Sitting Up

Laura has finally learned to sit up!

The 2 things I am most thankful for...

My wonderful husband and beautiful daughter.


Laura enjoyed her first Thanksgiving. And I enjoyed the cute Venezuelan family who was there and took care of Laura the whole time so I could help set up and clean up. She loves hearing them speak in Spanish. This is the 12 year old daughter, Denise, who carried her everywhere she went. Maybe a potential babysitter?

Happy Birthday to us!

Peter and I both celebrated our birthday last Thursday. I am glad that Peter is finally 24, but he is not catching up because I turned 27! We had birthday dinner and cake at our house on Thursday and then celebrated by going out on a date Friday night and dropped our baby off at a friend's. It is the first time we have been just the two of us since Laura was born.



My parents called and made reservations at a Korean restuarant and paid for us. The food was awesome and thanks to my parents, Peter didn't have to choose one thing and was able to order everything he wanted. The food was excellent. When we finished and asked for our ticket, the Korean lady told us to wait. 5 minutes later she came out with a Wal-Mart birthday cake with lighted candles and announced to everyone in the restaurant, in her broken english, that it was our birthday and everyone sang to us.
i'm not quite sure what my mother said or paid to that little Korean lady, but it was such a fun surprise.

Toys

I hate toys. I hate organizing them. I hate picking them up. And I hate finding them all over the house. Because of these reasons, I haven't bought any toys for Laura, even though she is getting to the age where she is starting to appreciate them. I always tell Peter that there is no reason to buy a toy when she has just as much fun playing with a piece of paper or a wooden spoon. Well, two days ago I caught her trying to swallow a big piece of paper and yesterday she poked herself in the eye with a wooden spoon. So I gave in today and bought her a toy to play with. I don't think she likes it anymore than the wooden spoon, but at least I am not worried about her hurting herself.

Happy Half Birthday

Laura is now six months old. She weighs 14 lbs 15 oz and is 26 inches long.

First Halloween

For our Halloween party, Laura was the only one from our family who dressed up. I confess, I am not much for cdressing up in costumes. I always feel a little silly when I am wearing some ridiculous outfit. I especially feel silly when I am at a party with a bunch of people that I just met in the last couple of months and am still getting to know. But, Laura doesn't feel silly. In fact, she could care less what she is wearing and enjoyed having new accessories to pull off and chew on. She dressed up for her first Halloween as a ladybug in a costume that I made. You can buy costumes for pretty cheap, but it was fun to make it.

Halloween Treats

We got invited to a Halloween party and I was asked to bring some Halloween treats. So, last night, for our date night, Peter explained legal terms to me while I made these while I made these:

These were supposed to look like spiders but they turned out looking like little monsters. But, I guess that works too for Halloween.

Hanging Out

Don't you just love looking at your sleeping baby? My favorite time of the day is at night, before I go to bed, when I go check on my baby. In this picture, the crib bumper was in my craft room getting fixed. That can't be very comfortable.

Fussy Baby

The last couple of days, Laura has been extra fussy and I can't figure out what is wrong. Yesterday, every time I set her down or put her in her swing, she would start to fuss. She usually loves her swing. And today in church, all I could hear for the first 5 minutes of my relief society lesson, was my baby's cry coming from somewhere out in the hall. Well, it sounded more like a scream. I thought it would be some good father-daughter bonding time, but after 5 minutes I couldn't take it anymore. I found Peter in an empty room with the light out sitting on a chair staring at our screaming baby on his lap. Laura has always been an alert and crazy baby, but this is somewhat unusual for her. I can't figure out if she is teething, sick, has gas, or what. Maybe I should give her some infant Tylenol. I am just hesitant to give her medicine when she cries, because I don't want to be drugging my baby every time she seems fussy. But then again, I don't want her to be feeling unnecessary pain. It is hard to be a mother. I feel like I don't know what I am doing.

I have to admit though, I really enjoyed how she laid on my shoulder while she cried this afternoon. It is so much fun to cuddle with my baby, and she has never been a cuddler. She always wants to be standing up in my lap looking at everything going on around her. It is nice to feel her little head resting on my shoulder, even if she is crying.

