Lila's Room Take 2

Like I said in my previous post, Micah gave me some money to finish decorating Lila's room. I think it turned out well and I will say that I think it looks even better than the pictures show.

So, I was going to try and comment under a few of these, but that seems like too much work so I'll just say things now.
Look closely at the pictures of Micah and I when we were young... the third picture. Isn't Micah so cute?! Hehe. I love his blue suit.

On the picture that has the words "GOD, FAMILY, HARD WORK" these were Micah's idea. I don't say this because I don't like it, but because I wanted to put a quote there and wanted Micah's input. He didn't really like any of the ones I had in mind so I asked for what he wanted and these are the words he chose. This is what he hopes to teach our children... the priorities of life and in the order they should be. I thought that was cool and like that Micah had a contribution for Lila's room.

The only thing missing is the picture-book bookshelf I ordered and will be getting next week. Yay!
I did most (pretty much all) of this work. I also did it all yesterday and am happy with the end result. Thanks Mum and Dad for your help!

Christmas 2011

This year was so much fun! Not only was I looking forward to Lila's first Christmas, but I was just ready for some good quality time with my family. It's been heaven being home with Micah and Lila. Everyday I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be with these two for eternity. It's been fun seeing Lila get bigger and stronger and she seemed to really enjoy the Christmas things we did with her. Micah got into the holiday spirit more this season also.

First, I went caroling with my family which is something we do every year. It's so much fun and really gets me into the Christmas spirit.

Lila loved the decorations in our home, especially the lights. She was so interested in the music from my music box and snow globe.

She liked listening to the Polar Express and loved to look at the picture books I read to her, but as for Christmas day she was asleep for all the present opening. She did however have some adorable pjs. Thanks Keri!


We made ornaments of Lila's hand and footprint out of salt dough.

On Christmas Eve morning we had Christmas tree waffles because we were at my parent's house on Christmas day.


I also got a new dress, shoes, and earrings from my wonderful mother-in-law.

Christmas Eve was a lot of fun listening to the Christmas story in the scriptures, singing carols with my family, and eating delicious cheese and broccoli soup. I also loved that Christmas day was on Sunday. I was initially disappointed that we wouldn't be opening gifts in the morning as we have done every other year, but to have the added spirit from church just made the day even better.

Thanks to the rest of the family for the great gifts! I'm so excited to use them, play with them, display them (mum), and enjoy them! Micah is great at giving gifts and gave me a bunch of fun stuff, but one of my favorite gifts he gave me was money to finish decorating Lila's room so pics soon to come as I am doing that tomorrow.

6 months and other fun things

I haven't posted any of this previously because I was trying to find my camera battery charger to upload pictures, but I can't find it and so have decided to post anyway. Because of this though the post is going to be pretty long. This post is going to be a smorgasbord of things that have happened with our little family lately... mostly revolving around Lila.

Lila's first Thanksgiving was spent in Nebraska with the Pratt's side of the family. It was such a blast and Lila loved her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins and they loved her. She was seriously spoiled, but who doesn't want to spoil this chubby cheeked angel? Anyway, she also progressed in her development a lot over the week that we were there and is now an excellent sitter! She no longer needs her hands for support, she gets up on her knees when she is on her belly, and she scoots herself around on the floor by pushing off with her legs. Her little personality is really coming out!

Lila also got to sit on Santa's lap for the first time at our ward Christmas party and was so good about it. It's a good thing she's still a little too young for stranger anxiety to kick in. :) She looked so adorable and so tiny on his lap. She also received a beautiful little blanket with "Lila's first Christmas 2011" embroidered on it. Thanks Lorraine!

Finally, our little bean turned 6 months. Half a year gone already! I can't believe it. She is doing well with all the milestones that she is supposed to be meeting, but we need to now make sure she sleeps through the night entirely on her own. This is a goal of ours for the Christmas break so I will let you know how she does... and how I do. The papers with her measurements got thrown away so I can't remember them exactly and will have to wait until 9 months to have them again, but I can remember that she is just above 17lbs. keeping her in the 76 percentile. She stayed in the same percentages except for her height. Our little shorty isn't as much of a shorty anymore... she has moved from the 33rd percentile to the 52nd. (I think around there.) I also really think she's teething as of today. She won't stop tugging at her ear, is pretty clingy, and starts crying for no real reason.

