help again ...

so can anyone tell me how to post videos within a post? is that allowed even? and has anybody found great christmas decorations on sale somewhere? I'm looking to stock up for next year (this year was somewhat pitiful on the decoration side of things ...) happy new year! we're heading to pocatello to see family.

new video

I haven't posted a video for a while, but thought I would with Kylee opening her Christmas presents. It was about 10 pm and she was teething and cranky so we thought we'd do it a day early (on Christmas Eve because Christmas was already planned with our families). Enjoy, it's at the bottom!

first real christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas this year! Everybody was in town on both sides of our family and Kylee really loved seeing everyone. Here's a picture of Kylee "helping" put up our tree ornaments. She more like got into the container and starting pulling them apart. But I consider this holiday a success because not more than 3 ornaments were broken.

This other pictures just shows how much Kylee loves her daddy! They are so funny together and Kylee just keeps getting smarter and smarter. She is constantly getting into everything and is so curious! She's not quite walking yet, but she could if she wanted to. She's so close! She is becoming so talkative all of a sudden too. It's adorable because she can carry on a complete conversation wtih people on the phone (speakerphone is a nice feature for that reason). She even knows how to call and text! (Not on purpose though ...) I've caught her numerous times in the toilet, soaked from head to toe. She seems to think it's pretty fun because she takes a bath afterwards. The first time we caught her she came out grinning to everyone and they got a good laugh out of it.

She has a new found curiousity for buttons and taking things apart and putting them back together (although she can never put them back together again ...) So we got her some megablocks for christmas. We also got her a talking book and some bath toys. She even got the hang of opening presents. (See video ...) We got a picture of her in front of our tree (yes it's fake!) and the thing she's holding is a howling gorilla that she loves! (present for her birthday in November) It growls and walks and she loves it (kinda freaks me out). Who does she look like more? Her hair's getting really long!

Kylee loved playing with the ornaments from the tree! They slowly moved up and up until only half of the tree was heavily decorated.

One of her favorite things to get from off the tree were the candy canes. I caught her about 3 different times with a broken candy cane gripped in one hand and the other hand picking and playing with the shards on the floor. But one time I was making jello and she was being awfully quiet. I looked into the family room where I had left her and she was laying down, legs crossed, with a broken partially opened andy cane sucking away. Her mouth was all blue and it was all I could do to take a still picture I was laughing sooo hard! She didn't see anything wrong with it. Look at her holiday leggings!

We did some bowling with all of Matt's family and spent Christmas morning together. We spent Christmas eve (wtih a yummy dinner!) with my mom and her parents and brothers and the rest of our first week of break was spent with my brothers and dad who was in town for the holidays again.

Here's a picture of Kylee "playing" the piano with my mom's mom ... Kathy. She was having a blast ...

We had a wonderful Christmas and will be heading to Pocatello to see all of Matt's extended family for New Year's (like we do almost every year.)

And for those of you who didn't receive a Christmas card and feel bad ... it's because I didn't send them out this year! Sorry, I just have been so busy .. so count this as your
Christmas card (this has more pictures than my card would ever have ... so consider yourself lucky! haha) Merry Christmas to all!

We love you guys!

thanksgiving

Well, I only did the turkey and some homemade rolls, but I didn't mess anything up! :) My grandma and grandpa (my mom's parents) brought things and my mom brought the rest. And no matter how many people told me to remember to take out the heart and stuff I thought I had it all taken out when I took out the neck and thought "they must've forgotten the other stuff." But just as I was about to put it in the oven I saw the baggie of stuff! ?So I caught it just in time and it turned out wonderfully! My family was cordial and we had a great time together! It wasn't awkward, it was just pure fun. Kylee's birthday party went perfectly. We had friends and family come over and have some orderves (I know it's not spelled right!!!) and cake with us. I made her a really cute princess crown birthday cake. If you wanna borrow the pan, let me know ... I took a video of her starting to eat it, but by that time she was tired and ready for bed (she actually was sick and was throwing up the next few days.) She started crying after Matt gave her a big bite of it because he stuffed it a little in her face. We felt bad, poor baby. She just wasn't as interested in it as I had hoped haha.

