The Loveliest Week

On the day of Jane's finalization I woke up really anxious. The day I'd been thinking about for 6 months was finally here! But what if something goes wrong? It was a pretty straight forward adoption, so nothing could go wrong. Right? I'm such a worrier. 

*Side Note: So, over Labor Day we all went up to Bear Lake and everyone caught the worst cold virus (I'm not sure I can even call it that) that I've ever experienced. That's not what this post is about, so I won't go into detail, but I'm just telling you this because on the day before our finalization hearing I took Jane to the doctor because she was so sick and we found out she had a double ear infection and pink eye. On the morning of her finalization Jayson and I had to pry her eyes open with our fingers. It was the saddest mom experience I've had with her so far. So, I was also pretty frantic about that. And then I was like, "should we cancel the hearing because she has pink eye?! I don't even know how to cancel the hearing. The judge is going to think we're the worst parents for bringing our baby to court when she has pink eye and he wont want to finalize., etc."

But anyway, the hearing was great! (except for the part where my mom was late...hey mom!) Everything went off without a hitch and I was worried about nothing, as usual. It is the greatest feeling in the world at the end when the judge declared us her parents and said her full name. It was a glorious moment. At the beginning the judge was sort of stern (because my mom was late), but then he was so cute afterwards and let us take pictures with him and he wanted to hold her during the pictures and such. He said he loves when he gets to start off the day with a hearing like this rather than a not so fun one. It was so wonderful to have our most of our parents there (Dad, Justie, Mom, and Jayson's Mom), our case worker, and our attorney. And despite her pink eye and ear infections she was pretty good. Until it got past her naptime, but the hearing was pretty much over by then. She was not super excited about taking pictures after though. 

Afterwards we decided to go to Waffles and Frites, because I have heard good things and I'd never been. It was such a cute little place and man. Those waffles are delicious. The one I got had chocolate sticks inside. And that butter. And it had ice cream on top. I was soooo sad though because I really wanted fries and their frier was down. But, just as we were about to leave one of the workers brings out this HUGE order of fries and said it was on him because the frier was fixed and he was sorry for the inconvenience. It was truly a great way to top off an already fabulous day. 

Leaving the house

Jane and the Judge. We got a group shot with him too, but the Little Guy is in all of them, so you don't get to see those. Sorry!

She finally fell asleep while we were waiting for copies of the finalization documents.

That Saturday was another day that I had been dreaming of for the past six months. Well, for the past couple of years, really! We got to take her to the temple to get sealed to her. This was one of the sweetest experiences of my life. We were, of course, scrambling in the morning to make sure we were there on time, and I was worrying that something would go wrong and it wouldn't be able to happen and all of that jazz. But when we got there everything was perfect. Jayson's mom got there just before we did so we got to all go in together. It was so fun seeing everyone's happy faces as they saw us walk in, because there's really only one reason you bring a baby into the temple. We took her to the little nursery in the temple and the ladies there were so sweet and so excited to tend her. One of the ladies was even in Allyson's (Jayson's mom) ward, so that was fun. At first I was kind of sad because they said they would dress her and bring her up and I sort of wanted to do that, but it turned out to be a good thing. Before we went to the sealing room they let us (me, Allyson, and my Grandma Klein) wait in the bride's room, which has been refinished over the past year and it was absolutely stunning. Then they took us all to our assigned room and we waited for Jane. It was so sweet to see all of the smiling faces of so many of our loved ones when we walked in. Some of Angela's family came as well, which we were so happy about. We love them and it's so wonderful to have them be a part of everything and to see how much love they have for Jane and for us. 

Then they brought Jane in. That was one of the most special moments of my life. It was breathtaking to see my baby girl all in white. And she looked like such a big girl! This moment is the reason I actually ended up being glad that the temple workers dressed her and brought her up. It brings so much joy to my heart knowing that we are sealed to her forever. 

Jane was so good at the temple too! All of the workers were just head over heels for her. It was so sweet. 

Jane, once again, was not super excited about taking pictures afterward, but we still got some great ones. My mom, Justie, my cousin Kris, The Little Guy, and Angela were waiting outside for us as well and it was  wonderful to see all of their smiling faces. It meant the world to us to have so many of the people we love there to share our special day. 

This was taken just before we went inside.

And this is us exiting!

See, she wasn't excited about all of this picture taking business.

Angela and her family

I had to add this because I texted a few people to see if they got any good pictures since I didn't get any with my phone and Jayson's oldest sister, Kara, sent me this. It made me laugh!

 A picture Jane and me with my girls. We got a picture with the guys too, but I just realized I don't have a copy. 

My cousin and step-mom took some pictures with their super nice cameras and then my cousin edited them for me. I absolutely love them! And again, we got some group ones, but the Little Guy was in them, so I can't post them.

