Adventures in Heywood

My Bitty Baby is 2!?!

2012-01-03T14:06:00.000-08:00

I have Christmas Pics. But Let's start here. I just wrote my little 'birthday tribute' to Charlie that I hope to keep up at least once a year as my kids grow, so I thought I'd post it, and I also figure, may as well post the party pics too..... so, GO!

Talk about a recent growth spurt! All his pants just turned into floods overnight!
Such a sweet boy, if you say 'soft' or 'gentle' with a baby or animal he very gently pats their head. If he knows he's done something naughty he runs right up to smooth it over with a hug and a kiss (a little manipulative I think!).
He LOVES to draw and color and could sit for 30 minutes straight doodling on paper. He also wants mom and dad to draw with him, and he always wants them to draw, Muno, Foofa, Brobee, Toodee and Plex.
He still loves Yo Gabba Gabba, especially all his toys, he always wants all his toys with him at the same time. He got little bath squirts for Christmas that are the heads of the 'Gabba Gang', and it's not good enough to have just one or two, he has to haul around all five Characters and always knows if someone is missing and freaks out!
Charlie talks so much and so much of it you can understand. If you say, 'say ---' he can repeat back to you most simple words.
He always goes to sleep with his blanket and a couple stuffed animals, mostly his Brobee and Muno beanies. He is an amazing sleeper, he doesn't even try to get out of his crib actually, he just lays on his back and plays with his 'babies' till he's tired and falls asleep. Both nap and nighttime are so easy for mom and dad. Recently he's tried to sneak a few more toys into his crib for naptime by throwing them up over the bars on his way into the room when he knows we're going in to go to sleep, and it cracks us up.
He very recently got into cartoons and movies. First it was Toy Story (which he still loves), then he really got into Tangled (he loved to sing along with the ruffians at the bar, 'dreeeammm, dreeeaaaammm'). His big favorite for the last month was Rio. He would ask for Rio almost first thing in the morning and he knew the songs and would sing out 'Riiiiiii-oh' during the movie, and then lots of times just for fun in the grocery store or restaurants. Recently he's included Kung Fu Panda which he got for Christmas into his favorites - he asks for 'Po'.
Charlie loves to laugh, when other people are laughing (in real life or on TV) he just likes to join in with this real loud, joyful, but totally fake laugh.
Everything is 'woah' when he gets it. New toys, food, etc. It makes mommy feel good when she puts his food in front of him, because he seems so impressed.
Lately Charlie got into fettuccine alfredo, but he's hit and miss with all food. A pretty constant 'like' though is fruit. In the last two-three days he's probably eaten 200 blueberries.

We had an 'Art' themed birthday party for Charlie as he's so into it right now. We had the kids paint canvases, and even had a multimedia art project across our walls (I let that happen because I have a bunch of dings in that wall that have to be painted anyway, haha.

Even our treats and snacks were art. Fruit and veggies and dips and cheese and crackers in every color of the rainbow. I didn't take a picture of the cupcakes, but I had these little crayola crayon picks, and I decorated it to look like a scribble from the crayon. Got the idea on Pinterest and it was really cute, but I'm not really the greatest at like piping and decorating.

Charlie absolutely loved all the birthday presents he received. He screamed and yelled and said 'Wow!!!' Then he would dance around and laugh and run back to the present.

We did jelly bean art as a party favor. The kids could take a little jar and fill it with the rainbow of colored jelly beans how they wanted.

Many thanks to everyone who came. It was so fun for us parents to watch Charlie (and really at this age, let's face it, that's what it's mostly about!). At the end, like any year, we were thoroughly tired and just wanted to sit and put our feet up, and we did!

Yo Gabba Gaaaabbbbbbaaaaaa!

2011-11-10T15:41:00.000-08:00

First off, yes, these pics are awful. I didn't think they'd let me take in my nice camera, as to be fair it does have very nice HD video, maybe I'd just record the whole thing and distribute, haha. Other than that all we have is cameras who do AWFUL in low light. But after I kinda felt bad, because other people had SLRs in there, so maybe I could've got away with it.

So the story is we ended up winning some tickets to a live stage show event of one of Charlie's fav shows, 'Yo Gabba Gabba' from a radio station through the magic of facebook. I felt a little bad because I found out about the contest through another facebook friend who would also have loved to go. We did end up winning. (I was begging, borrowing and stealing for votes.) This is just a show that actually interests Charlie. He's not big time into TV yet, but this is his speed. 5 of the about 30 words he knows how to say right now are, Muno, Fuffa, Brobee, Toodee, and Plex. So yeah, he's a fan. I really wanted him to see it, but there really wasn't money in the budget for it - some of the cheaper seats are $30 per ticket, and yes, a not quite two year old has to have a ticket. So we decided weren't going to go if we didn't win, but we did. I was like jumping up and down when we won.

Charlie, who has an attention span of 2 minutes for anything besides coloring (even watching the show on netflix, he has to run around and play while he watches), sat completely and totally still for the entire hour and a half of this show. It was unreal.

The bad part - they sold all this merch, of course. And Charlie saw some beanie babies with the other kids, and he was instantly obsessed. He just kept staring and screaming 'muno', 'brobee'.... Sooooo... like the sucker parents we are, we got a few. They were stupid expensive, but it was totally worth it. Check out this video of how much he loved these things... that makes the price worth it! (We were just glad we hadn't had to buy tickets AND the dolls.)

In the not quite 24 hours we've had these things, Charlie has probably put them down twice. And that wasn't for a long time. While walking to the car after I tried to take them so he wouldn't drop and lose them, but there was absolutely NO question of that.

Thanks friends and anyone who voted to get us these tickets. We had so much fun!

A Post that is Mostly About Halloween...oh and HI, I'm back!

2011-11-05T17:52:00.001-07:00

This is me diving back in to blogging after 6+ months, ha. I've decided that it's a good plan not to try to catch up all at once, and I may never really catch up, but I may pepper stuff back in as I have the time and energy. I'd like to jot down a few things before I forget, but we'll see! I really got inspired to try and keep up some tidbits here, as I went back and tried to put together a scrap/photobook of our 2010. This blog helped me so much! You never know if anyone cares or is reading your blog, so sometimes I was just like, 'eh, whatever no one cares.' But after how nice this blog was to help put together a picture book of our year, I truly realized, the person I'm blogging for is mostly me!

The lead up to Halloween I wanted to do all this stuff, but I've actually been pretty busy with a lot of weddings with the photography thing. Which is great, but we didn't get a lot I wanted to in. But we did go over to the pumpkin walk which is like tradition. Charlie is a bit young yet for this, but he did like a few things. The amount of open grass to run in, the kids all around, running away from mom and dad. He didn't get the 'scenes' except one: Tangled. He was absolutely memorized by the Tangled scene.

And we had a melt down and had to leave over the little, I don't know what they're called you put your head through a hole and you're in a scene or whatever, that was of Toy Story. He absolutely was taken with it, but he didn't want any kids to put their faces in! It really upset him, he just wanted to stand at the front and stare at it and touch it. So we had to leave, cuz he kept trying to keep other little kids out of it, which isn't great.

SO here's the thing about Halloween for us... I'm ambivalent about dressing up and all that, I like a good party, but that's it... John won't dress up at all really. He likes eating candy, if that counts for being involved in Halloween. Charlie being little and not knowing if he cares about it or not, basically gets involved to the level we care to, so the last two years we've just kinda had a fun time coming up with random ideas to dress him up as. Year one, he was 10 mths old and had funny patchy hair. We thought he looked like he had a 'comb-over'. That hair started these ideas of an old man costume, which sorta refined into him being 'Benjamin Buttons'... Thus a baby-old man. Haha. This year we knew what Charlie was going to be for a very long time because we've been calling him "Charticus" for ages. I don't know how the nickname started honestly. But probably 6 months ago one of us threw out the idea that he should be like a Spartan warrior/one of the 300 for Halloween - named Charticus of course.

So we printed off some pictures from the internet of like Gerard Butler in "300" and then just pieced together how we'd make a costume. The nice thing was, we NEVER thought he'd be able to actually go outside in his costume. In October it's usually just way too cold to wear most costumes without a coat, let along basically underwear and a cape. But randomly Halloween turned out to be 60+ degrees. Still a little chilly for extended wear of this particular costume, but he ran outside and we took some pictures, and we spent 5-10 minutes at the neighborhood trunk-or-treat. Then we just went to my moms to 'trick or treat' and hung out till bedtime at her house. We were real party animals this year!

This is John and Charlie eating their Halloween hot dogs at the trunk or treat. And John trying to coax Charlie to look at mom and smile.

All in all it was fun, albeit laid back!

Big Time Stuff...

2011-03-07T17:11:00.000-08:00

"I own a Mitsubishi Gallant, BIG TIME STUFF!!!"

If you don't understand the previous quote then you don't watch enough SNL. Haha. One of Will Ferrell's finest. The man is essentially trying to validate or get respect for himself by bragging of his silly belongings, and always screams stuff like that at the top of his lungs over dinner. "BIG TIME STUFF!!!"

Feels a little bit like what I'm doing. Haha. But as this blog has just become somewhat of a life chronicle, I'd be remiss if I didn't record this. It's huge for us, although probably not so much for others. We set out to look for houses with a realtor a few months ago. Our price range is small and our expectations as always too high, ha. But we saw some things we liked okay, but there was this or that fix we'd need to make, and any house we were looking at was realistically going to take some remodel for us to enjoy our time in it much. We really knew that going in, and were all gun ho to learn how to do things like install wood flooring and moldings. We really hadn't even slightly considered building. One, we didn't think it was in our price range, and two, we didn't think we had time. As chance would have it though we came across this builder and he told us the market being what it was he could build us a house that would get our "needs" (not wants, big difference) met and equal what we were looking at and he'd sign a guarantee as to the price. So this new decision on the table really sent us through a loop for awhile - but we decided to take the chance.

So yeah, we're building a house. It's just a small starter home, but it will be fun to have it how we 'think' we want it for at least the next some odd years. It's really a lot of decisions, this is what I'm finding out so far! Some that I just think, 'what's the difference?!' Plus we're putting in some sweat equity of our own and we're looking forward to it, and not, because we know it's gunna be lots of work. Everyone keeps asking us, "Can your marriage survive building a house?!" And we always say, "We'll see!" :) Hehe. But it is stressful, no doubt on that. It's mostly stressful trying to get the most out of your dollar and decide what you should push for, and what isn't that important, and what you really want, and what you can let go, and is there something you should have done that you didn't, always worrying you're making a decision you'll regret or wish you could change.....

In other words, we are growing a lot from this experience. It's going to be quite the life lesson!

February 20th!

February 20th!

February 28th!

March 1st!

March 7th!

Leland's Third!

2011-01-28T18:33:00.001-08:00

Three balloons equals it's been three years today since Leland was born!

We miss you Leland and we love you! Hope you're calling in some favors for us up there! :)

12 Months

2011-01-17T08:53:00.000-08:00

Another one of the many, many hazzards of having your birthday in the middle of the holidays is not getting your proper birthday tribute on time. Shame shame! I know Charlie, nor my faithful faithful readers are all that concerned. But, like I've said before, I don't journal, so....

One year! One year and it feels like one week and 10 years all at the same time. I think pretty much every parent looks back over their pictures at this point and wonders, 'how did this tiny baby get from looking like this...'

'To looking so big, like this..."Fortunately, my mom asked me to take this series of pictures for her, since she's on a mission far away so she could see his growth, and so now I can see how it all happened. (I took an 8 month picture, but alas, can't find it anywhere, it must have been deleted inadvertently. I'm so sad, cuz now that it's all done, I think it's kinda cool. I sorta wish I'd spent more time on the pics, and shot them all exactly the same and stuff. But you can't imagine when you're staring at your kid all day that you'll ever have a hard time remembering them how they are!)

Seriously? 12 Months!

Waves hi! He learned this about 10 months or so and absolutely LOVED it. As soon as he figured it out and figured out how much of a reaction he could get from total strangers he was just obsessed with waving. He had the one handed version and the two handed version, and it was such a crack up. He would wave at EVERYONE when we were at the store or anywhere. He was always so pleased with himself when they waved back.
Started saying 'Hi'. It was a "Hi" wave combo for awhile. Lately he has dropped the wave a lot, but he says "Hi" a lot to people. When he sees grandma on Skype, "Hi". When he sees you in the morning, "Hi". He doesn't understand "Bye" however, he just wants to do "Hi" again, especially if people are waving.

Learned at thanksgiving that he looooooves pizza. Ate almost a whole slice himself. Also loves Chili, fruit, cottage cheese, and anything sweet!
Sometimes we call him our German baby, because Charlie has this fluent babble that has all these really harsh consonants in it, that sounds like he's going off in German. "Ideekanaofkpt!"
Sleeps through the night again, phew! Charlie had been a pretty darn good sleeper, all things considered right from the very beginning. However, at about 9 mths he went through a phase where he woke up, ALL THE TIME... By about 11 months he was waking up 6+ times a night at points. Finally we worked out something to help him sleep (or maybe the phase just passed, haha, who knows?). Now he's back to 11-12 hour nights, and typically doesn't wake up. Niiice.
Got his 6th tooth just a week or so before his first birthday!

