She loves her Jenny Jump Up
Which toy do I choose......?
I ready for school!
Ciara, give me your Taco Bell or I will unleash my thumb!
The new baby
She's gonna be a Trekkie :)
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Fall Times
Things have been great around here at the Joslin household. Mommy and Daddy go to work/school every day and Annette goes to Grandma Joslin's or Aunt Becky's. She finally decided about a month ago that bottles were ok again and ever since then she has been perfectly happy going wherever we need her to go. Daddy got a job three weeks ago and really enjoys his time there breaking concrete and running other samples. He got a brand new truck two weeks ago as a reward for getting his new job. There's not much more of an update to give you so I will grace you with many pictures, as I know that is the reason you all get on here anyway :)
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Change of Plans
When last I wrote, Abram was preparing to leave for deployment to Afghanistan and I was going to be home all summer with Annie until I went back to work the first week of August. Within 2 weeks all of that was changed. A couple days before Abram left, I got a call to teach half days at summer musical theater camp during the month of July. I agreed to do that, knowing I would have to leave Annette with a family member every day for about 3 hours. We didn't really need the money with Abram's deployment pay coming in but I still felt the need to take the job.
Abram began his duty on June 9th and took off for 30 days of training an hour away in Florence the following day. A week later, on June 16th, he informed me he was on the way back to Mesa to go to the hospital. He had been having issues with sitting down without pain for the entire week. After a few hours at the hospital, he said they were going to perform surgery to remove an abscess. So Annie and I went down to the hospital and got to see him and wait while he was in surgery. The surgery went great and he came home with us the next day. His recovery time was at least 4 weeks of no physical activity. When the Army heard that he would be missing all of his deployment training, they closed the books on his chance to deploy. All of a sudden all of our plans were changed! While the con to this was losing that extra income his deployment would bring in for us, the pros were numerous: staying home with and taking care of Annette through her first year, getting another year of school done, and not needing to be separated from his family. And we were very happy that I had gotten some work to do for the month of July!
So the summer has passed quickly and I have already been back at work full time for two weeks. It took a few days for Annette to adjust to mommy being gone all day every day, but she has come to love her daddy so much and almost doesn't need Mommy at all anymore. And if she was still as willing to take a bottle as she used to be, she really wouldn't need me. She gets by with just cereal during the 9 hours I'm gone.
In July we took a trip to Salt Lake City to see my brother, his wife, and their three boys. The youngest is 5 weeks younger than Annie. We had lots of fun and Annie actually did pretty well on the long drive. We did the drive in one day both ways so by the last 2 hours or so she was getting pretty cranky but for the majority of the ride she was an angel.. It was so fun to see our family up there and her cousins Shawn and Alex sure enjoyed seeing "Baby Nett."
As I said, I am back to work. Four months was almost too long to go without seeing my students because I really wasn't looking forward to going back. I would prefer to stay home with my baby girl. But once I saw those 180 students of mine and started talking with them, I was glad to be back. I still would love to be home with Annette but the fact that I really love my job makes it that much easier to be there every day.
Annette and Abram have been having too much fun at home without me. The first day I was gone all day she was traumatized by the time I got home. The second day she was just upset. The third day she seemed pretty neutral and by the fourth day she was happy and didn't really care that I was home. After two weeks now she is a little angel while I'm gone and even helps daddy with some home projects, like painting a wall in our bedroom last Friday.
Abram starts school this Thursday and is sounding like I did three weeks ago. He doesn't want to be away from his little princess every day. We know she will be in great hands with Grandma Joslin and Aunt Becky, though, while we are both at school.
And now I will finish with some more recent pictures of Annie. She's growing so fast!
Actually, just kidding. I forgot Abram emptied the pictures onto his computer last night. I will post them later from his computer!
Abram began his duty on June 9th and took off for 30 days of training an hour away in Florence the following day. A week later, on June 16th, he informed me he was on the way back to Mesa to go to the hospital. He had been having issues with sitting down without pain for the entire week. After a few hours at the hospital, he said they were going to perform surgery to remove an abscess. So Annie and I went down to the hospital and got to see him and wait while he was in surgery. The surgery went great and he came home with us the next day. His recovery time was at least 4 weeks of no physical activity. When the Army heard that he would be missing all of his deployment training, they closed the books on his chance to deploy. All of a sudden all of our plans were changed! While the con to this was losing that extra income his deployment would bring in for us, the pros were numerous: staying home with and taking care of Annette through her first year, getting another year of school done, and not needing to be separated from his family. And we were very happy that I had gotten some work to do for the month of July!
