Letters to Sylvie: One Year

Dear Sylvie,

Well you made it! You're one year old. I can't believe time has flown by so fast. You've changed so much in such a short time. You are growing more and more each day and progressing and learning so much it's hard to keep track of it all.

A beautiful pic of you taken by Designs by Dreana

You are now highly mobile. You have mostly graduated from your army crawl and book it around the house on all fours now. You're also very good at pulling yourself up to stand. Every once in a while you pull yourself up and get stuck, not knowing how to get back down, but you're getting better at the down part. I love to see you stand there somewhat shakily with your little bum wiggling. It's just so darn cute. I know it won't be long before you're cruising around and walking.

I can't believe how smart you are. One day a couple months ago I put one of your shirts over your eyes to calm you down as I was changing your diaper. You then pulled the shirt down off your face and I said, "Peek-a-boo!" You giggled and immediately pulled the shirt up over your eyes and then down again, continuing the peek-a-boo game all on your own. It is now your favorite game and you will spontaneously start up a round whenever the mood strikes you. You even tried covering your eyes with your toothbrush yesterday. The cuteness is sometimes unbearable.

Lately you are all about pointing. You point at everything and nothing in particular. We'll walk by the spices on the wall in the kitchen and you'll point at all the different ones as I tell you what they are. You point out at the tree in the backyard at you're sitting in your high chair. You also like to "give" things to people. You'll hand off a cracker or your sippy cup or a toy and wait there patiently until it is received. The receiver must give it back though or there will be hell to pay.

Another one of your favorite games is chase. I have to start it out just the right way: "Syyylvieee... what are you dooooing?" and you'll immediately start crawling away as fast as possible, your little bum and legs going at the speed of light across the floor, giggling all the way, screaming with delight as I catch you. I never get tired of that laugh. Never never.

 You can hear her little giggle in the background (sorry my voice is so loud)

Speaking of which... you are ALWAYS smiling. You've taken to scrunching up your cute little nose and showing your cute little teeth whenever anyone is around to see you. Which always makes me need to immediately kiss your chubby cheeks and hold you and squeeze you. Who can resist that adorable smile? No one.

You love to open and close doors. Close, mainly. Which is really fine with me because generally closing a door keeps you more confined in one area! You also love to open and close drawers. There is a small drawer at the bottom of the cabinets in the kitchen and it is your go-to place to find new treasures. You open and close the drawer, pulling out all the big spoons and spatulas and whisks. I began cleaning out one of the drawers in your bedroom yesterday... pulling things out that needed to be thrown away. You immediately jumped in on the action and began pulling bibs out of the drawer in a frenzy. Always so helpful!

Food is a constantly evolving area with you. You are starting to prefer feeding yourself and do fairly well for the most part. You've recently taken a liking to pizza, crackers, and yogurt bites. You now have 5 teeth... both sets of front teeth and one incisor next to your front tooth. Sadly, all these teeth coming in have put a serious damper on your appetite. Aside from a couple small bottles of milk, you will only eat one container of Greek yogurt a day (which you LOVE) and maybe a cracker or two. Sometimes we can get a couple bites of pureed fruit and oatmeal into you, but you've been very resistant. Heck, you wouldn't even eat your birthday cake! Not even a bite! Oh well. You still have your little chankles so we're not too concerned.

 Yesterday Daddy took you to your one year check up. You weigh 18 lbs. 10 oz. and you're 29" tall. You have learned the ways of the doctor and do not tolerate poking and prodding very well. Good thing these shots are getting fewer and farther between.

For your 1st birthday we had a small family party with your Grandma Denise and Grandpa Fred, and your Aunt Annie, Uncle Eric, and cousins Belen and Marshall. I made a little pink strawberry cake for you which you demolished but didn't eat (you liked the pickle I gave you better). Aunt Annie gave you a whole pack of Greek yogurt and your grandparents gave you some little barefoot sandals, a cute outfit, and a walker toy shaped like a puppy. Your Aunt Corinne sent you a walk and ride car which I'm sure you'll love. Your Grandma & Grandpa Hanson gave you a toy cell phone and an adorable new outfit and your Uncle Scott & Aunt Amanda gave you a board book and puzzle. Daddy and I gave you a little pounding bench and a book that spells out your name. Your family sure loves you and spoils you with so many fun things!

Sylvie I am so proud to be your mommy. You have the sweetest disposition and your smile lights up the room. I am constantly amazed by you. I never thought I'd like being a mom so much. You make my life so rich and wonderful.

