.:Five Months:.

My baby is five months old! I can hardly believe it. It seems like I was just barely making her four month post. Reece is so much fun right now! She is really becoming alert, and loves to interact with people. She doesn't really feel like a baby anymore! We decided that we need to make up a word between baby and toddler - maybe boddler or taby? :)

At five months Reece likes:
- Smiling at just about anyone
- Laughing
- Grabbing her toes
- Sucking on her hands
- Toys: plastic rings, pink elephant, squeaky ladybug, phone rattle
- Sitting in her Bumbo
- Watching TV/Baby Einstein
- Laying on her playmat
- Baths
- Being naked
- Getting attention
- Squealing really high and loud
- Talking
- Reading books
- Cell phones/remotes
- Tummy time (she'll tolerate it for quite awhile now, playing with toys!)
- Standing in our laps
- Sitting up against the couch
- Grabbing/touching things - especially people's faces when she's being held
- Silly sounds

At five months Reece doesn't like:
- Getting into her car seat
- Being in her car seat for too long
- Being swaddled (she's almost completely weaned from this!)
- Getting dressed - arms through the sleeves (still!)

Reece is to the point where she can pretty much sit up in a cart at the store, as long as she's strapped in. She doesn't like to for a long time, probably because the strap gets a little uncomfortable, but we're getting there! She is getting close to sitting on her own - we're working on it! I also started putting her hair up in a little pigtail! She hates having it done, but it's kind of fun. We thought she might be teething for awhile, but are not sure if it was that or a cold. Whichever it was, I'm glad a tooth never appeared! I'm not ready for that yet!

She is such a cute, sweet girl, and I just love being her mommy!

Here are a few recent pictures of my sweet girl.

.:Gramzee Time:.

My mom came into town this past Friday to visit us! She spent the weekend down in Orem at Sam and Nikki's house, so we spent a lot of our time down there over the weekend as well. Friday nite we celebrated her birthday a few days late, with a gift basket from all of us kids. We had pizza and lime cake, which was super tasty. Saturday, we went down there again to partake of some Cafe Rio goodness and just hung out at Sam and Nikki's place. My mom was helping Nikki sew a dress (so impressive!) and we also made some homemade angel food cakes. They were delicious, and I am a master sifter and sugar sprinkler. Right Mom? :) Sunday was dinner at my Uncle Dave's house, and it was fun for their family to meet Reece for the first time!

She headed up to stay with us on Monday, and we spent a lot of our time just bumming around. There was lots of Diet Coke involved! We picked up some fabric and an apron pattern, got pedicures, watched HSM3 and Chicago, crocheted, went to Tai Pan, and shopped at Kohl's. And of course, she got to spend lots of time with Reece. Reece really loved having her here and getting loves from her Gramzee. She even showed Gramzee one of her tricks - rolling over - which we haven't seen for about two weeks! We were sad to say goodbye to her today, but really appreciate her making time to come visit us. We miss her already!

We love you Mom and can't wait to see you again soon!

.:This Week:.

My friend Britney always makes a post on Mondays about things she is looking forward to this week. I thought I would copy her and do the same.

Things I am looking forward to this week:
- Cooking new recipes
- Hanging out with my mom!
- Having a HSM marathon with my mom
- Getting pedicures with my mom
- Watching HSM and having orange julius' with Sarah
- Going shopping for girl baby clothes and accessories with Sarah! :)
- Watching Reece do funny, new things every day - she is always amazing me
- Having Josh home in the evenings (he's always so busy with both of his jobs!)
- Working out and hopefully continuing to lose weight
- Playing Boggle and Scrabble with Josh
- Drinking LOTS of Diet Coke with my mom

Happy Monday!

.:Pay It Forward:.

