Bubble Dog

I surely do wish I had some uber interesting news to share with all my readers, but. . . unfortunately, life has just been the same as ever. I sometimes wonder if anything fun will EVER happen to me ever again! Each day is the same routine, well, I guess I could share THAT with you. . .

The Lyman Routine (courtesy of Marin, of course):

7am (or earlier): Rise and Shine! Marin is awake and ready to go, and get's very cranky unless mama gives her a drink. She'll actually start to cry if daddy tries to take her for a quick hug, and that NEVER happens.

7:30: Time for the rest of breakfast. Some oatmeal or cereal and some fruit, although, due to Marin's disdaine for anything veggie-licious, I have been mixing her fruit with her cereal and then giving her a veggie on the side. I know I know, I am such a mean mother!

8: Get dressed and playtime! She spends a lot of time on her belly working on her crawl and getting into everything. She prefers the dog toys or bone and anything icky she can find to stick in her mouth.

9: Naptime! She goes down on her belly now and will usually sleep for about an hour, although, if I'm lucky, she'll sleep for up to 2 1/2 hours some days!

10: Up and nurse, maybe a few little crispy rice snacks, then playtime again. When she's in her walker, she'll try and help me empty the dishwasher, grabbing at all the plates and silverware. She is verrrry sneaky.

12: Lunchtime. Some chicken and sweet potato or a veggie, and thn fruit on the side. I have to go every other bite with the fruit so she'll actually open her mouth and eat. Otherwise, she'll shut her mouth and turn her head and lunchtime is over. I've just decided that if she stops eating, we're done. I'm not pushing it, she'll eat when she's hungry, but no crispy rice snacks! Marin will then have her bottle of apple juice, and I'll pump.

1: Naptime again, another hour or so. This means lunchtime for me:)

2: Up and play for a bit, I'll usually read her some stories in then afternoon, and she loves that.

3: I'll nurse her and then she'll have a snack, some cut up fruit, usually some kind of fruit she can feed herself.

5:30 or 6: Dinnertime. A variety of options, we'll give her her own food, and then she'll piece off of what we're having for dinner, some rice or fish (no, not shellfish yet!) or some broccoli, whatver we eat. She may or may not nurse after dinner.

7:30 or 8: Bathtime! A nice scrub in the tub and then into jammies. She'll nurse again before she goes down for bed.


Man, I am telling you, this schedule is pretty rigid. Marin does NOT tolerate it well if we change it up a little bit. There is NO wiggle room. Last night we thought we might stop by Red Robin for a dinner (a nice change!), but Marin was loudly protesting in the back seat, so we just went home. This morning I had to haul her out to pick up Maddy, and she cried the whole way home and all through breakfast. She does not want anyone messing with her schedule.

BUT! This week is my BIRTHDAY! And that means a big fat juicy date with my husband, WITHOUT our lovely little girl :) I can't believe this year is the big 25. Who would have thought I would ever be a quarter of a century old! I never would have thought I would get to this point. Wow! But, I had some mysterious packages show up on the doorstep yesterday, and Kris won't tell me what we're doin this week, but I'm excited!

Ok, now I really have to get moving and get ready. Have a great one!



Picture Time!

Marin getting some story time with daddy. Sh LOVES her daddy.

What a sweet, innocent face. Good thing she's a cute dog. . .

A nice big mouthful of crispy snacks, YUM!

Marin absolutely packs those little snacks into her hand, she literally sweeps her tray to get as many as she can, and then, tries to shove them all into her mouth.

I love her hair in this picture, post nap bedhead.

This video is of the dog and some bubbles. She LOVES going after the bubbles, it's really cute!

Can we PLEASE try something new?

I just don't know what it is! I swear I have never been sick so many times in my life as I have since I had a baby. I am sick of being sick! It seems like no sooner do I finish with one cold, than I get another one. I feel so bad because I had to call in to work tomorrow, and I HATE doing that. If there is any job where calling in is the worst, being a nurse is it. This is because when you're not there, everyone else has to pick up your slack, and do the work you would (should) have been there to do. I would LOVE to not be sick for quite some time. I'm not sure if it is just pure exhaustion or maybe my body is deliberately getting sick so I can pass those antibodies on to Marin, I have no clue, but a change of pace would be nice!

