Overstuffed

Our little apartment is cluttered with toys. In fact, it looks like we have had a baby invasion. One look at the "second" room in our house and one will see:

a baby stroller (we keep it inside to keep it from being stolen and ruined by the weather)
a baby crib
an exersaucer
a basket full of baby toys
a rocking chair
the Queen's dresser, stuffed to the brim with all her clothes
a high chair

Needless to say, walking room is scarce. At the end of the day, we look around at our apartment and realize that toys are scattered everywhere. Thus, we feel overloaded.

Despite the messes, seeing the Queen hug her teddy bear is worth every second.

Finals are a hop, skip, and jump away! (Don't you love that saying?!?!)I have 3 months left of school, and I feel the freedom calling. Nonetheless, I am enjoying all of my classes. I have had so much fun learning about teenagers, aging, astronomy, researching, and writing. I love my internship, and will be in a competitive internship fair next month! I am so excited! I am trying to finish all the projects that are due at the beginning of next month, now, so that I may concentrate on other things. I will be sad when school ends, but I sure am looking forward to spending time with my angel. Love to you all!

Dreaming With You Tonight

Last night Ben and I were reminiscing about how happy we were when we found out I was pregnant with Emily. Our lives were forever altered with that first pregnancy test.

Now that Emily has joined our family, we do not know what it was like without her. She has brought so much joy and fun into our lives! We remembered what it was like to bring her home from the hospital, how lucky we felt.

Our conversation continued to the events of our day. To set up the scene, Ben and I were sitting on the couch, cuddling, while Emily lay resting for the night in her luxurious bed.

Amber: The Girl was babbling in class today.
Ben: Oh really?
A: Yeah. It was so cute. She was scratching the desk, because she liked the sound, and talking up a storm.
B: Was Dr. Coyne okay with that? Was she upset?
A: Nah. She thinks the Queen is a doll. Who wouldn't?
B: True. Everyone who meets her falls in love with her.
B: I love our little girl.
A: Me too.
A: Did you see the cute pictures I took of her today?
B: No.
A pulls out the camera. Both oooh and aaah over their beautiful girl.
B: I want to hold her!
A: I know!
Both get up and, on tip toe, enter the Queen's domain. Both look upon the angel sleeping on her tummy. They quietly sneak out, back to the couch.
B: Even though we are poor, we are wealthier than the richest couple in the world. We don't have much, but we have a roof over our heads, we are married, and we have the most gorgeous little daughter.
A (softly): mmmmm. You are so right, dear.

And now, the pictures that evoked this lovely, edited (for dramatic purposes), conversation.

Addictions

Something about watching Ben and Emily is quite enrapturing. These two are so similar in looks(although she has my fiercely independent and stubborn ways) that it shocks me to see them together. If you don't believe my words, believe my pictures.

So many sweet father and daughter moments. I am so grateful that I have a husband who loves his daughter so much. When he comes home and she is sleeping, he will give me a kiss and then go into her room to stroke her soft cheeks. Love it!

Emily is independent. She tells us what she wants and when she wants it, through a series of grunts and cries. Sometimes she will refuse to nurse because she wants to hold the bottle. This kills me! I want to feed my baby! We see this as a forecast of what is to come. This little independent spirit will be a great sister and leader for her future siblings. I love her very much!

Most Saturdays are my favorite days. I can stay at home, play, and cuddle with my sweet angel all day long without worrying about class. I think she enjoys it as well, especially when she gets to play with all her new toys (that we have now taken out of storage). I attempt to put her on a huge blanket so that she does not roll onto our carpet (because the carpet grosses me out and harbors little choking hazards), but alas she goes whither she desires. Usually to the chair legs and electrical cords. All the things I'd rather she left alone. Like I said, she is independent. I just do my best to watch her every move, and hide the cords. Her increased mobility is tricky, she has fallen off our couch and bed twice this week already, but it brings many opportunities for cute pictures. Don't you just love her eyes?

I am addicted to this girl.

Budding Professional

I am an intern with a professor who runs a website designed to break down the research on families into applicable pointers for families. I absolutely love it! Not only do I get to read premier research (from all the best journals), I get to write! Recently (meaning 2-3 weeks ago), an internship fair was held in which my fellow intern (Katie) and I recruited potential interns.

