The Dial family

My Alaskan baby

2011-04-08T13:16:00.001-07:00

Some friends of our family gave us this outfit. It didn't have a tag to say what size it was so I was worried that by the time I tried it on it wouldn't fit. I just love this picture, it says Alaska all over it. This is a kuspuk (it is a traditional Yupik over shirt type garment worn by both men and women.) and is a symbol of Native wear up here. We have snow a long time here, but it s a great place to live. It is so pretty here and the people are so nice. I remember when we first moved here Scott couldn't believe that people would say hi to you in the store and would be nice to you. I would not want to raise my baby any other place.

My baby turned 1

2010-11-16T22:58:00.001-08:00

The pictures are in the wrong order so they kind of go backwards. But this is one of Reagan's presents that she got from her Auntie Laura, it did not take her long to figure out that if you hit the nose of the lion it will play a fun song. She was so cute that we got video of her on the lion jumping up and down while the music was playing and once it stopped she would slap the nose again to get it to start again.

Here is a group shot of all the kids at Reagan's party. Of course Autumn and India won't smile (I think they are still learning to smile at the camera) and Cody looks like an idiot (he won't let us have a good picture with him in it. But Reagan, Tate and Jack look very cute.

Reagan got her very own cake to have all to herself. At first she wasn't sure what to do with it and would just pick a little off the cake at a time. But she then realised that it was sweet and might be good to eat.

Auntie made her a new shirt to wear to let everyone know that she was one. I went online and found out how to make korker ribbons (and I am probably going to go overboard on them now that I know how) to put on the party hat on her shirt.

I wanted to make Reagan something for her birthday to go with the shirt that Laura made for her so I thought I would tackle a tutu. I have to admit that I don't have much Patience for some crafts and if you look to closely you will see how uneven some of the tulle strips are. But from far away I think that it is very cute. She is my little princess!

Goldilocks and the three bears..kind of

2010-11-15T23:08:00.001-08:00

I found these costumes online for only $6 a piece, so I thought it would be so cute to have all the girls dress up as the three bears. I also thought it would be cute if I went as Goldilocks, I could get all four costumes with shipping for only $40. I thought it would be so cute for all of us to get our picture taken together as Goldilocks and the three bears. But once we got to the place to take pictures the wind was blowing and it was so cold so no Goldilocks, just the three bears.

I could not get anyone to smile, I tried everything and my sister and friends who had also gone with their kids could not get them to smile either. But even though they aren't smiling I still think it is a cute picture of them.

This was as close as I got to dressing up as Goldilocks, as you can tell in the picture the wind was blowing and made it VERY cold. This was the Trunk or Treat at our church, so the girls got a little candy.

I did get one very cute picture of Reagan smiling in her bear costume.

I thought this was a very sweet picture of the girls kissing Reagan.

This looks like a line up picture, they look real tough here again no smiles. = )

One of our few sunny days this summer

2010-11-13T17:42:00.000-08:00

I got this little pool at Walmart on sale and thought it was too cute. Also it was just the perfect size the girls. We are hoping that Reagan loves the water as much as her mom and dad. Her swimsuit is a little big but still cute.

Just because

2010-11-10T21:59:00.000-08:00

I had been out and about and when I came home this is what I found on the table for me. Before we got married I got flowers all the time, if I hurt my finger at work or for our 2 month dating anniversary, I got them all the time. And Scott would say that he was going to keep it up once we got married because it was so easy to do and it makes your wife happy. Well I think he forgot what he use to say because I don't get them very often any more. But when I do get them he puts a lot of thought into choosing something for me and they are always very pretty.

So thank you Scott for the pretty flowers and candy, it was a nice surprise!

Random pictures

2010-07-12T18:35:00.000-07:00

Thanks to grandma Lehnhausen for this glow worm it is a big hit. Reagan just loves her glow worm and if I want her to sleep somewhere else I better have the Glow worm handy.Case in point her two favorite things her bouncy chair and her Glow worm and she was out.

Here she is starting to eat rice cereal.

She loves her food.

"Lets see if I can get my feet into my mouth"

The best gift of all!

2010-07-12T16:57:00.002-07:00

Here is our first Dial family Christmas card picture, it was so wonderful to add Reagan to our lives. We spent Christmas at my mom's house but I was not very good at taking pictures this year. But Reagan slept thur all of Christmas for the most part, next year I can't forget to have the camera on hand.

Well my baby is one month old in this picture and think that she is just two cute! I can't believe how time can flyby and before you know it a month has gone by. This is the picture I used for Reagan's birth announcements.

Sorry for the double picture but this was to small.
Well like I said that time just goes so quickly I am mixing Christmas pictures and her one month old pictures. This was the best gift I received this year and can't believe I am so lucky.
And if you are wondering why she looks younger in this Christmas picture than her one month it is because she is younger. This was just after she was a week old and we took our Lehnhausen family picture. But she just looked so cute as my Christmas present.

Splish splash I was taking a bath..

2010-05-01T21:57:00.000-07:00

Here is Reagan's very first bath right after she was born. The nurse got her all clean so that when I finally got to hold her she was perfect for me.

Here is Reagan's very first bath at home and she did not like it one bit at all. I was so scared and probably didn't put enough water in to keep her warm enough but little babies are very slippery when they are wet and I was very scared that I might drop her, so there wasn't much water in the sink.

