March Memories

Well, I did a really good job of filling you guys in on what happened this month. We had lots of fun with holidays like Pi Day, St. Patrick's Day and our Anniversary. But I did want to take a moment to share a few more pictures with you and update you on some things that Alexander has learned this month. Alexander had a lot of firsts this month! He tried lots of new foods like carrots, banana, applesauce and green beans. Applesauce is by far his favorite. He often grabs the spoon and tries to feed himself when we give him applesauce. Another first was that he went to the ER. We already gave you the details of all that, but it turned out that he ended up getting a virus similar to RSV. He got human metapneumovirus (hMPV). It wasn't any fun at all, but he is much better now! Below is one of my favorite things that Alexander has learned! He has discovered his bottom lip. He will do this cute thing where he plays with his lip with his tongue. Here is a picture of it, though it is much funnier in person, so there is a video below too!

Alexander has also become a ton more mobile this month. He can get up on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth. He also rolls all over the floor and can get from a sitting position to his tummy. You can tell the little guy just wants to get going. He tries to get into everything. We have already started baby proofing the house because he rolls under couches and such. The picture below is one of his toys stuck under the lower bar of a table. I took this picture because I thought it was cute that all you could see was the "oh!" Well, a few weeks later, Alexander was getting caught under this same table, so it has retired to the garage.

Alexander really is at a fun stage right now! He is super into all his toys. This month I taught him how to roll the ball. It is so cute and one of his favorite things to do. He gets so excited! The picture below is of him and his ball that we got him for Christmas. 

Another fun thing that happened this month was that Spring arrived! It is now warm enough, on most days for me to put Alexander in shorts and cute summer outfits. Below are some fun pictures I took of him when Spring first arrived.

Well, that is about all the other exciting news we had for this month! Hope you enjoyed it! Hope you tune in during April :)

Two years down, eternity to go!

Yesterday was me and Scott's two year anniversary! It is amazing to think that two years has passed already! It seems to have flown by. I am grateful to report that I am still crazy about my hubby. He truly is amazing and spoils me every day. We seem to laugh every day and never seem to get enough of each other. He really is my price charming and I feel so grateful that I found him! If you can't tell, we still feel like newlyweds even after two years of marriage! It is great!

Since our anniversary was on Tuesday, Scott took Monday and Tuesday off so we could have lots of fun celebrating! It was so great having a four day weekend together. I loved it! And I guess it was a huge long celebration beyond that because we set up babysitters for 3 different days! On Thursday Scott and I went to the temple and did sealings with our ward. It was great because I had tons of family names and we were able to seal 30 people to spouses or parents. Way cool! On Friday we went to see the Lorax and had a sitter then too. Scott and I went to Jordan Commons, which is this close, yet posh movie theater place that has a whole food court built in. So we ate hamburgers and fries in the theater on these cool trays that fit in the cup holders of the seats. We both enjoyed the Lorax, but it wasn't quite as good as the old cartoon I remember watching as a kid! On Saturday, I had to use most of the day to prepare for my lesson in Young Women's on Sunday. Sunday was filled with our church callings. I was busy teaching the Young Women (by the way I just recently got called to serve as 2nd Counselor in the Young Women's Presidency) and Scott was busy fulfilling his new calling as Ward Financial Clerk. Alexander and I went to choir practice and Alexander helped sing too! On Monday, we just enjoyed a relaxing day at home, excluding a few fun outings for food (we went to IHOP for breakfast and I enjoyed a Lorax breakfast, and then we went to Sonic for shakes later on).

On Tuesday, the day of our anniversary, we filled the day full of fun activities. We all went to the Aquarium again (if you can't tell we are getting our money worth by using our year long passes lots)! We had fun there and then went down to Orem so Scott's parents could watch Alexander. Then Scott and I went to the Pizza Factory for dinner. We thought it would be fun to go there in memory of our honeymoon. We spent a few days in Provo before heading out to Hawaii and that was one of the places we had dinner. It was super fun. I even wore a cute summer Hawaiian outfit I had purchased from Hawaii. It was great reflecting on how much we love each other and what first attracted us to one another. I do have to say Scott's awesome dancing skills and ability to make me laugh are high on my list! We also exchanged anniversary gifts. Scott got me some pretty heart shaped earrings to go with all my other heart shaped jewelry and a crock pot recipe book. I got him some magic cards and a cozy blanket for cuddling on the couch. Although our anniversary was simple, it was perfect. It was great to have Scott take off so much time so we could just enjoy each other's company.

