Angie the Observant

Over the past couple days, I've learned some things about my baby girl. She's very content. So content, that she's hitting her growth landmarks (well I shouldn't say landmarks....it's really just one) a little behind schedule. Not that it's a big deal at all. She's a few days over five months old, and she's still not rolling over at will. We've all seen her do it from time to time, but if you lie her on her back....she pretty much stays there. She loves to sit and stare at you (not that she has much else to do.....).

She is still hitting other landmarks right on "schedule"....she's been eating rice cereal for a couple weeks now and is doing very well with it. She's also cooing, squauking, and blowing bubbles (which is way cute). She even chatters herself to sleep after she's fed in the middle of the night. (which means she must be falling asleep without her nuk.....which could hopefully mean it won't be too difficult to get rid of when that time comes). She also likes to reach out and grab things, and really enjoys things that make noise (rattles, baby wipes, or grocery sacks).

But a couple days ago, Parker's sister (Robyn) came to town. She has a little baby (Kaylee) that is only 3 weeks older than Angie. And she's so different! Now, I don't want to spend the entire time comparing these two girls, because all babies are different. But let me just give you taste of the differences. First of all, baby Kaylee is much shorter than Angie. She's also much more giggly. All you have to do is look at that girl and she starts to laugh. It's so adorable! Angie makes you work for her laughs. Kaylee is also MUCH MORE accomplished at rolling over. You lie her down (back or belly), and she flipps over....and then proceeds to roll back and forth until she gets stuck somewhere. She is also very close to sitting up on her own. Angie....not even close. Angie loves to stand up....and I think as a result of that....she's very stiff all the time.
Kaylee seems so curious and determined to figure things out. Like she's always trying to accomplish something. (Like grabbing Angie's face). Angie....it's almost like she's trying to figure out what you're thinking. She just lies on her back staring at you. Now don't get me wrong, she actually loves to roll onto her side too....but it's not very often that she completes the turn. And Angie also has curiousity. She likes to stare at her toys, or her feet. But I think her legs are almost too long for her to reach them (Kaylee loves to hold onto her feet).
If I could make some predictions about my little Angie....this is what I think: I think she's going to be a good listener. And as a result (hopefully) rather obedient. It's likely that she'll be intraverted (like I was....and I guess still am)....meaning she won't need other people to keep her entertained. Which means she may enjoy playing by herself when she gets older. It's likely that some life-lessons she will figure out all on her own.......learning from the lessons and mistakes of those around her.

Can I tell this just from a personality of a baby? No. She will grow, and has her agency. She will make choices for herself, and they may not always be the right one. And will she turn out just like me? I think not.....(hopefully much better)... but she is alot like me. I'm so excited to continue to watch how she learns and grows. She is such a joy in my life. Both my children are.

Yard changes, and Toy Story 3

This weekend has been really fun. To start it off, Caleb and I went to see Toy Story 3 on Friday afternoon. I decided we wouldn't do it in 3D because I wasn't sure if Caleb would like it or not. We LOVED the movie. This is only Caleb's 3rd time to the movies. His first was "The Princess and the Frog" when Angie was born and I was in the hospital for a couple days. The second was "Shrek ever after" with his Aunt Jayne. And then I got to take him to Toy Story. I thought it was really awesome! A great ending to this series of films. And can I just say that Disney sequels are almost always a guaranteed failure....with the one exception...and that's the Toy Story movies. Hopefully Cars 2 will be just as good.Angie's starting to get pretty playful. She rolls over sometimes, but really enjoys lying on her back so she can see everything. She can grab really well if you hold something in front of her. And she loves things that make noise. She likes to shake her rattle, or try to hit the package of baby wipes. She blows bubbles and sqacks and has been eating rice cereal very well once a day. She is such a joy.

Well yesterday was one of the first Saturdays that has had nice weather...AND we've both been home. So we did some yard work. The grass around the tree in the front yard wasn't growing well. So we decided we're going to make an island covered with rock. We had some flowers popping up in front of Caleb's window, and they were getting pretty tall. Since that area still has a lot of work to do, we decided to try and move them over to the new island. Can you guess what they are? I had to look it up, cuz I wasn't sure either. It's a Peony! I don't know what color they're gonna be yet.....I guess we'll see.

Caleb was so cute when he was trying to help. He got his little shovel, and started moving the rock from the truck to the wheel barrel. His face got a little red towards the end (it got pretty hot). We didn't quite finish, because we ran out of rock. But we got close. Slowly, but surely, our yard is transforming into something nice.

Jumble

I'll warn you, this post is kinda jumbled. I'm throwing all my pictures on here that I haven't put up yet....so it's not all about on thing.

We finally got Caleb a booster seat. He's not quite four....but he's been in the "age 4" weight backet for over six months. So we figured he's close enough. One down-side to booster seats is there's nowhere to rest your head once you fall asleep.Angie is five months old today. I can't believe my baby has grown so much! In some ways, I still feel like it's January and we just brought her home. But no.....it's been five months. And she's over doubled in size. She's getting curious. She likes to hit and shake things to see if they'll make noise. She's getting pretty good at grabbing things, and as of last week she's been eating rice cereal. She's finally starting to not spit it out after every bite. I can tell she likes it.

