LaBouche Family

Birthdays!!

2010-11-08T18:54:00.004-07:00

Danica climbed a big hurdle--she is no longer mommy's baby. She is mommy's big 2 year old.

It is hard to believe that it has only been two years. Until you see how much she has truly grown.

We had a party at the Park for Danica--since that is her favorite place to go. The defining element of the party was the cake. Once Danica saw the toys on the top of the cake--nothing could distract her. Not little things like opening presents or eating cupcakes.
Of course it was too windy again this year to actually blow out the candles, but Danica was more interested in the eating the frosting to wait. Of course that was until she actually got the Elmo and Big Bird cars. Then she didn't even care about the frosting.

Overall the party was a lot of fun. The other children had a great time opening Danica's presents while Danica was playing with Big Bird and Elmo. Of course she got a lot of Elmo. Danica has a mild (major) obsession with all things Elmo and Sesame Street. (Note the shirt--she loves to name all of the characters on her shirt. All you have to do is ask).

But I did say BirthdayS in my title. This weekend we went to the Birthday party for Aunt Phyllis. After cake, ice cream and m&m Danica was focused on playing. And this is my favorite one to watch her play with.

Ghosts and Goblins and...Little Red Riding Hood

2010-11-05T18:29:00.004-07:00

Memories--Here are a picture of Danica at Halloween last year. She was a ballerina and so super cute.

And here are some pictures and a video of Danica at Halloween this year. She was Little Red Riding Hood. She is so tall that the costume (I got the one for 2 year olds) was almost too small.

We went to a neighborhood Halloween party. She loved the cupcake walk, the candy the people. But what she loved more than anything else was the bean bag toss game. She kept running back to it. She became almost a permanent fixture at the table.

No one minded because really she didn't care about the candy. She didn't care if they gave her any or not. All she wanted to do was toss the bean bags through the holes.

umm I think it has been a while...

2010-11-02T21:26:00.004-07:00

My Aunt Shirley subtlely reminded me that I was slacking a little on my blog updates--okay maybe she blantantly called me out and maybe I have been slacking a lot on my blog updates but you get the picture...

Anyway, Danica and I have been doing well--just nothing exciting enough to warrant pictures and a blog update. But you ask so I deliver.

Every weekend morning (or better yet every morning I am off work), Danica and I have been going to the park. Danica knows the route so well she gets excited the moment she first sees the playground equipment in the distance. The screaming exuberance is contagious.

Her favorite part is the slide--she would spend all day going up the stairs and down the slide if I would let her. And she gets even more excited if she can drag me up to the top so I have to go down the slide with her--fortunately for me I am also the photographer so you don't get to see those pictures. :)

I had noticed that she also seemed to love playing with the sand--so I invested 99 cents into a sand toy kit that became an instant hit. So now I am the look out for more sand toys. Her other newly discovered--or at least new to the blogging community--passion is all things Sesame Street with Elmo and Rubber Duckie as the strong leaders of the group. So she could not contain her excitment when we showed up at the park the first time and Duckie was there to play with.

This morning Danica was obsessed with the sand as well as the duck, so this Duckie got a nice sand scrub. Oh the pampered life of the playground pets. :)

The Vacation Continues

2010-07-15T10:04:00.003-07:00

After the whirlwind of the first week of our vacation, Danica and I have slowed down a little for our second week of our vacation. We have spent more time at home playing, coloring (lots of coloring), watching Sesame Street and Yo Gabba Gabba (Danica's two personal favorites), and reading. I found that Barnes and Nobel had a big sale on their clearance books and got Danica three kids books. She loved them and has had Grandpa and I read them to her repeatedly.

I took this picture with my phone. Danica stole the bandana I had on my head for my yoga class (thats the best way to keep my short hair out of my face). And she had such a great smile on her face I had to share it with all of you. Hopefully I get the same laugh that I did.

Vacation!!

2010-07-08T10:35:00.002-07:00

I had to take a vacation since Danica's sitter "Nana" took a vacation. And Danica and I have been super busy on this vacation.

Friday we went to a party for a friend's kid's birthday. Danica went into the bounce house--and loved it. Which is why this picture is not so good--she was moving way too much for the camera on my phone to be effective. :)

As we were trying to leave she saw a cupcake. I am thoroughly convince that she is addicted to cupcakes--she doesn't even care what the flavor is. But we couldn't leave until she got her cupcake.

We went bowling on Saturday with friends--well I bowled and Danica played with the younger kids and teens watching them in the arcade. Apparently Danica's favorite game is Skiball. The teen would hand her the ball and she would run it up to the end of the alley and then try to get it into a hole.

Monday, my dad smoked a corned beef (yummy homemade pastrami) and a pork butt. We have had the best sandwiches ever. And Danica steals pieces every chance she gets. I made myself a salad with pastrami on top--I only got about half of the pastrami. :)

Tuesday we ran errands.

Wednesday, I took Danica to a splish splash pad. And she made a lot of friends. Although she wasn't as sure about the water coming from over her head. She liked to splash more than she liked to be splashed. :)

More updates to come. We have a full schedule for the rest of our vacation. :)

When A Pictures Worth a Thousand Words

2010-06-25T17:57:00.001-07:00

Yep she has discovered pudding!!

Before and After

2010-06-20T13:08:00.002-07:00

We went to a cousin's wedding reception last weekend. And Danica had a ton of fun. But I had to share the before and after pictures.

Before--she had a cute little hair decoration that matched her dress. Her dress was pristine. Everything was perfect--and I managed to get her cute little smile on camera. Perfection:

After chasing her around the cultural hall and church for an hour and having her steal the strawberries off of our plates so she could eat them stem side first (no amount of coaxing would convince her she would be happier starting at the other end), we headed home. The hair decoration had come off by her own hand, and she seemed more impressed with the crazy hair style that the removal created. You can't see it in picture, but the dress is now covered in food (as was the table cloth--sorry Miriam). But what can I say, I still got her cute little smile in the picture, and I still happen to think she is perfection:

Do you hear what I hear?

2010-06-20T12:59:00.003-07:00

Danica's Aunt Laurel and Uncle Shane gave her a keyboard a while ago. I have been avoiding putting batteries in it because she has been so impressed with the button pushing without sounds that I figured why ruin a nice quiet toy. Well, we finally broke down an put the batteries in. So every night we are blessed with her musical talent.

The video below will give you an idea of how musically gifted she is but it is in the dark because I was really trying to convince Danica that it was time to go to bed. Not necessarily very successful at that particular moment.

Summer's Here

2010-06-18T18:56:00.003-07:00

Some signs that summer is here:

Danica and I have lots of invitations to go play at friend's pools.
An upcoming vacation where Danica and I are going to spend lots of time together.
The market at the corn field is finally open after we have been watching the corn grow into 5 foot tall plants.
The local farmers market has the the yummiest tomatoes to make the yummiest tomatoes.
I get to make the best sandwich with Laughing Cow cheese wedge, basil from my container garden, and heirloom tomatoes.
Ice cream socials every Friday at work--fun, friends, and ice cream--what more could a friend want. :)
Oh yeah and finally Danica gets to eat watermelon--and she eats it like a Nicoll with a little salt. :)

Here are some pictures for your enjoyment:

Danica putting the watermelon rind in the secret compartment of her musical table.

Success!! The watermelon rind has been forced into the secret compartment. Yes I do realize it is not that secret.

Proof that I in no way have to force her to eat the watermelon. Yep she's a Nicoll. :)

Party Time

2010-06-08T14:16:00.004-07:00

Danica and I went to the Nana School Reunion, where all the kids that Nana (Danica's sitter) has watched all got together. There was a pool and games and lots of fun to be had.

Here is Danica at the start of the party. Aren't those the cutest flip flops ever:

And Danica's favorite game was drop the balls into the tub of water the other kids were using to fill the balls up so they could squirt water on people...until she figured out that she could also squirt water on people. Then it was no holds barred. :)

Let the Good Times Roll

2010-06-02T11:48:00.003-07:00

This weekend Danica and I got to meet up with friends from New Mexico at a surprise birthday party. Danica had a ton of fun throwing birthday balloons in the air and then saying "ut-oh" as they came down. She giggled even more if they came down straight onto her head.

After eating a little pizza we went outside so Danica could get some of her pent up energy out. She immediately found the broom and started trying to help with sweeping the patio. And she quickly made the broom the prized toy to play with. :)
Now if only I can get her to do that for the kitchen and bathroom at home, but something tells me without all the other kids trying to "play" too she won't be nearly as interested. :)

Day trip to Vernon

2010-05-23T12:10:00.005-07:00

I wish the reason for the trip had been happier, but yesterday we went up to Vernon to attend my great uncle's funeral.

The service was beautiful. And I know the next family reunion won't be the same without JT. I think to honor him I will make something that needs to sit on the cooling rack he gave me as a wedding gift. So many options. :)

Danica had fun playing with her toys and running around. She had Grandpa walk around the church with her about 4 times. Then we sat in the mothers room throughout most of the service so that I could hear the service and Danica could run around and play.

I completely blame the hair on the wind--the wind was crazy.

We also went up to the upper ranch. They have thinned out the trees a bunch and it was a big surprise. We could see the trailers from the road. Danica slept most of the time we were at the upper ranch so I didn't take any pictures.

Then we went to the lower ranch and showed Danica a bunch of the pictures on the wall.

But her favorite part was the windmill. She kept pointing at it and talking about it--in a language we have yet to understand.

Then we went out to see the horses. Again with the wind--you think I am exaggerating--I am not--it was crazy. :)

Cody let her get on the back of the horse--first she wanted to sit side saddle. How ladylike--Glorya would be proud!
Then she decided to straddle the horse--tell me she isn't a cowgirl at heart!

Dinner with a smile

2010-05-18T19:02:00.003-07:00

Every day I love to come home to Danica. She really makes me laugh and smile no matter what. And today she was particularly cute--she absolutely loved the sauce Grandpa made to go with the chicken tenders. And she loved watching Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader (we had not watched it with her until tonight). But you can tell from the video why we ended up having dinner with a smile:

Saturday in the Park

2010-05-18T18:45:00.003-07:00

Saturday Danica and I went to Playtopia--which is really one of the coolest parks I have ever been to. I hadn't been there until my friends invited us, but I am seriously considering having Danica's birthday there. Anyway, we had tons of fun at the park. The weather was perfect and with the all over shade, all of the play equipment was not hot.

