The Boy and His Dog

When we first moved here and I was so sick, Sophie, my families dog, would lay curled up to me all day long. She would get very worried when I would throw up and always started barking and run off and tell my mom. Well, as I started to get better she started to bond with Ryan more too. Now Ryan and her are very close. Ryan was never too excited about having indoor animals, but now HE is the one who will grab her before we go to bed and invite her to sleep with us; and of course she always graciously accepts that offer!

This is Sophie. She is half Jack Russel Terrier and half Corgi, AKA Co-Jack. She is incredibly smart and sweet. She is a great guard dog. In fact when Sophie feels that one of the kids is a danger to Ryan or me, she will bark at them and tell them to back away. It is pretty funny.

Sophie loves to be held like this...I know she is an odd dog! Ryan will walk around just holding and scratching her and she loves it.

This is her in her favorite sleeping position. She sleeps like this in between Ryan and I and under the covers. She is so funny.
They really do love each other!

To: Claire From: Auntie Annie Anne

(My sister Anna is so in love with her little niece already she wants to write her a love note in the blog)

Dear Claire Bear, I love you sooooooooooo much already!!!!!!! you are soooooo amazing, talented, you will love your Parents. ssssooooooo much like I do. the first I will is hug you kiss you, and let no one hold you not even your Parents. not even Grandma (my Mom) I think you will be like your mom (my sister your mom) I saw you are your a little dancer, on the ultrasound. we should probably have dance party's!!!!!!!!!! while your mom and dad, go on a date. cause you are a little dancer, when you are older I will take you out shopping, and swimming, and if you want to sign up for Gymnastics I can take you. or other sports or if you get in trouble and you want to go to the Mall or something, just call and I will rush to you and take you where you want to go, and buy you practically what ever you want I Love you Claire bear!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love Auntie Annie Anne!!!!!!

It's a GIRL!!!!!!!

We had an ultrasound yesterday! I got it a little later than normal (24 weeks) because we had to wait for Ryan's insurance to kick in.

It was one of the neatest experiences! Ryan couldn't come because he had to work, so my mom came instead. It was so sweet of her to take that time it made all the difference in the world (I HATE doctors offices).

Well, we found out that we are having a beautiful, gorgeous, amazing, talented, lovely, sweet baby... GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!IT was so neat, you could see so much! It definitely looks like she has Ryan's nose! So cute!!! Everything is perfectly healthy! The placenta, cervix, heart rate, growth rate...EVERYTHING looks great!! I was so happy to see that! It made everything I've gone through totally worth it! We also think that she might be a little dancer! We saw her feet kicking and tiptoeing so much! Grandma (my mom) feel in love with her too.

We decided on a name for her awhile ago. ( I knew she was going go be a girl this whole time.) We are going to continue on with the family tradition of calling the baby by the middle name. Ever since I became pregnant I could feel her sweet little spirit and it reminded me so much of my mom, I knew I had to name my baby after her. I also had a best friend/roommate in college who's name is Claire and she is one of the most incredible woman I have ever known. So we figured naming our baby girl Claire after two of the most incredible women ever couldn't hurt her chances. So her middle name (the name she will go by) is going to be Claire! We just have to figure out a first name now....Any ideas?

Pregnancy Pics- 22 1/2 weeks

Ok, so this picture above is not a good pregnancy picture but it is a picture of our little family! This is Sophie, our dog that Ryan and I are inheriting. We were gone all day yesterday and she was very happy to see us when we got back. She has such a big personality!! This is how she really sits! Ha, it is really funny. She doesn't have doggie mannerisms...
I am 22 1/2 weeks pregnant! I am so glad that it is over half way over!! I can feel my baby's little presence more and more and it makes me want to be with her even more than I can express!!!


The back view was Ryan's idea... I posted it because it shows how much darker my hair is getting. I think I am going to become a brunette! That will be weird, but I am way to lazy and frugal to even think about dyeing my hair, so I will just have to take what nature gives me :)

A Walk in the Woods

Ryan has accepted a job!! We are very excited!! He will start working in a couple weeks so we are trying to just enjoy the time we have together now. We went for a picnic at a beautiful state park not far from where we live. The fall colors are past the prime time, but it was still a beautiful, fun trip together.
This picture above was on our walk in the woods. Our walk in the woods was actually cut short because of a....skunk!! We heard crashing in the woods and I saw something black and white run away. In my pregnancy fogged brain I did not put 2 and 2 together and we just kept walking. About 5 minutes down the trail we started to smell an overpowering stench of skunk. So we thought it best to turn around. I was starting to get a little wiped out anyway so it was good timing.
My computer isn't cooperating, so these pictures are sideways...I will try to fix it later. After we got a picture by this brilliant orange tree. I couldn't help but play with the leaves...It reminds me of growing up in the mid west and every year playing in pile of leaves. Ryan thought it was funny and took some pictures.



