Stories to Tell

Here are the newest pictures of Chloe and Gary's Graduation Pic that will be in his announcements, I took most of them, then Target took the rest Chloe is getting so big, 11.4 lb and 23 3/4 inches long! almost 2 feet!

It must be, that Mason City, or Clear Lake isn't ment to be...

We will not be living in Clear Lake and Gary will not be working in Mason City. Due to the Economy the new Mason City Hy-Vee Pharmacy will not be open for another two - three years! Ouch... which means that Gary will or should say would have been a floater Pharmacist for the three Hy-Vee Stores in the area...

So on Saturday we ( Gary Mel (Gary's Mom) and I) all went to clear lake to look at houses since we need to be ready to live up there in June. We had houses lined up with a realotor to look at about 6 houses, I was excited, sleep deprived but still really excited to look at our future house.

ten minutes before we got to Clear Lake Gary's phone rang.. Who is calling me at 9:30 in the Morning? hah Mike Waller... ahh ohhh... Mike is the Pharmacy Recurter for Hy-Vee. to make a very long call short This is what he said:

1. your not going to work in Mason City, They don't need a Pharmacist after all, since the new pharmacy isn't gong to open for at least 3 years

2. We still have some openings in Iowa Falls, Webster City oh yea and Albia... would you be intrested in one of those jobs?

Yep... the whole reason why we decided to get a job at Hy-Vee was so we knew where we would be living at in December... now we can decide if one of those locations would "work" for us or Gary can some how find another job some where eles... who knows where we are going to live, but now it's getting to be crunch time since he graduates in 3 weeks!

We have it narrowed down to Iowa Falls or Albia... Both towns are small and the pharmacy isn't open on Sundays! Iowa Falls in 1 hour north of Des Moines, and Albia is 1 hour South of Des Moines...

My concerns about a small town are:

1 School districts
2 entertainment
3 shopping
4 living in the sticks, Farm land as far as the eye can see
5 the closest meeting house (church) we could go to is an hour away... This makes me very sad.

Of Course Gary still wants to stay at Hy-Vee, they still want him, and Hy-Vee is really a great pharmacy to give paitent care but we are disipointed that Mason City isn't going to work out.

What do you think? I would love to hear comments about where we shoud live and what to do...


on a lighter note...

Saturday around 11:30 pm I was sleeping and Gary had Chloe. Trying to get her to sleep by rocking her, feeding her the bottle which she is still not taking too very well, she is screaming. Gary didn't want to wake me up since I "just" feed her, he tried consoling with all of his tricks nothing would work, she was not very happy and really wanted Mommy to sothe and to fall asleep. Gary and Chloe was in the living room with Drago (boxer Dog) see picture

Drago sleeping or trying to sleep decided to come into our room and wake me up since Chloe was crying. I know that he woke me up becuase he pushed the door open, if he wanted to get on the bed he could have, no he took his paw and pushed me, I woke up and then started to go back to sleep.. he then put both of his paws on my leg and got in my face and stared me down untill I was up... once I got up he left the room and went back to where he was in the living room curled up and went to sleep... I then realized Chloe was crying and that the dog woke me up for that reason... how cute was that? needless to say Drago and I bonded after a year and half of knowing him I have respect of the not so obedient dog that I call "Brat Dog", not that he isn't a Brat Dog but he is a good boy that knows what Chloe needs... What an amazing dog he is.

That is our Christensen News Update.

Rudy Rudy Rudy...

So flipping through the channels on Tuesday I found Rudy, it just started, so I had to watch most of it, while doing other things. In my minds eye I remember part of the movie, however forgot what the movie was all about... so when the ending came, I was in tears.. what a cute little guy! I now have one of my favorite movies that apparently Chloe enjoyed it too. She would coo and talk to me while watching tv, yes I know she is her fathers child but still it was cute that she liked it or at lest thought it was fun to watch... Oh yes and did I mention that it's Rudy season, Gary and I will see the Real Rudy on May 13th, at Gary's Graduation Supper for the Iowa College of Pharmacy! wow huh? Anyways I just wanted to share my favorite part of the movie, if you haven't see Rudy then you are missing out on a great movie!

Spring!

This is Chloe's half smile, she is alert and has a personality that will make you laugh, she is wearing her Easter Dress, she had it on for about 3 hours until she had a blow out diaper... not all diapers are created equal and daddy still has a hard time getting the diaper "on" just right so she doesn't leak or have a blow out diaper!












Do you see her holding her Easter Basket like a big girl? isn't she cute!

Chloe's first Easter Egg Hunt! she was awake for the whole time and she was a big girl, she got to turn around and see everything in her carrier!


Time is flying by! Chloe is now 9 weeks old, and tomorrow will get her immunizations... Poor girl, or poor mom... we will see. Chloe is showing her personality more and more each day, she talks and talks (coos) all the time, you will ask her a questions and she will coo and then will want to hear what you have to say about it, I should try to get this on video it's so cute! Chloe is also starting to bat at toys soon she will start grabbing at them it's just a matter of time. She also is smiling at the dogs when she see's them and she is starting to squeal with delight instead of cooing! She is our doll!

So if you are wondering about Gary and I, we are still in the process of moving to Clear Lake. We are looking for houses in the area. Gary is now on his last rotation at Iowa Pharmacist Association (IPA.)only 4 more weeks until the week of his graduation! We are planing on having a graduation party for him on Memorial Day, all are invited and bring your swimming suits, you can swim or play bag-o and other fun out door things...




This Chloe's blessing picture, with Daddy! Chloe is in a cream knit pant and jacket set, with knited booties. Notice the small family picture in the back ground Gary is in the top middle, how funny is that?



















This is Chloe at 7 weeks old, this was her birth annoucement picture that I took on March 16th

oh the joys of breast feeding

So it's one am and Chloe's Sleeping patterns are determined when she eats, thats all well and good when it works with normal sleeping patterns but not so much when I need sleep. So this is my time to vent.. and to hopefully let all those mothers to be a warning about why breastfeeding is the best thing and the most intense experience you will go through.

After two nights of staying up until after one because your child is wanting fed every hour on the hour from 8pm to after 1 am you start to wonder what the heck did I get my self into, here are my thoughts

Cluster feedings are not fun, it's like binge drinking for infants and it's relentless.
Growth spurts are also not fun, That is why I am up late right now, since there isn't much resting time in between feedings
Waking up every 3-4 hours every night is hard to do, expecially if you have just had the previous experience. If She does sleep for more than 4 hours you wake up panic, wondering if she is all right, you go back to sleep for an hour when you have to feed her to get some relief or you wake up and pump and then no sooner you get done pumping she wakes up and is hungry at which point you suffer through her eating...grr

This is just the night time issues you have.

my other issues are these, please Help me if you have any advice I would love to hear it.

1. Chloe will not take a bottle, yes I pump and have enough for a day out if needed or a well supply of milk, however to get her to drink from a bottle is a chore. If she gets really hungry she will drink just enough to satisfy her hunger 1 oz at the most and then scream and cry until mommy comes usually has to wakes up to feed her the rest of meal. So does that mean she prefers me or is she picky or who knows?

2. I think that it's more convenient to breastfeed but I hear how 8 week olds sleep though the night because they don't digest the formula as fast as breast milk and moms are happy during the day and can function. Is that ever going to happen and when?

3. Pooppy diapers all the time.

those are my main issues, don't get me wrong I do enjoy breastfeeding as a mom there is a bond that I can't describe and I love it but it's intense and I hope that she will let other feed her soon so I can get some me time or at least some sleep.