Emily Maureen Hendrickson

These are some of the newborn photos that we have of Emily.  This was our 3rd attempt to get photos of her.  She is 11 days old in these photos and she was a very uncooperative model.  She didn't want to be moved around, pooped and peed on all of the blankets and wanted to watch everything happening.  She just wants to know what is going on.  Disobedient from the beginning is what I am calling it, but she is beautiful.  More to come from the other photo shoots as soon as I have them...

Presenting...

Emily Maureen Hendrickson

Born on July 6th, 2013 at 7:52am

7 pounds 14.4 ounces

20.1 inches

Our little Emily is finally here.  I know that this is a bit late to post, but I am going to do it anyways.  We ended up with a July baby, even though our due date was June 28th.  This little one was 8 days late and arrived fast and furious.  

We went to the hospital about 4am.  They evaluated us and decided to let us stay an hour and see if I would progress enough to be admitted.  By 6am we were admitted, had a quick shower and then she was ready to make her appearance.  No time for the epidural that I wanted, but she got here anyways.

We were allowed to leave the hospital the next day, but spent 2 hours in the hospital room trying to give this little one a name.  I had thought that she would be Emily for some time, but wasn't convinced that it suited her.  We had figured she would get Juliana for a middle name, after Ryan's grandmother, but somehow decided that Maureen suited her better.

Gabriel is loving his little sister.  He gets up in the morning and calls "babies!" and goes looking for Emily.  He gives her lots of kisses on the head and pats her just like mom and dad do.  He has been really good and gentle with her so far.  Sometimes we have to remind him that he isn't allowed to pick her up and that he needs to be careful, but he is really good.  He will be 2 years old in Sept, so he is still little too, and BUSY!

So many other things to say, but so little time.  The rest will have to wait until the next chapter!

Jenn

Update is long overdue!

Hello Blog World,
It seems that an update is long overdue!  I keep telling myself that I will blog on Sunday afternoons, but somehow it never happens.  So much has happened since the last entry, I will try to briefly catch up...

I started back to work part time at the lab in September.  I have been working 2 days a week and trading childcare with our good friends, Carla and Josh Vold (& Hadley-1 week older than Gabriel).  I have to admit, I was a little nervous to have 2 kids only a year old, but I quickly realized that there wasn't that much difference and they have grown to play very well together and love spending time together.  They have become such good little friends and they are so nice to each other.

We are also expecting our second child.  The ultrasounds say that it is a girl, but I guess we will find out for sure when he/she arrives.  The expected date of arrival is June 28, 2013, however I keep telling myself to anticipate a July baby.  I am sure that she will come at just the right moment  :)

I have gradually started picking up a few more hours at work.  I started with just a couple days a month and now I am working 3-4 days a week, and should finish work in the next few weeks.  I quickly realized that I needed to work more hours at work to qualify for maternity benefits.  I need 600 hours (minimum) in the last 12 months to qualify.  If you don't have the hours, you don't get any of the benefits($).  Simple enough.  I am happy to report that I have qualified!  I can't express the relief that I feel, knowing that we will have some supplemental income while I am not working.  I am glad to live in Alberta that allows parents a full year, with benefits, to have time with their newborn!  How lucky are we?  You can't get that in California...

In the meantime, our little Gabriel is growing up.  He is getting to be a tall young man.  He is 19 months old now and he is an active little angel (most days).  He started walking just after his first birthday and we have been chasing him since.  He has mastered crawling the stairs and has recently started walking up and down them on his own (only his brave moments).  He is talking, but he only says things that he wants to say, and he is always on the phone.  If there is no phone, he will talk on the shoe phone, the hand phone, cheerio phone, or any other item he can find will become a phone.
Gabe loves playing with Daddy, besos (kisses), being tickled, chased and driving the shopping cart.  He is still a happy kid and LOVES being outside.

Ryan is keeping busy at work.  There have been some recent changes in his department, allowing him some more responsibilities.  He is still doing Cubs and enjoying time with the boys.  He is a great help around the house, fantastic dish washer and laundry man, among other things!

