Elizabeth received some money for her birth day (along with enough clothes to keep her happy until she’s 1.  Yesterday during our lunch break, we went to the bank and opened up her first savings account.  She has a grand total of $375.00.

Last night Paul, Mum & Cameron went to see “Beowulf” while Elizabeth & I stayed home.  I was able to make cupcakes, do laundry, do dishes & even watch some tv all while they were gone.  It was kinda nice to have a break from all the chaos. 

After school today, Cameron is going with his grandma Joanne to get some contacts (for Christmas).  Tomorrow, I’m taking the boys to get their haircut, which means Paul might actually shave, too.  Doreen started making comments about his facial hair yesterday.  He was surprised that she waited a whole 18 hours to say something.  “She must’ve really been jetlagged to not make a comment until today,” he said.  Also tomorrow is our trip to the Dicken’s Festival. 

Elizabeth looks bald from the front, but her hair is really thick in the back.

It sure is cold here in St. George lately.  The high temp is in the high 50’s ~ brrrr!!  

Cameron is feeling a bit better, but he still has a sore throat.  Yesterday, Natalie asked him to go to the Preference Dance in December.  Apparently, we must go buy some new pants to wear to the dance.   The haircut is scheduled for Saturday.  He’s still trying to decide whether or not to shave, as he was planning on growing out the beard for the cold winter.

 Mum was picked up from the St. George Shuttle last night.  Today she looks a bit tired, but that’s to be expected.  By tomorrow, she’ll be back to normal, I’m sure.   Mum brought me some smokey bacon crisps (mmm) and Cameron got a bunch of chocolate.   Paul got his favorite — branston pickle, along with a fresh bottle of HP sauce.  Poor Paul has been a whole week without any HP and was starting to go through withdrawals.   He’s currently trying to teach mum how to buy plastic (squeezy) bottles and not glass.

Yes.  You read correctly.  Mum arrives tomorrow afternoon for another 10 day visit. 

As you may have noticed with her previous visit, mum really didn’t have much time with Elizabeth, so she has decided to come over again to do nothing but hold her (favorite) granddaughter.   This is the most perfect time, I think.  Elizabeth is laughing & smiling the most and is still totally dependent on others.  So mum can sit and hold & talk to Elizabeth for hours on end with no complaints.   Paul will be able to get more work done and I can do my housework w/out interruption.

Cameron is feeling much better.  Yesterday afternoon he started on Zicam and has had the humidifier going 24/7.  His throat is still sore, but we’re hoping that goes away soon.   I think he’s looking forward to Doreen’s visit…. I hear rumors that she’s bringing him some chocolate, so that might have something to do with it.

On Saturday, we’re planning a visit to the Dicken’s Festival at the Dixie Center.  I get to walk around with the English and hear about how everyone is doing the accent wrong and how “it’s not really like that in England, you know”.  I can’t wait. 

This year’s T-giving was a bit strange. Scheduled to be in attendance at dinner at my parents house:
David & family from Denver, Daniel & family from St. George, and Paul, Elizabeth & I. Cameron was at his dad’s house and Cynthia went to her in-laws.

The doctor told us not to get Elizabeth anywhere near sick people…. so on Wednesday night, I called to see if anyone was sick. Sure enough, Daniel had 2 sick people in his family. Because of that, we decided to stay home. We spent our Thursday afternoon meal at Denny’s. That night, David and his family drove down to St. George and dropped Stephanie (their oldest daughter, age 17) at our house.  She’s really good with Elizabeth.

  Stephanie is the oldest grandchild, Elizabeth is the youngest.

On Black Friday, Paul & Elizabeth stayed home while Steph & I ventured out in the freezing cold in the early morning hours. My entire family came down to St. George to go shopping and to join up for lunch at the Olive Garden.

During lunch, germs were flying everywhere. All who were sick were in attendance, but we tried to stay at the opposite end of the table. We also kept Elizabeth completely covered during the entire meal.

Last night, I called my parents to see how they were doing, now that the stress of the weekend was over. My dad is sick.  3/4 of David’s kids are also sick. Cameron came home from his dad’s house and he’s sick also. I wouldn’t be surprised if more of my family start to catch this cold, as today is day 3 of being exposed.

