Swimming!

Around 5 pm yesterday (Saturday) the weather was super warm, perfect for swimming! We got all dressed in our new swimming suits, (Evie also wore a swimming diaper and awesome hat) took a couple of pictures,








and headed to the swimming pool right behind our apartment. We sat next to the pool and I dipped my feet in.... Way too cold for her first time swimming. I dipped her feet in the water and she jerked them out really fast verifying my reaction to the water. Instead of swimming in the pool, I filled up the bathtub with warm water and we went tub swimming for a couple of minutes instead!

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Sister Mills!

First of all my sister left for her mission last Thursday! Evie and I went to Utah for her mission farewell and got to fly back to Denver the same day and around the same time Janna flew out to Chicago and then on to London! (I will post on our trip to Utah later). I just wanted to let everyone know I have been updating Janna's blog with her mission e-mails, so if you want to know how she's doing jump on over to

Janna's blog

And while you're clicking on links, check this one out:

http://ccimaginephotography.blogspot.com/

(The extremely talented Courtney Campbell took both pictures featured in this post! She's AMAZING! I mean look at these pictures! Beautiful models and amazing photographer = phenomenal pictures!)

p.s. Court, I hope you don't mind me "borrowing" these pictures from you, they are amazing!

Zoo!

We went to the zoo today! A couple of ladies in the ward have zoo passes and go to the zoo once a month. We decided to join them... The weather was so nice and we had a blast!



Some monkey's swinging around!


This is Evie's buddy! I would put of the shade on her car seat and stroller so so wouldn't be blinded (like in this picture) and Enoch would come over and peek through the small space between the two shades. It was probably the cutest thing I saw while at the zoo.




We saw the orangutan's. One came right up to the glass and pressed its face against it! In the very back was the mama and the baby and I had to zoom in pretty far to get this picture.

They did a demonstration with the seals and it reminded me of sea world.
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Baby blessing

Evalynn was blessed on Sunday March 13th at my parents house. Jason's parents were able to come down for the blessing and we all had so much fun. It's always great to get together with family.

We went to Tucanos on our first night in Utah. Here is Janna helping Evie "rock climb"


Tan & Evie just hanging out on the couch.



Jason's dad, Jason's mom, Evie, & Jason right after the blessing.


Evie, me, & Jason right before the blessing.


My mom, Evie, me, & my dad right after the blessing.


The blessing was so special, very beautiful. It was really incredible, and I feel so blessed to have the family that I do.

Evie in her blessing dress. The sweater & booties (not pictured) were made by a sister who was in one of the wards my dad served in on his mission. Last summer my family was able to go to Ireland to visit his mission and they stayed with this family, while they were there the sister made this tiny sweater and the booties for our baby. It was so nice of her, we have yet to meet her in person, but I'm so grateful for her and these beautiful items!



Right before going to the temple we visited my grandma, aunt Amy & a couple of cousins.


My grandma Eva & Evie. Evie is wearing mittens that were made by my aunt Rosemary! (she also made a hat, which is just as adorable) They're gorgeous, and I love them!



We went to the SLC temple on Tuesday evening. We planned on doing a session, but ended up doing some sealings. It was the first time we had been back to the SLC temple since our wedding! It was great, and thank you to our babysitters, who sat in the waiting room and walked around temple square while we were in the temple.



Another picture right before going to the temple.





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Baby's first flight

I am writing this in the air, it is Evalynn's first flight! We got to the airport checked in and went through security very quickly, I guess that's what you get for flying out at 7:10 am. We got to our gate about 10 minutes before boarding, got the carseat gate checked and waited to board the plane. We decided it would be easiest ton wait until after everyone had boarded so we wouldn't have to climb over people. The man checking our tickets told us there were plenty of seats and we could just take the carseat onboard with us. We got on the plane and I let the flight attendant know it was evie's first flight, that I knew we should have her suck on a pacifier or bottle during takeoff to help with the ears popping, and if there was anything else we should do. She told us the same thing and that her carseat needed to go next to a window. She then called to the back of the plane to see if there was an empty row in the back for all of us to sit in. The gentleman in the first row offered us the entire front row of the plane, so we started to get settled in, after thanking him of course. The flight attendant from the back came up and kindly informed us that FAA regulations prohibit infant carriers in the front row, so we prepared to go to the back. Two women in row four gave up their seats so we didn't have to climb all the way to the back. We thanked them and got buckled in. Take off was great, we put the pacifier in her mouth and she was completely fine. Fell asleep quickly and has been sleeping since. After the beverage and peanuts were cleaned up, the first flight attendant came over with this card for Evie's scrapbook. She also brought over some wings to put in her scrapbook.




