Catching Up

Ha! Bet you thought you wouldn't hear from me again, right?! Just kidding.

Time for another update about the past few months of our life. I'll try to keep it short, but chances are...it won't be short.

However, I've made a New Year's resolution to keep this blog updated weekly. I really want to write about the things that we are up to and the little things that happen. This blog is mostly for our posterity to look at later on, just so you are aware.

So, since August, we have done a number of things...

* I went back to work. I started back at the beginning of September. While it was super hard to be away from Jane all day, my employer made it worth it. The company I worked for (Conservice) was awesome and worked with my schedule. They treated me awesome and I have nothing but good things to say about them. The other thing that made it super nice was knowing that Danny was home with Jane. I think if it had been anyone else, it would have made it even harder! And luckily for me, I only needed to work until the end of December because...
* Danny got a job offer with Glanbia! They hinted at wanting him to come back in 2014, and we were assuming it would be May, but before we left, Danny let them know we could come back as early as January. They gave us the offer and we happily accepted, which brings me to my next point...
*We moved to Idaho! Yes, we are now officially Idahoans (Jane has technically always been an Idahoan, I guess :P ). We moved right after the first of the year, so it was a hectic holiday season for us. But, with the help of my parents (which we can't thank them enough for!), we made it up here. That means that I got to quit my job and now I stay at home with Jane...and I LOVE IT!!! It's seriously the best. (Disclaimer: I'm not putting down any moms who are working...it's tough work, I was with you for about 4 months!! But for me, staying at home is where I belong :))
* And last, (but DEFINITELY not least) we bought a new truck!! We've been saving up for a while for one and Danny LOVES it. It's a 2013 Ford F-150. It's really nice and will be a great vehicle for us!

Sorry, the pictures a little dark, but it's a very nice truck!

Enough about us...let's get on with how JANE has been doing. She has been growing so fast and I can't believe she is 7 months now. Here are just a few highlights from the past few months...

She started smiling...

This one is a little blurry, but so sweet :)

She was blessed...

Jane, with her middle name namesake, Great-Grandma Jordan

Isn't she beautiful?

She started laughing (sorry, my videos are too big to put on here...I will have to post one later!)

She dressed up like a cow for Halloween!

She started talking (you know, just baby babble...) Again, my video is too big, but I have a video on my facebook page with her talking away!

She started eating REAL food :)

And started sitting up on her own!

Here are some other fun random pictures we have of her!

Jane and her cousin Russ (sorry, I can't rotate it for some reason...)

Christmas presents!!

Love her :)

Photo Dump - Jane

I've been so bad at updating things with Jane...the first few weeks were a blur! But we managed to capture some cute pictures of her and it's amazing to see how much she has grown already!!

These are pictures from July...

Dad & Jane taking a snooze

Jane with Grandma Young

Out on her first walk!

After a bath

One month old!

And these are some pictures from August...

Love her face :) 

A little blurry, but she busted out of her swaddle and just looked so cute :)

Getting the hang of the bumbo

Love this face!!!!

Looking so cute!

She has grown so much and is just the light of our lives! She has such a cute personality and it's been so fun watching her grow. I will try to keep up some weekly updates so that I don't forget things :)

Jane Mauna Clayton

**This post is a little long - so if you want to jump straight to the pictures, scroll on down!**

It all started on Thursday, June 27th. Early in the afternoon, I kept getting the feeling that I was leaking fluid...I wasn't sure if it was amniotic fluid or if baby was just playing on my bladder, but that evening, we decided to go the hospital to get it checked out for sure. We had been taking childbirth classes through the hospital here and we were told multiple times to come to the hospital and get tested if you think your water may have broken. So, we did.

We got there at about 6pm, got settled in and tested. The first test they ran was inconclusive but the second test they ran came back positive, meaning that my 'water had broken'. This meant that we were going to have this baby within the next 24 hours!

At this point, I'm just going to paraphrase the events of the labor and delivery, since it was very long!
* The labor lasted from 1pm to 2:10pm the next day, making it a 25 hour labor.
* I pushed for about 4 hours before the doctor decided to do a c-section. The reason for the c-section was because of my bony pelvis. Apparently my pelvic bone structure physically won't allow babies through.
  - As a side note, I am so grateful for modern medical science!! Without the c-section, I probably would have died in labor (you know, like 100 years ago) or my children would have died, or we both would have died. While a c-section isn't ideal, I'm glad that both I and Jane were healthy.
* While I wanted to have a natural labor, I ended up choosing to get an epidural. However, about an hour after getting the epidural, it wore off! So I had to get a 2nd epidural...that was an adventure!
* Jane was born with some extra blood in her head, between her skin and her skull. After doing some tests to make sure she didn't have a blood or brain issue, she was under observation for her jaundice levels. While in the hospital and for a couple of days after being discharged, she had to have a BiliBlanket to help breakdown the red blood cells. Unfortunately, after a couple of days out of the hospital, the doctors determined that she needed to be admitted to the NICU to be under high-powered lights to breakdown the blood faster. She was in the NICU for 2 days, which was super hard, but it was necessary and she is healthy now!

Now, that all may sound kind of like a negative labor & delivery story, but I have to tell you how happy we are that Jane is in our life and we just love her so much! She just fits right in! We are so blessed to have this beautiful soul in our lives. While there were some hard days during her first week, I wouldn't change a thing. She is just the perfect piece to our family puzzle. Parenthood suits us well, I think :)

Jane Mauna Clayton was born Friday June 28th, 2013 at 2:10pm. She weighed 7 pounds, 4 ounces and was 20.5 inches long and she is the most beautiful girl in the world!

Dad & Jane waiting for Mom

Our first family picture :)