So this seems like a silly thing to blog about, but I'm SO excited to say we've FINALLY taken the plunge and taken our Concealed Carriers Permit classes this year! This has been something I've wanted to get done for SO long, but we've always put it off for some reason or another. So back in December we got an ad-type thing from the Legacy Center (Lehi's Rec Center) and it had the classes in it so I finally decided enough was enough and scheduled us to get this done. Since we had the baby and I wasn't sure we could get a babysitter I scheduled Larry's for January and then mine for today.
I will say having to get up early sucked, but getting a 3 day weekend means I get a do-over sleep in day so it evens out in the end. Larry had told me a bit about the class so I didn't feel I was in for any surprises, but I do have to say I actually was surprised at how small my class was (Larry said his had 20 people, mine only had 6) and with nice the instructor was. He was a BIG guy (not necessarily fat, but what I call a boulder person, just all over big, you wouldn't want to mess with him). He was very informative and helped me see that I definitely did a lot that needs work on when it comes to my standing position, how I hold the gun, etc. when I shoot.
It was really cool learning the laws and seeing all sorts of videos he had to show examples of when it was okay to use a gun for defense and all the holsters! I honestly can't wait to practice all the things he showed us (removing a gun from a holster, how to hold it, how to breath, etc. etc.) and having our kids involved in this (yes we're going to include our kids with shooting, handling, and cleaning our guns, but they WILL be locked up). I wish we would've gotten this class done sooner. The guy even sent in our applications for us so now we just play the waiting game and watch our mail closely. I cannot wait to finally get our permits in the mail and be able to have that officially checked off the list - sorry I didn't take pictures, but that's probably obvious, but enjoy the google pics here for the fun of it!
As per usual, we knew we'd be making something new from scratch this year for Valentine's Day. It's to the point where we actually think about different ideas throughout the year. I had an idea to do our own doughnuts (because there's this weird sink commercial and it shows someone putting a raspberry-like sauce over glazed doughnuts and it looked so yummy I thought it would be fun to try that). Then Larry mentioned he thought it would be fun to do ice cream. All I could think was "homemade ice cream sounds WAY better!" So ice cream it was!
We decided to pick our own recipes, Larry wanted to do bubble gum (like the kind Leatherby's has) and I chose a random mint chocolate chip (I didn't really care what flavor I did, I just knew I wanted to do my own). Both recipes could not have been more different. Larry's had two items (not including the flavoring and gumballs) and mine had like 8 things!
So my plan for the night was: eat dinner like usual, make ice cream while we put "Valentine's Day" (the movie) on, let it freeze, and then after Cara was put down I'd work on the blog posts. What I didn't know is that Larry had a special surprise for me. He scheduled (a couple months back) to have a masseuse come in and give me an hour long massage while he took care of Cara upstairs. I was seriously blown away! We always talk about not doing anything but making our food for the day. As I've mentioned (probably every single year so far), we aren't big on the holiday so we don't plan anything serious, but MAN did he win super brownie points for this! If you're interested in this, here is the site for the massage place he scheduled this.
So anyways, I got my massage while Larry took care of Cara, then after I was done we hung out for a few minutes before it was Cara's bedtime (normally I'd feel bummed out to not get to do things with Cara before we put her to bed, but now that I get her up every morning I feel a night away once in a while isn't too bad), then we put her down and started our ice cream experiment.
We had to let the mixtures freeze for a few hours and they weren't put in the freezer until 8:15 ish so we didn't get to try them last night, but we did eat some tonight. I feel that they both have really weird consistencies, both taste just fine though, but I didn't put enough chocolate in mine (I think it all sunk to the bottom or something). We let Cara try a few bites of each and she LOVED them, so that's a win, but so far these recipes are 3rd best (of the 3 we've done) so I don't think we'll hold onto them. Plus they made our belly's feel weird so I think we did something wrong or they just were bad recipes.
Nana [Sweatfield] got her this cute outfit
"Who needs Cupid when you're this cute"
PERFECT!
Just love this expression!
Either way, Valentine's Day this year was one for the books. Larry is amazing and we had a GREAT night! Now to go relax and prepare for a fun 3 day weekend (on my part). Happy Love Day out there!!
I like: Making new sounds with my mouth, crawling and standing up everywhere (EVERYwhere), climbing the stairs (really just being as independent as possible), the cats, the fish (any animal really), playing Peek-A-Boo, chasing mom around the island, teeth and tongues, babies, dancing and music, and being tickled and scared (see video below, sorry it's sideways...I could've sworn I turned it when I recorded it)
She loves playing with my necklaces
I dislike: Falling AT ALL (even a tiny distance that really doesn't hurt), being forced into a nap time when I'm not tired, strangers holding me, and getting my nails clipped
Cuddling with daddy and watching a movie
Pinkies out!
