Happy Halloween!

My baby is 1!!!

Sophie's first birthday was soo fun! We had a party at the splash pad with family and friends. Unfortunatly it was soooo windy!! I HATE wind more than anything! It kinda put a damper on things, but it was still a good day! She got soo many fun toys and cute clothes. Here is the list of things at 1. And probably the last list I will make for a long time! Who has time to post blogs anyway, my life is nuts!

-can walk if someone holds her hands

-hello where is her hair????

-eats big people food now, loves toast, string cheese, lucky charms, and veggie stick chip things

-says mama and kitty kitty

-blows kisses, still has a great princess wave.

-loves doggies

-loves reading

-loves balls

-hates headbands

-18 lbs, size 3 diapers, 18 month clothes

-getting her molars. yikes!

-loves to play play play

-this just keeps getting better and better!!! love you soph

11 months

11 months. wow is all i have to say!

-says mama more than anything

-loves anything to do with kids

-loves toast with butter, black beans, basically any big people food

-finally doing a real crawl.

-getting teeth # 5 and 6

-saw the beach for the first time, and did great on her first big road trip, despite her terrible ear infection

-getting quite the personality

-she's a monster!!!!!! no not really, she's just in to everything!

-is finally on a schedule! thanks to being in daycare 2 days a week. she actually loves it

-wakes up 5 or 6 times a night. i know right? what the heck. i'm more tired now than when she was a newborn. not sure what this phase is all about.

-still loves to read books.

-likes to stand up next to our coffee table and couch

-18 month clothes, size 3 diapers, weighing somewhere between 17 and 18 lbs.

-i've heard mommies say this all the time and it's true... each stage is more and more fun!!!!

10 months

holy moly. 10 months for real? wow. i love this little girl so much. i was just looking at her today thinking i never would have guessed that the little baby squirming in my belly would be so cute! we love her so much and we love watching her grow everyday.

-still doing the army crawl, but can move at turbo speed.

-getting her top two teeth. not fun

-likes to eat "big girl" food. (human food)

-pulls herself up to standing position on EVERYTHING, makes mommy nervous

-looooooooooves little kids, and her cousins especially

-is a people watcher like mommy

- does a princess wave

-claps her hands while watching Ellen

-loves water and swimming

-we had to lower her crib to the lowest position :(

-put her in a big girl car seat and she loved it! needless to say, mommy will not miss lugging the baby car seat around

-loves to sing and squeal

-loves reading books

-loves to pull items out of containers or dressers and throw the over her shoulder. yup our house is a mess, much to my dismay.

-loves to play with the springy door stopper things.

-loves toys that aren't toys aka pieces of paper, candy rappers, beaded jewelry, you know, all the stuff that babies aren't supposed to play with

-loves to laugh and has the cutest personality!!!

hiking

colors

so i always thought i was crazy, until ashton told me today about the smartest man in the world (literally) who learned this really hard language in 6 days fluently. they asked him how he did it, and he said he learns by colors. that is what i do and everyone thinks i'm wierd! but maybe i'm just the smartest lady in the world jk hahaha:) in college i never really had to study, and i usually scored high in the class. not braggin, just proving my point! anyways, not gonna give away my secret too much :) but basically every word has a color to me because the letters i played with when i was little were certain colors and it just stuck in my brain. so when i'm taking a test i can picture the answer by picturing the color in my head and then i see the word. every word has a color, it's not something i memorize it just is, but when i hear or see a word i see it as a color. EVERY word. my name is orange, ashton is red, and dodge is green for example. i don't know if that makes sense, but it totally works for me. does anyone else do things similar to this to learn? or am i (along with the smartest man in the world) totally nuts?!?!

9 months

-crawls everywhere!

-finally fits into newborn size shoes

-will not eat her bottle and throws a little tantrum sometimes :S

-loves to be thrown up in the air

-size 3 diapers

-still no hair

-sleeps through the night

-always has a "serious" face

-sometimes does an "O" face, and a grandma face.

