darling duckie

hanging baskets

A couple of weeks ago our house was graced by my sister and sister-in-law (with the smiley baby in tow) for a day of flowers and lettuce wraps. I showed them what I learned last year about planting your own hanging baskets and my sister made her yummy lettuce wraps as we talked about light things and deep things. It was messy and fun and we all walked away with flowers to brighten our homes.

birthday happenings

Time is already moving so quickly but I thought I would share some of the pictures from my birthday last month. It was the best birthday/birthday week ever. Billy surprised me with taking the WHOLE WEEK OFF! Best. gift. ever! The week overflowed with gardening, the aquarium, long walks, and rainy afternoons. On my actual birthday, we did a little day trip up to Logan. We tried to go on a hike but planned poorly for altitude and a washed out bridge. But we still went  to the Willow Park Zoo (I love it there) and to Le None, a little italian resturant in a little old house. I think we should do it again, but dress up and leave the child when a baby sitter. Next time:)

 

lately

Well... lately as in the last month or so.

+We went to the Springville Museum of Art. Always good. We love it there. And Millie loves to push the stroller around.

+We have been going on lots of walks. Sometimes a few a day. And Millie loves when she can do all the walking.

+Her favorite hiding place.

+The birthday Dunford donut. Yum.

+And the birthday cake. She ate it so delicately. One pinch at a time.

on the day she was born

I had stayed awake far too late. My body must have known, choosing to go into labor only a few hours after I had finally shut my eyes.

I was told that I would know when labor started. But I didn't really know what was going on. I just had a stomach ache. Maybe it took a while to make the connection because my brain was still trying desperately to sleep. I pulled my phone out and timed each stomach ache. Sure enough the pains had a pattern. They were far enough apart that I would just sleep for the 15 minutes inbetween.

I wanted Billy to wake up, to comfort me, but he slept through it all. Lucky to be a man.

The preparation for this experience had been very minimal. And when it was all happening, I was more frightened than I had realized. I was scared of what it meant to go through labor, to push a child out, to recover. I was scared because I had only ever held a few newborns before. There would be no passing her on to my sisters when she would cry. Billy had held even less.

Quite the pair we were.

Then there was the terror of the pain I felt and the pain I would feel. I fought each contraction, which made each one more painful. Silently I prayed that this was it because if it was going to be worse than this, I didn't want to even try.

Hours later the decision was made. We would have a c-section. It was the way it needed to be. To say that all the work from then on out was easy would be a flat out lie. The only thing that kept me from passing out or becoming uncontrollably hysterical was knowing that Billy was right there, holding my hand and reminding me to breath. Laying on my back, arms strapped, I would look him in the eyes. He was calm, quiet. I knew that he would not leave me. Then I would close my eyes, reminding myself "breath in, breath out, breath in, breath out."

As they pulled her out, with a faint little cry, she was born. She was tired and worn from the journey and so was I. She calmly waited as they weighed and measured and cleaned. All the while I lay on the table, looking up at Billy, both of us with tears in our eyes.

We had done it. We had created, suffered, survived, and now been rewarded with a little soul to love.

the day we took Millie to the winter x games

That's right... we took her to the Winter X Games 2012. She begged us to. "Mother dear and Father dear, please let me go where the air is clear and records are broken. I want to see the superpipe in person."

Let me guess... are you asking "What are the X Games?" We keep getting that response. The Winter X Games is an international competition with snowboarding, skiing, mono skiing, and snowmobiling that is held just outside of Aspen, CO. Pro athletes like Shawn White compete. 

We were there for some crazy stuff. Like this: (if you can't tell, this was a pretty big deal... first ever front flip on a snowmobile.)

 

Millie loved it. Except for the very cold air, the late nights, and the fact that she was not allowed to crawl through the crowd. But my, was she was a hit. Everywhere we turned we had people congratulating her on her first Winter X Games. Some people even wanted pictures of her. Not many babies get to experience such a thing as this.

We stayed about an hour outside of Apsen in Glenwood Springs at the Hotel Colorado: a very old, very interesting hotel that has housed such guests as Teddy Roosevelt, Al Capone, Buffalo Bill, and The Unsinkable Molly Brown. We had a huge room (there was actually three rooms, which was perfect for us with Millie) with radiators and big windows and squeeky floor. It was romantic and maybe a little bit haunted.

I spent the first two days of the trip trying to figure out how we could possible move there. Cute little town (very similar to Logan and you know how we love Logan) with very nice people and so much to do (hiking, swimming, skiing and snowboarding, etc.).

We had planned on leaving early so Millie would sleep but of course she just had to wait just before we leave to break out with chicken pox. We survived it though, by stopping along the way and jumping around with her.

family pictures 2011

In October, we had a friend of ours take some pictures of our family. They turned out really nice and I am excited to get some of them on our walls. These are a few of my favorites!

Photos by Ashley Karras

christmas card 2011

Photo by Ashley Karras

Card Designed by Amber Bowen

savor

I read this post from the Shutter Sisters today and thought it adequately describes what I am trying desperately to remember. Savoring the moments: the warmth, the love, the fun, the excitement of the holiday season... and really, just savoring life. Last weekend, on Thanksgiving, I was running around the house trying to get things clean. I love having a nice clean home to come home to after a little vacation but I was just stressing out. It was a blessing that we were going out of town, not only to see our family, but to force me into leaving that incessant list that I am forever adding to and so seldom checking off. It forced me to relax and enjoy. We were only gone for a couple of days but upon our return, I exerted much effort in keeping "relaxed Alicia" here. And it was well worth the effort. We slept and ate and played and watched movies and ate and played downtown. I tried not to worry about parking or walking or bothering other people with a baby who had "found her loud voice" as my friend put it. We went to a museum and saw the Christmas lights and ate at a cafe I have been thinking about for months. I tried to take small, slow bites of the lovely strawberry napolean and really let the flavors settle in my mouth. I held Billy's hand and we talked and enjoyed ourselves even though it was cold and crowded and hard to find a parking spot.

And you know what? In the end, we even had time to get somethings done. We finished putting up the new bookcases and put the Christmas decorations up and Billy fixed the vacuum and the computer.

It was worth it to savor the tastes and sights and sounds. I really should try it more often.

So here's to savoring the yummy little moments of life.

it was a long night

I hadn't been out of the house since Sunday. I was a little stir crazy and hoping Billy would take the child and me out somewhere, as the beginning of our early weekend. But he stayed late and by the time he got home, he was sick and I was sick. We laid on the floor for a little while, until it was time to put Millie to bed. Then we got straight into bed... at 8:45pm. The hope was that we could maybe sleep through the sickness and by the time we woke up, all would be back to normal.

Nope. We were up all night, tossing and turning and throwing up. Billy dreamt of work and I dreamt that Millie was in bed with us and that I kept forgetting. She, in fact, was not. She was very sweet and slept through the night. I am not sure what we would have done if she wouldn't have.

Now we are awake and tired but feeling better than last night.

So... for your weekend, here are some things you should watch. The first is nature in all it's beauty and the second, some sweet voices and creativity and the third was just fun.

Happy Weekend!

Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo.

 

 

  The Staves and their song "Mexico"

 Video from here

rollin' around

Mornings are crazy with Millie. (Once she has eaten) she is so happy and chatty. The two of us hang out on the bed and she rolls and dives and squeals and giggles. I love it.