A few little reasons. . .

Tonight, as I was rocking my baby girl before I put her sleepy, snuggly body into bed, I got to thinking about all the reasons I love my little one. . .

I love:
*The little noises she makes when she nurses (she's so noisy:) !)
*The way she smiles at me, it makes me forget all the crying. . . ever!
*How she quiets right down when she hears the bathwater running, she knows what's coming and she's a happy girl!
*Her farts. I know it's silly, but they are GIANT size farts for such a little tiny girl!
*How she snuggles with me right before I put her down for the night
*Her double chin
*The way she smells after her bath with clean jammies on :)
*The fact that I get to be her mama

Some random little numerical factoids for your chuckle-with-a-quizzical-look-on-your-face reading pleasure:

-diapers changed since Marin was born: appx. 990
-pounds I've lost since her birth: 36
-pounds left to reach my goal weight: 14
-pounds to lose to reach pre wedding weight: 24
-meals I've made for Kris since we've been married: 378
-flip-flops in my closet: 5 (pairs, that is)
-bobby pins in my hair right now: 3
-smooches with my hunny: a gazillion!

Next week I go back to work. :( I'm still having a hard time with that. It's part time, so 2 days a week doing 12 hour shifts, but I'm a new mom and it's still hard to leave your little one. It will be good for me though. I'll be able to use my brain again and be smart! At least she'll be with her daddy though, that gives me some solace.

This week is a little busy, tomorrow we're having my visiting teaching companion and her husband over for dinner. I need to get to know her, and maybe let her talk about how swollen her ankles are, she is like, 15 months preggo! Poor girl. Been there before! Wednesday, I'm hosting a recipe swap for the relief society, and I'm demontrating how to make chocolate eclairs, yum. I'm really excited about that! Thursday we're having one of Kris's co-workers over for dinner, and that dinner needs to be muey-bueno (is that how you spell it?). Anway, it has to be really good, she bought us our crib, so I need to make sure it's super yummy!

I'll let you know what I make, maybe I'll post a recipe!

baby,election,utah,dinner,where to start!?

We're alive! Promise:) We took a quick little trip to Utah for a few days, and now we're back. So many things to talk about, so little time, and blogspace, and minutes before Marin's bathtime! Where do I even start?

I think I'll start with the election. Politics are often VERY touchy for a lot of people, but since this is MY (Ours, oops!) blogsite, I'll post what I want. I am a registered republican. I'm not going to hide that, I have no shame in that. Does that mean that I am obligated and will vote republican each and every time? Absolutely not. Will I share who I voted for last Tuesday? Absolutely not. I think so often that has become a great topic of conversation, and many people are willing to share and discuss, but I really think I'd much rather keep my response to: "I'd rather not say". That might have sounded a little on the offensive, promise, it's not!

Congrats however to Barack Obama for his status as president elect! I think, and hope that he will do a great job. People are ready for a change in the U.S., and I think that sometimes that change needs to start with (and I mean this to sound good) skin color. I think it's wonderful that we are recognizing different races and ethnic groups as competent and able bodied individuals. I pray that he will do a great job, and it's unfortunate to have to say this, but I hope he lives through his term so he can make a difference (need I mention the ridiculous white supremacist groups out there?).

Another hot topic. . . Section 8! For those of you unfamiliar with section 8, it's a bill (or idea, whatever you prefer) that went to the California ballots on election day as well. The premise of section 8 essentially was for all clergy that were able to perform heterosexual marriages, to be required to also perform homosexual marriages, or, if they refused, have their ability to perform ANY marriage revoked. Now, this would also legalize gay marriage completely in California if you missed that part. My opinion on the topic? We live in a nation founded by individuals that supported, in essence, the legal vote. To make a long story short, the same country that supports freedom of speech and freedom of religion, also supports the legal vote. Californian's voted no to section 8. Am I happy it didn't pass? Yes. I, like everyone else, have my own beliefs. Am I going to impose them willy nilly and do I think homosexuals are bad people, Absolutely not, I think they're cool!. But if I am asked for my opinion and to vote at the ballot box, I will. I think especially when section 8 would impose requirements on the church and church "clergy", that's when I kind of think it's too much.

