For Grandmas I'm sure

I just thought they were cute playing together. Eliza actually dragged Valerie's chair over to her.  Put the hat on her and was giving her toys. She mostly just hits her and tries to punch her or bury her with pillows so I thought this was an improvement.

Valerie is 3 months old

...and some other pictures from the iPhone. As always I wish I was a better photographer. I deleted over half the photos on there because they were blurry and even the ones I kept are not that good. 

Eliza seeing a baby kangaroo at the Rodeo

"Climbing like a monkey" at the Rodeo

Valerie

at the Rodeo watching the Donkey Cart judging

Eliza still asks if I 'member the Ro-D-o'

sneaked up on Eliza reading in her room after a nap

getting into some Babywearing

Eliza "tied" herself and Valerie together

Valerie is 3 months old

Valerie is a good baby and pretty chill. I think she has only gotten easier with time. She eats once in the night which is a huge improvement on Eliza at this age who was still eating 3 times. She is sturdy and fat and I don't worry so much about her with Eliza now. 

Eliza still loves her (a little too much maybe) and wants to hold her and snuggle her and give her toys. She says Valerie like "Ba-o-da-wee" even though when prompted she can say it with a V and a R, still working on the L. Eliza is a lot of fun mixed with a lot of redirection and coercion. 

Brad is having a pretty lax rotation and is home most evenings. Its been great. The weather is nice so we are out for walks and in the back yard a lot. Brad is trying to get more into basketball and goes about once a week to play.

I am busy with Young Women's and really-young women ;) My neighbor started a little book group/ bible study/girls night at her house. It's just a small group and it has been really fun. My freezer is emptying of all the yummy meals my mothers left me so I am starting to have to get creative in the kitchen again.(This has sort of turned into a journal entry-or Hyatt family update) It's been a good three months!!

Face comparisons

Eliza at about one month old

Valerie and Eliza at about one month and 2 years old.

Valerie does not have the same huge eyes and square face that Eliza has. I think Eliza looks more like Brad and Valerie looks more like me. What do you think?

Valerie is blessed

I was feeling ambitious and decided to make a dress for Baby Valerie for her blessing. Then I decided to make a matching one for Eliza because she seemed interested. Found the pattern for free online at Sew Much Ado and ordered the fabric from Ruffle Fabric. It was so fun! They turned out so cute and were actually really easy. 

I'm OK at sewing, photography... not so much. Both baby and dress are cuter than they look. 

Cousins and friends came over to celebrate and help us eat the huge cake. We are so blessed to have good friends (and good children.)

Valerie is One Month Old

The girls are pretty good friends. I think they look a lot alike. 

 Hey, three smiles, that's pretty awesome!

 Love how they both look a bit worried in this picture. 

Introducing Valerie Rose

Born at home at 4:30 am on December 11th. 7 lbs 2 oz. 19.5 inches long
Labor started (for reals) about 9:30 pm and continued to progress. When my water broke at midnight I knew it was the real thing and got pretty excited. I woke Brad finally and told him the news and he then went back to sleep. Around 2 am I woke him up again and had him start timing contractions for me because I couldn't concentrate on that anymore. At 3 am we let the midwife know we wanted her to come over because contractions were getting intense and 2 min apart. Brad gave me a blessing then which was comforting and reassuring. About 3:30 I started to feel like pushing and we all got a little worried that the midwife wasn't there yet and we had no idea if I was fully dilated or not. With Brad on the phone with the midwife and my mom getting things ready, I tried not to push too hard, yet, so the midwife could get there. She arrived at about 4 am and checked me and the baby and reassured me that all was well and I could push. Valerie was born soon after and did great. I held her on my tummy because her cord was really short.
I really loved having her at home. Labor was so smooth and seamless and I never felt scared or overwhelmed like with Eliza. There were 2 midwives and 2 apprentices there and I felt very secure and comfortable with their care. I am so happy that labor was short and I was able to manage it in my own home in the quiet of my own bed.

Valerie is a champion nurser and sleeper. She has been sleeping 3-4 hours at night, nursing and sleeping again 3-4 hours. I feel great just 10 days after delivering, probably because we are getting lots of good sleep.  I have had my mom here for a week helping out and now my in-laws are here to help and celebrate Christmas with us. Eliza is loving the company and attention and trying to get used to the new baby.

33 weeks along today

Yeah, I'm getting pretty big.

Fun Outside

Thought y'all would appreciate this. I watched it a couple of times so it must be a little entertaining. Sorry it's sideways.

Birthday Peek

Here are a few pics from Eliza's birthday party. It was small, but Eliza loved it. The cupcakes turned out really cute despite setbacks, but were't that yummy.We had a really fun day which included a makeover for mom, studio pictures in the morning, shopping with Daddy, friends and cupcakes. The day-after effect was pretty  harsh though. With all the fun new stuff, Eliza forgot to eat and turned into a huge grump all day. Mom wasn't much better :) 

Dad has more pictures on his phone, so when I finally get those you can see more of us! We are so lucky to have a happy 2 year old. Eliza has a huge vocabulary and will repeat and learn new words all day. She is learning her ABC's and numbers. She is sleeping in her big girl bed like a champ. She even learned how to open doors but it hasn't been a problem yet ;) She shows a preference for her clothing which makes life more interesting. Most of the time she wants to be 'naked girl'. She loves her stuffed animals, especially a new Blue Bear that Dad brought back from Seattle.

This is one of Eliza's outfits: Panties, sweater and hat (made my Grandma Carter) it was probably 90 degrees that day. Cute girl nonetheless.

Eliza's early birthday present

To keep our sanity this hot summer, I really wanted to get E a bike to ride inside or out. Basically so she won't always be on my lap, which is growing ever smaller every day. This is her after about 3 days of having it. She can pick it up off the ground and get on it all by herself. She can turn and go backwards. She likes to have a hand to get off though. It's going to be in the 100's all week, I hope this gives us just one more activity to do inside.

Oh, and yes she has no pants. After the 3rd pair she peed in, I stopped putting them back on.