In My Daughter's Eyes

I was singing the song, "In My Daughter's Eyes" by Martina McBride the other day and thinking about how much different it means to me now that I have a daughter. I was thinking how true it all is, my daughter sees me in a whole different light than I see myself in!

In my daughter's eyes I am a hero
I am strong and wise and I know no fear
But the truth is plain to see
She was sent to rescue me
I see who I wanna be
In my daughter's eyes

This is how I have always seen my own mother. She has the answer to everything, she knows everything and she's definitely strong and wise! My sister and I have talked about how it's so strange to be mothers because we feel like we're still kids just trying to find our own way in this big world. It's crazy that now I am this person for someone. My daughter sees me as the one who is always there with knowledge and strength to lend at all times. But, in my eyes, she's my hero. Her coming to me has saved me in so many ways, changed me in so many ways, If I'm strong, I'm strong for her. If I'm wise, I'm wise for her. 

In my daughter's eyes everyone is equal
Darkness turns to light and the
world is at peace
This miracle God gave to me gives me
strength when I am weak
I find reason to believe 
In my daughter's eyes

My daughter has come into this world not knowing the issues people form amongst themselves. She looks at me and doesn't care if I have makeup on or if I'm dressed for the day, she looks at others and sees no flaws. She sees no fault and cares not for mine. She teaches me to look at others with kindness, turning what could be bad, into good. She gives me hope and strength when I become weary of this world. She makes me believe in good. She loves without conditions, all she cares about is that I'm there doing my best by her! I will always do my best by her.

And when she wraps her hand
around my finger
Oh it puts a smile in my heart
Everything becomes a little clearer
I realize what life is all about

It's hangin' on when your heart
has had enough
It's giving more when you feel like giving up
I've seen the light
It's in my daugter's eyes

My daughter has shown me how life should be. I find myself caring about the little things more and letting things slide more often. I forgive and forget because life is short and I want to spend that time as happy as I can be. Her smiles are addicting and all I have to do to get them are smile in return. All she needs from me is love, and some food :P My heart is full of joy around her, I know that family is the most important thing we have on this earth and no time should be wasted holding grudges and picking fights. 

In my daughter's eyes I can see the future
A reflection of who I am and what will be
Though she'll grow and someday leave
Maybe raise a family
When I'm gone I hope you see how happy
she made me
For I'll be there
In my daughter's eyes

I want to be a better person for this little girl God gave to me. I will be, for her. I want to be the example she deserves, so she can know how to raise her own family, with the love and standards we have in our own home. I love seeing the world through her eyes, new and exciting with so much to offer. Being an adult comes with seeing the world through tired eyes..tired of the bad, tired of hearing the complaints and the issues, tired of it all. But, my daughter shows me the good. She shows me what Heavenly Father meant this world to be..beautiful, full of miracles. My life has changed so much because of my little angel and I will never go back. 

I love my daughter more than anything! She teaches me daily to be better and to see the world in a better light. I love the person I am because of her and the person that she's going to grow into. She is amazing without even trying and she shows me that I'm amazing too. That I don't need to be the best at playing the piano or be the best at cooking or whatever else to earn her love. She gives it without question as I give mine to her. There is so much I never understood before I looked through my daughter's eyes.

Married at 19, Mom at 20

Recently I read a blog post about a girl who had gotten married at 19 and she said a lot of good stuff about how she didn't regret it even though a lot of people were against the idea of marrying so young. After reading it I thought, "I was 19 when I got married..and though a lot of people thought I was crazy, I knew what was right for me and I haven't regretted the decision for a moment!" So here's my story of my teen wedding :)

After my second semester at BYU-Hawaii, I felt strongly that I was done and that I needed to move back to Utah, not to return to school. I didn't know the reason, so I started planning an adventure to Italy. I had always loved to travel and I didn't have much else going on so I thought "what the heck?" About a week and a half after I got back from Hawaii, I met a wonderful, fantastic, handsome man named Samuel Bartholomew. I felt right from the beginning that I was going to marry him and Italy no longer played a part in my plans. We were engaged about two weeks after meeting, and exactly a month after getting back from Hawaii, on my 19th birthday!

