After years of seeing the picturesque photos pop up on my social media feeds...we finally made it to the capitol to take pictures! And thankfully (even though I tend to have too high of expectations for these things) the blossoms lived up to the hype! They are truly stunning. So beautiful, in fact, I found a reason to go Thursday, Friday and Sunday of last week!

Of course, on Sunday, when we were planning on meeting my cousin Sarah there to do a little photo-taking swap...the chaos of attempting to take family photos ensued. Having the pleasure of often taking photos for other families, I'm no stranger to the notion that stress permeates the words "family photos," but I guess I thought that since I take casual family photos all the time we would somehow be exempt?!

WRONG. 

I already posted about the whole fiasco on instagram, but basically about 10 minutes before we needed to leave, I put Lydia in the dress I was planning on having her wear and it was WAY TOO SHORT. Either she grew a solid 4 inches within the last three weeks, or I shrunk it in the wash... 🙄. I frantically called one of my neighbors with a daughter roughly Lydia's size and thankfully she had one we could borrow, but it set us back time-wise and I'm sure I said more than a few unkind things to Stephen in the car on the way there😬🙈 (sorry babe, you're a saint!). When we got to the capitol I went to put Lydia's shoes on. . . and could only find one. After searching through the whole car and basically dumping the contents of the diaper bag on the back seat, it was confirmed: we only had one shoe. (The other one was waiting for us in the parking lot of our apartment complex upon our return.) Of course with all of the chaos going on, I totally spaced re-doing Lydia's hair after her afternoon nap, AND it was much chillier than I had expected so poor Lydia (with her one barefoot) let us know she was done after about 10 minutes. HA. Oh, and I had chipped, bright pink fingernail polish on two fingers that I fully intended to remove before taking these photos...

Dear Blossoms and Warmer Weather, I love you, I love you, I love you, amen. 

Saturday mornings are usually pretty lazy around here. ...And by 'usually' I really mean always. (With the exception of the ONE time we were dressed and out of the house before 10:00 am -- which just speaks volumes for how amazing Kneaders' french toast is 😏.) 

When Lydia wakes up (usually around 8:00 --which, believe it or not, is sleeping in when you're a parent!) Stephen feeds her breakfast (bless that man!) and then brings her to our bed to cuddle wth us. "Cuddle" currently means distract her with videos of herself while we lazily relax and delay starting the day for as long as possible.

Recently, my desire to stay in bed all day (especially on Saturday mornings when my favorite people are with me!) has increased even more after receiving a set of Cariloha sheets!

My favorite things about these sheets:

+ how beautifully bright white they are

+ how amazingly soft they are 

+ how breathable they are (which is especially nice because I've been sleeping really hot this pregnancy)

+ the fact that the corners don't come untucked! (One of my biggest pet peeves about our other sheets!)

When it came time to wash them and rotate back to the sheets we were using before I was so sad. I got into bed that night and told Stephen our old sheets make me feel like I'm laying between two giant pieces of computer paper! He said I was being over-dramatic, but I stand by my statement. 😏

_ _ _

After last week's horrible cold that left us all feeling (and looking) like zombies, poor Lydia ended up with an ear infection. Apparently it's fairly common for babies and toddlers to get ear infections shortly after having a cold! Who knew?! (This first-time-mom didn't!) Thankfully, a quick google search helped me feel very confident I needed to take her to the pediatrician -- despite a frustrating and confidence-shattering visit to Insta-care on her behalf the week before. There is certainly a reason I was not destined to be a mom before the invention of Google, I don't have a clue what I would do without it.

Through a series of tender mercies, antibiotics were prescribed and administered just hours after my hunch of ear infection, and I couldn't have been more grateful. (At the appointment the pediatrician even demonstrated how to give Lydia antibiotics/Tylenol in a way she couldn't spit it out, which has been nothing short of game-changing over the last few days.) 

