Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Vacation

We're having a great vacation in Kansas. I can't believe it's been 2 years since I've been back. I know this isn't a new thought, but the world really is so much smaller now than it was 100 years ago. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to see family and friends and for the fun we're having. To update, we're playing lots, relaxing more and seeing lots of people.

I'll be doing another post when we get home with our favorite highlights, but for now, here are some pictures to hold you over.

:)


Love you!

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Whew! 12 months

Well, we made it through the first year. It's been an amazing ride and we are enjoying every minute of it. Alyson is such an amazing addition to our life - we're so blessed. Here are the stats - November, 14 - Alyson turned 12 months, so yes, that makes this post about a month late, but nonetheless it's here. That's the only apology I'll make. :)

Height - 28.5 inches
Weight 20 pounds
Age - 12.5 months
Walking for the past month and a half
Darn cutest baby (oops, I mean big girl) in the world

I'm so proud to be her mommy - I think Erik and I are doing a great job, but really we can't take credit for how much of an angel she is.

On the me front, work is still going really well - we're restructuring the department a little bit so that I'll spend less time at the front door so that I can have more time to do special projects for my director. I'll be going exempt (salary) so I'll have to be better at time management since it's up to me to say I'm done for the day. Right now, I have the built in excuse that - oh, it's 40 hours, I have to go. I'm happy about the move - I'll still do a lot of the same things I am right now but have the flexibility to make them happen since I currently have constant distractions throughout the day with phone calls and visitors. (regularly more than 1 hour of solid phone calls - many not more than 1 minute each) and at least 30 visitors per day.

We'll be heading back to Kansas for the holidays to see our families - we can't wait to see them and celebrate. It'll be our first time traveling a long distance with Alyson, so we have the plane rides to look forward to. Yeah, I'll let you know how that goes. I plan on keeping up nursing until at least we get back so that Alyson's sleep schedule doesn't go haywire. A little continuity never hurt anyone. Once we're back, I'll probably eliminate her lunchtime nursing because she'll also be moving up to the toddler room and they nap during my lunches. We'll see about the nighttime nursing later.

This is becoming long and disjointed, so I'll wrap it up with more fabulous pictures that one of Erik's good friends took for us. Thanks Rusty!!!


Wednesday, November 5, 2008

World's Cutest Candy Corn






Love to all - more pictures to follow.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Updates

So since I last really posted, these things (and others) happened:

1. Alyson hit all new heights of cuteness requiring the creation of a new scale (yet to be named - taking suggestions right now). By the way, on the scale, she's off the charts.

2. Alyson cut her first tooth - it's the lower front right tooth - so cute. She's also very close to cutting at least one if not both of her top teeth. Poor baby - she's such a good sport.

3. Alyson is trying to take steps. She actually had one evening when she consistently took several on her own and is now feigning amnesia of the event.

4. I began wearing my retainers again - it was supposed to be a surprise for my parents, but I'm not particularly good at keeping secrets, so I already spilled the beans on myself. It hurt like the dickens at first, but they already don't hurt too much (unless I don't wear them all day) and I can tell that my top teeth for sure are going to go back where they belong. As for my bottom teeth, I'm not so sure. There's only so much that plastic can do to spread teeth back out - moving them and compressing them is easier on the kind of retainer I have. We'll see - I'd like very much for them to be back where they were before by Christmas. This will require me to be consistent about wearing my retainers every day and night only taking them out to eat and brush my teeth. Besides that, I think I may need to have my wisdom teeth out because they're crowding everything around.

5. My maternal grandmother passed away unexpectedly. She was an amazingly positive woman - I wish that I'd had the opportunity to see her recently. I will miss her immensely but I'm keeping myself focused on the positive (like she would). Thinking of favorite memories and noticing things that remind me of her. Understanding death like we do helps me to recognize that though I'll miss her, I will see her again. I will have the opportunity to introduce my daughter (her first great grandchild) to her and talk to her again. I get most sad when I think about my Grandpa. He knows more than I that the covenants he made with her will bind them together for eternity, but I wonder if he'll be lonely or miss her. I'm so grateful for family. My patriarchal blessing mentions that I'll find joy in family history. I already do find joy in the lazy way of just knowing that knowing about it gives me joy. I know that once I start actually applying time to it, it will truly enrich my life. I should have started earlier - my Grandmother spent years working on our family history and pedigree.

6. I had my flu shot yesterday (yes it's OK to have it even though I'm still nursing). It hurt just like any shot then stopped hurting for about 15 minutes. Then it hurt like mad for about 2 hours in which I was distracted and had trouble lifting it in certain ways. Then it just kind of ached for a few more hours and now it doesn't hurt at all. Not particularly interesting news, I know, but this is my blog and if you're reading it, you already know that I ramble, so there.

7. Alyson had her first ear infection about 1 1/2 weeks ago. She was a very good sport - she had a consistently high temperature for a couple of days, so she had her first experience with an antibiotic. Unfortunately, the one we tried (zithromax) made her break out all over her body. She was so cute - looked just like a little speckled egg. I wanted to get a picture of her but it cleared up before I could (with the help of a baby antihistamine). You'll just have to take my word for it. Fortunately, the doses she got of the medication (before they had us stop it) completely took care of the infection and she didn't seem bothered by the rash.

8. I've decided that I really do like to do digital scrapbooking (that's one reason I'm so bad about blogging lately), so I think I'm going to start saving money for digital editing software like Photoshop Elements. To the right, you can see links to my different scrapblogs that I've made. I'll add more as they are completed.

Well that's a snapshot of my world. I'm tire and going to bed. :)
Love you!
Cara

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Monday, September 8, 2008

Digital Scrapbooking

It's been a long time since I've posted. I'll try to be better, but of course - no promises. It's not even like there's nothing going on - there's lots to report, but no time to do it. One of my favorite people in the world got me into Digital Scrapbooking. Below, you can see the pages I made using a cool website that allows you to use their stickers, backgrounds and layouts or make your own. It's really cool. You can do it on your own computer, but you need digital editing software and lots of space. I tend to get really into something for a couple of months and then kind of die off on it, so I'm seeing if I make it a long term hobby and if so, I'll make a little investment. Anyway, here are my pages for January 2008. I'll add other posts with the other "scrapblogs" I've made too.





I love you!
Cara