Weirdness

I am always telling my family how weird my baby girl is, and I try super hard to convey it through stories and explanations.  I have finally gotten a few of her funny moments on video!  She is so funny and constantly making Derrick and I laugh.  Love this girl!

Fa La La

Christmas has come to Ohio!  We got our tree all up and our house decorated for Christmas!  I put the tree up while Derrick studied away for a test and Iva slept, then we all decorated the next day.  Iva wasn't too interested, in fact, I think the tree scared her a little.  She wanted to eat the decorations though!

 Iva looks a little like a scrooge in this one

 Ornaments the size of her head!

 Finally interested in decorating...

When she gets something she can eat!

Looking at the pretty girl reflecting back at her!

Final project!

Eight months!

Well folks, my baby is EIGHT MONTHS!  Time has gone by so fast!  She is getting so big and is so much fun.  I love her so much and am so glad I get to be her mommy!

Trying to take off her super cute shoes!

Iva likes to...

• Nod her head up and down with her eyes wide until you copy her and she will laugh
• Get tickled
• Eat by herself; she loves puff cereal, stuffing, pieces of bread, noodles, peas, basically anything she can feed herself.  She also loves squash, sweet potatoes, peaches, bananas, yogurt, and pears.  Not loving peas mushed up or avocados.
• Crawl all over the place and pull herself up on EVERYTHING.  We have caught her a few times letting go of things and balancing on her own for a little bit before she falls on her bum.  
• Play with her toys.  Her toy basket is under our TV.  If all her toys are put away, she will crawl over to her basket and use all her might to pull it out and pull all her toys out while jabbering away. It is the cutest.
• Say "bababa"  She is a little jabber-mouth!  
• Be independent.  I am trying to teach her to wave "bye" and clap her hands.  She will just smile at me and then nod her head up and down.  She tenses up if I try to clap her hands for her.  Oh well, all in due time!

LOVE THIS GIRL!

Candy Calendars

We have taken over Derrick's family tradition of Candy Calendars at our house!  They are a countdown for each day until Christmas with candy or a treat!  This was my first year doing it on my own; usually we just have Derrick's sisters and mom buy our candy when they do theirs for their families.  I have to say I miss my mother-in-law and sister-in-laws!  It was a pain getting all the stuff myself!  But it was fun picking out candy that I knew Derrick and I would like and getting some stuff for Iva!  Hers was a little different than ours; her calendar has things like binkies, some little toys, baggies of her favorite puff-cereal, and a few suckers.  

Iva's calendar! 

She got a new binkie on day 1!

 Derrick's calendar

My calendar! 

You think she likes her sucker now... 

 She LOVED it!  

We love family traditions!

Love

I just love this little girl SO much!  These pictures were taken just cause.

Weirdo! 

Silly girl!

This was after her nap and she was just so darn cute in her blankets I had to snap a picture!

Mischievous little smile! 

Thanksgiving

This was our first Thanksgiving in Ohio!  And away from family :(  But we had some friends, Will and Katie over and had a lot of fun!  They are both from Utah and Will is in his 1st year of Dental school as well.  I had to work the night before so Derrick was the cook this year.  It was his second time cooking a turkey (I have such a domestic man!).  The first time was in Taiwan for Thanksgiving while he was on his mission.  I've learned that cooking a turkey is not as big of a deal as people make it out to be.  Granted, I was sleeping, so I have to give Derrick all the credit, but even he said it did not take too long.  Like a half hour prep of seasoning and putting it in a bag, then you just throw it in the oven!  It was nice to wake up to the delicious smell of turkey cooking!  We also did the potatoes and gravy, a veggie tray, and my mom's yummy cranberry, bacon, and feta salad.  Will and Katie brought rolls, stuffing, yams, and cranberries.  Katie made a pumpkin pie and I made an apple pie.  We also made Derrick's mom's famous cheese balls (Derrick's favorite!).  We had WAY too much food for 4 people and a baby but it was delicious and fun!  Even Iva enjoyed her first Thanksgiving dinner.  She loved mashed potatoes and yams, but I think she enjoyed the stuffing the most because she got to eat it on her own.  She also had a few pieces of Turkey!  Of course she loved the pie; she has a sweet tooth like her mommy!  Of course, I forgot to take pictures of the food and us eating.  I snapped one of Derrick cleaning up!  And lots of Iva playing with her toys, mostly because I always get pictures of her because she is super cute ha.

Cleaning up the feast!

Such a little flirt

An after-dinner snack!  We have had to stop letting her do this; she has started to wear down the corners of our table! 

We had such a fun time and were glad we got to know Will and Katie better! 

Videos

FINALLY got these to load!  Enjoy!

Iva LOVES her solid foods these days!  

Playing games with Daddy!

Nostalgia

I ran almost three miles today (only a quarter short!).  I miss running.  I miss the feeling I get when I'm running, as well as after.  People always say they hate exercise; I love it.  Call me crazy, but when I run, I feel strong, like I am doing something I never thought possible (probably because at one point I did think that way!).  I may be prideful, but I love the feeling I get when I tell people I am a runner.  I love running races and the energy that you feel during them, as cliche as that sounds.

Somewhere, between life and a baby, the amount of running has diminished, although not my desire.  I would not change a thing, but sometimes I miss the simpleness that life held before Iva was born.  I miss being able to just get dressed and go.  Now, I have to have her fed and asleep before I can do anything.  I am also banished to my treadmill in the basement.  I HATE running on a treadmill!  Ah, the things we do as parents.  

So, today I fed her and FINALLY got her to bed and went for a jog.  It felt great.  I have ran a few times since she was born, but not nearly enough.  I feel so much better now.  I'm hoping to keep it up.  My mom signed me up for the Ogden Half Marathon in May.  I'm praying I can get the two weeks off of work so I can run it with her and my little bro.  I am the reason my mom runs races, and a little bit the reason why Mitchell does too.  I was the first in the family.  Not only do I need motivation to keep running and training, but I desperately need to be in Utah for a few weeks.  I need my family to see my crazy daughter!  So I am really hoping it all works out and I can do the race.  For now, I will keep training as if I am!  

So, running shoes, get ready.

All my races to keep me inspired:

My very first race!  The Syracuse 5K...Mitchell was the only one home, so he took this picture and I went to the race alone ha 

Clearfield 5K...after this race, it became a family tradition because I inspired my mom to start running with me. 

Derrick took this picture; it was the morning of my first half marathon at like 5 am.  

It went from Clearfield to Antelope Island.  Derrick asked my dad for permission to marry me this day too!

My first Ogden Half Marathon!  It was such a fun race!

Running trio! Clearfield 5K

Mitchell was on his mission :( Good that he was gone, but we missed him!  Clearfield 5K

I beat everyone, even though I was in nursing school and hadn't ran in like four months.  I was pretty proud of that ha.  Also, VERY sore the next day.

This was 2010.  I told my mom the next time we would run the half marathon together.  I had a baby and we've both been finishing our BSN degrees, so 2012 Half, here we come!

My roommate at Snow.  She ran a half marathon and I've been inspired ever since!