Sister's in Black: Black Friday Edition No. 1

As some of you may know Black Friday is a very big tradition in the Seipert/Parry household (much to Clayton's protest). I actually think I have found a woman that indeed replicates my sister Jessica's love for Black Friday. If you think I am crazy--check out her blog. You see that cute, perfectly put together appearance-- never would you think that she is would push old ladies down, stay up all night, and hide out in dressing rooms. Trust me people- the gloves come off.

So if you are looking for a good time. Join us. I unwillingly get dragged along every year- much to my protest. Alas every year it is worth it just to see the frazzled, slightly psychotic look in her eye. Ahhh she makes a sister proud.

Watch to get a little idea of what I am talking about: (this year I will be taking actual footage to post, stay tuned)

Its been a while

I know what you are all thinking......"Danielle is a terrible, terrible blogger". All I  can say is, I feel the same way. Really a lot has been going on that is definitely worth blogging about but things have definitely been crazy the past little while.

Maddox is growing like a weed. He gets bigger and funnier everyday. He is now a very swift and limber crawler (he has been crawling for about three weeks now). He gets himself into places that are beyond me. He also just started to pull himself up on furniture so I am sure before we know it he is going to be running everywhere. I think I am going to have to invest in one of those backpack leashes and just have him wear it around the house.  He is going to be out of control.  He is getting really close to saying "Dadda" and Clayton loves it. He is getting so big and is so much fun.

Recently Maddox has gotten his first earache. He was such a trooper the whole time he was sick, he is still fighting off his cold that he got along with the earache.  He has been a little more needy but I don't mind, I love being needed because usually he is so big and independent for his mamma:(

Since all I talk about is Maddox maybe I should give a update and Clayton and myself. Clayton is still working and going to school. He loves his classes and really is not looking forward to going back to BYU as he has been at UVU the past 2 semesters. he has really enjoyed UVU but I am sure he will enjoy BYU now that he has actually decided on what he is majoring in.  As for myself I have been super busy doing things at home and then working my occasional shift at the Center for Change, and inpatient psychiatric hospital for women and girl with eating disorders, which I absolutely love. I did however get offered a job with Jet Blue to work from home starting in January. Once I start there I will have to quit at the center which makes me really sad because I really do love working there.

Here are some pictures of what we have been up to lately:

Cheesy Maddox

Maddox loves having his pictures taken

Maddox pretending to be a puppy. He loves dogs.

                                           

5 Months Old!

I cannot believe that my baby is five months old today! I was just talking to Clayton last night about how it has just flown by yet it feels like he has always been with us. We can't remember life with out him. He is the sweetest little boy and I love him to death. This is a picture of him that I took today on our walk:

He is sooooo handsome, but of course I am biased!

Here are a few highlights from the past five months (I am allowed to brag! I am his mom:))

From Birth he could always:
-Lift up and support his own head
-Support all of his own weight while standing
 - He has always been very alert and could focus his eyes on faces and objects

- At about two weeks his started smiling
 - On his exact one month birthday (April 3rd)  he started socially smiling and has not stopped since.
- He first rolled over from his stomach to his back on May 7th
-He first laughed on May 28th and it is the cutest thing ever. I need to take a video and post it.
-About a month ago he started reaching for objects, ie his binky and putting them back in his mouth.
- Just lately he has started trying to mimic things that Clayton and I do, yesterday Clayton asked him how many fingers he was holding up and Maddox matched his had by holding up two fingers. My baby is a GENIUS!!! ha ha ha
-He is now in the 71% for height and the 10% for weight!

Happy Five Month Old Birthday Maddie!

July

July was an absolutely crazy month for us! Since I haven't posted in a  while I decided to give you a run down of what we have been up to.
We started out the month with the Fourth of July weekend. We spent most of the weekend with the Thayn's and we had a blast! It was even Sam's birthday that weekend. Happy Birthday Sam! We started out by going to watch the fireworks at Thanksgiving Point. The fireworks were a little disappointing and the traffic after was terrible but we really did have a fun time.

Then on Monday we went to the Provo City parade:) Thank you Sister Thayn for saving us seats! It was really fun. I always really like going to parades, however I was a little worried about Maddox since it had been so hot but he loved it! By saying loved I mean he slept through most of it;)

 Our Next event for the month was Maddox eating solids for the first time! It was so cute. He actually did really well and ate most of his food. He loves eating solids now and wants to try and eat whatever anyone else is eating. So watch out, if it is with in his reach he is going to grab it and try to eat it!

We then headed off to California for Tanner and Chloe's wedding! We had such a fun time. We love California and hate it every time we have to come home. Their sealing and reception were absolutely beautiful and I am so grateful that we had the opportunity to attend! We love you Tanner and Chloe!

