Blessing

On Easter Sunday, we were able to bless our sweet baby Jasmine. My mom made her the most beautiful dress to wear. (For more on why we do this see here.)

Her aunt Sharon and cousin Hayliegh sent her this beautiful bracelet to wear with her beautiful dress.

The dress... my mom did such an amazing job. She is so talented!

We felt very blessed to have so many people come out to support our little family. The Ridges...

All of the grandparents and great-grandparents from my side of the family...

Patrick's family including his grandma who came all the way from Utah...

And of course all of my brothers and sisters (even the Arizona ones) and little Maddie (we missed you Gwynne) including our future brother-in-law Bryant...

And one last picture of our girl in her beautiful dress with her uncle Derrick. We truly are blessed to have such a loving and supportive family.

Spring Break

This last week, Patrick was on Spring Break from school. It was a much needed break. He had a really tough course load this last quarter on top of having a baby shortly before finals. So, we decided to head out of town for the week and go to one of our favorite places - Solvang. It is a small town near the Central Coast of Southern California.

On Tuesday we drove up to San Luis Obispo to spend the day with our friends John and Amy Brown and their cute family. They have two little boys and a sweet baby girl who was born one week before ours. We hung out, ate lunch, and went on a nature walk. We had a great time with them.

On Wednesday, we hung around town and did some shopping. Later in the day we hiked up to a waterfall that is nearby.


On Thursday, we drove up to San Simeon and did the garden tour at Hearst Castle. This was the only tour that I had not gone on yet. The grounds are beautiful and we could not have asked for better weather that day.


On Friday, we went out to Monty Robert's horse ranch and did a little self guided tour. For those of you who don't know, Monty is also known as "The Horse Whisperer", some of you may have read the book or seen the movie. He has a beautiful ranch and it was a very peaceful place. Later that day we did a little tour of the mission there in Solvang.

A few baby shots... Jasmine all dressed up for a dip in the hot tub. Her cousin Maddie sent her this swimsuit once she grew out of it.

Our big girl sitting up so big and tall... she has changed so much in the last month.

Saturday we headed home. We felt so lucky to be able to enjoy one another's company and go on our first official family vacation. Jasmine did incredibly well and didn't seem to mind being hauled all over one bit. We look forward to more trips like these in the future.

One Month

I can't believe that our darling baby girl has already been with us for 4 weeks. It has flown by! She has changed so much already. Her cheeks are getting so chubby and she is getting a double chin. Her legs are filling out and she has already grown longer, I just know it. We have been working on trying some new things with her and some have been better received than others.

She will go in her swing... as long as she is happy. She originally only spent 5 mins in it before crying, but now she can stay in for more like 15 - 20 minutes - long enough for me to take a shower.

She isn't a big fan of pacifiers. We have tried 4 different kinds now, but with no luck. She is already showing signs of being a very independent girl. She insists on trying to help hold her bottle.

She is starting to smile. I have tried to catch a good one on camera, but it is hard. Here are a few... it cracks me up how different they all are.

She is starting to lock onto objects better with her eyes and will track them back and forth. She loves to look at the light outside. She really seems to enjoy being outside in general. We go on walks almost every day and have taken her on a couple of hikes, and she seems happy as can be. On that note, she loves her Baby Bjorn - or we love her Baby Bjorn. It is a baby carrier, where she lays against the front of you. She can spend hours in it and won't fuss, because she is close to her mom or dad.

She also finally got to meet her cousin Maddie. Maddie is about 7 months older and will be able to teach Jasmine so many things. I imagine they may also get into some trouble together too, but what are cousins for? Maddie seemed so happy and excited to meet her first Milloy cousin.

I saved the best for last. She seems to have her days and nights straightened out for the most part. And as of the last few nights, she will sleep for a 3 - 4 hour stretch, which means a much happier and more well rested mom. We love her so much and are so grateful to have her with us. It feels like she has always been ours, and we are just grateful she is finally here!

Hope everyone had a great St. Patty's Day...

In honor of her dad's favorite holiday, we got all dressed up for St. Patrick's Day. As you can tell, our little miss wasn't all that into it. But she sure looked cute!

P.S. A big happy birthday to her uncle Brandon, her Grandma Francis, and her aunt Jennell!

P.S.S. Yes, I realize all of our pictures are blurry. After arriving at the hospital for Jasmine's delivery, we realized our camera has some kind of issue, causing nearly every picture to have this lovely haze. We are going to bite the bullet and buy a new one this weekend.

She's here... finally!

And she was definitely worth the wait!

The room...

So I have gotten a few requests to see a preview of the baby's room. It is a work in progress, but is getting close to being finished. It is tiny and I am amazed at how much we have squeezed into that little room. I guess you could describe it as pink and green, with ladybugs and dragon flies. We just wanted a fun space for our little girl.

The changing table/dresser...

The crib and some decorations, we're not done with this wall yet.

This is her little bookcase/dresser/organizer of all things baby. It actually has worked out so much better than we imagined it would.

This is my favorite part of the room - the green rocker/glider. I got it on way clearance after calling every Toys R Us and Babies R Us in Southern California and then driving a good distance to pick it up, but it was all worth it once I got it home and put it together.

As you can see, we are ready for her to join us here in the outside world. The room is ready, her clothes are washed, and my bag is packed for the hospital. I am due on Saturday and am really looking forward to not being pregnant anymore. Any tips... what worked for you... how do I encourage this girl to come on out?

It's a miracle...

We are starting 2009 off right - I have already accomplished my one and only resolution. Patrick and I finally have the internet at our house. It's about time! Now I have no excuse. Going forward, I should be better about updating this blog - for real.

Since last we talked... We spent Christmas with family and really enjoyed ourselves. Patrick and I both had that aweful cold that is going around, but we are both finally over it. This last weekend we went to Arizona to hang out with Brandon, Kim, Maddie, and Laura and we had a blast. Patrick started school on Monday; he has got a pretty full schedule this quarter. We are going to Childbirth Classes every Thursday night for the month of January - they're not as bad as I imagined they would be. And we have 45 days until our little girl is due to make her arrival. In the next two and a half weeks I have 3 baby showers coming up and I couldn't be more excited!! Since so many of you have requested it, I've decided to go ahead and grow a massive baby belly for your viewing pleasure at the showers. Aren't I kind!?! I will post pictures... one of these days.

We are so excited about 2009 and all of the exciting new things it is going to bring for our family! Happy New Year!