Plane Ride

This is the first of many catch-up posts. For the past week and a half, our little family has been in Southern Utah (Hurricane to be exact). We went to visit my family for Thanksgiving, and we had the privilege of having Erik's Mom and Step dad join us for a couple of days. We flew out of New Orleans on November 19th and flew back home on November 28th. It was a great vacation and very relaxing (for the most part) It's hard to get a lot of relaxation in with an infant and BOTH sets of grandparents around, especially when your infant (aka Jordyn) decides a few weeks before the trip that she doesn't like anyone (not even Daddy) to hold her except for Mommy. Yes, we have been experiencing this clingyness for a couple of weeks now. This made the trip hard for everyone. Grandmas who had been (not so patiently) waiting to hold Jordyn again were met with red-faced screaming each time they tried, and I didn't get the nap that I was looking forward to with great anticipation. I do have to say, that towards the end of the trip, Jordyn warmed up a little, and Erik and I were able to have a breakfast date while she took her morning nap. Other than this attachment to Mommy we only had one other "issue" on our trip. Jordyn now hates her car seat. The weekend after Thanksgiving, we made the long drive from So. Utah to Logan (about 6 hours) to see my Grandpa and Grandma Wahlquist. We drove up on Friday and back on Saturday (my dad had to be back for church on Sunday). Jordyn didn't like the long hours in the car and now cries every time we have to put her in her car seat. Other than that she traveled really well. She slept most of the plane ride to and from Vegas and her sleeping schedule wasn't messed up too bad. We had one or two extra wakings a night, but since we were down two one waking a night it didn't make it completely awful. Now the task is to get her back on schedule. All in all, we had a good trip, but we're glad to be home.

Lint Collection

I don't know about the rest of you with young babies, but my little Jordyn seems to be starting her own lint collection. I don't know how she does it, but she get's lint everywhere. I find lint between her fingers and toes, under her arms in the crevas of her neck, and in the rolls of her thighs. It amazes me how dirty she can get from just laying around. I would expect this from a toddler who was playing in the dirt all day. (I guess others would to since I was reading in the book Great Expectations: Baby's First Year and the author stated that infants don't need daily baths since they don't do anything to get dirty. I guess she's never met an infant like mine). So, if anyone would like to start their own lint collection or would like some more lint to add to their already growning pile, just let me know, I've got a lint factory growing at my house!

Our Story

Since Erik and I celebrated our two year anniversary yesterday I thought I'd jot down "our story". To give you a little insight, it was a whirl wind romance with enough drama and excitement to keep you on the edge of your seats.

My story begins in the small town of Hurricane (pronounced Hurricun) Utah, where I was born and raised. After graduating high school I left the nest, (and the continental U.S. for that matter) and went to school at BYU-Hawaii, where I earned my BS in Biology. I then took a break from education and went to work for my dad doing traffic control work for his road construction company (a bit far from biology, I know, but there aren't many biology jobs in a town of 10,000). During that time I decided to go back to school and work towards a Master's Degree, so in January 2004 I flew to New Orleans to begin my MS in Human Genetics at Tulane University. It was a one year program. During my first semester at Tulane I got a job doing research on psychiatric genetics. To learn more about the neurological part of that I decided to also earn a MS in Neuroscience, so in August 2004 I started my Neuroscience program. I graduated with my degree in Human Genetics in December 2004. (This is where I leave me for a while as I just to Erik's side of the story). Several states away, Erik was being raised in the great state of Texas, in Houston to be exact. He graduated from high school and then went to San Jacinto Community College to get his AA in Auto Mechanics. After a period of building (and driving) race cars he decided to go back to school. He went to the University of Utah (where he did more skiing than schooling) for a year and then transferred to University of Houston, where he graduated with his BS in Criminal Justice. At that time, he wanted to go into the FBI, but there was a hold on hiring since the war had just broke out, so he decided to join the Coast Guard (it gave him military preference on future jobs and meant he didn't have to go over to Iraq). After boot camp and a short stint on a buoy tender out of Baltimore, Erik went to school to become a Marine Science Technician and was sent here to New Orleans. (This is where I reenter the story).

