All gradjamatated

My sister Amber has graduated. Welcome to the real world Amber!

This is how I remember Amber:
This is how she really is:

A little trooper

Here is the view from my window right now:


We are in San Diego! We flew out early (EARLY!!!) this morning and have spent the day living it large.

Speaking of large, get a load of this statue. It's cool, right? Look a little closer at how big the cars are in the background. Standing straight, I think I came up to about her calf.

Shelton's parents Marc and Bambi did what all of us couples wanted to do after seeing it.
After getting some lunch we went to a museum located on an actual navy carrier (the USS Midway). Amazing! I'm glad I'm not a sailor though. My legs couldn't handle the steep stairs.

Camila and Jimmy tried the pilot seats on for size.
As you can tell, Mia is suffering from zero attention.
I was petrified, truly petrified to take Mia on the plane, but this little girl is a trooper! She fussed a very little bit, but for the most part was great! We even took a nap! I can't even tell you how grateful I was/am that she was comfortable on the plane. As always, I love this girl!

A Fallen Hero

Please take a moment of silence to remember Mia's hardworking companion, and lifelong friend. He has fallen into the pit of destruction and can no longer fulfill the purpose for which he was ordained, and so must go the way of all good pacifiers.

You will never be forgotten.

Shelton and I had a BBQ with our good friends Sarah and Justin Hocking. I have known Sarah since the dawn of my college existence, and we have spent many a late night talking about what our lives might hold.


Justin has recently been accepted to law school in Kansas, and they recently purchased a house there in Topeka. (Good luck to them there! ) We will miss them and wanted to spend some quality time with them before they leave, thus the BBQ and the demise of our good friend, Binky. I asked Shelton to hold Mia, he went outside to "check" the burgers, and returned into our condo with one less member of our family. Binky suffered a gruesome termination. Shelton is somewhat unclear about how in the world he let our girl close enough to a grill that her binky could fall in, but he assures me she was safe. His definitions of safe are mildly contradictory (I'll admit that I'm sometimes afraid for her) to mine, but I guess she needs some balance.

This girlie giggles!

Mia decided to grace us with her very first real giggle yesterday, but I wasn't quick enough for the camera. Here is today's effort to record my new very favorite sound in the world. She's fascinated by the camera so it's a challenge, but definitely better than nothing. I tried to edit out the nonsense, so the clips are pretty short. Isn't she great? These moments make it all worth it, every minute.

Please ignore the laundry that is all over the floor that I should have done this morning, but didn't.

To bundle or not to bundle

I'm terrible at dressing appropriately for the seasons. I don't do it on purpose, but somehow I am always unprepared. The first day of spring that I pick to wear shorts, it spontaneously snows. On the days that I think, man it's freezing! and wear four layers ... we get record highs. Until Mia came along, that wasn't too big of a problem, because the only one who ended up uncomfortable was me. Now though, the poor little sweetheart suffers from my inabilities. Usually I can just take off or add clothes when need be, but my latest problem is dressing her for night time.

How warm does she need to be? Like I would know. The "experts" say to dress her "in clothing that would warm you appropriately." Here is where the problem comes in. When I sleep, I like the sheet, comforter, and an extra blanket all tucked in all the way up to my chin. Shelton on the other hand, likes ONLY a sheet, and pulled up halfway to his waist. (Not always, but at least during summer time). With the fan on. So, where does that leave Mia? She's half me, and half Shelton, so if she is like me, and I don't dress her warmly, she's freezing. If she's like Shelton, she's burning up with just a receiving blanket, poor girl. So, I usually end up dressing her in between, so she's likely never comfortable. The woes of being a first child. Sorry Mia!

At least she sleeps sometimes.

My Big Brother

It's my older brother's birthday today. Happy Birthday Marc! He has always been one of my favorite people, and I am sad that I don't get to see him very often. Extra congrats to him too, because he just found out that he and his wife are expecting a little boy.

Mia doesn't know it yet, but she wants Marc to have a happy birthday.

See?

Smoky the Human

And remember, only YOU can prevent forest fires.

This caption doesn't really work after you look closely at the picture, but it's really cute anyway.

Thank goodness for little fingers

For the past two days or so, I've been camera-less. It was temporarily Missing In Action. But, thankfully, it has finally been found. It seems that Mia does the cutest things when I CAN'T find the camera. Ah, such is life.

Mia's favorite things lately are sucking on her fingers, and sticking out her tongue. Sometimes, this can happen simultaneously, oh happy day for Mia. Occasionally, this can be rather frustrating, because I can't ever get a picture of her face because those cute little fists are in the way. But most of the time, I am really thankful for them, because they have provided for hours of entertainment. (Mostly for her, but partly for me too.)

