3 months of fun

jill hit her 3 month mark on saturday. here's some fun new things: jill loves to stick her whole fist in her mouth, loves to talk to her toys and the fan, still loves the bath, graps my hair, likes to be tickled, likes to be naked and wiggle a lot, loves to cuddle with mom.
Along with Jillians growing personality, she has a new wardrobe; sizes 3-6 months fit her now! Jill's living the dream life fo ra girl: a new wardrobe every 3 months and all the attention she can handle.

love at home

i love this picture!! jill and i have so much fun together at home. (thanks for the picture idea kristen:)

sleep, what's that?

i got this book from grandma taylor when jill was two weeks old. i've heard and read some criticism on it, however it did me good. at 6 wks jill was sleeping 6 hours at night, no interruption. she is now sleeping between 7-9 hours every night. i took the schedule and advice from the book and adapted it to fit my mothering style. i know that there's a toddler Baby Wise for older babys if needed. if you don't want to buy the book here's the jest (?) of it for infants: eat, awake time, nap. other tips include: place child down for nap awake, don't let her fall asleep in your arms etc. mother decides when nap time is and when to be awake, not baby. there are many more ideas in the book that has helped jill get on a schedule. i can predict, within about 1/2 hour, her moods and what she needs. i credit the gift of sleep as a new mother largely to this book. its worth a try if you haven't had a good nights sleep in awhile :).

We're Baaaaaack

Well, we are safely home and ready for the real life. We had a wonderful opprotunity to go to Hawaii and celebrate Judy's (Jeff's aunt) 50th birthday. It was very fun to spend a week with Jeff's family and relax in a beautiful place. Regretfully I didn't get a photo of the group but there was 13 adults, 2 kids, and one baby. Here's a quick synopsis of the week:
Day 1: leave home at 4:30 am get to Hawaii early enough to swim. jeff caught a fish with his spear gun (video taped, sorry no pix). we later found out it was the hawaiian state fish. all evidence was destroyed :). snokeling was great. lots of visiblity and beautiful fish off our shore.
Day2: Dole Plantation and North Shore fun
Day 3: Polynesian Cultural Center. Very cool place to visit. Jeff and I got learn Tahitian dancing.
Day 4: Snorkled Sharkes Cove (amazing fish), saw a sea turtle off of our beach, watched surfers at Waimea Bay, saw Hawaiian temple and BYU Hawaii.
Day 5: New Years Eve!! Local church (they really do say Aloha from the pulpit and the congregation responds!) . Hiked Waimea Falls, sunset at Sunset Beach, fireworks off of our shore. Jeff, Jill and I were asleep long before midnight. Aw the exciting life of a married person:)
Day 6: Jeff played 2 rounds of golf at Turtle Bay with his dad and Jared. Beach day for the girls.
Day 7: Horse back riding (Jeff and I were meant to be cowboys). Jeff got me an hour massage in a cabana on the beach, Judy came too for her birthday gift. Perfect ending to a great vacation.
Day 8: Visit the Nut Farm on the way to the airport.
Happy to go. Happy to be home.
amazing ocean power. the water would slam this rocks like it's going out of style.
we couldn't leave Hawaii without drinking from a coconut:)

more fun in hawaii

View from the back patio. This is Jeff with his nieces, watching the morning waves.
Sunset Beach on New Years Eve.
We got to horse ride on the beach and through the jungle. it was very breathtaking and romantic/comedy like. my favorite part!

Great New Years

this was our beach house. i am standing on the beach looking back at the house.
Jill did great on the plane. we woke up at 4:00 am to get to the airport. Jill was even complimented by a stranger on her good behavior.
our first day in Hawaii. Jill didn't like the ocean too much, but she looked great in her swimsuit!!
This is at the Dole Plantation. Jeff and I were lost in the World's largest maze :)

Hawaii 50

on the patio at the beach house.
on the drive to the house. we get back on wed. more pics to come. . .

the best christmas yet!!

I put Jill in my stocking because she provided me with the best Christmas yet!! On Christmas Eve's eve she gave me her first real belly laugh. I've heard her giggle while sleeping a lot. Awake she's only squealed and giggled less than a handful of times. On the 23rd while in the bath she really laughed!! It was so fun. I was splashing her feet around and she couldn't get enough. She's hasn't laughed like that since but I can't wait for more.
To make Christmas even better she has begun conversations with me. Okay, it's really just imitations but I love it. Jillian's been cooing for about a week, but there kinda random and unpredictable. Last night (Chrstimas night) I was basically doing ". . .fa, so, la . . ." with "ooo" and "aaa" . All the sudden she was copying me. I'd respond to her sounds and she mine. Jill is learning so fast!! I love to hear her sweet little voice. What great presents!!!

