Playing Catch Up

I've gotten lazy with my posting. Who doesn't though? Syd is learning how to keep herself entertained for the most part so my job has turned into keeping her out of the dog's water bowl. She likes to dip her feet in the water. Socks and all. She thinks it's a game. She'll reach her hand toward the water and wait for me to say something. Of course I oblige and say, "Sydney.... no, no. Yucky." And as I stand up and start walking toward her she sqeals and tries to run away. (Yeah, she's walking now.) Since she's new to this whole walking thing she can only take a few running steps before she stumbles and falls to her hands and knees and starts crawling as fast as she can, giggling the whole time because she knows that at any moment I'm about to pick her up and tickle her. And as if that's not cute enough on it's own, she's starting to talk. Mostly just the infant ramblings that make you smile, until she sees her doggies. Yup, her first word is doggy. She loves those two furry mutts.

The other day my cousin's kid had a dance concert at her high school. We didn't plan on staying long so I didn't bother with finding a babysitter. Sydney loves music anyway. It was the best dance concert I've been to, and not because of the performers. She danced to every song. It was like she couldn't stop herself! Even when she was so tired she was starting to fall asleep. She would suddenly sit up and start rocking to the music again, then rest her head back on my shoulder for about 30 seconds before doing it again. (I managed to get some video of her dancing and as soon as I can upload it from my phone I'll post it.)

Here are a few photos from the last month or so.

On the Move

Sydney has learned to crawl. Need I say more? It's fun to watch, but it definitely comes with some headaches! She loves to pull things off shelves, chase and feed the dogs, and follow us from room-to-room. Here's a few updates on what's been going on the last few weeks.
  


Petting her big doggy, Juno.



Playing with S'mores.



Updating her Facebook account.



Found the doggy door.



Eating steak with grandma.



Learned how to climb the stairs.



Ate spaghetti.



Nap time with mommy after all that playing!



Too bright! I'll just pull this pillow over my eyes and go to sleep.

 

Photography

For many years now, I've thought about doing some photography. I've always loved taking pictures, and I'd like to think that I have somewhat of an 'eye' for good shots. This last weekend I borrowed my dad's Nikon D40 to use at Candace's wedding. They had a photographer coming to do photos, but I remembered from my own wedding that the best pictures I have were from other people taking pictures. It's the candid shots that capture the real people. Also, my photographer decided to leave before we cut the cake, danced, threw the bouquet, and tossed the garter. That still makes me mad. Thanks to others, I still managed to get pictures of the rest of the wedding. I wasn't going to let that happen to my best friend. That's something you just can't get back. So, I took pictures. 533 to be exact.

After going through my photos with Jesse, he asked if photgraphy was something I would like to do. Of course, he hit the nail on the head. Yes! I would love to do some photography. So now for the last couple of days, we've been looking at cameras, lenses, etc. I'm seriously considering starting our own photgraphy business on the side. Weddings, family pics, etc. Thankfully, I know plenty of people in the business. I've already gotten a ton of advise. Over the next few months we're going to put a lot of effort into getting this business up and running. Now for the easy part. What to name the business.....

Here are a few pictures I took, and some editing in photoshop I've been playing with.

Midnight Snacks

Tonight was a first for me. Syd has learned to sit up all by herself this week. I was laying in bed tonight when I heard her start fussing on the monitor. I went to go check on her and found her sitting up in the middle of her crib crying. As soon as she saw me, her arms went straight up in the air, wanting me to pick her up. That made my heart melt! I had to pick her up for a few minutes for some mommy daughter cuddle loves. She amazes me more and more every day!

Midnight Snacks

Syd is growing crazy fast! Today she had two major leaps. (I don't know if that's a good thing for us.) The first happened while I was at work. We've been using a bouncy seat to keep her busy when we've got stuff to do like cleaning, eating, etc. Well, Jesse had set her in it, in front of the tv, and had gone upstairs to change so he could run some errands. We know she has been able to hold herself upright, and lean forward to get things on the floor around her. Sometimes she's leaned too far forward and bonked her head on the ground.

I want that sqeaky toy the doggies always play with!

