Hannah’s Blessing

Sunday Hannah was blessed at church, and it was a perfect day. Derrick gave a beautiful blessing and Hannah didn’t make one single peep. She wore the same dress Summer wore, the one my mom crocheted. It’s beautiful, I love it. I loved seeing her being held by her father and grandfather, as well as men I have grown to love as my own family.

Later that evening as we all gathered together and visited, I just sat and was so grateful for the friends we have made since we’ve moved here. We had no idea what to expect moving here to Milwaukee. We certainly didn’t expect to find such amazing friends and have an instant network or support. As I watched our kids run around and play with each other, I realized I loved each one as if they were my own. I felt so happy in my living room with some of our closest friends and family. It definitely makes living far from family so much easier knowing we have great friends to rely on. Of course, we would have loved more family to join us. We even made sure to have her blessed in the warmer months! Oh well, maybe next time??

Fall fun

Friday my parents and Derrick’s mom flew in for the weekend to be here for Hannah’s baby blessing at church. So Saturday we all headed out to an apple orchard called The Elegant Farmer, about 45 minutes away. I’d heard about this place from tons of people and heard how they have the most amazing apple pies ever, and I’ve been dying to go and try one for myself. They bake them in a paper bag, which supposedly makes them crispier and yummier.

We walked around the store for a bit and bought not just an apple pie, but a mini caramel apple pie. An apple pie covered in caramel. Um…yes please!

We went on a hay ride out into the orchard and picked a basket of apples. Apparently we picked a peck’s worth. You can eat all the apples you want while you’re picking, so that was fun to try them all and get more of the ones we liked. They also give you a cookie if you help pick up the apples that have fallen to the ground.

And they have lots of wagons for you to use…how cute is that?

It was a chilly day, but we all had a great time. We had cider donuts after the hay ride, which were a.maz.ing. I’m tempted to make the drive out there just for the donuts. Holy yum.

It was so fun to do something with our little family, and to have grandparents too was even better. I know Summer won’t remember doing this, but it’s so fun to start traditions like this.

Now I have a peck of apples that I need to use up. I’ve already made applesauce, which is really yummy. I want to can some apple pie filling. Now I just need to figure out how…    These two were besties all weekend! She loves her Papa! Oh, and the apple pie?? Delicious!

Brewers!

Monday night we took the girls with us to a Brewers game—their first one! I was nervous about how Summer would do since it started at 7, her bedtime. But she did great and loved it! She loved clapping and cheering and especially loved her first taste of cotton candy, courtesy of Dr. Jessica! We had a lot of fun, even if we did feel like pack mules bringing a ton of stuff. Thank goodness for Mike and Jessica lending some extra hands!

 

Don’t drop the soap!

Maybe it’s a good thing we didn’t make the trip to Florida…

I don’t even want to know what else happened that wasn’t documented via iPhone.

I probably just caused a prison brawl

I just received a collect phone call from the Milwaukee House of Corrections. From “Hey, Sweetheart”.

Denied.

I received another collect phone call immediately after from, “Yo, baby, it’s me, what’s goin’ on???”

Denied and blocked!

One month!

I can hardly believe it’s already been a month since Hannah was born! I have a feeling time is only going to go by faster and faster from here on out. So sad. I have been really enjoying her though. Like, holding her and just looking at her and loving having a newborn. I just love her to bits and think she’s the cutest. Of course, I’m biased. :)

At her one month appointment on Tuesday she weighed in at 8 lb 3 oz (a whole pound LESS than Summer) putting her in the 24th percentile and 20” long in the 15th percentile. So she’s still a little thing. But she got a clean bill of health and is doing great.

She is such a sweet girl. She hardly fusses and pretty much still sleeps a lot. Or, tries to at least. Summer likes to “help” the swing sometimes. Or if she’s sleeping in her bouncer and her pacifier is on her chest Summer exclaims “Down!!!” and tries to put it back in her mouth. Or her eye.

She has the loudest burps I’ve ever heard from a baby.

