Jennalee meets Grandma and Grandpa!

Wow -- I had forgotten how much time is involved in caring for a newborn! My mom said that she counted up the minutes when she was a young mother and it came to about four hours a day! I believe it! Rick came and picked me up from the hospital On Saturday, October 4th in between General Conference sessions. It was raining outside and took awhile to get home because of the St. George marathon. There were still some runners slowly staggering towards the finish line. Running a marathon used to be a goal of mine but it isn't important to me anymore. Besides, I just had my own marathon this weekend!

My mom and dad arrived in the afternoon to stay with us for a few days. I was so glad that it was general conference weekend so that we could relax at home and enjoy the messages over television. Jennalee finally started opening her eyes more and so I told Janika to take these pictures of her. The first few nights home with the baby were rough. It seemed like Jennalee hardly slept -- day or night and so of course it seemed like I hardly slept either. She wanted to eat constantly -- including all night long and I was exhausted and sore. (Thank goodness her sleeping schedule has improved greatly since then!)

My mom did lots and lots of cooking while she was here (all gluten-free for me) and so we were all well-fed. Lots of cooking means lots of dishes and my dad was constantly doing dishes and kitchen clean-up! My dad also spent hours in the yard weeding our flower beds and they look SO MUCH better!! We really appreciate all their help! The kids had fun with their grandma and grandpa. My dad and I walked the kids to school on "walk to school" day and we also walked Jaiden to pre-school. Grandpa took over my shift of volunteering in Janelle's kindergarten classroom on Monday morning. Grandma and Grandpa went with our family to the "Strengthening Families Class" (that Rick is teaching at) while I stayed home with Jenna. My brother Scott was in town for business and stopped by for a visit. My Mom, Dad, the three oldest kids, and I were even able to sneak out one evening to see "Big River" at Tuacahn leaving Rick with the baby and younger children.

Jennalee Meets Her Brothers and Sisters!

Rick took Friday off work and brought all of the kids to see the baby that afternoon. Each of them came in carrying a bundle of roses and a little card that they had written. It was really sweet! I was excited to see them after being cooped up in that little hospital room by myself all day. They each got a turn to hold the baby and were really cute with her.

All of the nurses at the hospital have been wonderful and have treated me really good. I was diagnosed with Celiac about five months ago and so I can no longer eat any gluten. So the staff in charge of food preparation had to make special "gluten-free" meals and snacks for me, but they were very accommodating. I didn't sleep much the whole time I was in the hospital and so I am excited to sleep in my own bed tonight! Rick brought me home Saturday afternoon and of course all of the little kids were right in her face touching and stroking her. Josh is so excited to have a little sister and has been really soft with her so far but of course we will really have to keep an eye on him to make sure he is being careful. He noticed me feeding her and thought I was doing it by way of my belly button. Jared has always been so fascinated and protective with each new little addition to our family and today he was sitting by Jennalee reading her stories. It was so cute! My mom and dad just arrived from Salt Lake and so it will be wonderful to have their help for a few days. I am exhausted but as I look at Jenna's sweet little face I thank Heavenly Father for allowing us to welcome this precious new member into our family!

It's A Girl!!

Jennalee Jensen was born Friday, October 3rd at 4:29 a.m. She weighed 7 lbs 15 oz and was 19 1/2" long. Here's the long version...

I woke up close to 3:00 a.m. Friday morning with strong contractions about six minutes apart. After about 40 minutes or so I decided we had better head to the hospital. At first we were a little hesitant since the same thing had happened early Monday morning and we went to the hospital, only to be sent home a couple of hours later when the contractions didn't progress into anything. I know -- major bummer! This time it was the real deal though! The nurse checked me and said that I was dilated to almost 9 cm and completely effaced. I was glad that I was that far along since I was hoping for a quick delivery and didn't really want to get an epidural. We were at the hospital about 45 minutes before Jenna was born. I was glad it wasn't any longer (and only two pushes) because those were some killer contractions! She is a sweetie and we are so grateful that she is FINALLY here safe and sound!!

Marriage Proposal

Boots has been such a good friend to Janelle and Jaiden. They play for hours -- building forts, playing dress up, and all sorts of interesting and imaginative games. Janelle says that she is in love with Boots and has even asked him to marry her someday. We are happy to report that he has agreed. Well, glad that decision is out of the way!

Janika, the mini mom

Josh is entering a difficult stage of the terrible twos! He is often having tantrums over who knows what and has been acting very demanding. He is sweet and funny one minute and screaming the next. Last week we were going to church and Josh was SCREAMING the whole way because we didn’t bring his blanket. I told Janika, “Maybe he will stop if something is in his mouth – will you give him some gum?” Then she retorted, “You are going to reward that kind of behavior??” My brother suggested that a sock might do the trick.

A few days later, Janika walked into my room after school and exclaimed, "Why are you in here folding laundry?" I thought she was going to continue with something like, "You are pregnant -- go lie down!" Instead, she chastised, "Jaiden is about to ride the big wheel down the stairs, Josh is standing up in the high chair and there is goop all over the kitchen counter and floors!" Hmmm...so your point is....?

Janika really is a life saver -- I don't know what I would do without her!

Potato Flake Sculptures

Genevieve and Layla Purdy came over for a little play-date with Jaiden and Janelle and all of the girls had fun making sculptures out of potato flakes. We had some in our food storage that was past its date and so I just stirred in some water and plopped some down in front of each kid. The girls made snow-men, volcanos, and all sorts of fun stuff. The only problem is that it does make quite a mess to clean up!

Cow-Girl Jaiden!

Today was Cow-Boy/Girl Day at pre-school in honor of the rodeo this weekend. Jaiden is totally in her element whenever any type of dress-up activity is going on!