Half a Year Down with the Baby Girl!!

elle, 6 months

My Sweet Elle,

You are six months old now and an absolute ray of sunshine.  I call you my little smile prodigy because it seems that you started smiling at 2 weeks and have never stopped.  You love to lock eyes with anyone that will pay attention and blow them happy slobbery bubbles with a contagious happiness.  When you are feeling particularly cute you turn your head to the side and arch over to look at people sideways, always holding the pose until mirrored, leaving you both laughing.  You are sitting up flawlessly now and have recently added a cute little bum bounce where you push yourself up onto your little toes until you are nearly falling forward, then land back down on your cute diapered rump, over and over.  Watching you bounce with your little arms up in the air could make anyone smile. 

When you're not bouncing on your bum you like to jump in your exersaucer or in my lap.  You jump so high and with such gumption that I am surprised that your rolly little legs aren't pure muscle.  You are a big girl, still in the 70th percentiles for height, weight and head circumference.  You weigh 16lbs and are 26 inches long.  When we were at the doctor's office for your 6-month check up you had all of the nurses and doctor smiling like crazy as you eyed them with that infectious grin.  It broke my heart when you laid down on the table and locked your big smiling eyes with mine.  You looked like you wanted to tell me about all of the wonderful things that had happened that day.  Then they gave you four shots and your beautiful smiles turned into the saddest cries I have ever heard.  As you kept your confused crying eyes locked on mine, I had to remind myself over and over that immunizations are something I believe in.  I almost couldn't take it.

Something amazing about you, Elle, is that you are optimistic.  You soothe easily.  You allow the world around you to be imperfect and appreciate improvement in discomfort, rather than demanding perfection.  If you are hungry you will take your binki as a substitute, trusting that I will do my best to get you fed shortly.  If Cannon needs help with something, you wait patiently, seeming to understand that we all have needs and need to take turns.  I feel like I understand you.  Like I could tell you my little secrets and we would laugh together.  You are adventurous and easy going.  You make everyone feel like they are your favorite person.  These positive qualities are obvious and deliberate.  I hope you continue to nurture them as you grow.  I will do my best to help you.

You have taken great strides forward in your diet, sleeping and car seat situations.  We tried to feed you solids just before turning six months old, when you climbed my arm like a monkey to steal a muffin I was eating.  You are not great with a spoon and don't really like the feeling of food in your mouth.  You spit everything out.  Time is of great value right now, having two babies home, so I decided to just feed you your baby food in your bottle (which you are starting to hold on your own).  I snipped the nipple to have a bit bigger of an opening and now you get everything you need as you drink your normal bottles.  We dump veggies in with your formula in the mornings, fruit in the afternoons, and cereal at night.  I will try to spoon feed you again in time but for now, this is a terrific method.  You were also waking up at night until recently because I liked giving you a nighttime bottle to help you sleep later.  The night feeding has stopped helping you sleep longer so we took it away and you hardly complained (just for one night).  Your sleeping habits have gotten more regular.  You wake up around 6am, nap from 8-10 (I wake you up at 10 [GASP!] so that you will be tired enough to nap at the same time as Cannon).  The both of you have lunch then take an afternoon nap 12-2, then go to bed at 7.  You have also kept your car seat complaining to a surprising minimum lately.  Though it is obviously not your favorite place to be, you will now consent to its captivity and enjoy Cannon's company as we drive along.

Cannon can make you laugh (and cry) harder than anything else.  He seems to understand your sense of humor and it is not unusual to catch the two of you face to face in laughing fits.  I love to watch your relationship develop.  Bells, thank you for being such a love.  You bring happiness to our home.

I love you forever,

Mama

PS.  We love to call you Elles, Elles Bells, Bells, and Sister.  When someone old or foreign asks your name I tell them your full name: Elle Louise.  One syllable names are confusing to old people and Elle means something bland in most other languages.  A battle you will fight your whole life is the Ellie battle.  You are not an Ellie.  It is a cute name, but it is not your name.  We steer very clear of Ellie.

Reunited Part 2

I was scorned by the motherhood gods immediately after my last post in the form of severe sunburn by the pool. You would think that this fair-skinned mother-in-training would have been able to handle an hour of happy sun rays but the abilities of tanning oil should not be underestimated. Luckily (??) I only put it on my front side so my back is still nice and pasty white. As for my chest, tummy, and legs however... think lobster. I was going to post a picture but it felt weird. Too much skin.

After spending an hour chatting with my long-lost bestie Mush while frying by the pool I took a shower and dolled up for my honey. He got home around 2:30 to take me to Disneyland to recreate the commercial I mentioned before and to spend some more good quality time with Ariel. I don't know if I have a Disneyland threshold but I certainly don't feel as if I am close to reaching it any time soon. We had so much fun playing with the camera and holding hands. I have only been away from Michael for about three weeks now but seeing him just made me realize how wonderful it is to be able to have him around all of the time. My hat goes off to all of those army wives out there that say goodbye knowing that their sweethearts will be gone for 1+ years. It takes a strong woman (and a large hobby budget) to handle that kind of time frame. And a tangent for all of those 18-year-old girls with boyfriends that are about to leave on LDS missions... don't. do. it. Say your goodbyes today so that you have moved on before he leaves... then you can love him again when he gets home!! Just don't tie your <3 down like that. Anyway, we held hands. That was where I was going with all of that. It was great.

