Halloween Costumes

Okay, I realize Halloween is still more than a month away but you have to understand one thing. I LOVE Halloween!!! Not just like it or find it fun, if there was a holiday I could marry, this would be it! (Sorry Matt.) Although Matt loves it as much as I do. I LOVE the decorations, I LOVE the candy, I LOVE finding/making costumes, I LOVE getting dressed up, I LOVE spook houses, and I LOVE scary movies! When September hits, I practically count down the days until October 1st so I can put up my decorations. That being said, I've been trying to decide what to dress Kalianna up as for her first Halloween. Yesterday I went to the Halloween store with my sister to get ideas and we now have it narrowed down to three ideas.

1. A spider. They had a super cute spider costume for babies! It was pretty inexpensive and would fit up to 2 years. All we have to do is change out the black leggings as she grows. Also with this, Matt or I could wear a pig nose and be Wilbur.

2. A monkey. Again, they had a super cute monkey costume for babies, and we do call Kalianna our little monkey a lot. I also thought it would be way cute if Matt dressed as an organ grinder! However, the monkey costume was more expensive.

3. Pebbles. We saw a costume for Wilma Flinstone and thought it would be super cut to dress Kalianna as Pebbles! I know I could make her costume fairly easily as well. Plus Matt as Fred and me as Wilma...too cute! However, we don't know for sure if Matt and I are going to dress up. So would this costume still be as cute on its own?

Thoughts?

Our Lil' Cowgirl

I know the hat is too big (it came from a build-a-bear) but its still cute!Yesterday was a fabulous Labor Day! Ricci's grandparents have horses, so Matt and Kalianna and I met her and Bryan yesterday morning to go riding. We met up with her grandparents and had tons of fun! It was both Matt and Kalianna's first time riding a horse! She was very interested every time one of them whinnied. After our horse-riding expedition, we went to my parents house for lunch and to play games. Then at about 4:00pm my other siblings and grandparents came over for a barbecue. We had lots of yummy food and after dinner, we played with water balloons. I got soaked! I don't have any pictures of the water balloon toss, just the horses from that morning. Sorry.

5 Months

Kalianna is five months old today! She is rolling over great now (stomach to back) and she is loving getting to try new foods. She is talking constantly, which people at church find very entertaining, and she even has sounded like she's said "mom" a couple times (though I'm sure it wasn't on purpose). She gets cuter by the day! I can usually get her to giggle fairly easily now. She is much more interested in toys and she is absolutely fascinated with the dogs. She even "barks" with them sometimes. The other day was a true test of Sobaka's patience. He was laying next to her, licking her hand, and Kalianna grabbed his tongue. She had it in a vise grip, but Sobaka just laid there and patiently waited for mommy to come to the rescue. Kalianna keeps getting taller and taller! She has grown almost an inch for every pound she has gained since birth! A lot of her onesies fit fine through the waist, but are too short. She has a long torso. She's getting better at sitting up, but can't do it on her own yet without falling forward. She is such a happy, loving little girl! We don't know what we ever did before she joined our family!

The Little Mermaid Debate

Matt does not like Disney's "The Little Mermaid" for the following 4 reasons:
1. She is scantily clad through most of the movie
2. She disobeys her father
3. She practices witchcraft
4. And then she gets everything she wants

I love "The Little Mermaid"! I think the music is fantastic, the story is fun and everyone lives happily ever after. I keep trying to explain to Matt that little girls don't see the movie the way he sees it. They just think its a fun, happy movie.

The other day I turned on "The Little Mermaid" cause I hadn't seen it in a long time. Kalianna really liked the bright colors as the fish swam around on screen. I sent a text picture to Matt at work of her playing with the movie box. He was horrified. I still love "The Little Mermaid". Matt still doesn't.

First Solids!

aka rice cereal. And she loved it! Still getting the hang of eating with a spoon, but she was definitely ready for solids and gobbled it up!

Gotta Love This Face

Falling asleep on mommy's shoulder

Free Sunday

First of all, Kalianna rolled over for the first time this morning!! And it was right in front of me so I got to see it. I tried to get her to do it again for daddy, but I guess once was enough for today.

When Matt and I took Institute together, there was a girl in our class who had never heard of General Conference. She was raised in the church but her parents called it "free Sunday" and twice a year they'd go boating on that Sunday or something. Sad, huh? (And yes, also a little funny). Well that's what we've been jokingly calling today. With the Oquirrh Mountain temple dedication, all church meetings have been canceled. Matt and I didn't get tickets, but we are enjoying the day together before school starts this week. Sleeping in, naps, we just finished lunch and now we are going to go on a nice walk together. Its a beautiful day!