This is not my first bath but this is the first bath that I enjoyed. Mom is still nervous to give me my bath, but now I think that I kind of like it.

Reagans Blessing

2010-03-23T15:43:00.000-07:00

I know that these are old pictures and old posts but I need to catch up. Here are pictures from the day that Reagan was blessed. Her dad blessed her and her grandpa Lehnhausen and her uncle Jeremy and his dad Steve stood in the circle. Scott was so nervous to give the blessing and just kept worrying about (it was so cute). I of course cried thru the whole thing, I was just so happy to have our little girl and that Scott lives worthily to give her her blessing.

Here she is all ready to go to church, it is hard to remember that she was so small. I this picture is also the blanket that Lindi made for her with a little bit of Laura's help.

Here we are with both of Regan's grandmas after she was blessed.

Vicky Huston made us this dress for Reagan to be blessed in, it is just so pretty.

Reagan just loves her pacifier so it is very rare to get a good picture of her without it.

If you look close at the blanket, Lindi had Laura embroider Reagan's name onto the blanket and the date that she was blessed. Thanks again girls I love it.

4 generations

2010-03-23T15:37:00.000-07:00

At Christmas when we were taking the yearly family picture we got this great picture with 4 generations of the Lehnhausen family.

Great Grandma Delores Lehnhausen
Grandpa Gary Lehnhausen
Mommy (Heidi Lehnhausen-Dial)
Reagan

New baby in the house

2010-01-06T21:39:00.000-08:00

I am all set and ready to go after I take a quick nap in my favorite chair.

Grandma Pat gave me this bear so that I could sleep better and my parents could sleep better also. (The bear plays white noise like womb sounds to comfort babies)

I have a lot to think about, but I am just so sleepy.

I am just to cute.

You can't see it but I have a cute kitty cat on my butt, thanks again Grandma Pat for the outfit.

I spent 4 days at the hospital and by then I was ready to get out and go home. Scott was so great when we got home and he waited on me hand and foot. He made me breakfast in bed and did a lot of the diaper changes for me (he even put the diaper on right).

Some people say that babies don't know what they like before they are born but I beg to differ. When Reagan was in the hospital she hated to be in the bassinet, I could be holding her till she went to sleep and put her down in her bassinet and she would wake up and cry. If I put her on the bed with me she would be fine. Well that continued when we got home, she would not sleep in her bassinet. Luckily some friends from work had bought me a bouncy chair and Reagan loved it. So for the first 3 weeks of her life she slept in her bouncy chair. The doctor wanted me to try and get her to sleep in her bassinet, but there is only so much I could take before I had to get sleep. Well we finally got over that and she sleeps pretty well in her bassinet next to our bed.

Announcing Reagan Sophia Dial

2009-11-08T22:50:00.000-08:00

She is here! Reagan was born today around 4:25 pm and was 6 lbs. 8 oz. and 18.5" long.
Heidi and Scott went into the hospital this morning for another checkup on Reagan and because her fluid levels had dropped the doctors decided not to wait until Monday to take Reagan.
She is doing well, very healthy, a little bit of blond hair and soooo cute. We just love her!!

.

Reagan will be here soon...

2009-11-07T16:53:00.000-08:00

Well we had our week doctor's appointment on Thursday 11/5/09 and it started off as a normal doctor's appointment but then Dr. Richey started feeling my belly more than he normally does. Since this is my first baby I did not think much of it, and he also started to ask me how she was moving around. Now that I thought about it she wasn't moving around as she use to but I didn't think much of it. Dr. Richey told me that I had not grown much (my belly) the past couple of appointments and he wanted to take a look at the baby. Well every chance that I get I am watching a Baby story, Birth day and Delivery me on T.V. so I thought that he was going to tell me that I had to deliver the baby that day.

So I was totally not ready for this news and Scott wasn't sure what was going on. Dr. Richey took us to his Ultra sound room and started to do all her measurements, to my relief she looks fine but she is just really small for her age. She is measuring at 35 weeks and about 5 lbs, instead of almost 39 weeks. So she is under the 10% for her age. Dr. Richey said that he wanted to get her out when I turned 39 weeks, which is Monday 11/9/09 and that they could induce me or we could just do the C-section and be done. He said that my cervix was still long and closed and it might be a very long induction and in the end I still might have to do a C-section. Once Scott understood the difference between the two he sided with me to do the C-section, I did not want to be in labor for two days possibly then have to have a C-section anyway (I don't like to gamble at all). In the meantime my mom had to go out of town to visit family on the spur of the moment and I couldn't remember what time she was flying back on the 9th. Luckily she is going to be in town just a couple of hours before I go in for my C-section.

So for now I have to go into Providence Friday, Saturday and Sunday to have a Bio-physical test done to make sure that Reagan is still doing O.K. until Monday. So far I have done the Friday and Saturday test and she has past the tests both times. I did not think that this is the process that we would go thru for Reagan to come into this world because I have had such an easy pregnancy but I don't care what I have to do as long as she is safe and sound.

I can't wait until Monday at 11:30am when we will go to the O.R. to meet baby Reagan in person.

Parking

2009-10-18T22:35:00.001-07:00

The other day I had a doctor's appointment and at my doctor's office they have about 3 parking spots reserved for expecting mother's. Scott pulled into the parking spot and I told him that we did not have to park there that I wasn't to big yet and I could walk further if we needed. And he turned to me and said "are you kidding, I worked very hard to get here and we are using the parking spot." I just started cracking up, we did go thru a lot we should just enjoy the perks that come along with being pregnant.