Thanks to modern medicine, Lydia has been sleeping fairly well the past few nights, despite the infection, but wakes up on occasion, whimpering. At about 4:00 Thursday morning I got up to comfort her (whimpering babies might be one of the most heartbreaking things ever because they are just so beat they don't even have the energy to cry anymore). After about 15 or 20 minutes I got her comforted enough to go back to sleep. Thankfully, she laid right down in her crib without another peep, but unfortunately by that time I was wiiiiide awake. I got back in bed hoping I'd be able to fall asleep quickly, but instead I laid there for what felt like forever with a million thoughts running through my mind. 

Thoughts about how sad it was to see Lydia so unlike her usual perky and energetic self. How blessed we are that she is usually such good sleeper (although between teething, a cold, and an ear infection all within a month, the poor girl hasn't been able to catch a break lately).

Before long I was imagining and worrying about how different life will be once we are a family of four. Will I still be able to give Lydia the energy and attention she needs and deserves, even when there's another baby to care for? The logistics alone of having two people so little is quite intimidating. Thinking about getting both children in and out of carseats is enough to fill me with overwhelm! And then there's the question of when to ask my mom and mother in law to come out to help, not having a CLUE when this baby will decide to make his appearance. Not to mention the fact that we don't have a name picked out yet is also starting to stress me out more and more as the due date approaches, and that's when it hit me:

If this baby even comes even ONE DAY early...he will be here next month. 

NEXT MONTH?!?!?!?!? 

(Cue hundreds more overwhelming thoughts spiraling from how quickly this pregnancy is going to the fact that I have done so very little to prepare physically/mentally/emotionally for a second baby.)

For some reason, I find the fact that we are having a boy particularly...stressful. It's definitely not that I'm not excited about having a boy, I am! I just feel like I know so little about boys! I know very little about how they work and the trails they face. A few years down the road I'll have an advantage when it comes to raising girls simply because I am one, but a boy?? Boys are a foreign concept!

Really, bringing any child into a world that seems to be filled with so much evil and pain and hardship, is exceptionally daunting. (All it takes is a few minutes scrolling my Facebook feed to be reminded of all of the evil going on in the world.) As the thoughts began in yet-another downward spiral, I had a very clear, distinct thought. The same thought that I had shortly after Lydia was born and I was overwhelmed with very similar feelings.

The future is as bright as your faith.

There are so many unknowns about the future. Both the immediate future (aka next month(😳) or shortly thereafter) and the longer-term-future. But thankfully, despite the worries and fears and feelings of inadequacy I have, I know I'm not alone. I have Stephen (who is an amazing support and example of what a loving husband and father should be like). I have extended family, I have church-family, and on top of all that: I have a testimony that family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children! God will not abandon me, (or anyone!) as I go about doing His divine work. I have the scriptures and general conference talks, I have a worthy priesthood-holder in my home, and a solid testimony in the power of prayer! The future is bright!

Thankfully, shortly after coming to this conclusion, I was able to calm myself down enough to eventually fall back asleep.

I'm sure this was just the second of many times I will need to be reminded of this, but this reminder was recent enough and powerful enough that above all of the doubts and fears of the future, the number one emotion I'm feeling right now is excitement. And I'm very grateful for that.

_ _ _
han.

The snow is back, and after a few weeks of balmy 50-60 degree weather, it feels like an extra-icey slap in the face. Obviously I knew the snow wasn't gone for good, we live in Utah and it is only February for goodness sake, but that doesn't mean all the consecutive days of warm weather didn't get me itching for spring. Lydia recently discovered that she LOVES being outside and at about that same time she came to the realization that the stroller actually wasn't some sort of torture device (!), and going on walks in the fresh air became a daily habit for us, so I think we're both extra excited for when the weather decides to warm up for good this year.

Although I'm bummed about the weather, it's probably for the best since we've been all fighting the world's most vicious cold this past week and wouldn't have been able to take advantage of the warm weather (had it been here) anyway! (Lydia had a fever for six days straight! And although I think we've all gotten through the fever stage finally, the coughing and sore throat stage is still in full force.) Plus, watching the snow through my bedroom window reminded me that I never posted these photos we took back at the beginning of January!

In the sake of full disclosure, on a snowy, Sunday afternoon in January (not long after seeing this post on Taza's blog) we went outside with the sole purpose of taking pictures in the falling snow (some of which were captured with the use of camera remote and tripod) and I'm not even mad about it. Because 😍