Became my picky little eater, BOO! Hoping this one's a phase.
Learned to walk! After about 11 months we were interested to see if he would walk, so we'd put him between us and try to get him to take steps, he'd take about one. Only as long as it took to get to his hands and knees to crawl away from us and whatever nonsense we were up to. So we figured he was really uninterested. But about two weeks before his first birthday he took a few steps, about a week later he was very wabbley walking, and by his first birthday he was doing pretty well and was walking almost all the time!

Charlie is king of the courtesy laugh. If other people are laughing he'll join in as if he's in on the joke. Including if people are laughing on TV, or if mom and dad are laughing AT the TV.
Growls like a monster.
Loves to play "monster chase", he crawls as fast as he can, but just falls on his face laughing after a few feet.
When you ask Charlie where his nose is, he will grab YOUR finger and use it to point to his nose. Something's not totally computing there. Haha.
Loves to sing songs. Well he likes you to sing to him. It will keep him calm in the car or during a diaper change if you'll sing him some of his favorite songs.
Has the funniest dance moves. Looks like a little traditional indian war dance.
Loves to rock on his rocker. Crazy style.
Likes to empty cupboards and really wants to play with the plunger.

WE LOVE YOU CHARLIE! BEST YEAR EVER, HANDS DOWN!!!

You're Only 1 Once.

2011-01-12T16:49:00.000-08:00

Yeah, December 28th is a lousy day for a party. But the Saturday before was Christmas, and the Saturday after was New Years. So we decided there was going to be no good day to have Charlie's first birthday party, so we would just have it on his actual birthday. We invited a couple close friends and family. Even so you know me, I like to throw a party, cheesy themes and everything. I couldn't rein myself in too much, even though we all know Charlie could care less at this point.

We had two cakes. One miniature one that Charlie could destroy in the traditional 'eat cake with your hands' first birthday tradition. (Ignore the horrible icing job, maybe because it was cut out and not a mold, this thing was impossible to crumb coat, even entirely frozen.)

And one that the rest of us could eat without getting the drooley, mangled remains from whatever Charlie left over.

Lots of blue for my boy. Blue candy, blue plates, etc.

The Birthday Boy!

Didn't take any pictures but we all made our own french bread pizzas, because Charlie looooves pizza. He's become a really picky eater, but he will go to town on a pizza he can now eat more than a slice himself.

Singing Happy Birthday!

How many pictures can you possibly look at of a kid eating birthday cake? Well you're about to find out. I'll spare you the video, because it's actually about 7 minutes. Charlie started out strainning to get to the cake when we were singing and not giving it to him. But after the candle came out and John handed it over he thought we were tricking him or something. He kept looking at the cake, then looking at us, and then looking at the cake. He put his hand up to it, then pulled it away again like, 'no I'll get in trouble'. Finally he started tasting the frosting, but he actually was quite dainty about if for awhile, just enjoying a little frosting on his hand. John helped him get into it a little by opening it up, and then sticking his hand in. By about the 6th minute of the video he's just really getting into it!

Now we're getting it!

Had to show you the cool layers in this cake. I got the idea from a rainbow cake which maybe I'll make some day, but thought, 4 shades of blue, that could be cool!

The layers aren't really even whatsoever though because I didn't use the cooling strips on the pan, I don't have any here, and wasn't going to go to Logan to dig through at my moms to find mine which are still residing there!

Surprisingly his face didn't look as bad as it probably could have, but his hands were coated, and actually his jeans were the worst part. He kept putting his hands down on them, probably even wiping his cakey, icingy hands on them, and when we pulled him out here we just had to take the pants off. But hey what kind of a party would it be if you still had your pants on by the end. (I kid, I kid.)

The wreckage. See what I mean? Would you wanna eat that now?

What'd I get, what'd I get!

An airplane!?!!!

He started out just sitting on it, but he has this figured out a little too well now. So well that the other day he got rocking so hard he darn near went OVER the front. Not just him, he almost rocked the whole plane over the front. It also has little music that plays in the buttons, and he loves the songs, and wants them played over and over and over again.

Overall, a success. Thanks to everyone who came, and Charlie of course, for being one and cute!

Oh Christmas Day in the Moooooorrrrning!

2011-01-06T20:31:00.000-08:00

Charlie's first Christmas, outside the womb, is over. And no he didn't care about it yet, he didn't even really care about ripping or playing in the wrapping paper, but I'm sure he'll love that part next year! He didn't care, but as mom I think I'm required to. :) So here we go:

It is Heywood family tradition that you must line up in the hall (they used this hall their whole lives in fact!) and have your picture taken before you go in to see what you got. Emily and Andrew even had to get into the line up, although that was more coincidental than anything.

Our little family, all lined up and ready to go!

Christmas morning magic right here, haha.
Ironically, Charlie did end up waking up an hour earlier than normal, but it was probably just his restless dad who wanted to get in and see what he got, that somehow floated in to his room and woke him. At least we got to sleep till just after seven. But I would have preferred the usual eight. It's not that I'm a bah-humbug, I just reeeaaallly like to sleep!

Charlie's present from Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Andrew.

Aunt Emily is suuuuper excited about this package.
I'm guessing it's a million dollars.

Aunt Emily put a bow on Charlie's head and we stuck him under the tree. She told us that he was the best gift we got this year... even though technically it was last year....

Wearing his pirate eye patch. Arrr!

"Ooo, what's this mom? And can I take it somewhere and hide it from you?"

The older "kids" with the toys I bought them. Aunt Em is a pirate, Uncle Andrew is in the FBI, and John is a fireman. These toys were a hit, but they were being used for about the 5th minute when John tried to cut off Andrew's legs with his toy axe and it broke. Dollar store quality is just not what it used to be. I remember back in the day when you could EASILY dismember someone with those things...

White eating breakfast Emily pierced Charlie's ear and Andrew gave him a gun to play with.... so they pretty much win for worst Aunt and Uncle ever. I kid, I kid...

And at last we're just happily playing with our new toys in the wreckage.
(I promise the kid had clothes on at one point.
I'm starting to have a little ragamuffin on my
hands, he's always running around and
caught on film in a dirty onesie!)

Christmas Eve

2011-01-03T16:01:00.000-08:00

In the Haslem house we do the big meal Christmas Eve, and then just relax more or less Christmas day. So with the parents away, I offered to host this year. Last year no one had the energy. So we came back with a vengeance this year.

And I apologize in advance for the pictures. When you're the one cooking and serving there really isn't time to take good pictures with a nice camera.... someone just gets handed the point and shoot. And yes, it bugs me, and maybe that makes me a picture snob, haha, but it does.

(It does crack me up that Tate is lurking in this picture. Haha.)

The Potato Thief

2010-12-31T09:54:00.001-08:00

The other day I went grocery shopping, it was getting late as soon as we got home and so I threw open the bag of potatoes that we had just bought, scrubbed some and got them in the oven first thing. Then I started putting away groceries. I found out a little later that Charlie had 'helped'. The little potato thief had got into the bag of potatoes and grabbed a few out and 'put them away' for me. Behold the spots we now keep our produce:

The lazy susan:

The drawer:

The diaper bag:

Now is this the face of someone who's naughty?

Nahhh!

O Christmas Tree!

2010-12-07T11:11:00.000-08:00

The first Christmas that John and I were married, and had no money, and lived in Cedar, I bought a little 3 foot tall artificial Christmas tree for our apartment. We decorated that and we used it for the next 4 years. After all, we were going to head to one of our parents houses anyway for the week or so around Christmas, and it was just for fun and being festive. Then started what turned into two years of living WITH parents during the festivities, fun fun. So as we set out to decorate for Christmas this year we realized we had never ever bought our own Christmas tree!

So this year it was our whole family's very first excursion to buy our own tree. The first snag we knew we were going to run into is that John and I have very different opinions about what a Christmas tree should look like.

For me, I like the classic, see them everywhere, obvious kind of Christmas tree.

For John, his family and his grandma always had a different kind of tree, thus that is the one that looks likes Christmas to him. He likes this variety:

Before I spent Christmas with John when we were engaged I had never even seen that type of tree used before. I was not its biggest fan. To me it reminded me of a Charlie Brown Christmas tree:

Despite our differences of opinion we set off. We scoured the nursery for something we could agree on. Luckily, Charlie and I wanted this tree right off the bat:

And we got Dad on board!!!

Good thing Charlie was due for a nap when we got it home and it was time to decorate. I have a feeling he'd have been a little TOO helpful. We put it in this corner being hopeful that we can somehow seal off that front area from our little monster. We'll see how it goes!

When he woke up Charlie gave us his seal of approval. He thought the decorations were so lovely he wanted to pull them all off and put them in his mouth for closer inspection....

Good thing we got unbreakable ornaments!

Thanksgiving

2010-12-07T10:26:00.000-08:00

We went to John's sister June's house for thanksgiving this year. This was Charlie's very first Thanksgiving that he got to actually be outside my stomach and eat the meal himself! June lives out in Nevada, close to Lake Tahoe with her family. We had never been out to visit them before, so it was a fun time. Cousins Samantha and Ethan were so excited to meet and play with Charlie. Charlie loves attention so he was a willing participant. June made all of Thanksgiving dinner for us and it was fantastic!

Charlie ate some sweet potato and stuffing and a little mashed potatoes, and made a large mess. He seemed to think it was okay, but what he really loved was the second night when we ate pizza, haha, he honestly ate probably 3/4 of a large slice of pizza entirely by himself.

After Thanksgiving we went and spent one day exploring Lake Tahoe and the shops and town up there. Evidently we learned that Lake Tahoe is the 2nd deepest lake in the US. It is deeper at its greatest depth than the Empire State Building is tall. That was really impressive to me!

Work Hard, Play Hard, Then Sleep

2010-11-15T08:10:00.000-08:00

We have such a boy on our hands. I keep saying it, but it totally surprises me how he just came with this personality, I swear we're not consciously encouraging this...

The door knob on our bedroom door broke awhile back (leaving me locked inside in fact) and John got started fixing it last weekend. Of course there was something about a hammer and tools that made Charlie feel like he HAD to be involved, literally I tried to pull him away multiple times because I felt it was a little dangerous, but he was desperate to hammer with daddy:

Since the fall came, John and I had to face the un-fun task of putting down the swimming pool. It was a multihand job, so we put Charlie down and hoped he'd entertain himself for at least a little bit. The boy found something to do.... why am I not surprised it had something to do with a stick and dirt...?

Sometimes it's a hard job being an Aggie fan, but mostly we manage to have fun no matter the score. Even though he has to sit which he doesn't like, mostly Charlie doesn't seem to mind too much going:

(The BYU blowout, that was super fun to be at, see how excited Charlie is!)

Charlie likes to jump so hard when he plays in his jumper that one of these days I think he's going to just rocket out of it all together.

A child prodigy at piano playing perhaps?...

After a long morning of getting dirty, bleeding, jumping, hammering and what not, sometimes you just can't wait till nap time for a little shut eye:

(I found Charlie like this at like 9:30 in the morning, he doesn't usually take a nap until almost 10:30, so I figured he must really have been worn out! I even picked him up out of here and put him in his bed without him waking up. That's sleepy!)

Cupboard Diver

2010-10-28T10:17:00.000-07:00

I mentioned earlier that Charlie had cupboards figured out in about two seconds. So we had to move anything poisonous or hazardous pretty quickly. And on some of the cupboards there are childproofing things, but on others we don't have them. As it's not our house, we didn't want to permanently install anything, and the ones you don't install are a PAIN to open and close even for adults. So yeah, we just moved some stuff out of his reach, but you can't move EVERYTHING. Consequently I spend a lot of time throwing things back in cupboards all over the house. (Yes, it's why they look disastrous.) At any moment you're liable to find charlie playing in:

The Tupperware cupboard!

The table linens cupboard!

And his very all time favorite... The pots and pans!!!!

I don't know how kids figure this stuff out, it's so classic it's cliche, but with zero encouragement or help from us, Charlie got into this cupboard, pulled stuff out, and started doing this....

It's a good thing we think he's super cute and funny.

Fall is for baking

2010-10-25T08:12:00.000-07:00

And I tried this new recipe, and had probably my 1st ever total pie crust success!!!

I tried the pear tart because we had pears to use, and it seems like you can only eat them so fast fresh, and they just manage to go bad, which stinks, cuz fresh pears are amazing, but this little ditty was pretty darn yummy as well! For all those people like me for whom their pie crust technique just leaves something to be desired, I suggest this tart.... I think you could easily do other fruit too. The crust is more chewy, but still soft. But the added chewy and softness means the dough is actually just a ton easier to work with than pie crust....

However, my pie crust technique is veeerrrryyyy slowly improving. I ran to grab the camera after I rolled and laid this pie crust in, and told my husband I had to document probably the first time ever I didn't have to patch my crust together...

Yay for me! Maybe one day I won't get nervous at the very idea of pie crusts, haha. We'll see! This particular crust contained a peach pie, because we also had peaches that needed using and people coming over. I should have taken a picture of the after, so you could see how delish, but I forgot. Too excited about the crust I guess!

