Last year

2008 was a big year for me personally. It began with a trip to South Dakota with my mom and brother to visit our Grandma, Aunt, Uncle and Cousins for Christmas. I had to leave my fianc'e Ryan home with the dogs, which is a whole other story, but aside from that, it was probably the best Christmas ever. It was so nice to have our whole family together, and unlike most families, there was no fighting, only happiness. Strange I know. The only downer about the trip was that while I was in-flight to get to South Dakota, Ryan was supposed to be moving our stuff from our garage to our new house. Instead of doing that, he decided to take his "moving buddy" and go snowboarding. On the way up the mountain they got hit by a lift operator and his truck. My Jeep got hit in the drivers side wheel well and drivers door. Luckily Ryan and his friend ended up with only minor injuries although our vehicle got totalled. Moving on...

Shortly after I got back from my trip in January, Ryan and I decided that we were entirely too sick of waiting to be married and that we would set the date and figure the rest out (meaning how to pay for it). We decided on May 31st. I was working at the court house at the time and I arranged for one of the Judges to perform the ceremony. Mom and I went and picked out my dress, it only took one store and one night to pick it out. I am a decisive shopper.

The second week or so of February I began to feel like I had a cold. I was going to Accupuncture treatments for my anxiety at the time and I mentioned to my accupuncturist that I hadn't been feeling very well. She asked about my cycle and we discovered that I had missed my period. She tested my pulse and told me that it felt "slippery." Evidently a slippery pulse can mean a few things, pregnancy being one of them. So she sent me home with a couple of pregnancy tests. I took one the following morning and the result of two lines came almost immediatley. There were no instructions with the test so I wasnt' sure of what the result meant. I took a picture of it with my cell phone and sent it via text to my accupuncturist. She wrote back "You dont get anymore pregnant than that! Congrats." I was way excited. Ryan and I had planned to get fertility testing done after we got married but it turned out we didn't have to afterall.

The wedding was beautiful. We got married at Kathryn Albertsons park on the 31st of May. Even my family from South Dakota came to see the ceremony. It was a small wedding but it was just as I had hoped it would be. We had the reception at the Shilo Inn, stayed the night there, and took off for our honeymoon at Twin Springs. We stayed in a cabin, with our 4 dogs, along the North Fork of the Boise River. We had our own natural hot tub on the deck. We took lots of walks and just enjoyed being out of town together.

Two days after we got back I lost my job. My boss was supposed to cover for me while I was gone and failed to do so. Instead of making a scene about it when I got back, I just picked up the pieces and worked my butt off, including staying late, to make sure everything was ready for court the next morning. Apparently this is not what you are supposed to do... they asked me to resign. Who knows. So then I was unemployed and five months pregnant. Guess how easy it is to get another job with a belly that is a ticking time bomb in an economy that has taken a dump? It is not possible. So I hung out at home waiting for my baby to arrive.

On October 27th, 2008 my baby girl Jordyn Renee was born at 12:51 a.m. It was a fast labor. I went to the hospital at 7pm on the 26th, was admitted at 9pm, by 10 I had an epideral and by 12:51 she was born with about 7 pushes. Nice huh? She had to go to the NICU for 4 hours to be monitored since she had merconium in the womb with her and had the cord around her neck. She did great though and I got to feed her for the first time around 4:30 a.m.

Jordyn is a fabulous baby. From the day she came home she has been a good sleeper. I was setting an alarm for every two hours to wake her and feed her during the night for the first two weeks, then I was told that wasn't necessary. She went to sleeping for about 5 hrs at a time and now at 10 weeks old she slept 11hrs straight last night. She is not a fussy baby. She is usually very happy. She loves to take baths. She is beginning to recognize faces, aside from mine too. Her smile is so beautiful, sometimes it makes me cry. Oh those mommy hormones.

Ryan and I never thought that we would see the day when I didnt' work and was a stay at home mom. But with the economy the way it is, that is exactly what I've been doing. I am still upset that I lost my job, but I am overjoyed that I get to spend this precious time with my baby girl.