This is what ALL our student loans get...

So one of the bonuses of being in dental school is you get lots of free toothbrushes. Company representatives come to the school lots and give out samples of lots of stuff. David told me he would be getting another electronic toothbrush. Well it came in the mail today and it is the new Sonicare toothbrush. Talk about fancy! I guess this is one nice thing you get for paying all those student loans:) Just kidding. I doubt we will have to worry about buying many toothbrushes. Maybe that is why some dentists hand out toothbrushes for Halloween; they don't know what to do with all of them. Earlier in the year, he was given the Oral-B Triumph. It's pretty fun to try new ones out and see how they all work. Maybe I will start reviewing toothbrushes on here so you guys know which ones are really good:) What can I say, we are dental nerds.
David is doing great in school. Today he is practicing giving shots. They had to partner up and they will be giving each other a few shots today. I thought that maybe they would just give placebo shots so they can just practice the technique. But no, they are really giving each other antisthesia. So they will be walking around all day long with numb mouths (sounds fun huh?). At least this way, they can know what they are putting their patients through when they give shots in their dental practice. The strange thing is that David was excited to do this. He has been watching a video on technique and lingo to use with the patient. All I can say is I love my job and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

My new trick!

Well Isabel has been crawling all over the house lately. If I am in the kitchen, she will call out for me, and if I don't come to her, she will come find me. She has ventured into the dining room and has discovered how much fun it is to scoot the chairs around to make noises.

What a silly girl, good thing I had just mopped the floor a few days ago!

She was crawling all underneath the chair. In this one, she saw that I had the camera and was trying to get to me. She got confused, when she couldn't sit up cause she was under the chair and kept bumping her head!

She will sit and hold onto the bar right there, and scoot it back and forth so it makes a loud sound on the floor, and then she will look up at you and bust up laughing, it is hilarious! Here she is trying to get the camera from me

I took a picture and showed her the image of it and she got this huge grin on her face and started freaking out trying to grab the camera.

She is so much fun to be around. She is getting pretty good at clapping. When she hears people clapping on TV, she gets all excited and starts clapping too, it's so cute. The weather has been pretty cold lately, so we have mostly just stayed at home, playing around. We went to the mall last week with some friends so the kids could play at the playground in the mall. That was nice to get out of the house. Yesterday, my friend Carissa had a "recipe swap" at her house, where we all brought yummy food to share and swap recipes. It was great to see everyone. It is so funny that I live so close to all my friends, but we never see each other. I am hoping once the weather gets a little nicer that we can see each other more and do things. I am getting a pass to the Children's Museum here. Isabel is started to move more, so I think she will enjoy playing over there.

Our Beloved Prophet

LDS President and Prophet, Gordon B. Hinckley, died last night at his home, surrounded by his family. He was 97. I found out last night right before I went to bed and I had a hard time sleeping. Even though I never met him, I really knew him and loved him. He was such a wonderful leader and example and he had such an adorable personality. He truly is a man of God. Even though it is really sad that he is no longer on the earth, I know he has been reunited with his sweet wife and they are so happy.

I am so blessed to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I am so grateful to know that death is not the end, but merely a stepping stone in eternity. I am thankful that I am sealed to my husband and daughter and can be with them forever. I know Pres. Hinckley is a prophet of God as well as our new Pres. This church is the reason for my happiness. I hope to live my life like he did: devoted to God and serving others. What a wonderful man! I know that I can see my loved ones again and we can be an eternal family. The Church is True!

Ear Dilemma

Well, we still don't have Isabel's hearing all straightened out. Long story short, she has never passed hearing tests on both ears at the same time. So we took her in to an audiologist out here and they showed flat tympanograms in both ears (measures movement of ear drum- flat one means there is most likely fluid in the middle ear, which we have suspected to be the problem all along). Now that the fluid hasn't drained yet, or keeps coming back, they want to put tubes in. So we saw a pediatric ENT yesterday, and because she has SUPER small ear canals (thanks Grandma Gillespie:), they couldn't even see her ear drums to see if there was fluid. But going off the tympanograms, they say they need to get tubes in her ears. Well the doctor didn't think he could get them in with such small ear canals, so he brought in another doctor who said he could do it, no problem.
So we don't know what to do. We are nervous about putting her in the hands of doctors who weren't even sure they could put them in and don't even know for sure what they are dealing with. I know people have the surgery done all the time, but we are nervous about the anesthia and about any complications they would have with her ears and hearing. I know she can hear, but I just don't know how much she can hear of the crisp speech sounds. I want her to have the best foundation of hearing so her speech develops properly, but we are nervous and scared if something were to happen in surgery. I guess we just need to do what we think is best, and leave the rest up to Heavenly Father. If we are making the best decision we can, then I have faith he will keep her safe and healthy. It is so scary when it is your own child. I wish they came with a manual and step by step guide, but then it wouldn't be called parenting, right?

