Happy Birthday Rose!

Today is Rose's birthday. I can't believe it has been an entire year since my 24 hour labor with this firecracker. She has truly blessed our lives in so many and wonderful ways. Being a parent is everything I thought it would be, and everything I didn't, and more. I can now understand how our Heavenly Father feels about each one of us and I am grateful for His incomprehensible sacrifice of His son.

Here are some pictures of Rose's pinwheel party yesterday. I got many (okay most) of my ideas from this fabulous party And yes we made everything from the pinwheels to the cake to the banner. It was fun making everything for our little girl.

We are going to dental college to get more dental knowledge...and family pics

So we are definitely going to Lincoln! No other offers came our way but who cares (all you need is one)! We both love the school and the city and I think it will be fabulous. We will leave around the beginning of the sumemr and I am already looking at housing (no, I'm not excited).

On another note, we got family pictures taken about 3 months ago. I've been trying my skills at photoshop which is why I have taken so long to post but here they are. They seem like forever ago because Rose only has 3 teeth and now she has 8.

Can anybody tell me why they look grainy on the blog? When I print them out they look fabulous. Oh well. Rose turns 1 in three days! Can't believe it.

dental school here we come!

Baby Rose and I just wanted to say...Congratulations Dad! The hub got up this morning at 2am and checked his email. Dec 1st is a long awaited day for those trying to get into dental school and he did it! As of yet, we are accepted at Lincoln, Ne and so excited. There could still be more acceptances to come but right now we are pretty darn happy and feel very blessed that the Lord has heard and answered many prayers (and that we don't have to wait any longer to know). Thanks to everyone for all your support and prayers on our behalf. We love you. GO BIG RED!

adventures in mobility

This...

then a few days later...

Climbing on the furniture (I'm not sure I'm ready for this)...
The consequences of learning how to walk (notice the red bumps on the head)...

and some bath time fun

Chopped Liver

thats all I have to say about that.

Snow and Halloween

What a week! A had an interview in Lincoln, Ne this week and we decided to go earlier because of the snow storm. The interview went well and we are hopeful but were snowed out of Wyoming from Tuesday till Saturday. Thanks Davis' for letting us crash at your house for so long! After being snowed out of Wyoming for almost a week we were excited to get back home and enjoy Halloween. I made our costumes (Rose's skirt was the most fun). Here are some pictures of our little Bumble Bee and her bee keepers.

Decorating Halloween cookies. Delicious. We weren't able to carve pumpkins this year but we are thinking about Thanksgiving pumpkins:)

This is from the first fall snow storm. Rose had a love hate relationship. She loved to eat the snow but hated not being able to move in her snow suit.

Big Head

The following conversation took place yesterday when I brought Rose to my mom's 2nd grade classroom. We'll call the 8 year old girl "Sally".
Grandma-Does anybody have any more questions about Rose?
Sally-Yeah, what's that on her head?
Me-Rose is learning how to crawl and walk, she bumps her head all day.
Sally-Is that why her head is so big?
Me-(Stiffling laughter) Oh no, she just has a really big head.

holy tomato

Tonight we went out to help MilMil (grandma Milmonster) harvest her tomatoes because it is suppose to freeze tonight. For those of you who have seen MilMil's garden this is no small feet. It took 6 of us about 20 minutes to get all the ready tomatoes. All of a sudden I heard grandma scream and the hub yell. I looked over and the side of Rose's head was bright red. My initial reaction (as you could imagine) was horror and then we all realized what had happened. Grandma had tried to throw a soft tomato to the chickens (around 15 feet) and didn't realize that Rose was right in her line of fire. The hub who was holding Rose tried to move out of the way (and did a pretty good job) but it still hit her. Here are the pics forever making grandma feel terrible:) Pics are from the camera phone. Rose wasn't shaken at all. She really didn't even have a reaction. She did like the chickens!

On another note...a few weeks ago we dressed up in our favorite sports gear to get free chick-fil-a. Even Rose got a sandwich. Go Pokes!

Photoshop 101

I am a creative wannabe (I have no natural talent) but I really like to do creative things. I really want to start taking pictures of my babies so I decided to start learning photoshop. It is harder than the tutorials make it out to be so here is my first photoshop experience.
Here is the original picture. Rose (6 months in this pic) is looking very cute but as you can see, the floor is terrible, A's feet and the table legs are in the background. Well, after experimenting a little, this is what I ended up with. I could work on it forever but I decided I needed to move on so here is the next pic I worked on...
I didn't get very far :) Hopefully after a few more tutorials and more practice, photoshop will not seem as intimidating. I would appreciate any advice from all of you photoshop junkies.

Lisa Leonard Designs Jewelry GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Lisa Leonard Designs Jewelry GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Hey, thanks lil'mil for the heads up. I love this jewerly, classy and elegant.

crawling, car, and crafts

Crawling...she is so fast and into everything. I'll have to get use to this.

(Sorry my video hasn't been loading correctly so once again you will have to wait.

Car...yes, we are officially a stereotypical suburban family. We came along a deal for this van and couldn't pass it up. We'll grow into it eventually. Crafts...when Rose is napping I realized I needed to do something better than watch internet TV so here are my projects I have been working on. Rose sporting her new hairbands and bows. After all that, she rarely keeps them on and if she manages to get ahold of one it is in pieces in seconds. Baby Leggins...only my second time on my sewing machine. Letters for the nursery.
I've learned how to can. Pickles, peaches and jam. Fun!

ode to the man

Yesterday the hub turned 26. We went to Red Robin (the hub's favorite restaurant) with most of the Milmonster family and my parents. It was great fun! Happy Birthday to the best dad and lover of all!

