Yooty-tooty-tah

Family Vacation: Utah.

First stop: GFR in Park City. I saw my peeps. This means 3 days of girl-only time, lots of chocolate, and lots of laughing.

Lauren was the only family member allowed to come with me for this part.

Salt Lake. Dave and the girls met up with me after GFR, and together we rode the commuter train to Temple Square.

This is Sabrina "watching" Meet the Mormons in the Visitor's Center.

 And Sabrina with her snack and dad.

 And here we all are trying to take a family photo in a picturesque setting. You can see how that worked out.

 We stayed with the Melvilles and their 3 beautiful girls.

 Then we met up with my brother, Joe and his family.

 It was a great vacation that the whole family enjoyed!

Glimpse into Sabrina's World

I showed Sabrina this picture and asked her who was in it. 

This is what she said, pointing to each person:

"Daddy, Sissy (her way of saying 'Sophie'), and boots!"

Dish Duty

Parents usually become really sad when they think about their babies growing up.

....Until they learn how to do dishes properly. Then it is the most exciting thing ever!

The Fabulous Five

Today I clicked on the "Gal Pals" link on my blog.

Looking at photos of my friends brought back so many memories, but most of all it got me so excited to see these people in a few weeks!

So let's look at our friendship through the years, shall we?

 This is me in 5th grade. I played the French horn.

It is very apparent in this photo of how popular I was. 

Everybody wanted to be best friends with the girl in the oversized sweater that played French horn!

So, it was no surprise to anyone when I became best friends with two of the brainiest and most creative kids in school, Jael and Lecia.

Then I met Brityn (and Cameron).

I remember the first day I met these two.

We were in Primary at the Marana building, and I was impressed that they already had braces!

But our lives would never be the same when we met Nicole.

I mean, where else would we get the insider information on all things Frank Sinatra and Mafia?

(By the way, I totally credit this photo for launching my photography career.)

We were so awesome.

In fact, we were so cool that we made our own amazing movie and had a very fancy movie premier dinner.

If you read that last line in a sarcastic tone, then you read it correctly.

And then we said goodbye to our favorite friend/brother/crush/irksome-person, Cameron, as he left for his mission.

Lecia cried,

as usual.

Yet we continued to dance.

We even had our own exclusive dance party during Lecia's wedding reception.

I can't wait to see you guys!!

Nicole, I hope you've got a playlist all made out for us.

Easter!

 First, the egg-dying.

But what to do with cracked eggs?

This was Sabrina's reaction everytime we took the eggs out of the dye. Surprise, Sabrina! They go in white and come out colorful!

 Dad is the expert, by the way.

 Oh. A face.

  Easter Morning Surprise: Books!

(Good Night, Gorilla is for Lauren [not pictured]).

 Someone's harvest.

 Someone's breakfast.

Princess Leia Mini-Buns

 The one time I actually do my daughter's hair cute needs to be documented.

Theme: Happiness

MACRO baby

About a week after Lauren was born, I rented the 100mm f/2.8 macro lens so I can document her little details. Let's just say that there is a learning curve to using a macro lens. I only had it for two days so I didn't have time to perfect my technique, but here's a few of what I got:

 

Introducing Lauren

Lauren Joslin

March 2, 2015

7:24 pm

7 lb 10 oz

20½ in

We had a baby. She is a sweet, cuddly little newborn. Baby snuggles are amazing. She sleeps quite a bit. And by that I mean, she actually sleeps through the night (5-6 hours!), which is great for us but not so great for my milk supply. Her gray eyes remind me of Sabrina, yet her size reminds me of Sophie. All in all, I think she has a very individual look.

Here is Sophie and Sabrina's first meeting of their very red sister:

I was worried how the girls would take to a new baby (especially Sabrina) but when they first met her I could see that they instantly fell in love with their new sister. Sabrina had that happy/curious/affectionate look on her face when she met Lauren.... and then she saw I had apple juice, and transferred her enamored look to my drink.

Birth Story.
I feel like I need to share a very exciting, detailed birth story, yet really, I don't feel like there is much to tell. Dr. Holmes stripped my membranes in his office around noon-ish. I went to the hospital around 3ish. We watched lots of Castle episodes until I hated everything in the room. I didn't have an epidural and it HURT. She was delivered around 7:24. I pushed 2 or 3 times. Afterwards, I asked Dave if he had ever seen that side of me before and he said I get like that when I get gluten poisoning.

Well, like Sabrina, this little girl was tongue tied. We snipped that last week which has made nursing a little better, though we still have pain and latch problems. I don't know how I had a perfect nursing experience with Sophie, because both Sabrina and Lauren have been quite problematic!

Here is a very tired me holding a ball of snuggles:

*Confession: I actually Photoshopped out the huge bags under my eyes. I don't know why I'm telling you. I just want to be honest, I guess. But believe me, the picture looks better without them.

And now some thoughts on her name.
Dave and I had absolutely NO IDEA what to name her. Well, I mean we had ideas, but none of them were jumping out to both of us. Dave really liked the name Penelope, and we were really close to naming her that. I will tell you why. Have you seen that cute movie called Penelope? It's about a girl with a pig nose. Well, when Lauren was born she was making snorting sounds--like a pig! Also, when we found out we were pregnant we asked the girls if they thought it was going to be a girl or boy. Sabrina's response? "Pig!" So you see, Penelope would have been a great name for her!...except she just didn't look like a Penelope to me. To solve our dilemma, we asked Sophie which name she liked better: Penelope or Lauren? Obviously, she chose Lauren. And I'm glad that she did. 

3 girls. I can't believe it.