After Disneyland we went and saw Zookeeper with Kevin James and I was actually SO surprised at how much I laughed. It was the perfect post-Disneyland movie. Tired brains could just watch and laugh mindlessly without having to thing about anything at all... except Michael. Somehow working on movies all day doesn't make him tired of analyzing everything he sees. If you do not have your feet firmly planted regarding your like or dislike of a movie, Michael can surely sway your opinion with his analysis. My family no longer allows him to give his opinion on anything they have already seen or may see in the next 15 years because his points of view taint your entire experience. I'll have to have him do a movie review on here one of these days... with spoiler alerts all over it. He holds nothing back. Anyway, I thought Zookeeper was funny. He thought it was funny but that the storyline was completely flawed so it was hard for him to concentrate... I thought it was about talking gorillas... how can that be flawed?? Anyway, we held hands during the movie and it was wonderful.

On Saturday morning we got up and got ready the slow way, where showering somehow takes 30 mins even though the water is only on for 9. Rachel (my sweet mother in law) had gone through her closet and had me try on everything that she was through with. I must say that I now feel cute and SOO relieved! My work pants were starting to cry when I pulled them out of the closet every morning because they are all so old. I feel like a new woman now... and I think it has something to do with the fact that I now own my first pair of BKE's. Dream jeans. I am so grateful for Rachel's giving attitude. She firmly believes that if you don't love it or you don't wear it that you should get it out of your closet. I went home so pumped to cut my closet in half! When I went in to go assess the situation though, I decided that I need an intermediate phase. SOOO... I am going to transfer anything I haven't worn in the last 6 months-ish into Michael's closet. If I don't think about it before he gets home in 5 weeks, it's toast (Toast = have my favorite SIL take anything she wants, have my beehives take anything they want, dump the rest at DI). If I do think about it, the article has earned its spot back among the ranks of my other clothes purchased in high school. Oh gosh - I have a tangent disease today.

After getting ready and spending 45 minutes hugging my new wardrobe we went off to the Orange County Fair to eat some roasted corn, go through the fun house, make Michael go on a bunch of spinny rides, and pet tons of animals. They had cows whose back end stood taller than Michael. I'm not exaggerating. Their bottoms were 6' tall!! Michael also promised to get me a miniature potbelly pig as soon as Tank and Ruby die. It might be a while but I'm not going to forget. After the fair we met up with Chad and Rachel for some KFC before they headed out of town to spend their 2 year anniversary in Vegas. We then took a long hard nap, waking up just in time to jump back in the car to head to the Sawdust Festival. It was a brilliant fair filled with glass blowers and people with dread locks. We had a blast. Probably because we were holding hands.


Michael bought me ice cream at McDonald's on the way home. :-)

Sunday morning we went to church then jumped in the car and took Carmageddon by the horns in our drive to Santa Monica. I spent some time in Santa Monica on a trip with some friends in high school and it has been a romantic destination to me ever since. Hopefully nobody from Sony is reading this blog post (does anyone read them when they get this long? I think not. My posterity will thank me later though, I'm sure.) because we definitely broke into Sony Imageworks so that Michael could give me a tour. We saw the normal things like the beautiful courtyard and cafeteria AND the top secret things like cardboard cutouts of the Smurfs and things like that. It was awesome. I can't even tell you how happy it makes me to know that Michael receives fulfillment in his work. That is worth more than any salary could ever pay and almost more than going to school for 12 years for an undergrad degree. I know that he loves what he does and it inspires me to spend my time on things that I love to do. I believe that passion is service. It feeds the souls of those around you. I wish everyone could do what they love to do.


After my top secret tour, Michael and I walked up and down the Santa Monica pier, then strolled down the beach to take a nap on the sand. It sounds like we did a lot of napping. We did. It was wonderful. On our way out we stopped by an apartment complex to tour one of their units to see what things look like living in LA. In three words? Small and expensive. In two words? Snow-less winters. In one word? Yes. I love California. I don't want to live in a place with barred windows where my children cannot play on my front porch (LA) but the California suburbs are to die for. We will see what happens!

The last leg of our journey included a sad parting of ways at the Orange County airport. Michael didn't know but I had already cried earlier that day so that he wouldn't see me cry when he dropped me off. We're almost halfway through his internship and I really am doing fine... but I married that man for a reason and living without him will never be my #1 or #100 choice. Only 4 more weeks till I get to see him again!!

California Paradise

This past weekend was spent with Michael, Savanna, Jon, Chad and Rachel in the beauty of southern California. We left Utah on Thursday afternoon and arrived in Irvine around midnight (I think... I may or may not have failed at my companion-duties about an hour before we hit our destination!). We had a wonderful little sleep then woke up bright and early to go spend the day at DISNEYLAND!!! We have all been looking forward to the opening of Ariel's Undersea Adventure and the re-opening of Star Tours so the opening of the park gates could not come fast enough!!

