Holiday Season

Ten months already? It's hard to believe my baby is that old. A few months ago, I looked at other babies who were ten months and noticed how "grown up" they were. I guess Paige is now at that point, too. She's close to walking--she will take off if someone is holding her hands for balance, but if she is left on her own, she sits and crawls. She would just rather crawl than try and walk, and honestly, I'm not trying to rush it, though I can feel the change coming closer. 

She babbles all the time now. Whether it's to herself as she plays or having a conversation with Stephen or me, she's a chatterer. She stills prefers to say "ah" a lot, as well as "baba," "gaga," and (to my dismay) "dada." She "mmm"s when she wants to eat, and makes a sound very close to an excited "yes" when I pull out food. She would eat constantly if I let her, whether it's nursing or solids. Introducing solids has cut back on nursing--some days, we only have three or four nursing sessions. Other days make up for that low number, but overall, it's good.

Paige likes a variety of foods. I've introduced her to more flavors and textures. She loves pasta with tomato sauce and will gnaw on a cracker until it's putty in her hands. She still thinks peas are more fun to throw than to eat. She loves dropping food off of her tray and watching it fall when she's not interested in eating it. Mostly, she wants whatever I'm having, regardless of what it is. Paige will come and beg at my feet if I'm eating until I give her some. I will feed her right before but she will still want my food, and eating her own food isn't good enough--it has to come from my plate or my fork. But she's cute about it, so most of the time, she gets a taste. 

She is very playful. She loves our set of stacking cups. She and Daddy play with them a lot. She loves to tease as well. She will purposefully disobey me with a big smile on her face. Paige has also started mimicking my smile by squinting her eyes a lot and breathing heavily through her nose. I'm not sure if I'm flattered by this or not, but it's cute all the same. She follows me around the house and sits outside the bathroom while I'm busy, calling for me. She's an excellent helper when it comes to cleaning--she knows I do it so much, so I must enjoy it, and thus, she gives me more work to do. She loves to unfold laundry, so we've gotten into a habit of folding it while she's asleep. Paige is really good at playing on her own now, and I love silently watching her.

We've had an eventful few weeks. I attempted National Novel Writing Month in November and made it to 10,000 words (the goal was 50,000). Stephen was very supportive and encouraging and seemed more excited about it than I did most days, but it was fun to try. Maybe one year I'll follow through on that goal. 

Our family had a great Thanksgiving vacation. Stephen took the whole week off and we traveled to St. George to visit my parents and then to Page, AZ to visit my Grandma. It was nice to have so much time with them so we wouldn't have to feel rushed. We ate (too much) good food and I practiced hairstyles on my sisters. It was good for Paige to get so much extended family time, too. Grandma spoiled her and made her new clothes while we were there. 

Also, while Black Friday shopping, I hurt my back somehow. All I did was get out of a car, but suddenly my back hurt so much. I carried on for a while, and walking helped, but once I got back into the car and sat for a bit, standing up hurt all over again. Once I got home, I literally could not walk from the driveway to the front door. I collapsed on the patio for a while until I could crawl inside. I called my good friend and second mom, Janice, who is also a masseuse, to come help me. She brought some priesthood holders with her who helped Stephen give a blessing and then she taught me some stretches that made moving bearable. I did some icing and heating as well as took a pain killer. After a bit, I was able to walk, and while I was sore for the next few days, it got better. My back has been tender since, and if I push it too hard it hurts at the end of the day, but I'm just grateful to function, and grateful for the help I got.

I also celebrated my birthday since I last wrote. I'm officially 24 now. It feels a lot like being 23. I took the day off from cleaning and just hung out with Paige and watched TV. Stephen took me out for dinner that night. Overall, it was a casual but nice day. He also spoiled me with gifts. I got a new phone, which was the biggest present, as well as flowers, a sentimental card, a micro sd card, money to buy clothes, and some movies.

With the onset of December, we started decorating for Christmas. We had fun setting up the tree as a family and surprisingly Paige hasn't messed with the tree or the presents under it much. She decided it was too pokey, though she does like looking at the plastic balls that are low enough for her to reach. We also went to Salt Lake and walked around Temple Square to look at the lights. Stephen let me do some shopping while we were there too, and for him to clothes shop with me is a big deal. I've been doing a lot of shopping lately for Christmas, and so far, I've gotten some great deals. I also love getting things for Paige. Christmas is way more fun as a parent, even if she won't understand much this year. She especially didn't understand Santa when we took pictures with him, but I'm the crazy kind of person that thinks babies crying at Santa is hilarious and adorable.

In honor of Christmas, Stephen's work had a fancy dinner. He and I went to a tapas restaurant while Paige was babysat. It was a fun experience to try a lot of new foods. It was something we never would have done unless someone else hosted it, so I'm glad we had the opportunity. There was a get-to-know-you game where facts were matched up with the people. Stephen did the best out of everyone and won a giant gift basket of fun foods. I was proud of him. 

Besides all our events and outings, I've spent a lot of time at home. Stephen has been taking the car to work since it's been so cold, so that leaves me and Paige to spend time together inside our house. I've spent a lot of time doing family history work. I sent in a request for a feature on the app and was contacted to give more input. I've been invited to go to the Family History Center in Salt Lake for some User Experience evaluations. I haven't done it yet, but I'm excited for the opportunity. I feel very familiar with the system and I have ideas on how it can be improved. It would be neat to help those improvements happen.

Well, I think that's enough of a recap for now. We've been busy, but it's a good kind of busy. I love this time of year and I'm glad to have so many family and friends to share it with. Merry Christmas!

Peek-A-BOO!

Happy Halloween from the Rollins! I have been looking forward to this day for a while, mostly because I decided I wanted to throw a party. Paige is too young this year for us to justify trick-or-treating (probably next year, though I still think most of the candy won't go to her), but I want a reason to celebrate and dress up. I figured having a baby Halloween party would be a lot of fun. I scoured Pinterest for ideas and came up with some fun food and games for babies and toddlers. I made some cute invitations and took them around to neighborhood friends. I decided to focus on just those with young kids in my neighborhood to keep it smaller and manageable.

For our costumes, I knew I wanted Paige to be in a tulle dress. I think it's adorable and I knew I had to do it while she is too young to protest or have opinions of her own. We had a lot of white tulle left over from our wedding and I decided to use it to make a tooth fairy costume for her while Stephen and I dressed up as dentists with scrubs, masks, and toothbrushes. Her costume came out pretty cute if I say so myself. She didn't like wearing it the first few times I tried it on her (we think the tulle was itchy to her) but she's warmed up to it enough that she'll tolerate it now. It has a big white tulle dress, purple wings, and a head band with a felt tooth on it. I also made her a little felt tooth pillow to go with it. It was a lot of fun for me to make. 

For the party, I wanted to make it fun and special. We decorated with orange streamers and balloons. I made sensory bags out of trinkets from the dollar store (the bags leaked even after being sealed with duct tape, so I wouldn't do it again, but they were cute). I took a laundry basket and wove string through it to make a spider web and then hid blow-up pumpkins and ghosts under the web. I found some foam bats and foam stickers to let the toddlers have a craft. One of the biggest hits was the chalk table that I made a few months ago--I put the chalk in a pumpkin basket and the kids (and parents) had fun drawing. For food, I decorated string cheese like ghosts, peach cups like jack-o-lanterns, and made a cheese dip that had googly eyes. There was also punch with an ice hand. 

We had four families come with their babies and toddlers, and that seemed like the perfect amount. The babies had fun exploring and playing with the parents chatted. I'm grateful for such great neighbors and friends. Stephen was also a champ at helping me with everything. I couldn't have done it without him. Paige did well with so many people, though at the end, she was ready for a nap. It was fun to celebrate Halloween like this. We'll probably hand out candy for a little bit and go to the neighborhood potluck tonight, but I'm glad I had the party too. 

For Family Night a few weeks ago, we started our Halloween celebration by going to Witchfest at Gardner Village. I went a few days before with some friends and thought it was cute, so we went back as a family. They had a scavenger hunt to find the witch mannequin, and with a little help from strangers, we found them all and earned discounted cookies. 

Beyond Halloween, we've had a fun few weeks since I last wrote. Paige is sticking to her schedule pretty well, and still wants to eat all the time. I weighed her on my scale at home and it read 16.5 lbs, so she's still small, but growing enough that I'm not concerned. She's been pretty chatty lately. Stephen and I are competing to see if she'll say "mama" or "dada" first. While she hasn't giving a definitive answer to that debate, she does repeat "ah!" and "hi~!" It's fun to play parrot with her and try to get her to say things. Most of the time, she just babbles to herself, often in a high-pitch voice. She's also kind of waving at people, which is adorable.

I also finished Paige's Christmas stocking. I started working on it a year and a half ago, so I'm glad to finally say it's done. Both of our families had Bucilla stockings, so I'm glad to carry on the tradition. It was really good for me to learn to embroider too. I've used that new skill a few times already (like in making Paige's costume). I'm still trying to exercise more, thought I've learned that I'm a really bad vegetarian (and an even worse vegan). I'm all for eating fruits and veggies--we went to a really yummy stir fry place and I loaded my bowl with veggies--but it's hard for me to eliminate foods. I'm glad I'm learning and trying new things, even if they're not all successful.

