Filing these blogs into months

Does anyone know how to get my blog to file these posts month by month ("as if she writes often enough to do that!"...I know you were thinking it!) But, part of my problem with blogging is that I can't figure out things like that and it annoys me that it is not user-friendly enough to do what seems so simple!

Since it has been brought to my attention that my blog is LACKING!

In case you haven't noticed, I stink at this blogging thing. I am crippled by something called perfectionism. I aspire to be a writer, and yet so little do I write these days! I go in spurts, hoping to find more time to write as Corelle gets older (and she is getting to an age where she can entertain herself for longer periods of time!) but the time just never comes. My problem is, once I sit down to write, I want to write a novel everyday, and honestly, who, with an infant, has that kind of time!? I would love to blog every day, but there are days when I feel productive and days when I don't! The days when I don't far outweigh the days when I do, but those are the days I am spending more time with dear Corellie, whether it be playing, reading, feeding, or even scrubbing poo off her bouncy chair or cleaning throw up off the floor!

Yes, for those of you who catch me playing FarmTown, it IS true that I do spend time doing such a thing, but that is because it requires one hand to click, click, click to plant, harvest and plow, and right or left, the hand doesn't matter, thus we are able to keep the milk supply evened out. I "farm" while Corelle is attached to my hip (well, boob to be exact!), and then when she isn't attached, I am frantically trying to get dinner made, some room in the house cleaned, or running off to work.

Breastfeeding, I have learned, takes MANY hours out of my day since she doesn't care much for solids and is needing to eat more and more and MORE as she GROWS. She likes Mum Mums and Graduate PUFFS and sweet potatoes when she is hungry enough, but for the most part she is a dairy-loving kind of kid! It was not until THIS week that she decided to test out her newly grown two bottom teeth and CHOMP on mom. I sort of yelled at her. I admit it! I am not much of a yeller, but if something involves pain, it sort of comes out of nowhere! The great thing is, she thinks it is funny and smiles up at me with her big blue eyes and her open-mouthed smile and looks at me like I am Brian Regan-taken-over-Mom's-body. I am not sure whose adoration runs deeper...mine or Corelle's! She also adores her daddy, who is (I have to admit) the cutest dad of all times. I keep telling him I want him to be as sweet-talking to me as he is to her (we are still working on that one, but I KNOW he can do it so we're off to a great start!)

My mom is doing well, all things considered...and my Grandma MAY get out of the hospital tomorrow. We are keeping her in our prayers as they have seemed to work thus far! We are grateful that my mom works for one of the best surgeons in the world and that he was able to find the adhesions and twisted colon that were making Grandma so skinny! Hopefully she will continue to get stronger and stronger!

Corelle just turned 8 months on August 6th and my BABY sister turns 16 (YES! SIXTEEN! I can't believe it either!) Time never seems to slow down and the world around me is constantly changing. I really do wish I could, as the song goes, "save time in a bottle."

Corban finished his third and second to last classes for his MBA yesterday. He has ONE MORE CLASS this fall, and then we are done! I will look forward to having him home more in the evenings, but as he said, "There will always be something!" and spoke of his desire to get his PhD in Physics (MY WORST NIGHTMARE!) So, I guess we will see what happens come December when he graduates. A job in Cedar was interested in him that has great medical benefits and full-retirement after 20 years, but that fell through. I thought to myself that God may not want us in Cedar City forever and so many new opportunities may arise when Corb finishes school. I actually felt somewhat relieved that it fell through because I don't feel ready to commit to Cedar forever before we see what doors the MBA will open up. I think it is safe to say that while I get excited for new adventures, there is a part of me that is comfortable with our lives and gets a little apprehensive about making a move in our lives that could be fun but could always be worse! Corb's job may demand an hour and a half of commuting each day, but it is a low stress job. What if he gets one that demands a lot more? We are truly comfortable right now, in spite of family being so far away and a lack of close friendships here in Cedar!

I must say farewell. I really do wish that I blogged every day. I will try my best to write more often, but the perfectionistic writer in me will not settle for two or three sentences, and thus gets pent up in me until I burst out in a tangent like THIS that probably no one has time to read anyway and which I certainly do not have time to do everyday!

Birth Announcement and Christmas letter

                                                                                                                            April 2009

 

Dear Family and Friends,

 

The first line of this letter is supposed to read “We wish you a Merry Christmas!”  However, Happy Easter will have to do!!!   I started writing this back in mid-November and was going to mail it out before the hustle and bustle of a new baby and Christmas arrived, but decided instead to send the letter out with baby announcements, and life with a new baby has been, well, pretty busy! 

