The Christiansen's

lots of PICTURES!

2011-08-20T12:27:00.000-07:00

So if you haven't read my post before this post full of pictures... it might help to go and read that first so that these pictures make sense!

She LOVES the bath!

ICE CREAM!!!

Eating her very OWN ice cream cone!

On the boat at our family reunion at Callaway Gardens

The whole family

My dad and nephew

My brother, sister, and brother-in-law

My mom, me, and Jay

Me, my niece, and my mom

Tree Top Adventure, zip-line

Tree Top Adventure

My mom with her grandkids

Our little family at the Butterfly Center

They were all so beautiful

Our day spent in Salt Lake City- SLC temple

Pretty Girl!

Having fun in the car on the wat to Utah

Our hike with our friends, Dan, Diana, and Mia Wyler

the boys and the babies

at the top of the mountain

Enjoying the 4th of July parade

She had a blast!

Just a chill Saturday

She loves being on the computer with daddy

Rockin daddy's hat and phone

she loves helping with the dishes

at the PARK!!!

At the Falls in Twin Falls, Idaho

at the park in Boise, Idaho (visiting grandma and grandpa C)

Our busy Summer!

2011-08-16T12:37:00.000-07:00

Again it is has been way to long from my last post until now. But there has been a lot going on. Back at the end of April Karlee and I fly to Virginia to visit my family for a couple of weeks. We went to my cousin Nicole's graduation from Southern Virginia University, then drove to Illinois for my niece's baby blessing. Also, I was able to go to my cousin Shaila's wedding, celebrate Mother's Day with my mom and also celebrate my dad's birthday all in that one trip! It was a very busy and fun filled trip! I am so grateful that I was able to go. It gave my parents a chance to spend time with Karlee and for Karlee to get to know my parents better.

We have also had a chance to spend some time with Jay's family too. We went to Boise and had a blast! We had fun playing at the park, shopping, and etc. During that trip Karlee discovered that she LOVED the slide at the park!

While Jay was in school and at work everyday this past semester, Karlee and I spent a lot of time outside enjoying the summer time. We went on lots of walks and played at the park and visited with friends! We encouraged and pushed Jay with his school work to finish the semester with a bang, and he did! He finished the summer semester on July 22, 2011 and made ALL A's!!!! We are soooo proud of him!

A few days after he finished school we packed our bags and headed to Virginia! We drove down to Salt Lake and spent a day there. We went to Temple Square and ate lunch at the Lion House, went to the Museum and walked around enjoying the beautiful scenery. After that we went to the Gatewall Mall and walked around for a while. While we were there we got a phone call from United Airlines saying that our flight for the next day has been cancelled....seriously!!! So we went over to the Airport and spent almost an hour there trying to get things figured out, eventually we did, but ended up on a Delta flight instead. Oh well, we made it to Virginia still. We spent a couple of days in Virginia then we packed up again and started on our long drive to Georgia. My dad's side of the family (Teerlink family) has had a big week long family renion every three years for a long time now. This was the main reason for our trip. We went to a place called Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Georgia. It is a really cool family resort with so many fun things to do. We went swimming at least once every day, both in a pool and at the lake (man made). We did a Treetop adventure with zip-linning, and high ropes course things. We played miniature golf, well mainly watched the little kids play. We did skits and had some fun family activities with all like 83 of us there. We also rented a boat for a couple of hours and had a blast tubing. Jay and my brother Chris also did Wake-boarding and my brother-in-law also did Slalom. That was so much fun! We had a wonderful time and were very sad to say goodbye to everyone and leave. We packed up the car again and drove back to Virginia. We enjoyed a few more days with my parents and then packed up one more time and flew back to Utah. We landed in Salt Lake at about 8:30pm and went to get our luggage and found out our bag was missing... we found it eventually, but it put us on the road much later than we were hoping. We got on the road at about 9:30pm and started our drive back to Rexburg (3.5 hour drive). We finally made it back to Rexburg at 1:00am!!! WOW what a crazy couple of weeks with lots of driving and flying, but TOTALLY worth it!

Since we have been back we have all been trying to catch on sleep, laundry, grocery shopping, etc. and get things back to normal. I have been busily working on our big end of the summer Cub Scout Activity (Jay and I are the Cubmasters in our ward). The activity is tomorrow (Wednesday) night. We have been so lost and so confused in this calling for MONTHS we haven't had the support or the help or training that we have needed, but we are finally getting things organized and settled. Jay is back at work full time for a few weeks until school starts back up on September 12th. Between now and then we have 3 weddings to attend, one is my cousin, one is his cousin, and another is a family friend. How exciting!!!

I know this is probably a pretty boring thing to read, but I was just trying to get caught up on the happenings of our life. Karlee is growing up so fast and turning into a little kid instead of a baby. It is so fun to watch her change and grow and learn and understand new things. She talks so much now and says so many words. She tries to say everything, when you say something and tell her to say it, she tries the best she can. She has now also started going to nursery and she is getting better with it. It is so nice to be able to sit through a class and actually get something out of it again!

There is one more VERY exciting thing... Karlee just got over a cold and it is the first time in about 8 months that she has overcome a cold completely on her own without it turning into Bronchitis or Pneumonia! She didn't have ANY medications/antibiotics or ANY breathing treatments!!! This is seriously a very very very exciting thing! Maybe there is HOPE for Karlee that she won't get really sick every time she gets a common cold! YAY!!!

All in all we are doing well and are very happy. I will post all pictures on a separate post completely.

free photo shoot

2011-04-20T12:06:00.000-07:00

Hey if you are in Idaho go to....
http://www.lindseymarlorphotography.blogspot.com/
for a chance to win a free photo shoot!

Trip, school, Karlee, etc.