In one last bit of news, the New Zealand team won the rugby world cup, and since Stephen served his mission in New Zealand, we were obligated to watch their victory and celebrate. I've decided rugby is a man sport and is a cross between football, soccer, and hockey. Still, it was fun to watch. Go All Blacks. 

Happy Halloween!

Eight is Great! (Clever Title, I know)

We have solved the sleep dilemma! The solution? Let her sleep. Yeah, brilliant, right? After consulting with family and with her doctor, we decided to do the cry-it-out method. I'm personally not a fan of that method, though I know it works for a lot of families.  We decided that we would let her cry for ten minutes before going in and helping her. I was nervous and tense, especially around midnight when she woke up and started crying. Stephen muted the baby monitor and set a timer for ten minutes. I could hear her though the wall though, and I had to lay there and listen to my baby cry. So sad!

But, after three or four minutes, we couldn't hear her anymore. Stephen turned on the monitor again and it was quiet. She had put herself back to sleep. That happened again a few more times that night and next night, but by the third night, she slept 12 hours without waking. Basically, she would wake for whatever reason, and we would go to her too quickly to allow herself to settle again. She got in the habit of eating overnight only because we continued to feed her overnight. If I had known the solution was to be less of a helicopter parent, I would have done that much sooner.

With her sleep stabilizing again, we decided to enforce a schedule on her that aligned with the clock. It's worked pretty well. She wakes up between 8 and 9 (that one wasn't forced, but rather a habit she developed. I don't wake her unless I have to!) and plays until her morning nap at 11. She doesn't always sleep for long--sometimes it's only twenty minutes, but usually 45 minutes or so--and then she's good until the afternoon. She'll get tired sometime around 3, give or take a half hour. She again does a short nap, and is nice and perky for Dad when he gets home. (Stephen has shifted his work schedule to go in at 8 and be done at 4. It's nice that he gets home so early.) She gets tired around seven, but if we let her nap then, she'd be up late into the night. Instead, we entertain her for an hour and put her to bed at 8. We've started singing a primary song to her and praying with her before she goes to bed as part of our routine. She puts herself to sleep almost 100% of the time now. We let her cry for no more than ten minutes, but usually, she's asleep within that time frame. 

When she's not sleeping, there's a good chance she's eating. Paige loves food as much as her mom does. She nurses less often now, but loves solids. She wants whatever I'm eating, whenever I'm eating, regardless of how recently she ate. I'm still keeping her on simple foods of fruits, vegetables, beans, Cheerios, Chex, and some starches like wheat bread, rice, and tortilla. She definitely is a fruit girl, and she already refuses to eat her vegetables (this may be a long battle, but I'm not ready to start fighting it yet). She loves food pouches, so I got some reusable ones, and that has been nice. She's mostly just curious about food and loves to taste all she can at least once. She's very vocal when she wants to eat--her cues are not mistakable, nor easy to ignore.

Paige's eating patterns will sometimes give her a very round tummy. It's pretty cute, actually (one of the few times in her life where such a round tummy will be considered "cute"), but in spite of that, she's still small. She's able to still fit into most of her 3-6 month clothing, as well as her 6-9 month clothes. She's also still in size 2 diapers, and the cost difference between them and size 3 make me happy she's small. She won't have an official check up until next month, so I'm not sure of her weight percentile, but comparing her to others I see, she's petite.

Her personality is very prominent. She's friendly, chatty, and smart. She's overall a pretty happy baby, though sometimes I feel like's she's fussier than she use to be. She knows where to come looking for us, too. I was holding her in the living room and told her "Daddy's coming home," and she immediately craned her neck to look down the hallway towards the front door. Another time, I was napping and Stephen was taking care of Paige when she crawled to my bedroom door and started patting it and calling for me. She will also apparently come fuss at the chair I normally sit in when I'm not around and she wants me.

It's also a lot of fun to play with Paige at this age. She is very interactive. She will tease us sometimes when she's crawling and we'll have to chase her down and catch her. She giggles the whole time as she's crawling away. She will also play pretty independently, and when she does, she sometimes does this high pitch voice with her toys as if she's imagining something and playing pretend with them. It's pretty adorable. 

She sits up very well now, so I feel comfortable putting her in the shopping cart seat. She likes the view, but doesn't sit still very well. She wants to turn and see all directions, and her feet sometimes sneak between the bars. I have to make sure she is buckled in nice and snug. She also sits in her stroller without the car seat insert, and this makes walks more fun. She has to be buckled in though or she'd squirm out of chair. She will lean forward and pull the back of her seat with her. It's hard to explain unless you've seen it, but just know that she's strong. When we first put her in the stroller that way, she held on to the sides tightly and wouldn't move much. Now, she's comfortable and relaxes into it. The other day while we were out shopping at City Creek Mall, Paige decided to prop her feet up on the tray in front of her and anytime we tried putting her legs back down, she'd swing them back up. Whatever makes her happy, I guess.

Now that we're all sleeping through the night again and following a schedule, life is much better and less chaotic. Paige is my buddy though the day as she accompanies me for errands and events. I've participated in some mommy group stuff, as well as spending time with friends, and that's helping my need for social interaction. We go on walks often--sometimes I justify going window shopping as a means of exercise, but it's all good. 

I'm trying to get back into a healthy routine. It's been kind of hard for me to define what "healthy" is lately. I've watched a few documentaries on Netflix about food and it's got me thinking and pondering a lot of things. I'm also trying to follow the Word of Wisdom better (a health code in my church) by not just avoiding the bad stuff, but also trying to eat meat "sparingly" and incorporate whole foods into my diet. I feel like it's just going to take experiments and experience to know what works for me and my body. I went to the doctor for a checkup for myself and hopefully with his help, I can get my body to function like I want it to. I had my blood tested and there's some potential concern with my levels, so keep your fingers crossed for me.

I've also been needing to get my eyes checked for a while now. Pregnancy changed my prescription, and though it wasn't too much off, it was still a noticeable difference. I had to switch from contacts to glasses also when I was pregnant and I've missed having that option. I went to an optometrist this past weekend and got everything checked and updated. While my frames are getting new lenses, I'm in contacts 100% for two weeks. My eyes have been freaking out over that, though. I was super dizzy all day yesterday and have had a headache. My eyes are very red and itchy and just sore (eyeballs can get sore, in case anyone was wondering). I'm going to check tomorrow with my optometrist to see what can be done, but if you saw me today and wondered if I was extremely sleep deprived or had been crying recently, I don't blame you.    

In other news, General Conference happened. It's basically a worldwide meeting for my church that is televised on a Saturday and a Sunday twice a year. For the women's session the week before the main weekend, my sisters came up from Provo to watch it with me. It was fun to spend time with them. The next weekend, we had even more family come over to watch the sessions. My mom and sister Rebecca drove up with a friend and spent a few nights with us. I always love when my mom comes to visit. It's fun for Paige to get extra attention, too. My sisters and brothers that live near me, as well as Stephen's brother, came on Saturday. It was a big party to have so many people over. I especially loved carrying on the tradition of going shopping in between sessions with the girls in the family. I've missed that since moving away. We played games and hung out and had a great weekend together. It was sad when everyone left, but I'm glad we got to be together, even if the time was short.

Stephen also went to Comic Con for a day. He took off work on a Friday and met up with a friend. He said it was weird to feel like he wasn't the nerdiest person in the room for a change, but still had a lot of fun. He didn't dress up, though he did wear the dragon shirt I gave him for his birthday and got compliments on it. Stephen also told me to mention how much I love him. Guys, he's the best husband ever. He has been cleaning a lot lately while I take care of Paige or just take a break. He supports my efforts to be healthy and develop my talents (I've been working on Paige's Christmas stocking I bought for her a year and a half ago that's still not done, but I'm close!). He may be an old man now, but as long as he's MY man, it's ok with me.

I also fall in love with him all over again when he plays with Paige. He can make her laugh so hard. I'll be in the other room listening to the two of them laughing and giggling. It's so fun to watch Stephen be a dad and to know Paige is loved and taken care of by him. I also love making Paige laugh. She's pretty ticklish, and I take advantage of that. While we still have our struggles in life, in the times when Stephen, Paige, and I are all laughing together, I know everything will be ok because we have our priorities right and can be a family forever. 

A Quarter of a Century and All Grown Up

I can't believe Stephen is already 25! He's been growing so fast. It's fun to see his personality in different ways and to know how much he has already achieved--he's just so advanced for his age! He can walk and talk better than I can, which is really helpful when he needs things and can either communicate it to me well, or he can help himself, which also helps me. He sleeps through the night on his own just fine, unless Paige or I need help. He will fall asleep on his own quickly (sometimes it only takes him a few minutes before he's out). He doesn't nap much, but since he doesn't get cranky, I'm not forcing him to nap. He seems to get enough sleep overnight, so that's good.

