*Facepalm*

Does anyone else seem to do this every.single.day?

(hehe)

When I woke up the other morning I thought to myself... "Man, that was dumb." Whether it was saying something/thinking something that wasn't really positive, or thinking about some stupid link I might have posted on facebook, or some weird comment that might have sounded funny to me but then I quickly realize the next day that maybe no one else got it, so that's why the comments ended with mine. Does anyone else ever think that? Sometimes I sit there and think to myself, "Ok. Today I need to think a little harder about what I say before I say it, or think twice about what I post before I post it, or think a third time before commenting on something and make sure it actually makes sense to others than just myself." But by the end of the day its usually this:

Sometimes I feel like I am the only one on earth who does dumb things and everyone else sees it!!

Does anyone else feel that way? And whats worse, is that I feel like that is the only thing people remember about me. How that one time, Brittany posted something that was kind of dumb. Or that one time Brittany made a comment that didn't really make sense.

I don't know, maybe I am analyzing this too much, but then again, its good to reflect upon your actions right? ....right? **slowly inching my way to the door, hoping no one else notices me**

Anyway, I was thinking about that today. I think the last couple months, I haven't done as well I I could have. I have tried to use my social media outlets for things for my recipe blog more, or actually do some of the things on pinterest and maybe post about my experiences with it. (By the way, vinegar and baking soda mixed, will NOT inflate a balloon.)

Anyone have any thoughts on this.... or am I the only "once in a while, look at me, I am so dumb" person?

(Don't worry, I am not getting down on myself, it really is just one of those facepalm moments and then you just suck it up and move on and try to do better... I am just curious if I am the only one who actually does this quite frequently.)

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was nice and relaxing. Saturday Gabe let me get a new shirt and skirt for church. It wasn't really what he was planning on getting me but since I really needed a new skirt instead of just my one white one and black one, he let me get it. Plus we needed to use the Kohls Cash we had anyway that day.

Saturday night Gabe brough me some deep pink roses! :) You may have counted that there are only 11 pink roses. There is always a meaning to everything Gabe does, so I looked up what pink roses symbolize and then I looked up what 11 roses symbolize. Pink roses signify Love, Gratitude and Appreciation. They also can mean grace and elegance, as well as sweetness and a poetic romance! Pretty nice huh? And then the 11 roses means that in this 1 lifetime, I am the only 1 for him! After I looked it up, we started quoting "Kate & Leopold" and how Hugh Jackman knows all the meanings of different type of flowers. I think that is the only chick flick Gabe will actually watch with me. He actually likes it alot. At least Hugh Jackman's character and the way he speaks.
Sunday we got ready for church and when we got in the car, the 12th rose was on the front passenger seat for me. Church was nice. The men in the ward got all the women a red rose, and then the RS Presidency make vanilla cake with strawberries and cream on top. It looked delishes but I didn't have any. When we got home, and while Mom was away at church, I finished the gift I had started making for her.

Its a flip calender and I put all the us kids, our spouses, their kids, and wedding aniversaries as pictures in the calender. I didn't glue them in well so that I could change them out for Mom when they needed to be updated or if she wanted to put in color pictures. But I thought it was a ton of fun! And I think she liked it!

Sunday night we went to grandma's for dinner and let the kids play for a little while. It was a nice relaxing day... except for the part where Sophie exploded in her carseat, but since it was Mother's Day, Gabe took care of it and let me have the day off!

Thanks Gabe! I love you! Especially when I walk out of the room late at night and find you chowing down on watermellon straight from the rind!

Full Term

So I am officially full term now! woohoo! 37 weeks is considered full term and boy am I glad I am past that last hump in the pregnancy. Now its a waiting game and I am getting really impatient.

37 1/2 weeks

excuse my morning attire that pretty much lasts all day now...

I am soo ready to be done. And if you are thinking that I don't look full term, well you're right. But I carry really low and that is why I don't look as far along my OB has told me. 

Next Tuesday my friends in the ward are throwing me a small shower for Sophie and I will be 38 weeks that day. Crossing my fingers that Sophie comes either right after the shower or at the latest, next Friday after Gabe gets home from work.

Cross your fingers too, would you??

Never Again!

