London's Vocabulary

Little London is now cooing like crazy! She started yesterday and we decided we better catch it on video today. She is kind of a little mad in this video because she's getting tired, but you'll still get the idea. She does this cute little pucker thing with her lips when she makes all of her funny sounds. Matt and I die laughing watching her do it!

Gingerbread House

This is our Gingerbread house! We made it for Family night last week. I made the gingerbread from scratch, which taught me that buying a kit is definitely the way to go. It took me forever to make it and cut all the pieces out. On the other hand, our home smelled delicious afterward. It was a lot of fun to decorate and I was quite impressed with Matt's creativity=) He would deny it if you asked him though.

Nashville

We took our first family trip last weekend to the beautiful Music City. My favorite part was the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum. We got to see a lot of cool things like Elvis' gold piano and Carrie Underwoods red dress. I also learned that I really like Brenda Lee. They had an exhibit just for her.
We also went to the Grand Ol' Opry Hotel. Oh man was it crowded! London did fabulous the whole trip. We couldn't do as much as we normally would since London is still so little, but it was so nice to get out! We had so many people stop us to see London. Oh and I forgot to mention the best part! Our hotel was free! Matt has been building up Hilton points with his job, so we were able to stay 2 nights for free.

Daddy's Little Girl

London is smitten by Matt. When he gets home from work he'll immediately say hi to her and she will give him the biggest, most happy smile. I've only seen her smile like this for her papa. It is so cute! And to top it off... this morning Matt had her laughing. She was actually laughing! Oh we love her...
Christmas is right around the corner! We are so excited. We got all the decorations out on Thanksgiving evening and found that we don't have the stand to our Christmas tree. So now we have to buy a new tree or go without. Sad huh?
I also have a very disgusting story to tell. Today I decided to make some delicious blueberry muffins from my grandmother's recipe. I was holding London in my arms as I was walking by the counter and she spit up a couple of inches across the counter into the batter! I truly believe she did this on purpose because she didn't get a single drop anywhere else. Gross! So I only got one batch of blueberry muffins =(

Happy Thanksgiving!

London is growing up so fast! She is no longer taking sponge baths. She loves bath time but screams when we take her out of the water.
She has also now smiled at both Matt and I. Up until yesterday she has only smiled when she is asleep. We were in Heaven!!

We have been really lucky to have my mom and Pepper come and help us with London these first few weeks. It would have been impossible without them!

Halloween Day

Here are some pictures of London. She is so pretty!

Today is a wonderful day. That is because London was born yesterday, October 18th. She weighed 7 lbs 3 oz and is 21 1/4 inches long. She has red hair. We love that about her. She is very pretty. She is also very sweet. Of course every baby is sweet, but you can tell that she really is a sweetheart by the way she acts. She makes cute sounds while she sleeps too.

Sylvia is doing well. Everything in the birth went better than we could ask. We were originally going to have to induce because London was past her due date, but then she decided to come on her own. It was definitely an answer to prayers because we didn't want to have to induce. She was in labor for about 5 hours. That is pretty quick for a first child. Oh, it also happens that she will now share a birthday with her one year old cousin Abigail. I think they will both like that when they are older.

Sylvia did have an epidural which was a life saver. She thought that she may want to go natural with one of our children whether it was with London or another one. Now that she has gone through labor pain, she will difinitely be having the epidural every time. Nope, no going natural for her. I was glad to see her get the epidural finally too. It was tough seeing her struggling through the pain so badly. She was very tough though.

Today is rest day for Sylvia and London. Niether slept well yesterday. Sylvia and I were up for two days with only about 2 hours a sleep. Last night I got frustrated with the swaddling cloths and couldn't seem to burrito-ize London; so Sylvia took over, and I went to bed. I slept all night. Sylvia also got about 5 hours in, but she is still exhausted I think. She is asleep now though. That is nice to see.

Pictures to come soon...

London Is Almost Here!

Today I had another doctor's appointment to follow up on how our little girl is doing. The doctor is guessing I will have her within the next 2 weeks! I am so excited that I can hardly stand it!

Have you guys heard what London's middle name will be? Alice, after my mom. My mom is the sweetest lady and we thought that she deserved to have someone named after her! London Alice. She will be our little southern belle...

This is our new place. It is nice having the same furniture. It makes it feel like home quickly.
It is very woodsy everywhere.

First Alabama Update

We thought we should start a blog since our family is about to grow. Hopefully this will be a fun place where our friends and family can keep up with all of our family changes.

Right now, it is Sunday afternoon. We are waiting for our friends Chris and Ashleigh to come over for dinner. Sylvia has beef stroganoff cooking in the crock pot. She also just finished making some delicious zucchini bread. That sure reminds me of Utah. Sylvia also made her first loaf of bread last week. It was pretty good for her first time. A lady in our ward, who owns her own bakery, invited Sylvia over to teach her all of her secrets. I'm looking forward to that. I love bread!

Sylvia is enjoys having time to prepare our home for London. She has done an awesome job setting up our home. She has also found a few consignment shops where she has bought a bunch of baby stuff. That has saved us hundreds of dollars already. It's an great place to buy second-hand stuff because most of it is only slightly used. People here tell me that a lot of it comes from rich grandmas who buy new stuff for each grandchild. Keep spending that money grandma! It sure saves us a lot.

My job is going well so far. I have spent about 75% of my time on the road so far, but that should slow down some. Plus, a lot of the places I am traveling are within driving distance from home, so I do not stay in hotels too much. When I do stay out in hotels, Sylvia travels with me about half the time. She likes it too because she gets to stay in nice hotels. I think it makes her feel pampered.

Today we spoke in church. We talked about prayer and opening the heavens. Sylvia did a great job of course. I made it through alright as well.

Our transition to Alabama has not been as bad as we thought it might be. People here are very nice. Our ward is also very cool. Everyone in the ward are close to each other. Since we got here over a month ago, we have been invited to dinner 3 times. We love it. It is kind of like a family away from family. It makes it a little easier to be away.

Well, we will continue to post as new things happen. London will be here any day, probably in 3-4 weeks. There are a lot of changes happening for us this year. It definitely keeps life interesting.