January happenings.

January was just one of those blah months... we spent a couple weeks of it passing around a cold and then I got food poisoning so that of course was no fun. I did manage to take some random pictures so you'll get an idea of our January :)

Sometimes daddy puts a blanket over Clara so that she looks like a little ghost and chases Olivia around!

Clara excited to go on a little walk.

I love this picture of Olivia. She is always more than excited to be at the playground.

Time to go down the slide together!

My view. 

I sure love my new stroller.

Drinking my nightly chamomile citrus tea in my new tea cup. 

Thanks mom!

Chilling with my girls :)

This is what I found when I told Michael to share his breakfast with her haha.

Olivia's very first day of swimming lessons! She has them every Saturday morning with Michael.

She loves it!

One day I walked into the room and found this.

Haha Olivia.

Olivia's first day of Sunbeams!

I can not believe my baby girl is old enough to be a sunbeam.

Trying on sister's sunglasses.

Messy face, but loving that baby food!

Oh my goodness, how perfect is my sleeping Clara?!

Cheesy selfie.

I just couldn't resist. After a long day I was finally able to sit down, watch some t.v and eat a peaceful dinner of a Jimmy John's sandwich all by myself.

The best sandwich ever!

Learning how to ride her new scooter!

She hasn't quite gotten the hang of it :)

Every night, after baths, Olivia gets the brush and asks Michael to brush her hair.

It is so sweet.

Excited to see me after a little nap!

Snuggles with mommy after a nice oatmeal bottle.

We bought Olivia a bath fizz dinosaur egg that popped out a baby dinosaur at the end.

It turned the bath pink and freaked Olivia out a little bit until she saw the little dinosaur!

My very favorite crepe from The French Press.

Sometimes when you are sick and fussy you just need your daddy to snuggle you close.

Another selfie...I have no idea what I am so excited about.

We probably just got the babes in bed and are getting ready to sit down and watch Downton Abby :)

Tree climbing with daddy!

And now for some videos...

Bath time has to be one our favorite times of the day!

Singing "Let it go" from Frozen.

Clara loves playing Peekaboo with dad!

I can hardly stand how cute this is.

I heard her in her room a few days prior singing so I turned on the music and she performed well :)

Olivia likes to hook Clara's bouncer toy to her horsey and pull her around ha.

Don't worry, I am not completely done with January :)

Clara's 8 months.

Oh my goodness Clara, time is just flying by.

You are 8 months old!

Here are some things about you:

*Although you have been rolling over for a few months now, you never really did it a lot. In fact it was very rare. But something happened this month and you decided that you are going to roll all over the place. And you are very quick about it. It sure makes diaper changing an interesting process. Sometimes it takes both your dad and I to hold you down:)

*Sadly you got your very first cold this month. You got a little runny nose while in Utah but nothing serious. But this month you got the real thing. And it was bad. I feel so proud for keeping you safe and healthy these past 8 months and so it was really hard to see you so sick. You had a really bad cough that kept you up most of the night a few times, a runny nose, and yes you even got your first ear infection. Thankfully it was nothing a little antibiotics couldn't fix. We also had to do a few breathing treatments because you were wheezing. You always sat so still and would take big breaths of the medicine. Good job! This cold sure was a rough one and lasted weeks.

*You still can't quite sit up on your own. We usually will put the nursing pillow behind you and that seems to help keep you sturdy. But it will happen soon!

