Weather Warning

This was posted on BYU's website. Again, can I just say how glad I am that we're not traveling?

Campus closed in advance of major winter storm

This is a Y-Alert. A major blizzard warning has been issued by the National Weather Service. Because of the severity of this expected storm, BYU will close campus at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2010. All classes should be canceled after this time.
Campus will be closed on Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2010, except for essential services as determined by unit supervisors. If you have questions about specific locations or events, we encourage you to contact the respective organization.
At this time, the men’s and women’s basketball games are still scheduled.

I'm so happy Elise is safe and warm in her bed tonight. Still, I haven't seen much snow yet. Maybe it's still coming.

Dreaming of a White . . . Thanksgiving?

Matt and I were watching the news some today, and the weatherman said we are about to have the worst Thanksgiving snowstorm Provo has seen in seven years. I feel like everyone at BYU has plans to travel except for our family. I'm so glad we decided to stay here for the holidays this year. Matt will be able to work, Elise will be able to keep her schedule, and we won't have to worry about traveling in a blizzard. Did I mention the high on Thanksgiving day will be 21°? Gross. And the high on Wednesday will be 18°. Matt is all finished with classes for the week, and if the weather gets really bad, we can all stay indoors. And we can turn up the heat as much as we want because we don't pay for the gas. I love Wymount.

Tummy Time and Turkey Time

Elise has been doing so much better with tummy time lately! She's now doing about as well as when she was six weeks old, which was before she started being such a stinker about tummy time. She can go for longer without crying and holds her head up more. This morning she did a good 13-minute stretch, followed by a 10-minute stretch later in the day. I am so glad!

I think her mouth is feeling a little better today. She was pretty good at church except for the fact that she was not happy that we weren't at home for her to eat. I got to participate during almost all of all three hours!

I can't believe Elise is almost 2 1/2 months old already. At church I saw her next to a baby who is almost one month old, and Elise look huge compared to the other baby. She is really growing fast. I can't wait for her to learn new things, like how to push up with her arms while on her tummy and how to roll over. Maybe this renewed interest in tummy time means she will start developing these skills soon. I also am a little sad she'll never be that tiny again, but I think I'm mostly excited for her to grow. It's so fun to watch her as she is able to do more and more, like the other day when she was laughing so much, more than she ever had before. It was so cute!

Since this post is already random and disjointed, I guess I might as well continue it that way.

Mike and Natalie came over for a little while tonight and visited. It has been a while since we have seen them. They are headed up to Yucaipa for Thanksgiving break on Tuesday morning. Matt, Elise, and I are staying here, but we will see Matt's parents on the 29th when they come up for Natalie's orchestra concert. I have never made a Thanksgiving dinner before, and ours will surely be modest, but hopefully it will be pretty good. Matt has just two classes tomorrow and then he is off of school for the rest of the week! Wahoo! He will be working as much as he can, but it will be nice for him to have a break from classes. And the extra money we'll be making will also be a blessing.

It snowed some today, and it's only supposed to snow more in the next couple of days. It was Elise's first time really seeing snow falling. What would Thanksgiving in Provo be without snow, though?

This turkey is from Elise's book Barnyard Dance! by Sandra Boynton. It always makes me think of Thanksgiving, especially lately. I think it's cute.

Gifts of the Heart Exchange

I went to the Gifts of the Heart Exchange today, and I got all this stuff for Elise for free! Some of it isn't super nice, but a few things really are. I also got a t-shirt for Matt. The Gifts of the Heart Exchange is put on by the MBA Spouse Association at BYU, and BYU students and their spouses can go and get free stuff (mostly clothes, but baby gear and toys too). It is so nice. There was mostly just kids' stuff, but they had a few things for adults too, especially maternity clothes. What a blessing! We'll definitely be going to the next one, which will be in January.

Afterward, I went to a group baby shower for women in our ward who had recently had a baby or will soon have a baby. The shower was for me and a handful of other women. I won a wipe warmer in a raffle, and I also got a cute Onsie for Elise from the Langfords and a little bag of assorted gifts from the Relief Society sisters. Overall, a really good day for us for getting free stuff!

Matt stayed with Elise all that time. I had pumped her a bottle, but apparently she wasn't that interested in taking it. She really hasn't been feeling well because of the thrush. She would only eat a little over an ounce for him, but she ate just fine when I nursed her when I got home (which made me a little sad that she isn't taking the bottle as easily as she did the first time, but also secretly a little happy that she doesn't like the bottle as much). I really hope she gets well soon.

Mouth Misfortunes

I noticed a white sore in Elise's mouth today, and realized she has thrush again. Probably she never completely got rid of it before; it's supposed to be super difficult to get rid of. No wonder the poor baby has been cranky lately. After trying to convince myself it might be something else for a few minutes, I accepted the fact that it really was thrush, and we started giving her medicine again. Matt gave her a blessing. I really, really hope she gets better soon. Last time she had it was a nightmare.

And she has been teething, but I knew that already. That's what I thought was causing her to be a little warm and sometimes grumpy. What I didn't know was how close her teeth must be to coming in. Now, I've never done this before, so I'm not super certain, and Elise is still very young to be cutting teeth, but I think the two middle bottom ones are very nearly in. I was wiping her mouth with a wet cloth like the doctor said to do last time she had thrush, and I realized that the gums in the middle on the bottom are a little rough compared to the rest of her mouth. I took a good look, and it seems that her left tooth will probably be poking through any time now.

Poor kid. She has to be so uncomfortable.

On the bright side, I'm going to the Gifts of the Heart Exchange in the morning, and hopefully I will be able to get some nice things for Elise—for free! More details tomorrow.

Note: Elise never cut those teeth. I think they must have gone back down. I'm really glad.

Clothes Disasters

I feel like I spent my entire day changing Elise's clothes. She probably feels the same way. It all started when Elise had a blowout just minutes after Matt got her dressed this morning, so I had to change her outfit and Onsie. Later she spit up all over another outfit and Onsie (The same outfit she always ruins before the end of the day. She definitely doesn't like it.). Then she peed on another Onsie (but didn't get the outfit, thankfully). She had another blowout on another Onsie (but mostly missed the outfit again), after which we dressed her in her pajamas. She promptly spit up on those. Then she spit up so much on another pair of pajamas that we had to change both her Onsie and pajamas. If you're keeping count, you know she finally went to bed in her third set of pajamas and sixth Onsie for the day, not to mention the fact that she wore three different outfits today. I can hardly keep up with this kid!

(And in case you're wondering if I change her clothes because of every little thing, I don't. I only change her for the big incidents. Today just happened to be full of them!)

We should just keep her naked, don't you think? Then I wouldn't have to do so much laundry. And her rolls are so cute. Of course, just in the photo session when we had these pictures taken, she peed twice and pooped twice, so maybe it wouldn't solve the laundry problem . . .

P.S. I'm in love with this picture.

Nutcracker Baby

I was just noticing Elise's chin as she was falling asleep. She looks like a little nutcracker; her cheeks are so big that there is a crease on each side between her cheeks and chin, and her double chin completes the look. With creases all around, it looks like her jaw could be hinged, just like a little nutcracker. Ya gotta love the chub.

Good thing she's a whole lot cuter than this.