Lillian's Baby Blessing

We are so thankful that both Brian's parents and my parents were able to come out for Lillian's baby blessing. She was blessed on November 4th and the first of our children to be blessed in front of our ward! It was a beautiful blessing. Afterwards, in Relief Society, a sister gave me a piece of paper and said she wrote things down for us so we could remember and tell Lillian about it. She said someone did the same for her with her three kids and she was really grateful, especially with her third as she had two rowdy boys to help at the time. I am so grateful she wrote it down for us. I was thinking about it the day before and how nice it would be to have it written down so Lillian could read about it later, but I no idea to how to it. She was an answer to my prayers. Thank you Susan!

 The boys enjoyed playing in the Ghinko leaves while they waited...I love my boys!

Lillian News

Ok, I know we're behind...but let's be honest, I have the best excuse! Isn't she adorable?

 Lillian on 10/17/12. Since I have the perfect model, I had to practice some photography...not that it's getting much attention, but every now and then, we try. Someday...I'll be great! (like when the kids are all in school, maybe). 

 My little boys are growing up too fast. Michael 10/20/12

 My big boy. He just gets more handsome every day. Adam 10/20/12

Our new family picture, taken by yours truly (thanks to the tripod). I know we're crazy...it was freezing, I just had a baby...but we needed to get it done and the leaves were already falling. I think we did ok.

And you can see how much Lillian is growing!! 11/9/12

Slow down little girl! Please stay little a while...

She looks a bit stunned.

We just love this baby! (11/18/12)

For those who don't know, just after Thanksgiving we found out that Lillian has a milk protein allergy. That means that her immune system attacks dairy proteins that enter her body, not recognizing that they are harmless, and this causes an allergic reaction. It all started when I changed her diaper and found streaks of blood. And she was really fussy, cried the "I really hurt!!" cry a lot, and had lots of gas. So, what does this mean for us? Thank heavens nursing is going well this time around...it means I can't have any dairy products (even chocolate!! Seriously, that's really hard! or cheese). The doctor says that babies usually outgrow the allergy; many by 1 year, most by 3 yrs. So, as long as nursing goes well, I just don't eat dairy. If we need to supplement with formula, we'll use a synthetic formula (i.e.: Allimentum). 

While it's rough not being able to have any dairy, it's ok. Really. We've discovered almond milk and I substitute that for milk in baking. Brian even made us a white sauce for our noodles using the almond milk (and oil instead of butter). What a man! He really loves us. 

When the doctor asked this week how it was going with the diet I told her the truth. Honestly, it's hard. But I am really grateful that I know how to cook. So many possibilities are available to me because of that skill. If we were stuck with store-bought/pre-made food...I'd be in trouble. Yes, it would be easier to put Lillian on formula. But the fact that nursing is going well this time and she's growing, makes me happy to do it...and I just love our little Lillian. We sacrifice because we love. I haven't even been tempted to eat dairy, because it doesn't affect me, it would hurt Lillian. So in that respect, it's easier. 

We're all doing alright. We're adjusting to the new normal. We've all had colds lately, but hopefully we're all on the mend. We miss you all!!

Lillian is here!!!

Kathy and Lillian are doing well.  Lillian weighed in at 8 lbs 1 oz and measured 19.5 inches.  We'll post some happier pictures later. :)

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers!

July update

I'm a horrible blogger...I'm sorry. Here's a few of my favorite pictures from the last few weeks...

We found our baby "pool" in the shed, Brian cleaned it out, and the boys played forever in it while we worked in the garden. They crack me up.

I've been working on this for a little while and I'm so happy it's finished! It's ready for little girl to come in October...and if it's not a girl, umm...it will go in the closet until a girl comes to our family. Despite Brian's idea...I am NOT giving this one away. I LOVE how it turned out! And that's great, because I get to see it everyday for a long time. 

I quilted little flowers and butterflies on the squares for a little fun and then quilted a quarter inch on each side of the big square seams. I think it turned out great!

And I love the polka dots I found for the back and it's so soft!

My handsome Michael boy...growing up so fast!

From our voyage to the park...I'm trying to improve my photography skills...it's still overexposed...we're working on it. They sure love this slide.

This boy is excited to start preschool in a few weeks.

I love this smile.

Overall, we're doing ok. It's been really hot and humid and it has rained for most of the last week (seriously, every day). We're grateful for the rain. Keeping the boys inside so much is rough. Oh well. Little girl is growing well and moving a ton...I think we may call her "Mia Ham" Daniels. Just kidding...but she is a mover. We're now in the final trimester and we have lots to do before she comes. We're all really excited for our family trip to Utah to see ALL our family in a few weeks--yippee!! The boys keep asking if it's August yet, so we can go to the airport and fly in an airplane and see "Grandmom." Almost boys, almost!

Happy May

I realize it has been a while...I'm sorry. And the pictures are sparse because I haven't really taken any. But here's a little peak into what I did capture.

The boys LOVE playing with the tent that Grandma made for them. They have recently discovered a new way to "play." They've learned how to climb up the tent. Dad caught them at it. Silly boys.

My dear friend had her baby just after Thanksgiving (at 25 weeks) and after many prayers and miracles, he was able to go home after 100 days in the hospital. I wanted to make him a special quilt and I thought I'd post some pictures. 

This is the whole quilt. I didn't have an adult around to hold it up for me, so I improvised...please forgive the lighting and crookedness. I am so happy with how it turned out!! I love it so much, I want to make another one...but I can't get the fabrics anymore. I will definitely make this pattern again! I did learn that when you quilt with clear thread, don't mess up. It's REALLY hard to see it to unpick the stitches!

And when my friend said they would be blessing him at church I just had to make him some little loafers. They turned out cute! If we have another boy, I'll be making more of these...in different colors. :)

I got a picture of the little Phoebes that have been nesting and growing under our deck. These are the three chicks the day they left the nest. I went out to show Brian when he got home from work and they had left. This is the second year we have had Eastern Phoebes nest under our deck. We also had three robins hatch and grow in one of our holly bushes and I believe a cardinal nesting in another bush. The cardinals kept stealthily going into the same bush, but I could never see the nest. I did hear the chicks though. 

And if we weren't crazy enough...we, um, bought 4 chicks. We tried buying some fertilized eggs to place under our 3 broody hens, but as soon as we did they started laying. So we left the eggs in the nest and bought some chicks (2 buff orpingtons and 2 black sex-link). Funny enough, two of our big hens laid for a week and then started nesting. They brood when I want them to lay, and lay when I want them to brood. We'll see if anything hatches in the next week. I'm amazed how fast these chicks are growing! We still haven't named them, though. And sorry for the poor picture. I was too tired and awkward to open the cage and get a good picture.  

As a last note (sorry this is a wordy post...) we find out in 10 days the gender of the baby. I can't wait! Brian kind of laughs at me, but I keep having dreams that we find out what the gender of the baby is and then I wake up and realize we don't really know and I get anxious and count down (again) how many days left. I'm not sure why I'm so anxious to find out this time, but I'm glad we are finding out! I'm grateful for technology that allows us to know and plan accordingly. 

We have all been spending more time outside playing and working. Going to the park has been wonderful, except when we're being attacked by enormous cicadas. That is not our favorite. Building a new chicken fence was good...I don't rip my clothes or hit my head on the way in any more. I'm grateful for good weather so we can play outside. Also, the boys went camping with Dad for Father's and Sons last weekend and LOVED it! We're planning on going camping this weekend. We wish we had some of you to join in the fun!