WW: Daddy's Girl

I love the way she's looking at him! So precious.

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Happy Wednesday!

Our Engagement Story

I'm linking up to the Valentine Extravaganza that Mama M over at My Little Life is hosting this week. There is a different theme each day. Today is engagement stories.

This time of year is really special for me and Jacob because 2 years ago we had our first date on Valentine's Day and then we got engaged on February 23! We {Jacob} moved fast once he knew I was the right girl! ha! We'd been best friends for a long time, but that's a story for another post.

Here's our engagement story. Hope ya'll don't mind, but I copied and pasted it from a facebook note that I wrote a few days after we got engaged. It would take me all day to type it one-handed while feeding Lily. ha!

Jacob is the concertmaster for a symphony in a city about an hour away. Last Monday, he told me that he had rehearsal all day on Saturday and he wanted me to come eat lunch with him during his break. He said there was a nice park with a waterfall where we could go and walk around and then go to an Italian restaurant. Well, then every time he saw me last week he gave me a few red roses. By Friday night, I had 11! :) Yes, I’ll be honest, I started suspecting throughout the week, but I wanted to be surprised, so I tried not to think about it!

On Saturday, we met after his morning rehearsal and he took me to this beautiful park. It was soooo cold, but we didn’t mind! :) When we got out of the car, he gave me the 12th red rose that had a scroll wrapped around the stem and tied with a ribbon. We walked around a little bit and then sat on a bench looking out over a pond with ducks and a fountain. Then he told me he wanted me to read the scroll. The first part was 83 reasons why he loves me (I’d done that for him for Valentine’s Day). I read them out loud and we laughed and cried through them. 

On the last page of the scroll was a letter that told me how amazed he is how the Lord has brought us together, then it said to reach into the pocket over his heart and I would find something he wanted me to wear for the rest of my life. (sniff, sniff!) So I reached in his pocket and got the ring and he got down on his knee and said (as best as we can remember), “Kelly Joy M., I love you with all of my heart and I want to spend the rest of my life with you and I really want you to marry me. Will you marry me?” I said, “yes, of course!” :) We sat there for awhile longer laughing and crying and not caring that it was freezing cold! Oh, and I must say, the ring is absolutely perfect!! Jacob picked it out all by himself. 

After we left the park, we went to a really nice Italian restaurant and had an awesome lunch together. 

Then I went back to his rehearsal with him. Apparently Jacob, during the morning rehearsal, had shown everyone the ring and told them that during lunch he was going to ask the big question! So we ended up being like 5 minutes late to his afternoon rehearsal and Jacob was trying to quickly get to his spot without making too much disturbance {which is not easy when you are concertmaster!}, but everyone was eagerly waiting to hear what happened. Jacob just turned around and said, “she said yes!” Everyone clapped and was so excited for us! After the rehearsal we drove back to my house together and saw my family and then we went and saw his family later that night. 

It was a wonderful day and I’m sooooo excited to be marrying my best friend in 117 days!!!

I {Heart} Concerts!

Since Lily was sick last week we stayed home everyday except to go to the doctor on Wednesday. We've been especially cautious about going out since the doctor said that because Lily has a low immune system, she is more susceptible to RSV. I will say though, that I feel better taking Lily to the grocery store than I do taking her to church. Everytime I've taken Lily to the store, no one has gotten close, touched her, or even paid much attention to her. At church, everyone feels like family {which is wonderful except with a newborn} so they want to hold her and touch her and get in her face even though they might be sick or could be carrying something that Lily could catch. It makes for a hard situation for me as Lily's mommy!

Anyhow...off my soapbox and on to other things.

I was super excited to get out on Saturday night to go to a classical symphony concert. Jacob was playing so that made it even more fun to go to! I wore Lily in my wonderful sling and she slept nearly the whole time. Precious girl!

The orchestra played pieces by Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky as well as a premiere piece. I loved all of them, but my absolute favorite was the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto! The pianist was a really short guy, but man, was he able to get a whole lot out of that grand piano!! He did it all from memory too. It was incredible! Jacob came out to see us {my mom and a guy from church came to the concert with us} during intermission. It was such a fun evening!

Lily is doing much better although she still has some lingering congestion. I'm so glad her cold hasn't developed into anything worse! God is so good!

I'm sure you've noticed the watermark on my pictures. One of my good blogging friends had some of her pictures stolen recently, so I've decided to watermark all the pictures I put up from now on. I think it's best to err on the side of caution.

