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Lydia wasn't feeling well last night. She is usually such a good sleeper but she couldn't settle down to go to bed. I don't know what the problem was. I ended up holding her for two hours while she slept in my arms. I have to admit...this is possibly my very favorite thing about being a mom. There is something inexpressibly sweet about knowing you're the one they go to for comfort. You're the one who can soothe their cries. You are safe. You are home. 

3 months

Happy 3 Months to our Lydia Rose!!

babbles babbles babbles (wah, bah, dah, yah, ooo, aaaah), LAUGHING, anticipates kisses, putting things in her mouth (mostly fist and blankets), sleeping 8pm-8am, loves being outside, clicks her tongue, blowing LOTS of raspberries, very drooly, takes bottles for dad, loves to be swaddled, rockin the double chin, swats at toys, getting more hair, loves to make eye contact, licks EVERYTHING, likes to face out, cries for people who aren't mom or dad, and kicks like crazy in the bathtub. 

This one's kind of blurry..those cheeks, though. 

That was the beginning of fairies

Oh my heart. Lydia laughed this last Thursday for the first time. We both thought she was coughing at first but we got a good belly laugh out of her the second time. I don't know what it is about baby giggles but they are magical. It reminded me so much of that Peter Pan quote, “When the first baby laughed for the first time, its laugh broke into a thousand pieces, and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies.” ― J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan.  I don't know what it is about baby laughs. They seem to spread tangible joy everywhere. I love how Barrie describes it in that quote. I'm telling you, if that laugh had been visible I guarantee it would have been "skipping about" as soon as it escaped. I may or may not have cried a little bit. (Can I still blame that on post pregnancy hormones??) 
On a more serious note, I went back to work this week and I feel like Lydia's laugh was a gift just for me. I was sitting on the couch with her before I left crying a little (post pregnancy hormones?) and she looked right at me and started laughing. Then I started laughing. And she laughed more. It was like she was saying, "It's ok, Mom. It's gonna be fine." I was so grateful for that. I have had a few tender experiences with Lydia where I've felt her love for me, which probably sounds crazy since she can't tell me directly. But she finds ways to let me know. I know there's a depth to her spirit that is just waiting to find a way out. I catch glimpses of it and feel so grateful to be her mom and a recipient of her love  :) 

We've had a lot going on the last week. I've sat down so many times to post pictures and things but haven't been able to get it done so this is going to double as a highlights post :) 

Lydia is SUPER into putting things in her mouth this week. Mostly her fist and blankets. 

She is also conquering tummy time like a boss :) 

We went to another BYU game on Friday. Lydia wasn't a super big fan this week. We spent some time wandering the stadium. Did you know the Lavell stadium has a mother's room??? Awesome. 

Saturday Liz and I packed up the kids and drove to Draper to have lunch with our good friend, Shalise. We went to this cute little cottage for soup and salad. I love that place :) Liz and I went there for lunch right after she got home from her mission so it brought back all the happy feels. It was so fun to chat about how our lives are changing.

Lydia fell asleep during sacrament meeting on Harrison's lap. We have church right during her morning nap time, so we get lots of cuddles on Sundays :)

Monday I got together with my mom and sister for our annual caramel apple making day :) We had so much fun! 

The Business of Baking

One of my favorite parts about living in Utah is being so close to family. This summer my sister Aubrey and her family moved back after living in Boston for two years. I call her up at least once a week for play dates...We should probably schedule one of those for the kids sometime ;) She is as sporadic as I am and we have a lot of fun doing everything. So when Aubrey said she wanted to have a baking day this week I got off the phone like...

Things started out fine. We had plenty of recipes to choose from...

 Here's Aubrey modeling what we thought was vanilla pudding for the first batch. Also, this picture makes me laugh so much because this totally explains why Harrison and I don't usually cook together. I am a "get everything out at one time, make piles of the used stuff, and clean it all up after we eat" kind of person. I actually enjoy making piles of the messy stuff. It makes me feel like I've really accomplished something when I do the dishes hahaha. Harrison is a "clean up as you go" kind of person...my pile style makes him a little bit crazy :D

Anyway. 

