Things Mostly About Charley

Clearly it has been forever since our last post. So much has been going on around here and life just keeps getting busier. Since I'm no good at doing updates as things happen, here is a very quick recap of our last year... with lots of pictures.

During the spring after Charley was born:

• Greg and I managed to finish our semester at school though it was tough focusing on school work with such an adorable baby around.
• We attended several weddings, including my dad's and Greg's sisters.
• Charley had an infectious disease she some how picked up. She's a tough one and we all managed to get through it... naturally, she was so grumpy and fussy all the time.
• Charley was blessed June 12th. I always love having lots of family in town for things like this. Greg gave her a beautiful blessing and afterwards we put on lunch for everyone.
• We helped my dad and Michelle move out of both their house, then into a rental and finally into their new home. phew!

Helping Grandpa pack.

During the Summer:

• We both took a couple summer classes, had lots of family visit, floated the river several times, traveled down to Utah, went to Lagoon, and watched our baby girl grow up.

Fall:

• Greg and I started another semester. (Someday we will be done....)
• We went to the corn maze and bundled Charley up in Greg's coat. She loved it!! She just watched everybody and enjoyed the scenery.
• We celebrated Halloween by going around to all of our families houses showing off Charley, because everyone just had to see her. :)

Thanksgiving and Christmas:

• We spent Thanksgiving down in Utah with Greg's side of the family. We stayed in Spanish Fork with his grandparents for the better half of a week and had a busy, fun packed time. We got to visit with lots of family, see good friends, shop, visit the temple (Boise is closed) eat lots of food, and shop some more. We also went to Temple Square and saw the lights. I always enjoy doing this, but I enjoyed it even more this year with our little girl. She was so entranced by all the lights and people.

• Christmas was a little more chaotic this year. We spent the night at my dads, as tradition (which, unfortunately for Taylor, has to end soon) and went to church with them that morning. When we got home we gathered around to open presents. Right as we were beginning, Cameron (my step-brother who is on a mission) called, while they were talking we made brunch. In the middle of making it, Greg's parents called and they were ready for us to head over there for gifts. So we quickly left, missing the meal, opened gifts there and then headed back to my dads to finish up presents. Then back to the Jensen's for dinner. It was non-stop chaos but it was so fun. And Charley of course was the star and made one heck of a haul! Her pile of gifts was never ending, but she loved the whole experience. She loved playing with the paper and bows, and figured out that there was something inside and would help rip off the paper. She would get most excited when she opened a book.

Helping Great-Grandpa put up lights

Sadly, she had a blowout in her Christmas dress, so she is wearing PJs she got from Great-Grandma Clifford. But, she was excited about her book!

After Christmas we enjoyed the rest of our winter vacation. My mom came up from Boston and watched Charley while Greg and I headed for our Caribbean cruise, which of course, was so much fun.

Charley is now 9 months old and she has been the biggest thing to hit this planet in our little world. She is seriously the most popular thing ever. Both families are equally obsessed with her (as are we) and we can't go anywhere without her being the center of attention. She is becoming such a big girl and is very independent. I have a feeling she is going to be a bit of a stubborn one when she gets older....

She is doing all the baby things, eating, growing, crawling, (almost walking!!! Oh my!) putting every dirty little thing in her mouth... At her 9 month appointment she weighed 17 pounds, has a big head and is a tall chicka.

This kid has one heck of a personality. She can draw in anyone around her. She has the biggest grin and knows how to work it. She loves to blow kisses, clap, fake laugh, make animal sounds, and copy everything anyone does. She won't drink out of a sippy cup, she has to drink out of a regular cup, and loves to use a straw. She doesn't like to watch tv, but she loves to sing along with the ABC phonics song, trying to mimic the sounds of the letters. She loves our ki-ki (cat) who sometimes lets her pet her. (which she does softly) She is the biggest flirt and LOVES loves kids, and will laugh her head off at every single thing they do. She loves to dance, especially to Club Can't Handle Me by Flo Rida (I know, good song for a baby...) and will 'raise the roof' with her arms . She knows how to turn on dad's I-phone and loves to play the baby apps he has on it for her. This has us worried a bit, that she is already obsessed with a cell phone... She will tell us when she wants food by saying num num num num. She loves to read books and likes to turn the pages herself. She loves the mirror and her baby doll and gives it kisses. She has three teeth which she likes to rub her lips against. She is just like her daddy and can pull a kazillion different faces. Seriously, a Kazillion faces! She loves to play peek-a-boo, but has to be the one to hide. She loves bath time and having her head washed. She loves to sit on mom's lap and help her do homework... well she calls it helping. She is amazing and we truly feel so blessed to have her in our lives. I have a million pictures of her and because I think my kiddo is adorable, here are some of just Charley:

Tay had her baby for school the same week I had mine. :)

She had a photo shoot when she was just a little over a week old. They turned out amazing and I am so glad we decided to get them done.

