The Denison Family

Gemma, so far.

2011-02-13T15:31:00.000-08:00

So I had just resumed blogging when the holidays hit and suddenly I had tons of pictures and too many things to blog about. Instead of getting overwhelmed, I just decided to bag it and not blog about anything. :) Gemma will be 6 months in a couple of weeks, though, so I figured I should give an update on her, since she is the primary reason I started blogging again. She is, for the most part, a good baby--very mild mannered. She has, however, become a horrible sleeper (on and off). We've been attempting to sleep train her for about 2 months. Ha! It's more like she's training us. We've tried just about everything, and some nights she is great, and others, not so much. We've got a system down that we're sticking too, and it seems like she's becoming a little more consistent with it, but she likes to mix it up every now and then just to keep us on our toes.

Here are some highlights from the last few months.

Gemma's blessing

Tummy time--which has led to rolling on her back.

Bath Time--every kid needs one of these pictures.

She was not amused at having her picture taken after a long day at church.

She found her feet, which eventually found their way to her mouth.

And I had to post a picture of her wearing my old, blue dress from when I was a baby.

And she loves, Loves, LOVES her sister.

I just have to say that Lily is such a good big sister. She helps me out all throughout the day with Gemma and is very attentive and loving (although she does occasionally do stuff like poke her in the eye for no apparent reason). Anyway, even with the horrendous nights of sleep (no sleep, that is), Gemma manages to worm her way back into our good graces. Seriously, how can you stay mad at that?

Lily's Princess Party

2010-11-08T13:38:00.000-08:00

Boy, did I not know what I was getting myself into! Lily turns 3 on Sunday, and we decided to throw her a birthday party. Adam and I started discussing it the last week in October, and upon consulting the calendar, found that the first weekend in November was the only free one we had for the month. Yikes. I had little more than a week to plan a party. Seeing as her current obsession is princesses, I decided to do a princess themed party. After researching online I came up with some ideas and started amassing all the necessary supplies. I think Lily, Gemma and I lived in the car for a week with all the errands we ran. Adam and I were up until 2 a.m. or so cleaning, decorating, and setting everything up. We decked out the basement, which is a perfect place to let 9 2-4-year olds run wild.

Everyone was invited to attend in princess attire, and we began by having them decorate some foam tiaras with gemstones and markers while everyone arrived.

After that it was on to the first game. The fishing game. Adam didn't know what I was talking about when I told him we were doing this. I said, "Haven't you ever been to a school carnival before?" I loved this game when I was a kid!

I had to give him a basic rundown on it since he was going to be the man behind the curtain, so to speak.

Next we went on to our second game--a variation of pin the tail on the donkey (which nobody had ever heard of, but hey, they're like 3 and 4 years old). I had two stations set up, since little princess have little attention spans and can't wait for their turn for too long. :) We did pin the glass slipper on Cinderella and pin the crown on Princess Aurora.

After that, it was upstairs for the Princess Song Identification Game. Each child had a set of 9 popsicle sticks with the pictures of different Disney princesses glued to them. I played clips from songs that each princess sings and they had to identify the singer by holding up which princess it was. I must say, Lily was really good at this game--so good that I think we might have to cut back on her TV watching. :)

While we prepared lunch, everyone headed back downstairs to watch Beauty and the Beast.

We had peanut butter and jelly and grilled cheeses sandwiches in the shape of princess tiaras, with some Goldfish crackers, pretzels, and grapes.

Afterward we enjoyed some princess cake and ice cream.

And then everyone put on their tiaras so we could get some good princess poses.

And yes, Lily is slipping a nip in both pictures. Let me tell you what I learned about birthday parties--you will be outnumbered and will need more help! Thankfully, I have good friends who were more than willing to lend a hand. Gemma was pretty much forgotten about because she was handed off for the duration of the party. Other parents helped run the games, make lunch, serve cake, and do dishes (I didn't ask her to do that--I caught her at it as she was finishing up). It was a lot of fun, but I'm thinking a party every other year sounds like a good idea. :)

Halloween Fever!

2010-10-04T17:31:00.001-07:00

(Adam posed her like this--don't ask.)

Now that Lily is almost 3, she is better able to understand just how fun Halloween really is. In an effort to indoctrinate her to this fact, we began the month of October with a viewing of selected clips from The Nightmare Before Christmas. She is already proving to be an apt pupil--every day since, she has requested we watch more of the "scary movie". She gets very excited to point out every pumpkin, ghost, skeleton, etc... that we see as we're out and about. Last weekend we got out the big box of Halloween decorations and decked out the house.

Afterward we rewarded our hard work with some special Halloween Jello Jigglers.

Lily, Take Two

2010-09-28T07:38:00.000-07:00

I'd like to give her a little more time before making any rash judgments, but I'm afraid that our sweet Gemma is becoming less sweet by the day. Her usual calm and easy demeanor has been eroding a little more every day, and worst of all her sleeping is beginning to suffer (translation: my sleeping is beginning to suffer). Unless she's nursing, she'll only fall asleep in her swing with the nature sounds turned up full blast (she's partial to the babbling brook), but within minutes of laying her down in her crib, she wakes up and it's game over. Last night I tried putting her down four or five times with no success--she was just mad. Adam and I commented on how she was reminding us more and more of someone else in our house (i.e. Lily), when the thought came to me that we might try what we did with her as a baby (see below).

Lily

Gemma

I had hoped to avoid this, especially because she has been such a good sleeper for the last month, but guess what? She slept for 8 hours straight! I woke her up this morning to feed her, then put her back down, and she slept for 3 more hours!

Here is Adam with Gemma during last night's failed attempts at sleep.

And as a footnote, here is my sweet, not-so-little Lily before church on Sunday. She looks so big!

Photo Shoot Fail!

2010-09-13T09:42:00.001-07:00

Excluding the fact that we only have a basic digital camera (on loan from my parents, at that), it's fairly obvious why I don't attempt this more often, and why we leave this sort of stuff to the professionals. I don't know which kid was more difficult to work with (not really--it was Lily). Here is a succession of photos of Lily and Gemma's first photo shoot.

Session #1

Session #2

Session #3

The End

Gemma Eleanor Denison

2010-09-04T06:50:00.001-07:00

Well, I figured this was as good a reason as any to start blogging again (or at least to update my blog seeing as it's been over a year). Gemma is the newest addition to our family. She was born on Friday, the 27th of August, and we are enjoying every moment we've had with her. She weighed in at 8 lbs 11 oz, and is 22” long. She has been a very mellow baby so far. She sleeps pretty much all the time, and hasn't fussed too much (hopefully that doesn't jinx us). We keep waiting for the fussiness to begin, because that's all we knew with Lily, but it's been a week, and she's still pretty good. Adam's parents and sister drove up from Virginia to stay with us and help out during the time Gemma was supposed to be born, but she was very obstinate, and rather than coming early, like Lily did, she was nearly a week late. I was scheduled to be induced Monday morning, a week and a day after my due date. That happened to be the same day his family had to drive back home, so we were all disappointed about that. The hospital I was delivering at won't induce you until you are more than a week past your due date, unless there is some medical reason why it should be done prior to that. Thankfully at my appointment on Friday, after explaining the situation to my fabulous doctor, she kind of made up a reason for the hospital to admit me that day to be induced. Once at the hosptial, we waited around for several hours before they broke my water and started the pitocin, but once that happened, it was only 3 hours until Gemma was born. I was already dilated to a 4 when we got there, so everyone kept telling me it would go rather quickly. The real drama revolved around getting an epidural (which was never not an option in my mind). When I had my glucose test done back in May, my doctor noticed my blood platlets were kind of low, so she had me come back to have my blood redrawn --same results. I had it drawn again the week before she was born, and it was still the same. All I had ever been told is that low blood platlets could affect how well my blood would clot. It wasn't until my doctor was writing the induction orders for me to take to the hospital that she said, "Your platlet count should be high enough for you to still get an epidural." Wait a second. What was that? No one had ever told me that low platlets possibly translated into no epidural! I played it off like it wasn’t a big deal but was secretly screaming inside my head. I was not at all prepared for that. At the hospital they told me I was right on the border of whether they could give me one. They drew my blood yet again (that’s, like, ten times now, right?), and it was still the same, but because my count wasn't going down, they said they would do it. Such a relief—that is until my nurse came back and said that actually, the anesthesiologist would be the one to make that call. Someone sure was having fun screwing with my head. So once again it was the waiting game. Of course, at this point, my contractions were pretty strong so I was a bit of a basket case at the thought of how much worse they were going to get before it was all over. The nurse anesthetist came in to get information from me, and finally the anesthesiologist arrived and started prepping me for it, so at that point I figured it was a go. A few minutes later, life was wonderful once again, and it was probably about an hour and a half or so until she was born. This week at home has been great. Adam had the week off, which has been wonderful, and Lily has been a big help too. We got Netflix to keep me awake and entertained during Gemma’s nighttime feedings, and Adam thinks it’s the best thing ever since discovering that he can stream episodes of Man vs. Wild and Dirty Jobs. We’re getting used to the new dynamic in our house and are really enjoying being a family of four now.