So the summer has passed quickly and I have already been back at work full time for two weeks. It took a few days for Annette to adjust to mommy being gone all day every day, but she has come to love her daddy so much and almost doesn't need Mommy at all anymore. And if she was still as willing to take a bottle as she used to be, she really wouldn't need me. She gets by with just cereal during the 9 hours I'm gone.
In July we took a trip to Salt Lake City to see my brother, his wife, and their three boys. The youngest is 5 weeks younger than Annie. We had lots of fun and Annie actually did pretty well on the long drive. We did the drive in one day both ways so by the last 2 hours or so she was getting pretty cranky but for the majority of the ride she was an angel.. It was so fun to see our family up there and her cousins Shawn and Alex sure enjoyed seeing "Baby Nett."
As I said, I am back to work. Four months was almost too long to go without seeing my students because I really wasn't looking forward to going back. I would prefer to stay home with my baby girl. But once I saw those 180 students of mine and started talking with them, I was glad to be back. I still would love to be home with Annette but the fact that I really love my job makes it that much easier to be there every day.
Annette and Abram have been having too much fun at home without me. The first day I was gone all day she was traumatized by the time I got home. The second day she was just upset. The third day she seemed pretty neutral and by the fourth day she was happy and didn't really care that I was home. After two weeks now she is a little angel while I'm gone and even helps daddy with some home projects, like painting a wall in our bedroom last Friday.
Abram starts school this Thursday and is sounding like I did three weeks ago. He doesn't want to be away from his little princess every day. We know she will be in great hands with Grandma Joslin and Aunt Becky, though, while we are both at school.
And now I will finish with some more recent pictures of Annie. She's growing so fast!
Actually, just kidding. I forgot Abram emptied the pictures onto his computer last night. I will post them later from his computer!
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Annette's Blessing
Today was Annie's big day! And she cooperated really well from getting a good night's sleep to being happy all morning and all the way through smiling through her blessing at church. My mom made her dress and used some lace left over from when she made her own wedding dress 34 years ago. She always wanted to make a blessing dress for her own daughter using some of that left over material but ended up with something different for both of her own daughters. So once she knew she was getting her first granddaughter she was prepared! Here she is in her beautiful dress:
Yes, the dress goes a few inches past her little feet. She has not gotten quite that tall yet!
The blessing was beautiful. 14 men standing in the circle around her as she was blessed with health, happiness, and a wonderful companion some day. Abram said she was smiling and looking straight at him the entire time. She was still staring at him after he finished and he was coming back to the bench. She is official in the records of the church now and has her first big ordinance complete!
After the meeting was over, the Joslin and Benitez families took off and went back to my parents' house for some brunch. It was so delicious! We took some pictures there while some of the food warmed up. Here she is with her best friend and cousin, Spencer.
The blessing was beautiful. 14 men standing in the circle around her as she was blessed with health, happiness, and a wonderful companion some day. Abram said she was smiling and looking straight at him the entire time. She was still staring at him after he finished and he was coming back to the bench. She is official in the records of the church now and has her first big ordinance complete!
After the meeting was over, the Joslin and Benitez families took off and went back to my parents' house for some brunch. It was so delicious! We took some pictures there while some of the food warmed up. Here she is with her best friend and cousin, Spencer.
We took a four generation picture today, also. My grandpa, my mom, me and Annette.
We were so excited to share this special day with our families. It is so fun to see how our entire families get along with each other! We missed a couple of our brothers and their wives and four nephews though.
One last thought: Annie has been working really hard over the last 10 days to master thumb sucking ever since the first time she figured how to do it. The other night she was getting sleepy but wasn't going down so I just set her on the couch between me and Abram. A couple minutes later, this is what she looked like:
Our continuing steps to getting her to pacify herself while sleeping are working! She'll be able to put herself back to sleep on her own before we know it!
Saturday, May 12, 2012
One Month Old
We've had one whole month with our little princess already and love every minute still. She is so precious. We love taking sleeping pictures of her either because that's when she looks the cutest or that's when we have the time to think about grabbing the camera. We are learning what is the best way to do everything with her. The best eating schedule, the best way to put her to sleep, the best way to bathe and change her, and the best way to play with her. She is so smart and likes to stand on and walk with her legs. If her legs were strong enough she could probably walk already because she's certainly got the motion down already!
One of her new favorite things to do is talk to herself in the mirror. The changing table we use the most right now while she is in our room with us most of the time is actually a vanity attached to the wall with a mirror on the wall. She knows we are putting her on that and immediately looks to her left to find herself. Of course she thinks she is talking to a friend and likes to fist bump this friend. Sometimes I'll let her play on the changing table with her friend for a few minutes after changing her diaper.
