Girl's Day Out

Nicole and I went to lunch with our friends MaryAnn, Natalie, and Madeleine a few days ago. Nikki and Madeleine enjoyed themselves playing with car keys and munching on cheerios. Such cute little girls!

2008 in Review

Saw this on a couple of friends blogs and thought it was a great way to journal 2008!

Where did you begin 2008? At our friend's Marc and Natalie's, right after we flew back to Philadelphia. We told them we were pregnant that night - and due a week after them!

What was your status by Valentines Day? Pregnant and in love with my husband and baby

Were you in school anytime this year? Nope, and probably won't ever be again.

Did you have to go to the hospital? Yes, for Nicole's big arrival!

Did you have any encounters with the police? Yes, when the fire alarm went off at our apartment. I also was very lucky to not get pulled over for having expired safety and emissions for the last 4 months of the year!

Where did you go on vacation? Cape May, Palmyra, New York City, Washington DC, Virginia, and Utah

What did you purchase that was over $500? Um, a new house - and a baby if you want to really get technical!

Did you move anywhere? Yep, from Philadelphia to Glenside, PA

What sporting events did you attend? Phillies baseball game

What concerts/shows did you go to? I don't think I went to any

Where do you live now? Glenside

Describe your birthday. Alex's family was in town so we went out to Valley Forge and did the tour there. We ate a picnic lunch there, and then we went over to Longwood Gardens. It was so beautiful! That night we stopped at Larry's for dinner where they have the best cheesesteaks!

What has been your favorite moment? Obviously having Nicole was my favorite - not the actual delivery but just having her here. :)

What's something you learned about yourself? That I was not nearly as prepared to be a mom as I thought. I still don't know what I'm doing!

Any new additions? Yep - Obviously Nicole, and then Andrew joined the family when he married Megan

What was your best month? December

Made new friends? Yes, it helps when you move to a new ward!

What would you change about 2008? I would have gone into the city more often to go to dinner with Alex

What did you like most about 2008? Nicole joining the family was definitely the best. I also liked having family visit.

Other than home, where did you spend most of your time? At the local stores

Change your hairstyle? Yeah, I cut it to my shoulders (aka the mommy haircut)

Get a new job? Well, I guess being a mom was a new job, so yes.

How old did you turn this year? 27

Do you have a New Year's resolution? I haven't really had time to think about it...

What was your favorite purchase? My house

Did you get sick this year? I can't really remember, but I think the only REAL sickness was when I got a cold over Christmas.

What are you wishing for in 2009? Lots of fun watching Nicole grow, and traveling to new places!

Future Rock Climber

Nicole has been pulling herself up for about a month now, and she's getting really good at it. She'll just stand at our media cabinet for 45 minutes and entertain herself (which I am not complaining about!).


Her newest trick is pulling herself up on her dresser. I open the bottom drawer and she pulls herself to standing, and then she opens the top drawer and hangs on that. She has started to stand on her toes and reach for the top of the dresser and once she gets a good grip she'll lift her leg like she's trying to climb it.

Alex decided that he would teach her to step on the knobs so she can better hang from the top of the dresser (I know, genius). I couldn't resist taking this picture - and Alex was so proud when she hung there for a minute by herself.

Fun Stuff

Nicole is growing up so fast and getting into everything! As I type, she has crawled over to the bookshelf and taken some of her baby shampoo off of the shelf. Ah, what fun. She is pulling herself up to standing on anything that is taller than her, and falling down and bonking her head quite a bit. But, she just keeps on going! Here is some of the fun we've been up to the past few weeks:

Alex and Nicole playing blocks

Nicole getting pulled around in her diaper box like it's a car

Nicole wearing pony tails for the first time

Crawling around

Where to begin...

Wow, so I've been dreading this post because I've got so much to write about - but I'm going to keep it short. We went to Utah for 2 weeks for my sister's wedding and Christmas. I was so happy to have all of the family see Nicole (and give me some free time away from her), but the flights were not my favorite thing ever. It didn't help that she was sick on both flights. Ugh.

It was so much fun to have everyone in town for the holidays. It was pretty funny because we were all on different time zones (Japan, Ireland, Philadelphia, Denver, and of course, Utah) so we had people awake and asleep at all hours of the day. It was crazy chaos with 20 people sleeping in the house at one time, but it was a blast.

Megan and Andrew got married on December 20, and as is only appropriate, they had a hopping reception with a celtic band and Irish dancers. We even got to learn the dance "The Siege of Ennis." All of Andrew's family flew over for the wedding so it was fun to have everyone there. They're having a celebration in Ireland this week and I want to go so bad!

The rest of the holidays were spent back and forth between Alex's parents house and my parents house. Christmas was a ton of fun and we got some great presents. Alex spoiled me with a digital SLR camera! Nicole enjoyed being with all of her cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents. I had a hard time leaving knowing I would have to keep her as entertained as she was while she was there. We had such a great time being back in Utah and, for now, it still feels like home.

6 months old

My little munchkin is 6 months old (well, a little bit past 6 months now) and we are having so much fun with her. She has started scooching around and doing the army crawl, so we now have to keep things out of reach and we'll have to baby proof once we get back from our trip to Utah. She loves to babble and say dada, and is loving her fruits and vegetables...or should I say most of her veggies (she's not such a big fan of peas)!

Thanksgiving

We headed down to Virginia again to spend Thanksgiving with Alex's aunt and uncle. It was a full house this year, with Alex's cousin, her husband, and their two kids, and another cousin. It was great because Nicole was totally entertained by the two kids, and it motivated her to start scooching around - she has a pretty good little army crawl going!

We went out to Great Falls after dinner and enjoyed the scenery there, and then the next day we were able to go into DC and see some sites. I love being close to so many exciting and fun things to see!

Great Falls, VA

National Museum of the American Indian