10 months

Wow, ten months. It's hard to believe it's really been that long already. Diana is getting so big and growing so fast. She's still a ball of sunshine and energy, she's so much like me, it's crazy! Here are some of her latest accomplishments:

*She's running now. Yep, that's right, running. She took her first steps at 8 1/2 months, was walking at 9 months, and now she runs everywhere. She never crawls anymore, and I actually haven't seen her crawl at all for the last two weeks.

*She feeds herself all three meals and can eat a lot of things whole (I don't need to chop them up small for her).

*She has 4 teeth now - two on top and two on bottom. She has been crabby lately and she pulls on her ear every now and again, so I'm guessing she's got another one on the way soon.

*She's back to waving "hi","bye", and "night night", and when she wants to go home, she'll start to wave "bye bye" to everyone and sometimes won't stop until we leave.

*She can squat down to pick stuff up and stand up again without having to sit down. She's been doing that for a few weeks two, and is actually pretty proud of herself for it.

*She crawls up the stairs all the time. I've found that she doesn't particularly like being downstairs, and I'm not sure why.

*Her new words are "buh buh" (bye bye) and "kay" (ok). She doesn't say them super often, but every once in a while she'll use them to make a point. :)

*She has started the "excited biting", but this is very rare. She's MUCH more likely to slap and hit than bite.

*She refuses to sit in the bath, and DEFINITELY HATES laying down, so we're planning on buying some anti-slip pads for her tub and giving her showers instead. But, she still LOVES bath time.

*She eats ALL the time, I swear! But, she doesn't eat a lot at once, which is probably one of the reasons (along with her high-energy) that she's always eating.

*She LOVES to help me unload the dishwasher....whether the dishes are clean OR dirty.

*We are pretty positive that she has FINALLY outgrown her milk allergy. YAY!!! We feed her milk and cheese products all the time now and she doesn't seem to have any problems with them. I thought this day would never come!

*She didn't want to have anything to do with opening presents on Christmas. She wanted to play with her toys and run around instead.

*She is SO ADD, it's actually funny. I do feel bad for her though, she gets it from me, poor thing. If she's doing something wrong and I say no, uh-uh, or even gasp, she'll angry-cry and through a fit. I remember doing that as a kid ALL the time. She also like the throw mini-tantrums when we put her down for bed sometimes.

*She still loves to shop and get out of the house, and if we spend too many days in a row at home (like, more than 3), she gets real bad cabin fever and is a crank until we get out and do something.

*She kisses everything she sees sometimes, but still won't kiss other people. She only kisses Mommy and Daddy if SHE wants to.

*She smacks her lips together if she wants to eat or wants a taste of something you have.

*She wants to do EVERYTHING herself and will smack your hands away if you try to do something for her. She's VERY independent.

*She's still a Mama's girl and cries if I put her down right away either when someone comes to our house or if we go to someone's house. I have to give her about 15 minutes to warm up to everyone before I can put her down. If she's already down when people arrive though, she seems to do ok.

*She grinds her teeth like mad and I HATE it, but unfortunately, there's absolutely nothing I can do about it for now.

*She got a toothbrush and toothpaste for Christmas and loves brushing her teeth, but only for a few seconds, then she gets bored.

*She LOVES animals and loves to chase them around. The only other time I hear her squeal that much is when she's looking at pictures of herself.

*Yes, she LOVES looking at herself: pictures, mirror, you name it, she loves it! This girl literally can't get enough of herself.

*She loves clothes and loves to try to dress herself. For Christmas, her Grandma Steadman bought her a bunch of clothes, and as I took them out of the bag, one by one she put them on her head (trying to put them on herself). She's definitely a girly-girl.

*She loves to be scared and chased, and sometimes loves to scare others.

*She understands us very well when we talk to her and she talks to us ALL the time, although it is, of course, all babble-nonsense words, but she sure does think she's saying stuff!

*She loves to try to climb into stuff and onto stuff. Her toy box, the laundry baskets, the couch, everything that's even a tab bit higher than the floor, she's onto or into it.

*With that being said, she HATES boxes. She's scared of them, and I'm not sure why.

*She loves to sniff and smell things.

*She still LOVES her Daddy and gets excited EVERY DAY when he gets home from work.

*She still has her beautiful blue-grey eyes and her hair is starting to come in and it's blonde - no surprise there, though, since her Daddy and I were both platinum blondes for the first several years of our lives.

*Whenever she gets excited or is acting silly, she will curl her lips in and stiffly stick her tongue out and breathe really heavy through her mouth.

*She loves getting into things she's not supposed to.

*She loves to squish her food in her hands.

*Her absolute favorite foods are yogurt puffs, cheese tortellini, apples, strawberries, bananas, and pizza.

9 months!

Diana turned 9 months old this last Friday. Wow, how time flies!

Here are some of her accomplishments/new things:

*She can walk - she took her first unassisted steps @ 8 1/2 months. She's still not brave enough to walk more than 6 steps on her own without assistance, but she's almost there!

*She has two teeth - she got her first one a few days before she turned 8 months and the other when she was 8 1/2 months old.

*She loves to "scare" Daddy and have him scare/chase after her.

*She's slowly getting hair, but it's super-blonde, so she still looks bald. :)

*She's still afraid of everyone. She loves you if you keep your distance, but she doesn't like being held by others, especially if she thinks I'm going to leave her. She's even apprehensive about Daddy holding her if she thinks I'm going to leave.

*She still has her Daddy's bowels...poor girl.

*She LOVES shopping. (She definitely doesn't get that from me). Her favorite store, by far, is Target.

*She tries so hard to talk for real, and she talks sooooooo much (she DEFINITELY gets that from me!)

*She doesn't wave "Hi"/"Bye" anymore, but instead holds out her hand as far as she can towards you in hope that you'll come to her so she can grab and squeeze your face.

*She still loves to give kisses, but when Daddy asks now, she gets shy and hides her face.

*She LOVES to dance and dances to almost EVERYTHING...noise, music, coughing, you name it. If it sounds like it might have a rhythm, she's dancing to it!

*She loves music - I've found that it's the only way I can teach her anything, by singing it to her.

*She's getting so big and eating so much, but she's still a skinny little bean, and I LOVE it!

*She loves to make the motorboat noise with her lips....all the time....

*She's also doing this new thing where she makes a duck quack-noise. Don't know how she learned to do it, but she does it a lot.

*She HATES wearing socks and will pull them off while we're in the car.

*She LOVES hair and will rip (yes, literally RIP) it out of your head so she can play with it in her hands. She'll also work as hard as she can to find a single hair buried deep in the carpet and she play with it forever, running it through her hands over and over and over again. She's so odd.

*On that same note, she loves eyelashes, but doesn't understand that it hurts when she grabs them and your eyelid.

*She loves other babies and kids and she'll talk and squeal to try and get their attention. - She's VERY social.

*She loves Church, and LOVES the Hollings Family who sit behind us every Sunday and keep her company and happy - THANK YOU!! :)

*She loves to bang on things with the palm on her hand...especially things she knows she's not supposed to have.

*She'll watch you while she's doing/touching something she KNOWS she's not supposed to.

*She is SO smart and SUCH a stinker!!

*She knows what the word "No" and the sound "Uh-Uh" mean very well, and HATES when we use them!

