Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Ours was good. Chris had to work so we went to his station for Thanksgiving Dinner. It was quite yummy! But I will say, nothing is quite like my Mom's. I am so thankful for my wonderful husband and our beautiful baby. I'm thankful for my family and friends. I'm thankful for the life we live, we have excellent and secure jobs and I can work part time and we wont' have to do daycare, we have a beautiful home (that Chris wants to spend the rest of our lives in), nice cars, and everything we need. I'm grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and for His atonement. And I'm so grateful for all of our many blessings. Life couldn't be better for us.

Thanksgiving dinner at the station.

Chris and Keira fell asleep. :-(

My Cute Little Turkey

Keira and I were thankful to spend some time with our second favorite man, my little bro!

Back to work- As Good as it Can Be

Well, I must say, going back to work was not quite as dreadful as I thought it would be. Needless to say I'd MUCH rather be a stay-at-home mom, but work was as good as it could be. Unfortunately and fortunately, my first week back was probably my worst. I worked four out of six days, two tens and one twelve, and one thirteen hour shift. Everyone at work was really nice. And the charge nurse was great about letting me pump which was one of my biggest worries. It's still hard. I was only doing it every four hours and Keira is still eating every two to three, and I think it made a difference in my supply.

My first day of orientation at my new job was great and everyone was super nice! I just hope that the charge nurses that I will be meeting for the first time are as understanding and accommodating.

Chris did great with Keira, especially the first two days. The first day he got up with me in the morning and helped make my lunch which was wonderfully helpful. He also sent me this picture and updated me every time she ate, which was fantastic and so reassuring!

On the second day he got her all dressed and even put on some shoes and jeans that I'd never had her wear. I was quite impressed! He sent me these pics.

I also missed my first milestone on my second day back. :-( Keira rode in a different stroller for the first time. She wasn't even in her infant seat. My little girl is growing up so fast! They went to Best Buy. I bet they looked adorable together!!!

The third day didn't go quite as smoothly. I think Chris was done. I'm sure it's hard going from helping out with a baby to doing everything during the day. I guess she was a little fussy (maybe she missed her mama! ;-) ) and he was frustrated because it takes almost five minutes for him to get a bottle ready and he can't do much about her crying while waiting. He mentioned that he knows why moms are usually the ones to stay at home! Music to my ears!!! :o) The good things about working are that I'm able to contribute to the family financially and that I'm even more THANKFUL and APPRECIATIVE of the time I get to stay with my beautiful baby. And it's good for Keira to be able to spend some quality time with her daddy!

On my forth day at work my sister Laura watched Keira while Chris went flying. She did a wonderful job babysitting and Keira was so good! Laurie wrote down every time she ate, changed a diaper, napped, and even spit up and it was so awesome to see! Too bad Keira's favorite babysitter moved. :-( We miss you already Wals!!!

Sad :-(

Today was a sad day for me. It was my last day of maternity leave. :-( These past three months have just flown by and have been the happiest in my entire life! I've been so blessed to be able to stay home and take care of my baby in these very important months. And I know Keira's Daddy will do a wonderful job while I'm at work!

I love these two so much!

Keira wants to ride a dolphin too! Like mother like daughter!

She's also very sad that I have to go back to work.

Happy 25th Birthday John!

On Saturday was my little brother's 25th Birthday! I still can't believe he's all grown up! It was wonderful celebrating with my brother and sister!

Keira loves her Auntie Laura. We're going to miss her soooooooo much when she moves to Tucson next week. :-(

The Good and Bad

Well I have good news and bad news.

The bad news is that this is my last week of maternity leave. It has FLOWN by. I can't believe it's already been 11 weeks! They have been the happiest weeks of my entire life! Keira is an immense joy in our life! It's going to be soooooo hard to go back to work and leave her, but luckily it's with her dad. :-(

The good news! I have a new job! I'm waiting to hear back from my director when I can leave my previous job and start the new. I'm going to be working for Centura Regional Float Pool. Centura is a company that owns about 10 hospials in Colorado. I choose at least three to work at in either the Emergency Department or Intensive Care Unit. They tell me which shifts are open and I pick when I can work. So because it's self scheduling, it will be soooo much easier for us. I don't get any benefits (the reason Chris went full time) so the pay is a lot more and we can afford for me to work part time. And I can do as little as three twelve hour shifts in two weeks. Isn't that wonderful! Speaking of not having benefits, it's actually been a little bit of a hard transition. It's kind of weird not being the one to provide our insurance and retirement and knowing I'll not be the one to provide a lot of our income. But I'm sure I'll soon feel greatful to not have that weight on my shoulders. I think the first few weeks are going to be a little hard as I'm transitioning out of my old job and doing all of the training with the new. But it will be so worth it and I'm so excited! I just hope it's not too good to be true and I'll be able to get the shifts I need.

My bestest little buddy

Keira's First Vacation

Last week Keira and I enjoyed our first vacation together in Ouray to visit my mom. It used to be about a five hour drive but now takes a bit longer stopping for feeding. Keira did wonderful! She slept most of the way both there and back! It was nice to finally get away and spend some quality time with my mom! Keira's like her mommy and loves to travel!

Keira likes her little car seat frog friend. She sometimes gets super excited when she first sees him. :-)

She also likes the little teddy bear in her travel bed.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is definitely more fun when you're a kid or when you have kids! And it will be even more fun when Keira actually knows she's dressing up and how cute she looks! ;-)

We LOVE Keira's smile! And we actually caught one on camera! She loves to stick out her tongue.
Don't worry, next year I'll have a much better costume. I wore Chris' Spider(wo)man at the last minute.