I wrote in my journal:
So I’m sorry for the big jump in time. This is how all of my journals end up, but I’ll do my best to fill you in on the last 5 months.
Lily is just amazing! she has been such a blast to have as our daughter. She has always been so happy and smiley. When she was 2 months old we took a super quick road trip out to Idaho for Beka and Dusty’s wedding. We left on Thursday night, drove through the night, had 2 action packed days and drove home all day on Sunday. Lily slept all the way there, which was awesome, but screamed through the entire reception. It wouldn’t have been so bad if I had gotten any sleep the night before :). Everyone just loved her and it was nice to be able to show her off to everyone out there. The drive back home was pretty hard. She wanted to stay awake and be out of her car seat but obviously she couldn’t- and she couldn’t stay awake because being in her car seat puts her to sleep. So she cried. Luckily on this trip was where she finally started to take her pacifier. Since doing that, we have not had a problem with her crying uncontrollably anymore. Around 3 months she started to get a lot more animated and smiling and cooing all of the time.
Sleeping in the car, With Uncle Jared
Outside the temple, First time meeting cousin Amber
I went back to work part time when she was 4 months old. It was very hard to leave her. We had help from friends in the ward babysitting. For the first 6 weeks she would be with someone for 2-3 hours between when I left and when Clark got home from work. She was such a trooper! She had no problems :). She is generally happy as long as someone is paying attention to her…such a little princess ;). After 3 or 4 weeks she was completely fine taking her bottle. The second Saturday I was working (9 hours) she went on a hunger strike with Clark and at 4:00 pm he finally brought her in to work and I was able to nurse her. She didn’t seem too upset, she just only wanted me :). Right around this time we wanted to put her in her own room. I didn’t want to keep her in our room forever, so the advice I went with was to teach her good sleep habits and swaddle her and get her used to the crib. She took right to it and since then she either only wakes up around 4 am or sleeps from 8:30 pm ‘till 8 or 9 am. It has been amazing to sleep again! I absolutely love Lily, but going back to work has made me appreciate my time with her so much more. It is very easy to get overwhelmed with the amount of work it is to be a mom, and it is nice to get a break and go to work, but it is a necessary break. There are many days off where I never even come close to leaving the house or even putting on makeup or doing my hair. Those are the days that I let myself get crazy. So work allows me to be around grown ups and take care of myself. If I didn’t have to work, I would find a way around it, but I have to take the hand I am given, right?
When Lily was 5 1/2 months old we took a trip to Hawaii! It was so amazing! Lily was such an angel. She had no big problems on the plane, which we were so grateful for. She was a little freaked out by the ocean. We had never taken her swimming before, so she just needed to get used to it. I could tell she wasn’t so happy, but she seemed to be ok as long as I was holding her tight. The water was nice and warm compared to the beach at home, but probably still too cold for her. She seemed to like it more in the area with the wave barrier- where it was calmer. Luckily she was at an age where she was happy to be carried around all of the time. She went all over with us without complaining too much. Going out to dinner was the only hard thing about the trip. We had her on a very tight/great bedtime schedule before we went on the trip. There was a 3 hour time difference, so it would be way past her bedtime when we would go out to eat. Of course it was super noisy anywhere we went, so she was NOT happy! Each of us had to take turns eating and holding her and then we would pay as soon as possible so we could go home. Kind of a bummer, but I would be cranky too if it was me :). In keeping with the time difference, she would wake up at 5:00 am every morning… Luckily when we got home she was still on CA time, so everything went back to normal, thank goodness! She was such a trooper! By the end of the week she was definitely getting tired of her car seat and her little hat. It would have been nice to have some help, but I don’t regret taking her at all. I’m sure that when she’s older she’ll be mad we didn’t wait to take her later :). While we were there she was just barely learning to scoot around. BEcause of this, she fell off the bed for the first time :(.
At 6 months of age she started scooting around with some speed. It is amazing how fast she changes! In the last 2 weeks she is almost crawling! She works so hard to get up on her hands and knees. The same with sitting up. 2 weeks ago she was sitting up with support, but at the doctor she just sat up for the first time by herself! Now she can sit for as long as she wants with no hands! I amazed how fast she is progressing. At her 6 month check up she was 14 lbs 7 oz and 26 inches long. Her height is normal but she is only in the 25th percentile for weight. It’s nothing to worry about- I kind of appreciate it! She has been talking a lot it’s bababa, mamama, or dadada all day long! It wasn’t (I think) her actual first word, but last week when I came into her room in the morning, she looked at me and simply said “mama.” It just melted my heart! It is also awesome that she reaches for me when she wants me :). It is so fun to watch her with other babies- I just enjoy her so much!