I took Sydney with me to my 36 week checkup today and it was a huge mistake. First off, I should have known that she wouldn't want to play with any of her own toys when we went to the OB office because she would be too preoccupied with touching things she shouldn't. So I didn't need to bring her heavy diaper bag full of books and toys.

I should have known that she would want to be held and not walk to the door of the office. Instead I had to carry her AND her heavy diaper bag, as well as my purse all the way from the back of the parking lot, because I never find a parking spot closer than 100 yds from the entrance to the building.

I should have known that being soo close to my due date that they would start to check for labor progress. So Sydney wasn't be able to sit on my lap the whole time and I couldn't control her every move. I thought it was going to be a regular "10 minutes at most" checkup where they just check the heartbeat and you're done.

So, I get Sydney out of the car and she doesn't want to hold my hand and walk all the way across the parking lot to the office building where my OB's office is. No, she drops to the ground crying and wants me to carry her. So here I am 36 weeks pregnant, carrying this 30lbs little girl, and my purse, and her, what feels like 60lb heavy diaper bag. Talk about a pain in the butt. Literally. My sciatic nerve was pulsating.

We make it into the building and I set Sydney down and luckily she walks with me hand in hand to the elevator and into the office suite. I sign in and thank goodness it was a new place for her because she gets all shy at first, so I had time to sign in and get ourselves seated without her running off to explore.

They bring us back very quickly, which I was so grateful for. Take my BP, which is always in a good range, rather low, and then the nurse tells me that the Dr is going to check everything and see if I had progressed since Friday. I should have known. So sorry if this is TMI, but there you are sitting with a paper sheet over you and nothing else on the bottom, trying to make sure Sydney doesn't get into anything while in the room. That was tough, while trying to stay modest enough too with one hand holding up that thin paper sheet and the other stopping Sydney from grabbing things out of drawers and what not. Then she starts tugging on the paper sheet I'm "wearing" because she doesn't like it, then she starts opening the trash can and trying to touch all the instruments on the tray. Then the Dr comes in and offers Sydney a cookie. THANK YOU! oh my goodness. Then, when we are all done and leave the room, she doesn't want to walk anymore so I have to hold her again while I check out at the front desk.
We run to the rest room because when you go to the OB office everyone leaves a urine sample and so while we are in the restroom, she starts for the table where other peoples samples are still sitting, pointing and saying "Juice?" and I lunge for her saying, "OOOOOh NO! thats NOT juice!" I don't know what I would have done if she had actually touched anything. YUCK! But I washed her hands twice and put hand sanitizer on them anyway. And finally we were able to leave. I was soooo tired and so over having to carry her. She will normally hold my hand and walk with me, which had been such a great help since carrying her after a couple minutes really gets to my back and what there is left of any ab muscles I have.

All in all, I should have known. I laugh about it now, but never again will I be bringing kids along to my appointments.

I think I deserve a good looong foot message!

An Eventful Thanksgiving Break

Gabe had the whole week off from work this past week because of the Thanksgiving holiday. He did several hours here and there throughout the break at some of the nursing homes around the area, but mainly took the time to relax with Sydney and I. We sure had fun having daddy home and I got some rest that I needed in the beginning of the week.
Tuesday we ran by Costco to pick up a turkey but they were fresh out of organic turkeys so we had to get one at Trader Joe's, which as just fine with us. We grabbed a couple more things that we needed for our Thanksgiving feast and headed home. Wednesday we relaxed and took it easy after I made a delicious Lemon Cheesecake and Lemon Whipped Cream, knowing that Thursday we were going to be busy busy busy preparing for the big dinner we were having with friends and Grandma here at our home. We were soo excited about our first Thanksgiving at our own place, and cooking it ourselves. I got all the veggies chopped up and ready in the morning and then around 12 the cooking began. We grabbed the turkey and started stuffing butter and parsley and thyme in between the skin and massaging it with salt and pepper and it was impressive looking before it was cooked! at 1:30, we popped it in the oven for 3:45-4 hours and started making all the other yummy stuff! I made stuffing from scratch, which turned out fabulous, and gravy from scratch with the yummy turkey juices after the turkey was done. Everything was delicious and soo yummy. Our friend Emily and Dan Rocks came over with their daughter Bella, and they brought the cranberry sauces and rolls and mashed potatoes! Thanks guys! And Grandma Keddington came over and brought the Martinelli's, green beans and fruit.
I had a pumpkin pie out in the fridge already; thanks to dad for leaving that before going to Shelley's house.

