Awake

Our bright-eyed boy at bedtime

Mom! Stop taking pictures and help me sit up!

I absolutely love when Emerson is awake because I love seeing his big eyes. It's just that he's usually awake when I would like to sleep! The nights haven't been bad yet though. He's just been getting up about twice a night and usually has a good 4 hour stretch where I get some deep, much-needed sleep. I can't complain though, because he's such a cute little weasel that he's worth getting up for. The first night we were home we were so paranoid that we wouldn't wake up to feed him. So I was like, "Do you think I need to set my alarm or something?" And Ben was like, "Yeah, maybe you'd better." Then we proceeded to turn the baby monitor up to the highest setting (in our spacious apartment...) so that we could basically hear him inhale and exhale. It makes me laugh really hard now though because I'm certainly not worried about hearing our little guy in the middle of the night--he's sure to let us know when he's hungry. We've now turned down our baby monitor a few notches...or like twenty.

Asleep

It's funny I know, but Emerson likes to sleep...a lot! He's just so peaceful and photogenic when he's sleeping that I have to keep taking pictures. Pretty soon I'll feel like he's not sleeping enough, so I figured I'd better document it while I still can.

At Home

Emerson getting ready for bed

Emerson's funny little feet

Dad and Emerson watching General Conference together

Our awake little guy

It seems like every face he makes or little grunts come out of his body (besides the suspicious ones from the bottom end) is the cutest thing ever to us. I think he's already tired of the camera, and he's not even a week old in these pictures.

Coming home from the hospital

Emerson getting his last meal in the hospital before he gets to see his new home

Emerson in his new clothes. (He was so difficult to get dressed! He has the strongest, most determined little arms and legs I've ever seen!)

Two days after I delivered little Emerson, we got discharged from the hospital. That was kind of a scary feeling. We put him in his humongous carseat and gathered all of our stuff. The nurse came in and checked to make sure we had him in his carseat correctly and then came down to the car with us to make sure we got him buckled in correctly. Then we were like, "Are you sure it's okay for us to take him? You don't need us to pass some exam or something to prove we can take care of him?" It wasn't too bad in the hospital because there are a million nurses around making sure you feed him and are doing everything right. They even bring him in from the nursery when he's hungry to make sure he gets to eat. But now....we're in charge. Scary.

He's Here!

Melinda's last pregnant picture. Notice how I'm smiling? Yes, epidural.

Emerson Benjamin Christensen

He weighed a whole 6 lbs 15 oz!

The new parents

Mommy and Emerson

Well, after 13 hours of labor on April 3, 2008 our little boy is finally here! We are so excited and are already enjoying parenthood. It was so weird though to leave our apartment as 2 people and to come back as 3.
I was completely expecting to go over my due date, but he apparently was ready early. :) What a good boy. My water broke at 2:30 in the morning and I woke Ben up and told him we needed to go right then. He acted stunned for a few minutes and then finally woke up and realized the time had come. I was feeling really excited and nervous. We got to the hospital and they checked to make sure my water really did break...(like I wouldn't know?) and then put me in a bed and let me wait for 12 hours until it was time to deliver. Boy am I thankful for modern medicine. I was smiling all the way through the pushing part (seriously!) all thanks to the epidural. I highly recommend getting one. I know there are people that are very against them, but for me it was definitely the right choice and it made the whole experience so much better.
After the biggest workout of my life, our little boy was born. It was so amazing! I just couldn't believe that 1. He fit inside me and 2. That he is ours! I can't even describe how wonderful it was to hold my little baby. Ben was such a great support through the whole process and was so positive and loving. He's such a wonderful husband, and now a great daddy too. :)

38 1/2 Weeks

So I kind of hate this picture because my stomach looks so weird...but baby was doing one of his super stretches. So here I am at almost 39 weeks and I'm feeling pretty ready to have our sweet little boy. I hope he's sweet anyway...I'm kind of entering that panicky stage where I realize that there's only one way out for him, and it doesn't seem to be quite the right size. I guess that's why they invented epidurals--which I AM taking advantage of. Good for those people that are brave enough to do it natural, but I'm afraid I'm a wimp and have often said I would've died early on had I been born in pioneer times. Hopefully after the whole experience I'll be feeling well enough to post some pictures of our newest addition. :)

What's high in the middle and round at both ends?

Winda in front of the Columbus, Ohio Temple. It's one of those small temples, and they're not kidding!

Ben in front of the mini temple

Our rental car. It had the worst turning radius in the world, but we were just glad to be mobile after our carless honeymoon.

