yeah she's that cute

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Here's to Rachael

Rachael is 6 months old today. She is such a beautiful little girl. She is curious and strong. Sometimes I swear she already has an active sense of humor. Although the transition to mother (and baby) hood was difficult at times, I can't believe she hasn't always been a part of my life.

Snot

Rachael is suffering from her very first runny nose. Man, this kid has got a lot of snot. I've been wiping her poor, red little nose and using the bulb syringe regularly. In spite of my efforts, she just sneezed and the mucous flowed all the way past her mouth. Yuck. I had to hurry so she wouldn't suck it all off her lips. She pretty happy though, so I guess we're lucky this time.

Poopy Girl

Jamie was getting Rachael ready for bed tonight and Rachael decided she needed to fill her diaper before going to bed. This was after changing her a few minutes earlier. Apparently this put Rachael in a very good mood. She loves to be called Poopy Girl. So here is a few minutes of good laughs from Rachael.

Labor Day

Here are some of the pictures I took from our Labor Day weekend which we spent down in Utah with the fam. Aren't those kids cute? Oh, and Brett's cute too.

Monkeyin' Around

This is the monkey Aunt Karrie made for Rachael. I think she must have had some left over fabric from the blanket that came with. Karrie did include a warning label stating that it was not for scaring Rachael. Luckily, I think she really enjoys playing with it...well, sucking on it anyway.

35mm

One disadvantage to a 35mm camera: It takes a lot longer to post the pictures, especially when you have half a roll unfinished in the camera for a month or two. Anyway, I am now catching up. These pictures were taken at the Melaleuca Employee Picnic at the end of July. You can see what Rachael thought of all the festivities. They gave away tons of prizes. Grand prize was a trip to Cabo San Lucas...no, we didn't win. Oh well.

Truth

Just for a laugh!

more bad baby video

ok, so the video is bad, not the baby. see explanation from previous post.

She Laughs

Here are some videos I took with my phone. Not the best quality, but Rachael's cuteness shines through.

Hooray!

It's time to celebrate because Rachael has slept the whole night through in her own bed for a week straight. Woo Hoo! It is so nice to be able to roll over at night and not worry about smooshing her. I say Hallelujah & Amen!

Rachael's First Camping Trip

We went camping at Flaming Gorge for the 4th with all of my family. It was lots of fun. Rachael did pretty well and we managed to avoid bugbites and sunburns. Unfortunately, we ran into camera issues after about 4 pictures. So, I don't actually have any pictures of Rachael on her first camping trip. I do, however, have some of our water dog: Koda loved the lake. He would probably still be swimming in it, trying to retrieve items, if we hadn't made him stop.

At the Zoo

We went to the zoo about a week ago. Rachael slept through the whole thing. Here are a few pictures. Look close at the zebras.

hit the road, Jack

Well, after 2 bizarre and unprovoked attacks on Koda, we took Jack to the pound today. I feel bad about giving up so easily on him, but I'm not prepared to deal with that when the next time it could be Rachael. Patrick took a picture before taking him away. Goodbye Jack.

All Smiles

I'm pretty excited: Rachael has been practicing smiling for the past week and a half and I finally caught it on film. Usually she stops smiling to stare at the camera or phone, so I had to be pretty sneaky to get this picture.

blessing

On June 7th, Rachael was given her name and blessing by Patrick. I started crying before they even got to the front of the chapel. What a priviledge and a blessing to have a man who can righteously use the power of God to the benefit of our little family. Anyway, I know you all want pictures. Unfortunately, I don't have the fam pictures on my camera. Here are the important ones, however.

Oh, I forgot to mention, that is my blessing dress that Rachael is wearing.

Happy

ok this is pretty much awesome! however, I can't get it to show the full view on the blog, so just click on it and it'll take you to youtube.

for Cailin

5000 words

already

So, tonight while we were changing Rachael's diaper we found her umbilical stump. It fell off. Already. I guess nothing is static, even for a few days. When I get a little more sleep I will post more pictures of our sweet baby girl.

Say Hello!

Everyone say hello to the newest member of the Gunerud family.

