First Christmas....All Done

Clara Jo's first Christmas is over and done! We had a great holiday together with our little one.

CHRISTMAS EVE EVE

We started the holiday off with a Christmas party with my good friend Cassah! She always invites us to her family Christmas party... we are tight like that. It was also the same night as the Utah bowl football game so Eric was happy that the game was playing at the party.


Clara Jo's first experience with Santa was very pleasant for her....can't you tell?


Cassah and I with our little babies! She had her cute son Johnathon in June and it was necessary for the two of them to meet each other. After all, they are future eternal companions! Notice the game in the background!


Eric, Clara Jo, and I leaving the holiday shin dig!

CHRISTMAS EVE

This is a mounumental year in the fact that we have ended a long time running tradition for Eric. He usually does his Christmas shopping on the 24th, but he had it done so we had no need to go to the store with the crowds and such. We had a relaxing morning and my best friend Andrea came over to meet the little one. We finished some projects, wrapped presents, and just hung out at home during the day. We really enjoyed going out to Tempanyaki with my sister Shelby and her family last year so we did again this year. We looked at some Christmas lights and played some games before we headed home. We then came home and opened presents under the tree from Mama Jo that she left for us before she headed to Washington for the holiday.



Andrea was excited to meet little CJ! I think she is a fan of our little girl!



Next Christmas, Clara will be able to sit up on her own! We tried to prop her up against the presents but it wasn't too successful!



Clara Jo and I posing during the opening of the presents. However, she cares more about eating her hand!



Grandma got CJ some bottles to feed the little one with!

CHRISTMAS DAY

We woke up bright and early to spend Christmas in Wallsburg with the Youngs. We had a great day of opening presents, eating, and spending time with family. You could say that Clara was the star of the day as she got a lot of attention from her grandparents! We headed home in the evening and we opened our stockings. Eric and I agreed to just do each others stocking as we are about to get in a house! What else do we need?



Our ENTIRE family! There is no way we would leave the furry one home alone on Christmas!



Clara with her Grandma and Grandpa Young!



Eric with his stocking stuffers! Man his wife was good to him!



Chesney had some chew toys and dog treats in her stocking.



As you can see I also scored with some awesome stocking stuffers!



Mama Jo made sure that Clara's stocking was made in time for her first Christmas.



Eric helping our little one open up her stocking! She really didn't grasp how to unwrap gifts but I think it will come with time! :)



One thing Clara Jo got in her stocking was this cute hat! Did I mention she loves to eat her hand?


So as you can tell from this post, we had a great Christmas holiday. We have a lot to be thankful for with our little girl being at the top the list. I tried to get some good pictures to document this first holiday but I found it was quite challenging to get our little one to look at the camera (much less smile) for the pictures! Oh well... we will take what we can get! I still think she is dang cute!

Close Call

We have had quite the emotional day today. That isn't saying much since I have been pretty emotional since the little one joined our family... stupid hormones. This week was my first week back at work. I was excited to teach again and have a large amount of adult interaction. I was not excited to leave my little girl all day long. First day back was Tuesday...in the midst of a huge snow storm. It took me over an hour to get to work. So I was looking forward to today not being such a stressful morning! WRONG! I got up and got ready. I fed baby girl and was ready to head out the door. I went outside and pulled my car out of the garage and turned the heat up so Clara Jo wouldn't freeze in the single digit temperature. So I come in to put the little one in her car seat and go and I hear this loud noise! I automatically assume that I didn't put my car brake on or I left it in a wrong gear and it was rolling. I ran out to see someone taking off in my car. I was shocked that someone stole my car from my driveway. I ran in and called the police to report it and it hit me that I could have easily had Clara Jo in the car. I was so blessed to have my little girl in the house where she was safe and sound. We reported the car being stolen and are waiting to hear if it turns up. While we are hoping the car
is found, what is most important is right here with me.

Our Little Turkey

Here are some pictures of our little turkey! Love her!

More Blessing

My sister sent me a few more pictures of our little one that were too cute not to share!

What a Blessing

We were able to end the Thanksgiving weekend with the blessing of little Clara Jo. My sister Sonya was in town and so I was able to have both of my sisters and their families here. With my family, Eric's family, and some close friends in attendance, Clara Jo really felt the love. It was a great day. Here are a few pictures of our little blessing.


Our family of three


The group


Mama Jo and Clara Jo


Grandma and Grandma Young

Little One = Spiritual Giant

We thought that we would take our little Clara Jo to church this past Sunday since she was over 7 weeks old. I don't have many dresses (or clothes for that matter) that fit her because she is still pretty tiny. My mom pulled out a little light pink dress that I wore when I was a baby. So we put her in that and headed to church. We have such a spiritual baby as she slept three the whole three hour block of church. We could taken her in her pajamas and no one would have known since she never got out of her car seat! It was neat to finally be able to go to church as a family instead of going in shifts like we have the past month or so.