Here is Danica and I on the slide--afterwards she tried to get every big kid going down the slide to take her with them:

Here is Danica after she tried to copy the big kids going up the slide:

Here is Danica jumping on all of the play equipment. She really loved the sound she made when she would jump:

Finally--Danica's favorite thing to do was jump on the draw bridge because it made the draw bridge go up and down:

Cousin's Dinner

2010-05-18T18:41:00.002-07:00

This past week we went to Cafe Rio for cousin's dinner. Overall, I really enjoyed my food. I thought the meat on the salad was quite tasty. I enjoyed catching up with the cousins. But I really loved watching Danica's expressions, particularly as she was stealing food from Grandpa's plate. :)

"No really everyone--Grandpa wanted me to steal his beans and rice"--Danica

Mother's Day Weekend

2010-05-11T17:14:00.005-07:00

Danica and I had a very busy Mother's Day weekend. We started celebrating early with a Pool Party and BBQ at a friends house. Danica had not really been in a pool much until the party but she loved it. She stood on the first step of the pool splashing and kicking--and of course giggling. Then one of my friends let us use her pool toy for babies, which looks like an inner-tube but has leg holes for the baby's legs to go through. And she loved that. My dad and I are going to start looking for one for her to use throughout the summer because she had so much fun being lead around the pool on that.

Here are some pictures from the party:

Then on Sunday we decided to go to Harper's Nursery and get the herbs that I wanted for Mother's Day. Unfortunately they did not have any thyme that looked good for cooking (the onese there were more for ground cover). But they had Rosemary and Basil. So that is what I got, but they told me to try again in two weeks and they should have more options.

So I took the Basil (I named him Rathbone) and Rosemary (Rosie) home and transplanted them. Here are some pictures of them now: I am hoping they will grow as quickly as Danica did. :)

Finally, Dad noticed that we had a hummingbird who built a nest on our carport. I had seen the hummingbird a couple of times flying around some of our bushes--I showed Danica and of course she giggled. But it was neat to see the nest. I had never been this close to one.

Dancing with Danica

2010-05-08T06:46:00.003-07:00

Danica's favorite show has become Dancing with the Stars. Every week she gets very excited as the music starts. She loves to spin herself in a circle. Or she bounces up and down while moving her arms. The whole time she is laughing her cute little giggle.

This week she started wanting Grandpa and I to get into the action as well. She has come over to our chairs, taken our hands and had us help her spin. So we are now her dance partners.

I would take pictures but everytime she sees the light, she stops. She really is not as shy as she likes to pretend to me. :)

18 months...can you believe it?

2010-04-30T16:46:00.002-07:00

I know that I can't. I have been looking at her in amazement thinking where did the time go?

But yesterday we went to her 18 month check up. She is doing very well, except she really wants nothing to do with laying on the exam table. The moment I set her down on it she starts crying...and my heart just breaks.

But she is now 33 inches tall (90 percentile) and 23.11 pds. (50 percentile). And I did clarify, and that means she is taller than average but she is average weight. I am pretty sure that means she is a typical Nicoll--tall and lanky. :)

Weekend fun

2010-04-28T09:18:00.004-07:00

Work has been crazy all week--by all week I mean Monday and Tuesday. Monday I had to run a workshop on campus for new students, and it ended up being larger than anyone anticipated. Than Tuesday I had to MC an event on campus--which went well until the closing when I suddenly said it was 2005. Huh? Where did that come from? :)

So I have not had a chance to update everyone on the weekend fun. My friend and I took our kids to the Salsa Fest in Tempe. It was a blast!! I got to try like 50 different salsas. Some were great. Some I am not sure why those people were in a competition--but to each their own.

My friend and I were not really big fans of paying $7 for burritos, particularly for the kids who were probably not going to eat much anyway, so we went to Chick-fil-a. This was the first time I had taken Danica into Chick-fil-a. We had always gone through the drive-thru, so I knew she loved their food. But I had no idea how much she would love their play area.

She had so much fun that she did not want to stop to eat--which if you know Danica really is a feat. She usually can't wait to eat. She also got to go on her first slide ride with on of my friend's kids and seemed to love it.

And yes I finally had a chance to post a picture. Aren't you all impressed? :)

Crazy Weekend

2010-04-20T07:10:00.004-07:00

Danica and I went to Tammy's softball game this weekend. Danica ran and ran and ran. I do not actually know what happened at the game because most of my time was spent watching Danica.

But Danica also had a blast. She found this man hole cover just outside the field that made the greatest sound when she danced on it. And she danced and danced and danced. This I enjoyed because she danced in one place that I could watch from a seat. :)

Hopefully next time my niece Jess will be there too. She can run and run and run after Danica. :)

I promise pictures soon. I have some great ones to share on my phone but I am still figuring out the best way to get them off my phone and onto my computer. :)

Where is your nose?

2010-04-16T17:57:00.002-07:00

Danica is learning new things. This week she is learning where her nose is. When you ask her, she smiles and points to her nose.

She however is not learning to let me take pictures any better. I tried for a long time yesterday to get her to do it for the camera but to no avail. I promise to post a picture though if I can get her to do it for the camera. :)

Utensils required

2010-03-31T10:26:00.002-07:00

Danica has firmly decided that she is a big girl--and big girls get to use spoons and/or forks. Big girls do not pick their food up with their fingers. As such, Danica has decided that all food must be eaten with a spoon or a fork. No more being fed by mommy or daddy. So meal time has slowed down for us as Danica tries to figure out how to get everything on her spoon and/or fork.

This morning she was eating a banana. Usually she eats bananas so fast we miss it. But today, she had to get the banana on the spoon--definitely takes more time.

And I tried to give her some banana with cashew butter (which she loves), but I was not allowed to feed it to her. I had to put the banana on the spoon so she could feed it to herself.

So that was my adventures this morning. Now my mission is to find a better fork and spoon combo for Danica's little hands. The ones we have are not working out well. :)

One, Two, Three...Five!

2010-03-28T15:45:00.002-07:00

Danica has always shown a preference for counting books, particularly with Grandpa reads them to her. She has even started to take our fingers to point out what needs to be counted on the page. But lately, as she is starting to talk, she has started to count things. We hear her little voice say one, two, three (pause) five (very excitedly). For some reason, four has been eliminated from the counting line.

And lately another funny Danica-ism has started. Danica has learned how to play ring around the rosies with her friends at daycare. And she is obsessed. She wants them to play it with her all the time. And she runs around the house saying "ashes, ashes" which is the one part of the rhyme she can say. So she will be standing in front of me saying "ashes, ashes" waiting for me to get to the part where "we all fall down." At which point she falls down and giggles.

So here is a little update on what is going on over here. I have made it a personal goal to update more often--and with pictures when possible. :)

Picture

2010-03-18T14:18:00.002-07:00

I know I have been horribly bad at updating the blog. Life has been crazy to say the least. But I thought if I shared a super cute picture of a super cute little girl you would all forgive me. :)

Update

2010-02-04T19:00:00.002-07:00

Yes I know that I have not been blogging lately. Here are the updates:

1) Danica had her 15 month appointment. She is healthy and happy. She is still making us laugh on a daily basis. She likes to dance (the ABC song on her activity table is a favorite right now). She likes to sing--but we only have a few words that we can understand (hi, bye, me). She loves to play where's Danica (hiding until we say Where's Danica).

2) Work is crazy, and so is class. I am taking two classes and helping to TA another. I love TAing and I am starting to look at opportunities to teach in a college. Wish me luck.

3) Corey wants to go to culinary school. He is planning to start this month.

I would tell you all more, but I am in a class. I know--if my students did this I would have to get after them. :)

Danica's First Birthday

2009-11-14T18:29:00.006-07:00

For Danica's first birthday we did a party at the park. It went off wonderfully.

Danica got lots of clothes and clothes from her friends and family.

We got Danica a Princess cupcake cake. It was quite a hit with everyone--and I have decided it was the best invention for kids parties!!

We let Danica feed herself one of the cupcakes. It was great!

Danica's favorite part of the party at the park was being able to swing. She would have done it for hours if we would have let her.

Danica got a power wheels from one of our friends. She was a little unsure of the riding part--but she enjoyed pushing it everywhere.

Halloween!!

2009-11-14T18:21:00.004-07:00

Danica's first Halloween costume was a ballerina outfit that her daddy picked out for her--complete with cute pink shoes that she wore until they no longer fit. And yes, they already don't fit. I love kids shoes.

We went to the neighborhood Halloween party where she played games and charmed everyone with her cuteness. It was a lot of fun.

Infamous Spagetti Pictures

2009-11-14T18:16:00.002-07:00

Yes I know it has been a loooooong time since I updated. But to make up for the lapse I have tons of pictures to share. The first are going to be some of the infamous pictures I threaten to show all of Danica's future dates. She is just so cute feeding herself spagetti and meatballs.

Happy Birthday Danica

2009-10-22T19:04:00.005-07:00

Today was the one year anniversary of the day that I will never forget--the day our family changed forever--the day Danica came to join us.

Here are some pictures of how we celebrated the day of her birthday.

We got her a hostess cupcake and put a candle in it then we sang Happy Birthday to her. She then proceeded to demolish the cupcake. I am thinking that Sunday should be a blast for her. :)

A Day At The Zoo

2009-10-19T10:35:00.002-07:00

The break in the weather convinced Nana (Danica's sitter) that it was safe to plan a trip to the Zoo for Danica, NeNe, Samantha and Aiden. Of course, by the day of the trip the break in the weather had subsided and it was hot again. But still, you can't promise a trip to the Zoo and not deliver. So Danica got to go to the Zoo last Friday. She had a blast, but she was very tired by the time she got home.

The ironic thing is that the pictures from the day at the Zoo did not focus on the animals--they focused on Danica doing two of her favorite things (eating and sleeping). What can I say? She is a consistent--and so very cute. So for your viewing pleasure, here are a couple of pictures from the Zoo:

And in case you missed the invitation on Facebook--we are hosting a day at the park for Danica's first birthday. October 25th at 2pm at Countryside Park (Southern between Val Vista and Lindsay in Mesa). Please comment as an RSVP if you are planning to attend.

Birthday Celebrations

2009-09-26T12:21:00.004-07:00

Our cousins came to Arizona for a weekend, and while they were here we decided to celebrate Flannery's and Danica's upcoming birthdays. Here are some pictures of the festivities:

Danica's first Happy Birthday hat--I am not too sure if she likes it:

Finally proof that I am not making it up--she really does walk everywhere:

Danica playing the baby piano that I played as a kid while petting the bear she got for her birthday:
I know a picture is worth 1000 words--but I really think you need to see the video to get the full experience of Danica's musical expression:

And of course her Jerry Lee Lewis impression:

A True Fan

2009-09-26T12:16:00.003-07:00

Those of you that know Corey well know that he is true Miami Dolphins fan. No matter if they are having a great year (like last season) or not (like the season before)--Corey follows them. They are his favorite team.

