Neutron ice sculpture!

Look at this awesome ice sculpture I had at my work Christmas party!

Early Christmas Present

This year we got two early Christmas presents. One from the sky and the other from Grandpa and Grandma Ritchie. Cecilia loves both, as you can see.

Helping daddy "shovel."


Snow Angel, I know it is hard to see. But look closely.


Here I Cecilia opening her Christmas present and riding it around. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

A Parenting First

Cecilia has been going to Nursery for a few weeks now. For whatever reason Shaun has always been the one to take her and usually beats me to pick her up (since I have to wait for all the parents to come pick up their kids from my class). But I hear rave reviews of how well she did and how she never cries and always helps pick up the toys. Well yesterday I told Shaun that I would take her since the primary room is right across the hall. I think there was a little voice in both of our heads that said that wasn't a good idea but neither of us listened. So I pick her up and away we go. I thought she was an old pro now with nursery and when I got there all the kids were sitting in chairs in a circle listening to the teacher. I go to plop her in the empty chair and her legs do the splits in that way only spica kids can do, which means I DON'T WANT TO BE PUT DOWN!, screams "NO!" and starts wailing. I was shocked! This kids loves nursery, what is wrong? Then I remembered the warning bell in my head and pick her up to go find Shaun. I have heard several parents say they have to have the dads take the kids to nursery because they are less attached to them and won't cry when they leave. So I take her in the hall bawling and Shaun "happens" to be there and I look at him like "what is wrong?" He looks at me and says "you did it all wrong!" This is where the title of the post comes in. This is the first time I can remember where Shaun had a handle on some parenting skill that I obviously didn't. Not only that but I thought I did. I felt like a complete outsider even though my daughter was clinging to me with both hands and feet and crying on my shoulder. Shaun said "First you don't carry her in there, she needs to walk in on her own. Then you shove her in and close the door behind you." I was surprised! What do you mean you walk out and close the door behind you? I've only heard about how well she did and how she loves nursery. I assumed that meant she didn't have problems from the beginning. I thought I knew Cecilia well enough that if all the other kids are sitting in chairs, then she would want to sit in a chair too. How wrong I am! Shaun knows her better than I do because he had this figured out from the first try. What an odd feeling it is to think you understand the situation and then all of a sudden realize you are completely in the dark and someone else actually knows what is going on and is taking care of it.
After my mess up it was a feat to get her to go with Shaun and then as I'm sitting in primary I hear a distinct "NO!" and crying in the hall that only a parent knows. Shaun is trying to get her to go to nursery but I ruined it and he is having a harder time. I felt both guilty and confused at the same time. But at least I had the good sense to know that if I went to help I would just make it worse. After church I ask Shaun how it went and he said she was fine after I got her in there. I guess this is a job for daddy from now on since he does it right and mommy doesn't.

Women's Weekend

The weekend after the Inc 500 conference was Women's Weekend. I've mentioned it before, but this was the real deal. For the first time in years we all actually went somewhere. This was the most exciting place of all, Mexico. We flew to Phoenix, rented a car, and drove to Shaun's parents house in Puerto Penasco. They were generous enough to let us overrun their house for the weekend. The weather was perfect, the water was warm, everything was perfect (except our car was broken into). We went out on Dennis' boat, we swam in the ocean, we walked on the beach, we saw dolphins, and snorkeled and of course had yummy Mexican food. Can't wait to do it again, once we have all saved up enough vacation days with our husbands :)

Here we are enjoying lunch and I'm sending a picture of it to Shaun, trying to make him jealous :)


This is our version of going crazy in Mexico. What silly mothers I have!


My sister Tammy buying presents for her kids from an adorable Mexican child.

Inc 500 conference

So the first weekend in October (I know I'm late in telling the story) I took Cecilia up to my parents house and drove to the airport to meet Shaun. The Inc 500 conference in DC had come! I had my dress in hand and a good book for the 5 hour flight WITH NO BABY! The first few hours were nice to read my book, but by the end I was going crazy. That was the longest stretch of time that I've had by myself (Shaun got upgraded to first class) to do nothing since Cecilia was born. I was missing my baby by the end of the flight and I was anxious to get going. We got a car, drove to a restaurant for dinner and then drove to the conference. They had a networking event that night at which we stopped by for a bit before crashing. Next day I went shopping while Shaun went to the conference. I was proud of myself for driving to a place I've never been, to the tux place, and back to the hotel by myself with no navigator and without getting lost. Shopping in Alexandria was fun, they have some quaint shops where I found the cutest coat for Cecilia. It is just a little big which is perfect because she will be able to grow into it this winter. After shopping, it was time to get ready. I was pretty impressed with how my hair and dress came out. I looked pretty good, we looked pretty good. Don't you think?