{The Rules}
1. Be one of the first THREE bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me - something crafty or yummy, who knows?!
2. Winners must post this challenge on their blog, meaning that they will Pay It Forward, creating a handmade gift -anything!- for the first THREE bloggers who leave a comment on their post about this giveaway!
3. The gift that you send to your friends can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts. And, remember: It’s the Spirit and the Thought That Count!
4. When you receive your gift, please feel free to blog about it, sharing appropriate pictures and comments! If you are not one of the Top Three Commenters on this post, you can still play along.
Go ahead and start your own Pay It Forward chain, and encourage your blogging friends to do the same! SO, REMEMBER...Pay It Forward!

.:Today:.

This is what I will be watching today with Britney. Can't wait!

.:Go Josh:.

Josh got accepted into SLCC's rad tech program starting in the fall! He is still going to apply for IHC's nursing program, but it is nice to know that either way, he will be able to start school this fall! He's so smart, and I'm so proud of him!

.:Almost Five Months:.

Here is a sampling of some of the pictures that Sam and Nikki took this past Saturday. They always do a great job! My mom made her blessing dress, and it is just beautiful! She was a little fuss pot on her actual blessing day, so we weren't able to get very many pictures of her on that day. My mom also bought her the little cowgirl outfit when I was pregnant with her, so we had to get some shots of her in that as well! She's my beautiful baby!

.:Valentine's Day & Our Weekend:.

Last week was a fun week! We had lots going on, and it was nice to keep busy. Here's a quick re-cap!

Reece and I went over to visit Britney and Luke on Tuesday. On the way over, we stopped by Ryan and Leslie's house so that we could give Millie her Valentine. Once we got to Britney's, we just hung out and ate a yummy lunch while we watched T.V. Britney taught me a couple of new card games while Reece attempted - yes attempted - to nap. Reece was having kind of a rough day, but she still hung in there and tried to be happy!

On Wednesday we had playgroup for our ward. It is always nice to just sit around and chat while the kids play. Reece loves to watch other kids, so she was happy being able to do that!

Thursday we went over to Stacy's house for lunch with Sarah and Chaysie. Again, just a nice time to talk with other adults! I'm pretty sure Reece gets sick of hearing me talk to her all the time. :)

Friday, Josh had the whole day off from both of his jobs! That never happens unless it's a Sunday. We decided to have that be our Valentine's Day, since he had to work both jobs on actual Valentine's Day. I woke up to some flowers and some treats for me on the couch. He made me breakfast, and then we hung out for awhile while Reece was napping. He decided he wanted to get a few things done and take a nap, so Reece and I went over to Lindy's house to decorate sugar cookies with some other gals from our ward. I love our ward because there are so many mommies around my age, and we're all in similar places with our lives. It's fun to get to know everyone better! After that, it was home for Reece to nap while Josh and I watched a movie. After Reece got up, we went to Chili's for a late lunch. After lunch, we went back home for the evening. Once Reece went to bed, we just hung out and played Boggle. I beat Josh for the first time! Go me!

As I said, Josh had to work both of his jobs on Saturday. He left at 5:15 in the morning, and didn't get home until close to midnite! Reece and I made a trip to Wal-Mart in between naps. Grandma Andrus stopped by to visit, and Sam and Nikki also came over to take some pictures of the babe. I love having our own personal photographers close by! :) Reece had a bath and went to bed, and I made Josh a card with my Cuttlebug and set out his (boring) Valentine's gift. It was a fairly quiet day for us!

Yesterday after church and my two meetings, we went down to Lehi to have dinner with Pig and Dani, and Dan and Meghan. It is always fun to get everyone together - it doesn't happen nearly enough! We had a good time hanging out, and didn't get home until 11:00 last nite! Reece did a great job for how messed up Sundays always are for her. Her afternoon nap is right in the middle of church, and she will not nap for longer than a half hour or so when she's not at home, so she's always on the cranky side on Sundays. But she tried really hard to be happy, and slept great when we put her to bed down there.

So that was our past week of events! Busy busy!

.:Give me a break:.

