December Fun!

Let me start off by saying that I envy moms who get to change poopy diapers. Now you might be wondering what I mean by that considering I have a 2 month old and she must have poopy diapers, right? Wrong!! My daughter never has poopy diapers. She can't poop on her own. Since I stopped breastfeeding, Faith has only pooped on her own 3 days and she is now almost 11 weeks old!!! 

Now before you freak out... she goes to the bathroom every day but I have to stimulate her colon by sticking a very lubricated Q-tip up there. Gross! Yeah, that's what I was thinking especially considering how much I am fascinated by it! Now this brings me to a second envious thing of women who have long fingernails. Oh, I used to have them but have now been reduced to having to purposefully cut them off short. Why, you might ask? Well I will be happy to tell you.

My beautiful little girl who can't poop on her own likes to shoot liquefied poop out of her bum like a fire hose every day that I stimulate her colon. It takes 5 diapers a day to do this. I have to let a little bit out and then clean up my arms which sometimes are covered with dripping poop all the way up to my elbows. Oh and did I mention that I have to lay a towel on my lap so my pants are soaked in it! Yep... sure sounds like fun huh! So I now trim my nails short because I am disgusted by having to clean out the liquid poop that gets stuck underneath every morning! Are you nauseated yet? I would be if this wasn't part of my daily life.

Now you might be wondering if my daughter will ever poop on her own again? Well I would be too except that I finally found a new doctor for her. The first doctor we had kept telling me she would figure it out. He couldn't give me an explanation as to what was happening, not to mention he wanted to argue with me about my wishes in not vaccinating her. So my good friend Mary recommended her doctor who has been a pediatrician for 30+ years.

I was amazed that when I took her in he wanted me to give him all the facts about her poop history. He then told me that some babies are born and have a J shaped colon at the end so when they lay down they have a hard time pushing even watery poop out. He told me he has never had a baby not outgrow it. I can't tell you the relief I felt after talking with him. He advised me to help her out at least every 2 days whereas my other doctor kept telling me to let her go 5 days and then help her!!! What!?!? That stuff is toxic and should be let out every day!!! I loved him! Not to mention that he didn't even argue about my not vaccinating and even asked if I wanted them as opposed to telling me that we would be getting them like other docs! Hooray for Dr. Paul Swensen!

Enough about the nasty stuff... now onto the great stuff. The Doc as well as most of my family told me that Faith has really good control of her head at her age. She weighed 13lbs at 10 weeks and was 27 inches long! Shes in the 95th percentile for both height and weight!  

Faith doesn't sleep as much as I would like. She loves to give her Mommy a hard time and torture her to the point of tears as we spend more time in a rocking chair attempting to get her to sleep than anything else.  

We spent Christmas with my family (Wilcox/Meservy). This is where I gave up trying to put her down at my mom's house without a rocking chair or a laptop in which I could keep my sanity. So after hours of bouncing her and swinging her in the dark, I gave into a swaddle. I never wanted to do this because I didn't want her to get used to having it and only sleep when she was in it... but when she does sleep.. she sleeps longer. This is most likely due to her not being able to wake up from her startle reflexes since she is basically placed in a baby straight jacket. I hate the swaddle but she does sleep better with it. I just miss her cuddling up to me like she did before.

My niece Natalie was so cute. Faith was sleeping and my nephew, Gavin  (on my side of the family) was a little fussy while Jeni was helping to make dinner. I went over to pick him up and Natalie yelled, "That's not your baby!." She then ran into the kitchen screaming, "Somebody Help!!!" It was so cute!

Denise loved that the family finally got her a Wii and Mom of course got her Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls. Hooray for me!  

But the best gift of all came from Charles who actually participated in Christmas this year and bought Mom a TV. I missed it as I was trying to put my daughter to sleep. But she was blindfolded and then cried after she laughed.

Why is it that every holiday I find a picture of Denise and Natalie on the computer?

Hooray for Daddy time!