We are holding the award they gave Shaun. It is pretty cool. It looks like the magazine inside this plastic cube. It will look great as a paperweight on his desk. Congrats again Shaun and Dan!
That night we went to an after party at a club. It was so late by the time we got back to the hotel! I haven't been up that late since way before Cecilia was born. I'm sure before I was pregnant with her. We slept in the next day, but I just felt crappy the whole day from lack of sleep. And we didn't even drink anything! Boy am I getting old. Next day we visited with Shaun's partner and his family. It was nice to see them again, it has been a while. Then off to the airport and home. I was so happy to be home. What a whirlwind weekend! I was so glad we didn't have Cecilia with us! What a nightmare that would have been! Monday morning when I got her up she gave me a big smile and a hug. I was on cloud nine since this is not a cuddly kid and was probably the first time she has done something like that. And I hear she had a great time with grandma and grandpa. My mom told me this week she missed Cecilia. That tells me that it wasn't too much of a burden to watch her and they will probably do it again :)

I know I'm really behind

But I have a good excuse. I've had this monstrous cold for the last week that has wiped me out. I've gone back to the old you nap when the baby naps routine. I'm surprised at how tired this cold has made me. Although I think that is partly because I keep waking up coughing up a lung. But on the bright side my stomach muscles are in good shape.

So much has happened this month it is amazing! First let me update you on Cecilia and then I'll get to Shaun and I. Which for the first time have had more to say than C has :)

Cecilia has gone potty several times since that first time a few weeks ago. She goes about every other day and I'm sure we could do a better job at listening to her when she tells us she needs to go and run her in there. It is just hard to tell when she really needs to go and when she just says she does because it is a good distraction during dinner. Regardless, I don't think she will be potty trained anytime soon (maybe partly because mommy isn't ready to be consistent and partly because she still goes so much when she is asleep) and this will probably just drag out the process for a year. But I'm trying to be a relaxed parent and go with the flow. She has also started putting two words together. This child is a gabber! All day long she walks around talking to herself (and me). The other day she was on my bed and I told her be careful I don't want you to fall down and she looked at me "fall down." I said "yes don't fall down." Next day she is on the bed and looks over the edge and goes "fall down." I was impressed she remembered and was able to put the two words together. There are other examples, but I can't remember any right now.

I took her to the doctor last week for a checkup. She mentioned that Cecilia is the average height of a 22 month old. Yeah, she is tall for her age. She did really well during the shots. She of course looked at me like, "why did she just hurt me? And why did you let her?" I tried to warn her that she would get poked and after it was over she could have a binky. We never give them to her so this was a real treat. She cried and after the nurse was done I asked her if she wanted the binky and she stopped crying and said "Binky!" I was surprised that she stopped crying so fast, but I guess she is getting older and they are less traumatic. Anyway after I got the binky for her I laid her back on the table so I could get her dressed. She found the caps of the needles and looked at them for a minute and then jabbed her thigh with it like the nurse did. I thought it both smart and a little morbid at the same time.

Last update about Cecilia. She was able to go to nursery for the first time last week. I wasn't there, but Shaun told me she did great and didn't cry at all. She looked around at everything and all the toys and then they sat her down for a treat, which I was notified was fruit loops and she was happy as a clam. Shaun said he "hovered" outside the door several times to check up on her and other kids were crying and she would look at them like "why are you crying? this place is great!" All in all she had a good time and was a good helper at the end cleaning up. We both thought she would love nursery because she loves kids. I didn't realize the snack would be something like fruit loops, but I have to tell myself that it is ok to have a treat every once in a while and I'm sure that she will always love nursery if they give her special treats for showing up. On a side note, can I say I can't believe my baby is 18 months old and is going to nursery! She seems so young to be dropped off with a ton of other kids and three leaders. I wish I didn't have to teach my own class and could "hover" and watch what they do and how well the kids listen. I know they have some kind of a lesson, and the kids actually sit and listen to it. Pretty amazing! I can see Cecilia doing this, but some of the other kids might have a hard time sitting for more than about 2 seconds. I remember when Cecilia was in the cast and the primary president was saying it wouldn't be long before she was in nursery and I just couldn't fathom it. She has progressed so much since then! Shaun and I were worried about her not being able to get up and walk around with the other kids and here she is, Running everywhere! Talking! Time flies!

Doctor Appointment

So my last post about Cecilia going poopy on the potty reminded me that I haven't posted about our doctor's appointment. We had a follow up about her hip last week. Everyone always asks me if her hip is healed. Essentially the cast put it in the right place and kept it there hopefully long enough that the muscles and tendons would keep it there while the hip grows over it. Because it wasn't in the right place for those 8 months the growth of the hip socket is behind the right hip. So what they look at at these follow ups is to see that the left hip is still making progress and eventually over time it will catch up with the right hip. They take X-rays each time to see how things are coming. If they don't see progress then they will watch closer for a time and that is when she may have to have another cast. Let's all pray this never happens! This X-ray looked really good. Her socket continues to form over the ball, the ball is developing properly as well. The placement still looks good too. I asked the doctor what chance we would have of her having to have another cast at this point and he thought it pretty small (but of course there is still a chance). So just yearly checkups from this point to make sure it continues to progress and someday it will catch up to the right hip.

