Baby Ellie!

Ellie has been such a blessing! She's more alert during the day now... and at night! I'm still getting used to the nighttime feedings and her being wide awake. Good thing I have my sweet husband who takes a turn at night, and a good mom who has been a lot of help. Here's some of my favorite pictures of Ellie from the past two weeks. This first one is my favorite of her!!! She's such a happy baby!

And I love this pink bow!!!!!!

Skinny little thing!!

Ellie and my dad

Pretty girl!!

Nice Shades!!

Bath Time

Wide Awake

Ellie and Daddy

Ellie and Mommy


We took Ellie in for her two week check-up. She was 5 lbs. and 13 oz. and 19 inches long. She's still a peanut, but she's growing! We just love her!!!

...and then there were three...

I'd like to introduce the blogging world to our sweet baby girl Ellie Maxine! She was born on September 22nd at 4:42 pm. She weighed 5 lbs. 5 oz. and is 18 inches long! I got a phone call from Rachel's mom on Monday around 11 am saying that Rachel's water had broken during the night and they were at the hospital. Rachel had invited us to be there during the delivery... amazing I know! So I called my mom hysterical that I wasn't ready and I needed some help! We weren't expecting Ellie until next week and I was a bit overwhelmed. My sweet mom reassured me that we were ready and to enjoy every minute. When we got to the hospital we met Rachel's parents and her younger brother and sister. What an amazing family she has!! We loved meeting them and spending some time with them. As the day progressed Rachel was given her epidural and then she started on pit. During that time when they checked Rachel we found out that instead of crowning Ellie was trying to look out... face first. After a bit it was determined that Rachel would have to deliver with a c-section. Rachel was not excited about the idea, but Jeremy and her dad gave her a sweet blessing. How incredible that Jeremy was able to be part of that.

Now what happened next was the most spiritual and amazing blessing of my life. Rachel was told that she could only take one person with her to deliver Ellie. Jeremy and I were out in the hall and when I came back in Rachel's mom told me that Rachel had asked that I be the one to go with her! I cannot describe how honored I was. Rachel had her sister and her mom there that could have gone with her, I certainly was not expecting it. It all happened quickly for me... I'm sure not for Rachel, but suddenly I was being escorted to surgery in my scrubs and all. I sat and held Rachel's hand and watched as she brought our baby girl into the world... yes I watched them pull Ellie out!! I don't know how to describe what that was like to be holding the hand of the bravest woman I know as she gave birth to my baby! I've been crying a lot... and that memory will stay in the most sacred part of my soul.





Ellie was a bit swollen after she came out, but I was amazed at how fast it went away! Isn't she beautiful?!! Rachel was so sweet every step of the way, she let me hold and love her. She told me several times that she knew this was right, and that we are her parents. It's an amazing act of love and faith on her part. I am proud to have her as Ellie's birth mother. By the way--- she looks fantastic for having just had a baby.

Because of the c-section Rachel was supposed to be in the hospital for at least three days, but today we found out that Rachel was ready to go home and we could come get Ellie!! We rushed and picked up a few things and put together a basket for Rachel and her daughter Alice. Nothing we could ever do will even come close to repay her for the gift of being parents, but we tried to be thoughtful!







We love Rachel so much, I've been asked by several people about the kind of relationship we will have now that Ellie is home with us. Rachel and I have a one of a kind bond. I feel connected to her like no one else in my life, and I felt it the first time we talked. Her and I will be life-long friends, I look up to her for her courage and faith, she has been an amazing example of being Christ-like. Ohhh how we love our Rachel!!


There is soooo much more to our story. So many tiny miracles that brought Rachel into our lives and then Ellie. We love her soooo much, she is such a sweet baby. We're home and I just hope I can be a good mommy to her!!

MIRACLES HAPPEN!!!!

Miracles happen, and a miracle happened today! Let me back up to 4 weeks ago. I got a phone call from my OB/GYN, or should I say my previous OB/GYN. I haven't seen him for over two years due to a change in our insurance. He called and said "Jenny, I have a young woman who is looking to place her baby for adoption and I thought of you. Are you interested?" Uh... my response... YES!! Lots of prayers and fasting, crying, and more prayers!

Fast forward two weeks, we met the first half of our miracle. Her name is Rachel, and she is the most amazing person I have ever met. She is beautiful, selfless, incredible, an angel, our miracle. I never thought I would love and adore someone I just met, but I do. She is everything I could have asked for in a birth mother, everything. And even more than that, I feel like I have known her forever, and I think I have. She is a blessing, our miracle.

Fast forward to today. I got the phone call of a lifetime, it was Rachel, she told me I'm going to be a MOMMY!!! What do you say to someone who is going to make you a mom? "Thank you" seems insincere, "I'm so grateful" is not enough, I'm still working on what words have been created to express the most grateful depths of my soul. Our baby girl is coming, did I mention it's a girl?!!! And she's coming in 12 days, I guess now since it's the middle of the night and I can't sleep out of so many emotions, it's closer to 11 days. Rachel is going to be induced on September 29th. We are naming the baby Ellie Maxine, after my sweet grandma Bub. Ellie is coming, and I can't wait to meet the second half of our miracle!!!!