The last (and pretty much only) pregnancy shot

Not Gemma's most flattering picture

Our first family photo

Gemma's first outfit ("Little Sister")

Going home!

All swaddled and ready for bed

Adam and his girls

Lily loves being a big sister

Do-It-Yourself Cupcake Stand

2009-08-04T11:33:00.000-07:00

Ever since I went to California in June and experienced the bliss of a Sprinkles cupcake, I've been wanting to bake some of my own. Naturally, I will also need a cupcake stand to showcase them. I didn't really like any of the ones I saw online and didn't want to fork over $20 or more, so lucky for me I found some websites that showed how to make your own for a lot cheaper. My favorite was this site that used painted terra cotta pots and platters: http://www.oncewed.com/7598/diy/diy-wedding-cupcake-stand/. Here's how mine turned out.

Under Construction

2009-07-14T07:40:00.001-07:00

So I thought I would tinker around with my blog layout since I haven't changed it since....well, ever. I don't have a clue what I'm doing, so it might be a while before I figure out what I want the finished project to look like, especially since we're leaving on vacation tomorrow. So if it looks kind of mismatched and bizarre when you check it, just keep that in mind. The only thing I've figured out so far is how to change the background. Currently I'm trying to find cool blog fonts, since Blogger has such a limited and boring selection. If you have any tips, feel free to advise me.

2009-07-12T16:08:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I've been meaning to do this blog post for a while, but we all know how dedicated I am to blogging, so I'll say no more on it. This year Adam gave me a book called Stoneflower for my birthday--I already have two other books by this author, and I may have hinted to him that I wanted this one as well. With shame I confess that this book falls under the LDS romance novel genre and probably will not fundamentally enrich your life, but it's a quick and enjoyable read. I was introduced to the author's first book, Summergreen, by one of my friends back in high school, and absolutely loved it. Later I discovered it's sequel, Valley of Fire, which I enjoyed equally as well. It wasn't long after that that I noticed this third book at the library. As excited as I was to read another of the author's books, I just couldn't bring myself to check it out for the sole reason that the cover was so craptastically cheesy! I was embarrassed just looking at it and would rather deny myself the pleasure of reading it than be associated with such a book. Years later, when I was in college, I discovered it again, and decided to just read it (though I'm sure I handed it to the librarian face down at checkout). It was summer and I often took a book out to the pool, but there was no way I was being seen in public with it, so I took what I thought was a precautionary measure by taping a piece of paper over the offensive cover. Thankfully, I had a very good and concerned roommate, who stopped me before leaving the apartment and informed me that it looked like I was taking something much more objectionable than a romance novel to the pool. I think she suggested that I also drink my soda out of a brown bag, if I persisted, to complete the effect. We had a good laugh, and still joke about it. Adam, who had heard this story, didn't believe the cover could be as bad as that, but sure enough, as soon as the book arrived, he was converted to my way of thinking. I thought I'd list just a few of my favorite elements: 1) the popped collar and rolled-up sleeves 2) the feathered hair (that goes for both of them), 3) the severe 80's make-up, 4) the giant sweatshirt (or whatever the heck that is she's wearing), 5) the Tom Selleck mustache, 6) the hand placement on his manly chest--this is all aside from their expressions as they gaze longingly into one another's eyes (I think I just threw up a little in my mouth). Adam also suggested I give you a flavor of the book by including a couple of lines:

(Let me know if there's something about this description that doesn't quite add up)

If her jewelry and the classy apple green jumpsuit were any indication, she was loaded.

(Classy....jumpsuit???)

(And now for my personal favorite)

Dazed, the coarse caress of a moustached mouth lingering on my lips (barf and a half!!), I pushed up on my elbows.

(No further comment needed)

So ya, let me know if you want to borrow it.

Adam's New Haircut

2009-05-09T13:19:00.000-07:00

'nough said.

Happy Birthday, Tiffany!

2009-04-04T12:56:00.000-07:00

This past Wednesday we celebrated Tiffany's birthday (for those of you who don't know, Tiffany is older than me; just putting it out there). We started the celebration off with dinner at one of Tiffany's favorite restaurants, Famous Dave's. Great BBQ! Lily was a little antsy at the start, but once her meal of mac & cheese and green beans got there she was all set. As you can see from the pictures, Tiffany wisely ate some of her meal and then saved the rest for another day. I, on the other hand, enjoyed decimating my meal in one sitting, but didn't get to enjoy it for lunch the next day.

After dinner we headed back home for cake, ice cream and presents. Tiff made off with some cash, gift cards and a series of books about some girl named Emily. Don't ask, I just bought them. We enjoyed the cake Tiffany pretty much made herself, although I did make a valiant effort.

All in all, it was a good day. Lily even started the day off right for Tiffany with a little present in the morning as you can see in the video below. Happy Birthday, Tiffany!

Vote For Lily!

2009-03-30T11:01:00.000-07:00

Well, we finally entered Lily in a baby contest--the prize of a year worth of free diapers and $1000 gift card to Buy Buy Baby was a nice incentive to enter. After much debate, Adam and I decided to enter her Team Edward picture--since every parent is going to enter a cute picture of their kid, we decided we needed a gimic--therefore we're hoping to benefit from the immense popularity of Twilight. If you want to vote for her, follow this link and click on the Lily D. thumbnail to pull up her picture. http://www.963wdvd.com/Article.asp?id=1245267

The contest rules allow for 1 vote per day per email address---I happen to have 5 email addresses.....I'm just saying. :) The first round goes from today through April 3, so we'll let you know if she makes the cut!

My Fossil knock-off

2009-03-18T20:17:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite pasttimes is online window shopping--I look all I want, but seldom do I buy. I suppose it's a sickness, really, but I just can't help myself. If I have one weakness, however, it's for jewelry. Fossil is one of my favorite places to look for cool and unique jewelry, and about a month or so ago I found a necklace that I absolutely loved. I wasn't even remotely tempted to try to find a place I could sneak it into our budget, though, as it cost a whopping $130. (!) As it was mostly comprised of strand beads, I thought I could attempt to do my own take on it. I first went to a little bead shop down the road from us and causually inquired about jewelry-making classes. I didn't want to pay the $40+ for the instruction and supplies, however (plus I'm not really into the kind of jewelry they make in those things), so I figured I'd just wing it. First I did a little reconnaissance by visiting the Fossil store in our mall so I could see the necklace in person, then I began to collect my materials. I had quickly scratched off the bead store as the source for my supplies as each strand of beads was around $100!! Lucky for me, Michaels has an extensive collection of strand beads, and I had access to a bunch of 40% off coupons. :) After about a week or so of daily trips to Michaels due to the coupon stipulation of 1 coupon per customer per day (and a succession of returns and exchanges), I had all of my stuff. After much trial and error on the technical side of things, and making constant changes to the artistic side of things, it was done. Is it as nice as the Fossil necklace? Certainly not--the materials are cheaper, the crafstmanship a whole lot shoddier, and I'd trade it in a heartbeat for the real thing, but it was kind of fun to make, and a heck of a lot cheaper. It's definitely not an everyday necklace, but I think it's a fun statement piece (and yes, it's kind of heavy).

Our DIY Project

2009-03-10T10:49:00.000-07:00

Okay, maybe assembling some nightstands from IKEA isn't the most challenging do-it-yourself project, but it's about as complicated a project as it's going to get at our house for now. After a long day of running a errands on Saturday, Adam and I went to work putting together the night stands we had purchased. They were very much needed because up until this point I had been using a couple of plastic storage bins stacked on each other as a make-shift nightstand, and poor Adam went from using an overturned diaper box to nothing. Thankfully IKEA has nice, easy-to-follow directions, for the most part. It didn't take too long to assemble them, and it made me feel pretty handy.

Me, hard at work.

Adam, hard at work.

The finished project.

As for Lily--she tried her hand at helping (translation: hindering), and gave us (translation: me) a fright when we couldn't find a screw and thought she might have swallowed it. Luckily we later found where she had stashed it in the living room where she had been playing.

