Thursday, December 31, 2009

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Christmas morning

Opening presents with Alexis on Christmas morning was so much fun.  She didn't respond much to the wrapping paper (she's still too little I think), but she loved her new presents.






Sunday, December 27, 2009

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Church #5

You can't see Alexis' face that well, but she has a little smile.

Merry Christmas!


Friday, December 18, 2009

Daddy Time

This week I started taking Alexis with me to run errands.  Up until now, I would arrange with John for him to watch her while I went out alone.  While I was gone, John and Alexis would have "Daddy Time."  One of John's favourite things to do with Lexie is to take silly pictures.  See below:

Introducing "Genius Baby."  Reading Harry Potter at 6 weeks old.


"I'm cute and I know it."


"Reading is tough work . . . I'm pooped."


"I didn't know when Dad said 'You're so cute Alexis, I could just eat you up,' he was being serious."


"I'm so over this Dad."

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Church #4

Alexis has already worn this dress to church before (see "Church" posted on 8 Nov 09). She still has a ton of dresses she's never worn, but this one is her smallest and it's one of my favourites, so I thought she better wear it again before she grows out of it!



Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Christmas Decor

Even after living in Townsville for three years, it's still hard for me to get into the Christmas spirit when it's 32 degrees Celsius (90 degrees Fahrenheit) and there's a big palm tree right outside my living room window.  But each year that we've been here, I've bought one or two decorations for the house.  This year we have our own Christmas tree (thanks to my mom) for the first time since we've been married.



It's small, fake and sparsely decorated, but I don't care; it's a Christmas tree!  What do you think of my homemade tree topper?  My mom suggested a big bow, but I didn't have any appropriate ribbon.  But what I did have was silver pipe cleaners.  While we were decorating the tree, Alexis got to open her first Christmas present.  Thank you Grandmas Lisa for giving Alexis her first Christmas tree ornament.



This is our Santa Claus.  He's actually a tree topper, but he's too big for our small tree, so we put him on our bookcase instead.



Our Christmas table.


Sunday, December 6, 2009

Monday, November 30, 2009

Tummy Time

This is a picture of Alexis that John took while he was supervising her 'tummy time.' When she was first born, Alexis would scream and scream when you put her on her stomach. She seems to enjoy it a bit more now. Maybe, because she is getting really good at controlling her head and can hold it up for quite awhile on her own.


Saturday, November 28, 2009

Church #2

Alexis has so many cute church outfits that I thought I better start taking pictures of her each week. She's not going to fit into them for that long!



Thursday, November 26, 2009

Sydney


John and I took Alexis to Sydney this week so that we could go to the American Consulate and make sure she was registered as an U.S. citizen. We also needed to get her a passport so that we can visit our family. Because Alexis is only 4 weeks old and I'm still recovering from my c-section, we kept the trip short - just a day a half. But once we were there, we wish we could have stayed longer! Alexis was a dream; she slept almost the whole time on both plane rides and she took great naps during the day (which she normally doesn't do). And I could have stayed in the hotel bed forever! It was so comfortable. John and I really like our bed at home. Normally when we come home from a trip, we are so happy to be back in our own bed. But, last night we were both wishing we were back at the Four Seasons. We didn't do too much extra walking around since I still get sore pretty easily, but the picture above was taken from our hotel room. Talk about a room with a view!
Alexis' first plane ride.
Townsville to Sydney - 24 November 2009


Mom and Alexis enjoying the king size feather bed at the hotel.


We made sure to take a walk down to Circular Quay to get a picture of Alexis with the Opera House. She's so adorable in her polka dots.


Taking a nap on the flight home.


Saturday, November 21, 2009

Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving early this year so that we could have it with Tom and Susan before they went back to the States.  It was great.  Thanks to the McCandlesses for hosting the dinner and a huge thanks to Susan for doing a ton of cooking!  She cooked two pumpkin pies, dinner rolls,  cinnamon rolls, stuffing, and potatoes.  I didn't have to do anything except season the mashed potatoes (which I requested, since I'm kind of picky).


