Hadley - 3 months

I really can't believe Hadley is already 3 months old! Time sure has flown! I can't even begin to say how thankful I am to have her in our family and how much we love her! She is a REALLY good baby. She does have her moments, but I really can't complain! She is a great sleeper (thank goodness, because I was worried for the first few weeks), loves to smile and laugh, adores her big sister, and will actually just sit and chill for longer than 5 minutes (unlike her sister was at her age). When she wakes up at night, she doesn't even cry. She just grunts and sometimes even just babbles until I get her. She loves napping in her swing, and is starting to really enjoy her bumbo chair. We love her cheeks, her giggles, and her chubby legs! We love our "Had-ster" as Liberty would say!

Be Mine

Valentine's Day has always been one of my favorite holidays. I think it is because it is close to my birthday, and because I love the colors pink and red together. I know, kind of silly reasons. Unfortunately Trever was on long-call on Valentine's Day, so we celebrated the day before. It ended up being sort of a marathon date, but it was a special ocassion. Grandma Helen was kind enough to watch the girls while we went out. First, we saw "Confessions of Shopaholic," which was entertaining. Then we went back to Grandma Helen's so I could feed Hadley. Then we left again and had dinner at California Pizza kitchen. It was so nice to actually do dinner and a movie, since we hadn't done that in a long time! It only took from about 1:00pm when we left for Grandma's until 9:00pm by the time we got home!

On Valentine's Day Grandma Jan and Becky invited us over for the kids to decorate sugar cookies and play. Later that night, Becky came to our house to hang out and play with Liberty. After his shift at the hospital, Trever picked up some cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory for us to enjoy at home. It was delicious, and worth his 30 minute wait for it. You would think you could just walk in and pick some up in a few minutes! Needless to say, Trever probably won't be doing that again next year.

I got Trever some exciting gifts... a couple of t-shirts and some socks. I got Liberty some red mixing bowls for her kitchen. Although she really liked them, after she opened it she said, "I want more presents." She isn't greedy, but I realized the only experiences with presents she has had are her birthday and Christmas, both of which she got multiple presents. We had to explain to her that sometimes she only gets one present. She got over it quick.

Messy-Poo's

Saysha and Abby invited us over to decorate sugar cookies for Valentine's Day. Both Liberty and Abby were excited to be "Messy-Poo's" again. (For Halloween they decorated cookies and I called them "Messy-Poo's," which they thought was hilarious, and they've talked about that ever since.) Liberty was more excited about licking the frosting and eating the sprinkles more than anything.

For the sake of journaling...

Since I've started blogging back in 2006, I have changed my main objective for blogging. It used to be mostly to keep family and friends up to date as we lived away from our families and some friends. Now that we are closer to family and some friends, I have decided to focus more on journaling for our family. Of course, we love that friends can see what we are up to, so that is still important to us. Eventually (as soon as I can get caught up) I'd like to make books from our blog. Anyway... on that note, I want to document the simple things more often. Like, the cute/funny things Liberty says and does.


Liberty has always loved puzzles... and she is SO good at them! We were shocked at how well she could put them together! She honestly could put them together faster than we could sometimes! Now that she has mastered all the puzzles she has, I decided to buy her one that would be a little more challenging. I knew it wouldn't challenge her too long, but initially it would. I bought her an alphabet puzzle. She doesn't know her letters yet, but has been able to recite the abc's for several months. Well, she was challenged for a couple of days, but has now mastered her new puzzle. She is now working on speed. She will do this puzzle over and over, and is started to recognize letters, which is a bonus! During her puzzle time, she comes up with some funny things.

Last night, she was putting the "Z" in it's spot which has a picture of a zipper in the spot. (Sometimes when she puts the letters in their spots, she talks about the pictures.) She then said, "Zipper....Zip your lips!" I of course laughed, so she repeated it a few times. I then asked her, "Who says, 'Zip your lips?'" She responded with, "Adam says, 'Zip your lips.'" Now, anytime Liberty sees the "Z" she says, "Zip your lips!"

Today, while doing the puzzle and sitting on the chair next to me she dropped a puzzle piece and in response said, "Oh, gracious!" I'm pretty sure I know where she got that from! (Me :) )

Bedtime Routine

Lately, Trever has been in charge of the bedtime routine with Liberty, especially now that Hadley is around. I don't think he minds too much most of the time, since he is gone most of the day. It's a nice Daddy-daughter bonding time for them. Anytime I ask Liberty who she wants to put her to bed, she immediately says, "Da-da!" Mom just doesn't cut it anymore! I think one of the reasons she chooses Trever is because he will often times fall asleep with her and she finds comfort in that. And as a sidenote, it's usually way past "normal" bedtime for kids by the time we put Liberty to bed, so it's time for Trever to go to bed anyway.

