Juliet Rose Hallock

Juliet Rose Hallock was born December 23rd, 2008 at 6:52pm. She weighed 7lbs 9oz, 20 inches long. She has a darling full head of blondish hair and the sweetest little face. Mommy started having contractions at 8pm the night before after a very long walk. We were sent to the hospital at 1pm the next day after my doctor's appointment. Labor went well & she was born after 35min of pushing. She is perfectly healthy & happy & is finally getting the hang of latching on. We were able to come home the next day and so we spent our first Christmas here at home with our beautiful daughter.

Family Pictures

Me(with baby in my belly) & Dan, my sister Treeva & her husband David & little Dax, my sister Tasha & her husband Kyle.

Lots of things

Waiting...waiting...still waiting for baby. My due date is tomorrow.

Nursery/office/sewing room all squeezed into a 9ft by 6 ft space.


Yesterday we took a quick trip up in elevation to play in the snow. It was so beautiful & thankfully we didn't get stranded when it was alot snowier than we expected.


Friday was my last day at work for awhile. And such a memorable day, & week actually. I love the snow! It was bitter-sweet, as excited as I am for baby to come & for a break from work; it made me sad to leave Friday. This had been my routine for almost 4 years; it's so weird to think it will never be quite the same again.


Cats are very naughty.

Update

Ok so yesterday I had another appointment with my OB. Dan picked me up because of the scary icy road conditions & it took us 45 minutes to get from RiverBend to Country Club Rd (normally about a 10 minute drive). I was a half hour late & so they were all waiting around on me since I was the last patient of the day. Oops.

So now the update. Yeah, no change at all. Seriously I have 6 days to go & I'm barely 1cm & not changing. No contractions, no nothin'.

Oh well, now isn't exactly the best time for me to go into labor anyways. With the bad weather expected this week it's probably better not to have to drive to the hospital in the middle of the night.
Plus my sister Tasha is out of town with her hubby having their honeymoon that they didn't get to have last year, and she forgot her cell phone charger so I wouldn't be able to get ahold of her to come. And even if I could, with the driving conditions so scary, she probably wouldn't be able to get here anytime soon.

So that’s ok I guess, I can wait until next week. Hopefully I will have made some progress by next week's appointment. Sounds like if I haven't gone into labor on my own & I have made at least a little more progress, that they'll induce me on the 23rd.



Also it is really cold outside! I love it though. It’s great to bundle up & play in the snow. Dan & I took the dogs for a walk last night. It was frigid, but so beautiful. I wish we had more of this kind of weather in our Oregon winters. Rain isn’t nearly so fun. I’m so glad we have heat now. Our woodstove makes for a warm & cozy little house.

Tasha & Kyle

My little sister Tasha & her husband Kyle have been married a year now & so yesterday I had the opportunity to go up to the Portland Temple where they were sealed for time & all eternity. They are so adorable & happy together & I was so trilled to see them be sealed. Just a year & a half ago Tasha was in a very different place in her life & I am so proud of her & the choices she has made that brought her to the temple. I love you Tasha & Kyle!!! Congratulations!!!

Cankles

I'll spare you a nasty picture of my feet. So the last couple days my ankles & feet have been swelling a bit, giving me what I can only describe as cankles(see above). By the end of the day sitting in my chair for hours it happens. I should probably be grateful that this is only just now happening to me as I hear this happens to lots of women during pregnancy.
But seriously, it looks gross; and is rather uncomfortable. My boss walked in today and surprised me while I had my feet propped up on my desk in an attempt to relieve the swelling.
I'm going to go read Twilight now so I can properly elevate my cankles some more.

That is all.

Ba-Humbug Liberals!

I despise the whole "political-correctness" pressure that comes around this time of year. First they take Christ out of Christmas - try to make it into a superficial consumer holiday. But that isn't enough, now they want to take the Christmas out of Christmas! Where does it stop??? Today in our office we had to remove a Christmas tree & poinsetta plants from veiw because "people complained" & they "didn't want to offend anyone". Well congratulations: I am SO offended! Who complains about a tree & some plants anyways? I'll tell you, someone with a bug up their butt & too much time on their hands. Seriously what is wrong with you? Hateful people.

A Politically Correct Christmas Greeting:

Best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral, winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most joyous traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, but with respect for the religious persuasion of others who choose to practice their own religion as well as those who choose not to practice a religion at all;

Additionally, a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling, and medically uncomplicated recognition of the generally accepted calendar year 2000, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions have helped make our society great, without regard to the race, creed, color, religious, or sexual preferences of the wishes.

(Disclaimer: This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others and no responsibility for any unintended emotional stress these greetings may bring to those not caught up in the holiday spirit.)


And a ba-humbug to you too, hateful Christmas-destroying people. I laugh at you & your petty selfishness!

Getting the Tree

Saturday we drove up into the mountains & hiked in to pick out our Christmas tree. Let me tell you, hiking gets alot more tiring when you are two weeks from giving birth. I took a nice nap on the drive home. Sadly there wasn't any snow to play in, just some heavy frost. But the sun came out & it was beautiful & warm up there. Such a nice day.





Such a nice tree. I love Christmas!

Pictures

My first attempt at paper-piecing quilt making. Made a baby blanket for Teresa.

Kitty likes the new baby rocker. Just keepin' it warm.

My sisters.

Awe... such a cutie.

Little Dax is excited for his new cousin to arrive...or maybe he just really likes to play with pink helium balloons.

I exaggerate...

Ok so for the record, I'm not miserable. I really am very happy, most of the time. Sometimes I just get whiney & grouchy or let things stress me out. But I'm happy now. Life is good, I really can't complain. And I love Dan, he is great. I am feeling good, maybe a wee bit tired these days but I bet that has something to do with having to get up several times a night to use the bathroom. I should probably just try and get used to it because I certainly wont be getting any more sleep after baby comes. But at least then I will be on maturnity leave so I might find time for a nap during the day. I LOVE naps. Sometimes I envy my cat, he naps like he hasn't a care in the world, which is probably true.
I am super excited for maturnity leave. It is like a dream come true. I will be able to "play house" 24-7 for months. It is going to be so awesome, I always wanted to just be able to play house :)
So I really like the song from the Twilight soundtrack "Flightless Bird, American Mouth". It is really a pretty song...except for the lyrics. Those are the weirdest lyrics I have ever read and I can't make heads or tails of what it is supposed to mean. Does anyone know? I can only guess that they were hopped up on drugs or something while they wrote it because it makes absolutely no sense.

37 weeks

Ah... the 37 week belly. It is large. I get stuck sometimes, like in bathrooms stalls. I'm just not used to having a belly to account for when going through a tight space.
I'm kinda miserable right now. I had my checkup today and I'm still not dilating at all! Doctor said that is perfectly fine, but I'm bummed because I was really hoping to be making some progress toward having my baby. The suspense is just killing me!!!
Pregnant-wise I feel great, very unaffected. But I am just extremely itchy right now. I woke up a few days ago just covered in what looks like bug bites. I can't find the offending bug & I am continuing to get more bug bites throughout the day at work so I think it followed me there. I don't know what the deal is or what is biting me but it's driving me crazy. Dan didn't get bit at all so he thinks it's just in my head. Grrr...I know a bug bite when I see one.
Oh well, I guess everything happens for a reason. I just really need to quit worrying about it & stressing out because it's only making me unhappy.