9 Months!

2010-10-11T09:12:00.000-07:00

Seems like in the time from 6 months to 9 months Charlie has changed more than ever before, not in looks but in all his new skillz! :)

Height: 28.75 inches ~ 70%
Weight: 20 lbs 10 oz ~ 55%

Stuff about Charlie:

Crawls like a mad man, in the last 3 months we went from rollings, to army crawl and to weird mixed crawls, and finally to crawling more traditionally and even more quickly, watch out if you open the fridge!
Stands up on anything and everything, cruises around on it. This included the beginning stage of falling OFF everything and banging his head, which was fun. Now he's a pro and can get up and down with skill.
Now has other sounds he's added to his 'hi dad'... including mom! Yay! Says, 'eye-yi-yi' a lot.
Entertains himself better and better.

Can climb all the stairs all by himself.
Likes to play with wrappers, paper, cell phones, garbage cans, anything it's clear we don't want him to play with.
Can open cupboards (more in a later post) and get out all the contents (don't worry mom, we moved or locked up the hazardous stuff, so now it's mostly just a mess).
Loves sweets - likes his fruit babyfood the best, but also likes the veggies and mac and cheese one. A co-worker of John's gave Charlie a circus peanut, evidently it was like Charlie's favorite day, EVER.
Loves tomatoes or tomato products such as spaghetti sauce.
Likes to feed himself, but by that I mean scatter the food all over the tray and watch what happens when he throws it on the floor. (But he has SUCH a good time!)
Is more reserved around strangers than he used to be. Becomes a little shy and unsure if someone he's unfamiliar with smiles at him or tries to interact.
Still LOVES his daddy. If it comes down to a choice, he knows who he wants and it's not me. Sometimes it's hard for me to hang on to him when daddy is close by, he'll totally try to abandon ship! When his daddy comes home from work he'll make a mad dash to get to him ASAP. And if dad talks before Charlie can see him, his head swerves all around looking for where it came from. I try not to be offended, because it's really quite cute!

(Found Charlie like this after dad brought him in.
John had been mowing the lawn with him in his baby bjorn,
but got too hot and tired, so was going to finish alone.
Clearly Charlie wanted to be out there with him still!)

Peach Days Is Peachtastic!

2010-10-07T20:31:00.000-07:00

We really didn't do much for Peach Days this year other than treat ourselves to some peach related desserts. We walked around the booths for one part of an afternoon and then left and went to the Aggie game. I know, we're boring that way. But we didn't think Charlie would appreciate the parade yet as he hasn't learned that he cares about c-a-n-d-y. And we learned our lesson last year on that thing.... woah, overkill. So instead of telling you about that, I'll share a very tasty dessert, ala Alton Brown - They are really easy, quite quick, and really yummy!

Individual Peach Upside-Down Cakes

Ingredients

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1/4 cup light brown sugar
2 medium peaches, peeled
1-ounce finely chopped crystallized ginger, approximately 3 tablespoons
(I've searched high and low for this in No. Utah and couldn't find it, it's just fine w/o, but I'd love to try it with it sometime!)
2.5 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 1/2 cup
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Whipped Cream or ice cream, for serving, optional

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Divide 2 tablespoons of the butter between 4 (6-ounce) ramekins. Melt the remaining tablespoon of butter and set aside. Evenly divide the brown sugar between the ramekins; sprinkling it into the bottoms of the dishes. Cut each peach into 12 to 14 pieces. Lay the peaches on top of the sugar; evenly dividing them between the dishes and sprinkle with the ginger. Set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl whisk together the sugar, buttermilk, vanilla extract and 1 tablespoon of melted butter. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and stir just until combine. Pour the batter over the peaches; dividing the mixture evenly between the dishes. Place on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the cake reaches an internal temperature of 190 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer.

Remove from the oven to a rack and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of each dish and turn upside down onto a serving plate. Repeat with each cake. Serve immediately with whipped cream or ice cream if desired.

Southern Utah Trip

2010-10-06T11:00:00.001-07:00

We decided to head down south to Cedar to see John's grandma for labor day. With John now working 4 tens it almost seems like you have to go away when you get a Monday off! Four day weekend!

We took Charlie to the super fun pool in Washington. I thought he would have fun in a pool that goes all the way to shallow so he could crawl around by himself, and he really did, it was so cute!

We went out to John's grandma's property in Bear Valley and joined John's Aunt, Uncle and some cousins there.

We picked some elderberries and brought them home and made syrup.

John's cousin Jocelyn and her husband had a little girl just about a week and a half before we had Charlie. This is the first time we were able to see cute little Lottie and Charlie side by side.

I Turn My Back for One Second And...

2010-09-22T13:26:00.000-07:00

(Evidently there was an oreo within Charlie's reach. I had no idea.)

(Charlie stands up on this all the time, it rocks forward, and he just rolls right off the front.)

Kids are too quick of learners for their own good sometimes I decided. Charlie is prone to really jump head first into things. For instance he stands now. Well he's been standing for a few weeks actually, pretty much since the time he started crawling on his hands an knees. Well he started this trick, and started using ANYTHING to pull himself up on, before he'd thought through getting down at all. So he'd end up crying with a big bruise on his head about every day when he fell.

About two days ago we saw him get to the bottom of the stairs in our tv room and start going up and we had to go pull him off. Oh great. This morning I was just letting him climb up the stairs in front of me. Just two stairs up he looks up at me, I swear with the look that says he has an idea. His whole body goes rigid and his hands go up and he slides back down the stairs on his belly like a sled down a hill. I don't know if he had any idea that was what would happen, but he wasn't concerned and he didn't seem surprised - he just crawled away.

(Charlie crawling ALL the stairs later this afternoon... from bottom to top... yep. I'm the one hovering in the back totally freaked out.)

Am I in for a lot of broken bones and stitches?! Please say no, I can't handle blood.

There's Only One

2010-09-16T12:08:00.000-07:00

I love rollercoasters. I was trying to decide the last time I went to Lagoon and I decided... hmmm, like Icon Days maybe? Plus everytime I've been to an amusement park in the last few years it seems I'm always pregnant, and thus, disallowed on any fun rides. So I made John and my sister and Charlie come with me this year.

The new ride, Wicked, is awesome! I also made my little sister cry she was laughing so hard on the top of the Rocket ride. You know the one that drops you? I swear it's the only ride that makes me nervous, but when I'm sitting at the top, I tend to get... explicit.

Emily was jumping for joy at the prospect of Lagoon: HA!

PS. The guy who was developing strollers and finally said, 'you know what they should be able to do? Lay down for when your kid falls asleep', is a total genius! He should get a raise for that invention. This definitely was a weird/hard day for Charlie. He liked all the people but he must have been so confused as to what we were doing.

I leave you with John and I riding the infamous Collasus. It's... funnyish.

(It's so beautiful, I'm crying.)

The Evolution of the Crawl

2010-09-14T11:16:00.000-07:00

It seems Charlie's crawl happened in the textbook sorta way. About 6 months old he started to roll to get places, then he would teeter back and forth on his hands and knees, and then he adopted an army crawl, like this:

He was so good at that, I was prepared to not be surprised if he never learned to crawl traditionally. The kid could make time, you had to be nervous if you left him ANYWHERE, because he could end up somewhere totally different getting into something without your knowledge. Like the time I walked out of our bedroom and left Charlie on the floor, 30 seconds later when I walked back in, I couldn't see him. I freaked out, looked under the bed and all around, suddenly from the closet I hear a little rustling, it's Charlie, eating shoes.

After awhile Charlie eventually wanted to pick up his belly so he could crawl over and IN thing. But he adopted the funniest half and half crawl for awhile, like this:

He actually did that for quite awhile, and I thought, well hmmm, maybe he'll stick with that. But not long after I was thinking that he was proving to me that I shouldn't count my chickens. Now, he does this:

Now he's a full fledged menace. I spend my time pulling him out from under things, getting him unsquished after he crawls in between the couch and a side table, pulling junk outta his mouth, you know the drill (if you've ever had, or been around kids!)

So now that he's a crawling pro, it seems that he LOVES to crawl under things. I'm thinking I need to get him some sorta tent or something for Christmas. He always crawls under the desk when I have him in here and I'm blogging. He likes to crawl and then sit and play under his bouncy station when he's in here also. He crawls under the coffee table in the living room (and subsequently gets stuck and screams) and the list goes on.
The other day as he was at my feet, under the desk as I did some work, he pushed over the trash can which I didn't immediately remedy (just paper in there, right?). I then heard him grunting, so I looked down, and found this:

Good times!

6 Months

2010-08-03T15:54:00.001-07:00

Well this is a little delayed in being posted. Charlie is actually over 7 months old at this point. But I never did a post for this 6 months, and since I don't journal, it's necessary. Bare with me.

18.5 lbs ~ 60%
17 3/4 Inches ~ 78%

Charlie went and sprung up and thinned out. I'm working on getting the baby fat back on him, cuz I love some baby chub.

Some highlights of the last couple months before he turned 6 months old:

Started eating solids, didn't like them.
Got to go swimming in his pool. Loved that. He likes to splash.
Started getting up on his knees and hands like he was going to crawl. Didn't.
Started sitting, but still was liable to topple over for no apparent reason.
Jabbers quite a bit, including saying what sounds exactly like, "HI DAD".
Is a total daddy's boy already. As soon as John walks in the door he's like 'Thank heavens, I'm saved!'
LOVES to be outside. Just sitting in and pulling the grass.
He's really getting responsive to his surroundings and is becoming so very fun.

Jackson Hole Vacation

2010-07-30T15:52:00.001-07:00

So John and I have been to Jackson a couple times, but this is a brand new (out of the womb) experience for Charlie! :) He was really good on the way up, which you always worry about when taking long road trips with babies. He didn't even wake up till the last ten minutes, so we decided to let him drive us in. He's gotta pull his weight, and also we think Britney Spears is a good parenting role model.

We didn't get a hat packed for Charlie, cuz we have no idea where his went, so we purchased something there that says, 'stepp off foo!'

The first day we spent enjoying nature and liberally applying of bug spray. We dressed Charlie like a park ranger, so in case he got lost, yogi bear would take care of him.

Instead of actually hiking we thought driving and then sitting by Two Ocean Lake sounded like a more relaxing kick off for our vacation.

Later on in the week we worked up more ambition for a hike. We decided to take the traditional hike to Hidden Falls, however this year we were slightly less lazy and we didn't take the boat out there.

We spent a lot of time in Grand Teton Park. This is from Signal Mountain, if you look at that smoke behind me and Charlie... well we're not responsible.... all I'm saying.

We made it up to Yellowstone this time. Spent a lot of time waiting for old faithful to go off. Charlie loved it... no no, he didn't. He really didn't care, but he had a good time people watching.

Here it is, old faithful.... nope wait, this is some other spout of water, of which I don't know the name. But I did get this picture, so there you go.

Some Firsts for Charlie

2010-07-28T21:21:00.000-07:00

So I'm trying to catch up with some of the stuff we've been up to. I'll make a picture list. This is from awhile back a few months ago, the pool finally got to where we thought it was warm enough for Charlie, so he got his first dip:

He got a floaty, and worked that out for the first time:

John decided to give mommy a break in the morning, AND try out his baby bjorn again before we went on vacation. So Charlie got to mow the lawn for the first time! :)

Charlie had cousins over to stay with him for the first time. Granted they're a little older than him, but they sure did love on him!

It's Finally Summer When...

2010-06-21T10:09:00.001-07:00

...you no longer have time to keep up on your blog. Here's a list of what we've been doing instead:

Enjoying a delicious beverage in the pool.

Picnicking outside.

Planting a garden. We've even had swiss chard out of the garden
twice, mmmmm, it's delicious. This was our 'small garden' we were
going to make, because we had a lot going on this year.
When we got to the garden center we couldn't help ourselves
it was like, Oooo, cucumbers, we have to do those,
Ooooo, beans, we have to have beans, CORN, I need corn
and so on. :) Currently I know, our garden is equal
parts veggies and weeds. But weeding is not
as fun as harvesting.

Laundry.

Observing summer holidays.

Just recently we started feeding Charlie some baby food.
He'd been getting very interested in what we
were eating. If you had him on your lap during a meal
he'd try to grab the spoon out of your hand
or your plate (ask daddy, he got a bowl of
soup on his lap caused by this little guy).
So we decided he might have fun trying some new
food of his own. It doesn't go well!!!
He certainly spits a lot of it back out at me, but it's
entertaining seeing his funny/messy faces. He
still seems to prefer his original method of eating,
which is fine by me since nursing is free and easy,
but it's been fun to see what happens when we
branch out a little!

Party

2010-05-24T15:31:00.000-07:00

So we made our friends Dallon and Reed help us put up our pool. (It was compulsory, we didn't actually ask, we told.)

Also Dallon and Reed were going to leave and spend their summers (and beyond) in Hawaii, so we thought it would be fun to have a going away party, since we owed them dinner anyway. So we did, and it was really fun!

We invited a lot of the guys' friends from High School, a few friends from college, and a random assortment of other people we've picked up along the way. And nearly everyone was able to make it which is rare. Some of these guys don't see each other, well like ever.

(Almost all the guys - one is MIA here.)

Almost all the guys in the picture above are married, and almost all of the married ones have kids, which makes for this...

(Crazy as this is, there are 4 kids missing, just among the boys pictured
above, that are not sitting on that couch!!! WOWSA!!!)

