Day

Part of our reasons for going to Utah was to have Vivian blessed in my parent’s ward that I grew up in so that the majority of the family could be present and stand in the circle.  This is Vivian in the dress I made for her.  I’m so glad that it worked out!IMG_2928 

Here is Jared right before church showing off the dress, bracelet and headband I made for her.IMG_2926    

A close-up on the headband…it’s a little difficult to tell that I pleated the headband as well (Christian was a little upset that he wasn’t in all the photos).    IMG_2936 

It was a beautiful blessing and she slept right until the end when Jared held her up and she woke up wondering why she was being forced out of her comfortable position.  Thank you to all of you who made the effort to come out and see her blessing, it was a little more memorable because my brother Michael spoke in church and reported on his mission.  I’m so thankful we were able to work out all of the details!  It was a beautiful day and I was so happy to get pictures of her with various family members afterwards!IMG_2939 Here she is with her Maternal Great-Grandma!  IMG_2954 Vivian and Cousin Shaun…   IMG_2960  Vivian and Cousin Autumn…  IMG_2967   Vivian with aunt April…

I’m so grateful that this beautiful daughter has come into our family.  She is a Joy!

Christian’s Beloved

Last year in the beginning of February when we first moved, I met Brooke who just happened to live two stories above us at the time.  She had a darling baby girl about six months old named Emma. Christian LOVES Emma… he did from the moment he met her which is really great because her mom and I are great buddies and Jared gets along well with her dad too so it’s a great situation.  I was sad to leave Utah this past August and the main reason was because I had to leave our great friends! 

In a way it was probably good that we moved further from Brooke, Alan, and Emma in a way though because when we got together we had so much fun chatting that we didn’t get much done.  Brooke and I always would have the brilliant(?) idea to make dinner together and it would take at least two hours because we were so distracted by each other!  It was really a great blessing to have them nearby since we could both rely on each other if we needed someone to watch our kids or help us out with a problem (like the time Brooke flooded her apartment or I had my appendectomy). IMG_2946

I was so happy this past week to have had the time to spend with their family again before Brooke has her new baby boy.  Christian and Emma play so well we really do joke about them getting married someday so that we don’t have to worry about the in-laws!

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Here are Christian and Emma playing together at their house.

This video is of them playing with Emma’s grandpa and laughing hysterically which is so cute.

Brooke’s baby boy is due any day and I’m so excited for her!  I feel like we’re practically sisters (though we don’t look at all alike).  She is such a sweetheart!

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I was really pleased that they made it to Vivian’s baby blessing though Christian was having difficulty staying reverent because of Emma.  She’s such a doll!

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Caught on Camera: Family Antics

During our stay in Utah I had a pretty fun time watching different family members playing, goofing off and just plain being cute.  Some of these things I caught on film (if you can call it that anymore…) so I thought I’d share a few videos.

One of the most adorable things was watching Christian play with his cousin Sandy.  I realized that he actually has a very strong sense of “fairness” in that he wants everyone to have their fair share and such.  One example is when grandma made him a whole sandwich and Sandy a half a sandwich.  She had cut his into fourths and Sandy’s in half and he was pretty persistent that Sandy should have the fourth of his sandwich so that things would be even.  Here’s a video of them dancing around in the spare room.

 

This one is a few days later when they were using their imaginations and my diaper bag pretending it was the bridle of a horse (that they were riding side-by-side on—don’t ask me how that works).

 

This next one was taken on Sunday of my niece Beatrix was she was looking over a book and singing…it’s a little difficult to hear over the background noise but it’s still pretty darling.

 

This next one is a little freakish as Christian ran around the house in this Hilary Clinton mask that Michael brought back from Tennessee.  I had a couple of pictures taken in this myself but they are way too scary to share!

 

This last one is difficult to see what’s going on but Michael had these disgusting looking pretend teeth (that looked like the local Tennessean’s or so I’m told).

So that’s just a glimpse into my some of the behaviors of my family members.  Got to love them!

