Photo Shoot

Courtney Hagberg took these photos for us. She is absolutely amazing! Thank heavens for people who have more talent than I. These pics turned out so ADORABLE!

4 months old today!

I can't believe it - our little angel is 4 months old today. My how time flies! She is so grown up already. She loves to giggle out loud, roll over, play with her daddy, and pull mom's hair. She is constantly chewing on her hands, and is determined to one day fit both fists in her mouth. (Even though her current attempts always induce gagging.) She has a little personality that is all her own. She smiles constantly, and even pulls faces at Karyn. Each day I am amazed at how much she has learned. We love you little Emslee!

Our little superstar!

So to be honest, Emslee doesn't get put down enough to really ever roll over. Her cousin Darby (who is 5 weeks younger) picked up this skill quite quickly. As you might surmise, it really really irritated Jason that Emee hadn't rolled over yet.
Every time he tried putting her down on her stomach, she would bury her face in the carpet/blanket and cry. She wanted nothing to do with this "rolling over" nonsense.
The past few days I have been at my parent's house in Preston. It appears that my mom just has an innate ability to teach people things. She was able to get Emee to roll over without hardly any coaxing. I had to capture it on video so that Jason could relish the moment, being that he wasn't there when it occurred.

Huh?!

While attending my adorable niece Darby's blessing yesterday, Emslee and I were spending a considerable amount of time in the foyer. Having sacrament meeting smack dab in the middle of her afternoon nap has the ability to make church interesting...
Anyway, while there, a complete stranger walked up to me, snatched Emslee out of my arms and proceeded to tell me that she knew how to get my baby to sleep and that I was doing it all wrong. EXCUSE ME? To add insult to injury, she then began telling me that the pacifiers I am using are not the correct size for Emee's mouth and that I needed to get the special "orthopedic" ones. Hellooo...she's brilliant. Orthopedic??? Are you sure you didn't mean Orthodontic?!
I just love well-meaning strangers.

See a likeness?

I was flipping through pictures and I couldn't help but notice that my darling little girl does, in fact, resemble me. (I'm on the left.) Granted, my cheeks are by far chubbier but look at those eyes! I can see where she came from. :-)

Emslee's Blessing Day

Emslee was blessed on June 7th in the Orchard 1st Ward. She was such an angel - she fell asleep right before her blessing and slept through the whole thing. Her Grammie Jo made her beautiful blessing dress, and her Uncle Nick was sweet enough to take pictures for us. Then Janica edited them and made them lovely. Thanks guys!
Our little girl has been such a blessing in our lives. We just absolutely love her!

This week..

I think this week has taken more out of me than I even thought I had to give. Sometimes, things just hit you when you least expect it.
My sweet Grandma is clinging to life in a nursing home. I want her to be out of pain and to be "in a better place," but at the same time I desperately want her here with me. I'm so selfish! I love her so much, and it will be so hard when she goes.
I just want to throw questions out to the universe - why does Heavenly Father allow people to remain on the earth when they are basically in a vegetative state? What is her purpose here? Is there something she needs to learn? Is there something her family needs to learn? I just don't understand...
I never thought I'd lose both of my remaining grandparents in the same year. Ugh. I can at least take comfort in the fact that she got to meet my cute baby. And I know I will see her again.
I love you Grandma!

More pics of our sweet baby

Bathtime!

This week marks the anniversary of Jason's fourth (and hopefully final) heart surgery. At the time that he had the surgery, his cardiologists were concerned that it wouldn't fix the problem and we would be facing open heart surgery at some point in the future. We went ahead with the surgery knowing that it would be a waiting game and that it was likely not the last time he would be in the operating room.
Well it has been a whole year and so far Jason is doing great. He still tires out easily some days, and he'll never again be able to lift much. But we are so grateful that he is doing as well as he is. We were definitely not looking forward to open heart surgery! He has improved so much since his diagnosis in August of 05. When he first got sick they thought he would need a heart transplant, and that has proven not to be the case.
We feel so very blessed as we celebrate a whole year without a surgery! Woo-hoo! It's been a nice change for us. :)

Family Pictures

Ahh, the car seat

So for those of you that don't know, my sweet baby girl DESPISES her car seat. Most little kids can easily be put to sleep by taking them for a drive. But not my little one. You think at some point she would cry herself to sleep, or at least realize that she wasn't getting out of the silly car seat. But she is stubborn, just like her mother. She will scream at the top of her lungs relentlessly until someone removes her. Not only that, but she has a rather unfortunate 6th sense that provides her with the ability to promptly awaken from even the deepest sleep when placed in her car seat.
Today I had a doctor's appointment in Murray. I fed her and got her to sleep, but when I attempted to buckle her into the infamous car seat, her little blue eyes flew open and the screaming commenced. I had to listen to her heart-wrenching cries all the way down to the doctor's office and all the way back. It's amazing how difficult it is to drive with her so upset the whole way. It is truly exhausting.
When I finally turned onto my street, the crying suddenly stopped. She has such great timing! She had fallen asleep. I thought I should commemorate the moment - my daughter was actually asleep in her car seat! Aw, relish the moment with me.... even if it did come about two hours too late.

Emslee's Photo Shoot

I'm officially a SAHM!

