18 Months Old

The last month with Hallie has been both a blast and a stress all at the same time. This girl is hilarious! She is constantly doing things to make us laugh. While at the same time on the go constantly and getting into everything and making her mama nuts. But she sure is cute!
This is a common scene in our house lately. She has been hitting like crazy! So into time out she goes. Too bad she still thinks it's kind of funny rather than being disciplined. And no she didn't learn to fold her arms from being in time out ;) After she hits Grant or the cat (who are her usual targets), she'll say "be nice to bubba, or be nice to kitty". Which is what I feel like I tell her all day long. She is quite the little copy cat right now.

Some of her other new words are pretty-which is anything from a bracelet, to a necklace, to a hair bow, to a shirt, etc. Lots of things are her pretty's. Other words are car, shoes, bapa-for grandpa, nice, ball, go, and tickle.

She is up to 29.11 lbs. and about 33 inches tall. I thought she had surpassed Grant in the weight department, but it looks like he's put on some weight since his surgery in June and is still a few pounds bigger than Hallie. I think he might have somewhat of a complex about his baby sister outgrowing him, so he's trying to pack it on. ;)

She is a wild sleeper. I usually cover her up 3 times or more before I got to bed, but she always ends up on top of her covers and sideways. And most of the time, and arm or a leg is sticking out of the bars.
She is mostly down to 1 nap a day. Once or twice a week she will still take 2 naps, but for the most part she is down to 1. I've been trying to stretch it to the early afternoon, but she is usually down by 11 or 11:30. And she will usually sleep for 3-3 1/2 hours.
At night she goes to bed around 7:30 and she will usually sleep until 7. She has to have one of her fleece blankets around her face and another blanket on top. And she also has to have her songs on in her little glow worm toy.

Mikkele has taught her how to throw a ball this last month. Which has turned into-throw whatever you can get your hands on. We are trying to teach her to just throw balls, but so far it hasn't worked.

She has had a hard time with the change of weather. She loves to be outside, especially since we've been outside working in the yard a lot. So she gets all bundled up and comes out to be our big helper. She doesn't like to have her coat, hat, or gloves on though. As soon as they go on, she tries to get them off. She's quite the pro at zippers now.

We have finally started introducing eating utensils. I don't know what is messier, eating with her hands, or learning how to eat with a fork or spoon. She isn't doing too bad, and she sure loves the new trick of eating like we do.

Her hair is getting long enough to be able to pull into piggy tails. They didn't last very long in the back, but she sure looked cute in them.

She is now officially old enough for nursery! She had a bad ear infection that first Sunday, so she didn't get to go, but she will be going tomorrow! I am one excited mama! It has been 5 1/2 years since I haven't had a kid with me during class. Maybe I'll actually be able to get something from the lessons now. :)

It's so fun that she is growing up and learning new things every day. While she makes me crazy sometimes with how busy she is, I am truly grateful that she is able to do all the things that sometimes we take for granted. Love you Hal!

Fall Cleanup

Our yard has 4 large trees. Each fall there are a TON of leaves that need to be raked up. Over the summer, the electric department had some tree trimmers come to cut back some limbs of a few of the trees that were close to the electric lines. Once they were done mutilating the trees, our poor trees looked horrible and sunlight was coming through in parts of where our yard had not seen sun in a long time. I decided at that point that I would just rather take them out completely and put in a bigger garden area than what we have. Jeremy and Mikkele had a different plan that included a dog and a dog run going in place of the trees. I think we'll compromise and make both fit. I told Jeremy that we needed to get the trees down before all the leaves fell so we only had 2 trees full of leaves to clean up instead of 4. Well that was a great idea, and the process was started before they fell, but it took a few Saturday's to get it all done because of weather and Jeremy being on call 24/7. And what a mess it turned out to be. But it all has been cleaned up and ready for winter-minus the stumps they still need to be taken out, and we have a ton of firewood that we'll be able to use in a year or so once the wood dries out. More work will need to be done in the spring to get my garden area ready. I'm pretty excited to have a bigger garden this next year though.

