Does the vacuum freak you out too?

I wrapped some Christmas presents a couple of days ago, and Abbie found them. I had to find another place to keep them because I was afraid she was going to open all of them :) Sorry Abbie, you will have to wait til Christmas. I think she is going to love it!

A random video. I started taking it because right before she stood for a couple of seconds by herself, but she wouldn't do it again.

She is always exploring and finding new 'toys'

She is super funny playing with this toy, and she can actually click it correctly sometimes.

Today when I turned the vacuum on, she immediately freaked out and crawled behind my legs. She held on and followed me the whole time- it definitely made it a slow process. I had to be careful as I walked because her head was sticking out through my legs. What a silly girl! I sure hope she gets used to the vacuum someday.

Thanksgiving break

Wednesday we went to Trafalga with B's family. We had lots of fun playing laser tag and  mini-golf. Afterwards, we got pizza and ate it at the park in the dark. It was quite fun, except for the chilly weather.

Thanksgiving Day was fantastic. You seriously couldn't ask for a better holiday. We started out by getting up a little early, thanks to Abbie. We watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, and just hung out for the morning.

For lunch, Grandpa Crowther took us, Brandon's fam, and the Daynes fam to Marie Calenders. It was kind of weird to me because I have never gone out to eat on Thanksgiving before. But, it was still fun because we got to spend time as a family and eat yummy food. Speaking of which, Abbie had a blast eating a ton of our food. Oh, also notice her cute turkey headband :)

Afterwards we headed to my family's house to get ready for Thanksgiving dinner. I made these super cute edible turkeys. Most of the family was there, and we had the traditional turkey dinner, and then played games. I seriously can't believe how much Abbie ate! I swear she ate just as much as anyone else.

Black friday really turned out to be black thursday night. We (my parents and sisters) went to Walmart about 10:30 pm. Brandon stayed home with Abbie. I was so excited to get a few $5 books for Abbie. We then went to Target- my favorite- at midnight when it opened. It was seriously the longest line ever! But no worries, I think we got everything we wanted. Brandon and Abbie joined up here because for some reason she thought getting up in the middle of the night would be fun. I think we got home and crashed around 2 am. Unfortunately, I only got about 5 hours of sleep because Abbie got up at like 6:45. We pretty much spent the rest of the day hanging out, playing games, and doing more shopping. 
We did go to the mall so that Abbie could see santa. I thought for sure she would hate it and cry.
 Nope. She sat on his lap completely content, and enjoyed petting the fur on his coat. It really was cute.

Yesterday, I finally got to make up some sleep. Yay. We .had a lazy morning and then did a little shopping  in the afternoon. My mom and sisters came down in the evening and watched Abbie while Brandon and I went to the Temple. Even though I go regularly, it had been a really long time since we had gone together, so that was nice.

Today I am grateful for good books to read. I am thankful that Brandon worked half a day so that we could spend time and have fun with family. I am thankful that Abbie is a funny girl and makes me laugh several times a day. :)

Today I am thankful that the weather was nice to me while I was driving. I am thankful for the yummy dinner that I didn't have to make thanks to my mother-in-law. And, I am thankful that Brandon encourages me to do good things.

Today I am thankful for our new windshield that doesn't have any cracks. I am thankful that our insurance paid for most of the windshield. And, I am grateful that Abbie went to bed tonight easily without any crying. :)

last week I was grateful for...

 My little family (And the fact that Abbie did sleep sometimes. She is better at nights, but now not so good during the day.)

These guys for being so willing to watch Abbie while I am:
*substitute teaching -which I did this week for first grade. It was a nice break from Abbie, but I was tired at the end of the day.
*on a date with Brandon. Friday we went to a play with some friends. It was so nice to be able to spend time together.
*at art -which I love

Her cute smile, giggles, and babbling.

Our apartment, and all the things we have.

Nap time! and that I get to spend time with Brandon. We love playing games, and doing puzzles. We finished this Capitol building today.

