General Conference

As all of our blog stalkers know, this weekend was General Conference. My friend, Lauren, sent me an email with some cool activities for kids to do during conference. So, I put on my thinking cap and decided to make a matching game for Morgan of the 12 Apostles and First Presidency. When one of them spoke, she could then match their cards together.

My thought was to help her learn the faces of our leaders as she recognized them on TV and then located their photo. Let me say, she was pretty darn good at it! I don't think we had to help her once. We told her that Elder So and So was speaking and she would look at the TV, then at all the pictures, then at the TV, then find the picture that matched. She even compared the speaker just before Elder Cook and said, "Nope, that's not him." Then, pointing to Elder Cook's picture, she said, "He's not talk yet."

So, here's a video of her putting her matches together. She kind of got behind during naptime, so we set the speakers aside for her to finish. Oh, and currently, her favorite Apostle is "Elder Oats." Listen carefully to how she says it on the video.

Here's Morgan with her final project. She loved it so much! Now, we're hoping she learns all of the Apostles before next conference! I wouldn't be surprised!

Also this weekend, Morgan started singing the Cougar Fight Song on her own. In the past, she has always sung along, but now, she randomly begins, in all her gusto and confidence, her own rendition of the Fight Song. I'll help with the translation: "Rise and Shout, Tooters Out! Tail Flame, Gory..." You get the idea that she's trying hard.

We can't forget our sweet Sadie! She spent much of conference asleep, but here's a couple of pictures of her for your enjoyment.

Smiling at Mom (Morgan always gets ALL the toys out for her to play with)

Sitting in the exersaucer...no she's not holding her head up too great yet. I just happened to snap this just before she flopped over. She is making improvements, though.

Chunky Monkey!!!

Remember when Sadie wouldn't eat, and we panicked? For details, click here. Well, we took her to her two-month well baby appointment yesterday and she's filled out quite nicely! Our little Sadie really knows how to eat! She weighed in at 13 lbs, 1.5 oz! For all of you that are a bit removed from the baby world, she's in the 95th percentile for weight! Holy Cow!!

So, for your viewing pleasure, here is a comparison of then (1 week old)...


...and now (9 weeks old).

I am certain that my sister Courtney's theory of the "10 month cooker" is the case!

Sadie's Hearing Update

Sadie can hear!!!

To recap where we are, click here and here. These are the posts from her last 2 appointments.

We went in to the Pediatric ENT this morning, and after a long appointment (1.5 hours total!), Sadie can hear! Well, partially, anyway. We started with the tympanogram (to test ear drum movement) and the left ear showed movement, but the right ear did not. The audiologist thought it was likely due to fluid in one ear, and not the other. Then, the doctor looked in her ears and verified that the fluid has drained from the left ear, but not the right.

So, he sent us back to the audiologist for an OAE (Otoacoustic Emissions) to check her left ear. It was fine (by this, I mean they can only rule out MAJOR hearing loss, but will need more tests to assure there isn't minor loss). I learned how the OAE works--it sends a frequency and the ear responds with an echo, so it can't tell much more than a pass/fail result. However, a pass means NO MAJOR HEARING LOSS! That's great!!

Dr. Freidman is hopeful that the right ear will also drain, because the left ear did. We'll see in 6 weeks.

Because she is hearing in the one ear, we don't need to worry about her speech and language development anymore. Dr. Freidman said that she will get all the stimulation that she needs from the one ear, and she shouldn't have any problems.

Cookies, Cookies, and More Cookies!

My friend, Kelley, called me the other day and left a message on my phone. It went something like this: "Hey, I was wondering if after naptime today you wanted to come over and we could make sugar C-O-O-K-I-E-S with our kiddos." So, the kids had no idea because when I called back, I spelled it out again. Anyway, today, we made cookies. It was a mess, but so much fun! Toddlers are a blast!

