Seven

This little nugget is seven months. HOLY COW.

Visiting with Great Grandma Whittier over Labor Day.

Tuna came to visit! I realize Lauren's head looks super weird in this, but she actually was pretty good with Tuna. We had fun shopping at City Creek baby free for the day. And watching the classic movie "Clue"!

This was at Paul's work party at Bookdocks. She did really well, even though she missed a nap. I think there was plenty to see so she was distracted. This is the ONE time she actually tried to hold her sippy cup and drink from it. She hasn't shown any interest since.

Me and two of my coworkers had babies within 3 months of each other, so we try and get together once a month for a play date. It's getting more fun now that our babies can actually do stuff!

International Talk Like a Pirate Day. If you dressed up and went to Krispy Creme, you got a free dozen donuts! It was awesome. Lauren didn't really care for the donuts though! Oh well, she will in years to come.

She is fascinated with rain. She'll scoot over and watch it. Or if the sprinklers are on. Free entertainment!

Same with the washing machine. It's so exciting.

Another visitor- Grandma Whittier! She brought toys and clothes and Lauren did pretty good with her too. It was so fun having her here for a few days. I loved having an adult to talk to during the day!

 Yes, she gets cuter and cuter every day. And can also throw bigger and better tantrums almost every day too. Lately she's got this thing going on where she completely arches her back when she doesn't want to do something, like go in her high chair. Poor Paul, he took an early lunch yesterday so I could go to an eye doctor appointment, and he told me as he was trying to put her in her high chair for lunch she arched her back and smacker her head against the wall. Needless to say, lunch was traumatic for him.

-She can roll anywhere she wants to go and can scoot around in a circle pretty good. Close to army crawling. I'm not worried. I'm trying to take advantage of these last days of her not being able to get into everything really quickly.
-At her 6 month appointment she was in the 90th for everything, which I'm not surprised about. Apparently she's roughly the size of a 10 month old. Because of that, she doesn't need to have as much formula, and now we are focusing more on solids. She likes pretty much all baby food but MAN, the novelty of eating from a spoon has worn off with her so she swats it away and a lot of times. It got to the point where I would have to turn on Baby Einstein so that she would let me feed her. I bought some reusable baby food pouches (because the ones at the store are way more expensive than jarred baby food). So now I just put her baby food in those and it is so much better! She loves it. . for now. I guess when that wears off too I'll go back to the spoon because maybe it will seem like a new thing for her? I don't know.
-She's getting a lot better at self feeding, but she's kind of picky with that stuff. I think it's a texture thing. But so far she's a fan of pancakes, bread, american cheese, hash browns, Nutrigrain bars, Ritz Crackers, Mandarin oranges, and probably some other stuff I can't think of. If you have any suggestions on other good starter finger foods, I'm all ears. I get bored feeding her this stuff sometimes. She's not a fan of eggs or avacados, or canned green beans.
-She can scoot around pretty good in her walker too. She still can't go straight forward, but pretty much every other angle she can, so she gets to where she wants to be. It's pretty hilarious.
-She goes to bed around 7 each night and sleeps for a good 12 hours without us really hearing a peep from her. This is awesome and I try to remember to be thankful each day for that! She also take a good hour ish morning nap, and an early afternoon nap and a late afternoon nap(though I really think I'm going to have to cut that one soon. . . it's getting very inconvenient.)
-No teeth yet, but there are bumps. The bumps have been there for months though so we'll see. Her hair is starting to come in, it's looking a little fluffy on top finally! I don't think she'll be a blondie. It's already looking light brown to me. Her eyes are still a darker brownish color so we'll see if that stays too.
- We're working on teaching her how to wave. I think she's getting it. . .every time I get her up from her crib she turns and waves at it! It's so cute. I don't know if she really understands what she's doing though.

She's our little munchkin, and we love her guts, even when she is grumpy and clingy.

What We Don't See

This Mormon Messages clip has been circling (guys, I just had to retype the word "circling" like 5 times until it was spelled right. That's the level my brain is functioning at right now. Gives you an idea of what I'm about to blog about) around my social media lately and I know I am not the only one who has cried tears of joy/understanding/giving THANKS to whoever was inspired to make it.
Because all of us have days, weeks, months, and years like this.

And no one sees it.

At least, there are plenty of times where I don't feel like anyone notices. It's more like, what's there to notice about my day today? A lot of times I look back and feel like I did nothing to show for it. Even though I did laundry, swept up for the hundredth time sticky baby food off the floor, wiped down my bathroom, made our bed, went grocery shopping, paid some bills, filled up the car with gas, etc. Now, don't go thinking I do all those things every day, all day. It's just stuff that I feel like I do all the time, but it's more like there's just that one more little thing to do that no one cares about, yet still feels like it needs to be done.

And that's not even tying in all the "motherly" duties that have now become just as much. Constantly changing diapers, spoon feeding food only to get it spit back out at me when she's totally over it, bouncing in my arms while looking out the window, or at anything that will distract her from crying, putting down for naps, getting up from naps, giving baths, making bottles, reading stories, picking up toys and giving them to her to be played with for 2 seconds then get dropped again, etc, etc, etc.

And no one sees it. And yet this is my day, every day. And that's how it will be for the next X amount of years.


