check-up

Christian turned 9 months on Easter.

Wow. Where does time go?

He had his Well Baby Check-Up last Thursday. No shots! Yeah. Especially for Marryn...(?) Anyhow. Everything looks good, other than the hint of pink eye he still had.... (That's him waking up that morning-he was happy at first, than just annoyed that I wasn't getting him out-and yes, I sat him up-can't get up by himself yet.)

Stats:
Weight-18 lbs, 5 oz (25%)
Height-28.25 (50%)
Head-17.75 (50%)

He eats about a half to a full jar of food a day (getting better at it-even ate his peas the other night!) and is still nursing quite a bit. That seems to be his favorite;). He does like his new Gerber puffs though. He sits really well and rolls all over when he's down, which usually happens when he leans too far forward to get something. His first tooth came through last week without any issues but now his second is coming up and it's a whole different story. Can't tell if he's sick or if his tooth is really bothering him. Saturday night he woke up around 1ish (this, unfortunately, is currently usual for him) but this time he just would not go back to sleep. I nursed him, tried rocking him, even just let him cry it out (of which he screamed for about an hour) before getting up with him. So we sat down in our big chair and watched TV. And he was perfectly happy with that. I laid him back down around 6ish (which is usually the second time he gets up at night-grrrr) and he finally went to sleep. And ever since then, he just hasn't been himself.... Other than that though, he is such a good, content babe. Just hangs out on the floor with us, chews on his toys, pulls out his wipes, started to wave (just a little) and is trying to clap. The girls just adore him and often fight over who gets to "play" with him or sit by him or whatever.


And his laugh. Oh his laugh.
It's has to be one of the sweetest sounds...

clone of a cinnabon

I get a lot of recipes off the website AllRecipes.com. I love the reviews. I usually never try a recipe unless it has a lot of 5 star ratings...why waste my time.

So as requested, here is the Clone of a Cinnabon recipe. I have made it a few times and it turns out great everytime!

INGREDIENTS
1 cup warm milk (110 degrees F)
2 eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup margarine, melted (I use unsalted butter-always!)
4 1/2 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast

1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/3 cup butter, softened

1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
DIRECTIONS
Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select dough cycle; press Start.
After the dough has doubled in size turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.
Roll dough into a 16x21 inch rectangle. Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter and sprinkle evenly with sugar/cinnamon mixture. Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls. Place rolls in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F .
Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes. While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.

I often look at the reviews to get alternative suggestions as well. This recipes call for making the dough in a bread machine. I don't have a bread machine and just use my mixer. I mix the dough ingredients (using rapid rise yeast) with the bread hook and then let it rise in the bowl (cover with a moist towel in a warm spot) for about an hour. When doubled, I then pick up with the rest of the directions. And then, because we usually like these warm in the morning, after rolling them out an placing them in the pan, I refrigerate them until morning. I then just pop them in the preheating oven (so when it's cold) and bake about 15-20ish minutes until lightly brown (we er on the side of undercooked...). I also double the frosting recipe. So good!

Project 365-Week 16

Easter Sunday, April 12th

The girls and their finds!

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Monday, April 13th

Well, she did it! Went all day without going in her pull-up (we went out, so she had on a pull-up, you know, just in case;). And she does it all on her own. We are just so impressed with how well she did and how easy it went! A little trick I came up with; double up underwear (making it thicker-more absorbent) or layer underwear under a diaper or pull-up, it's less messy and they know right away when they go!

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Tuesday, April 14th

Christian's first tooth is now bustin' thru! And no problems whatsoever!
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Wednesday, April 15th

So here we are, days after Easter and yet Marryn is still wearing her bunny ears....

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Thursday, April 16th

Well, Grandpa Dave was suppose to come up, but when Reganne woke up with pink eye once again (grrrrr!), he decided against it. Marryn was really upset and completely broke down when I told her, so I promised them ice cream after Christian's 9 month check-up. (Awful, I know. Don't judge me.)

So, while driving, Reganne dropped her spoon. I told her she was going to have to wait until we stopped and she started whining about how she couldn't eat it with her fingers. Not long later I turned around and yes indeed she could eat it with her fingers...as well as lick it out of the bowl.... Funny, the reason they got bowls and not cones was for the mess....

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Friday, April 17th

We got a ton of really wet snow. Christian loved watching it fall. It was gone by Saturday, despite how the snow was still falling....

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Saturday, April 18th

Christian's singing us a song. Cross-eyed.

Project 365-Week 15

Sunday, April 5th

Homemade cinnamon rolls for General Conference.

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Monday, April 6th

That evening, Christian's eyes were gooping up!:( And we were told if he got pink eye, he needed to be brought in (unlike Marryn). And of course the office was closed, so I took him down to our local Urgent Care. Fortunately, nothing more than pink eye. Instead of drops though, they gave us a cream to wipe across his eyes. Good thing. By about the 2nd time we did it, he knew what he was in for and would just squeeze his eyes shut. There was no way eye drops would have gotten in there.