Don't worry about me, I'm just happily chewing my fingers.


Mom, what do you think you're doing? (I wanted a picture of her face, so I moved the beloved fingers).

Where'd they go?

What will I do?

I think I see them!
Hey, there they are!

Wait, I'd better smell them, just to make sure they're mine.

Yep, they're mine alright, better get to it.

Efficient

I can remember thinking to myself after Mia was born "how in the world am I ever going to get anything done?" She's now just over ten weeks... I still don't get much done these days, but I have found a few ways to be more efficient.

Mia's happiest time of day is right when she wakes up in the morning, so I hate to leave her alone when she's so smiley and interactive. But, I feel like a scrounge if I don't get ready within the first hour or so of getting up. My solution has been to have her in with me getting ready...

She loves it.

Hitting the trail

I'm all about exercising these days. I thought that I was going to be one of those people who just fit right into their pre-maternity clothes two weeks after giving birth. Yeah right. So, like I said, I'm really into anything that will burn calories ... so today I packed a picnic and Shelton and Mia and I went hiking (sort of). We meant to stay on the trail, but somehow we deviated from the paved path and onto gravel and rocks, so it truly was a good work out. Mia loved it.

A "bow"ring post

Sorry, I couldn't resist using the pun once I thought of it. I know, it's corny. Anyway, making bows is my new passion these days. Here are a few of them that I have made lately. In the pre-Mia days, I wasn't very fond of the big bows, I thought that they made little girls look a little bit like presents. But, I've fallen into the bow trap and love them like the best of them now.

Photo Shoot, Take II

I don't know how many of you read my blog (well, "our" blog, I guess... Shelton announced this morning that he finally decided to read some of the posts), but I mentioned earlier how I couldn't get Mia to smile on demand, and I was ready for a professional photographer. This past Saturday I got in contact with someone who is starting up a photography business and they came to our house to shoot some pictures. In comparison, the photo shoot with her that had I was an A+ success. I scheduled them to come over at about 10:30, because that is usually when Mia is the happiest. Not so on Saturday. She started off the shoot by tinkling all over their backdrop, and it just went downhill from there. A little spit up, still no smile. A second tinkling, and still not a single smile.

I then put her into my favorite dress that she has (thank you to Bambi and Camila for giving it to me). I mean, this dress is gorgeous. I hung it on my wall for the first few weeks that I had it. Anyway, I guess Mia didn't quite see its merit, and screamed the second I put it on her (still no smile). I managed to quiet her for a few seconds while the photographer frantically snapped a few shots, but the window was brief (still no smile). Then Mia spit up some more, and the dress had to come off, which of course thrilled her even more(still no smile). By the time I had another outfit on her, she was pretty much raging, and I decided against even trying for more pictures at that point (still no smile). The poor photographer is expecting her first child in a few months, and I think we scared her to death. So, in conclusion,we didn't really get that many good shots in, but here are a few of my favorites. I'm going to take her to the JC Penney's studio as soon as I can work up the courage. Oh, and by the way, the second the photographers drove away, Mia started smiling.


She looks a bit like she's floating, but I like it. The photographer must have edited out the little puddle 'round her nethers.


Isn't the dress gorgeous?
My favorite shot.
As always, we love this little girl. (Even when she tinkles!)

An old fogey

I haven't posted anything for the past week, and then all of the sudden in the past 12 hours this will be my third post. I guess when it rains it pours. Anyway, Happy birthday to my little sister Amber!!! She is 18 now, and an old fogey just like the rest of her siblings. We love you Amber!

Then
And now

A Bad Date Idea

Shelton and I have a good friend named John Gordon. He and Shelton went to high school together, and when Shelton went on his mission, John decided to finally investigate the church. He is the proclaimed "adopted son" of Shelton's parents, and Shelton and I decided to make him Mia's godfather when we found out we were expecting. (I know, I know, LDS members don't have godfathers, but we made an exception in John's case.)

Since Shelton and I are old and gray and married now, we naturally are very interested in his social life, since we have none of our own. (Maybe I am just interested in meddling, and Shelton tolerates me, I'm not sure). Anyway, I was thrilled when he called me the other day and wanted to borrow some of our Christmas lights so that he could have an indoor picnic with a date. Good idea, right? It's summer and pretty empty in Provo, and he decided to put them up in the unoccupied apartment that he just moved recently moved out of.

