Skipping Steps

Once, when I was six years old, I was running down the stairs, skipping steps, at our big blue house on the way to get my big wheel. Well, I slipped and fell, hitting my head on the hard cement stairs. My dad carried me over to the hospital across the street where I got six stitches. Skipping steps that day proved to be painful, but it didn't dissuade me from doing it again. Now I have a daughter who likes to skip steps (my girl looks just like her dad, but her personality is all me). Squeak is skipping steps figuratively, not literally, but it's pretty funny. She was crawling months before she could even sit up--at first she did the low crawl (aka the army crawl) but then she moved on to the regular crawl, and then she learned to sit up. Funny girl! And now she's climbing before she can even walk. D proudly says that he did that too. But today was the most astounding of all feats--she pooped in the toilet before ever peeing in the toilet. Wow, what an amazing kid!

Happy Birthday to Me!!

This year, to celebrate my birthday, I decided to run a half-marathon. D actually gave me the idea a few months ago when I was lamenting the fact that we couldn't afford the money and he couldn't afford the time (somebody has to watch the Squeak) to travel up to the St. George Half-Marathon in January. He said I should just do my own race. So I did, and I decided that my birthday was the perfect occasion. A few friends, including my sweet seester, did it with me. And Squeak did the WHOLE THING too! (in the jogger stroller, of course). What a way to celebrate!

Prepping for the Race

Birthday Half-Marathon en route

Birthday Half-Marathon en route

Birthday Half-Marathon Finishers

A Glorious Finish for T!

NEWSFLASH!!

My daughter is tall! I'm going to make a big deal out of this because this will probably be the only time I ever can. At her almost-eight-month-old checkup, the nurse weighed and measured little Squeak, and it turns out that she's 28 inches tall (95th percentile, caramba!!) She's a bit on the thin side--15 lbs 5 oz (25th percentile), skinnier than her weight at 4 1/2 months, which was 16 lbs 3 oz. Well, what can I say, she's crawling all over the place and constantly waving her arms and legs around. She also loves to sport that big, cheesy grin. She's just busy, busy, busy. If that doesn't make you lose weight, what does? I'm dropping weight just trying to keep up with her. What a fun baby! Another newsworthy tidbit--she has two teeth.

More belated Thanksgiving fun

We also enjoyed storytime with Aunt Julissa and Michael Anne (check out those lips!!) and cuddling with Louise. Squeak was especially grateful that her cousins loaned her the Peter Rabbit suit, which made those frigid nights much more bearable. She's still using it in Arizona on those morning runs with Mom.

Thanksgiving Vacation in Utah

We had a lovely drive up north, during which Squeak was the most amazing traveler she's ever been. Yippeee! We stopped in Kanab, where she got to practice standing on D's hands. A few days after our arrival, we were able to have a meeting with the founders of the D & T Fan Club. S was serenaded by Uncle Tom (Guadalajara!) and spent some snuggle time with Aunt Stacey.

Christmas lights at the Mesa Temple

D took a few hours off over Christmas break (which wasn't much of a break for the poor students because it was in the middle of the quarter) and we went to see the lights. I especially enjoyed the special palm fronds which I initially thought were real but later discovered were plastic thingys with lights attached and the whole thing was fastened to the palm tree. The flaming camels were pretty cool too. Squeak loved being in the backpack hanging out with the folks. The folks had fun trying to figure out the digital camera. Ah, I almost forgot to mention D's favorite part (besides this stunning photo he took of me)--the mariachi band singing Christmas tunes.