Valentines Day

2009-02-18T07:32:00.000-08:00

I was in charge this year for planning what we would do for Valentines Day. Last year was comprised of taking our 3 month old along with us to a sushi restaurant, so I wanted to try for something a little more romantic this year. We had a tight budget to work with, so I decided to surprise (or attempt to surprise) Adam with a picnic dinner at home--and since it is February and freezing outside, our picinic was held in our living room. :) It was rather difficult to keep it a surprise since Valentines was on a Saturday and he was home all day. All I told him was that we were going to have an awesome dinner at home. Our menu was comprised of a cheese fondue with a hint of apple cider to sweeten it up a bit, along with squares of french bread to dip in it, a nice green salad with candied walnuts and apple slices, a rotisserie chicken, and blueberry lemonade to drink. Now, I have never actually done a cheese fondue before, but have talked about doing one for a long time. So the day before Valentines Day Adam was like, "You're going to do a cheese fondue, aren't you?" At first I was like, "Wrong! (short pause) You suck! How did you guess that?!" Well, after that, I began to see the fruitlessness of trying to keep it all a secret, especially since he was at the grocery store with me when I bought the stuff for the remaining courses. I banished him to our room while I set everything up, since the picnic aspect was about the only "surprise" remaining. I tried doing candlelight for ambiance, but it was way too dark, so I turned the hall light on--how's that for romantic lighting? :) As you may notice, we do not own a proper picnic blanket, so an old comforter from college had to suffice. I also hope you appreciate the large mixing bowl containing the bottle of blueberry lemonade on ice. That was a last minute idea, so I worked with what I had on hand.This was our dessert--molten chocolate surprise. It was so good that I made it again the next night. My excuse was that it was Valentines weekend, so it was okay to have such a rich dessert two nights in a row. The best part was that it is so easy to make--the whole thing takes about 15 minutes from start to finish. If anyone wants the recipe, here's a link for it: http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/recipes/molten-chocolate-surprise-74129.aspx As mentioned, we were on a tight budget this Valentines Day, so we agreed that we wouldn't get each other presents, and I made Adam swear he wouldn't get me any flowers. What a strict, romance-hating wife I am! Little did I know, however, that Adam had already bought something for me in January, the little cheater. He got me a bottle of one of my favorite perfumes--I actually already have a bottle of it, but I dropped it a few months ago and the nozzle broke, rendering it unuseable. I was so upset about it, since the bottle was still mostly full, so I was definitely surprised at his thoughtfulness. As for me, I made him a card. I would say this is an accurate comparison of Valentines gifts. It's the thought that counts, though, right?

And just because I can't have a blog post without Lily in it, here is a recent picture of her looking coy.

One!

2008-11-19T17:51:00.001-08:00

Okay, I started this post over a month ago, but I've obviously been quite lazy about blogging of late, so I'm forcing myself to finish it, thereafter to take another blogging sabatical, and you can all read all about Christmas sometime around Valentine's Day. ;)

Lily's first birthday was on the 14th (of November), and we celebrated in grand style. We made a new play area for her in the office and she enjoyed playing with her new Little People sets.

We went to the airport later that morning to pick up Adam's sister, Ashley, who had flown in just for the occassion. We went to a kid's play cafe for lunch and Lily had a blast!

The birthday hat didn't go so well--she kept pulling it off and finally the elastic band snapped and whipped her just under her eye, poor kid. I managed to snap these prior to the near blinding incident.

Lily had a mountain of birthday presents to go through. Ufortunately she was not up to the challenge and got rather distracted by whatever she had just opened to go onto the next gift, so we had to help her a good deal.

And finally the cake! The pictures say it all.

Happy Birthday Lily!

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-08T18:05:00.000-08:00

We had a great Halloween, and didn't even have to traipse around local neighborhoods panhandling for candy. Ok, so that actually sounds like fun to me, but we'll have to wait until next year.

Normally Tiffany is not a fan of bugs in the house (understatement of the year), but she didn't seem to mind when this rather large (or small depending on your perspective) ladybug showed up.

We had a couple of friends join us for dinner and a rousing few games of Catch Phrase. I pretty much rocked it, but not so much for Tiffany. After that we enjoyed watching a nice Halloween movie, "The Others." We even had a decent number of trick-or-treaters come by. My personal favorite was the 40-year-old lady with no costume, no kid and a plastic bag in her hand. She asked for some candy for her and her granddaughter. Hmmm.... I gave her the vanilla Tootsie Rolls.

This being Lily's first Halloween we took a ridiculous amount of pictures, but we'll spare you all those. Here are some of our favorites from the evening.

Autumn Activities

2008-10-28T16:08:00.000-07:00

Fall has come and gone in Michigan--or at least it sure feels like it has. Just a couple of weeks ago the leaves were at their peak colors, the sun was warm, and the air was refreshingly brisk. Now the bitter chill of winter has set in (hopefully only temporarily, but I'm not holding my breath). Inspite of this, I have been thoroughly enjoying autumn. We're making the most of what Michigan has to offer--for example, apple orchards and cider mills are abundant in this party of the country, so Lily and I have visited a couple of them. Let me tell you, cider donuts are pretty tasty. A couple of weeks ago we went to one orchard that also had a pumpkin patch as well as a huge play area and a petting zoo.

A friend of mine from my mission, Lynne Johnson, came out to visit us for a week, so we had a lot of fun visiting some beautiful sights and taking in all of the fall colors. Now that it's absolutely freezing, I guess that means it's time for Halloween. I'll try to be a bit more prompt posting pictures of Lily in her costume lest I am forced to endure more "friendly reminders" that several of you have been so kind in bestowing. :)

Man cannot live on chocolate alone; but woman sure can

2008-09-12T14:46:00.000-07:00

Lily passed one of life's major milestones this week--her first taste of chocolate. That this event even occurred in the manner that it did is either proof of my inferior supervision or a result of fate. I prefer to believe the latter--yes, the cacao gods were watching over us that day. While Lily was taking her nap, I sat down on the couch with my book and a bag of chocolate chips. "So, it was that kind of day, was it, Tiff?" was Adam's smart response when I told him the story later that night. No! I only had a small handful of chocolate chips--probably no more than 15, so don't go imagining things. Anyway, in a moment of forgetfulness, I failed to put the chocolate chips away and left them on the couch. Well, after Lily had woken up, I went to check my email while she played in the living room. After a while, I noticed how quiet it was--never a good sign. I walked back into the room to see the Hersheys bag on the floor and chocolate chips strewn everywhere. Lily, of course, was stuffing her grubby little face with fistfuls of them! I grabbed the bag, cleaned up the mess and managed to find the humor in the situation as I wiped all of the chocolate off her chin. I think her belly looks sufficiently full in this shot. I dare say she savored every morsel.

A Day in the Life of Lily

2008-09-05T12:37:00.001-07:00

I've taken a few pictures to document a typical day for Lily. It was hard to capture her true essence in some of these because she's a poser, and as soon as she sees the camera she cheeses it (then again, maybe that says more about her personality than her natural expressions do).

One of Lily's favorite things to do is help me load and unload the dishwasher. By help, I mean hold onto the door and push the bottom rack back and forth, grab utensils and occasionally try to sneak pieces of food off the inside of the door--I have to watch her carefully to keep her from doing the latter.

There is but one step in the entire house--from the kitchen down into the office. Rather than buy a baby gate, we made good use of our water bottle supply. Whenever I am on the computer, Lily likes to stand there and yell at me while pounding her hand down on the top of the cases--just so I know she's there. It's one of her favorite spots in the house--this is primarily where she learned how to pull herself up to stand.

Nap time--I bet you've never seen a kid so happy to take a nap! :)

Now I know this picture is a little blurry, but that is because the swing is in motion. Of late, Lily isn't content with just sitting and swinging. No, she has to turn herself around and stand up. She'll just stand there, like she's scaling a mountain or something, as she swings back and forth. She also does this in her stroller when we're out walking. I'll be looking around, taking in our surroundings, and look down to see Lily's head peeking over the top of the stroller, just staring at me. I guess I'll have to start strapping her in.

Bathtime! Several times a week Lily has approximately 15 minutes to swim and splash around in the tub. She ultimately always becomes overly fascinated with the drain, however, sticking her fingers through the holes and whatnot, so that often ends bathtime prematurely, much to her disappointment.

Playing with her activity table: normally she's not nude when she does this, but she apparently got away from Adam after he changed her diaper prior to her bath.

Lily crawls occasionally--rarely is probably the more accurate term. Mostly she just scoots around on her stomach, propelling herself forward by digging her toes into the floor and pushing. She'll do about 5 or 6 scoots, rest her head on the floor, face down, as if she's given up on life, then resume with another 5 or 6 scoots until she reaches her destination. She's usually trying to sneak into the bathroom, for some reason.

Ah, milk--sweet nectar of life.

Playtime with dad. Lily waits at the window for Adam to get home (mostly because I prop her up on the sofa to watch as he's coming up the walk). She loves to play with her dad--they have all sorts of games they play and she's finally figured out there's somebody else in the house just as goofy as she is!