2011-04-15T13:13:00.000-07:00

So Jay finished the semester!!!! It was such a happy day when he took his last final. Right when he finished we got in the car and headed to Boise to spend the weekend with his family. We had a good time there and had fun shopping and going on walks and playing at the park. Karlee did great with her grandparents and aunt. She loved going to the park! Her new favorite thing is the slide. She wanted to go down it over and over. We got her some new clothes and shoes and other things she needed. She has finally grown out of more clothes! We came back on Monday. Then on Tuesday Jay and I celebrated our third anniversary. Wow! Three years already. I can't believe it has already been three years. And it is so amazing to look back and see what has happened and how far we have come in three years. We have been so blessed with so many things, especially our beautiful daughter Karlee. Karlee is a bundle of joy. Speaking of Karlee, here are her new stats... She went to her 15 month appointment on Wednesday and she was 19 lbs 2 oz. in the 4th percentile!!! We are going up! And she was almost 30 inches long in the 29th percentile!!! That seriously is the best weight gain she has ever had. She has been on about a 1/2 pound weight gain a month. I took her in when she was about 13 and a half months and she was 17 lbs. 10 oz. So in about a month and a half she gained about a pound and a half! Wahoooo that is a pound a month! I am so proud! Karlee also has a lot of new words. She loves to say nana for banana and night night whenever she goes down for a nap and for bed. She also says Papa, for my dad now. There are a few more, but you get the point! She is so much fun now. I just can't believe how much she changes and grows all the time. The other day we thought it would be fun to take her to the park to play on the swings. We got to the park and before we got to the playground Karlee fell flat on her face. After screaming and bleeding and more screaming we got her cleaned up and feeling better. Her cheek got pretty torn up, but luckily none of her teeth got hurt. And... she has six teeth coming in right now. So, a lot of this post has been about Karlee, but that is pretty much what our life revolves around now. Jay will be starting back to school again on Tuesday, back to homework and classes and not seeing him much. This week has been very nice to have him home in the evenings and not worry about homework. But, I am so proud of him and for all of his hard work and dedication he has. He works so hard for us and I am so thankful. Me, well I am just staying busy with Karlee. I still go running in the mornings and my goal is to run a half marathon in June. It is only about two months away and I still have a ways to go, but I am determined! I will keep you posted on how that goes. I am getting so excited to be going home to Virginia at the end of the month! I can't wait to see my family and my adorable new niece and go to my cousin's wedding! Sorry there aren't any pictures, I am on our new computer that doesn't have any pictures on it yet. But, I will post some pictures soon!

Way too long!

2011-03-15T20:31:00.001-07:00

So I accidently uploaded these pictures in the wrong order, but I don't really want to do it again... so no biggie. Things are going well for us here back in Rexburg. Jay is busy with school and work and tons of homework. He is so ready for the semester to be over. Karlee and I stay busy each day by playing and eating and doing house work. Also, every morning I go up to the indoor track here and run about 5 miles. Karlee does pretty well in the stroller as long as I am running. Which, is a good thing because it makes me run more. Karlee is a little busy bee now. She is running around everywhere and getting into everything. She keeps me on my toes for sure. She is such a picky eater... we are working on that. I took her in for a weight check about two weeks ago and she was 17 lbs 10 oz. and in the 2nd percentile for weight. So we are making some progress... but in the mean time she is still in a rear facing car seat at 14 months! Really, that is ok with me though. Here are a few pictures since we have been back in Rexburg.

Food ends up everywhere
So, one night after she went to bed I folded all of her laundry... the next morning she found it and unfolded it all, it gave me a reason to laugh first thing in the morning. She loves the rocker my dad made her, but I find her standing in it a lot, we are working on having her sit in it more.

Enjoying her milk first thing in the morning.

So one day Jay decided he wanted to put gel in her hair and see how tall it was... this was the result! She was not a fan of it and got a bath right away!

She loves this riding toy from her grandma and papa T

Jay and I went to a BYU game back in February, it was so much fun!

Cutie pie

Family picture in our new apartment

Other stuff!

2011-01-06T15:26:00.000-08:00

We decided to do a little birthday thing for Karlee before we left. She LOVES pizza so we had pizza for dinner and then cake and ice cream. She wasn't so sure what to do with the cake but she quickly figured it out! I can't believe she will be 1 in just a few days on the 11th! She is growing up so fast!

Not so sure what to do

Singing!!! Not a pretty cake, but a thrown together in a short time impromptu cake!

Figured it out for sure!

The after shot!

Our drive back to Idaho went a lot better then we were both thinking it would! Karlee was a champ and did such a great job! We left Virginia on Thursday afternoon and got to Rexburg, Idaho on Saturday afternoon 46 hours later!!! We only stopped on Friday night for about 9 hours to get a few hours of sleep and mainly to be off the roads on New Years Eve. She only had a coupld break downs and those didn't even start until Friday evening. We bought car DVD players on Black Friday to use on this trip and man they were a life saver. She has never been interested in tv or movies at all. But she was totally into it on this trip. Probably because it was right in front of her face and she couldn't do anything. She loved Elmo! We got all of our stuff out of our storage unit on Saturday night thanks to a few of our friends and people from our ward who came to help! We are all moved in and loving our new apartment. We are still trying to get used to the time change again, but we are getting there. I will get some pictures up of our apartment soon for you all to see! In the mean time... I am home all day long with Karlee and love it, but at the same time I do get a little bored and lonely throughout the day. So if you are here in Rexburg, I would love to get together during the day some time!

Other December festivities...

2011-01-06T14:58:00.001-08:00

We also celebrated Jay's birthday on the 21st of December. We had a great day! I was recovering from the flu from the day before... but I was feeling a lot better that day. He got some cool gifts!

Enjoying her time with Papa

Karlee even got to stay up late to do cake and presents!

Karlee LOVED this candy cane!

Playing in the snow!

Christmas! a little late...

