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

Jenica's Ballet Recital

Click on the link below to see a cute review of our year in pictures :) It was a year full of change and newness for the Bachelders and we loved EVERY minute of it (well, except for the sleepless nights with a newborn and moving with a 3 week old!) But we wouldn't trade any of it for the world! We are BLESSED! 2011

These pictures are a tad bit old, but back at the beginning of the month, my girls were exactly 3 years old, and 3 months old! Seems like everything happens a little late around here these days though, including Jenica's birthday party, which wasn't until this last weekend... but you'll have to wait another bit to hear about that shin-dig! For now, here's a couple pictures of my cute little 3's :)  

I finally got some updated pictures posted at the bottom of the blog in my little comparison section. Tenley looks less and less like her sister the older she gets although it's still obvious that they are both Bachelders! My mom says Tenley looks a lot like me as a baby and she is also following in my tradition of loosing her hair from the forehead back. It started out with a little bit of a receding hair line like her Daddy but now she is approaching full blown baldness in the front, hence the addition of cute headbands and flowers. I'm actually kind of excited about the headbands since Jenica had so much hair that they didn't really work for her. She needed pig tails at 3 months old I think! We are getting ready to head to San Diego for a few days for my Grandma's memorial service and some fun visiting time with family. Jenica is excited to fly on an airplane again and we are hoping all goes well with our travels. You sure need a lot of stuff when traveling with t...

Wow! The first month of Tenley's life has flown by! We found out the day before she was born that the bank accepted the offer we made on a house back in January so the next 3 weeks were a whirlwind of securing financing, packing, moving and getting our old house ready to rent out. All that and taking care of a newborn. So now, between taking care of two kids and trying to get our new house unpacked and in order, I obviously haven't had much time for blogging, but I wanted to at least get an updated picture posted. Tenley is Ms. Serious most of the time, but just recently she's started showing us some smiles. Can't wait for more of those - they just melt this mamma's heart :)

Tenley Rhiann Bachelder was born at 1:52pm on Friday June 3rd to proud parents Shay & Robert Bachelder. She weighed 8lbs 1/2 once and measured 19inches long. All are doing great!

Well, my due date has come and gone. Yesterday was rough but I'm doing better today, in part because we finally got some good news about the house we've been trying to buy since January. I honestly just never thought I would have this baby LATE, especially after Jenica was born a day early, but I guess every baby is different and I will know next time (if there is a next time) not to get my hopes up and just be content with whatever Gods plan is. But all that aside, she can come anytime... really! It's not that I'm terribly uncomfortable. I definitely recommend staying in shape and active during pregnancy, now having done it both ways, this pregnancy has been much easier and more enjoyable. But, it's also that much harder to not be able to do the things that I have become so use to doing (running for example... I can maybe do a block at a time now but even that is uncomfortable and I miss it!) I also miss taking pictures. I did a shoot with Jenica in the studio thi...

We pre-registered at the birth center today and thanks to a very helpful friend of mine our hospital bags are packed, so this little bundle of joy can arrive ANYTIME! I had to share the list she made for me because, well, besides being pretty darn helpful, it's also stinkin' hilarious! Needless to say, Rob was pretty disappointed to have to leave his guns behind (totally joking) and who doesn't like to bring lots of cash when they are going to have a baby (huh?) but with my jeggings and my assortment of chocolate, I think I should be just fine!   WHAT TO BRING: Camera Jeggings (comfy, yet fashionable!) Snacks Nursing bra, pads Maternity underpants (I don't think they let you leave unless you're wearing them. Pretty sure.) Milk Chocolate Dark chocolate, in case you don't feel like milk chocolate White chocolate, in case you don't feel like milk chocolate or dark chocolate Photos of your other child (Okay, I totally stole this from BabyCenter.com) Going hom...

Happy Birthday Joi! I know our 32nd years together are going to be GREAT! Especially since you'll be back here in Oregon in less than 2 months! Maybe we'll have to have a "Big Hair" night out on the town :)

Just for the record, the "running" that Rob refers to in this weeks post consists of a mile or two a week - nothing substantial. I just said early on in the pregnancy that I was going to try to run 1 mile a week, that way I could "say" that I ran through the whole pregnancy. So far I've been able to do it (with the help of a handy dandy maternity support belt!) Only 5 weeks left (at the most!) Like Rob said, we're totally fine if she wants to come a week or two early :)

Oh how I love this girl of mine! She's growing up so fast and is going to make the best big sister, I can just feel it! She is certainly wearing out this pregnant mama though! I keep joking that being at home with her this last week and a half has been MUCH harder work that going to the office every day was. But I wouldn't trade it for the world. I'm really trying to enjoy and cherish these last moments I will ever have with her as my only child. It's so fun to see her personality growing and developing. She can be so sweet and thoughtful at times, and other times so silly that I can't help but giggle with her. My absolute favorite thing that she does right now is to spontaneously tell me that she loves me. Then when I tell her I love her back, it turns into a little game where we each say "I love you" to each other a few times before she says in the cutest little 2 year old voice you've ever heard, "We love each other!" Although it comes ou...