I have a feeling that this is going to be a very, very long winter. We’re doing our best to keep Elizabeth safe & well. Wish us luck!!

Today Elizabeth is 12 weeks old.

Weight — 10 lbs 8 oz    (18%ile)
Length — 22 1/2 inches    (24%ile)
Head — 39 cm    (31%ile)

Elizabeth got her first shots today, which will make her nice & cranky for tomorrow’s Thanksgiving dinner.  David & Tammy and family will be meeting Elizabeth for the first time.  Hopefully she’s not going to be too fussy.  We did consider having the shots done next week, so Nanny Doreen can take care of her and we can enjoy a peaceful long weekend.

When Paul’s family was over last month, we had them bring some Picnic candy bars from England.   Doctor Marsden went to Ireland on his (LDS) mission, and he missed those candy bars since his return.   You should have seen his face when I pulled the candy from my purse.  It was like a little boy on Christmas morning!!  It was priceless.   You’d think he would’ve given us a discount on our visit for all the pains we went through to get the candy brought over.

Well, it wasn’t the new crib that made her sleep well on Sunday night.  How can someone so cute make so much noise?

This weekend has been exhausting.  I’m sure that we’re like most of you who work M-F and only have the weekends to do the tedious chores around the house.

A week ago, we bought a crib, but the color we wanted wasn’t in stock.  So we had to get this enormous box home and hold it for a week and then borrow my brothers truck to take it back to the store and exchange it for the correct one, once the one we wanted was delivered to the store.  It was a hassle, but we got the $129.95 crib for only $79! 

Because our big girl was graduating from the bassinet to the crib, we had to figure out a way to get her new bed into our cramped(ish) bedroom, so we ended up taking a truckload of “treasures” to our storage shed.  (It’s amazing what you find that you can live without.)

Today — the crib is put together, made & in it’s place.  the clutter is out of the bedroom and we also organized our closets and tossed out a HUGE pile of old clothes & shoes.   It feels so good to have things clean, and we have more open space in our room now. 

I’m not sure if the crib has anything to do with it, but Elizabeth only woke up 2 times last night.   She was either super tired, or she’s enjoying not being in cramped quarters.  She was always hitting the sides and bottom of that bassinet, waking up about 4 or 5 times per night.  Hopefully she’ll be just as good from now on.  

Some have wondered why Elizabeth is not sleeping through the night yet.  Well, since she was so tiny, her little body needed food more often than normal newborns.  Since she’s just barely wearing newborn clothes, and is also just barely the size that Paul was at birth, we’re thinking that it’ll be another couple of months before that happens.

Cameron, my 16 year old, held Elizabeth last night for the first time.  I was busy trying to get dinner ready, and she started to fuss a bit.  I had to hold her up and put her on his shoulder and then she was perfectly happy.  It’s very strange having children so far apart in age. 

Lately, Cameron has been very chatty.  Last night he wanted to learn how to cook!  I’m not sure what’s going on, but I like it. 

Last night, Paul and I took Elizabeth to my boss’ house to plug in their new computer for them (it’s difficult for old people to figure that stuff out).

My boss’ wife had no problem kissing their dogs on the mouth, and then kissing my daughter.  Also, no one disciplined the dogs when they licked Elizbeth’s hands or feet.  When I got home, I scrubbed that girl down from head to toe to get rid of all the doggie germs.

According to Mythbusters, the mouth of a dog is cleaner than the mouth of a human, but it still grosses me out.  Is it just me?  Maybe I’m just being over cautious?   Maybe I just love bleach too much?  I’ll guess that my mom would think that dog ’germs’ won’t harm an infant, but my mother in law would agree with me.

Today Elizabeth is 11 weeks old. One week from today, she’ll have her 3-month check-up. According to the scale that I bought on ebay, she weighs a whopping 10 lbs!! She’s now nearly as big as Paul was when he was born. (we’ll have the official weight & length next week).

To answer the question I get asked the most — “No”. Cameron still has not held Elizabeth yet, but then again, neither has Grandpa Kingsley.