Weaning - 1 Me - 0

So I have started weaning Elli. As of yesterday she is totally not nursing and is on whole milk. A couple weeks early, i know, but she was ready and willing so I took advantage. We were down to nursing twice a day, so I didn't figure it would be too bad. She is doing great, I'm not! This is nothing emotional, although I do love cuddling with her. I just never knew it could be this uncomfortable! I worked today with toddlers and infants, and I could hardly hold them! I am so tender and full that any bump kills!

I hope this doesn't last long........it really stinks..........

The Fabulous 4th of July weekend!

This weekend was THE BEST!!!!


It isn't often that we have so much fun packed into one weekend, and it was a change well needed.

On Saturday Keith had to work, but was able to go in early, which was awesome! We were able to go to his parents house for a 4th of July BBQ and family get together. I really do love my in-laws, they are fun, hilarious at times, and all-around good people. After food and games we lit fireworks just out front on the street. Man, those boys are crazy! I stuck to sparklers. Elli loved the lights and didn't get scared once at all the noise.




On Sunday, we went to church, of course. It was fast and testimony meeting, Keith got up there. He is always so good and going up and baring his testimony, I am very proud of him for that. After church, we took naps and then hung out with some of our favorite people, the Degraws. They live 2 floors beneath us and we do a lot of stuff together. When we were changing Elli's (fondly known as 'Lela' by their little boy, Ethan) diaper she escaped!




HAHA It was super cute. Our neighbor doesn't usually like naked pictures, but thought this was pretty cute with the leggings.

On Monday, we totally screwed up Elli's nap schedule. Seriously, she was so tired and would fall asleep almost every time we were in the car. We first went up to Brighton and hiked up to Mary's Lake. It was mostly up hill, so it wasn't the most easy, but it was beautiful landscape.



We went with Keith's friend Dale and Keith's sisters, Becky and Jessica. They are a lot of fun to hike with and we were glad to have them with us.




We got home around 3 (at which time Elli hadn't taken an afternoon nap yet) and decided to go swimming. I though for sure Elli would fall asleep in the car and stay asleep while the others swam. Just in case though, I got her all dressed in her swimming suit and ready to go. Well, she fell asleep in the car, but I guess she just couldn't stand the excitement and woke up to come swimming with us for a couple hours. Then Keith, Dale, and I went to see The A-Team. HAHA It was soooooooo funny! I loved it and totally recommend it.

Well we got home around around 10 and finally Elli was able to get some rest. She is still feeling it today, so I feel bad. But we had tons of fun and it was totally it!

Things I love about Elli........

So last night Elli threw up 4 times, and once this morning. It was the first time that she has thrown up instead of spit up, I can definitely tell you the difference. Want a visual? Probably not, but here it is......we had watermelon and pasta for dinner.....gross..... Surprisingly though, I really wasn't grossed out by it at all. I just feel so bad for my little girl. Because she doesn't feel good she has been super cuddly all morning, and I love it! It made me start thinking about all the things I love about my baby girl. So here they are:


-I love the looks she gives. She is such a riot! When she is walking toward you she will give you this serious look that is almost a glare! It is the funniest thing and so much fun to see her experiment with her face.

-Her squeals. When Elli gets excited or just see's me or Keith walk by, she squeals and races after us-of course she is devastated if she doesn't get to us. It is the funniest thing when she see's a dog because she doesn't know what to do and flips out with excitement!

-Her cuddles. Being sick right now is the cutest thing. She will lay with me on the couch and lay on my tummy. It is super cute to watch her cuddle with Keith as well.

-Her kisses. I'm laying of the floor and she comes toward my face and I know it's coming. SPLAT! Big wide open mouth kiss. Hahahahaha. Sooooooo slobbery and wet, but cute and adorable because she is my daughter.

-Her noises. I love listening to her chatter and learn new ways to use her tongue. She is always learning new things and trying out new sounds.


These are just a few things I love about my Elli. There are so many more, but I have a house to clean so they will wait for a future post. I love my baby girl!

Talk about a life or death situation!

So, crazy experience today! We have a pool in our complex, which we haven't used much in the past years because it wasn't heated, but this year they are heating it so my neighbor and I decided to take our babies swimming. It was a beautiful day, not too hot and not too windy. Well when we got out there, there were 3 kids already out there-unsupervised.

Well the kids didn't have very good manners first of all. They were nice enough kids, but had NOOOOO sense of personal space-very annoying. Well a while later two more kids and their mom came out and the kids jumped in while the mom when and laid down on a lounge chair. Well the youngest of the original kids didn't know how to swim (WHY WOULD YOU LET YOUR KID GO OUT TO A POOL NOT KNOWING HOW TO SWIM!!!). Well he went out a little further than he could reach and grabbed onto a little girl that had come in later--well what do you imagine happened? Both kids couldn't reach the bottom, and the boy was pulling the girl down! The mom wasn't watching and the girl was under for a couple seconds (which seemed like minutes to me) when my friend and swam over as fast as we could, while holding our babies! Thank goodness we got them both up and to the side of the pool. At that point the mom finally sat up and came over to see what happened. Her little girl was sobbing on the side of the pool and the mom didn't even hug her! She just told her to stay away from that boy. If it were my kid I would have found his mom and given her a piece of my mind!!!!

I am grateful that we were there. I hate to think what would have happened if the mom hadn't have seen this happening..............

KIDS SHOULDN'T BE SWIMMING ALONE-ESPECIALLY IF THEY CAN'T SWIM!!!!! Some parents..............