Ah, the VCR. This is one of those ever-so enticing, off-limits areas for Lily, thus the basis of its appeal (kind of like the bathroom). She likes to stick her hands in the tape slot on the VCR and push as many buttons as she can find (before we got this TV armoire, it was her feet that were always in the slot, as the VCR was closer to the ground). She also enjoys the stereo and any CDs or DVDs that happen to be within her grasp. Isn't that a nice shot of Doug Heffernan on the TV?There are many other elements to Lily's day, of course, but I think this helps to capture some of them. Several of these are just repeated multiple times throughout the day, but they all add up to her being an active and curious little girl who takes great enjoyment in exploring her world.

I love baseball!!

2008-08-30T20:32:00.000-07:00

Adam, Lily and I went to the Tigers/Royals game Saturday night, and even though the game was crappy (Tigers lost, 3-13), our seats were awesome! Adam got free tickets for us to sit in the GM Suite--right behind homeplate (just up a few levels). This was the first (and only, more than likely) game we've gone to this season, as well as Lily's first-ever baseball game. This was by far the way to do it--I can't imagine her doing as well as she did if we were in the normal seating area. To start off, all of Adam's co-workers were excited to finally meet Lily and even though she was a little shy to start off, she eventually warmed up and had a blast. She was still a little solemn when we shot this first picture.

But not long into the game, she was back to being her nerdy self.

Better luck next time Tigers.

Our 2nd Anniversary

2008-08-29T10:49:00.000-07:00

Adam and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary on Monday. It's crazy that it's been two years since we got married. We kept our anniversary pretty low key, but it was a lot of fun. The weather was beautiful that day--more like fall, much to Adam's chagrin--so we laid a blanket down in the backyard to enjoy the cooler temperature. We watched a slideshow I made with pictures of our last two years together and shared some of our favorite things we love about each other.

Lily was mildly pleasant while we enjoyed a nice dinner. She played on the floor for about 5 minutes before having to be picked up.

Anyway, it's been a great two years and we're looking forward to many more!

Virginia Vacay

2008-07-25T17:28:00.000-07:00

by Adam
Every summer all the U.S. automakers observe a union-mandated summer shutdown period for two weeks, so for us that meant vacation! We enjoyed a nice, long two weeks in Virginia with my family; a much needed vacation for all of us. Don't be deceived by this cute picture of Bean (aka "Lily") in her car seat, it was definitely a grueling 14-hour drive from Michigan to Virginia. Thank you D.C. traffic! We decided to leave at 4 a.m. on a Saturday so Lily would sleep for the first bit. The only problem with that was that I wanted to sleep too! Despite being tired, I wasn't about to let Tiffany be the one to start the road trip. It's just too emasculating. Once there, we wasted no time in getting out to play. Monday morning, sans Bean, we went with my brother and sister to Virginia Beach for the afternoon. It was nice, but a little cooler than we expected, hence the reason Tiffany spent a grand total of five minutes in the water. I'm sure her fear of sharks may have had something to do with her reluctance to get in the water (Let me [Tiff] interject that there were scores of jellyfish as well as a pod--yes, a pod--of dolphins, and everyone knows that where there are dolphins, there are sharks). The following day, Tiffany and I, once again minus the kid, ventured out to Busch Gardens Europe for the day. The day started off well with a ride on one of the smaller roller coasters, but started to deteriorate as we rode more rides. Much to my horror, Tiffany is not a good theme park companion. After just a few rides her stomach was churning and she was pretty much done for the day! Hard to believe, I know. We almost left early, but Tiffany sucked it up and stayed for a few more hours. One of the highlights was my riding (alone) the newest coaster there, Griffon.

It was intense, but would have been more fun with my wife. :( (Tiff again--let me just say that it was quite disheartening for me to find that I no longer had the stomach of steel I once had as a child.) We got a 7 day pass to the park, which included Water Country, the water park, which we both thoroughly enjoyed. We went with my parents to Busch Gardens a few days later and brought Lily along this time.We took her on her first ride--the carousel, which she seemed to enjoy.

We stayed for the fireworks display, but the day proved to be too much for Lily, and she somehow managed to sleep through them.

We also had time to go to Colonial Williamsburg. We had a nice afternoon walking around the settlement and taking advantage of the tourist photo opportunities. I think these stocks may become more useful when Lily is a little older!

This picture demonstrates who the real center of attention was on our trip--Tiff and I can't complain--it was nice to constantly have multiple people vying for time with Lily. We managed to go to our first movie since Lily was born--we saw Hancock and were both somewhat unimpressed, but it was nice to once again grace the seats of a movie theater.
We went to see my brother, Alex, in Richmond--since we'd never been there before we figured we should take at least one picture, so here it is--good, ol' Stonewall Jackson.
Tiffany's one request for the trip was to go to The Cheesecake Factory, so we went with my parents and sister, Ashley. I'm not a big fan of their food, but when the wife sets her mind on something I've learned it's best to acquiesce. The cheesecake was good and Lily was even allowed a bite of some whipped cream. Little did we know that she had no intention of stopping at one bite. We figured since we were indulging, we'd let her do the same.

After lunch we went to the beach at Fort Story, an Army training facility. The beaches were beautiful and clean, with white sand, beach grasses blowing in the wind, and a couple of lighthouses--very picturesque.

(we love how unsuspecting my dad looks in the picture on the right--little did he know that wave behind us was about to drench him)

Overall, it was an eventful trip. We had a lot of fun just hanging out with my family and taking it easy--which, of course made it all that much harder to have to return to normal life, but we're glad we were able to make the trip.

Where do your loyalties lie?

2008-07-24T10:30:00.001-07:00

I know I'm absolutely ridiculous, but I just don't care! For the last couple of weeks I've completely engrossed myself in the world of Twilight in anticipation of the release of Breaking Dawn, the final book in the series (except for Midnight Sun, of course--follow this link for further information: http://stepheniemeyer.com/midnightsun.html). Yes, I admit that Twilight is my secret shame--my guilty pleasure--for which I feel neither shame nor guilt. :) And I'd be willing to bet that the majority of people who actually read this blog have already pre-ordered their copy of Breaking Dawn (you know who you are). At the risk of creating a rift in my marriage, I feel compelled that I must profess that I am unequivocally cheering for Team Edward. August 2nd can't get here soon enough!!

A Mover and Shaker

2008-07-22T05:57:00.000-07:00

Things are quickly changing around our house--Lily has started to crawl within the last week, which means my procrastination of baby-proofing our house has finally caught up with me, so I am now trying to put up some makeshift barriers to keep her away from the entertainment center and electrical cords and other such tempting objects. Rolling had been her previous method of getting from point A to point B, but she finally figured out how to get her legs to work. Unfortunately, she could only go in reverse for a while. For several days, this is what I found each time I walked into the living room. She was always in the same spot, her head just poking out from under the futon. Now, however, she has figured out how to scoot forward. Her preferred system is a combination of scooting and rolling to get to whatever has attracted her attention--usually something exciting like a bottle of lotion or a phone charger. Heaven forbid she want to play with one of her toys! Anyway, all of this activity tends to wear her out, so she's been sleeping quite well. I was checking on her during her afternoon nap the other day to find her like this.
She's got all of that space and yet 9 times out of 10, I find her pressed up against the rails of her crib. Oh well, whatever works for her.

GM River Days

2008-06-24T07:20:00.001-07:00

This last weekend marked a big event in downtown Detroit--GM River Days. It's a four day festival on the Detroit International Riverfront (Windsor, Canada is on the other side of the river) . It included games, rides, music, food, exhibits, and fireworks.
We went on Saturday and were lucky to take everything in just before a huge rainstorm began. It was quite a bit of fun--we got to see some jet ski performances--I was amazed at the stuff those guys (and girls) can do! Adam's favorite thing was watching the Ultimate Air Dogs--dock jumping dogs that run and jump off a platform into a pool and compete to see who gets the longest distance. We let Lily splash around in a couple of fountains and entered some raffles/sweepstakes things. Lily won a DVD at one booth.

They also had an impressive display of classic cars. Here is Adam in front of a '57 Chevy Bellaire.
You can see the ominous clouds above. We had to book it back to the Renaissance Center to beat the downpour. Because we had Lily's stroller we had to go up the wheelchair ramp, which is just a lot of switchbacks. As the rain started coming down we scrapped that idea and carried her up the stairs in it and made a mad dash for shelter. Good times!

Father's Day!

