Special Mother's Day Gift

Because this was my first Mother's Day as a mother, Jeff wanted to get me a special gift. Isn't he sweet? He had the idea to get a piece of jewelry where you add things to it for each kid.
We found these lockets online. You can put a small birthstone (I don't think they're real, but I don't care - they look nice) inside the locket for each kid. They have two sizes: the small can hold up to 4 gems, and the large can hold up to 15. I decided to get the small, because I like smaller jewelry and I thought the big one would look funny with only one stone rattling around in it.

Thank you, Jeff, for the thoughtful gift.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day like I did!

Trip to Ohio

Jeff, Cosette and I flew out to Ohio last week, from Wednesday to Monday, for the wedding of Jeff's sister Kate to Steve Schwope.
Cosette was a really good traveler. Fortunately, the changes in pressure during take off and landing didn't bother her. I was so grateful, because I'd heard horror stories of screaming babies. She did cry some on the plane, but that was due to the fact that we were traveling during her bedtime. On Wednesday we flew with Jeff and Rachel, and they were kind enough to help hold and soothe her, which was wonderful.
On Thursday we went to the zoo. Cosette was in the carrier with Jeff for part of the time.
Thursday night we went to a restaurant called Marcellas. It was really good food, but it was also REALLY loud. I couldn't believe that Cosette slept through all of the noise. I took a short video to show how loud it was.

Here's a picture of our table.
Here's Kate holding Cosette. She was so excited to meet her!
On Friday Jeff drove me around the neighborhood where he grew up. Here's a picture of the house he grew up in.
Friday night we had an after rehearsal picnic at Steve's parents' house (sorry, I forgot to take pictures).
Saturday was Kate and Steve's wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony and a wonderful day. And instead of doing cake for dessert, they had Belgian waffles with whipped cream, strawberries, and chocolate syrup. Fun and delicious!
On Sunday we went to stake conference with Dad, Rita and Jamie. Then we met up with everyone else at a Chinese restaurant for lunch. For dinner, Jeff and I had leftovers from earlier meals in the week. I had ordered my favorite Bob Evans meal, meatloaf with home fries, to go when we went there on Saturday for lunch. I couldn't leave Ohio without stopping by Bob Evans, because it is my all time favorite restaurant. I am SO sad they don't have any in Utah.
We also couldn't leave Ohio without getting Graeters icecream. The only time we could fit it in was on Monday afternoon before our flight. Not the healthiest lunch, but it sure was delicious!
It was a great trip, full of family, fun and good food.

Random pictures and stories

I thought I would post a few pictures and random stories about Cosette.

She took a bottle from Jeff the first time he tried.

Here she fell asleep in Jeff's arms while we were watching TV.

These stuffed giraffes attach to her pack and play.
I thought this picture of her staring at one was really cute.

I love that she sucks her thumb. I think it is adorable.
I was an avid thumb sucker myself.
I know this is a habit we'll have to break eventually,
but today is not that day.

These last two pictures show how she loves to sleep.
We used to put her down to sleep in the middle of the crib,
but we kept finding her scooted all the way to the side.

She loves sleeping next to her comforter and often rests her hand on it.

Cosette's Baby Blessing

We blessed Cosette on May 1st, when she was exactly 2 months old. She wore the same dress that I did when I was blessed. It was made by my Oma (my father's mother).
I took a few pictures that morning before we left for church. I thought this first one really showed her personality. What a happy (and wiggly) little girl!
We blessed Cosette on May 1st, when she was exactly 2 months old. She wore the same dress that I did when I was blessed. It was made by my Oma (my father's mother).
A lot of family were able to come. My parents, my brother Ken and his wife Rachel, my sister Suzanne and her 3 kids (her husband had to work), my Oma and Opa, Jeff's dad and his wife Rita (who flew out from Oregon), Jeff's sister Rachel and her husband Jeff and their 4 kids, Jeff's brother Ben and his wife Hilary and their 3 kids (they drove up from Cedar City), and Jeff's sister Linda and her kids Lizzie and Spencer.
I was worried that Cosette might cry during the blessing, especially since she was a little tired and crabby about 10 minutes before the meeting started, but thankfully she fell asleep in my mother's arms. I was so grateful!
That evening we had a potluck dinner at Jeff and Rachel's house. It was fun having both sides of our family get together. Both Rachel and Hilary commented on how much they love my dad and that they would like to adopt him. They like my mom too, of course, but Dad just has a special way with the kids. They all love him.
Overall it was a fun and wonderful day.

Videos of Cosette

I was going back through the videos I have of Cosette. It was fun watching the earlier ones. She's already grown and changed so much!
This is one of the first videos I took of Cosette. She is so little!

Here she is stretching, trying to figure out the world around her.

She's sad in this video, but I wanted to show how much she could kick at such an early age. (And I didn't get a video of this, but when she was just a few days old, she kicked a 3 pound weight out of her swing. I had put it in there to try and weigh the swing down so it wouldn't swing too hard, but she ended up kicking the weight out. It weighed almost half as much as she did at the time!)

Cosette gets the hiccups a lot. For a while she got them every day, multiple times a day. Now she gets them about once a day, and occasionally a day will pass without any hiccups. I find them very annoying, especially when they make her spit up.

I love her cute little smiles!

She is often very talkative on the changing table. I didn't capture it very well in this video, but she's getting more and more chatty, especially in the mornings. It is so cute!

This video shows Jeff interacting with Cosette on the changing table. She sure has him wrapped around her little finger!

I took this last video yesterday morning. When we eat breakfast we like to put Cosette on the table. She can't roll over yet, but she can scoot in a clockwise direction. She likes to look at cereal boxes and talk with us. But kicking her feet up and out was a new trick, so I wanted to capture it on camera. She eventually managed to knock the cereal box off of the table.

One Month Photo Shoot

When Cosette was born we were given a gift of a photo shoot by my second cousin, Heidi Simmons (she lives in our ward). We ended up doing it when Cosette was one month old.
I'm posting my favorites below. If you are coming to the baby blessing and would like a copy of one of these, tell me which one and the size you would like.

Held by Mommy

So snuggly

Love the expression on her face

Cute little bundle

This one is our favorite

Big yawn

Love the hat

Hat picture #2

So sleepy

Sound asleep

Spiky hair

Bow in hair

Artistic shot

I hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

Odds and Ends

First off, I want to share something funny that happened this morning. I was burping Cosette in the upright position, and she suddenly spit up in a projectile manner. The milk missed most of the burp cloth and went right down the sleeve of my sweater. Perfect aim. What a talented baby I have!

For a week or two, Cosette had a wonderful habit of being awake and cluster feeding between dinner time and 12 or 1. This made mommy very tired, because I only got about 4 hours of sleep a night. Thankfully, she has started going to bed between 10 and 11 the past few nights, allowing me to get an extra hour or two of sleep. As a result, I haven't had to take as many naps during the day, and life is falling into more of a routine. I'm able to do dishes, laundry, some basic cleaning, and cook dinner. I also take one or two naps, play with Cosette, and watch the occasional TV program.

So life is good. We're doing well. I'm looking forward to the time when Cosette will sleep for longer periods at night, but I'm grateful for where we are now.

I thought I would post a few more pictures, since Cosette is losing that "newborn look."

Daddy's little princess.

Tummy time. Sometimes she's just content to lay there. Other times she'll squirm around. I love how you can see her spiky hair.

I think the matching bib and outfit are adorable. I also like how it looks like she's getting ready to put up a fight. Sooo precious. Time with daddy. I love the smile on Jeff's face.

These last two were taken this morning. I know this is blurry, but it really shows her personality.Now you can see that she's wearing a dress.