 

2008 was a crazy year!  We had a “foster daughter” for a few months at the beginning of the year, and that was a pretty stressful time for us!  I was working 55+ hours a week and engaging in hand-to-hand combat with a 16 year old every night when I got home (okay, it wasn’t really THAT bad!) on top of trying to keep the house clean and keep everyone fed!  I needed to study for a big counseling exam to finally get my Utah licensure, and let’s just say I didn’t wind up spending any time studying as I was too busy playing mommy/disciplinarian.  During that time, I also got LASIK (Finally!! I’d wanted it for a long time!)  We had sort of talked about starting our family on top of it all, but we wanted to make a little more headway with our mortgage before I quit work and we wanted to make sure the LASIK worked since pregnancy can reportedly change your vision.  Post-surgery, my eyes were 20/20 and the doctor reassured me they weren’t likely to change, and starting a family moved a little closer into sight (no pun intended!)…and happened WAY faster than we would’ve imagined! 

 

Anyone who says you can’t conceive while stressed wouldn’t believe that I did!  After a month of complete chaos, I suspected I was pregnant.  I don’t know why, I just did.  So I went out and got an EPT, and voila!  A little pink plus appeared!  Disbelieving, I did it again…VOILA!  ANOTHER pink plus!  I put my arms around Corban, who was making sandwiches downstairs. “You’re gonna be a daddy,” I whispered.  He kept on making sandwiches.  “Do you want one?” he asked.  I looked at him, dumbfounded!  “You are going to be a daddy!  Aren’t you excited!?”  Another set of disbelieving eyes needed to see that pink plus!  Doubting Thomas that I was, I did the test AGAIN the next morning…ANOTHER PINK PLUS!!!  There was no denying THREE pink plusses!

 

Six days later I took my big counseling exam.  I took a few days off work to study and, being newly pregnant, devoted it to reading baby books instead of study guides!  It was soooooo exciting!  I went into the test positive I was going to have to retake it and was okay with that, under the circumstances.  Wanting to make the 3.5 hour trip to Salt Lake worth my time, I went shopping for maternity clothes that weren’t even close to fitting me when the test was over! 

 

A month later, our “daughter” moved out (sigh of relief!  I didn’t want the stress on the baby!).  Six weeks later, we went to Arizona to finally break the news that we were pregnant (even bigger sigh of relief)! We hadn’t told anyone at work or church because we didn’t want the news to spread to our families before we told them (sometimes the world can be REALLY small!) and being pregnant for the first time, you are so excited you want to tell the world!!!  (Yeah for my mom, who had probably started to believe that at 31, I may never have children!)  Two months later, my test results came back and I PASSED!  Within a month or so, I was a Licensed Professional Counselor.  Having my LPC, I no longer needed hours for my license, quit my full-time job, & increased hours at my part-time jobs!

 

Wanting to fit in a vacation before the baby was born, we went to Alaska!  A grand adventure, one we will treasure forever.  The first day, a local sent us on a “short” hike to get away from the touristy parts of town, to really experience Alaska’s “great outdoors.”  This little hike wound up being about 10 miles long, which was quite the hike for a 5 month pregnant woman!  We had to take it easy the rest of the vacation since my feet swelled to the size of Alaska from that hike and didn’t go down until after I had the baby!  Corban’s favorite part of the trip was running into someone from Arizona who offered to take us salmon fishing.  We caught SO many.  It was a blast!

 

In August, Corban finished his MBA pre-requisites and started his actual MBA classes, going full-time at nights (bless his heart, he works a full day and then goes to class every night Monday through Thursday).  He will be finished in December 2009 and can’t wait to be done with school.  His company started losing business in a major way back in October, and every time he calls me during the day, I wonder if this will be the day that we, like many other Americans, will find ourselves facing unemployment.  My father Daniel, my brother Ryan, and my step-brother Kevin all worked at the mines in Morenci, Arizona and were laid off at the beginning of 2009.   These are such scary times!  We are hoping an MBA plus an engineering degree will make him more marketable in these economically difficult days!

