Lately

We have been coasting along lately. Keeping busy with baby, gardening, friends, and the general "soak up the sun" summer mentality. My entire nuclear family comes Saturday for a visit. I am looking forward to this visit. Neither of my brothers have been to SLC. I am excited to show them around. We have rented a place in Park City for a few days since our house is just a little too small for nine adults, two infants, and a dog for several days.

baby bumbo time

best model pose

sleeping sweet cheeks

Eden continues to grow. She has the funniest hairline and the best smile. We love her more and more every day. Our lives are completely different now. We are slowly being transformed into parents. It is a good thing. Eden will be able to meet her cousin, Isabel, on Saturday. I never had cousins my age so I am so excited for her to have a girl cousin only a few months older than her. It is just a shame they live so far apart!

Accordion lullaby

I think Davis was actually sounding out "Zacchaeus was a Wee Little Man" at this point. We are dredging the recess of our memories for children's songs now. Eden seemed to sort of enjoy this but the accordion is rather loud and not soothing if you are still working on the piece of music.

The largest vegetables ever. Cutest baby ever.

Ingrid among the tomatoes.

little strawberry harvest

vegetable pizza

Salad, all from our yard

We have been gardening up a storm around here. We have so many vegetables we simply have to give a lot of it away. This is by far the best garden we've made in our 5 years of trying. Davis really worked hard on it, I have mostly enjoyed the benefits of his labor. Eden will probably be a weird kid... gardening, accordions, hiking, and things such as these. We kind of hope she is weird :)

Pioneer Day/Pie and Beer Day

I am trying to post semi-often since we are not using Facebook much for baby pictures. We know there are a lot of wonderful people out there who love our baby and want to see her grow up but living far away makes it difficult.

Eating knuckles is her new thing

This past weekend was a big one for Utah. They go all out on celebrating the Mormon pioneer heritage. I have never lived in a state that is so into celebrating it's past. I mean, this stuff is as big or bigger than the 4th of July in most places. There are events periodically throughout the summer for "Days of '47" culminating with July 24, which is Pioneer Day. It marks the day Mormon Pioneers arrived here, July 24 1847. This year we checked out the local parade. I don't have a lot to compare it with, other than Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. It wasn't to that scale by any means (where is the giant floating snoopy?) but some people camped out for TWO nights to get front row seats. That evening there were lots of fireworks. We skipped out on that bit to go to bed. Most native Utahns really love all the celebrations and are so proud of this holiday. There is also the counter-cultural Utah holiday called "Pie and Beer Day" for those who aren't so into the pioneer spirit. We like the enjoy a little bit of both.

This year Davis got off work a little early and we went for a hike up in the Uintas. So our Pioneer/Pie-and-Beer day consisted of the parade (for me and Eden), a hike, and some delicious pies and beverages with friends. Perfect for us!

Fehr Lake

Adventure pup admiring flowers

Adventure babe resting by Shepherd Lake

Sunshine in our eyes!

On Saturday we ran errands and had a date night! A dear friend of ours watched Eden for a couple hours while we went for dinner. It's strange how just two and half months ago, we could go out for dinner whenever we pleased just the two of us. Life is more complicated with the added baby but we definitely would not change it. It has definitely expanded our joy, especially in the little mundane moments that once past unnoticed.

Evening hike

Eden will have to love the outdoors, she already seems to enjoy it :)

After Davis got home from work on Monday, we decided to take a little hike up in the mountains to Cecret Lake. It's short but very pretty. I have no idea why but it seemed like everyone else had the same idea or came to have photos taken. There was quite a few people enjoying the gorgeous early evening light and wildflowers. Can't blame them but we thought Monday would be way less crowded than the weekend! This time we decided to eat burgers and shakes after our hike.

Handsome husband carrying the wee babe

And we saw a moose.