2008-06-14T18:12:00.000-07:00

Father's Day was a weekend celebration in our house, regardless if Adam noticed, or not. Saturday started off with me trying to keep Lily quiet and entertained so he could sleep in. When he woke up I made us a nice, healthy breakfast, which was followed by a long walk to the local farmer's market in downtown Farmington. Before we left, Adam was complaining that he didn't have anything to wear, so I decided to grace him with an early Father's Day present. He finally got a Detroit Tiger's hat as well as a new T-shirt.
We had planned on trying to find some vegetable plants at the market to take home with us but didn't find anything to our liking. Instead we went to Quiznos and had lunch. I consider the trip a success. I had a good laugh when I pointed out to Adam that he had overlooked the sizing sticker on the front of his shirt and had been walking around all day with it like that. It was a fun, laid-back morning. Adam--always the optimist--noted that if it weren't for the high gas prices, we probably wouldn't have even thought of going out for a morning stroll, which is probably true. We've tried to curb our driving as much as possible and, hence, have started walking more. Let me tell you, though--it was a hot walk home--I felt like I was suffocating in my jeans--if only Lily hadn't vomited all over my shorts the night before! Once we got home we filled Lily's swimming pool up and let her splash around for a while.

On Sunday Adam enjoyed yet another day of sleeping in, followed by a much-slaved-over breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes. The one thing he asked for for father's day was a nap. He attempted to take one, but the quality, I fear, was less than stellar; Lily had just woken up from her nap as he went to lay down, and she's usually rather vocal after she gets up. I walked into the bedroom to find Adam with a pillow over his face in an attempt to muffle her squawking. I ended up taking her out for a walk. We tried to grill for dinner, but apparently the charcoal we bought is rather cheap and was not cooking the chicken satisfactory to Adam's taste, so we scrapped that and threw it in the oven. I think it turned out fine.
(If Nat is reading this, please note there is not one, but two bottles of spray butter on the table).
Adam and his little buddy before she went to bed (try to ignore the messy spit up stain on her shirt). Happy Father's Day Adam!

Feasting on the Words of Christ

2008-05-31T10:57:00.000-07:00

Somehow I don't think this is quite what Nephi had in mind. This afternoon I left Lily in the living room with some toys and put on a DVD for her to watch so I could clean up the kitchen. She was having a great time, laughing, squealing, and so forth. I noticed after a while she was no longer sitting up, but laying on her stomach. I could only see her legs because the Love Sac was blocking my view. Normally she gets mad when she's on her tummy, but she seemed to be fine, so I didn't think anything of it. Then after 5-10 minutes I began to wonder what was keeping her occupied so intently. I walked over to find she had gotten hold of my Ensign and had wrinkled, shredded, slobbered all over, and eaten (apparently) the first page of Elder Bednar's talk.
For shame! Does this look like the face of one who is remorseful for what they have done? I didn't think so either.

Mother's Day '08

2008-05-15T07:18:00.000-07:00

Sunday marked my first official mother's day--I say official because we kind of celebrated it last year since I was pregnant at the time. Overall, it was a pretty good day. The whole weekend was actually quite nice. On Saturday I went to the Detroit Institute of Arts (by myself!) to see a special exhibit. It was one of my birthday gifts from Adam--a day to myself to go to the museum. I'm not sure if that was because he was being thoughtful or that he just didn't want to go. Let me tell you, it was amazing--I spent a couple of hours perusing some incredible paintings. One of the highlights was part of the museum's permanent collection--an enormous mural by Diego River, housed in a large room called the Rivera Court. It was just overwhelming to see. I can't describe how huge this thing is--here's a picture so you can get a glimpse of its scale.
Moving on--later that afternoon, Adam, Lily and I went to the park and threw the Frisbee around--Lily didn't participate so much in that--she just chilled and watched us for about half an hour. I must say that Adam's Frisbee throwing ability has improved quite a bit over the years. Sunday was cold and rainy, alas, but it was still quite nice. Lily surprised me with a wonderful gift--a good night of sleep (which is the same thing she gave me last Christmas, but I'll take it). Adam gave me cold, hard cash to spend on whatever I wanted (mainly because I tell him something new I want every other day so he had no idea which thing to get), and the double CD set of Ghostbusters I and II (kind of an inside joke)--what a great husband. He also had sent me a beautiful bouquet of flowers on Friday.
On Sunday he took care of Lily all day at church and that afternoon so I could just sit back and relax. You might note that Lily has become much more photogenic when having her picture taken. She gets very excited and just smiles as soon as we whip out the camera (which happens quite a bit around here).

Having Fun!

2008-04-20T21:36:00.000-07:00

Lily and I were playing for a while before dinner and she was in one of her (rare) non-fussy moods, so I recorded it on our camera. Don't ask me why the color is weird--I haven't figured it out yet. The background noise is a little overbearing--I was watching a documentary for the John Wayne movie The Searchers at the time, so try to ignore it.

At long last.....

2008-04-08T09:01:00.001-07:00

So I've been getting crap from about every person I know about not updating my blog, so you can all finally sleep at night knowing that I have at long last put up a new post. :) In spite of the wintery weather, we had a great Easter holiday.

Here is a picture of Lily in her pretty, little Easter dress. I had an Easter dress as well, but it was too cold to wear it--what's with Easter being in March!?

Adam's sister, Ashley, came to stay with us for a week and we had a lot of fun. She was gracious enough to babysit for us, so Adam and I went out on a date for the first time since Lily was born! As mentioned, it's been a while since I've posted anything, so there have naturally been some new developments, as far as Lily is concerned. She is a week shy of 5 months and has passed several fun milestones in the last month. Allow me to illustrate a few of them for you:

Lily has discovered she has feet. Every time I put her on her changing table she instantly grabs 0ne of her legs or feet (she tends to favor the right). It wasn't long after that, that her mouth also disovered her feet, as you can see.

Lily has started eating rice cereal. It didn't go so well at first, but she's got it down now and enjoys it (I think). She looks like a spastic little bird when she eats, and though it would appear otherwise, she does get more in her mouth than she does on her face.

Miraculously, Lily will now take a bottle! Sweet freedom!! She only gets one bottle a day, but I can't even begin to tell you how much of a relief it is to know that I have a little more leeway with leaving her with Adam to go to the store or somewhere and not have to be back within 2 hours. If she's in a reclined position, she can give herself the bottle--she does a pretty good job of holding it.

Lily has an occassional moment of tranquility during tummy time. Usually she is red-faced and screaming, but she is starting to have sessions where she will just play and even smile!

Lily has also learned how to drive a car. Okay, not really, but she did have a fun time at GM World at the Renaissance Center, where Adam works. She particularly liked the Corvette.

Sadly, she has had a bout of acid reflux, and wasn't putting on much weight. She was about 11 1/2 pounds at her 4 month check, so I had to take her back every week for several weeks so they could keep weighing her. She is taking some medicine to help with the reflux and she now weighs in at 12 pounds 4 ounces!

Other things that have transpired: I celebrated my 27th birthday last week. It was a fun-filled day of doing laundry and packing clothes for my Utah trip and trying to keep Lily happy--it didn't go so well. I flew out to Utah the next day for a 3 week trip. It was my first time flying alone with Lily, so I was a little nervous, but she was so good! It was a nonstop flight (about 4 hours) and she was as happy as can be. The flight attendants were just fawning over her and a woman sitting in the row in front of us asked if she could hold her to give me a break. Let's hope she does okay on our return flights. Adam got to go to the New York auto show a few weeks ago and then went to a conference in New Jersey last week and then will be in Arkansas this week. In spite of the cold weather I've decided that it is spring in my book, and have hence started wearing flip flops every day. It's my small way of protesting this unrelenting winter season--doesn't it know that spring started on March 20?! Anyway, I solemnly swear that I'll do my utmost to keep the posts coming.

I'm not doing it!

2008-02-18T08:13:00.000-08:00

Poor Adam--he's so good about switching out Lily's diaper trash bags, but the other day fate dealt him a cruel hand.
I just looked at him and said, "Have fun with that." He squealed after touching the first one to find it was wet, so I told him where he could find a rubber glove to finish the job.

Tagged

2008-02-13T10:03:00.000-08:00

It was bound to happen eventually. There are so many of these tags going around, I can't keep them all straight--this is the first time I've seen this one, though, so here goes:

What is your husband's name?
Adam (isn't he handsome?)

How long have you been together?
married for 1 1/2 years

How long did you date?
We dated for 6 months, got engaged, and were married 3 months later.

Who eats more?
Usually Adam, but I think I surpassed him while I was pregnant

Who said "I love you" first.
Ha! Definitely Adam! We had only been dating for 2 weeks, so I was taken aback by the suddenness of it. And I'll just tell you my oh-so-clever-reply, because I know he'll just post a comment if I don't. No, I didn't say "I love you" back, but rather stammered as I replied "Ummm...I think I may be feeling something similar..." What can I say? I'm nothing if not eloquent.

Who asked who out first?
Adam asked me out after I dazzled him at Family Home Evening one night.

Who has more speeding tickets?
Um, we may have the same number--I recently received my first ever speeding ticket, which I'm still really ticked about!

