"Say Cheese!"

Adri and Baron came to visit us this week. We had so much fun! We went shopping, worked on crafts, talked, made cookies, ate Cafe Rio, fussed over our babies, and spent way too much money at The Children's Place. We fell in love with these black and white houndstooth outfits and so Baron and Sonnet got matching clothes! We're cheesy and so we went and had their picture taken since they are both so cute! Adri got a couple cute shots of Baron, I got this one of Sonnet, and then we got one of them both together! (Baron can't sit up and Sonnet won't sit still, so it was a little tricky). ha ha! They are the only two great-grandkids on the Petersen side (so far...) so we figured it'd be a cute present for the great grandparents to have. Sonnet actually let me curl her hair a little bit AND...SHE WORE A BOW! I love my little girl!

And here we are at lunch afterwards...

Thanks for coming! We love you guys!

The Mommy Minute

(I ripped this off from one of my previous blog posts, so if it sounds familiar, that's why.)

Baby Proof

I am an extremely organized person and I'm sort of neurotic about keeping my house clean. I also really like to decorate and make things "cute." So, I struggled a little bit when Sonnet started getting into EVERYTHING...pulling things off shelves, knocking stuff over, unraveling toilet paper rolls…you get the picture. I'll admit that I was a tad resistant to "baby-proofing" my house.

Of course, I wanted her to be safe and free to explore, but I wasn’t very excited about rearranging my furniture or putting locks on all my cabinets. But eventually I learned to get creative and make adjustments. I still have “cute” things out (just the non-breakable ones) and my toddler and I can live peacefully in the same house. Our house has been officially “baby-proofed.”

And much to my surprise, what I love most about my home these days is the “Baby Proof”-- proof that we have a sweet, growing baby living in our midst.

I love that our second bedroom houses a crib, fluffy stuffed animals, and tiny baby clothes. I love that we have binkies shoved in every drawer and that there are toys strewn about the floor in my front room, my bedroom, and the hallway. I love that there are pictures (millions of them) of my blue-eyed little girl all over my house. I think it's hilarious that we have strips of duct tape over the buttons on the TV so that Sonnet can't turn it on and off so many times that it explodes (or turn the computer off while I'm in the middle of writing this article). I love that my sink is full of empty bottles and half-eaten bowls of Apple Jacks. And I especially love that there’s a huge yellow bottle of baby wash on the shelf in my shower and a set of multi-colored foam ABC’s stuck to the walls. I don't know why, but it makes me happy to have little bath toys and rubber duckies floating around me while I take my shower every morning. It reminds me that we have joy and laughter in our home in the form of a beautiful, smart, and hyper 17-month old girl.

She’s my “Proof”. Proof that I’ve done something right. Proof that love conquers all. Proof that a mom will do anything (even redecorate!) for the sake of her daughter.

Our home is officially “Baby-Proofed!” And we love her.

Why I Blog...

I enjoy blogging. I love to look at my friends' blogs (I can stay involved without having to talk on the phone- i hate the phone.) I also love that it encourages me to write down stuff that happens in my baby's life. I print the text from all of the blog entries that I write and put them in Sonnet's journal. Those combined with the zillions of photos I take of her make a pretty good record of her cute little life.

And of course, if I ever got rid of the blog, then Sonnet couldn't do this:

She loves to sit right in front of the screen (my desk chair won't do) and watch her slideshow. I never change it or the music on the blog because she's used to it. The second that Thank Heaven For Little Girls comes on, she stops and starts dancing and singing. Thank heaven, indeed.


How babe is she?!

My baby is not a baby anymore...

Sonnet went to Nursery for the 3rd time today! She's only 17 months old (as of yesterday!) and they're technically not supposed to go until they're 18 months, but we figured it was better to take her in early than chase her in circles around the building every week. :) She loves little kids and she's not a crier, so we figured she'd be fine. The nursery leaders were OK with it and a couple of Sonnet's other little girlfriends have started going early too. Of course, she's not real great at actually sitting still for anything (ie: story time or a lesson), but she loves it! She tries to play with the other kids and she's learning fast. Nate stayed with her the first week and I peeked in the window 20 times (it was emotional for me!) and today we were both in there (they asked us to substitute since the regular teachers were gone), but Sonnet just ignores us. She sat at the table today and ate her snack (she's still only got 4 teeth so that can be a little tricky sometimes). She colored a picture and even folded her arms for the prayer! So cute!!! She was happy playing with the toys and watching the other kids. It's still a little weird for me to leave her (I'm pretty protective- and I'm so used to having her with me every second), but I think it will be good for her to make some friends and start to learn some new skills. I just can't believe how fast time goes!

My little Sonnet is almost a year and a half old! Wow! She is so beautiful and so fun! I love watching her grow and learn new things. This week she started counting to three. My mom would count with her when they walked up the stairs at her house last week and now Sonnet does it on her own. She steps up our stairs or turns pages in a book and says "un, dwo, free!!!" It's too cute!