Later that night at about 11:30, Shelton and I have finally gotten Mia to sleep, and we are just about to say our prayers when Shelton gets a call from an unknown number. Who calls a married couple with a new baby at 11:30? So, I listen in as Shelton answers. It's the county jail, and they would like to know if we would accept a collect call from a Mr. John Gordon. Shelton tried to accept, but somehow his phone won't let him, and the call is cut off. Shelton and I look at each other, and wonder what to do. I'm kind of irritated that John would play a prank on us this late at night, but we decide to make sure and call the jail just in case. So, we break out the laptop and try to figure out what the number is for the county jail. Sure enough, there is a Mr. John Gordon there, and he needs someone to come and get him, and post bail.

So, Shelton drives off to Spanish Fork where the jail is located, and I sit and wait and wonder what in the world has happened. About an hour and a half to an hour later, Shelton comes home and gives up the details. Turns out, John's old apartment complex didn't take too kindly to his romantic idea, someone called the cops. John is enjoying a few moments with his date when the cops bust in, separate them, and handcuff John after searching him for drugs, weapons and who knows what else. On the way to the jail, he is repeatedly asked questions about whether he has drugs or was planning on raping his date. He doesn't see his date for the rest of the night.

He is then booked into the county jail, and that's when we received the unknown call. So, Shelton shows up at the Jail, John is able to post bail on his credit card, and is released to Shelton. Finally, John is able to call his date and finds that she was allowed to go home after a pretty detailed lecture something along the lines of "do you know what could have happened to you in there young lady!??" Shelton drops John off, and is finally able to tell me the details, and we've come full circle.

Can you believe it? I mean, yeah, it wasn't the BEST choice to take her to a place that he had just moved out of, but come on, to take him to jail for it? I found out later that John had a previous charge of trespass (pre-mission, pre-joining the church, pre-sanity, really) and I realize that the previous charge made things a bit more complicated, but don't you think that the cop would have realized that if John wanted to do drugs or something inappropriate with this girl he might have found a place a bit more private than the living room of an apartment complex? With Christmas lights for crying out loud?

Anyway, what a bizarre story. John might just be one of the unluckiest people I know. All this happened right after his truck was hit when it was parked (the perpetrator didn't fess up), ALL his clothes were stolen at the laundromat, and he got towed. What a bummer right? He just found out that the complex is pressing charges, and he has a hearing on the 6th. And currently, our Christmas lights are at the courthouse being held as evidence. Don't ask to borrow them.

Shots

One of my favorite things lately is that I have been getting better and better at interpreting Mia's cues... For example, I can tell her "tired" cry, or her "you'd better give me some attention ASAP" yells, her "I'm starting to get hungry" gurgles and so on. Today though, I heard the worst cry EVER. Mia had her two month shots. It was the saddest thing you've ever heard or seen... I couldn't even watch. I'm really glad that I haven't ever heard that one before. She just sounded so SAD, and hurt. I'm getting teary just thinking about it. I know that shots are necessary, but it still hurts my heart listening to my sweet girl crying. I gave her some tylenol before we went in, and we'll see how she feels later today.

On a happy note, Mia is growing well! She is in the 50th percentile in height and head circumference, and right around the 25th percentile for weight (considering she was almost below the 20th percentile in every category last time I went in, I'm pretty proud of this). She now weighs 9 pounds 7 ounces. Good job baby girl!

Biased

So, I might be just the teensiest bit biased, but I'm pretty sure that this is the cutest little girl in the entire world. That's it.


I've realized that I'm the only one that is crazy about taking pictures of my girl... which means that I am never in any! So, I decided to get in one.

Photo Shoot

So, yesterday at about 5:30 I got this sudden overwhelming urge to get pictures taken of Mia. She's getting big so fast! As you might guess, there wasn't a studio to accommodate this sudden need at that time of night. So, what did I do? I decided to take my own pictures. What was the result? Well, I found out that I am no photographer. I respect children's photographers. I am Mia's mother and I can't even get her to smile when I want her to... how in the world do they do it? I've scheduled an appointment for later this week.

I love this little girl.

She made it!

So, the phrase "she made it" applies to two people. The first is Mia. She made it through an entire three hour church for the first time. I couldn't tell you anything about what was taught, but we were there! She was great most of the time and pretty easily calmed if she did get a little startled. She even sang along with some of the songs (whenever she coos for me, I always sing back to her... maybe that's what got her going).

Don't believe the innocent look. This is the outfit that I put on after she had a blow-out in her Sunday dress.
Wait for it...I love you mom!

The second "she made it" applies to one of my best friends Holly Tippetts. She made it home from her mission where she served in Taiwan. Congrats Holly! Even though I wasn't the best correspondent ever, I'm very glad that she is home. Here are some reminiscent high school shots of us.

Senior Prom. Where our dates are I'm not sure. Also, if you're wondering why my hair isn't really done, it's because I had the flu that day.

Graduation!