2011-01-06T13:49:00.000-08:00

We have an interesting Christmas this year. This was Karlee's first Christmas... but it was nothing like what I had pictured it would be. This is why... On December 23rd Karlee started to get a little caugh and runny nose, no big deal I thought, just another cold. She has had so many cold's that I wasn't worried about it. Then, the morning of the 24th, she woke up a lot worse. I got a little bit more concerned but continued with our plans for the day. Christmas Eve was the annual Teerlink Christmas party at my grandparents house. We gathered everything together to get ready to go. I put Karlee in her high chair to try to feed her a little bit before we left. She was not interested. Then in the time of about 20 minutes her breathing continued to get worse. I decided she shouldn't go to the party. My dad volunteered to stay home with Karlee while the rest of us went to the party. So we went, we ate, we did our nativity play and opened presents. I came home when it was all done and was very suprised by how bad Karlee was doing. Jay and I decided it was best to take her to the E.R. So we bundled her up and off we went at about 5:50 pm. After spending the evening in the E.R, having tests and X-Rays done they diagnosed her with pneumonia. They gave her a shot and sent us home with an antibiotic. Now the question was what pharmacy is open on Christmas day??? Well we found one and were able to get her medicine. Christmas morning was still a wonderful day, but we had a very sick little girl too. I was sad that she wouldn't get to enjoy this day. Even though she wouldn't understand everything, she didn't feel well at all. By that evening she seemed to be getting better, I was thrilled. Then Sunday comes and goes and she still seems to be doing a little better. Then Monday morning.... bam she is ten times worse and is struggling to even breathe let along have any energy to eat or do anything. We take her into the doctor and she is sent back to the hospital for another X-Ray and she was tested for RSV... results... Positive. So then she had pneumonia and RSV. Well we were origianlly supposed to leave Monday to drive back to Idaho for Jay to go back to school... plans changed. We were now dealing with a very sick baby. It was so scary watching her struggle to take every breath. We were able to keep her nose suctioned and the mucus out and keep her breathing ok with her albuterol and antibiotics that she never ended up being hospitalized thank goodness. We were in limbo as to what to do. Jay needed to get back for school but we couldn't travel with a sick baby. We went back to the doctor on Tuesday and her lungs sounded a little better. The doctor said to come back on Thursday and see if she would be ok to travel or not. We now had to decide if Jay should go ahead and leave and drive back by himself and get me a plane ticket... or if he would wait until Thursday to see if we would be able to come with him. After much thought and discussion he decided to wait. Tuesday evening and Wednesday we saw progression with her. Thursday we loaded up the car and went to the doctor to see what they thought.... and the doctor said.... SHE COULD GO!!! So we went back to my parents and loaded the last few things and said our goodbyes. We knew this day was coming the whole time we were there. But it was so hard to say good bye to my family. We really enjoyed our time there with them. Karlee became so close with them and I can tell that she misses them.

Well... I guess I should say a little bit about Christmas itself. We had a great Christmas... everyone was so nice and generous to us. But one of the highlights from Christmas morning was when Karlee saw the rocking chair that my dad (Papa) made her. She walked right over to it and loved it right away. Since we have been back in Idaho it has become her favorite thing. That is the picture at the top! She also got a lot of books that she loves! And a lot more things!

Finally some writing!

2010-12-15T18:06:00.000-08:00

So now that I have posted all of those pictures... I guess I will tell you a little bit about what has been going on in our lives the past few months. Jay has been doing an internship for the last few months here in Virginia. He LOVED it. He finished this last Friday and is now enjoying spending time at home with us! We are loving having him home with us!
Me, well I spent my fall taking care of Karlee and another little boy named Ben. Now let me tell you a little something about Ben. He was a cute little thing... but man he was a very needy baby. And he hated the bottle... making 9 hour days VERY long! He is 4 months younger then Karlee so they really didn't care much about each other until the last few weeks when he started in interact more with her.
During the fall my sister and her family came to visit a few times. It was so much fun having them here and having the cousins all together. I am so sad though we didn't really get many pictures of them together whenever they came.
Also, this fall we went to almost all of my brother Christopher's soccer games. He plays for Southern Virginia University here in VA. It was fun to go watch him play. But man it made me miss soccer a lot!
It has been a lot of fun for me to spend so much time with my mom. Our relationship has grown and changed a lot and it has been a neat experience. I thought it would be a little difficult moving back in with my parents after being gone for so long, and being married, and with a baby. And yes it has had it's difficult times, but all in all it has been wonderful. It has been a lot of fun to see my parents interact with Karlee and to see her interact with them too.
Karlee has changed a lot since we have been here. She started crawling at 7 months and picked up on it very fast. Then at about 8 months she started walking along furniture and would get where she wanted to that way. Soon after that she really showed interest in the stairs and figured out how to climb up them really fast. But she took a while on learning how to come down. But she is a champ at it now. Then, at 10 months Karlee started walking! She was pretty shaky at first of course but really mastered it quickly. She walks everywhere now. And if she falls down, she gets right back up and keeps going. I can't believe she will be 1 in less then a month. This whole year has gone by so fast.
It was fun to be here for my brother's birthday also. And, Jay will have his birthday also on the 21st of this month! Happy 25th Jay and Christopher!
We are excited to be here with my family for Christmas, but just a few days after Christmas we will pack up the car and head back to Idaho for Jay to get back to school. It will be pretty weird for me to go back there and not be a student anymore. But I am very excited to stay at home with Karlee and enjoy the milestones with her! We have missed a lot of friends and family as we have been away. But we really believe this was a great experience for us and something that we needed to do. We have learned a lot through out this fall as well. I am so grateful to my wonderful parents for openeing their home to us to live with them for 5 months! We will miss them so much when we go back. But, it's also what we have to do. Something that my mom and I have talked about is the fact that Karlee won't remember this time at all. But, mom and dad, and Jay and I will! It is a little sad that she won't remember any of this, but that's why we have pictures to show her later on. What a wonderful blessing it is to have such a wonderful family and extended family. I am so grateful for the knowledge I have that families can be together forever. I love my family so much and am so grateful for the wonderful family I have and for Jay's wonderful family as well. Jay is so good with Karlee and I am so blessed to have him as my husband and Karlee's father.
I am so sorry I have been so bad at this all fall. But, I have been very busy and spent my time in other ways. But, I hope you feel like you are a little bit more updated and I hope you enjoyed all of the pictures!
Love,
Jay, Savannah and Karlee
Christiansen

More pictures!

