Quiet Book

I have been wanting to make a quiet book for the longest time, but it was just way too overwhelming.  I then came across a blog on pinterest that said they did a quiet book exchange.  She got 10 people together and they each created a page and made 10 copies of that page and then they swapped.  It was perfect!  So I found 9 girls in my ward who also wanted to make one.  We set some guidelines (found also on pinterest) and gave everyone 2 1/2 months to make them.  

When my mom came out in May to babysit the kids while we went to New Orleans, she helped me make the pages.  She did almost all the work and without her I'd probably pull my hair out.  We ended up doing two pages since someone dropped out last minute.  My moms amazing.  She did so much while she was here.  Brad made the comment she did more to our house in just under a week then we could do in a year.  She did some small fix it jobs around the house, redecorated, organized my pantry and cabinets better, and bought some cute little finishing touches to our still somewhat bare house.  I asked her how she did it with the two kids and she said it was exhausting.  I know the feeling.

My mom at the sewing machine.  I pulled out the sewing machine a week or two ago to finish one of the pages and Carson told me "thats Grandmas machine."  Shows you how much I sew.  After my mom left something broke in our house and I couldn't fix it Carson said "don't worry mom, grandma will fix it".  If only she lived closer.

Anyway back to the quiet book.  So after 2 1/2 months we got the girls together to swap our pages.  We had pizza and prizes for the most trips to the store etc... It was really fun and the pages turned out so cute!  I'm so glad we did this.

Some of us girls showing off our pages:

From top left to right:  tic tac toe, shoe tying, Jonah and the whale, Mr Potato Head, flower button, a Garden, Noah's Ark, hair braiding. (Missing two pages from girls who where out of town)

8 Months

Weight: 17.4

I feel like life has returned back to its normal pace.  It seemed like the first 6 months of Tanners life just FLEW by and each month I felt genuinely surprised that another month had passed us by.  Now although he continues to grow in leaps and bounds I'm not as caught off guard.  

It was funny though, because Tanner's new favorite thing is to crawl to the dvd player and turn it on and pull out the movie that was in it, and I thought "wow, he is so smart!", but I was looking back on my blog to when Carson was 8 months and I wrote the same thing.  So I guess (at least for my boys) this is the age where they hit the milestone of really liking/understanding technology.  

In other news Tanner likes to pull himself up to stand.  More specifically he likes to pull himself up to stand on Carson's train table, grab a train and try to put it back on the track, or rip apart the tracks all together.  Tanner LOVES this, and of course Carson does not.  

As I've mentioned in my previous post he is now crawling on his hands and knees and climbing stairs. Hmmmmm lets see what else?...Oh he FINALLY said ma ma tonight, before it has always been da da.   He is growing up and turning into such a big boy! 

Big Boy Changes are Happening

These boys are growing up!  Its fun and sad at the same time.  I love seeing them grow and do new things, but it also makes me sad that they're not my little babies anymore.  

Tanner started crawling on his hands and knees yesterday!  He's been getting around just fine doing his army crawl and although he would get on his hands and knees often he couldn't figure out the hand movements, but then yesterday it must have just clicked and he took off!  Just to add to his exciting day he also crawled up the stairs to give mom a heart attack.  He is such a climber.  I already know he's going to give mom a run for her money.  I guess I need to dig around for our baby gate...

Then one day Carson woke up and its now cool to be into Superheroes.  It all started when he got a package of Batman Bingo from my aunt and uncle.  He loves it.  So when my mom came down to watch him she made him his very own superheroes cape.  She nicknamed him Captain Stingray since it has a similar shape and color.  He loves to pretend to go super fast and have super powers like IronMan and Spiderman.  So he now has big boy avengers underwear and I caved in an bought him a Spiderman toy.  He loves it.  So we're gradually growing out of trains and although its sad to see him leave this stage in life I have to admit Superheroes are pretty Awesome!

Senior Pictures

Its been a year full of Graduates!  First Brad, then my younger brother, and now these two ladies.  My cousins wife (what does that make her my cousin in-law?) graduated from the U of A this spring and then asked me if I knew any photographers, which you all know I do.  So I called a friend and asked if she could take some pictures of Stephanie, but if I could also tag along and take some just for practice.  Then my only Laurel in YW graduated from High School, but never got any Senior pictures and of course you have to get senior pictures so I offered to take some for her.  Like I said I'm VERY new at this, and no professional by any means, but it was fun shooting these girls.  So I thought I'd post some of my favs.

Stephanie:

Rose:

Swim Lessons!

For the past two weeks Carson has been taking swimming lessons!  Carson has always been a cautious boy, and so when he is in the pool he prefers to be on the steps or in the toddler pool.  Living in Arizona swimming is a must so we signed him up!  He was very hesitant at first because he doesn't like getting his face wet or not feeling secure in the water (he will cling to you like his life depended on it), but after a few lessons he loved doing the monkey crawl and now loves being on a noodle.  He has become a little fish and is always asking to go to the pool.  Swimming lessons are over, but we always run into his swimming teacher giving private lessons at the pool and Carson always tries to butt in wanting lessons too.  He loves his new independence at the pool and I'm so proud of how far he has come in just a few short weeks.  We'll have to sign him up for the second round of lessons!

Excited for his first day of swim lessons!

