Hippety Hop

What a wonderful weekend!  This is the first time in several years that I have been able to listen to both sessions of General Conference on Saturday.  Typically I work Saturdays (yea for not doing that anymore!) I just felt so uplifted and amazed at the end of the day.  I am so grateful that although I don't live somewhere that broadcasts Conference on TV, I can still watch it from home - thank you computers, thank you technology!  

Seth and I started to work on some house-projects I'd like to have finished, um, last week?  Oh well, we started to paint Hazel's bathroom (before and after pics will have to come after our trip to Utah, it's not getting finished before!).  

Sunday morning the Easter Bunny must have broken in, because we came down to boxes (yes, boxes, not baskets...I really wanted them, uh Hazel needed them in her room, and they're cute! )

Hazel's face pretty much summed up what we were all thinking...this is early!

I thought I'd be such a smart mom and buy the "edible grass"  BLEH!  It tastes worse than the regular grass.   I thought Hazel would dive into her box and go nuts with the grass, yeah, not so much!

Hazel was getting pretty jealous of all the tutus I was making for her friends, good thing the Easter Bunny knows how to make a tutu!

We continued our "relaxing" theme for the weekend, and just hung out the rest of the day.  We had a tasty BBQ for Easter dinner and I made some amazing bread...yes, amazing.  Seth ate the entire loaf at dinner.  Mmmmm.

'Cause Your Cousins...

 This morning we were excited to have a visit from my cousin, Steph.  She's finishing up an internship in DC and we were so excited that she squeezed in a visit on her way up to NYC.  Hazel and I took her to the boardwalk and enjoyed spending the morning with her.  Thanks, Steph!!

When Seth got home from work (yea for early-days), we hopped in the car and hurried down to DC.  It was a beautiful day, and I was excited to see the Cherry Blossoms.  We made great time, and if it hadn't been for a fateful, poor, navigational decision (which resulted in a 45 minute drive around a very small section of the Mall- I'm fired as navigator) it would have been flawless!  Oh well, crawling along gave us an excellent view of anything and everything DC to see.   We staked out a great picnic spot and my other cousin, Thaidra and her friend joined us for a quick bite to eat.  

Hazel entertained everyone with her mad dancing skills.  The girl's got moves.  Not sure where they came from, but she's got the dancing bug!

It was a LOVELY evening in DC, I am so grateful to be so close to so many amazing spots.  Ah, sorry...the cherry blossoms were amazing, we didn't get any pictures...but we did take pictures of us!

Twelve Months

21 pounds (50%)

29.5 inches (50%)

We're back on the charts!!

3.19.10

sick.sad.sick

Apparently Hazel's sleepless nights in Philadelphia were not because of the smorgasbord excitement, but because of the sniffles.  Last night was one of those nights that are just rough on a little girl.  So much snot she couldn't breathe through her nose, which made her cry, which made more snot, which made her cry.  We ended up rocking her most of the night to calm her down and help get the snot flowing in the best direction.  Sunday was also a rough day, Hazel tries so hard to be a good kid, but sometimes, it's just hard.  It's no fun when your nose and your eyes are leaking. 

Cousin Fest 2010

Rumors were swirling that Seth's cousins were coming to visit his other cousins, thus making it necessary for us to invade and make for an all around cousin fest! 

We met up with everyone and headed to the Please Touch Museum,
it was a w e s o m e! 

What makes it so awesome?  All the fun stuff to do!  

We slid down a tree.

 Pretended to be birds.

Rode a cow.

Played the "Walking Piano" with Nano...yes the walking piano from Big.

Hung out with Li'l Mil in Wonderland.  (and a blurry Nano)

Grocery shopped with a cart for built for Hazel.

Best of all, we got to hang out with these cool kids.  

Nano, MiniB and Li'l Mil.

The day was exhausting, we finished it off with some tasty food and games.  Hazel refused to sleep but I think it was because Hoss had told her what we'd be doing Saturday morning.  She was ultra-excited to go to Shady Maple, yes a real-life smorgasbord.  I think Seth had nine plates of food.  Hazel was a big fan of the infamous sweet-potato pancakes (with cinnamon chips, of course!).