New Pictures of the Little One

My good friend Sara offered to come and take pictures of our little Clara Jo! I think they turned out so cute! Thanks Sara!

Our Little Pumpkin

Our little one was festive this past weekend with the Halloween holiday! She is certainly a treat although getting her to down to sleep at night can be a trick! :)

Little One and Furry One

I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship!

Clara Jo Chillin at Home

As we mentioned in the previous post, little CJ is spending her time at home. It is hard to believe that she is 3 weeks old today. It has flown by and yet it seems like she has been in our lives for longer than 3 weeks. Here are some cute pictures of our little one.

Visitors

With the flu and sickness going around, Eric and I decided that we would keep little Clara Jo in the house for the first six weeks or so. The only place she has been besides the house is the pediatrician's office. However, we have welcomed friends and family to come and see our little addition. We will just attack you with hand sanitizer first! :) Here are some pictures of our little one with people who have dropped by the last week or so in no particular order.


Heather - my job share partner


Michelle - old friend from high school


Cindy and Emily - my two teacher friends from Daybreak


Aunt Shelby and Keegan - my sister and cute niece


Sara - my greenie from my mission who is also doing my maternity for me


Aunt Amy - Eric's sister


My Aunt Maurene


Bethany - my high quality fifth grade teaching friend


Garrett - our realtor who is helping us find a new humble abode


Juli - my cute friend who is Chesney's favorite person

Clara Jo Young

Clara Jo Young is finally here!
Born Thursday October 1, 2009 at 1:19 a.m.

Please enjoy a little picture diary of Clara's arrival into the world. WARNING: I am looking extremely attractive in the following pictures! View at your own risk :)

My due date was September 26th! It came and it went with nothing to report. My doctor was going out of town October 1st-6th so the plan was to induce me on Wednesday September 30th! I was to go in around 9:00p.m. the night before so they could kick start things for her to be born on Wednesday. The hospital was pretty booked and by the time they had a nurse and bed for me, it was almost midnight! Eric and I are on our way to the hospital! We were both scared to death...can you tell! :)



We spent the night in the hospital and the nurses would give me medicine to get things going! However, little CJ would let us know she wasn't a fan as her heartrate would drop! So we spent the next 25 hours trying to move things along without making her upset! Needless to say it was a long day... however not miserable thanks to a lovely thing we call an epideral! :) It was close to midnight when my nurse checked me and I wasn't progessing and the idea of a c-section was brought up! The doctor wanted to wait another hour to give me one more chance to progress! And progress I did! Soon I was ready to push and she came out 40 minutes later! Here is Eric and I before the excitment was ready to begin!



Once she came out, her blood sugar and other levels weren't where they should be! Seems like the 25 hour labor wasn't easy for her! She stayed in the nursery for the majority of the time we were there! I was able to hold her and be with her as much as I wanted. Her levels soon corrected themselves and then she had a little jaundice! Here is our little heat bathing beauty!



Since Clara was in the nursery, we didn't have a whole lot of visitors! We did have enough that little Clara felt the love! We had Mama Jo there to meet her namesake! My sister Sonya flew in the night I went into the hpsital so she was there for all of the excitment and was a great support with her nursing knowledge!





I think that you would have to look hard to find two people more excited to meet the little girl than her Grandma and Grandpa Young! The drove down the day after she was born and was able to spend some quality bonding time with little Clara! They are so darling and it is so fun to see them with their first little grandchild!




Eric is a wonderful dad! The biggest news about Eric is that he survived the whole expereince without passing out! HE IS THE MAN! Those of you who are aware of his past with hospitals, needles, and such....this is quite the accomplishment! He was such an amazing support during the whole labor process! He stayed with me each night and was a big support as I recooperated and was introduced to the world of nursing. Here is Eric changing his little girls diaper as well as one of our first family photos...we are only missing the furry one!







We were able to take little Clara home on Sunday afternoon! So we stayed at the hospital for an extra day. Even though it was time for me to leave, we were able to rent our hospital room for one night so I could be there to feed Clara during the day and night. We didn't mind staying at the hospital because the people there were phnomenal to work with! I had the most amazing nurses and I felt really comfortable there! However, we were ready to take our little one home. We took a photo of our home for the past 4 days! We also captured the moment of bringing her to Mama Jo's. We love having her home and Chesney has even adjusted to our new family member. I can't believe that she is really here! It was an amazing expereince that I am honstly glad to have behind me!