End of Trip & Hyrum's Blessing

Above

Grandma Breese, Uncle Nathan, and Hyrum. We were sad to leave Grandma and Uncle Nathan but we are happy to be home with Ben now. Hopefully we will be returning to Idaho soon. We should find out this week! The return flight was uneventful except for the one hour delay (which we had to sit on the plane during) for bad weather in DC. We made it though!

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This is our niece Michelle and Hyrum at Aunt Becky's house!
Uncle Nathan and unhappy Hyrum!
Hyrum smiling in his blessing outfit on his blessing blanket! (Thanks Grandma Breese for making it!)
A picture of us after the blessing. Ben did a great job. Thanks to Rob & Cari for taking the picture for us!

Idaho News...

We're having a great time in Idaho so far. It's getting sad to see it end! Last Friday we drove up to Rexburg to visit Ben's sister Becky and her family. It was great to see everyone again and it was fun to drive up to Rexburg to see what has changed. I'll post pictures of the kids later. Saturday we went to Nate's soccer game where they won 2 to 1! It was an exciting 10 year old soccer game! Nate did a good job defending the goal! Sunday was fun to catch up with old friends from church. Monday was exciting because Ben had a JOB INTERVIEW with the INL! He feels like it went well so we are keeping our fingers crossed! Hopefully we'll be Idaho residents again soon. It would make it easier to leave if we knew we would be back soon! Pray for us! Ben feels like it would be a perfect opportunity for him! My mom, Nate, Hyrum, and I wandered the Idaho Falls mall while waiting for Ben. Although Idaho Falls has every shopping store I need, I did miss the huge malls in Virginia. We must have walked the mall 10 times and went into some stores twice! Oh well! We also got to eat at one of my favorite Italian restaurants Johnny Carinos after Ben's interview. It was yummy! Tomorrow we are going to hang low because Ben leaves us on Wednesday. We are sad to see him go! Hyrum and I leave Saturday. I'll post more pictures of the trip when I get home!

We Love Idaho!

This is our airplane picture. Hyrum screamed all through checking in luggage and security and then slept soundly to Chicago. He only fussed maybe a total of one minute from Chicago to Salt Lake and only to tell me he was hungry! What a great little guy! I must admit though, we got some dirty looks at Dulles. People were probably thinking "I hope that kid isn't on our plane" when we were in line!

Finally Uncle Nathan and Hyrum meet and seem to like each other. Hyrum is starting to coo and smile a lot more and was doing it with Nathan this morning! Hyrum is also 7 weeks old today!

Grandma and Hyrum reunite at last!

I decided to take the plunge and go for the mommy haircut today. I cut it all off and it feels great! I've lost five pounds just in hair! Ben likes it even though it is short. What is it with guys and long hair? Despite Ben's teasing, Hyrum still recognizes his mommy with short hair!

Six weeks and all smiles!

Finally we are 6 weeks and starting to get some rewards of parenthood. Not always, but everyday he wakes up at least once and smiles for us a few times. At least I know I make him happy sometimes! I was able to catch a few on camera the other day. Thank goodness we learned this before going to Grandma Breese's house because she would be sad if she didn't get to see the smiles!
So happy I'm drooling! (sp?)
Yeah for smiles!
A new outfit that Hyrum has never worn as well as his football rattles on his hands!
Snoozing with dad on the couch!

This week marks the second half of my maternity leave. I know have 5.5 wks until returning to work part time. I'm grateful it's only part time but man I wish it was none! I really love being home with my little guy and hate the thought of going back to work. For all the moms out there that get to be home with your kids consider it a blessing! I'm grateful that at least I won't have to do daycare and it's only 2 nights a week but I look forward to the day when I can just be mom and not mom and NICU nurse. Who wants to take care of sick babies when it's so fun to be home with your own?

I have also read this book called "The Happiest Baby on the Block" that a few ladies in my ward suggested to help calm fussy babies. It has completely changed my thinking about how I'm doing things and that I can't spoil Hyrum too much these first few months. He deserves to be spoiled! He even needs it! Also, the book has taught me how to calm my fussy baby. It worked great during the day yesterday but for some reason from 3-5am it didn't? Go figure! I'm trying to do my best! The good thing about the book is that it's teaching me how to meet his needs better so I'm not feeding constantly every 2 hrs during the day and supplementing with formula constantly. I still supplement some but not as much as I used to. Hopefully I can get things figured out before the 6 hr plane ride on Tuesday! Hope your not seated in the row next to us!

Getting Bigger

We are one month old (last Thursday) and we are 9lbs 9oz and 23 inches long! What a change. We went and took daddy lunch at work last week and the picture above is that.
This picture is what I do most of the day, scream! Mom is having to give me lots of formula now to keep my tummy happy because she doesn't have enough milk!
This is his attitude towards me most of the day-sticking his tongue out!
Occasionally we get a few precious awake moments without screaming or eating. He has smiled occasionally but still doesn't seem to do it on his own yet. We can't wait for that day. We are excited that in two weeks from today we get to go on an airplane to SLC and then to Idaho to visit Grandma Breese and Uncle Nathan as well as Aunt Becky and the rest of the crew! We are excited to come home and show Hyrum off!