*Now for sleeping and eating...your grandma came up to help because we had all been so sick and she of course could not stay away from you and your sister for too long. She told me that it was time to sleep train you a little bit since you were waking up between 2-5 times during the night, which of course made for one tired momma. So your schedule is as follows: baby food-a vegetable and a fruit (as much as you'll eat) at 5:00 pm, bath time and playtime until 7:00 pm. You then have an oatmeal bottle and go to sleep. I put you in the little bassinet in our room. When your dad and I go to sleep I come and nurse you and then transfer you to your crib in Olivia's room. While grandma was here she would have Olivia come sleep with her and then wake up with you in the night and come pat your back when you fussed. But we didn't feed you until the morning when you woke up around 7:00-7:30 am. First of all, you are stubborn. Second of all you definitely are capable of sleeping through the night so yay you! We are still working a little bit but oh my goodness I feel like a completely different person getting more than 2 hours of sleep at a time! And thank you to grandma for helping us with this new schedule and taking care of you during the nights so that I could sleep! So we are down to you nursing once a day. You drink your formula and different juices. Eat your baby food and really anything else we decide to give you. You really will eat anything! Which brings me to my next point...

*Where are your teeth?! You have no signs of any teeth coming in. This is fine but I do feel bad because you love eating grown up food and well that's just hard to do without any teeth:)

*You are starting to scoot a little. You pull yourself forward using both your arms. It's pretty impressive!

*You are so curious and just love your toys. You smile and giggle when you touch things. I'm thinking you may be a little ticklish on your hands!

*Your legs are absolutely scrumptious. Oh my goodness! The rolls!!!

*You are really starting to interact with Olivia. And it just melts my heart. You honestly think she is the greatest. We can tell by the way you look at her that you really look up to her. Of course you'll always be the best of friends!

Clara, we love every inch of you. 

You could not be more perfect.

I know I say this every month, but we are so blessed to have you in our family.

We love you!

Post Christmas fun in Utah.

We were able to stay in Utah until January 2nd so the days following Christmas were of course a blast!

Here are a few pictures of the fun...

My cute girls being so good while we pulled them around from store to store making returns.

One of our dates was eating at a gourmet grilled cheese sandwich place.

Oh my gosh, they were amazing!

And we of course had to finish it off by stopping at Farr's fresh for some peach gelato!

Here we are redeeming the boy's gift certificates at Rodizio Grill.

(Michael is not pictured here because he ran out when he heard the words, "let's ask someone to take a picture." So it looks like I am on a date with Winston. But really Winston was the 5th wheel since cute Jill was back home in Arizona:)

Good times, good food...mostly the pineapple. Haha Soph:)

Driving around blasting some tunes!

One night while the boys were at the church playing basketball, my mom, Sophia, and I all curled up downstairs by the fire and enjoyed some citrus chamomile tea and chocolate chip cookies.

What's better than that?!

I have been wanting to take Olivia to see a movie at a movie theatre for a long time now.

(She isn't the best at sitting through movies at home so I have been nervous to try.)

But I heard Frozen was such a good movie and I really wanted to see how she would do.

So my best friend Leslie and I took our littles Hallie and Olivia.

We got popcorn and sat them both on the same chair in between us.

Olivia totally loved it and even laughed at the funny parts.

(I totally loved it too!)

Needless to say we will for sure be taking her to movies more frequently.

And I just have to say, I can't believe Leslie and I are old enough to be taking our own little girls to movies together. It seems like just yesterday we were going to movies as little girls (sometimes 3 in a row) all by ourselves:)

One of my favorite things was going on a date with Grandpa Brown.

He took Michael and I to the Harvest Restaurant at Thanksgiving Point.

I can not even begin to explain how much I love this man.

His stories and laughs have to be the best thing ever.

He has taught me so much about really everything. I look up to him in every way and am so blessed to have him as my grandpa.

Another date of ours was eating dinner at the Thanksgiving Point deli with Ryan and Sophia. 

I'm in love with their fries and fry sauce.

And while we're on the topic of food Michael and I were also able to go on a breakfast date to Kneaders for some cinnamon french toast. This is simply a must do every time we visit Utah.

On New Year's eve we went bowling with Ryan and Sophia. The first game was couple versus couple.

Sadly Ryan and Sophia won, but I beat Michael. So I'll count that as a win!

The second game was boys versus girls. I'm pretty sure I don't even have to say who won that one!

