Our Christmas

Happy Holidays!

Our Wishes for All !!

Looking For:

A loving and patient caregiver to a teething baby. Earplugs a must. Patience required. Lots of hugs, snuggles and otter pops. Only needed for a few weeks, until tooth appearance. Future help, if available, will also be needed. Must bring own kleenex.

They're Coming! They're Coming!

Yesterday was a day like any other, only 4 days before Christmas. Aftyn and I went grocery shopping, I worked on some projects while she slept, nothing out of the ordinary. And later that evening as we had Family Home Evening, Reed wiped Aftyn's runny nose while we pondered if she had a cold, why she was sneezing so much and where it had come from. Off to bed, and around midnight, a cry arose from Aftyn's room, which has not been "the norm" for quite some time. If anything, when Aftyn is awake, she will just start to talk to herself and we will follow up with sticking her binki back in, rolling her back to her sleeping position, the "L", and turning on her white noise.

Reed had only recently gone to bed when her cry arose, and since he had work in the morning, I went to Aftyn's room to stick her binki back in. Several times. None of the times seemed to be doing the trick. She just continued to cry.

Until it hit me after about 30 minutes. Aftyn is teething! Holy cow! I felt inside her mouth, and sure enough, she didn't want me to have anything to do with the top of her gums. We had luckily already prepared for this moment. With teething tablets, Orajel and tylenol, Aftyn was back to slumberland only a short 30 minutes later. As I lay down to finally go back to sleep, I thought, man what a blessing that we were prepared. The end. Or really, just the beginning.

Any tips on how to deal with this snotty sneezy baby that has replaced my own happy child?

Dear Grandma,

Here's what I've been up to:

Giving Mommy kisses!

Guess who I ran into last night?!?

Click on the picture above to see Aftyn's mole on her hand. Her first beauty mark! :)
Don't worry, a doctor is watching it to make sure it's not a bad thing.

What a funny face, huh?

To All of Aftyn's Grandma's Who Live In Texas

There will be pictures tomorrow.

I promise.

In the meantime, let me just share with you Aftyn's newest things!
- lots of tongue movement, which helped when I fed her some graham cracker crumbs a few days ago. She loved them! She was trying to lick her lips tonight when Reed let her full on lick a lot of buttercream frosting off his cookie. Naughty Daddy!!

- no crawling yet! But she still manages to move around a lot, when she needs or wants to.

- She is getting really good at reaching for Eskimo kisses. I have been giving them to her since she was only a few days old, and now she gives them back! Also, she gives lots of open mouth kisses, mostly to me, on my cheeks.

- she seems like she is going through a less fussy, happy more of the time kind of phase. I am enjoying it! She is also a lot more giggly. Very cute.

Until tomorrow!

It Happened on a Friday . . .

She found the yarn all by herself, and decided it would make a nice chew toy

I don't think she likes the flavor - her nose is a little wrinkled

What Aftyn looks like with mohawks - one for each different section of hair

Look at those beautiful baby blues

Reed would have you know, Aftyn said "da-da"

She may not know what it means, but she said it

Reed is a proud papa :)

What We've Been Up To . . . . In Pictures

Aftyn has been looking so cute in pigtails . . . but not so cute in the after effects of pigtails.

This is not the best picture - don't blow it up or you'll see some really scary eyes.
We went and visited some friends a few weekends ago - they are such a fun family and with all those boys always seem to have something happening!







And yes, again, pigtail hair. What can I say, it's a little cute.



What about all of the things we don't have pictures of, you say? Well, here's a quick rundown :



Aftyn is so much fun right now! We can see more and more of her personality everyday!

Almost crawling!

Sat up in her crib on her own this morning.

Started pffbbt-ing with her tongue yesterday, was blowing those with her lips before.

Gone to only 2 naps a day - sleeps good at night, but still wakes up around 4 thinking it's time to eat.

Eats solids 2 times a day, cries when the food is all gone and sometimes totally loses it if the food isn't coming fast enough.

Loves spending time with Daddy in the morning before work.

And so much more!!!

How's the Weather at Your House?

It's a bright and warm 72 degrees over here . . . .

Inside.

I Can't Come Up With A Title. .

This is an interesting concern. Today, I needed to go to Walmart to do my weekly shopping a few days later than normal. So, I got dressed, got Aftyn dressed complete with 2 pig tails and bows, and got our little 2 yr old friend dressed with hair done also. I was feeling pretty good, what with it being 9:30. So, off we went to our local Walmart.
For all who may not know, having 2 kids in a cart is quite the juggling act. I have, in the past, just kept Aftyn in her car seat and put her into the cart with the 2 yr old in the kid seat. It works, but it's hard to get a whole week's worth of groceries into a cart already pretty full with a baby seat.
Today, I decided to try Aftyn sitting in the kid seat with a blanket around her to cushion any possible tippage. We actually had no issues, even with the 2 yr old walking around holding my one hand and me pushing with the other hand. (Boy what a hassle this will be when I have 2 of my own - good thing I get to have some early practice.)
The real issue we had was random people walking up to smile at and talk to Aftyn, especially when I was away from the cart. Talk about making me nervous! Is this common and I never knew? Don't get me wrong, I appreciate all the adults and kids who commented on how cute she was and how smiley - who doesn't like to hear that? I'm just a little uneasy with strangers around my kids . . .