When I announced my engagement, I had many people tell me I was crazy and raise their eyebrows, saying that I didn't know what I was getting myself in to. My dad, in particular, thought I was nuts :) He had been married at the same age, my mom was seventeen, and I'm sure he thought I was giving up so much to get married so young. But, he was supportive when I expressed how sure I was of Sam. I heard the advice of everyone and I got what they were saying but, I knew I was doing the right thing for me and for my future family! When I had prayed about Sam, I got such an indescribable and irrefutable feeling of surety! That feeling has never been swayed, not for a second!

Ever since making the choice to be with Sam throughout all eternity, all the things in our lives have seemed to fall into place. Soon after getting engaged, my wedding dress, our car and our house practically fell into our laps! The wedding plans went smoothly and we were so in love! We had great support from our families and friends. We had many adventures and got to know each other better, enjoying every minute of it. We loved each others' families, we had similar ideals about the way we wanted to raise our children, and we found joy in each others' company. We had an amazing wedding day, a wonderful honeymoon and moved into our home shortly after returning! We got our puppy, Meeko, who we love and we are excited for her to enrich our children's childhoods. We got chickens and tended our yard together, enjoyed holidays, complained about work and school, all the things living a full life entails. Even through the struggles we've had since being married, we have made a great team, both being more concerned for the others' well-being than for our own. That is the way I always imagined marriage to be. A spouse should be constantly striving to please and help the other, giving and taking in equal measure. I had always heard that the first year of marriage was the hardest and while there were definite tough spots along the way, the attitude with which we faced our companionship got us through unscathed and closer than ever! We are the best of friends and our relationship will always come first and foremost!

About half a year after we were married, we found out we were pregnant! Right around my 20th birthday actually, the irony was noted, my birthdays with Sam have always been awesome :P We had been trying for a while, actually since after a month after being married haha seems crazy to want a family so soon but we were excited to begin! It was okay that it took time though, we enjoyed being a twosome during that time. My pregnancy was pretty rough for the first little bit and got better over time, the last month being the hardest physically. I had great support in Sam and we enjoyed looking to our future of being parents. We wondered what our sweet girl would look like and talked about the fun adventures we would take her on as a family. We couldn't wait!! On December 13th (about a month before her due date) our little Bug came into the world with a bang! I had been having cramps for a few days prior and then the night of the 13th I discovered I was bleeding a lot! So we rushed to the hospital, the decision to take her out was made and twenty minutes later via C-Section, there was my angel, perfect and healthy at 6 pounds 8 ounces and 19 inches long :) She was meant to come at the time, I know it. All the doctors were amazed at how great she looked at 4 weeks early, calling her a "miracle baby!" The Lord prepared her to come early and we've been blessed to have her in our family! She is an amazing and beautiful little angel from our Heavenly Father and I am so grateful that He decided to bless us with such a gift! I love my life, I love being a mom!!

So, though many people would hear the age at which I became a wife and a mother and think that I was nuts and that I gave up so much time to be just me, I don't see it that way. I had my adventure out in Hawaii and I had felt right about going there and I had felt right about coming back home. I know the Lord sent me out there to get my fill of alone time and meet many great friends and that He sent me home to meet my husband and start my beautiful family! Every day I get signs that I made the right choice..in the sweet way Sam holds me and loves me in the comfort of our wonderful home. I feel it when I hold my little Ayden and rock her to sleep. I feel it every time I go to bed with Sam by my side and every time I wake up to help my daughter eat and drift to sleep once more. My life has been blessed beyond any design I had in mind and I know that I was brought to this point for a reason. I know some people will tell horror stories of their teen weddings, and maybe it didn't work for them and maybe they should have waited to be sure of themselves..but, I know that Sam was, and always will be, right for me.

A Change of Plans

When my sister became a mom, I watched her bottle feed her daughters and I never had much thought about breastfeeding. When I became a mom, that changed as the desire to be my baby's life source grew within me. It was my responsibility, my desire to be the one who gave her the nutrients she needed to grow and become strong! I enjoyed the feeling of being the only one who could give her what she needed. Anytime my husband would offer to feed her formula to give me a bit more sleep, the kind offer would be declined. What's a little exhaustion when it's up against my role as a mother, a role I hold dearer than any?