I truly am so happy to have him as my husband and to have our sweet little boy, Alexander. Speaking of Alexander, I would like to add something that I have learned since we had Alexander. As we were getting married, everyone encouraged us to wait for awhile to have kids. As Alexander came along some friends and family seemed disappointed that we hadn't even been married a year before getting pregnant. But now, all I can say is that I wouldn't have it any other way. Alexander has really helped our love to grow and has drawn Scott and I even closer. I am so grateful for our little boy and for my sweet husband! I truly am so blessed!

Well, that is all for now. I am looking forward to the many years of happiness with my sweetheart and prince, Scott. Tune in next time for more fun memories!

St. Paddy's Day Fun

This year's St. Patrick's Day was seriously the best one yet! It fell on a Saturday, which gave us lots of time to make a whole day out of it. Scott is really into dying his hair fun colors and wanted to dye his hair green. This inspired me to get cute green hair extensions and a few other fun things to make us look festive. Unfortunately, Scott couldn't find any green hair dye, so he settled with green face paint. The morning of St. Patrick's Day, we had tons of fun getting all decked out in green. I even painted my toes green! This was a HUGE accomplishment because it has been months since I have had the time to paint my toes. Anyway, here are some pictures of us in our St. Paddy's Day best:

After getting all decked out in green, we promptly prepared a green breakfast. For all those environmentalist out there, I don't mean a breakfast that was good for the planet, just green in the sense of the color! We had an idea from our Dr. Seuss calendar to make green eggs and ham for breakfast. We decided to invite Russ, Diane and Alliyah to join us. They couldn't join us until lunch time, so it turned into a brunch! We got more creative and made green eggs, green hash browns, mixed fruit with some green apples and green melon, and bacon. I guess we could have turned the bacon green, but Scott was a bit too nervous too try that out. Anyway, it was a lot of fun! Below are some pictures and descriptions of how we made the breakfast:

For our green eggs, we simply whisked eggs up with some

green food coloring, cheese, salt and pepper. Then we 

cooked them up! It was delish!

I just threw a whole bunch of fresh fruit in a bowl. We had 

pineapple, banana, honeydew and green apples!

For the green hash browns, we shredded the potatoes, 

rinsed them off in water and drained them, added some 

salt, garlic, pepper, parmesan cheese and food coloring,

and then fried them! It was the first time we made homemade 

hash browns and they were super yummy!

Bacon...pretty self explanatory...just grease and yumminess!

My plate of yummy food. Next time, I think we will actually

do ham. We were just trying to save money and already had

the bacon. Oh, and next time I will have to come up with a 

yummy green juice too!

After brunch, Scott sister, Amy, joined us and we all headed out to the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy. The aquarium was much busier than we expected, but we still had tons of fun. Below are some pictures of our fun at the aquarium:

                             

After the fun at the aquarium, we were exhausted and promptly headed home for a nice long nap. It was great! Our St. Patrick's Day was super fun and we have decided that this is the start of a tradition! From this moment on, we plan to have a yummy green themed meal every St. Patrick's Day! Well, that is all for now! Tune in next time, for lots more fun adventures!

Pi Day: A Family Tradition

Yesterday was March 14th or 3.14, mathematically that stands for Pi. Of course we had to go out and celebrate Pi Day by having a slice of pie! Scott, Alexander and I met up with Russ and Diane to enjoy a slice of pie. We also enjoyed a nice dinner too. We all met up a Village Inn and discovered that it was Free Pie Wednesday! So after dinner we all got to pick out free pieces of pie, which was quite convenient since it was Pi Day! One of the waitresses even went around wishing everyone a "Happy Pi Day!" It was too cute. This was Alexander's first time eating while we were at a restaurant. I had brought some homemade baby food for him to enjoy and he wore his very first restaurant bib! So he actually got to eat dinner with us! It was super fun!