Everything was soooo good. I couldn't believe how easy it was to make gravy and the stuffing recipe we used was amazing!! I couldn't get enough of the rolls Emily made, they were sooo good!

I guess I should have known better but after all that standing up and cooking, I should have sat down for a good long while, but I decided to start on some dishes before dessert so we wouldn't have a ton to do later.

Friday we went for a walk in the morning to the Clayton Community Park, which is now a favorite park of ours. But that night around 8:30 I started having contractions that would not go away no matter what I did. I drank water, I took a shower, I was lying down and switching sides. Nothing worked. So after two ours and having contractions 3 minutes apart for most of the time, I called my OB office and was told to head on over to Labor and Delivery. I was 35 1/2 weeks at this point. (Remember I said in a previous post that Sophie was already measuring well in the 74% at our last ultrasound. I guess she wanted to come early.)

We woke up Sydney and we were out the door by 11pm.
I was monitored and given several shots to stop the contractions, found out I had a UTI so they started me on antibiotics, and gave me a prescription to keep the contractions from getting stronger. The only problem is no prescription can really stop true labor contractions, so they send us home at 3am saying that I should come back if I have more than 6 contractions in an hour and to take the meds as directed.

They contractions never stopped but they weren't getting painful, but Sunday rolled around and I was sitting there in RS counting when I had 9 contractions in half an hour. I called the OB office again and got the Dr on call and he said I could go to Labor and Delivery again if I wanted the peace of mind, but if the contractions aren't getting stronger or painful then I could stay home. So I decided to wait it out and just go home and rest it off.

About 2pm the contractions started getting a little uncomfortable and so we headed over to the hospital after dropping Sydney off at the Perona's house. A BIG HUGE thanks to them! Linette runs a preschool and is one of the nicest people in the world. Brother Perona, Cliff took Sydney off Gabe's hands right when we got there and Sydney calmed down after seeing their son Devan, because apperently he looks like Gabe and so she was calling him daddy while she was there.
We got to the hospital and they monitored me again for a little while and the contractions were again 3-4 minutes apart, getting stronger but not painful, just achy. About 4 pm the Dr came and checked up on me, and said that since I was soo close to my due date that they wouldn't stop the contractions from here on out. I will be 36 weeks tomorrow and after 36 weeks, if you are having labor contractions, they typically won't stop the labor if the baby is a good size and is tolerating it well, which Sophie was. So I am already at a 1cm and Sophie is already at 0 station. (crossing my fingers for another quick delivery like Sydney because Sophie is soo low.) The Dr told me to stop taking the med that would stop contractions and just let Sophie come when she wants to from here on out. I was thrilled because that med, Nifedipine, was giving me horrible headaches.
We went and picked up Sydney at about 5 and she didn't want to leave the Perona's house she was having sooooo much fun! haha, thats the first time I haven't seen Sydney run up to one of us starting to cry after seeing us when being gone for a little while. She ran right back into their living room and started playing with the toys again. Gabe had to grab her and take her outside crying and kicking when we left. Haha

So here we are, just at 36 weeks and we have been giving the "go ahead" to have this baby whenever she wants to come. Who knows, she could come this week or take another 3 weeks. We don't know, but its nice to know that we are in the clear and I don't have to worry about having her prematurely anymore.

I am secretly hoping she comes at the end of this week because I am soo ready to have my baby here and my body back to myself! Not to mention, be able to sleep on my back! Oh how heavenly that sounds.

Halloween!

Halloween was fun this year!! We actually dressed Sydney up, which was the real difference. Last year we didn't bother since she was just 7 months old. This year she was a Pumpkin!!! Gabe was Loki from Thor, and I found a cute Raggedy Ann maternity costume online that I thought would work for me. At least it will work for the next years when I am pregnant again and maybe even my sisters could borrow it if they need a maternity costume at Halloween time.

