At least Christmas was still less than a month ago...

I've been meaning to post for over a week, but Karly got sick last Tuesday and is STILL sick and I joined her for about 4 days last week.

Yuck.

She's gone from a fever, to a runny nose (still has that), to runny other places..., to a nasty cough. I hate seeing her sick, but I love how cuddly she's been.

So anyway, that's my excuse for not posting.

We had a terrific Christmas break! We went to Arizona; Nate really missed the snow. In fact, I'm not sure he'll want to be anywhere that doesn't have snow ever again for Christmas. I like snow too, but I kind of liked this:

That's right. I'm picking ORANGES. That was pretty fun.

My mom and I jumped in the pool, but I'm not going to post that. Let's just say you don't want to see me in a suit. Ug. Anyway it was COLD!

Oh, for those who may not know (and those who care), my parents bought a house in Phoenix just before Christmas. And AJ and Josh just moved from Minnesota to Arizona, so they are living in said house for now. Kinda crazy!

It was a fun Christmas to have so much family around. Kinda loud and kinda crazy with 9 kids/toddlers/babies but we still enjoyed the time. We sure missed you Shan and Glenn!

Here are just a few pics of us just being together:

The one above needs explanation. This was Christmas Eve and we were doing a Nativity, so Nat and Chris were dressed for that...maybe four hours before we did it. :) They were sure excited! It was pretty cute.

Probably the funniest event of the whole week was my dad's "illness." We're not really sure why it happened, but for some reason, random body parts would start swelling out of the blue. For example:

Yeah. We called him Bubba Gump all night. So funny.

And of course, Karly was adorable and so fun the whole time. :) This is my favorite picture of the whole week.

(she couldn't understand what we thought was so funny)

(this is a little enclave for a statue...or Karly!)

A way too mobile 7 month old!

I tried taking Karly's 7 month pictures yesterday.

This is what happened:

Why yes, that IS 5 different attempts. Why do you ask? Sigh... (I didn't even post the 6 other pictures of the EXACT SAME THING)

She doesn't even hold still when she's asleep! I put her on one side of her crib, then go into check on her 30 minutes later and she's clear at the other side. But still fast asleep.

I did actually get a couple of decent ones though.

I tried to get one of her kind of standing up, but of course, she kept moving, so this was all I got:

She's such a nerd.

Despite the lack of non-blurry pictures, we sure love that girl!

Merry Christmas!

We had a ward party tonight and guess who came!

"Uh...who is this guy?!" (by the way - my parents have a picture of me screaming while being held by Santa. I'm very glad my daughter was better than me!)
She was in SUCH a good mood.

This is her "concentrating" face. It's Nate's favorite.
Karly has started doing this loud squealing noise. She did it for like 10 minutes at the party tonight. Silly girl.

(Please ignore me in this video - I didn't know Nate was recording all three times and I kind of look like an idiot)

Must See Movie!

Night at the Museum 2

I've seen the first one and definitely thought it was well made and really funny (the best part, though, was watching my dad laugh at it).

But this one. Oh. This one is hilarious! Nate and I laughed over and over. There was even one scene where Nate laughed the whole way through. And then went back and watched it again.

Totally worth it.

My World Revolves Around...

Her!

She's sleeping, so I really should be doing the dishes or picking up clutter or even reading my book [The Chosen by Chaim Potok - is it weird that I'm totally fascinated by Judaism? I blame my Religion in the Home professor...]

BUT instead of doing those things I'm posting more pics/videos of the munchkin. I wonder if anyone has stopped reading my blog because it only consists of Karly. If so, they're crazy!

This girl makes us laugh every day. She has all these funny little things she does that just crack us up. For example:

She does this thing where she flips her wrist back and forth when she's holding something. It almost looks like she's trying to do arm curls - like she's lifting weights.

Also, a few days ago we were at some friends' house and they have one of those jump-a-roo things for their little girl, so we put Karly in it. She LOVED jumping. So much in fact that...

she tried jumping in her exersaucer. I think she's going to break it. :)

She is now a crawling machine!

Crawling almost always consists of getting to a place where she can pull herself up to standing.

Sometimes while crawling, she gets a little stuck (she's getting better at pulling herself up and down though).

Did I mention she has TWO teeth? She bites everything in sight, including our fingers and shoulders (though she still gives really good, nice kisses).

And she still loves her binky. I finally bought one of those things to attach it to her shirt, she we're not constantly trying to find it.

And finally, this is hard to catch, but she has the GREATEST laugh. And she laughs at the weirdest things. In this video, I was jumping up and down in front of her.

Christmas Tag!

I promise I am going to post pictures and updates (certain grandparents are begging for them! :)

Until then, I got this from my cousin (I love that these things used to go out in forwards and now they've moved over to blogs). Read only if you want to. And post on your blog if you'd like!