And I know my formatting isnt' the best, just enjoy the pics!

a little later ...

Okay, so soon was later than I thought. It's been a month and we just barely unpacked almost all of the boxes yesterday. (The only reason we did it is because family's coming in town.) We're doing thanksgiving at our house this year, and yes that includes my divorced parents of 10+ years, my mom's parents, and all my siblings. I am so excite to make the turkey .... never done it before, but my mom's going to come over and help me. Kylee is getting so big and cute! We're having her birthday party on Wednesday, November 25th at 6:30 (? can't rememeber what time I wrote ....) She's having a princess themed party. Every will be fuschia and soft pink and silver. I bought a crown cake pan and we'll have glitter everywhere (yes that'll be fun to clean up won't it!) So if I haven't invited you I apologize! Who knows where my address book is .... consider this an invitation. And no presents please because she already has enough crap. Just having some friends over for some fun.

So these cute pictures of kylee, I guess my timing is pretty bad because I always get her with her eyes closed. I honestly think it's my camera, it flashes two little flashes first and then the big flash. This one is how matt tickles her, she has a very ticklish neck and she loves it when he's a little scruffy.

Here's another time Matt is tromping around with Kylee (again ... eyes closed!) But she loves playing around with Matt and I can see that they're really enjoying their time together and bonding closer than they have previously.

This is one of the cutest pictures I have of Kylee--she LOVES her bathtime and when I take her out (after she's all pruney) she kicks and cries. (She has learned how to throw little fits for the things that she wants, but to no avail.)

This was kylee this morning, she is eating some cheerios. (Did I tell you she got 3 teeth in one week ... about 2 weeks ago?? She really wasn't even that miserable.)

Here is her fake smile for the camera. She's already figured it out and she mimics what we do allllll the time. She yawns when we do just to be funny and she also squeezes fingers really hard and makes a funny face. I'll have to get that on picture and post it here.

Well, that's about all that's going on right now. Our world still revolves around our sweet baby. (Who's now 1--on nov. 18th--). We're excited to do thanksgiving and have all our family in town.

everything's new

Well, good news, we officially have a house! We moved in last week and we've already painted and have a majority of our things moved from Matt's parents house. Everything's worked out perfectly and we feel really blessed. I am enjoying my time being a teacher, but also missing my days with Kylee. Matt's doing well in school and taking care of Kylee. So, everything's new but I feel like we're getting into the swing of things finally. We found our camera and I have some really cute pictures and video of Kylee, but I can't find the connecting cord (of course!) so you'll still have to wait for pictures. Mostly just wanted to say that we got the house we wanted and we're really excited about it. It has 3 beds, 2 baths and a large open living room/kitchen/dining area. The backyard is also pretty big and backs up to a creek in our neighborhood.

Kylee's first birthday is on November 18th and we're going to have a birthday party for her just before thanksgiving so that all the family can come to it. I thought I was really set on doing Thanksgiving at our house this year, but I think I'll just focus on doign a super cool party for Kylee and the family. The only thing Kylee wants to do now is to walk around with us holding her hands, she's a very good crawler, but prefers to be walked around the house. We need to find her a walker! She loves playing in the bath, stuffed animals and any music/light up toy. It's so fun to see how she changes from week to week, she always picks up something that Matt and I haven't taught her at all, such as making spit bubbles. Random! Nobody's even shown her that and she loves doing it!

Everything's working out perfectly and we couldn't be happier. I'll post pictures very very soon, promise!