She's quite the talker...she's got about 35 words under her belt. My new favorite one that she says is "hello." It sounds more like "YLLOWW" and it's the funniest little sound. She holds the phone up to her ear and says "yllow, blah blah blah, bye bye!" ha ha! She also says "poop" now, which is gross, but also helpful. :) I don't have to sniff her bum anymore when in doubt, she just tells me. I have to say that while I hate that she's growing up so fast, I love that she can communicate better. It makes things much easier! She has also learned how to say "hay hay" (for Uncle Hayden) and it's pretty cute. I think those two are gonna be buddies when he gets home from Alabama! :)

She learned how to say her own name...well, sort of. She calls herself "Net." Sonnet...Net...it's close. :) At least now she has something other than "baby" to say when people ask her what her name is. :)

We just measured her again and she is 24 pounds and 34 inches tall. As far as looks go, I think she takes after the Spears side, (which is funny for me because I never pictured having a blonde daughter- I just hope she gets their skinny bodies and thick hair!) :) But sometimes I also really think that she looks like my mom. My mom is pretty cute, but it can be a little strange to look at your kid and see your parent. ha ha! :)

I love having her ears pierced and they haven't given us any problems at all. Sonnet is so good-natured and happy. She's got a little stubborn streak in her, but most of the time she is a good listener and she's a fun little friend. She makes funny faces and laughs all the time. She also really likes to "squeal" really loud when she's excited about something (that's lots of fun in church when it's dead quiet). ha ha! :) She's always climbing up on stuff. She likes to climb onto the end table next to my couch and sit up there like it's her perch or something. She loves to be outside. She runs out the door the second it opens. She is crazy in love with her Daddy. She cried when he left for work the other day. It was so sad! She's super friendly and she says "hi" to everyone we see.

She likes to look at books and sing songs. I think I sing "Head, Shoulders" and "Ring Around the Rosie" about a million times a day! She loves to put things into other things....like she has this big can with a hole cut in the top and she'll stick blocks in it until it's full, dump them out, and start over again...ALL DAY LONG! She really seems to like to know how things work too. She pushes buttons and takes stuff apart just to see what will happen. And she loves to dance!

Anyways, I always talk to much. Point is that we're good and we love our kid. :) Happy 17 months!

Here she was showing me the picture she colored today (but I was too slow on the draw!)


Love this face!!!

Sonnet in B-Town!

Just some random shots of Sonnet from the weekend. We went to our friends house so I could borrow some sewing gear (THANK YOU KRYSTLE!) and Sonnet got to see her "boyfriends" again. :) Krystle has three younger brothers and Sonnet is enamoured with them. She even gave one of them a little too much attention! :) ha ha!

Running through the park:

Playing in the rocks:

Being a cheese:

Don't mind the chili on her face:

Baking with Granny (yum, licking the beater)!

Swimming in Granny's big tub:




Having a snack at the Sonnet table:

After she hugged (and kissed!) McCoy:

He's a little embarrassed:

Flirting with Dillon:

See you on Halloween, boys!!! :)

"Any colder and we're going to be Les Miserables!"

Last Saturday, Nate and I went on an official date! (They seem to come few and far between now that we have a little one, so it's kind of a big deal!) :) We went to dinner (Outback gift card- thank you some guy at Nate's office who gave it to him) and then to see Les Miserables at Tuachan (an outdoor amphitheater just outside of St. George). Granny Janny and Pop Pop babysat Sonnet (THANK YOU, THANK YOU!).

Now, before you start feeling bad for Nate, I have to tell you that he really likes musicals. :) He won't admit it to anyone but me, but it's true. We've been to Phantom, Evita, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, and the Rockett's Christmas Spectacular (worth mentioning because we loved it- if you're ever in New York for Christmas, go see it!). Anyways, I'd seen Les Mis before but Nate hadn't and I read the book last year so I really wanted to see it again. I'm not a real tough critic, but I thought they did a great job. We loved it! We had good seats and it's always so fun to see any live production. It was super cold (it dropped to 40 degrees on Saturday) and then it started raining. We were afraid that they would cancel the show- or that the rain would turn into snow- but it cleared up and everything was fine. We got hot chocolate and snuggled under a blanket and had a wonderful night out!

