Firsts!

The past few weeks have been full of excitement as M has experienced many "firsts." Her first Halloween, crawling, dancing, climbing on everything, screaming, playing peek a boo, going to sleep without crying(MIRACLE), FIRST TOOTH and first words. It's been busy at our house!

Reaching High!

We could not wait for her to start crawling and now??? While it's so fun to see her progress, man you have to watch her like a hawk! She notices EVERYTHING! She has quickly learned the word "No." I sometimes feel like that's all I say... and apparently it is, because that was her first word!!!

A couple weeks ago I was changing her gnarly diaper, and she stuck her hand in it. Gross! So I said, "Maddie No no!!" And she yelled, "No no!" So I said again,"No no." Plain as day she said it right back to me. I was so proud... and then I felt kind of bad that NO was her first real word. SO I've decided that I say no too much and I am never going to tell her no again. Ha ha!

Yes she has a coke in her hands, and since I can't tell her no anymore, hey what baby wants...baby gets! Just kidding- I didn't even give her a sip!

We spent some time at my parents house, and they have a little yorkie who is not so found of Little M. She would always bark at her. So Maddie now not only says "No no no!" She also points her finger at the dog, or me, or whoever she happens to be telling no to and shakes it back and forth as she is telling you no. I think I've created a monster!

M's First Halloween!

Maddie Loved her costume as you can see. We went out trick or treating 2 different times. This was the first time. Not loving it. Yes this is our sweet little family. Me (pooh), Maddie (honey pot), Ster (Pimp).

This is us with my sister-in-law, Mandy and niece Lauren. She was a cowgirl, unfortunately you can't see how adorable her little dress was in this picture. Maddie's saying stop, no pictures!

"I'm serious! No more pictures!"

Baby with her pumpkin and new little bunny from Grandpa Steele.

2 Seconds!

So I would always hear moms say how they couldn't wait til their hubby's got home so they could go to the bathroom by themselves, or take a shower, or brush their teeth, or in my case, do the dishes, etc. And I always wondered why it was so hard to take those 2 seconds for themselves. I mean I know babies are work, but come on. Well yesterday I once again understood, as I have many times before, as I've looked at the time and realized , "Oh my gosh it's 5 and I haven't even gotten dressed, when's the last time I showered, and had my hair and make up done by the time Ster got home from work??" You wouldn't think that would be too hard right!

Well yesterday I was being a good girl, sitting right by Maddie on the floor while she played. (She has me on a pretty tight leash these days, and strongly protests if I'm further than rolling distance away from her.) I had just finished my spaghetti and thought "I better go rinse this out before M gets her wild hands on it." I literally walked into the kitchen, rinsed my plate and came back to find this:

My full glass of water all over the floor and M splashing around in it! I was gone 2 SECONDS! And she was way far away from it when I left. The little devil thought that as soon as I turned my back, "Now's my chance!" And she steam rolled her way to that glass as fast as she could. She's not crawling yet, but apparently is mobil enough. Good thing it was just water or mommy would've been in big trouble! I love her little innocent face.

Yard Work!

Well, we've finally started to try and fix up our yard a bit. I should've taken a picture of all of the wild sunflowers that had taken over our yard. Not so pretty. One day last week Ster came home and poured a little slab of concrete outside of our office. We thought it'd be fun to put M's handprint in it. She wasn;t so sure about it.

Then while Ster was doing some work in the track hoe Maddie was fascinated with it, so we decided to let her take a little ride with Dad. She loved it... that is until it started moving.

Stranger Danger

So a couple weeks ago M and I went to CA and had a blast. I wish my family could see her more often, she's constantly changing and they just love her to pieces. She gets so spoiled with attention when we're there, and everyone just ooh's and ahh's over everything she does. Well on our looonng drive back, Kimmy and I decided to stop and eat at a Wendy's in Vegas. When we walked in there were a few shady characters in there and one in particular that we were trying to ignore as he was trying to start up a conversation with us by saying "Well hello ladies." We just pretended to be hard of hearing and the next thing we know M is smiling and cooing at this dude. Well we couldn't ignore him after that! When do babies ususally develop the stranger anxiety? Wendy's would've been a good time to have had that!

Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

So the other night I was sound asleep when Sterling started trying to grab my pillow. I said, "What in the heck are you doing?" and he mumbled something. I soon realized he was totally asleep. We every once in a while have little conversations while he's "asleep" but they're usually short. Not our little tug-of-war. He would not quit, so I finally turned on the light (to wake him) and I said, "Sterling, knock it off!" His eyes are wide open, so I figured he had snapped out of it. He lays back down and says to me, "I was just trying to recycle!" What???? I started laughing so hard! Who dreams about recycling? Just kidding babe. Thanks for going green!

Not Sleeping a Thing of the Past???

Well for all you people with babies that have been sleeping thru the night... move on over! 2 nights ago a miracle occured. Maddie slept for 8 and a 1/2 hours. That's right. And I think she would've slept even longer if I hadn't gone in and gotten her. Why in the world would you wake a sleeping baby?? Well, she usually wakes up every 3-4 hours to eat, and last week she had just started to extend it to 4 and a 1/2, so after about 4 hours I kept waking up every half hour, and starting getting nervous that something was wrong as this was very out of character for her. And by 8 and a half hours I was more than a little uncomfortable(being a nursing mother and all. Wink!) Last night she slept 6 and a half hours! I think we're on a roll. I don't know what to do with all this extra sleep... by body is having a hard time sleeping right thru. So now that Lil M is getting very close to sleeping thru the night I guess I'll have to retrain my body to also. I hope I didn't jinx my 2 good nights by writing about them!

Wild Weekend!

Bear Lake, snorkeling and Rock Band. Friday some of our friend's from Vernal stayed with us, and Saturday morning we were bored so we decided to drive out to Bear Lake. It was so much fun, except for the dang sand storms. We had to go way out in the lake so poor Maddie wasn't bombarded with sand. Luckily you can go really far out and it only goes to your waist. While we were out in the water, a huge gust of wind came and blew over our heavy duty stroller with the car seat in it and all! After the lake we rushed back home to get ready for our Rock Band party with some friends from Ster's work. Ster and I dressed up in our rocker attire and Ster busted out the party lights. We had a blast!

We were wore out by the end of the weekend, and apparently so was lil M! She rarely can fall asleep on her own, and this time she fell asleep while I was feeding her and we were video conferencing with my parents. That's one tired lil babe!!!

Shots!

Wednesday I had to take Maddie in to get her 6 month shots. I hate taking her to get her shots! She turns bright red, and doesn't breath for almost a whole minute. I'm always scared she'll pass out or something. This time, I thought she was so darn cute, I decided to video tape her right after. I think we have a little drama queen on our hands!

Happy Anniversary!

Well last week Ster and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary! We take turns planning what to do. Last year Ster surprised me with a trip to Canada! So not to be outdone... this year I surprised him with concert tickets to AMERICAN IDOL!!! What a lucky man, huh! Wink. He was a good sport and even enjoyed the concert a bit. I loved the concert it was awesome. I also took him to our fav sushi place in Salt Lake. Now that Maddie is almost 6 months, I thought I might survive without her for a few hours. While I enjoyed just being with Ster, by the end of the night I was SOOOOO ready to get back to my lil babe! I've never left a concert before the encore performance, but my anxiety got the best of me, and we left a bit early. We were gone for 5 hours. I was so glad to have my sis up here to watch her. I must've called her 10 times. But all in all we had an awesome anniversary, and I am so lucky to be married to the most awesome husband EVER!!!! I love you babe!

Look Karen I blogged!

So I got busted for not blogging for such a long time. I had good intentions to and wrote that last entry almost a month ago, but with all my vacations and what not I kinda forgot to blog. More to come soon... I promise. So try and contain your excitement until the next blog!!! Wink!