Buckeye Stadium. Yeah, it pretty much makes me embarrassed to call Utah State's parking lot a stadium.

Well, it's official. Ben and Emerson and I will be moving to Columbus, Ohio this summer for Ben to start medical school in the fall. With said baby coming so soon, things have been more complicated with our mobility. We didn't really want to take our brand-new baby on an airplane when he was a few weeks old and then cart him around a foreign city looking for housing and then have to make the trek all over again in a few more weeks. So we made an executive decision (which was harder for us than you know) to take a trip out there over spring break to look at places to live. This took a lot of research and preparation before we even went out there, and was certainly very stressful, but was such a fun and successful trip. The main stress was whether I would be able to go or not because they don't recommend that you travel after 36 weeks. So I got it okayed by the doctor on call because my doctor was on vacation and there was no one in his office (I guess women don't have babies while their doctor is on vacation?) and we flew out the day before I was officially 36 weeks and then we flew back 3 days later. And yes, we made it there and back without delivering the baby. :) And thanks to Delta not having any travel restrictions for pregnant women, they didn't add to the stress.

I was a little stressed during the flight because my dad and the doctor on call told me to be sure to get up and walk around so I didn't get blood clots. It was all fine on the way to Ohio, but on the flight back I want you to picture this: I am in the middle seat, not sitting by Ben. It is approximately 1 million degrees in the plane, there is a good-sized man sitting on my right side with his gigantic fleece jacket spread over him while he naps. There is a severely obese man sitting on the row in front of me causing the entire row of seats to lean back. The lady directly in front of me is reclined to the fullest. I have a huge stomach that prevents me from bending over to get into my carry on, not to mention my wool peacoat that I'm holding on my lap because the overhead bins are packed too full to stuff it in. And last, but certainly not least, the man on my left side, (the aisle side) has his full bottle of water, his cup of ice, his cell phone, his palm pilot, his napkins, snack, and an entire bag of Skittles (yes, individual Skittles) strewn over his tray table. Meanwhile I am screaming in my mind, trying not to picture the humongous clots forming in my legs making their way to my brain and/or lungs, and trying to get up the courage so say, "Ahem, excuse me, but can I get by?" to the slowest beverage drinker in the whole world. Finally, my panic attack got the better of me and when I could see he had his Skittles reasonably corralled, I asked him to move. I was seriously worried for a minute that he would just say no. Then what? But thankfully he moved. And don't worry, I have yet to have a stroke or heart attack from the clots in my legs. It really was a good trip and we're excited to live in Ohio.

Like Father, Like Daughter

On February 27th, my sister Stephanie turned 12. I can't believe she's that old already! I happened to be in Murray that evening, so I got to celebrate with the rest of my family. While we were singing to her, my dad noticed that he and I have the same stomach! I guess it just runs in the family. :) My brother Brad was making fun of me earlier and had a basketball shoved up his shirt. I think he's just jealous because he wants to be in the club with Dad and me. Love you, Dad!

Midway Extravaganza

I love this picture. Poor Ben was trying to help me by getting me a square of tinfoil, but the whole roll just jumped right out of the box! Doesn't he look pathetic? He tried to roll it back up but got so frustrated that he ended up tearing a clean edge and folding the rest up and stuffing it in a drawer.

Ben enjoying his giant otter pop. These can only be found on the rarest of occasions. I don't know why, but they're always in the freezer at the condo...it's a mystery to me as to how they always replenish themselves. Ben can't eat one without smiling contentedly.

Ben standing atop the gigantic snow hill in front of the condo

Ben enjoying his seafood cheeseball. (Melinda did not partake because it makes her a little queasy...but it was that way even before pregnancy messed with her.)

Melinda being pregnant in her little jammies

Melinda keeping a safe distance from the wild turkeys we found

Just some of the many deer that Ben was excited to find

For this Presidents' Day weekend, we decided to take a little trip to my family's condo in Midway. It's just rustic enough that you feel like you're in the mountains...or really close to them. We had a great time just lounging around and going for drives to find wildlife. We spotted a gaggle (?) (gaggle is just fun to say anyway...) of wild turkeys, many mini-herds of deersies (Ben's phrase), and a bald eagle! We were pretty lucky. It seems like ever since I met Ben I've seen more wild animals around than ever before. I thought for awhile that maybe they're just less shy, but have come to the conclusion that I am simply blind. (I really am when I don't have my contacts in or my glasses on.) This inability to spot things, even when they're explicitly pointed out to me by other people, has plagued me since birth. Don't ask me why. I really don't know. It's not all bad though because when I was little my parents got suspicious as to why I could never see anything, so they had my eyes checked and lo and behold I needed glasses. Unfortunately my spotting ability did not get any better. So we've come full circle. Anyway... we had a good time this weekend.

