Penny is blessed.

Sunday was one of the most beautiful days of my life. In the LDS Church, we bless our babies in infancy. It is an opportunity to give the child blessings and advice with love and inspiration. The baby is typically blessed in Church by the father and is assisted by family and friends. So Sunday we blessed little Penny and we were surrounded by dear family and friends. It was one of those days where I felt a tremendous amount of love from all around, especially Above.

I have kind of weird ideas about things sometimes, and for some reason I wanted to bless all my children at home. I felt like a baby blessing was a really intimate and special moment, and I felt awkward sharing that with so many people. So Mae was blessed at home and it was lovely. But after many conversations and considerations, we decided that we really should bless Penny at church. I'm so glad we did.

I also didn't understand why you would spend $$$$ on a dress or outfit for a blessing that they'd wear for one hour. Mae was blessed in a dress I found for $20, and I really didn't like it very much, but it was inexpensive so it worked (I had the same ideas about my wedding dress).

Awhile ago my mom let me borrow a beautiful tatted bonnet she wore as a baby. I've loved it immediately, and I really wanted my girls to wear it. Mae never wore it, but I was determined to have Penny wear it. I really wanted her to wear it when she was blessed, but I could never find an outfit that fit the style or color of the bonnet. I figured if I really wanted Penny to wear it, I'd have to make something. But I'm not really a seamstress, so I knew it would be a struggle.

My mom stepped in and offered to help me make a blessing dress. So we searched high and low for a pattern and fabric that we liked and would work. My mom was so patient with me being wishy-washy and indecisive. In the end, we found lovely dotted swiss fabric and a pattern that would work. My mom worked hard all week to sew Penny her lovely blessing dress. We embleshed it with lace from her wedding dress. We found the shoes that matched the bonnet that, as it turns out, were the shoes I was blessed in. And she had the bonnet. Her outfit was extremely lovely and very sentimental and special.

Here my mom and I are getting Penny dressed and ready for her special day:





With Jayson before the blessing:

We had lots of family in town--Jayson's parents came from Portland, his sisters from Provo, and his brother and his family from Lehi. Also, my parents came from Provo, my sister and her family from Long Beach California, my brother and his family from Ruby Valley Nevada, and my other brother and his family from Heber. We hosted them at our house for a breakfast before church. It was a pretty full house.


The blessing was beautiful. It's an incredible thing to see your infant taken in the arms of people who love her, and to hear the individualized and special blessings given to your sweet child. I feel, and I'm sure others do too, that it's a moment when you feel like you get a glimpse into the future of your child. You can see more closely who they will become.

Because of the nature of the blessing, I don't feel like I should share much of what was said. But Jayson did talk a little bit about her name--Penelope Kay and since I haven't shared why we named her that, I feel like I can now. Kay is Jayson's mother's middle name. We love and admire her tremendously, and hope that Penny will learn from her humility, kindess and thoughtfulness. Penelope is the wife of Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey and stays faithful to him (and fights off 108 suitors) for 20 years while he is off fighting the Trojan War. We hope she will develope the same fidelity.

After the blessing, we came back to the house and Penny had a photoshoot with her Pappa (J's dad). She was in an extremely good mood and Pappa took incredible pictures.





Here are the shoes (I love the peep toes!). Also, you can see some of the lace from my mom's wedding dress on the left.










Of course, Mae had to get in on the action. She really is a sweet older sister and she loves Penny.




and lastly, one of my favorite picture of the day...my girls.

happy halloween

halloween wasn't a big deal this year--we had too much going on. so we put mae in her costume from last year. she couldn't have cared less that she wore the same thing two years, and tinkerbell fit much better this year anyway.

mae was really excited because i let her wear lots of makeup. and i told her she could take some "pixie dust" (glitter powder) to the trunk or treat.


penny and i stayed home and handed out candy to the five trick or treaters we had. i found penny's shirt, hat, and monster socks for $0.97 each at the gymboree outlet in march. i love those monster socks.


happy halloween everyone!

photos

here are a few pictures of miss penelope:

penny has reddish hair. copper color, actually. it's pretty fitting, don't you think? i don't think it will stay--i think it will fall out and go blond like mae's hair, but i hope it stays reddish.


big sister mae loves penny. she loves her a little too much sometimes. but i'd rather have it that way than any other way.


here is a rare picture of penny awake. i swear she sleeps 21 hours a day.


here is penny with one of her new friends, claire. penny has many many friends born these last few weeks. we're so glad to have so many new friends!

welcome, penny.

i haven't blogged much since penny made her appearance, so i thought i'd share a bit about her arrival.

i was pretty worn out and tired of being pregnant at my 40 week check up. my doctor told me that i would most likely be overdue. that didn't sound too fantastic to me, but when he offered to induce me, i froze up. thankfully jayson was there to remind me that i had said that morning that i would jump at the chance to be induced. i had wanted to let things go naturally, but by that point i was so miserable that i was ready to get this show on the road.

i checked into the hospital two days later at 5 a.m. i was so lucky--my neighbor and good friend was my nurse and saved me the "suite." my room was gigantic, and the best part of the hospital where i delivered is that you labor, deliver and recover in the same room.

they started my pitocin at 6 a.m. the anesthesiologist, who happened to be jayson's former bishop came in next and started my epidural. my epidural with mae was terrible, but this epidural was fantastic. dr. taylor is a saint. as he walked out, dr. judd walked in and broke my water (about 7 a.m.). i labored very comfortably, but penny wasn't very comfortable--her heart rate was all over the place. luckily, things progressed quickly and i was complete and ready to go by 9:15. dr. judd came in at 9:30 and penny was born at 9:59 a.m. and, i watched the whole thing (a first for me!).

this delivery was a completely different experience than mae's birth. it was incredibly comfortable and quick. i loved my nurse, my anesthesiologist, and my doctor. my epidural wore off quickly and i was up and walking around 2 hours later. i even got to take a trip to the nursery and watch penny have her first bath. i've heard a lot of people complain about the nurses checking them constantly--but i think the nurses came in twice the rest of the day. i felt so great, that we went home the next morning. really, it was one of the most amazing experiences i've ever had.

we're so grateful everything went so beautifully. she's amazing.

Penelope Kay

Penelope Kay

October 21, 2009

7 pounds, 3 ounces

20 inches

We're all so thrilled.

changes

it's been a crazy couple weeks for us.

three weeks ago jayson was called into a new bishopric in our ward. he's the new first counselor, and he loves the men he works with--bishop scott holden, second counselor steve sumsion, and executive secretary mike groneman. it's going to take a bit to figure out how everything works--for both of us. there are new meetings, new responsibilities, new commitments, etc.

this week we opened headquarters, and i think it's been one of the longest weeks of our lives. it's been so much work, but it seems like it will be worth it. we had our highest grossing day on saturday. it was busy, but it felt more controlled than other days. the extra space is nice. but, it also feels like we're starting from scratch. there are many things we need to get used to and figure out. trial and error is the only way to get things sorted out, so the next few weeks are going to be interesting. we'll have to give it some more attention.

and, today marks one month until baby penny comes. she's bound to shake things up around here too. (we're not 100 percent set on penny yet, so don't hold me to it).


isn't it amazing how changes seem to all come at once? i never thought i'd say this, but thank heavens winter is almost here because things seem to slow down a bit for us during the cold months.

but then again, that was before we had indoor seating at j dawgs.