Ho Ho Ho!

It's the most wonderful time of the year. Well not so much for us. Christmas wasn't really Christmas this year, since we spent it in the hospital with baby Maxwell. In the morning, the doctor came and saw Max to see if he was going to be able to go home that day. The nurse the previous night had told us that she better not see us the next day. Unfortunately, the doctor said that he was staying another day. His number had come down, but now they just wanted to make sure that it was going to stay down. I understand the precaution that they were taking, but this time I wanted to just go home. Lots of babies get jaundice, so I thought we could have just taken him home and put him on lights there. The doctors thought otherwise!!!



One bonus of being in NICU over Christmas...you get lots of cute gifts. This cute little hat came in his hospital christmas stocking

Ben waited a few days to hold the little guy. Whenever we got to take him out of the incubatory the nurses would just give him to me and then they would just take him after he was done eating. A nice nurse finally realized he hadn't held him and let us have some extra time. Ben really enjoyed it! He's a great dad.

NICU

Right after Maxwell was born, I held him for about 10 seconds and then the nurse took him away to NICU. They said that his breathing wasn't quite normal and needed to make sure his lungs were working properly.

Well, they weren't. His air sacs hadn't opened up properly. They ended up putting a mask on him that forced air into his lungs, when that didn't work they put a tube down into his lungs. A fluid then lubricated his air sacs, forcing them to open. Eventually, his breathing became normal, but, he then had jaundice. The doctors put three huge, bright lights on him to help his number go down. It worked eventually!!

Welcome to the World

So giving birth wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The hospital called around 4:30 a.m. and told me to be there by 6:45. We had been expecting the call, so I hopped in the shower, did my hair, put on some make-up (I remembered that you take pictures in the hospital!!), grabbed our bags and headed out the door. The first six hours were pretty boring. The put me on Pitocin (I don't know if that's how you spell it). I dilated to a 6 with that. I had been expecting pain, but I had none. At about 1pm the doctor came in and broke my water. That's when the pain started. Seriously, I felt like my uterus was going to rip in two. I immediately called for the anesthesiologist. I, unlike my sisters, decided to use modern medicine and avoid the unpleasant contractions!! Slowly everything went numb. It was a great feeling. At about 4:30pm I started pushing and at 6:30 Maxwell came flying out. What a strange, but good feeling that was. The doctor said the unbilical cord was really thick...whatever that means.

Oh, one funny thing. While I was pushing, the nurses left to go help some other patient, but forgot to close the door. Our new bishop walks in thinking that nothing it happening, but got a surprise.

Any Day Now

So the doc said that I can go at any time now. I was pretty excited when I heard that, everything is getting kind of tight in the stomach area. The baby is running out of space to grow so my ribs are being kicked constantly by his moving!! It's not the most comfortable feeling in the world. Other than that though I'm feeling great. There hasn't been any real pains to back pains or contractions yet.

Since I still feel just fine, Ben and I went to Temple Square to look at all the lights. It was beautiful like always, but was a little more enjoyable since there were less people there. I also took another picture of the pregnancy, hopefully the very last one. The next time I write on my blog there will be a new little Stearns baby boy.

GOOD NEWS!!

We got a full-time job. Ben is coming back to Utah and taking the CO job that he turned down in August. The best news is that his boss told him that he could come back to Utah at Thanksgiving...for good!! That's only 2 weeks away!! Ben called and told me today to tell me the news and he was so excited. Now, I wonder why we took the job in Oregon, because we are just coming back to Utah in the end. I know though that Ben made some great contacts with biologists there in Oregon and hopefully one day down the line we'll be able to get back there.

He has some odd job stuff lined up here in Utah so he doesn't go crazy with 3 weeks off, since I'm still in school. Thanksgiving we are going to start checking out apartments near Salt Lake so that Ben doesn't have to travel an hour to work every morning and evening. It will be nice to finally live together again. It's been a strange few months!

It's been a great day and I'm excited to finally get my Ben back!!

33 down, 7 to go

Ben got to come back to Utah for Halloween weekend. It was great to see him and spend time together. I've been wanting to take some belly shots, but keep forgetting. I finally remembered to have Ben take some of me. The belly is getting quite massive. However, it does come it quite handy sometimes. Such as while playing football! No one in my class wants to grab my flags, cause they don't want to hurt the baby!! I almost scored a touchdown.

