clint and audrey

Happy Birthday baby girl

2012-01-26T09:16:00.007-07:00

Baby girl had a birthday this month! And I've decided that I officially do not have a baby anymore because she loves to eat cereal.. out of a bowl... with a spoon... and milk. Like a grown up. We were in Arizona for her birthday and though we'd keep it simple. It was a purple & gold party with Rapunzel gifts. We decorated during her afternoon nap since church was at 9. You can't expect me to get up early... even if it is my kid's birthday. :)

So I put together a little list of questions to ask her and hopefully will do this every year. The questions will probably change every year so we'll think of it as a little interview. :) She didn't answer every question I asked so I'll only include the once she did.

1. How old are you? Three (an obvious one :)

2. Favorite food? Cereal

3. Favorite color? Pink

4. Favorite song? Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

5. Favorite book? Fairy tales

6. Favorite outfit? My kitty jammies

7. Favorite treat? Goldfish

8. Favorite fruit? Strawberries

9. Favorite drink? Juice

10. Favorite breakfast? Pretzels - I love pretzels!

11. Favorite tv show? Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

12. Favorite activity? Angry Birds

13. Favorite game? To play with the ball

14. Favorite toy? My treehouse (her Littlest Pet Shop Treehouse)

15. Favorite animal? A pig

16. Where do you like to go? See Daddy

17. What do you dream about? Minnie Mouse

18. If you could go anywhere, where would you go? Go see the princesses

19. Who is your best friend? GiGi (my mom :)

20. What do you like to do with Mommy & Daddy? Snuggle (definitely my favorite answer!)

21. Favorite thing to do outside? I love play in the snow

22. What makes you sad? My bed (the bane right now... we are all so tired. Bedtime is ridiculous)

I did ask her what makes her happy.. but she was too busy playing Angry Birds. :) I think we know what makes her happy.

23. What do you take to bed with you? 2 blankies & Jake in my bed (Jake is her little pink bear)

24. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Lunch & Spaghettios

25. What was the favorite part of your birthday? My crown

Boy we've come a long way in 3 years. :)

A Pink Headache.

2012-01-24T21:20:00.003-07:00

We're just getting to the age where she says funny things that I can blog. I think I'm back. :)

Audrey: Oy! I have a headache!

Darbi: You have a headache? I wanna see it!

Audrey: No because it's in my head.

Darbi: ::gasp:: I see it! It's right there!

Audrey: What color is it?? (I don't know why I asked this.. When I talk to her, sometimes I think in terms of what a 3 year old thinks of; shapes, numbers, & colors)

Darbi: PINK! It's a pink headache!

Nighttime Pranks

2011-12-01T23:01:00.007-07:00

Hey friends! We're all alive here! I'd like to say I took a little break from the cyber world but that would be a big 'ol lie. Pinterest has stolen my heart and I'm also a little lazy. ;) You want to see something fun though? Sometimes we like to pretend Toy Story is real in our house. She woke up pretty surprised. First thing she said after she woke up was "Hi mammals!" Like it was no big deal.

Maybe for my next post, I'll show you all a picture of Darbi. She's getting kinda big and is growing a smallish amount of hair. :) Get excited friends!

Darbi and her uncle

2011-07-27T23:38:00.003-06:00

Baby girl with our most favorite Marine. He came home for the 4th and Darbi couldn't get enough. She's kind of smitten. :)

Ugh. Blogging. :)

2011-07-21T22:16:00.006-06:00

Clint just chastised me for not blogging in over a month. He actually said, "Are you ever going to blog again? Or have you just given up?" What a supportive husband, right? Apparently I don't follow through on stuff. Meh. He just knows me. But in my defense, I found this quote by Emily Bronte and it matches us...

"He's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same."

THE SAME. So he's a lazy s.o.b. too. :) And it's a cute quote..

I have taken TONS of cute pictures that have been intended for a spot on the ol' blog but I can't find my card reader (Mom bring yours up when you come!) so I can't get any pictures off my small camera. With a husband who has major technology genius, you'd think he'd help me out a little! I'll quickly update Darbi because I'm sure that's why you're reading. :)

She's growing like a weed. I measure her a few times a month because I get so excited when she sprouts a little! She's 34 1/2" tall and weighs about 25 pounds. She's fearless and climbs on everything. She loves to run and makes everyone she's around nervous because her running form is very spastic. She looks like she's about to face plant all the time.

She's starting to talk SO much more now! It amazes me everyday. She says things I never taught her! Quick list of her new sayings/things she knows...

One more time - she says this ALL THE TIME and knows exactly what it means
Want it - usually with this one, she shakes her head no while saying "want" meaning she doesn't want that and nods while saying "want" meaning she does.
I love you
I love you more
I love you much (I always say I love you very much)
I missed you
Pliget - meaning Piglet :) She's recently fallen in love with Winnie the Pooh
Hold you - If she wants me to hold her
See me - meaning she wants me to hold her. I didn't realize this until she started saying it but I always say "Do you want to come see me?"
Nuggle - snuggle :)
Uh-uh - as in NO. I ask her "Do you want a sandwich?" Darbi says "Uh-uh" I ask "Do you want to sing the ABC's?" She says "Uh-uh"
But she can sing the ABC's and I'm so proud of her!
She can count to 12
She knows a ton of shapes and all the basic colors
She can sing the entire "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" song without any help

She can point out animals if I ask her where they are and knows what sound they make - Her monkey sound is my favorite and if she's ever doubting the sound a certain animal makes - she usually nay's like a horse. :)

When we say our prayers together before going to bed, she says over and over "good dreams! good dreams!" so we make sure to ask that she will have no bad dreams. :) We also ask to bless Kade while he's in school for the Marine's and she shakes her head like crazy like she agrees.

The other day she was holding her plastic celery play food and I asked her what it was and she said "apple tree!" THEN a few days later, I was laying on the ground with my legs in the air against the wall and she was trying to climb up to my feet... while saying "climb apple tree!" Where the heck did she learn what an apple tree was?!

She says "Okay" after everything! She'll come up and say "Cookie!!" So I'll respond with "Oh- you want a cookie?" (obviously rhetorical) and she'll say "Ohhhhkay" all drawn out like it was my idea to ask her if she wanted a cookie. Like it's such a burden saying yes.

And lastly, going to bed has been kind of a chore. We moved her into a big girl bed a few months ago and she did awesome until about 3 weeks ago. She doesn't come down and bother us but just stays up and plays with toys. I figure, if she doesn't come down and bother me, I don't care what she does. :) She usually ends up in bed.... sometimes.

The allergy bug has hit our house

2011-06-12T22:37:00.004-06:00

I have so many things I need to blog up in my head right now. I've been busy enjoying summer and sun and tomato plants! Pinterest has been taking up some of my computer time and I'm not gonna lie... I still nap when Darbi naps. :)

But I have to share this yucky tidbit. We just discovered Darbi has allergies. Like nasty snotty itchy REALLY BAD allergies. I don't have allergies and Clint wasn't affected by them until about 2 years ago.. weird, I know. And it's so much worse than her getting sick. I'd rather her be sick. That's a horrible thing to say I know. We have a nasty snotty nose ALL THE TIME, a little dry cough, itchy/watery eyes, and she wakes up 3-4 times a night because she can't breathe. We had to pull the stupid humidifier out again. (It's an adorable penguin and I really kind of love it..) Just 2 days ago we realized we could give her Children's Benadryl at 1/2 tsp and that has helped with the sleeping at night but it doesn't make her drowsy at all. She didn't nap today because she can't breathe and it is 10:45 at night and she's sitting on my lap wide awake. She laid in bed from 8-10 just playing and when I heard the sink in the bathroom on, I went and grabbed her. We're now watching old Mickey Mouse cartoons on You Tube. In Spanish. :)

Ugh. Snot bubbles, red raw little noses, and itchy watery eyes are my life right now. Now I'm the one assuring everyone else we're not full of germs. It really is just allergies. I hated when other Mom's gave me that excuse because I knew it wasn't the case with their kids. But I PROMISE. It's just allergies. Crappy crappy allergies.

Sticker Discovery

2011-05-29T00:03:00.002-06:00

Someone just discovered how awesome stickers are...

She thinks that the side of her head is where they are supposed to go...

Sunroof Carwash DISASTER

2011-04-27T22:51:00.000-06:00

See my wet shirt? Wanna hear a funny story? :) While we were in AZ, Mom's car got dirty. Did you know Costco has a seriously amazing carwash?! Well they do... so we took Mom's car through it. Darbi is terrified of any drive-through carwash so we pulled her into the front seat. Mom thought to take video.. unfortunately we stopped it too early. But BEFORE you watch it.. lemme tell you a story.
While Mom was videoing, I thought it would be kind of dark so I tried to turn the light on... but that happens to be right next to that stupid little button that opens/vents the sunroof. See where this is going?? So the sunroof's shade was closed and we couldn't see the window... So we continue on through the carwash and I keep looking up the make sure no water is coming in. I don't have a sunroof in my car and it was so dark so I didn't know if I really opened it or not. Then Mom stops recording... and simultaneously, I think how cool would it look out the window of the sunroof as we were going through the carwash?! Pretty cool right?! Then I could inconspicuously check to see if I had "vented" it earlier... pretty crappy logic, right? So I slide the shade open and start mildly panicking.. Mom catches on to my panicking... and tries to close the sunroof. Apparently she didn't know which button to push either because she OPENED THE SUNROOF IN THE CARWASH!!!! I totally blamed it on her but it was really my fault. :) It was like a waterfall!! Anyway.. here's the video. We didn't catch the waterfall action but around :51 you can see my face when I KNOW that the sunroof is open. :)

Spring Break Trip to AZ

2011-04-26T23:40:00.001-06:00

At the end of March, Darbi and I took a little trip down to AZ and left Clint to "study" and get ready for finals. Mostly I picked that weekend because the Tempe Art Festival was that weekend and Mom ALWAYS goes without me. I made it a point to be there for it. But mostly we just hung out and played with Darbi.

Mom took Darbi for a walk to see the ducks. Ignore those ugly townhouses in the background. They are full of cranky old people. I hate those buildings. Huge eyesore. But Darbi is cute. :)

Darbi & I at the Art Festival.

I could not get her to sleep in the pack n play Mom & Dad have so she shared the queen bed with me. We took naps together everyday and it was honestly the best part of my day! :) When we came home though, it was a huge pain getting her to sleep in her crib again.

Mom has this monkey hand puppet and usually any kid that sees it freaks out. Darbi loves it and even asks for it when we skype! It's so cute.

Related much?? Sheesh! This was at the hockey game...

I don't know where we were but she's cute here, right? :) and has some crazy long legs!

