I am in no mood to be productive today. It's a blah day - where I don't want to get anything accomplished. Baby Girl has spoiled me with sleep! She's been in the habit of sleeping until 7ish every morning, so when I heard her at 6:00 a.m. I moaned and rolled back over, hoping she would fall back asleep. Morgan, who was already awake and getting ready for work, went and rescued her. By rescuing, I mean, getting her from her crib so she'll stop fussing, and bring her into my room and lay her in bed with me, then he goes and continues getting ready for work. So, now I'm awake, and pull myself out of bed so I can feed Baby Girl at about 6:22 a.m. After her morning feeding, she usually goes right back to sleep for another nap - which is wonderful. This allows me to eat breakfast and take a shower. After about a 45 minute nap, she's up again. I feed her rice cereal for breakfast. Then I throw her into the bathtub. Afterwards, another feeding, and another slightly longer nap (about an hour this time). I know that nap time is the only time I have to get things done, and instead of being productive, I curl up on the couch and read my book. I think about the pile of dirty dishes in my kitchen sink that need to be washed, but I don't care enough to stop reading and get up to wash them.

Before I know it, Baby Girl is awake again. We play on the floor for a little while. Baby Girl is getting a lot more wiggly. I think she's getting slightly frustrated because she wants to be mobile, but she can't quite figure it out. When she's on her back, she arches her back and pushes her bum up with her legs. That doesn't really get her anywhere. I've tried (several times) to show her how to roll from her back to her tummy, but she's not interested in that. I try to encourage her to do the army crawl, but she gives up too easily and rolls from her tummy to her back. Meanwhile, I am enjoying my time with an immobile child, because I know its only a matter of days before she'll figure it out and be on the move.

Now it was lunch time. I tried everything I could imagine to get Baby Girl to open her mouth to allow a small spoonful of green goo to enter her mouth. She's not a dumb child, I wouldn't eat that stuff either. I tried everything from singing songs, the airplane swoop approach, and I even pretended to eat it to show her yummy it was. I think she could tell I was just pretending, because it didn't work. It's like she knew, somehow, that if I had a mouthful of that green stuff, I wouldn't be smiling and saying 'yummy!'

It was in the middle of trying to force feed my child vegetables, that I realized that Baby Girl was slightly preoccupied with something else. Suddenly I heard a loud rumble, then I smelled immediately that she needed a diaper change. As I was transporting my stinky baby from her high chair, to her changing area, I felt a wetness on my arm. To my dismay, her dirty diaper turned into a dirty outfit. I was shocked at how much poop there was outside of her diaper. It was disgusting! As I was trying to get her poopy clothes off of her, trying not to get poop in her hair, I realized it would be easier to just throw her in the tub (again). Baby Girl was delighted with a second bath in a matter of hours. After she was cleaned (again), I threw all her dirty clothes in the washing machine (I am SOO glad that we don't have to go to the laundry mat anymore!).

It was just after twelve o'clock, Baby Girl was now her in her second outfit for the day. I also had to change my shirt. Time for another nursing session. Now, Baby Girl is taking another nap. It's only a matter of time before she'll wake up, and I'll get to play with her. I should be more motivated to clean my house or prepare something for dinner tonight. Instead, I'm blogging, then I'll probably go back to reading my book. And when Morgan gets home from work tonight, he'll notice that our house looks exactly the same as it did when he left (maybe even a little messier), and for dinner we'll just have left-over Ham Fried Rice (from yesterday's dinner), and I'll apologize for not doing more. His response is why I love him so much, he'll smile and kiss me and say "That's okay." And it is okay!

Our Baby Girl makes the silliest sounds. As you can see in this video, she has learned this weird noise. She makes it when she's having a good time. She also makes that noise when she's laughing. This is what happens when I give her a ride on my shoulders. She makes this noise repeatedly while she tries to eat my hair! It's so funny. She does this the entire time she is on my shoulders. What a silly girl.

Look at our silly girl! Isn't she so adorable? This is her new face. She always pulls in her lower lip and sucks on it. I wonder if she's teething. I've wondered if she's been teething for a few weeks now, but still no teeth have surfaced. She has her fussy times. She seems to be drooling A TON. And she's been sucking on her lower lip. So, while we are waiting for those teeth, we'll just enjoy the funny faces she pulls.

Yesterday, Baby Girl and I got home from running an errand. I put her down on the floor still in her car seat while I went to the other room to do something. When I came back into our living room, I saw our Baby Girl playing this game! She did this over and over and over for several minutes! At least she can entertain herself! What a silly girl.

