Donna's wedding

My sister Donna was getting married and it was going to take place in Idaho. Of course, I love any excuse to visit my family, but I was definitely excited for this trip. On the other hand, it would be the first time traveling with a newborn and nursing was going to lengthen our drive quite a bit.

My sister Irene was tagging along with us since most of her family couldn't leave because they had school. She brought her youngest who is just a month younger than Lucy. They kind of entertained one another on the drive, but Lucy spent the majority of the time whining and screaming. It was very unpleasant to listen to several hours at a time. Paul was relatively well behaved most of the drive, and stopping to nurse became a minor inconvenience.

Then it was wedding time. The ceremony was beautiful, as were the bride and groom. Directly afterward I had to nurse. I chose not to wait after the pictures because those generally do not go quickly and I knew I would be pushing my luck to hold it off for that long. However, this time was different because the photographer ended up being crazy fast and I missed the majority of the pictures. Once again Lucy got left out of another neices and nephews photo with the happy couple. Paul did as well. I still got pictures of them though.

Can't always get a happy picture.

And it is so typical that I would miss getting any pictures of the newlyweds. I don't what it is about the presence of a photographer that makes me feel like I don't need to take pictures of things. Just because someone is documenting things doesn't mean I have access to those pictures. But this is what I did capture.

Evidently I caught David while he was stretching his neck.

Later was the luncheon with the groom's family and then the reception. Once again I didn't get any pictures, because my phone happened to be providing the music. So I borrowed my brother Jared's phone so that I could at least snap a shot with Donna and then he sent it to my phone.

Me and the lovely bride.

And we were then photo bombed by my sister Lora.

In addition to the music, I also put together a DVD of Donna's pictures along with her new hubby's. David helped me finish because I struggled to complete it while also taking care of the baby. But in the end, it turned out very well if I do say so myself.

Too soon, the celebrating was all over. We attended my family's ward the next day, and the day after that we were on our way home. Once again, we were treated to my daughter screaming most of the way home. But when she wasn't screaming, she was laughing with her cousin. Too bad those times were few, but I did catch it on camera. Can't post it on here, but it is on Facebook. Overall it was a good trip and I can't wait till the next one.

Lucy's 2nd Birthday

I can't believe I have an actual 2-year-old. No way have I been in this parenting thing for that long. I won't go into a running list of all of Lucy's talents and personality traits, but I will say she is a crazy happy kid. Sometimes it's upsetting, especially when you don't want her to be happy, like when you're trying to discipline her for example. All I can do is pray her happy attitude will help her when she's older, because I'm sure she's going to need it in this world we live in. 

As for Lucy's birthday party, it starts with inviting her family to come celebrate. Next is opening presents.

She received a lot of clothes...

...a couple of books...

...can't forget eating utensils, such as a hello kitty sippy cup, plate, bowl, fork, and spoon...

...and of course toys, such as Legos.

I would like to say Lucy built that herself, but I think she had help.

Then it was time to blow out her birthday cupcake. Her daddy spent the night before decorating them.

Then she had to get a picture with her great grandma C.

And before Grandma C left, we had to show her how much Lucy enjoyed the rocking horse she bought her long ago.

Unfortunately, Lucy did not want to cooperate. She actually enjoys it quite a bit.

Here, Lucy is showing off one of her birthday outfits.

Yeah, she knows she's cute.

And what was our first act as a two-year-old?

Why visiting the urgent care of course. It happened when I was helping Lucy over the bottom of the baby gate. I did it by lifting her by one arm because I was trying to keep myself from doing so much bending and lifting. She started crying uncontrollably and I couldn't see the reason for a while. It wasn't until I sat with her on the couch and watched closely. Eventually I narrowed the source of her pain to her right elbow, which she refused to move. Luckily, it was close to David's time to come home, so I texted him what happened. We contacted a pediatrician to see what needed to be done and he told us to bring her into urgent care.

The assumption was her elbow had been dislocated. The doctor attempted to pop it back in, but it didn't work. Poor Lucy cried while he tried and I could tell it really hurt. He decided she needed an X-ray so he could determine what the problem was. I was glad David was there so that he could accompany her while they took the X-rays. I was unable because of the pregnancy and had to watch behind a glass instead.

She was very brave and only cried when they had to turn her arm to get pictures at a different angle.

The X-rays showed it wasn't dislocated, so they figured it had been sprained and recommended some child medicine to help with the pain. They said it should probably feel better sometime the next day. We got the medicine and gave it to her. The next day, she climbed out of her bed as though nothing had happened. I honestly didn't expect it to heal so quick based on how much pain she had been feeling the day before.

I hope I don't have to make a lot of visits to urgent care in the future. Either way, I'm glad it's close by. 

Happy 2nd Birthday, Lucy!