Random sleepless night thoughts...

Once again it's late and I can't sleep. I don't know what's wrong with me lately. I'm going to the doctor next week to have some tests done. I'm having all kinds of residual problems from my pregnancy. Like the fact that I've been religiously dieting and exercising for the past 2 months and I haven't lost a single pound. I'm still waking up in the middle of the night with night sweats, that is when I can actually sleep. My belly is still numb and my left leg goes numb from time to time. I'm always tired, of course that could be from the lack of sleep. We'll see what the tests reveal.

So, the reason for this post; I've had a lot of random thoughts going through my mind today. Reese has been teething and has been extra whiny and clingy the last couple days. This afternoon she just wanted me to hold her and snuggle her. It was actually pretty cute and I never pass up a chance to snuggle with my little monkey. Anyway, it happened to be around 4 p.m. so I turned on the TV and Oprah was on. I don't usually watch Oprah, not that there's anything wrong with Oprah, it's just that my days are usually too busy. Anyway, the topic was on the economy and the rising number of homeless people in the United State. It really had an impact on me. They showed whole families who've lost their homes and are now living on the streets. Families with little kids and babies. Families that were middle to upper class last year at this time, now have absolutely nothing. My heart really goes out to them. The worst place hit seems to be California. Some older couples that are my parent’s age are homeless. When asked if they had family, they said they had older married children but they didn't want them to know they were homeless because they didn't want to burden them.

I could go on and on about the show, but that could take all night. The bottom line, these are my thoughts:

1. I am extremely grateful for the jobs that both Arnold and I have. I feel overly blessed through this difficult time in our country that not only do Arnold and I both have good jobs, we are both healthy and physically able to work.

2. I'm grateful for good parents who taught me from a very young age the importance of saving my money. At any time, for any reason Arnold and I could loose our jobs and I'm grateful we have no debt and a healthy savings to fall back on. There is so much peace of mind that come's with being secure in our finances. I can remember getting my first job when I was 14 and having my own money. But I also remember being so annoyed that my mom was constantly making me save all my money. I was only allowed to spend a portion on things I needed or occasionally buy something I wanted. It used to drive me nuts how much my mom would lecture me on saving my money...don't buy it if you don't need it. Well, as the old saying goes, "You eventually turn into your mother". That statement couldn't be truer with me. I'm now the world’s best saver...next to my little brother Brady who's just down right cheap! J/K Brady :)

3. I'm extremely grateful for a wonderful family that I can always turn to in time of need. I can't imagine being so desolate that I was living on the streets, and I couldn't tell my family because I didn't want to burden them. You better believe that if any member of my family were that bad off, we would all know about it and we would all do everything we could to help each other. I don't know how anyone could not know there parents were homeless. I guess my family may be a little too close, but we pretty much know everything about each other. More importantly, we want to know everything about each other. Weather it's exciting news, sad news, devastating news...you can't go 24 hours in my family before we all know and are there to congratulate, cry with, or help each other. That's what families are for.

4. This blessing is pretty much the foundation for all the above. I'm grateful for the Gospel that had taught me all the above principals and gives me the faith, knowledge and strength to endure all things big and small. As a member of the church there is great comfort in knowing that when all else fails, the church will always provide for its members. I love the church welfare program. It is divinely inspired. When I was a RS Pres. I saw the blessings of the welfare program in action and I can testify to you that it is the most perfect program in existence. I wish every nation would study it and create a program just like it in every country, including our own.

5. And last but not least. I'm grateful for sisters, biological and spiritual. I love the bond that women can create with each other. I love that women can come together and laugh, cry, vent, and learn from each other. We truly have a gift as women. Tonight was book club (thanks Iliana for hosting and letting me join the club). It was so much fun to get together with friends and fellow sisters to talk about life, kids, motherhood, history, view on the world etc...ect... I love hearing the perspective of other women and sharing my thoughts and feelings in a safe environment.

And if you haven't read the book "The Book Thief", I highly recommend it. It's a must read!

Well I'm actually getting tired, so I just may try to fall asleep. Sorry for the long rambling post. I just had a few things I needed to get off my chest.

Pea's glorious peas!

I couldn't resist posting these pictures. A couple days ago Reese moved on from green beans to peas. Either she didn't like them as much, or she was just in a messy mood but peas seemed to be a lot more fun to smear everywhere rather than eat. I quickly figured this out and stripped her down to her diaper. I have sense purchased one of those smock like bibs. Love it! But these pictures are priceless.

