quiet day

When I was a new mom, I felt like I needed to bounce back really quick.  

I was expecting to be back to my normal self/life within a week.

That definitely did not happen, and I started feeling like a total failure.  Because of that, I don't feel like I enjoyed those first few weeks with a newborn as much as I should have.  

I was convinced I needed to be doing my normal day stuff, and thereby missed out on some of the time to snuggle and cherish the baby moments.

Today, I took some of those moments.  C and I spent the entire morning reading books, him snuggled in my lap, and then I convinced him to snuggle in bed with me.  (no small feat) 

We snuggled and cuddled and it was the best.  He patted my back and I rubbed his arms and we were content and happy together.  We practiced 'whispering' and telling each other secrets, like 'i love you' and C saying 'love mom/ love dada'.  

the books we read together...our poor copy of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom..

.  

It was wonderful.  We were in no means 'productive', but I will cherish that hour for a long time.  

After our morning snuggles, C was such a happy boy.  He helped me clean, and went through all the books on my bookshelf.  I love that.  He finds a book, pretends to read it, and then brings it to me to put in our stack.  He also loves to go through our picture albums, and is delighted to find us in there.  :)

I'm so grateful for these small moments.  What a blessing to be able to spend every day with this little boy.

Tracy Aviary

My sweet cousin's family gave us a free membership to the Tracy Aviary.  

C is obsessed with birds and so we were really excited to take him.

We packed a picnic and then spent the rest of the evening there. (how we are loving Mr. H being home).  

The Aviary was awesome.  Everything was beautiful, and the exhibits and birds were really neat.

This rock ended up being one of his favorite attractions.  Pure joy on his face.

Love these two boys of mine.

Many more trips will be spent here!

our REAL life...

The following is a catch up post of our real-life happenings:

Getting home from Europe was awesome, in that we got to see C again.  We had a great weekend trying to reassure him that we were back to stay. We celebrated Uncle S's b-day and showed the H family our trip pics.

Memorial Day was really nice.  We were able to go on a fun hike together as a family, and then had a fun time later that night with the G family.  Water guns anyone?

The next couple of weeks were all about getting our schedule and routine back.  I LIVE for our routine.  

We had so much fun playing with our friends again, and being together as a family.

It rained, and we built a blanket fort.  C was nervous, but loved holding the lantern inside of it.

I had a lunch date with my dad.  We LOVE LOVE us some Gourmandies.  

Attended a girl's night viewing of "Penelope" in our village.  I just love that movie.

We've been babysitting a friend's baby this month.  C has been very cute.  He's always giving him his toys, and loves when he smiles at him.

We celebrated our niece's first birthday, as well as Uncle A's.  Happy Birthday!!!

Mr. H and I got the stomach flu, (C did not...hooray!) and started up another free trial of Netflix.

Helped C to conquer his fear of slides.  He now is a pro.

Went on a fun hike/walk with friends to various parts of Salt Lake. 

Enjoyed fire baked pizza at a Ward party.

C practiced his cooking.

Had fun with our bedtime routines.

Climbing to get his binkie. :)

Attended Mr. H's uncle's funeral.  It was really beautiful.

Celebrated both of our fathers.  How lucky we are to have them.

Made smores on BBQ grills in our court.  

Had dinner with my grandparents.  They were so sweet to have us over.

Had another dinner with cousins.  Family is the best.

Made bread in a crock pot---pinterest WIN!

Mr. H played in a B-ball tournament.  They did a great job!

Went to a outdoor concert with C.

We've been attending work-out classes once a week together.  It's been a blast! C has started joining us in doing burpees.  So cute.

Taught church lessons and gave talks.

Took long afternoon naps.

Been battling C on his binkie.  Ever since we've come home, he has decided he has to have it.  

Curious George, or just plain 'George' has become our newest child.  C and George go everywhere together, and C has to have him to sleep.  We often dress him up, feed him the sippie cup, and hold hands all together.

Got pedicures with some of Mr. H's sisters.

Responsibly sunbathed with my mom and brother. :)

Took random pics of our apartment.

We are so enjoying this beautiful summer.  It's been such a blast being together.  

Happy 2nd day of summer!!!

Venice, Part 9

Our day started off with a walk through the city to the Doge's palace.

Stop #1 The Doge's Palace

This was a surprisingly neat stop. The palace was gorgeous-but it was the art inside that was really surprising.  There were some amazing pieces and it was cool to learn more about the history of Venice.  It was also cool to see the prisons-they were kind of depressing, but they totally reminded me of the old prison's in the books I've read.  

Stop #2 St. Mark's Basilica

This had scaffolding, unfortunately.  But oh well...my goodness, once we got close it was stunning.  We did an audio tour and it was really good.  The mosaics were lovely.  The inside was amazing.  Truly amazing!  The gold was sparkling and I loved learning the stories and seeing the different style of church.  This was a MUST see for me.

Stop #3 Pigeon problem

When we ate lunch, we got bombarded by all the pigeons...seriously I HATED the pigeons.  They were everywhere and freaked me out.  Anyway.... that's enough about the pigeons. But we ate at a fresh market, which was really fun!

Stop #4 the Frari Church

This was a surprising church!  We had an audio tour and it was really cool!  There was some beautiful art by Donatello and it was gorgeous!!!  It was a great stop.

Stop #5 Dinner in the Rain

It started pouring around dinner time, so Mr. H and I braved the rain and ran to the water front where we wanted to eat dinner that night.  There was some amazing lightening and thunder going on and we ate dinner outside with the rain drizzling around us.  It was oh so romantic.  After we finished eating, the rain had stopped.  We made our way to St. Mark's square, got another pastry and enjoyed the orchestras.  These really were my favorite things!!!  There were about 3 orchestras going, and each would play all different kinds of music, my favorite being a "Sound of Music" medley.  So fun to dance in the piazza and enjoy the music.  We walked home pretty late that night, which was kind of scary...Venice has tons of tiny dark alley ways so I held Mr. H's hand VERY tight.  

The violinist looked scarily similar to John Locke...

Part1/Part2/Part3/Part4/Part5/Part6/Part7/Part8