Random Thoughts!

So I haven't posted in a while and I figured I probably should. Nothing too exciting has happened to us this week, but here are a few random things that have happened to me.
1. A Great Deal
Thanks to Kerrie I got a great deal on some baby clothes at childrensplace.com. They were having a spring clearance and I bought Hannah about seven things, each only costing $3.50. She got a coat, two dresses, pants, two shirts, and a hat; all for under $30. We received the clothes in the mail a couple days ago and they were definitely worth the money.
2. Contest is over
Well, in case any of you were wondering about the contest Scott and I were having with losing weight, I won with flying colors. Scott stopped his diet about two weeks into the contest(as I expected he would). I actually stopped my diet as well but still lost 6 pounds all together, probably because of breast feeding. Scott actually gained 4 pounds, which is kind of funny. So because he gained 4 pounds, I get $3 for every pound he gained and $2 for every pound I lost. That's $24!!! I am not going to post an after picture of me though because I really don't look that different from before. I still have to tone up my body, not that any of you really care, but I have love handles the size of Texas!!
3. Sickness all around
This week all three of us have been sick with a cold. I think Hannah got it the worst though. It is sad to hear her cough with all that gunk in her throat. I think she is slowly getting better, though. She also started saying words like "da" and "ba." She doesn't know what she's saying yet but at least her language skills are developing.
4. Finals
Scott and I have had finals for the last couple of days and will continue to have them until Wednesday. So far, I think we have both done pretty well.
5. Hot Dogs
Yesterday Scott bought me a big polish dog from some little joint on BYU campus and it was delicious, but made me incredibly sick. If any of you want to buy me a hot dog for lunch in the future, do both of us a favor and save your money. I love hot dogs, but they make me sooooo sick for the rest of the day and I am burping them up for 24 hours straight (not that you wanted to know that). I can do store bought hot dogs, but it's the big ones you buy from restaurants and Costco that make me sick.
6. Insomnia
I have had incredibly bad insomnia for quite some time now. Scott and I will go to bed together and 60 seconds later, he is asleep. I lay there for hours watching him sleep comfortably while I just have random thoughts racing through my head (like this blog). I don't know what my problem is, but it's really wearing me out.

Well, those are the things that have happened to us this past week. We are SO excited to come to California this week. I apologize there are no pictures in this blog but we actually haven't taken any this week.

Six Months!!

Hannah is now 6 whole months old. I can't believe how fast the time has gone by. Today we took her to see the doctor again. She was 14 lbs 15oz, which is 27 th percentile and 26 inches long, which is about 50th percentile. She also got 4 more shots. Speaking of shots, I was watching Oprah the other day and they were talking about kids with autism. It kind of scared me because one of the mothers thought that her baby got autism because of the immunizations. While I don't think I agree with that, it still made me think about whether or not I should let Hannah get her shots. They say autism can occur anytime between birth and two years of age. I think she'll be alright, though. Here are a couple of pictures I took on her sixth month birthday. Yes, I love taking close-ups of her.

Hannah loves to be outside. This was the first time she got to lay in the grass. I think she really liked it.
Hannah tried squash for the first time this week. She really didn't like it at first. I think it's growing on her, though, the more and more we give it to her.
We hope you all have a wonderful week!!! Wish us luck on our finals next week!!!!

Happy Reester!!!

Well Happy Easter to everyone!! Scott's favorite Easter candy are the "Reester Eggs." Who doesn't love a good Reese's every now and then (or all the time)? Yesterday was a fun day for our family. In the afternoon, we took Hannah for a small hike up the canyon. Scott put her in the Baby Bijourn (sp) and she really enjoyed it. We decided we have to do more stuff like that. The mountains here are so beautiful and are only 10 minutes away but we rarely visit them. Last night we decided to have an Easter party with the three of us. These pictures are, once again, out of order, but oh well.

Hannah and Mommy taking a break from making cookies.

