do it..

DO IT!

Logan's triathlon

Ummm... we (as in, anyone who is interested in training for something! Amy, Marlies, Becky, Tamme, Krista, Shay, Melissa, etc) have a new goal. July we are going to do Logan's Triathlon! I'm totally serious! Get your training pants on ladies, cause I mean it! 500m swim, 12 mile bike, then a 5K! I'm even posting this on both blogs (mine and gettin' skinny) so that we'll see it twice and remember how we're supposed to be training! TRAIN! It shouldn't even be that hard! DO it! do it DO IT!

DO IT!

test results...

Claire is fine! No acid reflux, no blockages, no liver problems, no nothin'! $356 for nOtHinG! So, we'll just have to put up with the BaRfiNg. Oh goody! No, really I'm glad nothing is wrong, but I am sick of the mess! So is Nick! Poor girl.

Mothers, I'm sure she's fine, but if you have any ideas, Let me know!

I've tried:

-Taking her off EVERYTHING but breast milk and then slowing re-introducing foods, watching closely for food allergy's (multiple times)
-Not eating dairy myself (or a variety of other things that were thought to get through to her through my milk)
-Feeding her less (this was the worst, she was always hungry, still barfing and then she would wake up at night hungry).
-expensive and useless medical testing

help!

tid bits...

So, we have been calling Claire "C" or "CB" (for Claire-bear) for a while now. It derived from us IMing whilst Nick was at work. Instead of him asking how Claire was, he would ask about "CB". It stuck. Nick has also called her "monster" since the second week she was born. You know, when the crying really kicks in. Anyway...Monster is now like an endearing term. One day, we combined the two and came up with Cmonster. You know, like SeaMonster, but BETTER! Too many nicknames! She answers really well to Claire and "C".

Here are a few random tid bits about Cmonster...

She pulls herself up all the time! this one is just on her knees.

This one is a full body pull up.

This is where claire serves time outs ( but we take out the toys). Some days it's used a lot more than others. She learns pretty quickly most of the time. She doesn't throw her food on the floor (except by accident) anymore, she doesn't arch her back when it's time to eat anymore, she still LOVES to pull things out of the entertainment center. This is where she has the most time outs from. and even a "stern" talking too if she gets into the electrical cords (which I've tried so hard to make unreachable! Any hints, Moms...let me know).

She has been doing two of the cutest things that I keep trying to get pics of. Hopefully I'll still get them. One is that she ALWAYS sits as if she was doing a Hurkie---one leg in front, the other behind her, but still on her knee (the back leg only).

The other is that she puts her butt in the air.

You always will get fun times with Daddy, because he gets her to laugh the best. She smiles really big for me, but nothing like Daddy. Nick will come home and spot C playing and he'll get down on all fours and chase her screaming around the apartment! She loves it. I've tried it a few times and she just stares at me with a big smile as if she were saying, "really mom. You're great, but don't try to be like Daddy. You're for teaching. Dad is for PLAYING!" No fair, no fair!

crawling video...

I've been wanting to give you a video, because I can't get over how cute she looks when she puts her little hands down. It's almost like she's prancing---but I didn't think you could do that while crawling...anyway, she's so adorable...and I'm not bias AT ALL! (moo-ah-ha-ha!) I have an even better video of this where she's all laughing and giggly, but I'm unwilling to post it due to a bra being a very prominent feature during the video (oops!).

You'll have to forgive the "momma voice" as my friend Lauren calls it. So true how you turn on this voice to get your baby to pay attention to you.

I'm trying to get her to do her new sign for Gramma Krista. It's pretty cute. The other day, Mimi (gramma rosi) waved at her and Claire thought it was Mimi saying "all done". She she waved back, thinking that she could be done eating. Sneaky, sneaky!

PS...I know I'm going to receive flack about her wearing PINK! Free clothes, people! FREE CLOTHES! Plus, I promise to let her wear pink if she CHOOSES to wear it.

Happy bday, Mimi!

