Last Few Weeks in AZ

Moving was quite a different experience this time around. We only packed one small box and a couple of suit cases. We hired a maid to clean our house. I had nothing to do to prepare for the move. It was really weird, and really awesome.

I do have to admit though that not packing and cleaning made the move harder for me. Because I wasn't doing all those things you do to prepare for a move it didn't really seem like we were going anywhere. It felt like we were going on vacation.

Little A and I had a lot of time to play and say goodbye to our friends. Because we moved to a cold, snowy area I made sure to be outside more often. Little A loved it! She loves to be outside as much as possible. One day while we were walking to the mail box she discovered the rocks in our front yard and decided that she wanted to walk on them. From then on that is all she wanted to do: walk on the rocks, stand on the rocks, kick the rocks, and try to eat the rocks. When I would bring her inside she would scream, and if I tried to keep her away from the rocks and walk to the mail box she whined the whole way there and the whole way back, lol. One day when we went to the mail box the mail lady was still putting the mail in the boxes. Little A had a good time talking to her while we waited for our mail. She was sad to see her go until the truck started up. Then she was terrified and couldn't wait for the truck to leave.

Another day we had been pretty busy and hadn't had a chance to go on a walk yet. Eventually A couldn't take it anymore. She fussed until I came and got her, then she promptly walked me to the door and laid her head on it with a very somber look on her face. When I tried to re-direct her so I could get some more things done she sighed heavily and looked so sad I decided we had better go outside. As soon as we got outside she bolted for the rocks.

Little A got a pretty bad diaper rash. She rarely gets them and they usually go away within a day or two. This one was pretty bad though and wanted to linger and linger. So, one day I decided to let her go naked for a while. I put her on a water-proof pad on our rug in the living room. At that time she still wasn't moving much and preferred to sit and play with her toys. I went into the kitchen to put her bottles away. She was playing really well and then it went really quiet, followed by a giggle.  I went in and she had layed down on her belly, scooted to the edge of the rug, and was swinging her feet back and forth on the wood floor. I moved her back to the center of the pad, got her laying with her toys again and went to finish up her bottles. She played for a while and then got really quiet, followed by another giggle. I walked back in and she had done the same thing but had scooted far enough that her belly was on the floor too. I scooted her back onto the pad, got her playing, and went to finish her bottles. When I heard another giggle I walked in to find little A lying on the wood floor in a puddle of pee, splashing and giggling happily. It was so funny, I burst out laughing! It stunk to have to clean her and the floor up, but it was just so hilarious too. She was so thrilled to splash in her little puddle, and she loved the bath that followed, lol. Thankfully none of the pee got on the rug,so it was a pretty easy clean up.

A also discovered the clothes spinning in the dryer. She had a ball watching all the colors move around and around.

A has started dancing to music. She has waved her hands and kicked her feet since she was born, but now she rocks and shakes too! She is so funny. If she's sitting she rocks back and forth to the beat of the music and waves her right hand like she's conducting. If she is standing she swings/shakes her right foot back and forth to the beat and bounces every now and then. She also loves it when Allan or I hold her and dance to the music. She loves it when I turn in a circle and leap in the air.  She pretty much likes all music. If she's tired and something soft and lulling is on she whines though. It makes her more sleepy, and she doesn't want to take a nap.

Little A has gotten really good at playing peek-a-boo. She doesn't do it with her hands though. She likes to put a blanket over her head and then pull it off. It is endless hours of entertainment. She loves to pull the blanket off of my head too, but her favorite is when I put the blanket over both our heads and then she pulls it off.

She has started saying Mama and Dad more often. She'll follow me around the house in her walker looking at me and saying "Mama!" until I acknowledge her. Then she smiles and sometimes giggles, and we go on our way until she wants to tell me something else. She says "dada" a lot now but when she's really talking to Allan she either says "Dad", or "dada" in a certain tone (like she's saying "Oh, dad.")

Lately she has been turning around in her crib. We'll tuck her in at night with her head laying towards the wall and find her the next morning with her head towards the door (half a circle). She also likes to lay with her head on the bars on one side of the crib and her legs on the bars on the other side.  She is never in the same spot, with is unusual for her. Ha!

We spoke in Sacrament meeting the week before we moved. We both really like speaking in sacrament meeting. I know we're weird. We enjoy the study that goes with preparing a talk and we enjoy speaking. I think we both learned to enjoy it while we were serving missions. We spoke on "The Godhead - Who am I? Who can I Become?", which is what the youth were studying that month.

While Allan was speaking little A got a little restless. I stood her up so she was holding onto the bench, and she started playing with the little girl behind us. To get closer to the little girl, A started cruising along the bench! It was the first time she's done that, and I was SO excited! I wanted to clap for her, but since we were in Sacrament meeting I restrained myself. The attention would have made her stop anyway.

One of the sisters crocheted Little A a monkey puppet. She LOVES it! It has quickly become a favorite. A has always loved monkeys so it was the perfect gift.

I went to a girls night with some of my good friends. It was old lady themed. I dressed up in my best old lady outfit, added some wrinkles to my face, and put baby powder in my hair. You can't see it very well in the picture. The make-up melted off pretty fast and the baby powder disappeared too, so then I just looked like a librarian, ha! It was a fun night though. We had a lot of yummy treats, played phase 10, and chatted a lot. I sure do miss those ladies.