A Post FOUR Friday

Some favorite things from this week:
(Title compliments of David.)

- As you may know... I am a sucker for free things. I don't know why, I just am. If I think that I will ever possibly have a use for it - I'll take it. I just have this desire to take things that have been loved but aren't needed anymore, and love them again. Sometimes I end up with silly things that I realize afterward that I didn't even want in the first place - but this tendency to seek out and obtain free things has scored me some awesome finds in the past. This was my big acquisition this week:

An entire set of pretty floral dishes! I love dishes. They are a thicker china dish set, and would be so pretty for a little summer dinner party. They have now been added with my growing set of specialty dishes. We have a neighbor who is preparing to move and so they are going through all of their things - they posted these on our neighborhood facebook page for free and of course I snapped them up. Then while I was over there, I looked through her pile of things that she was giving away and also brought home a brown shelf, a kids side table, a pretty white picture frame, a set of silverware, some dressups, and a few other odds and ends. All in all, I feel very happy about giving a new life to all of these things.

2. David and I have made it our goal to go to the temple every month this year. We used to be diligent about going frequently (at least once, and sometimes twice a month). But since having Lydia it's been harder than expected to get to the temple. This year though, we are going to make it happen. We just are. David's parents were kind enough to watch Lydia for us (I wish that I had gotten a picture - but alas, I forgot), so we dropped her off in West Jordan and went to the Jordan River Temple.

3. We've been lucky enough to see lots of friends and family members this week.

-My dad stopped by for an impromptu visit on Tuesday afternoon. It was so nice to see and visit with him. He was on his way home from doing some work in Ephraim (where we used to live). It's always fun to go back there, and my Dad mentioned that Ephraim still feels like "home" when you drive into it.

-My little brother Matthew stopped by on his way down to visit his mission friends in Provo. It was fun to show him our house (he hadn't seen it yet) and chat with him for a while. I had just put Lydia down for a nap, so she didn't get to see him - but when I told her that he had come, she said "Matt! Matt!" and got the biggest grin on her face. He's definitely up there in the favorite uncle category.
-I was able to go to book club this month with Ashley. It's so nice to have a good friend to spend time with. I always enjoy spending time with her. (More on book club below.) As much I love spending time with Ashley, our kids love spending time together just as much. I love spending time with this little trio every Friday morning.

-David's sister Amy is headed down here this afternoon and we are going to have a fun-filled weekend playing together. We went glasses shopping today and we are super excited to hang out tonight.
-My mom is planning to come down tomorrow to do some shopping and hang out with us. I'm so excited!

4. At book club this month we read "Quiet" by Susan Cain. It was interesting and I was surprised to find that I'm actually pretty split between being an introvert and an extrovert. (I believe I qualified as the ambivert category.) Before reading the book I would have said that I was completely an extrovert, but it was interesting to identify with many introverted qualities. I was also surprised to learn that David leaned more toward the introverted spectrum as well. Whatever our combination really is - it works for us!

My Missionary

Each January, I try to make some special effort to acknowledge and celebrate the day that David returned home from his mission to Nashville, Tennessee. Obviously I will take any excuse to celebrate this wonderful man that I found, but I especially want him to know how grateful I am for his faithful service to our Heavenly Father. Some years I am able to manage a bigger celebration than others, but I always try to make it a priority to celebrate in at least a small way. 

January 18, 2014, was the 8 year mark of David returning home from his mission. It's amazing how much the two years he spent on his mission have influenced the past eight years. There are some things that I believe that David really internalized on his mission and he draws on them to bless our lives each day. 

David has a solid testimony of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He knows the importance of the atonement of Jesus Christ and strives to live his life worthy of that testimony. This blesses my life through his example, and true Christlike love. 

On his mission David learned to serve others and work as a team. I've never heard him say anything bad about any of his companions and I think that attitude is what makes him the perfect companion for me. He is constantly thinking of my needs before his own, and everything we do - we do as a team. 

David learned how to organize himself and others. He fulfilled many leadership roles, and took on much of the responsibility for making sure the mission was functioning well. He used a small missionary planner for the first couple of years that we were married (while we were still in school), and still makes sure that everything is organized and planned out to get the maximum results from his day. Sometimes I see him organizing something, or working out a plan in his head, and I can see how the skills he learned on his mission are benefiting him and our family. 