Do I need to make sure Aftyn is looking unkempt and scraggly to ensure my peace of mind? I know there must be other stories like mine, who wants to share?!?

* Aftyn wanted me to add that she taught herself how to blow raspberries last week - and she's been blowing them like crazy ever since. *

6 months old! Can you believe it?

Thankful - And Proud of It !

Reed thinks Aftyn is looking more and more like me. So, I thought I would take a picture so I could see. I still think she just looks like herself. What do you think?

In the 6 months of Aftyn's life, as of yesterday, here are some of the true joys she brings into our lives :

- splashing and playing in baths. Reed LOVES to bathe Aftyn. I let it be his time with her when I can because he enjoys it so much.

- talking, even when it means we can't hear each other speak because Aftyn is being so loud. She is just beginning to find her voice, and we have so much fun listening to her at night when we're together.

- Changing her diapers. Aftyn loves to suck on her big toes, and is pretty flexible because of this. When you take off her diaper, she has decided it's the best opportunity to get to them. We generally have to separate her foot from her mouth in order to get the diaper back on.

- Getting her dressed and accessorized. Maybe that's just fun for me, but I love it when she looks cute and her hair is all done.

- Cuddling. Oh, I love it when she's in a cuddly mood. I think she loves to cuddle and be smooched on. She gets a big smile on her face and often giggles. So cute. She loves to touch our faces also when she cuddles.

- I love that she's so aware of the world around her at this point and finds interesting things to look at everywhere. I also love that because of her interests outside herself, she wants to move to get things. I think this is so exciting! I can't wait to show her all the beautiful things in this world.

- I love that she loves music. I sat her in front of Lawrence Welk this last Saturday, left the room and then peeked around the corner at her. She was in awe, staring at the tv screen with all the colors and music coming from it, with a big smile on her face.

- Most of all, I love the personality emanating from her little body. She is so dang lovable!

She just started this yesterday . .

Don't mind the "whining", she gets tired of her tummy sometimes. But also notice, she kind of gets up on her knees towards the end. That's the first time I've seen her do that. I was just showing/helping her do that a few minutes before, but she wasn't really getting it. If you can't tell, her "new" thing is moving her jaw up and down and making sounds while she does this and it makes NEW sounds. She likes to "talk" a lot.

The Many Faces of Aftyn

(This is her "oh-ing" face. She says "ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh".)

Can you believe her top is actually the

first dress she ever wore to church at a week and a day old?

What the Hay - it's Picture Day!

So, a little fly buzzed in my ear that it was time again for Photos With Aftyn, our weekly

debacle that starts with smiles and sunshine and ends with tears and naps.

So, older sis, what do you think? Aren't her legwarmers colorful and fuzzy? And if you've got anything bad to say about her mommy-made legwarmers, here's what Aftyn's got to say:

"Whatch-you talkin' 'bout Willis?!"

Post Edit: If you were one of the early viewers of my original post and remembered somewhat different pictures, let's just say I chose to take them out. I'm not sure they were the best specimen of my work in photography. I'm not looking for perfection, but too many people thought they were "weird." Whatevah.

A Note to Grandma from Aftyn:

Dear Grandma,


I tried your carrots.

I loved them like I've never loved any food before, except milk.














I had to focus a lot - they were yummy, I had to enjoy every bite!

You can't tell it from my face, but I'm saying Thank You. They were delish!

Why Do:

Why do babies, as soon as they lay in the warm water that is in their bath, feel the need to empty their bladders? As in, go wee wee! I noticed a few baths ago that cute little Aftyn, as soon as she felt settled and all warm in her bath, just let it go. Which I wouldn't have even noticed except that I was looking in that general area to make sure that WASN'T happening. And then she did in her next bath also. Does this happen EVERY bath time and I'm JUST noticing? Ew.

Just had to show :

I just had to post this cute picture with my oldest niece, also the oldest grandchild, holding her 3 youngest cousins. From left to right are Aftyn, Phoebe, Lucy, and holding all 3 is Kierstin. Cool, huh?

So It Must Be Thankful Thursday!

Gratefully, I feel much better, happier and thankful today.

I probably didn't explain well, but with Reed in the bedroom, I didn't get to talk to him or touch him or hug him or anything for the last 2 days. This might not seem like that big of a deal, but Reed is always hugging me or kissing me or rubbing my shoulders, and I think it might happen more often than I realize because I miss being shown how much he loves me by how often he is touching me!