Yes, I am a tree hugger!!! I love trees and nature. There is no better place to experience both than in Ohio!! (In my opinion;)
The crazy thing is that Ryan is a tree hugger at heart!!! Ha, he'll kill me when he sees that, but actually he is the one that saw this tree and wanted a picture because it is such a huge tree. He thought it was really neat.
This tree up above was so pretty and my camera just didn't capture the colors right. but it kinda looked like it was on fire. I just had to get a picture.
Ryan and I enjoying being together.
This is part of the lake at the state park. It is really pretty and peaceful there. I can't wait til this summer to take my little baby there!!!!!!!

Natural Birthing Center!!!!!

I am so excited!!! I found out that just 40 miles from where I live is a Natural Birthing Center in a hospital!! This is the biggest blessing in the world!! After being a labor and delivery nurse for just over a year, I have definitely not come close to seeing it all, but I did see a lot and I did learn a lot. I feel that the whole birthing process is a miracle and in the majority of cases, the body and baby can handle everything fine. I have seen how different interventions and helps can actually cause problems to arise. I had toyed around with the idea of home births but because of a family history of issues with delivery and because it is my first time (usually first time deliveries can be very long and hard) my husband quickly let me know there is nothing in the world that would make him let me have a home birth. I agreed, he is probably right. So, I thought I was stuck with delivering in a hospital and making the OB and nurses mad at me because I would not agree with some "standard of care" procedures. Then I stumbled on this accredited natural birth center! I was so excited! There are some really neat things that I learned that they do:

1. There is a jacuzi in each room for water births (yes! I AM interested in that!)
2. The nurse to patient ratio is one to one, meaning that I am the ONLY patient that nurse has to worry about so I will get the monitoring and help I need
3. The baby NEVER has to leave the room (if the baby is healthy and doesn't need medical interventions). Can you believe that!?!?! SOOO cool!!
4. If everything goes well for me I could be out of the birthing center just 6 hours after delivery!!! That is exciting!!
5. In order to deliver at this center I have to take these birthing classes that help you learn about different birthing techniques and realize what kind you want to use (aromatherapy, hypnobirth, hydrobirth etc.)
6. For about a week after the birth post partum nurses will make phone calls asking me how breastfeeding is going, how I am feeling and so on and give advice and help.
7. Because this natural birthing center are big supporters of breast feeding they will not give a bottle or a pacifier to the baby without consent from the mom
8. the list just goes on and on and on!!!

Needless to say, I am so excited about this opportunity. I just found a nurse midwife I want to work with and I am excited to set up and appointment with her.

Pregnancy Pics - 18 weeks and Exciting News!!

Here are some pregnancy pictures for 18 weeks:



These are not the best pictures, but a lot of people have asked for some pictures so I thought I would put some up real quick. There is not too much to show... I am really looking forward to when I am bigger because that means that I will be that much closer to holding my little baby in my arms!!!

EXCITING NEWS: Ryan had two big interviews today for an ICU position and an ICU step down floor. He did very well and both of the nurse managers hinted that they would have a job offer ready for him this next week!!! We are really excited!! Then another nurse recruiter tried to get a hold of him today to sit up another interview!!! It is neat to have options! We are very blessed.

Our Move to Ohio and Our Life

First of all, I would like to apologize for my lack of communication over the last few months. I have not been feeling well enough to talk on the phone and concentrate on a conversation, but I am getting a head of myself. Wow, I guess, I have a lot to update everyone on...This is the easiest way to do it, so I am going to explain everything that has happened in the last 10 weeks or so.

On July 3, 2010 we found out that we were pregnant!!! We have been trying for a LLLOONNNGG time and couldn't believe that we finally were pregnant. Ryan was actually a little dubious and it wasn't until I got my HCG levels (pregnancy hormones) drawn at work the next night that he could accept it. We were soooo excited!! The moment I found out that I was pregnant I just felt really calm and at peace that everything was going to work out (I have always been a little worried about miscarriages). I am now almost 18 weeks (4 1/2 months) along and the baby is doing great!

I told myself that I was going to be super healthy during my pregnancy. I was going to be one of those pregnant women who made pregnancy look fun!.... ha, well our Heavenly Father has His own plan and His own agenda. The day I turned 7 weeks was the day we flew home from our camping trip in Idaho. That day I started vomitting early in the morning and haven't quite stopped since then. I am going to explain how sick I was to give a background for our move to Ohio, not for sympathy because I KNOW women have had it worse and I am grateful for the tender mercies from the Lord that have helped so much!