David was an Assistant to the President right during the time that the Mission President switched over. I'm grateful for the influence that these wonderful couples had in his life. Both President and Sister Lords, and President and Sister Sorber taught David what it means to live a Christ-centered life, and what it takes to make that happen. They were great examples to him, and I know that they helped him be a better missionary and helped turn him into the amazing man he is today. I think that our relationship is founded on the principles that made their relationships so successful and so full of Christ.

 I am so grateful for him, for his testimony, and for his missionary service. But more than that, I'm grateful that the things he learned on his mission didn't leave him when he came home. He kept those things close to his heart and has continued to develop them over the past eight years. He's strengthened his testimony, stretched himself to share the gospel, improved his understanding of what it means to be a companion and partner with someone, and continued to develop his character. 

Welcome home Elder David Peaden. The past eight years have flown by, and I'm more proud of the man you are today than I am of the one who walked off that airplane. 

Friday Five

1. A couple of weeks ago, my Grandma Walker contracted a severe eye infection and was hospitalized. Lydia and I went to visit her in the hospital. She was still so sweet and happy that we came, even though you could tell that she was in a lot of pain. I have so many thoughts about this whole experience: My grandpa, a rough-and-tough cowboy, was there by her side 24/7 even though there wasn't much he could do. There was no couch/bed in the room, and my grandpa was sleeping in the chair by my Grandma. My dad suggested that he come to my parents house to sleep, but my Grandpa brushed the suggestion aside with the simple statement "She's more comfortable if I'm here with her." That simple statement is full of such love to me. I'm grateful for my grandparents example of love and marriage. Also, I brought a simple flower to leave for my Grandma - and after she was released from the hospital she wrote me the most beautiful thank you note. I didn't expect a thank you note at all, but it was so thoughtful and kind of her to take the time to express her gratitude and show her love. It makes me want to be better about writing Thank You notes. I've often told myself that I want to be the kind of person who write thank you notes, and I often think about doing it, but often I get distracted - or talk myself out of it. My grandma is so gracious, and I'm determined to be more like her. I'm happy to say that I've since seen my grandma and grandpa again and she seems to be completely recovered from her infection. I couldn't believe that it has only been a week and she looked like a completely different person. Modern medicine is an amazing thing and I am grateful for all of the doctors and nurses who took such good care of her. We love these two, and are grateful for their influence in our lives.

2. I missed my first Sunday since being called to the Primary. Matthew had his homecoming talk on this last Sunday, and so we went to Morgan to listen to that and help with the luncheon afterwards. (My mom was in Idaho Falls with Jenna and baby Camille, so my dad was going to host by himself. I think that he was glad we were able to be there to help.) I was so filled with gratitude for the Gospel as I sat in in Sacrament Meeting. I listened while Jacob blessed the sacrament, and as Matthew spoke about the blessings of the priesthood. I am so proud of my brothers and their efforts and desire to serve the Lord. The luncheon afterwards was really nice; I  love visiting with my extended family who always do SO much to support us. Missing Primary was, well, a lot of prep-work to make sure everything was ready. But I think that they survived without me. I will say that I probably won't be missing Primary again anytime soon. It was definitely worth it though, worth it to be there to support Matthew.

3. Lydia, David, and I have been sickies this week. We've been passing the same sore-throat stuffy nose thing back and forth, and none of us can seem to get over it. Lydia and I have been spending a lot of time watching Daniel Tiger, because neither of us have the energy to do much else. I've been enjoying the snuggles, because Lydia isn't usually a big snuggler. Obviously, we still limit TV watching, but we've watched more than usual. Cuddled up under a blanket with a book in one hand and the other wrapped around Lydia who is sitting on my lap. Life doesn't get much better.

4. Funny story. Melissa needed some alterations on her wedding dress - and asked if I would come with her to her fitting with a seamstress. I tried not to be too intrusive, but some of the things that the seamstress was doing didn't really fit with the way that I thought they should be done. So although I had originally told Melissa that she should probably find a professional to alter her wedding dress, we actually left the fitting session with the dress and I brought it home to do the alterations myself. Once I got home, I asked myself "What in the world did I just get myself into?" But I was confident in my ability to do what needed to be done in a more effective and better looking way than what was going to be done otherwise. I'm almost done (today I cut out and added the sleeves, all that's left is fixing the buttons down the back) - and I am so excited. It's really come together, and will hopefully be the perfect length and perfect fit for her. One of my favorite parts is the beaded sash that I'm making. It's really going to be perfect when it comes together. (Melissa showed up this afternoon for a last-minute fitting and I'm in love with the way it looks! It's amazing how removing the cap sleeve and adding the elbow sleeve can make such an incredible difference.)