HA! Jed is a nerd.

Another boring picture post with no clever words. Sorry! It's late and it just needs to be posted.

Broccoli Blanching?

2011-04-19T09:20:00.003-06:00

Did you know you were supposed to BLANCH broccoli before you freeze it?! I had no idea! We used to always freeze our broccoli when we had extra. Every time we tried to cook it, it would taste disgusting. I was always so confused but Clint found this today: How to Freeze Broccoli

Did anyone else know this?!
We are SO eating more broccoli now...

First time in Vegas

2011-04-16T21:41:00.007-06:00

Do you believe it?! This is happening right. now. I'm blogging. Be forewarned. Picture overload.

So in the middle of March, we decided to take a little trip down to Vegas. It was Clint's spring break and this was a huge deal for us because we never just take a vacation. It's always to go see family and spend time with them. And that is not a bad thing! At all!! But this time we got to just relax and sight see. With family. :) Jed & Jen met up with us and shared a hotel (to help with the cost!) :) and to have a blast with us!!

We drove down on Thursday afternoon and came back the following Sunday. So here we go:

When we got to Vegas, after checking out our awesome hotel (Planet Hollywood on the 31st floor!!!) we went out to find dinner. After walking the strip ON St. Patrick's Day (it was so crazy..) and feeling like I swept up the evils of Las Vegas with the hems of my pants, we stopped at Serendipity for dinner! We ordered take out and ate it on the patio. It was actually a pretty horrible experience - customer service-wise but the food was pretty good. Clint accidentally ordered a "bunless" double hamburger and it was hilarious!! We ordered their famous frozen hot chocolate and loved it!

These hand painted umbrellas were decorating the Bellagio ceiling and I kind love them! I though about doing something similar for Darbi's room.. maybe soon... maybe someday. I'm kind of lacking the motivation now.

Ok. This picture may look like nothing (and it kind of is) but right below and to the left of those bluish lights, is ASHLEY filming a one-on-one date for THE BACHELORETTE!!! Now I'm not a frequent Bachelor/Bachelorette watcher. I've seen maybe 3 seasons ever. I guess that's kind of a lot.
But we watched last season of The Bachelor and we got to know the girls and now I saw one in Vegas! And it's funny because we kept joking about how of all the helicopters taking tours over Vegas, one of them had to have a Bachelor/Bachelorette couple in them on a date for the show. We were so right!!! We walked past them while they were walking/talking and we might be on tv.. I'll be watching this season for sure. :)

Our view from our hotel room - ON THE 31ST FLOOR! :) I've never stayed in a real Vegas hotel-on-the-strip before. Can you tell. :)

Darbi being cute on our bed and playing hide and seek with Jed.

Looking at the view through her snazzy new sunglasses from Jen. Thanks Jen!

On day 2 (Friday), Clint, D, & I took a little white trash trip to the famous Gold & Silver Pawn Shop from the show Pawn Stars. Does it seem like we watch too much tv. Because I think we do. :) Meh. They have so pretty cool stuff but we were there at like 5 so the "Pawn Stars" weren't in. We bought Clint a keychain just because and I think this was the highlight of the trip for Clint. :)

The most awesome buffet deal ever = $54 a person (Darbi was free) and you get unlimited buffet admittance in 7 different buffets along the strip for 24 HOURS!!! It totally saved us so much money on food! We ate at the buffet 4 times & at 3 different hotels. Dinner @ Harrah's (kinda sucky), Breakfast @ Planet Hollywood (pretty good), Lunch @ Paris (AMAZING), and Dinner @ Paris again. It was THAT good! The plan was to hit the Rio for dinner but the Paris hotel was much closer.

Side note - all through my pregnancy (feels like a zillion years ago and like it lasted only a millisecond - because it kind of did) I craved crab, which is totally weird because I'm not a seafood person. Anyway. I ate a ton of crab.

Went to the Shark Reef @ Mandalay Bay. Darbi loved it! A bit pricey for tiny sharks. :(

Jed & Jen at the Paris for lunch (or dinner). Not sure.

Went to the M&M Factory. It was so pretty! We bought teal, pink, & purple M&M's.

Then we went to the Coke factory and tried the 16 Coke flavors of the world or something. It was fun and slightly disgusting! Worst flavor ever - The Beverly from Italy. I think there was dry heaving and tongue scraping involved. Yeah. Gross. We dared Clint to down the rest of the cup and he did. We didn't even give him anything for doing it. I felt kinda bad. OH it was so gross!

There were street performers dressed as both Elmo & Minnie Mouse. Two of Darbi's favorites. I didn't get a good picture of Darbi with Elmo but this is her looking at him. She makes his really high pitched sound when she screams "Elmo!!" It's so cute!

Almost all of the pictures of Darbi with her characters had Clint pointing at the camera like that. Silly boy..

Our last night there, we finally made a point to see the Bellagio Fountains. They were so beautiful! I would have loved to stay and watch more shows but it was already like 9:30 and Darbi was getting restless.

We had so much fun and we are already planning another trip there in August. Some geek hacker convention or something...

Touche for making it all the way down here. Unless you were on this trip or my parents, this was probably the most boring post ever. Sorry! :)

How to outsmart a kid the old fashioned way

2011-04-13T21:53:00.003-06:00

The kid just walks away!! HA!!
Awesome.

My new cleaning system

2011-03-15T00:04:00.003-06:00

First off... this looks much more complicated than it really is! My SIL learned this from a lady's mother in her ward and she finished hers and showed it to me. IT. IS. AWESOME. I feel so organized. I think my house is cleaner for just having finished this little project! :)

The whole idea is you assign each day specific areas of your home and on those days, you just do surface cleaning. For me.. that's basically putting stuff in their place OR those cleaning things you do FRANTICALLY before someone is making a surprise visit :)

Then, you pick 2 days of the week to do your deep cleaning. I chose days where my weekly duties were lighter than the rest. That is where this little sheet below comes in. I split my home areas up into 6 different areas equally. Then I proceeded to list every single thing that would need to be done if I were moving out. Pretty much things I never clean until I have to move. Embarrassing I know. :) This was the hardest part.

Then, I took each of those duties, from each of the 6 sections, and evenly divided those into 8 parts. (in the picture, you can see there are enough for each Wed/Sat a month) So this ensures that at least every 6 months you are cleaning those pesky baseboards (that in my house don't get cleaned until I move - except for the bathroom. Those get cleaned every time I clean the bathroom! Yuck..)

I put them in a fun cheap little Target photo book. January and July are paired together, same with February and August, etc. I just move these little cards below into their places when that month comes around.

Below is Tuesday. Kind of a normal day without any deep cleaning but I also added cleaning out the fridge as a weekly duty so nothing gets left/lost in there for too long. :)

I originally had Wed/ Sat as my deep cleaning days but since it actually worked out better for me, I moved it to Thurs/Sat. I make sure I put all the deep cleaning duties that Clint needs to help with on Saturdays. After I finish my deep cleaning duties for that week, I take that card and move it to the back (in the same slot - there are 3 cards behind it that you can't see)

I love love love this!! And I don't feel stressed out about it. Who cares if I don't get my deep cleaning done for this week. I'll do it again in 6 months and that's a ton better than not doing it at all!! :) It's personal for me and my house which I also love. Whenever we move someday, I'll probably do it again since the rooms/spaces will be different. Start to finish, it was quite a bit of work but now I feel like when my home gets too out of control to clean all at once, I feel like this offers a good start to getting me back on track. Especially if I lose my steam/go on vacation. :)

Progress

2011-03-10T23:59:00.004-07:00

We're really bad at refinishing furniture. This project is taking F.O.R.E.V.E.R. Buy oh boy am I falling in love with it! We've learned so much too. We thought we would save money by buying flat paint in our color choices and then finishing with a top coat of satin polyurethane. Stupid stupid STUPID. If we had just paid a little bit more for satin finish paint, we'd be DONE right now! But it's going to look awesome!! All that is left is to polyurethane the shelves and drawers and then find hardware for the drawers and hinges for the door on the front. Our poor kitchen has been our makeshift garage for the last 3 weeks. I want my kitchen back! Sorry for the blurry cell phone picture!

Here's the before.

ALSO, I'm trying to get Clint to help me make these side dressers/nightstands for our bedroom next. He's kind of burnt out on painting too.
But I love them too much!!

CHUCK.

2011-02-24T23:48:00.006-07:00

I have hopes that one day I'll turn this blog into the actually happenings of our family on a regular basis but until then, I'm gonna keep posting things I passionately feel need to be shared with my blog world. (And represent how little time I spend cleaning my house/being a good housewife) :)

CHUCK.

We LOVE Chuck in this house. LOVE LOVE LOVE. Maybe 2 days before Darbi came home from the hospital, Clint and I would spend any extra time (that was not spent at work, school, or the hospital) watching Season 1 & 2 of Chuck. I think I have myself a grown-up-lady-crush on Zachary Levi. He is the perfect mix of sexy nerd and when you get that man in a suit - he is perfectly Geek Chic. Which ironically is exactly what I consider Clint to be! Lucky me.. I married my very own "Chuck".
Look at that adorable Daddy my kid has. :)

Anyway. I found this on the internet a couple weeks ago. CHUCK can SING?!?! I love the tone of his voice.. So sweet.

And then I found this gem... and melted. Holy smokes. He's adorable!

Oh geez.. :)

Why my kid is so awesome!

2011-02-15T22:50:00.003-07:00

Clint had to put Darbi to bed while I was at Zumba. She is honestly the best kid when it comes to bedtime. Not that I have any other kids to compare her to but she's an angel! Normally, our routine is pj's, milk, she says "nigh-nigh" to Clint, I carry her upstairs, hand her the 2 "blankies" she loves, she snuggles on my shoulder for a few minutes, gives me a kiss, and I lay her down. She says "nigh-nigh, buh-bye, uh-ya (i love you)" and I walk out. Easy-peasy. It's really quite adorable.

Her bedtime is 8 and we're pretty good about keeping to it. But tonight I was kind of rushing to get to Zumba so I left Clint to hurry and get her to bed around 8:15. Of course, when Mama is gone, she gets a later bedtime. :) Clint gave her some milk, she drank about half of it and started playing quietly with some of her toys. So Clint asked her "Darbi, are you ready for bed?" She ignored him. So, of course, he let her play. Then.. about 15 minutes later (around 8:45), she stops playing, runs upstairs to her room and stops in the middle. She says "bups (whoops) blankie!", turns around and runs into our room and grabs her 2 favorite blankets, and runs back into her room and tries to climb into her crib! Crazy right?! Meantime, Clint is just following her around not saying anything!