Jeremy had a little bit of a Tim Taylor power trip as he was using the chain saw.

It was a whole family affair to get the yard cleaned up. We even recruited some friends and neighbors. :)

Never too young to put them to work right?

And of course you have to play in the leaves a bit. That makes the clean up part worth it. (And that's why the neighbor kids come to help :))

Grant even got in on "jumping" into the leaves. He didn't love it when big sister threw some leaves on him though.

Brace Face

Since I have been in the dental field for 14 years, one of my obsessions is teeth. Because of that, I have always wished my teeth we straighter than they are. I have always talked about doing braces, but it just has never happened. In September, Jeremy called and set up a consultation for me with an orthodontist here in Springville. And we were able to work it out so I could do it. So on Nov. 5, I got braces!!! I get to feel 14 again for the next year or so. Here are some very unattractive pictures of the process.

Got to love the cheek retractors.

The finished product.

One added bonus of starting this process, is that I also have had the opportunity to start working with Dr. Warren. I am working on call, as needed for him. It will be fun to learn a new specialty and increase my knowledge of the dental field. I'm always up for a new challenge.

Halloween 2010

Halloween was more than a day this year. It was more like a whole week of celebrating. The girls went as cheerleaders. Mikkele a Springville High cheerleader, and Hallie a San Francisco 49ers cheerleader. And so we decided that Grant needed to be some sort of a sports player. After talking with some friends we came up with a Texas Rangers baseball outfit. Which was perfect since the Rangers were in the world series during that week.

Monday we went with Holly, Dillon, Jan, and Connor to The Utah State Hospital employee Halloween party. The kids always have fun time with the little carnival they put on there. That is where we found out that Hallie is a candy freak! Every time she would get a piece of candy she wanted to eat it that second! And if she didn't get her way she threw a fit. Needless to say, the candy has been put up out of site. Grant had one costume change if a lion.

Thursday the kids got to dress up for school because they didn't have school on Friday. They had class parties, and Grant had a parade.

Grant used a baseball batting helmet as his candy bucket.

Grant with one of his friends at school.

On Friday we went and did the Springville Main St. trick or treating and then we went to our ward Halloween party.

Dee as Medusa, Holly as a barrel of monkeys, and me as a nurse.

Saturday is when UT celebrates Halloween when it falls on a Sunday. We went to a Halloween party at Reagan Academy in the morning and then we were able to fit in a quick trunk or treat at Grandma Dorene's ward before it started hailing. We didn't get to do any door to door trick or treating, but by that time the kids had plenty of candy. That evening we had a birthday dinner for Dorene.Dillon, Mikkele, and Connor at Grandma Dorene's ward trunk or treat.

Mikkele showing off some vampire teeth she got trick or treating.

A costume change for Hallie. I wore this same costume when I was her age.

I was kind of a lame mom this year and didn't buy or carve pumpkins. I kind of feel bad that we didn't do this, but for one reason or another, it just didn't happen. Oh well. There's always next year right?

We had a fun Halloween!

16 and 17 Months Old

Life has been really crazy this last month, so I never got around to doing a 16 month old post for Hallie. So I'll be combining the last 2 months into one. She has made a lot of changes this last month. It has been fun to watch her grow and learn. Her molars are all finally all the way through, so she has returned to being the happy baby that we knew. I'm happy to have that over with and hope that her eye teeth take some time before they decide to start popping through.

A couple single shots of Hallie during family pictures.
October 8, 2010

One of the things she has learned and perfected in the last couple months is climbing. She is always climbing! It doesn't matter if it's the stairs, the couch, the kitchen chairs...which leads to the kitchen table, etc. She is a little monkey! As soon as I get her off the table, she starts her decent back up again. It's turning into a bit of a game. Little stinker!

