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.  

Hi

Everything is going pretty good here.  Natalee is still growing like crazy.  She is already 9 lbs.  She is now reaching out at things and loves to watch the mobile on her swing.  She has her good days and her bad. Yesterday she barely slept and was fussy all day long. We had an interesting dinner at the Melting Pot.  However she slept for 4 hours at a time last night which really helped me get some sleep.  I actually woke up after 3 and was surprised she wasn't awake.  We are going to Bless her at Church over Labor Day Weekend.  September 6th.  That day is also my birthday, along with my twin sister and my oldest sister.  What a great day that will be.  My parents are coming to visit and my twin and her family.  

We have had Zak's parents here for the past week and my friend Natasha and her husband Brandon are coming this weekend.  What great fun!! 

Oh, and Natalee is already a month old :(  How fast it goes.  

Less pics this week

We have barely taken any pictures this week of Natalee.  It has been a busy week since Zak has been working and had some extra meetings this week.  We finally took a few pics today.  It sure is nice having both of us around to take care of Natalee this weekend.  I'm actually attempting to scrapbook.  Crazy huh.

Natalee Jo is a keeper

Natalee is still doing very well.  She tried my patience on Wednesday and pretty much cried when she was awake and didn't want to sleep much.  Then yesterday she was an angel just like today so far.  I have been a bit nervous to take her out of the house by myself.  So today I'm going to try it.  I'm taking her to a friends house for a little while.  Hopefully everything goes smooth. Luckily it will only take about 10 minutes to get to her house.

I thought I would also post some of the new nicknames we have for Natalee.  

Zak likes to call her "stinky binky".  She loves her binky. He also calls her "sista."

Sometimes we call her "pumpkin" or "pumpkin eater" when she wants to eat constantly.

I still try to call her Natalee Jo.  However the name is quite long.

Natalee's grandma Stoney left this last Saturday. It was hard not having her here but we are doing ok. I mostly noticed how I can't have any free time when I want it. When she was here I could ask her to hold Natalee and I could do what I want.  Now that I'm just home I don't get that luxury.  Natalee's other grandparents (Strattons) are coming to visit in one week.  Zak took a few extra days off when they are here. That sure will be nice.  Then my friend Natasha is coming to visit the next weekend.  I'm excited since she hasn't been here since we moved.

Well I had better go get a few other things done while I can before the little angel wakes up.

Joleen  

Her sneezes are cute

Natalee is just so awesome. I can't get enough of her. She is just so dang cute. One of my favorite things--I know this is weird--is when she sneezes. She winds up for a sneeze the same way they do in cartoons. Ahhhh Ahhhh Ahhhh Choooooo!. It is so incredibly adorable. I laugh every time she does it.

Natalee Jo

I thought I would post a few more pics. The first one was taken a few days ago when she was snuggling with me. She loves to be held. The second one was taken her second day home.  I just loved the close-up.

Everyone is good here.   Zak has been back to work and we love it when he gets home. Natalee had her second doctor appointment and she gained 10 ounces since last week.  She had lost a little the first few days home. So now she is 7 lbs 12 ounces.  We already started putting her in size one diapers which makes me a little sad.  She sleeps really well and has been pretty much an angel on our few outings that we have had.

Well I better go take care of her since her Dad needs to go to work.

Joleen

New Baby, less computer time

I thought I should do some updating on here since we only have 2 pics on here of our new baby and she is already 10 days old.  

Everything is going great here.  Natalee is an awesome baby. Barely cries and makes a lot of cute faces.  However she still takes a lot of my time and I barely get anything done.  Luckily Zak took the first 10 days off and my mom is out here 2 weeks.  I couldn't do it without them.  I'm a little scared when I have my first day alone.  

Natalee had her first doctor appointment on Friday and he said she was perfect.  We agreed.  She has been on 2 shopping trips and to my pharmacy twice.  All of these trips she has been a little angel and slept most of the time.  Lucky us.  

