5 Months!

Today is Darcy's 5 month birthday. We have been in Washington almost 3 weeks now and it has been a crazy few weeks. Her sleeping habits have been anything but pleasant. Although sleep has eluded us this Christmas we have loved being here with so much family to love Darcy and spoil her and help us take care of her so much during the day.

Things we want to remember about Darcy's fifth month:

- 18 lbs. 8 oz. Things are definitely slowing down. 26 1/2 inches long.

- She still does not sleep through the night and at the moment there is absolutely no consistency in her sleep pattern. We have had lots of people suggest the book Babywise so when we get back to Pittsburgh we will be trying that. I am really praying that it works.

- This month she has been mastering her hand control. I have loved watching her get the hang of grabbing for things and it helps to entertain her.

- She seems to really love the color blue. When she sees blue or anything else she wants to touch she kicks her legs and waves her hands and then I take her close and she grabs for it. It is so exciting to watch her figure these things out.

- She is consistently rolling from her back to her belly. She doesn't roll the other way though and she gets frustrated when she's been on her belly for too long.

- She is drooling like crazy and chewing on everything. We are guessing she might be teething but haven't seen any teeth at this point.

- She had rice cereal for the first time a few days before her 5 month mark and loved it!

Zzzz........

I need sleep.

I don't want to complain but it always makes me feel better to write about something and get it off my chest. I am just having the hardest time at the moment. Darcy is supposed to be sleeping through the night at this point right?! Instead, she has gone the opposite direction. She slept through the night a couple miraculous times around a month ago. Before we came home to Washington she had started waking up once around 2 just to cry and then again around 4 to eat. Since we've been home things have gone very sour. It has gotten worse and worse every night until last night she woke up every hour. My brain is so fried. I struggle to carry on a conversation. I forget names. I forget what I'm doing. I feel like crying all day long and even more at night when she's screaming and my body wants to sleep. I do not know what I'm doing. The guessing game is killing me. I keep hearing about a million different things to try, but don't know which thing to try next. I never was into letting her cry it out, but I think that might be the next step. My sister-in-law Sharee has been telling me about the book Baby Wise which I think I will be reading as soon as possible.

We actually gave Darcy rice cereal tonight and I'm hoping maybe her belly is really full and it will help her sleep. She did really well and kept attacking the spoon. I think she liked it. I just love watching her catch on to something new. She rolled over two days after her 4 month birthday, but then took a break. She is pretty consistently rolling from her back to her belly.

We are loving being with our family in Washington. It's so hard because there are so many people we want to see while we're here and it's hard to fit it all in. It is depressing to see what our little town is becoming though. Gangs are taking over in town. A couple days after we got here 3 people were murdered. Scary! Can't we just get rid of those crazy people.

Anyway, I'm tired so I'm going to bed now. I love posts where people give me advice, so if you have any tricks to help babies sleep I would love to hear them. I hope everyone is enjoying this Christmas season!
A post just isn't complete without a picture. I took this before we left Pittsburgh. So funny! Darcy gave Drew a nice big wet "kiss."

Creamy Hot Cocoa

This morning I was frozen and wanted some hot chocolate. I decided to try my hand at making it from scratch and found this recipe online. Drew and I both thought it was the best hot chocolate we had ever had so I thought I would share the recipe. Enjoy!

Ingredients

* 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
* 3/4 cup white sugar
* 1 pinch salt
* 1/3 cup boiling water
* 3 1/2 cups milk
* 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1/2 cup half-and-half cream (I had cream instead of half-and-half and it worked)

Directions

1. Combine the cocoa, sugar and pinch of salt in a saucepan. Blend in the boiling water. Bring this mixture to an easy boil while you stir. Simmer and stir for about 2 minutes. Watch that it doesn't scorch. Stir in 3 1/2 cups of milk and heat until very hot, but do not boil! Remove from heat and add vanilla. Divide between 4 mugs. Add the cream to the mugs of cocoa to cool it to drinking temperature.

