Gettin' Into the Christmas Spirit

Kind of random, but Sydney loves her changing table. Not so much the diaper changing or clothes changing part; it's after that that she's super happy. In fact, it's usually when she's laying there kicking her arms and legs that I'll read her stories, make silly faces, and sing to her.

Then she'll smile and coo, and sometimes even sing with me.

On the 19th, I dressed her in a cute Christmas outfit, and we went to decorate gingerbread houses with some friends.

Sydney and her cousin Alex hung out while the adults made these beauties:

From left to right, they were made by:

Jonathan and Janil,

Eric and Dalyce,

Spencer and Me,

and Jason and Heather.

A view of our gingerbread neighborhood from the back.

Our roof was a bit of a disappointment compared to everyone else's. In fact, Jonathan was joking that the gum drops looked like warts. Couldn't really compare to the Yearsley's front porch or the Sutherland's candy pathway leading to the front door. We still had a good time eating all the candy!

Sydney's Blessing

Our sweet baby girl was blessed this morning at church. Spencer did a great job and gave a beautiful blessing. I was so impressed that he didn't sound nervous at all! My parents and sister Shauna's family were able to come up from Columbus to be part of it.

Our little family.

Sydney with her Grandpa & Grandma H.

With Uncle Dan, Aunt Nonny, & cousin James.

The Christmas Sweater

A few months ago, Spencer signed up to receive Glenn Beck's daily email updates. He found out on Thursday that Glenn was coming to a local bookstore to promote and sign copies of his new book "The Christmas Sweater." We thought it would be fun to meet him and do something a little out of the ordinary.

Sydney is pretty much guaranteed to fall asleep in the car if she's bundled up and has a binky. Except at red lights. She's got some crazy accurate internal monitor that makes her wake up if we stop moving for even half a second.

Doesn't Spencer look so handsome? I like how he's trying to make Sydney a part of this picture too, even though she's all covered up.

We met our friend Justin there, and since we were in the 4th wave of the signing, we thought it might take a while for us to get our books signed. Surprisingly, the line moved really quickly and we were through in about 15 minutes.

Glenn signed our books, shook our hands, and checked out the babe. He thought she was cute (but let's be honest... who doesn't?). And no, we didn't tell him that we're Mormon. The whole interaction lasted about 10 seconds.

We weren't quite as shocked that the line moved so quickly after we check out his signature. Doesn't look like it would be a hard one to forge :)

False Alarm

On Monday I woke up to the sound of chirping... like the ultra-annoying kind you hear when you're smoke detector is dying. Spencer was in the shower, so I went to investigate. After realizing it wasn't either of our smoke detectors or space heaters, I followed the sound into the basement to the carbon monoxide detector. It was beeping every few minutes, and a little red light would come on with words underneath that read "Alarm. Get to fresh air." Yikes!

Spencer was going to the library to study, so Sydney and I went to a neighbor's house. After doing a Google search of "what to do when your carbon monoxide detector goes off," I read that I should to try to reset it to see if that would turn it off. I went home and did that, but the beeping continued. So I called the gas company, and they told me to call 911 and have the fire department come check it out. They ended up sending a fire engine to our house (no lights or sirens, thank goodness), and determined that there was no carbon monoxide; our detector was just dying. How embarrassing! But we were grateful that everything was fine.

P.S For future reference, it says on the back of the detector what the alarm will sound like if there's actually carbon monoxide. You'd think something like that would be important enough to put on the FRONT, but what do I know?

And since pictures really are the best part of blogging, here's a little "Hello" from 5-week-old Sydney:

She's starting to enjoy her bouncer and will just hang out in it for 10 - 15 minutes at a time.

Notice the "mittens" and unnecessary shoes. Turns out socks don't stay on her feet, and mittens don't stay on her hands. So in an effort to keep her from scratching her eyes out, we now put the socks on her hands. Sounds ghetto, I know... but it works sooo much better. As for the shoes, well, I just don't want her little feet to freeze.

Venturing Out

After a 3 week hiatus, Sydney and I went back to church for the first time yesterday. It was fun to finally put her in one of her darling dresses.