Hannah worked so hard on those Easter cookies that she got a little flour on her nose.

Hannah and mommy cutting out sugar cookies in the shape of bunnies.

The eggs and cookies are finished!! We took this picture after church today.

This morning, Hannah and I woke up to some presents that the Easter bunny left us. Hannah got 4 movies ("A Goofy Movie," "Baby Einstein," "Alice in Wonderland," and "The Emperor's New Groove") and I got a big extended version of my favorite childhood movie, "The Wizard of Oz." The Easter bunny is a big fan of movies.
Here is a picture of Hannah and Daddy coloring eggs (we did this last night along with making the bunny cookies). Today we are going to bring those bunny cookies over to a few friends and we are going to eat the eggs we made with dinner tonight. We hope you all have a wonderful Easter and let's not forget the true meaning of why we celebrate! Love ya all!

Spring is here!

Well spring time is back. It has been beautiful again the last couple of days. I love spring here because the flowers are so beautiful. We took pictures of Hannah on Sunday and were going to send wallets to you all for Easter but we don't have any stamps right now, so if I do send them, you will most likely get it after Easter. Here are a couple of my favorites (although they are out of order on this blog. For some reason I don't know how to get the pictures to upload in order). In between the flower pictures are just some close up ones I took the other day.


This one was one of my favorites. She's so interested in the flowers.

This one is hilarious. Don't worry, she didn't ruin the flowers.

This is the one we were going to send to you all.

A big close up smile.

Snuggling with her bunny "Pinky."

She looks grumpy in this one and one of her eyes looks smaller than the other but it's still cute.

This week Grandma and Grandpa Price are visiting. We got to hang out with them yesterday. I took Hannah to the movies for the first time with Grandma and Grandpa, and Hollie and her kids. I was so worried that I would have to take Hannah out during most of the movie but she just sat there and watched the whole thing (and fell asleep in my lap for about 20 minutes of it). We saw "Meet the Robinsons." It was a pretty good kid's show I guess, but I was more interested in how good Hannah was the whole time. It was amazing!!! Sometimes I don't think I know this because I focus on the fussy times, but she is a really good baby.

Snow, Snow, Go Away

Hannah wakes up with a big smile on her face...ready for a new day (and by the way Grandpa Sprague, she loves that dog you gave her).

Her toes are painted and she has her summer sandals on......

along with a new spring outfit.

However, she can't go outside today because it is snowing:( It has been so beautiful here for the past month and I have been able to take Hannah out almost everyday for a walk. Today is a different story. It is cold and wet and a bit depressing. Snow, snow, go away, come again another day. On a good note, though, Hannah has been sleeping very well for the past couple of days. She actually slept for 11 hours straight on Sunday night. I could not believe it. I had to keep checking on her to make sure she was OK (plus I sort of wanted her to get up and eat, for those of you mothers who know what I am talking about...I think weaning her from breast feeding is going to be hardest on me).

Grandma's in town!

Hannah and Grandma together at last
Grandma thinks Hannah is growing too fast
They play all day
And laugh all night

Whenever they're together they have a blast!

I hope you loved my awesome little poem (and yes I know a first grader could have written it)! I figured I'd better write one since Scott has not.
This week has been fun. Scott and I had a lot of homework and it has been nice having Grandma around to watch Hannah. I know that she loves Hannah to death, and Hannah loves her too (this goes for all her grandparents). Today Julia took me to see Premonition. It's a pretty good movie for those of you who want to see it (although I must admit, I did not care for the end). Hannah this week, however, has done horrible with sleeping at night. She had been getting up between 5 and 10 times every night. At first I thought it was her rice cereal because I noticed she was getting an extreme amount of gas since we've been feeding it to her. I stopped giving it to her a few days ago but it didn't make much of a difference at night. However, her gas has gotten a lot better. I don't know if I should just stop giving it to her or continue to try. Then we thought it was because she was sleeping in her bassinet rather than her crib. Her bassinet is getting too small for her. Last night we tried sleeping her in her crib and told Grandma to sleep in our room (although she really felt horrible about sleeping on our bed and us on an air mattress but it was actually kind of fun because we slept in the front room so Hannah could have her own room). Still, though, Hannah did not have a great night last night. It was better than the previous three, but not great. I have come to the conclusion that we think she might be getting a tooth. Her nose is runny and she keeps pressing her tongue against her bottom gums. We hope that's the case. Otherwise, we don't know why she is having such horrible nights. But anyway, it's been wonderful having Grandma here and we look forward to seeing more of the grandparents soon!

