a wonderful mummy

At my husband's family reunion this last week, we wrapped our own mummies. Kiddo was thrilled to take her turn. While wrapping her, her dad told her she was a wonderful mummy. Not surprisingly, Kiddo translated that to a wonderful momma.

"I'm a wonderful momma," she kept telling me after she was wrapped up.

You will be some day, I'm sure.

the blessing

Our first major family event while on vacation was to bless my baby. Normally we would do this at church where we live, but the opportunity to have all my brothers participate, and have grandparents and great-grandparents there, was too exciting, so we did it here.

After starting with a prayer, all the cousins (and some second cousins) sang "I am a Child of God" together. It was very sweet.
Then my husband used the priesthood to bless Babs. Among other things he blessed her to be a mother. Interesting, and wonderful. Daddy, Grandpa, Great-Grandpa, six uncles, two great-uncles, a cousin, and a good friend were in the circle. Two Grandmas, three great-grandmas, seven aunts, a few great-aunts, and a parcel of cousins were in attendance.

When Kiddo was still just a infant lump, I just loved her in all her cuteness. I love Babs too, but spent much of the first few weeks very anxious for her to grow a little so I could get to know her personality. I am less anxious now, and am just enjoying her sweet, sweet smiles, and general contentedness.

How great to have my husband worthy to give this blessing, and so much family there to appreciate it with us.

big vs. strong

As Kiddo reached each milestone (holding head up, rolling, etc.) we would cheer her on with comments of "you're such a big girl." As we started using those phrases with Baby, Kiddo called foul. After all, the way we convince her to use the potty, sleep in her bed, and everything else is by reminding her she's a big girl. Obviously the baby can't also be a big girl. So Baby is "a strong girl" as she reaches her milestones. After about a year this won't work so well, because the milestones are less physical, but I wonder about the different expectations and impressions this will put on the two different girls.

new skills

Kiddo hid from me, as a joke, for the first time today. When I found her she laughed with delight. Today I thought it was marvelous. I'm sure it will lose its excitement as time goes by.

Also in the last few days she seems to have figured out first and second person. How did it happen so quickly? And she really wanted to carry her snow cone tonight. But I wanted her to wait until she was sitting. As we walked along she kept insisting "I need it! I need it!" Where did "need-want" go? She is growing before my very eyes. And while I'm very proud of her, for the first time, I don't feel ready for her to grow up, and leave these things behind. Maybe part of the problem is that I look at her and see a little girl now, not a toddler. Is that because she's really growing, or is it the comparison to her sister and little cousin, or is it just because she's the first child? This is happening way too fast. (And she's only two. I need to get over this.)

Babes is also getting new skills. Today she rolled over, on accident. Her daddy tried to recreate it. As she almost did it again he jumped and yelled with excitement. She didn't make it though, until she was helped. Maybe tomorrow.

And she's such a good smiler. I will do a lot for one of those smiles, but luckily all I have to do is get her attention.

the bride

Meet my girls' newest aunt. Isn't she beautiful?
And here she is with all the nieces. I am so grateful to have seen so much of my family. It was MARVELOUS.

wedding dresses

As mentioned, we attended my little brother's wedding. I didn't take a picture of the happy couple (but fret not, many pictures were taken). I, in fact, didn't even take pictures of the sweet matching nieces, or even my own girls. (Again, pictures were taken, so I'm sure I'll get one eventually.) So today I dressed them up in their dresses today for Sunday.

And then I got a picture of them both smiling. This may never happen again for the next 10 years. My sister and sister-in-law found these dresses. They call the little one's dress "baby-licious." So true.

The full shot of Kiddo:
And all the girls whose dresses matched Kiddo's. (The older nieces and Babes had slightly different dresses.) What adorable cousins.
Note the black sweater on the littlest one. They all had one. The one on the right couldn't wait to wear her jacket (it's not on now because it was warm). Mine saw the sweater and yelled "No, I cannot wear my jacket!"

(A wonderful shot of these girls and many more cousins can be found here. It is heavily weighted with photos of the cousin on the right, but she is adorable, (and the blog is by her mom) so it's not a problem.)

so much

In the last week we traveled 2/3's the way across the country, blessed the baby, saw all of my family and a lot of my husband's, attended my brother's wedding and all that entails, and are now worn out. I will slowly post about all the fun, but to get myself started, a picture of my youngest, sleeping in the coat closet at my grandma's house. I believe this closet is approximately (half) the size of my bedroom.