You'll never guess what C did today

She went poopy on the potty! Yes she is only 17.5 months old, but she is pretty much amazing. She has been telling us that she had to go poopy before she did it for about two weeks now. Actually the first time was in the doctors office and Shaun and I looked at each other like, "uh what do we do?!" After about the 4th time I decided I would go buy a potty for her and see what happened. I honestly didn't think she would go on it but I figured we needed one someday anyway. So we got one earlier this week and this morning she comes to me and says "poopy" and grabs her diaper. I asked her if she wanted to go on the potty and she nodded yes (which reminds me I need to get a video of this because it is the cutest thing ever). So I took her in there and sat her down. I figured we'll see what happens. She sat there for a while and so I got a book for her to read. I think this is why people like to read on the toilet. Their moms give them books to look at when they are young to keep them on the toilet until they go. Anyway a little while later I looked and Voila! I looked at Shaun and he looked at me and we said WOW! Then the praise began and of course a treat to the little genius. She got 4 M&M's. Which if you know me and sweets that is a real treat! Who knows what will happen next time, but for now I count this as one less poopy diaper I had to change.

Summer!

Life goes fast in the summer! We have been enjoying the weather and fresh produce. These are the times I look back on in December with longing. We had the opportunity to see both sets of grandparents last week. Cecilia says "papa" and signs grandpa really well but I think she was a little confused when we said grandpa for my dad in the morning and then saw Shaun's dad in the afternoon and said grandpa again. It is a difficult concept for a 1.5 year old to understand that two people can have the same name. But so fun to see so much family.

Shaun and I went to a fundraiser for the Living Planet Aquarium on Saturday. It was a lot of fun. I recently bought a dress for the formal banquet in DC for the Inc 500 conference and was able to do a trial run with my ensemble at this fundraiser. I learned I need more than 10 minutes to do my hair, makeup, and get dressed. But a few extra minutes in the car and I looked presentable. Next time I'll have to take a picture and show you the new hair style I learned. It is fun to get dressed up sometimes. The event was a La Caille, probably the most expensive restaurant in SLC. It is really gorgeous though. We were able to "gamble" for a while and then our winnings translated into raffle tickets for 4 prizes. Shaun and I did well with some major help from a friend of Shaun's but we didn't win any prizes. That is ok we were able to bid on some silent auction items and came home with some great Christmas presents and help a good cause at the same time. Win win. Plus we had fun and I learned I don't understand the first thing about gambling :)

Cecilia is adorable as always. She is really into the spices lately. She loves to take every spice off the shelf and put it on the ground somewhere in a pile. The really good thing is that if you tell her to put them away at the end she will! It gets lots of energy out running back and forth and she is really good about putting them right side up and fitting them all back on the shelf. It is so fun to watch her. Here is a short clip of it.



That is about all from our neck of the woods. Hope you all are doing well!!

Quick Bragging Session

So I just have to tell you the cutest thing Cecilia did this morning. Well let me "back" up (you'll get it it a minute). A couple of days ago she was looking at a book (she loves books by the way) and there was a page with different baby body parts, eyes, nose, ears etc. Well one new one we haven't taught her was "back." She pointed to it and I said "back" and rubbed her back. She put her hand on her back and said "back." I was a little surprised because she has never said that word. But she has been saying similar words like "book" and "stuck" so it wasn't that surprising. She has really gotten the "K" sound down which seems to me like a hard sound to make. Anyway I haven't practiced "back" with her since then. Well this morning she was looking at a book, "We're going on a bear hunt" to be exact and for those of you parents who are familiar with this book you will remember the last page has a picture of a bear walking away. You can see it's back. Cecilia looks at that page and goes "back!" and I of course praise her for the smart girl she is, which reinforced her and she repeated "back!" "back!" "back!" for about 10 minutes just to reinforce to me that she is so smart. She is only 17 months by the way. You can be duly impressed now.

Inc 500

Shaun's company, Neutron Interactive celebrated a big accomplishment last week. They made the Inc 500 list. For you business novices (like me) that is the 500 fastest growing private companies in the country. They landed #366. I am so proud of what they have accomplished in the last couple of years. So much work and it has all paid off. They have a great company, with great employees, and a great work environment. They celibrated with a big party with 366 balloons and a giant "500" cake.




Congrats Shaun!

Cherry Hills

My moms extended family had a reunion at Cherry Hills last Saturday. My sister came from Manila (Utah) so Shaun and I decided to go up too. We have never taken Cecilia to a water park but she loves to swim so I thought it would be a lot of fun. I bought a life jacket for her and we packed a lunch and went up after her nap. It was so much fun. It was super crowded! We went in the lazy river and she had a great time and then I found this little slide just perfect for her. It goes into this little kiddy pool that is only about a foot deep and she loved it. The first couple of times down the slide I went with her. Then I saw a little boy about her size go down by himself and I thought she could do it. Especially since she had her life jacket on that kept her up right so she wouldn't fall over. I took her to the top and Shaun stayed down to catch her and she loved it! We did it several times because she enjoyed it so much and it was something she could do on her own. Shaun caught this video of one of the trips.



Of course it was fun to see family too and Cecilia enjoyed her cousins as always. Next time we'll have to go on a weekday though!

