A Visit from Grandma

I don't even know where to begin with this post, so here goes.

We had a great week. My mom came last Wednesday and just left today. It was so good to have her here. We didn't actually go anywhere or do anything big, but we did enjoy visiting and we got lots of sewing time in.

Thursday night Mom babysat so Jon and I could go out. We went to a fondue place called The Melting Pot. We've wanted to try it for a while and figured we'd take advantage while we had a willing babysitter. It was so fun to get all dressed up and go out alone. The meal was four courses. We started out with a cheese fondue that came with different breads, vegetables, and apples for dipping. Then they brought out salads. At this point we were full and we hadn't even gotten our main dish!

For the main course, you chose what flavor you wanted your food cooked in and they brought this pot and a plate full of uncooked meat-everything from lobster tails, shrimp, and salmon to filet mignon, chicken, and pork- that you cooked in the pot. They also brought out a bowl of vegetables and several sauces to go with it.

After dinner was the part we had been waiting for all night...the dessert. It was definitely the best part of the meal.
Look at all those goodies. We chose the turtle chocolate and it was delicious! All in all it was a great night. The food was okay, but the experience was fun and I would definitely go back for dessert again.

We spent a lot of time sewing during the rest of the week...Mom definitely did a lot more than me. I'm still very much a beginner and at the rate I was going we wouldn't have finished anything. But I learned a lot watching Mom and she did a great job on everything so I really appreciate her being willing to sew. Here are just a few of the projects we did. I will take pictures of the rest and hopefully get them posted tomorrow.

I started this apron back in October so we could give it to Emma for Christmas. Our sewing machine broke before I could finish it and we just got our replacement (it's a long story, but the place we bought the sewing machine replaced it free!)

I love that it's reversible and I love the pockets Mom put on it.

Mom whipped up this jumper with some extra fabric she had. I think it turned out cute. Notice the little matching purse.

Crazy girl!
We made these next two bags out of placemats. It was seriously the easiest thing I've ever made and they turned out so nice. I did longer straps on mine so it doubles as a fun purse.

This is Emma's but I might have to steal it. I love the colors and the print on the inside.

Mom made this apron (minus the two buttons that I sewed on the front). Thank you Mom. I love it!

Friday night we went to a spaghetti dinner fundraiser for the young women in our ward. I had volunteered to make a pie for a pie auction and so I made a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Pie. Luckily the recipe makes 2 so we got to keep this one. The other one sold for a whopping $55!
Monday night Mom treated us to dinner at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants (Thank you Mom!) and then she and I went and got dessert and talked for a couple of hours. It was nice to reminisce and to listen to her talk about when she and Dad met and were dating. It was a good talk and a great way to end her visit. I took her to the airport this morning and after she left I cried. I felt so lonely all of a sudden and all day I wished she were here. The visit went way too fast. But I'm glad that she came and look forward to seeing all of my family this summer.

The rest of these pictures are just random...

Playing around with the features on my camera

Aren't these kids adorable?

Our little gymnast

We had beautiful weather on Saturday so Jon took the kids outside to play while Mom and I ran to the fabric store. I love this shot.

We got Matthew a new big boy carseat and Jon made a house out of the box. The kids LOVE it. He had a lot of fun with it. There are windows on either side, a little peep hole in the door, a door handle, and several other little things.

This was the best picture I could get of the kids with Mom. Emma wanted to run and Matthew is cutting 2 teeth. He is not a happy guy right now.

Kisses

Thank you for coming Mom! I love you!

When Mom Says No

When I told Emma she couldn't eat the bag of Reese's she found, she started crying and in between huge, sad sobs, she cried, "I need to go to Grandma's!"

Yep, she's got it all figured out.

Updates and Some Pictures

So we're two nights into sleep training Matthew and it's actually going pretty well. The first night he woke up once and I fed him, but then I put him back to bed awake and he only fussed for a couple minutes. He woke up later in the night but went right back to sleep on his own. Hooray! Last night went great too. I put him to bed and he complained for about 5 minutes and then he was out. Emma woke him up around midnight (screaming that she needed something) but he went right back to sleep. I fed him around 4 this morning and he didn't cry at all when I put him back to bed. This is a huge improvement. He usually wakes up 5-6 times a night and is up between half an hour and an hour. So, nights are going well. It's just the naps that we can't get figured out. He won't go to sleep unless we're holding him and it usually takes 30-45 minutes of walking around before he's out. Now, I do the bedtime routine and put him down, but he pulls himself up and stands crying for as long as I let him. Yesterday I just gave in and picked him up. He went right to sleep when I did. I'm at a loss. I guess I can't expect him to change everything at once. I am totally happy with the progress he's made though.

We got a new camera (since Emma broke our last point and shoot). I like our SLR, but never took it anywhere because it is so big. I love having my little point and shoot...I'm sure you all think I'm crazy for not liking the SLR, but I really just like my small, practical camera. It does so many cool things and takes great pictures. So, I'm happy.

