8-10 Week Update, and the rest of July

I know I'm a little behind on posting, but I typed all this during the month of July when Bailey was 8-10 weeks old. I don't know when the next post will be, sometime after moving and settling down!

8-10 Week Milestones
• Holds her head up SO well while we burp her, all she wants to do is look out and explore everything
• Smiles like crazy while I change her diaper, which now takes about 15 minutes because we play after, she coos and smiles and I just can’t get enough of it!
• She smiles while looking at her mobiles and under her play gym. We call the animals of her mobile her “friends” and she seems to love them.
• She slept from 12:30 am to 8:00 am one night – that would have great for me, but I kept waking up thinking she was crying or wondering if she needed me.
• Got her shots, I’ve never heard her scream so long and loud, I felt so sad but knew it would be somehow good for her
• After the shots, it took 2 weeks to get back to her “normal” schedule; she wouldn’t eat or sleep well for those 2 weeks, so frustrating.
• She found her hands! Now she can’t stop sucking on them. It’s quite hilarious. We’ll be driving in the car and all we hear is this intense sucking and then her hand will move and loud POP sound comes from her tongue smacking the roof of her mouth. The hand sucking also soothes her, she’ll be tired and cry then find her hands and within a few seconds she’s out.
• Sporting 3 month clothes.
• She talks more and more with ahhhhs and grunts, love that!
• She likes bath time more and more. We make eye contact the entire time and I talk to her, oh it makes me melt she’s just so stinkin cute!

Her "friends" the elephants

Right after bathtime and a full meal

The baby legs I made her

Check up stats
Weight: 10lbs 12oz (50th percentile)

Height: 22.5 inches (75th percentile - where did that come from??? The doctor asked how tall Mark was, I said 5'7" on a good day)

Head Circumference: 37.5 cm (25th percentile)

7/11/2010

Dear Bailey,

One of my favorite memories this month was when we were at church. I had just fed you and we were in Relief Society. You started to whimper a bit so I held you over my shoulder and patted your back, you quickly fell asleep. I held you with your head resting on my shoulder and I softly rubbed our cheeks together. I love holding you like this. It seems rare that we have time to just sit and cuddle during the busy day. We stayed this way for the rest of the hour and I soaked up your gentle spirit.

Love you,

Mom

7/28/2010

Dear Bailey,

Last night was a great night for me. I was holding you right before I set you down in your crib, the night light was the only light on and your room was soft and dim. You weren’t looking at me, but I was looking at you thinking about how happy we are to have you in our home. Then you turned your head and looked up at me like you knew I was thinking about you. We made eye contact and you smiled a huge gummy smile, of course I couldn’t help but smile back. You kept on smiling and started your baby talk, it sounded like “hey, hey, hey, hey, gooooo” all with a big grin your face. I knew you were trying to say, “I love you too mommy!”

 I got all teary eyed knowing that you know who I am and that you’re happy to be here too.

 Love you,

Mom

Again, watching her "friends" on her mobile

The Rest of July

We went on a family walk to get snow cones, Bailey was so cute in her little seat watching everything around her. She liked the ride so much that she SCREAMED every time we stopped.

She met the horses

Bailey's cousin Aurora Kamas Jones was born July 9th! She was 7lbs, 1oz, 20 inches and one week old in this picture. They are exactly two months apart. Bailey looks ginormous next to her, I can't even remember Bailey being that small!

Mike's big 30! Mikey came up for Aunt Mae's funeral but was able to stay for a week and celebrate his Birthday with us. He came down and helped me pack for a day, it was fun to have him around and watch him play with Bailey. He makes a great uncle.

I went out to lunch with my work friends who all had babies! So fun to see all these babies grow and to see what's ahead of me. Cassie is due in about a month in this picture, and Bailey is 2 months.

Angela and Cooper (6 months)

Natalie and Landon (14 months), Lesha and Brayden (4 months)

I'm going to miss these girls!!!

Allie had her baby Owen Michael Zeyer, 7 lbs on July 31st. She had quite the delivery, it was about 24 hours from the time her water broke. What a trooper. We get to stay with Allie, Hyrum and Owen on our way up to Moscow next week. Can't wait to meet this little guy!

Just a few hours old.

I think that's all, now it's time to pack, pack, pack, and clean, clean, clean. Moscow here we come!

(Great) Aunt Mae

Aunt Mae at her 80th Birthday Party May 11, 2008

My Great Aunt Mae (my Grandma Hadley's sister) passed away this month, she was a great woman who loved education, a clean house, and good food. I will always remember spending Christmas with Aunt Mae when we were little, I was so excited for her unique gifts and playing games Christmas morning. One Christmas Eve at my Grandpa Hadley's home I met up with her dog Bibi under the dinner table, I let that dog lick my entire face clean! We named Bailey after Aunt Mae and they were able to meet each other a couple of times. Here's a little more about her amazing life:

"Mae Blanch, beloved sister, aunt, friend and educator, passed away July 13 of natural causes incident to age in Provo, Utah.

She was born May 11, 1928 in Ogden, Utah to Wheatley Lorenzo Blanch and Florence Eunice Palmer. Mae's father passed away, however, when she was 14 months old, but she developed a close relationship with her maternal grandparents, George Albert and Mary Catherine Knight Palmer.

Mae learned to read at an early age and loved books all of her life, starting with The Children's Friend and whatever was written on cereal boxes and Campbell soup labels. Mae said she didn't read the children's classics, the Pooh series or Wind in the Willows, until she was in graduate school getting a PhD in English literature.

Mae graduated from Weber High School in 1946, and BYU in 1950, where she graduated 2nd in her class and developed a love of learning and inclination toward education that remained throughout her life.

She taught English for two years at Brockbank JH, Magna, UT. Mae then left for Washington D.C., where she worked for two years at the Department of Agriculture, two years for Senator Dworshak from Idaho and two years for Senator Watkins from Utah. Mae lived with nine other young women during this time in a row house on Adams Mill Road nicknamed the AMR. This house became the meeting place for many of the young Mormon men and women who spent time in Washington in the military, government service or school.

While in Washington, Mae began her lifelong commitment and service to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints where she served as a MIA president and stake missionary. After she returned to Utah Mae served as Relief Society President, Gospel Doctrine teacher, and on the Gospel Doctrine Writing Committee that produced the Sunday School lessons for the Church. Additionally, Mae served in the community on the Utah County Planning Commission.

After her return to Utah, and a short time teaching English at BYU, Mae recognized that teaching would be her life work. She received a PhD on scholarship from the Univ. of Colorado in 1966, and returned to BYU where she remained until her retirement as a full professor in 1995. For another ten years Mae continued to teach the honors course "The Family and Fiction" that she created.

Among her many interests, Mae enjoyed cooking (especially her cheesecake), BYU sports, Pioneer Theater Company, Ballet West, Utah Symphony, and BYU productions. She was a devoted attendant of the Utah Shakespearean Festival where she attended all plays since 1970. Mae was an animal lover from childhood. Her dog, Schatzie, who lived to be 21 years old, and Bibi who lived to be 17 years old, shared her life."

80th Birthday Party

Aunt Mae meeting Bailey Mae June 8, 2010

We love you and will miss you Aunt Mae!