She is SO AWESOME! She wouldn't even give Clint a hug or kiss before he laid her down. All things considered, she is the smartest kid!! Just so I remember.. these are some of the things she is saying (and the special way she pronounces them..) She says so much more but I just love how she says these things..

Hi lo - Hello
Bups - Whoops
Paca - Grandpa
Gigi- Grandma
Moe - More
Ow seye - Outside
Bickey - Mickey Mouse
Wish - Fish
By - Bite
Sa wish - Sandwich
Ry - Fry
Gok - Gonk (ouch)
TB - TV (I'm kind of ashamed of this one :) If Mickey isn't on the tv, she says "uh-oh, TB, uh-oh!"
Uh ya - I love you
I cuh wah - I color!
I jumpi - I'm jumping!

ZUMBA!!!

2011-02-10T22:08:00.005-07:00

Last year, I started doing Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred everyday and I lost 10 pounds in a month. A 28 minute workout that kicked my butt and I actually looked forward to it everyday because it was SO easy at the same time! Crazy right? Well.. then Darbi got RSV and we went into survival mode. I got off track. I gained it all back throughout the rest of the year plus a little even though I tried to get back in my old routine.

So this year, I said, I'm really gonna lose weight.. for reals! REALLY this time. Right?? I didn't have a plan. I lost nothing. Big surprise, I know. But then my sis-in-law told me about Zumba. I was super awkward the first time and I felt stupid but I learned that you don't look stupid even if you feel stupid! Does that make sense?? Who cares what I look like?! Everyone is doing the same thing and feeling great doing it! I'm SO in love with Zumba!! I go twice a week, and when I can squeeze it in (thanks to my Grandma's help!) I go 3 times a week. Maybe this sounds weird but I actually feel more confident because of it. And anytime I hear fun dance music on the radio I just want to move and dance! It's so good because now I dance all around the house while I'm cleaning and stuff. Kind of embarrassing but I don't care!! At least I'm burning calories. I've lost a little weight but I'm definitely on track to lose a ton more! And I don't care if it's just a fad and I'm jumping on the bandwagon. It's working and it's totally worth it.

And I want everyone to come with me! It's seriously SO FUN!!! It doesn't feel like a workout. I go every Tuesday and Thursday night from 8:30-9:30. Let me know if you want to go! The first time is free and YOU. WILL. LOVE. IT.

Have you ever wondered??

2011-01-26T23:39:00.003-07:00

Clint found this today and showed it to just before we went to bed tonight... I was laughing SO. HARD. I had to share... since I'm wide awake now!

If you click on the comic strip, it animates in a new window. Which makes it SO much funnier!!

What's for dinner?

2011-01-23T13:45:00.006-07:00

Lately I've been trying to recipes for dinner to get me excited about cooking. Against all that Clint and other family members will say, I can cook. I just don't like to. Also, my Grandma Hillman laughs at me because anytime she makes anything, I ask her which box it came out of. :) She hates that! Then she yells at me and gives me all her yummy made-from-scratch recipes. But
I hate doing all the prep and I especially hate cleaning up. Which is odd because once I'm in the mood to clean, you can't stop me. I'll clean and organize everything in sight. Also odd, once I get everything ready, and I'm in the middle of cooking, I don't mind it at all. I think because the end is in sight and that means a full tummy with super yummy food. I just have to keep that in mind when it comes around to dinnertime and I need to be a better meal planner. Anyway.. here are a few things we've tried lately..

Pasta with Bacon and Mushrooms
This one is a Pioneer Woman recipe. It was pretty good.. My mistake was to mix the sauce with the entire 1 lb. bag of angel hair pasta. Don't do that. It will just taste like pasta. Either I skipped that part of the recipe or maybe I really can't cook! It was ok. Clint and I really liked it but we might leave the bacon out next time.. If we make it again.

Chicken and White Bean Enchiladas
These were AWESOME. They came from a website my friend Amy found and she's tried a bunch of other recipes on this site and has had super luck with them. PLUS it's super low cal IF you follow the recipe. :) We just used green enchilada sauce from a can and I didn't add cilantro or scallions to the top. ALSO, I didn't have green chilies so I borrowed some jalapenos from my neighbor (thanks Stephanie!) and they were CAR-AZY good! And hot... from both ends. :( TMI. Remember, I'm watching out for you. :) I'm DEFINITELY making these again. Probably with chilies next time, as per Clint's request. ;)

Thai Chicken Pasta
This has become one of mine and Clint's ALL TIME FAVORITE meal. We try to make it at least once a week. It's SOOOO yummy. It calls for 1 tsp of Chili Garlic Sauce and we add quite a bit more. We like a little spice.. just not as much as the enchiladas with the jalapenos. :)
Also, ANYTHING from this website is good. Megan only posts 5 star recipes that she's tried and had success with and I LOVE IT. Thanks Megan!

Brushed and Baked BBQ Chicken Rolls
These sandwiches are to die for!! I took them to one of the girls I visit teach after she had her baby and she immediately texted me demanding the recipe. :)
Let me know if any of you try any of these and what you think! I hope you like them!!

Lucky Find!

2011-01-13T23:48:00.005-07:00

Lookie what I found at the DI today!! I LOVE it!! It's a dresser but we are going to sand it down and paint it some kind of grey/white combination and use it as our entertainment center! I'm not sure how old it is but there is a Bassett Furniture brand burned onto the inside of one of the drawers. It's smells like old lady perfume and I won't be able to finish it until it warms up. It's going to be a little ugly/smelly in my living room for a while but I don't care! We might take out the two top drawers on each side and make them shelves so that our cable box/wii/dvd player can fit easily. If you open the white panel in the middle, there are 3 drawers behind it. Perfect for Clint's ugly wires that I find all over the house. Perfectly contained! Any advice on how to go about this? I've never done this before... any other thoughts on paint color/design?? I'm open to other ideas.

Darbi's Fan Club

2011-01-12T22:03:00.004-07:00

While I was in AZ, I went to church with Paca & Gigi (darbi's words.. not mine :) in my old ward. I love that ward. I feel like I don't have to introduce myself when I go but there are always so many new people! Throughout our "family crisis" our blog was our means of communication with everyone who wanted to know the goings-on. I was too stressed out to talk to anyone on the phone, not to mention talking about the whole ordeal made my blood pressure sky rocket.. so this blog is my way of still keeping those interested in Darbi's progress updated! Anyway... On Sunday, I was attacked by Toni's little girl who reads this lil' blog more faithfully than probably anyone else!! Caitlin is Darbi's number one fan and I love it!! She is seriously the most adorable young woman! AND she offered to babysit next time I'm in town. CAITLIN - I'M SOLD. :) You got it sista! I think Darbi kinda likes you too. :)

Caitlin's older sister - Courtney

I love Darbi's smirk in the picture.

Kade's Last Day

2011-01-12T21:49:00.000-07:00

Kade had to report back for Advanced Combat Training/Learn How to Fix an Airplane school... to make him awesome or something.. on the 4th so we went sledding on the 3rd. It was SO. DANG. COLD. We all lasted only 45 minutes but Darbi LOVED it. We bundled her up super tight and got some cute pictures out of it.

Kade & Kelsey

This was the best family picture we could get! Darbi was so distracted.

Look at that big smile on my kid's face!

Cold red nose. :(

New Year's Resolution

2011-01-10T22:07:00.000-07:00

Yeah. And to blog more. :)

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

2011-01-01T22:16:00.006-07:00

My baby turns 2 today! Things are so normal for us now and I'm loving it! In keeping with small traditions, we took Darbi to get a quick picture taken at The Picture People. Last year was the Kiddie Kandids nightmare. Studio photographers are quick and easy and that's what works for us when we're on vacation! She was kind of cooperative but mostly not. We got a few good shots and we only had to pay for the CD of pictures with the copyright release. I was SUPER happy about that! Today we went to dinner and taught her how to say "Happy Birthday!" which comes

out as "Happy Buh!" and "I'm two!" which comes out as just right!! She's such a little sponge right now. She tries to say anything I ask her to and remembers a lot of it! Best part about these pictures compared to last years... NO OXYGEN! I wanted a bow on her pretty little head but she rips them off so fast now. Most days she looks like a boy and sometimes even gets called one WHILE she's wearing pink. People are so dumb... Tomorrow we are having cake and opening presents and Monday is her birthday party in Utah with Clint and his family! Spoiled little girl gets a birthday weekend but I'm okay with that!

1.1.09

1.1.10

1.1.11

The Chubby Challenge

2010-12-31T21:38:00.005-07:00

Right now, I'm in AZ and Clint is in UT. Guess what he did yesterday? He took on The Chubby Challenge at some diner in AF with his brother. It's 1 pound of burger plus 5 pieces of texas toast/burger fixin's and 1 pound of fries. The burger is piled so high, they had to use a knife to keep it standing. Clint totally failed but Kade ate the entire thing with time to spare! They have 15 minutes to eat everything and Kade had the entire burger down in 6 minutes leaving 9 minutes to take his time to eat his fries. Crazy!! The Marines teach that boy to do some craaaazy things!

Pictures are before, during, and after from Chad's cell phone. Get this.. they went out for ice cream after!!

Before.

During.

After.

Christmas Eve

2010-12-31T21:30:00.003-07:00

Our first Christmas Eve after we were married, Clint and I had a midnight snack craving but everything was closed - except Denny's! We decided to make it a yearly tradition.. aaaand that lasted only 2 years. :) I have a picture from 2006 but can't find it and 2007 we went with Becky & Ryan and little 1 month old Grace! Then, last year, we were in Phoenix and we were just too tired and I was a little manic about going anywhere in public so we opted out. This year we decided to upgrade and change our tradition a little into a trip to IHOP and it was SOOOO YUMMMY. I had apple cream cheesy whip creamy crepes, eggs, bacon, hash browns, and sausage. (Can you believe I'm actually losing weight right now?? HA!) Clint and Kade had everything else on the menu. It was simple and yummy but the tradition is BACK. ON.

Also. My camera broke in San Diego at the beginning of December so now all my pictures are horrible. But it sorta does the job.

How I Get Ready in the Morning

2010-12-31T21:21:00.002-07:00

Cookie Monster, Trix, Apple juice,

and a little entrapment. :)

Picking Up Kade

2010-12-31T21:11:00.004-07:00

I'm finally getting around to this post. Holy smokes. At the beginning of December, we went to San Diego to pick up Kade! It was such a fun, fast, long (yes.. fast AND long), and PAINFUL trip.

Quick sum up.

Tuesday/Wednesday: Drove to San Diego, checked into MCRD, and got lost A LOT. Majorly stressful.

