80's Aerobic Workout

This onesie, combined with her socks, makes her look like she's wearing an 80's workout outfit! So cute!

She's finishing up some phone calls and getting ready for her warm-up stretches...

Whew! Look at those crunches! Feel the burn!

And 1, And 2...

Head roll stretches the neck

Number of push-ups: 1

Push-ups...those are hard!

Well, maybe one more try...

Leg kicks...I'm sure glad I have these baby leg-warmers on!

Hawaiian Baby

One of my good friends at work, Laura Snow, gave Jessica this white headband with 3 flowers that clip on. We put it on and took this picture. The flowers, combined with her beautiful olive skin tone (and the light the picture was taken in) reminded me of Hawaii.

So...our Hawaiian baby picture! :)

Cuteness...

She looks so much longer than she did when she was first born. It's hard to believe that she's almost 1 month old! The green pink and yellow blanket that she is sleeping on was given to us by my Aunt Roberta and Uncle Dean. Roberta is my dad's older sister who lives in Washington State. The blanket is crocheted and beautiful! The green, pink, and brown quilt underneath that was given to us by her Grammy Workman. It is the second one she got from her Grammy. I'll need to take a picture of both quilts spread out and then post them. They are absolutely gorgeous! I love them both!

She loves having her hands up by her face!

She's in the middle of a cheer! :)

Our little burrito!

This is a much better view of the gorgeous quilt Grammy made her.

Birthmark

The day after we came home from the hospital I suddenly noticed that Jessica had this purple mark on the palm of her right hand. When I went to the doctor's office for her post-hospital check-up (just before her 2 week...) I asked her doctor about it. He said it was a port-wine stain birthmark and she would probably have it for life.

I think it's so cute! Here's the conversation between Jer and I when I told him about it...

Me: Did you know that our daughter has a birthmark on her right hand?
Jer: What?!? Now no one's going to want to hold her hand when she's older!
Me: That's a good thing! We don't want boys to hold her hand. We'll put a fake one on her left hand too.
Jer: Well, maybe some nice returned missionary will want to hold her hand someday...
Me: If he's a nice returned missionary he won't care about the birthmark. In fact, that's how we'll know he's a winner. If he doesn't care about her birth mark we'll know he's ok.
Jer: Maybe...

Regardless, bottom line is, her birthmark is really cute!
(Notice in the picture that Jess is not happy that I'm taking a picture of her birthmark!)

Sunday Best

How cute is she! We believe in Sunday worship...we're trying to get Jessica in the habit of getting ready for Sunday's by putting her in Sunday clothes now... Do you think it will work? It's partially about getting into the habit early right? :) Isn't she cute?!?

She's so tiny!
She's not much bigger than this miniature stuffed animal.

She's not so sure about this dress thing...

They look pretty sharp together, don't they?

Uncle Derrall (my brother) is holding her! Uncle Derrall has been awesome and let us borrow his car when we needed to take her to doctor appointments...

Cuddly

Grandma Time

Jessica was so lucky and had BOTH of her grandma's come help out.
(Mommy was lucky too! :)

Grandma Heath (a.k.a. Grandma S&B)

Grandma Workman (a.k.a. Grammy)

Jessica is so lucky to have 2 fantastic Grandma's!
She loved having both of them here.

Nurse Mommy & Daddy

Jessica takes medicine for her acid reflux problems. This is the first time Jer and I gave it to her ourselves. We have to dissolve it in liquid and then give it to her. Aaahh. The joys of parenthood.

She's pretty cute! We love her lots!

Home Again Home Again Jiggidy Jig...

Here are some more photo's of our sweet sweet Jessica. These are the first few days of being at home. This is when she was still on oxygen. :)
I love my darling little girl!

This is the swing that her Great-Grandma Workman gave her at her baby shower. She loves it!

Isn't she adorable! She's wrapped in one of the receiving blankets that her Great-Grandma Jennessee made for her!

Jessica is in her cradle. This is the same cradle that I slept in when I was a newborn. All of my 5 younger siblings and a lot of my cousins all slept in this cradle. My mom found it at Deseret Industries (D.I.) when she was pregnant with me. It's a beautiful heirloom piece in our family now.

How absolutely sweet is this little girl? She always seems to have her hands around her face. It is the cutest thing. I love my little girl. Every day I love my little girl more than the day before. A mother's love is truly an amazing thing.

25 reasons I love post-pregnancy...

25. Instant weight-loss program
24. Having a beautiful daughter on the outside!
23. Cuddling with my daughter in the morning after she has just eaten
22. Watching her sleep and wondering what she's dreaming about
21. Being able to eat and not get sick!
20. Actually being able to hug my husband without a huge stomach in the way!
19. Skinny ankles
18. Being able to walk faster without any side-to-side motions
17. Giving my daughter a bath...
16. Smelling a clean newborn...they smell the best!
15. Kissing her soft, chubby cheeks
14. Hearing her cooing sounds when she is content
13. Gazing into her eyes when she is awake
12. Watching her learn how to smile
11. Watching my husband hold our daughter
10. Waking up every morning knowing I am a mom
9. Feeling closer to my mom because we are both moms now
8. Getting up for 3am feeding...
7. Stroking my daughters head while she sleeps
6. Kissing her cute little feet!
5. Having her curl her fingers around one of my fingers
4. Listening to my husband tell her how much he loves her
3. Singing to my daughter every day
2. Talking to her every day
1. Feeling Heavenly Father's love for this precious, precious, precious, precious, precious little girl!

