4 Month Checkup a Month Late

Yesterday we had Lydia's appointment for her 4 month check up. Since we were in Texas all summer we got the all clear from the Dr before we left to wait the extra month. I also called and confirmed that it would be ok timing wise for her vaccinations. When we were told that it would all be ok to wait we made the appointment for when we got back and went in yesterday. The Dr was happy with where she was developmentally and quite impressed with her stats. She was 27 1/2 inches long which is off the charts, and 13lbs 15 ounces which is in the 25th percentile, her head measurement was in the 70th percentile. We already knew we had a long and skinny baby but to have her off the charts had us all laughing.

She did very well with the Dr grabbing at everything he brought near her and he gave the green light for all stage 1 foods so she now gets to try other fruits and veggies. She liked the nurse and was laughing at her for a while until she had to get her shots. Kelvin held her while the nurse quickly gave them to her. Needless to say she was less than happy. After we calmed her down, we packed her up and went home. She didn't sleep for Kelvin while I was at a lunch with my mom and 2 of my sister in laws. When I got home she was sleeping in his arms and did for a full 2 1/2 hours. She woke up starving and I fed her but she was very fussy. I figured that she would get a small fever with her vaccinations because she did last time, but this was different. She wouldn't let anyone else hold her all night and didn't eat well. She looked like she felt miserable and wondered why I or her daddy couldn't make her better. Poor thing! When she finally fell asleep for the night, Kelvin had to go spend the night at a friends house so he could get to an early morning meeting at school while our van was in the shop. He hated to leave her!

This morning I could tell that she still didn't feel very well and again wouldn't let me put her down and didn't eat very much again. She is still miserable and I feel terrible for her. It's so hard watching your baby have to suffer. Hopefully she will be feeling better by tonight. Until then, she clings to me and even gets upset when I put her down to change her diaper or give her Tylenol. I never expected it to last for more than yesterday. At least Kelvin will be home soon so we can get a few small things done before we move into our apartment on Friday.

After her shots. Such sad eyes. It's like she is saying "why did you let them do that to me?"

First Rice Cereal

On Monday we fed Lydia her first rice cereal. She has been ready for a few weeks to eat solid food but I didn't want to have to worry about that on the trip home so I pushed it off until we got to Utah. She didn't have much of a palate for the rice cereal and like it a lot better when we added the bananas. She is starting to get the hang of it though and I am sure will start to eat a lot better soon when we add more variety to her diet.

"What are you doing mom?"


"Look Daddy!! I'm eating like you!"


She liked having daddy right there and just laughed at him the whole time.


"Not so sure I like this anymore!"


"Man! Give me back my banana."

It's Great To See Family

The first night we got to my parents everyone came over to see us and the baby. Lydia was obviously not very happy that night as her schedule was off and she was very tired but she has since gotten a lot better and has been excited to see people. The cousins were very excited to see her again and were sad when she had to go to bed early.

First time on the grass. She wasn't sure what to think so she held on tight to Grandpa.


"I think I remember this."


Can it really be true that my little brother grew taller than my husband over the summer?


"I remember you!"


So much fun having lot's of kids around.


I can't believe how big this kid has gotten, with the blondest hair and the bluest eyes.


Rachel, Samantha and Jayce.

Road Trip!

The day finally came and we made the long drove from Texas back to Utah. We left at 3am on Friday morning and got to Gallup New Mexico at 5pm that night. We then left at 5am the next morning and pulled into my parents house at 1pm. The drive was SOOOOOO much better in the van and Lydia did so well. I must say that the van was worth getting if only for the drive home. I was able to crawl in the back and sooth her or feed her when she needed it and then I could get back in the front seat with Kelvin when she was asleep. It was heaven! We slept well in the hotel and got a great start in the morning. We were all so glad when it was over, Lydia especially. So now we are here and everything is in order for our new apartment. We looked at it yesterday and are really excited about it. It looks great and has brand new carpet which is so nice since we are going to have a crawler and walker before we leave back for Texas permanently. It's great to be home and see all my family again!

