Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

Avery is representing today because she's the only one of us who will be in costume.

I know.

We are lame.

But we are excited to hand out candy to trick or treaters tonight!  We missed last year because we were out of town so this is our first Halloween in our house.  Send your kids our way!

These photos were done by my very talented sister at K2 Imaging.  Hire her.  She's awesome.

You Know Why

(i was going to put a picture of a spider here because i don't like to post without a picture but googling spiders is going to give me nightmares.  so no spider pictures.)

4 Experiences That Contributed to My Major Spider Phobia

1.  I grew up in Oregon and one day hobo spiders decided to take over.  They were literally the size of a large peanut butter jar.  I know because we tried to catch one in a jar once.  So I was having a sleep over and we were watching that volcano movie (I can't remember what it was called because the spiders were far too traumatic)  when one of the giant hobo spiders ran out from no where, over my legs and into the popcorn bowl.  You have no idea how loud I screamed.  All of us pre-teens ended up on the couch screaming until my dad came down with a can of Raid.

2.  While I was going to college I lived in this cute but creepy old house with Jamie (hi Jamie!) and there were a lot of dead spiders lying around when I moved in.  I should have turned around right then because one morning I woke up with an itch on my stomach and when I looked down I saw a FREAKING SPIDER CRAWLING UP MY SHIRT!!!!!  Major trauma.  I slept on the couch for 3 weeks.

3.  I ventured into my parents unfinished basement in order to clean out some boxes of childhood memorabilia. I was emptying a box of books and when I took the last book out, a bajillion tiny little spiders came pouring out from under the bottom box flaps.  A bajillion.  No joke.  I don't think I ever went in that basement again.

4.  Two weeks ago I was coming in the house from getting the mail when I felt something fall on my head and roll off my arm.  I glanced down to see what it was.  You guessed it.  It was A SPIDER!!!  Major major trauma.  Now every time I go through the front door I look all around the door frame to make sure this never happens again.

The Secret

Baby Bjorn = The Secret To Getting Shiz Done

Sometimes this baby of mine wants nothing more than to be held.  These are times when I break out the Baby Bjorn and go about my biznas tandem style.

She happily drools all over the fabric while I can do stuff like:

Paint the bathroom

Recover a lampshade

Clean the house

Do laundry

Put on makeup (yeah right. like ever do that anymore)

Work from home

Blog

Wash dishes

Fix a meal

Things that are decidedly not appropriate for this mom & baby set up:

Napping

Showering

Jogging

Changing diapers

But sometimes a mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do.

p.s. My girl loves to help me type.

High Hopes

I have hopes that with Gehry hanging out with us during the week that Avery will develop superior social skills.

 I don't know that my plan is working quite yet.

Avery still doesn't really know what to think of Gehry.

But Gehry thinks she's pretty great.

Don't worry Gehry.

She'll come around.

Baby Outing

Earlier this week we packed up the baby and went to a pumpkin patch with our friends Randy and Dani.

Well okay so it was less of a patch and more of a nursery, but we had fun.

Pretty much it was a good excuse to take more pictures of Avery.

Can you blame us?

We're in love.

I don't know what this face was for but it freaking cracks me up.

The End.

Petrified

Avery looks scared.

Probably because there was a spider in our pantry.  

Friends, I am petrified of spiders.  Like seriously bad.  I once thought that maybe I would outgrow this phobia, but I think instead it has gotten worse.

I was reaching for the peanut butter when I noticed the hairy monster hanging from a shelf.  I was frozen in fear and wished that Avery was old enough to kill it for me.

And then I sent Kyle a text:

"There's a spider in the pantry and I'm FREAKING OUT!!!"

His response:  "Kill it."

He just doesn't understand.  If there was a snake in the pantry do you think he would go in there and kill it?  Hell to the no.

So I strapped Avery in the Baby Bjorn and stared at the spider trying to figure out what to do to get it out of the pantry without touching it or knocking it into the depths of my food storage.  I even considered staring at it until Kyle came home so he could kill it.  (You know as soon as you take your eyes off a spider, it disappears only to reappear somewhere even worse.  That's how they get you.)

After a lot of fearful contemplation I devised a plan.  I'd catch it on the end of the duster and throw him outside.  That way I wouldn't have to touch it and maybe it would get tangled up in the duster so it wouldn't fall out.  So I grabbed the duster and stared at the spider.

15 minutes and a few quick prayers went by before I finally got the courage to go for it.  I screamed the whole way out the door and threw the entire duster on the front porch where it would stay until Kyle came home.

But finally we were spider free.

Glam

Halfway through each day I have an important decision to make: change mine and Avery's spit-up soaked clothes (again) or suck it up because the next outfits are going to receive the same fate?