Today though, she went a step further, and executed an escape plan! Jesse heard a thump downstairs, and waited for a cry, thinking she had bumped her head on the ground like usual. Nothing......still nothing.... weird.... maybe I should check on her? As he came down the stairs, he found her out of the bouncy seat, on the floor, and attempting to get away!

I got this far, and now my foot is stuck!

Now for what happened tonight. Jesse went in to work early tonight for an extra shift. It was about Sydney's bed time so I took her upstairs to her room and set her on the ground to roll around and play until she was tired enough to put her to bed easier. After watching her play for a bit I decided I would go change out of my work clothes and plug in my dying phone. I couldn't have been gone from her room for more than 2 minutes when I saw this.....

I see you Mommy!!!

I'm coming!

Oooh, mommy and daddy's room!

Gotta take a break for a minute. That was a long trip!

I found you mommy! PICK ME UP!!!!

Rewarded with cuddle loves :)

Silly kid. I just sat on my bed and watched her chat and army crawl all the way into the bedroom. I think we are in a lot of trouble with this one!

Juno

After looking up many names, in many languages, we have decided on Juno. I was hoping to find a unique name that meant white, dog, snow, etc. Anything that would fit her description and sound neat. While googleing a ton of languages, I happened upon Juneau, also spelled Juno. It fits. At least a lot better than Lady Bug did...

Therapy Dogs

For a while now I've been thinking about training a therapy dog. I took a flying leap and thought if we got a pit bull young enough we could train him to be a therapy dog, simultainiously getting a good name out for that breed. Gizmo was that attempt, but that obviously didn't work out. At all.

We just got a golden lab today. She's 7 years old, pure bred, and almost white in color, which I love. She's amazing so far. I haven't heard anything out of her yet. No grunts, no barks, nothing. The family that gave her to us, free I might add, had gotten her years ago as a therapy dog for their boy with downs syndrome. Recently though, he has been trying to mimick they family and has been taking her out for a walk on his own. They live on a VERY busy street. (4100 S. 4200 W. for those of you who know where that is.) He has been rescued from the street mulitple times while trying to get the dog that has wandered towards traffic. In the end, they just can't keep her and risk having their boy get hit by a car.

It's not going to take too much more work to get her certified as an actual therapy dog. She's very docile, very friendly. Doesn't jump up on anyone, just comes up to you and sits, waiting to be pet. It's perfect!

My one and only complaint for this dog is her name.... Lady Bug?!? That's why you don't let your kids name the dog. Even Lady, for short, isn't going to fly with me. So not a fan of the name in any way. So the hardest thing we have to deal with is coming up with a new name. That shouldn't be too hard, right? 10 hours later she's still nameless.... I'll sleep on it.

There's a first time for everything...

Lately Sydney has been progressing at a breakneck speed. She's trying and doing so many new things that it's hard to keep track! Here's just a few examples of what has happened in the last few weeks...

Learned how to get up on her hands and knees. She'll be crawling soon!

Figured out how to pull her books down.

Ate some corn-on-the-cob with Grandma. Well, licked it mostly.

Decided she likes pickles.

Decided she likes ice cream even more.

Rode in a shopping cart without her carseat, and LOVED it!

Took a bath without her infant tub. (How nice of her to keep herself decent so I could take a picture!)

It's hard to believe she's only 7 1/2 months! I thought I'd have more time before we had to baby proof the place. Everyone keeps telling me she's just like me when I was her age. I guess what goes around comes around. I hope Kalia survives.... she was a terror as a kid!!!

Midnight Snacks

I've started to notice something with Sydney. No matter where you put her in her crib for bedtime, she always seems to migrate over to her stuffed animals. Last night she did just that. She was all cuddled up with her stuffed animals, butt up in the air (that was a first), and sleeping peacefully. Jesse threw a blanket over her and we went to bed.








Sometimes I like to peak in early in the morning before I head to work. Every now and then I get lucky and she's awake so I can play with her for a few minutes before heading out. (I'm sure Jesse loves the thought of me getting her all wound up at 6:30 in the morning then leaving her to talk at him through the monitor.) This morning she was sleeping, but sometime during the night she decided to take a trip. I guess she didn't want that blanket after all? That kid can always make me smile.

Midnight Snacks

(This will be a little series of sorts for Sydney's funny antics at night.)