And, I am grateful for Sundays, when our family can be together  and we can go to church and learn about Christ.

triple thanks

Since its been 3 days, I will mention 3 things that I am thankful for.
1- I am thankful for our freedom. I am so lucky to live in America where I am free to do pretty much anything I want. I am also thankful for those who fight to keep our freedom.
2- I am thankful to live so close to both our families. I love that we get to see them often, and that they get to be a part of Abbie's life.
3- I am thankful for the gospel. I feel so blessed to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I am grateful to know that Jesus lives and loves me. 

Ok, so what have we been up to?

Not much during the week- just the usual school and work for Brandon, and me staying home with Abbie. Friday we did get to go on an actual date without Abbie. Abbie spent the evening with my family. It's been so long since we've gone on a date and it was a nice break. We went to a movie (In Time- I would highly recommend it) and dinner.  On the way home I won a radio contest! I seriously couldn't believe it. I won tickets to a small concert at a bar. I'm thinking we won't be going to it :) But it's still fun that I actually won and got to hear myself on the radio. 

We got home late and saw 4 deer on the grass outside of our apartment. Yeah, I know this picture isn't the best.

That night we decided that we were going to try to let Abbie cry it out to try to train her to sleep better. It was definitely hard! She cried for about 1 1/2 hours and then finally fell asleep. It was definitely a long night. I am hoping it was worth it.

Saturday morning we took it easy. Then headed up to Salt lake to celebrate Brandon's mom's birthday. Halfway there is started to snow :( We had a yummy dinner and played games.

   Last night we didn't have to get up with Abbie at all. Brandon says that he did hear her whimper a couple of times during the night, but she must have put herself to sleep. I loved sleeping through the whole night!

 And, she didn't get up early. We didn't have to get up until our alarms went off at 7 to get ready for church. That right there is a big accomplishment. We've had a nice, lazy day today. We are working on an awesome 3D puzzle- maybe I will put up a picture when we finish it. 

Here is Abbie showing off her cute, new dress from grandma Crowther.

Today I am thankful that Abbie is feeling better and that we were able to have a good day. She got up at 6 -her new wake-up time since the daylight savings switch :(  So, I got going early and got a lot of things done, which was very good considering how little I've done the last couple of days. Yay, I love when I feel productive and have accomplished everything on my list.

Today I am thankful for modern medicine. Abbie had a fever today, probably related to teething. So, Thank you Tylenol for helping make our day a little better, and for helping Abbie not feel as terrible. 

Also, we bought some baby Orajel to help numb the gums. It must work because last night was a whole lot better than expected.

8 months

Abbie is exactly 36 weeks old or 8 months!

So in honor of her 'birthday', today I am grateful to be her mother. Being a mom is not quite how I pictured it. I didn't realize how much my life would change 8 months ago. Almost everything I do is centered around Abbie: her eating schedule, her sleep schedule, her mood, etc. I am so grateful that I can stay home with her, and be there for every little thing that happens in her life.

*When going to sleep, I have found that she still likes to be loosely swaddled

 *She seriously gets into everything! She loves new 'toys'. As you can see the ornaments on the tree are one of her new favorites. She has also discovered the toilet and garbage can recently :)

 

*She is getting really stable on her feet. In these pictures she is not holding onto anything- this is new. I think she has had the capability for a little while but has been too scared to do this. I think she will for sure be walking before Christmas

*Her first tooth is coming in! I noticed it a couple of days ago accidentally when I was trying to get something out of her mouth. You can't see is yet, but it is definitely starting to come through. So, because of this (hopefully this is the reason) she has been more whiny lately. Last night she got up several times, and then today was one of those harder days. Maybe this is a result of daylight savings, or both. Anyway, until the last couple of days, she was pretty good about taking 3 regular day naps. Nighttime was still a bit of a struggle- getting up about 3 times. 

*She is actually really funny. I love to just watch her. She babbles all the time and it's so cute!

*She is still a big girl. Many people think she is older than she really is because of her size and because she acts a little older developmentally. She does eat a lot. She has solids + milk for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with a milk feeding in between each.

