goofy

Just thought I would post a picture really quick of the little guy. I laugh so hard everytime I see it.

only 35 more days

This one's for you, Brooke!

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my life just got a whole lot easier.

Three things made my day today.

1. No more umbilical cord remnants means no more lame sponge baths. He absolutely hated sponge baths and absolutely loved his real bath today. No more screaming at the top of his lungs at bath time!

2. We finally have a crib mattress. He loves to take his naps in his crib. Today he just laid in his crib for thirty minutes - peacefully! Awake! That was awesome.

3. The Baby Bjorn came today. We tried it out and he was a little fussy at first but then - seriously - he fell asleep in five minutes. Now I may actually be able to get chores done with both hands. Get a Baby Bjorn.

little buddy

Jonah LOVES to sleep on Scott's chest. Here is evidence. It happens a lot.

I love how he curls up in a little ball.

All his clothes are huge on him. He's just a little guy. I swear I feed him!

This is what he looks like when he's not sleeping. Rooting, rooting, rooting. He always wants something to suck on.

one week

We are so excited that Jonah is finally here. This has been an extremely exhausting week, but we are slowly getting the hang of it and we think he might turn out okay.

Jonah was born last Saturday and he came all by himself even though Dad had a triathlon that morning. He didn't care - he just wanted to be a part of the Russell Family Vacation 2008.

We were in Midway with Scott's family and I woke up around 3:30 Saturday morning with horrible back pains and contractions around seven minutes apart. Around 4:00 I woke Scott up and told him I thought I might be in labor. He told me to go back to sleep and that I would be just fine. I told him I couldn't go back to sleep because I was in the worst pain of my life. I don't really wear my emotions on my sleeve, so he didn't realize just how much pain I was in. It took a little bit of overreacting on my part for him to believe me (don't tell him that). Oh, and he also had to go ask his mom if she thought we should go to the hospital. By that time, my contractions were about four minutes apart and they weren't getting any less painful, so Lorie told Scott that yes, he should probably take me to the hospital.

We still had the long drive down Parley's and it was not fun, to say the least. During the drive my water broke, but I didn't really notice because I was too busy focusing on the extreme pain in my back. Back labor is not cool.

We got home and I took a quick shower, packed my bag and then we headed off to the hospital. The nurse checked me and I was only dilated three centimeters but his head had dropped really low, so they let me stay. It was sure a good thing because I was ready to push three hours later. We thought that he would be out in under an hour since my labor had progressed so quickly for a first-timer, but that was not his plan. After pushing for three hours on every contraction (which were only two minutes apart), Jonah finally made his entrance into the world. Let me just say that delivery was the most exhausting thing I've ever done.

We love Jonah more than anything in the world and it is kind of unbelievable to me how that happens. We didn't know it was possible, but it sure is. Even when he is screaming his head off at three in the morning, it's hard not to love him.

For the first time (probably in my life) I feel like this thing that I'm working on is really worthwhile. I have motivation that I've never had before and I love being a mother. Don't get me wrong - it is sometimes so hard and frustrating, but the rewards are unbelievable.

Scott has been the best dad anyone could ever hope for. He has been so helpful and I am really dreading him going back to work next week. We have had so much fun and he has been a huge help. He even changes diapers without me asking! We have had a blast this week getting used to our new lives together.

After a week, we have come to find out that baby Jonah just loves to sleep and poop. I don't say he loves to eat, because he has such a hard time with it. Don't worry though, he's getting his sustenance. He just really struggles sometimes. I know it doesn't help that we're both rookies at the whole breastfeeding thing. He also makes the funniest faces in his sleep. I love to hold him while he's napping and just watch him. It's pretty hilarious. He definitely sleeps with his eyes open and it gets a little creepy when they roll back into his head and you can only see the whites.

We also found out that he loves classical music. No joke. We decided to turn on the radio to classical music while he slept the other night and he slept for a whole five hours! It didn't happen again, but it was sure nice that night. Maybe it's because I blasted classical music in the car to and from work when I was pregnant with him. Hopefully that means he will be smart. I'm sure it does.

This has been a week of extreme emotions on both ends of the spectrum, but we wouldn't trade this experience for anything in the world. We love our new lives and we are so excited to watch Jonah grow and develop. We are just grateful that we're the ones who get to raise him.

he is here!

Introducing

Jonah Scott Russell

August 23, 2008

3:33 pm

7 lbs.

