Rough Day

I was flattening one of her hair bows with a flat iron with one hand, and I had her propped on my hip and was holding her arms down with the other. Just as I finished and turned the flat iron to turn it off, one of her arms slipped out from my hold and her fingers caught the edge of the iron :(

She screamed inconsolably for an hour. I finally got her calmed down and she fell asleep, and then I was overcome with guilt, so I sobbed for almost an hour. Then later Robert got home and I started crying all over again as I told him how stupid I was, and I shoulda, woulda, coulda whatever. He assures me that I am still a good mom and it was just a sad accident. Lydia is already back to her happy self, but I still feel so bad every time I look at her little hand :(

Lydia's Photo Shoot

My brother-in-law, Mike, did a photo shoot with Lydia when she was about 2 and a half weeks old. He does an AMAZING job!! I can't stop looking at these over and over again! If you're interested in other work he has done check out his blog at http://elimacphotography.blogspot.com/ or look for Eli Mac Photography on Facebook.

We'll Bring the World His Truth

I made this video for my Sharing Time today, and I thought I'd share it. The theme for the month was "I Can Follow Jesus Christ's Example," and the topic for my lesson was "Jesus Christ’s example teaches me how to live." So I used this as sort of a wrap up, since we've been talking a lot about supporting the missionaries, preparing to serve a mission, and ways we can serve and show our love for one another everyday. Enjoy!



And, in case anybody is curious, this version of "We'll Bring the World His Truth" is sung by my older brother Scott and 5 of his friends. When they were in high school they had an acapella group called 6th Gear and when they all got back from their missions they recorded this song. 3 of them went on Spanish speaking missions (Boston, Spain, and Mexico), and one of them went on a Mandarin Chinese speaking mission (not sure which mission). So those are the 2 other languages that are in the song. The other 2 guys in the group were English speaking (England and Oklahoma?).

2 Months Old!!!

We can't believe our little Lydia is already 2 months old. We had her 2 month appointment this past Monday. She weighs 10 lbs 11 ounces (50th percentile). She's 23.5 inches long (80th percentile). Dr. Rick says she's doing great! The shots were traumatic. More for me and Robert than they were for her, although Lydia did scream right when she got them loud enough for the whole office to hear. She didn't really get sick at all from the shots. They kind of just zonked her out to the point that she almost constantly slept and the little that she was awake she was a little fussy for a couple of days.

It's so fun to see her personality bloom more and more. Things I want to remember about her at this stage:

• She loves to be able to look around. She found the mobile that is on her swing and loves looking at it or the toys that go over her bouncer, but she gets bored really easily looking at the same thing so her favorite thing is going on walks outside where the thing she's looking at changes constantly.
• She sleeps with her eyes open until she is in a deep sleep.
• She HATES tummy time, so much so that she already managed to roll over once and got so happy when she did.
• When she is doing tummy time she'll stand with her legs so her bum is sticking up straight in the air and she'll scoot around a little bit on her face. If she could figure out how to use her arms, she'd already be crawling all over the place.
• She also HATES being cold. We have to turn on the blow dryer for a few minutes to heat up the bathroom before we give her her bath or she will scream the whole time.
• She has found her thumb and loves it. She's starting to prefer it over her pacifier more and more.
• Sometimes it seems like she is eating constantly! She eats 4-5 ounces every 2-3 hours - every 1-2 hours if she's going through a growth spurt which seems like is happening every other week. I hope I can keep keeping up with her.
• If we time feedings and nap times right, she'll go to sleep between 10 and 11pm and stay asleep til between 4-5am (sometimes 6). I know, I'm a lucky momma :)

She's our little princess! And she is growing way too fast!!

I love this last picture mainly for 2 reasons. It shows how she likes to play with her tongue when she gets excited, and it shows off her double chin that is getting more and more prominent :)

4th of July

This is a bit delayed, but we had a great 3rd, 4th, and 5th. On the 3rd we went up to Salt Lake and had a BBQ with my sister Katie who just moved up here and her husband Mike's family. We ate, set off a bunch of firecrackers, and watched some fireworks. It was a ton of fun. It's so nice to have some of my immediate family close again.

On the 4th, I taught my first Sharing Time in this ward. It went alright. Senior Primary was kind of a rough start because of a boy named Max. The lesson was on "Not my will but thine be done," so I held up a picture of Christ kneeling in Gethsemane and asked "What is happening in this picture?" And 10-year-old Max responded quickly, without being called on, "Christ is BLEEDING EVERYWHERE!!" His comment didn't exactly bring the spirit I was hoping for. I have a feeling I'll have more entertaining Max stories to come.

On the 5th we went to the Freedom Days parade that they do in Provo every year. Excuse my grossness in this picture. I kind of just rolled out of bed, got dressed, and went.

Here's a picture of the float our stake did.

Robert was in charge of the float committee for our ward. The part of the float he was over was the oxen.