Late Thanksgiving Post

Drew's parents and his brother Justin came for a visit this Thanksgiving. I was thinking this would be my first year attempting to make a turkey and then Becky stepped in and saved me! Our meal was fabulous! I ended up eating after the rest of the group because of Darcy, but I'm getting used to that kind of thing. I was in charge of rolls and pies. Originally I was going to make three, but I was lazy and cut it down to two, which was OK I guess. We had left-overs filling up for fridge for the next week. It was so great not to have to cook for an extra week! Aside from our Thanksgiving feast we did some touring around the Pittsburgh area. Here are some pictures of our adventures.
A group shot after our Thanksgiving meal taken on our fancy table (aka our couches). :)
When Darcy was first born I failed to get pictures of her with Neil and Becky so I made sure to get some pictures with them this time. Here she is playing with Neil.
Becky and the chunk that is Darcy.
Isn't this picture so cute?! Darcy was really taken with her Uncle Justin.
Becky decided Darcy needed a snowsuit because we were touring all over and it was cold! So here is Darcy with Drew in her adorable new snowsuit. I just think she looks so cute!
We went to see the Falling Water house. Drew and I ended up not going on the tour because they wouldn't let little kids inside, but on our way to the waiting area where you take babies we got lost and ended up at the house. We snuck down and Drew got a picture with his phone. I was hoping we could go another time when Darcy is older and can stay with a babysitter, but Drew didn't really think he cared to see the inside. What a party-pooper! :) We'll see.
Darcy got hooked up with some early Christmas presents from the Christensen grandparents while they were here. Here she is before "she" opened her present.
And after! At first she didn't really know what was going on with this thing, but every day it seems like she's figuring it out more and more. She loves to be able to be up and looking around.
Hanging out with her new teddy bear.
We went on a little ride on one of the inclines where you can get a view of downtown Pittsburgh. Neil, Becky, Darcy, & Justin on the incline.
We toured the Hartwood Mansion. (I got kind of a mini tour because I had Darcy.) There were some pretty amazing Christmas decorations inside.
There is an amazing Christmas lights display around the Hartwood mansion. Darcy and I stayed home to have a break from the car seat but the rest of the group got to go and get some good pictures for me. I was hoping I would get to go another day with Drew but last night I asked Drew about it and he said very matter-of-factly, "Not gonna happen." So tender. :) Maybe next year.
Another shot of the Christmas lights.

Music to Our Ears!

We are loving this.

4 Months!

This post is a day late because she didn't have her 4 month checkup until today so I didn't have any stats. It doesn't seem possible but we love Darcy more and more every day. We have our rough patches, but ultimately we love having her and can't get enough of all her sweetness.

Things we want to remember about Darcy's fourth month:

- 17 lbs. 15 oz. Although that seems huge, her weight gain used to be up off the charts, but now it has come down closer to normal. :) 26 inches long.

- Sleeps from around 9:30-2:30, then 2:30-7:30...it seems like she's going backwards. She used to last longer. What happened?

- She loves foot massages. If she is crying we will lay her down or sit her in her bumbo and rub her feet. She gradually stops crying and brings her hands to her mouth to suck on them. Then she makes cooing noises. We think she's letting us know how good it feels. It's adorable.

- She is "talking" so much. She lays on the floor after I feed her and squirms around and babbles to herself for about 15 minutes. A lot of the time she will talk back to us when we talk to her. I think it's the cutest thing ever.

- She screams in the car. (So fun!) Most of the time the only remedy is for us to make animal noises. She especially likes the chicken and the elephant noise.

- We can put her to sleep without her crying if we dance her to sleep. Right when we turn on the music she calms down. She is just getting too heavy though so we're putting a stop to that. We decided we can't do that forever.

- The doctor said she would be rolling over by four months but she isn't. She is teetering up on her side, but hasn't pushed herself all the way over yet. We thought she was going to roll from her back to her belly first, but in the last two days she has made more progress from belly to back. These new discoveries are so exciting!
The close up. She wasn't cooperating very well for her photo shoot today.
The full body shot. Look how long she is!
Darcy can officially wear a ponytail. She probably could have a while ago, but I never tried...and I probably won't be trying again for a long time. She hated it. It was too awkward to put it in without pulling her hair a little because she won't hold her head still. Even though it's so cute, it just isn't worth it to me.

P.S. She had her second round of shots again today and she did amazingly well! She barely cried. This nurse was faster and once I picked her up she was good. I was so relieved. I didn't even cry this time! I was soo brave. :) She is asleep right now and I assume she's going to sleep a lot today. That's what she did last time. If that's as bad as it gets, I'll take it. I just love her!

Yuck

This is my 100th post! I should make it something special I guess, but this is all I've got. :)

Drew likes to have Darcy do tummy time on his stomach...until last night. She spit up right into his mouth. It was so funny to me how grossed out he was. Then he was trying to get me to keep doing her tummy time like that...I don't think so!

