Freezing time

Last night Adaliah woke up and requested that I come snuggle with her in bed for a minute. I'll never pass up on an offer like that.

I layed there in the dark with her arms around my neck. I couldn't see her, I could just hear her breathing. I started to drift asleep and in my half asleep mind I pictured Adaliah as a teenager....like I was jumping forward into time for a moment.

I layed there thinking about how fast time goes by. How many more times will I get to lay in bed and snuggle with Adaliah as she falls asleep? How much longer until I'm not the number one person she'll want to spend her weekends with?  For a moment I felt like everything was put into perspective. When I'm old and Adaliah is all grown up- am I going to remember all the times I did the dishes and cleaned the house? No. I'll remember sitting in Adaliah's room for hours playing paper dolls and teddy bears and laughing our heads off together during tickle fights. I need to prioritize my days better.

I wish I could grab those little moments and put them someplace safe so I can live them over and over again someday.
 For example- yesterday we drove Pete to the temple and somehow Pete ended up going into the temple with the car keys- leaving me and the two girls stranded.

The temple is a perfect place to be if your stranded. We walked around the grounds a few times and then found a shady spot to sit. My two girls didn't have a care in the world. Adaliah gathered the fall leaves, sang songs, danced, told me stories, and said hi to all of the people that passed.  It's easy to forget all your worries and frustrations when you have children to remind you to enjoy the moment.

I love being a mother. I love this phase in my life.  Somedays I just wish I could stop time- because I know how much I'm going to miss this time in my life when it's over.

Elizabeths blessing and labor day weekend

Elizabeth was blessed on Sept 2nd.

My Granny made the beautiful blanket. My mom made the beautiful blessing dress and sandles

She screamed all morning...she screamed the whole way over in the car....and then the second we walked into the church she fell asleep. The blessing was beautiful. The circle was large full of amazing men that will be part of her life. Grandpas, Great Grandpas, uncles, friends...
I'm so grateful to be surrounded by the priesthood. We are truly blessed.

We're grateful for the women in her life too...
 

After the blessing festivites were over, we went to Pete's parents to welcome Mark and Dana back to Utah. They have been living in Hawaii but are now finished with school and moving back to Utah. They had a baby girl Eleanor just 11 days after we had Elizabeth.

The next day was Labor Day and Pete had work off. We spent the afternoon at Day Break playing in the sand and water. It was a perfect relaxing day with our little family of 4.

Adaliah is 2 1/2

31 pounds

Shoe Size: 8

Shirt Size: 4T

1. Adaliah is potty trained! Back in July we bought her a princess potty seat that goes on the toilet. The next day she woke up and told me  "No more diapers" and refused to put one on. She never looked back. We've had plenty of crazy days on the potty training journey,  but here we are 2 1/2 months later and we very rarely have any accidents. She even goes in and does her business completely on her own without any help. I'm so glad I never had to do two kids in diapers.

2. Adaliah is such a goof ball when it comes to hair and clothes. Clothes: The only thing she ever wants to wear is dress ups and church dresses. It's a huge battle to get her in anything else.
Hair: She HATES getting hers done and she feels like she is in charge of mine. She puts up a screaming and kicking fit some mornings when I put my hair in a pony tail. No lie."No mom!! Leave it down like Rapunzel! No!!! Don't put it in a pony tail!" 

(Mary took these pictures one morning at a princess party she threw for the girls. Have I mentioned how much I love having my amazing sister down stairs?)

 3. Adaliah is very passionate about making rows. Yes....rows....rows of anything she can find. Rows of pillows, cards, books, sticks, toys, ext. Strange? I love her funny corks. 

4. Adaliah is a wonderful big sister. She loves to get right in Elizabeths face "Ooo hi baby sista...oooo you're so petty".  She  loves to pick out her clothes in the morning,  help change her diaper, and loves playing with her on the floor. I'm so glad that Adaliah has adjusted pretty well to being a big sister.

 

5. Adaliah is a social butterfly. She wants to be playing with friends all day long. Our neighbors the Leishmans across the street have 3 boys ages 4,2, and 8 mths. Adaliah calls them "her boys". "Where are my boys mom?"  Here is a picture of her and Logan (age 2) chilling in the front yard.

 

 6. Adaliah loves to learn. We play school a few times a week and work on letters and numbers. I'm always surprised how quick she picks things up and how well she remembers what she learns. She's a smarty pants.

7. She loves to run and race. Last week we were on a walk and Adaliah insisted she get out of the stroller so she could run home. We were still 4 blocks away from home...but I let her get out anyway. She ran the entire way at a steady pace. I was very impressed. 

8. She is so animated when she tells stories. I love asking about her day because she will tell me ALL ABOUT it. When she gets out of nursery she'll tell me what songs they sang, what toys she played with, what they had for treats, and what they learned about. She is usually a pretty happy girl and gets overly excited about every little thing in life. I love it. I wish I could be more like her in this way.

8. She is getting some major attitude. She puts her hands on her hips and gets that snotty look on her face "I'm not going to play with you ever, Mom!" and then stomps out of the room.  Oh goodness...

She still loves to sing, dance, run around, read books, and play with her toys. She loves playing paper dolls, teddy bears, and princesses. She makes me laugh all day long with her cute ideas and her silly tantrums. We sure love this little girl.