Thursday: Waited and got teased by Drill Instructors who kept our recruits from us all day while we walked from event after event until we FINALLY got to see Kade that afternoon. It was ridiculous how long that took... Spent all afternoon letting Kade show us around and tell us all

about his last 13 weeks. He's so grown up now and has totally mellowed out. Our little brother has grown up!

Friday: The actual graduation! It's amazing how much pride you feel for America when you attend one of these. The plan was to leave at noon that day but Kade had to buy new clothes since he had none and then spent a few hours getting lost trying to find the Pizza Hut that was 15 MINUTES AWAY. Ugh. Meanwhile, I was experiencing the most horrendous painful medical issue that is crazy embarrassing and I will definitely NOT be sharing the details on this little blog.. but I will openly tell you what happened if you asked me in person. I have class. :) HA!

Jayne, me, & Kelsey waiting to see Kade

Darbi chillin' to the max.

First time seeing Kade at the "motivational run". They just run by us before they run a little 5K while we scream and holler. Kade is right in the middle - I think 7 heads from the right. (6.5 heads from the left) :)

Aww! Brothers!

Kade & his friend Private Fuller

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-26T18:41:00.002-07:00

Before I commence with the December blog catch-up,

We wanted to wish you and yours a late Merry Christmas! :)

I think I love Thanksgiving the best.

2010-12-06T18:05:00.011-07:00

I think I love Thanksgiving the best.. More food, less stress in the money area, AND it's all about being thankful. Christmas is great but I think the message is easily lost in the excitement of all the lights and presents. Thanksgiving is sweet and simple.. and tasty! This year, we spent the

long weekend with my family in Idaho. Remember that ridiculous "Blizzard of 2010"?? We were

all set to leave Wednesday but with the ominous threats from the news about this storm, we left

Tuesday and ended up getting stuck in it worse than if we had left Wednesday. We had fine weather until we crossed the border into Idaho. Then it was like a wall of fog and bam! Crappy roads. We had chains with us but didn't actually need them until we hit my Grandparents driveway. There was a 3 foot snow drift blocking our way and chains or not, we weren't getting through. I think 8 different cars stopped to try and help us, 2 were cops and we had to get pulled

back 2 different times. To top it off, Clint was in shorts AND it was -2 degrees NOT counting the wind chill! What a man. :)

Wednesday we headed up to a cabin in Island Park we rented for the weekend and surprise,

surprise, got stuck in that driveway too. The chains pulled through and we were fine. Then, we

drove back down to Sugar City for Thanksgiving with my Dad's side of the family.

OH funny story. We totally saw a Moose and her calf in the road on the way to the cabin except I was freaking out because Clint told me, like 20 minutes before, that even if you're in the car, a

moose will kill you! He said that if you hit one their antlers/bodies crash right through the windshield and instantly kill the passengers!! I was a maniac! I was stressing out so bad thinking that they were going to charge us! Even my hands were falling asleep. I'm such a baby..

Trip highlights:

- the "hazardous" drive to ID

- Getting stuck in the driveway - TWICE

- Darbi's first nosebleed from slamming her face into the ground from slipping on the super slick

cabin wood floors.

- Me forgetting my winter coat. Dumb, I know.

- Snowmobiles and snowshoeing

- Darbi mastered saying "Hi Gigi" (for grandma) and "Hi Paca" (for grandpa)

- Darbi playing in the snow for the first time

- Chili and cream of broccoli soup after being outside

- the stuffing at Thanksgiving dinner (I don't know who made it but it was AWESOME)

- Clint says "Watching my Patriots WALLOP the Lions"

- Grandpa's new big screen TV!

Picture overload.

The cabin.

Darbi makes this face all the time and it's my FAVORITE!! PURE excitement!!

Dad and his brothers after Thanksgiving dinner.

Darbi in the snow! First time ever!

Clint on the snowmobile!

We're so mean!

2010-11-22T22:49:00.004-07:00

This was Halloween night.
Since we didn't have very many trick or treator's at Grandma's house,
we let Darbi raid the stash in Grandma's special monster hand treat bucket.
We're so mean.
And sorry the video is so dark.

A Witchy Halloween

2010-11-22T22:35:00.000-07:00

We didn't take D trick or treating. She nor I needed the candy so we went to Corn Belly's Saturday morning with my Mom who was in town and let her walk around and run herself ragged. The big slides we her favorite and it made no matter that she was 2 hours late for her nap. She wanted to ride that slide all day long. Oh the tantrums in between slide rides. It was hilarious. She was adorable. That's pretty much it.

Isn't that the best expression ever?! She made this face over and over that day.. It's so perfect.

A little video of our slide rider.

A bit of Halloween

2010-11-13T09:34:00.001-07:00

A video of Darbi in part of Grandma Linda's witch costume...
More to come.

What Happened in October...

2010-11-06T22:14:00.004-06:00

How did October just come and go?? I was looking at pictures I took back in August and that really doesn't feel like it was 3 months ago! What the heck?! Here's what we did... (It wasn't a super exciting month for us..)

- At the beginning of September, Darbi got a nasty cold that seemed to last ALL month. On and off... we think she caught 2-3 different things (lucky lucky us with her crappy immune system) and it turned into bronchitis. Not pneumonia though. She was having some crazy bad breathing retractions and I kind of freaked out thinking she needed her O2 again. We made a midnight trip to the ER, got some antibiotics, and slept the entire next day. She recovered just fine!

- That same time Darbi made her trip to the ER, I had been suffering from the worst migraine of my life. I tend to have headaches a lot but this was something altogether different. Oh the pounding... I lasted like 6 or so days before I went into the Dr. just to have him tell me I had a sinus infection! I had no idea I was even sick! Yucky..

- On Oct 12 the sequel to The Maze Runner came out! It's called The Scorch Trials and I have yet to read it. :( I'm still waiting for my turn to get it at the library.. Monday or Tuesday and it should be my turn!

- We had our 4th anniversary on the 14th! It was pretty uneventful. I think we went to Texas Roadhouse... or Mi Ranchito. Is it sad that I can't even remember? :( It was only 3 weeks ago. I did take a picture of us though! But the Saturday after that, we went up and had dinner at The Copper Onion in SL. A.MAZ.ING. It was so good, I was literally suppressing moans between bites. THAT. GOOD. Go. You'll thank me.

- Darbi had her first bubble bath. She hated it. Hilarious.

- I started babysitting my neighbor's little boy 2 days a week and he's ADORABLE. Totally fills my baby cravings. Darbi is so helpful when he's around. He cries, she hands me everything she thinks will make him happy. It's adorable.

- Clint had sinus surgery at the end of October. They fixed his deviated septum, took out some polyps and cysts that shouldn't have been there, and cleaned out a chronic sinus infection on both sides. Gross I know. He can breath so much better now though. I don't know if the snoring will stop but here's hoping!!

Before surgery watching Sesame Street in the Pre-Op room.

After surgery with the new 'stash.

- Halloween with my Mama in town! But that will be another post!

- My cousin Andrew saw this super cute dress while on a trip to San Antonio and instantly thought of Darbi. It's adorable on her! She looks like a little Spanish Senorita. Thanks Bratsman fam!!! I need to make a giant flower bow for her to wear with it.

- This part may be too personal but because this blogs main purpose is about Darbi and our baby making issues (I think...) I'll share this lil' tidbit. A few days ago I got an IUD. A copper one. I hated every minute of getting it but I think it's going to be awesome. I'm in no shape to be getting pregnant so no babies for us from us anytime soon. Hopefully at the start of the new year, we'll get our adoption papers going. Getting pregnant is way way too risky for us right now so it had to be done.

- In an effort to get in shape to someday make a baby again, I started shunning sugar! The first 2-3 days were incredibly difficult but I'm having no problem staying on top of it. We'll see how the holidays "treat" me... (That was for you Amy..) :)

OORAH!

2010-09-27T22:14:00.003-06:00

This is Clint this time. Audrey thought it would be best if I wrote this post.

A few weeks ago, we had kind of a big event in our family... 6 months ago, my Mom called me and asked "Did Kade really join the Marines?!" I had no idea, but it was true. Kade had been speaking with recruiters for the previous few months to decide if it was right for him. A few weeks ago, the day finally came for him to report to San Diego for boot camp. The day before, we had a family barbecue.

Boot Camp for the Marines is 12 weeks long and is the most demanding (both physically and mentally) than any other. To add to that, Kade got pneumonia his second week there and spent a couple days on bed rest. From his letters, it sounds like he's actually having fun. Not that we're really all that surprised. Kade has been preparing for this for 6 months. He knew what he was getting in to.

They say a recruit can never receive enough letters. We've been writing him almost non-stop. If you feel like dropping him a letter to let him know you appreciate his sacrifices, I'm sure he'd appreciate it.

Recruit Pedersen, Kade D.

2nd Bn. Golf Co. Plt 2141

36001 Midway Ave

San Diego, CA. 92140-2141

Semper Fi!

Play Kitchen

2010-09-18T22:00:00.003-06:00

For Christmas, I'm going to figure out how to make Darbi this...

or this...

They're cuter than the store bought ones.. Any tips for me??

Midnight Munchers

2010-09-15T22:36:00.005-06:00

I thought I should put up a post regarding this post from this vacation..
About the bed bugs..
My friend Amy informed me that all my friends in real life and web life probably think disgusting things about us. (assuming people actually read this)
She said it nicely though. She's a good friend. :)

We don't have them! Wahoo!! I just didn't want anyone out there thinking we were nasty little bed bug transports and out there sharing them with the public.
Instead, we had other fun little critters munching on our deliciously sweet bodies! I don't know what exactly but our good friends at Guardian Pest Control assured us they would put an end to the midnight snacking.

We are sleeping soundly and waking up bug bite free nowadays.

Blowing Bubbles

2010-09-15T00:04:00.003-06:00

Try to ignore any spit noises I make..
I was chewing gum and blowing bubbles and Darbi thought she could do it.
It's just too cute not to share.

Build-a-Bear

2010-09-14T23:55:00.003-06:00

Today, my Grandma Linda (D's great grandma) took Darbi to the mall to get her first Build-a-Bear. It's the softest cutest bunny and she l.o.v.e.s. it!! The funny thing is, just yesterday, I was walking around the mall and took D into the B.a.B store to look at the bears. I saw this bunny rabbit with long ears that were hot glittery pink and I loved it! I showed Darbi and let her hold it for a minute. I didn't tell grandma about it though. Grandma said she let Darbi choose which animal she wanted and she totally wanted the bunny with hot pink ears! I loved it!! And so does D. She drags it everywhere and is constantly giving it loves and kisses. I can't even stand how cute it is.