He eats solids like a champ too. I'm not sure what his favorite is though. He likes most everything I give him. He has never spit food back at me, so that's a good sign. He prefers vanilla over chocolate, which confuses me, but I guess that means more chocolate for me. He seems average in his height and weight for his age, but it's been a bit since he's had a check up, so I'm not sure what percentile he's in. Stephen also is friendly and happy. He essentially never cries for me. He'll get a little fussy when we're shopping, especially if it's for clothes, so I tend to shop without him. I'm glad he's old enough that I can leave him home alone, which gives me a lot of freedom. He also sometimes keeps Paige while I go out, and I'm almost not sure what to do with myself when I'm out alone. 

Stephen impresses me each day with all the things he can do. He's so talented. Along with programming, drawing, biking to work, taking care of Paige, changing more than his share of Paige's diapers, cleaning up after dinner almost every night, giving me back rubs whenever I want, and managing our finances, he is also completely potty trained! He's such a blessing in my life and I can't imagine life without being his wife. He's changed everything for me and even though it takes work and effort, it is also so so worth it to be his eternal companion.. I love him so much!

In all seriousness, Stephen's been a great husband and father. I have some fun stuff planned for his birthday, along with a few surprises. We realized a bit ago that for as much as Stephen likes dragons, he didn't have a dragon shirt. I tried to find one, but surprisingly, there weren't many options. Instead, Stephen designed his own shirt and we had it printed for him. It says "being human is getting too complicated. Time to be a dragon." I've also got a license plate cover that says "my other ride is a dragon." 

I'm putting his name on the wall with crepe paper, which is a tradition we have, and once Paige wakes up from her nap, I'm taking a cake and a helium balloon to Stephen's work to surprise him. He has no idea, so don't tell him! I'm not going to let him know about this blog post until afterwards, so I'm hoping this won't ruin the secret. I'm really excited about it. Stephen also requested homemade burgers with the works for dinner, so I'm going to be making that for him this afternoon. I'm hopeful it really will be a happy birthday for him.

Besides his birthday, we've not done much beyond the normal routine. Paige is still waking up a lot overnight. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears. Being sleep deprived is especially hard on me, so I've been taking things easy. Still, I've been hanging out with friends when I can, and I try to get out and do things like shopping and window-shopping. We still do things as a family each Saturday. We've gone to look at furniture that we will want someday, as well as trying to pick out good sleeping bags and a tent. I saw a new chiropractor, and that has helped my back a lot, though it's not perfect. I'm not sure how many visits I need--any input there too? I finally finished my collage wall, and I'll post pictures soon. 

We're in our groove, so it's nice to have things to shake up our routine like Stephen's birthday.

Seven Months (and Sleep-Deprived Mom)

Someone stop me in two weeks and make me write a blog post so I don't have to try and remember everything that happened in the past month.

This month, Paige has really become talented. She has mastered crawling and loves to follow me around the house. She especially seems to enjoy whining as she crawls to me, then climbing up my leg as far as she can and crying at me until I hold her. But really, she has loved the freedom to explore and play. She climbs through the legs of our coffee table and her high chair, she takes toys with her around the house, and she has discovered the magical doorstop that makes a fun noise when you pull on it. She will also sometimes lift herself up like she's going to bear-crawl, but has yet to actually move forward with that position. 

Paige can also pull herself up to standing. She learned how to do that in her crib, which meant we had to lower the base to keep her safe. Now, when she doesn't want to sleep, she'll crawl to the edge and pull herself up the side and cry out for me. It's cute, but at the same time, it makes sleeping harder. I have to convince her that she really does want to sleep and needs to lay down to do that. She will pull herself to stand at my chair too if I'm sitting and she's on the floor in front of me. She wants to see what I'm doing, I guess. Or be held. Either one works. 

She loves to treat me like her jungle gym, too. Paige thinks my hair and my glasses are fun to pull, and she is enamored with my mouth when I talk and loves exploring it by shoving her hand in my face. She will also grab my bottom lip and hang onto it as she climbs on me and explores. In other words, holding her is not nearly as peaceful for me as it use to be, and my glasses seem to continually have fingerprint marks on it, no matter how often I clean them. I also tend to bring her into bed with me in the morning when I want extra rest and she's awake. It's not very restful when she climbs back and forth over me and sits on my head, but it's mostly due to my being loathe to wake up some days. I also have to play goalie with her when she's on my bed to keep her from falling off the edge. Gravity is such a foreign concept to her.

As interested as she is when I talk, she loves talking herself. She makes all kinds of different noises with her mouth--basically everything except "mama" or "dada". I've become pretty good at understanding her, especially when she wants to eat. She is very vocal about asking for food, and really persistent when it's food she can't eat. She loves playing by trying different tastes. She knows if she sits in her high chair, it's time to eat. Paige still seems to prefer fruit over veggies, though she also eats beans, peanut butter, and Chex. She also enjoys applesauce pouches. Whoever thought those up were genius. I want to get some reusable pouches to make my own. Any recommendations?

Because everything is so interesting to her, she gets distracted really easily. This is helpful when she's upset and we can convince her to forget why she was crying, but this is not helpful when we are tying to keep her focus, like while she nurses or when we change her diaper. She's become a "snacker" while nursing. Daddy will often have to leave the room so she'll actually eat. And diaper changes are just so confining, apparently. She wants to roll and explore, so changing her is not nearly as easy as it use to be. Bath time is also another distraction. Splashing the water is just a temptation she can't resist. Paige has yet to make a large mess with the water though, so the splashing is still cute. 

Paige also is friendly and doesn't seem to be stranger shy yet. Strangers at the store love talking to her because she rewards them with a big smile. She laughs easy, too, and is very ticklish. Whenever I hold my hand up like the tickle monster and slowly move it closer, she preemptively squeals and squirms. It's pretty adorable. She gets excited when we pull out toys for her and loves to stick them in her mouth instantly. In fact, most anything she can reach, she puts in her mouth. We're at that stage, I guess. Paige likes playing with her reflection in the glass on our TV stand, as well as in mirrors--she will smear her mouth all over it. 

There are a few things Paige doesn't like. One is being in her play pen. She use to be fine with it, but now she knows it limits her, and the five to ten minutes she's confined in there while I shower is the worst part of her day. She doesn't particularly enjoy filling her diaper now that she eats real food. I have to be careful with what I give her so she won't be constipated. We had a few rough days at the beginning with that, but we both learned. She has yet to sprout any teeth, but I wonder if she's teething sometimes with how fussy she'll be over nothing. But for the most part, she's a really happy baby. She will often ask nicely before resorting to full out crying when she's not happy with the situation.

Alright. I think I've covered all of her new tricks, though I'm sure I'm probably forgetting something.

This month, we were able to spend time with both sides of our family. With college starting back up, my mom traveled up north to help my brother and sister move in for the new semester. She stayed here for a few days, and, as always, it was so fun. Paige likes Grandma, and Grandma likes Paige, so Mommy gets a break! It was also fun to help my sister Susan transition into being an adult. It doesn't seem like it was that long ago I was in her shoes and getting situated for college. Five years can go fast. 

Two years also goes by fast. Stephen and I celebrated our second anniversary. It overlapped the time while my mom was visiting, so she took Paige for the day so Stephen and I could have a real date. He took off half the day of work and we went out for lunch and did a lot of window shopping. We got home earlier than my mom did, and for a few hours, we were just hanging out at home babyless. I'll tell you--it's weird. I wasn't sure what to do with my time. What did I use to do before I had a baby? I spent time sewing, but still, it was quiet without Paige. I missed her. 

Over Labor day weekend, we went to Meridian to visit Stephen's family. Paige did really well on the drive, but the whole weekend she had trouble with sleeping overnight. We tried everything we could think of  to prevent her from waking up so much, but why she wouldn't stay asleep still remains a mystery. She would have to nurse to go back to sleep, and I worry I've created a bad habit with that because she still has not slept well since we got home almost a week ago and needs me several times through the night. I'm hopeful we can come up with a solution quickly, because we need our sleep! I've been spoiled to have such an easy baby when it comes to the night, but this is almost worse than the first few weeks after she was born. 

Besides that, we had a great trip to Idaho. It was nice to relax with the family and spend time with them. We played games and watched football and cheered for Jason during his cross country meet. We went to the construction site for the new Meridian temple. It was really beautiful. It was also fun to take Paige to church and show her off to to people. I'm always game for bragging about Paige. She had fun playing with her uncles. She was so entertained just by watching them. It's harder when it's just her and me at home all day. I'm not as energetic and loud as a group of little boys. She also enjoyed playing with her cousin Elise. Lately, she's been excited to see other babies her size. Overall, the trip felt too short, but it was a nice vacation.

Over the past month, we've invited different families over to have dinner with us. I like being a hostess, and Stephen knows this. He went out of his comfort zone twice and invited people over, even though he's more introverted than I am. We had the Adams, a couple from our neighborhood, come with their twins that are a month older than Paige. It was interesting to try and eat and play games with three babies to four adults, but it was a lot of fun, too. I had fun seeing the similarities and differences between them and Paige and recognizing how developed she really is to be able to keep up with older babies. 