One of her hilarious faces

Our little Bronco!

Chasing the laser pointer with Luna.

Charley JoAn

Our little miracle is here! She was born on April 6th at 12:11 am. She is absolutely beautiful and healthy and strong. She weighed 7lbs 3 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long.

Before we left for the hospital

She decided to come a little earlier than planned, which is just her style... It is crazy to think back on how everything happened. The day was so normal and I had so much planned for that evening. My water broke around 7 on Tuesday night and since I was having a C-section, that meant no waiting around for labor, I was having that baby. I didn't want to believe it and struggled with the idea that I could be having her that night. Greg was at work and I refused to call him. Instead I went around the house doing all kinds of chores; laundry, vacuuming, dishes, etc. I waited until he called me on his break before I told him, and even then I almost didn't. He was excited and rushed home early from work to take me to the hospital, but not before I repacked my hospital bag, finished the laundry and tested out the car seat one last time. When we did finally get to the triage the nurse was pretty positive that my water did break but we had to wait for the results of the test. We asked the nurse while we were waiting if they got a lot of women in there with false alarms. She told us all the time and that most likely the girl next to us was one of them. I was so jealous of that girl, and prayed that I would have the same result. It sounds so silly now, but I did NOT want to have my baby that night. I was scheduled for the 14th and that was when I wanted to have her, not the 5th, nor the 6th. But I of course, do not get to choose how these things work out. After the tests were confirmed, the doctor came in and double checked that baby was breech and in less than 15 minutes I was in the O.R. I had decided not to tell any of our family that we were going to the hospital until I heard them say for sure I was having that baby, because, remember, I was praying I wasn't. Everything happened so fast once we found out, that all I was able to get out between the preparation was a text message to my sister before they wheeled me away. We thought we would have plenty of time to let everyone know what was going on once we found out because hospitals always seem to be so slow. Not the case. Greg walked out for a quick phone call and they almost wheeled me away without him. Everything happened so fast, and I was is such a daze that nothing felt real to me, but the second I heard my baby cry everything became real. You always hear people talk about how they feel when they see their baby for the first time, but it is even better than what they say. It was such an incredible experience and the feeling of love was overwhelming. Before my baby girl came I would have mini anxiety attacks, "I can't be a mom, I don't even like kids!" is something I would frequently tell Greg. That night I didn't want to go to the hospital because I didn't want her to be here, I couldn't possibly imagine taking care of another being. But here I am doing it and the hell I imagined it would be like while pregnant and before I even got pregnant is not hell, not even a little bit. It is pure joy. I always think how amazing it is that I can love this little one so much! I've only known her for a few weeks. I now have mini anxiety attacks when I am away from her, all I can think about is her. My husband and my baby are my world.

Here are some of Charley's first moments..

Her debut

Our first family picture
My favorite facial expression.

**I wrote this so long ago, it took me a while to finish it. .. . more exciting pictures and posts to come!!!**

Baby's due date is sneaking up on us! We had another weekly appointment today, this one I had been looking forward to for a while now, because we finally got to have another ultrasound! Unfortunately, our child is a stubborn one and was facing down and breech and we could not get a very good view of her. All we could really see was the back of her head and her spine. I didn't even get to bring home a little picture. It was actually really disappointing. My doctor wanted to check her and make sure she was growing well, since all the complications before usually cause babies to not grow like they should. But, once again, she shocked us all when we saw that she already weighs more than 6 1/2 pounds, has a head the size of a full term kiddo, and of course, was Frank Breech. I guess I really shouldn't be surprised, she has been full of surprises since day one. My doctor is guessing that she will be at least 9 lbs come d-day and the size of her noggin may trigger the need for a c-section, which I will most likely have anyway because she is heads up. There is still about a 5% chance that she will turn before she is due, but I will be scheduling my c-section at my appointment next week. I am a little bummed, I wanted to try to have her naturally. I wanted the freedom of moving around, dislike the idea of the use of Pitocin and I wanted the experience of delivering. But, I guess one plus will be that we will know when she is coming and be able to plan around Greg's test schedule at school! Next week we should know what day this little one is coming! I cannot wait!
I also cannot get over how big she is!! I don't know where this child came from. I weighed about as much as she does now and I was way past my due date. Greg was a little bit bigger, but dang! 9 pounds! I was hoping for a tiny baby. :) I guess I shouldn't be complaining, I don't have to push that out.