Recently, these ideals have been challenged. At Ayden's 2 months doctor's appointment, her pediatrician voiced some concern about her weight. She had only gained half a pound in the month since the last visit and it wasn't as much as he had hoped for. After that, I became stressed about how often he wanted me to feed her. I felt like I was failing and that I somehow was not doing what I needed to do as a mother. I hadn't thought there was a problem with her weight, but what did I know? A little after that, I felt a change in the amount of milk I was producing. I could feel that it wasn't coming in as often, or maybe my paranoia and stress about it made it decrease, who knows? But, as the days went on, I was becoming increasingly stressed about her weight. She kept looking skinnier and skinnier and I felt horrible. I hadn't changed our feeding schedule that drastically..I had even increased the demands a little as I tried to reach the bar the doctor had set. I puzzled over the issue, I had pumped a few times to store up for a weekend event I went to..could that be the problem? I couldn't understand what I was doing wrong but, despite my best efforts, I was beginning to dry up.

Eventually, I decided to add a bottle of formula every night, the feeding before the bedtime feeding. It seemed to help a bit. After a week or so of doing that, I decided to give her a couple ounces after breastfeeding her for an hour or so (that's about how long all of our feedings had been) to see if I had given her enough, I knew she wouldn't eat much more if she had been filled up by me. Well..she drained it without hesitation..part of me felt devastated and the other part felt relieved as I noticed a change in her behavior after being full for the (apparently) first time in a while. After that, I gave in to the need for formula.

It's been about a week of giving her formula for the majority of her feedings. To be honest, once I started, it was hard to not be relieved. Not that I didn't miss being enough for her..that still hurts every day..but, I could finally see how much food she was getting! I could never tell when I pumped because I was pretty sure she got more than that. I could see that she was full and what's more, happy! I started to think that maybe she had never been a fussy baby at all (she had cried quite often the months previous), maybe she was just a really really good baby who handled starvation well. Maybe that's extreme, I don't believe that I starved her, but I do believe that I could not produce enough to truly fill her. When I thought of that, I felt guilty and sickened at the thought that her distress was my fault..I'm her mom..how could I not have known? Well, I'll tell you, I tried so hard to fill her up! Our feedings would go for over an hour per time, I tried to feed her every couple of hours, any time I could feel that I had some milk in me. I would drain myself of all my energy and then hurry to scarf down some food so I could keep on trying! It was exhausting and stressful, never knowing if she was actually full..while being pretty sure that she wasn't.

With this new diet though, she's happy! Maybe she just outgrew the fussy stage, but the change was a little too coincidental for me to believe that. Though I am still a little disappointed, it's hard not to be, that I was unable to produce enough milk, I would not trade her smiles to give me a feeling of fulfillment. Because, I do feel like I am fulfilling my role as a mom still. The role of a mom is to take care of their children and keep them happy and healthy, by any means necessary. It doesn't matter how I keep my daughter happy, the fact is..she's happy! Who cares if it's because of formula and not breast milk? I thought I would care more, but I find that because of the supplementation, Ayden and I both find more joy in our days together! I don't have to spend endless hours trying to calm her and trying to force my body to give just a little more! Instead, I can be with her, really be with her. We get to enjoy each other's company, smiling and playing, and when she cries, I know it's because she really is hungry again and now that need can be easy quenched and then we can go back to playing! I can leave my house to enjoy the outside world with her because I'm not worried about how many times I'm gonna have to sit for an hour to feed her, I don't have to worry about her crying the whole time. We can go out without her battling her tears through the pain of hunger. I don't have to worry that I'm not giving her enough because I can see it! Now everyone can see her for the wonderful little girl she truly is, she's allowed to shine through because all of her needs are met! She's happy and I'm happy! :)

 

What a Wonderful Weekend!

This past weekend was busy and crazy and awesome!