We also invited the Stringhams over. Stephen is currently coworkers with Ryan and use to be with Alyssa as well until she became a stay-at-home-mom after she had Sidney a month after Paige was born. We also use to live close to them when we were in Provo, so we used to hang out with them there. It was good to spend time with them. I had visited Alyssa a week or two before we had them over for dinner, and then I spent the next morning with her at a baby-wearing meeting. It's really helpful for me to have mommy friends and to have someone say "Me, too!" when I talk about my life. 

Lately, I've been having a lot of back problems. Really, though, I've had back pain since I was pregnant, and giving birth to and caring for Paige hasn't made it much better. I enjoyed running, but, near the end, my back hurt too much for me to run fast or far, and these past few weeks I've stopped running all together. I went and saw a chiropractor, and, after he adjusted me, I felt like I got hit by a truck for the next few days (and I know what it feels like to be hit by a truck, just sayin'). I did one return appointment with him but didn't feel like it was a good match for me. I'm trying another chiropractor, so cross your fingers for that. I had a consultation last week. I'm seeing him again this upcoming week, and I hope he'll pop my back in just the right ways. At the consultation, he said my hips were so misaligned, my legs were half an inch different in their lengths. Ouch! Stephen has been helping as much as he can with massages and heating pads, but I want this to be fixed so I can live my life without pain each day.

Other eventful happenings this month: Stephen's work had a Boondocks night, which is like an arcade that has mini golf and laser tag and stuff. It was harder to do things there with Paige, but it made for a nice outing as a family. We rented Into the Woods and watched that as a couple. Really good! We also went to the library and borrowed Tales of Earthsea (Stephen had never seen it before *gasp* and it even had dragons in it (Stephen really likes dragons)). Stephen had to be on call for his work one Saturday, but it was nice that he could work from home still and help out with Paige. I also finished painting our coffee table. It was a free gift from a friend and use to be red with a wooden top. I changed it to have gold legs and a black chalkboard surface, so now Paige and any other future children (or, let's be honest, Stephen and I) can draw on it. 

We did other things, too, but this is long enough. We're staying busy in our lives, and Paige just makes it that much more busy, but it's so fun and so worth it. Now,  if we could just all sleep through the night again, that would be great.

Half a year

Has it really been half a year since Paige was born? She's completely changed my life. It's odd to think there was ever life before her. She's such a doll. It's fun to see her personality emerge. She's very curious about life, but also needs security before she's willing to explore. She'll cling to me or Stephen until she feels comfortable enough, and then she'll play on her own just fine for a while. It's funny that she does this in our living room still. She needs to know we're sitting near her. She'll be playing fine, and then I get up and go to the kitchen, and that's cause for her to cry, even though she wasn't interacting with me before. It's funny.

Mostly, I think she likes to tag along and watch. She is a watcher and wants to know what's going on. There are times that I'm sitting and holding her and that's not good enough for her. She'll fuss until I get up and do something, and then she'll calm down to watch. It's like she knows I should be cleaning and gets on my case when I don't. She's still a good shopper and is almost always content when we are out and about. It's really helpful for me.

She's almost crawling. She's on her hands and knees and will lunge forward, but still hasn't gotten the coordination down to actually crawl. That doesn't stop her though--she loves to move. She especially loves power cords. I have to cover them up with a blanket or pillow to distract her. If she can see them, she'll go for it. She also likes playing with anything reflective. Our TV stand has a glass door that she'll crawl to and play with. Normally, she just bonks her head against it, but it's still cute. She likes Stephen's water bottle and will also go for that any time she can. Mirrors also intrigue her. Paige's favorite toy is anything she shouldn't be playing with, and in that sense, I think she's a typical baby. With her movement, she requires more supervision, but so far, she's not gotten herself into too much trouble.

I've also started letting her chew on some solids. I'm wanting to do a baby-led weaning approach. At this point though, I'm not actually weaning as much as I'm just letting her explore and play with food. I'm also wanting to make sure she eats healthy. My approach for now is to only let her have 100% whole foods (basically just fruits and veggies for now). She's tried peaches, cantaloupe, mango, carrots, broccoli, and sugar snap peas.  She's only swallowing a little bit of it, and that's fine with me. I'm still nursing her so I'm not worried about her nutrition yet. It's mostly just exposure at this point. Also, with the amount of random objects that go into her mouth, some of it might as well be food.

I think it's time to recap this past month. We've done a lot of fun things as a family. I'm sure I'm forgetting to mention a lot of fun things. We still do our Saturday outings and sometimes we go out for dinner or just go for a drive. I love shopping (or even just window shopping) with Paige. I still go running most evening and we're trying to eat healthy. Paige keeps us laughing a lot. I'm so enthralled with her, and I adore watching Stephen be a great dad. Our life is pretty standard, but we have done some special stuff this past month.

Stephen's work hosted an event they called a hackathon. They split up into teams and worked for a few days on a project to improve their product, collaborative flowcharts. Stephen's group changed the way a file saved. If you want more programming details, ask him. They company then had a competition at the end. After inviting the families to see the displays and have dinner, the top four teams were announced. Stephen's team was one of them. The four teams did a presentation, and then the winners were announced. Stephen and his team took first place and each won a $500 gift card to Amazon. Needless to say, I was proud of my smart Husband.

My sister Susan came home from her mission in California. I tried meeting her at the airport during her layover in Salt Lake, but her flight was delayed. I saw her a few days later when we went down to St. George to visit. It had been a long time since all my siblings and I were together, so that was really fun for our family. Paige traveled alright, though vacationing with a baby isn't relaxing. Still, being with my family meant she had a lot of babysitters. I was happy for the break.

My sisters, my mom, my grandma, and I went to the temple together. It was great to be there as a girl's trip. I hope we can do that again someday. It was also fun to go to church as a whole family. Susan gave a great report on her mission and Paige was extra cute. I had a lot of fun showing her off. I was able to see some friends while I was down in St. George too, and I'm glad for that.

Since we were all together, my family had a photo shoot with one of my best friends growing up, Kelsi, as our photographer. If anyone in St. George wants a great photographer, check her out. She did an amazing job working with our large family and our different ideas and opinions. I'm really happy with how the pictures turned out. Thanks, Kelsi! It was fun to choose our outfits too. It was my idea to go with neutrals and navy, and I think it turned out nice. I was very happy to see the pictures when they were done. It'll be something we cherish for a long time.

At the end of July, I saw a facebook post for a contest for Parade of Homes tickets. Long story short, we got two free tickets. Stephen and I have been spending a lot of time looking at fancy homes. I love daydreaming and the Parade of Homes is perfect for that. It's been fun for me. For Stephen, on the other hand, well, it just shows how much he loves me. It's more work for him, and not how he would choose to spend his free time, but he has not once complained to me about it. He's worked hard to give me opinions and input, carrying on the conversation well. We've both learned about what we like and don't like in a home, and so far, we have pretty similar tastes. When we get to build our dream home someday, it's going to be beautiful! Paige sides with me on the enjoyment of looking at homes. We take turns wearing her in the baby wrap as we go through the homes and so far, she's enjoyed all of them.

I've also been trying to make friends and hang out with people. I've tried to get together with my neighbors, but so far, nothing's worked out. I went to a mommy group and had fun there, and we might go back, but I would have to pay to join their group. La Leche Leage is great, but it only meets once a month, ad I would like friends more often than that. I was able to hang out with some of my friends from college earlier this week, and I had a blast. We have a facebook group for us to ask each other mommy questions and share fun articles or pictures, and sometimes we try to do meetups. This one was the most successfully attended. We just went to a park and hung out, but I loved seeing my friends and meeting many new babies.

Well, Paige is needing another diaper change, so we'll end here. I love being a mom to this sweet girl, and a wife to my amazing husband. Six months of parenting down, eternity to go.

4th of July, 5 Months Old (Almost), and 6 Pounds Gone

I use to try and post twice a month. Now, it's becoming a once-a-month thing. So much has happened though, and I probably won't be able to remember it all. Still, let's cover some highlights.

Paige went through a sleep regression for a while. She would wake up several times a night; sometimes just feeding her would put her back to sleep, and other times, it took more effort. Both Stephen and I felt the dip in our sleep, and that made things rough for a bit. Stephen is really good at picking up the slack on my hard days. Paige seems to be doing a lot better now, though she wakes up more often than she use to. I guess this is what it's like to have a normal baby. I've become a lot better at nursing her in bed though. Often in the mornings, she'll wake up after Stephen's gotten up and I'll bring her to bed with me for a few more hours of sleep and let her rest on his side of the bed. I've done research into safe bed sharing, so don't hate.

She's about 50% on putting herself to sleep in the crib, which is a big step from a month ago. If she fights it long enough, I'll get her up and put her to sleep myself. Otherwise, I stand by her crib and give her the pacifier a few times while either singing to her or playing music to her. We bounce back and forth between Geronimo and the Primary songbook. Sometimes she welcomes her nap, and other times, not so much. She's also cut down on the amounts of naps she takes each day. Where she use to sleep every two to three hours, she now only naps two or three times a day. I'm adjusting our schedule to fit that.

