Baby It's Cold Outside

It is getting very chilly in Rexburg.This is Lainee asleep in the stroller after one of our morning walks.

This is Lainee watching the computer (probably The Office of something) with her Daddy.

Sugar cookies are one of the few things I make very well. So last week I made some and some frosting, then decorated them all cute for the girls I visit teach and their families. And of course kept a bunch for Garen and myself =)

Here is one of the many attempts we have made to get a cute video of Lainee. Her face always just goes into a blank stare when she sees the camra. Also I sound like an idiot in the backgound trying to get her to smile or talk to me. Oh well. One of these days we'll take her somewhere and tape her doing something really cute. Hopefully. Anyway this one's boring but here it is.

Here is Lainee in the dress I made with a bow I made and some cute boots and ruffly-bum tights. Ready for church. The dress is actually longer than it looks but of course we had to bunch it so she could sit in the bumbo while I got ready.

Last weekend Lainee and I went and spent time with the primary class doing service, went to enrichment, Chrissy's baby shower (Chrissy has a cute baby bump), and then made pumpkin cake for Garen's work party that night. It was a busy Saturday.

This is Lainee just this morning. For some reason, when she wakes up in the morning she is super giddy and excited!
She is wearing one of her new outfits. Garen let me go shopping for her the other day because temperatures have dropped around here lately and she needed long sleeves and jackets, etc. We just happened to already have this headband and it matches perfectly! She also got some new dresses for Sunday, which I will post pictures of later.

The End of Summer

Well, it stayed warm through the 8th of October and that's gotta be some kind of record for this area, but as of the last few days it has been cold and wet.

This intense-ness has occupied alot of our time lately. Garen and I watched 3 seasons of Prison Break in less than 3 weeks. Pathetic, I know but it's so hard to stop!

I'm re-reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows because......

.....The 1st part of the movie comes to theaters November 1, 2010!!!

Garen's been hunting lately because that's just what he does, and he got us a whitetail deer doe the other day with his bow and arrow. Sweet dude.

I've been walking every morning with Lainee in the stroller and am fitting back into all my jeans. Good. I still have belly squish and about 8 pounds that won't go anywhere. I've been stuck there since about 3 weeks after the baby came. Ugh. But I'm going to start doing some gymnastics again which will take a while but hopefully it will help:)

Well I actually got on here to post a video of Lainee sitting in the Bumbo and doing some cool baby tricks. My mother ordered me to do so because she lives so far away and it's not fair that they don't get to see her. Anyway, my sweet hubby doesn't know where the cord to the video camra is so maybe later. Here are a few more recent pictures of her though. She is now over 2 months old.

She and her dad wore matching outfits the other day and didn't even plan it!

Garen and I are trying to get on a better schedule for Lainee so she will sleep better at night. Lately, her sleep habits have us up until after midnight.

This is our awesome kid sleeping is her CRIB! Woo hoo.

Mockingjay Review

We finally got the stinking book! Well we got it a while ago. I had been waiting for it, almost dying with out it and then it came in the mail while I was home in Washington with Lainee. So Garen, who stayed here to work, read it all before I ever got back. Oh well at least then he was done so I didn't have to take turns.

Anyway, the book was amazing but left me somewhat disappointed for some reason I can't put my finger on. It seemed like it just ended, and skipped over the things I was waiting for throughout all three books. There was nothing about the way it ended that I disliked. I was just waiting for some description of happiness that freedom and love bring to the main character, but instead was given the reality of what happens to people who are in wars and who witness traumatic things. But I guess the whole point of the series was that the greatest good would be justice, freedom, and happiness for everybody, so it's all good. : )

But still LOVE the series as a whole.

Bodily Functions

Our life right now is full of the results of bodily functions... Baby poo (as seen above), puke, spit up, milk, boogers, slobber, smiles, tears, blood, drool, laughter, you get the picture.

Update on Lainee's life.

*She is gaining weight and very healthy.

*The baby acne is gone.

*She bathes in the big tub.

*The primary kids (and everyone else who meets her) adore her.

*She is getting really awesome at  holding her own head up.

*This girl does not want anybody's clothes to be clean.

*Her favorite things are riding in the stroller and snuggling with Mom and Dad.

*She is learning to sleep at night (in her crib, yes!) and wake during the day.

(I know they say it's not safe but I gave in and started letting her sleep on her tummy on her silky blanky. My whole world has improved in the last 3 days since I made that decision. Ssshh.)

*Her smile has come into our lives for real officially

and is the cutest one I have seen ever in my entire adult life. 

Sometimes she even gives us a little wanna-be giggle.

LOVE it.

Here are pictures.

The WEIGHT is finally OVER! ...and the princess is finally here!

She's here!!! Lainee Kate Blanchard was born August 5, 2010 at 10:48pm. She weighed 7 pounds and 9 ounces, and was 18 and 1/2 inches long.
Here's the story:

The summer was too hot and the mama (I) wasn't feeling so hott, so after a week or two of the Doctor telling me the baby would be here any day (and stripping the membrane twice to try to move it all along), I tried drinking some caster oil. I heard from everyone that it worked, but for me it just caused a false alarm and the nurses at the hospital sent me home because the the contractions weren't causing any more dilation. That was Tuesday.
By Thursday there were hardly contractions at all so I went to my normal check up at the Doctor's office and he tried again to move the process along. He said I would be in labor in a few hours. So, in a few hours, a lady at the hospital called and asked where I was because she said Doctor Watson thought I would be there by now, but nothing had started yet. They told me to go have him check again so I went and when he came in he just asked if I wanted him to break my water. Of course I said yes so Garen and I met him at the hospital at 5. My water was broken at 5:30, I was in labor for the next few hours, got an epidural that didn't work correctly, they took it out, redid it... When the doctor finally came back at 10:30 to see how far we had gotten, he was in the room for about 30 seconds before he said to me "Are you ready to deliver this baby?" as he and the nurse started pulling stuff out and getting ready... 10 or 15 minutes later THERE SHE WAS!!! Garen got to cut the cord. Yay!

It was the most painful thing I've done, and just as hard as we've all heard, but even more rewarding and awesome than anyone can even imagine, let alone put to words.

She and I got the green light to come home Saturday morning, and Sunday we even went to sacrament meeting in Rigby for Derrick's farewell talk. But after that we both needed alot of rest, so that's mostly what we've been doing this week and my wonderful mother has been here to help us out. She's a lifesaver. Garen and I are so excited and happy and Lainee really is the most beautiful girl in the whole wide world.

Thanks a ton to everyone who got us cool/cute gifts and who were so excited for us!