*She drinks out of a straw & has been for quite a while, and she prefers it, because she can drink while sitting up and without having to tilt her cup (she's lazy). :)

*She loves having her ears cleaned out with a q-tip, always has. That's about the only time I can get her to sit completely still.

*She still LOVES bath time. It's her favorite time of day.

*She loves getting into my dishes and opening up my cabinets and climbing onto the dishwasher while I'm loading it and pulling dishes out of the dishwasher.

*She loves to get into my laundry, especially the whites, for some reason, and pull it out piece by piece and throw it across the room over her shoulder. It is actually pretty hilarious to watch.

*She does the same thing, above, with her toys.

*She will give whatever she's holding to me if I hold out my hand and say "give that to me, please."

*When she gets mad, she tightens up her body, clenches her fists and screeches as loud as she can. Wonder where she gets THAT from...... ;)

*She LOVES sour things, and, not too surprisingly, sweet things as well.

*She loves banging on the laptop keyboard and chewing on the TV remotes, because she knows that doing so will cause something to happen.

*She still has beautiful light blue eyes!

*She INSISTS on sitting in the shopping carts backwards. Apparently, looking at me isn't that fun.

And...she's still our sweet little pumpkin and she's still spoiled rotten by her Grandparents, Aunts, and Uncles! :) I love her so much!!

My dieting journey

When people hear the word diet, they generally think of pain, agony, endless hunger and suffering, rabbit food, no more desserts...basically, like visiting Hell. Or, at least, this is what I thought when I heard the word diet, up until I started dieting myself 2 1/2 months ago.

I was feeling unhappy with my weight, and so I decided to do something about it. I had given birth to my little sweetheart back at the end of February, and had basically gotten back to my pre-pregnancy weight of 133 pounds (I was at 135 when I started the diet) about 5 months later. Technically, I was healthy, but I was never happy with the way I looked or felt, even for the past 5 years. A year after I graduated high school, I started to pack on the pounds. I had moved in with my sister and we ate Taco Bell pretty much every day, and I exercised, um, never. Slowly, I went from 115 to 120 to 125 then to 128, which is what I was at when I married my sweetie Mike 2 years ago. Then, by the time I got pregnant with Diana, I had gained an additional 5 pounds. During my pregnancy, I gained 48 more pounds, some of which was the baby, and over half of which was (thankfully) water weight. Luckily for me, as I breast fed, I lost all the additional weight (with no diet or exercise). But, even after I got back, I was still heavy.

One day, back at the end of August, I got sick, bad sick, and I lost a few pounds. That's when it hit me. I thought "I want to diet, I NEED to diet!" I hated being "fat" I had always been a skinny girl, so being so much bigger than I used to be years ago made me sad. So, I made a plan. I researched and found out how many calories I should consume in order to effectively lose weight. I downloaded an app on my phone that helped me track how many calories I was consuming, how many calories I was burning through day-to-day activities and exercise, and how much weight I was losing. I also made Mike go with Diana and I on nightly walks (sadly, this ended when the nights got too cold a month ago). That's when my miracle occurred. The first week I lost two pounds, the next, a pound, the week after, a pound and a half, and on and on. The best part was, I wasn't starving myself! I continued to eat sweets and snack, but now in healthier portion sizes. I also started getting more fruits and veggies, I learned how to cook and bake healthier. But, most importantly, I started to feel better about myself, and I felt better overall. I had more energy for everything. I felt great. I STILL feel great. 2 1/2 months later, I'm all done with my diet and weigh 115. I know I would have lost weight faster if I was better about exercising and if I was stricter in my intake, but I can honestly say I lost weight in the absolute best and most convenient way for me. It wasn't painful, it wasn't unpleasant, but instead, it was a fun challenge, a relatively easy challenge, for which now I am reaping the rewards. I not only feel better and am much lighter, but now I continue to eat better and constantly watch what I eat. So, for all of you out there who are afraid of diets, I'm here to say, don't be afraid!! If you diet right, it can be a very pleasant experience and you'll be so much happier for it (but only if you NEED it!)!

:)

These are a few of my favorite things

*My Baby

*My Hubby

*The lovely Fall weather...

*Halloween

*Thanksgiving

(There's little that's better!)

*Winter, that's coming,

*When Christmas bells ring

These are a few of my favorite things!

*October

*November

*And, of course, December!

*My family

*My Freedom,

*And being a 'Member'

*Knowing for certain my HF loves me

These are a few of my favorite things!!!

When the leaves change,

When the rain falls,

When I'm feeling glad,

It's great to remember my many blessings,

So I never feel too sad!

I love being a Mother. Every morning when i wake up to a loving baby that's happy to see me and shower me with love and hugs, it makes my life, all the struggles and sickness and crabby days worth it. I feel like I have found my calling, what I am supposed to be doing in life. I love Diana, with all my heart, and it's fun to feel that same unconditional love back. Don't get me wrong, my husband loves me unconditionally too, and I'm grateful for that, but it's fun to be needed, to be a favorite, to know that I can get frustrated with her and she'll still want to hug and love on me. I love doing housework and hearing her crawl up behind me and feeling her little hands grasp my pants as she uses me to stand up. I love her big, slobbery kisses. I love her sweet, cheeky smile. I love what being a mother has taught me, even in these short 8 months so far. Basically, I just love being a mom, being me. I'm excited to add more kids in the future. It makes me sad that there are people out there that "hate" kids and babies and are so self-absorbed that they don't want to make the sacrifices it takes to be a parent. When I see things like that, I can't help think about my sweet angel and wonder "how could you NOT want to do and give everything necessary for such a precious life??" I guess kids aren't everyone's cup of tea, but it's still sad. I'm just glad that I've been blessed with such a sweet daughter and with my love of Motherhood.

I also love being a wife. I love having a sweet, handsome man come home to me every day and tell me how grateful he is for me. I love how proud he is of me for such dumb little things, like sticking to my diet and singing to my daughter. I love cooking him dinners from recipes I invent knowing he'll devour them and help me perfect them, if necessary. Or, if they're good recipes, seeing the pride in his face as he tells me how delicious the food is. I love baking him desserts and seeing his joy and he gobbles them down. I love cleaning the house, knowing that he'll always notice and tell me how nice it looks. And, I love having a husband that will work hard all day helping people with their problems and if I have had a hard day with Diana, without a word he will do the dishes, or throw in a load of laundry or two, give me a massage, play with Diana; he'll step up and help out, finishing up what I couldn't. And, again, all without a word! I've never, ever heard him say that I don't do enough, or that the house isn't clean enough, or that he works hard and never gets a break. Nope, never ever have I heard any of those words or anything like it escape his lips, nor do I think I ever will. There's is not one thing wrong with him! He preforms his calling with love and zeal, he plays with his daughter without asking and helps to bathe her, occasionally change her diaper and feed her. He takes me out every Friday night, he buys me & Diana things we need, giving up things he wants and even needs. He sacrifices and works and toils without complaint, and is never idle. I could learn a lot from him. I love being his wife, because he makes up for everything I lack; he is wonderful.

With Thanksgiving coming up at the end of the month, and with today being election day, I felt inspired to be grateful and reflect on my blessings. My Heavenly Father loves me and has blessed me with so much....I can't even name or number my blessings, because they are infinite. I am grateful for everything I have, and for this exceptionally beautiful time of year. It really brings out the happy, grateful me that is buried deep inside.

