Life Is Precious

Well, here are some more pictures of the princess. I don't have any fabulous new stories to tell other than to say she is wonderful and growing quickly. We go in to the doctor today to check on her progress so we will find out how much she has gained (if only Mommy's weight would go down as much as she goes up...). She turns one month old on Wednesday. Wow, that went fast. We love her. She is sweet and fun, and I am anxiously awaiting her smiles which will soon come.

I was digging through my cedar chest this past week and pulled out my old blessing dress. Just for fun, I tried it on Ellie (even though she didn't much like so much dressing and undressing). I was amazed at how much she reminded me of me in her expressions and looks. Fortunately she has plenty of Eric in her as well. What a blessing for us both to be a part of the miracle of her creation!

Last night while with some friends we learned that a couple in our ward might possibly lose their two year old little girl during the night. She'd had flu-like symptoms the day before which turned out to be meningitis and was in the hospital. This was so unexpected. It made me sad to think of this wonderful could lose their sweet, little girl overnight. When we got home and I held Eliora again I started crying to imagine how I would feel to lose her. Life is so precious; it is a gift every day. The small inconveniences are nothing in the eternal weight of things. I am grateful to be alive, for the life of my daughter and husband, and for the One who grants it to us. I hope I never take it for granted.

First Time to Church

First off, doesn't she just look adorable in this little dress? I love little girl dresses. This one is still a little big for her but I didn't really care. How fun it is to have a baby girl!

So, this past Sunday was our first Sunday at church as a whole family, and honestly it feels like everything is different. First off, getting ready for church was much harder. Ellie finally finished her morning feeding at 8:30, leaving me with half an hour to get ready...yah right. Needless to say, we were late. And second, your whole mindset changes when you have someone depending on you 100%. I felt slightly out of focus as I tried paying attention to the speakers while keeping in tune to what type of cry Ellie was giving (hungry? wet? more attention?). I can definitely see that the world of parenthood is a whole new world.

With that said, I must also mention how beautiful this new world is. This is the time when all of the virtues we learned so much about growing up come in to bloom. This is when we must put into practice every Christlike characteristic we have ever tried to develop, and then try to develop some more. And this is when it is most rewarding. Watching my little baby sleep, or feeling her tiny fingers wrap around mine while she is eating makes me unbelievably happy. Such small things that create such big feelings. It is wonderful! And I love being a mommy.

I know Eric feels much the same way. Last night in our home evening after singing "I Am a Child of God" he mentioned how he has never before looked at the song from a parent's perspective, but now he does (WE do) and the meaning of the song has taken on added beauty. Let me add one more thought from last night's lesson. This is from a talk by James E. Faust called "The Greatest Challenge in the World - Good Parenting":

Parental teaching moments need not be big or dramatic or powerful. We learn this from the Master Teacher. Charles Henry Parkhurst said:

“The completed beauty of Christ’s life is only the added beauty of little inconspicuous acts of beauty—talking with the woman at the well; showing the young ruler the stealthy ambition laid away in his heart that kept him out of the Kingdom of Heaven; … teaching a little knot of followers how to pray; kindling a fire and broiling fish that his disciples might have a breakfast waiting for them when they came ashore from a night of fishing, cold, tired, and discouraged. All of these things, you see, let us in so easily into the real quality and tone of [Christ’s] interests, so specific, so narrowed down, so enlisted in what is small, so engrossed with what is minute.” (“Kindness and Love,” in Leaves of Gold, Honesdale, Pa.: Coslet Publishing Co., 1938, p. 177.)

And so it is with being parents. The little things are the big things sewn into the family tapestry by a thousand threads of love, faith, discipline, sacrifice, patience, and work.

Look What the Stork Brought!

Well, happy day, and what a surprise: our little girl made an early entrance into the world and has already captured our hearts. She is so precious, and we feel very blessed to have her in our family. And we LOVE being parents! I loved what Eric said earlier this week. He mentioned how he has been thinking how cool it sounds to think he is a daddy, but even cooler is to think that he has a DAUGHTER. I have walked in on several occasions to find Eric holding our sleeping baby in his arms and studying her face. It is so sweet. I love that! It is so fun holding Eliora, looking at her tiny, perfect body, listening to her tender squeaks as she sleeps, watching her dark, observant eyes scan your face, feeling her little fingers wrap around yours...truly there can be no greater work on earth than that of being a parent.

Let me sum up how it all happened. The Friday before she was born was my last day of work (yay!). I had what felt like menstrual cramps all day but thought they were merely Braxton Hicks contractions because they were too short and too irregular to be the real thing. The next day was my baby shower with my family attending, and the cramps continued. Still, I didn't worry. We spent the day shopping, planning, and doing activities together while my parents were in town (I even worked on taxes...while in labor I later learned). They left just before 11:00. About an hour later as I climbed into bed, my water broke. I remember jumping, and gasping, and Eric looked over and asked what was wrong. I think I had a stunned look on my face when I said, "I think my water just broke."

Fortunately my sister and her husband had decided to stay the night. We ended up going to the hospital on very short notice with the intention of just making sure the baby's heartbeat was good and then coming home to wait for labor to be regular. At the hospital, after being monitored for about 20 minutes, it was clear that contractions were very regular, long, and getting stronger. We stayed, and called my sister to bring all the extra things we didn't think we'd needed to bring. When my dilation was finally checked, they found I was at an 8. Holy cow! It was going way faster than we expected. All that kept going through my head was, "This is way too fast. I'm not ready, I haven't cleaned my house, I haven't finished my shopping, and our midwife is out of town. She can't come yet!" But come she did. She was born not 4 fours hours after arriving at the hospital and we were parents before we had time to blink. Crazy!

Eliora was born on Sunday, March 28th (which happens to be my sister, Heather's birthday) at 3:43am (you can bet we didn't get any sleep all night) which was three weeks early. She weighed 6lbs. 9oz. and was 21 inches long. She has a good amount of brown hair (very different from her mommy who was bald at birth) and beautiful, deep eyes (they look so wise). I remember when she was coming out and the doctor saying, "She's got a lot of dark hair," and thinking, "Dark hair? She won't look like either of us!" But I love it. She's very cute. And, I should note, even with how caught off guard we were and how mentally unprepared I was to give birth, we were able to do it without medication. Eric was by me the whole time, encouraging me and helping me. It was so nice to have him there and feel how much he cared. I couldn't have done it without him. It was incredibly intense and difficult, but I would do it again in a heartbeat. I've already been brainstorming what new things to try for next time since in this last one I forgot so much of what we learned in our class. Oh well. All is well.

Eliora is here, and we love her more than words can describe. It is amazing how you can love someone so much in such a short amount of time. Clearly it is a gift from our Heavenly Father, showing us in just a small way how He loves us.