Maddie's Smile

Well Monday June 16th, Madison and I flew out to CA to spend some time with my family. I was really nervous to fly with her and not be able to stand if needed. If she's awake she likes constant movement. She did so awesome on both flights. I had so much fun with her that day. I strapped her in the bjorn facing out, and let me tell you how dang cute she was. We could not walk ANYWHERE without people stopping and talking to HER(not me... I don't know if some people even noticed me!) She has such an outgoing personality already and this contagious smile that could light up anyones day!!! She smiles at anyone or anything, and as we were walking on the plane I felt like we were walking down the red carpet. She was making eye contact with every person she could, and everyone was stopping me to talk to her(every once in a while they'd stop talking to her for a second to ask her name or something and then go right back to her) When she smiles he WHOLE face smiles. She opens her mouth as wide as she can and her eyes twinkle and you just want to kiss her to pieces!!!!!

California!!!

Everyone can finally be happy now that I've posted the Pics from CA!!! We had so much fun out there. Thanks all for driving out for the bbq!!! Aubs and Adam surprised us with a visit. It was so fun to see them!
Finally Keylee and Maddie got to meet. Keylee is such a good baby!!! I tried to get M take note. As soon as we layed the 2 little ones next to each other... I've never seen so many cameras come out. Those poor babes were seeing stars for days after their impromptu photo shoot!

Great Aunt Gloria holding M. Great Aunt Shellie finally meeting M!!!
Austin and Maddie. So cute!

This pic was taken at the start of our 10 hour drive. See the scared look on lil M's face. I too should've had a scared look!
It was all worth it! Hanging out with Glamma til 2 in the am


She sure loves ger glam(haha)pa!!! Once Aunt Jen arrived everyone was lucky if they even got to look at her!

4 Months Old!

I can not believe how time flies. Maddie is 4 months old today! I swear she gets cuter every day. It's so fun to watch her discover new things. Yesterday I layed her on her back, and was in the bathroom getting ready, and I heard her doing her mad grunting voice. I was about to go out and get her when she started to happily coo. I peeked out and she had rolled on to her tummy. She's been trying to roll onto her tummy for a couple weeks now, but has been unable to figure out how to get her arm out of the way... I leave her for 5 mins and she does it- go figure. Now she's really got it down and is constantly practicing. I think I better get to baby proofing.... Fast!

Lost Brain Cells!

So I just got back from a week in Cali with my family. It was so much fun! I will post more about that later. Before I was a mom I would sometimes notice that "moms" could be a bit loopy at times. I just thought it was some weird coincidence that I knew so many loopy moms, but I now know the truth. It's called SLEEP DEPRIVATION!!!!!

I love to cook and last night I made some homemade fried rice and orange chicken. It was so yummy and I thought I was on such a roll with cooking so I decided to make some box brownies too. Easy right? Made 'em a hundred times. Wrong! Instead of the 1/4 cup of water it called for I added 1 1/2 cups? Why? I'd like to say because my sweet lil baby is possibly going thru a growth spurt or just trying to slowly kill every last brain cell I have by wanting to nurse every hour and a half or 2 if I'm lucky, and I had to hold her non-stop the entire day ( I think she got a little too used to my fam holding her non-stop. Jen, can you come up sooner please!!!)

I drove to CA with my friend Kimmy. I left my car at her house. So as we're on our way back home I realize I have no idea where the car keys are. I look thru everything. I must've had 10 bags. So today I call my mom and I'm making her look thru the entire house for them because they HAVE to be there. When she's exhausted all the spots they could be she says, "Kristin are you sure you don't have them." What a silly ? Of course I'm sure, but I'll look thru everything ONE more time. I am so embarrassed to say I had them the whole time. And don't ask me to bring a salad right Trish!!! Ha ha! Oh and please don't tell Sterling I found my keys... He might be a little upset that he had to drive to Orem to bring me the spare. Some day I'll get to sleep again right???

Knee Test

Since I've been feeling good after my latest knee drama I thought I would give the ol' knee a test. Less then 2 1/2 months ago I had my acl replaced (thanks dead dude who donated your tendons) and a broken femur fixed. I was really worried that things would be pretty ruff, crunchy, etc, but so far they have been good. ...So I climbed the hill behind my house.

