Alivian Lynn

I should definitely get the award for the worst blogger ever! Alivian is almost 8 weeks old and I am finally getting around to posting an update! But better late than never I suppose...

On Tuesday, October 27th (J.P.'s birthday) we went to the doctor to find out when or if they were going to induce me. I was sure that they would say they wouldn't induce until at least Thursday or Friday, but the doctor told us it would be best to come in that night! He said that there was really no reason for me to go to my due date because the baby wouldn't grow any better in the womb than she would out. So we decided to go in that night at around 7. I really wanted my Mom to be there for the birth so she actually started driving from Sheridan that morning because a huge storm was rolling in. She made it to Laramie just as it started dumping snow...God must have really been watching out for us!

I was induced around 8:00 that night and we were told it would be about 24 hours until the delivery and they were almost exactly right because we welcomed Alivian Lynn Paradis at 7:42 p.m. on Wednesday, October 28th. She weighed 6 lbs. 1/2 oz. and was 19 in. long. Everything went very smoothly and she was just perfect!

My Mom stayed for two weeks which I am so thankful for because there were many times I wouldn't have known what to do. She helped us get adjusted to life with a new baby and then right before the next storm rolled in, she headed back to Sheridan. It was hard for all of us to see her go but we have gotten to see her a few times since.

So there is a quick update on the arrival of our new addition and here is some more recent news...

For Thanksgiving we met my Mom and Andy in Casper to be with my Grandma after she had back surgery. My Grandpa went to his first Bronco's game on Thanksgiving with my uncle and cousins, so we decided to go keep Grammy company. My Mom and I cooked all day and we had a great dinner with just the six of us. It was so nice to spend some time with Grammy and to be able to bring Liv to meet her.

J.P. had to come back to Laramie for work the day after Thanksgiving, so Liv and I went up to Sheridan with my Mom and Andy for a few days. I was really nervous about being away from daddy, and while it was a long few days without him, we had a great time. I took Liv to Rooster's (the bookstore and cafe I used to work at in Sheridan) to meet everyone there. We also got to spend some time with my great friend Auda (who I love and miss dearly), Tammy, Jim, and Nolan (my other family), and Patsy (Martha's mom). It was so nice to see and spend time with all of them and I wish we could see them more often! Liv and I also got our pictures taken by my mom's friend Adam who is a wonderful photographer. He did a great job and the pictures are so cute! Although it was a great trip, I was so glad to see J.P. and be back in our little home.

We took Alivian to the doctor a couple of weeks ago and she already weighs 9 lbs.! She is growing so much and already revealing her personality to us. She has started smiling a lot this past week and each smile melts my heart! She truly has brought so much joy into our lives and I never knew how much love you could have for such a tiny little person :)

We are staying here in Laramie for Christmas. Tomorrow night (Christmas Eve) we are going to do dinner at our house and then on Christmas Day we will go over to J.P.'s mom's house. I am very excited for Liv's first Christmas and our first Christmas as a family in our new home! I pray that you all have a very Merry and Blessed Christmas and that you get to spend it surrounded by friends and family! We love you all and are thankful for all you have done for us. I will post more after Christmas (promise!)

~Baby News~

Our due date is still two weeks away from today, but we might be meeting our baby girl a little earlier than that! We went to the doctor on Thursday and I was still measuring a little small, so the doctor decided to do another ultrasound to make sure the baby is growing OK. They measured all of her main body parts and found that she is measuring a little small as well. This is nothing to worry about if all parts are measuring at the same rate, but her stomach was a little smaller compared to the rest of her body. The main concern with this is that the placenta may not be doing its job anymore in providing her with enough nutrients. Therefore, they believe because she is already term and fully developed, she would do better on the outside rather than the inside. We go back on Tuesday (J.P.'s birthday) so they can do more fetal monitoring through a Non Stress Test. Most likely they will schedule to induce later in the week...so we might have a baby in a week or less! It is so crazy to think how fast time has gone, although it seems to be dragging on forever. I was definitely expecting to go all the way to our due date, if not a little past. If there is one thing I have learned through this whole pregnancy, it is that you can't control mother nature and you never know what will come up. Although I am a little nervous about the possibility of being induced, I trust that the doctors know what's right for the baby. And I'm really trusting in God to guide them and us in any decisions we need to make (I mean, he already knows her birth date right down to the very second, so I really can't get too controlling :).

So that is what's going on with our little muffin as of now and I will definitely try to update on what happens at the doctor on Tuesday!

36 weeks

4 Weeks and Counting...

So, remember a couple of posts ago when I said I was really going to try to be better at posting more often? Clearly that was an empty promise and I haven't done very well...but here I am to update you all on a little bit of what is going on in our lives.

