8 Months!

The months are just flying by! I can't believe in only four months Darcy will be a year old. The first four months of her life went by so fast I know it will come all too soon. We are having so much fun with her. We love to make her laugh and watch her pick up new things. She is a serious cutie! Drew and I both have mentioned a few times how much we wish we could be close to family so they could see all of these fun different stages. Nine more months and hopefully we will be headed back to the wild wild west!

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

- 18 lbs. 8 oz. and 28 inches. Taller and lighter!

- Goes to sleep for the night at 8 and wakes up at 7! I am loving this! I am finally starting to remember what it felt like to feel rested and it is great. She takes an hour and a half nap around 9 and then another hour and a half nap around 2:30. It is so great to have a schedule.

- She is pushing herself up on her knees. She rocks back and forth on her knees but doesn't go anywhere. She also likes to hold the push-up position for a second sometimes.

- Makes the "mamama" and "dadada" sounds all the time. She makes other sounds but those are mainly the ones we really listen for.

- Four teeth! Two top and two bottom.

- She loves to go outside. The cold bothers me more than it bothers her. She never complains at all when we're outside.

- She loves bath time and splashes like crazy. Yesterday after her bath I was soaked, and I didn't get in the water. :)

- She is starting to get over only wanting her mom. She is letting Drew hold her for longer and longer periods of time. Strange men make her cry.

- She absolutely loves to eat anything and everything. She has never met a food she didn't like. (We even gave her a taste of lemon juice and she kept reaching for the bottle like she wanted more.) She can feed herself graham crackers which is really nice because it keeps her occupied for a long time.

The close-up. She does not cooperate when we take pictures anymore. I can never catch her smiling. :(
The full body shot. I think it looks like she's doing some kind of yoga pose in this one.
On her hands and knees.
Holding push-up position.

Crafty

I made this headband. It took me way too long but I am still proud.

Kirtland & Pie Day!

This past week was Drew's spring break. It was so awesome to have him home with us for a whole week! On Wednesday we went with our friends Steve and Tiffany and their two cute kids Cody and Kylee to do a little touring of Kirtland, OH. The main thing we went to see was the Kirtland temple. It was a beautiful old building and it was really cool to go inside and be in the place where we believe miracles happened. After we saw the temple we went to the Kirtland historic site where there are a bunch of historic buildings. The N.K. Whitney store I thought was especially cool to see. They told us a nail was the most expensive thing in there back in the day! Who would have guessed?! (Actually Tiffany did.) :) They were really hard to come by in those days and sometimes people would burn their houses down when they moved so they could collect the nails and use them again. After our tours in the historic site we drove to see the Morley farm where a few sections of the Doctrine and Covenants were received and where we believe Christ appeared. It was really amazing to think that I was right where the Savior had been. Then we drove out to the Johnson farm where we were hoping to have a tour but it ended up being closed. So we just took a picture. The Johnson farm is where Joseph Smith was when the mob drug him outside and tarred and feathered him. I really hate that story actually but it was a beautiful place.
The fam in front of the side of the Kirtland temple.
The fam posing by the green door on the front of the temple.
The whole group in front of the Whitney store.
Darcy and me inside the Whitney store.
The Morley Farm
The Johnson Farm

This past Sunday our friends Linwood and Brooke invited a big group of us to their house for pie day. That is the BEST holiday. I didn't really get it until they explained when we got there so if you don't get it either I will explain. Pie day comes around on March 14 (3/14)like the number pie in math (3.14...). So it goes from something I hate (math) to something I love (PIE). I hope I can always remember to celebrate this awesome holiday from now on! Check out all the awesome pies. We were so impressed with all the pies and we sampled a little of each! :)
All the yummy pies!
Brittany's plate with a sample of each pie.

Proofing Dough

I just found this tip for making dough rise faster on the Real Simple website and I wanted to save it somewhere so I'm putting it on here. Hopefully someone else out there can use it too.


Proofing Yeast Doughs
Yeast doughs that normally take an hour or more to rise at room temperature can be proofed in the microwave in about 15 minutes. Place the dough in a very large bowl and cover with plastic. Place an 8-ounce cup of water in the back of the microwave with the bowl of dough in the center, and set the power as low as possible (10 percent power). Heat for 3 minutes, then let the dough rest in the microwave for 3 minutes. Heat for 3 minutes longer, then let rest for 6 minutes. The dough will double in bulk.

The Wave

Just today Darcy has decided she likes to wave. We aren't sure if she is waving or if that is her signal that she wants something, but we think it's so fun! Also, when she wants more food she always hits her tray. We're gonna have to work on her manners. :)

7 Months!

February threw me off my game because there was no 30th. So I'm a little later than usual with this post although probably no one even noticed. I have been having fun taking lots of pictures of Darcy lately. I'm definitely not a very serious photographer but I have heard other "real" photographers say that natural light is the best so I'm been going for that. All the pictures I've been taking are in the exact same spot because it's the only place in the house where we get tons of natural light.

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

- 18 lbs. 4 oz. Barely a difference at all. 27 1/4 inches. No difference. I can't believe how suddenly her growth has slowed down, almost stopped.

- She goes to sleep around 8, wakes up to eat around 4, and then sleeps until around 7:30. She takes one long nap in the morning, another long nap in the afternoon, and then one more little cat nap in the evening around 5. To have this sleep thing kind of figured out is such a huge relief for me.

- She rolls everywhere and gets stuck sometimes, so we have to go rescue her.

- She pushed up on her hands and scoots a little, but can't quite get her knees under her yet.

- She loves all food and wants to eat everything we are eating. She has been eating those baby biscuit things. They are my favorite and her favorite because she gets to feed herself and they entertain her for a long time. She also likes pancakes and loves to have drinks of water from a cup.

- She loves toothbrushes. (Although Drew doesn't really love how much she loves his.) :)

- She is really happy most of the time, but she has started kind of whining when she's been on the floor for a while. I think she is frustrated because she wants to get moving.

- She likes to scream. It's a happy scream. I think she thinks she's talking. The other day she rolled over so she was laying under the lamp and she screamed up at it forever like she was talking to it. Very funny.

- She likes to be upstairs for some reason. She likes to pound on the piano and roll around and play on my bed.

For her 7 month pictures Darcy is sporting this adorable outfit that we just got in the mail from my mom. It's not spring here yet at all, but it's warm enough in the house and I just couldn't resist. If you look closely at this picture you can see her 2 little bottom teeth.
We had a hard time with close-ups this time, but this was the best I could do.
I just like this one.
This one is just for fun. Her curled up lip cracks me up.

Her are some of the fun pictures I took of her this past month.