A Valentine’s Day to Remember

For as long as we’ve been married Matt has had one rule for Valentine’s – avoid restaurants. They always have long waits. Well this year, since Matt had the evening off and he’s ben doing well at work we decided to try out one of the local restaurants. So we headed out, little girls in tow, ready for a nice dinner together. As we drove up to the restaurant there weren’t many cars and their OPEN sign wasn’t on but decided to check it out anyway. We walked in and saw the scantily clad hostess and noticed the glassware on the tables. This should have been our first clue that we were not in a kid friendly place. We asked if they had any room for us, and after talking with the manager, they said they could fit us in without a reservation. So the hostess took us to the back of the restaurant, gave us our menus, and we realized once again we were in over our heads. They had a special menu just for Valentines – 4 course meals, including desserts, for way more money than we were planning on spending that night (or month) on eating out. By that time they had been so nice to squeeze us in that we felt bad if we just left. So we decided to make the most of it and had LOTS of eyes on us as we had our (almost)2 year old eating her goldfish crackers and chocolate milk on a fancy plate. She didn’t care for the expensive plate of pasta we bought for her. And our (almost) 2 month old decided she needed to be fed right after our second course. Luckily there were some chairs off to the side of the room where I could nurse her away from everyone trying to eat their nice meals. Our meals included antipasto (a platter with a variety of meats, ricotta cheese, and a chili relish. one of the meats tasted exactly like bologna. We thought that was kind of funny), cheesy garlic ciabatta bread, and hand tossed Caesar salad with crispy fried noodle things. I got the chicken piccata with whipped potatoes and Matt got the steak and baked potato. For dessert I had the mixed berry cheesecake and Matt got the crème brulee. Everything was delicious and wonderfully presented. We looked at each other several times thinking “what are we doing here? We should be across the street at the burger place! Not in this fancy restaurant.” But the girls did remarkably well and we were able to have a decent dinner without too many crumbs on the floor or spilled water on the table. We were quite proud of ourselves. We were so full from all the food that we decided to go walk it off at the mall and Lily loved playing in the play area while we laughed about how funny that must have looked to see our family of four among all the love birds having their fine dining experience! This will definitely be a Valentine’s we won’t soon forget.

Y M C A

For Christmas we got a family membership to the YMCA. They have a really fun kids pool with a pirate ship (along with other pools, including a warm-water pool which we spend the most time in), an hourly day-care for Lily, lots of workout equipment, and a small branch of the library. And it’s within walking distance of our apartment. We each take turns working out or swimming with Lily while the other takes care of Emma (she has to be 6 months before she can go to the day care).

She could spend all day in this pool. We, on the other hand, get cold quickly.

Pure Joy!!

So we usually go back to the warm-water pool.

My sweet girl.

Sugar and Spice…

…and everything nice. That’s what these girls are made of (most of the time).

Lily found the swim diapers in her closet and has been obsessed with going swimming, even if that means wearing the diaper over all her clothes :) And she likes to play with the forehead thermometer (in case you were wondering what she’s holding).

Whenever I lay Emma down on the floor, Lily immediately grabs a book and sits down next to her. It’s so fun to see Lily want to spend time with her little sister.

Mini Vacation

Matt had a CE course in Denver for two days at the beginning of February so we decided to make a little mini vacation out of it. We made the drive to Denver right at the same time as a storm was coming through so it took us almost an hour longer to get to our hotel. Matt had his class the next morning so the girls and I were pretty much snowed in.

Here’s where we spent a lot of our time. We had a king size bed and two pack-n-plays. Having all of us sleeping and napping in the same room was quite an experience. The first night Lily cried and cried till  after midnight. Luckily Matt’s class was delayed because of the snow so he didn’t have to get up too early.

The next two nights this little one decided she needed to be the one to cry till midnight. Matt was totally ready to trade her in. I feel bad for whoever was staying in the rooms next to us.

The girls and I passed the time by taking walks down the hotel halls, looking out the windows at all the snow, and visiting Daddy on his breaks (his class was being held at the hotel – so convenient)

The snow let up and we were able to drive the short, but very slushy, distance to the outlet mall to walk around and spend too much money :) Friday night Matt took Lily swimming in the hotel pool and Saturday night Dan, Jessica, and their munchkins came to have dinner with us and go swimming.

Sunday we went to our old ward in Denver. It was so great to see everyone and catch up. Definitely a great group of people.

one month

(I’m so late at getting this posted, even though I wrote it when she was barely a month old)

Our sweet little Emma is a month old now. It has definitely been an adjustment for all of us having this peanut in the family.  But we sure do love her and can’t imagine our lives without her.

Emma, at one month:

• you eat every 2-3 hours around the clock. We’ve almost made it to 4 hours at night.  Mommy will be very happy when we get to sleep for longer stretches.
• you are a noisy baby. We’ve never heard a baby grunt and grumble as much as you do. Hopefully this is just a phase and not a tummy issue.
• your big sister is learning to be patient while Mom feeds you throughout the day.
• newborn diapers are still big on you
• you wore preemie clothes for your first week and you’re still wearing newborn size
• you LOVE to be held. all. day. long.

one month stats:

Weight: 7lbs 2oz

Length: 20in

Head: 14 1/4 in

These stats are unofficial since her next check-up isn’t until 2 months. I went to the lactation center to get a weight check. The other measurements were done at home.

• you tolerate bath time as long as you have a warm washcloth covering you and it’s over as quickly as possible. Lily likes to help with bath time and I try to save you from getting too much water in your face.

• Big sister is warming up to you more and more each day. And it warms my heart.

• you don’t like binkies so Lily took it upon herself to show you how it’s done

We are so blessed to have you in our family, little one.

We love Grandma Nina

Matt’s mom came and stayed with us after my parents left. It was so wonderful having her come help us out while I was still recovering and Matt was working more. Unfortunately she was sick for the first half of her trip so we made the most of it by staying inside and getting her hooked on HGTV. We love watching home renovation shows!

She was so nice to bring Lily a new train toy and lots of cute clothes for Emma.

Lily can’t seem to get enough time with her play dough.

Playin in a box…with a bear…

We drove to Denver to see Dan and Jessica (and the kids). We got to see their new house! So excited for them! We ate at IKEA, did a little daydreaming thinking about our future projects that may include things from IKEA. We love that place!

To say Lily likes her cousin Tessa would be a huge understatement. She ADORES her and always wants to be doing whatever Tessa is doing.

Then we ate more at Park Meadows shopping center and went in the American Girl Store. Every little girl’s dream store! They had a really cute little salon where you could watch your doll’s hair getting done. adorable.

Once Nina was feeling better we took her to the children’s museum where they had put up the new theme : Recycled Fairytales. My pictures are on my point-n-shoot camera and I can’t find the cord. Maybe someday they’ll make it on the blog.

One of the cute outfits from Grandma Nina

Grandma and the girls

you want me to hold her hand? whatever…

I’m still not sure about her…

Thank you Nina for making the trip to come and see us. We LOVED having you here!