Turns out the pudding was banana flavored. 

After adding nutmeg, cinnamon, and oatmeal to make the banana seem a bit more...intentional, they turned out pretty yummy!

We ended up baking three batches from three different recipes (or inventing our own if you count  banana oatmeal) and renewing Aubrey's passion for finding the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe. 

Lydia got to hang out with Ezra while we were cooking. He is so sweet with her! Also, he is super into making funny faces for pictures right now. 

I love my family. I love cookies. And I love being a mom :)

Falling for Fall

I love fall. I love everything about it. Football. Steamed milk. Sweaters. Boots. Steamed milk. Crunchy leaves. Bright colors. Steamed milk. Flannel. Crispy mornings. Mountains. Country music. Pumpkin everything. Did I say steamed milk??? I love fall.

This weekend was full of celebrating fall. Harrison put off homework (I'm sure we'll regret that Monday) and played with us ALL weekend. It was my favorite :) Friday hit and we had all these fun things planned, some unplanned, and we just RAN with it.

After a flag football game friday night, we decided to do a family date night and take Lydia swimming! I've tried taking her before but this was her first real time getting in the water and kicking around. Lydia LOVES water. Baths are her favorite thing second only to mornings. The indoor pool at the rec center was the perfect temperature and we had a great time.

This swimsuit was the first thing I bought when I found out we were having a girl. I'm obsessed.

Saturday morning we got to go to a baptism for our landlord's son. He is such a sweet little boy. We were so grateful we got to be part of his special day. Elijah's mom gave a beautiful talk about the Holy Ghost before he was confirmed. She told us that when Elijah was around 2 years old he thought he was the little boy in the corner of the picture. He would bring it to his mom and and ask, "Mommy, is that me?!" She said she would enthusiastically say, "YES! Of course!" She talked about when we're close to the Holy Ghost he will always help us remember who we are -children of God. I loved that message. I am so grateful for the gift of the Holy Ghost and that he helps me remember the joyful love Jesus has for me.

After the baptism we ran over to Evans Family Farm in Lehi to spend time with Harrison's parents and his sister's family. We picked out pumpkins, went on a hay ride, fed animals, and walked a corn maze! I love the pictures of Harrison and Lydia on the hay ride. She was so content sitting on his lap. 

We ended the weekend with a bang at the BYU football game! Harrison went with our good friend Thomas Bready so I got to go with Brittany! We had a blast. Lydia did great! Those sound proof headphones are one of the best baby purchases we've made :)

This picture is my new favorite picture of Lydia because it is SO her. This is what she does every morning when I get her up to eat. She is WAY too busy smiling and talking to eat. That look just kills me. When Lydia smiles at me for too long her eyes start to tear up, which makes me giggle because mine do the same thing. I sure love this girl. 

She had a blast hanging out, but as soon as we turned her around to watch the game she made this face. Woah. 

We finished the weekend today by conquering tummy time, which is a HUGE deal. Lydia hates tummy time almost as much as she loves mornings. But we found an amazing deal on this play mat at Barnes and Nobel on Saturday that totally turned tummy time around. She actually enjoyed it!

My heart is so full of love for my little family this weekend :)

2 Months and More!

Last week Lydia had her 2 month check up. She now weighs 12 lbs 13 oz, is 24 in long, and her head is 41 cm. She is tall Tall TALL. We're can't figure out where she gets her height from. If she keeps it up she might even pass up her dad!
We have felt a deeper bond with Lydia the last month as her little personality has started to shine. She is SO much fun! I LOVE the baby stage. I'm sure I'll say that about every stage :)

2 MONTHS
Very chatty. Smiles at Mom and Dad. Blows bubbles. Smacks lips. Opens and closes hands. Can focus on objects. Tries to touch toys. Sleeps through the night. Sucks on fists. Grunts to laugh. Likes to face out or wrap arms around your shoulder. Loves to have her feet and legs played with. Wearing 3-6 month clothes. Doesn't love tummy time. Still wont smile for pictures :)

She'll do a great frowny face though :)

Here are some of our favorite memories from the last month:
                         

                                 Daily walks with Liz and Asher. Lydia and Asher are buddies 

BYU game

Lydia rocked these awesome headphones the whole game! She slept until halftime, woke up to eat, and went back to sleep until the end. 