So it isn't too surprising that Danica is starting to show signs of being a Daddy's Girl--and a Dolphin's fan.

What I wasn't able to get her to do for the camera was play Where's Danica. She was hiding behind the hat until we asked Where's Danica and then she move the hat and laugh.

Climb every...

2009-09-15T10:03:00.004-07:00

Yes I know that it has been a while since I posted--and yes I do have people who remind me when I take a while to post. But in my defense we have had a lot happen since the last post.

1) School started. Since I work at ASU this is a crazy time for me at work. And I am taking a couple of classes myself which just compounds it. And Corey is taking courses at MCC. So yes we are insane with the start of school.

2) Danica is walking--and so an inordinate amount of our time is spent getting Danica away from the door out or the door to the hallway. And goodness you should see her go if we happen to leave the door to the hallway open. She goes double speed then--she thinks escaping is fun. I am convinced we have our work cut out for us. We have been trying to get a video or a good picture of Danica walking--but she is terribly camera shy or just stubborn and doesn't want to let us record the event (I can't decide which). But here is a videa of her climbing up Corey's legs--yep she has already mastered climbing:

3) Corey should be starting a new job in the next week or so (we are waiting for the background check). The job is graveyard shift which is good because he will have his days free to work on his school work.

4) Someone broke into Corey's car and broke the driver's side window out. Not fun. I had to get the replacement arranged. I opted to have them replace my windshield too because a crack had started last week and had already doubled in size in less then a week.

I think that is a pretty fair update on what is going on here in our crazy household. But for your viewing pleasure--here is a picture of Danica (isn't she the cutest):

More Steps on the Path to Greatness!!

2009-08-15T11:22:00.006-07:00

Here are some more videos of Danica as she is learning to walk. I am guessing that my feelings are normal. I am excited to see her reach this exciting milestone. And I am wishing she was still the little baby that we could carry around in the carrier. It seemed like having her in that carrier was so much safer and we spent a lot less time chasing her. But overall I am just preparing myself because I know that she will be getting bigger and bigger everyday whether I am ready for it or not:

And just for viewing enjoyment--proof that she is still not overly impressed with Mommy and Daddy's desire to record her every move:

A New Addition

2009-08-15T10:57:00.007-07:00

Corey's brother's baby was born yesterday and we went to the hospital to introduce ourselves to the new addition to the family.

We would like to welcome Alex Jonathan Bouchard to the family:

Here is a picture of Corey getting aquainted:

And because no blog post is really complete without a picture of Danica--here are some pictures of her. It seems it was a little late for her because she was much more cranky then she normally is: Here is a picture of the brothers with their kids:

Danica was supposed to be looking at Grandma--but instead was looking at me. But what can I say--she is so cute. :)

One small step for...

2009-08-09T13:18:00.006-07:00

Yep, our little princess is starting to take steps. I am not sure if that is a good thing or not--it seems that the more mobile she is the more trouble she can get into. But then it is inevitable so I have decided to celebrate.

Now I was trying really hard to get you a video of her walking--but as discussed before she is not the most cooperative. So I am providing you with videos of her cutely refusing to walk for the camera. But trust me--she has taken steps unassisted.

Here is another:

Dr Appt Update

2009-07-24T12:46:00.003-07:00

Yesterday, Danica and I went for her 8 month check-up (yes, I realize we are a little late, but it happens).

She is 18 lbs (25-50 percentile) and 29 inches (90 percentile).

I would add a picture, but I am at work and I don't have any current pictures on my computer, but you can trust me she is still totally cute. :)

Yummy

2009-07-21T19:36:00.003-07:00

Here is more opportunity to see Danica being super cute--this time she is feeding herself. We are pretty sure we will need to keep these chicken sausages on hand for her--she loves them. :)

Gosh I just love that little girl!!

A Round of Applause Please...

2009-07-16T18:39:00.006-07:00

Today Danica showed us that she knew how to clap...and we were so excited we wanted to share it with you. But as usual Danica did not make this incredibly easy to do.

First attempt:

She saw the light and then it was a no go. But I have to say she is rather cute so I thought I would share.

Second attempt:

This time she saw the camera and it was over. I swear she has a knack for seeing that I am trying to share some aspect of her cuteness and that stops her immediately. :)

Final attempt--Corey did a covert op with the camera which involved looking down after she looked at him so she could not see he had the camera. But this time you really get to see the clapping. :)

And yes we were watching the Cubbies on TV--very important to teach Danica from the beginning who the best team in baseball is. :)

Dolly

2009-07-06T15:43:00.003-07:00

I am a little behind in blogging, so I didn't get a chance to tell everyone about Danica's first dolly. Jenny, Danica and I went out to brunch at Mimi's cafe and then we went to Carters. Carters was having a WONDERFUL sale--so I got Danica a couple of onies. Jenny got Danica her first Dolly. The funniest thing was that while I wa taking Danica's pictures she decided she didn't want to share the limelight with her new Dolly. She kept getting in front of her Dolly in the pictures. I wonder--does this mean her dislike of the camera?

And I even managed to get a picture of her smiling--that really was the highlight of the day. :)

Toys!

2009-06-21T06:39:00.005-07:00

Brandy was feeling a little left out of the toy buying lately, so while Danica was sleeping we caught Brandy playing with Danica's toys:

And then Brandy found Danica's long lost binky and well--lets just say that Danica won't be using it again:
But since I know that Danica is really the star of this blog--I had to show you Danica playing with her new toys. My friend Colleen gave Danica a few things that her daughters had outgrown. By far the telephone is the favorite--is that a bad sign?

And if you look closely, you can see her bottom teeth. The top teeth have to be coming soon.
And all of us want to wish a Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there. We celebrated Father's Day last weekend with Grandpa Yves, Grandpa Gary, and Daddy--and had a blast. This weekend though we may make Dad breakfast when he wakes up, depending on how cooperative a teething Danica decides to be. :)

More Pictures

2009-06-18T05:33:00.005-07:00

Even though Danica was under the 25 lb. weight limit of her first carseat--she was so long that she did not fit in it anymore. So we had t go carseat shopping--and get her a bigger carseat. Hopefully this one will last her longer.

Here are some pictures of her in her carseat:

Here are some pictures of her almost smiling in her carseat--proof that it was the right time to make the change:And if you look very very closely you can almost see the two teeth on the bottom. Nope the top ones aren't there yet.

Pictures from Nana

2009-06-17T15:29:00.004-07:00

We call Danica's sitter Nana. And today she gave me a special surprise of sending me pictures of Danica. I thought I should share them with you because what can I say--she is a pretty darn cute kid. Plus I want everyone to recognize that I am not the only person she won't smile for--although I did take some pictures this morning to show you all her new carseat (those will hopefully be posted after work)--and she did almost smile in one. :)

Yes it is true--there is beautiful soft grass but no my daughter wants to play in the rocks:
And just try to get her to smile--she won't:

Okay maybe a very little bit:
This one I am sure she is smiling. 1) She isn't looking at the camera and 2) I am pretty sure she knows she isn't supposed to be getting on that bike.
What can I say--my little darling is quite a character. :)

Busy Day of Fun

2009-06-07T08:55:00.006-07:00

Yesterday was definitely a busy day of fun.

First, Danica and I went to Jen's house to get my hair cut and colored. I don't have a good picture that just shows my haircut yet--but just trust me it is great. I love it!!

Then Danica and I went to Danica's first friend's birthday party at Peter Piper Pizza. She had a little bit of pizze and cake. Since it was a Cinderella party, Danica gave her friend a really cute Cinderella tea party set. And as a special surprise the birthday girl and her mom gave Danica a big pink plastic ball. Danica loves it. She loves to sit with Corey and have him tap the ball and then she tries to copy his pattern. So we hear a lot of tap-tap-tap then a lighter tap-tap---tap. But it is so cute. The only tough thing is that she is trying to use the ball to stand up.

Danica and I at her first party:

After the party we came home for a little bit. Then my sister called and told me that she was playing softball at a park in Tempe. So Corey, Danica and I went to watch her play and hang out with Delfina and Jessica. Danica had a lot of fun, but we could tell she was getting really tired so we ended up not going out to dinner with everyone.

Danica and I at the game:
Playing with cousin Jessica:
Playing with Aunt Tammy:

We got Danica into the car and about halfway home she fell fast asleep. When we got her home she barely woke up when we got her out to put her to bed. Overall her busy day tired her out.

Retreat

2009-06-05T05:34:00.006-07:00

No I am not talking about going backwards--I am talking about the retreat I got to do with the other advisors in the education program.

We went to the Wildlife World Zoo--and if you haven't been there you should go. Yes it really is out by the loop 303 and yes there really is a loop 303. :)

Here are a couple of pictures from when I got to touch sting rays--I will have to get my friend to send me some of her pictures. She got some of me right after I came off the log ride--I was drenched!!

And here are the flamingos:

Then I went to the gift shop and got Danica a very cute hat. She is not too sure about the hat, really not sure about the flash from the camera, and enjoying climbing on me more then the hat or the pictures but here you go:

After the zoo, where we had lunch, we went back to ASU's West campus for some professional development. Overall it was a fun day--but it was really a little far from us.

Update

2009-05-23T16:42:00.003-07:00

So I would have worked on thinking of a better title then that--but as my aunt and dad have pointed out I haven't posted in a while so I decided they would rather have an update then a catchy title. :)

Here are some updated pictures of Danica. Since last post she has mastered sitting up--and is working on standing on her own. She likes to pull herself up using our pant legs when we are sitting in the living room. She is also teething--which has not been fun. She has been getting up every 2-3 hours upset that her gums hurt. But orajel seems to help her quite a bit. Hopefully soon there will be teeth to show everyone.

One thing that has not changed--she still refuses to let us take a picture of her smiling. I keep hoping though.

At work--we have moved offices. The upside is we got to move to the new buildings and our offices have great views of the campus. The downside is that we got almost no notice of the actual move date and so we have had to meet with students in the middle of the choas. But Friday I finally got to empty out the last of my boxes. So now I feel a little set.

The next stage

2009-04-24T19:17:00.003-07:00

Tonight while we were eating dinner, we let Danica play on the floor with her toys. All of a sudden she does this:

Yep, she is to the next stage. She is getting big and doesn't she look guilty?

Nicoll Beans

2009-04-24T19:10:00.005-07:00

For anyone who is interested in DC's (and later Casper's) beans--the secret is in the spices. And no they did not measure their spices in tablespoons and teaspoons--they knew by sight how much they needed. They put the spices in the spoon and then stirred the spoon into beans. Below is a picture of what the spoon should look like.