32 Weeks...Only 8 Left to Go!

Here I am at 32 weeks. I seriously can't believe I only have 8 left! We're getting pretty excited/nervous to be parents. It'll be fun though, even if we kind of miss the life we had before the baby came. I have had a great time getting ready for the little guy. My nesting instincts are hitting full force! I feel the overwhelming need to clean and organize everything. Emerson's new trick is kicking mommy in the ribs on the right side over and over again. He likes to stretch my ribs out as far as they can go. It feels really weird. I think it's pretty cute when he gets the hiccups, but it always seems to happen (along with his kicking fits) right when I lay down to go to sleep. I have a feeling that this is a sign of things to come... :)

Sigh...There's More...

Okay, so here's a picture of our "fixed" bathroom. That's right, it's as horrible in real life as it looks in the picture. Notice the lovely gaps and brown glue and remaining water damage. Isn't that nice? They didn't tell us if or when they were coming to fill in the gaps. Knowing the owner, probably not. I have to hand it to the manager though because he had to do it himself without any prior knowledge. It's more than I could do.
It's okay, you can wipe away the tears that have welled up thinking of a poor pregnant girl crouched over the sink and toilet using abrasive chemicals to scrub off the plaster, glue, and who knows what else. (Okay, it wasn't quite that bad...but still annoying.) I was tired of reaching for the toothpaste on the shelf that was no longer there, and I'm pretty sure that the owner won't be filling in the gaps at all, so I moved everything back into the bathroom after I cleaned. On the off chance that they do fill in the gaps, I will humbly post it here. I will give the manager credit though because when he came back to clean the tub, (which I did NOT touch in protest) he did an excellent job. I think it's even whiter than when we moved in! So there's one happy note to end on.

The "Asbestos" Time of Your Life

Our demolished ceiling

The scary view from our shower up into the abyss

A small amount of progress...our plywood box.

Don't you just love renting? Let me give you a timeline of the adventures in this little apartment.

End of July, 2005: An unsuspecting happily engaged Ben and Melinda come to Logan with their families to move most of their things into their first little apartment just days before their wedding. They open the door...they smell something damp...they hear water dripping...they walk into their tiny bathroom, and alas, there is no ceiling. (Okay, slight exaggeration) There was a big gaping hole and a bulging ceiling with water and rubble all over the floor. Sigh...A less optimistic Ben and Melinda traipse over to the manager's office and report said flood. Ben and Melinda keep their cute little engaged fingers crossed that the ceiling will be repaired by the time they actually move in to their love nest. We'll see...(It turns out the ceiling was repaired in a pretty timely manner.)

August 2006: Original leak and repaired portion of ceiling hold fast. A suspicious bulge begins to appear in another part of the ceiling over the shower. Ben and Melinda speedily report the bulge to new set of managers. Managers come and inspect, promise to fix it, and all seems well. Months pass...managers decide not to bother...Ben and Melinda remind managers of the problem...they flounder around while mold begins to grow. Melinda carefully and meticulously keeps mold under control bitterly each time she cleans the bathroom.

July 2007: Bulge appears to be growing, mold not subsiding. Ben and Melinda put in another repair request to yet another new set of managers. Evil owner, owner's evil wife, and unsuspecting managers come to inspect damage. Evil owner suggests drilling screws into bulge to hold it up so it doesn't sag anymore...(Ben and Melinda bitterly laugh to hold back the tears...) Bulging ceiling goes unattended for a few months. Melinda stops cleaning mold in protest.

August 2007: Ben and Melinda return from a beautiful summer night of playing volleyball with a group of friends. They enter their apartment, smell something reminiscent of smoke, and quickly inspect their apartment. They find that nothing was on fire, but the window was left open and all of the shavings and tree poison from the stump the evil owner filed down directly outside their window poured into Ben and Melinda's kitchen. A fine black dust settled over all the dishes, appliances, floor, carpet, blinds, etc. Melinda is banned from the apartment by Ben because they just discovered that they are expecting and want their baby to have all the limbs and body parts it's supposed to. Managers come and help clean up the apartment and bring in some fans to try to blow the smell out. They arrange for Ben and Melinda to stay at an empty apartment for the night so they don't die from the poison.