Emma is making slow and steady progress with potty training. It's like pulling teeth to get her to sit on the toilet, but when she does she goes to the bathroom every time. I think I just need to be more consistent and diligent about having her go.

My mom is coming tomorrow! She's coming to visit for a week and we are so excited. We've got lots of sewing planned and I'm excited to see all the things we're able to make.

Matthew is starting to walk. He took 5 steps on his own today and several times before he has taken 2 or 3 steps at a time. He is a little speed crawler, pulls himself up to everything, and climbs up things like a little monkey. He just got his 3rd tooth and is working on the 4th. He is such a crazy, happy little guy. He had his 9 month checkup today and the doctor said he looks great. He weighs 16 lb 9 oz and is 26 1/2 inches short. :)

Our big boy

I found this umbrella (parasol...whatever) at Goodwill for .99 and Emma LOVES it. Best .99 ever spent.

On Saturday we went to the toy store to play. They have these train tables and Little Tikes play structures set up that the kids can play with. We also love wandering around and looking at all the cool things they have.

We walked to the library a few weeks ago and the sun was in the kids' eyes on the way home. Emma pulled the sunshade down and they both fell fast asleep.

These next few pictures show some of the things my new camera can do.
Before:

After:

You can do a color swap. Cool, huh?

You can also pick one color (red in this picture) and that is the only color that will develop when the picture is taken.

It Pays to Shop Online

I love getting good deals...love it. I rarely buy anything without shopping around for the best deal. So, when I found a couple of websites that give you cashback on your online purchases, I was excited.

The first is ebates.com. Ebates gives you 1-25% back on your online purchases and it is SO easy.You need to sign up and then all you do is go to ebates.com and click on the link for the site you will be shopping from. You will be taken to that website and you can shop away while the savings add up.They have over 1000 stores on their site, so chances are pretty good that the places you shop are on there.

Also, when you sign up, you will get either a free gift card or $5 cash. If you sign up through my link below, we each get $5.

http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=cb8z0bvWU61hCUv83UeG6A%3D%3D

My other bargain website is live.com (or search.live.com/cashback). Type in the item that you're looking for (you can be very specific or very general in your description). A list will come up with items and price ranges. When you click on the item it will show you what each website's price is, how much cash back you get, and the final price.

I love these websites. I have used them for all of my online purchases since December and between the two of them I have earned $66.24 back. Not bad considering I was buying the stuff anyway.

So, go check it out. I'd love to hear what you all think.

Needs

This is a pretty fun little thing. Google your name followed by the word needs. (ie...bob needs) and write the first 10 things that come up. Kind of funny...

Sarah needs:
1- A cold shower, self esteem
2- To get her life back and establish herself as the person in charge
3- More love lyrics
4- A date, maybe some fun
5- To hand him one of those weapons that went off without warning
6-Sponsors
7- A Wii
8-Findings to see what else Google comes up with
9- A new handle
10- A band

Jon needs:
1- To stop sending drinks now
2- To touch his roots
3- Prayers
4- A consequence for misbehavior; time outs usually work well
5- A poke in the other eye
6- Love
7- To fire his attorney
8- A job
9- A new shift key
10- a one or two parent family that will set guidelines and be consistent in sticking to those standards

Sleep

That's what I want Matthew to do...that's what I want to do. Why is it so hard???

We've been trying to decide what to do about Matthew not sleeping. Letting babies cry it out has always seemed so heartless to me, but nothing else was working.

A friend loaned me the book "Happiest Baby on the Block" yesterday and I've skimmed through parts of it. It has some great information and suggestions and I really agreed with and related to a lot of what was said. So, we decided to follow the plan in this book and let Matthew cry himself to sleep (or learn to self soothe). I like thinking of it the latter way.

So, I was all geared up and ready to try it out tonight. I bathed Matthew, got him ready for bed, fed him, read stories, and then turned the light off to sing songs. He started screaming right away. I finished singing, kissed him and put him in bed. The screaming lasted 45 minutes...not bad. I really expected it to be worse.

Jon and I sat listening to the quiet for a few more minutes and then decided to peek in on him. He looked so sweet and innocent and I felt so proud that he had actually fallen asleep. I love watching my babies sleep.

We watched him for a minute and then left the room. However, a well intentioned attempt to remove some toys that were in his crib woke him up. And he spent another hour and 45 minutes screaming. And screaming and screaming. It is now 9:30 and I think he's finally gone to sleep. (Fingers crossed)

It was interesting to me to see how Jon and I each handled this. I feel like I had prepared myself mentally, emotionally, etc for the screaming so it really didn't bother me much. Jon, on the other hand, was the one having a hard time with it, wanting to check on him and hold him. A major role reversal.

I don't know where I'm going with all of this or if any of it makes sense. I guess I was just trying to keep busy while I waited for the screaming to end.

So, I'm just curious...do you all let the little ones cry it out? What things have worked for you?

