The Ultimate Editorial Update (pics to follow)

Feb 2013, huh? Well obviously we have fallen off of the grid.  Time to beg forgiveness and gives sincere apology (aka update more often).  To start with things are going great with the family.  We bought a house  in Springville.  With a bunch of help from the family we refinished the basement, started an update on the yard, and learned what it mean to be homeowners.  I will give a whole photo post on the remodel, the before  and afters are fun.

David graduated from Culinary school.  During the whole culinary school process his schedule was pretty crazy.  He did leave the college and start working with Heirloom Restaurant Group at their Communal restaurant.  To say he loved it is not even close to the mark.  He learned so much on the job and from some amazing chefs along the way.  Unfortunately for my sanity he was moved to the corporate cafeteria leg of the company after about a year.  If you have not noticed I don't tend to handle sudden change very well.  What I didn't realize is the corporate cafeteria world is where it's at!  Suddenly he had more weekends and holidays free and depending on his schedule (it swapped a few times) we actually saw him in the evenings.  He was promoted to a Sous position after a little while and began really learning management techniques.  Once again though life took a shake as the company his team was working with changed cafeteria companies.  So here we are with a 18 month old, we had just bought a house, and life was suddenly much more uncertain.  Luckily, because he was a member of management Heirloom stood by him and found him a position at the Pizzaria 712 (my favorite restaurant!).  While returning to restaurant hours was a transition, it was pretty exciting to stop by and visit, learn some of the fun behind the scene secrets, and he still had a job.  After a couple of months things were not quite as rosy as they began and a few of David's friends had defected to the 'horrible' new corporate cafeteria company.  As he talked with his friends and found out how well things were working out with the new company he decided to apply for an Executive Chef position.  He did get an interview with the district manager but the position did not work out.  Instead he ended up deciding to apply for a basic line cook position vs. being a Sous with Heirloom.  This was a very hard decision as we had always wanted to stick with Heirloom for life but in the end it ended up being the right decision.  He was able to get a dollar raise with less responsibility and has since worked his way up to Sous chef of the Lindon location, and after a few curve balls were thrown to them he has worked his way up to a Corporate Cafeteria Executive Chef for Bon Appetit.  He has graduated from college, started work on a B.S. degree in Business Management, put that on hold, and taken his dream job which allows him to have nights, rotating weekends, and holidays with his girls.

My end of the spectrum basically stayed pretty much the same.  I continued working to Utah Valley Universities Dining Services and took care of Lillie.  Honestly I hated leaving her each day and constantly bugged David that I dreamed of seeing my daughter for more than five hours each day.  Moving to Springville was a good thing.  I have started trying to create those neighborhood relationships that we grew up with.  We have a few friends in the ward, David has cousins that live down the street that stop by for FHE/gamenights every now and again.  Brent and his new wife Sarah Ann (Annie) moved in with us and helped out a bit with the mortgage.  We were able to build a strong relationship with them which was really fun.  Brent and I were close when we were younger but then I moved out to collage and he grew up and we grew apart so it was nice to build that back up.  Annie became a sister and friend that I could tell anything to.  We joked that we were sister wive who just didn't share the husband.  They moved into grandma/grandpas duplex apartment in June so we are officially on our own in the house which honestly is kinda weird.  We still don't really do much in the basement as we are so used to just using the upstairs.  After a while I started to get the 'itch' or baby hunger as we all know it.  We decided it was about time to welcome a new little bug into the family.  We were able to announce to our family last Christmas that we were 12 weeks along.  This pregnancy was much more difficult than Lillie's.  First of all the commute is longer, I had a two year old and her tantrums to deal with, once again I didn't really get morning sickness-instead it was sleeping sickness.  Around out 20 week ultrasound I started to have heart problems and ended up having an EKG and 24 hour holster test to find out why my heart was racing and wanted to make sure that it didn't harm the baby.  At the 20 week ultrasound we found out that the placenta had possibly attached to my scar from Lillie's c-section.  This placenta accreta scared me, not gonna lie.  I could hemorrhage and die.  Yes, I know I am being a drama queen but it is scary.  No worries in the long run though the placenta moved and we did not need to worry about this in the end.  Eventually (after three separate attempts) we were able to find out we were expecting another girl!!!  We had pretty much decided at this point to name her Emma and eventually decided on Colleen as a middle name.  Emma after his grandmother (and my great grandmother/it was a runner up for my name) and Colleen after mine.  Having already learned how much I hated leaving Lillie each day I knew leaving a second would be like cutting a second arm off each day.  After many many discussions and a chance promotion for David we decided that I would be able to quit my job and stay home with the girls.  The past two and a half months have been the best two months of my life.  To help ends meet I have been babysitting my friend Kate's little girl Hailey and am going to be looking for a work from home job or a night job that I can help make ends meet.  Not gonna lie, finances are pretty crazy and scare the begeebeeeeezz out of me.