And how did Lydia like the parade? Well this was her through the whole thing.

Here's a video to prove it. It's not the best quality but you get the idea.

Yep, she basically slept through the whole thing. Just to clarify, each of these groups of sirens were about 10 minutes or so apart. All of the different fire and police departments from the surrounding cities (Provo, Orem, Springville, Pleasant Grove, etc) all participate in the parade. Also, Those of you who are Mr. Holland's Opus fans - don't worry! She is not deaf. She's just a sound sleeper ;)

Anyway, that was our 4th of July weekend :)

Up with the baby...

So I figured I'd post a quick picture.

This is Lydia with her cousin Trew. When we were down in Arizona we got to meet my sister Tiffany's new baby Trew for the first time. Trew was born on June 3rd, 3 weeks after Lydia. He's so precious!! As you can see, these two babies could barely contain their excitement at meeting each other. ;)

I'm working out with Debbie

This is Debbie. She's going to be my friend for the next 6 weeks. I'm doing her Slim in 6 workout. It's time to take the bull by the horns and get rid of this flabby post pregnancy body. I'm now going to put what my measurements are, but let me tell you a little bit about my body first.

I have a heavy bone structure. I'm not trying to be one of those people that use "big boned" as an excuse for how fat they are, it's just the truth. Once about 3 years ago, I went to the gym really regularly and had a consult with one of the personal trainers. I told him that my goal was to be 140 lbs (I weighed 175 at the time), and he used one of the little pincher things to measure how much body fat I have, and he explained to me that I just didn't have that much fat to lose because a lot of my weight was my bones. Good news is I don't have to worry too much about getting osteoporosis when I'm older. The trainer said the skinniest but still healthy weight I should be is right around 150 lbs. Since then, the skinniest I've been was for my wedding and I weighed 162 lbs.

Anyway, after I put my measurements down please don't leave any "you don't look like you weigh that much" comments because I've heard it all before. Also, don't stick your foot in your mouth by saying "it's just all from the pregnancy" because this is my pre-pregnancy weight. Granted i know I was overweight before my pregnancy, I lost 20 pounds in my first trimester, and I'm nowhere near fitting into my normal pants because my weight is all distributed differently now, but this was how much I weighed right before I got pregnant. That being said here it goes...

My measurements as of 7/5/2010:
Weight: 184 lbs
Bust: 43 inches
Waist: 39.5 inches
Bum: 45 inches
Thigh: 26 inches

Goal measurements by the end of the 6 weeks:
Weight: 170-175 lbs
Bust, Waist, Bum, and Thigh: Average of 2-3 inch loss, especially in Bum and Thighs

Goal measurements by Thanksgiving:
Weight: 155-160 lbs
Bust, Waist, Bum, and Thigh: Average of 4-6 inch loss

Slim in 6 has 3 different phases:

• Start It Up! introduces you to the basic Slim Training moves for burning calories and reshaping your body. (25 minute workout)
• Ramp It Up! helps you burn more calories each day to accelerate your results. (48 minutes)
• Burn It Up! takes slimming and toning to the next level to complete your body reshaping. (60 minutes)

I plan on doing each phase for 2 weeks and then I'll report my progress on here at the end of each phase. For the past couple of days Robert has been doing it with me. He enjoys it, but I think he thinks it's too girly of a workout. :) But if he sticks with it I might report a little bit on his progress as well. And now that I've posted this on here, maybe I'll feel more pressure/ motivation to really stick with it since I know all of my faithful readers are awaiting results :)

More to come in 2 weeks :)

Catch Up Post

I've been slacking on my blogging duties. And instead of posting a ton of different posts, or one ridiculously long one. I'm just going to post a bunch of pictures of recent happenings with a few captions and promise to do better :)

We like to go to the duck pond. Lydia usually falls asleep on the walk there and stays asleep, but we have fun :) Robert loves to feed the ducks. He is totally 100% kid at heart.

This is our friend. We named him Hugh, as in Hugh E. Diot

One month old already!
We just got back from a 2 week Arizona trip. Here are a few pictures from her blessing on Father's Day down in Arizona.

This is Case Welchman. My sister Emily's son. He's 6 months and weighs 23 POUNDS!! Yep, he's a total chunker!

Other random pics from our trip including first Nielsen's trip, Robert's sister Jamie's wedding, first smiling picture, and first swim.

And this is what our little angel did the whole car trip to and from Arizona. We're crossing our fingers that she is always that easy to travel with.

It was a great trip, but we are glad to be home.

I Got a Calling!!

I am now the 2nd counselor in the Primary Presidency. I am so excited!!! I am pretty sure I will ALWAYS have a calling in Primary. Whether it be a teacher, in the presidency, chorister, or nursery leader, I will have a Primary calling. When I am in Primary I feel at home and at peace. I can't wait to start really getting busy with my assignments. I teach Sharing Time for the first time on the 4th of July. I've already started working on my lesson. :)

Robert has been called as the secretary in the Elder's quorum presidency. Today was the first Sunday when we both had these callings and this has been our schedule.

