Small Wonders in The Life of DeAnne

OK, so this picture makes my heart SOAR! I placed Alaina on her little play mat thingy (that's the technical term) with a cute little ducky hanging over her head. She enjoys looking at and swatting the duck. As I was going about my business today, I realized she had gotten awfully quiet. I looked over and she had fallen asleep like this. This is a BREAKTHROUGH! I don't know how long she will stay asleep like this, but it will be interesting to find out. Why is this an exciting thing??? Number one: she fell asleep on her own, without anyone holding her, without a pacifier, without the swing, a bottle or a blanket. Number two: She's not in the swing. She is flat on her back on the floor. Awesome! Progress is underway. I hope that soon, she will be sleeping in her crib. So far she hasn't been.

Visit To Boise, ID

We went to Boise, ID this weekend to watch our niece Madalyn
compete in a swim meet. We were really excited to go because
we haven't seen these cousins since Katelyn was 2 months old.

Hanging out in at the "Y" waiting for Maddie's turn.

Cute McKay- being a little shy around us.

It was SO hot in that place! I was wishing I had a t-shirt under my jacket.

This was Maddie's last race. It was really long...
Butterfly, backstroke, breast stroke, and crawl???
200m medley (hopefully I'm getting the details right).
She was awesome! It was so fun to watch her swim.
I still can't even dive!

Back at my brother in law Erik's- brother in law's house.

Maddie holding Alaina, Maryn in the back, and
Katelyn up front. I think Katelyn REALLY, really liked
her girl cousins :) We went back to their house to say
hi to Maryn since she wasn't at the swim meet.
It was so good to see everyone, we just wish Gretchen was there.
(She was running across Florida with 11 other women)

NEW MOON

Last night was the big NEW MOON night. I was able to
attend a special showing at 6pm. Some people in my ward
rented out a theater for an early showing and I was lucky enough
to be included in the festivities. I went with my friends Lisa and Molly.

Someone made this really cool NEW MOON quilt
and they raffled it off before the show started.
They also gave out other prizes for various things.
I didn't win anything (not that I expected to).

A "ladies only" showing. It was so funny, a bunch
of grown women acting like twitterpated teenagers.

The poor souls who were waiting in line for the midnight show.
We got there just before 5:30pm and there were hoards of
crazy fans waiting in line, camped out in their lawn chairs and
wrapped in warm blankets.

It was a really fun night and I am glad I was able to go.

Upon Request

Someone requested that after reading this book, I post my thoughts. First of all, I fully admit that I didn't read the entire thing. I read a lot of it and when it got to where it seemed like it was talking a lot about breast feeding I sort of tossed it aside because I am not breastfeeding. So maybe I cannot be a fair judge. I liked most of what I read. I could relate to having a schedule. As I was reading, I thought to myself, "ok, we already have that"...the eating, awake, sleep routine. Alaina is definitely on that schedule, but she is no where near sleeping through the night and she is 11 weeks old now. At this point I'm not sure if I "buy" that all babies can sleep through the night by 12 weeks or whatever. But again, I did not read the entire book, so maybe I missed something. Alaina is steadily making progress, just as Katelyn did. She is sleeping up to about 4 hours at a time at night. Personally, I don't see anything "wrong" with where Alaina is at. She is happy, content, well fed, healthy, beautiful, etc. What more could I ask for? If my child isn't sleeping through the night by 12 weeks, does that mean I am doing something wrong? For the most part I felt that I was already doing most of what I read. So, I don't know...I liked it, but I guess I didn't jump on the band wagon, and I don't judge anyone who has followed this parenting style. I believe we each have to do what works best for US and for our situation. We know our babies better than anyone else.

In contrast, I have also read some things about "Attachment Parenting"- the parenting style that was so opposed in this book. Some of the things I have read about AP also felt very natural to me. I relate a lot to that as well. I do not profess, however, to know very much about that style at all. After thinking a lot about it, I decided that I didn't really want to attach myself to one particular parenting style, either way. But I am definitely open minded to learning knew ways to parent better, so if something works for me from one style or another, I'll take it.

So, I guess that sums it up. What do you think?

My Alaina

I am so in love with this little girl. This is the day she fell asleep on her own in the swing. It was great! I love her big pouty lower lip. It always sticks out when she's sleeping in the swing or when she starts to cry sometimes. It's the cutest thing ever. At least her mommy thinks so.

She had her two month check up yesterday. 10.5lbs and 23 1/4" long. 50% for weight and 75% for height. So, basically she's tall and skinny, just like Katelyn. Fine with me though. Hope they stay that way all their life :)

I wanna be a LOSER!

I was trying to find a picture of myself from when I was in a lot better shape. These are not the greatest, but will do. I am so sick of being fat! I need some inspiration, hence the picture. I am proud to say I worked out this weekend and then again today. Our ward does aerobics twice a week at our building, so tomorrow I am going for the first time. The down side is that I have to take the kids with me. Katelyn's not so much a problem, but I may end up working out with Alaina strapped to me. Hopefully I can time it right, so she will either have just eaten and will be in her awake period for the hour, or be sleeping. We'll see. I actually really like to exercise. I feel really good afterward. I was inspired the other day when I stopped by a ward members house and caught her in the middle of a work out. Then I began thinking to myself why I am not exercising every day. I don't have a whole lot going on most days and half the time we are inside. I realized I spend more time on facebook than necessary and if I have that much time to be on facebook, I can find an hour every day to exercise. Anyway, something has got to change. Now, if I could just get rid of that darn sweet tooth.

Daddy's Girls

This picture is great. The funny thing though, is that Justin
was not really sleeping. This was last Thursday when I had gone
to get a pedicure with my sister, Britany. I called home on the way
back and was going to stop by Target to pick something up, but
Justin said he wanted me to hurry home so I could take a
picture of him with the two girls sleeping on his lap. Isn't that sweet?
This daddy adores his little girls!

I found these other pictures on the camera.

Justin is working nights right now, so on his nights off,
he takes care of Alaina during the night. Since I am not nursing,
I can get in a pretty good night's sleep usually. I guess he
was having some fun taking pictures of Alaina one night.

LOL! I don't think she's lovin' the Bumbo just yet.

"someone help me!"

BOO!

My Halloween Cuties

Tinkerbell

I ended up not dressing up afterall. Just couldn't pull it together.

Katelyn had fun trick-0r-treating with her friend
(the boy next door)