My mom was sick with all of her pregnancies and come to find out different grandmothers and aunts have all had hyperemesis gravidarum (excessive vomitting during pregnancy) to some degrees during their pregnancy. Well, I have inherited the same problem. At first I was super sick, but would only throw up 3-4 times a day and could make it to work and just be miserable. After a week (about 8 weeks a long) I started feeling worse. Well, one of those tender mercies I talked about popped up and my brother Nick, 16 years old, and my sister Katrina, 17 years old were able to fly out to Abilene and stay with us for 3 weeks. They were incredible help! I was overcome with how unselfishly they served and loved me. When Ryan was away at work and I would start to throw up Nick would instantly be by my side and hold my hair back for me then quietly clean up my vomit. That is real love!! Trina was amazing at making me eat food and making things that I could keep down. I know if it weren't for their presence I would have been hospitalized. I quickly got to the point were I couldn't go to work anymore and had to go on to medical leave. Around this same Ryan and I realized that we were going to have to come up with a solution for when Nick and Trina would leave. I was so sick that I couldn't care for myself. Getting up to use the restroom was the biggest trial. I remember many times crawling to the bathroom on my hands and knees, scooting my throw up bowl with me for pit stops along the way. I was in no shape to care for myself when Ryan had to go to work.

Right after I went on medical leave, Ryan and I knew we had to make a decision. We had a couple options that seemed to make sense. After praying about it and talking about it, we received an undeniable answer. It was very amazing and comforting to receive such a sure answer so fast, but the answer that we received was definitely not one of those options we thought we had or even something that made logical sense.... We both we told that we would be the most blessed and the happiest if we moved to Ohio to live with my parents....What??!?!?!! I mean, don't get me wrong, I LOVE my family and to live with them would be a dream, but what?!?!! to uproot from our jobs and lives when I was so sick I could hardly walk 10 feet let alone move 1200 miles. Well, when you get an answer, you get an answer and there is no denying it. So both of us started to figure out how we would make this work.

I'd like to take a minute and explain what an incredible sacrifice this was for Ryan. I mean for me, this was a dream come true. I have always been so close to my family. I have never been one of those people who couldn't imagine living with my family; my family is the unique collection of some of the most incredible people and spirits I have ever known and to be around them is a wonderful thing. Here Ryan is, on the other hand, the provider having to give up his job relying 100% on faith that he will find a job in the Cincinnati area, leave friends he made in Texas and move farther away from the West. On top of all that, he was the one that would have to pack everything up himself and deal with all the moving details all by himself, because I was in no condition to deal with any of that. I think that it is a real testimony of his faith and his love for his family that he was so willing to sacrifice for us. He is the most incredible man ever. I had NO clue what I was getting myself into when I married him, I knew he was great...but had no idea to what degree he was great. He has taught me more fully of what the true love of Christ is; he has taught me that love is truly the most unselfish thing you can do.

Well, move we did. To make a long story not as long. I flew to Ohio and was nursed by my mom while Ryan finished work and packed up the whole house. My wonderful dad sacrificed his time and money and flew out to Abilene to help Ryan finish packing then drove our car back up to Ohio while Ryan drove the moving truck with our pick up truck attached to the moving truck. I was so touched when my dad volunteered to do that. He said he was just so thrilled to have us live with him he would do anything to help us out. He has always been the best dad :)

Every member of my family has done sooo much to help us during this time. Each one of my siblings has taken their turn in cleaning out my throw up bowls and feeding me. While Ryan was back in Abilene and I was here I shared a bed with my little sister Anna, 9 years old. When I would wake her up in the middle of the night vomiting I would apologize and each time she would roll over and start patting my back and whisper, "It's ok, Jeni, it is totally worth it", then fall back asleep. That sweet gesture of love would at times bring tears to my eyes. Now Anna and Levi love to come up to me and rub my belly and talk to the sweet baby. My dad has continued to be an incredible. More often than not he comes home from work with a blue slushy in hand ( I keep those down really well). When Dad found out that chocolate milkshakes are something else that makes me feel good he went to the grocery store and bought 3 gallons of chocolate ice cream and commenced to make shakes on a nightly basis.

One of the biggest blessings has been my mom. She has been an angel during this whole time. As soon as she heard about what I was going through she immediately offered her home and resources to us. She has so much empathy for what I have gone through because she went through the same thing and she is simply, one of the most incredible women I have ever known. I really started to turn the corner when I came here because my mom wouldn't let me not eat and drink. As soon as I got here she immediately went to the grocery store and bought out the store of soups, crackers and granola bars and juice. She would push food and fluids every 2 hours around the clock. One day, a few days, after we got here she sat down and counted the calories I was eating and realized that most days I was consuming less than 900 calories a day. So she started pushing more calories. That was such a great blessing. I had lost what fat I had and a lot of my muscle and my body was just getting more and more worn out. With mom being the most incredible nurse, nutritionist, support, counselor and coach I got through the worst of it a lot better off then I would have been. I have always known how wonderful my mom is; she has always given everything she has and devoted her whole life to those she loves, and this experience was another reminder of just how incredible she is. Thanks mom, I owe my life and who I am to you many times over!!

