Girls Weekend in Colorado

Dustan's brother Garrett is getting married this fall, so another girl will be joining the Kraus Family! To celebrate and get to know Lindsay better, we had a girls weekend in Colorado. Dustan and Garrett were left behind, while Lindsay, Eloise, and I drove out to Windsor, Colorado to spend a few days with Jen (Dustan's mom), Taylor and Erin (Dustan's sisters), Elodie (Taylor's baby and Eloise's only cousin), and of course the Kraus boys still at home. It was a blast! We loved being able to visit and explore the new Kraus home and party together.

One of the first major outings we did was go boating on the nearby Boyd Lake. The whole family went--including the boys ;) someone had to drive the boat and watch the babies! We spent about five or six hours straight on the boat, it was a blast.

I tried water skiing for the first time and was unsuccessful at getting up, even after half a dozen or more attempts, haha. It was fun watching others water ski or slalom ski. It was so nice to have so many people who want to hold, play with, feed and just love on Eloise. It made the day so much more relaxing for me! And Lou seriously loves her family. I was very impressed that they were able to get her to nap twice on the boat that day!

We did some swimming around the boat and Eloise and Elodie even got in. And we went tubing, which I am capable of doing, haha. We even got all four of us girls on the tube! We couldn't stop laughing. I think I could happily spend many hours every week on a boat. I love being on the water!

That evening, we went to a free concert in the park and listened to a Celtic band. Eloise was so grumpy and sensitive that evening and decided to poop on her clothes, but it was still nice to be out, haha.

And of course, each morning and evening when we weren't out and about consisted of playing with the babies :)

The next day, we spent the afternoon on the river. The babies played the afternoon away with their Oma Jen and Opa Paul, while Paul took a few breaks to shuttle us girls (and Levi) up the river again and again so we could float down. We would drive up just a few miles and it would take about 45 minutes for us to float down in our tubes. There were a few little rapid parts that were a blast to go through. On the last run of the day, we decided that it would be fun to have two girls on each of the big tubes. Maybe not the best choice, because I think each of us got flipped or fell off the rube at some point during the float, haha. Erin and I were sharing a tube, and we got flipped right before some rapids. I held on to the tube and got banged up pretty good before being able to hop back on again. But it was still a great ride! Unfortunately, we don't have any pictures from our tubing adventures.

The babies hung out on the side of the beach together. They played in the pack-n-play, swung in the hammock, dipped in the river, and even took a nap together!

That evening after the babies went to sleep, us girls headed to downtown Windsor for a late dinner together. We got yummy pizza and salad from Hearth and chatted and laughed lots.

Saturday started out with a visit to the local farmers' market, where we ate some good food (lots of free samples, the best) and just chatted while the babies stayed home once again.

That evening, again, without the babies, some of us went out on a shorter boat ride. It was a little more cloudy and cool, but still a beautiful day to be out on the water! Paul let each of us take a turn driving the boat, which was only a little stressful. Again, I tried water skiing and was able to get up a couple times! Though I only lasted a couple second before falling on my face again, I count it haha. The babies loved their time at home with Oma and Uncle Bryant :)

Sunday arrived, our last day! After church, we just had a very relaxing sabbath. We played some games, watched a movie, and ate delicious pulled pork. Of course we also had to have a little photoshoot of the cutest little cousins to EVER EXIST. They were adorable and cooperated so well. And once you start taking pictures of the babies, everyone wants on with them! (Though I won't post all of those, too many haha.) That night, we goofed off in the basement by sliding around on cardboard and playing fun games.

Lindsay, Lou, and I drove back pretty early Monday morning. But it was such a fun weekend and I am SO HAPPY that we were able to go!! It was a blast! And I'll just leave this picture here for you... ;)

NEW POSTS BELOW :)

Eloise at Nine Months

WEIGHT: 17 pounds 10.5 ounces (41st percentile)
HEIGHT: 27.75 inches (56th percentile)
CLOTHES SIZE: 3-6 months and 6-9 months
DIAPER SIZE: Three

LIKES:
 - Playing in any sort of water
 - Grass
 - Drinking water
 - When I say "mama"
 - Clicking tongue noise
 - Being outside
 - Phones and videos
 - Swings
 - Being tickled on her ribs, armpits, or neck
 - Being tossed in the air
 - Surprised faces
 - Small children
 - Food: yogurt, pureed pears, ice cream, baby puffs
 - Tags on toys/blankets
 - Singing
 - Going on hikes
 - Making eye contact/seeing us in the car mirror
 - Constantly standing and crawling