The Aunt and Uncle Influence…

I’ve been so blessed in my life to not only have many great friends but also a larger sized family full of aunts and uncles.  Even though aunts and uncles don’t generally have a responsibility over their nieces and nephews when compared with parents they really can be influences for good values.  For instance, I always knew growing up that my aunts and uncles valued education.  I also felt their support for the nieces and nephews (including myself) for various ordinances such as baby blessings, baptisms, and weddings.  It just became apparent to me one day as I sat in church with my aunts, uncles, and cousins, for a baby blessing, that our collective extended family valued the same things for the most part.  Of course there are those who have fallen away from the church and such but for the most part even those people still taught me similar values (like my aunt who let me sit on her lap and showed me the baby Jesus figurine in her purse who asked her records to be removed).  Aunts and Uncles are one reason why I want my children to be close to my family because of the profound influences they can have.  They can have so much power as examples of truth and error and they have the ability to persuade children of things that maybe parents have tried many times to teach. Children listen better at times to outside influences rather than parents and what better influence than an aunt or uncle who actually care about a child and want what’s best for them!  Here are some glimpses of the aunts and uncles that invested some interest in Vivian this past week.

 

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Here’s my sister April resting with Vivian after picking up uncle Michael from the airport.

IMG_2885    This is Uncle Jake (my sister Julie’s husband), Kate and Vivian chilling on the sofa.

IMG_2897       Jake with Vivian showing his humorous side.  

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Michael trying to persuade Vivian to smile.

 

I also enjoyed spending time with my nieces and nephews as well.  Here is a picture of Sandy on Saturday when she came for a visit with her daddy (my brother Bill) and she wanted me to hold her the majority of the time I was there.  Very fun.

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Sandy and Me… I’m so thrilled she likes me now, the last few times I’ve come up she didn’t want me near her but now she seems to want me all the time.  It’s great!

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Here are a couple of my niece Elizabeth (Jared’s sister’s daughter).  It was her birthday that week and she turned the awkward age of eleven so I took her shopping and this is what she picked out…kind of wizards of Waverly Place-ish in my opinion.  Now I really can hardly wait for Vivian to grow up and go shopping with me…it was really fun to look at things with her and chat about things with her.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Playing with our “Baby Dolls”

My sister Julie had a baby girl 25 days before I did so we spent a large majority of our time together playing with our girls like they were baby dolls.  It was pretty fun!  We have designs on our daughters to make them friends.  I only hope that we’ll be able to move back to Utah so that they can play together a lot more than every few months or so.

Of course I had to take some pictures that I thought I’d share…

 

Here they are sharing Vivian’s play gym       IMG_2834 

Look they’re holding arms and hands!IMG_2842 

Here we have an eye line-up… IMG_2848 IMG_2850  IMG_2853

On Sunday we dressed them in their dresses that were similar in colors and had a “photo shoot”…IMG_2979 IMG_2981     IMG_2990 IMG_2997 

They weren’t quite sure what to think with our shenanigans!

Jennifer’s Wedding

We spent the last week in Utah Visiting family.  One of the events we went up for was my cousin Jennifer’s Wedding.  What a beautiful bride she made.  I’m so happy for her!

IMG_2810Here’s a glimpse of the back of her dress….so beautiful!IMG_2823 

Jared and I were so blessed to get my cousin Elise to watch Christian and Vivian while we were at the temple… Elise is a working girl so her days are cram-packed with things to do. I am so grateful to her that I could attend because she made it possible!

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Here are Jared and I all bundled up!

It was a pretty chilly morning from what we’ve been used to in Arizona but it was totally worth the effort especially to listen to the ceremony.  There is almost nothing more beautiful to me than a wedding ceremony in the temple! 

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Happy St. Patty's Day

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I had way too much fun at the Carter's store the other day. Their St. Patrick's day baby things were 70% off besides adorable! What can I say? I'm a sucker for a sale...

Monday, March 15, 2010

Hmmm….

 

So Christian just ran into the room and told me I had to see something sooo cute.  I came in the living room to find this…

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“What about it?”  I asked.

 

“Isn’t it cute?  It’s my little piggy having it’s mommies nunnies! The pig is the baby and your sofa is the mommy pig!”

*Cough*  “Oh, that’s marvelous…”

Man, what was I supposed to say?

Doing a Little Comparison…

Jared, two months old with sister April 

Jared as a Baby…

Vivian 3-9-10 cropped

Our Baby Vivian…

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Me as a Baby…

So what do you think?  Who does Vivian look more like?  My mom says she’s a homogenous blend.  I guess we will have to see who she takes after the most as she grows older.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Pump IT Baby!

