A Chair for Our Princess

Now that Bridget is doing very well at sitting up on her own and starting to eat more solid foods, it was time to buy a highchair. After doing some research, I decided on the Graco Contempo model but was unable to find it in any store. So I ended up ordering it online and yesterday it was delivered. She seems be be enjoying it so far.

6 Months

Bridget is 6 months old today, so we had her trip to the pediatrician for a checkup and shots. I thought she would be just over 20 lbs., but to our surprise she only weighed 19 lbs. 8 oz. (97th percentile). She's 27 inches long (90th percentile) and her head is 18 inches (above the 97th percentile). We were very impressed by how well she handled her shots too - all 5 of them! She only cried for a minute and has been pretty happy the rest of the day thanks to infant Tylenol. Now that she's hit the 6 month mark, she's ready to eat solid foods other than rice cereal. So when we got home we celebrated with some pears and barley cereal. Doesn't that sound delicious?

Meeting Cousins

This weekend my sister Jill, her husband Rob, and their girls Elaine and Charlotte are visiting from Phoenix, so Bridget was able to meet them for the first time. Charlotte is 3 weeks older than Bridget, and they're pretty cute together as you can see from the pictures. Elaine called her "baby Bridget" at first but most of the time she would forget and call her "baby Charlotte." Charlotte was nice enough to share her toys with Bridget too.

Sitting Pretty

Bridget finally figured out how to stop wiggling long enough to sit by herself for several minutes. I've been practicing with her a lot lately, but she'd never sit long enough to even be able to take a picture until now. She still falls over every once in a while, but she seemed to enjoy playing with her toys on the floor for a few minutes.

Another Cake Creation

Nate's coworker had a birthday over the weekend, and I seem to be the designated cake-maker for his office. So here's my latest creation - devil's food cake with peanut butter frosting, chocolate ganache, and peanut butter cups. It was so good, but definitely not for those watching their calories.

Mother's Day Weekend

On Saturday, Bridget and I made yet another trip to Salt Lake to participate in Race for the Cure with my sister Megan. This was my third year doing it, and every year I always find it to be a great way to remember my mom, who died of breast cancer almost 7 years ago. This year there were about 18,000 people running or walking the 5k, so it was quite a crowd. My favorite part is looking at the signs everyone wears on their back saying "In Memory of..." and/or "In Celebration of...". We look forward to doing it again next year and hope that Jessica will be able to join us.

Sunday was obviously my first Mother's Day, and Bridget was so excited for me to open my presents that she woke us up at 6:30 that morning. So I got to lay in bed while Nate passed me presents to open. He and Bridget did a great job and got me an angel food cake pan, a hand blender, and a beautiful necklace of a mother and child. Then Nate and Bridget headed to the kitchen to make waffles while I went back to sleep for another half hour. After church, we went on a walk to the cemetary to put some flowers on my mom's grave and then headed to Nate's family's party. It was a fabulous first Mother's Day, and I now have a much better understanding of why we celebrate our mothers.

It's Official

A picture of my classroom

As some of you know, Nate and I have been trying to decide for the last few weeks if I would be going back to work in August. When I saw that my position at Bonneville High was only part-time next year, it got me thinking about going back. I've missed teaching more than I thought I would (although I wouldn't say I miss it all the time). I also miss getting out of the house every day and having adult interaction with someone other than Nate. I do enjoy staying home with Bridget most of the time, but teaching part-time will give me a little break from her which will be good for both of us. Nate's boss was kind enough to agree to let Nate work a later shift, so he'll be watching her in the mornings, dropping her off at my school when I'm done at 11:00 am, and then heading to work which is only about 5 minutes from my school. It will be a big adjustment for us, but it has many benefits including helping us in our goal of finally buying a house a year from now. So with all of the details finally worked out, I went and signed all my paperwork at the district office and will be back at work starting in the middle of August.

A Busy Couple of Days

I feel like we've hardly been home the last couple of days, but I'm happy to get out of our apartment since Bridget and I spend plenty of time there. On Wednesday, Bridget and I had to run some errands, and when Nate got home from work we headed to Salt Lake to pick my sister Megan up on our way to Provo to visit our other sister Jessica in the hospital. We made it there safely despite the downpour of rain we experienced on the way there. It was fun hanging out in her closet of a room, and it was good to know that her surgery went well.

