Well Linnea had her first outside experience. It was almost 50 degrees down here so my mom and I wanted to take her for a walk in the stroller, but of course we couldn't figure out how to unfold the stroller :) so we just carried her...we put a little jacket on her and a little hat and blanket and we went walking. She snoozed pretty much as soon as she felt the sun on her :) it was cute...Derek showed me how to unfold the stroller so I'm going to take her on a real walk today :)

Well things are going really good. Linnea has gotten somewhat more fussy, we think she has been having some gas or intestinal problems cause she gets really uncomfortable after she eats and cries a little bit, she's still a really good baby but I talked to the doctor about it cause she kind of started to spit up a little and I wanted to be sure she wasn't having a problem with acid reflux...so anyways the girl told me what to watch for then she asked me if I got the list of foods I shouldn't be eating...I told her no cause the lactation lady in the hospital told me I could eat whatever. The doctors told me all this food like pizza lasagna, baked beans, orange juice, and a ton of stuff are things i should avoid... it' funny the night before I found all this out I was feeding her and drinking orange juice...I've pretty much been eating everything on the list so hopefully if I take those out she'll start having an easier time digesting or with gas or whatever is making her uncomfy I hope everyone is doing great and has a happy new year.

(getting ready to go outside)

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a wonderful christmas!!!! We had a great first christmas as a married couple and Linnea I'm sure had a fun first christmas...Derek got me this way nice glider rocking chair that is just perfect for the middle of the night feedings for the little girl :) Derek's big present from me, I'm sending him to this seminar for inventors and promising inventors, he really has good ideas and wants to make something someday so I thought this "camp" thing would be just perfect for him. He seemed to be really excited about it. Anyways I hope everyone had a safe christmas, I know the storm was really bad up north! Now I guess it'll be Happy New Year!!!

She Slept!!!!

I'm sorry I have to post my most exciting news...the baby only woke up ONCE last night :)!!!!! Yay!! She's been staying awake for like up to five hours since we brought her home so I was running out of steam pretty quick and last night I don't know what it was but she slept. She had a pretty rough day though so that might have had something to do with it, she had to go to her newborn follow up appointment and she did not like all those medical people messing with her :) Hopefully she decides to always sleep at night :) I hope everyone is having a great holiday I can't believe Christmas is next week how fun, well that is my highlight for the day, I just had to write about it :)

Linnea Ann Childs

Linnea Ann Childs

Weight: 7 lbs 11 ounces

Length: 20 inches

Born: December 14, 2008

Time: 3:52 am

well our wonderful baby is finally here. We named her Linnea Ann. She is absolutley GORGEOUS! She is such a sweet baby and I feel so blessed to have her in our little family. I'll just tell the whole story and update everyone, so I started having contractions on the 12th around 6:00, but I figured they were just the fake ones, but they kept coming so we started timing them. They kept getting more intense and we ended up going to labor and delivery around 3:30 am on the 13th. They said I was in early labor, but the contractions weren't causing any dialation so we ended up getting sent home with two loratab to wait and see if they would continue or cause dialation. It slowed down for a few hours, but later that afternoon they started coming pretty regular again, by this time my mom and little brother landon had driven down just in case she came. At around 7:00 that night I was hurting alot so we decided to head back in and good thing we did, they checked me and said that I was almost dialated to a five so they admitted me and we started the hard part of labor. My goal was to avoid an epidural, so for about three hours I walked the halls, tried to play cards with Derek did ALOT of deep breathing, but when a contraction finally made me so tense that it made me cry and get upset at the husband, I asked for an epidural. It didn't feel that great going in, but I was able to get pain relief. It did cause labor to slow down quite a bit, I had been dialating pretty quick, but didn't make it to a ten until about two in the morning. Finally they said we could start the pushing and we did and almost two hours later we had our beautiful little girl.

Proud Daddy...very excited!

Just born and tired!

She did give a a little scare coming into the world though. Apparently her umbilical cord was a little short so as she was being pushed through the birth canal it tightened and caused her oxygen supply to be cut off, so they noticed her heart rate dropping and as she came out she didn't cry and my doctor called in the respiratory team and alot of other people to come and get her to breath. I didn't really understand what was happening all I knew was that I hadn't heard a noise come from the baby. My doctor started reassuring me as they all were working on her and explained to me what had happened and that she would be just fine. And she was finally after about a minute we heard her cry, and I'll tell you what nothing sounded better to me than that. She is doing wonderfully now and has the sweetest little personality. She is such a cuddle bug. She has a full head of long "cinnamon" color hair that is just adorable. Already she has daddy wrapped around her little finger and she most certainly is a daddy's girl. We had to stay in the hospital just for a night and were released on the 15th. I'm pretty sore, I tore pretty bad, but it's healing. It has been a wonderful experience, her schedule is a little off so she was up for five hours straight last night, but it'll get more regular soon. She does have jaundice that is a downside that has caused me to worry a little bit, but her pediatrician is very aggressive with jaundice so they are treating it early and doing tests everyday to see if she will need to be placed under lights we're praying that it'll go away soon. Anyways thats is the story, I'm sorry if I haven't gotten back to anyone's texts or phone calls it is hard to catch up on sleep so i've been trying to do that whenever I can. Thanks for all the support I can't wait for you all to meet her!