After being home a few short days we headed straight for Lake Powell. We had a blast. It was so nice just to get away and relax! Clayton especially loved it, Maddox did not like the water too much be he loved all of the extra attention he got. He came home a spoiled little boy;) I especially loved the part were we are being dropped off at the dock to leave, Clayton had run to get the car and Maddox and I are sitting in the 110 degree weather and Maddox diaper seemed to have failed him. Somehow I ended up with poop all over my pants yet when I went to change his diaper it barely had anything. Ugh. Oh and ps by the end of the trip everyone was calling me the "Catfish Queen" because I am such a good fisherman. Let me know if you need lessons. I am pretty expensive though.

Last but not least we rounded out our trip with the Seipert Family reunion up in Ririe, Idaho. Needless to say Maddox was again spoiled. We are going to have to limit our family time for the month of August all of this attention is starting to go to his head I think;)

Well that was about everything we did in July. It was a crazy month, but we feel so blessed that we were able to do everything that we did. Hopefully August wont be as busy, HA at least everything is in Utah.

Correction

Dear Baby Namey.com,

I would appreciate it if you did not prematurely age my child. He is in fact STILL three months old. In fact he will NOT be four months old until tomorrow night at 9:09 pm. He is already getting big entirely too fast, I do not appreciate your help. And please he is basically watching himself so he definitely does not need any help;)


-Much Love

Me

If......

If I was a season,

I’d be spring.

If I was a piece of furniture,

I'd be porch swing

If I was a country,

I'd be Romania

If I was a food,

I'd be an Oreo

If I was a flower,

I'd be a Hydrangea

If I was a song,

I'd be Regina Spektor- Samson

If I was an instrument,

I'd be a cello

If I was a color,

I'd be white

If I was a letter,

I'd be a love letter

If I was a book,

I'd be The Time Traveler's Wife

If I was a time of day,

I'd be dusk

If I was a drink,

I'd be raspberry lemonade

If I was a holiday,

I'd be Christmas Eve

If I was a store,

I'd be an antique store

If I was a word,

I'd be mesmerizing

If I was a person,

I’d be me

If I could know the future,

I'd want to see my family as an Eternal one

So You Think You Can Dance TOP 10

So since I always have sooooo much to say about my favorite show ever I thought I would blog about it a little bit. Can I just tell you how much I love that Mia Michaels is on the panel of judges....I love her.


Cristina and Pasha- Pasa Doble

In the past I have not really been impressed by Cristina's performances, especially next to Pasha and Anya. I hope he doesn't totally blow her out of the water and she can pull off the passion needed for this dance.
Now I don't know much about ballroom but I just feel her performance was a little lack luster. It is such an intense dance and I felt like she just sort of went through the motions, she is definitely lucky she had Pasha as her partner. He definitely carried her through out this performance.

* I definitely like the change for last week, the all stars are staying with the contestant for the judging.

Adechike and Alison- Contemporary

Sad no story...I hope they are able to connect just as much as when there is a story. Adechike struggled with connecting to his partner so this may be a major downfall for him.

First off Alison is so incredible, she dances with so much passion. I can already tell however that because of the passion she is out shining Adechike. That spiral lift was beautiful. I love their partnering together, they do really bring out the best in each other. I only wish Adechike would have shown the same amount of passion as Alison. He has gotten better from last week however he still has a ways to go to be on the same level as some of the other dancers. I like was Mia says about finding the joy, being able to connect the dance and find that internal happiness makes the dance go from just technique to passionate and mesmerizing.

Alex and Lauren- Broadway

First off Alex is my absolute favorite in the competition. He has so much strength and he is just a phenomenal dancer. I am so glad he is on this season, he really is blowing almost all of the other dancers out of the water. I think having the strong back ground in ballet that he does he is definitely ahead of the pack.

Fosse style of dance is such a unique style of broadway dancing. It is totally different for Alex, he wont be able to use his explosive strength since Bob Fosse was all about the small repetitive movements.

Great choice of music, it really highlights the hit beats. Um wow Alex's side leap um incredible. Sorry I am biased but I love how he just totally commits to every character with in the dance. I loved the sequence with Alex crawling under Lauren's back bend, so visually interesting and unique. HA the ending---I can hear every boy at home cringing when Alex ended in the straddles.

Ashley and Mark- Jazz

Her background package photos definitely reminded me of my early dancing days, poof bangs and all. I love Travis Wall, I am super excited to watch this dance. I hope she can pull of the emotions this week.

She has beautiful extension. I loved the opening sequence walk and lift. I still think she is struggling with the emotion. It feels slightly disjointed to me and I am not feeling the emotional break up that Travis was talking about. Mark is such an amazing partner. What an awesome dive lift.