Lillie is growing an changing every day.  She started to walk at 17 months, has a mouthful of teeth (only missing the two year molars), talks like a child years older, and never ceases to keep us on our toes.  We took the binky away at 18 month and at the same time she moved into a new room in the day care and around this same time we lost the blanket that she slept with each night.  This seemed to be our recipe for disaster.  Night terrors began to keep us up for hours each night and this continued for almost six months.  Her first movie obsession was the Hunchback of Notredame....one mommy can only handle so many times.  Next she moved onto all of the Land Before Time movies and had her Dinosaur birthday.  She was introduced to her first real princess obsession in The Little Mermaid.  As you can tell we let her watch way too much television, this is something that I am trying to change for all of the members of our family.  She loves to read, color, paint, play with playdough, and especially LOVES to cook.  At this point she recognizes many letters and is kind of grasping the concept of numbers but obviously we are working on that.  This past week we have worked on potty training a bit more seriously and I am excited to say that she is basically there.  We still average about one accident a day but that is usually #2 which all the other moms say is the hardest part.

Emma is a spot of sunshine on each of our days.  Lillie has become the protective loving big sister and the only problem we have had is her being overly loving.  She was born 7/11 at 8 a.m. at 7lbs 5 oz. 17.5 inches long. This birth was night and day different from Lillies.  The planned c section went of without  a hitch, spinal worked perfectly, and while I had a struggle recuperating immediately after the surgery I feel like the recovery was not bad at all.  I still say that c-sections are the easy way out and have a huge respect for women who are able to give birth naturally.  Just like Lillie, Emma lost weight in the hospital.  She lost almost a full pound and I was worried they would not let her out of the hospital but we lucked out on that one.  No problems with jaundice (unlike Lillie), problems with acid reflux (just like Lillie) and the sweetest personality.  She loves to be cuddled, or just laid on the floor so she can kick and 'talk' to whoever she can see.  We are blessing her in a couple of weeks and I am trying to hurry and get her dress finished in time.  Yes, I am a genius and trying to make this important dress.  My favorite feature about her is her smile.  When she smiles her face lights ups and lights up those around her.  David's definition is that she smiles with her whole face and not just her mouth.

Eight Months Later

Well eight months later and I finally remember that I really, really, no REALLY need to be better and update our blog.  So much has happened I do not even know where to start.  Lillie has grown by leaps and bounds.  She finally figured out how to roll over during the summer and attempted to start crawling in the fall.  It took us until late fall/early winter to figure out how to pull to a stand and now we are a creeping fools.  She is determined not to walk without assistance but she can figure out a way to creep around the whole house without letting go of something.  My favorite moments are when she is creeping along a wall like a cat bugler and suddenly realizes there is nothing to hold on to and spazzes out.

We now have twelve teeth, four new molars that appeared in January while we were trying to kick a flu bug. Oh what fun that was...

David has finished his Culinary degree with Utah Valley University.  He is currently working on a Bachelors in Business Management while working with Heirloom Restaurant Company.  You may remember that he started working with them about two years ago and honestly this is the best move we could have possibly made.  He started working with Communal and was transferred to the Cafeteria Co. portion of the company last winter.  During the summer he did an internship with Pizzaria 712, and has now gone full circle as he was recently hired as the corporate sushi chef for Cafeteria Co.  He is extremely excited for this new opportunity and as usual I am dragging my feet worried about the possible things that could go wrong and scared of the changes that it will bring.

