Holli Fuhriman

And to one he gave one talent...

2011-07-13T17:37:00.000-07:00

Ok. Probably not the actual scriptural quote, but I'm too lazy at the moment to look it up. I was making dinner tonight and thinking while the kids played in their room about the pre-pregnant me and all the things I did. I wouldn't say I'm the one who got ten talents, but maybe five or more likely three. I danced moderately well in college and I sing. I did some very mediocre acting in high school. I was good at math until I got to college and realized what math actual is...found out you need a thinking brain not just a memorizing brain. But I am good at memorizing when I want to.

These were my talents that I tried to develop and show to the world. I don't do hardly any of these things now. So have I hid my talents under a bushel? Not intentionally, but motherhood, time and money have seemed to bury them for me.

A story by Julia

2011-06-09T07:31:00.000-07:00

I was finishing washing dishes when Julia asked if I wanted to hear her story. Of course I said yes and this is what she told me:

"Once upon a time there was a little girl named momma who lived in the woods with her daddy. And my pink minky (blanket) and me and my hogies (some shape toys she's playing with) come. And my hogies are really scared. My hogies are scared of wolf-es. They scared of Big Bad Wolves. And we scare a Big Bad Wolf. And mine hogies are scared of foxes!"

The End

update

2011-01-22T20:00:00.000-08:00

Hi blog. How have you been the past six months? I've been busy and lazy. I'm now working at the library. We closed Sub Zero and Ben is selling AFLAC now. The kids are doing great and growing so fast. Aren't they cute!

Pictures!

2010-07-02T20:17:00.001-07:00

These pictures didn't end up in the order I wanted them to, but oh well! Here they are!

He rolled up on his side like this less than a week old!

Julia would lay beside him and say, "nigh', nigh'!"

He still makes that face. So cute! Like life is just miserable!
Ben was such a great coach! Andrew looks a lot like him, especially when their sleeping. One of their favorite things is taking naps together!

Julia helped pick his name. The afternoon after Andrew was born, Ben picked up Julia's from Lori's house where she'd been staying, spent some time alone with her, and then brought her to the hospital to meet Andrew. While they were driving about, ben asked her if we should name her baby brother Stuart or Andrew. She said, "Annoo!" She loves him very much!
Wearing the yucky, faded hospital nursing gown, but I love this picture. We look like a real family!

The New Addition

2010-06-21T20:11:00.000-07:00

So I'm finally getting to blog about my 18 day old beautiful baby boy!! Andrew Benjamin Fuhriman was born on June 3, 2010. He was 7 lbs 13 oz, 20 1/2 inches long. He is healthy and happy. Julia loves him very much and is adjusting pretty well to not having mommy's attention all the time. The labor went really well (I may not have said so at the time!) My first contraction was Wednesday night at about 7, we went to the hospital at 6:30 the next morning and I was dilated to a 6 1/2. Then he was born at 9:04 Thursday morning. Within a few months after having Julia I had pretty much decided that I didn't want to have an epidural with the next baby. So that's what I did this time. It was about 10 times harder and more painful than I'd expected, and I didn't feel wonderful afterward, but after having a couple weeks to forget the pain, I think I'll probably do it the same way next time!

Now Andrew weighs 9 lbs 13 oz. He eats and poops a lot! It was s0 hard to imagine what life would be like before he was born and now it's hard to imagine what life without him! He just fits in so perfectly! Im not getting very much sleep but I'm surviving and it's getting better every day! I'm so grateful to be blessed with the opportunity to be a mommy! I love my kids so much! I'll post pictures when I'm not so tired.

