The 4th of July was great. I'll talk about it later. Right now we're barricaded in our bedroom to stay away from the noise of the fireworks from neighbors behind us. Josh and Natalia are both sleeping and I'm hoping it doesn't get too hot in here waiting. I just don't want my baby to wake up.

Speaking of my baby...today a man stopped us to see Natalia. He even called to his wife who said she had already seen her. It was so sweet. He told us congratulations on our baby. He was so nice. Also, Josh told me that when we were at a shop a woman was bent over behind our stroller and he had no idea what she was doing until she said, "Oh, she's so adorable." it was funny. Natalia was asleep in her car seat in the stroller so we had the visors, or whatever they are called, over her. The only way to see her was to peek through the opening beneath the stroller handle. I'm always surprised by how much attention Natalia gets from people. It emphasizes to me that babies really are so precious and tiny bits from heaven. I love my Baby Girl.

Today really was so much fun, one of the best and one of my favorite days. We're already talking about next year. I'm already so excited. What made today so special was spending quality time with Josh and Natalia. Natalia handled today extremely well and it was nice being close to home in case we needed anything. Today was a cheat day so we ate all of our meals at the fair. I got so sick after lunch I thought I had food poisoning. Luckily, it didn't last forever. Josh didn't get sick so we ruled out food poisoning. I'm just going to stick to my normal lighter food. I tend to feel like garbage when I eat anything else, but I always put that aside because I am a food addict, seriously, it is just too good. I read somewhere that comfort food is food in its purest or most natural form, something like that. I've taken that definition of comfort food as my own. Well, I think I've spent enough time babbling waiting for the fireworks to calm down. Now I can go to bed. Hooray for the 4th. I love you Natalia and Josh. Natalia started talking a lot today. I can't wait for more girl talk tomorrow. Life is great. We are so blessed.

Natalia has started grabbing her feet. She started yesterday.

Yesterday had a lot of rough moments...like when we went for a walk around the cemetery. Natalia woke up during our walk and started to get fussy. I thought she was hungry so we went to the park so I could try to feed her. She wouldn't eat and started to cry. We walked around so she could calm down. She calmed down so I sat down, but she started to get really fussy again. After trying to calm her and realizing it wasn't going to work I decided we should just head home which was about a three-quarters of a mile walk home. Natalia was crying A LOT. I started to push the stroller and carry Natalia across the street to the cemetery. Natalia's crying turned to screaming. She was not happy at all. We pulled over under a tree and I rocked her for a long time trying to calm her. She just screamed and screamed and screamed. I figured going home was the best thing to do. Natalia screamed more when I tried putting her in her car seat so I carried her the whole way home while pushing the stroller. It was emotionally difficult. I felt embarrassed when we would pass people because I thought they'd be thinking, "Why can't that girl take care of her baby?" I shouldn't have thought that and it doesn't matter what people think anyway. So Natalia continued to scream and scream. I just kept talking to her trying to calm her down. I wanted to cry. When we got to the last hill before home Natalia started to calm down. When we had gotten to our street she had stopped crying. Everything was fine when we got home. I nursed her and she went to sleep.

Natalia screamed a lot yesterday. I think she just gets so tired she doesn't know what else to do. She's been having a hard time falling asleep these last few days. What started to work yesterday was wrapping her up tight, putting her in her bed, and rocking it, but that has only worked during a screaming episode. We'll keep trying things today.

Natalia was down for a nap when I was talking to Josh about the cemetery. When she woke up Josh brought her down and she gave me the biggest grin. It made me feel so much better.

Pictures from last week

Last week Uncle Brian and I made Banana-Blueberry Oatmeal bars. They are delicious. I froze our portion into zip lock bags for later snacks.

Natalia at the Norwex party.

Natalia and Daddy went right to the couch after church.

That's all, not many pictures were taken.

