Discovering the Tree

I was sure that Netty would love to grab and pull at our Christmas tree, but she didn't. Once she started scooting, I thought, "Oh boy, we're in trouble. She's going to be at that tree all the time." But she's not. The other night I was holding her in my chair that sits beside the tree, and she kept pinching my face. She laughed when I told her no. Finally I set her on the floor. And for the first time, she started grabbing at the tree.

She still doesn't go out of her way to get to it. However, she does go out of her way to get to the Blu-ray player. Three times, twice just this week, she's pulled a movie out of the Blu-ray player. That's not counting all the times she's opened it and there wasn't a disc in there for her to play with.

WIC

I don't know what we would do without WIC. Since we first got on WIC shortly after Netty was born, we've been getting gallons more milk than we can drink, cereal to our hearts' content, enough cheese that we don't have to buy it with our food card (which is saying a lot, because we go through a lot of cheese), a constant freezer door full of juice, usually our whole bread supply, and enough peanut butter that we occasionally take a jar to the Reading Center simply because we don't have space in our cupboards.

Once Netty turned six months, she started receiving WIC checks for baby food. Since then, we have only ever gotten baby food with these checks. Just about every week we get 16 jars of fruit and vegetables, and 7 jars of meat, and sometimes we get cereal as well. The problem is that Netty only eats about a half a jar at each meal, which means, rather than going through two jars a day, we go through maybe one. We end up with three half-eaten jars in the fridge because I give her fruit for breakfast, vegetables for lunch, and meat for dinner. I also give her some Cheerios with every meal because she loves to feed herself, and that's the easiest way to accomplish that goal. Last night I organized the 46 jars I brought home from my last shopping trip in which I used two of Netty's WIC checks. I brought the old ones to the front and put the new ones in the back. I'm running out of space in my cupboard! What happens next time I go to the store?

I thought my problems were over yesterday when Netty ate an entire jar of pears in one meal. Pears are her absolute favorite. I thought, "Oh this is great! Maybe the demand will start to pick up with the supply!" And then she ate dinner in two waves last night and finished a whole jar of sweet potatoes. I was pretty sure this was the start of something big. And then this morning I opened up a jar of bananas, and Netty ate only a few bites of it. So then I tried apples. That was a bad idea. She doesn't like apples. before Netty received WIC checks, I fed her applesauce every day because I could just open a big jar and she would eat on it for a week or two at a time. MISTAKE! Now she won't touch anything that has apples in it. It took some great coaxing for her to eat an apple/strawberry/banana mix, and you could hardly taste the apple in it. And she won't drink apple juice. I'm pretty sure she's the only child on this earth who turns her nose up at apple juice. We've tried it three times and every time she pulls away from her cup after one drink.

I thought maybe my baby food storage worries would be over if I simply forced Netty to eat more. Maybe I was giving up too quickly at each mealtime. Maybe I needed to wait. Nope. She throws a fit. Turns her heard. She has mastered the art of whining, screaming, and crying with her mouth closed. This baby will not be force-fed.

And so we get creative. I'm not sure what that means just yet. Maybe I need to dedicate three cupboards to Netty's food instead of two. Maybe I need to build a pantry off the back of our apartment. Maybe we need to move into a three-bedroom apartment so that we have a full room for Netty's food. Maybe I just stop using my WIC checks for a bit until it evens out. But I feel bad if I don't use them. And I should have some food storage even for Netty, right?

Santa Baby

Netty is so lucky that her very own Papa is the real Santa Claus. She had a very personal visit from the Big Man himself. She was so cute with him. I just wish she'd been in a better mood. By the end of the night, she'd had all she could take.

Over the River and Through the Woods

...TO SYRACUSE

We celebrated Thanksgiving in Syracuse this year since Christmas will be spent in Spanish Fork. We drove down on Tuesday night after Jonathan's class (and after packing more than we'd ever need into our run-down car), helped my mom with the grocery shopping on Wednesday, ate five dinners on Thursday, shopped on Friday, visited Spanish Fork on Saturday, and went to church and drove home on Sunday. It was a much-needed trip. I feel so fortunate that we were able to go.

Netty slept most of the car ride down, but woke up in the Willard Bay area (for those who don't frequent that part of Utah, it's north of Brigham City, and about an hour away from my parents' house). She was screaming, so I put one of her Baby Einstein movies on our laptop. She watched most of the movie without making a peep. I turned the light on in the back just long enough to snap a picture of her stare.

