three.amazing.years.

My heart is full and I am flooded with sweet, tender emotions. I have had the honor of serving with the Young Women in my ward for the last 3 years. Probably my favorite calling ever. I have always known that inevitably this day would one day come and I would have to pass the torch and these amazing girls over to someone new, but I never expected that I would be this much of a mess.

Oh, how I love them!

I remember receiving this calling and sobbing, mostly because I felt so overwhelmed and inadequate. I remember my sister telling me that as long as I had a testimony of the gospel and could love the girls, that was all I needed. Now, as this calling is taken away, I sob realizing that I absolutely could love them, more than I ever thought possible in fact, and they have strengthened my testimony in more ways that I can possibly express.

I stand convinced that I needed them in my life, far more than they needed me in theirs.

These amazing young women and the incredible ladies that I served with will always be some of my dearest eternal friends. And I will always be one of their greatest cheerleaders in life!

How do you sum up three years of doing, being, learning, playing, trekking, camping, creating, sharing, growing, serving and loving?

I don't know, but pictures are a start....

I thank them from the bottom of my heart for loving and supporting me.

They have brought more light and joy to my life than they will ever know.

three.

three whole months. an entire season. a quarter of a year.

time goes too fast.

(*** disclaimer: please know that these monthly posts are for me and my own forgetful mind. I know that the minute details of her life are ridiculously boring to all, save a very select few)

(I can't tell you how excited I get each month to put her in her special onesie! Thanks again to my amazing friend Allisen!)

3 month dish:

• She's sleeping through the night like a champ. Leah goes to bed between 9-10pm, wakes up between 8-9am. It is heaven. (i.will.never.take.sleep.for.granted.ever.again.)
• She is still a great eater and seems to get new chubby rolls every single day. She and I are both pleased with our comfort and moderate enjoyment of breast feeding. Relief
• She has now graduated to size 2 diaper.
• She chats and jabbers most of the day. Lots of happy sighs, squeals, coos & goos and sometimes some intense yells (mostly when I'm not paying attention to her.) Almost always, her arms and legs are spastically waving too.
• She's found her hands and she can't keep them out of her mouth. She gets nearly her entire fist in her mouth. It's crazy and hilarious.
• She has a blowout almost every single day. Sometimes two. It sucks. She is an all or nothing kind of girl. Nothing, nothing, nothing and then in an instant, it's everywhere. Sometimes from her armpits to her toes. I hate it. I thought it was too small of diapers, but even the larger size hasn't made any difference. Boo.
• She loves bathtime and is getting really playful. She loves splashing with her arms and legs and usually the entire bathroom and mom and dad are a sloppy mess once we're all done. Her baths and lotion massages are seriously the best part of our bedtime routine.
• Although she is awesome at night, she is still really high maintenance during the daylight hours. She is not a good napper. 45 minutes is about as long as she ever sleeps at a time during the day. She doesn't want to miss anything and likes lots of attention. We don't get a lot done around here, needless to say.
• Her fingernails grow like CRAZY. I have to cut them a couple of times a week. But her toenails don't seem to grow at all. Haven't cut them once.
• Her squinty eye, open mouth, sometimes tongue out smile is my very favorite. It pretty much makes me giddy.
• I'm not sure if she has any idea how much she is loved, but we try especially hard every.single.day to make sure she does!

One of her favorite spots to hang out and chat with mama. I'm telling you, this is the best invention. ever.

We have it in our kitchen and it saves my sanity as I'm cooking or working on projects. She loves it so much and so do I. It's the only reason I ever get anything done! (thanks again gma & gpa)

(yep... that's the smile that I was talking about!)

Happy Quarter of a Year Littlemiss!

And the name by which she shall be known...