It was a fun little hike. I camped at the top, had a fire, and listened to the jazz game on my Shower Buddy Radio. Here are some pics.I still can't believe I live this close to cool stuff and good views.

My Camp.

Warm toes.

First Mother's Day!

Well today was my first Mother's Day and man I wish it was Mother's day every day! Ster made me lunch and dinner AND bought me a treadmill!!!!! What a beautiful day.

Friends For Life???

We had a little photo shoot with our baby and the Hartle's. Our babies our exactly 5 weeks apart. This picture cracked me up because of the looks on both of their faces. I don't think they were quite as amused as me!

It never gets old!

I thought for sure I would get a ton done with so many helpers... Not so much! Everyone was so cute with lil M that I spent most of my time watching them or taking pictures. Here's Grandma Great singing the Lalalalalala song she'd always sing with us when we'd cry.

Big week!

We've had family staying with us for about a week and a half and it was so much fun! It was also really nice to have people hold and help take care of the baby, as she can be quite needy! She rolled over for the first time last night and I joked with my family that she would've done it earlier if she would've been put down for 2 seconds. Maddie got to meet both sets of her great grandparents and uncle Jason for the first time also. This pic is of Uncle J making her workout. He thought she had a few rolls to work on!

Blessing day!

We had Madison blessed this past Sunday and I was so nervous about how she would be during her blessing since she's probably one of the oldest infants ever blessed!(2 and a 1/2 months Not really, but she's just awake a lot more now.) But she woke up at 6 and I didn't let her sleep until it was time to go to church and it looks like my plan worked. She slept all the way thru church. Ster gave her a beautiful blessing and I was feeling more emotional than I had in a long time. So much so that I even got up and bore my testimony. I think I almost gave my parents and Ster a heart attack! It was an awesome day, and so great to have many family members and close friends there.

She Giggles!!!

I called my mom this afternoon because while I was playing with lil M, she kept almost giggling. So I said to my mom, "Maddie is 2 seconds away from giggling." And right when I said that she giggled. It was the cutest giggle in the world!!! I knew she was getting close because sometimes when she's sleeping she'll giggle in her sleep. She will also sometimes cry in her sleep, and frown the biggest frown. I wonder what she's dreaming about? Milk???

Clean House?... Maybe in a few years!

I was talking to my mom on the phone yesterday and telling her how embarrassed I was about the disarray of my house with my father-in-law here for the weekend. Now there's usually some stuff here and there, but when I know company is coming, I always do a quick run thru out the house at least for the "glory clean" as my hubby calls it. (That's when you clean all the stuff that people will see, so they think your house is immaculate, when little do they know if they just opened the closet door next to them they might die!) But this time, I didn't even do that, and let me tell you my house needed WAY more than a glory clean!!!! I told my mom I just didn't care that nothing was getting done... I just love my baby way too much, and when she's awake I want to play with her, and read to her, and just watch her as she discovers new things every day. And when she's asleep I just want to cuddle and rock her and kiss her and watch her to make sure she's not growing too quickly(sadly she is!). So since those are the 2 things she does, well my house has just gone to pot! So my mom told me about a popular poem from back in the day and I think I might have to post it in my house so when we have company they know I know my house is a disaster, but I'm just enjoying every second with my little cutie too much to care!

Here's the poem:
Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,Hang out the washing, make up the bed,Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo. Dishes are waiting and bills are past due. Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo

The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew. And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo. But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo. Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow. But children grow up as I've learned to my sorrow. So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep! I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.- Ruth Hulbert Hamilton

New Member?

These pictures were taken on our first Sunday back to church. I guess I'm the typical paranoid first time mommy, cuz she was 6 weeks old before we took her to church. Everyone I know was talking about how they were sick or thought they might be coming down with something and I just didn't want to risk it. It was so much fun to dress her all up. She looked so adorable!!!

I felt like a brand new member of the ward because I had hardly been at church the last couple of months before I had her anyway.