A very, very cute baby

Some recent pictures.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

....for a few more days. Then Christmas can begin!!! :)

Baby Sleep Seminar

Disclaimer: The following ideas are my own opinions. All babies are different and all people parent differently. Do what works for you.
Okay, I just wanted to post about this because I thought it was so dang funny. I attended a Baby Sleep Seminar at Babies R Us. The fact that I even went is quite comical. I wasn't sure what to expect but I thought any advice about getting a baby to sleep through the night would be good advice.
First of all, I didn't really gain any new knowledge: establish a bedtime routine, blah, blah, blah. Let me just begin by telling you that the woman giving the seminar was a doula, postpartum doula, and massage therapist. Forgive me now if you love your doula and swear by them (they may be great; she told us she gave a lady a 5 hour massage during labor), but we can all agree that they have strong opinions in some areas of pregnancy, labor, motherhood, etc.
Let's just say I felt like I was at a La Leche Seminar for Baby Sleep Habits. Not necessarily pushing breastfeeding, but psycho like those people (though she did have some pretty funny "statistics" about how breastfed babies have a higher IQ and all that nonsense...I had to tell the girl that bottle fed that she was still a good mom). The woman was a huge proponent for breastfeeding, co-sleeping, attachment parenting in general. That's fine. Not for me, but it works for some people. I just thought it was funny how she made it sound that it was the righteous way of parenting. One attendee asked about how long you should let a baby cry. 10 minutes. Fine. I don't necessarily agree, but here are the "facts" that I found amusing: "After 10 minutes of crying, babies will literally pass out." You'd think more people would know about this if it were actually true. And my personal favorite, "Studies have shown that babies who are left to cry it out have a 20% higher chance of being in prison." I kid you not. I almost laughed out loud. I should have.
So I asked about Reed's catnaps. She said, "sucks for you." Thanks. So it sounds I can't do much about it on my own...unless I want to try wearing my baby constantly in a sling. I know, Kevin sells them but I'm still not a huge fan. Anyway, kind of a waste of time but funny nonetheless.

Halloween Dinner

Our friends Ammon and Cassidy had the coolest Halloween dinner this weekend. I was very much impressed. Cassidy is so incredibly creative, she could give Martha Stewart a run for her money. Here are some samples of the menu: witch fingers, mummy faces, eyeballs, etc. It was such a fun night! The best part was the hosts' costumes: Cruella De'vil, the dog catcher, and their baby was a dalmation! So cute.

Roly Poly

I just thought this was the cutest and funniest picture ever! Good thing Reed isn't old enough to be embarrassed.

Weekend to weekend...

It's been a busy 10 days or so. Here were my happenings:


Also, I woke up on Saturday morning to snow flurries. I LOVE SNOW!!! I usually get phone calls from family members and sometimes friends on the first snowfall. Sure enough, my dad called right on cue. My friend Mike is the only other person I know that appreciates snow as much as I do, and that makes me happy too. I look forward to snowman-building, snowshoeing, sledding, hot chocolate, Christmas!!!, and maybe snowboarding! And Sunday morning was even better--here it is!

Body Worlds

I've been wanting to go to the Body Worlds exhibit ever since I heard it was going to be in SLC. Kevin thinks that stuff is gross, so I went with my dad. It was amazing! I highly recommend it. It was very respectful and enlightening. After seeing it, I don't know how anyone could deny there is a God. Our bodies are so complex and perfect. It also made me want to eat healthier, seeing things that happened when you didn't. Anyways, it was awesome!

Pretty Posh Boutique

A lady contacted me on Monday afternoon to be in her boutique (vinyl lettering). Setup was Wednesday, so I spent the next 2 days making vinyl boards and crafts. I enlisted help from family and friends. It was fun but a little crazy. Here are some examples of ones I made...

General Conference

I LOVE General Conference! It's like Christmas to me. I must admit, however, that it's harder to focus when you're watching a baby. But I did have a couple favorite talks: Elder Wirthlin, Elder Perry, and Sister Dalton. Conference ended too soon. :(
*Reed loves General Conference also. Too bad none of the talks mentioned sleeping through the night. ;)

How I've been thinking lately....

I got this link from a friend after we had a similar conversation recently. Sometimes I feel like maybe I'm too honest (negative) with how things are going sometimes and everyone else lives an unstressful, perfect life. Or does no one talk about their real lives? Read this, it's short and interesting:
http://segullah.org/small-epiphanies/sisters-for-sisters/#more-1225 (copy and paste)

BYU Pride

That's right. We got Bronco Mendenhall's (BYU head coach) autograph on Reed's onesie. We went to the Bronco Radio Show this past week and got to see Bronco up close and personal (I love that man). We almost had Bronco sign it while Reed was wearing it, but I wasn't sure if that was safe. And sadly, Reed isn't allowed to wear it anymore. We will be framing it soon and will have to get Reed another BYU onesie.