Easter

I know Easter was a few weeks ago but I am just now getting the pictures I took off my camera. We had a nice holiday. I had six days off of school and enjoyed the break. We didn’t camp this year but we spent a day in Moab, a day in Nine-Mile and a day in Ferron. Abi was spoiled as usual. Grandpa and Grandma O’Neil gave her a basket with some stuffed animals in it. The Easter Bunny brought her a basket with some new bottles in it and Grandma Lorna bought her a cute “Bumboo” chair.

Abi's First Photo Shoot!

I have come to realize how talented all of the mothers that keep their blogs updated are! The last few months have been really crazy. Between student teaching (first in second grade and now in fourth grade) and balancing being a mom and a wife, I feel like I don’t have time to do anything. I had these pictures taken when she was 6 weeks old and haven’t posted them! I thought they turned out great. I can’t believe how Abi is growing! She has started to laugh when we talk to her and stays awake more and more each day. She now loves the bath and screams when I have to take her out. She is definitely the center of our lives!

1st Day of Church

I need to say thank you for all of the well wishes and advise that you have given me! Life with a newborn is getting a little bit easier. She still isn’t sleeping that great at night but my mom has been helping me with her while I am student teaching and we are working on getting her nights and days straitened out.

Abi is growing like a weed! I had her weighed at the Dr’s office last week and she weighed 10 pounds 8 ounces and today (one week later) she weighs 11 pounds 6 ounces! She gained almost a whole pound in one week! It is amazing how she is growing and changing every day.

We took her to church for the first time this week and she was so good. I think that our little family looks pretty good in our Sunday best!

Being a Mom

I just have to say that I am amazed by every mother in the world who gets anything done with a baby! I love being a mom and Abi is the best baby ever but it is so much work! She hasn’t learned that night time is for sleeping and day time is when she should be awake. We have tried everything to help her get things straightened out but it doesn’t seem to be working. I am hoping that I can master doing things with one hand.

I love to hold her and snuggle her up to me. She is starting to grin when we talk to her. She is growing like a weed! My Dr. asked me if I was feeding her cream! Lol!

I have had some complications with my c-section healing but I am happy to say that I am on the mend. My Dr. said that I am his favorite patient. I’m sure this is because I am making his house payment with all of my complications! lol

I started student teaching last week and even though I am so grateful for my placement at Cleveland Elementary and with Mrs. Sitterud, it is a lot of work. I have the greatest family that is helping me with Abi while I try and finish this last semester of school.

I am going to post some pictures of Abi as soon as I can. Thanks to everyone who left such sweet comments on my last post. We have received so many wonderful baby gifts and love from everyone. I am so grateful to live in this area with our wonderful families so close.

Abigail Ann O'Neil

She is finally here! Abigail Ann O’Neil joined us on January 1st, 2010 at 1:43 in the morning. She weighed 7lbs 4oz and is 20 inches long. We went to the hospital on Wednesday the 30th after my Dr.’s appointment and started some medicine to help me go into labor at 10am. The Dr. gave me more medication at 11pm that night. The next morning at 7:30am he came in and broke my water and started the Pitocin drip. By 4pm I was dilated far enough to have an epidural. After a long painful process of getting the epidural in I was finally able to relax. I started pushing around 9pm and pushed for a couple of hours. Dr. Nielsen talked to me after I had pushed for two hours. He said that they only allow first time mothers to push for three hours. The baby was not coming down far enough because she was facing my pelvis and couldn’t get past it. He gave me the option to push for another hour but recommended a c-section. I was really struggling with what to do and pushed for another 30 minutes. After pushing I started to throw up. This was my sign that the c-section was the best thing to do. We worked really hard to not have the New Year baby but ended up being the lucky ones after all. In the end holding her in my arms made all of the pain melt away. She is so perfect! We are so blessed to have her in our life!

Stick Horses

I just finished making some stick horses for Christmas. They are $20.00 if anybody is interested. I have them for boys or girls. My nieces and nephews love them. Email me at carli.o@aggiemail.usu.edu if you would like one before Christmas. Thanks

Pink, Pink and More Pink!