Today has been particularly hard. Marin I think is ok for the most part, I have just been tired and headache-y and at my wits end all day. Lunchtime with Marin was a nightmare, a screaming crying nightmare of not wanting to eat her chicken and peas, and I just couldn't deal with it! I felt awful, and to have a belligerent baby (yes I know, courtesy of myself) sobbing and shedding crocodile tears just about tipped me over the edge. So today, Marin has been doing her thing. I sure do love my child, but gosh, there are days. . .

Last night was my rescheduled first policy review meeting! I was stressing about it all day, typing up the agenda and organizing everyone's folder and making chocolate chip cookies and cleaning and just trying to get everything ready. Finally, after I had all my ducks in a row, sometime around 4 pm, I started to calm down and realize that I really COULD do this! The meeting started at 7, and as I worked my way through the material, I actually felt very comfortable. The only problem was that I was absolutely FLYING through the material, and I kept looking at the clock thinking it was much later than it was, and then realizing I still had an hour to go! We had some open discussion time, and some snacks and then it was time to leave! So, all went well, although, I did start to go hoarse by the end. Now my only concern is what I am going to fill up the NEXT meeting with!

Well, my little Marin is 8 months old. I guess she's not so little anymore, and I have been trying to think of when the appropriate time is to wean her. Kris and I have talked about it a lot, and I have looked up stuff on the internet trying to find what the right way is, and I guess there isn't one. My goal is to be done by the time she is a year. I really don't want to continue after that or start weaning at a year, I would like her to be done by that time (which is recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics). Kris and I have talked about how now that she is eating chicken (and other meats soon!), it is ok for us start doing this. The decision I came to is to switch out just one of her feedings a day with apple juice, her after lunch feed. This way, she stays hydrated, and still has her other feedings. Once she hits 9 1/2 months, I may consider switching out another feeding, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Anyway, She won't take it from a sippy cup (unfortunately) so I put it in a bottle (not my preference), and she did fine the first day, but today, she just chewed on the bottle nipple. Today of all days too. But, well keep trying.

Kris is still plugging away at his job, he is doing great and stil loves it. Working for the University of Phoenix has just been a huge blessing for us. He is getting ready to start his MBA program here next month and is really excited. I guess I am too, since class is only one night a week, I should be able to handle that! Isn't it sad that I get so frustrated having him gone from the house? I never realized how much it bothers me having a husband that is away at a meeting or now, school. Anyway, he is working hard and doing great!

Picture time!

Ahhhhh, BUSTED! The little monkey getting into all sorts of mischief! Here she is under the end table in the front room, discovering a cord.

She just loves the cords. I have to keep a close eye on her, little stinker!

Playing with her new Little Mermaid watering can :)

I received a little bouquet of fake flowers from Kris's bestamor (Marin's oldamor), well, I think that's who their from, and I just love them! Normally I am not a fan of fake flowers, but they really were just so lovely, I wanted to display them somewhere (out of baby's reach). I ended up taking some stuff I alreay had and rearranging it for a new fireplace display. It turned out really well, and I was able to put some other non kid friendly stuff up there too, like some little glass beads.

You can't really see the flowers very well in this pic on the left side. . .

Below is the left side of the fireplace mantle, you can see the flowers, with the glass beads in the container holding them.

Above: The right side of the mantle reflects my infinite love for Paris. I still have never been there, but my ultimate dream is to go and just immerse myself in everything the French have to offer. I can't wait to go!

Have a great one guys!

Wounded Soldier

Marin just keeps holding on! I keep thinking every day that she will start crawling. She gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth and then. . . she flops on her belly and does her little army crawl, like a wounded soldier. Despite being just a wee bit frustrated she's not doing the real deal crawl, I laugh ever time I see her haul herself around on her belly. And she is EVERYWHERE! Under the end tables, down the hallway going after the god toys (of course those are her favorite!), and she finds the randomest things to put in her mouth. I vacuum at least once a day, but she reaches her tiny little fingers under the couch and pulls out the most obscure objects to stuff in her mouth. Of course, as her mommy, this drives me nuts. I hate fishing objects out of her mouth and then realizing what they are and being horrified she could have choked! Ahh well.

Marin has also started on chicken this past week. Yum! She does pretty well with it, but still is having issues eating in general, just not hungry I guess, or she just gets bored or full, I'm not sure what it is. We'll just keep plugging away!