Before:

After:

My cousin Jen made an excellent point--I failed to identify the spices. It is garlic, chili powder, pepper and salt. :)

To help answer my cousin Andrea's questions--even though she did not come to the family reunion--The beans are pinto beans. We used 2 cups. Clean them, wash them, soak them overnight. The next day drain the soaking water, cover them with water and put a smoked ham hock and some chopped onion. DC and my grandpa had done it with salt pork as well--but you would need to soak that overnight to get some of the saltiness out of it. Cook on a medium low heat for about 4-5 hours--the longer you cook them the softer they will get. Beans are always better the second day.

Good luck and let me know if you have questions.

She's My Brown Eyed Girl

2009-04-19T16:42:00.004-07:00

I wanted to tell everyone that Danica's eyes have changed colors and so I believe that she will be a beautiful brown eyed girl.

Here is a picture--but Danica still is stubborn about letting me get a picture of her cute little smile.

Grandma would have been laughing at me...

2009-04-18T10:26:00.002-07:00

Anyone who knew my grandma knew that she had this thing about being early for everything. To be on time was to be late and to be late...well lets just say I did not do that.

And this philosophy also applied to taxes--get them done early and get them turned in early.

And usually that is what I do, but this year that did not happen. This year we had trouble getting Corey's W2 forms so we had to wait. We did not get them until April 10 so we did not get our taxes done until April 15.

But I thought no problem--the post office is always open until midnight on April 15. And that is where my plan went horribly wrong. The budget cuts meant that in the valley there were only 3 places open after hours--Peoria Sports Complex, Phoenix Muncipal Stadium, and the main post office in Phoenix. Dad agreed to take me down to the post office in Phoenix--but he forgot his cell phone. We get there and the line of cars are at least a block away in each direction. There are people parking any where they can find along the side of the road to walk their taxes in to the post office (there goes the theory that everyone does them online). After trying to figure out how to get around to where we need to be, we decide that I am going to get out and walk and Dad is going to drive in a set path so I can find him once I get them dropped off.

So I had to walk a little over a block--did I mention that it was chilly for Arizona and I also forgot my jacket or sweater. And by the time I walked back the traffic was so bad that Dad had moved about 5-8 car lengths from the time I left. It was insane.

So yes I have to admit that I have learned my lesson and Grandma won't be able to laugh at me next year because I am going to get my taxes done early.

Happy Easter

2009-04-12T22:03:00.002-07:00

The Easter Bunny brought Danica her first Easter basket today--and I have to say that the Easter Bunny had Danica pegged pretty good. Here are two T-Shirts that Danica got.

The last week or so have been a little crazy for Danica--she has been sick so she has not been sleeping very well. So this T-Shirt will pretty much give you all an idea of how well I have been sleeping lately: But in general this shirt gives you a good idea of what the Easter Bunny thinks of Danica--that she is quite a cutie!!
Here is a picture of Danica with her Easter Basket. We had quite a busy morning so we did not get the picture taken until we got home from Aunt Shirley's--as you can see she was pretty tired.

The outfit I got her came with a hat--I thought it was so cute but Corey kept laughing hysterically. I still think she looks adorable with her hat on:
Overall it was a wonderful Easter. We went to Aunt Shirley's for lunch. We had yummy ham with the prickly pear syrup I made for Christmas as a glaze, twice baked potatoes (favorite), and roasted leek and potato soup that I saw on Barefoot Contessa. Personally I loved the soup--but I was a little biased since I made it. hehe.

Then we had strawberries, homemade ice cream, and whipped cream. It was awesome!

And Danica is starting to eat real food. It has been a struggle because she hates baby food. But we are starting to find that she likes soft adult food. I bought some no sugar added apple sauce--and she loved it. She eats it like a little birdie--coming after the spoon with her mouth wide open. She also tried some of my soup--she had great taste and loved it, crab and lobster dip, Aunt Shirley's home grown beets, the inside of the twice baked potato, and ice cream. She loved it all.

She also started crawling--well really it was scooting--all over Aunt Shirley's floor. She was very entertaining.

Where Have I Been?

2009-04-01T19:47:00.002-07:00

My aunt Shirley stopped by today and reminded me that I have not blogged in a little while--okay it has been a couple of weeks. Here is a small run down of what has been going on:

Danica got over her first cold--which included a trip to a doctor office. Maybe I should have blogged a little sooner because I think she is in the process of catching number 2. There is a cough going through her sitter's house.

Corey got over pneumonia--walking pneumonia but still he got to spend a few hours at the urgent care.

I started another class in my masters program and I am thoroughly convinced that this teacher is crazy. She seems to think that three or four assignments all due in the same week--and most of them are a group project with different groups for each. Oh--and if that isn't bad enough she is not very good at explaining exactly what she wants--just really good and saying what she doesn't want. Oh it is going to be a long 8 weeks.

Danica is pretty much out of her 3 month outfits--she is getting bigger much faster than I expected. She is also starting to eat solid foods--so far she has had rice cereal, carrots (not a favorite), pears (favorite), bananas (not a favorite), and green beans (favorite)--oh and sweet potatoes which seems to be a favorite as well.

So as you can see we have been busy over here, but I am hoping to be able to tell you more a little more often. Oh and my walking to Sweden is going well for me--the rest of my team is not so well.

Walking my way to Sweden

2009-03-16T20:31:00.004-07:00

If you have followed my twitter updates, you may have seen that I am walking my way to Sweden--at least that is the general idea. There is competition going on at work and the winning team is eligible for a trip t0 Sweden. And since I know Grandma would have wanted me to go to Sweden if I was given the opportunity--I decided to join in.

So for the next six months I get to wear a pedometer--I know it is the coolest accessory ever. And the objective is to walk 10,000 steps (approximately 5 miles according to my team leader) every day. If I do that, my team gets a point. And if the entire team (of four people) does it, we get a bonus point.

And Corey is so lucky--he gets to walk with me around the neighborhood if I figure out that I am not up to my 10,000 steps needed for that day. That is what we did today after dinner--we walked around the neighborhood for about an hour (I had a sit at your desk and work kind of day).

And I have to say I think I liked the walk--it was relaxing. And the trip seemed to wear Danica out. She feel asleep so easy this evening--and has been out like a light.

Furloughed

2009-03-04T19:23:00.006-07:00

Everyone at work has been talking about our furlough days--in particular how we are going to spend our unpaid days off. Well today was one of my furlough day and here I spent it.

First, Danica is sick and so I started the morning off at the doctor's office. Danica has officially broke the 14 lb. mark. She has a cold--so she should be better in a few days.

Here are a few pictures of her before the doctor came in--she loves to look completely happy and healthy when she sees the doctor. So I look like a liar when I say she has been out of sorts. :)
Then Dad and I started a little garden--I think I will call it my very own Hanging Garden of...well I haven't decided yet--but I will.

I have named all the plants--so I can remember which one is which--and because I have fun talking to them. I am hoping it will make them grow big and produce lots and lots of veggies.

This is Early Girl (I am hoping to have tomatoes very soon with this one), Ana (New Mexico Chilis which I usually call Anaheim chilis), and Mark (Marconi peppers--never had these but they are described as a sweet pepper but don't look like bell peppers in the pictures).

This picture has Sweets (in honor of one of my favorite TV shows--Bones--Sweet 100 tomatoes. I am particularly excited about this one because it is supposed to be a wonderful tomato and easy to grow), Cherry (obviously cherry tomatoes), and Brandy (in honor of my kitty--Heirloom Pink Brandywine tomatoes. We are super excited about this one because you don't get these in the stores).

So hopefully I will get to tell you all about our garden very soon.

Ironically Corey's mom got us an Aerogarden with the herb pods this weekend. Corey started our herb garden as well. I would take a picture but right now it is just little domes. The plants probably won't start sprouting for another week or so. But when they do, we will hopefully have fresh basil, chives (Corey is particularly excited about these), parsley, oregano, and a few more. Our salads will never be the same. :)

So overall my day off was nice...but it is nice to know that tomorrow I will have a job to go to. :)

Now For Some Pictures

2009-02-25T20:32:00.003-07:00

This is the closest we have gotten to getting her smile on camera--she is a stubborn one who likes to hide her smile the moment she sees the camera. And we tried to hide the camera. :)Yep this is the face we normally get after we have been trying to get the smile on camera for too long according to Danica.

These pictures are courtesy of Corey's brother's wife. :)

Sorry No Pictures

2009-02-24T09:22:00.004-07:00

Things have continued to be crazy around here.

We went last weekend to Corey's brothers house for lunch.

Corey had been talking about his ribs with hoisin sauce (seriously I don't like bbq sauce on ribs anymore after he started making these). So we bought some Korean-style ribs that he put his rub on, grilled and then put the hoisin sauce on. They were out of this world.

The plan was to each make something from the Ultimate Recipe Showdown. So Corey and I made the Tongue Tantalizing Pork Sandwiches (minus the pineapple--Corey has a thing against meat and fruit together but that's another post; and minus the slaw--we aren't big slaw people and honestly time got away from me). Overall it was incredibly yummy--except I missed the step to cut the meat up before cooking so it didn't get to the shredding stage in time. But I will definitley make it again.

Corey's brother's wife made the five-cheese mac and cheese. And it was really yummy. If you watched the show you may remember the judges were concerned with the blue cheese--but ended up loving it and making it the winner. Well Laurel tried it once without the blue cheese and felt like it was missing something, so when she made it for the lunch she put the blue cheese in. And it really was dynamite. I may try to make it in the future, but she did say getting all the cheeses was a little bit of work. And Danica has put a damper on anything that requires a lot of work...hehe.

Corey's mom made a yummy chocolate cake. It wasn't from the show--so I don't have the cool name or the recipe. But trust me it was good.

So overall we had a wonderful lunch--a very big and filling lunch to say the least.

And so we started talking about getting together once a month or so to do a meal like that again. We are thinking East Indian food might be fun to try--Corey and I had it at this place in Phoenix and loved it. In particular they had these meatballs in a curry sauce. They were amazing. So if anyone knows a good East Indian recipe--particularly one that involves meatballs--then I am all ears.

Danica is doing well. She is still growing like a weed. And her newest talent is blowing raspberries. And she just loves to do it. The whole way home last night that was all I heard. And if she can see you laugh when she does it, then she gets a big smile on her face because she is entertaining you.

Crazy Times

2009-02-13T13:07:00.004-07:00

Ahh--this is the toothless grin that I am sure is going to get me in lots of trouble as Danica gets older. I just look at it and think who could say no to someone so beautiful...certainly not mommy. At least not yet. I have been told by a few friends with children that it gets easier to say no when they are older. We shall see.

**on a side note--how long does it usually take baby's eyes to change colors? Her eyes seem to be staying a very dark blue color and I am wondering if that is the permanent color or if there are changes in our future.

