Month 3

Heidi told me I needed to post more pics.
It isn't like I don't want to. It is that I find it hard to dedicate time to uploading, blogging and posting. But I'll try harder anyways. I know there are lots of family members out there who are eager for more frequent updates.

Well the third month has shown me that things do indeed get better. Not that they were bad before, but it amazes me how wonderful, how amazingly happy things are now. I love waking up to smiles, I love hour long naps, I love five hour stretches at night. I love wiggling, I love the kicking and the talking! Oh the talking!!!

Bradley will tell you a story almost as soon as he is awake. And then he tells me about how good his dreams were, and then he tells me about how good his breakfast/brunch/lunch/linner/dinner was, and then he will tell me how funny the monkeys are, and then he will tell me how cool the tv is, and then he will tell me that I'm not paying enough attention to him, and then he will tell me he is tired, and then he will tell me he is really really tired. And then he sleeps and we start over again. I can't believe that I could have so much fun doing this same thing over and over again, but I do.

We go to stores together, we go to Kyli's together, we go on walks and to church activities. He is so happy to go out and see new things. I love it. The biggest change for this month is his ability to be cool in all sorts of situations. Chillin in the carseat while I walk around the mall for a few hours, or chillin with me at the mother's group I go to sometimes. I can go to target nearly when ever I want. I don't really know what to do with all this new freedom!

I think Brian is enjoying this stage too. He can get Brad to smile and giggle just by looking at him. I'm sure it helps that Bradley knows a session of "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" is in his future every time he sees Dad. Brian has a talent for making him giggle.

Little Talker

Clearly Bradley has a lot to say.
I love it.

Divine Timeline!

I am the Personal Progress leader for our ward (if you have no idea what I'm talking about you can check out the LDS Personal Progress program Here). I thought I would share my most recent activity (plus my mom asked me to post some pics so she could see). I can't take full responsibility for the activity, I saw the idea to make timelines in a YW idea book, but I came up with the rest!! Instead of just normal timelines we made Divine Timelines!!
So yes, the value for this month was Divine Nature. I "divided" our divine natures into four categories: Life Experiences, Values, Aspirations, and Talents. We talked about each category and how it related to our Divine Nature and then each girl listed her own. I made sure we wrote down either the grade or age for each listing so it would be easy to put on the timeline.

For example. Life Experiences included anything that has happened birth till now that made an impact on your life. I asked everyone to include birth, baptism, and entering Young Women's. (I made special markers for each of these, see below.) But this category also included things like moving, new pets, births or deaths, making friends, etc.
Under Values we talked about the different ages we came to realize that we valued something. I gave the example that in the third grade I learned that I valued art. During this time I would collect my classmates art projects that they didn't want because I thought that all art was valuable and deserved to be viewed. Most of the girls wrote down the ages that they came to value music or the gospel or money. Which I thought was cool.
Under aspirations we wrote down what we wanted to be when we grew up at different ages. My favorite was Britt's, she wanted to be a bunny when she was 2 or 3.
Talents was probably the easiest category to determine an age for, but I worried that some of the girls would feel like they didn't have any talents. So I asked each girl to include "smiling" on their list. I explained that it was the first talent they learned, that we all learned. I have experience this with Bradley. He has a beautiful talent for smiling. All babies do. We still have that talent, we just choose not to share it as often as babies do.

After all the writing and talking came the creating!! We had lots of buttons and little bangles left over from Girl's Camp crafts, so we used those to embellish our timelines. This is what mine looked like. We used a different color of paper for each category and everyone got a "My Divine Timeline" headline for their page.

Each girl got a Smiling Baby bauble to symbolize their birth and first smile!

Each girl also got a CTR ring bauble to symbolize baptism.

They also got a YW's torch to mark when they entered YW's.

Just some of the fun stuff we used to decorate.

Value Examples: When I came to value good grades.

Bradley is currently sleeping. Which is why I was able to post!

Portland is currently pouting.

The baubles were easy to make, but probably not "archival." I just used a glue stick to glue on the print out (tacky glue made the image blur) onto a clear squished marble.

I loved seeing how all the girls made their timelines. None of them looked like mine at all. Some used a similar style, putting all their events on a line of some sort, and some took a totally different approach. I thought they were all really creative, even if not all the girls think they are creative.

Highlights of Month 2

My second month of motherhood was surprisingly harder but better than the first. The first month was hard but there were lots of people here for the majority of the month. The second month I had more one on one baby time.