I'm finishing this post back at home. Our flight home was also great, she just slept through the whole thing. We loved our trip to Utah and I will make a post all about that trip later.

newborn product reviews

Before I had my baby I would scour the blog world, amazon, and any other place I could find to read reviews on baby products to determine whether or not I wanted to spend my money on that product. I loved reading the good and the bad which really helped me. I thought it would be a good idea to write down reviews of the products I ended up buying.


Milkies:
This is ingenious! You put the thing on opposite side you are nursing and it collects the milk released during letdown. They claim it's descreet, and it is to a point. I mean you have your baby on one side so that pretty much hides anything else going on. The saver holds up to 2 ish oz, which is pretty impressive.

Lansinoh nursing pads:
I got these before the milkies. They are quite absorbent. I didn't realize how absorbent they were until I got the milkies. Wow!!! It's very impressive how much these hold. They are pretty comfortable, the main problem I have with these is that they don't stick to the shirt very well. At least not when the shirt has to be moved for feeding. It bunches up and gets stuck to things other than where you placed it.

Fisher-price swing:
It was difficult picking a swing... Actually we picked one very quickly, the fisher price luv u zoo swing. It was small and you could lock it so it could be used as a seat. It wasn't available for purchase until January 1, so I decided to look at some other swings just to get an idea. After looking at a bunch and reading a LOT of reviews most of which stated how much they hated replacing the C or D batteries every couple of weeks. So we came to the conclusion that a swing that could plug into the wall would be the most economical for us, so I began my search for one of those. It's surprising how few there are! You'd think that in today's world people wouldn't want to throw away batteries so they would have more that plug into the wall, nope, not the case. We ended up getting the rainforest one from fisher price. It came a couple of days before the baby so I set it up. (only took maybe 40 ish minutes for a pregnant woman). It was really cute! I loved that the seat could switch directions so that the baby could swing like in an actual swing or swing from side to side. There are also many different options for the swing 6 speeds, 4 different music/sound options, and there is a mobile overhead (that can lift out of the way) that can be stationary or move. Another great feature of the swing is that if you decide to take it somewhere or the power goes out, it also takes batteries.

Target nursing tanks/walmart nursing bras:
Great for around the house, especially in the first couple of weeks. They are comfortable and offer some support. I also got a nursing bra from target, I dont like it as much as the tanks. It offers support, but I think I would prefer one with less shape, but I haven't worn it in a while, maybe I will like it more now. I got some bras from walmart. They work fantastic and even come in a couple of different colors.

Evenflo travel system:
I love this. Carseat, base, and stroller. The carseat is great and I love that you can just click it into the base in the car or click it into the stroller, or even click it into a shopping cart. (although I am somewhat hesitant about the last one, it does work). Wonderful device. We even have an extra base in our little car.

Crib:
We decided to wait on getting it until we were finished having visitors. She has been sleeping in our room anyway, and her room has been the "guest room". It will grow with her from a crib to toddler bed and then a full size bed. We just have to buy a conversion kit for the full bed. The crib is wonderful!

We had a bassinet next to our bed for the first 7 weeks. For the next baby I want to get a co-sleeper that attaches to my bed for the first couple of weeks instead of a bassinet.

E

I had some fun with my parents camera when my mom came to town. This is one of my favorites:



One of the wonderful women in my ward here in Colorado took some pictures of E and they are so perfect! Here are a couple:

I love this picture!


I absolutely adore this picture!!!!!!!



Thank you again Natalie! The pictures are so perfect, I can't thank you enough!