Everything else has been coming along nicely. We have everything we need for baby, and the nursery is almost completed, I just need to get the decorations on the wall and finish the rug for her floor. School is going pretty good for both of us too. I am trying to get as much done before she comes. I just am so easily distracted by things I could be doing around the house and getting ready for Charley, that I am not as far ahead as I would like to be. Having a baby is just too much fun! :) Once her room is done I will post pictures, because it's adorable! :)

There's a Baby in there?!

It is really starting to hit me that we are having a baby! I am getting so excited (and a little bit nervous) I know it will be one heck of an adventure and I look forward doing it with my sweet, adorable husband.

Over the last 8 months, I have done a crumby job taking progression pics. I really wanted to do them frequently, but failed. I do, however, have a few. So here is what I have looked like during various times of my pregnancy:

My first belly shot at 20 weeks. I didn't really show, I just looked pudgy.

26 weeks. Still not showing too much.

30 weeks. Yea! I finally had a baby pooch!

34 weeks.

I have been quite lucky so far in my pregnancy, I feel great and I love being pregnant! It is an incredible experience feeling a little one inside you. I am going to miss it, but I am sooo excited to meet this little one!

I also had my shower. Thanks to my mom and sister, it turned out great! I was even surprised by my good friend Jenny, from Utah! I couldn't believe all the fantastic things I received. I am now pretty much all set for this baby to come!

Project Complete.

I have finally finished Baby Charley's room! (and a few other things) And I must say it looks fantastic! It feels so good to have it done and to check something off my long 'to do list.' I am hoping that this good feeling of accomplishment will help motivate me to continue to work on the rest of my projects around the house, but at 8 months prego, it just doesn't really sound that fun. . .

My first home improvement project was the hallway. I still need to paint the trim, but I think it looks good so far.

Before:

After:

(please excuse the dresser. I am going to be refinishing it and it just happened to be here when I took this picture)

Now onto Baby's room. I am very proud of this room! I am so pleased with the way that it turned out. At first, this room was an ugly shade of nasty with cheesy butterfly and dragonfly cut out stickers. I started by removing those lovely stickers and puttied the wall. I have never seen so many holes in my life! I felt like I refinished the wall with putty. .

(the wall color here looks white, but it was not! It was more like a yellow/brown/gray mixture, trust me, it was hideous.)

I then painted the walls an adorable pink. The white in this picture is more joint compound. I used it to hide lines left from previous wall paper and old baseboards.

I love bead board! I think it is so pretty! I wanted to do it for baby's room but I figured it would be too hard considering our walls are not perfectly straight and I am not that patient. Instead I found this wallpaper (seriously, wallpaper! I'm not usually a fan, but this stuff is great!) It looks just like bead board, although you can't really tell from this picture.

For a finishing touch I put up a chair rail to separate the bead board from the pink.

I love the way this room has turned out! I cannot wait to get all the furniture and wall decor up! I especially can't wait for Baby Charley to get here and use her new room!

As you can probably tell from the pictures above, our house has been decorated with all kinds of tools and equipment. We are slowly making our way around the house and finishing little things here and there. We are currently working on the basement. We are getting so excited for it to be finished. I have been painting all the walls and this week we will be getting new carpet! So stayed tuned for our next home improvement adventure update!

Labor and Delivery..

Time is going by so fast and Baby is quickly on her way! We are getting so excited for our little one to come and have been diligently preparing for her arrival. Currently I am working on her room. I am so excited for it to be finished! Since moving into our house, everything has needed to be painted and I have slowly been working on the different sections, but by the time I got to baby's room it took everything in me to do it. I officially hate painting! But it needs to be done and it is looking fab! I will post pictures once it is completed. I have also been doing my research on different things like cribs and car seats. We recently took a newborn care class, which was somewhat helpful, and on Saturday Greg and I took a tour of the hospital that we will be delivering at. I know that I am just barely in my third trimester (almost 29 weeks) but I felt we should just in case our little one decides to come early. It turns out it was the perfect day to take that tour.

