Christmas and everything else!

So a lot has happened I guess you could say since my last post. I had an interesting trip to the emergency room in October. My jaw locked open while I was at work. I ran over to Ben pointing and showing him that I couldn't close my mouth. We rushed to the emergency room where we waited around for and hour and a half before we got it fixed. They had to knock me out (I found out afterward that they used the drug that killed Michael Jackson), wiggle my jaw around and then pop it back into place. It was quite a painful and expensive ordeal that I'm trying hard to not have to repeat. I don't open my jaw all the way any more and will probably have surgery in the future.

Needless to say, that was my last night working, but not for that reason alone. That fun filled week was also when my morning sickness hit!!! Yay! I'm pregnant again! 24 weeks and doing really well especially since my morning sickness is all but gone (if you can say that it ever really goes away until the baby comes, I still have to eat every three hours religiously!). We found out the gender this time. Mostly because we are hopefully moving to Texas this spring. It was really fun to not find out with Julia and if it weren't for the uncertainty of our plans I think we would have waited again. I had a feeling from the beginning that it was a boy and IT IS A BOY!!! No definite name ideas yet.

Julia has changed so much in the last couple months! She took her first independent steps the day before her first birthday, November 24, but didn't start really walking until December 4 which was the same day Bruce and Kiri's baby Crosby Hyde was born! She is now running everywhere all the time! She's very smart too (well probably average baby smart, but it still amazes me!) She can say mommy and daddy. She says no, uh oh, doggy, shoes, ball, snow and I'm sure some other stuff that I just don't recognize as words yet. She can also tell you what a bee, a doggy, a cow, horse, rooster, lion, monkey, bird and a kitty cat say. Bee is my favorite because she makes like a long gurgling J sound! Really cute! Her last day with a binky was November 30. I took her to the doctor for her one year appointment and was asking the doctor about giving her a bottle before bed (that's what we do before every nap and bed, she has a bottle, then I lie her down and she falls asleep on her own). Anyway, he said that he reccomends getting rid of bottles and binkies by 14 months so we were doing ok. I wasn't really thinking and had it in my mind that we had like 6 months. Then I got home and realized that was only 2 months away. So that night I decided to just try and lay here down with out here binky (we still had a bottle) and she went right to sleep! The next couple days were a little rougher than usual, but nothing absolutely terrible, and now we are binky free!! Still hooked on the bottle though, not to fall asleep with, just to relax with right before bed.

So here are some pictures of the last several months! Enjoy!

Julia loves hats! And she loves to smile! All you have to do is say, "Julia, are you happy?" and she gives you this cheesy grin.
This is Julia's favorite spot to sit. She can climb up by herself but needs help to get down. She also loves to read grownup books to herself.

I made that stocking!

and those pajamas!

Julia with Aunt Kimi at her first birthday party!

My pink marshmallow!

This was in Coeur d'Alene at our friends wedding. congrats Bryce and Shawna!

Julia was Tigger for Halloween

Swimming at the Aquatic center

Julia has really been enjoying her baths lately. I think because she's figured out how to drink the water (which I discourage of course), but she has a fun time and likes to stay in a lot longer than she used to, so I decided that she and I should go swimming. Of course the only place to go around here at this time of year is the Idaho Falls Aquatic Center.

I called them and found out that Thursday night 7-9 is float night. So we got on our swimming suits and headed out tonight. Ben came along too, but isn't feeling well enough to swim. Float night was a good night to go because Julia loves her little donut floaty. She kicked and splashed and tried to drink the water while I got some good exercise swimming her around the pool!

Then I took her out of the floaty and set her on the side of the pool so she could kind of jump to me. She really liked that! She would laugh really cutely before belly flopping into my arms. I wish I'd gotten some pictures, but pools aren't really conducive to that and Ben had to sit up stairs in an over looking booth thing.

The only thing we didn't like about the outing was how late the swim session was. Julia's bed time is at 8 and she knows it! It's pretty much impossible to keep her happy after that hour. Also, it's $4 for adults to swim and $3 for children 4-13 I think. Luckily Julia got in free. I think we'll try to go again soon. If any one wants to join us, let me know and we'll get it together!

