Kirsten and Mark

This past week has been pretty busy. I’ve been putting together packets for retailers who want to sell Sprout Shells, and getting Emergency Prep things organized and announcing about the Great So Cal Shake Out coming up next month. Basically thousands of people in So Cal are participating in a giant earthquake drill at the same time. We’re trying to get people to participate and also go one step further by pretending they don’t have their utilities for one night (5 pm to midnight). It will be really great practice. And, we’re getting ready for Brit’s first Halloween!

We finally got his costume–yeah, it was ordered October 6th. We never got that one. So, we ordered another one and it came on Tuesday. I’m so glad we stuck with the penguin. It is so adorable. He hated it when I first tried it on him, but once I showed him himself in the mirror he loved it. I didn’t take pics ’cause I didn’t want to spoil the surprise for tomorrow. But, be excited because it’s the cutest thing ever!

Tuesday we got into the Halloween mood by carving and drawing faces on our pumpkins.

Brit had a great time with his. Very artistic.

Mark carved this. Very scary. The pumpkins guts are the weirdest we’ve both ever seen–super stringy throughout the whole thing, like spaghetti cooked together in a clump and dyed orange.

Brit got a cute bib from his Grandma Karen. He loves it, especially the door that opens. Thanks!

Wednesday Kristie came over and helped me decorate my holiday sugar cookies. Bummer, I didn’t take any pictures. It was fun though. I’ve gotten a bit more creative than I was in the past, with lots of colors and attempts to make them look like they do in magazines. I don’t really succeed at that, but I try.

Tomorrow we have a few activities, and there will be lots of pictures, so tune in next week for some great Halloween goodness.

This isn’t related at all, but we just like taking pics of Brit crawling around…

A few weeks ago I was shopping for Brit and came across some “Little Miss” and “Mr. Men” onesies. I loved them when I was a kid, and just had to get him one. When I saw the orange “Mr. Happy” I knew I’d found it. So perfect for him. Our little guy is so much fun, is so social and happy all the time (except when his teeth hurt, but that’s rare too).

The Evidence:

Even when we do crazy things and make him look silly…

He gets into it and smiles all over. Cute little Pumpkin Head! He still fits his blessing out fit too. 

His Grandpa Jim came for a visit the past few days, and they had fun together. At first he was a little scared, but he warmed up quickly.

He has also started climbing on things. He was flat on the floor like 30 seconds before. We’re going to have to start doing more of that babyproofing. 

He enjoyed music time with his friends Hudson and Mav last week. They played, and made noise with their shakers and “hopped up” to the music. It was a great mom work out too! We’re hoping it rubs off and they like lots of different types of music.

Other than that, nothing else fun or exciting has happened this week. We’re just keeping busy with the babe.

Well, we try. Saturday was supposed to be a cool 70 degrees, so we dressed in jeans and long sleeves for our trip to Faulkner Farm (no, it’s nowhere near the city). It was Mark, Britton, me, Paige, Mav, Shannon and Mateo. Yes, Mark was the only adult male. If we’d been somewhere else people may have assumed he was with his 3 wives and children.

The weathermen lied. It was definitely warmer than 70 degrees. We were dying of heat. But, it was fun. There was a hay pyramid–not sure what the point of that is, except for kids to climb on? Sunflower forest, Buckaroo Train, Petting Zoo, and the pumpkins of course. It was lots of fun.

I love sunflowers!

Brit had some fun with the animals. It was his first time touching them. There’s the sheep, and some chicks.

Cute Mav, Brit and Teo in the pumpkins.

Checking out the pumpkins.

As I said in my last post, I’ve been painting furniture and things. So, I took some pics of the before and after. Well, just of the furniture. In my eagerness to get going I forgot to take pics of the before shelves though. They were lovely dark wood, but didn’t quite match our furniture.

Before (green) After (brown)

Brit just being cute and trying to get to the camera

Smiley, happy baby!

Just wanted to let everyone know…

In Honor of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, Sprout Shell is donating 20% from every sale to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

So, if you’ve been planning on getting a Sprout Shells for yourself or a friend, now is the time!

www.sproutshell.com

Thank you to everyone for all of your support and encouragement. We’re getting them out there and starting to get more and more partners.

So, Sunday Brit decided to try actual crawling for the first time, and he did it. Actually lifted his tummy off the floor, moved his arms and legs and crawled. He doesn’t like to do it much, because I guess at this point his Army crawl is faster, but it’s good to know he can. As soon as he does it again we’ll get some video and post it for your viewing pleasure. (Humor us, we like to think you’re as obsessed with our kid as we are.)

