Our bright-eyed girl!

Last Saturday, my fabulous cousin Jamie took some great pictures of Eilly for us. It was not an easy task, but the photos turned out so beautiful and fun. Many people have remarked on our kidlet's bright eyes, and Jamie did a great job of capturing them. Here are a few of my favorite faces of Eilly:









We were ultimately trying to get a picture of Eilly in the beautiful Easter dress my mom bought her. Unfortunately, a shot of smiling Eilly sitting perfectly in her fancy dress while squeezing her Easter bunny was not in the cards, but I think I like this one better anyway.



Poor Eilly's mood started going downhill pretty quickly. I dragged her to the Great Cloth Diaper Change that morning to help set the record for the number of cloth diapers changed simultaneously (6,277!), so she was in dire need of a nap. We went to great lengths to try to improve her disposition. Garrett provided the musical entertainment, and we all tried our darnedest to coax out a smile.







When all attempts failed, we contented ourselves with some peaceful pacifier pictures.





Trying to capture just a few more pacifier-free photos, I tried to stealthily snatch the pacifier out while Jamie snapped away. Needless to say, it didn't work. But I love her sad faces too.







Then it was definitely time for a nap. Even though our little photo shoot did not go quite as well as we had planned, I love the range of faces we were able to capture. There are so many little faces she makes, and I don't want to forget a single one. Thanks so much to Jamie and Angie for their quick photo snapping, silly song singing, and all-around amazing baby-cheering-up skills. Love you ladies!

Eilly's Blessing

*This one was also unfinished, but I thought I'd better finish it! Mostly because I love how her cute outfit turned out.




Here are a couple pictures of Eilly in her lovely blessing outfit. It was so great having our families there to celebrate with us. I know Eilly won't remember it, but I sure will. I love how her blessing outfit turned out. I made it before she was born, so I needed something that would work well for a boy or a girl. I spent hours designing the perfect pattern and knitting it. I'm so glad it turned out so well. Then after she was born, I knit her a bonnet to go with it. It was so much work, I hope we can bless all our kids in it, though Garrett pointed out to me that merino wool is probably not a good idea if we have any summer babies. I told him they have air conditioning in the chapel. :)

When the baby cries, when my arms sting, these are a few of my favorite things!

*Just to prove I have been writing, here is this unfinished post I started a million years ago. Alas, it has no pictures which is why it remained unfinished, but I threw in some stock photos so you can at least see what I'm talking about.*

While I have a few minutes, I just wanted to post about some of my favorite baby things that have turned out to be so useful with a new baby.




First up, I love our Boppy! Garrett's awesome work threw him a baby shower, and one of the super awesome things they gave us was a Boppy. I made a cover for it using a tutorial online, because really, who wants to spend $20 on a cover? This has been so great for nursing, sitting up and tummy time. Awesome!



Next favorite thing is the Woombie. Now it looks a little scary, like a baby straitjacket, but it is a lifesaver. Eilly loves being swaddled, but her little arms are just too good at breaking out. I bought one while I was pregnant, and the first night home from the hospital we decided to use it because she kept wiggling out of the swaddle and waking up. We loved it so much that the next day Garrett went out and bought another one from someone on ksl so we'd have two. I also love how easy it is to feed her in the middle of the night in it. No flailing arm battles!



I also love, love, LOVE my super wide ring sling from Babyette. It is beautiful, and so easy to use with a little baby. We didn't buy an infant carrier carseat, just a convertible carseat, so whenever we go somewhere I just pop her in the sling. Works like a charm! And definitely great for when my arms start to get tired.



My other most favorite thing is the huge exercise ball we have sitting in our bedroom. I move it around the house with me and Mom has one upstairs so that Eilly and I can bounce wherever we go. Eilly is not a fan of the rocking chair, but she loves it when I sit on the exercise ball while I hold her and bounce. She calms down really fast.

That is all I can think of right now, and I'm sure my list will change as she gets older. I omitted talking forever about my absolute favorite cloth diapers. Those definitely deserve a post of their own.

Introducing Eilly!

