Warmer Weather

After several beautifully warm, sunny days, we have finally thawed from the freezing winter. Of course the warmer weather has led us to many adventures at the park. Jon and I have always loved spending time at the park, and we are working hard to instill that love in Netty. So far she loves it just as much as we do.

Loving her stroller

Trying to stand - those darn stroller wheels kept moving, but she thought it was funny!

Nice Shades

Happy Girl

Seeing Through Netty's Eyes

Drinking From an Unopened Pop Can

After a Walk Around the Park

Jon's and My Arms - Can you guess who they each belong to?

Red Hair in the Sun

Giggles

Brrrr! It's Cold!

Annuals and Perennials

Every spring/summer when I was growing up my parents would by boxes of pansies and plant them in rows in our yard. Every year they died (whether mid-season or at the end of the season was a case-by-case basis). I always thought it was a lot of work for flowers that only lasted a short time.

Now I am married to a man who is quickly becoming a little obsessed with plant catalogs. As he takes more horticulture classes for his major, he brings home catalogs from class and thumbs through them, picking out all the flowers he is going to buy for our "someday-yard." We look through the pictures together, and as one who has never loved gardening, I think to myself, "This will be a good 'Jonny-project.'" But more and more lately, a few other thoughts have come to mind--annuals, perennials, and what they mean for me.

Annuals: My ward has a wide range of Relief Society sisters, from those who have been married a few months and have barely moved into the ward to those who have lived in the ward for thirty or more years and whose husbands have died of old age. Over the last several weeks in our Relief Society lessons, several sisters have made comments expressing a common theme, and this is it: life is full of seasons, and each season brings different responsibilities, opportunities, and challenges. Heavenly Father doesn't ask or expect us to do everything all of the time. This is one of the reasons why life changes so much--so that we can progress through all of the seasons and, over a lifetime, accomplish all that Heavenly Father has asked of us. Heavenly Father doesn't expect me at this point in my life to go to the temple three days a week, call every Relief Society sister who might be struggling in any way, and make dinners for everyone who is moving or just had a baby or had a family member die, AND take care of my own family. In this season of life, I need to take care of my family, including myself, connect with three sisters once a month through visiting teaching, and go to the temple as often as I am able (which is not all that often right now). In other words, I don't need to feel guilty when I look at all of the wonderful things that other Relief Society sisters are doing, because my seasons will come, and they too were in my position at one time,  or they will be someday.

I am grateful for annuals, which die at the end of each season so that when the next season comes, there will be room for new flowers to grow.

Perennials: One of my friends posted on Facebook a link to an article entitled "3 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Got Married" and a comment to that article led me to a blog post entitled "The Biggest Myth About Sex in Marriage" (click on the titles to read the articles). They brought to my attention this misconception about marriage that I have seen and heard at BYU-Idaho, perpetuated by both married and unmarried students--that marriage is all about sex, children, and "enduring to the end." Don't get me wrong. These elements are important. But until the last six months or so, I felt that my life now was completely about raising children and "enduring." How awful is that? Who wants to "endure" life? These articles helped me see what I've been feeling lately, that marriage is so much more than that, and marriages that focus only on sex, children, and enduring will in fact not endure.

It's no secret that Jon and I have been on a relationship rocket ship since we first met at the end of April 2011. We knew each other only a few short months before we were sealed for eternity, and in less than two years of that sealing, we will have two children. That's just plain fast. Moving so quickly has forced us to learn about each other, marriage, and family at an accelerated rate (and I was already at a disadvantage, having never been in a relationship before I met Jonathan). It also means that I'm just starting to understand things that many couples probably learn in a similar time frame, only they are only a month or two into marriage. One of those things being this: Jonathan is my absolute best friend. He is the first and last person I want to see every day. And what luck--we have forever to grow and perfect our friendship! What I have found in the last several months is that as Jon and I have become better friends, our marriage has become stronger. We have more fun together. We enjoy spending more time together. And we are more committed to each other.

I am grateful for perennials, which continue to grow year after year, getting bigger, stronger, and more enduring.

Perhaps by the time Jonny and I have our own garden I will love him enough to work in the yard with him....

Netty's Birthday Party

Netty's Birthday Party was Saturday. Minus the wind, it was a perfect day. In fact, Jon, Netty, and I all came home a little pink. Jon and Netty's burns are turning to tans, and mine is just itching and will eventually peel and go back to white. We invited several people, but only my family (my parents, Stephanie, and Nicole), and a family from our ward could make it. Still, we had a great time.