First Real Food

Laura has been very interested in food lately, staring at and reaching for whatever I am eating. So, I decided to let her try some rice cereal. A very small percentage of it actually went down, but she seemed to really enjoy it. It was fun for both of us. Here is a video of her first experience with food.

Little Miss Muffet

My sister gave me a bonnet several months ago with some hand-me-down clothing from her girls. I love the little bonnet and decided to try to make one myself. Peter came home from school yesterday to see his daughter wearing this outfit. Peter said I need to quit making silly things for our daughter to wear. Last week, I made her a little tutu skirt. It is just so much fun to have a little girl to doll up. What will I do if I ever have a son?

Laura's New Chair

We went to the relief society's president home for dinner on Sunday and she gave us her Bumbo chair for Laura. I love it. She just looks so big sitting up on her own.

Couch Pillows

I love pillows, but I hate spending $15 for one pillow and it's always so hard to find one that matches perfectly. So I recycled the old curtains and some scrap fabric and made some pillows. I think I got a little carried away and it probably won't be the last time. I am just having too much fun making stuff for my house.

My new favorite recipe

I love finding new, healthy recipes. I got this one off of the back of a bag of dry chick peas. It was delicious.

Falafel Sandwich

1 cup dry chick peas

1 onion

1 clove of garlic

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/4 medium jalapeno seeded (I didn't have a jalapeno so I used some chili garlic sauce to make it spicy)

2 tsp. cumin powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp ground pepper

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/8 tsp. baking soda

Soak dry chick peas overnight, drain and combine with onion, garlic, parsley and jalapeno. Grind mixture in food processor. Add the remaining ingredients. Shape into patties 1 1/2" in diameter and 1/2" thick. Fry in deep hot oil until brown and crisp (I just used a little bit of olive oil). Serve hot in a pita with tomato slices.

(I know a lot of you are looking at it thinking that it looks like a green hamburger. The truth is, it does look kind of like a green hamburger. But a very yummy one! Even Peter, who would prefer to eat meat and potatoes at every meal, agreed that it was good enough to make for dinner again. This is high praise for something healthy coming from Peter.

Weekend Projects

I love having a new house to decorate. Even if it is on a very tight budget. But thanks to some great end of summer sales, I completed two projects this weekend.

We bought these chairs at Kmart on clearance. I hated the wicker seats, so I decided to try to cover them. I love how they turned out.

Before:

After:

We needed curtains and I wanted something bright and fun to liven up our living room.

No more tip-toeing to the crib

Ever since our car trip across the country, our baby no longer takes naps. And, the only way she falls asleep is if she is being held and fed. Then we play my favorite game of all: Tip-toe to the crib, say a silent prayer that she stays asleep, and try to put her down very gently and quietly as to not wake her up. 9 times out of 10, this is followed with screams and crying. After playing this game several times a day, I was starting to feel very frustrated. So I checked out a book my sister-in-law recommended, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. The book was great. I learned that I need to be in control of my baby's sleep and that she is old enough to learn how to fall asleep on her own. The author recommends putting the baby into bed for bed time and naps and not coming back in to rescue them regardless of how loud the baby cries. It sounds a little harsh, but, as the author explained, you are doing it because you are the parent and know that this is what is best for the baby.

So I decided to try it today and it was marvelous. Laura took 3 naps and went to bed at 8:00. She cried as usual when we first put her down, but I just let her cry until she fell asleep. With the first nap she cried 45 minutes. It seemed very long, but by the last nap she only cried about 5 minutes. And she was a much happier baby all day. And I was a much happier mother.

Bath Time

Laura loves her bath these days. That is, after she gets over the initial shock of the cool water. It just seems to cruel to give her a warm bath when it is so hot inside. So we give her cold baths. Sorry about the nudity, but these pictures were too cute.

Our New Home

I know for all the rest of you who have been living in a house for the past several years, it is nothing special to live in a house. But after spending the last 8 years of my life in apartments, I love having my own house. Of course, it is not our house at all because we are renting it but it feels so much more like our own personal house when we don't have neighbors above and below us. This morning I had so much fun mowing my little yard and checking my mailbox to see if there were any letters for me. And everyone time I use my washing machine to do a load of laundry, if feel as if I have died and gone to heaven.

