Trader Joe's

Madeleine went to Trader Joe's for the first time.

 

 She slept for most of it.

 

Then she woke up to smell the flowers.

 

She even helped shop for my favorite items.

The little flag on top of her cart said it all.

She was exhausted after all that shopping,

so she curled up to sleep with Baby Dino.

While she sleeps, her mom and grandma get to eat all the yummy foods from Trader Joe's.

What a good day for all of us.

The Princeton Review

Motto: "Under God's Power She Flourishes"

Mascot: Tiger

Colors: Orange and black (big points off for that)

Nearby Cities: New York City!!! and Philadelphia

Closest Hogwarts colors: none. :(

Best movie quote about Princeton: 

"Where do princesses go to college?”

“They go...where the princes go. They go to Princeton."

Famous People that went to Princeton:

There is a really long list on Wiki, but the most important is Andy from Toy Story.

Apparently in Toy Story 3 there are several hints that he was going to Princeton.

That's pretty awesome. :)

This where Matt will be spending all his time. It's the Frick Building and it's brand new.

All new equipment, lots of space, all organized.

Matt is completely in love with it.

We would probably live in this complex, Stanworth Apartments.

And this would be our grocery store.

Along with..

!!! No surprise there, since that was one of my requirements for where ever Matt goes.

The malls look pretty too.

There is even a cute looking Starbucks. Even though we don't drink coffee, I always feel a bit more at home when one is near by. Also in high school, the 10th grad class I TAed for defined civilization as where ever there is a Starbucks. So maybe that influenced me just a bit.

Anyway while Matt was gone, Baby and I went shopping in Park City with our friends Kaitlan and Claire. We also were supposed to go to a Princess Party at BYU, but Madeleine had no patience for it. So I just snapped one or two photos of her all dressed up, before she started crying again.

I really missed Matt. He helps out so much with the Baby. Also, she only sleeps well when she is sleeping with him. See how happy she is? She only sleeps like 3 hours a night this weekend. With him around, it is more like 8. She slept basically from 11 to 10 the first night he was back. I was thrilled.

Matt came home from Princeton really excited and tired. Doesn't mean we are going there though. He still has 4 more schools to visit. :) But what do you think? Can you see us living here?

Matt leaves for Wisconsin next. I'm really hoping he doesn't go there, but I'll still do a post on that one too. I'm a bit nervous and excited about where he will pick. We already know when we are moving out of Provo, now we just need to know where. 

Early Valentine's Day

Matt and I desperately needed a date night, since Valentine's Day and our year and half anniversary are next week. Matt is leaving the morning of Valentine's Day to New Jersey, so we ditched our baby at my parent's house and went snowboarding. (Yeah for great snow and a Dr.'s okay). We had so much fun, even though neither of us can really move today. Our muscles are so sore.

A few high points...

I lost one of my gloves on the ski lift on the way up to our first run. Matt swore I was going to freeze but I did just fine. The sleeve to his sweatshirt that I was wearing was frozen stiff by the end of the night, but it kept my hand warm.

I was run over by some random guy. Poor thing somehow got his snowboard wedged between my legs and my snowboard. He was so embarrassed but we were both fine.

Matt winning the admiration of some younger kids with his jumping skill in the terrain park.

We were pretty excited though at the end of the night to cuddle with baby. :)

And eat cookies.

6 weeks

Baby Goober (that's what we've been calling her for the last two weeks...since she produces a lot of different types of goo...) is 6 weeks old. 6 weeks in the baby world is like turning 13 in the normal world. It's a big milestone apparently.

Babies start smiling, sleeping better, growing some more...all sorts of random new skills. Moms really like this point to, because the baby starts acting human. I had that realization 3 days ago. I told Matt that I was finally seeing her a tiny person instead of a baby monkey. He said it was good that I had come to accept that our baby was the same species as me.

Yesterday we went to mine and baby's 6 week check ups. We both are doing well, but baby has a cold.

Weight: 9lb. 4 oz

Heights: 21.5 in

Music Baby - 1 month

For her 1 month photos, I wanted to do some music ones, since both Matt and I play multiple instruments and our parents both own a lot. I only did a guitar (which Matt plays) and piano sheet music (we both play piano). I still have a lot more instruments at my disposal, so there will be more coming. ;)     

We had so much fun with the guitar. In the photo below, she started plucking the strings. She was so excited that when she moved her finger that music started playing.  