so much new stuff

okay, no cool pictures to put up yet, but i'll get to that. kylee's helmet is officially off and her head is growing into a normal shape haha! she's now 11 months old--freaky how time flies!--and just figure out how to crawl a few weeks ago. yesterday she climbed up 5 stairs! so we're officially in trouble with her being mobile, she evens finds ways to get out of the living room when it's blocked off with pillows, she just keep rolling it with her body until it opens up for her. she is so much fun! well a lot has changed ... me and matt have been looking at homes (well, in august) and we found one we loved in our price range. we put in an offer the same day it was listed and because it was a short sale, we knew it was going to be a process. two weeks after we put in the offer, matt got laid off (two weeks later they offered him his job back ...) and i found a job teaching at ponderosa elementary 2nd grade. i'm having a lot of fun ... but let me tell you, teacher's definitely don't choose to teach for the money! but i'm so grateful to have a job now, with salary and excellent benefits. so i've been teaching for 2 weeks now and i'm loving it! i love the atmosphere at the school i'm at and all the teachers are so helpful. well it's now been two months since we started the "process" with our house and we've had to basically start over again just this week to find a bank who will approve us on my very new job. so we supposedly will know by tomorrow (Monday) whether or not a different bank will approve us and if all goes well, should be able to close by the end of the week (Friday). so matt and i are just waiting on pins and needles and ready to almost give up it's been such a pain. it'll all be worth it if we could just get it and be done with it haha. so we're now living at matt's parent's house because we already got rid of our apartment lease, planning on not staying for more than a month (and it's been a month and a half so far ...). it is sooo nice of them to let us stay here, and it's been really nice because they let us take over the whole basement. so now i'm working hard and matt's been working hard at school and taking care of kylee during the day. i think it's been a really good experience for him to stay home with her and have the bonding time that me and kylee already have had. it's been a nice change of pace (from being a full-time stay at home mom to being a more than full-time teacher). i'll post some non-helmet pics soon so you can see how cute kylee is. we're having a bday party for kylee on november the 21st (her really bday is on the 18th) so come and have some cake and icecream!

making up for lost times, Vermont

to the right is matt and little adeline (my two year old half sister) she was a doll with kylee! more like kylee was the doll to her. she wanted to help feed her and play with her and share toys, it was adorable!

because i've been such a slacker at posting, here are a zillion posts to keep you (and me) occupied for hours!! haha not really. but we were brave parents and took kylee with us across the country on an airplane. i was really worried the

air pressure and taking naps on the plane were

going to be very difficult for kylee and that everybody on the plane would hate us and we'd have to land about an hour out of the boise airport to get rid of the noisy baby, haha. but she didn't do too bad on the way out there, it was about 5 hours of plane ride and about an hour layover inbetween the two flights to get there. we made it on time (which was midnight vermont time). my sister kristen and her husband mark were also coming in an hour before us, but after circling the airport loop for over an hour after we had gotten our baggage (closer to 1:30 am now) we decided to go ask about their flight. they said it was on it's way back to some other city because of the fog that had set in. turned out they had a nightmare of a flight! they flew from SLC to detroit and then on their last leg, from detroit to burlington, vermont the airplane was making weird noises and the pilot turned around and landed back in detroit. they deplaned and loaded onto another plane and took off again towards burlington. about six feet off the runway in burlington, the pilot pulled up and circled the airport for a while, then decided that it was too foggy to land and flew to st. albans a couple hours away. when arriving at st. albans, the flight was held and not allowed to deplane. they were told that they were a security risk and couldn't get out and had to go back to detroit. so they went all the way back to detroit (home sweet home by now!) they then caught a flight out of detroit to pennsylvania arriving at 4:30 am. they were told they could get a flight out to vermont at 7 am so they slept a few hours (if you could call it that) in the airport. come to find out they didn't leave until 1 pm and arrived finally in vermont at 4pm. we were both glad that it wasn't us with the baby atleast!!!

we had a very nice vacation in vermont, and getting there and back to boise we weren't delayed at all (miracle in and of itself). the weather wasn't as bad as projected and we got to ride on the boat across the lake (with kylee asleep in her life vest and sun hat, you couldn't even see her face wish we had gotten a pic of that!) and swim in the relatively warm water. we also did a few puzzles and ate lobster rolls and had ice cream, all the stuff you need to relax haha.

matt took my little brothers (technically half brothers from my dad and stepmom) travis (age 6) and oscar (age 4) fishing off the dock. it was overcast, but the worms that were bought a few days previous were a little sparce and the container only had a few of those. after two hours matt came in wet. he had gotten on the rocks to try to free oscar's hook and fell in in the process. needless to say i should've "saved" him sooner from the eager boys haha.

