Sunshine

Our weather in Henderson has been wonderful lately. Poor Ryan is stuck inside all the time and misses out. However, I have to give him a quick shout-out for the time he's been putting into training. He is getting himself ready for sprint triathlons this year and has been working out EVERYday (except sundays of course) the last couple of weeks! That's definitely more than I can say that I've done in the last little while. I'm so proud of him for finding time to do it even though it requires him getting up at 5 am and losing some much-needed sleep.

Grace and I have especially been loving the sunny but still sort of cool weather! I love that Grace is getting bigger and likes to play with our friends' kids now. Well... at least watch the other kids play and interact with her. It's strange when Touro has breaks (like spring break) or finals week because sometimes I'll go a whole month without seeing some of my girlfriends. People are in and out of town or kids get sick, etc. The last few weeks have been good though, full of chances to be social. :) I've also found that if I go a few days straight without doing anything social, I get stuck into a bit of a rut... almost like I feel so comfortable staying at home that I forget to go outside myself and do anything fun.

Picnic at Lake Mead

Grace liked standing in the water with the waves rolling over her toes

Our picnic buddies

Ryan said this picture looks like Grace was on Mars. But that's honestly what Boulder Beach looks like! No sand, just rocks.

Grace and Greydon. They were born the same day! They both loved sitting up in the pool and trying to grab their toys before they floated away. Don't mind Grace's pasty white head. I couldn't find her hat, so I just lathered on the sunscreen! Man, that stuff is hard to wash off afterwards!

Walking to the ward BBQ at the local park. It was great getting together with our ward buddies on a friday evening before Ryan went back to studying.

p.s. Did I convince anyone to come visit and play with us in our perfect weather?..... hope so!

I just HAVE to share

I know I just recently posted a video of Grace laughing... but this is too good. Plus I know that the Grandparents will love seeing this! :)

Last night Ryan and I were playing Phase 10 with a friend and Grace thought that shuffling the cards was HILARIOUS. It's so funny the things that make kids laugh.

Just this week...

Grace learned a new trick!

This is all by herself too. Nothing and no one is propping her up for this picture.

We are so proud of you, baby girl!

Have you smiled today?

After church on sunday Gracie was in the happiest mood! She is so great. Sometimes we'll have a day like yesterday where Grace won't do anything on her own and just wants me to hold her when I'm trying to clean or cook. On those days I can get so frustrated and annoyed. But then we'll have a day like today. She had to stay in her car seat for a couple of hours while I went grocery shopping, unloaded the groceries at home, and then we headed to the park. By the time we got there and she finally got out of the car seat, she was already way passed due on a nap. But she was so happy still and loved watching all the kids running around at the park.

Grace makes me smile everyday. I can't remember if I pointed this out on a past blog post or only to Ryan, but I think it's been years since I have laughed THIS often! I am always smiling or laughing about something she's doing. You'd think Grace was cracking jokes or something... but she just makes me so happy. :)

Happy Sunday

*** Warning: Blog post explosion! Make sure to scroll down through the next few posts to see all four I did tonight.

Instead of our regular 3-hour block today, Elder L. Tom Perry came to our stake to speak to us in a special meeting. It wasn't stake conference... I'm not sure what the occasion was, but it was a great meeting! He spent a good amount of time talking about making plans for our own future... individually, as a family, and as a couple. Our God is one of order, and each dispensation has had specific things happen that were meant to be and were necessary. He even talked about how in the Quorum of the Twelve each Apostle has his own "number" and they all know their numbers. The Lord will ordain them and ultimately call them home one-by-one whenever necessary so that the order is correct. Elder Perry even joked about how he checks Elder Packer's blood pressure every morning since he's one number ahead of him! ;) Anyway, the Lord has a plan for us and it's so important for us to live in harmony with His plan.