We went to Mexico for my sister's wedding in January.  It was a beautiful wedding and so fun to spend time with family.  Gabe loved the warmth of the sun during winter.  We loved the ruins and the sand.  Gabe was such a good little traveler!  

We just got home from Hawaii a few weeks ago.  The Prince's took us and all the grandkids to have a little fun in the sun.  We had a great time!  We got to spend time together in paradise.  We had perfect weather and got some much needed vitamin D!  The highlight for Gabe was playing in the sand and splashing in the waves. Mostly the sand.  He was happy to stay at the beach in the sand all day!  He loved playing with his cousins, Colton and Avery, throwing the ball and he loves running with Grandpa.   Somehow, Grandma was his favorite person the whole trip.  She must just have the best hugs or be the best listener.  Gabe would always run to Grandma, not mom or dad.

Time to run...
Jenn

Fall changes...

Well Hello Blog world!

It has been a very long time since my last post.  Every Sunday I have good intentions to post something new, and somehow get distracted.  It seems that fall is the time of year when life picks up speed toward the end of the year and before you know it we are into the holidays and starting a whole new year all over again.

So in September I started back to work, and Gabe started going to childcare.  We are so blessed to have fantastic friends!  Luckily I only have to be at work a few days in the week, and our friends the Volds, have a similar situation.  We worked it out so that we trade childcare.  Little Miss Hadley is 1 week older than our Gabriel and they are becoming the best of friends.  So they are together 4 days a week; 2 days at our house and 2 days at the Volds.  So far, it is working out great! 

It is so fun to see their little friendship forming!  They are so happy to see each other.  They play very well together, dance (Hadley's forte), chase each other (Gabe's favorite game), chatter and even try to pass things back and forth from their high chairs at lunch time.  It is really the best job ever!

Gabe has been learning all kinds of things.  He is crawling like a maniac, trying to talk and most recently, he has been taking his first steps.  He would prefer to hold your hands and go for a walk, but is perfectly able to walk on his own.  Every once in a while we trick him, and he keeps on walking all by himself.  His record so far is 5-6 steps alone.  I think that he just needs the right motivation.  One day, he will forget that he doesn't want to walk on his own and he will just go.  For now, we walk around the island in the kitchen a lot holding his hand.  I am sure that he will be walking on his own in no time.  He sure is stubborn and won't walk until he is good and ready.  I am not sure who he got that from... :)

Hiking in Montana August 2012

Hiking Aug 2012

Meet the great grandparents, California edition

Paul, Ryan's brother, was recently married and we were lucky enough to make the trip to California to attend and see the family.
Gabe did great on the flights, he was overdue to nap, but there was just too much going on in the airport for him to even allow his eyes to close. Once we were in the air he fell asleep almost instantly.  He slept almost the entire flight!  He did so well in all of our travels.

We went to Santa Barbara, Pismo Beach, Santa Maria, and Vista (San Diego).  Thanks to all of our family for the fun times!

The wedding was beautiful!  Congratulations to Mr & Mrs Paul Hendrickson!

Gabe and Dad waiting at the Airport in Calgary

Mommy and Gabe on the plane

Meeting Great Grandpa Monte

Distracting Grandma Debbie at the office

Grandpa Jed goofing around

At Great Grandma Betty's House

Tia Laura in Santa Maria at the Gonzalez new house

The newlyweds
Paul & Nicole Hendrickson

 

6 months old

Chilling with Great Grandpa (Opa) Williams

Jeff getting a taste of the Babe

Our Chauffeur

IHOP with Vu

Gabe Rolling Over

I set the camera on the end table when he wan't looking.  He won't do things if he knows you're trying to exploit him on film (or memory cards!)

Christmas Adventures

This year we spent Christmas with the Prince side of the family.  That's my parents and siblings.  We had all of the siblings together with all of the most important people in our lives there, with a few exceptions.  2 of my brothers are currently serving missions.  Brad is in Costa Rica and will be home about July 2012, and Jesse is in Oaxaca, Mexico, he will be returning May 2013.  We don't get to call them during the time that they are serving. We get letters every week, or at least most weeks, but there are only 2 times a year that we can phone and Christmas is one of them.  It was so nice to say hello and to hear their voices.  So fun to speak to them in spanish.  Gabe was mostly cooperative.  He even cooed on the phone with Jesse, but fell asleep before we got connected with Brad. It was such a great time to share in the celebration of Christ.

