Merry Christmas to all. . .

And to all a goodnight.

Nothing brings a smile to your face like a laughing baby

Our little Amelia is such a happy baby. She loves to laugh at Mommy and Daddy. Nothing makes my day more than listening to her laugh, so I thought I'd share the joy.

Happy Halloween!

Amelia's Blessing Day

While we were in Moab for Labor Day, we had Amelia blessed in my parent's ward. It was wonderful to have most of my Uncles, most of her's (adopted and related), and both of her Grandpas there to participate in the blessing. James gave her a beautiful blessing that brought tears to my eyes. It was such a sweet day for such a sweet girl.

The pictures of just her were taken a few weeks after her blessing because we got so busy the day of her blessing that we weren't able to get any pictures. And yes, I did make the dress. I'm glad I got it done before she was born because since her birth, I haven't had much time to knit!

3 months!

Amelia is now 3 whole months old!! She now weighs almost 11 pounds. Almost double her birth weight in three short months. Goes to show that's she's a really good eater.

Amelia loves her Daddy and smiles whenever she sees him. She can be getting grumpy, but when Daddy walks by and smiles at her, she can't help but smile back.

This month she's learned to laugh when she's tickled. It's the sweetest belly laugh I've ever heard. The only problem is that she won't laugh when we're Skyping with Grammy and Poppy. I'm beginning to learn that she'll do things when she wants and not necessarily when Mommy wants her to. She's also starting to learn how to use her hands more and will grab at toys and Mommy's nose. She's becoming more and more alert every day and you can just see her learning new things every day. 

The pictures that were left out. . .

When I posted all the pictures of the cabin, I left out a few. Nicole called me and wanted to know why I hadn't posted ANY pictures of her kids. Well, to make up for it, here's a whole post of Nicole's adorable family.

Notice that the little one actually fell asleep on a four-wheeler ride..

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I think he was being Iron Man here, even though his shirt says he's Thomas.

2 months

Amelia had her two month checkup this week and boy is she growing. 

She's up to 21 inches and 8 lbs 8 oz!

 She's put on 3 whole pounds in the last two months. 

I know she loves to eat, but what a porker. 

Amelia is gaining so much neck control and rarely needs us to steady her head.

She's also cooing and smiling. She'll even smile back at me if I really cheese it up.

She's still a really good baby and really only cries when she's hungry, but when she does, watch out. She has NO patience and goes from happy baby to "FEED ME" in two seconds flat. There's no warm up, it's a full blown cry that ratchets up if she's not immediately fed. 

She's very inquisitive and so very alert. Sometimes, you can just see her little brain working as she tries to take in all of her surroundings.

We love having Amelia and in the words of her pediatrician this week,

"She's perfect."

General had to check out what was going on.

Playing at the cabin

This year Labor Day Weekend once again brought the Holyoak Family Reunion. This year, James's parents decided to come home with us and brave the family reunion. I didn't get any pictures of either the big reunion or the Brother's reunion, but I did get some pictures of the family playing on the mountain.

Brina and Dodge looking cute while playing in the grass.

One great thing about our family is everyone's willingness to share anything. Randy got his hands on my Uncle Joe's four-wheeler and was able to ride it around all over the mountain. He and Judy had a grand time exploring and taking pictures.

Judy and Cheryl

Amelia got A LOT of attention while we were with my family. Since the last reunion, my parents have had five new babies added to their family. Even though we all have our own babies, we were constantly trading children and had a different baby in our arms all the time. And Grammy loved it! I was surprised that she didn't have two babies in her arms all weekend.

Amelia cuddling with her Grammy.

This year, we got to use the flush toilet that we started building last year. It was SO great to have an inside toilet  At first I was sad to stop using the outhouse, I thought it would take away from the rustic feeling in the cabin, but I changed my mind at 2:00 in the morning when I need to use the facilities and didn't have to hike down to the outhouse.

Nathan burying the leach line for the newly installed toilet. 

The first night we were at the cabin, we had all five of the new babies and my sister's three year old. It was one long night. No two babies cried at the same time, but there was at least one baby crying all night long. 

Each baby had their own pack and play set up in the cabin. That made things a little tight in the bedroom. When we went to bed all the babies were in their pack and play, but by the time we woke up in morning, every single baby had been pulled into bed with its parents. 

Our alarm clock was little Dodge. He woke us all up about 7:30 am. We weren't too happy about being woken, but Dodge was so happy to be awake that we couldn't be upset. He just sat there laughing and jabbering and just loving life.

Proof that babies can sleep at the cabin. 

One of the things that James likes best is shooting. This year, his parents got in on the action too.

Randy shooting a .22 rifle 

Judy trying out the .22

James sighting in the AR15

Me attempting to shoot straight with my Dad's .45

Randy trying to take out a small tree.

Alan showed us all how it's done.

We had a great time staying at the cabin this year and I'm so glad that we could share it with James's parents. I love the mountain and it was so hard to leave, but James has promised me that we'll spend a whole week up there next summer. I think I'll hold him to it.

1 Month

Amelia turns 2 months in a couple of days, so before we take those pictures, I figure, we should post her one month pictures. 

Introducing

Our little girl, Amelia, was born on July 12, 2012 at 8:45pm. She has a ton of dark hair and is a great baby. I'm a little late telling her story, but here it is.

I had a doctor's appointment at 11:00 on July 12. It was pretty routine until the doctor took my blood pressure. It was elevated a bit higher than usual. The doctor kept me in her office for over an hour to see if it would go down (I think that in itself make it higher). After they took my blood pressure a couple of times, the doctor decided it was best to just induce me that day. I was due the next day, so the doctor wasn't worried about any complications with the baby. The doctor called the hospital and the only time they could get me in was at 2:00 that afternoon. That gave me a mere two hours to get ready to have a baby! I had my overnight bag in the car and called James as soon as I left the doctor's office. He was more than happy to leave work immediately.

I met James at the house, we had a quick lunch, and headed to the hospital. We got checked in and they hooked me up to the IVs. They didn't start the pitocin until 4:15pm, but after that the delivery went very quickly. I tried to go natural, but with pitocin is nasty stuff. I was dilated to an 8 before I needed an epidural. I couldn't believe how much easier that made the delivery.

All told, I was in labor for 4.5 hours and only had to push through three contractions. My little Amelia was born at exactly 8:45 pm and weighed 5 lbs 8 oz. The doctors were a little worried because she was so small, but she's as healthy as can be and is doing great.

Here are some pictures that her daddy took. She's a great little model.