Okay back to the regularly scheduled update...hehe: This little darling has been sick for the past week. She was all stuffed up and her eyes were draining. And she was overall a very crabby girl--which is not like her at all. I could tell she didn't feel well and was in pain.

I took her to the doctor's on Monday. She now weighs 13lbs. 9oz. My baby is not staying little for me at all--but that is another post.

They checked her out--and after cleaning her ears, which she hated by the way, said she would be okay in a couple of days. And gave her eye drops. And so far they were right--her eyes cleared up within 24 hours. And she has been a lot less congested.

But now I am not feeling well. I am pretty sure it is a sinus infection which usually plague me about the same time I am stressed--and I have been stressed a lot lately. So I get to go on antibiotics today too. I guess you could say we are almost two peas in a pod. :)

The Great 8 Tag

2009-02-08T17:35:00.003-07:00

So, I got tagged:

8 THINGS ABOUT US.

Here are the rules:
1) Post rules on your blog--done :)
2) Answer the six "8" items (they are in no particular order).
3) Let each person know by leaving them a comment.

8 Favorite TV shows
-Bones: who doesn't love Booth!!
-NCIS: Gibbs smacking DeNozo on the back of the head--hilarious.
-Ultimate Recipe Showdown: I think Corey's brother's wife and I are going to do a dinner testing recipes from the show--how fun.
-Diners, Drive-in, and Dives: Refer to my quest. :)
-Cash in the Attic (BBC version)/Antiques Roadshow: I love to watch them value things--and then generally say I would sell them if I had them. hehe
-Emeril Green: good ideas without the annoying BAM!
-Iron Chef America: Corey likes Bobby Flay so we tend to watch it when he is challenged.
-practically anything else on Food Network. I am addicted. :)

8 Things I did yesterday
-gave the baby a bath.
-gave the baby decongestant.
-helped the baby fall asleep.
-woke Corey up before he wanted to get up. :)
-put dishes in the dishwasher.
-watched TV while rocking the baby in her bouncy chair.
-took a nap with the baby.
-did some shopping at Sprouts.
*baby has been sick all weekend--so it wasn't a fun weekend to list for everyone. :)

8 Things I look forward to
-the economy improving so I don't go to work everyday worried about my job.
-Corey finding a new job that makes him happy.
-finishing my masters.
-saving up for a house.
-the baby feeling good again.
-Corey finishing dinner--I can hear him cutting up everything for dinner.
-Vacation--we are hoping to see the family at the reunion this summer. :)
-Cousin's dinners--especially since school shouldn't conflict anymore this semester!!

8 Favorite Restaurants--in no particular order
-Macaroni Grill--this is where Corey and I met.
-Joe's Farm Grill--big with work for birthday lunches. :)
-Red Lobster--yumm seafood.
-LoLo's Chicken and Waffles--yumm smoothered fried chicken.
-Bobo's China--one thing I miss about not living in the west valley anymore.
-Burrito Express--or really any Mexican food...ask Corey. :)
-YC's Mongolian Grill--although we don't get to go as much with the baby.
-Logan's Roadhouse--Santa Fe Tilapia...yummy.

8 Things on my Wishlist
-a pay raise
-a maid
-happy, healthy family
-a baby who is not sick
-more time to do fun things with the family
-more opportunities for vacations
-money to buy a house
-to be successful

8 people I tag
-Concho Dandy
-The Bouchard Family
-Believe it to See it
-Bumps, Bruises and Kisses (if she is finally back...hehe)
-Julie and Stephen
-Caleb Keoni
-Moore Ravings and Cravings (if you do this before the next cousin's dinner maybe my dad won't give you grief for not posting...hehe)
-To Eternity and Beyond

So Close--Yet So Far

2009-02-03T06:09:00.004-07:00

Guess what?!?! This is post number 100. I can't believe that I have done 100 posts but I have to say thank you to everyone who keeps up with us through our posts. :)

But now I have to tell you all a little about Sunday. The Cardinals were so close--but nope it was not meant to be. My sister, who has been a Cardinals fan for quite a while, was heartbroken. But we had a lot of fun at her party. And we brought shrimp which I think may have been my niece's favorite thing there to eat.

Here are a couple of pictures:

Danica is starting to be able to sit up on the couch with one of us close by watching. Overall she was very good for the whole party--despite the screaming Cardinal fans waking her up from her naps. She is such a good baby.

This picture has a couple of cute things--Danica is staring at the television watching the pre-game show or possibly she is looking at the ceiling fan. Really it was hard to tell but she had the same intense look on her face either way. And the kitty cat is Stephen--my sister has had that cat forever practically. And she has pictures of her daughter and her other niece when they were babies with Stephen--so we had to have a Danica and Stephen picture. But Danica was so enamoured that we had to watch her hands, because she kept using her mini-death grip on his hair. And Stephen was so nice he didn't even get mad.

Overall we had a lot of fun on Sunday--and we can't wait to go play at their house again. :)

What Makes Us Stronger...

2009-01-31T08:06:00.004-07:00

The past couple of weeks have really not been anything I wanted to write about--but now that I have a little hindsight I think I can share a little of what has been going on.

First, January 20 was the first day of school. This is normally a crazy and stressful time for us in the advising office. We get the people who have instantly decided they want to go to school but can't understand why all the classes are full--umm duh! And all the people who realized they didn't listen to us before and consequently don't have a particular class they need to graduate...again I say duh! And a plethora of other issues that normally come through our doors the first day/week of school. But this first week of school was particularly stressful because the Vice Provost was coming to campus specifically to meet with our school. So I was stressing for the entire weekend--the joys of being the low (wo)man on the totem pole with whispers of layoffs.

Well the meeting happened and overall the message was good. Our school was being disestablished and our programs were being combined with the teacher education college on the west campus. In fact the west campus college was going to administer all of the teacher prep programs at ASU. But our jobs were safe (for the moment) because they still wanted a full staff to help students on this campus. hurray!

And later that day we met with our new dean and she seems to follow the same philosophy that the advising office had--that the important thing was to make sure students are helped and that the campuses should not be in competition with each other.

But my lower stress level was not meant to last long. Corey went for a jog at midnight (his favorite time to run--I know he's crazy) and was jumped by three or four guys who wanted his ipod. So we got to meet the police at midnight and go to the hospital at midnight and all that fun stuff. Yes he is okay, but the experience in general left a bad taste in our mouths.

And then if that was not enough stress for just over a week period. ASU announced that in order to deal with the budget cuts that the state is requesting of the university all paid employees have to take a 10-15 day unpaid furlough. I fall into the category of 12 days. Luckily they are letting us spread it out--do a day or two a week between now and June 23. But still essentially it is a pay cut. And there is no promise that June 23 or thereabouts we won't get another message about the furloughs we need to take for the next fiscal year. If you live in Arizona and agree that higher education is important (or even if you just want to make sure I have a job), contact your representative and tell them that you don't want them to cut higher education funding as much as they are proposing.

And since I thought pictures were worth a thousand words--here are pictures of what the students put up on campus to show their feelings about the budget cuts. They had this up the day that the Vice Provost came to campus to talk to our school--and she actually said that she thought it was a great statement.

And just so you know, Danica is doing very well. She is sitting in her bouncy chair right now laughing at me. :)

My Baby is getting so Big

2009-01-22T15:25:00.002-07:00

I had to go through the pictures on my phone this week to show a friend pictures--and I was shocked to see how much Danica has grown.
And then this week I had to redo the straps on her car seat--and take out the little infant head positioner. And I realized how much bigger she looks in her carseat. She doesn't look like this little baby anymore.

And then finally today I took her to the doctor for a check up--and she already weighs 13 lbs. 1 oz. Oh my goodness she isn't my little baby isn't little anymore.

I really thought she was going to be a little baby a lot longer.

I think it is becoming an odyssey...

2009-01-19T18:14:00.002-07:00

I really never thought I would get to try so many of my quest destinations so quickly, but today I really needed to go get my back manipulated. I was in a lot of pain and having trouble carrying Danica in her car seat with everything else I have to take with her. So my dad took me to see Ron--who works in Glendale not far from another of Guy's stops.

Thee Pitts Again is a barbecue place. I tried the smoked shrimp, which was good but not my favorite because I thought the shrimp ended up with a tough skin on it. But the grilled veggies were wonderful.

My dad, however, ordered the smoked turkey, pulled pork, and sliced brisket. The smoked turkey and pulled pork were out of this world. Definitely worth the drive over there.

They use a sauce that is perfect mix of sweet, heat, and tang from vinegar. It was very yummy. And there cocktail sauce that came with the shrimp was wonderful as well--good bite from the horseradish.

We also got a Miss Piggy Brownie with Ice Cream--the brownie had caramel, chocolate chips, and warm. The ice cream and whip cream were the perfect way to finish it off.

After my weekend of stressing about Tuesday's meetings, it was a nice treat.

My Quest Continues

2009-01-15T18:42:00.003-07:00

I honestly didn't think I would be posting another step in my quest so soon--but my dad and I ended up in Glendale today and so we tried another one of Guy's finds. La Piazza Al Fornos hasn't been featured on the show yet (yep Dad and I are ahead of the curve). But they are definitely not hiding that they will be on the show soon. Right next to the door they have a signed poster with a picture of Guy. And when you walk in the door on the wall they have a stencilled picture of Guy and the words Guy Ate Here. (these would have been great pictures, but the trip was a little unplanned and so I had no camera).

I am not going to lie--the service really left something to be desired. But the food was amazing. If you go, try the Italian Stallion Meat Pizza. The italian sausage is amazing. And their tomato sauce is perfect. They don't over season it--it really just tastes like ripe fresh tomatoes. And the meat complements that perfectly.

The chocolate cannoli--well it's perfect. But really how could you go wrong with chocolate and marcopone cheese. You can't.

Overall I wll say that my quest has proven once again to be worth it. I just hope Guy finds more reasons to come to Arizona--a few more in the east valley would be nice. :)

A List

2009-01-13T16:36:00.003-07:00

My cousins have both been doing lists lately--so when I got this email from my friend I thought it would make a good list for my blog (what can I say I don't want to be left out). :)

The object of this list is to answer every question with one word:
Where is your cell phone? Couch
Your significant other? Funny
Your Hair? Short
Your mother? umm no comment
Your father? Knowledgable
Your favorite thing? Danica
Your dream last night? Sleep?
Your favorite drink? Lemonade
Your dream/goal? Success
What room are you in? Den
Your hobby? Blogging
Your fear? Fire
Where do you want to be in 6 years? Successful
Where were you last night? Home
Something that you aren't? Boring
Muffins? Chocolate
Wish list item? Sleep
Last thing you did? Errands
TV? NCIS
Your pets? Brandy
Friends? Fun
Your life? Happy
Your mood? Nonchatlant
Missing someone? Nope
Drinking? Water
Smoking? Yuck!
Your car? Cavalier
Something you're not wearing? Jacket
Your favorite store? bn.com
Your favorite color? Red
When is the last time you cried? Delivery
Where do you go to over and over? Work
Five people who email me regularly? Students
My favorite place to eat? Restaurants
Place I'd like to be at right now? Joe's

So now I encourage you to do it--its fun and some of them are harder to answer in one word then you would think. hehe

A Quest

2009-01-13T15:57:00.004-07:00

I have decided today to start a quest--well really continue a quest that I was already on, but now I am calling it a quest. It sounds so much more important now.

