3 Months

This little cutie is 3 months old.

Boy, time is flying.  

We really cannot imagine life without her.  She brings such happiness to our family.  She seriously is a pure JOY to have.  What a happy, smiley, mellow baby she is!

I feel like babies change so quickly that they really can be so different from week to week (or day to day for that matter).  Just as I am telling one person about things she does, the next day she changes.  But one thing that has not changed with this sweet girl, is her temperament. She is SUCH a good baby.  And I am soaking it in.  

Alayna was a hard baby, especially as a newborn.  She just was. (She didn't sleep well-- I had to sleep train her at 6 weeks, and it seemed like she could cry forever.)  But the older she got, the easier she was.  I am sure some of that was due to me figuring out the mom thing.  And now that she is older and her personality develops more and more, I can see how it translated into the way she was as a baby.  And bless her heart, we love her!

So, now I relish how delightful Miss Brylen is.  It astounds me how good she is sometimes.  Now don't get me wrong, she has her moments/days (especially in her carseat), but she is such a blessing.

Let me tell you a little more about this little gal.

People say she is starting to look more like Alayna did at that age.  Although, there are still times I can see some of me as a baby in her.  She still has a head of dark hair, including that mohawk.  I keep thinking the hair will get heavy enough to lay down flat, but not yet.

Proof of her hair and mohawk.

She is quite social and will give anyone a smile.  


When she gets excited she starts kicking like crazy.  The other day she kicked herself around in a circle, but hasn't done it since.


Just like her sister she is EXTREMELY alert.  If there is something going on, she does not want to go to sleep.  You literally have to make her go to sleep by either taking her in the other room, or covering her face with a blanket.  


She will stay awake for hours on end if you don't just put her to bed.  


She takes great naps in her bassinet. (Sleeping in the swing is a thing of the past.)  You have to keep checking on her though because when she wakes up, she doesn't cry.  She'll just lay there until you come and get her.  


She LOVES her hands!  Most likely she is studying them.


She loves her baths as well.  She could kick and splash all day long.


She hates getting dressed.  Always has.  Sometimes I can distract her, but especially if she is tired, she'll let you know she doesn't like it.


And finally, she doesn't like her carseat.  
We found this out when we travelled from Arizona to Wyoming.  She actually did really well.  She didn't cry a lot, but I started noticing that she wasn't sleeping well in the car.  She would sleep for 15 minutes here, 20 minutes there.  The first day traveling to Wyoming, we spent about 10 hours in the car.  Out of the 10 hours, she collectively slept about an hour.  The next day, she was more vocal about not wanting to be in the carseat.  She wasn't terrible.  She would cry for a couple minutes, stop, sit there for awhile, then cry for a couple minutes again.  (Repeat the entire way.)  She did take a couple 1 hour naps, but nothing like her 3 hour naps at home.  I am not sure what to do.  Any suggestions would be appreciated.




Enough of the text....on to the pictures.


Pretty girl.

Big sister thought Brylen would make a perfect doll.  Brylen didn't seem to mind at all.

 

My two girls.  Brylen just. can't. stop. starring at that hand.

One can't help but smile....

when you see this sweet face.

From Hot to not-so-hot

We've made the move from Arizona to Wyoming.  And it all went quite well.  Dan's parents came down to help with the loading, cleaning, driving, and entertaining of children.  And boy, they were a huge help!

We started loading Thursday night, finished Friday morning, cleaned all day Friday (and Saturday morning), and got on the roady Saturday around noon.

We drove to Vegas the first day (10hr day in the car) and then from Vegas to Mt. View the second day (another 10hr day).  We're here, staying with Dan's parents until the townhouse we are renting is available.  (It's getting new carpet and tile.)  Dan has started his new job, is liking it so far, and the girls and I are trying not to drive my in-laws crazy.  We'll see if we succeed.

And a few pics from our move.  

One last picture of Miss Alayna in front of our beloved house.  (Due to timing and many other factors, we decided to rent our house for a little while.  Then back on the market it will go.)

Dan got to drive this beauty.  He even got to tow our car behind it.   It was one long vehicle.

But he is used to big machines.  He's going from working on things this size, to regular over the road trucks.  I'd say he's in for a bit of an adjustment. What do you think?  (That's Dan next to the tire.)

Oh, how I love the Red, White, and Blue!

What is more fun than dressing your little ones in red, white and blue?

Happy Independence Day!!!

The inside scoop

As our time in Arizona is coming to a close, I find myself desperately trying to soak up all of the good things here.


Yesterday in church, I had a moment.  A moment where I looked at some of the people in our ward and realized that soon I will possibly never see them again.  And my heart sank.  I had to swallow the lump in my throat and blink my eyes a few extra times.  


Oh, how I am going to miss our friends, the weather, the primary kids, my primary presidency, our house, our friends, and did I mention....our friends?


But of all the things I am going to miss, there is one thing I will NOT miss.  


Shift work.


Oh, shift work, you've put me through the ringer a time or two.  But you have taught me a thing or two (or twenty) as well.


Several months ago I remember talking to my sister on the phone about my shift work struggles.  I was complaining to her about who knows what, but I remember telling her I didn't think it was something that I could blog about at the time.  I told her there wasn't a way for me to express our schedule without sounding like I was complaining and wanted sympathy.  And that's not what I wanted at all.  I told her I was comfortable with where I was at, and for the most part our crazy schedule seemed normal.  And truly, I was happy.  Truly.  Being the amazing sister that she is, she understood me.  She told me when shift work was a thing of the past, I should blog about it.  That way I could really talk about our shift work lives, and not feel like I was complaining or making my life seem less happy than it really was.


