Sammi 2 months

At 2 months, Sammi weighed 10 lbs and 10 oz. She was 23 inches long. She sleeps for 6-8 hours at night the only problem is it is 3 hours before I go to bed so I still have to wake up in the middle of the night. She only takes small cat naps during the day but I think it's because she has been so spoiled during naps that she likes sleeping in some one's arms. She is smiling a whole bunch, loves listening to Ellie sing the ABC's, and playing with Ellie.

Wearing her blessing dress.

 Sammi is really smiley and talkative when sitting in her chair. Although every time the orange light on the camera, she would stop smiling.

She is growing up so fast, but I love watching her learn new things and interact with Ellie.

Back in Utah

So after what seemed like forever of not seeing family (with exception to grandmas' visits), we finally made a trip back to Utah. And like most of our trips, it was jam packed with things. We spent all the time with family so that Ellie could be reacquainted and Sammi could be introduced to everyone.
Part of the reason for our trip was the annual Watterson family reunion. This year it was in Ophir (an extremely small town further west than Cedar Fort. Grandma Bonnie was nice enough to let us borrow her motor home for the trip which was nice and rough for the same reason; the wind.

Ellie loved playing with all her cousins and 2nd cousins.

Millie, Ellie, and Becca painting rocks.

Becca and Ellie doing a cake walk.

Eating her cupcake.

Becca enjoying her cupcake.

Hayley really enjoying her cupcake.

There were crafts, activities (rock climbing, zip line and a movie), and the raffle. I made some hoodie towels for the raffle but forgot to take a picture. Trust me, they were very cute.

Since we were in Utah with family, we decided it would be best to bless Sammi with everyone around. Rob and Kris were kind enough to let us use their house for the whole shindig. Of course, I was terrible at taking pictures again (none with Ellie and Sammi or just Sammi wearing the dress).

Proud parents

Grandma and Grandpa Watterson

Grandma and Grandpa Gledhill

Sammi's great-grandma Bonnie

It was a perfect day and Sammi was such an angel. She was patient and happy with everyone passing her around.

We also drove downtown to see the new City Creek mall. That is a really fun place. I think the people who worked on it did a great job. The fountains are great. We also went out to dinner to celebrate Jake's and Stefanie's birthdays and spend some time with old friends. We celebrated my mom's birthday with Annie, Brian and their family (by seeing their new house, having dessert, and playing games).

Grandma and Poppy Gledhill took us to Tracy Aviary. They have done a lot of work around there and I think Ellie had a blast.

My dad catching a falcon as a helper.

This is how Ellie and Poppy measure up.

Poppy, Ellie, and Daddy walking through the Seven Canyons water fountain.

We really had a great time in Utah with family.

Road Rage

You know you have bad road rage when your 2 1/2 year old repeats what you say. When ever I give the car some gas, Ellie yells out, "Move out of Mommy's way. Mommy we getting on the freeway?" Today as I came to a stop at a light, she said, "Seriously!" So I asked what that was about and she replied, "That guy isn't paying attention to me." (Probably from when I say that someone wasn't paying attention while driving.)

My little mermaid

The things this girl wouldn't do to play in the water.
After some really hot days, I decided to clean up and set up Ellie's pool. She loves being in the water and would shower or bathe everyday if I would let her. Now I only filled the pool with hose water but she stayed in it for over an hour. The video shows a few things she likes to do.

After I took her out and dried her off, she decided that while my back was turned making dinner she was going back in but without clothes because she couldn't put back on her swimsuit by herself. I caught her and told her after dinner we could go back out. Of course she remembered and we were back out. At one point I stepped inside to grab something and came back out. She told me to sit down on my chair. I sat down in a wet chair because she thought it was funny to get the seat wet while I was inside.  She stayed so long this time and it was so cool at 7:30 at night in that cold water, that her teeth started chattering. She turned to me and said, "Look mommy. My teeth are dancing." ha ha
Next day, first thing in the morning, she wanted to get back in. It was a cool start to the day (around 60) so I told her after nap. The minute she woke up, she asked to go out. I think I will be spending a lot of time by the pool.

Ellie's Antics

Ellie must be at that age of hilariousness or she really wants attention after the baby getting so much. Here are a few of her sayings and adventures.

She likes hiding in things. Can you tell?

On nice days, she likes to sit on her chair on the patio with her sunglasses and a drink to watch the baseball games.