5. David and I are on the verge of breaking up with Netflix. They've gotten really bad about adding new seasons of our favorite shows in a timely manner - and if it wasn't for Daniel Tiger, they'd be getting the boot. We've recently circumvented the system (is that a saying?) and have watched the first half of Doctor Who season seven on Amazon Prime (complements of my mom's login), the Christmas Special on Hulu Plus (complements of a free week membership), and we are going to try to finish the last half of season seven on Xfinity-online (complements of David's parent's log-in). We have been getting desperate! We are looking forward to a nice night playing with Lydia, reading her truck book, eating a yummy dinner, putting her to bed, and cuddling up on the couch to watch some BBC tv. (Any Netflix lovers still out there? We are in need of a new show to watch in the evenings.)

Happy Friday!

BCS National Championship

I took the lead this month of changing our December calendar to January and putting in all of the activities or items we had scheduled already. That also meant that on January 6th I included "BCS National Championship 6:30 PM." It was my way of letting Shantel know not to schedule anything on Monday night.

Shantel is always very kind and makes sure I get time to watch sports. If I let her know that a game is important to me, then as often as we can, she makes sure we are home to watch. In addition, so often, when she knows it is an important game to me, she makes it a big celebration. I love it. She will make football cookies, popcorn or anything else to make it a special event.

Once again, Shantel made the BCS title game party a special event for me. Here are a few pictures from the night.

Me with the delicious food Shantel made. For dinner, Chicken, Bacon & Ranch Sandwiches, with an extra slice of bacon on the side because Shantel loves me and knows how much I love bacon. Then for snacking and dessert, some popcorn and chocolate cookies! She knows how to do a party. One of my favorite things is that Shantel will do her own thing doing the games, but tells me to let her know when she needs to start watching. So when it gets down to the last minute or two I call her over to watch. She actually enjoys watching sports, but it is too intense for her! She told me the other day that she has some Facebook friends that she keeps just because they post about sports and so then she uses those as talking points to impress me. It always makes me so happy when she does this. 

Lydia helping me cheer. (We were rooting for Auburn to beat Flordia St., unfortunately it was not to be)

Lydia and I watching the game together. I love to have Lydia come sit by me and watch with me. You will notice that I am sitting on the floor about 2 foot from the TV and you might ask, why aren't you sitting on your couch. Well- Lydia plays on the floor, so I was sitting by her toys so we could play during the game. (I would have sat back another foot, but that blue rug is kind of scratchy) Anyway, it made it so fun to watch football and play with Lydia. We had a great time. 

This just happened...

Every Friday I make pancakes for Lydia, Carson, and Elsie. Lydia has started enjoying her grasp of language and pancake is one of those words. She asks for pancakes fairly frequently. This morning, she said "pancake" then disappeared. I was busy doing some other things and a few minutes later I realized she was being very quiet, I called her name and turned to find this:

 

I can officially say that the pancake mix has found a new home on the third shelf - well out of the reach of inquisitive little hands. Watch the video, you won't regret it. She is so funny. 

Journaling

We talk all the time about how much we love our blog and printing out our years into actual books that we can hold and touch. We love being able to stay close to family and friends through the things that we write and we love being able to look back at our adventures and remember our journey through life together. We also love that these blog posts will become a record of our life, a legacy that we can leave to our children, and that hopefully they will be able to look at our lives and see that we were two imperfect people who tried to do good all around them and who loved their life together.

However, sometimes I look  back at our books and realize that there are portions of our lives that are not being captured because of the personal nature of the topics. Because  we've chosen to document our lives in a very public way, it makes it more difficult to talk about some of the more personal things going on. This post is mostly for David and I. For our journal - for us to be able to record our lives. For me to be able to get out on paper the feelings and words of my heart. If you don't want to read about something extremely personal - I won't feel bad if you stop reading now.