My 24th

This past Saturday, I turned 24. It was odd, because for the first time in my life I wasn't focused on my birthday when it came, and actually at times forgot it was my birthday. For the first time I discovered what happens to a selfish person when they have kids...they learn to forget themselves a little bit. A LITTLE bit. Don't get me wrong though, it was very amazing that I ever forgot it was my birthday, even for a moment, because Mike spoiled me rotten! My oh my,was it ever a wonderful birthday!! It started on Friday night. Mike came home and said "Go change into something 'business casual'." I was taken aback and confused, because I had

literally just woken up from a long nap and still wasn't quite awake. After about 10 minutes of "waking up" I finally realized that if we were going somewhere "business casual" we certainly wouldn't be able to take Diana. So, when Mike came back in the room I said "What are we

going to do with Diana? Certainly where ever we're going we can't take her." He just smiled and said "Clara's [my youngest sister] on her way over." Sneaky boy! After Clara showed up and I gave her the low-down on Diana's dinner & night-time schedule, Mike whisked me off on our date. I had no clue where we were going and I didn't bother trying to guess because, if you know Mike, he's a great liar & secret-keeper. Finally we showed up at the Stratosphere Hotel and Mike lead me by the hand to our final destination: the Top Of The World Restaurant at the top of the Stratosphere! Mike had called ahead a few days before to make reservations, so all the staff knew it was my birthday and they were all courteous enough to wish me a happy birthday individually. It was so weird but so fun to be so well-treated! We enjoyed our very fancy, very romantic evening dinner overlooking the entire Las Vegas /Henderson Valley. It was BEAUTIFUL and the food was absolutely AMAZING. Portion sizes were perfect, everything was perfectly cooked and delicious, and the staff was AWESOME!! I would HIGHLY recommend this restaurant to EVERYONE. It's pricey but SO worth it!! I've never had more delicious food or a better time in my life! We even got pictures taken at the restaurant, but I'll have to post those later when I get them put on my computer.

The next morning we woke up early to get our fruits and veggies from "Bountiful Baskets" and when we got home, Mike says, go put on some pants. "What?" I said. "Go put on some pants." Ok. --I was wearing shorts, by the way-- so, I went upstairs to put on some pants as Mike unloaded the stuff from the car. When I can downstairs, I discovered Clara Anne in the kitchen with a large bouquet of pink roses for me for my birthday!

Isn't she so sweet?? So, by her presence there so early on a Saturday, I deduced that she was watching Diana for us again, and I was correct. So, off we went on our next adventure. We drove west up Blue Diamond, and I tried not to guess where we were going, but my mind couldn't help itself, so I figured a hike. Finally we arrived at Bonnie Springs.

Okay, I was stumped, I had no idea why we were there. We parked and went inside the little

restaurant next to the zoo, and Mike talked to the man behind the counter about reservations for...the Breakfast Ride. Horseback riding. Yup!

Now, for those who don't know, I LOVE horses and have my entire life, but have never rode a horse...ever. My honey knew this, and so he took me to Bonnie Springs for an hour and a 1/2 horseback ride, just him, me, and our guide, who was great!! It was BEAUTIFUL up there and SO much fun!! Oh man, I loved it, I had the most wonderful time!! After the ride, we went back and ate breakfast at the restaurant and it was so yummy!!

Ok, quick side-story: while we were eating, we were looking out the window at the pond outside filled with duck and a bazillion turtles. Most of the turtles sat in the water with their heads poking out as they tried to warm up, but there were some who made their way onto the rocks to warm up. I looked over at one and burst out laughing because this is what I saw...

Apparently his undercarriage was cold, because he stuck his leg straight out to warm it up and kept it there for the rest of our time there. I about died laughing, it was the best!!

Once we were done, we left and went to get DiDi (She was at Tina's house at this point because Clara had somewhere she really had to be at the last minute) and she was so happy to see us, and I was glad to see her, I missed her! Thank you so much Clara and Tina for watching my little boolah-boo! She loves you guys!!!!

We spent the rest of my birthday just chillin' at home (awesome!!), watching movies and shows and eating pizza (mmmmmm!!!!!). Along with the extravagant dinner the night before and the marvelous horseback ride and breakfast, and the SCRUMPTIOUS pizza for dinner, my lovely honey also bought me Beauty & The Beast (for those who don't know, by far, my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE movie EVER, always has been!), a plush bathrobe (I've been wanting a bathrobe FOREVER!!!) and he had a beautiful flower "cake" delivered to me.

It was the BEST birthday EVER!!! My goodness, am I ever lucky! I had such an awesome day, and I have the most perfect husband, and the most beautiful daughter! I'm the luckiest person alive!! Thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday and gave me presents! My birthday was beyond spectacular and I love you all, especially YOU, Mike!! Thank you, again!

My life lately

It's kind of crazy what can occur in such a short amount of time. Diana is already over 7 months old already, where did time go?? She's finally crawling (although it's either a "Quasimodo" or "Spider" crawl that she does), but much prefers to try to stand up and walk to things. Yes, our child wants to skip the crawling stage. Now, she IS crawling, but tries to avoid it if she can. She's odd. I always said that I wouldn't be surprised if she was walking at 9 months and now I see that that is a 99.99% possibility at this point. I would be surprised if she WASN'T walking at 9 months.Along with trying to walk she is, of course, constantly using EVERYTHING (including me, the ground, her toys, literally, everything) to stand up. She loves to stand up and try to walk. She is doing it CONSTANTLY. I have mixed feelings about it. I'm excited that she's so determined and advanced for her age, but nervous about the accidents that come with so much mobility. But honestly, I want her to learn how to walk, it would make her so happy to have that much control over her mobility. I'll just have to learn to keep a better eye on her, which literally doesn't seem possible at this point.

She also LOVES to give kisses. Apparently when you spend half of your day kissing on your baby, they pick up that habit and return the favor. She will both kiss of demand AND kiss at random. For example, I was walking up the stairs with her the other night to put her to bed and she turned to me, leaned over, and planted a big one on my cheek. I freaking love it! And they are REAL kisses....ON PURPOSE! Sorry, it's just amazing to me that my kid has gotten old enough to understand us. We took some video of her giving Mike kisses, but the video is too big to upload so once Mike compresses it for me I'll post it.

Speaking of understanding us, she also understands the word "No", and she HATES that word, naturally, but, like a good girl, she is VERY obedient. Like, today, she was going for a computer cord, and as she reached out to grab it I said "No! No! No!" and she started to whimper and looked at me. I gave her a firm look and said "No." again. She got mad, flailed her arms, and "cried", but she did NOT touch the cord. That's my girl!

She still says "MaMa" and "DaDa" a lot (and has for many months now), but whats ironic is WHEN she says them....she says "MaMa" usually only when she is sad or stressed, and says "DaDa" when she is, you guessed it, HAPPY! Of course she does! Why would anyone say MaMa when they're happy?!? Yes, I have very "happy" feelings about it.

Diana is also feeding herself finger foods, and she loves it. She's been eating the finger foods for about a month and a half now, but was never very good at the self feeding thing, but within the past two weeks she's really gotten the self-feeding down. She still occasionally gets the puffs stuck in the palm of her hand, but generally she does pretty well. I'm so proud of her accomplishments!