Another one of her favorite things is her swing from Aunt Becky. It's put her to sleep a time or two. She'll just stare at the spot that makes the music and sometimes doze right off to dreamland in the process. We have found she does not like sleeping totally flat. She'll wake up after a few minutes just about every time. So the swing has come in handy as a place to put her when she falls asleep because to her sleeping sitting up is better than lying down!
In other news, Abram finished his semester and is glad that is over and he has some time off before deployment next month. He is spending his time getting a few odd jobs done around the house, playing games on his new laptop, and spending time with Annie. He is hoping she'll remember him at least a little from the time she's 8 weeks old until she's a year old so he doesn't freak her out when he gets home. Hopefully we'll get enough online chatting time that she'll get used to him that way, too.
I have actually been enjoying maternity leave more and more every day. After about 2 weeks I was getting bored and tired of doing the same things every day but as Annie gets older and I find more ways to spend my time with her at home, I have enjoyed it more. Of course having Abram home with me now, too, is helping. I find myself not even worrying about what is going on at school. I know my sub has things under control and when she needs something from me, she sends me an email and everything works out great. I will be going in to school a few hours this week to audition my kiddos for their ensemble placements for next year. But I will try to refrain from doing anything else there. I don't want to interfere in my sub's classroom.
I'll finish up with a few more of our favorite pictures.
One of her new favorite things to do is talk to herself in the mirror. The changing table we use the most right now while she is in our room with us most of the time is actually a vanity attached to the wall with a mirror on the wall. She knows we are putting her on that and immediately looks to her left to find herself. Of course she thinks she is talking to a friend and likes to fist bump this friend. Sometimes I'll let her play on the changing table with her friend for a few minutes after changing her diaper.
Another one of her favorite things is her swing from Aunt Becky. It's put her to sleep a time or two. She'll just stare at the spot that makes the music and sometimes doze right off to dreamland in the process. We have found she does not like sleeping totally flat. She'll wake up after a few minutes just about every time. So the swing has come in handy as a place to put her when she falls asleep because to her sleeping sitting up is better than lying down!
In other news, Abram finished his semester and is glad that is over and he has some time off before deployment next month. He is spending his time getting a few odd jobs done around the house, playing games on his new laptop, and spending time with Annie. He is hoping she'll remember him at least a little from the time she's 8 weeks old until she's a year old so he doesn't freak her out when he gets home. Hopefully we'll get enough online chatting time that she'll get used to him that way, too.
I have actually been enjoying maternity leave more and more every day. After about 2 weeks I was getting bored and tired of doing the same things every day but as Annie gets older and I find more ways to spend my time with her at home, I have enjoyed it more. Of course having Abram home with me now, too, is helping. I find myself not even worrying about what is going on at school. I know my sub has things under control and when she needs something from me, she sends me an email and everything works out great. I will be going in to school a few hours this week to audition my kiddos for their ensemble placements for next year. But I will try to refrain from doing anything else there. I don't want to interfere in my sub's classroom.
I'll finish up with a few more of our favorite pictures.
She was MAD!
Talking to daddy
Toweling off after a bath
Sleeping with mommy
Doing another favorite thing--looking out the window
Napping with daddy
Saturday, April 21, 2012
She's Here!
Our little princess, Annette, arrived with a bang on Wednesday, April 11, 2012 at 12:42 am!
I woke up just before 2 am on Tuesday the 10th with pretty regular contractions. I hadn't had even irregular contractions before that so I was kind of surprised to be at that stage all of a sudden. After about an hour and a half of timing them, I woke Abram up and told him it was time to go to the hospital. He looked at me and said "Try going back to sleep" and rolled back over! So I did what he said and I magically DID go back to sleep for just over an hour! So then I was confused about whether I was in active labor or not. But then about 6am they became very noticeable again and after 2 hours of timing them again and them getting more intense, I talked Abram into going to the hospital. Things did not move as quickly as I had hoped they would and when they finally decided I was far enough along to break my water, I asked for the epidural first then they broke it. Things went more quickly then! About 9:45 pm it was finally time to push her out. Three hours later she was finally here! That was a miserable three hours..... There were two things I really didn't want to have in my labor and delivery and that was a long labor and back labor. Of course I got both! One reason it took so long to push her out was because she was turned around backwards and we couldn't get her to turn around the right way. It was super painful.