2010-12-15T17:44:00.000-08:00

Just some more pictures!

Karlee is a walking machine now!

What a cute family

I love my little girl

My mom's parents sent this outfit to Karlee

Karlee loved helping Uncle Chris open his birthday presents!

Karlee and Uncle Chris on his birthday

She loves getting in the fireplace

Airplane!

She opens these drawers and pulls all the movies out

Karlee with grandma and Papa

And she LOVES climbing on daddy's back!

2010-12-15T17:17:00.000-08:00

HALLOWEEN!!! What a cute bunny! (Check out the bunny tail on the car)
The bunny family!

And our bunny mobile of course!

Carving the pumpkin!

So sorry I am posting so many pictures all at once. I have had people wanting to see pictures... but I didn't want to just skip to where she is now. So I am putting up some from along the way. It is hard to pick just a few, we have so many cute ones. But here are some more silly pictures!

What a pose!

Karlee gets lots of snuggles from grandma!

She sticks her tongue out all the time!

This was taken right after her first peanut butter and jelly sandwich! It was all in her hair!

The first snow! And the message Jay left for me on our car!

Karlee loves doing this any chance she gets!

And these are her favorite of all time!!! (Just like her Papa)

So cold at Uncle Chris' soccer game!

I promise we are still alive!

2010-12-15T12:12:00.000-08:00

So this is backtracking for sure. But I just wanted to post a few pictures from the past while. I have more to do in another post! All of these were from a few months ago. At this point she had been crawling for a while. She started crawling at 7 months old and we haven't been able to stop her since! She also finally had her teeth come in around 8-9 months! So she has two bottom teeth. No sign of anymore yet.

Karlee loves her Cheerios... but got a hold of the box and this is what happened...
We went up the the parkway one evening as the sun was setting.

Jay took this picture of the sun setting.

This is Ben. He is the little boy I watched all fall. He is a cutie!

And this is how Karlee likes to roll! She loves to be naked!

She loves her daddy!

And her mommy!

She loves to get in the arts and crafts cupboards and pull everything out.

And this is her favorite spot of all!!!

Oops!

2010-09-06T12:48:00.000-07:00

So today (December 15) I had decided finally post something and I realized that I still had this saved as a draft.This is from our trip to VA. We stopped in Chicago to visit my sister and her family. We did a lot of fun things there! Sorry for the few months delay! :) Enjoy!

The trip

2010-08-21T09:25:00.000-07:00

This was a favorite picture of mine from the drive. Everytime she would go to sleep we would put her cover on, but she would always stick her feet out of it. It is so cute!

About two hours into our drive we ran into this beautiful lake that was huge and went for miles and miles. The view was so beautiful. The sky was pretty and blue and the color of the water was beautiful too.
We drove all the way from Rexburg, Idaho to Nauvoo, IL straight through. Our only stops were gas/potty/feeding karlee breaks. It was a little crazy with a 6 1/2 month old. Over all though she did very well. She had her moments where she broke down and nothing would get her to stop crying for 10 minutes or so, but we got through them and still had a good time. That stretch was about 26 hours (including our stops). It was so nice to finally be able to get out of the car and walk around for longer than 5 minutes. When we got to Nauvoo we were welcomed back to humidity, wow, I forgot how much I hate it! It was so hot and humid, so we only stayed a few hours. Here are some pictures from our afternoon there.

Jay was trying to get a picture of her with the flowers, but she was more interested in playing with them, but he finally was able to get this one.

Mom was such a huge help on this trip and Karlee really got to know and love her! THANKS MOM! It was also a lot of fun for me and Jay to spend the time with mom too.

After we spent a few hours in Nauvoo we got back in the car for another 4- 4 1/2 hours and drove to Oswego, IL to go see my sister and her family!

We are still here I promise!

2010-08-16T19:01:00.000-07:00

So since I last posted a lot has happened! I GRADUATED! YAY!!! I am so glad to be done!

Jay's family was able to come

My wonderful family

My parents also got to come

Our cute little family

We also moved the same day as graduation (I do not recommend this to ANYONE!) Karlee loved playing in the boxes the whole time.

Jay has decided that he wants to be a Physicians Assistant, so he is doing his internship this fall with a family friend of my family. He is a PA at a hospital in Virginia in my hometown. So, we arein Waynesboro, VA for the whole fall with my parents. It has been so fun being here so far! The whole last week of school we were very busy packing up our apartment and doing finals and getting everything ready to leave. Things were pretty hectic. Karlee was starting to become very mobile and rolled everywhere. She was a little unsure about what was going on. But we got everything done. Friday (July 23) was the last day of school, and graduation, and we had just about everything out and into storage that night. Saturday morning we woke up at about 6:30am and finished putting the last minute things in the car and drove out to begin our very long and crazy drive east from Idaho. Luckily my mom very kindly decided she would driveback with us to help with the driving and the baby. I will post another post about our trip here.

AWESOME THING!

2010-07-01T09:38:00.000-07:00

So a few weeks back I heard about a thing called "Bountiful Baskets". I heard it was really neat and something I should try. So I looked into it. Basically you go online on Monday night and order a basket. You pay online for the basket and then on Saturday morning you go and pick it up. The produce is from CA and there are different pick up locations you can go to get it. For the basic basket (which I got) it cost $15, then with tax it was $16.50. The pictures below show what we got in our basket! We were very impressed with it. It is such a neat thing and so cheap for so much produce! Each week the produce is different. But you always get 6 fruits and 6 vegetables. The produce tastes so good also. We have loved eating it!

Karlee Update

2010-07-01T09:14:00.000-07:00

So, since my last post there have been so many changes.

1. In my last post I mentioned starting the rice cereal with Karlee... well we tried it and she LOVES it! The first night she was so excited about it and ate it right up. She didn't spit any of it out. She wanted more and more.

2. Karlee LOVES her toes and grabs them anytime she can. She also loves to suck on her toes.

3. Karlee found her thumb... she wants to suck her thumb all the time now. I don't think I want this though. I hear it is pretty hard to get rid of the thumb sucking habit. What do you all think?