But, along with all the good must come some bad. In her 7 months of life Diana has already had 4 colds and has vomited (Literally, projectile vomiting) several times. Colds suck, because when she catches a cold, so do Mike and I, and we're all getting pretty sick of being, well, sick! But, I guess the sickness is all good in the fact that it builds her immune system and makes her healthier. It's just so hard seeing her sick and unhappy. Every Mommy understands how that feels to see her baby or babies sick. It's such a painful, helpless feeling, I hate it! :(

Aaaaand, my baby still has no teeth, but I'm really hoping one pops out soon. Her teething has gotten worse lately and I can seriously almost feel a tooth in there. I would swear that's what I've been feeling lately, so I'm hoping that the tooth is on it's way through the skin. We'll see though.

As for what I've been up to, this weekend I broke out the fall/Halloween decorations and decorated the house, it was fun! My house isn't SUPER decked out, but it's got that Halloween/fall feel, I love it. Fall if definitely my favorite time of year, and I'm so glad it's finally come! I am just waiting now for the cooler weather to arrive, this 100 degree weather is killin' me!!

Mike has been working hard on school and work and his calling and has been staying nice and busy. I love my handsome hard worker! I don't know what I would do if I were married to anyone who was any less of a hard worker or any less wonderful to me. Honestly, I'm terribly spoiled. I get the best of EVERYTHING with my Mike!

That's been our lives lately. We've just been enjoying life and taking everything one day at a time! :)

Mango-lover

Oh yes, we discovered a few weeks ago that our daughter LOVES mangoes. Actually, I can't describe in words how much she loves them. The best way I can explain it is this: I've never seen her eat cleaner than when she eats mangoes (she's a SUPER messy eater usually, but when eating mangoes, she doesn't require ANY clean-up, at all), and she will most seriously and literally eat ANYTHING if it's mixed with mangoes. That's how we get her to eat her veggies and other good foods that she abhors; we simply mix in 1/3 mangoes. It's so gross to mix things like peas with mangoes, but hey, if she eats them, who cares, right? She likes it. I just find it super-hilarious!!

My Hubby

I realized the other day that about 99% of this blog is dedicated to my daughter..which is fine, except that there is another person in my life who deserves equal recognition -- My Mike! Diana is down for a nap right now, so I thought I'd take this time to write down some things about Mike.

Mike is like Superman...or, super-crazy-man. He runs himself ragged doing things for others, trying to better our family, trying to better himself...and I couldn't be more proud of him! Mike recently started school back up again and I'm so proud of him! He's going to WGU and he's already trying to plow through his schooling. He has all his goals set school & career-wise on what he wants to do, who he wants to be. He's so motivated and I'm so impressed! He's so dedicated to his school work that he is taking mornings, lunchtimes, and hours at night to study and do school work. Now THAT is dedication!! NOW, on top of his full-time schooling, mind you, he also is working full-time, fulfilling his calling as Scout-Master & Deacon's Quorum Advisor (which is also like another full-time commitment), taking time to fix people's computers & problems in his spare time, all while still taking the time to spend time with his baby girl and his wife . I wonder how he finds the time to sleep, but he does! Amazing, isn't it? I've always wondered how some people can find the energy and time to do so many full-time tasks. If I had to do all of that I'd lose my mind rather quickly!

Mike is so intelligent, it blows my mind! Ask him something about computers, your brain will start to fry by the time he's done! He's so full of information and so intelligent and methodical when it comes to problem-solving. It actually makes me rather excited, because I know that my kids are going to be mini geniuses!!

Mike has also been blessed with compassion and service. He is always wanting to help and serve others. He gets pure joy from running himself into the ground for others, and it's actually quite admirable. His enthusiasm for service is actually quite exhausting, again, I'm not sure how he does it, but it is still absolutely amazing. Every time I see any member of the Bishopric or Stake Presidency, they always gush about what a wonderful asset Mike is to them and the Young Men's program and how grateful they are for him and to me for "sharing him". I have to laugh when they say that and explain that he finds such great joy in his calling that I would literally be evil if I kept him from fulfilling it.

Mike loves his calling, more than I have ever seen anyone love a calling before in my life. He has such zeal for what he does. He loves working with the boys and pushing them to better themselves and to become the best that they can be and to work hard and shoot high for their goals. I love hearing him talk about his calling and about him working with each of the boys. He cares about each of those boys like they were his own sons. He is sad when they don't exert their full potential and is proud and beaming when they do. It's amazing and admirable, he is EXACTLY what those boys need, and you can see it in how much they've grown spiritually. He also LOVES the camp outs that the scouts go on. He truly loves the scouting program and he makes the perfect Scout Master. I truly think he would be devastated if they ever released him.

Mike is also SUPER-dedicated to work. Seriously. This man is always on his phone at home, answering questions, fixing problems, and he doesn't mind one bit. It's astounding! You can tell he enjoys what he does and helping others, because he is willing to stop what he's doing to help out. They are VERY lucky to have him at his job, and I know they know that. He's a very hard worker, always putting in extra hours to get the job done. I am so proud of him and I'm so very glad I've married someone who's so dedicated to working hard and getting the job done!

And, on the very top of it all, Mike is the perfect father and husband. I know, every woman says that about their husband, but sorry ladies, I actually have the best guy. He comes home every day and the very first thing he does is come in and pick Diana up, then walk over and give me a hug and kiss and inquire about my day. You should see the look on her face when Diana sees that Daddy is home. I've never seen a baby more truly excited to see someone in my life. She loves her Daddy, so very, very much. And he is so good to her. When I'm trying to finish up dinner, or if I seem to be at the end of my rope, he'll scoop her up and love on her. He'll open up his computer and watch videos with her or play games with her. He'll feed her dinner and make her a bottle. He even helps me bathe her every single night, and the parts where he is most involved are her favorites, of course! He is so good to her and I can see how much he loves her and how everything he does really is for her. Mike is good to me, too, of course, most of the bragging is in what I've already said. He helps with EVERYTHING. He'll do dishes after dinner, he'll sneak in a couple loads of laundry, he'll vacuum the floors when I'm in the middle of doing something else, he'll set the table for dinner, heck, he'd do ANYTHING I asked without the slightest resistance. Can't you see how spoiled I am??? I definitely don't deserve him!

So, as you can see now, Mike is a pretty awesome guy, and Diana and I are lucky to have him in our lives. We love you, babe, thank you for everything you do!

6 month checkup

Today I took Diana in for her 6-month check-up. Doctor said she's doing well and she's right on track. She's 15 lbs exactly, 25 1/2" tall, head is 41 1/2". So, I guess no more tall kid. DARN! I was hoping she would be tall, but alas, she's going to be average, just like Mommy & Daddy. Oh well, I guess it's better than being short.

She also got more shots today. :( It's actually funny how she remembers so much at such a young age. When the Doctor first came in, she sat very still and silently watched him walk across the room. The second he sat down on his stool (and I mean the VERY second he did) she burst into tears. Apparently she remembers him as the mean man that pokes on her and sticks that mean black thing in her ears from her last check-up. Nice. When she cried he said, "Nice to know I haven't lost my touch." I'm sure as a pediatrician he's used to kids being scared of him. She also screamed when the nurse came in to give her the shots. I don't know that Diana is ever going to be able to trust a doctor or nurse again, since every time she sees one they're poking her or sticking her with something. :)

Other than the couple of meltdowns that she had, everything else is right on track and Diana is happy and healthy. I love her and I'm so glad she's growing so well!