-weighs 17 lbs., 25% percentile

-loves and i mean LOVES baby einstein

-still loves being outside

Ashton - 30 years

Since Sophie gets a post every month on her birthday, Ashton gets a post for his, even if it is a few days late. Happy Birthday old man. Here are a few things about Ashton at 30 years.
-Even though he's 30, he's still a little kid, and that's why I love him!
-You can fix any of his problems with a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup- seriously.
-He is on a "diet"
-He looks at dirt bikes on the internet every night. He already has one, but it's not his dream bike. Someday Ashton!
-He loves Sophie :) He also loves Sophie to be clean and tidy. His baby is not allowed to be running around with a dirty face!
-He is a good singer, he just won't let anyone hear him sing, not even me. I have to sneak up on him :)
-He has been practicing the guitar, and he's getting good!
-Recently bought a ukelele and is great at that too.
-He's the best daddy in the world. (and so is my dad!)
-He's the best husband in the world.
-No matter how bad my day is he can always cheer me up!
-The only thing that can ever make him mad is when I'm mad.
-He becomes bff's with everyone he meets.
-He thinks that every old lady in the world and every teenage girl working at fast food restaurants has a crush on him. Oh please Ashton, get real.
-In this partnership he is the one with the common sense, and I am the one with the brains. Or in other words, I have no common sense so without him I would never survive. But still, I am just a little bit smarter than him! hahahaha
-I love my husband. He is gettin hotter every year! He will be smokin at 40.

8 months

So I haven't gotten the time to take 8 month Sophie pictures yet, but I wanted to do an 8 month post before too much time goes by. Pictures to come...
-between the 7 and 8 month has been by far the greatest development. She is like her own little person now with her own personality and it's sooo fun, I just love it.
-weighs only about 15 lbs. her height and weight are below average, but lo and behold the Wittwer head is bustin through in the 75th percentile
-still no hair
-100% on formula now :(
-not quite crawling yet, but can get wherever she wants to go other ways...
-has a tiny tiny attitude. I hope it stays tiny.
-loves baths and anything that involves water
-loves music and dancing
-does an "o" face and makes fart noises with her lips
-size 3 diaper
-9-12 month clothes
-loves being outside
-loves grandma grandpa granny and papa A LOT
-eats sweat potatoes, chicken, peas, carrots, pears, peaches, and baby cheetos and baby cereal things
-likes to play and laughs a lot
-but has a serious face most of the time
-it just keeps getting more and more fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Children's Place

Let me just say how much I love LOVE this store!!!! But, the trick is to go in and buy their stuff from the last season on sale for the NEXT year. I just went in and got the cutest pink and green church dress for 5$ for Sophie for next spring, a cute black and white outfit of a 3 quarter length sweater and capris for 6$. I even almost went as far as to buy the CUTEST green and purple sweater vest and plaid button up shirt underneath (9$ for both) for whenever I have a boy! But I didn't because that would be going a little too far hahaha. Well let's just say I love going in there and buying off the $1.99 rack, and then scouting out the rest of the store to see what I want to buy off the $1.99 rack since it all ends up there eventually! If you have kids you must go to this store. ok bye.

Done

This post might be a little TMI or maybe even IDC (I don't care) but I'm sharing anyway. I'm sad/happy to say that I am done nursing. I have had mixed feelings about this for about a month. It would totally work out if Sophie would cooperate. If she would eat in the morning right before I go to work, and then right when I get home, and then right before bed, but babies don't follow mommy's schedules do they! As of right now, Sophie will not even nurse at all- ever. She has Daddy's energy, and there are too many other things she'd rather be doing than nursing, she takes her bottle just fine though. So I decided that rather than spending hours a day pumping, I'd rather be able to play with my Soph. So I'm done! Here are a few things I will miss about nursing... -just being able to grab her out of her crib in the morning, stick her in bed with us, and fall back to sleep while she eats, free food, having boobies :), being able to eat a million calories a day because hey, I'm eating for 2!, NOT having a period, knowing that if there were some kind of natural disaster or something Sophie will have all the food she needs. Some things I will NOT miss- my stupid pump! I want to burn it! I hate washing it out everytime even more! Buying nursing pads, wearing nursing pads, nursing bras, nursing garments, not fitting into my shirts, having to time when Sophie eats so I will not have to do it in public, it will be so amazing to just be able to make a bottle and feed her in the middle of any store! Or at anyone's house! Ok that's enough. I am so sad to be done nursing, but it's also a huge relief. My goal was 6 months and I made it 8. All and all I am satisfied. I love my Sophie!!!!!
p.s. formula is soooo gross, it smells like barf!!!!!!!! my poor baby

**SIIGHHH** that's my big sigh of relief

so ashton finally got on full time at the city! the pay is not amazing BUT what i am excited about if the benefits- health insurance for our family! i hate when i place says the "give" you benefits, and then take outrageous amounts of money out of your paycheck to "give" them to you! we have had an experience like this before, but with st george city they actually give them to you :) we are not rich by any means haha but i am just happy that he is working full time, we can stop buying our own health insurance, ashton's building a retirement, and i am bringing in some part time! let's move on with our lives, get off government assistance and give me my pride back!!!!!!!!!! woo hoo for this job.

7 months

-finally sits up on her own... most of the time

-as i always say, waves bye bye, but now she actually knows what it means

-moved up to stage 2 foods

-does a wiggle dance. if you say wiggle wiggle she'll do it, or right when she hears music she'll do it. she even does it in her sleep sometimes :)

-her bottom 2 teeth poked through

-size 3 diapers

-9 and 12 month clothes

-i recently decided she doesn't eat very much, she eats 4-6 oz at a time.... is this ok?

-she is way smaller than other babies her age, or even smaller than babies younger than her

-always wakes up happy

-like to play with boxes of tissues and any kind of cord or string
-eats formula about once a day. ewww that is nasty stuff blah i feel bad making her eat it hahaha

-she is gonna be just like all ashton's nephews, she wants to GOOOOO all day long!! :)

-loves peek a boo still

:) Happy Happy :)

I can't believe somebody wanted to finally hire me! I definitely have mixed emotions about it, but I'm excited to move on to this new part of my life. Now I can get a new car! And hopefully soon a new house!!! Well most likely an old house, but it'd be new to me! I got hired at Advanced Physical Therapy as a PCC, and I can't remember what it stands for, but it's part reception and part dealing with insurance! I'm very excited. It's just part time 26 hours a week so I'll still get my Sophie time! Wish me luck! I start on Tuesday. This is great news to me because I was actually considering going back to Village Inn to make extra money until I decided I would rather lose my left pinky than go back there. No offense to any Villagers, it's a great job, but 5 years of serving is ENOUGH for me :) and I hate working weekends! I can't stop smiling. yay!

Equinox

READ STORY BELOW FIRST, I DON'T KNOW HOW TO MAKE IT ABOVE THE PICTURES!
SOPHIE IS SUCH A GOOD SPORT :) ARE THEY TIRED?

THE SUN'S ABOUT TO RISE!

THE SUN SHINING THROUGH THE HOLE!

KINDA HARD TO TELL BUT CAN YOU SEE IT HITTING THE TARGET ON THAT LITTLE PEAK?

A FURTHER AWAY VIEW, YOU CAN KINDA SEE THE LITTLE PEAK LIT UP...

So, it's no secret that I am easily amused by wierd things, but I just think this story is AWESOME! Ashton's family has been telling me about this equinox thing they have heard of for a long time, and we didn't really know if it was real or not. But here's the story

At a certain location, and I'm not gonna tell you where because I want it all to myself!! :) on the Spring Equinox the sun shines through a hole in a rock and the sunbeam hits an indian petroglyph target on another rock exactly at sunrise. That's how the Indians knew when Spring began so they could plant their crops.

So to see if this was true or not, Ashton, Sophie, Eric, Laurel, and I woke up at 6:30 am on the equinox so we could drive out to this top secret location to see if it was true. It took about 45 minutes to get out there and we hiked to the spot and waited for sunrise to see what would happen. I was skeptical, but lo and behold it actually happened! It wasn't this dramatic sunbeam that I was picturing, but sure enough the sun shone through the hole and lit up the target! Indians were so smart, I wonder if they made the hole so they would know, or if it just happened to already work that way. Anyway, I thought it was magical haha. I am making a tradition to go back every year, but next time I'm bringing donuts and hot chocolate!

Pictures

I took some family pictures and senior pictures that I love! Check them out on my photo blog! dodgephoto.blogspot.com

my musical baby

Decisions... decisions...