Lydia slept really well at the hotel. She really liked the bed there. (We sandwiched her in with our bags and then put pillows over them so she wouldn't get hurt or roll off the bed.)

Keeping Baby Happy While Packing

You have all seen how much Lydia loves the phone. All babies I think are fascinated with everything they see that they can't have. So when I had to pack for the trip back to Utah, I had to improvise. It's really hard trying to entertain a 5 month old when you are packing and trying to get everything in order. Thus comes the improvisation and basically giving her anything that would keep her entertained for a while.

"Are you sure I can have this phone mom?"


"Hey! It's a picture of me!"


"Now how do I call Daddy?"


"Oh well. It tastes better anyway."


Don't worry, I didn't let her have the phone for too long so she didn't have enough time to ruin it by sucking it to death!

Bragging Rights

I need to take a few minutes and brag about my incredible husband. As many of you know he is smart, very smart. For his senior project he and a few other people have been working on building a rocket. Yes an actual rocket that will get into the outer edge of space before it's decent back to earth and that is after it has reached MACH 5! They have been working on this for a little over a year already which has been necessary considering everything that has to be done (this is no small project). This is also history in the making. Never before has a university launched a rocket into space built by it's students in the WORLD! (Impressed yet?)

This summer he has been working on getting funding for the actual project as it is going to be costing a pretty penny. Unfortunately not many businesses in the Salt Lake community have been willing to donate. The team was afraid that they would have to do all the engineering work on paper alone stating how they would have launched it instead of being able to witness and be a part of such a feat. Luckily Kelvin is pretty sure that he might have just secured some substantial funding for the project. So when he and Brandon (the team leader) were getting everything together, Brandon told him some pretty interesting news.

This last year a few of them (including Kelvin) spent an entire month working on the code that would determine how much fuel the rocket would burn with how they were going to build it via particular specifications of the rocket. Kelvin told me in a regular voice that apparently they stumbled on a better and more efficient way to burn fuel in the engine. Um...HELLO!!!! They literally discovered how to make the rocket go farther on less fuel and he's acting like it's no big deal. They realized they had come up with something unique when Brandon was going over some of the code and figured out that it was different when he was comparing it to code from other rockets (I think from the military but could be wrong). I can't tell you how proud I am of him and the entire team. They have worked VERY hard and I am so excited to think that they will have the chance to see there hard work realized not to mention the excitement of what they have done.

The Last Supper......Sort Of

On Saturday night we decided to do one last shindig with the family which ended up being dinner. With the weather being so blasted hot this summer we haven't been able to do the normal fun outings that we usually do throughout the summer and have had to stick to low key things inside. But we thought that we needed to do one more thing before we all leave on Friday so we packed up and headed out to Olive Garden. I love the Olive Garden personally and was really excited to go there since it had been a couple of years. We were seated about the time Lydia normally goes to bed so I was prepared to be walking around with her or sitting in the car the whole time, but for a while she was content just to be standing up. After a little while Brandon held out his arms offering to take the baby. I looked startled for a minute because he usually doesn't want to hold the baby. When I asked if he was sure he smiled and nodded his head so I handed her over to him. She was great and he had that magic touch that put her right to sleep. I thought Lisa was going to cry when she saw that Brandon was holding Lydia and when I told her that he offered I really saw the tears coming on. It was a really sweet moment.

We were seated in the most perfect spot against the wall with a short fence of sorts almost closing us in. We felt like we had a little private venue in the restaurant.


Lots of smiles. The few times we have been out to eat this summer Krystal always seems to get the biggest plates which makes us all laugh because she eats the least.


We are going to miss these guys A TON when we are back in Utah. Thanks for hanging out with us guys. We sure do love you!


The happy parents to have their whole family with them. It was a great summer.


And then there is us! I was just thrilled to be out of the house and Gregory was thrilled to be eating out. It was a win win situation.


The man with the magic touch. I think he is getting excited to have another little baby around the house.