Monday, June 30, 2008

Stats

Brianna survived her Ped appt today quite well today. Only one blood-curdling scream when the five needles went into her thighs, followed by a pouty look at me that said "mommy, how could you let them stab me?!"
At 4 months and 23 days of age:
16.5 pounds - - 87th percentile
26 inches - - 88th percentile
Head circumference (though no one really cares about this one... when is the last time you heard "so whats your babys head circumference??") 73rd percentile

Yay for our chunky monkey.

As an unrelated sidenote - I paid $3.97 for gas today and almost puked. We havent filled our tank in over a month, so this price-hike hasnt really hit me. (Explanation: Brian drives an Enterprise car to and from work, and I dont drive during the week, since we are in Vernal. So when you can only drive on Saturdays - only half of it, since I work all morning - it takes a long time to drain the tank).
But Im sure there are some reading this who think $3.97 is a bargain. Sad. By the time Brianna can drive, it will be like 20 bucks a gallon. Hopefully by then we will all be driving cars fueled by water. Or better yet - riding our bikes everywhere.
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Friday, June 27, 2008

Monkey-style



Ever since Brianna started playing with her feet a couple weeks ago, Ive found myself believing more and more that we evolved from monkeys.
In case anyone is worried about her half-nakedness... our AC doesnt work well. It makes one room freeze and leaves the others toasty. She is playing in one of the sauna rooms here, thus is more comfortable minus clothing. And more cute, dontcha think?

Thursday, June 26, 2008

The conversation Brian and I often have...


Replace "jeremy" with Chelsea, and replace "dad" with Brian. And the mom-figure can be Brianna.
:)

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

SWIM TIME!

This is my 9th year teaching swimming lessons. Honestly... I LOVE THIS JOB.  I almost feel guilty charging people, because I enjoy it so much. There is nothing like the feeling of helping a child to get across the pool by themselves for the first time. Their smiles, their yells of "look what I did, mom!" their excitement as we try new fun activities... {sigh}  I just love it! I think the only thing better than this will be to teach my own little girl to swim. Right now we are just doing lots of splashing in the bathtub  (which is actually an important precursor to swimming - kids need to learn to enjoy water splashing in their faces). 
Brief history, for those who are interested:  once-upon-a-time, I lived in Spokane in a beautiful home with a big pool in the backyard. Teaching swimming lessons was a family tradition, beginning with my brother Steve. My sister Lindsay was the first to get it going in our pool in Spokane. My brother Brady was her assistant, and I was recruited to help pass out flyers around the neighborhood to advertise. I dont remember if they paid me or not... they probably didnt. I was exploited. Even when Lindsay moved away and I became Bradys assistant, he didnt pay me much and I always had to take the pool cover off and do all the cleaning. So of course, when Brady moved out and Meredith became MY assistant, I didnt pay her well and made her do the grunt work. By this time, there was no need to pass out flyers. Word of mouth advertising kept me in the pool 6 or 7 hours a day - which is EXHAUSTING. Constantly talking, holding kids up, enduring the sun, and having my mind go 90 miles a minute... whew. But I loved it, and made more money than any of my friends in their summer jobs. I also got really tan, bleached hair, had no commute, and was pretty in-shape from all that swimming. 
This continued til age 20 when I got married and spent my first summer away from home. My parents had to field the phone calls that still came in, asking if we would be having swim lessons. 
Last summer, I had an epiphany: "wait a minute... Brian and I live in an HOA with a pool....I should teach swim lessons!"  So I put an ad on Craigslist, and started scheduling private lessons. It was amazing to me that all my years of teaching just came back so instantly. I guess that should be expected... I mean, after saying "chicken, airplane, soldier" thousands of times, you really cant forget it. I also went to the Red Cross and got Child/Infant CPR and First Aid certified again. I thought about re-doing my Lifeguard and WSI certification...but I really detest their teaching methods. Pretty arrogant of me, I know. I like mine better- they actually work. 
So now you will find me every Saturday morning/afternoon in the Westbridge pool with adorable little kids in the water. Youll find Brian at home, having some great QT with Brianna. 

Monday, June 23, 2008

Father's Day

This is our belated Father's Day post. I chose not to do another mushy tribute to Brian, since you all recently endured that on his birthday a couple weeks ago.
Besides, the title of "best dad in the world" has apparently been taken...several times over...according to all the other blogs I've viewed recently. Ha! Odd, dontcha think...
So I'll just show the gift Brianna and I gave to her daddy. 
 It's a TIE - but not just any tie.... a tie with a smiling picture of Brianna all over it! I designed and ordered it from snapfish.com about a month ago, so it arrived well in advanced and I didnt have to do the last-minute frantic gift search (I hate doing that). Brian was so proud to wear his tie to church and work.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Family pose


Brianna thinks her hand tastes good, so we decided to try ours too.
This was on Saturday right after the Orem 5K - my 9th fun run/race post-delivery! Brian and Brianna have been at almost every one to cheer me on.
They have to wait a bit longer to see me cross the finish line than they used to....