This is my favorite of the three of us.

Afterwards we all went the to The Brick Oven, which was delicious, but VERY slow. At least we really liked the people we were there with though, right?!

The very next day was Jane's baby blessing. This is a day I had been dreaming of for years! And it was finally here. All of these days were so surreal. The morning started off running smoothly, but then people kept calling for directions and we weren't getting ready quickly enough, and the dog took FOREVER to go to the bathroom...and me and the kids ended up being like ten minutes late for Sacrament meeting. (Jayson had gone over early to fill out paper work.) But hey! They couldn't start without the baby, right? So it was fine. They weren't even to the point of blessing her when we showed up so it worked out. And Jane did so good! She didn't cry at all during the blessing, and only fussed a little the rest of the meeting. I have always been convinced that my kids would be the ones that scream through their entire blessing. Jayson said he felt so guided during it and he did such a great job! Afterwards we had a little breakfast over at the Bishop's house (which included pumpkin baked goods! I was so excited!). It felt like it went so smoothly. The weather was perfect and again, we had so many wonderful loved ones come, including Angela and her family. We are so grateful for their love and support! 

And after all of that all four of us took a nice long nap. 

She finally crashed on Grandma Kim after her blessing breakfast. It was a long weekend for such a little girl.

A Little Update on Everything.

Well, I'm obviously super behind on blogging and all that jazz. I got so behind that I just sort of gave up for a while, and honestly I'm pretty tired right now, so I'm just going to update you on life in general (and on little Jane) and then other things that need their own post will get one someday soon. Probably.

So, Jane is now 6 1/2 months old. That is just crazy. I feel like she's so big! And she kind of is. She's now 60th percentile for weight and 85th for length. What happened to my tiny baby that was below 50th on everything?

Jane continues to get more and more pleasant. She's such a happy baby and is full of smiles and laughs. Her laughs are still hard to come by, but not quite as hard. And when they come...oh man. There's no better sound in the world. It's just funny because she'll be ticklish in one spot one minute and then she won't be ticklish there for another week. Or she'll randomly laugh at the weirdest things and then they'll never be funny again. Silly girl.

Though she's happy, she's still kind of a diva baby. And I think she's started throwing tantrums?! So, we're in trouble during toddler years for sure. Seriously, the little guy was playing with his Toothless the Dragon toy (oh, by the way, the little guy is back!) and she wanted it and she just started fussing because she couldn't have it. If she can't reach things she wants she gets so frustrated. And if you take something away from her, oh man. This girl I tell you.

So, I've never been a put-my-kids-to-bed-at-7:30 kind of person. Not that it's a bad thing to be that kind of person, but I'm not the best with strict routines and such, and when 7:30 rolls around I'm luck if dinner is eaten and cleaned up let alone having kids ready for bed. But anyway. Jane has been demanding 7:30 bedtime lately and it has thrown me for a loop. But it's nice in some ways as well. I've had to get used to routines more because she's the kind of kid that needs them. Not that I just let my kids do whatever they want, but the little guy is just a really happy-go lucky-go with the flow kind of guy, which meshes with my personality to a t. So, we're working on that whole routine thing.

One of my favorite things about Jane is spending mornings with her. She's SOO happy in the morning. And it's the best. She just coos and smiles and plays with her toes, etc.

She also loves to touch faces. And I love that she loves that. She's obsessed with Ruby and the little guy. And she's still obsessed with Jayson and his voice. But, you know, I think she's pretty fond of me too.

Oh, and remember how she started showing interest in food at a pretty young age? Well, it turns out she just wants to hold it. She makes a grimace every time anything other than her bottle is put into her mouth. But, today we did get her to eat some mango from those little squeeze pouches (but via spoon) and she actually smiled and sucked it off the spoon herself, rather than moving her face as far away from the spoon as possible. I'm not entirely sure that she got more than two swallows to actually go down, but...progress is progress, am I right?!

She mastered rolling over pretty quickly and she's so over it. She rolled over non-stop for like two weeks and then I guess she got bored with it? She's trying with all her might to crawl though. She hasn't succeeded yet, but man is she trying. But her favorite thing in the world is to stand. And to be upside-down. Usually if she's grumpy and you let her do one of those things she'll calm right down. If you hold her hands and let her stand on the floor she'll even put one foot in front of the other sometimes, which totally freaks me out.

Jane continues to be like the least snuggly baby ever, but don't let her fool you. She LOVES to be held. She just wants her head up to look around at everything. And she'll always snuggle me when she eats because the girl is OBSESSED with her bottle. Seriously, it's her favorite thing. She'll ALWAYS smile when she's sees it. Without fail.

