Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Rolling Over

Obviously I'm a first time mom because I'm really excited that Ellie finally rolled over today! And not just once - 3 times!! I know every baby does things at a different age but I was getting a little concerned and asked the doctor about it at her 4 month appointment. He told me not to worry and that most babies will roll over between 4-6 months. So even though tummy time is absolute torture in our house (Ellie hates being on her tummy so much that she is usually screaming for most of it) . . .I have been really dilligent about making her do at least 3 - 10 minute "sessions" of tummy time each day. She has been scooting with her legs clear across the room for a few weeks now but seemed to have no desire to roll over. She even rolled over for Rob when he came home too! I'm not in a rush for her to get to the crawling stage but I'm excited for this little accomplishment. :)

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Twilight


Lynsey first told me about this book "Twilight" by Stephanie Meyer when Nicole and I went out to lunch with her a couple months ago. She said it was a book about vampires but really good. I put my name on the waiting list at the library for the book but there were 20+ people in front of me. It seems like everywhere I go lately - people were talking about this book! I went to Borders to find it but it was all sold out. I finally made a purchase of it on half.com and waited for it to come in. Last week it arrived but I made myself wait until after my talk to read it. Good thing I waited!! I could not put the book down!! I really got nothing productive yesterday because I spent the whole day reading this book. I looked forward to Ellie wanting to eat so I could read at the same time and her naps, etc. And then I ignored Rob last night when he got home from work because I just wanted to finish the book. I'm going to have to wait until I get my house completely spotless, my errands all taken care of, etc before I start the sequel!

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Bring on the Heat

So it hit 115 degrees in Phoenix last week. Yes - you read that right. 115 Degrees in JUNE!!! We expect it in August but June is just way too early for that kind of temperature. Rob has been going to work at 5 am just to not have to work too late in the heat. Poor guy! And since we have no pool of our own - I basically have been camping out in our air conditioned house (or at the mall but we don't tell Rob that one).

I'm excited that this day is finally over! I had to give a talk in church today and for the last 2 weeks it has been consuming my thoughts completely. For once though - I really wasn't that nervous ahead of time. I was the high councilman's speaking companion and the theme was the Primary theme of following Christ in Faith. It helps that I have been studying this topic for the last 6 months in Primary! I'm relieved that it's done and now I can get onto my summer reading again. I picked up the book "Twilight" that is all the rage right now but made myself wait to start it until after my talk today. I can't wait!!

I watched my friend Christina's little girl Elaya tonight while her and her husband went to a fireside. She is a very easy baby but it still made me grateful that I didn't have twins for the first one. Rob was doing some stuff for his calling and I was trying to balance my baby who wanted all the attention and still pay attention to easy going Elaya! I took a few pictures of the girls and they immediately started holding hands - which I thought was pretty cute! Elaya is only 2 weeks older but is sooo much taller that it is hilarious. Her dad is well over 6 foot so it's not too surprising.



Wednesday, June 20, 2007

4 Month Checkup and New Toy

Eliza had her 4 month check up yesterday. She is thankfully a very healthy girl! Weighing in now at barely 14 lbs and 24 1/4 inches long. She is in the 25-50% percentile for both height and weight. Unfortunately she is still feeling the side effects of her shots yesterday! Poor thing. Rob and I do love that she is extra cuddly right now though but we feel bad that she obviously doesn't feel that great. I did try the infant Tylenol 30 minutes before her shots and I think it helped! She was asleep within 5 minutes of leaving the doctor's office.

For her 4 month birthday - we got Eliza a Jumperoo! Ok - actually I just found an amazing deal on Craigslist that I couldn't pass up. (It was less than half the price of a new one and STILL in the original plastic wrap - they bought it too late for their son and he wanted nothing to do with it). But it's been a great investment so far! I wasn't sure if she was going to be quite tall enough and her legs barely touch the floor while she is in it - but she loves bouncing up and down in it. I was able to bring it in the kitchen the other day and get the entire room cleaned up while she was completely entertained. I recorded a little video to send to my dad the other day - complete with her new trick of blowing bubbles and spitting on everything.