Enough of that! Politics is done. Can I just say that leftover Halloween candy is a VERY BAD THING! For someone that's trying to shed that nagging and riduculously tenacious post baby weight, post Halloween candy is like a bullet to the head, just suicide! Someone call Martha Stewart, because this is NOT a "Good thing"! It's very very bad! I need to run an extra 400 miles to burn off that nasty and delicously satisfying chocolate rush. Ahh well. I sense a very full and happy garbage can tonight, whenI throw it all away :(

And Utah! We went to Utah! It's always nice to escape from LV, and this was no exception.. The weather up there was refreshingly cold and frosty! I love to see snow and feel a cold breeze from time to time, it reminds me of home:) We stayed with Kris's mom, which is always nice, and bonus! . . . free babysitter! So we went to the temple and did a session one night (first time back since April I think, shameful I know. Pregnant bodies have a hard time sitting through a session) And this was the first time I'd left Marin with anyone for longer than an hour, while I was far away! I did really well, proud of myself! The next night we went out with Melodie and Sam to this great hole in the wall pizza joint for some NY style pizza (HELL-O! soooo good!) and to the 2$ theater to see "Get Smart". That was good too. We had to leave, and it's always hard to go, but the cat did need to be fed.

And the baby! How is our little Marin you ask? She is beautiful. She really is a good baby, I tell Kris all the time that I'm nervous for our subsequent kids, because I have a feeling they will not be as good. She is taking the bottle a little better, getting used to the nipple and all, but progress is progress! I think she is on the verge of laughing. there are times when she smiles soooo big and you can tell she has a giggle just waiting to burst out. It's coming though:) She is still going to bed around 7 or so, and that is still wonderful. It's nice to have a sleeping baby and some time with my hunny. She is however getting quite big. :( It almost makes me sad in a way, to see my little girl grow up so much. I mean, I'm excited to see her grow, but it's happening sooo quick. All of this growth (I'm sure she's just about 13 pounds now) is rendering a more and more limited supply in her wardrobe. Kris and I went to DI to get her some bigger clothes. Can I just say (again) how much I love DI. They have some of the cutest baby clothes for cheap cheap cheap! I can get her 14 or 15 items, for around $20! Where else can you do that?! I'll start snooping through the ladies section once I shed a few more pounds. And, speaking of clothes, Melodie (Kris's sister) was about to take some of her old clothes to DI herself, but I found the bags and asked if I could have first dibs, and I got a bunch of great clothes from her for myself. Not to mention Melodie has great style. Thanks Melodie!

Picture time!

This is this afternoon with daddy!

Some candids with mama! Am I ever going to NOT look exhausted? I look beat, like, all the time!

Whoa, ok, view disclaimer, this picture might be a little CLOSE! and scary!

Awww! A dress that I got her at DI, cute and white (It almost loked like a Christening gown, but less poofy) I put a bow on her head (using a bra-strap, is that bad?) and some white shoes Trine got for us!

Here is nice closeup. So cute isn't she!

There's a smile!

This is the "I'm-sick-of-pictures-and-I'm-losing-circulation-to-my-scalp-while-mom-forgot-to-take-the-flash-off" picture.

Some mountains in Utah.

Marin sleeping away in her Pack-n-Play in Utah

My friend Amy we went to lunch with. (Paradise Bakery by the way has AMAZING fire roasted tomato soup)

That's all folks, drop me a note!

Saving grace!