After the doctor's appointment we went to Babies R's to look at a few things and Scott made sure to find the good parking spots for me.

I am 36 weeks along now, and now when we go somewhere I am more than happy to use the parking spots up close. I normally don't care where we park but it is a little harder to walk now and pretty soon I am going to waddle where ever I walk so shorter is better. And when I am at work every time I stand up I feel like I have to go to the bathroom.

Several people have said that they want pictures of me so here they are. This was at my parents house tonight we all the family was there for family dinner.

Everyone tells me that I don't look very big, but let me tell you I feel big but I am still enjoying every minute of it. After waiting so long to become pregnant I still feel that I need to pinch myself to make sure it is real sometimes. I can't believe that I have less than 30 days until my due date. Now I just need to cross my fingers and hope that I am like my sister Laura and come a few weeks early. But I tease her that because I am 4" taller than her Reagan has more room and won't come out until the very end.

I know everyone wants pictures of the house but because of the picture above I have not been able to put the house completely together yet. At least I am a step closer, the computer is up and running and I have my camera cord for the computer, so it should not be long.

We have a kitchen...

2009-08-24T22:57:00.001-07:00

They say the kitchen is the heart of the home. Let me just say I never thought I would be able to have a kitchen like this. We found a great cabinet guy thru our builder and he was so nice an friendly, just great to work with. And my kitchen is great because my sister designed it just for me.

I love the amount of counter space I have and plenty of floor space so that several people can be in the kitchen at once and not feel to tight.

Here is my island that I just love and know that this is probably going to be the busiest counter in my kitchen. Plus when I stand there I can still look into the living room and see everything that is going on or talk with Scott.

Here is my entry way and some of the colors I choose to paint there. You can't see it very well in this picture but I bought the Ralph Loren paint that is called River rock so it has texture to it. My walls might have looked a little bit better if I sanded them smooth like they suggest but I think that they still look nice even if I didn't do that.

I love my house so far and can't wait to get into it. We are getting down to the wire so I will probably have several posts with pictures of our house for our friends and family who are far away and we can't take them on a personal tour.

With lots of help from friends and family....

2009-07-19T19:23:00.000-07:00

Well we did not put the counter top in but Laura designed and drew it all up for me to order it.
Here is a full shot that shows the counter top a little bit better. This counter top was not very easy to get. After many calls back and forth to the granite company Laura I finally got what we wanted. For a while there I thought I was going to have this counter top cut into 3 different pieces. But it is all in one piece and I love it.

I know that I have already put a picture of our flooring on but I have to let you know that Jeremy, Laura and Cody helped us install this flooring. Jeremy knew what he was doing and mostly we just did what we were told and my hands were very sore the next day. Pregnant women should not be down on the hard floor all day.

And last but not least and friend from Scott's work came and helped Scott put in this slate tile floor. He also helped us finish up the hallway with the laminate flooring. We couldn't have done it without him.

I lied. The entryway wasn't the last thing that we got help with. We have also tiled both of our bathrooms and we got a lot of help from Steve Huston (Laura's father in-law) and from my dad. I would show you pictures but the floor is covered in paper. I will post pics once we have them grouted and uncovered.

The builder added trim...

2009-07-19T19:10:00.000-07:00

Here is our pantry, and like I said before I am so happy to be getting a pantry in our house.

Here is a shot of our hallway with the two kids' bedrooms and linen closet. The builder was going to put in 6 panel doors but we decided to upgrade to these doors. I am so happy that we spent a little extra money to get these doors.

Here is the trim that is going to be throughout the whole house. We decided to stay with a natural look for our trim and doors. We like the way it looks and feels... light and bright.

This is the bottom of our pantry door next to our laminate flooring.

Interior paint....

2009-06-26T15:00:00.000-07:00

Here is the sign that our builder put up in front of our house so that everyone knows who built our house. Also you can see that some of our dead wood is gone from the front. We had a friend from work come out and get some free firewood and now the front looks a lot better.

Here is our empty kitchen and pantry. Once the cabinets are in it will look great. I am just so happy that I am going to have a pantry in this house.

My sister helped me pick out this color (meaning she picked it out and said it would look good after I told her I wanted a taupe color). I don't paint anything without asking my sister Laura for help with colors. She helps me get past my fear of choosing the wrong color and it always looks great. I would not have picked the color on my own. This is part of our great room and the stairs to the walk-out basement.

We went to the doctor early and...

2009-06-22T10:03:00.001-07:00

Last month Scott told me that we would find out if the baby was a boy or a girl just after Father's day. Then I got an idea. I called up Real Time and asked if I could move my appointment up a couple of days so that I could find out the sex on Friday instead of Monday. They said it was no problem so my plan began. I wanted to surprise my whole family. I did not tell anyone except Scott what I was doing. So for the past month I had to keep quiet when my real appointment was and not tell my family (and we tell each other pretty much everything).