You might be wondering why my baby is naked in this picture. It is because my husband doesn't want the air conditioning in our new house to run up a large bill. So, we don't use it. And for those of you who have been to TN in August know how hot and humid it can be with no AC. Our house stays above 80 degrees all through out the day and night. And even though I have a cute little room upstairs for our baby, she is sleeping downstairs with us where it is cooler.

Things I will miss about the Brigadoon

Now that I am living in a new cute little house, I am reminded of all the things that I learned to love and will miss about the Brigadoon. The Brigadoon is the name of the apartment complex where Peter and I lived for the past 18 months. And yes, it is as romantic as it sounds. I will always treasure the memories from our first year of marriage spent in the Brigadoon. Some of my favorites include:

1. The star print bathroom counter.

2. Hauling my laundry each weekend to my mother-in-law's, or anyone else who took pity on us and let us use their washer and dryer.

3. The fact that I could stand in the middle of my kitchen and not be able to reach out my arms all the way with out hitting a wall or cupboard. I still can't believe I cooked as many meals as I did in the teeny, tiny space.

4. The 90 degree summers and the 55 degree winters.

5. The bathroom floor that was stained all around the toilet. No matter how hard I scrubbed it still looked like somebody had an accident.

6. The paint on the wall that would wash off with water. (Don't bother trying to clean off any stains, you just make the problem worse by removing the paint as well.)

7. The gamble that each night your's could be the car that was broken into.

8. That only 2 of the four burners on the stove worked. The other two, not matter how many times I cleaned them, would fill the small apartment with smoke if they were turned on.

9. The fire alarm that went off everytime I used the stove. (even the two working burners sent off the fire alarm.)

10. The community garden two blocks away where I had my own little plot.

11. It was where we took our baby home.

12. It is where I first lived as Peter's wife; our first home together.

Goodbye Salt Lake, hello Virginia. Goodbye Virginia, hello Tennessee

Wow, what a crazy couple of weeks. In the last two weeks we have moved not once, but twice.

Two weeks ago, we said goodbye to the Brigadoon and left for our road trip across the country to Virginia. Peter was planning on attending William and Mary law school and we were moving out to get settled before school started. We loaded up our furniture and stuff on to a big semi that we had rented space on (it was the cheapest way to do it) and shipped my car so that I could sit by Laura in the back seat to feed her bottles, hold her pacifier and keep her from screaming on the 33 hour drive. She actually did amazingly well. She slept most of the time and was much better than I would have been had I been strapped in the sweaty, milk and spit up soaked, smelly car seat for 2.5 days. We arrived in Virginia Sunday night and moved in to our apartment and signed our 1 year lease Monday morning. Then we spent the next 2 days going to Target, Wal-Mart, and Bed, Bath and Beyond buying all the things we left behind. Tuesday, the day our furniture arrived in the semi, Peter received a phone call from Vanderbilt law school asking if he was still interested. He had been put on the waiting list last January and we haven't heard from them since. Both he and I had pretty much given up on that and felt confident that we wouldn't be hearing from them again. Peter, thinking he didn't have anything to lose, told them he was still interested. The next day, Thursday, they called to tell him he was accepted. We debated as to what we should do. Vanderbilt is a better school, but is also more expensive. And we had just spent almost 2 grand moving out to Virginia! By Thursday, we had decided to move yet again. So by Friday night, we had packed up all our cars, loaded up a semi with our stuff again, and were driving through the night to get to Nashville by Saturday morning. We arrived in Nashville with our cars jammed full of all the stuff we had bought in Virginia and I felt like a homeless family living out of our car. To make things even more exciting, it was like 500 degrees plus 110 percent humidiy in Nashville that day. Laura was getting so hot and sweaty as we drove around looking at apartments I was afraid she was going to suffer from heat stroke if we didn't find some place to cool her down. But we didn't have a house to go home to. So we went to a grocery store and hung out for a couple of hours, taking advantage of their AC while we waited for our next house appointment. Luckily the next appointment was a little, cute house with a landlord nice enough to let us sign the lease and move in that day.

