Christmas, Rory's first Winter

I'm sorry for the blogging delay. I have been diligently blogging on my weight loss blog and things have been so crazy busy and add a penchant for laziness and you have my lack contributing. We took Christmas pictures of Loralei. I hand-made that tutu. It was pretty easy, I did make it afterall and we had such a good time getting Rory to mug for the camera. Here are some pics of all of us around the holidays. The last pic is of me and Rory walking around the neighborhood. It's about 30 degrees Fahrenheit on average everyday. So I will rig her up in her sling and put my coat on over her. We walk all around the neighborhood and it makes me so happy to get out and get some sunshine. Life is wonderful Our new year's resolutions are still going strong. And I have lost over 16.5 pounds since starting my diet.

For Christmas we got a Wii Fit and we have so much fun with it. I can tell I am getting fitter. Ryan got me a gorgeous necklace and out first date movie "The Princess Bride" and Wii Music. I got him a model car, two model rockets, a tools to put those together. Rory got the best haul. We bought her several toys and about 18 books, we found them on sale. The inlaws got us sleeping bags.

Ry's birthday is coming up. I already have gotten him his gifts. I can reveal it here. I found the best deal on a golf club set for lefties. I am trying really hard to surprise him, it's been really difficult so far. He's taken me to Big 5 to look at golf club sets and talked on and on about it. I've been forced to tell him I have bought his gift and to not look too hard for it in our apartment. It's really hidden at his parents! Teehee! We're gonna go to the car show this weekend and next weekend he'll get them at his family Bday celebration. I'm such a good wifey. Enjoy the pics!

HUGE Announcements

Tomorrow I start a hardcore diet. I joined Weight Watchers again. Last time I did Weight Watchers I lost 30 pounds in time to meet the love of my life and get married. Now a year and a half and one bouncing baby girl later I am back to where I started adding about 15 pounds. I want to get in shape for our next trip down pregnancy lane and well as develop the healthy habits to share with Rory. I want her to have a healthy mom who has a healthy relationship with food. That starts tomorrow. I have 32 points daily and 35 weekly splurge points. Check out my progress at crusinforlosin.blogspot.com.

Second HUGE announcement is that Ry found a permanent job! Ok, so it's temporary for 90 days but after that it could be permanent. It's at an American Fork company called Twin Labs and he does maintenance on their capsule making machines and pretty much around the whole facility. They have him working some crazy hours right now. He works 6 PM to 6AM seven days a week. We miss him terribly at home, but we know that this is only temporary and feel such gratitude for such a steady job in this economy. I am so grateful for my hardworking hubby and love him so so much!

Rory is growing faster every day. She is now 6 months old and can sit up by herself. She is now the proud owner of two teeth. She weighs 18.6 and is 28 inches tall. She laughs all the time now and is such a great joy to her father and I.

Finally I want to share my gratitude for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We had stake conference last weekend and the adult session focused heavily on family history. The church has released a new familysearch website to help people like me who do not have much to go on. I can't wait until I can start exploring this resource and aid in "gathering my family safely in."

Blessings, Blessings, and More Blessings!

I haven't written in a while, I don't really have a great excuse. I have been busy tho. So here's the news.

I got a stay-at-home job! Lindsey, my sister-in-law, told me that her company BidSync was hiring. I put in an application and went into the interview. I honestly didn't know if this was Heavenly Father's will or not so I just prated that His will be done no matter what and that I could just present myself in the best light possible. Well, this must be Heavenly Father's will because I got the job the very next day. It's part time, online and I make pretty decent money. This position affords my family a little breathing room in case Ryan ever loses his job again. The work is great and I love what I'm doing. Rory isn't a fan of having to entertain herself for 4-5 hours a day but she's adjusting.

I have also gotten in touch with my foster family once more. The Grotelueshen's were such an important part of my life and now we are in almost daily contact once more. I'm especially glad that I am able to talk to Jennifer, my older foster sister. We were so close when we lived together and I always regretted losing contact and I've missed her.

