"Knuckles Jada"

Dane trying to teach the art of "knuckles" to the baby.
Here is a quick video of that attempt.

Jada and her "BLUE STEEL" look 

(Zoolander for those who don't know)

Gary & Kim Christensen Visit!!

Yes, I am spoiled! I had a great month full of visitors, and I was very sad that it all went too fast and everyone had to leave! It was great to have Dane's parents here again.  They were very very helpful, of course :) We love them and had a great time with them here. We went shopping and out to eat...my two favorite things to do ;)  Jada & I were just grateful to get to leave the apartment for a little bit. Get a breath of fresh air!
We had a very yummy Thanksgiving dinner.  I cooked! Yup, that's right...to all my brothers that don't think I know how to make anything other than oatmeal.
We didn't take any pictures with Dane's parents, Sorry! I'll just post what we have.

Excuse my hair, I kind of let it all hang out.
I don't think Jada was too fond of it either...glaring it down and all.

practicing tummy time. she likes the no effort approach

Birgitta Visits!

My sister flew in last Friday and stayed for a week. I love company and so does Jada! She gets fussy every time a visitor leaves.  I think it's the attention she gets when they are here.  It was a lot of fun to have Birgitta. We got to do a little bit of shopping, eating sugars, playing games, decorating etc. She was a lot of help cleaning, cooking, babysitting etc. It was sad to see her go. I much enjoyed having her here!

She helped me make Jada's name for her bedroom and get some curtains to match.  She also taught me how to make christmas stockings by crocheting. I am pretty excited that I actually completed them by myself!!! That is a first for me. I don't craft :)  She will help me assemble the front and back of the stocking when I come home.  Meanwhile, onward to stocking #2.

Dane took advantage of having a helper in the house and took the time to study..study..study..he is starting to feel how hard it is to balance a newborn with school work, me, and sleeping, but he is doing a good job.

Oh Baby

It has been different trying to balance a newborn without a helper.  Now that my Mom has left I have been trying to find quick moments when she is napping to do the cleaning, possibly shower, pump, sleep, eat? if I am lucky, and hold her (she is liking my attention more and more; especially when she is sleeping which makes it hard to get things done).  She is definitely patient though. A quality she didn't pick up from me!

Dane offered to stay up with her last night, a decision he later very much regretted! I told him he couldn't back out on his offer..I took it already :) So the night started out well, I put her to bed at about 11:00.
I am going to let Dane write this one...
    So yes, Jada went to bed at 11 and I went to bed right alongside her.  At one thirty in the morning she started fussing so of course I reached for the bottle.  That usually calms her down.  "Alright," I thought,  "it worked."  After she ate I changed her diaper and thought, "this baby thing isn't so rough.  So what the baby wakes up once or twice in the night.  I got this".
   Well Jada decided about an hour later it was time to eat again.  Okay 2:30 in the morning and another bottle feeding.  She couldn't be that hungry.  She only ate an hour ago.  This time she kept eating and finally I took the bottle away because I figured she should be full.  "I'll just change her diaper and send her off to bed again".  Yep, the diaper was full.
   I had just wiped her cute little bottom down, when she decided to release in one big bowel movement the entire previous day's meal (so it seemed).  I was in the middle of reaching for a new diaper, but Jada beat me to the punch.  She had let it all go.  Being a first time dad, I was more stunned and frozen than anything else.  She kept going.  I was trying to pick her up and place her on another blanket so she wouldn't mess all over herself.  Poor thing.  Luckily she didn't get too dirty, so I just wiped her off again.  The bed was another story.  I had no idea a baby could hold so much liquid.  It soaked through four layers of blankets and sheets, and finally into the mattress protector.  Well I had to rip all those off the bed and put them in the wash, go to the closet and pull out another pair of sheets.  All the while she is still awake on the couch looking at me cleaning up her mess (the lights were on so she see what I was cleaning up).  Now the new sheets were on the bed; finally we could go to bed.  But of course, with as much excitement Jada had experienced watching her new dad change the bedding at 3:30 in the morning she couldn't go back to sleep.  I held her for well over 45 minutes and when I tried to lay her back down she just wouldn't stop fussing.  Finally at around 4:45 in the morning I went and woke up Denise and said, "Here's Jada. I have to wake up in less than two hours for school and I haven't slept at all."  Kindly Denise took her and laid her down on the bed next to her.  I went back to the living room and fell asleep and woke up a little after 6am to get ready for school.  As I was walking out the door Denise says to me, "What was wrong?  She fell asleep as soon as you laid her down next to me."  Of course she did.
   So I was wrong.  I learned my lesson to be more grateful for Denise and for all mothers everywhere.

