Formula?

Brian thinks I'm ridiculous. I think I'm ridiculous. I just can't help but feel sad about trying to put Claire on formula. Incredibly sad. Aside from formula smelling like the depths of you-know-where, I have no problem with it. I'm sad though. Sad that Claire and mommy feeding time would be over. Sad that she's getting bigger. I also feel so guilty for doing it. Less and less as time goes on, but the guilt is still there. There is no main reason why I would want to quit, really. She doesn't bite me all that often, but even when she does I feel guilty for not pushing through and nursing. She bit me really bad last night, so I gave her formula relieved that my body wouldn't be tortured anymore. However, by the last ounce of her bottle, I felt sad. I just think that it would be nice to not be nursing during the summer, and to have my body back just for a little bit before we decide to have another little one around here. Oh....and it's expensive. That's it. Did anyone else go through ridiculous emotions with formula feeding? I wish I didn't care at all. My mom is so much more level headed than I am and didn't feel bad at all with formula after only 6 months of nursing. She's more stable than me, what can I say. I wish I was more like my mom.

Sleepwalking?

Could it be that I, Stacy Anderson, sleepwalk? No..... Could I? Apparently it's true if there are a certain number of things that take place. A) A VERY late night and bad sleep. B) An early morning C) no napping and D) a baby to wear me out. I'll explain.

Saturday night was spent with some friends. It was a blast. We finished our game of Ticket to Ride, which I lost, by around 11:30. We're late night owls, so we were fine. However, we chatted and chatted....oh, and chatted some more. We didn't end up going to bed until 2:30. Ugh. I never stay up that late because I have a little person that wakes me up around 8 everyday. So, I couldn't sleep very well that night because I was fearing my exhaustion the next day, which was amplified by the fear that Claire would wake up extra early. Bad sleeping. I got 5 hours in. Some of you can function well on 5 hours, but I can't. I can function, but I do that poorly. Claire and I "played" during the morning hours while I let Brian sleep. By "played" I mean that she crawled around while I drifted in and out of sleep for a while on the floor. I let Brian sleep so he could watch her later while I took a nap.

Church came and went. Nap time was approaching. My body didn't want the bed, it wanted the couch. A place where napping is supposed to happen. A place where dreams come true. Brian kept telling me to go to bed, but I didn't have the energy to explain, so I just told him no and remained on the couch. He started watching Planet Earth, which we both enjoy, but there really is nothing better than a good documentary to help slip you off into dreamland. I tried. Brian kept waking me asking me to watch it with him. It's more fun that way I guess. Nap time never came.

FINALLY, bed time came. I went to bed and thought Brian was there with me. Here is what I remember. For some reason I was out of my bed asking Brian to come to bed. He was at the computer desk doing something. All I remember was that he asked me if I was sleepwalking, which I repeatedly told him no. He started laughing. I went back to bed.

Here is what Brian tells me. It was 1:30 am. He was at the computer and I came out and said:

Me: "Where's Claire".

Brian: "In her room".

This repeated a few times as I kept asking him where Claire was. I went into her room, came out and said, in a tone that sounded more annoyed than anything,

Me: "Ugh, there is no corn in there! Where's the CORN!"

He started laughing.

Brian: "What"?

Me: "Where's the corn, there's no corn in there!?"

Brian: smiling and almost laughing. Touches my arm. "Are you sleepwalking?"

Me: "No."

Brian: "Are you sure you're not sleepwalking?"

Me: I walk away irritated. "You're being mean to me!"

Then I plopped back on my bed and snoozed away. We've been laughing about it all day.

This Busy, Rainy Week

Is it really Friday already???? I feel like this week FLEW by! Seriously! I can't believe it's Friday already. I think that between piano lessons, tutoring, having a child, and countless days of dinner at 9 pm, my days seem shorter. Things have been kinda crazy busy over here! Busy is good, don't get me wrong, but man....dinner at 9? I need to get better at being less busy around dinner time.

We've had a good week though! My sweet brother, Jason, lugged Claire and me up to Park City yesterday to go to the outlets. It was sooooo nice to get out of the house and out of my rainy weather attitude and have a good time. Park City plus Banana Republic outlet always equals a good time. To make that a great time, I got 3 shirts and NONE of them cost more than $10.00. YES! I could spend so much money there. I think someday I'll have to invest in that store to get some of my money back. I also tried the kid stores to find stuff for our future 18 month old Claire, but alas, the Park City outlets are not as cheap as the Ohio ones and therefore, I just can't justify it. I'm a cheapskate, but come on, they wear them just a few times.

