A Lone Man

Chris here. Sarah and Lily are going out of town tomorrow for a trip to Boston, Portland Maine, and finally Woodstock Vermont. The trip will be ten days long and since I have a job that I don't want to get fired from I will be here working. This brings up the concern shared by many that I will not be able to take care of myself and that Sarah will most likely come home to something like this:



But I think I will be fine. I did live as a bachelor until I was 28. I think I can handle 10 days without too many incidents. So, what will my life consist of without Sarah here to remind me to shower, brush my teeth, mow the lawn, go to church etc? Well, I plan on watching all the movies Sarah won't let me watch when she is around. Currently, the next 10 movies I have in my netflix queue have "kung fu", "shaolin monks" or "ninja" in the title. All of the movies will have some scene that will basically be some play on this:



So I pretty much have my nights taken care of. But man can not live my violence alone, what will I eat? Knowing this day was coming for at least a month I have searched blogs, books and best of lists to find the perfect food for by foray back into bachelorhood.



Yes, that is a doughnut bacon burger. And I plan on eating at least 5 while Sarah is away. Some of you may be saying to yourself "But Chris, won't that make you fat?" Well duh.

I will keep you all updated while Sarah is away on how my goals of not setting the house on fire, watching Kung Fu movies and eating myself into an early grave go. Until then, all the best.

Taking After Dad

Everyone says that Lily looks like her Dad and I can already see her personality starting to follow him as well. She, unlike her mother, is the opposite of cautious. I have a dare devil on my hands and I fear that there will be a fair share of bumps, bruises and stitches in her future. I also fear that Chris will teach her backflips on skis and any other number of dangerous stunts all the while saying "shhh don't tell Mom." These photos are of her finding her way onto the top of her play bench and of her and I playing "tunnel." I'm sorry to say that the shot of her standing on the toy bench was quickly followed by a faceplant, and then followed by a brief crying spell and then she wanted to do it all over again. Her favorite game is now "climb-up-on-the-couch-and-then-climb-back-off. We have hard wood floors and she has fallen a few times but will not quit. I'm afraid that although she can't walk yet that I am going to come in and find her standing on the kitchen table---she has a major knack for climbing! I feel sad that she's not a baby any more but a little pre-toddler and a really independent, stubborn, and strong willed one at that! Hmmm....who does that sound like?

 

 

 

 

Easter!

Here is Lily making a mess in her Easter Dress! I could have refilled the basket with the paper grass and let her empty it ALL DAY! She couldn't get enough. She thought the grass was more fun than the stuffed animals inside it...

 

 

 

 

Little Lil is Growing Up

Our Little Lilly Pill ( her most used nickname, and for a reason) turned 1 on March 2nd!
Her personality has Chris and I laughing our heads off and quite worried for her teenage years. She is super dramatic, but soooooo fun and delightful! I have learned to keep EVERYTHING that I don't want her to see and/or hold far from her sight because if I have to take something from her hands-she will throw herself on the floor in full tantrum and scream bloody murder until I return the item, then she'll smile and giggle with delight--yeah, so quite the drama queen! Although not walking yet she is very physical and loves climbing over things, under things, being tossed up in the air, being hung upside down, climbing up the stairs over and over and over, dancing, etc., etc. Her activity level is off-the-charts. I thought girls were supposed to be more mild mannered and boys were the ones with this kind of energy?
I was recently looking at pictures from a few months back and I was shocked at the transformation she has undergone that has brought her from being a "baby" to a little toddler (almost)! She's getting around the furniture and walls easily but insists on being on her tippy toes. I thought she would be walking by now, but she just will not put her heels down so...maybe a few more months? I will post a video of her soon so you can see her in action. We love watching her learn and try to communicate with us. We have "conversations" all day long.

