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.  

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