EASTER 2016

This year we were able to go to California again for Easter! Its always so sunny and beautiful when we go. This year we went to the Ronald Ragan Library to take Stella's Frist Easter pictures in the rose gardens! All the flowers were so beautiful, and Stella was as happy as could be.

Daddy just looked so good with Stella, that Mommy just stayed behind the camera! I just love seeing these two together it fills my heart with so much joy. Look how handsome Jonny looks, and his little accessory is pretty cute to !!!

This was right about the time, where Stella was just starting to sit up by herself. Needless to say she did get a few faces fulls of grass during the shoot :)!!

We just love Stella Mae so much, we feel so blessed that we can be together forever! I never really fully appreciated or realized to its fullest the blessing of families can be sealed together for Eternity! Now that we are starting our own little family I am so grateful to have that knowledge. Its something that we have because our Brother Jesus Christ  died on that cross for us!!!! This Easter season was one filled with blessings and love for our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ's Plan of Happiness!

Stella meeting the Family in North Caroina

We were so excited to go visit North Carolina, It was full of first for Stella. First time meeting all her Aunts, Uncles, and cousins except Uncle Jared and Aunt Shannon and or course cousin Colton, who she meets next month. First time being on a plane, first time in North Carolina!

Stella did great at the airport and on the plane, she loved to look out the window!! ( I don't know what she was looking at, after a while anyone would get board.... but not Stella !!) She never cried and she made mommy and daddy proud!!!

We were even lucky enough to have a open seat next to Jonny and I on our last flight that helped.

Deacon is such a baby lover, he just loves to hold and snuggle all the little girls! He was always running up so me after playing outside and asking me if he could hold her. He would RUN to the sink wash his hands and hold them out for me to see how clean they were, so he could hold Stella.

Both these boys always wanted to feed her and hold her and kiss her! It made me so happy that they loved her so much! It seemed like Mason and Deacon fed Stella most of her bottles... it was great !!!! Mason even put Stella to sleep and he was VERY proud of it, he told everyone in the house! He is such a good brother.

We went over to Vanessa's and Mikes House and hung out with them for a while. We even made it to one of Masons Basketball Games!!! He was so excited and was the tallest kid on his team! Watching a bunch of 6 year olds playing basketball was run and comical at the same time. Mason even made a basket!!!!! After the game we went back to the house and of course Uncle Jonny had to wrestle with the boys. They love Jonny so much, it makes me so happy that Jonny wants to live near all the nephews and nieces, because he wants to play and spend time with them. Throughout the whole trip, Jonny would disappear, next thing I know he is walking in with the boys from walking in the woods, or down stairs watching curious George with the kiddos.

All the grand kids LOVE Pa, of course they LOVE Grammy to, but when Pa whips out  POPPY The Sailor Man on his phone things get serious!!!! This kept them busy for a long time, I was impressed.

Stella loves to get rocked, and its even better when Pa rocks her and sings to her! I just love seeing my parents with all the grand kids, because I feel like it gives me a glimpse of how they treated us as kids. My parents are the BEST, I'm so lucky to have been so blessed to have such a great mom and dad, but now Stella has an amazing Grammy and PA!
    

Stella's Blessing Day

On December 13, 2015 we Blessed Stella. It was really special that my parents were able to come down as well as my grandpa Hardy from Louisiana. There are 4 generations in this picture, I wish we lived even closer to family so they could have all shared Stella's special day!

Jonny did such a good job with Stella's blessing, he didn't even skip a beat even when she started crying. (thankfully she was able to recover quickly) I am so thankful that I have such an amazing man by my side, who wants to bless our children as much as I do, and I'm so thankful that he was able to give the baby blessing.

In the blessing circle we had Jonny, my father, my grandpa Hardy, David Holden, and our friend Kirk Ashdown. Stella was sure surrounded by lots of love.

Here, There and Everywhere!

I think we move to much, but ya gotta do, what ya gotta do! We really loved our apartment in Houston, and we where super blessed to have Jonnys family in town to help us move. It seems after moving 5 times, within 3 years we got it down to an art!

the day before the move, Stella was just as worn down as the rest of us. We picked up our truck and we loaded and loaded till everything was packed, thank goodness for family and friends. With a newborn, moving would have been a disaster !!!!

The next day we where up and at em, pretty early! Jonny was driving, Stella was snug in the middle and me on the other side. Stopping to feed and change her every 3 hours or so, it went a little slower than planned, but She did so great in her car seat we didn't mind stopping for her.

It seemed like we stopped a lot, it turned what was suppose to be a 10 hour day of driving to a 15-17 hour day.

