Happy Sunday

5 hours

Julie slept for 5 hours straight last night! I had so much energy at 3 A.M. I thought I could run a marathon! Hopefully this is going to start a trend because it sure beats being up every 2-3 hours!

mouse

Ever since we had mice in our apartment in Nebraska 3 years ago, I have been paranoid that I'm going to see one running across the floor again. Yesterday morning, I was unlocking the door to the garage to throw out a diaper when I saw this black thing in a container on the floor right in front of the door. I couldn't see it that well since I didn't have my glasses on, so I asked Jim what it was. He said, "Oh, it's a mouse." I jumped back, panicked, and then realized that he had purchased a new mouse for his computer at work! He left it in front of the door because he didn't want to forget it! I'm so glad it wasn't the living kind of mouse!

10 things

It seems that I haven't kept things together quite enough to update the blog terribly often, so here are 10 things that have been going on lately.

1. Our little lady calms down to several things...the vacuum, the garage door going up and down, and this much more preferable soundtrack. I think I might have to invest and purchase the entire album.

2. Jim was sworn in as an attorney back in October. I had the camera, but somehow in transporting our baby lady to my mom's house for babysitting so I could attend the ceremony, the camera fell out of its case, and into the depths of my bag. I thought I had packed an empty camera case. The talks given at the ceremony were awesome. It's too bad my tired brain couldn't concentrate for an entire talk, and Jim gave me the Cliffs Notes version of it later that night!

3. Jim stayed home with Julie yesterday while I went to church. 3 hours seemed like a long time to do just one thing.

4. Jim found my iron! It was in a box labeled frames and coats. In the packing help we got, that box must have been mislabeled because there was not a single frame or coat in the box! Now Jim can look like we actually clean his dress clothes for work!

5. Julie developed reflux over the last week. Yuck! Fels Naptha is saving my bacon in the laundry department. I had her mostly going down for naps without being rocked to sleep, but since we have to keep her upright for at least 30 minutes after she eats, she inevitably falls asleep while she's belching away. (I never knew a baby could belch so loud!) So, there goes our plan to eat, be awake, and then sleep during the day.

6. I got this as a house-warming gift from family. I'm in heaven! The bread that I've made so far is amazing! I'm sure it's the mixer because it's the same stuff I've been making forever, and it just turns out so much better with this machine!

7. We didn't have nearly as many trick-or-treaters as I anticipated. Jim took excess candy to work & even had a moment when his boss came in and asked if Jim would like to "share some sugar" since he had to work late. Jim might hand out more trick-or-treat candyat work than we did here at home!

8. We planted an autumn blaze maple tree in our relatively barren yard on Halloween.

9. Jim's mom planted pansies in our front yard. The neighbors love them! It has become the way that I've met several neighbors since I've had to go out and water them & that's when people have stopped by to talk.

10. Speaking of neighbors, nobody seems to get our names right at the beginning. At church in Nebraska, our last name wasn't said right for several months. I've been mistakenly called Heather or Holly for a majority of my life. We've had a handful of people bring us apples (home grown apples are so yummy, so we're grateful they'd share), and one was even tagged for me, Heather.

pictures & new house

We've been in survival mode for the last few weeks. Moving with a brand new baby is a little hectic, but we're still alive! Here are some recent pictures to prove it!

our little lady's favorite sleeping position.

1 week old

3 weeks old


our new house (believe it or not, it's snowing in this picture...you just can't see the flakes)

one of our awesome free couches in the "home teaching" room

kitchen/family room

I considered cleaning up the mess, but a nap sounds like a better option to me! The other rooms are still cluttered with boxes, so I didn't take pictures of those since you probably know what a cardboard box looks like!

waves

The theme of this week has to be expect the unexpected. We finally closed on our house and get to move in tomorrow! It seems like there was always one more hurdle to jump, and the closing date kept getting pushed back. It's a wave of relief to have the financing part of things finalized.

With a new house & baby, I was a little worried about not having a rocking chair of our own. My parents have a neighbor who remodeled a portion of their home, and they have some super nice furniture to give away...including a rocking chair and some sofas that are in excellent condition! I couldn't ask for more.

I have the sweetest, easiest infant that I could ever ask for, and her disposition has made my life so much easier this week. I ended up in the ER last Tuesday evening to stop a hemorrhage, which scared me to death. I am so thankful to my parents' neighbors and my siblings who jumped in to take care of Julie while I spent the night at the hospital. I also cannot express how extremely grateful I am to the skilled medical professionals who took care of me. It's kind of a bummer to have to start the physical healing process all over after I was starting to feel really good, but things will be okay. Jim has been so supportive through all of this, and I am so lucky to have him!

Since we're moving, I am going to miss having Internet access for a while. Thanks to everyone for your prayers. I'll definitely post pictures when we get things up and running!

Bath Time!

Heidi gave Julie her first bath (after the hospital) today. Julie was quite calm, which is a great thing. Hopefully her calm demeanor will continue! Julie weighed 8 lbs. 8 oz. and was 22 inches long at birth. She has been rather sleepy so far. She just wants to eat every now and again. It seems that she could go 4 or more hours between feedings, which is a little long. So, we have to wake her up to eat at times.

So, things are going great thus far. Family has been really great and anxious to see her. We're currently staying with Heidi's parents. It seems like the whole family just wants to hold and look at her. Grandpa Steve was burping her and mentioned that she looked like she was going to spit up on him. She granted his wish with a bonus: after spitting up on him, she also did her other business while he was holding her. So at least she looks like she's getting some food!

We've been keeping her away from little kids to avoid infection. I've been the mean and paranoid one by telling everybody: "If you want to hold or touch Julie, make sure you wash your hands." I've also noticed really protective feelings kick in. When she cries hard, I feel so sad. I've been thinking of all of the horrible things there are in this world and wanting to keep her away from all of it. But, I know that the time will come when she'll be exposed to the pain and evil of this world. I just hope that we can teach her the right things so that she can choose to avoid the bad. So there you go for Jim's sentimental side.