Cosette's First Christmas

We had a really nice Christmas this year. Cosette didn't really understand what was going on, but she still had a good time.
We went down to my parent's home in Springville on Christmas Eve. Cosette played the part of Mary in our Nativity, and her 1 1/2 year old cousin Darren played Joseph. It was pretty cute (Suzanne or Mom and Dad, do you have any pictures of that? We got video, but no pictures).
Then we spent a quiet Christmas day at home, minus the hour we went to church.
Here's our Christmas tree in the living room.
Here's Cosette enjoying one of her presents - a princess magnet from my parents. Not quite how it's meant to be used...
Cosette is playing with a Ty Beanie Ball from her Gigi and Popper (my dad's parents). Right now her favorite part of stuffed animals is their tags.
Cosette also got this adorable fancy coat from Gigi and Popper. It is now her special Sunday coat. Doesn't it make her look like a princess?
Here's her cute Christmas outfit, courtesy of Kelli Hansen (thanks Kelli!). I LOVE it!
Overall we had a very nice Christmas. Next year I'm guessing that Cosette will understand a little more of what's going on, and she might pay more attention to the gifts than to the boxes and bags they come in. :)
We hope everyone also had a good Christmas. Thank you for the wonderful gifts and well-wishes!

A Memorable Thanksgiving Weekend

Well, I must say - our first Thanksgiving with Cosette didn't turn out quite like we were planning.
On Wednesday afternoon, Cosette had a fever over 101. She wasn't too fussy - just a little clingy. So I gave her some medicine and an extra feeding before bed, hoping it would blow over.
She woke up at 3 in the morning with her fever down a bit - in the 100's now. I gave her some more medicine, fed her, and put her back down.
When she woke up later that morning, she was really congested, but her fever was down to around 99.
Jeff and I were going back and forth, trying to decide whether to still join my family for Thanksgiving dinner at my parent's house in Springville. Cosette was happy and babbling, and I thought the worst might be over. So we called my parents and told them to still plan on us coming. After talking to them, I started preparing the sweet potato dish that I was bringing for the meal. But soon after that, Cosette's fever went back into the 100's and she was wheezing more when she breathed.
So we called my parents back and let them know we would not be coming after all. (Unfortunately, I had already mashed up 3 cups of sweet potatoes, so I was committed to making the 9x13 dish for just Jeff and I.) With the combination of fever and labored breathing symptoms, we decided that we wanted a doctor to see her and rule out anything more serious (like rsv, croup, or pneumonia).
We went online to find out which places were open on Thanksgiving, and found out that there were 2 Insta Care centers open in our area - one just 10 minutes away. But when I called to ask if they had a pediatrician on staff, they informed me that they were very busy and it would likely be an hour and a half wait. What?!? I don't want my sick child waiting in a room full of sick people for that long! Fortunately, we discovered that a Kids Care center was also open. They were 20 minutes away, but they were able to schedule an appointment for us to be seen as soon as we could get there. Much better (I'm glad it wasn't Jeff or I who were sick...).
After listening to her breathe, the doctor thought that she might have croup, so she gave her some medicine to help her throat from closing up too much. We continued to monitor her for the rest of the day, checking her temperature (it stayed in the 99's) and giving her extra fluids.
Jeff and I were a little sad about missing Thanksgiving dinner, but we knew that Cosette's health and well-being was more important. I didn't want to cook dinner, so we ordered some take-out from Mimi's.
Sadly, Cosette woke up Thursday night around the time that the medicine from the doctor wore off, and she was MISERABLE. The only time she wasn't crying was when she was eating or sucking her thumb, so I'm guessing that her throat was bothering her. Jeff and I were at our wits end, not sure what to do for her. I HATED holding a crying baby and not being able to soothe her. She finally fell asleep with me in the Lay-Z-Boy, and we slept fitfully together (I thought it would be a good idea for her to stay upright so she could breathe easier). After a few hours I put her back in her crib and went back to bed.
Over the next few days, Cosette's temperature held in the low to mid 99's, she's congested, and her coughing has gotten worse, but she has continued to be happy and sweet. Fortunately, we only had the one bad night. And her congestion never got to the point where she had to struggle to breathe, thank goodness. Maybe getting the medicine from the doctor so early helped, or maybe it was never a bad case to begin with. Either way, I'm grateful that she's had a pretty mild case of croup.
Jeff and I had our Thanksgiving meal on Saturday. Jeff's work gave him a turkey, and I was planning on making a smaller second Thanksgiving dinner for us on Saturday anyway. I'm proud to say that I have now cooked a turkey. Thank you, Jeff, for all of your help. I feel like I've reached a milestone of becoming an adult. In addition to the turkey, we also had sweet potatoes (of course), mashed potatoes, gravy made from scratch (another first that I'm very proud of!), and store-bought rolls.
So, while it wasn't the Thanksgiving weekend that I was expecting to have, it was certainly one to remember. I'm grateful that Jeff got a turkey from work so that we were able to have a Thanksgiving meal at home. I'm grateful for the medical advice I've gotten from family. I'm grateful that Cosette stayed happy throughout her illness and never got super sick. I'm grateful that we only had the one bad night. And I'm grateful for the time we were able to spend together as a family this weekend.