After bowling we had Raclette again and sparkling cider. 

We played charades which was hilarious.

You can ask any member of my family but I am seriously so bad at that game. Especially when it is my turn to act out something.

I have no idea why but being under time pressure and trying to think of how to act out the words is just too much haha.

We had to snap a picture of Olivia eating her peanuts on the airplane.

After all that's seriously all she talks about.

Thank you family for a perfect Christmas break, we can't wait to come back!

Riding River.

Olivia's favorite thing to do while we are in Utah is to go ride aunt Soph's horse River.

Obsessed is not even a strong enough word to describe how she feels about horses right now.

She gets this from her aunt. Because Michael and I are definitely not that interested:)

She plays with toy horses all day every day.

She practices putting the blanket, saddle and reins on.

However her favorite way to ride River is bareback.

Yes she even talks in the horseriding lingo.

It is pretty darn cute.

Here are a bunch of pictures. She is so sweet about helping take care of him.

Olivia loves riding River all by herself!

(Well she thinks she is even though Soph is pulling her:))

Yes... she convinced me to ride with her!

And what's even more shocking than convincing me to ride was convincing her dad.

He had fun:)

Little Clara watching from the warm car with grandma!

How sweet is this.

It is very clear that we are going to have to buy her her very own horse someday:)

Clara's 7 months.

Here are some things about you this month sweet girl...

*You are still nursing a few times a day as well as drinking a few bottles of formula. You have baby food around 5:00 pm. A fruit and a vegetable although you don't eat the whole jar! You love all the fruits and seem to be getting more and more used to the vegetables. You have a big bottle of formula with rice cereal right before bed. And then every time you wake up in the night I nurse you.

* Speaking of sleeping...oh my goodness. You and your sister are definitely not the best sleepers! I am one tired momma. In fact I know I have not slept through the night for over a year. The last months of my pregnancy with you were interesting and then of course after you were born that was the end of sleep:) I love snuggling up with you at night and nursing you. Yet at the same time I find that I am so tired during the day that I am a lot less patient especially with Olivia. That sister of yours has ALOT of energy! So hopefully we will figure something out!

*We were able to go to Utah this year to spend time with my side of the family for Christmas. You went on your very first airplane! You were an angel and just snuggled with me on my lap the whole time. You were pretty friendly and very smiley. The only person you seemed to be afraid of was your uncle Winston. But he never gave up and after a few days you decided that he was okay:) Your dad and I were able to leave you and Olivia for long periods of time with grandpa and grandma. Grandma absolutely loved giving you your baths and putting you to bed. You were able to meet your uncle Emerson over face time who was of course flipping out over you. It's hard to believe that you will be almost two when he gets home.
*You were so brave and sat on Santa's lap. In fact you were so brave that Olivia decided that if you could do it, so could she! You loved unwrapping your presents on Christmas and of course tried to eat not only the wrapping paper but your presents as well. You are at the stage where anything you can get your hands on goes right to your mouth:)

*So I really need to get some baby pictures of me and put them on the blog but while we were in Utah we looked at some pictures of me when I was your age and we are definitely little twinners. All my aunts and family members that knew me when I was a baby said that you are a "mini me." It's funny because everybody said that Olivia looks like Emerson which means she looks like me because Emerson and I look a lot alike I am just so much darker than him. You have this one smile that you do though that reminds me exactly of your dad. I love it!

*You still can't sit up for longer than 5-10 seconds at a time. You do better if you are leaning on something. As far as rolling over goes, you can do it that's for sure but you rarely do!

*You are such an easy going baby and are just happy doing whatever. You are so sweet, so smiley, and so giggly. You love to snuggle. You love your toys and sometimes get so excited when we give you one that you bust out laughing! So the only thing we need to work a little on is getting you to sleep longer at nights:)

We love you so much Clara. 

The joy you have brought to our little family is indescribable.