We have had lots of visitors here and it has been fun.  My nieces Avery and Libby have been over 3 times already to see the baby.  They adore her.

We are so thankful for all of the help we have received.  We had meals brought in by friends and members of our ward.  

Baby Pics

Synopsis of the past 72 hours

Well, Joleen was scheduled to be induced on Friday 7/3 at 8:00 am. We received a phone call at 5 am from the hospital telling us to wait until noon because they were already pretty busy and short on nurses. So, we were a little irritated but whatever. So we went back to sleep. Joleen woke up at about 6:30 and couldn't really sleep any longer. She was hopping in the shower at 7 am when she began having contractions (real contractions, not the fake wimpy ones that she had before). So we called the hospital at about 8:30 and told them we were coming in now because she was having pretty bad contractions. We got to the hospital at 9:00 and by 11:00 they had placed Joleen's epidural. At 11:35, Jo's water broke. By 3:00 she was fully dilated. At 5:00 she started pushing and soon after got a little help from an oxytocin drip. At 7:00 on the dot, Natalee was born and we were very relieved and excited to finally have her. That was the first day.

Over the past few days, Natalee had little appetite, was showing symptoms of an infection, and was sleeping almost all the time. So, she received two antibiotics for 3 days and was receiving IV fluids. She began to perk up and eat a lot more starting on Sunday (after they scared us by putting in a feeding tube). Finally, today (Tuesday), the pediatrician said she could go home and she should be here around 6 or 7 tonight. VERY EXCITED and we feel very blessed to have such a beautiful daughter.

Induction on Friday

My dr. was very nice on Tuesday and the first thing she said at my appointment was, "What do you think about inducing on Friday."  I was like, "YES, YES, YES."

So Friday morning at 8am we will check in to Mountain Vista Medical Center and hopefully have her that evening.  I really don't want her to have a birthday on July 4th, if we can help it.  

Hopefully we will post pictures sometime in the next week or so.  

2 more days of work left

This morning I decided that I wanted to be finished working this week.  My original plan was to keep working until I went into labor.  These last few weeks I haven't felt that great and I have been really tired. I have also stressed about what to do if I can't go to work or if the pharmacy has to close.  So Wednesday is my last day at work and hopefully Natalee will come shortly after.  Thursday is my regular day off and Friday is my due date.  

I don't want to be bored waiting for her but I think it will be better than working myself too hard before she comes.  I also get sick of hearing every morning at work, "still pregnant huh, or how are you feeling."  

I have learned these last few weeks that literally nothing fits and I have to do laundry every few days in order to keep the small wardrobe that does fit, clean.  I learned that nausea isn't just the first trimester, it is prevalent at the very end as well.  I really feel like the first trimester all over again with a huge belly.  

I have learned that everyones tone changes on the phone when they realize I'm not calling to tell them I had a baby and I'm calling them for something else.  I know they don't mean it but still.  

I also have learned that this waiting is probably just as hard on Zak as it is for me.  He is a bit distracted at work and all he thinks about is this little baby.  I never thought he would be like this but I love it.  I love that he is so excited and this is all he thinks about.  He even had one of his customers bring him a card and giftcard today.    

I have a doctors appointment tomorrow where I hope we can talk about induction.  My fear is they won't want to do it right away and I will still be pregnant this time next week.  Keep your fingers crossed for me everyone.  

OH, I have also been trying to use reverse psychology (I'm not sure if this is even the correct definition for it).  I have been cleaning my house lots hoping to trick my body that I'm nesting so I can have this baby.  It hasn't worked.  :(

Despite how negative this post seems, I'm not really unhappy.  Just bored and inpatient.  

This is worse than Christmas

Zak is always telling me that patience is a virtue.  Well this month he doesn't have that virtue whatsoever.  He wants his little girl so bad that he talks to her everyday trying to plead for her to want to be born.  Here are his recent comments:

Come on Natalee, push the eject button.  I want to hold you.

Next he was a gameshow host and said, "Come on down Natalee, you have been chosen as the next member of our family."

