Feeding Taelyn #3

Again, thanks to everyone for your comments on feeding Taelyn. The vote is even, but as her parents, the final call is ours. My sister-in-law summed up my thoughts perfectly. It is a matter of respect. I am now a parent. My father needs to respect me and my decisions in this new role. I just feel that she isn't even 5 months old yet, and still too young to have junk food. Foods need to be slowly introduced so that her little body can adjust. Jumping from only breast milk to oreos/fries/pumpkin chocolate chip cookies is not a good idea. And 'tastes' of food, though not harmful, can complicate the process. I understand his desire to be there when she experiences new things. We can make this possible, on my terms.

Everyone that suggested she was ready for cereal was exactly right. We gave her her first mixed bottle on the 23rd. It took a few days to find out the mix that works best for her, but I think we found it. Sunday night she slept 8 hours straight. It was great! Well, almost. I woke up at 3 am and couldn't get back to sleep. I don't know what I picked up, but it wasn't good. I finally took a shower and was able to get to sleep around 6. I stayed home sick Monday. Fever, chills, major headache, eyes sensitive to light, neck pain, back ache, runny nose, itchy throat... But last night was marvelous. We all got 7 1/2 hours of uninterrupted sleep.

Flood Control Failures

My boss periodically sends us these. I think he is trying to emphasize just how important it is that we do our jobs right.

Smelling the Roses

Last weekend we were home for the State Horse 4-H show in Vernal. Saturday morning we watched Taryn/Flip run barrels then Jon took me to breakfast. Outside of the JB's they have some lovely pink roses that are just starting to wilt. I shouldn't have been surprised when Jon walked through the bark toward the roses. There were 2 kids walking out of the restaurant (their parents were just finishing up paying). They stopped in their tracks to watch Jon. Then the little boy started laughing. When his parents came out they asked him what was so funny. Just as we were walking into the restaurant I heard the little boy say in delight "He smew'd it!".

I just want to let Jon know how much I love and appreciate him. Thanks for teaching me how to chill. Thanks for showing me the importance of taking the time to enjoy each moment. Thanks for making me stop and smell the roses.

Feeding Taelyn #2

Just want to say thanks to everyone for their feedback on the blog or by email. I really-really appreciate it.

So we fed Taelyn a bottle (half breastmilk-half water and 3 Tbsp rice cereal) last night at 9. She loved it! Did it help her sleep through the night? Alas, no. In fact, she woke up every 1 1/2 hours! I was thinking we might try the same tonight with a bottle at 9 and 11. Maybe that will work. Wish us luck, and I'll let you all know how it goes tomorrow.

Feeding Taelyn

This is actually part of the post at State Horse 4-H, but I felt that the matter deserved a separate post.

Taelyn's pediatrician has recommended that we not feed Taelyn anything but breast milk until she is 6 months old. Dr Cox said she has 2 reasons for this. First, she likes the baby to be able to set up on their own as it reduces choking. Second, it helps to reduce the possibility of food allergies. Jon and I talked about it, and we would like to follow that advice.

"Papa G" (as he calls himself) got himself in trouble several times over the weekend. He thinks it is OK to feed Taelyn. I wasn't happy at him feeding her watermelon...but I was down right angry when he tried pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and oreos-oh, did I mention the french fry!? He says that I need to relax. I think we should take a poll (see poll in right column). Please let me know your thoughts.

State Horse 4-H

This last weekend we went home to support Taryn at the State Horse 4-H competition. This is the first year she is on Flip. It was a tough show for her. She sprained her ankle during volleyball tryouts in August and the one time she has ridden since then, it really bothered her. So, considering she really hasn't rode flip since the County competition, it went well. There were 2 events that I really didn't agree with the judge on...but what do you do? Here are a few pictures of her. [Jon has commented that she always is one of the best dressed--that comes from having an amazing-super-wonder woman of a seamstress for a mother.]

Taryn and Taelyn spent time between speed events on Saturday takin' it easy.

This is Taelyn's first horse ride, such that it is. She didn't seem to mind sitting on Flip, but when grandma tried to put her hand on Flip's nose, Taelyn would have nothing to do with it.

Answer to Prayers

In high school I had major problems with my knees. Unfortunately, my left knee has started bothering me again. This wouldn't be too big a deal if we didn't live on the third floor. I can go down fine, but up causes pain and a loud popping sound. Carrying Taelyn up adds to the stress and some days is nearly unbearable.

About a month ago we started looking at moving. Our motto: progression. Our requirements: 2 bedroom, ground level, washing machine & dryer and a step up from what we are now living in (this is where the progression comes in). Every time we found something (and some of them were very cute and in our price range) , it didn't feel right. After viewing 5+ places, we both felt very frustrated.

After much prayer, we had our answer...we are supposed to stay in our ward. Blast! Don't get me wrong, I love our ward...but I'm a little bit of a snob. There is only 1 apartment complex in our ward that I would live in--and that is where we are all ready at. The rest of them are downright scary!