6 Months!

Diana turns 6 months on the 26th and I can't believe she is already 6 months!! This little monkey is growing so fast, I can't believe it! She's a ball of fun and energy and she's learning something new every day. Here's a list of her accomplishments and new discoveries in the last month or so:

*She can sit up all on her own - she learned how to do this @ exactly 5 months old and it's definitely her favorite thing to do, and she's a pro at it.

*She's scootching and SO close to crawling - it won't b

e long before she's crawling. She's got the basics of how it works down, all she needs to do is work up the full strength &

coordination to do it and that will be the end of that.

*She loves sleeping on her tummy - or, should I say, she HAS to sleep on her tummy. It started just a few days after she turned 5 months; I had put her to bed and she rolled over and discovered that she liked sleeping like that...and now, she refuses to sleep any other way.

*She sleeps sideways in her crib & has to have something touching her feet - It's the weirdest thing. She literally will sleep sideways in the crib so that her feet are shoved up against the crib bumper. It'll be nice when she's old enough to sleep with a blanket.

(This is before she started sleeping on her tummy -- the sideways-feet-against-the-bumper-sleeping came first.)

*She loves playing peek-a-boo.

*She does the fake-cough sometimes when she gets excited.

*She is STILL teething, with no teeth to show for it.

*She loves going on nightly walks with Mommy & Daddy.

*She LOVES computers! - she's DEFINITELY Mike's kid.

*She, unfortunately has found her thumb - but thankfully doesn't stick it in her mouth ALL the time....we're trying to break the habit now.

*She'll watch the Baby Einstein movies, but only for so long before she gets bored and annoyed - she can only watch about 10 minutes max of Baby Einsteins before she gets BORED...apparently Baby Einstein isn't fast-past enough for her. She prefers louder, more fast-paced movies, like the new Clash of the Titans, Madagascar, etc.

*She loves picking out her outfits everyday - Every morning when I'm getting her

dressed, I take her over to the closet and let her at it...she'll stretch out her arm and move it back and forth across all the clothes, feeling each shirt and dress, until she finds the one she wants and yanks it off the hanger. It's so cute!

*She still LOVES her baths - and so much so that, still, if we are away from home during or shortly before her bath time (any time after 6:40 since bathtime is at 7) she gets SUPER angry and will cry and squirm until we walk out to the car. I've never seen a baby so addicted to something, especially a bath, but it's so good, because I know she'll always been clean!

*She had her first haircut - she was WELL due for a haircut for a long while, but I didn't want to take the time to cut it until a couple of weeks ago when I finally got so fed up with how ugly it looked that I had to buzz it off and make it all even. Now, it looks so much better!! Here are the before and after pics:

Before

After

*She LOVES other kids - and I mean LOVES!!. She especially loves her cousin Sara who is 2 months older than her. It's really sweet.

*She loves sucking on her toes.

*She LOVES saying "MaMa" and now, especially, "DaDa".

*She still talks up a storm and loves to get other people's attention by squealing as loud, high, and long as she can, and will express her joy by jumping and wiggling like a maniac.

*She's still sleeping like a champ - 10-12 hours a night, we LOVE it!!!!!

*Her sense of humor is continuing to develop - she thinks more and more things are funny every week.

*She takes binkies now - but only because she likes to chew on them.

*She still loves music and being sung to - movies with people singing seem to capture her attention for the singing bits. I'm hoping she'll be musical when she gets older.

*She gets SOOOO excited when she sees her Daddy - she will be SUPER grumpy with me all day at home, but the minutes she sees Daddy after he comes home from work, she transforms into a happy angel-baby. But, I guess that shouldn't surprise me, she's ALWAYS preferred her Daddy, even in the womb.

*She loves peaches, pears & strawberries, cantaloupe, just about anything mixed with oatmeal, ham & pineapple, turkey, sweet potatoes, sweet corn, and squash.

*Along with Milk, we're pretty sure she's also allergic to apples and to chicken - Every time we give her anything with apples or chicken she breaks out in a red bumpy rash for a couple of days that is only made better by Benadryl and a cream the doctor gave us, it's super-lovely.

That's all I can think of right now, but she's doing so well and she's such a sweetheart. I love my baby!

What my baby learned while Daddy was away

So, for those of you who don't know, Mike went away this past week (he left early Monday morning and will be back home in a few hours) to our Stake Scout Camp, and while he's been gone, Diana and I have been VERY busy at home. While Mommy' has been working to keep the house in order and keep DiDi fed, this is a list of things Di learned:

*She's rolling now. (Yes, she already knew HOW to do it, but was refusing to do it for the longest time, now she'll do it to entertain herself when placed on the floor - but only for so long before she gets bored of that, too).

*She can hold her own bottle. Yep, Mommy got sick and tired of holding Diana's juice bottle during/after mealtime, so Mommy taught DiDi how to do it herself, and she's actually quite good at it and prefers to hold it herself...and take it out herself occasionally, which leads to her crying and screaming because she thinks someone is being mean to her....nice.

*She's off the boob! Yep, this one started Thursday night. I couldn't give her boob because I was in the middle of something and I figured "Hey, she can hold her bottle now and LOVES it, so why not try?", so I cooked up some formula and voila! She loved it! (for those of you that don't know, Diana went through a HUGE phase where she would not take formula, at all, and since she has to drink soy because she has a milk allergy, it tastes

even worse than regular formula, so I didn't really ever blame her, it stinks really bad.) But, she's not COMPLETELY free of the boob just yet. I've been giving her it in the mornings when she first wakes up, then bottle and solid foods the rest of the day. Tomorrow I plan on doing bottle in the morning too, so, we'll see. I figured this was perfect timing, too, since she will be 5 months on Monday and I had planned to stop breastfeeding at about 5-6 months, so we're right on schedule.

*She can sit up on her own! Well, sorta...she can sit up and balance herself for about 30 seconds max, but she does really well. She loves sitting and she loves trying to sit unsupported because she can move around more freely. I just hope she gets better at this one soon.

Ok, I swear there was one more thing, but I can't think of it, so we'll leave the list at that for now. I can't believe how much my little pumpkin is growi

ng!! I love her and she's so much fun, even when she's being a little pill! :) But how could you NOT love such a pretty face???

4 1/2 month checkup

Ok, so, I'm a bad mom and didn't make an appt for my daughter's 4 month checkup until a week before she turned 4 months, so, the soonest they could get us in was when she was 4 1/2 months. Sooooo, we went in on Tuesday for her 4 month-er.

It turns out she's doing pretty well. She was impatient and SUPER wiggly as we waited for the doctor to arrive, and she got pretty upset with me while the nurse was giving her her shots, but other than that things went well. Here are the basics:

*She's still average for her weight and slightly above average for her height.

*She comes in at 13 pounds 3 oz & 24 3/4" long (I could have sworn she was taller than that - but she was being very squirmy while they were measuring her, so they could have measured wrong) - they told me her noggin size, but, psssh, heck if I remember. Let's just say she has a perfect sized noggin.

*She is advanced with her speech (surprise, surprise) because she's already making the "M" and "G" sounds, which he said is a 6-month milestone. WOO-HOO!!

*She's stubborn because she refuses to roll over, although I KNOW she knows how to, so the doc prescribed more tummy time to teach her that it's really fun and not annoying like she seems to think it is.

