The Bennett Family

One of the greatest advantages (and sometimes disadvantages) about where we live is our distance from family. We were able to go to Las Vegas for two weekends in a row - once to see my little nephew blessed, and the other to see my brother baptized. Both of these were once in a lifetime occasions that I am glad we were able to see.

Carter William Idland was blessed on 12 October by his bishop. He looked so cute in his litte white outfit. This followed a great weekend spent with my dad and his wife in Las Vegas.

It was also the first time I've ever had sushi (not at the blessing, of course, but the night before at a sushi buffet). I was surprised by how good it was. Now I want Joey to take me back.... and he will... after I get down to my goal weight.

This last weekend we went back to see my brother baptized. I really felt the spirit while I was there. I was sitting next to my sister-in-law during the baptism, so I got to look at cute little Carter while holding cute little Lorelei. It's amazing how great it felt to be around my family after being so far away for so long.

After the baptism, Joey and I took Tyler and Nicole out to dinner. We went to McDonald's because I'd been craving that and Nicole likes the Monopoly game that they are doing right now. We spent a few hours just talking, which was great. I'm really glad that we made that trip.

And to a bunch of others I'm probably forgetting. The 6th was Joey's grandpa's birthday (Grandpa Tebbs), yesterday was Ryan Hunter's birthday, and today is Joey's Uncle Brian's birthday. This Ryan Hunter is a mutual friend of mine and Joey's (not our cousin) that we both knew separate from each other. Joey calls him Red (for the hair, original, I know), and my family calls him Flipper Foot, for reasons I still don't entirely understand.

As if all of that weren't excitement enough, Lorelei will be 7 months old tomorrow! It's crazy to think that I've been a mother for that long, taking care of this sweet little girl every day. It's amazing how much she's grown, and yet, how small she is still catches me by surprise every now and again. I am definitely still in love with motherhood, even with all it's quirks.

My dad and Sandy (his wife) are visiting us this week. They are on their way here right now and should arrive in a few hours. I've been looking forward to this ever since we set it up; I know they have as well. It'll be nice to have guests in our new hometown after getting to a point where this feels like home. Then we're off to Vegas to see my nephew Carter get blessed, and to spend some time with his parents.

Such an exciting week ahead.

So, I was going to blog every day this month. Obviously, it didn't work, but I'm going to try to keep going.

Major kudos to Grandma Tebbs for being the first person to respond in October. I love responses!

This weekend we watched General Conference. It was rather enjoyable. There was a lunch at the church (our building is the stake center) that we attended. I made some really yummy mashed potatoes because we had extra potatoes and extra cheese (we've been trying to watch our grocery budget). I was happy because more than half of them were eaten at the lunch. We also got to meet some new people, which is always fun, and show off our little girl, which is just delightful. You can really tell that we are first time parents.

Today I finally got the courage to try to go back to aerobics after being sick. I'm doing better than I have been, but it still was a little too much for me today. Tomorrow, if it's just Rebecca and me, I'm going to try to teach since it'll be a low-pressure situation. The Monday, Wednesday, non-flex Friday class is separate from the Tuesday, Thursday class, and so far, nobody really goes to the Tuesday, Thursday class because it's new. I think it's great for me to have the ability to go work out with a bunch of great women for free and see Lorelei interacting with the other children. It's been really fun since I started going a few weeks ago. Every time, someone different teaches, and everyone who is comfortable teaching takes a turn. I want to get to the point where I feel comfortable looking like a complete nut with everyone watching me. We'll see how that goes.

The other high point so far today was feeding Lorelei whole green beans, or rather, watching her feed them to herself. She gums them up pretty well, and the green beans fall apart easily. I think it helps her because she's teething. Yesterday, she and I were eating my frozen grapes. She'd press down on it with her gums, make a funny look to say "okay Mom, next", I'd eat the (still whole) grape, and we'd go again. Lorelei really liked it.