I love you buggie boo,

Love, Mama

Once in a Lifetime

One month ago, Seth and I were proud to be able to attend the wedding of our two good friends, Ramona and Gabe. This was not your typical walk down the aisle and say "I do" wedding. No. This was a traditional Navajo wedding. A traditional Navajo wedding on the Navajo reservation near Monument Valley. With the ceremony taking place in an honest-to-goodness hogan. How's that for awesome?

Seth and I were both super excited when Ramona told us that they'd decided on a traditional Navajo wedding and that they wanted us to come. There was no decision to be made. We were going.

Ramona and I have been friends for over 10 years. Seems weird it's been so long. She and Gabe have been together for longer than that so it was only fitting they seal the deal. Seth and I are so happy for them. What a great couple.

Now I won't go into a ton of detail because pictures say it better, but I wanted to show a few pictures of the preceding activities and the wedding day itself. What a cool experience.

The inside of the hogan. I love being in there.

Ramona's family butchered a few goats and sheep for the festivities so Seth got in on the action.

At Goulding filling up the water tank.

Ramona's sister, Joann. Best basket weaver in the West!

Hanging out in the shade house to get out of the heat.

After the ceremony. Aren't their wedding clothes amazing? I think that was my favorite part! (that's the hogan in the background)

Ramona and Sylvie. Best buddies.

Me and Joann. She's such a cool lady.

The amazing wedding cake Ramona's cousins got for her. No I didn't make it... I just got to do the final touch-ups!

My dad got to come along as the wedding photographer. Not a bad gig, eh?

 

 

There were a few baby goats around so they got some cute pictures with them (this is one of my dad's pics)

Ramona's mom making some dry bread. (another of my dad's pics).

 Those are just a few of the pictures I have. You can see a bunch more from my dad on his Flickr page. It was such a neat experience and I was so glad to have been invited to be a part of it. Ramona even let us participate in the ceremony which meant a lot. She has always been such a good friend to me. What an honor to be a part of something so special. Congratulations you two! We wish you the best in your new life together!

Letters to Sylvie: 10 Months

Dear Sylvie,

This month has been a pretty big one for you. Everyday you're getting more advanced and less baby-like. You're almost a bonafide kid!

While you're still mainly getting around by scootching army-crawl style on your belly, you have managed a couple real crawls. You are constantly up on your hands and knees, rocking back and forth, but usually chicken out at the last minute and flop back down to your belly before moving forward. You're surprisingly fast at your army-crawling though and love to explore everything. Which works out pretty good now that we've got the baby gate up in front of the stairs. Now you can slide around on all the wood floors and follow Mommy and Daddy around the house!

Speaking of Daddy... you can now say "Dada"! You were jabbering pretty good for a while there and finally realized that Dada was a word. Now it's all you say. "Dadadada.... Dada...Dadadadadada." Your Daddy's favorite is when you say it very quietly to yourself in a whisper. My favorite thing is to listen to you talk to yourself when we're driving in the car. You just jabber away and squeal and generally make adorable noises.

Excuse the video quality, holding a baby while using a cell phone camera is hard!

This morning you woke up a bit early so I hung out with you for a couple minutes before I had to leave for work. When it was time for me to leave, I carried you into the bedroom and put you down on the bed. You wiggled your way over to your dad, put your little hand on his back and said in your cute baby voice, "Dada!"

I'd been wondering if you were ever going to get teeth, but this month they finally arrived. Your two bottom teeth poked through first and they didn't seem to bother you at all. But, a third tooth right next to them followed closely behind and has made you a bit cranky. I'd say you're doing pretty good though and are pretty close to normal if we can keep you doctored up with a little Tylenol and stuff to chew on. Your new smile is so adorable with those little teeth and I get to see it often as you're always so happy.

The only times you aren't happy are when you're getting your diaper changed or we're putting you in your high chair to eat. You refuse to hold still and arch your back and twist and cry as if it were the worst torture known to man. I know, we're pretty mean. Luckily, at least with the high chair, once you're in, you settle right down. You're a pretty good eater and will try most things, although you gag quite frequently while tasting even the most benign of foods. Oddly enough, you don't make a face while eating things that should induce one. Namely lemons, limes, and pickles. You love them and your face never so much as twitches when you eat them. I'm never going to figure you out!

You've got a few other random things here and there that you like. Namely the cat. You squeal with delight whenever you see Gracie and if you're on the floor, you immediately begin chasing after her. Sometimes she'll let you get close enough to touch her, but other times she scurries away and leaves you feeling hurt. You are very offended when she doesn't want to stay and play with you.

You also love to try and eat my shoes. It doesn't matter what kind of shoes I'm wearing, you chase my feet around and try to eat the toes of my shoes. For some reason you've decided Mommy's shoes are surely delicious but Daddy says you never touch his. Crazy kid. I'm never going to figure you out.