Tomorrow we start carrots...we'll see how it goes.

The dilema of the high chair. Help needed!

It's time to buy Reese a high chair and I'm having quite the dilema of what to buy. We can either get a full size high chair as seen below...


Or I can get a booster seat high chair as seen below...



I'm interested in what all you other mom's out there have to say. The pro's and con's I've been able to come up with are;

Full High Chair:
Takes up a lot of space and isn't portable, but it is on wheels and can be moved around the kitchen and dining room very easily. It has ajustable hights for standing or sitting. It has a much larger tray with more room for food etc. It has a removable seat cushion and several tray liners for ease in cleaning.

High Chair Booster Seat:
Takes up less space as it sits on one of our chairs. The only problem with that for me would be that my dining room chairs are cast iron and very hard to move around and clean. It has a smaller tray, but seems pretty easy to clean. But it would be portaable and a lot cheeper.

So, all you experienced mom's out there, if you don't mind let me know what you think.

Why can't I sleep!!!

It's almost 2 a.m. and for some odd reason I can't sleep, and yes it's freaking me out that my alarm will be going off in 3 1/2 hours. This is not a good start to the week. Oh well, I may be napping with Reese tomorrow. Who, by the way, has been consitantly sleeping 12 hours a night for the last several weeks. Oh to have 12 hours of sleep. What would that be like??

So I've decided that I love my blog book so much that it has inspired me to be an even better blogger. By better I mean more diligent in truly keeping a good family journal/record of everything that's going on in our lives. This means I probably need to start blogging about Arnold and me a little more. Sense the arrival of our cute little Reese, she seems to be the only thing I blog about. That's probably because our lives pretty much revolve around Reese, but occasionally Arnold and I accomplish note worthy things as well. So for our dear friends and family that read our blog, please excuse the occasional boring posts that include information and updates about the less exciting members or our family...that would be me and Arnold. You can skip past them and know that they are only for my benefit and our yearly family book.

On that note, we are very excited for this upcoming week. On Friday we will be attending the Chocolate Extravaganza Gala. This is a fund raising event for the IHC New Born Intensive Care Units. I have sat on the planning board of this event for the past 4 years and truly love it. When I was first asked to be on the board I was single with no children . I had no idea that one day I would actually have a baby who would spend time in the NICU. Even though Reese's stay in the NICU was very short, I'm very grateful for the wonderful nurses, doctors and volunteers that assist so many families in such an emotional and difficult time. They are true heroes.

As for Arnold, he is just busy busy busy with work. It never seems to slow down for him, but he seems to power through. We are both looking forward to the romantic getaway we are planning for our 2 year anniversary. We just need to decide where that's going to be. Any suggestions??

Other items to note about me and Arnold.

1. We both have new callings. I'm 1st Counselor in Young Women’s and he's our Ward Employment Specialist. We both are very happy with our callings and look forward to serving.

2. We are both on diets and Arnold is doing much better than me, despite the fact that I work out twice as much and eat a lot less. What the ????

3. And last but not least...because old habits die hard...we are both completely in love with this little monkey!




This is another dress that Reese received prior to her birth. I remember getting it and thinking it wouldn't fit her until she was at least 1 year old. It's a size 18-24 mo. Crazy! I got it out this morning and decided to try it on her...and that's right...it fit. She looked so cute at church today. What a little lady!

Great Thought for the Day!

I stole this from my cousin Tennisa. It's what I aspire for but have yet to achieve. I will keep trying.

Powerful Women's Motto:

Live your life in such a way that when your feet hit the floor in the morning, Satan shudders & says...
'Oh crap....she's awake!!'

Beans...we love beans!

Today was yet another big day for our little Reese. She had her first taste of vegetables. Green Beans! She loved them! She gobbled up the whole jar.

A marathon of firsts!

Tonight was a big night for Reese. She had a lot of first time experiences. We went out to dinner and Reese sat in a restaurant high chair for the first time. Then we went to Babies-R-Us and Reese sat in a store shopping cart for the first time. And last but not least, we bought Reese her first big girl stroller. She tried it out and loved it. It even passed the Reese taste test!

Reese in her big girl stroller.

The Reese taste test.

Reese in her first shopping Cart.

Reese sitting in her first restaurant high chair. It was a little confusing but...

She loved it! What a big girl!

Our little girl is growing so fast!

Reese got this dress as a gift before she was born. I didn't think it would fit her until this summer. Then I thought it would make a good Easter dress...wrong again. Little Reese is growing so fast.