4. Karlee started sitting up about 2 weeks ago. It is so fun to see her sitting up. She loves sitting and seeing and experiencing things in a new way.

5. Karlee is VERY ticklish now. Her feet and belly are so ticklish. And I tickle her all the time just so I can hear her laugh, it is so cute!

6. Karlee is finally fitting comfotably into 3-6 month clothes! (She will be 6 months on July 11th.)

7. I had my birthday a few weeks ago. My friend Maurine, and her sister Lyla came up for the weekend to visit. They loved Karlee, and Karlee loved them!

8. There is only 3 weeks of school left! AND UNTIL I GRADUATE! I also got asked to give the scripture at convocation!

9. We are finally getting everything all worked out for our move to Virginia at the end of July! We are getting so anxious and excited to go.

10. It has finally decided to turn to summer in Rexburg! We have finally had some nice days this past week!

There have been so many fun things going on, and so much to come. Life is wonderful and busy. Here are some pictures. Sorry I don't have one of her sitting right now.

We went to dinner when they came to visit

Naked baby

Karlee is a messy eater... so we eat with no clothes on!

Karlee loves her toes!

Maurine came to visit for by birthday weekend

LOVES the rice cereal

What's New

2010-06-11T13:53:00.000-07:00

Life has been very busy and very exciting around here lately. Karlee finally figured out how to roll from her back to her belly! She has been rolling from her belly to her back for about a month now. I still haven't got a video of it, but I will eventually. She is 5 months old today! I can't believe how fast time is going by. We are going to try the rice cereal with her tonight and see what she thinks... this could be interesting! Karlee is such a character. She loved to laugh now and will laugh at almost anything! Her grin is one that will light up the whole room. She does a full face smile all the time! She loves her exersaucer which is a good thing because she plays in it every night while I'm making dinner! She loves to stand and jump on your legs which also makes her laugh. Basically she is just a bundle of joy that we love sooo very mugh! Something else fun and exciting is that my birthday is this weekend and we have some fun things planned! I just love birthdays! Also, I kept meaning to put up some more of our family pictures we had done, so here are some of them! Along with some other fun pictures we took. Enjoy! Sorry they are before this post!

Babbling

2010-05-24T14:17:00.000-07:00

Karlee turned 4 months old on May 11, so I am a little behind on this. But she went to the doctor for her 4 month check up and shots. It was so sad because she was so happy and smiling at the nurses and then all the sudden she was in a state of shock and pain when they gave her the shots. It is so sad to hear her cry like that. But it didn't take her very long to be happy again. So at her 4 month appt. she weighed 11 lbs 15 ounces and was 24.5 inches. She is getting bigger, just slowly. She is in the 23% for weight and 62% for height! I just can't believe how fast time goes and how big she is getting. She changes so much. It is so fun to watch. She is getting pretty close to being able to sit up on her own. She loves to stand and sit all the time. She is not a big fan of laying anymore. Karlee is such a happy baby and is such a blessing to us. We were finally able to get a video of Karlee babbling. She does it all the time but whenever she sees the camera she always stops. When she sees the camera in this video she talked for a few seconds and then stopped. Enjoy the video!

Roll over!!!

2010-05-17T14:38:00.000-07:00

So about a week ago we were playing with Karlee on a blanket on the floor. We do tummy time a couple times every day. I have wondered when she would roll over. But that night she did it! I couldn't believe it. I could see that she was getting close so I grabbed my phone and turned the video on. I wanted the camera, but I couldn't get that fast enough. But I got her first roll on camera on my phone! We were so excited and so proud of her. Then, the next night I went to school to take a test and while I was gone she did it twice for Jay. He luckily got one of them on video on the camera this time. I was sad that I missed them, but so proud that she had did it again! She is growing and changing so fast I can't believe it. She likes to sit in her booster seat at the kitchen table with us now too. She always wants to be part of the action and the center of everything. She is so much fun and we love her to pieces!!! She also LOVES bath time. She would lay in the tub for hours I think if I let her. She kicks and splashes and smiles and laughs the whole time. She is even a good sport when it's time to clean her up and wash her hair. She loves having her head rubbed too! She also LOVES to babble and talk all the time now. It is so funny to sit there and listen to her and talk back. In the mornings when she wakes up she doesn't usually cry, she will lay in her crib and talk talk talk. I like to lay in bed and just listen to her and laugh. When I go in to get her up she gets the biggest smile and giggles and gets so excited. It is so much fun. I love being a mother. It is hard work and tiring, but so rewarding. When she looks at me and smiles it just breaks my heart. I am a proud mommy! I have such a wonderful life. I have a great husband and an adorable, beautiful baby girl. Life is wonderful! Here is the video of her rolling over! Enjoy!

What's New With Us

2010-05-09T20:59:00.000-07:00

So since I last posted our lives have become very busy again. We are both back in school and working hard. Jay is still working a lot while going to school. I am so grateful to have such a wonderful husband that works so hard to provide for our family. He is wonderful! I am in my last semester of college and am so excited to be graduating in July! Karlee will be 4 months old on Tuesday and is growing and changing so much and so fast. She smiles all the time and giggles. She makes Jay and I laugh and smile all the time! She loves loves loves sucking on her hands and just about anything else she can get in her mouth. She loves to pull my hair and has a very strong grip! She is so close to rolling over, but still needs my help some. She comes to school with Jay and I on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and goes back and forth between Jay and I and our classes. It worked out nice so when I am in class Jay isn't and when Jay is in class, I'm not. She has been such a good sport and a great baby with the whole thing! During all of the business of our lives we went to the park one day when it was very nice (which is rare to have a nice day still). We had some fun with her and got some cute pictures! Also, a few weeks ago we had some family pictures done so there is one posted on here too. Also, with today being Mother's Day I guess I should talk about that too. Jay made me breakfast this morning. He made chocolate chip pancakes and had strawberries too. He also made us dinner. He made chicken parmesean and a salad. Then we made chocolate covered strawberries (my request) and they were wonderful! For Mother's Day he got me a day at the spa! I am so excited to go! I have never had anything like it before! It was a wonderful first Mother's Day being a mother. I am grateful to Jay for making it so wonderful! I love Jay and I love Karlee. My life is so wonderful and I feel so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends.