Who is smarter?
it depends on the subject. (I am)

Who is more sensitive?
we're probably equally sensitive--if the question was 'Who is more emotional?', then it would be me, but only since the pregnancy

When there is a fight, who usually wins?
I can hold my own in a wrestling match, but I assume this question refers more to arguments rather than coming to physical blows. I guess I'm one of those saps who thinks no one wins in a fight, but if you mean who is usually right? Me. :)

Who does the laundry?
Me.

Who does the dishes?
Both of us--Adam usually clears up the table after dinner and will wash up.

Who sleeps on the right?
From the viewpoint of laying on the bed, Adam sleeps on the right side

Who pays the bills?
Adam

Who mows the lawn?
Adam

Who cooks dinner?
Me

Who drives when you are together?
We alternate who drives

Who is more stubborn?
Uh, I don't know. I don't think either of us is exceptionally stubborn

Who kissed whom first?
Adam--we had just watched Rocky IV at my apartment in honor of Dolph Lundgren's (aka Ivan Drago aka the Russian) 48th birthday. My roommates made themselves scarce (kind of--my roommate Elizabeth was getting ready for bed when she realized what was going on and tried to slip into her room unnoticed). :)

Who proposed.
Again, Adam. Almost everything he had planned went wrong. The ring, which we were having custom made, almost was barely finished on time (he proposed on our 6 month anniversary), the spot he had planned on doing it at had to be changed because of rain, and my roommates, who were helping him, didn't get his text messages to go and set things up until we were already on our way to the spot! It all worked out though--he took me to a park in Orem I liked and had a pavilion set up with a hundred tea lights and some Calla lilies (my favorite flower) and asked me. He surprised me with the ring, which he had been lying to me about for weeks, saying it was going to be a lot longer until it was finished, much to my angst, so I slapped him around a little when I saw he had had it that whole time and had fabricated the whole thing!

Who has more siblings?
Me, by 1

The End.

I'll just throw in a quick summary of our Valentines Day. Adam surprised me with some beautiful calla lilies and some Godiva chocolate truffles. Then we (meaning the three of us) went out for sushi. We were kind of nervous to take Lily out to eat with us because the last time we attempted it she screamed the whole time--she was an angel this time, so it was fantastic! We also stopped at the library to pick up a copy of Somewhere in Time to watch--Adam says it is pretty much the worst movie ever made, and reinforced his opinion of it by mocking it all the way through. It was a pretty low-key Valentines Day, but it was fun.

All Dressed Up

2008-02-10T10:57:00.000-08:00

I was so happy to find that Lily is now big enough to fit into some of her Sunday dresses rather than just wearing Onesies and sleepers each week. Her nana bought this cute, Winnie the Pooh dress for her while I was still pregnant, and she and Aunt Ashley bought her these cute little shoes.

Adam says this is proof, that like most kids, she does not like to get dressed up. I think she was just ticked off that day.

She was a little happier the next time we went to church. I got this dress from my mom and dad's when we were in Utah--it was actually one of my dresses. I wore it so much that once I outgrew it as a dress, I wore it as a shirt.

Dad and Bean: Mortal Enemies Forever?

2008-02-09T10:23:00.000-08:00

I should mention that Lily is still referred to by Adam and I as "Bean", which we started calling her when she looked like this (it should be obvious why--we haven't been able to move past it). It's got to the point where I need to consciously make an effort to call her Lily.

Anyway, there are a lot of little quibs that Adam says to her over and over again, such as, "What a good baby!" (usually in a baby voice), and "I'm not going to lie--this is a pretty cute kid." One of his favorites, however, which I assume came about due to the stress of adjusting to life with a frequently fussy baby is, "Bean and Dad...mortal enemies forever." It is, of course, the exact opposite of my frequent expression, "Bean and Mom...friends forever." Then again I do get to spend all day wit her when she's cute and playful, while Adam often gets the nightime fussiness of a baby who's ready to be put to bed. I had noticed, a couple of weeks ago that she was starting to get a lot more smiley during the day. I kept telling Adam this, but he never saw the evidence of it because it usually takes place in the afternoon. Then, one Sunday during Sacrament Meeting, she started a smiling, cooing and laughing-fest. Adam was enamored--he just couldn't believe it. As Lily continues to mature (she's just shy of 3 months), she gets less fussy and more friendly. The other day when Adam was holding her he started his rant, "Bean and Dad...." to which I quickly interjected, "...friends forever." He agreed, so it looks like they are friends...for now. I decided I would post some of the cute pictures of the two of them together. I keep telling Adam that we only have pictures of him with Lily--probably because I'm always the one behind the camera--pretty much everything she does I deem picture worty--it's like an endless photoshoot at our house.

Adam's first pictures with Lily

This is Adam's idea of taking care of the baby

Twins

Bathtime

The Pacifier

2008-02-09T05:57:00.000-08:00

The pacifier, which in this household is known as Binky, had been a losing battle with Lily...until about a week ago. Initially we were told that we shouldn't introduce a pacifier to her for at least a month because it might cause her to develop "nipple confusion" and she might have difficulties breastfeeding because of it. Whatever. While we were still in the hospital, the nursery brought her back to us one morning with a pacifier in her mouth and we figured if they gave it to her, then we wouldn't be the ones to take it away.

Well, she did pretty good with it for about 2 weeks. After that, she decided she didn't like it anymore and would only chew on it or push it around with her tongue. It only stayed in her mouth if one of us held it in for her. Let me tell you how much fun that was--especially when I would take her to the grocery store and she would start fussing. My trips consisted of me pushing the cart with one hand while holding in her pacifier with the other and getting virtually no shopping done. That led to Saturday shopping trips where Adam could accompany us and push her around while I did the weekly shopping. My mom kept telling me to try a NUK pacifier, but I was told that the Soothie pacifier, like the one the hospital had given us, was more natural for babies to suck on and was supposedly more like a real nipple. My dad's smart remark to that, "I'd hate to run into that woman on a cold day."

Regardless, we decided to experiment with the various pacifiers I had received at baby showers. Alas, it was to no avail. They all produced the same result.

I was resigned to the fact that she just wouldn't take a pacifier. Even her doctor tried to get her to take it and told me that some babies are just very opinionated and know what they like and don't like, and, apparently, the pacifier was something she did not like. Well, when we went to Utah for a quick trip, my mom had bought a NUK for her to try. A miracle happened. She started to suck on it! I was elated--it was the highlight of my day! However, it came with a catch. As she was a novice at it, she kept dropping it, so you still had to hold it in her mouth. I had a "brilliant" idea one day. There were two little holes on the side of the pacifier, so I came up with the plan of threading some elastic through them and strapping it around her head like a mask. Well, the holes were a little high, so it kept pulling the pacifier up and out of her mouth--it made for a good picture at least.

Like I said, it's been about a little over a week since her pacifier was introduced to her and I'm proud to say she's doing much better with it. We don't really need to hold it in for her anymore, though she does drop it still, but she's getting better at it every day. I was actually able to go grocery shopping without Adam this week and she did great! And doesn't she look so cute with it? Now if we could just get her to like tummy time.

Meatball Sub Night

2008-01-22T07:30:00.000-08:00

So two Sundays ago Adam had to work at the International North American Auto Show all day. Lily and I went to church and got home around 3 p.m. I was starving because I hadn't had anything to eat before church so I wanted something quick to fix. We have some frozen turkey meatballs from Costco (we got suckered into buying them by the sample ladies), and I had just bought a loaf of French bread, so I decided to make a meatball sub. It was sooooo good! I think I talked about how good it was on the phone with Adam that night for like 5 minutes. Well, this last Sunday Adam voted for meatball subs for dinner since I had been talking about it all week. This picture actually makes it look absolutely disgusting (some might think that regardless...) but I assure you it was great. I made them kind of big because we weren't having anything else with them, and Adam couldn't believe I would actually make something like that for him to eat--I'm usually trying to force vegetables and stuff down him. I don't think he minded the change--of course now we have to eat salads for the rest of the week. :)

2008-01-22T07:00:00.000-08:00

Lily had her 2 month well baby check last week and though it was fun to see how much she has grown ( she is now 10 lbs 11 oz and 23 inches long), it was not a fun visit because it was shot day. She got four vaccinations--two in each thigh and she did not like it. The nurse had me hold her hands while she gave them to her. Lily did alright for the first one--didn't even seem to phase her, but as the nurse was about to give her the second one she said, "This one will hurt." and it did! Lily instantly started screaming, turned bright red, and just clutched my fingers in her little fists. I confess I started to tear up watching it. She spent the rest of the afternoon napping and being held, because I felt so bad for her. This is the next morning--she's displaying a couple of her bandages and you can see she feels much better.