So Christian has been lectured more than once not to wake up the baby (even if she is so cute and he can’t help but want to give her sloppy kisses all over her face he’s been asked to restrain himself) so that she can grow.

We talk a lot about the ways to help the baby grow, since that is one thing he really wants, such as sleeping, eating healthy foods, exercising and washing (so we can stay healthy so our bodies have the energy to grow).  He is starting to grasp this and has been a little better about not waking Vivian.  He also is really good at reminding me to give the baby tummy time so she can exercise.

I recently bought some dumbbells that Christian is just intrigued with.  Then he had a brilliant idea:  Make the baby work out with dumbbells too so that she can get stronger.

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So he made these for her with his Trio blocks!  LOL!

Friday, March 12, 2010

Considerate Big Brother

Last night I was awakened by a little voice whispering quietly "Mommy, I'm scared." I realized it was Christian as I became alert and said "Oh honey do you want to be held?" as I reached out to pull him up into my arms. "No. I want to be cuddled!" He said as he burst into tears. Then he told me about his nightmare of mice crawling all over him and trying to eat him. Yuck! I tried to calm his fears by telling him that real mice are quite afraid of humans so if you smell like human they probably won't come near you. I told him unless he took a cheese bath or a peanut butter bath he didn't have to worry about mice coming near him. He laughed at that and suggested a jelly bath. Then we both laughed about how sticky that would make you so everything would stick to you. Then I asked him if he had cried in his room and I didn't hear him. He told me that he didn't want to wake the baby or scare her so he was as quiet as he could be. What a sweetheart! I am so proud of him for worrying more about the baby than his own fears. Even though he was scared he put the babies needs before his own. Even if it was just a little thing I think it shows some real maturity!

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Sunday, March 7, 2010

Christian Update

Have I ever said that I love the age Four?  Well I remember being four and I loved it.  It was when most of my earliest memories of playing dress-ups with my sisters and dancing around the living room began.  Apparently, this little boy of mine takes after me in the dress-up and pretending department.  IMG_2579

Here he is with his sword in his soccer bag “like the bad guy in Mulan” because I haven’t got around to making a sheath since I’ve been busy making other things.  This other picture is Christian playing on his ship (bed) with his soldiers (stuffed animals) surrounding him as he gives orders as they prepare to fight the bad guys.  I overheard him playing this game while I was on the phone with my mom and had to take a picture since you’ve got to love the backwards bike helmet along with his favorite rocket PJ’s, prince cape and sword.

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He really wants to be big but I think he will miss being able to play he’s big once he is.  It is nice though that he loves to help out and do things with mom and dad.  The other day while I was feeding Vivian and Jared and Christian were in the kitchen putting together a pizza I loved listening to them talking.  It was really funny when it was time to put on the cheese and Jared instructed Christian to “put the cheese where it’s needed” and Christian promptly replied “In my mouth” and started stuffing cheese into his cheeks!

He’s been really doing some fun things lately such as building with his trio blocks, playing with his stuffed animals, listening to Scripture Scouts, playing a new “scatch” game Sherrada gave him for his birthday, soccer and of course he still loves to be read to.  His favorite books are  the illustrated scriptures that my mom gave him for his birthday and the book “The Monster at the End of This Book”.  The other day, he had me read it so many times I was going hoarse (from doing the voice), so I decided I should record it so that I would only have to push play if he wanted to hear it again.  Jared thinks I sound more like Yoda but Frank Oz did both of the voices so go figure.

This little guy is just a delight.  He always keeps me laughing.   He’s very intelligent too and has a strong desire to do what’s right.  If he is told that what he did is wrong it upsets him to the point of tears.  He also is a “policeman” in wanting to make sure everyone else does what’s right too.  Yesterday when we were out shopping we decided to go through the drive through at the “In and Out Burger”.  It was a long line (as usual) but it moved pretty fast.  There were a bunch of teenaged girls sitting on the low wall outside waiting for some other friends to meet them.  I commented to Jared that one of the girls was pretty daring to wear a dress that was sleeveless and barely covered her rear when she really didn’t have the body type to look at all decent in it (I actually am rude and said she looked like a polish sausage in a wrapper).  When we got further in line Christian said “Um mom, that girl’s dress is not very good, it almost shows her boobs!”  Wonderful *cough*! “Maybe she needs to be on ‘What Not to Wear’!”