Anyone who paid attention in General Conference and noticed the main theme won't be surprised to hear that E. Perry also spent a lot of time talking about the family. Specifically, he touched on the importance of setting our priorities as a family. We should keep a general calendar and only keep those things on it that benefit our family as a whole. Our 1st priority is for husband and wife to have time together. The 2nd priority is to have family time. The major key points he emphasized for family time were to 1) find time to teach the family HOW TO WORK, and 2) teach the family how to PLAY TOGETHER. I love that! Those are two things Ryan and I feel strongly about for our little growing family as well. Unfortunately, when Ryan thinks of teaching his kids to work he thinks of his dream farm that he ALWAYS tells me about. Ugh. However, I think of the normal stuff... cleaning, yard work, learn to use a hammer and nails, learning to build something maybe?. Of course Ryan would think of a farm and buying each of his kids a cow to take care of (like E. Perry experienced as a boy). It was a great meeting!

After getting home, eating lunch, and putting Grace down for a nap, Ryan and I got to take a nap too. And man it was good. I just love sunday afternoons.

When we all had woken up refreshed, we skyped with my brother and sister-in-law who are the new parents to this CUTE baby boy! Meet my brand new [surprisingly red-headed] nephew Owen... (neither of them are red-heads)

For dinner I was feeling ambitious and decided to try dinner crepes, stuffed with chicken, onion, spinach, and mushroom. Ryan helped me because I felt like there were a million things to be mixing up or sauteing all at the same time. It ended up SO YUMMY! We were both loving it and it's very filling. We still have half the pan left! If you'd like the recipe, it's here.
After cleaning up, which Ryan did because he's the bestest husband ever, we played Phase 10. We had so much fun and Ryan just barely beat me in the end.

For dessert, we made wheat dessert crepes which were so incredible. I don't know why I don't make these more often! I couldn't stop "mmm"ing after each bite. I filled Ryan's with homemade strawberry jam and melty chocolate chips, and mine was banana slices with chocolate chips. Then we topped it all off with vanilla ice cream. YUM! I want more just thinking about it. Here is the recipe for that one. (p.s. you don't need a crepe-maker to make crepes. I promise you can do it just fine with your non-stick skillet! If I can do it, you can do it)Next time I make them I'll only serve one wheat crepe at a time and not put chocolate AND jam together. Ryan said his was a bit too rich. The wheat flour also made it extra heavy and filling so you sure don't need much.

Anyway, that was our sunday! We had such a wonderful day together and didn't turn our TV on once. We just have a bad habit of turning it on for the background noise even if we're not watching anything in particular. Sundays are our only day where we get to be together for longer than a couple of hours and it was so great to know that we didn't waste any of that precious time on the unimportant things (oops... I just spent an hour blogging!).

I hope you all had a wonderful sunday as well.

It's ALL about her!

It's so true...

But it's ok because she's cute!

Look at that chub. She's really getting thick! I can't believe she went from not gaining enough weight to leave the hospital ... to THIS.

When I put Grace in her highchair to feed her or just to play while I'm cooking, she always falls to the left. I thought she just didn't have her balance yet (which is only part of the problem). It's actually because she puts her right foot up and finds something to push off of. She does this all the time now! And it's only ever her right foot. She's so funny.
This is my almost-mobile girl showing me that she just didn't like the position I put her in. Her head used to be where her bum is in the picture below... She did a full 180 on her own.

Family Night Out!

Jon Schmidt came to perform at the Henderson Events Plaza. It's in "downtown" Henderson (I use the term "downtown" loosely) at a small amphitheater where they hold free events and concerts. It was a perfect (and FREE) friday night family activity... especially needed after Grace and I had been stuck inside for the last week and a half.My favorite song he played was "All of Me", and I think Ryan's was "The Renaissance Hymn" at the end of the concert. He's just AMAZING. We've always known that, but really... he's good.
I haven't been to one of his concerts in a few years and I forgot how hilarious he is! He put this long VERY RED wig as part of his act and it was so funny. Of course he would choose a red one.