20 inches

We couldn't be happier!

More pictures later...

sick of this part

I have had a couple requests for pictures of my belly, but I always find excuses to not take pictures of myself. I'm either too busy to think about it and when I'm not busy I usually don't look photo-worthy. Tonight was one of the non-cute-looking nights. So I will try to look cute tomorrow and post a picture. Actually, I should be really busy because I have a ten page paper due on Saturday that is not even half way finished, but I'm having a hard time staying focused and writing what I want to write.

Anyway, here's an update for you: I'm sick of being pregnant.

If you were to ask me in each trimester how I was feeling, this is how it would go:

First trimester - "I feel sick and tired and I don't have energy to do anything. But mostly good." Not much to say here mostly because I can't even remember the first trimester. It seems like that was ages ago.

Second trimester - "I feel AWESOME!" (I remember telling Scott once that I could be pregnant forever if this is how it was going to be.) The second trimester is seriously the best. Not too big but people can see your belly, still able to move around comfortably, still able to sleep through the night without waking up to go potty. I sometimes wish I was back in those days, but then that would mean that I would have to endure the third trimester again. So I take that back.

Third trimester - "This is horrible." Actually, I really tell people that I'm feeling great, but that's not the truth. Everything is so much harder. Little things like putting on my pants in the morning or shaving my legs have become almost impossible. Plus I don't get much sleep because of my constantly full bladder. Sometimes I even have to have Scott push me out of bed in the morning. Braxton Hicks contractions are seriously annoying and probably the only good thing about this trimester is that it means I'm almost done! That and feeling the baby kick. That never gets old, even when his head hits my bladder or he gives a little kick to my ribs.

I am just mentally ready to have this baby, even though realistically we're not. We still have a lot to do before he comes, so I'm hoping he'll hold out for a few more weeks. But that may not be the case because I went to the doctor today and my blood pressure is a teeny bit high. So if it's too high when I go in next week, I'll have to be induced early. Even though I'm not dilated one half of a centimeter or thinned out at all (which was kind of disappointing). So for now, I'm just kind of trying to take it easy and drinks lots of water so my feet don't swell like they did that one time you all remember (luckily they haven't since then).

Anyway, I will try to look cute tomorrow and post a picture of my belly for you all to see. It's getting pretty huge! Someone said to me the other day, "I just don't know how your belly is going to get any bigger!" Thanks, but even though I'm pregnant and supposed to look like that, I'm still sensitive to comments about my body looking massive. It doesn't help either when people say, "Well you're supposed to gain weight. You're pregnant!" I now know never to say those kinds of things to a pregnant woman because she is even more hormonal and crazy-emotional than before (if you thought that was possible).

a funny story

So sorry for the vacation I have taken from blogging. I have been somewhat uninspired lately. Anyway, I thought of a funny story that happened a few weeks ago that you may (or may not) enjoy.

Scott has always been really complimentary of me. He always tells me when he thinks I look nice or when he likes my dinners. He would never tell me that I looked ugly or fat, and honestly I don't think he would ever think that. He's just great. Sometimes he "helps" me if my mascara is all over my face or if my hair is messed up. A few weeks ago, we were headed to dinner at his parents' and I was freshening up. I decided I didn't like how my hair was done so I thought I'd fix it up in a side-pony. Keep in mind that I'm not a frequent wearer of the side-pony. I finished my freshening up and we got in the car to go to dinner. We were driving up the street when Scott looked over at me and said in a very soft and nice voice, "honey, I think your ponytail is favoring the left side of your head." I just thought it was funny how he tried to use the kindest words possible to tell me that my ponytail looked pretty horrible. I explained to him that it was supposed to favor the left side of my head because it was a side-pony. Needless to say, I probably won't be wearing the side-pony very often because I guess men don't understand the concept of the ponytail "favoring" one side of your head over the other. Just a warning to all you women out there.

triathlon number one

Scott successfully completed his first triathlon last Saturday and despite being really tired, we all had a good time. Kyle and Jamie were really nice to let us sleep at their apartment on Friday night so we didn't have to wake up extra early to make the drive to Provo on Saturday morning.

Scott and Kerri both did well for their first triathlon. Lorie and I were proud of both of them for finishing because it honestly looked hard. We were glad that they didn't drown, get in a five-bike pileup, or pass out from running in the heat. Here are some pictures from the event:

Before the race. They had no idea what was really in store for them.

