MJ's First Christmas

Merry Christmas to All!
Jared, MJ and I had a wonderful and busy Christmas. MJ is completely spoiled and received a ton (almost literally!) of presents.
On Christmas Eve, we had my mom and brother over. We ate Monte Cristo sandwiches (yum!!) and played some games while MJ slept so that Santa could visit.
Jared was so excited for Christmas that he hardly slept and got up early to put together a kid-size table and chair set for MJ. MJ was only vaguely interested in opening presents. She would tear the paper a little bit and then get distracted. Needless to say, we had to help her out a lot. I think she was overwhelmed with all the toys and books she received. She didn't know where to start to play.
After opening the presents for our family, we headed over to my mom's and launched into the massive pile under her tree. It took us all morning, but we got through and ate breakfast around noon. MJ got this super cool kid-sized rocking chair from my mom (a.k.a. Santa), among many, many other things. It took us 2 car loads to get everything home!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Morning- Trying to play with the ornaments.

The first present MJ opened.

At Grandma's House. We thoroughly enjoyed sticking bows on MJ's head.

In her new rocking chair.

On Saturday, we traveled up north to see Jared's family. It was great seeing his brother and sister-in-law, Jeremy and Trisha and their family. We haven't seen them for 2 years. We had a great time until MJ woke up in the middle of the night and refused to go back to sleep. After 3 hours of trying we finally took her for a drive and she immediately zonked out.
The next night Jared's entire family came over, and while it was great to see them, MJ couldn't sleep due to all the noise and excitement. Our poor little girl was soooo tired, grumpy and just screaming for about an hour and a half. We finally decided to just cut our losses and drive home that night. We missed out on seeing Jared's family a little bit more, but at least MJ was able to get some much needed rest.
Over the New Year's break, we will be cleaning out our house. I know, we're really exciting people... I'm also hoping to finish some paintings for MJ's room. And then, next week Spring semester starts and we're back to running around like crazies!
Wishing you all a wonderful and happy new year!

Schools Out!

Finally, Fall semester is over! It's so nice to have a break for a few weeks... though, Jared is already complaining of boredom.
Final grades posted this morning. Jared received all "A"s. Go babe! I got two "A"s and a "B" in my business calculus class. Which I think is quite an accomplishment considering this was my first math class in over 7 years. Slowly, but surely, we're getting finished with school.
MJ is now 8 months old! We don't have an accurate scale at home- so we think she weighs between 17 and 17 1/2 lbs and is 27 inches tall. She's not slowing down!
MJ now loves to play peek-a-boo, wave bye-bye and walk around with someone supporting her. She's making progress with crawling. She will now push up on her hands and knees and rock her body for a few seconds before collapsing back on the floor. Mostly she just pushes herself backwards each time. But, at least she's moving!

Here she is showing off her push-up skills.

I have a lot to finish up before Christmas, but I can't wait. It'll be fun to watch MJ open presents. Until then.... Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving

We spent a wonderful Thanksgiving at my Grandparent's home in Dammeron Valley. The food was spectacular. MJ particularly enjoyed the pickles and rolls and even tried some turkey. The face she made while chomping on the pickle was hilarious. Unfortunately, by the time we grabbed the camera, she wouldn't do it any more.
In other news, MJ now has two teeth, which she likes to demonstrate their sharp-ness on all unsuspecting fingers and toys. I'm just glad that they finally cut and her teething pain has diminished. She might sleep through the night now! Here she is showing off her toothy grin.
And, then here she is trying to grab and eat the camera. She is constantly exploring the feel of her teeth with her tounge and is wagging it about all the time.
At this time of year, we'd really like to express our gratitude. Jared and I are so thankful for my mom, that will watch MJ everyday so that we can go to work and school. We're also immensely grateful for my job that allows us to finish our degrees for free and to work towards bettering our lives. We're also beyond grateful for our little girl, the joy she brings to our daily lives, the laughter and the learning. And, we're thankful for my dad and the wonderful memories and legacy that he left behind. We miss him greatly. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Halloween & 7-months Old

I'm really late getting these posts up...
But, here's MJ when she dressed up for Halloween. She was a chicken. I made the costume by sewing a feather boa onto a onesie, gluing some felt onto a pilot cap and buying some orange leg warmers. She was adorable the whole time. She wore the costume, without complaint, for a whole 3 hours. We took her trick-or-treating in my mom's neighborhood and headed home when it started to get chilly. Jared and I enjoyed her basket full of goodies. Thanks MJ!
We decorated some pumpkins too. Cambria's was a bat. MJ's was a spider. And Jared carved his pumpkin with the imperial symbol from Star Wars (what a geek!).

