Cinnamon Rolls

So I am obsessed with this cinnamon roll recipe and encourage anyone who likes to make bread or eat cinnamon rolls to make it. Amelia loves to help me and this time, I let her lick the gooey cinnamon bowl clean, mainly to keep her from licking the bread dough!! They are best just baked and then just freeze the extras instead of saving the dough in the fridge. 30 seconds in defrost and 30 seconds cooked in the microwave and they are just as if they were fresh out of the oven. mmmmm.

Grandma

We had the pleasure of Philip's mom coming for a few days to visit us. We were able to go to the zoo and just enjoy each others company. Amelia was a little shy at first, but soon warmed up and by the time she left, Amelia was expecting Grandma to be home every time we came back to the house. She had fun feeding her grapes and snitching cinnamon rolls from her and basically showing off in every way. I'm sure Ben enjoyed being held all day, a luxury he doesn't really get being the second.

"what too, brother" (=love you, brother)

Amelia is a very loving sister. She gets very concerned if Ben cries. She asks to hold him every day and gives him lots of hugs and kisses. One day I needed to go outside for a minute and asked her if she wanted to come. She looked at me and furrowed her brow and said, "momma...watch brother" and walked over to Ben to let me know she was going to stay and look after him. It was so cute because she never turns down the chance to go outside. She loves to point out all of his body parts including his chin and elbows and count his fingers and toes. The very fashion conscious Amelia makes sure to let him know how cute he is when his outfit is changed and makes sure the blanket he is wrapped in is soft enough.

Philip in Montreal

Well, I survived Philip leaving me for 3 days with a 1 week old baby and a toddler while he went to Montreal for "work". I'm not sure why I thought this would be a good idea, but it worked out and he had a good time. Luckily, I had meals from ladies in the ward, so I could lounge around and catch up on sleep. I think Amelia missed him most and insisted that we "call daddy" multiple times a day, and one morning even requested nicely, "more daddy, please".

We're home

On Friday, we came home. Naomi and my neighbor Bekah made a welcome home sign. Naomi and I decided to go to the beach one last time before she headed back to landlocked and somewhat cold South Dakota. Amelia had fun smothering Ben with kisses and dumping sand near him. Ben did great staying all snuggled up and out of the sun. Yes, I know some might be wagging their fingers at me for taking a 2 day old baby to the beach, but it was just what we all needed to relax and start fresh after being cooped up for the last 2 days.

Why is naming a baby so hard????

Philip and I had been toying with the names Benjamin and Frederick long before he was born and just couldn't decide which one fit him best. About 24 hours after he was born, I had to fill out the birth certificate info and had to make the decision. I chose Benjamin Joseph, much to Philip's disappointment, but he was very accommodating. A few hours later, when Philip came for a visit, he proposed we change the middle name to Frederick so we could use both the names. Both of loved it so much, I called the office and had it changed. So it is officially Benjamin Frederick Bagley. My brother Jared pointed out that he will dread filling out scantrons in school.

It's a Boy

I think all of you know, we had our little boy on Wednesday, July 9 at 11:49am. He was 7 pounds 5 ounces and 20 inches long. He has some hair, but he already has a receding hairline. Labor and delivery was unbelievably fast and went very well. He had the cord wrapped pretty tightly around his neck, but within a minute or so of nurses rubbing and squeegeeing, he started to cry and he has been fine ever since. I feel like I gave birth months ago and can't believe it's just been a few days. (Sorry to those who do not share this type of experience. I am not trying to brag, I am just so amazed at what a better birth this was than Amelia's)