I know you can't see the booth all that well, just believe me when I tell you it was fabulous. We are also entering our internship into another internship fair, this one for prizes. Wish us luck!

Soon I will post the link to the articles I have written. That is, once (and if) they are published. If they aren't published, I will post the link anyway. The site is a tremendous help to parents at all stages in their lives.

The Happiness

3 Things.

Part 1.
Emily has become quite mobile. While she can't crawl yet, she is able to get to anywhere and particularly anything that she wants, her own way.



Part 2.
Emily has progressed in language from cooing and gurgling to making vowel- and consonant-like sounds. Notice her distinct "bah" sound. I love it! But don't worry, she still grunts to let us know if she is mad, frustrated, tired, and/or hungry.



Part 3. 

It is official. I have talked with my advisor and filled out the slip. I am graduating! Hooray! I will be finished with all my classes by June and so will walk in August. We are all very excited! For family and friends who would like to celebrate with us, a few things are being planned around that time (like a Lagoon trip), so you can either comment or send Ben or me an e-mail to let us know of your intentions. I think that I will look great in blue, don't you think so?

I think that is all for the fabulous news. Enjoy the lovely week!

Is it possible to love too much?

We have moved to the next phase of baby sleeping: separate bed, separate room. Upon realizing that Emily rules the roost when she sleeps with us (picture this: me on the edge of the bed on one side, Ben on the other, Emily horizontal between us), Ben and I decided the time had come for us to let her sleep in her crib. We moved her crib into the other bedroom and attempted to put her to sleep in there. The first night was horrible. She was up every hour until I put her into bed with me out of pure exhaustion. The next night was the same thing. On Sunday, we both came to the realization that we had to let her cry it out. So we tried it. The first night was miserable. The next night was a little better. And so on. Last night was the best so far, down without a peep. In fact, when I do try and put her into bed with me (because I love to snuggle with her) she wakes up and wants to play. She is growing up.

How do I feel about this?

At first I was glad. She is finally sleeping through the night! All right for mommy! Then the impact hit. She is sleeping through the night without me. How could this happen? As a newborn she needed me to feed, cuddle, and soothe her. Now, she can soothe herself! She doesn’t need to eat at night and she doesn’t need me to cuddle her to sleep. In short, I mourn her independence. I should be comforted by the knowledge that I will have other babies. I should realize that this is important in her development. I should recognize all these things. I don’t. I want Emily to stay my baby girl forever.

After the shock of all these feelings had finally worn off, I began to realize how Heavenly Father must feel. He wants so badly for all of us to return to Him. He mourns all of his lost children. Yet, He needed to let us come to earth so that we might be tested and taught and willing on our own to come back and live with Him. We needed to grow up.

Craziness accompanies Emily as she becomes more mobile and more independent, but I will embrace it and not mourn as she grows. I love this little angel.

To verify these new feelings, allow me to illustrate how much I am enjoying her new independence.

She loves her rice cereal. We feed it to her 2-3 times a day and she eats it all up.

She also loves to eat her spoon. Or maybe she enjoys feeding herself? Whatever the reason, she sure is cute.

She is becoming stronger every day. She does 20 pull-ups on the chair to strengthen her arms, shoulders, and back.

When I put her to sleep in her crib, she rolls onto her tummy to sleep, but she doesn’t like when I put her on her tummy. She likes to roll to her tummy and fall asleep. When she wakes up, this is how we find her.

Bath time occurs here. She loves to sit in the sink, eat the faucet, and drink the water. I guess she likes her water warm.

I love to wrap her in her pink towel and cuddle her all the way to the bedroom where I put her diaper on.

She loves the bed too. It is the perfect playground with many toys.

She recognizes her mommy and daddy. When either of us comes into a room, she gives us the sweetest smile, raises her arms, and grunts to let us know that she would like us to hold her. We cannot deny her desires.

It is a wonderful thing that social scientists have disregarded that old notion of “spoiling your baby”. It they hadn’t they would be very upset with Ben and me. We hold her all the time. I may not have as much time as I would love to have playing with Emily, but the time I do have I take full advantage of. Oh, the joys of motherhood.

Our Little Corner

We spend a good portion of our day together as a family. Not at home, but in our corner of the ESC (Eyring Science Center). It is conveniently located by our locker, Ben's physics lab, and my astronomy class. It also provides space for Emily to roll around and play.