MJ is now seven months old! Some of her favorite things include squealing, eating squash and bananas, chasing the dog, playing peek-a-boo, playing with toys (especially ones that make lots of noise), and standing. She hasn't made much progress towards crawling or pulling herself up yet. But, she'll get there soon. She does push herself up very well on her arms and sits upright like a pro.

U2!!

On Friday, Jared and I took off to Vegas to see U2! It was a delayed celebration of our fourth anniversary. And, it was spectacular! We got down to Vegas pretty early in hopes to do some shopping, but the mall we went to was outrageously expensive... we ended up not buying a thing.
That night we had some pretty tasty crab and lobster at Joe's Crab Shack. And then we headed out to Sam Boyd Stadium in the boonies of Henderson.
The Black Eyed Peas opened for U2. They weren't bad, but we only know about one of their songs... We had a lot of fun getting to know the people sitting around us at the concert. They were all pretty nice and awesome. Jared really got a kick out of the drunk guy next to us that kept yelling at the performers like they could hear him.
U2 was beyond amazing. They really put on a spectacular show. We had a fairly good view of the stage and enjoyed watching the "special" dance moves by Bono and the Edge. At one point Bono addressed the crowd and told us that Bill Clinton and Tiger Woods were there tonight. Also, during the encore, Bono wore the coolest jacket with lasers in the sleeves. Jared was very jealous.
U2 played probably about 20 songs. It was a long show. And, when they sung "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of," Jared and I both starting crying thinking of how much my dad would have enjoyed everything and how much we miss him. The concert ended around midnight Las Vegas time, but it took us at least an hour to battle all the traffic and get back to our hotel.
All in all it was a great trip!

Since we stayed overnight in Vegas, MJ had a sleepover at Grandma's. And, the poor little girl was sick the whole time, as was my mom. MJ seems to be doing a lot better now though. She no longer has a fever and her cough and sniffles have significantly decreased. Jared and I, on the other hand, are definitely coming down with something. Both of us feel like crap (and it's not just from all the drinks we had!).Jared and I- between the Black Eyed Peas and U2.

The stage was made up to look like a giant spaceship. It rotated 360 degrees and had a walkway in the middle of the crowd.

6 Months Old!!

Our baby girl is now six months old. It's amazing how fast time has flown by. It's also amazing how much MJ has changed and developed within six short months. She's developing her own little personality, tastes, preferences and is really becoming her own little person. It's so exciting!

MJ now can sit for short periods of time all on her own. She doesn't yet show much aptitude towards crawling, but that's probably because she doesn't spend much time on the floor. We look forward to all the fun things that will happen in the next six months- crawling, pulling up, walking, playing... Babies are so much fun!She went to the doctor today for her six month checkup. MJ now weighs just over 15 pounds and is 26.5 inches long. An interesting note on the growth chart said that for her height, her weight should be 17 pounds. So, she's remaining really tall and skinny.

This weekend we get the pleasure of having Jared's parent come for a visit. Should be fun! We're going to try to make a trip up to Bryce Canyon on Saturday, if the weather stays nice. Though it's a three-day weekend, I think it will mostly be spent doing homework. I have a calculus test to study for :(.

In other news, we now have grass in our backyard. We just hope that the sod will take before the snow falls. We may try to enjoy it this weekend with a barbecue.

And, next weekend, Jared and I will be going to Vegas for the U2 concert. We can't wait!!! I'm sure that I'll be going crazy the whole time we're away from MJ though. But, I am definitely looking forward to getting one night of solid sleep!

Sometime No News Means Good News

Not much has been going on that is newsworthy enough to blog about. We're just plugging away with school and work and raising MJ.
MJ is now well established in solid foods. She loves rice cereal and oatmeal, but is pretty unsure of anything else. I started her on carrots last weekend and here's how much she enjoyed them...

We started pears yesterday with much better success. To start with, she'll actually swallow a little!
MJ now sits pretty well unsupported and is making advances toward wanting to crawl. But, the most fun of all, is that she will now laugh hilariously when tickled. Here's a picture of Daddy getting her.

Jared and I celebrated our four-year anniversary on Thursday. Since it was a weeknight, we didn't do much exciting. But, we did havee a nice Japanese hibachi dinner. In less than three weeks we'll be in Vegas to see U2 in concert- our anniversary gift to ourselves. We can't wait!