Erik and I met in typical mormon fashion, at our singles ward FHE. I had heard about Erik while I was in Utah for spring break in March 2005 (a new male in the singles ward here in New Orleans was BIG news). I figured one of the other girls would snatch him up quick and I really wasn't interested. Unfortunately for them, he wasn't interested in any of the other girls. By April we'd become fairly good friends and realized we that we had a special connections. Erik jumped in with both feet and never looked back, I, on the other hand took some convincing. And convince me he did, though it took some work, and there were several bumps along the way. To give you an idea of how our courtship started off, on our first date we went to the Preservation Hall to listen to music. When we got back to his truck, we realized there was no truck, it had been stolen. This was at the end of April, and I graduate and moved back to Hurricane mid May (yes, less than a month later). Still, by this time, we were pretty sure that this relationship was going all the way, so there were many late night, long distant phone calls (it was a really good thing we had the same wireless provider). There was a weekend trip to Houston in June, then a week long trip to Utah (where Erik "officially" proposed, and then we got our engagement pictures taken the following day). There was supposed to be a visit to New Orleans for my birthday (September 2), but a gal named Katrina, changed those plans. So, I was supposed to meet up with Erik a couple weeks later in Houston, however, the Coast Guard had other plans in mind, and called Erik back to Louisiana (on the day that I was supposed to fly to Houston). Erik was able to sneak away for a weekend in October so I flew to Houston for his birthday. Luckily, the things had slowed down enough by November that Erik was able to take a week off of work so he could fly to Utah to get married (his commanding officers weren't sure that they were going to be able to give him anytime off). Erik flew into town, we were married on November 12, 2005 in the St. George temple. We went to Vegas for two days and then got to make the long drive from Southern Utah to New Orleans, unload our U-hal, turn around and drive to Houston for our reception there and then drive back to New Orleans so Erik could be to work on Monday. There have been ups and downs along the way, but we wouldn't change a minute of it. These bumps in our path have been stepping stones to lead us to where we are now. We have two great years behind us, and many, many great years ahead.

Updates on Jordyn

Come tomorrow, Jordyn will be 10 weeks old. It's been an amazing 10 weeks. We've had our ups and our downs, but her cute little smile and budding personality have made it all worthwhile. Jordyn had her 2 month appointment today (a little late, but it's when we could fit it in around work schedules). It was awful to have to hold her arms down while they gave her her shots. I had to keep my head down close to hers and not watch them poke my baby girl. Jordyn is gr owning quite well she weighed in at 12 lbs even (just above the 75%) and 24 1/2 inches (above the 95%), so she's quite long for her age, but that's not surprising looking at how tall Erik and I are. Her soft spot is closing in at the correct rate, and her hemangioma is looking good, part of it is even starting to turn a dark purple color which the Dr. says means that part is starting to go away. Yes, Jordyn too has a hemangioma. It's not as severe as Jacque or Hannah's. Jordyn's is a superficial hemanioma or "strawberry birthmark".

Jordyn is finally starting to get back to her normal schedule after the time change, which is good for both her and I. She usually only wakes up once during the night, but after the time change she was walking up two or three times a night, it was awful. She still wakes up between 6:00 and 6:30am and thinks it's time to get up for the day. I believe that is due, in part, to the fact that when Erik has to work at the Coast Guard he gets up at 6:00am and she still sleeps in our room so she too wakes up to his alarm clock. So, we'll be walking up at 6:00 until we move in February and get a place where Jordyn gets her own room, and Erik doesn't have to get up at 6:00. We are greatly looking forward to that day (which will be in about 2 1/2 months. YEAH!!)

New Orleans Weather

The weather here in New Orleans is crazy. One day it'll be nice and sunny and the next it will be chilly with a strong breeze blowing. A couple of weeks ago we thought that maybe fall weather had actually arrived, I had to put sweaters and a hat on Jordyn when we went for our morning walk, and there were a few days that it was too cold to take Jordyn out for our morning walk. Then a few days later we have 80 degree weather again. We went to the Louisiana Renaissance Festival this past Saturday and had to make sure Jordyn had a hat and sunglasses so that she wouldn't get a sunburn. Looking at http://www.weather.com/ it says that this weekend it's supposed to drop down the the high 60's and then get back up to the mid-to-high 70's next week. All this jumping up and down is enough to make someone with sinus problems (that would be me) crazy!

Dinner Guest

We pulled out our travel high chair the other day to see how Jordyn fared in it, because we're looking for a seat for her to sit in when we're in Utah for Thanksgiving. Not only did she fit (though we did have to put blankets around her so that she wouldn't fall to one side), it seemed like she quite enjoyed it, especially after we gave her some baby utensils to play with. So it looks like we have a new guest at the dinner table with us. We enjoy having her sit with us, and it means that Erik and I can actually eat dinner together instead of one at a time while the other entertains Jordyn. We're not quite sure what's going on in this picture, though she just might be getting ready to devour the spoon. In this bottom picture she decided to show her table manners and was sticking out her tongue for the camera. That's our little lady for you!!

Sunday Stroll in the Park

Sunday afternoon, we decided to go for a stroll around Lafreniere Park. It was a perfect day for a Sunday stroll with Jordyn in tote. We were not the only ones to think so either. The park was packed, and we even ran into our friends Mindy & Jerry Giles, with their little one, Anna. I took advantage of the beautiful fall weather and got some great pictures of my two favorite subjects. I’m no professional photographer, but I enjoy taking photos. I personally think that I do a better job with landscapes, but I’m trying to get the hang of taking portrait style photos, especially now that I have a little angel to photograph. (As you can see from some of the photos, Erik is trying his hand at photography as well, and I don't think he did too bad).