Unpleasant Surprise

I love my yogurt and granola with blueberries in the morning. I've heard so much hype about this greek yogurt and seen it in so many recipes. So...I caved. I thought I'd give it a try since sometimes I fall for these new hypes like almond milk (my new love). But this...YUCK. Way too creamy and nasty. I love you Dannon Light & Fit. I'm not going anywhere.

Catch Up

December is such a busy time. I am in love with the Christmas season though. I am yet to buy one Christmas gift and I'm not even stressed about it. I have been thinking so much about Mary and Joseph traveling to Bethlehem. Can you even imagine the spirit that must have been in that stable when baby Jesus was born? It gives me the chills just thinking about it. Like President Uchtdorf said in this month's Ensign, do you think the people in Bethlehem knew that such a powerful presence, the Son of God, was right there in their midst? I have no doubt they did.

Well first I wanted to just say that I am so glad I am not this guy.

13 finals. THIRTEEN my friends. Doesn't that make you want to vomit? I remember in college when I had 3 toughies and I wanted to lay over and die. I keep telling Scott, "I'm so glad I'm me and not you." Our kitchen table and kitchen floor have become a file cabinet but it's okay. I will accomodate whatever I need to. There are piles and piles and piles of notes everywhere. He is such a good boy.

The other night I went to the temple for a friend of mine at church who was going through for the first time. I knew Scott was super overwhelmed and needed to study but he offered to watch Jane so I could go. It takes about 3 hours total to go and do a session here. On my way home Scott was sending texts like, "Hurry" and "Are you close?" I kept thinking, "Oh no she must be screaming, I feel so terrible!" But I walked in the door and this is what I saw....

I was laughing so hard I almost peed my pants. This was his genius way of calming her down. He said she was fussy and not a happy camper so threw these puppies on her. I asked what she was listening to and he said, "Oh just some Brittany and Katie Perry." I'm hoping still that was a sarcastic comment.

Jane is a total daddy's girl. She is like perma smile when he holds her. It's a constant roller coaster ride, flying through the house, throwing her down into piles of pillows, you name it. At first I was so uptight and kept saying, "Scott! She's a newborn, be careful." But I've given up and when I see her thrown on the bed and the biggest smile on her face when she looks up, I know she's okay. So I'm over that one.

This is another one that freaked me but she laughs the whole time. How can I tell him to stop?Thanksgiving was great this year. We ended up having it with some other students at the institute building. With such a big group, our places just aren't big enough to hold everyone. Last year we sat on the couch and floor and Scott insisted that we sit at tables this year so it feels like Thanksgiving! We didn't have the cozy "homey" feeling but it worked out great and the food was delicious. Matt got up at 2AM to throw the turkey in his smoker and Scott was in pure heaven with his smoked turkey leg.

We are going to bless Jane in Utah over Christmas break so all the family can be there. Scott's mom made the most beautiful blessing dress for Jane. It took her hundreds and hundreds of hours to make. That's not an exaggeration either. The pictures don't do it justice but you can get the idea. Thank you sweet Muffy.

She's old. And not to mention big, but it will be so fun to do it with family.

Jane and I are off to Utah in just a few days. I'm praying she'll be good on the plane. She's so good but she wants to always be looking around and moving around that I hope she can stay put. When we went to Chicago I swaddled her and she conked out the whole time. I'm not seeing that happening anymore. My fingers are crossed. Scott is coming out jut a few days later, that is if he survives his week from you know where. Christmas is all about family and I'm looking so forward to it. Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas time!

Oh My!

SERIOUSLY? Where is the time going???

(5 days old)

(today....)
I looked at Jane today and thought, "Woah girl! You are getting huge!" It only seems to be getting better and better though. Love this girl.

Oh and I had to share this great litle shot of our future Snowbird ripper....

My blessings

Today I am so thankful. I woke up to a beautiful sunshiney day to a smiling baby and an although quite sick, wonderful husband. I'm so grateful to have a warm, clean house away from the bitter cold that I can turn on my Christmas tunes and whip up some hot chocolate for us to start off the day. It has been a wonderful day of being together, getting some good exercise, and cooking up a storm. I am so thankful today and wish that I could remember more often to have an attitude of gratitude.

While I was nursing Jane up in her rocking chair this morning I was thinking of all the things I am grateful for. Of course, at the top of my list is my Savior and the knowledge of the gospel. What a blessing that is in my life. Second of course comes my family. Boy am I blessed to have the greatest family in the whole world. Of course we're not a perfect family. Everybody has their struggles but the beauty is that we are there for each other and that's what brings us closer together. Isn't that truly what family is for? We're all in this together.