I has bought my costume already off of Amazon, but Gabe found it cheaper just a couple bucks on another site along with his costume so we ordered both of ours off of that. I went back to cancel my order on Amazon, since I had only placed it 45 minutes earlier, but it had already been processed. I am sure glad that I wasn't able to cancel it after all. The one from the site Gabe found it on was a total Knock off and it was horrible material and dying and sewing. I was glad to have the other one which ended up being perfect! Gabe's costume was great, but we could tell it was on the cheaper end also. At least Amazon has the ratings and reviews you can read from other people who have bought it and everyone who had bought the Raggedy Ann costume loved it. Gabe still looked great in his costume! His first choice was Captain America and then Thor, but we couldn't find either of those under $40 that were his size. He needs the Teen Medium or Large, not the adult sizes. 

Anyway, we went to our Ward Annual Trunk or Treat and I brought a cheese and cracker platter, Gabe worked at a ring toss booth for half an hour. We stayed for an hour tops because I was tired of holding Sydney and it was waaaaay hot in the gym. We decided that Halloween has officially become a kids holiday, unless we are going to an adult party with friends, which didn't happen this year. I guess it will be a little more fun when we actually get to take the kids our Trick or Treating. But that still seems to be a few years away. Next year I think we will throw an adult Halloween party or get a group together to go to a corn maze or something. Those fun types of things aren't only for the teenagers! we are still young and need some adult time wit friends! So next year, I plan on having an awesome time!

On Halloween, I dressed Sydney back up in her Halloween Pumpkin Costume and Dad and I drove her over to Northgate High School so Omi could go show her off to all her friends and co-workers. Of course Sydney was the cutest thing around and everyone wanted to come and say hi. Sydney got a little scared of one of the teachers and started having that pout face and calling for me. haha. It was soo adorable! 

We had 1 trick or treater. Just ONE! I should have given that kid the entire bag of candy because I saw those bite size Twix and HAD to have one... or two.... or 10 of them.... for breakfast the next morning. What a mistake that was.

Don't forget to read the post below! 

Maybe It Was Her Teeth Afterall

Sydney, thankfully, hasn't had a repeat of waking up super early, but I can see her two lower bicuspids coming in now. Her naps are still shorter but I think it may have been a combination of the two; too long of daytime naps and teething.

Anyway, Sydney has been doing so well in Nursery. (She even made it til the last 10 minutes of Sacrament meeting without us having to take her out. Our Sacrament meeting is the third hour so she is sometimes cranky by the end of church.) She LOVES to play with the other kids. She LOVES bubbles and coloring and playing with the toys. But yesterday at church we went to get her and she was soo upset. The nursery leader said that she started getting fussy but then she calmed right down when she was given a book, or a puzzle. She just LOVES her books. That is what she "plays" with the majority of her time here at home. She is always surrounded by a pile of books on the couch or on her bed in her room. (I took the box spring out from under the queen bed in her room so she can get used to climbing up on the mattress and being on it, so when the time comes she can transition to that bed and out of the crib which will be needed in the next couple months.) She LOVES "There's A Wocket in my Pocket" and "Go, Dogs, Go!" and now she is smitten with this huge book, also by Dr. Suess, that has six Dr. Suess books in it. She knows how to get to her favorite page in the entire book which has a moon on it. She LOVES the moon and every time we go outside, night or day, she looks for the moon and calls for it.

She is also obsessed with Elmo! haha..... sigh. It was really cute, at first. But now that I started playing some of the Sesame Street episodes off of the netflix for her, that is all she wants. So these last 3 days we haven't watched any tv at all. She never watched tv before Elmo, even thought it was on sometimes. She just never showed any interest in it. She was much happier with a book. But now all she asks for when we go out o the living room is "Elmo?"

She even turned on the tv and Wii the other day. I have no idea how she knew how to do that, but she was sitting on the couch holding the tv and Wii remotes and it was on the Wii Menu. Luckily she is fine with my answer that Elmo is either "sleeping" or went "night night". I don't know when I can watch Elmo again. The whole "Elmo's World" music has gotten into my head and I have started humming it, singing it, whistling it, and it has to STOP! haha Now I know why my mom fins Elmo to be soo annoying sometimes, haha.

