30 Before 30 // Family Bike Rides

#5) Get a bike, along with a bike trailer to put the kids in, and go on family bike rides.

It's been a while, hasn't it? But I can finally check another item off my list! I have several other items in progress currently, one of which was going to be checked off next Friday, but is now postponed indefinitely thanks to the pandemic. Michael Buble, I'll wait for your concert as long as I need to!!!

Moving on.

I got a bike somewhere around the time I got pregnant with Autumn, and it was so exhilarating to go on that first ride on the trail by my house after years of being bike-less. I had forgotten how wonderful it felt to be on a bike, although I didn't get to use it much as my pregnancy progressed.

While Doug's dad was living with us last summer, Doug and I got to escape the house in the evenings once the kids were in bed to go on bike rides together (when it wasn't boiling hot). Fast forward to currently, and we have a bike trailer to put the 2 older kids in (it took some time to find one that would support up to 100 lbs between 2 kids, but didn't break the bank) along with a seat that attaches to the frame of my bike for Autumn to sit in. Hooray for family bike rides!

If the city/state decides to open splash pads this summer, then we'll be able to bike to the one closest to us! We also want to work up to biking into Provo Canyon. I've done that on my own before, but if we bring children along, I would want to be capable of biking at a faster pace so that we can get into the canyon before the kids get restless. Let them out to play and explore, then bike back home!

^^^ Sometimes, Autumn lucks out and gets to ride in the trailer. Also, I can't figure out why this picture is pixelated while the other one isn't... I'll see if I can fix that later.

You can find my entire "30 Before 30" bucket list by clicking here.

Autumn // 1 Year

My baby is one! Noooo, be my baby foreeever!!! Poor Autumn spent her birthday trudging her way through her first major cold, so that wasn't fun, BUT she absolutely demolished her chocolate smash cake. No stuffy nose is going to keep her from her desserts!

In any case... she's rocking the mouth-breathing, as well as the constant eczema around her mouth that never seems to go away. All the drool from teething doesn't help, of course. We're excited for spring so the air is less dry and this girl's face can finally heal!

Well, let's talk about the birthday girl!

Autumn at 1 Year:

- Autumn has imprinted on a purple blanket with hearts on it. She LOVES that blanket! You can see it in the very first picture of this post.

- She has figured out how to scoot down staircases on her stomach. She still needs a bit of help at the top getting turned around to start coming down, but she's managed it with no help a couple times.

- She won't hold still for diaper changes anymore, unless I give her something to hold.

- To further elaborate on the topic of teething I mentioned earlier: another tooth cut in the past week, which brings the total up to 7. The 8th is working its way out right now. Poor baby... teething in addition to the cold. Sad!

- When the bathtub gets turned on, she drops what she's doing and books it up the stairs.

- Favorite foods include: beans of any kind, chili, pasta dishes, peanut butter toast, peaches, anything with basil pesto, pears, oranges, chicken enchiladas, sweet potatoes, and any desserts I'll let her get her mitts on.

- She has discovered how to unroll toilet paper, so now we keep all of the bathroom doors closed.

- She has finally added "Mama" to her vocabulary, although I usually only hear it when she wants me to pick her up. She gives a happy "Dad!" when Doug walks into the room, though. It's cute.

- Seeing Doug after he's been gone at work all day really makes her happy. She was grouchy yesterday from minimal napping and her stuffy nose, but she got so animated when Doug came come.

- Out of our three kids, Autumn is the one who looks the most like Doug.

- She's pretty skilled at getting into a standing position, but only just barely started cruising along furniture. She can toddle along fairly well if I'm holding onto both of her hands, though. Funny girl. I guess that she'll start walking sometime in March. She may surprise me, though!

- She has gotten past her "stranger danger" phase and is more ready and willing to let people other than me or Doug hold her now.

- She really likes being carried around up on Doug's shoulders.

- I always put a thick blanket across her lap in the car to help keep her warm (especially in the morning when we take Nicole to preschool... it's bitterly cold sometimes!) but she almost always chucks the blanket on the ground. Fine then, you strong-headed girl, be cold! Haha.

- She always pulls her shoes & socks off in the car too, for that matter.

- She loves to follow her siblings around (or try to, at least).


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And now, as is tradition, here's a line-up of pictures of my baby girl, from birth until now:

Newborn

 1 Month

2 Months

 3 Months

 4 Months

 5 Months

6 Months

 7 Months

 8 Months

 9 Months

10 Months

11 Months 

1 Year!

We all love you SO much, Autumn! I'm excited to see the cute quirks you develop as a toddler. This phase of life (very interactive, but not in the "tantrum" stage yet) is so fun. Here's to an awesome second year!

Autumn // 11 Months

Only one month away from her first birthday, waaah! Ugh, she's absolutely perfect. I can't even handle it. Take a glimpse at 11-month-old Autumn:

- She likes baths now! Hooray!

- She climbs stairs for fun. Literally. She could spend half an hour going up the stairs in our house, with me or Doug taking her back down so she can climb them again.

- She's so happy! And has become quite vocal. Screeches, babbling, and all.

- Her total tooth count is 6 now, with another possible 2 on the way. She's drooling a lot, and it seems that no amount of Aquaphor or Vaseline can keep that drool from making her chin scaly and red. Dry Utah winter air doesn't help at ALL, of course.

- She got a small baby doll for Christmas and LOVES it.

- She also loves taking items out of containers, then putting them back in again.

- She's extremely proficient at army crawling, and while she IS capable of crawling on her hands and knees, she prefers the army crawl.

- She loves to stand on the pew in church and throw big cheesers at the people sitting in the rows behind us.

- No signs of walking yet. Not even cruising. Following in her brother's footsteps! She can pull herself up to a standing position, though... as long as the item she's pulling up on is low enough to get good leverage. No flat-wall-shimmying yet.

- She LOVES crawling through tunnels and hiding in play-tents/forts.

- If she gets her hands on a blanket, she WILL play peek-a-boo. It's an inevitable occurrence when there's a good blanket (or curtain, or play-tent flap) to hide behind.

- Still going strong with the scrunchie-nose, hard-breathing, ultra-cheese face. I really need to get a video of it before she stops doing it.

- I'm pretty sure that she can say "No" and actually mean it. There have been a couple instances in the past few days where we've said something to her, and she's responded with the cutest little "No!" (I think she knows how to purposely say "Dad" too, but I can't tell for certain.)

- She also says "Oh" a lot, usually when we offer her a toy or show her something interesting.

- Homegirl is obsessed with mandarin oranges.

- She consistently sleeps 12-13 hours at night. Usually with no wake-ups, but sometimes with one small wake-up right around the time I'm going to bed. I just snuggle her for a couple minutes, then put her back in her crib and I don't hear another peep out of her the rest of the night.

- She has the funniest sleep position... She basically folds in half like a pocket knife. She keeps her legs straight, and folds herself so that her feet are up by her head. She lies not quite on her stomach, so she's basically sleeping on top of her own legs. Does that make sense? She's quite flexible, I guess!

- If her siblings laugh, she laughs.

- She likes books, but won't stay still for too many at a time.

Love ya, baby cakes! I'm so excited to celebrate your birthday in a month, because I KNOW you're going to absolutely demolish your smash cake. I'm calling it now.