First, on Friday (the 28th of February) Sam and I had Necia and Joe babysit Ayden for a couple hours while we went to Applebee's for dinner. Sam's boss, Chad, had given us a gift card before we had Ayden so that we could go out for a date night and get away from the house together. It was so nice of them to think of us! I haven't been to Applebee's much so it was kind of a new experience and I got to try out new food with Sam. I got the Citrus Lime Sirloin and Sam got Chicken Penne. My food had a real kick to it and Sam loved it so much that it kind of ruined his dinner for him :P Then we went to the mall after a lovely dinner and got my ring sent off to be dipped. It really needs it! We went and looked at the LoveSacs and realized what a great deal we got on the one Sam bought off of a friend. The bean bags there are like 800 dollars and we got ours for $150! Authentic LoveSac and all! We got it just in time for what we were going to be doing on Saturday!

So, Saturday, Sam and I hosted his second video game party with family and friends. The last one we had was back in November before we had Ayden so, this one went a bit differently. I had gone to the store for a little while Sam waited for everyone to show up. I wanted to print off pictures of our California and Bahamas trips for our picture books we bought. I thought it would be fun to have in case people on Sunday wanted to take a look at some of our adventures. It was fun to see those pictures again and relive those wonderful trips I got to take with my husband and our families! I finally got back and we started the party up. We had a lot of fun and Ayden was very interested in what all the fuss was about ;) At 8 o'clock I put Ayden to bed and it was kind of stressful with them down there because our ventilation system makes sound travel really well and they were right beneath us! Eventually I got her to sleep though and somehow, miraculously, she stayed asleep for a little while :) I had made treats for the boys a couple days earlier (too busy to do it the day of)! I made 7-layer dip, rice krispie treats and brownies, I also bought skittles and sour patch kids and we had some soda for them to drink, there was a good deal on the good quality frozen pizza so I bought a few of those! They devoured pretty much all of it! That's the part of parties that I like, I like to make treats and contribute in that way. Sam likes the actual hosting of the party, whereas that part is kind of stressful for me because I have to clean and I always want things to go so well! But, we had fun! They all spent the night for what we were going to do on Sunday!

Sunday was Ayden's baby blessing! Thankfully, pretty much everything for the lunch was being made by volunteers! My mom came over early to help me clean and set stuff up. They had actually thought our church was at 9 o'clock instead of 11 but I still give her credit :) I guess the Lord knew I needed the help! I had made banana bread and gotten all the ham and cheese ready for the rolls Necia had made to put them on. We got to the church and Sam gave a wonderful blessing to Ayden! He wrote a blog about it but basically he blessed her to know how much we love her, to have faith, to make good choices, and to be close to our Heavenly Father. After the blessing I stood in the back of the chapel while Sam gave his testimony and then we switched off and I bore mine. I told everyone how long I had waited to become a mother and how I hope to do the best job possible for my kids. It was a dream come true to see my little girl up there in the circle of the men in the family being blessed into the church. I sure do love her! Afterwards, we all walked back over to my house and the lunch went off without a hitch! Thanks to my mom, my sister Necia and all those that had brought things! We had everything: chips, 3 different kinds of salads, a vegetable tray, some grapes, lemonade, a sprite-y drink, the rolls and ham and cheese, and 4 different desserts! Nice variety and it was delicious! Grandma Bartholomew was kind enough to hold Ayden and keep her happy so I could eat and enjoy the lunch and conversation. Then I fed Ayden just enough to get us through some family pictures! Unfortunately, by that time some people had left so not everyone is included in the pictures. But, it was fun to make those memories and get pictures with those who came to support us! It was a wonderful turnout and someday Ayden will be able to look at the pictures and see how loved she is :) My parents, Johnevan and Necia's family stayed after everyone else had cleared out and we made dinner and talked and laughed together until Ayden's bedtime. It was a great way to end the weekend :)

It was a great and busy weekend full of laughs and family. I loved having everyone with us in our home celebrating Ayden's life and what it means to be family. I'll never forget the way my daughter looked on her big day or how great her daddy did in blessing her. She is a joy and we are very blessed to have her in our family! I am very blessed to be made a mother by such a wonderful little person!