Brynn Eliza

It's been a crazy two weeks, but we've finally got it together enough to post some pictures of Brynn. At some point we'll recap the whole labor story and maybe even get around to telling about our adventure with being hospitalized with breastmilk jaundice two different times. But as for right now, let's just post some braggy pictures of our beautiful daughter.

I always pictured that she would take after Greg, but she sure does look a lot like me.

In the hospital (the original time. You know, to be born)

Home, sweet home. 

Baby mullet: 

I don't know why she sometimes sleeps this way? 

With Mommy:

Hello hello! 

With Daddy: 

Even though I've been looking forward to it for so long, I'm not exactly sure what I expected life with a newborn to be like. It's surreal that she's mine and that she's here to stay. It's wonderful. It's very hard. I've made mistakes. It's been hard to forgive myself. I am so happy and sometimes so afraid. Even though having this baby is different than what I thought it would be, I think this new experience with her and with my family is what we've always wanted. We're learning so much and we're changing in ways that we never could have without her. Like I said, it's crazy that she's mine and that I get to keep her here with me the rest of my life. It's amazing. Hard, but amazing, and that's all I've ever asked for. 

So We Moved to Philadelphia.

People always seem mildly interested/genuinely confused when I try to explain this to them, but Greg's finance job at Johnson and Johnson is in a leadership development program that's designed to give him a lot of different experience in the company. It kind-of-sort-of is supposed to take the place of an MBA, which is cool (no worries though...I have a feeling that there is still a lot of grad school in our future!) 

So the reason I'm telling you all this is because we always knew that living in Jacksonville would only last for a year, and then we would be sent to another JnJ subsidiary company for a year. After that, we go back to Florida. It's confusing, but you know, it's not THAT confusing.

Well anyways, now we live in the suburbs north of Philadelphia. Although we really miss our ward and friends in Jacksonville--and the beach, too--we're kind of loving this whole living in the northeast thing. Seriously, I live in the top floor of a 1930s Dutch Colonial house with original hardwood flooring and a ton of character. It's stinkin' cute. 

Made some cute tie-up curtains for my kitchen as soon as we got settled in: 

You'd think that I would have some cool pictures of downtown Philly or maybe New York or the Jersey Shore or something, but I don't yet. I plan to see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall at some point, but it just hasn't happened in the last three weeks. However, we have found some less intense activities that are still super fun. This past Saturday we took a short little tour of Winterthur, which is a mansion house and gardens that belonged to the Du Pont family across the border in Delaware. Nine floors and hundreds of rooms, all filled with the largest collection of Americana art and artifacts that exists. Yeah, I'm into that sort of thing. All the cool kids are. 

Everyone on the tour was approximately 45 years older than Greg and I. Senior citizens are surprisingly brutal when it comes to jostling people out of their way to get the photos they want. 

Loveliness. 

One of the few full-frontal Heather shots that exists these days. 

FERNS. 

So a list was recently published about the best ice cream places in every state (Reed's Dairy, anyone?) Well, we weren't going to go to Delaware and not go to the best ice cream place in the state. So we went to Woodside Farms and I ate the best chocolate ice cream that has ever graced the tongue of mankind. Also we watched this little bluegrass band and that was pretty cool: 

So now I've been to like 30 US states and have lived in four states in the last few years alone, which I feel like is sort of an accomplishment. Moving is never "easy," but it's a great experience for us, and I love having those kinds of experiences with Greg. When it comes to the big names in exploration, it's like Amerigo Vespucci, Ferdinand Magellan, and Greg and Heather Zollinger. 

Or you know, kind of something like that. 

24 Weeks!

We made it! Today we reached 24 weeks and viability.