Apparently, it has been a tradition for awhile in Scott's family to enjoy a piece of pie on Pi Day. It is a tradition that we have added to our family, and hope to continue throughout the years. Hopefully Village Inn will have free pies every Pi Day. Below are a few pictures from our fun on Pi Day :)

Well, that is all for now. I hope you enjoyed some pie on Pi Day, but if not, I hope you enjoy some pie soon! Tune in next time for more fun stuff :)

Date Night Disasters

Since I am all caught up on the normal, happy moments that have been our lives for the past, two years, I thought I would take a moment and share a few stressful moments that have occurred this year. First, I would like to give you a little background of life before Alexander. Before Alexander came along, Scott and I were very committed to having a date night at least once a week. We would go out and do something fun together just the two of us. They usually included dinner and some activity. Sometimes they were as simple as going to a movie, or playing tennis together, and sometimes they were more elaborate like eating at the revolving restaurant at the Space Needle. Well, since Alexander was born seven months ago, it has been a bit of a challenge to get those date nights in. Luckily we have been able to get away at least once a month for a temple date night, or just a fun night out.

Well, there have been two specific times that I can think of that we planned a date night, and they turned into absolute disasters! The first happened a few months ago. Scott and I really wanted to go to the temple with our ward. So we asked our neighbors to watch Alexander. Well, a few days prior to this, Scott had been having a little pain in his mouth. He thought that it was due to the fact that he hadn't worn a retainer in years, so the night before our date night, he put it in to see if that would help. He woke up in lots of pain. The day of our date night, he went to work and was complaining that his mouth hurt still. So I cancelled our date night, and picked him up from work, and twisted his arm to go to the dentist. We went to the dentist and they did some x-rays but didn't seem too concerned. That night, Scott was in so much pain that he couldn't sleep and started throwing up. Since the dentist didn't catch anything, we were scared and took him to the ER at 4 am. Well, they couldn't do much since it was a dental issue, so the next day, Scott took off work and we went back into the dentist. It turned out that he had an abscess on his tooth, so that his gums were filling with infection and causing tons of pain and pressure to his tooth. The dentist cleaned it out, and gave him some pain meds to tie him over until his next appointment (which was in a week) when they would finish the work.

That evening, Scott's pain increased and his high level meds weren't helping. I had gotten the dentist's cell phone number, so we called him up. The dentist agreed to look at it the next day, which was Saturday, even though the office is closed on Saturdays. So we went back to the dentist for the third day in a row. The dentist then realized that the infection was over two touching teeth instead of just one. It took an hour and a half to drain the infection on the other side. Because it was so intense, he left a small hole so the infection could slowly continue to drain. Anyway, when we went back in the following Monday, the infection was still draining! It was so bad that the dentist said he hadn't seen a case like Scott's in years! Scott ended up getting two root canals and started feeling much better after the visit Saturday morning. We had to go back to the dentist a couple more times for follow-ups, but he hasn't had a problem since.

The crazy thing is that Scott had his very first cavity in November and had x-rays then too. This only happened in January, so it was weird that it developed so fast! The dentist said that these kinds of things usually happen due to cavities or trauma to the area. The cavity he had was in a completely different area of his mouth and there was no trauma to the area. It literally came from nowhere! It was so scary and sad to see Scott in so much pain, and it was a good thing we cancelled our date night because there is no way he would have been able to enjoy the temple with the amount of pain he was in. That is what I call a date night disaster!

The second date night disaster, occurred last weekend. On Friday, we had planned to have a date night and it was going to be the first time we had one of the young women from our ward watch Alexander. We haven't been to a movie since I was pregnant, and thought it would be fun to go see the new Lorax movie, since it was one of my favorite Dr. Seuss stories growing up. Well, we were all set to go to the date night, when I realized only half an hour before Scott got off work, that Alexander had a temperature of 100.6. He had been dealing with slight cold symptoms for about a week, and they had gotten a little worse that day. I had called the doctor earlier to set up an appointment, but they were booked until Monday. When I saw his temperature, I called the office and they recommended going in to Urgent Care. So we cancelled our date night and promptly took him in. The doctor looked him over and said that though he looked sick, he was still overall happy and content, so we shouldn't worry too much. They took samples to test for RSV and the flu and both came back negative. So we took him home, thinking that he would be fine. Well, that night at 2 am, he woke up crying. I assumed he was just hungry and fed him. As I was feeding him, I noticed that he was really warm. So I changed his diaper and took his temperature and discovered it was 102.4! I totally freaked out and woke Scott up. Scott got up and held him while I got dressed to go to the hospital, and Alexander promptly threw up on Scott four times in a row! I have to admit I was so scared that I was crying. Our little boy had never had a temperature before and it was super scary!

