Beach Time

In the middle of August we went on a weekend vacation to my bestie's house Ashley and her hubby Caleb in Edmonton.  The first night we celebrated her hubby's entrance into the military with tacos and a themed cake.  Jaida went crazy with Ashley's niece who was 2 1/2.  Those two found the air mattress and went crazy bouncing and crawling all over it.  They were screeching and giggling and I really wish I would've gotten it on video.  The next day was beach day, in their neighbourhood they have a beach club with a man made lake, beach, and awesome playground.  This place was amazing, we want to move there just for the beach.  Jaida loved the sand and rubbing it all over daddy's leg to exfoliate them. She followed me out to the water but didn't go very deep.  It was a great sunny day and I forgot to put sunscreen on me, so my back ended up a nice crispy red, ouch!  That night we got a babysitter from Ashley's ward and she was pretty much the size of Jaida, I forgot to check if she could even lift her up ha ha.  We went out for dinner and a movie which is always better when you go with friends.  Church on Sunday and an adventurous walk down by the river bottom and High Level Bridge.  On Monday morning we left.  It was a whirlwind trip but I love going up to the city I love and seeing friends I love more.

Jaida at the Beach

Not so happy girl riding with mommy

 

Me being all gangsta with the graffiti

And She is WALKING!

As you can guess by the title our little Goober is walking!  I'm so excited that she has reached this milestone, it makes life a heck of a lot easier.  Now when I leave the room instead of crying, she stands up and follows me chatting and touching everything.  Many people have told me that I would not like this walking thing as it makes the child busier but I love it because it means she is getting majorly into that exploring and learning phase.  She really didn't just start walking, she pretty much just started into full blown running.  It is so cute when she tries to run away from me and stumbles.  Another milestone with her is she has cut 4 molars this past month which makes for a total count of 11 teeth, and she knows how to use them ha ha.  This child is a very finicky eater and sleeper but is a joy most of the time.  She has the most amazing personality and figures things out quickly.  she loves to build towers out of anything and everything then knock them down.  She also loves cuddling her baby and teddy, but her most favourite thing to do is playing with her plastic horses and real kitties.  When she picks up the horse she clicks her tongue the way a horse walks, it is so cute.  Our poor Tony tolerates Jaida extremely well, she loves to pull out his hair and watch it fly, she also loves to push him to the ground and lay her whole body on top of him (good thing he's a big cat).  It is crazy to think of how much joy this little Goober gives to me and I know I am very very blessed to have her in my family.  I love her so much and I just hope I can do good by her and teach her all that she needs in this crazy world.  OK sappy part done. 

Color Me Rad Calgary

At the beginning of August I did the Color Me Rad race in Calgary with Ashley and her sister in law Robyn.  I was so not prepared and the stupid summer cold didn't help my lungs any but it was such a great experience all the same.  It is pretty crazy in the way that there is no organization at all, you just started the race whenever you wanted (it was not a timed event).  You start running and then you come up to these stations where volunteers pummel you in the face and elsewhere with coloured cornstarch.  Let me tell you that stuff does not taste good and it is hard on the lungs. There were too many of these stations to count and some of them had coloured water to spray at you (which felt nice as it was pretty hot out).  at the end of the race they give you colour bomb packets to throw at each other, which we willingly did.  We were super covered and it was great. 

I was a little nervous about leaving Jaida with Travis, especially at nap time, well she slept through the entire thing even the blaring loud music and bass.

All in all it was an amazing time and we have plans to do it again next year but with the hubbies as well.

Summertime

Well the summer is almost over, which is very hard to believe.  Here are our adventures so far.
In May we went on a road trip with all of the Bevan side to Saskatchewan to visit the homestead of both my in-laws.  It was a luxurious trip as Jaida's car seat was unable to go in the motor home we had borrowed so she rode with Grandma and Grandpa Bevan.  So while Travis drove I kicked up my feet in the lazy boy and read a book.  It was a long trip and was cold and rainy but we celebrated our 6th anniversary out on the Berard Farm with a gorgeous cake. There was one day when it wasn't too wet that we were able to go to the park, Jaida really enjoyed the swing.  It was neat to see where the family grew up, and to see how really shelter that bum town Saskatchewan really is.