Our Cute Pumpkin

Thanks for lending us the pumpkin costume, Suzanne!
Cosette was being such a cutie and posing for these pictures. I'm hoping she'll be this good on Saturday when we're getting our family pictures taken.
We didn't go around trick-0r-treating this year, but we did dress her up for the ward Halloween party on Saturday night.




p.s.- for those of you who didn't know, we got a new La-Z-Boy recliner for the nursery (this is what Cosette is sitting on in the pictures). I love it! It was nice having the glider rocker for the first few months, but Cosette got too big and kept banging her head on the wooden bars. So we gave it away on craigslist and got the recliner. This new chair makes both mother and baby happy. :)

Updates on Cosette's Cuteness

I thought I would share some cute Cosette pictures and stories.
Here's Cosette sitting in her toy box.
I like to give Cosette regular objects to play with. One of her favorites is my brush. Here you can see her waving it around, and then offering to share it with me.
I thought this was a cute picture of Jeff with Cosette. She sure loves her daddy.
Cosette has definitely gotten more wiggly on the changing table. She likes to turn over onto her stomach and look over the edge. And she also enjoys sucking on the edge of the changing mat, as you can see in the second picture.
As Cosette has gotten more mobile, I have found her in some pretty funny positions in her crib when I get her up from a nap. This one cracked me up.
Cosette really enjoys her cereal. She often opens her mouth really wide, flaps her arms, and leans forward towards the spoon.
I thought this shot was just adorable and very typical of Cosette.
Lately she's been flashing this cute toothy grin at everyone. It's a little hard to see, but she has two teeth on the bottom. And I'm not sure why, but she loves moving her chin to one side when she smiles, so it looks like her teeth are off-center (but they're not).
Cosette loves waving her arm around in the air. Sometimes people think that she's waving to them, but I think she just enjoys the movement. We thought it would be fun to make it look like she was giving Jeff high-fives (or I guess they're actually low-fives).

Another cute quirk she's been doing lately is this funny head bobbing. She's doing it on purpose - it's not because she doesn't have the strength to hold her head up. And the timing of her head bobs can be really funny, like agreeing with us when we tell her how cute she is or nodding her head during general conference.

Jeff and I thank God every day for our precious little girl. We are truly blessed.

Cute laughter

I have always loved making Cosette laugh. She can laugh until she can hardly breathe. She has a growing variety of laughs too. So I am sharing a short video I captured of her laughing. I have played this video many times just to put a smile on my face. Enjoy.