Yesterday, we headed to Salt Lake again for Nate's cousin Jared's wedding. Megan was kind enough to take the afternoon off work and watch Bridget for us. Sadly, Bridget was not very good and screamed for an hour while she was there. Sorry, Megan! I'm sure Bridget would apologize for her behavior if she could.

Megan's Birthday Bash

Yesterday we went to my sister Megan's apartment in Salt Lake to celebrate her 23rd birthday which was actually on Thursday. Basically we just hung out, ate some burgers and fries, had delicious birthday cake and homemade ice cream, and played a little Rock Band, of course.

Here's the cake I made - triple chocolate fudge with chocolate mousse, crushed Oreos, and chocolate dipped strawberries.

Megan getting ready to blow out the candles.

The cake and homemade vanilla ice cream. Yum!

Bridget had to test out the cookie scoop Megan got as a gift.

Megan and Bridget

Bath Time

And, yet another video.

Bridget loves getting a bath (most of the time). She splashes as much as she can and tries to get everything around her wet.

Making a Mess

And another fabulous video of Bridget doing what she does best--wiggling. Unfortunately, she was supposed to be eating cereal at the time.

For Elaine and Emily

There are 2 people who are obsessed with watching Bridget videos - her 2-year-old cousin Elaine and our friend Emily. So for them and anyone else who wants to watch her roll over several times, here's another one.

5 Months

Bridget is 5 months old today!

The cute outfit Bridget is wearing in this picture came in a package she received a couple of days ago from Andi (a good friend of Nate's from high school). She got 2 cute outfits, 2 books, and an afghan made by Andi. Thanks for all the great stuff, Andi.

Bridget is a very busy baby these days. She grabs at everything and then of course tries to taste whatever she's grabbing. Her new interest is water bottles. She loves to play with ours or even just look at them whenever they're out. She's also quite a wiggler. Whenever I look around at other babies, most of them don't seem to be quite as busy and wiggly as she is. In fact, she's still can't sit up by herself for more than about a second because she's too wiggly and always trying to move or grab at something. Oh well, she's a master a rolling over and won't ever stay on her tummy for more than 2 seconds. It makes me wonder how she'll ever learn to crawl. She still refuses to sleep through the night and usually wakes up twice to eat (once if I'm really lucky). Everything I've been reading about helping babies sleep through the night isn't working, but if anyone has a suggestion I'll gladly try it if I haven't already. Bridget also loves to go on walks in her stroller, and we go any chance we have when the weather is good. She's also a great shopping buddy and loves to look around at everything as we shop. She's getting cuter every day, and it's so fun to watch her learn and grow.

Holy Crap

WARNING: This post contains a somewhat graphic description of a story involving baby poop. If that disgusts you, stop reading now.

I'm only sharing this story because I'm hoping I'll find it humorous later, but I'm still trying to recover from the most disgusting diaper I've ever had to change in my life. Until just a little while ago, Bridget hadn't pooped in a week (for those who don't know, it's okay for breastfed babies to poop that infrequently). This is the longest she's ever gone, and so I knew it would be a doozie when it happened. I was just hoping it would happen when Nate was home, but no such luck. Within 15 minutes of getting her dressed it happened. Not an inch of her diaper was left untouched by the nasty stuff so the only place it could go was up her back. She's had several blowouts in her nearly 5 months of life, but nothing like this. It took 5 baby wipes to get her somewhat clean, but I had to put her in the bathtub to really get it all. I still need to go clean her onesie, outfit, and the changing pad protector. I seriously hope she doesn't make this a habit. And I've decided Nate gets to change all of her diapers this weekend.

So here's Bridget enjoying her bath after the whole mess. I think she's giving me that look because she didn't want a nude picture taken of herself, but I think it's pretty cute. She kept turning herself somewhat diagonal in her tub and dangling her leg out the side.