4th of july and motorcycle bye bye

over the 4th of july weekend we decided we were going to save money on gas by matt taking the motorcycle and me driving with his parents to pocatello. (there wasn't quite enough room for everyone with kylee's huge carseat) matt called me from his cell just as he had stopped for gas just to check in and say hi. not ten minutes later did i get a call from him saying he had been in an accident and that he'd call me back. (i guess i'm somewhat useless when it comes to being good in an emergency situation cuz i could tell there was something wrong, i just didn't ask any questions like: "are you okay?" "did you hit a car, did a car hit you?" et cetera) i guess what had happened was that he was near craters of the moon taking the scenic route and on a curve had looked away for two seconds and when he looked back was on the white line of the road, with a six inch gravel shoulder. with a car, this is no big deal really because two of the four wheel are still on stable ground on the road, but with a motorcycle when you only have two wheels you're basically done for. the only thing he remembers is seeing he was on the white line and then waking up one his stomach and rolling over onto his back and calling me. the amazing thing is 1) he's still alive, 2) he only broke his pinky, 3) the bike took the worst of it. so we sold the bike for parts and have one car.

but on a happier note, once we actually got to pocatello and matt wasn't dead, we had a good time. it's always nice to see his mom's side of the family, they always have so much fun stuff planned. it was nice to see everybody. the parade is always fun, and it seems to turn us both into little kids again. kylee is wearing her 4th of july outfit and lookin so cute ...

the weirdest thing was on the afternoon of the 4th after the parade when it started to hail! yes, hail as in ice chunks that were 1 1/4 inches in diameter big! i've NEVER seen hail that big before, for at least half an hour it was hailing and raining/snowing. what a weird thing huh? and then the creek across the road from the cornwalls house flooded over! it flooded houses for probably a quarter mile, including the corner store. it was heartwrenching to see these people loosing their possessions and homes to this freak flood water. there was nothing we could do for them.

that was enough eventfulness to last me for a while!

slacker!!!

okay so i've been slacking and haven't posted on here for a long time! sorry for all of you who have now lost interest. matt's laptop completely broke (hope it wasn't me!) and that's the computer that had all our pictures and files on it ... so i still have some pics on our camera, but i had just gone through all the pics on the laptop and condensed everything and erased the ones from our camera that were on the laptop. so i still have some pics, but it's a little sad how much we rely on these stupid comps! but now i've figured a way to hook up the camera to our desktop. me and matt have been looking at houses and getting excited about finding one, until we really started looking and found out that most houses in our area are short sales (preforclosures) that might take 6 months + to close on. the whole reason we might be able to afford a home is if we can get the $8000 tax credit for some padding in our bank account. so it's been kinda frustrating because we have to close by dec. 1st of this year to get that tax credit amount. so we'll see if it happens, if not we've both learned a lot already about the process so when we do actually find one that will work we'll be ready.

kylee still has her little helmet on and it's getting quite annoying. she's had it for 2 1/2 months now and i've seen a drastic change from before! it's looking much much better. but i imagine to get the best results she'll need it for at least another 2-3 months. it is sooo hot here already, i can't imagine always having my head covered in cast-like material! poor baby. she's also teething (i say that whenever she's grumpy ...) but i think she might really be this time, but i can't feel a thing yet on those gums. she's not crawling, but she rolls over and can push herself backwards with her arms. she still hates tummy time. but if i let her play with my ipod touch she's good for about 20 mins on her tummy. what expensive taste our baby has! we're in trouble already ...

matt's about to start another school year at BSU, hopefully he will have his criminal justice degree in just about two years (at this rate, 3 classes a semester and working full time) he has early morning classes (starting at 7:40 am!!!) and one night class.

we just came back from visiting my stepmom and stepfamily (well, currently ex-stepmom and family, being recently divorced from my dad this past december :( ) in vermont at the lakehouse. it was beautiful and we had a lot of fun. we even survived the plane ride with kylee! i was really worried about that ... but matt took her basically the whole 5 hours there and 5 hours back.