Just before THE incident.

A couple other random thoughts:

My friend Brittany here in Pittsburgh introduced me to exercisetv online. I love it! I love workout videos, but I always end up buying a million because I like variety. This is a way I can do something different almost every day for free. It's so awesome. I thought I should share with everyone because I'm so sad I didn't know about it before.

Drew and I had a gift card to PF Changs from last Christmas that we decided to go use last night. I had been worried about going out to eat with Darcy and Drew kept telling me it would be fine. It was no big deal. Well I ended up being right! We were only there for about 5-10 minutes when she started crying. So I had to stand up and walk around the restaurant with her while Drew ate, and then we switched. So we ended up eating alone one at a time and stressing about her crying in the restaurant around all those people. We ended up leaving before we were really finished and getting our food to go. Drew just took her out to the car and I paid. I was soo anxious by the end of dinner. Drew even ended up stressed by the whole experience. We decided we won't try that again for a while. It really wasn't fun. I wish I could be one of those people who could just let my baby cry a little and not worry about all the people around me. I wonder if I will ever get to that point. We are flying home next month and after our eating out experience I am totally having anxiety about flying with her. I might just have a panic attack. I will be surprised if she and I aren't both in tears by the end of it. Any flying or eating out with a baby tips are welcome!!

Drew's parents and his brother Justin are coming this next week for Thanksgiving, and we are SO excited! I'm wondering how cooking in my tiny kitchen will go, but we will make it work I'm sure. 6 more days to go!

This Week

First of all, I can't say thank you enough for the positive feedback I got from that last post. I know it was a little controversial which is not my favorite thing. I'm sorry if it may have seemed like I was being judgmental, that truly was not my intention. Like I said before though, I did feel like I was being led by the Spirit, and I can't argue with that. Moving on...ahhh.

Here are a few things that have been happening around our house this week.


Darcy will not open her eyes when it is bright outside, so I decided she needed some shades. They were 2 for $5 on sale at children's place online. They are so funny. She looks so cute in them. The first couple times I put them on her she was fine, but the last couple times she didn't seem to like them. I hope she really will wear them, or else she will never see anything outside when it is sunny. :) (Please forgive the drooly shirt. It's freaking me out because the only reason I know for babies to drool is if they are teething. She is only 3 months old! That better not be what it is. She has started wearing bibs since I took this picture.)
Darcy almost never goes to sleep without a fight. We had a couple strange days this week where she just couldn't help herself. Drew was walking around the house with her and then we realized she had just fallen asleep over his arm. We thought it was pretty funny.
I turned on some music and Drew danced with her and she liked it so much she fell asleep.
I always thought I was a pretty strong girl, but holding my 17 lb. baby all day long had proven to be harder than I thought! She is heavy! My arm always falls asleep and my back really is starting to hurt, so lately I've been trying to come up with anything to make my time holding her a little shorter. We decided to get her (and me) an early Christmas present. Here she is sitting in her bumbo. She really seems to like it. Today she sat in it and watched me cook dinner. It was wonderful!
Aren't these shoes adorable?! I have been waiting for these to fit her. Unfortunately, she got the Jenne genes for feet. Her feet are really chubby through the arches. (I guess it's possible the Christensen's have this gene too, but Drew is unable to confirm.) This makes it so these shoes will only start on her feet for about 30 seconds before she kicks them off. So a picture will have to do...sad. :(

Modesty

For about the past three years I have been debating whether or not it was my place to speak out about this topic. I had pretty much decided I would keep my mouth shut until today while I was trying to fall asleep for a nap. As I laid there I started thinking about all of the prophets in the scriptures who spoke to multitudes of people trying to convince them to be better, without worrying about what the people might think of them. They were heavily persecuted, and yet they pressed forward. Because I am scared, I tried to push the thoughts aside, but I was not successful. I’m still not very good at deciphering, but I feel fairly sure it was the Spirit prompting me. So here we go.

Since I was really young I can remember having lessons in church about modesty. I was taught that my body is a temple. I can take care of my temple by eating right, exercising, staying away from addictive substances, and also, by dressing modestly. All of these were so easy for me (ok eating right gets me sometimes) growing up in my little town with other LDS girls who had my same morals. There was never any question what I would wear to the pool. I spent hours online and in the stores and even a few extra dollars finding a swimming suit that was modest. My parents emphasized the importance of modesty and I knew they were right.