DISLIKES:
 - Getting her clothes changes
 - Long car rides
 - Getting boogers wiped
 - Being held for too long (she just wants to be crawling around!)
 - Falling down
 - Playing alone for extended time

FIRSTS/MILESTONES:
 - Crawling! (35 weeks)
 - Getting from her tummy to sitting up (35 weeks)
 - Pulling herself to standing on furniture (36 weeks)
 - Ferry ride (36 weeks)
 - Visiting the state of Oregon (37 weeks)
 - Big girl carseat (38 weeks)
 - Clapping (38 weeks)

RANDOM NOTES:
 - Discovered that she can sit up and stand when she is supposed to be sleeping in her crib, haha.
 - Still very patient and well behaved when we're on the go. She does well eating her meals wherever and usually naps alright (except church, that usually has to involve some screaming first, of course)
 - Becoming better balanced while standing, and can usually stay upright well while only holding on with one hand.
 - Still almost exclusively sleeps on her tummy.
 - Seems to be a picky eater and not very interested in most foods, especially if they are not yogurt, her favorite haha.
 - Has learned that she can do things specifically to get reactions from us, and will repeat herself to get them.
 - Hasn't woken us up in the middle of the night crying and needing something (she occasionally wakes us up with her sneezing and talking to herself haha) in over FOUR MONTHS. Our baby is the best.
 - Hasn't figured out the pincer grasp yet, but getting closer!

Our girl is officially on the move! Just a few days after turning eight months old, Eloise began to actually figure out the crawling by moving one arm and leg at a time. It took a while for her to be able to do it consistently and to really get where she wanted to go and she still isn't super quick, but she loves being able to move! And just a couple weeks after figuring out the crawling, Eloise started pulling herself up on furniture. She got good at that quick. She'll step in and take a step or two sideways, but typically once she is standing up, Lou remains fairly stationary. No real couch surfing yet! She does like to show off by only holding on with one hand though, haha. As soon as Eloise is set anywhere on the ground, she typically finds the nearest piece of furniture, crawls to it, and stands up. She also likes to crawl toward shiny things or abnormal things (like the base of clothes stands in stores) and lay down and start licking them. Yum.

Eloise is still about on the same schedule she has been on, with three naps and about 11 hours of nighttime sleep, though the times have shifted a little and we are trying to introduce more food. Her awake times are starting to get longer though, so I think we will be ditching the third nap here real soon. Here is the current schedule though:
8:00 am - Wake up, 6 oz bottle, play, breakfast foods (no purees)
10:00 am - Nap
11:30 am - Solids (food and purees), 3-4 oz bottle, play
1:30 pm - Nap
3:30 pm - 6 oz bottle, play, snack (no purees)
5:30 pm - Nap
7:00 pm - Solids (food and purees), play
8:30 pm - Bath (when needed), lotion massage, 4-5 oz bottle, song, down for the night

This month, Eloise got to visit my family in Washington again! She did awesome on the flight, just like last time. She was quite loud the whole time, but at least it was a happy loud, haha. After a week at home, We drove down with my family to Sunriver, Oregon for a Nielson Family reunion (post on that later). This drive did not go so well as the plane trip. She was so sad and fussy the whole time. At least it was short! And she was just a peach in Oregon. She acclimated well to sleeping in a walk-in closet and all the loud cousins, and just loved all the extra attention she was getting.

Eloise is seriously a happy girl. When she gets really fussy or actually cries, it seriously is abnormal. Unfortunately, the last week has been a lot of that. She is getting back to her normal happy, patient, smiley self now, but we weren't sure what was going on for a while. This was the week after our two week vacation to Washington and Oregon. Our best guess is that the general unhappiness was due to a mixture of time change, long road trip back (12 hours), new place again, teething, and perhaps needing to drop a nap? We don't know. Hopefully that sadness is gone for good, because the crying and no napping was not fun (though night sleep was still so good, she is the best).

