My Favorite Girls

Here are a few of my favorite girls, all watching a movie Ice Age. Funny, that they sometimes prefer to sit on the floor and watch it on the portable little dvd player, rather than the big screen in the living room. Eve doesn't care either way obviously, she just likes all the attention that she gets. She has grown quite fond of her cousins.

 Eve, Paisley, Piper, and little Sophie on the end.

An example of me farming out motherhood to a seven year old...just kidding kind of...She's a natural though isn't she?

Crazy Hair

Everyday, I try to tame this mane of hair that this little girl has inherited. I love that she was born with lots of hair, but I can't get it to stay down! I used to try and try to get it to stay in place, but it just likes to stay the way that it is. So I just gave up on it, and have grown to just love it! Well today I finally remembered what it reminded me of, a Cockatiel! We used to have two of them when I was little, and her hair looks just like their feathers did...so funny. But it looks like this little fohawk is here to stay :)

This Morning

Well this morning was so much fun, Eve is always really really happy in the mornings, but today she was especially cheerful. She slept for about 10 hours, and I got to pleasantly wake up to this! This is what I will miss most going back to work, but the other 4 days a week I will get to  enjoy this time with her. I will post a few shots, but she was so smiley I managed to get about 12 pictures :) 

I love the double chin in this picture, she has two smiles!

I just can't get enough of this face!

Visit - 1

Well this is a picture of all the girls! My sister and I and our little girls. Paisley is the oldest, then Piper (Lower Left) then Sophie on Amy's lap. They all just love Eve, they just think she is the funnest thing, she is a real live baby doll for them to play with, it's so fun to watch. Eve is taking it well, she is so used to her space and solace, and now personal space is rather limited with all of my family around. She is learning to like it though. My little brother Mark has such a way with her, everytime he is around she just can't take her eyes off him, and she just grins at him always.

I took this when I could tell Eve was tired of new faces, she just had this expression that said "Just take me home mom". Also, notice the drool ring around the neck of her shirt...I am sure that didn't help the situation.

 This was so cute, as soon as she heard her dad's voice on the phone she just started beaming! I only caught the tail end of the little "conversation" they were having, but she just started making little noises and smiling really big.

Home At Last

Well we finally made it, we flew in to my parent's city of residence Saskatoon. I say city of residence because the city itself isn't very exciting, and we don't necessarily see it as "home", but the family is there for the time being. It felt so good to fly in to see a huge canadian flag, and suprisingly no snow! Just kidding, they rarely have snow this late in the year, but it does happen from time to time. Anyways, we are so glad to be home. My dad picked us up from the airport, and he was thrilled to have 2 of his favorite girls home :) We made a quick stop at the store to pick up some baby essentials, and then made our way over to my sister's house. Her 3 little girls were so excited to see Eve, especially her youngest Sophie. Sophie is 2 and is very domestic already, she loves babies, cooking (pretend of course) cleaning, and helping her mom. So anytime she saw me getting ready to feed Eve a bottle, she would say "oh, let me help you, I feed baby Evie", and she would come and "help" me hold the bottle. It was so much fun, but before too long all the travelling really caught up to us. The adrenalin from being home was keeping us going for the first bit, but quickly that faded. Eve was getting pretty fussy, so we went to bed around 8 pm last night (10 oclock Connecticut time) and Eve slept until 6:30 this morning! It was awesome, she has never slept that long, she really was exhausted.

Fathers

Well, after thinking about mothers so much the past while, I realized that there is someone just as important in Eve's life, her daddy. One thing that has been so great about being a new parent, is I get to see another side of my husband. It is so nice to see him be so gentle and caring with her. He shows such a nurturing and sensitive side when he is with her. She already has him wrapped around her little finger, there is no question that she is a daddy's girl already...I love it :) I love that he is so helpful with her, he almost never refuses a diaper change, the messy ones we usually debate a bit over who gets to change those ones. He will never say no to feeding her, and he will never reject an opportunity to snuggle. I love that the second he gets in the door he goes straight for the baby, even if I am holding her, he just can't wait to snuggle her. Although she is limited in how she can express her emotions, she gets a big grin on her face when she can see him, it's really cute. I am looking forward to the day that when the door opens around 6 o'clock Eve can go running to the door saying "Daddy's home!"
It makes me reflect to how much I love my dad. He has always been a rock in my life, I knew I could always go to him with most anything, except boys and things of that nature, he was certain that he was the only man in my life. He did eventually accept the fact that there is another man in my life, and what a great one that is, and he was surprisingly open to him. I love the qualities of both the men in my life, I am really lucky and extremely grateful. Anyways, enough of my babble, Eve has been napping more lately so I have more time to post...

Mothers

I was so pleased with General Conference that just passed. I appreciated that many talks were directed at the divine role and calling of motherhood. My favorite would have to be Elder Foster's talk given in the Sunday afternoon session, if you ever have a moment, you should listen to it again, it's amazing! Maybe it's because I am a new mom, but I really felt that I needed to hear those talks. I needed to be reminded of the responsibilities associated with being a mother, how my actions directly affect the lives of my child, and future children. I was reminded of how important it is to teach our children correct principals, and to love and nurture them at all times. I will never under estimate the power of a mother's love and influence.
I will always remember the moment when I first saw my daughter, it was love at first sight! I remember thinking to myself "I now understand eternal joy". I just finally understood how a mother's love is greater than all other kinds. It really makes me glad for the mother that I have, and the wonderful mothers that have been in my life. I have so many good role models that I can look up to, and go to for advice. I absolutely love being a mother, and although at times it can be really difficult and exhausting, it is so worth it.