Because of all her climbing and adventures, she is constantly adding new bruises and scrapes to her poor little body. The bruise in this picture is from the marble ledge in front of the fireplace. And I don't even know how she got the scrape on her eye. That came a day or two later. I swear I get her out of bed each morning with a new owie. I'm just glad people know how crazy the toddler stage is and don't think I'm abusing my poor child.

She also likes to climb up on the kitchen chairs so she can get to the laptop. She wants to play on it just like the rest of us do. There have been multiple times that she has messed with settings that I didn't even know existed because of her pounding on the keyboard. Thank goodness I've been able to figure out how to undo everything she does.

She loves her big cousin Dillon. And she has started to say his name. At first it was Dede...but now she says Dilly. Which works great since we call him Dilly Willy all the time. She calls her other cousins Dilly as well. One of these days she'll figure out they have different names than Dillon.

Her vocabulary has really expanded this month. Every day she is trying to say more and more. Her word list now is: mom, dad, bubba, Kell, bapa (papa/grandpa), kitty, dodo (dog), mo (more), baba (for her sippy cup), nice, peeze (please), nini (night night), bye bye, bi (bite-when she wants something to eat), wow, yay, dis (this), dat (that), ball, no, yes, and I'm sure there's more that I can't remember right now.

Her signs have stayed the same, but she has really perfected them. She doesn't have to be prompted to use them, she just does. She stands in front of the fridge or pantry and does the sign for please when she's hungry. It's pretty cute!

Right after she turned 15 months I decided that she (but mostly I) was done with the bottle. I was constantly searching for bottles and feeling like they were always missing. I discovered that she had been putting them through the bars in her crib so they would disappear behind the bed. At that point I decided she was done. Now her sippy cups are too big to fit through the bars. However, we're having the same problem with her binki's. I have to move her bed away from the wall a few times a week to find missing binki's. I really need to break that habit as well, but I'm not quite ready for that one.

At her 15 month check up she was 28.5 lbs. So she has finally caught Grant. I knew it would happen quickly since he's such a scrawny boy. I can't remember what her height was, but it seems like she was in the 95% for both height and weight, and her head was around the 85%. She's still my little chunky monkey! I thought for sure once she started walking that she would slow down a little, but I guess not. Oh well...I love all her chub!
She is wearing 24 month/2T shirts and 18-24 month pants. She needs that extra length of the 24 month tops to cover her Buddha belly.

I can already tell she is going to be one of those types of kids that changes her clothes multiple times during the day. She is already trying to disrobe and put on new clothes all the time. Sometimes she's successful depending on the clothes. The other day she came out of my room with one of Mikkele's bra's and was trying to put it on. It was hilarious. I tried offering to help her put it on the correct way, but she wanted to do it herself. Funny girl! She is a little ham! And is always doing something funny to make us laugh. I hope she's not going to have a problem later on of being the class clown and acting up to get attention. :/

Later that same day, she was sitting on the kitchen floor reading a book and I looked over and saw her crack hanging out of her diaper. I don't know what happened and why it was falling down so much, but I thought it was funny.

She is still taking 2 naps a day most of the time. She still relies more on the morning nap than the afternoon nap. Her morning naps are usually 2-3 hours and the afternoon nap is usually shorter, but it just depends on how long her morning nap is.

She does pretty well at night. She goes down between 7:30-7:45. And wakes up around 7. She sleeps through the night for the most part, but if she does wake up I can put her binki back in and turn on her songs and she's goes right back to sleep.

Church is getting really hard with her. There really isn't time to give her a nap before church, and she won't sleep during church. Only one more month until she can go into nursery! I was having a particularly hard week with her a few weeks ago and decided to go into the nursery room with her rather than roam the halls. She did really well. So well in fact that I ended up leaving her in there. They reported that she did great! I hope that's the case when she's actually 18 months and can officially go each week. One thing I'm a little concerned about it her aggression. That kid has quite a temper already. She gets very territorial and doesn't like to share her toys or her personal space. She is pinching, scratching, and screaming at kids. And not just kids that are younger than her. She even picks on us. She's such a bully! I don't know what I'm gonna do with that girl. I really hope she doesn't get kicked out of nursery her first week.