She's super grabby. She wants to grab and examine everything. All of the time. She continues to be a pretty good sleeper at night, though we've had a couple colds in the last little while and that has put a bit of a damper on the whole sleeping thing. (Double ear infection and pink eye a week ago. Yikes! We had to pry her eyes open one morning and it was probably the saddest thing I've experienced with her so far.)

She seems to love water, which makes me so happy. She always kicks with glee in the bathtub and she's completely mesmerized by fountains. But she hates being cold with a great passion, so cold water is a no go thus far. And lights. She LOVES lights. She's also becoming increasingly obsessed with my mom, which makes my mom's grandma heart so happy.

Jane is really just the best. We love her to pieces and we constantly ask ourselves how we ever got so blessed to be her parents! She has stolen the hearts of just about everyone we know as well.

The little guy continues to be obsessed with dragons. He seems to be less obsessed with Disney Princesses, which, I will admit, saddens me a little. But he's still the sweetest boy around and I can't get enough of him. He really is just my best little buddy/ side kick. I actually enjoy having him with me while running errands and such because he's that much fun. And he's so sweet to Jane. And he loves Jayson so much. I can't believe how much he's grown in just a month and a half.

And now I will update you more with some pictures.


We all went to my Dad's property and had a blast. The little guy had the best time going fishing with Dad, Grandpa, and our cousin Austin. Baby Jane had a good time napping.

My Dad and cousins built this cabin (and Jayson helped a tiny bit). I'm so proud. I can't wait for all of the fun times we'll have in it!! I'm excited for my kids to grow up going here. 

Jane with Grandma Defriez. Jane is so tiny!

We also got to go to Bear Lake in July. I'm excited for my kids to grow up going here too. Angela and her family got to come and visit us while we were there as well, which seemed to be a really great experience for everyone involved. Jayson's family loved getting to chat with them.

Grandpa Kim often gets too nervous to hold babies, so this had to be documented.

It's so crazy how tiny she looks in this swing compared with how she looks in it over Labor Day.

Her first 4th of July!

She wasn't entirely sure about being in the cold lake at first, but she warmed up to the idea. Also, her first time touching a lake!

There's a place that sells dole whips in Garden City, so my life just got really awesome.

Is this not the sweetest?! 

We got a new nephew! We're excited for Jane to have a cousin so close in age. 

I really wanted to write an entire blog post about the mountains and how they make me nostalgic for my childhood and how I went to Marni's cabin with her while she was in Utah and it was possibly one of my favorite things I've done in a long time. And I failed to take a single picture. And I wanted to tell you how much I love quakies. And all I want is to go to the mountains and turn off my phone and be disconnected for like a month. And live amount the quakies. So, maybe I'll write that post sometime. But I'm not making any promises. For now I'll leave you with these pictures of our hike to Cecret Lake on the 24th of July, which was stunning.

Jane's face!

And then Jane turned 5 months. I think 5 months was probably the time she was the most bald. 

We got to go to St. George at the beginning of August because Jana, Jayson's youngest sibling, went through the St. George Temple with her fiance. It was a great time! Although, Jane didn't love the drive. We're pretty sure she gets car sick because she threw up both going there and going home.

I know this is blurry, but this is the best picture of this facial expression I've gotten to date. She make sit all of the time and we affectionately refer to it as the "Saddest Face in the World" face. I think it's so cute how her bottom lip curls in two places like that. 

 And then Jana and Kaleb got married! The wedding was so lovely.

Like mother like daughter?

The coolest cakes around.

This is the first time she sat up by herself!

She was snuggling me, so it had to be documented.

She's obsessed with her daddy.

Jane turned 6 months! Six months is so bitter sweet. The first year is half over! It can't be. That's just crazy.

Obsessed.

Those eyes.

Do you see the hair? It's finally started growing in again!

Standing is her favorite. All the day long.

See! hair!

I die.

Jane is miss independent these days. She'll only tolerate the wrap half of the time now and we were at Costco a couple of weeks ago and she just wouldn't have it any longer, but I can't possibly carry her and push that cart full of a billion pounds of groceries, so she went in the cart. I was pretty sad about it because for some reason this was the biggest moment of "my baby is growing up too fast" that I've ever had. But, she was obviously really happy about it.

 And then we went to Bear Lake again. It was a lot colder this time, but still so fun!

Can you even believe how much smaller she was in this swing over the 4th?!

This was her first time in a stroller without using the car seat in it. And we went to the Flag Field, which I love. She loves the stroller too. Miss Independent I tell you. I so wish I could post pictures of the little guy because I got such cute ones of them at this flag field. He pushed Jane's stroller for like ten minutes by himself. It was the cutest.

And so, I guess that brings you to date with our current lives, except for the exceptionally wonderful week we had last week, which needs its own post for sure.