June was pretty quite nothing really happened except sending Grandma and Grandpa Pedersen (my parents) off to Nauvoo for 7 weeks. We kept in touch with FaceTime.

In July Travis went in for emergency back surgery for a bulging disc.  What a gong show day as we didn't have anyone to watch Jaida so she came with us to the foothills hospital.  We got daddy all checked in and went for lunch. He was suppose to have surgery at 1:30pm but didn't get in until 8:30pm. Thank goodness for my cousin Shane and his wife Mindy who let us stay with them in Cochrane. As soon as Jaida was asleep I went back to the hospital to wait until Travis was out of surgery. I was finally able to see him at 11:30 pm and the mean night nurse kicked me out right away. He was discharged the next morning and was starving, so it was off the Peter's Drive-In before heading home. Our July was pretty low key as Travis had difficulty walking and moving around but our little goober turned 1! 

We had a backyard BBQ party with all the family. Jaida was spoiled rotten by everyone and was pretty happy. I made her smash cake which matched the owl theme we had. She was not to interested in the cake unfortunately. Overall her party was success!

We also went to the Picture Butte parade and the Whoop-up Days parade.  Jaida learned to wave at all floats but got especially enthusiastic when it was shiny or if there were horses involved.  We then went and hung out with her cousins at their pool.  I brought her baby pool and she has now discovered she likes to splash.

It's weird that Goober is not a baby anymore she is launching into toddler hood. She feeds herself and loves beef, says word intermittently like mama, dada, and her favourite kitty.  She is very expressive with her nodding and pointing so its never a mystery as to what she wants.  She can walk 5 steps without hanging on to anything, but will walk forever if you hold one or both hands. It's crazy how fast this little girl is growing up.

Catch Up

So I realize that blogging is very similar to journals, which means it will be very sporadic for me.  I've never been good at keeping up with a journal, but I'm trying harder with a blog because at least I know people want to read this (I hope).

It has been a very busy couple of months.  Jaida and I went on another trip to Edmonton to visit my bestie Ashley and her hubby Caleb.  Because I didn't want to just go up and shop (although I loved to), I really didn't want to spend money, so this trip was going to be a productive one.  I bought a cookbook called The Big Cook 2, this is one of those cookbooks where you can cook 200 meals in 1 day.  Being that this was our first go at it Ashley and I decided that we wouldn't go all out but start out slowly.  So we decided to cook 24 meals for 12 each.  When I got up there on Friday night, Ashley and I decided what to make and headed to the grocery store with our giant list.  Luckily a lot of the stuff was on sale so we only spent $120 altogether which works out to $5 per family sized meal.  Saturday morning came, we cranked the tunes and start to cook.  Really the only real cooking was browning ground beef, chopping a million onions, and making the pizza rolls.  In total it only took 4 1/2 hrs to make 8 meatloaves, 4 white chili's, 4 beef dips, 4 tater tot casseroles, and 5 dozen pizza buns.  And they all taste delicious.  It was a nice laid back weekend after that watching chick flicks.

The next weekend we went on our first family getaway.  Travis was team roping in Kalispell and didn't want to be away from baby girl that long. So we booked a hotel and off we went.  Jaida did amazing on the drive down, and tolerated the total lack of schedule.  Saturday morning we ate a delicious continental breakfast with an omelet bar and then Travis left with his dad to the roping arena.  Jaida and I were off to do some shopping.  I bought a bunch of cute and inexpensive summer clothes for Jaida. And picked up a play yard for half the price of the one in Canada and it was an extra 20 sq ft.  Then we went and watched Daddy and Grandpa Bevan rope.  But the thing I was looking for the most was going to Famous Dave's.  That is the only reason to go to Kalispell it is delicious.  We discovered an app for my iPad and iPhone that would send us a text if Jaida started to cry, we could also listen in.  This meant that Travis and I could go to the pool and to the room party and feel content that our baby was OK. We left Sunday night and went the Fernie way but we ran into a blizzard.  It was scary seeing all the cars with police tape around them and noticing the missing guardrails.  Jaida was a little restless but fell asleep at Fernie until Lethbridge which made it easier for Travis to concentrate.  It was a wonderful trip and now we know what it entails to take a baby on vacation. 