I love the weekends. For me, every day of the week is pretty much the same. I don't get a day off. But Morgan gets the day off to be home with us. Most of the time, we don't do anything special or different, it's just nice to be together. On Saturday, the weather was gorgeous! We did some work around our house. Our yard needs some serious attention this Spring. Hopefully we will be able to get a lawn put in this Spring. That afternoon, we went for a walk to the park and to get some 48 cent ice cream cones. It felt good to be outside in the nice weather. Our Baby Girl is now wearing 12 month clothing. Oh dear, she's growing so fast! She has some adorable clothing though!

Then Sunday, the weather wasn't so nice. A storm was rolling in. It was quite a bit colder and cloudy and kind of windy. It was a nice lazy day. I made cinnamon rolls in the morning. Mmmmm, Mmmmm, Good! These are some pictures of our adorable daughter in her church outfit! Morgan and Baby Girl have coordinating outfits! After church, we lounged around. Morgan built a fire in our fireplace. It was nice to sit next to a warm fire and read a book, while it was trying to rain outside. I LOVE lazy weekends spent together as a family!

We are SOOO excited for Spring! Can you tell?

The weather is supposed to be 72 degrees! We broke out the shorts! Baby Girl's chubby little legs look so cute coming out of colorful shorts.

Here is our baby food update: Baby Girl still doesn't know what to think about any of it! It takes a lot of convincing and a lot of funny faces to get her to eat her vegetables! We've tried carrots, sweet potatoes, and peas. She does NOT like carrots. She started to tolerate sweet potatoes. We tried peas today. As you can see from the picture, she pulled some pretty funny faces. She ate peas a lot better than she ate the others. I'm not sure if she likes the taste better, or if she's just getting used to eating baby food now. Maybe a little of both.

Yesterday, Baby Girl and I went to a Play Group. We went to a local park. I put Baby Girl in one of the kiddie swings. I wasn't sure if she would like it or not - and she LOVES it! She started giggling! She's so stinking cute! So, today, we went back to the park - with my camera (of course) for another swing ride. She started off giggling, but she wouldn't smile for the camera. There was a kid swinging right next to us that captured her full attention. It's been beautiful weather! I've loved it! You can see Baby Girl's sun hat. It's my attempt at protecting her bald spot from the sun! I think this summer will be filled with a lot of trips to the park!

Our Baby Girl is making progress! It's so fun to watch her! Baby Girl has never been a fan of tummy time. I still try to put her on her tummy for a little while every day. Although she no longer hates it, she tolerates it. She still rolls over rather quickly. I try to distract her with a toy so she won't roll over so quickly. The past couple of days, she's been pushing herself up onto her knees! When she does this, she digs her face into the ground. She can only lift one half of her body at a time. When she gets up on her legs, her front is down. When her front is up, her back is down. She does this for a short time, then gives up and rolls over. This is a short video clip of what I've described.

She'll be crawling before we know it! She's such a cutie!

Just a quick St. Patrick's Day Greeting! Hope you weren't caught without any green! Hope your day was magical!

For our Family Night this week, we decided to go to a local Science Museum. It's close to home, interesting, and most importantly FREE! I Love it! They have tons of animals on display. I was thinking it would be a good place for a field trip. It was very educational. I saw a lot of animals that I have never heard of before. They even had a live show about reptiles. Baby Girl liked the beginning. You can see her touching the moose - (she must not have seen the DO NOT TOUCH signs everywhere!).  It didn't take long for her to get all tuckered out and sleep the rest of the time. Morgan thought that some of the displays looked like some houses in his hometown - lots of dead animals mounted on the walls.

Here are some other pictures of our adventure. You can see me being attacked by a scary lion. Morgan is getting eaten by a hippo. Baby Girl is sound asleep. It was a wonderful evening spent together as a family.

Today is Baby Girl's half birthday. That is right, she is 6 months old. It's amazing how quickly time flies. She's so much fun to have in our lives! She's smiling and laughing all the time. She can roll from her tummy to her back with ease. She gets into position to roll from her back to her tummy, then she realizes that it would put her on her tummy and she doesn't want to be there. She's starting to raise her arms when she wants to be lifted up. She is becoming a pro at sitting up on her own, but she's still pretty wobbly. She's starting to eat solid foods and drink from a sippy cup. She knows who her mommy and daddy are and misses them when she doesn't see them! She loves the game of Peek-a-Boo! She loves to splash during bath time. She has the prettiest blue eyes! And her arms and legs are covered in fat rolls! This is my beautiful baby girl! We Love You!

Yesterday, Baby Girl got to taste another solid besides Rice Cereal. She's been doing so well with Rice Cereal, and she's turning 6 months this week, I thought we should start her on some vegetables. My grandmother gave me a Baby Food Mill, to make my own baby food. So, I thought I would try this out! It was so easy, and so much cheaper than ready made baby food. I made a big batch of carrots and they are in my freezer for ready use. I think I'll try to make pea baby food next. Here are a couple of pictures of Baby Girl trying carrots for the first time. She did not know what to think. It's definitely different than rice cereal. She did pretty good. She only had a few bites for the first time.

