Love Warm Weather

This is a quick synopsis of what we did with our week of warm weather :) Wednesday, we went with Ron and Sandy's family to the Nature Park here in town. They had never been and we love it. We went there Tuesday with our Scouts to ID plants and animals and thought it was so fun we should go back. Addy LOVES the slides. Wish they had swings!

 All bundled up and LOVING being outside. She smiled and talked the whole time!

 This is baby Ronald. He did NOT appreciate any stops. He wanted that stroller to be cruisin' the whole time!

 Saturday we went on a five mile hike with our scouts. I took some pictures, but don't want to post them without permission :) It was really fun. Addy got to stay with the family of one of our Scouts. They took her to the park and played her out! She took such a good nap! And then she went out with Scott to burn some weeds and play with the hose (which was a surprised to me). She, of course, loved it.

 Do you see that look of sheer delight? I love that little face!

 If ya look close you can catch sight of that tongue.

 Love the water droplets on her face

 Sunday, Addy deemed it necessary to hop into mommy's bath while she wasn't paying close enough attention. She was flirting with it, but I didn't know that she'd do it. Well, I learned never to play chicken with Addy. All of a sudden, there she was!

 This morning I had one smiley and talkative baby! She smiled and cooed the whole time I cleaned the dishes and then some. I love to turn around and see that sweet smile lookin' up at me!

 These are her fat lips. She pushes them out like this quite often. I think it's adorable and hilarious :) Ellie's luscious lips. Enjoy!

This week I will be cleaning and organizing like a mad woman preparing for family to be here for a week. Wish me luck!

Two Girls = Best Ever

This little bebe has become quite the little smiler :) I haven't gotten any super good pictures because she doesn't like to smile at me while my face is behind a camera, but I did get some good grins. She is starting to sleep a little better at night too! Last night she slept a seven hour stretch, but that is abnormal. Usually she does 4 and then 3 and then 2. I'm starting to really appreciate my sleep! I cannot believe how fast she is growing. Way. Too. Fast.

 To prepare for our eleven year old scouts' five mile hike, we took the girls to scope out the trail. Addy loved walking up the mountain on daddy's shoulders, and she loved running down it! It was so funny to watch her! She couldn't stop running and it was almost like a fast paced moon walk because she kept just bouncing down the mountain. I was so scared she was going to fall, but she didn't :) She sure did sleep hard that night though! She walked half a mile down that thing!

 Sittin' on a bridge over the creek, which was pretty pathetic this time of year lol.

 Sunday, we all got dressed up pretty for church. I love taking my girlies to church. Addy is going to nursery now. She struggled a little this week, but we figured out that if I leave her, she does worse than if Scott leaves her. He thinks it's because he leaves every day for work, so it's not out of the ordinary. When mom leaves, it makes her more sad, which I don't get since she loves her daddy more...my weird baby!

 Got SO MANY compliments on these little slippers that Scott's mom made for Addy. I absolutely love them. And they go PERFECTLY with this outfit. Love.

 Addy played with these measuring spoons for hours on Sunday...who would have thought she'd be so entertained by them for so long?!

Well we had a good week. I am doing better. I haven't had mastitis all week. In fact, it's been a whole week and a half! I am still just pumping and bottle feeding, and will probably have to do that until I quit. It's a long, and probably too informative, topic for the blog lol. So I'm not sure how long I'll be able to continue, because it takes me forever to feed Ellie. Twenty minutes or so to pump and then twenty to feed her. Addy is not enjoying it. She has found new ways to get my attention. One of these is shutting herself in her room and crying for me to let her out. When I finish on one side, I let her out and she just goes back in and does the same thing. It's kind of funny. The other way she gets my attention, and the one I much prefer, is by sitting by me on the floor reading herself a book (she won't let me read to her during these times). As soon as I look away from her she yells, "HI!" She'll say it until I look, even if it's twenty times! I love my girlies. I am so grateful for them every day.

Here's a funny video of Ellie. I had to put her on a plastic bag to change a blow out so it didn't get on my carpet and she loved it!


I love this little girl before bed. She gets so silly (right before she turns into the most monstrous child ever)!

It's Long-Winded, but Heart-Felt

Sigh. The last week has been stressful and wonderful all at the same time. I have so much to be thankful for through a trial that is really hard for me personally. As most of you know, I've had quite the battle with mastitis, and it may still end in me having to quit breastfeeding. With Addy I could only bf for 3 months. I wanted this experience to be so different. And it has. But not the "different" I wanted. I hate mastitis. I am still trying to figure out what I'm suposed to be learning here...other than that mastitis sucks and NOTHING will ever go as I plan. Right now I am strictly pumping, both to monitor milk supply and keep bacteria from getting in and causing infection. This is not what I planned on, nor what I want. It's been hard for me to accept, and I will freely admit to bawling quite hysterically about it (but don't worry, I'm fineish now). After Ellie hits the two month mark (two weeks) I can try just feeding her again, but if I get another infection I will probably have to quit. I get too sick and my doctor and I don't think it wise to be on antibiotics anymore (I've been on them twice and have a stomach infection from them now). Blech. So there's the brief and blog-appropriate background :)

