My Daughter the Angel

Well, this picture is from Lizzy's blessing day over a month ago, but I think it fits the story well:
John wants a bike for his birthday this year, so we’ve been looking on Craigslist.com for used bikes. We found one that sounded great in Lynchburg (1 ½ hours away) for $35. The owner said it was about 5 years old but was a smooth ride. So, I packed up Lizzy in the car and made the trip down to Lynchburg, a very Southern Baptist town because of Liberty University, the Christian college located there. When I got to Lynchburg I found that the bike was busted up pretty bad and not very ride-able. The owner said he didn’t know it was in such bad shape (you’d think he would have tried it out before promising a “smooth ride” but I guess not), and he felt really bad about it. While he tried to fix it his roommate started to ask questions and it came up that I had gone to BYU. He asked if I was Mormon. When I said that I was, he said, “I don’t know much about Mormons, but I watched a show last night about the FLDS.” I quickly said, “Oh, that’s not us.” He said, “But they used to be, right?” I fumbled around for a good answer, and the best thing I came up with was… “um…a long time ago.” I felt so dumb. I didn’t know what else to say. Then the guy selling the bike apologized that he couldn’t fix it and said he’d just give it to me for $5. I agreed and we all went our separate ways. I hadn’t gone far when Lizzy started to get really upset. I pulled into an empty parking lot next to a Mexican mart and tried to calm her down. It was cold outside and Lizzy didn’t want to be in the car any more, so I took her inside the Mexican mart to look around. There was a Korean girl working inside (funny for a Mexican mart, I know). She asked if she could help, and after explaining why we were there she began to chat with me about other things. I told her that my brother had been a missionary in Seoul Korea. She seemed to think that was pretty cool, but when it came up that he was a Mormon missionary she became quite a bit less interested. I felt bad about missing the opportunity to share the gospel with the roommate previously, so I decided to give the Korean girl a pass along card even though she didn’t seem all that interested. As I started to drive away, Lizzy started to cry again. The thought came, “she’s trying to tell you something. She wants you to go back and give that roommate a pass along card and she’s not going to stop fussing until you do.” It felt awkward, but Lizzy insisted. So, I called back the guy with the bike and told him that I had found something in my car about Mormons that his roommate might be interested in. He said I could leave it in the mailbox. So, I drove back and dropped off a pass along card with the articles of faith and the church’s website on back. It was so much easier that it seemed, and as soon as I had dropped it off Lizzy calmed right down. She even slept all the way home! She may seem too small to know very much, but the spirit knows everything and I think He tells her a heck of a lot more than He tells me…probably because she’s so much better at listening.

My first job in Charlottesville!

A quick thank you to the Croft family for asking me to take their family pictures. As you can see, they are an adorable family. I had a great time.

Happy Halloween!

...a little late

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.