The waddling has increased also. My body aches and my face is getting fatter!! Only 7 more weeks and then I can start the whole losing baby weight thing.

As for the baby (abe/maxwell) is weighing about 5 lbs and is about 16 inches long. He is quite an active baby as he is constantly kicking now, especially at night. It really is strange to think there is an actual baby inside of me. I don't like to think about it coming out of me! :-)

Little update on Ben. He is still working up in Oregon. Wwe recently got the same job offer to come back to Utah and be an Conservation Officer. We should find out about the Oregon job within the job. Hopefully we will be deciding what we are doing pretty soon. His temp job is half over and then he's back for good!

Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween! This year Ben and I got to hand out candy to all the kids in Peter and Amber's neighborhood while they were all out trick or treating. Ben had a fun time running to the door with the candy to hand out! It's going to be fun next year when we all get to go trick or treating together, all 3 of us.

The Pregnant Waddle

Wow, I think I just started to do the pregnant waddle today! I woke up this morning and for some reason my back killed and my legs wouldn't move normally. It was kinda strange. Then I went on a nice hike up Rock Canyon and everything just started to feel worse. That's when the waddling started!! Hopefully it's just a temporary thing, because I really don't want to be walking like this for the next 2 1/2 months!! Fun Times!!

Goodbye Ben

This past week I drove Ben up to Oregon and dropped him off for his new job up there. I thought that Indiana was the country, but this place is something that you have to see for yourself. In the summer time I can see how it would be really pretty, but at the end of the summer all you could see for miles and miles is brown sage brush! Also, a lot of cows. Ben is living in Summer Lake right now which is 20 minutes away from civilization, 1 hour away from a grocery story, and 2 hours away from a mall!! :-) I have always wanted to live in the country, but not this country of a country. It will be interesting if we end up here for a while.

Ben will be working there for the next 3 months. He seems to have already left a good impression on his supervisors, which is awesome. In December or sooner we will be finding out about the full-time position that is available! Hopefully, it will be obvious that he is getting it, so we can finally figure out where we will be living.

As for me, I'm still in school. I moved in with my old roommates. It's kinda weird, but I just didn't want to be living by myself being pregnant. It was really sad leaving Oregon, well not Oregon just Ben. It's been ok, but it's only been two days so far! I'm just hoping that time flies and December is here before I know it.

Welcome New Adventure

Well, right now I'm sitting in our empty Wymount Apartment. Luckily, these places are tiny so it doesn't take to much time cleaning them out! I'm heading up to Oregon with Ben to drop him off at his new job in about an hour. We are hoping and praying that everything goes well and that this job will turn into a full-time position. That would just be marvelous!
I'll be spending the weekend with him and then get to drive the car back. I'm not looking forward to the long drive, but I really wanted to see where Ben is going to be working and just the area.
This whole week has been pretty crazy. On Sunday I totally fell apart at church. It was pretty embarassing! :-) After church I got a major headache and have had it everyday since. It's got to be just nerves, so hopefully I relax soon. We've been cleaning since Monday and all my teachers probably think that I'm an annoying hormonal pregnant lady. I haven't been the nicest this week! :-) It'll be nice to just get over this beginning part of this new adventure!

Life

Life is an interesting thing. Sometimes I wonder why we plan for the future because you never really know what is going to be handed to you.



Ben has been looking for jobs for about a year now. He's gotten plenty of job interviews for jobs that he is qualified or over qualified for, but yet nothing ever seemed to happen. He always just kept saying that they weren't places where we needed to be and that the right job would come around at the right time. The right time...yeah right! :-)



This past week Ben was asked to fill two different job spots. One is in Utah where he will be a conservation officer in Northeast Utah. The job deals with making sure everyone is legally hunting and not doing anything illegal. The other job is in central Oregon (the middle of nowhere)! He'd be doing his biology research there for a few months and then hopefully get the full-time position that opens up for the same job.



We finally reached the end of the job drought, but not quite when I had expected it too!



