Memorial Day

Last Monday our neighborhood pool finally opened. We invited the Thalmans for some Memorial Day swimming and a barbecue. It's nice to have friends to spend holidays with.

Ryan, Willa, and Bridgett:

June and I chilling in the shade. I took her in the kiddie pool for about 15 minutes. I'm assuming she enjoyed herself because there was no crying.

Back at our house for the food. I made the mistake of putting ketchup on Willa's plate with her hamburger. Ketchup is like Baby Crack, so I never give it to her. I don't know what I was thinking. By the end of dinner she had licked up all the ketchup and was putting both her palms on the plate and then licking them trying to get all the remaining drops.

Thalmans brought ice cream cones, Willa had never had it so good.

Night Sleep!

Don't let her perplexed look fool you, this little lady finally slept through the night! I think it was June's way of honoring and ushering the month of June, since today is June 1st. She nursed at 9:30 pm and slept until 6:30 am. She's a little late in the game, but I think that's more my fault and the complexities of balancing multiple kids. She has frequently slept 7-8 hour spurts before, but they were from times like 7 pm -3 am, not quite a full night sleep for me. Of course, I woke up multiple times during the night thinking that she "might" be waking up. I even had the thought, "I'd better get June up and feed her." And then I was like, "What the what, are you crazy? She's sleeping still, let her sleep!"

I also need to brag that I was able to lay her down in her bed today wide awake for her nap and she went right to sleep without a fuss. I did have to replace the pacifier once, but she is getting the hang of it. Sometimes I just want to cuddle and snuggle her instead of laying her down to sleep, but even more, I want her to have good sleep time habits. I feel like with her sweet little personality, if we work on it now we will avoid having to cry it out later.

New baby, old dress

On Sunday I was looking in the closet to get a dress for June and I found this adorable pink one. I know it's not for everyone, but I'm a sucker for smocking - especially on adorable little girls! I looked inside the dress for a tag to see what size it was and there was no tag. I took a closer look and could see the hand stitching on the hem. A little more research confirmed that my Grandma Knoles had made it. Don't you love it when extremely adorable and meaningful come to a perfect match? June looked like a little doll, seriously, like a real. live. doll. and it was all the better that the dress has some history and meaning to me.

Enlarge the first photo to catch a glimpse of her still very blue eyes. The photos don't really do her or the dress justice. When she would smile, you would just want to hug and kiss her to pieces. Seriously, she got more than her fair share of compliments at church, but what else would you expect from the cutest baby in the world?

On another fun note, I have choir practice while Ryan is in meetings on Sunday. The choir director's husband is the most baby-loving grandpa you will ever meet. It is his special job to hold June while I play the piano for the choir and he is just so excited to do it. I love our ward. Anyone and everyone is itching and fighting to hold the babies and I have seen several "old high priests" volunteer to sub in nursery when it's needed.

San Antonio

Back when  my parents were in town, we wanted to take a little trip, so we decided to go to San Antonio and see the Alamo. It is a long enough drive that we thought it would be fun to stay the night with my friend Shalece so that the kiddos wouldn't have to do the 3-4 hours twice in one day.

The drive there was really smooth. We went straight to the Alamo. It was a cool place, but I'll be honest - it's hard to get a lot out of things when you have one toddler who didn't nap because she was so hyper in the car and one six week-old baby in a baby bjorn. It was cool to learn a little Tejas history and see a new city. San Antonio was really pretty and I loved the rolling hills. Definitely a more pleasant landscape than Houston.

After the Alamo we took a boat tour of the river walk, which was really, really pretty. But, nursing in public, on a boat, in the heat, with a blanket covering was really not ideal.