We love being together, even if it is hanging out while Ben and I do our homework and Emily. plays with her keys and photo album. We have even made friends in the building who like to come over and say hi everyday. I may not know their names, but they are apart of our ESC life.

In this spot, I change Emily's diaper. Since she has become more mobile I must use creativity to encourage her to stay still while I take and put her diaper on. This involves giving her the wipes container. It can usually settle her grumpies and distract her long enough for me to do the job.


Along with this, I have found that Emily enjoys sitting and playing more than lying on her back or tummy. In fact, when she does go on her tummy she employs her grumpy grunt until I pick her up or move her to a sitting position. She is still learning how to crawl so not being able to reach things frustrates her. So, I sit her on her tummy and ensure that she is in equilibrium and does not fall over. She is getting so big.




With all the ruckus in our lives, we somehow manage to find the time to enjoy each other. So would you if this face looked at you:


Her enrapturing gazes do tend to stop homework at times. I am okay with this. She is so much more fun than learning about the development trajectories of adults and adolescents.

Our lives have begun to be organized with valuable routines. We feel pretty good. I am grateful for all my classes because the teach me such useful skills and information. I do look forward to the not to far future when I can stay at home and be a mommy. With such a precious angel around, I will do far more good in her life than I could ever do in the business world. Besides, want to pass on some kind of legacy. I would rather have it be about my mothering and homemaking than my career achievements. I think that Emily agrees.

It's just the way she looks at us.

We have enjoyed our splendid weekend. I think that Ben and I enjoyed it a little more than Emily. As I mentioned previously, she has a double ear infection. The poor little angel is having a hard time sleeping, eating, and has been throwing up and suffering through diarrhea. The doctor requested that we come in today to make sure that everything is okay. After checking her, he said one of the ears is healed and the other ear is still pink. He told us to keep giving her the antibiotic for a couple more days and the infection should be gone. This is happy news except for the fact that the medication is hurting her tummy. As horrible as this is, we want her to get better. Even if it means that we have to give her yucky medicine. I look at it like this, there are times that we all have to suffer through something yucky until we heal. For example, when I had my appendix out it hurt! But, after (like a week or two) it stopped hurting and I felt much better than I did before. Thus, Emilywill take the meds, will feel yucky, but ultimately she will be better off than before. At least she still smiles through her pain. Bless her.






Now you know why our hearts melt whenever we see this little angel. She is also the reason why we want to have 20 more kids. We will let you know how that goes.

If you didn't notice, she is now sitting up completely on her own!  She has been doing this for a couple of weeks now.  What a big girl!

The Irreplaceable Love of our Lives

Our little one is getting bigger. The truth is on the scale. Really. She had her 6-month check-up and (drum roll please) she has gained 2 lbs! 

6-Month Stats
Weight: 141/2 lbs.(16th percentile)
Height: 24 in.(14th percentile)
Head Circumference: 16.33 in. (25th percentile)

She really enjoyed our doctor, she tried to eat her stethoscope, the thermometer, and the doctor's hand. She, of course, entertained every person around and managed to make everyone smile. I understand because I smile whenever I see her face (except for maybe at 2 am when I am too fuzzy to comprehend anything).

All the good news came with a little bit of sad news. Our baby girl has 2 ear infections (meaning an ear infection in both ears). But, the doctor said it looked mild and seemed that she was already fighting the infections on her own. The shots were not even all that bad. She cried for a little bit but because we give her loves after the pain she stopped crying pretty fast and was soon playing with the nurses. I know, she has such an easy temperament.

Our baby is enjoying her new skills. She is reaching for everything. Especially the cool things like our computer, my phone, and the camera.

She can also sit up and still loves to stand and reach out for anything.

What is Queen Emily's favorite thing? Her mommy and daddy of course.

We, as always, are loving being parents. 

About our stroller situation, we were blessed to have been given another stroller by my aunt and uncle and so only needed to pump up the tires on the marvelous contraption. I appreciate all of the calls that we received and the prayers that have been said on our part. Heavenly Father is certainly mindful of us and has blessed us in one more way.

Now I have to go pick up my beautiful daughter and wake my sleepy husband. She is giggling and is way too cute to remain away from her mother's arms. Snuggling is the best part of the day. Have a fabulous Valentine's Day. I know we will!