Bridget Meets Grandpa Wilkinson

Yesterday we had a surprise visit from my dad, so Bridget was able to meet her Grandpa Wilkinson for the first time. I thought he was in Phoenix, but he was on his way to Vernal, UT and called when he just a few minutes away to see if he could come meet her.

It's a Miracle

Today Bridget received a package in the mail with the new lullaby CD I bought for a screaming good deal on ebay. I read rave reviews about it on Amazon.com and listened to the snippets online. I could hardly wait to try it out and see if it would help Bridget take a nap for longer than 30 minutes. And guess what...she went down for a nap easily and slept for 2.5 hours this afternoon!! I LOVE this CD and hope it will bring sweet dreams and many long naps for a long time to come.
I've also been meaning to mention that we started giving Bridget rice cereal a week ago hoping that it would help her sleep through the night better. She's still trying to get the hang of eating from a spoon, so I don't know how much of it is ending up in her stomach. She's so messy when she eats it that we've started stripping her down to her diaper and then just bathing her afterwards. And FYI - the song playing during the video is a clip from "What a Wonderful World" on the lullaby CD.

 

The Disney Way

Today I went to a presentation called "Customer Service: The Disney Way". I have always been fascinated with the Disney corporation. They are into everything--theme parks, movies, TV shows, news (ABC), sports (ESPN), radio (Disney Radio)--and for some reason that intrigues me. Any organization that is that multi-faceted is one that I want to know more about (GE is also on this list for me).

So, when I had the chance to attend this presentation, I jumped at it and bought out a coworkers desire to go with one of Kimberly's wonderfully fabulous chocolate chip-coconut-oatmeal cookies. The presentation was by the co-author of the book "The Disney Way", Bill Capodagli (cap-o-die)and it was interesting and informative, although I had heard a lot of this in one of my MBA courses, but the one thing I left with was that my values don't align with those of my company.

To illustrate two of the disconnects I feel right now:

Me: I value people for who they are and the knowledge they have

Them: they value people for being means to an end and nothing more; there is always someone who will do your job cheaper and therefore the company doesn't need you

Me: I want to share information and make my employees feel like they have ownership

Them: they don't share anything until the very last moment

I realize that every business is out to make a profit and evidently the one I work for is doing fine, but I feel they could do a lot better if they treated their people with respect by allowing them to feel important and needed in the organization. If people feel like they have a stake in what they are doing they will work harder to help the organization meet their goals, as long as those goals are shared (something my company does not do).

I guess I just needed to vent a little, and I appreciate anyone who is reading and not rolling their eyes thinking I don't have a grip on the reality of business. Believe me, I do. And, now I know why I am looking for a new job. It isn't the money or insurance. It is that my values don't align with the organization, and I can't be happy.

Rolling Over

At four and a half months of age, Bridget just learned to roll over from her tummy to her back today. The last couple of weeks we could tell she was getting close even though her chubby physique made it a bit more challenging. Sadly, I didn't get her first time on video, but I got several other times she did it just minutes after that.

Ask and Ye Shall Receive . . .

Since you requested we post more videos, here's one for you to enjoy. We were watching General Conference this morning and were trying to keep Bridget happy. It seemed to work.

Who Needs Sleep?

For the past several days, I've had the chorus from a Barenaked Ladies song running through my head:

Who needs sleep? (well you're never gonna get it)
Who needs sleep? (tell me what's that for)
Who needs sleep? (be happy with what you're getting There's a guy who's been awake since the Second World War)

If I were picking a theme song for our family, that song would be the one. I'm feeling very frustrated with Bridget right now because for the past week and a half she's decided to wake up every 2-3 hours during the night and still doesn't take long naps during the day. I probably shouldn't complain because we were very fortunate parents due to the fact that she started sleeping through the night and did most nights from the time she was 6 weeks old. I guess maybe that's why I'm feeling so frustrated. I know she's capable, and I was enjoying getting some decent sleep. I just wish I knew what was causing this. The worst was when she woke up a couple of nights ago at 4 am, it had only been 3 hours since she'd eaten, and nothing would calm her down. An hour later she finally wore herself out and fell asleep. I lose patience very easily when I'm tired which makes it that much harder to handle. I would give anything for a good night's sleep right now, but several people have told me I probably won't get one for several more years.