A Red Letter Day!

Today was, for the most part, a rather frustrating day for Ashley. Kendra was rather fussy all day. Very fussy, actually, for her. She's not really that kind of baby. Refused to eat for the most part, made noise, all that jazz.

Little did we know she was saving it up. After I came home we were both playing with her and she pulled out the big guns. She...

LAUGHED FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME!!!!

It was a real laugh, too. Ashley got little teardrops of joy. It was awesome.

For posterity: It was May 28, 2009 at 7:30pm.

Naaaaice.

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Addendum: Right after she laughed we got the video camera and spent much of the night trying to get her to do it again. She did it several times before we got the camera out and then not again. Now we have a new thing to obsess about...Mommy in particular is constantly trying to get Kendra to make it all the way to the laugh. Gotta re-live that moment. And this time we are getting it on film! :)

Time flies

She sure is growing fast...our darling little daughter.

The first pictures are from February 18, the day we brought her home. The second pictures are from April 30--and I was putting her in a coat. Sigh.

Kendra Growing Up

Lots of good photo opportunities with a 3-month old babies. Essentially everything she does is worthy of remembering forever and looking at over and over. She was so pretty in her Sunday dress last week, for example. So kissable



And when we are randomly holding her and interacting with her, she makes the cutest little faces


She is a very well tempered baby. Always cooing for us and being generally un-demanding. That comes from Ashley. As far as I know, I was not the easiest baby in many ways. In particular I was a really bad sleeper. Kendra doesn't have that problem. In fact, she often sleeps through important times like burp time


Sound asleep for the whole thing. She's not worried or unhappy in any way in that picture, by the way, just sound asleep.

Ashley likes to lay her down on her feet and interact with her on the bed. I see this a lot





Mother-daughter time is so very sweet. The other thing Kendra has just been loving is the "baby Einstein" entertainment and brain stimulation center. She gets a healthy dose of this every day.


It's hilarious how much a little classical music, some blinking lights, a mirror and the other little things in it can really excite and stimulate her. Here she's kicking her feet. It's something she frequently does when she's excited. These days she may be laying in her swing or something quite calmly, and we look over at her and say "hi" and she smiles and kicks those little feet. So adorable!

I'll tell you she is growing very quickly. She's up around 13.5 pounds now. We put the same hat she had on in the hospital, and it fit her quite differently


She's our darling little girl. She's growing up so fast and eventually she won't be our itty bitty little girl any more. That's why we grab her now for as many snuggles as we can get.

Photo Op

This year, Grant and I have been turning into grown-ups...we got married, bought our first car, had a baby and now we're looking at houses. Like, to own. Weird!

Yesterday we went out to a town by O'Hare and looked at a bunch of houses. We took my little point-and-shoot with us to take pictures to help us keep track of them all since we were spending hours looking at them. Kendra's getting old enough that sometimes she fusses just because she wants to be held, so Grant carried her around one of the houses we looked at and I couldn't resist this shot (even though it's very poorly framed).



Ahhhh, Kodak moments! This is why it's totally worth it to spend a couple hundred dollars to have a camera that you can take with you everywhere!

Sleep habits

I noticed when Grant and I got married that we had quite the collection of pillows. He already had many of his own, and I came with lots given to me by my employers when they moved back to New Jersey shortly before Grant and I got married.

When I was single, this is how I made my bed (sans the adorable little girl, of course--but she was sitting around when I was taking these pictures I just put her up there for the fun of it). Pretty standard pillow arrangement of 2 big square European ones, 4 standard (2 in pillowcases, 2 in shams) and 2 decorative.



It took me less than a minute to make in the morning. I did with one hand while I brushed my teeth. That's because I'd throw the decorative pillows and one of the Europeans on the floor, use the two standards on my side of the bed, crawl in a pass out. I'm a very still sleeper, so making the bed was just a matter of pulling the cover back up and replacing the pillows.

Now, my bed looks a little different. I originally started off with the same set-up when I got married, but my sweet husband kept requesting more pillows...so now it looks like this.



Maybe it doesn't look that strange to you, eh? Take a look at what's behind those shams.



That's 8 standard pillows, for a total of 10 on the bed. And we use every. Single. One. Every. Single. Night.

Grant surrounds himself with pillows, including shoving two down by his feet (I still don't get that one) and puts a couple between us because apparently at night my skin "reaches the temperature of the sun's corona" and lines the rest around him on the other side and his head. It's getting ridiculous.

It also turns out, Grant is a pretty restless sleeper, so between the building of the pillow fort around him and the tossing and turning, I pretty much have to strip the bed and start from scratch--every. Single. Morning.

My employer often told me how much easier it was for her to make the bed when her husband was out of town because she'd just slip out and smooth the covers and be done. I totally understand where she's coming from now. Though I don't think she has to strip the bed on a daily basis...

