Netty at Play

Netty is a very busy girl. She needs lots of stimulation and lots and lots of attention. I accomplish very little during her awake hours. Although she is getting better at playing on her own or talking to herself, she still wants me near.

 While I was trying to get our computer hooked up and our bedroom cleaned, Netty kept playing with a lamp cord. I'd pull her away, and she'd manage to scoot back to the cord. After three attempts, I gave up. I moved Netty to the other side of the room and gave her some yarn. She was so happy and played with it for several minutes. Don't worry, I kept a close eye on her. Her legs and feet got tangled in it, but that was about it.

 After moving into a much smaller apartment, I decided to downsize my giraffe collection. It was a difficult decision, but the bottom line was that we just don't have space. I kept the ones that really meant something to me or that were too cute for me to get rid of, and then in one day, Rexburg's Deseret Industries received a very sizable giraffe donation. While I was sorting through my giraffes, Netty found this little rubber one that she's chewing on. It quickly became her favorite toy.

 Netty's newest favorite toys, however, are the twelve plastic eggs that I bought two Easters ago to make Jello eggs (I never did make them). I'm not sure how she got a hold of them, but she loves them. This is a common scene in my day. Netty has backed herself under our coffee table and has gotten out of reach of all of her eggs. She tries to get them with all her might, but she hasn't figured out that just like she can scoot backward, she can also scoot forward if she wants to.

 Netty has at last met Gabriel! She loves her reflection and talks to it whenever I set her down in front of my full-length mirror.

 I am so grateful to my brother Aaron for giving us his Baby Einstein DVDs. Netty is in love with them. She gets really excited when the little caterpillar comes on in the beginning. She also gets excited when the "Disney DVD" appears on the screen. She heard the music when Jon put in a different Disney movie and practically jumped out of my arms to see the TV. I'm pretty sure she was disappointed when she realized it wasn't her movie. I took this picture at the Reading Center. While Jon was being tutored, Netty was going nuts. Finally, I went to YouTube and found Baby Van Gogh, which is Netty's favorite movie. As you can see, she attacked the screen.

Through the month of July I spent hours upon hours putting together this book for Netty. I had a card for a free photo book from Shutterfly.com, so I decided to use it. The first half includes Netty's four-generation family tree, a brief history of how Jonathan and I met and got married in a matter of three months, and all of my baby bump pictures that are craftily arranged in a yearbook format. The last half of the book contains pictures of Netty through her first two months, as well as the words of her baby blessing and an acrostic written by yours truly. I hope that someday she will treasure it.

Lots More Netty from October

Netty changed so much while we were in Utah during my recovery from Mono. Her personality started coming out more. She has proven to be independent, and she started showing preference for different things. So here are a few of the things that she started doing or that came out in full swing during our last Utah trip.

 Netty's screaming reached new heights. Perhaps it is the vaulted ceiling and the hardwood floors through HoneyGram's living and dining rooms that made Netty decide screaming was the thing for her.

 She started chewing on every tag she could find. She's also taken to Eeyore's tail, and often when we're picking up her toys, we find a very soaking surprise.

 She outgrew her swing. We bought the swing when she was about a month old, but she didn't like it until she was about three and a half months. During this trip, however, she started sitting up in it and grabbing the legs of the swing. A week after we got home, Jon and I were in the other room when we heard her let out a call of distress. We went in, and she was hanging head first, only being held by the buckle. That was the last time she sat in her swing.

 She started eating things like soup and rolls. For weeks after this she wouldn't eat regular baby food without salt and pepper, and sometimes she still wouldn't eat it. We took a break from baby food for a week or so, and now she eats it like a champ.

 She also had her first taste of candy. She was eyeing my gummy worms one day, so I gave her one. She sucked on it until she finally bit it in half. I slipped the halves from between her fingers, and she continued sucking on her first for ten more minutes, never realizing that the worm wasn't there.

 She started sitting on her own. It started when HoneyGram was bathing her, and that was the only time she would support herself. Finally, though, by the end of our week and a half stay, she was sitting on her own for a minute at a time.

 She had her first taste of chocolate! We made a trip to Costco and after our hot dog dinner, we got ice cream. Of course Netty was grabbing for HoneyGram's ice cream bar.

She loved the plain ice cream too.

 Delicious!

And she also started refusing to let me feed her. For a couple of days she just plain wouldn't eat. She proceeded to yell at me during mealtimes. So finally I said, "Then you do it," and I handed her the spoon. She thought that was great.

After Too Long....

I finally have my teaching certificate for the state of Idaho!

To Everything There is a Season

When Jonathan and I were preparing to return to Idaho after my student teaching we felt so good about moving to St. Anthony. We were excited to start a new chapter in our lives in which I would finally graduate and we would become parents. The instant we pulled up in front of our apartment in St. Anthony, my heart sank. Sparing you all the details, we hated that apartment. When the opportunity came to move back to Rexburg, we jumped on it. Not only would rent be cheaper, we'd also spend a lot less in gas, and Jonathan would be able to spend more time at home.

Netty has done so well through the whole move. Trying to keep her on a bit of a schedule has been super difficult, but she's handled it fine. I am grateful to have such a tough little girl. We are so happy to be in this new phase of life back in Rexburg. The three of us are thriving.

For a while we wondered why we felt so good about moving to St. Anthony in the first place. The conclusion that we've come to is that our Main and Bridge apartment was preparing us so that we would enjoy our Twin Pines apartment. Perhaps there are other reasons that we will know later or that we will never know. But no matter what, I am so thankful for a loving Heavenly Father who has led us to this point in our lives where we can be so happy.

