Adventures of Parenting

     As any of you know if you have children, everyday with a child is an adventure. Kierstin (7 months) is constantly growing and learning new things and definitely getting more curious. Although she is not crawling yet, she is very mobile. She has mastered the art of combining both rolling and scooting on her belly to get where she needs to go....into mischief. It is very fun to watch and play with her. She has learned to put her hand over her mouth and make the Indian noise (not really sure what that is called) and it is so adorable. Of course she does it with the back of her hand which just makes it that much cuter. One of my most favorite things that she is doing right now is sleeping with her little bootie up in the air.

Cute huh?!?

     A not so desirable thing that she does is bite. When are babies old enough to know that certain actions are undesirable and they should not do them? 

     On another note, I would like to start doing little activities with/for her. Any suggestions?! Nathan and I are currently doing her footprints on a board every month. I know there is not much that I can do with her now but soon I can!

Please leave comments and suggestions!

Las Vegas Strip

     So I haven't posted in a few days, but now I have lots of adventures and pictures for you. We finally made a trip to the strip. Everything we did was FREE (except for the monorail trip). I love free stuff. Our first stop, the famous Las Vegas sign.

Doesn't our little family look adorable! Here is some info about this sign for any of you that are interested. This sign was created in 1959 and cost $4,000. In 2009 it became a part of the National Register of Historic Places.
     Next we took the monorail to the Flamingo Hotel and Casino and checked out their wildlife habitat. It consisted of flamingos (of course) and other birds and fish.

So after the flamingo exhibit we went to Caesar's Palace. This hotel/casino was huge! And apparently it is not frowned upon to have infants on the casino floor. We would have avoided it if we could though. You could smell smoke and cigars. Yuck! This hotel had sculptures and fountains throughout. It was beautiful! In Caesar's Palace we saw their aquarium which was small but pretty cool. Then we watched The Fall of Atlantis show. That was one of my favorite things for the whole day. I recommend it to anyone who goes to Las Vegas. It is free and pretty cool. 

We then walked to the Bellagio hotel and casino where we went to their conservatory. It was very pretty as well. The real attraction at the Bellagio, however, were the fountains. This was probably the very best attraction. The fountains are set to play every 15 or 30 minutes (depending on what time you go) to Frank Sinatra. It was pretty great. If you go, I definitely suggest that you go at night because they are lit up. It was pretty great. We will probably go see it again while we are out here. 

     Kierstin had a good time! It was a long day (really only a few hours to do all that) and a lot of walking (riding for her). But she was tuckered out. This was on the monorail on the way back to the hotel. 

     We have plenty more that we want to do here and some of it is still free. Does anyone have any suggestions on what we should do or where we should go while we are here? 

First Day of Work

     Today was my first day at my new job. It was a pretty boring day. All I did was sit in a room and listen to people talk and watch videos and do computer assignments. Not very fun at all. My profession involves me constantly on my feet for 12+ hours a day. Can you imagine how crazy it makes me to sit in a chair for 8 hours? Tomorrow I will learn the new charting system and spend another 8 hours in front of a computer screen. Sound exciting? Sounds like a headache to me. But I am ready to get this ball rolling!

     On another note, Kierstin has not mastered crawling yet. Or at least it isn't what you normally think of as crawling. She somehow manages to make it from one side of a room to another moving predominantly backwards on her belly. It will happen soon though. She is getting on her hands and knees more and more often but isn't quite coordinated yet.

     Kierstin has also developed a bad habit. She now likes to grind her teeth. I do not know how to get her to stop. I am afraid she will chip or break one of her teeth. She only has three so far. Is this just a phase that she will grow out of? Or is there something we can do to get her to stop? It makes my teeth hurt when I hear her doing it. Please leave some comments/advice. I want to save her cute little teeth.

Las Vegas Day 2

     Las Vegas, so far, is pretty cool. Someone once told me there was nothing to Las Vegas except the strip. That is completely wrong. We have not been on the strip yet but Las Vegas is huge (at least compared to any other place I have lived). There are so many things that we want to do here I do not know where to start. We visited the Boulevard Mall yesterday. It was pretty big. We will have to go back and visit again. It had a carousel and a little play area for kids. Kierstin is not quite old enough for that yet.
     Yesterday I drove to the hospital where I will be working, 1.8 miles from the hotel. That drive compared to the 50 miles I was driving to Jackson Hospital is a breeze.

This hospital is a 730 bed hospital. I will be working on the ortho/trauma unit. Orientation starts tomorrow and I am very excited.
     Dinner last night was Italian at Battista's Hole in the Wall. You could make reservations but we did not. We waited for an hour before we were seated. It was rather expensive too ($70 for 2 meals). They did have all you can drink wine included and cappuccinos for dessert that were yummy. Kierstin was a little fussy so it was hard to enjoy but the food was really good.
     Today we are just going to hang out at the hotel mostly. Maybe we will go for a walk. We are going to finish unpacking and have some quality family time. I love my little family!

Las Vegas Bound!

        We made it to Vegas! Yesterday morning Kierstin and I took an early flight from Atlanta to Las Vegas. I was impressed at how she did. 4 and a half hours of sitting in the middle of two people and we met Daddy! Kierstin smiled and laughed when she saw her daddy. Boy does she love him. We missed him for the three days that he was driving out here. He definitely had the hard job. Never the less, here we are!

Of course food is the first thing on my mind when we get off the plane. So where is our first stop? Oh but the wonderful Quiznos. I was sad when Quiznos closed in Auburn. It was one of my favorite places to eat. It is still as yummy as I remember!

So we haven't done anything super fancy so far, just unpacking and organizing and catching up on some much needed sleep. But our adventure is just getting started!