Thank you, thank you, thank you to the Denver cousins and the Philly cousins for such a fun weekend!!

We Like to Party.

This girl wants everyone to know it's her birthday!  We invited everyone over, grandparents, favorite aunts, cousins, great-grandparents, great-aunts and uncles, friends, great-great-aunts and uncles, and of course awesome parents.  Everyone gathered to have cake and ice cream, and yes...experience the thrill of Hazel eating a cupcake!

She was a super impressed with the gazillions of cupcakes Mom made.

 Wow Mom (and I mean Hazel's mom)! Did you really make all of these?  What tasty flavors: chocolate with mint frosting, lemon with raspberry frosting and vanilla.  De-lish!

 Hazel even attempted to blow this candle out, shortly before she tried to lick it.

And more excitement of eating a cupcake.  (Very similar to her birthday, but chocolate this time!)

 Seriously.  Happy Birthday, Hazel.  

You are a w e s o m e.

I'm A Mom.

As if I haven't had several experiences in the past year, to verify that I am a mom...sleepless nights, nursing (surviving?), fishing poop out of the bathtub, it goes on and on.  Today I was not just a mom, but a resourceful mom.

Hazel woke up on the wrong side of the bed.  And much, much earlier than usual.  After whining, crying and yawning through her breakfast and bath I knew a nap was in order.  She went down easily, and when she woke up an hour later I felt we had pressed "restart" on our day.  Much better.

We headed off to the mall to buy the baby girl some new summer clothes for her birthday.  She was happy and talking the entire way to the mall (all thirty minutes of it).  We pulled into the parking lot and I hopped out of the car, she smiled at me as I pulled out the stroller.  I reached for the door handle to get her out when... 

oh.

ugh.

seriously?

puke?

Yes puke.  All over.  I opened the door.  She smiled.   I asked her what happened.  She smiled bigger, opened her mouth, and emptied the rest of her breakfast into the carseat.  She was covered, imagine a big, soggy blanket of mush, strawberries, blueberries and lots of other nastiness.

Several thoughts/solutions raced through my mind.

Crap.
Seriously?
Maybe I can clean her enough to just run into Old Navy, buy a onesie and continue shopping.
Yes.  I will use the wipes and give her a mini bath right here in the parking lot.
Oh, only 4 wipes. 
That won't make a dent in this puddle.
Drive home?
No way, she's happy, it's a thirty minute drive.
Hmmmm.
Ugh.

Ah-ha!

Quick phone-call to Anna's mom, who conveniently lives two minutes away, she met us at the door with paper towels, rags and a change of clothes.  Good thing, because we showed up with a baby stripped to her diaper, 4 soggy, soiled wipes, and a carseat full of nastiness.

With a little help we were headed back to the mall in no time.

The carseat cover and straps are currently in the washing machine.

 Hazel was so comfy in Anna's clothes, she passed out on the ride home.

PS- I know, I know several "moms" have experienced this to one degree or another (probably even worse situations ...my nephew puking all over me at a UofU gymnastics meet comes to mind).  But I've been spoiled.  Hazel has thrown up a grand total of four times.  And I, out in the real world, without a single "supply" was able to take care of her, keep her happy and still have time to shop! Not to mention, how exciting it is to know I had somewhere to go in an "emergency".  

A little later in the day, Hazel treated me to this awesome funny-face to prove that she was feeling like herself again.

We're walking, we're walking.

Sunshine.  

The Trail.   

Uninterrupted time with friends. 

You've Had A Birthday...

Shout Hooray!

We celebrated big time.  Because, hey...you only turn one, once!

She had a day of favorites; she ate pancakes, pears, string cheese and avocadoes (not all together).   She played with her toys, splashed in the bath, went for a walk (or two) and even had a lunch date with Grandma H.  

The biggest excitement came when Daddy came home from work...after a big, birthday dinner it was time for cupcakes, candles and singing! 

