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.
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