New Developments

Denali is getting better and better at rolling over. I'm so excited for her! Of course that means I'm going to need to baby proof soon and keep my floors cleaner! Eek!

The last couple of days she has discovered how to blow raspberries with her tongue and "motorboat" with her lips. It is SO cute and funny! I'll try to get a video, but she usually clams up when the camera appears!

She is sitting up by herself for short periods of time.

Now instead of crying when she's in the car in her car seat she usually just makes loud noises or kind of moans. It's funny, and much less annoying than crying!

She loves to chew/suck on my knees. Weird. They were exposed during church and she was sucking and when I moved I realized I had spit running down my leg. GROSS!

She is so happy and interactive at the NMHS football games that 4-5 people asked us during and after the game if she always behaved like that and commented on how cute and happy she is. She wasn't even bothered while she was eating when the loud lady behind us was screaming her guts out.

We are using the Ferber method when we put her to sleep. Put her to sleep groggy, but awake, go in and comfort her (without picking her up) 5 minutes later. It goes on from there with time increments, but She's never gone past 8 minutes and it's usually less than 5. For naps she usually cries for less than 30 seconds before she's asleep. I love it.

Adam went to Utah last weekend to see friends and family, see his parents off on their mission to Kenya, and "buy" their car from them. He had an awesome trip and had so much fun seeing all the people he was able to see. He was really bummed that he missed a few (That's you Wendy!!) but that's the way it goes sometimes. He was such a dear and brought me back presents! He bought me 2 super cute BYU shirts (on sale of course! woot! woot!) and then later he presented me with the best present EVER! Earnestly Chocolate ice cream from the BYU Creamery on 9th. OH MY GOODNESS! It is the very best ice cream in the entire world! It is a light chocolate ice cream with swirls of carmel and marshmallow creme, and mini rolo cups. I'm telling you there is nothing better. I haven't had it since 2006 when I graduated and my memory didn't fail me. It is the BEST! He had to buy a cooler at D.I. (love D.I.!) and then search for dry ice before he brought it home! What a sweetie!

And of course the other thing he brought home is awesome... a 2003 Toyota Corolla. Yep, it's 20 years newer than the Buick...which incedentaly stopped working the day he left for Utah. Anyway, we love love LOVE the car and are so excited to have it! What a difference 20 years makes in the world of cars! Who knew?

Halloween/5 Month Old Photos

My Dad took some awesome pictures of Denali Friday afternoon in her Halloween costume! She was so happy and in such a great mood we got a TON of fantastic photos! Yay! And since her 5 month old "birthday" was Thursday I figure that these count for that auspicious holiday as well! :) Enjoy!

Fluffy Bummy

So, as you all know I am a cloth diapering momma, and I LOVE it. I think I'm becoming more and more "crunchy". Don't know what it means? Here's the best definition I found on this website:

"Today I had to explain to my husband the phrase "crunchy mom." I had to back him up a few decades, to the days of the free spirited hippies. That's when phrases like "granola" and "tree huggin'" began to bloom. Granola is crunchy ... ya-da-ya-da-ya-da ... you have crunchy moms.

I'm learning that there are various levels of crunchiness. I don't quite hit them all, but I'm a fair balance - thereby deeming myself (as of today) a pseudo-crunchy mom.

Basically, if you practice one of the following, you are on your way to the snap, crackle, CRUNCH:
extended breastfeeding (beyond a year)
cloth diapers
homeschooling
drug-free births
baby wearing
adoptive breastfeeding
co-sleeping or family beds
full-time parenting"

Lets see, I don't plan to breasfeed for more than a year, but I do plan on doing it for the full year...I cloth diaper...wouldn't home school if my life depended on it...I'm ALL about drug free births...I baby wear...wouldn't adoptive breastfeed or co sleep...and I'm a SAHM full time parent. I'm also going to be making my own baby food, and I garden, and compost! Woo! I guess I'm pretty crunchy!

Now, to get to the main point of my post, my Mom, Grandma Apodaca, Denali, and I will be going to Hawaii next August. I'm very excited about this trip and have been thinking about it often. My Mom had mentioned that I would need to use disposables on the trip and I immediately agreed. However, the more I have been thinking about it, the more I've been dreading it. I mean, they're convenient and all but they leak and they smell weird, they fill up our landfills, and WORST of all...they give Denali a nasty rash. Eek! What's a girl to do?

We're staying in a condo so I found myself wondering if there was laundry service on site, but hadn't looked into it yet. Then I heard about gDiapers, which seem to be the perfect cross between cloth and disposable diapering. I think they would be great for traveling, and especially for the feint of heart who are scared to cloth diaper. You can find a great article about them here. Basically they are a waterproof cloth outside with a biodegradable, flushable insert on the inside. You can even compost the non poopy diapers! Isn't that amazing?? I'm excited to learn more and potentially buy some for our travels, or just busy days away from home! Wahoo!

Oh, and here's my funny story about cloth diapering. So I was over at the King's house talking with their oldest son (he's 9) about Denali's cloth diaper. He was interested and said that they must not have had those when he was a baby since his parent's didn't use them on him. I told him that they had them, and that his parent's just didn't want to use them. Incensed, he shouted "Dad! You didn't love me enough to use reusable diapers?!?!!"...his Dad's response? "Nope." :)

Shorts

Here's some (hopefully) short stories and updates about what Denali has been up to. (The first photo is of Denali in the Moby Wrap hanging out with Dad. The rest are at the Black & Blue Bowl, or NMHS vs SMHS football game, wearing Grandpa's hat)

--She LOVES grabbing everything in sight, especially my face. She is constantly grabbing at it and reaching for it, only to swoop in and try to chew on me. She usually slimes me!



