No Greater Joy

Ammely has started to laugh - or at least is trying. These moments are so sweet!

For Daddy's Special Day

This year, in an effort to do something nice for Daddy we got to know a little bit of what it must be like for Daddy all of the time.

Daddy is always doing hard things for us to make us happy. We know it isn't easy for him to go to work, or to school, or to shoulder many worries and responsibilities because he is Daddy.

And now we too know how hard it is to do nice things. Getting Daddy a Father's Day present was no easy task.

In fact, it was downright miserable.

 I thought I hated it at the time.

But then, when all was said and done, I took a moment to reflect on what happened. And I looked at what I had accomplished.

And I thought..."Hey!"...

"That wasn't soooo bad. This turned out pretty darn good."

And I DO love Daddy.

I REALLY love Daddy.

He's such a great guy.

Okay, okay. It was hard at first, but I love the guy. I'll do hard things for him with a smile!

Besides, look how great this is! My hard work and smiles will surely put a smile on Daddy's face too!

And if not, there are always other sweet things for Daddy on Father's Day...

We sure learned a lot. Thank you Daddy, for all that you do for us. We know it's hard and downright miserable sometimes. But we love the smiles in the end.

We sure do love you!

An Anniversary

Well, the most magical day of the year rolled around again - June 11th! - -Which means Ammon and I have been married for two whole years! To mark the event we decided to take an evening and go back to our favorite place - same place as our honeymoon, same place as our 1 year anniversary - Scottsdale, Shearton Desert Oasis. Since we were only going to be staying one night we upgraded the room. This one had even more awesome features, like TWO fireplaces. And a full kitchen. 

And a two-person jacuzzi tub. In the room. Not the bathroom. The bedroom. Jut plain awesome.

 As usual, we had an AMAZING time. Good food. Good talks. Good time watching shows and just hanging out with eachother. Good to reflect on another year of the awesomeness that is our life together.

And who had the most fun on this romantic getaway you ask?

Well, Ammely of course! (What? It's not so easy to just leave your 2 month old behind, especially when she's nursing and whatnot.)

I mean, there were pillows four times her size.

And towel animals to make friends with.

And gigantic bathtubs. 

And time to spend with Daddy.

And a crib!

Yes, Ammely definitely enjoyed a night in luxury. We all did.

2 Months, A Prayer and a Hairdryer

Remember when I said that babies can break your heart? It's still true.

Ammely had her 2-month appointment, which means shots.

All started well. She was perfectly happy to be at the doctor's office - getting measured, just laying on the paper, listening to it crinkle as she wiggled around.

And then they came in and changed her world. With 5 shots. Yes, FIVE shots.  

And even though she did not like them at all in the moment, she did very well. She only cried for a few minutes. It was much later when the pain re-kicked in and she would not forgive her mommy for that kind of an experience.

She started crying as we arrived at Walmart to get her Infant's Tylenol.

The cart goes crooked.

Abandon cart in middle of aisle.

Could I find Infant's tylenol with the rest of the medicine? No.

So I lugged her to the back of the store to the baby section. Infant's tylenol there? No.

Back outside to the 100 degree weather.

To Walgreens.

Lugged baby into Walgreens.

Infant's tylenol? Probably - but I left the paper from the doctor in the car.

Back outside.

Back inside.

Infant's tylenol in the infant's medicine section? No.

Infant's tylenol in the normal people section? Yes. Hallelujia.

Check out. Cashier tries to make small talk. Really? Now, while my child is crying as though death were at her door?

Out to the car.

In the backseat, hoping the A/C speeds up, trying to read dispensing directions from the box and the doctor for the first time.

Give her the drops.

Go home.

Still crying.

Warm compresses or warm bath is supposed to help.

Draw up bath.

Put baby in bath.

No good.

Maybe she wants me to hold her.

Try to fill up normal bath while she is in her infant bath.

Start the water and it goes onto her head.

Stupid mommy moment.

Even more upset little girl.

10 minutes in bath, still no better.

Baby is crying.

Mommy is crying.

Mommy is praying.

Wrap up in towel, sit on bathroom floor, and hold her.

Turn on hairdryer. Hairdry baby.

Crying slows to wimper.

Baby falls asleep.

Mommy offers prayer of gratitude.

I have never been so sad. I have never been so exhausted. And I wasn't even the one who got the shots.

As previously stated, babies can break your heart.

A Blessing

With my family living out of state, we decided to utilize Memorial Day weekend for Ammely's blessing day. This way those working folk and school-bound folk could come down without too much personal trouble.

This meant that Ammely FINALLY got to meet her Grandpa Breakall, or "Gampy Bakeall" as we've been calling him.

It was love at first sight for the both of them.

Seriously, they were very comfortable together. Very.

The same can be said for her Uncle Jared.

It was so wonderful to have my whole family here. It just fills my heart up when we're all together. I hate that we're all so far apart. But so is life and really we're quite blessed with all of today's technologies that we can see eachother and talk to eachother as much as we do.

The bishop was kind enough to let us do the blessing in Sacrament Meeting even though it was not a fast Sunday. So Sunday morning Ammon got his little angel ready for their special moment.