Along with liking music, she also endorses recycling.  

The 5 Facts Instagram Fad

Madeleine, while becoming a much better sleeper, likes to be awake for random, long pockets of time...especially at night. I figure since I'm up, might as well write a blog post.

Apparently, there is a fad on Instagram and Bonnie from Life of Bon has challenged her readers to do it. She challenged us also to write our love stories too. (I'm working on that one) Maybe if she keeps up this challenge thing, I'll start updating a lot more frequently.

Anyway, I don't have Instagram or even a smart phone (my phone barely calls), BUT I do have a photo of me, and I have 5 random facts too. And since it's a family blog, you get 5 things about each of us. 3 times the fun.

Michele

1. I hate coconut. This wasn't always so, I used to love it. But then my sister turned 1. My mom picked out a cute coconut bunny cake. At 3 years old I wasn't impressed, and since then I hated anything to do with coconut.

2. My first steps were taken at Neiman Marcus. (I picture me walking towards a cute pair of Oscar de la Renta shoes. I think those shoes would motivate any kid to walk.)

3. I have had the same email since I was 8. Since I moved so many times, I've kept the same email, just in case one of my friends from way back when wants to contact me.

4. I have actually done over 100 of my pins on pinterest.

5. I weighed more at my wedding than I did when I walked in the hospital to give birth to offspring.

Matt (dictated to Michele)

1. He has a scar that looks like Wolverine stabbed him in his leg.

2. He can do a heelflip on the skateboard.

3. He failed 7th grade biology.

4. He loves watching The Nanny with the baby.

5. He hates eating chips straight from a bag.

Baby

1. She hates being dirty.

2. She sounds like a train engine when she eats.

3. She has gone to 4 different malls in the 5 weeks that she has been alive.

4. She doesn't wake up when we bump around her car seat.

5. When I put the guitar in front of her, she sat there plucking the strings. She was shocked some noise came out of it.

PJs and a video

A few moments of our week...

In my sewing class I'm taking at BYU (I decided just to take a class for fun this semester to help me get out of the house), we made pj bottoms this week. I made baby matching bottoms. Oh yes just helping her be my little clone. 

When baby is awake, I have no idea what to do with her. She can only do so much tummy time. Then, I remember one of my friends gave her baby girl a manicure when she was 2 weeks old. I looked at her little nails and realized that even if I was sure it was okay that baby probably would end up chewing off the nail polish, there was no way I could paint those little things. That is a picture of her pinky finger next to mine. Her's is about the size of the tip of a ball point pen. I kid you not. It's tiny. 

Also baby learned a few new tricks this week. 

One is sleeping!!! We love it. She sleeps pretty awesome now at night (well most of the time). We stick her down and she'll sleep for 5 hours, eat and then sleep for another 3. We are still tired, but not from her but from our own bad sleeping habits.

And here is a video of her other tricks...smiling and making noises. She's usually like this in the morning. She was going on and on for like 10 minutes today...which was good, because it took me about that long to figure out the camera. 

(There is sound...you just might have to turn the volume up pretty loud)

And last but not least, we helped my mom put together stuff for my sister at the MTC, which you can read at her blog...here.

Thai Curry Noodles

Look at those little eyes. So cute, so innocent, so alert...especially since they are supposed to be asleep. 

I thought since I was still up, I would share a quick recipe we tried for dinner tonight. 

This is the first recipe we have tried in a long time. I think the last one was fried chicken while I was 5ish months pregnant, since I was craving it, and we didn't feel like going to the store. My goal this week is to eat 3 meals a day. It will be quite the stretch. More often than not, Matt will come home starving, only to find me equally hungry...so we run to In-n-Out for burgers and fries. So the fact that I ate 3 meals today and tried a new recipe, I feel like an overachiever  (okay, I found it and had Matt cook it, but that still counts right?)

