Two Months Old!

Our baby is already two months old!  Time is really flying by and she is growing like a weed!  She had her two month check up today and is doing great.  She weighs 12.1 pounds, is 23 &3/4 inches long and her head is 15 inches.  She is in the 97th percentile for her height!  Cory is super excited about that because he really wants a basketball player!  Let's just hope she only inherited my height and not my clumsiness as well!
She can lift up her head and chest and she even rolled over from her tummy to her back while we were at the doctors office!  It was the first time I had seen her roll over but she had done it a couple times for my mom last week.  It is so exciting to see her learning to do new things but it makes me a little sad too because she is growing up so fast!
She has started to become so interested in the world around her.  She talks and smiles with us.  She loves having books propped up in her crib to look at when she wakes up.  She is always examining something.  It is so much fun to be around this girl!

Our Sweetheart

Likes: Ocean sounds, play gym, the swing, books, tummy time, "talking"
Dislikes:  SHOTS!

My First Week of Work

I think my first week went pretty well, all things considered.  I went to bed later than I wanted to, woke up later than I planned, didn't get everything on my list accomplished but managed not to cry at work. I consider that a success!
I have a digital picture frame with pictures of Lydia Jane on it playing throughout the day which I love.  It also distracts me from work quite frequently.  You would think I'm accustomed to how cute she is by now, but no. Cory and I still say to each other "That is the cutest baby!" quite frequently. Pumping is going well so far.  I have a comfortable place to pump and while it takes a little longer than I anticipated, it's fine.
I feel very blessed that my mom is able to watch Lydia Jane most days.  I know she really could not be in better hands.  Cory's sister Katherine being able to watch her on Fridays is another blessing.  She could not love our girl any more.  This past Friday I don't think she did anything other than hold Lydia Jane.  I'm glad I'm not the only one who wants to do that all day. :)
With all the good things there are still some challenges but that's okay.  I have realized that expecting everything to be perfect all the time bring nothing but unhappiness.  I know it will get better and easier.  We will get in a routine eventually but even then not everything is going to workout every day.  I'm learning that rolling with the punches comes with the territory of being a mom.  I will just continue counting my blessings that I have a family and job that I love and enjoy.

Come What May and Love It

Tonight, we had a special stake meeting.  A new ward was created in our stake and the boundaries of our ward were redrawn in a major way.  As in about half of our ward is now gone, including our bishop who was released today.  Talk about a knock out punch.  Out of our presidency in young womens, I am the only one who is left in the ward and I don't have a clue if I will be called back to YW or to something different.  We are sharing our building with the newly created ward which means we will move to 11am church.  It also means we will still see some of our old members which is a bonus.  I never realized how much shake up there is when creating a new ward.  It is pretty crazy.
I can still remember the first time we met our bishop at a softball game and he told us how much we would love the Windsor Lake ward.  He wasn't wrong.  I have loved being in this ward and even with all the changes, I'm still going to love it.  As hard as it is to see so many people I've come to love so much leave our ward, I know the Lord's hand is in it.  These are just growing pains.  I truly feel that in my heart.  I know the Lord has broken us down so we can build ourselves back up even stronger than before.  Our ward may be a lot smaller than before but it won't be that way for long. There are so many people he is preparing to accept the gospel into their lives.  It is a blessing that he trusts us to be the ones to find them.
I am reminded of the words of Elder Wirthlin, "Come what may and love it."  I know that is the way to happiness.  

Portrait of a Mother

Tonight as I was handing the teenage cashier my card at Chick-fil-a, I thought to myself "These kids must think I am a very sad, lonely woman."  There I was in my t-shirt and pajama pants with my hair sliding down from its place atop my head and my face on the greasy side because I hadn't had a chance to shower yet, alone in my car getting a large soup and chargrilled sandwich.  I'm sure they thought I was just some crazy woman off to drown her sorrows in an overly large portioned meal.  I didn't tell them that my husband had a large lunch that day and only wanted a sandwich and I am fighting some congestion that is the result of forgetting to take my allergy medicine for about a week and soup sounded heavenly (it was).  No, I just informed him that I would not like any sauces, took my card back and drove back home to my family.  On my drive I realized that this is what happiness looks like for me right now.  Who cares that it looks like sloppy sadness to everyone else?  I'm a mom.  Sometimes sacrifices must be made.  Unfortunately, right now the thing I sacrifice most is a shower.  One day I will be a cute mom and everyone will see my happiness right away.  Today is not that day.  Today is the day everyone looks at me and sees a wreck but I know better.  I know that I wouldn't trade these dark circles, greasy face and crazy hair for anything because they are all marks of my motherhood.  They are proof that happiness is found through love and sacrifice.  I'm so grateful to have had the opportunity to learn that through loving and sacrificing for these two adorable people!

Test Baby

Lydia Jane has thrush. I told her as soon as she came home from the hospital that she was going to be the victim of Cory and me learning to be parents. Sadly, the poor girl has already suffered because of this. When I first saw the thrush, I thought it was milk. It wasn't until she had it for a couple days and had been really fussy that I called and asked my mom if she could possibly have ulcers. I described to her what was going on and she immediately said "oh, that's thrush." Why didn't I think of that? Well, I had no idea what thrush really was. I had heard the horror stories but I had no idea what the symptoms were. It is moments like these, when there is something obvious I have forgotten to learn or do, that I feel badly for our little girl. When I think about all the things I don't know about parenting, it sort of overwhelms me. I've thought about reading parenting books, but I just can't make myself purchase one. I am crazy about reading reviews before I buy something. From the reviews I read about baby books, I have realized that it is entirely a game if chance. What an author suggests may work for your child and you love the book, or it may not work and you hate it. Basically, trying to fit your child into some experts box has a 50/50 chance of being a terrible idea.  So for now I'm sticking with my What to Expect in the First year and hope that between that, my favorite mom blogs, and my own mom we will make it through!
I am also terrible at delivering medicine. As evidence, a picture of Lydia Jane in a gown she wore for less than 12 hours.





Raise your hand if your mom shoots medicine down your throat and gets more on your clothes than in your mouth.
As sad as that picture is, I think it looked worse in person. She now gets her medicine like this:





In good news, it took me so long to complete and publish this post, she is now better!  So I guess at least some of that medicine actually made it into her mouth. :)