I love everything about this little girl, but I'll just share a few reasons with you...
her smile
her dimples
her blue eyes
how her eyelashes curl and up and over her eyebrows... seriously the longest lashes I've EVER seen on a baby.
her giggle
her bashfulness
when she grabs your face when she gets excited

Things that Lila loves...
her mommy
her daddy
Matilda, her stuffed wombat
empty plastic bottles
throwing toys
copying daddy's noises
rolling and scooting around on the floor

I'm so excited for Lila's first Christmas! It's such a wonderful time of year. I hope you're enjoying the spirit of the season.

Believe

I've always heard and believed that the veil is very thin for babies, but I don't think I've ever truly witnessed how miraculous this is until now. At church we have paintings up all over the hallway walls. There are several with Christ, but some without. Every time I walk through the hallways with Lila it's amazing how she just knows which paintings have Christ and which person is representing Christ. Whenever we get to one with Christ that is the only face that she looks at and stares at for such a long time. She always ends looking at His face with a smile. It strengthens my testimony every single time. Then, when we were on a tour of Welfare Square in Salt Lake they showed a video at the beginning of what they do in the program. Parts of it was scenes of Christ serving the poor. EVERY time the actor that portrayed Christ came on the screen Lila would coo at him as if she were talking to him. It was so sweet! I love my little girl and even in this small way she is already an example to me and makes me want to be better for her. What a blessing it is to have such a great family!

I love...

I love Lila's little hands. Especially when she puts one on each of my cheeks, "pulls" me toward her and gives me kisses. They are the wettest, sweetest kisses ever. Perfect little girl!

5 Months

Time really does fly when you're having fun! I guess it probably seems that way also because my last post was about her at 4 months. Anyway, that's right... our little bean is 5 months! She is adorable and angelic as ever.



At 5 months she loves:
her exersaucer
her daddy... he makes her laugh the most
her momma... she has the biggest smile when I get home from work. It melts my heart.
her first two fingers for sucking
rolling over... that's right! My baby is a master roller. :)
having raspberries blown on her tummy... she laughs SO hard when this happens
rice cereal... at least today she did (it was her first time).
going out with her mom and dad

Things she no longer really loves are:
her swing... she's just getting too big
laying down... she gets way too squirmy
that might be it.

Can I just say that I love my little girl so much and also that I have a new found respect for working mothers. Don't get me wrong... I completely recognize how much work it is to stay home. I by no means mean to take anything away from you. I only did it for a few months, but it was incredible work. I just mean that because I never expected to work and be a mother I think I underestimated how tired I would be, how emotionally taxing it is, and how unmotivated toward work I can feel sometimes. It's a good thing I love my work and that Micah is such a great caregiver. I know Lila is in the best hands and it only makes me work harder knowing that if I do, I can return home to my sweet baby that much sooner.

Life is so beautiful and I can't think of a better place to be right now. It's not perfect, but it is our dream.

**We took family pictures so as soon as I get them I'll post them. I'm excited!!**

4 months

I know I'm never creative with the posts titles, but whatever, 4 months is what it's about.
It is incredible to me how much I love our little bean. She seriously makes us so happy and she is so much fun! I didn't think they could be so fun to have around at such a young age, but everyday she makes me laugh. I can't get enough of this chubster!

Lila had her 4 month appointment today and, boy, has she grown!
At 4 months and 8 days she weighs 15 lbs 1 oz. putting her in the 76%. This is funny considering at 12 days she was in the 10th percentile. I guess she's a good eater! :)
Her height is 24 inches, so she's still a little shorty and in the 33rd percentile. Finally, her head size is 16.25 inches putting her in the 54th percentile.

So ADORABLE! I love the wrinkle in her nose when she smiles. I know people will think I'm biased, but my baby is absolutely the most beautiful, adorable, cute, pretty, perfect, little angel in the whole world! I love this little girl.



This little miss loves to:
smile
laugh
suck on her entire hand! :)
be in her exersaucer
lay on her back
EAT
blow raspberries
watch people on t.v.
sit up
stand up
listen to primary songs
and just be with her mom and dad. (We love it, too)

I know I'm so sappy when it comes to my babe, but hey, that's how mothers are right?

P.S. The doc (who is the best) said she can start on rice cereal now. We haven't decided when we want to yet. Any opinions?

Lila's room- only 4 months late

So I know I'm such a slacker for not doing her room before now, but she slept in ours for the first three months so... that's my excuse. :) The saddest part is that I still have some vinyl to put up, baby pictures of Micah and myself, a picture of Christ from my mum to put up AND a picture of the temple. Maybe it will happen by her first birthday. I'll post those pics when it all happens.

