What we've been up to!

July always seems to be the busiest month for us next to December. We are always doing something and are always visiting family. Things have been going well and our little girl is growing and developing more and more each day. I think it's safe to say that she is well out of the colic phase and now is she pleasant to be around ALL DAY. She is so fun and so sweet and cute and I am loving every moment of being her mother. She is starting to roll over but can't quite roll over completely and gets really, really mad. Maybe I should feel bad for her but Todd and I just laugh at her when she gets frustrated. She is also getting better at grasping toys and then of course, putting them in her mouth. Recently she has fallen in love with this totally ugly parrot rattle from a tummy time mat we have for her and she is constantly wanting to hold it and chew on it. There are very few times that she is without that stupid parrot but it just melts my heart when she falls asleep grasping it.

We also recently introduced her to my parent's swimming pool. I thought for sure this summer she would be way too little to go to the pool but since she enjoys taking baths so much, we thought we'd stick her little feet in. She was a little unsure of what to do but pretty soon her little legs were kicking but she held on to her daddy for dear life.

We've also been teaching Gabbie how to go to sleep on her own and it's finally been nice for her to do it by herself and not rely on mommy and daddy to make her do it every night. Our pediatrician and many, many friends have recommended a book called, "Solving your child's sleep problems" by Richard Ferber. His method is similar to what is commonly referred to as "crying it out" but it is not as scary or cruel to the baby and parents. We have been working on it for about a week and a half and Gabbie only cried one night for a while and now she is going to sleep on her own. HALLELUJAH! Let's face it, I love rocking my baby to sleep but when I would put her down every night, she'd wake up screaming and so the problem was that she preferred sleeping in my arms as compared to her crib-that doesn't exactly fly in the long run! Learning to go to sleep on her own is teaching her healthy habits and teaching her to be independent and I am glad that we've done it!

Todd, Gabbie and I joined our friends/cousins Clint and Kelly at our cabin for the 24th. As mentioned in a previous post, my cousin married Todd's best friend and we've been inseparable ever since. Recently Clint was diagnosed with a form of cancer called Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and has been fighting very hard to beat this illness. All things considering, he looks great but is still very weak and can't do much. He and his wife requested that we join them on the 24th and we had a great time. We spent the night laughing, playing games, and watching our favorite movies. It was great to see them cut loose and enjoy themselves.

We had a number of invitations to go to several 24th of July parades and we ended up not going to a single one. Darn! I hate parades! I really, really fail to see what makes them so entertaining. Honestly, fun for me is not sitting in hot weather, inhaling second hand smoke from someone's cigarette, and the stench of horse poop. I don't think it's fun to watch the board of trustees from Zion's Bank wave from a convertible car or to see 50,000 marching bands from all the high schools in Utah. People argue that parades are fun for kids because they get candy. WHAT? If that's the reason for making your kid sit in 100+ degree weather, I'll just buy 5 bags of candy and hide it around the house for them to find. I remember this one time (one of the only times I went to a parade when I was little) that candy was being thrown and yes, I was excited. A big piece of candy was thrown my way and as I scrambled to get it, some fat guy sitting in a lawn chair, grabbed it as I was crawling towards it. He totally saw me coming and not like he needed it! I was six and I remember thinking, "You big jerk!". Let's just be honest, who really cares about all the pageant royalties from each city in Utah, who the SLC chief of police is, and clowns. What is it about these people that makes us ewww and ahhh? Can they fly or blast razor beams out of their eyes? I don't think so! Count me out as far as parades go.

Todd has been super busy with work and with scouts. I admire him for his constant willingness to help everyone out and his genuine concern for others. He would do anything for anyone. He is a great father and he loves his daughter tremendously.

I have been busy being a mom and trying to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I have been working out like mad and have been on Weight Watchers and it's paying off! Weight watchers works! I've done it before and I like it because it doesn't require you to do anything drastic. You learn how to make good eating choices and don't have to eat anything weird.

I try to get out a lot and mingle and visit with friends in my neighborhood and friends close by. I am so thankful I have so many great people to call upon to keep me busy. I think if I were to sit at home every day and watch soap operas, I would get very, very depressed. On the days I'm not with friends, Gabbie and I have been taking advantage of our Netflix subscription and have been on a musical kick. Yes, I'm a geek but they are sooo good! I just watched Hello Dolly for the first time and I loved it! I am also addicted to "So you think you can dance" on TV. That show is so awesome! I still kick myself every time for quitting dance. I should have followed my heart and pursued what I love the most instead of getting a college degree in something I felt I had to go into and I didn't like. The choreography on that show is amazing and Todd laughs at me because sometimes it touches me so much that I cry. I'm weird and I'm okay with it!

Lately we've been getting a lot of door to door sales people and I am sooo sick of it. Every time the person is selling something I don't want or need and I'm tired of people trying to talk me into a magazine subscription or raffle tickets or something stupid so Todd and I got a no soliciting sign for our front door. My original idea was going to say something like this:
"No soliciting. We've found God, we gave at the office, and we won't buy what you're selling so don't waste your time. " But, that's kind of tacky and rude so we just bought a nice, simple sign to hang up. Now the real test will be if those super agressive sales people will abide by the sign and leave us alone!