Netty next to our "outside view" from our St. Anthony apartment 

Outside view from our kitchen table in St. Anthony

 Outside view from our kitchen table in Rexburg

A sunny day a couple of days ago. This is what I saw when I opened my blinds. I was in heaven!

Halloween 2012

Last year: Jonathan and I lie in bed at 7:00 watching movies because I am too sick to move. We eat Taco Bell nachos for the third time that week because it's the only thing that sounds good. I check my phone every three minutes to see if I missed a message from one of my siblings and pray that they haven't forgotten to take pictures of their children in their costumes. I am too excited for the following year when I would be able to dress up my own baby. I bore Jonathan with all of my costume ideas. "If it's a girl, we definitely need to dress her like this." "A boy definitely needs this costume for his first Halloween." And I'm promising myself that I definitely won't wait until I get a phone call before I send out a picture of my costumed baby.

This year: Netty hasn't taken a good nap all day. Finally after she's been asleep for thirty minutes and I'm sure she'll sleep for ninety more, Jonathan calls me to say he's on his way home to pick us up to go to the Reading Center. I pray harder than ever in my life that the baby will stay asleep while I transfer her from her bed to the car seat, but as soon as I put a finger on her, she wails. Jonathan gets home, we wrestle Netty to the ground to put a black dot on her nose with my eyeliner, and she screams and flails the entire time. Netty and I hang out in the Reading Center while Jonathan meets with his tutor, and then we go outside to take pictures of Netty in her costume. By this time she has already nursed and left black smudges all over me and my clothes, and her nose looks more dirty than anything. Just as I'm about to start snapping pictures, my sister calls me. "So, when am I going to get a picture of Netty in her costume?"

Snug as a bug

Gone Fishin' No More

Jonathan and I have been without Internet in our home for so long that I had forgotten what it was like to check my email without carting Netty to campus or to not have to explain to Jonathan over the phone how to pay our power bill on a website I couldn't see. I had also forgotten how much time I waste on Facebook. In some ways, it's almost a little too bad that we have Internet now, because I was starting to become so domestic without the constant technological lure of the computer. I know it means I just need to be more self-disciplined and not allow myself to return to those old days of hours hitting "Refresh" to see if maybe in the last twenty-five seconds somebody put something that I even cared about on their "wall," or better yet, if someone posted on my "wall."

However, one good thing about the return of our beloved Internet is that I will be able to post pictures of Netty again. I'm pretty sure our non-Facebook-using-or-picture-message-getting family, especially Grandma Phelps, will appreciate this change. I also hope to do a little more writing. When my Internet time was precious and few, I didn't write so much because it took too much time. I had forgotten how much I love to write. But don't despair if you're one of those people who just scans for pictures and moves on. There will be plenty of pictures.

General Conference

For those who haven't heard, Netty and I are staying in Utah for a week or two. Jonathan and I decided a while back that we were all going to go to Utah for General Conference. Then last Thursday, I was diagnosed with Mono. I feel like maybe I'm getting to the point where I might survive this, but for a while I was doubtful. I don't know that I have ever been so sick in my life. So we continued with our plans of coming to Utah, but Jonathan left us in Utah so my parents and sister could help me with Netty. Jon is a wonderful help at home, but with how much he has to focus on school, I didn't want to put more pressure on him. I absolutely hate being away from Jonathan, but I think it's for the best until I am well enough to take care of things at home on my own.

The following pictures were taken after the final session of General Conference on Sunday. I'm posting them mostly for Jonathan's sake because I know he misses his baby girl, but everyone else is welcome to see them as well.

 

This is Netty's pretty signature look. Her super power is staring people down, and she is very good at it.

 In the last little while I noticed that Netty was getting really thirsty when she would eat her cereal. I tried giving her a bottle of water, but the nipple would get clogged so easily. So we are entering the world of sippy cups. She drinks from them like a champ. A champ who lets water dribble down their chin and soak their clothes, but a champ nonetheless.

 I don't know how you could not love this face. The toy in her hands is from Grandma, Jon's mom. Netty loves this thing because it completely gives when she chews on it. I think it's only a matter of time before one of her two teeth punctures it.....

 I feel so lucky to have such a happy baby. She has plenty of unhappy moments, but overall, she is very content. It just kills me when she sticks out that little tongue.

Here is a prime example of her stare-down. Papa was making his signature noise. I guess it kind of sounds like a duck quack, but not quite. It's kind of hard to describe. Anyway, all of the grandchildren know it as Papa's sound. Apparently Netty wasn't amused. Poor Papa. He was trying so hard to get a smile.

HoneyGram's Sink

HoneyGram's sink is good for many things. It catches potato peels, holds dirty dishes until they are loaded into the dishwasher, serves as a practical joke mechanism whenever my brother Justin visits, and contains meats when they're thawing from the freezer...

...like my little turkey hamming it up.

Happy Girl

"Everybody knows that the sweetest thing that you'll ever see in the whole wide world is a happy girl."

-- "Happy Girl", Martina McBride

Tooth For Tooth

Netty spent much of August and September teething. It was not fun for any of us once the teeth started poking through, they came in rather quickly.

September 14, 2012

September 17, 2012

September 20, 2012

Her two little pearls are now my favorite part of her smile and my least favorite part of her bite. You know the old saying, "His bark is worse than his bite?" Her bark and her bite are both pretty lethal....