3 Months

PJ at 3 months:

*Sucks her thumb.
*Loves to smile at whoever will look at her.
*Sleeps through the night - usually goes down about 9:00 pm, wakes up at 5:00 am to eat, and then goes back to sleep until about 8:00 am.
*Is doing better at naps. Usually it only takes her a few minutes to fall asleep and she doesn't scream too much. Occassionally it will take her longer and she'll scream her head off, but those times are becoming more and more rare. I can usually expect her to nap for 40 minutes - I'm hoping that will gradually get longer.
*Likes to sit in the bumbo and be part of the group.
*Grabs onto my hair and holds on tight.
*Is starting to pick up toys that are in her reach and put them in her mouth.
*Has laughed a few times.
*Squeals when she is happy.
*Has started drooling a lot.
*Will have conversations with us - we'll copy what noises she's making and she'll make them back at us.
*Is usually very happy and content, but if she is upset she will definitely let you know!
*Likes watching the ceiling fan.

We love our Pudgy Peej!

Crafting

For the first time since March I was able to add some new decorations for the month!

I bought this flag last year. I know this isn't how a real USA flag goes. It should start and end with a red stripe and the light blue stripes should be white... But this is how I wanted to do it!



I found this printable here.



And I added a piece to my July Shadow Box. I love the Utah for Pioneer Day. I will display it no matter where life takes us because wherever we live, my heart will always be in Utah!



Yay for finally being able to finish some crafts again!

Water Fun and Pioneer Day

Last weekend started off with some water fun. Friday afternoon our blow-up pool arrived. It looked like it was going to rain, so we set it up in the garage. Corbyn loved it that day and he has loved it every time since then too! That's what we call a great purchase!



Saturday morning we went to Seven Peaks. We took Corbyn on the Avalanche slide for the first time. We rode it many times and each time as soon as we got to the bottom he'd say, "Again, again!"



That night we went to Spanish Fork's Fiesta Days Carnival with Bill and Mariah. We saw this Toy House and knew we wouldn't be able to leave without taking Corbyn in. It was $3 a person, so Rog took him and I stayed behind with Peyton.



Apparently it was the dumbest thing ever and hardly had any Toy Story stuff on the inside. Oh well.



After that we spent $7 on a funnel cake.



And just enjoyed the evening chatting it up with Bill and Mariah.



Peyton got a little dusted in powdered sugar from the funnel cake.



On Tuesday (Pioneer Day) Rog had to work, so sadly it was just a regular day for us. Bill was awesome and agreed to come watch our sleeping kids for us while we went to the fireworks that night. We got a snow cone (tiger's blood, pina colada, and blue raspberry, so it was red, white, and blue) and then found a spot to watch the fireworks. They were supposed to start at 10:15. Unfortunately the rodeo went really long, so the fireworks didn't start until about 10:55. (They couldn't start until after the rodeo was over.) We had told Bill we'd try to be home by 11:00, so we only watched a few minutes and then headed home. It was the first time we'd watched fireworks since the 4th of July in 2009, so even though it was a short show for us, we still enjoyed it.



It was a fun weekend playing in the water and celebrating the 24th of July!

Something...

I've been meaning to do this post since Corbyn's birthday. Yes, over a month ago. The longer I wait, the more ridiculous it seems to do it, but I think it will be fun to look back and remember what things we gave him through the years with this system of gift giving.

Something you want: Toy Story Legos. We thought legos would be fun. We picked the Great Train Chase because he also likes trains.



Something you need: Toy Story Take and Toss Cups and Monkey Hooded Towel. Yeah, we cheated on this one by getting him 2 things. The cups were so cheap and he was in real need of a new towel.

Something to wear: Toy Story Helmet. To go with his Toy Story tricycle he got from his Grandma and Grandpa Ririe (see below).

Something to read: Sandra Boynton's One, Two, Three!. We love Sandra Boynton's books and this is a really cute one. We picked this one primarily because we are trying to teach him to count.

And while I am talking about birthday gifts... Here are a few other gifts I want to remember that I haven't really mentioned before.

Bill and Mariah gave him a box of Teddy Grahams. There's a pretty funny story behind that. A few weeks before Corbyn's birthday, we were over at Bill and Mariah's house and Corbyn found their Toy Story DVD on their bookshelf. He wanted to watch it and he wanted us to leave, so he could watch it with Bill. We came back to check on him and found him sitting with Bill, watching Toy Story, and eating all their Teddy Grahams. Funny kid.



Corbyn's Grandma and Grandpa Phillips got him The Incredibles (and Cars). For a few weeks The Incredibles replaced Toy Story as his favorite movie.



And as I mentioned, Corbyn's Grandma and Grandpa Ririe got him a Toy Story tricycle. He can reach the pedals and he likes when we push him around on it, but he hasn't figured out how to do it on his own yet. It's been too hot for us to practice during the day. I'm pretty sure as it cools down, we'll be out there more and more practicing and I think he'll be able to figure it out pretty quickly.



And finally Peyton had me help her make a Toy Story reusable coloring book for Corbyn. She noticed that we were always printing out coloring pages for him to color and she thought this would be better. I bought Toy Story Mini Coloring Pages, put them together with some double-sided tape, laminated them, and bound them. I did the laminating and binding at Stevenson's Genealogy in Provo - if you do the laminating and binding yourself it is super cheap! To go with the coloring pages, I got him some Crayola Dry Erase Markers that are washable, so they don't stain his hands and clothes like regular dry erase markers would. It has been a great thing to keep him busy!

{If you want to make one for your toddler, they also sell mini coloring pages in Cars, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and Princesses.}



He got some fun things!