I know I write this every single month probably, but Eloise just LOVES being outdoors. She is at her happiest--even if she is hungry or tired--when she is outside. Preferably out hiking or in a pool, those are probably her favorites. If she is every fussy, going outside cures it almost every times. She enjoys splashing in puddles in the rain, crawling in grass, bouncing around in the hiking backpack, dipping her feet into alpine lakes, being pulled in the bike trailer... Basically everything outdoors we have done so far. Lou is so content to look around and try to eat all the grass, rocks, and leaves haha. We definitely think she was born into the right family here ;)

That's the last of it here. Now I'm just trying to prepare our little apartment for a baby that now gets into everything and quick, too! We sure love our wiggly, moving, happy little babe!

Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years Eve 2017

I AM SO BEHIND! I am not going to write a lot about these awesome holidays, I'll mostly just post my favorite pictures with captions. I can't believe it is almost September and I haven't posted this yet. I'm too distracted with all my Eloise posts, haha. But anyway, here it is! Nothing too exciting, just a few memories via lots of pictures.

Thanksgiving

Our sweet baby Eloise was born just a few days before Thanksgiving 2017 (which was my goal, yay!). As a result, both our Kraus and Nielson families came to visit to see the baby! And though there was a little hesitation about having Thanksgiving dinner in our tiny apartment with both of our families (a total of 14 people, including us), we convinced everyone that it was a great idea. And it was! Because there wasn't a lot of cooking room and it was a bit last minute, we basically just made all the best Thanksgiving dishes. We made turkey, sweet potatoes with candied pecans, mashed potatoes, rolls, raspberry pretzel jello, and many pies, including pumpkin, peanut butter, cherry, apple, and key lime.

Eloise was an absolute angel. She spent a little time outside in the warmish November weather before dinner. She slept throughout the entire meal, even while being passed from person to person so everyone had the chance to eat. Dustan and I LOVED having both our families there for the holiday, even in our tiny apartment. It was wonderful! To celebrate the fun week, we did a few other fun activities like play at the park and visit Temple Square to see the Christmas lights.

Christmas

We spent the Christmas holidays and all the BYU break with our Kraus family in Colorado. We drove out, which actually went really well with a month old baby, thank goodness. Typically we party pretty hard with the Krauses during holidays, but with two little newborns there (Taylor had her baby just 12 days beforehand and was also there!), it was a bit more lowkey than normal. But it was SO fun to have all the Kraus kids there for the first time since I married into the family! No kids on missions or missing for any other reason. It was awesome.

We spent a majority of the time at their house playing games. I am not joking when I say that we spent over 12 hours playing "Code Names", one of our favorite games. Some other fun activities we did was go to Top Golf, do small hikes/walks around the local park, went to see "The Greatest Showman" with baby girl, walked around Ikea to test our new stroller, prepared and performed a church/holiday musical number, went mountain biking (not me), visited downtown Castle Rock, and spent hours watching the babies :) Here are a million pics to show you the adventures, though it's actually a million pictures of Eloise in different places, haha

The two babies meeting each other for the first time!

Late night mountain biking ride

First time in our new stroller, walking through Ikea

Church Christmas outfits

Seeing "The Greatest Showman"--she was so noisy, haha

Shooting clay pigeons

And here are some "fancy" pictures we took during the week. Basically, Kraus family pictures and cute pics of the babes :)

Christmas day was fun and relaxing, and not too different thank most Christmases I've had. Since Eloise was so young, she obviously didn't care at all about the holiday, haha. I enjoyed dressing her up all cute and opening her presents though!

During the opening of presents--she couldn't care less!

New Years Eve

For the New Year, we were still in Colorado with the Krauses. We prepared a ton of delicious snack foods and had a few friends over. Then from dinner time till the New Year, we just chatted, played games, and ate lots of food. It was great!

Eloise decided to really get into the New Years Even festivities and stayed up from about 6 pm to 1 am straight. It was a little rough. She refused to sleep, and just wanted to nurse constantly while we were partying. But, Eloise got to actually be up for New Years, woohoo! Funny story about the picture below. Dustan and I were just about to have a New Years kiss (after banging pots and spoons outside for a few minutes right at midnight) with our sparkling cider. Right as we were about to kiss, Dustan's little brother exclaimed that he burned his face with a sparkler AND Eloise did a huge poop I could feel on my hand. Hence, this picture. One of the firsts of 2018!

Sorry for my lamest vacation post yet! Hope you enjoyed the pics though :)