After the concert, since Ryan and I had been in the back with a squirmy and noisy Grace, we ended up at the front of the line to meet Jon. I was already at the table buying his Hymns without words CD and I figured I might as well have him sign it! Well the first thing he said when he saw me was "Hey, don't I know you?" I was surprised and very impressed. I thought it would take telling him what stake I was from in SLC and who my parents were for him to remember the connection. What a good memory all these years (and thousands of fans) later!

It was a fun night. I'm so glad there are fun and free things to go to around here. It's nice that we can completely avoid the "Vegas" part of our city and still have a life! ;)

Pictures say a thousand words...

...I was laughing so hard while taking this picture that I'm surprised the camera was even straight!

Doing much better

I'm happy to report that Grace is feeling quite a bit better. The days she was the very sickest (when I was honestly pretty worried about her) was actually over the weekend before she'd seen a doctor. She was so miserable, had fevers off and on, and wouldn't sleep much at night. She just wasn't herself at all and it was a little scary for me. But as of today, Grace still has a nasty yucky cough that chokes her or gags her, but no more fevers! She doesn't want to be carried around all day long though and doesn't give me the "I'm sick" look anymore which is good. I think her ear still hurts her though because she'll squirm and get upset every couple minutes while nursing, and she can still be pretty grumpy during the day... unless there are other people around, of course. She's so social that she'll just smile at everyone and be all happy, even when we're at the doctor's office because she's "so sick". Silly girl.

We've been taking Grace to Dr. Galin at the Touro Clinic to get some OMT (osteopathic manipulative therapy) treatments the last two days and it's amazing to see the difference after that. She only woke up once last night (versus 4 or 5 times) and her nose and lungs are much less congested! Good ol' OMM. The 4th year med student who was rotating with Dr. Galin today said she couldn't hear any wheezing from Grace at all - so the albuterol must be working too. She also received a blessing yesterday from Ryan and our friend Robert. I'm sure the combination of all those things have made all the difference.

The one thing that I just HATE more than her coughing all over the place, or her grumpiness, is that her gag reflex is really sensitive right now... and she has thrown up a few times in the last few days. And it's always right after a full feeding AND her dose of antibiotic. The problem is that it's usually during the process of giving her the antibiotic that she gags. Maybe I'm pushing a little too much in than she can handle at a time, or I don't wait long enough between each little squirt into her mouth. But my goodness! I'm tired of being thrown up on and having it get everywhere. haha Sorry for the yucky details.

Thank you to everyone who has asked about us and helped out! We appreciate it and feel very loved. :) Just a week more of antibiotics and maybe a little lingering cough, and she should be perfectly fine again. Hopefully I can start feeling better soon too. It's amazing how much your own health can go downhill when you're working hard to help a sick baby. It's not fair if you ask me, but oh well. Aw, the life of a parent! :)

Sick. And tired.

Literally.

Our baby girl is sick. :( A few days ago we were thinking "Oh well. It's Grace's first cold. It was bound to happen sometime!" But then today I felt like I should have her see the doctor. Good thing I did!

What was the diagnosis? Ear infection (right ear), Bronchiolitis, and RSV. Yuck!!

Sleeping at night is a joke these last few days (for mom too... I try to let Ryan sleep since he has to get to school early). She's coughing a LOT and is pretty congested. She has had only low-grade fevers ... except last night when I wrapped her too warm and she hit 101.5, oops! We have to start using a Nebulizer for breathing treatments every 6 hours. We did the first one in the clinic today and she was maaaAAAD. Then to top it all off for the day, I tried giving her the antibiotics with the oral syringe and she completely threw up everything I'd fed her 20 minutes before. Oh but wait, she threw up again 10 minutes later from coughing really hard. Fun stuff!

Poor Grace. It's hard looking at those eyes when they're saying "Why can't you make me feel better, Mommy?" I'm trying not to think/dwell on the lingering memories of her stay in the hospital last time she was sick... or the fact that my good friend's baby went through this same exact thing a couple weeks ago and stayed a few days in the hospital. Yeah, and this is me NOT thinking about those things...

Anyway, we're hoping to get over this REAL quick!