Jada putting herself to sleep. I think she is semi sleeping with her eyes opened.  Sorry it's a dark video, look close at around 1.10 min she gives a big smile and then pouts her beautiful daddy's lips.

She is so serious when she's awake but loves to laugh & smile in her sleep.

My mom says, " I wonder who she is talking to?"

"First Bath"

Welcome Home!

Getting ready for the drive home

It started out a little challenging trying to figure out this breastfeeding business, but the nurses/lactation specialist said that Jada and I were doing really well.  Jada was able to get her fill, but she still got frustrated and would scream in the process.  I think she wanted it to come easy, just like me. After getting a hang of it, my milk came in and she didn't like that. I won't go into details.  So along with other things that aren't so pleasant that come along with breastfeeding, I decided to buy a pump and make it simpler on both of us.  She took to it like a charm. I haven't heard her cry ever since.  She eats, sleeps, and poops. She is very alert when she is awake and is content no matter what she is doing.

We also went to the Pediatrician for her first check up on Friday.  She didn't lose any weight, and everything looks great and very healthy! The Doctor said that she is very aware of her surroundings.

Grandma and Jada

My Mom flew in on Tuesday when I got discharged from the hospital, she has been the best company anyone could ever ask for.  I told her I feel like she lives just a few minutes away and I can stop by anytime. Boy do I wish that were true! Mom has been SUPER helpful.  Cooking us great Mexican food, cleaning like crazy, eating all my gummy worms and apple pie (shame on her), feeding, getting up at night, holding, playing with Jada. I wish she didn't have to leave so soon : (

I can't wait to fly home to Provo so that she can meet everyone.  I miss everyone at home.

As far as I go...I have been recouping well. I do have lower back pains that radiate sharp pains especially when on my feet a lot, sitting or lying down. It was where the epidural was. It is better managed when I take my pain medication/anti-inflammatories, but I hope this isn't a permanent thing. It got so bad one night at around 2:00 am that Dane rushed me to the hospital. The pain subsided when we got there, I was annoyed being there really.  There was nothing they could do for me, I had medicine for it already, so I asked to just leave and we did.  Other than that, I am doing great, sleeping well for the time being since Mom is here helping.

Dane is at school most of the day and is so happy when he gets to come home to see the baby. He absolutely adores Jada and wants to kiss on her and play. He hates it that she is sleeping most of the time. She is definitely Daddy's little girl!

Binkies drive me crazy,
but was useful to calm her screaming.
Luckily she doesn't use it much anymore

Blanca Jada Christensen

Before Labor, Very Happy

Well my friends, Miss Baby came a lot sooner than I expected!! Woo HOO! It all started with a little water leak at home at about 4 ish on Oct 30.  We called the on-call Dr to see what he wanted us to do.  I thought since I hadn't had any contractions that he would just say don't worry about coming in until then, but to our surprise, he wanted us to check into the hospital.  POOPS.  I didn't want to.  We were planning on going to a ward dinner party where there was going to be FREE FOOD.  I didn't want to miss out on that! I last ate at noon and was starving! Well, we did what the dr say nonetheless and went to the hospital. Dane dropped me off at the front and WOOSH, my sack completely broke. Awww great. perfect timing.  No one was at the front desk, I just dashed into the bathroom to control the situation with no such luck.  Dane comes running in and can't find me. I can hear him though through the door. "where's my wife denise, has anyone seen her? i dropped her off."  No one had seen me and were trying to figure out where I went.  They guessed right and found me in the bathroom. The cute lady was frantically trying to get me to come out of there because she has had a lot of ladies that end up giving birth in there.  She was funny.  Well, they waited for a few hours to see if I would start labor on my own. I didn't so they induced me at about 9. It was the beginning of a very long day. I was in labor and finally delivered at 10:01 pm on October 31.  My little "hallowed" baby finally came.  She took her time.  7 lb 10 oz and 20 inches.  She is a cutey!

She hurt her nose, scraped it on the way out.  Poor Girl