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It’s so nice that he still likes to cuddle (though not as much as I would like).  The other day when he tripped and got hurt I was thrilled when he wanted me to hold him and rock him for a minute… I’ve really missed holding him for long periods of time.  Though man, he’s getting gigantic!

Christian loves his sister and our family.  He is all about group hugs and saying “I love our family!  It’s the best!”  I agree… I’ve been so blessed to have two beautiful children!

Two Months

Vivian is now Two Months!  I can’t believe the time has gone by so quickly!

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She is such a sweet little baby, it is so fun to have her as part of our family.  She is very smiley and talkative as well. 

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Every night at about the time when I’m getting ready for bed and starting my blah, blah blah, pillow-talk with Jared, she joins in and starts talking up a storm so then I end up not talking as much as I use to because I want to listen to her!  I’m thinking she spent nine months stuck in my belly listening to me talking at night and finally gets to join in and wants to have her say as well.   It is so funny to hear her talking I had to make a video of it.

Just so that I can remember little details about her this month I’m putting them in here. 

Growth:

Vivian is now 10 lbs 13 oz and 22.5” which places her in the 50th percentile for both weight and height. She is on target with her smile and a little advanced with her social skills because of her “talking” or so the doctor says at this point.

Sleep:

Vivian is a really good sleeper (so far) and makes it possible for us to sleep from about 11 pm until 4 or 6 in the morning depending on the day.  She’s been doing this since about four or five weeks so I feel really blessed that I’m more of a normal person than I was the first go-around.  She has mostly just fallen asleep when she’s tired but I’m working on getting her into a more regular nap routine as she is having a harder time falling (and staying) asleep thanks to a very fun big brother who is always checking on her.

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Play:

Vivian doesn’t mind tummy time so much as some babies do and has actually stayed on her tummy for up to 20 minutes at a time.  She really likes to bat at things  and is always reaching for the fish on her swing’s mobile, so I’m hoping to get her a play gym before too long so that she can start having fun on the floor more (and maybe learn to entertain herself a little more).  She still likes her bouncy seat though she seems to like her swing a little better now that she likes her mobile.

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Quirks:

She still seems to have quite a strong startle reflex which has freaked me out at least once a day as she’ll just be sitting there happy as can be and then suddenly she’ll burst into tears.  I don’t really remember if Christian did this or not (since at first he cried so much or at least it seemed that way to me) but it does make me worry about her.  Most of the time she’s happy and chill so it seems out of character for her to be upset (unless she gets her shots or something which made her totally sad for the remainder of the day.

Family:

Christian is really still quite in love with her though it would be nice if he gave her a little more space at times but we’re working on that.  He has shown some regression by talking “baby-talk” but I’m not sure if it’s just him playing around or not because he’s heard other kids talk this way when I’ve asked him what he’s saying he stops.  He is the best little helper with her if I ask him to do anything he’s quick to do it because he wants her to know he loves her.  He still is praying for her to grow and begs to “baby-sit” her (which is what he calls letting her be in his room in her bouncy chair so she can watch him play).  She likes him a lot and is quite distracted by him and his jumping around the room like a tornado.  He’s greeting for her is “Hi Baby! I love you and I think you’re cute!”  He always is telling us how cute she is and if we tell him he’s cute too or he was a cute baby (since they look so similar) he gets annoyed because he wants her to be the cutest.  So funny….most kids want to be the cutest themselves.

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Vivian seems to really L-O-V-E Jared which is really sweet.  If he’s in the room and talking she always tries to look at him.  She and he play this cute game where he makes a face and she tries to imitate him (if I try this with her she gets bored with me quickly). Pretty much she is daddy’s little girl which I find adorable.

For me she is nice and cuddly and loves for me to just sit and hold her.  She also will fall asleep while I simply hold her which is really nice. I really enjoy having her sweet little spirit in our home which is quite calming and peaceful.  Her name “Vivian” means “alive or lively” but sometimes I think “Peace” might have been more appropriate for her personality.