She was especially talented today because she managed to projectile spit up in my hair while sitting a foot away from me.  Mmmm crusty hair.

Other highlights from a day half gone include:

a spilled glass of water

diaper rash

lots of poopy diapers

and even more spit up

I know what you're thinking.  Being a mom is sooo glamorous!

It was time

Well, it finally happened.  I quit breastfeeding.  I just had to.  And I cried about it.  

Here's why I quit:

Avery wasn't gaining enough weight and her phenylalanine levels were too low

She would only nurse for a few minutes and then try to beat me up

It was impossible to keep my supply up

I couldn't even pump anymore

I got nauseas from smelling like maple syrup (thanks, fenugreek)

Here's why it's not so bad now:

It's easier to monitor how much phe she is getting

I don't have to deal with annoying nursing bras

Bottles are easier (kind of)

She's less fussy (I think she was hungry a lot before)

Other people can feed her too

She's now gaining weight at a faster rate than most babies (she's finally on the charts at 6% for weight)

She's getting cute chubby legs

I don't smell like maple

While it's certainly not what I had planned, I want what's best for Avery and right now that means moving to formula.

3 Months

Avery is 3 months!

Stats

Weight: 10lbs 1oz

Height:  23 1/4"

Finally in 0-3 month clothes!

Likes

Sitting up (with help)

Baths

Babbling

Watching sports with Dad

Books

Dislikes

Tummy time

The nose sucker

Nap time

The carseat

Being in the car

Milestones

Rolling over

Holding her head up

Eating her hands

Grabbing at toys

Kyle Loves Movies

happy Kyle the day he bought his blu-ray surround sound system

Kyle loves movies.

Like, a lot.

I think his loves go something like:

1. Family

2. Boise State Football

3. Movies

4. Def Leppard

So I think it's kind of ironic that he married me because I have never in my life purchased a movie for myself.  Kyle has hundreds.  I mean, like close to 1,000.  It's a little ridiculous.

Kyle takes his movie watching very seriously around here and it can sometimes be a really long process.  First, he has to pick out a movie.  The movie we are to watch is usually determined by whether or not I am likely to fall asleep during the movie.  If I am not so tired, he picks a movie I haven't seen.  If I am so tired, he picks one that we've both seen and that probably wouldn't matter if we didn't finish in one night.

Next, he loads the movie and pauses it right as it's about to begin and I sit staring at a paused TV screen until we can finally get this show on the road.

Then, he has to "get situated."  Depending on the time of night, getting situated can mean piling up pillows and blankets, turning off lights, popping popcorn, or scooping ice cream.  If there is anything to be eaten during the watching of the movie, it has to be prepared right now.  

An hour later, we can finally start watching the movie.

But by then I'm tired, and I usually fall asleep.  :)

Typical Day

Actual Sequence of Events:

Wake up

Change baby's diaper

Feed Baby

Baby spits up all over pj's

Change baby's clothes

Baby spits up all over outfit

Change baby's clothes

Baby spits up all over outfit

Change baby's clothes

Put a bib on baby

Baby spits up on bib

(genius)

Baby naps

Baby wakes up

Baby poops all over outfit

Remove baby's diaper

Baby pees on carpet

Change baby's clothes

Feed baby

Play with baby

Baby naps

Baby pees on couch

Baby wakes up

Change baby's clothes

Baby spits up all over outfit

....

You get the idea.

I get now why babies=laundry

I'm on a roll tonight

We bundled up and went for a walk tonight.  Avery is almost 3 months old and while she is finally too long for a lot of her newborn clothes now, she is still too skinny to fill out the 0-3 months.  She's practically swimming in her little jacket and I had to roll up the sleeves!  But at least she was warm!

I do love the cooler fall weather but I am soooooo depressed that winter is coming.  I hate winter so much I can't even stand it.  I think someday we need to move to a place that only gets occasional snow.  Or none at all.  I hate winter in Utah.  It makes me sad just thinking about it.

After our walk, I was trying to fix dinner and managed to slice my thumb open on a can of corn.  I knew it was going to happen as I tried to pry it open with the back of the spoon but I ignored my better judgment for some stupid corn.  (Yes, I used a can opener first, but it left some parts attached.)  It bled like crazy and I cried while Kyle tried to stop the bleeding and I told him I was going to die a bloody death or at the very least perhaps need stitches.  (What?  Me, dramatic?!?)  

He assured me that neither was the case and bandaged me up and finished fixing dinner.

What a good husband.

And then I fell down the stairs.