Too Much of a Good Thing

What a week! We had a great vacation, but we are SO glad to be home again. Here is a little rundown of our trip.

WARNING: LOTS OF PICTURES!

DAY 1

We left Monday and went to Monterey with Jon's mom and sisters. The monarch butterflies migrate there every year so we went to see them. It was pretty cool to see, though it was pretty late in the season and there weren't as many as there were a couple weeks before.

Next we headed to the tide pools at the beach. We had fun and saw lots of sea creatures and then headed over to the more sandy beach to fly our kite.It was a little too windy though and our kite broke, but we got some beautiful pictures.

We decided to head to our hotel and go swimming, but the rain cancelled those plans. Jon's family left and we went in search of some dinner. We decided on Bubba Gumps, one of our favorites.
This is the bucket of trash (lobster and shrimp) that Jon gets every time.

We splurged and got dessert...Alabama Mudd Pie in an impossibly skinny glass. Sooo good! Matthew couldn't get enough.
This was our hotel in Monterey. Isn't it so cute and quaint? I totally loved it. Our room had a separate bedroom with a twin bed. Emma was in love.
DAY 2

We spent Tuesday driving to San Diego. It ended up taking about 9 hours. It was a long day. The end.
Okay, it wasn't horrible. The kids did pretty good for the first part, and we found a Chuck E Cheese along the way (Thank you GPS) so the kids were able to get some of their wiggles out. Matthew was done after that though and had a good little screamfest. But we made it, and even went swimming after we checked into our hotel.

What a cool kid
DAY 3

We got up and went to Sea World. We had been a little worried about the weather because it rained Monday and Tuesday, but the sun broke through for the 3 days we were in San Diego. It was perfect mid 70's weather the whole time. We got to Sea World at 10 and ended up staying until 4. The kids each got a nap in but we were exhausted by the end of the day.

Waiting for the dolphin show to start

They had an Elmoland at Sea World, which was really fun. Emma wanted to run through the water but didn't want to do it alone. I kept telling her it was okay and that she wouldn't get wet. She finally let me carry her through it, and we ended up getting wet...really wet. Oops.This little play area was so cool. Really, we could have spent the whole day here.

This was also in Elmoland. Emma and Jon both really wanted to go on it, but Emma was too small and Jon didn't want to go alone.

He finally went and did it anyway

There were also a few little rides in Elmoland that we went on a couple times.

We finally dragged ourselves out of Elmoland, ate an overpriced lunch to get a cheap plastic Shamu lunch pail, and then went to see the killer whales.

By the time the Shamu show started, Emma was SO tired she ended up sleeping through the whole thing. That was kind of a bummer since that was what she had been looking forward to for weeks. Oh well. The whales were impressive, the show itself was pretty cheesy.

Next up were a couple aquariums and the bat rays.

By then we were all done and headed back to the hotel.

DAY 4

We were all up early on Thursday so we decided to walk through Old Town before heading to Sea World. We got there a little too early and everything was closed, so we didn't stay long.

Back at Sea World, we watched a 4D Elmo movie which was kind of cool. It's 3D but then you also feel the rain, the ocean waves, etc. They have sprayers on the back of all the seats that shoot water at you. Emma was really surprised.
By this point we were all done with walking around, so we saw another aquarium and the sharks and did one more round at the Elmoland.

Emma was SO excited to meet Elmo and Abby but then she wouldn't smile.

That night we went to a cute little pizza place for dinner.

Emma was tired and grumpy and just wanted to go home.

Jon and Emma were swimming in the shower so Matthew got his bath in the sink. He had a blast.

DAY 5

Emma woke up sick. I think it was a combination of the heat and not drinking enough water. She stayed awake long enough to eat a couple bites of food and drink some juice and then she was out for a couple more hours.

We were all so tired we could have slept all day, but we had to check out of the hotel and head up to L.A.

On our way out of town we decided to check out the children's museum in San Diego. It was a huge disappointment. We have been to several children's museums and loved them, but this was the most expensive and most boring one I have ever been to. We kept going through it, hoping that there would be something good, but it never came.

Emma did have fun painting this car

And they had a little toddler room that we played in for a few minutes.

Then we were on the road again. After 2 1/2 hours and lots of tears from both kids we got to LA and stopped at this park. We were meeting up with a friend of Jon's and had to wait for him to get off work.

We had a good visit with Jon's friend and his wife and appreciated their offer to let us crash at their apartment.

DAY 6

Saturday morning we went to the Santa Monica Pier. Emma and Jon played and explored while I stayed in the car with a napping Matthew.

Our last stop was meeting up with a friend of mine from high school. We had lunch and had fun reminiscing and catching up.

The trip home was pretty uneventful. We made it in a little over 6 hours and only had to stop once. The kids did so well and were so happy to be home.

All in all it was a good trip and it was great to have some family time. Now we just need a little vacation from our vacation and 3 solid days of sleeping. :)