Christmas Time

We had a really nice Christmas this year. It was our first Christmas not being with either of our families, so it felt a little strange to just have the 3 of us. The best present this year was the 3-way tent we got Ruth. We had such a blast playing in it with her on Christmas day. It is a surprising ab work out to crawl through that tunnel!


The food was also great! Christmas Eve we had steak and twice baked potatoes and Christmas night we had lamb and roasted carrots and red potatoes, YUM! This was my first time making lamb, and using my new meat thermometer. Sounds dumb, but I pulled the lamb out after 30 minutes because I didn't know how to read the thermometer and I thought it was over-done. After cutting into it and finding it to be completely raw inside we stuck it back in. Ha! But attempt #2 turned out great and we snacked on it all night long. Oh, and roasted carrots are ridiculously delicious...they're practically candy.

Ruth has also become a world-class present un-wrapper. She helped us open our presents: Brad got a Mossburg shotgun and a I got a recliner! One of my favorite parts of this holiday season was reading everyone's family letters that were sent to us. I also enjoyed the music. One of my new favorite Christmas albums is by Aimee Mann.

Pregnancy

I was reading up about being 18 weeks pregnant (nearly half way there!) and found some funny stuff!


First: my uterus is the size of a small melon!


Second: the newbie is the size of a deli pickle.


I've always thought the comparisons made to food were strange...but I guess food is something pregnant women can relate to!

Happy Christmas Eve-Eve!

I really just wanted an excuse to post these pictures of Ruth. She has, for the most part, gotten over her super clingy phase. In the end it really only lasted 3 or 4 weeks! She's once again playing by herself for part of the day and even wanders off down the hall by herself, it's a miracle! She doesn't even cry when Brad leaves for work...usually. And, best of all, she was babysat by friends who live at our apartment complex...(drum roll please) and she did NOT cry the whole time. She didn't even cry right after I left! She played with Finn (their little 1 year old) and had fun!!!! This is a huge improvement over the last time we tried to go on a date, where she DID cry the whole time. So YAY!


We've been letting her open a few of her Christmas presents early...big mistake...now she sits in front of the tree trying to open all the presents. She also loves to pull the shiny blue and silver ornaments off the tree...and put them in her mouth.


She has learned to climb onto the coffee table, her toy car and the couch, throw a ball, and the names of several objects including: clock, book, Christmas tree, foot, nose, Mama and Daddy. She also likes to wander around with her new mittens on.


Anyways here is what she has been up to recently:



If you listen closely you'll hear Barbara Streisand's "Jingle Bells" playing in the background.

Things I've Learned This Year

1. Don't buy a used car before taking it to a mechanic.
2. I hate paying for TV, especially when all the shows I want to see are online now.
3. Don't sign a contract for something like television unless you know how much it will cost to cancel your subscription.
4. Buying presents for your husband is REALLY fun.
5. Buying presents for your child is even better.
6. Don't plug your cell phone in to recharge unless it's already beeping at you, otherwise you end up with an 18 minute battery life.
7. Don't let your child play with your cell phone, they delete contacts.
8. Meet your neighbors, they're usually nice.
9. Don't go running with a stroller unless it is a jogging stroller, your child could end up with a huge bump/scab/tons of scrapes and you feel horribly guilty for weeks.
10. All little girls should have pretty pink toe nails; all big girls should have sexy red toe nails.
11. Keeping record of all incoming and outgoing money isn't hard and is strangely satisfying.
12. Moving is stressful.
13. Losing baby-weight takes effort. Ha!
14. Paying medical bills is not fun. REMINDER: have next large medical expense within the same year so insurance deductible works for us and not against us!
15. Recliners are amazing.
16. Having a loving husband and curious/adorable daughter is the most rewarding thing in my life.
17. Having sister-in-laws is WONDERFUL.
18. Children make a mess: toys, clothing, diapers, food, etc. etc.
19. The temple is awesome. It is relaxing and reassuring and comforting. It's like visiting a good friend who always makes you feel warm and fuzzy.
20. I truly love my Bradford. I realized today that I've been telling him "I love you" for 4 years now. I'm happy to say that it's still true.

Actual Conversation

Brad: It feels warmer today
Me: Yeah, it does. I bet it's like...23 degrees.
Brad: I guess 20.
It was actually 13 degrees, a whopping 3 degrees warmer than yesterday! They weren't joking when they said it gets cold here. (Last night it was -4 degrees.) I don't like the cold.

Thanksgiving

We had a really nice Thanksgiving this year. My entire family got to come to Twin and it was so nice! Here are some pictures of our outings.

Ruth's B-day!