 Papa made pancakes on Thanksgiving morning, and Netty went to town on hers. She was such a good eater all day. While we were eating dinner, she sat on my lap and sampled everything. She loves yams and potatoes, and she ate quite a bit of Aunt Brandon's jello. However, her favorite thing was stuffing. Several hours after our dinner (which was really at about 1:00 in the afternoon) Netty ate a dessert plate full of stuffing. She also had pumpkin pie cake and ice cream for dessert.

I think this picture was taken by my niece Anya, Aaron and Brandon's daughter. Netty has a toy that my mom made before Sarah was born. It's a wooden ring with a dowel in the middle that holds three wooden beads. Every baby that has ever visited my parents' house has played with this toy. Well, Netty became super attached to it. She would scream at us when we tried to take it away from her ultra death grip. She even fell asleep holding it a few times.

Netty had her first Black Friday shopping experience. Papa babysat while Jon and I went shopping with HoneyGram and Stephanie at Kohl's at midnight, but then she went out with us at 5:30 to the Syracuse Walmart (you would have thought it was any other day at that store because there were so few people there), Old Navy, and the Layton Hills Mall. She fell asleep while we were in J.C. Penney. After our shopping trip we went to breakfast at a little diner where they serve ginormous scones, and Netty ate off of HoneyGram's plate. She took two more naps that day.

Netty started getting two more teeth while we were gone, and her favorite pose the entire time was with one finger in her mouth. She'll look a little a Jack-O-Lantern unless the others come in soon.

...TO SPANISH FORK

Our main purpose in going to Spanish Fork on Saturday was to see Jon's Grandma Claudia who has schizophrenia and cancer and isn't expected to live through Christmas. However, we also made sure to see Alyssa and her family, who were in town for the same reason. Netty's cousin Bryce is about five weeks older than she is. We last saw them over the summer, so we were so happy to be able to see them for about an hour on Saturday.

Bryce couldn't keep his hands away from Netty. Alyssa took Netty over to Bryce (held by Cassie, Jeremy's girlfriend), and Bryce lunged for her.

Although Bryce sucks his thumb, he was really interested in Netty's binky. 

 And then he went for the feet. Netty didn't know what to think of him. She hasn't been around many babies.

Finally, when Bryce was distracted, Netty retaliated by grabbing his clothes.

...TO REXBURG

 We drove back last night after dark. Netty was tired and fell asleep almost as soon as we got in the car. She woke up when we stopped for a bathroom break in Malad.

We kept driving and stopped at the big Flying J in McCammon, Idaho. It's about the halfway point, and because of the large parking lot, discreet breastfeeding is easy. Netty didn't eat much. She was too busy looking out the window and talking to Jon and me. She fell asleep not too long after we got back on the road and slept the rest of the way home. 

I brought Netty in when we got home while Jon unloaded the car. After nursing, Netty was happy and didn't want to sleep. I was doubting whether I'd ever get to sleep last night because she was so wired after sleeping so much in the car. She was just so happy to be home! She finally went down a little after midnight.

Netty slept through the night last night! She has only done this on a few occasions, and I was betting that last night would not be one of them because she has slept so horridly at my parents' house last week and she had taken so many late naps yesterday. However, she slept until 8:00 this morning and talked in bed until she fell asleep again. She finally woke up for real at 10:00 and snuggled with me for a while. And she still took a two hour nap AND a three hour nap! She's now awake and happy. She's been asleep more hours than she's been awake today! I can't believe my luck, and it will probably never happen again. But I can dream, can't I?

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Jonathan and I have been super excited for Christmas for a long time now. When the first snow fell, he asked if we could put up our Christmas tree. Since it was October and we were trying to get ready to move, I told him we had to wait. And then after we moved, Jonathan continued asking about putting up our tree. Last year, our first holiday season together, we decided that our tree could go up the first weekend in November. So I guess that's our tradition. We may need to alter that someday when we put up a real tree, but for now, the first weekend in November is as long as we can put it off.

Netty was really excited about the branches as I was setting up the tree, but since it's been up, she hasn't been too interested in it. She looks at it when I turn the lights on, and she reaches for it when I bring her up to it. But even now that she's scooting, she stays away from it. 

I love holiday traditions, and I am so excited to now have my own family to create traditions with. So one that we're created is that Jon and Netty put the star on the tree. I don't know if it will always be the oldest child, always the baby, or if we'll rotate it every year once we have more children, but for now it's Jonathan and Netty's job.

Last year we bought some cheap Christmas cookie cutters, but the sweet smell of cookies made me sick while I was pregnant and the mess of sugar cookies seemed too overwhelming. The cookie cutters went untouched. This year, we braved sugar cookies. Twice so far! The first time we made them it was just Jonathan and me after we put Netty to bed. We watched The Grinch (the Jim Carey one) and baked. 