November 2007: Managers promise to fix bulging ceiling over Christmas break.
January 3 2007: Ceiling still bulged and molding. No work was done over Christmas break. But understandable--it's supposed to be a fun time of year.
January 19, 2007: Manager calls Ben and Melinda asking them to check their utility closet for leaking water. They check, and sure enough the floor is soaked and there is water dripping into their furnace from the apartment above.
January 23, 2007: Sigh...Heater stinks and acts as though there is a short from the water dripping in. Ben and Melinda live through the night despite the electrical danger.
January 20, 2007: Water leak ceases for a short time because managers got a big bucket to catch the water before it drips down to our utility closet. Good thing...
January 21, 2007: Water leakage continues in a steady stream even though the magic bucket is supposed to be catching it all.
January 23, 2007: Water heater is replaced upstairs...should be the end of the problem. Not.
January 24, 2007: Bulging ceiling bulges even more with steady drips going onto the bathroom floor. Manager comes over and drills holes so that evil owner will be forced to replace ceiling.
January 26, 2007: Manager and evil owner come over to inspect. They rip down the bulging ceiling and Ben and Melinda flee to Salt Lake for safety from asbestos, mold, etc.
January 28, 2007: Manager and owner promise to come and fix ceiling. Doesn't happen because upstairs water heater explodes. More water leaking into utility closet...stinky furnace...etc.
January 29-30, 2007: Manager and owner still don't come to fix ceiling (Owner's fault.)
January 31, 2007: Evil owner gives manager plywood pieces and has him fix the ceiling by himself.
Present Day: We are currently awaiting a new ceiling, even though we are thoroughly enjoying the plywood box look and the fine dust and plaster pieces that have settled over everything. Sigh...we really do have good memories in this apartment, but at this point we're really looking forward to moving to a new place in June.

Winda is Growing...

Here I am at 26 1/2 weeks. I have definitely gotten a bit bigger than the last picture we took about 7 weeks ago. This picture is already out of date though, because I swear I grow bigger every day! (Just ask Ben--he'll confirm it.) Ben is such a sweet husband. He never makes me feel unattractive or anything but cute. He's very good at pampering me and making sure I'm not doing too much. He's already so proud of our little boy because he's such a strong little kicker! My boys are going to be funny together. I can't wait.

Christmas Break

We survived making Christmas cookies!

Unfortunately, we failed on taking pictures over Christmas. We took our camera to Salt Lake, but every time we wanted/needed it, we didn't have it! So frustrating! Despite the lack of pictures, Christmas was just awesome this year. We got to spend 2 full weeks in Salt Lake doing tons of things with the Johnsons and the Christensens. While we were there we had a lot of late nights and early mornings, and we kept thinking that this is one of the last times we'll really be able to do that sort of thing because our little boy will dictate how our lives go as soon as he comes! We did homemade gifts with the McMullins, Christmas cookies, pageant, sealings, a bowl party, Christmas Eve with the Johnsons, Christmas morning with the Christensens, Christmas day open house with the Johnsons, New Year's Eve party with the Johnsons, took a trip to Richfield to take Grandma Chris home, and had a baby shower. Phew! It was a busy vacation. I hope I didn't leave anything out. Poor Ben got sick as a dog with the flu on Christmas Eve morning and couldn't go to the movie and Chinese food with the Johnsons. He recovered enough to do sibling gifts that night though. Luckily, I escaped unharmed. We had so much fun over Christmas, and everyone was so generous and gave us so many gifts! Even little Emerson got tons of things and he's not even close to being here yet! We were sad to leave and get back into the regular routine of daily life with work and school, but our little apartment in Logan isn't so bad, either. :)

"Christmas Morning"

Figure 1

Yes, the use of quotations here is warranted. Why? Because it wasn't really Christmas morning. (Please see Scott's blog, link to the "blog" of "unnecessary" quotations for more background. Thank you.) This is a picture of our Christmas morning, which really took place at about 9:00 p.m. on December 19th. This is a 3-year strong tradition for our little family, because we're always in Salt Lake with our families for the actual event (which we love!). This is when we give our presents to each other and we have a random dinner--we just have a little bit of everything that sounds good. This year we weren't really feeling the random thing I guess because we're just getting older and can't handle the smorgasbord of foods that don't necessarily agree with each other. (Just call me Grandma Draper ;)) So we had chicken and mashed potatoes...yum.
I was delightfully surprised with all of Ben's thoughtful gifts to me. I would name them, but I'm worried I would leave something out and then he would think I didn't love whatever it was. One of the things I gave Ben was a pair of homemade pajama pants. It seems like no matter what pattern you have, what fabric you have, and whether you make them in sewing class or at home, they always turn out looking tenty. Equipped with this knowledge and prior experience, I altered the pattern a little to make the fit more flattering. The first pair was horrible, and I messed up so you couldn't tell the back from the front--not even when you put them on. They just felt wrong and uncomfortable no matter which way they were on. (I have to admit, I didn't follow the pattern the first time exactly...silly me.) The second turned out great! (See Figure 1 of Ben modeling new firetruck jammies) He said he's never been so happy because he thought he would never get to wear pajamas with firetrucks on them after he turned 4 years old. I'm glad I could make his wildest dreams come true. :) The second pair got thrown away, because I couldn't even bear to think of someone at DI picking them up.

