Special Visitor!

One of my bestest bosom buddy friends from college was in town for work last week (I know right? She's pretty legit). We convinced her to stay with us for the weekend and she complied. We didn't really do much besides talk for hoursssssss (which was all I could have really wanted anyways). Lucky for us, talking goes along perfectly with walking, so we did just that.

Saturday night we snuck out and left the daddy and baby to watch their football game (woah. why does snuck have a little red squiggly under it? The past tense can't seriously be "sneaked out." No me gusta. I'm sticking to snuck). We walked around Yankee Candle (only my favorite place in Williamsburg) and then the Outlets. Then on Monday before her flight we hit up Colonial Williamsburg and of course had to take her to our favorite candy shop. 

 Just another day in Williamsburg.

Darin gave us a short tour of some things at William and Mary. He showed us the Wren Building where we got to see an old lecture hall.

 I love this girl SO much! I hate that we live so far away from each other. Thank goodness for blogging conferences! Keep em' coming!

 Before going to the airport we crossed "going to the Astronomical Pancake House" off of our Williamsburg bucket list and let me tell you, it was sadly NOT astronomical. 

 Shae seriously LOVES Kaitlyn. He had so much fun playing with her and letting her carry him around. He may not remember how to suck on a bottle nipple but he sure seemed to remember Kaitlyn. The kids got his priorities straight if you ask me.

Come back soon Kaitlyn! ("And bring Erik!" As Darin would say).

Eight Months

The eighth month has been a good one. The kid cracks us up. He sleeps! We can eat together as a family. His little personality is blooming. He has likes and dislikes (and we know what a few of them are). He continues to fine-tune some basic motor skills which is really cool to see. Watching him go from grabbing a cheerio with his entire fist and missing it 75% of the time to focusing wholeheartedly on the cheerio while his pointer finger and thumb slowly move towards it and then pinch it and move it towards his mouth...so cool! I love kicking back and watching him do these things that for me are so simple, basic, easy, but for him, it's new, exciting and fulfilling. Who knew that it could be so rewarding to observe a baby make changes to his ways of eating. I just love seeing those wheels turn as his brain chugs right along! (and I see it as I watch him eat cheerios, or reach for a toy or move his foot towards something he wants to move towards while standing. So simple! So great!)

At 8 months Shae:

~Pulls himself up on everything and has just recently started to let go. He'll stay standing for just a second or two before falling on his bum and then pulling himself right back up to do it again.

~Loves playing with bowls, big spoons, bottles and cell phones. Basically, anything other than actual toys.

~Loves Elmo's World. Call me awful for letting him watch it every now and again but I think it's oober cute how excited he gets about it and bounces around with Mr. Noodle.

~Sits and stands in the crib (this made/makes going to sleep slightly more complicated. But I must say, it sure is one of our favorite things to see him sitting/standing with a huge grin on his face when we walk in to get him).

~Won't take a bottle or sippy cup AT ALL which has been a little frustrating. (And weird since he took a bottle just fine while I was working in UT. I guess 3 months of mom has made him forget...)

~Has discovered outlets and the springy things behind the doors and seems to think that they are the coolest things ever.

~Loves just about any food we give him but cheese and banana are definite favorites.

~Although he loves playing with daddy, he has started to become a bit of a mommy-clingy-baby (can you blame him? He's with me ALL day). As long as he doesn't notice me leave the house/room, he's usually fine.

~Loves chasing his toys around the bathtub and trying to climb up the walls.

~Hates getting dressed or having his diaper changed. 

~Has the best consistent sleep that he has ever had. Still wakes around 10/11pm for one last feeding and then he usually sleeps until around 6 and occasionally...7! (a lot of nights he'll still wake around 3/4am but that has become a quick pacy trip for one us and he'll usually go right back down).

~Has been in between 2 and 3 naps all month. Seems to be making the transition to only needing 2 naps (depending on the day really).

~Reaches out for us which I think is just about one of the cutest things ever!

Photo courtesy of Philip Kretchman.

General Conference Sunday

Really I guess I should have said, "General Conference Saturday AND Sunday" but you see, my last two posts were about Friday and Saturday so it just seemed appropriate to keep the trend.