Matt and I love Thai food. Two times ago, when we went to my favorite little Thai restaurant Matt's dad ordered some Thai noodles. They were so yummy, and I decided I wanted to make some at home. This recipe isn't the more traditional recipe I'm guessing, but it was so good and only took 30 minutes to make. (And for bonus points, it used up all the broccoli in the fridge) 

Thai Curry Noodles

• 2 tsp. vegetable oil

• 1 chicken breast

• 1 c of green onions, chopped

• 1/2 of a white onion

• 1 bunch of chopped cilantro
• Dash or 1 tsp of ginger (we chop ours)

• 2 Tbs. yellow Thai curry paste

• 1 tsp. curry powder

• 1 tsp. ground turmeric

• 1 15-oz. can of coconut milk

• 5 oz of rice noodles

• ¾ cup chicken broth

• 2 tsp. light brown sugar

• 5 cups broccoli florets

• 2 limes

(Note: The next time I made this, I added mushrooms, bean sprouts, mushrooms, and baby corn. More veggies. :) )

Cut up chicken and add to oil in medium pot over medium-high heat. 

Then sauté onion, green onion, mushrooms, bean sprouts, and baby corn in oil 2 minutes. Add cilantro, curry paste, curry powder, ginger, and turmeric, cook a minute or two. 

Next stir in coconut milk, broth, and brown sugar, and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium, and cook 5 minutes. Simmer 10 minutes. (If you don't do this long enough, like I didn't, the water doesn't cook off enough and you'll need to add another tb of curry.)

Cook rice noodles in large pot of boiling water. Add broccoli to pot for last 2 minutes of cooking time. Drain, and add to curry mixture sauce stuff. Mix well and serve with lime.

Food in tupperware on the floor = one classy food photo :)

PS Here is the other recipe for Thai Green Curry soup that I made for Riley's and Mollie's farewell.

Fashionistas

This week Baby and I decided to channel our inner Fran Fine.

"If it's not half off, it's not on sale."

Matt treated me to a weekend of shopping. I needed some new clothes after the baby was born and he was sweet enough to notice. I didn't notice how direly I needed them until after my first shopping trip on Saturday night. I walked in the door, and  Matt said, "Aren't those my pants?" 

"Huh, I guess they are." The sad thing is I thought those jeans fit better than normal. (They were actually staying on my hips.)

Shirt: Banana Republic
Jeans: Chicos

I spent Saturday night and all day Monday going through racks of clothes (after all I had 9 months worth of shopping to catch up). I was surprised every time that these normal non-maternity clothes were fitting! Banana Republic and Ann Taylor were having amazing sales. I was so excited. Those stores actually have clothes that can kind of make me look like a grown-up. (Every time I take Baby somewhere, people give me that look of "Aaaw, its' okay. You're being such a good big sister.)

My hair has even been feeling pretty grown up. I constantly seem to have this new kind of hair gel called Spit-up of the Baby. It really keeps that hair glued in place, and it seems to replace itself the second I wash it out. It's pretty amazing.

Madeleine on the other hand decided to wear vintage 80's baby clothes this week.

This lovely piece is from Matt's mother. 

And this one was from my mom. It was the dress I wore home
from the hospital. 

We look pretty fancy, eh? Maybe one day Madeleine will grown up to be fashion blogger, inspired by this blog of course. :P

4 weeks

We had too much fun with tummy time today.

She's such a cutie. We have too much fun together.

Milestones:

Hit 9 lbs

Can hold her bottle

Swat out her binky

Meeting Baby Dinosaur

This week Madeleine met Baby Dinosaur.

It was not planned.

Matt was at school, and I was starving. (I don't think I'm coordinated enough to have a wiggly baby in one hand and a knife in the other.) So I stuck Madeleine in the crib, and out of desperation that she would stay happy while I made a sandwich, I stuck Baby Dinosaur right by her and ran out of the room. I figured I had about 2 minutes tops to make my lunch.

Surprisingly, it was quiet the whole time I was in the kitchen. (I was even able to cut up a tomato and avocado!!) I was pretty shocked. When I walked back in, I saw that Madeleine was happily growling and swatting at Baby Dino. It was so funny. She sat there growling at him the whole time I ate lunch, watching her from my bed. She even stayed entertained long enough for me to take a few pictures. 

Oh and here are some other pictures from this week. :)

I would update what Matt and I do all day, but we are basically just Madeleine's slaves. We both get to leave to go to class, but other than that we are at her beck and call. We really love it though, and she pays us well with cuddling and weird baby faces. :)