Lily's Nana made her an adorable apron.
And I made her a cake.
They had great fun dancing to princess music
We had two Cinderellas, two Snow Whites, an Elsa, and a Rapunzel.
Happy birthday Lily! We love you!
Showing posts with label Lily. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lily. Show all posts
Friday, November 28, 2014
Princess Birthday Pictures - Happy #3!
I don't have time to write a real post, but here are the pictures from Lily's birthday and her princess dress-up party. She had a lot of fun!
Friday, August 15, 2014
The New Normal
Well it has arrived: the insanity of a baby and a 2-year-old. Actually, it has been present for a while, which is why this blog has been so neglected for the past few months. I have thought about posting often, but it just seems like there is never any time! I am finally figuring out how to cook (differently). Out the window are all the fun recipes I used to make. I compiled a new list of the very fastest, easiest things possible that are still fairly healthy, and I have still have to do some prep ahead of time or it is impossible.
Things have been especially difficult recently because Adam was teaching an evening class so he never got home until after 7:00. I know it's not that late, and there are some families where the working parent(s) never get home until later. But it was difficult for me. We survived, and I'm glad that class is over now.
Joshua and Lily are completely adorable though and we have so much fun!
Lily loves him, although she gets VERY jealous when I nurse him. For a while, every time I would pick him up to feed him, she would throw a big tantrum and scream that she wanted me to hold her instead. I can't blame her, and I feel bad that she takes it so hard. But we eventually figured out that if she really gets to bed on time, the tantrums are much less frequent and much less intense. So that is now my #1 goal each day: get Lily to bed on time. Sadly, it still doesn't always happen, but we're doing better.
Joshua is growing like a weed! He is also very strong. He can hold his head up of course, and can easily roll over both directions, and insists on standing whenever we hold him. He can support all his weight by himself, as long as we hold his hands to balance him. The doctor said he could be crawling at 6 months! That would be a shock to me, since Lily didn't crawl until 10 months. He is also very cheerful, aside from some recent screaming episodes related to teething. But he smiles a lot and is trying to grab and chew on everything.
He sleeps fairly well, still waking up twice at night, but he goes right back to sleep after nursing so it's no big deal. He has more hair than Lily had and it looks like it might be blonde! It will be fun if we have a little toe-head like I was.
Lily is getting better at handling Joshua and is very helpful. She regularly gets toys for him "so he can be happy."
She talks about him all the time and calls him "Dosua". Some of my other favorite pronunciations of hers include "Cindelella", "Pyoo-tyoo-tah" for "Computer", "Leh-woh" for "Yellow", and my all-time favorite: "pock-sih-pole" for "popsicle". Mostly we laugh at the bigger words she is starting to use in her little toddler voice. Like today she was stirring some food we gave her and said "I am stirring it so it will be quite delicious." or when we asked her to put on her shoes she said, "I suppose I could do that."
I got to take the kids for a visit to Utah for over two weeks to see my family. I went to two weddings and my high school reunion, and visited lots of friends and family.
We also went to Thanksgiving Point with my friend Amberly and her 3 girls for the requisite pony ride.
We spent a day helping my dad remodel his house which he is getting ready to sell, went to dinner at Brick Oven, visited the re-vamped BYU Bean Museum with my dad and his wife Elizabeth, went shopping with my sister, and swam at the AWESOME Provo Rec Center waterpark (for only $5!) with my family.
My brother Stephen and his wife Lisa graciously watched Lily and Joshua while I went to the temple and got my first-ever pedicure (courtesy of grandma Elizabeth!). The icing on the cake was that my brother Daniel took me ballroom dancing, which I haven't done in years, and miss more than anything else about my life before kids. It was immensely fun, and I can't wait to go back just for that!
Here are a few more pictures of the people we had fun with:
The downside was that it was so much fun, the kids never got enough sleep and were very tired and grumpy some of the time. Lily threw the worst tantrums I have ever seen from any child in my entire life. Thankfully, now that we are back on our regular schedule, she is mostly cured and generally back to her normal self. We are very happy to be back home with Adam, and he is very glad to have his family back.