Here are a few more (mostly wonderful worldly) things that I am so very grateful for today:

1. the library

2. pandora

3. Red Mango frozen yogurt

4. the rocking chair in Jane's room

5. my elliptical

6. salmon filets from Costco

7. the internet

8. a cell phone

9. our little subaru that is still pulling through for us

10. pomogranite Edy's popsicles

11. wonderful friends

12. Omaha

13. the mountains

14. temples

15. a piano in my living room

16. my jogging stroller

17. my husband

18. hot chocolate

19. sunshine

20. baby Jane's smile

21. Honey Bunches of Oats, Oatmeal Squares, & Honey Nut Shredded Wheat

22. washer and dyer

23. my scentsy

24. my California King size bed

25. the turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, homemade rolls, green bean casserole, and pie that I'm about to partake of very soon.

But this is by far the greatest blessing of all. Never could've imagined I'd love being a mother this much.

Chicago!

I have wanted to go to Chicago for the longest time and this past weekend my wish was finally granted! Some of my family was heading out there to watch the Utah vs. Notre Dame game and we were so graciously invited. We couldn't pass up the opportunity.

Jane and I took off on Thursday to meet everyone and boy did we have a blast! The first night we headed to a fancy steakhouse where I was a little out of my comfort zone, but boy did we enjoy it! It is one of the top rated steakhouses in the world, David Burke's Primehouse. What a treat it was! I just felt way too guilty getting a $70 steak so I went with the $30 salmon! I hate to say it but my broiled salmon at home with my lemon & herb sprinkled on top is just as yummy! They started us out with these amazing cheese popover rolls that were to die for! They serve them in a 1 cup measuring cup and they were SO delicious. I could have eaten 10 of them. Our dessert was this "lollipop" tree of cheesecake bites. They looked like suckers and were served with whipped cream and fresh raspberries! Scott had a test Friday morning he couldn't get out of so he ventured out to meet us later on Friday. Since it was just my dad and I, everyone thought he was Jane's dad! He kept correcting people saying, "No, I'm just grandpa!" but after so long he just smiled and said, "Thanks!" I'll tell ya, it's different there. In Utah (or where we live here in Omaha around so many students) a baby is just so normal but there I can't tell you how many people went goo goo over the fact that we had a baby. I got stopped at least 30 times so people could look at Jane and ask how old she was, etc. I couldn't believe it! We were like celebrities! Jane had so much fun with her grandpa.Friday we all went to this fabulous breakfast place called the West Egg Cafe! It was so delicious. Breakfast is my most favorite meal to eat out.We spent the rest of the day shopping on Michigan Ave which was a DREAM I tell you. We were just one block away so it was so fun to be staying down where all the action was! I didn't take one picture that day, I guess I was too busy shopping! Jane was an angel though and slept in her stroller the whole time! I was in heaven at H&M, a GAP that was 3 floors, Forever, 21, you name it! And the best part of all....I only spent 5 bucks! (I know, I am so proud of myself too).

Friday night we met up with my step dad Monty and Marty & Kelly for dinner. We went to a place called the Big Bowl. I thought it was delicious but Scott disagreed. He said his dish had way too many peanuts in it, that's all he ate. But I had a tofu pad thai that was so yummy!And just to top off that night as if we hadn't already indulged enough we went to Ghirardelli with my dad. It was like a dream come true for Scott. He could not decide for the life of him which fancy sundae to get. He finally went with The Domingo! I had a chocolate shake that was to die for and my dad got a pumpkin spice hot chocolate. Yum yum! Then there was the game. Oh the game. We headed out early to South Bend, Indiana to watch the Utes play a great football game and take in the experience of being at Notre Dame. What a neat campus! I can't beautiful how beautiful it was and everyone was so incredibly kind and classy. We hung out for a few hours there with everyone (there were tons of Utah fans there, we basically took over Chicago! It was like they were everywhere you went)! We ate hamburgers and went in the beautiful churches and watched the Notre Dame team come out of Mass and cheered them on as they walked in their suits towards the stadium to suit up. We must have cheered them on a little too much danget!