First, a little history. In case you don't know, I am a fan of food network--okay I admit I am a food network junkie (I can't hid it too many family members read this and would comment). And one of my favorite shows is Diners, Drive Ins and Dives. If you haven't seen it--you should. It is great fun, but the only down side is that you can't try all the yummy food.

Now for the quest. I have decided that I need to try all of the places he visits in Arizona.

So far in my progress I have tried Joe's Farm Grill, Matt's Big Breakfast, and today Roberto's Mexican Food. In fairness, I am pretty sure that the family found Joe's for the cousin's dinner before Guy found it. But I am still going to count it as part of my quest. Corey found it on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives so I got to stand in the post-show lines. I think its only fair I get to count it then.

The run-down (AKA my opinion). Joe's is awesome. It is so good that I had my last birthday lunch there. Well its good and they give you a great discount on your birthday. Pretty much everything I have had there has been delicious, but if I had to pick one favorite I would have to say the garlic fries.

Matt's was wonderful--the breakfast was so good. I had pancakes (I was pregnant it was a craving) and their homefries. I thought the homefries had a little too much fresh rosemary, but overall the food was wonderful. I want to go again, and next time I am having waffles (I saw them on the show and they look yummy).

And today's Roberto's was great!! I really wanted the muendo they featured on the show--but that is only served on Saturdays. Bummer. But I had the chile rellanos and they were wonderful. The first time they weren't deep fried (they were cooked on a flat top on two sides). I want to try that at home and see if I can replicate it (deep frying is way to messy for me to want to do it at home). But overall Robertos may be my favorite Mexican food--which is sad because they are quite a ways away from my house.

I will keep you up to date on my quest. And I think you should join me--try the places by your house and tell me what you think. Make me jealous. :)

Flashback

2009-01-08T10:30:00.005-07:00

Remember a while ago I promised pictures of my surprise baby shower at work.

Well I finally got those pictures yesterday (that is what happen when you leave work for months...hehe). So here are some pictures as a flashback to the end of September--wow how things have changed.

Yep they got me:

The gift table:

The infamous sideview--yep I feel better about how I look know by comparison...hehe:
My friend and my supervisor--two of the conspirators:
The whole gang:

First Day Back

2009-01-05T18:04:00.003-07:00

Today was my first day back to work--and my first day taking Danica to the sitter for the day. It was so hard to leave her there--even though I really like her sitter (who will be known from now on as Nana) and Danica didn't get upset as I was leaving. But it was still hard.

But throughout the day Nana said that Danica was very good--she only got fussy towards the end of the day and part of that fussiness seemed to be that she was tired of eating out of a bottle. But Nana and the other girls in the house seemed to be quite taken with our little girl.

And work was good. It kind of stunk because both of my supervisors were out of the office today so there were quite a few things I couldn't do because I wasn't sure how things have changed (I just know that with the budget issues there have been lots of changes).

So overall the day was okay--but I will be so glad when I get to be with her all day tomorrow. February is going to be so hard because I will be back to work full time.

New Year

2009-01-01T18:58:00.003-07:00

I have decided that since I hardly ever follow through with a resolution--I am not going to focus on making any this year. But as midnight hit last night (yep I am a little late on this post) I started to think about 2008. Last January 1st I was thinking about how many classes I would have completed towards my Masters from ASU (the one I like to refer to as my "real" masters). I was predicting two classes a semester and one over the summer--nope that didn't happen because instead I found out in March that a little one was joining our family.

And I realized how much my thoughts this January 1st centered around Danica. I was thinking how much she is going to change and grow in the next year. By next January 1st Danica could be walking and talking. She could be giving me smiles with little teeth rather then just gums. She could be giving me hugs and kisses that she initiates.

Yep I am pretty sure that the next year is going to be quite an adventure. So I have decided to take my grandma's advice to learn something new everyday as my motto for this year. And I am pretty sure that Danica will help me accomplish that.

Christmas Day

2008-12-25T18:18:00.005-07:00

Luckily Santa didn't wake us up too early here--we didn't get home until after midnight from the Christmas Eve festivities with Corey's family. But we did open a few gifts here this morning.

This year Corey and I decided to start a tradition of getting each other and Danica a Christmas Ornament each year. Here are pictures of what we got this year:

This is the one that Corey got me--It says Baby's First Christmas and he put a picture of Danica and Santa in it. It was beautiful.
This is the one I got for Corey. It's called Living on Baby Time and says things like Diaper Time, Sleeping Time, Eating Time, Lullaby Time...you get the picture. And since that has been our focus for the last couple of months it was fitting. He got a big chuckle out of it.
And this is the one we got for Danica. Since her room has a Pooh theme we thought it was perfect. Around the bottom it says, "A baby," Said Pooh "Is a Very Nice Thing." And I have to say she is very nice.

After we opened our presents, we went to Shirley's to open more presents and have Christmas Lunch. And it was wonderful. Unfortunately, in my daze (did I mention not going to bed until well after midnight) I left the camera memory card in the computer (after my post about Christmas Eve), so I didn't get any pictures. But my cousin will probably post pictures in a few days. I plan to copy some of her pictures since I know that a certain cute little baby was in quite a few of them. :)

Some of the moments:

Corey got gift cards from Best Buy and wanted to know if they were open on Christmas for him to go spend them--and he may wake up the moment they do open to get himself something (he has quite decided yet what he wants--but the cards are burning a whole in his pocket).

Danica got a play mat--and did tummy time for everyone to see. She loves her gift.

Dad's brisket that he made by modifying the recipe used to make Brisket at the reunions went over famously. Corey had never had it and he loved it. And now I want the modified recipe (the original calls for like 200 pounds of meat--not likely to happen for a family of three).

Danica got her first quilt--it is so cute. And it is nice and thick and warm. She loved it!

Flannery had all of our presents passed out to our spots before we had even sat down. She was so excited to find more presents with her name on them. :)

Danica got her first stuffed horse--now all I need to do is get a picture of her in her cowgirl outfit with her stuffed horse and we will all be set. :)

You may have noticed someone's name popping up a lot in my memories from Christmas. What can I say--I am a little enamored with our little blessing this Christmas. It is hard to believe by next Christmas she will be walking and talking and not be my baby girl (by then she will be my big girl).

Christmas Eve

2008-12-25T07:11:00.003-07:00

Christmas Eve is when Corey's family traditionally gets together for the family gift exchange. And so last night was Danica's first real taste of Christmas--and she seemed to like it. She lasted much longer than Corey and I ever expected. And she watched with an amazed look on her face as everyone opened gifts.

Last night was the first time Corey's nieces met Danica--and they were amazed with her. They were constantly asking to hold her. They couldn't believe that she wore diapers and drank milk--and were totally shocked when we told them that they used to do that too. Here are pictures of them holding Danica--they were so excited:

The girls also loved giving Danica hugs and kisses.
Corey's dad is home from the hospital and loved holding Danica too--what can I say she is quite popular. Corey's nieces also loved to be picked up by their uncle. And when he picked them up they were fascinated with his sunglasses. It was so cute:

Corey's favorite gift was the picture quilt his mom made him with pictures and momentos from his childhood. She had news clippings from when Corey played hockey that listed the number of goals he made and his stats from when he played goalie. And his baby pictures were on it--Danica is a spitting image of her daddy when he was a baby (with more hair though--hehe).

Overall it was a wonderful evening.

Shot Through the Heart

2008-12-22T17:00:00.002-07:00

At least that is what it felt like while I watched the nurse give Danica her shots today. But now she is immunized against a whole bunch of things.

On the upside she is growing wonderfully. She weighed 11 lbs. 11 oz. and was 23 1/2 inches long.

And now that she is home she seems to be okay--which helps me feel a little less guilty about taking her for her shots.

At least Christmas will be here in a couple of days and then she will have other things to think about. :)

Meet the Cousins

2008-12-19T19:10:00.003-07:00

My cousins from Portland are in town for Christmas--and couldn't wait to meet Danica (what can I say she's an instant celebrity). We had a lot of fun playing Zoo Match and Hide & Seek with the stuffed animals. And of course we had a lot of fun playing Pass Around Danica. Here are some very cute pictures we took:

She's Growing Like a...

2008-12-15T15:02:00.002-07:00

I will let you fill in the blank, but I had to tell everyone that when I went to get my back adjusted by my dad's friend (and my doctor) I got Danica weighed again. I was too impatient to wait for her next appointment with her doctor. Anyway, Danica currently weighs 11lbs and 8oz--that is a full 4lbs more then the day she was born. It is amazing to think she has grown that much in less then two months.

Go Cardinals!

2008-12-14T09:10:00.004-07:00

As I mentioned in my last post--my sister loves the Cardinals and has for years. She likes to say she was Cardinals when Cardinals wasn't cool (hats off to Barbara Mandrell). And she wants to make sure that her little niece is a Cardinals fan too (as long as the Cardinals aren't playing the Dolphins Corey is okay with Danica being a Cardinal fan). To that end here is the outfit that my sister has provided for Danica to wear on Football days:

Aren't those shoes the cutest--I wonder how long she will let them stay on. :)

Dear Santa,

2008-12-13T15:07:00.005-07:00

My wish for Christmas is to spend time with the people I love--preferably getting lots of pictures so I can document the occasion. And today I got to do it again--while introducing Danica to the magic of Santa Claus.

My niece and my sister's niece with Danica--they were totally enamored with Danica. They loved holding her hands and walking next to her stroller.

My niece Jessica kissing Danica. You can see the cute little rattle my sister got for Danica. She got the letter C for the Cardinals. My sister has been a Cardinals fan for a long time and is so glad to see them going into the playoffs.

Jessica and Danica with Santa Claus--yes to get pictures with her not crying I had to leave the pacifer in until the last moment and then run out of the picture with it.

Danica with Santa by herself--I have to say she is the cutest baby but I may be a little prejudice. :)

And Danica loved his beard--after every picture we had to get his beard out of her face because she kept pulling it on her face so she could rub it against her cheek.