This year I had great ambitions to decorate and make Gabriel's first Christmas perfect, but somehow I ended up doing the exact opposite.  I really wanted to decorate early and have it all done before the end of November.  I was talking about decorating by mid Nov. and Ryan finally consented to let me go for it.  But the busy-ness had already started.  Chocolates. birthdays, baptism, pretzel dipping and all kinds of other fun family events got in the way.  Plus we ended up getting one lousy cold that lingered in the house for about a month.  Gabe still has a bit of a raspy throat at night.  Anyways, I didn't get it done early. 

Last year mom and dad wanted to get rid of an artificial tree.  Of coarse, I volunteered to inherit it.  So, we picked it up and put it away (we went to CA last year so we didn't set it up).  Finally, I found the time and I was super excited to put up the tree. So we went to the garage and found the tree stand, but the tree was nowhere to be found.  We pulled apart the basement and still no tree.  Maybe we never did bring it home?  So, I called mom.  Nope, no tree there.  So a whole day spent searching for a tree, with no tree to show for it in the end.  Oh well.

Next I wanted to make gingerbread.  I needed to boil the sugar and the molasses together.  I thought that my pot was big enough, but I found out the hard way, NO it was not, as the boiling volcano of molasses erupted all over my stovetop, down my over and onto the floors.  Wonderful!  

In the end, there was no tree, the gingerbread wasn't perfect and the only decorating that happened involved 3 stockings and a nativity set.  The lights stayed on the house all year, so I guess that counts too.

I have to admit that I really enjoyed having less fluff this year.  The nativity set was all that I really needed to remind me what it is that we are celebrating.  It is Christ.  His birth, His life, death and resurrection.  He is the reason for the season.  I hope that amongst all of the fluff, you could still find our Savior ad Redeemer, Jesus Christ.  I did.  This year I received the greatest gift, the gift of a little boy sent to me from above. I am so grateful for our little Angle Gabriel and I am excited for the adventures of 2012.

First time sitting on Santa's knee at the Medicine Hat Mall

 Christmas morning at Grandma & Grandpa Prince's house

Sitting like a big boy under the tree

 Already loving the paper more than the gifts!

The Smiler

The Little Man is getting so big!  His hair is growing in, it is blonde with a bit of red in certain light.  As you can see his smiles are contagious.  Beautiful blue eyes and chubby cheeks.  It is so fun to see him smile.  He is starting to be a little ticklish and it is so fun to hear his giggles!  He really is a happy boy and adds immeasurable joy to our home.

My Little Laundry Helper (3 months old)

Sometimes there is so much laundry!  It seems like a never ending pile.  My only dilemma is that I don't have enough arms to carry everything.  The simple solution is this, ADD Gabe to the pile.  He is getting so big, I don't know that I won't get away with it for very long, but I will as long as I can.  He doesn't seem to mind, actually, I would say that he enjoys the ride.

 

This is my little helper.  He sits in his chair on the basket or on top of the washer and watches everything!  I had to turn off the dryer to get him to look at the camera.  He loves it!  He is such a good helper!

Happy Gabe

I don't think it needs any explanation!

Gabe's first trip to the Temple and Granny's house

Our Little Family at the Cardston Temple

 Why does Gabe always poop through his clothes at the most inconvenient times?  We stayed at Granny's house and went to the temple and he soiled his outfit!!  Poor baby got to take a dip in Granny's bathroom sink.  Somehow, I don't think that it bothered him a bit. 

Growing Gabriel - November 2011

 

Gabe doesn't like to be burped, or at least that is what I see in these faces.

 The sleeping Angel

 

Bumming around in the bumbo

 

With my favorite cousins

Kickin up a storm

Chatting with Auntie Wendy