Well, as I have mentioned, the little kiddio has not been taking a bottle very well. Ok, that's a huge understatement. It's been like WW3 getting her to take it. She screams and kicks and gags and chokes, it's awful, and keep in mind, this is with the same bottle nipple she's used and been fine with before. She'll do this for about 20 minutes until she's exhausted and gives up. Now, as a mom, this makes my heart just break because all she has to do is suck, and I feel like the ultimate villan shoving a bottle in my baby girls mouth while she cries. I've been pushing the bottle because I go back to work in 2 weeks, and Kris needs to be able to feed her, and Marin has been less than thrilled. ANYWAY! Today I went to Babies-R-Us on a mission. To find a better bottle! I had lamented to Kris that bottle nipples really look nothing like a real boob, so it really wasn't a surprise Marin was having some trouble. So at the store I scoured the wall of bottle and nipple wonderland looking for a miracle. Well, I think maybe Miracle Max was working, we may not have found a simulated breast, but we found this really cool bottle from The First Years. She fought for a minute and then started to suck! Hooray! We'll see if everything continues, but so far so good!

In other news, Kris and Marin and I went to the library tonight! That was a good time. I haven't taken advantage of a library or a good book in a shamefully long time. I really do enjoy reading, but in nursing school, all I read were textbooks about ICP, nephritis and respiratory failure, although I can't forget the fun dictionary pics. Anyway, It was a nice change of pace. I got to browse through the shelves looking for some savory murder mystery (I like those) and look through CD's of cool music. I did find book called Saffron Skies, I'll have to see how that turns out. I also found a CD I had been looking for, for quite a long time. I couldn't remember the name of th artist, or the song, but it's called Grace Kelly by MIKA, and it's such a fun song. I love it. I'm excited to get back to reading though.

This morning I went for a run. I've been going to this intense stroller class where we do some intermittent jogging, and I have been practicing jogging on my own. I can only go for a almost a mile and half, but it's a good start. Before Kris and I got married, I was jogging at least 3 miles a few times a week, but I'm getting there. And over the last 6 weeks, I've lost about 13 pounds, so I'm happy. Still have about 15 to go to reach my goal weight, and then once baby stops nursing, I'll have another 10 to lose. One step at a time though!

Where have all the trick-or-treaters gone?

Happy Belated Halloween! Well, I need to get a pic of baby with her halloween outfit on, she was a sweet pea, or rather, a pea in a pod. So cute! Anyway. Where have all the trick or treaters gone!? We bought some candy a few weeks ago (that's dangerous) and have kind of been picking at it, so we bought some more at Sam's club. A HUGE like, 2,000 piece bag of Willy Wonka delightful-ness (not my favorite as itis not chocolate, but, good enough for candy starved kidlets). The night came, and we had maybe 15 kids! I was so disappointed! I made some ghosts and hung them on the tree outside and lit our lanterns and everything, put up some paper pumpkins on the door. There just weren't any trick or treaters! So NOW, we have all of this candy hanging around. That's just bad news for this chocolate fiend. I know I've already eaten waaaay too much. I shold just throw it out so I don't eat it.

Uncle Bob came to see us on Saturday! I do miss seeing family, so it was nice to have a visit and catch up. We just chatted for a while and had some steak sandwiches. I tld Kris they were pretty good except for the steak (I made them by the way). The steak was a little tough. I need some more practice cooking red meat, well steaks. I think also it was just the cut of meat. If you want to make them at home:

Steak Sandwiches:

Ingredients: *Focacia bread (or any other cool souning bread)
*1 1/2 yellow onions, caramelized (see below)
*Roasted red peppers (see below)
*arugala (a type of green)
*strip steak (something tender!)
*mustard mayo (see below)
Directions:

Caramelized onions:
-slice onions into med half circle shapes, not too thin
-add 1 TBS sugar and stir in
-cook over med low heat with some olive oil stirring occasionally until golden tender and sweet

Roasted Red Peppers:
- slice peppers in half vertically, remove inside seeds etc.
-place cut side down in cake pan, drizzle with olive oil
-roast in 400 degree oven for 25-35 minutes, or until skin begins blacken
-remove pan, cover tightly with tin foil (this helps the skin loosen)
-peel skins from peppers when cool (this gets messy, but it's worth it)
-store submerged in olive oil in fridge for up to a month