Anyway, she came out eventually at 6 lbs 8 oz, 20 inches long. She had a giant cone head and a fever but she was perfect other than that. :)
Our stay at the hospital was fine but after two days there after her birth, we were ready to go home. We have had so many neat experiences as her parents in the first 10 days of her life. She loves her mommy but when daddy's been gone for too long, she starts to get pretty fussy and stays that way until he gets home. We've taken lots of pictures of her, especially when she sleeps. She's just so cute! We hope that little Annie is enjoying her short life so far and that we will always know what she needs and be able to provide for her.
And now for your enjoyment, some of my favorite pictures:
I woke up just before 2 am on Tuesday the 10th with pretty regular contractions. I hadn't had even irregular contractions before that so I was kind of surprised to be at that stage all of a sudden. After about an hour and a half of timing them, I woke Abram up and told him it was time to go to the hospital. He looked at me and said "Try going back to sleep" and rolled back over! So I did what he said and I magically DID go back to sleep for just over an hour! So then I was confused about whether I was in active labor or not. But then about 6am they became very noticeable again and after 2 hours of timing them again and them getting more intense, I talked Abram into going to the hospital. Things did not move as quickly as I had hoped they would and when they finally decided I was far enough along to break my water, I asked for the epidural first then they broke it. Things went more quickly then! About 9:45 pm it was finally time to push her out. Three hours later she was finally here! That was a miserable three hours..... There were two things I really didn't want to have in my labor and delivery and that was a long labor and back labor. Of course I got both! One reason it took so long to push her out was because she was turned around backwards and we couldn't get her to turn around the right way. It was super painful.
Anyway, she came out eventually at 6 lbs 8 oz, 20 inches long. She had a giant cone head and a fever but she was perfect other than that. :)
Our stay at the hospital was fine but after two days there after her birth, we were ready to go home. We have had so many neat experiences as her parents in the first 10 days of her life. She loves her mommy but when daddy's been gone for too long, she starts to get pretty fussy and stays that way until he gets home. We've taken lots of pictures of her, especially when she sleeps. She's just so cute! We hope that little Annie is enjoying her short life so far and that we will always know what she needs and be able to provide for her.
And now for your enjoyment, some of my favorite pictures:
 |
| With mommy |
 |
| Abram's favorite pic |
 |
| Watching Star Trek: DS9 |
 |
| With her cousin, Spencer, who's 25 days older |
 |
| Ha. That's all we have to say about this one |
 |
| With Aunt Ciara |
 |
| This is how I found her after a 3 hour nap. I know how she fit in the womb all those months now |
 |
| She was so hungry she was willing to eat daddy's face! |
 |
| She thinks she's a comedian and kept making funny faces at us! |
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Getting Close!
We're getting so close to having our baby Annette with us! She should be here any day now. We're honestly a little surprised she hasn't made her grand entrance yet.
I finished working on Thursday. It'll be weird to just be sitting at home tomorrow not doing a whole lot while someone else teaches my children at school. I hope they behave for her and they all get along. :)
Abram is getting very anxious to meet Annie and sometimes tries "pushing" her out from the top of my stomach. We finally got her room all cleaned up yesterday and ready for her as well as getting our room cleaned up so she could be in there with us, too. My school kids threw me three separate baby showers this week so I came home with a lot of gift bags that were lining her room until I cleaned everything up yesterday. She has a lot of clothes, blankets, bibs and socks. The task tomorrow is to get my car cleaned out so the car seat can go in. Maybe her timing will be perfect and as soon as we have everything ready for her, she'll come.
We'll be sure to put up pictures and tell you all about Annette's entrance into the world as soon as we have the story to tell! Stay tuned :)
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Time for a Change
I decided it was time to start a new blog. Someone's been bugging me to update the old one and when I tried getting on just now, I couldn't! My google account was connected with my college email and when their system got hacked it wiped out everything else I had connected with that email I guess. So I can't even get on to do anything to the old blog and since I was the only author on it, I can't even invite myself back. So rather than fight with it anymore, I just added my name to Abram's blogger account and started over again.
We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our baby girl in about 5 weeks from now and are trying to get our brand new house ready for her. Well, our house is brand new to us anyway. We've had a lot of excitement lately with all of the changes happening. We feel like we are really growing up!
I will write more later but since I spent so long trying to get onto the old blog, I'm out of time for right now. And I need to send this new URL to everyone! :)
We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our baby girl in about 5 weeks from now and are trying to get our brand new house ready for her. Well, our house is brand new to us anyway. We've had a lot of excitement lately with all of the changes happening. We feel like we are really growing up!
I will write more later but since I spent so long trying to get onto the old blog, I'm out of time for right now. And I need to send this new URL to everyone! :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)