I am now: Wearing size 6-9 month, or just 9 month in clothes, size 3 diapers, and according to my dr appointment (today) I'm 16 lbs. 10 oz, so my weight is in the 23rd percentile, my length is in the 50th percentile, and my head is in the 83rd percentile (still our Megamind!)
A Typical Day looks like: Still usual, we get up around 7:30 (M-F), I change her diaper and clothes and lotion her up, then we go comb her hair (because she loves looking at herself in the mirror), we go say morning to daddy and play around until 7:50 when we start breakfast with 2 oz of baby food and a bottle.
By 8:15 I have to take off for work and so if she's finished her bottle I leave her with Larry to brush her teeth, if she hasn't finished the bottle I leave the bottle and toothbrush with him to finish off. She usually naps from 9:30 - 10:30, 1-2:30, and 4:45-5:30. She eats a pouch of food at 11:30 and a bottle at 11:45. She has another bottle around 3.
I get home around 5:30, we'll play around until dinner time, then at 6 she'll have 2 ounces of food with some plain oatmeal mixed in while we eat our dinner (we also usually give her bites of our dinner). After dinner we do our nightly activity and at 7:15 she has her last bottle of the night.
We start bedtime routine at 7:45 of diaper change, lotion up, put on socks and pajamas, read a book, and put her in her crib. On Sundays and Wednesdays we start it with a bath.
Nightly routine - make her climb the stairs.
It helps tire her out.
When we found out she LOVES fishies!
This Month I: Developed so much more of a personality. I started to pull myself up to stand on EVERYTHING and ask to walk assisted all the time. I rarely like to be held as I love exploring and discovering new talents or areas of the house. I don't snuggle much, but it's because I'm too busy challenging myself. I love eating new foods and making my parents laugh at my silliness. I also love to sleep in on the weekends, I'm pretty nice to my parents that way.
I also watched my first Super Bowl game with mom, we both cheered on the Eagles to victory and I loved hanging on the couch with mom (dad didn't care to watch it so he was playing games in the office).
I thought this onesie would be ugly cute,
But I absolutely adore how she looks in it.
It's a keeper!
Her nap face is the cutest
In the world!
Parent's Notes: I'm deeming Cara the best baby ever, officially! She's let us actually sleep in until 9 on the weekends (not very often, but she will let us without crying too much). She loves to smile and laugh, especially when we laugh along with her.
She is one of the most easy going babies ever and gets compliments on how chill she is wherever we go. We do still need to work on social skills as she does take a while to adjust to new people, but it's a work in progress, as always.
I just love how much this little girl loves new foods, is such an explorer, and picks up on things so quickly. While I miss the snuggly newborn phase, I don't miss being up all night and worrying about her so much. I know she can officially handle a lot and she's going to be so smart when she gets to the school years (but I can definitely wait until that point).
Date Night as a family!
39 weeks out and 39 weeks in!
Update on last month's goals:
Even though teeth are a long ways off, we have added brushing her teeth to the morning and night routine basically every night. She still is getting used to it, but if she sees me brush my teeth and then I get it wet she handles it well. Otherwise she tries to spit it out a bit, but we do brush as much of her gums as possible.
Signs...we're still sticking to the basic ones. It may seem silly, but I hate the idea of saying please and thank you to Cara (like I'm asking her for things), but if I feel it's appropriate I'll add them. Grandma and Grandpa are still a work in progress.
As stated above, we added in a pouched food for lunch so we're good there. We started giving her puffs in the last week and now she prefers to put any food we give her in her mouth herself so she's doing so good on the fine motor skills so far.
We did her 9 month appointment today and everything checks out perfectly. She has a bit of sensitive skin so we have to be careful what we put on her, but otherwise she's great!
We've gone out to dinner and adjusted the night time routine and it's been great! She loves sleeping so when she's ready for bed she goes out like a light!
I kept forgetting about the swimming lessons...January was a hectic month. But I still want to do this.
Goals for next month:
Swimming lessons! I really want to make it a priority to at least find a place and get that all set up for her.
Work on waving and clapping. Cara loves to slap, but she doesn't really clap her own hands. She might do a little wave here or there, but nothing concrete. I'd like to get that worked on.
We're going to continue to work on brushing the teeth so that she's so used to it she won't spit out the brush. We did the dentist today and they gave her a little kid toothbrush and she loved chewing on that. I think that's a good sign for us :)
Work on signs still. She isn't signing back, but I feel like it's because she's still getting used to her fine motor development so hopefully we start seeing signs soon.
Keep adding foods in to her palate so she isn't a picky eater. So far she loves our food more than hers, but she hasn't hated anything (other than chunky food) so much she spits it out. Fingers crossed she stays like that!
