Sewing

Lately I have been in the mood to branch out a little on my projects. I am a beginner to moderate sewer so I feel relatively comfortable behind a sewing machine. I found some fabric that was the perfect color pink for Conni's room with a fun eyelet pattern. So, I bravely decided to make curtains!

This fabric had finished edges, so I was able to cut down the length and have my scalloped edge. Then I just finished the rest it and Dave hung the curtain rod for me.

I know it is a simple thing, but I am most proud of this because this is the first thing that I sewed 100% by myself - without having mom there "just in case". In fact, now that they are done, I'm going to tell mom I made them!

Now I am excited to sew more - and in fact, mom and I will be making cinch packs for young women's camp this next week. Go me!!!

Finding her voice

Conni has found her voice recently. She has been jabbering more and more. She has such a fun personality that we wanted to share. She can still be shy with some of you so you haven't had a chance to see this side of her. :)

This video is off Daddy's phone so the color looks a little off. But this is Conni and Daddy hanging out.

(Sorry its kind of long - I couldn't find any software to edit an .mp4)

Spots update...

Its only been a few days and this new steroid medicine seems to be working for Conni's spot. Unfortunately, her skin is still super itchy - poor girl. Hopefully the laundry updates and the new soap, etc will get a handle on that soon!!

What a relief to finally figure this out!

"Can I have spots for $500 please Alex?"

Sometime back in April we noticed a spot on Conni's shoulder about the size of a quarter, but stretched to an oval. It was pink and kinda scaly. With my family's history of psoriasis, we thought that's what it was and decided to keep an eye on it. We tried putting some cortisone cream and lotion on it, but nothing really made a difference. Then it got more red and Conni started to itch at it. So David took her to the doctor and he said it was a fungal infection like ringworm.

Ringworm! How could my little girl have ringworm! I don't keep the cleanest house in the neighborhood, but its not yucky! We got a prescription for an anti-fungal cream that we put on her shoulder twice a day. The doctor said it could take four to six weeks to get rid of it.

Well, this didn't really do much for it. And to top it off, Conni would dig at it. We had to watch her all the time to keep her hand down from her shoulder. After six weeks, Conni had her ten month check up. At that point, this spot was the same size, still scaly, red, and now it was oozy and crystal-ish - kinda like honey. (I know, gross). The doctor said it had gotten infected (wasn't it already though?) from her scratching it and gave us an oral antibiotic. "Use this for ten days" he said "and that should help".

The antibiotic helped with the oozy and honey stuff. But the original red spot was still there.

So - long story short (too late) I took Conni to a dermatologist this morning. Come to find out she has eczema and really sensitive skin! The dermatologist thinks this spot started out as a dry patch of skin, moved on to eczema, then elevated to aggravated eczema (or some medical term I don't remember).

Now we have another cream to use to get the spot under control - this one is a steroid - and we had to get some eucerin lotion. I have to put it on Conni all the time - and if you know how much I "love" lotion you'll know I'm excited for that part! I have to change her body wash too - so no more smelling like a sweet baby!

Then we have a follow up in four weeks to see how its coming. Hopefully this will get it all cleared up so my poor little girl won't be suffering any more. I do know that medically, things could be much worse for her (she doesn't suffer from anything permanent like some family members we have). But I still feel bad that she is uncomfortable and in pain and can't communicate it to me.

Hopefully this is the right answer and we can get her skin all pretty again...

Simple Pleasures

Conni loves to play the "laughing" game. She will laugh, then I will laugh, then she will laugh, etc. It normally starts out just making the "ha ha" sound, but soon enough we are both truly laughing.

I never thought I would find such joy in such a simple pleasure. The sound of her laugh can brighten my day and make it all worth it. I love to watch her explore her world. She will laugh almost every time she sees her bear "dance" or something simple like that.

I love being a mom!

Conni's Pasta Salad

We're trying to expose Conni to new foods with different tastes and textures. Today she expressed great interest in the pasta salad I was making. She's had pasta before and liked it, so we gave her a taste of this one. Not too surprising, she enjoyed it - even with the italian dressing on it! She kept trying to put her hands in the bowl as I was mixing it so Dave sat down and fed her some. She also likes tomatoes and cucumbers.

We are so blessed that we have a good eater! If you want to try it, here's the recipe for the pasta salad. (It's not mine - I got it out of a ward cookbook Michelle gave me - thanks Michelle!)

Conni's Pasta Salad

1 package spiral pasta noodles (colorful)
1 bottle Zesty Italian Dressing
1 cucumber
1 can sliced olives
1-2 tomatoes
1 can cooked chicken

Cook pasta and let cool. Dice cucumber and tomatoes. Mix all ingredients together and add dressing as desired.

Eating on her own...

David and I decided that it was time to start weaning Conni for a variety of reasons. The two biggest ones are her top teeth have come in (can I just say "Ouch!") and I'm looking forward to spending a week at girls camp this summer.

We've just starting this recently and Conni only has one bottle a day. (We're working on getting her used to a sippy cup too, so she has a bottle with handles right now).

Today she wanted to play so I had her bottle on the floor with us until she decided she was ready to eat. She rolled over and got it, and this is how she decided to eat.

Playing with her blanket...

This was just too cute not to post...

Sesame Street

Conni loves Sesame Street! Her two favorite segments are:

Elmos World

Murry Has A Little Lamb

Her face lights up every time she sees these characters. Maybe for her birthday I will get her Ovejita or Murray or Elmo...

Season Passes on My Tivo

So I'm sitting here watching my tivo and I thought, "Hmmm - I wonder what other people tivo." So here's our list - comment with yours!

Listed Alphabetically :)

Are You Being Served?
Ask This Old House
Bones
Chuck
Deadliest Catch
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
Keeping Up Appearances
Lost
Matlock
Mentalist
Mythbusters
NCIS
New Yankee Workshop
Numb3rs (I forgot this one - thanks Renee!)
Pitchmen
Sesame Street
Simpsons
Smallville
This Old House

Facebook

I finally joined facebook! Katee is so proud!

Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House

Today we went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House. It is a beautiful temple! If you have the opportunity I highly recommend it. The colors were beautiful (of course) and my favorite thing was the star shaped chandeliers throughout.

We were able to take Conni with us and she was an angel. All the volunteers smiled and talked to her. We had to wake her from her first nap of the day when we got there, so I was a little worried she would be cranky. But she loved to see all the people and pictures. Every time she could see a picture of Jesus she would grin. When we went into the Celestial Room Conni started to sing. It was so tender - I know that she was able to recognize the spirit even though the temple isn't dedicated yet. I was so choked up thru the whole temple looking forward to the day that I can take Conni back and we can share that time together.

I am so grateful for this gospel and that we have temples to seal us together forever!

Conni's 9 Month Checkup

Today we had Conni's 9 Month Checkup (even though she'll be 10 months next week). She is doing great! Even though she isn't crawling (forward anyway) she is hitting all of her developmental milestones.

She is now 27 3/4" tall (42nd percentile for height). She is 19 pounds 4 ounces (50th percentile from weight). She has stayed in the 40-50 percentile for height all along so we expect she'll be a nice average height. I'm planning on her being taller than me by the time she is twelve. :) It is nice to know that she has gone from the 86th percentile for weight and is now more average since she's getting more mobile. :)

We are very grateful to have such a happy, healthy child. We have been very blessed that she is able to do all that she can and is so much fun!