Paige has grown a lot in her abilities. She's now able to roll over both directions. She did a full 360 once too. She's much more interested in toys and loves to play with them. She's also much more interested in things that aren't toys that are fun to play with too, which keeps me on my toes sometimes. If she can reach it, it's only a matter of seconds before it's in her mouth. She will wiggle and squirm herself towards toys, and spins around in a circle to play with different toys. It's only a matter of time before she figures out how to get on her knees, and then I know she'll be off. She's recently discovered her toes, too, and that's been one of her favorite toys.

She also likes to give kisses to me, and often just sucks on my chin. I've learned that she's ticklish on her jawline and I make her laugh a lot because of it. It's pretty cute. She's still able to fit in some of her 0-3 month clothes, but for the most part, she's comfortable in the 3-6 month sizes. She's getting better at her balance, but still can't sit up on her own yet. Once she does, I'll start trying to feed her solids. I'm excited for that, not because it'll replace nursing, but because it'll be fun to watch her learn and try new things. I'm determined to give her lots of healthy options and hopefully start some good habits. 

Speaking of healthy options and good habits, I've joined a mommy fitness challenge. It's eight weeks long and started last Monday. In this past week's time, I've lost 6 pounds and 5 inches. I'm feeling pretty accomplished for that. I've also gone running a lot and though I'm slow, there's so much improvement than there was a month or two ago. I've been working on eating healthy, whole, clean foods. I'm drinking green smoothies and eating a lot of yummy salads and just trying to emphasis plants in my diet. I told Stephen yesterday that my diet is "I can eat a lot of stuff, I just can't eat a lot of stuff." In other words, portion control on many healthy options. I'm glad I'm already seeing the benefits of this lifestyle change, and I hope to continue for the next seven weeks and beyond. Paige is a great motivation for me to live the kind of life I really want to. 

Independence Day turned out to be two days for us this year since Stephen got Friday off in observance. I insisted we all wear red, white, and/or blue for both the 3rd and the 4th. Friday night, we went to Riverton and watched a parade. It was a little stressful to find a good parking spot and a good spot to watch the parade, but it turned out to be perfect. The parades I watched growing up were much shorter and less exciting than this parade. It lasted over an hour and had a lot of fun floats. Paige had the "not impressed" look through a lot of it, but I was impressed. I'm just grateful she didn't cry and hate it, even if she didn't understand anything. 

When it got dark that night and after we put Paige in bed, Stephen and I went outside with the baby monitor and lit some little fireworks. We had sparklers and pop its and one that you set on the road and it sparked and stuff. It was pretty fun to play with fire with my best friend. I squealed probably more than I should have. Stephen had fun too. 

Saturday morning we went to a park in Sandy. There, we watched police dogs do obstacle courses and attack "bad guys." We also walked around and looked at the booths. There was one that sold cute books and I bought one for Paige for Christmas. We spent the afternoon at home and I made a fun 4th of July indoor BBQ. I made tuna burgers with a bean salad and corn on the cob. We drank fruit punch out of our fancy glasses and Paige cooperated for most of the meal. Later, we had angel food cake with strawberry sauce. Super yummy! 

That night, we watched the fireworks. The three of us dove up the hill and found a clearing where we could look over the valley. There were so many fireworks! It seemed like every mile, there was another launch site. We listened to the radio play patriotic music and enjoyed the show for a while. Paige slept through most of it, which means they weren't loud enough to scare her, so that was nice. Overall, we had a really good holiday.

It's hard to believe it's almost been five months since Paige was born. I'm sure I'm forgetting to note a lot of her new accomplishments, as well as interesting things we've done in the past month. That why I use to write more often. But my days are full with family and health and homemaking now, as well as plenty of Reba and Family Feud. Not every day is easy, but overall it's a lot of fun. 

Four Months and Family Memories

I had notes about Paige to write for her four month post, but them my phone deleted them. So this is going off of memory. Also, I'm using my phone to write some of this, so forgive me for any errors. Paige turned four months last Friday but I haven't had a chance to post about it until now. It's hard to think of all the new things that she's been doing; it's hard for me to look back and think when she started doing things. It feels like she's always been like this. Then I look up baby pictures when she was a newborn and realize how far we've come. 

So Paige is a talker. It seems like a few weeks ago, she discovered her voice. This is good for me because she often just babbles instead of crying when she wants or needs something. Like, when she wakes up from a nap happy, she will just cool at me until I come get her. Then she flashes a huge smile and get really excited to see me. I much rather have her wake up like that and screaming and crying. It's also a really cute to try to have conversations with her. Also, I love tapping my finger on her mouth to change her sound and she likes it too.

Speaking of her getting excited to see me, I feel like she is the most happy to see me than any other person has ever been. It's so cute to see her squeal and wave her hands and kick her feet. It's like a whole body can't contain your excitement. And all I did was show up. Why weren't boys like that when I was dating? She's also really happy to see daddy when he comes home--she's almost as happy as I am. She really is a daddy's girl. Stephen got her to laugh the hardest when he was doing push-ups with her. She hasn't laughed like that before or since. Luckily we got it on video. She will smile back at almost anyone that smiles at her if she is in a good mood. If she's in a bad mood, it doesn't matter who she sees, she's not happy.

Physically, Paige is very advance for her age. She was able to hit all of the mile markers for being 4 month old around the time she was 3 months old. However, she has yet to actually roll over on her own. There have been a few times when her head tipped far enough that she rolled, but that was just by accident. She seems like she's really close a few times for rolling over from her back to her stomach but she has yet to actually commit to it.

At her for month check up, Paige weighed 13 pounds and had grown 4 inches since she was born. She's only in the 30th percentile for her age, but the doctor is not concerned, so neither am I. I've had people comment on how little she is, and it's true that she small, but she is growing enough and has enough diapers for me to know she's eating plenty too. Speaking of diapers, she's really good at big summer blow out. I'll just keep that there for the record to embarrass her with it later in life.

Paige is really good at doing a half push-up and holding her head up really high. She loves to look around and see what's going on. She wants to be included on all the action any time we go somewhere new. Because of this, she often skip a nap or skip a feeding because she's too distracted by what's going on. She's going a lot longer between eating, and that's been nice for me. Her naps are not very long, but she does well at night. There have been enough night feedings though to make me realize how hard it would be if Paige actually woke up all the time throughout the tonight. My heart goes out to all the other moms who have to do the night shift far more often than I do.

Paige has also shown more interested in toys. Within a week, she went from oblivious to obsessive over toys. It's fun to try and play with her now. She's getting the grabbing motion down, but she doesn't have a concept of holding onto things yet. And if the toy goes out of her sight, it doesn't exist. Now I have to be careful of her wanting to play with things that aren't toys, like power cords and my hair. Still, I'm happy she's reaching this milestone.

We are also working on her putting herself to sleep in her crib. I was really worried it would be a nightmare and a constant battle, but she surprised me by doing extremely well. I have to make sure she's calm when I put her down, and I've needed to give Paige her pacifier a few times when she looses it, but overall, she's had a high success rate. It makes me want to celebrate. I knew I didn't want to do the cry-it-out method, so I wasn't sure what I would do if she hated falling asleep on her own, but with just a little extra effort on my side (but much less than her falling asleep in my arms), she's able to put herself to sleep.

I think that covers all of the details I want to point out. In other news, We've had a busy week. Last Saturday, we attended a funeral for my cousin Ryan. It was like a mini-reunion, and I appreciated that. Paige was being fussy after her shots, but my mom helped to take care of her and show her off to family members, which gave me a nice break.

Then on Sunday, we went to Stephen's family's cabin. It was tricky to take care of Paige at the cabin, but it worked out alright. She just never wanted to sleep since there was so much going on. It was fun for me to play games with his family--I ended up winning a lot more than I thought I would. We hiked a lot--any time we put Paige in the wrap and hiked, she fell asleep quickly. That seemed to be the only time she slept well, Overall, I'm glad we went. I hope to make many more good memories at the cabin.

We came home Tuesday night and met up with my mom, who stayed with us for a few days while my brother Joseph had New Student Orientation at the University of Utah. My mom changed every diaper while she was here. If you ever want to know how to help out a new mom and give her a break, change all the diapers. I really don't mind changing Paige, but I will gladly let someone else do it. My mom also helped me around my house to decorate and organize more. I was able to cross off a lot of to-do items that had been lingering on my list too long. I'm most proud of my photo wall collage. It's about 90% done, so once it's completely finished, I'll post pictures.

Because there has been so much going on, Paige's update is late, but as you can tell, we've been busy. It's at least been a fun-busy, adding memories and adventure to our lives. I'm so grateful for family and the chance we've had to be with them, and I love being a part of my own little family and watching Paige learn and grow.

Vacation, Visits, and Personal Development

Having a baby has taken up a lot of my blogging time, but I want to document things still, so this will be a catch-all recap. 