*She's on two solid-food meals a day, which is right on track, since she should be on 3 solid meals a day by the time she's 6 months.

*The doc asked if she keeps me from getting anything done some days by screaming and throwing a fit and I said "Ohhhhh, yeah!" and so he said "If you have to get something done, just put her in the playpen and let her cry, it's ok." Well, doctor's orders! ;) I actually have done this on days when I need to shower or get the house cleaned, and it's so lovely, because she literally will not stop screaming (not crying, screaming) until I pick her back up, which can be up to an hour or so. So, needless to say, I'm slowly going deaf....and crazy.

*She's being a champ and sleeping 9-10 hours straight every night, which helps with my sanity. When I told him about how well she sleeps he said, "Doesn't that make you feel like a rockstar? Like you're doing something right?" and boy, I couldn't have summed it up better! It's SOOO nice to have a good night's rest every night!!

*She had to get the second round of vaccinations (4 shots and one oral) - she loved the oral vaccination because it's sweet and, well, as all of you with kids know, babies LOVE having anything in their mouth. Now the shots, that was a different story. The nurse came in with the tray of shots and Diana started to breathe a little heavier. When I laid her down on the table, she started to shake and breathe even heavier and whimper while she looked at me like "What are you going to let them do to me??", then came the shots, along with, of course, the ear-piercing screams and angry look, like she was saying, "Do you HATE me?????" I talked her through the shots and held her hands, and by the time they were all done shooting her up and I had her dressed, she was 100% better. Amazingly enough, she has a short memory for pain. She'll cry and scream at first, but after a couple of seconds, it's like it never happened. The only time she'll cry non-stop, or for longer than a few seconds, is if you hurt her feelings by not holding her, scaring/startling her, etc.

So, to sum it all up, she's one healthy, relatively happy little boolah. I tease about her quirks, but she really is a great baby, always SO happy, so talkative, with such a great sense of humor, it's amazing!! She's my little buddy and I couldn't love her any more than I already do!! And, as I'm typing this she's peacefully enjoying a lovely sunday nap in her swing. Ahhh, how I love a happy, sleeping baby!! :)

New this week

Diana has made some new accomplishments in the past couple of weeks:

*Last night she slept completely through the night for the first time!!It was like a miracle! I couldn't believe it! I woke up a couple of times during the night and morning to go check on her and make sure she was still alive, so I didn't get a good night's rest, but she sure did! She actually only woke up because at 6 I went to check on her and I accidentally woke her up, but she fell back asleep a couple of minutes later. Note-to-self, from now on, if I'm going to check on her, be SUPER-QUIET, or don't check on her at all. I'm just hoping that this sleeping-through-the-night thing is permanent! I would LOVE to not have to wake up in the middle of the night anymore! I'm keeping my fingers crossed for sure!

*She's discovered how to grab her toes.She discovered her toes several weeks ago and has been slowly working on trying to grab them. Two days ago I witnessed her FINALLY grabbing them. She grabbed them over and over again, and now she tries her best to try to grab them all day every day. It's the funniest thing. In the pic above, I got her grabbing her ankles, I couldn't get a pic of her grabbing her toes....she moves around a lot. :) P.S., guess what she's doing while trying to grab her toes?...You guessed it, watching TV! ;)

*She's talking more than ever, even more than me!
My goodness, I didn't think she could talk any more than she already did, but low and behold, she talks EVEN MORE now. Incredible? I guess I should think so, since she is MY spawn...I mean, for those of you that know me know I'm not at all silent around people I know and am comfortable with. I'm telling you, this girl LOVES to talk, and if you don't pay attention to her while she's trying to talk, she'll stare at you and squeal until she gets your attention. She's gotten pretty good at interrupting me while I'm talking to her. Apparently, I'm boring. Watching her talk is fun, Mike and I always get a good laugh out of it.

*She's become a pro at putting stuff in her mouth and is getting really good at reaching out and grabbing things.Ok, in this pic I'm the one holding the toy, but she really is this good at putting stuff in her mouth. I couldn't get a picture of her doing it because, as I said before, she moves around too much...the camera on my phone is too slow. Since she is teething, she likes to put everything in her mouth....her hands, her clothes, blankets, toys, anything she can grab and make fit. I guess I should take the opportunity now to start "baby-proofing" everything while she's still immobile.
It's actually really cute to watch her put stuff in her mouth...she'll usually either gum at it and lick it at the same time, OR, she'll furrow her brow and talk as she gums on her toy. She's definitely a little character!

*She now doesn't mind laying on the floor (either on her tummy or back) as long as she has toys to play with.We started putting Diana on the floor more (sometimes on her tummy, sometimes just on her back) with some toys around her for her to look at and play with and now she doesn't seem to mind being on the floor, just as long as her little friends are around. :) I snapped some pics of her the other day talking to her toys after I laid her on the floor. It was so cute!! She actually has always done really well at holding up her head as you can see in the first pic (although you can't tell in the second picture, cuz I snapped it after she lowered her head to talk to her froggy toy), and she gets better every day!

*She LOVES her rice cereal (as long as it's the Gerber brand, and the kind with fruit) and is eating twice as much as before.
Ok, it is THE CUTEST thing; when she sees me walking over with the bowl of rice cereal, she gets WAY excited and starts licking her chops. She will laugh and coo the whole time I'm feeding her. It's like she's so happy to be eating she can't contain her excitement! :) She eats a full two tablespoons of cereal (mixed with two tablespoons breast milk) and she literally gulps it down. I've never seen a baby eat so fast! She loves that crap! After she's all done, she washes her meal down with about a 1/2 ounce of water and then she's ready for bed. I love having her on a schedule, it's awesome! At 7, we bathe her, then I breastfeed her a little bit, then between 8-8:30 I feed her the rice cereal and by then she's fighting to keep her eyes open, so it's off to bed without a fuss! It's the best!!!

*She's gotten over her clingy phase, but now she won't take a bottle....at all.
Yep, we finally got her to trust us and let other people hold her again without freaking out, but now she refuses to take a bottle. The only time we can put a bottle in her mouth without her screaming and spitting it back out is if it has cold water in it. Great. That means it's gonna be a while before Mike and I can go out on our own again and leave her with a babysitter (ie, one of my sisters). :( BOO!! I'm hoping we can break her of this one REAL soon.

Memorial Day Weekend - aka - Mike's B-Day Weekend!

This past weekend was Mike's birthday and Memorial Day weekend. Mike spent Saturday Morning hiking with his brother Brian in Lovell Canyon.

Lovell Canyon

When he got home he was tired and sore, poor boy! But he had fun nonetheless and I was so glad! While Mike was out hiking, I had planned on going to the store to buy a ton of decorations and balloons, making him a brownie cake, and making myself up all pretty and dressing Diana up cute so we could surprise him when he got home, but alas, when I woke up that morning, I felt sick, REALLY sick. I was dizzy and nauseous and congested. I hopped in the shower, hoping that would wake me up and help me past the yucky feelings, but it only made me more dizzy. I even went downstairs and ate, but nope, no such luck. So, instead of Mike coming home to an awesome birthday surprise, he came home to his baby still in her PJ's sleeping, his wife looking haggard, with no make-up on and her hair still half wet & frizzy and in her PJ's too, no brownies, and a half-messy house. I felt horrible, all I could do was cry, I felt so ashamed. But of course, Mike being the awesome, wonderful man he is, just hugged me and said "the best birthday gift I could ask for is for you to get feeling better." After he showered, he ran to the store to get me LOTS of medicine, chicken noodle soup, and Gatorades. After some medicine, soup, Gatorade, and after doing my make-up and getting dressed, (and after Mike played some video games with Diana and went with Dustin to go get his old barbeque grill) I started to feel so much better, so Mike, Diana, and I went to Town Square and walked around, enjoying the warm weather and fresh air. The rest of Mike's birthday we spent together at home relaxing. That night, being the good sport that he is, he said that this birthday was a great one, but of course, I didn't believe him, so I promised him that one of these upcoming weekends I would make it up to him with the best birthday ever. He's such a good boy!

