Dear Lola- 8 Months

Dear Lola,

This month you have been one happy baby. You learned how to stand up to things all on your own. This has resulted in a lot of head bonks, but you are getting better at landing gracefully on your bum. You crawl with (almost) lightning speed to the bathroom and stand up to the toilet- so funny. Before you could stand you were always crawling on to the bathroom scale. Please don't obsess too much about you weight. Believe me, 20.5 pounds is nothing. :) You are so cute during bath time. You splash and crawl and chew on your sea creature bath toys just as happy as can be. You've also discovered how to unroll and eat the toilet paper so it's probably safe to say that the bathroom is your favorite room right now. You surprised me a few Sundays ago by climbing the stairs at Grandma and Grandpa Hill's. You can climb the whole staircase now which is crazy since you don't really have any to practice on at home. You still love to nurse about six times a day and eat three solid meals. You've gotten pretty adventurous eating finger foods. The other day we had tacos and you ate corn tortilla pieces and shredded pork right along with us. You aren't nearly as excited when you see me with a spoon. I think your love affair with bananas is just beginning. Still no top teeth but I can tell they will be here soon. At night you sleep from about 9 PM to 7 AM and then take three naps during the day. Sometimes you get up once in the night. I realized early on in your life that I could feel resentful about this, or just enjoy a quick cuddle with you. Mostly I don't mind. Dad taught you to turn on the light by pulling the cord on the ceiling fan. If I carry you across the room you raise your arms trying to get to it. You've been "talking" for a few months now, saying dadada and such. It's too cute. It's been fun taking you swimming and fishing this summer and let's face it, nothing is cuter than you in a swimsuit. I painted our toenails matching red for the 4th of July. Thanks for being my cuddle bug. 

Love always,

Mom 

Rexburg Car Show

This tiny pink car was Lola's favorite :)  Okay, I liked it too. 

We went to the car show on Saturday. This was our third year in a row. With it always being the week of Phil's birthday it just seems like it would be a shame to skip it. Of course Phil loves cars (what guy doesn't?) But my favorite thing about the car show is what's going on in that last picture. It's the conversation between Phil and the car owner and it goes something like this...

Phil "Wow! Look at that thing-a-ding 5000 you've got under the hood. Is that the original?"

Car owner "Yeah. But I rebuilt this and that (and who knows what the heck they are talking about...)"

Phil "This is such a sweet car. How did you get a hold of it?"

Car owner.... goes on to tell how they bought it for their wife in '75 or found it in a neighbors barn etc.

Basically, Phil makes the person feel like they have the coolest car in the lot. It's so fun to see the owners light up when they talk about their pride and joy and Phil is totally in his element. Lola got to sit on a sweet little motorcycle, so all in all it was a great day for everyone.

Meet the Montours

I really wish I was better at this blogging thing. It's all baby stuff. And believe it or not there is a bit more to our lives other than watching Lola grow. I'm just not very good at letting the words flow and being descriptive and talking about every little outing and holiday. But I thought maybe I would write a little get to know us post so at least I can look back and see where we were in June 2013!

Phillip
First off Phil is an amazing husband and father. He takes time every day to make sure that Lola and I get our hugs and kisses and quality time even if he has a million and one things to do, which he usually does. He is so so busy with school this semester majoring in Mechanical Engineering at BYU-Idaho. He gets to school by 7:45 AM for class and then is usually home by 6 pm for dinner. Many nights he is up till 1 AM studying. I do not envy his schedule right now, but he rarely complains. And if he does it's that he wishes he could spend more time with us. We cannot wait for him to graduate next year! He is the varsity scout coach and the boys are lucky to have him to keep it real. It wouldn't be scouts without winter camping! On Friday he turned 27 and it was really fun to have a reason to celebrate this guy. We had a hot dog roast with friends down by the river. Sadly I didn't take any pictures but it was fun playing crochet, roasting smores, and talking around the fire.

Me
I guess you could say I have adjusted to being a stay at home mom. I enjoy taking care of our home and Lola. I workout 5-6 days a week which keeps me happy. I do workout DVDs and go jogging in the mornings. I think exercise is so important for moms. It was a huge confidence boost for me to get my body back after pregnancy. I am also enjoying cooking healthy foods for us. Right now I am on a kick making whole wheat pizza. I kept making it every Friday for a while because I wanted to make the perfect crust :) I also love reading. Two good books I read recently were Me Before You by Jojo Moyes and Your Roots Are Showing by Elise Chidley. I've read about four other so so books in the last couple of months. I'm the primary secretary in the ward which I enjoy. Although I'm kind of stressed about teaching sharing time and giving a talk in sacrament next week. All in all, life is good!