(sorry I didn't rotate this)

Linnea with mom!

Baby update

Well things are going pretty good! School is almost over which makes me soooo excited. Well we went to our Doctor on monday for our weekly check up- he checked me all out and told me my sad news...she might come later than her due date. Yes, I was not thrilled to hear that news. It is becoming a little difficult to walk because of all the pressure from her little head so the discomforts have made me really want her to come ASAP! Anyways, if she comes late what can you do, I just really hope she's here before christmas- we have this cute little santa hat that says "Baby's first Christmas" that my dad bought for her, but it's made for a newborn hahah it seems like a funny thing to want her for Christmas for, but how fun would it be to have her here for the holidays.
Well we'll keep everyone updated...the due date is next friday, the 19th, in case anyone didnt' know so we'll just have to wait and see what she decides to do over the next week and 1/2. Hope everyone is having a great holiday season!

Holiday Lights!!!

Derek and I had a fun night enjoying the Christmas lights around St. George.

The Temple has a pretty good light show this year, there was this group that came with a ton of kids while we were there I don't know who they were but they showed up in this limo, so I have no idea why those kids were lucky enough to come in a limo....we went down to the Historical center also by the tabernacle. We decided the church properties always have the greatest lights. There aren't too many houses that have Christmas lights and I don't know what people's problem is haha.

So as many know St. George doesn't get that cold so Derek and I wanted to have fun still and feel like it really was winter so we put on our scarves and beenies and got hot chocolate and everything to go look at all the lights. It was chilly, but I'm sure people thought we were whimps for dressing like it was really cold outside. I miss the snow thats for sure. I know all you who are in the snow all winter probably are glad there haven't been too many snow storms, but I tell ya what the lighted palm trees give the Christmas season feel a little bit different than the traditional Christmas. :)

Well I hope everyone is doing wonderful...Have a great Christmas Season!!!

Fun Presents!

Well I don't know how many have seen the Christmas Story

movie, but it's my dad's favorite movie (almost) and he opened

the kid's christmas present over Thanksgiving so I could be there to see it when he opened his amazing present! As you can see it's the leg lamp from the movie!!! It was really funny. He put it in our front window just like the movie, but my mom was saying he was going to have to take it to his office after the weekend. I don't know if he really did. Good times for sure!

Good News!

Well I heard back from the professor I was waiting for and he is going to let me into the class for the spring semester!!!! YAY I am so excited. Now I can apply in April for the program like we had originally planned for. I was told even if I took the class in the summer time I probably would still be ok applying for August, but taking it in Spring Semester is much better so I am SOOOO grateful that he finally got back to me. Last time when I was closed out of the class he never did get back to me so that is a relief for us!
Well not much else is going on right now...we are just getting ready for the holidays and pretty much wondering if every pain I have means that the baby is coming :). I am having a rough time sticking to to school in the last week because it has gotten hard to walk so I walk funny and wake up in the morning pretty much just wanting to sit in bed all day and eat chocolate so Derek has had to do some motivating for me and he always reminds me that it's almost time!!! Well my mom has predicted next Friday the 12th for the baby to come, I was scheduled to take my math final that day early and I told my teacher that my mom predicted that day so she changed my final to the day before on the 11th hahaha it was funny she must be superstitious!
Well I hope everyone is having a wonderful season hopefully you'll be seeing some little baby pictures on here soon!!!!

Happy Holidays!!!

We finally finished our apartment decorating. We finished our tree last night for family home evening. It was funny because my mom lent us a decorative tree that is actually three small trees put together so it's a little odd shaped but it was still really fun. I love the holidays, it's our first christmas together and alot is happening for us.

I hope everyone is having a good holiday season! It's such a fun time.

