Musings on life, parenting, Jesus, and more...

For those of you who aren't aware of my work situation these days, I've been able to stay home with Jenica full time and still do a little part-time work with out having to worry about child care. Jenica gets to come to the office with me. I work one or two mornings a week at Hilltop Tax Service, which is conveniently located only a couple blocks from our house and I also spend about half a day a week at Rob's office doing bookkeeping for them. Jenica thinks it's fun to see her dad at the office once and a while and at our last visit, she even got a quick ping pong lesson during his lunch break. We feel very blessed to have such flexible employers.

We had a great time with the Bachelders (Rob's dad, step-mom, brother and sister) on Christmas day. Here Jenica is modeling one of her gifts from Grandma and Grandpa (a onesie that says, "Who needs Santa, I've got grandparents!") She also got some cute red leggings, a soft pink sweatshirt, some new socks, and a cuddly teddy bear. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa! Oh, and they gave mom and dad a "date night"... A gift certificate to Regal Cinemas with babysitting included :) That will be a treat! Plus, Aunt Amy has offered up her babysitting services for free anytime we like. Jenica already likes her Aunt Amy a lot, she gets the biggest smiles for her and even some little giggles. We had a delicious holiday meal, complete with jello cake (Dan's mom's family recipe) which I had never had before but thought it was so yummy I had to go back for seconds, and then we taught the family how to play Settlers of Catan...so now they'll know what we're talking...

Jenica, Rob and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Jenica would like to give a shout out to all her loyal followers and say thank you for making her first Christmas the very best ever. Cousin Kayla went all out and got her about 7 or 8 new toys to play with. She loves some of them already, especially the little slippers that make noise when she kicks her feet. Grammy got her a pretty bracelet (she loves the bling, ya know) and sent along a dress that Shay's Grammy made for her when she was one (pictured above). She also got Jenica her very own kid size rocking chair, which Rob is excited to assemble later. In her stocking she got some fun new socks and a teether toy from Santa and Grandma Judy and Grandpa Arlo got her a pretty stuffed animal. Grandpa Ken's gift, a video camera, isn't really for her to play with but will still be all about her in the years to come as we make fun videos of her to share with you all. Well, it's only 1:00 and we still have more Chris...

We woke up this morning to about 3 inches of snow on the ground and it was still coming down. I just had to post this picture because it makes me laugh. It certainly makes the weather look much more treacherous than it really was, although by the end of the day driving conditions were starting to get a little harry. We'll see what tomorrow brings, but the weather man is saying below freezing temperatures for the next couple days. I love snow, of course, being a North Idaho gal and all...plus we have our annual New Years Day snow shoeing trip coming up so we've been praying for the white stuff to start falling. Hopefully though, Rob can work from home tomorrow so he doesn't have to try to drive with all those other native Portlanders out there who aren't use to driving in the snow. As usual you can check out more pictures on facebook if your interested.

Jenica had her first picture with Santa today. The office I work at part-time does a canned food drive every year and offers free pictures with Santa with a donation. Jenica got to be the very first to sit on Santa's lap this morning before he opened to the general public. She's really the perfect age for a cute picture with Santa since she's big enough to sit up in his lap but not so big that he scares her. She was actually pretty indifferent to the whole occasion and since it was past her nap time we didn't get any adorable smiles out of her, but it was still fun. My co-worker Shannon's daughters were elves so we had to have Jenica's picture taken with them too. Sooo cute!

We have so many things to be thankful this year, especially our wonderful family! We spent Saturday at my sisters new "farm" in Port Orchard, Washington celebrating Thanksgiving with the Bedients, as well as my dad, mom and her husband John. It was great to have everyone together, even if just for an afternoon. The food was delicious (thanks Rhianna!) and there were lots of great photo opp's with the cousins, the kittens, and the goats. We made holiday wreaths, watched football, and even squeezed in a game of Settlers. Who could ask for a better Thanksgiving?

The weather here has been amazing these last few days; Beautiful sunshine with hardly a cloud in the sky, so yesterday we decided to head into the Columbia River Gorge for a little hiking. Jenica got all bundled up in her very own Columbia jacket. It was a little big but kept her warm none the less. She slept through the whole first half of the hike while Rob packed her in the front pack, then she woke up for the way back so we turned her around so she could see what was going on and she was a happy girl the whole way back. We feel so blessed to live in such a beautiful part of the world!