For Easter we went to High River for my cousin Benjamin's ordination into the aaronic priesthood.  Afterward we had an Easter dinner in the church gym with my dad's side of the family.  It was great to see everyone and how Jaida interacted with them. 

Then we had the Big BFR 10 Steer roping which the whole Bevan family works at.  It's a crazy long weekend but fun to see all the ropers and family.  It was different this year with having a baby, and having to still get up in the night for feedings but I adjusted I think haha.  It was another successful year. 

On top of all our weekend adventures every Monday afternoon Jaida and I go to Baby PACT at the Family Centre and play.  It is fun to watch all the other children and the 3 sets of twins in the group.  As well on Wednesday mornings I volunteer at the child program at Goodlife Fitness.  I do 11 hrs a month and with this I get a membership and childcare for free.  It is so awesome, I love their classes and the fact that Jaida is getting use to being away from me.

So those are our adventures over the last few months, but here is an update on Jaida.  No she is not crawling but half scooting, she loves to hold our fingers and walk or just stand and play.  she loves to bounce to music and the only way I get a shower is if I turn on Backyardigans.  She loves that show and it gives me at least 25 mins of shower and getting ready time which is very very precious.  She babble and yells up a storm, it is sooo cute.  As long as I am holding her she is super happy and smiling with anyone willing to look.  she has learned how to clap her hands and wave goodbye.  When Daddy or Auntie Heidi walks in the room she gets very excited and bounces up and down and flaps her arms.  I love this little girl so much, though there are days that are tough, I still know that she loves me and I her.

Ringing In 2013

After Christmas I played in the WCCHS Alumni basketball tourny.  I was the oldest alumni there by 3 years so I felt old plus I was the only one with a baby, double old.  We played two games and won both, and I actually ran in both of those games and didn't die, well on the court haha.  I stayed with my parents that weekend because Travis was roping in the states, which was such a good idea because that night I was not able to move ouch.  And that night was the night Jaida chose not to sleep, and so my Mom took her until 4 AM so I could sleep which was so wonderful.  Here is a picture of Me, Heidi, and Dad after playing all of our games.

Any parent knows that New Years Eve is not an all nighter of pre baby days, so ours was very uneventful.  Jaida had her first food (rice cereal), then off to bed.  Travis and I watched a movie and at 11:45 PM crawled into bed and watched the ball drop, then rolled over and went to sleep.  Haha parenthood is exhausting!

Eating Blueberries and trying to get a goatee like Daddy

Goober's 1st Christmas

So I'm a little behind on our life but it's going so fast.  First things first CHRISTMAS!  So Jaida's 1st Christmas was crazy and awesome.  When Travis was done school and exams we took her to the mall for her first picture with Santa.  Me being a crazy mom I dressed her up in a cute dress and put a bow on her head, she looked precious.  So we get to the mall and went straight to Santa and there was no line up, YAY.  I was so nervous that she was going to freak out but nope not my smiley girl, she grabs hold of Santa's hands and smiles.  So Cute!  Next year she will probably scream so I'll enjoy this one.

