Thanksgiving and Christmas...

I decided I better get pictures and a little update posted on Thanksgiving and Christmas before the big 1st birthday next month!!! Still can't believe she will be a year next month. Once we made it through those first few months time just flew by! So our Thanksgiving and Christmas were awesome! We stayed home for both and it was so nice to be home on Christmas morning for Shaylee's first one. Shaylee is doing awesome. I am happy to report that she finally doesn't cry during bath time! Fingers crossed that it stays like that. We have had 3 straight bath times without crying. It sure makes it a whole lot easier! She also got her first hair cut last week! She got an inch taken off the top and probably 1.5-2 inches off the bottom. And she still has a ton of hair! How many 10 month old babies get hair cuts and get that much taken off and still have a ton?! Shaylee also took her first steps on December 21st. The day she got a new cousin! And if I remember correctly wasn't that the day the world was suppose to end? So I guess in a way it did for us! Although she hasn't really been interested in walking all that much. That is until this past week. She has really stepped it up and it taking a lot more steps. Her preferred mode of transportation is still crawling (or being carried in mommy's arms!) but I am pretty sure by her birthday it will be walking. She also LOVES horsey rides on her daddy's back! If he is home you can be guaranteed that she is patting him on the back trying to get a ride around the house. And you can tell the minute she gets taken off. She will cry and cry! Her daddy has even started galloping with her on his back and she loves that! We also went out on the first snow fall and Shem made a little snowman for Shaylee. Such a good daddy! Sorry for the short post but enjoy the pictures!

My 1st Thanksgiving. Bring on the turkey!

Little snowman and Shaylee.

She loves her horsey rides!

Shaylee's first Christmas ornament.

So cute in her piggy tails!

After her first haircut!

Look at all that hair!

10 months old already!

So true...

Going to church in our new Christmas dresses. At least the girls are!

Aren't I so cute?!

New BSU pillowcase for Shem.

Shaylee's Christmas Eve pajamas. Pink BSU ones of course.

Christmas Eve pajamas from Grandma and Grandpa Wagoner

Santa found us!

Christmas morning and all ready to open some presents.

Cool toy from Grandma and Grandpa Purnell.

New toys!!

Shaylee's mitten. Didn't it turn out awesome!

Some soft blocks to build things with.

A picture of the temple to hang in her room.

The cool toy Santa brought Shaylee. She loves this thing!

What did Santa bring??

She will walk all over the house with this thing.

Good news, an unplanned trip to the ER and Halloween

It has been an eventful couple of weeks around our house. We have had our ups and downs but have been blessed tremendously. To start off we'd like to share our good news and wonderful blessing that we have received. Many of you know we have been searching for employment for Shem since before he graduated from BSU. We were blessed to have his employment at BSU as a research assistant being carried on through the summer. He was suppose to be done when he graduated but his boss asked him to stay on to finish up a few projects. That was such a blessing for us. Shem could still work and look for full time employment. Well things have been getting quite stressful and worrisome around here with no employment. But I am happy to report that Shem was offered an internship and started this past Monday! His brother had been interning but was offered a full time position and recommended Shem and so we went through the interview process and here we are. A paid internship. We are so grateful for this opportunity. We feel very blessed and grateful to have been offered this opportunity. We are also grateful for Shem's brother in recommending him and putting in a good word for him. We are thankful for him and his family and the blessing they were in helping us find employment! And having a source of income couldn't have come at a better time. 3 weeks ago we were watching my 2 nephews and they were playing a game of Uno with Shem at our kitchen table while I had my visiting teachers over. All of a sudden there was this loud crash and I looked over at the table because it sounded like something had fallen on it. Well from what I could see everything look normal. Then Shem held up his arm and said look. Well I didn't have my glasses on and from what I could tell he got a little scratch. Then I heard one of my visiting teachers says "That's a huge gash!" So I got up and looked closer and yes indeed it was a huge gash! I almost fainted from looking at it. So I ran to get some shoes on and my Shem was telling me he needed a towel. So I came back in to the kitchen to get him a towel and he was standing over the sink to let the blood drip in there when all of a sudden he passed out. Thank goodness myself and one of my visiting teachers were right there. We caught him and were able to lay him down the kitchen floor. And then I went into panic mode. For those of you who don't know, Shem had a blood disorder when he was little and his blood did not clot. He hasn't had any problems in years but you know you never know when it will come back. So needless to say panic mode hit me pretty hard. I got my phone and called 911 because there was no way were going to get him into my car. Luckily after I called he woke up. So we wrapped the towel around his wound and  I rushed him down to the ER which is just a quarter of a mile away. My visiting teachers stayed with my 2 nephews and Shaylee and even cleaned up pretty much all of the mess. Shem ended up needing x-rays just to make sure there was no glass hiding anywhere. The doctor said that he was very lucky he did not cut a joint or an artery. So we spent the next 90 minutes in the ER waiting on x-rays and getting Shem stitched up. It was a 5 cm gash that took 10 stitches to close up. And the cut is just below his elbow and so the stitches had to stay in longer then they thought since every time he bent his elbow it would stretch the wound. But I am happy to report that the stitches are all out! I think they might have taken them out a little early still but what do I know. I am not a health professional. He is going to have a really nasty scare but I am just thankful that is all. We were very blessed to only have needed stitches. I know that it could have been much much worse.