i'm not doing much of anything, other than getting ready to move to a house (maybe) the more i think about the more stressed i get ... it's such a big thing to do right now, or ever i guess. i'm getting excited to start teaching piano lessons again like i did throughout high school. i'm going to teach at a piano studio in eagle (still working on that tho) and have family members (anyone wanna volunteer? haha) watch her during those few hours a week. i already have recital halls reserved and evertyhing. so wish me luck in that aspect!

enjoy some of these cute pics that are more recent from the last post.

mr. sand man

she has just gotten so attached to this cow! it is

hilarious to see her frantically grab for it when I

lay her down in her crib for nap or for bed time.

sleepy

haven't posted for a while, but i thought i should. kylee has just started sleeping almost through the night (she used to wake up every 3 hours or so to eat ... but i've weaned her away from eating so much) and she now sleeps from 8-3am and then i feed her a little and she sleeps for another 2 hours or so. it has been HEAVEN! but i had a good idea for a scrapbooking page for her, i'm going to take pictures of how she falls alseep with her stuffed animal cow and put them in small pictures across the top of the page and then have one big picture in the middle under all the other small ones. every time i peek in to check on her she makes me laugh because of the position she's in. she is such a doll! she now goes to sleep basically on her own with less than 5 minutes of crying. (i actually let her cry that long now ... it was hard at first, but it's made me more sane haha)

we are planning on taking our little family to vermont at the end of july on an airplane (7 hours +) for a few days of fun. does anybody know of a good baby carrier (like the strap on front back pack type where their legs and arms dangle.) she's on the larger side, but i think we might die without one. she's 18 pounds and i did a little research and noticed that most only are made for up to 22/25 pounds. baby bjorn? or evenflo snugli hug?? let me know ... i bought her some bathing suits already ... sooo cute!

party hat

so kylee has gotten her helmet ... or party hat as we like to call it. she has a flat head and is wearing a corrective prosthetic to make it pretty :) she has to wear it for 3-6 months (but they've told me she'll probably only have to wear it closer to 3 months). the way it works is that it has a tough plastic shell and on the inside there's dense foam. it is shaped for her head specifically (had to do a few digital scans for it to be perfect) and the foam fits snuggly on the areas we don't want to grow as quickly (sides of her head) and leaves room for easier growth in the back. it has been making her really hot, but other than that she doesn't seem to mind it. she has to wear it for 23 hours a day, the one hour off is to clean the helmet and let it dry and bathe the munchkin. she really hates it when i take it off and put it back on, but other than that she hasn't been fussy with it at all. (well, she's still semi-fussy from her ear infection, but it seems to be going away now)

as you can probably see in the picture, i have put a little velcro circle on her helmet and have made bows with the opposite velcro on the back of them so she can match in every outfit. i had fun doing that, but some of them turned out to be larger than i thought and block her vision ahha. she also goes by the pink power ranger (as matt calls her)

zombie

here is just after i woke her up from her nap, she was still tired as you can see

swine flu

The CDC has found the probable cause of swine flu.

teeth!!!

i have noticed that kylee has been really gnawing on her burp rags (not her teething toys, that would be too easy of course ...) but she hasn't had a fever, red cheeks or some of the other things that are red flags for teething. she was drooling a lot more than normal, but that was all. just two days ago i saw a little white speck on her bottom gums. i felt around (as she tried to eat my finger) and did feel a little bump. it is a tooth!! it has finally come after seeing how she's been drooling and chewing on everything fabric object she can reach. so as if teething wasn't making her grumpy enough, she has gotten her first cold. she is congested and coughing ALL THE TIME. poor baby, she coughs so hard that she gags and then throws up. she hasn't been eating very much and she's been having such a hard time sleeping. i never want to go through this again ... i had taken her in last friday to the doctor (after having three restless/wakeful nights) and he said that her lungs were clear and that she might just be teething. but later on that day she started a small cough and by saturday had a more pronounced cough. by sunday night she was coughing hard and throwing up and i just took her in today and the doctor told me she had an ear infection. ugh ... poor little baby, i can tell she's just not happy and not feeling good, but she got some amoxicillin and should be feeling better in the next 24 hours. we are both miserable right now, but the end is in sight (hopefully, crossing my fingers)

laughs

another video of her laughing hard ... love it!