Anyway, we headed to the hospital and they saw us right away. They ran some tests and took some x-rays. They determined that he has bronchiolitis, which is where a virus enters the bronchioles of the lungs and blocks the lungs from being able to take in adequate oxygen. We were at the hospital for four hours that night/morning while they monitored his temperature, heart rate and oxygen levels. His temperature took the whole four hours to start dropping and his heart rate was at about 200 for most of the time there. It was super scary! They also had to use this tool to clean out his nasal passages. It did not look like fun at all! They gave us a prescription to come back to the hospital as often as needed and visit the respiratory clinic so he could get cleaned out. Unfortunately, we had to keep coming back at least twice a day until Monday.

The good news is that Alexander's temperature never got above 100 after we left the hospital. The bad news is that he has struggled a lot with eating. He refuses food and when he does eat, he will only eat for about two minutes. It has all been so hard. Another scary thing that happened was on Sunday night. Sunday morning we took him in to get cleaned out and they said he was looking good and on the way up to normal health. Sunday night, we figured he looked really good and was improving, and we decided not to take him into the clinic. An hour after he fell asleep he was crying a ton and Scott had trouble cleaning out his nose. So we went back into the clinic and discovered that his oxygen level had dropped to 83! Normal levels are between 90 and 100. We were grateful we had brought him in, but that experience got me even more worried because we had thought he was fine only an hour earlier. Anyway, Monday morning we took him back in because he was refusing food and seemed stuffed up. They said he was much better and we haven't taken him to the hospital since.

We did do a follow up with our pediatrician on Monday and discovered that he also has an ear infection! She also gave me some tips on to how to help him eat better. So currently we are using a bottle when he struggles to eat. It is now Wednesday and things are really looking up. The last two nights he has woken up for food in the middle of the night, which I would normally be annoyed about, but am super grateful for! The nights before he would sleep up to eleven hours, wake up, and refuse food. Today, his nose is much better and he not only took milk normally, but he also ate bananas and rice cereal! Things really are looking up and I am so grateful that my little man is getting better. I have to say that it is the scariest thing in the world to see your child sick and in pain and not be able to do anything about it. That is what I call a date night disaster!

So far, both date night disasters occurred when we tried to ask someone new to babysit Alexander. Hopefully, despite our date night disasters, we can still find extra babysitters for our little man, so the hubby and I can enjoy some time for just the two of us. I am so grateful that Scott and Alexander are both healthy now and not in pain. It is so sad to see the ones you love hurting. Hopefully that is the last time we will visit the hospital for a LONG time!

Well, that is all for now! Tune in next time for something else new and uplifting :)

Kaylee, Alexander's First Girlfriend

As mentioned before, when I was six months pregnant we moved to Utah. As we entered our new ward, we met a couple, Kim and Kevin, who are about the same age as us. We found out that both Kim and I were due in August. It turned out that Alexander was born on August 11th, and their daughter, Kaylee was born on August 16th. They live in the complex right next to ours, and Kim and I have become really good friends. We usually get together once a week or so to go on walks or just hang out. It has been so much fun watching Alexander and Kaylee interact as they have gotten a little older. So I thought you might enjoy some photos of Alexander's first girlfriend, Kaylee. Here they are:

This one is my favorite because Kaylee looks angry at Alexander,  like she is not
sure why he is on her blanket and he just looks like he is having a great time!

                                     

The next few pictures are from their first date! We took them to the aquarium :) Here they are:

Of course it is highly unlikely that they will know each other when they are old enough to date, but we have had fun giggling when they hold hands or look at each other. Ahhh....the joys of parenting :)