Lola
Our baby girl is growing up. She is crawling and starting to pull herself up to standing. She is on the go and curious. She is generally a pretty chill and happy baby who loves to eat and sleep :) Phil often says "I love having a little girl" and all I can say is ME TOO! One of my favorite things in the world is that if I look at Lola and smile, she smiles right back. Maybe every baby does that, but when my baby smiles at me it makes all the hard times worth it.

Dear Lola- 7 Months

Dear Lola,

At seven months it feels like your baby days will fly by in the blink of an eye. You are wearing 12 month clothes and growing by the minute. This month you started eating meat and fruit (yum yum!) You've gotten really excited about eating. It's easy to tell if you like something by the way you swallow and quickly open up wide for more. The opposite happens if you hate it or are full, as well as crying. You can be so dramatic haha. I just started giving you those little baby puffs which you think are the best thing EVER.You got a bad rash after eating avocado so I guess we will have to be careful. You love your sippy cup but don't understand that it has to be tipped up to get water. Real cups are the bees knees. I think this happened after I gave you a sip of my smoothie. If I've got a cup you've gotta have a drink. OH! My wildest dreams came true! You sprouted your two front bottom teeth about a week after you turned 6 months. They are super cute and sharp. They didn't seem to bother you at all coming in so It's a good thing I was keeping a lookout for them or I wouldn't have noticed. Now I'm kind of scared for your top teeth to come in....ouch. You've been working all month on crawling. Mostly it's been more of a scoot crawl but lately it's definitely a real crawl. I even saw you go from sitting to crawling a couple of times. I think you will really take off this week. Eek I'm scared though because I know I can't protect you from all the bumps and bangs. One thing is for sure, I can not put you on the bed any more. You dove off head first twice in a week. That made me feel like the world's worst mom.We took you camping for the first time to Horseshoe lake. It was really fun and of course you wanted to eat all the dirt you could. Dad thinks you are his little fishing pal this summer. It is the cutest thing watching you two together. I love our little family of three. Xoxo

Love,
Mom

Dear Lola- 6 Months

Dear Lola,

Six months already! You are growing so fast, little cutie. Suddenly you are doing all sorts of big baby things like napping less and sitting up all on your own! The day we got home from vacation I noticed you were doing two things I hadn't noticed before: chewing your toes and pushing up with your feet to get your tummy off the ground. I know you have big ideas about crawling. For now though you can get just about anywhere you want by rolling and scooting. It's just not nearly fast enough for you! The last few days you have gotten up on your hands and knees. I guess we will have to wait and see how long it takes for you to get moving :) You also do this funny thing where you balance on your head and your feet in a bridge pose. You are a little gymnast! You've tried lots of vegetables now and seem to like them all. I'm on the lookout for teeth but you haven't sprouted any yet. It's funny though because I have dreams about them all the time. Once I dreamed that I looked in your mouth and counted 40 teeth. All in one day, wow! :) Another time I dreamed that I looked and saw a bunch of teeth but they were all big and strange looking. You then popped out a pair of dentures and I said, "Lola, whose teeth did you steal?!" Lol. At your 6 month appointment we found out that you weigh 18 lbs 2 oz (87%) and are 27 inches long (90%)! Keep growing big and strong, baby girl.

Love you lots,
Mom

Lola Fern at 5 days old

My baby will be 6 months old in a few days. It's been a crazy half of a year. It's insane how much a baby changes in that short amount of time. And me? I'm different too. I'm learning to love being at home. I try to find joy everyday in doing the things that seem mundane. Being with this little angel everyday is priceless.

A few things I hope I never forget about Lola as a newborn:
She loved to be held and cuddled close. A few nights she even slept on daddy's chest.
She was born with perfect, unbelievably soft skin. In fact only the first picture is edited.
She was so sleepy and content. I don't remember hearing her cry once while we were in the hospital. Maybe a whimper if she was hungry. Phil bragged to my grandparents that she was the best baby that NEVER cries. Of course she eventually learned how to use her lungs to full capacity, but usually only if she was really hungry. And she sure loved to eat!
See her legs in the last picture? I know she must have done that a lot in the womb too. The labor & delivery nurse commented about her foot being bent from doing it. (It quickly straightened out.)
We loved bringing her home. I felt like I just knew how to take care of her, although I'm not saying those early weeks were easy. While pregnant I was constantly reading to know what was going on, but with a new baby I didn't feel panicked that I didn't know the perfect way to bathe her etc. like some books had me imagine I would.
It was such a surreal feeling to meet her and think "So here you are! You're the one who was in there." Yet, she seemed familiar too. It still amazes me that she grew inside of me. In fact it gets crazier as time goes by to imagine her in my belly!

These pictures were taken by my sister Kate just a couple of days after we got home from the hospital. Thanks Kate! She had never done newborn pictures before. Lola may look peaceful in these pictures, and she did sleep almost the whole time (when was she not sleeping back them?) but it was a lot of work! I was hovering over her the whole time in a robe holding a heater. Getting a sleeping baby into cute positions is difficult, all the while trying to keeping her little bum covered. Speaking of which she may have peed and pooped on every one of those cute blankets.