She hasn't been loving bath time. The last week she has done better, but up until then, she has really struggled and has ended up screaming through her baths. She hates to have the water poured on her, especially her head. She will help wash her belly when she's in a better mood. It's cute to see her picking up little tricks to help her become more and more independent. She is really good to help clean up her toys in the bath when it's time to get out. We sing the "clean up" song and she knows exactly what to do. Now we just need to work a little more on her regular toys.

She has a great laugh and smile! She loves to be tickled and likes to tickle back. We all have such a great time with her.
We love you Hallie May!

Little Things Mean A Lot

Grant had swim therapy today. It was the first time he has had swim therapy since he has started school. Since it is during school, I have to go check him out so we can go to swim therapy. As I was loading the kids back into the car after checking him out, one of his new aids approached me.

Let me back up for just a minute. This year is new. New teacher, new aids, new school, new classroom, etc. From what I have been able to gather, everyone is really nice, but no one compares to our old school family. I really miss them! They were more than Grant's teacher, aid, therapists, etc. They were/are our friends! They were like your long lost childhood friend that you can talk to for ever and ever! The environment was always very comfortable and inviting. I always knew that Grant was in good hands and that he was loved and cared for. While I know Grant is cared for at the new school, I have wondered if they have the same love for him that his preschool family did.

Fast forward back to today...one of the aids, Miss Jeanie, approached me with tears in her eyes and told me "her" story. She told me that at the end of last year she was laid off from her position at the high school working with the special needs kids with major behavioral problems because of budget cuts. She had spent several years working in that position and had really come to love the kids and was quite devastated that she was laid off. When she received the news that she would still have a job, but would be moving schools and age groups she was happy to have a job, but still upset about having to leave her kids. Her first day was also Grant's first day. They both were in a new school with new faces and a new completely new environment. They both cried together and laughed together and made a special bond. She told me how Grant saved her! She said she didn't think she would have been able to make it through this huge transition without him. She told me how she LOVED him! She said since then they do everything together. She helps him with his school work, she plays with him, she works with him on his therapy, etc. All the time having fun!

Oh how wonderful it was to have my worries put to rest! My boy is loved and cared for! I know he's not hard to love, but I still worry about him. Today I have learned that even though the classrooms and personalities are completely different, the end result is still the same. We will continue to love and miss our preschool family, but hope to increase the bonds with our new school family. I am grateful for those people that donate their lives to work with our special kids. It truly takes a special person to work with them and have a passion for it. I think Grant and Jeanie saved each other! Thank you Jeanie for sharing your sweet, heart felt story with me. It really meant a lot!

Taking Steps

Since Grant's Baclofen Pump was put in, it has been recommended to increase his physical therapy. We started going to the Pediatric Physical Therapy Clinic in Orem a couple weeks ago. There are a few things we are hoping to achieve by increasing his PT.

* Strengthen his trunk/neck.
* Increase his range of motion in arms and legs.

* Prevent/postpone any further surgeries. (Tendon Releases)

* Loosen his muscles/tendons so he is not so tight and looking like a human chair.