One of the things her doctor stressed we need to vigilant about is doing tummy time. We haven't been the best with it because Lily seems to hate it. Alas, it is for the best. She needs to develop those muscles, plus it keeps her off her back--you can see the developing stripe of hair loss on the back of her head from where it has been rubbing off when she lies on her back. She still hates tummy time, but she gets in about 30 minutes a day.

A couple of things that have been recently introduced to her--a vibrating bouncer--she stares down the toys and likes to hit the one on the far right.

Also, her new friend, the fish rattle. Usually I'm the one holding it and shaking it for her, but she held onto for a few minutes.

Yesterday was a bittersweet day because as we were getting Lily dressed for the day, we found that with all of this growing, she has finally outgrown her first outfit. We can button it up, she just can't straighten her legs out all the way.

I also found that she can now wear a few of her 3 month outfits. This is her frog outfit. I had to buy it when I saw it because she always does frog legs--especially when she is getting her diaper changed.

Goober

2008-01-13T14:42:00.001-08:00

Here are just a few random pictures of Lily--she's kind of a nerd. I promise eventually I'll start to post something other than pictures of her, but I don't have a lot going on outside of her right now. The first picture is from Christmas Eve--she was horrible all day, but there was about a 30-40 second window that night where she smiled and was just so cute and I managed to get this picture--note the baby vomit all over Adam's shirt. The second picture is of her in her new hat. My Visiting Teaching companion bought this for her and I just love it. The final picture is one Adam took last night. It's kind of blurry because she was swinging, but she looks like a little sumo wrestler with her cheeks puffed out.

Lily's Blessing

2008-01-08T05:23:00.000-08:00

This weekend was great because Lily was blessed and we both were able to have family come for it. Adam and I were anxious that she would be a screamer (because she does that so well), but she did a great job. In fact Adam's dad said she was smiling through the whole blessing. I gave my dad the pacifier as he was getting up just in case things took a turn for the worse. Adam gave her a beautiful blessing--it was a good day. She looked so cute in her little dress and bonnet--she kind of looks like a Puritan or something.

It was her debut at church as well, and she did okay through the Sacrament, but after that I had to continuously entertain her with a variety of bounces, swings and constantly changing positions to keep her happy. She was pretty fussy during all of Sunday School so Adam and I traded off walking her around the halls. She finally slept for the last half hour of Relief Society. I think this is just a shade of things to come. She was kind of ticked off and ready for a good, long nap by the time we got home from church, as is evident in our picture with her.

Behind the Scenes: The Real Lily Denison

2007-12-28T13:30:00.000-08:00

Don't be deceived by all of the cute, peaceful pictures--this is Lily's true character.

Though she has been getting better at being a good baby, she still likes to keep us on our toes trying to appease her and keep her happy.

Christmas Morning

2007-12-26T14:24:00.000-08:00

Christmas did not start early in the Denison household this year. Lily decided to give Mom and Dad (mostly Mom) a great Christmas present by sleeping for 7 straight hours the night of Christmas Eve, followed by another 3 1/2 hours. Hence we woke up sometime after 9:00 a.m. It was heaven! We tried to help Lily feel involved that morning but I don't think she fully appreciated our efforts. Doesn't she look excited? :)

Since it was just the three of us, Christmas was very subdued, but we had a nice time. We opened presents that morning and lounged about for a while. I spent the day baking and we watched a couple of Christmas movies. We got to talk to our families (that makes it sound like we're missionaries or something), went for a walk, which turned into a drive because Lily was bawling, and enjoyed a nice Christmas dinner.

Note the picture of Adam holding Lily while he eats--she has uncanny timing to wake up and start crying just as we sit down to eat. I thought I would throw in a picture of our "amazing" Christmas tree--we now have a grand total of 5 Christmas ornaments, apart from the cheap, little ball ornaments we bought so it wouldn't look so sparce. One strand of lights burned out a couple of weeks ago, but we didn't bother to take them down.

We hung some candy canes on it to dress it up a little--there were around 20 at first, but they began to disappear from the tree to fulfill the greater purpose of serving as hot chocolate stirring wands, hence there are now about 5 on the tree. My favorite part of all is our homemade tree topper....Behold! Maybe we'll get a real one next year. We hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Ready for bed

2007-12-12T12:37:00.000-08:00

After a few harrowing days and nights of little to no sleep, we found that swaddling Lily tightly helps her to sleep better. We read a book on colic, crying and sleeping that instructed us on how to do a very tight swaddle. It even mentioned that one couple would tape the blanket, once their baby was swaddled, to prevent it from coming loose. We tried it and it worked great. Lily's nightly ritual now is to get her diaper changed, swaddle her, tape her in, eat, then go to bed. It was about 3 a.m. when I tried it for the first time--Adam, who had been sleeping, was a little confused when he saw me standing over Lily, with a strip of packing tape in hand.

2 weeks old!

2007-11-28T10:55:00.001-08:00

Lily is officially 2 weeks old today--she just had her 2 week check and the doctor said she looks great. It's been an interesting 2 weeks, that is for sure. We've been getting used to the baby's schedule which consists mostly of eating and sleeping, though she manages to get in some good crying time each day--usually when I want to go to bed. :) Adam says she's definitely my daughter because she likes to take mid-morning naps--one of my favorite past times. That's actually when she does her best sleeping, which means that's when I get my best sleep. We were happy to have Adam's family drive up from Virginia to visit us for the Thanksgiving holiday, and we had a lot of fun. Adam went back to work yesterday and I was a little apprehensive at first, but Lily and I did fine. Below is one of Adam's favorite pictures--this is what we call her "Rocky stretch". She will raise on or both of her arms with her hands in little fists to stretch, and then she gets what we call the "Jimmy arm", where she jimmies or shakes her fist around mid-stretch. It's so cute. Anyway, I happened to get this picture just at the right moment as she was waking up from a nap (and yes, she is in her carseat--below you will see the sleeping arrangement that we've found works best for her).

Please, sir, may I have some more?

2007-11-21T11:02:00.000-08:00

Well, we've had some interesting fare at the Denison household lately. We have tried experimenting with making two types of soup, but neither turned out like we thought they would.

Black Bean Soup

Looks good doesn't it? Ok, maybe not, but this one was actually really good. Tiffany just got a little carried away with the pureeing. I felt a lot like a child in an early 1900s English orphanage. I couldn't help but quote the famous line from Oliver Twist as I ate this: "Please, sir, may I have some more?

Homemade Cream of Broccoli Soup

Remember that show on Nickelodeon called "You Can't Do That on Television"? Yeah, this soup reminded me alot of the slime from that show. Neither Tiffany nor I were very fond of this soup, so I made a quick dash for a Hot-N-Ready pizza from Little Caesars. We felt alot like the family in this commercial as we a tried to eat the soup.

Adam's Real Birthday

2007-11-19T11:00:00.000-08:00

As already posted, we celebrated Adam's birthday last week since we didn't know what his real birthday would hold as far as the baby being born. It was a pretty subdued day--we took Lily to her pediatrician so they could weigh her and check her for jaundice. We spent the day hanging out at the house--as you can see, Adam had fun with Lily watching Lord of the Rings. I told him he had to do something fun or at least go buy something with his birthday money on his actual birthday, so what did he decide to do? He went to Hooters to get some hot wings! He called in the order for pick up, but I told him it seemed he was gone longer than it should take to just pick up some hot wings. :)

THE BEAN ARRIVES!

2007-11-14T17:58:00.000-08:00

We are so excited to announce the arrival of Lily Mae Denison on November 14, 2007 at 12:03 a.m. She weighed in at 7 lbs. 12 oz. and is 20 3/4 inches in length. She is absolutely beautiful.

Tiffany started experiencing semi-regular contractions about 4 a.m. on Tuesday morning, but we weren't sure it was anything we needed to immediately go in for. The contractions continued throughout the day, but started to taper off leading us to believe that Tiffany may have just been experiencing some false labor. When we went to her regularly scheduled doctor's appointment, however, we were surprised to find out that she was between 2 and 3 cm dilated! The doctor told us we would probably be going into the hospital that night. We were to go in when Tiffany's contractions were five minutes apart for an hour.

Sure enough, from about 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. Tiffany started having contractions every three to seven minutes. It all seemed a bit surreal as I started loading up the car with our bags and other stuff we needed, but got even more surreal as we were driving to the hospital. I wanted to turn on the flashers and drive really fast to get there (like in the movies), but Tiffany wouldn't allow it. She's a spoil-sport. :)

Once we got to the hospital, we found out she was 5 cm along and they admitted her right away. By this point Tiffany was experiencing some very strong and very frequent contractions. Though it was really hard for me to watch Tiffany go through this, I'm sure it was nothing compared to what she was going through. When Tiffany was fully hydrated the anesthesiologist came in and gave her the epidural. Tiffany has yet to stop lauding the praises of epidurals!

