Fun With the Bugs

When we went to the Pacific Science Center in Seattle with my dad, we discovered a whole fun section of the museum devoted to bugs and mostly butterflies. The Tropical Butterfly House was really neat. It was really hot and humid in there to keep the butterflies happy, and it was so muggy that the lens of the camera kept fogging up when I tried to take pictures. Butterflies fluttered all around in there and there were tons of different kinds.

One even landed on me! Another butterfly landed on Kirsten, but only for a second because she moved and it flew away. I couldn't get a picture of that one.

Kirsten was fascinated by the butterflies for awhile, but then the heat and humidity started to bother her so we had to leave.

It was a pretty cool part of the museum, and reminded me of something you'd see at a Zoo!

Lunch At the Space Needle!

Okay, I am officially behind on blogging. People must be so tired of seeing that American Idol post! I finally have some time to get some new pictures on here. These pictures were actually from a week before Kirsten's birthday, when my Dad came to visit Seattle for a day. We had tons of fun going to the Space Needle for lunch!For anyone coming to Seattle, it costs about $15 just to ride the elevator to the top of the Space Needle and see the view. The view really is amazing, but worth $15? I'm not sure. However, it IS worth it to eat at the revolving restaurant at the top of the Space Needle, because you get to see the view the entire time you're eating and you don't have to pay anything to ride the elevator. The food is pretty expensive, but at least it's really good food and you get to have the entire experience of eating there and watching the view change. I totally recommend it!

The tables you eat at are literally right next to the window, and you get full panoramic views of the ocean, the city, and the snow-capped mountains. Seattle's got it all!

Kirsten loved spending time with Grandpa. She was intrigued by looking out the windows while we were eating, and she had a great time playing with Grandpa, being held by him, and pulling his glasses off.

This is the fountain at the Seattle Center, right outside the Space Needle. After we ate lunch we had some time to spare before taking my Dad to the airport, so we went to the Pacific Science Center and had a great time there too. I'll post those pictures soon!

David Cook Wins!!!

I was surprised and happy that David Cook won American Idol last night. I already posted on here about how much I love both the Davids, and it's really true that either one of them could have won and I would have been completely happy. They are both amazing and talented and I love them both for different reasons. After the finale performances I figured David Archuleta would win though, so it was a surprise to me to see David Cook pull out ahead!It was overall a really good finale, and my favorite moments were the "Heroes" song that the two Davids sang together, David Archuleta singing "Apologize" with One Republic, Michael and Carly's duet, the guys' Bryan Adams medley, and the George Michael songs. I'm sad to see the season end, but it's been great and I've loved the two Davids the most the entire way through the competition. So I was thrilled to see them both in the finale!

Now I'm excited for So You Think You Can Dance starting tonight! My favorite summer show!

Birthday Cake!

For Kirsten's first birthday, I was full of anticipation that she would gleefully stuff her cake in her mouth and get all messy with frosting. . .
So I made a cake and my mom wrote the words on it. The can of red icing gave us a lot of trouble!

Much to my dismay (and I'm sure the disappointment of everyone else reading this who wanted to see messy birthday pictures), Kirsten just poked daintily at her cake and acted like she really didn't know what to do with it.

I knew she wouldn't eat much of it, since she still eats hardly any adult foods, but I thought she might at least smear the icing all over her face or something.

But she didn't. When she seemed overwhelmed by the whole cake we cut a piece out and gave it to her. She got her fingers in the icing a little and licked it off her fingers, but this picture shows pretty much the extent of how messy she got. Not much at all!

Maybe my next baby will be willing to stuff cake in its face and get a sugar high. Kirsten sure didn't! But we had a fun birthday anyway and she thought it was great when we sang "Happy Birthday" to her.

Opening Presents!

On Kirsten's birthday, we had a small party and she got to open all her presents! She didn't do very much ripping of the paper though, and we mostly had to do it for her.
I love the birthday crown I bought for her at Gymboree. It says 'Birthday Girl' on it. I wasn't sure if it would fit on her head for long, but it did!Check out that pile of presents. Kirsten scored!

She got this fun Little People building blocks set, and was excited about it.

Of course I had to buy a little red car for my little girl. Isn't that the cutest walker ever? She can also ride on it when she's older. I love it!

She was a happy birthday girl!

She couldn't wait to get these new tub toys out of the box.

She also got a rocking giraffe! It's the perfect size for her, so small and cute.

It was really fun to help her open all these presents, and she had a great time even though she has no idea what a birthday is yet.

Kirsten Is One Year Old!

