She's An 8 Cow Woman!

Points to me for being so funny!!  I've known for months that I was going to title Melia's 8 month birthday from Johnny Lingo.  This month is a little different.  As I'm reading through my notes from the month, I find myself thinking, "Geeze, was that really this month?  That felt like AGES ago."  So maybe life is headed back to a "normal" pace for us here in the Christensen home.

There you have it, folks.  Melia is 8 months old!  8 months!!  She's such a big girl.  She's incredibly strong, smart, and so full of life.  Here is the month by week!

Week 1:

I'm floored knowing that this week happened this month.  It really seems like so long ago.  There wasn't a whole lot that happened this week, but it was definitely busy.  I hadn't officially started work yet, so I was going to campus with Scott still a few times a week.  Because we spent the mornings together, we would also go to lunch together at his office.  It was so nice to just have time together.  One of the days we were at DoTERRA for lunch, they had a food truck round-up which was AWESOME!  We love food trucks.  We got hotdogs.  Haha.  Hotdogs.  They were way good though.  I'm not usually a hotdog person, but, this was a big, flavorful one.  It was covered with onions, pickled jalapeños, the owner's special sauce and banana peppers.  I'm sad that I don't remember the name of the food truck, but it looked like it was run by one man.  It was really yummy.  I would go again.

Because I would go to campus with Scott, that would mean I had the car for the day.  Also, since work hadn't "officially" started, I was able to bring Melia in with me to work.  Everyone loved that haha.  It was nice to not worry about who had her and if she was being good for the sitter.  She isn't always so happy with a babysitter; something about being a MAJOR mama's girl makes that hard for her.  It was fun bringing her to the pool; it brought some excitement to the guard room.  The
exception to bringing her to work was Saturday.  We held an in service for the teachers.  During the winter, swim lessons have a a mix of levels, but few teachers so we wanted to make sure that all our teachers were prepared to teach the upper levels.  It was a lot of fun.  I got in the water with them and made sure they could swim the expected distance in the water and do the strokes proficiently.  I taught them different ways to teach butterfly and breaststroke and we had a good time.

Taking a step backwards, on Friday, I went to campus with Scott because Melia had an appointment.  We were contacted by BYU and asked if Melia could participate in a study.  The students were observing 7 month old infants to see if they could differ between good and bad influences.  Melia had a rough start to the study; she was confused by the faces on the screen, but she did good.  What they did was had two computer screens that showed two different faces.  Then they played two different clips on a loop for about ten minutes.  The loop showed a new face trying to build a block tower but struggling.  With Face A, he would interrupt and then knock over the tower to which the new face would get flustered.  In the second clip, the new face would build the tower and struggle at the same point as before.  Face B would then interrupt and help finish the tower and the new face would get excited.  After the ten minute loop, they put Face A and Face B back up on the computer screens in front of Melia and time how long she looks at each.  At the end of the study, I asked what her results were.  They pulled her graphs up and were surprised.  She preferred the friendly face over the destructive face which is really unusual for her age.  I guess our little girly likes helpful people!

Taking a leap to Sunday, now, we had a lot of fun!  Our good friend, Elan Maynez, had come home from his mission that week!  WOOHOO ELAN!  I had actually run into Elan on campus on one of the days I went with Scott.  That was fun!  I was just walking around, because it's not like I have

She's so happy at Elan's Homecoming!!

anything else to do on campus, and there was Elan, same place as always, playing his ukelele as always, just being Elan.  Oh was it such a wonderful sight.  I missed that kid; he's just full of spirit.  We talked for a few minutes.  He was absolutely ADORABLE with Melia!  He kind of flipped first, just so surprised about it, but he was playing with her, talking to her, and she was just loving it.  She ate up every second with Elan.  She was the same way at his homecoming.  He did an amazing job, too.  He's mellowed out quite a bit; he's still his goofy, energetic self, but he's somehow calmer in his goofiness.  Anyway, after his talk, we went over to his house for a little get together.  His mom, Mama Maynez, was really funny about it.  I've known her as long as I've known Elan.  She is the definition of "pool mom".  Always at the practices, always at the meets, friends with the friends of her kids.  She's great.  Anyway, she loves Melia too so she was playing with her too while we were there.

Week 2:

Since I started work for real this week, Scott switched his work schedule.  Rather than go to school, then work until 8:00pm, he goes only until 3:00pm then comes home so I can be to work by 4:00.  I was just thrown right into the supervisor position full force.  Bekah was there on Wednesday and helped me with all the first day of lessons stuff.  But then she was out for the week.  She went on a cruise for her anniversary.  But it was fine.  Nothing too exciting happened.  I did have to fight for the
lanes with the swim coaches a little bit...but swim lessons are entitled to at least two swim lanes.  It was a battle, but we figured it out.  Being back at work is nice.  It gives me a break from home which every mom needs, I think.  I love being home with Melia, but it's hard.  She is most definitely a handful; a giant ball of energy that just wants to go, go, go all the time.  It's tiring; exhausting, really.  Even going to work from 4:00-8:00pm gives my brain a breather and it's so nice to have normal conversations with other adults.  So nice.