So on Friday I went to my appointment at http://realtimewasilla.com/ and Gretchen did my ultrasound. I loved her. She was so great. I would recommend her to anyone. She has been doing this for a long time and says that she is still doing this because she just loves doing it. She could tell us what the baby was doing and looked all over the baby to make sure she had ten toes and ten fingers and that her heart looked good. At first the baby looked like she wasn't going to let us see if she was a boy or a girl because she was laying on her belly. She then turned her back to us (I guess she was being a little camera shy) = ). But Gretchen had me get up and walk around and go to the bathroom to maybe move the baby and get a better angle. Then she tried again and of course the baby was almost in the same position. I guess she had moved just enough. Once the baby moved her foot she said "It's a girl." and Scott immediatly asked her "Are you sure?" and Gretchen said she was 100% sure it's a girl. I really did not care if I had a boy or a girl but my sisters have been so sure that I am having a girl. I have been getting excited about that and have been picturing a girl this whole time so I was very happy.

Gretchen then printed out a picture for everyone in the family. She also gave us a DVD of the ultrasound to take home with us. Now my plan was in motion. I went shopping by myself which I don't hardly do anymore because someone in our family usually wants to go shopping. And why go alone when you can get family confirmation that you are getting something cute or getting a good deal (that is a whole other post). I went to Wal-mart and found a cute little princess picture frame that I could put the picture of the ultrasound. It says "Hi Grandpa". That way I could wrap it up and give it to my Dad to tell my whole family it was a girl.

When my Dad opened the picture frame not everyone got it at first. They saw the ultrasound and started asking why I bought a pink frame when I might have to change it once I found out if it was a girl or a boy. Then Holly asked if we know for sure that it was a girl and I let everyone know that it was a girl and I had gone in early to find out. Then it kind of exploded in noise because our family is loud. It was so great. Everyone could not believe that I kept it a secret for two days without telling anyone (I can't believe I did it either). So now let the buying begin! I now know what I want to start shopping for and I can't wait!

The house is painted!!!

2009-06-06T01:25:00.000-07:00

Windows and dormers are all in...

2009-05-22T18:34:00.000-07:00

Roof and windows go in!!

2009-05-21T08:55:00.000-07:00

Come on down for your new car..

2009-05-18T21:23:00.000-07:00

Well Scott's car died on us last week so we had to go car shopping. I hate talking to car sales people but it is just a necessary evil that you must deal with sometimes. We were trying to limp Scott's car along until we were done with the house but his car had other ideas.

We had already planned on getting a different car one that was big enough to hold a car seat, so that is what we have now. I got a 2006 Ford Freestyle with only 13,000, seats six, has an auto start, and I love it!!

So I have a car payment again and have to pay for full coverage auto insurance but I love my car.

The construction continues...

2009-05-12T17:08:00.000-07:00

The parking pad is in!!

2009-05-10T13:55:00.000-07:00

View from the driveway...

2009-05-08T16:39:00.000-07:00

Front and back of the house...

2009-05-08T16:31:00.000-07:00

Kitchen and garage...

2009-05-08T08:15:00.000-07:00

Framing begins!!!

2009-05-04T16:58:00.000-07:00

2009-04-30T15:24:00.000-07:00

Here are some more pics of the driveway.

Above is a pic of the parking turnaround outside the garage.

A view looking at the street.

2009-04-30T10:15:00.000-07:00

Here are some new pics of the construction.

They begin framing on Monday 5/04/2009

After 5 1/2 years....

2009-04-27T20:39:00.000-07:00

I am pregnant and have made it to my eleventh week and had my second doctor's appointment today. It was so fun to be at the doctor's office and see the little baby bounce all around during the ultrasound. The baby is 2" long now and is measuring at 11 wks and 4 days. The due date is November 16th and that won't come soon enough for me.

It has been a long road for Scott and I and he has really been there for me. I have such a wonderful husband that has loved me and supported me through this whole crazy time. I have been very lucky and have had no morning sickness and no crazy cravings. Although I did pull the pregnancy card and asked Scott to go get me some ice cream after a long day at work. I have just been very tired and very hungry, I am hoping that gets a little bit better during my second trimester.

Let the fun begin..

2009-04-08T21:53:00.000-07:00

So the dirt work has begun and we have a drive way. It is so fun to drive home from work because on my way I can stop by our house and see what has been done for the day. So each day is new and exciting.

New House...

2009-02-11T21:59:00.000-08:00

Well we signed a contract and the builder will start our house in March. It is so nice to finally get to the point of building our house. I have been dreaming of this for 2 years now. It is going to be 2 stories but from the front it looks like one story and our garage is going to be on the bottom story. I can't wait to get into the house. I love my parents and am so grateful that they have been able to let us stay here and save money and become debt free but is time for Scott and I to get our own space.

Now comes the fun part to pick everything out. When you have a sister who is an interior designer and specialises in kitchens and bathrooms it makes it just fun to pick stuff out and not stressful. It also helps that I have a great husband who is very relaxed and lets me do what ever I want. His only request is that he gets an under mounted or molded sink in the master bathroom. I think that I can handle that especially since I get to pick everything else, we basically have the same tastes anyways.

Christmas...

2008-12-30T18:34:00.000-08:00

Bringing up the lights..

Christmas breakfast, we only have this breakfast once a year and for good reason if you had it any more you would gain a lot of weight. But boy was it good. Scott's mom Pat was able to come visit us and join us for Christmas this year. I was so nice to have all of our family together.

New Christmas outfit, I don't get one from my mom anymore but it's tradition so I have to uphold the tradition. = )

Our new Christmas PJ's, another tradition that must be upheld even if I do have to buy them for myself.

Well I got a lot of great wonderful presents and enjoyed the time I got to spend with family this year. I hope that everyone had a great Christmas this year and remembered the true reason for Christmas. We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Willing to try anything???

