Real Birthday, The Park, and Halloween

Hannah the Giraffe (the head was a little hard to keep down). Mom and Dad had their own Trick-or-treating a.k.a. free burritos at Chipotle. Also, Hannah's real birthday in which she feasted on ice cream sandwich and cotton candy. Hannah playing at the park - I still can't believe my "baby" has turned into a little girl now -climbing all over like she owns the place. And some others...I'm tired. Nah-nite.

Whoa!

So when my family sold our house in Morgan, UT almost 13 years ago, we never imagined that it would one day look like this! The house was built by my Great Grandpa Fry (am I right?) in 1896 but a few years after we'd moved, it had careless owners and was unkempt. It was a little hard to go back for visits and see our little home so disheveled-looking. But the last owners have obviously gone above and beyond and made it into an amazing home. In spite of all the adding on, I still recognize my childhood home (I was 14 when we moved), but just barely! Anyway, fun to see and share with any of you had been inside when the Richins' lived there...now anyone with $579,000 just burning a hole in their pockets can snatch it right up!

What's for dinner tonight?

I've actually had some reasonable success with cooking lately and I feel I should share.

Chicken Tortilla Soup
*note: I added a can of black beans and a little cilantro and put it all in the Crockpot. Although it may taste like it needs salt, don't add too much because the chips and cheese make it plenty salty. I also used Tostitos chips with a Hint of Lime.


Easy Pizza Dough
*note: I prefer thin crust so I stretch this recipe into 2 cookie-sheet pizza crusts.
And don't forget to sprinkle with Italian Seasoning/garlic salt before adding toppings. I combined one jar of Walmart Pizza sauce, one can tomato sauce, italian seasoning, garlic salt. My favorite toppings were Canadian Bacon/Pineapple/mozzerella cheese.

Heather's Chicken-Rice Pitas:

1. Cook 1.5 cups rice (Minute Rice is fine) with 4 chicken bouillon cubes
2. Cool and add:
1.5 cups cooked and cut boneless skinless chicken breast
1/2 package frozen peas
1 cup celery
1/2 bunch green onions, chopped (I only used maybe 1/2 cup)
Garlic salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Enough Mayo for the right consistency
3. Fill pitas and enjoy!

Also, my mom introduced me to this broom while she was here and I'm hooked - no more scooting across the kitchen 5 times while bent over just trying to get that last little bit of "gunk" of the floor.

Why hadn't I posted this earlier?

DISCLAIMER: All you moms out there know that when it comes to babies, especially newborns, YOU DO WHAT WORKS FOR YOU. That being said, here's what I have found most helpful:

My testimony of this book is just about as strong as my testimony of the 4 Standard Works. Kidding but it's definitely worth a try. It's called "On Becoming Baby Wise" by Gary Ezzo. I read it before Hannah was born and we tried really hard to stick to it. Although slightly extreme in some areas (like letting your newborn cry for 45 minutes at a time - um, no), the two principles I tried really hard to stick to from about 2 weeks old were:

1. Breastfeeding Hannah right when she woke up, every 2.5 - 3 hours (never before putting her down) and yes, if it had been 3 hours since she last ate and she was still sound asleep, I WOKE HER UP (completely ludacris in my mom's book)

2. Keeping her awake for at least 30 minutes after she ate (so hard sometimes).

By 4 weeks, she had put herself on the most wonderful schedule: She ate, stayed awake for 30 minutes or so, then was put down while awake - sleepy but not OUT (no feeding, rocking, singing, binkie, swing, no "soothing" of any kind - just laid her down, darkened the room, and shut the door) and slept for 2 hours. Over and over as she slowly prolonged the amount of time that she slept at night (I would not wake her at night, only during the day). By 7 weeks, she knew exactly how to go to sleep and was sleeping 6 hours at night. 1 year later, weaning the bottle is working like a charm, (I believe) much to this book's credit.

Anyway, not a huge fan of routine myself, this book probably saved my family's life. Also, it will def help out when there are two babies in this house. Hopefully it works as well with girly #2 as it did with Hannah. Good luck all of us!

Nannah

It was SO fun to have my mom here for a few days. I feel so terrible - we didn't get a single picture of she and Hannah the whole trip! Between the two of us, we had plenty of camera malfunctions and we kind of gave up. But we did get a few videos. What a sweet little relationship that we all wish were closer. Anyway, not only did she spoil all three of us rotten for a week, she got Hannah to crack up one night - a rare occurrence. Not that Hannah isn't a happy child, but she is very contemplative and observational and is not over-giggly in the least. Thanks for flying across the country Nannah! ENJOY!

You only turn 1 once!

We had a little birthday party for Hannah on Sat (a week early because my mom's in town). We went to the park and it could have been a little warmer weather but the kids had fun.

Hannah's 1 year stats:

height: tba
weight:tba
hair: light brown
eyes: brown
teeth: 8
favorite foods: bananas, watermelon, blueberries. She's a great eater and eats whatever Nate and I are having for dinner.
favorite beverage: fruit smoothies
favorite toy: her baby doll
favorite song: "Give Said the Little Stream"
favorite book: Anything with babies or animals in it
favorite movie: Baby Einstein: "Neighborhood Animals"
favorite game: "I'm gonna getch you"
favorite place: Walmart, library (or any public place)
best friend: Elise Sammis, Courtney and Gracie Mecham
walking: Sept 8, 2007
favorite time: bathtime and when Daddy plays with her after work
naughty deed: threw mom's cell phone in the toilet (Sept 11, 2007 - I should have known this was bad day in history...)
daily schedule: wake up 7:00 a.m., rice cereal/bananas, play and get dressed, 8:00 - drop Daddy off at work and go for walk with mom, 10:00 - nap 12:00 - lunch and shopping or errands, 3:30 - nap, 4:50 - pick up Daddy from work, PLAY 6:00 - dinner and usually a mini walk with Dad, 7:30 bath/bottle/sleeps all night long.
talents: blowing spit bubbles, making monster face.
***Hannah June, we cannot express how much we love you and how happy you make mommy and daddy. You are a perfect little angel. May you experience all the love and happiness life has to offer. Happy Birthday!***

HJ knows "nose"