Over the weekend we enjoyed our LDS General Conference. They have it online, and so Mark hooks his laptop up to the TV and we watch full screen–almost like having it over the air. The messages and inspirations were excellent. It was a bit different watching with the baby, but he wasn’t too much of a distraction. For the afternoon session we had our friends the Ashworths come join us. It did make it a little harder to pay attention at first, but we were still able to listen and learn. I can’t remember which session it was in–maybe Sunday–but, I’m excited about the new nursery manual. It will be a great help for the teachers in our ward with more than 30 kids, and for me in helping Brit and future children learn the gospel too.

After Saturday afternoon we watched more than 800 pictures of the Ashworth’s trip to Europe go by slide-show-style on the computer. It was really fun to hear of their adventures and see the beautiful sites. I really want to go back! There are so many places to see in this world! Kristie and I had fun talking and playing with Brit while the men attended Priesthood, then we had an enchilada dinner afterward. We hadn’t seen them since before our trip since they overlapped, so it was nice to reconnect.

Brit had a gift card, so we decided to get him some new toys. Here he is showing daddy how much he likes his first laptop. He always tries to play with Mark’s, so we figured he needed one of his own.

Brit likes to climb, and what better climbing device than mom?

Yes, he’s really holding onto my back.

After a rough night–screaming for about an hour and a half, we got Brit some teething tablets that seem to help a lot. He’s been sleeping much better the last couple of nights thank heavens! Though, now that we see him crying more and he’s older, I’ve noticed that he totally looks like my family when he cries. His upper lip juts out the same, he gets red skin and sounds the same too. Sometimes I swear I’m looking at Cassie or Chezney cry. Quite interesting.

Last week I got together with my friends Nicole and Jenna for a park date. It was fun to get out with them, and let the kids explore. We talked about painting/decorating our places and I was inspired. I went out, bought paint and have been going away. I painted shelves for the living room, and I’m now onto our bedroom furniture. It’s taking a while since I only have a couple of hours here and there, and have to wait for coats to dry, but it’s going well and I hope to have photos of the before and after for next week’s post.

In very unrelated news, my mom got a new job. It’s a raise in status, pay, and will be fulfilling and challenging for her. Congrats! I knew you could do it!

Apparently we’ve conditioned Brit to smile for the camera, because when I got the camera out for Mark to upload the photos, he was ready for his close up!

The days are going by so fast, and yet so slow at the same time. I can’t believe it’s the first of October already–but, most of the time days are long without much seeming to happen this week.

We did have a fun day out on Saturday. is quite the exciting place with a baby and an 18 month old. Our cousin Shannon was getting a table and chairs for her adorable little boy Mateo and asked if we wanted to come along. Ikeas are so huge, with so many products it’s easy to wander around for hours and still not see everything. But, we did have success with the intended mission. And, we found some frames that I’ve been needing forever so I could put up some pictures in Brit’s room.

We got home just in time for me to throw on a dress and head to the Women’s Conference. I wasn’t too excited about going by myself, but what do you do? Then, Mark called and said they were broadcasting it online! So, I whipped right around and settled onto the couch in my comfy clothes to watch instead. He took care of Brit and made sure that I was paying attention and not multi-tasking. Thanks Sweetheart! It was good and I learned more about the importance of Relief Society and it’s purpose.

Brit hasn’t been sleeping well lately. He used to go down at 10, sleep till 3ish, eat, sleep till 6ish, eat then sleep till 8 or so. No more. He goes down at 9-9:30, sleeps till 11ish, cries for his binky, sleeps till 12ish, wakes up and cries again. Then sleeps till 2ish, cries again for his binky. Sleeps 20 minutes then wakes up again. Sleeps till 4, cries till I go in, quiets down then fusses 5 minutes later. Repeats this till I feed him. Sleeps for another few hours till he does it again. It’s getting really annoying. I think he’s teething.

Last night we gave him frozen binkies with water in the nipples and he LOVED it. I got the idea from one of my magazines, and apparently it works. He went right to sleep. Poor guy. So, I think I’m going to get him some teething tablets to help him out.

Monday Brit participated in an infant study at the UCLA Baby Lab. After he was born we got a thing in the mail to fill out if we’d be interested in participating in their studies. My friend in DC, Marianne, worked for NIH doing child studies and it always sounded interesting, so we filled it out and sent it in. They contacted us and we went in. He looked at a computer screen that had 3 moving shapes. Two were the same, one was different and the different one always popped into an object, like a star or monkey or octopus toy or something and made a noise. They tracked his eye movements to see where he was looking, and he ended up doing the same thing the 7 babies before him had done: After a few times, he started looking at the different shape, anticipating its change and following noise.

It was simple and easy, but he did well and he even got to take home a gift. He picked a rubber ducky. I’d definitely do it again if they asked.

With all of his movement lately he gets into some pretty interesting positions and places.

Just lounging with his toys….

His new favorite spot!

When he’s in the bath it’s so cute. He loves to splash now.

He’s getting so big in his chair!