Things have been especially difficult recently because Adam was teaching an evening class so he never got home until after 7:00. I know it's not that late, and there are some families where the working parent(s) never get home until later. But it was difficult for me. We survived, and I'm glad that class is over now.
Joshua and Lily are completely adorable though and we have so much fun!
Lily loves him, although she gets VERY jealous when I nurse him. For a while, every time I would pick him up to feed him, she would throw a big tantrum and scream that she wanted me to hold her instead. I can't blame her, and I feel bad that she takes it so hard. But we eventually figured out that if she really gets to bed on time, the tantrums are much less frequent and much less intense. So that is now my #1 goal each day: get Lily to bed on time. Sadly, it still doesn't always happen, but we're doing better.
Joshua is growing like a weed! He is also very strong. He can hold his head up of course, and can easily roll over both directions, and insists on standing whenever we hold him. He can support all his weight by himself, as long as we hold his hands to balance him. The doctor said he could be crawling at 6 months! That would be a shock to me, since Lily didn't crawl until 10 months. He is also very cheerful, aside from some recent screaming episodes related to teething. But he smiles a lot and is trying to grab and chew on everything.
He sleeps fairly well, still waking up twice at night, but he goes right back to sleep after nursing so it's no big deal. He has more hair than Lily had and it looks like it might be blonde! It will be fun if we have a little toe-head like I was.
Lily is getting better at handling Joshua and is very helpful. She regularly gets toys for him "so he can be happy."
She talks about him all the time and calls him "Dosua". Some of my other favorite pronunciations of hers include "Cindelella", "Pyoo-tyoo-tah" for "Computer", "Leh-woh" for "Yellow", and my all-time favorite: "pock-sih-pole" for "popsicle". Mostly we laugh at the bigger words she is starting to use in her little toddler voice. Like today she was stirring some food we gave her and said "I am stirring it so it will be quite delicious." or when we asked her to put on her shoes she said, "I suppose I could do that."
I got to take the kids for a visit to Utah for over two weeks to see my family. I went to two weddings and my high school reunion, and visited lots of friends and family.
This is my cousin Christian (3) giving Lily a hug at the wedding of his sister, Aurora.
We also went to Thanksgiving Point with my friend Amberly and her 3 girls for the requisite pony ride.
We spent a day helping my dad remodel his house which he is getting ready to sell, went to dinner at Brick Oven, visited the re-vamped BYU Bean Museum with my dad and his wife Elizabeth, went shopping with my sister, and swam at the AWESOME Provo Rec Center waterpark (for only $5!) with my family.
My brother Stephen and his wife Lisa graciously watched Lily and Joshua while I went to the temple and got my first-ever pedicure (courtesy of grandma Elizabeth!). The icing on the cake was that my brother Daniel took me ballroom dancing, which I haven't done in years, and miss more than anything else about my life before kids. It was immensely fun, and I can't wait to go back just for that!
Here are a few more pictures of the people we had fun with:
This is my friend Amberly's dad Paul (like a second dad to me), holding Joshua and Amberly's new baby.
Lily got to spend time with her friend Mary whom we haven't seen for a while.
The downside was that it was so much fun, the kids never got enough sleep and were very tired and grumpy some of the time. Lily threw the worst tantrums I have ever seen from any child in my entire life. Thankfully, now that we are back on our regular schedule, she is mostly cured and generally back to her normal self. We are very happy to be back home with Adam, and he is very glad to have his family back.
Sunday, April 6, 2014
Anticipating a New Chapter
The end and the beginning are almost here! I am looking forward to the end of pregnancy, as it has gotten somewhat uncomfortable. :) And I am looking forward to having our precious baby boy here at last. I can't wait to hold him. And yet, I have a small feeling of regret. My one-on-one time with Lily is limited, and it hurts me. I wasn't expecting that. I feel for the frustration and confusion that she will likely experience at losing her status as the exclusive object of my attention. And I feel equally regretful that I will never be able to give him that level of attention. At the same time, I am so excited for them to build a relationship with each other.