Overall it was a wonderful way to spend a morning/afternoon. And Danica had a blast with her aunts and cousin again.

Love this season

2008-12-07T08:50:00.005-07:00

One of my favorite things about the season is that people will make more of an effort to get together as a family then they do the rest of the year. Even though my sister and her family live in Phoenix, I don't get to see her as much as I would like. With work and other obligations, there doesn't seem to be enough time to get together.

But last night we all dropped everything and got together to make sure we got to hang out before Christmas. And it was a blast. I don't think I have laughed that hard in months--my niece Jessica can leave us all in stitches.

And they got to see Danica--who they have been wanting to see again since they met her on Vetrans Day. They were so excited they even volunteered to change her diaper and hold her throughout the meal. And she loved it.

In the second picture you can see the pink ballet slippers with flowers that they got her. Umm I am not sure how well pink ballet slippers go with a cowgirl outfit. Any Nicolls want to comment on that?

They gave Corey and I a swing as our gift--they swear that their swing was a life saver when Jessica was little. And Danica seems to love it. She may not look as happy in the picture--she got cranky when I had to stop the swing so I could take a picture. But when its going she seems to love it. :)

Overall it was a wonderful way to spend an evening--and a night that really helped me to remember the true meaning of the season--family.

Tis the Season

2008-12-04T07:43:00.004-07:00

Corey and I have learned that Christmas decorating with a newborn must be done in stages--and so far the only stage we have completed has been the tree. But really we were rather proud of ourselves for figuring out how to get our tree up--the directions were not helpful at all.

So now I am answering my cousin's call to show our Christmas decorations--I will try to show more as we get them done.

While Danica may have been sleeping, someone else in our house was watching us put the tree up for the first time. And we have some concerns about how she is going to handle the tree and the ornaments.While I was giving Danica a bath, Corey took a picture of Brandy investigating the tree. We are actually starting to take a pool on how many of our ornaments we will have at the end of the holiday season--but so far she hasn't found them yet. But she has tried to eat one of the bottom branches--hopefully artificial trees are not toxic to investigating cats?
But we also have realized we have many decisions to make regarding our decorations and the traditions we want to start in our family. First you may have noticed we don't have a tree topper--we can't decide what we want at the top of the tree. Its a big decision.

Second, we have our wonderful stockings but no mantle. So we have to decide where we are going to put our stockings. I was going to line them up with garland under the window by the tree--but Corey reminded me that Brandy would probably think they were her new toys. And I probably would have to murder the cat if she attacked our stockings.

Speaking of stockings I have to show everyone the beautiful stocking that my Aunt Shirley made to match Corey's (she made it too) and my stocking (my grandma made that one). Isn't it the cutiest stocking ever!!

When I figure out how I am going to display the stockings I will take more pictures so you can see all three of the stockings. But as you can see--our Christmas decorations are a work in progress right now. :)

Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T18:18:00.003-07:00

As this day comes to a close I realized that we haven't really talked a lot about what we are giving thanks for this holiday season. Well it may be obvious that we have a new family member that we are very thankful for. We are thankful that she was born healthy. We are thankful that I had a safe delivery. We are thankful that Corey was able to get the time off from his new job to spend time with us the first week.

But even before she was born we had a lot to be thankful for. I am thankful for my job at ASU--my dream job at my favorite place (go SUN DEVILS!!). And even when I am stressed and things are crazy at work--I remember that this is 100 million times better than working at UOP. We are thankful for each other--we have been through a lot as a couple but have found strength in each other. We are thankful for our families who have been supportive of us even if they didn't agree with all of the decisions we made (of course now that they have Danica to play with they forgive us for everything) :).

And we are thankful for our friends who have always been there for us to make us laugh or help us think through a new idea or make plans for things we want to do.

Overall we have a lot to be thankful for. But today we will share with you some of our thanksgiving pictures featuring the person we are most thankful for this year:

Danica in her Bouncy chair that Aunt Shirley gave her with her outfit from Bradi--Danica is a cowgirl already:

Danica looking around--ahh she is so cute!!

Danica and her grandpa:

Danica sleeping after the turkey dinner--I seem to remember other Nicolls needing a nap as soon as the dinner was done...hehe:

More Baby Shower Pictures

2008-11-26T18:25:00.003-07:00

Since I didn't remember to take my camera to the baby shower, I am at the mercy of others for pictures. So I wanted to share some of the pictures my cousin posted to her blog from the baby shower. It was so much fun and I want to thank everyone again for coming to the shower and giving Danica such nice gifts.

http://goldenthreadsandsilverneedles.blogspot.com/2008/11/danicas-baby-shower-november-22-2008.html

Picture Day

2008-11-23T14:03:00.004-07:00

Wednesday Corey and I took Danica for another set of pictures (since our last session had some trouble). Here are some of the pictures that we loved:

Me and my cuddle bug :)

Look how little her hand is :)

The family :)

And the reason we closed up--she was a little tired of taking pictures. :)

Baby Shower Fun

2008-11-22T18:32:00.004-07:00

Today Danica and I went to our baby shower--and we had a blast. There was yummy food and we had a lot of fun talking to our friends and family. And Danica got all kinds of cute gifts to play with. But first and foremost she came home tired so Corey and I put together one of her gifts (a bouncer from Aunt Shirley) and as you can see Danica is enjoying her gift. She has been napping pretty much since we put her in it. Ahh isn't she cute?

Thank you everone for the wonderful gifts and for coming to meet Danica--she had a blast.

Isn't she angelic?

2008-11-21T12:52:00.004-07:00

Everytime I look at the pictures I think ahh doesn't she look angelic? But then reality sets in and I remember that last night she decided to stay up until after 8:30 crying. It got to the point that Corey--who swore he wasn't going to do this because he doesn't want her to get used to it--even agreed to take her on a car ride so she would fall asleep. Seriously she gets into the car and immediately she is quieter--until we get to a stop light or stop sign. Then suddenly even those don't bother her--and we look in the car seat and she is out like a light. And she stays that way even after we get home. It really works like a charm--but really with the price of gas it isn't the cheapest way to put a baby to sleep. And really it is weird to say that our date nights have turned into car rides to put the baby to sleep. But when she is asleep and we get to look in on her--she really looks angelic. :)

Doctor Update

2008-11-17T16:52:00.002-07:00

I was going to take a picture of Danica for everyone to see, but she is asleep and I am relishing her sleeping--so I am not risking waking her up to the flash of a camera. But we have more family pictures scheduled for Wednesday so I will hopefully have more pictures for everyone soon.

But the point of this post is to tell everyone that Danica is growing like a weed. I took her to the doctor and she is already 9lbs and 10oz. She has grown over two pounds since she was born. And everything looks good.

One of those days

2008-11-15T18:43:00.003-07:00

Today was one of those days where it seems like everything is stacked against you. Danica decided to be incredibly crabby all day--she didn't want to sleep at all unless we were rocking her in the rocking chair. So it was a day filled with crying and rocking to stop crying. And of course today was the day we were going to take family pictures--not exactly the mood I want Danica in on picture day.

She did fall asleep in the car though--not unusual and making Corey and I think that next crabby day we are going to take a long drive.

Then our photographer ended up late because he spent the most of the day in the ER with his newborn. And also due to his unexpected hospital run he forgot to charge his camera batteries. So we will be doing family pictures another day but we got a couple of shots before the batteries died.

Here is my favorite of Danica--and that is the most peaceful she has looked all day. I want to treasure that moment.

A Sight to See

2008-11-10T11:26:00.003-07:00

Danica and I woke up for our early morning feeding to find this:

Apparently Brandy has been feeling a little left out and so she decided to unravel a skein of yarn down the hall from Danica's room to the bathroom and even into the living room. So now that I have talked about her again hopefully she feels better and won't find something else to undo. :)

Danica and I went to lunch with my friend Jenny and her kids yesterday. It was a lot of fun--and I got to expose Danica to mediterranean food (I had a gyro--it was yummy). Before we went home I had to stop at the Carter's store (very dangerous store I have found). I got Danica some clothes--and the onies below may be one of my favorites. I call her my cuddle bug--so the love bug logo seemed to fit perfectly. So here are some pictures of Danica with one of her new outfits on. This is proof that taking a picture while holding the baby does not give the best results--but she is so darn cute that I had to share. :)

Two Weeks

2008-11-05T10:43:00.004-07:00

Ahh isn't she a cutie. And today she is officially two weeks old. And I honestly can't remember what it was like before we had her--although I am pretty sure I got to sleep more and taking a shower didn't seem like such a luxury. But still we are so happy she is here.

Monday was her second doctor's appointment--I would have written about it on Monday but my camera battery was dead and I didn't get my replacement charger until last night. :) Anyway, she now weighs 8lbs 4oz (at her first appointment she was already at her birth weight). She is also 22 1/2 inches long. So she has grown quite a bit in two weeks. It is hard to believe.

She had her first cousin's dinner last night, although I openly admit I was totally okay with her sleeping through all of it in her car seat. :)

So that is the two week update--with a cute two week picture. :)

Pictures

2008-10-30T08:19:00.002-07:00

Here is a link to the pictures/webnursery for Danica. These pictures were taken the day we left the hospital.

http://www.our365.com/newbornportraits/babydetail.aspx?BirthId=7a239743-38ea-4623-aee5-03193e6961f0

Let me know if you have trouble getting into it and I will send you the email that should allow you to see the pictures because I have to say she is a pretty darn cute baby. :)

updates

2008-10-27T18:40:00.005-07:00

I have learned one very important thing--newborns do not make blogging easy. Its much harder to find time to tell you all what is going on around Danica's schedule--but we are working it out.

I have to say I am very lucky--Corey is very hands-on and helpful. He really tries to make sure that I get as much sleep/rest as possible. And he only complains a little (and usually very jokingly) about having to change diapers. :)

But here are some pictures--the flowers are part of an arrangement that Corey's mom and step-dad sent to us after she was born. They are so beautiful!! And I thought it would be fun to share them (for like 2 seconds while I snapped a picture) with Danica.