Funny Girl

2010-05-29T19:31:00.000-07:00

Julia's just getting into that copying phase. The other day we got home and I got out to open our garage (the automatic opener is broken) and there was a cat in our garden acting like it was going to go to the bathroom. So I started yelling at it to get out of our garden. When I went to get Julia out of the car, she furrowed her brow and shook her finger saying, "Meow, Meow!" So I said, "That's right, tell that kitty not to poop in our garden!" She said, "Meow! No poopoo!" Later that night she was sitting in the middle of the living room with her brow furrowed, shaking her finger and saying, "Meow! No poopoo!" By the time I got my camera she had stopped of course and couldn't be coaxed into saying it any more. Here's my best attempt. Every once in a while I can get her to say it again.

New Blog

2010-05-27T20:36:00.000-07:00

I'm starting a new blog. It's going to have anecdotes and recipes and menus and other fun stuff. Check it out! soggycerealmom.blogspot.com

Family Pictures

2010-05-24T11:06:00.001-07:00

Or at least the attempt at family pictures. I'm so bad at taking pictures and like with Julia, I really didn't get any pregnancy shots until right at the very end. I look tons better with this baby than I did with Julia though! Not nearly as much face fat!

We were using the timer and just couldn't get Julia to be happy long enough! Oh, well, she's still cute!
For Mother's day, Ben is giving me real family pictures after the baby is born! We've only taken Julia to a studio once for her one year pictures and we've never had professional family photos taken (except for our wedding). I'm so excited to coordinate our outfits and have some nice pictures to put on our walls!

So I am 39 weeks today, and while I feel good and would be fine waiting a week or two more, I'm really ready to be done! Ben heard that a pedicure can help send you in to labor, so I called Tyson's aunt who does foot zoning (like an intensive reflexology sort of thing) and I'm going to see her this afternoon. I guess ideally I should have been having treatment all through my pregnancy, but she said that even if this doesn't send me into labor, it will help a lot when the time comes. I'm trying not to get my hopes up about going into labor in the next couple days, but I've been cleaning and shopping and baby prepping last night and today just in case!

Snow in May!

2010-05-06T09:04:00.000-07:00

So yes, we woke up to snow on the ground this morning!!! And it's still only 33 degrees outside! I am so tired of this cold weather! one might think that since I'm 36 1/2 weeks pregnant I'd be glad that it's not hot outside, but the only maternity bottoms I have that fit decently are shorts! So I'm cold all the time!

This has been a really good pregnancy. I haven't gained as much weight as I did with Julia and I've been going to water aerobics as often as I can so I feel stronger and have less hip pain. I can't believe my little baby boy will be here in less than 4 weeks (hopefully I'm not jinxing myself) I haven't even packed my hospital bag yet!! There is so much to do! It's so nice to have my husband home after a couple of weeks of being out of town a lot. It's not like I get to see him that much when he is here, but I sleep better at night and those few minutes in the mornings and evenings make a world of difference. I'm much more motivated to keep my house clean and get things done. I also eat better because I want to cook good meals for him instead of just finding something to fill Julia's and my bellies.

Julia said her first name this week: Bac (Beck). She loves her cousin Beckham. They play really well together usually (yesterday was an exception). After he came over yesterday she kept walking around saying "Bac, Bac, Baky!" and calling and talking to him on her toy phones! It is so cute! We also babysat Bruce and Kiri's little baby boy Crosby here at our house. I was interested to see how Julia would interact with a baby here and how she would do having her mommy's attention split between her and a baby. She was very loving and gentle with him. She had some trouble sharing the toys I'd picked out for him to play with, but didn't show any animosity or jealousy toward him. We'll see how things go with a baby around permanently!

Julia and I decided on Monday that since Daddy was out of town, it would be a good time to take a trip to Logan to visit Brian and Traci and Dallin and Audrey and see Traci's beautiful twin filled belly! I was planning on going alone, but that morning, Jenae offered to go with me. It was a really great thing she did! It was wonderful to have time to talk with her on the drive, and really wonderful to have someone else to drive on the way back. I got way more wiped out by the trip than I'd expected. We went to a cool park, I hit a car in the parking lot backing out, we checked out the new Sub Zero, got Aggie Ice Cream, played Phase 10, and ate really yummy pizza! Julia and the kids had a fun time playing until exhaustion started setting in! Thanks for the wonderful, fun filled day Brian and Traci! Can't wait to see you and be able to spend some time with Jeff and Heather too at Kirk's reception!