Family Visit in April

2010-04-17T21:01:00.000-07:00

My family came out to visit us! My mom, dad, sister, and her two kids came out for about a week. It was so much fun to have them come. We were all crammed into our little two bedroom apartment, but it was a blast. It was so good to finally see my little nephew, well he isn't so little. He is adorable, and Alexa has grown up so much. On Friday, me and Jay and Karlee and mom and dad took a day trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It was a fun day. Elise and her kids went down to Utah Friday morning to see family. Then on Saturday Elise and her husband Kodiak and the kids came back up. Jay's family also came into town on Saturday. We all went to dinner to celebrate three birthdays, an anniversary (mine and Jay's) and Karlee's blessing. It was a lot of fun. Then, on Sunday April 11th, we blessed Karlee at church. Jay gave a beautiful blessing. Then, everyone came back to our house and changed and got on the road. It was so much fun spending time with family. This week has been my break from school. The semester ended on the 9th. Jay and I start back to school again on Tuesday, April 20th, not much of a break. This will be my last semester, and I will graduate!!! YAY! Anyways, life is great. Karlee is getting so big and is sleeping through the night now. It is wonderful! We love our little girl to pieces! Enjoy the pictures!

Before they all left

Jay and I and the kids

Me with all the kids

Elise, the proud aunt!

Mom and Dad with Karlee before they left

Karlee's blessing day

Karlee was the life of the party! NOT!

Alexa loves that cupcake

Elise trying to blow her candle out by blowing a bubble with gum

Friendly bear in Jackson Hole

Neat statue in Jackson Hole

Arches made from antlers

Reunion

2010-04-17T20:54:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we went down to Utah to go to Jay's mission reunion. It was on a Friday night. So we left Rexburg at about 11:45am and went to Idaho Falls to pick up one of his old companions. We went to the reunion and had a good time. But when we left that night to drive back, we hit some very bad weather. It was a stinkin blizzard. We were going about 35 mph instead of 75 mph coming home. It took so long to get back. We could barely see 5 feet in front of us. I am just so glad that Karlee slept the whole time in the car. Here are some pictures from the runion.

Steven and Jay with Karlee

Steven, Jay, Karlee and Andrew

Me, Jay and Karlee, and Steven and Melanie

Photo Shoot

2010-03-30T20:48:00.000-07:00

It has been such a long time since I have posted anything. Life has been so crazy and busy and wonderful. A few weeks ago Karlee had pictures done. A friend of mine is a Photography major and needed to take infant pictures for a portfolio so she asked if she could take pictures of Karlee, of course I said yes! Karlee did such a good job and the pictures turned out great. So there are some of them posted here. Karlee is doing great! She is now just over 2 1/2 months old. When we went to her 2 month appointment and shots we weighed 9 lbs. 3 oz. and was 22 inches long. She is growing, finally. Her checks are starting to get a little chubby and she has a little roll on her thighs now, just a little one though. These pictures are a few weeks old, which is a lot when they are this young. She is bigger and even looks different than these pictures. I will get some more recent ones up soon. Karlee is such a joy. She smiles a lot now and babbles all the time. She has found her hands the past couples of weeks and sucks on them all the time. She has also figured out how to make a pout face and sticks that bottom lip out very well. We can see her personality and attitude coming out for sure! She is a very happy baby most of the time... except when she wants to eat and wants it NOW! But that is pretty much the only time she really cries or screams. She is such a good baby and such a blessing in our lives. We love her to pieces! Enjoy the pictures!

So many changes!

2010-02-27T20:46:00.000-08:00

Sorry it has been so long since I have made a post. There has been a lot going on here. Since my last post there have been many changes. On January 29th my mom came out to spend a few weeks with us. It was so nice having her here to help us out. It was so fun seeing her with Karlee and for me to be able to spend time with her also. Jay and I were able to go out on some dates while she was here which was great also. She left on February 23th to go back to Virginia. I have missed her since she has been gone. I have also missed all of her help with cleaning and cooking and helping with Karlee. It has also been nice to be our own little family now just us on our own. Another thing that changed is we sold our old car and bought a new one. We bought a 2007 Malibu. It is so nice to have a new car. And another thing that is differnt is we are moving. Not far, just a street over, but we are moving to a bigger apartment, finally... YAY!!! We have been so cramped in our one bedroom apartment, we are very ready to move. We are moving on March 6th. So we have been busy going through things in our apartment and getting rid of stuff and packing. It is such an ordeal, but it will be worth it. Karlee is now almost 7 weeks old. I can't believe how fast time is going by and how much she is changing. I was originally going to go back to work after I had Karlee, but Jay and I talked about it all and decided it was best for me to stay home with Karlee as much as possible. So, I am taking my 11 credits online, and then I just started a block class on campus. But I am so grateful and thankful to my wonderful husband Jay for working so hard for us. He is so busy with school and working about 30 hours a week. He also helps a lot with Karlee in the evenings when he is home. I am so blessed to have a wonderful life! Here are a few new pictures of our beautiful little girl, enjoy!

Karlee update

2010-01-27T09:41:00.000-08:00

So, she was getting hungry, but I had to finish doing one thing first, she had stopped crying and I looked down and she was sucking on her thumb, all by herself. She does this often now. I think it is so cute!

Such a cutie

Her eyes were actually open!