• After doing something the other day, Ellie told me, "Good job mommy. High Five."
• We have been watching VeggieTales. One of Ellie's favorite's is the Silly songs video. Ellie calls them the Cucumber Songs. She wanted to watch them one day so I told her to ask Daddy as he was watching one of his shows. She said, "We watch the cucumber song. Daddy loves it."
• Apparently she really wants to play outside the house. One Saturday she put on her baseball hat, grabbed mine and put it on me, grabbed a softball, and said we needed to get mitts to go play catch.
• I called up Jake's family to chat on Skype and Cassie and the girls were heading out to ride on a boat with Cassie's dad. Ellie heard me say this and asked to ride on the boat. Of course, we had her ask my parents the next time we spoke.
• One of the VeggieTales silly songs is about a water buffalo. We went to the zoo with some friends and happened to walk past the water buffalo, at which point Ellie says, "Water buffalo, like the cucumber song that daddy loves."
• She is a great big sister and loves learning about how Sammi will learn to do things. Some times she just looks at her and says, "Oh baby Sammi. She's so cute."
• She has become interested in eye and hair color. Mommy and daddy have brown eyes and hair. Ellie has blue eyes and white hair like Grandma and Poppy has gray hair.
• While inspecting my eyes one day, she noticed that there were "breaks" in my eyes. After a few seconds I realized she was seeing the blood vessels and that my eyes were cracked. (Yes, I am a little low on sleep.) I told her they were called blood vessels. She turned and told Daddy that I had red vessels in my eyes.
• On our recent visit to Utah, we stayed with Rob and Kris. They have a trampoline. Sunday morning, I get this text from Stef saying Good morning Ellie. I then realized Ellie had played with my phone and sent Stef about 5 texts, mostly blank. As we were getting ready to head to church, we could find Ellie. Turns out she had let herself out of the house and was jumping all by herself. (Parent of the year award right here.)
• My favorite saying; Jake asked me to look up an address for directions. As I pulled it up on the computer, Ellie walked over and saw the map. She got excited about the map and asked what is was for so I told her daddy needed some directions. At this point, she replied, "Oh, rections for daddy. Daddy has rections." hahahaha

What will this girl think of next?

Sammi 2 weeks old

So I am way behind on this post as Sammi is now actually 6 weeks old but here is the info from her 2 weeks appointment.

She was 7lbs 5 oz, so not quite back to birth weight. Length was the same and head was now 14" (1 bigger than birth). She looked a little jaundiced but they automatically test the bilirubins. Sadly, her foot didn't warm as well as they liked so after pricking and squeezing her heel for 20 minutes, the blood started coagulating so they had to stop and warm the other heel and start over. Poor thing. Her levels were high so they had us come back in the next day (so they could see if she was going up or down). Sadly they were slightly higher. We were told to come back in 2 days but in between that time make sure she got plenty of sunbathing in. She enjoys sitting in the sun.

Her levels went back down so there is no worry.

On another note, our hospital has Baby Bella Photography come take newborn pics shortly after they are born. Because of the trouble after delivery, we got skipped. Gratefully they were nice enough to allow is to come back a week later and have some pics taken. Here are a few (my favorites):

Praying Sammi

Sisters

Mom, now what do I do?

Ellie really does love Sammi and can't wait for her to be big enough to play with. She thinks it's hilarious to tickle Sammi's face with her hair, get really close and yell "Baby Sammi", and when I make Sammi dance the hokey pokey.

Sammi has her own personality and has decided she is a side sleeper already. 

I love this little girl. 

Grandma Connie's visit

Shortly after my mom left, Grandma Connie (Jake's mom) came out to visit. Ellie was so excited to be the center of attention again. She really misses (and so do we) being near family and spending time with grandmas.

Since the last time Grandma Connie came out we weren't able to give her the tour around town, I decided we'd better try to go a few places this time.

One day (and I totally forgot my camera), we drove up the canyon a bit. We went to Red Rocks and I still want to see a concert there some time. I would consider this a must see when visiting Colorado. We were able to walk around the visitors center and learn a bit about the area. Ellie tried to talk us into walking down all the stairs, luckily since they were setting up on the stage she decided it was ok if we didn't. After we took a drive over to a nature center and the Boettcher Mansion. We found some benches (but not the "X marks the spot" that Ellie wanted) to have lunch. We were able to walked around the nature center and finally, after my 3rd visit to the mansion, tour the inside. Ellie loved putting on the headphones to hear nature sounds and using the "noculars" to look for squirrels.

Connie and I decided that we are going to (one day when we have lots of money) have a Watterson event at the Boettcher Mansion where all the women dress up fancy and the Watterson men wear kilts with the Watterson Tartan. We talked a lot about what we would do if/when we have lots of money.

That weekend was a Colorado Watterson dinner weekend, and luckily for us, down in Colorado Springs. It gave us an even better excuse to travel down there and so Connie more.

We stopped at Garden of the Gods, another must see in Colorado. The day was a little dreary and rainy which make the pictures appear blurred.

Ellie and Grandma holding up the Balance Rock.

Grandma and her girls.

After we drove in to Manitou Springs. I took Connie to a few shops that I thought she would like. We looked at beads (since she makes bracelets and watches) and again thought of what we would buy with lots of money. Some of these beads were $3+.  We enjoyed the handmade soap place. She and Ellie also tasted some of the water (natural soda water). We actually saw a few people filling big jugs with the water.

Grandma's girls, Ellie showing off her new "Tangled" hair.

Grandma Connie also made us a delicious meal of Chicken Fried Chicken. So good. We loved having her here and were sad to see her go. Poor Ellie started thinking that Grandma's live at the airport and we can just go pick them up at anytime. Then she started talking about driving to the airport to visit Grandma.

Thanks for all your help and love Grandma Connie and Grandma Wendy.