She's one year old! We had a great time yesterday opening presents and playing with the wrapping paper. Some things about Ruth at 1:
*She has been walking for a couple weeks. She ventures out on her own without any prompting. It's so fun to watch her do her open-mouthed zombie walk from the coffee table to the desk...or wherever she's headed.
*She has become a pickier eater. She no longer eats apples or bread! She loves raisins, fruit leather, spaghetti, mandarin oranges, cottage cheese, bananas and yogurt.
*She loves to bang things. Whenever she can snag silverware she bangs it on every surface possible.
*Ruth loves books. We sit and read books for hours every day. I lay them out on the floor and have her pick the ones she wants. She brings the book back to me, climbs on my lap and if she really likes the book she requests it to be read several times in a row. Current book favorites include "Mr. Brown," "Moo, Baa, LaLaLa," and "The Foot Book."
*She's started to play the give and take game where she shows me something and gives it to me, then takes it back. I always say "thank you" after she gives me something, and she's started to mimic those words.
*I've stopped counting how many teeth she has because she is constantly getting new ones. Last I counted it was 9, but I know she got two more molars and a couple of her canines are coming in now!
*She has become much more social than she used to be. At the store she loves to wave to people (especially cashiers). I always feel sad when she's waving someone down and they're too busy to notice her as they walk by! She also loves to use her little hand to point at things: well she doesn't really point, she uses her entire hand to locate objects. Her favorite thing to "point" at is the clock.
*She's great at drinking out of her sippy now. It usually contains water, so when I'm sneaky and fill it with juice or whole milk she gulps it down really fast!
*She's started groovin' to music now which has made us laugh so hard. She has always seemed to like music, especially at church. We spend time every day singing songs, and if she's upset "Give, said the Little Stream" is sure to calm her down.
We're just in love with her and are so glad we've had her for a whole year. She's got such a personality now that is so fun to watch grow. We love your Ruth!

New Baby

So I thought I was being optimistic by thinking I was 8 weeks pregnant. Today we went back to the doctor so they could do an ultrasound to give us our due date; turns out I'm 12 weeks along! My due date is May 26, 2010. This means Ruth and the newbie will be 18 months apart. We are so excited to be expanding our family and inviting another little one to come play with us. Ruth has been such a joy, we just love being her parents. We think she'll make a great big sister.

The main thing that has been effected by this pregnancy so far: I dread changing Ruth's poopy diapers because of my heightened sense of smell and nausea!

Cute Story Baby

(She started doing this yesterday, not sure why!)

Before I get into the cute story: I won't know when I'm due till we go back to the doctor this Tuesday and get an ultrasound to see how far along I am...we're guessing June. This is because I had a miscarriage before this pregnancy so there aren't any base dates to start from.

Last night I made berry cobbler, I had a major craving for it. Ruth had already gone to bed so she didn't have any. But cobbler is the best breakfast EVER, so this morning Ruth and I both had big bowls of it, sans the ice-cream! While I was dressing her I kept telling her it was the best breakfast she'd ever had, and she believed it. After a few bites I said, "Ruth, is that yummy?" She looked at me and said, "Yea!" Then I said, "Do you like it?" And she said, "I do." Then after a few more bites I asked her, "Are you full?" She responded, "MORE!"

Of course, these are all normal sounds that she makes these days, so I'm pretty sure it was complete coincidence that she happened to make the right noise to my question, but it was still adorable.

This is a picture of Ruth during our ward's trunk-or-treat, she happily played in the trunk while I handed out candy.

Ruth!

Winter

Winter is upon us...IT'S FREEZING HERE! The high has been 38 degrees, but then the wind has also been between 20 and 45 mph so it feels like it's in the low 20's. It's ridiculous! I made Ruth some booties to help keep her warm because she won't keep socks on for the life of me. I found the idea of how to make them HERE, but then turned them inside out so that the seams were on the inside. I also added elastic and folded the top over so that hopefully she'll keep them on her feet. It was super easy and only took about an hour to cut and sew. I used two layers of pink and white striped flannel for each side of the bootie so that they'll be extra warm, and then two layers of pink flannel for the sole. They don't look super cute in the picture but are cute on her tootsies.

Cute Story Baby

This morning when I went in to get Ruth up, she was standing up in her crib as usual. I reached my arms towards her to pick her up and she started to lift her arms to reach me...then suddenly she looked down into the crib and dove back down. At first I thought this was very strange, she's usually so excited to get up and eat and play. But as she re-emerged I understood, she had to go back for her Homba! She couldn't just leave the little guy in the crib, by himself! Once she'd snagged her buddy she happily jumped back up and was ready for the day. This girl is so cute, the things she does just cracks me up! Above is a picture with her buddy the baby fox, also known as her Homba.

I also just have to include some other pictures of her.

Her new winter hat:

And her Halloween costume:

Our apartment complex had a little Halloween party tonight, so Ruth and I went down to get some treats. She was a hit with everyone. I love this picture because it looks like she's doing a plie (sp?). If you can't tell she's a fairy. I made this costume for her several weeks ago, it's a onesie, a pair of tights, a bolero jacket made from one of her old receiving blankets and a bunch of sparkly fabric for the skirt and wings. And you can't really see her hair in this picture but it's in a cute little bun on the top of her head!

Halloween part II

2nd Annual Dirty Viggo Fest

Jack-O-Lanterns and Lord of the Rings. Our favorite Halloween activity. Well...there's always the candy part too...