I've been counting down to this day since I found out I was pregnant in December. We knew at the beginning of this pregnancy that things could go two ways. I could have a totally normal, healthy pregnancy, or, I could be susceptible to a lot of serious problems. Because of the nature of our past experiences, we had no way of knowing what was going to happen. Sometimes I had a strong feeling that everything was going to be just fine. Sometimes I was scared that I was never going to be able to make it this far. But we did. I know it's still really early and there are still some things that could be difficult. But I also know how big of a milestone this is and I don't think I could describe how lucky I feel.

In general, things are going just about as perfectly as they could. My shortest cervical measurement to date is still the one they took right before they put the stitch in. Every measurement since then has been average or even on the long side. Last week we did an echocardiogram on Baby's heart because her initial NT measurement was a little off, but they didn't find any evidence of heart defects at all. Yay! They told me at that appointment that she weighs around 1 lb, 6 oz. I know it's crazy, but that seems "big" to me.

To celebrate, here's a picture. I sort of have a thing with belly shots. Like, I sort of hate them. BUT my rational side knows that there isn't any reason to. So here goes.

Next stop: 28 weeks and 1000 grams! 

Baby Dress

So, a couple weeks ago I had the idea that now was a really good time to practice sewing, since I actually have a reason to sew stuff right now. For awhile I resisted making stuff for this baby, not because I didn't love her but because it's just scary. But it's important to have some things and I always wanted to be able to approach this pregnancy with optimism. So a couple weeks ago I decided it was time to start sewing.

Here's my finished product! I have to say I'm quite happy about it:

I'm not good at following patterns, and this was a 1985 Butterick. But after a lot of time of staring at some weird pictures and googling some sewing blogs, I got it all figured out--trim, gathered skirt, collar, and all. Go me. Personally I think the little panties are kind of weird. Is it just me, or does the crotch part look a little skimpy? Whatever. 

I even learned how to do buttonholes. Obviously I improved over time: 

One of the hardest parts was gathering the skirt, not because it was complicated, but because my stupid thread kept breaking. Once I did it in sections and stopped pulling so hard, it got easier. The other hard part was figuring out the button placket thing and the self facings on the back, but once I did some searching on youtube it made WAY more sense. I can use single-fold bias tape like a BOSS now: 

I made a little headband with some pretty elastic to match. Hope it doesn't squeeze her head too much. 

It took me kind of a long time to figure everything out and get it done just the way I wanted it. At some point, my mother-in-law's borrowed sewing machine turned into a hat rack. That's okay I guess. Go Round Rock Express. 

How I Understand Easter

I thought tonight that while Greg is at Priesthood session I should study about Easter. Honestly, I haven't done a great job of thinking about it recently and I wanted to change that, even if I'm late. So I pulled up a talk that Elder Oaks gave awhile ago about the Resurrection. The scripture John 14:19 really stuck out to me: "Because I live, ye shall live also." 

This scripture encompasses all the things I believe about Easter and the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It gives me hope as I think about the past and also the future. 

Maybe I need to say here that much of my scripture study right now is very colored by what's going on in our lives. For anyone who didn't know, I'm currently 18 weeks pregnant with a very healthy, very active little girl. Things are great so far. We are happy. We are optimistic. We feel blessed beyond measure. 

But I have to admit that sometimes I'm also a little scared. So as I read about Easter and the life and death of Jesus Christ I was thinking also about our little girl. While I've tried not to think about it too much, I began to wonder how I would handle it if I delivered her too early. It occurred to me that maybe I could ask Heavenly Father to allow her to be born alive so we could be with her in life, even if just for a little while. Then I thought about how beautiful and wonderful it is that God may allow her to be healthy and full-term at birth and she will live with me and Greg and go home with us. That just feels amazing to me. 

This joy and amazement I feel at contemplating her life is the same joy that I can feel for myself and love ones because God has given all of us the incredible gift of life. I mean this for Austin and Daniel too. We all can live together in happiness because of what Christ has done for us. We all have this incredible gift of life because of His sacrifice and love. It really is amazing. Almost too good to be true--but true all the same. 

