BBQ, Shade & Such

Sam's Mom hosted a Shade party tonight so Erin & I had to play sales reps. Not that it's much work talking about clothes for 4 hours. :o) After the party, we had a BBQ with his family. Hollie had fun playing with her cousins, and Mommy had fun taking pictures of it all.

It's so fun to watch Annie & Hollie together. They both just adore each other. Auntie Erin was Hollie's other best friend tonight.


We brought Snoopy along so she could visit Stryder. She was tuckered out by the end of the night. She curled up in the back seat of the car on the way home.

Rough couple of days

I just need to stay out of the kitchen for the rest of the weekend. Bad things happen in there. So, last night I was holding Hollie & went to the freezer to get a treat. When I tried to grab the ice cream, it fell out of the freezer. So, I bent down to pick it up & Hollie's head caught the corner of the freezer door. It was horrible! She just looked shocked for a second, then started to scream bloody murder. It was the worst sound I've ever heard in my life. I swear, I was crying as much as Hollie was. I thought for sure it would turn into a goose egg, but there's only a little bruise (you can see it if you look closely).

Then, this morning I was trying to make milk shakes. I was stirring them with a metal spoon while the blender was going & I dropped an ice cube. I bent down to pick it up & the spoon got caught in the blades. It whipped the spoon into the side of the blender & punched a huge hole in the side. The shake sprayed everywhere! I found the chunk of plastic downstairs by the computer desk! You'd think I would have learned. At least this time my Mom was holding Hollie & wasn't in the line of fire. I guess we'll be buying a new blender.

Rice cereal

I have been dreading this day, but I finally broke down & let Hollie try some rice cereal. She's still 2 lbs away from doubling her birth weight, but she seems to need a little more num nums in the morning. So, I thought we'd give it a go. At first she was really confused, but by the end of the feeding she was taking her fist out of her mouth & opening up when the spoon came close. And as you can see, she was a very happy girl after. :O)

P.S. I swear that's a dimple on her left cheek.

Ya big weirdo!

This is Hollie's bizarre new obsession. Whenever we put her in the swing lately, she turns her neck to look straight up to the ceiling. So, I'll come over & move her head forward. After about 5 seconds, she's staring at the ceiling again! It looks like she's going to break her little neck, but apparently she likes it. What a weirdo!

The spirit is the same

Today was such a wonderful day, rain & all. I had a really neat experience at church (which is a fairly rare for me because I am usually corralling 200+ kids in primary). I was feeding Hollie in the mothers' room at the same time that the spanish ward was having sacrament meeting. I obviously couldn't understand a word the speaker was saying, but then her voice got choked with emotion as she was bearing her testimony (at least I think that's what she was saying). I felt the spirit so strongly & I started to cry. I can testify that the spirit really is the same in any language. It's not conveyed through the words we say, but something much deeper.

One fine day

Wow! It was one action-packed Saturday! In fact, it's quite amazing that I have enough left in me to update this tonight. It started out at 9 am when we went to Sam's brother's track meet. Matt did so awesome! He cleared 11 feet on the pole vault, which qualified him for state. While we were there, Hollie got some good snuggle time with Grandma Great.

After the track meet, we went swimming with Sam's family. We had so much fun!! It was Hollie's first trip to the pool & she loved it! I thought she might freak out, but she did great. She's going to be a little fishy like her mama (I'd live in the water if I could). While we were there, a group of 10 year old girls fell in love with her. They asked me if Hollie was a preemie. No, but she was definitely the smallest person there. :O)

Hollie had apparently had enough fun for one day. Grandma held her while Sam & I went down the water slide, and when we came back, she was zonked out. She's definitely mama's girl - she can sleep anywhere, including in the pool!

This last pic was just in the car on the way home from the pool, but I thought it was adorable. I love those baby blues!

She did it!

Hollie rolled over for the first time tonight! She's been working on it for the past week and finally mastered it. She can only go from her tummy to her back, though, which is fine by me. I am cherishing my days of immobility. She has loved practicing (and playing) on this mat that Aunt Tammy let her borrow. Snoopy thought it was a good place to take a nap. It is so fun to watch the 2 of them together. Snoopy will just lay there & let Hollie pet her.