2008-12-15T21:31:00.000-08:00

So if most of you know what Clomid is you know what it is used for. That's right fertility drugs, no I am not trying to have 6 babies at once I just want one baby. I have gone thru gastric bypass surgery and lost 97lbs; I am also now taking Clomid and am taking a natural supplement that I read about on a PCOS web site that should help. And now I am going to go to a Chiropractor to get adjusted because I heard that that might help also. The things that you will do just because it might help.

Now I still don't want 6 kids at once but going thru all this and waiting like I have I understand why it happens to some people. Basically you are only suppose to be on Clomid for 3 to 6 months before you go onto drugs that are injected. After that the next step is IVF, and that is when you sometimes get 6 babies. I know someone who went thru the IVF process and they had to take out a $20,000 loan. If you are going to spend that much money you kind of want to make sure that you get pregnant. So now you know why I want to try everything.

Let the games begin.

Clomid

2008-12-15T21:15:00.000-08:00

Well I am taking the step and starting clomid. I have heard that some people have bad side effects from taking clomid. I never have side effects that the medication always warns you about, but I think that I have experienced some side effects. I have a co-worker who is a big pain in my butt, and I don't get along with her very much. Well she took it upon her self to let me know that I made some mistakes (in a not very nice way). I was so mad at her and wanted to just start crying, and I could not stop. I knew I was over reacting but I just could not stop. Oh the joys of being a woman.

Halloween

2008-11-06T21:46:00.001-08:00

For Halloween this year at work we decided to dress up. There was only going to be 3 of us there because three others were going to be off. So we thought we would try and coordinate together. A lot of people dress up at the Borough so I thought I would be a good sport and dress up also. Melinda, Xander, and Jacob Logan came by and saw me and Trick-or-Treated at my office. Later we went to a Halloween party at one of Scott's co-workers house. We had a great time and enjoyed the games that the kids played. I also watched the kids trade Halloween candy for what they thought was the best. (good times)

2008 Gala

2008-10-30T21:28:00.000-07:00

Every year my doctor throws a Gala for all his Gastric Bypass patients that is catered with a slide show of before and after pictures. I did not get in to see my doctor before the Gala so they used my 6month picture. But here was my picture the night of the Gala with my doctor, with 93 lbs lost. They had glow stick necklaces for everyone and the cups on the table would light up. Scott took of from work so that we could go to this together. And then to totally go against weight loss, we went to Glacier Brewhouse for dessert after we left the Gala.

Part of the Gala is a food bank drive and Dr. Todd asks everyone to donate the amount of lbs of food for the amount of lbs lost (like a fast offering). Once you gave your donation to the food bank they had you take your picture with these two.

Summers over!!

2008-08-25T19:55:00.000-07:00

I can not believe how fast my summer has gone. The fair is starting here and that means that summer is over. Once Scott and I go I will report back with pictures and commentary with how the fair stacks up this year. = )

I has been 3 weeks now since I started my new job and it is great. Not to long after I started they asked everyone if they would like to work 4-10's. At first I was not interested but the switch days off so one week I have Monday off then the next week I have Friday off so every other weekend I have a 4 day week end. Plus my 4 day weekend is the same time that Scott has off since he does 7 on and 7 off.

New Job!!!!!!

2008-07-22T20:44:00.001-07:00

I got a new job yesterday, I am now going to be working for the Borough in the valley. This job is going to be better pay than I have now and I am going to have about twice as much paid time off every year. I was telling my sister that when people ask me where I work it sounds more like a grown up job. So I think I finally have a grown up job now that I am about to turn 30.

Summer pics!

2008-07-22T20:19:00.001-07:00

I thought that this was a great picture of uncle Cody and Jack mowing the lawn together.

Over a long weekend this summer we went camping with some friends of ours. We went up to Hatchers Pass and the first day we were there it rained all day. Plus there was still snow in some areas were it had not all melted. So once again I under estamted how cold it could be at night in Alaska and Scott and I were a little cold. After that trip I decided I wanted a great sleeping bag that would keep me warm and dry for my birthday. Hopefuly Scott took the hit and knows what to get me for my birthday. Even though it was cold and rainy most of the time we did get a little sun and I (Heidi) of course got a sun burn from the little time the sun was out. But all in all we had a great time and look forward to going camping again.

Good Job!!

2008-07-18T12:01:00.001-07:00

Well this past week Scott has been able to starting training one of the new gals and get her up to speed. For those of you who don't know Scott works in Eagle River at the State's female prison.

Scott didn't think that he is the best one for the job to start training but I know better. He is very good at working with people, but he thinks that since he has only been there for two 1/2 years he is not qualified enough. His supervisors are also pushing him to think about becoming a supervisor himself. I am just a little biased but I think he would be great at it and do a good job. Plus the pay raise would not be bad at all either.

Loss..

2008-07-18T11:10:00.001-07:00

Spotting in Early Pregnancy...

I had a miscarriage on Wednesday, I have been trying to prepare myself for it because I started spotting on Tuesday the 8th but I wasn't very worried because it was never very much definitely not like having a period. I was so happy to finally be able to say I was pregnant. This trial has not been easy for me at all, and I know that if I can get pregnant once then it can probably happen again. But that is one of those sayings that you say because you have nothing else to say and it just sucks all around.

Funny Sayings!

