A tribute to Girls' Night

I got to go to a girls' night recently and since then, I've been thinking about how incredibly lucky I am to have the friends I do. So, a tribute:

"Breaking the plane" in Capitol Reef, pretty much our favorite place on earth.

I have been friends with Natalie since the 7th grade. We had P.E. together, and by golly, that's a bonding experience if ever there is one. We didn't see much more of each other under the 10th grade when we had P.E. together again, but we were also working together at the Orem library by then too. And that's all it took to discover that we were kindred spirits and best friends. Natalie was my go-to friend for everything in high school, and then we were roommates for the first two years of college. We've seen each other at our bests and our worsts, through the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, through rehearsals and long work shifts and broken hearts and engagements and babies. I am always grateful for Natalie and I wish she didn't live so far away from me so we could get together more. I always need more of her in my life.

Me, Shelly, Natalie, Manda

When I re-met Natalie in high school, she introduced me to a crazy group of theater friends including Manda and Shelly. Manda was in P.E. with us and I don't remember the very first time I met her, but I remember walking the track with the three of us singing show tunes and making up our own lyrics - another kindred spirit, clearly. And one of my first memories of Shelly was getting a ride home from her and her swerving wildly to avoid hitting a bird that swooped in front of the car. But soon I got to know her and realize that she was another sister in the form of a friend. The four of us were so close, with inside jokes and shared secrets and support every single day of high school. We liked the same boys, talked about it, and still managed to stay close, good friends. I recognize now (and I did then, too, to some extent) how rare a blessing it is to have friends like I did. After high school we went in different directions a little bit, but every time we're in the same place at the same time, we get together and gab like we're still in high school.

All four of us at the Hill Cumorah Pageant taking an official "family" photo.

I met Jen during 11th grade (she was in 10th grade) in Women's Chorus. We had gone to the same junior high but hadn't really known each other, but through choir and theater and mutual friends, we became good friends. We didn't see much of each other after high school for a while but then we started hanging out more and before we knew it, we were roommates during my last year at BYU. She's been one of my best friends ever since. 

Me and Jen waiting in line to buy Breaking Dawn because we're awesome like that. Don't worry, we have our Team Edward and Team Jacob shirts on. We're so cool.

At this most recent girls' night, I had to bring Georgie which meant that I spent most of the night being a mom and not really getting to just hang out and relax. Being there wasn't really what I needed that night, but I thought a lot about what girls' night is about. It's about having fun, certainly, but it's more than that. I noticed how our conversations have changed since high school. I was/am so in awe of my friends and the women they/we have become. We talked about things that mattered to us, from our kids to natural birth to heartache to being Mormons and feminists and what that actually means. We openly shared opinions and ideas and perspectives and I think we are better for it. That is was girls' night is and what it should be. This is what sisterhood is. I am so incredibly lucky to have these sisters as part of my life and I'm so grateful for the occasional girls' night. It's such a restoring experience to share time with people who have become such integral parts of my story. I love you, girls!

Georgie at 6 months

I am six months old today! I celebrated by going to the doctor's office and getting shots. Plus I ended up being a model for one of Mama's magazines - hope those pictures turned out alright! I held as still as I could. I didn't so much care for the doctor (he was not my mama!) or the shots. The doctor said I grew two inches and gained two pounds since my last check-up. More than the last time, but I'm still just little.

We also celebrated my half-birthday with rice cereal. I think I liked it! I mostly liked to grab the spoon and chew on it. I still chew and suck on everything I can reach , and lately I especially like to grab faces and hair. The surest way to get me to smile is to sing a song and wiggle me around so I'm dancing, but sometimes I get a little coy and try to hide my face when people are watching. I'm pretty sure they think I'm adorable and, well, gosh that just makes me blush.

I love to kick anything that's in front of me, anything below me, and up in the air just for fun while I'm lying down. I can get pretty much anywhere I want by rolling over now and once I'm on my tummy, I can scoot around in a circle. No crawling yet but I'm trying! I like to stand with help and I'm so close to sitting up by myself - I still tend to tip over, especially when I'm reaching for things. 