Homemade invitations

Swinging with Stephie while Mom finishes getting things ready

 Sitting in back with Stephie on the way to the party

AT THE PARK

THE PARTY

HoneyGram made cherry chip cupcakes with white frosting and pearly pink Sixlets on top.

Netty didn't want to eat the frosting or the cake, just the Sixlets.

Here's Netty's personal cake, made by our friend Tyler. We added the pink bow to match Netty's bow. We shouldn't have done the cupcakes. This would have been more than enough cake for everyone there!

OPENING PRESENTS

Netty loved this little box, maybe because it's miniature. She's definitely her HoneyGram's girl!

We didn't get good pictures of all of the outfits she got, so those will have to be posted as she wears them.

Flip-flops from Stephie - Netty thought they were pretty weird at first, but she got used to them.

Pop-up book from Jason and Natalia (my cousins)

Baby from HoneyGram and Papa. Netty loves this little baby. She loves to give it kisses, and yesterday she was trying to feed the baby Cheerios. This will be a good teaching tool for what to do and what not to do around Baby Atticus.

Stroller from HoneyGram and Papa. She tries to push it around, but she's still a little too unstable on her feet. In time, I'm sure this will be a favorite.

Feeding the baby her bottle

Melissa & Doug train set from Aaron and Brandon.

Picnic Basket from Mommy and Daddy

EATING CAKE

She never really dug into the cake like we'd hoped. She picked at the frosting, ate a few bits of the cake, and was done. I guess she filled up on cheese, crackers, fruit, and veggies at lunch. I should be happy about that, but I couldn't help but be a little disappointed.

TEXAS ROADHOUSE

Before my family headed back to Utah, we all went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner in Idaho Falls. Netty ate from just about everyone's plate.

Netty claps for everything she likes these days. I don't remember why she was clapping here, but whatever it was, it must have been something great.

After my family left, we went to visit one of my old bishops, a good friend, who lives in Idaho Falls. Netty slept the whole way home, and by the time we got her out of her car seat and in our apartment, she was ready to play. She didn't get to sleep until about 10:00, and by then, she was definitely exhausted. She slept until we woke her up at 12:20 on Sunday. Thank goodness for 1:00 church!

Days Go By....

I can feel them flying like a hand out the window in the wind.

I can't believe it's been a whole year today since her big brown eyes looked at me for the first time.

It's so amazing that this little thing...

has grown into this in 12 short months....

We sure love you Netty!

Always Busy

I have always wondered what it would be like to have one of those kids who would just sit on my lap and be content, because Netty is not that child. Life in the Phelps home is anything but dull with her around. Everyday tasks are either much more enjoyable or much more dreadful with her around, and sometimes it's a combination of the two. Here are some glimpses into the enjoyable moments....

"Always Involved"

While going through my recipe book to create menus, Netty started throwing the cheese from her tray and screaming at me. I couldn't figure out why she was so upset until I realized she was reaching for the recipe book. I said, "Okay, Netty, what should we have?" and gave her the book. She flipped through the pages over and over for the next several minutes until I completed the menus.

"Miss Independent"

At first I was annoyed when Netty could at last reach the books on the top shelf of her bookshelf. It meant that her room would no longer be the only room in the house to stay clean all the time. I have since realized that this is a good thing. Netty will go into her room, pull her books off of the shelf, and then sit and look at them on her own. Not only is she incredibly good with books (the only torn page incident happened because I was trying to take a book from her that she wasn't ready to give up), but she'll also keep herself entertained anywhere from 20 to 60 minutes.

"Real Food, Real Healthy"

Don't get me wrong. Netty goes crazy for french fries, pop, and ice cream. But lately this little girl loves vegetables. She wants the real thing, though, nothing mashed. She won't even eat mashed potatoes most of the time. Here she is eating sugar snap peas and loving them. By the end of the dinner she had eaten four of them, as well as almost half of my grilled chicken tender.

"Standing Tall"

While "helping" us pick up the living room, Netty found her pacifier on the coffee table and stuck it in her mouth, and then she just stood there. Before this she would stand for one to three seconds at a time on her own, but we were never able to catch it on the camera. This time she stood for a full minute (I know because I counted). We were clapping for her, and she thought it was pretty great.

"Dressing for Bed"

After Netty's bath the other night I couldn't find either of her brushes (she has a habit of finding them in or on the changing table and carrying them all over the apartment), but I could find a comb. So we spiked her hair. This is the first time that we've actually been able to see the hair when it sticks up. Netty then had to take the comb and "play the harmonica" with it.

