The Scoot and Dive Maneuver

Heidi seems to be progressing on the crawl a lot faster than we thought (and hoped)! I have to say though, we could spend hours playing with her and encouraging what she is learning. She has now gone from rocking and scooting backwards to scooting forward with her legs and then diving for whatever it is she wants. Jeff and I have had so much fun watching her figure out her little body. I can't believe how much she has improved in just one day. Jeff will be out of town and I am crossing my fingers she doesn't completely figure it out while he's away!

First Easter

We had a great Easter. Holidays are so much more fun now. We hid some eggs in the backyard and Heidi had a great time "finding" them. Really, it was her dad that had the best time. He had a blast lifting her up in all of the trees. It was very cute.

Then of course, she had a scream checking out her Easter basket in the morning. She happily emptied each and every thing from the basket so her dad could put them back in and she could start over. It was quite entertaining to watch.

After she had enough of her basket, we got all ready for church so we could celebrate the real reason for Easter. Most of the time we have lived here I have been with the Young Women. This was my last Sunday teaching. I am now working with the stake young women and I am excited about it, but I will definitely miss being with the ward girls each week. We have such awesome girls and I am so lucky I have been with them for so long!

Jeff's cousin is moving up here (whoo hoo) so since his cute family isn't here yet, he is coming for Easter dinner as well as one of my friends from the ward. It has been a very fun and memorable day!

Eight Months

We sure love this bright eyed little girl and are loving watching her grow and change every day, although we all know it goes way too fast.
*She has both bottom teeth and her top gums are swollen.
*Trying to crawl, but probably has a little ways to go. Get up on all fours and rocks. She goes backwards...can't figure out the arms yet. Usually gets herself into quite a pickle.
*Rolling, rolling, rolling all over. Whatever way you set her down, she flips over immediately. Funniest on the diaper pad. Keeps us on our toes! *She thinks peek-a-boo is the best game in the world.
*Likes to be flipped upside down.
*Favorite toys are her hairbrush and a good set of measuring spoons.
*Not a fan of the bath. What kid doesn't like the bath?
*Still an early to bed/early to rise kind of gal. She has been getting up earlier than usual, but won't go back to bed...not cool! Lately she sleeps from about 7-5:30. I keep trying to change it to 8-6:30, but she isn't interested in staying up a minute past 7. I think the neighbor starting his truck at 5:30 is actually the culprit, but what can you do? *Gives mommy and daddy loads of smiles, but in public she is too busy scoping out what is going on and has to be in the mood to give a stranger a smile. Maybe she's shy??
*Favorite sounds are: rarara, bababbaba, mamamommamom, dadadadad, fffffffff, hoo *Tries to shake everything to see if it rattles...your hand, your hair, her pacifier, basically anything and everything that enters her little hands. I have tried to show her how to bang toys (I'm not sure why), but she has zero interest. She only likes shaking.
*Loves the piano and music.
*Doesn't seem to have any stranger anxiety yet, but if I am in the room, she thinks she needs me to hold her. If I sit next to her she tries to immediately climb up me.
*When she was first born in the hospital, she looked exactly like me but w/ hair. By the time we brought her home, she was the spitting image of Jeff for a long time. Now I think she just looks like Heidi. I don't think she necessarily looks more like me or Jeff.

She goes in for a 9-month check-up so we'll see her stats then,but my guess is she still in a very low percentile for everything--although those cheeks must weigh a pound each! Don't you just want to squeeze 'em?

Tilling the Garden w/ Dad

Heidi loves noises made by machines...vacuums, dryers, treadmills, blow dryers, mixers, drills...you name it. So we thought she would probably like the rototiller too. We were right. She watched her papa intently and broke out in a huge grin when he stopped to smile at her. We were thrilled to have a day where we could spend some time outside. We even got to go for a run outside. It was lovely. Tilling the garden and planting the onions only made us more excited for the changing seasons...although we know winter will probably come back again sometime before June. I just hope we have a better and longer growing season this year. Heids in finally feeling better now. For the last couple of days she has been fighting a fever and very runny nose, which made for one tired, cranky babe. It's so nice to have our happy little girl back and thank heavens the worst of it only lasted about two days.

Just Because

During the week I email pictures to Jeff at work so that he can enjoy seeing the little girl that has completely stolen his heart. This was one of the pictures I sent him today, along with this letter:


Dear Daddy,
Please hurry home. You should see what mom is doing to me. She tried to make me eat something new at a time I wasn't use to. To tell you the truth, it wasn't that bad, but I wish you were there to watch me eat it. It had a weird color. Now mom is threatening to put a bib on me because she is sure I am going to spit purple/brown all over my outfit. Which leads me to another thing...why does she always want to dress me up? Doesn't she know I am happiest when I wear nothing at all? Besides, what's the point if she is just going to cover the outfit with a bib? She knows I will find a way to miss the bib completely when I spit up and it will just end up on my outfit anyway. Before the whole outfit fiasco, she put me in the big person tub. Apparently she doesn't realize that I am not a big person and that I do NOT like that place. All I do is scream when I go in. Besides that, I am supposed to take my bath at nighttime and it is not nighttime. You really should put a stop to this. This wind is also driving me and mommy nuts. I love you, daddy, and I wish you were here. Mommy and I are both happier when you're around.

Love, Heidi

Hangin' with the Boys

Last year, all three third grade teachers were expecting. What an exciting year it was in third grade...especially for the students! They couldn't stop talking about how "ALL the third grade teachers are going to have a baby!" We were also, of course, the running joke of the school..."Don't sit on the third grade chairs," "Steer clear of the third grade hall," "Don't drink thie same water the third grade teachers are drinking," etc. Since we are all three such great friends, it was so fun to go through pregnancy together! We were all about two months apart from each other too. Heidi has had play dates with each of these two good looking fellows separately, but for some reason, we have never been able to correspond naps and feeding with all three. It finally happened and how fun it was! It was so fun to see the size comparisons and personality comparisons...and it was a blast to get back together and gab, gab, gab for the moms! Heidi was the second of the three born, but is the smallest of the three...we're not surprised. Heidi was definitely the comforter. Whenever one of the other two would cry she would get a very concerned look on her face. If she was near the sad babe, she was rubbing their back immediately. It was so cute. What a cute trio and how fun it will be for them (and us) to watch them grow together!

Oh my hair!

Somebody slept well last night!