Maybe it's the way I grew up........

I have never really played video games, and I don't really mind. Keith and his siblings, on the the other hand, loved video games and still do. Since we got married Keith hasn't really played much, only a handful of times. I appreciated this because I didn't really want them in the house. I believe that there are more interesting and productive activities in life.

Well, I had heard a lot about the Wii. My in-laws had one and so did a lot of people I knew. After talking about it for a while we decided to give it a try. I thought it sounded different than other video games and would be more interactive.

Well...............so far, its OK. We have Wii fit, Mario party 8, and Wii play. I do enjoy the mario party 8 board game stuff, especially with other people playing with us. The other games are pretty fun too. I guess I just can't see myself using it that much. The way people talk about it, I thought we would play it a ton, but it just isn't that interesting to me still. I feel bad about it sometimes. I know Keith would like to play it more than I want.

My conclusion on the Wii? Eh, its fun, but its still a video game, and I don't want my kids playing them much. Maybe once a week....for an hour....on Saturdays or something. We will see, Keith is good at persuading me, but I want my kids to be healthy and use their minds creatively.

Daycare

I really love my job at the daycare. It has been a great experience to be around lots a kids of varying ages. There are definitely some days that are more stressful than others.

Today, for example, I was with the older kids-which included ages 2+. Well today, I had 15 kids! I did have some help from a 17-year-old who works there, but it was still crazy! I did have one situation that was a little guiltily entertaining for me, haha! From about 1-3 it is what we call 'quiet time', this is a chance for the younger kids and toddlers to take naps in a quiet, non-stimulating environment. Well at about 12:45 I switched someone in the toddler room so I could nurse Elli. At about 1:15 I had just finished feeding Elli and I could hear the older kids just going nuts! Mind you, there were 2 workers out there that were supposed to handling things, but both are kind of quiet and fairly new. Well, someone came to ask me if I could go out to calm things down and get them in order. Most of the kids out there have been at our daycare for about a year-they know the routine. So, I walk out into the big room and all the kids are running around (which they aren't supposed to run inside), without shouting I stop and say firmly, "This is not appropriate behavior for this time of day. I want all the kids taking naps in the other room and the rest of you lined up by the wall."

BAM! Silence! Talk about a feeling of empowerment! It was just really cool to see that they respected me and did what I asked them to do. Made me feel great!

Anyway.....Elli loves the daycare as well. She takes horrible naps there, but loves it just the same. I think she will be a lot like her dad because he is so social as well. What a great blessing to have. It is also a great way for her to be comfortable with multiple people, although she is getting more and more clingy to me (which feels nice at times :) - not so nice when I want to leave though, lol.) Elli sometimes gets beat up on, but sometimes she is the one beating up on others so no worries.

It has shown me how much of a temper Elli can have. Whew! Sometimes when she gets hurt or falls down she cries because she is sad, but then gets soooo dramatic! She arches her back, her face turns red, and she is just mad! Haha, what a girl! I just hope it doesn't last a long time.

I love my little girl, she is so much fun. She is working on walking! She can walk around our condo just holding onto one of my hands-that took a little convincing. I am hoping to get her to walk alone a few steps this weekend and get it on video! I will definitely post it when I get it!

Well, those are my thoughts on today. I'm sure you will read many more stories about daycare-the good and the bad!

Hellooooo world!!!!!!!

I have thought about starting a blog before, and actually started a page back in April of 2010, but I never actually wrote anything. I thought this would be a neat way to document the things that occur in our lives, and help us to remember the good times!

Just so you know about our family, I will start form the beginning. Keith and I(Amber) met in May of 2007. My cousin had talked to both of us about his experience in doing summer sales and both of us thought it sounded like a great opportunity. Keith and my cousin met on their missions in Connecticut. They lived in the same apartment for 6 weeks but still kept in touch-obviously so that we could meet! Haha! Well we started dating in June and in August Keith proposed! We knew it had only been 3 1/2 months, but we knew we were meant to be! We were married on October 19, 2007 in the Salt Lake City LDS temple. It was a beautiful sunny day, with blue skies, and big fluffy clouds.

Keith got a job at RC Willey and I started working at Discover Card. We were loving life together (and still do) and in February 2008 we bought our first home. A condo in West Valley, UT. It wasn't our ideal location, but the price was right. We soon found other reasons to loved our new home as we became fast friends with our downstairs neighbors. We are definitely friends for life :) We totally believe one reason we moved here was to meet them.

Although our lives were pretty great, after a while we felt something needed to change and in November of 2008 we found out we were pregnant! It was the most exciting moment! We were stoked! Eliana Marie Brewer was born on August 6, 2009 (keith's is the 7th! but he really didn't want to share!) It was wonderful to have my mom, sister, and nephew be in the hospital when Elli was born. They drove down from Idaho the moment they new I was going to be induced and were at the hospital until she was born at 12:10 am.



Elli was born at 12:10 AM, weighed 7 lbs 8 oz, 21 inches long.


Eliana has continued to amaze us at every stage of life! She is seriously the most fun! She is currently 10 months and 3 days old and wants to walk soooooo bad! She gets mad at us when she has to crawl and we don't help her walk around! We are still hoping for red hair, and really think it will be strawberry blondish. She is definitely like her dad and very social. She comes to work with mom at daycare and loves the other kids (although sometimes she is guilty of beating up on the ones littler than her, haha!) We are thrilled at how quickly she learns in leaps and bounds!




I will get more specific with future posts! But this is us!