We did three Christmas' the Pedersen extended family the week before, which is always nice because all the cousins come down.  I really enjoyed talking to my cousin's wife who is expecting, it is nice that I'm able to give unwanted advice now haha.  Then we had the traditional Bevan Christmas where we go to Christmas Eve service at my MIL church, which next year will be a gongshow with all the little kidlets running around.  Then we headed to their house for the feast of fatty yummy foods.  Christmas with a baby is exhausting so I went to bed earlier than I usually would because I knew Jaida would not sleep in just because it was Christmas.  Christmas morning came and everyone was fast asleep except me and my Goober.  We watched some cartoons and played on the floor.  Next thing I knew Jaida had rolled over and was ripping the wrapping paper on one of the presents (thank goodness it was Grandma's and she thought it was cute).  Then after present opening and breakie, we packed up and headed to my family's for the afternoon.  We ate a yummy dinner then opened gifts and played some games.  Then it was pack up time and head home.  It was crazy busy but totally worth it, everyone got spoiled as usual.

Playing with her new Tea Set

Road Trip

My best friend Ashley and her hubby Caleb recently moved up to Edmonton. I've been missing her like crazy and they bought a new house so that means ROAD TRIP. Travis has been super busy with his papers and studying so I thought this would give him prime time to tackle those papers. I spent all week doing laundry, writing lists, and packing. Boy oh boy a baby requires ALOT of stuff to go on a trip for the weekend. We left Friday morning at 9:45am, made a pit stop outside Stavely for a feeding, stopped at Cross Iron Mills for mommy to eat and feed and change baby. Then she slept from Aidrie all the way to Ashley and Caleb's house yay. Jaida was such a trooper being stuck in that crappy car seat for so long. It was a great weekend hanging out, doing some shopping, and baking yum. Caleb was awesome with Jaida, he was always playing with her, or holding her as she falls asleep. It was a nice break for me as well. Then Monday morning came and it was time to leave :(.

Packed up everything and off we went. Changing a explosive diaper on a roadside turnout = scary and cold. Then stopped back at Cross Iron Mills, they have an awesome nursing room and food for me too. We stopped in Claresholm to have dinner with my mom and dad, then homeward bound.

Travis was very excited to see us, and Jaida him. We tried to face time on my iPad but Jaida just got confused why daddy wasn't picking her up lol.  While we were in Edmonton Jaida found her voice especially when Jaden and Karla were there visiting.  She's so cute when she talks aka squeals and babbles.

I can't believe that we have a 4 months old, crazy.  Time goes way too fast, I wish she would stay this size (16lbs) for a few months then continue on growing.  She has kinda gotten into a routine which is nice and now only eats every 2 1/2 - 3 hrs instead of every 1 1/2hrs.  Jaida is such a trooper putting up with all my running around (trying to keep myself sane, I kinda miss work). Poor thing is getting a little neglected right now as a learn to be a cub assistant and completing the Christmas program for church.  I'll make it up to her I swear.  I love being a Mom especially now that she interacts with me and toys.  I love her to bits. Only 25 days until Christmas (my house is all decorated is yours?)

Halloween

OK so it looks like I'm not going to be very regular with these, but here goes another long winded post.
Jaida's first Halloween was pretty uneventful.  it was super icy and foggy so we didn't go trick or treating, but we did go to my daycare party to see all the kids.  then we handed out candy to 21 cuties that came to our door.  Jaida was the cutest little zebra that i ever did see.

 

On November 1st Jaida rolled over for the first time, and of course I almost missed it.  She was on the ground playing on her back and I was folding laundry, and I just had a feeling to look up and there she was rolling onto her tummy! Now the stars have to be perfectly aligned for her to roll over, she's very picky on who she lets see her in action :).

 

We have been keeping very busy these days.  We have a baby group that happens every Tuesday at someones house.  These other mommies and babies are the ones we did Baby Steps with at the Health Unit.  It's been awesome to hang out with these ladies and compare notes.  Jaida and I also go swimming quite a bit, she is still not to sure about the water but the other day she started kicking.  This girl better get use to it as I have signed us up for swimming lessons starting mid-January.

