YOGA

I love Yoga. I just started taking a class at BYU at 6 a.m. which means that I have to get up by 5:30 a.m. to feed the babe, put her back down, get dressed, brush my teeth and out the door and to the school by 6. I have to admit I am very proud of myself. Not only has it helped me to start exercising with more regularity, mainly it has helped me to get up and out of the house so that I can start the day off right (and not sleep in until 9:30-- it was good while it lasted).
I have come a far way from my undergrad days when I thought taking a ballet class at 7 a.m. was a good idea. I remember I used to sleep in my leotard and tights so that I would wake up at 6:50, throw on a coat and shoes, and run across campus to the RB. I was usually late. Big suprise. That and the teacher's ever scodling to "square my hips" didn't leave me with the best impression of ballet. What does "square your hips" mean anyway??? My hips aren't square. Thanks to lots of choco-chips, my hips are quite round. By the end of the semester, I learned that to square your hips, you were supposed to pretend you were squeezing a grape inbetween your buttocks. Gross! And in short- I ended up not pursuing a dancing career.

The only unfortunate thing about the 6 a.m. Yoga class is that I really don't like the teacher. I don't know if she's ever taught yoga before, but it sure doesn't seem like it. So I left the first class with a terrible crick in my neck (which SHOULD NOT happen in yoga) which stayed all day and into the next day; and right as we were starting Shavasanah (sp?) (the "nap" where you're supposed to be at the most relaxed stage) some student janitor flipped on the vacuum cleaner right outside the door and vacuumed for almost the entier time!! I guess that's what you get for taking an exercise class at BYU.
Oh well, as a true Yogi would say "I am going to 'embrace the change'" and just be thankful for the opportunity to do some yoga in the morning and start my day off right. Here's to new years resolutions!

A little laugh

This video is the cutest. It's a little dark, but just listen...

She did it!!

She did it!! We have been working so hard this week on helping Madeline go down to bed and be able to soothe herself, instead of me spending countless hours rocking her to bed, and have tried to get her on a routine (not a schedule, but a little more of a routine). She has steadily gotten better (at first we tried the cry it out method, and I just felt like that was a little harsh, so we eased up just a bit and went in and comforted her a little more often) and last night- she slept through the night!!! I can't believe it! We weren't even trying to get her to sleep through the night yet! She just did it on her own, and everytime she woke up she just soothed herself back to sleep!!! I wish I could have enjoyed it a bit more, but I got up and checked on her like a dozen times to make sure she was still alive, because honestly last night I got up about 4 times to feed her, and then tonight- voila!! Finally at 6 a.m. I woke her up because I HaD to feed her (you breastfeeding moms out there will understand)! And then she did it again- she soothed herself back to sleep!! We have such a genius baby!! I am so happy! Yeah! sleep again! How wonderful!

Merry Christmas!!

Our Xmas cards are going out late, so please accept this picture in the mean time... (thx for the idea Neaner). Hope you all had a fun christmas. We certainly did.

New Year's Resolutions

I don't know if the Year's needs an apostrophe or not. Oh well. I LOVE, in all caps, new year's resolutions. LOVE LOVE LOVE. I start thinking about them...oh about this time of year. I usually try to make them in the physical, academic/mental, spiritual, and skill areas. SKill being like something new I want to learn the next year.
This wonderful lady was telling me about the acronym SPICES that they try to do with their kids everyday. They try to do something everyday in:
Spiritual
Physical
Intellectual
Creative
Emotional
Skill
So maybe I'll try to make all my resolutions in those areas; but that is a LOT of resolutions. I think I like resolutions so much because I LOVE checking tasks off a list. IT's so fun. IT's like a game. Old resolutions that I have been proud of have been: running a marathon, having a baby, losing weight. My spiritual goals always start out strong and seem to fizzle with time. I really need to focus on how to keep that one going strong all year. Especially with Madeline. Ohh- who knew praying twice a day would become a challenge???
What kind of new year's resolutions are ya'll making? Any suggestions?

Success?

I couldn't stand to wait any longer! In a spontaneous moment, I grabbed the rice cereal and mixed it up. Hopefully I don't kill my baby because she's too young, or immature to eat food. I got out my plastic coated spoon and mixed away... This is so exciting...

OK- that story shows that sometimes the complete dork in me comes out. Adam just walked in and I tried to hide the computer screen so he wouldn't read my post because I knew he would make fun of me. Sure enough, covering of the screen just made him more curious, and we've been sitting here laughing for at least 10 minutes. Oh boy, what a mommy blogger I've become. Describing feeding my kid, a pretty uneventful event actually, in such detail... this is embarassing. Well, anyway, I fed her, she wasn't interested, and she actually got quite frustrated with the spoon. She was sucking on it, wondering why it wasn't giving her any milk. I eventually held the spoon in front of her and let her lap up the rice cereal like a cat drinking milk, because everytime I put the spoon in her mouth--she just pushed it back out with her tongue. I think she possibly swallowed a 1/2 teaspoon of the stuff. I eventually quit and put her back on the boob-"ahhh..." a relief for all.

Is my baby "ready" for food yet? Probably not. But what a cute face ;)

4 month birthday party!!

No really, we didn't have a party, but Lauren let us borrow her bumbo seat and this morning she was too cute we had to take some pics! She is going to be GORGEOUS--yes I am obsessed with my child... ;). She is 4 months today, and I am debating whether to start her on rice cereal today, I am soooooooooooooooo excited!!! She could probably care less, but I just want to try it. I've heard that you should start feeding them at 4 or 6 months... what say ye? Any opinions?