We haven't really made it any secret that we've been hoping for another little baby to join our family for quite some time. We love Lydia and the joy that she brings to our lives, and we want more little children to fill our hearts and home with. We want sisters and brothers for Lydia and we want them to be close in age. We want them to grow up together and forge friendships and bonds that will last long after they move out of our house. We both have good relationships with our siblings and we want our children to experience that same joy that comes from close companionships with brothers and sisters.

In all honesty, I'm surprised that we don't already have a baby. In our life plan, we identified the window where we wanted Baby #2 to be born so that there would be one grade between Baby #2 and Lydia, while still being born earlier in the year (trying to push towards fall babies instead of summer babies). We are now solidly in that window where we were hoping for that baby to be born. (Hoping for a January - March baby. Although the actual window we planned out on our paper was actually November -April.) Obviously, our first two babies will not be as close as we had hoped. It's strange though, strange to be seeing all of these other babies born - when we had hoped to be counted with that number. I remember my neighbor telling me that they were going to have a baby in October. I was so excited for her, and remember thinking that it would be so much fun because we would be having a baby just a few months later. I had a very similar conversation with my sister-in-law, Julie, when she called to tell us they were expecting a baby in the fall. I expressed that it would be so neat, because hopefully those two little cousins would be friends because they would be so close in age. I was optimistic without reservation. We had prayed, visited the temple, and discussed having another baby in depth - it felt right and I was excited for our sweet little family to keep growing.

At the time I was a visiting teacher to a darling girl and friend who was undergoing fertility treatments and was struggling to get pregnant. I worried that it would be hard on her when we I got pregnant, and resolved to be very supportive of her and mindful of her feelings. She got pregnant not too long after that conversation and soon after, my little sister announced that she was pregnant with her first. I worried that getting pregnant at the same time would take away from her pregnancy and resolved to make sure that she felt special and supported through her pregnancy. I was thrilled at the prospect of having these two cousins so close together. Both my little sister Jenna, and my friend and visiting teachee, just gave birth to beautiful baby girls within days of each other.  I'm thrilled for both of them. Really and truly thrilled. However, it's strange to think that I thought that I would be having a baby so close to them and I don't appear to be any closer to that happening than I was 10 months ago. The idea that it's been long enough for an entire pregnancy surprises me.

Most people know that we had a bit of a difficult time getting pregnant with Lydia. (At least at the time we thought that it was taking a long time.) I was just coming off birth control and had heard that sometimes it takes a while.  My heart ached for a baby and each time a friend announced their pregnancy, I wondered why it couldn't be me. Several months into the process, we found out that we were pregnant and we were thrilled. I was very, very sick, but each time that I sat on the floor in the bathroom - I was excited at the thought that I was there because I was growing a perfect little baby and that soon I would hold him in my arms (I was convinced pretty early on that it was a boy). I had gone through some preliminary info gathering with my OB office when I first got in touch with them, however when we found out that we would get to listen to the heartbeat at the first real appointment - David took off work to come with me. I will always be grateful that he did that, because as we were in the checkup room waiting anxiously to hear the heartbeat of our perfect little child - my laying on the table and David sitting next to me in the chair - the tech couldn't find a heartbeat. I was scared and worried, and I remember how tightly David held my hand. They said that we shouldn't worry too much yet, because it was still a little early - but they were going to have us go down and get an ultrasound just to make sure everything was developing normally. Hearts in our throats and rocks in our stomachs we waited as the ultrasound technician told us the words that we did not want to hear, our baby had stopped developing at seven weeks and did not have a heartbeat. It would never grow into a baby at all, and my body would probably miscarry it on it's own within a week or two. I remember listening through tears as they told us our options: 1-Wait it out and let my body miscarry on it's own, 2- Take a medication that would induce miscarriage, 3- Have the baby and tissues removed through surgery. We are fairly hands off people as far as medicine is concerned and easily elected to let my body try to abort the pregnancy on it's own. We finally told our families at this point - it was such a hard conversation to have "We want to tell you something. We were pregnant, but we found out that the baby hasn't developed properly and we are going to miscarry." Both of our families were incredibly supportive and loving, and I'm glad that they were there for us because, unfortunately, my body couldn't figure itself out.  I endured four more weeks of intense morning sickness (and by morning sickness I mean all day sickness), and this time it was without the reassurance of being able to hold a baby in my arms. Each time I sat in the bathroom, I grieved again for my lost opportunity, my lost child. Each friend who announced their pregnancy was like a knife wound in my heart. It was taking a significant toll on my physical and emotional well being. Eventually David and I decided that my body needed help and we took the medication to help reset my body. I actually had the medicine for several days - but couldn't bring myself to take it. What if? What if somehow my baby was actually okay. The doctors were wrong? What if I was hurting my baby? But after much prayer, I took the medicine and experienced the worst pain of my life. I miscarried my sweet baby and my heart breaks each time I think about it. I had to go in for a blood test afterwards and my levels wouldn't normalize. This started a month and a half of weekly blood tests hoping that my pregnancy levels would drop and level out. During this time we took a vacation to St. George hoping to get away for a while. It was a wonderful break from real life and we both felt better after returning home. I started my first post-miscarriage period on the day that I went in for a final check-up by my OB, who gave us the go ahead to start trying for another baby whenever we felt like we were ready. During the pregnancy, before we knew that it would end in miscarriage, I had remarked that if for some reason the pregnancy didn't make it - or if I miscarried- I thought that we would have to wait several months to try again because the pregnancy was surprisingly taxing on my body and I didn't think that I could take it. However, as soon as we had the go-ahead from our doctor, we didn't even consider waiting. We knew that we wanted a baby; we desperately wanted a baby. Waiting any longer was not an option. Miraculously, we got pregnant that very month -just a few months short of a year after we first started trying- and Lydia was born 9 months later, after an extremely healthy happy pregnancy. (I was still very morning sick through the first trimester - but it wasn't nearly as bad as the first time around.) The joy that I have in my heart when I think of Lydia overshadows any of the sadness of the previous circumstances. That girl is such a blessing to me, and she was worth every ounce of sadness or sickness I experienced. I often thought, as I was rocking her in the middle of the night, that I appreciate her more because of that effort it took to get her here. That I love her more deeply, and take her for granted less. We also remarked that after the forced-reset my body must have figured everything out, because we were able to get pregnant so quickly and because the pregnancy was so healthy.

