'Tis the Season

"For the things which some men esteem to be of great worth, both to the body and soul, others set at naught and trample under their feet. Yea, even the very God of Israel do men trample under their feet; I say, trample under their feet but I would speak in other words -- they set him at naught, and hearken not to the voice of his counsels."  1 Nephi  19:7

Tis the Season to remember Christ and at the very least, to remember his teachings of love and service and faith and hope. A very Merry Christmas to everyone.

4 Months!

It is amazing how quickly time is going, and that my newborn is a baby and will soon be a little boy. He is so darling. Loves jumping. Oh my, does he love jumping. Loves sucking his thumb. Loves smiling, and laughing. He is such a darling little thing.

Here are Atticus and his cousin Jackson, just playing, holding hands, looking at the camera, becoming friends! 

 It would appear that Atticus doesn't LOVE being a pumpkin, but we are going to give it another go soon.

 He does however LOVE to get things stuck on his head: blankets, bras, pants (as in his), you name it, he has probably at least tried to get it up to his head.

 We went with some friends to St. George a few weekends ago, and this little fellow was a perfect hiker.

 This is generally how he wakes up, just ever so glad to see us.

 This is generally how he goes to sleep, thumb ALWAYS firmly lodged in his sweet little mouth.

 My parents came to town for a cousin's wedding, and here is Atticus having some fun with Grandpa. Are those Atticus' pajamas? Why yes, yes they are. I believe that whole day he wore them. Nothing high brow about our household. Comfort is the necessity.

A's just growing and growing

Here is Sir Atticus. He is all sorts of fun. I suppose that I should cover some of his latest accomplishments. He will be four months on October 8...but he loves to role on his side to sleep, suck his thumb, read books, play under his play gym. Laugh. Scream. Diaper changes. And people, he really loves to babble and talk to people. He does not like: pacifiers, eating, and missing the party for nap time.

Milestones: He can roll from front to back and back to front. He is starting to get his bottom teeth. He is talking around the clock. Smiling. Laughing. Controlling his head.

So far, I love being a mom. I think he is just about the best thing to happen in my life, and Parker feels the same. The only thing more fun than being a mom is seeing other people that you love and care about also enjoy the delightful personality of your sweet little baby!

Here are some update photos and even a video.

He is so cute that even with a massive zit on his nose, he is a heart breaker.

We don't actually put him on side. He always starts on his back, but he loves this position. He also loved this position while in the womb. And usually, there is a thumb in that mouth too. Little Rebel.

We share the same left cheek dimple. Faces people. We are talking about faces!

Summer time swimming. 

Some awesome cousin time in the pool! Here is Lucy (3) and Brighton (18 mos) playing with cousin Atticus! 

Pacifiers happen so in frequently that we try very hard to catch it on camera every time it does, so that we can pretend we have a child that will take a pacifier like other normal children. 

We went to dinner with Kamilla. Parker met her on his mission in Norway. She was in town for a visit from Oslo. She was truly delightful. 

Just two guys spending some time looking at electronica. I think this was probably two seconds before I  body slammed the i-pad because I know babies aren't supposed to look at electronica too much, but come on, is that the cutest? I think so. 

And here is what was being viewed. Apparently, Parker was in a political mood this day...an uncommon mood for my husband, so I guess I am lucky to have caught it on camera. 

Just last week, Atticus got his first cousin on the Wightman side. Her name is Ellen Wightman, and she is darling. Atticus was quite taken with her. 

Here he is with his play gym. He favors Mr. Frog there, and if you look hard, you can tell he is focused completely on hitting that dangling green reptile. Are frogs reptiles? We are going to say yes. 

Unintentionally made him look like a gnome. We try to add diversity to our son's life by making him be the many things that add diversity rather than just learning about htem. 

G-pa Randy and Atticus were rocking the same outfit this day. Look at that love. 

Here are Atticus and Ellie again. She is so new. He was really trying to decide whether his new cousin or the awesome ladybug design on her blanket was more interesting. I am going to say that the ladybugs won out this day...but in time, I think it will be Ellie 100%. 