It wasn’t until a few years after I left home that I struggled with the principle of modesty. At that point I was totally unaware that there were LDS girls and women who wore bikinis. This was something I had never even considered. When I realized how many girls actually thought this was ok it shook me. At first I was upset. Then I began to question. I had the same lessons all my life that they had, and I wondered if I was being silly or maybe taking it too far. Maybe showing the world my belly wasn’t that big of a deal. You might be surprised how seriously this affected me, and how much I struggled with deciding what was right. After quite a while and with Drew’s encouragement I came to the conclusion that “modesty was the best policy.” I decided to stick with what I had learned from my parents. I am so happy I did.

I had the thought a few times “I’m already wearing a swimming suit which isn’t totally a modest thing to begin with. Does it really matter if I just make it a little smaller swimming suit and take out the middle?” You might think this same thing, but how far are you willing to go? Where will you draw the line?

Part of the reason I struggled so much was because I felt like a loner. So many times I was the only one at the pool with my stomach covered and I felt like I stuck out like a sore thumb. I hated it. Honestly I still really don’t love that, but I have come to terms with it. I tell myself that we are supposed to be a “peculiar people.” Standing out for doing the right thing is a good thing. If someone were to come up to me at the pool and discuss religion with me (I have seen this happen) I would not be ashamed to tell them I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. If they knew about our belief in modesty, they would not question whether or not I lived that principle. I want to always be prepared to represent the church in a positive way.

Our church leaders are always giving counsel to the men about staying away from the evils of pornography. I have known quite a few men personally who have struggled with this issue, and I know a girl in a bikini is NOT helpful. Do you want to be part of the solution, or do you want to add to the problem? Are you comfortable being another man’s pornography?

I really hope I don’t lose friends over this, and I hope this post doesn’t make me come off as self-righteous. I have so many faults its ridiculous, but this is one thing I am absolutely sure about, and I feel like it is time for me to be brave and say what I know to be true. The people that struggle with this tend to be the most amazing people I know. Don’t let this one thing bring you down. Please consider what message you want to send to the people around you, and the message you want to send to Heavenly Father. He loves you and I love you too!

This quote by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf has been running through my head lately. He makes me want to try harder every day to be better.

“There is a saying that big gates move on small hinges. Sisters, your example in seemingly small things will make a big difference in the lives of our young people. The way you dress and groom yourselves, the way you talk, the way you pray, the way you testify, the way you live every day will make the difference. This includes which TV shows you watch, which music you prefer, and how you use the Internet. If you love to go to the temple, the young people who value your example will also love to go. If you adapt your wardrobe to the temple garment and not the other way around, they will know what you consider important, and they will learn from you.

You are marvelous sisters and great examples. Our youth are blessed by you, and the Lord loves you for that.”

Cause for Celebration!!

We just got the most exciting news! Drew got an internship for this summer with Deloitte here in Pittsburgh. It really is another amazing opportunity for him. He is basically glowing like a pregnant woman over this.(I don't really think pregnant woman glow so it might actually be better.) It is a consulting company which is what he really wants to get into. He has been kind of discouraged with his interviews for other companies and he wanted this one soo bad. We said lots of prayers and he did lots of studying and preparing and it worked. We are elated!

Congrats Drew!!

3 Months!

Today is Darcy's 3 month birthday and we have had quite the celebration! In fact, we just got home from WALMART!! Aren't you jealous?

Things we want to remember about Darcy's third month:

- Around 16.5 lbs. (We don't go to the doctor this month so we had to measure her ourselves and we don't know how accurate it is.) 25 inches (also done ourselves)

-She sleeps from around 9:30 to 4, and then until 8:20. (strange time, but it happens every morning like clockwork)

-She has started to grow up instead of out.

-During her awake time she is VERY happy. She hates going to sleep though. She always cries. I have tried a few different things to remedy this, but she always goes back to crying when we put her to sleep. (Any suggestions are welcome!)

-She was a ballerina for her first Halloween party.

-She has started sucking on her hands all the time.
The close-up of her sweet baby face.
Hanging out on Drew's knee.
I know these are all kind of the same, but we just need to have lots of documentation on this momentous day! :)
It's actually a little harder for me to get a picture of her face these days because this is how she is most of the time...she sure loves her hand!