We had some company at the end of last week. Trine and Melodie and Sam stayed for Saturday on their way to Cali on Saturday. Marin got to spend the day with her Bestemor, who brought a bunch of goodies for her (Thank You!). It's so nice she gets to see different faces :)

I hear a baby waking up, so I'm off, enjoy the video and I'll post some pics soon :)

Paying up for Lost Time

Just a super quick post befo
re I hit the sack. Tomorrow is off to work again! Well, about the title, guess who got a another ticket. That's right, I got a ticket. After I had dropped off Maddy on Tuesday, I was almost home, and had been driving, honest to goodness, slower than I usually drive, and I got pulled over. I was so bummed, I had just finished taking care of my registration stuff, and then this! I told the officer I was a nurse and asked him if he really had to give me a ticket, and he still gave it to me. Dork face. I have usually been able to get away with no tickets with my charm and cute face or by pulling my nurse card. However, I have found that my chubbier post baby face must not be so endearing now. I guess I'm just making up for it all now.

A few pics for you. . .

She loves chewing on this toothbrush. Am I doing this right guys?
This is Marin's toy that the neighbor across the street was thowing out. It is so fun! She likes how it makes noises.

Marin getting a tickle by daddy!

A great picture from our picnic last week.

Marin playing during our picnic.

Smile for the camera!

She just loves her daddy.

We have a bunch of great video's, and I'll post one later.

Picking Blackberries

Last Thursday, Kris and I went to Costco to change our cell phone company. We've been with Verizon for 2 years, and it's been fine, but I've found that it's just so blasted expensive! So, in an effort to cut our monthly expenses, we changed to T-Mobile, and as a bonus, we of COURSE got new phones, brand new blackberries! I got a red one, and Kris got a silver one, although, he has been awfully envious of mine, so he may just switch his. I will say we did have an interesting experience trying to sign up. I had given the rep my information and SSN, and he asked me if I had ever been with T-Mobile (I have not), and he stated there was already an account open under my SSN! Crazy! Some female somewhere had opened some kind of a pre-pay account with my SSN! I suppose a pre-pay account is better than any other account where they could actually run my credit, but still! I am completely aware of the fact that your SSN is everywhere and anyone can use it, but I never thought that I would be the one that had that problem. So, I presented my SS card and drivers license, and, just for kicks, my birth certificate which I had with me, and all was resolved, they closed the other persons account. Kris ran my credit just in case, and all was well, but it still makes me wonder who ELSE out there maybe has my information. . .

Today is Easter of course, and it meant the first Sunday in our new building! Church was at 11 today, and we were a bit late trying to adjust to the new schedule. I was expecting a nice BIG building with lots of extra room to move around. . . and I couldn't have been more wrong! Our building is SMALL! Everything is smaller. The chapel, the culteral hall, the hallways, the rooms, the chairs, everything was sooo cramped. We were in the the very back of the cultural hall, and the chairs were PACKED together, with hardly any room to stand to the side with a baby. The Relief Society room where we had gospel doctrine was the same way, every seat was full, and there was one more row of chairs than the room could fit, your knees were literally touching the chair in front of you, and we tried putting the car seat in the aisle next to our chair, but it pretty much blocked the whole aisle! And, the best for last, I snuck out of the YW room to nurse Marin, and I had to push my way through the priesthood and elders quorum who had overflowed into the hallway because their room was too small! They were singing their opening hymn. . . IN the hallway. The building is nice enough, but even smaller than what we came from, so it doesn't seem to solve much of the issue. Marin got to wear her cute little Easter Dress to church today, such a little doll. She was SO good ALL DAY LONG. Just big smiles for everyone. We went to some friends house for dinner tonight, it was great to sit around and laugh and ea some good food that I dodn't have to make. Although, I did make dessert. Some chocolate cupcakes (grandma's recipe) with some peanut butter frosting :) yummm!

Our little Miss Marin, she is such a joy. I have to thank my husband for his good genes, apparently he was a delightfully happy little baby, and Marin is exactly the same. She is so happy wherever she goes. Big smiles for everyone, happy noises, she is just the cutest thing :) Her little bum is sooo close to crawling. She'll get up on her knees and kind of rock back and forth trying to get one knee forward, sooo close little one! She is enjoying quite the repetoire of foods, and is doing well with most of them, here's a little list of what she eats:

*Sweet Potato, Yam, Green Beans, Spinach, Asparagus, Peaches, Pears, Rutabega, Carrots, Peas, Beets, Strawberry, Banana, Grape, Cheerios, Corn, Avacado and anything on mommy's plate that she'll let her eat. She loves to try new things and will take it away from you if she wants to eat it! Silly girl. And my oh my, she certainly knows how to get those cheerios into her mouth, that pincer grasp of hers is well refined by now, she can pick them up like it's nobody's business. We have been continuing to go the story time at the library on Thursdays and she is still loving it. Afterwards she can play with the other babies, and then I take her to get some baby books and music to listen to, she likes that.