Yesterday I got to experience the Labor and Delivery Triage at St. Lukes. I am happy to report that I chose the right hospital to deliver our baby girl. The staff there is amazing and so helpful and the place makes you feel so comfortable. :) But why was I in Labor and Delivery? Baby Charley felt she was ready to meet us!! :)

About 3 am yesterday morning I started having horrible cramps which made me so sick! I just figured I had a stomach bug or something and went back to bed to try to sleep. Of course I couldn't and the rest of the morning was spent trying to find some way to relieve the cramping. After much convincing from my husband, I called the doctor. (I think doctors are amazing, but I don't think that people need to go see them for everything.) Turns out it was a good thing I did. The cramps I was feeling were contractions. (I had no idea, I've never done this before.) They were coming quite frequently, and of course it was just too early to be having any real contractions. So after seeing my amazing doctor, I was sent over to Labor and Delivery to be monitored for most of the day and was given shots to stop the contractions. It worked and last night they sent me home, but not before saying my two least favorite words: bed rest. Luckily (and hopefully) it will only be for a few days. If they don't start up again in the next day or two I can slowly start adding in activities. I am excited to meet our little one, but I can wait until she is done and ready, and hopefully I will have to. :) Having the hemorrhaging before puts her at high risk of coming early, but I have a feeling she will make it to at least the end of March. (my fingers are crossed)
Other than that, things are going quite well. Greg has been super busy with school and work. The poor guys is gone practically all day, which I hate because my most favorite thing in the world is to be with him.. I am also going to school, well sort of, I am just taking 2 online classes because baby is due mid semester and although you might think I am super woman, I'm not sure I could do a full load on campus with a newborn. It is unfortunate, because with the combination of dropping my classes last semester because of bed rest and only taking 2 this semester, it puts me back almost a year. I REALLY just want to be done and move on already! ugh.. But, there is a light at the end of the tunnel and it is worth bringing a child into the world.. right? :)

A year in pictures.. and a few words.

Happy 2011! I know I am a little late, but hey, at least I'm trying. 2010 was an awesome year. Greg and I had many fun adventures together. I found some pictures and thought I could sum up with these pictures and a few words. :)

I turned 23, which was a very hard age for me. I'm over it, but now I'm struggling with 24.
My sweet husband got me this beautiful entertainment center and this adorable cat. We even share the same birthday.

Greg and I camped out in our living room.

We enjoyed St. Patty's with a green meal.

Greg and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary at the Mona Lisa.

Myles returned from his mission in Australia.

We spent a week in California,

and at the beach.

We found out we were pregnant with our little girl.

We started another semester at Boise State.

We visited our nations capital with family and friends.

Watched Boise State football games.

I went to Mall of America with my sister and dad.

Greg and I purchased our first house!

(Which is an investment, there is some work to be done here.)

(The living room)

Greg celebrated his 24th birthday.

We enjoyed the splendors of fall.

Enjoyed a spooky dinner for Halloween.

My gangster hubby..

We celebrated baby's 20th week, get it? Half baked... haha. :)

We went to the winter gardens.

And finally, we celebrated our 3rd Christmas together.

We hope everyone had a wonderful year and that this one will bring much happiness!

Baby!!

Baby Jensen is a GIRL!!!! I am so excited! I had no guesses before we found out and really didn't have a preference; I was ready for either one.
We had our big appointment yesterday and it was so much fun to see our baby again. It still amazes me how fast baby changes. As soon as baby came on the screen we saw her sucking her thumb! It was adorable. She was shy though. She was hiding her face with her hands most of the time and would not let us see her bum. I had to get up twice to walk around, roll on different sides and poke her so we could find out that she was a girl. She has proven to be a stubborn one. :) Everything looked good with baby, she is growing fast and strong despite the problems we had before. The clot is still there but should not bother her, which is good for me! I can now start exercising again and go back to normal. YEA!
I have been feeling soooo much better! The morning sickness is finally gone and all is wonderful again. :) I am now 22 weeks and starting to show a little bump. I have been able to feel baby since week 15 but the kicks and punches are so much more intense now. It kind of freaks me out thinking how there is a little one inside me doing all of it.

We are anxiously waiting for baby to come and I am so excited to decorate and paint the nursery! Let the shopping begin!!

She is sucking her thumb. :) SO cute!

Oh Snow.

Today we woke up to find a beautiful site of about 8 inches of snow. I think the last time this happened here was when I was in grade school. I have this love hate relationship with snow. I am sure many others feel the same way.