Today he said, "Man, this is worse than waiting for Christmas to come, because I don't even know when she is going to come."

He can't wait to hold her and I kind of wonder if he will let anyone else hold her when she is born. He He.

My dr. appointment went well this week and we are still just waiting.

Joleen

Waiting

I'm getting a little inpatient now for this baby to come.  I know I still have 12 days until my due date.  However I haven't been feeling very well since Thursday and I keep thinking it is a sign she wants to come early.  

I took a sick day today from work because I was having contractions last night and couldn't sleep.  I woke up just exhausted and feeling like I could barely function.  I have tomorrow off as well which I'm really glad so I can just relax. 

Everyone, including my doctor, keeps saying they think our baby will come any day now.  I just wish she would.  Or at least let me feel good until she does decide to arrive.  

Zak is just as inpatient as I am.  He was really hoping she would come on Father's Day.

--Jo

Feeling great

Still no baby yet but I'm feeling great now.  My pain in my hip is considerably less and I am barely waddling if I am.  I will be 38 weeks tomorrow and have another dr.'s appointment then.  

Zak and I are off today and we are going to spend most of the afternoon and evening together on a "date."  Or at least that is what I'm calling it.  We are hoping to get pedicures (Zak likes getting them even if he might not openly admit this), go shopping, go out to dinner and then rent movies to watch at home.  I can't wait.  

I'm bringing lunch to my pharmacy staff today to thank them for everything they have put up with these last few months. I have taken quite a few sick days with this pregnancy and I also have been on light duty for the last 10 weeks.  Which means they have had to work harder when I'm the pharmacist.  

Also I have to add that last night Kristi and I enjoyed listening to Kyle and Zak play rock band 2.  It was fun.  I liked hearing Zak sing, which I think he his pretty good at.  

Joleen

Still waiting....

Natalee is being a little turd so far and just teasing us that she wants to come out. Meanwhile I am just anxious because I know it could happen anytime. Joleen is ready for this to be over now too. Her feet are so swollen and she has been a lot more achy lately.
Kyle bought Rock Band 2 last night and we had a blast with it. Drums are way hard to play. Guitar is a piece of cake because we had played guitar hero. I ended up singing most of the night. My voice hurts a little this morning.
Kyle and I also went to a sushi joint last night called Sakana. It was EXCELLENT. We will definitely go back, possibly this next weekend.

Waddle

The dreaded waddle is here.  I always swore there would be a way to walk normal in pregnancy but I was wrong.  I was hoping my doctor would have some way to cure the pain in my hip that causes me to walk with a limp.  No cure....at least not until the baby is delivered.  :(

So I had my 37 week appointment today and my blood pressure went up quite a bit since my previous appointments.  Due to that and my swollen feet, my dr. had me go to the hospital for monitoring.  At first it scared me because she was only in the room with me for a few minutes and then she was calling the hospital to tell them I  was on my way over.  Then I realized that she was just be cautious and it didn't mean the baby was coming now.  So they hooked me up to some monitors and took some blood.  My blood pressure went down and Natalee was doing just fine.  She likes to move a lot so the monitor kept losing her hearbeat.  So the nurse had to adjust it a few times.  I was having some contractions that I didn't feel at the start. Then later I felt some and they gave me some medicine for the pain.  After about 30 minutes I was feeling wonderful and they told me I could go home.  Zak met me at the hospital shortly after I got there and hung out with me.  He was really excited hoping that the baby was coming.  I was told to take it easy and rest for the next few days and not return to work until Monday.  Everyone keeps telling me that I don't have much time left.  However I think I will still have a few weeks.  Only time will tell though.  

Zak and I cooked all day on Thursday.  It got boring towards the end but we were able to get so many meals prepared. Most of the meals we divided into 2 or 3 containers.  Zak got a Seal-A-Meal for Christmas this year and we used it for almost everything.  We had to start putting a few things in our freezer with our fridge because our freezer's temperature went up pretty high as we kept adding more things.  I'm making a double batch of lasagna today for a family who just had twins.  The leftovers from ours I am going to freeze.  Lasagna freezes so well!!!