The end is here! (Of tax season that is, not the pregnancy - thankfully - since that would be a tad early for my liking, as well as my doctors, I'm sure!) Time to readjust the schedule to being a stay at home mom and pack up all those cute (but sometimes uncomfortable) maternity work clothes and trade them on on some fun spring outfits. I'm sure the next 7 weeks are going to fly by as the weather gets nicer and my nesting instincts kick into high gear! I'm definitely looking forward to more family time though, and getting back in the habit of cooking dinner, and of course "doing laundry" with my adorable 2 year old! (If you missed last weeks facebook post, the thing that Jenica is most excited about with me being home with her again is doing laundry with me!) Happy Spring Everyone! I hope where ever you are, you got to enjoy some great weather this weekend! And as usual, thanks to my wonderful husband for narrating this weeks collage!

  You can listen along with Jenica to a recording Rob took of the baby's heartbeat. Funny story about heart beats, ever since Jenica got to come to the doctor with us and hear baby sisters heart beat, she now calls all heart SHAPES, heart beats. It's pretty cute, actually. She'll ask to wear her heart beat pajamas and around Valentine's Day she always wanted "heartbeats", the sweethearts heart shaped candies. On a totally unrelated note, I really wished that this post could have read something like... "Mom is 31, Jenica is 31 months and baby is 31 weeks, but alas, that would have been incorrect since I am now the ripe ol' age of 32! And so far being an "older" mom has not been treating me well in the pregnancy department as I'm sure you'll read all about in next weeks post, which should actually be appearing here sometime this weekend since this one is over a week late! Thanks for stopping by my blog and feel free ...

  I can hardly believe we actually have this weeks post done and posted in a timely fashion! I hit the 29 week mark on Wednesday and we got the pictures out of the way this evening so I wouldn't have to worry about it this weekend. After all, I'll be busy doing taxes and taking pictures for other people so better to have one less thing to worry about. Plus, I wanted to show off the fun new maternity style I'm trying after reading about it on another blog. Instead of wearing skirts around the waste, you pull them all the way up and wear them as dresses! Genius I tell you, and super cute with leggings and a jacket! I have about 3 that I can do this with so you may see it again before this little maternity series is done. Jenica and I got to go meet our friends' Jessica and Fabrice's new baby girl yesterday, and now, out of all my friends who are or were pregnant, I am the next one in line! So exciting! It was really fun to hold baby Jada and be reminded of what a mir...

Dear Baby, Your Daddy has been doing an excellent job of writing our weekly updates for the pictures we take, but I wanted to take a moment to share some of my thoughts as well. I'm excited to say that you are nearly 2/3 done with your time in my tummy! (That's about 66% for those of you who have noticed my fondness to percentages lately.) Despite all the changes, and yes, sometimes discomforts that pregnancy brings, I really do enjoy it for the most part. Right now, it's about 3am and I'm up because you are up. You usually decide to be the most active sometime in the middle of the night, which can make it hard to get a good nights sleep, but is also a great time for me to spend some quality time with you and the Lord. One of my favorite things to do right now is to get up and read my devotions and then just stare at my tummy as you toss and turn in there. I'm still in awe that another life has been created and will soon be born into our family. We are getting exc...

  Rob has been doing such a great job writing these little weekly updates (and I'm not just saying that because he said I looked cute this week!) I've had such an incredible birthday weekend, thanks to so many wonderful friends and family that we are SO INCREDIBLY BLESSED to have in our lives! My weekend started Friday night with a totally relaxing massage at Ellie's house and lots of fun girl time and laughter. Then, thanks to my boss miraculously giving me a Saturday off in February, I got to get a manicure and pedicure (also compliments of my lovely co-workers at Hilltop who got me a gift card to my favorite nail salon for my birthday - in addition to the giant chocolate cake on my desk Friday morning) and then get my hair done by the lovely Jessica Ewing. I came home to a dozen roses on the kitchen table and a surprise birthday gift from my husband. He had printed and framed pictures from a couple of the races I did last year, and then custom made hooks on the bottom o...

Well,  no fun collage this week but I did want to write a little post since we are at the half way point! This pregnancy has been so different from my last, partly because of timing I think, and partly because I have made an effort this time not to gain as much weight as I did last time. With Jenica, I think I gained a total of 50+ pounds and I really didn't want that to happen again this time around since it is so much work taking it all back off afterwords. Of course tax season is usually the worst time for weight gain for me since I can't make it to the gym as often and I don't eat the healthiest things - and that is still ahead of me in this pregnancy, but so far I've gained less than 10lbs and as you can see from pictures, last time was MUCH more! (You can see comparison pictures at the very bottom of the blog.) This little baby girl has also been much more active in my tummy than Jenica was and I wonder if that is related to the amount of activity I've been ge...