Mike & Di enjoying a Sunday Nap after church

Monday morning, we woke up bright and early, got ready for the day, and then went on a drive through Lovell Canyon to enjoy nature and, again, the nice weather. We pulled over at one point and I took some pictures of Mike and Diana...Diana was ever so happy to get out of the car so she could wiggle around more and not have the sun completely in her eyes (the window shades we bought a few weeks back for her were crap and wouldn't stay on the windows no matter what we did, poor girl!). It was such a fun drive and I thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful weather!

Mike and Di @ Lovell Canyon

Immediately after that, we drove to Smith's to pick up the groceries that we needed for our family barbeque later that afternoon. We came home and cleaned up (Well, honestly, it was mostly Mike because I spent most of the time feeding Diana and trying to get her to nap for more than 10 minutes at a time. She wanted to be awake and playing with us despite the fact that she was dead-tired.) and after Mike got the grill cleaned, we tested it out with some grilled chicken and corn for lunch. I introduced Mike to the wonderful world of grilled corn and he LOVED it! So much, in fact, that that's how we served up our corn on the cob that afternoon. We then took some time to relax and Mike re-showered (he was dirty from cleaning the grill) before everyone showed up. Thankfully, some of my ever-so-awesome sisters showed up a half-hour early and were able to help me get the food ready. I had lost track of time taking care of Diana and so didn't get started on the food until 10 minutes before 3 (..the barbeque started at 3:30). When Mike's sister and Mom showed up they helped put the skewers together and Mike and his Dad grilled up the skewers and corn, and they tasted GREAT!! Thank you to everyone who helped and to everyone who brought food.
Almost everyone was able to come, with the exception of Andrew, Dennis, Will (who all had to work), Stephanie and her sweet boys (the boys were sick, poor kids!), and Tim, Ally, and baby Jayce (Jayce was sick, poor little sweetheart! :( ). We missed you all!! Thank you all for being willing to contribute, and for Tim and Ally sending their food over, you guys REALLY didn't have to, I do feel bad about that, we owe you! I hope all the babies get feeling better very soon!After we got done grilling up the food, I put out the kiddie pool and we filled it up for the kids, and from what I heard they all enjoyed it until the sun went down and the wind started to really pick up, making them all super-cold. Poor things!!

Before everyone started leaving (after Brian & Annette had left - sorry we didn't do it earlier!) we sang "Happy Birthday" to Mike and had cake and ice cream. I had made a chocolate-chocolate cake and my mom made her super-scrumptious coconut cake (MMMMMMM!!! My FAVORITE!!) and brought over some vanilla ice cream. Thanks Mom for helping out with the cake and ice cream! Your cake is ALWAYS a hit!

Mike blowing out his candles....his TRICK candles :)

After that, everyone started to go home because people had work and school the next day (which is why we made the barbeque so early in the day), and thankfully we were able to send a lot of the leftover food home with some people so that we don't have to worry about it all going bad before WE can eat it! :)
Once everyone had left, Mike helped me bathe Diana (as he ALWAYS does, what a good boy!) and while I was feeding her after her bath, the silly boy cleaned EVERYTHING up and even completely cleaned the bathrooms that were used!! I felt so bad that I was sitting on my fat bum feeding Di while he was doing all the hard work. He even did a few loads of laundry!! Before my parents had left, Mike was in the kitchen doing dishes and my Mom walks up to Mike, ever so astonished that HE is doing dishes, and says "Can you teach Jim to do that??" We all just laughed! My mom has always been so impressed by Mike and ALL that he does. She's always telling me to be good to him, my Dad too! My Dad likes Mike so much that he calls him "son" and shouts "Mike!" whenever we go over...yes, that's right, if it's Mike and I going over to my parents' house, he will say hi to Mike, not me. When I ask him why he says hi to Mike over me, he gets a silly grin and says "Well, Mike's my favorite!" I can't help but laugh, my Dad has ALWAYS thought the world of Mike and has always had nothing to say but great things about Mike. Several times, even before we were married, my Dad would pull me aside and tell me to be good to Mike, because Mike is a great man and I'm so lucky to have him, and I couldn't agree more!
Mike, I love you, and I know you don't think you're wonderful, but I have to say, I have never met a more wonderful man in my life. I am so lucky to have you and would be lost without you. I want you to know that I always have nightmares about you cheating on me because in my heart I know you're much too good for me. You work so hard to support Me and Diana, and have allowed me to stay home and be a housewife (and now stay-at-home Mom as well) ever since we got married while you work hard so we can afford the things that we have. Then, on top of that, you come home and help with housework and the baby, so that I can take a break. And, you've given me the most beautiful daughter. I look forward to having many more beautiful children with you. I love you more than you'll ever know. I couldn't be more lucky or blessed. Thank you for all that you do. I hope you had a good birthday weekend. I promise I'll make it up to you very soon and give you the best birthday yet!
..This morning I woke up feeling under the weather again, after two days of feeling fine....but it was SO awesome to wake up to an extremely clean home while I did none of the work. Thank Heaven for wonderful husbands!!!!!

UPDATE!

Ok, per Miss Bonnie's request to me while I was visiting Mike and her at work, I am updating my blog.
Hmmmm, let's see, quite a bit has changed since the last update.
First off, I'll start with my garden. I planted some flowers in my backyard yesterday morning and they look so pretty! (...if I do say so myself. :) ). Anywho, I've been really wanting to plant flowers in my backyard for a looooong time...well, ever since we did up our backyard....but I've never been able to get around to it. Correction. I DID plant some seed back in the winter, but seeds suck and only some of my flowers grew, but then Mike killed them because I'm dumb and put him in charge of watering the flowers. LOVE YOU, MIKE! No really, it's not his fault, he works all day, I should be the one that waters the plants! SO, we went to the Wal*Mart and the Home Depot on Saturday and Monday nights and got me a bunch of different flowers (calla lilies, gerbera daisies, roses, carnations, etc) and yesterday morning at 6 a.m. my tushy was outside putting those suckers in the ground! It took me two hours to get them put in in nice little even rows, perfectly spaced, but I have to say it was well worth it, they look great, and now my back yard has a little more color! With the grass and the cement and the porch swing and now the flowers, it's really starting to look like a functional backyard back there! Now, all I have to do is get my fruit and veggie garden planted before it gets too hot!
Oh, that reminds me, About a week ago, my mom and I got together at my parents' house and we reupholstered her extra porch swing and she gave it to me. It looks fantastic, Thanks Mom!! It's really nice to have a place to sit back there; it's nice to actually be able to use and enjoy my backyard!!
NOW, onto Diana. Diana, Diana, Diana, my sweet little drama queen. She's been going through a lot of new developments lately:

1. She's rolling over onto her back now,

(she got tired and fell asleep)

although she doesn't seem to be a HUGE fan of it, but she does do very well. She actually did it for the first time about a week or two ago. I had laid her on her stomach in the front room and then ran into the kitchen to do something with the dinner really quick when I heard her crying, so, I walked back into the front room to see what was wrong and I discovered Diana on her back! I couldn't believe it! I was so excited that I screamed and put her back on her tummy. She looked a little bewildered, but then she started to squirm and rolled herself over onto her back again. It was great! She's done it a few more times now and she gets better every time she does it. I'm just hoping she starts rolling over completely (from stomach to back to stomach) here pretty soon. :)

2. She's going through her "clingy" stage (and might I add it started a month and a half earlier than my doctor warned me it would).