I'm trying to get to a point where we can post the pictures more often, but since we're having computer troubles with our main computer, it's definitely a project that will be waiting for awhile.

We finally got a dehydrator yesterday. I've been wanting one for awhile, so that was exciting for me. Joey isn't as excited about it but he still helped me to get the fruit ready to dry. We'll see how it turns out in the morning.

We also went to the eye doctor today. I am thinking about going back to contacts, but the optometrist isn't sure that I need them. I think he said that my vision is something like 20/25 but that I can see some of the things that are 20/15 with corrected vision. I'm still looking into whether I'd rather get new glasses, get new contacts, or just last another year with my current pair. If I get new glasses, I'll get regular frames instead of drill-mount because my current glasses aren't baby friendly.  Joey is getting new glasses... well, sorta. While he was doing his exam, I looked through the rack that we know for a fact are completely covered by the insurance ... for the exact same pair that he has. Joey has basically tried to have the same style of frames the entire time that I've known him, so when I found his glasses on the rack, he was pretty happy.

Other than that, we had a nice, easy going day at home. Life is really settling into a nice rhythm, which feels strange because until this point, I've really been waiting for my life to start. I realized today that my life isn't really all that different from when I was growing up... except that I'm the mother now instead of the child.

The title says it all. The highlight of our day was surprising Joey with homemade pretzels that turned out surprisingly well. We bought some yeast the last time we went to Las Vegas, so I made bread for what feels like the first time. It was definitely my first time making pretzels. They were delicious, once I figured out what I was doing. We've still got 10 of the 12 left in the freezer for another day.

There are two LDS churches in Ridgecrest, each with two wards. I've been attending aerobics on Monday, Wednesday, and every other Friday for a few weeks at the other LDS church. I've really enjoyed forcing myself to work out everyday, and since I can say I have finally lost all the weight I gained after Lorelei was born, I'm enjoying the results. (I've lost about 40 lbs of pregnancy weight, but I gained 10 lbs back about a month later.) Today, I went to aerobics at my church building. One of the gals in my ward (who is also from Reno and originally had that as a last name) started teaching it there this week on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She called last night to ask if I was interested, and it was a good thing too, because she and I were the only ones there. I really enjoyed it though, and the opportunity to make a stronger friendship in my new hometown is great.

I'm still looking forward to our trip next week. I'm gonna see my cute little nephew again.

Joey said this to me last night, gave me a kiss, and then said, "I'm not staying up 'til midnight." Apparently October 1st marks the beginning of a new fiscal year for Joey's job.

Lorelei and I have been busy. I've been painting almost every day, in little segments (have you ever tried to paint while tending a baby?). We've got just about our entire family room painted and are working on moving to other parts of the house. Now that we've got the logistics down better, we're hoping to have the rest of the house completed by the time that Joey's parents come down at the end of the month.

My dad and his wife are coming down to visit in a week. We're really excited about that. I'm a little disappointed that the house won't be completely finished by the time that they visit, but I'd rather be around family than have a perfect looking house. Getting ready for their visit is taking up the rest of my time quite nicely. This is compounded by the fact that Joey and I put most of the boxes with stuff we didn't want to deal with in the yellow room (it's not really yellow, but that's a story for another post). Since that room is currently our guest room, and our guests actually need somewhere to stay, it's become a very important project.

Lorelei is doing well. She's started with solids and has been enjoying the experience. She's now had rice cereal, bananas, and black beans, and is now working on green beans. We're not using the jarred baby food and are instead going with the advice of our pediatrician (but only after her mommy researched it online for awhile!). We have been mushing up foods that we eat and giving them to her for a few days. She's getting used to the idea that food can have texture.

Lorelei has also been standing more, and even working on being able to stand on her own. Just today she started not just having her legs stand up, but adding an arm to get better height... directly after which her mommy changed her play pen to not use the bassinet anymore.