Sunday in R.S. we talked about trials for our lesson. It was such a good reminder that our trials are meant to stretch and teach us and that we come out stronger in the end if we rely on Christ. But something else really hit home. Something I already knew and have experienced, but something that I needed to be reminded of in this situation. Our trials help us to come closer to Christ and we chose to experience them. When Heavenly Father presented the Plan of Salvation to us, I chose to be on Christ's side. I knew that I would be called upon to do and go through hard things. I knew that I would be tried and tested and that I would experience pain and suffering. And I chose to come anyway. I knew that I wanted nothing more than to live with my Savior and Heavenly Father for eternity and that I wanted to have all that they had, including an eternal family. My dad always says, "We didn't come here for a picnic." And it's true. I came to gain a body and take a step toward my eternal salvation and happiness.

Through this trial, my testimony of prayer and the strength it can give us has been added upon. I know that Heavenly Father answers my prayers. I know that He has a plan for me, even if it's not what I had planned for myself. I know that through prayer, my will can be changed to match His if I am willing to ponder, ask, listen, and ponder some more. I know that Christ has experienced all the feelings I am feeling: frustration, disappointment, etc. He has descended below it all. And because of this, He can help me through it. He can calm my fears and help me to find joy. And already I have started to see this. I think that not being able to breastfeed Addy helped prepare me for this. I have such an amazing relationship with that sweet girl. She is smart and alert and perfect. She loves me and recognizes me as her best friend (other than her dad, I suppose). She is healthy and happy, and she was formula fed. Elise can be the same way. I had a friend tell me that my ability to be a good mother is not dependent on my ability to breastfeed. I know this is true. I have learned to be grateful for the times that I get to hold Ellie all by ourselves and the moments that we share that are sweet and tender. I am learning all kinds of things about my body, about my emotions, and about my ability to adapt. I am learning to roll with the punches and find the joy in every day life rather than dwelling on the negative. I am learning to focus on what I can do and what I am good at rather than what I can't. This trial has been a blessing. I am so grateful for that lesson in R.S. and I am so grateful that we have a gospel where we meet together and get to know our Savior better as brothers and sisters. Come what may and love it. And, truth be told, it's not too bad to have a bottle fed baby come 4 AM when your husband gets up instead of you :) 

Well, here are some fun and random pics from this last week. Love you all!

Will she break it? Maybe. But I'm picking my battles. She loves it, and she doesn't try to get in while the baby's in there, so I figure she can have her turn.

She can take clothes on and off now...let's hope she doesn't have a desire to get her diaper off or I'm in trouble!

 Ok, almost correctly...

 Sweet baby smiles make the day go so quickly!

 Right now, Addy's expressions of love and hatred look pretty much the same...squishy

 Ready for day 1 of 5K training! Scott and I are hoping to complete one this Summer. Hopefully we can find one while we're in town!

 A wonderful toy that all children love and all parents hate. It's found a permanent home outside!

 Sweet baby girl in my favorite outfit :)

Spring Break II

One of the rules at Mimi's house is that Addy gets whatever she wants. It's an unspoken rule by all but Grandpa. He has no problem telling me that Addy can have anything. Except when she can't...then he brings her to me and makes me tell her no and sympathizes with her over her mean mommy. Great.

 We took a walk to the park. Addy, of course, loved it. Anything outside is that girl's favorite thing to do!

 She LOVES to swing. Every time we take her out, she runs to the swing and demands to be pushed. She even got to try the big girl swing :)

 Mommy bought more Dora PJ's for Addy. But she gets SO excited every time we put them on!

 Sleeping in mommy's bed because Daddy was gone and it was too empty.

In my family, our tradition is to do our Easter egg hunt after Easter so my mom can get all the good candy really cheap :) Last year we did it in August. This year, we actually managed to hit close to Easter! lol. Addy loved it.

 Took a tumble down the hill lol

 This baby can JUMP! She gets both feet clean off the ground!

Addy is fearless. And she hardly cries when she's hurt. Often times I'll find scratches or broken toe nails or bruises and have NO clue what they're from because she never lets me know. I'm starting to wonder if her nerve endings are damaged...Anyway, this makes her fearless. This girl will try anything and isn't afraid to fall. So, when I turned around and saw her on top of the ten+ foot slide at my mom's, I told Scott to get out the camera rather than running up after her. Does this make me a bad mom? Probably. But she's so coordinated and independent that I wanted to see how it turned out. And it turned into several more trips! Check out my brave baby!

 Oh, ya know. Just chilling, crossin' my feet and eating crackers.

 Mimi made them matching blankets. She made Addy's when she was born and found the same pattern for Ellie. Those girls love butterflies!

 Eatin' suckers before we had to leave on Monday

 Two peas in a pod

Leaving my family's is always really hard for me. I cry every time. I am glad to be home in my own tornado of a house, but miss the constant buzz of 16 people in the same house. Thanks everyone. It was great!