This was also the day (as I was filling out the date at the urgent care) that I remembered that I forgot my brother's birthday. It was on Saturday.... Happy Birthday John!

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Tuesday, April 7th

Ah, another avocado fan.

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Wednesday, April 8th

Now that Christian is sitting up really well, I was willing to let him share a bath. They had a lot of fun. I missed the picture I really wanted though. Christian was faced the other way and Reganne laid on her belly next to him. He then put his arm around her. It was so cute.

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Thursday, April 9th

After a day of constantly pulling her pants up (pulling them up from her ankles...) Joey finally clothes pinned them up. This girl has gotten so tall and so skinny lately. These are girls' size 4-5 sweats. They are just barely the right length and well, way to big around the waist. It's a funny thing though. Although you'd never guess it now, that was exactly how I was growing up. Not just at 4, but *almost* throughout high school as well. That's where different sized waists AND lengths came in handy. But poor Marryn. Her 4 slims are still sliding off her little waist while the bottom hems keep creeping up.

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Friday, Apri 10th

Grandma Jean's Easter package arrived. Inside, 2 pairs of 'clipity-clop' shoes. Of course they still fight over them. And Marryn insists on wearing socks with them. They're flip flop ones. Ouch.

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Saturday, April 11th

Egg dying day. It was suppose to happen on Friday (to celebrate the Easter Bunny on Saturday, Christ on Sunday) but it just didn't work out. Nevertheless, the girls had a great time dying their one dozen eggs. Actually, it was quite anti climatic. It would have been fun to dye more, but we really didn't want a ton of hard boiled eggs to eat.

Project 365-Week 14

Sunday, March 29th

We said our sad goodbyes and left the warm weather. The trip is almost all interstate except for about 4ish hours of back roads up through Payson to Holbrook. The first part is over some dipping hills. We were having a little bit of fun with the 'arms up for the rollercoaster dip.' (These are from my cell phone...the one of PHOENIX I just couldn't get just right...)

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Monday, March 30th

We arrived home at about 1:30 am. (Yes, we left a little later than planned...) The first thing I noticed when I walked into our house was how bare my walls were! No pictures, no shelves, no curtains, nothing. So I finally put up some shelves with my new plaque I picked up at Costco down in Mesa. Even Marryn noticed a difference in our home compared to Kim's. She walked around all day commenting on how small everything was. (Our kitchen table, our living room, our...trashcan?)

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Tuesday, March 31st

Put the finishing touches on one of my scrapbook pages I had created. Stapled on the felt stars. Couldn't do it at Kim's because she only had green staples. lol.

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Wednesday, April 1st

I wish it was an April's Fool Joke, but I woke up feeling like crap. I was getting over my cold, or so I thought.... So the kids did their own things. Which for the girls included fighting over the cute new doodle pro I found (on clearance) at Frys (the AZ version of King Soopers or Kroger).

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Thursday, April 2nd

Again I woke up feeling pretty yucky, so Joey called in sick (he too wasn't feeling great...) and I made a doctor's appointment. Only problem: don't have a doctor yet. But the place down the street managed to squeeze me in nevertheless. But before I could even go, what do you know, Reganne's eye started gooping up...so took her into her doctor as well. In addition to her pink eye, she also had some minor ear infections. This is her first non-well child visit. Not bad. She has also grown an inch and a half since her birthday in Oct. 36.5 inches. She's so stinkin tall! Wears the size 3s Marryn wore last year... Anywho, after all appointments and a trip to the Pharmacy, I came home with 5 medications. Two for Reganne, antibiotics and eye drops and three for me, antibiotics (sinus infections), a nasal spray (for allergies I apparently now have) and stuff for my migraines. By that night however, both Marryn and I were using the eye drops as well...

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Friday, April 3rd

My Mesa Temple picture I had ordered arrived! I found this picture a few years ago and knew it was the one I wanted (that's where we were sealed). But it was way WAY too much (like $450 too much...). But then there they were, on display at a Costco down in Mesa. Not just half off, but a TON off. And then they shipped it to me for free! I just need to find some more colorful accessories to put up on my mantle with it...;)

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Saturday, April 4th

General Conference. I had printed off a little General Conference packet for the girls to do, and they spent the first session having fun coloring.

the hunt

We were not ready for the Easter Bunny to come on Saturday, so instead he had to brave the snow and come on Sunday. The girls were super excited. Marryn seemed like she was up at the crack of dawn (of which we made her lay in bed with us until we were ready to get up). They found the carrot cookies almost all gone as well as the carrot sticks (per Marryn's request "I think the Easter Bunny would like some carrots.") And they also found some fun presents he left. Reganne's favorite being "another Move It Move It movie" (aka Madagascar 2). They also each got a little something from Grandma Georgia and Papa, some baking and ice cream toys! We didn't make it to church though. So much for the cute Easter outfits they all got. Christian was still getting over his pink eye (yes, just as I thought we all were over it, he got it!), Marryn was having major meltdowns and Reganne was in the mists of being potty trained. To top it off, it as snowing like crazy. So I stayed home with the kids and Joey went by himself.

dying eggs