Scott wouldn't let me post any swimming pictures of him, but this is my favorite of Kerri. She said that the swimming was the closest she has ever come to drowning. When she got close to the end, she just kind of doggy-paddled the rest of the way.

Scott on his trusty mountain bike. Although it is trusty, he will NOT be using it for the next triathlon. He could have shaved off a lot of time with a road bike. He may look happy in this picture, but he really wasn't.

When Kerri passed us on her bike, she said, "I have to pee!" And not very quietly.

Scott running by. He's too cool and focused to smile for the camera here.

And they're finished! Don't they look good for just having completed a triathlon?

So it was a great learning experience for Scott and he's looking forward to his next one on July 12. This one is in a pool, so no getting kicked in the head for him. And Kerri isn't doing this one, so she won't get run up the middle by an old man while swimming. Good job guys!

hello

So I guess it is time for me to be a better blogger. I don't really have any excuses. I can't say we have been busy...because we have definitely been busier. I think it's just that thing we call laziness. Here is an update.

I went to the doctor today. I'm now twenty eight weeks and feeling great. Everything looks good so far and I am just counting myself really lucky that we haven't had any major problems so far. Besides a little traumatic experience a couple weeks ago and a back ache every hour of the day, this pregnancy has been easy! We're now officially in the home stretch and I can't really imagine how I'm going to get much bigger. I feel pretty huge. Maybe I'll post a picture sometime.

Scott has his first triathlon this Saturday. I'm excited for him because he's been training pretty much every day for the past two or three months. He will do just fine. So everyone wish him luck and we're hoping that he doesn't drown in Utah Lake. Oh wait, is that possible? I think the deepest point of that lake is two feet. Right?

I had my twenty-first birthday a few weeks ago. How exciting! Yeah, I know I'm young to be married and six point five months pregnant, but I do things my way. So there. Anyway, it was a lovely day. My favorite present was something I still haven't received. I found out that Coldplay is coming in November and I've always said that if I had to die to go to any concert, it would be a Coldplay concert. So whenever the Energy Solutions Arena decides they want to start selling tickets, I'll be in line for sure. Oh and Scott also gave me their new album which arrived in the mail today, which I'm listening to right now. So far, so good.

Anyway, I think that's it for now. Scott and I are just living the dream as they say. Life is good and we can't complain about much of anything besides gas prices, and still we don't complain too much because it won't get us anywhere.

happy father's day

Just wanted to give a little shout out to my husband who is two-thirds of the way to being a father. So I think it counts to wish him a happy father's day. I am really blessed to have him as a husband and I know that he's going to be an excellent father. He is pretty ecstatic that he'll be one in less than three months. He'll probably freak out once he sees that I wrote even four sentences about him on the blog, so I'm stopping here. Except for that Tarisa tagged me and I'm going to do it about Scott instead. Here you go:

Four places he goes over and over:

• Work. He is such a hard worker and he hardly ever complains which I know is hard for him because it's hard for him to go to a job that he doesn't really want to have for a career.


• The golf course. He loves to golf and feels that it is necessary to go at least once a week because "it will help him in his professional life."


• The gym. He has his first triathlon on Saturday and I am really proud of him for working so hard to complete his goal.


• Home. He likes to be at home with me...most of the time...besides when he's golfing.

Four places he likes to eat:

• Miramar. It's this awesome ghetto Mexican restaurant that his family loves. It's one of my favorites too.


• Pappa's. He LOVES MEAT. Pappa's is another great ghetto steak house that is one of his favorites when he can't bum a quality T-Bone at Ruth's Chris off his dad.


• Happy Sumo. Scott can be a picky eater about some things, but he sure loves him some sushi. He introduced me to sushi and I love it as well. He'll eat anything they put in front of him which is crazy. I have my limits.


• Home. He loves my cooking! I love that he loves it. It makes me feel good about myself.

Four places he would like to be right now:

• On a cruise. He's a cruiser for sure and would kill to go on one at any minute.


• Anywhere but Utah. It's either too cold or too hot for him. I agree. This winter was unbelievable!


• Not at work. Every Sunday night he says, "I would pay anyone $100 if I didn't have to go to work tomorrow." He loves the weekends.


• On vacation anywhere. He loves to travel. He's also fun to travel with because he's up for anything. We've had some fun traveling adventures.