GREAT Grandparents, Bouncer, Stroller, Halloween, ETC.

All of my posts lately are so random. This is no exception.
Last week on their way across the country Drew's grandparents stopped in for a visit. It was so great to see them and for Darcy to get to meet them. It was fun to hear about their adventures in West Virginia. They took us out to eat and Drew got to have crab which he was soo happy about! Thanks so much for the visit and for being so thoughtful. We are excited to see you at Christmas.
Darcy always wants to be able to look around and she loves it outside. She is pretty heavy to take on a long walk in your arms though. If she is in her car seat that goes with the stroller she is facing the sky and can't see everything outside. The other day Drew rigged up the stroller so we could just put her straight in it. She looks so funny sitting in it because she is still so little. Her feet don't even go to the end of the seat. It's so cute, and she seems to like being able to look around. Oh and I just got her this hat. It is also too big, but I wanted it to fit her for a long time. It's pretty funny too.
Another picture in the stroller, but I mostly wanted to show off the p.j.'s. I was walking her around the house because my back was tired. You should appreciate the giraffe print Haley! I saw these and thought of you, and I just couldn't resist.
Me with the ballerina. I don't post pictures of me very often and this one was fairly decent so I decided to go with it. :)
We had a ward Halloween party this past Friday and because I already had a tutu, I decided to go with the free costume and had Darcy be a ballerina. She honestly looked so adorable, I feel like these pictures don't do her justice.
I found a baby swing on Craigslist that I thought Darcy would love. Turns out she only sort of likes it. Oh well. Hopefully our next baby thinks it's a party.
I just realized that this is another picture having to do with clothes I bought her. I promise I'm not just buying anything I see. The other day I was at the mall and she was only in a onesie with a blanket over her. Basically every other baby I saw was all bundled up. I really think she was probably fine, but I was feeling really bad. So I got online and got her some warmer clothes. These adorable jeans were one of those. They are so cute, and judging by this picture, Darcy loves them too!
I got this picture of Darcy during tummy time. Look at those blue eyes!!

My Family Came!

This past weekend my parents and two of my sisters came to Pittsburgh to visit us...mostly to visit Darcy. :) It was soo great to have them here and we were sad to see them go. I can't believe we still have a month and a half until we see them again. Luckily, Drew's grandparents are stopping in for a visit today on their way across the country, and then his parents are coming for Thanksgiving so we get to have a couple more family visits before Christmas. I just love family visits!

My dad and two sisters hadn't met Darcy and it had been a while for my mom, so I was so excited to have them come see her. They were supposed to get here Friday night around 7 but because of problems at the car rental place and a wrong turn they didn't end up getting here until a little after 9! They only saw Darcy for a minute before she had to go to bed and I had a hard time sleeping that night because I was so anxious for the bonding to begin. It was so fun to watch my parents with her, and see how excited both my sisters were about her. Darcy had a great time too because no one in my family is shy about making ridiculous noises or acting a little bit crazy to make a baby happy. Here are some pictures from our fun-filled weekend.

We took a group shot with the timer after church. We got this on the first try. Amazing!
My dad making Darcy smile. I just love this picture because it's cute of both of them, and then in the background you can see my mom watching with a big smile on her face too.
My sister Emily entertaining Darcy.
My sister Ashley keeping Darcy company.
We stopped at this church/cemetery because it looked cool and I tried to take some pictures. I thought this one turned out pretty cool.
Drew took my family on a tour of his campus and they stopped for Ashley to do a little posing on this sculpture.
I tried all weekend to get a great picture of Emily for her to use for senior pictures. I didn't really get any I thought were super fabulous, but I thought this one was cute of her. There is something called the Duquesne Incline here that you can ride to see the whole city of Pittsburgh, and that's where she is posing here.
When we stopped at the cemetery there was a dead possum on a little side road which, because my family had never seen a possum before, they found incredibly interesting and they all (except for my mom) had to get a picture beside it. It was so funny.
On the campus tour Drew was carrying Darcy and I just thought she looked so cute here I had to post this one.
My mom with Darcy at the church/cemetery. I won't tell you what she did exactly, but my sister Haley (who we wish could have been here too) did some doctoring on this picture and I am amazed by her work!
There is a big fountain in downtown Pittsburgh that is pink this month for breast-cancer awareness month, so we had a picture of all the girls "kicking" (or karate chopping) breast cancer in the face!! :)

That was A LOT of pictures, eh?