Late Friday night, my parents best friends, the Fultz's, flew in from where we used to live, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and came to visit!  Woohoo!  Scott and I went to the BYU game; that was....cool.  The game was not good, but being out was good.  My parents babysat Melia while we were at the game and they waited up for the Fultz's to get in.  When we got to my parents at like 1:00am, they were all up chatting.  My mom said Melia had fallen asleep pretty easily and in the heat of the game, my dad woke her up with a holler.  It's okay, it happens.  It was nice for the Fultz's, Marla and Ken, to see her when they got there.  Also!  Marla and Ken had extra tickets to General Conference!!  WOOHOO!  I love General Conference.  My dad went with Ken to the Priesthood Session and on their way home got Melia this WAY cute tshirt that says, "my Opa loves me" and Melia is just so dang cute in it.  Scott and I went to the Sunday Morning session.  Admittedly, I struggled during President Monson's talk at the end of the session....but hey, that's what The Ensign is for.  Haha.  Oh man.  But really; going to Conference was great because it gave me a chance to be there, feel the spirit, grow closer to the Lord and hear His words and learn.  There was a very clear message Sunday morning; to love, sustain and follow the Prophet of the Lord.  It's a great reminder that the Lord works through him and that President Monson is inspired.  The Sunday afternoon session was great, too.  Scott was especially excited about Elder Godoy speaking in Portuguese and he even pulled it up on his phone to listen to the native language rather than the voice over done in the broadcast.  Then we just kind of hung out at my parents and let Melia play.  SHE IS SO CUTE!  I took her walking around and she immediately went straight for the piano.  She loves music and loves to make music.  It's a great thing and makes Scott and I both really happy being musical ourselves.  But seriously....just look at her eyes!

Week 3:

This week I had the pool all to myself with Bekah gone on her cruise.  It was kind of nice to get myself in the swing of things, but it was also kind of strange because I just wasn't sure what else to try and get done between the start of each lesson.  On the bright side, though, Scott and Melia came with me to the pool one day! =D  It was so fun.  Melia just LOVES the water.  She had a blast.  Laughing, screaming with joy and splashing away.  I really hope she keeps this love of water as she gets older and I can turn her into a swimmer!!

It was a pretty mellow week as far as adventures and development.  BUT!  Probably the best thing that could have happened, has happened this week.  Melia PLAYS BY HERSELF!  Which means I can actually shower by myself and take my time.  It feels so great.  After she wakes up in the

morning, we snuggle a little bit, I give her some solids, change her diaper and clothes and just put on the floor in her room.  I lay out some toys, close the door, grab the monitor and hop on in the shower.  She plays happily just long enough for me to shower, do my hair and get dressed.  By the time I'm done, she's standing on the door asking to get out.  IT'S SO PERFECT!  Sometimes I still sit her in her red booster and put her in with me because she's being grumpy in the mornings, but that's rare anymore.  Plus, with how strong she is, it makes me nervous that she'll topple herself over with the wet tub under her seat.

Sunday played itself to be a pretty normal Sunday.  Melia had a rough night so we were all pretty tired but she was pretty good through church.  She got restless during Relief Society though.  But before she got all tired and grumpy, she was SUPER adorable.  She played happily on the floor in front of me, Donna and my visiting teacher, Sister Richter.  She would push Sister Richter's nursery box around, chew on her cute little baby shoes, crawl around and play with the chairs and she loves to play with her container that hold her banana puff snacks.  Well, since Melia is a speed demon, Donna got up to put a chair in front of the outlet on the wall.  On her way back, she stepped on the container of banana puffs and it literally exploded.  Exploded!!  It was hilarious!  I had banana puffs in my shirt, my hair, my bag, and it was two rows in front of us and spread over from Donna to Sister Richter.  I actually burst out into laughter in the middle of the lesson haha.  Oh man.  It was the best thing ever.  Melia was excited to see food in front of her and went to town and ate probably five before we could get all the puffs off the floor.  Hilarious.  I still am laughing about it.  So great.

Week 4:

We were so busy this week!  On Tuesday, Preston and Liz spontaneously invited us over for dinner.  That was awesome.  It was good to see them.  Scott and I kept saying how we needed to get together with them since it had been awhile so it was just perfect timing.  We couldn't stay too long because Melia's bed time is 8:00pm and if she doesn't get to bed on time, she is AWFUL!  She can cry for hours if she's even a half an hour behind bed time.  Ugh.  I don't know why she struggles so much with sleeping, but it is getting better.  Much better than it was.  Anyway, Preston and Liz made kabobs, grilled pineapple and a yummy salad.  Truth be told, I don't like fruit in my salads, like, at all.  But the one Liz made was really good.  It had romaine lettuce, hard boiled eggs, diced pears and dried cranberries.  You should all try it.  I ate it hesitantly, but I enjoyed it.  So there you go Liz!  You helped change my view of fruit on salad!  Not only was the salad yummy, the kabobs were cooked perfectly.  So good.  And grilled pineapple.  Oh.My.Word.  I love grilled pineapple and Preston made it one of the best ways I've ever had it.  The pineapple was perfect, first of all, the grill was the right amount so it was caramelized around the edges and super juicy.  I wish we had more time for friends.  Our schedules are just insane.  We have Saturdays, that's it.  So this nice little "intrusion" of our week was just what we needed.