Four TV shows he enjoys:

• American Idol. I introduced him to it and he was a total David Archuleta fan this year.


• The Law and Order franchise. I also turned him on to Law and Order. I can guarantee you that there is always an episode of Law and Order on at any given time of the day. It's great.


• Anything that has to do with football, basketball, baseball, or golf. He loves to watch sports. Just like any other guy.


• I think he really likes the Discovery channel. He enjoys Deadliest Catch and Man vs. Wild. Those are also on all the time.

Four books he has enjoyed (this one was kind of hard for me and I'm pretty much guessing on all of them except the first):

• The Godfather. His all-time favorite book. If you know Scott, it totally fits. And he will tell you that the book is a thousand times better than the movie...not that he's seen the movie...


• The DaVinci Code. Probably mostly because it didn't take very long to read.


• I think one of his favorite childhood books was Where the Red Fern Grows. Which is cool because that was the first book I cried in.


• He'd probably say the Book of Mormon. And not just to make himself look good.

So there you have it. He's a pretty cool guy, isn't he? I sure love him and I can guarantee that he'll be a great father. So happy father's day baby!

california dreamin

So last week we took a trip to California with my family. We spent four days in the sun and we had an awesome time. It was a nice little getaway. Here's a rundown of what we did:

Day One - Disneyland

We all had a good time at Disneyland. I sat out on most of the rides and was sort of disappointed every time I walked up to a ride and the sign said "not recommended for expectant mothers" with a picture of a pregnant woman and a big red circle with an X through it, like "going on this ride is as bad as smoking." Oh well, I'd rather be pregnant than be able to ride the rides at Disneyland.

The big kids outside of Indiana Jones - the best ride at Disneyland

Scott, Thomas, Will, and Meg with Buzz Lightyear

Tom waiting for Jedi training. He is a Star Wars FREAK! But not as freaky as the kid sitting to the right of him. This kid came dressed for the occasion and Tom kept staring at him like he was nuts. We were laughing pretty hard at the faces Thomas was making at the nerd.

Libby LOVES Scott. In fact, all my brothers and sisters love him. It's more of an obsession and I think Scott was glad to get some alone time when we got home. But I love that they adore him.

Scott's other best friend - Will. Will would not leave Scott alone and I had to lecture him a couple times about coming into our bedroom before knocking. He just had to know what Scott was doing at all times.

My mom is so cool.

The always-beautiful Lauren. Here she is either saying "No pictures please." or "Talk to the hand because I miss Brandon." One night while shopping she told Meg that she needed to get home because she had to make a phone call. Like we didn't know who that phone call was going to be to.

Scott and me getting ready to enter the Haunted Mansion. It was one of the three rides I went on. The other two were Pirates of the Caribbean and Finding Nemo. FUN HUH? And yes, I am that pale. Sorry if any of you are blinded.

Mom, Meg, Libby, and Tom on the Teacups - the second best ride at Disneyland.

Day Two - Universal Studios

I don't have many pictures of Universal but it was still just as fun. It was not crowded at all so everyone rode The Mummy and Jurassic Park at least three times. Libby and I became best friends while we sat out of these fun rides. We all went on the studio tour, which is the best part anyway.

This is how Libby felt about being left out. Just kidding, she was actually quite happy because when everyone went on the rides, my dad always slipped me some cash to get treats. He did this because Libby is his favorite youngest daugher and I am his favorite oldest daughter (and he felt bad that I had to sit there and babysit while everyone else had fun). He's the best.

Day Three - the beach

We stayed in a house on Hermosa Beach and boy was it awesome! The house was really nice and the beach was beautiful. The waves were big enough to be fun. We rented some boogie boards and everyone caught some good waves.

Libby having the time of her life.

Some of the kids laughing at Tom after he was taken out by a huge wave.

Libby was so excited to find sea shells. She found some pretty neat ones.

Libby again. Sorry, but I just love her so much.

Two beautiful beach babes. After some hard core boogie boarding, Emma lost the big yellow bow on her swimsuit. Sad huh? It's a cute swim suit!

And you can't leave the beach without burying at least one person in the sand.

Day Four - California Adventure or the worst day of my life so far.

Just kidding, it wasn't THAT bad. But it was pretty bad. It was 94 degrees and California Adventure is pretty much all outside. At Disneyland they have gift shops right outside of all the exits, so I would just go chill inside the nice air conditioned building. But this was not so at California Adventure. It was hard. I got really ornery and was only happy after I had eaten a good meal in an air conditioned restaurant and basically you will see later in the post what the effects of the heat had on my pregnant body.