It was a HOT General Conference weekend up in PA. Hot hot hot. However, even through the sweat and gulps of cold water (and a baby who was even more clingy than normal at my feet or climbing all over my body) I was able to enjoy another beautiful conference with my husband and family.

My favorite favorite talk was Elder Christofferson's talk: The Moral Force of Women. Let's be honest, Elder Christofferson's talks are usually my favorite talks anyways, but this one really seemed to touch me on a personal level. After all, I am a woman :).

We live in a world where women increasingly feel like they need to be like men in order to be equal to men and where the divine roles of homemaking and motherhood aren't seen as the divine roles that God intended them to be. In fact, when we decided that I should stay home with Shae, I'll be honest, there were times when I didn't feel "equal" to Darin. Up until that point, we had been "equal" in what we were striving for: Education for a better future, money to provide for our wants/needs, work experience, strengthening our understanding and love for one another in our young marriage, a strong relationship with the Savior, etc. For awhile even our callings at church were the same. Our "roles," if you will, were quite similar (although I did cook quite a bit more than he did even back then :).

For some reason, it is so easy to belittle the role of a mother/homemaker and in general, the role of a woman. But the truth is, women are different than men. And that is okay! We were meant to be different. We have qualities and characteristics that men just don't have and we should cherish and exemplify those qualities rather than try to hide them or change them.

Elder Christofferson quoted former Young Women general president Margaret D. Nadauld in his talk and I love what she said:

 “The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity.”¹⁰ 

Then Elder Christofferson said:

"In blurring feminine and masculine differences, we lose the distinct, complementary gifts of women and men that together produce a greater whole."

Amen. The world needs more women to be women. That doesn't only refer to being good mothers/wives rather being loving, kind, tender, virtuous examples of the Savior, something that is innately within our moral being, a force to do good and something we should all be proud of and never look to change.

That was one of the many insights that this conference gave me. I am so thankful for modern day revelation. What a blessing it is to be able to hear from living prophets and apostles whom Heavently Father uses to continue to guide and direct us, his children, as we strive to do what's right in this crazy yet beautiful life and ultimately make it back to live with him and our loved overs for, forever!

Mannnnn, life is good.

Baby Shower Saturday

Saturday morning we hosted a baby shower for my bosom buddy Molly. We took advantage of the fact that we would both be visiting family on the same weekend and got to planning. 

 Molly got some adorable little boy clothes. Baby Hunter will be well dressed.

It was a fun morning. I am so excited for Molly and her little family to grow to a family of four. It's weird to think back to our freshman year of college when we would daydream about our future husbands/families. It's exciting to see how things just keep on changing for the better. Baby boy Hunter is a lucky little guy to have this lady as his mama.

Friday Night Lights

Last week was a rough week (hence the no blogging). Shae came down with a fever, a little cough and a runny nose. Poor boy. He felt like a little heater against my body while I held him. He was totally out of it for a few days and slept more than I have ever seen him sleep before (he slept one night from 6pm until 8am--he woke up once to eat mind you--but I had to wake him up at 8am to feed him again, who knows how long he would have slept). Poor boy. That was NO fun. It really is difficult trying to guess what is hurting/what is wrong with a baby and it sucks to feel so helpless as a parent. 

Thankfully by Thursday evening when we left for a weekend in Pennsylvania he was almost back to himself again.

Friday night we went and watched Uncle A.J. and the marching band perform at the football game. It was really great to be able to see A.J. in his element. One of the hardest things for me about being so far away in Utah was missing seeing my siblings grow up. So much happens in high school and I hated that I was missing all of it. I missed almost all of high school for Philip and all of it for Anna. Needless to say, I was a pretty proud big sister watching my little senior (senior!) brother out on the football field. Plus, he's a drumming beast.

Shae couldn't take his eyes off the band the entire time they were performing. I think he was pretty proud of A.J. too.

And of course he was shown off to everyone and everyone gawked and drooled over him.

Must be pretty cool to be a high school Uncle. I wouldn't know.