On a lighter note... my new nephew, Owen, is ON HIS WAY!!! My sister-in-law has been in labor for almost 12 hours and it shouldn't be much longer. We're so excited!

p.s. I promised to post Grace's weight/height at 5 months, so here they are:

WEIGHT 14 lb 10.5 oz

HIGHT 25 1/4 inches

Our 5-month old

Grace is such a good baby! Of course she has her moments, but no matter how many diaper blow-outs she has, or how many times I change my spit-up covered shirt in one day, I love her so much. Grace makes me laugh everyday, and she makes me feel so much joy and fulfillment. Even at 5 months old, she is beautiful, sweet, curious, independent, happy, stubborn, and loving.

I don't know Grace's weight and height stats yet. I was hoping to go to her doctor's office yesterday just to get those two things but she has had a yucky cold. Hopefully I can get her weighed and measured next week.

Grace has tried bananas, peas, carrots, rice cereal and sweet potatoes. She really likes rice cereal but only if it's mixed with breast milk, and she also likes carrots and bananas. She nurses 5 times a day, has diaper blow-outs a few times a week (but it's not an issue with diaper-size or the brand... it's just her system). I'm sure you're glad I shared that with you. ;) Grace hates to be on her tummy but she won't roll over anymore. I try to remind her how to put her hands underneath her and push up, but she just keeps her hands in fists and her head down. However, she seemed to like being on her tummy while she was on the ground with her 6-month old cousin last week. So I think as long as there is a friend on the floor with her then she's fine.

Grace doesn't nurse during the night anymore, but she does wake up a few different times and cry. The strange thing is that whenever we go check on her and put her binkie back in her mouth, we notice that she's not actually awake. She just yells in her sleep! Is that strange? Has anyone ever dealt with that? I've tried a few nights in a row to let her yell/cry it out, but that just wakes her up even more and gets her more wired. After 10-12 minutes each time I end up just putting the binkie back in, which calms her enough to fall asleep again. I don't know what to try at this point... but now that she's sick and waking herself up coughing at night, we've stopped letting her cry it out for now.

We haven't spent too much time outside these days... I don't know why. We went on walks a lot before Spring Break and before she got sick, but I'm sure we'll get back outside more often soon. She is so interested in everything outside and loves to look around. She'll give me these big smiles when we go outside with the stroller. I'm so excited to start visiting the pool all the time! I have a feeling she'll LOVE it.

Right now, with Grace being sick, she is so cuddly! That's the only part I like about her not feeling well. This week she's been letting me carry her around in my arms, and rock her to sleep. It makes me feel like even though there's nothing I can do to make her better, at least I can comfort her and give her the one-on-one attention she wants while she is feeling yucky.

Grace also likes to sit in her bumbo chair (which we're borrowing from a friend... Thanks Mel!) and in her high chair, as long as we're paying attention to her and she has a toy to look at/grab. She HATES getting in her car seat. She'll scream and arch her back and try to keep us from pushing her arms through the harnesses. But once she's in, and we start moving she's usually just fine. The car-ride to and from Salt Lake was a little rough at times though. Grace loves loves loves bath-time and really enjoys the few minutes afterwards when I put lotion on her. I mean what girl doesn't like being pampered? I think her gums are already bugging her, but she doesn't understand that chewing on her soft baby teething toys is supposed to help. Maybe she'll get it soon.

I can't believe it's been 5 months already. What a crazy experience that all was 5 months ago... We sure love you, sweetheart! Thank you for bringing us so much joy.

Easter Sunday

Easter morning looked like this... But since it's Utah, it was all melted within a few hours. Funny how that happens.

Grace was having a rough morning and wouldn't take a nap unless I was holding her so she was all tired and grumpy. Her typical schedule was all thrown off by that point in our trip. She usually is so good about falling asleep easily when I lay her down at nap time. But ever since going on vacation it was like she forgot all of those good habits!

Anyway, we headed over to the Turners' house at noon to meet up with the whole family. It was so great to see everybody and to be together for the first time since Christmas! We ate lunch together...