Elizabeth- 1 month

A few things about Elizabeth that I never want to forget....

1) Elizabeth is such a sweetie. When she was 4 days old I was talking to her and I SWEAR she smiled at me in response to my talking...

-On day 7 she did again...

-Day 9 she smiled at Adaliah

When I told my mom, she sounded doubtful.. babies don't usually smile until 4-6 weeks

but then she smiled at my mom and she became a believer.

Now she smiles at us all day long. Can you believe it? She started smiling at 4 days old.

We are yet to get the full gummy cuteness on film but here are our closest attempts.

 

2) I am madly in love with her crazy hair. She has SO MUCH and there haven't been any signs of it thinning out.  

3) We're still not sure what color her eyes are going to be. The have stayed a dark...grayish..blueish...brownish color. Okay- so they look different every day. I'm excited to see what color they turn out.

4) Elizabeth has a very shrill cry with some major volume. She also yells at us with a  "Rrraarr" or  a really high pitched scream. She gets pretty fussy and the two things that calm her down the most is bouncing (Pete and I hold her and bounce up and down on our exercise ball)and the colic hold that looks like this...

5) She's already a pretty good sleeper. This is her schedule right now that she is pretty consistent with
11:30- midnight: She goes to sleep for the night
5:00 am- wakes up to eat
8:30- wakes up for the day
then she only takes little 20 min cat naps all day  until around 3
3:00-7:00- She takes a long nap
7:00 pm- 11:30- Shes wide awake until bed

6) She had the hiccups a lot while I was pregnant and she still does. She probably gets the hiccups 4 or 5 times  a day.

We love our sweet little princess. She has brought so much joy into the home.  We eww and ahhh over every little face she makes, or noise she squeals out...

New Born Pictures

August

The first weekend of August my family had family reunion down at Zions. We obviously did not make the trip with our 1 week old baby but my amazing sister Karen made the trip and brought Adaliah with her.  Adaliah had so much with her cousins, Grams and Gramps, and of course her Aunt Karen. When Adaliah got home she gave me the highlights of the trip
1) "I got an owie on my knee!" (She fell off a log and milked it for all it was worth. I was told she was very dramatic about the accident and refused to walk for awhile after. haha...what a goof)
2) "I dumped water on Grams head!" I guess it was high 90's the entire time so the camp got creative on finding relief
 We were so grateful for Karen- she is the worlds best aunt. My girls are lucky to have her.


 August also brought some fun Daddy/Daughter dates including
$2 Tuesday at Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum and a work party where Adaliah got to play with her friends and listen to a great live band Lady and Gent.

 

As for me- as soon as Elizabeth hit about 3 weeks, I was ready to get out of the house and enjoy my summer with my girls.

Waiting for Pete to get out of work- hanging out in the car for an hour

On Friday, August 24th while getting ready in the morning, Pete mentioned he had 50% off pass to Lagoon and jokingly suggested he ditch work and we spend the day at Lagoon..... 

So we did.

   

 

I was nervous about how the day would go with a two year old and a 3.5 week old...but I was up for the challenge. 

The day ended up being PERFECT! Adaliah was an angel and had a blast going on "games" (rides), Elizabeth slept for the entire time except for short eating breaks, Pete got to go on some of the new rides he wanted to try, and I got to walk around in the heat all day and not have ONE CONTRACTION. Amazing. 

We were there from 1-8...and loved every minute of it. I love my sweet family!

 My neighborhood also had a giant HOA party at the park. Blow up toys, cotton candy, and lots of friends. 

 Last, but not least, I had a visit from two of my favorite people, Kayla and Shantel. Kayla stopped by the night before she moved to Washington DC. I'm so sad to see her move across the United States, but so glad I got to meet her little guy before she left.  Look at these three sweet babies born in May, June, and July.

Our new life as a family of 4

The day before I got induced, we noticed that Adaliah was covered in red dots. I called my dad and we decided that for the safety of the new baby- it would be best if Adaliah spent some time in Manti so she wouldn't spread whatever she had.


I was sad that Adaliah wasn't able to come to the hospital and meet her sister, but I knew it was for the best. I have to admit, it was nice to come home from the hospital and get to know Elizabeth for a few more days before I dug into the mother of two thing.

When my mom brought Adaliah back she was so excited to meet her new baby sister "Ez-a-bef". She has been such a great helper and big sister.

As for Pete and I, we are slowly getting a hang of our new life as parents of two and we are loving it.

July 30th

8:30 am- I head to the hospital to get induced

10:00- I'm all checked in, and the pitocin began
1:30- Pete leaves to go get some lunch
2:00- Dilated to a 4- feeling great (contractions feel like an average night for me... no big deal...) Doctor breaks my water.
2:10- Ahhh!!!! Get me an epidural!! I call Pete and tell him to hurry!
2:20- Pete gets back
2:30- I get my epidural....
2:45- Not feeling any relief....
3:00- Ready to Push! I'm feeling...a little relief...maybe...
Doctor comes in....
3:13- Two pushes later... I hear the most beautiful noise in the world. My sweet girls first cry

3:20- Oh! My legs are starting to get a little numb...I think my epidural is working now...

 

 Elizabeth Kate Ackerman 

7 lbs 8 oz

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