If you can't say something nice...

Kalianna is a really good baby! Matt and I realize how lucky we are to have our first one be so happy and easy-going. But we are constantly hearing things like "You just wait. Your next one is going to be a screamer" or "She might be a good baby, but that means she'll be a terrible toddler" or "We hate you and want you to be as miserable as we are". No, no one has actually said the last one to us, but they might as well have. I don't understand why it is the norm in our society to bring the people around us down. I guess the saying really is true; misery loves company!

I have cared for approximately 73 children over the last 13 years. (I actually sat down and tried to count this morning. Those are just the ones I can remember and that's not counting friends who came over to play or all the kids I've taught in preschool and primary.) Out of those 73 kids, 33 have been boys and 40 have been girls. They range from 5 weeks old to 13 years old and I've dealt with a huge variety of personalities and temperaments. I've dealt with everything from a screaming baby for 3 solid hours to doing the Heimlich on a choking 4 year old to gushing blood from broken glass to cleaning urine off a brand new armchair because of a potty training 3 year old to temper tantrums at the grocery store to biting and pinching and kicking and hitting and screaming at both me and siblings. I can't say I've seen it all, but I sure have seen a lot! So with all these experiences (both good and bad) I really don't need people telling me how my next one is going to be awful. Why can't you just let me enjoy my happy, perfect baby for the time being? I am well aware of the fact that every child is different and the chance of all our babies being as good as Kalianna is basically non-existent. But that doesn't mean I need to hear it on a daily basis. Why do you want to take away my current happiness? My mom is one of the few people who has never made a negative comment or said something mean. At our family reunion a cousin made a comment about not being ready for motherhood and my mom said, "Oh no; Stacy was ready! I've never worried about her!" Thanks mom! It made me feel super good! Why can't more people make encouraging comments instead of negative ones?

Along the same lines, one of my absolute biggest pet peeves is when I hear parents say to their children "I hope you have one just like you". Which is basically the same thing as saying "I hope you are as miserable as I am some day." Don't we want our kids to have a better life and an easier time than we did? When my mom got married, they didn't have a lot of money so she had to make her own dress and have a very simple wedding. So when each of us got married, my mom made sure we got what we wanted and that each of us had a beautiful dress and reception. If she had followed this same logic, she would have said "We're not giving you any money because I had to suffer, so I want you to suffer too." Wouldn't it be more Christlike to say "I hope you never have one like you" and then when we inevitably do, give good advice and help your children deal with them instead of sitting back and enjoying their trials? I don't understand why we like watching other people suffer. Especially people we care about! It just seems mean to me. So I suggest thinking before you speak. And keep in mind the good advice from Thumper's dad, "If you can't say somethin' nice, don't say nothin' at all!"

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!

80's Party

Saturday night was Suzy's birthday party. The theme...80's. We had so much fun! Although it was pretty scary when we went shopping at Ross and had a good selection of 80's clothes to choose from. Honestly, whose idea was it to bring the 80's look back?! We didn't even have to buy anything for Kalianna's costume, she already had the leggings and headband and someone gave us her 80's style shirt as a gift shortly after she was born.

Our cute 80's baby
Stylin' mommy
Don't you just love Matt's ensemble?

Our little 80's family

Uncle Bryan
Me, Suzy and Breezy. Although we were all born in the 80's, we were never old enough to wear these clothes.

Suzy's doughnut birthday cake

Suzy opening presents

Playing one of the funnest games ever! Matt and I won the first time we played. Go team Carroll! Then for the next game we thought it would be fun to put all our names in a bowl to draw partnerships. Bryan and Matt won the second time around. Which means Matt rocks at this game! How you play is everyone gets four pieces of paper and they write down a word or a phrase or something on each of the pieces of paper. Some examples from our game were "Don't drink draino" or "99 red balloons" or "policeman handcuffing Suzy" or even just one word "water". Everyone folds their papers and puts them in a big bowl. Then you go around the circle and each partnership has one minute to get as many of the papers as they can. Round one: You try and get your partner to guess what is on the paper by describing it. No actions and no saying any of the words on the paper. Like Catchphrase. You keep going in a circle, each partnership getting one minute at a time until all the papers are gone. Count how many you got and then the papers all get re-folded and put back in the bowl. Round two: Each partnership gets one minute again, but this time there is no talking allowed. You can only act it out. When you run out of papers, count them up and put them back in the bowl again. Round three: You can only use ONE action or ONE word (can't be on the paper) to get your partner to guess what it is. The fun thing is this is your third time playing with the same papers so you have to remember what a phrase could be by one simple action. This game is so much fun!! If any of you have a party coming up, I totally recommend playing. And if you invite me, I will demonstrate how to play! =-)

Fun Adventures

I keep meaning to post about all the fun stuff we've done the last couple weekends. I have a lot of catching up to do, so I'll just give a brief overview.

Two Thursdays ago we celebrated my sister, Theresa's, birthday by going to her sister-in-law's dad's swimming pool. The weather decided to be a little chilly and the water was pretty cold, but we still had a blast! Kalianna looked adorable in her little swimsuit! The water was too cold, she didn't really care for me putting her feet in the water, so we sat by the edge and watched everyone else play. It was nice just sitting by the pool and enjoying a day with the girls. I love summer!Then two Saturdays ago we went to the air show at Hill Air Force Base with several people in my family. We were afraid the super loud jets (is there any other volume for a jet?) would scare Kalianna, but she just slept through them. I guess it pays to live in Layton since we hear the jets all the time anyway. It was cool to watch the different jets and planes; we had a good time!The first Sunday of the month we went to my cousin's daughter's baby blessing. Its always fun to get together with family and eat yummy food!

Then this last Friday night we had a picnic dinner with our friends Brian and Anna. It was perfect weather and after eating we (okay so I held Kalianna and watched, but everyone else participated) went long boarding in the church parking lot. Then we went back to our house and watched MST3K. Aka: Mystery Science Theater 3000. They are so funny! If you've never watched one, I recommend them for a good laugh! They are especially fun to watch with a big group of friends. We joked about making our own MST3K with the movie Twilight (Brian and Anna thought it was as dumb as I did).

Saturday we went to the Scottish festival at Thanksgiving Point with our friends Nate and Melissa and their son, Craig. We really enjoyed the music and watching the activities and competitions. We also had fun wandering the different booths and, of course, tasting the food. We didn't get very many pictures though.Sunday we had our monthly dinner/games with Matt's family and then Monday night we had a barbecue with my old roommate Stacy and her husband Spencer and two kids.

So we've had some pretty busy weekends lately! And there are more busy weekends in the future!