This is the meaning and purpose of celebrating Easter. Life is beautiful and it is good because of Him. 

"Because I live, ye shall live also." 

There is nothing more true than this. 

Happy Easter. 

Love,

Heather

Et-tot

A little over a week ago, Greg and I did our second round of Disney and spent a day at Epcot, or, as the 4-year-daughter of my good friend calls it, Et-tot.

The first area of Epcot has futuristic rides and is focused a lot on technology. My favorite ride was Test Track, were you design your own car and the ride gives you your ratings as you drive around. The schnazzy racecar that Greg and I designed definitely bested the truck-like invention of the small children who sat in front of us. Perhaps I should not have gloated, but I sort of did. 

The next part of Epcot is a bunch of buildings and rides and shows and restaurants that showcase countries from around the world, all situated around a lake. All of the workers at the country stations are actually native to the country in question. It was fun to interact with them. 

Inside the ancient Mayan temple in Mexico: 

Outside in front of the entrance:

We contemplated Greg's heritage as we meandered through Norway. Here's a shout-out to you, Iselin. You should come work in Florida. 

China: 

Italy (I think): 

Morocco, the abode of Aladdin and Jasmine. The tiled courtyards actually reminded Greg of Spain: 

Japan: 

Another fun day at Disney, all in all. The architecture really reminded Greg and I how much we want to travel some day. We got lucky and were just in the right place at the right time to watch a lot of the street shows they put on. There was a Chinese acrobat and dance company that was really amazing and fun to watch, and a renaissance Italian flag-waving show, which was more entertaining than it sounds, and Japanese drummers and other stuff I'm sure I've forgotten. 

There was only one disappointment...there are food booths set up around the lake, and we didn't bring a lot of other food with us because we thought we could get a good meal from taste-testing a few of the $3 plates from a bunch of different countries. We made the mistake of paying $6.50 for a few bites of lamb doused in a super weird mint pesto and crushed up potato chips, courtesy of Australia. I mean, I like Australians as much as anybody, but we were kind of disillusioned after that. We ended up giving up on the food carts and ate lunch in China. 

Lunch in China. No big deal. 

Feliz Cumple, Heather

So I've been waiting a good couple of months to say I'm 24. Twenty-four just sounds WAYYY better than 23, you know?

I did this for my birthday:

Yeah. Went to the ocean to go "running." Mostly I just sat around and thought about how pleasant the beach is. This is your cue to be enormously jealous. 

^ This meanie crab attacked me though, so be grateful you missed out on that. 

Greg told me he's a really good wrapper. After a few birthdays, I'm not entirely convinced. They look a little lumpy, right? The reason why is because Greg tries to disguise all his presents. My shoes were wrapped up in an old Carhartt sweatshirt and my vase was in a shoe box that wasn't closed all the way. Whatever. I'm cool with that. 

If Greg has questionable wrapping skills, his shoe shopping skills are top notch. Better than mine, actually. He picked these out all by himself. Super cute, right? Look at that plaid on the sides. All I told them him was that I needed sturdy, cute-ish shoes that I could wear in the Florida rain. And now I have my first pair of Sperry's. Score, Greg. Score. 

I also got this pitcher. I always like looking at pitchers. I just think a nice vase with good lines and a good shape with flowers in it is just fresh and lovely. But I never buy them for myself. It was a fun surprise present. My husband has a good fashion sense, I'm realizing. 

What birthday is complete without Reese's as a present? No birthday. 

The "cake" was a little special this year. Normally I'm a birthday cake purist. No other dessert will do. And since high school I've typically made my cake myself just for quality control purposes (no offense, general family members who have made cake for my birthday). This year I really felt like instead of cake I just wanted a fatty cheesecake of some sort. So I pulled out my trusty Hershey's cookbook and did a special dark three layer chocolate cheesecake. 

Divine, my friends. DIVINE. 

Happy birthday. To me.