Lauren's Blessing Day!

I have enough people here to help with the baby that I can actually post pictures the day I took them - amazing!

Seeing my baby being blessed was another huge milestone I've been dreaming about for years. I've known who I would ask to be in the circle for years! It was pretty much everything I'd imagined, except two of my brothers were missing. One is still in training and one got bad directions and the GPS didn't work right, he showed up just after the blessing. He and I stood outside crying for awhile about that, I was so sad that he just barely missed it, especially after he tried so hard to be there.
Other than that, it was absolutely perfect. I loved looking up and seeing my husband, dad and brothers holding my baby and blessing her. I loved taking pictures afterwards. I loved sharing it with family and friends who know how long we've been waiting for this. I loved the promises made to her in the blessing. I loved that she got to wear her great-great grandfather's christening gown. I loved that she was so well behaved!
One thing that was really special to me was having our friend Brian in the circle. My parents knew Brian's parents when I was a baby and a couple weeks ago I found out that Brian's dad was in the circle when I was blessed. I had already planned on asking Brian to be in the circle, but finding that out made it so much more special!

My First Mother's Day!

It was a pretty perfect day! My mom came out Saturday and spend the night to help us be able to go to church on Mother's Day. And we made it! It was naptime for Lauren and she had a hard time staying asleep during the service, so I spent the majority of it walking the halls with her. There were several other moms doing the same thing, so it was actually a perfect way to spend the morning!
After church my mom and went to her mother's condo to visit with her and her mother and my mom's sister. We took some fun five generation pictures and then I took a nap while the grandmothers played with the baby!
Chris gave me a couple mommy books, one I had asked for. And "Lauren" gave me a necklace with her birthstone, which she promptly began to pull on! Chris also made me filet mignon and shrimp for dinner!
I kept thinking back on Mother's Day last year, right after the failed IVF. Mother's Day had been hard for me for years, but to have the failed IVF right before it was too much. Now that Lauren is here and I never have to dread Mother's Day again I'm glad to be able to look back and remember how hard it was waiting to have a baby because I can appreciate all the little things so much more.

I can't wait to help Chris celebrate his first Father's Day!

A little bit of bragging!

The last couple of weeks have been hard, poor Lauren has been dealing with congestion and reflux and has to be held for her to get any real sleep. She's been a real trooper, she still eats well and gives us lots of smiles. She's been slowly getting better and I've been trying to get her to sleep in her own bed at least for a little while. Yesterday was just a good day anyway, we got out of the house and she got some good naps. Chris held her for the first part of the night and she slept 4 hours straight! After the next feeding I put her in her bed where she slept really well for half an hour before the congestion started nothing her. But my amazing little girl kept trying to put herself back to sleep! I was so proud and amazed and hopeful that once the congestion clears (if it ever does!) she'll be able to sleep most of the night!

Two Months!

How has it been two months already?!?!? She's transitioning more and more into an active little baby instead of a sleepy newborn. We had a really good week at 6 weeks where life felt like it was getting somewhere normal, then at 7 weeks she started having severe problems with congestion and reflux. We started to hold her 24/7 to keep her from gagging on the reflux. Needless to say it was a very rough couple of weeks and is just barely starting to settle down again. Through it all, even though she obviously felt miserable, Lauren kept smiling at us! Once she started feeling better she started having more awake time and wanting to play and smiling more and more. At her two month appointment, on her two month birthday, she rolled over! I think she'd been trying to do it sooner, but was so quietly determined about it, I didn't recognize that was what she was doing.  She did it twice that day and hasn't done it since, although she's been working on it! At her two month checkup she was 7lbs 7 oz and 21 inches long, which is barely the size of most newborns, so it's weird to think I could still be pregnant with her at this size! She can barely fit into newborn clothes anymore and is wearing mostly 0-3 and occasionally something 3 months. It's been exciting to see her grow out of clothes! She holds her head up insanely well and enjoys tummy time a lot more. She likes her bouncy seat and playing on the floor and it's so exciting to see her being more active. We still go to the breast feeding support group twice a week, mostly to get out of the house and be around other moms, and to make sure she's gaining weight well. Even though she's been miserable and high maintenance, we love her more and more every day! Chris loves coming home from and snuggling with her so mommy can have a break and run errands or take a shower. Uncle Ian has been spending a lot of time here helping out, it's been great to watch him get more and more comfortable taking care of her, although he still won't do diapers. We're really excited to have Uncle Thomas come home from marine training and get to meet her!

This picture is from my iPhone because we lost the charger to the camera! Good thing our phones have cameras, it's been weeks since I've been able to use the camera!