Things began progressing very quickly after they broke her water. She went from 5 cm to 8 cm in a matter of minutes. 9 cm followed very soon thereafter. I learned quickly that 10 cm is the max and this is the time to start pushing.

About 11 p.m. Tiffany started getting overwhelming urges to push, but the nurses and doctor told her to hold off. Finally, they let Tiffany start pushing and not a minute too soon. 11 minutes from the time she started pushing, Lily Mae Denison made her mortal debut. It came so fast that the doctor was barely able to get his gown on before she came! It was an intensely overwhelming experience to see Lily for the first time. Both of us really lost it when she came out. She is absolutely the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.

Now we were are in our post partum room and our enjoying our new friend, Lily. She has been a little fussy tonight, but I think she's asleep for at least a few hours now. She is an immense joy to have around.

We have posted our other pictures of Lily on Flickr and on Facebook. There will be more to come.

Adam's 26th Birthday Celebration!

2007-11-09T17:50:00.000-08:00

Well, it was kind of a spur of the moment decision, but Adam decided he wanted to celebrate his birthday today. His birthday is actually the 17th--a week from Saturday--but since we are hoping to have a baby by then, we might be otherwise engaged and decided that today works as well as any other day. He picked Red Lobster for his birthday dinner and we stuffed ourselves--it was great! He got this huge shellfish platter--lobster, King crab legs, several kinds of shrimp and a baked potato. I opted for the Atlantic salmon--blackened with cajun spices (yum!), broccoli and a baked potato. We also pigged out on their cheese biscuits--I need to find a copy cat recipe for those. We could barely walk out of the restaurant, we were so full. Initially I didn't plan on letting him open his birthday presents, because I figured he can open them just as easily at the hospital on his actual birthday, if that ends up being the case, but then I changed my mind. He really wanted to open them tonight, so I caved. He put all of our wrapping paper and gift bags in the attic last week, so I ended up putting his presents in baby gift bags and wrapping them in tissue paper from some of the baby's shower gifts.
Adam got a 3-disc collection of Queen's Greatest Hits, a CD visor for the car, a new set of razor heads for his electric razor (which still has the original blades from when he was a junior in high school!!), some brown socks to go with his new blue suit (can't have a birthday without a pair of socks), and then he got the DVD for The Jungle Book and some money from my parents (Dad, I'm sure that comes as a surprise to you).

I made a chocolate cheesecake for him with raspberry sauce (it looks kind of like blood in this picture). We didn't have any birthday candles, sadly, so I lit a soy, peach-scented candle and had him make a wish. Happy Birthday Adam!

One week and counting (okay, just over a week, but close enough)

2007-11-07T17:32:00.000-08:00

So I was really hoping for an early delivery, but my doctor told me it looks like I still have a week or so. That's actually okay with me now because I started to get a cold yesterday. I've been so freakishly paranoid about getting sick and have been taking every percaution to avoid crowds and sick people, but alas, to no avail. It hasn't been quite as severe as my previous colds from this pregnancy, but I'm still not convinced it won't escalate to monumentous proportions as those did. I've been downing the Vitamin C and Zinc and have been resting up and drinking lots of water--let's hope that does the trick. The picture further down on the page of me sprawled out on the Lovesac is an accurate description of the last two days. Much to Adam's chagrin, I've been using his bathrobe as a blanket, but I say it's his fault that he left it draped over the Lovesac when he left for work on Monday. I felt sick and cold and it was within reaching distance--free game! I told him I'll wash it within the next day or two. Anyway, we'll keep everyone posted if there are any new developments...

Kute Kuddley or Kreepy?

2007-11-05T04:51:00.000-08:00

Don't get used to me posting quite this often, but I had to put this picture up--I couldn't stop laughing last night. We hung the baby's bath towel up on the towel rack in the our bathroom and Adam decided to try it on for fun. It's one of those hooded towels, and we decided it makes him look like a KKK member--a pink, fuzzy one, but nonetheless... Isn't he good for a laugh?

I can't believe I ate the whole thing

2007-11-04T10:25:00.000-08:00

My mom keeps telling me that I need to have Adam take some pictures of me now that I am full term with my pregnancy, so I thought I would post a few. As you can see, I'm pretty darn big. There's nothing but baby there, and I'm hoping she wants to come a week early. My bishop's wife told me that you know you're finally ready to have the baby once you would give anything to just not be pregnant anymore--I've officially reached that point. I've mastered the pregnancy waddle (you know how sumo wrestlers crouch and rock from side to side before rushing at their opponent--that's kind of how I imagine I look when I walk) and my maternity clothes have reached their limit--they can stretch no further. It's a never ending struggle to keep my pants up and my shirt down, needless to say, I don't got out much. As nice as it will be to have the baby here and to have my body back to myself, I must confess I am not looking forward to the "bread dough" stomach I've been told I can anticipate. My sister describes it as a big lump of skin that you'll pretty much be able to knead--lovely imagery, don't you agree? This last picture is the "artistic" pregnancy picture. Adam actually took this the day I finished working on the nursery.

I've receieved quite a variety of comments on how I look. My dad says I'm as big as a house (that was when I was 6 1/2 months pregnant--wonder what he'd say now?). About a month ago, another man--a complete stranger, mind you--asked me how far along I was and was shocked to hear I still had a month left. He then proceeded to ask me if I was carrying twins. And just in case he felt he hadn't got his point across how freakishly large I was, he then asked if all of my babies had been this big. I quickly informed him this was my first. I think he finally realized that he was only adding insult to injury and ceased fire. On the other hand, I've had 3 or 4 women come up to me at the grocery store to tell me how good I look and how well my weight is distrubited in carrying the baby. Either way, I feel huge and am really hoping this kid wants to hustle up and get here.

Minerva Teichert: Pageants in Paint

2007-11-02T11:03:00.000-07:00

Okay, everybody who is within a reasonable distance of BYU needs to attend this show. Luckily it will be up through May of next year, so you have some time before it closes, but I urge you not to wait too long. I was fortunate enough to work on this show, first as an intern and later as a curatorial assistant, for about a year. It was such a great experience and I learned so much about Minerva Teichert, especially through the opportunity I had to annotate her autobiography, which, though often quoted in articles written about her, had never, until now, been published. Stop by the MOA bookstore--my name is just inside the front cover of the exhibition catalogue (it's mispelled, but I'll take what I can get). :) The curator of the exhibit, Marian Wardle, and I were able to go on some fun trips in search of pieces to include in the show, including a harsh, winter drive to Rock Springs, Wyoming, and a trip to Mitt Romney's house in Deer Valley to look at a couple of murals he owns. It's been heart-wrenching for me not to be there for all of the lectures and events the MOA has put on for the show, but I did get to do a quick walk-through of the exhibit while I was in Utah for Adam's graduation. Here are some of the pieces included in the show:

This is my mom's personal favorite, Indian Basket and Pottery Makers. I put this on the desktop of my parent's computer over a year ago, so she was very excited to see the actual mural for herself.

Moving South is the coverpiece of the exhibition catalogue. It was owned by the Stark Collection--they loaned 12 Teichert murals to the MOA, 6 of which appear in the show. I got an email from Marian about a month ago informing me that the Stark Collection announced their intention, at the opening reception, to donate all 12 murals to the MOA.

Everybody loves Return of Captive Israel. I was so happy to see that this piece made it into the show. It is owned by the Church Museum of History and Art and is usually located in the Relief Society Building. The General Relief Society Presidency didn't know if they would be able to part with this piece for a year, so I'm glad to see they were.

This is one of the Rock Springs murals, Jackson Trail. Marian and I seriously almost died on this trip. We went in the beginning of December of last year in what turned out to be a horrendous snow storm. In spite of a flat tire, multiple calls to the State Highway Patrol, and the continuous whiteouts we experienced everytime an 18-wheeler flew by us, it was a successful trip since we were able to use two of their murals.

2007-10-30T19:24:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! I decided it was time to make a family blog. I'm excited to share all of our news and to update everyone on our little family. After moving to Michigan for an internship in May, Adam was hired by General Motors in their Social Media department. We had been living in an apartment provided by GM for the summer and were more than ready to find a place of our own once we found out we would be staying here. Luckily we were able to rent the cutest little house from some people in our ward. You can see pictures of the house's interior by clicking on this link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8546831@N05/

We moved into our house the first weekend in September and just love it here. It was so nice to get all of our own things back, since we had left the bulk of our belongings in Utah for the summer. My personal favorite thing to reclaim: my Lovesac--a pregnant woman's best friend!

We've got such an amazing ward out here and have made a lot of new friends, which has been a big help since we're both away from our family and friends.