2008-06-29T01:09:00.001-07:00

After doing a few updates to my blog I remembered something funny on the day that we took this picture. If any of you know our family you know that we have to take tons of pictures I mean a ton of pictures before we will all agree on one family picture. Well we had a lady from our ward come and take pictures for us and she was not use to one family needed so many pictures, and we were all getting a little testy. Well at this time Cody decided he did not want to take anymore pictures so he started to do funny faces and not look at the camera and my dad was losing his temper by then because the wind was blowing and it was cold out. So we were all getting mad at Cody and telling him to stand still so that we could get a good picture and then my dad says "stand still were not standing here for fun." That did it we all just started cracking up because my dad was being totally serious and he was mad at Cody but it was just so funny when we are there to take a family picture to show that we are a happy loving family. We proceeded to laugh and joke with and at dad, but he takes it well and is a good sport. We really do love each other!

Twlight!!

2008-06-29T00:54:00.000-07:00

So my sister told me about this book, what can I say I go hooked fast. I love to read series books because I get more time with the charters I come to like in the book. I did not know much about the books I just knew that people were talking about the books and seemed to like them. Well I did not get much sleep this week and finished all three and cannot wait for the 4th one to come out.

Before and After

2008-01-19T14:58:00.001-08:00

This is the day of my Surgery and how lovely I looked!

I got a new haircut to go with the new me!

So this is what I look like after about 55lbs lost but I am up to 65lbs now. So I am doing pretty good. I don't have the best pictures yet but they are getting better.

Tagged

2007-12-12T17:55:00.000-08:00

Well I don't have 6 people to send this on to but I can still write the 6 things about myself.

1. I hate to make my bed. I think that it is such a waste of time.

2. I want to quit work and become a stay at home mom. (maybe some day)

3. I love to read and go to the movies.

4. I collect snowmen and love to get them all out in the winter time.

5. I do not like to clean and any time I can get my husband to do it the better.

6. I love to cook and watch the food network channel and find new good receipes.

Long time no see

2007-12-12T17:44:00.000-08:00

Well you know it is bad when your brother in-law calls you up and asks why you have updated your blog. I am finding that it is hard to get to the computer and take the time to write a post.

But I am doing good, a couple of weeks ago I wasn't doing so good though. All most every meal I had which was only about 1/4 cup would come right back up an hour or 2 later. Now this was good for weight loss and got me to 43 LBS lost, but I felt horrible. I got to the point that water would not even stay down. So I called my doctors office and they told me I had to go to the hospital and have a different doctor then my own doctor put a scope down my throat so that they could see what was going on. Well the opening to my intestine was to small and food could not get down it. So the doctor (my doctor was out of town) cleaned out my stomach and made the opening bigger and I am doing so much better.

But now I have hit a stopping block, in the past two weeks I have not lost any weight. But I started a new birth control pill and it is making me retain a lot of water. I also lost so much weight so fast I don't know if my body is just taking a break trying to catch up the the weight I lost. For now it sure is nice to have my wardrobe expand again to all the things I grew out of.

My biggest problem now is trying to get enough protein in during the day. Most protein around I hate, hate, hate. But I just found a new pre-made protein shake made by Boost and it is not to bad so I have been having that for breakfast. If I don't get enough protein in I am in danger of loosing my hair, and I do not want that to happen.

Starting to see results!!

2007-10-23T19:14:00.000-07:00

Well tomorrow will be my 2 week anniversary for my surgery. These past two weeks have not been the easiest but have not been as bad as I thought they were going to be. I am still on soft foods; jello, mashed potatoes, pudding, cottage cheese, apple sauce, re fried beans, and Cheerios's. I am very tired of soft food and just want something that I can really bite into. But I am seeing some great results, on Saturday I weighed myself and I am down 20 lbs. I have never had that kind of success before. I can't help but smile after I see those numbers on the scale. My family said that they can start to see results and say that I am looking thinner in the face. I will try and up date this post and a few older posts to add some pictures that I have taken along the way.

I have been doing pretty good at home, the first week I was home I had to stop half way up or down the stairs because it was to much for me. But now I have been able to go up and down stairs without stopping just not very fast. I did not think that I would be physically winded just because of the surgery but I was. Well like I said I have been doing so good so I thought I would go shopping with my sister (Laura) to Jo Ann's to get some stuff for our postcard project that we were going to do.

So of course Jo Ann's was having a great sell on fabric and other things so we had to walk back and forth to make sure we say everything. Then we decided that we needed to go to Walmart also. Half way thru Walmart I was not feeling so good. By the time we got out of Walmart I was sweating up a storm. So even though I am feeling pretty darn good I think I will have to cut back on my shopping trips.

After surgery.

2007-10-16T19:43:00.000-07:00

I made it thru surgery!!! Now is the hard part. My mom and two of my sisters, Laura and Holly, came to visit me in the hospital after my surgery. I don't know how far out of surgery I was but I was having a hard time paying attention to them. They brought me flowers and cards but Scott had to read them to me. I did not hurt as bad as I thought I was going to. But they also gave me a magic button that I got to press every 10 minutes to make sure I did not hurt that bad. I was really kind of out of out but Scott was there for me the whole time. I had a great nurse that was so nice and helping me out but then she had to go. My next nurse was not the same, she was OK but not very friendly. That night I had to get up and go pee 3 times. The first time was not fun at all but it got a little better every time. I ended up in the renal care unit for some reason so I got a funky hospital room. I did not have my own bathroom, I had a room that I say was the RV room. My toilet just pulled out from under the sink and all I had was a curtain to pull out to give me privacy.

