Working moms and the norm...

So I had an interesting experience today at the pediatrician's office, besides taking 2 hours just to get 4 shots (it was extremely annoying). She was talking to me about starting solids with Anna and suggested that I start on a weekend, that way I'd be with her more, assuming that I worked during the week. I told her I was a stay at home mom. Afterwards I was thinking about it and it's interesting and a little sad, how most people assume that mom's work and put their kids in daycare. It's become the norm now and has been for quite a while. I don't know why this struck me as particularly sad today. I love being able to stay home with Anna and take care of her. I would miss so much of her growth if I were at work. Sure, it's not sunshine and roses all day and every day, but there's no other place I'd rather be. I remember before I quit my job, occasionally feeling kind of sad for having to quit and not being able to advance in my work. However, a few weeks after she was born, I remember thinking that I wouldn't want to be any other place. Work was not worth missing raising my baby. 

I know that a lot of moms have to work or prefer to work rather than stay home. I'm not saying every mom has to stay home and raise children, but I honestly believe that part of the problems of today's youth comes from not having parents at home. They know their parents won't be home till 5 or 6 and it's easier for them to get into trouble. Anyways, I'm just thankful that we can afford for me to stay home and hopefully it will stay that way, seeing as how the economy is getting so unstable lately. 

On a happier note, Anna laughed for the first time yesterday. It was so cute! Dan started tickling her and she just gave this loud chuckle/laugh thing. It made us really happy. Also, she has started to roll from her back to her stomach. She's done it quite a bit the last few days. The funny thing is that after she rolls over, she doesn't know what to do next. Sometimes she gets fussy, other times she just kind of hangs out. It's pretty cute. 

Scrapbooking

So I have finally gotten around to scrapbooking some of Anna's baby pictures. I've been wanting to do this since she was born, but just haven't gotten around to with moving and stuff. I've never really scrapbooked before, but I'm excited to start doing it. Here are 2 pages I've done so far. There are still some finishing touches I want to do to them, to spruce them up a bit.

I enjoy trying to tap into my creative side. I've never been one of those super creative, cutesy, artsy kinds of people, but I think I'm doing better. There are also a lot of ideas online, which are helpful. The only downside to this new hobby is it can be kind of expensive. So far, a friend gave me a whole bunch of paper she didn't want and I got some cheap stuff at Target. However, I think with some careful budgeting, it won't be too bad.

Here are some cute pictures of Anna. She has really started to blow raspberries. She loves doing it, it is so cute! She just sticks out her tongue and blows air. Inevitably, a lot of spit gathers around her mouth and just adds to the noise and cuteness of it all.

She has also started to be able to move herself a lot. She'll turn on her side, then kind of go on her back, but in a different spot than originally. I don't know how to explain it, but she is just able to manuever herself around. Here, I put her kind of in the center/side of the circle and after a while, this is where she ended up. It was funny.

Poop vs. Throw Up

Poor Dan, he never saw it coming...

So I just have to say that I prefer poop over throw-up. I know this sounds really weird, but there are a few reasons for this odd statement. First of all, poop is contained (for the most part). The poop stays in the diaper and all you have to do is clean it off a little bum. Breast fed babies, this is a very easy process, since the poop is generally thinner (until they start eating solids). Throw up on the other hand, comes very unexpectedly. You could be sitting on the couch, standing in the family room or kitchen, and bam! all of a sudden you, the couch or the floor (usually both) are covered in nasty regurgitated food. It's not as easy to clean up as poop. You have to change your clothes and if you didn't clean it as well as you thought, the after smell lets you know.

I don't know, I just would rather deal with poop than throw up. For about 2 1/2 months of Anna's life, she would throw up a couple of times a week. It has finally subsided quite a bit and I am SOOOO thankful for that. Yeah, poop smells worse for the moment, but once you get rid of the diaper, the smell is usually gone. Once, I used a rag to clean up some throw up and then put in under the sink with some other dirty rags and forgot to wash them for a while. Well, nasty black mold grew on the rag. I was so disgusted, I threw the rag away! I vote for poop all the way! :)

The last month...

Well, a lot has happened in the last month. First of all, we moved into our first house!!! We bought a house and love actually owning a home! It was kind of crazy because we had been told that escrow would close on a certain date. I told our apartment that we would be out 10 days after that date, thus giving a nice cushion of time. However, our loan didn't fund forever and the day before we had to be out of our apartment, we weren't sure if we were going to be able to move that day or wait. It was all very stressful. The loan actually didn't fund by moving day, but luckily the owner let us "rent" the home until it did. It was all the providence of Heavenly Father that it worked out that we could move when we were supposed to. We were very grateful. So we love being in our new house.

This is my new favorite picture of Anna.

Anna update: She is now 3 months old! She is getting so big. At times I look at her and can't even believe that she ever fit in my stomach! She is really developing. She has started to reach for things. It is so cute! She can tell she is in a new place too. The first few days she would just keep turning her head left and right and just looking all over the place.

We also finally put her in a crib. She had outgrown her bassinet. So the first night, she's fine. The second night, apparentley she moved a lot because when I went in her room that morning, she had turned herself around completely. Her head was where her feet should have been. It was so cute! The only bad thing about the crib, is because I'm so short, I have trouble putting her in her crib sometimes. Especially when it's for a nap. I have to lift her over the side, and I think the lifting motion wakes her up sometimes. Other than that, her crib is great. It was kind of weird though for the first few days to not have her in our room. I missed her, even though she is just across the hallway, barely 8 feet away from us! It was nice to have our bedroom back to ourselves and not have to whisper our prayers together before bed. Or whisper at all when we needed to talk to each other.

This was taken a few weeks ago. This was the dress she was blessed in. She smiles so much now.

I think she looks so adorable in the corner of the couch. I love her chubby cheeks!

She has learned how to grab the circle-thing and pull it to play music!

She just fell asleep on Dan like this.

So life is going well for now. I'm at home with Anna, which I'm so grateful that I can do. We've been blessed so much right now. Dan has a good job, we have a beautiful baby girl, we have food to eat, vehicles to drive and money in the bank! We live a blessed life.