The morning Jay's mom was leaving

Doing homework with mom (kind of)

Her first night in her crib

Karlee when she came home the first time

We have now had Karlee home for a little over a week. Jay's mom was here for a while when she first came home, but she left on Saturday so we have been all on our own. It has been a little difficult, but fun too. I love my little family and they bring so much joy to my life. My mom is coming Thursday night and I am so excited for her to come see us. Karlee is doing great now and is growing already! She changes everyday it seems like. Her hair is starting to get a little bit lighter, it looks more like a dark brown now instead of black. I have a feeling it will continue to get lighter and lighter. She is so fun to just watch and see the facial expressions she makes. I think she is going to have a little bit of an attitude (like her mom)! Since she has been home, Jay has learned that babies like to eat, sleep, and poop, that's about it. I think he is excited for her to be awake more and interact more when she gets older. She went to her first doctor's appt. last Friday and they said she is doing great! I was so glad to hear that. We are still trying to get her to figure out that night time is when you sleep and day time is when you are awake, she hasn't caught on to that one yet, but we are working on it. She is such a sweetheart and I love her to pieces. I am so grateful that she was sent to Jay and I and that we have the opportunity to be her parents and to raise her. I love all the adventures we have already had and the things we have learned because of her. I love being a mom to Karlee. She brings so much joy to Jay and I.

Our Little Girl

2010-01-18T09:43:00.000-08:00

Last night there

Her last night there

Kisses from mommy

She had to have an IV in her head

Proud daddy

She was holding her own pacifier in by herself

So many cords and IV's and monitors

First time I got to hold her

First family picture

The first time I got to see her

The morning after she was born

So, my pregnancy came to an abrupt end about 3 weeks early. When I was 36 weeks the doctor put me on strict bed rest because my blood pressure was high and they weren't too sure why. I didn't like bed rest at all. I hate sitting around the house and not doing anything. This also changed my plans. I was suppose to graduate this semester, but being on bed rest I couldn't go to school either. So, I am taking a lot of online classes and will have to go one more semester, but I will only be taking two classes which will be very nice. While on bed rest I had to go to the doctor every other day which was also a pain, but it's something you have to do. One week after being put on bed rest (January 11th) I went to the doctor again and little did I know that would be the day I would be having our little girl. I went to the doctor at 9 am and they did an ultrasound to make sure she was ok and then they checked my blood pressure and decided it was time for her to come out. So I checked into the hospital at 11 am and they put me on medicine to help lower my blood pressure. At about 2:45pm they started me on pitocin to start everything up. When I went to the hospital I was already progressing on my own, but the pitocin made things go a lot faster. So, they started things at 2:45pm and our little girl was born at 9:49pm that night. Things went very fast, no time for an epidural or any pain meds. It was a really neat experience to do it all completely natural, but very painful! Then came the biggest scare of my life. I pushed her out and they put her on my chest, nothing happened. She wouldn't cry and she was quickly turning blue. Immediately they took her and 6 nurses surrounded her and started doing CPR and putting tubes down her lungs and doing everything they could to make her breath. She wouldn't breath and she didn't have much of a heart beat either. I fell apart and didn't know what was going on. Jay wouldn't let me look over at it all, he was trying to help me. Then they rushed her away to the NICU. I didn't know anything and was very panicked. Jay was able to go see her at about 11:30pm. He was a mess also and was very happy to get to go see her. The medicine I was on for my blood pressure was the worst stuff ever. It made me so sick and I couldn't focus my eyes on anything and I was in a complete fog and daze. I didn't know what was going on around me and I had to stay on it for 24 hours after she was born too. We didn't hear anything about her condition for a while. At about 1:30am they brought in some pictures of her for me to see and they told us she was stable. That was a big relief to me. Sorry this is getting really long. So, to make a really long story short, I was discharged on Wednesday evening and went home and did the hardest thing ever, leave my baby at the hospital and go home without her. Then I began to live at the hospital. I am at the NICU probably about 17 hours of the day. I come to feed her at all of her feedings except one (which is during the nurse rotation so nobody can come in) but I even come during the nights. I feel like I live here. (Yes I am here right now). It has really been wearing me out. I am excited to be able to feed her in my own home with no nurses coming in all the time and I don't have to drive to go see her and report everything she does. I know I am already a mom, but I think I will feel more like it once I am her full caregiver and she is at home with me. Guess what... she is going home today!!! The doctor just came and checked her over and did her discharge paper work. Now she is doing what is called a car seat challenge. This is where they put the baby in the car seat for one hour and watch her vitals to make sure she can breath ok and can get enough oxygen and that her heart rate is good. She is about half way through and is doing great! They do this with babies that are pre-term. She was only pre-term by about 2 hours, she was 36 weeks and 6 days, but only two hours away from 37 weeks. I think it's kind of funny she has to do it, but better safe than sorry right. So, once she finishes this she will be good to go home!!! We are so excited to finally be able to take our little one home after a week of her being here. But I am so grateful it is only a week. There are some babies in here that will be here for weeks and even months, I don't know how they do it. I am so grateful for our little girl and she is such a miracle. She almost didn't make it, but she fought through it and is doing wonderful. She is so sweet and loves to sleep. Here are just a few pictures of our little angel.

Karlee May Christiansen

Born- 9:49pm on January 11, 2010

6 pounds 4 ounces 19 inches long

Major Update!

2009-12-18T20:48:00.000-08:00

Sorry everyone it has been soooo long since I have wrote on here. School and work and being pregnant completely wears me out everyday. But the semester is now done, I completed another 19 credits! Only 14.5 more to go, so I graduate in April! We are so excited for Christmas and are spending it with Jay's family this year. They live in Boise (they moved from Florida last year). So, I went to the doctor this morning and come to find out I have lost weight. I am 34 weeks along now and have gained a total of 11 pounds. They told me to enjoy the holidays! AKA, EAT! haha. I am getting so excited for our little one to come. I can't believe how close it is getting! Well, I never got the picture up last time I promised, so here you go! Here is a picture from this week. I feel so big and think I look big in the picture. But, the doctor keeps saying, "you don't have much of a torso and you are so short that it doesn't have anywhere to go but out!" So, it is all going out haha, but not much weight gain. So, I hope you enjoy the picture, finally... I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas! Happy Holidays!