Sharky

So Kyle got me this Shark steam mop for my birthday and I was so excited to use it, I got up at 6am to get the floors ready.  This thing also vacuums hard surfaces and by 7:30 am I had all the floors vacuumed.  But when I went to mop them, I could not get it to make steam.  I tried for an hour.  I was sad.

3 phone calls and 2 hours of driving from JC Penny to JC Penny* with a screaming baby, we returned home at 9 pm with a new steam mop.  And I was so excited to use it, I stayed up late to mop all the floors :)  

I don't think our floors have ever been so clean!  I would say that it has saved me hours of mopping, but I never mopped the floors anyway.  Kyle always did it.  Maybe that is why he decided to buy me this?  Hmm...

*Dear JC Penny, the next time I call ahead 

to make sure you have an item in stock 

and your salesman says "Yes we do" 

please remember that liars go to hell.

Happy Birthday to Me

So I had a birthday last week. (September 28th)

I'm now 27 years old.

Exciting huh?

I was in Idaho and Kyle was in Utah so I spent the day with my lovely sister.

We had breakfast at Merritt's, a divey place in Boise that sells tasty scones!  I love this place and it's grossly unhealthy which make it perfect for birthday breakfast.

I got Avery a new toy for my birthday!

And in return, she got sick.

I think we went through 20 something diapers in one day, and she had her first diaper rash and fever.  I was so worried over her that I forgot I was going to make myself a birthday cake until late at night.

But I made it anyway.  Rainbow chip frosting has pretty much been my favorite ever since I can remember so I made a mini rainbow chip cake.

10 minutes after I frosted it, it looked like this.

Apparently you are supposed to let a cake cool or something before you frost it?  I'm obviously no baker.  

So we slapped on some more frosting, of course.

And Avery helped me blow out my candle.

Like how she's eating my arm?

Kyle came back to Boise Friday and brought with him my birthday present!

It's a steam mop!!!

It's just what I wanted :)

Happy birthday to me!

I'm starting to really feel old.

Treasures

I hit up a ton of thrift stores while I was in Idaho!  It was so nice to go to some different places and I got some great treasures!

 Kyle's mom and I spent about a half hour looking for the letters to spell Avery.  Apparently E's and R's are hard to come by.  I also grabbed a couple of K's for Kyle and I although I don't know what I'll do with them.  I'm planning to put Avery's blocks on a shelf in the nursery, but I'm also thinking about maybe making some kind of wall art with them... maybe.  These were $.35 a piece and now I'm wishing I had bought more!

 I don't even know what kind of basket this is but it was $2 and I couldn't leave without it.

This is a rather large, old wine bottle.  There were 3 different shapes and now I'm wishing I'd bought more of them too!!  

 I instantly fell in love with these turquoise glasses and knew I had to have them!  We totally needed new short glasses anyway.

 DOILIES!!!  Kyle was really NOT happy I came home with these :)  

(He hates doilies)

Source: u-createcrafts.com via Kourtney on Pinterest

I saw this doily table runner on Pinterest and I've really wanted to recreate it.  I think I'm still a few doilies short, but I'm getting there!

 I found this adorable knit fabric and I really want to make baby leggings for Avery with it!

I also grabbed this old pillowcase to make something for Avery.  A pillowcase dress perhaps?

Cascade in September

In case you have forgotten, I spent the whole summer being pregnant or having a baby.

So basically we did pretty much nothing cool all summer long and our September trip to Idaho was to make up for all that.

 We spent the first week at a cabin in Cascade.  The cabin belongs to a family friend and Kyle grew up coming here in the summer.  

 The cabin has a beautiful patio area and fire pit that totally puts ours to shame.

Avery hung out by the fire in her carseat.

We took advantage of having Kyle's parents around to babysit and we spent every day 4 wheeling in the mountains.  This is pretty much Kyle's favorite thing to do and no summer is complete without some 4 wheeling.  I decided that 4 wheeling is kind of a lot like hiking only with less effort and more noise.  But you still get to see some beautiful stuff and go places I maybe wouldn't hike to.

 

 One of the days we were up there we drove to McCall.  Kyle's parents knew about these gardens that I guess are basically just someone's backyard that they've made into a gorgeous space that people can come and walk through.  It was tricky to find, but worth it in the end!

 If you look closely, you can see where Avery spit up on my sleeve.  

I'm not sure I even knew that was there.

I've gotten so used to it...

Avery was just happy to be out of the carseat.  This girl hates to be in the car!

mmmmm baby face.

 I love these two!

How many more pictures of Avery do you think I can squeeze in here?  

I love that she's sticking her tongue out :)

Well, that pretty much sums up our trip to Cascade.

More from the Idaho trip soon to come!