{catch up}

Yes, our little girl is almost a year old!! Crazy!!

It has been the best year ever and we have a lot to catch people up on, so here goes..

September

We started September with Jacob getting a promotion at work, making more money is always good when you have more mouths to feed. 

I also went back to school for fall semester, an it was an adjustment to trade off on working and being with the baby, but we eventually made it through the semester.

October

We finally got into the rhythm of trading off taking care of Annie, and we got a  quick vacation home for our friends, Clint and Jen, wedding. When we got there we were able to celebrate my 20th birthday and allow everyone to enjoy our happy little girl. At the wedding, she was passed around to dozens of people, and I had to ask to hold her, but she was wonderful and smiled for just about everyone who held her. 

Jacob had to work on Halloween this year so Annie and I went out to meet some other families from the ward, but we were able to go to a work Halloween party and dress up together for that.

November

It was our first Thanksgiving away from home and we celebrated with some friends from the ward. We made our own turkey and we didn't burn the hose down. The next day, while just doing some casual shopping at Walmart, we ended up buying me a sewing machine due to an awesome Black Friday deal. My early Christmas present has been put to good use.

December (longest month so far)

December meant finals for me before I could even think of Christmas, and weddings and vacation. I made it through finals, made my first tiered cake, and somehow passed all my classes, even brought my GPA up slightly. After school let out, we immediately left for the Oakland area for my friend's Courtney, wedding that I was in, and when that adventure was done, we drove down to Corona for Christmas with our families.
Christmas was completely different with a grandbaby and she got more presents than everyone combined this year. She got spoiled in many ways. She was always loved on and there was never a need for more people to cuddle/play with her. 
After Christmas we were in full wedding mode getting ready for my sister's wedding. Annie was the cutest part of the whole day, (at least to me) and despite the running around, it was such a beautiful day.


January
Jacob left immediately after the wedding and spent New Years Eve driving back up to Rexburg so that he could get back to work. Annie and I were able to stay a little longer in California so that we could spend more time with friends and family before having to go back to brave the winter away from all of them. 
When we got home, I began to settle into my new routine of full time stay at home mom, and Jacob started to adjust of going to school and working at the same time. I am thoroughly enjoying my time home with Annie and I am so glad that I have the opportunity to be with her constantly at this time in her life. 

{Introducing...}

For her blog debut...

Introducing

Anastasia Jane Bendixen

Our little Anastasia, or Annie as we have been calling her,

was born on August 4th after 14 hours of labor.

LABOR STORY:

So... by the time I went in for my 38 week appointment, I was so uncomfortable,

and carrying so low that my doctor  offered to let me get induced four days before my due date.

So we made the appointment for the fourth to go to the hospital 

first thing in the morning and to get induced, hoping that I would go in labor beforehand naturally.


Whelp, I didn't go into labor naturally so Thursday the 4th we went into Madison Memorial Hospital
at 7:30 am and by 8:30 we were all checked in, and had all the preliminary stuff done
ready to start the process. 
They broke my water and started me on pitocion and soon the contractions began.

For the first couple of hours, everything seemed pretty easy.
I got in a nap, wrote a letter to the baby, and even entertained a few phone calls
before I started to feel uncomfortable.
I was hoping to hold out a while before my epidural after hearing some horror stories
of women who got theirs too early and it wore off before they had delivered.
But, once the contractions started getting within 3 minutes apart
I was in so much pain that the pain medication 
they were only allowed to give me once every hour wasn't even helping


So by 1 PM I was having so much trouble with the contractions
I decided to get my epidural when I was only dilated to 3 cm.


Before the anesthesiologist was even out of my room
I felt the epidural working and I was able to fall asleep again.
And sleep I did.


We had some friends, the Keels, come visit us and bring Jacob dinner,
but really other than while they were there and when the nurses would come in, 
I slept the majority of the time until the nurse told me I was fully dilated right before 9 PM.


I started pushing soon after and pushed for the next hour and a half.
For the last half hour, however, it was as though my epidural was not strong enough.
I didn't feel anything but but felt like my lover back and my hips breaking. 
By the time she was out I had been in so much pain
I almost kicked my doctor in the face when he kept yelling back at me 
telling me to keep pushing.


It was painful, tiring , traumatizing, and just plain insane.
But, it was all worth it
when this little girl came out.

She may have come out with a cone head, screaming, 
and hasn't stopped screaming much since,
but this little girl is my everything! 


She has been my every thought and action since the minute she was put in my arms.
I can not express how much of a blessing she is in mine and her daddy's life.
Everyday I revel in the fact that I am a mother
and that that little girl is mine for eternity!


I may be tired, my house may be a mess, my homework may not get done,
and a good day for me may be when she gives me enough down time to
brush my teeth before noon or even shower at any point in the day,
but all the hard times make the good times and the tender mercies of the day
so much sweeter, and I couldn't ask for anything sweeter.

{So Blessed}

It has been such a roller coaster lately,

I feel like I have an obligation to update everyone on what has been going on in our lives lately.

So here goes nothing.....

Easter we were able to to go down to Utah to visit with family and 

go to the sealing of my cousin Jenny! 

It was the first time we were able to see my parents and brothers since before New Years

and the first time any of them were able to see me since my belly had started showing. 
We went to the sealing, the reception, a BYU Volleyball game, 
and had Easter egg hunts as a Behrens family and with Skeen Grandchildren!

The wedding was beautiful and it was nice for Jake to meet all of my cousins, finally.