Our little girl is growing up so fast. I'm told that I should be posting more pictures... well, if you all come look at the pictures, I'll try to be better about posting them, and I promise to get you some soon.

If someone had asked me what I’d be at this point in my life when I was 2, I’d have said, “A doctor.” If the same question had been asked of me at 14, I would have said, “Studying to be a brain surgeon.” If someone had asked me just before I turned 21, I wouldn’t have had a clue. Now, at age 23, I am a college graduate, but not studying medicine, and with no plans to do so in the future. I do, however, love my life and the path that took me here.

 I am a wife and mother who is celebrating her second wedding anniversary today.  It feels like such a big accomplishment to have been happily married for two years. I know that this isn’t a unique accomplishment, and I’m glad that it’s not. I like having hope that there are many, many years ahead, and while I know that it isn’t just hope that will make that wish come true, I think the hope is still important.

I have learned a lot about life, love, and even myself in these last two years. I would never have thought it so enjoyable to give so fully of myself to my husband and to my little daughter. I’ve learned a lot about compromise and how to really be happy. Now, after the best two years of my life, every day I look forward to the time when my husband comes home to Lorelei and me and we can play together as a family. Simple day-to-day life has taken on an entirely new meaning. These experiences  of being a family remind me of my childhood and are the greatest joys I have ever felt.

Motherhood is an adventure, to be sure. I've learned a lot since Lorelei was born almost 6 months ago (where does time go?), and I thought that I'd share some of my most recently acquired wisdom for this blog entry.

1) Whenever you have no idea where the camera is, something cute will happen.

2) Rice cereal is sticky. I don't know why they don't use it instead of glue, or why it's that sticky... but it is. Then again, I've never tried to (gently) scrape glue off of an infant's face, but the cereal was worse to get off of me.

3) Answering a call from your mother-in-law while feeding said infant daughter will result in her grabbing the spoon out of your hand and chewing it, followed by grabbing the cereal cup and eating straight from it with her hands.

This was a very interesting experience, to say the least. I'd show you pictures, but go back and look at number one.

I've also learned that babies get mad at you for letting them do the things they want to do, at random. Rather like teenagers, I suspect. The biggest culprit with Lorelei is nap time. She's also been learning to put weight on her feet. She gets frustrated at not being able to get it quite right, but then she gets upset if you help.

At least she still likes to be loved.

My mom was my first hero. She chose to give me life instead of taking the easy way out, and this was the first of a long list of things for which I admire her. She is a great mother, and I hope to be like her someday.

My brother Tyler is also my hero. He's protected me at a high cost to himself ever since we were little. He's still doing that as a U.S. Marine. I admire him more for that than I think he'll ever know.

My sister Dallas has always been a peace-keeper. Now she follows in Tyler's footsteps as she plans to join the U.S. Army. She is strong in ways that I don't even think she realizes.

My baby is my newest hero. She said "Mama" the other day. It felt so good to hear from this little person who has completely changed my life. She's still only said it the once, but my heart just melts remembering it.

Her daddy is also my hero. He is an amazing husband and father. I wish sometimes that he knew it, but I suppose it's part of the charm.

I love all the heroes in my life, including these... and I am missing the ones who are not with me.

Yesterday, in a McDonald's in Las Vegas a half-mile from where my brother Tyler and his wife Nicole live (along with new baby Carter), Lorelei said her first word.

"Da-da." Joey and I looked at each other, as though it were a fluke and we were trying to see if the other person heard it.  Since then, she has said it several more times, probably since she gets such great attention when she does.

In other news, I have finally seen the teeth that she's teething on... the middle two teeth on the bottom, with promises of more soon. They haven't broken the surface, but they are noticeable.

And in still better news, she met her cousins this weekend. She got to meet (and take pictures with) John, Caleb, and Madison (who are really mine and Joey's cousins) on Saturday and then her newest cousin Carter on Sunday. Cute babies all around!