Giving kisses. :)

The Tissue Box

2010-09-14T23:48:00.003-06:00

I left a tissue box in the backseat. Within arms reach. :(

1 mile down the road and we're at the grocery store...
they were literally floating out of the car.. there were so many tissues!

Labor Day BBQ

2010-09-12T21:13:00.001-06:00

First of all.. prepare for picture overload. There's really only like 10-ish pictures..
Second of all.. Can you believe I've never been ice blocking?! Never! Whenever they went for a YW activity, I was always gone.. soccer practice, x-country race.. something. Anyway.. It. was. AWESOME. So for Labor Day/Kade leaving, we had a BBQ at the park near Clint's growing-up-home and went ice blocking!

Baby Tyler.. adorable right??

Kade & Kelsey.. also adorable right?? :)

Chad, Kade, & Clint

Chad, Pam, Kade, & Clint

Darbi & Kelsey

I took Darbi down the hill with me. It was a small hill. I don't think she cared either way.. :)

Darbi wasn't feelin' so hot today. I love when she gives little loves.

Zoo Trip

2010-09-12T10:35:00.000-06:00

Last Saturday we went to the zoo. I think Darbi loved it but the whole thing kinda sucked.. for me anyway. I had the stomach flu all day and still decided to go. It was hot. I wore a sweater cuz I'm stupid. The animals were boring. That's pretty much it. And I fought myself all the way home to make sure I didn't lose it in the car. Darbi did love the monkeys and the birds though.. We'll try again when it cools off. Hopefully the animals aren't so boring next time..

Summer Work Party

2010-09-12T10:33:00.000-06:00

A couple of weekends ago we had Clint's summer work party up at Sundance. It is so pretty up there! There was a lot of stuff for kids to do, but Darbi was still too small for most of it. We sat at the bottom of the hill for about an hour trying to decide if we should go on the chair lift. I kept seeing other people take their babies on without any way of strapping the kid to them. I was terrified of taking Darbi up that high without a least a rope to tie around us!! I made Clint hold her the entire way because I was having a major anxiety attack. Anytime she got wiggly, I started freaking out all over again. Near the end, I got brave and we stuck her in between us.. It was super fun and they had some seriously yummy food at dinner. After there was a show with Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband. Darbi loved it.

Baby Chub

2010-09-09T23:29:00.003-06:00

I've got another slew of posts lined up but I found this tonight while organizing my pics.. I almost started crying! How ADORABLE is this?? All that baby chub and little baby sounds! She still sounds like that.. sorta. Oh I love her! This video was taken right before Halloween last year and she had just found her feet and also that they fit nicely in her mouth. I've watched it so many times already! :D

Teenage Handful

2010-09-03T23:59:00.003-06:00

Jayne came down one day so we could plan a little surprise going away party for Kade (we already had it so I'm not giving anything away) and while we were talking, Darbi got a hold of her purse and put it on by herself and started walking around like it was no big deal!! Crazy right?! We handed her the phone and staged the next 2 pics but still.. my baby is growing up. :(

Jayne and Kade put those stickers on her forehead and also on her lower back. Her tramp stamp. :) Let's just pretend and not make it real. But right after they left, she decided to go and smack her head against the corner on the wall. OUCH. This was her super sweet smile just minutes after she did it too. She had a giant goose egg for a few days.

First Airplane Ride

2010-09-03T23:42:00.004-06:00

We're crazy about germs around here. Ca-razy. But I couldn't pass up a trip to AZ to surprise my family. It was my parents anniversary on August 15th so Clint, D, and I flew down. I felt better about it since it was summer and not super sick season. Darbi did really great on the plane though! I was suuuuuuper nervous but everything went really well. Except we almost forgot her carseat! Kind of a big deal. Clint remembered it right before we jumped on the shuttle and had to run back for it.

On the shuttle.

Watching planes.

We had an aisle seat on the way over and a window seat on the way home. I recommend the window seat for sure.. I didn't take any pictures of us in AZ for some reason. When we got there, Dad picked us up (he was in on the secret.. it was all his idea). When we got home, Jed was the only one home so Dad walked in just with Darbi and said "Look who I found outside!" All Jed said, without interest... was "Who's that?" Blah. Your freaking niece!!!! He was excited though.. Later, we were hiding in the kitchen when Mom got home. She screamed and it was totally worth it! I miss home...

Pics from the flight home.

Mountain Goat

2010-09-03T23:22:00.003-06:00

She climbs (into) everything.

Jayne's Wedding

2010-09-01T22:30:00.000-06:00

Jayne and Clint were married on July 31st. It was so beautiful! We were all kind of scared because it was super cloudy and rainy all day and actually rained pretty bad right up until about 20 minutes before the ceremony. My hair got all frizzy which is why you won't see any pictures of me here. :) Jayne looked beautiful and Clint obviously couldn't have been happier! I cried when she walked down the aisle. I couldn't help it.

Before the ceremony

Kade & Kelsey

Beth & Melissa (Melissa was one of the adorable flower girls)

Clint watching Jayne walk down the aisle (she came from the side first, then walked down the aisle) Isn't his smile so great?! :)

Jayne & Dave
(I LOVE her dress and those yellow shoes!)

Darbi just hangin' out.. lookin' cute. :)

The wedding was held in the backyard of Jayne's Maid of Honor. It was so pretty and elegant. Especially with those ominous dark clouds in the background. So romantic!

(MY) Clint & Jayne :) I can't believe I didn't get a picture of HER Clint with her!

The twirling flower girls.. So fun!!

Thanks for letting us be a part of your wedding Jayne & Clint! It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL!

Jayne's Shower

2010-09-01T22:20:00.000-06:00

We threw a little wedding shower for Jayne back in July (see how far behind I am in blogging?!) and I had to share this genius idea for the punch bowl. We had it at the Maid of Honor's Mother's home and her backyard was BEAUTIFUL. She had this giant black walnut tree that shadowed over her entire deck in the backyard. It was seriously something out of a magazine. I didn't get great pictures though. They don't do it justice. My camera doesn't work well in soft lighting.

She froze limes and water in a bundt cake pan and used it to keep the punch cold, look pretty, AND it held the ladle!! Genius AND convenient, right?!

Sorry for the blurriness. I want her backyard.

Baby Anita

2010-09-01T22:15:00.000-06:00

Our neighbors, Kimia and Jeff, moved away about a month ago and we were SO sad to see them go! We became really great friends! Like friends-for-life kind of friends! During one of their big moving days, I watched their little girl Anita for a bit and she is so adorable! I miss them so much! Darbi didn't know what to think of her though..

She's 5 1/2 months old now! I need to go visit! I miss snuggling with that baby!!

Stair Houdini

2010-09-01T22:11:00.000-06:00

She's a mountain goat. Before we got that gate, I had an assortment of everything I could find to block the stairs off and she would still find a way over it all. Now, in place of the stroller, we have 2 king sized pillows stuffed under the railing. It's working for now... She's so sneaky.

Books Books

2010-08-24T22:25:00.004-06:00

I have a TON of posts in queue waiting to be written and posted but I have to get this out. I love books. I love 'em!! Nap time = Mommy's reading time. I just read the most amazing book and I really need to share it with everyone. The Maze Runner by James Dashner Very similar to The Hunger Games. I won't get into it right now but if you haven't read this book (either one really)... we can't be friends. Go read it. Now. Do it. I wonder if admitting that I love TMR makes me seem really nerdy. I don't care. I really love a good story. A stay-up-far-too-past-my-bedtime-book is the best kind of book!

After reading TMR, I had to check out Dashner's site to see when the next book will be coming out. (The Scorch Trials comes out 10/12) I think I want to be friends with this guy. :) His thoughts on the movie Inception are exactly how I feel! If you haven't seen this movie yet.. we definitely can't be friends. Or maybe if you take me with you to see it, we can still be friends. :) LOVE that movie.

Other thoughts:
Mockingjay came out today. I haven't started it because I know it's the last book of the Hunger Games series and I'm a tad sad about it... but I'm crackin' it open right after I hit publish tonight!! Note on how popular this series is: the book came out today remember... Orem library right now has 179 REQUESTS for that book and it came out TODAY!!!! That's how good it is. Sheesh.

Also:
It's 11 at night and I'm making Clint read the first chapter of The Maze Runner so he'll be hooked and read it. :) I'm terrible.

Her First Steps

2010-08-05T23:24:00.003-06:00

Darbi took her very first steps today!! FOR REAL!!! I called Clint 3 minutes before he was leaving for work to give him the good news. He was so mad he wasn't there for it but she showcased her talent when he got home and we have some juicy baby step videos for you! In this first one, she's walking funny and not picking up her right leg. Just so you know, she doesn't do that all the time.

4th of July

2010-08-04T22:15:00.000-06:00

Apparently I didn't take very many pictures on our little trip to Wyoming for the 4th of July. When Mom is around, I let her do all the work! :) We drove up to Lander, WY and celebrated with my Mom's whole side of the family. Her cousin puts on a big fireworks show every year and it was pretty cool. I think we may have brought back bed bugs from the hotel we stayed in though. :( The pest control people are coming out on Friday. I'm grossed out every time I go to bed. ICK.

Me & D

Grandpa & Darbi

Great Aunt Amy & Darbi

My Mama & her sibs.. (oldest to youngest) They're a fun bunch! :)

NICU Reunion #2

2010-08-03T21:50:00.001-06:00

Back in June, super Mama Megan threw a little lunch for a bunch of us NICU grads. At one time or another, all of these babies were in the same hospitals. We had a fun time figuring out all of our NICU time lines and how we overlapped in our hospital stays. It was the first time I was able to meet Heather and the second time I met Kelli. (We met briefly at the first NICU reunion). These women are AMAZING. I'm so glad we had this little get together to showcase all of our miracle babies with each other. Megan made the most incredible baked ziti and I am both ashamed and glad that I had 3+ servings. :) AND I brought some home to Clint.

All the cuties!

Paizlei - We never met sweetheart Paizlei at UVRMC but Heather and I connected through Megan and the blogosphere.. Blogging is a wonderful thing!

Paizlei & Crew - Crew needs no introduction. Darbi and her cute boyfriend go way back. :)

I love my little girl.. The tiny mouth and the surprised eyebrow raise get me all the time!

Whit. Whit and Reese (below) are twins. I wasn't able to meet these two cuties in the hospital but Kelli found me online later when we realized we were in the same place at one time or another. (His skills with a fork were amazing to me Kelli! :)

Reese.. Twin to Whit.. Adorable. She reminds me a lot of Darbi, sizewise, but this little girl was walking and talking. I wanted her to rub off on D. :)

Heather & Paizlei - Kelli, Whit, & Reese - Megan & Crew - Audrey & Darbi

All of us cute Mama's and our babes. Our sweet sweet miracle babies. It was a blessing to have lunch with you ladies and we definitely need to do it again! :)
(I stole all these pics from you Megan.. :) Mine did not turn out AT. ALL. This Mama needs a new camera..)