I guess we have company coming late Thursday night! Trine an Melodie and Sam are on their way through to Cali and will be here, I think for Friday to play with Marin monkey, that will be fun, she loves the company.

I wish I had some pictures for you, but the battery on our camera clicked it's last snapshot the other day. After a full night's charge, it wasn't working, so I need to get one tomorrow. I must say, it's powered many a memory since we bought it the summer Kris and I got married :) I'll pst sme pics soon!

100 Posts and Going Strong

Phew! What a busy day! I have dragged my poor little child all over the greater Las Vegas area today. We went to the Fashion Show Mall so I could get facewash, then to the doctor's office, and then to the hospital so I could get my TB test read and pick up a few things, then we were off to the eye doctors to pick up my contacts, and then to Smith's to drop off the Red Box movie. Poor girl was so tired when we got home, I put her straight down for a nap, and there she slumbers. She has been such a good baby :)

Yesterday was Conference Sunday! As much as I now love conference Sunday, I get reeeally antsy. I have such a hard time sitting for more than a little over an hour, so I just squirm in my seat, trying to listen, but wanting to get up and move around. I guess it's the nurse in me. I'm so used to moving every second, and only being able to sit for a few minutes at a time, that sitting for an hour is just unnatural! However, conference is wonderful, and I always walk away with a renewed sense of "Hey! I really CAN do this!". Life is freakin HARD sometimes, and there are days when you feels like there is so much on your plate, and you have already eaten more than your hypothetical uncle Harry you just want to spew your undigested contents all over the place. It has just made such a difference kowing that our church leaders are there to support us.

This upcoming Sunday is Easter! And for us, that means we also move into our new church building and chage meeting times to 11am. I am pretty excited, it will be a great change :)

Picture Time!

Mollie getting some playtime with Kris. She is such a puppy.

Marin in her jammies on Sunday "watching" conference. A few toys are always fun!

Kris took this on Saturday while Marin was working on her crawl, she has a little scowl on her face, and Kris just loves this picture!

Big blue eyes. Miss monkey in the bathtub having a little chew on her plastic bucket. . .

Have a great one guys!

Thoughts about the Temple

Well, I had written a wonderful epithet about the temple earlier this morning, but apparently, it didn't save, because now it's gone. Anyway, Kris and I had the chance to go to the temple last night while Duane stayed home with Marin. We really wanted a cheap date night, and of course the temple is free, so after the temple we headed to In-N-Out burger for a double double, fries and a chocolate shake. I felt like a high school kid out on a date, it was really fun!

The temple has been a great way for Kris and I to reconnect and . . . re-perspective-ize (?) our lives. It seems as though we get so caught up in work and walking dogs and giving baths and feeding baby and all the important stuff in life, that we forget about what's essential. Kris and I have had many talks about differentiating between what's important vs. what's essential, and we realize that going to the temple is essential. Especially going to the temple together. The temple is a great place to find some peace amidst all the noise in the world, and to open yourself up to receiving inspiration. This trip last night was really great for me in particular. Since I was a kid, I always had this confusion about the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and even after going to the temple and hearing peoples ideas about it, things still just didn't make sense to me. So last night, as I was sitting in the temple, I finally got it. It was great to have this little epiphany that made years of wondering all come together. I know I had more to say from what I wrote earlier, but I can't remember what I wrote! The bottom line is that we really enjoy the temple, and know that it has helped us have a great marriage, and be better parents. There is no way you can be a better parent without your spouse, and to make sure you're on the same page, the temple is the way to go. You can't go wrong with the temple.

Yesterday was really fun with Marin too. She was sitting in her highchair waiting for lunch and she looked at me and said: "Mammmmaaaammamaaammmaa"! It was too cute! I was thrilled! I had been working on it with her for a little while, I'd put her hands on my mouth while I said Mama, and she said it yesterday, and today too, but today, it was "Mama!" (I had left her in the middle of lunch to get something from the microwave, and she complained quite loudly to me). Yesterday I read Marin a story called "Mr. Brown can Moo, can you?" by Dr. Suess. I wasn't sure how she would do with it, just because it requires a bit longer of an attention span, but she really enjoyed it! The book has you make all sorts of funny noises like a rooster crowing and a train and a hippo chewing gum, so I sat in the roking chair and put her in my lap with her head against my chest, put a toy in her hands so she wouldn't rip the pages and started to read. I wasn't sure if she was enjoying it because she sat pretty still, but about halfway through the story she turned her head and looked up at me with the biggest smile and turned back to finish looking at the picture. It was adorable! So, on with story time!