Irony

There are times in your life when you do something you swore you would never do. And sometimes you are so happy about it. Today was one of those times. While we were in Oregon Cecilia decided she was done eating baby food. We would be fine with that, if she would only eat meat that isn't in baby food. I worry about her protein intake because she doesn't drink milk very well either. So I've been trying to get her to eat protein in other ways. Of course I give her what we eat, but she won't eat it, unless it is in a soup and is really distracted and I feed it to her, and not always even then. She also won't eat potatoes or pasta either so it is really hard to find different things to feed her for three meals plus snacks everyday. Well it came to a head the other day when I tried a million things for dinner and she didn't want any of them. I finally put her to bed, probably hungry. The next morning Shaun didn't have any better luck. He finally turned to me and said, "just go to the store and get some chicken nuggets." We swore we wouldn't feed our children chicken nuggets. Oh the preservatives and junk in those things. They can't be good for you, except they do have protein. Shaun has always said "if you don't feed your children chicken nuggets (and french fries) then they won't get addicted to them and request them for every meal." So it is a testament to how frustrated we are that he would say go buy them and I would run out and get tater tots, dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets, and fish sticks. That day for lunch I tried the thing I thought her most likely to eat, tater tots. Well she scarfed them down. I was really excited. Fried potatoes, yippee! So for dinner I tried the chicken nuggets. She took two bits, which I was pretty happy with because that means she will probably do more next time. I waited a few days to get the fried food out of her system before trying again. Today it was the fish sticks and she ate about 1 and a half sticks. I never thought I would be so excited to see my daughter eat fish sticks. Oh the lengths we go to feed our kids, and the things we will do. If you told either Shaun or I five years ago we would celebrate this we would have refused to believe you and given you a lecture on how bad that food is for you. In my defense, I read this nutrition book which talks about making connections between the food your kids will eat and the foods you ultimately want them to eat. For example you give them tater tots, then roasted potatoes that are similar enough that they are willing to try them, then once they eat them well you move on to baked potatoes and then mashed. My goal is to make a connection between fish sticks and real fish like a nice baked salmon. And dino bites towards other types of chicken Wish us good luck, and don't tease us too much if we are still feeding her fish sticks and dino bites in a year from now. Someday she will eat good like us, hopefully!

Cecilia Update

I haven't written about Cecilia for a while and it is time for an update. First I should mention that she has been walking since we caught the video of her about a month ago. She seems a little happier now because she just walks all over the house. Back and forth, back and forth. She loves a little interaction as she walks by you and it keeps her going for longer than any toy has. It has been great! I will have to get a video to show you. She still loves to see what you are doing and still wants lots of attention. But I can do something for about 10 minutes now while she runs around. She still prefers a hand on uneven surfaces like grass and when strangers are around. But it has been so great for her to walk on her own.

She is signing like crazy right now. It has been so fun to teach her and has helped with communication. We recently went to the park and she was able to tell me "all done" when she was finished with the swings and playing in the wood chips. It was great! No waiting until she is fussy to figure out she is done. She just signed it and we stopped and moved on. The signs she knows are, "more", "all done", "baby", "cracker", "milk", "juice", "dog" (her favorite), "bird", "fish" (which was fun at the aquarium we went to the other day), "apple", "grapes", "blueberries" (her favorite food), "thank you", "cereal", "fan", and I'm sure there are more but that is about all I can think of. We recently got her more signing videos because she loved the one we had so much. From those she has learned "shoes", "hurt", and "hat." Not that we let her watch much TV, but there are times when you just need to get something done. I can't wait until she can really talk though and tell me all that is on her mind. She jabbers so much, I just know she wants to tell me more than she can sign. She does say a few words too "dada" is her favorite, "mama" is no longer her favorite person so I have to push her to say it, she says "cheese" (really well I might add), "shoes","book", "ball", "bubbles", "balloon", and "stuck" which is really cute. I'm sure there are others but I've reached my thinking capacity and can't remember. The point is, she signs and talks and is picking it all up really fast.

Summer Time

What would summer be without Shaun and I staying up until all hours of the night bottling, canning and making jam? Well in some ways it would be nice, but then it wouldn't be a Ritchie summer. Plus we enjoy the "fruits of our labor" (ha ha) all year. We could have better planning and not start things at 10 pm. But maybe next year (we can all hope).

This week it has been all about apricots. Last weekend Shaun saw a post on facebook from a woman in our ward saying they had tons of apricots on their tree and first come first serve. Well you know how we are about free fruit, recall our peaches adventures from last year. So Shaun was out the door in about 5 minutes hoping to beat everyone else there. He had his fruit picker in hand, ready to get the ones no one else can reach. He was so excited about fruit tree season (I'm sure there is a better term, but you get the idea) this year that he bought this contraption on amazon that extends at least 10 feet so no fruit goes to waste. He couldn't wait to try it out. And apparently it works because he came home with a bunch of fruit. Then Monday the family with the apricot tree sent an email to the ward broadcasting their apricots. Shaun was devastated and thought they would be all gone by the time he could get back. We have seen/talked to three people who went picking, and heard about more. One of which also stayed up until 1 am making jam. But as a testament to this tree Shaun went back again and got more than the first time. Yeah for the fruit picker! He also went to a tree on a vacant lot and picked, but they hadn't been watered and were really small. I don't know how much fruit he picked, but over the course of two late nights we made 20 small containers of freezer jam, 5 quarts, and about 10 pints of bottled apricots. What do you do with bottled apricots you say? Make apricot nectar of course! You'll have to ask Shaun's grandma about it. All I know is you make it from bottled apricots and Shaun loves it.

