Our house is a mess...

...but instead of returning it to a nice and orderly state, we went on an uncharacteristically spontaneous outing this afternoon into DC (doing anything even remotely spontaneous is very difficult these days) and had a wonderful time together walking around the monuments (pictures to come).  And I thought I'd procrastinate cleaning just a tad longer by uploading a couple of videos we shot of Leah today:

When we turned on the mixer to make cookies, Leah put both her hands up on the dishwasher and started shaking her little self to the beat of the mixer.


Leah's latest manner of conversation (it's been hard to catch a full-on conversation on video, but she started in on it while in the bathtub, so we grabbed the camera before she stopped).

Good-byes

We live in a fairly transient ward (nothing like a singles ward, but for a family ward, the turnover is pretty big), and because of it, we feel like we're frequently saying good-bye to friends moving on.  This, however, was the first time I thought to get a picture before they moved away!  

We really enjoyed Michelle and Ken's friendship (Dave actually already knew Michelle from singles ward days) and will miss having them nearby.  Michelle was Leah's first babysitter (outside of family) and Leah loved her...we'll miss her and her family! 

(I just liked this picture of Leah)

P.S. Michelle also took pictures of our family a couple times...we loved them both times! (though this last time, Leah was pretty contrary and would hardly cooperate - I was surprised Michelle managed to get any pleasant pictures of her at all)

Ward Halloween Party

These are all going to be in reverse order (just FYI).

  This weekend was our Ward Halloween Party (we had to do it early because of other scheduling conflicts with using the building and Stake Conference).  We wanted to dress up in a family theme, but nothing was working out (unless we wanted to fork over more money than we were willing to), so we paired up.  Dallin was a lion and Dave was a lion tamer, Leah was a bee and I was a flower (a pretty lame one too...I made the headpiece myself and in quite the hurry...it served its purpose).

There were quite a few cute little babies dressed up (different babies arrived for the picture at varying times, so we had to take a few pictures...neither Dallin nor Leah posed very well in any of them).

Leah wasn't feeling very well that night (she had a slight fever) and sat on my lap most of the night (VERY un-Leah-like), but she really perked up when she found this broom...she immediately got to work sweeping the floor!

Lion tamer and little lion

(Dave's not taming this lion very well...Dallin's struggled going to sleep the last few nights...though I confess that once he's fallen asleep he's given me 9-10 straight hours without waking up, which I really appreciate!  I just wish he wouldn't wear me out so much just before that sleep)

Here's my girl!  You can tell she's not feeling great...

I just had to add him in...isn't that the cutest little Frankenstein?!?!

A few pictures before we left for the party:

(she has a hat for the costume, but she wouldn't keep it on...and it's designed poorly so it wouldn't stay on anyway even if she left it alone)

Miss Independent

Used to be that Leah would, for the most part, explore the area of the house where I was.  She might go into the other room, but she'd always be back within a few seconds.  Now all bets are off.  A couple weeks ago, I had just finished changing her and she took off out the door, which was normal.  She usually goes into my room and starts playing with whatever she can find in there, so I stayed and worked on cleaning up her room a bit.  Suddenly I heard the little gate we have at he entrance to the living room downstairs swing open and closed.  Surprised, I made a dash for the stairs, and saw that within a few seconds, Leah had gone downstairs, into the living room and was fawning over and kissing her little brother in the swing (she does her own (baby) version of baby talk with him that is a crack-up to see). 

Home isn't the only place she does this - at church she'll take off down the aisle, out the door and down the hall without even bothering to look back and see if we're coming.  I love that she is able to explore her world so much more now - but I do hope she learns a little bit of caution in the coming months/years!

3 months

Last week, Dallin turned 3 months old.  He continues to be such a cuddly little boy.  The best word to describe him is sweet.  He's becoming more and more interactive and it is so completely rewarding to look at him and have him give you the biggest wide-mouth grin.  

He's a big boy and continues to grow super fast...I weighed him on our at-home scale this morning and he came in at 17.5 pounds!  Because our scale isn't the most accurate, I'd give or take about a half a pound, but still!  At this rate he'll catch up to Leah!

