when i was growing up, it was annoying that my parents were so overprotective. and yes i thought they obviously have good reason to be paranoid about my where-abouts every second of my days, since i was doing the very things they were afraid of behind their back all along. but it still seemed extreme. they didn't want me dating really at all in high school, i couldn't hang out with "bad" kids...pretty much anyone who didnt go to our church wasn't a good influence on me.  i needed to eat my wheaties every morning.. and i had to call them when i got to any and every destination! it seemed outlandish! i knew someday when i would be a parent that i would most likely be just like them, but i hoped i wouldn't be.
now that dahlia is here, i am already concerned about who she will want to date and who her friends will be and what clothes or music she'll be into. i find myself thinking of ways that we can subtly convince her that she doesnt need to like boys until shes at least in her 30's.... and how we can shape her into a female version of Jesus! i know that sounds absurd, but i'm realizing that that is what i am expecting us to accomplish. i know that that is impossible, and she'll never live up to that, but something inside me really hopes that we can raise a child better than anyone else. i  need to stop having these expectations of us,and just do our best to raise a godly child and not think of ourselves as failures if she ends up making a few bad decisions in her lifetime! because she is only human after all. and so are we(=
furthermore she is only 2 months old! there is still plenty of time to strategize (=

A Sunday not too long ago was a glorious one for us. Did we take a long drive through the country side? No. Did we attend a lovely dinner party with exciting people? No again. Did we take a leisurely walk through one of Portland's many fine parks? Sadly no. All we did was go to Red Robin and Target, and we loved every minute of it. Gwen's parents came over and after we fed Dahlia we left her behind. For the first time in almost seven weeks we went out by ourselves. It was only for two hours, but it was very nice.
    The highlights include, eating a little too fast, looking at shoes, buying toilet paper and taking way too long to park. The parking patience did yield an excellent spot though. For our next date we're thinking of going to Value Village and possibly even using the Starbucks gift card that we got for Christmas.

we do like being parents very much! it's weird to watch her. she's just this miniature person, all the same parts, just tiny! and every day she gets bigger and smarter... and louder! we took her shopping today for the first time. we haven't been out since she was about 3 weeks old. today we took her to the lactation clinic so they could weigh her again, just to make sure that she is gaining sufficient weight. she weighs 8lbs 5 oz! which is exactly what she should weigh! we've been a little concerned since shes been spitting up so much lately so we've had to cut back on how long we feed her. but it looks like shes doing fine and dandy! while we were out today, she slept for an hour and a half! she never sleeps that long at home during the day! i guess we will put her in the car seat when she cries from now on(=
we're a good team..... jacquelyn feeds her, changes her and rocks her to sleep.... and justin changes the channel! its fair really (=

its like disco fever...... only no john travolta(=
no not really. its like the flu, but only breastfeeding women get it. its not contagious and doesnt hurt the baby... it just hurts me. i had it for a few days this past week. it made taking care of dahlia a little harder. i had chills and an achy body, and felt fatigued... no fun! nothings harder than getting up in the middle of the night three times a night, except getting up when youre sick! the best thing i could do was feed her often and sleep  a lot.. which is all i do anyways(=
i am fine now! well as fine as i can be(= she actually slept 3 solid hours last night... wooohooo!!!!

For the first few weeks Dahlia was more interested in sleeping than anything else, but now it seems as though she has left that stage. For the last week, she has been a little more temperamental. My mother says shes a lot like I was. And I was pretty demanding at her age, more than my other siblings at least (= Let's just say, she likes to cry. It's not like she cries for 24 hours, it's more like 12. She usually stops around 1:30 in the morning. She starts back up around noon the next day. This happens only after I feed her, and continues until almost the next feeding. We thought maybe she was having lots of gas, or maybe it was something I was eating, or maybe she was still hungry. Well we called the doctor on friday and she said it sounded like acid reflux (heart burn). We were a little relieved to hear there was a possible solution. So we picked up the medicine she prescribed. We thought maybe it would take a little time to kick in, but it shouldn't take a couple days. So now we're left to wait it out. What can we say, she's a crier.  The hardest thing is watching her scream and not being able to fix it. She makes the saddest little whimpers, that make me want to cry. And sometimes I do, because I'm so exhausted that my emotions are just a little bit strained.