This past Saturday Gabe got up at about 4:45 and went to the Temple, and it was the Walk for Smiles charity event that one of my former employers does every two years to raise money for kids in our county that can't afford dental care. They raised over $14,000 this year! I was in charge of the face painting booth for the kids, like I was was two years ago. I think I painted probably 20 to 30 kids faces this year. Lots of fun! They even had a pretty talented balloon guy and the kids LOVED that. It ended up being tons of fun and we were done with the walk and raffle prizes and presentation of the check within 3 hours of it starting. Then Gabe came and picked me up and we went to the Farmer's Market. 

All in all it was a really busy weekend, but also a really good and productive one. This coming week is going to be busy also. Gabe has extra hours today at the nursing home, and Wednesday probably, we have the Missionaries over for dinner tomorrow, followed by Gabe going home teaching after dinner, and then I have a singing rehearsal after he gets home, a baby shower on Thursday I'm going to, and the Ward Trunk or Treat on Friday that we are bringing a crackers and cheese platter too and also working a shift at one of the booths at 6. Then Saturday Gabe might have more extra hours and of course we run our errands mostly Saturday mornings. Life just seems to keep getting more busy. Which is why I am glad that General Conference happens twice a year because those are the most chill weekends. I am singing with the ward choir also, which has its practices at 3:15 every Sunday. Our church is over at 1:20, so its right in the middle of where I can take a nap before starting dinner. I actually totally forgot about choir practice yesterday and slept right through it. But I'm not too sad about it. Although it probably would have been a better use of my time by just going to the practice... I woke up from the nap kind of cranky anyway. Its funny, because I was sitting there, knowing perfectly well that I was cranky but I couldn't get my head around it to stop being cranky. I wanted to not be cranky, I wanted to be happy, but I just couldn't! It was sooo weird. Stupid short nap. =P So anyway, Gabe turned on some soft music, sountrack stuff, while we cooked dinner and it calmed me down.

I will be 31 weeks along this Tuesday! Woohoo! Once I hit 37 or 38 weeks, I am soo going to do yard work. I have been wanting that backyard free of rocks ever since we moved in so we could plant some grass, so when its ok to have this baby safe and clear, then I am going to work and hopefully induce my labor that way. Also because I really want to have this baby before Christmas and I am crossing my fingers for the 17th or the 18th because that is when Gabe's Christmas break starts from school.

I also had an appointment last week with my OB, I'm now seeing her every two weeks, and she says that everything looks just fine! I am measuring big and so is Sophie. She was already at 3 1/2 pounds when I had the ultrasound, so I am guessing she is probably slightly over 4 lbs now. Another reason to have her a couple weeks early. I think a 7 1/2 lb baby is a perfect size and she will probably be well over 8 lbs if she goes all the way to 40 weeks.

16.5 Weeks

Here's a picture I took last week.

16 1/2 weeks.

Aren't I cute? haha. No actually, all I feel lately is fat and unattractive. I can't wait for my gift card that Gabe got me to come in the mail to Motherhood Maternity. I really want to get a cute colorful summer maternity dress with a nice short sleeved cotton sweater. Probably white. With some cute white or silver flats. I dunno, but today I wore flats to church, the only pair I have, and I really loved it compared to heels lately.

I Bet This Will Be Your Reaction...

FINALLY! 

A picture of Brittany. 

Well I thought it was about time to take one of myself and here is one of Sydney and I.

A Couple Days Late.... 11 Month Update!

Okay, I have a minute now to update. Sorry its a couple days later than what I had said in the previous post. I'm soooo sorry! =S