So every baby loves to watch Baby Einstein and Faith is no exception but what she loves to watch even more is Call of Duty Black Ops and Rockband. She will watch for nearly 45 minutes as opposed to the 20 minutes of Einstein!

Christmas morning and doesn't Faith look adorable in her Christmas outfit?

On Christmas Eve, we bundled her in her snowsuit and took her to see the Temple lights. She might have enjoyed it more if she hadn't have fallen asleep through most of it.

Hopefully soon we will be sealed as an Eternal family. Because this makes me cry!

Jeff calls this double Tummy Time! Ha ha... Tummy to Tummy!

Faith's 1st Priesthood Blessing!

My beautiful daughter received her very first Priesthood blessing this morning from her father as he gave her a baby blessing. We were both so excited for this day and to have our family surround us.

I had planned to have a get together afterwards as is the tradition on my side of the family and it turned out wonderful. I love to host events and have family get togethers. Its what I enjoy most and I love to be around others.

Faith woke up this morning at 6am and as I was nursing her and helping her to fall back asleep I all of a sudden became overwhelmed with emotion thinking that this was the first time that she would not only receive her first priesthood blessing but that it would be given by her Father.  

I never expected to feel emotional over this. It was just a blessing of her name and I couldn't help myself. I knew the spirit in my home was strong at this time and I couldn't hold back my tears. I want so much for her and I was anticipating this moment for so long.

 Jeff and I had our own prayer before we left for church and I felt that our family was strong and was so excited at the joy that she will bring into our lives.

 But I was mostly overcome with gratitude to my Father in Heaven for all the blessing and the trials he has given us that have helped us become who we are as a family and as individuals. The Lord has truly blessed my life with many things and even the trials have given me strength and has furthered my testimony that Jesus Christ, my brother and savior, loves each of us.

 Jeff and I have been through so much together that I sometimes wonder how we can still be together and love each other as much as we do. Our beautiful daughter was named Faith for the exact meaning of the word. Both of us have had to rely heavily on faith in the Lord to get us through our trials as a married couple. We have and are still relying on our faith that we will one day be sealed as an eternal family. It is a tough and trying time and has been going on for 2 years but we are continuing to push through it as nothing would give us greater joy than to have our family become eternal.

 Jeff constantly would tell me to have "faith" when we were trying to conceive a child and it took just that after a year to give us our beautiful baby girl. She is so wonderful and I know she will live up to her name and be an example to others as she was blessed in her blessing today.

 I am truly grateful each and every day to have the gospel in my life and the joy I have to feel of my Father's spirit and to know that he loves us. I await the day that we can return to him and to feel of his love in his presence. I am so overcome with joy and gratitude to him for entrusting us with one of his daughters who has now become our daughter as well.

 Families can be together forever and there is no greater blessing than that for our Father in Heaven to give us and what a joy it is to know that we will be.

 Faith,

 I want you to know how much I love you and your Dad loves you. We are so grateful to be your parents and to know that you bless our lives and bring joy into it each and every day.

 Waking up to you every morning is the greatest gift in the world and I love to see your beautiful face.

 Your Dad and I wish you the absolute best in life and want you to always live up to your name and to know that we will always be there for you. I know that being a mom and a wife were going to be my greatest joys just as my patriarchal blessing stated it would be and it most certainly is. Having your Father and you in my life is all that I need to continue to be happy.

 Motherhood is such a sweet and wonderful journey and I know that you will understand this when you grow older and become one yourself. There is such a love there that words can't express.

 I love you Faith, forever and always and thank you everyday for your sweet spirit which has entered our home.

I anxiously await each of your growing milestones and to be apart of every single one of them.

 Your Father and I love you so very much and await the day we will be sealed to you and to each other as an eternal family.