I am old enough now to get scared of people I don't know (they tell me it's called "stranger danger") and it doesn't take me long to decide I don't want to be held by someone new. Loud noises scare me now and the sound of paper ripping is the worst. This makes it tricky for Mama and Daddy to get some of their work done at Mama's office when I'm around. I go to work with Mama once or twice a week and usually I'm pretty good. It makes for a long day for both of us, though!

I stopped sleeping at night when we moved to my grandparents' house about a month ago, and it's only gotten worse since then. I wake up my mom sometimes as many as eight times at night and usually the only thing that calms me down is eating. She says she's going to make me cry it out one of these nights and I don't think any of us are going to like that. I love  seeing my Nana and Grandfather everyday, though. I have a special little smile and games that I play only with them, and Mom and Dad love having the extra hands to hold and entertain me. Other than the lack of sleep, everything has been really great at our new house and everything is pretty good with me too!

Baby blues

This picture just slays me. I think she got my blue eyes! (And though you can't see it, she's wearing a Capitol Reef t-shirt. Can't wait to take her there!)

Some things I don't want to forget

Since we moved and still haven't really unpacked, I can't find Georgie's baby book so I am recording a bunch of little memories here. Very small things but to my mother heart, worth writing down!

-Yesterday I took Georgie with me to a work meeting. I could tell her tummy was really full and sure enough, a few minutes into the meeting, she let loose a huge gassy sound. Everyone laughed, I turned red but smiled apologetically, and the meeting went on. But I knew it wasn't over. A few minutes later an even bigger, louder, more explosive sound came from her little body. Everyone thought it was hysterical, I turned a deeper shade of red and said "I'm sorry!" about twelve times. Georgie let loose two more times before she was done. I was so embarrassed but everyone thought it was funny so I tried not to let it bother me too much!

-The other day Georgie was sucking on her thumb (like she does) so my dad decided to mimic her and suck on his thumb too. She immediately reached out and took his thumb away from him and stuck it in her mouth. Sucking on fingers is clearly hers and hers alone!

-Georgie seems to be starting an attachment phase where sometimes she freaks out if she's left alone with someone she's not super familiar with. We were at our old apartment and I left her with my Grandma Black so I could help Tim load the truck with D.I. stuff and after a few minutes, I could hear Georgie wailing. I went to rescue Grandma and found Georgie sobbing, face red, tears literally dripping off her cheeks until I picked her up. Immediately her crying stopped and she stuck her thumb in her mouth, but she had to take several large shuddering breaths until she'd completely calmed down. Sometimes she doesn't notice when I leave a room but sometimes she immediately starts to cry. On the one hand, this makes some things more difficult. On the other, it's so gratifying to know that I am the thing that makes her feel safe and secure. Before I was a mom, before I was even pregnant, I envied my friends and sisters-in-law when their little ones clung to them, arms around their necks, faces hiding in their shoulders. I wanted to have a little body reaching for mine like that so very much. It was part of my happy place visualization while I was pregnant - reaching out for my little girl and having her  hug me around my neck. So mostly, I kinda love this attachment phase.

-Lately I often put Georgie in bed with us when she wakes up in the mornings as a gentle, slow way for Tim and me to wake up (as opposed to taking her out to the living room). A few mornings ago I sat her up on my stomach and every time she looked over at Tim's still-sleeping form, she got a huge smile on her face. He wasn't even facing her and she  recognized and loved her daddy!

-This was awhile ago, but there was a tremendous snowstorm one day. I opened the curtains in our front room and held Georgie up so she could watch the snow with me. We stood there for at least five minutes (which in baby time is like, half an hour) just watching the millions of huge snowflakes swirl down around us. It was like a Biblical plague, but with snowflakes instead of locusts. It was beautiful and I loved sharing that with Georgie.

-One day I was trying to rock Georgie to sleep and was shushing in her ear. She had one arm free and reached up to touch my face. She found my nose first and squeezed that, then she found my mouth. I made different shushing sounds depending on where her palm was until she pinched my lips shut so I couldn't make anymore noise. Message received!

-Sometimes Georgie just talks and talks to herself. Not upset, not tired, not hungry, just making noise. She talked herself to sleep while we drove home in the car yesterday - too cute!