The 5th and 6th week were more hard than fun, but then suddenly way more fun than hard during the 7th and 8th week. This may have been because I was in Oregon for the 7th week, and I had lots of help. But I attribute the awseomeness of week 7 to The Swing. The swing is now my best friend. Bradley willingly sleeps for a five to seven hour period during the night. And regularly takes hour naps at regular intervals during the day. My life became much more predictable when the swing entered. But I also think that Bradley seriously matured during that week. He suddenly would have long happy, giggly, awake stretches where he would amuse himself. I am amazed at how much difference a week can make.

It is odd how I am still living my life week by week. During pregnancy I would eagerly await the emails updating me on the development of the baby growing inside. Each week felt like a new victory as I grew larger and closer to my due date. Now, I still find my self celebrating each week accomplished but with even more enthusiasm than before. I survived another week! He survived another week! He learned to smile this week! I learned how to put him to sleep in under 5 minutes! My victories are small, but monumental when compared to the previous one.

The best development this month by far is his smiles. I love those gummy, giggly smiles.

Bradley's blessing outfit made my Grandma Daniels!

We were so blessed that we could do Bradley's baby blessing in Oregon with our family. And double blessed that Brian's family, who is not of our faith, was willing to support us and attend.

Daddy and Bradley chillin on the floor playing with new Christmas toys.

I try to take a few photos each week, this was my fave from week 6.

Oh my girl is so patient. I don't think she "loves" Brad yet, but she tolerates him and accepts him as a member of the pack. When he is upset at night she will run over to Brian and sit right by his head and stair at him as if saying "FIX IT!"

See more pics at : http://saponas.blogspot.com/2010/01/highlights-of-month-2.html

1 Month!

We made it one whole month! It is weird to have so much change so fast. Every week is different, every day seems different, and I swear I can do the exact same thing every three hours and get different results. But we are getting along nicely. Thank goodness Brian is flexible and can come home if I need him. It gives me peace of mind knowing that he is just a call away if I go crazy.

It just so happened that I had my camera out for his first roll over, so we have the before and after shots. Clearly he is pleased with himself. However it hasn't happened again. Brad doesn't really like tummy time. In fact he hates it and howls every time I put him on his belly, so I have to choose my tummy times wisely. I got lucky this time I think.

Before


After

Before we even attempted tummy time we had a little model session. The sweater, hat and booties were made by Brian's Aunt Roberta. They are soooo cute. The hat fits perfect right now, and I think the other two will fit well in another month or two. If his feet keep growing like they are the booties will fit next week I swear.

Clearly he likes his hat. Thanks Aunt Roberta!!

Hopefully we'll have another good morning soon and can model Grandma Saponas' booties!

More photos at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2027529&id=1026071036&l=7b877756a8

Highlights of the Last Two Weeks

I always used to wonder what happened to people after they had a baby.
As an online looker I would wait and wait for weeks for pictures and updates to be posted about my friend's babies after they were born. I swore that I would be different. I would surely find time to post, facebook, and blog all the adorable photos I would take and let everyone know how things are going. (Because I know you all are on the edge of your seat in anticipation of my updates ;-)

Then I had a baby. And I realized that even if you do have enough energy to be awake when the baby is napping your time is not spent blogging. It is spent calling people, or cleaning or giving cleaning instructions (as I am lucky enough to still have my mom here to help), or planning meals, or hey showering or taking a bath, or eating. Definitely not blogging or posting the pics that I have yet to take.

Sometime around the beginning of the second week I found time to take some adorable pics and post them on facebook. I thought it would only take a few minutes more to post them on my blog. Several days later I found a few more minutes. Yesterday I spent my extra minutes talking on the phone, today I spend them posting. I have no idea when I will have a few extra minutes again, but I think that is part of the fun of having a crazy schedule.


So here's the update:

Being a mom- awesome.
Being an eternal family- rocks my world.
Sleeping in 1-2 hour segments for the last two weeks- hard but not impossible.
I am thankful for husbands who let you cry for no apparent reason, boppy pillows, grandmas and grandpas, fiber pop-tarts, ipods, and sleeping on my slightly smaller belly.
I cannot even begin to describe Bradley. He is happy to sit and look around for hours. Pretty good at sleeping for 2ish hours at a time, and the best snuggler I have ever met. He also likes to make dinosaur sounds. He does a great pterodactyl and t-rex impression.

One week old!

Brian eyes!

Snuggling with Dad.

Home for the first time.

First bath! I couldn't honestly say Brad enjoyed it.

I am so happy I'm not 9 months pregnant any more.

Bradley Video

Courtesy of Grandma Lou (if you were curious whose voice this is).