Fun at the Park

2010-03-12T14:31:00.000-08:00

So I thought I'd have a really hard time getting Julia to go down the slides, but nope!

a TV Day

2010-02-24T13:53:00.000-08:00

I stayed up late last night reading my book and gave myself a head ache. Also I think I'm getting a cold so today we are watching more TV than usual. Julia loves Max and Ruby, Olivia, and The Backyardigans and will sit mesmerized for at least half an hour watching one of those. She waves "night, night" to Olivia and "Goodbye" to the Backyardigans, really cute! It's nice to have some quiet, still time but I feel kind of bad.

To my Beautiful, Loving Grandma Beth

2010-02-16T10:12:00.000-08:00

My grandma Beth passed away last month on January 13. She was 75 years old, had been married for 56 years, has 7 children, 37 grandchildren, and 22 great-grandchildren. She is a wonderful example of goodness and love. I feel so lucky to have had her in my life as I grew up. She was always very interested in what I was doing and supported me all that she could. Whenever you went on a trip with Grandma and Grandpa Christensen, Grandma would make a batch of her special chocolate no-bake cookies for the ride. I found that recipe and made those cookies the other day. It's amazing how such simple things bring such good feelings and memories. Thank you, Grandma. I love you.

Christmas and everything else!

2009-12-23T13:05:00.001-08:00

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

2009-10-22T22:10:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-10-20T21:40:00.000-07:00

Christensen Family Reunion (back in August)

2009-09-17T11:24:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-07-25T12:39:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-06-16T20:22:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-06-06T20:53:00.001-07:00

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

2009-06-04T09:51:00.000-07:00

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!

All good things must come to an end.

2009-05-28T09:07:00.000-07:00

I don't think any of our Sub Zero employees read this Blog, but I just wanted to thank those who are leaving us. We've been blessed to have a very low turn over during our first eight months of business and now all of the sudden we have five employees leaving all at once. So thank you Rose, Cameron, Sarah, Kelsey and Chris for all of your hard work and for helping get Sub Zero to the smooth running, tasty store that it is. We couldn't have survived these first few months with out you and all on our wonderful crew. Best of luck this summer at your new jobs and in your travels!

Five Month Pictures Finally!

2009-05-18T14:36:00.001-07:00

I feel bad it's taken me so long to get these up, but we've had kind of crazy weeks lately! Julia will actually be 6 months in a week so I'll be putting up another update soon!

It was really lucky to get that one smile out of her! She still gives the camera the deer in the head lights look most of the time! I was going to weigh her on our bathroom scale, but the batteries were dead, so we'll just have to wait until her check up on the 27th.

We wish to welcome you to Munchkin Land!

2009-04-22T14:54:00.000-07:00

This was a day that all of Julia's regular clothes were dirty and I was trying to be creative! We were looking in the mirror in the bathroom and I was playing with her hair when I realized she looked just like a Munchkin! I think she'd make a good representative for the Lollipop Guild!

Roly Poly and Jumpin' Bean

2009-04-17T20:47:00.000-07:00

Yay! Julia started rolling over this week! She lays on her back and arches her back and pushes up and over. She still has a little trouble getting her arm out from underneath her, and she hates being on her tummy and hasn't learned how to go from front to back yet, so she usually starts to cry and I have to turn her back over! It's still REALLY cute! It's also nice for me because she keeps herself entertained longer now!

Since Julia spends three night a week at Grandma Mickey's while I work, she needed something to keep her entertained. So she bought a jumper for all her little baby grandkids when they come over. As you can see.....Julia loves it! Thanks Grandma!

Happy Easter!

