Where Did The Time Go?

It's hard to believe that our baby girl is already a month old. It seems like not that long ago we were on our way to the hospital with so many unknowns. We had taken prenatal classes and read all sorts of information but yet we could not prepare ourselves for what would happen or the emotions that we would feel. To hear the doctor tell us it was little girl and to hear her first cry was unbelievable. I've heard it said that 'A baby's first breath, takes yours away.' How true this is. It's a feel I can't explain.

Our first month has had it's ups and downs as we are adjusting to our new life. We have seen many changes in Natalie's personality and have enjoyed watching her grow. She is starting to 'coo' when we talk to her and she will make you work for it but you can get a smile! Generally she is a content baby but when she's hungry, it seems like it's the end of the world! She is much more alert and attentive to what is going on around her which makes it much easier to interact. She loves to sit up and watch the world move around her. At her last weigh in she was almost 10 lbs and that was over a week ago. I guess there are no doubts if she is getting enough to eat!

We have so much love for our daughter and would not change a thing!!

Happy One Month Natalie!

Just Like Mom

If I could only hold onto one possession from my childhood, it would by blankie! I took that with me everywhere and would always be cuddled up with it at night. I used to chew on the corners of it so mom kept cutting them off. When I got older, I found that they had tried to sneak it into the garbage. I had to rescue it from the burning barrel before they lit it. When I went to Bible School I left it at home (in a safe place) cause I mean, I was grown up...... or trying to be. My old blankie soon got replaced with Carathy's kitty blanket. It had fallen out of the vehicle when they dropped me off back at school after Christmas. Carathy had told me I could keep it so I wouldn't get to lonely. To this day, I have to have that blanket right beside me when I go to sleep. I can leave it at home when we go somewhere but I know it will be there waiting for me when I come home!! What happened to my old blankie? I still have that very worn, misshaped blankie and I can't see myself giving it up anytime soon! Even though it is retired, I still keep a close watch on it!

With that in mind, I can't help but wonder if Natalie is going to have that same connection. Ok so this is only a burping cloth but I put her beside me on the couch and this is the position she moved to! I think its absolutely adorable.

Daddy's Little Girl

From the moment she was born, Natalie has loved to stare into her Daddy's eyes. She could see the love in his eyes when they first put her into his arms. I will never forget that moment. Natalie not only has her Daddy wrapped around her little finger but all ten! He has been such an amazing Dad to her already and her life has only begun. It just amazes me at how calm he can be. She will be screaming at night as we are trying to put her to bed and as I am getting frustrated I look over at Dylan and he just has this great big grin on his face. I asked him the other night why he was smiling and he said because he has a beautiful baby girl and he loves her so much! Sometimes I loose perspective of the situation and this moment always brings me back. It's hard for me not to smile when Dylan gets up to calm her down and through the monitor I can hear him whisper 'Hello Beautiful'.

Pleased to Introduce...

So finally after nine months of waiting, we got to meet our little precious bundle of joy. We are pleased to introduce to you Natalie Joyce Paetkau. She was born on November 15 at 9:33 pm! Weighing in at 8 lbs 8 ozs and measuring 21.5 in long, she really wasn't a small baby. Things didn't quite go as planned and we had to make the decision to have a c-section. The labor part went very quickly but it was extremely hard. Ideally, I did not want to have any pain medication but I had very intense back labor and after a few hours of no break in pain, I asked for an epidural. This brought the relief I needed and helped me to store some energy! After many hours of pushing, we decided that it would be best for baby and for myself that we not wait and deliver right away. But I can not complain because we have a happy healthy baby!!

We had our first Dr appointment today and Natalie has already passed the 9 lb mark! It is reassuring to know that she is eating good!

We are very thankful for this little blessing that God has given us.

Welcome to the world Natalie!

35 Weeks

Well, I guess it's pretty self explanatory!! Almost there. I am very uncomfortable and feeling like I am ready to be done. However, I want to make sure that the baby is ready to come out so I am trying my hardest to enjoy these last few weeks. Dylan doesn't let me do anything these days besides rest so in a way I really enjoy that but I feel like there is so much left to do. He does his best to help out and keep me off my feet!!

