Let go

If you ask my dad (or probably anybody) he will say that I am extremely stubborn. When my mom can tell I am going through a hard time she usually asks me if I want my dad to give me a father's blessing. Most of the time I turn her down and she looks at me like I'm crazy. What is there to lose? Why on earth would I not want a blessing?! I'm stubborn, that's why. And I don't want to cry. I know I will.
So I won't go into my sob story of why I have been in one of the darkest moods I have probably ever been in, but I want to write down this experience as a way to bear my testimony and as a way to remember. I have been trying to fight back every day but a lot of days I think Satan won those battles. Finally on Thursday I decided to swallow my pride. I needed some help here because I was obviously getting worse and worse on my own. I asked Bryce to give me a blessing that night.
When he gave me that blessing I cried. I knew that would happen, but I could immediately feel a feeling of comfort and as I listened to the words of the blessing I knew that they were coming straight from Heavenly Father. There were things Bryce said that were more than what I expected to hear. I asked Bryce afterwards if he felt like he was being told what to say. He said that he was, that the words were just coming into his head.
I am so thankful for the power of the priesthood and the huge difference the blessing that I received has been on my heart.
The lessons in primary the last two weeks have been about the power of the priesthood. I think my little 7 year olds already know the lessons I am teaching them, but now that I am 25 I think I am finally getting it.

9 months

Jayda's 9 month appointment was on April 30th. Her stats are:
Weight: 19 pounds-55%
Length: 29.25 inches-79.5%
Head: 17.25 inches-40%

She can pull herself up to a stand.
She has graduated from an infant bather to just being in the tub.

She loves anything to do with swinging.

She doesn't love the grass, but doesn't hate it.

She helped me celebrate my first official mother's day.

Her two bottom teeth have also cut through her gums.

Firsts

It feels like everything Bryce and I do together is more exciting now that we have Jayda. Not only are they "firsts" for her, but for us also. This past month has been FULL of "firsts".


Jayda went to her first funeral for her great Grandpa Schow.....

Where she let her first balloon float into the sky for him.



She went on her first road trip up to Idaho to see her cousins....

Where she had her first Easter egg hunt. It was freezing cold with fierce winds and she slept through the whole thing, but we still did it. :)

Her first Easter basket. (The Easter bunny i.e. Londi added two more adorable outfits to the basket on Easter morning. Thank you Londi!)

She loves, loves, loves her cousins. I would love to have a family just like theirs someday.

She crawled for the first time and I am loving it. She is so independent and you can just see her little mind taking everything in, learning what everything is around her; vents, tables, door stops, etc. I had little hand prints on my stove for the first time and I loved it. I almost took a picture :)

She has also said her first words. The first one was "mama" and her second one was "baby". She can wave to you now and pull herself up on things.

I guess when you are brand new to this world everything is a "first" but these were some fun ones. We are looking forward to the first time we can put her in a swing, take her fishing and camping, take her to the zoo, and all the fun things that come with summer time. They all seem that much more exciting because we get to experience them for our first time together as the 3 of us.

Happy Anniversary

This is where we were 3 years ago. March 23, 2007 marked the beginning of our lives as an eternal family. The past 3 years have been amazing and I have been so blessed to be married to such a caring, sweet, fun man.

Quick update:

I started a new job two weeks ago. (I know again, right?) Getting cut back to part time was the best thing that could have happened to me. I will post later about that, right now I am exhausted trying to learn everything and keep up. I work with very intelligent people which is a bit intimidating but they are all extremely fun to work with and I am loving it so far.

Jayda is 7 1/2 months old and can get around anywhere by rolling and scooting around. She pushes up on her hands but isn't quite to the getting up on her hands and knees part. The picture below is when she finagled her way underneath our tables.
She loves spending Thursdays and Fridays at home with daddy. Looks like she will probably be a little blondie like Bryce was when he was little.

We have started her on solids. So far she is exactly like her dad. She likes grapefruit, lemons, limes, cucumbers in vinegar, and sweet potatoes. (Not your usual starter foods) If it were up to me she would have never tasted those things in her life. She also HATES carrots. It is the only thing she has absolutely hated so far.

I get to teach her the fine art of shopping. The two of us go out a lot to see what we can find.

Friday night we took her swimming for her first time with grandma and grandpa and my two little cousins. Since it is an indoor pool it was pretty loud and she was clinging on to me for dear life. My dad got her to loosen up and soon she was kicking all over the place and loving it!

Our happy little swimmer when we took her home.

Blog Luvin

I wanted to show my love to all of my family, friends and neighbors by making them sugar cookies to fatten them up. So I made a double batch of dough, cooked them all up and decorated them with pink and white frosting and red and pink sprinkles. I had to taste test them to make sure they were safe for all of you and you're lucky I did. I have a garbage can full of sugar cookies. They were dry and not that great. Looks like you are all safe and can stay skinny for now. Maybe for the next holiday. Hope you have a happy Valentines! Love you.

P.S. The above cookies in no way resemble the ones I made. Mine were a lot more first grade style than that. I like to keep it simple.

6 Month check-up

Jayda turned 6 months last Thursday and had her check up today. She is 27 inches long-still in the 95% for height, 16 pounds 6 ounces- 55% for weight and her head circumference is 16.75 inches- 50%. So she is still on track to being tall and skinny like her cousin Ashtyn. Can anyone tell me why the head measurement is so important? If her head is tiny does that mean there is only a tiny brain inside? If her head were bigger would she be smarter? Ha Jk! But really, I should have asked why that is such an important one.

A little bit about the bug at 6 months:
Jayda is now sitting up by herself and is getting more and more vocal. This can be difficult in church but is a lot of fun at home where we don't have to worry about the noise level. We also have the go-ahead to start feeding her rice cereal which we are really excited about. We will do that tomorrow morning when all three of us are together. She can scoot herself around in a little circle but isn't really trying to get up on her knees yet. There are also no teeth coming in yet, but my friend Brittney felt in her mouth and could feel two that should be coming in a little while. She is also extremely social and smiles at everyone. She does however have "stranger danger" already and is perfectly content as long as she is in mine or Bryce's arms. I am told that this will only get worse before it gets better.

Below are her 6 month pictures. I decided to try my hand at photography instead of going to the expense to pay one.