Oh and Shaun also made some grape jelly too, just because we were already in the middle of it and of course we weren't busy enough.

What are we going to do with all of this jam?! Anyone want some?

Flaming Gorge

This week we went to Flaming Gorge with a lot of my family. It was so fun to see everyone. I haven't seen my nephews that live in Washington for a long time. We all got together in Manila to go boating. Growing up 15 minutes from the lake made us boating people. It was fun for me to watch the next generation learn to water ski and knee-board and catch some air on the tube. The lake is as chilly as ever but you just suck it up and jump in. Shaun loved driving my dads boat and told me more than once that he wants one. I love it too so someday... Cecilia had the best time playing with her cousins, especially Chandra. She just loved her! You should have seen her lounging on her and following her around. I'm sure Chandra was happy when we left the way she mauled her!





We also took Cecilia on her first boat ride. She was a little timid at first, but then she warmed up and I was holding on to her life jacket for dear life as she leans out the front of the boat going 20 mph.



We stopped off in Green River (where I grew up) on the way so I could reminisce. It was so fun to drive around as a grown up and remember old times and look at the town from a different perspective. I don't know when we will go back so I'm really glad we took the time. I also wanted to stop by my old High School. I was in the last graduating class from it. They built a new high school and turned it into a middle school. It was interesting to see the changes and think back to that time of my life. Here I am by my old locker.


I remember standing in the main hall by the office on graduation day thinking I would never go to that school again. I showed Shaun the classroom where I decided to be a scientist. Here Cecilia are knocking on the door because it was locked.


It was this same classroom where I took anatomy and decided I didn't have the stomach to be a doctor :) But we did a course on genetics and I was sold. It is interesting how trivial High School is, yet at the same time you can make decisions that will shape your whole life. I know more than one girl who got pregnant and changed their life forever. My decision to go into genetics changed my life, I know I'm no great scientist that will invent the cure for cancer and change the world, but that decision has effected me and the way I think for the rest of my life. It will effect my children in ways unknown, and who knows who else. So I had a great time driving around town and looking at the growth along with the things that haven't changed since I was a kid. Just like me.

catch up

I know it has been a long time since I've posted. I have two excuses. The first is our internet has had some real problems lately and it drives me crazy when I'm in the middle of something and it crashes. So I would rather not get on at all. Work has suffered too :) The other reason is audio books. A few weeks ago I was at the library and found the audio books for a trilogy called His Dark Materials. I saw the film for the first book a few years ago and was excited to finish the series with audio books. So I ran home and put them on my ipod. They were really fun to listen to and each day I found myself looking for things to do that didn't require brain power so I could listen to them while Cecilia slept. Let's just say my house and yard benefited from my addiction as cleaning is a good thing to do with your hands while your mind is elsewhere. But as I said work and blogging suffered. Well they are finished now.

So what have we been up to lately? Well Shaun mentioned the park where he and Cecilia had so much fun kicking a ball. We also were able to see family from out of town of the holiday weekend. My brother and his family came for a visit and we were able to see them for a bit. Cecilia had so much fun playing with her cousins and their dog. She quickly learned the sign for dog and does it every time I say the word. She is learning so quickly right now! She knows the sign for baby too. It is in the signing video we have and I didn't even know she knew it until I was pointing out things to her in a book and pointed to a baby and she stops and does the sign. I was shocked and amazed. She is so smart! We also caught this video yesterday and were so proud of her. It came about because we left her standing up holding on to the gate above our stairs and walked into the front room. A few minutes later she came walking into the room. We were so surprised that she just decided to let go and walk to us without any prompt. So we decided to get out the camera and caught this. I think we can officially say she can walk because she will actually let go of things on her own. She still can't stand up without props, but will figure it out soon enough.



My mom said "it is amazing that she picked up the sippy cup and kept walking, but it was really amazing she picked up a sippy cup!" knowing how difficult it can sometimes be to get her to take a drink. Maybe that will change?

Upcoming trips include a boating trip with my family next week, Great-grandparent wedding anniversary next weekend, and then a trip to Oregon. We are really excited about this trip. We will get to visit more family which we don't see often and we will be able to go pick blueberries. I think Cecilia will have so much fun doing this!!! I can't wait to see what she does. My little blueberry fiend! Today we are going to go see grandparents Hadley and extended family who are camping. No camping for us as we have a wedding reception tonight, but it will be fun to visit anyway. So nice they are camping close. Better go...