Steaks:
-remove steaks from fridge for about 30" prior to cooking (this will warm them up prior to them hitting the pan, so they won't steam and be gray)
-season each side liberally with salt and pepper (don't be shy, this is red meat, and needsquite a bit of seasoning.
-heat skillet to med high and add some olive oil
-add meat and don;t touch it. checking the meat will not allow it to get nice and brown and crusty, cook on first side for 3-4 minutes
-flip when nice and brown, cook on other side for another 2-3 minutes
-remove from heat cover with tin foil, allow to rest
-VERY IMPORTANT: When slicing, slice across the grain, not with. You want nice short pieces of fiber to be able to bite off. Otherwise, you will be pulling nice long strips of very chewy meat off your sandwich.

Mustard Mayo:
-1 1/2 cups mayo
-2 TBS dijon mustard
-1 TBS grainy mustard

ASSEMBLY:
*Slice bread horizontally, so it opens like a clam
*spread out your mustard mayo
*line bottom bread slice with arugala
*place your steak on top, then peppers and caramelized onions
*ENJOY!

Here are some pics of our baby girl!

This is today in her Sunday dress. We went to DI and got some more dresses, she's growing out of some of her other ones. Here she is standing, she LOVES to stand, and is such a strong girl!
Mama was making some noises and she thought they were soooo funny, I love this, you can see her cute double chin, the little chunk!

A few more smiles!

With Uncle Bob on Saturday.

A snuggle with daddy the other day, she is getting so big!

On another note, we've been having a really hard time getting Marin to take milk in a bottle lately. She just cries and cries and cries. I'm not sure what the deal is, she just wants to nurse. It's been a real battle. I've been nursing her at night and defrosting milk for her during the day, and she just hates the bottle now. She took it fine a few weeks ago, and I'm not sure what happened. Any suggestions would be great, but I guess I'll try some new nipples anyway.

Sprained by Pumpkin!

Well, last night Kris and I carved pumpkins! There is nothing more fun than carving pumpkins, it's so great. While we were carving them, we uh, kind of got into a pumpkin gut fight. I don't really know who won, but I'm still peeling pumpkin guts off of the wall :) And finding seeds too. When we went to pick out our pumpkins, we went to a cute little place across the street from wal-mart. Some independent little pumpkin place with rides and cotton candy. So, we were trying to find out how much the pumpkins were. . . 12$ ! I couldn't believe how expensive they were! Whatever! I was not about to pay 12$ for a pumpkin that wasn't gi-normous! So. . . we went to Food-4-Less and paid 3$ each for 2 pumpkins, that's a little more my style :)

And as for the title? I think I sprained my wrist carving pumpkins. I guess I must have been carving a little to vigorously! That night my right wrist was a little sore and the next morning it looked slightly swollen, so I wrapped it up and I think it's healing now.

I put Marin in bed last night at 6:30, she was soooo fussy, all day long she was being a real pill, she ddn't want to take a bottle for her dad, just being a pill. I put her to bed and she fussed for an hour and then made intermittent noises for another half an hour before she finally drifted off. She was crazy tired. Kris actually made dinner lst night! I love it when my hunny cooks for me. He made spaghetti, garlic bread and peas. Such a good guy!

I tried making homemade chocolate pudding last night, and I took the recipe from a chocolate cookbook Kris got for me last year, from the Sharfen-berger chocolate makers, very swanky recipes. This is probably the 4th recipe I've tried from the book, and it didn't turn out. It was more like really thick chocolate milk than pudding. It's too bad because I try a lot of recipes, and 98% of them turn out great, but none have turned out well from this swanky cookbook. Strange.

Picture time!

I was browsing through some photos and thought I'd post a couple. This one is from our honeymoon. We were in the Bahamas for this pic, in a limo on our way to Paradise Island, the HUGE hotel on the island. Good times! We both had a little color in our cheeks, and look healthy :)



This one is just a few days before Kris and I got married, I was doing a few dishes before I headed off to work. Look how skinny I used to be! Working on it. I have about 16 more pounds until I'm almost as skinny as this pic.