Lily is very excited to meet him. It seems like we have been talking about it forever. We have read books about families having new babies, talked about how he's growing and will come out soon, discussed what we are going to do with him when he arrives, and had many conversation about Lily's status as big sister and how she is going to treat her baby brother. She knows that he will cry and sleep and drink mommy's milk, and that he can't do any of the things she does, like talk or play with toys or eat food. She talks to him, hugs my belly, and tells him that she loves him. We have sorted his clothes together, which of course she wants to wear (she actually squeezed into a pair of 3-month pants this morning!), and have looked at his little diapers and carseat. She has even seemed to accept that I am his mommy as well as hers, and that Adam is also his daddy. But I know she cannot comprehend the changes he will inevitably cause in her daily life. I hope she deals with it well and is not devastated by our affection for him. Regardless of how she reacts, I know that having a brother will eventually bless and benefit her greatly.
We have had some other changes recently. Lily is now mostly potty-trained! She went five days without an accident last week, and hasn't had an accident at night for about two weeks. We have been pleasantly surprised at this. When we told her she was a big girl and could wear princess panties now, she flatly refused to wear diapers even at night. There was nothing we could do to convince her, so we just let her wear her underwear to bed. She only had one accident at night, besides one time when she was calling for us to get her out of her crib and we took too long. Otherwise it has gone great. It sure will save us money in diapers, and it has been nice to have a 3-week break from changing them.
I also cut my hair off. It is quite short. The longest layers barely touch my shoulders, and the shortest don't even stay in a ponytail. It is shorter than I wanted it, but I like it. I just know I won't be able to handle long hair very well with baby. Plus, it's nice to have a reason to make a change once in a while. I will definitely grow it back out though. I think I will always prefer having long hair, but this is fun for now. Here are a couple pictures. Not sure why I look so fat in the second one, haha...
Adam has finished his last class required for his degree, but for some reason decided to sign up for another class anyway. It's an online class about teaching online classes. He says it's helpful, which is good I guess. Then I asked him if he is addicted to school. Seriously, are we ever going to be done? I will just keep assuming that his dissertation will get done one way or another by next summer, but I honestly don't know how that will actually happen. Shh! Don't tell him I said that! (I don't think he reads this blog; if he does, I guess I will find out soon! ;)
As for me, I have been uncontrollably nesting, and feel very satisfied at having sorted clothes, cleaned house, prepared freezer meals, etc. In my excess of nesting enthusiasm, Adam and I even reupholstered our kitchen chairs, finally. We refinished them 3 years ago and have been meaning to reupholster them ever since. They look sooo nice! :) Adam's mom arrived the end of last week and she has been immensely helpful with a few other projects, and keeping the kitchen clean (the bane of my existence!) Lily has LOVED having her here, and they have had so much fun playing together. She is fantastic with kids. My good friends Brianna and Liana threw me a very nice baby shower last weekend, and it was so fun and beautiful! The gifts and food were perfect, and instead of games, they prepared freezer meals for me! It made me realize how many wonderful, caring friends I have. I almost can't believe how many people have been willing to help and serve as this baby comes. Multiple people are coming from out of town to help us out, ward members are hosting them in their homes while they are here, many people have sent clothes and gifts, others have agreed to help out with church callings in my absence, and so many have volunteered to watch Lily after the baby arrives. I just hope I can pay it forward and serve others as much as they have served me.