Wow Nigel is sort of bashing Travis for his routine, that usually does not happen and I think it is in poor taste of Nigel. The routine was beautifully choreographed and his interpretation is his not Nigel's.

Billy and Comfort- Krump

Lil C is choreographing and this is going to be a tough dance for Billy I think. Krump is so completely different and then he has Lil C on top of all that. Hopefully he will be "buck":)

I am always surprised at how good comfort is, I guess I never expect a girl to dance like that. I am really impressed with Billy so far. Side note: Clayton just called Krump the "Dirty Hip Hop" ha ha ha It feels as though Billy is really concentrating hard and is not really in the moment dancing. He is doing well, Krump is definitely not his style though.

Robert and Anya- Tango

Anya is SEX on a stick. She is always so steamy it makes me giggle ha ha ha ha. I just could never have the guts.
Robert looks so handsome and debonair. So far he is really dancing right up there with Anya, he is doing awesome. I loved the straddle down with Anya in the middle. Robert is starting to fall flat for me towards the middle of the dance, he picked it right back up towards the end. Those quick steps together looked really fast and precise.

Melinda and Ade- Contemporary

This is going to be a very interesting dance. It is always hard for me to connect to the dancers when the dance is focused around inadimate objects. I do enjoy Stacey Tooke though so we will see.

Ade is such a strong and powerful dancer, he really is doing a beautiful job. I love the song choice. Melinda definitely lacks in technique and you can see it in her feet and torres. She is passionate and you can see it, it is just hard to look past how much she lack in technique. It was a beautiful dance bit I think she might be in trouble this week. I really loved all of the lifts and throws.

Jose and Katheryn- Bollywood

It would be hard to follow up last seasons Bollywood number that blew everyone out of the water. Katheryn is awesome though so she should help Jose quite a bit. Hopefully he can pull it off.

Jose is ALADDIN ha ha ha how funny. Katheryn is really rocking this dance. At the beginning Jose just looked like he was a little kid trying to join in...sad.It is a very fun and playful dance with the butt slapping and all and Jose is doing as well as can be expected, Katheryn is really carrying him though. He might be in trouble as well.

Lauren and Dominic- Lyrical/Hip Hop

This should definitely be an interesting dance with he abusive relationship topic. It will be interesting to see if Lauren can connect on such a deep and serious level. I am really excited to see this dance.

I love that opening rolling sequence. This dance really reminds me of a nappytabs number. I however don't feel the connection for either dancer more so Lauren, though out the dance it seems to be getting better though. I wish that they were dancing more together instead of individually. I really liked that he was caring her off and away, like he is trying to control her. Overall I really like this new choreographer, I think she is going to do really well on the show. I really like what Mia added about taking the dance into reality and really involving yourself.

Kent and Courtney- Jazz

I love Kent, he really is just the cutest little thing ever. He is very endearing and I think that one element is going to get him far in this competition. This dance is going to be very sexy, it will be interesting if Kent can leave the farm boy behind and be sexy. Ha ha ha

Wow Kent is delivering on the sexyiness ha ha ha very different form the bight eyed and bushy tailed Kent from last week. Very spacially interesting lifts and use of the floor. I really liked when Kent ran his hand down her body and then made out with her HA HA HA. and then he starts talking and he is the little boy again....I love it.

It is so interesting to me how much of the success of the dance and the dancer depends on the emotional commitment and acting on the dancer. Really that one element can make or break the entire dance. Love it.

I think all in all everyone did really well this week however with that in mind I think the Jose and Melinda are in trouble this week. Tomorrow we will find out who goes home:)

Happy Father's Day

Everyday I am so amazed at how completely blessed my life is. Today especially. I have the most incredible best friend in the entire world, and he is MY husband. He is also the best father to our little guy Maddox. He can get that little boy smiling like no one else can. Trust me I have tried. Not only is he amazing but he is HOT too;)
I love you so much honey, Happy Father's Day!

Love,
Me

Mother's Day Mormon Message

I happened upon the Mormon Message below featuring Nie Nie or Stephanie Nelson. I have been following her blog for close to two years now and she is one of the most incredible people that I have had the privileged in knowing, and I don't even know her. Though her blog she bears her soul. She is a beautiful person in every way imaginable and she shows that through each individual post. She is truly a disciple of Christ, and she shows that through her divine dedication to the Gospel. Watch and enjoy her message below, she is truly a mother to be celebrated. I hope to meet her one day to simply thank her for sharing her soul with me. She is beauty.



I am so unbelievably blessed for the life I live and for the people in it. I have such an amazing husband and baby. I truly have something to celebrate this Mother's day. I am blessed in everyway.

As of late..