I'm on the hunt now for a good exersaucer . .. any recommendations?

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Homesick!

Every time summer time rolls around here in Arizona - I tend to get a little homesick for Washington! I miss the Washington summers and living so close to the water. I miss living near my family, the rain (yes - I'm crazy), the mountains, the food, etc. It will always be home to me - even though I've now lived in Arizona 5 years now. I know I'll never live in Washington again since Rob's pool building business just wouldn't work up there! But someday maybe I will be able to spend summers up there and winters down here. (In my dreams, right?). Anyway - I was checking out this new golf course that they put in about a half mile from where I grew up (and where my dad still lives) and it makes me want to take up golf again! Check it out at: http://www.chambersbaygolf.com. I'm a horrible golfer though so that's not likely to happen anytime soon - plus I don't think I could afford the green fees. :) I'm counting down the days already when I get to go back to Washington next month for a week. I can't wait! Isn't it gorgeous there?

Friday, June 15, 2007

4 Months

Ellie is 4 months old today!! I know everyone says it but I still can't believe how fast time has flown. Last week my friend Rachael took some fabulous pictures of her - here is the link if you want to check it out. http://www.eliza.photoherald.com

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Green Eye Girl?

So Eliza's eyes are officially green right now! No more blue eyed baby for me. I think they are heading towards brown but Rob does have green eyes ... so there is a chance they will stay this color. Here is a close up of her eyes right now: (I couldn't seem to get any closer without the red eye problem!)


Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Dogs

I have two little pugs (Max and Roxy) that I have a love/hate relationship with. They are my first "babies" but I really can't stand the shedding that requires me to vacuum every single day. But I found a new reason to love them - they make Ellie laugh! She has giggled a few times over the last couple of months but nothing like the consistent laugh that she has from watching the dogs. She just thinks it's hilarious when they play/fight with each other and is constantly watching them throughout the day. So I think I'll keep them since they make her so happy. :) (Ok I would keep them anyway even if they do drive me crazy many days).




I had Ellie in the Bumbo chair yesterday while I was doing a little work on her scrapbooking. Apparently she didn't find it very fascinating because I looked over and caught this on camera:



Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Thrifty

Rob loves to tease me about being "thrifty". I admit it though - I love to find good deals! Every Sunday night I cut out the coupons from the Sunday paper and then play the Grocery Game (www.grocerygame.com). I'm always really proud when I go grocery shopping and save over 50%. Anyway - I went grocery shopping on Monday like I usually do at my neighborhood Fry's (Kroger in the midwest/east coast and Fred Meyer on the West Coast). I had a raincheck from a few weeks previous for 5 Coke Products for $11. A great deal! Rob loves Coke with Lime but they didn't have it in stock when I went so I got a raincheck. Well turns out they don't even sell Coke with Lime anymore but I figured I should use the raincheck anyway since it was such a good deal. I get up to the front and am checking out and we get to the end and I hand her my raincheck thing and all of my coupons. That is when everything starts going wrong! You would have thought I handed the cashier something toxic since she starts flipping out that I didn't give her that raincheck coupon before. I got a HUGE lecture about how I can't do that - they need to have the coupon before, etc, etc. Geesh. To me it doesn't seem like a big deal - void out my Coke products and then scan them again with the new price . . right? Oh no - the cashier voids the ENTIRE PURCHASE accidentally. All of my items were already bagged and ready to go and she had to take out EVERYTHING and rescan them. The poor lady behind me! If Rob had been with me he would have said to not bother with the raincheck offer but I was saving about $15 so no way was I going to walk out of there paying full price. I think I was in line at the register longer than I was actually grocery shopping. What a mess. But I did save $68 on my grocery bill that day so I couldn't get too upset!