So I just saw on the news that a bill is being proposed that would allow people to be teachers without having a teaching degree. For public schools! Who thought that was a good idea? It absolutely floors me that anyone would ever think that is going to ensure quality education. Just because someone is smart does not mean that they know HOW to teach. Teaching is about so much more than just being smart. Now I'm not saying that everyone who has a teaching degree is an incredible teacher. There are always going to be people in any profession that perhaps should have chosen something else as a career. But just opening up something like teaching to anyone who has a college degree is so wrong, in my opinion. Would you let someone be a doctor who hadn't gone to medical school, just because they were smart? Never! This is what I think is totally wrong about charter schools as well. Let's have some accountability people! If there's a teacher shortage, maybe they should think about raising teacher pay so that people actually want to teach in Utah - that seems a better solution than allowing whoever wants to teach, to teach! I was happy to see that the bill was amended to exclude elementary school - but still. I think it is 100% wrong! If people want to choose to send their kids to schools where the teachers aren't trained on how to be a teacher, fine. But don't make that the option for people who either don't have any other choice besides public schools or who choose public schools. It completely de-values those who spent the time and money to be trained in being a teacher.

This reminds me of when I taught in California. They had a similar program in place, where those without teaching degrees could teach. So I go there my first year out of college, and at the end of that school year, the district has to lay off teachers due to budget cuts. So instead of those that have no degrees being laid off, all of us first year teachers out of college got laid off because we didn't have the years of experience or seniority. Kind of hard to get those when we were busy going to college to learn how to be a teacher! In essence, we were punished for taking time to go to college and get a teaching degree. How does that make sense?

Anyway, I'll get off my soap box now. It just really irritates me.

.:Yeah right:.

Whoever said that breastfeeding will help you lose weight is full of it. Not only am I breastfeeding, but I've been exercising four times a week for the past month and a half, as well as cutting back on how many sweets I eat, not snacking as much, and working on my portion control at meals. And.....I feel like I'm gaining weight. I am definitely holding on to a nice portion of the weight I gained while pregnant. It is frustrating! I don't really know what else to do! Some people say that some women actually hang on to the weight while breastfeeding, so I guess that's my glimmer of hope for right now! I'm tired of feeling so fat!

It is totally worth it because I have a beautiful baby girl, but still....no one likes feeling like a fatty.

(I'm not looking for compliments here. Just venting!)

.:Dermatologist:.

Today I had to take Reece in to the dermatologist. Poor girl has bad eczema, and has developed some really bad patches on her face, chest, and shoulders. We have tried so many different things: Aveeno cream for eczema, vitamin e oil, Aquaphor, triple antibiotic ointment. None of those things worked. Her pediatrician prescribed her an antibiotic to take orally, as well as a steroid cream. Those worked for about four days, and it started to clear up, only to start getting bad again. So he referred us to a dermatologist.

She was a really nice lady, and Reece really liked her. She prescribed Reece yet another cream, as well as a prescription oil. We'll apply those twice a day. She also wants us to use a non-fragrance free cream on her body. Say goodbye to the 20 bottles of body wash and lotion we have! Hopefully her skin will tolerate those better when she's older! We are also supposed to switch to a new laundry detergent with no fragrance, like All. We're supposed to go back in a month and see if it's working! I'm really hoping it will. This poor girl has had more prescriptions in her four and a half months of life than I've had in the past five years!

Here are a few random pictures of my beautiful baby!

Cute girl before her appointment today.

Bath time, which she now loves! (You can see the patch of eczema on her chest.)

Playing on her blanket.
Cute girl that wouldn't look at the camera, and greasy mom who hadn't showered yet that day. Yikes!

.:Another New Trick:.

Reece has another new trick! Yesterday, she rolled from her back to her stomach! She has been making motions like she was going to do it for awhile now, and yesterday she was trying so hard for awhile under her playmat. Then she finally did it! We'll see if she keeps it up! She hasn't done it since. And with her tummy to back rolling, she did it for about a week, but hasn't done it for the past week! Silly girl.

Here is a picture of her from when we were in Vegas, I think it's adorable!

.:Enjoying the Moment:.

My brother sent me this quote today, and I think it is something we can all appreciate.