Ya'll have a great evening!

Leaky Nipple, Swollen Lips...FAIL

My sister, Myra over at My Blessed Life started this meme several weeks ago. Since I'd just had Lily, and I wasn't up and about doing much, I didn't have any fails to share. Well, this week has been a different story!

FAIL #1
I had always planned to breastfeed Lily so when I had to start supplementing (for reasons completely out of my control), I didn't even own a baby bottle. Myra came to the rescue and gave us two bottles that she'd tried to use with Ridley but he refused. The bottle nipples were for older babies and the milk ran out way to fast for Lily. So Jacob and I headed to Target to get some infant slow-flow nipples. Instead of paying $4 for two good quality nipples, my dear husband thought it would be so much better to get this:

A lovely little bottle, ring, and nipple - all for .97 cents! I was very hesitant about it. Surely there would be some kind of issue with it since it was so cheap. But I didn't argue and the name brand nipples were hung back on the shelf and the bottle-nipple combo was tossed into the cart.

Well, what do you know. The very first time we used the nipple, there sure enough was an issue. It leaked. I don't mean just a few drops either! It really leaked. Seriously, milk would pour out all over Lily while she tried to suck. Poor baby. Apparently the nipple didn't fit the ring well enough and there wasn't good suction to keep it in place.

I still used it a few times, but everytime I would end up saying, "argh, I hate this leaky nipple!" Last night Jacob went to Walgreen's and shelled out the money for the expensive good quality nipples. They have definitely made feeding times much more enjoyable! ha!

FAIL #2
Last night right before bed I couldn't find my lip gloss anywhere. Yes, I only have one tube of lip gloss. Crazy, I know! Anyway, I decided to use some of Jacob's chapstick and then search for my lip gloss in the morning. Bad idea!

I woke up a little while later and my lips were burning, itching, swollen, and I had a lovely red ring around my mouth. yuck!

They were a lot brighter red than the picture shows. Apparently I'm allergic to something in the chapstick. Who knew?!

Lily seems to be feeling a little better today.

She's been much more alert and happy...{for the most part!}. 

Bless her heart, she's been a trooper!

Ya'll have a great weekend and be sure to hop over to My Blessed Life to read more FAILS!

Sniffles and Snuggles

My precious baby girl has a yucky cold. She started having a little congestion early last week, but it just started getting worse and worse since Sunday. Today she started running a low grade fever, her nose was so stopped up she couldn't breathe well, she wasn't interested in eating and she wanted to sleep all the time. Poor little girl, she's just plain miserable!

VERY tired Mommy and happily sleeping baby

I took her to the doctor because I was afraid she might have RSV. The doctor was concerned about Lily's fever and we have to make sure it doesn't get over 100.6 or she has to go in the hospital. Dr. S sent us to get a chest x-ray as well. Thankfully it was clear.

So we're just spending lots of extra time cuddling, comforting, and trying to keep the fever down and nose unclogged (definitely no fun!). Hopefully she's on the mend and will be feeling better in a few days!

Even though she feels so awful, she is still just as sweet as ever!

Wordless Wednesday

Trying hard to patiently wait for breakfast!

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1 month

Lily, you are one month old today, February 1, 2010. 

• You are a happy and alert baby
• You love bathtime and Daddy loves that special time with you.
• After a kind of rough start, you weigh 6lbs 9.5oz and 21 inches long. Mommy and Daddy are so happy to see you gaining about an ounce each day!
• You are still wearing preemie clothes and newborn diapers (you're not drowning in them any longer though!)
• You only cry when you're hungry, have a burp or when your hat falls over your eyes. ha!
• You love to be in the swing or on the play mat...just looking around.
• You are a very good girl in church, especially since you sleep most of the time.
• You love for Daddy and Mommy to hold you close.
• You are getting stronger everyday. It's fun to see how you are getting better control of your neck/head and how you've started scooting on your play mat.
• You sleep so well at night! Mommy has to wake you up to feed you!
• You love for Mommy to wear you in the sling (and Mommy loves it too!!)
• You love music. You were so good at your first symphony concert (well, your first outside Mommy's tummy). I'm sure it's because you knew Daddy was playing. ha!

Daddy and Mommy can't believe how fast the days are flying by. You have changed our lives forever. You are our little miracle and we love you so much!