I love this look of pure shock on her face! I don't think her eyes could get any wider.

Hollie was officially done with tummy time. I thought this pic was hilarious, though!

Work or play?

I have to say that I am adjusting to this staying at home thing quite nicely. For those of you who don't know, I just started my new job doing at-home data entry for Regence Blue Cross/Blue Shield. I'm not very fast yet, but it's coming. I have definitely learned the true meaning of multi-tasking, though. Very often, you'll find me nursing Hollie (thank heavens for the Boppy so I can keep my hands free), keying claims & talking on the phone all at the same time. It's great, though. How many people get to hold their baby while they work?! If Hollie's not snuggled up to me on her Boppy, she's usually in her swing or on her play mat. Here are a couple of pictures I took of her today while I was working.

We love you, Stryder!

It's been kind of a sad week for us. For the past couple of months, Sam & I have been stewing over what to do about Stryder. He is the sweetest dog, but he's just so big. We've been really worried about what will happen when Hollie starts crawling. I know he wouldn't mean to, but he's bound to hurt her. Heck, his tail is a lethal weapon, let alone how much he weighs. If he sat on her, there'd be nothing left! Plus, I don't particularly want to vacuum the whole house every single day so that she doesn't get any dog hair on her. So, we finally came to the decision that it would be best to find Stryder a new family. When we told Sam's family, his brothers said, "We want him!" So, he went to live with the boys. At least we can still visit him. Our house has seemed very empty the past few days, though. Snoopy has missed her little buddy. She's been looking for him. She has had tons of energy now that she's not running away from Ryder all day, however. :O) I'm really going to miss the way he'd come rest his head on us when we're laying on the couch. I know it was the right decision, but it is still hard. So, this is just a little tribute to such a wonderful dog. We love you Ryder Boy!

When you look at this cute little puppy, you would have no idea that he was going to grow into a 120 pound moose that thinks he's a lap dog.

First real cold

Hollie has her first official cold, and can I tell you, it breaks my heart. Her nose is so stuffy & runny. Plus it's draining into her throat, so she's coughing & sneezing. Of course, she wants Mommy to hold her all day (but I don't mind that part). When she started wheezing, I decided to take her into the doc. Her lungs were a little wheezy, but we caught it soon enough that it shouldn't turn into full blown RSV. They sent us home with a breathing machine so hopefully she'll start feeling better soon. She's only 4 months old & already such an example to me. Even though she doesn't feel well, she is still smiling & cooing with her hoarse little voice. Since Hollie has been here, I've understood more what the Savior meant when he said to become as a little child. She is so patient & happy & full of love. I think we could all be a little more like them.

On as side note...
Hollie hasn't had her official 4 month appt for immunizations yet, so it was interesting to see how she's grown since her 2 month appt. She weighs 11 lbs 12 oz, which puts her between the 5th & 10th percentile. They didn't measure her length, though. They're going to do that when we take her in for her shots.

Happy Easter!

We just wanted to wish all of our wonderful friends & family a Happy Easter. We are so grateful for each one of you & hope that you felt the love of our Savior as we celebrated His resurrection. What a miracle it is that through Him we can be together as a family forever. There is no greater joy.

Today was a wonderful day, but it started out a little messy. I stripped Hollie down for tubby time so that we could get ready for church. As I was carrying her downstairs, she decided it was a great time to mess her pants (or lack of pants). It went all over me! Then, I stood her up on the counter to clean myself off & I guess she figured that the counter was too dry & she piddled all over the counter! Sam thought it was hilarious. This will be one of those great, embarrassing stories to tell all of her dates about someday. :O)

Yesterday

We went down to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point with my family on Saturday. Sam thought that it was nuts that we were spending $8 a person to look at flowers. Both he & my Dad said that we should just drive around the parking lot & look at the flowers there. :o) We had a lot of fun, though, and got some really cute pics in the process.

I love those piggies!