Hey-just wanted to let those of you who check this know that we are not going to publish anything special for a few days because Scott and I both have big tests this week and Grandma Julia is in town so we don't have much time. Anyway, just wanted to let you know in case you check this often and are wondering why we haven't published recently.

The Video Is Here

Here is the video that Maran promised... I must say, we have a really cute little girl. The pictures of her eating show just how precious she is. She really likes to hear her own voice now, and I think that it is adorable. Well, enjoy the video.

Solids are delicious!

Does she like it?

Not so sure......
Yes!! I love solids!!!
Please read further down. For some reason I can only post 3 pictures in each post so I have to separate them if there are more than three pictures.

Hannah is 5 Months!

Well yesterday Hannah turned five months. She tried rice cereal for the first time last night. I think she liked it at first but got sick of it after awhile. It was extremely soupy though, so I don't know if it was much of a difference from the regular milk she gets. We will have a video of it up soon but it takes forever to download. Recently, we also decided to sit Hannah up in her stroller, rather than putting her in her car seat and then her stroller. We were told it would help strengthen her muscles so she could start sitting up soon. Plus she likes it a lot better than being in her car seat. We have walked farther than we've ever been before and we don't hear a peep out of her. Also, today I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting and as most of you know, I don't like giving talks. I would rather do a cheer for the audience than speak. It actually went OK though and I wasn't really that nervous when I was up on the stand. And by the way, Scott should be writing a poem for Hannah soon so you can all see his great writing skills:)

Opinions on Bikinis

So what is your opinion on a baby wearing a bikini? Is it too risque? I personally think Hannah looks adorable in this little bikini. She got it from someone and I don't think it will fit her in the summer because the bottoms are only 3-6 months (although the top for some reason is 6-12 months). I will most likely end up buying a one piece for her for the summer but I really think babies look adorable in bikinis.

Anyway, some great news this week for me is that I got my test back yesterday in class and found that I got an A on it. Sorry, I don't mean to brag but I was very proud of myself. I was sure I would get a C or something because this class is hard for me. And so I'm not just bragging about myself, Scott got a 99% on his last math test. He is doing very well in that class. I am actually surprised that we are both doing okay this semester because I was sure with having a baby, things would get rough. It is still incredibly hard to do homework with her but somehow we are just able to work it out. All I know, though, is we can't wait to graduate!!!

Okay so here is the video I promised of Hannah. It's not really anything too special, but she loves it when we come get her when she's not ready to fall asleep. She gets really excited. She has been sick the last few days so she is losing her voice. It breaks my little heart.