The Good News:
I have started to turn a BIG corner. I have gotten to the point where I can get up and move around the house and a couple times a week I can make it to a grocery store and get a change of scenery. I feel like a child though, because, I know I have to take at least 2 long naps a day and I know when I reach a point where I have to get off my feet for the rest of the day, but it is such a blessing that there has been improvement. It is a very odd feeling to go from pre-pregnancy days, where I was running 6 miles a day, to know where walking around Wal-mart can make me feel close to passing out. There are still days when I can't keep anything down, and those days just make me more grateful for where I am at now. Ryan and I are really loving Ohio. It is soooo BEAUTIFUL and makes me wonder how I survived out in the West for so long. The people out here are great. The Church is so wonderful and supportive. My family has been incredible and we fit in here like we were supposed to be here. We have a big room in the basement. It is pretty much like a studio apartment complete with a refrigerator and microwave (we even inherited a Sleep Number bed!) It definitely has not been the nightmare of living with the in-laws that you hear about. My family has been so grateful for Ryan being here. He fits into the family better than I do, sometimes. If I could get a nickle every time my younger siblings told me how grateful they are I married Ryan, I would be a millionaire! I am so grateful for what an incredible guy Ryan is. This whole ordeal would have been impossible without such a supportive husband.

So I apologize to all my friends and family who's sweet and supportive e-mail's, messages and phone calls I haven't had a chance to return. As I return more to normal, I will get caught up and catch up with everyone. I love you all and am soooo grateful for all of your prayers!!!

Fun With Trina and Nick

My brother Nick and my sister Trina flew out a couple weeks ago to spend sometime with us. We have had a lot of fun with them. Today we decided to go take some pictures outside. Our inspiration was the dress I wore because we bought it at Goodwill and I did some modifications ( I added the white trim on the bottom to make it longer and the white trim on top). We had a lot of fun!!1
This is beautiful Katrina! She is the sweetest sister. She has helped out so much being out here. She is always cleaning, doing dishes, laundry and making dinner. She is so great!
This is the dress I got. I just love it!!
Trina and Nick showing some love :)
Ryan and Jeni showing some love!!
The two trouble makers !!



Ha, Ryan striking a pose. He is so handsome :)
The men of the house :)
The goof balls of the house.







We had a fun time. I figured this would be a good time to take pictures because I am 10 weeks pregnant and it may be the last opportunity to get family pictures of Ryan and I before I start to show.

Camping Trip to Idaho

We had the opportunity to go camping in Idaho for a week. Every year Ryan's family goes camping in the mountains at a place called Baumgartner. Originally, according to Ryan, the tradition was for all the boys to go dirt bike riding almost everyday and for the girls to stay back and watch the children. Luckily for me a lot has changed. The dirt bike riding has cut back and family time has been emphasized. We had a lot of fun during this trip.

We met up with Diana (our sister in law) who lives in Fort Worth. Her and her children took us to the Dallas airport. It was fun spending time with them before we left.
Like any trip we take, we start off with working the night before and not sleeping at all the next day. This trip we went about 38 hours with no sleep... mmmm definitely not healthy. Ryan passed every chance he got. For some reason I just think he is soooo cute when he sleeps!

At baumgartner we played Minute to Win-it games. We had a lot of fun! This is a pic of my strategically planning how to win the next challenge....ha just kidding I have no clue what I was doing!
Just all of the cousins and their spouses playing the games.
He would make a cute Reindeer, huh?
We had a craft time while we were there. We made little signs. I love Joyce's (Ryan's mom). Her said, "Where have all the cowboys gone?" She is so creative!

This is a beautiful picture of the beautiful, cold river we swim at.
It was so cold me and the little kids talked Ry into farrying us across the river to the other side where we liked to hangout.
This is my nephew Landon, just chilling. So cute!!
I did a lot of this!! Something about the high altitude made me exhausted!! I was sleeping all the time.
This has an interesting story...

Have you ever been part of a BEAR CHASE? The last night we were there, there were a couple black bears surrounding the camp. The scary part was that there was cubs somewhere. Black bears are not usually aggressive but when cubs are involved they care be very aggressive.

Right around dusk we were warned that there were sightings of a black bear. Ryan and I ran off to go find the bear! We found it...Unfortunately it was too dark to get pictures. But it was neat to see a bear in real life. Well it was just hanging out at the side of the mountain and wasn't doing anything. We headed back to our camp site. A while later we heard a loud BANG BANG and yelling. Ry and I looked at each other and ran off in the direction of the gun shots. We end up in his brothers campsite and find a black bear about 20 feet away just watching us!!! It was soo cool! We ended up chasing the guy all over camp so that when the bird and game people came they would be able to find the bear and take it somewhere safer.

How fun is that?