 

 



Baby Blessing/First Time Swimming

So Jaida's blessing was on Sunday September 23rd.  My grandparents decided to make a weekend out of it and rented hotel rooms for my whole family.  So Saturday night we went over to the hotel, ordered Two Guys pizza (the most amazing pizza ever), and then went swimming.  This was Jaida's first time, I was a little nervous because babies are slippery when wet but we still did it.  We waded into the pool with her in my arms and daddy taking pictures on the deck, she did not know what to do at first, so she clung to me.  Then we went and sat by the hot tub to warm up and try again after she got use to it.  We went back in the pool which was really cold and hung out with uncle Kurtis, but then Jaida got splashed and that was the end of that, poor thing.  But since then I have been trying to take her swimming at least once a week, she typically sleeps the whole time but she is getting use to the water.

 

 

Thank goodness for Costco. I managed to feed 40 people hamburgers, hot dogs, and all other kinds of goodies with limited effort, except the hamburgers.  At the time of Jaida's blessing there was an E. coli breakout with beef, so instead of buying hamburger patties i had to hand make them all which was not fun but they tasted great :).  I am so grateful for my family and Travis' family for the support, help, and love they give us.  

First Time Away

We survived or should I say, I survived my first night away from my precious baby.  Travis had gotten us front row tickets to Cirque du Soliel for our anniversary.  I was so nervous about leaving Jaida because I really wasn’t sure if she would take a bottle and I didn’t want her to scream the whole time for Grandma Bevan.  I felt like I was having a panic attack until about 3 hours into the night Grandma texts me and says she has had two bottles and is asleep.  After that I enjoyed myself thoroughly, it was great to have an evening with Travis where I wasn’t super uncomfortable because of being 9 months pregnant.  We decided that we will always find a way to go to the Cirque shows because we love them so much, it’s the perfect mix of culture and entertainment for us.

First Few Weeks

Jaida is such as expressive sleeper, she frowns, smiles and giggles in her sleep, and it’s the cutest thing to watch.  I still can’t believe that this precious little girl is ours to keep and that she is so perfectly healthy.  She has a little jungle/nature play yard that I’ve just started putting her in, and my oh my she gets so excited.  She kicks her feet laughs and tries to grab the elephant.  I could sit for hours just watching her every move.     Jaida is very strong and loves tummy time, she is always lifting her head to look around and she’s gaining more and more control.  We are still trying to figure out a routine to follow which is difficult because she never seems to eat at the same time except for at 2 am every morning.  She’s really good though when we go out; she sleeps really well in her car seat and doesn’t seem to mind it which makes life easy for me.  She honestly is a great baby, yes I get frustrated when she cries for feeding in the middle of the night, but once those 2 seconds of frustration pass I marvel at how beautiful she is and that I will one day get to sleep through the night again.  People always give you the advice of sleep when the baby sleeps, which don’t get me wrong it is great advice but very difficult.  I like to shower when she is sleeping or tidy or mainly get myself some food.  If I do by chance try to nap with her as soon as I lay my head down she starts to fuss.  Or if I finally get some food together and go to take a bite she starts to really fuss.  But on the days where our night had been really rough I nap.  Travis is great because he doesn’t go to bed until later I feed Jaida and then he takes her until her next feeding so I can sleep, it is very wonderful.

 

After Her Bath She Was Trying to Eat the Towel

 

About Us

So here is goes, I’m starting a blog because I want to keep a record of our little family and that whole writing in a journal thing just never works out for me.  Some family history: Travis and I started dating in September 2005 and were married May 2007.  I finished my last year of Early Childhood Education at Lethbridge  College in 2008 and Travis managed a store until a year later when he decided to go back to university and get his Ed degree (5 years : ().  Doing so put having a family off for a few years but we saved up and bought a beautiful house and me a new car.  I worked in a daycare with preschool aged children and I loved it.  So fast forward to 5 years of marriage and bang we got ourselves a precious baby girl, Jaida Lorraine aka Goober. 