Well I was sitting here thinking about what I could write our blog about when it hit me. I don't have anything to write about. Our lives are quite boring at the moment and Hannah hasn't really done anything too exciting this week. So then I thought of what I do all day. I stay home all day because Scott has the car and I play with Hannah. I try to get my homework done when she takes her naps (which hasn't been working lately because her naps are extremely short so I try to do it late at night after she's gone to bed). Then I usually go to class at night as soon as Scott gets home and after that, what do we do? We watch TV. A whole lot of TV. It's hard to get out at night with a young baby, especially when it's been freezing here. Luckily, I have been able to go on a few walks with her during the day this month because it's warmed up a little bit. However, TV at night consumes me. I watch too much of it and it even haunts my dreams sometimes (especially the violent shows). Sometimes I can't sleep because I'm thinking about what I've watched on TV and wondering 'Why can't Pam and Jim just get together?' We were even eating most of our dinners in front of the television, but we are trying to stop that now. Here are some shows that we usually watch. On Mondays we have some friends come over and we watch Prison Break and 24. Tuesday and Wednesday we watch American Idol and Lost. Thursday of course we watch The Office and Fridays I have to watch 1 vs 100. Saturday nights there is nothing on TV (although this week Dwight was on SNL) so we usually watch a movie or go somewhere. Sunday nights we watch The Amazing Race and sometimes I watch America's Funniest Home Videos. When there is nothing on we then resort to watching TV series that we already have, like King of Queens, Seinfeld, and most recently House, MD. And when they are on, I also like to watch Dancing with the Stars and The Biggest Loser. I admit I have become addicted to television since I've had Hannah and I am trying really hard not to watch as much (It's surprising I'm not 300 pounds). Sometimes we even tape shows that are on during our regular shows like Survivor. I am glad that I don't watch TV during the days anymore (although I occasionally watch Oprah) because there were some days that the TV was on all day. You know you are watching too much TV when you are watching a show and you see several characters that you've seen in other shows. For example, Nina, Terri, the President's sister's boyfriend from this season and the blond little girl from season two of 24, Lincoln Burrows and the lawyer from Prison Break, and the blond haired lady who seems to like Jack from Lost have all appeared in the series of House. So, I have made a pact with myself that I am not going to watch as much TV. If I spent as much time reading my scriptures as I do watching TV, I would be a religion scholar. I am still going to watch my favorite shows, but I am also going to try to do some more reading and as soon as it warms up we are going to go out side a lot. Also, as soon as Hannah starts eating solids, we might have some friends watch her so Scott and I can go on a date or maybe even to the temple since we haven't been in months.
I would like to be a better person and not let TV consume my life. I am going to try hard to be better. I only hope that I can resist my television temptation and make something of my life. It's no excuse that it's cold out and that I have a baby. Speaking of Hannah, I will post a video of her later on tonight as soon as it downloads to our computer because I made the mistake once of not talking about Hannah in a blog and got my head chewed off for it by Grandma Julia. I'm totally joking Grandma Julia. I know you were kidding in your comment, but I will be sure to try and post something about Hannah as often as possible for you because I know that you miss her. She definitely is adorable and worth missing!! Anyway, so this is my blog about television. If anyone has any advice about what I can do instead of watching TV with a wee one, please let me know. I love your advice.

Hannah started sleeping in her crib for real two nights ago. I had a really hard time putting her in another room for some reason but it's actually turned out great. She has been sleeping very well. Last night she went to bed at 10:30 and woke up at 5:30. I fed her for five minutes and she went back down until 9:30. This life isn't so bad. I could definitely learn to live with it. Speaking of sleeping though, I was wondering what you mothers think the best way to put your baby down is. Scott and I have been conflicting recently about this a little bit. We both don't want to spoil her but we also don't want her to feel like she is being neglected. Sometimes we let her try to cry herself to sleep and other times we try to help her by bouncing her a little bit. We're just not sure what the best way is right now at 4 1/2 months old. So, if you have any ideas of what the best way is so that your child isn't spoiled, please let us know. We are very glad that she has been sleeping well through the night though (although this will probably change next week, as it always does). Anyway, the first picture is of her in her crib and the second is when she was doing tummy time, she got so tired and frustrated that she just fell asleep.
Other good news this week is that we are about half way through the semester!!! YIPPI! I took my first test this week and Scott took like his third or fourth in his math class. He has a test every two weeks. I guess it's nice because it's only over one or two chapters, but it still stinks to have a test that often.