I write down this story now, so that you can understand the background of where we are at right now. I honestly thought that now that my body had figured the pregnancy thing out - that it wouldn't have a problem doing it again. I'm truly surprised. I thought that the first time around we struggled because I was coming off of birth control pills (that we didn't start again after Lydia because we didn't want to deal with the same after-effect) . I thought that it was an random accident that my baby stopped developing at seven weeks and wouldn't develop anymore. I thought that after the force-reset, my body had figured things out and would be fully functioning for any future pregnancies.

We've been trying for another baby for ten months or so now. It's been an interesting process, with it's ups and downs. At first we were full of optimism and excitement. Then cautiously patient (few couples get pregnant right away - it usually takes a little while). Then frustrated and upset. Finally I realized that I have everything I need right now. I have a wonderful husband and a beautiful baby girl. I don't want to miss a minute of Lydia's life because I'm so upset about not having the future that I want. Honestly, we are really happy with where we are. I don't feel the aching pain for another baby as deeply as I did for Lydia, although there are times when I want another baby so badly that it hurts. I'm able to be truly happy for my friends and family who announce that they are expecting. I believe that this is a tender mercy from Heavenly Father - to be able to be happy for others even though I want what they have so badly. I'm grateful for that, and grateful for the peace that the spirit brings to allow me to feel joy in our circumstances right now. To be able to truly love life the way it is now. 

As I look back over the last year I can see many instances that not being pregnant was actually a positive thing. We've had the opportunity to serve our friends and family in several capacities, some being very energy/time consuming and very important to those people. We've been able to act as the Lords hands and make a difference in their lives. Obviously, if I could choose - I'd rather have a baby. But I wonder if the Lord knew that we needed to be in those places at those times, and that we wouldn't have been able to do the things we needed to if we had been pregnant. I'm grateful for that little glimpse of the Lords timing, and that maybe - just maybe-  we were needed in other places in order to further his work and that is the reason. I'm glad that we were able to serve in the ways that we did. But now I'm hoping that the time and season is right for Baby #2 to come into our lives.