Well, Trever has been a little under the weather today, so I took over the bedtime routine tonight. Surprise, surprise, as we were gathering her bedtime paraphernalia* she says, "Mom will you sleep with me?" I told her I would lay down by her for a few minutes. She was okay with that - sort of. I let Liberty choose some books to read first. Of course, while I'm getting the books, she insists that I lay down next to her in her bed. We read the books, and then moved onto singing songs. I told her we could sing two songs - I would pick one, and she would pick one. She wanted me to go first, so I picked, "I'm Trying to be Like Jesus." Then I told her it was her turn to pick a song. After a second or two she says, "Popcorn," which of course is, "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree." I sang that to her, and then told her I was going to turn off the lights, and lay down by her for two minutes. I turned off the lights and she started to get comfortable, and then popped up and said, "I forgot to choose one more song!" How could you say no to that! So I said, "Okay, what song do you want to sing?" She paused for a few seconds and said, "Bush... Mulberry Bush!" I laughed inside and sang, "Here we go 'round the Mulberry Bush..." a couple of times. I was actually pretty surprised at her choice. I'm pretty sure that's not the most common bedtime songs for 2-year olds, or any kids for that matter! I got a kick out of that.

So I finished the song and told her goodnight, and layed there for a minute. She tossed and turned for a minute, and then was settled. I sat up and told her I was leaving. She then said, "Da-da's turn!" I told her that tonight just Mom was putting her to sleep because Dad was sick and he needed to rest. She was okay with that. I climbed out of her bed, and she quickly said, "I forgot! I forgot to give Mom hugs, Peace-man, and I love you!" We exchanged hugs, and she flashed me a few "peace" signs and "I love you signs," which is her normal bedtime (and goodbye) routine. I told her I had to go and clean the house because it was messy. I told her in the morning she could tell me if it was clean or messy in the house (another common remark from her). We said our final "goodnights" and I left the room. I went into the office next to her room to post this blog, but as soon as I sat down I heard her calling to me. I went back in and she said, "Clean up, Mom, clean the house!" What a girl! I guess I better get to cleaning the house, or I'm going to hear it from Liberty in the morning...

*Bedtime paraphernalia: three blankies - "brown blankie," "pink blankie," and "baby blankie," Dora doll, "Kitty Cat," pink "dot-dot-dot" dog, poodle, and a drinkie; and toothbrush and toothpaste, and Aquaphor on the nightstand.

**The best part about all this paraphernalia? When she wakes up in the morning she gathers all of her "stuff" (that's what she calls it) and brings it into my room where I'm still sleeping. She obviously has to take a few trips. Typically, she'll come into my room and say, "Hi, Mom!" And then one by one hands me each item saying, "Here, Mom, here Mom," until all of her stuff is in my bed with me. Then she climbs up and snuggles! And don't you worry, the toothbrush, toothpaste, and Aquaphor are included in the "stuff" transfer! I love this girl!

Cortnie & Louis

This weekend was full of Cortnie & Louis' wedding festivities. Their wedding and dinner was on Friday, then the ring ceremony and reception was on Saturday. I have never seen a couple happier to be getting married than these two! I have also never seen a couple enjoy their reception more than them! They were on that dance floor most of the night. I think our favorite part of the night was watching them dance to "Can't touch this." They were awesome! Cortnie did an amazing job planning her wedding too. She didn't miss a single detail! It really was beautiful. I was one of Cortnie's bridesmaids, and Liberty was the step-in ring bearer. Louis' nephew was the original ring bearer, but he was not interested in it! Since Liberty looked so cute in her little white dress, they asked if she wanted to. I was a little nervous about it, and wasn't sure she'd cooperate, but we went with it. Luckily, before the ceremony Cortnie told me she didn't care if Liberty caused a scene, because that, she did! AH! Liberty walked very nicely with Emma and stood up front (along with all the wedding party) holding the ring pillow, but that didn't last too long. I had no idea the Bishop was going to give such a long talk. Otherwise, I would have had Liberty bring the rings, and then sit down with the audience. As soon as we got up front, Liberty starting saying, "Lots of people, Mom, lots of people." (She rarely uses her quiet voice.) Then, "What we doin' Mom?" Then she wanted held, so I held her. She continued to chat, drop the pillow a few times, etc. Then she went over to the flower girls and started trying to talk to them. Haylee and Liberty started talking with each other. Then, as if things weren't bad enough, Liberty falls down a couple of steps, and the crowd gasps! Of course, she starts crying (I knew she was okay), so Tonie runs up and grabs her, and I quickly whisper to her to hand her to Grandma Helen. The Bishop paused for about 10 seconds, and continued with his (long) talk. Liberty continued to cry (for Mom) for a minute, but luckily calmed down soon after that. Luckily, I think Cortnie and Louis were so happy about being married, then didn't even care about the commotion! Later, they laughed about it, thank goodness! Needless to say, that part was a little stressful for me, and I was glad to have it over with!

