And finally...the star: Lena Lou!

Ok, here are a smattering of pictures of my cute little lovebug, Lena Lou! The pictures of Lena in this dress were taken today (Sept 12) after church. I wore this dress when I was a baby, and Lena looks a lot like me when I was a baby when she is in this outfit.

Lena and I started taking a baby sign-language class together on Friday mornings at a community center. We have learned the signs for milk, bird, drink, Lena's name spelled out, diaper, banana, and water! Among other vocabulary words. The others in the class thought my little sunflower was the cutest, and I have to agree!

This is a picture of another Jill, there are two of us Jill's at work. I actually trained her when she started out as a new nurse last year. I like to call her dreadlock-Jill :) Anyway, this was Lena's first time to the park. We met Jill and her dog there, and had a great time.

Here is my sweet munchkin learning how to hold her head up and also roll over!

Daddy holding Lena after three hours of church

Lena wearing an outfit her Dutch friends sent her in the mail. So cute!

Lena was born breech and had been breech since about 31 weeks. It is now routine to do hip-ultrasounds to make sure the hip ball and socket are developing correctly and that she doesn't have a dislocation. She had one at 7 weeks and then again at 3 months. I was worried she wouldn't sit still for the technician at the 3 month appointment, but Lena did very well and the tech said she was the best baby she'd had in a long time! And to make it even sweeter, Lena rolled over for the first time right there on the gurney before we started the test, from her back to her stomach! Todd and I were amazed. Everything turned out ok, and her hips are developing just fine. Thank goodness!

Trip to Idaho, August 2010

I went back home to Utah and Idaho the beginning of August (9-15th) with little Lena. Todd stayed home to enjoy his last week of summer before his school started up this semester. I went back to work the week before my trip after taking 3 months off for maternity leave. Going back to work was a little rough, and I felt out of practice and like a fish out of water. Learning how to handle work and breastpumping and how to be a nurse again took some time. Todd and I were going to use a free trip to San Diego during that second week of August that we got through one of those time-share schemes, but they gave us such a hassle that we decided to bag it. Since I had the week off anyway, I decided to put it to good use and headed up to Utah to see my family!

Mom and Aunt Marsha were planning a mini trip to Idaho that week, so I decided to join them. I miss Idaho so much! I went to school at BYU-Idaho for my associates and bachelors in nursing, and moved from Idaho to Arizona, where I met my husband. As you can see from this beautiful picture, Idaho is amazingly gorgeous! As Uncle Allan put it, I'm on the "road to nowhere" in this picture.


Uncle Allan and Aunt Jaime were kind enough to make their home a "hotel" of sorts, and let Aunt Marsha, mom, Lena, and me stay there. Jaime's sister and her husband were already staying there, so it truly was a hotel! We really enjoyed our visit there, and I got to pick raspberries in the patch and eat them. They are my favorite berry!

Lena discovered her hands Friday 8/13 morning while sitting in Grandma Bracken's arms after breakfast, this is a picture of the exact moment!

One of the main reasons for the trip to Idaho was so my mom could visit with her old art teacher, and buy one of her paintings. We had a lovely visit with the artist, she is such an accomplished woman. My mom has been saving her quarters/dimes/pennies for a few years to save up to buy a painting. It is so neat to see my mom realize her goals and live all her dreams. I am so proud of my mom. She even started taking violin lessons this year! I hope she doesn't kill me for saying this.

While in Idaho, we HAD to go to Green Canyon to go swimming! Mom says green canyon has been the exact same since she was a child. In the picture is Carolyn, Mom, my brother Matthew, me, Aunt Marsha, and little Lena. We spent the afternoon looking at historical sites, then went swimming and then looked at the Teton Dam that broke.

Matthew LOVED being with Lena and is so good with babies. I enjoyed seeing his friendship and love for Lena grow. He could get her to smile when no one else could, and is good at cooing at her, and holding her, and playing with her. Matthew is a good sport and a great help when I ask him for help, and he jumps in to help even before I ask. I hope he knows I appreciate it! I really enjoy my brother and miss him tons. I wish he lived closer. I wish all my family lived closer! I have a re-occuring dream, for the past 2-3 years, where I am getting ready and going on a car trip with my family to Idaho. Any dream-doctors out there? I have been wanting to go back to Idaho for a long time now, so it was wonderful to be able to! Now I just need to take Todd for a visit...