"Reverently, Noisily"

For several weeks Netty was horrid during church. We could not get her to sit still for a minute, and she would scream and flail when she got tired and we tried to put her to sleep. We have 1:00 church, and even worse, Sacrament Meeting is last. Every Saturday night I was almost in tears thinking about church the next day. I don't know if Netty decided to be a bit more cooperative or we decided to be a little more thoughtful when packing the diaper bag, or maybe it was a combination of the two. The last three Sundays have been much better. At least she now sits on the floor and plays with toys some of the time. However, she's also started "talking" a lot more lately. Here she is looking at her I'm a Big Sister book, one of her favorites. She looks so sweet and calm. In reality, she was saying, "dooka dooka dooka dooka" and making all kinds of funny noises. So we got the "be still" part a little better, but we're still working on the "shhhh."

An Early Mother's Day Present

When I was pregnant with Netty, I swore I didn't want a glider because the one my sister had always squeaked. Kind of counterproductive when you're trying to put a baby to sleep. Finding a rocking chair that wasn't a glider was a much more difficult task than I had imagined. It seemed to be all anyone was selling. But what I realized after Netty was born was that there's a reason why that's what most stores sell. They're comfortable and practical. The rocking chair we bought from D.I. just before we had Netty was exactly what I thought I wanted until I had to hold a baby in it, sometimes for hours at a time.

After careful thought, consideration, and research, I decided that indeed, I too wanted a glider. Of course in true Jonny spirit, my dear husband said, "Sure. Yeah. Whatever you'd like." We found a cheap but nice glider/ottoman set from Walmart. And I love it!

Daddy started school this week, so Netty helped me put it together.

And an eager helper she was!

The box was fun too (and apparently tasty)!

The finished product

Snuggling

Netty hasn't been much of a snuggler, and it has made me a little sad. However, in the last month or two she started snuggling with her blanket, and just in the last two weeks she began snuggling with me. It is my absolute favorite thing!

Every time she finds one of her three favorite blankets, she snuggles, even in weird places.

Loving her blanket on the gym floor during Sunday School

Loving her blanket in the bathroom

Loving Mommy (and Atticus is playing peek-a-boo)

I won't have too many more of these kind of moments where she'll fall asleep in my arms. Even now it doesn't happen all that often. She's a little stinker a lot of the time, but she's still my sweet baby sometimes too.

Learning

A week or so ago we discovered the special features on Netty's Baby Einstein dvds. These digital flashcards show pictures of animals, say the word, and make the animal sound. Netty loves going through these. She's even started responding, though all of the sounds she makes are about the same.

Netty is starting to become very interested in books. Her absolute favorite that buys us at least 15 minutes at a time is a book that's all about her--filled with the story of how she came to be (G-rated, of course), and pictures of her first couple of months.

Her favorite page in the book about her is the last page, which has a big picture of her. Every time she sees it she has to "give the baby kisses." I'm so glad that she loves herself!

Netty is learning the difference between yes and no. She has been shaking her head for some time, but now she's learning that this means "no." And last week she started nodding when we say "yes." When she's in a good mood, we can ask her a question and she'll respond appropriately.

General Conference

Gone are the days of lazily watching General Conference and falling asleep. I'm not sure how long it will be before we'll have a peaceful General Conference again. This time around we went to a friend's house where we were cat-sitting to watch on her big screen. We barricaded Netty in the room and let her go wild. And go wild she did.

We always knew Netty was social when she wanted to be talked to constantly from birth. But in the last few months, Netty has discovered her own voice more than ever before, and during her waking hours, we rarely have a quiet moment.

Here Netty is passing the time playing catch, or rather fetch, with herself.

A Couple Older Videos

I've had a hard time getting videos from my phone to work on my computer, but finally, thanks to advice from FCOR Nicole (First Cousin Once Removed), I was able to get them working.

Netty finally started crawling. This was only her second or third time actually up off her belly. We spend a lot of church time, particularly Sacrament Meeting, in the foyer. Jon had been trying to get Netty to sleep and she wouldn't have it. Finally, his tactic changed to winding her up and wearing her out. It work, except that by the time she fell asleep, church was just about over.

Netty got a taste of cherry limeade, and loved it. Of course her initial reaction was that it was sour, so I started exaggering my face, shaking my head, and saying "Ewww! Sour!" Netty thought that was pretty funny, and started copying me.