As Morgan mentioned in the previous post, we had a family celebration to celebrate my grandmother's 80th birthday. She had all 8 of her kids there and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. We had a Hawaiian-luau theme. We had leis, and there were palm trees and we had Hawaiian haystacks for lunch. It turned out great, and my aunts and uncles did a lot of work to pull it off. I think my grandma enjoyed herself. We played some games, and they had a little video with pictures from her life. What a great way to celebrate her birthday! Baby Girl did surprisingly well, considering the lack of sleep from the night before. She let new people hold her and she had a blast playing. In fact, I don't think I saw her for most of the party. She was off playing with family members. She was definitely the center of attention, as she is wherever we go. I guess that's the life of the first grandbaby - she is spoiled rotten. She has 3 sets of grandparents that spoil the snot out of her and shower her with attention. It gets a little out of control sometimes, but we're grateful for it! Here are some pictures in collage form. Sorry for the collages recently, but it's easier for me to post several pictures in a collage form. You can see my grandpa dressed for the luau! Also, there's my brother Skyler and his fiancé, Shayla (congratulations!).

And finally, one of Baby Girl's highlights of the weekend. This is what you get when you combine out-of-control first time grandparents + a good sale on something = constant giggles from an 18 month old girl! Check out our daughter rocking and rolling on her new toy!

I don't think it was built for dancing, but Baby Girl doesn't care! She loved pushing the buttons and dancing to the music that is played! Thanks for the great weekend!

This weekend we took a mini-vacation as Jen's Grandmother was having her 80th birthday party. We decided it would be fun to leave Friday evening, stay the night, and attend the party the following day. We booked a room earlier that week with a hotel and checked in Friday. As new parents and never having stayed in a hotel with an 18 month old child we learned a thing or two that will hopefully help us have better vacation experiences in the future. Our hope is that other first-time parents can learn from our mistakes and avoid the pit-falls that we discovered during our stay.

1. Don't keep your child up late thinking they will get exhausted and immediately go to sleep -- they don't.
2. Check air conditioning system before using. Right when we had gotten Baby Girl settled down in her pack-n-play, the noisy air conditioning system kicked on and woke her up brining us back to square one.
3. I learned from about 5 minutes of searching on Google, that sleep aids like Benadryl can actually have the opposite effect on babies. Socrates once said "True knowledge is knowing that you know nothing"; well, after giving my child coffee and cigarettes at 2:30 in the morning based upon my "opposite rule" of pharmaceutics, I realize that Socrates has a point.
4. Check with the hotel before hand and see if they can accommodate you in a room without as many neighbors. I would suggest a bottom floor at the very end of a hall next to a back entrance/exit. This eliminates one bottom neighbor, and a side neighbor, and if you revert to driving you child around until they fall asleep (like we did) your room will be close to the entrance. Unfortunately, this idea came to me as I was running up a flight of stairs to our second floor room located near the middle of the hotel with a car seat that contained a sleeping child.
5. Upgrade your hotel room to a suite with a second room if you can afford it. This will allow you to put your child down where they will not be able to stand up and see you.
6. Bring a roll of masking tape so that you can secure the drawers and cabinets in the hotel room.
7. Don't let your child sleep in the same bed as you. We did this and learned Baby Girl's nightly routine of sleeping involves a lot of kicking, rolling, and farting. Also, Jen and I didn't get much sleep as we were paranoid that any moving or loud breathing on our part would wake up Baby Girl.
8. Be aware of all your child's needs. The second day of the trip we were so focused on making sure Baby Girl got enough sleep that we weren't keeping track of how much water she was drinking. By dinner time that evening she was an absolute nightmare. We later realized that we probably didn't give her enough water, and, after getting her well hydrated she was a champ for the rest of the evening.
9. Pack Baby Tylenol.

After it was all said and done we really did have an enjoyable time. Baby girl got to play with Grandma and Grandpa, the highlight of her trip, and it was fun to see family and friends in the area.

Let me clarify, that Baby Girl is playing in this picture. She is having fun, I promise. What a silly girl. She loves to pretend to take naps. She loves to put her babies and stuffed animals down for a nap. Yesterday, she threw her plastic fork and spoon in her crib and said "nap", then she said 'sshhhh' to me, so I knew that her silverware was taking a nap. I had no idea that silverware needed naps too. I had a basket of clean laundry in our living room, and Baby Girl decided to start 'folding' it. I was in the kitchen getting dinner ready, so when I entered the living room there was a massive pile of clean laundry on the floor and Baby Girl was taking a 'nap' right on top of it. Of course, she never falls asleep. She lays there for about 1.3 seconds, then has to shift and move and be a busy body.