Afterwards, we enjoyed some great food, lots of dancing, and fun with family. Liberty absolutely loved the dancing (as usual) and had a great time dancing and playing "ring around the rosies" with Ellie and Haylee. Trever and I even got a dance or two in!

Congratulations to the happy couple!

The Chariot

We finally got to use the Chariot with both of the girls after purchasing an infant sling for Hadley. So far, she has loved it, and Liberty enjoys the company. Now if I could just figure out a routine so I can start running again!

Hadley's Blessing Day

Hadley was blessed in church on January 4, 2009. It was a very special day for Hadley, and for us as parents of a precious baby girl. Trever did a wonderful job, and gave Hadley a very heartfelt and sweet blessing. Hadley looked beautiful of course, and was able to wear a 5th generation blessing dress. Special times like this baby blessing make me especially grateful to be a mother, and so thankful for healthy children.

Although the day was certainly special, it wasn’t the “perfect” day we anticipated. The detailed story – for documentation purposes – is below:

We have been planning on blessing Hadley in January since shortly after she was born. We had also planned to have a little luncheon afterwards for family who came to the blessing. Our church is at 11:00AM, so we thought it would be perfect timing for a little backyard party.

We spent pretty much all day Saturday preparing for guests. Trever spent most of the day working on the yards. We had an overgrown tree that he spent a lot of time trimming, pulled lots of weeds, mowed the yard, and cleaned off the porch and concrete slab. He even was working on it past dark. He also worked on the front yard quite a bit as well. Oh, and Liberty "helped" him out a lot throughout the day. I spent most of the day cleaning the house, getting clothes ready for Sunday, grocery shopping, and preparing food for the party. Dad brought tables and chairs over on Saturday, and Mom sent party goods, such as table cloths, paper goods, etc, and got the blessing dress cleaned and pressed for Hadley's special day.

Speaking of the party... we told Liberty we were going to have a party for Hadley's blessing day. Of course she was excited, and talked about it all day long, particularly mentioning several times that "all the kids" were going to come. She was definitely looking forward to it.

After all the planning and preparation, things didn't go quite as perfectly as we had envisioned. After at least a week of beautiful, sunny weather, the forecast was predicting rain showers for Sunday. The highest chance of rain was between noon and 2:00pm - right when our party was going to happen! The highest percentage we saw as we kept checking the forecast, was around 50%... we kept our fingers crossed!

We woke up Sunday morning and started getting ready. When Liberty woke up I went into her room and the first thing she said was, "Emily is here!" Then, "All the kids are coming!" (I think she may have heard me talking and thought it was Emily.) I then brought her out, and we took her into the kitchen for breakfast. Trever got her a bowl of cheerios and some cheese, per her request. She wasn't happy with mozzarella and started whining and crying. As she continued to throw a little tantrum, we told her if she didn't want to eat her breakfast, then she could go back to her bed. After going back and forth a little on that, she then told us she had "owies on her tummy." I got her out of her chair, and held her, and realized she was probably getting sick. A stomach virus has been going around, and we figured she had caught it! What great timing, huh? We immediately knew she was sick, because she was just not acting herself... she wouldn't eat, and just layed on the couch, hardly talking. She also didn't get excited about anything she normally did, including her Grandmas and Grandpas and Kacey, Logan, and Becky stopping by before church. Then during church, she spent the whole time sitting on my or Trever's laps, just not acting herself. She didn't even want to sit by her cousins. It was so sad to watch her!

However, the most important part of the day, went really well. Trever gave Hadley a very sweet and special blessing. She was even on her best behavior for it! Trever is such a good Daddy, and loves his little girls like crazy. It was so great to have both of our families there to support us, and help bless Hadley. Hadley is so blessed to have so many amazing examples in her life.

Well, unfortunately, things began to happen from there... I went out into the hallway with Hadley, and saw that it was raining. So much for our beautiful outdoor lunch! Then, after church Trever was holding Liberty in the hallway, and she threw up all over the two of them. I didn't see it happen, but I guess it was quite the mess. After getting cleaned up, we had to rush out of there to get them home and change. And, Hadley was crying at this point. Sad to say, but we didn't even get to take any pictures. The whole time during church, I kept hoping Liberty would hold on so we could take a few pictures of us. Oh well!