First of all, as I type this there is a TON of snow outside. Yes, it is only October 10th but Laramie likes to go ahead and skip fall and dive right into winter. There is about 6 inches of snow and it's only about 15 degrees. Needless to say, I am bundled up on the couch with no plans of going anywhere! I'm kind of a baby when it comes to the cold weather. Actually a BIG baby. I should be at War Memorial Stadium cheering on our Wyoming Cowboys, but I'm pregnant and can't afford to get sick. I think that sounds like a good excuse for staying in and watching it on TV :)

J.P. has been very busy with work since football season is well underway and basketball season is quickly approaching. He actually had to go to California last weekend for a few days with the golf team. My mom came to stay with me while he was gone and ended up not leaving until yesterday so it was really nice to be able to spend some time alone with her before the baby comes.

Speaking of baby...we only have 4 weeks until the due date (November 7th)! I am 36 weeks pregnant today and feeling pretty good for the most part. However, I have been getting more and more uncomfortable everyday as our little girl is packing on the pounds. Everthing seems to be progressing well and I wouldn't be upset if she decided to come a little early...but who knows! Kids have a mind of their own from the very beginning. But we can't wait to meet her and hold her and see what she looks like and we are getting a little impatient! I know 4 weeks will go by quickly and it will only give me more time to continue nesting- as if the house really needs to be cleaned 4 times a week and the nursery needs to be more organized ;)

Well, I think that's all for now and I really will try to post at least one more time before baby is here...

Baby Party!

Last weekend J.P.'s Mom, Candy, hosted a baby "party" at our house. Instead of your typical baby shower, this was a co-ed shower and people were encouraged to bring a bag of diapers for a keg cup. We had a lot of people in our house because of course it started raining right when people started arriving. Several of our family members come down for it- my Mom and Andy, my Dad and Peggy, my Aunt Roxi and her kids Colby and Karly, and J.P.'s cousin Andy and his wife Cathy. Of course, many great friends were here too and it was so much fun! After a while, we moved the party into the garage (our dirt yard was way too muddy even after it stopped raining) and Martha and J.P.'s brother Dan and his cousin Andy brought out their guitars and started singing. It was great entertainment, good food, great company, and I don't think the last person left until 2:30 a.m.! I haven't stayed up past 10:00 for 7 months so it was very tiring for me and it took me a while to recover, but it was definitely worth it.
The first Wyoming Cowboy football game was today and work is definitely starting to get a lot busier for J.P.. There is a game every weekend this month and only one of them is an away game, so we are pretty much stuck in Laramie for the rest of the season. Although it can get a little boring, I have plenty to do to get ready for our Baby Girl to arrive as we are only 9 weeks away from our due date! It seems like forever...but I know it will go by very fast!
That's about all for now, but I hope you are all doing well and we love you!

Finally Posting...

Wow, I'm not very good at updating our blog...but I will try to get better!

Three weekends ago we went to Colorado Springs for J.P.'s cousin's engagement party. I love going to Colorado Springs because J.P.'s Aunt Linda has the most relaxing house. It was so nice to have a relaxing night out of Laramie and to spend some time with family. We were also able to see Shebli and Matt and meet their new baby boy, Parker. We met them at Barnes & Noble and spent about an hour holding little Parker and catching up about their new life in Monument. It was really fun to meet Parker and I can't wait for him and our baby girl to be friends...I wish we didn't live so far away!

Two weekends ago we went to Sheridan for the baby shower my mom did for me. Martha rode with us and Candy & Mike (J.P.'s mom and her boyfriend) drove up too. On Friday night we all went out to dinner and then just relaxed at my mom's house...well, everyone relaxed except for my mom because she was busy baking for the shower :) On Saturday morning, my mom was still running around baking and organizing everything for the shower and I tried to help as much as I could. The shower was supposed to be outside at a park in Sheridan, but it was rainy and cold (of course) so Patsy (Martha's mom) offered to have it at their house. It ended up being perfect and a lot of great friends were there which made it even better. Muffin received a lot of great gifts and a ton of very cute clothes...she is already very spoiled. That night my mom and Andy made a great dinner for us and Candy and Mike and Martha, Hardy, Patsy, and Rosie. It was an awesome night and we feel so blessed to be surrounded by so many wonderful people!

This last weekend was the first weekend in about a month that we haven't had to go anywhere, and it was actually really nice. On Friday, we went down to the Farmer's Market and loaded up on a lot of great food and then went out to dinner. Saturday, there was a football scrimmage so J.P. had to work for a little bit and then he and Mike started on the other side of our fence. Yesterday, we got a lot done around the house and we bought a glider for the nursery...I can't wait to rock our baby girl in it! Only 11 weeks left!

I hope you all are doing great and I will try to be better at posting on here more often!