My doctor's appointment last week went well.  My doctor is out of town so I saw a different one.  She told me she didn't think I would have another 4 weeks  until the baby came. This excited me but at the same time I didn't want to get my hopes up.  My stomach measured a week ahead and the baby is head down.  I have had a lot of aches in my hips lately which has made it hard for me to walk normal.  Hopefully that is one of the wonderful pregnancy symptoms that only lasts a short time.  I still have swollen feet but I found some maternity trouser socks that have compression in them.  They really help for when I'm at work.  

It is sort of funny how women can strike up conversations with pregnant women anywhere.  I have had more people talk to me this past week at store than ever. Nobody believes that I'm due in less than a month.  I'm also getting a little sick of people telling me that it looks like I'm starving my baby or that I am not drinking enough water since my stomach is so compact.  Isn't that something people should just keep to themselves. Trust me, I'm not starving this baby. 

I also have to mention Zak again about how cute he is with everything. He is so excited.  He tells Natalee good morning each day.  He talks about how he will hold her all day long and how cute she is.  He begs for her to come early cuz he just can't wait any longer.  He asks her to move for him and then giggles hysterically if she does.  His friend brought over a fleece blue  yankee blanket yesterday.  He was so excited and hung it off the side of the crib.   I only wish I had a hidden camera to capture some of these funny moments.

And Natalee will be her name-o

Zak and I finally decided that we wanted to settle on a baby name.  We decided her name will be Natalee.  We aren't sure on a middle name yet.

Tonight we went grocery shopping and have plans to cook all day tomorrow. We have two cookbooks that you make meals and freeze them.  Hopefully this way we won't starve once our little girl arrives.

I also have my 36th week dr. appointment tomorrow.  I'm hoping they will be able to tell me whether is she head down or not.  I don't have a clue.  She does like to kick me in my right side a lot though and hiccup near my left hip.  

Zak seems to think she is going to come really early.  He even told me today as I walked out the door,  "Call me if you go into labor."  What a silly guy.   

  

Due Date Countdown Widget

We have a glider now!!

I guess third time is a charm.  We picked up our glider last night from Babies R Us.  My friend Kristi helped us pick it up since it was too big to fit into our car.  We opened the box and it was the right glider and it didn't have anything broken on it.  Wahoo.  I even tried it out this morning and I love it already.  

Today my sister Lynette is coming over and we are going to get pedicures.  Zak is going to watch Zoe while we are getting pampered. THANKS ZAK!!  Then we plan on scrapbooking!  

What a good weekend already!

35 weeks

Nothing new here.  I just thought I would put an updated picture.  

Zak is getting really excited for this baby. He talks about how cute she is already.  He tells me that he can't wait to hold her.  He is going to be such a great Dad.

Ordered another glider. Made some nursery wall art.

Zak and I are hoping that the third time is a charm and that we will get the correct glider in a perfect condition.  We ordered another glider from Babies R Us and it should arrive in one to two weeks. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

We have been looking for some cute wall art for our nursery for quite sometime now.  We never could find anything we liked.  So we decided we would try and paint some.  I think we did a pretty good job actually.  I'm pleased!!  I posted a picture above.  

Everything here is still going good.  I'm starting to wonder how clean my house will stay in the next few months.  It is getting harder and harder for me to bend over and my feet hurt a lot from the swelling.  We are down to 5.5 weeks (39 days) until our Due Date.    

Is it impossible to get a glider rocking chair?

Strike 1: Baby's R Us sends us the wrong one.

Strike 2: The one we got from walmart is broken in the box.

I don't think we really want a strike 3, I have a feeling my temper could make a rather impressive appearance. I am beginning to think we should go to an actual furniture store.

May 20th

I never know how to start my post on here.   I don't have the style that other people have.  So I guess here are the things we have been up to lately besides work at Walgreens.

1. 