Reflections

It blows my mind that only a short 6 months ago our family looked like this. Just the two of us and my round baby-filled belly. Our (my) biggest worry in the world was what color to get the crib bedding.

 And now it has evolved to this! The same two people, but the baby on the outside.
I have just been reflecting on how life changes once a baby comes into the world. It is amazing how all at once you no longer put yourself first. I was thinking how you automatically think of this little person's needs first, you will do anything to make them happy.  I never knew that a person could love something so much that it just consumes you.

10 weeks

I know that most of my posts start out with a line that usually goes like this " I can't believe she is ____ old already!" But I will say that I honestly feel that every time I write it. Time is slipping away from me as the end of maternity leave draws closer and closer. It is going to be so hard to leave her, but I am trying to keep a good attitude about it. I am so blessed that my good friend Lindsey is willing to take her in, as I her mother, am soon to be abandoning her two and  a half days out of the week. Lindsey, you truly are a saint! She is a great photographer as well! Any picture that has good quality on my blog, you can definitely assume "Lindsey took that." She captured this amazing picture here, Eve's eyes look magnificent, such a precious photo.

Well the updates are, that Eve can almost hold her head up, we are struggling with tummy-time. She, as most babies I am sure, hates it! But I know that it must be done, so I tough it out and have to listen to her cry for a few minutes each day. A few times I hear things quiet down, and I look to see that she has cried herself to sleep! It just breaks my heart every time...it does make me feel a little bit better to see the progress she is making with her ability to hold and move her head though. About a week and a half ago I was reading a weekly email I get updating me on the babies development. (Much like the ones you get when your pregnant) Well I was reading this part where it mentions that at this stage your baby can't swallow their saliva yet, so you should expect some drool to make an appearance. I thought to myself  "I don't know if that's happening yet thank goodness." Then as I go to get Eve out of her swing, I see this HUGE wet spot on her pjs, and of course, it's drool. So that is now a fun addition to our little baby.  Eve has also just recently discovered her fists, as you can see in all of her pictures, she always has her hands in a fist, never relaxed. Anyways, she now likes to hold her fist up by her face and just stare. Sometimes she will get it to close and it will make her go cross-eyed, and a few times she accidentally hits herself in the face. That is usually followed by a confused look on her face, but then that fist goes right back up to where she can see it. It's really fun to watch her discover new things, such as her hands :)

Day at the Beach

Well today the two of us went to this great little beach down in Darien. It is great, there is a big jungle gym in a big sandlot for the kids, and the sand beach is beautiful! Our ward organizes the weekly event called "midweek". This is where women in the ward bring their kids to play with each other, and the women get to spend time with other moms. Eve had as good a time as a little baby can have, she basically just slept the whole time, but I had a good time associating with the other mom's. The weather was beautiful, about 82 degrees and a slight breeze.

We were able to go down to Greenwich and have lunch with Braden, and get in a short walk. Eve must have liked the sunshine because when we got home she was in such a good mood, as you can tell by the pictures! A few days ago Eve had her 2 month doctors appointment. She is doing great, she is now in the 50th percentile for weight now, that is so great because in the beginning she had trouble gaining weight. She is all tanked up, and thriving! Her height is also in the 50th percentile, and her head is in the 10th. She took the vaccinations like a champ, she hardly even fussed. I was glad she did so well, I was really worried. She had a slight fever that night due to a shot she got, but she was great the next day. Childrens Tylenol works wonders :)

8 weeks

Well this little gal is now 8 weeks old! She is just surprising me every day. Things that have been going on, well she is now officially cordless! Can you believe that it took 8 weeks for her umbilical cord to fall off? It still needed a little help, but it did finally part from her belly. It was magnificent, she now has so much fun in the bath, she likes to push off the tub sides. She will curl her legs into her stomach, because then she sort of (with my hands helping a teeny bit) floats over to the side, and then she will just stick them straight out so it pushes her back. It is so fun to watch, she just grins the whole time she is in there. She also may have just discovered splashing for the first time today, she swings her arms around all the time, but she did it in the tub and it splashed her in the face. She had the funniest look of surprise and shock. But it was shortly followed with a big smile. The other biggest thing, the past two nights she has slept for, drum roll please...........6 hours! The first night I woke up after 4 thinking, "Is she alive? Why hasn't she woken up yet?" So I checked on her, and she was fine, so I gladly went back to sleep, and then when I woke to her gently stirring, I was shocked to notice that she had slept for another 2 hours! It is so great, I hope I don't jinx anything...I could really get used to this. It has probably been about 4 months since I have gotten that much sleep at one time, the latter stages of my pregnancy didn't allow me to sleep that long. A mixture of back pain and bathroom breaks sort of took over my nights. But I am happy to embrace her new skill of sleeping for 6 hours :)