Sydney turned 11 Months old yesterday! I can't believe she will be a year old in less than a month. I need to get cracking on something for her first birthday!
Sydney is becoming so independent. She will point at something that it seems she wants and will go grab a book and bring it over to us. She is sounding more and more like she is saying something that resembles a word. She has said "Ba-Ba" a couple times when ever I mention to her about eating a Banana. I am not worried about her talking cuz I know she will catch onto it all too soon... babies don't start talking until around 10-12 months old anyway. I sometimes think she said something but usually its just jibberish and I misinterpret it as being a word. lol I guess I am just too anxious to hear her little speaking voice and then I bet she won't stop talking! haha She is walking around holding onto things and anytime I walk her around while holding her hands and then slowly let go... she just kneels down to the ground and crawls. She just hasn't showed much interest in the walking department yet.
Sydney eats like crazy! She no longer eats baby foods or pureed foods. She gets up in the morning and has a bottle and then eats two slices of bread for breakfast. Then around 12 she has another bottle after her nap and then has a Banana (the whole thing) and whatever I make for lunch that day; veggies, rice, pasta, more bread. She loves it. Then around 3 or 4 she has another bottle. Followed by a nap. Dinner. Bottle at 8 and then off to bed. Then she sleeps til 8 and it starts all over again. We have been trying to work on having her hold a small cup on her own so she can get the feel for it, and of course she pours the water all over herself but hey... she will get it. We aren't in a hurry. We also read in this great book that some kids start showing an interest in potting training around 12 months old so we are going to try some techniques starting when she is a year old. (I bet a lot of you are thinking "well, good luck with that!" lol .... thanks! I hope we do get a little luck! Other parents have succeeded! why not us!? haha) Anyway, Sydney will eat just about anything and she LOVES veggies! And she will only eat them if we cook them one way... but thats a secret! haha!
Sydney loves her bath time and here's a clip where I mention a Banana and I think she tries to say it:

Gabe's parents had given us a gift card to Kohls and somehow I had misplaced it. So embarrassed I called up Gabe's mom and asked her to scan the receipt so I could take it to Kohls and get another card. I wasn't sure if it would work but it did and we got our gift card back! Which was perfect because Sydney needed some new clothes. She is wearing 12Month and 12-18 Month clothing now. Here she is in a cute new dress she wore on Sunday!

 

"Daddy, aren't you... going to... share that with... me??"

These last couple of weeks I have also been on a baking spree! I baked these cookies about a week ago and they didn't last long at ALL! They are pretty good if I do say so myself!  And if you make them a little thinner then what is pictured, I'd say you got a great little crunchy cookie perfect for frosting!
I was asked by my friend who makes Tutu's to be a model for her and this is one of the pictures that she was playing around with. It doesn't show much of the Tutu so I don't think that she can use it, but I love it! lol I finally get to see the back of my hair and what it looks like.

I also took another picture of Sydney the other day while she was licking her fingers... She is in this stage where she wants to be sucking on her fingers and thumb again. She stopped sucking her thumb when she was a couple months old but she has started it up again.

Here she is when I went to get her up the other morning. She is soo cute!!

9 Months Old Today!

I can't believe we have reached the 3/4 mark! 3 more months and she will be a 1 year old. Crazy!
My friend Mandy took some pictures for our friend Emily, who makes the cutest Tutu's, see her Etsy shop here- TutusForAll. So Sydney and I were in the photo shoot. Here is a sneek peek shot of Sydney taken yesterday.

I hope Mandy and Emily won't mind if I use it as her 9 Month shot, since I have been doing month to month pictures of her, and Mandy has a much better camera than I do. Oh the possibilities when you have a great camera and photoshop! But my little digital camera will have to do and iPhoto until the day I can purchase those wonderful tools!
Sydney has also been crawling like crazy and follows me around EVERYWHERE! I can't go take a shower without her trying to come into the bathroom, where a Jumparoo comes in handy, or do the dishes without her coming into the kitchen. Sorry I am a germ freak.
We played hide and seek and Sydney loved it! Crawling is a tough thing to do for long periods of time and I am glad that is not how we were intended to live our entire lives.
Sydney babbles constantly, she can alternate between two vowels with consonants in the same "word" that she speaks; such as M"o"mm"y". The "Mom" with the O sound and the "my" with the E sound. That usually starts around 10 months Gabe said. Of course she most likely doesn't realize that she is saying Mommy, but using the two vowels is great! Before it was one vowel like Ma-ma-ma or Da-da-da.
She can feed herself. This is great! I put her in her high chair and pour out some crackers or puffs and she eats very well, never stuffing everything in her mouth, but going slowly.
Gabe and I have been reading this book "Montessori From the Start: The Child at Home, from Birth to Age Three". Its a way to help your child develop certain fundamentals early on. The one that I like is this 18 month old putting on his own shoes, or this 9 month old drinking from a cup, not a sippy cup, an adult cup. Stuff like that.
Here's a video of Sydney at the table. 