Sydney does the funniest things while she's sleeping. Here's a quick example...

I like to check on her before I go to bed to make sure she's doesn't have her arm or leg sticking out of the crib. (She likes to do that a lot for fun.) Last night when I checked on her I had the hardest time not laughing out loud and waking her up. I went and got Jesse so he could see her, too.

She usually doesn't sleep with a blanket because it's too hot in her room, but every so often we find her wrapped up in her blanket, by her own doing. Last night was one of those nights.

Well I didn't want to leave her stuck in the corner with her head against the rail so I asked Jesse if he thought he might be able to mover her without waking her up. I wish I had a picture of what happened next! He pulled the blanket down and started to slide her toward the middle of the crib. She startled a little and latched onto her stuffed monkey she was cuddled up next to. Of course, monkey went sliding with her as she did a reverse Superman across the crib. So funny!

On blogging...

I wasn't expecting this, but I find myself thinking throughout the day of what I can blog about. Weird! I'm sure after a few weeks the novelty of it all will wear off and I'll get behind on it like everyone else seems to do. I do find it kind of fun though!

I got an e-mail from Kalia today that I'm totally stoked about. She is on her mission in Ft. Lauderdale, FL (Spanish speaking). I miss her tons, along with Shan, who is in Portugal. Neither have met Sydney yet. Shan left 4 days after Jesse and I were married. I barely got back from my honeymoon in time to say good-bye to him. Kalia followed about 3 months later. (3 weeks after Amren got home from Poland.) Talk about a busy summer!!! Neither Kalia or Shan have met Sydney yet, which I still get bugged about from time-to-time. She'll be just over a year old when they get back.

Focus!!!

Before I went off on something completely random, I had a point.

OH LOOK, A SHINY OBJECT!!!

Kidding ;)

So the e-mail... Kalia just announced that although she is on a Spanish speaking mission, and she only has about 6 months left, they have decided to put her into the ASL program. (Sign Language for my non-thinkers out there lol.) I'm way super excited because that is one thing I can relate to.I have taken ASL in high school and college, and although I may have forgotten a lot of it, I do still remember plenty. She'll be speaking my language, yay! I'm planning on spending the next few months refreshing my memory so I can surprise her when she walks off that plane. (She doesn't know anything of my diabolical plan... MUAH-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!)

This should be fun!

Peace and quiet at last!!!

Gizmo has been gone for about 3 hours now. I can't believe the difference already. I loved that dog, but he just wasn't right for our family. I hadn't realized until now how withdrawn S'mores had become. We've thrown away ALL her toys because Gizmo had destroyed them (go figure) and hadn't bought her any new ones. She was never able to have a rawhide of her own because he was always chasing her down and stealing them, and we had given up on the whole treat idea (same problem). I could never really play with her, or throw toys around for her to chase since every time I did Gizmo would literally body check her into a wall so she couldn't get to the toy first. It had become too dangerous to have them playing together so we just didn't play anymore. But, since he's been gone, she's been running EVERYWHERE!!! Kinda like a freedom victory dance, ha ha! She's also been taking advantage of being able to stretch out on the couch again. I haven't seen her like this for a few months now and it makes me happy she can have her space again. I'll miss him, but definitely not his bad behavior. He has a lot of good potential. I'm sure he'll be happy with the right family. We still want a second dog, but I'm thinking maybe a small one this time. It won't happen for a while, but eventually we'll start looking again.

The one good thing we can take from this whole experience is that S'mores has finally learned how to play with other dogs. She was never ok with anything on 4 legs before, but they got to be pretty decent friends I think.

Bye Gizmo

I've had it with my pit bull. We're taking him to the Humane Society today for another family to find him. I've been tolerant of his barking, bullying S'mores, jumping on people, and even chewing a few things, until that moved to walls, furniture, and blankets. His list of destruction has included my baby blanket from my grandma, Jesse's recliner from his grandpa (who has since passed away), my couch, coffee table, carpet, rug, and the list goes on.