This is my Momma's birthday! Hu-ray! My mother is more beautiful, more perfect and more wonderful than ever (of course. It's not like you're born with it, you have to DEVELOP it!). I sure love her. Even though this pic is of Marlies and Rosi, I remember learning the piano with my mother by my side. She would play the right hand until I was good at the left hand and then we would switch. She is the only reason I love music the way I do. I have spent YEARS learning how to be the musician she is with the dedication she has to it. The past few years of me teaching it has really taught me more than what I ever learned in a classroom. However, i learned more from her by watching her teach me and others than I learned from teaching myself. She is amazing and I am so grateful to have had her as a best friend and teacher throughout my musical world. My dad gave my mom a priesthood blessing when I was a baby that told my mother to take me with her in all of her musical ways. I cannot explain the amount of amazing experiences I have had because of this. I'm so glad my mom listened to the words of that blessing from the Lord, through my dad.

In a lot of ways, I really did more with us three in my household than with any of my other siblings (until we had all moved out). Ben and I were the only ones left at home when we made our journey to Oregon for a few short years. One of the few times I had bangs. You can also see how B-E-A-UTIFUL my mother is in this silly pic. She's using her REAL smile here, too.

Bill and Rosi have eight grandchildren now! I can't believe that happened so quickly. The oldest is seven. So, there were eight born in seven years (which probably doesn't seem like a lot to you, but boy! it does to me!)

Mom and Dad have been married for 42 years on Aug 25, 2009! They have survived (ha ha ha)
six children who are all so vastly different but who still depend on them for their love and advice on a regular basis.

My brother Tim, wrote home one Christmas (while he was serving an LDS mission) something that has stuck with me for YEARS! It describes my mothers' nature to a 'T'. If you've heard it before, its because I love the idea and hope to be this kind of person, too.

With six kids to feed, we would often run out of things (not because we weren't well fed, but because we went through a lot of food). My mother would be making the sandwiches for the family, or toast, or french toast, or whatever and we would run out of bread, except for the heels of the bread that no kid actually WANTS to eat. What kid chooses to eat his crust!? Especially a piece that is ALL crust?! My mother would quietly make those pieces hers and claim they were her favorite pieces. She still claims this. And I don't doubt her. But Tim mentioned that she liked those pieces because she would rather give the best parts to her family. And she did. There was never a treat in her purse that I did not find and ask if I could have. She would always give it to me, without thinking of herself. I'm not saying that she always gave up her food (which she did), but that she always gave me as much as she could, without thinking of herself first. I admire that so much and hope i can be that way too.

My momma never pushed me to be anything or anyone other than myself. I am loud and overbearing because of her. But I am also, trustworthy, loyal, honest and kind (even though I was never a scout) because of her too.

I love you, Momma.

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Jesus was born today, Claire. We are grateful for Him. He gave us so many things and continues to bless us with His service. We love Him and His Father so much. He loves us, too and don't you forget it!

9 month check-up...

Claire has been so wonderful. She now has those two teeth in fully, but she doesn't like to use them yet. She's gone back to eating, or rather drinking me dry (which increases the milk supply, which makes me fuller faster, which DRIVES ME CRAZY!). She doesn't like to eat anything solid right now. I think she became ubber sensitive when she was teething and didn't want to eat much and it's just carried over.

We went to the doctor today for her nine month check up.
Stats:
height: 27 inches 25% (WOW! She used to be 75-90%!)
weight: 17 lbs 25%
head: however many cm that puts her in the 25% (i never remember this one right)

She's also been

barfing

so much through out her life that last check up (6 months) when we mentioned it, the dr said to cut out everything but milk and slowly build her back up to see if it's an allergy or something like that. I did and she still

bArFs

every day about 7-8X. Not like a little spit up here and there, but like the entire contents of her stomach! 7-8 X a day! Needless to say, I should own a carpet cleaner! I do call HER a vacuum cleaner because she eats EVERYTHING she finds on the floor (ironic because she won't eat her Cheerios right now, or anything else I try to feed her the Proper way). I always used to vacuum two to three times a week, but now it's more of an every day occurrence. Anyway, I'm way off topic...

dr wants me to take her in to get an Upper GI (upper gastric-intestinal) test to make sure she doesn't have any blockages. She goes in this thursday. Daddy has to do it because I'm going to be teaching voice lessons. Poor guy (and her, too). She has to not eat before she goes, so she is going to be FU-SSY! Good luck, you two.

Basically an Upper GI consists of her swallowing a pill that has a camera in it that will take pics of her system and then she'll pOOp it out!

General Conference was amazing. I was able to listen to Saturday's sessions better than Sundays, but I really did enjoy them. Especially all of the talk about the preparation because of the times. and if you're not prepared, it's never too late. Really great stuff.