not about kylee

okay, can't help myself with the videos. but i got her really laughing in this one. she only laughs like this when she's extremely tired, mostly it only works if i scare her. but that's not what this post is about. i've been loving staying home and i have found a new love for scrapbooking. i'm really not that creative in the first place, but i think i have a pretty good eye for what's "in style" for all that crafty stuff. so i've spent a good chunk of time looking at ideas on archivers.com and other sites. my new thing to be looking at are electronic die cutting machines. i want one that can cut vinyl as wel as cardstock and paper, etc. i think i've found the one that i want: the quickutz silhouette (not the SD version, the original version). i found it online at cricut-craftsdirect.com for $120. the next cheapest price is on ebay/amazon for $150. it sells in stores for around $300-$350. does anybody have a cricut or other type of die cutting machine .... one that hooks up to your computer. the major downside for the cricut is that to get any type of different fonts/pictures you have to buy a "cartridge" that is $50-$100 apiece! so tell me what you think, i keep reading great reviews about the silhouette, i'm just worried about buying it from an online website. (who knows if they're reliable or not ... it is a lot of money to be spending and inputting credit card information on ...) let me know what you think/your experiences. i would also love to start a small business selling vinyl lettering and signs, etc. i can't wait to get one of these die cutting machines, can't stop thinking about it and looking online for more information!

mommy to mommy

okay, this isn't just for the moms out there i guess, but future moms and anyone who wants to read my advice, from my almost five months of experience. these are some things that nobody ever told me about being a mom, that i wish they would have.
1. babies have no sense of time. they don't sleep at night time mostly, they sleep whenever they want and for as long or as little as they want. that doesn't change until about four months when they start to figure out when night time is and it starts to become a little more continuous during the night time hours. those first four months are the longest four months of being a mom! if you're lucky it'll only be about four months and they'll figure it out. kylee's five months old and she has just started to sleep for more than four hours at a time at night. and don't think you're home free when they start sleeping that long, because it all changes when they are growing physically or about to make a developmental leap. for three nights in a row kylee woke up every two or one hours during the night, when she had already been sleeping for 5+ hours at a time.
2. if you breast feed or bottle feed choose what's best for baby AND you. for me, and for many others that i have talked to breast feeding hurts for a while. (for me, it hurt the whole six weeks i kept trying to feed her, i finally gave up and chose to bottle feed with pumped milk ... get an electric pump, it doesn't hurt like a hand pump does.) i felt sooo guilty for weeks and weeks after i had decided that it wasn't bonding me and baby together by breast feeding, it actually made me angry when she would be hungry ... again. but if you choose to breast feed, give it a good try, two weeks or more i think is enough time for baby to figure it out. but if you do bottle feed make sure to sign up on multiple mommy websites, where they will send you coupons.
3. save your coupons and stock up. okay, i know this is kinda common sense, but sign up on websites that will send you stuff and pay attention to expiration dates. you can never have enough diapers (make sure to pay attention to weight ranges on the packages so you don't waste any.) sometimes they put coupons on the inside of the packages, so make sure to check before you throw away empty diaper packaging. (save the boxes to pack up clothes your baby has grown out of, it happens quicker than you think!)
4. best place to buy diapers and formula is wal-mart hands down. yes wal-mart has the best deals i've found.
5. babies cry a lot. another of the major adjustments as a mom: trying to figure out what the heck is wrong with the crying baby. they're either hungry, uncomfortable, need to be burped, changed, or are tired. (yes they even cry when they're tired. kylee does the FREAK OUT cry when she's tired.)
6. back to sleep and tummy to play. make sure they are on their backside to sleep, with any blankets/covers tucked under the crib mattress so that they can't pull them up over their heads. try to give your child tummy time every day and slowly their neck muscle and back control will strengthen.
7. find something that makes you feel like you. don't just serve the baby, serve yourself by doing something you enjoy and making time for it, even if it's just once a week. (i have been able to scrapbook and i love it! look for ideas on the archivers website)
8. last, but not least, don't be too hard on yourself. being a mom is the hardest job i have EVER done, surprisingly. i have a greater appreciation for stay at home moms. their job is just as hard as going to school full time and working on top of that. you never get anything done during the day, and you always wonder where your time went, but just remember that this is one of the most important things you will do. you do the best you can and that's all you can do. i always thought it would be a breeze to finally be done with school and be able to stay home with my baby, but i never knew it would keep me just as busy.