Other than that, Claire and I have been playing at home with her new, FREE, kitchen and we have had a good time. Fake food is easily prepared and easily discarded. I like that. It came with these funny, but gross looking strips of bacon that she always has in her mouth. What a funny bug. I'm so grateful that I get to stay at home with my little sweetheart and watch her grow up! It's such a blessing! Also, I've decided that I was always destined to be a mother. I may have said this before, but I hate watching the summer go by from inside of a window while I'm working. It's so nice to go outside and play at the park with my little squirt. I love the outdoors. I also love watching the little things as she eagerly plays with grass and wood....because, what are those things? It's so fun to watch her discover things that we don't give a second thought to. Cheers to this week and cheers to the upcoming weekend!!!

Eating spaghetti for the first time. What a mess!

Want a fake Oreo, Mom?

I love this! She is always reaching inside the microwave. So cute!

I can walk, blow raspberries, clap, and wave

All of Claire's tricks in one video? We're just that good! :) Oh,and who knows what I am saying at the beginning. I swear its not me. I don't remember that at all. Just disregard it.

Garden

Oh. My. Gosh. Can I just tell ya, I love having a garden!!! I've been so excited all week to get it planted and going. I HATED gardening when I was a kid because it basically meant that mom made us go weed, which took forever because Trevor and I just looked for worms instead. Then, I didn't like/appreciate anything she grew with the exception of corn. I've never been a big vegetable eater, but I am trying to get better at it. I'd have to say that I have had some progress within the last 5 years. Everything I planted is usually used on a weekly, if not daily, basis. No, I didn't plant squash. First of all, it's the worst. I think that God said that there would have to be a vile vegetable, so he made squash to punish us. Trust me. I've had it. My mom made me eat it. It was a punishment. Second, I think that it may consume the planet someday. I mean, who do you know that a) has squash in their garden and b) isn't trying to get rid of most of it? No one. That's because it produces so much awfulness that people feel like they have to pass it on to other poor souls.

Anyway, I was like a giddy girl last night; however, we wouldn't have a garden unless it were for some wonderful people. Some of our lovely ward members are moving to Germany, which is very sad, but they are getting rid of everything. They gave us ALL of their pots yesterday, which easily counts up to 15+. Ever bought pots? They're kinda pricey for something that you fill with dirt. Anyway, they saved us soooo much money, so we actually get to have more than tomatoes this year. Thank you so much to the Watsons!!!!! We are so incredibly grateful! I stayed up 'til 1:30 planting and watering and jumping up and down (literally) getting my garden ready. Brian said it was cute. I'm pretty sure he thinks it's nerdy.

Without further adieu:

It may be small to those of you with a real garden, but we are in an apartment and this is pretty darn awesome for us! Hmmmm....8 broccoli plants. We may have broccoli growing out of our ears this summer! I'll just keep praying that it works this year! We haven't been so lucky in the past.

Fun in the Sun

Today Claire wore her sunglasses all the way to and from the park. That, my friends, is nothing short of a miracle. Even though my pictures are totally overexposed, they're still cute. I just didn't have enough time to fix my settings before she took the glasses off. Next time maybe. She's adorable.

Also, my little brother just graduated from basic training today. He lost 40 pounds in 2 months and he looks so great! Not only that, but he is just wonderful, I miss him, and we are all so proud of him. Congratulations Trev!!!

We have a PIGGY!

Ok, that title is stretching the truth a little. We don't have a REAL pig, but we have a daughter that has pigtails now. Brian hates it if I put just one on the top of her head, so she's going to be a pigtail girl. I must say, she looks like a little girl with pigtails instead of a baby. Who told her that she could grow up? Oh, that would be Brian.

Loves to snuggle with anything soft.

She loves to put my makeup on with me. Well, she'd rather eat my brushes anyway.

I love this picture of those two.

There she is again into my makeup bag and playing with daddy.

She sure is a cute little piggy, isn't she? Now, if only I could get Brian to agree with me on getting her out of bed in the morning. He thinks that she needs to eat every time she cries and I have had it with her sleeping in my bed. She takes up my entire side and it's not even from my doing. Brian just jumps right out, brings her in, and says, "Mommy, she's hungry." Ugh. She's 9 months old and should be sleeping longer than 6 hours without eating. I'd just have her cry it out, but the hubster is wrapped around her finger and will cater to her every whine. What's a girl to do?