Oregon is the job that is sounding more of what Ben really wants to do. This job definetely isn't the best job ever, but it will get his foot in the door with the Oregon Wildlife Department. However, I'm pregnant and the baby is due in 3 months! This is where the whole bad timing comes into play. I can't leave Utah with Ben. How sad is that?! One of the first things I've wanted to do since I got here. I have to stay and finish my last semester at BYU and I have to stay here to have the baby. Not the best timing. In church we had a lesson about the pioneer women and the trials that they went through, one being childbirth. A comment was made about how the women probably didn't want to give birth in the most awful of circumstances, they just dealt with it because that was the only choice they had. I'm sure they also made the best out of it and had a lot of faith too. I feel like that. I definetely wouldn't choose to be away from Ben the last few months of pregnancy, but it's the only choice there is and I'll deal with it!

School

School started again! One more semester of classes and annoying BYU students.

Happy Birthday BEN!!

I made my very first cake from scratch! Ben wanted a German Chocolate Cake, so I just whipped it right up. I was pretty proud. It tasted just like Matthew's b-day cake.

Birthday breakfast for a real man, eggs, hashbrowns, and sausage.

Ben turned a big 3-0 this past Friday!! For his birthday he really wanted to go camping and fishing, so we decided to go up to Payson Lakes. It really was a beautiful place. We got up to our camp site late afternoon (after Ben spent a little over an hour trying to find the perfect spot). The night was perfect, except for one little visitor. While we were eating dinner we heard a little russle by our tent. We flashed our light over and saw a friendly little mouse exploring the tent. Our tent was pretty close to some bushes, so we pulled it our into the more open part thinking that they wouldn't come out that far, but we were wrong. From 10:30 to 3:00 in the morning I tried to tough out the sound of mice trying to jump onto the tent, moving underneath my body, and them rustling in the tarp outside. Ben of course was sound asleep beside me! By 3 I called it quits and headed to the car to sleep for an hour. I wouldn't call it a fun camping experience, but a memorable one none the less.

In the morning we headed out to fish, a little before 6:00. We fished till noon, with absolutely no luck. Finally, we realized that everyone that was catching fish was using a different type of bobber that we didn't have. Fishing actually was pretty fun. It really is relaxing.

Back Home in Indiana

This past weekend I got to fly home to Indiana for my friend Traci's wedding. The wedding was beautiful and I'm glad I got to see her on such a happy day.

Also, while I was back my sister Christy decided to throw a surprise Baby Shower. Wow, I never knew babies took so much different stuff. Some of the things that I got took some explanation, because I didn't know what they were or what they were used for!! :-)

Christy and the girls got me a Jordan outfit. It was awesome!! With the onesie is a red Jordan beanie and red Jordans!

Cute diaper cake!!

First Baby Outfit

I decided that I love baby clothes. They are just so cute and little. We went to the mall and looked around at all the typical baby stores, Children's Place, Gymboree, and babyGap. Ben helped me pick it out. I think he actually enjoyed it, probably because we weren't shopping for him! :-) Gap had a sale going on! We found some cute track pants, and sweater that is totally cute.

Boy or Girl?

So today we found out what we are having. After waiting for about 2 hours for our appointment, the doctor finally got back from delivering 2 emergency babies. We were both pretty anxious to find out. Ben of course was grinning ear to ear during the whole thing. From the ultrasound it was pretty obvious. We are going to be having a BOY!! I so wanted a boy first. We are both extremely excited. The baby was healthy. It had a working heart and other organs. We saw the whole spinal cord, which was pretty cool. By the measurements of the body the doctor said that we are officially due the 28th of December (Ben's mom's b-day!). This Christmas break is going to be a crazy one!!

Baby Belly - 20 weeks

Ben and I finally decided to take a belly shot. This is at 20 weeks. The baby is approximately the size a large mango!! My pants are finally getting tighter and some I can't even button anymore. I went through my clothes this past weekend and boxed up more than half of my clothes; since I won't be able to wear most of it for a while. It was depressing, but atleast know we have lots of room in the closet.

I'M STARTING

So finally I decided that I should start a blog of the newly married couple! Wow, I can't believe that we've been married for 6 months already tomorrow. It sure has been fun. Ben and I still are in Utah. Ben just completed his thesis and will be graduating next week with a Master's from BYU!! Unfortunately, I will be once again starting up school in a few weeks. This will be my finally year! I'm excited. I can't wait to be done with school...forever.

One more thing. I'm pregnant and due in December. We get to find out what the baby is the 18th of this month. Ben is so excited. He just gets to excited when he thinks about being a dad. He's going to be great! Now me as a mom. I might need to work on a few things!! :-) Hey, atleast we'll have some fun!