I was hoping we could break him of the habit because pit bulls have a tendancy to chew and I knew that going into this, but it's just getting worse. It doesn't even matter if he has 5 chew toys and a few rawhides right next next to him, he'll still grab the remote. I then thought, maybe it's just anxiety? No, he's just a chewer, and we can't have that at our new place. We barely talked our landlord into letting us bring him in the first place. Her biggest concern? Chewing the walls. Seriously. So that was the final straw. Hopefully he goes to a family that can figure out his trick. Good luck Gizzers.

Preslee...

I have been following Preslee's story this week, and my heart has been torn apart for the family. In my job I deal a lot with life and death and tragedies, but I can't think of anything that has stuck with me so much as this. Preslee passed away today after struggling for her life at Primary Children's this past week. At times she has seemed to be doing better, and then it seemed like she was barely hanging on to life. I can't even begin to imagine how I could deal with something like this had it been Sydney in that hospital room. It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it. Her parents have been so strong in all of this. It has definitely left an impression in my life and Preslee will always have a special place in my heart. I wrote them a comment that I'd like to share. I felt very strongly I had to write something to them to show my love and support to their situation.



"People come into this world with a purpose. We don't know what that is, and we don't know when that purpose will be fulfilled, but I strongly believe that your beautiful little girl has done more in her short time on earth than anyone could hope to do in a lifetime. Her story, her fight for life, has reached thousands of people and has changed countless lives, and will continue to do so. My gut has been in knots, and my heart torn apart, for all that you are going through. A friend of mine also lost their little girl early from this life, and the family had me in awe. They all wore white to her funeral instead of the traditional black. The father spoke and said, "We do not mourn the loss of our child, but celebrate her life and the opportunity we had of knowing her for as long as we did. She has touched so many lives and we would never trade the time we were allowed to have with her." Celebrate Preslee's life. Celebrate knowing all the lives she has touched, all the families that she has brought closer together, and most of all, all the people she has brought closer to her Heavenly Father. Do not be sad for her. She could not be happier where she is. She will always be with you and watching over you. Be happy knowing she stands in Heaven holding His hand. She has fulfilled her purpose in life. She was born onto this earth at this time for something greater than anyone could have hoped for. Be proud of Preslee, and remember that when you see her again, she will be running into your arms and welcoming you home. The EMS community here in Salt Lake is a little more quiet today and holds you in their thoughts and hearts. Be strong"

Where to begin?

I've debated over this for about a year now, and I finally decided to give in. I don't usually like to write things about myself or what I'm thinking. I've never been good about keeping a journal or anything like it. I prefer to keep a visual journal of my life with pictures and videos, but having a blog will hopefully help me to get better about writing stuff down.

I came to this decision after following a blog of a family that had their little girl suffer from a near drowning and is now at Primary Children's watching her fight for her life. The love and support people are giving them from literally all over the world is amazing. I find myself checking it multiple times a day for an update as to how she is doing. She's a fighter. Check out the blog if you get the chance at http://patrickandashley.blogspot.com/

This blog will give me the chance to keep family and friends update on day-to-day life easily and more personally than I could do on Facebook or MySpace. Hopefully I can keep up on it!

Ok, here it goes...

We are still working on unpacking in our new place. We just recently moved into a town home. I gotta say, I love all the space! Having a yard is great for the dogs to run around in, especially for Gizmo. He's a pure bred pitt bull puppy, about 7 months old. Talk about energy! He's loving it and I think S'mores is enjoying having a break with him always wanting to chase her around the house. It will be nice for Sydney as well when she finally starts walking. I don't think we will have long to wait for that. She's ready to move and get into things!

We are still waiting for our pool key, but until then I pulled out the little blow up pool and filled it up in the backyard for Sydney to play in. She absolutely loved it! She splashed and rolled around and smiled and laughed the whole time. (The dogs thought it was a giant water bowl so they benefited as well.) She's going to be an active kid.

As for Jesse and I, we couldn't be happier. He just recently started back at Peak Alarm doing security patrol up on Park City. It's a grave shift so I don't see him as much, but it makes the times I do spend with Jesse a lot more meanningful. It's a great job with a lot of advancement opportunities in the future. Things are looking like they are finally heading in a good direction for us. Sydney is keeping us pretty busy, she's changing day by day and showing a lot of advancement. She's always smiling and laughing and very healthy. We couldn't be happier with our small but healthy family.