We had a busy but nice Christmas day. This picture was at the Crane's (Jeff's mom) annual Christmas brunch. Jill had fun getting to know her cousins. After lunch we were able to talk to Stanley. He gets home in a month!! We can't believe how fast two years went. We missed spending time with the Peterson's and hope to see you all soon. Tomorrow we leave to go to Hawaii and spend time with the Taylor's. We can't wait. Hopefully Jill will be okay on the plane, she's nervous :)

Big bow for a big day

As we get ready for Christmas I can't help but reflect on how our life has changed in the past year. At this time last year Jeff and I were working night shift, half in a home half in an apartment, both working Sundays, and Jeff was spending more time with criminals than with family. Now we're established in our home and ward, have a normal sleep schedule, jeff isn't commuting 2 hours to deal with bad people, and we have a special addition. The Lord has blessed us more than mentioned here and we recognize His hand in our life.
Jillian is a healthy 2 months old!! (okay really not 'till tomorrow the 20th, but i had a moment to post). She is such a sweetheart. Jill loves to sleep with mom after her morning snack. She also loves when Jeff gets home and plays with her. Three days ago, Jill started to "coo". We love talking to her and letting her respond. We're so excited to see what new things she'll do this month!!
Jill loves being held by momma and momma loves to hold her.
I originally thought today was her 2 month birthday, thus the big bow. I was later informed that i was a day early by my friend i visit teach (her twin girls are exactly 1 month older).
kinda silly but really really cute.

our little girl has a little cold:(

Jillian woke up today with a little cough, a lot of sneezes and a little runny nose!! (of-course everything with her is little b/c she's just a little person). you can hear the congestion when she coughs, it's so sad!! my bulb syringe is worthless, so if her cold gets worse i'll need one that actually sucks. she's been handling it with a smile though!!
Jillian has to be going through a growth spurt!! the past few days she's been wanting to eat every two hours!! feeding takes approx 30 minutes. with only two hours from the start of 30 min feeding to the start of the next not much is getting done around the home. i am not complaining. i'd much rather hold my sweet one close and feed her than sweep anyday!! :)


Jill finally likes her swing. actually it's not the swinging she likes. she loves the mobile on top of the swing. she smiling at the zebra, her favorite.
she's a little concerned about what just happened to her nose. (i tried the syrine with no success)
this is jill's new favorite spot. the corner of the couch helps her sit up.
i just liked this one. i wonder if her eyes will stay blue.

7 weeks and growing big!!

I've hit 10 lbs. can you tell?!
Jill acts shy sometimes when I'm making her smile. I'm still trying ot get use to the bow on a sweat band. Not sure that I like the look, but it keeps her ears warm, and catches any extra sweat she my have on her head. :)
Jill met Santa for the first time yesterday. She was pretty inpartial to the whole situation. We were at a Christmas party at the skating rink. I've forgot how fun it is to skate around and around and around. I may sound sarcastic but I really do have fun skating. Unfortunatly they didn't have skates to fit Jill. She was pretty sad.

6 weeks and more great nights

Jillian is smiling more and more each day. She giggles a lot while she sleeps. I have only got two or three giggles while she awake though. It seems that right when she turned 6 wks (last Friday) she decided to be more aware and more interactive. I love it!!

Jill has been playing with her tounge lately. It's so fun to watch Jill discover things. This pix was while Gma Nettie was making her smile.

Jill just chillin', literally. We've had a few nights below freezing. Last week we turned on the heater to 75. Speaking of nights. . . Jill continues to sleep great. Only once this week and a half has she slept shorter than 5 hours at night. She still has her night-time fussy fit (more like crying unconsolably) that is usually calmed by a bath. She is crying less and less though. Especially since we've learn what her crying means. (Thanks Oprah!)

Jill is the happiest after she eats. This is in between her post-feeding drunkeness and fully awake. She is so stinking cute. This picture just makes me laugh.

This Jeff's sweet tent. This is while at the Queen Creek Swap Meet. The tent graps your eye and is really great for events like these.