Yesterday, our furniture finally arrived for the second time, and for the first time in a couple of weeks, I have a bed to sleep on. You don't realize how great it is to have a bed, until you don't have one. I kept reminding myself that my Grandpa Fielding spent 3 months sleeping on a buffalo rug while he drove a covered wagon across the plains on the Mormon Trail reenactment. And he was over 65 years old. I figured if he could sleep on the floor for 3 months, I could handle it for a couple of weeks. But I've decided I am not as tough as Grandpa and hope to never have to sleep on the floor again.

It feels so good to have a bed and a home again. I hope Peter gets a job in Nashville after he graduates from law school because I never want to move again.

2 Months Old

Laura will be 2 months old tomorrow! I can't believe how fast she is changing. She is starting to put on a little bit of weight and she now has cheeks (on her face and bum) and a round little belly. I like seeing her chubbier because it keeps me from worrying whether she is getting enough to eat. She is smiling all the time now and loves it when I talk and sing to her. She is a happy baby and only cries when she is hungry or wants someone to pay attention to her. Or if she is sick of being in her carseat and wants to get out. (Like this morning in the grocery store.) Or if she is dragged in and out of the car in Virginia heat and humidity to look at 7 different apartments.

Sometimes she gets lucky and puts her hands in the right spot and can hold up her own bottle.

My Latest Craft Project

When I found out I was going to have a girl, I got all excited to make clothes for my baby. I could picture all these cute little dresses and outfits I was going to make for her. I'm not quite sure why I thought I would be able to do this since I don't know how to sew clothing. After a couple attempts and some ugly finished products, I decided to steer clear from sewing articles of clothing and decided instead to embellish things that I can buy at the store. And since onsies cost about $2 a piece, I thought this would be a good thing to start with. I think she looks so cute in this one.

I thought the heart would be cute, but it turns out that it is way too big and looks ridiculous on her little chest.

But the ruffles on her little bum looked very cute.

Garden Produce

This is my favorite time of the year: the sun is shining, the weather is warm, there are flowers in everyone's yard, and best of all, I get to start eating produce from my garden. My spinach, lettuce, and arugula that I planted in early April are ready to eat. I guess it was worth all the back pain I felt after hoeing and planting with an 8 month pregnant belly. I love fresh spinach from the garden. Friday night, we ate a yummy salad with the pizza that Peter brought home for dinner for our date night. Our date night isn't quite what it used to be. I held Laura while Peter hurried to eat his pizza so he could hold Laura while I hurried to eat my pizza so I could feed her when I was done.

Peter also brought home a documentary on America and war. Sometimes I wish my husband would bring home a good movie. Something other than a documentary or a movie where people drive fast cars and get blown up. But, the documentary turned out to be perfect because Peter got to watch it while I took a much needed nap.

Healthy Version of Tin Foil Dinners

Last night we had a yummy and healthy version of tin foil dinners. I have always loved tin foil dinners with hamburger, potatoes, onions, and carrots. Last night, I found a recipe online that inspired me to come up with this version that is way better and healthier. These are the ingredients that I used:

Salmon Fillet (I used the cheap, frozen version that I got on sale at Smiths)
Asparagus Spears
Zuchinni and Yellow Squash
Lemon Juice
Salt and Pepper

I cut up the veggies and placed them with 1 salmon fillet in individual tin foil pieces. Then I poured lemon juice over the top and added salt and pepper. Then I cooked it for 15-20 minutes at 400 degrees. It took less than 5 minutes to make and it was so yummy. We ate it with brown rice which is my new favorite thing to eat. I don't know why I ever ate white rice when brown rice is so good and so good for you. I like to add a little bit of chicken base and garlic to the rice cooker while it is cooking for more flavor.

I love finding new healthy dinner ideas. Even Peter liked it!

More Pictures of Laura

I love staying home everday and taking care of my baby. I love watching all the funny things she does with her hands, arms, legs, face, etc. I found her sleeping in this position during one of her naps.

While we were in the hospital, the nurses brought Laura back to our room with a pacifier in the crib. That night she was crying and we couldn't figure out what to do so we put the pacifier in her mouth and she immediately stopped crying. It was amazing. We have used the pacifier ever since. She loves it. However, it is both a blessing and a curse. I spend many hours each day and night putting the pacifier back in her mouth!

I wish I could say she inherited these skinny legs from her mother.