This is actually at Disneyland on the train. We went back to Disneyland after the lines at California Adventure were 70 minutes long. Totally not worth it to stand in a line for 70 minutes in 94 degree weather.

This is Libcorn from Cornis (she made that up herself).

On the way home from California Adventure we decided to drive down to Huntington Beach (which is amazing by the way) and then take the Pacific Coast Highway back to the house. I guess Emma got a craving for popcorn, so we stopped at a movie theater and bought her some popcorn. Libby spent the next two hours crafting this hat from the popcorn bag and when we stopped at a grocery store, this is what we saw. We asked her what her name was and where she was from and she said that she was Libcorn from Cornis. That weekend she was also Wigglytooth from Toothville because she got her first loose tooth, which by the way was one of her favorite parts of the trip. Funny what kids think is entertaining. She is such a goofball sometimes and I just love it.

Driving on the PCH was beautiful when we were in Orange County and once we got to Los Angeles County, it just got really ugly. I'm never living in Los Angeles or the vicinity. It's just not very attractive and when we got home I was really grateful to live in such a beautiful, clean place.

So this is what happened to my body when I spent the day walking in really hot weather being pregnant:

Not too bad when you're looking at them from an angle and they're being raised in the air. But you can definitely tell the left foot is retaining a little bit of water.

But this is what they look like from straight-on. GROSS HUH? I'm okay with you laughing at them. I actually laugh really hard every time I see this picture.

So what it boils down to is that I'm not looking forward to the summer. This was not cool. Luckily they have gone back down to their normal size. When we got home Sunday morning, I ran immediately to the bedroom, grabbed three pillows, placed them on the couch in the comfy corner, laid down with my feet elevated, and didn't get up for probably six or seven or eight hours. It was really cool to have an excuse to lie there ALL DAY LONG.

So all together, we had an awesome trip. We seriously love my family so much and we were so glad to get to spend a couple days with them. We were DEFINITELY ready for some quiet time when the trip was over though. Thanks to Mom and Dad for making it happen!

a green thumb?

This was my special little crafty project today and I think it turned out pretty cute, it being my first successful attempt at planting a pot. I say first successful attempt because last year Scott and I planted a pot for his mom for Mothers' Day and it was pretty much a disaster. It probably didn't work out because we chose some really strange flowers that mostly were supposed to bloom in the late summer (not good for a pot you want your mother to enjoy on Mothers' Day in early May). So anyway, I'm hoping they don't die or anything because I really had fun picking out the flowers and planting them. While I was planting these works of art Scott enjoyed working in the yard with Grandpa. I hear he's really pumped to do all the yard work this summer since I won't be able to help much (yes!) with a baby in the oven. Taking care of Grandpa's yard is really a piece of cake...

so i guess i'm awesome

88 words

Speed test

Since this is sort of my journal, I thought it would be a good idea to post my time for all my posterity to see. Can anybody beat me?

double date

I have a love-hate relationship with bowling. On one hand, it's a fun activity and usually the people you go with aren't very good either, so it doesn't matter when you bowl a 55. On the other hand, it hurts my fingers, I can't aim very well so it's not surprising that I bowl 55s quite often, and the shoes are nasty. So we go anyway mostly because it's pretty fun.



We had a good time last Friday with my sister Lauren and her boyfriend (yeah, that is Brandon that you see there. Weird huh? I went to high school with that kid!). We got some yummy sandwiches, soups, and salads at Paradise and then hit up Orchard Bowl. I think Lauren won one game and Scott won the other, but of course it doesn't matter what my score was. I didn't get any good action shots, but here are some pictures of the happy couples.

Um, yeah, I've gained weight. So what?

Brandon is so excited to be there!

So the night wasn't awkward at all until about thirty minutes into it when Scott asked Lauren if she was excited to be an aunt. She, of course, said "Yeah!" And then, yes then, Scott asked Brandon if he was excited to be an uncle. I about fell out of my chair and I couldn't figure out if Brandon was embarrased or mad. I don't think he was mad, but I felt bad for him. Scott says he just has to give him a hard time, which is understandable because he got a lot of crap while we were dating. I feel bad for my four sisters who are going to have to go through this everytime they seriously date someone. It definitely makes things interesting!