This week I had two baby showers. I am so blessed to have the kind of family and friends who are willing to not only throw a shower but give us wonderful gifts that will help us with our growing family.

Last Saturday Kathy Jensen and her girls threw me a shower in Elmo. It was so nice and many great friends and family came and showered me with their love. Unfortunately the camera that I brought stayed in the car the entire shower and nobody else thought to take pictures. You will have to take my word for it that Kathy did a wonderful job. Everything was perfect from the decorations to the refreshments. If you ever need to be humbled about how many people love you, this is the type of event to have. Thank you to everyone who came and supported me.

The second shower was thrown by my sister, my mother-in-law and all of my sister-in-laws. It was in Price last Tuesday. I was again overwhelmed with the love that was shown. An outpouring of love came from many friends and family members again. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much baby stuff. I had a pretty awful day at the school that day and was overwhelmed with how many loving and caring people I have in my life.

Thank you again to everyone who helped and came to both of the showers. I was feeling a bit nervous about all the stuff we need to get to be ready when this baby comes, but I am feeling a lot better now. It took some time to organize everything (it helped that my generous mom bought the baby a couple of really nice dressers) but now things seem to be falling into place.

I am getting really excited to meet our new addition especially because she is moving around like crazy! I am hoping we will get to see her before Christmas! Again I am so grateful for the wonderful, supportive friends and family that we have and know that I am truly blessed!

Just a Little Bit Crafty!

My mother-in-law, Lori, is a very talented tole painter and has helped me for the past few years to make some really cute projects. The first year I was married I made a cute pilgrim woman and started painting the pilgrim man that matches her. Needless to say I am a really slow painter (and because we usually only paint once a year) it took two more years before I finished painting the pilgrim boy! Well this year we were talking one day about a project that we would like to do. (Pudge cut the stuff out for me and my two sister-in-laws and Lori put all of the other supplies together.) I thought that this HO HO HO would be really cute. So last Saturday we went to Ferron and I actually started and finished my project in one day. I thought they turned out pretty cute. With the baby coming and finishing up the semester of school, they may be my only Christmas decorations I have out this year. Lol

End To A Successful Hunting Season!

This year was another successful hunting season for the O’Neil family. Brian shot a nice buck with his muzzleloader. I hunted with a muzzleloader for the first time this year and unfortunately didn’t get anything on the few days I was able to hunt. When it came time for Brian’s cow and spike elk hunts, he had to bear the cold weather and spend a lot of time hunting. This week he was only able to hunt for two days and that turned out to be enough. On Wednesday he shot a cow and then Friday (the last day of the hunt) he shot a spike. His family started calling him “Last Day Johnny” because he seems to always get a spike elk on the last day of the hunt. I think that his success is both luck from being in the right place at the right time and the fact that he is a really good shot. Brian shoots any weapon very accurately and rarely has stories about missing. I am really proud of him and glad that he is the hunter/gatherer of the family. Lori was the only other person in the family to get an elk. She shot this cow on Thursday and went through a lot less bullets and powder then she normally does! lol

Happy Halloween and Feeling Better!

This week has been busy at school as we are getting ready to switch from attending class all week to going into the schools and observing teachers at work. I finally started feeling better and hope to stay healthy for the rest of the winter. I am really excited to be going to a third grade class at Castle Heights Elementary in Price this semester. I am not really looking forward to all of the germs roaming around elementary schools but hopefully having the bug last week will be my only turn this year. It should be interesting to see me try and keep up with a classroom of third graders. I have never claimed to be a fast or energetic person but being this pregnant has definitely taken its toll on my motivation level. I am looking forward to testing out all of the theories’ that my professors have been teaching us and figuring out what is going to work for my classroom.
Halloween was a lot of fun now that everyone seemed to be feeling better. The weather was really nice and all of my nieces and nephews looked so cute! Brian was hunting elk this week so I went over to the Trunk-or-Treat in Elmo and handed out my candy. Halloween always gets me so excited for the rest of the holidays.
In Price they are already hanging the Christmas decorations throughout town. I know that some people get upset because it seems like they are skipping Halloween and Thanksgiving, but it just makes me happy that they have enough decorations that they have to start this early to get them all up. Most people who know me are not really surprised. My sister Cortni and I have put our Christmas tree up as early as the first of October before. I don’t think it takes away from the other holidays, it just lest the season last longer!