2009-04-15T13:17:00.001-07:00

We had a really good Easter weekend. We spent most of Saturday at Ben's parents house eating yummy dinner and just having fun visiting. Then on Sunday, the Easter Bunny came for Julia. She got a new dress, new pajamas, new undershirts, and a book. It was really fun to see her get excited about the bright colors and the crinkly paper. I think she also liked getting all the attention from both Mom and Dad who were just gaga over her!

She was more interested in Daddy and the camera than her basket!

To my Loving Husband on our Anniversary

2009-04-06T10:16:00.000-07:00

Happy Anniversary, Honey!

We have been married for 2 years.

We have lived in 2 places.

We have been on 2 sides of the country and on 2 oceans.

We have had 2 TVs.

We have had 2 fights. :)

We have been in 2 wards.

We have 1 beautiful baby and eternity to be together.

These have been the best two years of my life! I have the most wonderful husband! I love you!

Love, Holli

Shots are No Fun!

2009-03-30T11:15:00.000-07:00

Julia has been weighed. She has been measured. And she has been found cute!

Jules had her 4 month well-baby check-up on Friday. We usually see doctor Baker, but this time we saw Wade Christensen. He was very nice and Julia and I both decided we like him! As you can see from the stats, she weighs 13 lbs. 12 oz, is 25 inches long, and her head circumference is 15 3/4 inches. She handled her shots ok and calmed down pretty quickly, but has acted a little off the last couple days. She hasn't had any reactions though so we're not worried and she's getting back to being herself.

She slept in her own room the last two nights! I'll put up pictures as soon as I get it cleaned and organized the rest of the way!

Four Months Old

2009-03-25T22:09:00.000-07:00

So this was the first time I thought to take pictures of Julia when she turned a month and of course she didn't want to cooperate! Here are some of the better shots!

She still doesn't smile for the camera! the little stinker! We had a good day though. Julia took two naps in her new crib that Daddy put together this weekend! She's not moved into her new room permanently yet. I'm trying to ease her into it with naps before we try nighttime.

Her four month well-baby is on Friday. Any guesses on length and weight? At her two month she was 11 lbs 8 oz and 23 inches long.

Pictures of Jules

2009-03-12T22:28:00.000-07:00

First of all thanks to everyone who helped with Julia's blessing lunch! It had been a while! This first picture Julia with her cousins on the other side after Cody's blessing. Going left to right they are Damien (born in October), Anna (born November 8), Julia (born November 25), and Cody (born December 29)

Here is Julia getting a bath! We have a picture of her not so covered up, but I don't think Ben would like it if I put that one on! She likes her baths for the most part but usually starts crying when we get her out!
I think I was trying to get a picture of her smiling. She smiles a lot, but as soon as I get out the camera she stops and seems more interested in the shiny object in front of her. This is as close as I can get.
My Mom and Dad with Julia at Sub Zero after her blessing! Thank you Mom for making such a beautiful blessing dress! and Congrats again on your new calling Dad! Hope all is going well.

New

2009-03-12T21:56:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm back to work. I started working four days a week at Sub Zero last week. Mickey is watching Julia on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights and Ben takes care of her on Tuesday afternoons. It's fun being back to work except for having to leave Julia.

We are working on moving Julia into her own room. She's been doing well in our room; sometimes going 10 hours in between feedings at night, but we have the extra room and I think it will be good for all of us. Julia and I won't wake up Ben when we have to get up in the middle of the night, and we won't wake up Julia when we stir or snore. My mom and dad helped me make and hang some cute curtains up in Julia's room today!

Julia was blessed on the 8th of February! Here are some fun pictures of her at Sub Zero for the lunch afterward.

Most Expensive Hair Cut Ever

2009-01-16T20:04:00.000-08:00

So back in October Ben and I went to this luncheon for the Idaho Falls Magazine and won a door prize for a $150 hair treatment and cut and $50 in product. On Wednesday I finally redeemed this prize at the Brian Young salon. It was really interesting. Brian Young is the salon owner and the only stylist. He schedules one person to be in his salon at a time. This isn't creepy though because the space is big and open and has floor to ceiling windows facing the street.