Sugarhouse Park festivities

Since we're celebrating Independence Day on July 3rd, 4th and 5th this year, we decided to take advantage of the cooler weather and get outside as much as possible over the weekend. The fireworks were back on in Sugarhouse Park after almost not happening this year due to budget cuts. Fortunately for the community, many hours of fund raising made it happen. We went to the park in the afternoon to enjoy the people and the preparations. Unfortunately, we weren't actually able to see the fireworks because we had to put the little one down early. But we could see some of them through the trees from our front porch. We took a few videos that we wanted to post but Shaun lost his iPhone today so all we have is this picture. Cute as ever. Oh, and Happy Independence Day, whichever day you decided to celebrate it. 

Birthday

Last Friday was my birthday. It was so much fun! Shaun took the whole day off and we went and played. My parents came down to watch Cecilia. I was a little nervous because it was the longest I've left her during the day. But she had a great time with grandpa and grandma Hadley and they spoiled her with lots of strawberries from their garden. They watched her while Shaun and I went horseback riding. It was the perfect day for it. Everything is still green and the weather was the perfect temp with just a few clouds in the sky. We went riding in a beautiful place through meadows with wildflowers and stands of trees while crisscrossing a stream. It felt so good to be out in nature. Plus it is a great thing to do here in Utah. After our ride we came home, changed clothes, kissed Cecilia, and ran off again. Shaun took me to Flemming's for dinner. It was so yummy, but definitely a special occasion place. Then to a movie to end the day. My parents put Cecilia to bed and she went down easily they say. I was really happy to hear that because besides me, only Shaun has put her down before and he has only done it a couple of times. It is a good feeling to know someone else can take care of her and I don't have to be close to run home and feed her or put her to bed. It was a great primer to leaving her overnight sometime soon.

It was the perfect day, besides the bug that crawled down my shirt and bit me. Although the other cars on the freeway may have enjoyed it because they got quite a show when I screamed and stripped right there driving down I-80. Luckily Shaun had a spare shirt in the car so it wasn't a show all the way home :) YEAH for Birthdays!

So close

Sunday's are a time when both Shaun and I are here and focused on Cecilia. She is usually in a good mood after church and we have a little bit of time to play before dinner and bed. Lately we have been working on her pulling herself up from a siting to standing position, or "cruising" along the couch which works her coordination of putting her weight from one foot to the other. She has done so well and became a pro after one or two sessions. Also last week she let go of one hand and will hold onto just one finger to walk. Even that isn't the death grip it used to be. So Sunday we decided to try to get her to walk between us. We have tried it before and she just sits down and cries, but we thought she might be ready for it this time. She took right to it and smiled huge and giggled the whole time. We had to hop on skype and show the grandparents, who were thrilled to see it. She isn't walking on her own yet, but I honestly think it isn't far away. Just needs a little more confidence, and to figure out how to get up there on her own better. Sorry for the poor placement of the video camera, it is more difficult with a tripod to get the right angle. But you get the idea.

Farr's Ice Cream stop

Katie and I took a trip down memory lane this weekend with a trip to Aesel Farr and Sons ice cream parlor in downtown Ogden. We both went there on special occaisons when we were growing up; me while on our annual summer vacation to Utah, often in my Grandpa Ritchie's big green monster of a truck. Katie would go after youth activities to the Ogden Temple. It had been at least 10 years since either of us had been to Farrs. We were on the way to the farm from a full day of family activities (mostly mine) including a memorial service for my late Grandpa Ritchie and a graduation swim party for a cousin on my mom's side. At roughly the same time, we both saw a distant Farr's Ice Cream sign and we knew we had to go. I don't think they've changed the green paint in here for at least 30 years! Apparently, we were too enamored with our sugar cones to snap a pic of the actual ice cream!

End of an Era

Tomorrow Cecilia will be 14 months old. Whew! Today marks a landmark, we stopped nursing. Done, no more, the end. On one hand it is a little sad, the end of an era. On the other, it is really exciting! I can leave her for a whole day and not have to be close to run home. Woman's weekend this fall? No problem! Plus I don't have to worry about how much I'm eating or drinking. I get more done in the day because I'm not stuck in a chair for 20-40 minutes 4 times a day. That is a lot of time if you think about it!

The whole weaning process took much less time than I thought. I think Cecilia could tell it was time and I was certainly ready for it. I had a goal of August. But it was only about a month from start to finish. Let's just hope she continues to go down easily for naps as that was the last feeding to be dropped and I really worried she wouldn't take one without falling asleep before putting her in the crib. But today she went down just fine. Keep your fingers crossed it continues :)

I can't keep up

Cecilia is changing so fast I can't keep the blog updated! Everyday or every other day she makes strides towards walking. Shaun keeps working with her to get her to crawl because we know it is important. He takes her downstairs to the cushy carpet and works with her. But poor thing still doesn't have enough strength to pull her knees together to be able to get up on them and crawl. She can move forward though. She pulls with her arms and drags her body. It makes me so sad to see it, but she can get around. Here is a video of it.



I also got a video of her scooting on her bum. Shaun says she looks like a spider, which is a good description for it. But again, she can get around.