One of the Highlights of The Reunion!

Christensen Family Reunion (back in August)

The Annual Dale and Beth Christensen Family Reunion was this summer on August 14 and 15. It was short and simple and I think everyone had a good time!

Cousin Andrea with a ringer in horse shoes!! I don't know who ended up winning the tournament, so if anyone has that info, I'll put it up.

We had really beautiful weather the whole time. Here's Aunt Koreen, Heather and Jeff with their baby Brielle, and Traci with her baby Audrey enjoying the sun during the horse shoes and hula hooping!

Grandma Beth and Julia

Audrey, Julia, and Brielle. These girls were born with in just a couple weeks of each other! They are going to have so much fun growing up!

They were very tired by this point and this was a lucky picture to get!

Dallin Brown showing off his cute smile!

Zaida Taylor after all the hula hooping fun!

Jonas got a fat lip while jumping on the trampoline! Ouch!!

Julia and Audrey watching the festivities.

Nichole, Leslie, Traci, and Kiri watching horse shoes.

Brielle has the most hair of the three girls and was always wearing cute bows and ponytails. Julia and I are jealous!

Grandma Beth after our yummy dinner Friday night!

Cousin Cameron and little Beckham. Cameron is so good with all the great grandkids!

Traci, Audrey, Jenae and Tyson after dinner.

Heather, Jeff and Grandma and Grandpa digesting their Hawaiian Haystacks.

Andrea and Brian Brown checking out the steel drums. Bruce belongs to this group and they were kind enough to serenade us during dinner! Everything is better with live music!

We were going to go water skiing Friday morning, but it was too windy. Some of the kids just played instead! Here's Petra with crazy hair!

Adee taking pictures.

And Beck and Smith. Can you believe Smith (right) is the younger of the two! They are really fun boys and play together well!

All in all it was a really fun reunion! I think Mom and Dad were glad it was over so they didn't have to think any more! I think we were only missing a few people. Craig, Alaina, Cordelia, and Oliver, Shawn, Kent, Tyler and Aliesa (Sorry If I spelled that wrong), Brent, Eric C, Hollie and the Crooks, Amy, Eric W and his wife, and Natalie's family. More than I thought when I start naming them. We missed you all so much and hope you are well! We love you!

Six Months/ Seven Months/ Eight Months!

Our Family: Look bad and smelling worse after three days of camping at Red Fish!

We spent most of Saturday at Big Redfish Lake! Julia didn't like the cold water, but she sure looked cute in her new swimming suit!

The mountains of central Idaho are so beautiful!

This is Julia with my dad on the Fourth of July down at the Sub Zero booth by the river.

In June we went to Boise over night and stopped at Shoshone Falls on the way back. I love how focused she looks!

Six Months

Seven Months

Here at last are some more pictures of Julia! She is 8 months old today and getting so big and cute! She crawled for the first time on Tuesday but has yet to really take off with it. She had her first experience camping last weekend when we went to Red Fish Lake and her first ride in a boat on Thursday with her Uncle Shon, Aunt Roxanne, and cousin Cody. She's in this "i only want my mommy" stage which is fun and really frustrating at the same time. I guess we are getting our initiation into parenthood with each new trial and step. But we have been blessed with the most beautiful, loving daughter and I can't imagine not having her in our lives!

Eight month pictures and video of crawling soon to come!

Teeth!

Julia's been kind of grumpy and extra drooly the past couple of days so I thought maybe she was cutting some teeth. About 2 minutes ago I felt her gums and there was something sharp! On closer inspection it looks like both of her bottom front teeth have broken through! I can't believe my little girl is growing up so fast!!!!! She's quite a bit happier all of the sudden too!!!

Some more old pics: Friends this time!

Sorry some of the pictures are blurry.

Yay for BBQs!

Playing Buzz Word

Graduation December 2007.  Left to right: Chad King, some guy I'm sure I should know, Brandon and Bethany Barnette, Liz and Ryan Johnston, and me!

