Easter

Yesterday was Easter, this year it was pretty low-key, usually we go from here to there to everywhere to see all the family, but this year my dad's parents were supposed to be gone on a cruise [grandpa Burke's eye injury changed that plan] so there were no plans with that side. My dad and Colleen came over on Saturday to visit and give Presley her Easter gift from them (a cute little spring dress and a lamb) My mom didn't set anything up for Easter either. And Jeremy's family didn't do the usual this year since all her grand kids weren't going to be there.

   So we woke up and I fixed a little Easter breakfast for us, we had orange rolls, eggs, and sausage. Presley has become quite the picky little eater as of lately and is not a fan of eggs currently. She does this silly thing where she will let you put it in her mouth but if she doesn't like it she will continue to stick out her tongue like a dog until it falls off. So the rest of the afternoon we did nothing [well I should say Jeremy did nothing, I on the other hand got busy in the kitchen and prepared 2 weeks of lunch and dinner for Presley.]

       My mom called later and invited us over for dinner, it was yummy! Thanks Mom and Don for having us over, they also got Presley a little gift, they got her a cute summer outfit and a cute peter rabbit cookie with her name on it. After dinner my grandparents came over for strawberry shortcake. Then we went over to Jeremy's parents to have a little Easter egg hunt

Oh I almost forgot, the Easter Bunny came to our house this year! Presley got some good stuff, She loves books and the Easter bunny must have known! She loved how the eggs made noise when she would shake them (money inside) and loved to pull the grass apart all over the house. It was a good weekend! Jeremy had a blast at the dunes, after all that is a yearly tradition for him to go to the dunes Easter weekend with all the crazies! he always comes home beat out from partying it up all night! But I am glad that he has something to look forward to that he loves to do, and it helps keep him out of trouble (at least as far as I know.) So there you go, a quick look at our 1st Easter with Presley.

I just happened to stumble upon a new blog the other day, I was looking at who my followers followed and tada! I have found this blog to be very inspirational, although there is lots of sadness to it, I think that this family has amazing strength! turns out they lost their princess to SIDS when she was only 4 months old :( It has really made me make sure that I spend every chance I can with Presley and to make sure that I tell her throughout each and every day just how much her mommy and daddy love her. Life is a strange and wonderful thing and you never know what will happen.
        
    Hold your loved ones close and tell them how you feel, you never know what will happen. I had a hard time sleeping last night though because although I have thought about SIDS alot before, after reading her blog somehow it made it more real [crazy since i dont know this person personally] I kept waking up to make sure that I could still hear her breathing through the monitor and when I couldn't I would go in her room to make sure. My heart aches for that family, I wish that no one had to go through putting their baby to rest, it's just NOT fair!

   So I thank this woman for sharing her grief with total strangers and making everyone more aware that things happen that are out of our control, but the one thing we do have control over is making sure that our loved ones know how much they mean to us.

Our beautiful Presley, We Love you SO much!

Breastfeeding

So I have been going strong with this whole breastfeeding thing and I am loving it! When I went to my first Dr. visit when I got pregnant with Presley one of the questions that was asked was if I was going to formula feed or breastfeed. I told Larsen that I guessed that I would give breastfeeding a try. Never did I think that this would be something that I would become passionate about, I have dabbled with the thought of looking into becoming a lactation consultant as I now know first-hand how challenging it can be (especially with Presley's milk protein intolerance issues) As we are approaching Presley turning 1 I am faced with new challenge of weaning and as much as I thought that I would be excited for this day when I would be done breastfeeding it is now becoming reality and I am no where near ready to start weaning her. I have thought about cutting out her afternoon feeding and replacing it with a bottle even if I am home with her so I would only be breastfeeding morning and night, but I just cant seem to do it. I have so much milk stored in the chest freezer, I'm talking like 300 ounces! that needs to be used [after all it is liquid gold] I didn't pump for nothing! So I guess some decisions will need to made in the next few weeks.
   I can't beleive that here in a few days she will be 10 months old, just a few weeks back I was thinking to myself that Presley has been in this world as long as I had carried her in me, life truely is amazing! She is also becoming more daring and adventurous, she is pulling up on all of the furniture and thinks that she is just so neat! our end tables and coffee table now look bare as she thinks that she needs to touch everything on them so we have had to move it all. Just today she has started to transition from the end table to the couch and back, its so fun to see her learn new things, but makes me sad at the same time. I was reading parents magazine at work yesturday and came upon a quote from Sharon Ozborne it said something to the effect of  " our children are basically on loan to us, its our job to raise them into adulthood, so cherish the time that we have with them while they are little because they are only little for a short while." I loved this thought mentality. I do my best to spend as much time playing and exploring with her each and everyday.

Springtime

 

Well we had a nice few days last week that actually made me feel like we were officially on our way to fabulous spring weather, and of course in Utah fashion I woke up to snow on Sunday morning. Seems to be pretty common every time general conference is going on that weekend inevitably has to be crummy, whats the deal with this???

   I had to snap a few pictures of our backyard, the snow is so beautiful to look at when no one has touched it, the trees looked so neat with all the heavy snow making all the branches sag. Jeremy had to go out and knock the snow off some of them as he was afraid the heaviness of the snow would break the limbs. Now of course every ones poor bulbs that had started to pop up and the flowers that bloomed must be a bit confused with this white stuff.

Easter is late in the month this year which seems so weird to have it at the end of April. I got what I thought was a great idea  a week ago to try my hand at making Presley a crocheted Easter basket. I thought it would be cute if I could make it look like an Easter bunny, the project came out just the way I had envisioned it. I put the finishing touches on it today, I am excited for all the holidays and to be able to teach Presley why we celebrate the holidays we do. I believe it is important for childrenEaster is to know the meaning behind holidays and that they have way more purpose and meaning than just getting "things" I really want Presley to not be selfish or greedy as she grows up. I hope that I will be able to be the mother to her that I know I want to be. I want to instill in her the values and characteristics of a kind, caring, loving woman.

It really is amazing how much life does change after having babies, all the things that seemed so big now mean nothing. I have learned that as moms we become very selfless. My most important job is to make sure that Presley gets all the time and attention that she deserves [they only stay little for a short period of time after all] And I must find time to devote to the amazing husband that I have been blessed to have. I wonder how I managed to not get overwhelmingly bored with so much free time before Presley made her way into our hearts and lives, I ALWAYS have something to do, and if I don't give me about 1 minute and I will think of something that needs to be taken care off. There really is not enough hours in the day to accomplish every thing. So that means sometimes the house is a bit messy, but like I said those things seem not to matter as much as the time I get to spend with this amazing little human being that God has blessed us with. Easter is a great holiday and really shows how amazing life is. I am thankful for the gospel, God, Jesus Christ, and family and friends in my life.