"Ladies..."
These two cute little girls were having a photo-op together, and I decided to plop Charlie down in the middle of them, so he could have a couple of cute little girlfriends. The things we do to our children, haha.

Fun times, thanks to everyone who came, we should do such things more often!

John Completes a Triathlon

2010-05-19T16:32:00.000-07:00

Yep, that's right. A triathlon. I'm very proud of him. John decided he really needed to get back into shape, hadn't worked out in way too long, and my little sister threw out the idea of training for a triathlon as a goal for working out. Well he accepted the challenge, with the idea being to be ready at the beginning of June, his friends however decided they were going to do a a different triathlon a month earlier and last minute peer pressured him into doing this one with them. He was nervous as he didn't know if he was ready, but he did just fine. He actually came across the finish line like he was jogging in the park, didn't look distressed at all. He plans to do another one in a few weeks! GO BABBBBYYY!

Ah Oh, Better Start Child Proofing!

2010-05-10T09:37:00.000-07:00

Charlie started rolling back to tummy at the beginning of this month, and now he's a pro. I actually missed it the first time. I left him playing on his back on the blanket, walked to a different room and walked back in just a few seconds later. He was on his tummy. I sat there thinking....'I left him on his back? Didn't I? Maybe I didn't? No, I KNOW I left him on his back.' So I flipped him to his back again, and sat there for a second, and he obligingly showed me how he did it. It was amazing, but it feels too early, I don't think it should be allowed at 4 months.

4 Months Old!

2010-04-29T18:56:00.001-07:00

4 Months!

Charlie had his 4 month doctor visit and the doctor said he was 'perfect'. Of course he was referring to size, but we like to think in general.

16.1 lb ~ 75% for Weight
25.25 Inches ~ 70% for Height

What a good boy! He smiles and laughs a lot and has the cutest dimples.

He's a great sleeper, as good as I could ask for. Just after 9pm we do our bedtime routine. We read a story and get our jammies on, and then wrap up in our blanket and by that time Charlie's eyes are drooping, sometimes we rock a little and sometimes we go straight into bed. He looks around for a few seconds and then goes right to sleep all by himself!

When it comes to naps though... he's a dinkus. You never know what he's going to do, which makes it pretty hard to make plans for the day ~ It could be five 20 minute naps, one for 2.5 hours, and then sometimes he decides he's too big and important to take naps at all... ha. On a day by day basis we have almost no luck getting him to adhere to any type of routine. I suppose if I had to choose between him doing this during the day or during the night... I'd chose day - so I feel lucky.

We set up Charlie's jumper. He's figuring it out... we'll see how he feels about it for real. The first time it seemed like he was really getting it, but then the next couple he just sat in it and pulled up his feet and was real lazy about it and then would get off balance and start swinging around.

Charlie has started to figure out toys and be more purposeful with his hands. If he wants something he can reach out and grab it and feel it out. He always seems to find hoodie strings. If you're wearing a hood it's almost a guarantee that if you look down he will have one or both in his hands.

Charlie has a great tempermant. Really if there's not something wrong like he's sleepy or hungry he's pretty good. He can get a little over stimulated or a little needy, but typically he's just veeeerrrry chill.

And seriously, how cute is he?

Take Me out to the Soccer Game...

2010-04-15T18:33:00.000-07:00

Hey Mom and Dad, thanks for taking me to this sweet game. To show my appreciation why don't I poo all the way up my back and down my leg while you're about to get me in the car to go home. Then I can poo on both of you, and we can all try to figure out how to keep the poo damage to a minimum in a parking garage.

Love, Charlie

A Little Plug for Business

2010-04-01T15:39:00.001-07:00

I finished a new layout on my photography website & my friend Jeff (a great freelancer, if anyone wants) coded it for me.
Yay! So go look!

www.christieheywoodphotography.com

There is also a give away in honor of my sweet new website.
It's a very large discount and it's up for grabs. So check that out.

Spread the word, this is a potentially huge opportunity for a prospective bride who wants a lot of shooting at basement prices, so if you know anyone like that you may want to pass on the news.

Our First Family Vacation

2010-03-31T18:02:00.001-07:00

Ok, so really it was just a weekend away in the hopes of seeing some sun. But it did involve some serious car time, and we were worried about how that would go with little Charlie! We headed south to Cedar City and St. George. Cedar City to see great grandma Dodge and my good friends, and then further south to see some sun.

As a testament to our food addiction, most of our big plans before we left centered upon which restaurants we would go to. Taste of Hawaii being our biggest 'must'. Along with good friends it's pretty much the only other thing I miss about Cedar City. :)

Great Grandma

Hanging out at the hotel.

We tried swimming just a tiny bit, because it was actually a little windy, and we got worried he'd get too cold, small as he is.

Getting in a hiking groove with his shades and hat.

Snow Canyon State Park

Nah, nah nah nah nah naaaaa! You're not heeerrrreee.

Overall the trip was a success, and Charlie traveled better than I thought, he even slept through our whole meal out at the hibachi, so we could just enjoy. He liked riding in his baby bjorn for a little while, but he tuckered out after a bit. We went shopping, but I refuse to buy clothes in the size I am now, so I didn't get any, but we got a few cute things for John and Charlie. So good times - we're looking forward to a 'real' vacation this July. Woot.

Little Laugher

2010-03-30T11:15:00.000-07:00

Charlie's Blessing

2010-03-15T14:21:00.000-07:00

John mans the fryer.

We blessed Charlie on March the 7th. He was a good boy and didn't cry or anything. John said he did stick his tongue out at him the whole time though. We had a little dinner at our house in Brigham. In all the craziness I forgot to get some of the pictures of Charlie with people I wanted... oh well. That's what happens when you throw the party, you're in the kitchen, right? My aunts brought my Grandma and Grandpa Christensen up from Orem, and many friends & family members came down from Logan. John's brother and his family came up from Provo - so Charlie had a lot of love and support there for him.

I decided that it would be a great idea to make all finger foods, since most of the people would have to eat on plates in their laps. You know how it's a pain when you're trying to cut something without a table? It was a really good idea, but I wished I could have had another oven, and a bigger kitchen, more counter space for using extra hands. It was a bit of a coordination problem - lots of things needing to go in the oven at the same time and be done at the same time. BUT it was super fun to not have to use forks - I'd recommend it for party merriment. Ha.

Great Grandpa Christensen

Great Grandma Christensen... Charlie LOVES her!

Uncle Andrew relenting and holding Charlie. He says he doesn't hold babies.

The lucky few who got table space.

Adventures at the Doctor's office.

2010-03-11T13:32:00.001-08:00

WARNING: This post is not for the faint of heart. If you can not handle hearing about poo, do not read on.

So the pediatrician I chose is in Logan, we now live in Brigham, but that's okay. You only go every couple of months, and that's only in the first year. So for our two month visit, it just so happened that I had a funeral in Logan to attend at 11:30 and Charlie's doctor visit was at 9:30, so that worked out pretty perfectly for me - one trip for two things. We get off to the appointment on time, I have my diaper bag ready and prepped w/ everything I could ever need, nice comfy skirt and shirt on, baby slept all the way there, the day starts off well.

So I strip Charlie down to his diaper for the nurse, she does her thing, then I take him out to hall where the scale is so we can weigh him. Just as I lay him down and she says to take his diaper I literally hear him at that instant go poo. Ha! Oh well, i'm sure it's not the first time the kid's diaper has been dirty when it gets taken off... they have wipes there and everything. So I take the diaper off, wipe up his bum and they get the weight. So she suggests I wrap him in the little blue paper pad to take him back to the exam room in and I do and I take him back, I sit him on the bench and I put a new diaper from my bag on.

I'm just sitting him up when I hear him poo again. Oh sheesh, but it's not that uncommon for Charlie. I consider just leaving this diaper on till after the doctor leaves, but he goes again, and I'm worried about leakage, plus it's stinking, and it's taking a minute, so I figure I'll just do it. It's a big mess actually and i'm juggling the kid on this bench and getting the wipes, but I finally get it done and I move the blue paper thing and the diaper aside and sit the kid up on my leg. I hear more tooting and pooing and I'm just thinking 'geez kid!', but oh well I've changed many a diaper, I have more diapers. Then I look down and see that the poo is in a big stream ALL DOWN MY SKIRT, and a little on my shirt! I don't even know how he did it! I've got a funeral in an hour and at this point and no way to get back to Brigham and then back to Logan! I'm wiping myself up with wet wipes the best I can, while trying to keep Charlie on the bench, laying down all dirty with poo up his leg, trying to get that from going everywhere, and considering what my options are for the rest of my day. After getting the majority of the poo off my now wet and stained skirt, I turn to the little dirty blue thing and Charlie and begin to change his diaper again, the diaper messy on the outside, and the blue thing is a bit dirty too, so this isn't a very clean process but better that I use this then get poo on this bench, right? When I open it I find that essentially the entire poo is outside the diaper, not IN the diaper. How that's possible I don't know. I'm wiping up Charlie's leg which is what is dirty, and move the diaper to the side, WHEN>>> DUN DUN DUN.... FREE PEE FOR ALL!

For some miraculous reason the pee stream doesn't head straight for me, it goes off to my right off the bench, and also it fortunately goes OVER the diaper bag containing all mine and Charlie's stuff, which is right below us, and starts landing in a long and steady stream on the doctor's carpet. I don't know what to do, I only have one clean diaper left, so i just put the old rolled up diaper in front of the kid and it splashes on the outside of it and down around Charlie and on the bench. HA! It's good I put the paper thing down - except that it's soaking and all over Charlie now! So now I'm mopping the kid up and cleaning him up. I've just got him into a new diaper, rolled everything up in the soggy blue thing and moved it when Dr. McKenna comes in. He looks at my face which was probably all flustered and then says, "What's up?"

"Nothing. Just a Poo-tastrophe."

Charlie Is Two Months Old

2010-03-02T14:35:00.001-08:00

I am of two minds about Charlie growing at all. I mean I do want him to grow and develop and learn as he should. I will be very thankful if he progresses 'normally'. I love seeing the new things he's done like smile and coo, but I also don't want to lose THIS stage. I don't want to move past the cooing and gurgling and the toothless smile. I already feel sad that he seems so much bigger and he's not as much the newborn anymore. However, I'm pretty sure that growing is going to happen without my consent and nobody is asking me! So with that said...

Charlie just passed 2 months old! He is 13 pounds and 1 oz, which puts him in the 80th percentile for weight. He is 23 3/4 inches long which puts him in the 75th percentile for height. The Dr. said he is growing at a good proportional weight and height increase, which is always good to hear when you're exclusively breastfeeding, as it's easy to wonder how much they're eating since you can't measure your boob, ha.

Charlie started smiling at almost exactly 6 weeks old. Wow, that melts your heart. Until YOUR own baby smiles at you it's darn near impossible to know how much joy it will bring you. I've seen a lot of babies, and it's cute when other babies smile, but you're over it about one second later. When I first saw Charlie smile, I felt like I wanted to cry or laugh or freak out or all of the above.

Charlie is very vocal now. He'll have a little chat with you if you chat with him. He coos and goos and sighs and makes all those great little noises. Then he'll listen for your response, then he'll proceed with his next thought. It never fails to crack me up. If we really get going his coos almost turn into a little giggle. It's really funny, but then he almost always gets the hiccups.

Charlie is super alert. Everyone has said it since he was born, and even the Dr. said, 'I LOVE how alert he is!' when we met with him for his two month visit (I have a whole Dr's visit story which I will relay soon, it's not to be missed - Charlie has amazing timing). He seems to really like to sit up and look around like a big boy. I sit him so he's straddling my leg, looking out and hold him around his tummy against my body and it's the way he'll stay content for the longest time. He just looks around and checks stuff out.

Charlie is a pretty good sleeper, all in all. At least it seems he understands night time and day time (although a lot of time he thinks 'day' starts at 5:30 - while some may agree with Charlie on that I'd have to disagree). At night after he's gone to sleep, he wakes up a couple times, but it's typically only because he's hungry, and after he eats his fill he nods back off fairly quickly... MOST of the time.

Charlie likes white noise. If he's screaming and crying, get out the vacuum!

Charlie HATES to be swaddled, it started not too long after he was born, but all the sudden if his arms were tied down he'd just grunt and scream till you let them out and then he would just sigh with relief. I was bummed about this, because I think he would have an easier time getting to sleep if he'd allow it. With his hands free, he just smacks himself in the face all the time.

Sometimes I call Charlie my little lizard, because he's always sticking his tongue in and out. John says he's, 'tasting the air'.

Everywhere we go people are very interested in Charlie and have to ask about him and tell us how cute he is! (We agree.) We went to Texas Roadhouse the other night and were accosted by all these people, patrons and employees asking about Charlie (don't worry mom, we didn't let them touch him or breathe on him, only look from a distance). One of the hostesses nudged the others to look at him and they were all just talking about how cute of a baby he is, and as she was taking us to our seats was saying, 'I'm sorry I'm just staring at him, he's just so cute! You must get that all the time.' Well yes lady, we do, but we don't blame any of them.

Moment of Zen & Self Motivation.

2010-03-01T15:26:00.000-08:00

Dear Dr. Pepper, it's over between us, I swear this time, just this last one and then I'm through.