(This is what happens when I put her down and leave the room)

Man oh man, is this stage ever difficult! She seems to have started to go through all her latest changes all at once, but this one takes the cake. She use to LOVE LOVE LOVE when ANYONE held her. I used to joke that she was an "attention-whore" (pardon the crude expression) because she would do anything to get you to pay attention to her and love on her. Now, unless you're her mommy or daddy, she doesn't want you holding her AT ALL. She will actually cry and scream until Mike or I take her back from whoever is holding her. It's seriously the oddest thing, especially since it just happened literally all of the sudden. Her clingyness has also affected her nighttime sleep. When she started getting clingy is when she stopped wanting to sleep alone at night. Over the past two weeks I've spent several nights sleeping with her on the couch. She would sleep just fine if we were around or if one of us was holding her, but the minute you laid her in her bed her little eyes would pop open and she'd look at you like you were abandoning her (literally), and she'd start to scream...and scream....and scream...for hours. SO, some nights she'd have to sleep with me, but I really REALLY love sleeping in my bed, so the other night we fed her really well, changed her diaper, turned on her mobile, and then let her cry for an hour and a half until she finally went to sleep (Mike went in once after about 45 minutes to rub her back and give her a kiss goodnight). And guess what? Now, when I lay her in her bed, she doesn't make one peep, she just looks at me, smiles, then goes to sleep, EVEN AT NAP TIME! HALLELUJAH!! It's a freaking MIRACLE! So, now that we have that problem solved, it's on to the clingyness. I've talked with my mom, and I now know what I need to do to break her of her need to be held by me and only me 24/7 and how to get her comfortable with people again, I just know it's going to be a long and slow process, so I'll definitely need plenty of patience!
3. Her eating habits are slowly changing. Today we experienced another small breakthrough. She's now eating every 3 hours instead of every 2 (let's hope at least that this is permanent and not just a phenomenon of today). Also, she has graduated onto eating about a teaspoon or two of rice cereal every other night before she goes to bed. She was at the point (again, about a week or two ago) where she was breastfeeding literally FOREVER before bed time, and still seemed hungry when she was all done. SO, I spoke to my every-intelligent Momma who knows EVERYTHING about babies (especially since she had 11 of her own and now has 22 grandbabies), and she recommended that I give Diana a tiny bit of rice cereal once a day if she seemed like she was still hungry after feeding. So, I tried it out and at first I have to say that Diana wasn't too crazy about it, but then I put a TEENY bit of sugar in it to flavor it up along with some formula AND I make it nice and warm (actually, it almost has to be HOT), and now she'll eat it with a big smile on her face, and she does REALLY WELL at eating it, too! Mike is convinced that she loves it now with sugar in it because she's a Steadman - because Steadman's are ADDICTED to sugar - and that may very well be it, but honestly I think it's because her food now actually has FLAVOR to it. I mean, would YOU want to eat rice cereal plain? Babies have taste buds too! I know, call me a horrible mother, but my baby is healthy and happy and that's all that matters to me! :)
4. She talks ALL THE TIME now and is such a happy, personable baby.
Oh my goodness, does that girl love to talk! I mean it, she definitely got that from me! I'll actually be talking to her and she'll cut me off and started babbling at the top of her lungs at a million miles an hour. Seriously, just ask Mike! I told him that Heavenly Father sent me Diana first because he knew I needed someone to talk to! :) She gets VERY excited when she talks. So excited that sometimes it takes her a minute to find her voice, and when she finally does, her noises come out as loud as she can make them. It's funny! And unfortunately for her, she got her loud talking from her momma too. Haha, poor girl!
5. She's teething like MAD! Ok, seriously, this girl is constantly drooling and/or chewing on her hands, clothes, blankets, anything she can get in her mouth. Actually, a lot of the time if I lay her on her stomach she'll attack the ground. Thankfully I always lay her on a clean blanket, so no mouth full of germs for her, just a mouth full of blanket and drool. She hasn't cut any teeth yet and probably won't for a few more months, since babies can teethe for quite a while before breaking teething. I just hope she breaks them soon so that we can get this unpleasant first part over with...although secretly I know it won't end until all her teeth come in. :(
6. She LOVES taking baths! And when I say loves I mean LOVES! She takes baths in the bathtub (no baby bath for her!) and the minute we lay her in the water she's kicking and smiling and squeeling at the top of her lungs. I usually sing to her too while I bathe her and she just LOOOOOOVES that too!! Oh man, I'm telling you, she's gonna be a singer when she gets older, she loves herself some music! I've never seen a baby so happy while bathing. It's ironic too, because when she was brand new she HATED HATED HATED taking baths. I mean HATED. She would cry the ENTIRE time! But then one day she realized that they were wonderful and now if 7 p.m. hits and her little booty is not in the tub she throws a fit. And I'm being 100% serious. She will scream and cry until you get her into the tub. SO, we've learned not to plan anything during her bath time because she's a wild beast during that time unless she's being bathed. Now, I only wish she was as happy about lotioning up and getting dressed after the bath. Now that part she still hates with every fiber of her being, but she's usually back to her normal happy self the minute the last piece of clothes is on her body. Silly girl!
7. She loves going to the store but HATES to shop. She loves people watching. She loves having new things to look at. But she HATES being sedentary. If I take her grocery shopping or to grab a shirt, she's just fine, until I stop to look at something. Then, the lungs fire up. Oh yes, she'll shriek and writhe until I start moving again. I know, spoiled, spoiled beast. I told you, we're working on it! It's almost like her brain is trying to absorb as much new stuff in as little time as possible, and when I stop moving it hinders her brains ability to do that. Hopefully we can curb these tantrums and she'll learn to have patience. I hope I'm that good of a mother!
8. She L-O-V-E-S the TV. Yes, you read it right, my baby LOVES to watch movies...and to watch her daddy play his video games. She's like a zombie if you set her in front of the TV. All her problems seem to go away and she zones out completely. It's actually pretty fun to watch and I've scared her quite a few times when I start to talk and it breaks her out of her focus on the screen. She definitely got that from me. My mom has a picture of me when I was about 1 year old sitting only inches away from the TV screen, my mouth WIDE open in concentration on what was playing. Thankfully, though, she DOES love to be outside and to move around, so I don't have to worry about her being a couch potato!
9. And last, but not least, she still LOVES her Daddy!

'Nuf said.

Well, that's what's new for now, other than all that great stuff, we're all doing splended. I just hope we can get Diana going in the right direction with everything here soon. Keep your fingers crossed!!