our little chatterbox

Harper loves to carry on conversations with us these days. And we think it’s pretty darn adorable!

a good night.

Over the last week we’ve been doing some sleep training. We thought it was time that she learned to fall asleep in her bed and not need to be rocked to sleep. It has gotten progressively better, but last night {tues. jan. 19} rocked!

We put her to bed at 9:30pm. She was wide awake when we put her down but there were no tears. {She’s been crying anywhere from 15 min to 1 hr until she’d fall asleep}. She woke up at about 5:30am to eat and went back down shortly after 6am. At 9:40am, I thought I heard her make a noise, so I went in to check on her. She was wide awake when I walked in and she greeted me with the BIGGEST smile.

Now, that is what I’m talking about. I love my baby girl!!

photos, photos, photos!!

My friend Lindsey and her family came to visit us during the holidays and I begged her to take a few family pictures for us with her new camera. She did such an amazing job. Here are some of our favorites:

 

The Mussons

 

The Bedkes

 

{Would you believe me if I told you these pictures were taken in Ry’s parents backyard? LOVE it!}

 

Mommy & Harper:

 

Just Harper:

Thanks Linds! We love them…and you!!!

Holiday Hoopla

Here is a picture summary of our holidays.

 

{Sorry for the collage overload lately. It’s just such an easy way too show lots of pictures}

 

Harper’s First Christmas:

 

 

Ringing in the New Year with AMAZING food, fun games and all of our family:

 

Grandpa & Grandma Musson Visit

My parents came to visit us in Idaho for the holidays…mostly though to meet their first grandchild, obviously! It was so fun having them around. As you can see, they spoiled Harper like crazy!

A BIG thanks to the Bedkes for letting the Mussons crash their holidays. It was great to be able to have both of our families together under one roof!

We miss you and love you, Grandpa and Grandma! Come back soon!

Our Little Cowgirl

She even has a tail. I don’t think cows come much cuter than this!

{Thanks for the very appropriate outfit Jeff & Kapri!}

The Ranchin’ Life

Harper and I went to work with Ryan one afternoon. Unfortunately, Harper slept the ENTIRE time, so she didn’t get to enjoy the cows and horses quite as much as I did. I don’t even think we were out of the driveway before she was sound asleep. I took some pictures to show you how the whole “feeding the cattle” thing works.

Ryan loading hay on the pickup. He had it stacked 5 bails high by the time he was finished.

 

My sexy cowboy working hard in the cold!

 

After loading the pickup, we drove over to the field with the bulls. Ryan put the truck in low gear and jumped on the back of the truck. I, however, stayed in the truck and kept warm! To feed, he cut the twine off the hay bales and then threw the bales off the truck to the bulls. This is the picture I got from the warm truck of the bulls eating the trail of hay Ry was leaving them.

{In case you’re curious, an entire days work consists of loading 270 60lb+ bales of hay and feeding 4 fields of horses and cattle.}

This is what Harper and I did the entire time – she slept and I took pictures (and drove the truck a little).

 

I took these pictures from the stack yard while Ry was loading the truck. Isn’t it so pretty??

Are you jealous yet?!?

The Day It All Happened

I’ve been waking up to this face for the last 2 months….

I can not believe it has been 2 months since Harper entered our world.  It seems like just yesterday it all happened but at the same time it feels like she’s been with us forever. Who knew you could have so much instant love for someone and that the love for your spouse would deepen even more than you could ever imagine?