But other than that everything has gone pretty good, and know that I have a bit of recovery ahead of me.

The day of Surgery.

2007-10-16T19:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was one of the worst days I think I have ever had to go thru. Two words "bowel prep". I think that that experience is horrible, at noon you have to start drinking this stuff, 2 bottles, within an hour. The bottle says it has a "pleasing lemony taste", I don't know who thought it would be good to say that but I think that who ever wrote it should drink that stuff and see if it is pleasing to them and they would rethink that product label. ( I have to admit I did not got all of the second bottle down, I could not take anymore I had to throw it in the sink)

Then you get to take some lovely pills to make sure that the liquid you drank did not miss anything in you system.

Later that night my dad and my husband Scott gave me a priesthood blessing that I am so grateful for. They blessed me that I would get thru the surgery OK and that this whole process would be a success and that I might be able to have children one day because it was a righteous desire and not a selfish desire. Maybe one day soon this blessing will come pass.

So now is the day of my surgery. I have been kind of scared but haven't said to much because I didn't want to so fear, but I have had a small fear that I will not wake up from surgery. There are so many people who have this surgery and do great but you just don't want to be that 1 % that does not do good. But I health is getting worse and worse so my life would not be any better if I do not get this taken care of. It seems like no matter what time you get to the hospital you always have to wait. My doctor's office told me after several time changes that I would have my surgery at 9am, which I was not looking forward to very much because that meant I had to get there at 7am and since I live an hour away from the hospital leave at 6am. I am not a morning person, my family use to joke around that I was really a mole person in the morning because I don't like light or noise and don't want anyone to talk to me. Well I am not that bad anymore but I still do not like mornings!!

Well we made it to the hospital at 7:30am and around 8am they took me back to the pre-op area to get ready for surgery. And wu-hu, I lost another pound, they weighed me got the compression stockings on put my IV in and then layed the news on me, my surgery had been moved back to 12 noon. I got up that early for nothing!!!!

I was then taken to a holding cell ( = D ) to wait my turn. At 12:30 my doctor came in made sure everything was OK and said a little prayer with me and Scott and let me know it was time to go. I said my goodbyes to Scott hoping that it would not be the last time I saw him and was taken back to my surgery room.

Getting ready for surgery.

2007-10-16T18:48:00.000-07:00

So to get ready for my surgery I have to go on an Atkins diet. Which means no carbs, I hate this one of the reason's I have a weight problem is my love of carbs. But my doctor wants me to lose some weigh before I go thru with my surgery.

The first night that I can not have any carbs some girl who was over to our house for dinner thought she was going to be funny and make a joke that the muffins my mom made were so good and she just wanted me to know that. Well needless to she I wanted to let her know where she could go but held my tongue, Scott glared at her for me. Just have to love my husband he is there for me and love me and stick up for me always when I need him to be.

I did great on the diet for most of the week but I have to admit I finally broke down and had a sandwich I could not help it. But I think I still lost 6lbs before the surgery when Scott and I did our before pictures and before weight.

I've been approved!!!

2007-10-02T22:23:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I got the magic call, around 9am my doctors office called and said "is Wednesday October 10th a good day for your surgery?" I almost did not know what to say, in my mind I was thinking did I even get approved? My next thought was, Duh!! do you even have to ask any day that you have I will take. They also asked me if I could come in that day to go over somethings. So I had to tell work again that I would have to be gone most of the day, but at this point if they have a problem with how much I am gone I would rather find another job than postpone this for them.

My doctor that is going to do the surgery is the best. He is so kind and treats you like a normal person not just this overweight thing like other doctors do. Dr Todd is not LDS but is very religious and before we left he had a prayer with us so that the surgery would go good.

I can hardly wait for this life change. The next 30 days are going to be very challenging but oh so worth it. I have had to start a pre-surgery diet to get my liver ready for the surgery and let me just tell you it sucks! I basically have to do an Atkins diet all protein and no carbohydrates and I am still hungry like a fat person. I know I should be scared of the surgery because it is major surgery but I am not I just can't wait to have it.

Ipod

2007-09-23T16:18:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I finally have entered mainstream and bought an Ipod. I bought the new Nano Ipod, that is square, in black.

At work all day I mostly do data entry to bill out ambulance transports so music is kind of important if you want the day to go by fast. Before I just listen to the radio but the only channel that I could get was called the Valley station. We live an hour outside of Anchorage so the valley just listens to Anchorage radio stations. But the Valley does have it's own station that plays a mixture of everything. So you get a lot of songs you don't like. I moved to a different desk at work and the one station that I got I could not make come in very good anymore. So my 8 hour day felt like a 20 hour day.

We I plugged my Ipod into my parents computer to set it up the Ipod pulls all of the music you have on the computer. Well my dad is a big have of OLD COUNTRY and he had about 180 old country songs on there. I had to let the Ipod pull them in before I could delete them. So then the next day at work I was all ready to listen to my Ipod I found a few songs that I had missed from my dad's collection. Oh well, at least I can still delete them off.

Doctors

2007-09-23T16:06:00.000-07:00

Have you ever just been so mad at your doctor and think then and there that you do not want to go back, but you stick out the appointment so that they will do what you want.

