Visit to Salt Lake

We took a trip to Salt Lake City last week so I could attend the BYU Management Society conference, and in particular to meet with the newly formed women's groups from other chapters. I am not on the BYUMS board anymore, but agreed to help start the Las Vegas Women's Network (because I am a glutton for punishment who can't say no).

Plus, I had another good reason to go up there: Becky!  That is really the reason we went, to spend time with her family. Organizing transportation for me to get to BYU while Matt had a way to get around, and pumping during the conference, was kind of rough so without the added incentive to see the Coontz', we probably would have stayed home. I only went to maybe four hours each day, and had to pump once on BYU campus, using the office of the BYUMS administrator. It was definitely a different experience walking across campus with my "Pump in Style" bag that is supposed to look like a work bag, but if you've ever seen one, you can spot it a mile away as a pump.

It was nice to be on campus - I know I didn't appreciate how nice it really is when I was a student. I would like my kids to go there, but they will have to choose for themselves I guess. I was on UNLV campus just one week later, and the contrast is amazing. The dress code alone sets them apart by a mile - you just don't see girls who look like they just left the club when you're on BYU campus.

The kids had fun, played well for the most part, and graciously let us take a million pictures of them. They also got to go to the aquarium in Salt Lake,and. Matt and Danny went to the USC vs U of U football game as USC fans, brave move Dan. But USC won, and Dan was in heaven. Becky and I also got a bit of time together going shopping where we put back everything we had in our arms.  We decided to stay one more night and leave on Sunday instead because the BYUMS conference took up most of my time on Thursday and Friday.

 

Saturday we went up to Silver Lake past the ski resorts to look at the changing fall leaves. We were woefully underdressed, but I was loving feeling COLD! It was still so hot in Las Vegas, so the 65 degree weather was awesome, and I refused to wear a coat. Miles, however, refused to take off his borrowed vest, which was a bit too small for him. And Becky and I finally took a photo together.

 

And Penelope was on this trip, but she spent a lot of time in the stroller staying warm in her "winter clothes." Luckily Becky had some sweatshirts for us to borrow.

Five Months!

How is this possible? Five months old? The more kids I have, the faster time flies by. Penelope is such a good baby - she is happy and content for most of the day. She does still have her fussy time around 9 pm and is not giving in to the earlier bedtime I would like for her. Most nights she is asleep by 10 pm but sometimes later. She then sleeps until 7 or 7:30 am, so that's why I don't really mind her staying up with us a bit.

She has been in her crib for about two months now (she stayed in our room WAY longer than Claire or Miles), but is still sleeping in a reclined infant seat sitting on her mattress, if that makes sense. At first we had her sleeping in the chair because she seemed to have some reflux and it helped her to be elevated. But now I think she is just used to the chair - and she wakes up quickly if she is sleeping flat in the crib. I think we need to get her used to the mattress soon though, because is going to be rolling over any day now. There is always someone who wants to hold her, so she doesn't get as much tummy time as she should. Still no pacifier, but the bottle is not an issue in the least. So happy she got that one figured out.

I haven't come up with my own favorite nickname for Penelope yet - it will come eventually I guess. She is just a happy, healthy little lady. Love her.

First Cereal

So the new "rules" from the pediatric pros is that we should wait until babies are 6 months old to give them rice cereal. It used to be four. So I decided to compromise and wait until about 5 months. As expected, this was a love/hate experience for Penelope. She did good in the beginning and was pretty much trying to suck down the thin cereal like she would milk. Then she started to get mad. So we'll try again soon. This is my least favorite feeding stage - well, maybe it's tied with when kids start to want to do everything themselves and make a huge mess. The fun that awaits. :)

New Family Pics

We took the kids out to Blue Diamond for pictures last week. It's a challenge getting three kids to 1) Look at the camera at the same time, and then 2) to NOT make a face like this:

We got some cute pictures while we tried to beat the sunlight that was quickly fading. It's amazing how the light is different out there. The kids are good sports for all the picture taking I make them do through. I am determined that we will have just as many pictures of Penelope as we do of Claire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lovin' School

Claire is enjoying school so much - she loves going every day and is so glad she has homework, finally! But it does seem like a lot of busy work already - it has quickly gone from "do these kids know their ABCs" to reading, counting to 100, and sight words.

Here is a project she did in art class - they get to go once a week instead of recess.

She is doing good with it all so far, though I think having 27 kids in her class provides many opportunities to both meet new friends and get her feelings hurt. She is already sucked into the revolving door of being friends one day, but not the next. I don't know what to tell her other than to just be nice to everyone but to ignore people who are being mean. I am sure this is only the beginning. I hope and pray I will know the right things to say and do when the time is right.

Miles Man

A few Miles-isms I jotted down recently:

The other day, Miles smelled Claire's hair after the shower, and he said, "Mmmm, smells like polka dots." That's a compliment, since we love polka dots around here.

We just had a full moon, and as it was rising it had some think clouds all around it. Miles called it a spooky moon, and said it had spider webs on it.

Claire got a new doll for her birthday - it talks, pees, coos, etc. It was laughing really loudly and Miles said, "That noise makes my ears crowded!"

Miles wanted to wear this to the store the other day. He took off the cape but insisted on keeping the socks on his hands. They were like super hero gloves and he kept doing a 1-2 punch with them on.

New ice cream joint: Sweet Addiction

Choose your flavor of homemade cookie and Thrifty ice cream to make an ice cream sandwich. My two addictions combined... great. It was good, but Matt said I make better cookies. Aaaww. :)