So excited for Star Tours!!! It was awesome!! There are like 50-something different sequences that you can go through in the ride now. It will still make you motion sick but at least it's a different sick every time!! We were all really impressed by the improvements.

Savanna and I made our own seashell bras and headbands in preparation for Ariel and they couldn't have been any more perfect!! People asked us like 500 times where we had purchased them. They may not look like something that you would want to wear every day but with the rose colored glasses of Ariel's Undersea Adventure glued to your face... You would have asked too.

The ride couldn't have been more perfect!!! A lot of rides take the liberty of enhancing what was actually presented in the movies from which they are derived but Ariel did not and I LOVED IT!! Every single room was STRAIGHT out of a scene from the movie and it looked AMAZING!!! It helped too that the animatronics (sp?) were awesome and the music was darling.

Then Michael rode the Tron bike...

The whole family!! So happy!!!

I don't know how to turn this picture... But I was invited up on stage during Billy Hill and the Hillbillies. It was so funny! I think that the guy heard Savanna screaming and thought it was me so he came down in the audience and got me. I'll have to post the video later. I laughed so hard. They even gave me this personalized packed of Parmesan cheese!!

Traditional picture with the indian! I think he may need a name. Suggestions?

Petting zoo. I know, I know... this goat looks elated to be choked by random seashell girl for a picture that he will never get to see. Must be hard being beautiful.

This one looks even happier

Michael wanted to take a turn wearing our headbands...

BEST LUNCH EVER!!! We went to the all you can eat BBQ in Frontierland and it was incredible. We had to rent 6 wheelchairs afterward just to get around.


After Disneyland we all came home exhausted and Michael and I spent some time in the hot tub to wind down. It was so so nice. We slept in a bit on Saturday then started the day by spending some time at the flower district then proceeded to the garment district and Venice Beach.

I <3 hydrangeas!! Hint hint long lost husband!! ;-)

This picture was taken just seconds before the store owner grabbed Michael's arm and called him an F***ing cheapskate in Spanish because he decided not to buy them... she didn't realize he spent two years in the Dominican Republic hablando Espanol.


The two-headed turtle displayed in front of the Freak Show at Venice Beach. Back me up here Savvy... if you could go back would you see the Freak Show?? That's my only regret of the weekend.

The boys played lots of fun football while the rest of us bundled up and chatted

So hott

I can't wait to go back and see my honey/move to socal for the rest of my life!!!!

Alight - A short animated film

This is a film that was recently finished by several BYU animation students. Michael did the compositing and fx on it (basically like a beautiful top coat that adds and enhances detail). I have my own theories as to its meaning but I would love to hear what you get out of Alight:

Alight from Jason Keyser on Vimeo.

A Turning Point

Being in college you hear people talk about turning points quite often. Normally during this string of thought they talk about choosing who you'll marry, your profession, where you'll live, if you'll have kids, where you'll get your education, etc. I like these kinds of subjects because it helps me to realize that things really are in my court and that we have the ability to steer a great portion of our lives. However, that can also be a little bit nerve racking! I feel like things have gone great so far. I chose the perfect guy for me to marry, he's willing to whisk me out of the cold to California as soon as we're done with school, we are excited to eventually have a family but am very happy with our decision to wait a while, and have graduated with a bachelor's degree in social work from a great university! The wonderful thing about having goals is that eventually you accomplish them... The interesting thing about having goals is that eventually they're gone and you have to make new ones.

Where I am currently facing some frustration is the big decision of 'What comes next'? In the movie Marley and Me, Jennifer Aniston had this wonderful list of things that she wanted to do and in what order. It went like this: Graduate from college, get married, get jobs, buy a house, then have kids. I love lists and the fact that Jennifer Aniston is just so adorable makes this schema almost irresistable. I think that the area where Jennifer and I differ, however, is somewhere between marriage and job (aka now). There are not many jobs for a young woman in Provo with a bachelor's degree that is only planning on sticking around for another year so... What to do? Options:

a. continue working at Heritage Makers (which fulfills the bills but not the soul) to put my hubbie through college

b. go full force into the job market and try to find something that really fits, even if the mula isn't as good

c. go back to school so that I will leave Provo with a master's degree and a cut above my competition wherever we go



My belief is that when making a big decision, your first question should always be: Well, what do you WANT to do? Want? c. More school. Lets set money aside and assume that the decision of school has been made. Next decision: area of study. Options:



a. MSW (masters in social work) - though I could complete this degree in one calendar year because of my bachelor's being in the same field, it is just doesn't feel right

b. MBA/MPA - I love business, finance, and the lifestyle that come with it. Already I have interviewed at some pretty amazing places that could not hire me because they needed more business experience. There could be some great opportunities out there to combine social work and business. Drawback... it's expensive.

c. Certificate (6 mo's) or Associates (4 semesters) in interior design. This is a really quick program that would give me a nice background/skill set in something that I love and could definitely utilize in my own home and probably part time when I do have a family.



So what do I WANT to do? That's the question. Or are there more options out there? Working on figuring this one out now. I'm open to suggestions.