Thursday, March 24, 2016

5 Month Update!

Our Peyton girl just turned 5 months old! She is growing, growing, growing, and learning so many new things. We are loving seeing so much more of her personality!

This month she:
-- got not one, but TWO teeth! - she likes to feel them with her thumb
-- has started not hating tummy time
-- now rolls from her back to her stomach all by herself
-- has rolled stomach to back, but usually only when she's really mad
-- squeals when she gets really excited
-- started eating solids, and eats like champ (we still can't quite figure out which ones she likes because she makes a grossed out face every time something new goes in her mouth)
-- learned how to lock her knees and can now stand with help
-- has gotten so good at holding her own head up while trying to sit up
-- has started hating being left alone in a room, she loves to be able to see mom or dad all the time
-- went for lots of stroller rides and trips to new parks
-- figured out she loves the swing
-- sleeps more consistently, and we're starting to try naps in her crib
-- is liking her carseat more
-- decided that her giraffe toy (attached to her carseat) is her best friend/favorite toy (she will babble to it when she thinks we can't see her)
-- is loving her touchy feely books for bedtime stories
-- found mom's hair and likes to pull on it
-- loves to stare at and reach for lotion bottles in the bathroom
-- has started exploring our faces with her hands (she loves to find and pull on our lower lips)







This is the face she makes when she's squealing/babbling


You can almost see her tiny teeth in this one!

Standing with some help from daddy :)

Still has some crazy hair going on...

Tummy time is hard work

Monday, March 14, 2016

A Week of Firsts

Normally I would wait until the month update to share all of these exciting things, but too many of them happened at once for me to not share :)

Last Monday Peyton's first tooth showed up! After a couple of fussy days and fussy nights it finally cut through her gums. Dentist dad is pretty happy about it.

Tuesday she finally figured out that she could use her arms to help hold herself up during tummy time. She still wasn't too happy about being left on her stomach. It resulted in these faces:






Wednesday she went from using her arms to hold herself up to rolling over! It was a total accident and hasn't happened again since, but she flailed enough to get her legs turned over. Mom was too excited to remember to take a picture haha.

We've gradually been trying new foods with her, but this week she got to try 2 new ones! Squash was a big hit, the verdict is still out on peas.

Saturday we went for our first real outing with her in the stroller. We decided to go see our local farmer's market. Everyone who saw her commented on how cute she looked and that she looked small enough to be a doll haha. She seemed really mellow the whole time, so we're taking that as a good sign :)


We love watching her grow and learn new things. Can't wait to see what's next (although I'm hoping teething slows down a little bit)...

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

"Because I am His Daughter"

This past Sunday we had testimony meeting during church. Anyone from the congregation is invited to get up and share their testimony or beliefs with everyone. An 8 or 9 year old girl that Chase and I used to teach in Primary (classes for the kids) got up to bear her testimony and I paid a little more attention, excited to hear what she had to say. It was short and sweet, and simple, but so powerful.

She said, "I know that God loves me because I am His daughter."

That's it.

That was what she felt like she needed to share. And I'm so glad she did, because I needed to hear it.

It hit me hard that God doesn't need lots of reasons to love us. He simply loves us because we are His children. I've been trying for a while to think of a way to articulate how much I've learned about His love by becoming a mother and I think this finally did it. I love Peyton, because she is my daughter. It's that simple. It's so amazing how much I love her and how much my love for her continues to grow. I want her to know that I love her already. I want that to be something she feels from the time we spend together. I want her to know that I will always love her.

And maybe, if I can help her know how much I love her she can start to understand how much God loves her. Because even though I feel like she has taken over my whole heart, I don't think we can begin to comprehend how much God loves each of us. He has an infinite capacity for love, and sees all of our divine potential. It's given me a lot to think about this week and I hope that it's already making me a better mom.

I'm so grateful for little girls that listen to the Spirit and say what they know. They sure have a lot to teach me. And I'm so grateful to have my own little girl that I'm sure will teach me all sorts of these kinds of lessons. She is already making me a better person.