I bought a pregnancy test at the store last week. I know some people who take a million pregnancy tests a month, but the thought of taking a pregnancy test and having it be negative seems too much for me to bear. I've really only taken two pregnancy tests - and both were positive. (I only took them after I was pretty darn sure that I really was pregnant.) However, when I bought the test - my thinking was along these lines: "If I take a pregnancy test and it says negative - then at least I won't have to live in fear for the week surrounding my anticipated period. It'll either be negative and I will know that my period is coming - or it'll be positive and we will be able to celebrate!" It made so much sense, and would be so beneficial because honestly - the week leading up to my period is extremely stressful and makes me more emotional than I already am. But then when I got home I realized that pregnancy tests usually aren't effective until after you've missed your period (around 5 weeks or so). So that theory went out the window. I know that you can buy super-sensitive tests that tell you earlier, but they are fairly expensive - so unless I was sure I don't think I'd spend the money on them. At least not yet. But now I have a pregnancy test sitting in my cupboard in my bathroom, like a big elephant in the room. Surprisingly, it doesn't upset me - it gives me hope.

I am feeling optimistic right now. I can see a day soon in the future where I can take that pregnancy test and get a positive result. I don't know why it's taken so long - but I do know that the Lord is aware of the desire of our hearts and that someday soon we will hold another sweet baby in our arms as they join our little family. I have felt his peace wrapping around my heart. David and I have held each other as we've mourned the lost opportunity month after month, but we know that good things are in our future.

I guess I just want to include this part of our lives. We haven't said much about our struggle with pregnancy, but it's been a large part of our lives for the last 10 months. I hope that soon I'll be able to post an announcement that another little baby will be joining our family.

Until then, we will keep enjoying our life together, finding the good, and looking forward to the future.

Friday Five

With the start of this new year - we are back on the Friday Five Bandwagon. Looking back through previous posts, I find that these are some of my favorite entries - so I'm going to re-motivate myself to make them happen at least a couple times a month.

Here are some of the things that have been going on in our lives recently.

1- We printed our 2013 blog books! We got a coupon code to use for 15% off, but had to use it by the 6th of January. Awesome. Except when I went to load our book for printing we got this error: "The posts in blog "thepeadenlife.blogspot.com" from your selection dates contain 2519 photos. Currently, Blog2Print can place up to 2000 photos in your blog book. if you like, try creating two or more volumes of your Blog Book by selecting smaller date ranges."

Uhh... what? 519 photos too many???

We thought about trying to go back through and cut out 500 photos, but in the end we decided it's probably just better to print the book in two parts. It worked out because they can also only print about 450 pages per blog book, and in the end one book had about 350 pages and the other had about 280. So we never would have fit into one book anyway. I guess I'm a little long winded. Oh well.. We just cant wait to get our books delivered! 

2- As previously mentioned, Melissa and Blake are engaged to be married in March. I've been having so much fun working with Melissa to plan for their wedding. I'm currently in the middle of trying to alter her wedding dress. (It's a slip dress - so fairly straightforward to work with. It's gorgeous and I can't wait until it's done and fits her perfectly.) We also went and started gathering things for her bouquet this last weekend. It's going to be beautiful as well. It's very non-traditional with lots of succulents and wildflowers, and it's perfect for Melissa. I'm glad that Melissa is letting me tag along on her wedding planning journey - because I can't get enough of if!  

3- Last Sunday a couple in our ward invited us over for dinner. The Heaths are super nice, and we've thought several times that we wanted to get to know them better. It was so fun to spend time with them and I must say - the meal that they prepared was absolutely delicious. My mouth still waters just thinking about it. It's nice to feel like we are getting to know people in our ward and making good friends.

4- Our stake had The Food Nanny come and give a presentation about meal planning on a budget. I was really excited, and so I invited Ashley to come with me. It turned out to be nothing like what I thought it was going to be (it was more - let me show you how easy it is to make your own bread - and less - meal planning on a budget). But I still had a nice time chatting with Ashley and discussing our own meal planning strategies. I feel great about the way that I have our meals organized and feel confident in my ability to meal plan on a budget. It's remarkable to look at how far I've come, and I was actually surprised at myself when I caught myself thinking "I wish I was teaching this class right now - I would be taking such a different approach." I guess I'm just grateful for the experiences I've had and the abilities I've developed to plan healthy meals on a budget for my little family.

5- By far, this is the best news of the whole week. My little sister Jenna and her husband Kevin were blessed with a healthy baby girl on January 16, 2014. Camille Grace Haderlie entered the world at 10:37 a.m, weighing 7 lbs 11 oz. She has dark brown hair and is absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. I'm so excited for Jenna and Kevin and for this new adventure that they have just started. Just thinking about how wonderful it is brings tears to my eyes. I've not met her yet, but I already love Camille Grace more than I even thought that I would. She is perfect.