For Memorial Day weekend, we went to Arizona to visit my Grandma. We were able to take a four-generation picture as it was Paige's first time to meet my Grandma. We had plans to go to Lake Powell, but the weather didn't cooperate. It was fun to hang out inside instead. We also visited my Grandpa's grave.

I tried teaching my siblings how to make animals out of beads like my siblings and I use to do when we were younger, but their lack of enthusiasm made it feel worse than pulling teeth. But other activities went over better, like playing games and taking care of Paige. I think the best thing about visiting with family is seeing them interact with Paige (the second best thing is when they change the diapers for me). It was a very good trip and turned out really well.

My mom and my sister, Sarah, came and stayed with us this past week. It was great to spend so much time with them. We spent the week sewing different projects. I bought a sewing machine and my mom helped to teach me how to use it. I made fabric letters for Paige to play with. It was a great beginner project and turned out really cute. I also did a lot of mending by myself, and felt a great sense of accomplishment. I'm looking forward to making more things and developing that talent. 

Tom and Deborah came up twice during that week to visit. I made a carrot cake and decorated it all by myself. Or rather, like I said to Deb, "All without your help," since she is the artistic one in the family. We played games, talked, and had fun. It's nice to have my family close. While my mom was visiting, Stephen and I went to the temple and did sealings. We were able to do a lot of family names and finish up the work for a few people that I've been working on for the past few years. And it was nice to have another date with Stephen. 

My new rule of a family outing every Saturday has been going well. One week we went to Pizza Pie Cafe. Another week we went to Sheel's (a sportsman store) and walked around. We went to a festival at the local Catholic school and looked around. This past weekend we took Paige swimming for the first time since it was a free day at the pool. She was really confused by it, but didn't cry, so that's good. She liked looking at all the action going on around her. Paige really likes any action going on around her. She loves going to new places and seeing different people. 

We've also been working on things around the house. Stephen and I are trying to improve on our emergency preparedness. I think my 72-hour kit is about up to par, and I've started making Paige's kit. I've been trying to decorate more too. I feel like I have a lot of half-finished projects, but as soon as they're done, it's going to be so cute. My wall collage, chalk table, and beach-themed bathroom will hopefully be really cute when it comes together. And now adding sewing to my crafting list, I'm going to be spending a lot of time making things. That is, as much time as Paige will let me.

I've also been trying to make time for exercising. Within the weeks after giving birth, I dropped 45 pounds (and considering I only gained 30 through my pregnancy, that was really good). But then I stalled for a long time. I can't say I was actively working on it, though. I would try to go on walks with Paige, but nothing intense. But a few weeks ago, I committed to being more active. I started a couch-to-5k training app and I've seen a lot of improvement. The scale doesn't reflect it, but my ability to run has increased, and I believe it's more important to be healthy and fit than it is to be skinny. I want to be healthy for Paige, and being able to run for three minutes straight repeatedly is something I'm not sure I've ever been able to do. I would love to be able to run a 5k when my sister Susan gets home from her mission next month, but if I could even run a mile in under 12 minutes, that would be a personal record.

And now for Paige. She's as cute as ever. I want to make a four-month post soon (can you believe it's been that much time already?) so I won't write a lot, but I will say she's adorable. She's not sleeping as well as she use to overnight, but it's still only like, one extra feeding, so it's not too bad. She likes to stay up late with the party. She's in larger clothes that are super cute, but it was hard to put away her smaller outfits. She sticks to her schedule pretty well, and sometimes skips a feeding or two through the day, meaning she can go longer without eating, which is awesome. She naps pretty well through the day but evenings and nights are rough to get her to sleep. Speaking of which, she has just woken up from her nap, and it's time to go back to being a mommy. 

Rolling Rollins at Three Months Old

Paige is not quite three months old, but I figured I would write now while I have the chance since this may take more than one sitting. I'm going to warn you: this post is going to sound like I'm bragging. Paige is such a dream baby and I'm so happy being a mom. I know that people say you're not suppose to wait to be happy in life, but I always wanted to be a mom, and now that I am, I really do feel fulfilled. She's one of my best friends, even at this young age. I feel like I'm living this perfect little life with my husband and baby in our cute basement apartment. It's super cliche, but I love it.

Paige is growing each day, and it's fun to watch her change. I was looking at pictures from her birth the other day; it was strange to realize how different she really looks. She's a lot less wrinkly and has a lot more rolls. I think she looks more like Stephen, especially in her eyes. She is very alert and has been from the beginning, but it's fun to see her smile and interact with things around her. I really do all I can to get her to smile at me. Seeing her smile is the best part of parenting.

She's also very strong--she's been lifting herself up higher than she use to during tummy time, and has even managed to roll over a few times from her tummy to her back. Though the rolling is mostly caused by her head being too heavy for her to correct when she swings it too far to one side. Still, it's adorable. She doesn't realize she can roll over, and she's really good at not rolling when I pull out my camera (I must have at least a dozen failed attempts). Paige is also lengthening her cycle. She's not been super consistent on a set time, but often goes for 2 and a half hours or three hours before needing to repeat. At times, she loves to throw me off by not sleeping for several hours, especially when we're out somewhere and there are new things to see, but she's still consistent enough that I can plan my day out around her needs.

She's also filling out her clothes better. She's grown out of some of the newborn size ones, and I'm a lot more ok with that than I thought I would be. Mostly, I know she has a lot more cute clothes in the larger sizes that still don't fit yet that I want to use. She is about average in her sizing, so we're getting close to the next size up, though I think the outfits she wears now will last a bit longer. I have too much fun playing dress up, and Paige likes to give me multiple opportunities a day to change her clothes when she has what we call a "big summer blowout."

It's so fun watching her grow up. I feel like I'm doing my best to take it all in and appreciate all the cute, little things (though, as Stephen likes to remind me, everything about her is cute and little). I understand now why Heavenly Father loves to watch us grow and why we are His work and His glory. Not every day is easy--I definitely have moments where I just want time to myself, and there are other times where I'm tired or worn out and don't have much patience. Paige is really good at reminding me how much I love her though. She'll look at me and smile and suddenly, it's all worth it.

We try to get out of the house every day. It's harder when the weather is bad, but on good days, we will go for walks or go shopping together. She's a much better shopping buddy than Stephen is (Stephen is fine at shopping, but it's not the same as girl-time shopping--they are two entirely different experiences with entirely different purposes). I've been having fun exploring different stores with her. My current favorite is Joann's fabric store. We go look at all the cute crafts--it's like the physical manifestation of pinterest. I've decided I want to be more crafty in my life, and I've taken on a few projects already. I decorated Paige's nursery with embroidery hoops and I have a coffee table I'm going to paint with chalkboard paint once the weather clears up. I'm also saving up for a sewing machine and I hope to start developing that talent. 

As far as family news goes, Stephen formally walked for his graduation during commencement a few weeks ago. He's one of the few people I know who can make those graduation gowns look good. He's just that handsome I guess. Some of my family came for it since my brother was also graduating at the same time. While I know they came to support the graduates, they really came to see Paige. I love watching my mom be a grandma, and I really love the extra help when she's here. 

Stephen and I also took our first official date post-baby. We hired my sister to babysit since I knew I could trust her. It was really hard for me to leave Paige, even for a few hours. Stephen and I went to the movies with Stephen's company and saw the second Avengers movie on opening day. I mostly enjoyed spending time with Stephen and remember that we are husband and wife as well as daddy and mommy. Paige wasn't the best for my sister apparently--she's been having a hard time falling asleep with anyone but me--but we'll try again another time and see if she does better.

I've also made a new family rule that the three of us must leave the house and go do something together every Saturday. Some weeks, it's as simple as going for a walk around the neighborhood or buying groceries. This past weekend, we went to an Art festival in the park. It was a lot of fun to see people's cute crafts and realize how talented others are, but it also rained the whole time. You could say it didn't dampen our fun, though! (har har.) Paige slept the whole time in her waterproof car seat, and I'm pretty sure the rain was just white noise to her. 

In conclusion, I want to talk about Mother's day a bit. A few people have asked me what my first Mother's day as a mom is like. Mostly, it's given me a deeper appreciation for my mom. As a child, you know that your mom takes care of you a lot and works hard, but as an adult and now a new mom myself, I'm realizing just how much she did for me and my siblings and still continues to do. If I could be half as great as my mom is, Paige will be lucky and blessed. Anyone who knows my mom will agree. I'm also grateful for the other mother figures in my life. I'm glad Stephen has such a great mom that welcomed me so fully into her family, and that we both have amazing grandmas. Now that I am a mom, I see the reason behind the holiday dedicated to celebrating motherhood and womanhood.

Being a new mom has made this day extra special personally too. Stephen has gone above and beyond to show his love for me. He made breakfast while I was in the shower and baked a chocolate cake since he knew how much I love chocolate (that may be why I'm struggling to loose the last five pounds to make it to my first mile marker goal weight). He bought me a rose and a sweet card, as well as a new hair straightener. Most of all, he has agreed to change all of the diapers today. Really, he's spoiling me. 

