fun with photobooth: mommy & faye

something delicious

i don't cook very well.. thus i don't cook very often. i tend to stick with the ten things i know and just go with that.
BUT i deep inside like to try new things and every once and a while i get up the courage (and the desire to go to the grocery store) and the outcome usually looks like THIS:
Grilled Eggplant with Ricotta & Tomato Basil Relish

i have no idea if i've ever eaten eggplant before- but i'm definitely a fan now!i loved the grilled tomatoes- but i used regular tomatoes off the vine & they were a bit too liquidy. i added a simple green salad with balsamic vinegar. it felt super healthy and was SO GOOD. and easy.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/grilled-eggplant-with-fresh-ricotta-and-grilled-tomato-basil-relish-recipe/index.html

2 Months!

ooooo are my parents in for it! i am too months old now and moving like crazy! my arms and legs wiggle wiggle WIGGLE all the time. i like to grab onto things on accident and my mom & daddy have to PRY my little clenched hand apart to get me to let it go! i can hold a rattle in my hand, but i don't care for it much. my favorite thing to do is sit on someone's lap & talk. mostly i talk to daddy, but anyone can get me to jabber jabber if i'm in the right mood! i still scowl a lot of the time, but the other times i'm quietly observing or smiling. i HATE being faced to someone's shoulder because i want to LOOK OUT and SEE everything.

my favorite person in the whole world is daddy; i smile HUGE and start to wiggelwiggle & talk immediately when he gets home! it's so stinkin' cute!

i'm getting so cute now!!
my 2 month stats are:
16 cm head - 87%
23.5 inches long - 88%
11 lbs 10 ounces - 76%

i am fat & happy!

Easter!

this year we traveled to Vegas to spend a big weekend with ALL my family. it was a blast. We had a BBQ for nate & lauren & celebrated kayleigh's 6th birthday with a bouncy house & RAPUNZEL! we got to meet our little viking cousin, aksel, and spent time with "aunt" kelli and took family pictures. we visited friends, played with all the cousins, sang in the choir at church, & ate a delicious easter dinner. we even got delicious cupcakes for anna's 2nd birthday & drove home in record time- 4 hours & 15 min! it was an awesome weekend. i confess i teared up a bit as we were driving home because it was so nice to be with EVERYONE. everyone played and ate and sang & laughed. it made me sad to leave all the babies. i love my family. they are my friends & i miss them in CA. poor faye does not live close enough to her cousins!
HOORAY for a wonderful weekend! what a wonderful happy weekend to remember our Savior and the message of his life. happy easter!

sadly my camera died after the first day so we'll have to wait til kevin gets me copies of the rest of the weekend! :)

The Easter Bunny

Look what the Easter Bunny left in our basket!! A little fat baby girl!

Don't you just love her jammies?? They look just like an egg- so fitting :)

Get me outta this stinkin' basket! haha

I Gotta Have You- The Weepies

This song came on my Pandora Radio today. Immediately I was overcome with sweet memories of back when I was dating Brad. I was so head over heels and so twitterpated. Dating Brad was the life experience equivalent of Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies, huge brightly colored pinatas, and warm sand between your toes. His presence in my life made all things that were awesome before even MORE awesome. Listening to this song made me smile and get all warm & fuzzy inside.

We are a kinda far away from hating to say goodnight, dreaming about building our life together, and thinking making dinner together is fun- haha; but I'm happy to take a moment and realize that, indeed, the actual building of a life is entertaining, challenging, and at moments full of absolute bliss. We've created a home, a baby, and a nest egg together. We live in the lap of luxury: our baby sleeps 6-8 hours a night, we drive a civic with a brand new clutch, and we watch The Biggest Loser and Parks and Recreation without commercials. I might not be dating the most eligible bachelor in HB anymore, but I traded him in for a faithful, happy, devoted father and willing dish-dryer. And that, my friends, keeps me smiling and warm & fuzzy inside. :)

I love you, Brad.

"No, no, no, no, no- nothing else will do- I gotta have you."

fat, clean baby!

watching general conference at the barttels home...

they are going to be such buddies as she grows up, i love it :)

first trip to the beach!

mommy, baby, and auntie coco went to lunch in downtown HB and walked around watching the sunbathers, volleyball players, and fishers of fish off the pier. :) twas lovely. faye loved her first trip to the beach enjoying the sunshine & ocean breeze!

haha.

my mad scientist

i like to comb her hair against the cowlick. it makes it that much more awesome. :)

4 Weeks slash 1 Month!

Hooray! I am 1 month old! I like to smile and talk to Mommy and Daddy for an hour in the morning (I am so cute & they love waking up with me in the mornings) and cry for an hour at night cause I don't like to go to bed, even when I am very tired. Once I am there, though, I sleep for 5 or 6 hours- great for Mommy and Daddy! I've started to smile a lot more, and have ALMOST grown out of my newborn size clothes! My pj's are all VERY tight in my feet cause I'm getting taller, but the onesies still fit. Mommy and Daddy think I am 10 pounds now bc they measured me on the digital scale! Wow!