Also, the hub took the DAT again and did better than last time. Good enough to get him in this year, hopefully. We stayed with Rose's great-grandparents the night before the test. Here she is with her great-grandma (name sake) and great-grandpa. Lastly, Rose started crawling! We haven't gotten a good video yet so it'll have to be another post.

Is she sleeping through the night?

This post is for those moms who couldn't say "yes" to the always anticipated question: "Is she sleeping through the night yet?"


Its 12:15am...I know a lot of you may still be up at 12:15 am but I haven't been up this late since prom (ok I may be exaggerating a little but for those of you know me and not to mention make fun of me for my early to bed sleep habits, 12:15 now 12:18 is late). So, why am I up and not sleeping in my comfy bed? Ask Rose.

She is 8 months old and has never (I repeat never) slept through the night. I never slept through the night while I was pregnant. So, that has been almost 18 months of not sleeping through the night. Rose still wakes every three hours to eat and if she doesn't nurse she is not happy. Because the hub doesn't have milk makers, guess who gets up? For a long time I didn't mind and actually enjoyed this quiet, one-on-one time with my little girl; however lately we have realized that Rose is cranky and mom is cranky and an intervention needed to be done. Throughout pregnancy and post I have read up on different "methods" of how to get your child to sleep through the night and thought..."don't worry she will sleep through the night on her own." Many, many people gave me advice after answering the dreaded question but I just thought I would never have to try them because tonight would be the night she would do it. Well, maybe it would've been tomorrow night but here we are. I recently talk with my sister-in-law who needed help with Nano. She tried the "cry it out" method (basically and barbarically letting them cry and to not go into the room unless they were hurt or the house was on fire) and found much success. We decided, hey lets try it for two nights and see where we are. (Please remember that Rose is 8 months and, lets face it doesn't need to be eating around the clock, and from what I have read, this technique should not be used on babies that are under 11 lbs or 4 months old).

So, we are in night one....wakes at 11:57 screams....12:07 I look at the clock and can't believe it has only been 10 minutes...12:10 decide to make this post...12:20 still screaming...12:37 she is unbelievably not crying anymore....12:38 I sneeze and wait for the baby's reaction...12:38 1/2 no reaction...12:41 still quiet and I look in to make sure she is okay...12:42 Rose is sitting hunched over asleep...go get the hub to make fun of Rose for sleeping sitting up...12:45 hub carefully lays Rose on her side...1:00 maybe I will go to bed and let you know how the rest of the night turned out later.

Well, here we are...SUCCESS! Rose slept until 5:30 and I did feed her for two reasons: I was feeling sorry for my baby who hadn't gone this long without nursing since she was in the womb, and two because I was going to explode. Then she slept until 8!

Thanks E for the advice! It is always easier when another trusted momma gives you some personal advice and support. I will update in a few weeks to see where we are.

Nap Time

I know I promised different posts but this was just too cute. Rose is 8 months old today. Hope you enjoy it!

The hub takes the DAT again tomorrow. Wish him luck and pray he will do well.

All Things New Part 2

We are definitely settling into our new home and new life. A is working 10 hour days most days and then comes home and studies. I have adjusted to homemaker and like that I can walk in the park everyday, clean the house any day of the week and not try to do the entire thing on Saturday mornings, and spend all the time in the world with my baby girl. New swing...she loves this. New habit of studying with pops. This will probably be an ongoing occurrence for the next few years.
New solid foods means a whole new world for both parents and child. New sleeping habits. New storage bench? or play place? Rose could sit in here with her toys for a long time. Having fun with papa. Not so new but I loved this picture.

Upcoming posts: pictures of the house and swing fun.

All Things New Part 1

Its been a while but we have lots of new things to share. We have moved to a new home (sorry no pictures yet, I refuse to take pictures until there are no more boxes). New jobs (I don't care what anyone says, staying at home really is a full time job). Meeting new cousins. What seems like a new baby because of all the new and great things she learns everyday. Here are a few pictures. Our small but hopefully prosperous garden. Check out the rhubarb in the background! It took about 4 harvesting sessions but I finally got it all out but then a week later, it comes back. Rhubarb crisp anyone? New couch, and as you can see, Rose is sitting up all by herself. Here's a new habit...wanting to come in bed with us in the early morning. I can't complain. At least she's sleeping.
New explorations.

Meeting cousin Li'l Mil and Aunt E for the first time!

Li'lMil and 'A's brother on our scooter. Beep beep!

'A' trying to handle Rose and cousin Nano. They are only 3 weeks apart. Good thing we didn't have twins!

you could say spontaneous

I finished work last week (yippee!) and A got a job in Cheyenne as an oral surgeon assistant and started today. So, as soon as he got the job we thought we needed to take a much needed vacation asap. So we got tickets on Thursday and headed to San Diego on Saturday. It was a little crazy trying to get everything ready to go but we pulled it off. Here are some great pictures of our trip.

Rose did pretty good on the plane on the way there although she didn't sleep. On the way back she screamed for about 10 minutes :( and then fell asleep. A new face Rosie is making. Its her thinking face. All smiles at Sea World during the dolphin show! Darth doesn't stand a chance against those chubby rolls!Mini Las Vegas at Legoland

We toured the USS Midway aircraft carrier. When we went on the flight deck Rosie loved the wind blowing in her face so she blowed bubbles the entire time.
We had a great time and now its back to the everyday world. A went to work, Rosie and I both have a cold, and I'm at home with the daunting (and exciting) task of taking care of the baby and trying to move in the next few weeks.