Sunday, July 13, 2014

Our first month with Baby Cecily!

Cecily is 1 month old! She has been the most precious, perfect angel. She sleeps 4-6 hours at a time, eats well, and calms down quickly. What more could we ask for in a teeny baby?! And she is absolutely beautiful. We feel so blessed to have this sweetheart in our family. She is just a little piece of heaven in our home.

We have taken her everywhere! Tons of restaurants and stores, temple square, a wedding, a parade, the pool, a baby shower... she just goes with the flow! She has met so many people! Here are a million pictures of our past few weeks together!

This face!

GG (my mom's mom, Gramma Dot) visited for a whole week! Aunt Becky came too! 


Cecily in her blessing dress. Cecily was blessed by her daddy on June 29. 
Photo by Bre Welch

If you look closely, you can see Cecily in the baby wrap. My first outing alone with my girls was to Einstein's Bagels... which coincidentally was also where Chris and I went on our first "date" after his mission. :)

Cecily and her 2 girl cousins on Chris's side. Baby Caroline (4 months) and Londyn (almost 8). They live in Minnesota now, but we got to spend some good cousin time together. We loved visiting with these guys, their brother Jackson (almost 5), and their parents!! 

Granddad (my dad) came for a long weekend! Come back soon Dad!! 

We just had to put Cecily in the doll cradle once. Cate loved it. Cecily did not.

This girl loves her Granddad.


My girls and I took a stroll around Temple Square with GG, Liz, and my mom.

Liz took this picture. Do I have the cutest girl or what?! 

Cate... babysitting?

Cecily and Katie on Cecily's blessing day. We did the blessing at Chris's parents' house instead of at church. Baby blessings usually happen the first Sunday of the month, but our families were in town the week of Sunday, June 29, so we did it at home that day. It was beautiful and so special. Chris's brother Cody took lots of family photos. Chris's whole family was there, and my parents, grandparents, and lots of extended family were there, and a few of our friends were there, too! 

Cece and Grammy

Mama and Cecily selfie right before her blessing.

Jackson, Charlie, Cecily, Cate, Londyn, Caroline, and Carson. 
All the Coonradt grandchildren!! 


Julie Anne, Christina Julianne, and Cecily Julianne.
Clearly we're smiling at someone else... I hope someone has this photo at a better angle haha.

Granddad and Cate at Coldstone. Love all around.

Nan's last day in town was July 4. As per tradition, we attended the Boy Scout Pancake Breakfast in the morning, followed by the Park City 4th of July Parade, or as I like to call it, the Park City Dog Walkers and Belly Dancers Parade. We had lunch together, and then we had to say goodbye to Nan. Chris had to work, so I took the girls and met Nana and Papa (Chris's parents) at the pool.


(Sorry Future Cate, I know this isn't a very ladylike pose.)
Cate was SO CUTE in her sun hat and swim vest. She floated all by herself for the first time! Brave girl. And she just loved being in the pool with Papa. So cute. SO CUTE. 

Nana was a good sport to snuggle this girl when she zonked out after swimming.

Cate loves, LOVES her baby.

Another one from July 4th.

The redness on her eyelids are called capillary malformations... a nicer term is "angel kisses". They'll likely be there for a couple years. 

I love having a summer newborn- bare feet!



I am just in love with these bright eyes!

4 weeks old here!

Up in the middle of the night. Don't even care.

Cate's first "ponytail"!! It lasted about 2 seconds. It was kind of cheaty with those clippies anyway. We'll try again later.

The crossy eyes, the leg chub, the baby lips. I just love this baby girl!

Cece's first baby shower, for my friend from college, Allyson, who is expecting a girl in about 6 weeks!


And one of Cate in the bathtub. Because she's so stinking cute!


It is so difficult to get anywhere on time, and my diaper bag is so heavy and always missing something important, but this has been the best month of my life. Chris and I are loving being parents of 2! There is so much cuteness in our house we can hardly stand it!
  