On a lighter note...we got to celebrate Shaylee's first Halloween! We dressed her up and took down to my dads office and then we went over to my parents house. Whenever anyone would ask what she was going to be for Halloween and I told them a chicken they would laugh! Hey it was a free costume and a broke unemployed family it was wonderful! I think she looked adorable in it. I am excited for next year when Shaylee has a little bit better of an understanding as to what is going. But we still had fun with her. We are looking forward to her first Thanksgiving next week and I am SUPER excited for her first Christmas. I LOVE Christmas and it is going to be fun to have a little baby around this year. I went to my sister house today to make her mitten and although I haven't seen the final product, from what I did see it is way cute! I am super excited about it!

Shaylee also got to go on her first horse ride! Shem said that she did very well. Didn't act nervous at all. Her mom sure was while I watched them! That is a big animal for my tiny little girl. But she did great. She does get a little nervous when we are standing by her so I guess she does have a little bit of her mom in her!

Enjoy the pictures. I will put out there that there is a picture of Shem's arm so don't blame me about not warning you!

I love my pig tails!

Shaylee's silly face pumpkin.

Our pumpkins!

Horse ride with daddy!

What did my parents dress me in?!

I am one cute chick!

Happy Halloween!

The wound...

So happy to be 8 months old!

This is what Shaylee's hair looked like after we took her "Pebbles" ponytail out. Can you say Lyle Lovett?!

Happenings

I thought I'd better post a little update. I don't know where the time has gone but summer is over and my little baby is already 7 months! All those sleepless nights at the beginning I never thought we'd ever get here but we finally did! I am happy to report that Shaylee is sleeping about 11-12 hours at night! YEA!!! It is so nice to be able to get a full nights sleep uninterrupted. Our little girl is just growing up so fast. At her 6 month check up last month she weighed 13 lbs 8 oz. (10th percentile) and was 25 inches tall (13th percentile) and her head measured in at 17.1 inches (82nd percentile). She is moving all over the place! She is scooting all over the place. She will occasionally crawl on all 4s on the carpet but she mainly just does it in the kitchen. I don't know if she doesn't like the feel of the carpet when she crawls on all on 4s but I would think that would be better than dragging your legs across it. We have to make sure she has pants on so that she doesn't get carpet burn! She is pulling herself to stand. She uses everything! She is such a strong little girl. Her new favorite thing to do is to pull her up using the TV entertainment center and play with the TV. We have to keep a very close on her and get after her for that. We don't want to become a habit but it is hard keeping her away. She still enjoys all of her food except for carrots. We introduced avocado and she did not like it at first but now she really likes it. I also started making my own baby food and I love it! Shem thinks I am a nerd because of how excited I was when I started. It is so easy and so much cheaper. I got a Baby Bullet from a baby shower and I have definitely put it to good use.

We are still on the job hunt for Shem. We are praying that something will come soon. He keeps looking and applying to jobs daily and we keep praying that something will come soon. We have been blessed to have kept Shem's job from when he was going to school as a research assistant. His boss was generous enough to keep on us and with a pay raise. That will be ending this week though. But we are so thankful for the blessing of employment for this long. As for me I am loving being at home with Shaylee. Shem and I were talking last night and we just couldn't imagine our lives without her. I officially felt like a parent after we had that conversation! We love listening to her little noises and seeing her silly faces! When Shem does get a job it will be very hard for him to be away from her all day. But he will just have to adjust! I am very blessed to be home with her and to watch her learn and development. She is a very lovable little girl and we are blessed to be her parents.

We were able to go on a little family trip this summer. My parents went up to Sun Valley for a couple days to their time-share and invited us along. It was fun to be able to go on a little trip and get away. This was Shaylee's first trip away and she did awesome. She slept great in the pack-n-play and slept for most of the way up and back home. She does not enjoy being her carseat for extended amounts of time but she did pretty good.

We had family pictures done on both sides this summer so I added pictures of both. The Purnell reunion that we were in charge of went off pretty well I think. I am just thankful it is over and that we are not in-charge again until 2020! It was hard having a little baby and being in charge. Especially since Shem's sister that was in charge with us also had a little baby. Shaylee didn't get to see her parents much but she sure had a lot of Aunts/Uncles/cousins and a Grandma and Grandpa who got to spoil her lots. It will be nice to not have any little babies next time we will be in-charge. Because we definitely will be done having kids by then! Here are some pictures from the summer. Sorry there are a lot. It is just so hard to only pick a couple!

Our little family

The Wagoner Family

The Purnell Family

Her cool new toy!

She loves standing up!

7 months old!

Walking around Sun Valley

Look how tiny she looks in the giant chair!

All of us in the giant chair

Sitting on the tractor waiting to go have breakfast

The giant moose with roller blades

Getting ready to watch the first BSU game

BFF's Shaylee and Katlyn

She is just like her daddy.

Look what I can do mom!

First time eating in a high chair. She is wearing the bib her mommy wore when she was a baby.

She fell asleep like this! Using her bumper pad as a pillow!