Sugar and Spice and Pooh Bombs

Well, Lizzy’s first photo shoot was kind of a disaster. After 13 days of very little sleep John and I were both pretty grumpy, setting the whole experience off to a bad start. Then Kalin, the photographer, wanted Lizzy to be completely naked for the pictures. I was worried Lizzy might pee if we took her diaper off, but Kalin assured me that everything was washable if she did. Not long after the diaper was removed came the first of the surprises. Lizzy pooped…but it was no ordinary pooh. It was explosive, shooting out with such force that everything within 3 square feet was covered with green, soupy poop. We cleaned it all up and tried to continue. But, Lizzy was so fussy that every picture turned out looking like an advertisement requesting donations to help suffering children. Then came the second of the surprise pooh bombs, this time all over John. Still, it wasn’t enough to relieve poor little Lizzy. The more upset she became the more upset I became. Finally, Kalin suggested we take a break so I could feed Lizzy. It was a good idea, but I was such a basket case by then that as I sat down to nurse I didn’t think to put her diaper back on. Big mistake! Within 30 seconds Lizzy blasted me with pooh bomb number three! This time I was completely covered, but I was more concerned about the white…now green…upholstered couch we were sitting on. John laughed and I cried. What an evening! Despite the mess I’m grateful for the experience because looking back we can both laugh and we ended up with some great pictures of our little girl.

Thumb Sucker

Little Elizabeth is already a thumb sucker...or is her daddy the sucker? When Lizzy is upset John calms her right down by holding her facing outward with her arms and legs straddling his arm and his thumb stuck in her mouth. She stays content for quite a while that way and he still has an extra hand for homework. You'd think with all the stress of medical school he'd be ready to pass her off to someone else, but John loves holding his baby. He even loves it when she sucks so long and hard that he gets blisters. He's an amazing dad, and you can tell that Lizzy thinks so too.

Toast in the Shower

First of all, thanks everyone for all your kind comments. John, Lizzy, and I feel so loved! Things up to this point have gone smoothly, mostly thanks to my wonderful mom. She spent the last week and a half doing all the cooking, cleaning, laundry, errands, etc. around here while I spent about 20 hours out of every 24 trying to figure out how to feed our new, ravenous, little bundle of hunger. When my mom left yesterday morning I quickly realized that two hands just don't cut it. Welcome to the real world! While John was at church I desperately tried to get Miss Elizabeth Dawn to eat a big lunch and go down for a nap so I could get ready and catch the next ward's sacrament meeting. Instead she wanted to snack every 45 minutes with 10 minute naps in between. Sabotage! Well, thanks to a little miracle and a quick breakfast of toast in the shower, I made it! I imagine we'll be seeing a few more of those mornings in the near future, but I'm excited to be making it...one slice of toast at a time.

To my mom

I’ve often heard that you don’t really understand how much your parents love you until you become a parent yourself. I believe it. Not only because I feel that deep love for Elizabeth, but because in becoming a mother I, once again, find myself in the helpless position of being completely dependent on my mom. When I don’t know what I’m doing (which seems to be always) she picks up the pieces. When I was younger she did everything for me, but I didn’t always notice. Mom, now I notice. Thank you for your completely selfless love, for the way you quietly go about taking care of everyone around you without need for praise or recognition. You are a truly amazing woman. I love you.

Lizzy!

Elizabeth Jones is here! Emily started having contractions on Wednesday night around 10:45pm. She woke me up at 2am and we came into the hospital at 4am. Emily did an incredible job and only had to push about a half hour before beautiful Lizzy popped on out. She is adorable. She has lots of crazy light brown, swirly hair. And she has what they call a "stork's bite" - a splotchy check mark shaped spot right on the middle of her forehead. It looks like a nike swoosh almost:) They say it should fade but will show up in the first couple of years when she cries or gets worked up. She weighed 7lbs13oz, 20 3/4 inches long, and was born at 4:05 pm. Here are a few pictures. Enjoy!