In My Shoes

As we are getting closer to our due date, we are trying to get everything done which includes a Pre-admission Clinic and Prenatal classes. We just recently completed both of those and I just wanted to share a few experiences. We had a regular doctor appointment on Wednesday, September 29 and then our Pre-admission clinic in the evening. We got a tour of the hospital and filled out as much paperwork as we could ahead of time. Then on Thursday evening we had our first Prenatal class. From Friday to Sunday we were at Camp Evergreen with the senior youth for a retreat. It was an amazing weekend! Because we were at camp we missed our Saturday Prenatal class so we had made arrangements to meet on Monday morning to go over what they had talked about. Our final class was on Tuesday evening. On Thursday, we found out that the guys would have a chance to try on the 'Empathy Belly' during the Saturday class. I made Dylan promise that if we still had a chance on Monday or Tuesday that he would give it a try. Trust me, it took a lot more work than you would think!! We went through our Monday meeting without a word being mentioned about the 'Belly'. Well little did Dylan know but I had found out from our instructor that they would get the chance on Tuesday because there were some others who never got to try it either!! Here he had thought he had managed to wiggle out of the deal until we showed up for class on Tuesday. Te he!! So to explain a little more about this belly.... It comes complete as the 'Pregnant Body'. First of all, they had something like a back brace strapped TIGHT around the lungs to give the feeling of not being able to breath. Then they put on the suit. The belly part is filled with warm water. Then they have two weighted balls put into pockets to simulate the knees, feet, elbows, hands, whatever you want to imagine them to be. There is a 'bladder' that attaches with velcro onto the inside which is to be placed over your own bladder. After everything is in place, they tighten the suit up and add a shirt. So, for a few minutes, Dylan got to see what it is like to be in my shoes! All he had to say was that it was very uncomfortable!

Maternity Pictures

There really isn't much to say along with this post. We decided to

take some maternity pictures before the weather got to miserable

and while we still had a little bit of time!

Thanks to Jen for taking them. You did an awesome job!

30 Weeks

It's time to switch from the count up to the count down!

It is crazy to think that in just 10 weeks we will have reached our due date!

Both of us just can't wait to actually be able to hold our little baby in our

arms. We did the last of our shopping for baby and it seems so much more real

now that we have almost everything we need!

Dylan's Birthday

So this year Dylan turned 22 on September 12. Fortunately for me, Labor Day is only the week before and what better is there to do than go to the annual Labor Day Classic. For those who don't follow football, Edmonton and Calgary meet and play in the battle of Alberta. So I had booked tickets for Mom, Dad, Dylan and myself. Unfortunately when we got there, somehow our tickets were not actually on reserve so we found ourselves in the second row from the top. Not exactly what we had in mind but it turned out alright. This way we could see the entire field and there were not too many people around us. However, when you are 29 weeks pregnant, that gets to be a bit of a hike!! We really enjoyed the game and who could complain about the final score. 52 to 5 for Calgary! On Dylan's actual birthday, we went out for supper to Calgary then to Mom and Dads in the evening. The night before, we had cake to celebrate at Mom and Dad's. Happy Birthday Dylan!!

Mom's Birthday

Mom celebrated her birthday on August 17. We wanted to do something for her but it wasn't feasible to go out for supper. So instead, we ordered Chinese food for pick-up and I made a cake. Mom has done so much for all of us and we just wanted her to have a night where she didn't have to worry about anything. Kelly brought Katelyn and Jordan over earlier in the day to do laundry so we took that opportunity to decorate a little bit!!

Below are just two of the pictures that we took.

Katelyn was very excited to help Grandma

blow out her candles!

Here are the balloons that we decorated.

They do say 'Happy Birthday Grandma!' and

they are covered with stickers that Kelly

and Katelyn put on so carefully!

Been A While

Just before we left Winnipeg to come back to Alberta, we made a quick trip out to Winnipeg to see some good friends of ours. Jaymi and Jared Blatz. I went to Bible School with Jaymi, and we really became close friends. We hadn't seen each other since our wedding so it was definitely a long awaited visit. Even though it wasn't for long, it was so good to see them. It was hard for Dylan to pull me away from our visit but we really did need to get home! Thanks again for making time to see us!!

Winnipeg

While we were in Winnipeg for Laura and Rob's wedding, we got some time to spend with family. These pictures were taken one night and so I thought I would share them. It was really good to see everyone again! Thank-you to Josh and Bethany for having us stay at their house!

Solomon

Dylan's Mom - Cindy

Auntie Lyne, Elise, and Grandpa Paetkau

Dylan's Dad - Charles

Uncle Larry

Josh, Dad, Dylan, Alden, and Uncle Larry

Uncle Dylan reading to Solomon. It took Solomon a little while to

get used to the both of us but he quickly grew attached to Uncle Dylan and

would bring books to him to get him to read!