Elder Matthew Walker

Two years ago this January - my little brother Matthew left on his mission to Morristown, New Jersey. On his way to the MTC, my family stopped by Westlake High School where I just happened to be on my lunch break. I was very pregnant and sad that I couldn't go with my family to drop him off, but I knew that he was going to make an awesome missionary. Fast forward to today. Elder Walker was set to return home at 4:30 p.m. in the Salt Lake City Airport.  It'a amazing how quickly time seems to have flown, while at the same time - thinking about the fact that Lydia wasn't even born when he left makes it seems like lifetimes ago.

Lydia is 20 months old and was SO excited to meet her uncle Matthew for the first time. (Okay I might be projecting how excited I was onto her.)  We picked up David early from work and headed to the airport with my family to greet Elder Walker and welcome him home.

We were all so excited (which I expected) and nervous (which I didn't expect). The weather was pretty snowy and his plane had been delayed for a couple of minutes. I feel like we waited for him for hours - because it seemed to take so long!  Melissa kept Lydia occupied while we waited. Melis was a good sport and let Lydia drag her up and down the escalator like a million times. Up and down and up and down. I think Lydia would have been happy to do that for the rest of the day. She loved it! 

 

We were waiting with four other families whose sons were all coming home from the Morristown, New Jersey Mission. It was fun to talk to them and find several connections we had with them. We kept seeing men in business suits coming down the stairs and it was killing us. When he finally came down those stairs - we (and the other families greeting their boys) basically exploded. Then we had to wait for them to walk all the way down the stairs before we could run to hug them. 

He looked so good - and we were so happy to have him back. I don't know that he felt the same way. He loved his mission and over Christmas had expressed that he wasn't really ready to come home. Regardless, we were excited enough for him. I was so excited for him to finally meet Lydia - and they seemed to hit it off quite swimmingly. (I was worried for a little bit that all of the noise and excitement was going to scare Lydia - but she was smiling and laughing the whole time. She loved it.)

Welcome Home Elder Walker. We are so proud of you and your example and testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. You've done a great work, and we are excited to see what else your future brings!

Lydia Elise: 19-20 Months

This little girl is 20 months old! She's happy, energetic, adventurous, and so darn cute. 

Stats: Absolutely grown out of every 12 month piece of clothing that she has and a few of her 18 month clothes are starting to get a little tight. The outfit above is actually 24 months - but it's the only one that she has right now. You can tell it's a little big - but it's not SO huge. She's still in size 3 diapers and wears size 4 and 5 shoes. I don't know how much she weighs - but she is definitely starting to get heavy. She is finally breaking through another tooth (she's had the four on top and four on bottom for months now with no sign of any other teeth). It's on the top next to her already-in teeth. No molars yet. Her hair is FINALLY long enough to put in pigtails. She is absolutely darling and we love her.

Some things that we want to remember about this month:

--We went to the Alpine Live Nativity on her 19 month birthday. She loved to see all of the animals, but her favorite were the sheep. She was pretty good at making the animal noises we asked her to ("What does the cow say?" -- "Moooooo"), but after a while she responded to every animal with "Baaaa".

--She loves Bees. I don't know exactly where she learned it - but she will point out each and every bee in every book we read. (There are a surprising amount of bees just hanging out in the illustrations of books that are not about bees. Sitting on flowers, flying through the air...) I'll be reading about Curly the Pig and all the sudden she's pointing and saying "Beee". It's really darling.

--She also loves Lions. Everytime she sees a lion she says "Raaarrr". (We have several books with lions in them and she loves them). We often play "little lions" and crawl around on the floor growling at each other. She makes the sweetest little lion.

--Jumps on the trampoline and loves it.

--So many new words! Some of her favorites are book, read, tiger, Elsie, tree, Y (we point out the letters when spelling her name and she loves saying "Wyyyyyy"), baby, Grandpa (papa), water (wawa), milk, cereal (cera), treat, up, down, upstairs, downstairs, outside, coat, mommy, daddy, bear, fox, potty, poop, pee, orange (peach), tower, ball, and many many others.

