Autumn at 6 weeks!

If I don't write this down now, I know that I will forget it. Yesterday was such an incredible day for me. I was able to share Autumn with so many friends. I came home at the end of the day completely overwhelmed with love and joy in my heart. I went to bed so incredibly happy (and so exhausted) that I could hardly sleep!

It all started with me needing to go up to Kearns Jr. to pick up the yearbook and newborn pictures. As soon as I entered the door I had tons of my old students come up to me and want to look at my baby. I even had a kid come up and say "you look so skinny" which of course made me feel good. Everyone said my baby was so cute and looked a lot like me (although they don't know what Spencer looks like hehe). It was so much fun going back to where I taught. I realized how much I missed all my students. I had a great year there and I feel so blessed to have taught for such a long time before I became a mom. So I picked up my pictures and then headed over to my good friend Jackie's house to get my hair done. I was a little late and baby was so cranky because she was hungry. I felt so bad because earlier in the day I tried to feed her but she just fell asleep and then I had to hurry out of the house. She was cranky and hungry on my way up to SLC but was always an angel when she saw new peoples' faces. Oh well. As soon as I got to the hair salon I knew I had to feed her quick or disaster would ensue. But before I could even get the bottle out she had a major blow out in her cute new dress that Marci Watson got for her. Blast! She is finally fitting into 0-3 month clothes and she looks like a doll. I quickly changed her and then realized she still needed to be fed. Luckily Jackie's cousin was there and offered to feed her from the breast milk bottle (thank goodness for breast pumps)! My hair took about 3 hours and eventually Autumn fell asleep. I love my new hair by the way! It is a lot darker with blonde highlights and long layers. Sure feels good to get my hair done!

After the hair dresser I went into my car and Autumn started to scream out of hunger (again!) I swear that girl eats so much. So luckily the Bagley home wasn't too far away. I stopped there to see family and to feed my baby. I hung out there until about 6pm and headed over to my old ward in American Fork to see off my Laurels since they are graduating today. I had promised everyone I would bring the baby by and I was soooo glad that I did! It was such a neat experience because these girls were with me throughout the entire pregnancy. They saw my belly grow big and anxiously waited along with me for the arrival of the baby. When they saw her they were so in love! It makes me so happy to see other people love my baby and think she is just as cute as I do. She fills my heart with so much love!

After opening exercises were over I had to say goodbye to one of the young women who was leaving for Indiana the next day. She was balling her eyes out. I really grew so close to these girls. I was so sad to see her leave! She and some of the other young women came over a week after Autumn was born. So back to my story. We then all headed over to Cold Stone where I was greeted by my dashing husband! Spencer looked so hot! I was so surprised to see him. He was wearing his church clothes and sun glasses because he had just attended a viewing for a co-worker. I immediately felt so lucky that he was MY husband and fell in love with him all over again! He ended up staying and eating ice cream with us. We all had a great time chatting and catching up. I told them my new ward only had like 9 young women and 1 young man. Such a difference! I guess there is a time and season for everything. And sadly my time with these girls was coming to a close...

I drove 3 girls home and we parted with hugs. As I drove home that night I realized how much my life had changed in just 6 short weeks. Before, I was working full time, living in a different city, and pregnant. Now I am a stay at home mom, I live in a new city, and I have a 6 week old baby. My is my life always exciting! I guess the purpose of this story is to say how grateful I am for every moment I have shared with everyone while I was living in American Fork. I didn't realize until now how much I grew up while I was living there. I spent the first 2.5 years of my marriage there. I grew with Spencer, we learned to live together and learned how to love each other better. We had our ups and downs, but overall it was a wonderful experience being just us there. No baby, just US. I love him so much and I can't believe how much more I love him now that we share a beautiful baby together! It is amazing the bond that is created when we create a new life. Together.

I am now staring out the window of my condo in Orem and think how blessed I truly am. Yes, my life is different now, but a GOOD different. I now get to share my life with a new baby and teach her all the things that I know. I can't believe how much I love her; everyday it grows 10x stronger then the day before.


 Here are things that Autumn has been doing the last few weeks:

1. She is smiling ALL THE TIME now and it lights up my world! She is so beautiful. She has the cutest smile in the whole world. I never thought I could be filled with so much joy just from a smile!

2. She kicks her legs and arms when she is happy or just bored. If I lay her down she will kick up a storm, like she's riding a bike. That girl is going to be a mover!

3. She has a few different cries. She has her voice of "help me up I'm awake" which isn't much of a cry. She also has a "I'm bored pay attention to me" voice, and then she has her "I'm hungry feed me now" cry, and then "FEED ME NOW I'M STARVING WOMAN" cry. Luckily I don't hear that last one too often.

4. She grabs my hair and my clothes any chance she can get. Especially when she is nursing. It is so cute! And she gets so squirly when she eats. Especially if she is really hungry.

5. Dad has taught her to roll over on a pillow. Gravity has a way of moving her off the pillow. It is really funny to watch!

6. She usually only wakes up about 1 time during the night, goes right back down, and then lets me sleep in until about 9 in the morning. I am pretty tired still though. I can't wait until she sleeps through the night!

7. It is so fun playing dress up with her. She is slowly growing out of newborn clothes and is fitting into her 0-3 month dresses now. I love it! Pictures to come.

8. She makes excellent eye contact with people and she is starting to mimick behaviors. If I stick my tongue out at her, she will too!

9. She always has a wet or messy diaper to change. Luckily we haven't had to buy any diapers (except one pack of newborns). She now fits into a size 1.

10. We got our hospital and newborn pictures back yesterday! I can't wait to print them off and get them framed. I want to be sending them out to everyone!

OK, I know there are A LOT of pictures here, but she is just so dang cute I couldn't resist posting all of them. Enjoy!

My favorite!

Loving her grandma!

Brother and Sister Harker came to visit Autumn on Sunday. They are so loved!

I just love this little outfit! 

Such a happy baby. I'm so lucky to be her mom! 

Autumn is going to be blessed on June 24th in West Jordan. If you want to come, let me know and I will send you an announcement! Thanks for reading, more posts to come!