A new woman!

So Isabel has been sleeping good the past few nights, and I feel like a NEW WOMAN when I am able to get more than 3 hours of sleep at a time. If you remember, Isabel had still been getting up EVERY 3 hours, and while they were quick feedings, I was exhausted. So on Sunday night, I just put her binkie back in her mouth when she woke up at 10:30 and she cried for a minute, but then went back to sleep. So I went back to bed, thinking I would be up in an hour or so. But lo and behold, she didn't wake up again until 5:00am!!! Wahoo! It was fabulous. So the next night, I thought she would for sure be up again every three hours (so as to prepare myself for the worst). But she went to bed at 8:00pm, woke up for a second at midnight, but then I didn't feed her until 4:00am. GLORIOUS! She did the same thing on Tuesday night and again last night. She sometimes wakes up for a second, but then goes back to bed when she realizes I am not coming in. I can't tell you how nice it is to get 5+ hours of straight sleep. Maybe it is because now she has her front 4 teeth finally in and isn't as uncomfortable. Whatever the reason, I am so grateful and we are both more well rested. As David always says, she is just such a pleasure to be around. She brings us so much joy and I am so grateful to have her in our lives.

Crawling!!!

So Isabel is officially crawling. She had taken a few scoots in Utah, but the day we got back, she saw her friend Moses crawling, and she decided that was pretty cool, and BAM, she started crawling like crazy. Now if she is playing in the living room and she hears me in the kitchen, she calls out for me and then comes crawling to find me. So now, we must sweep the floor EVERY day, which I guess is a good thing. She will find the tiniest crumb on the floor and proceed to try and pick it up for at least 5 minutes. It is so funny to watch her concentrate so hard to try and get it. She will push down on it and get it stuck on a finger and then try and pinch it between the thumb and finger. Don't worry, I take it away before she thinks to put it in her mouth. Last week, I saw her go after a rolly polly bug in our basement...I have never snatched her up so fast!
On Friday, she crawled over to the stairs and pulled herself up to a kneeling position. I know soon, she will try and crawl up them, so we need to teach her how to crawl down. Now she can crawl to the couch and use it to stand herself up and she is getting pretty good at pushing herself to a sitting position from crawling. She is not walking along the furniture yet. She still loves to ride around the living room on a blanket and would do it all day long if you let her. Now when she falls off, she starts laughing and will race to crawl back on it, it's pretty funny to watch her. She is such a cheeseball at home, but when we get around other people at the store or at church or at a get together with friends, she gets all serious and shy. I guess she just realizes that she is not in the comfort of her own home or around people that she recognizes.
I love that she can crawl, but it just makes me realize that she will never slow down again and I will forever be chasing her. She really is gonna grow up, but I am just trying to enjoy every day because I will never get it back.

Trip to Utah...continued

Well, we are finally wrapping up the last of the Utah pics. Isabel is such a ham. We had a good time up at Ben and Jen's for new years. Of course, David konked out around 10:30pm like always. Isabel enjoyed being around all the kids and I think it helped motivate her to start crawling. Of course she didn't start until the day we got back home, but I guess better late then never, right? She got her first haircut on New Year's Day. Her bangs were getting really long, so we trimmed them up. It proved to be quite a challenge because if you touch anything on her head, she starts shaking her head in every direction to get you to leave her alone (smart girl). So we had to be pretty tricky to get it done. David was really sad to do it because she just looked so different...just like a bigger girl. But it is much easier to keep the hair out of her face now. We enjoyed our trip immensely. We went up to Orem one day for my Grannie's birthday and we got to spend a little time with Robbie and Melanie which was great to see them. We love our family and feel so blessed!

Huntin' and Fishin'

Well David had a great time coyote hunting and ice fishing. The first day back, he and his dad went about a half mile from his house and shot a HUGE coyote. They were only there for about 10 minutes, calling it and it just came charging down from the mountain. It was very pretty, and as you can see from all the pictures, they were more excited than Christmas morning. They also went up to Scofield a few times and had a good time out on the ice. After he got back from ice fishing, he told me he could go do another semester of dental school, he had his therapuetic rejuvination from being in the outdoors. It was so hard on him to go a whole semester without doing anything outdoors, so he really enjoyed himself.

Isabel's first Christmas!