Last weekend, we took our first over night trip since Baby Girl was born. Traveling with a baby is a lot more work than just traveling with the two of us. But it was a fun and successful trip! We traveled to Idaho for my little brother's homecoming talk. We headed out Saturday morning. We had to stop halfway there for Baby Girl to get a diaper change and eat a little. This is a cute picture of her in the car during our little pit stop. She slept most of the way, which makes traveling so nice. It's about a 4 hour drive. When we got there, everyone was so excited to see our cute baby - and she just cried for all of them! She's such a stinker. She was okay when Morgan or I would hold her. She would also cry when they would try to talk to her. I was worried that she would have a hard time sleeping, because she wasn't in her crib. We borrowed a Pack N Play - playpen from a family in our ward, for her to sleep in. She slept beautifully! She fell right to sleep, just like normal. By Sunday, she was a lot more used to people than she was on Saturday. At church, (in the ward that I grew up in), all the members came to say 'hello' and see our precious baby! She did really well. After church, at the luncheon, she even let other people hold her and talk to her. If we would have stayed another day, she probably would have been very comfortable with all the new people. So, this summer, we'll have to take a few trips! It was fun, and we don't do it very often!

Here are some family pictures that we took since we were all there. Baby Girl was not very happy for picture time! Oh well. She's still cute - even when she's crying mad. You can see me and my two younger brothers. Yes, I'm the oldest, but the smallest. I try to pick on them still, and tease them - but they are both so much bigger than me. I lose that battle every time! It was fun to see them! Welcome Home Brad!

Today is Morgan’s and my anniversary. We have been married for 3 years. On one hand it feels like an eternity, and on the other I can’t believe it’s already been 3 years. If you ask Morgan, he’ll say its more like an eternity. I was just reflecting on our relationship and being very grateful. We’ve had it very easy. Not to say that marriage is easy. It takes a lot or work and patience and love, but it’s so wonderful. We’ve been able to learn and grow together.

Things I’ve learned about Morgan: 1) Don’t ever ask him anything while he’s busy doing something (he’ll never hear it). 2) He is not a picky eater. He will eat anything. It makes cooking dinner very nice. 3) He is very generous. He has been known to double our dinner tab, by leaving an outrageous tip. He gets after me for buying presents for people when they are on sale, or super cheap! 4) He’s learned that “I’m sorry” and “I love you” are the most important phrases!

I love that I have someone to share this life with. We have similar tastes, personalities and goals. We work next to each other. We laugh with each other. Now, we get to be parents together. I look forward to what our marriage will be like in 5 years or 15 years or 50 years. I love you, Morgan, more than words can describe!

Our Baby Girl is quite a silly girl. It is fun to see her personality shine through! I think we have are going to have a handful with this one! This is a picture of our adorable girl with a Binky in her mouth. She normally does NOT take a Binky. When she was younger - she would take it about half the time. Sometimes she would, sometimes she wouldn't. The older she got, she eventually would never take it - so I gave up trying. Well, this week, I gave it to her to play with. She would bring it to her mouth, like she does with everything she gets her hand onto. I watched her as she figured out how to put the nipple part into her mouth and she just started sucking - except it was upside down. I went and helped her turn it right side up, and she just was sucking like a pro. She won't let me put it in her mouth, I have to hand it to her, then she has to put it in her mouth. She still plays with it just as much as she sucks on it, but it's still so funny.

Also, notice her feet in this picture. They are crossed at the ankles. Just like a little person, she's kicking back, relaxing and crossing her feet. I noticed that she was laying in her crib with her feet crossed. Then again in this picture.

Our Baby Girl is growing like crazy. I think I've said that every day for the last 5 1/2 months. It's amazing. She is getting so tall and so heavy. This is a picture of our Baby on Sunday, before church. She looks so big on our Love Sac, compared to how tiny she used to be. At church, she got to go to Primary for the first time! Morgan and I were asked to substitute for the 8 and 9 year old class. We only had 3 kids, and they were so good. This was the same age that I taught in school last year. Morgan had prepared a wonderful lesson, and I kept interrupting with additional comments. Baby Girl had a fun time until the last 5-10 minutes - when it was time for her to eat. It was a fun experience - but we're not hoping to get called to the Primary any time soon. We've dodged it for 3 years now - we'll see how long we can hold out! 

Yesterday, I bought a sippy cup for Baby Girl. In the last week or two, I've started giving her a little bit of water from a small plastic cup. She loves it! I don't know if she loves the water, or just the big kid cup - but she guzzles it! So, I thought a sippy cup would be slightly less messy (she drools a lot of the water when she drinks from the cup). She did a really good job. She's growing so big. Next week we're going to introduce more solids than just rice cereal. I'm sure more pictures will be coming! So, stay tuned.