Nauvoo

This was the first time Ben had ever been to Nauvoo. It was fun to go back for me and revisit all the little homes and shops. Most of the family even got to do a session in the Nauvoo Temple. It is a beautiful place and the history just makes it even more beautiful and amazing.

Here we were outside Carthage Jail. You can't see it in the picture, but the 2nd story window is the window that Joseph Smith jumped out of trying to save his life. It always is a great experience visiting this place.

Guess who won? Ben totally kicked David's butt! :-) I was proud!

Ben's favorite shop...The Browning Gunsmith Store. He never knew that Browning was LDS.

Ben totally won the little horseshoe that the blacksmith makes for each group. I have always wanted that horseshoe!! Unfortunately, there was a 2 year old in the group and Ben just had to give it to him!

Thanks mom and dad for a fun reunion!

Ozark Adventures

Here are just a few pictures of our Knecht Family Reunion. We all had a fun time doing about everything possible you can do outdoors.

I just thought this was a super cute picture. Little Luke sure knows how to cheese it up for pictures. We were on our way to the hay-ride and cook-out.

After an intense game of tug-of-war, I decided I was on the wrong team! I lost against my sisters how embarrassing. ;-)

Ben tried to wind surf. He finally got the hang of things after a couple of hours. He definetely doesn't give up easy. The life-guard actually had to come tow him to the opposite side of the lake because he kept drifting towards the dam while trying to get going on the surfboard. I was ina a kayak next to him, giving moral support! :-)

The Arch

K, this thing is huge. We had to be like a half-mile away just to fit the whole thing into a picture. Ben and I got to pass through St. Louis on our way to Ozarks and Nauvoo. It definitely isn't a very pretty town, but we got to see it's few highlights.

Outdoor Adventure!

Ben finished his thesis so we finally went camping! It was really fun, but for some reason I was scared a bear was going to eat me the whole time. :-) We got up there late on Friday, set up camp right before it starting pouring rain for the next 3 hours. Our tent wasn't quite water-proof so we ended with a lot of puddles under us. Not the best sleeping conditions!

The next day was beautiful so we got to hike all day. We tried to hike up Bald Mountain, but it still had a snow pack on it so we couldn't go all the way up. We adventured out and found another "trail". We reached the top and got a great view.

The next camping trip we will remember matches and bring more than PB&J and Beef Jerky!

Lino's Wedding

Ben and I took a trip to California for Lino's wedding. I was a great experience for Ben, since he has been good friends with Lino since before he was baptized a few years back. Ben's family even got to come down for it. It was a quick weekend trip but we found time to make it to the Chinese Theatre with all the stars, and the beach.

We decided to get all dressed up to go walk around downtown Los Angeles! Actually, we went here right after the temple cause we had to see some sights. It's a busy street, with lots of interesting people! :-)

On Sunday we decided to take a quick trip to the beach before we headed back to Provo. It was so relaxing and beautiful. I wish we could have stayed longer.

Unfortunately we weren't wearing our bathing suit. We couldn't help but jump in though! I thought I was going to die a few times in the waves. They totally just pull you under. The ride back to Utah wasn't the most comfortable

Our Special Day

What a day! I look back sometimes and think about how crazy we were. Getting married after knowing each other for a total of 5 months! I'm glad we were crazy! Ben is the best husband ever!

Most of our families got to be at the wedding. It was amazing to see so many people there, showing their love and support. The weather was actually nice. Miracles do happen in February. The day was sunny and not to cold. My arms were frozen by the end of the photo shoot, but atleast I could just wear my dress.

Some fun memories:

Laura

Abi grabing my dress the whole time I had my dress on. She loved the material!

The little boys playing GUNS on the TEMPLE grounds.

Dad totally making fun of me in his little speech.

Jenny telling us to get our butts out of the luncheon.

Crying babies and kids!

Mom giving me some advice! :-)

Basketball scars on my arm, which showed up on like every picture.

Ben

Picking up Laura in the morning.

Terrance's inappropriate comments!! :-)

All the nieces and nephews.

5 hours of taking pictures!

Walking into the temple and seeing all our friends and family.

p.s. Sorry for all the kissy pictures! ;-)