The blessing itself went beautifully. I saw a quote the other day that said something like

"I never knew how much I loved your father,

until I saw how much he loved you."

That basically sums up my feelings for her blessing day. I know she was the one getting a blessing but I felt blessed. I don't think there is anything of greater worth to me in my life than knowing that I am married to a man who holds the priesthood worthily. That he can lead our family to our eternal goals and has the authority to bless our family as he righteously does so.

Another wonderful part of any blessing day is getting to spend the afternoon with so many loved ones. We had SOO many people come to share in Ammely's special moment, we are truly blessed.
Here are a few pictures of a few of the people who were there. I've already had one of those moments as a mom where you go "Darn it! I wanted pictures of such and such and forgot!"  Thus, I do not have pictures of everyone who came. In fact, I have pictures of only a few. At least I have some pictures though.

Uncle Jared, Mommy, Ammely, Daddy, Grandpa Breakall, Grandma Breakall

Grandma Breakall and Ammely

"Uncle" Rocky and Ammely

Uncle JT, Ammely, Grandpa Breakall

Grandma Baysinger, Ammely, Great-Grandma Lords

Janey - this sweet woman has done so much for our little family. Among the MANY things she has done is give us this beautiful blessing dress for our daughter.

This is probably only about half of the wonderful men who stood in the circle as Ammely was blessed. I am most frustrated with myself for not getting the picture with all of them. But alas, what's done is done.

Great-grandpa Lords, Uncle Jared, Cousin Tyler, Ammely, Daddy, Uncle Boyd, Grandpa Breakall
We're missing Grandpa Baysinger, Uncle Kent, Uncle Royal, Uncle JT and Uncle Gage.

As I said, everything went beautifully. Ammely was well-behaved. Ammon blessed her eloquently and correctly. Family and friends joined with us. So many contributed to the good food and good conversation.

I'm so grateful. Grateful to everyone who came. Grateful that the bishop allowed us to do this while my family was in town. Grateful for a wonderful husband who could do this special thing for our little girl.

Grateful that him and her were able to share the moment and bond even closer together. There is something extra sweet about Daddy-daugher relationships.

And grateful for this sweet little spirit who has enriched our family so greatly already.

The Howl of the Coyote

Carded at 7 weeks

In my pursuit to find things that will keep both me and my little one occupied at her tender age, I read somewhere that there is no age-minimum for getting your own library card.

For those who know me, you can only imagine the joy this brought to me. I love libraries. I love books. I love learning. Most of all, I hope to share this love with my child.

So off we went to the library! We looked around for awhile, picked out some books, picked out one movie and headed to the librarian's desk (These activities overwhelmed my sweetheart at some point and she fell asleep).

Me (with child in arms): I heard there is no age requirement for getting a library card, can I get her a library card?

Librarian: Uh, you coouulllldd. But why?

Me: Because I want to. (I realize this was not the most eloquent or accurate answer, but I wasn't expecting to be questioned, I was unprepared).

Librarian gives me a "you must be crazy" look.

Me: Sooo...can I get her a card?

Librarian turns to other librarian: Can she get her daughter there a library card?

Librarian #2: She could but why would she want to?

Librarian #1 turns to look at me.

Me: So I can?

Librarian #1: We ususally wait until the child is older so they can write their own name on the back of the card.

Me: But you don't have to wait?

Librarian shakes her head.

Me: Good. Then I would like to get her a library card.

Librarian: Ok.

She then proceeds to fill out the information on her computer so I can get Ammely a card. She comes across the question that says, "Would you like your minor to be able to check out movies and other media?" and looks at me as if to say, "Do you see how ridiculous it is to give your child a card at her age?"

Me: Uh, yes ((As I already had a movie ready for her to check out - Baby Einstein)).

Librarian #2: That's probably why you want the card, right? So you can check out more DVDs?

Me: Uh, no. I have things for her to check out. I'd like it to be on her own card.

The point - I guess I must be the only mother in Queen Creek getting their 7 week-old a library card. I really couldn't see why they thought this was so insane. I can't possibly be the only mother who reads books to her infant.

Regardless, Ammely now has her own library card:

This was maybe a more exciting moment for me than for her. But still, she did indeed check out her one movie and several books that we have started to enjoy together.

I then tell my brother (who is currently going to school to be a teacher) about this event and he pulls out this book:

He proceeds to read me portions of the book which say that if you try to make your children do things before they're ready for them, it can be potentially harmful to their desire to learn the activity (such as reading) at all. We need to be careful that what we do for our children is really for our children and not derived out of selfish desires (I want my child to read instead of My child is ready to learn to read).

And I think to myself, great. Seven weeks in and I'm already a terrible mother. Thank you brother. Thank you librarians.

However, as I explained to my brother, I am not trying to make Ammely read. I am reading to Ammely. I maintain that you are never too young to appreciate a good story. You are never too young to appreciate good pictures in a picture book. You are never too young to be learning the principles of language by listening to others speak it. (My brother agrees, by the way. And he in no way was indicating to me that I'm a bad mother - the circumstance just reminded him of what he is learning about currently in his classroom)

Thus, I feel no guilt for getting Ammely a library card.

I love to share the things I love with the people I love. It makes sense to me that the library should be among the first of those things.