So... Lately I have been considering teaching again. The whole PA thing is not panning out too well for me, and I want to be able to spend more time with Sophie.. I love LOVE Science, as I am sure you are all aware, and I would love to give kids the opportunity to love it too! Anyway, Dixie has a Secondary Ed program that is a year and a half long. It would cost me approximatley $4,000 to do this. I also could probably get FAFSA to pay for most of it. However the thought of going back to Dixie and taking 1010 classes with a bunch of Freshman does not thrill me AT ALL. Plus, who is gonna watch Sophie? So I have been talking to the Univesity of Pheonix to see about online teaching programs. They have a Master's Degree in secondary education that I could do all online, and get it faster than I could at Dixie. Perfect, I'll just do my work here at home while Sophie is asleep! And I'll have a Masters rather than just a teaching certificate from Dixie. This means my pay as a teacher would be a lot more each year!!! So I'm thinking, "this is great! I am totally doing this!" So how much does something like this cost???...... 20,000$!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHH!!! I could definitetly apply for student loans and get them, but could I find a job to pay them back??? FAFSA doesn't give grants for Master's Degrees, so that's out. I just don't think that's gonna work out for me... I better get ready to take some classes at Dixie with all the Freshmen skanks... hahahahhaha sorry Freshmen, I'm joking, but maybe anyone who has attended Dixie will understand. I just have too much pride for 1010 classes. I know, I'm wierd. Decision making time.

6 months

Sophie's official 6 month birthday is tomorrow, but since next week is going to be pretty busy, and I have nothing to do today I am going to post today. Anyway, I CAN'T BELIEVE MY BABY IS 6 MONTHS!!! If you think you love your newborn, it just gets better and better! I love her more every day and it gets more and more fun! Well you know the drill, here's the list!

-I hate to say it, but she turns in to a stinker if anyone but Mommy, Daddy, Grandpa, Grandma, Granny, or Papa try to hold her :S I am hoping it's just a phase!

-She has tried pears, carrots, bananas, and green beans. The order is in her most favorite to least.

-Grandpa and Grandma try to give her tastes of icecream. I get a little irritated by this, I am trying to not let her know what sugar is for a long time if she is going to have the addiction that her Mommy and Daddy have.

-We also let her taste a pickle. I thought she would pull a face, but she actually loved it and kept reaching for it.

-She can ALMOST sit unassisted.

-She hasn't crawled yet, but I can tell she wants to!

-She can almost stand up by herself.

-She loves hiking while Daddy carries her in the snuggie!!

-She loves going on motorcycle rides with Grandpa.

-Waves bye bye, but only for Granny

-We watch Playhouse Disney in the mornings, and she loves Mickey Mouse.

-She goes to bed around 10 and sleeps until 7, wakes up for half an hour to eat, and goes back to sleep until 10 am. This is great, but she only takes about 2 hours worth of naps all day.

-She's still nursing... until she gets teeth, and I think the bottom 2 are gonna pop any day! Ok I take that back, she can nurse until she starts biting :)

-She definitley knows how to get pissed. She may have a little attitude.... She sure can scream. I call it "Dodgeitude" to tease Ashton and say she gets it from him.

-6-9 month clothes, size 2 diapers, 14 lbs. 4 ozs. My little mini-me

-This is off subject, but did you notice I decided to not be lazy? I figured I better start using proper grammar and punctuation. I do know how, I am just lazy most of the time.

Crafts

I've already made one of these.....

now next on my list are these pretty little gems

Maybe it's the whole stay-at-home-mom-thing... but I have been obsessed with crafts lately! Usually it's just the typical baby stuff like flower bows and tutus. But yesterday I saw this idea on Good Things Utah and I madE a cute little flower paper thing. Now I have been linking to all kinds of different crafty blogs and there are so many things I want to make. Especially EASTER things since I LOVE EASTER!!!!!

Weekend Adventures

first we saw some really cool petroglyphs

Sophie got her first motorcycle ride from Grandpa! She loved it! Grandpa likes to wait until babies are 6 months old for their first ride, but Sophie (or Sophie's mommy) could not wait another week!

i love sophie lots

our fun hike in zions. i love that sophie loves to hike!

sophie in her new church dress that i love and wearing my shoes when i was a baby

food

first of all let me start off by saying i am NOT pregnant. but i have had uncontrollable cravings lately! today i was sitting at home and all of a sudden i needed chocolate. not in 5 minutes... or an hour... I NEEDED IT NOW! so i made ashton bring me home some chocolate and i ate 2 whole candy bars. which i would normally never be able to do because so much sugar makes me sick. i also am hungry all the time! and i eat a lot! i was getting a little nervous that there was some sort of oops or something, so i googled craving food while breastfeeding, and it turns out a lot of people crave things like chocolate or sugar while they are breastfeeding. the reason for this post is that i am wondering if i am crazy or did any other mommies have these crazy craving while they were breastfeeding. k i am gonna go eat some cookies... :)

5 Months

Sophie at 5 months...