My best friend Joi came all the way from Las Vegas to visit us last week and meet little Jenica for the first time. It was so good to have her here, especially since Rob was away hunting for most of the week. We had fun relaxing, watching Office re-runs, playing Settlers of Catan, and of course playing with Jena. We're so glad you could come Auntie Joi. Come back anytime!

Jenica's daddy is off elk hunting this week in Eastern Oregon with a group of guys from our church. He left early Tuesday morning, so he made sure to get lots of cuddle time in with Jenica on Monday night. I'm sure he's missing us bunches (especially since he has to sleep on a cot in a tent in chilly fall weather while we stay in our nice cozy house) but we are missing him lots too! I've already had to kill two spiders on my own...YUCK! We're hoping you come home with a dead animal in your truck daddy...but if not, just have fun looking for them and spending time in the beautiful Oregon wilderness. We love you!

Jenica loves to have Tummy Time! This is probably one of the reasons that her head is so strong already. At least once a day she spends 10 - 15 minutes on this cute mat that Wayne and Carol (friends from church) bought for her. It's perfect because I don't have to worry about getting the dog hair off the carpet before laying her down (a never ending task at my house for those of you who aren't familiar with our dog Kylo...he sheds more than any dog I've ever known). Rob likes the mat too because it has a measuring stick built in so he can check how long she's getting. I think at the last measure she was up to 22 inches. We visited some friends of ours last night who just had their little girl a week ago and were amazed at how big Jenica looks already compared to little Emilie. They really do grow up so fast!

Hi all- Its daddy writing again. We had the privilege of dedicating Jenica Renee to God this past Sunday in the presence of our family and friends. Our friend Kelly took some pictures for us so we can share the moment. Left to right we have Great Aunt Susan, Grandma Judy, Uncle Josh, Aunt Rhianna, Shay, Jenica, Rob, Grandma Kathy, Grandpa Dan, and Aunt Amy. The second picture has our pastors Gary Lee and Carolyn praying for her. Baby dedications are our way of committing Jenica's life to God at this early age. We hope that someday when she is old enough to understand, she will accept Jesus as her savior and choose to be baptized. Thank you to all of you who could be there with us on this special day. Jenica is very blessed to have such a wonderful family.

This picture was just too cute not to post. Seeing her smile is probably my favorite thing in life these day.

Jenica had lots of fun this weekend with her cousin Kayla! Rhianna and I bought them matching outfits and they looked adorable. However, imagine how hard it is to get a good picture of a newborn who can't sit up yet and a toddler who doesn't want to sit still. The girls (all four of us) got to hang out and play while Rob and Josh worked on an electrical project here at our house. Thanks for you help Josh! And thanks to all of you for being here for Jenica's dedication. I will post pictures of that special event later this week.

Today was a beautiful day here in the Northwest, so after church we headed out in search of a pumpkin patch so we could take some cute pictures of our little Jenica. After a scenic drive we ended up near Canby at the same pumpkin patch we visited 2 years ago, before Rob and I were married. You might remember seeing a picture of this on my Christmas card that year. Jena was such a trooper, allowing us to prop her up among the pumpkins. She actually seemed to enjoy the sunshine and although she slept through some of the photo shoot, she was still adorable none the less. I don't know what it is about kids and pumpkins that people find so adorabe, but the place was packed with families similar to ours, kids in tow, sporting their fancy camera's to take those adorable pictures of their little ones in the pumkin patch.

My very talented mother put together this slide show of Jenica's birth. What a great way for us to remember this special day! Thanks Mom!

We added Jenica's name to our family sign tonight. My dad made the Bachelders part as a wedding gift for us and brought the supplies to make Jenica's name while he's been over here working. He finished it the other day and after posing for photo opp's, her name now hangs outside our door as the newest addition to our family. Thanks Dad/Grandpa!

Little Jenica continues to just be a joy to us! She had a couple nights where she actually allowed us to sleep for 6 hours straight before waking up to eat. Her average is about 4 hours at night so I usually just have to get up once, which has been wonderful. I haven't really felt sleep deprived at all and have already started working again (very part-time - and she gets to come with me :). She seems to change so much every day. Sometimes I swear she looks different from the time I put her down for a nap to the time I get her up. She is truly a little miracle from God and we feel so blessed to have her as the newest addition to our family.

Jenica's week has just been full of excitement. She got to meet her Grandpa Casler for the first time this weekend and since he's over here working she gets to hang out with him every night after work. It's been a treat for all of us to have him here!