Anyway, our lives will be changing very shortly. I have been having Braxton-Hicks contractions and have definitely felt pressure and things changing. I have been pretty worried the last few days because the baby rotated last week to a posterior position, and I really want him to turn back around before my labor starts. Lily was posterior for most of my pregnancy and it caused months of back pain and very difficult, painful back labor. I think she would have come much more quickly and easily if she had started in a better position. So I have been crawling around on my hands and knees and doing pelvic rocks to get him to turn around, but so far it hasn't been successful. Hopefully it happens soon, because one way or another, this baby will not be in there much longer! We are excited to meet you baby boy! :)
Lily is very excited to meet him. It seems like we have been talking about it forever. We have read books about families having new babies, talked about how he's growing and will come out soon, discussed what we are going to do with him when he arrives, and had many conversation about Lily's status as big sister and how she is going to treat her baby brother. She knows that he will cry and sleep and drink mommy's milk, and that he can't do any of the things she does, like talk or play with toys or eat food. She talks to him, hugs my belly, and tells him that she loves him. We have sorted his clothes together, which of course she wants to wear (she actually squeezed into a pair of 3-month pants this morning!), and have looked at his little diapers and carseat. She has even seemed to accept that I am his mommy as well as hers, and that Adam is also his daddy. But I know she cannot comprehend the changes he will inevitably cause in her daily life. I hope she deals with it well and is not devastated by our affection for him. Regardless of how she reacts, I know that having a brother will eventually bless and benefit her greatly.
We have had some other changes recently. Lily is now mostly potty-trained! She went five days without an accident last week, and hasn't had an accident at night for about two weeks. We have been pleasantly surprised at this. When we told her she was a big girl and could wear princess panties now, she flatly refused to wear diapers even at night. There was nothing we could do to convince her, so we just let her wear her underwear to bed. She only had one accident at night, besides one time when she was calling for us to get her out of her crib and we took too long. Otherwise it has gone great. It sure will save us money in diapers, and it has been nice to have a 3-week break from changing them.
I also cut my hair off. It is quite short. The longest layers barely touch my shoulders, and the shortest don't even stay in a ponytail. It is shorter than I wanted it, but I like it. I just know I won't be able to handle long hair very well with baby. Plus, it's nice to have a reason to make a change once in a while. I will definitely grow it back out though. I think I will always prefer having long hair, but this is fun for now. Here are a couple pictures. Not sure why I look so fat in the second one, haha...
Adam has finished his last class required for his degree, but for some reason decided to sign up for another class anyway. It's an online class about teaching online classes. He says it's helpful, which is good I guess. Then I asked him if he is addicted to school. Seriously, are we ever going to be done? I will just keep assuming that his dissertation will get done one way or another by next summer, but I honestly don't know how that will actually happen. Shh! Don't tell him I said that! (I don't think he reads this blog; if he does, I guess I will find out soon! ;)
As for me, I have been uncontrollably nesting, and feel very satisfied at having sorted clothes, cleaned house, prepared freezer meals, etc. In my excess of nesting enthusiasm, Adam and I even reupholstered our kitchen chairs, finally. We refinished them 3 years ago and have been meaning to reupholster them ever since. They look sooo nice! :) Adam's mom arrived the end of last week and she has been immensely helpful with a few other projects, and keeping the kitchen clean (the bane of my existence!) Lily has LOVED having her here, and they have had so much fun playing together. She is fantastic with kids. My good friends Brianna and Liana threw me a very nice baby shower last weekend, and it was so fun and beautiful! The gifts and food were perfect, and instead of games, they prepared freezer meals for me! It made me realize how many wonderful, caring friends I have. I almost can't believe how many people have been willing to help and serve as this baby comes. Multiple people are coming from out of town to help us out, ward members are hosting them in their homes while they are here, many people have sent clothes and gifts, others have agreed to help out with church callings in my absence, and so many have volunteered to watch Lily after the baby arrives. I just hope I can pay it forward and serve others as much as they have served me.
Anyway, our lives will be changing very shortly. I have been having Braxton-Hicks contractions and have definitely felt pressure and things changing. I have been pretty worried the last few days because the baby rotated last week to a posterior position, and I really want him to turn back around before my labor starts. Lily was posterior for most of my pregnancy and it caused months of back pain and very difficult, painful back labor. I think she would have come much more quickly and easily if she had started in a better position. So I have been crawling around on my hands and knees and doing pelvic rocks to get him to turn around, but so far it hasn't been successful. Hopefully it happens soon, because one way or another, this baby will not be in there much longer! We are excited to meet you baby boy! :)
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Stir Crazy!