And you know what?  That's exactly what I am going to do.  


Oh, where do I start?  


First off.  Maybe I should start by explaining Dan's schedule.  Whether I believe it or not, I have a feeling that as the years go by, I may not be able to remember the schedule that has been so much a part of our lives these last (almost) two years.


Shift work consists of alternating nights and days.  Where Dan works, the sets of day/nights are either 3 or 4 days/nights.  The shift is technically a 12 hour shift (6:00-6:00).  But we live about 50 minutes away from the mine and Dan actually works in the mine so he has to change his clothes and catch a bus that rides 20 minutes to the truck shop.  So, actually he is gone from 4:30pm to 7:45am, when he is working night shift, and 4:30am-7:45pm when he works day shift.  Still with me?


Now, for the actual monthly schedule.  It looks something like this:


work 4 nights
3 days off
work 3 days
1 day off
work 3 nights
3 days off
work 4 days
7 days off


Then repeat.


Got it? (Believe it or not, I have that schedule memorized.)  Now, looks can be deceiving.  It works out to be even days off as work days, but then you have to consider the first day off after every night shift is spent sleeping for at least half the day, so it's not quite even.


The 7 days off looks pretty sweet as well...and it can be, but you have to remember that not all of society has 7 days off so if you want to hang out with your friends, you're still gonna have to wait 'til the weekend.  It is extremely nice for traveling or vacations, but that can be expensive, so you don't want to do that every 7 off.  I will admit, we have had some nice, long trips to see family that were made possible because of that wonderful 7 off.


So there you have it.  Our shift work schedule.  Oddly enough, this schedule is our normal.  There was a time when I never thought it would feel normal, but we joke that the 8-5 schedule that we lived before was in a former life because it seems so long ago.  :)


Since I am feeling a little sad about us moving, here's a few things to look forward to once we move:


-Family dinner.  I am SO looking forward to having Dan HOME for dinner, or breakfast, or lunch for that matter.  When he works, Alayna and I eat all our meals without him.  
-Having Dan at church EVERY Sunday.  He is only able to go to church twice a month on this schedule.


-FHE on Monday nights.  We had to change Family Home Evening to whatever evening he had off that week.  Most of the time it was not on Mondays, and the days would change weekly.


-Dan's help with the kids at night.  When either working nights or days, Dan is gone for the bedtime routines.


-I am also excited for him to be home every night.  I seriously have been so blessed when it has come to night shifts.  I have never felt scared that Dan was gone, but I do miss him.  There is something about having your spouse home with you during the night.


-Alayna getting to see her Daddy every day.  Due to Dan having to wake up at 4:30 in the morning and getting home at almost 8 at night while working day shifts, he would not get to see Alayna for 3 or 4 days straight.  I don't know who that is harder on; Dan or Alayna?


-Talking to Dan during the day.  Employees where Dan works are not allowed to have cell phones with them.  Most of the time I would go up to 16 hours a day without talking to Dan.  This caused me to be extremely independent.  I had to make all the decisions while he was gone.  There was no calling to ask where he put something, or to ask his opinion on a business matter, or to tell him one of the kids was sick or to tell him my plans had changed and I had to take the kids to a last minute meeting or to just tell him I was thinking about him.  If there was an emergency, I had to call the truck shop directly through his boss' line.  Luckily, we have been completely blessed and I didn't NEED to call him for any emergencies, except for 4 days ago when I had a severe allergic reaction. (Thanks to my amazing friend Holly for taking Alayna.  You were a complete lifesaver!)


-Dan not being tired ALL the time.  Let's face it, shift work messes with your body.  It makes you completely tired.  You never feel like you can catch-up on sleep.  And just when you start feeling better, it's time for another night shift.


-Most importantly, I am excited to have Dan home MORE!  He currently works 16 hour days and soon he will be working 8 hour days.  He is cutting his hours in HALF!  I am so excited to have him around more.  




There are so many positives, that maybe I can take this move on.  12 more days and Wyoming will be our new home!

Names

Alayna is quite into names right now.  My name is constantly changing, as well as hers, depending on who she is pretending to be at the moment.  A lot of times it is based off of a character in a movie or TV show.  And recently she has liked watching Angelina Ballerina. 

Hence my name--Ballerina Mom, (We also have Ballerina Dad and Ballerina Alayna.)

I will admit it is quite fun to see what "person" I will be that day/minute/hour.  It keeps us on our toes.  And at times, it also is kind of hard to take her seriously.  But how can you not like it when your daughter so sweetly says, "Good night, Ballerina Mom.  I love you!"

Ahh.  It does this Ballerina Mom's heart good!

Little Lady

This little lady is 9 lbs. 9 oz. and 22 in long.

I was right.  She is smaller than her older sister was at 2 months (by a little over a pound).

She did great when getting her shots.  She let them know that was not her favorite thing, but calmed right down as soon as I held her. And since then, she has been pretty much an awesome baby.  No fever and no fussiness.  (Knock on wood.)  Let's hope it continues to be that way.

Here she is all ready to go to the doctor.  I could not get her to stop starring at her daddy.  (I can't blame her.)