We finally have lots of baby necessities and I feel like we are quite prepared. Which is a great feeling.  Our nursery is nearly complete.  We ordered a glider from Babies R Us but they sent us the wrong one. So now we are waiting for a different one that we ordered.  I hope it comes in soon.  

2.

I already started packing a hospital bag.   I have been washing baby clothes all week and getting them organized according to size.  If any of my sisters read this: THANKS FOR ALL THE CUTE HANDED DOWN GIRLY CLOTHES.  If anyone knows me, I always plan ahead for everything.  It is so crazy to not know what exact day our baby will come.  Zak and I went to a prenatal class this weekend.  I think Zak has been scarred for life.  We saw quite a few videos that didn't seem to have any editing whatsoever.  Now I just hope he will make it through the whole process without passing out.

3.

I'm 34 weeks now and I'm feeling great.  My feet have started to swell some so I had to buy some new shoes.  I feel a little like Cinderella's stepsisters with the glass slipper.  Also my wedding ring doesn't fit anymore which really makes me sad.  I wear a different ring because I feel naked without something on my finger.  I have my 34 week Dr. appointment tomorrow.  I'm getting a little bored of the appointments already.  I can tell our baby is growing like crazy and it is so fun to feel her move.  She even gets the hiccups sometimes.  Very cute.  I already think I will miss her moving inside of me once she is born.  

4. 

The month of may was supposed to be my big scrapbooking month where I was going to get caught up on 3 years of pictures.  Have I accomplished this yet?  I have probably only added more pictures to my list to scrapbook rather than actually scrapbook my other pictures.

My friend Katie came to visit yesterday.  I hadn't seen  her in over 2 years, so that was fun.  We went to the scrapbook store and she bought half of the store out.  I miss our Laramie get-to-gethers where we would scrapbook once a week and eat yummy food.

I do want to thank Zak for updating our background recently. He spent so much time making it how he wanted it that he was too tired to actually make much of a post.  I also want to thank him for everything he does for me.  He works  really hard to keep our  yard looking nice.  He also tells me I'm pretty on a daily basis, and I love it.  

-JO

New look

Coming along. Time for bed though.

Adios!

Feeling huge

Everything is going great here.  I am starting to feel and look huge, but I guess that is pretty normal.  

I had a baby shower recently and we got a lot of nice things.  I'm starting to feel like we are a bit prepared for this little girl.  

Zak had fun putting together a pack N play that we received. We were going to put it back in the box until we realize that it took quite a while to put together. So now we are thinking we will just keep it set up and put it in the corner.

We received our crib and dressers for our nursery.  I think our nursery is pretty cute.  I will post pics once we finish decorating.

Only 8.5 weeks until our bundle of joy is scheduled to arrive!

Back to work I go

I was cleared to go back to work on light duty.  I am glad to be back at work because being home all of the time was getting boring.  Work is harder than it was now that I'm supposed to sit as much as I can and not lift anything.  My Dr. said nothing over 5 lbs.  Which is pretty much everything.  So I feel a little guilty at work since I don't feel like I do my share of the work.  I also get tired really easily now.  

All of the older ladies that come to pharmacy are now noticing my large baby bump and wanting to talk about all of their grandkids.  It is sort of funny.  I can only button the top two buttons of my jacket now. Hopefully we will get one that fits me better soon.

My parents are coming this next weekend which is always nice.  

That is all for now really.  Just trying to take it as easy as I can for the next 10 weeks or so.  

Lot's of stuff

Well, we are still recovering from our 2 and 1/2 weeks of off and on vacation. We had my sister one week, then my parents came for a few days, then we went to Vegas for a few days. Here is the recap for the past week.

1)Jojo: Joleen had some stomach tightness that we thought was nothing but it turns out it may have been contractions. So, doc has put her on light duty (which means she gets more vacation because she can't stand up all day at work!) and she has just been hanging out at home trying to take it easy. She has another appointment in the morning so we will see what they have to say then.