-she loves to bounce if you hold her under her armpits while she stands she will jump all day. but when we put her in her bouncer she doesn't know what to do.

-she loves to stand. i'm afraid she'll try to walk before she crawls.

-she can roll.

-she loves rice cereal. she's also tried pears, apples, and bananas, but she loves pears the most.

-she is now pooping 8 times a day. i only bring this up because i wonder if it's normal. she usually only goes about every other day, but now it's 8 times. i do not love this.

-she waves bye bye. but will only do it for her granny.

-size 2 diapers

-6-9 month clothes

- i have no clue how much she weighs.

-she's starting to look more like her mommy :)

-she is starting to get separation anxiety. if she realizes we have left her she will scream so we are trying to leave her with people more often so she'll get over it.

-she finally allowed us to go to all 3 meetings of church for the first time yesterday. although daddy ditched out a little early anyway :)

-she still loves watching sports and music.

-she can sleep for 8 hours straight. happy happy for me!

-she makes fart sounds with her lips. i love this.

-she laughs a lot, and it's super cute.

-she's starting to teeth, and the first tooth is coming in on top. i'm not to excited about this!!! ouchie!!!

-she's finally starting to get a little hair.

LOVE YOU SOPH!!!!

thank you note

so here is another random post. i seem to think this is more funny than everyone else does. last night i was going through a huge bin of old pictures at my parents' house and i found this thank you note in cute little kid handwriting with letters backwards and things spelled wrong. it was written by my little brother daxi. this is what is said....

on the front there was a stick figure person holding a big piece of gum with a caption saying.
"a peace of gum. oh my gosh! thank you!"

Then inside it said, "thank you for the peace of gum. my breath stinked bad. i would love to go to afghanistan and breathe and kill osadan bolatin. thank you. dax wittwer."

hahaha i love it so much. little kids are so funny. we can't figure out who it was to or anything. but i love it.

dumb, but TRUE song

I just heard this song on Good Things Utah. It's a really dumb song, but I was laughing because it's so true... You think college is hard while you're there, but the real world sucks a lot more hahahhaha. (I had to edit the song a little) hah

- I Wish I Could Go Back to College Lyrics
I wish I could go back to college. Life was so simple back then.
What would I give to go back and live in a dorm with a meal plan again!
I wish I could go back to college.In college you know who you are. You sit in the quad, and think, "Oh my gosh!I am totally gonna go far!"
How do I go back to college?I don't know who I am anymore!
I wanna go back to my room and find a message in dry-erase pen on the door!Ohhh...I wish I could just drop a class...
Or get into a play...
Or change my major...
Or kiss my T.A.
I need an academic advisor to point the way!We could be...Sitting in the computer lab,4 A.M. before the final paper is due,Cursing the world 'cause I didn't start sooner,And seeing the rest of the class there, too!
I wish I could go back to college!
How do I go back to college?!AHHHH...
I wish I had taken more pictures.
But if I were to go back to college,Think what a loser I'd be-I'd walk through the quad,And think "Oh my Gosh..."
"These kids are so much younger than me."

babies

so i always have thoughts about all these weird random things. today it's about babies and having babies. isn't it so wierd that you grow a baby inside your belly? i mean, you make a whole person in there! that is just amazing. the whole time i was pregnant i would watch baby story on tlc and watch the women deliver babies, and i still watch it sometimes. i would always get scared because so many things can go wrong. but i must say.... it is more awesome than scary! it's like i can't wait to do it again. not literally, i can wait a couple years. but it is so amazing i will be so excited to do it again! (let's just hope the epidural doesn't take 2 hours to kick in next time) anyway, it's just so fun. you wait 9 months to meet this little thing. i never knew that 9 months was so long, and then within a couple pushes they are out and you are holding them!!!! i know this is totally random. but as i was watching baby story today i was just thinking how cool that is that we have the opportunity to create life. what a blessing!!!! the end.

st george

i love love this pretty town. but i DON'T love the money we DON'T make in this town......