4 Months

Kalianna turned four months on Saturday! Yesterday she had her 4 month checkup and shots. She is now 25.4 inches long. Which puts her in the 89%tile for height! Whereas she weighs 13 lbs 2 oz (38%tile for weight). She's a tall, skinny girl just like her mom! Kalianna's personality is becoming more and more distinct. She is starting to really giggle, which is the best sound in the world! She can completely hold her head up on her own now and she's getting closer with rolling over. She almost never stops talking, which makes going to church or restaurants or anywhere lots of fun. =) She has also learned how to make raspberry sounds with her mouth. She is also much more interested in toys; she has a couple dog rattles that she loves. And everything is starting to go in the mouth. I can't wait till she can start trying new foods.

Best Friends

This is Kalianna with her friend, Lucy Grace Pelton. I've mentioned Lucy's mom, Jill, in the past. We were pregnant at the same time. Lucy is 6 weeks younger than Kalianna, can you believe it? They are about the exact same size! Except Kalianna has much longer legs. Back when we were pregnant, Jill and I bought these matching little skirts for the girls to wear...and now they fit! Lucy and Kalianna were blessed on the same day, but Jill and I never got a chance to get their picture taken together, so yesterday we put them in their dresses again. Don't they look like little princesses? They may be about the same size, but it was amazing the difference between them! Kalianna is a lot more active and aware and talkative! Lucy fell asleep, but we could barely get Kalianna to hold still long enough to get a decent picture. It was so funny! And yes, Kalianna spit up all over herself after the first picture. At one point they were holding hands, and it was super cute! But of course we weren't fast enough with our cameras.

Kalianna's Blessing

Kalianna's blessing was yesterday and it was a wonderful day! She looked beautiful in her big white dress and Matt did a great job with her blessing. We had lots of support! Kalianna had 15 men in her circle. I don't know how they would have all fit if everyone had been able to make it! Some people had to leave right after sacrament meeting, but the rest of us stayed and enjoyed the rest of our meetings. (Several years ago the first presidency asked that when blessing a baby or sending off a missionary, etc. you attend all three meetings and not skip out after sacrament. I am a very blue personality in that I like following the rules and it bothers me when other people don't.) After the church block we headed over to our house for lunch. We visited for awhile with family and close friends before everyone took off. I think Kalianna was getting tired of being passed around so much. She started getting fussy towards the end. Then when it was back to just the three of us, she was all smiles! We had a great day! Thanks to all those who came to show your support!!

Most of the guys who were in the circle.

Kalianna and Daddy
Our beautiful girl

Happy Independence Day!

3 Months!

Kalianna is three months old today! She is getting much better at holding her head up, though she's not all the way there yet. She is also completely sleeping through the night now, a good 7 1/2-9 hours a night! (Its okay, I know you're jealous.) Kalianna has been focusing on the things around her more. She enjoys watching Sobaka and Kutse, but her favorite things are lights and fans. She loves music! But she prefers upbeat tempos to anything slow. And she continues to be the happiest baby. She will just talk and talk and talk. She is getting closer to laughing and we can't wait to hear her when the giggles start!
**As a side note: Kalianna had her appointment with the cardiologist yesterday and everything looked perfect! Her heart murmur is completely gone. And Matt and I have decided to go with the bow for her blessing. Matt liked the bow and I liked the headband. After the votes kept pretty even, we decided to put her in the blessing dress and we both agreed the bow looks better with her dress than the headband. Thanks for all the votes though! (except the one person who voted for the bonnet. Whats that about?? =) )

Blessing Headwear

Kalianna's blessing is coming up in July. I bought her the most beautiful little dress! I love it!! Well the dress came with this bonnet:I'm not sure I really like it, especially cause it looks so big on her. So please help me decide if I should have her wear the bonnet, a white headband, or just a simple little bow on her head. Vote for what you think would be the cutest in the right column. Please just vote once. Thanks for the help!

Babies & Rap

Have you ever seen this episode of friends? Its one of my favorites. Pretty darn funny! Kalianna and I had an experience the other day that totally reminded me of this.
I was catching up on my blog reading while Kalianna sat next to me in her bouncy chair. I clicked on my friend Whitney's blog and music from her playlist started. It happened to be on the song "Dont Cha" by the Pussycat Dolls. Well Kalianna started smiling and talking like crazy and she was dancing in her chair. I thought it was funny. Well then I closed Whitney's blog and opened my friend Kim's where she had instrumental music playing from the Two Towers soundtrack. Kalianna started crying. No joke. Sorry Kim! I guess my girl is all about the rap and hip hop music. Nothing soft and instrumental for her!