Baby Tyler Ryan

2010-06-30T21:51:00.002-06:00

The first nephew on Clint's side of the family finally made his entrance last night at 7:42pm. He weighs 6 pounds 4 ounces, is 18 inches long, and as healthy as can be! We can't go visit because of Darbi's little bug (which I think is on it's way out BTW. No fever today!). He is going to be a beautiful spoiled little boy and I can't wait to meet him! He has 3 sisters who are ca-raaazy about him! Makes me really really want to have another baby...

Sariah & Tyler

High Temp Sicky

2010-06-29T21:47:00.005-06:00

My sweet little girl came down with an underarm temperature of 103.1 today. Which is bad. But because the underarm temp is always a little lower, you're supposed to add a degree.. an entire degree (we knew this from her days in the hospital but still.. that's alot!) which means her temp was 104.1!! YIKES. Clint and I rushed her to the Dr. today where we sent off a strep test, a urine test, and also a little blood work. We've ruled out the common flus/sickness going around right now and it's either strep, a urinary tract infection, and if it's not either of those - we go in for more tests tomorrow. She won't eat anything except for Puffy Cheetos.. I figure it's better than nothing. :( She is downing her juice like crazy so I'm not too worried about her fluid intake. I just hope she feels better tomorrow.

She's not a happy girl tonight.

D's New Bestie

2010-06-26T01:16:00.003-06:00

Last Wednesday, I got a call from my Aunt Holly (daddio's sis) saying that her son who was here at a BYU Football camp had possibly torn his meniscus and need a ride to the ER. (don't worry - he's fine) My neighbors were over watching the World Cup and I had just put Darbi down for a nap so it worked out perfectly. TV time for the neighbors if they would stay at my house in case Darbi woke up. :) I haven't seen Andrew since he was five and was mildly obsessed with Starfox on his N64 and would give no one the time of day. Turns out, he's a way cool kid and I'm kinda glad he hurt himself so I could get to know him! He wants to come to BYU next year and I'm super excited! We met up with him again today and took him to Brick Oven and then for a walk around campus/south of campus giving him the inside scoop on how cool BYU really is. And I think Darbi found a new bestie. :)

No More O2!

2010-06-26T00:43:00.004-06:00

As of Thursday afternoon, we are officially OXYGEN-LESS. Trips to the moon are being planned as I speak! It's such a weird feeling. We took her off the O2 during the day about a month ago. Talk about feeling liberated!! Holy smokes. No tie downs - no leashes - there was happiness all around. My shoulder was screaming thank you's at me every time I left the house! But we were just given the ok to go without oxygen at night too! I feel like I'm forgetting something every time I put her to bed.

I remember when Darbi first came home from the hospital, I was constantly thinking about what it would be like to have a Normal baby. With normal weight gain, normal trips to the grocery store (without darty-eyes at all those germ factories), normal meal times, and I would dream about how it would be to just simply take Darbi out of the car. It was always such an ordeal. Leaving the house meant having one shoulder with a heart monitor, the oxygen tank and the other shoulder with the heavy diaper bag with every necessity known to mothering. On top of it all, one of those elbows had to carry the car seat. Keys, sunglasses.. don't drop anything... and try to get the kid and all her glory in the car. Now, I carry the kid, my purse... and THAT'S IT. I love it. She loves it. No need for extra O2. I think things are changing around here. She's Normal. CAPITAL N. Yeah, we're still a little germ conscious. It's not something that goes away overnight. But I'm feeling a ton better about not getting crazy looks everywhere we go.

Sidenote: We're DONE nursing! Officially. Can you believe I nursed for 18 months?! Yikes. Before I had Darbi, my silly ignorant self always said the day she gets teeth, we're done. I'm so glad we nursed as long as we did. I am 100% confident that that is the reason she stayed so healthy and has done as well as she has so far.

Isn't that face so much cuter without all that tubing?!

Lazy Bones

2010-06-24T00:24:00.002-06:00

She's getting a little big for her bouncer.. But I can't bring myself to put it away. I want more babies.

S'go Swimming

2010-06-24T00:09:00.004-06:00

We took Darbi swimming the other day. First time in the pool. She HATED it. But there were some obnoxious boys having some stupid cannon ball contest right next to us. Hello?! I have a baby right here!! It's a pool.. I can't complain. She warmed up to the pool after a bit but she had to be right next to me clutching my shoulder the entire time. Hand-offs between Clint and I turned into frantic security grabbing attacks by Darbi. I think the next time will be better. We may just stick to the bathtub and the blow-up pool in the backyard...

When we got there she couldn't keep her eyes off the pool though.

Miss Crabbypants...

Summerfest

2010-06-23T23:48:00.003-06:00

I don't have much to say about Summerfest. It was fun! It's always fun! Clint, D, and I went to the morning pancake breakfast. It was COLD. We were too early to hit the cute little booths so we walked to the library, took a turn, and walked back. Saw come cool cars, finally hit the shops, bought Clint some crappy sunglasses and me a new hat.

We went home and took a REALLY long nap. Hit the parade.. where by the way... they are STINGY with the candy throwing.. When I was a kid there was ALWAYS a TON of candy. Lame. We did sit by some pretty awesome hecklers... It definitely made all those stupid politicians fun to watch. Why are they even in the parade?! At least throw some candy! That's how you'll win my vote. Next year... I'll just have a sign. Candy for Votes.

Darbi watched her first fireworks. She was scared at first but it was 10 at night. I bet she was just tired.

Oh. Best part. The Texas Twister. It's why we go. :)

Kade and D before the parade

Melissa & Sariah

Chad & Beth

Beth & D

Oh she's cute.

New Carseat

2010-06-23T23:40:00.002-06:00

Carseat upgrade.

Style riding.
She's doing.
Wingo!

What Clint Did

2010-06-23T23:23:00.006-06:00

I've been meaning to post this F-O-R-E-V-E-R. I'm not kidding. Sorry Heather. :) Heather does our hair. This last time, she was able to squeeze Clint in while I was processing. That crazy kid has been telling me for YEARS how he wanted to dye his hair black. Of course I always said no because I thought it would look worse than it really does... yes. I just gave it away. Clint dyed his hair black and it looks pretty good! It's real subtle but I like it! Here's the before/after shots!

First - post hair cut - pre dye job

Mid dye job

Post dye job

I didn't get a good shot of him from the front. It's hard to tell but it is black!

(Note to Heather: I think we need to put more blue in it next time.. if he does it again. We couldn't see blue at all.)

The Best One

2010-06-11T23:36:00.002-06:00

I have to share this. Clint and I finally watched the new Alice in Wonderland and Clint kept comparing different scenes and happenings to the Disney version. I had no idea what he was talking about! I've only seen in once maybe twice.. I grew up on the 1985 made-for-tv-version. Check it. :D

Jam tomorrow, jam yesterday! But never ever jam today!!!

Freshman roomies.. remember when we drove all over Orem looking to rent this bad boy?!

With a little help... She WALKS!!

2010-06-09T00:14:00.002-06:00

I've been meaning to post an extensive update on Darbi's PT sessions and how we have been making so much progress lately, but I just haven't been in a writing mood. At the end of the day, I'm too tired to blog. Pictures and videos are just easier. So one of these days I'll get a long wordy post up here about that but for now, I'll just show you how well she's doing!

She took her first non-mommy/daddy-assisted-but-toy-assisted STEPS today!! I hope that makes sense. This was literally the 2nd time EVER she had done this and she took 11-ish steps with her new toy! (I'm shameless and buy her a toy when I think that it might even help her a tiny bit in her development.. looks like my spoiling tactics have paid off!) :)

Memorial Day Weekend

2010-06-04T22:09:00.005-06:00

Co-op was canceled this last weekend so Dad was able to come up for a quick visit! It's been a bit since he's seen D but it didn't take her long to remember him. We rented a car and took a trip up to Idaho to visit my Grandma & Grandpa. It was so nice to get away... and I learned something about Clint. He's NEVER been to Yellowstone! Crazy... So we're going to go sometime this summer.

I'm about to go nuts with pictures...

Darbi had a nasty blow-out on the way up. They are happening daily. It's gross and I'm super thankful for a W/D now! I'm not sure we're ready for size 3 diapers yet..

The day before we got up there, Gma & Gpa went down to my Aunt Jill's and picked up her kitties. Darbi liked them a little too much. I turned my back for a sec and she had the poor cat's entire face in a scrunched up vice grip! It's better we didn't bring one home with us.

She was so happy on Grandpa's lap!

Grandpa made his very own apple press (I think that's what it's called). Dad picked up some apples and we gave it a go. Clint is still talking about how it was the yummiest apple juice..

We took a drive up to Island Park where we dream of having a cabin someday. :) It's so pretty up there!

D, Clint, & my cute Grandma!

These cars have been around since my Dad was a kid. Anyone who's anyone has played with those bad boys! :)

We introduced Darbi to Grandpa's horses and she really surprised me! I thought she would completely freak out but she tolerated them really well! I got some video but for now, I'm sticking to pictures.. it's too late and it'll take too long. But it was cute!

They got pretty close and she still didn't cry!

She did have her breaking point though. She would squirm up Dad's arm with a panicked look on her face. Not too bad! I was pretty terrified of horses when I was little. She can go ride horses someday with my Dad! I'll stay at home. :)

Grass Hater

2010-05-27T01:29:00.003-06:00

Becky.. We're joining the club!

Stairs

2010-05-25T13:58:00.005-06:00

Shortly after Darbi started crawling, we went up to Grandma's for dinner. It was the first time she had been able to crawl around on her own up there. If any of you know my Grandma, you know she is a master collector. Luckily, for her, she is a master organizer too so all of her collections are neatly on display. Her magnet collection alone would blow your mind! This post isn't about her amazing home.. although, I should devote an entire blog to categorizing everything she collects. Museums would go nuts. I'm not kidding.

Anyway, she has one stair that goes from the entryway to the living room in her home. This is all Darbi has had to practice on. She gets going up, but coming down is still head first.

Since we've moved into our new place, we've learned that the best and only attraction for Darbi, is the stairs. Unless I have something in front of them, she beelines straight for them. That one stair at Grandma's was all it took.. this baby knows how to climb stairs.

Don't look at how giant I am. :) I'm working on it. And we were still unpacking, hence all the boxes..

Here are some more cute pictures of D with Great Grandma Linda. We had a little blow out so Darbi's clothes were in the wash. I love babies in diapers!