Name: Rachael Kae Gunerud
Born: May 6th 2009 @ 4:55pm
Weight: 7 pounds 10 ounces
Length: 20 inches

Playing Hard-to-Get

Rachael, it seems, is playing hard-to-get. We had a small false alarm last Friday: about 6-7 contractions 10 minutes apart...that stopped as soon as I got up to go to the bathroom. The doctor checked me yesterday: 3 cm, 50% effaced. Well, this morning a little before 2 a.m. it started. I had painful contractions regularly every 10-12 minutes until about 8 or so, even with me getting up every hour for the bathroom. Then, to my dismay, they started spreading out until by 1:30 we were pretty much done. I went to the doctor to get checked again, and also because I've come down with a cold in the last day and wanted to see what it would be ok to take for the sinus pressure, headache, sore throat etc. So today, I am still at 3 cm (after all those contractions even) and 70% effaced. The doctor stripped my membranes--between the lines that means "hurt me"--and sent us home again.

Please come Rachael! We want to meet you.

P.S. On a lighter note, Patrick worked from home today so we could go if we needed to. This is how he kept track of my contractions...

What a nerd: an excel file. I love him.

Place your bets

Ok, the time has come for some good speculation (i.e. not the kind that has undermined our nation's economy and dominated the news for the last year or so). Rachael is officially due on May 5th. We want to see who can guess the closest to when she'll actually be born. Write in the day at least, and the time if you want to make it more specific. Good luck! (and may the guess closest to today win...oh, yeah I'm not supposed to be biased).

Update

As of 11:45 a.m.

• dilated 2 cm
• 50% effaced
• mood swings like crazy
• super tired
• irritated that no one told me how much just getting checked hurt (ie. I did not know they shove their whole hand up there)
• double irritated that I'm apparently a wuss.

Thanksgiving

Ok. Yes I am posting about Thanksgiving in April. There is a reason. After last November, I took my film (3 rolls) to good old Walmart. I got back 3 packets of pictures and picture cds. Well, all the cds were good, but one of the packets had someone elses negatives and pictures. :( So Walmart sent the cd back to Fujifilm to see if they could find the right pictures. About 2 months went by and then I got 3 letters from Fuji in about 4 weeks time. The first 2 stated that they were looking hard for my pictures. The last one said that the chances of them finding the pictures after that length of time was slim and here's a coupon for free film developing (like I'd use them again). So I called Fujifilm to see if they'd at least send the cd back. After being on hold for 15 minutes the first time the line was disconnected. The second time the lady said she talked to another lady who might know where it was and they'd call me back. Right. That was the end of February. Last week, out of the clear blue Fuji actually called me to say they'd found the pictures. Sure enough I picked them up today from Walmart (free of charge) and there were the pictures, negatives, and cd reunited once again. Woo hoo.

I'm mostly excited because of this picture taken of my nephew Daniel on our way down to Thanksgiving after we stopped for cheese curds and ice cream in Beaver. It is classic.

swollen

I'm so swollen. There are only a few pairs of shoes I can get on and fewer that don't drive me crazy. My feet and ankles are in a state of permanent pitting edema. There's no way I'll ever be able to get my wedding ring off. (I did try taking it off a few weeks ago, but it felt so weird not to wear it that I put it back on knowing it would only get worse.)
To add to the loveliness, there was protein in my urine on Thursday's appointment. Which means I am technically toxemic. Everything is fine as long as my blood pressure doesn't go up as well. If it does, then they will probably induce me, which is not too big a problem since we'll be considered term if we make it one more day.
I'm sorry for the complaining. I've been trying to do less of that, but this has understandably been on my mind. One fabulous thing about this little drama has been the wonderful feeling of calm Heavenly Father has given me ever since the initial upset. It helps so much. I am grateful.

Belly

FINE.

This is all you get.

30 is your new lucky number!

Happy Birthday to Patrick on Tuesday. We went with a luck theme (can I help it if he was born on St. Patty's Day?). I found how to say "good luck" in lots of different languages like Finnish "Onnea" and German "Viel Gluck". There were coloring pages for the kids with lucky objects including horseshoes and rainbows. And the piece de resistance, a four leaf clover cake with a leprechaun in the middle, complete with pipe. No, I did not make the cake. I won it at the RS service auction we had a few weeks ago. Sweet. I know. So, here's hoping Patrick has a Lucky year being 30! Love you hon.

Moving forward

Thank you to the family and friends that helped out with our drywall party last Saturday. I'm no help since I can't lift heavy stuff, so it was a blessing to have a lot of able bodies. All in all 92 sheets of dry wall were hauled downstairs, ceiling insulation was installed in the family room, and the office was completely drywalled. Yay! Patrick and his dad have been hard at work since and will probably have the bedroom drywalled by the end of tonight. Double YAY! It's getting there...