 

And this is a tiny bit of venting here: 

We were at Costco this evening and we couldn't find a particular item. Soup to be exact. So we go up and down the aisles and come across the Ramen and other dehydrated soups but no canned soup. Where are they!? I was getting impatient. 

So I walk up to the Customer service desk in the front and wait for my turn, all the time people start coming from all angles asking questions not bothering to wait their turn. I wait patiently and after someone noticed I was there first they tell the others to wait one second and they come to help me. I ask them if they have the soup I was looking for and she looks in her computer and says, "Yes, we do. 388 cases of them". Where are they located in the store? I ask. "On the back wall." I point to the "back wall" and ask, "that wall?" She looks at me like I am stupid and says, "Yes, that is the back wall." I ask again, "that over there [pointing] is the back wall?" Yes is the reply I receive and Gabe and I walk over the back wall. Would you believe it that we found no soup on that back wall. I walk over to this other man who is restocking some, get this, soup, in a totally different part of the store from the Ramen and ask him, "when someone at the front desk tells me that the soup is located on the back wall, what back wall are they referring to?" He says that the wall that we had just checked was indeed the back wall, but the soup has never been stored there. It is in the middle of the store right next to the produce and clothing areas of the store. "Thank you," I tell him, all too nicely. I was trying to mask how frustrated I was with the women up front who treated me like I was an adult with poor comprehension and then gives me the wrong location. 

So the part that just gets to me is that I feel this need to correct this women who obviously needs me to tell her that she was wrong and that she should take a closer look at the computer next time she tells someone where something is located. 

I tried so hard to just let it go. I didn't need to tell this women anything. But I was still frustrated.

We made it out of the store and I instantly felt better that I hadn't said anything. phew!

Then I started to become upset at myself that I had even felt that way in the first place. Is life really that bad that I need to be upset over someone telling me the wrong place to find the soup in the store??

I don't think so.

Veterans Day Weekend

Gabe had the last few days off so we tried to find a place to take family photos. It was a little frustrating. I think after driving an hour all three of us were ready to just take a shot and go home. We didn't get a family shot that turned out well, but I think we have found a good place and this is a test picture. Gabe graciously accepted being the test model for the spot. So just imagine Sydney and I in the picture with him because I think we have found our spot. 

On the way to the place, up near the Temple, we stopped for a minute and here is Sydney just laughing at her doll falling and crashing onto her lap. 

Then when we were done we went to Mom and Dad's for a little bit. Gabe and Sydney fell asleep on the couch. And she was a very happy girl afterward. She had only gotten two naps that day. 

 And I just love every detail of her face. Its soo beautiful.

Half Moon Bay

Our day started at 6:00am. We woke up to "30 Seconds to Mars" on Gabe's phone (his alarm ringtone). My head didn't exactly pop right off my pillow. It was cold this morning and don't like being cold. Buuut I love dressing for cold weather. Its my favorite season. Sweaters, scarfs, no more flats, no more flip flops.

We went to Sydney's room at 6:45 and woke the little one up. She didn't like losing a full hour and half of her normal sleep and wouldn't open her eyes to look at us for a full three minutes, punishing us for the interruption.

We headed out at 7:10am and got to the beach at 8:15.

It was brisk and cool. We prepared by wearing warm clothing. I wanted to take a family picture while we were there but none turned out. But we got some other good photos and a video. Enjoy!

It was a very nice morning. Everyone we passed by said Good Morning to us.

After we walked around for a little over an hour, we jumped back in the car and Sydney immediately fell asleep and didn't wake up until we were half way done purchasing our weekly grocery list at the Farmer's Market. We fed her a bottle in the car on the way to Trader Joe's and she took one long nap when we got home; a little over 2 hours long. In that I time that she was napping, I went to the Temple while Gabe stayed at home with Sydney. (He managed about an hour and a half of a nap as well.)

When I got home, Gabe went to help the Missionaries with a family in the ward. Finally around 4:30pm, we were all home, we got dressed for our daily walk/jog/run at the park. It was a cool evening and I am glad I wore a long sleeved shirt. Sydney loves being outdoors and loves to see the other people walking, and the dogs chasing one another.