Somersaults!!

2010-05-23T23:34:00.003-06:00

I don't know where she learned it but she just started doing semi-somersaults one day and Clint and I died laughing! She loved us clapping for her so the other night, she would just do it over and over!! She wiggles and claps for herself when she's done. She kills me..

The Wizard of Oz

2010-05-23T23:30:00.002-06:00

We went to Sariah's (Darbi's cousin) dance recital on Friday and I thought I'd be off in the sidelines entertaining Darbi. Apparently, the dance recital was enough! She. LOVED. it. It was about 45 minutes long and she stood on my lap, danced, and pointed at the cute little dancers the entire time!

NICU Reunion

2010-05-22T23:24:00.004-06:00

It's been a little over a year since we left the NICU and we have been looking forward to this ever since! (Jen, if you see Shelley - tell her we missed her!!) :) We owe so much to those who did so much for us. It's a beautiful thing to see all those children there who wouldn't be here if it weren't for the Lord and the steady hands of the doctors and nurses. They have a great group of people running that place.

We ran into a few of our special blogging babies too! Lincoln's mama and Reese and Whit's mama. It was so nice to finally meet you both! I wish I had gotten a picture with you guys but I totally forgot! Maybe next year! :D

We had a lot of firsts at this lil' party...

Tried cotton candy...

Popcorn... (sorry for all the up close pictures. I was holding the kid AND taking the pics.)

Ice cream sandwiches... (not really new for her but she loved it even though it was way cold outside.)

Face painting... she kept trying to eat the paintbrush.

She got a balloon and played with it all night.

We ran into Annie while we were there too. She was our OT and we love her! She always tells us she has a 23 week club for exceptional 23 week babies.. Darbi is one of them and she's so proud of her!

We had a blast.

Midnight Goosing!

2010-05-10T23:33:00.004-06:00

Last night, I stayed up late to finally blog and finished around about 12:15. I close my lappy, slide off the side of my bed and bend over to lay it on the ground. Clint jumps awake and reaches across the bed and grabs my butt with BOTH HANDS!!! He'd been asleep for about an hour and I flipped out! He was like, "What are you doing?? What is going on??" Crazy boy.. I had the same question... Then he dreamily told me that he thought I was Darbi and was falling off the bed and he had to save me.. HELLO?! Who doesn't love a midnight goose? :D

Happy Birthday Clint!

2010-05-10T00:04:00.003-06:00

You're amazing! I love you! And I'm sorry your birthday was a bit overshadowed by moving/mother's day. We stole each others fire. :) We'll have a birthday lunch tomorrow and and entire birthday WEEKEND next weekend to make up for it all!!

Moving Day!

2010-05-09T23:24:00.004-06:00

Let me start with I. HATE. MOVING. But I love it at the same time. Our new place is so much bigger and I feel strangely liberated now that I have a washer/dryer. It will be strange to actually have to think about doing laundry during the day as I never ever EVER thought about it. My daily routine will change and I think I'll be a better Mom/Wife because I actually have a schedule to do housework since I have so much more space to clean!

Things I love about the new place:

- when Darbi is asleep, nothing wakes her up anymore! She shares 2 walls with the outside of the building, 1 wall with our bathroom, and 1 wall with the stairs from the living room.
- central air AND a ceiling fan in our bedroom! Such luxury I tell you! :)
- W/D. Can I say it enough???
- a backyard (to share with 7 other families but I don't care!!)
- gigantic kitchen! Comparatively...
- shower/bathtub combo.. I seriously missed taking a real bath for 2 years
- Darbi's room is HUMONGOUS!! Plenty of room to have a scrappy room/baby room = happy mama!
- our own separate garbage can (it felt a little weird taking the trash to the curb since I haven't done that since I lived in AZ before I was married!)
- upstairs AND downstairs (which reminds me... Darbi already knows how to climb stairs.. video to come and another gate to buy)
- crazy storage!

I feel so spoiled. There's more but I need to get to the pictures before I fall asleep. I have been way too exhausted to blog but it's always on the back of my mind. I've got 250+ entries to read in my Google Reader!

On moving day I sent my Mom over to the new apartment with Darbi so she could help us get organized and also for Darbi to kind of get a feel for the new digs. I would call my Mom and she would put the phone to D's ear so I could talk to her. This is her face while I'm saying hello.. Isn't that ADORABLE?? I sure am loved... :)

Just being silly with uncle Kade the morning of the big move.

Isn't she adorable?? :D

This was her setup in our new kitchen with my Mom. The floors were freezing and I forgot to keep some other clothes for her unpacked. Whoops. I LOVE my new kitchen!

Reading books on her pile of blankets while Grandma cleans.

Looking cool with uncle Jed Sunday morning after an EXHAUSTING night. She didn't sleep well but I'm hoping tonight goes better.

Call for boxes!

2010-04-27T10:20:00.001-06:00

We need 'em! If you've got 'em, send 'em my way please! :)

We're moving!

2010-04-25T00:30:00.001-06:00

We love our apartment and we have the most amazing landlords but it's time for us to move to a bigger space! Having a baby without a washer and dryer has been hard and Darbi needs more space to crawl. We found a super awesome apartment on KSL and will be on our way out soon!! Anyone looking for an apartment? It's a 2 bed/1 bath basement apartment and it's super new!! It's a great starter apartment for newlyweds and it's available June 1st! If you know of anyone interested in renting, shoot me an email with any questions and I'll refer you to our landlords!

New Smile

2010-04-25T00:13:00.003-06:00

Old Smile = freakin' adorable... right?!

New smile = just plain goofy!! I don't know what changed...

But I love her anyway!

Nicknames

2010-04-17T19:05:00.002-06:00

Clint gave Darbi 2 new nicknames.
"Pinewood"
(as in pinewood derby)
and
"House-elf"
(as in Dobby from HP)

I'm going to smack him...

Easter Weekend in Photos

2010-04-15T00:46:00.002-06:00

Jed came up for a quick visit and to see the Saturday Afternoon GC session... The dress is from Liz - Our super cute friend in Mexico!

Meeting the "gray cat" at Grandma Pam's

Dabbling in a little Easter chocolate...

Exploring Grandma Pam's kitchen floor.. She's got a 5 foot leash on so she can't go far. It's kinda nice. :)

Happy late Easter!

KOTM updated

2010-04-15T00:17:00.003-06:00

It's obvious why I've been away from by blog... I don't nearly have enough time for it anymore it seems! I'm constantly fishing non-food items out of Darbi's mouth or making sure she's not getting into anything she's not supposed to be into. I really just chase her around all day now!! But I love it! Kids On The Move finally came out today to do their PT evaluation on Darbi. How come we waited so long to do this?! They are awesome! Even though Darbi has started to crawl, they want to stick around until she is 2 years actual because that is when she ceases to have an adjusted age.. according to them.

So next Tuesday we have another meeting to set goals for D like walking, speaking 15-20 words, doing signs, eating different foods.. blah-bity-blah. Thinks we'd like to see her doing in the next 6 months... then we'll really get crackin'. A lot of things I'd like to see Darbi doing in the next 6 months probably aren't realistic but she's pretty special so I wouldn't put it past her. I really really like our PT! She's super nice but also makes sure I know what she's doing, why she's doing it, and what she honestly thinks. I think this will be a great thing.. Darbi was a little sweetheart the entire time. Usually she'll shy up when meeting new people but she was BFF with our PT.

We'll get a full print out evaluation of where she is on the adjusted age chart next week I think.. I can't remember all of the details but our PT was super helpful. She is a little worried that Darbi has a sensory issue. So this week we will be getting down and dirty with her food. I hope she doesn't get too mad...

I'm embarrassed that I keep calling her "our PT" but I honestly, for the life of me, canNOT remember her name!!!! Don't tell her that... I'll pick it up one of these days. I think she may have left me a voicemail a few weeks ago. I should listen to that again...

On the move!

2010-04-03T21:12:00.004-06:00

The first couple of days after she took the initial crawl.. Darbi kind of stuck to her little rug that we have in the living room. That's her familiar space and I'm not sure she realized she could venture into unknown territories. Yesterday she started to get brave and would try and follow me into the kitchen area (it's all the same room but I was on the other side of the bar). She did find our island full of pots and pans and that was her jackpot. It is now her favorite spot in the room!

She got stuck here under her bouncer and she was SO mad.. once again.. I grabbed the camera first. HA!

I know she has the same headband/bow in every picture... they are attached and I change them like every 3 days.. don't judge. :) It's cute.

She has a few bumps on her head but they are on the right side. They're hidden in this photo but I'm sure there's more to come! She's not really getting faster.. just more refined in her crawling movements. She is LO.VING. it!!

SHE DID IT!!!!!

2010-03-30T10:24:00.002-06:00

This is for real... We're goin' to buy a gate tonight! :)

She was so mad at me...

2010-03-30T09:48:00.003-06:00

Mostly because I ran to grab the camera before I would save her...

How necessary are bumper pads?

When it Rains it Pours...

2010-03-29T21:37:00.002-06:00

Don't get your hopes up... she's not crawling yet. BUT. She has FINALLY rolled over from her back to her tummy!! I'm sure she did it the other day but tonight she did it in front of us. She's more graceful rolling to her left but I only got video of her rolling to her right. She kinda just flops over. There's a lot of kicking involved..

By the time KOTM get out here to evaluate her again, she'll be walking!!! sheesh...

Almost Crawling.. I Promise!

2010-03-28T21:29:00.003-06:00

I know I sound like a broken record... we really really REALLY are almost there!!
Here's proof!!

Yes.
We were watching Transformers 2
and
Clint still had his black Sunday socks on. :)

Easter Dress

2010-03-28T21:09:00.003-06:00

We took Darbi to our home ward for the first time ever! She did really well. I found her dress at The Children's Place for $10 and she needed to wear her Easter dress somewhere. Since next week is General Conference, we decided to make today the big day. She did really well. I didn't have to leave any meetings to walk the halls with her or feed her. The last 20 minutes of Relief Society I was was stuffing treats down her throat to keep her happy and quiet. :) Both Clint and I were beat from trying to keep a wiggly baby quiet for 3 hours. It was really exhausting. We came home and all took an hour and a half long nap! Good Sunday!

We couldn't get one of all 3 of us so we took turns..

Liz's dress

2010-03-28T20:58:00.004-06:00

We went to Mexico Thanksgiving 2008 and we met all of Jed's member friends from his Mission. It. was. awesome. I never got around to blogging the entire trip. I was pregnant and lazy.. I blogged it here and here. It was seriously a blast and we met the most amazing people. One of Jed's good friends, Liz, sent Darbi these dresses that she made which are adorable!! I love them! Darbi just now fits in them. This is my favorite of the two!