2) Vegas: Jojo, Kristi, Kyle, Karen, and I flew up to Vegas on Friday and got back on Sunday. We had a ton of fun. We saw two excellent shows in Blue Man Group (pretty dang funny and great music) and Mystere (hot ballet dancers and awesome acrobats -- overall a pretty impressive performance). Plus I didn't become a gambling addict and I may have finally kicked my soda habit. Great weekend.

3) Back to work: so it started out pretty well. Monday was very busy and I had a tech sick but it was one of the most smooth days I have worked in a long time. Tuesday was slow, but the real fun happened after I left. I guess about 10 minutes after I left for the day, a guy came in and held up the pharmacy for Oxycontin and Xanax. The guy was getting away but two of our managers tackled the guy just outside the store and held him down until the cops got there (about 3 minutes). The guy admitted to hitting 6 Walgreens and CVS's over the past few months so that's great news. The whole tackling an armed robbery suspect isn't exactly kosher with coorporate policy so hopefully they are okay with it. High five to my store manager and assistant manager though for bringing the pain. Even though I wasn't involved at all, the whole situation does scare me a bit and makes me think I should get out of the retail setting when I get a chance. I have a year left on my contract. Let the countdown begin????

Finally, a note about a few of my teams. Heads up to Joleen so she can skip this section. Yankees are doing okay but the pitching has been awful thus far. They are scoring plenty runs to win the game (even with A-rod on the DL) but the bullpen has been terrible and the only pitcher that has been worth his big contract is AJ "I'm gonna get injured at some point" Burnett.

To the cats, Kentucky signed Jon Calipari as their head coach 3 weeks ago and it has been a very fun 3 weeks already. This is the beginning of the rebuilding of Kentucky glory. I am so giddy about it I can hardly wait til Midnight Madness. Until then, I can follow the recruiting as Cal "selects" the players he wants. He is probably the best recruiter in the nation plus he plays a fun style. I am stoked!!!

That is all for now.

Already mid April! WOW!

This month is going by so fast.  Zak and I are having a great April so far.  We had lots of family come and 

visit us the last few weeks.  It was really nice to see everyone.  We went to two baseball games and went miniature golfing twice.  We also went to Amazing Jakes which is an indoor place where you can do lots of arcade games along with bowling, a climbing wall, and bumper cars.  Zak, Amber, Ryan, and Thad went to the Science Museum while I was at work one day. They said it was a lot of fun.  We spent one entire day at the Zoo and took a ton of pictures.  We also did some shopping which is always my favorite.  

Zak and his Dad went to Bass Pro Shop while his mom and I went shopping on our own.  One of the highlights of my week was when I discovered there was a Taco Time really close to the Bass Pro Shop.  YEAH.   The other Taco Time closed recently and I was very disappointed. 

We went shopping at Babies R Us yesterday and of course we couldn't resist some of the cutest little girl clothes.  Zak's parents bought us a few adorable outfits that I can't wait to be able to use.  

After a week of fun activities I had my 28th week doctors appointment.  They did an ultrasound and she looks great. They are estimating that she is already 2 lbs 15 ounces as of last week.   That seems big to me.  I have been having a few contractions (or at least what I think are contractions) and I talked to the doctor about them.  She did a test and I just got the results back.  It came back positive that I'm at an increased risk of pre-term labor.  So I'm restricted to light activity right now.  Since my job requires me to stand most of the day if not all, I am off work until further notice.  I have another appointment the 22nd which I'm hoping they will let me return to work.  We will just have to see.  However the best part of the appointment was the part where they did a 4D picture of our little girls face.  Isn't it amazing what they can see on one of these.  She is adorable according to her future parents.

Well, I guess that is all for now.

-Jo

One day left of March!

As most of you know I'm counting down until April and then probably again to May.  Work has been very busy this year and we expect a lot of our "winter visitors" AKA snowbirds to be leaving April 1.  Some of them take longer and leave sometime during the middle of the month.  After that  works gets easier and I get happier.  Of course the weather goes from wonderful (80-90's) to a scorching 115 in a matter of a few months, but I have decided that that is okay and that is what swimming pools and AC are for.  