that's about all i know about being a mom ... take it for what it's worth.

rice cereal

i posted a video for our first try with rice cereal. i know she's only 4 1/2 months old, but i was excited to try it once i bought a box the other day. they say that she's ready to start on rice cereal anywhere from 4-6 months old. you start out by just trying 2-3 times a week to feed her once she can sit up with some assistance. as you can tell it's going to be a while before she really eats ANY of it. but you're supposed to make it happy and fun so i smiled a lot and did the airplane to get her to smile and open up a little bit. i am having sooo much fun with her ... she is much more fun now that she can smile and somewhat interact. enjoy the video ... just figured out that i can post it within this post.

sooo cute!

i am having so much fun with my baby ... she is so smiley and giggly. she is so particular with the routines we have. she falls asleep and wakes up at the same time every day, within five minutes. just wanted to post a picture of me and her, she is still fascinated with the camera and we can't get her to really smile without sneaking in the camera. she constantly has her fingers in her mouth ... she doesnt' like chewing on anything else yet, she will occassionally take a binky but that's it. yes, that is spit on matt's jeans lol

luxuries

i will never go back to an apartment without a dishwasher and washer/dryer. but you never know how bad it is until you have it and then lose it. last night matt put in a load of laundry and it worked for about 3 minutes until it was supposed to drain and go through the rinse cycle. it just stopped working and when we opened the closet it was in it smelled like burnt rubber. uh oh! that can't be a good sign. so he had to take out all his clothes (soaking) and rinse them out in the bath tub and let them sit wet in a laundry bin. i called our apartment company today and they are sending someone out at two today. thank you for quick service! i hope that it's something they can fix quickly and we aren't left without a washer for much longer. i do have a baby who has blowouts .. haha that's always fun to clean up, but to not be able to throw the dirty laundry in the washer immediately should be interesting. i hope that we get a brand new washer and dryer and that it's completely broken. (it's a double stacked washer and dryer and the dryer still works, but they're attached.) i can't live without the luxuries i've always had ...

i made it myself

i did make kylee ... but that's not what i'm talking about. i figured out a way to make those headbands! they are so easy, i got stockings from the dollar store and sewed it together and glued a hand-made bow with a button in the middle. i've already made 5 different ones to go with her outfits! she's smiling now ... i happened to get her with her eyes open that time. the flash of the camera makes her blink and there's two flashes so by the time the picture actually gets taken, she has already closed her eyes.

sucker

Kylee is sooo good at sucking on her finger and i happened to get this picture of her almost eating her whole hand. Grandma Hudson (Matt's mom) has taught her how to suck on her fingers and she is so preoccupied with eating them now. I can hear her from the other room smacking her lips against her fingers, it is so funny. I can't believe she doesn't gag on her fist! She gags on the regular sized binkies (she only takes a preemie sized binky) She has started to discover her hands, she opens and closes them. Sometimes she starts sucking on her fingers and she open her hand and then her finger gags herself. It is pretty darn cute!

laughs

scroll to the bottom of the screen to see a new video of kylee taken today!

children's book

So a few nights ago I was feeding Kylee (four in the morning or so) and had this thought come to my mind about an idea for a children's book. I thought about all the lines and then I couldn't sleep because I was so excited about this brilliant idea I thought I had had. I wrote down all the lines that I was mulling over in my mind but I still don't think I have enough details for a real book. I know I'm getting my hopes up for something that will probably never happen, but I wanted to get your ideas for the book I would love to someday publish (probably only for my children and some friends ...) So I wanted some help with ideas, finish the phrase "If I could fly ..." I'm writing from a child's perspective so think about the things that they would want to do if they could fly. I'm counting on you for some good ideas! THanks!