When we found out we were expecting, Jason and I decided that I would continue working after taking some time off for maternity leave.
During the pregnancy, I tried to decide if I was okay with continuing to work. I love my job, and I love the feeling of working. It makes me feel productive. I felt like returning to work was definitely something I wanted to do.
Not so fast.....the day we brought Emee home from the hospital I was sitting on the couch holding her and just staring at her. Call it the postpartum hormones, call it me being a basketcase, but I started crying. Sitting there with her I realized that I simply didn't have it in me to leave her with someone else. Jason found me with tears in my eyes and a quivering lower lip. I tried my best to explain to him what I was feeling. It's more than just not trusting someone with her....I want to be there when she takes her first step, when she says her first word, and when she does all those cute little things she's bound to do. I want to teach her the alphabet, how to count, her colors, and how to read. I can't imagine leaving all these things up to someone else. I suddenly felt very compelled to accept this new job with zealous ambition and determination.
For me, it was as clear as could be. This is where I needed to be. For the first time, this is where I wanted to be. I never thought I'd be one of those women who wanted nothing more than to take care of their children and their homes.
It's definitely going to be a struggle financially. Until Jason finishes school, we'll manage to scrape by....somehow. It will be difficult but I can tell already it will be worth it.
I'm sad to quit my job because I feel like I'm giving up a part of myself. I'm sure I'll still be obsessed with teeth, and a person's smile is still the very first thing I'll notice. Eventually I hope to go back to the dental office and that part of my life. But for now I'm excited for this new journey I'm about to embark on.
Wish us luck!

Emee has the hiccups!

Finally, pictures with her eyes open!

The "New" Love of Our Lives!!!

Emslee JoRene Gast, born March 21st, 2009. She was born at 1:44 am and weighed 7 pounds 2 ounces, and was 21 inches long.

How She Arrived:

Well on Friday morning around six, Jill woke me up and informed me that her water broke. As soon as I came to (which was almost instantaneously) and asked her how she knew that her water broke. She pointed down and I saw a spot on our sheets, and then I heard a huge splash, (like a water balloon that just hit the pavement). Then I rushed in to wake up Karyn, (Jill's younger sister, who is living with us) to tell her the good news. After calling her midwifes, Jill found out that she had a few options of what to do next. Her choices were to either come in right then and be examined, or she could wait at home until she felt enough contractions to go to the hospital. She decided to stay home. Finally after six frustrating hours with no contractions, we decided to go to the hospital to get ready to welcome our little girl.

After we arrived at the hospital, we found out that she would need to be induced to start her labor. After she was induced she started to feel a few contractions. She really is an amazing person, after going through what seemed like an eternity (which was in fact six hours) Jill had enough of the pain and decided to have an epidural. Oh and after that she was in heaven. She couldn't feel her pain anymore and was just ready to have her baby. And then we played the waiting game. And we waited, and waited and waited until just before 1 am when Jill told the nurse it was time to deliver our baby. Push after push, Emslee was finally here. Oh and what a miracle it was watching our baby girl being brought into this world. And for being two and a half weeks early, baby Emslee is just fine. And the next day, after talking with the doctors, and having Emslee go through all of the tests they finally let us go home.

Currently the baby and mommy are doing great, with no problems. Emslee is the first to join our family and we welcomed her with open arms. She truly is a miracle from God. And to be honest after looking back at everything that went down in the past few days, things couldn't have gone better. She truly is beautiful. Our little Angel from up above in heaven is finally here. We love Emslee and we can't wait to see what the future has in store for us!

37 weeks today!

Today marks my official "to-term" date. My midwives say I could have this baby any day now. I cannot imagine better news! It could still take another 3 weeks, but hey I say we try to be optimistic!
At times I feel like this pregnancy has flown by, and then at other times it seems to have lasted an eternity. Thankfully it has been rather uneventful, other than 7 months of puking nonstop. I've started up with the whole nausea, vomiting nonsense again. Can I just verbalize what an annoyance it is when otherwise well-meaning people say, "Aren't you supposed to be over that by now?" Gee, you think so? Thanks! I'll get right on that! (Like I'm doing it by choice.....hmm maybe I do just want attention.)
Jason and I went and toured the hospital where I will be delivering her, and it made it all seem so much more real. I'm actually really excited about the hospital that we chose. It's up to date with all the new medical advances and tons of perks both for the mother and the "support persons." (aka, Jason and my cute mom.)
At first I was overwhelmed by the very thought of giving birth, but at this point I can't wait! I'm ready to do this! Keep your fingers crossed for me - I would love to have this baby early! (With my luck, she'll come super late.)

I'm gonna be a mommy...?

With only 5 weeks left to go, I've had the chance to really think about what lies ahead for myself and my little family. I'm so excited to have a baby and to be a mother. This last weekend my mom helped me get the cradle all ready with the new sheets, pillow, bumper pad, and quilt. It is so CUTE! And so very PINK! I finally feel ready for little Emslee to join our home. It's amazing how attached you can become to someone you've never even met. But she and I have certainly spent a lot of quality time together....especially at 3 a.m. when she decides it's time to start kicking mommy as hard as she possibly can.
Jason is so thrilled to become a father. Who would have expected that? He has never been around kids much, well until he married into my family, that is. Lately he's been like a little kid at Christmas, who can see that wrapped present under the tree and just can't wait to open it.
It's amazing how something you never expected or planned for can change your life in such a positive and exciting way. It's true that a baby changes everything. But I wouldn't go back for the world.