Jenelle, Tim, and Landon: September 2011

I hate the term "stretch marks." I call them baby stripes because that makes me feel more cute, which is good because I have a lot of them! My post-baby belly is an interesting thing. There is so much extra skin that is all wrinkly. At least it makes me laugh. In addition to those, I have stripes from the tape blisters I got from the dressing, and of course THE SCAR. I'm quite impressed, actually. It is really thin and slightly pink. The other day I had my postpartum checkup. She palpated above the incision, telling me she was checking the internal sutures. That made me wonder how the procedure looks since when I'd go to c's in clinicals I'd stop paying attention to mom once baby was out, which led me to do something pretty dumb. I pulled up a video of a c-section on Youtube and watched in horror with the thought of, "Oh my gosh they sliced into me just like that?!" It was a rather unsettling experience haha.

Anyway... enough about that...

It has been a really busy couple of weeks. I went back to work. I'm so thankful I only have to work 2 days a week. 12 hours is pretty tiring, but at least it's only 2. I always work Saturdays, so Tim takes care of Landon then. When I work weekdays my Mommy and Granny take care of him. It's super nice to work just a block away from their house, so it is really easy to drop him off in the morning. It is good to be back though. I missed my work friends. I felt very appreciated by my patients' families (I work in sub-acute/long-term care, so you get to know the families pretty well), who all said they couldn't wait for me to get back. I must be a pretty good therapist :)

The next big thing, on the 16th my leetle brother-in-law Nick came home from his mission in Russia. As we were waiting for him at the airport, several people he had talked to at JFK stopped to ask if we were Elder Waite's family and raved about how good of a kid he is. He is, and I really admire his spirituality. He wrote the best letters, and I wouldn't be surprised if someday he is sharing his stories at General Conference :) He brought back some pretty awesome souvenirs. Most of the family got furry Russian hats. One of these days I'm going to have to get a picture of us in them. I'm almost excited for winter so I can wear it, but you all should know I hate cold weather. The only thing that gets me through it are cute cold weather accessories :)

This is the only picture I got at the airport. Silly battery died.

Landon looks a little concerned, as usual, but he likes his new uncle.

The next day we go some sad news. Grandma Fuller (Tim's mom's mother) passed away. Happy thing, though, she was able to see Nick, her youngest grandson. I think she was waiting for him. She was 92, and I remember us all thinking when Nick left that she wouldn't live long enough to see him come home, so this was a sweet blessing. Grandma Fuller was the sweetest lady and I'm so happy I have the privilege to be a part of her family. Really, we are all excited for her, because we know she is celebrating in heaven. The one thing I was really sad about is that we didn't take Landon up to meet his great grandma, but something interesting happened early the morning after finding out. I had just finished feeding Landon at about 0500 and I was trying to get him back to sleep, but he kept craning his neck over to the other side of the room and had the biggest smile. I wondered what he could possibly be smiling at, and then I had the thought... Maybe his great grandma is stopping by to see him. I felt so happy, and of course I got teary. It's interesting, just the week before in relief society the teacher talked about how it often seems that with big events, like births and deaths, the separation between earth and the spirit world can be thinner. I believe this is true, as I had that dream about my Grandpa Dapp that I mentioned in my last post and now this experience. Anyway, her funeral service was beautiful.

The next big event of the week was Nick's homecoming talk. It was great. My favorite part was when he bore his testimony in Russian. It just sounds so different! We had a big backyard lunch after. Unfortunately, none of us thought to pull out cameras while everyone was there, but we got some pics after.

That's not spit up on Grandma Sally's shoulder. Landon headbutted the can of soda she was drinking.

Allen doing parkour?!

Me and my not-so-little man.

My niece, Mary, had a blast running around her obstacle course.

Now what post would be complete without me gushing about my baby? He is just the sweetest little man. He has been smiling, giggling, and cooing. It is so fun! I can't believe he is already two months old. My little man cub is growing so fast. He's over 12 lbs and is delightfully pudgy. He's consistently sleeping 6-7 hours at night before he wakes up hungry, and that makes for a happy mommy! Landon loves his daddy, and always has a snuggle waiting for him when he comes home from work. He makes the cutest little squishy face when he stretches. He loves the zebra stripe painting I did above his changing table. He loves to hear me sing hymns, primary songs, and play my flute. Lucky for me, he tolerates the millions of pics the grandmas and I take!