He first had me fill out a little questionnaire about my hair, then he brought me some slippers to wear. The hair treatment was supposed to condition and remove build-up from my hair. So he put all this product in and then put me under an Ozone steamer thing for 15 minutes while I ate mint chocolate truffles and drank bottled water. Then I got a shampoo and a cut (Hollywood style according to Brian) and a professional style. It was really fun! My hair felt great afterward and even today after washing it with my new fancy shampoo! So it was actually the cheapest hair cut I've ever had (free) besides the one I gave myself in first grade, but if I could ever round up the $150 to blow on a hair cut, I'd do it again in a second!

2009-01-12T20:01:00.000-08:00

It was a long day in the hospital. We went in at 7 a.m. for a scheduled induction, everything went well during the morning. I got the epidural around 11 and started pushing about 4 p.m. Julia was facing up in the birth canal so I had a lot of lower back pain and she really didn't want to come out that way. Her heart rate stayed ok though so they let me keep pushing until around 7 p.m. when she suddenly turned and crowned. So for like three hours the nurse and Ben and my mom were all telling me to push! push harder!! and then all of the sudden I wasn't supposed to push anymore until the doctor got there! I was pretty much delirious by this point, but I remember yelling, "Get the doctor right now!" or something to that effect and slapping my leg. You do funny things when you're half naked in front of half a dozen people, high on anesthesia, and extremely exhausted! Anyway, Dr. Huggins got there very quickly and I got to push some more. The cord was wrapped around the baby's neck so the doctor quickly cut it and the nurses started working on her to make sure she was breathing well.

So little Julia was born at 7:28 p.m. on November 25, 2008. She weighed 7 lbs 4 oz and was 20 1/2 inches long. She is the most beautiful thing in the world! She and I are both doing very well. We just stay home and veg most days. We are best buds!

2009-01-12T19:57:00.000-08:00

So this is an awful picture, but it's the only one we took of me pregnant. This is two days before Julia was born and I was huge!

Babies are Crazy!!

2008-08-22T15:09:00.000-07:00

So tomorrow I will be exactly three months shy of my due date! The summer's gone by really fast, and I'm having lots of fun being pregnant. I hope the next three months are just as enjoyable. I felt the baby move for the first time (or rather I recognized what I'd been feeling for a while as baby movement) about a month ago, but it's never moved as much as it has today! It's started pushing on different organs making me flinch and groan a little. If you're wondering why I'm calling my baby "it", it's because we don't know whether it's a boy or a girl. So I know it sounds bad, but I don't know how else to refer to the baby. Ben always says "he" and I have to keep reminding him that it could be a "she".

This is not a Journal

2008-08-08T16:38:00.000-07:00

I realized as I sat down to write this post that this blog is not a journal. I had planned that I would be able to just write like I do in my personal diary, but people might read this! So I can't vent about fellow employees at work or complian about my body aches! It's so wierd how inhibited I am when I know someone might see what I so ackwardly put into prose. The bummer part about this is that now I have to write in my journal and on this blog!

Happy news though: My brother Craig, his wife Alaina, and their 1 1/2 year old daughter are here visiting from Wisconsin! They will be staying until next Saturday! I didn't realize how much I missed them until they came back! Now I keep thinking of ways we can see them more while they're here.

We'll see how long this lasts!

2008-07-25T10:50:00.000-07:00

So I hope I'm doing this right! It almost seemed to easy! Ben will be proud of me! I've been wanting to start a blog for a long time and being all alone at home for the next few days has given me the opportunity to just sit down and do it. This blog will be mostly used to tell about what Ben and I are up to and how the baby is doing (I felt it move for the first time yesterday!). But I also want to try to write about something I'm very interested in. I am an avid reader and Ben is an avid movie watcher/collector. So parts of this blog will be dicussing the differences between the book and the movie based on the book! Should be fun!