On our second visit, Grant's PT, Ben, suggested we try a walker. Grant has never been in one of these before. I was a little nervous...I guess to be more accurate, I didn't want to get my hopes up just to have a huge let down or put too large of an expectation on him just to have him fail. While I think it would be great for him to have more physical abilities, I have come to terms that it is not likely or necessary for him to walk. And I'm OK with that! His mission in life is not for him to be able to move mountains....he's already done that in the pre-existence. That is why he lucky enough to not have to go through the trials that the rest of us do here on this earth. With that said, I went along with the big idea Ben had of trying out the walker. And to my surprise, HE DID IT!!! Of course it wasn't perfect, but he did it. At first it was kind of a bunny hop motion, but pretty soon he started doing reciprocating movements with his feet. Across the therapy room back and forth he went. We gave him fruit snacks to reward him for his hard work, but after the first fruit snack he just kept going as to say, "I don't need a fruit snack as a reward, being independent is reward enough!" What a stud! All the time with a big smile and lots of giggles! He was just plain giddy with excitement of being such a big boy. Ben was impressed, I was more than impressed! Who would have known...well Grant probably did. Oh the things I wish he could tell me!
Since he did so well, we have decided to try to get one for him here at home. We have been fighting with insurance for 3 years now to get him a stander. We just keep getting denial after denial. We are hoping that the insurance will approve this one a little easier than the stander. Who knows what he'll be able to do when he gets stronger and has more practice. I think the independence will make him happier and more content as well. Until then, we will continue to go to his PT appointments and work with him here at home and school. And hopefully we can meet and exceed the goals we have.

End of Summer

Why is it that even though school starts, it doesn't seem like summer is really over until Labor Day? The weather is already starting to change, and we can see the leaves in the mountains changing. We even have a few leaves in our yard starting to change colors. :( I'm not ready to let go of summer, but it is quickly leaving. So we knew we needed to fit in as much fun as we could during the last week of summer.

There is a park in Spanish Fork that we have been watching being built all summer long. We have driven past it at least once a week all summer to see if it was open yet. And finally it opened the weekend before Labor Day. (Why is it that they wait until summer is basically over to open up such an awesome park???) We took a day after school and went over with Holly and Dillon. They have a splash pad and a huge playground! The kids started in the fountains and then moved over to the playground. It was amazing to me the difference in Hallie from the first time we went to a splash pad to this time. She was much more adventurous this time and loved exploring the fountains.




One of the biggest reasons we were so excited for this park to open was because of the bucket swings! They are the same ones that they had at Morgan's Wonderland in TX which are great for kiddos like our Granty. One disappointment we found was there are no seat belts to these swings like at MW, so we had to really watch that Grant wouldn't slip out. Hopefully they'll add these at some point. Since it's a new park, there were lines for these new cool swings. So every time we would get the kids off to let another kid have a turn, Grant would keep saying "more, more, more"! He loved it and didn't ever want to leave!

The swings are even good for adults that act like children :)

We will be spending a lot of time here next summer!

Over Labor Day weekend we went up Hobble Creek Canyon with some friends and family. Saturday night we met Dee and Dave up there for dinner. They took up their trailer and set up a tent for us to use. We had a yummy dinner and Mikkele and Dee made us some yummy apple and cherry turnovers in the dutch oven for dessert. We came back home that night because my family was in town visiting and would be leaving the next morning.
We went back up Sunday morning and visited with Dee and Dave again before they had to head home to get ready for work the next day. They were kind enough to leave their trailer and tent up there for us to use. That night we had the rest of the Gallier family come up for dinner as well as our friends, the Walker's. We enjoyed some sloppy joes, hot dogs, and of course some smores!





That night, Jeremy, Grant, Hallie, and I slept in the trailer and Ryan, Mikkele, Kamrin, Dillon, and Connor slept in the tent. Or I guess I should say attempted to sleep in the tent. It was so cold that night! (We found out later that the state had record lows set that night.) By 4:30 a.m. Ryan and all the kids were out by the campfire trying to stay warm. It was a long night, but we had a lot of fun. Mikkele keeps asking when we are going again!


Hallie had a great time playing in anything that she could get dirty with...which was just about everything! She was covered from head to toe in dirt when we got home. But she was a happy content baby!

Here's some other random pictures from throughout the summer that I haven't included in any other blog posts:

The annual Utah County Fair demolition derby.

Jessie and Adam "Joe Dirt" came with us this year.

Mikkele and I went on a mommy/daughter date to dinner and some putt putt.

Jeremy and I went on a last minute date to the Dave Matthews concert.

Good bye summer! We will miss you!!!