cheeeese!

Lately, Kort has been crinkling up his nose and giving me a cheesy grin. I absolutely love it! See those top two teeth? Yep, they popped through last week! If I tell Kort to open up wide and go "ahh" with his tongue out, this is when I get this face :) What a stud.

Nauvoo - day 2 - Wagon Ride

The view the pioneers had of the Temple when leaving Nauvoo (however, only half of it was really built), elder and sister missionaries waving as we drove by, Blacksmith shop, the wagon, and the stage where the summer pageants went on.



Different homes and buildings such as Lucy Mack Smith's home, Joseph Coolidge, and the Bakery. The pioneer pastime play area, Nauvoo Groves where they'd have meetings, and my two hunks.



The Trail of Hope. Where the pioneers crossed the frozen Mississippi River.

Grape Stomp 5k - Nauvoo

 I actually accomplished a new year's goal that I made! I wanted to run at least a 5k this year and once I saw that there was going to be one in Nauvoo the weekend we'd be there, I couldn't pass up the opportunity. I was so nervous, especially when I got to the starting line. Once the horn sounded, everyone took off running! Not just a jog, but a full out sprint! I had the instant feeling of doom, but I quickly told myself that half of them were going to die out after the first mile and I'd still be keeping my pace and pass them. Well, that didn't end up being completely true, but I did have my eyes set out on certain people that I wanted to pass and that ended up 50/50.

The course took us down Main Street, passing by the old Post Office and a bunch of other stores. I couldn't help but put myself in the pioneers' shoes and relive their lives and realize that I was where they walked. I also jogged past Parley Street, where the Trail of Hope began. Overall, it was an amazing experience just being there. I came up to the 3rd mile marker and sprinted the rest of the way. There was this kid that darted past me and crossed the finish line probably 30 seconds in front of me, and his time was 30:58 so my time was just under 32 minutes and was like 65th out of 170 or something! I wanted to be under 30, but considering this was my first and I had only been training for like a month, I was proud of myself, and to have jogged the whole thing also :) It was a great experience and hopefully I can continue running races now in all the different places we move! ha ha

swingin' away

This little crazy dude has been climbing into the swing, obviously the wrong way you're supposed to be in it. I finally caught him on camera swinging on his own. He usually is better at getting himself out but not so much this time. 

(don't mind his jammies, half on, half off. ha ha)

nauvoo - day 1

we got in sort of late friday night so we stopped at the visitor's center to get a map and list of things to visit and check out for the weekend. we looked at all the things in the center, which are pictured here.



we were going to stay at these cabins that were super cheap. i thought it sounded like a good idea. my friend and then bro in law had just stayed there so i didn't think it would be bad. anyway, we get to the place, i step inside, and things are thrown all around and it smells like a porta potty. plus, it was concrete floor and we didn't want kort crawling on that. we hurried and checked places around town to stay.



unfortunately, it was the 75th grape festival that weekend and most places were already booked. but *luckily* we found a room, which was the last vacancy in the town, for all 3 nights we'd be staying. i didn't like paying the price, but it was so much better than the cabins.



we finally found a place to eat, out of the oh, 7ish places :) it was called hotel nauvoo and was a place to stay and then had a buffet. it.was.awesome. great home cookin'. we actually ate there the next night too.

smarty pants

ok, i just got a huge kick out of this. like pretty much most babies, they love anything you're wearing - necklaces, earrings, and even glasses. i thought i'd give him the chance to have my glasses. wonder if it made him dizzy with that prescription :) his tongue was sticking out right before this. would have made an even better picture. anyway, i loved it. 

Sleeping Miracle

This book has been an absolute life saver.
Ever since bringing Kort home from the hospital, we've been rocking and bouncing him to sleep. We even got an exercise ball to work our (ok, mostly mine) gluts out at the same time and not kill our back standing up. It had gotten to the point where we couldn't take it anymore and needed Kort to fall asleep on his own and not in our arms because once he was dead asleep, we'd put him down in his crib and he would wake right back up. It was driving me crazy with the night wakings.

So this lady in our ward was telling Clay about this book. We had previously just talked to the Pediatrician about getting him to sleep better and this was somewhat the same thing she had talked about, but obviously more in detail and depth.

I found the book at the public library the next day and read as much as I could to start Kort on it that night.  To sum it up, what you do is put your baby in the crib drowsy.  Stay next to the bedside and just comfort him every now and then (pat, sshhh, etc.) and eventually they'll fall asleep. What you're doing is getting rid of their crutch to fall asleep (his was bouncing).  That's the basis of it.

Night one: took 1.5 hours and I even had to pick him up a little and then quickly put him down and pat him to sleep.
Night two: 45 minutes, same as above.
Night three, four, etc.: about 20 minutes or so and he even fell asleep without me having to pick him up! I have NEVER seen him just lay down and fall asleep. I was in heaven!

Now, a mistake I had been making.  She says if the baby stands up, gently put them back down and encourage them to lay down. Then if he gets back up, don't fight it. Well, I wouldn't let him get back up and would put my hands by the sides so he couldn't get up. It worked...for a while.
I realized there would be no way that I could leave the room and have him fall asleep on his own. Plus, it was starting to take longer for him to fall asleep again.  So I decided to start all over and make sure I was consistent on what she was saying.

Night one re-do: 20 minutes
Night two re-do: 15 minutes
Night three re-do: 6 minutes
MIRACLE!!!
That was just last night. He's even becoming more drowsy at night compared to always being "awake" and squirmy. The rest of the method goes on to moving away from the crib and comforting them with sshhing them with eventually moving out of the room, etc.

I wish I had this book a LONG time ago. I definitely recommend it. It's no crying out type, which some say works for them, but not for me. I haven't read a whole bunch of other sleeping books, and I know most books have some good things but not the whole book, but I will say this whole book WORKS!!! Kort has been sleeping through the night for quite some time now! From 8:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. although he has an annoying wake up at 5:30 a.m. and I have to put him back to sleep until 7:00 (that will end soon though, hopefully).  Here's to a better night's rest (cross your fingers)!