This is a spooky picture of our pumpkins all lit up last night. Mine is on the left, Kris's is on the right.

A daylight pic. Marin's pumpkin is in the front.

The aftermath of our pumpkin gut fight last night. You can't really see just how gross we were, but we were gross. We needed to hop in the shower after we took this pic.

We put Marin in her little scooter thingy yesterday, even though her feet don't touch the floor. She was totally reaching for that little toy in the front. Soon she'll be abl to grab at it!

So much to look at!

Studying. . . Studying. . . Studying!

And, hopefully this loaded, this is a video I shot of Marin this afternoon. She was making noises, and I caught some on the camera. Enjoy! Ok, well, it didn't load, I'll try agan later :)

Another trip!

My goodness, time flies! I'm not sure where I left off! Friday Kris and I left for Zion's National Park, we got there around 5 or so and had a hard time finding a campsite! The place was booked! Well, amost, we found one large enough to hold three tents, but it was by the road. Ugh. Ahh well. We set up our tent and got a fire going and waited for the rest of the family to arrive. They got to the site around 8:00 and we set up the whole she-bang, we practically had a kitchen right outside, it was great! We sat around and chatted for a while, and Kris's dad Duane brought a heater for our tent, so baby wouldn't get cold, so we took that in our tent before we went to bed. I think the heater was having some trouble, it would go out after about 4 hours, which also happened to be the coldest part of the night, and it was COLD! I think it got into the 30's! Brrr! Poor little Marin was just not used to the chilly weather. We pulled her into bed with us both nights because she was getting chilly. She was a little fussy on the trip, but I think it was the weather. On Saturday we went on a little hike through one of the canyons, it was sooo pretty. Then that night we had some chicken and dutch oven potatos (Oh, My, Goodness. DELICIOUS) and sat around the campfire with a guitar and sang songs and chatted and laughed. GREAT Therapy. Sunday we went through a ghost town in grafton Utah before we came home. Wonderful trip, but today yielded a lot smokey laundry to be done.

Marin is going to bed earlier, and I think she is enjoying it, or rather, she does not enjoy staying up late. She gets crazy fussy if it's getting too late, and she doesn't hear the sound of running water. Tonight was a little rough, but the little sweetie sleeps.

Here is the link to the pictures on the site, enjoy!


http://picasaweb.google.com/Ahtnamas33/ZionsCamping#

Picasa Web Albums - Samantha

Picasa Web Albums - Marin Lyman. If you want to see a bunch of pics from the Bellagio's Atrium, click on the the above title and then choose "baby1". Those are the pics, there were just too many to post.

So, Kris and Marin and I went to the Ballagio the other night for some gelato the other night, and to check out the atrium there. They change it every few months or so, with the seasons, and it was their autumn display. Just beautiful. If anyone wants to come and visit us, we'll show you all the sights! And you can stay in our spare bedroom!

We went to the doctors today for Marin's 2 month well visit. I can't belive how fast she is growing, I know I say it every time, but it just makes me so sad! Anyway, she is growing up! Measuring 23 inches (birth:20") and 11lbs 6oz (birth:7lbs 4 oz). Her head is in the 95th percentile, that poor child has a very large noggin, but her body is in the 85th percentile, which the doc said is perfect for her noggin size. She's just big I guess, but she couldn't get away from having a melon head, her parents have pretty big heads :) I told the doc I thought she had some yeast-i-ness in her diaper area, and he concurred. She had some circular red splotches that aren't going away with diaper rash cream, so we now have some stuff to kick out that yucky yeast! Poor girl had 3 shots today! It hurts my heart as a mama to have my baby girl be hurt :( I can poke babies all day long at work, but it's a little different shen it's MY baby. I had given her some tylenol before we left the house this morning, in anticipation, and after her shots she snuggled (didn't want to nurse though) and mama swaddled her and put her in her carseat, she slept for a while.

