Well, December seemed to come and go pretty quickly. We had a lot of family visiting, Josh's sister and family from Nome, Alaska and my sister from Phoenix. It was fun to be able to share Megan's first Christmas with all of them. Of course she really didn't know what was going on, but she still got some presents to open. Toys were on her wish list this year and we were grateful for everything that she got. She's starting to get more alert and aware and toys are becoming more interesting to her. They are at least something to look at, especially the ones with lights and sounds.

She is starting to mimic us now. Josh will stick his tongue out at her and after awhile she will do it back to him. It's pretty cute, especially when she starts cooing and interacting. Maybe all of the new activity is tiring her out because she is becoming a much better sleeper. She will on average sleep about 6 hours a night. It has gradually led to an earlier bedtime too. It used to be about 2:00 a.m. before she would go to sleep, now we are at about 11:00 p.m. It has been a real sanity saver. Mommy isn't nearly as tired anymore.

Here are some pictures of our December:


Our Christmas Photo

Daddy and Megan cutting down our tree.


Megan meeting Aunt Stacy for the first time.


For some reason Megan's changing table is her 'happiest place on earth'. She's also definitely a morning girl so she is always happy and giggly when she wakes up.


Checking out her new toys from Santa.


Of course Sampson and Gracie got a stocking from Santa too. It didn't take them long to figure out they had a treat inside. Okay so Gracie won and found it first. She takes after mom.

Well, it's time for Megan to go to bed, I'll post more pictures later.

Megan had her first road trip this weekend. My parents bought a house in LaPine and we made our first visit this weekend to help move them in. She was a real trooper in the car, sleeping pretty much the whole way there and back.

We had her 2 month well child check today. She has a cold and happened to be running a fever today as well so they couldn't give her her 2 month shots. We'll have to go back next week once she is feeling better. She has grown so much. She is 13 lbs 8 ounces and 22.9 inches long. The nurse was amazed at how big she is getting.

House in LaPine:


While we were in LaPine the little girl needed a bath so she got one in the kitchen sink. It's so hard being a little baby!



I think I'm going to be posting a lot of bath pics because I think she is so freaking cute when she's all wet and chubby!

Okay, one last picture. Our friends Jay and Alia had their second baby on December 1st. His name is Henley and he was born at 8 lbs 12 ounces. Megan was 8 lbs 13 ounces so we were really excited to compare their size to see how much Megan has grown. Here is one of the pictures. Henley's big brother Campbell snuck into the picture too.

Megan is 8 Weeks old today!!

Megan with Santa!

Here are some better bathtime pictures. She doesn't look nearly so terrorized.

The last 6 weeks have gone by pretty fast. Even though we have had a stint of what seemed to be colic (also seems to be going away....knock on wood). Megan is getting so big. We have friends that just had a baby one ounce less than Megan at birth. We can't wait to see him so that we can see just how MUCH she has grown. She had her first real smile on 11/26. She was set in Great Grandpa Wyland's lap and she just smiled. The next day she woke up a really happy girl and was smiling at her mom like she knew how to do it all along. Now we can usually get one or two out of her on command.

We took her to see Santa today and we got a really good picture of her. We bought a CD thinking that we'd be able to take the picture to get more copies of it and post it on here but I think we got jipped. It doesn't seem to be it's intention at all. Just a way for you to spend more money on personalized mugs, etc. So...if I ever get around to it, I'll scan the picture and post it here. In the meantime, here is our Santa baby.....

Bathtime at 3:00 in the morning because someone didn't want to sleep.

Always missing a sock.

Megan is officially one month old. I weighed her last night and she is 11 pounds. She is just starting to outgrow her newborn clothes but still swims in the next size up. She definitely is keeping us busy....and awake. She has crying episodes in the middle of the night and I think I've chalked it up to her just fighting sleep. Sometimes it's gas but I think she already just doesn't want to miss anything and tries really hard to just NOT fall asleep. I wonder what it's going to be like when she is 4 and really doesn't want to miss any excitement. We'll see. But no matter how tired she makes me at night or how frustrated I get, when we wake up in the morning and I see her face for the first time I forget all of that and I just remember how much I love her again!

Pictures from Grandma's House

Mommy and Megan - One Month Old!

Grandpa and Teresa's Visit

Our Little Angel

After all of the waiting, she has arrived! My water broke on Sunday night at about 7:30. It was a little shocking but exciting. I had spent a couple of hours walking around the pumpkin patch with Kathy, Glen and Lesly. I was hoping it might send me into labor but didn't think it really would! After about 19 hours of labor (4 of which being pushing) she was born. She decided that face up was her way to exit so it made it a little more difficult of a delivery. She was born with quite the alien looking head and a bruise the size of a baseball. Within a day though the shape had returned to normal and she looked just great. The doctors say because of the bruise, she got jaundice and we have been treating her with light therapy since the morning of the day we left the hospital. She is getting better day by day.

I also had some complications in the delivery. Once she was out I guess I lost quite a bit of blood and the doctor worked to stop it as fast as he could. He was great though, during the whole thing, none of us knew how serious it was or could have been. He was very composed and professional and just did what he needed to do. The night before we left the hospital, they gave me a blood transfusion and it has helped immensely in getting my energy back up to be able to take care of Megan.

Josh has been absolutely wonderful. He was a great partner to have while I was in labor and he has been great ever since too. I knew he would be. He is totally in love with his daughter and she in love with him. It is so precious to see them together. He is already showing that he will be a wonderful daddy.

Thanks to everyone that came to visit us in the hospital and sent their well wishes.

Megan Amanda!

8 lbs 13 oz. 20 1/4 inches

All Finished!!

9 MONTHS!!!

Before - Kitchen


After - Kitchen, minus the fridge


Before - Living Room


After - Living Room


This is what Megan's room looked like before we painted. Look at the posts below for after pictures. Notice how dirty the walls are?

Before - Bathroom

After - Bathroom


Not sure if I mentioned it in my previous posts but the whole house was white. Well, it was painted white with brown dirt just about everywhere. Our paint job really made the house feel like a home, it's much warmer not to mention cleaner after all of the scrubbing, mopping and carpet cleaning. We were really surprised by the way the previous owners left it. They didn't even bother to vacuum before they left.

Josh putting Megan's crib together

9 Months and counting...............


We are at 37 weeks, counting down to 40. She is definitely growing out of her current living arrangement. Surely she'll get fed up of her tight quarters and want to come out soon. I finished working on Saturday and it has been wonderful. I'm not nearly as achy and sore as I have been. It was really wearing on me the last month. Now I'm just sitting and waiting.

As you could see from Stacy's pictures, we had a great baby shower on September 10th. There were so many people here, more than we expected. It was so nice to see everyone and especially for the people that made the long drives. You know, cause Cornelius is on the other end of the planet! Megan's room was practically overflowing with all of her presents. Thank you to all for coming!

Baby Shower Photos




Uploaded by Auntie Stacy

We are finally in our house! Well, we have the keys. We have been working all weekend to get it ready for us to move in this weekend. We have painted the entire interior, done A LOT of cleaning and thanks to all of the people that volunteered their time, we got a ton done in a very small amount of time. Now we are finishing up the odds and ends projects. It has been especially exciting watching Megan's room come together. Josh put the final touches up today and tomorrow I will finish the last painting that needs to be done and then it will be baby ready! I've been taking a lot of pictures of the progress that I will be posting soon.

We have our 8 month check up on Friday!!

A picture of the VanValkenburg home.

A new picture of Kristie and Megan.