Sick of Being Sick!

I don’t know if anyone else is dealing with feeling sick this week, but I have to say that I am Sick of Being Sick! I have been dealing with some sinus issues for a few weeks now and last week it got worse. I went to the Dr. and she said that I had a cold virus and I needed to just stay home and rest to get better.

I have been a bit panicked about this whole swine flu outbreak and staying home seems to be making me more worried. I tend to watch the news a lot and all the different things that are being said are so confusing! Get the flu shot. Don’t get the swine flu mist but the shot is ok. Don’t get the shot because your baby might be autistic. Make sure your shot doesn’t have preservatives in it. The flu shot might make you sicker. What are we supposed to believe? There have been so many conflicting stories that I am left completely confused!

On top of all this confusion I have been really sick this weekend. I do have to say that I have the greatest family ever! Brian was on the mountain on Saturday and I was feeling horrible. My sister-in-law called me throughout the day to check on how I was feeling. (Her kids had the swine flu this week so we were avoiding being around them.) I also have the greatest mom! On Saturday evening she called and I still wasn’t doing very well so she drove to my house and packed up all of my cold medicine, extra pillows and took me to her house. She bought a new humidifier and put me in bed at her house. It was so nice to finally get some sleep! She made sure I had everything I needed and helped me feel better.

I’m still not feeling well today but Brian has set up everything at home so that I can hopefully get some rest. I guess this is going to be my practice of not getting much sleep that comes with motherhood!

It's a Girl

It’s a Girl! I haven’t posted my first ultrasound results because the baby was being shy and wouldn’t let us see. She told us that she was 70% sure that it was a girl. During the first ultrasound they couldn’t see the babies face so the tech thought that my Dr. would order another scan. I went to the Dr. this week and he said that I can do another one if I wanted to but he had enough information from the first one to see that everything looked good. With the $7000 deductible we have to pay, Brian and I decided that we didn’t want to do another ultrasound if the Dr. didn’t think we needed one. Because of all this and still wanting to know what the baby was for sure I went to the hospital and they said they would just look for the sex of the baby again because we couldn’t see it the first time without charging us for another scan. I was so excited! I went yesterday and we are defiantly having a girl! I’m grateful for professionally trained people that can tell because I am not able to identify anything on that screen or the picture.

I’ve heard the saying that a picture says a thousand words; well this picture leads to a thousand questions to me!

Unemployed!

Well I am officially unemployed! It is pretty scary but really exciting. My last day of work was Thursday and it went really well. The ladies I work with took me to lunch on Wednesday and gave me some really cute teacher decorations for my classroom. It was bittersweet going out to lunch with all of them because I have seen them almost every day for the last five years. I have developed some really great long lasting friendships with them and plan on keeping in touch will all of them. On Thursday Dr. Heiner had a surgery meeting so his wife Chris (who is one of the kindest people I have ever met) took us all to lunch. The girls had bought me a cake and hung up a banner that said “We will miss you Carli!” It was funny because all day the patients coming in the office were asking me where I was going and if I was coming back. I have come to know some of them really well and will miss seeing and helping them. It is going to be an adjustment for Brian and me because I have worked at least part time our whole marriage! I think I will adjust fast to not having to be somewhere at eight in the morning pretty easily! I am really excited to just focus on school for a few months and get ready to bring home a baby! I took some pictures with my cell phone on my last day so they are not the best quality but I wanted something to remind me.

All the Girls

Funny Faces

Liesel and Paola (Pretending to work! lol)

Kelli and Connie

Connie

Gina

The banner they put up for me