An Update on the Tan Man

I mentioned earlier that Tanner would not take a bottle or sippy cup while we were in New Orleans and even after I got home he wouldn't nurse.  After being home a week I was getting concerned.  Summer is starting and he needs to stay hydrated.  It was very upsetting and I was trying to do everything the internet said.  I even called a lactation consultant to see if she could help, but she only told me things I already knew.  So I took him to the pediatrician.  She was very concerned.  Although he was not dehydrated she was still worried that he didn't want to drink so she took some blood tests and a urine sample via catheter (it was the saddest thing ever!) To see if there was an underlying reason as to why he won't drink.  All the tests came back normal and she said I just have one stubborn baby!  Great.  

Tanner is still his happy little self though and aside from drinking he's perfect!

 His first Oreo cookie.  Brad gave it to him (don't all dads?)  He of course loved it.

Its now been 2 weeks since we've been home and we've gotten creative when it comes to keeping him hydrated.  I pump and put the milk in his rice cereal, I've frozen my milk into popsicles which he LOVES, and we've been giving him watermelon.  Then just today he took a sippy cup and gulped it down like he hadn't had anything to drink forever (which he hadn't).  It was such a relief!  He still won't nurse, and it was a little heartbreaking at first, but I've moved on and am now just happy he's drinking!

New Orleans! The Nightlife.

New Orleans is one of the most haunted cities in America. So of course on our first night in New Orleans we went on a haunted tour through the French Quarter.  The tour we went on was more on the historical side, but it was still a little cheesy.  It was really fun though.  Here is our tour guide.

One of the buildings we learned was haunted is actually the oldest pharmacy in America.  It was built in the early 1800s and after the first owner passed away it was bought by Dr. Dupas.  It was said that he would do experiments on his costumers and especially slave pregnant women.  He even had a trap door where he would dump his bodies that lead into the ally where a wagon would be waiting to take them away.  Apparently his spirit is so negative that pregnant women who pass by get sick or shortness of breath.

This home actually belonged to Nicholas Cage.  One of the first days after Nicholas Cage bought the home he went on a haunted tour and they stopped at his house and Nicholas Cage said "this is my house!"  The tour guide said "I know."  Unbeknownst to Nicholas Cage he actually bought the most haunted house in New Orleans.  A socialite woman who lived here was a sociopath.  She loved to torture her slaves and mutilate the bodies.  She killed one servant girl for not doing her hair right.  When it was discovered what this woman was doing the lawman and townsfolk came after her and her husband.  They unfortunately escaped to France.

One night Nicholas Cage went to bed and felt someone come into bed with him.  He immediately got out of bed and the mattress raised up after him.  

After Nicholas Cage went on this tour he invited some ghost hunters into his house where they found lots of paranormal activity going on.  Needless to say Nicholas Cage would never spend the night at that house after that.  It is also rumored that whoever owns this house something tragic happens ie: Nicholas Cage went Bankrupt.  An oil tycoon owns it now and our tour gide made a side comment "for now"

 

So the highlight of our tour was when we stopped at the "vampire of New Orleans" Jacques St. Germain.  An aristocrat who loved the ladies.  One night a women jumped out of a window from the second story building onto the street.  She told the bystanders who tried to help her that St. Germain attacked her and tried to bite her.  She died later that night.  Once again St. Germain escaped, but police found bottles of wine filled with blood.  Apparently he liked to drink blood.  Hence the nickname of New Orleans Vampire.  As our tour guide was finishing his speech (he also made it know that this house was NOT haunted) a women appeared on the gallery (like a balcony) and asked if we would like a tour of her house!  Of course we did!  Our tour guide was ecstatic!  He was texting all his tour guide friends and taking lots of pictures.  He kept saying "this NEVER happens"

The grande staircase:

Back in the day you were taxed by how many doors you had so instead they turned windows into doors.  Here is a picture of us standing in the door/window to the gallery.

The house was of course gorgeous and is the owners vacation home.  Wish I could have a multi million dollar vacation home.  Although maybe minus the vampire history.

A look at St. Louis Cathedral at night.

New Orleans streets are lined with real gas lanterns throughout the city.  Its beautiful.

Of course we had to go on Bourbon Street.  One night we were even there while they where filming an episode of True Blood.  We waited to see the actors, but it was taking too long for whatever reason so we just left.

The first blacksmith turned into tavern.

and whats New Orleans without some Voodoo?

and we HAD to go to some Jazz Clubs.  You can't go to New Orleans without hearing some amazing Jazz.  We went to two clubs the Snug Harbor and Preservation Hall.   Snug Harber felt like your typical Jazz club.  A small private room with a few round tables and a stage.  It was really good, but sometimes I felt that the singers took over and you didn't get much of the band.  My favorite was Preservation Hall (Brad prefered Snug Harber).  It was in this super tiny room about the size of my living room.  No AC just fans, benches (just two rows), and the rest was just standing room only.  It was in this whole of the wall place, yet it was the BEST music!  The trumpet player was incredible!  It only lasted just 45 minutes and I loved every minute of it.

Unfortunately you're not allowed to take pictures of the band while playing (understably), but hopefully these pictures gives you a glimpse of what felt like.

It was a such fun, relaxing, celebratory trip, and like I said before a much needed break for Brad and I.  New Orleans is such a unique place.  They have their own culture, food, music, love for life, and are very resillant.  I'm definately a fan and am so grateful to Brad for graduating and taking me on this wonderful trip.