Two months

On the 8th, Eden turned two months. She is still tiny and newborn(ish) but we can definitely see changes in her as she grows and develops. She continues to sleep great at night with short day naps. To see if she was "normal", I googled 30 minute newborn naps the other day. Apparently it isn't unusual and considering how long she goes at night sleeping, she probably sleeps less during the day to make up the feeding times. It's crazy how she just automatically wakes up after 30 minutes. We've done a little bit of hiking, gardening, visiting, and so on. We are enjoying our new life. It's amazing how our love grows daily for her.  Now for a bunch of Eden pictures!

sunny eden

her face  :)

airing out the neck folds

my loves.

a large carrot and a cute baby

Davis' haul of greens (part of it)

Father's Day

A quick post to give Davis' a shout out. It was Father's Day awhile back. He is the best, loving and serving his three gals. We celebrated with burgers, milkshakes, and a hike. We ate then hiked, probably should have done that in reverse.  Rookie mistake.

Mountain man.

little Eden and Davis
(not pictured, spit up.)

6 weeks and some extra thoughts

Eden has reached the 6 weeks mark. It definitely seems like time is flying, though in the daily moments of short naps and constant feedings, time seems to slow. I am happy to report Eden has slept through the night TWICE this week, although not consecutively. I am not anticipating this to become a habit yet. Normally she wakes only once between 2-4am. But there is much still rejoicing in the Ware house over her night sleep. Napping however, she could learn a thing or two. She has very short, unpredictable, and infrequent naps during the day.

happy morning faces

Eden surprises us with her strength. She is quite good at the push up when we are holding her. Also, she is pretty good with her neck and can hold her head up for awhile. She seems more sturdy as she loses that floppy but adorable newborn baby physique.

Ingrid assisting with the challenge of tummy time

Eden has had many visitors in her short life. Griz and Grammie (my parents), Susu (Davis' mom), and Aunt Saysay (Sarah, my sister) have come to love on her. Next weekend we'll have Colorado friends in town for a wedding. It's been busy here!

lots of snuggle time

Becoming a mother has made me begin to examine my own heart more closely. I have desires for the type of lady I hope Eden becomes. But I realize much of who she is shaped by how she is raised and the example set by her parents and the people she spends the most time with. Lately it seems there is increasing violence, hate and brokenness in our world. I'm not debating if things are worse now than they have been in the past. What I am realizing is I carry so much sin unrepentant sin and idolatry in my own heart. I  do not love my neighbors as myself. I fall so short of this.

"And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ ³¹ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 

Mark 12:30-31

I desperately need to see that the problem is in my own heart not just the people who are out there doing what we consider "the bad things".  None of these problems will ever be addressed unless everyone individually recognizes the depth and pervasiveness of sin in their own hearts and asks for repentance and cleansing. I need to do this openly and regularly with a broken and contrite heart asking God to help me see people and the world the way He does. Full of love.  If I desire my children to love and obey the Lord, they need to see that sort of repentance from me. But I don't need to be motivated by the desire to have good children. It's easy to turn this into "just make a habit to act Godly and fake some apologies and wiggle my nose to magically have good kids". I want and need for myself to see the brokenness that is in my heart and cry out for help. I want for my daughter to see this in her own heart as well. I want our family to be built on the hope of Jesus Christ and nothing else. Oh God help us to repent and believe. It is only by your saving grace can we love and live as we ought, enjoying and basking in the freedom you purchases by blood for us.

Disclaimer, I typed most of this one handed (man, I am thankful for learning how to type properly back in the day) while holding a sleeping baby. Eden naps better on people. It's sweet but also really cuts into productive time :). Point is, if there are lots of typos I apologize!

sweet sleeping baby

One Month!

We have made it to the one month mark with little Eden. She is getting chunkier by the day, it seems. She sleeps really well at night but not as well during the day. But we aren't complaining because she usually sleeps from about 10pm to 3am before needing her first feeding and changing.

Just a few baby faces for you :)

We celebrated by going to the botanical gardens on Sunday afternoon. Well, we go there a lot but we always enjoy it. So many delicious flowers in bloom!

fragrance garden
(what we wish our yard looked like)

little family
(minus Ingrid, no doggies allowed- boo)

We are enjoying getting to know her and she us. There are definitely plenty of times where this parenting thing is frustrating. She must sense whenever I am about to eat because that is a guaranteed crying time. I know there will be more joys and challenges ahead. Already I can see how this totally cuts into ones "me time" and forces you to think about other people's needs before your own. 

Happy one month, Eden!