Valentine's Day & Indi's Photos

Trent surprised me with take-out chinese & a gift certif for a pedicure for Valentine's Day. It was different being at home & not going away for the weekend, but still super special. We loved watching Tait use his Jr chopsticks from Sally & Abby ( :  He was eating about 3 grains of rice at a time with those, so supper took a while.

Indigo was in a super cute mood last weekend, so i tried to snap some shots. A couple cute ones, lots of outtakes:

So indignant! "Enough, Mom!"

so smiley ( : made up for all the messes that occur when you try to take pics of a nakey baby

she was exhausted afterwards & more than happy to cuddle. apparently posing & looking cute is hard work!

Someday I hope to use the cuter photos for birth announcements & TY cards. We'll see what happens ( :

for the grandpas

Dad & Dana, check out Indigo's shirt ( : She's growing so fast I didn't know if you'd get to see it before she grew out of it. Funny thing is, I think an aunt bought her the grandpa shirt ( thanks steph)!

Attack of the Flower Lady & Girdles

"Attack of the Flower Lady" is what Trent said when he read my last blog post ( : That is because I am not a flower expert & have been known to get my plants mixed up. One time I was out flower shopping & I convinced the couple next to me to buy a bunch of Creeping Phlox because "they bloomed great all summer in my yard!" When I told trent later, he informed me that i had them confused with Dianthus, and the Phlox bloom once for a week then are done! Oops. The flower know-it-all knows little.

Indigo Plant from http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/prairie/plantx/bl_indigox.htm

All that to say, I have a correction from my last blog post! Wild Baptisia does not bloom all summer! It only blooms part of the spring/summer! My landscaper husband felt it was essential that my vast readership not be misinformed ( : Never mind (I am 85% positive) that my landscaper husband misinformed me about how long the Wild Baptisia bloom-that is an argument for another day and another place!

In other news, a certain Hungarian friend of mine instructed me that it is only proper to "tie up" my belly after birth so that I am not left with stretched out skin like Octo-Mom. Because I have a pretty good body image I did not boot her from my house, even though it was only 4 days after Indigo's birth. She was shocked to hear that I had NO plans to wear a girdle or corset & informed me that in Hungary the ladies all did this because Queen Maria Theresa always wore a girdle after birth, and she had 16 kids & a small waist circumference.

Of course, I had to look up a picture of Queen Maria Theresa:

Personally, I don't think the girdle helped much, do you?

Courtesy of Wikipedia

This one's a little better:

Courtesy of Wikipedia

Hhmm...so, to girdle or not to girdle?

After feeling uncomfortable for the last 7 months, I don't plan to purposefully put myself through any more torture, but i guess if i have 16 kids i'll have to consider it ( :

Indigo Joy joy joy

Wow, if things would've gone according to my due date I'd still be prego with 1 week to go! Dread thought, glad I'm not, glad for the little bundle of life sleeping in our room. It was so special to have Trent home with me last week too.

Should've known the baby would come early! All the signs were pointing to it:
---Trent kept drinking my "Mother's Milk" lactation tea
---Tait kept obsessing about whether his baby armidillo should be in or out of it's mother's tummy (his mother had a zippered pouch for the baby, which i think would be quite handy for easy deliveries)
---I was in full-blown nesting status, trying to cram in social time last minute & do things that may or may not have been essential i.e. stock up on pitas at the discount bread store...
---There was drama Sunday night as I suddenly had last-minute qualms about what we should name her. This was resolved Monday am between contractions on the way to the hospital ( :

Isn't her little ruffle-butt just the cutest? The tutu with leggings was the only thing I'd bought so far...

 Also, here's a copy of the email we sent our grandparents with their "Verse of the Week" that explains how we decided on our name:

Many people have asked us where we got ideas for the name. First of all, we just liked it ( : After we thought more about it, here were some ideas:

-Trent wanted a flower name for our girl, but not a flower that bloomed & died quickly. So, one idea was the Wild Baptisia (False Indigo plant) that blooms brilliantly with indigo-colored flowers all summer
-Indigo is a blue-purple color that always reminded mandy of royalty, majesty and heaven. It was the color of the tabernacle curtain in the bible, and in Exodus 24 we read that when Moses, Aaron & the elders saw the Lord on his throne, his feet rested on a pavement of beautiful blue.
-Indigo is a dye or permanent, hence with the middle name it means "permanent" joy.