A big thank-you to our lovely model who enhanced my pictures with her amazing cuteness!

Grandpa's Visit

We've had a busy couple of weekends in a row--first Grant's parents and brother and our nephew for Kendra's blessing. Then, my Dad came to visit! It was great for him to meet Kendra. She warmed right up to him.



She actually felt quite at home...it's just hard work being that darn cute.



Grandchildren are great for spoiling, it turns out and my dad didn't waste the opportunity. He brought a few presents, including a really neat light-up and music gym that's adjustable so it can grow with her. It's great! She gets really vocal when she plays with it and Grant and I are very pleased to see her get so much brain stimulation. Dad must have been reading my mind when he when shopping because I was literally going to start cruising Craig's List to find one after he left!



My dad happens to be an awesome cook, so he whipped up a little something while he was here. Oh, MAN was it good! I enjoyed the leftovers all week for lunches!



It was a short but extremely sweet visit--very fun for all!



So I don't have a witty story or caption for this picture, but I'll throw it in just because she's so darn cute. :)

Story Time

So upwards of three months ago, we went into the hospital and then a few days later they sent us home with a baby.

Ohhhh, was she ever beautiful! But as fate would have it, she didn't do much. She slept. She cried. She ate. She pooped from time to time. Being a first-time mother, I didn't have any expectations and didn't really realize that was about all she did. I realized it when she did start to do stuff about 2 months later. And what she did was pretty awesome! She started SMILING! On purpose! You might remember that she'd often smile when she was falling asleep, but this was totally different because she was looking at me when she did it!

A few weeks later, Grant's parents came for her blessing and I realized that she recognized me. She knew who I was!! I realized it when she initially started fussing when Jackie or Archie held her, but if she saw me, she'd calm down and smile again. Now that really melted my heart. I was really surprised by the connection I felt to her when she was born and not long after they placed her in my arms I remember saying, "Hey, I know you..." to her several times--the words felt kinda cheesy but they were true. I really felt like I already knew her. So when she demonstrated that she knew me too, it was some kind of wonderful.

Those of you who are parents have been through these little stages and know how it goes. This video will be cute, but nothing new to you. Those of you who aren't parents are in for a WHOLE heap of fun when you are. This video will be a little sneak peak of it. I seriously didn't realize what I was missing until she started doing this stuff, it's amazing.



I didn't realize she hadn't been making any noise but to fuss or to cry this whole time until she started to coo. It's sooooo cool!

I can totally handle this Mommy gig. It rocks.

My Favorite Time

My favorite time with Kendra is a strange one indeed---diaper changing time. It's not that the changing of the diaper itself is any fun, but once we put her on the changing table, Kendra becomes a real gem, no matter how she was feeling before.


It doesn't take much to entertain her when she's on a changing table. And she rewards us with the cutest smiles and coos.


If we get really entertaining, she goes beyond basic smiles to some advanced happy baby behavior.


And when she's not particularly entertained at the moment, she reverts to her favorite of activities...whole hand sucking. She was sucking her hand on all of her ultrasound pictures, even the really early ones. And we expect her to continue with it for a while. It's so cute. This picture is just basic sucking, sometimes she really puts her fist in there good.


She's our darling little girl.

Growing Up

Kendra has been growing up ever so quickly. Literally every day when I come home from work she's significantly different and more grown up than when I left, it seems. She's been putting on a lot of weight lately, that's for sure, and holding up her head a lot.

Ashley came out to meet me at the el today with Kendra in the moby wrap, as she usually does. But today it looked like this

It was seriously just the other day when she layed down across our stomach in the moby wrap, basically a little fetus, just wanting to sleep. Remember these days?


It was just a few days ago, it seems. I can see why people are always talking about these days going by quickly. We haven't even sat down to decide how to raise her and she's practically all grown up!

It's a good trade, though, overall. She sleeps so much better and interacts with us ever so much more. She's a wonderful little girl, and I'm betting she's going to be a wonderful little woman some day.

Baby Blessing

Blessing

Today we gave Kendra a name and a blessing. It was so sweet. Heber and Hyrum drove up from Saint Louis, and Mom and Dad flew over for the occasion. It was so wonderful.

(Not pictured below because she was behind the camera: Jackie)

That white dress Kendra is wearing is a really significant item. It was hand stitched by Kendra's great grandmother, Bubby, back in 1946 especially for my mother's baby blessing. Not only was Jackie blessed in it, but all of her children including me were also blessed in it. And now Kendra has been blessed in it as well.

Family Visit

We have looked forward to Hyrum's visit here for a while because he's one of the few people who can appreciate my tarantula hobby


He's a man after my own heart. Makes us want to get on with this family and get a son of our own.