oh oh sometimes...

This week in the Tippets Residence:

-Zoey decided she likes dancing. She tries to mimic my moves=very funny.

-Zoey got her first swim lesson (in the bathtub (we wanted to try out our swimsuits)). She hates the bathtub... so we ended up taking a shower instead, which she loved.

-Zoey had spit up come out her nose... impressive? yes. painful? i imagine.

-Zoey had her first night where I tried just laying her in the crib and she fell asleep on her own without a single cry

-Also, she had her first 11 hour stretch of sleep (Ah-mazing)

Busy week.

Sunglasses make walks better

Ok, she doesn't like the swimsuit YET

Cary teaching Zoey how to plank

She has funny sleeping positions...

As for me, Cary has had a lot of 12 hour days this week....

which means I get to do whatever I want with the baby without getting told to leave her alone, AND I have to do all these things by myself (which is a lot harder).

AND since my little person can't say "thank you" or "dang, you're awesome mom"...

I sometimes feel underappreciated.

I mean, I typically think it's a feat to just keep baby alive, healthy and happy, but today I took baby girl for a walk, read a million books, tummy time, got her cleaned and dressed, did all my visiting teaching, did the grocery shopping, unloaded, cleaned the house, entertained baby girl and got the laundry done.

Where's my gold star? (do I sound whiny enough yet ;) Ok, really gold stars were always lame and overrated.

Actually, I'm just tired from my already full day, and would love a guilt free nap... but I gotta go whip up dinner for the missionaries.

Guess I'll just log these moments in my mind for the next day we don't do much of anything and I need to remind myself some days I have it together.

tonight is the night is the night...

i just have to say...

spending all day with zoey is probably 10 bajillion times better than spending all day at Verizon (no offense, they were a good company to work for)

I just enjoy teaching her about books and games and songs soooo much more than attempting to teach some people how to save contacts in their cell phone...(actually i bet i could teach zoey how to save a contact pretty quickly--well, as soon as she masters the use of her thumbs and quits jamming them in her mouth every other second)

And when zoey yells... it's kind of funny. She doesn't get mad very often, it's more of a yell-pause-is mom paying attention to me yet-yell-(*pause, I'm serious here*)-oh, big smile there's mom!

It's a tough job, not for the weak of stomach, with terrible pay and no vacation days accruing, but we have fun entertaining ourselves.


(she is focusing really hard on wiggling out of her chair... then how will i get a lunch break?)

Just wait, come summer when I post pics of us lounging by the pool, you'll all be jealous :)

And I will always love you....

Oh, Valentine's Day...

Everyone has an opinion about it.

There are the friend's who hail it as "Singles Awareness Day" and boycott anything lovey-dovey, the friend's who mock the commercialism and deny the need for a day to profess their love,

and those who dress up as cupid and pass out valentine's in hopes of spreading "the love" or holiday cheer.

No matter what category you fall into,

I think everyone wants a little love.

Are you seriously going to tell me when the candy grams and singing valentine's got delivered in high school you didn't secretly hope you might get one (although that would be horribly embarassing at the same time)?

Or even if you've squashed out all excitement for the day you wouldn't smile inside if someone gave you a chocolate and said something thoughtful and nice?

I don't deny I've always wanted these things on Valentine's Day.

When I was younger, every year my dad would give me a box of chocolates and it would make my day. When I was 4 years old my brother saved his allowance and bought me a rose at school and brought it home for me on valentine's day. I felt SO special. One year in provo after slaving all day at the restaurant I came home to a valentine from all my north carolina guy friends (and I might still have it).

And, although I don't recall many horrible valentine's days, I never managed to have a boyfriend on valentine's day until Cary. Our first year was spent 6,000 miles apart. He mailed me a package with a love letter I'll save forever and valentine's peeps (if that isn't love, I don't know what is). Last year, I had to work all night at Verizon. It wasn't the best work day but I came home to shrimp linguine, spinach arugula salad, and we went to a fancy dinner the next night.

But, this year was my best valentine's day yet!

I know that Cary loves me everyday, and he is good about reminding me, and suprising me throughout the year, but with a newborn (especially), cheesy romance takes a back burner to massive spit ups and lack of sleep.

