She's so big now

I took some pictures of Emilia a few weeks ago and I'm just getting around to getting them off my camera, so I thought I would post them. She was still not feeling well when I took them, so we got all of 3 good pics, but at least I got a few. I messed around with a few of them in photoshop. You'll have to let me know what you think.

faded to pink on this one

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original

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I took a picture of her with her dragon, too. This was the first stuffed animal we* bought for her, so we had it with on her first day in our family. She's so big!

* Steve swears he picked it out and bought it for her.

For the last few days, I have been in Eagle Mountain with Emi. For her Christmas present, I offered to give Megan's (my sister) bedroom a makeover. There were more than my fair share of foul-ups so there were a few major things that didn't get done, so I don't have pictures yet, but once the paint gets re-tinted and things get painted, I'll have her take some after pics so you can see how it went. They say they like it, so I'm glad. Hopefully they weren't just saying that to make me feel better. My neice, Ariana, thought we did a terrible job and said--and I quote-- "They ruined my beautifulness!" At least I don't have to be afraid she was trying to spare my feelings, right? :)

Emi caught a cold while we were down there, so she went to bed early tonight and I've been working on these pictures and my church calling. I started taking pictures of all the people in the ward so the bishop can put names with faces (we have a lot of people move in and out on a regular basis because of the college, so it's hard for him to keep up). I renamed all the files with the people's names and then made a contact list with this handy little program called FastStone Image Viewer. I think it's freeware, so if you don't have a good image viewer, I would suggest googling it.

Productivity

Things I did today:
--Read scriptures
--Gave Emilia a bath
--Tried feeding her peas (which ended badly for her pants)
--Took her to JCPenny to do another practice session - I did one with her last week when she wasn't feeling well and got 2 frames in before the screaming began. Today went MUCH better. She was her normal smiley self.

(Oh--I don't think I mentioned the not-feeling-good-last-week thing. We both had the flu about 2 1/2 weeks ago. She threw up for a day, then had diarrhea, and then seemed better although she wasn't eating well breastfeeding and she refused to eat solid foods completely. I finally took her to the doctor when she started being really constipated the middle of last week. Her doc said it is normal for babies' digestive tracts to be affected for up to 2 weeks after having the flu and said she should get back to normal quickly. Well she got back to normal over the weekend and decided to be gung-ho about eating. My milk supply was down because she hadn't been eating well and she still wasn't eating solids. I thought I was going to die. She was eating every hour sometimes, and every 2 hours at night. She didn't eat that often as a newborn! So...we finally got her back eating solids, but I've had to supplement with formula while I'm getting my milk supply back up. I won't go into the whole feeling guilty bit.)

--Went to Walmart and picked up pictures of the Ward Christmas party that I took so I can finally put them up at church.
--Made up some sample logos for my mom's online bakery (I'm trying to get her excited about the idea.)
--Made dinner (We ate before 8pm. Hooray!!)
--Got the baby to bed
--Watched my husband play Tomb Raider: Legend (Sometimes I wish I could be like Lara Croft. I'm sure my husband wouldn't mind me looking that good in skin-tight leather either! haha)
--Loaded and started the dishwasher
--Put away dinner

I think this qualifies as a productive day, don't you? Well, maybe.

babies = change

I've decided that it's a good thing we don't have babies when we're old because the older we get the harder it is to accept change...and that's what you get with babies. CHANGE. They change how you think about yourself, how your body looks, how you interact with your spouse and your friends, the things you do (for fun or lack of it), where you go and when you go there, what you think (and worry) about, and how often you do laundry, just to name a few. Then, when you are finally getting used to the fact that everything about your life has changed to now revolve around a tiny ball of spit and poop and cute noises, they change. They stop fitting into the brand of diapers they used to fit in perfectly; they change their sleeping patterns; they change what they like to eat and when they will eat it; they change their minds about what makes them happy; the clothes that fit them change; or they decide that everything you were doing up until this point is the worst thing in the world and now you must change what you're doing immediately, or deal with the consequences. I think there is a reason people in pre-modern times had babies at 15 or 16. I dealt with change a lot better at 16. Then by the time they were 30, like me, they were done having babies and their poor fragile minds did not have to deal with so much CHANGE.

Corrupted already ;0)

One of the first things Steve said when we found out we were having a girl was:

"What am I supposed to do with a girl? I can't teach her video games or sports or things like that."

Of course, that's completely ridiculous. Emi must have heard him in the womb and decided to prove him wrong. And like I said...when she decides to do something, she goes all out.

Long time no see

Hello everyone! I haven't blogged since before Christmas. We weren't at home for most of that time, so that is my excuse. It was a really great break to be down with family both in Orem/Kearns and Arizona. The sunny weather in Arizona also helped my spirits, I think. We didn't get back to Logan until we absolutely had to, which was last Saturday. I had to work.

Working at Penny's has pretty much become a joke. I am working 1 day a week for a few hours. So...on with the job hunt, again. There are a couple of prospects, though, so that is encouraging. There is a part time opening for a government job with the USDA, substitute teaching, and the US Census. They all pay pretty well for part-time work, so hopefully something will work out.

Emi relaxing in the bath

Emi was totally amazing on our trip to Arizona. She was good on the plane, contented and good natured despite the hauling her around everywhere and the new surroundings and such. And of course everyone loved her. (It's hard not to.) :) She has been really good since we've been home, too. Over Christmas break she decided to start napping. And when she decides to do something, she goes all out. She is now taking 3-4 naps a day for a total of 3-3 1/2 hours. It's amazing how much time I have to do stuff! It's like I'm on vacation every day! This mom thing just keeps getting better and better.

Emi (in one of her new Christmas outfits) and me on Sunday. (Dad took the picture, so it's blurry) ;)

Well, I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Years. I love you!
Brina