On Thursday, we went up to Tibble Fork after work to take some pictures of Melia and took a little hike.  What are the pictures for, you ask?  THE NEXT GERBER BABY CONTEST!!!  So we entered this picture.  Oh my gosh.  I seriously cannot get over how adorable she is.  I mean, she is just perfect!!  Also, in the most humble way, I did really good with these pictures.  This was the first shot of the afternoon and I did very little editing to it.  I evened out the colors and that's about it.  We kept taking pictures as we were walking around and got some really great ones.  Like the first picture on this post; with her making that goofy face.  Also from our adventure.  She's so funny.  It was a lot of fun.  She loves being outside and it was nice to get out after work.  I love the mountains.  I'll post a bunch of pictures at the end of this post because we got a ton of funny ones!

Saturday morning my parents joined us and we went to Cornbelly's.  Oh man.  It was so much fun!  We didn't do a whole lot, but Melia was pretty happy through the whole morning and was excited to be outside again.  I took her down a slide that she didn't have any interest in.  But everyone watching was "oooing" and "awwwing" as we went down the slide.  I actually enjoyed the slide quite a bit.  It was pretty fast and as we hit the bumps, we got some good air.  People commented on it when we got to the bottom.  But Melia; she just doesn't understand that slides are fun yet.  So that's cool.  She did, however, have a lot of fun at the Corn Kernel Beach with her papa!  It was really cute.  She was really confused at first about what to do and kept trying to eat the kernel's.  Which of course, Scott wouldn't let her, so she got a little flustered until Scott started to pour the kernels on her lap.  When he started to do that, she got really excited and giggly.  She was chattering away to the corn and Scott took her walking through it and swung her around in it and she had a blast!

After the corn beach, we went on a short little train ride.  She really loved that.  The entire way, Melia was just talking and waving her arms around and bouncing up and down having the time of her life.  It was fun to finally have her a little more enthusiastic about our trip out to Cornbelly's.

After the cow train ride, we walked around a little bit until my mom suggested we stop at the puppet show.  Oh.My.Cuteness.  Melia fell in love with the barnyard band!  Haha.  I was dying she was so excited about it.  The band consisted of a cow, a horse, a few pigs, a sheep and even some corn!  We sat down to watch, which was nice for all of us to get off our feet on the hot morning, and Melia instantly lit up with excitement.  She was singing right along with her friends, reaching for them and bouncing away on daddy's lap!  We sat there for a good ten minutes probably enjoying Melia's cheerfulness and taking a well needed rest.  We went from the puppet show to an inflatable monster house thing.  It's one of those things that if you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about, but if you haven't...well.  Just know it was interesting.  Nothing too spectacular about it other than the fact that we made Scott work pretty hard to get through it because he had Melia in her hiking backpack so he had to duck through most the entrances in the thing.  Melia was getting pretty grumpy while we were going through the monster and started really fussing when we got out.  She was obviously tired so I pulled a bottle out for her and we let her eat, rehydrate herself and we tried to get her to take a nap.  My mom fed her the bottle and snuggled with her and she was basically asleep when Scott and I decided to go through the corn maze while my mom and dad rested and hung out with a sleepy baby.  We went through the maze in about 20 minutes; we struggled at the beginning...definitely struggled.  But we made it through about 10 minutes faster than the average time.  So we win.  It was blazing hot though.  The day itself was beautiful and pretty cool but something about walking through a maze in the cloudless sky with long pants and knee-high boots on really got to me.  It was fun though.  When we got back, my mom was waiting where we had left her but my dad and Melia were gone.  When we caught up to them, my dad presented this adorable hoodie he bought for Melia.  It is pumpkin orange with a cute pumpkin on it that says, "Little Pumpkin"  Seriously adorable.  We then tried to go to the petting zoo we know is around there but it was a separate entrance fee.  Bummer.  I know Melia would have loved that!  Maybe we'll try to go another time.  After that, we were done!  We got a picture on the big rocking chair and called it a day.  Melia feel asleep almost instantly when we started driving.  All-in-all it was a great day.

I'll send you all off with the rest of the awesomely adorable pictures I took this month and this quote I found.  Just remember that somethings don't always make sense.  You may feel lost and confused with the situation you're in, but it always works out and you're better for it at the end.  So no matter what you're facing, just Keep Moving Forward and know that Melia is cheering you on!!