Halloween was awesome!! Loralei was an Auburn Tiger! I put some pictures in from our "Halloween Photoshoot." She didn't quite no what it was about and fell asleep halfway through but she was adorable. Next year we're gonna carve pumpkins and really do it up!

We' been reading the Book of Mormon every nite to fulfill our Bishop's challenge to us to read it before the end of the year. It has really changed the Spirit in our home and I'm so grateful for it's influence in our lives. We have been so amazingly blessed and we've also been able to weather the heartaches of life much more because of it's teachings. It brings me so much close to my Savior to read about a people that looked forward to His coming to hundreds of years and preached of His awesome redeeming power long before He was born on this Earth. I love the Book of Mormon and I'm honored to know of it's truth and greatness.

I will try to be better about writing more often. Oh! If you get a chance you need to to read the Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins Such good books! The third does not come out until 2010 so I am warning you now there is a HUGE cliffhanger. As always I would love any and all comments!

Musings of a Stay At Home Mom

These past few weeks have been what being a stay-at-home mom is all about. Loralei can roll over from front to back and now back to front. It's the end of my little non mobile caterpillar. Now I have to keep an eye on her whenever I put her down. Also, she knows that soon she will be able to do more so she gets pretty frustrated just rolling around. She makes me laugh. Here's a picture of frustrates for Rory.



I have been back at reading again. I love to read and I have read some pretty good books recently. I read The Android's Dream by John Scalzi. This isn't my normal fare but that may change. It was a engrossing read set in the future with diplomatic and interplanetary intrigue. I loved the characters who were both humble, witty, and innovative. I would suggest this book to people who want a break from romance for awhile! Also I read The Magician's and Mrs. Quent which was like a fantasy novel mingled with Jane Austen. I really liked the characters and I am looking forward to the rest of the series.

I've been looking for a creative hobby, something that is cheap for me to do and would be both rewarding and engrossing. I'm thinking maybe doing Origami. I think it would be pretty and hey its paper and a book right? Maybe I'll start with the paper and then check out a book from the library. American Fork Library rocks!

Rory Roo is ready to get up from her nap so I must go fetch her.

Summertime Fun

I have been so busy enjoying the summer that I have forgotten to write more often. I have been hiking, swimming, and camping. It's been a wonderful summer! I'm so blessed I've never been on more trips or did more things and here I thought that I would miss out because I'm a mom now. Here are some of the pictures that cronicle our super busy summer.


Carnival with Rory and Ryan


Hiking with Abby, Xander, and Rory


Feeding Rory while we are camping

The summer isn't even over yet! I have loved every minute of being a mom. Loralei is now able to roll over and is almost able to sit up by herself. She laughed out loud for the first time for me today. Man I love that kid!

Other than the baby, Ry is back at his job with Burningham Trucking. It's awesome. We are in Jacob now with the Book of Mormon challenge! We're gonna finish by the end of this year! It has helped our family so much. Ry wants to build a model train layout for all his childhood model trains. I'm trying to get Brad and him to let me make zombies or Harry Potter layout but they aren't having any of it. I have also read a pretty good book, it's called the Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe. It was a mix between historical fiction about the Salem Witch Trials and fictional research based on the trials. I liked it. I also reread the Twilight Saga and I really like those books even more than before but I will never watch the movies! I have heard how much they change and I am just not interested.

The Travels and Doings of Rory Roo

I am averaging about once a month which isn't good! Let me start off by saying how truly grateful I am to have this time with my daughter and how good Heavenly Father truly is to me. Rory is growing so big and is advancing everyday. Today, she rolled over for the first time!

We went to Alabama two weeks ago. It was so nice to see my family and to introduce my little girl. It was a great trip and it left us with a lot to mull over. Rory didn't seem like she liked the humidity much but that takes getting used to.

Since we've been back Rory has started "talking" more and smiling all the time. Her smile is like the sun in my sky. It makes me so happy to see her happy.

Ry is working a temporary job that keeps him working 10-12 hour days. It's only a couple blocks away so he's able to come home for lunch some times. I love that he is so devoted to supporting our family.