I love snow because...
It is beautiful.
It makes the nights so much lighter.
It is romantic.
It makes Christmas time so much more exciting.
It is a blast to play in, no matter how old you are.
You can go snowboarding.
It is peaceful and heavenly.
School will be cancelled if there is enough.

I hate snow because...
It is so cold.
It makes the roads dangerous.
Shoveling is a pain in the butt, but I don't really hate it because of that, just right now because I can't.

Now, my hate list is so much shorter than my love list, but sometimes I forget all the things I love about it and focus only on the things that I hate. I suppose it might be because of all the memories it evokes of when I lived in Rexburg and the many close calls I had driving to and from work in Idaho falls and Boise. Also, I am so incredibly in love with my husband and all I can think about all day is him having to drive to and from work and school in the horrible conditions. I guess I am a bit paranoid, but I can't help it. :)
When it snows like this I have to remind myself how much I actually like it. I love to just sit and watch the snow flakes fall. It also takes me back to a couple years ago when we buried my Grandma Tracy. It could not have been a more beautiful day. She was buried in a gorgeous cemetery that overlooks Provo. There was so much snow and it was falling hard. Although many of us could not get up the hill to the site (we had to go back and forth with a couple big trucks to gather people and take them up) it was so peaceful and pure. It reminded me that she was in a better place and I imagined where she is is a lot like what it was like that day. In a way it comforted me and when I see the beautifully pure white snow it reminds me of her.

Pregnancy Thus Far

I haven't really had a chance to update about my pregnancy. It has been an adventure so far and I want to remember it and be able to compare it to future pregnancies.

It is still weird to think that soon it won't be just Greg and me, but we are so excited to have a little one join our family. I am especially excited to see my adorable husband as a father. He is so cute with kids and will be the most amazing daddy!



We had our first doctors appointment near the end of August. Baby measured at 6 weeks and 2 days. (we thought we were a little more than 8 weeks so that was a little bit of a bummer to be pushed back 2 weeks.) It was amazing to see our baby for the first time. All we could really see was the tiny heart beating away, but it was incredible! That was our baby!! A couple weeks later we started to have a few problems. We went in and found out that there were blood clots surrounding the baby. Our next appointment went really well and baby was doing great! At twelve weeks Greg and I decided that it was safe to start telling people that we were pregnant. Shortly after, at the beginning of October, I was at school taking a test and started hemorrhaging pretty bad. It was a horrible and terrifying experience. I was convinced that I had lost the baby, I couldn't imagine losing that much blood and baby still being okay. I went in the next morning and we saw our little wiggle worm kicking and doing flips. It was such a relief and I was sooo happy!! During the ultrasound they found a large hemorrhage around baby and the placenta, which is a very bad thing. The doctor told me that baby had a 50/50 chance and that I would need to be on strict bed rest. I was now a high risk pregnancy, so I got to have appointments (including ultrasounds) every week. Two weeks after the initial crisis baby was still doing great and growing strong. The really dangerous part around the placenta had disappeared, but the rest had gotten bigger. At that appointment, our doctor told us how amazed she was that baby had survived and how she had believed that it wasn't going to make it at the previous appointment. Our little miracle baby! I was on bed rest for most of the month of October, and am to continue taking it extremely easy. Although it was a scary experience, I have had an ultrasound at every appointment and we have been able to see our baby's growth almost weekly and it has been incredible! Baby changes so fast!

I wish I could say that everything else has been going smooth with the pregnancy. Unfortunately, I am not so lucky. I am now almost 18 weeks. I still have the constant nausea and violent vomiting, though I consider this a blessing because I know that baby is still there and also, I have yet to gain any pregnancy weight. :) I have yet to stop hemorrhaging. I have had a cold and the flu, both of which I have not had in years, and I have also been getting an increased number of migraines. I cannot take my prescription while I am pregnant and nothing that I can take has been working. They will knock me out for a couple of days during which I cannot keep anything down. I have had to go in for an infusion and the doctor wrote me a prescription with a higher dose of acetaminophen. (the med that is in Tylenol.) I am praying that it works. But, at my last appointment baby and I were doing well and that is all that really matters. The doctor let me schedule my next visit a month away! So far the longest we have gone between appointments is two weeks! It will be hard to have to wait this long, we are so use to seeing baby so often. But it will be nice to have a break and enjoy the beginning of the holidays knowing our little one is healthy and strong.


Hopefully soon, I will post a picture....