6:30 - I woke up and got ready

7:30 - Woke Robert up, Robert got Lydia ready while I finished getting ready

8:00 - Fed Lydia

9:00-12:00 - Church

12:30-2 - I had Presidency Meeting and Robert did his home teaching

2:15-4:30 - Robert has Presidency Meeting

5:00 - We are having a couple friends over for dinner

7:00 - Robert has Stake Priesthood Meeting

It's been a fun Sunday, and I am sure we will have many more fun Sundays in store for us. It's quite the change from the Sundays we are used to when we spend every minute of the day together, even during church because we served as Primary teachers together. We'll get used to it though :)

When I Grow Up I Want to Be a Mother

People always talk about "The First Moment." How when you hold your first baby for the first time it's the most AMAZING, PERFECT, WONDERFUL, etc moment you will ever experience in this lifetime. How in the first few seconds you fall completely in love with your child and you finally really know what unconditional love feels like. Well, with all due respect to those people, that's not how it happened for me. Before you all get up in arms over how heartless I am, please hear me out. I don't think it all happens in that one moment. I think it's a culmination of the previous 9 months and the first couple of days in the hospital. Allow me to explain further...

I didn't start loving Lydia from the moment she was born. I started loving her a little before 3:00am September 9th 2009. It had been 5 months since Robert and I had stopped using "protection." My periods were a little irregular so every month I would think I might be pregnant only to find out that I wasn't. Much crying into Robert would follow and then the cycle would begin all over again. But on the morning of September 9th I woke up randomly just before 3 and needed to go potty. (TMI?) I debated whether or not I should do the pregnancy test right then. As I thought about it I rested my hand on my tummy. I was overcome with a feeling of, for lack of a better word, sweetness. I knew that Heavenly Father had finally blessed me with one of his children. A sweet little spirit that I could call my own. I quickly took a pregnancy test. It was positive. I ran into the bedroom, jumped on the bed, and turned on the light waking Robert up out of a dead sleep, and showed him the test. We both just smiled, and I laid back down and snuggled into Robert. He said "You're not going to be able to go back to sleep, are you?" I said, "Nope, probably not." And that's how the journey began.

Since then I have loved her more and more. When I saw her for the first time on the ultrasound, first felt her kick, when we found out she was a girl and knew what her name would be right away, every time we heard her heartbeat, as we got things ready for her to come, every step of the way I have loved her more and more.

Then I delivered her. When I first held her I wouldn't call it amazing or wonderful. If anything I would call it unreal and maybe even weird. My thought process was basically, "This is my daughter? She's actually here? I'm a mom? Is this just another vivid pregnancy dream? Nope, it can't be because that's definitely real pain from the doctor stitching up my tear. I'll just give her to the nurses now. She's kind of messy." I smiled a lot and cried a little because I always thought that was what you were supposed to do, but those were my thoughts.

After the nurses finished cleaning Lydia up, Robert got to hold her for the first time. If any "first moment" happened right after the birth, that was it for me. Watching the man I love and have chosen to spend forever with hold our precious little girl that we will also have forever, and being so overjoyed that he is finally a Daddy is a moment I will never forget.

Then they took Lydia to the nursery and I was moved to another room. For the first time in 9 months, I wasn't in the same place she was. I missed her right away and I couldn't wait until they would bring her back to me. When they finally did I held her in my arms and never wanted to let her go. She was mine. My sweet angel sent from heaven straight to Robert and me.

We spent the next couple of days admiring our sweet baby and showing her off to everyone we could. The first night I had them take her to the nursery so I could get some sleep. So our last night in the hospital was the first night I spent with Lydia. She was awake for a lot of the night, so I spent most of it pacing back and forth with her, rocking her, and singing her Primary songs. I was singing her songs like "I Am A Child of God" and "Families Can Be Together Forever" when I was overcome with emotion as I realized, this was it. I finally had started my eternal calling as a mother. With Robert, I would start raising a family in the Gospel. I thought of all I had done in my life to prepare myself for this - starting with the basic Gospel principles I learned in Primary, then everything I learned and the skills I improved through Young Womens, learning everything I could from my Mom, sisters, and the rest of my family, preparing and keeping myself worthy to enter the temple, and finding a righteous Priesthood holder who had also prepared himself to enter the temple and to be a good husband and father, and living my life in a way that he would want to choose me to be his wife. I thought I would be scared, but I'm not. I'm a mom. I feel so blessed that Heavenly Father has blessed me with this eternal calling.

Lydia will depend on me (and Robert) for everything. There will be trials, and it will be really hard work at times, but I already feel how rewarding of a work it is and will continue to be.

I'm a mom. I'm finally a mom!