 Love,
Mom and Dad

 Faith's Baby Blessing (Notes from Ron Neilson)

Heavenly Father,
By the power of the Holy Melchizedek Priesthood which we hold we present this baby to thee for a blessing. The name on the records of the Church which she shall be known as is Faith Elizabeth Hawkins.
We bless you with health and to be strong. You will be a blessing in our lives. As you progress to the age of eight you will know that the gospel is true and have the desire to be baptized. As you get older you'll be a leader in the Young Women's program and teach those around you. Later in your life as you progress you continue to help others and as you become a young woman you will find a young man worthy of the Priesthood and join him in the temple and raise a healthy family. You'll be a wonderful mother. Once again, I bless you with health, and to be strong living in this mortal existence. You'll have joy, health, and help those who are in need. I give these blessings and all others you are in need of in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Thanksgiving with the Hawkins Family among other updates

Its been an wonderful last two weeks with Faith. She is getting so big and it makes me sad to think she is not as small as she once was. I love her so much its hard to think of my life before her. Jeff's family came out for Thanksgiving and she of course got to meet a lot of her relatives. Here she is with her Great Grandma Curtis on her 88th Birthday. Although neither one looks happy in this photo.

It was such a pleasure to have everyone get together. I was sad that Marcus and Jon and their families couldn't make it! But Thanksgiving dinner turned out really great. It wasn't stressful at all and I have officially had my first Thanksgiving where I hosted out of the way. I have to give credit to Mom and Dad Hawkins though because they really helped cook a lot. We were basically done with all the prep work by noon and then got to enjoy each other's company until we ate at 5pm.

We celebrated our nephew's birthday a month early so his birthday is seperated from Christmas since its a couple days before the holiday. I can't believe he is two years old now. Where does the time fly?

Faith is in love with her Aunt Christina. She spent a lot of time smiling at her and wouldn't stop. I loved it! What an adorable little girl! It was nice to have so much help from everyone although Faith's schedule was completely chaotic those few days as she was dragged everywhere and didn't seem to want to sleep with everything going on. Poor Christina was such a big help to me but I kept asking her to get me things as I was so tied down with Faith. I love that girl! Thanks Christina!

Jeff decided to feed Faith and she apparently decided she could do it on her own as she kept grabbing the bottle as though she was actually doing it herself. Too bad the color of her formula is a tannish brown with the prune juice I'm forced to give her for her constipation. Poor baby!

You have to love being mesmerized by Baby Einstein! Both Christina and Faith were watching it. Its amazing that such a young baby will watch these programs. And as an adult I must say I find it quite relaxing!

 I love the G Diapers we bought for Faith. Not only are they wonderful for the environment as we can flush them and they will biodegrade in 100 days but she looks so cute in them!!! Who wants a white disposable diaper when you have cute little pink bottoms!!! And doesn't my husband look so adorable in this photo? I think so!!

 Faith's first full day at church was wonderful. She slept through the whole thing so Mom and Dad could teach class. She has been such a good baby. She doesn't really cry a lot and does really well when I take her out places. She sleeps through the noise too and I love that about her!

Now I am watching Einstein with her!

Thanksgiving weekend with the Hawkins family was really nice. I'm a chatter bug and loved sitting around chit chatting with everyone. But Jeff on the other hand is not quite so chatty. This is all he did while his family was in town...
                                                   X-Box and Call of Duty-- how I hate you!

The Uncles and Daddy seem to really like Faith!

Faith seems to like the bouncer and the vibrations it gives. It really relaxes her!

 Her cousin Gavin and T-Bo are inspecting her. I hope she stays this small forever!!! How sad when they grow up even though its fun to watch all their progress. I was so proud of her when she held her head up on her own for a full minute at four weeks! It was the highlight of my week!

Faith loves taking her baths and we love to watch her "swim" at the end of it. She always seems so relaxed as she just floats there and we push her around in the water. I think its much more fun than just getting washed and have water splashed on you. Sometimes she will cry because she wants to be held and the moment we put her in the water to float around she instantly becomes quiet. This routine at night is followed by her baby rubs with lotion. She likes to have us apply the lotion on her arms.. but not so much the stomach or arms.

            

                This is Faith smiling at Christina!                        

After everyone had left and gone back home Jeff decided to put Faith on the couch with him so he could play with her there. She was swallowed up by our big couches however but looked so darn cute!