Back in the Saddle

First of all, let me point out that my girl had has hair. That is one adorable palm tree on top of her head! Also, we were out of town for the better part of 6 weeks, then we all immediately got sick upon our return home. More on that later. I'll do my best to catch up, or at least give the reader's digest version of what we've been up to. In the meantime, enjoys these pictures from the county fair! She lobed the chicken hatching tent and the pig races. But who doesn't love to watch's pigs run for an Oreo??

New Trick

Little Miss is making strides. She is on the go go go all. the. time. She's decided that she either doesn't like the feel of the laminate floor on her knees, or it is too slippery for her locomotive needs. She has come up with this solution. Don't mind my voice, I've been sick!

When it Rains

The original storm was a week and a half ago, when these pictures were taken, but there is still water hanging around everywhere. Storm after storm rolled in for over 24 hours. We got more than six inches of rain in those 24 hours. I walked around that next afternoon and took these pictures within a few block radius of our home. 

This is about 2 whole blocks submerged. At the end of the block, those are indeed two cars submerged up to their handles. This was a lot of water, people. A lot of water. In fact there is (and was) so much water that there is still a flood warning posted on the weather sites for Illinois. Check out the Daily Herald article that talks about all kinds of damage.

To be honest, it was kind of scary. flooding has never been something I've had to worry about natural disaster-wise. Earthquakes, yes. Fires, yes. Tornados, yes. Flooding, not so much.

Our basement was fine until the power went out for 2 1/2 hours and the sump pump quit working. We got a little more than a 1/2 inch of water in the basement. Fortunately the floor is just painted concrete, and all we lost was a few boxes. But it was eye-opening. I think I learned a bit about preparation, and even a bit about how I might feel if I lost some possessions. We definitely have a long way to go as far as personal preparations go. Perhaps I'll write about that some other time though.

Nine Months- ish...

As promised in her official 9 month post, here are some pictures. They aren't in the same outfit as the others, but they were taken at the right time. We've had a rough month, health wise. She's had two bouts of pink, a cold, and I've been battling the worst cold of my life. I went so far as to go to the doctor and get a strep test-- it was negative. 

9 months

Since we accidentally skipped the 8 months post, I'm not going to delay on this one. I haven't taken pictures yet because the Little Lady got pink-eye, then had an allergic reaction to her antibiotics. She's always beautiful to me, but I'll wait another couple days to take and post pictures. She'll thank me someday.

She talks. She has her own words, and she conveys meaning. "mumm-mumm-mumm" means feed me now or I'll eat your face. That is a literal translation. "Muh-muh-muh" loosely means she wants more of whatever I just took away from her. She says mama and dada in context about 50% of the time, which I figure is statistically significant. She probably means them. She shrieks when she wants Luna to come in the room or come closer. That rarely works.

She rolls all over the place, she can now do a scooty little crawl and can get just about wherever she wants. She hasn't tried the stairs yet, but my days are numbered. On three separate occasions she has been on her back or tummy, then when I turn around she is sitting back upright. So she can get up on her own now, but I'm not sure how she does it.

She's still tall and skinny; around 17 lbs. She eats lots of things, but her favorite combo right now is a mix of sweet potato and cauliflower puree. It smells like feet. She loves it. She also loves to pick up and eat steamed broccoli on her own. I wouldn't think these things are strange, but she hates bananas, she turns her nose up at apples, and she has recently refused pears and peaches. She is on the road to not eating fruit like her Dad. I'm doing my best to derail that one. I'm trying to be creative in what I feed her, but as a first timer I'm afraid I'm lacking.

She's still a happy little camper, and I love this little girl.

Vegas Baby!

We did it! We scoured travel websites for weeks looking for the cheapest hotel we could get, we stalked Southwest to find cheap flights, and we crammed 4 adults and 2 babies in car seats into a Honda Pilot to drive from Salt Lake City to Las Vegas. It took a lot of effort, but we made it. 

Our first family vacation with our very good friends, Daniel and Jess, and their hunky little man! We for sure won't plan a road trip like that again- next time we'll just rent a minivan or a suburban. The two tall men got to drive and ride shotgun while Jess and I traded sitting in the middle between the two babies, and sitting in the back with the luggage and strollers. But we made it, and it was fun!

We were all trying to make this trip happen on a budget, so we stayed in the Freemont on the Old Strip. We figured since we weren't spending any money drinking or gambling, we could get away with being pretty cheap. It worked, but in terms of accommodations it is true what they say- you get what you pay for. It wasn't as bad as the Motel 8 -or whatever it was in Des Moines, Iowa that we had to stay in- but it sure wasn't Caesar's Palace either. 

We spent a lot of time walking that first day. We started out at the Fashion Show Mall and meandered over to M&M world (yesssss...) On walkjogrun.net it was well over 5 miles that we pounded the pavement. The babes were fantastic. Little Miss had a great time looking at everything. She was happy in her stroller, happy to be carried- she was just happy. She even napped when she was supposed to. It was fantastic. Jess's Little Man was great too. He is still little enough that he can sleep whenever he wants to. I must say though that she and I are the most impressive ones by far. We are veteran nursing Mamas now. We fed those babies in the atrium of the shops at Caesar's Palace, in restaurants, and on a bench outside M&M world. We got a kick out of it, because while we were inside no even looked our way, but outside (we were sitting near a sidewalk) people were staring at us even though we both used nursing covers. The irony was not lost on us. 

The boys in front of a fountain of Apollo 

Little Miss's first movie! It was a 10 min movie at M&M world. Don't worry the 3D glasses are sanitized

We stayed for 3 nights, and decided that the second and third nights we would trade babysitting and each couple would go see a show. I wish I had a picture to commemorate it, but it was our first date with just me and Alex since Little Miss was born! We saw Cirque du Soleil's Mystere, and it was a-maze-ing. I spent the majority of the show with my mouth hanging open. It was the cheapest Cirque show, but man it was fabulous. What a fun way to start dating my husband again!

Day two was more walking, but not as far, and at a much slower pace. 

Outside the Venetian

The buffet at The Paris

A major part of our trip centered around the ability to purchase a pass that would let us into buffets all over the strip for 24 hours. We planned it so we had a later dinner one evening when we purchased the pass, then we were able to eat breakfast, lunch and an early dinner the next day, all for one price. The mistake that we made was going for the closest buffet the afternoon of the second day. While it was fun to take pictures of the flamingos at The Flamingo, it was a costly mistake for me. It was a good thing we went out for our date the night before because I got si-i-i-ick. Fortunately it didn't affect Daniel and Jess's  date night. 

The Fateful Flamingo

By the next morning I was feeling well enough to curl up in the back of the car and go home back to SLC, and we left without much of a delay. 

We had a great time -food poisoning notwithstanding- and loved being with friends and family. 

Goodies

I've been on a peanut butter dessert kick lately, so tonight we're making these peanut butter graham cracker balls:

image

and I am impatiently waiting for the peanut butter mixture to freeze. They have to be better (for you) than the version with 3 cups of powdered sugar... right??