Our crazy life!

Dan is currently completing his last semester of schooling to obtain his Bachelor's degree in Special Education. It has been a tough road, but one that has been well worth it. We have had some major hiccups along the road (that have extended the length of the road by quite a bit), but are thrilled to say that we can almost see the end! Well, the end of this road, but at the same time, the beginning of the next road ahead of us. Let me explain, when Dan was on active duty at first we thought he would continue working for the Air Force for the long haul, but over time we both felt very impressed that the path we were on wasn't quite right. After much prayer we decided to have Dan switch into the Reserves so that we both could move back to Utah and finish our schooling. I had a scholarship on hold at Weber State that I wanted to finish using and Dan was too busy on active duty to get anywhere with his schooling.

We took a big leap of faith moving back to Utah with no set place to live, no jobs (other than Dan's two days a month with the Reserves), and the need to decide what we would be going to school for. We stayed with my parents for a few months while we sorted out a few of those details and then the school adventure began! We went for a semester or two before realizing that we both needed to change our majors, a few semesters later I graduated, then Daphne joined the family, and Dan is almost to graduation as well!

As I mentioned before, his graduation will be the end of this current road, but only the beginning of the next. From the time that Dan chose to major in Special Education neither of us felt that it would necessarily be his career path. It has been extremely challenging to have him going to school, and quite often struggling through school, just to graduate in a field that wasn't meant to be a career. We have had to trust in the Lord in ways we never have had to before and have grown tremendously from it. As his graduation has drawn nearer we have been praying even harder for what the next step to take was in our lives. We finally know the next step. And what is the next step you may ask? Going to school to become an LDS Seminary Teacher. Yup. More schooling. Were we thrilled to still live the student life? No. Were we thrilled to have an answer to our prayers that we feel more happy and at peace about than anything we have felt in a LONG time? YES!!!! Is this the final destination? Who knows. The number one lesson we have learned through all of this is that we just have to trust in the Lord and he will give us answers to our prayers one at a time. For now, we are excited for this next step.

Now the point of this post....as this semester began, I was quite apprehensive as how we could make it through each and every day. Dan's school schedule is crazy, our budget is tight, and I am busy working over-time while my boss is on maternity leave (a huge blessing though is that  I am able to work a good portion of it from home! It is challenging, but I am so happy to have my best buddy next to my side while I work away!). After a particularly rough day, I decided that Daphne and I needed to make a paper chain to count down the days until graduation, so we did! Each night Daphne helps Dan pull off one piece of the chain and wouldn't you know, slowly but surely, the chain is shrinking in size.

 Pictures:

Left- Daphne helping daddy pull off a piece of the chain after a busy day.

Right- Daphne excited to see her daddy at the end of a school day.

Family Date Night

Last weekend we enjoyed a fun family date night at the park! With how busy our lives have been between my work schedule and Dan's student teaching we decided to take a break and enjoy some nice quality time at the park. We all had a great time and Daphne especially loved getting such quality time with mommy and daddy.

 

We started the evening off with a picnic. Daphne loved being able to be a big girl and eat her sweet potato puffs all by herself while mommy and daddy enjoyed some cafe rio!

 



Afterwards, we had fun playing on the swings....

and then the slides....

 

 

 



 And lastly, some pictures of my best two friends. Daphne LOVES hanging out on daddy's shoulders.

We had such a great night.

6 Month Photo Shoot

As mentioned in my previous post, my old-time friend, Jess, came to meet Daphne and take some pictures of her. It was such a fun day and I loved getting to catch up with Jess and have her meet my little girl. Daphne has been going through a "stranger danger" phase so I was a little nervous of how she would be with Jess but she LOVED her from the second she walked in the door and showed off all her cute smiles right away. When it came to the photo shoot, I don't think she liked Jess or I so much anymore:) Who can blame her, sitting in a suitcase with a tutu on is probably not the most comfortable thing for a wobbly six month old. Despite that, we still caught some cute faces and I love all the photos nonetheless. Jess did an amazing job and will make a great photographer.

 



The Prep: Getting the black fabric in and Daphne placed
was quite the task. I think we spent over an hour just getting
 this spot ready. I enjoyed a lot of the pictures Jess took
of the behind the scenes like this one.



The prep was totally worth it when we caught cute faces like this one on film!



And this one too!

We had a few binky breaks along the way to try to cheer her up.
The binky didn't work quite as well as it did when she had
her newborn pictures taken. It doesn't quite cure the
stubbornness she gets from her mom!

Back to cute poses. I like this one because she makes this face all the time...

...and this face too!