This leads me to a story about a "first". I was in bed this morning and Shaun was playing with her, well he was supposed to be playing with her. All of a sudden the door to the bedroom flew open and this little girl came scooting in all by herself. Daddy didn't even know she was there. It was the first time she has come in our bedroom and woke me up all by herself. I'm sure it will happen so many more times :) The second first that happened today was after my shower. Cecilia started out in the bathroom with me and when I got out I had to go find her somewhere in the house. That was pretty fun. I'll probably hate it someday, but the first is exciting.

Two more "firsts" and I'll quit for the day. The third "first" of the day was Cecilia pushed, all by herself, a toy walking. I got another video of it.



Look at her, you'd think she has been doing this for weeks, not the first time! Shaun couldn't believe his eyes when I showed him the video. I was shocked too. I set her on her feet, she grabbed on, and off she went! She pushed that thing all around the house, several times. Oh and I got her to walk with holding only one of my fingers last weekend too. She doesn't like it, but she will do it. She can also stand by herself for about 10 seconds (also fusses the whole time). Like I said she is just developing faster than I can track! The last week and a half she has just... well I'm at a loss for words... just learned!

Last thing, she finally, after months of work, signed "more". To be honest I'm not very good at remembering to sign it to her all the time. When she wants more of something she points and grunts and I get the point and give it to her. She would have learned it much earlier if I could remember to sign "more" and then give it to her. But we got there eventually. I am much better at signing "all done" and she just puts her arms out for me to pick her up. She knows what I'm saying, just won't say it back. Oh well, she has learned enough for two weeks I'd say.

Family Pictures

We finally got more professional pictures taken of Cecilia. It has been too long. We have been shopping photographers for a while, but there are too many to choose from and I was overwhelmed. Recently I took Cecilia to work and my coworkers were bragging about their new niece. They showed me some newborn pictures taken of her which were so creative and amazing that I knew I found my photographer. I went home and booked a session. She took some of us as a family, but mostly of Cecilia. She does a 1 year old trash the cake session, which I was so excited about. I wasn't happy with any of the pictures I took at Cecilia's birthday party because the lighting was terrible. I know I'm obsessed about getting the perfect cake shot, but we really needed new pictures of her anyway.

I did get a few great cake shots to choose from and so many others. She really is a great photographer! Here is a link to her blog with C as the star. Below are a few others which we really love that didn't make it on her blog, too many amazing pictures! If you live in Utah you should think about using her for your next pro pix session.

Staycation

Sometimes you just need to get away. Now that we have a baby with her own schedule, which seems to be messed up if I breathe wrong, getting away seems to be more work than relaxing. So my new favorite thing is a staycation. You've heard of them, they got really popular when the economy crapped out. You vacation in your own town and do something you wouldn't normally do that is enjoyable for everyone.

Park City here we come. It is perfect, half an hour and you are there. No missed naps or late bedtime. This time of year they have some great deals. Last November (also in the off season for PC) We went to Stein Eriksen lodge with Shaun's parents. I felt more relaxed by the end of the weekend than I ever have after entertaining, or any vacation for that matter. Stein has everything that makes for a perfect vacation, a fully stocked kitchen where we can make some amazing meals (and if you know Shaun and I, cooking is very relaxing and enjoyable). It also has a large, dark, quiet bathroom that we can put Cecilia to sleep in and not worry about making too much noise. And it has another full bathroom off the main room so it isn't missed. The place has several fireplaces that they will come light a real wood burning fire in. Who doesn't relax watching fire? There is just something about it. The setting couldn't be prettier, up in the mountains with the yummy smelling Spruce Pine tree and daffodils that are just blooming. Of course the people are nice, this time when we stayed they brought over some yummy scones and jam just to say thanks for staying with us again.

So when I needed a vacation this weekend Stein Eriksen was the first place I thought of. They even had the same deal as last time, free dinner or Sunday brunch. This Sunday brunch is amazing so I couldn't wait to book it. Yesterday we drove up in time to go swimming before Cecilia went to bed. Which she loves to do and generally makes her sleep better. Then Shaun made this amazing chicken dinner. We tried to invite some friends to enjoy it, but that didn't work out so we selfishly scarfed it down.

Today we stuffed ourselves at the brunch and ran home for church fully rested and ready for the week. Well almost fully rested, Cecilia woke up twice last night crying. We are working on breaking her from the brace that she is growing out of and doesn't need anymore. Surprisingly she has a hard time sleeping without it. It is all the freedom, just moves all over the crib and can't just settle down. Hopefully tonight will be better... If not I may need to go on another staycation :)

Cecilia Update

I was talking to a friend at church on Sunday and she was trying to get her daughter to say "bear." But she wasn't in the mood. Well her daughter is about the same age as Cecilia, so it made me stop and think. Wait a minute, Cecilia can say a few words and I didn't even notice! She definitely says my name. The other day Shaun got her up in the morning and was changing her diaper. She was doing her normal baby chatter, until I walked by the door. Then she goes "MA!" Sometimes it is "EHH-MA!" and yesterday she even said "MOM." Sure melts your heart when you hear your one year old call for you by name. This week I realized she also says "Ball" (Bah), "Balloon" (Boo), and "Apple" (Ahpahpah). Apple is my favorite because she pulls this really funny face to say it that you can only do when you don't have any teeth. I want to get a video of it, but she won't do it on demand. Today we went to the store. You don't realize how many balloons there are at the grocery store until you go with a baby who can only say a few words and balloon happens to be one of them. I had to ask the checkout lady if they had any free balloons so I could give her one. I took a video of her when we got home but she only said balloon once (which is really more like a drawn out boo with the intonations of balloon) and if you aren't paying attention you may miss it. I can't wait to see what word she picks up next.