Well we haven't had anything exciting happen this week but I figured I'd better post because I know it's always exciting to read another one (I always get excited when Kerrie and Jennifer have a new one). I got my hair cut last week and decided to get some bangs cut because I was tired of having the same old hair style. I think the girl cut my bangs way too thick though. They were always all up in my eye (they are supposed to be side bangs) so I actually cut them a little bit shorter than what is shown in this picture. Scott says he likes them but I'm not so sure. Some days I hate them and others I think they look OK. What do you think? I think I am going to grow them out again but it was nice to have a change and it's also nice not to have such thick hair in the front.
Something else exciting this week is that Hannah actually decided to take a binky. It's really strange because she's taken it three different times this week and before she would never take it. She still only takes it when she's in the mood but it was surprising that she would even suck on it at all.
And finally we started Hannah sitting in her bath tub (before she was laying on a green thing for newborns). She loves her baths and loves to kick her legs and splash around. It's really fun to give her a bath. Maybe next time we will have some video of it because it's really cute. Well, other than these things, nothing else exciting has happened. Hannah is still sleeping in our room right now because she is not used to her crib yet and I have a cold and missed church today so Scott and Hannah went together.

Here's our latest family picture that we took yesterday after church. Anyway, I just wanted to post an update from Hannah's appointment today. She weighs 12 lbs 12 oz and is only 27th percentile in weight and was 24 and a half inches tall, which is 60th percentile. Her head was like 40th percentile. Her weight percentile keeps getting smaller and smaller. Luckily the doctor said she is still right where she needs to be and isn't worried about her weight. He said we could give her formula before bed time or a little rice cereal if we wanted, but the recommendation is to wait until she is at least 6 months for that. We might give her a bottle of formula before bed to help her sleep a little longer though. Tonight she will be sleeping for the first time in her crib in her own room. I am kind of sad to leave her all alone but hopefully it will help us all sleep better. She did excellent today with her shots. She only cried right when the nurse gave her them and stopped right after. We are so proud of her! She is such a good little girl. By the way, I know this is kind of random but did anybody hear about the shooting at Trolley Square last night in SLC? Some random kid just started shooting people there and five died while others are in critical condition. Kind of scary and I was just wondering if it made national news. For some reason I can't stop thinking about it because I wonder what I would do if I were at that mall with Hannah.

Hannah is officially four whole months today! This month Hannah has learned how to do more than she had in the previous three months put together. Here are the top ten things Hannah has learned to do this month:

1. How to grab things on her own-she loves to grab her rug with both hands as in the picture above.
2. How to shake her head like she's saying "no," although I'm pretty sure she doesn't know what she's doing.
3. How to rub her eyes when she's tired.
4. How to sleep with her arms out of her swaddle while in her bassinet, as pictured above.
5. She coos a lot more than ever.
6. She's rolled over five times this month and gets very close every other time I put her on her tummy.
7. How to move from one position to another-for example, I lay her down horizontally and she ends up being vertical when I look at her five minutes later.
8. How to make mom and dad laugh-she'll keep smacking her lips together if she knows we'll laugh at it.
9. She's learned to stare at us intensely while we are eating ( I think she's getting ready to eat solids soon).
10. And finally, she's mastered the art of laughing and has learned that her mother is hilarious as shown in this new video.

We are so lucky to have Hannah in our lives. We love her so much and we love watching her learn new things. She will be getting her checkup on Tuesday and 4 more shots so wish her luck. It is so sad to watch, especially since we know her better than we did at her two month checkup.

Well I got the same genes as Kerrie in that I have a small pelvis and can't fit a baby's head through it, but unfortunately I didn't get the same genes as far as losing weight while breastfeeding goes. I still have at least 10 pounds to go until I get back down to my normal weight and it doesn't look like it's going to come off unless I do something about it. So, Scott and I are having a contest. He would like to lose about 10 pounds as well, since he has gained a few since we've been married. So, by the end of either March or April (we haven't decided yet) we will see who has lost the most weight and that person will get two dollars for every pound lost to spend on whatever they want. So if we both lose like 10 pounds that will be 40 bucks to spend on whatever we want. That's a lot to us right now considering we are poor college students. We rarely get to spend money on ourselves. And don't worry, I know I am still breastfeeding so I'm not really going on a diet, but I am counting calories and watching what I eat to make sure I don't go over what I need. I will be working out a lot as soon as the snow starts to melt too. By the way, it has been almost 50 degrees here this week. That's amazing!! Anyway, we just wanted to let everyone know about the contest because we are both excited about losing the weight (and please don't tell us that we don't need to lose weight because we both know that it wouldn't hurt to get back into shape and lose a couple of pounds.) and we think it will be fun. To be honest, I'm really not expecting for either of us to lose more than 5 pounds but it would be nice if we could.

