Laney had a little lamb

Moving right along to Spring. Here is (hopefully) the last winter shot I have for you until later this year. We had a blizzard last weekend. It melted away fairly quickly in the next few days as it warmed up. We made sure to let Laney enjoy the snow while it was here.

Later in the week we were able to visit a sheep farm. We went to see the spring lambs. Oh my. Laney was so excited. She ran around saying "bah bah" the entire time.

I want a lamb.

Carrie Underwood and Christmas

The last couple of weeks has been a bit of a blur. We have tried very hard to do it all. We had three family birthdays (including Mike and I) as well as Christmas with both of our families. Mike took me to Carrie Underwood for my birthday! She was awesome.

The view from the car on the way to the concert

We spent the 23rd and 24th with Mike's family and then came home to host Christmas for my family. They all arrived Christmas Eve. Including us, we had four sisters, three brothers-in-law, three babies, my parents, my grandma, and an uncle here. Thankfully a pastor from our church who was away let us use his house. Even with the extra house it was a delicate balance trying to ensure that all three babies got their naps. I think we (and they) did pretty good. I must also add that if you wrap the turkey in bacon it creates magic.
 

We finally got a photo of Laney doing her "tripod". She does it all the time.

Me and the three cousins

My next youngest sis and her hubs in their jammies

Laney with her Nana and Grandad

On Boxing Day we had our little Laney dedicated at our church. After that we had all of the above people, sans uncle, as well as one of Mike's brothers, sister-in-law, and parents here for lunch.

Mike thouroughly spoiled me. I actually don't want to share it with you because I'm kind of embarassed. I will show you this though.

Hopefully, it will mean better pictures showing up soon. They will probably be worse to start with though. 

Now, the house is a little quieter with two of my sisters gone. We are also in quarantine mode right now as my parents are both fighting a stomach bug. We got a call from my next younger sister and she, her husband, and baby all have been throwing up. I'm just hoping that 1. Laney doesn't get it and 2. that it is the same bug I had a few weeks ago so I don't get it again (oh and 3. that they all feel better tomorrow).

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Happy New Year!

She's really a toddler

The amount of new things Laney has been doing lately is incredible. I have no idea how she managed to turn into a toddler right under my nose. She has been walking for awhile but it's the communication that really makes her seem grown. I know at this point she can understand a lot more than she can communicate. That's why I decided about a month ago to get serious with signing and it has cut down a lot of frustration on Laney's part (OK and sometimes me too). If I ask her if she needs a diaper change she will usually run to her room (same if I tell her it's time for "night-night" and she actually feels like sleeping). She knows what her doll, baby, ball, balloon, and several other toys are if I say them out loud. She is also starting to listen to me when I say no.

She is such a personality. I love seeing this come out. I love her. Mike and I look at each other just about everyday and say that to each other. Don't worry we say "I love you" to each other as well.

Stats:

Weight: 21 lbs
Length: 30 inches
Animal sounds: cow, pig, horse, monkey, fish, bear, lion
Signing: more, all done, please (along with a verbal "pea"), eat, and milk
Teeth: six with two more about to poke through the gums
Words: mama, dada, please (pea), ball (ba), bye-bye (bub-bub)
Guestures: Claps, waves bye-bye, blows kisses, plays peek-a-boo

Her Christmas dress!

My first foray into the world of baby bows/clips

OK Mum, no more pictures

P.S. The pillow-making went well and I now have two more wonderful goose down pillows. I plan on posting a tutorial soon.

How to share pregnancy news

When I was pregnant for the first time we thought it would be fun to take pictures of everyone's reactions as we shared the news. It was Christmastime, so luckily we were going to see most of our family members in person. We were due in August of 2009. I didn't want to tell anyone until the end of the first trimester, but Christmas made it too hard not to. We lost that baby at 8 weeks. But, I don't want to forget about that little person. And I thought I'd share these photos for that reason; they are all I have.

I smile when I see them now. And I still cry.

This was right after I told Mike

I told my next younger sister Rosanne first. Unfortunately, I don't have a photo as we hadn't thought of that yet.

Next on the list was my best friend. She lives in Uganda (runs an aid organization) and I had to tell her before she went back.