Dear Cadbury Creme Eggs, because you only come out once I year I am much too indulgent of you.

And now, the cutest thing ever for a great moment:

What Says I love You More Than Chocolate.

2010-02-16T11:03:00.001-08:00

I've been thinking lately that I never bake anything anymore, or cook, or read anything, or do any fun projects. Then I remember I'm doing this pretty intense project:

...and then I feel better.

However, I decided I should cook for Valentine's Day, as we decided to stay in this year. Charlie not even being two months, and besides, it's always nuts when you go out, we just decided it would be better. When I'm planning some event or whatever, I just surf then internet for my inspiration - I have a few sites for reciepes and desserts that are my mainstays...and I ran across these Individual Dark-Chocolate Pudding Cakes, from Martha, of course. I decided they looked delish, and they were pretty different for me, and very 'loveish'. :)

For me, they were interesting because you start with a cake like mixture (minus an egg actually) which you spoon into the ramekins, and then you make a topping which is like sugars and cocoa and sprinkle it on the chocolate cake mixture. That seemed normal to me, well maybe except the lack of an egg in the cake mixture. But I'd never done the next step before in anything I've made, you pour 1/4 cup boiling water over top of each filled ramekin and then put in the oven. I was a little skeptical actually, but I did it:

Twenty five minutes later my obedience was rewarded with the cakes looking just like they showed in the picture:

A note from me: The recipe says to serve immediately, topped with vanilla ice cream. This I will tell you is a complete must. A) They are meant to be devoured hot -so awesome. B) They are SO very rich, they must be eaten with something creamy and light, and ice cream is also perfect to cool the heat. So if you make them, don't decide the ice cream is optional!

And another 'PS' - the link is for 6 ramekins - it is very easily halved to be three, which is what I did.

Dang.

2010-02-11T14:20:00.000-08:00

Babies are expensive!!! Watching the bills scatter in kinda takes your breath away... If he weren't so dang cute... I might have to return him. ;) Not wanting to start any arguments here, but I don't even want to KNOW what the uninsured, self employed, most private insurance(which doesn't cover maternity), but making just slightly too much to receive assistance are doing when they have babies... selling their organs? You'd have to be making a H#$% off a lot of money for these bills to not require a loan. A loan to have a baby... that's probably what you have to do. Crazyyyy. I'll just be glad I only have a deductible and 20%, even if that 20% takes my breath away.

(This is what the fog did to our bush out front a couple weeks ago... so cool.)

I typically do not mind winter. I don't moan about how it's gray, or cold, or whatever. I don't start wishing it was spring in January... I don't know, I'm usually just happy to go with the flow with the weather... and if it's cold, I make hot cocoa and stay inside. In fact, you're A LOT more likely to hear me moan about heat - I get mega headaches when it's too hot. However, having a little baby makes me anxious for winter to be over... One, to get out of the dangerous and scary cold and flu season, and two, just so I could get out more with the baby and not be exposing him to the really cold temps.

That is all. :)

A Big Day.

2010-01-28T12:16:00.000-08:00

For our small family today carries a lot of significance. Exactly one (ridiculously short) month ago today Charlie was born. We walked into the hospital, nervous and excited and happy. The moment he was born was one of pure joy and relief and total disbelief. I'm not sure if we still totally believe that he's ours, and that he's here to stay. We're having a lot of fun with him, and he gives us anxiety and stress, and we love him so much.

Exactly two years ago today Leland was born. That day we had been in the hospital a full day since my water broke. John and I and our parents and my sister Emily waited full of fear and anticipation of such a lot of unknowns. Would he live to see us? It was with relief that we heard him cry out, and with joy we spent several precious hours with him, and with pain we let him go. Leland taught us that we are not in control of everything, that this life is a journey for which we're only partially responsible. He taught us to love through pain and sadness and to enjoy what you're given and to make the most of life.

So today is a very big day. A flurry of emotions. Fortunately, mostly joy. I love you all my boys - John, Leland and Charlie. You guys are the best.

The Genetic Lottery

2010-01-26T12:32:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to do this for a very long time, but you know what happens in babyland. One minute it's Monday, the next it's Friday.

Inevitably when people see Charlie or see pictures they say, 'oh he looks just like...' (Mostly this is John.) It's natural, I do it with other kids. John and I of course pulled out the old photo albums to compare and contrast what we looked like at the same age. Seeing if that made it more obvious what traits he might have gotten or not from each of us. So I thought I'd post the pictures all together so you can all see what we saw. Here you go:

Charlie - 2 Weeks Old

Christie

John

Coming Soon...

2010-01-10T10:47:00.001-08:00

Have I mentioned I think my baby is super cute?

I tried to get some nice 'profesh' pics of Charlie... the downside of doing it myself is that I needed a lot more hands. I'd try to place him and he'd squirm and move before I could get the shot. So basically Charlie was in quite the mood before I got anything done and we didn't have much time before he was just plain screaming and completely done with this shoot thing. Then he peed all over everything to just ENSURE that he didn't have to do any more pictures. Maybe I'll pay and go to someone else the next time!!! :) I'll post a few more after I get time to look through and edit but this one stood out as pretty darn cute.

Messing Around This Afternoon

2010-01-03T15:15:00.000-08:00

Day six and we're obsessed with Charlie and also rolling with the punches. :) Charlie got jaundice he can't shake and gets to spend lots of time on a billi-bed, which he HATES. And in all the cruel irony in the world (adding up to the jaundice issue I'm sure), my child doesn't poop. Now I was just JOKING when I told people my kid wouldn't poop... I always wanted you to poop Charlie, you're stressing me out kiddo! Poop, kid, POOP!

This afternoon Charlie fell asleep on the bed with the sun coming through the window, to me, that spelled photo-op. This poor, poor child. :)

For the Grandmas on Missions

2010-01-01T12:18:00.000-08:00

Ignore the baby voice in this video. I don't know why, but it's like impossible to talk normally when you're talking to a cute little baby! :) Grandma in Hungary wants the pics and videos to keep coming, so we're happily obliging. She gets to see Charlie on Skype, but she says the video quality is simply not acceptable. :) So maybe this will help Grandma.

And also, just cuz I'm now one of THOSE moms who think everything their kid does is adorable:

Baby Adventures

2009-12-29T14:08:00.001-08:00

Charlie Thomas Heywood
Born: December 28, 2009
9 lbs, 21 Inches

I may at a later date give a better labor story, but for now I'll just say: It actually went VERY fast, and everyone keeps asking me in amazement if I delivered this guy vaginally.

Because of a lot of stupid red tape and beaurecratic type crap our doctor offered to keep us, by inducement if necessary from going into 2010 with the pregnancy. We were officially due December 31st. We got scheduled for a 'do it or else' date of December the 28th at the hospital. We arrived that morning, got started with pitocin around 10... it wasn't pushing me very quickly. By noon I hadn't changed, and she'd pushed the medicine up 3-4 doses and my pain was still at about a 1, maybe 2 if I stretched it. Then because I was very well efaced (90% before my last check up even) and had been far along (about 4 cm) for weeks, the Dr. showed up and broke my water. Well that is evidently the push my body needed. That happened about 1pm, and by 1:05 pm I was hit with a ton of bricks. Contractions that made my whole body shake with pain, going from a 1 to an 8 on the 'pain scale' over the course of a single contraction. So they quite quickly (but of course no where quickly enough) gave me an epidural (thanks to heaven) and when it started to take the edge off the nurse said, 'maybe I better check you to see how fast you are moving after all that pain'. She did, and she said, 'uh, you're at a 9 1/2, we'll be able to push soon'. No wonder those pains hurt so bad! I was sitting there thinking they were inching me from a 4 to a 5, and thinking, 'how will i survive a 9 to a 10 if I can't handle THIS centimeter! So we pushed, little (big) Charlie was good about not sliding back, so we had him within about an hour! He came out all pink and not gooey at all... weirdest thing ever! :) All I said was, 'woah, he's big'. And it's what i've been saying since!

Cute Crib

2009-12-07T11:43:00.001-08:00

I had to post a picture of my beautiful crib. This crib was actually handmade by my brother in law (John's sister's husband). Cool, no? So I just got the mattress in and bedding washed and in and I thought it was cute and wanted to share.

Also, it pains me to have to explain this, but evidently there are quite a few who have serious concerns for me as far as any parenting skills I may have. So for their peace of mind I will add this: YES I KNOW STUFFED ANIMALS AND PILLOWS SHOULD NOT BE IN A CRIB WITH AN INFANT. They're just place holding people, cuz they're cute. I have read up on SIDS and have educated myself accordingly. You can now go back to wondering if I think it's appropriate to leave my baby unattended outdoors or if I have managed to remain unaware in my 28 years on this planet that babies poop, a lot. Thanks!

A Weekend of Adventures.

2009-12-02T10:30:00.000-08:00

It started Friday night here:

(Camp Chef tailgating with John and Dallon - COLD!)

Then we went here:

(The poor Ags lost, we knew they would, they were playing Boise - but we were proud that they made a decent run at first of making it interesting, having it tied up 14-14 w/ just a few minutes left in the first half. Some silly mistakes and pressure from a good team, and they just couldn't keep it up. GO AGGIES!)

Saturday afternoon I went here:

(My good friend Amie threw me a baby shower. How fat and uncomfortable do I look?)

(Lots of family made quite the drive to come... very sweet!)

(This is me with the present girls... They made a little assembly line.)

(We took lots of pictures for my mom, who is in Hungary. This was her gift for the shower.)

(The little girls were given the camera to take pictures, and so a great deal of the pictures look like this. CUTE!)

Sunday night we finished up here:

(I threw this sweet party including shades and necklaces.)

(Because this little girl turned 21!)

(Because she's so old and her lungs are compromised,
she needed some youthful help with the candles.)

(This was the requested red velvet cake...
although I should have spiked it... all the children
and pregnant ladies... would have been awesome.)

(Happy Birthday Emily!!!)

And then I spent the subsequent week recuperating. :)

Coconut, You Made My Day Complete!

2009-11-30T16:12:00.000-08:00

My birthday this year was pretty low key. Which is shocking if you know me because for the last many years I've all but insisted that my birthday be celebrated in week long format rather than day long. However, this year I didn't have the energy to celebrate for a week so I allowed everyone to take a break, hehe. I did however, get a sweet MyTouch 3g in honor of my b-day, so now when you email me, I can be answering you from the Dr's office, where I always am. Ha.

I also did make a cake. Yes, I make cake for my own birthday. But I honestly don't mind doing it, and the part that is the most fun is I get to choose the treat that I think sounds the very best with no other considerations... That either means coconut, chocolate or both. :)

For this year - Pineapple Coconut Cake via this book. (PS. I purchased that book because there is an entire chapter dedicated to coconut cake.)

The cake has coconut milk in it, the filling is very easy, basically a reduced, thickened and even more 'sugarized' version of a can of crushed pinapple, and the frosting is a cooked pineapple meringue frosting. I've never made a meringue frosting before, I found it was less daunting that it sounded from the instructions, but definitely more complicated than butter cream. Creates kind of a light fluffy result, which I found really cool... but if you LOVE butter cream, it may not be your thing.

Despite what the author of that book would like I'd happily share the recipe, if you're actually interested. :)

Spoiler Alert!

2009-11-12T17:48:00.000-08:00

If for unknown reasons it's very important to you to be completely surprised about what our unborn looks like, you may not want to read on. However, to most of you this will simply look like randomness anyway, so even if you want to you may still have no idea.

This morning John and I went in for a 'growth ultrasound'... the Dr. offered us this service so we could see how things were progressing if we'd like (i.e. you guys have good insurance, wanna rack up the bill for them a bit?.... and yes, we always, always do). It was not due to any indication that anything is wrong - nor was I worried there was, but I just wanted to see him, cuz it's been awhile.

What we learned: The baby has assumed good laboring position (head down), and though he has time to change that, he most likely won't.

Also, according to their calculations, which admittedly have widely varying accuracy, he's just over 5lbs, which is a little bit big, but nothing huge. If it happened their "calculations" were on the nose and he put on the average weight from here to my delivery he'd be in the 8 lb range. So we're not talking anything real big. *Phew* To me he feels huge in there though, so I'm not sure how I'll survive.

And - he's definitely still a boy.

The following image of our baby's face is of their fancy 3-d type... Take from that what you will... they still look a lot like black and gray blobs... I actually thought this one was okay as far as being able to see him - from my experience with these types of pictures anyway. See what you think.

(Baby Heywood - 33 Wks)

Still not able to see him in there?? I have provided some help, which may help you decipher the code and break the mental wall like those pictures where it looks like one thing, but it's really something else - and you can't tell it until someone points it out to you... See if this clears anything up... (it's the same pic, but w/ arrows.)

Other than that, no, we still don't know what we're naming him, even if we decide we probably won't say for sure, so don't bother to ask. Although, tonight at dinner John did suggest the names Cannon and Exxon and Augustus... he was joking... thankfully.

Halloween Observance

2009-11-06T14:00:00.001-08:00

John and I didn't do a lot this year for Halloween... it's not really John's favorite as he does not like scary stuff or dressing up, so all he's left with is candy. Ha. I like having parties, but am too fat to be up for that much either. I did think we should do something however, so we made some cupcakes from my aforementioned book. Had to take a picture, cuz they're all so super cute.