So we went home, and began getting things ready for lunch. With the rain, we had to move things inside. Our house just isn't quite big enough to host a party that big, but we didn't really have a choice. While I was helping prep the lunch, Trever bathed Liberty and was getting her set up in our bed to lay down. As soon as she got settled, she threw up again! Trever bathed her again, and I cleaned up the bed and set it up again for her to lay down. Through all of her sickness, Liberty was such a good girl. She was so brave, and didn't really even cry. I saw her chin tremble a little here and there, but she was so big! It was so sad to see her not feeling well, and such a bummer that she missed out on the party she had been looking forward to. We finally got Liberty set up in bed again, and she ended up sleeping through most of the party.

As soon as I got Liberty settled, I went in and got Hadley. She was fussy, so I took a few pictures of her, changed her clothes, and fed her. By the time all of this was done, everyone had eaten, and people were getting ready to leave soon. I was able to eat some of the tasty food – Hadley’s grandmas and I made some delicious soups (I made loaded baked potato soup; Grandma Helen made vegetable soup; and Grandma Jan made enchilada soup. Heather made her specialty, rolls, and Mindi, Emily, Chandy, and I made some yummy desserts (lemon bars, Janet’s chewys, Hershey kiss cookies, and peanut butter bars). I wish I had pictures of the wonderful spread of food. Luckily it was one of the few things that went as planned that day! We were able to enjoy some of the company, although I wasn’t able to be much of a hostess between taking care of Liberty and Hadley. Thank goodness several people stepped up and helped get everything set up and going. Thanks to all of them! Oh, and thanks Grandmas for washing the dishes!

Things eventually wound down and our guests left. Liberty woke up from her nap as the last bit of Trever’s family were packing up to leave. As soon as they left, the happy and healthy Liberty returned! She was a new person! She acted, and apparently felt, 100% better. She immediately asked for something to eat. We gave her a leftover roll, and she devoured it. She went on to eat 3 rolls, and would have eaten more if we let her! She also ate a good portion of a bag of popcorn! She literally was running in circles by the end of the night! What a bummer that she was only sick for about 3-4 hours, and it just happened to be the most important (and fun) part of the day! We felt SO bad that she had missed the whole “party” she had been talking about the entire last couple of days. Interestingly enough, the only thing she said was (after she asked about something and I told her it was from the party), “Oh man, I missed it!” I promised her we’d see “all the kids” very soon.

Aside from the “changes in plans,” it was such a special day, and we are so thankful for all our family and their love and support for our little family. We love our “Baby Hadley,” and are so blessed to have her in our family.

The Phoenix Zoo

Liberty has been wanting to go to the zoo for a few months now. I kept telling her we could go "when Dad has Christmas break." We planned to go earlier during his two week break, but it just kept not working out. Wouldn't you know it, we finally went on the last Friday before his break was over. We bought a season pass, so we'll surely be going back again soon!

We had a great time, and the weather was beautiful! The entire time, Trever and I coudln't help but talk about how much we were enjoying Arizona's "winter" weather. Liberty loved seeing all of the animals! We probably only made it through half of the animals, but we didn't have to worry about it. We'll catch them next time!

Happy New Year!

We rang in the New Year with some of our family this year.

Trever went to the traditional Insight Bowl with Kevin and Autumn, and in the process, tried out the new light rail from Mesa to Tempe. I figured with having Hadley, I’d sit it out this year. He had a great time of course – football with his brother… who could ask for more, right Trever?

The girls and I joined Emily & Troy and their kids, and Matt & Mindi and their kids at the Lines’ house. We ate pizza, wings, and lots of treats, and the adults played Wii while the kids played together (with an occasional fight). We had a blast with the American Idol game – it was some of our first tries at it! It was similar to karaoke, but you were scored according to your ability to stay on key – or close to it. You could be anywhere between “great” and “awful.” When you’re done with your song it tells you how often you were “great,” “awful,” etc. Needless to say, we enjoyed a lot of laughs that night! Trever joined us after the game, and got a kick out of it as well. We had some great duets! Trever was surprised and how much Emily and I came out of our shells to “perform.”

At “midnight” (probably close to Easter Time midnight) the kids went outside and banged pots and pans and shouted “Happy New Year!” I don’t think most of them understood it, but they sure enjoyed the chance to make some noise!

We got home just in time to get our jammies on, and all 4 of us snuggled together in our bed, wishing each other a Happy New Year as 2008 passed us by!

We wish us all a happy, healthy, and successful 2009!