Happy Love Month!

Isn't she a cute promoter for love month?

Love Month Day 4

Yesterday morning I made Jeff and I some heart shaped pancakes for breakfast. I was pretty pleased with how they turned out, since this was my first attempt at trying to make pancakes look like something.

Love Month Day 1

This year I am celebrating every day in February instead of only Valentine's Day. My sister Suzanne saw this idea posted on another blog and shared it with me, and I decided it would be a fun thing to do for Jeff.
So each day this month I'm going to do something special for Jeff to show him I love and appreciate him.
I started today by making him a batch of special Valentine's cake balls. I used strawberry cake so the inside is pink, and I added red and white Valentines sprinkles on top. They look cute and taste good, too - kind of like strawberries and cream. I think I might make this a February tradition in our family (both the strawberry cake balls and celebrating every day of Love Month).

What Cosette has been up to

Jeff and I agree that Cosette's first official word is "Da-da." She's been saying mama and da-da for a while now, but she didn't seem to mean it. But when Jeff came home from work on Friday, Cosette clearly called him da-da. And the majority of the time that she says it, she seems to be referring to Jeff. So we're declaring da-da to be her first word.
As you can imagine, Jeff is quite proud. (But I'll have you know, she made the sound "mama" first...).
On Christmas Eve, Cosette learned to do a fish kiss. She was originally sucking in her cheeks while eating, but she soon discovered that we liked it and she will sometimes do it on demand now. It's really fun to do fish kisses back and forth with her.
Cosette's newest trick is clapping. She's very proud of herself when she claps, and she enjoys doing it sporadically throughout the day.
She's still not crawling, but she's getting close. Every day she fine tunes her mobility skills. She can now sit and turn around 360 degrees, go from laying on her stomach to sitting upright, and she can scootch around a little bit (usually backwards). She'll get into the crawling position and rock a little, trying to get to something, but she still hasn't quite figured it out.
I consider her late mobility to be both good and bad. I don't mind being able to set her down on the floor for a minute or two and know she won't go too far away (although that's quickly disappearing). I like having her stay my little baby a little longer. But this past week she seems to be getting more and more frustrated at not being able to go where she wants when she wants (and she expresses her discontent by making a REALLY obnoxious whiny sound that drives me up the wall). It's fun watching her learn new things, and it will be cute when she figures out how to crawl.
Today we discovered that Cosette does NOT like the sound of ice falling off or being scraped off of the car. She cried REALLY HARD when I had to scrape the car this afternoon to get to church. It was not fun at all. I hope that either she gets over this aversion or that I don't have to scrape any more ice off of my car this winter (she didn't have a problem with me brushing snow off, so I think it must be the sound that scares her).

Katie's visit

Jeff's sister Katie was here in Utah last weekend. We had dinner at Rachel's on Saturday (thanks, Rachel! You always make GREAT dinners). On Monday we got together for lunch and then went to the aquarium in Sandy.
Cosette sure has fun with her doting aunts.
The seahorses are one of my favorite things at the aquarium.
They had an open tank where you could touch the sting rays. Below are Hilary, Benjamin, Lindy and Ben.
By the end of the afternoon our poor girl was getting pretty tired.
Cosette sure loves her Aunt Katie. We're so glad you came to visit!

New Car!

We are now a two car family! We bought a silver 2010 Nissan Versa hatchback. It's going to be my car, and Jeff will drive the Focus.
We really like it. It's both roomy and small at the same time. There's more head and leg room (which is great for getting Cosette in and out), and it's easy to fit large stuff (like her stroller) in the back with the hatchback. But the back area isn't too deep, so overall the car isn't that long and handles like a small sedan. It also gets decent gas mileage, which I like. And it has a windshield wiper in the back window, a nice feature that Jeff and I always wanted. Also, Cosette can see better out the back window with her rear-facing car seat, and she reacts more to the sites and sounds of being on the road.
We hadn't heard of the Versa a week ago, but we really like it! And now we're noticing them everywhere. In fact, our downstairs neighbor bought a Versa a month before we did.
Overall, we're all enjoying the new car. I especially appreciate my new-found freedom to run errands and escape the house if I need/want to. I am glad that Jeff and I were able to be a one car family for the past few years, saving on gas, insurance, and maintenance costs. But I'm definitely grateful to have my own car now!

Fun fact: if you look back at the first blog post of 2011, it is also called "New Car!" (when we bought our Focus). And no, we don't plan on making this a new family tradition.

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!