A New Year...A New Me?

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas!! We sure did! We got to go up to Utah for a few days (we decided that we much prefer the "less wet" weather here in NM), and stayed with Derrick's parents. Shonnie (D's mom) is one of those women who TOTALLY decorates for Christmas! It was so much fun to be in her home and see all of her fun decorations. I have no idea where she gets the drive to do it all! What a BIG job!

Cecily had so much fun seeing all of her cousins while we were in town. I think she gets a little bit lonesome when she is at home alone with me. She got spoiled rotten for Christmas, but hey, she was a REALLY good girl this year---at least her grandparents and Santa sure thought so! :)

As 2008 gets closer, I've been thinking a lot lately about what my New Year's Resolutions will be. I'm going to post them, and maybe that will give me more of an inclination to actually accomplish them!!

1. Become more disciplined. I don't know if it has just been this pregnancy, or what, but I have been noticing lately that I haven't been accomplishing as many things as I'd like to be, so I have been evaluating how I spend my time and see that I can make a lot of changes that will help me to be more productive. But I need to really discipline myself to follow through, so that is why I have chosen this as a resolution.
2. Get back in shape within 6 months of having the baby. Yes, of course this one is on my list! I hope to do it faster than 6 months, but I'm being realistic. If I end up with a broken tail bone again (yes, Cecily broke my tail bone when I gave birth to her! That was a REALLY fun recovery...very slow), it will be a while before I can function, let alone sit, properly! Anyway, my beloved bloggers had better call me on this one! I'm tired of being a fatty!
3. Increase my knowledge of the Gospel. This last year, as we have read scriptures together as a family, I have really learned a lot and my testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ has really grown. However, I have realized that I don't know some details as well as I would like. So I have decided that this is something I want to work on this year, so that I can be more confident in my knowledge of the Gospel.

So that's it! If you have any tips on what works for you in any of these subjects, I'd love to hear them. Also, I'd love to hear what YOUR resolutions are! So SHARE!!

Hide and Go Seek

The other day, we received a loaf of yummy banana bread from someone who knows Derrick from the restaurant. Anyway, I cut a piece for Cecily while we were eating lunch there at Costa Vida and she really liked it. Then I put the loaf in my purse to take home. Well, when Derrick asked for it later, I couldn't find it. I figured it must have fallen out of my purse into the car or something, but I totally forgot about it after that. A couple of days later, it was really quiet at home, so I went to go look for Cecily...

She loves to hide from me. She is really good at being very quiet until I find her. Among her favorite hiding spots: The back of her closet and inside boxes. Well, she has a new hiding spot. This is the spot she reserves for doing "bad deeds," I have decided. I found her in her room hiding in the corner behind her art easel, between her rocking chair and toy chest. She had 2 pairs of scissors back there with her and she was trying to open a bag of shoes I had bought for the baby. Guess what else was back there with her? THE BANANA BREAD!

You could tell she had used the scissors to get the bag open, and it was about 1/3 eaten. I can't tell if she had used her mouth or her hand to break the pieces of bread off, but it was in pretty sad condition. I wish now that I had taken a picture, but I was seriously in hysterics laughing because it was so pathetic to see! Anyway, as I was cleaning up the mess, I also found gum and candy wrappers, among other things Cecily knows she only gets if she's lucky. So...yes, she is definitely growing up, and she's definitely not the "perfect" child I have always thought she was. And YES, I still love her to pieces!

Holy Terror in the Target Parking Lot!

Well, after looking at some of Cecily's "precious" little baby pictures, I have found what I was looking for. The clue that would let me know that my perfect little baby girl was not going to be perfect forever. Take a look:

Do you see her flipping me off? I should have known that there would be a day like today coming. Want to hear about it?

We have been going through the transition of Cecily taking naps on some days but not on others. Today was one of the days she didn't take a nap, so she was tired, I'll give her that. We went to Target, and in the checkout line, she spots a Yo-Yo that she decides she MUST HAVE! Mean old me won't let her have it, since she already has a yo-yo at home. (She also has about 4 things of bubbles that I have broken down and bought for her when she asked for them while in the check-out line on other days). Then the crying starts...And the pleading...(how do you say "no" to such a cute little girl when she uses her manners?) But, alas, I stick to my guns and don't buy her the yo-yo. And then the hysterics start. I have never had an experience with Cecily crying where people looked at me like that. Yet, I know that some of them had to understand the situation. Haven't they ever had children? So we're walking out and of course the alarm goes off at the door. I look back and the worker says, "just go" and waves me out. I guess they'd rather I steal something than have to listen to my child's screams! Then we get to the car and that's where the real fun begins. It honestly took me over 10 minutes to get Cecily strapped into her carseat. You know the whole arching of the back thing that kids like to do so that you can't get them in their seat? Imagine a really fat, wimpy pregnant woman trying to battle that!! And I don't have much room because I'm parked too close to the cart return and I don't want to dent my car door while struggling with my crazed child. So I leave her in the car (her screams for the yo-yo louder than ever) and go around to the other side of the car so I can get in. She continues to fight me until, finally, I give up and start crying myself.

And then she let me hold her. And we cried until she calmed down. All this over a yo-yo.

Okay, so she was terrible today. But guess what? I still love that kid to pieces and think she's the coolest thing ever! Am I nuts? Oh well if I am!

We got a new computer this week (thank you Derrick)! It's an Apple, so hopefully, I won't have any more trouble with stupid viruses causing me to lose all of my data. Anyway, the REAL reason I was looking at some of Cecily's baby pictures was because I was transferring them onto this computer. And I just have to show off this cute little girl! I cannot believe how big she has gotten!

It's Christmastime!!

We decorated our Christmas Tree for Family Home Evening last Monday. Cecily had a ball! However, mom and dad did have to do a bit of "de-clumping" after Cecily went to sleep. She really loved the job of placing the ornaments, but thought they looked best in just one certain area of the tree.

I bought new ornaments this year to go with our new bigger tree (I love Costco! I even drove it all the way from the Lehi Costco down to NM. Totally worth it)! I decided to go with a brown and gold theme. Here's the Finished Product (thanks to Derrick---because I have no skill at decorating a tree, and he gets his talent from his mom):

The pictures don't really do it justice, I think. There's nothing better than sitting in a dark room with your family with just the tree lit up. It makes me feel like a little kid!

Some Pix of our Cool Kid

I can just imagine the cavities growing...Getting all clean...

Yep, there WAS a cute little girl there under all that sticky candy!

This picture is actually for my mom. I've been meaning to show her the new rug I bought for our dining table (yes we are SLOWLY, but surely decorating our house). It was interesting how much a rug made this room so much more cozy. And we even got it on sale!!