I cried during sacrament meeting today as the primary children sang to their moms. It was touching to realize that I am a mom now. It's a dream I've always had, and now it has come true. I feel like I'm living in a fairy tale with such a wonderful husband and daughter. We have a cute little life. I clean and cook and take care of a baby and greet my husband as he comes home around five. It's seems like a snapshot in a magazine for how wonderful it all is. I'm so, so grateful for it all. We might not have every material thing we could want, and it does seem like the laundry never ends, but that is the exact life I want. I love being a wife to my handsome Stephen and be a mom to my darling Paige. Mother's day is not just for appreciating my mom now--it is also for celebrating the fact that I am a mom, and what better holiday could there be. 

Two Months and Tons of Fun

Two months have past since Paige came into our lives. It doesn't seem like that much time has happened, but that's what the calendar says. She's growing up so well. I feel like I'm bragging when I talk about her, but she really is a great baby. We have a steady pattern that she keeps to most of the time, though every now and then she'll mix it up on me for an hour or two, but then we're back to normal. It's nothing I can set my watch to, but enough that I know why she's crying, or how long I'll have until she starts crying for something. It is a huge blessing. 

And yes, she really does sleep through the night 90% of the time. I'm sometimes surprised when she only sleeps for 6 hours in a row. Lately, it's been about 8 hours or so. She then cycles through her eat-play-sleep every two to three hours until bedtime. We then do an eat-bathe-eat-sleep cycle to get her physically and mentally ready for her long sleep. Because she has two-hour cycles, we choose which one to make bedtime, which is helping all of us get to bed earlier. Normally, it's sometime between 9:30 and 11:00. Since we've added the bath to the nighttime routine, she goes down pretty easily, eliminating the need for the "first watch" that Stephen and I use to do to help one of us get some sleep. Now, we can all go to bed at the same time. Huge blessing again. I like falling asleep next to my husband at the same time. I hadn't realized how much that meant to me. Having different bedtimes was hard, especially when nothing was predictable, but with the extra effort of a bath each night, we all have a better night.

Her two-month checkup is on Wednesday, so I'm not sure what her stats will be, but I do know she's growing up well. She still has some baby acne, but it's gotten a lot better. She eats and fills her diapers regularly enough that I know she's healthy. She's grown out of her first outfit, so that's a milestone. It was one of the outfits she wore on her first day, (honestly, I don't remember which outfit we put her in first--it might have been this one) and even thought it's a newborn-size, it's lasted this long. I'm surprisingly more ok with her growing up than I thought I would be. I've promised myself to appreciate every stage and not have any regrets about it. 

Besides being a mom, I've also been spending my time doing family history work. I find it pretty easy for me to do while Paige is sleeping in the wrap. Since I'm not able to be away from Paige long enough to attend the temple, connecting families and finding missing members and making names available for the temple is my next best option. It depends on a lot of different circumstances for how many names I can get, but in a few good hours, I can add about a dozen names. I like to think that's pretty good. A lot of it is thanks to my Grandpa Jack's genealogy books, so I have that extra help. I like to think at how impressed my Grandpa Jack would have been with the Church's family history system. Since he's not alive to appreciate it, I'll transfer his work online for him. 

In the past few weeks, I've been obsessed with Divergent. I know I kind of missed that train a while ago, but the movie plays on TV a few times a week, and I try to watch it when I can. In fact, I've been watching it while blogging now. I've also read the book now and have the second one on hold from the library. It's been too long since I've read for fun. I read a lot of articles online and church material, but I haven't gotten into a novel for a while, so that was fun for me. 

Besides the regular routine of life, Stephen, Paige, and I went to Boise this past weekend for Michael's (Stephen's brother) baptism. We debated a long time if we should go or not. Traveling with a newborn was daunting to me, but we really wanted to be supportive. We finally committed to going. We left Thursday after work and took Stephen's brother Mathew up with us. We had to stop three times on the drive up to take care of Paige, but she did a lot better than I feared she might. We stayed with my sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Heidi and Scott, in their new townhouse, though we spent most of the time at Stephen's parent's house.

It was a challenge to take care of Paige and keep her routine going while wanting to spend as much time as possible with the family. Stephen was a great help, and Paige did really well. She spent a lot of time in the baby wrap so I could participate and do things like help with Michael's birthday party, play games, and eat. His baptism went really well too, and I'm glad we were there for it. I had to sacrifice staying up late talking to get enough sleep, or being with people in order to sit in the other room for a few minutes to feed Paige, but parenthood takes sacrifices sometimes. And it really wasn't too bad. We had to do some extra planning, but overall, we had a lot of fun.

Easter and Conference. General Conference was great. I'm looking forward to rereading the talks, since I spent a lot of the time taking care of Paige. But what I did catch was uplifting. For Easter, Deborah and Tom, my brother and sister, came over. We had a big breakfast and played cards. I tried putting Paige in an Easter dress, but it was way too big for her, so we gave up pretty quick. Stephen and I dyed eggs while Paige napped an then had our traditional egg roll. For the record, I won. 

One more note. We stared a garden a few weeks ago. I am notorious for killing plants, but I want to get better. We bought some lettuce, a tomato plant, and zucchini seeds and planted them in containers. In two days, the tomato plant was dead, but a few days ago, I saw the zucchini starting to bud, so we're having mixed reviews. Still, it's fun to water the plants each day with Paige, and I hope my efforts actually pay off. If not, we'll try again next year. It'll be a fun family project regardless. 

Well, life goes on. Not everything is perfect, but most of it is. I feel a little guilty for talking about how great things are, but we are really blessed. Heavenly Father is taking care of us.

Blessed by Family

Before I recap how great this past weekend was, I want to record some milestones for Paige. She is growing up and becoming stronger. On St. Patrick's Day, she pinched me for the first time, even though I was wearing green. She's found my hair and loves to tug on it when she's mad. Last night, I put her on her tummy on the floor while she was happy, and through her wiggling, she scooted herself around and within ten minutes, had her head where her feet began. I'm predicting that she'll be an early crawler at this rate. She's also started smiling and laughing on purpose. I thought she was smiling on St. Patrick's day and tried to get it on camera, but she wasn't cooperating. Stephen and I recorded her being happy last night, so I'll make yesterday the official milestone of her first smile and laugh. 

She also slept eight hours in a row last week and only woke up because we had to go to church. Paige slept at least six hours in a row for the majority of the nights this past week, which I know is spoiling me. I have no idea why, but something I must be doing works. She is still a night owl though, and loves to not start sleeping until after midnight, sometimes even two in the morning, but makes up for it by sleeping in. She's like me, I suppose, so I can't blame her.

So this week was eventful for us. On Wednesday, I had my last midwife appointment. It was bittersweet. I've been seeing them for so long, it's odd to think I won't go back. But I guess I got what I went to them for. We weighed her there with her clothes on and she came in at 10 lbs 9 oz. That's three pounds more than her birth weight. She definitely is chunkier, but it just makes her cuter. It's also reassuring to know both she and I are healthy and fine.

She was sleepy that day. Before the appointment, while we were getting ready, she was tired and cranky. I knew the drive would put her to sleep, so I put her in her car seat while I fixed my hair and finished getting ready. She had been crying pretty strongly, but started to calm herself once she was in her seat. It was the cutest thing. She would give little whimpers or quick gasps of air like she was trying to stop crying and be strong. She put herself to sleep before we even got to the car. My little trooper.

Thursday night, we had a Relief Society dinner. I took Paige with me and she did really well. I love it when she sleeps while I eat so I can enjoy my dinner. Otherwise, I eat with one hand or I listen to her cry at me. She did wake up an need to eat, so I stepped out for a bit, but otherwise, she behaved just fine. A lot of people commented on how alert she was. Paige is also really good at holding her head up, and she gets a lot of remarks over that too. Each time I successfully go out with her gives me more confidence.

Thursday night to Friday morning, Paige deviated from her predictability and kept me up until four in the morning to remind me that she's still a baby and that I should be more grateful for her good sleeping habits. But that didn't stop us from having a good day. I cleaned my house and prepped for company to come over. My sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and niece stayed with us this weekend. It's nice that we have the space for company to come over, which we really didn't have in Provo. They got here in the afternoon and we had dinner together once Stephen got home. 

After that, the girls went to a baby shower for Paige hosted by Stephen's aunt. Many of the women in Stephen's family were there--his mom, grandma, cousins, cousin's children, and aunts. It was a lot of fun to see everyone. We made headbands for Paige, and they all turned out really cute. She's been wearing some of them since and they really complete her outfits. It was fun to have a girl's night. We then hung out with Stephen's siblings and parents for a bit before heading back to our house to meet up with my family.