Pretty much there really is nothing about being a mom that I don't like. I LOVE everything about it! Even changing her diapers! Weird, I know. Everything about her is just so cute and I've waited my whole life to be a mom, and to be a mom with the best husband in the world, and just everything! I'm so excited! I love it! :)

Oxygen Tank

Here are 2 of the 3 oxygen tanks we used while Jessica was on oxygen.
(I haven't posted for awhile...hello new mom responsibilities - crazy hard...BUT Jessica is off oxygen and all her monitors! Yea!)

The huge one is the "home tank" and can last for over a month. The smaller tank (to the right) is 1 of 2 portable tanks that we were given and each has 40 hours of oxygen. The times depend on the amount of oxygen given but since Jessica was on such a low dose, those are the time frames that we have before we need to exchange them for more. The white stuff coiled on the ground in front of the home tank is one of the oxygen tubes. We had a 50 foot tube and a 25 foot tube. The 25 foot tube was more than adequate for our "spacious" abode so we didn't really use the 50 foot tube except at the beginning.

As crazy as it has been to have a newborn in our home on oxygen, every time I have looked at the medical supplies we needed to help our baby, I have been amazed at technology and the incredible GOOD that it does for mankind. I am also reminded of a discussion I had with my 6th graders about the differences between 3rd world and 1st world countries. One of the obvious differences that they pointed out right away was the technology and medicine available. I am blessed beyond measure that I am a citizen of a 1st world country.

One night, as I was holding Jessica while she slept, I started thinking about what would happen to an infant with her medical issues who did not have the benefit of technology and medicine. The nurses in the hospital told me that there was a minute in the beginning of Jessica's life where she needed infant CPR because she was not breathing. (Thankfully they told me that on our last day there and not the first. I would have freaked out. I still shudder and try not to cry when I think about it...) I am so grateful for the medical knowledge that the Lord has blessed our world with. I know that He is the one who has blessed the great minds of our day and age with the ability to discover and learn all that we know so far about medicine and the human body. Incredible. There is no doubt in my mind that we are not "randomly" put together. There is no way! Too many things have to be in perfect balance within us. And those of us on this Earth who have different disabilities and difficulties with our bodies...only opportunities to learn better who we truly are and who we are suppose to be.

Anyways - who knew that a simple picture of oxygen tanks could inspire such a spiritual experience for me? The Lord really can be found in the details of our lives if we only look for Him.

Leaving the Hospital

Here are a bunch of pictures that chronicle our getting ready to leave the hospital for home, sweet home!

These are Jessica's "I Love Mommy" socks that I bought way back on Oct. 13th (the day after I found out what we were having...) It was soooo nice to be able to finally put those on her!

I'm so excited to be getting her ready to come home!

She's so long! Actually, most of that is just the super huge sleeper outfit I bought at the same time as her socks...I had to be the one to buy the first outfit for her after we knew what we were having! Weird, but I felt very strongly about buying that first outfit...

Raise your hands if you think I'm cute!

Jer loves the beenies for little babies...

again, bought on Oct. 13th...

Jer was really excited to put this on her. 

They are both so cute!

She wasn't exactly thrilled with the hat choice

Although this is her same face when she stretches her lil' body out...

I just love my little girl!

Even though it's kind of blurry, can you guess how she feels about her car seat?

*Whew!* Now, she's settled...

Pretty much the cutest baby ever!

We can't believe that she is finally coming home with us!

We are SO excited!

Our Grandma Jennessee (Jer's grandma on his mother's side) made these beautiful receiving blankets for Jessica and gave them to us for Christmas. We were so happy to have them to take her home in! Jessica really does love those blankets.  

Grandma Heath (a.k.a. Grandma Skinny & Beautiful, a.k.a. Grandma S&B) and Aunt Tammy (a.k.a. Aunt Tam-Tam!)

Can you see the oxygen tank on Jer's back? He is "unplugging" Jessica from the wall where the hospital's oxygen supply comes from so that he can hook her up to the portable oxygen tank for the ride home...so grateful for technology that helps our baby get well. Again, we are truly blessed!

All of the nurses were so absolutely wonderful. It is a true saying that nurses can make or break your hospital experience. They absolutely made ours! Beate (pronounced Ba-ought-ah) is on front adjusting Jessica's blanket and Tenille (like the music group Captain and Tenille) were two of our favorites. They really made the stay much better. All the nurses were fantastic. When they had days off they always called in to check on Jessica. It was pretty awesome. She is definitely loved.

Did I need the wheelchair? Nope. Did I want the wheelchair? Of course! It's for the picture! Duh! :) The caption for my facial expression would either be, "Aaaaggghhh! Can I really do this?!?" or "YEA! It's for real! You're finally coming home!!!!" You pick which one.

This is the hospital version of a lobby...Jer had to carry the portable tank and monitor. I'm not sure which one of us is being strapped to the other one...Actually, now that I look at this picture, it's pretty symbolic of the role that parents have in the family. The Proclamation of the Family says, "By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners." This picture completely represents that statement. Very cool.

Taking Jessica "into the world" for the first time!

Getting her to the car...

Jer putting her in the car for the first time...

Yahoo! We're finally ready to go!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again...

We have been so completely blessed throughout this entire experience of pregnancy and giving birth. Regardless of the details, actually it has been IN the details that, the Lord has been with us. It has been an amazing experience. The best part? The experience isn't over. We get the opportunity to continue on.