My only complaint: almost all of the winter dresses for babies have short sleeves. What gives? She wore her coat the whole time to keep those tiny arms warm. I have to say I loved those tights, mostly because they weren't tight at all, and I know she will outgrow these tiny clothes before we know it.

Giving Thanks

We spent this Thanksgiving at my parents' house and had a really great time. As we tend to be big "gamers," we played a little Scrabble the night before. Spencer and I were on the same team so we could take turns with Sydney, but it pretty much ended up that I played the first game (and won), then he played the second game (and won). Just had to put that on the record since it doesn't happen often :)

This little turkey does not like to sleep in her pack 'n play, so in order to help Spencer at least get some rest, I slept in my Dad's super comfy rocking chair with her in my lap. It actually worked really well- she only woke up once!

I sure am thankful for these two.

While Thanksgiving dinner was cooking, the girls danced as Grandpa rocked out on the guitar.

Had to laugh at little Riley, who thoroughly enjoyed bossing around Elayna and James. She dressed them as a bride and groom, then had them come downstairs and parade around the family room for everyone to see.

Since I know the kids enjoy crafts, I brought stuff to make these cute little pilgrim hats. Thank you, Taste of Home magazine, for the idea!

The whole gang watching Home Alone. Somehow I never think to take pictures of my whole family until just before we're getting ready to leave, so I guess the back of everyone's heads will have to do this year.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We Love Her

Just a few shots of things that made me smile this week:

When I got out of the shower one day, I found these two cuties taking a nap on the couch.

I always put in her crib when I have to run to the bathroom. On this particular day, I expected her to be screaming when I got back, but instead I found her completely content just checking out that bear.

We got her all suited up yesterday to go out and run some errands, and I just thought she looked so snug and comfy. As usual, she tried to eat her jacket.

The Bj's

A few days after my Mom left, Spencer's parents and Grandma W. came to visit for a few days to meet baby Sydney. They thought she was beautiful! I felt so spoiled while they were here, especially since there was always someone willing to hold Sydney so I could do other things... like shower. They also came bearing gifts- it was like having another baby shower. I think Sydney's wardrobe practically doubled!

Four generations: Sydney, Spencer, Barbara, Grandma W.

So comfy in her Grandma Bj's arms.

Hangin' out with Grandpa Bj.

Barbara and Grandma W. cooked up a storm and left us with a freezer full of yummy dinners. Sydney is almost 3 weeks old now, and thanks to help from Moms and wonderful Relief Society sisters, I still haven't had to cook a single meal!

We're so glad you could come visit. We love you and certainly appreciate all of the help!

More Pictures with Grandma H.

Spencer took these pics when my Mom was here, but they got "trapped" onto the camera's internal memory since I forgot to put a photo card in. I just figured out how to get them on to the computer...

Cutie Pie

My Mom came up last Tuesday to spend the week with us, and unfortunately she had to go home this morning. It was so nice to have someone here to chat with all day, and she was such a huge help around the house- making meals, doing laundry, holding the baby so I could get some extra sleep, etc. Thanks so much Mom. You're the best!

Grandma holding grandchild #7.

This is the outfit Spencer and I bought when we found out we were having a baby. The pants are kind of huge, but I couldn't resist putting it on her. I think she looks adorable.

So content sitting on Daddy's lap.

Can't believe she's already been with us for a whole week!

Our Sweet Girl

We are already smitten with our little Sydney, even if she does pretty much sleep most of the day. In fact, the hardest part so far is trying to wake her up so she can eat!

Our little family.

The proud daddy.

Just hanging out.

Spencer went back to school on Thursday, then he and my Mom came to the hospital later that afternoon to take us home. They got Sydney all dressed up (except for the fauxhawk- the nurses did that in the morning), then we signed the paperwork and headed home.

She looked so cute in her little outfit...

but she was totally swimming in her 0-3 month clothes :)

She looked so tiny in her car seat- we had to adjust the straps about 5 times to get them tight enough.

I felt silly being pushed out of the hospital in a wheelchair, but protocol is protocol. They also made us put a hat on her before we left, and the nurse found us this little yellow one that looked like a party hat.

It is so nice to be home where I don't have to worry about someone knocking on the door every 15 minutes to check on me or check on her, etc. Love those nurses, but boy is it nice to have some privacy.