Sylvie you are surely the light of my life. Your sweet spunky personality always makes me so happy. I'll never get tired of kissing your little chubby cheeks and giving you hugs and seeing your beautiful smile. I love you so so much.

Love, Mama

For Goods & Services Rendered

Another installment in my 20 Things series: #5 "Do things for people because you want to, not because you expect something in return. It'll save you a lot of heartache and resentment."


Cultural norms around these parts are not like those of other places (duh). One of these norms is marrying young. Both by choice of my own and from lack of a suitable suitor, I didn't get married the first time around until I was 24. Which is right on the heels of "old maid" status around here. Looking back I realize just how young 24 really is, but I digress. There were many lessons I learned through those extra years of dating. I'd say 90% of those lessons weren't exactly fun to experience, but 100% of what I learned was, and still is incredibly useful to me. I'm glad I learned early on and I'm grateful for the extra time I was given to grow and develop myself.  

Several years ago I read "The 5 Love Languages" and determined that my 'love language' is acts of service. I don't always do the best at telling people I love them or writing heartfelt cards. It's easier for me to show someone I love them by doing things for them.

During my dating years this was a blessing and curse. It was a blessing in the sense that it weeded out a lot of guys that didn't appreciate the things I did for them, and a curse in that it was heartbreaking when someone didn't reciprocate and/or appreciate me in return. I would plan a nice birthday dinner or clean a bachelor pad kitchen, detail a car or make cookies. Time after time these nice gestures were overlooked-- sometimes without so much as a 'thank you.' Here I'd done this thing to show how much I cared and wasn't shown the same appreciation and generosity in return.

Of course after this happened over and over again I began to feel resentful and used. I couldn't understand how these men weren't worshipping the ground I walked on and gushing about how awesome of a girlfriend I was. What more did they want from me?

As you can imagine the treatment I received eventually broke me of my generosity habit. It was like a switch went off in my brain and I resolved that I would never again do anything for anybody unless I truly wanted to and expected nothing in return. My life improved immediately.

After that decision was made I would check myself (and still do) to make sure that any gifts or services I wanted to give were purely for the happiness of the receiver. Any good deeds I do because I genuinely want to. Using this approach I have never once been disappointed because someone didn't do something nice for me. I've never been upset because someone forgot my birthday and I haven't felt resentful from lack of appreciation.

This change of attitude has completely revamped my relationships. It helped to remove people from my life that were not adding to my happiness. Not only that, the people I am now surrounded by show the same love, concern, and appreciation towards me as I do towards them. This balance is what we are all striving towards. Nobody can continue to give and give and give without receiving, otherwise at the end of it all, there's nothing left to give. It's healthy, heartfelt give-AND-take that brings us joy and I feel lucky to have learned this so early.

Letters to Sylvie: 9 Months

Dear Sylvie,

These last two months have gone by so fast. I keep thinking you're still this little tiny baby until I see you sitting on your daddy's lap and then I see how big you've gotten. You're all wiggles and squirms these days and I keep thinking you'll figure out how to crawl any minute.

You had your first big illness a few weeks ago and made us pretty worried. Dad called me at work and said he thought you had a fever but wasn't sure if he was using the thermometer right. When I got home later on I took your temperature and it was close to 104 degrees. I immediately called the doctor and we brought you right in. You didn't have any other symptoms besides the fever and a diminished appetite, so we kept you on some Tylenol for the next 24 hours hoping it would help. I think you hated taking your medicine more than being sick. That night your dad and I took turns staying up to hold and rock you in the nursery. I think it was a long night for all of us.



Not feeling too good but just as cute as usual!

 The next day you seemed to be cooling off and back to normal so we laid off on the drugs. Unfortunately your fever came right back. When we went back to the follow-up exam at the doctor they measured your temperature higher than the day before which was bad news. The doctor had to catheterize you for a urine sample to check for a UTI and then they sent us over to the hospital for a blood draw to check for a bacterial infection. You didn't like either procedure but you were pretty tough. It's hard to see my little buggie in pain. After all was said and done the tests came back negative for infection and you were back to your normal wiggly self in about a week. Promise not to ever get sick again, okay?

When they weighed you in at the doctor you were up to 17 lbs. 2 oz. Despite my protests, you continue to grow too quickly. One of your favorite things to do lately is to scratch things with your index finger to feel the different textures. You also have a thing for buttons. Mommy frequently has buttons on her shirt and you'll grab them and suck on them or just look at them.

This is just a clip of Sylvie's typical wiggling. You can see her do the index finger scratch on the trash can pedal.