Two great nights!!

daddy-daughter time. they're so cute together!! Jeff's working in this pix (computer/phone). his buisness is doing great!! they just got a store front so hopefully it will pay off by increasing sales. only time will tell, but it's very promising. i'll post a pix as soon as i have one.
Doesn't Jeff look handsome!!
Two nights ago Jill went 6 hours between eating, and last night 7. I feel like a new women!! I don't expect this to last but. . . how sweet it has been. (understand that it's measured from the start of one feeding to the start of another. therefore it's not truly 6 or 7 hours, but it's way better than 2 or 3 hours.) This pix is of Jill yeasterday morning, curled-up and covering her face. "i love to sleep in my parents bed!!" (that what she was thinking.)

Thanksgiving and blessing

We had a great week last week. Some of the Peterson's and Brandon were able to come stay at our house for Thanksgiving. The boys got to golf while the cousins got to know eachother. In addition the Peterson's, the Taylor's were able to come to dinner on Thursday. (I only have video of that day so it should be up soon for your viewing pleasure). The food and company was great!!
Sunday Jeff blessed Jillian. It was so beautiful. It was very emotional and amazing to witness the priesthood through Jeff to Jillian. I loved it!!
A little messy house, two overflowed toilets, a popped mattress, double par rule, uninvited nats and fly's at Thanksgiving, and a few 1 mile jolks (jog/walk) later. . . we all had fun.

These are the cool Peterson's that came to Thanksgiving in Arizona.
Just about to go to church. Thankgoodness we took her dress off for the carseat, seconds after she spit up all over!!
I know it's blurry, but Jillian is so cute. She knows she's getting stronger and loves to practice holding up her head. She had to wear socks to bed this week b/c she's been scratching her face at night. I've refused to clip her nails ever since I sorta clipped off the tip of her thumb. :( I really am trying to be a good mommy to Jill.
Post blessing pix. Sorry Jared about the forehead and Becky's half-face. Judy, Jennifer and Zack were also there but had to split before the picture.
Jillian's photo shoot in her beautiful dress that Grandma Nettie made. We love that dress and love that girl.

Jillian is one month old!!!

Do you love my new shocks (shoes and socks in one!!)?
Jillian has become a slave to the pacifier. This is her "awwww' face once she got the soother.
SUPRISE!!!! Jillian was so excited at her one month party, she couldn't contain herself.

Rough week, new week

Last week was a pretty rough week (hence the lack of postings). . . Tuesday night i awoke to feed Jillian feeling like i just got hit by a really big trick-my-truck semi. I was nauseated like i was going to throw-up, dizzy like i was about to pass-out, weak like i just competed in the iron man, sweating like i took a swim in persperation, but cold like i was ice skating in antartica in the buff. i almost forgot, my left feeding receptical was red, swollen and tender to the touch. Indeed, in all it's beauty, i had MASTITIS. we went to the doctor on wed. i got a shot of high power antibiotics in my booty and was sent home on amoxillin after blood was taken. the next day i got a phone call from the doctor stating that my white blood count was 23,000 (norm is 7,000-11,000). the doc was scared i was septic (the bug running through my blood, not just localized). thankfully, jeff got to take a few days off work and feed Jill from the bottle and take care of me. my repeat wbc was 9,000 two days later (meaning no sepsis)!!! eachday i felt a little better and this week, Jill and i are back on with the feedings.
Jill is now 8 lbs. 2 oz and doing great!! she loves to smile especially after eating. when she's sleeping i can hear her giggling and smiling. it makes me wonder, yet again, what she's remembering. she has a good case of baby acne that hopefully will clear up before her blessing next week. she loves to squeak and scream now and then. she just perfect!! here's some cute pix of our sweet babe.
Happy Thanksgiving!!

Right after I snapped this she gave the biggest smile yet!! This is her sweet half smile.
Showing off the big blues (at least for now).

week two

don't look at my cute chub. look at that killer smile.

we had to get out of the house and go out on the town


.Jill got her first letter in the mail today!! i had to help her a little bit with opening it up. anyone want to guess what her social security number is? come on it'll be fun. . .

Halloween week

Jillian loves to be held by jeff under running water while i wash her off. we thought we could try something new last night. obvisously not a good idea. we quickly resorted back to the tag-team bath and she calmed right down.
one of our favorite past times, staring at the baby. she always wins the staring contests with me b/c i tend to get a little teary eyed and have to blink it off. i have a little too much of mom and dad in me i guess.
it's been great to have mom here the past week! yesterday jillian got to hangout outside with the g-ma's while we beautified the backyard. it's so wonderful to be surrounded by so much love!!
i spiked Jillian's hair for a Halloween party. she's saying "boo!!" if you can't tell.
jeff thinks i'm cruel for making her wear this for Halloween. i think she was cute (thanks sarah w. :)