We also went to our first doctor's appointment--and Danica passed with flying colors. But I will have a funny story to tell when she is older because the first thing she did was pee all over the exam table--and I am not exaggerating it was almost the entire table. So I guess we all know what she thinks of doctors, offices, and appointments. :)

Day 3 (belated) with more pictures

2008-10-25T11:23:00.006-07:00

Danica spend the majority of her time under ultraviolet lights in order to fight the jaundice. So the pictures I got were all from the special care nursery. It was the hardest thing in the world to see her in there and not have her in the hospital room so we could hold her and look at her whenever we wanted. But we both agreed that the only way we were going to get her home with us was to let her be under those lights as much as possible. So we were very strong and kept the feeding times to 30 minutes so we could get her back under the lights as much as possible. But we did take a few pictures--we looked at them during the times we couldn't be with her. :)

The thing that makes me smile about these pictures is that Corey was still trying to convince me that Danica was not going to have him wrapped around her little finger--but honestly you look at these pictures and you know Corey is a goner. :)

More updates

2008-10-24T03:18:00.003-07:00

Here are some pictures from Day 2 of Danica's life. We are both feeling better. Danica showed signs of Jaundise, so she spent most of the day under the uv lights. But we did get to see her every three hours for feedings. And you can see that these feedings were the highlight of Corey's day--yep she is going to have him wrapped around her finger no matter how much he keeps telling me she won't. :) I wanted to make sure that everyone knew that we decided to do that baby shower after she was born--that way everyone can meet her at the same time. :)

Introduction

2008-10-23T14:56:00.005-07:00

Danica Mabel Bouchard was born on October 22, 2008 at 8:17 in the morning. She was 7 pounds 7 ounces and 20 inches long.

And we have been telling everyone that she was delivered by FedEx. Corey had to drive me to the hospital in the FedEx truck because the contractions started coming while he was still working--and he wasn't going to have time to get back to the terminal and drive home.

And she has so much hair--that is the first thing that everyone notices when they meet her.

Here is one of her first pictures--Corey took some pictures as soon as they moved her to the warmer and started cleaning her up.

This seems to be one of her favorite things to do--put her hand in her face. We have been commenting that we have so many ultrasound pictures where she had her hand in her face in the exact same way. :)
Corey took this picture when I first got to hold Danica. Isn't she beautiful?
And this is Corey's favorite thing to do with Danica--hold her. When he is in the room she spends very little time in the crib. He can get her to quiet down and sleep quicker than anyone. And I am pretty sure she has him wrapped around her finger. :)

Doctor's update AKA the Waiting Game is Winding Down

2008-10-20T15:53:00.004-07:00

So my doctor's appointment today was--well I would say fun but then you all would know I was lying because honestly when are they fun? So I will say it was encouraging--at least now I am starting to see that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and a day that Danica will greet the world. According to my doctor, Danica's day will be Thursday, October 23rd. Corey and I will be going to the hospital on Wednesday night to start the induction, but they don't anticipate her arriving until Thursday.

So hopefully we will have a post full of pictures for everyone by Friday. :)

Waiting Game

2008-10-19T17:37:00.003-07:00

I have to say that today I was really hoping to be busy--really busy--you know in the hospital. But alas as of 5:45 pm it does not appear to be our day. So instead Corey and I did a little bit of walking and took a couple of pictures. I guess this way we will always remember what we looked like the day we thought we would be having a baby. Of course I am not sure how I feel about the picture of me by myself--I feel like I am as big as the house behind me. Maybe thats why I don't have many belly pictures to show. :)

But I have another doctor's appointment on Monday, so I guess we will see what new information that brings. :)

Tag--I'm It

2008-10-09T13:42:00.004-07:00

Okay my friend just tagged me--and since now is not the time to put things off I thought I would do it now.

3 Names You Go by...

Umm pretty much its only Shanan

3 Restaurants

Joe's Farm Grill--which luckily my coworkers love too when we want to celebrate something
Rubios--which my coworkers love when we just want to have lunch (that was where we went when they wanted me out of the office to set up my surprise baby shower.) :)
Anything Mexican Food--which is particularly hard for Corey because that is not his favorite type of food. :)

3 Trips to Plan on This Year

Honestly who gets to take three trips in a year? If I get to leave Phoenix it will probably be to go to the family reunion in Northern AZ. And that is really the only plan I have. I know its sad.

3 Things I Want Badly

A healthy baby
A painless (or at least less painful) delivery
The economy to get out of the toliet

3 Pets I've had

Actually I grew up with a lot of pets--most notably Zorro (my grandparent's dog).
Wishbone (my dad and my dog)
Brandy (Corey and my cat--you have heard a lot about her though if you have read anything on here).

3 Things I did Yesterday

Work
Ate
Slept
(yes my life is really that exciting now--if I make it to 8pm thats a long day for me).

3 Things I Ate Today

Cheerios (my current favorite breakfast)
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich
Strawberries...yum

3 Fears

Bugs (okay maybe not a fear but really something I would rather Corey handle)
Having the baby at work (one of my coworkers will kill me if she is born at work)
And I can't think of any others--I know what a boring cop-out

3 Things I Plan on Doing Today

Work
Go to Evening with ASU program (sounded like a much better idea 2 weeks ago when I was asked)
Sleep
(again my life is so interesting right now)

3 Things I Plan on Doing Tomorrow (I know you will all be shocked by this)

Work
Take my friend out for his birthday lunch with my coworkers
Sleep
(but this weekend I might get my hair cut--I put might in front of everything now).

3 Favorite Holidays

St. Patrick's day (anniversary of when Corey and I met)
Thanksgiving (its always fun to have dinner with the family)
Christmas (especially when my cousins come from Portland) :)

3 Favorite Beverages

Since I got pregnant--
water
yellow snow from QT (really not as bad as it sounds)
lemonade with a little sprite

Before I got pregnant--Diet Coke was practically all I drank.

3 People I Tag

umm I will leave this open. If you feel like playing along then I just tagged you :)

Doctor's update

2008-10-08T17:47:00.002-07:00

After waiting an hour after my scheduled appointment--no I am not a little annoyed with my doctor--I finally got to have my appointment. Anyway, I found out today that I am 1 cm diulated and Danica has started to drop. So any day now--or next week--we could have our baby.

Fun Stuff for Danica

2008-10-08T07:39:00.008-07:00

Since I am sure my dad will start reminding me that I have not been blogging lately, I decided to post pictures today of some more of the fun things that Danica has gotten lately.

Saturday I had to work the Education Fair on our campus. It was a lot of fun getting to see a lot of my students participate in the professional development. Plus I got to find out about a lot of the educational and fun things to take kids to once Danica gets older--actually in most cases I found out that the places Grandma and Dad used to take Heather and me to have changed names. For instance, Mesa Southwest Museum is now called something like Arizona Museum of Natural History--I thought it had closed. So I was very excited to find out about all the things Corey and I will be able to take Danica to in the future. :)

But I also go to buy Danica books--and get them signed by the author. It was so exciting. And the books are very Arizona focused which will be great since Danica will be a fifth generation Arizona native. Plus the book "Don't Call Me Pig!" was named something like best children's book by the governor not too long ago.

Having Arizona-focused children's books for Danica made me think that I needed to find some books in honor of Corey being from Massachusettes. I am trying to get the book "Make Way for Ducklings" which I found out is the state children's book of Massachusettes. There are statues in Boston to commerate it and everything--so I will probably have to order it online so Danica has something very Massachusettes as well.

And yesterday we had the Cousin's Dinner. Aunt Shirley had more wonderful gifts for Danica. The Pooh blanket may be my favorite, but I made sure that everyone got to see the back of Danica's halloween outfit since I think that was Aunt Shirley's favorite thing. :)

Today I go to my weekly doctor's appointment so I will probably be updating everyone later today--but I wanted to make sure everyone got to see some of the fun stuff that Danica has gotten lately.

Belated Thanks

2008-10-02T07:31:00.003-07:00

Okay I have finally had a chance to take some pictures of some of the cute things people have gotten Danica lately so I could share them with everyone. I am hoping this is my last really overwhelmingly busy week at work--by the end of the day I will have driven to Coolidge three times in three days and that takes a lot out of a pregnant woman. But next week should be better. :)

Anyway, my Aunt Shirley and my dad helped Corey and I get the Pack n' Play that could double as a bassinet. So Danica has a temporary bed in our room. Now I am not sure how excited Corey is about the new addition to the room--the only place we could put it was on his side of the room. So when Danica wakes up Corey will have to get up to hand her to me. I have never been so glad to have my dresser on my side of the room. hehe.

I was so excited to find a Pack n' Play that complimented the colors in Danica's room and was Winnie the Pooh. So when she is done using it as a bassinet it will be a great play pen for her that compliments a lot of the things she has gotten already. :)

And Corey's mom finished a beautiful knitted blanket for Danica. Aren't the little flowers on it precious?
So overall I have to say that Danica did really well this week. She got some beautiful gifts. Belated thanks to everyone since I haven't been able to blog until now.

Doctor Update

2008-09-30T09:59:00.002-07:00

Really I have so many things to share--and pictures to post of the neat new things I have gotten recently. But I have been so overwhelmingly busy that I haven't been able to keep up. But I did want to share with everyone that I went into the doctor yesterday for my weekly appointment and everything is still good. She is still head down--but still very high. She was so high that he actually did a 2 sec ultrasound to make sure she was still head down because he couldn't tell by touch. Unfortunately two second ultrasounds don't come with pictures :(.

But anyway, she does not seem to be in a huge hurry to join us which is good because she still has two weeks to stay where she is. In two weeks I am sure I will be fully ready for her to come out. :)

And I will post more fun stuff as soon as I have two seconds at home to play with pictures and such.

Gifts for Danica

2008-09-26T17:51:00.005-07:00

My coworkers gave me a baby shower today--and actually totally surprised me. I really thought that we were just having an advisors meeting until I walked in and the whole room was decorated in Winnie the Pooh and everyone was yelling surprise. It was a little shocking. I will have more pictures of the actual party next week--my friend is buring me a cd of pictures. But today I thought I would share pictures of all of the cute things that my friends bought for Danica. And here is a little closer view over everything:

To sum up, we got a few blankets, a few outfits, pacifers, a crib soothing machine, a diaper bag, lots of toys (including a pooh dressed up as piglet--it is too cute), a couple of different keepsake/memory books, a kit of first aid items, and a couple of pairs of slippers.

Overall it was a super fun party--a great end to a very crazy and busy week. And a lot of fun to open lots of fun stuff for Danica.

Week of Good News For Corey

2008-09-26T11:29:00.007-07:00

In case you didn't know--Corey is a huge Miami Dolphins fan. He has followed them since he was like 5 probably younger. He thinks Dan Marino is the most wonderful football player ever--or at least in the top 5. And to top this off--he despises the Patriots. With a passion he hopes they lose each and every week so he doesn't have to hear about them being a dynasty or wonderful or whatever. So this week started off fabulously for him--the Dolphins demolished the Patriots (38 to 13 in case you missed it). So Corey has proudly been wearing this hat all week.

Now in this photo you may also notice that Corey is wearing a new uniform. Corey has officially left Corrections. He wanted something safer and preferably closer to home now that Danica is coming soon. Today he officially finished his training--and got this certificate to prove it.

And starting on Monday he will be delivering packages for

He couldn't be happier. And that wraps up this segment of a week of good news for Corey.