1. Have you started your Christmas shopping?
Started? I've finished! (Well, I need to get one more thing for Nate...)

2. Tell me about one of your special traditions.
My family always used to read the Forgotten Carols together. Most years, we'd read it over a period of a few days before Christmas. I want to do that with my family too - Nate and I have done it, but not consistently.

3. When do you put up your tree?
Always right after Thanksgiving! If I'm home, it's the day after - if not, it's the day I get home.

4. Are you a Black Friday shopper?
Heck no. I don't like shopping enough to get up at 4 in the morning and NO deal is that good.

5. Do you travel at Christmas or stay home?
Depends on what our family is doing. We usually end up traveling some, to wherever family is staying.

6. What is your funniest Christmas memory?
Nate would agree that this is the funniest: a couple of years ago, we did Christmas at my Aunt's cabin in Huntsville UT. There were like 21 of us staying in a house with 2 bedrooms (lots of air mattresses...). The funny part is that on the day before Christmas Eve, the toilet overflowed and the plumbing in the whole house was backed up. We couldn't use the toilets, so we called a plumber to fix it, but he couldn't get there that night, so we put a plastic trash can with a plastic bag in the garage and that was the toilet until ours got fixed. Ah, memories...

7. What is your favorite Christmas movie of all time?
Probably A Christmas Story. Who doesn't love that one? :)

8. Do you do your own Christmas baking?
I like baking all year and haven't really made a habit of doing extra baking around the holidays. BUT when I have my own house with an oven that doesn't cook too hot, I think we'll make treats for neighbors and friends (another holiday tradition of my family).

9. Fake or real tree?
Fake - I know that's so boring and it doesn't smell good and all that, but it's SO much easier and let messy and cheaper. Maybe some day we'll get real ones...we'll see.

10. What day does the actual panic set in to get it all done?
Hmmm...never? Maybe when I have more kids to shop for and have to hide presents and stuff.

11. Are you still wrapping presents on Christmas Eve?
Oh my gosh. If that was the case, THEN I would be in a panic. If it's not done at least 10 days early, I'd go crazy.

12. What is your favorite family fun time at Christmas?
I mentioned Forgotten Carols, which I love. Other than that, just being with family and relaxing. And I LOVE opening presents and watching others open presents.

13. What Christmas craft do you like the best?
I'm not very crafty, but someday (maybe next year?) I want to make an advent calendar!

14. Christmas music, yes or no? And if yes, what is your favorite song?
Would anyone really answer NO to Christmas music?! Of course yes! And Carol of the Bells is, without a doubt, my favorite.

15. When do you plan to finish all of your shopping?
Already done!

So now that you've read this, TAG you're it! Copy the questions on your blog and answer them! It's so fun seeing what everyone's traditions and favorites are!

Merry Christmas!

Happy .5 Birthday!

Nate says I should just let the pictures speak for themselves. :)

She has started to pull herself up onto things. I have set her in her crib a couple of times to do something and this is what I turn around to. Time to move the crib down!

That's food - not snot. :) She has now tried sweet potatoes, applesause, beans, peas, bananas, and...I think I'm forgetting something. She loves most of them! (not so much the beans...) She's a very good eater too, which is good. :)

This has replaced the creepy growl. Nate calls it chirping. I think that's pretty accurate.

Also, her sweet little kisses have now turned into "don't try to make me kiss you or I'll attack your face!" She gets really bugged when Nate tries to kiss her a bunch. She'll push his face away and everything. It's pretty hilarious.

She has two teeth! Well, one is JUST about to pop through. I didn't even know she was getting them. She hasn't been more grumpy than normal or anything. I mean, she slobbers a ton, but she's done that for a couple of months. I hope teething is always that easy.

I don't know her stats because her appointment isn't until the end of the month. I tried to weigh her at our grandma's house and I think she's somewhere around 14 or 15 pounds...

She's tall - I know that. Well, either tall or way too skinny. So many of her pants are short on her. They fit her skinny little body, but are too short. :)

She is SUPER mobile. She can't exactly crawl yet, though she does get onto her hands and knees and at least move her knees (hasn't figured out the hands yet). Despite not "crawling" she will do whatever it takes to get to what she wants.

She sleeps mostly through the night. Usually she'll wake up a couple of times at night and just need her pacifier, but I never have to feed her until 6:30 or 7.

We sure love that girl! :)

Oh dear...

I put her in her crib to play while I folded and put away her clothes and turned around to this:

She did this on her own.

So I set her back down to see if she'd do it again.

I guess it's time to move the mattress down.

{tear}

Creepy Baby

We didn't dress up for Halloween this year.

We didn't need to. Our baby has spent the last month just naturally being creepy.

Put the lime in the coconut and drink it all up!

I promise, it was only a taste.

Nate thinks I'm a bad person. I thought it was hilarious.

Sorry it's blurry - we had to catch it quickly.

They were wrestling.

Guess who won?

Dear Curly Hair,

Thank you for coming back to me.

I know all those pregnancy and post pregnancy hormones sort of freaked you out and made you hide for all those months. Thank you for not abandoning me forever.