In addition to playing the piano, Baby Girl is also learning how to play the guitar. Morgan has been teaching her the past couple of days. Her first lesson was how to hold your fingers while you strum the guitar. He was teaching her how to pinch her finger and thumb together. And you can see in the picture that she's doing it! She loves to strum the guitar and play with Morgan. She gets excited and doesn't have much patience with it, but now when Morgan pulls out his guitar, Baby Girl thinks she entitled to play along with him.

Morgan and I decided that Baby Girl thinks that she's a grown up already and that she can, should, and will do everything that we do. Oh dear, I think we have our hands full with this one!

Chores for an 18 month old baby? Not unless they think they are playing! Baby Girl discovered our broom this week. What a silly child. It's so funny to see her copy us. She would sweep our living room and our kitchen. Then she would go to the garbage to pretend something away. Then return to sweeping. After dinner last night, Morgan was try to show her how you move the broom back and forth. He was telling her "back and forth, back and forth". Then Baby Girl decided to start saying "back and forth, back and forth". Well, she couldn't quite say those words, but she tried her best to copy the sounds and syllables. It was so cute. Now, if we can just get her to start doing the dishes, we'll be set! 

For Christmas this year, Morgan (and his parents) got me a sewing machine! I was super excited about this! Let's clarify - I don't know anything about sewing. Most people take a sewing class in middle school, which I did - but I must have signed up for the wrong class because we didn't use sewing machines. We sewed everything by hand. So, I knew NOTHING. I even had to have a friend come over and show me how to thread the bobbin. Yes, I'm pathetic. But I've learned a lot in the last 2 1/2 months. I've learned that patterns and fabric are expensive. But I've also found free patterns and tutorials online. And I also discovered that our local Deseret Industries sells grab bags of fabric for cheap! So, I've found a bunch of projects that I can work on (and practice sewing) for not very much money! Most of my projects have been toys for Baby Girl. I made a scrap quilt and pillow for her dolls. I made an I-Spy Bag, as a quiet church toy. I made a tutu so she can play dress-up. I made felt letters so she can practice the sounds of the letters. I made multi-colored bean bags to help her learn her colors. So far, she only knows purple, but that's okay. I've made a few other things that aren't pictured; for example: a crayon roll (a holder for a pad of paper and crayons), a tote bag, a diaper holder to put in her diaper bag, and a draw-string bag to hold her magnetic dress up doll. It is such a fun hobby that I am loving! I have several other things that are on my list to make! Yay for a new creative outlet!

We had a great St. Patty's Day. We both were dressed in green! Baby Girl wanted to wear 'purple', but she was put in green. 'Purple' is the only color she can say and identify, but I promised her that she could wear purple tomorrow. We went to the park and played with our Play Group. It was GORGEOUS weather. Baby Girl had a blast on the tunnel slide. It took a few minutes to coax her down the first time, but she had the hugest grin on her face. And her hair was standing on end from the static from the tunnel slide. She then had to go down it approximately 53 more times. What a silly child.

Then to honor the weird tradition of St. Patrick's Day, we had a green lunch. We had green noodles with green Alfredo sauce. It looked disgusting, but it tasted just fine. As you can see from the pictures, Baby Girl pulled a face, but she shoved food in by the fist full. We also ate green peas and green pistachio salad. We were going to do green eggs and ham for dinner, but we changed our mind. Maybe we'll try green eggs and ham another day.

I love being a mother. Each stage that Baby Girl enters is so much fun. She's always been fun. I really enjoyed the baby stage, but I think I am enjoying the toddler stage even more. She is so cute and funny. Her personality is developing every day. We get to do some fun things together. It makes me so grateful for how hard Morgan works to allow me to stay home with Baby Girl. So, this week, Baby Girl and I made a necklace with fruit loops. What a simple thing, but she thought it was the coolest thing. We sat on the floor in our living room with a string and a box of fruit loops. I opened the box and grabbed a handful of cereal, then turned the box towards Baby Girl for her to grab cereal from the box too. You would have thought I gave her the world, she thought this was the best. I showed her how I was looping the fruit loops onto the string and she released more sounds of wonderment. Her job was to reach in the box and hand me the cereal so I could string it. She would get really good for 4 or 5, then she started shoving them in her mouth and forgot all about her 'job'. When the necklace was complete, I showed her how to wear it and eat from it. She was in heaven. It was the cutest thing! I pulled out the camera to take a picture, and she, of course, gave me her cheesey smile. What a silly goose! I take for granted the simplest things. Leave it to Baby Girl to point out the excitement in the smallest of things. I love her for it!