 

 

The Dreaded Birth Story

Here is a mild version of her birth story, I was a week over due and booked for an induction for Monday July 16^th (which was kind of good because then my doctor was back from holidays).  On Sunday July 15^th at 2:30 am I started having contractions, nothing too serious but enough to make it uncomfortable to sleep plus I got excited.  These continued on all day.  They came and went and came and went, I watched TV and played card games online to keep myself distracted.  Finally at 2 am Monday morning hoping that I had dilated past the 3 cm I was on the Friday we headed to the hospital.  We checked in and they checked me, no progress, but because we were booked for induction at 6 am that morning and the delivery wing was dead they set us up in a delivery suite to sleep.  Sleep ya right.  The older nurse was getting frustrated with me because I couldn’t sleep.  How can you sleep when every 5-7 minutes you’re having contractions and then between each one of those I had to pee?  Any who Travis slept while I moved around.  At 7 am the nurses changed and they started to prep me for induction, IV, change into gown, watching my vitals and baby’s.  At 8 am my DR came in and she broke my water, which is a very weird feeling, painless but weird.  Right after that my contractions got stronger and painful.  With my whole pregnancy I said I don’t want an epidural but if the pain is too much I am totally up for it.  Guess what I figured that the pain would just get worse (which it totally did) so I opted for the epidural.  Oh ya bring it on.  It was not as painful going in as everyone says and the effect was great.  I could still feel the contractions and they were uncomfortable but they weren’t painful.  Now fast forward to 9:30am, I was getting the urge to push, the nurse checked me and I was fully dilated but they didn’t want me to push because my Dr was in a surgery at the moment so they had me “breathe the urge out”.  Seriously that was super hard and after about 30 mins. of this I started choking because I can’t breathe them out anymore.  They check me again and guess what the baby is crowning so the nurse says I can start to push, what a relief.  I really don’t recall a whole lot about the whole pushing thing but I do remember my Dr running in getting half dressed in scrubs and says let’s have a baby.  So by this point my epidural has only frozen one half of me because I was lying on my side but hey only feeling half the pain was good.  It is true what they say about the ring of fire but I really didn’t care I wanted this baby out of me.  At 10:18 Am after only 15 mins. of pushing my baby girl arrives.  Seriously that is the most amazing feeling ever because your body just totally feels instant relief.  First thing I ask is “what is it?”  “It’s a girl” “Oh good,” was my response.  It’s a good thing she was a girl because we were still arguing over the boy’s name while I was in labour.  So the total experience was as good as it could be, the absolute worst part was getting stitched up after, I was shaking so bad I could barely stand.  And it’s true what they say about losing all shame about being naked because the nurse dried me off after my “shower”.  So enough about me on to our baby girl, She was 9lbs 2 oz. and causing havoc when they were trying to measure her, she was yanking on the tubes around the bed.  We discover that her head did not collapse like it should’ve, it measured 35 cm right after birth and the next day it measured 36cm ouch.  She latch great for nursing right off the bat and she slept a lot.  Word to the wise don’t let visitors come the first day, you are so tired and in so much pain that it’s hard to be cheerful and happy with them.  I seriously have the best hubby though he helped me walk to the bathroom and helped lift my feet back into bed.  The part of me that was really sore which surprised me were my arms, from holding my legs while I pushed.  The first night in the hospital was brutal I had a mean night nurse.  We had decided that Travis would go home and sleep so that he was functional to help during the day.  So I told this night nurse that I would need help changing Jaida’s diapers because I could barely get myself out of bed never mind move to change her diaper.  The nurse looked at me and said,” Here’s a change pad, do it on the bed”.  Well that was not helpful at all because I couldn’t bend at the right angle to change her either.  This nurse also had me stay awake all night trying to wake Jaida to eat which was not very successful.  My day nurses were awesome and my hubby was great during the day.  Any who after 3 sleepless nights we decided that I would be better taken care of at home by Travis.  We were quickly discharged as it got very busy in the maternity ward.  Once at home I crawled into bed with Jaida and we slept while Travis took good care of us.  I’m so blessed to have a loving and caring husband.
 

 

            Jaida Sleeping in Her Bright Outfit from Great Grandma Pedersen

 

Her 1st Sunday Dress from Aunt Ashley