Bethany, me, and Liz

This was at the bridal shower Bethany gave me!  The beautiful models are Stephanie, Claire Smith (my cute 17 year old roommate!) and Jean Stoddard (my friend and dancing buddy in high school)

Some of the best roommates in the world!  Jeni White (unless she got married, I'm not sure. top left), Juliana Taylor (bottom left), Claire Smith (top right) and Ashley Egbert who is either home from her mission already or will be soon!  I guess I should find out! 

I miss you all so much!! Hope you are all succeeding in your endeavors! 

Love, Holli

Firsts and Some Old Pictures

I just can't believe how fast time goes!  Julia is already over six months over.  We just went and saw Reid and Rachel's new baby Carolina yesterday and felt like it was just a couple of months ago that Julia was that little and precious and slept all the time!  But she is practically a young woman now!  She has learned so many new things in just the last little while.  I thought I'd document some of her first (or near first) times doing her new tricks!  Some of these pictures are kind of old. 

Julia snuggling after a long day at church.  She doesn't do this often, but she stayed like this for nearly a minute. It was really sweet.

This is a front carrier we got from Ben's siblings.  This was the first time we'd used it because Julia didn't like facing inward.  That day we went to Downata Hot Springs to scout out some Family Reunion spots.  Jules love being toted around by Daddy as we hiked through the campsites. 

This is our friend Bryce's dad.  They were down from Coure d'alene (I don't know how to spell that) for Bryce's graduation.  We all went out to dinner and then hung out at Sub Zero.  Bryce's parents and grandparents just loved Julia.  Thanks for the fun time!  We miss you Bryce and Shauna!

This was the same day we went to Downata.  We also drove over to Lava Hot Springs to check it out and found a little park to play at.  This was Julia's first time going down a slide.  

Yeah for Daddies and Dinosaurs!

This was one of Julia's first times sitting up really well.  She'd been doing ok but would topple quite a bit.  Now she is a real professional!

Ben thought she looked like a little gangster in this hat!  Thanks Lorraine for the cute little outfit!  She wears it all the time! 

Julia's first walk around the green belt.  Shon and Roxanne were visiting and wanted to get a lot of living done while they were here so we got to go on a walk to the mall and around the river with them.  It was a lot of fun!!  Thanks Shon, Roxanne, and Cody!  Hope you're having fun in Arizona!

Julia biting Ben's nose one morning before church!  too cute to pass up!

I thought Julia and Ben were so cute together in their white ling sleeve shirts!

This was one of Julia's first adventures in the world of rolling.  I had gone to the restroom and after a minute she started fussing a little.  This is what I saw when I came out.  She was so distressed that she could roll any more!

I just love this picture of my mom!  She is so beautiful!  I think Julia has her eyes!

Everything goes in the mouth!

This was just a couple days after Julia was born.  She didn't pass her hearing tests at the hospital so we had to take her to a specialist the next week.  She got hungry part way through and I hadn't pumped enough to satisfy her, so I had to nurse her while the doctor finished the tests.  Thankfully the doctor was a woman!

Julia's first time at IHOP.  I think last time too. 

She looks like a fat china man in this pic.

First time at a rock Band practice!  She is being held by cousin Beckham who is being held by his mom Kimi!

So any way, Julia can now roll like nobody's business, sit up, jabber like crazy, laugh and do funny things on purpose to make us laugh, eat rice, oatmeal, and barley cereal, carrots, sweet potatoes, and butter nut squash, and fall asleep on her own in her crib (a big deal for us!)  I have some pictures of her eating, but they're not loaded on the computer yet.  Same deal with her six month pictures so look for those coming soon!  We are having so much fun!  She is such a beautiful girl and I love her with all my heart!  

Also, I am going to try to write a book!  I just had the idea for it in the middle of the night while I was nursing.  I have a lot of book ideas, but never write them down and can never come up with good plots.  I think this one might be a go though.  It's going to be a junior or young adult fiction novel that's kind of a cross between Oliver Twist, the Little Princess, and the Prince and the Pauper.  I'm excited about it!