Well an update for everyone on some things that are happening. I want to apply for the OTA program at SLCC in April. I only had one more class that I needed to take before I could apply, well I'm not able to register until tomorrow, and unfortunatly I went on today and all the online classes for that course are already closed. I can't believe it, I was closed out of this class before as well...I'm trying to get in touch with the teacher to see if he will open the class for me, but he hasn't gotten back to me yet. I am not sure what to do at this point, since the baby is coming I can't wait a whole year to apply for the program I just don't want to waste any time. So I've been doing my research, we still want to move up north, but I am on track at Dixie to hopefully get my associates degree in May if I take classes next semester, I found a bachelor's degree that is actually ONLINE through Utah State. It's through the Orem extension and it's a degreee in Family Studies. I was thinking of going into Family Consumer Science about a year ago, I don't know I hope our original plan works out, but I don't know what to do if I can't get into that class. At least we are finding options for me. It's hard to make decisions when I'm thinking of a little mini me too....But anyways thats the latest in our lives at the time. Hope everyone is doing wonderful!

Thankful!!!

Well as I'm sure everyone knows...the economy is kinda crazy right now. It's really made Derek and I think about the future and what we can do to make sure we are financially stable. His company laid off six employees last week, which is quite scary when they only have about 30 electricians working for them. They had to lay off because obviously the construction and trades are taking quite a hit in the slow economy, but we're very grateful that Derek wasn't one of the lay off's. It really made us think, especially Derek, about what to do in his profession. He needs to do hands on work, I could never imagine Derek as someone stuck at a computer all day long. He really wants to continue and get his journeyman's license as an electrician, but now he is also considering going to college and persuing a degree there also. I'm so glad I have an ambitious husband, he got so excited last night as he was talking about continuing his education which I think is awesome, because trust me school does not excite me!!!! This probably seems so random, but I've just really been thinking about the positive things that have already benefited our little family from the struggling financial times. I'm a budgeter now!!!!! Me who used to bounce checks everyday my first year of college!! We have an emergency savings fund. I'm just glad that we are in a way being forced to really learn new skills that I never really paid attention to before. I feel that by the time school is over and we are both working in our choosen degrees we will know how to save and be so much more financially stable, than we would be if we never worked through the struggles. I don't know if all that makes sense, but I am learning each day that struggles truly do bring spouses closer together and families if the problem is approached together and dealt with together!!! It makes anything easier!!! Anyways I hope everyone is doing great and I hope Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday even though in some situations it may seem like we don't have much to be grateful for I hope we all can find the small things to be thankful for!!!! Give the credit to the one who blesses us!!!!

Congratulations!!!

Well, Derek passed his test!!!! He is very relieved. The test was important because if he didn't pass it he would have to take this semester over again and that just puts him behind schedule of I guess they call it graduating and becoming an actual journeyman electrician, so this is really good new for him. I had to work last night and when I got home he said he kinda got bored because he doesn't have to study anymore :) so now he has some more time for a few weeks. I'm looking forward to school being done as well, just a few more weeks. I don't know whats going to happen with my finals it depends on when the baby comes, but it's bad to say that at this point in pregnancy my finals are not the first thing on my mind :)
Some more good news is we get to go up to Morgan for Thanksgiving. This will be our last little travel before the baby, but my doctor is going to be up in Salt Lake anyway he told us. So we are good to go which makes us happy! So things are really great right now, we have had alot of blessings hitting us all at once. I hope everyone is doing well!!!

Busy times

Well things are pretty good down here. Tomorrow Derek has a BIG test to take to see if he can continue on with next semester electrical school, so he is nervous and studying alot!!! We have a doctor's appointment today and we are going to find out if he will let us go up to Morgan for Thanksgiving or not. On Thanksgiving Day I will be considered full term in the pregnancy. The doctor had previously told us that that would be fine to go up, but he had said I wouldn't be as far along as I will be by like two weeks, so we need to double check to make sure he remembers how far along I really am. If he says we can't go I'm going to be way bummed, since we won't be around the Carter Clan for Christmas, it's my first holidays not with my family, Derek has already dealt with it because of his mission, but I never have so I'm really hoping that Thanksgiving works out or it's going to be even more of a strange holiday season. Having a baby is life changing enough :) Well I'll let everyone know how the hubby's test goes...wish him luck!!!

This is our Halloween costume....good times! It was Derek's Idea, we have the baker, the oven, and the bun!!!!

Well things are pretty good down in St. George!!! I hope I can figure out how to work all this blog stuff cause I really want to. Not much is new, Derek is just about finished with his first semester of Electrical, he has to take a big test at the end that determines if he can move on to the next semester, he's a little nervous but I'm sure he'll do great. I am trying to get everything organized with finals, my math teacher is being really understanding, since the baby is supposed to come during finals week, but my other teachers are being kind of stingy. We are still planning on moving up to the Provo area around May which will be fun for us, I'm a little nervous to get out of the comfort zone but it'll be good for us. I'm ready to have the baby, my goodness it's not comfortable anymore being pregnant :) we hit 35 weeks today so just about full term. We are so excited to have the little addition I can't wait to meet her...life will change alot, but now we wouldn't want it any other way. I hope everyone is doing great.