"What can . . . young mother[s] [do] . . . to reduce the pressure [of raising young children] and enjoy [their families] more? . . . "Recognize that the joy of motherhood comes in moments. There will be hard times and frustrating times. But amid the challenges, there are shining moments of joy and satisfaction. "Author Anna Quindlen reminds us not to rush past the fleeting moments. She said: 'The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is the one that most of us make. . . . I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of [my three children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less' (Loud and Clear [1004], 10-11)."

- M. Russell Ballard

.:Vegas:.

We're back from our mini vacation!

Tuesday afternoon, we packed up and headed down to Cedar City. We thought that we should make at least one way of our drive a little bit broken up for Reece. We borrowed a portable DVD player from my friend Stacy, which really helped! She did a great job in the car. When we got there, we just got settled in, and Josh got dinner for us. After we put Reece to bed, we quietly played Scrabble at the table we'd moved over by the bathroom. (I won!) Luckily Reece didn't wake up, and did pretty well sleeping that nite.

On Wednesday, we headed out and stopped in St. George. We did a little shopping while waiting for some people from Josh's work to meet us at In and Out. We partook of the goodness there, and then went the rest of the way to Vegas. We got checked into the hotel, and then attempted to find somewhere to eat. We were having trouble finding the place we wanted to eat at, and then because of other people getting into town later, decided to postpone dinner a little bit. We went to watch the fountains at the Bellagio (Josh and I's favorite thing in Vegas!) After that, Reece was pretty much done, so I took her back to the room, while Josh went to dinner. Don't worry, he brought me back a tasty chicken salad!

Reece had a horrible nite of sleeping, and it was just a bad nite for us all. I was hoping she would do well because she sleeps so well at home, but I was so wrong! She took a bad nap Thursday morning as well, so we just decided to head out to walk around and hopefully she would sleep in the stroller. (Which she did!) We walked around the mall that was next door to the Paris, and then met up with everyone at Cheesecake Factory at Caesar's Palace. Reece loved the big aquarium that is in the Forum Shops! After lunch, we took her back to the hotel to eat.

The reason we were down there was for a bagging competition. Grocery stores participate in bagging competitions, and a girl from Josh's work won for the state of Utah. We tried to go to the competition, but once again, Reece and I ended up back in the room! We got smart and moved her bed to the bathroom where it was nice and dark, and she finally got a good nap in! Josh came back up to the room when the competition was over, and then we headed over to the mall to wander and grab some dinner. Reece actually slept great last nite, being in the bathroom. Good baby!

This morning we packed up and got out of there early so that we could get Reece home. I was worried about her being in the car for so long - she really doesn't love her car seat very much these days! But she was a trooper, and really only got cranky towards the end. I think she is happy to be home! So a nice little get away, but maybe not the best for poor baby girl!

While we were there, we saw three famous people!

Pete Rose - Apparently he is a famous baseball player. I'd never heard of him, but Josh knew who he was.



Holly Madison - I guess she is on the TV show, The Girls Next Door - as in a playboy bunny. I'd never seen the show, but her face looked familiar - maybe from magazines or something? She was in front of us at this gelato place at the mall, and kept looking back at Reece. She finally came back and told us how cute Reece was and played with her for a second.


Chris Angel - He was with Holly Madison, in line for gelato.


So those are our claims to fame!

Nice time, but it's good to be home!

.:Disclaimer:.

Don't think that I am a bad wife when you see no pictures of Josh on here. I'm opening my blog up to our family and friends, and he doesn't want his pictures on here. I mostly just put up pictures of Reece anyway - she's cuter than both of us!

.:Viva Las Vegas:.

This is where we will be until Friday, courtesy of Josh's work! We are excited for a little getaway and some warmer weather! I'm a little bit nervous about Reece's schedule getting way off, but hopefully we can keep pretty close to what we do at home with a few minor adjustments. Josh's work is paying for the hotel room for us, and we emptied out our change piggy bank to use for our gas and spending money, so we really aren't out money that we shouldn't be spending. Hooray for mini vacations!