As promised several weeks ago, here’s a glimpse into our little Harper’s birth day:

November 13, 2010

• My water broke at about 4:30am. I initially thought I was peeing the bed…that was a scary thought. When I got into the light of the bathroom and realized it was my water I was overcome with a lot of emotion. I couldn’t believe I was going to have our baby girl that day – I was still over 3 weeks from my due date and my baby shower was supposed to be that afternoon. AH!
• We got to the hospital around 5:30am and I still hadn’t felt much in the contraction department.  We got situated in the hospital room and I was hooked up to the contraction and baby heart monitors. My favorite part was watching when I was having contractions on the monitor because I wasn’t really feeling them. I was dilated 2cm and 90% effaced at this point.
• Shortly after, I was hooked up to pitocin. They started it low and increased it slowly throughout the day because I’m one of those crazy people that wanted to deliver naturally.
• Ry and I just sat and talked in our quiet room for most of the day. I didn’t want the tv on because I was too busy thinking about what was about to happen. I was excited and nervous and in total shock! We got up a few times to go for walks around the hospital because sitting in the bed was kinda boring and uncomfortable. The day seemed to go by so quickly.
• Around 5:00pm {I was finally dilated to a 7} my contractions actually started to hurt. I really needed to focus and use some relaxation techniques to get through them. I used a rubber exercise ball to rock back & forth on and I also really liked standing up and swaying. I HATED laying in bed for contractions…so ridiculously uncomfortable!
• Around 5:30pm I got cold sweats and hot flashes and started to feel nauseous. After puking a few times {the nurse said I was in the transition phase of labor}, I felt a lot better.
• Around 6:00pm I started to feel a lot of pressure. The nurse checked and I was dilated to an 8. I had to stay laying in bed from then on because there was so much pressure I had to try really hard not to push.
• By 6:40pm I was fully dilated and ready to push. This part was all kind of a blur. Ryan counted to 10 as I pushed with contractions. At first I kept pushing too close together and the baby’s heart rate kept dropping, so they had me push on every other contraction. It was so hard to not push when I wasn’t supposed to. I pushed for about 40 min. It was such a surreal experience. I kept feeling lightheaded and like I was going cross-eyed. Everything in the room seemed fuzzy. I was eventually given a small episiotomy to get baby girl out.
• At 7:21pm, Harper Elizabeth Bedke finally made it into our world! She was immediately placed on my chest. I just held her, feeling so overwhelmed with emotion. It was the most amazing feeling to finally hold my little girl who I had longed for for so long. It truly is indescribable! Ryan and I just sat there and admired her. She is so perfect!

I love to relive that day. It was so full of emotion and love; love that keeps growing deeper and deeper each day for both Harper and Ryan.

Our Happy Girl

We were supposed to go back up to the ranch this morning but the truck needed to go into the shop. Ryan and his dad went up to feed for the day and Harper and I are still in town trying to get my “to do” list done. We’ll head back up tomorrow as long as the truck is fixed. I’m hoping so. I ready to be back in paradise.

 

I took this video this morning while we were snuggling in bed. She is starting to smile a lot more and almost acts like she wants to start giggling. Seriously though, how am I expected to get anything done with this cute smiling munchkin around?

 

Hello. My name is Jacquie and I live in paradise.

We moved up to our new home on Friday. This was the drive as we entered paradise (aka - the ranch in Nevada). Pretty, right?

 

And this, my friends, is what I get to look at every time I look out my front window. It’s even prettier when it’s sunny but I couldn’t get a good picture with the sun out. This picture really doesn’t do it justice. It’s so serene!

 

Let me give you a snapshot of what things are like up here:

-there is no tv, internet, or phone (well, we do have a satellite phone but it only works when the stars align perfectly)

-we are about 20 min away from the next ranch with real people living at it

-we are about 1 hr away from the closest town

-we are surrounded by cows, horses, mountains and each other. {Can it get any better?}

-ryan is feeding the cattle daily and doing other projects for his dad

-I make sure he gets 3 meals/day and hang out with our precious baby girl

-Ryan is done with work for the day anywhere from 12pm – 5pm depending on what he has to do then it’s just the 3 of us to do whatever we want.

-we feel very blessed!

Now for the part I know you’ve all been waiting for…I will be re-entering the world of consistent blogging and documenting our simple life here up at the ranch (and catching up on all of the other things I’ve been slacking on posting). Since we don’t have internet, I will post all of my blog entries from the week on Sunday or Monday when we are in town for church and groceries.

 

And for the other part you’ve been waiting for…a picture of our beautiful Harper.

Isn’t she SOOO cute??