Stella was a dream in her car seat, she would just look up at us and smile.... then fall right back to sleep. I thing the vibrations of the car helped her a lot. ( thank goodness) Some roads that we were on were pretty bad, and her little cheeks where jiggling to death. I was a little worried, I felt like it was going to give her shaking baby syndrome!!!

turns out, that our truck was defective and we broke down in the middle of Nebraska. Luckily Jonny was able to get ahold of a tow truck and we where towed to the next town, back behind us an HOUR!! It was new years eve, so we spent our last night of 2015 driving. Jonny even pulled over when it struck midnight and we had our 12:00 kiss. We drove to around 3 a.m with only 4 hours to go we had to stop.

After what seemed to take forever, we made it home and our landlord Weston had the house heated, and even picked us up some pizza. He even left us some yummy goose jerky, that they made. It sure was a warm welcome, to our new home in North Dakota.

NICU = Healthy Baby Girl

When we went in for Stellas first check up a few days after coming home, and the doctor was worried about her jaundice levels. We noticed that she was looking a little well... yellow, but I was in denial. I was trying so hard to nurse her and give her what she needed, but my milk supply was just not coming in!!!! ( VERY FRUSTRATING)  So we had her blood taken, witch made me feel so sad, because the guy was so rough!!! We got a call a few hours latter telling us that tella needs to come in to the NICU ASAP!

She was submitted with dehydration as well as jaundice....They put her on her little tanning bed and told me that I could not pick her up for two days!!!! That seemed like FOREVER, on the third day I was able to try and nurse her again and we where discharged latter that day.

I know that jaundice is a very common thing for babies to get, and that you cant really help it if it happens... but its hard not to feel hopeless! I cant even imagine to new moms that, have very pre-me babies that need to stay in the NICU for months! That would tare me apart, but we grow form those experiences, and they make us stronger! We where so blessed to only have to be back in the NICU for only three days!!!!
As you can see she got a lot better and when I took off her blindfold I got this look!! (Where have you been MOM) I never left her side! Jonny and I took turns staying at the hospital, but I couldn't stay away for too long. Thank goodness my mom was here to help us, in the hospital with spending time and taking shifts! It would have been a lot harder without her by my side, I truly have the best MOM ever, and Stella has a pretty awesome Grammy! We did learn that Stella like me, LOVES SOAKING UP THE SUN!!!!! ;)

Welcome Stella Mae Holden

STELLA MAE HOLDEN
Birth Date: November 4, 2015
Where: Houston, Texas Memorial West campus Hospital
Time: 5:04 P.M
Weight: 7' ll oz
Length: 18 1/2 in
Born Via: C-section
Features: Dark brown hair, a cleft chin, and the Thomas nose!

We counted right away all ten fingers and ten toes, she was perfect!!! It was so great to bring her home, when we sent out the pictures below everyone was so surprised about how much hair she had. I thought that she would have some, but not a full head. She was so cute and so small that I wanted to capture that moment, so latter in life she can see all her little features. So I took a little photo shoot of all the parts of her cute little body! (above)
We had a good friend in our ward, take some newborn pictures of Stella. She was about a week old and freshly tanned from being in the NICU for the past few days. I just love all the bows and clips I have gotten for Stella, but as a newborn her head look pretty small with a giant bow on top.

I decided that every year on Stellas birthday, I would get a picture of her with my pearls. Then when she turns 18 (oh my)!!! We will get her, her own set of pearls for grauation!


Grammy even made her a little pearl bracelet, that she had special for her blessing day.


We soon found out that Stella loves Bath time, like so many of her cousins. She was smiling and splashing from day one! She is not the only one that loves bath time so much, when we take her out of the water, and dry her hair it gets super curly, then fluffy. I think that when it gets longer we will have a Blond ringlet hair, Blue eyed girl on our hands. AND of course the wonderful  baby smell!!!!!!!!

New Home, New Adventure, North Dakota

since we got married 3 years ago it feels like we have chosen to become nomads, or so it feels. Moving from job site to job site gaining more experience, so one day we can settle down and feel comfortable where ever that may be... ( Hopefully North or South Carolina ) :)  First it was Houston, then Iowa, Illinois, then back to Houston, then out to now North Dakota!!! So you really never know where or what we will be do or doing..... BUT the thing is where ever that is we are enjoying the adventure and that is all that matters.

It was a very long drive up to North Dakota, right after Christmas break with a baby in the middle of the cab, but we did it. Four days latter we reached our new home, the picture below is our first night staying in our new place. Since it was late we ended up just grabbing our air mattress and TV, of course and relaxed for the rest of the night in our living room.