Also, you may have noticed his rather prominent birth mark on his forehead. A funny story regarding that. We have a neighbor whose wife is expecting a baby in November. As a result, he is rather excited about babies in general, and loves to hold and play with Atticus. While at a neighborhood bbq a few weeks ago, this neighbor had Atticus sitting with his body being supported by his own on the grass. Parker called over to this neighbor, stealing his attention. We are fairly certain that this neighbor didn't realize Atticus couldn't sit up all by himself quite yet, so when he turned to respond to Parker, Atticus face-planted in the grass. More than likely, this startled him more than hurt him, but he isn't quiet about his discomfort. So, pretty much everyone at the bbq soon realized something had happened to Atticus, and of course, our neighbor friend felt terrible. Several hours later, while holding Atticus and talking to another neighbor, she looked at Atticus and said... looking at his birth mark..., "Wow, he took quite fall." We assured her this was in fact not a bruise, but it still struck us as funny. So there you have it! I like to think of him as our very own Gorbachev, and I believe that Parker looks at it as an awesome Harry Potter-esque attribute. So, though most people say it will lighten with time, I think we would be fine either way. 

New Blog

So, I know that this will seem funny, but I have created a new blog. I know that I am not so great at keeping up on our family blog, but I hope at my other blog you will find me more consistent. It is a blog of my thoughts and opinions I suppose...so read if you like.

My NEW blog address is:

makeyourinfluencefelt.blogspot.com


Enjoy!

If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear (the irony of my birth story)

If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear (D&C Section 38), a familiar and fairly well accepted ideology the world over. Preparation = lack of fear. Fair enough friends, fair enough.

Now enter child birth.

Hmmmm.

All the preparation in the world cannot fully prepare you for childbirth. And while this may appear a tongue and cheek quip, I assure you that I do not mean it in any comical fashion. Child birth is hard. Yep. There it is, but holy crapolla CHILD BIRTH IS AMAZING. And that my friends, far outweighs any talk of the arguable unpleasantness associated with bearing a child. All the preparation in the world, could not have fully prepared me for how incredible I felt as I pushed my son into this world and felt his warm little body on my rather exposed self. Nothing could have prepared me for the sacredness of the occasion. For the emotional outpouring of a loving husband and brand new father. For the rush of love that washed over me as I realized the tiny beginnings of motherhood. For the awe that I felt realizing that the medical staff present witness this miracle everyday.

This is not to say that things went as I planned. In fact, nothing went as I planned. Months of preparation and I can honestly say that my birth plan seems a bit of a joke in retrospect, but none of that minimizes the incredible experience of childbirth and how immensely grateful I am that in the end, we had a healthy beautiful little boy.

Bout time for a post...and some pics

My goodness. What a roller coaster these past almost two weeks have been. I know that I owe you all a post about labor and delivery. I know that I will end up writing one about breastfeeding too. So be excited for those! They are coming, but today, maybe just some darling pictures of our new little son. He is such a sweet baby. I love him so much. It is funny to see how similar his tendencies are outside the womb as they were in. He LOVES to sleep on his side. He LOVES to be all stretched out. He LOVES to just relax. He is darling... as long as he is fed. Parker and I still aren't getting much sleep. That is definitely the hardest part of these first few weeks. Being sleep deprived makes everything seem so much harder and daunting, but I really love this little fellow.

Maybe it will happen this week!

So, I went to the doctor today, much better visit than last week. I just knew that I had changed and progressed. I really think that if I can just make it to next Monday's appointment without having to be induced, I will go into labor on my own.

Today, I was 80% effaced and 1 cm dilated. Some of you will look at those numbers and mock...but to me they represent a change. ANY CHANGE. And I am so very grateful for that. I definitely am feeling my body prepare more, and occasionally, I even have a small form of contraction separate from the Braxton Hicks variety that I have been so abundantly blessed with.

The only problem with today's visit was my blood pressure, it was a wee bit high, so that means a Thursday morning appointment as well as some more non-stress testing, but honestly, I am glad. That way I can check in, and re-solidfy that all is well. So long as I am healthy and well, and the baby is healthy and well, my doctor seems delighted to let me take my time getting induced. I am so grateful for this. Last week, I felt all kinds of pressure to set a date, but the whole tenor of today's visit was different. Three cheers for today!

Anyway, as my body prepares, I find myself often thinking. I should clean the house....or I could sleep. I should wash the dishes...or I could sleep. I should walk....or I could sleep. Fortunately, reading is like sleeping with your eyes open, but people seem considerably more impressed when you tell them you have been reading, so that is my one saving grace.

Hopefully the stormy weather today will take a grand toll upon my body and the barometric pressure will prove valuable to women across the valley but putting them into labor. If not though, I will probably be curled up with a book sleeping awake...until I actually sleep asleep.

That's today's update. Huzzah!