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!

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.