My mom came when we had Paige, but the rest of my family met her that night. It was fun to watch my siblings interact with Paige. I hadn't realized how unfamiliar they were with babies. Sarah was very timid to hold her, but warmed up with time. They didn't stay long that night, but Saturday, they came back over for a while. Everyone took turns holding Paige. When it came time to change her diaper, Sarah and Becca wanted to learn how to do it because they had never changed a diaper before, which is drastically different than my childhood. Joseph, Michael, and David were grossed out by it and gagged the whole time. The second diaper change, Sarah wanted to do it, so my mom walked her through the steps. The whole time, Sarah kept getting nervous and exclaiming "I can't do it," but she did a good job. It was really fun for me to spend so much time with my family and share Paige with them. 

Saturday evening, we gathered with Stephen's side of the family at the Joseph Smith Building across from the temple to celebrate his grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary. I was nervous about how well Paige would do, but she slept almost the whole time. She cried during the family pictures (of course) but I was able to put her in my baby wrap and she slept while I ate dinner. The grandchildren and great-grandchildren sang Families Can Be Together Forever. They also showed a video of Grandma and Grandpa talking about how they met and fell in love. It was so cute. The family then presented a quilt to the grandparents that was full of different memories. It was a special event. Afterwards, spent more time with Stephen's family playing games for the rest of the night.

Sunday morning, I got up early to make sure I had enough time to get everything ready for Paige's blessing day. I had to wake her up again, and it was so precious to watch her try to keep sleeping as I got her ready. Sorry, baby! It was also fun for me to put her in her dress. My mom made her blessing dress out of the same fabric as my wedding dress and used the same embroidery design too. It was so beautiful. 

Most of our family and friends were waiting for us at the church when we arrived. It was so great to see so many people supporting us. Paige did really well during her blessing--she was awake and alert and seemed to listen to what Stephen said. He blessed her to be a blessing to those around her, allowing others to feel her sweet spirit. It was when he blessed her to someday meet a man worthy of her and marry her in the temple that I cried. Stephen is so great. We took pictures after sacrament meeting.

After the block of meetings, we had a potluck luncheon. There was plenty of food, which I was worried about. I cooked like, 70 hot dogs in a crock pot. There was about thirty five people there according to Stephen's head count. It's hard bouncing back and forth between our families over the weekend, so it was nice to have everyone together so we didn't have to choose. It was sad to say goodbye to them all after such a great time, though. Once all our visitors were on the road, we took a family nap.

Overall, it was great to have so much going on because I had been looking forward to it for weeks, and while I was worried about Paige handling it all, she couldn't have been better. I'm really grateful for our families and for all the love we felt. Thank you to all who support us from near and far, in person and in thought. We are truly blessed.

One Month Old

Paige is one month old today. Has it really been a month? She's grown up so much in the past four weeks. I feel like she looks older when I compare her to the newborn pictures. (Is she still a newborn? When does that term no longer apply?) She has a lot of Stephen in her, but I have a hard time recognizing how she looks like me, so I'm not the best to ask. So far, I'm still able to fit her into all of her clothes, even the newborn-sized ones, but she's also growing into larger clothes. Some outfits that are technically 3-6 months fit her now, but there are also other 3-6 month clothes that I wonder if she'll ever fit into because they look so big against her.

Paige loves to be held as much as possible. She will be content to lay on her own sometimes, but tires of that quickly. For the most part, she has a predictable routine of eat-play-sleep. She'll eat for 15 to 20 minutes, then be content and happy for a half hour or so. Suddenly, the switch flips and she's tired, but doesn't know how to put herself to sleep. She'll get really fussy, but if I can convince her to relax for just long enough, she'll sleep. There's no way of knowing how long she'll sleep for--could be five minutes, could be hours, but I try to shoot for a half hour. We then repeat the process, though she always likes to throw me off just when I think I know she's going to do something. For instance, she just fell asleep after eating, so I'm typing this with her sleeping on me.

For as much as she might not nap during the day, she does sleep well at night. For the most part, she'll give me long stretches of sleep at night, from at least four hours, to the max record of seven hours in the row (that was last night, and it was wonderful). There are nights where she doesn't want to go back to sleep after she wakes to eat, and those are the harder nights. Stephen will often take that shift and stay up with her as needed. We're working on having a reasonable bed time, though. She likes to wait to start her night until midnight or so. But for being a newborn, Stephen and I have been getting a lot of sleep.

Paige isn't old enough yet to smile or laugh consciously, but she will often grin and giggle in her sleep. It's the cutest thing ever. She likes to play "super baby" and be held up in the air over my head. She then flies around and saves the day. Her favorite song is Geronimo by Sheppard--it will calm her down when she's crying and if I bounce her along with the beat, she'll often be asleep by the end of the song. I also sing primary songs to her, and she seems to like A Child's Prayer best. She likes to see what is going on, even though not much happens with just her and me hanging out at home. Still, she likes to face outwards and look around. She especially likes to look out the windows. 

We both enjoy our baby wrap. She will fall asleep really quickly when she's in it, which works for me, except I then have to keep her on me while she naps. This limits what I can do, but because I have my hands free, I still can get a lot done and she'll sleep longer. It also normally works best if she also has her pacifier (we had to try a different shape, but she'll now take a pacifier where she wouldn't initially). We'll often go on walks with her in my wrap, and the young neighborhood girls love to look at her if they're outside playing when we walk past. 

Paige doesn't like when we wipe her during a diaper change, She also isn't a fan of baths. She isn't sure if she likes her swing or not--often we use it to help her fall asleep, so she cries in it, but then will sleep well once she relaxes. She doesn't like the doctor's office because they keep moving her or poking her heel. Paige is alright riding in the car as long as she just ate recently--if she's hungry, she let's me know from the back seat, though the freeway will often put her to sleep too. She really doesn't like not eating when she thinks she's hungry. I do my best to not feed her for at least an hour between sessions, and for the most part, she's accepted that, but we have our rough spots.

I like playing dress up with her. She is so cute, and cute clothes add to her cuteness. Stephen likes to watch her grow, he says. She really has changed our lives, and I wouldn't have it any other way. I've been doing a lot better emotionally. Having some sort of routine helps me a lot, even if it's still really loose and flexible. I've also figured out her cries more--I think before I was feeding her when she was actually just tired, which would keep awake and make her overfed, leading to the vomiting. We're still getting better at nursing--it's harder on me than it is on her, but it's a lot better than it was the first two weeks.

We've also been working on getting out of the house and going places. Earlier this week, Paige and I went to a La Leche League meeting. That was a big support boost for me. Sometimes, I just need the reminder that I'm doing a good job, and the women in the meeting were very friendly and encouraging. I hope to go often to the monthly meetings. We also had our first trip to the store last week. I took longer than I had hoped and she woke up wanting to eat just as I stated grocery shopping. I did my best to keep her calm and shop quickly, but I learned my lesson to feed her first. 

The next time I went shopping, I left her home with Stephen, but it was hard for me to shop without worrying about them. I called home in the middle of my outing just to check in because I was too concerned. Yesterday, she and I tried going shopping again, and that trip was much better. She slept most of the time. We also went to church for the first time, and because I was willing to hold her through the meetings, she slept in my arms pretty contentedly. I enjoyed all the gawking over her (it was deserved, let's be honest). 

I would report about our lives outside of Paige, but there's not much besides that. 95% of my time is devoted to her, and the other five is saved for things like eating or showering. Stephen goes to work each day, but he checks in to make sure we are doing alright. He's worked from home some just to help me out on harder days or busy days. I'm glad he has that option. Stephen's also been biking to work so that I have access to the car, and that's been helpful.

I have learned so much about her and myself over this past month, but I think I've learned the most about Heavenly Father. I feel like I understand how He feels about us and how hard He really is trying to take care of us. There are times when I'm trying to help Paige and I feel like I'm doing all I can to meet her needs. For instance, when I know she's tired and I'm holding her and bouncing her and shushing her and she has her pacifier but is too busy crying to notice all my efforts and let them help her, I can imagine Heavenly Father doing the same with us. We are too upset sometimes at Him to notice all the help He's already giving us. We cry and complain at Him when He's doing all He can to help us recognize the answer and solution is right in front of us if we would just calm down and listen. I feel like there's a scripture or quote that talks about how we have the understanding of babies, but I wasn't able to find it. If you can, I'll give you a gold star. 

I've also come to realize that I've reached one of the last major milestones in my life for a while. I'm so use to having deadlines, due dates, and changes, it's weird to realize this is how life is going to be for the next foreseeable future. Stephen goes to work. I take care of Paige. Paige grows up. This is what we're going to do for years. Yes, we'll add more kids to the family, but my role won't change. With my life being different every semester for so long, it's strange to think things won't change every four months. I'm fine with life being like this, I'm just not use to it. It's like I'm an adult. Weird.

The past month has been full of a lot of ups and downs, but I wouldn't trade it away. I really feel like this is my purpose, and I'm so personally fulfilled by it. It also takes all I have and can be very draining. But she gives me a reason to get out of bed each morning (and every few hours through the night). I love watching Stephen be a dad, and the times when Paige is happy and the three of us are playing together on the floor, I feel so much love. We're a real family now, and while it still seems surreal, I love being a mom to Paige. She and Stephen are the best things that have ever happened to me. One month down, eternity to go!