Christmas was so much fun with Isabel. The festivities started Christmas Eve with "surprise" visit from Santa Clause himself! We were all so excited we couldn't stand it. After we all told him what we wanted, we had a nice prime rib dinner that was so yummy, we ate until we were stuffed. Then we opened up our Christmas Eve presents which were cute matching pj pants and had a beautiful live Nativity put on by the grandkids. Well we were all so excited for Santa to come, that the kids ran off to bed, while the parents got stuff ready. Even though I didn't have much for Isabel, it was so fun to think of what she would do in the morning.
This year we decided to sleep in (6:00). Isabel was so excited that she woke up too from all the comotion. We had lots of fun seeing what Santa brought us. Isabel didn't know what to do. She wasn't at all interested in her stuff with 20 people around all excited about their presents. So she just watched for a while. We helped her open some presents, but mostly she just wanted to thrash the boxes, she could care less what was inside.
After we opened all the presents, we made a yummy Ebelskiever breakfast and ate till we couldn't move. Of course the Christmas nap followed, and mommy even got to nap, which is something I haven't done in a LONG time. So that was nice. Isabel had lots of fun playing with her presents and of course sitting in Ethan's Elmo chair. I guess we know what to get her next year! We put these sunglasses on her and she thought it was the coolest thing. She would just laugh and get really silly. If you took them off, she would try to grab them from you or get you to put them back on. Unfortanutely, she has learned to take them off, and will quickly rip them off when you put them on. But it was fun while it lasted. She is definitely learning to be quite the ham.

Christmas Break - Part I

David had 3 weeks off from school, so we packed up and headed to Utah to spend Christmas with the Baileys. It was very fun and relaxing, especially for David. He had worked so hard in school, it was nice to have him back for a few weeks. We flew directly to Salt Lake which was very nice, and Isabel was amazing on the plane. She fell asleep in my arms while the plane was taking off. She woke up for a minute so her ears could pop and then she fell back asleep for another hour. That left an hour on the plane where she proceeded to wave at all the people around us and she got pretty good at it too (wrist flick and all).
It was great to be around family and just relax. David was able to do some coyote hunting and ice fishing, and I will post those pics later. He was back to his old self and wasn't stressed about school at all. Isabel had so much fun with a crowd always watching her and laughing at her. We got to see little Camille (sam and coley's little babe) and got some cute pics of the two of the girls in matching outfits (total coincidence, they weren't purchased together). We had lots of fun eating out at all our favorite Ephraim restaurants and seeing some old friends.
We have discovered that Isabel LOVES music. At Rachel's Christmas choir concert, any time there was music being played or sung, she was jumping on David's lap. She even tried her hand and conducting the orchestra. She would wave her hands back and forth really fast and then jump up and down and repeat that until she tuckered herself out. It was greatly entertaining and it was fun to see Aunt Rachel perform.
Camille still has David's old walker from when he was a baby. So we got that out and let Isabel try it. She sure liked it but couldn't get very far wearing just her socks. So I decided to put on her shows and show her how to REALLY cover some ground. Well I put them on, and then the phone rings, so I go to answer it and am distracted for like 3 seconds. Isabel took off, plowed over a kitchen rug and took a tumble down the step that leads into the family room. She went head over heels and got stuck still sitting in the walker, but upside down and trapped under it. She started screaming and was so scared. I was pretty freaked out too, but luckily she just had her ego bruised. But she didn't want to get in it for a few days cause she was still mad!
Isabel learned her share of tricks while we were in Utah also. Grandpa Bailey taught her how to flap her jaw open and closed like she was talking with no sound, just the occasional noise from her lips smacking. It was so fun to do it to her and watch as she looked at you and tried to mimick it. She also learned how to blow great big rasberries at any occasion she could.
She watched some people blow bubbles with gum, and then she would try to mimmick them by sticking out her tongue. It was so cute!
She is learning so much and growing like crazy. She is still little miss petite, but I think she is such a big girl. She is now 17 1/2 pounds (I know, but it is big for her). You can tell she is just soaking everything up and trying so hard to do things. It was great to be around family and let them see how much joy she brings to those around her. She learned that it is lots of fun to make people laugh and went through a few silly laughs (she now has a normal laugh, no more strange old man laugh). We had fun playing out in the snow with her and taking her down the canyon road on a sled, which she loved. I think she may be a thrill seeker like her momma!

December pics

Because I have been such a slacker with the blog, the only way I can catch up is to post slide shows of the pictures I need to post. These are from Thanksgiving to Christmas Break. I will try and update our lives here soon, but Isabel is waking up, so Mommy duty calls. I am the luckiest girl in the world to have such an amazing daughter.