Leah continues to love her brother as well - especially now that she sees him interacting more with her and giving her those huge adorable grins.  She kisses and hugs him all the time and talks to him in her cute little baby voice.  He's the first person she looks for in the morning - she dashes out of her room and goes straight to his bassinet (now crib, since we moved him - see below).  We're trying to teach her about being quiet when he's sleeping - she's KIND OF starting to catch on.  Sort of.

 Three nights ago we decided to take the plunge and put him in his own room.  I'd been hesitant before because he's gone through phases where he's cried quite a bit at night before going to bed and it's woken Leah up.  I didn't want to make it worse by having him right next door to her, but he hadn't cried the last couple weeks, so I wanted to try it.  Also, on top of the crying, his night sleeping had seemed to be a lot worse the last couple weeks - he'd been waking up every 2 1/2 to 3 hours to eat again - like a newborn! But again, I wanted him in the other room (all his night noises wake me up a lot).  Anyway, the first night we put him down to bed at 8:30...imagine my surprise when I woke up at 5 am and still hadn't heard from him!  Dave went in to make sure he was still breathing (which he was).  He didn't end up eating until 6 and then went back to sleep for 3 more hours.  The next night he only got up once to eat at 4 am and last night he went clear until 7 am before eating (and then slept for two more hours).  I don't know if he just happened to sleep more solidly at the same time we moved him, or if he's still waking up but falling back asleep instead of me getting him out of bed and feeding him, or what.  Or maybe it's all just a temporary fluke (I'm learning to not count on much with babies).  Whatever the case...I sure am grateful for nights of pretty great sleep.  So thank you, Dallin.

CA Wedding

I was SO grateful to be able to work out going to CA for my niece, Claire's wedding.  It took quite a bit of organization ( Dave couldn't take off work and I knew I couldn't take both kiddos across the country by myself) but we were able to work it out that Leah would have a babysitter all day Friday and then she'd be with Dave Saturday and Sunday...and I was home by Sunday night.  

Anyway, it was a long way to go for a short weekend, but it was SO worth it to be with my family - and, of course, to be there for my niece's wedding!

With four of my oldest nieces: Claire (whose wedding we were gathered for), Shea, Sara and Erin.  I grew up playing with these girls and I love them so much!

Outside the temple:

My brother, Christopher, and his daughter Rebekah - she's the closest cousin in age to Leah and Dallin (though Leah has a cousin once removed that is just 3 months older than her - and she'll be just like a regular cousin to her)

Speaking of, here's the aforementioned cousin-once-removed, Emma! (with her mom, Erin)

So cute! Leah loved being with Emma when we were traveling in Israel together - seeing Emma again made me wish Leah could have come to CA too

Two nephews: Mitchel and Spencer

My nephew, Benson, kept asking my sister to take his picture...and then he'd look at her with such a sullen face while she took it.

Dallin with his Aunt Claudia

Clay and Kristi

Mom and Dad with three beautiful nieces: Erin, Melissa and Madelynne (all sisters)

Clay and his youngest son, Ethan

The happy couple with the family of the bride

And now with the family of the groom...

Riding in style (Dave asked that I be sure to get a picture of Dallin in this car)

So happy!  (btw Dallin was a champion traveler...really, he was amazing)

The pre-reception reception (what do you call that part again? cocktails?)

With the bride and groom (Dallin looks a little extra chubby here)

My favorite part of the decorations - these chandeliers were amazing with all those flowers on them!

I was grateful for help from my nieces and others at my table during dinner...Dallin didn't want to stay sitting down for very long periods of time

The wedding dinner (deeeeelicious!)

It was a beautiful wedding and reception...one of the cutest parts was when the bride and groom was announced to enter the reception dinner...they played the wedding music theme song from Father of the Bride, and their entrance somehow reminded me of a Disney prince and princess entering the room.

I loved all the time I got to spend with my family while I was at home.  It was SO hard to say good-bye to everyone (I may have broken down crying during the reception because I didn't want to have to say good-bye so soon - I miss my family so much).

Spending time together at home

Dallin getting a few more zzz's in before we had to catch our ride to the airport.  My dad said that bed never looked so good :)