Forgive me for not posting tons of baby pictures and videos for the past few weeks. Things have been... rough.

Who would have thought that the easiest part of this whole parenting thing was the baby!?! Charlotte has proven to be the best baby ever, and thank goodness because with everything I've gone through in the past two months, I don't know if I could have handled a baby with acid reflux, colic, or any other major issues. Heavenly Father sure did bless us in that regard.

I won't go too deep into my struggles for the past two months. Poor Ander has had to deal with me talking about it all the time, not to mention giving me his tired shoulder to cry on when I had meltdowns. To make a long story short, I've had to recover from two breast infections, during which I was on a very intense pumping schedule which left me with literally no sleep. I was tired, cranky, in pain, and almost constantly attached to my pump, so add a newborn baby to that equation and I was a mess. Good thing I married an amazing man, who got up with the baby all night long so I could pump every three hours.

Anyway.

The good news is that I am officially OFF the pump! So I get to sleep through the night with Ander and Charlotte, getting at least seven hours. It's amazing what a difference a good night's sleep makes. I feel much better and things are definitely looking up!

Those are the reasons I took a little hiatus from blogging about Charlotte... I felt that if I did post anything it would just be a huge angry rant about how miserable I was and how my life sucked and I felt like I couldn't even enjoy my baby girl. So I wanted to wait until things calmed down before I posted so I could post happier things!

On to happier things! (There are quite a few!)

Charlotte's baby blessing was wonderful! The whole family came out for it, and I could not have asked for a better visit from them all! And Charlotte didn't make a peep during her blessing, which was a huge relief. I took an audio recording of the blessing and typed it all up so I can put it in her baby book. (What would we do without technology?!) But my absolute favorite thing about that day was this gem of a photo that Katie snapped:

She clearly didn't have time for peasants on her blessing day.

She looked so darling in her BEAUTIFUL blessing dress that Ander's mom Crystal made for her. The whole thing went off without a hitch!

That's Ander's mom Crystal, my sister Katie, my mom, my brother Joe, my dad, and my step-mom Colleen. What a good looking group!

It was a lovely, lovely day! Also made extra lovely by the attendance of my good friend Michelle and Ander's good friend Jeff. They came to see Charlotte be blessed and we were so appreciative.

Having all of the family here was so good for me, and it was definitely good for Charlotte. I believe she grew quite a bit in those days that they were here. And it was so nice having so much help. I could pump whenever I needed to, because there was always someone there to feed, change, or burp her. How nice to have family around!

And speaking of family, I will now fill this post with tons of wonderful family photos from a great visit!

A HUGE thank you to all of my lovely family who used their time and money to come out and visit us for such a special occasion. It meant so much to us!!!