She's Here!!

* Too many monkeys in the bed.

* Eden and Taj are as in love as Micah and I. They ask "where's my baby?" all the time. "Can I hold her?" They are so proud. I am too :)

It'll be a week tomorrow. Time couldn't go fast enough trying to get her here, but now that she is here time is going way too quickly. Day 4 she woke up and already looked different. the newborn phase is almost gone already. Maybe it's just me, her mommy, but she's definitely not the newborn I held just days ago. It's all part of the fun of the experience I suppose. It's been wonderful. We are so blessed.

Old and New

I kind of hate my infant car seat. It's the one we got with Taj almost FIVE YEARS AGO! That blows me away. It works fine. It's pretty ugly and beat up and heavy, but works. I can't really justify a new car seat to replace a perfectly functioning one.

I decided it's not a big deal, and then we got it out and put it in the car. Ugo's. I took matters into my own hands and made this "car seat canopy". That's what they call them here in Utah. I've been spotting them all over, and besides making a lot of sense it looks a lot better to me than the old car seat.

* Not too many tips on a "bounce back" recovery from pregnancy and labor online, but I was told about one thing that I'm going to try. It's called the "belly bandit". It's a thick elastic contraption you strap around your loose guts and it holds it all in place. It's supposed to help your uterus contract more effectively and let your tummy look flatter in the mean time. I got one, so we'll see.

Water Babies

Swim lessons, fountains, streams. We can't get enough water these days. This is my first summer being sidelined during swimming lessons. I'm a sweaty beast and besides loving watching the kids play it's torture to just sit on the side. I realized that once baby comes I won't be able to get in the water for all of August. Yikes. At least the kids can have fun still while I'm recovering and I won't have the 20 lbs of extra body heat on anymore. Well, slowly it'll come off.

Along with all the anticipation I have waiting for baby, I'm feeling overwhelming love for my little ones, and not so little ones. I know our world is about to be rocked, but in the meantime I'm bursting with love for my family. I feel so blessed and unworthy of these people.

My due date is in 2 weeks. I'm d0ing a little here and there to get ready. Tonight we put the car seat in after I had to have a non stress test because baby's heart beat was "low". Everything is fine and after napping to the sound of the little lady's heart beat I was cleared to go. I've been thinking though, all you moms that have been through labor, what are the secrets out there? Some of you seem to bounce back faster than others. Spill it. What am I missing? I'm running out of time so please tell.

Is it the Wedding?

Me: Not yet. It's the 4th of July today.

E: Will there be princess fireworks?

Me: oh boy. I hope so. We'll see.

We had a great 4th. In Utah it lasts all weekend because fireworks aren't considered keeping the Sabbath I guess.

We had our own private family firework show on Saturday, which Taj and Eden just about exploded over. Taj especially. I worry about him already with the play with fireworks stage coming.

On Sunday we went to Park City for the big family celebration. Apparently our little show wasn't enough. The kids were still into it.

My aunt Rose sets lady bugs free as part of her 4th of July tradition. While all the kids squealed and laughed at having hundreds of lady bugs around Taj and Eden lovingly looked at the little bugs and were very respectful.

We love "fire wands". Eden coined that one. I'm loving the part of parenthood where we get to watch our kids discover holidays and fun new things like fire on sticks and loud pops. It makes it all so so worth it.

Happy 4th of July!