Dear Lola- 5 months

Dear Lola,

Lately it has been so fun to be your mom. It's been about a month since you learned to use your hands to grab and get a hold of things and you are now a pro. I never tire of watching you use them to grab for a toy or food off daddy's plate. You especially like to use your new found dexterity to grab at my face while you nurse. You try to get a hold of my nose or put your whole hand in my mouth. Of course this would be quite annoying... except for the fact that I still find it adorable. You also started eating solid foods earlier this month, although I put it off again until last week. You've eaten rice and oatmeal cereal, peas, sweet potatoes, and carrots so far. I think you've liked them all just fine- except the peas. It's been a few weeks now that you learned to roll from your back to your tummy. Your scooting has only gotten better too. You arch your back and push with your legs to get half way across the room if you see something worth the scoot. Your giggles are contagious and I love the way you smile with your whole toothless mouth open wide. It's almost just as cute when you pull a big frown- you always get your way when you do. This week we got a jogging stroller and we have gone out every day. Daddy is always so happy to come home and hold you after a long day at school. He usually sits you on his lap during dinner just because he missed you all day. You're not sleeping 10 hours straight anymore but I guess it's okay as long as you're happy. It's amazing to see you grow from a helpless newborn to a curious little baby. You have a lot more growing to do, but know that today I love you just the way you are.

Love,
Mom

Pregnancy

           Looking at these pictures is bringing back all the memories from my pregnancy. I remember finding out that I was pregnant and feeling so light headed and excited and overwhelmed. Phil was just so calm and happy. I had wanted a November baby but was so surprised that it worked out that way. When my mom told me that she had been due with me on November 18th I thought it was a funny coincidence. I kept it a secret through my last semester of college. It was hard not to tell my classmates. It was also fun though, keeping it as our little secret. I immediately started reading everything I could about pregnancy and delivery. I went to the University's library and checked out a stack of books only to be asked "Are you pregnant?" Oh my gosh. I'd never been asked that. Eek. "No, just doing research." I promptly ran into my cousin's wife who I fretted had seen the book titles and knew.
          I loved being pregnant. It made me feel beautiful and special. It was so exciting planning for our little girl and imagining what she would look like. It was hard sometimes too, like going to work when my back hurt. One Sunday I woke up and could not find a thing to wear to church. Needless to say it was depressing and we were late. I gained too much (40 pounds) and it shows in the pictures. I didn't beat myself up about it though and I don't feel like I need to explain myself. After Lola was born I wasn't sure if I would be able to lose the extra weight. I always had the idea that pregnancy gave you hidden pounds that just never went away. I knew that even if that were the case she was totally worth it. I've lost it all plus some, although the stretch marks may never completely fade and my stomach isn't quite the same. But you know what? I have a deeper respect for my body now. It knew exactly what it was doing before I read all those books to find out what was going on in there. And she turned out to be the most perfect little baby. I'm so grateful that I was able to experience carrying and delivering her. Both were extremely incredible experiences that I will remember forever. I can just imagine years from now on our birthday I will be telling Lola all about it.


Pictures were taken by my talented sister Kate Hill. Thank you thank you thank you!

Dear Lola- 4 Months

Dear Lola,

Monday marked 4 months since we held you for the first time. Your dad and I think you are the most precious little girl in the whole world. Monday I also took you to see Dr. L. He is very happy with how you are growing. You weigh 15 lbs 7.5 oz (87%) and are 25.5 inches long (91%.) Your cute little noggin measures 16.5 inches around (77%.) You had to get immunizations so of course you bawled your eyes out. Thankfully you fell asleep before we even left the Doctor's office. That night you gave us a scare. I noticed you were hot and had a temperature of 101.6. I immediately called my sister Karen who is a nurse. Then I called Phil who said he would pick up some Tylenol on the way home. 45 minutes later you threw up about ten times. You completely soaked the front of my shirt and your clothes too. It scared me half to death! I called Karen again and Phil who then also called Karen... you can tell we are first time parents with a first time sick baby. I even called the after hours number at the pediatrician's office. I was just so nervous. You spit out the Tylenol but went to bed as usual. You even slept through the night (although I sure didn't.) It seemed all you needed was a good nights sleep and then you were happy as a peach. You started sleeping through the night at about 2 1/2 months, although lately you've been waking up for snacks in the night. In other news you have started to babble and giggle which we think is adorable. You like to arch your back to escape from the bouncer or even your car seat when not strapped in. Your grandma, aunts, and cousins all love to hold you. I got you some books at the thrift store including Goldilocks and the Three Bears and I'm going to read them to you. I have fond memories of my mom reading to me so I hope you will like books as much as I do. I'm so blessed to have you as my daughter.

Hugs & Kisses, 

Mom