Mommy advice anyone??

After a few days of pretty desperate attempts to put Autumn down for naps and bedtime, I am reaching out for some advice. I'm torn between trying to be the mom from the textbook who lets her baby cry herself to sleep and the mom who can't stand to listen to a screaming baby and picks her up right away.

So, since many of you are much better and more experienced mommies than me, I could use some wisdom... We've had our ups and downs, but the past few nights and naps have been pretty rough. If she wakes up at night she won't go back to sleep unless I put in her binky and tickle her back or feed her. At night she screams before bed time. She doesn't want to lay down in her crib, but she doesn't want to be held either. haha.

Pretty much this is an open forum for advice on any bedtime tips you might have up your sleeves... I am sure every mommy is different, I just haven't found what works best for us yet. I'll try anything you send at me until we find bedtime bliss.

Yum

So Todd had a mission buddy and his wife over on Friday night for dinner. They made German food and it was so good! I'm still not over it's deliciousness so I thought I should probably post about it. Autumn had a blast too, she stayed up way past her bedtime... She was up until like 9. haha. If you are a reader of this blog, I extend an invite to all of you to come hang out at our house. We love having people over and chances are pretty good we'll feed you. Even better, if you live out of town, we are almost finished setting up our guest room so you can come stay! What can beat that?

NEW HOUSE!!!

Our new pad!


Fireplace in our living room, oh yeah!

Front - Todd and Autumn

Side shot with Susie and Autumn on front porch.

Side shot, I didn't realize I was zoomed in, driveway goes back a little more to our garage and "back yard"

Posted by Todd - We are OFFICIALLY first time home-owners. It was a rougher than usual road, but we finally closed on March 25, 2009. We couldn't be happier! It is 2 stories, 5 bedroom 3 bathroom with a 2 car (more like 1 and 1/2 , so 1 car and storage) garage. There is only a super tiny back yard, but we live right next door to the neighborhood park, which totally makes up for it. The summers will be loud as all the neighborhood kids will be playing right outside our kitchen and living room windows, but it will be great to have a close eye on our kids. So far I haven't minded it.

We love all the space that it has. My friends Denny and Lloyd, as well as Lloyds little sister, have already come to stay with us, we went to a New Found Glory show downtown.

Also, my mom came to stay with us and we had a great time watching conference and eating a wonderfully delicious meal prepared by Susie. Thanks for coming up mom!

Easter 2009

Family photo op during the egg hunt.

Chillin in our living room. Excuse the messy floor... (all Autumn's stuff!)

Posted by Todd - We woke up easter morning to find that the Easter Bunny had made a visit! Autumn got some new clothes and a stuffed bunny, Susie got a snow cone machine, and I got my delicious Reeses Pieces eggs. We spent the afternoon at Susie's parents' house. It was a great time and we love getting together with family. Thanks to Dave and Jackie for hosting a great dinner! The Easter Egg hunt was also a hit, as always. (It helps when there is $$ in most of them!)

The latest.

Hooray! After an extremely difficult few weeks of trying to close on our house, it is finally happening today!! I'll upload some pictures soon. We are going to start moving stuff tonight and cleaning tomorrow. Yay! Yippee! So excited!

In other news, I chopped off all of my hair. It is like a whole inch long. haha. Autumn has these grabby little fingers and she kept pulling all my hair out. And I figured it was time for a change. I don't take many pictures of myself these days but here's one I just snapped with my phone... Not the best shot, but there it is!

I've been into makaing stuff lately. I've actually made some pretty cute little hairbows the past little while and also some pretty awesome picture frames for Autumn't room. My mom has been even more crafty though. She finished baby's crib set so we can get it all put together in her new nursery! Woohoo! I'm getting way too excited about this. Here are a few new pictures of Autumn. She is getting so big and changing so fast!

Blog vomit.

So it's been a while again... I seem to blog less these days. I guess there is just always something to do lately! Autumn is getting really good at keeping me pretty busy. Latest house update- things are crazy! The bank that owned the house we are buying went bankrupt so now we can't find the title. Anyways, the lender won't give us a loan without the title so now we are just stuck waiting.
Here's a little video for y'all. Love everybody!

Just this morning...

Autumn rolled over this morning! I was pretty excited... Hope you all enjoy her bed-hair as much as I do. Haha.

And as another house update, we have the signed purchase contract from the seller and we're just mortgage shopping now. Technically, they have accepted our offer and we are almost homeowners. Tentative closing date is March 10th. I'll keep you all posted. Needless to say we are super excited!!