We told Mike's brother and sister-in-law. They were a little surprised I think.

My parents were a tough sell. My mum didn't believe me. My dad just smiled. First grandchild on the way.

It took about ten minutes to convince my mum that we weren't kidding.

Telling my older sister Julia was not something I was very excited about. She had been trying to get pregnant for almost a year at this point with no success. She was happy for me though, so I didn't really have much to worry about. I am happy to report that she had a baby girl this past March.

Skype was how we shared the news with my youngest sister Sabrina.

Then she cried.

We told Mike's older brother and his sister-in-law.

I don't have the photo of us telling Mike's parents as it was on their camera and I didn't have the heart to ask for it after losing the baby. I don't know if they even kept it anyways.

I was so excited to tell my grandma that she could add a "great" to her title!

This is my best friend's parents. They are like second parents to me. Telling everyone this way was so much fun. It is also so neat to see everyone's reactions frozen in time.

These are the flowers I received after I lost that baby. I still have one of the roses. I know some people make think I'm silly for grieving that baby, that "it" wasn't even a human yet. But, I know that tiny being inside of me was a person. I will see him or her one day. And God has a knack for turning bad into good. I became pregnant with Laney soon after losing my first.

Ten Months

Our world is changing. Laney is growing. While I am so excited to see her take the world in, to explore, and to learn, it is sad when she leaves things behind. She is slowly morphing into a toddler and I am not ready to let my baby go. This past month she learned to stand up on her own and has now taken her first steps. She wants to eat the food from our plates rather than her food and she wants to do whatever mummy and daddy are doing.

What better way to celebrate ten months than a trip to our favourite park with daddy along too?

And to do so in a dress that mummy wore when she was in a baby.

To laugh as the birds fly by.

 To swing in the afternoon sun.

And to see the world from daddy's shoulders.

To enjoy it even though I know that I can not slow time down. In fact, I will enjoy it all the more knowing that our time here is fleeting.

On Complaints and Domestic Bliss

I would like to apologize for my last post. Complaints really have nothing to do with improving myself. Actually, not being negative is something I do need to work on. So let my previous post serve as an example of how I don't want to be.

I do find family get togethers stressful sometimes. Mike has a very large, loud family. I have a small, calm family. OK, having three sisters isn't exactly calm, but overall, my relatives are more reserved. What I am used to is about as opposite from what Mike is used to as you can get. Because of this, I need to learn to relax a little more at these functions.

There are times when I need to stop worrying about sleep schedules and let my baby come out of her crib. I am such a sucker and can't let her cry. If she's upset and I can't calm her down, it isn't the end of the world to bring her out with us. Last night was one of those times. She is still off-kilter from the weekend away and she is not her happy little self.


Speaking of family get-togethers. This is what I came home to after our weekend away. Do you ever get home from a vacation to find that your house looks like this, no matter the state you left it in? Does it stress you out like it does me? It never used to, but it sure does now.


I am a messy person in recovery. My bedroom growing up and after I moved away from home was just atrocious. I remember my Mum always telling me that I needed to learn how to keep my room clean as it was going to drive guys away. I used to laugh and tell her that if a guy liked me, he wouldn't care less about what my room looked like.

It turns out, Mum was right.

Mike and I really don't fight all that often. I have heard that the number one cause of disagreements between couples is money. While we have had a disagreement or two over money (or more like our lack thereof), I must admit that 99% of our arguments and disagreements are about the state of the house. I wonder how that ranks in the stats. Mike can't stand disorganization. He is a list man. He is an everything-has-its-place kind of guy. Mike cannot go to sleep with a messy house. He has to take care of it immediately. If I wanted to bug him, all I would have to do would be to leave an unopened piece of mail by the front door, not that I have ever done this ;) I would probably have about 24 hours before he couldn't take it anymore.

I have improved so much since we have gotten married. I think Mike sometimes forgets this. I do think we are starting to meet in the middle though, or at least the middle of his side of things. Anyways, I don't really want to admit it, especially to Mike, but I feel so much calmer when everything is organized. I actually hate not having a bed made now. I never thought I would be that type of person.

So after avoiding the mess for about a day, I got busy.

And now everything is calm in my universe.