I love these drawers that I got for 10 bucks at a garage sale! (ha! They're from my sis- thanks Bec.) Just needs a little magic eraser.


The banner isn't perfect, but I like it and the big L.




Of course I have to have a picture of my beautiful baby in her crib!

Happenings

**Seriously, a bunch of pictures.**

It's been a while since I really posted and a lot has happened and yet not too much. Lila is growing so beautifully. Every time I look at her I can't believe just how gorgeous she is and how much I love her. The funny thing with babies is that no matter how grumpy you are, if you just take one look at them your day instantly brightens and you are the happiest person in the world, even when they are part of the reason you're grumpy.

Anyway, Lila is of course so adorable and has the most adorable little laugh. I still haven't been able to get it super consistent, but when it happens it is life changing. She is also really, really close to rolling over. To be honest she doesn't get as much tummy and back time as she probably should because I can't help but hold her whenever I'm around. She gets a lot more of it when Micah is the one in charge of her.

Lila got to see her Grandma Pratt and Great Grandpa Hilton again. She looks so cute in his arms. :)


4 generations. :)


We let her taste a popsicle. I know she's so young, but we couldn't help it, but no, family, this does not mean you get to give her stuff whenever you want. ;)


She's losing a lot of her hair. :( But it's funny that she has such an old man hair line.



This is Lila ready for our ward breakfast and for the BYU-Utah game. Sad loss, but the next day she wore her BYU bow to show that we are still loyal fans. (For some reason my computer won't let me rotate that pic.)





Just some other random and beautiful pictures of Lila. The swim diaper was HUGE on her and it would've come up higher on her, but the leg holes wouldn't allow it. :) I miss that hair!

Relief Society General Broadcast

Tonight's broadcast was SO good! I loved all the talks, but President Uchtdorf always makes me feel so great. He is definitely one of my favorite speakers, but tonight what he had to say really resonated with me. Sometimes it's hard to believe that other people are also not perfect. Sometimes I forget that. :) If you'd like to watch this talk click here. What inspired you tonight?

Pure Joy.

Lila just laughed for the first time tonight. It was such a magical sound. Pure joy.

Three months

Lila is three months today! Holy cow! She is even more beautiful than the day she was born. Each day we get with her is a wonderful blessing. Here are a few things about my beautiful baby.

She loves to coo with you, but only if she starts it otherwise she doesn't understand what you're doing.
She spends way more time smiling than doing anything else.
She just started to grab at things that she finds interesting, on purpose.
She is really strong and can hold her head up very well.
She is so close to laughing and I just can't wait to hear that sound.
She goes to bed around 10 and only wakes up once at night before 6:30.
She doesn't like to lie down as she loves to see what's around her.
She loves to be outside still, especially when there's a small breeze.
She's a BYU fan already! :)
She is such a wonderful, wonderful baby!

BETTER

Lately I've been thinking I really want to become a much better person. I think motherhood has done it to me. When Micah and I were first married I felt this way, but not to the same degree. It has increased by a thousand percent or more! Anyway, it's a strong desire I've had for a while. I feel like I need to be doing so much more with my life. I mean, it's GREAT to teach and I really do feel like and know that I make a difference in the lives of my students and help them to build confidence, but in the end I get paid to do that. I want to have goals and do things to make me better. I read the blogs of my friends and I think that they are just such great people who I truly admire. I want to be that way. I want to be a good person. I know that I don't necessarily do really bad things, but I don't like when I judge others or even when I have road rage. I have serious guilt about those things afterward. I don't like that I don't do as much service as I would like. It's not like I can't find opportunities to do service, I just don't necessarily seek them out. I wish that I was developing my whole self more often. I want to be one of those people that others want to be around, who makes them feel happy, who builds up their confidence, like so many of my friends. I don't want this to sound like such a downer post, because it's not meant to be one. I really am not depressed or think I'm a horrible person :), I just know that people can always be better than they are and I hope to actually progress. Changes can be made though, and they will be... that is the point of this post. The Church is such a great help to me by reminding me that I am a child of God, but I can always do better. I know that I can look toward the Savior for an example and that is where my changes will start.

Life is GREAT!!

Life is a little stressful right now as I am getting ready to head back to work full time. I've already had a bunch of meetings this summer to prepare, but the reality is setting in... summer is coming to an end. Although I really would rather stay at home with my amazing family, I am at least happy and feel so blessed that I get to come home to my incredible husband and perfect baby. I love Micah and our little bean so much. They are seriously my whole world. Who wouldn't love to come home to these two?