That is pretty much where the chaos started just with the craziness of traveling that weekend.

Father's day weekend we were able to fly home to Corona, with my sister,

for a small baby shower with my mom and some friends from home that were very anxious to see me pregnant.

We had so much fun and were so glad to be able to go down even for just the short 4 days

because we hadn't been home for 6+ months and we really were getting anxious

to see all our family and friends that had been missing my whole pregnancy. 

We are so thankful for that weekend and for all the women that came to support us with gifts

and just simply their love.

While all this travelling was going on, we had started a new semester in school!

The whole semester has come and gone in a flash 

and I am very proud to say that I made it through with all passing grades, while pregnant, 

AND I even managed to bring up my GPA a bit!

I'll admit, I really wasn't the funnest person to live with during that time, 

but with everything we did this semester,

with travelling, moving apartments and wards, and growing more tired with each passing day,

I feel pretty good about how we made it through it all!

Before the end of the semester we got to celebrate the fourth of July in our new home

with our new friends and we enjoyed every minute of it!

We got to see the parade, do some barbecuing, we even shot off our own fireworks!

This, to me, was the best way we could have spent our first Fourth as a married couple!

NOW, we are just waiting for our little one to get here!

Her room is all ready, the house is clean and pretty much organized, and now we're just sitting back,

enduring discomfort of being so big and pregnant, waiting for her to decide she wants to come!

10 weeks left!!!

Wow time flies when you actually have stuff to do!!

It's been 10 weeks since I last updated you all on our lives, but I promise I won't wait that long again!

In the past 10 weeks, we have:

-Started a new semester of school and I'm back in school, FINALLY!

-Made the best friends in the world, and we actually feel like we could survive another year here with their help!
-Moved apartments this past week to be closer to our new friends which, wonderfully, is cheaper and
more spacious than our old apartment.
-Watched my weight shoot up 20+ lbs as our little one grows.


 Really we haven't done much except move and go to school but now we are really trying our best
to prepare for our little girls arrival.
We have a crib and are starting to decorate the nursery but we are holding off buying alot for her
right now because we're heading back to Corona for a baby shower over
Father's day weekend!

We're really excited to go home for a little bit and we hope to see everyone possible
at the baby shower!
If you don't receive an invitation and you would like to join us let me know and
I'll be sure you get all the information!!

{Highs and Lows} March 27, 2011

Well it's been a crazy week and I don't think a standard all Low's then High's would make explaining confusing since a lot of the highs became lows or something like that. So I'm just gonna spit them out as I think of them.

High: Thursday we were able to go to the doctors and have my 20 week ultrasound to confirm the baby's gender.
Low: The doctor was wrong previously about her gender so now we're adjusting to referring to her as a her.

High: Our tax refund finally came in this week.
Low: 75% of our tax refund is already budgeted out to things that aren't necessarily fun.
High: We were able to get a washer and dryer for $150 with what was left over.

Low: The dryer didn't work with the plug in we have in our apartment and the guy at the hardware store had no clue as to what we should do. Told us to go make friends with an electrician.
High: Jacob, my wonderfully clever husband looked things up online and was able to change the cable so that it worked with the outlet in our apartment.
Low: When we got it plugged in and turned it on, it made a noise that sounded like worn down brakes on drugs!
High: The repairman is coming first thing in the morning.

Low: Jacob was so busy all week I so him on average only 1.5 hours a day while the sun was actually out.
High: His training is done with his new job and rehearsals are over for Savior of the World.

Ok, I'm done complaining now, just highs from now on.
Highs: Friday I was able to spend half the day out of the house at the school
Jacob also got his first paycheck from his new job, and I was able to talk him into letting me buy some stuff to organize the kitchen and the bathroom.
Finally I feel like all the public areas of the apartment are organized and more manageable and
easier now to clean.
Now I'm able to work on the bedrooms and more specifically unpack the boxes in the 2nd bedroom that we still haven't unpacked and organize my closet so that I don't constantly just leave my clothes on the floor because I have no clue where to put them.

{oh my...}

So I finally got to spend some time with Jacob today while we went to the doctors for my 20 week ultrasound.
Lately I've been spending a lot of time on baby registries trying to get a feel
as for what we want to do with the nursery.

The thing is... at one of my earlier ultrasounds my doctor and I made a guess as to the gender of the baby,
but it wasn't 100% what we were seeing so I've held off "announcing" anything.
So we picked a nursery theme that was gender neutral to be safe,
but we were bad about talking to and about the baby with a gender specific name,
and referring to the baby with gender specific pronouns!

We are excited either way but we're so getting used to one
and now just looking at things for the other,
I'm getting a little overwhelmed!
I mean I grew up with younger brothers so I know little boys
and Jacob has a younger sister so he kinda knows little girls,
(and I was a little girl at one point even though I didn't act like one)

All I have to say is... I'm glad the names we picked out have similar soundings nicknames.





Oh and.... WHAT THE HECK AM I GONNA DO WITH A GIRL!!!!

{20 Weeks}

So I'm home alone again, big shocker! Jacob is working again every night this week which leaves me here to entertain myself in our little 2 bedroom apartment. But with out him here so much lately, he hasn't been noticing exactly how much more I have been eating. tehehe!

We are halfway through this long process and we're gonna go into the doctor again on Thursday to see our little one up on the monitor and figure out what we're having! Still debating on if we're gonna tell everyone when we find out but we'll for sure update everyone on everything else.

"Oh!! We're halfway there! OH! Living on a Prayer!"