All of Grace's cousins are so cute and love to see her when we visit. Apparently Drew (4 years old) still includes Grace in his prayers ever since she was in the hospital. Isn't that sweet?

Aunt Tori with baby girl. Doesn't Grace look HUGE in this picture? It's the thighs... And maybe the cheeks...
Presenting the newly-engaged couple!! Kyle (Ryan's bro) asked Katelyn to marry him just a couple of days before. We're SOOO so excited for them. We adore Katelyn and she makes Kyle so happy. Yay for love and weddings. :)
Grandma and Grandpa Turner. When Bob (Ryan's dad) held Grace on the night that we drove into town, Grace seemed to be scared of him! We're not sure what the problem was. She would get that sad pouty-lip and start to cry. Poor Grandpa! Don't worry, we know she loves you. ;)

For dinner, we headed back to my parents' house. My sister, bro-in-law, their kids, and my Grandpa Brent Goates joined us. It was yummy! (I'm sure my sister loves that I used this picture... hehe)

And look at this CAKE! Oh my heavens, it was incredible. The out-of-focus photo doesn't do it any justice. Sorry about that. But my sister really outdid herself with this cake. Mmmm I wish I had some right now...
My mom with the baby girls.

We had a wonderful Spring Break in Utah. I already miss everybody again. I'm grateful that we had such a long break and were able to make it up there to visit. Thank you to all our friends and family who hung out with us! We love you guys.

Spring Break 2010 (part 1)

What a great time of year! General conference, Easter sunday, break from school, time spent with family, pretty flowers are blooming, beautiful weather (ok, maybe it's only beautiful in Henderson at the moment).

Ryan, Grace, and I have had a wonderful spring break together. We were able to head up to St. George for a few days and then on up to Salt Lake for the last part of the break. The weather didn't exactly cooperate, and it wasn't much of a SPRING break, but we made the best of it and still had a blast.

In St. George, we stayed in my Grandparents condo with my parents, and sister & her family. Ryan and I really enjoyed taking Grace to the pool for the very first time. Ryan even dunked her for the first time and it FREAKED ME OUT! He hadn't warned me he was going to. Her poor face when she came up was like "What did you just do to me?!"

The weather in St. George was nice enough to spend some time at the sand dunes and walk around by the Tabernacle, Temple, and historic areas of St. George.

(click on the photos to enlarge them)

I had WAY too much fun taking pictures of Grace and Layla (her cousin, only a month older than her). They are just too cute together. It'll be so awesome when they start interacting with each other, and teasing the boys!
Across the street from the Tabernacle is the Orson Pratt House and the B&B they turned it into. It looks really neat! Maybe someday we'll stay there and enjoy the historic/antique feeling they have there.
When we got to Salt Lake, I literally made a list of twenty or more things we needed to do while up there. I hate feeling that we didn't get all the things done that we needed to. Among other things, we wanted to make sure we visited certain friends & family members who hadn't met Grace yet, go to SMASHBURGER a couple times (the absolute yummiest burgers!), go to an endowment session at the Salt Lake Temple, get some much-needed scrapbooking supplies, go to a General Conference session, and spend lots of time with family.

Going to the Temple was exactly what we needed. Having a baby makes it quite a bit harder to make a 2 1/2 hour trip away from her and going to a session, so it had been awhile since we'd gone. We had a wonderful experience there together and were grateful to my parents for watching Grace. Unfortunately, Grace was NOT the perfect angel we had all hoped for. She cried practically the whole time we were gone. So because of that, we cancelled our plans to attend the saturday afternoon session of General Conference because we figured she would be just as unhappy during those hours as well.

During priesthood session on saturday night, my sister, my mom and I made homemade strawberry jam and wheat bread! YUM! I will definitely be doing this again and want to try raspberry too. It's so much easier than I ever thought. People always told me it was easy... but I didn't believe it until I helped my sister whip up 4 batches in no time. Thanks goes to my mom who pretty much had to spend the whole time with the 4 crazy kids ...

More to come...