February

My parents and my sister Janice and her family came to visit the first week of February. That was a lot of fun. My nephew, Cooper, is so cute to watch as he explores everything. We took Natalee to the park for the first time and she loved swinging on a swing. Us girls (My sisters and mom) had a nice evening out at the Melting Pot this past Saturday. It was very nice to have a relaxing meal out without any kids. Some of the guys ordered pizza and watched the kids at home.

Everything else is still the same here. Natalee is still a very happy baby. She has been trying all kinds of new baby food. She sleeps all night which makes her parents very happy!!

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2010

Wow, were are now in year 2010.  I can't believe it.  

Today I worked in the pharmacy and almost all of the customers came in with new insurance cards.  What a pain that was.  Why do most insurances have to change at the start of the year?  

2009 was a great year for our family.  Of course the number 1 reason being Natalee.  We have been blessed with good jobs and we have been pretty healthy.  We can't complain too much.  We are hoping to travel more this next year since we didn't really go anywhere in 2009.  

This was Natalee's first Christmas and lets just say she was spoiled.  I bought her lots of clothes and Zak bought her lots of toys.  It was pretty fun opening the presents for her.  She fell asleep shortly after we started.  Natalee is doing very well.  She is growing like a weed and is already 18 lbs.  She is getting quite heavy to carry around. We just ordered her a new carseat since her infant seat only goes up to 22 lbs.  She is usually a really happy baby that used to sleep well. Lately she has been teething and has a cold and she isn't sleeping very good.  I can't wait until she feels better so we can all sleep better.  She is starting to get sad when Zak or I leave the room which is kinda sweet and kinda annoying. 

We also started Natalee on rice cereal recently which she does really good with.  She is so cute when she opens up her mouth wide.  She rolls around on the floor quite a bit but she isn't close to crawling yet.  Which I'm totally fine with.

My parents came to visit us for Christmas which was nice.  We made lots of goodies and had a good time playing games.  

I guess that is about all for this month.

Joleen 

December

It is always so hard for me to believe it is December without any snow on the ground.  

We are all doing great here.  We are ready for Christmas. We have most of our shopping done, our tree up, our presents wrapped, and Christmas cards sent.  

We are all starting to feel better as well.  All three of us were sick a big portion of November. Natalee had her first ear infection and her first dose of antibiotics.   

We had a great Thanksgiving dinner at our friends, Kyle and Kristi's house this year.  Natalee met Santa for the first time at the scrapbook store on Thanksgiving day.  She just sat on his lap and didn't smile or cry.  The picture is still pretty cute though.  I will attach it.  

I'm excited for my parents to come visit for Christmas this year.  I'm sure they will be amazed how much Natalee has grown and changed.  

Hello November

Wow, November is here already. October went pretty good for us. I worked more day shifts which is a lot easier on me than the night shifts.

Natalee is still growing so fast. She is about 15 lbs now and is 4 months old today. She is so adorable lately. She makes all sorts of funny sounds now. Zak loves her so much and keeps saying how he wishes she was tiny again and how he wants another baby soon. I think he is crazy and we need to enjoy the angel that we have.

For Halloween Natalee was dressed up as a giraffe and I dressed up as a Safari guide. I thought it was fun having coordinating costumes. We got a lot of compliments. We went with my nieces trick or treating. We also had Natalee's 4 month pictures taken at the mall along with some in her costume.

Lately, I have been working on getting things ready for my friend Kristi's baby shower. We are having her shower at my house on Saturday. It should be a lot of fun. About 20 people have RSVP'd.

Well I better get to bed. --Joleen

October is here

October is here and I'm already loving it.  The best thing is the weather. We finally are in the 80's now.  No more 110 degree weather.  I can't wait for it to be a little cooler and we will take the stroller out on walks with Natalee more.  I also am excited that October is here because of Halloween.  I have found some cute halloween clothes for Natalee and I'm planning a halloween baby shower for one of my friends.  

These last few weeks have been busy and tiring.  I have been back at work for 3.5 weeks.  I am a floater pharmacist right now until they can find a store that will work with the schedule I want.  I hate floating.  I never know how the night will go and I have to make sure I can find the store every time I go to work.  Luckily most of them are on the corners of major crossroads.  I haven't been getting a lot of sleep but I can't really blame Natalee too much.  I have been working until about 10pm most nights that I work.  By the time I get home and wind down it is almost midnight before I'm in bed. Natalee wakes up at about 4 am almost every morning. She does go back to sleep for another 2 hours or so.  So I might get 6 hours of sleep but it is interrupted.  I look forward to Zak's days off.  He will play with her in the morning and let me sleep a few more hours.  I love it.  This week I'm going to work some day shifts instead.  I'm excited to be able to pick Natalee up from daycare instead of being the one to drop her off.  

So what is Natalee up to now a days?  Well she likes to look at everything.  She holds her head up like a pro now.  She sits in a bumbo seat really well.  She doesn't like to lay down in my arms as much.  She likes to be held so she can see what is going on.  She loves to suck on her hands now and is starting to be interested in toys.  She does pretty good at daycare.  She has had a stuffy nose for a few days so this has made her a little crabby.  She is getting over it though, thankfully.  She just turned 3 months a few days ago.  So I brought out her 3-6 month wardrobe. How fun to have new clothes to put on her.  I love it.

Well I had better find some pics to post and then head to bed.

Joleen

September

It has been forever since I have been on here.  Lots of things have gone on.  My sister Janice and her son Cooper came to visit.  My parents came out at the same time.  We had a great time.  Natalee was blessed at church over Labor Day weekend. She was beautiful.  She didn't cry at all during sacrament.  She turned 2 months on Sept 3. She recently got her first round of shots. She did really well. Yeah.  She is such a happy baby lately. She is even sleeping 5-6 hours at a time at night now. Wahoo.  I returned to work this last week.  This was hard for me.  I am working M,W, F now.  Natalee is in daycare about 3 hours each of those days.   We are adjusting.  Zak is getting to spend more time alone with her which is good.  I guess that is all for now.

Growing

Natalee is growing so fast.  I can't believe she is so big already. She outgrew all of her newborn clothing weeks ago.  I even noticed that her cry is starting to sound different and not like a newborn.  She turned 7 weeks today. She seems so much happier everyday.  She makes cute little noises now and sometimes snorts.  

I am having an easier time taking care of her now too.  She is a good baby and has decided she loves her swing. Which gives me time to actually get things done.  Like update my blog.  I took a longer maternity leave than originally planned. I am going to go back 3 days a week starting after Labor Day. Which gives me a total of 10 weeks off.  I can't believe the leave is coming to an end.  I'm not sure how I feel about it.  It seems sad to be away from my baby but at the same time it will be nice to get out of the house some and do things.  

My sister Lynette and friend Kristi are taking a cake decorating class right now. It has been fun but a lot of prep work.  Hopefully after the class I will continue to make things.

I am also working on a baby book scrapbook for Natalee. I'm hoping to get most of it done before my maternity leave is over.  It is looking pretty good so far.

Zak and I are celebrating our 6th wedding anniversary tomorrow.  WOW huh.  I don't think we will do much this year. We are hoping to go out to lunch and take Natalee with us. Then we are going to my niece Zoe's first birthday party.