the joys of motherhood

here are some of the things that I love as a mom:
1. when your child smiles at the sound of your voice
2. smiles in general
3. being excited for a baby to poopy
4. the coos and babbles
5. nap time!
6. snuggling before bed times
7. all the lacy frills and headbands
8. when daddy wants to hold her
9. being able to watch her all day and not get bored, sucking on her fingers and watching the rattle (see video at bottom .. just added, i figured it out on my own this time!)
10. when she falls asleep in your arms

i couldn't be more in love ... again!

not much

there's not much new with us, but it's been a month since i've posted anything. Kylee is finally getting into a better sleeping routine and life is getting slightly easier in that respect. It is also occasionally nice outside (and by nice I mean above 40 degrees and sunny) so we've been able to take walks on the green belt that runs along the river. (Just down the street from our apartment.) She loves being out and about. She is now 24 inches long and just shy of 12 pounds! She now doesnt' fit in her newborn clothes, and fits into her three month clothes. (Kinda fun to dress her up, but sad that she's getting big so quickly!) Matt's working hard at work and taking 10 credits, still working on his criminal justice degree. So he's completely busy, working all day and then going to school at night until 9 pm tuesday-thursday. It's been a hard adjustment since he's such a help with Kylee, I've been a little more on my own. I've been able to organize our apartment more (due to Kylee's naps) which was long overdue. I also have been working on scrapbooking all of the cutest pictures of Kylee and us with her. I am so proud of myself, i just made my own centerpiece with fake flowers .. I thought it turned out nice. That's all about my boring life. But having a child keeps me the same amount busy as working full time and going to school has. It amazes me how much time it really takes, but it is so worth it! She is such a joy.

pictures ...

So I haven't figured out how to post pictures on the blog instead of in a blog ... (any hints please help!) but I wanted to post some more pictures of Kylee. She is getting bigger and bigger every day. She is starting to smile more ... but not on purpose yet. Matt can sometimes get her to smile. Tomorrow I'm taking her in to the pediatrician to get her two month check up which means she's getting six vaccinations! She is going to be a grumpy girl for a little while with all those germs floating around. Welp, here's our sweet baby.

books

I have recently started reading books again (after Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series I have read them multiple times and haven't found anything good after reading them ...) I'm searching for good reads. Does anybody have any recommendations? I love murder mystery types of books, but am open to really pretty much anything. Let me know, I'd love to find another author that I like.

school and work blah

This is one of the most common topics of conversation because it has been such a big parts of our lives for a while now. I have just finished school at Boise State University with a degree in elementary education, earning a teaching certificate. It took me three and a half years, but still didn't see the point in going to the graduation ceremony. So I am happy to be at home with baby Kylee (who is definitely a full time job in and of herself). Matt is still working towards his bachelors degree, finally deciding on the field of criminal justice. The more he gets into his courses in criminal justice the more he is considering applying for a job on the police force here in Boise. He's taking the first of a series of tests this Saturday (physical fitness and a written one). They have to go through extensive background checks and multiple interviews before getting a job. The more I think about his choice in this area, the more I realize that it's the perfect thing for him. He recently bought a gun for home defense and has been enthralled with weaponry ever since. (I even went to the shooting range with him for a little practice ... it wasn't too scary ...) He is working full time for a law firm doing clerical work and is going to school part time. At this pace he'll be able to finish in about another year. He is extremely bright and a very good employee, I'm sure he will wow the recruiters.

giving this a shot

Everyone's been asking if I have a blog yet, so I thought I'd give it a shot. There are so many things I could talk about, but because I am home all day with a new baby that's where I'll start. Kylee is now seven weeks old and is growing quickly. She is becoming more and more alert as she can now hold her head up and look around at things she wants to. She loves lights and things that move as well as her personal favorite, the TV which combines both. (I'm sure that's really good for her ....) She likes to be held ALL day long and fusses when she doesn't get her way ... already spoiled, don't know how we're going to fix that one ... She is the love of our lives and we couldn't be happier. She definitely keeps us busy. Matt is a wonderful father and has been a real help.