This Friday and Saturday night, we're going camping! Again! It's ok, because I like to camp! And this time, we'll be with Kris's dad and sister and brother in law. I'm so excited! We're going to Zion's National Park, I've never been there, but Kris tells me it's beautiful. So, I should have some pics for you!

Last night I tried putting Marin to bed a little earlier, just because she was starting to get pretty fussy. I started at 8:00 and gave her a bath and fed her, swaddled her and put her into her own crib (awake) by 8:45. I thought for sure I would be setting myself up for a 45 minute cry before I had to go get her, but she was asleep within 5 minutes! I fed her at 11:30, and she was up to eat at 2:30 and 5:30, but both times, even if she was awake, I would swaddle her and she would go righ back to sleep. We're getting there I think. The earlier bedtime is nice. It will give Kris and I some time together :)

Diapers Away!

Welcome to Monday! It is absolutely CRAZY how quickly the weeks are going by now that I have a baby. She will be 9 weeks on Thursday! UN-believable! My little girl is growing up so fast! I know now why my father used to tell me he was going to put a brick on my head, I'm debating doing the same to Marin, to keep her from growing!

She really is becoming so fun to interact with, cooing and gooing and squeeling with her precious little smiles. Just adorable :) Kris weighed her last week (did I mention this already?) and she weighed 11 pounds 4 ounces. Goodness sakes, sheis getting so big! This wednesday is her doctors appt., so we'll see just how much she weighs and how long she is, I'm pretty excited. I keep thinking her hair is growing, because it looks like it is, but then I look at her head and I'm not sure. Oh well.

Last night was a little frustrating. She did fine after I first put her down at midnight, she slept until almost 5, and then after I fed her, she laid there and tried to poop for a good 2 hours. grunting and grunting and grunting. I kept thinking she was going to wake up, so I just laid there and listened to her grunt for 2 hours. Kris finally took her into the other room and put her in the crib around 7:30, I slept for a little while, and then went to get her. Ahh the joys of mommyhood.

On another note, I only have about 16 more pounds to lose until I am at my "comfortable weight". The weight I am comfortable being at for being a nursing mom, and it's how much I weighed at my first pregnancy checkup at 10 weeks. If I really want to be ambitious, I'll lose an additional 10 pounds after I'm done nursing Marin. One step at a time. But HEY! Progress is progress right? I'm proud of myself though. The stroller walking/jogging at the Y, and the pilates (when I can, which isn't often I might add) and eating good food, it really makes a difference. I feel sooo much better when I'm eating veggies and getting enough to eat. I still have to push myself to eat (I still lose my appetite when I nurse baby), and if I don't feel like eating, I tend to snack on sugary stuff because my body is hungry, but my stomach feels gross, so instead, I got a BIG can of Planter nuts to snack on when I'm needing something to munch on, it has protein and good fats, a good way to fill you up without empty calories.

Today is Kris's Friday. I always like his day's off, I miss him when he goes to work. Speaking of work, It's only a few more weeks until I have to go back to work, the week of the 16th in November. I won't be full time, maybe 1 or 2 das a week, but I'm sad right now thinking about leaving my daughter. It will be good for me though. I have to keep telling myself that!

Here are some fun pics, hope everyone has a good start to their week!

Here is Marin this morning, just about to drift off to sleep for her nap. She is in her bouncy seat, which she really does like. She's a thrill seeker like her daddy, and she likes a good vigorous bounce every so often :)

Last night during dinner in her swing, such a cutie!

Haha! This still makes me laugh. Kris has a habit of doing the "dad-throw" when he puts Marin over his shoulder, I think this one put a little too much pressure on her full belly. She spilled her lunch all over the back of Kris, and you can only see the mess on his shirt! It went all down his shirt, his pantleg and onto the back heel of his shoe, PLUS a big splat all over the kitchen floor! CRAZY! Needless to say, little girl needed a snack after this barf-fest.

Playing under her jungle gym.