Let's FRY something!

What do you do on a very long, blustery, rainy, dark Sunday afternoon? Why FRY things of course!

Brad & I did some experimenting with our deep fryer last night. It was super fun, super greasy & super delicious!! We had regular scones dipped in cinnamon sugar. Chocolate Frosting filled scones(tasted like a warm eclair). Apples and cheese in dough. Apples dipped in sugar in batter(ended up tasting like apple pie- delicious!). Onion rings. Chicken, onion & peppers & cheese (my favorite bc it was kind of real food). We used pre-made canned dough and also pancake batter. Super fun, different & probably the least healthy we've eaten in a long time :)

Faye 3 Weeks

I have started recognizing faces- especially Mommy & Daddy. Daddy even got me to talk to him this week! I am so cute. I am getting fatter everyday- all the skin on my knees is all filled in now- Mommy is so happy I am getting so rolly poly!

Faye 2 weeks

Hello Oskie!
At her 2 week appointment she weighs in a 8 lbs 10 oz. She's gained a WHOLE POUND. I love her little folds of skin are slowly filling up and getting pudgier everyday. Yay for a fat baby!

This picture IS from the day she was 2 weeks (I realize now it is almost 3 weeks...).

Snuggling with Daddy

He can't get enough of this little girl. He snuggles her ALL THE TIME. It's very cute.

Lots of visitors!

here's a few people (i always forget to take pictures when people come) who have come to visit me!

"Aunt" Huli

Uncle Chad came home from college to see me! (and spring break)

Uncle Trevor, Chad, Grandpa Judd, Grandma Judd, and Great-Grandma Karren

and Grandpa Anderson!

Faye: 1 Week

Here I am with my best buddy, Oskie that Grandma Wendy gave to me.
My cousin Aksel has one, too!
I am one week old!

two way tie for my favorite person: brad & faye

#1 reason to have baby at Hoag Hospital: how's this view for labor/delivery/recovery?? sweetness!

Poor sad baby!Look at this little bum!At this point I was still in shock, I think, that I was a MOM. It's crazy how one minute you are pregnant and the next you... aren't.
I look like I've been hit by a car. Awesome. Mostly it's lighting, I promise everyone kept saying how great and NOT tired I looked, but this suggests otherwise. Maybe they were lying to me. I choose to believe it. :) But it's our first family picture so... oh well. She cracks me up. this is her OUT. She sleeps like a champ so far. We'll see if that changes tomorrow. Daddy's GirlSwollen me, naked Faye, Grandma Wendy, Aunt MelissaSleeping with Grandma. Bless my mother for being here for a week and taking such good care of us! She cooked and deep cleaned and sewed. Hooray!Hello!Look at that fat chin! She flexes her feet when she eats. I think its hilarious.Faye makes Team Barttels #3. We love her, oh, so much!

Faye Barttels

is HERE!

Sunday February 27th, 2:06 AM
7 Lbs. 9 Oz. 19.5 Inches
Perfection

my camera is somewhere. i will upload good non-cell phone pictures as soon as i can.

favorite moments so far:
- when i was pushing and brad said "i can see her head!! she has hair! she has dark hair!" he was SO outrageously excited i loved it. :)
- that she sucks her hands and fingers anytime she can get to them, which is a lot. she is WIGGLY just like in the womb and can get her hands out of any swaddle.
- she scowls and looks at you with only 1 eye open. hilarious.
- i love that she is looking more like her daddy everyday. she got dark and red really fast. hooray for olive skin! you can't tel in these pictures, but she is definitely my little papoose and got daddy's indian blood :)
- i love watching her daddy hold/change/feed/talk to her. she is going to get anything and everything she wants out of him. he's so in love :)
- i loved that my sister couldn't stand it so she left her 4 kids with her husband and drove down sunday afternoon for one day. i have the best sisterface.

there is so much to document!! i hope i can remember it all when i sit down to do it someday :)

i love my fat-cheeked baby girl.