Saturday, July 12, 2014

Katie and Derek's Wedding

Last weekend, I had the privilege of being the matron of honor in my dear friend Katie's wedding. Cate was her flower girl, too! Katie has had a whirlwind, multi-state romance! She and her husband, Derek, were both working in Arkansas and met at a concert there. They both happened to have attended school in Utah for their undergraduate degrees. I met Katie at the University of Utah, and we were pledge sisters in Kappa Kappa Gamma! Derek went to a different school.... Derek is from Utah, and Katie is from Pennsylvania. While they were dating, Derek accepted a new job in Seattle and moved. So they dated and planned their wedding from Arkansas, Utah, Pennsylvania, and Washington.

Katie was the most incredible bride. She is so, so talented. She made her wedding dress! And 5 bridesmaid dresses! She designed the invitations! She made the cake! And she took care of a million perfect, Pinterest-worthy, thoughtful details beautifully as well.

Katie and Derek were sealed in the Mount Timpanogos Temple on July 5, 2014, and had a beautiful reception in Alpine that night! Katie is the most patriotic woman I've ever met, so I love that this is her anniversary. Also, her wedding colors were light blue and red... Red for the Utes, and blue for Kappa. Not blue for another school.

And I know these pictures are mostly from Instagram, but that's what I have!

We had a bridesmaids' breakfast at my in-laws' house the morning of Katie's wedding. Then we all did our hair and makeup together. It was the most gorgeous day outside, and my in-laws have the most spectacular view of Park City. It was delightful!

Rae (another Kappa bridesmaid!) and I looking particularly cute!

Outside the temple. Woohoo!! 

Old friends!

Katie hugging her mom while Derek hugs his dad. I love this moment!

It was about a million degrees outside. 
Despite our best efforts, Cate got a sunburn from 4th of July festivities the day before, too. 

 Cate's flower girl dress was so special. 
Katie was a flower girl when she was 3 years old, and her mother made this dress for her.

Cecily and me hanging out outside the temple.

The garter toss! He threw it attached to that football. Unrelated- Katie and I attended the most recent Utah/BYU game together. Ask Derek who won that game!

 Cate's favorite part of the night was probably this popsicle. 
We made her change out of her flower girl dress before she could eat it! 

Here's a picture (stolen from Haley, thanks!) of Cate in her flower girl role during Katie and Derek's ring ceremony. She was PERFECT! So precious. Throw a handful of petals, take a few steps, repeat, just like we practiced. She ran out of petals about halfway down the aisle. She saved one petal in her hand, walked the rest of the way down the aisle, and meticulously placed it on the ground exactly where Katie would stand. I LOVE that she did that. I hope someone got it on video.

Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Kirkland! Lots of love!



Cecily's Newborn Photos

Right before Cate was born, a photographer friend of mine, Rigel Jackson, asked if Chris and I would be interested in newborn photos. She wanted to expand her portfolio to include newborn photography. We absolutely love the photos she took of Cate and of our new little family. Here's a link to see Cate's 1 week photos!

Coincidentally, we ended up in a similar situation with Cecily's newborn photos! I had seen excellent engagement photography by my friend Bre Welch from high school and asked her if she'd be available to do Cecily's newborn photos. She said she'd love to as long as I didn't mind that she hadn't really done newborn photography. :) We were happy to play the guinea pigs once more, and again we loved the photos! We are so lucky to know such talented people and to have these gorgeous faces captured so beautifully.

Here is our little family on June 23, 2014. Cecily was 12 days old, and Cate was 28 months old.

 These photos of Cate were taken while I was feeding Cecily. Bonus!! Thanks Bre! I adore them.
 My first baby. She is so big and beautiful. 



 ^^ My favorite!!










 I told you she smiles!



This precious face!! 



Aw man, looking at this a few weeks later, I can tell she's definitely lost some of that cute hair already. 



Cece in her blessing dress... LOVE!! 


One last thing... my girls make identical grouch faces! Haha!

Cecily, June 2014, and Cate, February 2012


Ok ok one more thing... I am so, so happy to have both of these photos. 
Chris and I are so in love with our baby girls.

Cecily, June 2014, and Cate, February 2012