Can you believe that I get to spend everyday with this little guy? I am pretty sure I am the luckiest mom ever!

A Baby Story

Well for those of you who are interested this is how everything went down:) For weeks and weeks I had been talking about how Andrea (Dr Smith, she doesn't know that I secretly call her Andrea when I am upset with her)and I needed to sit down and have a serious chat. Well on Tuesday March 2nd I was desperate. I hadn't slept in I don't know how long and I was definitely uncomfortable. Maybe it was my anxiety maybe it was a twist of fate but when I went in for my routine weekly checkup little did I know that my blood pressure had sky rocketed. Not that that is a good thing but it definitely put the "induction business" on the table. After getting a talk from Andrea about the pro's and con's of induction and the fact that if my blood pressure didn't come down I really wouldn't have a choice and would have to be induced that night. She then said the magic words, that I would be having my little boy either tonight or tomorrow! All at once I became a little overwhelmed. I mean this is what I have been waiting nine long months for right??? Well I think I was in denial of it actually happening. I mean I know I was pregnant but was that really a little baby in there, and not a giant growth or a little holiday weight that I had yet to loose?? Well either way now it was do or die, literally. So we headed over to the hospital.



Once we got to the hospital I had to be hooked up to all sorts of monitors and they preformed a few blood tests and a stress test. Thankfully everything turned out okay and all of my labs came back as normal. Clayton showed up five minutes before I could leave to go home, luckily it wasn't the real thing because he would have missed it! Stupid commute! Anyway because of the risks associated with high blood pressure and the fact that I was definitely ready to have the baby we decided to be induced the next morning!

When we got home that night we tried to get everything ready and not be too nervous/excited. It was so crazy to think that that would be the last night that it was just the two of us. Our entire life was going to change, and we could not wait. We slept fairly well that night considering, I however was up by 6 am and cleaning. Ha ha ha I had to do something with all of my unexpected energy. We;; by the time 9:30 rolled around I was definitely ready to go. Since we had to be at the hospital by 10:00 Clayton agreed. The ride to the hospital was rather quite, I think both of us were in a little bit of shock. We were actually going to have a child, this would be the last time we were really alone together. CRAZY!



We got to the hospital and checked in. After getting situated in our Labor and Delivery room we met our AMAZING nurse Pam. She really was so fantastic. She even came to visit us the next day to see the baby:) Anyway after about a half dozen pokes and a blown up vein from the CNA I was finally hooked up to the pitocen. At this point I was starting to wonder when the "real labor" was going to start. HA I soon found out. I now understand why they kept asking me when I would like my epidural. After turning the pitocen all the way up I was in definite pain. Little did I know that I would still have to wait another half hour for the anesthesiologist. When she got there the contractions were really strong, I could barely sit still while she did it. I definitely think that I have a pretty strong threshold for pain so when I sat there silently with tears running down my cheeks Clayton definitely began to be concerned. But let me tell you that Epidural is a life saver. Why, WHY, WHY would anyone want to have a baby naturally I will never know. That was the best thing ever, and plus whenever it started to wear off I had a nice little button I could push and I would instantly feel better:) So just a word to the wise, dont try and be a hero.....get your epidural early. Not at the last moment like me, I promise you will thank me later:)

After I got the epidural things were fairly good. We watched a lot of Friends, it was rather relaxing actually. At about 8:00 pm I started pushing and an hour later at 9:09 our baby Maddox was born. He was 7lbs and 6oz and 20 inches long. I will never forget the first time I saw his little face. He was silent and completely wide awake and looking around. He was perfect. However since he was such a good little boy and didn't cry all of the nurses and everyone sort of went into panic mode. I guess it is really important for babies to cry at first so the took him and started doing everything possible to get him to cry. As the mom I was indefinite shock. I was so scared I didn't know what was going on, after about a minute and a half they finally got him to cry, and me. I burst into tears. My little boy was okay. He was going to be okay. Sigh. That was definitely the worst part of all of this. Because of our little scare I only got to hold him for a few seconds before they took him to the nursery to make sure he was breathing okay. After getting cleaned up, Maddox was back and we were able to spend the rest of our time together. He was amazing and so cute and he still is. I love him so much and I really cannot imagine my life with out him. He is my little boy and I am his mom.



The funny thing about all of this is that for weeks I had been so nervous about giving birth and really it was not bad at all. Once I got the epidural I could have been in labor forever. It really was not bad. I was definitely lucky. However since everything was so "easy" I didnt ever realize just how much my body was actually working, when i woke up the next morning I felt like I had been hit by a truck ha ha ha.

So how are things now? Perfect! Maddox is great, he wakes up once a night and eats really well. I am definitely lucky! Clayton is the most amazing dad, I could not imagine doing any of this with out him. He is such a huge help!