Camp Lily

We used to tease Dusty's mom that her life was like living at a summer camp, we called it Camp Susie. I love attending Camp Susie, it means shopping and going to the pool every day. Recently we've been calling Lily's bedtime ritual Camp Lily because she's living the dream. Lily has a long bedtime ritual. It begins with her bath which takes about 20 minutes. She still adores the bath. After that I give her a baby massage. Our parenting book recommended it as something to do to help you connect with your baby. I started doing it after I felt that Lily and I lost our connection and it seems to be helping. She sits and relaxes while I rub her feet and legs but by the time I get to her arms and back she is wiggly and chatting up a storm. I love it! After that we "wear her down." Literally. She gets strapped into the front-pack and we clean the house that way. She relaxes while we do it and starts to fall asleep. Finally when she's tired, we wrap her up and rock/sing her to sleep. By this point she's so relaxed that it doesn't take more than five minutes for her to be asleep and in her crib. The whole ritual takes about an hour total but I love it. People always advised me to teach my kids to fall asleep on their own at an early age (around 6 weeks) but I can't imagine not putting Lily to bed every night. Camp Lily is the best part of my day!

Play Date

Our neighbors upstairs asked me if I could watch their twins while the husband (a stay at home dad) went to help someone move. Last time they came over Lily was taking a nap so today was the first time they've all played together. Lily loved having playmates besides me and I loved being able to put her on the floor to play without her crying. Now that the twins have gone home and Lily is taking a nap I'm exhausted though... maybe I'll take a nap too. I don't know how my aunt Pari had triplets and survived!

For some reason my phone turned some of the pictures into a GIF...

Morning Munchies

Since Lily started teething about a month ago, she has decided that 5:00 AM is her wake-up time. It doesn't matter what time she goes to bed, when 5:00 hits she is awake. This means that Dusty and I don't usually beat her out of bed. We aren't really morning people and before we had Lily you wouldn't see us up before 6:30 unless there was an emergency. Since we don't beat her out of bed we usually play hot potato with her while we both try to get ready for the day. She doesn't mind shuffling back and forth between us in the morning, and I think it helps to wear her out a little more before her morning nap. Recently I've had a nasty cold so Dusty has been getting up with Lily at 5:00 and letting me sleep in until around 6:00 or 6:30. Its super nice of him but it means that by the time I'm getting ready, he and Lily are out of things to do. This morning they came and watched me get ready. Lily was giving my mirror the stink eye so I gave it to her and she decided that it looked like a perfect chew toy. It was so cute so see her reflection as she chomped on the mirror.

Connections

With all of the traveling that we did for the holidays I felt that Lily and I lost our special connection. We just can't seem to figure out what the other wants. The last month since Dusty started school has been so hard for both of us and we've both ended every day frustrated with one another. I've been praying and trying to figure out what to do and I just haven't been getting anywhere.  It's been such a heart breaking experience for me! I thought that this would all be natural and that it would come easily and it doesn't.

Yesterday I was reading my friend Hannah's blog and her post reminded me of how privileged I am to be Lily's mom. I've thought that and read it before but for some reason it really spoke to me yesterday. After reading her blog post and rereading parts of the parenting book that Dusty bought me, Lily and I finally started connecting again yesterday and its been wonderful. Tonight instead of fighting me to go to sleep, as soon as I sat down to rock her she snuggled in and fell right asleep. She hasn't done that in forever! I sang her usual primary songs to her just because I wanted to. I sing to her every night but tonight it felt so different. There was so much love in her little room that I started to cry. I finally feel like we're connecting again and I am so grateful for that! I couldn't help but try to snap a few pictures of her, in her dark room, so that I could remember this moment. Luckily she didn't wake up!

Daddy Time

Last night I heard Dusty laughing from our living room and I came out to find this...

Saturday Shopping

Today we were grocery shopping and I was holding Lily while Dusty pushed the cart. I called Safeway to ask them a question while we were walking around and thought I had my grocery list out of Lily's reach but when I got off the phone I noticed that she'd been sucking on my list. Unfortunately it was written in red and she had red ink all over her face and my white jacket. It was the most adorable thing ever! After I took it away she pouted the rest of the trip. It's been a few hours now and I've tried washing her face off but it's still a red reminder that she's growing up and wants to see everything I'm holding.

The Temple

There is a picture of the Manti Temple that hangs above our couch and ever since Lily was born she has been obsessed it. Usually she will quietly stare at it for five or ten minutes at a time. It is the most adorable thing ever! It's a constant reminder to me that babies are close to the veil and to our father in heaven. I'm so grateful for the temple and that we're an eternal family!