Flashback Friday

While watching the Opening Ceremonies of the olympics tonight, I pulled out my scrapbook and found these pictures from 1996. You might recall how that summer the Magnificent Seven won the United States' first gold medal in the Women's Team Competition in Gymnastics. As a 10 year old girl, "gymnastics" became my favorite game to play with my two best friends - Amber and Jenny. We went all out with USA gear, a homemade balance beam, photo shoots, etc.

Ever since then gymnastics has been my favorite event to watch in the summer olympics, but after watching Michael Phelps dominate in the 2008 Olympics, swimming has become a very close second.

Yay for the olympics!

Five on Friday

1. Remember last week how I said Peyton was doing better at taking naps? Well I lied. After a few days of really bad naps this week, I knew it was time to make her learn to fall asleep on her own. It only took one really bad nap where I had to let her cry it out for about 30 minutes before she finally fell asleep and now she has been doing much better. (Fingers crossed it lasts this time!) Now if only she would learn to stay asleep for longer than 40 minutes, we'd be set!

2. All summer I've been meaning to buy a blow-up pool. Every time we'd go to Walmart I looked at them, but I never could decide which one to buy. This week I decided enough looking and thinking about it, I'm just going to buy something. So of course when we went to Walmart, they were all gone and the back-to-school stuff was set up in their place. So I bought one on Amazon and it arrived earlier today. (Bless you Amazon Prime!)

3. Peyton's 0-3 month clothes are getting a little snug, so this week I've been shopping for 3-6 month clothes. I was able to get a lot of good deals because summer clothes are on clearance and that's what she'll be wearing for most of the time she's in 3-6 month clothes. If it cools down in October, I'll just have to add some layers.

4. I've been looking for a good recipe for an orange creamsicle in a cookie or bar for a long time and this week I finally found one. I made these Orange Cream Dessert Squares when we went to dinner at Stacey and Derek's on Tuesday and they were just what I was looking for. I must have been in an orange mood because I also made this Caribbean Salad with Sweet Orange Vinaigrette (without the chicken because it was a side dish). It was also great!

5. Corbyn must be growing because every morning this week he has done nothing but eat! He is always asking me for cheese, yogurt, nemos (goldfish crackers), granola bars, and fruit snacks. He would live on those 5 things if I let him!

Projects

No surprise, I have a lot less free time these days. I feel like I'm doing pretty good when I get the grocery shopping, laundry, and budget done each week and fit a few runs in. My house is usually in varying degrees of a messy disaster zone. It's kind of a miracle if I get 100% ready for the day. And you've probably noticed I'm not exactly quick about getting blogs done. I'm dying to finish a craft. I have a few 4th of July projects from the Wood Connection to do. Hopefully I'll be able to finish at least one of those by the end of the month...

But we have managed to get a few small "projects" done.

We got a bookshelf to replace Corbyn's changing table. Seeing as how we haven't used it for actual diaper changing since he was about 6 months old, it was time.

Emily and Elise gave Corbyn a construction hat and a few tools for his birthday. So he had fun "helping" his dad put it together.







We also got some more bins to store toys in.



And this week when I was at Walmart I picked up a few frames to put his 1 year and 2 year picture collages in. His 1 year picture collage has been waiting to be framed for a whole year!



The second "project" was a package for Elder Jar. I was planning on doing a hump day package (July 6), but I was having a hard time coming up with ideas for that and my mom was sending one anyway. So I decided to do a 4th of July package instead. It got there a few days after the 4th of July, but I figured that was pretty good for having a new baby at our house!

Everyone in our family contributed something to the package. Corbyn colored a 4th of July picture, Peyton sent a smile in her 4th of July outfit, Rog wrote a letter, and I did a few things. I made Chex Funfetti Cake Batter Buddies with white cake mix and red, white, and blue star sprinkles. I got him some red, white, and blue candies. I made him a 4th of July Confetti Popper Rocket (that I'm pretty sure didn't make the journey to Sweden intact). And I made him a card. Printables here and here. I was pretty pleased with how it all turned out!



Yeah these "projects" may seem like nothing big (because they really aren't), but I was pleased to be able to finish them among all the other craziness at our house!

Swimming in the Rain

Last weekend we went down to St. George. We planned on spending every minute in the pool, but the weather had different plans for us. It hadn't rained in 89 days and of course it decided to end that streak by raining every day we were there! We did manage to get some pool time in between storms and had a fun weekend.

Corbyn loved being pulled around in the boat and insisted on having every single ball and duck with him at all times.



Even Peyton joined us in the boat for a few minutes.



We made sure to introduce Peyton to Cuddles.



And we took her for her first swim. I think she really enjoyed it!





Rog and Corbyn discovered that if you turn the boat upside down, you can hide under there. Corbyn thought that was pretty cool.



My dad's birthday was Tuesday (the 17th), so we made him dinner (Orange Chicken and Malt Shoppe Memories Ice Cream Cookie Cake) on Sunday to celebrate.



And gave him his birthday present - a stadium seat for the football games this year.



When we were getting in the car to leave on Sunday a huge storm hit. We thought we'd brave the storm, but we soon decided that was a bad idea. So we turned back and waited the storm out.



From the Ford manor (where we stayed), you could see that Entrada was really flooding.



While we were there Rog and my dad went golfing and we also enjoyed dinner at Applebees, visited Roger's grandparents, and took Corbyn to his first movie in a theater. (Peyton stayed home with her grandparents.) We saw Disney/Pixar's new movie Brave. It had some scary parts for a 2 year old, but he was really brave and only really got scared at the very end. It wasn't our favorite Disney/Pixar movie, but we enjoyed it. We really liked the Pixar animated short, La Luna, that played before the movie.

Thanks Mom and Dad for a fun weekend!