Speaking of story time, we went to the library today for story time at 10:30. It's just for babies, up to 18 months, and we sang songs and read stories and had lots of fun, then had playtime afterwards. It was great to get out and meet othermommies in the community too!

Tonight I need to make a cheesecake for my friend Keli. She agreed to watch Marin on short notice tomorrow because Maddy is sick :( Then it's off to YW!

Just one pic of Marin:

Marin chewing on her play bottle. Here's her outift, mom! the one you sent!

Unexpected Sprint

What HAVE those Lyman's been up to? Ahhh, the same old good times, we have just been happy being a family :) One thing I am learning is to be better at taking things one step at a time, not thinking too far ahead, not dwelling on the past, but just enjoying the present moment until it fades into the next. I have to! My baby girl is growing SO fast!

Saturday I worked, and things were actually pretty slow believe it or not. The census comes in waves, nd it was just a "low tide" I guess. That day, Kris's dad Duane arrived at the house. He's in town for some business and staying with us, which is so nice. Well, that day, he helped Kris build some shelves for the garage! We had been talking about it, and finally had the man power once Duane got here, to actually build them, so when I got home from work that night, there were shelves in my garage! It was wonderful! The garage had been getting pretty cluttered with stacked boxes and paraphenalia, so now it's all neatly stacked :) I'll have to take some pics once I get it arranged how I want it.

Sunday I taught a lesson on YW and we went to out marriage and family relations class. Kris and I were really hoping the class was going to be. . . good, and it's turning out to be. . . not what we were hoping for. The information is pretty basic, and there isn't any class discussion or hardcore gospel tie-in's. But, we're still going, if anything, just so we don't make the teacher feel bad. That night we had some yummy roast chicken, roasted yams with molasses and cilantro (my own creation!) and ultra-infused brocccoli. I was really excited to learn that I could program my oven to turn on at a certain time so the chicken would be ready in time! I set it to turn on at 2:45pm (church is 1-4) and we had delicious chicken!

Monday was. . . a waste. Sorry to say, but it was! I was planning on going to the gym that morning after Marin woke up from her nap, so as I was getting dressed, Kris sent me a text and said someone had left a message on his phone saying there was a last minute presidency meeting for YW that morning! So I called the president to say I would be there once Marin got up from her nap, and then I got ready to go the meeting. Well, Marin did't wake up for another hour, so by the time I got her dressed and fed her, it was too late to go to the meeting, and I was already showered ad ready, so I couldn't go to the gym! Grr! Oh well, we got to see BJ and his girlfriend Cassie that night, and I made rice krispie treats too :)

Tuesday was baby watching day, and that is always a long day. Maddy kept spitting up, which she always does, and it is always A LOT! I feel bad, because I don't want to pick her up for fear she'll puke on me or my carpet or all my toys. . . she's a good babe though. Kris didn't walk the dog that morning, so she was pretty crazy all day, chasing the cat, chewing shoes and toys. . . ahhhh! But, I made some French Onion Soup and fresh bread for dinner, mmmmmm:) And, it was really interesting, last night while Kris was getting the baby ready for bed, I took the dog out to go for a walk, and ended up running pretty much the whole way! I really surprised myself! I just felt like running and I kept going and going and going! It must have been almost 2 miles! I must say, usually I stop running because my lungs can't keep up, but this time, my lungs were feeling great, and the only reason I stopped was because the dog starting to run in front of me and was tripping me. A nice surprise!

Kris and I have a date tonight while Duane is still in town and can stay at home with baby. I'm not sure what we'll do, but we have $20 to burn and we need to go party! Right. I don't know what we'll do, maybe a trip to In-N-Out burger or something.

Ok, Picture time!

Marin after she's been eating beets :)

And Marin eating daddy's watch. . .

She's really cute, she's not quite crawling on her knees, but she does this little shuffle on her belly across the floor to get what she wants.

I had a lady at the DMV the other day tell me that Marin had very velvety blue eyes, and I would have to agree. So . . . . subtle-y bright and very velvety :)

Marin plyaing with Mollie

A video of our little munchkin taking the world by storm in her walker, she loves that thing!

Off to the bank!