After the park, Sydney jumped in her jumper while we made a wonderful dinner of sautéed veggies, parmesan cheese, and fresh basil! Mmm it was soo good. Of course we had some Maté and warm scones later. When Sydney was finally down for the night, we moved the couch to the computer and cuddled up to watch an episode of "Wallander" a BBC show on PBS. It wasn't a bad show. We enjoyed it immensely.

I think we both slept pretty soundly last night after such a long day.

7 Months Old Today!

Sydney is 7 Months Old today. I will post pictures soon after I have them ready. I try to do a little shoot every month but as she grows she doesn't want to sit still anymore.

My skirt was completed and here are a couple pictures of it. I love it.

I wore it to church today!

The hem. I love the detail on this fabric.

I think this is the first article of clothing I have made that I will wear for a long time. My mom did the zipper. Like I said I don't get along with zippers. I am even thinking of trying to make maternity ones for myself and even as gifts since cute maternity skirts are well nonexistent for the price I paid to make the skirt myself.

Tags, Sniffles, and Weight Loss

Sydney is fascinated with tags. The tag on her ladybug toy, the tag on her bunny, the tag on her pink lamb, the tag on her blankets. Once she sees it, she tries to get it and eat it. I think its soo funny.

This past weekend Sydney got some sort of cold or somthin'. She has had a runny nose and can't seem to breath out of it during the night. I got our humidifier working again after borrowing Mom and Dad's from when I was a kid. Seriously that thing has to be 25 years old.

A couple of people have asked me how I have lost all the baby weight from when I was pregnant with Sydney by the time she was 6 months old. Well, I won't say my body is the same shape as it was before, but close enough. I have lost 45-50 lbs since having Sydney, depending on the day and what time I hop on the scale. It wasn't hard. Well if you are someone with a major sweet tooth it might. Here is my secret:

I cut out all refined sugars. All of them!

And I jogged maybe a mile every night or

walked a mile every night (easier for those who are breastfeeding)

at the park.

That's it.

I fit into my old jeans, I wear all the clothes I used to wear and I haven't had to buy many new things. Just the occasional new blouse or or shirt to reward myself.

When I say that I cut out all refined sugars, I mean white sugar, powdered sugar, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Corn Starch in any form, you get the picture. I cut out anything that had any form of sugar in it besides honey and maybe molasses. I baked with honey, I sweetened drinks with Stevia, I found alternatives that were much healthier and wouldn't hinder my progress as I tried to lose weight! I declined dessert, except at events or gatherings where it would have been considered a little rude to decline.

That's all I did!

And I just made these delicious Banana Muffins with honey!! Yum! Great for breakfast with a tall glass of Raw Milk and an apple.

Spice Up That Hair Do!

So I have recently seen many woman wearing headbands with flowers and even just the flowers themselves in their hair. I wanted to try it out and here it is! I think I picked a pretty good color flower to go with my hair. All I did was pick a flower I liked at Joann's Fabric store, cut the flower off about 3 inches below the flower on the stem and just stuck it in my hair! Simple. Secured it with a heavy-duty bobby pin.

I am also making a skirt. I used to have this really cute white skirt that I LOVED before the pregnancy with Sydney made it impossible to wear. Then when I thought I would fit back into it, I zipped it up and popped the zipper out of the seams. It was a sad day for me. One of those days where you want your old body back. Luckily it was short lived because I told myself that I could make one myself since it was such a simple design for a skirt. I'll have real pictures to post later, but this is the design I drew up.

I'm excited to wear it! It looks fabulous soo far and Mom is helping me with the zipper. Zipper and I don't get along.

A Cold for 2 Weeks?

Yes, I have been having symptoms of the cold/flu for almost two weeks and pretty sure its now a sinus infection. Facial pressure and teeth are aching. And my ears have been plugged for over a week now. Ugh. What to do... I am suppose to be singing with a group of women from my ward and I have already missed one practice due to being sick. Tonight is the next. What to do...

...Practice went just fine, but boy do I wish to be normal again!! Sinus Infection go away!!