-There was one night I was on our Lovesac with Georgie, just cuddling her and probably trying to get her to sleep. She looked up at me with these huge, calm eyes that were so aware, so very present, and I was suddenly struck with the thought that she was a fully developed spirit before she came here to earth. She was a fully developed person, with a personality and opinions and character. Her spirit has already lived for a long long time and we not only knew each other when we were both spirits, we were probably really close friends. I have had this thought many times but this time, it was just a very powerful feeling as I sat there connected to her. She held my gaze for a long moment before looking away, and it was like a veil dropped again and she became my tiny baby girl who gets distracted easily and is still learning to process sensations and sounds and faces. I am so grateful for those little moments of connection that remind me of her eternal nature.

Catching Up/Five Months

So this one time, I had a blog. Then I had a baby and the blog got neglected because post-baby life was all about survival and blogging was very much a leisure activity. But now, all these weeks later, it is time for a little catching up because goodness, life has changed.

The biggest change is that we've moved! After over 3 1/2 years in the same place, after hosting Christmases and Thanksgivings and parties, after being Hotel Herrick a dozen times, after going from newlyweds to new parents in our little basement apartment, we moved in with my parents in Draper. The plan is to stay here for about six months, save some money, and spend time with my mom and dad. Tim is still going to school at UVU and working at Novell, so he's commuting quite a bit, but we're really happy to be here. Tim is also working at my office to help us with some shipping and he has a little contract work on the side. Needless to say, he's keeping busy!

I am still working 25-30 hours/week and it's getting...marginally easier? I was able to reshuffle some responsibilities at work so my workload is more proportionate to the time I have, but it's still stressful. I don't know how other working mothers do it - I am definitely still trying to figure it out. (More about that another time.)

I can't think of much else to update. Mostly, we moved and we have a baby who takes up lots of love and attention. We all got super sick for a week and a half in February - Georgie had a cold and double ear infection (trauma for all of us, by the way) and the resulting lack of sleep made Tim and I sick. Not so fun. And we got to see all of our Herrick family last month at our niece Lillian's blessing. We got this awesome picture of the three cousins who were all born within six months of each other. I can't wait for these girls to be old enough to actually play with each other! It's going to be so sweet.

I guess that's the other big thing to update - we have a five-month-old. It's not too much different from having a four-month-old; she's just growing and developing and delighting us with her advances. She giggles more easily and she's a rolling champ (back to front especially) and she really really wants to crawl. She gets up on her toes and tried to push forward and then ends up turning in a circle. We think the weeks of drooling and gumming on things might finally be turning into actual teething soon but it's hard to tell. 

I think the best part of five months is that she responds to us more and more. She lights up when she sees Tim and sometimes when she's upset she can't help but smile at me when I make faces at her. She is just barely starting to reach for us when we go to pick her up but it already melts us. Our favorite nicknames for her are Bugaboo and Chickadee and Fussbudget (for the fussy times). She seems to be entering an attachment phase and sometimes gets really upset when I leave the room even if she's being held by someone else. 

She has very expressive eyebrows and eyes - they always give her away when she's tired, happy, excited, or upset. Her eyes are definitely blue and her hair is still a dark blonde - it's getting long enough it doesn't stand up on its own and just kinda swirls on the top of her head. I swear she's going through a growth spurt but I always think that so who knows? She was doing really well with sleeping at night and taking naps and then she got sick (a cold with a double ear infection - it was traumatic for all of us) and then we moved and now she's not sleeping at all - 45 minute naps (we can sometimes convince her to take two naps back-to-back but that's it) and waking up two or three times at night, if not more. We're wondering if she is having nightmares or something because she just recently starting getting scared - not just startled but actually frightened - and that might be waking her up. The only upside is that she sleeps equally badly in her swing or crib so we made the switch to having her sleep in her crib all the time. Hopefully this phase passes quickly!

She spends a lot of her time on her play mat (this was taken today):

And this was from almost a month ago but dang, it's just so cute! I never saw the appeal of babies in oversized hats until this moment right here:

I haven't been good about taking pictures since life has been so crazy, but I'm sure I will inundate the blog with more soon. So that's the update - baby, moving, work, blog, life. Word.