Nothing has changed much here.  Our baby nursery is painted and it looks wonderful.  As my niece Libby would say, "it's all kinds of colors." I'm still waiting on furniture which should arrive sometime in April.  We have bought a few new things already for her and it is so much fun.  I have always liked the headband hair bows even though my sisters have all voiced differently.  So I bought an assortment on e-bay the other day. Some of them are so small.  Karen assures me they will fit or maybe even fall off.  I am 26 weeks pregnant right now and doing pretty good.  I had labwork yesterday and did the glucose cola test. It wasn't as bad as everyone told me.   In fact, it was sort of fun.  After I drank the orange drink the baby was moving like crazy.  I could even see little waves of movement from her on my stomach as I sat in the waiting room.  I wanted to laugh but since I wasn't alone I sat silently.    We have an ultrasound next thursday which I'm excited for.  Zak already adores this baby. He keeps telling me can't wait for her to get here.  He is constantly putting his hands on my stomach and talking to her.  Even asking her to move for him.  

As I posted last time, April will be a busy month for us.  We have been doing some spring cleaning this month and we are almost done.  Zak's sister is coming to visit with her family and we are excited. We have lots of things planned which should be fun.  We are BBQing and swimming on Saturday.  I can't wait to see my niece in the pool for the first time.  Later in the week we are going to a diamond backs baseball game, the zoo, and a amusement park place that has mini golf, laser tag, bowling etc.   I took one day of work off and Zak took 2 days off. Then once they leave Zak's parents are coming the next day and staying for a few days.  We are going to another baseball game when they are here too.  

Hopefully I can get Zak to post on here one of these days.  I told him nobody likes a blog that is never updated. But I'm just as bad.  Even though I didn't promise a new entry weekly.  

Oh, we are also still trying to come up with names so if anyone has any suggestions.  Right now our top contender is Natalie.

-Jo

New background

Since Zak wasn't changing the background monthly I decided to do it myself.  A lot more of my taste.  Everything is going pretty good for Zak and I right now.  Zak has been sick a lot lately so that hasn't been fun and we have both been really busy at work as well.  However we have a lot of things to look forward to in the next few months.  Zak's sister Amber and her family are coming to visit in a few weeks. Then right after that his parents are coming.  I'm really excited for people to come visit us.  I have been trying to get a few little house projects finished and spring cleaning done.  Our soon to be baby room has some new paint on the walls. It isn't finished yet but when it is I will post some photos.  Then Kyle, Kristi, Karen, Zak and I have a trip planned to Vegas mid April. I can't wait to get out of Mesa for a few days and have some fun.  Hopefully shortly after this trip most snowbirds will have gone home and work will get easier for us.  

Here's to a happy March! -Jo

Just the beginning

When I was an intern at Walgreens in 2005, one of the tech's that I worked with played a practical joke on me and spiked my water with bubblegum flavoring from medication flavoring kit. When I took a drank of my water the taste was so overpowering that it forced a smile. We later kidded that it was impossible to not smile when you drank the bubblegum flavored water.

Flash forward to Thursday night. I had just sat down to play some more WoW because I am so addicted to that game and I faintly heard Joleen calling for me from the bedroom. When I got to the room she told me that the baby was moving if I wanted to try to feel her move. We had tried for me to feel it before without much luck. Most of the little movements that I "felt" I figured was just Joleen's body and not the baby. Tonight was different though. After a few minutes of me resting my hand low on Joleen's abdomen, I felt her move. And not just a little, a lot. As I type this I still can't stop smiling. This was really one of the most incredible experiences of my life and I am not quite sure I can describe how it felt but of course I am going to give it a shot.

