one month

My little girl is a month old today!! I am sooooo sad how fast that time flew by. I have loved every minute of it, even the ones that take place frequently in the middle of the night. I couldn't ask for a better big sister than Emma. She has been soooo helpful and she just adores Lydia.

I took these photos with the green background today on her actual month birthday. The other pictures have been taken throughout the last month.

Lydia is one sleepy little girl, I think she sleeps more than most babies. She has slept up to seven hours before, but sadly it all takes place during the day. Here are a few things we have discovered about our little girl...

we call her Miss Piggy, cause she does have a little piggy nose. Also she is a major snorter. Mostly she snorts in her sleep, but even when she is awake she does funny snorts and squeaks.

She is content to just hang out and not have to be held all the time, but she does like to have company in the room with her. She'll cry out if she's lonely but stop crying as soon as someone comes in the room with her.

She doesn't love the dark. She sleeps well in the dark, but when she is awake she likes to be able to see her surroundings.

When she is sleepy she gets "very angry" until she can get comfortable. Getting comfortable involves being snuggled up close to you with your hand and a blanket over her face.

She adores Emma and has given up a smile for her and even for Ryan, but none for me yet. I'm questioning if she really smiled for them, but they both say she did. I'm a little bitter about not getting my smile yet, but I have no problem bribing her to like me best once she's older.

Lydia is named after my aunt DeNae who is just so important to me and who I just love dearly. My aunt DeNae and uncle Paul gave us their collection of lambs that they have been saving for over twenty years now. I am still so touched and honored to have the collection. This is one of the many lambs from the meaningful set.

I have really learned from my mistakes with my pregnancy and infant stage with Emma. I only have 2 pictures of me and Emma when she was a baby, that's just wrong. Where as Ryan and Emma could fill a whole album. So this time I have made sure not to let that happen again. However, now Ryan and Lydia don't have any pictures. The last picture he took with her was in the hospital. Maybe by our third child we'll get this documenting thing down. Until then, I'm happy I've got with the program this time around.

Busy and loving it!

Ever since Lydia popped out we have had one fun family activity after another. Unfortunately I have poorly documented our summer events and don't have great photos, but here's a small collection of the ones I have taken. This picture above is of my mom's 60th birthday celebration. Her favorite color is green and so although we celebrated on July 4th she outdid herself in keeping with a green theme. I hope I look half as good as she does when I'm 60.
























An old friend of mine made this cake for my mom's birthday. Could it be any cuter? Seriously. Cheri has a local business in Kaysville and will custom make any cake you need. Oh, and I must mention that this was without a doubt the yummiest cake I've ever had. I'm still thinking about it. I'm already planning the cake I want to have for Lydia's first birthday :) Check out Cheri's "Simple Sweet Cakes" here if you would like .
http://simplysweet-cakes.blogspot.com/

















I come from a big family where extended family is a huge part of our lives. So we celebrated the 4th with 45 family members, filled with yummy food and lots of games.

One of the games was a fear factor game where you have to run up to a bag and blindly pick something out and then you HAVE to eat it. I picked a marshmallow and toffee, but others picked clams, mayonnaise and raw sausage. I'm not sure what Kylee drew from the bag in the picture below, but she sure wasn't pumped about eating it.

In continuation with my mom's birthday we all went to Bear Lake and stayed at her cousin's cabin. It was fun to have all of us together. It doesn't happen very often but it just warms my heart to see Emma playing with her cousins.

My sister Stacey and her family come to Utah once a summer and we always try to do so much with them. My aunt Lee had a BBQ party the day before they left and so we went up to Logan and enjoyed a yummy meal and great games and visiting before they had to head back to the northwest.

Notice who is holding Lydia. That's the "baby whisperer," Jessica. She had Lydia the whole night. Although I missed snuggling Lydia, it sure was nice to give my back a break. Thanks again Lee for having us up. It was so nice to see the Lakes one last time and to catch up with everybody else.

Ryan celebrated his 28th birthday last Saturday. We went to Red Robin with Kylee and Brody while Jessica watched both of our girls. Then we met up with some friends afterwards for a night game of glow in the dark ultimate frisbee. It was so nice to get out of the house and have an actual date again. Hopefully we won't have to wait until my birthday before that happens again.

So after recovering from all of our activities I find myself enjoying a good nap every day. And nothing is as relaxing as sleeping with a snugly, squeaky little baby on your chest.

Everybody keeps asking how Emma is doing and I must say that she is a champ. She tells me everyday how happy she is to have a baby sister. She fetches me anything I ask her to and is always saying how beautiful and sweet Lydia is. She still takes a nap every day which is sooo nice since I take a nap every day. Emma has quickly caught on that I have really become more relaxed with letting her get away with things as long as it keeps her busy. This above picture is sidewalk chalk gone bad, but today was cleaning day, and I was just happy to keep her entertained.

So all is well in our house. We're busy, but loving every minute of it.

Two-Tu cute

I just love having two kids. Now I feel like an official family. Having Emma was so much fun, but it was always more fun than work, so it was just so easy. I love that now I have to balance my time and pick and chose what extra activities I want to do. Obviously, my Internet has taken a back burner, but it's a worthy trade to have a little baby in the house again. I don't have a lot of spare time, and yet I have far more than my sisters with 4 and 5 kids do. However, no matter how busy I get, there will always be time for photo shoots. I hope you enjoy these photos :)

I love that Lydia might be a thumb sucker, I think it's so cute.

She's Here!!!

So my blog is being funny, instead of having my pictures show up it is just showing a bunch of funky words and codes. So I can't explain each picture. It's pretty self explanatory though. However, I will make these comments....
notice my tummy in the first photo, that was taken the day I delivered. I can't believe I had a 7.8 oz baby come out of that tummy!!
Then there is a picture of me holding Lydia and my lip is CRAZY swollen. We were laughing pretty hard. This happened with Emma too. About 12 hours after delivery I had a reaction to something, who knows what, but it lasts for a few hours and then goes away.
The cupcake display was done by my friend Carrie who also decorated our front yard as a welcome home. I must say that my friends really came through for me and I am so touched by the efforts. A special thanks to Carrie, Holly, Natalie, Staci and my aunt Lee. Oh and of course my mom for taking Emma for 3 nights so we could enjoy the sweetness of a newborn.

Well, sorry this post is long over due. I haven't enjoyed sitting lately and have just avoided the computer all together. By now I'm on my way to recovery. Emma is transitioning well and is very helpful. Lydia is just as sweet and snuggly as can be. Ryan holds her when he gets a chance, but mostly I'm a total baby hog. Thanks to everyone for their phone calls and text messages. We're all so happy she's here and my little fmaily just feels so complete...for now :)