We went to Shalece's house and had a great evening. It was almost the perfect trip until about midnight. It was a warm night and I had put Willa's pack n play in the pantry for her to sleep. She is very good with routine and she went right to bed without crying or a battle (the new environment was a little scary for her) because she had a pack n play with her usual toys and animals. Well, around midnight I was worried that she might be too hot. I wasn't sure how well-ventilated the pantry was. I decided to go check on her and duh duh duh.... she woke up when I opened the door. She was so disoriented from being woken up and also from being in a new place that I knew I couldn't leave her in there. She would have screamed and screamed and been terrified. I brought her to bed with me and since she is such a good CRIB sleeper and has NEVER slept in our bed even if I have wanted her to, she did not sleep for the rest of the night. You read correctly, my two-year old pulled an all-nighter and wanted me to chase her all night. It was miserable. I didn't want her to wake anyone else, I couldn't get her to fall asleep on the bed, and I had June who was just six weeks old. Finally, around 5:30 am she got hungry (who wouldn't after being up all night?). We went downstairs to get her some cheerios. After she ate she started to run around and I pulled her tight on my lap and very sternly told her that it was still night time. Well, after about 30 seconds on my lap she fell asleep (this was now 6 am). My mom walked in the room right then. We decided to just pack everything up right then and head back home to beat traffic. We hadn't planned on any sight-seeing that day, but it was sad to have to leave so quickly - but definitely for the best. We were out the door around 6:30 am and both girls slept the entire car ride home. Though it didn't end perfectly, it was fun and I was glad we went and were adventurous. It's so funny how much more chill you are with the second child. We just carted June along with us. I cannot imagine myself ever doing that with Willa at six weeks. Just a car ride was a major event with me because... she might cry in her carseat or worse - fall asleep and get off her nap schedule, the horror!

June's Blessing

My mom finished her last chemo the day that June was born (double celebration!) so she and my dad thought that they could fly out to visit when June was about six weeks old. It worked out perfectly for us to have June's blessing while they were here. Ryan's parents were also able to come out for the blessing. I was so so so happy to have both grandparents here. We really have had a hard time making friends on our same wavelength here (if you know what I mean) and I had humorous visions of Ryan being the entire blessing circle.

Here is a picture before church while Ryan was in meetings. We got a whole family shot after church, but it is beyond horrible so I will never post it publicly. Willa was overtired since she missed her nap and I just look like a huge cow in it. Sundays are so hard to dress for these days! I'm still sporting more than my fair share of muffin top (somehow the second child seemed to give me a permanent womb). It's hard to find a shirt that looks decent on, is fancy enough to wear to church, and that is easy to nurse from. The necessity of nursing in a somewhat public place, that's the wardrobe killer right there.

June looked adorable, as you can see. She was also a nice, quiet baby for the entire blessing. I was pretty worried since she often has two modes: sleeping or crying. But, I must have timed her last meal perfectly because she didn't get as gassy as usual and was just a doll. She fell asleep soon after in Ryan's arms and they had a little moment. Melinda wrote down everything from the blessing, which is on a piece of paper in a very important place (important place is yet to be discovered/remembered), but I do remember that Ryan blessed June to be a good sister. I loved that and Ryan said later that it is really important to him that Willa and June are close and good sisters. I hope that this is the case too, there is nothing like siblings and sisters in particular. Even though I anticipate having to tune out many teenage arguments over clothes sharing, they are lucky to have each other. It was a great blessing day and especially nice to spend it with family.

What kind of mom are you?

I read a blog a while ago about different kinds of moms. It has made me think about this question and realize that I am most definitely a park mom. I like to get out and go go go. I'm not so great at sitting and playing with toys, but boy do I love the park. There is hardly any whining, the toddler gets tons of exercise, and the house stays clean since we aren't home. The best park days are when we can go with friends. Often we go with my friend Kim. When her husband is off shore and Ryan is working late we will stay for hours, and then often go to one of our houses to eat dinner together.

Sometimes I wish I was more of a stay at home mom, but I get stir crazy. If I am honest, I usually fit in an outing both before and after nap time every day. The park, the store, a friend's house, a walk, the library, the zoo, a splashpad. Today we met a friend at the park in the morning, then more friends at a bouncy castle place for the afternoon (where the kids bounced for 2 1/2 hours straight!). I love coming home and going straight to dinner and bath time. I don't think any particular kind of mom is better than another, I just know that I function best as a park mom. So, what kind of mom are you?

Here are a couple of park videos from when my parents were here.

Unrelated photo of newborn June in the outfit I wore home from the hospital. It has the look of a vintage track suit and the feel of a terrycloth bathrobe.

Couldn't resist adding these two photos. I love how Willa is trying hard not to smile in the first one. June was way little, so Willa must have been going through some growing pains.

The second one is from this past Sunday. June is just so cute, I can't stand it!