Trippin'

2009-10-31T14:19:00.000-07:00

Ok, and now for a few trip photos and not just long rants exposing how much of an old iritated woman I am.

First of all, as far as pictures go, no they are not THAT beautiful... it's a beautiful place, but it's hot and wet and sandy and we were relaxing so there was no hauling around of the Canon... plus which the Canon desperatley needs to be cleaned. Instead you are subjected to crappy fuji point and shoot pictures... but since no one really loves to see all that many vacation photos of others, somehow i'm sure you'll survive.

This is the beach directly outside (about 30 feet outside)
our room... soooo beautiful. And yes, a Corona commerical
in the making.

John at Smuggler's Cove on our first day. Pretty
Good snorkeling.... ridiculously clear water.

John enjoying a pina colada from a beach
vendor at Smuggler's Cove.

Our 'three' shadows on Cane Garden Bay Beach.

The view on our drive - this is Cane Garden Bay
Beach on Tortola.

Hard to have tension just looking at this pic...

We took a day sail charter and went out to a
couple different islands, did some snorkeling,
saw 'the baths' and hung out on the boat.

Snorkeling by Cooper Island.

From the beach at Cooper Island... our boat is just beyond
that palm leaf.

From the boat looking looking out on Virgin Gorda.

"The Baths" - Virgin Gorda

Going for the water... gotta keep hydrated.

Always the most flattering pic you can take.

Eating some lunch on our balcony... Rough Life.

On our sail...

I'm Back... and a Rant.

2009-10-25T19:45:00.000-07:00

So we're back. Boo! But at least we had a good time and it was so great to get away. I'm sure I'll post pictures and stories soon, although they're nothing to write home about.... I was hardly about to drag my nice camera out into the hot, humid, wet, sandy areas we were in, and there is no art with a point and shoot, haha. (Glad i didn't i totally have sand in my little crap camera's lense.) But we were about reeeelllllaaaxxxinggg...and that's really what it was all about.... mmm. I do also have a few jobs to edit that I must get to quickly, so we'll see when I can deal w/ the vacation photos!

And now I wanted to relay this story, in hopes that perhaps someone can tell me why this type of person annoys me SO bad. It's probably just plain hypocritical for me to be this annoyed... but oh well! :)

Here is the scenario: After a long day of travel and several time zones we are now in baggage claim in SLC. It is midnight essentially. There is a large crowd of people at baggage claim all waiting for the revolving wheels to start turning and bags to start appearing. To our right John and I watch a couple girls hug and squeel, obviously two came to pick up the third. Fairly young - I'd venture a guess at 19-20-21. I must, because it is important later, describe what they look like. One has jeans, tshirt, jacket. Average. One is in basically pajamas. It's late, so acceptable. The third girl is wearing a black 'newsboy cap', a very short black dressish kinda trenchcoat (presumably also a very short black dress underneath... it can't be seen as the trench is tied), a very open weave set of black fishnet tights and shiney black pumps with a heel, probably 3 or 4 inches. Also her hair and make-up is normal/light besides black lipstick. I had only noticed them because of their loud excited greeting and then I went back to standing there in a very tired, dellusional, impatient to get my bag and get the heck out kinda haze.

A few moments later, the girl in the black ensemble, steps into the center of the crowd and announces, 'Hey everyone, my name is --- (don't even remember), it's my friend Kate's birthday today, and I was wondering if you all would help me sing happy birthday to her?!?!' No I don't want to sing happy birthday to your friend, no one even likes to sing happy birthday to their friends and relatives while the candles are burning really. I'm tired, it's been a long day, and I don't care in the slightest about Kate. In fact, truely i'm embarrassed for you right now, and this whole thing is embarrassing me and I'm not even the one talking. She starts and gets a very quiet, mumbled, unenthusiastic version of the requested song from the crowd. Of which I am not appart.

Moments after, as they're standing not too far behind us, I hear the girl who spoke to the crowd say, "Is it because of how I am dressed? People just don't get me here. I should be in London, I would fit in so much better in Europe." (English friends, please don't pee your "pants" at this point.)

I wanted to turn around and say to this poor victimized girl:

A) No it's not because of how you're dressed it's because it's late, we're tired, we don't KNOW Kate and we don't wanna. This isn't exactly a bar or a birthday party or a concert. Why do you even want us to do this?

B) Good luck w/ the Europe thing, clearly you've never been as from my experience, especially in England, loud, pushy Americans who make loud, pushy annoyingly public scenes are everything they hate in life. So you should fit in grrrrrreeeeaaaaatttt. Move imediately.

C) Why do people work so hard at being a big victim in life? Poor misunderstood rebels. Particularly those who can't pull it off. Girl, you're young, white, probably middle class and probably still have white, middle class parents who still pay some/all of your average bills - Have tragicly looking hookerish clothes and black lipstick all you want - you're still not a hip, misunderstood artist. No one is buying what you're trying to sell, it's all been done before. Grow up.

Am I jerk or what? I am, I know. Why does this girl and other girls exactly like her bother me so bad? Someone figure it out for me, and let me know.

I Wanna Be A Supermodel...Well Actually Not.

2009-10-08T11:53:00.000-07:00

So in college John took a couple digital photography classes, as required by his major. Well for anyone who hasn't taken these classes, in general you have themes, and you're not just taking random snap shots of whatever you wanna take pictures of. So it becomes a kind of production, finding the stuff he needs, and then usually you need a model or models, and they're not just coming to take simple portraits. Therefore, models are hard to coax, hard to find, hard to direct.

So it won't come as a surprise for me to say I became a model more than once. Well, after doing a head shot for a 'white background' shot for John where I was channeling my sexy, John made the mistake of telling me his photography teacher had commented I 'looked uncomfortable and frizzy'. Thus effectively ending my modeling career.

On occasion at John's job he now puts together 'lifestyle' shots for products they make and sell. I have agreed many a time to help, as props mistress, as director's assistant, but held firm on my decision to not debut in FRONT of the camera again. So I was a tad nervous when John said he needed to quickly pull together a shot for a product they have helped develop for another small company, an outdoor movie screen. One, because he planned to just bring it home - and we now live in Brigham where we don't know people who we can drag over into the photo. There are John's parents... pretty much that's it. So then this ended up becoming the approximate conversation:

John: Well I can put it on a tripod and then we can get in the pic with my parents.
Me: We?
John: Well, it really just has to be the back of your head.
Me: I don't model.
John: Come on, it's really mostly screen, I just need the back of your head.
Me: JUST the back of my head?
John: Yes.
Me: Not my massiveness or frizzyness or uncomfortableness?
John: Just the back of your head.
Me: Ummmm.....

So of course I got talked into it... but I decided it would be fine. Just the back of my head, and I could just be all wrapped up in a blanket. No weird facials, no seeing tummy.

Last night, we get everything set up, but, something in this picture is a little off my original ideas. See if you can tell what...

Yikes!

2009-09-30T13:12:00.000-07:00

Guys, if we're going to get to go here:

Our passports have to get the heck here in the next two weeks!!!! I'm getting nervous! Somebody who is owed a favor from above please get praying on our behalf's.

M is for Martha

2009-09-29T11:18:00.001-07:00

Earlier this month for my mother-in-law's birthday I made these Boston Creme Pie cupcakes:

From this book which my husband bought me a few weeks earlier.

They were pretty good. Probably even better second day, after custard had some time to really blend and sit in the sponge cake. For people who enjoy cupcakes, baking, and/or want fun cupcake decorating ideas, this one would be great. They are not necessarily 'simple' though, so don't go in with that idea! Just cute & fun if you're into it.

I haven't made a lot of the recipes, but looking through the book it has a whole section just on birthday and holiday decorating ideas that are SO dang cute. One day, when I have a reason, I WILL be trying the ladybug cupcakes - they're adorable. I also may have to try some of the monster cupcakes for the end of October.

Excuse the Poor Photographic Evidence.

2009-09-21T10:58:00.000-07:00

I know I shouldn't post gross pics taken in a hurry with my bad little point and shoot, especially when then I turn around and take pictures for other peeps. But I promise, I never bring the fuji when I come to a job! :) Plus John usually takes these pictures from his sitting position on the couch, so they're all sorts of artistic and creative (sarcasm). Personally I love the double chins I end up with.

These particular pictures are to be aghast at just how pregnant I look this time around! Everyone tells you that this happens, but it's hard to picture. Granted I started the whole pregnancy a lot heavier this time... I know, bad right? But still, because of being sick, and already being big, I'd only gained like 6 lbs in the pic you will see of my current pregnancy. So it actually came as a shock to me when I realized just how convex I was getting so fast!!!

As proof, not just whining, I will show you - Exhibit A:

37 Weeks Pregnant
Up 30 lbs.
Went into labor a week later.

And as contrast, Exhibit B:

24 Weeks Pregnant
Up 6 lbs.
Approx. 14-16 weeks till labor.

Now, admittedly, my first baby was pretty little... But this is just crazy! If I continued a steady rate from here, I'll look like one of those women that defy gravity. Oh how a would shudder to hear the annoying, 'is it twins?' questions.... not good peeps, not good.

Peach Days

2009-09-15T16:51:00.000-07:00

Maybe I don't totally understand Peach Days, having not been born and raised in Brigham City. But it's an odd sort of event if you ask me. And there don't seem to be a lot of peaches actually involved, which is odd also. I also wanted a churro, and I didn't get one. So maybe that increases my disapointment.

It was however a nice enough opportunity to get together with some of John's old high school friends and their wives, and see darth vadar and 'chewie' in the parade...which John thought was awesome.

A Love Story.

2009-09-08T16:17:00.001-07:00

I love you dear peach. You make my life complete.

(The measuring cup is there to give you a little size
comparison, these peaches were monsters! That's
a full cup, and they dwarf it. Softballs.)

A Few Things.

2009-08-24T14:01:00.001-07:00

I've been doing a lot of shoots and when I'm not shooting, photo editing lately, mostly for a lot of September weddings. Also we moved from Logan to Brigham where we will be house sitting for my in-laws as they get ready and leave for the Czech Republic! The move isn't totally traumatic as we've long since had most of our stuff in storage... which in many ways still made it completely insane how much stuff we still have! Fortunately there wasn't any furniture involved, which is good, since lifting is frowned upon in my current state. Still, as a consequence for all these things, I haven't updated my 'doings' on my blog.

So I'm going to do an update, starting with the MOST recent:

Last weekend I had 2 shoots that both happened to be in Bear Lake. One Friday and one Saturday. So I decided that it would be dumb to come and go and come and go. So with our friends the Hansen's we took off on Friday, they dropped me off at my first shoot and I met them up by Bloomington Lake for some camping. The next morning we got up and went to the lake, and I went to shoot my wedding for a couple hours, then met back up at the beach.

I think everyone else had fun... it was a bit hectic for me all in all!

(Lovely self portraits taken in Bear Lake - never very flattering to do
the one handed photo. Oh, and PS, i'm in my glasses because
evidently my eyes are inflamed and i've been ordered out
of my contacts for two weeks while I put in a myriad of drops.
Glasses and beaches are a stupid combo.)

My parents left on their mission! They left about two weeks ago on a Monday morning to officially fly to Budapest, Hungary... There's been a few updates so far, but you can find their blog from mine for a few details...

(This is their ACTUAL departure to the airport... They were generously
donating this car to a couple from my dad's old married
student ward who now live in Bountiful, so they were driving
off on their own.)

Because of my parents busy retiree schedule, they had to do some unconventional things during their departure for their mission... They left for the MTC on Monday, August 3rd, and were there through friday evening. They were not able to find a Sunday to speak before they left, so they got scheduled to speak on August 9th, after the MTC, and then would fly out on August 10th. My mom was saying that we'd have to figure something out for like food for the family and friends who came to see them talk, but let's face it, she had no time. So I told her to not worry and I'd handle it. HA! I have never planned food for 35-40 people... I told people who asked not to bother bringing things because I worried it would be too hard for the relatives coming from a distance the morning of, and also I worried that I wouldn't know WHAT to plan on as far as what people would make and how much food I'd end up with or not end up with. And I'm a worrier! I had my sister-in-law who lives in a town, and a friend bake cookies like mad women for me, and the night before I had all my siblings and my cousin in my mom's kitchen, chopping, washing, and bagging all sorts of things like my little minnions. All this leads me to believe... mormons be crazy.

(Those sugar cookies are stars decorated like the Hungarian flags!
Cute, huh? My sister Emily and I made them the day before.)

My mom turned 60! This also happend to happen the day before my parents spoke in church, so much of her birthday was spent in the kitchen baking muffins and overseeing my aforementioned minnions. However, my brother Andrew tried out his domestic side and he and his roomate/our cousin David made a strawberry rhubarb pie which we used as a birthday cake. We were all duly impressed with their pie making abilities! Go boys!

John had to take some pictures of a new product for Camp Chef, so with the Chef picking up the tab for some food suitable to go on the product, we headed up Green Canyon to take the pics and asked our friends the Hansen's if they didn't want to come along and help us eat the food once it came off the grill from the photos. We picked a spot based on the optimal level of cloud cover, however, didn't take into account how dusty it was! Their son is just 2, and was the funniest thing ever after a few hours up there!!!

