5 Months!

Our cute little girl turned 5 months old today! I can't believe she is 5 months old already. Every time I see a newborn I am surprised at how much she has changed and grown in the last few months. This spunky little girl is sure full of lots of energy and LOVES to make sure she is heard. There is never a quiet moment in the Crandall household when this little one is awake:) The two main things people always say to her when they first meet her are: "You have pretty eyes" or "You sure like to talk!".

Here is Daphne sporting the cute dress my mom sewed for her to wear this summer.

I couldn't help but include some of the out-takes from this month's photo shoot. Daphne makes the funniest faces sometimes and it was fun capturing some of them on camera. I was lucky enough to have work off today so Daphne and I have been able to play lots in-between household chores.

Some new tidbits from the past month of her life:

Favorite phrase: "Itsy, Bitsy Spider" -
The second you start singing these words she
gives out the biggest grin. That is precisely
why we have been able to capture a smile
on camera any time we want!

Loves plastic, paper, etc... anything that
isn't her toys and that she sees mommy and
 daddy using. 

-

Loves to sleep on her stomach but hates to
 wake up and find herself in that position. Silly girl:) 

Loves mimicking and/or competing
with daddy's voice. She loves to try
and make sure she is louder than him.
Whether its during prayer, his Sunday
School lesson, or him laughing at a
funny movie...she will squeal louder!
 This situation makes Dan's Sunday School
 lessons quite entertaining to say the least:)

Loves her independence. Her Jumperoo is her favorite toy because she can stand entirely on her own.  

-Speaking of independence...what she wants to do and what she is physically capable of doing are entirely opposite. She is sooo close to being able to sit up on her own but can't quite do it yet but nonetheless thinks she can. The other day I held on to the strap of her dress so she could sit on her own chair at the doctor's office and she was in HEAVEN feeling like such a big girl.

-Can pull herself up from laying about 75% flat into sitting position.

-Loves to laugh for her daddy and "walk" (i.e. take steps while he holds onto her fingers) with him. 

Officially sucks on her toes

She sure loves all her Grandmas and Grandpas. She now recognizes many of the family members and is becoming extremely nervous/scared about anyone she doesn't quite recognize.

-Ate rice cereal for the first time (as mentioned in a previous post. Daphne still prefers a bottle over solids but is starting to enjoy having rice cereal before bed each night more and more. She usually eats about four to five 5oz bottles per day.

-Wears mostly 0-3 months size clothing and just started using size 2 diapers this week.

-She didn't have a wellness visit this month so we will have to wait for official weight and height stats until next month. She sure has chunked out a bit this month though and is sportin' some pretty cute chubby legs:)

Handcart Days Half Marathon

Dan's 3rd Annual Marathon tradition was a half-way tradition this year. He decided a half-marathon would be a little more conducive with our busy schedule this year. He was able to run it with his mom, brother Andrew, and Cousin Cort. 

Our weekend turned into a whole Marathon Pre-and-Post Party. The weekend began with a "Carb it up" spaghetti dinner at Cami and Andrew's house. Since the race started early the next morning (and was near their house) we had a sleepover with them as well. After the babies had gone down to bed and dinner was over, Cami and I enjoyed a nice mommy break and went and had Gelato while sitting by the fountains at Station Park. It was such fun even though it got ended short when Boston decided to crash the party by deciding he was hungry again!:) 

 Boston and Daphne finally discovered that each other exists and had such a fun time trying to figure out who the other was. It was neat to see them finally interact with one another!

Who are you???

Oh, I think I may have met you before! :)

As usual, we couldn't miss the opportunity for a photo op of the two of them, especially since they were both dressed as froggies. 

They are sooo close to being able to sit up but their "topsy turvey-ness"
got to the both of them a few times:)

Enjoyin' her Uncle Michael...

...and her Aunt Natalie!

The race started at 6:30 AM as part of Bountiful's Handcart Days. Everyone did such a great job and came close to and/or met their goals. Dan finished with a time of 1:36 minutes (Goal of 1:33 minutes) and came in 2nd Place in his age division. He did such a great job and enjoyed getting to run with his family.
  

Waiting for Daddy to come
through the finish line.

Excited to be at the race! She was probably the only
one that was this chipper at 7:30 in the morning

Dan & Andrew.
One of Dan's favorite parts of the race is running back to help his family through the finish line. 

Andrew, Cort, & Dan helping Dolores finish the race strong!

 After-party post coming soon....