Oh and in the video you can also see how she walks with her behind. This is how she "crawls", although it can't really be called that when she is sitting down. She pulls with her arms, wiggles her legs and feet, and scoots with her butt. It is funny to watch. The first time Shaun saw it he quoted Bill Cosby "As I was sitting in the dentist chair I realized that if I ever went paralyzed from the knee down I could walk with my behind." I keep trying to put her back on her tummy so she will learn how to crawl for real, but since she learned this she won't let me do it. She is quickly learning how to get around and I have to watch her more closely. Funny how I've been looking forward to this day for so long and yet I still don't feel prepared for it.

She also finally learned to roll over onto her tummy. It is a byproduct of learning how to pull herself up to a sitting position. Shaun taught her how to do this and it makes changing her diaper much more difficult. She has some abs of steel this one. Here is a video of it.



So she learned to roll over onto her tummy by trying to sit up, not being able to quite make it and tipping over instead. I didn't really count that, but this week she did finally did it on purpose, she is only 13 months old! But she has a great excuse and we'll leave it at that. All in all she has made great progress, especially in the last week.

My baby is 1!

It is hard to believe that my baby girl is a whole year old. I have kissed, fed, clothed, cleaned, and loved this little being for a whole year. My how she has changed in that year! Over a year ago now Shaun and I took that fateful drive to the hospital. 13 hours later I delivered a little baby girl with lots of dark hair. So much of that day is still vivid in my mind. The pain has faded, but the memory of seeing that dark hair for the first time will always stay fresh in my mind. What a surreal experience, your eyes are telling you everything that is going on, but your mind has a hard time grasping the fact that this being, this tiny human baby, is yours. In fact it took me about a month before I felt like Cecilia was my daughter and there was no giving her back. Naming her was a difficult experience for both of us. We went to the hospital with a long list of possibilities and hoped what everyone told us was true. When we saw her we would know what her name was. Well, that didn't happen for either of us. We looked at her and could say what names she wasn't, but when it came to what name she was... we just weren't sure. It is such a big decision, your name stays with you for the rest of your life! I think we were both overwhelmed with that realization and were kinda scared to move forward. I started to lean towards Cecilia, and Shaun wasn't against it, but neither of us got a lightning bolt YES. Neither of us consciously expected that, but I think we both were subconsciously. In fact we were still not sure when Shaun filled out the paperwork as we left the hospital. We looked at each other and said, do you have something else you feel better about? no? Ok, this is it then. That was another thing that took a while to sink in. Of course now Cecilia is the only name for her, it just fits. But for a long time we weren't sure. Good thing she grew into it.

How lucky are we to have this happy, healthy, beautiful child in our lives! Right from the beginning she was just the sweetest baby ever. She only fussed when she was hungry and never went through a colicky phase (until she got the cast on, but that doesn't count). In fact, most of the time she didn't cry when she was hungry either, she did this adorable hungry dance that will forever endure her to me. Even when she got the cast on, and was so over tired and frustrated. She still smiled and played. As you know naps have been a struggle since the cast, but even when she chooses not to take a nap, she just lays in her crib and talks, and sings. She never cries in there.

Cecilia has the most personality of any baby I know (although I'm totally biased). She is constantly smiling and interacting with others, even if it is just me whom she sees all day long. She loves people, especially kids. She would be happy if she were around others every waking moment. In fact the only time she cries or fusses is when she is left alone. We went to the grocery store a while ago and she was smiling at this couple and they said how cute she was (which is the number one comment I get from people, even when she was in the cast). I told them that she loves to flirt with people and the guy looks at me and says, "Your husband had better get a shotgun!" With this great sing song way of saying shotgun. It was really funny. And so true, Shaun had better watch out when she turns 16!

People aren't the only thing she loves. Nature also make her so happy. Walks were one of two saving graces when she was in the cast. I was in better shape during the winter than I am now. She used to get so excited when I would put her in the stroller because she knew what was coming. This is one kid who never fights to put her coat on because she knows it means we are leaving and that means adventure.

I can't wait to see what the coming year will bring. Hopefully no more cast! She should crawl, and walk this year. Probably talk some, I can't wait to hear what she has to say! I'll be interested to see if she continues to love people or if she becomes more shy. I can't wait to see how she grows in the coming year. It can't be as much as she has this past year, but significant none the less. I compiled pictures of Cecilia from her first year below. I tried to get them as close to a month apart as I could. My how she has grown!

Birth Day, April 8th 2009

May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
January
February
March
April

Happy Birthday little one!