 I'm not positive, but I think Hazel was a big fan of her first "sweet".  

Next up was present time, Hazel was a fan of her new "music" box, anything she can dance to!

Happy Birthday, cute girl!

Hazel Highlights - Month Twelve

• For some weird reason, Mom and Dad did not take very many pictures this month.  Odd.
• I am an awesome eater, I like to feed myself.  If I could live off string cheese and avocados I would be in heaven! 
• I stood all by myself!!  I did it just after my 11 month "birthday".  But lately, I've been pretending I don't know how.  It's a funny trick I play on my parents.

• F i n a l l y.  After many, many, maaaany sleepless nights and a couple of cranky days, my teeth have arrived!!  One on the top, and two on the bottom.  My fourth will be here any day now.
• People tell me I am a "happy baby".  I do my best!
• Mom and Dad took me to the beach, I remember wearing my swimsuit last time.  That would have been a bad idea this time.

• I still love, love, love to dance.  I really like Mom's running mix, Miss Beyonce, Mr. Timberlake, Mr. Flo rida.  I'll dance to anything! 
  
• The parentals claim I haven't started talking yet, but they just don't understand me!  I do try to say "hi" when I wave, and I do an awful lot of mamamamama and dadadadadadada.  I just refuse to do it on demand! 
• I am pretty funny.  I love to play peek-a-boo, "so big" and I l o v e to be tickled!
• Does it get better than bathtime?  I don't think so.

• Mom sat me down and explained that now that I have teeth and I'm a year old (I'm old!) she and I are "done".  I'm not sure what she meant, but I've noticed a lot more sippy cups and bottles in my life.  I feel like I'm missing something...

• I still HATE my changing table, I hate to have my diaper changed, my clothes changed, anything!  I am sure Mom and Dad have never tortured me, but I like to scream like they are!
• Now that it's spring, it's time I get back in swimsuit shape, Mom and I have been running in the mornings.  It's exhausting!

rain.beach.fun

With the mountains of snow piled in our front yard (okay, technically it's finally melted), the flu-bug attack, home-improvement projects and sewing projects we were d o n e with being home.  So, even though a giant storm was headed our way, where did we want to go?  The beach, of course!

Hazel has gone back to her old-school "soothing" techniques.

pre-thumb.  

pre-pacifier.  

It's the toe...again!

We spent Friday inside, while the wind blew, the rains came down and the floods (or just the ocean) came up.  And boy did it come up!  

(for those that have been to the condo, you know the grass/reeds in the water out back?  completely underwater.  the water was up against the rocks, the pier by the park was pretty much covered)

Saturday we were still content to hang out, Seth and I are reading the Percy Jackson series and loved the endless time we could spend reading.  Hazel l o v e d  the giant checkers game and was completely entertained. 

The rain let up Saturday afternoon and we headed to the beach.  The waves were HUGE! Really, they were super big.  (The pictures give them NO justice.)  Hazel loved watching the BIG waves! (Can I say there were big one more time?)

Oh, did I mention the tide was coming in?

It was all the way up to the sand dunes.  Crazy!

It was so nice to walk along the beach, even if we (and by "we" I mean "me") were running and screaming from the water every time a big wave came in.

Then we headed over to good ol' Dumsers (not to be confused with a dumpster) and had some dinner.  Hazel opted for an alternative to dinner.

(I am not even going to begin to think how g r o s s that is, all I can say is I did wipe the table off with a wipe before she dug in)

Sunday we woke up to warm temperatures, even if the fog was so thick you couldn't see 20 feet in front of you.  We made our way down to the boardwalk and enjoyed more beach, sand, ocean and fog!

Once the fog "lifted" we took a few pictures and it was time to clean up and head home.

(We're suckers for this girl!)

The weekend was awesome!!

 
NOTE: Some of you have asked if we saw the beached whale, but I'm afraid we missed it.  Below are two articles, the first has two decent pictures.  The second has an okay article.  11 tons and 31 feet.  Sad!
2 pictures
Better article