HOLLY'S ADVICE:

If you've never read Les Miserables, you MUST do it. It's super long and very wordy, but SO WORTH it. Not to be corny, but I think it is one of the most spiritual books I've ever read. Every line is so profound and packed with emotion and the story resonates with everyone on some level. Repentence, forgiveness, and LOVE are the main themes and I swear I cried after like every chapter. In my opinion, the character Fantine is one of the most tragic characters in all of literature. She starts out as this beautiful, naive, young girl who falls in love with a guy who ends up leaving her. She finds out that she's pregnant and she is left alone and poor to take care of her daughter. She leaves the daughter with an innkeeper and his wife thinking that they will take care of her. She goes to the next town over and gets a job that she is eventually fired from. She has to send money to her daughter and pay her own bills, but she's broke and can't get work anywhere else. She ends up selling her hair, her gold teeth, and eventually her body to make money. One night she's prostituting on the streets in the freezing cold and this group of drunk men come up and start messing with her. One them puts snow down her dress. That moment in the book was one of the most gut-wrenching I've ever read. Fantine's story is just so heart-breaking and it was pretty emotional for me to see it played out on stage now that I've read the book. (Yes, I'm crazy---I get really into my books), but point is that the book is wonderful and should be one everyone's reading list.

If reading isn't for you, just read the cliff notes and then buy the CD. The music is very powerful too and they did a good job of sticking pretty close to the story line in the book. :)

Sew What?

Last weekend Sonnet and I went to Beaver. She got lots of time to play with Granny Janny and Pop Pop and I took a "Fast and Furious" beginning quilters class. (My Grandma Suzy and Mother-In-Law will be so proud!) :) I've always wanted to learn how to sew, but since I failed my home economics class in seventh grade (no joke- I got a C- on my pillow- I deserved it though) I've always been a little skiddish around sewing machines. But a few weeks ago, my mom and I dug her machine out of the closet (she got it when she got married 27 years ago and has never really used it, but it's still in good condition and it's a nice machine) and my M-I-L showed me how to thread it when she was here one day. I tinked around with it for a while just trying to get over my phobia and I finally decided I needed some professional help. :)

There's this cute, old-timey quilt shop in Beaver (Rock House Quilts, see below) and they were offering a class for beginners. I turned out to be the only dork in town who had no clue what she was doing and I was the only one in the class! :) I got 5 hours of one-on-one instruction from a domestic goddess (she's a firefigher/paramedic in Vegas when she's not running her quilt shop or cooking amazing cuisine- they served lunch too!) and she walked me through the basics... I learned about matching fabrics, fabric types, measuring(I didn't even know where 5/8 was on my ruler), cutting, following a pattern, types of thread and needles...it was overwhelming, but lots of fun! I got to start my own project... I cut out all the pieces and sewed the inside star. The part I've got done so far is only about 15" square, but when it's all finished my quilt top will be Queen Size! I've got most of the other squares sewn together, I just need to press them and then try to remember how they attach to each other. Grandma and M-I-L better expect some desperate phone calls! :) Anyways, I'm so proud of my little project and I'm excited to one day be able to do something will all the fabric I fall in love with other than just stuff it in my closet! :)

The inside star- all done!!!

The Middle Star- pieces still need to be attached.

Those big square will make up the last, outside star:

40 of these square go all the way around the outside of the quilt:

The pattern I am following:

An example of what the finished quilt will look like:

Just Stuff...

As a baby, Sonnet never liked binkies. We tried all different brands and styles and sizes, but she just wouldn't take any of them. Then, when she was about 11 months old, she found a binkie in her toybox and stuck it in her mouth. Ever since then she's loved 'em. She pretty much always has one when she takes a nap. And I always give her one before we go to the park or for a walk so that she won't be tempted to stick other things (ie: rocks, bugs, trash) in her mouth. Seriously, when is she going to grow out of this phase where she has to taste-test everything? Ugh!

We had beautiful weather again today and Hank (Sonnet calls him "ANK") is visiting us so we spent lots of time outside. Sonnet carried her stuffed animal all over the place, rolled her pumpkin down the driveway a million times (it was pretty funny), fed Hank all of her snacks, and knocked on all our neighbors' doors. (She says "ock, ock" as in knock, knock and starts banging before I can stop her.) So we made lots of new friends today. :) Ha ha!

And the big news is that she let me put a bow in her hair! She's been OK with the little "quail/unicorn hairdo" lately. (I even did two little pig tails the other day!!!), but I haven't pushed my luck by adding any accessories. Today I got brave and stuck a bow over the rubberband when she was busy brushing her teeth (she LOVES to chew on her toothbrush). And she left it there!!! She started to pull it out at one point and I said, "but it's pretty!" And she said, "ess, bitty!" (yes, pretty!) and didn't touch it again. Wow! Doesn't she look so cute? Sorta reminds me of Maggie from the Simpsons (I think that's her name...I don't watch that show...the little one with the binkie and the stick-up hair). Ha ha! :) So, that's a victory for me! :)

And, here's one of the cute Daddy! He came home exhausted, so we just watched a show (Ghost Whisperer...one of our favorites!) and ate "Pop Pop" (popcorn...Sonnet loves to put it in the microwave and push the button)! We have a special "date night" planned for tomorrow. (I scheduled myself in on his crazy calendar)! Ha ha! :) Yay!