Life Update

2009-10-06T10:58:00.000-07:00

So, I really can't believe that I am now 23 weeks along. Time has really gone by fast now that I am back in school. Things are going well so far. She is very active and I feel her kicking all the time now. Jay actually felt her for the first time the other day too, that was really neat for him. We have gone on a couple shopping sprees since finding out the gender; it has been sooooo much fun! School is very hard this semester and I am really having a hard time keeping my head above the water between my 18 credits in school and working 15 hours a week. I am also taking all of my last hard classes before the baby comes. So this semester is very hard, but I know it will be worth it next semester when she comes! I know I need to put up a picture, everyone keeps asking me to. I will do it soon I promise! Jay is also doing well. He is working more than full time and staying busy with that. He has been such a big help around the house each evening when I am so busy with homework. He is such a wonderful husband and I know he will be a great daddy also!

It's a........

2009-09-16T18:43:00.000-07:00

So on Tuesday September 15th I had my 20 week ultrasound. The doctor checked everything to make sure everything looked good. He kept saying how active the baby was and it was just moving around like crazy. Then, what we have all been waiting for, he told us what we will be having..... and.... it's.... a..... GIRL!!! I was so happy, I didn't care either way... Jay on the other hand was a little um shocked I guess I should say. I think he was a little dissapointed, he really wanted a boy. But afterwards we went to eat and went shopping and found a few cute outfits. He kept looking at the girl things and saying "this is cute"! Then today he told me how he really felt. He told me he was dissapointed, but today he is SOOOO EXCITED to have a little girl! I am so excited to have a little girl and think of what the future will hold!

Our Changing Life

2009-08-30T13:56:00.001-07:00

I know it has been a very long time since I have updated on here. I really haven't had a whole to to talk about lately. Jay finished his summer semester back in July and has been enjoying his break from school. It has been nice to have our evenings free of homework and work. We have been able to do a few fun things during the break. I go back to school on September 10th and am actually kind of excited to go back to school. I only have the Fall and Winter semesters left and then I graduate in April! I am very excited about that. So I'm pretty sure most if not all of you know that Jay and I are expecting our first baby on February 2, 2010. We are so excited and happy. We have been wanting to know what the gender is ever since we found out and it is finally getting closer. But, when Elise (my sister) had her little baby boy on Thursday morning it just made me want to know even more and made Jay and I even more excited for our little one to come. I have my appointment on September 15th and hopefully our little one will cooperate so we can find out if it's a boy or girl! Jay is really hoping for a boy and I really don't have an opinion although he will be happy with either! :) We are enjoying life and everything it brings our way. I promise it won't take me this long to post something again.

Family Pictures

2009-07-21T16:44:00.001-07:00

So when we went to mom and dad's in May we took some family pictures, here are a few of them!

Help me!

2009-06-03T19:48:00.001-07:00

This is what happens when your husband is taking a Sports Medicine class! He had to practice all of his tapping jobs for his test. This isn't even all of them... just what he did at the moment. I have looked like this a lot during this semester. It has been fun!

Coloring Easter Eggs

2009-06-03T19:39:00.000-07:00

This is my mom and her mom!

I hadn't got myself ready yet...

Mom and Alexa coloring eggs.

Look at that face, so cute!

She had so much fun!

Mom was sad that she didn't get to color Easter eggs with Alexa on Easter, so me, mom, and Alexa did Easter eggs the day I was leaving to come back. Here are a few cute pictures from the fun event!

Cute Cute!

2009-06-03T19:37:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of my brother Christopher and his girlfriend Jessi. She is so sweet and we all really like her! Good choice bro!

May Trip to Virginia!

2009-06-03T19:29:00.000-07:00

Jay and I had the opportunity to go to

Virginia to my parents over Memorial Day Weekend. Not only was it just a fun family get together we were celebrating my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary! It was so neat to experience this wonderful occassion! Elise made the beautiful cake and it was very tasty! It was so wonderful to have everyone there! Elise and Kodiak and Alexa came in from Chicago, me and Jay came in from Idaho and my brother was there as well! It was a wonderful weekend and we were able to make great memories and have fun together! Here are just a few pictures from while we were there!

Go Jazz

2009-04-20T15:09:00.000-07:00

Jay had the opportunity to go to Utah on a school trip and they went to a Utah Jazz game. They were there eariler in the day for a sports conference and then went to the game. They got their really early that's why there aren't very many people there! He had a blast and I was jealous!

2009-04-20T14:15:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of me talking to someone about our program.

2009-04-20T14:12:00.000-07:00

Disconnect to Reconnect

2009-04-20T13:52:00.001-07:00

So during the Winter semester I was in a Health Communications major. We had to come up with a promotion and promote it to someone and get it approved. We went to the Social Activities department on campus and they approved it and sponsored us. We came up with an idea called Disconnect to Disconnect. Our idea was to have people disconnect from their cell phones and i-pods and reconnect with the people around them and their surroundings. Some people really liked it of course others didn't but we knew that's how it would be. Here are a few pictures from when we were promoting it in the MC to the students walking by. We made t-shirts, magnets, flyers, posters and handed out the flyers when students walked by.

2009-03-09T14:21:00.000-07:00

2009-03-09T14:06:00.000-07:00

2009-03-09T14:04:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures from when we went to Virginia for Christmas with my family. Some from the sites in Washington D.C. and also Jay's birthday! We had a great time there.

Our Busy Lives

2009-03-09T13:59:00.000-07:00

So, I created this blog back in January...As you can see there hasn't been anything else added since. Jay and I are so busy with school and work and trying to have some fun on the side. Jay is working at Taylor Chevrolet and I am working at the Testing Center at school. We work opposite schedules so it makes it tough, but we do our best to make time for each other too. We both have a difficult school schedule but are both doing well in our classes. I will really try my best to update this more often. I love looking at every one else's blogs, it is so much fun!

2009-01-25T19:16:00.000-08:00

Finally got one!

2009-01-25T19:12:00.000-08:00

Hey guys I finally decided to make a blog. I don't have time to put anything on right now, but I will keep you posted when I get something up.