book recommendations

Family and friends, I need some ideas for books to read this summer. I know lots of you are avid readers so please tell me some of your favorites or fun books you've read lately. The last books I read were The Hunger Games series and The Happiness Project. I'm up for anything. Thanks!

turn around

Although Ella has been in this car seat since her birthday in February, we kept her rear facing since all of our research said that was still the safest position. This weekend we decided Ella is big enough to be forward facing so today we turned the seat around. We think she likes it!

doesn't she look big?

I stole this picture from my sister-in-law, Yolanda's, blog. Doesn't Ella look big? Ella is finally healthy again. We went to the doctor 3 times the week she was sick. During that time Ella lost over 1 lb. Her appetite is definitely back. Unfortunately the whining, crying, and clingy behavior is still here. At her 15 month appointment we found out that despite her weight loss Ella is still:

weight: 22 lbs. 12 oz. - 50th percentile

length: 31.5 inches - above 75th percentile

head circ: 47.4 cm - 90th percentile

It's back

Don't you feel like things always happen at once? Two weeks ago I got hit in the grocery store parking lot. Fortunately, the woman who hit me was insured. Unfortunately, the car needed to be fixed so I had to go through the claim process and get everything worked out for the car to get repaired. While going through this process Ella's cold symptoms got better, but she was still tired and irritable. On Tuesday and Wednesday she threw up and started having diarhea. I took her back to the pediatrician today and learned that she is breathing perfectly, her ear infections are definitely getting better, but she has contracted some kind of stomach bug. This poor girl hasn't been healthy for almost 3 weeks. I'm ready for the whining and crying to stop and I'm certain she's ready to feel good. On top of Ella being sick, cleaning up after Ella being sick (last night she threw up all over her car seat and the rental car), and getting the car repaired, Gustavo came up with a new plan to rent out our house and build a new home over in Lehi. This has taken more planning and meetings. Nothing is set in stone, but we are excited about the prospects. You can look at the plans here. Tomorrow we'll meet with the builder's preferred lender. My favorite part of the day has definitely been that our car is back.

I missed it. I'm glad to see it looks as good as new. Driving my own car is so much better than driving a rental (especially one that smells like vomit).

poor girl

We went to the pediatrician today and found out that our baby has double ear infections. Poor girl.

My brilliant sister

I just got back from listening to my sister, Erin Holmes, speak at Women's Conference. I am so impressed by her. First of all, who gets asked to speak at Women's Conference? Incredible women like Erin. Erin currently supports her family as a professor at BYU in the School of Family Life. She was asked to speak on "Finding Joy in Motherhood." As you can imagine, it was a very popular session at the conference. She did a beautiful job! She expressed the inadequacies we all too often feel as mothers and reminded each of us that our Heavenly Father will help increase our capacity to see the nobility of our efforts and help us feel joy. One of the points that really stuck out to me from Erin's message was that to find something we must look for it. We must SEEK joy. Often that means we must pray and trust that our Heavenly Father will help us. She shared a beautiful quote from Elder and Sister Hafen, "Our sorrows and sacrifices carve and stretch the caverns of feeling within our own hearts and as these caverns are enlarged they expand our soul's capacity for joy." It was such an incredible talk. You really should all watch it when it is rebroadcast on KBYU or find it on byutv.org later on. I'll end this post with another quote Erin shared from Elder Holland:

"Rely on Him. Rely on Him heavily. Rely on him forever. And "press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope." You are doing God's work. You are doing it wonderfully well. He is blessing you and He will bless you, even-no, especially-when your days and your nights may be the most challenging. Like the woman who anonymously, meekly, perhaps even with hestation and some embarrassment, fought her way through the crowd just to touch the hem of the Master's garment, so Christ will say to the women who worry and wonder and sometimes weep over their responsibilities as mothers, "Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole." And it will make your children whole as well."

Ella update

Ella is such a cute little stink. She has her second top tooth coming in right now and it looks like at least 2 more are coming soon. I wish teething didn't bother her so much. Her newest discovery is the light switch by her crib. We'll be rearranging her room soon (I didn't think about that when I set up the nursery).

Ella loves spaghetti! She is still a very finicky eater. She used to love grapes and strawberries, but now she has decided not to even try them. Hopefully she gets over that soon. She likes peas, but those are the only vegetable she eats consistently. She signs that she wants crackers all day long. We try not to give her more than a few each day, except for during church (we use any tricks we can to keep her happy during those three long hours.) She loves yogurt, pears, cheese, mandarin oranges, wheat bread (she still refuses to eat white, but I don't mind), pasta, beans, and ANY kind of treat (she is definitely my daughter).

Ella is walking! It took her awhile, but within the past few days she's started walking most of the time. While transitioning into walking she started doing the bear walk- keeping her legs straight and sticking her bum up in the air. She still does this sometimes (especially while wearing dresses.) I can see more of her independent spirit coming out with this new milestone. I would usually categorize Ella as a clingy baby, but now she doesn't even want to hold my finger when she is walking. I'm sure this independence will continue to get stronger, but in most instances she's still a mama's girl who LOVES to give kisses and snuggle.