 

In early November, I got some sort of stomach bug that was going around and wound up in the hospital for the day.  By the end of that day, I was dilated to a 4 as a result of the vomiting and dehydration, and we thought our little girl would come early as a result!  Shortly after, I learned that my Grandma had been diagnosed with cancer, and my family was devastated.  She went to the Huntsman Institute and they still have not ruled out or confirmed cancer, so it is scary not knowing what is causing her weight loss and pain! 

 

During my 9 months of pregnancy, I never could get Corban to talk about names.  “It’s too soon,” he always said.  And as time passed and my belly grew larger, “Let me think about it and I will let you know,” he would say. He never did let me know. Well, he did in his way, I suppose.  We were out walking one evening and he referred to the child in my belly as “Corelle.”  (Rewind two years.  The day we were heading to Arizona to get married, I was doing dishes and told him I thought the name on the bottom of our dishware looked beautiful.  On the drive back from the honeymoon, I had an epiphany…Corban + Noëlle=Corelle…so fitting for a child of ours!)  When we learned we were pregnant, that was one of the names I put on the table, and somewhere along the way Corban realized it would be the name of our sweet daughter.  (I had him read this letter before printing it…I hadn’t included this paragraph, and it was obviously important enough to him that he asked why I didn’t tell the story of her name.  Since everything else was my idea, how could I not include the one thing Corban asked me to!?)

 

On December 6^th, two days before Corelle was due, I let the doctor strip my membranes.  He said it may or may not cause me to go into labor, and sure enough, less than 2 hours later we were at the hospital and I was dilated to a 7!  An hour and 55 minutes later I was holding our beautiful Corelle in my arms.  I had some post-labor bleeding, and recovery was SLOW.  I had surgery (a D & C) a month after the delivery because I continued to lose blood.  It was hard to be mommy when I didn’t even have enough energy to walk around…there were days in that month that I couldn’t even get out of bed to feed myself!  I couldn’t even imagine having a toddler to take care of in addition to a new baby during those rough days and wondered how anyone has a second child!  Now that I am feeling better, I remember the wonderful parts of being pregnant and having a baby!  I LOVED the labor experience!

 

So, 2009 got off to a slow start, but things are back to normal now!  Corban and I LOVE parenting!  Corelle is the sweetest baby imaginable, and Corban and I feel very blessed!  Corban is the CUTEST dad I ever could have wanted for my kids!  How lucky Corelle and I are!

 

We hope each of you are in good health, happy spirits and enjoying the blessings in your lives!  Thanks for being a part of our lives.  You are among the countless blessings we are grateful for!

 

Happy Easter, such a glorious time when we remember the Resurrection of our Savior and Friend, the one who brings joy and blessings into our lives!

 

With love,

Corban, Noëlle and Corelle Christensen ♥

My Review of Fisher-Price Power Plus Plug in Swing

Toys R Us

The power plus swing is the first swing to feature a plug-in option to save mom money on batteries. It has 6 speeds and 10 soothing songs, plus a 3 position recline to accommodate even the youngest baby in comfort. As the swing moves, the three plush toys on the overhead mobile sway. The mobile eas...

Fisher-Price Power Plus Plug in Swing

Love my Fisher Price Power Plus Swing!

kristanoelle Cedar City, Utah 2/27/2009

 

5 5

Pros: Lightweight, Stable, Good Support, Easy to Clean, Visually Stimulating, Holds Baby's Attention, Easy to Assemble

Best Uses: Naptime, Infants

Describe Yourself: First Time Parent

I LOVE that this swing doesn't require batteries! I also love the appearance of this swing...it is cute cute cute and the colors will work for our little girl as well as any boy babies we might have someday! I read lots of reviews before making this purchase and some people had expressed being disappointed with the speeds on the swing. My husband says it's true that the high speed isn't much faster than the slow speed, but really, how fast do you want your little baby to go!? My baby LOVES the music on the swing and the mobile on top. People also said it's easily outgrown, but really, what don't they outgrow in the first year of their lives!? This swing is the best one I've found, and I looked at LOTS of swings! I recommend it to anyone! (The only problem I have is that my baby's head slumps over when she sleeps so I wrap a folded blanket in a U shape around her head...it would be great if the swing could come with something like that...like the ones they make for carseats!)

The look on her face says it all!

: Using Product

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My Review of Fisher-Price Power Plus Plug in Swing

Toys R Us

The power plus swing is the first swing to feature a plug-in option to save mom money on batteries. It has 6 speeds and 10 soothing songs, plus a 3 position recline to accommodate even the youngest baby in comfort. As the swing moves, the three plush toys on the overhead mobile sway. The mobile eas...