Melinda's Graduation

Don't I look educated?

Benners and I right outside the Spectrum

My proud parents and me

Here I am, shocked at the graduation present I discovered when we went back to the apartment.

My beautiful new digital piano (and the cute little stuffed dog from Steph)

As of Saturday, December 15, 2007, I am a college graduate from Utah State University. It feels good, I'm not gonna lie. It's weird to think that I won't be registering for classes or stressing over student teaching evaluations, or dealing with the Registrar's office...sigh...ok I'm over it. I really have loved my 3 1/2 years here at Utah State. It's a great school, and I feel like I received a good education.
My loving husband Ben was in attendance at graduation, as were the Johnsons, Christensens, and Grandma and Grandpa McMullin. When my name was read to receive my degree, the whole Spectrum was silent. (;) I love you, family!) My dear family was all trying to get a picture of me, and they forgot to cheer. The report was that my mom gave a weak little "yay!" as she was trying to work the camera. It made me laugh, but I bet the other grads and audience members felt bad for me and imagined I had a rough past, and wasn't it great that this poor pregnant girl graduated from college with no support from anyone. Ha ha, just kidding. I'm sure no one really noticed, and I know my family loves me and that they were silently cheering or at least giving a mental fist pump for me.
After graduation, we went to the Coppermill for lunch/dinner...linner?. It was delicious! Props to me for thinking ahead to make reservations. I do think of things ahead of time, now that I'm a college grad...
After lunch, our families came back to our little apartment to see the Christmas decorations, or so I thought. I walked in the door, and there stood a beautiful new piano! I've wanted a piano for a very long time, and preferably a digital one with volume control so I don't drive the neighbors crazy. It was a huge surprise! Ben did tons of research to find out all about it and made all kinds of arrangements like having his parents drive it up in the van and have my mom bring my repertoire notebook (thanks Ann Harrington) up to Logan so I'd have something to play from. The Christensens and McMullins went in on the piano with Ben. I love it! The dear Johnson family gave me a brand-spankin' new video camera (which I've also wanted for a long time) complete with tapes and carrying case. I got absolutely spoiled at graduation! Besides just the wonderful and generous gifts, I really appreciated having so much family support. Thanks everyone!

Lil' Emerson's Stocking

The other night, Ben came home with the cutest little surprise. He brought home a stocking for our little boy! What's weird is, his whole little body could probably fit in it right now... I just about died with love pangs for my sweet hubby. ;) Anyway, it's fun to look at, and it makes us excited for when our little guy is finally here!

The Ultimate in Gingerbread Housing

The front of our gingerbread house...does it look familiar to you, Christensens?

The side, complete with driveway and truck.

My cute Benners. Notice the time the clock on the wall says...past 12:30 a.m.!

So the Sunday after Thanksgiving break, our friends invited us over to make gingerbread houses. We volunteered to bring graham crackers, candy, etc, and they laughed at us! Then they kept asking us if we'd drawn up the plans for our house yet. Um...we were thinking a box with a roof? Graham crackers are quite good at forming boxes (or boxen).
We arrived at their house at 5:30 with our meager decorating supplies and were both shocked and amazed at what they meant by gingerbread houses. They meant houses made of gingerbread! (I know it sounds obvious, but I guess I just didn't think people took the time to use their geometry and trig to draw out house plans, transfer them to wax paper, cut them out of the gingerbread dough, bake them with candy windows and then assemble the whole dang house.) Don't get me wrong, it was a blast, but we felt underqualified to take part in such elaborate holiday festivities. After 7 hours of gingerbread house-making, we traipsed home with our masterpiece. And here we are documenting it with pictures just in case it breaks. :) Good times. My advice: Next time someone invites you to make gingerbread houses, know exactly what you are getting into!