My dearest Natalia, Mommy can't sleep right now so she will write to you. You and Daddy are napping right now. Church was a little rough today, but we are doing better. We were able to attend about 15-20 minutes each of Sacrament meeting and Relief Society. I think we were in Sunday School for 5 or 10 minutes so at least we went to every meeting. Mommy rocked you outside during Relief Society until you started to fall asleep. I was happy when I saw there was still bit of church left so we stood in the back of Relief Society while you dozed off. It was so nice to hear part of the lesson this week.

Our adopted Grandmother S brought over some cherries and golden raspberries today. She is so sweet. Mommy can't sleep right now because I'm thinking of how we can repay her for her kindness.

We started listening to primary songs in the car when we go places and I think it has helped you enjoy the car ride. Thank you Grandma S.

This week was a fun week. We have gotten in the routine of going on walks at the same time every morning so I think you expect it. It is so nice to be outside. The green everywhere is beautiful. I think you really enjoy it as well.

So let me try to remember what else we did this week. Grandma Sampson came over on Tuesday or Wednesday or both. On Thursday we went to the Coombs' house for a little bit. Thursday evening we went to a Norwex party at Mommy's friend's house where they have chickens. On Friday we watched Kyler and Zoey for a few hours and then we went to our friend Marcia's house again. Yesterday, we went to you cousin, Madi's, baptism. Then, we went to G-Sampson's house and tried to watch a movie with Brian. We also made them dinner. Yesterday and today your tummy has been hurting a lot so it's been a little rough for you. I am so happy you are sleeping now because you need it.

This week is going to be such a fun week. Wednesday is the 4th of July and Mommy is SO EXCITED. Kaysville goes all out for the 4th and Mommy has been looking forward to it for months since the snow melted and it got warmer outside. Last year when Mommy and Daddy lived in Kaysville we would go on midnight walks sometimes. We went walking one midnight either on 2nd or 3rd of July and we were so surprised to see people all over Main Street reserving their spots for the parade. It was a sight to see. We night try to go on a late night walk again on July 3rd to reserve a spot. Hopefully you'll stay asleep in your stroller. Mommy can't wait for the 4th. We are so blessed for the freedoms we have Baby Girl, especially for the freedom we have to worship as we please. Our home will always be a gospel-centered home and Mommy and Daddy will do their best to teach you what's right.

Well Baby Girl, Mommy loves you so much. You have been on this earth for 15 weeks. You have grown so much in that time and change a little every week. You smile more every week and are starting to giggle a little more. You make Mommy and Daddy so happy. Mommy will post pictures from the week later. I'm going to dig out the fan from our closet because it is so hot in our home. I love you!

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The Fun Cheap or Free Queen: All about...DIAPERS! How to find good deals on dia...:  Welcome back to "You're Welcome" Wednesday, where I share a tip with you that's bound to make you say...THANKS!   As a mom, I can tel...

We just went walking. On our way home an elderly couple pulled over by us just to see Natalia. The elderly man smiled and happily exclaimed, "Looks like you're taking your baby for a stroll!" I love the way he said it. They were so friendly. Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Kindly (not really their names), your short stop brightened our day even more.

So there's an elderly man in our ward who will always stop by Natalia at church and say some cute comment that I can't think of right now. He's one of my favorite people.

We've also adopted a 70 or 80 something grandmother in our ward. We are BFF's. She really is the sweetest. A couple weeks ago when Natalia was screaming and crying a lot at church, I went outside to calm her. I seriously thought about walking home. There was just an hour left of church. Well, I saw GS (Grandmother S) outside and she walked up to us. We talked for a little and she suggested we walk a little so we walked to another entrance of the church by the RS room and then walked into RS. I thought it was really nice of her to chat and walk with us. I thanked her for her kindness and told her I needed that. She said she needed it to so we needed each other. This Sunday she was helpful again and told me what the RS lesson was about since I was in the room for only a couple minutes. During the week she had even bought us the children's songbook on cd so I can play them for Natalia during the day. She is so sweet. I asked if I could pay her back, but she didn't want me too. I told her she could be our new grandma. Her grandchildren live in Chicago so it'll be nice to have an unofficial grandchild and family closer.