Sometimes I wish that I could just hit pause. Stop and be still. Savor the moment just a little more. Yesterday was one of those days. Seeing my sweet, amazing husband use his priesthood to bless our sweet, miraculous daughter was one of the most tender moments I have experienced as a mama. Her blessing was so beautiful and we were surrounded and enveloped by family and dear friends. It was a day that evoked many emotions within me, mostly just pure, overwhelming gratitude.

My amazing, talented, beautiful and dear friend Amy spent the day with us, beautifully capturing precious memories from this incredible day. I can't thank her enough. I didn't have to pick up my camera once.



Mama & Leah's matching pearl bracelets from Grandma.

three generations

There is nothing sweeter in life than a daddy adoring his daughter.

Leah wasn't sure about all these pictures and she wasn't crazy about being all dressed up, but she was a good sport.

absolutely smitten

Grandma Leah's ruby ring.

I know that she continues to watch over her little namesake and certainly was with us for her special day.

Amy and I with our two very special baby girls.

Leah & Hope

We invited all of our families and many dear friends over for a feast and celebration afterwards.

Leah was so relieved to get out of her dress and have some snuggle time with all those who love her.

The best part of any feast. Dessert and lots of it!

And THIS is the happiest mama on earth.

Thank you to all who shared this special day with us and helped to make it so wonderful.

Thank you to my husband for blessing my life and blessing hers.

And thank you to the little baby girl who made me a mama, who completes my world and owns my heart.

Christmas with a Littlemiss

Everything about the holidays seemed magical this year. Leah didn't have a clue what was going on, but I couldn't have been more giddy about having my own sweet little family this year.

The annual Christmas Eve Soup Night at Grandma's house.

Ugly Sweaters and all.

Sweet Santababy
(outfit courtesy of "NOT the worst uncle in the world" and amazing cousin Cassidy)

The nativity. A perfect way to end any Christmas Eve gathering.
Leah was the babe in swaddling clothes and per usual, the moment humbled me.

By the time we got home that night, visions of sugarplums were already dancing in her head.
She was soooo tired.

****

After a glorious 10.5 hour Silent Night, we awoke to find that between Santa, grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles and cousins... she made a pretty good haul for a not-quite-12 week old.

Mom was especially excited to find that Santa had brought us a new stroller, so if it ever warms up again we are ready for trips to the park, zoo and all around the neighborhood

Leah wasn't sure what to think of everything, but once she got used to the idea, she seemed pretty excited about new soft dollies, sophie the giraffe and most of all a cool new bouncy play thingamajigg, among other things.


****

After our traditional breakfast, it was off to Grandma & Grandpa Johnson's for lunch. The kids all found pillow pets waiting for them, but much to her cousins disbelief, Leah slept through all the excitement. However I'm sure she will love her ladybug, once she gets just a bit bigger.

****

We were lucky enough to spend the rest of Christmas day at home, just the 3 of us.

Chris and I loved our gift the very best....

A sweet, curious, mesmerized, miraculous baby girl.

A Christmas gift the will be difficult to ever top!

It's midnight somewhere...

...and it's nearly past my bedtime, so

Happy New Year
(a little early)

from our family to yours!

The Real Meaning of Christmas

I think this is so sweet.

Merry Christmas!

{cookies and frosting and sprinkles} OH MY!

Another one of my favorite holiday traditions that I now get to share with my littlemiss...

My grandma Leah actually started this party when we were young. She would have all the grandkids over for her annual CookieBakeSlumberParty. It was a chance for our parents to take advantage of free babysitting and one of the parties that we all looked forward to throughout the year.

My amazing mom started doing the same thing once she started having her own grandchildren and it just keeps getting better and better. This continues to be one of the most looked forward to nights of the holiday season. As most of the grandkids got older, parents gradually started showing up, hoping for cookies and a good time. Now it usually turns into a huge party with loads of people and gads of messes.

This year, my Mom had knee surgery to repair a torn miniscus just a week before the scheduled party. There was no way that she would be up to pulling it off and yet, we couldn't bear the thought of not having this annual party, so my sisters and I, along with a few of my nieces and sister-in-law stepped up to help make it happen.

holy.crap.it's.a.lot.of.work.

