The Weekend!

I am always a little sad when the weekend is over. We worked so hard all week to get to the weekend and when it is here I soak it up. Some of the highlights from this weekend where having the missionaries over for dinner on Saturday night. Will took some time on Saturday to make them a homemade apple pie which was the favorite for everyone. It has been so long since we had them in our home and it was fun to see how Grace enjoyed our visitors. We also went for a walk at the temple grounds here in LA and Grace grabbed at anything she could reach. Will put Grace up close to one of the flowers and she pulled it apart..opps. My favorite moment was when Will tried to teach Grace to fly. I long for Weekends when we get to spend time like this together.

Goodnight Moon

I have been reading the same book each night for the past couple of months to Grace. Many of you out there have likely heard of it, the book is titled Goodnight Moon.

Tonight as I read this book again to Grace I can't help but hope she will remember this book when she grows up. In the book: I always think it is funny that there is a picture of cow jumping over the moon and this old lady whispering "HUSH", however the rhyming is great and the colors are wonderful for such little ones like Grace. Well.. I also can't help but now love this book as I have read it so many times. Will can stick to reading her a poem and maybe one of these days I'll change books but for now this one is pretty special to share with my dear Grace. I wonder what other books I should start to read to her. If anyone has any recommendations let me know.

With so many stories and so many things to explore out there I am reminded of how much I have to still discover myself. Life is full of so much that we all need to do our best to enjoy what matters most to us by never missing the chance to participate in it all. Moments with Grace each day remind me of this.
"Goodnight Noises Everywhere"

Bumbo Face!

This is my new favorite photo of Grace. The Bumbo is one of her favorite spots.

My Little Music Maker!

Grace has started to go to a music class at our church on Monday called music makers. Young infants and toddlers all get together and someone leads various songs and activities and all the kids end up being able to get the wiggles out. And let me tell you that oh boy does she enjoy watching the other children. My little one is quite observant. Grace will arch her back if you don't have her in the right position to see things but with so many kids running around she is so entertained and hardly moves the entire time except for the " I am tired or hungry" stuff. I have to admit that I am also entertained by the kids. I will have to take some photos of this maybe for next weeks post.

It is quite fun to see how much Grace loves to hear music and to be sung to. I pulled out an old children song book and attempted to sing songs. Mind you, I would likely get a good laugh if I was to audition for American Idol, but as long as Grace likes my singing that is all the matters to me.

Changing Table

This week has been quite a funny one for the Farmers.

Will seems to have witnessed Grace rolling over twice, and I have yet to see this happen. It frustrates me that I have missed it, and I have refused to believe that it actually happened; more because I don't want to miss any moments like this and less because I think Will is actually lying. What a joy it is for those that witness Grace's growth and development. Hopefully, next time, I can be one of those people.

This week we made a lists of the things that Grace has done within each of the last three months for her memory book. One of the items we listed for this month was her happiness at the changing table. There have been times when she's been crying, and the moment I put her on the changing table, she stops.

Grace has also started to spit up all over me during a feeding. This is new. Will had to rescue me on Thursday because I was covered in spit up, and I needed to shower. What makes it even more frustrating is how pleased Grace looks after spitting up all over mommy. She gives the biggest smiles. How can a parent be mad when your child melts your heart with one of those smiles? Finally, she has begun talking to herself. It's mostly gibberish, but I love hearing her conversations with herself. I also love the fact that this week, she discovered her lips as you can see in the video I've posted.

Grace Marilyn Farmer.

How wonderful it has been to see so much family in the last few months of 2011.
With the new year, we are finally somewhat in a routine with Baby Grace. Now, if we could only figure out all that napping stuff. She sleeps at night, but refuses to during the day. There's just too many exciting things to look at! And if you put her in a position where she can't see, she'll definitely let you know that her view is blocked. The other day when someone asked me how old Grace was I could hardly believe it when I said she was 12 weeks old. Each day is new and humorous.

The post today is mainly start me on the habit of writing about random moments here with the Farmer Family. One of my resolutions if you will for the year.

Hear are some photos from the day of her blessing. It was such a wonderful experience and I feel very blessed to be her mother. Grace and I spend of good amount of time together and the moments of smiles and cooing and cawing are so joyful. I love her more then I had ever hoped for.

Meet Baby Grace

Meet Grace Marilyn Farmer. Our dear little daughter.

We welcomed Grace into the world just over a month ago on October 19,2011 at 1:28am.

Let me tell you how it happened.

Our due date was October 15, 2011 and we thought for sure that I would go into labor that weekend. However we of course went over the due date like most do with their first baby.

I started having light contractions on Monday October 17, 2011 around noon but things didn’t really progress till many hours later.

3:00am Monday October 18, 2011

We arrived at the hospital after my contracts were a consistent mins apart lasting about a min each for one hour. However after getting there we were sent home after only dilated to 3 cm. I was shocked and knew that it was likely that I would not be sleeping until our little one arrived.

We returned home and I continued to labor while Will got a couple hours of sleep. As the hours came and went Will kept putting on my favorite movies to keep me distracted during it all as I moved from different laboring positions. I tried many times to sleep but the contractions were too strong for me to stay comfortable. Things became much more active around 11 am the following morning.

Will’s mom was on here way now and we planned to stay at the apartment unless things progressed a great deal more before she could get to us from northern California.

2:00pm Tuesday October 18, 2011

Will’s mother arrived and could tell it was time we again made our way to the hospital. We arrived and they determined that I was dilated to a 4 which meant that this time we could stay. The thought of leaving again was not at all what I wanted to hear at that point. Once we were settled in we began to wallk the halls together and did so off and on till about 8pm when the contracts were stronger and I had dilated much more. I lost all sense of time as I went from contraction to contraction. My focus throughout was our daughter’s arrival. Little did I know how long I was going to wait to meet her. Will loved me and coached me through each step of the way. He knew the process and where I was at through out. . After taking Bradley Method classes together and due to how my labor progressed I was able to have Grace with no interventions. There are moments such as when one of the doctors came in and asked if I needed anything and I remember teling her as Will was slow dancing with me to help me labor that I only needed my husband. Will with the help of mother Marilyn were my rock through out what ended up being about twelve hours from the time we checked in until we heard the sweet cry of our dear little Grace. I can’t believed how long I went without sleep but hearing Grace cry for the first time and holding her in my arms made any struggles in the process worth it. I adore her and have tried to live up each moment we are blessed to share together as a family.