(This seriously doesn't even do justice to how dirty this kid got!!! HA!!!)

AND, I think we're caught up now, haha. For all those that stayed tuned in to this massive post, congrats... I would give you a cookie, but I'm all baked out.

Ah Oh!

2009-08-05T15:17:00.001-07:00

So Holly and Brent are moving in to my parents house during their absence, and while we were all gathered around this last weekend at the house, Caden learned a trick!!!

Holly, in the future eighteen months if you're looking for Caden and can't find him, I have a suggestion for where to look.

Sad.

2009-08-04T10:32:00.000-07:00

While discussing health care, which I just admittedly should not do, because people get too combative, and then it scares me, haha, I used an example from my life of having middle of the road insurance that would not pay for a suggested amnio for my last pregnancy. The bill I paid in cash was astronomical at best. I was told point blank after that, 'that was because amnios are completely unnecessary'. It made me cry. Honestly cry.

Sometimes people act like the worst thing an amnio can tell you is that your child has Down's Syndrome. That people who get an amnio just want to know the sex of their baby for sure, or get 'screened positive' for Downs and freak out and go endangering the life of a child (the risk is actually much smaller than most people realize) who will just have 'some special needs' and nothing immediately life threatening for their own selfish reasons. Or that only bad people who are considering termination get them because they don't want babies who are in any way unhealthy.

When people say that, I think what my three hours with Leland would have been like had we not known - had he been rushed off to the NICU to try to figure out what was wrong with him after his birth. What if I had not held him in my arms, or he was in the arms of my family for every minute of his too short life? What if he was being tested and prodded away from me and I didn't get to hear every one of his cute birdlike cries? What if he died while I wasn't there? The very thought hurts my heart so much that the statement made me fully cry just thinking about that agony.

I'm not trying to start anything, I just had to say this and think about my son a minute, and say maybe to someone else who finds out the hard way that Down's isn't the worst genetic condition out there, that you're not a bad person for wanting to KNOW what to do for your child - don't let people condemn your decision as unessesary or selfish. Hopefully they will get the blissful unaware of a life never having to understand.

Boating.

2009-07-28T15:16:00.000-07:00

John and I have often thought of buying a boat. We think it's a lot of fun. However, we also know what an incredible money suck they can be. So it's always fun to have a friend or friend who have bit the bullet! We went out to Newton Dam the other day for some fun in the water with our friends the Hansons. Well, there wasn't a lot I could do, aside from hang out, which IS fun. I didn't think wakeboarding seemed like the best idea. Unfortunately.

We haven't been in probably 2 years... so we didn't know how it would go...

So John strapped in...

And things went pretty well...

Till they didn't...

I got VERY hot in the boat... so since I
basically can't do anything remotely dangerous,
we were just going to have a very slow pull behind
the boat to cool off.

It was intensely hard to get two, too big adults
on one small tube, but it was funny anyway.

It also doesn't work very well to get pulled at such
slow speeds, as the poor tube can't really make it up out
of the water!!! Ha!

Then you should have seen us when we fell off (mind you
we didn't fall off from riding at any high speed,
but just because the balance was impossible, ha) trying to
get back on! Well John was fine, but how do you
get back on a tube, down in the water without throwing
your belly up onto the tube first?!

Poor tired boy!

Happy Birthday Hubby!!!

2009-07-18T15:31:00.001-07:00

My most favorite-est person ever
is now 27! Happy Birthday Honey! I love you!

I like the next four months for one very important reason. For the next four months John and I are the same age, and I'm not 'the older woman'. :)

Probably it wasn't the best year for me to be making food for a crowd, because to me, everything sounds disgusting and tastes like ash. Oh well! John seemed to enjoy it, and that was the point. We got the idea to have a 'pool party' earlier in the month, just joking around. Since we neither have a pool, or wanted to go to one it didn't seem likely to happen, but it WAS really hot. So we went ahead and improvised.

The kids did not need to be told twice, they were ready and willing to jump in the water. It took Kyla about 30 seconds after arriving.

We bought some awesome painters plastic, really long and put it on a slight incline. Very fun (well so I hear, I was informed that I was much too prego for slip and slides).

Emily pushed Caden down the slide, he seemed to enjoy it alright.

Kyla was a slip an' slidin maniac. She was just going and going
and going. I love her face in this. You can see how seriously she
takes her slidin', she's got her game face on.

The less slippery crowd. And me, I'm slaving away with the cups.

After a hard days work slidin' John takes a soak in the
whale slide tub. Vance seems to think he should get out,
that he's hogging all the space.

The chow line.

The hungry, hot, masses.

The kids table was a hit. Guess we need a bigger kids table!

Happy Birthday little JOHHHHNNNNNYYYYYY!!!!

Two of the three dessert options. That creamy strawberry
pie was a first try - something printed off the internet ages ago,
and it was fortunately very delightful. Perfect for summer.

Getting Away

2009-07-09T13:01:00.000-07:00

I love vacations! I always wondered how you became one of those people that basically traveled for a living. In fact I'm still wondering.

We left Friday with our friends the Hansens for Jackson Hole, and actually camped by Gray's river near Alpine that night as our condo didn't become available till Saturday but we all wanted to get away.

(Near our Gray's River camp site.)

Saturday we headed in to Jackson. We did some hiking and some really traditional stuff... John has been to Jackson, but he was quite young and he'd never been up to our condo, so we did a lot of stuff I've done before and enjoyed. We took the tram in Teton Village and canoed the String Lakes and hiked to Hidden Falls.

Thunder Stolen, But It's Alright...

2009-06-26T14:09:00.000-07:00

Well, I haven't been blogging, but I haven't been doing much but puking, so perhaps you can all forgive me... For some reason, this guy:

Doesn't like it when I'm on the computer. Talk about hard to get your photo editing done!!! When you do like 2 a day you don't get much of anywhere fast.

Fortunately the fog does seem to be lifting a little. I was feeling pretty good, then I've had a few rough days of trouble keeping stuff down. I don't appreciate it, I can tell you that much.

So okay, yes, hopefully you have surmised that I am pregnant. Otherwise we need to have a discussion I guess, not that you'd understand anything I said. ;)

I am 13 weeks and 1 day, shortly to leave the good ole first trimester behind me for good! Due to my history, I had a first trimester screening that they don't typically do. It comprised of a nuchal translucency scan, done with an ultrasound where they measure fluid at the back of the babies neck (they have found most chromosomaly abnormal children have more fluid back there then a 'normal' baby), and some blood work. This testing can't give you any definite answers, the only testing that can give you surety is an amnio, but this testing carries no risk aside from a posibility of false positives or negatives, but an amnio does carry a very small amount of risk. So we chose to do this screening, combine it with the regular second trimester quad screen, and they have shown a 95% detection rate for chromosonal problems if they exsist. If they were to show worry that there were further problems we would opt for the amnio at that point.

After my first round of blood work and the ultrasound I'm very happy to say that the baby's 'neck meat' is extremely average, not thick, and overal they gave me the clearance of 'negative'.... in this case, negative being a VERY GOOD THING. Yay! I told the genetisist that this was the first time someone called me during pregnancy and gave me good news!

Our due date is December 31st, so looks like we could have the New Years baby, haha. Poor kid. I hate that he's due smack dab in the middle of the holidays, but what can you do? We'll just have to celebrate half-birthdays I guess. I say my thunder is a little stolen, because I know 3 women (besides myself) due between Christmas and New Years - evidently April was a good time! ;)

Maybe now that I'm moving and shaking a little more I'll get up pics from my trip to California, and some other things. Maybe.

What the?

2009-06-19T13:22:00.000-07:00

I really should post SOMETHING on here.... Tomorrow maybe.

Okay, Okay, I'm finally accomplishing things.

2009-05-21T22:09:00.000-07:00

Ok, as promised, I have moved my photography to a photography only blog. Please feel free to link me on your blogs.... any traffic I can get is good traffic!

http://christieheywoodphotography.com/blog/

My next project is to get the website updated and linked to this blog.

Also I have pics from California, but I can't deal with them because I've got to get my last wedding done before my wedding this weekend. I'm not complaining... I wanted to work, and I am.

After that I sure will try to update my silly winter header. Haha.

Re: All the photo posts.

2009-04-28T18:25:00.000-07:00

So my husband is helping me oh so kindly make a professional blog to be linked with my actual website. So this little bloggy will go back to being personal ramblings of the random kind. I also one day may update my snowy looking header. But that's debatable. We'll see....

Some photos to update the world on ... things... but not you 'less than savory' characters.... For the ones who stalk people on their blogs to do heaven knows what once you find us on blogspot... I won't give you my address, I WON'T, so don't even ask. And for the pervs who see me at Albertson's or Walmart or Smith's... well I don't know what I'll do then, cuz that seems a heck of a lot worse than you looking at our family photos. Then i'll have to... think of a new plan.

For Easter, my Sister-in-Law Holly and I sent 'our kids' on easter egg hunts at Grandma's house. For the little kids, we hid small eggs in trees...
For the bigger kids we hid eggs in even bigger trees...

(Seriouly John is at the top of like a 12 foot ladder
in this pic. Holly and I drug that ladder over, hid an egg as far up this
tree as we could reach, and then of course moved the ladder far away
from the tree for the actual hunt to give nothing away!
haha... THAT'S hiding skill.
When he finally found the egg
he said, 'how the crap am I supposed to get that?!')

And then because I'm totally the proud parent, I have to show this very cute picture of my husband in front of a BIG ad he designed for Camp Chef/IFA...

Ahh, he looks so widdle.... :)

Adventures in Location Photography

2009-03-31T18:13:00.001-07:00

(Pics of this wedding to come.)

Since I was shooting in Hurricane last weekend John and I decided it was a wonderful opportunity to head south to St. George and get away. We had so much fun and the wedding was lovely. We hit all our favorite restaurants - haha- a little too much emphasis on food I think, but that's us...

We hit up a great hibatchi, Samurai 21... It was excellent....

Slept a lot at our hotel...

And I got to run into some of my favorite people at the wedding...

The weather was phenomenal. We swam in the pool and laid in the sun...

Then on our way home, by the time we hit Fillmore, it looked like this....

Bummer of a way to end the trip, but it made us thankful we got a few days away!

CD Artwork

2009-03-24T15:24:00.000-07:00

Since I don't do printing, and since I like graphic design, I've been playing with different CD cover designs for when I give my clients their prints... It's been fun! So since I haven't posted in a couple days... Just to show you what I've been up to in my absence... Ta daaaaah!

Valentines, Birthdays, Etc.

2009-02-23T18:33:00.000-08:00

I waited as I wanted to post a lovely valentines note to my hubby with pictures of us over the last 5+ years. However, all my pictures are STILL in storage, and It's just not going to happen. But I will say, John, I love your stinkin' guts, you're the cutest thing ever!

For valentine's day we decided to NOT face the crowds, however we did decide to have an extravagant meal that cost us probably as much as had we decided to go some place very fancy. I chose a meal plan from foodnetwork.com, and those chef's know how to choose 'pricey' ingredients. The meal was lovely, a lobster parfait salad with palm hearts, followed by thyme crusted rack of lamb, hamblin potatoes, fresh green beans with a splash of lemon and pine nuts, all followed by chocolate fondue. Yeah, it took me two plus hours, but it was fun and we didn't have a crowd!

We've been going to a lot of USU games lately. I'm not sure it's good for my blood pressure. I get so nervous and overly anxious. I don't even know why! What does it matter to me?

Saturday was Caden's birthday, check out as the whole candle/singing thing went off below. It's crazy how he seems like an old pro at this birthday thing, even though he'd only had one prior birthday. Caden definitely knew the drill. Between Holly and Brent's families though, I guess it's no surprise, he's probably seen hundreds of birthday parties in his very short life! So funny!

Next month I'm going to be shooting my friend Tiffany's wedding. I'm super excited and it should be a very fun day. Also, I have two job interviews tomorrow, ha, so cross your fingers!

So there's an update on me, even though you didn't ask, Peace Out!

A Model Perhaps?

2009-02-16T20:46:00.001-08:00

This kid cracks me up. This is the face she made when she asked to have her picture taken.

I was snapping a real quick portrait of my parents together. They are supposed to have this picture to turn in with their mission papers. Well Kyla wanted to be in the picture too! She really loves having her picture taken, then looking on the camera to see what happened. So of course that doesn't really work for their portrait, but I promised we'd take some of her in a minute. So later as promised, I'm trying to give Kyla some camera time, instead of just saying 'cheese' she's giving me all these different facials, and these faux serious expressions, and acting all casual. It was making me laugh, and I decided she's got a career in modeling with all these different 'looks'.
Keepin' it fresh.

Everyone Please Anxiously Await...

2009-02-09T22:13:00.000-08:00

... The arrival of my new photography website.
Yep, this is for reals people.

(Real, and driving my husband crazy because he doesn't
have to do this coding crap anymore and quickly forgot how!)

Tales of Awesomeness

2009-02-03T10:54:00.000-08:00

This was my husband last night as he watched his favorite TV show, Chuck. See him all ready: TV viewing blankie, check; 3D glasses, double check; remote in hand; double-double check. I thought it was so cute and funny, that I had to take this picture.

