First Lacrosse Game! U of O vs. OSU

Megan went to watch Jon play Lacrosse a couple of weeks ago. It wasn't very good weather!

Megan is 5 Months Old Today!

Time is flying by! She is getting so big. She can now roll over from her back to tummy. You can't set her down on her back and expect her to stay there anymore. She'll always flip over. But she doesn't know how to go back to her back and she gets REALLY mad! She'll figure it out sooner or later. She is talking a lot. I think she likes to hear her voice. And speaking of getting mad, she has figured out how to make a really high pitched squeal when she is not happy. It definitely gets our attention! She is a very happy baby though and very active, as active as a 5 month old can be. She's always kicking her legs and moving her arms around. We found her sucking her thumb in her crib a couple of weeks ago and she's done it a few times since. It is the cutest thing because her little thumb is so tiny. I don't know if we've decided whether we're going to try to keep her from doing it. But while she's sleeping in her crib, we don't really have a choice.





We've started to video tape her. Although it's a lot of her just laying around, we've heard that she will really enjoy watching herself on tv when she gets a little older.

Stacy also came to visit last weekend. It was good to see her and Megan really loves her!




Here are a couple of pictures from March:

My Newest Adventure

Hello everyone. As most of you know, I have gone back to work 3 days a week. Already, it has been hard to adjust to one more thing I have to plan around. I'm having a hard time picking and choosing which family events I can/can't make it to because of work. And then to add insult to injury, Megan rolled over for the first time on Tuesday night...when I was at work! I know moms do it all the time, work and have a family, but now I know how hard it is too. I've been trying to figure out a way to replace my income with something that is more flexible and more on my terms. I know....good luck. But, I think I have. I have decided to become a Pampered Chef consultant. Some of you may remember that I used to do it when I was in my early 20s but honestly I didn't take it very seriously and never really had any goals or a purpose to work for. Well, now I have a 17 lb purpose to work for! My goal is to be able to replace my income by working 2-3 nights a week, which is what I do now but the big thing is that I MAKE MY OWN SCHEDULE! Right now I'm facing the issue of having to miss my cousin's wedding, possibly a 50th birthday party for my aunt and not to mention any family vacations for Josh, Megan and me because it's really hard to get time off from my work.

Yes! I'm trying to make you feel sorry for me! Yes! I am not below begging for your support! This is really important to me. I want more than anything to be able to spend time with my family whenever I want to and whenever they want to. Yes! I do want it all!

So, I'm looking for family and friends and even their family and friends to host Pampered Chef kitchen shows. You can also do a catalog show if you prefer but I really want to generate bookings to keep me busy and help me reach my goal. I'd like to fill my calendar for the next 6 months so that maybe after 4 months, I am consistent enough to say goodbye to my j-o-b!!! Remember, by hosting a kitchen show you can get A LOT of products for free and/or discounted. They just released their new Spring catalog and there are tons of new products that even I - a Pampered Chef pro - have never seen.

Please give me a call or email me at vandarling@comcast.net to tell me you're interested. And don't be surprised when I call you personally to see if you can help me out. I really appreciate your support!!

It's official - 4 Months Old!!

Megan got a BUNCH of hand-me-downs from Becca. This is one of the cute outfits! It's not going to fit her this summer!!

Megan and Hunter

We had dinner with Jeff, Bobbi Jo and Hunter this weekend. This is the kids' first meeting in quite awhile, especially since they've become more alert. They really liked looking at eachother. Pretty cute!

Well, Megan isn't 'officially' 4 months old but she is 17 weeks old. She had her 4 month check up on Friday. She is growing a lot and the doctor said she is doing great. She is 17 pounds, 3 ounces and 25 1/4 " long. She has a new doctor now and we like her a lot. She seems to give me a lot more 'free advice' than her previous doctor. Sometimes I just don't know what questions to ask so it's nice to have information just offered up. She also had to get her 2nd round of immunizations. She did such a good job. She cried a very tiny bit with the first one and then the next two were a breeze for her. She's so tough, more than I was. I was ready to cry the minute I saw one of her tears but I never did! Over the last month she has continued to amaze us. It's amazing we get anything done because we could just stare at her all day long. She cooes a lot now and smiles all of the time. She is overall a very happy baby.