I can't believe that any sane person would go to that much work.

We're talking 400+ sugar cookies, people. That's 10 {ten} batches! Not to mention 5 big batches of frosting and oodles and oodles of sprinkles.

I was once again reminded that me and the littlemiss have both been blessed with amazing grandmas!!

It turned into such a fun day, cooking, laughing, prepping and hanging out as we finished all the final touches. (luckily the masseuse was there to ease our tired bodies)

We wanted my mom to be able to boss us around while having plenty of time to snugge the rookie-cookie-party-attendees. I think she kinda liked that job this year!

She and Leah even got a pretty good nap in!

SO.MUCH.FUN.

Leah wasn't sure what to think of all the fuss! She seemed to think that her own hand was just as tasty as any cookie version could possibly be!



She may not have been impressed with the cookies, but she LOVED her time with Lydia. It was so fun to have these two girls together all day. They are only 12 days apart and so cute together, especially now as they are both getting more social.

In fact, there is a whole new crop of little ones! Most of these are kiddos of my nieces and nephew, but I am so glad that she will have little cousins to play with even though I don't understand the geneology lingo of it all (once removed, twice shy?!? Who really cares?)



Trey had been the youngest of the original cousin generation until Leah came along. (He's soooo cute with her!)

And here she is with Tyler, the oldest cousin, who ironically has 2 little girls of his own now. I was just 7 years old when he was born, so we've always been close. Most of my nieces and nephews felt like the little brothers and sisters that I never had... except I didn't have to share my toys with them and it didn't matter when they got on my nerves, because they were bound to be going home soon! :)

I think I love them all as adults (more or less) than ever before!!

This whole mess is all because of these two.

The best parents and grandparents anyone could ever ask for!

Thanks for another fabulous year of memories!

Christmas Bliss-mas!

The holiday season has been so fun with our new little buddy. We love it when weekends come around and Daddy gets to hang out with us. Leah l.o.v.e.s her daddy. (I think it might be all the crazy voices and accents he does... she is enthralled with him)

On Saturday, we had plans to take her to see Santa (mostly to humor me. I've waited a long time for these opportunities and I wanted to make sure her 1st Christmas is well documented)

She seemed pretty excited?!?

But..... in the end... she slept right through it!!

Santa was so cute with her and couldn't take his eyes off of her.

(I kinda know the feeling)

*****

And on Sunday, we decided to take her to church for the first time. Chris and I have been taking turns while juggling her and our callings these last couple of months, but it was our annual Youth Christmas Devotional/Brunch and we both worked hard to make it happen and we didn't want to miss it!

She got gussied up in some fancy duds and came along. She was so good and slept through most of it. She didn't start melting down until the devotional was nearly over and mommy wanted to get some family pictures...
(Proof)

However, after a little lunch and some snuggling, she was back to being my perfect angel and she made it to her first Sacrament Meeting. It was so sweet to be in church all together as a family for the first time and especially on my favorite Sunday of the year. The Christmas program was amazing, as usual. I felt overwhelmed with emotion and love and blessings. I remember being younger and seeing cute couples and families in church. I always loved seeing husbands with their arms around their wives especially when they had sweet little ones. This particular Sunday felt a little bit, like I was given an out of body experience. As I sat there celebrating this Christmas season, I realized that finally, as I am nearing middle-aged, I am whole. I was meant to be a mother and I was sitting right where I was supposed to be at that moment, with exactly the people that I've prayed for my entire life. What a miraculous year! I feel like the luckiest girl in the world.

This is shaping up to be one of my best holiday seasons yet.

***and on another note, we are now working on two weeks of the littlemiss sleeping between 9 and 11 hours every single night. It's life-changing. Truly.

If Silent Night wasn't my favorite Christmas hymn before... it most certainly is now!!!