Being a stay at home mom is hard on the finances but completely worth it. Nothing I have ever done means more than what I am doing right now. Here are some pics from the last month.

Update

It's been a few weeks since I last posted. Life has been so blissfully busy that I couldn't tear myself away. Rory is doing fantastic. We went to California when she was three weeks old, it was a big surprise trip for us. We didn't decide to go until 9PM the night before. It was a madhouse trying to pack everything for Loralei and ourselves and thankfully we did a good job. Cali was phenominal, I am so truly blessed to have a great family of in-laws who love Rory so good and let us mooch on their fabulous trip. I can now say I have been on the beach on both coast of the country as well as the Gulf of Mexico. It was fantastic I went to Disney Land and rode two rides, hey it was an accomplishment for a 3 weeks out from a c section and nursing Rory every three hours! My favorite part of the trip was the beach it was so beautiful. Here's a picture.



Life after the trip has been so great! Rory has topped ten pounds and learning to gurgle and coo. She is just the love of my life :). I made a slide show of Life after Baby and I'll keep adding to it as we go along. This Sunday is Rory's baby blessing and we went along with Abby and baby Xander to have a blessing outfit photoshoot. I'm so excited to see the pics and they will be posted soon!

Birth Story

I had my daughter Loralei Grace by c section on May 12th, 2009 at 8:27 AM. It was the most amazing experience of my life and I want to write all my memories down know while they are still fresh.

The morning was gorgeous as we drove to the hospital. It was surreal to be driving to have baby when I wasn't having any pain or contractions. It did not feel real. Of course I did not hardly sleep at all the nite before and I was so nervous and thirsty. That was the worst part of the whole of the before surgery, the anxiety and the thirst. As soon as Ry and I arrived, they whisked us to a room so they can start monitoring me and hook me up to an IV. I was so scared and Ry was definitely wired. Here's a picture of me before the surgery. Looking at it now I can't believe how swollen I was.

Ry was so excited. They reeled me into surgery and started my spinal. The spinal was no sweat at all. They local anesthetic didn't even really hurt. However the spinal worked so well that my blood pressure crashed and I started feeling really nauseous and dizzy. The nurse anesthetist had to add some epinephrin to get my blood pressure back up. That was the scariest part of the whole thing but it didn't last long and soon I felt 100% better.

Ry was allowed back in the OR and they started almost right away. I was so numb that I didn't know until someone told me. It was the oddest sensation because I kept feeling the waves of movement right under my chest. They took out 2700 cc's of fluid which is over 90 ounces!! I knew I sloshed but I didn't know there was that much. Then they delivered Loralei. She started crying immediately and I burst into tears. As they were lifting her out Dr Smith said "Jessica, I hope you know that this was the only way this baby was getting out, she didn't even know where the birth canal was." Loralei measured in at 9 pounds and 6 ounces! I can't believe all of what I had inside me! Here is a pic of Loralei when she was freshly evicted.

Big big baby. They took her and Ryan down to the nursery and I was left to get stitched up. The c section was a breeze and honestly not the huge worry that I let it become. The days after were much harder than the surgery itself. All in all tho, my pain has been minimal and I definitely wouldn't fret if all my kids had to be born this way. I will write more on the hospital and the days after in a few days. Feel free to comment!

Pregnancy Pics

I have taken some of my last pregnancy pics this weekend. I'm sure Ry and I will photo document the whole day of the birth but these are the last pics of me out and about (most likely anyway.) Feel free to comment!!

Now that we know that Loralei is coming on Wednesday, I've been thinking about everything that I am going to miss about being pregnant. The realization struck sometime last weekend that I have no idea how to maneuver without my huge stomach. I am actually going to miss it. It has served as my TV tray, attention getter, and my personal favorite free drink getter from 7-11. I will miss my huge stomach because I have had it so long that I don't remember life without it.

I'm so excited for Wednesday! I can't wait for Loralei to get here and for me to be able to see her. Any advice is very welcome!!