Baby Piercings

How do you feel about babies who have their ears pierced? Would you ever pierce your baby girl's ears? I'm just curious because a few people have asked me if I plan on piercing Kalianna's ears. I think piercing a baby's ears if kind of mean. You cant say "This will only hurt for a minute" or "we're doing this to make you pretty". A baby is not going to understand. I also think a girl should be able to choose if she wants her ears pierced or not. And I don't think a child needs their ears pierced until they are old enough to care for it themselves. Matt and I have settled on age nine (its a long story why). But if Kalianna wants here ears pierced, I will take her for her ninth birthday. This is just my opinion. Everyone is entitled to their own. Whats yours?

Kalianna's Nursery

With Kalianna coming early, her nursery didn't quite get finished until she was about a month old. And then I forgot to post pictures of the finished product! So here is her beautiful Tinkerbell nursery.

This is on the door to her room

Here is a picture of her hutch

Here is the wall you are facing as you enter her room

The wall to your left complete with crib and Tinkerbell saying on the wall

Final wall with pictures from her in the hospital, her changing table, which I love! (if you remember that post from awhile back) and my glider that I also love (which was also a KSL find)

The wall directly to the right of the door when you first walk in her room is just her closet and I didn't think that would make a very interesting picture

2 Months

Kalianna at 1 weekKalianna at 1 month

Kalianna at 2 months

Kalianna is now two months old! At birth she was 6 lbs 2 oz and was 19 1/2" long. As of yesterday, she is 10 lbs 7 oz and is 22" long. She has been such an incredible blessing! She has learned to smile and is constantly happy. She is such a good baby; always calm and happy (unless she is hurt). She had her vaccinations yesterday and was smiling and cooing the entire time at the doctor's office...until they poked her. Then she cried the most pitiful cry ever. She is doing great at night, usually giving me a good 5-6 hour stretch between feedings. Last night she slept 8 hours. She is also doing much better at going to sleep on her own (we learned this trick from a great book Meredith gave me). She does great with "tummy time" and can keep her head up for quite a while. She got her daddy's skin and can not only pull off any color, but she looks beautiful in any color. Nothing fazes her, she is very go-with-the-flow (kinda like her parents). We took our first family trip to a friend's cabin over memorial weekend and she was fantastic! I love her more than anything and can't wait to continue watching her grow!

My Little Fairy

After looking at all the cute pictures Aubrey took of Kalianna, especially the ones where she is dressed like a little fairy, I was inspired one night while feeding her to write this poem. Thanks Aubrey for the inspiration!

My Little Fairy

I traveled up to heaven, one night while in my dreams
to capture me a fairy, using a net with golden seams

I entered in the gate to see the flower garden of love
the colors flashed like only flowers can do that are grown above

I tiptoed through the gardens to find the most wonderful of scenes
there atop a tulip slept my fairy amid the plushest greens

Her shimmery lavender wings did sparkle in the sun
The net closed in like a blanket on my newfound little one

Several months went by and I could feel the fluttering of wings
deep inside myself - movements that a growing fairy brings

More time passed as my fairy continued to grow and grow
Then one night it was time to meet the one I'd come to know

The tiny bundle was placed in my arms and sure enough it did seem
this was the very same fairy from my garden-seeking dream

With tiny petal lips and the skin of a thorn-less rose
Her deep eyes and reaching lashes slowly began to close

Her stem-like arms and legs curled up tight like a little ball
Her perfect sleeping face made me think of a porcelain doll

I thought I'd caught a fairy, but in reality
the beautiful little fairy really captured me

Newborn Pictures

Doesn't she make the most beautiful fairy you've ever seen? My roommate from Utah State, Aubrey, did Kalianna's newborn pictures last week. They turned out so beautiful! Not that there was any doubt, with Kalianna being the subject! If you'd like to see the rest of her portraits, follow the link (the username is stacy and the password is kalianna). Aubrey posted all the pictures for Matt and I to see, so there are quite a few to skim through. If grandparents or aunts/uncles want copies of anything, let me know so we can add them to our order. And if anyone needs pictures done, I highly recommend Aubrey. She does fantastic work!

Tulip Festival

Yesterday Kalianna and I went with Bryan and his girlfriend, Ricci, and her mom to Thanksgiving Point to the Tulip Festival. Tulips are both mine and Ricci's favorite flowers. We had so much fun! And of course it was beautiful! Kalianna did great. Dawn (Ricci's mom) had the best idea for some pictures; we laid Kalianna down on a blanket in the middle of a bunch of flowers. She looked so cute! She drew quite a crowd too and several strangers asked if they could also take pictures of her. It was a beautiful day and I really enjoyed being out in the sun and going for a long walk. Ricci is leaving soon to do a semester in Brazil, so this was our last chance to spend some time with her. We'll miss you Ricci!!