Progress

2010-03-22T23:42:00.004-06:00

We are so so so SOOOO close to crawling!! Right now Darbi is scooting backwards but every time I have to go somewhere, Clint will call me and tell me she's crawling! She's really not... It's making me crazy.. So scooted herself almost all the way under the couch.. We were laughing so hard!! I would have let her keep going but she started crying.. It was pretty funny.

However, in the last week, she has EXPLODED in baby talents!! If placed on her tummy, she can move up to her knees and back onto her bum into a sitting position.. and vise versa. She can also go up onto just her knees from her bum! She tries really hard to pull up into a standing position but we're still a few movements away from that feat.

Darbi still has not rolled from her back to her tummy... If I lay her on her back, she's like a fish out of water. She kicks and flails but if she would only roll over to her tummy, she'd have no problem getting into a sitting position!

However...

Today when I woke up, I could hear her making little noises while she played in her crib but hadn't called out for me to come get her. I decided to get dressed, go to the bathroom, and put my contacts in. About 5 minutes later, I open her door and find this...

Ignore the Christmas jammies. :) She had to have had rolled from her back to her tummy to get here!! I have never seen her use anything to pull herself up from her back into a sitting position so that's all I can come up with. I think we're going to have to move the crib mattress down now! Also, notice how her heart monitor strap is around her belly? Our strap was pretty worn out, as were our leads and cord that plugs into the machine. Since we had her heart rate number on the monitor decreased to 60bpm the monitor has not been going off for a low heart rate but it has been going off for a bad connection. We had everything replaced tonight so hopefully the monitor will not go off anymore.

Other recent updates.. Because of her delay in rolling over and crawling, we finally qualify for Kids on the Move. Sometime this week or next, I will have PT out here to do a full evaluation and hopefully we can really get moving on this. This last year, we've had Welcome Baby out to help us with D. They were extremely helpful though and I'm so glad they came out but I don't think we are on track to be "caught up" by the time Darbi is 2 (actually, not adjusted). I have completely enjoyed having a baby that needs me all the time for as long as I have! It's weird to think that, if born on time, could be walking right now! Blows my mind...

Also.. in other news. She is an angel to put to bed these days! That is my favorite part of the day! Around 8:00 every night, whether she's acting tired or not, we'll go into her room, nurse and then I hold her while she wraps her arms around me and buries her face into my neck. She'll just lay there... she usually doesn't fall asleep until I lay her down and walk out of the room but I could stand there all night snuggling like that.. I absolutely LOVE IT.

Seriously... best. baby. ever. :)

Lucky Lucky!

2010-03-17T16:00:00.004-06:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! I think next year we will have the leprechaun's visit.. I've found a ton of cute ideas and I can't wait.

Rainbow Jello
St. Pancakes Day (I love these!!)
Shamrock Shake
Leprechaun Treasure Hunt

Apparently it's all about the food. :)

And I pretty much love this idea!!!

Idiot/Adult Proof

2010-03-16T17:33:00.003-06:00

A little help here??? We are trying something new and it's not working!!! Darbi has held her bottle and fed herself the entire bottle for the last 2 weeks now so we thought we'd take the next step.. except WE CAN'T GET THEM OPEN. And the instructions are inside the cups!!

It took us (I mean, Clint) 10 minutes and 4 ripped up paper towels to get them open! Wow.

Heart Monitor recap

2010-03-10T14:35:00.002-07:00

I just got off the phone with the doctor.. Last night, after I turned D up to 1/4L, her alarm still went off at 1:30, 3:30, & 7:40. In between all of that, she woke up on her own at 5:30 to eat so I got NO sleep! The doc says that sometimes babies will become so rested that their resting heart rate will fall below the 70bpm. So we will reset the heart monitor to a minimum of 60 bpm. The average heart rate for babies her age is 75-110bpm. Her respirations are low also when she sleeps (20-25), so that could also account for the lower heart rate. Maybe she's just extremely relaxed. If the alarm still goes off, then it is something more serious. Clint doesn't buy it all and is a little wary. We're also going to try and get a different monitor and cable to see if it was more of a technical error. She's still pink though.

Stumped.

2010-03-09T21:46:00.004-07:00

Darbi's heart monitor. I HATE IT. It goes off all the time now! I think this is a major step backwards for us too. Since the RSV incident, we turned Darbi up from 1/32L to 1/16L. We've stayed there since then, just in case. And since the RSV incident, her alarm has been going off in the middle of the night, showing that her heart rate drops below 70 bpm. Sometimes it could be a mistake but every night??

Over the weekend, I was up almost every hour checking on her after that noisy thing would go off. And sometimes I wouldn't even hear the heart monitor through the baby monitor (even though we are SOOOO grateful Becky for letting us use it! I'm serious!! :) So we went and bought a new one today and it's AWESOME. Except with the baby monitor next to my bed, it's literally like the heart monitor is going off IN MY HEAD.

So last night, I turned her up to 1/8L and that seemed to help. The alarm didn't go off for the rest of the night and it was glorious! Tonight, she went down at 9 and the alarm went off 9:45. I turned her up (because I forgot when I initially put her to bed) and it has gone off at 10:10, 10:30, and 11:15. Clint turned her up to 1/4L (which is what we came home on remember..) and so far we are good.

This may be a long night. We had the information downloaded from our heart monitor and sent to our Dr. last week. I'll be calling in the morning to try and figure out what is going on. Maybe it's just bad wires... maybe not...

Crochet Basics CLASS

2010-03-09T21:25:00.001-07:00

EVERYONE is crocheting these days! My friend Amy is teaching a SUPER BASIC crochet class this Saturday at Pebbles. You ALL need to sign up! :) You will learn how to make this super cute headband that is so popular right now! All you need is $25 and the cost of yarn. Everything else is provided! She is so talented... and absolutely LOVES compliments. :)

Click the pic for all the details!

Her Popsicle

2010-03-05T13:56:00.003-07:00

I could watch this over and over.. Watching her eat a Popsicle is SO DANG CUTE. :D

Weekend Surprise!

2010-02-27T23:31:00.000-07:00

As much as it sucks for my Dad, I sorta love it when something goes wrong and he has to step up and drive one of the trucks for co-op! Because then I get to see him!! AND Jed drove a truck up this weekend also so I got a DOUBLE surprise just like last October! My Dad was up for 36+ hours straight but he found some energy to play with Darbi ALL day today! He kills me. I tried to get him to take a nap but I guess it's hard to say no to those big beautiful brown baby eyes! We all went to Brick Oven for dinner and came home and watched a movie. Dad finally crashed at 8 and there was no waking him! It was so fun to have them come visit us even if it was only for a day.. I get my Mom next weekend so she won't miss out on the fun baby times!

We tried bribing her to crawl with yummy sweet treats... since the laser pointer isn't working. :)

I stuck D on the blow up mattress as it was blowing up. This is mid-blow-up. She was only a little scared. It lifted her up all the way though!

I love putting babies in funny spaces

2010-02-25T03:14:00.004-07:00

Our new insurance will pay for those annoying sticky tabs for the cannula on D's face now.. I'm giving her a break from the headbands (mostly while I find them all...) I misplaced them and can only find the huge ones that don't hold the cannula on well. Doesn't her head look huge without the headband?! :)

One step closer to crawling!!

2010-02-25T03:03:00.005-07:00

I've been saying for weeks that Darbi is soooo close to crawling. Normally... for a normal baby, that would be accurate. Soooo close for us really like 2 months away! But we are making progress! Clint thought it will be helpful (hilarious...) to use a laser pointer to get D where we want her. :) It's pretty dang funny but I don't know if it will work like we want. She has mastered getting from all 4's (I have to put her there) back on to her bum! This is a HUGE deal!! Most babies born at full term can easily put two and two together to figure out crawling. We have to practice each individual step over and over and over. Even then, it still won't click. You don't realize it but there are like 20 different movements to get a baby into the crawling position!! (maybe not 20.. but still.. it's tough!) We are making progress and I'm sure any day (week) we will be crawling! :)

My voice is kind of annoyingly loud... sorry! :)

Guess whose car broke down again??

2010-02-22T23:23:00.000-07:00

That's right.. mine did! I was all the way in Sandy when it happened too! I got stuck in traffic when the back passenger tire started grinding so loud. Everyone was looking at me and they had a TON of time to stare since we were all moving 5 miles an hour! I seriously thought my tire had fallen off and I was driving on the rim with sparks flying everywhere! I sounded so horrible that Clint could hear it through the phone. I was able to pull into a 7-11 and lucky for me.. the tire was still there. I was down on my hands and knees trying to figure out what the problem was! Nothing looked wrong! So I called Clint to come save me... We had a tow truck come and drop our car at the shop. Clint thinks it's the ball bearings.... or something.... :)

I remember like 5 years ago I had to have an alignment done on my car and the guy said it would need to be replaced soon... HA. Sucker.. I got 5 years out of that thing! The mechanic will call tomorrow with the damage. Ugh.

Darbi and I had some more backseat fun while we waited for everyone though! :)

We're back!

2010-02-20T00:20:00.004-07:00

We are all almost better! I'm the only one with any lingering symptoms. Just a little runny nose and sore throat but I think tomorrow I will wake up symptom free! I kicked that cold to the curb! Darbi fared extremely well considering her chronic lung disease.. Extremely! We are so lucky. We hit our pediatrician office 2 different times and the after hours clinic once just to double check her lungs and to check for ear infections. All is now well!

Being sick and cuddly

My little faker.. :)

Life will go back to normal now and hopefully, so will my blogging habits! We will disinfect the house entirely tomorrow. I know there are some who think my crazy hermit and germ free ways are unnecessary. This lady puts all my thoughts on this into words that make sense. :) Read it. And don't judge my reasons for keeping my baby clean.

Because of Clint's new job and our insurance changes, we had to switch to a different oxygen provider. It is so much nicer now! We had no problems with the old company but now things are just easier. Before, when D was on 1/8L or higher, she was on an O2 concentrator which was loud and put out heat BUT allowed us to walk about the apartment without dragging anything but a little tube behind us. Then when she was able to go below 1/8, we put the concentrator away and had to carry around a "D" tank in a bag. We got used to it but if Darbi were to crawl (which she still doesn't) she'd be tethered on a 5 foot leash attached to a 3 pound tank. In some ways, I guess that would be nice for me.. if she were to ever crawl! :) NOW, we have a 40 pound tank that stays in a central location in our apartment with a 50 foot cord again! FREEDOM. It's so nice to not have to kick that stupid tank around when I need to move D 10 feet in any direction.

Check out all that freedom! :)