Waiting for the first batch to finish baking 

These were the lucky cookies that made it from dough to cutting to baking to frosting to picture without being eaten. It's a long process, and many cookies were not so lucky. We each ate four too many.

We gave some of the cookies to my cousin Nicole, along with some chocolate chip cookies. There were at least a dozen cookies on the plate. Nicole took it home, and in her tiredness, she left them sitting on her table. The next day, she found an empty plate. Due to the lack of presents left, I'm pretty sure it wasn't an early visit from Santa. Nicole was mad, so she wrote a note to her roommates. That next week Nicole came over and we baked sugar cookies again. That was right before she left for Thanksgiving, so I don't know if she ate many of those either, so we may need to have yet another cookie baking party. I'm pretty sure no one will complain.

Netty's first sugar cookie. The leftover cookie and frosting bits on her lower lip and chin look kind of like teeth, but I assure you, it's goopy cookie and frosting.

Our Candy Cane

What She Eats, & What She Doesn't

Starting Netty on solid foods has been an adventure, one that I'm sure most parents can relate to. We've gone through many phases on this food journey, but I think we've come to terms with the fact that Netty will eat what she wants to and won't eat what she doesn't want to, and we need to be okay with that.

When we first started solid foods, Netty would not wear a bib. Every bib we put on her ended up in her mouth and then we couldn't feed her. This was the one bib that she would leave alone for the most part. I am grateful now that she will wear bibs. It makes cleaning up a lot easier, and it means we didn't waste $6 on cute bibs.

 This little girl has a drinking problem, just like her parents. Probably close to half of our grocery budget goes to beverages of all kinds (except of the alcoholic type) simply because we love beverages. When I was growing up and would go to my grandma's house, Grandma wouldn't give us a drinks until we were done with our meal because she said we would fill up on that and not eat our food. As much as I hated it then, we've had to do the same thing with Netty. She doesn't get her water until after she's eaten almost everything.

Netty is still working on learning to hold a cup. Most of the time she refuses to hold it, probably because she can't drink as easily as when I hold it for her. It cracks me up because she's independent in so many other areas. But we're working on it. I am grateful that these bibs are lined with plastic because it keeps her clothes from getting soaked every time she takes a swig. However, these we made the mistake of sticking a couple of them in the dryer, and now the plastic as melted and we had to throw them away.

As Netty has gotten a little older and more teeth have come in, she wants food that she can chew, not just baby food. Jonathan and I got a jar of green beans when we got married from some people in his family ward, and since Jonathan doesn't like green beans and I only make things that he likes, the jar sat on our shelf for over a year. For several weeks Netty refused to eat baby food, and I became discouraged. I opened the green beans for Netty, and she loved them. They were exactly what she needed until she started eating baby food again.

Since we've been back in Rexburg, Jonathan has been coming home a lot more for lunch. Netty loves having the company when she eats. My aunt and uncle gave us a high chair when Netty was born, but the apartment that we live in now is much smaller than our old apartment, and there isn't space for it in our kitchen. We put it in our storage room and got this booster seat. Netty likes it because she can sit at the table with us. Someday we'll live in a place with a big enough kitchen to house a high chair, but for now, this works.

 Netty makes the funniest faces sometimes. One day I was feeding her carrots for lunch, and she was so excited for every bite (sadly, she's not always this enthusiastic about eating). She was so excited, though, that she wouldn't hold still for me to get a clear shot to her mouth. She ended up with a pretty nice looking mustache.

The Day to Day

Aside from Jonathan, Netty is my best friend. Just about every moment she's awake, she's by my side. And even when she's asleep, she's just in the next room. It is no wonder that mothers are so attached to their little ones--they're always together! Netty makes being with her all the time so easy simply because she's happy. It makes the tasks that I have to accomplish much more bearable.

 She loves her baths

 Getting ready to take the bow off and wash her hair

 In her laundry bag. This is how we came back from the laundry room.

Getting up in the morning

 Making the bed

 Cleaning

Now that Netty will sleep for longer than 20 minutes at a time I have been adventurous. I never dreamed I'd bake bread from scratch, but I decided to try it out. It was gone less than an hour after I cut the first slice. I guess it was a hit.

Lately I have been trying to cook more. This was last night's dinner: chicken chowder and homemade bread. I was so proud of myself!

On the Move

For weeks Netty has been finding ways to get around the room, mostly by rolling. Tonight during Family Home Evening she finally started scooting forward! We have three November Ensigns, so we decided that one of them could be Netty's. She was super excited, and it was just the incentive she needed to move forward. How grateful I am that she's following the prophet!

And all of us with our Ensigns

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.