My mom just left today after a wonderful visit with her newest granddaughter. It was great to have her here. She brought Jena all kinds of wonderful presents, and we went shopping together to pick out some cute fall outfits for her - including the one she is wearing in this picture. It was such a treat to have her here, and I'm thankful for all her help while visiting. She was happy to burp and change baby Jenica after feedings, help out with laundry, cook meals for me, and even found time to do a little landscaping around our house. We were blessed with amazing weather so we got to take lots of fun walks together and enjoy the last bits of summer sunshine. This morning we all put on our matching pink and browns to take some pictures of the three generations of girls together. Come visit again soon Grammy!

Hi all- This is dad writing again. We had fun in our makeshift home studio this afternoon taking more pictures. This time we had extra lighting from our friend Bob D. (Thanks Bob!). And since it's a lot easier to upload a whole set of pictures to facebook then to the blog, I am just putting a sample here and going to attempt to put a link here for you all to follow to see the pictures on facebook. For those of you who already have facebook accounts this will be redundant, but here it goes:) Jenica at 17 days old Enjoy! -Dad, Mom and Jenica

It's been chilly enough here the last couple of days that Jenica has been able to wear some of her cute long sleeved outfits, including this adorable one that Joi picked out for her. Good thing we got pictures as soon as she put it on though because on our way to visit Shay's co-workers from Oak Brook, she spit up a little and the outfit had to be changed. Such is life.... Fortunately, spitting up isn't a regular occurrence for her but I'm still sure to carry extra outfits just in case.

We had Jenica's pictures taken at JCPenney on Saturday. They turned out absolutely adorable!

Things are going well at the Bachelder's house as we settle into our new role as parents and Jenica continues to adjust to life outside the womb. She came to church for the second time with us on Sunday and did wonderfully, sleeping through all the loudness of worship and service. She had her second doctor visit today and she is back to her birth weight of 7lbs 9 oz. She did really good today despite the prick in the heal she had to get from the nurse for the second part of her PKU test. She shouldn't have to go back now until she's two months old - by then it will be time for her first round of immunizations. She enjoys a little "tummy time" every day on the fun little mat that Wayne and Carol got for her (pictured below) - good practice at strengthening her neck and arm muscles - and continues to look cute in just about anything, especially the super cute hand-me-downs from her cousin Kayla. Thanks Cuz!

Jenica had her first real bath on Wednesday. She did really well and looked darn cute in her iddy biddy bath robe. Not the most functional piece of clothing for a newborn but great for photo's :)

Hard to believe that at 10:29 tomorrow morning Jenica will already be a week old. Time goes by so fast but we are trying to enjoy every minute of it, and of course document it with LOTS of photo's :). Today we had our first official "photo shoot" in our own makeshift portrait studio we set up in our home office. We don't have good lighting yet, but her pictures today still turned out super cute. Here's a couple and if you would like to see the rest and are not on facebook , let me know and I'll try to send you a link. Love you all!

Jenica had her first doctor visit yesterday and she's doing wonderfully. She's gained an ounce and a half since leaving the hospital and looks happy and healthy. There were no unpleasantries at this visit like shots or tests - those will be at her next check-up a week from now. We'll see how well mom deals with these, it's harder than I expected to hear her cry. We were able to take a short walk to visit co-workers (Shay's work is only 2 blocks away) who have been anxiously awaiting her arrival for months now and even made a quick stop at Fred Meyer to get some pictures printed for great-grandma in California. Last night went really well. She woke up about every 3 hours to eat and then went right back to sleep allowing mom and dad a very restful night. We just fall more in love with her every day!

Hi all, this is dad writing again. Jenica visited church for the first time today (well, yesterday. This message is getting posted a little late). The picture is of her and mom all decked out in their pink outfits ready to go. She got to meet lots of people who all told us she is adorable and made all sorts of comments about all her beautiful hair. The afternoon was a little more relaxed as going to church in the morning was kind of a big deal (she had never traveled that far before after all!). We did have some neighbors come by and see her for a few minutes, and dad made some chili for dinner, but other then that we just chilled out for the afternoon. Her cord fell off this evening which was kind of surprising being only 3 1/2 days old but it revealed a very cute belly button that just totally matches the rest of her. Tomorrow Jenica gets to go see Dr Resk for her first checkup already. Too much fun! Love- Jenica, Dad and Mom

Jenica got to see her new home for the first time today. We came home from the hospital about noon today and started to get settled in. She's still doing really well, sleeps alot, and got to meet Kylo for the first time today. Mom and Dad are doing great too and are looking forward to showing her off at church tomorrow. More pictures are posted on facebook if your interested. Love, The Bachelders