Trip to Colorado

Cosette and I took a trip to Colorado last month to go to the wedding of my former college roommate and very good friend, Karen Palmer (now Karen Schmidt).
Here are Karen and Martin coming out of the temple. Aren't they just glowing?
Here are a few pictures on the temple grounds.
Here are the newlyweds with Karen's sister Ruth and her family. They actually drove out from Utah with their newest edition to the family - he was only 1 1/2 weeks old at the time. I'm very impressed they made it.
What a good big brother!
Here's the cute outfit that Cosette wore for the wedding. (I'm not sure why the website turned the picture sideways...)
Cosette fell asleep on the car ride from the temple to the luncheon at Olive Garden.
She woke up before the luncheon was over, however. Here's Karen's grandma holding Cosette while I got ready to feed her.
They let Cosette play with Karen's train. I thought it made a really cute picture.
Let me just share a few more tidbits. Karen's family arranged for me to stay at the home of someone in their ward. This couple was actually on vacation, so they left a key with the Palmers. The first night I was there it was just me and Cosette. When we got to the house that night it was really hot because the air was off. I turned the air on, but it was taking a while to cool things down. Since there was no one else in the house and it was really stuffy, I was just wearing my garments as I got ready for bed.
Well, someone rang the bell to the front door. I had no intention of answering it because I wasn't clothed, and I didn't live there. The bell only rang once, so I ignored it. Well, a few minutes later I thought I could hear someone moving around downstairs. Needless to say, I was a little creeped out. So I crept out to the landing and looked down the stairs, but all of the lights were still off down there and I couldn't see anything. I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep until I checked, so I called out "Is anyone there?" and turned on the lights on the stairs.
Well, a man came walking around the corner to the bottom of the stairs and I yelled and darted back to the bedroom (mind you, I was still only wearing my garments). He yelled too and ran back out of sight. My heart was pumping pretty fast, let me tell you.
Fortunately, he called an apology up the stairs for scaring me and explained that he was their son-in-law. He was there to drop off a car that he was borrowing. He had been told that there would be someone staying there and rang the bell to let me know he was coming in, but I hadn't answered the door.
Whew! I was both relieved and a bit embarrassed. But it sure makes a good story!
The other two nights were much less eventful. And I was joined by Janene, another former roommate. It was fun having some girl talks late at night. I'm also grateful that Janene took a lot of pictures - most of them on this post are from her camera.
Overall it was a good trip and I'm really glad we went.

Life is Good

What a cutie! Cosette still can't quite sit up on her own yet, so I like to prop her up on the couch in between the cushions.
Below is a more serious face. I'm always trying to catch her smiling, but I like this shot, too.
I just had to share a bathtub hair picture. Cosette LOVES her bath time. She usually cries when I take her out. And don't you love her beautiful red eyes? She definitely gets that from her momma. Can you see why I like to take pictures without flash whenever possible?
Cosette has had a few firsts recently. Last week she rolled over from back to front for the first time (but there have been no repeat performances).
This week she got her first tooth. It's barely poking through and is quite sharp to the touch (she really loves sucking on my fingers).
I've actually been dreading the "teething stage," but she's done just fine so far. If anything, she's actually been happier the past couple of days.
Here's a video I think you'll enjoy. I love her laugh! And she's laughing a lot easier these days, which is a lot of fun for Jeff and I.

Well, overall life is good. I really love being a stay-at-home mom.
Lately I've been working on organizing and cleaning. I made a list of things I want to do on a weekly basis, and another list of things I want done on a monthly basis. I then sit down and plan out each week (I used to have set days to do things, but I found that too rigid and difficult on weeks when I needed to run errands or go to the doctor). I use a weekly organizer that goes on my fridge to keep track of my to do lists. I usually end up with 3-4 tasks for each day, a mixture of weekly and monthly tasks.
I've felt a real sense of accomplishment being able to cross things off my list throughout the day. I also enjoy having a cleaner home. I used to be terrible about cleaning my bathrooms on a regular basis. Now I do it weekly, like I know I should have been doing all along, and it's so much better! I also really enjoy finding odd jobs to do that don't usually get done. For example, I washed my front door. Man, was it dirty! But it was such a satisfying job seeing all that dirt come off.
So yeah, life is good. I have a cute daughter, a wonderful home, and an amazing husband. My days are happy, full, and fulfilling. I feel truly blessed!