When she really gets worked up crying, she sounds like the Count from Sesame Street. Waaaaaaa….ah, ah, ah. Can you picture it? I need to get it on video.

She is starting to sleep longer at night…sometimes 4 or 5 hour stretches. But that’s just been in the past week.

She is sooo hairy. Just like her parents. This is how I thought Summer would be, but she wasn’t. Check out the fuzz on these arms!

Summer really does love her sister. She is always SO concerned about the “Beeee!” If she hears her crying, or just making noises, she makes sure I hear it too. If I leave her blanket somewhere she’ll come running up to me with it or lay it on Hannah. Usually covering her face. Half my time is spent protecting Hannah from Summer’s love. Which is why I think most of the time Hannah has this look on her face:

A little worried, but mostly just scared.

But look how much Summer loves her! I was taking pictures of Hannah and Summer insisted she get to be in some also. Again, notice the look of concern on Hannah’s face.  

“Hey, I thought this was my photo shoot!”

I’m feeling really good these days. It took awhile but I finally feel like myself again. I’m sure only getting up twice at night to feed her helps! I don’t LOOK like my old self though, and it’s grossing me out. I need to lose 15 pounds to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight from before Summer. So I bought some Jillian Michael’s workout DVDs and have been doing them. In 30 days I expect to be “shredded”, so Jillian says. We’ll see! I’m sick of wearing maternity jeans still!!! Ew!

These girls are going to be the best of buddies, I can tell. But just not today. Summer stabbed Hannah in the forehead with a fork this morning after breakfast.

We’ll get there eventually. Won’t we? 

There’s an app for that!

Ever since I got an iPod Touch for my birthday, I’ve been in love. I can’t believe it took me so long to get one actually. It’s really made my life so much easier and simplified. I’ve had and used a Palm Pilot since they first came out and loved how it combined my calendar and contacts and I could make notes, but that was about all it could do. Later models came out and I could download Solitaire and waste time during classes, but it was still pretty basic.

My Touchy Feely (of course it has a name) can do all of that and more. One of my most favorite things is the Calendar function. It syncs with Google Calendar…wirelessly. I can enter something online and it will automatically add it to my iPod, and vice versa. One thing I love about Google Calendar is the ability to create different calendars. I’ve created separate calendars for birthdays on the Callister side and for the Romesburg side. I have a calendar for Derrick’s events. And you can share these calendars. How cool is that?

Of course, I love that it has ALL of my music. And I can buy music from iTunes (although I rarely do with GoMusic around) and listen to it right away…no syncing to a computer first. Pandora has an app that I love, although lately I’ve been having issues with it crashing on me. And the Vampire Weekend station is the very best!

I downloaded an app a few weeks ago that has made my life even easier. It’s called Total Baby. The biggest problem I have with breastfeeding is remembering when I nursed last and on which side. This solves that. And more. I never have to calculate hours and minutes anymore. This has a built in timer that counts how long I’ve been nursing, and then keeps a running timer of how long it’s been since the last time Hannah ate. It’s soooo awesome. But that’s not all, folks! You can also keep track of diapers, naps, and you can enter growth info and it charts it for you and gives you percentiles. You can also enter when they received their vaccines and when their next appointment is. Seriously, it’s the best. Gives me one less thing I have to remember during my day. Well worth the $4.99 price tag, which is the most expensive app I’ve ever bought. (I’ve only bought 5 though. Free is for me!) I just have to have my Touchy Feely with me when I nurse, but that’s no big deal, since I can play games while she eats! Which leads me to….

Words With Friends! It’s like Scrabble, but there’s a free version! And you can play against people you know, or against strangers. Totally addicting and fun. If you already play, we should be playing against each other! My username is cougarchic7.

