Thoughts on newborns...and some pics

In case anyone is worried -- I didn't put him to sleep on his tummy...I was trying to give him tummy time, but he just laid there like this looking absolutely adorable instead of getting exercise. And then he did drift off to sleep. He looked so sweet, it was a shame to turn him over and make him start crying.



I've been trying to get better at taking pictures lately. It's been frustrating to take pictures of Christian that come out looking nothing like him -- to me, anyway (but I'm probably a pretty good judge since I stare at his face all day long). I realize the first three look very similar, but they are slightly different and I couldn't decide which I liked best. Those pictures are the closest to what he looks like. So, there they are. And, of course, I love taking pics of Kate. She is very happy to sit for me. :) And it's something I can do while I'm holding Christian on my lap.

It's funny to me that I'm posting way more now than I did while I was pregnant. It was dang uncomfortable to sit upright. Ahh, yes...as trying as the newborn stage is for me, thank goodness I am not pregnant anymore!

I know some people LOVE newborns. I love my newborn, of course, but I am really not a baby person. I don't like that their heads flop around; I don't like constantly worrying about them dying -- either in their sleep or through some accident/fault of my own; I really don't like changing diapers every five seconds (sometimes multiple times before I pick them up off the changing table); I don't like being spit up on or pooped/peed on; I'm not a fan of breastfeeding (there I said it); I don't like deciding between eating, showering, or sleeping; I don't like how slippery they are when wet; I don't like sitting in church just to say I went, but hearing absolutely nothing; I don't like the freaky noises they make when they're sleeping that make me jump out of bed at night; I don't like not being able to communicate (not knowing why they are crying or how to help); and, of course, I don't care for getting only snippets of sleep in a night -- which could be the reason I'm feeling the need to complain. 'Sigh.'

I DO love how they smell -- which is really remarkable. The same fluids that come out of them and land on the both of us somehow make me smell rank, but they continue smelling sweet. I do love how soft their heads are; I love that they stay wherever you put them; I love how warm and cozy they are to cuddle; I love watching their expressions change in their sleep; I love those squishy cheeks; I love trying to figure out what they're actually going to look like; I love to stare at them and wonder who in the world is in that tiny body and imagine what they are going to be like as they grow and develop.

I do love those kids of mine.

The 24th!

We bought fireworks for the 4th of July, but I had just had Christian the week before, and things were still really crazy -- so we decided to use our fireworks for Pioneer Day instead. Kate is now to a really fun age for things like this. She had a lot of fun. And Christian slept soundly in his car seat a safe distance away.

The best part was in the car on the way home. Kate is really (understatement) into pretend. She loves to reenact everything -- movies, books, things that happened earlier in the day, etc. So on the way home she wanted Andrew to pretend to be Daddy (ok) and Mommy to be Kate, and Kate would be the fireworks. Daddy had to light the firework, Kate had to be excited and yell "RUN!" and the fireworks had to POPOPOPOPOPOPOPOP -- with limbs flailing. It was hilarious.

Unrelated to the 24th, but everything to do with pretend -- The other day she pretended to be Heavenly Father while I was supposed to be a lost kid who needed help. Heavenly Father appeared right away and held my hand, taking me right to my mommy! :)

Celebrating one month of life!

Livin' up every moment of his boyhood...I keep telling him to get some sleep, but he argues he's been waiting the whole preexistence for this! (Life -- not just video games.)

Sweet summery days

Seriously. I know the feeling.

A name and a blessing

The only picture we could get with Kate -- the whole new Morrill fam.

With my parents

With Andrew's dad

Andrew's grandparents

And part of the Ericksen family -- Paul, I wish you could have been there!

We ended up blessing Christian on July 4th. He wasn't even two weeks old, but since my parents were in town and wouldn't be by the next fast Sunday, we decided to go ahead. We didn't bless Kate until she was like 3 or 4 months old. She barely fit in the blessing dress. Christian was SWIMMING in his little outfit. I can't believe we didn't get a single picture of him in his outfit without the blanket. He was asleep for the whole event -- pretty much the entire day. There was tons of commotion at our house after the blessing, but Christian didn't make a peep.

Andrew gave him a great blessing. We named him Christian after Andrew's middle name. It's also a family name on my side. Andrew and I have always wanted to name our first son Christian. We discussed some other names, but never very seriously -- it's always been Christian. We batted around several middle names, but weren't set on anything. There is a song by Marc Ford called Elijah that is about his baby son. Anyway, I really liked the song and liked the name, and I think that's what got me thinking about it originally. Much later when we were considering getting pregnant again, I had a strong impression that our next child would be a boy and that we should name him Christian Elijah (I think it was almost a year later before we actually got pregnant). It was such a powerful feeling that I wrote it down in my journal -- you know it must be strong if I dusted off the journal for the bi-annual entry. :) Elijah means "Jehovah is my God," and I love what is written about Elijah in the Bible dictionary. Hope he likes his name as much as we do.

Week one = Dazed and confused

First "big" outing to the park...

...which he slept through (thus making it a successful outing)

Playing catch with Grandma Marge

With cousin Kimber

Lounging

With Aunt Angie

Getting loved a little too much by the cousins :)

Mastering the trampoline (one of her dad's favorite pastimes)

Well, little buddy Christian turned one week old yesterday. As you can imagine, it's been (for the most part) sleepless. After I feed him, and if he's still being fussy, then I wake up my mom in the middle of the night to burp and love him -- which has completely saved me. My parents have showered attention and affection on Kate, saving her from what would have otherwise been a super traumatic week. NOT looking forward to my parents leaving next week!!

The last couple of nights Andrew has stayed up til 2 - 3 in the morning watching Christian so that I could sleep all the way from 10:30 p - 2 or 3. Luckily we got a breast pump a couple days ago that allows Andrew and others to feed him -- hallelujah! I feel like my sanity returned the minute I started pumping. I don't think Andrew can keep up that kind of schedule, since he still has to work...but I am SO grateful for what he's already done.

We even had a couple outings this week. One was to the park just down the street, which Christian slept through. The second was to Murray to see my brother, Mark, and his family -- who just moved here from Alabama!! The rest of the family was helping them move, but I went up just to sit and hang out for a little bit. Christian was unusually quiet, and I think people had a hard time believing he cries (which he definitely does). I am so excited to have my brother and his family out here -- it will be so fun to see them a lot more.

Anyway, I need to get showered one of these days, so I am off. Above are some pics from the past week. You may notice no pictures of me -- that's because I still look five months pregnant (or more?). Can't wait til I can start exercising again!