To Rachel, if you read this, LOTS OF LOVE!!!

Our Bedroom... and Girl's Camp!

Okay, I'm going to start with our bedroom. We finished it in the wee hours of the morning on my birthday! Hooray!! That's the one thing I really wanted! I still don't have anything on the walls yet, I'm trying to find a mirror for the wall across from our bed, and I'm still not sure what to put above our bed. I hesitate to put anything above my head that could fall and dent it in the night! Maybe a wreath of some sort? Send me any ideas if anyone has them.






So there's the final prep... and ta-da!!!! Here's the finished product! YEA!!









I have to say the colors look much better in person, the camera doesn't do the walls justice, and it makes the shades look drastically different, but you get the idea. I love it though!


Now on to girl's camp... I'm the 1st Counselor in the Young Women's in our ward, so I got to go to girl's camp for the first time since I was a Laurel. It was so much fun, we have a tiny group of girls, but it was great! We went on a hike to Minnetonka Cave in Bear Lake, yeah, 888 stairs. It was quite the hike, but very worth it!









If you look really close at this picture, you can see our girls down at the bottom of this set of stairs. I was at the top heading down, we'd already come up this set, I tell you, it was straight up and down!!



Our girls in front of our nice cabin! It was fabulous, the leaders all had beds! Nice eh?! My next project is my now craft room, the one day baby room. I hope to have it done before I start preschool up again on September 3rd! Hopefully we will have our adoption papers done by Halloween, that's the new goal!!! Let's hope there's no more hang-ups!

Home Improvements!

Ok, here's a few projects we've been working on. And one in progress! I'll take some more pictures of our living and family rooms, they look so much better now, but I didn't have any on my camera. We are doing great, Jeremy's working on studying for his insurance test, and I'm getting ready for girl's camp in a few weeks. Our adoption paperwork is slowly coming, hopefully soon... it's so hard waiting! I know it will happen when it's supposed to, and that we will be better prepared, that we are still young... I've heard it all.... but our 5 year mark of trying to have our family is creeping up this fall and I'm ready to be done!!! Ok, enough venting, enjoy the pictures!




So I thought I'd start with a room that's finished. Our upstairs bathroom was baby pink, so this is the new bathroom with a more bathroom appropriate color!


This is my kitchen... a little cluttered with plants I'm trying reeeeally hard not to kill!

Again, a plant I'm trying to keep alive. And a ceiling fan, that needs to be replaced!!! Sooo, not quite done, but you get the idea!

I really love this shelf in my kitchen!

Ok, this is a bit embarrassing, please ignore the unmade bed!!!! This is our bedroom, with all it's wallpaper glory!!!! Now the wallpaper is off, but we are trying to get the glue off the walls so we can paint! The goal is to have it done by my birthday a week from Friday! Hopefully--- it'd be a great present to have it finished and our room back to normal!

Finally a NEW POST!!!

Ok, so I know it's been a long time since I've posted. I've been getting harassed by a lot of people, so I'm back. I guess I've waited so long to post because quite honestly, our life has been a mess since Jeremy lost his job, so I haven't had anything good to report... but it looks like things are finally turning up for us. Jeremy has finally started working, not for New York Life, (that job ended up falling through :( ) but he is selling auto and home owners insurance, with a guy that my sister Katie and her husband know. He just started last week, and we are praying that this is a great opportunity for us. I must say that we have been so blessed through all of this. We have had a lot going on in our lives, and we have truly seen the Lord's hand at work.

With all of the extra time Jeremy has had, our lawn has never looked better, and our storage space has never been more organized!! We finally got our basement painted, and our upstairs bathroom. I'm trying to decorate the basement, and I'm working on getting my craft room done, that will one day be a baby room. It's in desperate need of paint... and carpet, but the paint will have to do for now! I'll be posting some pictures soon of what we've done. My sister Sara has requested it, seeing as how she's not close enough to come over! I promise I'll be better about posting, now that life is getting back to normal, we'll be able to get our paperwork done and approved, hopefully by the end of the summer!

Quick Update...

Okay, so I've been getting harassed that I haven't posted for a long time! Let me update everyone on what has been going on. First of all, we finished our classes at the end of February. A week after we finished our classes Jeremy lost his job. We had heard that is was a possibility, so he started looking, but it happened a lot sooner than we expected. It has been a hard 2008 for us, but losing his job has been a blessing in disguise. Losing our job, means losing insurance, and losing insurance means the adoption has been put on hold. We are still working on our paperwork, but we can't be approved until we have insurance... ahhhh!!!!! The good news is, we have a job pending! Jeremy has been offered a job working for New York Life as an insurance agent. I say pending because he has to get his insurance license before he can be put on payroll. Hopefully within the next couple of weeks he'll have it and can start working. The best part of the job is that the insurance will start the first day of employment!!!! None of this 90 day waiting period! What a blessing! I must say it has been a hard year for us, but things are looking better!