And so, today I am thankful. I am thankful Reed woke up after sleeping all night, which he hadn't been able to do the night before, to no fever and hardly any body aches.

I am grateful to all the people who offered help and condolences. Thank you!

I am grateful that Aftyn and I haven't gotten sick. I am grateful for soap, and the awesome cloths that are made by Norwex and to which I attribute my lack of sickness. I am grateful to the fabulous woman in our ward who came up with little sample packs for people to try their cloths, who loaned me a few. They have been lifesavers!

I'm grateful for my sister Alyson who takes cute pictures of Aftyn for me.

I'm grateful for life returning back to "normal".

Whiny Wednesday?

Whiny Wednesday. I'm pretty sure that's a post nobody wants to read.

Life's a bit tough right now. Not really, not tough as in : we're out of a job, someone in my family has a deadly illness, or we're losing our home.

No, just tough as in: Reed's sick with the swine flu, because of this and the fact that we have 2 young children in our home on a daily basis (counting Aftyn) he has to be quarantined to our bedroom and can't really come out without spreading the disease. And I can't go in and spend time with him because I've got Aftyn to care for all day long and when she's finally down for the night, so is Reed.

So I guess life seems tough because I don't have my normal backup support from Reed. I know there are people with much harder trials than this. But right now, this one is kind of hard to swallow. Sorry, this seems to have turned a bit whiny.

Okay, well I just had to get that out of my system. I guess I needed to have someone listen to me, and I'm feeling better now!

On to better, much happier news. I am so excited for Thanksgiving! I love the holiday season because I get to watch Christmas movies and listen to Christmas music. I love the time spent with family that makes it so memorable. I'm excited to share these holidays with Aftyn, even though I know she most likely won't remember them this year. I love the feeling of *love* I feel this time of year.

Recent photos

Our sunrise on Halloween morning - rather fitting that it should have so much orange, huh?





Aftyn really does like her hair - when she's happy, she touches it but only momentarily. Which is why it's hard to capture with a picture, she's just too quick! I finally caught her at it while sleeping. So cute.

Haven't we all had THESE moments? I don't generally have Aftyn wear bows at home, but I found the perfect one on this day and so she was wearing it while playing. I heard Aftyn making some funny fussy sounds from were I was in the kitchen, I came around the corner and found this:

She could only see out of the top of her headband - Reed and I got a pretty good laugh from this.

Right after this photo, I fixed the bow. I'm not that mean.

Cute video

Please don't mind my commentary - I couldn't help it, I'm the mommy. :P

Reconnecting

It's kind of late, I'm a little tired and kind of feeling sick. But nonetheless, this post needs to be written.

You know how there are just some people that you meet that you keep running into throughout your life. There are those who you are uncomfortable running into because you are merely acquaintances, and those who you are genuinely excited to run into so you can catch up with them and it's like you haven't missed any time at all together.

Lisa Jo is one of those "genuinely excited to see her" friends. That's not even the name she goes by. It's just the name I call her. Why? I don't know, because it's cute. I think there are few people who can even call her that, and I am one of them. It probably annoys the heck out of her, but she never says.

She was one of the first friends I made when my family moved to Boise when I was 6 almost 7. I remember going to her house a few times to play. She was a little, shy, curly redhead who was very sweet and always a good friend.

We often played together, grew up going to church together and being in the same classes at church for a large majority of time even though she was 6 months younger than me. Her mother even formed a 4-H club with only girls where we learned to sew and cook. It was fun!

If you asked me, I couldn't tell you what happened to make us loyal friends, and yet we are.
When she comes to town, I have lunch with her. Always. We catch up and it's just fun to see each other and hear what's been going on. I cherish the times we spend together.

I wish for all to have a Lisa Jo kind of friend. They make life fulfilling. And fun.I would like to add that just because I didn't write a post for all my friends does not make our friendship less important or significant to me. I truly appreciate all my friends!

The Previous Posting Has Been Cancelled

So for any and all who had a chance to read my last post in the 4 hrs or so since I posted it, it's cancelled. Sorry. I think I'm coming down with something, most likely NOT the swine flu, but who really wants to play around with it since it's running rampant? Stay tuned - I may actually get invites out for my next planned party.

Taking Up Jenn's Challenge

What Makes My Family Special:

We support each other.

We help each other.

We show each other loving kindness,

and that helps all of us to feel more loved and happier.

I can't tell you how many nights Reed got up with Aftyn and continues to get up with Aftyn, even though he has work in the morning. I appreciate this and love him for his efforts in helping me.

An Important Announcement

Incredibly Huge flower bow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . check

Binkie and eye contact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . check

Drumroll please

You want a little better look?

I think the shirt says it all.