Miss Mae just gets better with each week. During week 3 we continued to love staring at her, holding her and admiring her every little move!
(
Hi this is Brian. I generally contribute in no way to the blog--it is all the impressive work of Shelley. But sometimes Shelley asks me to proofread her posts before she publishes them, and sometimes she just tells me to publish them when I'm done proofreading. This is one of those "publish-when-proofread" posts, so I just thought I would make the observation that Shelley looks exceptionally beautiful in the above picture. That's all.)
It is still so fun to watch the big kids interact with her as they help me out so much.
Thad and Wes have been so helpful with Eve. I loved watching Wes read to Eve while I fed Mae - it makes my heart so happy and grateful.
I loved catching this glimpse of Eve laying with Mae when I came to check on her-
I love these cute sisters!
Baby cross eyes are my FAVORITE! And they're even better with a big sister!
After a few days on our own after Grandma Cindy left, Aunt Kelli arrived late on the night of July 15 and everyone was so happy to wake up and see her beautiful face!
The kids got her to play a game with them first thing and of course she couldn't say no... no wonder they love her so much!
We spent her first day cleaning (she did) and making a big list of what we needed to decorate the girls' rooms. This was the major task I wanted to tackle with her because she has the best ideas and forces me to just get the things and make my spaces beautiful.
Here are the girls' rooms BEFORE:
(I forgot to take a picture before Kelli put the black dots up, so just imagine that as a plain white wall)
AFTER:
(I didn't get a before shot of this space either, but the shelves didn't have baskets and the art display was also not there.)
Didn't they turn out so fun?! We spent most of the day Saturday shopping and I almost lost my mind. Making decisions like this (mostly spending the money on it) paralyzes me, so Kelli had to talk me down from the ledge multiple times, but it's the reason I needed her! She is so nice about it and will suggest a different way, but we usually go back to the best idea once I consider the different options. I love how it all turned out!
I was exhausted after our day of shopping, so to finish out the day we went to Jeni's for our favorite treat.
Brian was also exhausted from our day of shopping because he had to take care of all the kids (and their friends), so he snuggled up with Miss Mae while Kelli and I baked cakes for my cake decorating lesson the next day-
My heart melted.
And then Brian caught me in the same spot 8 hours later-
I had turned my head towards Mae right before he took the first picture and as soon as she could smell me she inched her face towards me and Brian thought it was just the cutest. I think it is too!
Good thing Kelli was around to get us to church on time while Brian was at Ward Council and luckily Eve helped keep Mae happy while I was getting ready-
Her first Sunday at church went great and we had to have a little photo shoot in our Sunday best to celebrate-
We spent the rest of the Sabbath resting, painting, cooking, and baking, and it all made for a perfect day!
I love how Kelli brings out my desire to be creative. She is always learning something new and creating beautiful things and I want to be more like her! I am so grateful she is so willing to share her talents!
This Salted Caramel Chocolate Cake turned out pretty BOMB!
I can't wait to make my next cake after learning from a pro!
We ended Sunday night with a "raspberry fest" and have a hilarious video
to always remember it! Mae just let everyone give her raspberries on
her tummy over and over again and didn't complain once-
And then she totally zonked after all that stimulation!
She is perfect.
Kelli's last day was Monday and we just soaked up having her around. She helped with cleaning, decorating, and kids, and anything else that I wanted. She is the best.
We sure love that Aunt Kelli and are so glad we get to see her again this week because I probably would have cried. Having her around makes everything better and I am so grateful for our relationship and the relationship she has built with my family. Thank you a million times, Kel!
Her flight left early Tuesday morning and I spent the day trying my best to do everything on my own, which meant no make up for me and lots of staring at my perfect 3-week-old baby girl-
Anabelle and Eve joined me in the staring and I can't blame them. She is amazing!