But then the horror began. The problem is the Utes didn't seem to show up for the game! It was chilly and started to pour just as we were walking into the stadium. Jane and I tried to hack it with lots of coats and ponchos but she just wouldn't have it. I went out into the hall where we were covered and watched the game for awhile. This sweet man came over to me and said to come down to the First Aid room and watch it in the heat on TV and I could sip some hot chocolate and nurse Jane. Deal! I went for it! We went back up into the stands for the 4th quarter when it stopped raining but unfortunately the Utes were getting creamed! It was still a blast though.

Jane was a champ through it all (as always) but was spent. We were so exhausted when we got back to the hotel that we rented a movie and ordered room service. Great way to end the trip. I loved Chicago. I needed one more day there.The buildings and the architecture was so beautiful and it had such a great feel to it. I can't wait to go back someday soon! Thanks dad!!!

Aunt Holly!

Last week we had such a fun visitor! Jane met her very first aunt, aunt Holly! Scott's darling sister came up from St. Louis for the weekend. We lucked out with beautiful weather and had such a great time. We ate great food, shopped, watched the terrible Utah vs. TCU game, had a nice relaxing Sunday, just great company all around.

Here we are at our most favorite place to celebrate, the Cheesecake Factory!

It was so nice to have a 3rd person around to help out with Jane! Reality kicked in when Holly went back home and Scott to school. I was very spoiled last weekend with so much help!

We had a great skyping session on Sunday with the fam. It was fun to finally have Holly on our end!

We walked down the the beautiful Botanical Gardens next door. Most of the flowers are gone but it's still such a beautiful place to go and walk around with the leaves and I love the darling berry trees!

Come back soon please! We love you!!!

Elder Update

Wow! Thank you, thank you to everyone and all your fabulous advice on that last post! I really can't thank you all enough. I went and got the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child and am enjoying it. A lot of you reccamended it. I do have to say though that the overall message of what I learned from you all is that I just need to chill out and do what I feel right about as a mother. I think I feel the pressure of being a mom and I need to just take it a day at a time. I was frusterated with Jane's degress in sleeping through the night and it seemed like everyone I talked to, the first question they would ask me is, "Is she sleeping through the night?" But ya know what? I'm okay with it! She has been going down really good, not putting up a fight. I've tried putting her down earlier like 7ish (just like that book reccamends) and she just won't have it. In all honesty though that bedtime is just not practical for us right now, at least to keep it up consistently. So for now 9:00ish is great. Night's have improved, the fussiness has really gone down in the evening (I've hardly noticed it at all this past week) and she's back up to about 5 1/2 to 6 hour stretches during the night which I'm just great with. So thank you again for all your great comments, I'm sure there will be more coming soon.

We are doing great around here and loving the Fall season. It is going WAY to fast though. It has been so beautiful and I've actualy enjoyed the drop in temperature. It's kind of nice to throw on jackets and sweaters for a change. The mornings have been chilly so this is what Jane's been wearing on our runs. Scott and I call it the fat suit. It's been great! I got an elliptical for my birthday which is SO SWEET but I'm trying to milk up outside as long as I can cause I know it's gonna be a long winter.

We had a great Halloween. Jane was a pumpkin and was adorable. I was laughing so hard when I put the costume on her. I couldn't stop. She had this look on her face like, "What are you doing to me mom? Seriously?"At the dental school they have a parade for all the wives to come and bring their kids to in their costumes and all the cute dads take their kids around to "trick-or-treat". We took Jane just so Scott could show her to all his professors and we had a great time walking around with all the commotion. Jane conked out of course. The more noise the better she sleeps it seems.I caught a great pic of her smiling but it was with my phone so it's kind of crappy but it makes me laugh. She is smiling so much and cooing and it kills me. I love her so stinkin much.Scott has been so busy with school. The last 3 nights I haven't seen him because he's been gone before I wake up and gets home after I've hit the sack. It's hard to have him gone so much but I feel so lucky to have my best little buddy with me all the time.

We're so excited for Scott's little sister Holly to come stay with us this weekend from St. Louis! We're going to have a great time and are so excited for Jane to meet Aunt Holly.

And other great news....we're going to Chicago/South Bend for the Utah vs. Notre Dame game!! We're so excited and we're somewhat splurging but can't wait. GO UTES!

Her are just a few more pics of Jane. Okay so I used to read peoples blogs that had just had a kid and I remember thinking, "Okay enough with the kid pics, what ELSE is going on? Maybe some pics of you guys?" GUILTY. I totally understand now. I've turned in to one of them. So sorry.This is Jane-o lounging out in her bouncy seat while I cook dinner. It's a tradition now to have her up on the counter while I cook and I just talk to her the whole time. I know it won't last too much longer so I'm milking it. Thank heavens for the bouncy seat.

