Sweet despite sickness

Today baby B and I are having a sick day--just staying inside and hoping that baby B feels better soon. She got a cold after our Boise trip, and was really suffering yesterday. I probably shouldn't have taken her to playgroup, but she did pretty well, and I had a great time (is that selfish?). Nighttime is the worst because she can't breathe too well. But I've been able to keep her passages as clear as I can, and she has been very sweet with only occasional cranky moments. That's a lot more than I can say for myself when I'm sick! In fact, she has started mastering a new skill last night and today. She's working on sitting up! She can do it unsupported for about 2-3 seconds. Doesn't sound like long, but it's a start! Here's a couple pictures of her trying. These are of course with the boppy for support, but last night Mr. B had her sitting up all by herself. You can't really tell from this picture, but what you can tell is how much she loves this Cabbage Patch duck that Grammy B gave her! In some ways I'm in no rush for baby B to grow up, but I am excited for her to learn sitting up so that bathtime is easier and more fun! I think I will start solids at about 5 1/2 months old, which is really pretty soon. She'll be five months old next weekend! I absolutely love being a mom. Baby B is so sweet and she smiles and laughs all the time. She is precious and she smells so good! I love hanging out with her all day. I don't even mind 3 am feedings, although I won't miss them!

Boise trip

I had such a great time with my old Ricks roommates this past weekend. From left to right, top row: Kristin, me, Janice, and Anna.
Bottom row: Bekah, Ashley, and Michelle.
Ashley was so kind to host us in her home in Caldwell, ID: a total of seven adults and seven children, including four babies! We reminisced, ate all our traditional foods from college, went to the zoo, and played with the kids. Baby B did really well on the four plane rides it took us to get to and from Boise. Everyone who sat near us commented on how beautiful, happy, and well-behaved baby B was. In fact, one seatmate, Gustaf, was so smitten with baby Bthat at the end of the flight he handed me a two dollar bill and said, "For the baby." How sweet! Babies inspire goodness in people, I think. The flight home was even less eventful; baby B slept a good portion.
Here's a picture of the babies. Bekah, who works for Rock and Republic (designer jeans), had do-rags made for them. From left to right, Ashley's daughter Aislyn, my daughter baby B, Kristin's son Logan, and Michelle's daughter Emmy. I miss these girls already and can't wait for our next reunion in 2012.

Musings

This week has just flown by. I just got back from WA, and now I'm leaving tomorrow for Boise to have a reunion with my Ricks College (now BYU-ID) roommates. We celebrated my birthday this past weekend, enjoying a great dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, and I got some new clothes--yay! Sadly, my clothes from last summer don't fit very well. I don't know if I should blame it on pregnancy or my tendency to overindulge on sweets (probably the latter). I got this cute picture of baby B and Mr. B taking a Sunday nap. Baby B has been taking longer naps, which is great. However, if I'm out and about all day, like yesterday, she goes back to catnaps, which I completely understand since I'm hauling her around in her carseat, then stroller, then back in the carseat, etc. Yesterday was a really fun playgroup. Tracy, Hope, Rachael, myself, and our four tiny daughters met at Ikea for some shopping and lunch. Then Tracy and I went to DSW and got great shoes for super cheap, and then I went with Tracy to her eye appt. Rachael made me delicious cupcakes for my bday, which Tracy and I got started on during the drive home--just what we needed after a long day!
Tuesday night Mr. B had an awards ceremony honoring him for receiving the Andrew Young Fellowship, which is what has been paying our bills. Only one doctoral student receives this award every year, so we are honored and grateful. He was actually awarded when he was accepted to the school last spring, and will continue to receive the financial benefits until he graduates. This has been a major blessing for us, allowing me to stay home with baby B. I'm so proud of Mr. B for his hard work and accomplishments! Tomorrow I leave for Boise, so today will involve some preparation, although I've already ensured that Mr. B has frozen pizza, chips, and ice cream. He eats a lot more healthily when I'm home:). My flight leaves super early in the morning, so hopefully I can get to bed early! Here's my cutie playing with her feet--she can't get enough of them!

Botanical Gardens

Today Tracy and I went to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens and bought an annual membership together--what a deal! We are going to love coming here together (and we can go by ourselves too). Today pretty much captured the essence of being a mother, however. Baby B had her four month check up this morning and got four shots, and she was really brave. Then I toted her off to the gardens with Tracy, around 11:15. When we got there, Tracy realized she forgot her bottle for Carlie, so I offered to stay with the kids while she ran home to get it, which was only about 20 minutes. Luckily the girls behaved! Here's a picture of them as we waited for Tracy. Then we signed up for our membership, and baby B got hungry, so I fed her while Tracy finished up with the registration. Then both adults had to go to the bathroom, and Carlie got hungry, so Tracy fed her. Then baby B needed a diaper change, and of course so did Carlie. By this time it was about 12:45. We walked around for about 30 minutes or so, seeing just a little bit of the park, and then we moms were hungry, so we had our picnic lunch, and ended up changing and feeding our babies again, and they wanted to take a nap. Around 2:30 we decided to leave even though we'd hardly seen any of the park (good thing we got a membership!!). Then Audrey started screaming her head off, and I noticed that her leg was a bit red. Obviously she was starting to suffer from her morning shots. It was so hard to calm her down, but we eventually made it home, did another round of feeding, changing, and napping, and here it is almost 5:30, time to pick up Mr. B from the Marta (subway) station. Life sure changes when you have a baby!! I love it.
By the way, here are baby B's latest stats: 4 months old, 13 lbs 11 oz, 25 1/2 inches long (very tall!), rolling over, and she's found her toes! I'm still debating about when to start solids. I think I may hold off awhile. And she won't take a bottle anymore, which is frustrating because I can't get a babysitter!

Trip to Puyallup

Baby B and I took our first plane ride together to visit our family in Puyallup. She was a great passenger, but it was a long day. The way back was a red eye flight--still miserable, but she did sleep during that whole flight! During our visit, Baby B got to see both sets of grandparents, all of my siblings, their kids, and even Mr. B's sister Carly. Grandma Louise had an Easter egg hunt for all the cousins, and baby B found some eggs! Afterwards, Aunt Laura took pictures of baby B and her cousins in beautiful spring dresses. From left to right are Lindsey and Jamie, baby B, and McKenna.

On Friday, we went to Lindsey's 3rd birthday party, which had a Dora the Explorer theme. Awesome food, and Aunt Kelley got baby B her first pair of shades, pictured here with Grandma Louise and Poppy-daddy. Baby B enjoyed wearing them. Uncle Patrick put a Dora pinata head on baby B, and what a funny picture! She didn't mind that either--what a sweet baby.
baby B and the kids really enjoyed each other, and I think Uncle Ben enjoyed her most of all! Here he is with baby B. He is really good at making her happy! We miss him and everyone now that we're back in Atlanta, but it's nice to be with Mr. B again. And of course, as many of you know, I got braces put on the last week of March. Here's a picture of baby B and me on Easter Sunday, with my lovely new look! It's actually not as bad as I expected. I will be wearing braces for 18-24 months. And we are counting our blessings that so far, our Heavenly Father has blessed us to be able to afford them. I feel like it's no coincidence that our tax refund was the same amount as the down payment for the braces. Now we just have to work out monthly payments, and the Lord will definitely provide.