After not sleeping all day, Alexis slept through the whole dinner. We tried out the sling for the first time, which was nice, because I could hold her and eat at the same time.  The only problem was that we both got really hot!  I was dripping in sweat by the time I took her out two hours later, as was she.



Monday, November 16, 2009

Baby in Red

John's parents want to put Alexis on the cover of their Christmas card this year, so we had a little photo shoot.  Here's a sneak peak:


Isn't the dress adorable? And the little patent leather shoes? And what's even more adorable (even though you can't see it now), is that this is the same dress that all of her older cousins are also wearing for Christmas.  So cute!

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Blessing Day



We blessed Alexis at church today.  John gave her a beautiful blessing.  She was such a good baby and didn't make a peep (even though she was hungry).  And she looked so cute in her blessing gown.  We are so happy that three of her grand-parents were able to be here for the occasion.



Proud parents:


Happy grand-parents:

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Footprints

I'm sure I would have been happy to have a boy, but it's just so much fun having a girl!  My mom brought a do-it-yourself footprint kit with her, and I'm so glad she did.  When Alexis was a week old, we thought it was time for her first craft project (and we didn't want her feet to grow too much).  I thought it would be difficult to get Lexie to hold still, but my mom was a pro:



Final Results:



Alexis is now 2 1/2 weeks old and is growing and changing so much everyday.  We're going to bless her this weekend while my mom and John's parents are all in town.  So, you can look forward to pictures of her in her beautiful blessing gown.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Church

Today was Alexis' first day at church.  Doesn't she look precious?



Monday, November 2, 2009

Introducing . . .

Alexis Ann Horne



26 October 2009
9:41 pm
8 lbs. 7 oz.
20.5 inches


Alexis (a.k.a. Lexie, Little Bug, Missie, Sweet Pea) finally made her entrance into this world a week after her due date.  She was so comfortable, she didn't want to come out!  I was induced at 6:00am on Monday morning and by 8:00pm that night, I was still only 4 cm dialated.  Alexis was showing some distress and I was developing a fever, so it was decided that it would be best to have a c-section.  Let me tell all of you who think that having a c-section is the "easy way out" -- it's not.  (NOTE TO READERS: skip this next part if you don't like gory details.)  Vomiting while laying on your back is not fun.  Neither is almost going unconscious while you hear the doctor saying, "let's get this bleeding under control" and the nurse having to run to another room to get an oxygen mask when the anesthesiologist asks for one "straight away."  And let's not forget how I screamed and whimpered like an injured animal when they pulled (or should I say ripped) my wound dressing off a few days later.  The upside to having a c-section?  Going to the bathroom pain free.  But I don't want to complain.  She was worth every second of it and then some.

After a four-day hospital stay, we made it home, only to determine that I had a uterine infection.  I was fine in the hospital and within 30 minutes of coming home, I was sick.  How ironic is that?  After a rough night, we were very grateful for the arrival of Grandma Lisa on Saturday afternoon.  (We were also blessed to have Grandma Susan with us at the hospital for a few days.)

Alexis is now a week old and we are so happy to have her in our family.  She already has her daddy wrapped around her little finger, and her mom too.


BIRTH




HOSPITAL




HOME



Monday, October 19, 2009

D-Day

Well, today is my official due date and as of 8:30pm, no baby. I thought you all might enjoy a good look at my belly at 40 weeks. Today was also my last day of work (for a few weeks anyway). Now I can just relax (or attempt to) until she decides to grace us with her presence.




Thursday, October 15, 2009

Baby Shower

A few weeks ago my friends threw me a wonderful baby shower. Thank you to all those who helped to plan it. And thank you for all of the generous gifts! I felt so loved.


Monday, October 12, 2009

Bruce

Soon after we were married, John and I bought our first fish, Sam. We became very attached to Sam (he was a Beta) and I know this sounds ridiculous, but I cried when I came home one day and John told me that he had found Sam dead.