Cutting out the cookies

This is the remains of Morgan's attempt to steal the dough. It's one of those, "you had to be there" moments because all three of us moms dove in to rescue the dough and then started laughing! (Adults: make a fist with your hand. This is how big of a ball she thought she'd get away with!)

Kelley, helping her cute kids frost their cookies. Eli was very efficient--frost a cookie, then eat it. Frost the next cookie, then eat it, too! We think he had at least 3 before we were done! Unfortunately, nothing to show on his plate! It was all in his tummy!

Here are all the kids with their creations. Oddly enough, the kitchen wasn't too much of a mess when we were done. And, so far, I haven't found traces outside of the kitchen.

Thanks, Kelley, for a great idea and a super fun activity!

Sadie's Safe Haven!

I've been struggling to figure out where to put Sadie every morning while I take a shower. It seems like anywhere I put her, Morgan can still get to her, and she attacks (literally--she's been biting Sadie and there's been teeth marks as evidence)! Sadie always falls asleep in the stroller during our walk, and usually stays asleep during the car ride back from walking group. So, today, I put her in the crib, car seat and all, and she was still asleep after my shower! In fact, I don't think Morgan even went in there!

Shoe, Flies...Don't Bother Us!!!

Anyone who has visited us since Labor Day Weekend knows what it's been like. To put it simply, Morgan has started saying, "Daddy get fly affer work." They seem to be everywhere! At bedtime, we go through the house (no flyswatter, so the September Ensign seems to be the magazine of choice) and get rid of the last stragglers from the day. Then, in the morning, they reappear! It's like they're hiding! Anyway, the black dot on the ceiling is one of those pesky little guys, about to take his last breath. Probably silly to blog about, but, since this is our journal, of sorts, we have to record the month of flies!

It's Always Fun...

...when the Nordstroms come!

Our good friends, Steve and Megan Nordstrom, and their girls, Kathryn and Juliana, are moving back to Provo from Nashville, so they stopped to see us for a couple of days (and to take a break from the road). We had lots of fun! We're so glad they're back in the west!

Morgan and Megan rocking out on the keyboard! Look at Morgan's stylin' shades!

Steve and the girls enjoying a book on the front porch.

Here's all of us! The crazy thing is, when we met, the girls were younger than Morgan! Now they're in kindergarten!!!! How time flies!

Farmer's Market

Of course I don't find out about it until the end of the summer, but we made it and Morgan loves to go! I don't know which is more fun, watching her "pay" for the fruits and vegetables, or her excitement when I let her pick them out and put them in the bag.

This week, she talked about the plums all the way home. In fact, when I talked to Brian on the phone, she made sure to mention that we bought more because he had taken the last one to work!

We are loving fresh produce at our house, and even Brian likes some of the new recipes I've tried. Oh, by the way, any suggestions for eggplant???


Morgan got $1 to pick out anything she wanted and she chose a pumpkin! She's not excited about it, though!

Saturday Mornings

Brian is the best dad and husband ever! He takes kid and baby duty on Friday and Saturday nights. It's awesome! This past weekend, I got a couple of cute pics of Daddy and his girls.





Morgan LOVES CrunchBerries! She only gets them when Daddy is home (and we have some in the house, which is rarely). As you can see, she was a little impatient for breakfast last Saturday. She thought she'd help Daddy open the box.





Isn't this such a cute picture? If only Morgan hadn't crashed earlier in the week, giving her that lovely bruise (which eventually became a scab on her eyelid) on her face! Oh well, I guess that's what toddlers do!

Thanks, Montierths!!

Since Sadie's been having trouble hearing (we'll find out on Saturday if all of our efforts this past month have paid off), Courtney and Rich decided to get her a mobile. She absolutely loves it! Please ignore the tantrum in the video. In fact, if you watch the video in silence, you won't even know Morgan is being a little stinker! Anyway, here's a couple of videos of Sadie loving her new toy! Thanks, guys!

This second one is a little wobbly, so here's your warning!