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.