My Sister's Wedding

This past Saturday, my little sister, Jenene, got married to Art. It was a beautiful wedding and she was the most gorgeous bride I have ever seen. My goal throughout the day was, "Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry" and I made it! Art was the one who actually cried the most during the ceremony and the reception. He's such a teddy bear...I love it! A "manly hardcore into working out" teddy bear. I was the matron of honor, so I was a bit nervous about my speech, but it went well and people actually laughed when they were supposed to! Here are some pictures and one very short video that I captured of the day.


My little munchkin








































Art's mom, Sally, and his younger sister (one of the bridesmaids), Mary


















The groomsmen: Art's younger brother, Joe, on the left and his friend, Cameron, on the right


















The yummiest dessert ever, Skor trifle, which I practically inhaled in less than 2 minutes


















The very pretty punch fountain/dance floor area


















Jared and I (in case you hadn't figured that out)























The bride + groom's first dance to "Just the Way You Look Tonight"























The new Mr. + Mrs. Morgan























I'm so happy for them that after 2 years of having a long distance relationship, they are finally together, but at the same time, I'm incredibly sad that she's moving to Washington State, which is where he's from. I held it together on Saturday, but yesterday (Sunday), I finally allowed the floodgates to open. I cried about 5 times. As tears were streaming down my face, I asked God how this joyful time could be mixed with such sadness, and I was reminded that He gives and takes away, but still I will choose to say, "Lord, blessed be your name." It feels like she is taking a piece of me away as we see them off at the airport tonight, but I know that God will fill in the gap. It's so hard for me to be "losing" my one and only sibling, but I was reminded by a song this morning at Bible study that God sees my pain and that He is incredibly faithful. So, I am clinging to him during this really hard time in my life. Sometimes I wish that there was an end to the tears, or maybe a maximum quota per day, but I know that it's good to be able to release them. By the grace of God, I can smile through the tears as I think of the past 23 years He has given me with my sister. Congratulations Art + Jenene and I wish you an awesome, exciting, Jesus-centered marriage for the rest of your lives!

An Afternoon at the Park

And the winner is...mom! She guessed it right; it's Kiera's baby food. Blended up banana to be precise. Yes, it looks disgusting, but I can assure you it was not rotten. It was safe to eat and Kiera quite enjoyed it. A couple of Sundays ago, we took Kiera on her first trip to the park. At first, she wasn't too sure about the swing, but then she decided she liked it.

Wordless Wednesday

Who can tell me what this is? Guess away!

Kiera's Crazy Side!

Expressions you don't see very often on most babies...

Yes, she is holding a slurpee cup lid and no, we did not feed her any slurpee despite what it may look like


















This one reminds me of the band "Kiss," except a much cuter more innocent version


















The hair is compliments of Jared. Kiera, you make me laugh!

Splish Splash I Was Takin' a Bath

The things I do to make my daughter laugh

I Quit!

Warning: Contains breastfeeding content

At the beginning of last week, Kiera started biting me while breastfeeding. I had originally wanted to keep breastfeeding at least until September when I start teaching piano. I called a breastfeeding expert from our church and asked her if there were any tricks to get her to stop biting. She said that you can get them to stop by pushing them further into your breast when they are biting, and that will block their nostrils (for just a second or two), and then they will let go because they can't breathe. That way you're not pulling it out of their mouth and practically ripping it while they're biting. Then you are supposed to say in a very firm voice, "Don't bite!" You can also sit them down on the floor so that they understand they don't get to eat when they bite. I tried it and the first time Kiera almost started crying because she knew I wasn't happy with her! I had to do that once more and then after that it was better for a few days. On Friday, she started biting again several times during each feeding. I was very tense and stressed, so then my milk wasn't coming in properly. The "tricks" weren't working anymore, so by Friday evening, I decided to quit and switch to formula. I have always been very anti-formula, although I know there are legitimate reasons why women don't or can't breastfeed, but for me I was so thankful that I could give Kiera breastmilk because it was the healthiest thing for her. So Friday night, I went to the store and bought some powder formula at the store. Kiera's last feeding had been at 7:30 p.m., so at 10:30 we tried giving her formula. She would NOT take it and she hated it, which I expected. Plus, she wasn't used to bottle feeding. We tried again at 11:30 and she still wouldn't take it, so we put her to bed. She woke up hungry at 2:45 a.m., so Jared went upstairs to try and give her a bottle. She screamed with him for an hour and then surprisingly fell back asleep. During this time, I was on my knees in our room praying, pleading, and begging God to help Kiera take the bottle. I was told that babies do not starve themselves for very long, but by this time I was beginning to wonder whether or not that was true. She actually fell back asleep again until 7:30 a.m. When she woke up, I went upstairs to try giving her a bottle. She started crying again, but I turned on her Winnie the Pooh mobile and started singing along. Then, miraculously, she started to drink! Praise Jesus! At 1:30 p.m., I tried again and she didn't want to take it at first, so then I gave her a bath. I tried again after that and she guzzled 2 1/2 bottles (4 oz. bottles)! Since then, we have had no more problems and she has adjusted extremely well! Ironically, I quit breastfeeding on Independence Day and Kiera is no longer dependent on me for any food. I miss it and it's a painful process (physically) to quit, but I will enjoy the freedom it will give me to be able to leave her with someone else for more than a couple of hours and that Jared can help more with not just the baby food feedings. So that was my interesting week-end. Funny how plans can change. Motto of the story: Don't bite the "hand" that feeds you.

Oops!

Yesterday morning, I gave Kiera a feeding, as usual. She really didn't like it, but I managed to force her to eat it anyway. I didn't understand why she didn't seem to like the flavor as she had enjoyed it the day before (or so I thought). I should have caught on to the smell and color, but I didn't. Lunchtime rolled around and Jared and I were going to make pizza buns. I opened up the fridge to get the pizza sauce and there wasn't any there. My jaw dropped in horror as I realized I had accidentally given Kiera pizza sauce for breakfast! I had put the leftover sauce in an empty baby food jar the night before, thinking that I would use it the next day for myself, not for Kiera! I felt SO bad, but thankfully Kiera was none the worse for it. I vow never again to use baby food jars for anything else other than baby food! I still can't believe I did that. That is one of the dumbest things I have done in quite a long time. On a different note, as you may have noticed, I changed my blog template again. What do you all think of it? Time to give Kiera another feeding...we'll try corn this time!