Man I had my monthly doctor appoint to follow up with my doctor supervised diet until the insurance company approves my surgery on Tuesday. I was so mad at him by the time I got out of there I could have just scream at him. My normal doctor that I liked a lot was going to have his first grand baby so he decided to move to the lower 48 to be close to the baby. Well that doesn't help me because I am still in the middle of the process trying to get the surgery. But I go to a family clinic so I think I will just make an appointment with a doctor that I saw maybe twice before I started this process. Well he was a jerk!!! He is one of those doctors that thinks I should be able to do this on my own. He told me that I am like "a smoker who smokes 2 packs a day and if you take away there cigarettes it does not solve the problem". And told me that I need to see a shrink because I have problems and they won't be solved with the surgery and that there are so many people who have the surgery and gain all the weight back. And the surgery is not going to be fun.

For one he is not my surgeon and if he was I would go to someone different, but he does not know me or why I am having the surgery, but talk about trying to make me fail. That is what it felt like he was just trying to bring me down.

So I bit my tongue so that he would finish the appointment and fill out the paperwork I need from a doctor for my September appointment. I am not going to jump thru all the hoops that I have to let some pompous doctor ruin it for me.

Cards

2007-09-08T18:21:00.000-07:00

I went with my sister and mom to a Stampin Up party today. It was called 10-10-10, you make 10 cards at 10 minutes a piece for $10. This is right up my alley because I am not very creative but can copy real good. So I can take the examples that we have to follow and sometimes make them a little better (not often). We got to make a variety of different cards not just fall cards which made it nice.

It was so funny though a lot of people from the ward were there and most of them know our family because my dad was the bishop for a while. Anyways one lady was asking about my other sister Laura and why she wasn't there because she is so, then she stopped herself and you could tell she was going to say creative so she added well you all are creative also. My mom, sister, and I just laughed and told her we know that Laura is the creative one in the family. Once I figure it out I will post some pictures of the cards we made.

All clear....

2007-09-05T21:50:00.000-07:00

Well I got the call and I have been cleared for surgery. yea!!!!!!!!!!!!

I sometimes felt I would never get to this point. Now is the hard part I have to wait for the insurance company to authorize the surgery so that I can have it. And I know what you are thinking because I thought the same thing I have had to go thru all of those appointments and spend quite a bit of money and I don't even know if I can have the surgery yet.

Now I just have to go thru the waiting game.

Dr. Todd's office....

2007-09-05T21:34:00.000-07:00

My first appointment with Dr. Todd was 7/11/07 finally I was a step closer to having the surgery. The first thing that they do is take your picture from the front and the side. (what fat girl wants there picture taken) Then you have to fill out a survey that is very embarrassing but you want to be honest so that you won't get turned down for the surgery. Like how often do you get short of breath, how do you do in public situations, and some things I wont even tell my husband.

I was weighed, and they went over everything that was wrong with me. Dr. Todd was very nice though and knew that I want children, so he told me about other women who were in my same boat and how they had success and were able to get pregnant. And he said he wanted to do whatever it took to help me get the surgery. Then he gave me the list of all the test I had to do to get cleared for surgery.

- chest X-ray
- upper GI
- lab work (like 8 tubes of blood)
- abdomen ultrasound
- EKG
- treadmill stress test
- sleep test
- psych eval
- meet with a nutritionist
- pulmonary test

- last thing was to see Dr. Lucht to get "cleared" for surgery

The first step....

2007-09-05T21:26:00.000-07:00

One of the first things I had to do was a 6 month doctor supervised diet. Back in November I went to my doctor and told him I wanted to start the process because my insurance requires a 6 month doctor supervised diet. So he wasn't real supportive at first he was just said "what do you want me to do". In my head I felt like screaming I want you to do what ever it takes so that I can get this surgery.

Well he did not tell me I had to come in every month, I think because he did not take me seriously, so I did not come back in until February 2007. Which meant I had to start the 6 month doctor supervised diet from then not November.

Still some how I missed April so I might have to do 6 months from May on I am not sure how strict the Insurance company will be. So basically I live at the doctors office. Once I got 5 months into the supervised diet my doctor refered me to Dr. Todd in Anchorage who will be the one to do my surgery.

The start of my journey...

2007-09-05T21:09:00.000-07:00

Well like others I started this blog because of my sister. I did not think that I had enough going on in my life because I don't have any kids yet, and I did not feel I would be very interesting. I love looking at many different blogs to see the challenge that women go raising kids and maintaining there home and job.

But then my sister thought that it would be good if I blogged about my process of going thru gastric bypass surgery. She thought that some people out there might want to hear about it. I started this process almost a year ago with my doctor. Let me back track even further, I have been overweight most of my life. I know that I missed out on some normal high school milestones that most kids go thru, but I was probably a better kid because I was out of the mainstream. As I grew up the only thing I have ever wanted to do was get married and become a mom. I know a total step back from women's lib, but that is what I wanted. I got out of high school and meet my first husband. I had a very bad first marriage that only lasted a year and we didn't have any kids. (I thought I was just lucky)

Then several years later I met a wonderful man that I am married to today. So I thought now is the time we can start to have children. Long story Long, I went to the doctor and I have something called PCOS Poly cystic ovarian syndrome. Some of the things that PCOS does is make you gain weight, thin hair, facial hair, skin tags and basically everything a woman doesn't want to have a problem with. It also makes it very hard to have kids especially if you are over weight.

So that is it that is one of the main reasons I am going to have the gastric bypass surgery, I want children oh so very bad.