If any of you went to Disneyland and saw that Michael Jackson 3D animation when you were a little kid or big I guess, and also saw the Chuck last night or Monsters Vs. Alien's preview during the super bowl, can you solve something for me... Was that show at Disneyland better, or was I just more impressed when I was little? I have the memory of the stuff coming straight at me when I was a kid, and having to remove my glasses to understand that it wasn't. This was more like trying to get my eyes to relax to see slightly raised images on the screen. Like one of those 'Magic Eye' Puzzles.

So if after that rant, if anyone's at all in doubt of my nerdiness, I've prepared a list. I've seen people on a lot of blogs with their guilty-pleasures, I'm for you making a short list (although in reality I know it could be quite long) of why I've realized I'm a total nerd.

#1. I took this picture after I managed to eek out John in a Mario Kart because I was SO stoked. (We actually got the same amount of points, but I won the all important race, the last one!) ((Christie is Peach, John is Yoshi.))

#2. I am SO out of date with things, someone said something about 'Rhianna' the other day, and made reference to what I guess is some super famous song by her, and I had to admit, I really didn't know who Rhianna was.

#3. If I'm watching TV, I'm probably watching HGTV or Food Network. (When did I get so OLD.)

#4. I constantly find myself having to ask cooler people, "Aren't those furry boots out of fashion yet?" Because I have no IDEA what's fashionable or 'in'.

#5. I watch my series of Friends (yes, this is probably when I got off the train) over and over again and I feel like I know the people in it, and miss them.

#6. I have a carrying case that is a lunch box that I went to about 10 stores to find, to put my Nintendo DS into. It is like a seriously prized possession.

#7. I bought new jeans the other day. I figured I should because of the two pair I had, one has a large hole in the inner thigh, and the other doesn't have a top button anymore. I guess the amount of clothes shopping I do probably contributed to #4. And it's not just about saving money. I really don't like it and don't know what looks good on me. I'm ridiculously inept at dressing myself.

#8. I spend a great deal of time fantasizing about what I'd do if I won the lottery. But I probably wouldn't even play. I took a statistics class in college, and between that and my obsession with knowing the odds of things happening (ask the friends I play poker with, they get pissed because I don't just 'play' I really analyze my choices and options and my hand, I rarely bluff, I count on knowing my hand strength and won't usually go in if it's not good... haha... They claim I always 'just fold'.) So hence, I'm too practical usually, and I just couldn't waste my money on the lotto, but I do know just how I'd spend it if I did, quite practically of course (but maybe I'd even spring for a second pair of unblemished jeans).

So there you go! There's 100 more, but I think I've lost enough friends on this post, ha!

Double Chocolate Malt Shoppe Cupcakes with a Cherry-Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

2009-01-29T11:52:00.000-08:00

Delicious!

John & I were watching the "Ultimate Recipe Showdown" on the Food Network (we watch this too much, we're nerds) and this was the winning recipe for the cake portion. We were making cupcakes for Leland's birthday so we decided to check these out. They were very good! Especially good is that buttercream. I don't always love buttercreams, but this one had a lot of flavor and was a fun compliment to the chocolate. So if you're looking for a fun cupcake...there you go!

For cupcakes:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour *I used cake flour, I like the lightness of it better.*
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup whole milk
2/3 cup malted milk powder (recommended: Carnation brand) *look by hot cocoa*
2/3 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup miniature chocolate chips

For buttercream:

4 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 to 4 tablespoons whipping cream
2/3 cup tart cherry preserves *look by jams/jellys/etc*
Malted milk balls or maraschino cherries, for garnish

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 regular 12-cup cupcake tins with paper liners.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Whisk until well blended.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk, malted milk powder, and espresso powder. Add the canola oil and eggs; whisk to blend. Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and beat until smooth. Add the sour cream and vanilla and beat until well combined. Stir in the miniature chocolate chips.

Divide the batter among the prepared cupcake tins, filling only halfway full. Bake the cupcakes for 15 to 17 minutes, until they spring back when touched and a toothpick inserted into the center emerges clean.

While the cupcakes bake, prepare the buttercream. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together the sugar and the butter on medium-low speed until well blended. Add the vanilla and whipping cream and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes, until light, spreadable and fluffy. Beat in the cherry preserves until well incorporated.

When the cupcakes have finished baking, let sit in the pans for 2 minutes and then transfer the cupcakes to wire racks to cool for 10 minutes more.

While the cupcakes cool, transfer the buttercream to a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip. Alternatively, you can frost the cupcakes with a knife or offset spatula. When the cupcakes have cooled, pipe the buttercream in decorative swirls on top of the cupcake (or swirl with a spatula). Garnish the top of each cupcake with a malted milk ball or cherry and serve.

A Birthday Par-tay!

2009-01-29T11:44:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Leland!

2009-01-28T08:00:00.000-08:00

Dear Leland,

Happy Birthday! It was exactly one year ago today at 12:15 a.m. that you were born and changed mom and dad's life forever. Of course we rather wish you were here with us celebrating your birthday, but we're glad you're not suffering with T18 anymore. It's nice to have an angel that you know is all yours and no one else's. The other day we watched the video of when we were in the hospital together. When we watched the part where they weighed you, Mommy felt bad that we made you strip down to be weighed since you had no fat layer whatsoever, she felt like she was a mean mommy making you so cold when she herself hates being cold! But you were super cute, screaming at the top of your lungs, but sounding like a cute little birdie cry anyway. We are so happy you made it through your delivery, wow, what an amazing experience that too many T-18 mothers never have. Do you know how many T-18 pregnancies end before the mommies and daddies get to meet their babies? 50%! How strong you are, and how grateful we are to you for being such a little fighter. I'm sure it would have been easier on you to give up from all you were dealing with, but we appreciate it so much. Meeting you in this life was something we loved, and we'll never forget.

It's hard when we think we might have been throwing you your first birthday party, but instead we're only deciding how to remember you.
Sometimes it's hard when people take their own healthy children for granted, and for that matter, to see people assume pregnancy is something that always goes off as planned - but it's even harder when we hear about other mommies who found out the hard way that it's not always the case. Mommy's heart breaks for them too, because we know how it feels.
It's hard when people obviously try hard not to bring up your name, and assume we don't want to discuss you. I think sometimes people think they need to walk on egg shells around us, like maybe we'll explode into some emotional scene they can't handle if they touch on anything too sensitive.
Sometimes it's hard when people assume the answer to our problems is having a new baby, that we'll be okay once we move on. But Leland, mommy and daddy know that you can't be replaced.
It's also hard when people callously assume we should be over it by now. We will never be over you baby - You are not something we plan to recover from.

I think mommy and daddy are doing really well, and who knows? Maybe we have you to thank for that, maybe you're up there watching our backs! We are happy and healthy and when we think of you, we smile and sometimes laugh. (Once you had hiccups before you were born and daddy accused mommy of 'making' her stomach twitch, because it woke him up and he was being irrational. We laughed about it a lot later.)

So again son, have a happy birthday. Eat more than you should, be self indulgent in your attitude, behavior and with your time. Tell everyone you meet that it's your birthday as if it's an explanation and not a statement, and simply enjoy it to the fullest extent. You only turn 1 once, that's what everyone will tell you - I don't fully grasp that, but I hold that even if it's not true, heck, it's an excuse for going to excesses... and I like that. And, I heard this on a TV show when I was little, and I hope it's not too late for you to use this advice, but it was on "Random Thoughts" - If you're given a choice between regular heaven and pie heave, choose pie heaven... hey, it might be a trick, but if it's not, yay pie!

WE LOVE YOU!!!
MOMMY & DADDY

Tag.

2009-01-20T13:29:00.000-08:00

I was making dinner the other night when I realized the lights streaming into the house were incredible.
I went out to my parents porch to find this most beautiful sunset and
just had to run and grab the camera.

And now on to the tag from Kaja...

Five Names You Go By:

1. Christie

2. Chris

3. Sis

4. Punkin

5. Crispie

Three Things You Are Wearing Right Now:

1. Hoodie

2. Running Shoes

3. Heywood Family Reunion T-Shirt (Yes, I'm about to jog, GASP!)

Two Things You Want Very Badly At The Moment:

1. A Job

2. A Little Debbie's Marshmallow Star thingy....

Two People Who Will Probably Fill This Out:

1. They have.

2. They don't care.

Two Things You Did Last Night:

1. Went to Walmart.

2. Watched "The Rocker" at Reed's.

Two Things You Ate Today:

1. Fiber One -Oats and Caramel

2. Peaches and Cottage Cheese

Two People You Last Talked To On The Phone:

1. Some lady I was hoping would give me a job.... (She didn't).

2. The nurse from the endocrinologists office. (I'm more hypo than we thought evidently.)

Two Things You Are Going To Do Tomorrow:

1. Run again.

2. What is tomorrow? Wednesday? Uh, hang out w/ John!

Two Of Your Favorite Beverages:

1. Dr. Pepper (off limits as I get extremely addicted.)

2. Hot Chocolate w/ hazelnut coffemate.

All Quiet on the Western Front

2009-01-16T16:59:00.001-08:00

This little monkey...

And this little monkey...

...Had been staying with Grandma, thus upstairs from where we're living, for the last 10 days or so. Well now it's quiter, sure, but they sure can be entertaining in their terror. For example: I was holding Caden and he grabbed my face between his two little chubby hands, pulled my face right next to his so we're nose to nose. I'm thinking this is so cute, he's going to give me a little kiss, and this is rare cuz he's usually too busy for this sort of thing. So we're sitting there in this tender moment, eyeball to eyeball... then he oinks in my face and squirms his way out of my arms. Oh well...

Shiver Me Timbers!

2009-01-14T13:32:00.001-08:00

A Pirate walks into a bar...

Bartender: "Excuse me sir, but is that a steering wheel down your pants?"
Pirate: "Arrrrrr, it's driving me nuts!

Happy 23rd Birthday Andrew... I mean, matey.

Driftwood Manor Reunion

2009-01-05T13:04:00.000-08:00

First, a little self indulgent explanation: "Driftwood" is a house in down town Logan, and basically a group of people who are very important to myself and John as a couple for the reasons I will outline. As our friend Dallon (tan beanie below) points out frequently and in jest, 'he's the reason John and I are married'. And while it's sort of a joke, it IS also actually a factor. (Good thing he doesn't read blogs, I don't want it going to his head. - Dallon was the person who first decided their should be a Driftwood, and compiled and harrassed a random group of his friends, some from good ole BEHS, some from the mish, etc, to come live with him in the sweet mess of a house.)

A few of you know how I met John - the short story is 'through friends'... these friend. The just slightly longer version is that I ended up hanging out with some girls from work, who took me to a party, at a house where I found out I actually also worked with a bunch of the guys who lived there and were throwing it. About 3 toilet paperings later we somehow started hanging out with these same guys regularly... (T.P., the true way to guys hearts). Well if you think you've figured it out, no, John didn't live there at the time. He lived in Cedar City. In fact, by the first time I met John I'd been hanging around "Driftwood" for probably 6+ months. I met John at Driftwood at a New Year's Eve party, but I really don't think we spoke, and the next day we all went snowboarding, and we only very briefly spoke then. By March of the next year Tree (blonde, blue coat below) and I were considered 'honorary residents' because we hung out so much.

That's why we got invited on spring break trip '04 with
3 of the guys who currently lived at Driftwood, and
1 friend
2 of them had from High School they were picking up, living in Cedar City... John.
Sparks flew...yada yada :) ...

John moved to "Driftwood" for a summer
1 1/2 months later and we started dating,
5 years later we've been married
4 and had
1 child.

Sadly the last remnants of the people we knew from Driftwood have moved out, many have moved away, but a couple of the guys have planned holiday-ish parties/reunions the last few years. A few of these people we still see regularly, some not so much anymore, and some moved in after John and I moved away - but the party was a lot of fun. Thanks for hosting Reed!

The people who aren't losers, and could make it.

We played a game called 'Dirty Minds' - some good reactions.

Reed's white elephant loot.

BFF's.

Torturing Dallon... a Driftwood classic.

Cutest Thing Ever

2008-12-28T16:30:00.000-08:00

...And I'm not even that big on dogs.

Snow Adventures

2008-12-20T22:39:00.000-08:00

This is our video of today's snow fun day! It was a BLAST!

P.S. If you're wondering why we're in jeans, it's because we have no snow clothes, everything we're wearing we scrounged up in the parents closets. Ha.

Keeping Busy

2008-12-14T11:51:00.000-08:00

This being unemployed is hard work. Ha. At any rate, I've been figuring out how to keep myself busy. For the last few years I've made plates of treats for Christmas presents for friends, and this year with more time on my hands than usual I got a little more extravagant with different types of cookies... once you start...

John and I also did pictures for a family and I'm sure I'll be posting those pics soon, it started out as quite the adventure... going out into the worst storm we've seen all year. I was pessimistic, due to the weather conditions and if we could get any good shots, and of course John was nothing but optimistic - as usual, he was right. (Hate that.)

I actually got called for a second interview at a job I'd be interested in, however, I'm not getting my hopes up. I've had second interviews before...

Today we're dodging our responsibilities and cuddling up in the house. It's too cold out there!