Anyway, we agreed that we needed to quit looking outside of ward boundaries and trust in the Lord. If he wanted us to stay, he would provide an opportunity for us. Less than a week later, the answer came. One of our friends in the ward called. He and his wife bought a house in Sandy and the house that they are renting from his mom is going to be empty. As he and his wife were getting ready for bed one night, she asked if he thought we might be interested in renting it.

Results: by November 1st we will be in a 2 bedroom house on ground level with a washer and dryer and the rent is low enough that it will still allow us to save. I'm grateful that God hears and answers prayers. I'm grateful for people who listen to promptings of the Spirit. On a less spiritual note, I'm also grateful that we are only going to have to make ~6 more trips to the laundromat!

Taelyn's New Stylist

Two weeks ago Truck and Mom were at our apartment. He asked if he could do Taelyn's hair. I had to document the process and the result. She didn't seem to mind.

Later that evening, while Jon was changing her diaper, she was super talkative and active. I took a few more pictures. This one is my favorite.

Reunions!!

I'm slow on getting these posted, but we have had 2 reunions in the last 2 weeks. Labor Day weekend was my dad's family reunion and the weekend before was Jon's family reunion.

This year Jon, Kathy and Kirstine hosted their reunion (which meant Kathy, Kirstine and I!). I had a blast helping plan. We held it at my Uncle Deloy's place in Hanna. I wish I would have taken more pictures while there... If anyone reading this has some pictures, please email them to me. I would greatly appreciate it! Anyway, here are some pictures that I did take.

This one has to be done big so that it can be seen. This is Jon and his siblings. They are kind of in age order! Working from the inside out (according to age): Renae, Tami and Jodi (middle 3 females), then Joe, Paul and Russ (middle 3 males), then the twins, Kirstine and Kathy (females on the outside), then Jake and Jon (males on the outside). Now keep in mind this is after everyone had been camping 2-3 nights! They sure are a great group.

There were many activities. We played cards a lot. They made mini-marshmallow shooters (which the kids discovered also worked as snorkels-they spent A TON of time in the river), crafts, teather ball, etc. I wish I would have gotten some pictures of the mini-marshmallow wars (I was too busy hiding-blast Danille for taking Taelyn-it left me with nothing to use to claim I was exempt!) The kids sure played hard (as evidenced by the picture of Ethan asleep in the chair). I love having so many nieces and nephews. They are all so adorable!

Taelyn spent most of the time taking it easy in the bean bag...well, kind of. I would put her on one of the tables in the bean bag. When I would check on her, 90% of the time she was missing. Everyone sure enjoyed holding her. I found out that if we wet one of her thin blankets, it can be used to keep her cool. It works perfectly. Her and Jon like playing with the wet blanket.Here is a picture of her in daddy's hat. I know I have a biased opinion, but dang she is cute!

Now for my fam's Reunion. It was at Deloy's place, too. I think Taelyn was getting sick of camping by the end. She sure was a good sport though. The first night was nice weather. Sunday evening it rained. And rained. And rained. You can tell which pictures were taken Saturday with great weather and Sunday/Monday when the crappy weather set in.

Most of the weekend was just my parents, Jon, Taelyn, Taryn and I. Truck graced us with his presence for one meal on Saturday. I don't think he would have come by at all if mom hadn't bought a new car and had Truck drive the truck out from SLC (I'll have to post a picture of it later-too cute!) Colton was at work (last week before going back to Cedar) and Shay had already moved back to Cedar.

My parents sure enjoyed spending time with Taelyn.

When my dad wasn't busy sticking out his tongue at Taelyn or teaching her to blow raspberries, they spent a lot of time together taking cat naps!
When grandma and grandpa didn't have her, Uncle Duane/Aunt Anne or Taryn had her. A couple months ago, Taryn said she couldn't wait until Taelyn could walk and talk because then she would be fun. She has admitted that its not so bad now that she doesn't feel like she is going to break Taelyn when she plays with her.Here are a few more pictures I took. These first two are of my cousins' kids. They sure are all growing up so fast! They enjoyed holding Taelyn too.Here are some of those present. At various times there were different people in the group under the pavilion. We had two big meals over the weekend, lunch Saturday and lunch Sunday. The last "official" number of those in attendance was 98. Here is my wonderful Grandpa Dye. I'm not sure how old grandpa is. When Jon asked him after Grandpa's b-day a few months ago, grandpa said 34. I think he is 92. Anyone know for sure?
Taelyn was sure grumpy when we got home on Monday. We promised her that we wouldn't go camping any more this summer. I think the 6 nights in 11 days was too much. Unfortunately it really threw off her sleeping groove. She has been waking up hungry in the middle of the night for 3 nights in a row now. Considering she hasn't done that at all since she was born, I'm a little worried. Hopefully we can break the pattern tonight.