Jump rope


Its my new thing. I love jump roping. On the news (well, not the real news - it was the Today Show) they had a segment on the benefits of jumping. They said 10 minutes of jump roping equals 30 minutes of running (which Im skeptical of - depends on how fast youre going). So every morning Brianna sits in her bouncy chair and gets to watch me jump rope for 10 minutes. She just stares at me. Doesnt laugh or smile, just stares. Maybe shes concerned that Ill whap myself in the head/hand/foot/calf again as I did the first few days I started this...

BTW - Im reallyreally frustrated. Blogger isnt allowing me to upload real pictures. When I try, I get an error message (after waiting over an hour).  Im so mad, cuz I have some fun pics I wanna post. Anyone know why Blogger hates me?

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Grown up

This afternoon Brian, Brianna and I went to a neighborhood BBQ. They called it a "neighborhood" BBQ, but really it was a ward event. They just wanted to trick all the haters into showing up. And it worked - we had a sizable gathering of Westbridge families hanging out by the pool and grillers.
When I went off to a shady corner to feed Brianna, I observed something troubling to me.
All the adults were sitting around chatting and eating, while all the kids were having a blast - playing with water balloons, toys, squirt guns, frisbees, etc.
Does anyone else agree that being a grownup is LAME?!
Is there some sort of law dictating that anyone over 18 must sit and watch others have fun?
I was disgusted with my people.
I went home, put my baby to bed, and told Brian I was going on a bike ride. He said "hmmmm....thats not very safe."
Lame.
My bike ride was awesome. I went reallyreally fast, rode with no hands (briefly, Im chicken), jumped the speed bumps, and didnt go home til it was dark.
As long as I can do that every now and then, Ill survive being a grownup.
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Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Rhubarb baby

Does anyone else have a strong endearment to rhubarb, or is it just me?
I guess it is one of those childhood nostalgic attachments. Growing up in Washington, my Dad grew tons of rhubarb. Then my mom would make delicious strawberry rhubarb pies with it. Real fam favorite. My mom would even let my sister and I make our own individual mini-pies with the scraps from her homemade pie crust. We would go pick the strawberries and rhubarb from the garden ourselves.
But objectively speaking, rhubarb is ridiculous. Ever tasted it fresh? Bitter and nasty. You have to dump tons of sugar on it to make it palatable. So whats the point?! Also, those leaves Brianna is sitting on are toxic (yes, we are such responsible parents).
I found a website dedicated to rhubarb recipes
So there are obviously others in this world who share the affinity for rhubarb.
Thus despite the absurdity and inanity of this vegetable, we grow it. Why? Because I get warm fuzzies seeing it grow.

Saturday, June 7, 2008

4 months old!

Time flies.
Thank goodness.
Not that I havent relished every single moment of her infancy... Im just happy to see her movin on up   :) 

She is right on schedule:
  •  Good head control
  • Makes "swimming" motions with arms and legs when on tummy
  • Lots of smiles
  • Just beginning to laugh audibly
  • Bats at toys (especially ones that make noises)
  • Recognizes parents voices
  • Weighs 15.6 lbs
  • Watches objects move across her view 180 degrees
  • Fluently speaks Latin and Danish
  • Performs interpretive dances
  • Excels at Geometry and Precalc
BTW - this photo needs a caption. Any suggestions?

Friday, June 6, 2008

Happy naked tummytime


Its a miracle... Brianna enjoys tummy time! I have no idea what happened. One day she whined and complained (or completely freaked out) when I put her prone.... but in the past few days, whenever we are doing diaper changes, she ARCHES her tummy up in the air and pushes with her feet. I give her a nudge to help her complete the flip, and then suddenly she is soooo happy to see the new view of the world!
But this only happens during diaper or clothes-changing time....
Maybe she just likes tummytime naked.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

New toy!


Shout out to Linds -THANKYOU - Brianna loves it!

Sunday, June 1, 2008

i never knew how much I loved sleep til I lost it...


You probably cant read this comic strip without clicking on it for a larger view.
But take the time to do it...
Perhaps it will put you in the same pensive mood as it did for me. It wasnt long ago I was on the other side... what was I thinking!?!