This is definitely a favorite of mine. She was not about to put up with it any longer but looks so cute with this pouty face of hers!

After Daphne was done with the suitcase we gave her a break to eat, play, and even nap a little. Jess and I enjoyed visiting in the meantime. When Daphne woke up we decided to try taking her outside. This little girl was quite frustrated the whole time but we still captured some great ones! I think after I forced her to wear a tutu she wasn't having any of it. She didn't want to do anything mommy wanted her to do, for example, this little girl LOVES to sit outside in the grass or stand up and hold onto her chair, but since it was mommy's idea it was a no go! Jess did an amazing job and catching the smiles in between though! I was grateful she was willing to spend a whole day with us to give Daphne the time she needed to perform in front of the camera. 

I love both of the pictures above, but especially the one on the right. Daphne was quite proud of herself for getting rid of the owl that was invading her territory!


 I love when Daphne bites her bottom lip, like she is doing on the picture on the left. My favorite part about all these pictures is how many of the faces I see Daphne make every day captured on camera for me to remember forever.

Biting her lip again

Giving Daphne some much needed reassurance.

Ack! I love when she bites her lip and grabs her toes:)



Another binky break

Takin' a break with mommy. I am pretty sure I was trying to
convince her that I wasn't a mean mommy:)

This picture I had to include, because although it didn't quite turn out as planned in my head, I wanted it included just for memory sake. Daphne has a newborn picture of herself squished into this exact same basket. Somehow my SIL, Kristen, used her magic powers and got her to fit. I wanted a picture to show how much she has grown since she fit in that itty bitty basket. Jess and I had a good laugh over all the out-takes of Daphne wearing this ridiculously big hat white sitting in a teeny basket.



LOVE THIS GIRL. SHE MAKES MY HEART HAPPY.

 

Her cute crocodile tears caught on camera:

 

 

And guess who came to save the day?!?!? Her favorite person in the entire world, DADDY!

Having the time of her life on daddy's shoulders!

 

6 months!

Our spunky lil' girl is officially a half-year old (as of August 27th)! Where has the time gone?!?!

This picture was taken by my long-time friend, Jess Cooper, when she came to meet this crazy girl of mine. Daphne proved once again how strong-willed she is. This picture captures perfectly her ability to be super cute and super stubborn all at time same time:) I would love to say I have no idea where she got this stubborn streak of hers, but let's be honest, she doesn't only look like her mommy she acts just like her too! Daphne didn't approve of any of the poses because they weren't on her terms. I will admit, the tutu and suitcase was pushing it, but even  when we just had her dressed cute sitting on a blanket she wasn't going for it. Sitting, standing, playing, etc all while being cute are just fine and dandy with this girl as long as they are on her terms. Next photo shoot I will have to find some way to trick her into thinking everything is her idea:) I can't wait to see the rest of the pictures Jess took because we did capture a few awesome smiles in-between the memorable pouts. That is what I love about Daphne, she shows all her emotions to the extreme. There is no in-betweens with this little girl.

The same day as Daphne's torturing photo shoot she had her 6 month wellness visit. I was feeling pretty bad for making Daphne be tortured twice in the same day but this girl handled her shots like a champ! Dan is such a great daddy and always makes sure he is available to come help Daphne when she gets her shots. Dan was right there to help her the whole time and as soon as it was over he picked her right up and started walking around the room with her to help calm her down. As soon as she saw the blinds in the exam room she was 100% over her shots. She was too busy playing from then on out! Who would've known that wearing a tutu in a suitcase is worse that getting vaccinations? haha.




Playing with the blinds at her 6 Month Wellness Visit


















Speaking of wellness visit, our cute petite girl is once again proving she is planning on staying small in size. She came in at 14 lbs 8 oz (25th Percentile) and 25.6 inches long (50th Percentile) and her head circumference is _________ (_______ Percentile). She has gone down in her weight percentile but the doctor said she is just fine as long as she doesn't drop any more. I promise we feed her plenty and I try not to worry about her decreasing in percentile each time (online growth charts say she is more in the 10th -25th percentile, it's hard to tell on the charts they give us at the doctor's office since they don't give a percent, just show a dot on a graph). Speaking of food, she always lets us know when she wants to eat. She is just like her mommy and can get quit grumpy when her tummy is rumbling!

Here are some more fun stats about Daphne's past month of life and milestones:

 - Has VERY Sticky Fingers. She is constantly eyeing her surroundings and finding out how to get into anything and everything. She loves to play with anything she thinks isn't hers, especially water bottles, keys, and cell phones. Some days I wonder how in the world she found something she shouldn't have and she isn't even crawling yet! The other day when I went to get her out of her carseat I found her with a half eaten Kohls ad that she had grabbed off of the seat next to her in the car. She will roll, scoot her bumbo across the counter (with adult supervision), etc just to get to what she has her eye on. 