--In an effort to grab things she has learned how to throw her weight around to get to where she wants to go. I find it funny that she doesn't realize she can't do this by herself and I have to hold her up, or she'd just fall over all the time.



--She loves electronics (My cell phone, the Itzbeen, the remote control) and often shoves them in her mouth if given the opportunity. The other day she grabbed the remote from me and held it up to her mouth, chewed on it for a while, lowered it to look at it, chew on it again and eventually dropped it. I thought this was QUITE impressive, as she hadn't really held on to anything for so long before. Little did I know I was in for even more surprise. She looked down and realized the controller was now on my lap...So she squatted down, picked it up, and started chewing again! I was shocked!

--She's finally a little tickelish! If she's in the right mood and you tickle her belly you get quite the good laugh. For the first time she laughed when I did the "Fly over big hawk..." thing that the Fox family does. I was thrilled!



--She loves to hear noises you make with your mouth, especially clicking tongues and little squeely noises you can make when blowing air out of pursed lips. She has now figured out where the noise comes from and grabs at my mouth when I do it and things she is so funny when she messes up the noise by sticking her fingers in.

--She is able to find, pick up, and put her paci back in by herself sometimes. So nice! And fun to watch! Of course, she can't do this at night because we swaddle her (or she doesn't sleep for nearly as long). We'll get there though!



--She's been good at tracking for quite a while, but now she can anticipate where a person is going to go after they are blocked from her line of sight and turn her head to where they should end up. It was fun when we realized this for the first time.

--She's been sick for about a month now. I had called the doctor about 1.5 weeks in to it, and so I finally called again yesterday morning. This time they asked me to bring her in, so I did. She's doesn't have infection in her lungs, doesn't have the flu, no earache... Just a LONG lasting cold. They told me to "ride it out" and it should be gone in a week or week and a half. But it's already been 4 weeks!! I'm sick of it!!

Here's a short video of Denali talking to herself. Of course once she saw the camera she clammed up.

First Food

Sunday night was Denali's first experience with solid food! I mean, I've let her suck on my stuff here and there but we hadn't actually fed her anything yet. At her four month check up the doctor said we could start any time, even though he usually suggests waiting till 6 months, because she is ready now! How fun! I was thinking of still waiting for a while, but every time I tried to eat, it was almost impossible with her attempting to grab whatever I had away from me every two seconds. She LOVES the food, and LOVES to eat! Yay!!! We've fed her about half a bowl every night this week and she really enjoys it!

Captured!

Well, I've taken a lot of pictures lately (go figure) and haven't posted any! I've heard that the troops are restless for more... Or at least Grandma and Grandpa Fox want more! :) So here's a ton of pictures of Denali recently!


Playing on her AWESOME Star Trek blanket. I LOVE it!


Trying to eat the elephant's trunk!


Ready for mom's jog, it's chilly outside!!


She loves to eat her feet while I'm changing her diaper.


She wanted to be involved in dinner so I gave her the middle of the lettuce. She quite enjoyed knawing on it!


First time in the Johnny Jumper! Not very coordinated yet.


Smiling on the couch! (Daddy was doing silly things in between pictures!)


Loving to suck on my apple.


Pretty girl!


Reaching for stuff hanging from the lay & play and almost rolling over.


Asleep at the studio while mommy worked.


This is how she spent the first 30 minutes or so of the NMHS football game. Asleep in Grandma's arms. Did the screaming and cheering wake her up? The band? Nope. It was Grandpa coughing next to her. WEIRD!


We fell back asleep after nursing in the morning. Denali's favorte arm rest was my face.


Bath time!

Scripture Power!

...keeps me safe from sin! Scripture Power is the power to win! Scripture power, every day I need, the power that I get each time I read!

:) I love that song. And I loved all the exuberance the kids in primary put into it when I was chorister. They still have that same exuberance, its just not quite the same from the back of the room.

Anyway, last weekend was Conference weekend. What a lovely time! Unfortunately we only got to watch the Saturday morning and Sunday morning sessions this year. And of course Adam got to go to the Priesthood session. I certainly needed the spiritual "fill up" on my spiritual "gas tank" if you will. I can only last so long on one conference...I guess that's why we have them every six months, eh?

Since conference Adam and I have redoubled our efforts in the arena of family and personal scripture study, family prayer, and family home evening. So far, so good! Of course, it's only been a week! :)

Last night at about 9:45pm I passed Denali off to Adam who was watching TV on the computer. I informed him that I "couldn't be a good mom" anymore that night and he was on duty. (He was awesome by the way and got her to sleep and she slept for about 5 hours! Wahoo!) Then I went off to get ready for bed. While I was brushing my teeth I was reading the scriptures. I am currently reading the Doctrine & Covenants.

As I was reading I read this scripture, that was of great comfort to me. Especially after a day and night like I had! It is in Section 24 verse 8: "Be patient in afflictions, for thou shalt have many; but endure them, for, lo, I am with thee, even unto the end of thy days." Check out the whole section here.

First off, the Lord was speaking to Joseph Smith Jr. in this scripture, so are my afflictions anything compared to his? Um...probably not. A crying and sick baby vs. being tarred and feathered? Pretty sure Joseph wins. But you want to know the great thing about the Lord? He cares about my crying baby and my frustrations with the situation just as much! Not only does he care and love me but he will be with me! How awesome is that?

I was so thankful to know that the Lord not only heard my prayers, but answered them through the scriptures. I felt loved, comforted, and uplifted. I am so thankful for the Lord and for the Scriptures, and for the church in my life. I don't know how I would weather the storm of tribulations without the testimony I have of the truthfulness of the gospel. I'd love to share more about the gospel with you! Just ask, or go to this website.