Nap time with Gram after raspberry picking. I love this picture :)

Pirate day at crispy creams. We got three boxes of free doughnuts for dressing like pirates.
Lydia was thrilled, clearly ;)

Morning chat time with Dad. This is my favorite time of day with Lydia. She can't stop smiling and she has SO much to say. 

A Birth Story

Intro
Harrison and I learned so many valuable lessons preparing for Lydia's birth that really strengthened our marriage. Many of those lessons came as a result of trying to prepare for a natural birth. Fun fact: People are really opinionated about birth and children. I think they're naturally protective of their own experiences. Due to the quantity of commentary we experienced as we began taking to people about our decisions we quickly learned how to kindly defend each other and understand what was most important to us. Something we have both come to realize is that happiness in your own family is what matters most. Everyone has different experiences and dynamics in their relationships that influence their own decision making. Every family will have something that works for them. I love that families are individualized and we can make those choices. I feel like coming to that understanding has helped us judge others less and love each other more. I'm also really grateful we decided to take a natural birthing class that focused on couples working through pregnancy and birth together. Even though we didn't have the birth we planned, it turned out to be the perfect experience for us. One that gave us an opportunity to support and rely on each other completely.
So. Here's our story :)

Our doctor gave us the option to medically induce at 39 weeks because Lydia was measuring big (specifically her head). We set up the appointment at 38 weeks just in case I didn't go into labor on my own before then. I had been having irregular contractions for a while and there was some debate about when my actual due date was so we really didn't know what to expect. We were so anxious to meet Miss Lydia by the time the appointment came around. I swear the last 2 weeks of the pregnancy were longer than the whole thing. We went to the hospital at 6:00 AM July 28th.

After some paperwork and checkin my nurses hooked me up to an IV and got the pitocin running around 7:30. By 8:00 I was having regular contractions. My initial check before the induction showed I was dilated to a 3 and 90% effaced. We worked through the next hour fairly easily. Lots of laughing. Lots of chatting about meeting baby.

By 9:30 things really got moving. My mom got to the hospital right before things got really intense. We had asked her to attend the birth in case we needed extra support during the intense part of labor. She came to a coaching class with us and read the manuel we used to prepare for the delivery. We were both so grateful for her support. By 10:00 we really had to work through each contraction.
I tried a lot of different positions and we ended up having to switch to an internal monitor because Lydia and I were moving around so much. Come to find out Lydia had moved down reeeally low, which explains why everything got super intense so quickly. My contractions were 2 minutes apart for the next hour. I felt the best laying on my side on the bed and focusing on Harrison during those. That hour was the hardest for both of us. He held my hands and helped me breathe and focus. After an hour the contractions were peaking less than 2 minutes apart. I would get one breathe in between and have to go again. People have asked me to describe the pain but it honestly wasn't like anything I've ever felt. The word that always comes to my mind is deep. I couldn't even cry it hurt so much. I began to panic with each contraction and felt so overwhelmed. Harrison was amazing. He never asked me to stop, even though I knew it was so hard for him to watch me be in so much pain. After doing those hard close contractions I wanted to be done. I told Harrison I knew I could do it but I didn't want to anymore. I got an epidural very soon after. The epidural was great! I was able to move my legs and adjust myself in bed. I felt pressure but no pain. I was fully dilated an hour later. We let Lydia rest and descend for a while before I pushed with the nurses.

When our doctor arrived he had to perform an episiotomy. If for no other reason than that I'm SO grateful I had the epidural. I can't even imagine having to endure that after everything else. Lydia came quickly after that :)

Seeing her for the first time was unreal. It was amazing to see that she knew who we were.

First family photo 

Everything about becoming a mom has been accompanied by the sweetest peace. In her conference address last week Sister Linda Reeves asked, "Have we sensed the sacred and holy feelings surrounding this celestial spirit, so recently sent by our Father in Heaven to its newly created, pure little body? I have seldom experienced feelings quite so sweet, so tender, and so spiritual."

I couldn't have said it better.