Our sweet baby finally decided to make her appearance a week and a half ago. She was exactly one week overdue, and I was beginning to feel like I was going to be pregnant forever! Then, I woke up at 6am on Saturday morning feeling very uncomfortable. I had this yucky ache in my lower back. I had Garrett rub my back for a minute, then I'd feel better, and then a couple minutes later it would start all over again. Think I was in labor? Garrett didn't. He went back to sleep. I hung out on the couch, watching TV, not at all freaked that my contractions were only three minutes apart.

At seven, my mom came down and she was a little more concerned than I was. She woke Garrett up, let him know I was in labor, and said I should get ready to go to the hospital. I decided to take a nice long shower, do my hair and basically drag my feet as much as possible because I wasn't very excited about going to the hospital.

We finally got to the hospital around 10:30am. I was feeling pretty relaxed even though my contractions felt much stronger because I was listening to my hypnobabies cds. The nurse said I was only a 3 or a 4, but they wouldn't send me home because I was a week overdue.

After that, everything went pretty quickly. I spent some time on the birthing ball, and some time in the tub. Then my fabulous, amazing midwife showed up and pulled me out of the tub to see how I was doing. I was a 7, and about 15 minutes later, I was a 10. My mom, sister and Garrett were all great supports, literally (they were each hanging on to a limb) and figuratively.



The kidlet was finally born at about 3:15pm. Garrett got to catch the baby, and we had all decided beforehand that Garrett was the only one who was allowed to announce the sex. After he handed the baby up to me, he was so choked up, he barely managed to whisper "It's a girl!" It was very sweet. After looking at her cute little face, we decided to name her Eilly Lorraine. Eilly (pronounced "eye-lee") is a cute Irish name that Garrett picked out. And we named her Lorraine after my mom.



We've had a pretty exhausting, pretty great week and a half at home with little Eilly. Sadly, we've had to miss out on Thanksgiving dinner this year, as I am home sick with a terrific case of mastitis. I hope I recover quickly because Garrett will be going back to work on Monday. He's been such a great dad! Honestly, I have not yet changed a single diaper, and now that I've been ordered to stay in bed, he's been great at taking care of everything. Even though we had to miss Thanksgiving dinner, I'm really grateful that I at least got to spend it with the two people I am most thankful for.

So busy!

As we get closer and closer to D-day (Delivery Day!), I can't help but think that I should be getting less busy instead of busier. I started an internship this month which I plan to work at right up until D-day. Every day when I come home, my feet look like hobbit feet. Not hairy, but puffy and fat. I prop them up and hope that they'll have time to return to normal before I have to put my shoes on the next day. And I thank my lucky stars that my mom magically makes dinner appear each night because she knows I am just too darn exhausted and uncomfortable to cook. After dinner, I listen to my Hypnobabies CD to get ready for D-day, and then fall fast asleep. Garrett usually manages to wake me up for a few minutes when he gets home, so I at least get to see him. Then I fall back asleep and get to start a whole new day.

But, as exhausted as I am, I really love having such a great internship that keeps my mind focused on helping others rather than dwelling on how uncomfortable I may feel. I keep begging the baby to stay in there as long as possible so I can spend more time working. That may sound a little crazy, but I really do love the work that I do. And I feel very grateful to have a family that is so supportive of me.

Sharing this experience with my family has really been the main thing that has kept this last trimester fun. I love that when I tell Lanna that she has to slow down to a "pregnant lady waddle," she holds my hand and waddles with me. I loved having my aunt, who has no children of her own, feel the baby move and think that was the most awesome experience. I even recorded my grandma singing and reciting a poem for the baby to listen to in utero. As I waddle my way down the home stretch and try to enjoy the journey, I feel so comforted knowing that this baby will be well-loved.

Cloth Diaper Giveaway

And here is a totally awesome cloth diaper giveaway from Diaper Junction.

Free Vitamins!

For all of you ladies who, like me, spend money on multivitamins (or feel like you should, but never get around to it), you should read my cousin's great post on how to get a 90 day supply of multivitamins for free from the Utah Dept. of Health.