Cary bought me roses (yes, I'm usually the cynic that says they will just die--but come on, they're gorgeous), and wrote me a love note, and took me to my favorite restaurant... and on top of it all, Zoey laughed at all the funny things we said tonight! That girl has great comedic timing and I laughed so hard my face hurt.

Today,

I'm grateful for a cheesy commercialized holiday to celebrate how lucky i am to have Cary in my life. I wouldn't pick anyone else, and I look forward to many wonderful Valentine's Days to come...

***title: rip whitney houston, i loved some of your music***

Falling slowly sing your melody

Happy 3 month birthday Zoey!!!

People ask us all the time, if we can't remember life without you?

Well, I can, vaguely, remember what it feels like to be well-rested, have a flat stomach, and run all my errands in one trip... but life is definitely more entertaining with you around.

You are such a bubbly, fun little baby. You are easy going and you started really laughing this week! We're not sure if you actually think we're funny, or just crazy, but either way we LOVE your laughs and do everything we can to encourage them.

You are getting soo big (well to us at least). You're 12 lbs, and blazed out of your newborn clothes about 3 weeks ago, right past 0-3 mo, and even your 3 mo clothes are almost too short. You are definitely a tall, slender little girl.

Your favorite book is Dr. Seuss's ABC, you always try to mimic whatever exercise your mom is doing, and you especially love getting out and seeing the world (as well as all the attention everyone gives you--quite the social butterfly already).

Baby girl, we love you, and are so glad you came to our family. We truly couldn't have designed a better baby. You are the perfect addition and we are excited for you to continue growing and keep us on our toes.

Love,
Mom and Dad



So spoiled... hanging out in bed.



Hanging with dad



Getting dressed






All dressed up



Love those cheeks.



Ok, she's giving me the finger... I think she's done with photos

In my mind I'm going to carolina

Superbowl, schmuperbowl.

TODAY is game day.

UNC v DUKE 9 pm EST.

I mean, it's only the biggest rivalry in college basketball, and the 2nd biggest sports rivalry ever behind yankee/red sox.

This rivalry dates back to 1920 and has continued with at least 2 games per season often determining the ACC champion.

They have played a total of 232 games with UNC winning 131 of those :) These teams are neck and neck with the most season championships, ACC championships, and UNC is 3rd for all time NCAA championships (5) and Duke is 5th (4).

I mean, in the last 30 years UNC and Duke account for 27% of the NCAA championships, one of these teams has been pre-season ranked #1 at least 50% of the time and ranked at least top three 72% of the time.

This all just boils down to.... a really good game. UNC is currently smoking hot, and Duke well, not so much. Guess we'll see who shows up to play tonight :)

GO HEELS!!!!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Mmmhmm... baby wouldn't go back to sleep at 4 am. So guess who gets put in her snowsuit and then plopped in bed with mom.

Oh yes, we do what we gotta do in the tippets household.

baby come on ooh ooh ooh ooh

I was supposed to wake up baby girl an hour and a half ago... according to the baby books.

The thing is, as much as I try to encourage a schedule, she does what she wants.

She doesn't sleep great at night, some nights she crashes at 8, some nights she's wide awake til midnight. I just don't know.

And I'm exhausted.

And apparently she's exhausted too. So far she's slept through a fire alarm and me taking a picture of her.



The way she sleeps is too funny, right?

The problem is... she was supposed to wake up an hour and a half ago, so I've pretty much wasted the last hour waiting for her to wake up so I can feed her. Oy vey.

Tips? Advice? Comments? Concerns.... actually you can probably just keep those to yourself, this first time mom does a good enough job worrying I'm screwing my kid up :)

You make my dreams come true

Happy Groundhog Day!!!

The first groundhog day I ever celebrated was with good friends, Liz and Jim Pittcavage!

(borrowed photo from liz's fb page)

We watched the movie groundhog day and ate stovetop popcorn thanks to Jim.

I thought the movie was extremely depressing. I felt so bad for the guy and just wanted the day to end.

However, I watched it again while feeding baby and decided it's not so bad. So perhaps you should curl up with some popcorn and enjoy a little cinematic celebration of this fine/ridiculous holiday!

(call me if you need to borrow it)

Oh and the groundhog did see his shadow. 6 more weeks of winter to which I say BRING IT ON!!! With an average temp of 70 degrees, it can be winter til May according to me!