She also sits in the BUMBO seat really well. And it is better than any high-chair (because it takes up less space!). Below, you see the classic picture of Parker balancing the baby with one hand. I'd freak out, except he's been doing it since Caleb was six weeks old. Hasn't dropped a kid yet. :)

Caleb really does thik Parker is his own personal jungle-gym. Parker has to kind a be careful, cuz Caleb will just jump on hs back at any given place or time.....like when he's bent over talking to Angie. (see below)

Okay, this first video is Angie's new thing. She's been growling. You can pretty much guarantee...if she's awake, she's growling. She' much louder now (compared to this video). And she's even starting to squak a bunch too. It's so cute!


Lastly....this video actually goes with the last post about the letters in my stir-fry. I cant believe how big Caleb is either! He's tall! And he's starting to understand explanatins of things. I can tell him a word, and what it means...and BAM it's part of his vocabulary. He's so smart.

Words in my food

The other day, I made stir-fry for dinner. And Caleb pointed down at my plate and said, "Mommy look! It's tuh-tuh-terrific!" Sure enough, I looked down and my carrots were forming a letter "T"

So I took the beans and noodles and made an "S" and a "m" and he got those letters too. The letters are slow in coming....but he IS learning. I'm so proud of my boy. He notices EVERYTHING!!

I've been a lazy blogger lately, but I've got some new posts coming. Our internet connection has been shotty so it makes it hard to get any blogging done. But as of tomorrow we're honest citizens. We're finally getting internet, instead of bumming off the neighbors who were careless enough to not protect their wi-fi with a password. :)

31. New Leaf

Day 31: THE LAST DAY OF A BLOG A DAY IN MAY!

Well, I'm not gonna lie. I'm quite relieved that May is over and I don't have to blog anymore. Because I've got something else to keep me busy now. And believe me I'm plenty busy. But I'm really getting sick of my body. Now that breastfeeding is over.....the extra calories and fat cells are no longer exiting my body on a daily basis. They're going in.....but not coming out. And I'm feeling it. It's time to pick up where I left off a year ago before I got pregnant. It's time to start exercising again. Keeping healthy is important to me, and although I don't necessarily want to be a stick-figure model.....I do know that I can lose some pounds. And inches. Definately inches. When I started running a year ago, I really was doing well. I was even losing weight...and inches. And I only was consistant for about 2 months. When I got pregnant, I quit.....because I really didn't have the energy. But now it's time.

Last year it was different, because we were living with Parker's parents at the time. And even though I WAS working......I wasn't exactly cooking dinner every night. I had more time in the evenings. Now things are different. When am I gonna have time to work out? Well I'll just have to do what the other busy people are doing. There is definately NO time after work. Not to mention, no energy after work. It's gonna have to be in the morning. No I am not a morning person. But....I have to make myself be a morning person. Because this HAS to be done. And there's no other time to do it. My mom works out in the morning. I used to think she was completely crazy to get up even earlier than what is already an early morning, and do something as un-fun as exercise. But it's so important to her to take care of herself. And with heart disease in our genes.....she just decided it had to be a priority. And now I'm in the same boat. And even though I feel like I'm insane. And I hate myself when that alarm goes off......this morning I got up early and went for a run. A short run this time. I'm SO out of shape. So I didn't push it at all. Fifteen minutes. That's all I did. But I did it. I got out of bed and put on those shoes and hit the road. And I DID feel good. I know it's going to be hard. But I'm not happy with the extra inches around my waist and on my face. So I run. We'll see if I can be as good at running in June as I was at blogging in May (which wasn't that good....sparatic....but I did get a post for every day this month...even if about half of them were late.....they're there.)
Wish me luck!
And PEACE OUT! I will NOT be blogging tomorrow.

30. Memorial Weekend

Day 30: A Blog A Day In May

For memorial weekend we went down to Utah. Parker's grandparents are buried in Ogden.....as well as a bunch of other relatives and ancestors. Memorial day was never really a big deal in my family. Besides the marker of the beginning of water-ski season we never really did much. Parker's family, however, kinda has a tradition to go to the cemetary. And it's not like those buried there are really there. We know they're in the spirit world. But it serves as a time for Parker's dad and grandpa to tell stories about those we've never met. About the pioneers, and about some great people and families.
These pictures were taken in Grandpa Lyons's tree in his front yard. It's a really big maple tree. Great for climbing. Garrett climbed up, and Caleb wanted to come up too.

After we hit all the cemetaries, we went to Parker's aunt Jo's house for a barbeque dinner. Aunt Jo and uncle Ted have 3 four-wheelers at their house, and they took some of the kids out for a ride. Caleb has never been on one before....so when they fired those things up, he got REALLY excited and wanted to go too. So Parker took him. He thought it was great.

This picture of Parker next to this stone is one of many. I guess Parker's parents thought of his name because of this big marker in the cemetary. It's nobody we're related to or anything....they just saw the name and liked it. So he's got lots of pictures by it growing up. I wanted to take another though, because I don't have one.

Jayne and Katelyn also came up to spend time with us (since they live in Utah anyway). Katelyn brought her boyfriend, Jared, for us to meet. They're sure cute together! And I LOVE this picture!

Well...I honestly didn't mean to add this video, I thought it was a different one. But since it's here, I'll leave it. One of the headstones has been changed since the last time we went there 2 years ago. We're not entirely sure why it's different now, or who authorized the change....but it's definately changed.

The next video is just of the boys climbing the tree at Grandpa's house. And the last one is Caleb and parker riding the 4-wheeler.

Memorial weekend was lots of fun. We love hanging out at Aunt Jo's house. It's so much fun. There's always lots of family to come and visit, and Parker's mom's family is just.....well fun. Loud....but fun. :)