Then there’s Tetris! You can’t beat a classic! The first app I ever bought and the one I keep going back to. The only problem I have with it is that it quits once you reach 150 lines. And well, since I’m so good, it happens all the time. :)

I just bought Handy CookBook the other day, after Derrick suggested I look for an app for all my own personal recipes. Love this one because you can enter the recipes online and it sends it to your iPod. Awesome. You don’t know how many times I’ve been at the store wishing I knew what a recipe called for. How many times I’ve called my mom or Linda asking them for a recipe. So now I’m in the process of adding them online. It also has a function where you can email the recipe straight from the app. Handy! Handy CookBook!

Of course, the Facebook app is a given. The Craigslist app is pretty good too.

The Gospel Library app is a great one for church stuff. It has all the scriptures, lesson manuals, hymns, you name it. Very handy to use while I nurse in the middle of the night and prepare my Sunday School lesson for the week.

So, those are just a few of my favorites. I’m still on the lookout for a great To Do List app. If you know of one, let me know!

What are your favorites?? I wanna know!

18 month old rack

I saw this shirt at Target yesterday. I think they’re pajamas. Am I the only that thinks it’s weird that it has boobs on it, and that it’s for toddlers?

Labor Day Weekend

This past weekend was pretty low-key, but I loved it. Derrick had a half day on Friday and was off yesterday so it was nice to have such a long stretch of time with him here at home with us ladies. We kicked off the weekend with the BYU game on Saturday night with some friends. We pulled off a victory, which means a happy husband for another week!

Dad and Hannah in their BYU gear! Check out the shoes!

We also hit up a park to burn off some energy. It’s starting to cool down around here, which I do love, but I don’t love that it means winter is soon coming. Boo.

Here’s how Hannah prefers to spend her time at the park:

  

We woke up Monday morning to huuuuge thunderstorms which ruined our tentative plans to head to the lake for a little BBQ/picnic. So instead we hung out at home, ran some errands, then made some homemade ice cream! I love love love my Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker! So much so, I bought a second one when I found it at a rummage sale! You know…just in case you need to make two batches at once! We made the Callister’s fruit ice cream, which is super yummy. I’ve always had issues with it setting up and was convinced it was because I thought the amounts of cream and half and half were switched. So last night I set out to make mini batches, one with the written recipe, and one with them switched. I thought I would be right. Well, I guess the key is to just make smaller batches! It turned out great! I think in the past I was just putting too much in the machine. So here is the recipe for you. The full recipe, which never turned out for me, and the quarter recipe, which turned out perfect.

Fruit Ice Cream (full recipe)

• 1 pint whipping cream
• 1 quart half and half
• 3 c. sugar
• 3 pkg frozen strawberries
• 2 mashed bananas
• the juice from 3 lemons and 3 oranges

Combine all ingredients and freeze in ice cream maker.

Fruit Ice Cream (quarter recipe and with my tweaks) (which also fits perfectly in the Cuisinart machine.)

• 1/2 c. whipping cream
• 1 c. half and half
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 1/2 pkg frozen strawberries
• 1/2 mashed banana
• 1/3 c. lemon and orange juice

Combine all ingredients and freeze.

For the juice, I juiced all 3 lemons and 3 oranges, then measured out a 1/3 c. And then I froze the rest in 1/3 c. portions so I can make ice cream whenever I want without having to juice anything! Holla!

Live Writer

Ok, we’re back in business! Like I said before, my good friend Antony helped me figure out why a couple of my programs weren’t working. And I should clarify about his blog: it used to be hilarious. Then he got a job and his life apparently got boring. He has some great stories about his experiences with the BYU Bookstore, including this one. He has other good stories, including how he wiped out on his bike going down Provo Canyon, but I couldn’t find them.

Anyway, my fellow bloggers, if you are not using Windows Live Writer to compose and post your blogs you are wasting a huge amount of time! It is a separate program, offline until you publish, where you can draft your blogs. The best part, in my opinion, is the adding a picture function. You can add multiple at a time, more than Blogger’s maximum 5 at a time, and much faster too. You can add frames to your pictures as well. Seriously so much easier than using Blogger.com.

So download it! HERE! You won’t be sorry you did!

Testing

Antony, whose blog is rather dull, is still quite a genius when it comes to computers.

Thanks for fixing my problems!