We also decided that it was time to buy her 'big girl' car seat. This one is not nearly as convenient as her infant carrier. That one just pops in and out of both of our cars and we can carry her around in it to shop, etc. Now, since these car seats don't come with a base, if we want to change cars, we have to swap the car seat in and out. She looks pretty little in the seat but also a lot more comfortable and based on height/weight restrictions, she will probably be able to stay in this one for 3-4 years. We've considered buying a carseat for each car, and may still at some point but they are definitely not cheap. We bought a Britax Marathon. They are top of the line when it comes to safety and that's the most important thing.

Although I'm not offically back to work I have asked to cover shifts here and there so that I could practice being away from Megan. It was pretty hard that first night and it hasn't been fun any subsequent night but I'm getting used to it. It's nice to be able to make some money for our family and get out of the house to talk to adults but of course, I would rather be with her in a heartbeat. Next week I will start working 3 days a week. It will definitely be something I have to get used to again. I never thought I'd say something like this but I have really enjoying being at home and able to take care of our house and home cook a meal for Josh and me every night.

So, at this point Megan has hit all of her benchmarks as to what she is able to do according to her age and then some. She was able to hold her head up pretty steadily at a very early age. Her upper body and legs are getting stronger especially since we practice sitting up and standing a lot. I know it's silly but when I help her stand up and she does, it seems like she gets really proud of herself. She holds her head up high and smiles. Now we are looking for Megan to start rolling over and then eventually be able to sit up by herself. By the next doctor's visit, she should be doing both and then we will be ready to start feeding her baby food. That will be exciting!

Here are a couple of pictures from the last month.....

Megan is 3 months old!

We got these great pictures taken on her 3 month birthday! Everytime I look at them I laugh because she is so cute! She is definitely loved!

Little Girl in a Big Chair!

I have a memory of a tv show that had an adult woman dressed as a little girl sitting in an oversized wooden rocking chair. I think it was on Sesame Street or something but these pictures reminded me of it. She's just hanging out watching tv in dad's chair!

Megan got so many cute outfits at our baby shower and she is now starting to fit into a lot of them. Everything up to this point has pretty much just been one piece outfits and jammie type of stuff. Now she's got several pairs of big girl jeans. I think she is so cute every time I dress her in one of the outfits that I have to take a picture of her. Soooo I have a lot of pictures like the ones below. The vest outfit came from Uncle Gary in Minnesota.

She looks thrilled in this one. She's probably sick of these kind of pictures.


Grandpa and Grandma T sent this onesie to Megan....

Happy New Year!!

I thought December went fast, now we are almost half way through January. Time is flying, probably because I will have to go back to work at the end of February. I'm already getting very anxious about it. I will try to enjoy the time I have left full time with Megan though.

Anyway, I recently got together with my friend Billie Jo and her son Jaxon to exchange Christmas presents. While I was there she showed me a toy of Jaxon's that he doesn't particularly care for. It's the new style of the 'Johnny Jump Up'. She asked if I wanted to borrow it for Megan. I said sure! Anything to entertain her! She seems to really enjoy it for a little while anyway. Here are some pictures:




Last night we decided to take Megan swimming for the first time. We weren't sure what she'd think of it or how long she would last but she seemed like she really liked it. And of course she looked so cute in her big girl swimsuit! We played in the water for about an hour. We didn't dunk her in the water or intentionally get her face wet but when it did get splashed or something, she was surprised and then she was fun. No crying or anything. She did a really good job. I can't wait to take her again and start her in lessons. She can't start that until she's 6 months old though. Eventually she decided she had had enough and we got her all dry and cozy back in her jammies and carseat and she crashed right away. It took a lot out of her! We invited Kathy and Lesly to go along so they got to share in the fun too.