And I'm sorry that I chopped you off after I had Karly because you weren't showing me your full potential and I made a hasty, horrible decision. I hope you'll forgive me and grow back quickly.

Also, how would you feel about my dyeing you a different color?

Love,

Alisa

P.S. Stomach: Curly hair came back - will you go back to your former glory too? Please?

Happy Birthday Suzie! (I'm a bad sister)

I forgot to call this girl yesterday:

She turned 14.

14!

That's not even possible. She was only 3 like, 5 years ago! And now she can dance with boys and drive (with a learner's permit, obviously) and all kinds of stuff my baby sister shouldn't be doing yet!

No wonder I forgot.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SCUZE! Love ya girl!

Fall walk and pics

On Sunday, we decided to go for a walk to see all the beautiful fall colors.

Karly enjoyed...uh...her Baby Bjorn. Tasty!

Ooh, pretty!

Prettier! :)
We took a bunch of pictures and I got a little crazy with the Picasa collages. :) I'm not sure I love the sepia, but the pictures sure are stinkin' cute!

5 months!

I can't believe how big this girl is getting!

• She loves to suck the water off her hands in the bathtub.
• She has started growling all. the. time. It's kind of creepy, honestly.
• She is really good at rolling from her back to her tummy, but is only good at rolling from her tummy to back in her sleep (she can do it when she's awake - it just takes her longer)
• She has, just this week, started pulling herself into a crawling position - onto her hands and knees (I've nearly cried every time).
• She laughs! We love hearing it every time.
• She eats rice cereal like a champ. She loves the stuff and as long as she's hungry and there aren't too many distractions, she'll eat pretty quickly. :)
• She likes going on walks and will lean over so she can see more of what's going on (drives her daddy crazy because it makes her much harder to hold).
• Her hair that she has lost over the last couple of months is starting to come back in. Also, she has a couple of REALLY long hairs. It's hilarious when they stick out.
• And she's got us wrapped around her little finger!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Thanks for always playing with me and making me laugh!

I love you!

Love,

Karly

P.S. Mom says she loves you too, but you already know that. :)

The greatest sound in the world.

Man, I love that girl.

I know it's for the best, but....

This post is an attempt to distract myself from the noise of my sweet baby crying in her crib.

I swear she keeps crying the word "Mama."

In case you didn't know this about me, I majored in Home and Family Living in college. The major occasionally referred to as "How to be a mommy." In more than one class, but definitely in my parenting class, we talked about how kids need to learn to put themselves to sleep. At Karly's last Dr. appt, her doctor said that 95% of all 4 month olds sleep 6-8 hours at night. Apparently, my daughter was in that 5%, because she wasn't. I was happy if we got 6 in a row every couple of weeks.

So Doc said that - and I quote - "if you're heart can handle it" - we should try teaching her how to put herself to sleep. We tried a couple of times, but sort of gave up because we hated hearing her cry.

I'm sure most of you know the drill, but for those who haven't reached this point or aren't parents, here's how it goes:

1. Make sure baby has a good nighttime routine, so they know that when you do certain things (bath, jammies, read a book, etc.) it's getting close to bed time.

2. Put them in their bed. Sometimes it's good for them to have something consistent like a blanket or stuffed animal, also to remind them its bedtime.

3. Leave her in her bed, no matter how much or how hard she cries. Don't pick her up.

4. Go in occasionally (less and less often) to make sure she is okay (she hasn't pulled a blanket on her face or gotten stuck in the bars or something) AND to soothe her and let her know you're still there, even though you're not going to hold her.

5. Keep doing that until she has figured out to fall asleep on her own.

Apparently, it only takes a couple of nights.

Let me tell you - the first night is the worst.

The second isn't much better. (you have just figured out to distract yourself at this point)

In the time I have written this post (less than 20 minutes), she has pretty much fallen asleep. The first night she cried for 1 1/2 hours. Tonight, it's only been 30 minutes so far and she's not crying (though I'm not sure she's asleep).

I do have a question for anyone who might know: is a binky (soother, nuk, whatever you call it) cheating? Like when I go in to calm her down, is it cheating to give her that binky because then that's putting her to sleep instead? Because often, as soon as it falls out, she starts crying again.

Also, she tends to wake up in the middle of the night - around 3 or 4. I usually just get up and either feed her or put her binky back in. Am I supposed to let her cry then too, or just when I put her down for the night? I can't remember if this is stuff we talked about in class and I wasn't paying attention.

Any thoughts?

(And thanks those of you who commented on my Facebook comment yesterday - you gave me strength to do it again today!)

Did anyone else see this?

http://tvwatch.people.com/

I actually liked him at first, but he got old fast. I'm not sure I can watch an entire season of him...

But I probably will.

Dear Grandma:

Thanks for my cute bunny.

It's just my size.

And thanks for my cute pants. They look way better than mom's green sweatpants.

Love, Karly