Hello Baby Girl! You have been on this Earth for 14 weeks! You are a little over 3 months old. My how time has flown. We love you so much. We had a fun week last night. Grandpa Sampson and Q came over a couple days. While Grandma held/played with you Mommy was able to get a lot of housework done. On Thursday Grandma and Q met us at the cemetery and we all walked together. It was fun. Mommy showed Q one of the grave markers that had a life-size K9 dog. Mommy told Q it wasn't real and that it was made of stone, but when we walked up to it he screamed. Mommy had to remind him it wasn't real and then he was fine. It was so funny. Another thing I want to tell you about that day is about when Mommy showed Q a picture of Jesus on one of the grave markers. Q asked, "Who is Jesus?" Mommy felt a little sad to here that because I think it would be sad to not grow up knowing who Jesus is. Natalia, remember that time when Mommy stood on the elliptical with you (dangerous I know! Mommy will never do it again!) and you could see the picture of Jesus up close. You just kept staring at Him. I am positive you still remember Jesus and imagine you dream about Heaven sometimes. I wonder if it's your heaven memories that make you smile sometimes in your sleep. Anyway, here's a picture of Q asleep on our couch.

Grandma also fell asleep with you. I think she knew I was taking a picture so it wasn't as fun.

Friday morning we went for a long walk around the cemetery and up 7th where we go walking. We were gone outside for 3 hours! That's the longest we've been outside with the stroller. While we were at the cemetery you got hungry so we hung out there for a while so I could feed you and have a break.

Aren't you just so pretty? Later that day we went to our friend, Marcia's house. Marcia was one of Grandma's friends when Mommy was growing up. At Marcia's house we talking about Marcia's family history and her trip to France and Spain. Marcia shared a lot of neat stories I will tell you when you're older. Marcia also taught Mommy how she decorated her home. Mommy learned a lot so know Daddy and Mommy are working on finding a style we like and sticking to it so everything flows together. Oh yeah, Marcia also made some double chocolate chip cookies. They were so good Daddy had to hide them so I wouldn't eat anymore.

Here is your Uncle Brian. Mommy took pictures of him when he came over Thursday or Friday evening because he looks different every week.

What a stud.

 Daddy was silly when Brian and Grandpa were over. He did this to you:

Ha ha You're already looking at what you want from Babies R' Us.

So I caught this picture of you the next morning:

You are just so dang adorable.

Saturday was a fun day. We went to G-Siddoways' house in the morning. We went to the Gateway to take Liz and Steve out to lunch as a thank you. We went to Costco. We also made blueberry muffins to freeze as snacks. These are the oatmeal muffins. They were yummy.

On Sunday we went to the Siddoways'. Eni and Great Grandma Rigby came over to see you. Here you are with Great Grandma Rigby:

We also got these of you after we got home. So a funny story about church...When Mommy was in the hallway holding you and talking to someone, all these elderly women came behind me and were talking/looking at you. Mommy didn't know what was going on. It was funny. You must've been having a good conversation with them.

We took these after we got home from the grandparents' Sunday.

So today Uncle Brian and Grandma came over. Brian and Mommy made Blueberry Banana Oatmeal bars. They were so yummy! We also made more muffins since we still had more cup of blueberries left. So when Mommy bought the blueberries at Costco, it was a little pricey for such small berries. However, with all those berries we made 36 muffins and 18 oatmeal bars for a lot cheaper than it would've been to buy premade snack items we usually get.

 We let Uncle Brian take some home.

Here are the links to the recipes we used for everything:
Insanely Good Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins
Low Fat Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins
Baked Oatmeal with Blueberries and Bananas

Daddy just got home so time for dinner. Yay! 


We love you Baby Girl. You are turning into a little goof ball. You are so smiley, talkative, and silly. We love you!