Satan is the one who wants us to feel like nothing we do matters. He wants us to become discouraged and throw our hands up and say "WHY am I really doing this? ANY of this? Who is even benefiting from it? All I feel is tired, and burdened and don't see any end in sight."  And I will admit that there have been plenty of times when I have felt that exact way. It seems more so lately. I feel like I am the biggest critic of my mothering skills, which I know is really ridiculous because NO ONE SEES. But for some reason I feel like I fail all. the. time. Especially because no one is here every day to cheer me on and pat me on the back and say "Hey, your child is still alive and thriving, good for you!" Or "Look at you trying this technique out on her even though it didn't do anything, way to give it a try!"

I always forget that there ARE others who see what I do every day, all day. And who I should remember really are cheering me on, even though I can't see it. But I bet if I took a minute or so each day, I could feel it. And feel better.

Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are always right there with me, and with you, in whatever your day to day life is. Whether you are at work all day and don't get a second glance at the work you produced, or you are at home with kids and at your wits end from being so tired and up to your neck in things you need to get done, we are not alone.

This video reminded me of that. And the small and simple things we do each day, that we don't even give a second thought about, most likely are benefiting someone. We just don't see it.

But Heavenly Father does, and He loves us. He thanks us every day for being moms and doing our best to raise good kids, even when it feels like we are getting no where. He thanks us for doing our best at our jobs and other commitments because He knows we are trying. And that is what matters.

Half a year

I know I've been bad about keeping up this blog. . . but in all honesty, I don't know what else to put up on here besides stuff about my child. Since I now don't work, and have a kid that likes to go to bed at 7, my life isn't really that exciting anymore. It's a good life, but to me it just doesn't seem like I do enough stuff to brag about on blogger (because let's be honest, that's what most blogs are about. All the cool stuff you do).

So, I might update more sometimes, or I might not. Guess we'll see what is in store for us.  . . . which right now isn't much!

Anyways, here's stuff about Lauren. Because really that's all people want to know about anyways.

Babies change so much so fast. It's like overnight she's decided to do something totally different! She's pretty good about sitting up on her own, but I like to bring some pillows along just to help out when we're at the store. So far she's been really good about it. . she's constantly turning her head looking at everything around her. It's a whole new world for her. 

 I'm really loving the stage she is in right now. She's so smiley and laughs a lot, is easily entertained (and sometimes I catch her playing in her crib by herself and it is so cute), and is SLEEPING from like 7 p.m.- 7:30 a.m. most nights without waking up at all. IT IS GLORIOUS. And she's getting pretty good at taking an hour and a half nap in the morning, and a good one and a half to two hours in the afternoon, and sometimes another short one around 4:30 ish depending on when she woke up last. But that last nap is probably going to get cut out soon because it's very hit and miss. 

This was one of the last times she actually let me put her in the bumbo. Even then she was fussing so I just tossed her bib onto her and it seriously landed like that! It caught her by surprise and she stopped crying long enough for me to snap a picture. But really, she decided over night she hates that thing and would always arch her back and cry when I would try to put her in it. So we just use the high chair now. (I bought a travel high chair that looks like a camp chair and can fold up really easily. It's awesome.)

I don't remember why I took this picture, probably I thought it was cute how intent she was on playing with those toys in front of her.

 This lady loooooves the water. Really really loves it. Luckily Grandma and Grandpa Siddoway have a pool in their backyard in Kayesville so we have put it to good use! She right now is going through a "fun" stage of hating it when I have to pull her arms through her clothes, so she was screaming bloody murder while I put on her swimsuit but once she was actually in the water, she became a happy baby once again. She's figuring out that she can kick her legs and splash and it's really cute. And Paul and I are really really white.

 Sitting up like it's no problem at all. . . . and check out that cowlick in the back of her head! It's a perfect little swirl. It will be interesting to see how her hair grows in with that there.

Paul likes to play the game of putting things on her head and waiting until she notices that.

Snapped this while she was napping one day. Aren't sleeping babies just the cutest? And check out those cheeks.

She looks like a thug in the picture to me. Grocery shopping really wears both of us out. 

Things Lauren likes:

-looking out the window at cars

-sitting on dad's shoulders and grabbing his hair

-people clapping or snapping their fingers

-music, especially songs like "Twinkle Twinkle" and "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam" and "Popcorn Popping", and Dad's guitar music

-anything she can easily grab and put into her mouth

-FOOD! Most solids we've tried with her she's a big fan of: sweet potatoes, peas, carrots, squash, applesauce, pears, etc. Doesn't like bananas at all though.

-blowing raspberries. She is a blowing raspberry machine! It's real fun when she decides to do it while eating. NOT.

-watching you stick your tongue out at her. For some reason this fascinates her and she will just stare and stare at you while you do it over and over and over and over and over again. 

Things Lauren dislikes:

-sitting up when she's tired. 

-getting her arms pulled through her clothes

-not having something to play with while you change her diaper

-having to wait 2 minutes to have her bottle while you prepare it. You have to do it fast if she's in your arms or else she'll scream and grab at it until it is in her mouth.

-not being able to drink out of our cups at mealtimes. I give it to her when I'm done, otherwise I would have to deal with her fussing and reaching for it. She already knows to put it up to her mouth. Hopefully when it comes time to change to a sippy cup it won't be that hard?

Anyways, that's about it for now. She really is so so so much more fun now. When people ask me if I like being a mom, I try and be honest and say "I do now!" And sometimes I  get weird looks and then I explain that the first 4 months of her life were NOT fun at all and I seriously questioned my sanity multiple times a day. There are still hard times and I know more will come, but at least I am seeing some personality with her now and that makes such a difference! So those of you going through the trenches with the newborn stuff right now, it WILL get better! I promise!