We have been SO busy lately! I am not sure how things got so crazy around here. Suddenly, in less than 2 months, Adam went from no clients to 5, and I am working 10-15 hours a week. So I have been working a lot on Saturdays, and Adam comes home at 4 on weekdays and makes dinner with Lily while I work. Unfortunately, this has been limiting his time to study for his classes, grade assignments for the class he is teaching, meet with his clients, and work on his dissertation. I have also been doing a home-study HypnoBabies course, which I am really excited about! It is a different approach to natural childbirth, and I think it will make this a really great birth experience. However, it is "labor" intensive (haha), and requires about an hour each day, which I can only do after Lily goes to bed. And Lily never goes to bed before 8:30 (usually more like 9), has stopped napping, and always wakes up at 7. If we put her to bed earlier, she wakes up earlier. So by the time we get her in bed, clean up from dinner (some days), read scriptures, and I do my Hypnobabies studying, it is past our bedtime already! In fact, it is so busy that I am almost excited for this baby to come so we can have more time . . . I said "almost". I recognize that once that actually happens, we won't even have time to sleep!
So how's that for an explanation of why I haven't written in almost two months? Let's see, since I wrote last, we went to California for Christmas, had a wonderful time, got completely spoiled by Nana & Papa, visited San Francisco for our 7th anniversary, got fairly sick, but had fun anyway. Here are some pictures of our fun trip to California.
It was a fun trip. Lily got her fairy wings from Santa, and a lot of other fun gifts. May too many . . . :) We all enjoyed it, but it was also nice to come home and start regular life again.
Then I had a lovely week in January when I couldn't do anything because my back went into terrible spasms. It was so painful that I couldn't sleep or do anything else for four days and had thoughts like "If only I were in labor right now. At least that ends!" Ultimately, the chiropractor said that my huge belly has been pulling my back out of alignment while I sleep. So I invested in a super-awesome maternity pillow, and every night I look forward to snuggling with it! I also spent a lot of days in a friend's hot tub, borrowed a massager from my neighbor, tripled my intake of calcium, and increased my exercise regimen. And now my back feels great, thank goodness!
Otherwise, we are doing well. Lily is growing up and saying funny stuff, as usual. She asks "why" to everything, and has for about a year. Those conversations usually terminate in "because that's just the way God made us." So for example:
"Lily, put your shoes on please."
"Why?"
"So we can go to the store."
Why?"
"Because we need to buy food."
"Why?'
"Because we have to eat in order to live."
"Why?'
"Because that's just the way God made us."
Well, that has backfired. Now, whenever we ask her a question, she responds with "Because that's just the way God made us." Whether we ask her why she doesn't want to eat her cereal, or why she threw her sippy cup on the floor, or why she took a toy away from a friend, or why she is screaming. "Because that's just the way God made us," she replied, with a pesky little grin. It has been funny, but also really frustrating.
The other day, Lily was singing "Jingle Bells" and a little while later I told her, "Lily, you got Jingle Bells stuck in my head." She replied, "You have dingle bells stuck in your hair?" We laughed, and I tried to explain what having a song stuck in your head means.
Then the next day, I was brushing my hair and Lily asked what I was doing. I said, "Getting the tangles out of my hair," to which she excitedly replied, "You getting the dingle bells out of your hair!" Classic.
This next little guy is also making his presence known. He can really kick! He kicks much harder and much more often than Lily did, and I thought she kicked me a lot. I am also getting bigger, and have already had someone ask if I am having twins. Really?! In fact, most Sundays and Tuesdays, when I take Lily to the library, I have multiple people ask, "You must be getting really close, right?" No. I am not getting really close. I am just getting really big! But, honestly, do you have to rub it in? I am certainly grateful that I don't need to worry about him being a low-birthweight baby. But I had really hoped to gain less than 50 pounds this pregnancy. That will probably not happen. I guess I should just be grateful that I lose it easily. :)
To ward off any unnecessary weight gain, I have been successfully avoiding sugar for the past month. However, yesterday I went to a friend's house and she taught me how to make fudge. That kind of catapulted my sugar-resistance efforts. But I thought it was worth it since fudge is Adam's favorite thing ever. I really wanted to make him some for Valentine's Day, but I have failed at making fudge so many times that I knew it would be a bad idea to attempt by myself again. Happily, our fudge was a fantastic success! We made the marshmallow creme kind and the old-fashioned kind - so much work, but vastly superior!