Doesn't she look so big? Speaking of:

2 month appointment stats:

97th% for heighth (so sorry Jane-O but you're totally gonna rock your heigth girl)

93rd for weight! Woohoo! Go Jane! I am LOVING the rolls in the thighs. Nothing cuter.

Calling all moms!

Alright all you young mamas, I'm callin' for help. There's a few things I would love some advice on if any of you can relate (which I'm sure some of you can).

So.
The first thing is this. Jane (even as a newborn) has never gone less than sleeping 3 hours a night intervals. She improved more and more every week and we even got up to 8 hours a few nights. She's also always gone right down when I've set her in her crib and closed her door. No crying, sometimes a little fussy and I'd go in and stick her binky in and then that was it.
Well....that fantasy is over. Last week she had a bad night. She woke up 2 hours after I had put her down and quite a bit that same night. The next night, same thing but not quite as bad. The next night....could NOT get her to go to sleep. She was FREAKING out screaming. It's easy for me to say that I'm just going to let her cry it out but when it actually happens it's so hard! She was crying like she was dying to say the least. I put her down earlier because lately she's been kind of funny with her last feeding at night. She will just start crying right in the middle of eating, it's like she's so frusterated. I'm thinking, "Is she just tired?" So if I pump she takes the bottle beautifully and doesn't cry at all. So I've had to pump at night which I don't like because I don't want that to become a permanent habit. Last night she did it too but I would just stick her binkie in and it would calm her down and then I'd hurry and pull it out and she'd latch back on but I had to do that like 5 times. In the end we were successful but that doesn't always happen.
So has anyone had that happen with feeding? It's only the feeding right before bed.

Next. Does any one have any advice on sleeping through the night? I've been reading and trying to do Babywise for her schedule and it was working great but then we've had this total degress. The longest she will go now is 5 or 5.5 hours this past 4 days. So do I feed her? Let her cry? Just rock her? I'm not sure what to do so any advice would be awesome.

Also, at night now (about 7:00) she seems to get fussy. She doesn't scream and isn't unconsollible or anything but she's just way more high maintenance if you will. I have to rock her in her bouncy seat (usually she'll just chill out in it), or I have to walk her in the stroller, or just constantly be moving her or interacting with her. She's not terrible by any means but sometimes will just start to cry which is way unlike her. Is this just normal? I've heard people always talk about their baby having a "fussy time" and I think it's common at night but it's just new for us I guess. Should I try putting her down at this time? I tried that the other night and she cried for 2 hours so I bagged that idea. Do I just need to stick with it and eventually it will play itself out?

I know this is a ton of questions but any advice would be great. It's not the end of the world, I feel so blessed she's as good as she is. She's a total rockstar throughout the day, the most low maintenance gal ever but night time has all of a sudden become a little struggle. I'm just bummed I guess that we've degressed on her sleeping time. The last 2 nights she's gone right down but hasn't slept more than 4 or 5 hours and then only 3 and then 3 after that. The Dr. said at 2 months she's going through a growth spurt and will want to be eating more. Is this just a phase then? I know I should count my blessings cause there's babies out there that wake up every hour. But any help would be great!

Oh shoot! One more thing! Sorry if you're so sick of this. Nap times. When do I start putting her down for naps during the day? She always conks out in her car seat and her stroller so she's getting naps there but I'm not very good at putting her down in her crib for a nap at a set time during the day. When do I start this? Do I force it? Does it just come naturally? I want her to have naptimes (mostly for my sake).

Okay that's it (for now at least). Any advice or tips is greatly appreciated. I have so much to learn. Thanks everyone!

A first....

This week was quite a special event in Jane's life! She experienced her first round of golf! Scott had 3 days off for Fall Break and I got us into the biggest pickle of all time (but I will talk about that later), but we did make sure that we did get something fun in as well! We played 9 holes at Elmwood and then 18 at Woodland Hills which Scott has wanted to play for a long time. It was a beautiful golf course about an hour away in the middle of nowhere. It was so dang beautiful and the leaves are prime right now, we had a wonderful time. Jane loved it! We loved cruisin' on the cart, and dad played awesome!

Elmwood Golf Course (and the 1st picture of us as a family ever!)

and Woodland Hills:
This is Scott giving Jane the pep talk about how she's gonna be a killer golfer one day...We are loving Fall. More to come on what we've been up to lately...