We had Karen, Vern, Isabeau, Rylan and Josh's parents over for breakfast on Christmas morning. It was a lot of fun to watch the kids open their presents.


The day after Christmas we went to Josh's aunt Darlene's house for dinner. Here is a picture of the whole family.

Well, December seemed to come and go pretty quickly. We had a lot of family visiting, Josh's sister and family from Nome, Alaska and my sister from Phoenix. It was fun to be able to share Megan's first Christmas with all of them. Of course she really didn't know what was going on, but she still got some presents to open. Toys were on her wish list this year and we were grateful for everything that she got. She's starting to get more alert and aware and toys are becoming more interesting to her. They are at least something to look at, especially the ones with lights and sounds.

She is starting to mimic us now. Josh will stick his tongue out at her and after awhile she will do it back to him. It's pretty cute, especially when she starts cooing and interacting. Maybe all of the new activity is tiring her out because she is becoming a much better sleeper. She will on average sleep about 6 hours a night. It has gradually led to an earlier bedtime too. It used to be about 2:00 a.m. before she would go to sleep, now we are at about 11:00 p.m. It has been a real sanity saver. Mommy isn't nearly as tired anymore.

Here are some pictures of our December:


Our Christmas Photo

Daddy and Megan cutting down our tree.


Megan meeting Aunt Stacy for the first time.


For some reason Megan's changing table is her 'happiest place on earth'. She's also definitely a morning girl so she is always happy and giggly when she wakes up.


Checking out her new toys from Santa.


Of course Sampson and Gracie got a stocking from Santa too. It didn't take them long to figure out they had a treat inside. Okay so Gracie won and found it first. She takes after mom.

Well, it's time for Megan to go to bed, I'll post more pictures later.

Megan had her first road trip this weekend. My parents bought a house in LaPine and we made our first visit this weekend to help move them in. She was a real trooper in the car, sleeping pretty much the whole way there and back.

We had her 2 month well child check today. She has a cold and happened to be running a fever today as well so they couldn't give her her 2 month shots. We'll have to go back next week once she is feeling better. She has grown so much. She is 13 lbs 8 ounces and 22.9 inches long. The nurse was amazed at how big she is getting.

House in LaPine:


While we were in LaPine the little girl needed a bath so she got one in the kitchen sink. It's so hard being a little baby!



I think I'm going to be posting a lot of bath pics because I think she is so freaking cute when she's all wet and chubby!

Okay, one last picture. Our friends Jay and Alia had their second baby on December 1st. His name is Henley and he was born at 8 lbs 12 ounces. Megan was 8 lbs 13 ounces so we were really excited to compare their size to see how much Megan has grown. Here is one of the pictures. Henley's big brother Campbell snuck into the picture too.

Megan is 8 Weeks old today!!

Megan with Santa!

Here are some better bathtime pictures. She doesn't look nearly so terrorized.

The last 6 weeks have gone by pretty fast. Even though we have had a stint of what seemed to be colic (also seems to be going away....knock on wood). Megan is getting so big. We have friends that just had a baby one ounce less than Megan at birth. We can't wait to see him so that we can see just how MUCH she has grown. She had her first real smile on 11/26. She was set in Great Grandpa Wyland's lap and she just smiled. The next day she woke up a really happy girl and was smiling at her mom like she knew how to do it all along. Now we can usually get one or two out of her on command.

We took her to see Santa today and we got a really good picture of her. We bought a CD thinking that we'd be able to take the picture to get more copies of it and post it on here but I think we got jipped. It doesn't seem to be it's intention at all. Just a way for you to spend more money on personalized mugs, etc. So...if I ever get around to it, I'll scan the picture and post it here. In the meantime, here is our Santa baby.....

Bathtime at 3:00 in the morning because someone didn't want to sleep.