Crandall BBQ & Paintin' the Deck

Our deck has been looking quite pathetic ever since we moved in...but between school and having a baby we have ignored it the past two summers and with how things were looking it seemed like we might ignore it this summer once again if it weren't for Dan's amazing dad. Paul offered to come up from St. George for the weekend and help us knock out the project. We worked on the deck from about 10:30 AM to 11:45 PM Friday (with a few breaks in between) and got up again about 5:30 AM the next morning to finish the project. We finished up (minus a few touch-ups that we still need to do) by about 3 in the afternoon. Boy was it a major pain but it feels so good that it is finally done! We are extremely grateful for all the time Paul spent helping us get the project done. If it wasn't for him, I can guarantee the project would have taken us several weekends to finish it. We were also grateful for Dan's brother, Spencer, who came and helped out a bit on Friday during his vacation to Utah.

Before

After

After the deck was done, we decided to have the Crandalls over to celebrate on Sunday so we could have opportunity to actually sit and visit with Paul and Spencer instead of just putting them to work! The only slight flaw to our "Deck Reveal" party was that the deck wasn't dry enough to actually use it...oops!

Paul & Michael

(Left to Right): Cort, Natalie, Kristen, Bodie, Aidan, & Spencer

Gabe & Cami

Daphne & I....we had to capture this moment on camera because no one has ever seen her this calm before. She usually is wiggling all over the place. She laid content on my lap for about a half hour. She must have been pooped from all the supervising she did while we painted the deck.  

Close-up

The boys enjoying a VERY COMPETITIVE game of crochet. 

Boston and his cute "Bumbo Butt" :)

 On a side note: Daphne's cousin Abby has her own little jewelry business this summer and Spencer brought this anklet from South Carolina for Daphne to wear for the deck reveal:)

4th of July

Our 4th of July was a a long, tiring, but super fun day! We have been looking forward to Daphne celebrating her first 4th of July. I even got motivated to craft again so that she could have a cute and affordable celebratory outfit. Our poor girl was teething throughout the day but you would never guess by all the cute smiles she gave for the camera. She was a trooper to say the least!

We started off with Dan and his mom running the Layton 5K race.

Before the race

Daphne chewing on her binky (yes, she is teething now and thinks chewing her binky is much more effective than sucking on it!) waiting for her daddy to come through the finish line

Dan coming through the finish line. He came 2nd place in his age division in.

After the race

This picture made me laugh.... I can't remember what "off-the-wall" comment Dan made, but it obviously deserved a quite crusty look from Jeff

Love this picture!

Our family after the race

After the race we went and visited at Dan's parents house so he could shower and get ready for the day before we headed back to the Layton parade. Daphne enjoyed some tummy time and all the attention she gets whenever she is at her grandma and grandpa's house!

As mentioned, we went back to the Layton park to watch the parade and look around all the booths. The last time I remember being in town for Layton's 4th of July celebration was when I was in 3rd grade. It was nice to be able to be in town for the celebration.

Mommy & Daphne at the Layton Park

Once we got back home the three of us crashed and took naps (heavenly!!!) after our fun but exhausting morning. A few hours later we had my parent's, my brother and sister-in-law, Grandma and Grandpa Musker, and my Aunt Renae & cousins over for a BBQ. We had yummy bbq'd carne asada and chicken tacos. They were delicious! We all had fun visiting and playing croquet. I kind of failed on the picture capturing at this point in the day though, but at least captured one picture (see below).

I love that Daphne is mimicking my dad's face in this picture. She absolutely loves hanging out with her Grandpa.

After the BBQ, we packed up and headed back to Layton for fireworks. I can't believe how many people go to the Layton fireworks. It was a madhouse! We had fun though and Daphne did great. It was way past her bedtime but she enjoyed all the pretty colors and wasn't scared at all. What a fun first 4th of July for our baby girl!

Taking a Stab at a Spoon

We fed Daphne rice cereal for the first time about a week after her 4 month birthday. It wasn't entirely successful, but it was sure fun! We have tried again a few times since and she usually eats a few tablespoons before bed each night, which has been helping her sleep in about 45 minutes longer (yay!!!). She really enjoys the process but will only eat if she isn't too tired or distracted. She definitely still prefers a bottle over regular food, but is starting to enjoy it more and more each time we try. We are in no hurry for her to be eating more solids until she is ready, so we are just taking it slow.

She loves to "help" put the spoon in her mouth each time. A few nights ago I tried to give her a spoon to play with as a distraction. She stuck it right in her mouth and got upset every time I tried to replace her spoon with the real thing. Once I was finally successful at giving her a real bite she couldn't stop giggling. Every time I gave her a bite she would giggle like crazy and ate like a champ! She even wanted more after her usual two tablespoons was gone! Such a cutie. 

At first she didn't quite get it...but by this bite she knew the spoon contained something yummy!

Licking her fingers

Open Wide!

We could pretend the smile was from the
yummy rice cereal...but truthfully,  she will smile
for anything! This time...the  "Itsy, Bitsy Spider"

Daddy giving it a try...I think he might want a
bite too with his mouth open so wide:)