Its so cold here that when we go out on our adventures we have to bundle up pretty snug, she had so many layers on she barley fit in her car seat. The next day, a few members form our branch came and helped us unload our truck. While I sat back showing off Stella to all the woman who came to support their husbands :)

It turns out we have a lot of stuff, but I'm so glad that we actually have our stuff with us this time. It always makes it feel more like home when you can hang up your pictures and decorations. This is our gallery in our living room.

I think we all like our home here in North Dakota, I'm so excited for spring and summer I know it will be beautiful. With all the rolling green hills and open sky. Who knows where our next adventure will be, but as long as I am with my family.. I know I'm in the right place!

Stella's Beginning , Where It All Started !

Well technically it all started in Nauvoo, BUT it ended in Houston :p! The day I went into the hospital I was 36 weeks and 6 days. I woke up like any other day, ate an apple and a slim fast for breakfast ( because I was trying to watch my blood pressure) and sat down to watch my TV show. Next thing I know Jonny is kept telling me to check my blood pressure, so I did and it was on the high side. Not thinking anything of it, I called the doctors office to see how High was to high. The nurse told me if it was above yada/yada to come in..... well I thanked her and I didn't even think about telling her what my numbers where till I hung up..... they were far above that thrush hold! Next think I know Jonny is walking thought the door, saying that we should go to the hospital to get things checked out. I was waiting to go pick up my mom from the airport and was in the middle of my show, so I was not gung ho about going in yet. Needless to say Jonny was very convening so I JUST grabbed my purse and said ok lets go then, thinking that I would be home in a hour or two..... well was I wrong! We walk into the hospital and tell the my name and the blood pressure numbers and they admitted me right there !!!! When the lady said that they were admitting me I really said, " What, ummm no... I'm not due for 3 more weeks" in my mind I was thinking funny nice try! Next thing I new I was hooked up and propped up in triage room waiting to have my baby girl Via C-section...



Thank goodness for our friends in Houston, that I called to pick up my mom from the airport to bring her to the hospital! She made it right before I had to go in to surgery!!! Thank goodness I had breakfast, even though I only had a VERY small apple and a slim fast for breakfast it delayed the delivery for a few hours! I BEGGED Jonny for a few almonds before we went to the hospital, it was lunch time and MOMMA was hungry!  Jonny did get me some Ice chips, but didn't let me eat to many of them...

Mom made it just in time, to take that last family picture, before Stella was born.

I walked into the room, I got a spinal tap, they laid me down and said OK! ( That was at 5:00) Jonny walked in and sat by my head, held my hand was talked away distracting me of what was happening. Well at 5:04 they said, " Are you ready?" .... " Its defiantly a GIRL." It only took them less than 5 minute to preform a C-section........ crazy! We were blown away of how much hair she had and that she had my little butt chin!

Jonny left my side to go be with our new baby girl, I watched him as he stood above her. He asked if he could touch her and next thing I saw was my two favorite people in the world holding hands! It was so sweet, Jonny had the camera around his neck and he was taking pictures left and right and snapped this one of me right as we first saw Stella.
Jonny picked her up and brought her over to me and she was so sweet, not crying at all just looking up at me. I think I kissed her head, but at this point things started getting a little foggy. For just being born Stella was wide awake for our first Family picture, of all of us together. I think Jonny looks like a pretty proud daddy!

Jonny left with Stella while I was getting patched up, I met back up with them a few minutes latter. Over the next few days Jonny was amazing! A few days before Stella was born, Jonny confessed that he looked up how to change a diaper. I had told him how at some point I'm sure. The picture above is Jonnys first time changing Stella diaper, I think he seemed pretty confident! Jonny is such an amazing father, Stella is such a lucky girl to have a daddy like him. I think from the moment She was born, she already had daddy wrapped around her little finger.

I debated wither or not to post this picture of Stella and I right after she was born, because of obvious
s reasons... This was the first time I held our Baby Girl, and I think this was the moment I realized I was a mom! With looking at all the pictures that were taken that day, this is the one that stands out the most to me! I DID IT !!!!! I carried and made such a beautiful baby girl, and I feel like this moment just says it all!


Yes, the whole weekend was a challenge, but one of the hardest thing to do was pick a name for our little cutie! I never thought it would be that hard to name your child, but think again !!!! We had so many names that we loved, but we narrowed it down to about 5 names that we liked. We would  pick a name and called her it for a day to see if it fit... but the only one that felt right was Stella Mae Holden. The lady kept coming in and pestering us to hurry up and name our daughter, I felt like kicking her out of my room every time she came in.

 Jonny picked out the outfit for Stella to wear home, he loved the little anchor jacket! He did a Great job dressing her and was very gentile with the little wiggle worm.

It was a quite a journey, but we did it! I could not have done it without such an amazing man by my side. We had our little chubby cheek, bum chinned baby in her car seat bound for our Houston home!