* Have I mentioned that she is crazy active! Yep, she is standing up while still buckled. I guess she was sick of sitting there.



Although being a mother is the hardest thing I've had to do so far, I wouldn't trade it for anything. I feel so blessed that Heavenly Father has entrusted this sweet spirit into my care.

Tis the season

So, of course I am always grateful for Brandon. But today I just want to point out some of the super awesome things about him. First off, he puts up with my crazy addiction to Christmas. Second, he is such and awesome dad to Abbie and is always willing to get up with her in the night (I am super grateful for this because I have a lot less patience with her in the middle of the night). And right now I am thankful to him for making me some delicious chocolate chip cookies!

Ok, I just thought you should know that Abbie loves to walk around- with help :) She likes to walk if we hold her hands, or if she is holding on to something else. A couple of days ago I got this play stroller out and she likes to push it around. It took a couple of times for her to figure it out though.

The other day when I was making dinner she was hanging out with me in the kitchen. While I wasn't paying attention she crawled into the food storage room, and then ended up blocking herself in. It was pretty funny :) Thankfully she didn't freak out, she was just a little concerned about what to do.

So, I started listening to Christmas music about a week ago. I just can't stay away from it, it makes me so happy! Well, now that I am getting into the spirit of things, I decided that we should put up our Christmas tree. Don't worry, I am not skipping Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving almost as much as Christmas. I just don't see anything wrong with decorating for Christmas early. My mom, Ness, and Syd came down and helped. I think my mom is as crazy about holidays as I am, so she was excited to help. Getting the actual tree set up was the least fun part because we found some unwanted surprises- Spiders! At first Abbie was not sure about the whole thing. It took some getting used to.

But, I sure love decorating the tree!

More decorating. The final result sits in the corner between the chair and the couch so Abbie can't actually access it :)

I pretty much love looking at it. Especially in the dark with just the tree lights on.

Today I am especially grateful for my parents. I feel so blessed to have been raised in a good home and taught good values. I am grateful for their good examples and their love for me. I have so many fun memories of growing up, and love all of our family traditions. My mom is one of my best friends, and I feel like I can tell her anything. My dad is such a hard worker and one of the nicest, most easy-going people. Thanks for everything! I love you guys! 

p.s.  Happy Birthday Dad!

Today I am thankful for the beauty of this Earth, and for the nice fall weather. Abbie and I enjoyed taking a walk and playing in the leaves (twice). I know I said I wouldn't let her because of her habit of eating everything, but it just looked too fun. She loved playing in them, and it took awhile before she wanted to eat them.

This was the second time we went out. She started out on the grass, but then made her way over to the cement.

"This is Halloween"

Saturday we went to my parents' ward trunk-or-treat. My sisters told me they were entering the carved pumpkin contest. I decided I wanted to enter too, so we ran to the store and got the last good pumpkin and a good $1 carving knife. With Brandon's help I decided to carve a picture of the Salt Lake Temple. I found a pattern to follow and got it done in about an hour. It turned out great. At the trunk-or-treat, people got to vote for pumpkins for different categories. Mine won two of them: classiest, and best overall. :) I have to say I'm pretty proud of it.

On actual Halloween we went to Magna and went trick or treating with Breanna, Jayden, and Brandon's parents. We got a lot of candy, and had lots of fun! Abbie was really good, she liked picking out the candy and sucking on the wrappers. And, the weather was actually nice, not too cold.

Yep, Abbie definitely enjoyed  playing with the candy :) She couldn't decide what she wanted. She would pick one up and stick it in her mouth and then see another one she wanted and would grab that one.

I think we are finally Halloweened out! Now we are counting down til Thanksgiving.
Oh, and I was thinking it would be cool if throughout the month I posted about things that I am thankful for.
Yesterday I was not thankful for the bad weather while I was driving, but I am thankful that we made it safely, and that I didn't die from a heart attack while stressing about the drive.
Today I am thankful that we can get student loans and that Brandon has a scholarship so that we are ok financially and I can stay home with Abbie.