Manic Mondays: My bed...zzzzzzzzz

teething baby
really cute top front teeth
only 4 hours sleep (for me, she slept fine while I was holding her)
I like tylenol
I like popsicles
fever of 102
fever of 101
fever of 99
solid nights sleep
fever of 101
fever of 98
more popsicles
work
go to emergency room with sister
tired
baby is asleep
no sign of fever
I like my bed

Manic Mondays: Just a Spoonful of Sugar!

Mary Poppins was right, when the medicine tastes better, it goes down easier.  This is also true for vegetables.  I have found that mixing a touch of cinnamon and 1/2 tsp sugar into peas, carrots, squash, and green beans gets Kaitlyn to eat them.  Now, I know you are all going to freak about not giving your infants refined sugar, etc.  But hey, I'd rather her have a bit of sugar and all the nutrients from the veggies than neither at all!  I mean, the girl has spit green beans at me and will remove any veggie from her mouth with her fingers or pretend that they make her gag.  The sugar is worth it - and when was the last time you ate veggies without some sort of accommodation?

Manic Mondays: Bumpy Labels

Sometimes you find things that are cool and you buy them just because they are so awesome!  In this case, not only are they awesome, they are useful.  Here are a few tricks and tools that I've found to make days as a Mom easier, more fun, or just plain cooler.  First up:

Bumpy Labels.  I saw these in Parenting Magazine and thought they were so cool, but rather needless since I don't take Kaity to daycare.  However, after spending a week in Boise with two babies who had sippy cups, I found myself wishing for something that we could use to mark them.  I can imagine that in a few years I'll have the same problem at home.  It's not a big deal for two kids to share a drink, as long as both of them are healthy, and no bugs are flying around, and they can both deal with sharing, and they like the same drink, and their moms approve of the same drink...those are a lot of qualifiers.  So, I ordered some of these thinking that when we go to Fawn Hill for the wedding this fall they will be very useful.  They're cute and you can pick out any color you want.  If you order the ones that are pre-printed, they put the name in braille on the back, too.  (This appeals to me as a Special Ed teacher as well as a Mom).  Anyway, I ordered Kaitlyn's in purple and I love them!  They are dishwasher and microwave safe, and they fit on every style of sippy cup I own.  I highly recommend these, you could even get them for your older kids so they can label their water bottles at camps, youth activities, or sports events.

Picture Dump

Here are a bunch of cute pictures of Kaitlyn over the last few months.  She is now 9 months old and crawls around and climbs on everything!  She weighs 15 lbs and is 25 in long, so she's a bit small but we're not worried because she'll eat anything (except baby food vegetables).  Her favorites are bananas, mashed potatoes, and graham crackers.  She'll do anything for a graham cracker.

Jared's mom and dad at the HP park in Boise.  They have Michael, Kaitlyn, and Thomas, their three grandkids.  (Weston hadn't yet arrived).

Jared, Dad, Matt and Tyler (Chris was hauling dirt) planting trees in Tyler's back yard.

This one is from February.  Kaitlyn surely loves her food!

I got Dad's toy!  (Actually, she killed a Goomba the other day - saving her dad's butt during a daredevil run).

Kaitlyn loves to play with anything that rattles when she shakes it.  This makes Nerds boxes wonderful toys...until she gets them open and we have to take them away.

Playing cards with Uncle Matt, Uncle Chris, and Daddy.

Every day that Mom was here to visit, I'd inadvertently dress Kaitlyn in the same color.  She loved playing with Grandma and missed her very much when she went back home to Boise.

Kaitlyn absolutely loves bathtime!  Also, I love her swimsuit!  Two birds with one photo, hey?

This is Grandma Brown, Kaitlyn, Kaitlyn's cheetos, and Great-Grandma Watson, once again we all coordinated outfits.

Kaitlyn loved having a playmate!  Here's another photo of Kaity and Michael.  Once again, he's 4 months old, 1 lb bigger than Kaity and they're the same height.

Probably my favorite picture from Mother's Day weekend.  Kaitlyn loves the piano, she plays with me, with Uncle Sean, and with Grandma Brown!  She is the only grandkid so far who has been allowed to touch Mom's piano.  Mom was playing A Child's Prayer, which is one of Kaitlyn's favorites, it's definitely her favorite primary song.

I'm an Aunt (part III)

Introducing....(first name) Clark Brown.  They are currently leaning towards Weston.  Congrats to Tyler and Carisa!  6 lbs 14 oz and 19 1/2 in.  This makes nephew #3 for me :)

Kaitlyn & her cousin Michael

We went up to Boise for Mother's day.  I'll post a better catch up later, but for now, here's a picture of Kaitlyn playing with Michael.  She loves him and is so fascinated by the baby.  Michael is 1 lb heavier than Kaitlyn, they are about the same height.  Michael is 4 months old, Kaitlyn is almost 9.

we moved, we decorated, we started a new job, the Easter Bunny came, Grandma came! Here's the scoop:

Okay, we mentioned earlier that we were moving to Brentwood Park apartments.  We did so, and thoroughly LOVE it.  Thank you so much to everyone who helped us move!  We didn't think we'd be leaving so quickly, but the Lord has blessed us with this opportunity.  We very much miss all of our 201 ward friends.  I work 15 hours a week as the office manager, and I like interacting with adults again.  Between having the stake reorganized, visitors, conference, and illnesses, I haven't been able to do a whole lot with the ward yet, but I like it so far.
For Easter the bunny came to visit on Saturday.  We watched conference and enjoyed it quite a bit.  Kaitlyn especially loved the plastic eggs.  On Sunday we went to the gun club, a long standing family tradition (since my grandma was little).  There was an Easter egg hunt for the kids and Kaitlyn got to participate.  Mostly Mom and Dad ate her candy but she was very happy to suck on a sucker for a few minutes.  Pictures are on my dad's camera, so I'll have to post them later.
Grandma Brown took a break to come down and visit at the end of April and then Matt and Chris went home after finishing finals.  Kaitlyn misses them all very much and we're so excited to visit them all for Mother's Day.
Extremely exciting recent developments:

• My cousin Mark is getting sealed to his family in the temple.  He is in his late 30s and his oldest son is mission age.
• My dad entered us in a sweepstakes and we won the grand prize!  Kaitlyn will be getting a savings bond, a bunch of Graco products, and a humongous 1st birthday party which we get to fly in 10 people for.  It will be a bit early though, in July, because the family is pretty busy in August planning for...
• Jared's Aunt Cyndi is getting married!  Yay!  Party of the century!
• My little sister is pregnant!  Ralph (name of the fetus) is due at Christmas time.  We always swore that we wouldn't have kids in December, but now that Ralph is on the way; we're very excited.

I promise to update more often as well as put Kaitlyn's 9 month stats and pics in later this month.