I'm so grateful that I get to spend eternity with them! :)

P.S. Lila's innie used to be an outie. Haha... I love her.

My baby is growing!

Since Friday Lila has had a lot going on. On Friday she turned 2 months old. I can't believe it! On Sunday she was blessed. Today she had a doctor's appointment where she got shots. :(

There's not much to report about Friday other than it's crazy how time flies. She's only two months old but I feel like I'm beginning to understand all those other parents who said that they grow up really fast.

Sunday was a beautiful day and she was an absolute angel at church. Usually I have to leave right after the sacrament is passed to go and feed her, but she lasted all of sacrament. Part of that is probably because we had a bottle of breastmilk ready for her, but she didn't eat that much and she was still really good. I have to admit though that it was really nice to sit through all of sacrament with Micah so I think I'm going to continue taking a bottle to church seeing as she'll be having bottles a lot once I go back to work. I miss being at church and being able to focus on the lessons taught. Anyway, it was really nice being with all of my family and I was grateful for their support.




Today was where the big stuff happened. I was really excited to see how Lila has grown and was hoping I'd get a better report than I did at her two weeks. Turns out she is growing beautifully! The nurse and doctor couldn't stop commenting on how cute our precious girl is... and I'd have to say that I absolutely agree. They said that she was a genuinely cute baby, not just cute because she is a baby. :) Here is her report for 2 months: Weight- 11.44 oz. 64th percentile, Length- 22 in. 32nd percentile. This is around where I expected her to be if she was growing her average 1 oz. a day. I'm so excited that she is doing so well! So it was a great report, but then the sad part came... the shots! :( It was so sad to hear her cry out like that and it was the saddest cry I've ever heard from her. She's doing pretty well now, but every once in a while she cries out a little like she can still feel what happened. I HATE hearing her cry! It seriously makes my heart break! I'm glad it's over and that Micah will be taking her to all of her other shot appointments. ;)



Since so much has happened I thought I would tell you a little about Lila:
~She loves to smile, but I haven't caught one on camera yet... darn
~She hates lying down because she wants to see what's going on around her.
~She loves to be outside and go on walks with me every evening.
~She loves to sit on her daddy's lap and just smile at him... she smiles way more for him than me.
~She loves to cuddle.
~She has the biggest smile on her face right now as I am typing this. :)
~She is the best thing that has ever happened to us and we are truly blessed to have her.



We love you little Lila!

Food Storage

"Food storage to this generation will be as important as boarding the ark was in Noah's." ~Ezra Taft Benson

I've always felt really strongly about being prepared for tougher times just as the Church has encouraged us to, but Micah and I have seriously been talking about it and decided to get a start. We already had 72 hour kits which are great, and I've picked up some Jello, Pasta, cereal, and canned some fruit, but we needed to get further. Macey's is currently having it's case lot sale and so we decided to take advantage and add a little to our storage. Now we're still poor and don't have much room so we don't have a ton, but it was a great beginning. We got 24 cans of corn, 24 cans of green beans, 48 cans of tuna, 24 lbs. of brown sugar, 25 lbs. of sugar, 50 lbs. of flour, and some apple juice. The sugar and flour are especially great since I LOVE to bake and cook (after all the baking season is coming up!) and know we will go through it and we were able to save some money and have it in our storage for now.

We're excited about this beginning and are grateful to my mum for other canned goods. As we organize our area under the stairs and find more room we're going to be picking up rice, rolled oats, beans, fruit, and other things. We hope to build up our storage a little every month. I encourage all of you to get started on yours! I know there isn't always a lot of room or money, but just start with little things.

I CANNOT sleep!!

This is driving me crazy! I know I'm going to regret it in the morning. Lila is sleeping now so I should be sleeping, but my mind is racing. There isn't anything that I am specifically stressed about. I just wish it was tomorrow so I can start doing things. My poor husband is trying to sleep, but I know I keep disturbing him. I hate nights like this. Being restless is no fun. :( I am only writing this post because I am bored. I have to go to sleep... have to... have to... have to. Ok, good night!

5 weeks

Here are a few of the photos of Lila that my friend took for me. There are a few mixed throughout that my sister took when Lila was younger. There are more on facebook if you'd like to see them. I love every single one, so it was hard to pick just a few!