Steep Learning Curve

= FREEDOM


Disclaimer: This post is all about babies and nursing. After 10 months of fussing/bottle-REFUSING, cutting date nights short, phone calls from a stressed Daddy or Grandma, excessive night wakings, etc. etc.
Lily just spontaneously decided to take a bottle about a month ago...
...and it has changed our lives!
I am not trying to bash nursing, because I believe in it and I will try to nurse all future children... and I am definitely not trying to bash my child, but I will just say that some things have a very steep learning curve and for us keeping Lily happy and satisfied via nursing has been one of them. It all started making sense to me ( the way-too-frequent feedings, inability to nap, slowed growth) and I have come to the frightening conclusion that she has been borderline starving for the last 10 months. She's been eating solids since 4 1/2 months, but she eats like a bird and her weight percentile has been steadily decreasing since her 4 month appointment--definitely a worry since she was a peanut to begin with. I think she just never got enough milk. I literally tried the bottle weekly and sometimes daily...to no avail for 10 whole months!! THAT STUBBORN LITTLE BUGGER!!!
I'm not really even sure why I am posting this except that it has been this huge life-altering phenomenon as a fairly new mom to be able to leave for longer than an hour and a half and know that my child will be happy and full; to actually be able to go on a childless date with my husband- heaven forbid; to be able to go to my hair appointment and not have to leave the chair in a frenzy with wet hair when I get a frantic text!
My sister tried to drill the concept of getting a nursing baby on a bottle asap so you aren't stuck as her only source of nutrition/comfort... and I just didn't listen. I'm sorry Whit! (boy am I sorry...)

Anyway...I truly feel like Lily's whole temperament has changed this past month...not even kidding. EVERYTHING is now better, easier, less stressful and less dramatic than it used to be. I guess you have to learn some things the hard way...

A Stroke of Really Bad Luck

We got a call from our neighbor on Saturday night saying "Uh...hey you guys better come outside..." and when we did we found the alarming scene shown below. A drunk driver had come swerving up our street and somehow managed to clip the back bumper on Chris' new truck and drive with two wheels along the entire length of his car, before tipping over. Highlights of this evening included:
* Practically the entire neighborhood congregating in front of our house along with an ambulance, a fire truck and two cop cars.
* The woman's incoherent apology and inability to walk the straight line
*The woman attempting to climb back into her tipped, smoking vehicle for her cigarettes
* Her begging every neighbor on our street to keep her startled and upset dog (an innocent passenger) overnight while she was taken to jail so it wouldn't end up at the pound. My sweet elderly neighbor Dennis obliged.

But the good thing was no one was hurt and we would much rather it be a smashed car than someone's child. We are super bummed though... In the meantime Chris is loving driving his rental Dodge Charger;)
We still aren't sure how she managed to shatter the window
Chris thought I was naieve for being in disbelief that a mid-thirties-ish driver of a Landcruiser is the type of person to get a DUI. I thought this type of behavior was reserved for celebrities and white trash folks...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

I vividly remember how I felt at this exact time last year. I was 6 months pregnant and bursting with anticipation for our daughter to arrive in a few short months. Chris was knee-deep in his MBA program. We were living in my inlaws' basement with no bedroom for our pending arrival. There were no job prospects in his horizon and with the economy in its funk we had no idea what blessings or misfortunes 2009 would bring us. You could say that the future was one enormous question mark. I remember playing out every possible scenario in my head, i.e. "what if we have the baby, and Chris doesn't have a job yet and I have to go back to work while he looks for a job?"... "Who would watch the baby?"... "What if he gets a job and we have to move somewhere awful and start our family in the middle of nowhere?"... "What do we do for insurance if neither of us is working?" and on and on and on...
Here it is 2010 and I am almost brought to tears thinking about the blessings and opportunities that were handed to us this past year. I honestly feel like this was a year of miracles for our little family. Our beautiful and spirited Lily came to us in March and just as my maternity leave was about to expire, Chris was given the opportunity of a lifetime when he received funding for his start-up company. I remember stringing my boss along telling him that I was definitely coming back after I had the baby and then praying earnestly that I wouldn't have to...and then literally the day I was due back at work Chris was hired as a consultant by his team of investors, and then a short while later they signed the deal to invest in his start-up. I remember fretting constantly (and driving us all crazy) about what I would do with Lily because she wouldn't take a bottle and fearing the logistical nightmare that commuting and working and caring for Lily and Chris' job hunting would cause. And I remember the utter elation, relief, and gratitude we felt when we realized that our hundreds of prayers had been answered and not only did Chris' deal come through, but I wouldn't have to go back to work and with the equity buyout by the investors we would have the opportunity to buy our first home in our beloved Salt Lake, which is home to us, and where we'd always dreamed of raising our family. This truly was a year of miracles for us and I must say that I was a little sad to see 2009 go...
We are counting our many blessings at this time and we consider you, our friends and family, to be huge blessings in our lives.
We love you all and wish you wonderful things in the new year!!
Happy 2010!!

and Merry Belated Christmas too!!

Yes. This is a dog bone. We decided this year that Santa got Lily's gifts mixed up with the dogs'. Lily was mesmerized with the dog bones and would throw a tantrum when we tried to take them from her... and the dogs were mesmerized with the tinker toys...

The wrapping paper and ribbons came in second to the dog bones

Ruby pouting and whining about having to share her bone