A couple of the kicks or whatever you want to call them just felt like tapping. But then came a big movement that felt as if she had rolled over in the palm of my hand. Then there was some repetitive tapping like she was boxing me. Then I began guessing exactly what she was touching me with. Some felt like a single finger brushing up and down my palm. Others felt like her foot was fully planted on my hand and just pushing to let me know that she could here me talking to her. I begged the baby to continue communicating to me. At one point I was giggling so histerically that I was crying in joy. Joleen had quite a good time listening to my enjoyment as well.

So anyway, that was fun. It was way more fun than any rollercoaster I have ever been on. It was more satisfying than any meal I have ever eaten. It was more entertaining than any movie or show I have ever seen. And to think this is only the beginning of being a parent. Oh man am I excited.

I have posted a countdown to the right for everybody to follow as we get closer and closer to welcoming our spawn. Until then, I will have to settle for more boxing matches.

Yeah Boi!!!! er...Girl

Baby girl on the way!!!!!

Go Cards

Oh yeah. The bandwagon is getting pretty full down here in Arizona. Of course, the Cardinals have finally proven that they CAN play football so that helps. Couple tidbits today.

Joleen is looking pretty dang cute. We find out what we are having in just under 2 weeks and we are getting very excited. Joleen has changed her mind and now wants a girl because she has some great decorating ideas. Meanwhile, I am officially in the middle. I don't care what we have, just want a healthy munchkin.

Work has been especially good the last two days, mainly because we have done far fewer compounds than our average. It amazes me how much time it really takes to focus on the those prescriptions compared to what the company believes it should take. There is a huge misconception at a corporate level on the time commitment for our services. I know most of the misconception is just due to economic pressure right now, but, hopefully soon the company will do an about-face on this.

We are finishing up the guest bedroom slowly but surely. It has been a very basic project but we have really spaced out the work. I need to sand down and paint the nightstand and then it is pretty much done. We will post pictures once it is all finished. Then we will do the baby room!!! EXCITING!!!

Its starting to warm up a little down here. We can't wait for summer. It's too cold! That is all.

I guess I had better add to this as well since I'm part of the blog.  

Everything is going great for the time being.  I feel almost normal again besides the fact my clothes don't fit very well anymore.  Work is busy as usual but I expected that.  

Zak and I are trying to finish decorating our guest room before we start working on a baby room.  Which I can't wait to start.  We found someone that is great at painting and they are going to help us out next month.  Only 2 more weeks until we find out boy/girl.  WAHOO!!  It is hard to imagine us with a child, let alone if the child is a boy or girl.  

Not doing so well on my end of the bargain

Well, 2 posts below you can the see the rules and I have obviously broken them. Hopefully I will not have another dry spell. Work has been especially stressful lately. We have been very busy and the help we have is far from adequate. Dang economy. Anywho, who wants to hear me complain?

We have the ultrasound to determine sex of the bambino on February 9. Until then, we are having fun going back and forth on what we would like to have. I was dead set on a girl, but now I might be leaning boy. Joleen is pretty convinced that she would like a boy. I think it is because she likes me so much and she thinks he will be just like me. Joleen is showing a bit now. It's pretty dang cute. Yes, we have been talking to the baby and and rubbing her tummy. Until next time, enjoy the pictures of Jo.

Laughter cures stress. Sorry Wyoming.

The deal

So here is how this will work. I got to buy a new computer so that I could play WOW and not be totally irritated by atrocious framerates that I would get with my laptop IF I started a blog and promised to update it at least once a week. I also have to change the background once a month. These are the rules set forth by Princess Jojo. So, without further ado...let me tell you about my new box!!!!11!!!!1!!!

AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000 processor running at 3.1 ghz
ASUS Mobo
4 gb RAM
NVIDIA 9800GT 512mb video by XFX
500 gb HDD

My framerate in WOW jumped from a putrid 6 - 10 fps to a steady 60 fps including in Outlands with High graphics settings thoughout. AWESOME!!!

This comp will serve as my gaming system and for picture editing. I want to get into photoshop. I took a very basic class back in high school but I can't even remember what version of photoshop it was. I am certain it was before CS1.

Anyway, welcome to the blog. Enjoy!