Sleep = Relax

Today is one of the best days of my.. well, of the last ten months of my life. I am one of those unfortunate mothers who didn't understand the importance of letting her baby learn to put herself to sleep. I craved holding my baby and watching her beautiful eyes close as she fell asleep. It was so tender, and I loved to hold her little form to me. That was eight months ago. Now I dread every nap and every night because I don't want to deal with the energy and patience it takes to put her to sleep. But today is a grand day. Today, at one week shy of ten months, Abigail has finally decided that she can put herself to sleep. I've tried repeatedly to let her cry it out in the past, but she would cry and cry for what seemed like hours (but was really only an hour). Gracious, I say "only" as if it was easy. They were always the worst hours of my life. I would end up on the phone crying to my own mother about how I was a horrible mother and I shouldn't let her cry. I soon gave up on that and continued bouncing/rocking/singing Abigail to sleep. Abigail is now twenty-one pounds. That is not a small weight to bounce for twenty minutes to have her only sleep for thirty minutes. So after we got home from California, I decided to try something different. I decided to try to let her cry it out again. Going to California completely messed up her nighttime schedule, so we had to let her cry it out at night to get back on schedule. It worked so I decided to let her try putting herself to sleep that next night. That was last night and it worked. So today, I decided to try it for naps. She cried mercilessly for ten minutes and then was suddenly asleep. I was absolutely floored. She was actually asleep! I don't even know what to do with the excess energy or relaxation I feel. It's amazing! And she used to sleep on my bed so I had to be there when she woke up so she didn't crawl off. Now she's in her crib so I can walk freely about my house or even outside with no fears! I know this sounds so retarded to other mothers. I obviously went about things the wrong way and Abby's curiosity and passion for life hasn't helped--she just always wants to be up. I'm sure none of you have had to deal with this, and if you have, then I love you even more for understanding how hard this is.
I feel so liberated. I might actually cry.

Hashbrowns

Dinner!!!

Yeah, this was part of dinner tonight...AWESOME!! Laur pulled it off though :) We had brinner tonight...you know, dinner + breakfast = brinner. You can thank the cast of Scrubs for the amazing word.

Rant or playful banter?

Jesse and I like to play off the X96 morning show that does "Things that must go". So tonight we decided to do it as part of our blog. Mind you, these are but a handful of the items we've come up with over the past few months.

Things that must go:
-girls that look like porcelain dolls (it's just unnatural)
-guys that talk on their cellphones in the bathroom stall next to you
-parking vultures (people that follow you in their car while you're walking to your car to take your spot)
-popped collars
-shredded clothes sold as "new"
-dirty dishes (they never end!)
-contest winning scams (I really wanted that trip to Cancun...)
-EFY kids playing/singing at the piano in the Wilk --you can never sound like Coldplay! Shut it!
-hipsters
-fake meat (salami, bologne, the likes. Yuck.)
Jesse: Wait! I love salami!
Lauren: ick. Waves of nausea.
Jesse: Mmmm, waves of pastrami...
Lauren: Couch.
-Out-of-control, flashy baby toys. You're going to give our babies seizures from sensory overload! What happened to the good ol' fashioned fisher price/tupperware toys... Grumble, grumble.
-Jesse losing the mates to ALL of his socks. Where DO they go?
-Professional beggars. Particularly the one sitting by Babies-R-Us in Orem that has supposedly been "stranded" and would "appricate money" in the same clothes, with the same sign, with the same pathetic look on his face for over a year now.
-peeling skin from glorious sunburns
-Jesse's zebra-striped sunburn from Newport Beach. Oh, the spray sunblock is deceiving...
-the strange smell coming from the fridge... I know it's connected to food, but I'm too scared to find out which one!
-poop stains in onesies... and more onesies... oh, and the jeans... and the t-shirt... how did it get there?
-Overly talkative dentists. Like I can respond with your drill down my throat.

Things that must stay:
-ice cream
-brownies
-pie
-cake
-cookies
-see a pattern here?
-salami
-no salami
-air conditioning
-boogie boarding
-whale watching
-Abby's vocalizations
-Abby's smiles
-Abby in general.
-oatmeal at 11:46 p.m.
-Stephenie Meyer novels (Yes, Lauren is truly addicted to the Twilight series as well as The Host)
-crunchy peanut butter
-Jesse, I'm tired. Can I go to sleep now?
-Peanut butter nougat.
-That's my response? Peanut butter nougat? I'm going to bed.
-Peanut butter wafers, peanut butter M&Ms, peanut butter cookies, peanut but-
-Unfortunately Jesse died mid-sentence from a pillow launched at his throat. Frail, weak creature.

I think we're overly tired and getting kind of wacky. Good night. Enjoy.






......I LIVE!! I smell a sequel.

SoCal

This is more for me than it is for anyone else. I don't have my journal with me to record what we've done so I'm doing it here. Hope you don't mind!

Day Two: Played in the pools with dad and the babe and boogie boarded at Crystal Cove State Park. Hurrah for the waves!

Day Three: Played at the beach. More boogie boarding. Ate 1 lb. Alaskan King Crab legs at the famous Crab Cooker in Corona Del Mar. Mmm, I love crab. :)

Day Four: Play at the pool with the babe while her dad played basketball with Seth. Went shopping at a massive mall called Fashion Island. It really should be it's own city. Unfortunately we didn't find anything that we loved, but Abby loved the Koi Pond! The best highlight of my week: WE WENT TO WICKED THE MUSICAL! It was more than I could ever imagine. I don't think there was one particular moment of the musical that I absolutely loved. It was more just the culmination of the entire show--the pow of the music, the intricately detailed set, the hilarious and professional acting--it was just incredible! By far my favorite musical ever. Elphaba had the most amazing voice I've ever heard and the Galinda was absolutely hilarious. I almost cried hysterically I was so happy. So so happy.

Day Five: Went to the Pacific Aquarium in Long Beach. Touched a bat ray, stingray, mangrove ray, and a shark. And a shark egg. Super cool aquarium. Abby loved watching the fish--especially the jellyfish. Oh, Abby also began saying her first word: duck. She thinks all birds are ducks. If she sees a bird, she points and screams "duck!" It's great. Went to another mall to go to the infamous H&M store. It wasn't my favorite, but some of my siblings love it. Came home and relaxed in the hot tubs. Watched Never Been Kissed while eating super fudgy brownies. Yum.

Day Six: Went to the beach early in the morning. We tried to boogie boarding, but the waves were crazy big. Stephen saw a seal right next to our group. Next to Wicked, this totally made my week. We saw it several more times as we ran the length of the beach. We could see her whole body in the waves as they broke on the sand. Ate an In-N-Out burger. It was good. Didn't match the expectations that BYU Californians set for it, but that's okay.

And that brings me to now. I'm actually finishing my In-N-Out lemonade as we speak. We'll probably head out to the beach again in a few minutes. I am tan and I love it. It's been a long time since I've been tan. Good vacation. I could do it again.

California

Day One:
Went to church. Walked around the breath-taking grounds of the Newport Beach temple. Hiked over the slippery tidal pools of Crystal Cove State Park. Chilled in the hot tubs back at the hotel.

P.S. Fabulous babe bow from Meghan's new business called My Gracie Lou.