She is still as mischievous as ever. She loves to grab at
anything she knows she can't have
 (her fan in particular in this photo)

Daphne got to ride her first lagoon ride
and sneaked in a quick lick while she was at it, YUM!

Daphne also got her first ear infection and had a swollen eye one
Sunday morning. She sure likes to visit the doctor on the weekends.
 Poor girl has had her eyes swell quite regularly lately. The doctor
 thinks she takes after me and is developing some allergies.



Has learned a few gang signs...lol, just kidding

Still our cute lil' lady



 

- Loves to sit on daddy's shoulders and looks forward to seeing him every night when he returns from work or school.

-Giggles like crazy. She loves to be tickled (her legs and sides), have her belly blown on, and twirled in circles. I love how easy it is low to get her to roll in laughter. Her cute giggles have gone from funny little grunty laughs to full blown rolling laughter. Too cute:)

LOVES to go swimming! She got to go swimming 5 days in a row
this past month between a ward pool party and our Park City vacation.

Chillin' in her floatie. She also learned how to splash and would
stay in the water for hours on end if we let her.

Daphne's new favorite activity. She loves to sit in the sink while I get ready in the morning.

Who knows what this cutie does in her sleep. At least she is staying
dressed unlike a few months ago. Her belly is still her favorite sleeping position.
 

Got licked by a pony. Yup, this pony sure thought Daphne tasted good.
Daphne wasn't sure what to think of this licking machine!
 

Loves to go for walks in her stroller and especially loves that mommy
 lets her now sit up on her own in the front. She enjoys either
 propping up her legs and enjoying the ride or pulling herself
up and sitting all on her own like a big girl.

Got to have a fun date night with her Grandpa Crandall. Daphne
is going through the stranger danger phase. It took a whole 24 hours
of prepping Daphne prior to our date night just to get her to look at him
without bursting into tears. After their night together
without mom and dad they became best buddies!

Went to the Arts Festival with mommy, daddy, and Grandpa Black. She loves playing with Grandpa Black and enjoyed sitting on the cow (at Java Cow, our favorite ice cream shop!) and having daddy take her around in the carrier.

Loves the swings! Cami and I took the babies to the park right after Daphne turned 5 months and we have been several times since then. Daphne and Boston have also loved getting to know each other lately. They find each other quite entertaining. Daphne loves to grab at Boston's face and arms and he is quite fond of her bows.

Loves to be as independent as possible. The first thing she does when we walk into the bathroom is grab a hold of the towel ring. I promise I am really right there with my hand just inches away from her. The picture is quite deceiving!

Passed out on Daddy's shoulder. We had to capture this momentous e
vent on camera because anyone that knows Daphne knows that she
doesn't cuddle. This little girl was so exhausted after a fun stay in Park City.



Daphne can also feed herself. She prefers to be held so her hands and feet are free to wiggle (and we enjoy feeding her) but every once in awhile we have her do it herself. We usually prop a pillow because it reduces how often she wiggles and accidentally drops the bottle. Once again, this little girl was quite exhausted and actually never finished the bottle:) Speaking of which, she always has the wiggles worse than normal during feeding time. Her arms and legs are constantly moving! I often feed her while working on the computer and she always finds her way to typing on the keyboard with both her fingers and toes. Dan prefers to walk around the house with Daphne while feeding her. He finds that she wiggles less when she is distracted.

Met John Wayne...or at least the cardboard version of him.



Sucks on EVERYTHING!

Now sports some pretty sassy sunglasses to match her personality...well that or in reality, she mostly just tries to eat them.

-She is quite the talker! She loves to giggle, squeal, grunt and even has this funny grunting noise that sounds like she is dying that she does either when she is tired or in the car.

 

-Wears mostly size 0-3 month p.j.'s and pants, 3-6 month tops, and size 1 shoes. She wears size 2 diapers (and most often sports some pretty baggy cloth diapers...yeah, it's all about saving money in our our student teaching household).

 

- LOVES sweet potatoes. She also eats carrots, peas, oatmeal, and rice cereal but sweet potatoes are the most fun because she holds out her arms (airplane style) anticipating each and every bite and gives out a big squeal and kick of the legs after each bite. She also loves sweet potato puffs and so do we for those times it's too hard to give her messy solids.

 

-Is sure loved by us all!