And now for a photo bomb

Our days usually go as follows:  I leave for work around 6:30 every morning and David stays with his time with Lillie until he leaves for work and drops her off at the Wee Care Day Care.  There she plays with some wonderful teachers and learns all kinds of things.  I pick her up around 3:30 and we head home for 'num num's' aka a yogurt parfait.  The poor child is convinced that yogurt, even plain Greek Yogurt, is as yummy as ice-cream  who am I to tell her differently.  We then play with toys, find random sensory activities on Pinterest and at some point in the night she inevitably asks for Elmo as she adores Sesame Street.

Currently Lillie weighs about 22 lbs, has recently made the move to a forward facing car seat, is about 29.5'' high, knows how to sign 'all done' and 'more', learns new words every day, has a great love for dogs-grandmas-Elmo-her Elephant toy-light switches-and her daddy.

As for me things are basically as normal.  Wish more than anything that I could stay home with Lillie and have a crazy master plan to make this happen.  Currently it is a secret but it will hear the light of day eventually and when it does maybe Lillie will finally get a little brother or sister?  I figure that is all at least a year or two out but never hurts to start panning now.

4 Months

Wow, I am SO incredibly behind. Where are we? Four months? Oh wait, almost five?!?! Holy crap where did the time go. It seems every day our little peach is growing and changing. She definetly knows where her mouth is at this point. Today I was fixing her bottle and had to laugh when she got all excited and I handed her the empty bottle and she tried nawing on it, then I handed her the clean nipple and she immediately shoved it in her mouth and started sucking, all while her thumb was inside the nipple. It was pretty funny. At this point we have abandoned breast feeding. I tried, but after a while my milk supply was not enough to fill her (most likely as I have slowly returned to my love of soda vs. water). We have started Rice Cereal and this weekend tried Green Beans for the first time. IF that was not hysterical I don't know what is. Our legs are still broken, and we have not learned to roll over (by we I of course mean her) but we can jabber along like the best of them and have a huge crush on Elmo.

 David is almost done with school for the semester, one final today and another tomorrow and then we can breath easy for about a week. Then we start Culinary Management and his Internship!!!! An internship with my favorite restaraunt may I add!!! I am so excited, it is with our favorite restaraunt company so we know he will be treated well, we are just worried about burn out at this point. He is supposed to do thirty hours per week for fifteen weeks. Oy Vey. In the mean time he is still working down at Vivint for the Heirloom Restaraunt Group and I am working at the college up in the Cafeteria. Little miss is the light of our lives and honestly I don't know what we did without her....oh wait yeah I do, we stayed up past nine thirty, scheduled things past seven and goofed off a whole lot more. Most of the time I really don't notice, and honestly prefer life this way, but every now and again when I woule have just jumped in the car for that random road trip....its then that I stop and think and realize how much life has changed in the past year. Well, nap time should be about over maybe I should do something productive before I hear the peanut gallery start up again. Hope everything is going well with everyone else!!

My Lazy Daisy

So a couple of months ago my mom and I became involved in a new ground breaking quilting concept.  The company was still in Prelaunch mode so I haven't really been too vocal about it.  Well guys its official.  My Lazy Daisy is now an up and running company.  Mom and I are consultants and loving every minute of it.  We will be doing a booth at the Good Life Expo (Home and Garden Show in Spanish Fork) next week.  I can't wait to see where we go with this and have fun earning a bit of money to cover my sewing habit.  mylazydaisy.net/kayde

Three Months

'Sleeping'....or at least supposed to be.

Well, its here.  We are officially three months old today.  I can't hardly believe it.  Every day seems to bring new developments and quirks.  At this point Lillie is a karate kicking machine.  She loves kicking her feet at the most inopportune times, holding her legs and bum up in the air when trying to change her diaper, and grins all the while.  


Her heart melting smile and giggles make everything better no matter how bad the day may be.  Not long after our two month post she began to laugh, real true belly laughs.  It was amazing.  Luckily we actually had the camera on at the time.  Sadly, different things make her laugh each day, and most of the time you will never know what the next funny thing may be.  Lillie loves her daddy, as he reads her stories, and plays silly games with her. The past few days have been ones of constant jibber jabber.  

Blessing Day

Other than this she has slowly but surely figured out that she has hands and a tongue that must lick everything.  Fingers are constantly in the mouth, raspberry bubbles dawn dishsoap would be jealous of, and great gobs of drool.  Bring on those bibs

The difference six months makes....sadly not much she is growing like a bean.