--Loves both of her grandpas. We spent a lot of time with family over this last month and Lydia was always asking about Grandpa. Whether we were at home, at a grandparents house, or in the car - her most common word was "Grandpa?" Once, she even brought me the ipad to Facetime with my parents (we had just finishing talking to them a bit before - but when she came up holding the ipad saying "papa, papa" I couldn't resist and called them back). She's lucky to have such great grandpas. (She loved playing foosball with my dad over Christmas.

--She loves her babies! My mom gave her twin babies (one that looks like Elsie and one that looks like Lydia) and David's mom gave her a little baby as well. She loves all three of them and often tries to carry all three of them around at the same time. She is such a good little caretaker - she feeds them and helps them drink and loves to have them with her. 

--When she sees the camera she says "cheese!" The first time I heard her - I was so surprised. But I think her Aunt Amy says "Say Cheese." Regardless, it's so cute. 

--She had a great Christmas. She liked to climb on the boxes, but if you could catch her attention she loved to pull off the paper. She was also so in love with all her toys and frequently wanted to stop and play with what she had just opened. She sure is a loved little girl! 

 

--She is showing all sorts of interest in potty training. She acknowledges when she has a poopy diaper, and will even lay down (occasionally) if you ask her if she wants to get her diaper changed. She says "potty" all the time and sits on it almost every night. 

--She idolizes her dad. She points at his coat and shoes when he's gone and says "dad". When she hears the garage go up when he's coming home, she giggles and runs to the door. And when he watches football, she joins right in. 

--Pigtails! I've attempted to do a little ponytail on the very top of her head a couple of times over her little life and never had any success. Finally, I realized that there was more hair in the back than on the top and put her hair in little pigtails and it. is. so. cute. The first time I ever made it happen - there were many tears shed. But it's gotten progressively easier. (I really wanted a good picture of her piggies, but she was still mad at me for messing with her hair and these were the best I got.) 

--She's so athletic and energetic. She climbs all over our couches, side tables, coffee table, and chaise. People frequently ask me if she falls down and gets bruises all the time because of how active she is - but she really doesn't. She's really coordinated, and has an excellent sense of balance. Some of the things she does make me a little nervous - but she's actually very capable. She rarely falls down, and even though I stay really close to her when she's being a daredevil, she almost never needs my help to do what she wants to do (like balance beam her way from one side of the sink to the other, or scale the couch and reach her little body to the side table and pull herself over). She can even pull herself up on the coffee table with no assistance from anything. She basically does a pull-up and then gets her leg over the edge. The one thing that I'm really trying to teach her is that she cant go off of things head-first. She likes to slide to the very end of the chaise and use her hands to walk herself off. The other day she started going head-first off the side. I'm really working on it - but everytime I stop her she looks at me like "Mom, I got this!" I don't know what I'm going to do with her. 

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-- She loves oranges but calls them "peach". It's so funny. She'll go to the fridge and ask you to open it (usually with whining but sometimes she'll point and just look really cute), then point to the fruit drawer and say "peach?". Family members know that the way to her heart is by bribing her with little clementines, but she likes the big oranges as well (although she is very impatient while you peel it). 

--She loves Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. She'll often point to the TV and say "Tiger", or she'll find the Wii remote and bring it to me. She really, really loves him. We try to limit TV, but this month we were a little lax (there was just so much going on). We love it because it's cute and teaches good morals. She loves it because it's so fun. 

--One day while I was making dinner, I was letting her watch an episode of Daniel Tiger. They were playing with a ball and the little song was "Keep trying, you'll get better." I looked over and she had found her ball and was bringing it to me to throw with her. So we threw it back and forth for a minute. Then a little later in the same episode - Daniel and O the Owl were trying to build a tower and I watched her pull out her blocks and start to build a tower with them. It was the neatest thing! It makes me glad that we have her watch good educational shows instead of just junk - because she's obviously soaking it all in. 

--She loves to build towers. One day when we had the trampoline upstairs, she started building her tower on the tramp. She was being very careful and holding very still while stacking her tower, but when she finished it - she would start bouncing on her knees to knock it over. I was so impressed with her problem solving ability! 

-- She has lots of cute outfits, but one of my favorites was the orange shirt and purple pants outfit pictured many times here. These were not all taken on the same day. I just must have thought that she looked cute every day that she wore them and always taken pictures on those days. Silly. 

--She found David's gloves and tried to put them on all by herself. She's so smart.

We sure love this girl and are grateful for the happiness that she brings to our lives!