Fisher-Price Power Plus Plug in Swing

Love my Fisher Price Power Plus Swing!

kristanoelle Cedar City, Utah 2/27/2009

 

5 5

Pros: Lightweight, Stable, Good Support, Easy to Clean, Visually Stimulating, Holds Baby's Attention, Easy to Assemble

Best Uses: Naptime, Infants

Describe Yourself: First Time Parent

I LOVE that this swing doesn't require batteries! I also love the appearance of this swing...it is cute cute cute and the colors will work for our little girl as well as any boy babies we might have someday! I read lots of reviews before making this purchase and some people had expressed being disappointed with the speeds on the swing. My husband says it's true that the high speed isn't much faster than the slow speed, but really, how fast do you want your little baby to go!? My baby LOVES the music on the swing and the mobile on top. People also said it's easily outgrown, but really, what don't they outgrow in the first year of their lives!? This swing is the best one I've found, and I looked at LOTS of swings! I recommend it to anyone! (The only problem I have is that my baby's head slumps over when she sleeps so I wrap a folded blanket in a U shape around her head...it would be great if the swing could come with something like that...like the ones they make for carseats!)

The look on her face says it all!

: Using Product

()

Life with Corelle in it...

We are finally starting to get back into the swing of things. After all the traveling and the surgery a month after having Corelle and not being able to do much after that (housework or otherwise!), I am feeling great again and have started to get into a routine again. I am TOTALLY loving being a mommy! And it's not some fairytale period like people might think it is. I truly love it, I don't mind poopy diapers, I don't mind spit up, and I don't mind nighttime feedings. They say every baby and mommy have a hardest time of their day, and ours has to be about 11 at night. Corelle gets fussy, she won't fall asleep (or should I say stay asleep) even if I rock her to sleep and try to put her in her bassinet (having fed her and changed her, of course). She cries the second I put her down. And won't stop if I let her lay there. She gets tears and turns red, the whole works. So, I sit and hold her for seriously one or two hours at night until she is in a deep sleep. If I am lucky, it's one hour, but usually it's two.) That is when I write in my journal and play on Facebook. What else am I supposed to do until 2 in the morning? (It is presently 1:30 and I have to get up for church at 7 and she is still laying on my chest, the sweet little thing). So, I get a little tired at nights and then I don't want to wake up bright and early in the mornings, and I sleep until about 10. (Admit it...you know you'd do the same thing if you went to bed at 2 and needed your 8 hours!) I am grateful I set my own work schedule. I currently do 4-6:30 on Mondays and Thursdays and 6:30-8 on Wednesdays. That is PLENTY of time away from my sweet little one for now. I find myself unsure of how to create a balance between spending enough time with my baby and getting things done around the house. I am such a perfectionist that when people tell me to enjoy every minute with her because she will grow so fast, I take it literally. So I hold her, most of the day. She has gotten a lot better at letting us put her down for 15-20 minutes at a time now, but I do that the bare minimum! As a result, I don't get my house cleaned the way I'd like to, but in 10 years I won't care that my house was untidy (never unclean, like dirty toilets and sinks...we are talking clutter from stuff being out)...I will care that I held my baby. I always think to myself the saying I heard when I was quite young..."Settle down, cobwebs, dust go to sleep, I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep." It is such a beautiful thing, being a mom and holding your baby and singing to her and reading to her. She is smiling and cooing a lot now, and brings a lot of joy to Corban and me. You should see the way Corban is with her. If I thought he was sweet with out bird, I could only have imagined how much sweeter he'd be with a daughter. I love to see him talk to her and play with her. I am grateful she will have that kind of special relationship with her daddy! (Oh, the update is, at her 6 week appointment she had gained 2 pounds and 1 ounce and grown 3 inches, making her 9.1 pounds and 21 inches long. At my 6 week checkup, the doctor commented on how calm Corelle is...I told him that's how things are around our house! She is definitely a calm baby and I am so grateful she doesn't cry much!)

This thing is driving me crazy...

Okay, so I officially don't like blogging. It is soooo complicated to navigate this site. I am wanting to add people's blogs to my blog so that I can look at them once in a blue moon when I actually find time to look at other people's blogs, but I can't even find where I ever added them on here. And come to find out, I guess I added them to the wrong place in the first place and I am not actually "following" anyone's blogs, whatever that means. Sheesh. I need like Blogging 101. There are wayyyyy too many buttons!!!!