Aly TV: Classic Literature

Aly's favorite book these days is the Dr. Suess classic The Foot Book.  She's loves to turn the pages and is even learning the "story".  You just might be able to tell what her favorite part is if you watch carefully.

Aly TV: Silly Time

Like most babies people, Aly gets a little silly when she's sleepy - particularly when Mommy helps with a little tickling.


Just a little silly.

Music Monday

This song, not this version, was sung by my mother to my sisters and I probably hundreds, if not thousands of times during our childhood. She sang it at all her children's baptisms. It sure meant a lot to us back then.

And now I sing it to my daughter...and it puts her to sleep just about every time. I hope it will mean as much to her as it does to me.

Thanks for teaching me this song, Mom. It's exactly what I want my daughter to know about her Savior.

To learn more about the subject of the song, click here.

1,826 Days and Counting

Boy, we look so different! Most importantly, I think we both feel different since that day. We feel better. Like better versions of those young kids.

Not like 5 years of marriage is enough to age someone significantly, but we really had no idea what we were getting ourselves into 1,826 days ago...but I think that's for the best--he may have backed out!!


You wanna know something? Before we got married I made a list of everytime I got the feeling that this was the right thing to be doing. One of those things on that list was something my mom said to me:

"He respects you as I as I do."

Another was something my sister, Jen, said to me:

"You and him would have a happy and loving home."

Another is something my friend, Rachel (really not me), said to me:

"He is so nice."

Ya know, I think I made the right choice. In fact, I know I did. There are many things my wonderful husband is not, but he has all the important stuff down! He even made a picture slideshow set to the tune of this wonderful song. Talk about a smoothie!

People say that your wedding day is supposed to be the happiest of your life, but I disagree. How can that day compare to last night, watching those pictures on that slideshow of the life we have built together, and then playing with our little nearly 10 week old daughter, and then going to sleep in our home that we have made our own?

If you couldn't guess, they don't even compare. Not even close!

Music Monday

So, I was at work and missing Piglet (what's new?) and came across this song by Taylor Swift, and seriously thought "this is my song for Music Monday."

I've felt this way since day 2 of my little girl's life, but no matter how hard I wish, she still gets bigger, and better...and surprisingly I love her even more! Hope you enjoy this song which I plan on downloading right when I get home!

Right Here, Right Now

Four weeks ago right now I was in the nursery with this little girl watching her try out her new lungs during her measurement/torture session just after birth.

Now I am watching her fight sleep with that same gusto but a little less vocally...so far.

I wonder where the next 4 weeks are going to take us.

For now, I'm super content just being with my baby girl right here, right now in our rocking chair at 3:30am not sleeping together.

Thanks for the happiest four weeks, bugga-boo! It's been made up of moments just like this that have forever re-shaped my heart. That's where you grew inside of me, and that's where my love for you will grow forever.

Trying for a Schedule

Parents of newborns consistently tell us that the biggest challenge as far as sleep goes is getting them to sleep at night.  Newborns need to sleep up to 18 hours a day, or so we are told, and that's about right for Aly.  She will usually sleep for about 3 hours at a time, followed by about 30 minutes of awake time to get her diaper changed, eat, and settle back down to sleep.  Every couple of cycles she will decide to stay up for an hour or so, and when she is up she likes either one of us to be up with her.  Usually she prefers to be held but her bouncy chair will do as long as there is something going on around her.

The real problem for Rachel and I is when Aly decides to have one of these awake times in the middle of the night, so the past few nights we've been trying to get Aly to be awake for as long as possible before Rachel and I go to bed.  Here is our attempt from last night: