Devan and Kayla were sealed in the Provo, Utah temple on Saturday, May 4, 2013. (Unfortunately for us, this sealing was taking place at 9:30am.  More unfortunately was Henlie waking up at 3:15am and not going back to bed until 4am :p)

We did manage to get up, ready, and out the door on time.  We had to leave even earlier in case we ran into traffic with the Provo marathon happening that day.  However, we avoided all marathon traffic and got to the temple with plenty of time to hang out.  We gave the baby to Michelle and Jennifer and went to the waiting room.  It's fun to see and visit with family.


The sealing was beautiful, as they all are :)  Weddings always bring back memories of our wedding.  For example, when they reminded everyone to turn off their cell phones, I remembered how we had a cell phone ring in our sealing lol.  The sealer told us he was going to talk to the couple, even though they wouldn't hear any of it.  I tried to remember anything our sealer told us five years ago.... he was right, I don't remember any of it :)

As Devan and Kayla knelt at the altar, I looked at Mom and tried to put myself in her shoes.  Here was her fourth little boy all grown up and being sealed to his bride, getting ready to start their own family.  She's watched this happen three other times.  Now four children are married and she's a grandma to two little girls and soon to be a little boy!
 

I just really like this picture of the dads looking confused :)

 

The girls

Camile, Charlie, Jennifer, Michelle, Kayla, Jackie, Henlie, Me

 

Then I thought about my little girl.  One day, I'll be where Carrie was sitting, watching my little girl get sealed to the man of her dreams and ready to start a new chapter in her life with her eternal companion by her side.  That's a crazy thought.  One day, my cute little six month old will be all grown up and getting married.  Some day after that, she'll be a mother.  And one day after that, she'll watch her baby get married.  It's crazy to think about this circle of life.  Obviously it happens, but I don't think most people take the time to step back and see it as this huge cycle they're a part of.  It's a tender thing to realize.

After the sealing, I collected the baby and changed her into her dress.  And then we waited outside, and waited, and Henlie nursed.  (That's right, I nursed outside the temple while talking with people and no cover! I was wearing a nursing shirt, though.  I love nursing shirts.  So much easier to stay modest when you don't have to lift the whole thing up :))  Eventually, it was time for pictures!



 
Henlie got her first sunburn.  Fortunately, she wasn't badly burned.  She was a little pink on Sunday, but then it was gone.  It really was a nice day, though.  After pictures, we went to Golden Corral for the luncheon.  I was amazed by myself - I didn't get any meat...or pizza lol.  Nothing was looking terribly tasty until I found some red potatoes and squash and zucchini.  Somehow, that looked tasty (this is not all that normal for me lol), and we went from there.  (They were tasty, btw.)  I do enjoy Golden Corral :)


After the luncheon, we headed home for a few hours.  I was able to get Henlie's six month pictures taken and rest for awhile.  Then it was off to Salem for the reception.  Henlie was asleep for a good portion of it, until Charlie woke her up :)  Good thing Henlie had Grandma.  I didn't have to pay much attention to her at all lol  Yay for more visiting with friends and family, too!  At the end of the night, Camile even got pizza for us to have dinner.  Good times.  (I'm glad Camile is so thoughtful about these kinds of things.  She's always thinking of details that wouldn't ever cross my mind.)  Matt was a little sad Camile wasn't around when we got married because we didn't get any of our reception food lol


All in all, it was a beautiful day.  We're so excited that Kayla is officially a part of our family now and wish her and Devan the best!

Half a year already! Where does the time go?!?

This month, we started putting away the 0-3 month clothes. Her 3-6 month clothes are still a little big, though.

Baby girl still doesn't roll from her back to her tummy.  She can get to her side, and once I saw her legs all the way over, but her arm prevents her from making it all the way.  She's still less than excited about being on her tummy. She hasn't figured out how to get up on her knees to crawl, but she does kick with her legs.  I've helped her scoot by placing my hand behind her feet for her to push off of.


On the other hand, she thinks standing is the bee's knees. (*side note* Bee's knees is apparently slang for "business" - as in, I'm the business... I presume this is used like "bomb," etcetera.  Sorry, I typed that and thought, what the heck? Where did that come from? So now you know!)  Right, standing.  She loves standing.  Much more preferrable to tummy time.  She grins if you help her stand.  It's pretty darn cute.


She is really getting the hang of toys.  It's nice that sometimes she is content to hang out by herself playing with some of her toys.  It makes my life a little easier, especially on days she doesn't nap. :p

As for sleeping through the night, she was waking once between 1am and 5am.  That was less than exciting, but at least it was typically only once per night.  Mostly I just wonder if she was sick.  Although, she got a bit of a runny nose for awhile, and went back to sleeping through the night.  And napping.  I don't get it.  Point is, she's still a really good sleeper, even those nights she doesn't make it through the night.


We started solids this month.  She is getting the hang of it.  She still has the tongue thrust reflex, but she is hating her oatmeal a little less and actually eating a little more of it.  Most of the time, we have to have a bottle to start, in between, and after our oatmeal, though.  I'm hoping this month she'll get a better handle on the whole swallowing thing, and then we'll venture into new foods!  You know, I knew from book smarts that this would change her bowel movements, but oh my, I wasn't prepared for the stickiness! And the quantity!  I guess that is what happens when it now takes a day or two to pass a poopy.  Good thing she can pass gas anyway.  For her, not for me.  She's my little stink bug.... Yeah, it's a good thing she's cute :)


So she has the typical baby bald spot on the back of her head from resting against it the majority of the time.  However, with her being more active (and more able to move herself), she is starting to get some hair back there again.  It is still super fine and light, so it is hard to tell, but there is more there than there was at the beginning of the month!


Grabbing - she's gotten to the point she wants to grab at everything.  Toys, necklaces, hair (not that she actually reaches for the hair most of the time, but she will grab it!), my food....  She has grabbed at my food when I'm holding it and her at the same time.  She has also started reaching for my plate if she is in my lap while I'm eating.  Oh the joys.  Just when I really start to get the hang of holding her and doing everything one-handed with my non-dominant hand - I now have to constantly move her hands away from things. 


Not just hands, either.  She loves her feet!  And kicking.  Trying to get a picture of her now (say, to document a cute outfit) is pretty hard.  The second she is free, her feet are up!  She's a huge fan of grabbing her toes.  Sometimes, they even make it in her mouth.  I wish I were so flexible :)


I feel like I should apologize for the length of this post.  I've started doing these posts throughout the month so as to not forget things - and well, they kind of grow more this way.  Oh well, I know you were all dying to know every little detail, right? :)

Thursday, April 25th, Camile and Charlie came to play with us at the pool.  Charlie and Camile went swimming, I took a soak in the hot tub, and Henlie hung out in her rocking chair poolside.  We had a good time.  Afterward, Camile went to pick up some Little Caesars for lunch (we still had some money on a gift card from one of my baby showers) and I watched the two little ones.  Having Charlie there for 30 minutes made me realize just how not child-proof our home is :)

Anyway, while Camile was gone, we were playing with the puppy in the hallway.  Charlie and Mocha were interacting so cute (Charlie had Mocha's gecko and sometimes Mocha would try to take it back :)) that I started videoing.  I've excerpted the cutest and most tender moment in the video below.

Charlie got Henlie to laugh! and so easily!  It made me pause to think just how well they can still communicate, how close they still are to the veil that they can share an understanding like this.  Definitely one of those moments I'm glad I was taking the time out to experience with them :) Love them both!

(And happy birthday to Camile! I'm so glad we got together to play yesterday!)

Matt is having fun in the sun without us.  He is with his pipe band in Vegas for the Scottish festival. (He took a 1st and 3rd in his solos today!)  I have been left while he has gone on a band trip before (Enumclaw last year :p), but this time, I have a small human to care for. 

I was off of work yesterday because Carrie had to pick up Michelle in Ephraim - and that's a long time for a baby to be in a car.  I got to see Matt in the morning, so that was nice.  By 11am, he was on the road.  Henlie and I hung out most of the day.  She discovered plastic bags are fun.  Too bad I can't just let her play with one on her own, eh?  She and I spent a lot of the day watching the news going down in Boston.  Then we went to  Walmart, came home, and put her to bed.

Today, I had to work.  I packed up Henlie and Mocha to take to Matt's mom's house while I was gone all day.  Then I ran some errands on the way home and picked the baby up.  Left after her bedtime (oops! 8pm is early...)  Walked the dog and put the baby back to bed.  Hung out on Facebook (it's rather boring, really.  Also, I'm a wee sad my facebook game, Sims Social, is being discontinued come June.)  Matt did just call, so that was nice.  Every time I see one of our friends post a pic on FB, I get a little sad.  Wish we could afford to make every band trip a family vacation :)  Because really, those are the only vacations we ever take.  (Okay, 95% of them, anyway.)

Also, I eat like crap.  I already knew this, but it is so much harder when there is only one of me to worry about.  AND I have to make whatever it is I eat (as opposed to having someone else who may be so inclined to do the cooking that evening).  Yeah, it's been a day and a half, and I'm already over this single parenting business.  I can't imagine how it must be for those who have this as their life always.  Or who have a military spouse and do this way more often for long stretches.  And multiple kids? ugh! (At least then there is more than one person to feed...)

Anyway, rant over.  At least he did call tonight. :)  Can't wait to see him tomorrow night!

Sadly, I missed most of the Easter festivities this year because I had to work :p  When I got home, I met up with Matt at his parents' house.  Then we headed to Spanish Fork to see my mom's side of the family.  We got there just as Karen's family was loading up to leave.  We also missed Kim and Traci entirely.  Sad day.  But we did get some food and got to chat with others.  We played hula hoop and skip it.  It didn't take me too long to remember how to hula hoop lol.  Surprisingly, the bigger hoop was easier.  As for the skip it?  Well, I'd never done it before, and I didn't do too well attempting it.  But I had lots of fun.  And hey - exercise! :)

After that, we headed back to Matt's parents' house (we'd left Matt's car there) and visited with the remaining family.  We also watched the Young Women's broadcast.  Good times.

Easter Sunday, I had sharing time.  We had gotten off schedule and already completed all of March's sharing time lessons in the manual.  Denise asked if I could come up with an Easter sharing time instead.  Good job on the church - all month long we pretty much talked about the events surrounding Easter.  So instead, we watched the He is Risen Bible video the church produced and talked just a little bit about what happened. 


I bore my testimony (while crying, naturally), and that was that.  It worked out very well, if I do say so myself.

Umm, can you believe my baby girl is already five months old? I kind of have a hard time believing it myself.  It seems like we've had even more new and exciting things happen this month.  

Henlie is still wearing her 0-3 month clothes (and the one 3-6 month onesie that's on the small side), but most of them are seeming to fill out.  I did retire one small onesie of the 0-3 collection, but everything else still fits for the time being.


She has gotten much more interactive.  She reaches for toys and grabs at stuff (including hair if you give her enough time to latch onto it).  The other day, I had her in her play pen while I gathered up stuff to leave.  She rolled to her side and grabbed at one of her toys and was playing with it.  Naturally, I just had to give that toy to her in her carseat while we went to Grandma's house.


Along with hair, she has also started grabbing at noses, lips, and mommy's bowl of food.  (We discovered that recently while having dinner at Grandma's house.  She was fussing, so I picked her up and stood up.  However, I was trying to eat dessert and had to keep switching hands in order to eat and then keep the bowl out of her reach.)


She still isn't a huge fan of being on her tummy, but she seems more content there than she used to.  Lazy, almost.  She rarely will roll on her own now, but just lay there until she gets upset enough we roll her over instead.  Although, if she is going to roll, it's pretty instantaneous from the moment you put her on her stomach.  So it's either roll immediately or hang out.  She still hasn't made it from her back to her tummy, but she will roll to her side.  Usually it's because there's an interesting toy she wants to check out :)


Getting to this curiosity stage, she is enthralled by the puppy.  Sometimes she'll watch the bird, too, but the puppy is the one usually around (lonely and saddened that she doesn't get the attention she wants). 


She still jabbers sometimes, and she has added a few new sounds to the repertoire.  She still isn't really using any consonant sounds, though. 


This month, we were treated with her first laugh! She and I were playing peek-a-boo, and she gave me three "heh" noises in a row.  Before then, we would ocassionally get one "heh," but I consider those practice laughs.  Three in a row, though, is legit laughter :)  Since then, we have even gotten her sort of giggling.  It's fun to hear how her laugh has developed already.


Other new discoveries - her tongue.  She has stuck out her tongue before, but it was always within the confines of her lower lip.  This month, her tongue broke free.  I think she realized it is its own appendage.  This has entertained me quite a bit.

She is still fascinated with her hands and feet, too.  But now, we have taken it one step further (no pun intended).  She can grab her toes.  Even more recently, she managed to get those toes up to her mouth and suck on her big toe.  So funny.  I wish I were that flexible :)


Lately she has become seemingly super hungry.  She is enthralled with people eating.  She even surprised me one night by sitting up in her Bumbo seat instead of falling forward in it.  I guess my little girl is trying to tell me to let her have a go at solids.  We have given her a couple of things on a one-time basis so far, but nothing really to say, "Here, Henlie. Let's see if you can actually eat this.  If not, that's okay.  We'll practice again tomorrow."  More like, "You keep staring and reaching.... okay, here's a little bit of mashed potato you can attempt to suck on."  (I got so messy....)  So, next week I'm thinking we'll venture into the realm of solids.  Wish me luck.  Maybe little girl will be more pleasant after that ;)

As is our standard, we went in for a weight check today.  She is exactly 10 pounds.  The doctor said she's doing fine, even though she will probably end up following the curve, but below it.  (Apparently his daughter is the same way, so explain to me why we needed to have extra calorie bottles....)  And as for her height, I determined it to be 23.75 inches.  Nearly two feet tall already! :)