This week, Baby Girl turned 18 months old. Holy Smokes, where did the time go? The most exciting milestone was her entrance to Nursery class at church. She's attended the last 2 weeks, and had no problems. Morgan even said that when he went to pick her up, she was reluctant to leave. Yay! What a relief! She went for her 18 month check up also. She's doing fantastic, however she's smart and huge for her age! She's in the 97% for her age and in the 75-90% for weight and head size. Her doctor said that most kids slow down and level out in their growth - but we're still waiting for Baby Girl to slow down. That's our girl! And she was so good for the doctor. She didn't cry while he was examining her. She even can say 'doctor'. When we talk to her about the doctor, she sticks out her tongue and points to her ears. She's remembering when he looked in her mouth and looked in her ears. She was showing off her vocabulary, and he seemed impressed when I reported that Baby Girl's vocabulary has reached to about 30 words! She did have to get one shot (which was sad), but now she's done until kindergarten. [Sidenote: I took this picture with a setting our camera. It looks like she's wearing make up, but she really isn't. I thought her eyes were beautiful in this.]

Baby Girl is still obsessed with letters. She knows probably close to 20 letters now. She can identify most of them on her own and tell me the sound they make. Wherever we go, she is constantly spotting letters. Whenever she leaves our house, she kneels down in our front yard and 'reads' the letters on the water meter. Then when I can pull her away from that, we go to the car and she sees the words on our garbage can. On a corner, by our house, there is a business sign that starts with 'm', and every time we drive by that I hear an enthusiastic 'mmmmmm' from the back seat. She is so smart. So, I decided if I could transfer her letter enthusiasm to her fascination with our keyboard. I labeled some of the keys with the names of that note. She loves it! Her favorite is A. She always plays that note first. I love seeing her little chubby fingers playing our piano.

We love our little girl and can't imagine life without her. She has brought so much joy into our lives!

I think Punxsutawney Phil was mistaken when he said that we were going to have 6 more weeks of winter, because we have gotten an early Spring for sure. It has been beautiful weather for the last couple of weeks. We've been going for walks, and given up on wearing our winter coats. Until last week, we got a big snow storm. We had big, huge snowflakes falling from the sky. On Friday, we had several inches of wet, heavy snow on the ground. By Friday afternoon, the sidewalks and roads were dry, and a lot of the snow was starting to melt. The sky was blue and the sun was shining! So, Baby Girl and I decided to go play in the snow! We made a snowman! Well, I made a snowman. Baby Girl tried to help by patting the side, but it generally was more harmful than helpful. She loved the snow. She just kept pointing and laughing at it. She loves to touch it - without her gloves on! Her poor little hands were so cold, but she didn't care. She was fascinated with the water that was coming out of our rain gutters. She made her way over there and was playing in the ice cold water. That's when I had to be a mean mom and bring her inside - kicking and screaming. Her poor fingers were bright red, but she just wanted to play in the freezing water. What a silly child! 

Anyway, this was our first and last snowman of the season. It's pretty much melted now. We have a small pile of snow on our green grass. We're excited for Spring! 

Baby Girl cracks me up. She has such a funny personality, I love it! Baby Girl has discovered her favorite blanket. She found it last summer, and luckily it's a small cotton blanket that I have 3 of - so I can easily pull a switch-a-roo, and she doesn't even notice. She likes to have the blanket by her face. She often will but it around her neck - kind of like a scarf. Today, she was doing this, and I helped her tie it around her shoulders like a cape. Oh my heavens, she thought this was the coolest thing ever. She walked around, looking down at her blanket-cape and just giggled to herself. She would walk over to the door, look back at me, wave, and say "bye-bye". Where did she think she was going? It was so cute. Then her blanket would come loose, and I would have to tie it into a cape again. Super Baby!! So, I grabbed my camera and told her to smile. As you can see in this picture, this is what she does when you ask her to smile! Such a cheesy face! Where does she learn things like this? She cracks me up!

We Love the weekends! We get to relax and spend time together at home. This is a picture of Morgan sharing his food with Baby Girl. She's learned that she goes to her dad for the good stuff. I always make her eat vegetables.

My most recent sewing project was letters for Baby Girl to play with. She loves making the sounds of all the letters. She knows more than half. It's so cute. She's so smart. So, here's a picture of me and Baby Girl hanging out, playing with the letters.

We love the weekends!