Cheesecake Factory Coupons!

Arnold and I had agreed that we weren't going to do anything for Valentine's Day this year. We're saving up for a romantic getaway for our Anniversary :). However, on Monday Arnold decided to surprise me and take me to the Cheesecake Factory, my favorite place. When we left they gave us 4 coupons for a free piece of Cheesecake with our next visit. They expire the end of March and we don't plan on going 4 times in the next month. We'll be lucky if we make it once. So if anyone is interested just let me know and I'd be happy to give you one of the coupons.

And a big thank you and I love you to my wonderful husband for the yummy dinner!

My first Blog book!

My initial incentive for starting a blog was that it's a great way to both scrapbook and keep a journal for our family. Well, needless to say I am hooked and I now love blogging for many other reasons as well. But my initial intention has also been fulfilled. I printed my first blog book for 2008. I used the website www.blog2print.com. It was awesome! I've heard of a lot of other websites and programs but I tried out several and www.blog2print.com was definitely the easiest and most affordable. I didn't have to do any editing. They uploaded by blog formatted it and I ordered as many copies as I wanted. I did get to choose my cover design, cover photo and write an intro page. That was seriously all I had to do. (pictures of my blog book below)

DISCOUNT FOR FRIENDS AND FAMILY!
Anyway, if you are interested in printing your blog as well www.blog2print.com gave me a coupon code that I could pass along to my family and friends. If you use their program and order your blog book, use the promo code MyBlog31MAR06234 and receive 15% off your entire order. Feel free to pass along this promo code to anyone you know that wants to print their blog. Who doesn’t need a discount these days :)

Good First...Bad First

Today Reese had a couple of firsts. She sat up all by herself for the first time. Good first! She actually did it several times. She eventually leans forward until she falls over to the side, but a first is a first.

She also fell off the couch and landed on her head for the first time. Bad first! The sad thing is that I was right there. She was sitting right next to me and suddenly she lunged herself forward right onto the floor. I couldn't catch her fast enough. It scared her more than it hurt her, but it was still pretty traumatic. My poor little monkey. She cried herself into a pretty good afternoon nap though.

(I tried to get a good shot of Reese sitting up, but every time I got the camera out she wanted to play with it more than sit up. That's why she's leaning forward in both pictures. She's trying to reach the camera.)

5 Months Old!

Next Tuesday Reese will be 5 months old. Here are few fun facts about our little 5 month old Reesy.

1. She's mobile. Reese can roll both directions and she's definitely all over the place. She can get from one end of the house to the other at a blink of the eye. Mommy has to watch her pretty closely. She's now started bending her knee up under her and trying to push forward. I know it won't be long before she figures out how to scoot herself forward. I'm scared.

2. She can hold her own bottle. This makes feeding times a lot easier.

3. She is the happiest baby! She laughs and smiles all day long, and her laugh is so contagious. The other day I had the hiccups and every time I would hiccup, she would burst into laughter. It took me a while to figure out what she was laughing at. Who knew the hiccups were so funny.

4. She is just dying for real food. She's been watching mommy and daddy eat grown up food with great intrigue for some time, but lately it's turned into persistence. She now gives me this hurtful look as I'm eating. She pouts and licks her lips, never taking her eyes off the food. It's pretty funny. I was eating cheerios the other morning and she reached in the bowl, grabbed a handful and shoved them in her mouth faster than I could stop it. She was not happy when I dug them all out of her mouth. In due time my little monkey...in due time.

5. She gives kisses. I've been practicing this with her for months. Now when I ask for kisses, about 90% of the time she'll pucker her lips as I move in for the kiss. After I kiss her, I cheer and say "yea kisses". She thinks it's pretty funny.

6. She spitts. Very cute now, won't be so cute in a year or so. She sticks out her tounge razzes at us, spraying spit everywhere. She then laughs histarically, like it's the funniest things she's ever done.

I could probably go on forever talking about all the cute and adorable things our little 5 month old can do, but I'll stop. Bottom line, she's just the best thing that's ever happened to us. How can people not want kids? Who would ever what to miss this experience? It's beyond me.

Rolled into a corner!

Reese's number one problem these days, rolling herself into a position she can't really get out of. We have to watch her pretty close. She rolls into the funniest places and then can't seem to get herself out of them. These pictures aren't the best example of this problem, but seconds earlier she had her bum stuck way back into the corner of the Armoire. I had to pull her out. I didn't think about taking a picture until after I had moved her. Funny kid!