Teaching Ruth to Share

A Week in Review

(She's eating an apple)

Flu shots (Ruth was a total champ), dental appointments, Brad met with his boss again, Relief Society Super Saturday (which was tons of fun), Ruth is growing two molars, I finished my quilt, and taught a cooking class last night.

These two are crafts we did in the afternoon at Super Saturday:



I know the quilt looks crooked, that's only because I was falling off the couch trying to get a picture of the whole thing!


This is the edge of the quilt:


This is the back side of the quilt. Since the front squares are all birdhouses I thought it would be cute to back it with bird fabric.

Quilting and conference

So, yesterday was conference (Elder Hollands talk/testimony was amazing) and I quilted the entire time; I started around 9 am and finished just after 10 pm all the while listening to conference. It was great. Brad set me up a little station in the living room so I didn't have to be banished in the back room. So now I'm completely done with my quilt squares. It's really weird that I'm all done with it! I still have to bind it all together and pick out backing fabric, but the hard work is done! I'm really happy with how it turned out, especially this last square with the pine tree.

And this is a cute picture of Ruth and Kase this last Friday at the playgroup!In other news concerning yesterday...it snowed! I woke up, casually looked out the window and couldn't believe my eyes...it was snowing! It ended up snowing pretty much all day. This video is Ruth's reaction...

Recently...

I am on a quilting rampage. I finished another square a couple nights ago, and today during conference I cut out all the pieces for my last 3 squares! Woohoo!


This is the other thing I worked on this last week. I got the idea from some crafting blogs I was reading. It's called a "Busy Book" or a "Quiet Book." Lots of these other bloggers use them for Sacrament meeting and other times they want their kids quiet, but realize asking them to sit silently, still, with nothing to do is futile. Here are two of the blogs I got ideas from: craftingchicks as well as Quietbooks. I didn't do an amazingly professional job on these, but it was really easy, really fun, CHEAP ($7.50 total) and only took me one afternoon!

The above is the front and back cover of the book. Everything, unless otherwise noted, is made of felt. The left side is a mail box with paper in it to write notes and the right side is a tennis shoe for kids to practice tying their shoes! I simply cut out the shapes I wanted and then stitched them onto the felt. The letters I hot-glued on.

For some reason this picture came out sideways. But the top page is an ice cream cone that I sewed with different stitches on my machine using brown thread. Then I cut out the felt scoops. The bottom page is Noah's ark. I only sewed the boat along the bottom edge so the stick animals can fit into the boat. The water is made of shiny blue thread.


These animals are my favorite part of the whole thing. I just used googly eyes and small popsicle sticks and cut out fun animal shapes for the ark.

The left page is a little pocket that holds the alphabet for practicing letters. The right page is a felt tree. I sewed the trunk on with brown thread and made the black garbage bag to collect all the leaves in. I was surprised because I didn't know if Ruth would like it or not, but she loves pulling on the pages. She especially likes to shake the animals and listen to their eyeballs shake around.

Playgroup

So I've starting going to the playgroup that my ward has. It's been really nice to have something to look forward to, to have other women to chat with, and Ruth loves to crawl around and watch the bigger kids. This last Friday my friend Mandy Williams snapped these amazing shots of Ruth; she's so talented! I love how simple and beautiful these pictures are.

Fall

I love the smell of Fall, I love pulling out all the sweatshirts and other winter apparel and I love putting up seasonal decor. My mom always decked the house out for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas; those are such happy memories. So I wanted to start creating our own memories or the fun decorations we pull out each season. But first things first; below is Ruth swinging on the baby swings in front of the public library. She loved it! I even pushed her really hard and she just giggled and looked around. After about 15 minutes the swinging motion made her kinda sleepy so we left!


But back to the decorating: I made this wreath from a grape vine wreath, fake leaves that came in bunches, black ribbon that I already had, a plastic squash and an orange sunflower. This only cost me $7 to make and I can re-use the wreath for Christmas, Spring and Summer because I didn't glue any of the ornaments into the wreath!


I also made this flower arrangement which only cost $3! I've totally gotten into flower arranging in the past couple months. I've read different online sources about what to think about when creating arrangements, like you usually want 3 different shapes/colors in an arrangement...I can't really remember any of the other pointers at this moment, but yeah! Anyways, I already had this vase and the black river rocks (which originally cost about $6.50) from a simple summer arrangement I had. I like this one a lot because it's orange and black for Halloween! I also just like how the bunch of flowers look on top of the tall skinny vase.


And once again, I've finished another quilt square. This one was fun because I learned a new technique. I hadn't made these stars before, which were pretty tricky, but most of them turned out really well. I'm really proud because in the last 7 days I finished 3 squares! AND NOW I'm 2/3 of the way done. I only have four more squares left (I'll save you the math: I've finished 8 squares)! I've really learned to enjoy the small details and to be patient with the monotonous cutting because the tiny details make all the difference when the whole square gets put together. My goal is to have it completely finished by Ruth's 1st B-day: November 18th.

Happy Fall Everyone!