And today, it snowed another 10 inches in Corvallis, and it's still coming down hard! I ended up watching a friend's children most of the day since school was out, but she still had to work. We played in the snow a little, but Lily got cold really fast. Hopefully the whole city doesn't shut down again, or we will be really stir crazy! But if it does, maybe I will get caught up on all my neglected sewing projects. :)
So how's that for an explanation of why I haven't written in almost two months? Let's see, since I wrote last, we went to California for Christmas, had a wonderful time, got completely spoiled by Nana & Papa, visited San Francisco for our 7th anniversary, got fairly sick, but had fun anyway. Here are some pictures of our fun trip to California.
Lily decorating the tree with her cousin, Amelia.
And her aunt Amber.
Playing Mr. Potato Head with Nana
Christmas morning!
Otherwise, we are doing well. Lily is growing up and saying funny stuff, as usual. She asks "why" to everything, and has for about a year. Those conversations usually terminate in "because that's just the way God made us." So for example:
"Lily, put your shoes on please."
"Why?"
"So we can go to the store."
Why?"
"Because we need to buy food."
"Why?'
"Because we have to eat in order to live."
"Why?'
"Because that's just the way God made us."
Well, that has backfired. Now, whenever we ask her a question, she responds with "Because that's just the way God made us." Whether we ask her why she doesn't want to eat her cereal, or why she threw her sippy cup on the floor, or why she took a toy away from a friend, or why she is screaming. "Because that's just the way God made us," she replied, with a pesky little grin. It has been funny, but also really frustrating.
The other day, Lily was singing "Jingle Bells" and a little while later I told her, "Lily, you got Jingle Bells stuck in my head." She replied, "You have dingle bells stuck in your hair?" We laughed, and I tried to explain what having a song stuck in your head means.
Then the next day, I was brushing my hair and Lily asked what I was doing. I said, "Getting the tangles out of my hair," to which she excitedly replied, "You getting the dingle bells out of your hair!" Classic.
This next little guy is also making his presence known. He can really kick! He kicks much harder and much more often than Lily did, and I thought she kicked me a lot. I am also getting bigger, and have already had someone ask if I am having twins. Really?! In fact, most Sundays and Tuesdays, when I take Lily to the library, I have multiple people ask, "You must be getting really close, right?" No. I am not getting really close. I am just getting really big! But, honestly, do you have to rub it in? I am certainly grateful that I don't need to worry about him being a low-birthweight baby. But I had really hoped to gain less than 50 pounds this pregnancy. That will probably not happen. I guess I should just be grateful that I lose it easily. :)
To ward off any unnecessary weight gain, I have been successfully avoiding sugar for the past month. However, yesterday I went to a friend's house and she taught me how to make fudge. That kind of catapulted my sugar-resistance efforts. But I thought it was worth it since fudge is Adam's favorite thing ever. I really wanted to make him some for Valentine's Day, but I have failed at making fudge so many times that I knew it would be a bad idea to attempt by myself again. Happily, our fudge was a fantastic success! We made the marshmallow creme kind and the old-fashioned kind - so much work, but vastly superior!
And today, it snowed another 10 inches in Corvallis, and it's still coming down hard! I ended up watching a friend's children most of the day since school was out, but she still had to work. We played in the snow a little, but Lily got cold really fast. Hopefully the whole city doesn't shut down again, or we will be really stir crazy! But if it does, maybe I will get caught up on all my neglected sewing projects. :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)