P.S. I will put the pictures of us facing frontwards after the contest is over because I really look sick in my frontal picture.

It's funny that the Thornocks recently put a video of Allie on their website because I was thinking of doing the same thing that same day. We got this link from Stephanie's website though (we looked at hers after she looked at ours). I hope it works OK. This is video of Hannah cooing. She loves to hear her voice. Last week in church she was making so much noise in Relief Society that I had to take her out because everyone was laughing at her and not paying attention to the lesson. So click here to see the video!

Please scroll down for new pictures of Hannah

I know that Maran already posted today, but I thought I would hop on to tell what's going on with me. First, the big news. I am taking the rest of the year off from the Kings. It's a lot easier said than done, but I have done pretty well so far. They stink this year. Now, it's not just because they stink that I am taking the year off. The problem is that the players drive me crazy. If they were losing but they were trying to win, I could accept that easier. It's being up by ten entering the 4th quarter only to lose by double digits. I just don't think that these guys care one way or another if they win or lose, and I get too involved, and it is emotionally draining. Too many nights are ruined because I get mad. At least I can't watch them on TV here in Utah, or else I think it would be worse. I figured I would just take the rest of the year off, and not care one way or another. The good news is that Sports Illustrated is reporting that Mike Bibby, Ron Artest, and Brad Miller are all on the trading block. As much as I have loved Bibby on our team, get rid of him and bring in someone that wants to play. Get rid of this new moron coach while they are at it. I was ready for Rick Adelman to go, but not for this. We should just tank the rest of the season and try to get either Greg Oden or Durant in the draft. But enough of that...
For those of you still reading at this point, in other news, school is going well. I am enjoying my classes this semester, and I am glad that I can be at home while Maran is at school. I enjoy that time that I get to spend with my daughter. Lately she has warmed up to me a little more, which makes me feel good. I can sometimes see the disappointment in her face when she sees that I am not her mom, but that is to be expected. It is very exciting for me to see her grow up, but it is sad at the same time. She has been "cooing" a lot lately as she is discovering her voice, and I think it is very neat.
Work has also gotten a lot better. Let me first say, that for anyone who watches "The Office", I got a real kick out of Dwight working at Staples. For anyone who doesn't know, in November I told my District Manager that I no longer wanted to be a manager. I used to really like my job, but for about the last six months, I was dreading having to go. There's not just one reason that I didn't like being a manager, but a big part of it was dealing with customer complaints and them taking their frustrations out on me. Not only that, but I knew for sure that I did not want to be in a position to be promoted. As weird as that sounds, I knew that my job would only get worse if I did get promoted. So, it took some time, but a few weeks ago I started working in furniture, and it has been awesome. I don't have to wear my gray shirt anymore, it has gone back to red, and it is a great department to work in. Yesterday though, my general manager came up to me and said that they needed to make a change. I will spare you the details, but I will no longer be in furniture, but I will be off by 3:00 PM everyday and not have to work Saturdays. For most of you that doesn't seem too special, but in retail, that is rare. I don't have to close, or work Saturdays. I am really excited about it, because it will seem more like a real job. They haven't decided if I will start next week or the following, but I am excited about it.
For those of you who have made it this far, please scroll down to see more pictures of our beautiful baby girl. I hope you are all doing well, and hope to talk to you soon.