Obviously there isn't much going on in my life when I am blogging about my grocery adventures! :)

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Speaking of Water

So maybe I jinxed myself by being so excited about our new reverses osmosis system . .. Today I went to turn on my dishwasher that I forgot to turn on last night after I noticed I had no clean forks left. Well it wasn't really turning on right away so I kept pushing the button and finally I hear the water start filling up. No sooner did I hear that sound that I look to the left of the dishwasher and right below our kitchen sink water is seeping out. I open the cupboard underneath the sink and water is gushing out and spraying it seems like from every pipe under the sink. I'm flipping out at this point - I open the dishwasher because I think it's the dishwashers fault but the water is still pouring out and onto the floor. I ran for my phone to call Rob and am yelling at him to tell me how to turn the water off for our house. I drop the phone and tear outside - not caring that I'm wearing a bright orange t-shirt and pajama bottoms that don't match - just to hurry and get the water turned off. Luckily I got it turned off but I return inside to find that my entire kitchen, dining area, and laundry room are now covered in water. I couldn't stop laughing. Who has this happen to them?!? Rob hurried home from a job and figured out that one of the pipes underneath and snapped somehow and my plumbing skilled husband quickly fixed it. What a day though. I guess it took care of my mopping with just a little more water than I needed . ..

Monday, June 04, 2007

Water


Now this may seem like a really strange topic but if you live in Arizona or have even visited Arizona - you will understand why this is so important. Where I grew up in Washington, we drank out the tap and it was no big deal. I dont remember ever using bottled water unless we got some for a sporting event or something. I moved to Utah and the water wasn't really my favorite but as long as it was cold and I had ice - I didn't mind drinking it. Then I moved to Arizona. I still remember the first time I got a cup out of my grandparents cupboard and filled it up from the tap and took a drink. I immediately ran to the sink and spit it out. It was the nastiest water I had ever tasted. From that point on - I became a water snob. We always have bottled water at our house. In fact one of the selling points to me on our HUD home was that it had a water purification system installed. Come to find out after we moved in that the system was so old that I could never track down replacement filters for it! (Just another reason I can't stand that realtor that helped us get this house). I've sent Rob out many times to fill up our 5 gallon water jug with filtered water and driven him crazy in the process. But all this has now changed with the installation of a new reverse osmosis system!! I can't even tell you how excited I am that I can actually fill up a glass of water from my sink and have it taste good. Such simple joys in life!

Rob was talking to a homeowner last week at one of their job sites (he runs his own Pool utilities company) and the guy was talking about how he had just bought this $500 Reverse Osmosis system for their kitchen but then decided they were going to install a water purification system in the whole house and not just the kitchen. They didn't really want to bother with returning this system so they asked Rob if he wanted it. I still laugh that someone wouldn't want to bother returning an item that cost $500 but I guess when you are building a pool in your backyard that costs as much as my house . .. you aren't really worried about money! At any rate - I'm excited for my water. :)

Saturday, June 02, 2007

New Craving

I'm still amazed at how many cravings I have now that I'm NOT pregnant anymore. I feel like my body is making up for not having many during pregnancy . ... Anyway - I discovered the most addicting little treat in the frozen food section of my grocery store: Snickes Brownie Ice Cream Sandwich. It is divine! I'm not normally a person that likes nuts mixed with ice cream but I will make an exception for this treat. It is ice cream with caramel swirled into it packed between two soft brownies with nuts and chocolate chips in them. I love brownies and ice cream but they've just made this too easy by combining them in a little ice cream sandwich! Hopefully I'm still burning those 500 extra calories while nursing! :)



I just realized I haven't made a post since Monday! We've had a busy week. We spent the holiday painting our ceiling in our front room/dining area. There used to be popcorn ceiling in those two rooms and we paid a guy in our ward to come and take it off for us (very worth it). But we still had to do the painting and we probably should have listened to Lynsey's advice and hired someone to do that part also! It was a huge mess (luckily I covered all the furniture in plastic). I have to wait and take the after pictures because we are going to put up some crown moulding in those rooms by the end of June. And we just got our permit approved so we can finish building our garage! I'm very excited about that. I have all the projects lined up by month for the next year - now I just need to get Rob on board with doing them all. :)

Ellie finally let me put her on the boppy for tummy time yesterday without throwing a huge fit. Still no smiles during boppy time but we'll get there . . Notice that she crosses her ankles? She did that in the womb too so it's quite funny to me.