Next, came Prince. Prince was a Black Moor goldfish and lived so long that we had to give him away when we moved to Australia. Since then, we have been fishless. There has been much discussion about setting up a proper fish tank since we live in Australia and John is a marine biologist. But, after discussing it for several years, with no definitive action, I finally just convinced John to let us buy another Black Moor goldfish.

Meet Bruce:


Unfortunately, Bruce passed away before I even had time to introduce him on the blog! He was very unique in his behaviour (for a goldfish) and we were happy to have him for 3 weeks.

R.I.P. Bruce.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Whitsunday Magic

We were lucky to spend last weekend sailing around the Whitsunday Islands on the "Whitsunday Magic." The Whitsundays are only about a 3 hour drive south of Townsville and are a tropical paradise! A couple of years ago, we had spent a few days on Brampton Island, one of the islands in the southern Whitsundays, but we really wanted to see more of the area and we didn't want to be stuck in one location. We would definitely recommend the cruise we went on. (Email me if you want the details.) The ship was beautiful, the crew were very friendly and competent, we were served gourmet food the entire trip (we couldn't figure out how they could cook such fancy food in a small galley kitchen) and there were only 25 guests on board. The captain was very accommodating with our itinerary and we discussed every night where we wanted to sail the next day. As you will see from the pictures below, we had perfect weather! It was a great weekend; we couldn't have planned a better "babymoon" to enjoy before our baby girl arrives.

OUR ITINERARY

1. Leave from Abel Point Marina at Airlie Beach.
2. Overnight anchorage at Blue Pearl Bay on Hayman Island.
3. Snorkel at Bait Reef (mid-shelf reef on the Great Barrier Reef).
4. Overnight anchorage at Tongue Bay on Whitsunday Island.
5. Spend the morning at Whitehaven Beach & Betty's Beach on Whitsunday Island.
6. Afternoon snorkel at Pit Stop Bay on Border Island.
7. Overnight anchorage at South Molle Island. Spend morning at South Molle Island Resort.
8. Return to Abel Point Marina.


THE WHITSUNDAY MAGIC


WHITEHAVEN BEACH


SNORKELING AT BAIT REEF & PIT STOP BAY


SUNSET CRUISING


Saturday, September 5, 2009

Mr. & Mrs. Smith




Congratulations to my sister Brittney and new brother-in-law Jesse! They were married today in the Portland Temple. We wish we could have been there! We can't wait to see the pictures!

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Bugs

Growing up, my mom always told us that the word "hate" was a very strong word, and that it was better to say "strongly dislike." Well, I can honestly say that I hate bugs! Now, not all bugs are evil, but the ones that live in my house and attack my kitchen, bathroom, closet, bed, etc. most definitely are. I hope the following picture doesn't gross you out too much.


I couldn't resist putting the ruler down. This cockroach in our kitchen was 4 cm (1.5 in) long! Definitely the biggest one we've ever seen inside. I can't complain too much about cockroaches as we've only seen about 3 or 4 inside our house during the almost three years we've been living here; the ants on the other hand are a completely different story. No matter how clean I try to keep the house, they are everywhere! Seriously, within 30 minutes of cleaning the kitchen, they're back in action. I've already warned John that if he thinks I'm going to put our baby on the floor to play, then we'll have to start cleaning it at least every other day (instead of the current weekly cleaning). Neither one of us are looking forward to that chore.

The ants latest target? My running shoes. When I went to get dressed for church last Sunday, I noticed some stray ants on a few pairs of my shoes. After some investigation, I found a large ant trail leading to my running shoes. As I was trying to be on time to church, I couldn't do anything about it at the time. After church, the trail was still there, but I was too tired to deal with it. Knowing I would need to wear the shoes soon, I finally decided to tackle the problem after dinner. So I used some bug spray on the trail and then carefully carried the shoes into the laundry room sink. I knew that taking the shoes apart would disturb the nest. What I didn't expect was how gross it would be. After lifting out the insole, there were so many ants and eggs that it looked like someone had poured a good tablespoon full of salt and pepper in my shoe. I should have taken a picture, but I was too grossed out. Needless to say, I quickly put the shoes in the wash. Living in the tropics definitely has some benefits, but the bugs are not one of them.