Oh, did I mention that she is walking now? First steps? May 4th. She is getting better at it every day and is up to more than 5 steps before falling now. Brian is in heaven. I am baby proofing again.

Happy Exhaustion

Today was a very good day! I'm going to confess to an omission though. I was supposed to go on primary visits today, even put it on my to do list. However, my primary president didn't call to tell me it was Thursday, so I just happily went on my merry way and returned the favor of not reminding her. I know. Sinful. What did I do instead? Well, it was a glorious 74 degrees outside today, so I dressed myself and sweet Claire in shorts. Wonderful shorts. We walked to pitiful Allen's to stock up on snicker doodle ingredients and even indulged in some yummy peanut butter m&m's. Claire fell asleep on the way home, so I decided to finally stop procrastinating my bread making days and I made bread around noon. My house is too cold for bread to rise quickly, so I still didn't get it done until around 7. During those bread rising hours, Claire and I took a stroll to the nearby park and were shocked that no one was there in the nice weather. We played with rattles, she tried to eat grass, and then moseyed back home to smash the bread down.

Bread smashed.

Claire got ornery, very ornery, but wouldn't take a nap. Life story. Instead, she re-discovered how much she loves Mr. Bear, as we like to call him.

I called Kayli and we went to get the yummiest treat this side of the Mississippi. Snow cones! Sweet goodness they opened today! That was an adventure in itself. Claire knocked Kayli's snowcone all over the table. I felt so bad!! We cleaned it up and I sat down to eat mine and barely bummed the darn wobbly table and knocked mine over too! Stink! The nice lady there hooked us up with another. Sweet! It was everything I wanted in a snowcone today too!

Came back home, ate dinner, made bread, watched a hilarious Parks and Recreation and then Claire and I both felt it was bedtime. Evidence?

We were trying to wait up for Brian. She fell asleep while I was trying to preoccupy her with a movie on the ipad. I didn't last much longer. Nighty night!

Mothers

This post is a bit premature for Mother's Day, but while I'm feeling a little overwhelmed, yet grateful, I'm going to post it. First off, Claire is a little sicky. She has been running out of every hole in her face for the last two days. It was so weird. All of a sudden she was sick. No warning signs, no slightly runny nose to warn us, just all of a sudden. Poor thing. It's been a long two days. On top of that, she hasn't really been taking her naps unless I force her. I'll let her cry it out for a few minutes and then she'll finally sleep, but even that is short lived. If you're a mom, then you'll know how much those nap times are cherished. So, today I taught piano lessons at 4:00. Claire and I had been taking a nap together and my efforts to put her in her own bed still asleep failed. She woke up resisting sleep as usual. However, she was still so tired and screaming. I can't teach piano like that. I put her in her bed as usual and resumed my teaching. She screamed. I checked on her, just fine, left her there to cry it out. She stopped crying shortly after so I taught the rest of my lesson (about 10 minutes). When I went in to check on her again there was no baby in the crib. My heart literally stopped. I've had horrible nightmares that I go in to the bedroom and my baby has stopped breathing, or just somehow died in the night. (I try not to think about it to much because it, of course, is too scary). Anyway, she had fallen out of her crib and was on the floor snuggling with her monkey. Ok, guys. She did not 'climb' out. She can't even walk let alone lift her legs that high. I didn't know what else to do, so I shouted her name without even thinking about it and she woke up, looked at me confused, and started whining a little bit (just because she was tired I think). I was shaking all over, almost sobbing and so scared. No broken bones, no bruises, she's not whining about any certain area on her body. Just fine. My poor little girl. Needless to say, we dropped the mattress down to the lowest setting.

I called my mother in law because she called me during my lesson and I told her what happened. Reaction? Laughter. When I told my mom what happened? Oh, you want to know her reaction? Laughter. What??? I wanted to crawl in a whole and never put her in her crib again and they're laughing? Apparently my brothers and I all fell out of our cribs too and my brother in laws all fell out of their high chair. All I have to say is THANK GOODNESS for mothers who have gone before us. I don't think my children would survive if I didn't have two mothers to calm me down and tell me what to do when things happen that are out of my control.

The advice I got? Don't tell Brian, he worries too much. Too true. Good thing he doesn't read my blog!

Anyway, on a happier note, here are some pictures.

I'm a hideous sleeper, but she's too cute!

Reading her favorite book: Farm Babies