With Great Grandma Stoneman

On the home front life rolls on.  David has started a new block in his culinary program.  The company he works for has transferred him to a new restaurant, at first this caused a lot of stress and worry but one day maybe we will put faith in the path the Lord has placed us and let go of such cares....one day.  Work continues as normal for me, I have started a new blog and twitter account for Dining Services and continue to try to find the perfect combination of recipes for the Valley View.  

David's youngest sister has joined the Marines, something she has dreamed of since before we were married.  She leaves for boot camp this spring.  Brent is quickly finishing up his mission, less than six months to go.  Crazy.  

We LOVE our elephant. 

Two Months

Wow, that went WAY too fast.  Little Miss is growing up.  It is so fun to see her change daily, and sucks at the same time.  She recognizes her mommy and daddy and smiles when they come to pick her up.  Her smiles brighten any bad day.  I gotta say I love getting up at night with her.  David has been working a crazy schedule and as such does not get home until really late so I try to get her out of the room as soon as she starts to squawk.  After turning on a light and laying her down we begin to talk and she coos and giggles at me as I change her diaper.  What is not to love?  Late nights and stinky poop.

So far she has mastered holding her head up, although at times she kinda looks like a bobble head doll.  We have night time down to a routine, bath and bed by nine, and usually sleep until 3 or 4, or even some times all through the night.  She loves being held and cuddled and is becoming very interested in the world around her.  Television intrigues, people amuse, although loud or surprising noises are still scary.  We have a variety of cries for various different things, although most of these are completely fake.  My favorite is her little growl when being picked up and hugged she sounds like a puppy, which she imitates when eating she will bite down on her bottle and shake her head while growling.  Thursday is her 2 month well baby check, I am excited to see where she lands in her growth percentile, and am absolutely dreading the shots.



 Sunday, February 5th will be the baby blessing.  We are going to use my blessing dress, something I have always wanted to do.  David's family is coming in and will be able to see her again, basically everyone is excited.  The hard part is giving her up to all the people who want to hold her.  Where we both work so much  we don't get much time with Lillie so every little moment is held sacred.

One Month

Wow. I can hardly believe it has gone by so fast, our little one is here.  I am honestly suprised how little it feels like life is changed.  At our last doctors appointment Lillie measured in at:

December was an amazing month.  It was wonderful spending time together as a family, what little time there was.  David finished his second semester of the UVU Culinary program.  Two down, two to go!  Between that and work we did not get to see a ton of him but what little time there was we held on to jealously.  Lillie loves her dad and tracks his every move when he enters the room. 

My mom was able to come and stay with us the first week we were home from the hospital.  Honestly, I felt like a burden to her and kept trying to get her to back away, then when she did I had a complete come apart as I didn't feel I could do this without the help of my mother.  I guess in a way we will always be out mommy's little girls.  After getting life into a bit of a groove, David's sister Katherine came and visited for a couple of weeks during Christmas break.  We were able to create our own little routine while she was here, where I would feed and she would burp/cuddle.  The rest of David's family arrived on Christmas Eve.  It was a bit tricky juggling the two families during the holidays, especially with Lillie here and the demand to see her.  All in all though everyone had a good time and we tried to hold on to every little moment of the holidays.

Lillie's first month practically flew by.  She is characterized by her tendency to poop, her first week home she once went through 12 diapers in 2 hours.  She has the most adorable quirky smile, just like her daddy, where she will turn up one side of her mouth.  While looking back on photos I have realized that she does this with both sides of her mouth.  If you are truly lucky you will get a full smile, and at times even an adorable laugh.  She is not a fan of the car seat or rides in the car.  We go NO WHERE without her green bink.  We have tried every type of pacifier we can buy and there is only one that she will deem worthy of her attention.

 Sad the difference one month makes isn't it!

Uncle Stephen and his little Elf.

At six weeks her favorite thing to do is wake mommy up in the middle of the night and then coo and giggle as I bemoan her "stinky bum."  I swear she is going to think that is her name.  We have even slept through the night, twice!  With all that boasting, we are all still adjusting a bit, the new semester really threw us for a loop.