On May 13'th, the Kirsten bug turned 1! I can't believe it's already been a year. Here are some of her exciting accomplishments from the past month:
-She can stand by herself without holding onto anything, usually only for a few seconds before she sits right back down. But it's an improvement!
-Playing peek-a-boo! She used to just find me, but now she hides herself behind her blanket and loves being able to join in the game.
-Imitating sounds we make. She's getting better at it and tries to say words!
-Climbing up onto whatever she can, like the dishwasher. At one year old, Kirsten loves:
-Her blankie. She buries her face in it in the middle of playing, goes back to it a lot, and always sleeps with it.
-Swinging in baby swings at the park.
-Being tickled, tossed into the air, and playing with Daddy and Chance.
-Hide and seek and peek-a-boo.
-Taking baths in the big tub, with all the tub toys.
-Crawling and exploring everywhere!

At one year, Kirsten hates:
-Being confined. She doesn't like the stroller for very long anymore, and will twist and push to get out of our arms and get down on the floor to crawl.
-Touching grass or sand. She's just not used to it, and it scares her. I'll have to get her outside more often now that the weather's getting nicer!
-Being held by strangers.

She's getting so big, but Kirsten still:
-Loves her bottle more than sippy cups
-Is much more interested in crawling than walking
-Only has two teeth on the bottom, and none on top
-Won't eat most adult foods without gagging on them
-Loves her binky, and uses it to go to sleep, for car rides, and whenever else she wants it
-Won't clap!

Isn't this a great picture of Kirsten chowing down on a salad on her birthday? She wasn't really eating the salad, just sucking on the cucumber and sitting in Grandma's lap. We went to a birthday lunch for her at Applebee's and had a fun time!

We were so happy that Grandma got to fly in from San Diego to help celebrate her birthday!

She was fascinated by the balloon she got at the restaurant.

Our good friends Miranda and baby Saide came to lunch too, and it was fun!

I have lots more birthday pictures, but that's enough for this post. It's amazing that Kirsten is one year old now, and I'm excited for what the next year will bring!

Happy Mother's Day!

Yesterday was Mother's day, and I hope all the mothers reading this blog had a wonderful day! This year's Mother's day was a great day for me, much more relaxing than last year's. One year ago on Mother's day was when I saw this little face for the first time.Of course it was an amazing Mother's day last year, because I finally had my beautiful baby after being a week overdue and being induced. Kirsten was born around 12:30 pm on Mother's day. The rest of the day of course was spent in the hospital, trying to recover. That was the most unforgettable Mother's day I'll probably ever have, but I must say I really enjoyed having a nice, relaxing Mother's day this year.

A Tangerine Diasaster

I'm having a lot of trouble getting Kirsten to eat table foods without choking on them. She eats baby food purees great, and she's also been fine with bread pieces, crackers, and those little Gerber puffs and sticks. But food off our plates almost always makes her throw up. Today, for example, she really wanted to taste the tangerine I was eating, so I gave her a piece. She sucked on it for awhile, then slowly ate it. A couple minutes later, she threw it up along with the baby food she had just eaten. It was so gross! I had to get her in the tub and put her clothes and mine in the laundry immediately.She looks happy in that picture, but it was quite the disgusting experience. I like to keep trying new foods with her, but I hate it when she spits it all up. I read things that say "By one year of age, babies should be eating pieces of everything off your plate." She's nowhere near that point yet! If any of you have advice, I'd appreciate it.

Kirsten does love baths, and she now takes baths in the big tub. She sucks on all her tub toys and splashes her feet around.

I'm glad she eats baby food really well, but I'm tired of her spitting up adult food whenever I try it. When will it stop?

The Best Thing To Do On A Sunny Day Is. . .

Go to the beach!Our weather has been very unpredictable lately, but we did have one gorgeous weekend day, so we headed to the Golden Gardens Beach on the Puget Sound. It's the best Seattle-area beach I've seen so far, with a really big stretch of sand and lots of BBQ pits. I was wishing we had brought some hot dogs to roast!

Lots of other people were out enjoying the beach as well, and I saw plenty of kids and dogs. Kirsten stayed happy with her cute little sun hat on.

She mostly stayed on the beach towel and played and looked around at stuff. She had a strange fear of the sand though, and started crying when I tried putting her feet in the sand. Such a weird baby!

Whether she had socks on her feet or not, she just didn't like getting sand on her feet. Well. . . maybe she'll never outgrow that fear, and then I'll never have to worry about chasing her all over the beach after she starts walking. I'm sure I won't get that lucky. Next summer, beach visits won't be quite so relaxing as they are now.

I love living by the ocean! I never got used to living in Utah and never feeling a single ocean breeze. It almost killed me! I'm glad to be back near the water again now, even if it's a slightly colder temperature. I'll take it!

Amazing!

I was seriously amazed that Stephen was able to get this picture, since I've never seen her stand by herself long enough to actually take a picture. She'll stand for a second or two, but then sits right back down when she realizes she's not holding onto anything. This is a pretty cool picture of her caught in a moment of standing without realizing it! Here she is cruising along the furniture, which is something she loves to do. I wonder when she'll actually take steps without holding on? I would guess it'll still be awhile.

She stands up and holds onto almost anything, like this box of diapers. She's so much fun and it really is awesome to watch her learn new things!