~Wedding Season~

Tis' the season for weddings! On July 16th we flew out to California for J.P.'s cousin Callie's wedding. We flew into L.A. and the wedding was in Pasadena which is a really cool older part of L.A.. The flight there took all the energy I had and by the time we got to our hotel I was exhausted! The next day J.P. and I drove to Santa Monica and walked around the beach and the pier. I love the ocean, so it was nice to be able to go walk in the sand for a little bit.

The wedding was absolutely amazing and perfect and we had a great time seeing J.P.'s family. I definitely got tired a lot faster than normal which was kind of a pain and it took me at least a week to catch up on sleep when we got home!

This last weekend I was in my cousin Whitney's wedding in Casper. It was at my grandparent's house on Casper Mountain and it couldn't have been more amazing and perfect either! I was really worried about my dress not fitting because we didn't have any way of knowing how big my tummy would be. But it ended up fitting just right and now the baby can grow as big as she wants because I don't have to worry about fitting into a bridesmaids dress :) Whitney looked beautiful and we had a lot of fun at the wedding and with my family and I'm so happy for my cousin!

In our spare time, J.P. and his mom's boyfriend Mike, have been working on putting up a fence around our house. They have the back side and the gate done and they are going to start on the right side soon. It looks awesome and feels great to have made some progress on some of our summer projects. The next project is the yard and maybe a sprinkler system...why isn't any of this free???
We are headed to Colorado Springs this weekend and Sheridan next weekend, so I will keep you posted on our travels!

Fourth of July

We went to see my dad and Peggy in Driggs over the 4th of July weekend. It was a long drive but a lot of fun. On the 4th we went to the Teton Valley parade in Victor, ID and it was so much fun to see all of the little kids trying to get candy. It definitely made me very excited to take our little muffin next year and especially the next year when she will really be able to enjoy it. After the parade we went to some of dad and Peggy's friends' house with a beautiful view of the Tetons. It was a lot of fun, but boy do I get tired fast these days and I could barely stay awake for the fireworks! The next day was quite an eventful day as well because J.P. rode a horse for the first time. I can't believe he has grown up in Wyoming his whole life and never ridden a horse! But he learned how to brush and saddle the horses and he did really well. It was a great trip and we didn't want to leave at all...it's so relaxing in Teton Valley.

Other than that, we are pretty busy this month. Yesterday we went to Fort Collins to register for baby stuff. It was so exhausting! The lady told us that a lot of people register for a while and then go have lunch and come back. I thought for sure we would be able to do it one trip...but after about 2 hours of pointing the registry gun at everything from pacifiers to strollers, we were exhausted! So we went and had lunch, got our second wind and went back for another round of decisions. Let me just say that their are way too many choices for parents-to-be, especially for first time parents because we really have no idea what we actually need. But in the end I think we made some pretty good choices and everything is starting to seem a lot more real :)

We are headed to California on Thursday for J.P.'s cousin's wedding and then in a couple of weeks we are going to my cousin's wedding. The rest of this month is pretty busy and so is August...then after that we only have two more months until Muffin gets here!

It's a...

Yesterday was an amazing day. We found out that we are going to be having a baby girl. We went to the doctor for the full anatomical ultrasound which was amazing because we saw every square inch of our little one. We saw her little mouth and nose and eyes and little feet and toes. We even got to see her brain and her heart beating and all of her little organs. And they measured everything to make sure she is developing well and she is! They said that everything so far is perfect and that we couldn't ask for a healthier baby. She is even growing ahead of schedule so we might see her a few days before November 7th. It was so awesome to hear that she is doing well and to see her move around and everything. I had a feeling it was a girl but I didn't know for sure and J.P didn't really have any idea what it would be. But we are both so happy and now he has two girls which I think might be a little overwhelming, but she will have him wrapped around her little finger so fast (in fact, she might already). So other than that, we don't have much else to report but I think this is all exciting enough :)

June 2, 2009

Life is an amazing gift because we are so constantly blessed with something new everyday. J.P and I both struggle with sitting still and leading boring lives. Maybe that's why God added a little extra excitement to our live's recently. Two days before my birthday back in March, we found out that we were going to have a baby. It definitely came as a huge surprise and we were very shocked and scared at first. But after the news settled in a bit and we had the support of our wonderful parents, we started getting really excited and used to the idea of sharing our lives with another life. I am now 17 weeks pregnant and our due date is November 7th. It has been a whirlwind of events since that day in March, with a lot of decisions and plans that had to be made. We first decided that we would move in together. We had the options of living in J.P's dad's house where J.P had been living or finding our own place. So we decided to find our own place. But we thought we would take a chance and look into buying a house instead of throw our money into rent. We found a house that we both loved and that's where we are now. We have been in our new house for about two weeks, but it already feels like home. My mom came down last week to bring us a load of stuff and help us decorate. We still have quite a bit to do, but we couldn't have done a lot of it without her.

So, there is a little a glimpse into our life so far...