This month we bought a hiking pack for you and you already love it. You ride along contentedly playing with a small toy while making squealing noises. Bonus if Mom has a ponytail you can pull. You are always so happy being outside, rain or shine and love to explore as much as your dad and I do.


Hiking at Antelope Island

One thing I've forgotten to mention in previous months is your dislike of getting in and out of your car seat or getting dressed. You've hated both these things from the day you were born, especially the car seat. Since you were 5 months old or so, I've sung the Hokey Pokey whenever you start to protest getting in or out of something. You immediately smile and laugh as I put your "right hand in" or take your "left foot out." Whatever works to keep you happy I say!

Over the last couple months we've been lucky enough to go hang out with your Aunt Annie in her hot tub a couple times. You love the water and are content to lay back and kick and splash with your toy for as long as mom will let you. You also like to watch your older cousins because you aren't around other kids that often. I'm sure this summer we'll find many other opportunities to take you swimming.

You also experienced your first Easter. You're not big enough for candy yet, but you were able to wear the new dress your Aunt Corinne sent you. You also got a cute bonnet & book from Grandma Denise. Dad had the great idea for us to all get dressed up and go out to brunch to show off our fancy clothes. You looked so cute in your puffy pink dress and even put up with a bow in your hair.

As the days go by I can tell that you're more and more of a Daddy's Girl. Don't get me wrong, you still like your mom, but Daddy is your favorite. You love to watch him and your eyes light up when he comes in the room. He's the only one you'll sit with on the couch to watch tv. But, I'm determined to get you to say "Mommy" first.

Everyday I look at you and marvel at how amazing you are. I'm so happy I have you and get to see you grow and progress. I love to hold you and feed you and change your poopy diapers as you try to get away. I love to make you laugh and see you study things around you. You've enriched our lives so much it's hard to believe. You're my favorite little Buggie and I'm so glad I get to be your mom.

I love you,

Love Mama

Time to Improve My Skillz

While there are many benefits to being the daughter of an amazingly talented photographer, the most recent perk is getting a new camera! Well new to me anyway. Dad finally pulled the trigger on a new camera for himself so he gave me the Nikon D200 he's been using. Sweet!

Problem is I don't really know anything about these fancy contraptions. You'd think I'd have picked up some of Dad's knowledge through the years but somehow whenever he talks about F-stops and apertures, all that lingo goes in one ear and out the other. To be fair, I've never had anything to practice on to put all that info to use. But looks like now I'm going to have to buckle down and learn. Good news is, I think I've at least gained an eye for composition, so maybe I'm not starting from rock bottom. Just the sludge on top of the rocks.

Now I've just got to get used to bringing that thing with me on my outings. Anybody want to volunteer as  camera caddy?

If you haven't ever done so, check out my dad's stuff on Flickr. He rocks.

All the Adventures!

We've been trying to take advantage of all this awesome weather lately and have gone out on a bunch of little outings. I thought I'd share some of my favorite pics of the happenings, if not to show you how dang cute this kid is!

Antelope Island

We finally broke down and bought a pass to this local state park. I'm sure we'll be making frequent trips there now to check out all the animals and scenery. We love that Sylvie likes to be outside. She's always so happy and giggly when we're out exploring. 

Sylvie loves to hang out with her Daddy.

It was pretty windy!

This was a quick trip Sylvie & I took on a weeknight. Much warmer this time!

The Natural History Museum: "Weaving a Revolution" Exhibit

Our friend Ramona invited us to the museum last weekend to see this exhibit and her sister Joann doing a weaving demonstration. This museum is really cool and the weaving demonstration and baskets on display were amazing. It was fun seeing Joann's baskets on display. And turns out Ramona's brother's basket was the one chosen to be on the cover of all the fliers and banners. You should go check it out if you haven't already. The exhibit will be on display until April 28th.

Ramona & Sylvie finally meet!

The famous Joann!

The Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve

While this little gem is only a couple miles from our house, we just barely discovered it. There's a beautiful mile-long boardwalk around the marshy area marked with information about the preserve and the wildlife. There's also a tower half-way around the boardwalk that you can climb up and see a 360 view of the area. It's a great place to go and Sylvie loved it!

You can see the tower on the left in the background.

A view of the boardwalk and mountains from the tower.

Jensen Nature Park

This is a place in Syracuse we've been going to for years now. There's a nice community pond where people can fish, a huge hoard of ducks that love bread, and a field full of cows. The path around the main park is about a mile and a half long, but the trail goes further if you're really ambitious. Sylvie loves the ducks and cows and running fast in the stroller.

I call this picture "Storm Cows"

We really like living here in Layton. There's so many fun, beautiful places to see close by. It's nice to be able to get out just about everyday and explore places like this.