THE CHESHIRE FAMILY

Kristen's 2nd B-day

2010-10-29T11:30:00.025-06:00

Well, it is definitely official, our little girl turned two. We figured it was time to update our blog since it has been a year. Life has been very busy for us and it is hard to find the time to keep our family updated on a regular basis. Kristen actually celebrated her 2nd birthday a few days earlier on the 23rd of October. We had many family and friends attend her celebration. The weather wasn't the greatest, but everyone who was present had a wonderful time. We are very thankful to have such loving family and caring friends. Kristen has grown up so much in the past year. She isn't saying a lot of verbal communication, but really excels in motor skills & is very "hands on" with her learning. She has recently impressed us by learning a few of the letters and their sounds in the alphabet. Not bad for only being two years old, she is really a special little girl. We are going to keep working with her on her verbal skills. She is a very happy girl and likes to dance, look at books, show you her letters, etc. We love her with all of our hearts, it is great to see her grow up each and every day. Here are some pictures from her birthday this past week. Enjoy!

Kristen's First Birthday

2009-10-28T20:29:00.006-06:00

Today is Kristen's first birthday. I can not believe my little angel is already one today. Time has gone by so fast and she has grown up so much. When she was born she was 6 lbs 5.8 oz and 19" long. Now she is over 18lbs and longer then 25". We won't know her exact measurements until we go to the doctor on Friday. Ray and I are so blessed to have her. She is our life and our world. We are so happy she is one today. Her official party will be held this Friday at Breed and Lindsey's house in Vernal, but Ray and I wanted to celebrate her birthday with just us. Below are some pictures of her.

Kristen saying hello

Kristen sitting with all of her clothes. She only thinks her birthday presents consists of clothes. Don't worry Kristen you will be able to open all of your toys on Friday.

Kristen and her proud papa

Kristen as we sing "Happy Birthday"

Kristen looking at her cup cake before she has to try it.

Kristen doesn't want any part of her birthday cup cake.
Guess we will have to try ice cream cake with her on Friday.

Last Sunday Angela and Russ came over and we had a blast visiting with them. Kristen was also surprised with an early birthday gift from Aunt Angela and Uncle Russ. If I was thinking I would have gotten pictures with Kristen, Angela, and Russ. Below are some pictures of Kristen opening her gift. Kristen loves her toy dog Violet. We have it programmed and it sings to her at night. I love how it puts Kristen's name in on some of the songs.

Mom with Kristen opening her gift from Aunt Angela

Kristen with her new toy dog named Violet

Celebrating Grandma Mary and Grandpa Jerry's 50th Wedding Aniversary

2009-10-28T20:01:00.004-06:00

Near the end of July Ray, Kristen and I went up to Casper Wyoming to join in the fun of Celebrating Grandpa Jerry and Grandma Mary Lammers 50th wedding anniversary. Kristen got to meet a lot of her cousins on that side of the family. She had so much fun with her family she even got Kasi to want to take Kristen home. Kasi didn't want a baby she wanted Kristen. I'm so glad Kristen had a blast seeing her extended family. She won't be a baby the next time we have a Lammer/Cheshire family reunion. Below are some pictures from the days we spent in Casper, WY.

Austin, Ray, and Crystal

Amber, Ray, Kasi and Chad

Kristen with Kasi. You can just see the joy they have for each other.

Ashley and Ray

Matt, Ray, and Bria

Maura, Kaitlyn, Ray, and Nick

Great Grandpa Jerry and Kristen

Great Grandma and Great Grandpa with Kristen

Ray, Teena, Grandma Mary, Grandpa Jerry and Kristen

Grandma Kathy holding Kristen

Logan, Grandma Mary, Kelsie, and Ashley

Kristen ready to go in her car seat (again)

Kasi and Kristen having fun as always

First Fourth of July for Kristen

2009-10-28T19:39:00.005-06:00

For the fourth of July we headed over to Vernal, Utah to spend the holiday with Ray's family. It was Kristen's first fourth of July and she had a blast. Between the parade, hanging out with family, glow rings, sparklers Kristen got wore out and couldn't stay awake for the fireworks. That's OK because she had fun anyway. Below are some pictures from that wonderful day.

The Cheshire family waving to the crowd (Dust, Ellen, Marni, Josh)

Dad making sure Kristen is OK

Grandma Kathy holding Madison

Josh and Dusty

Mom, Kristen and Dad hanging out before the fireworks

Dad holding Kristen

Kristen

Mom holding her wonderful daughter Kristen

Celebrating Ray's Birthday

2009-10-28T19:08:00.008-06:00

For Ray's Birthday this last year we went and stayed at Breed and Lindsey's cabin up on Diamond Mountain. It was a calm and wonderful place. Below are some pictures from that small amount of time we were there.

Grandpa Cheshire holding Kristen

Kristen hanging out with her cousin Gage

Gage fishing

Breed showing his son Gage how to fish

Cabin we all stayed in

Teena and Kristen

Carter and Breed

Gage and Lindsey riding Motercycles

Don Cheshire cooking steaks. YUM!

Cousins Sierra and Madison holding Kristen

Kristen hanging out with her cousin Carter

Kristen helping Dad open his gift from Mom

Ray showing his gift from Teena

First Family Trip to Canada

2009-04-19T16:14:00.023-06:00

Kristen, Ray and I went on our first trip to Canada. We left on the fourth of April and returned on the eleventh of April. All in all we had a wonderful time. Kristen got a certificate from North West Airlines for her first trip traveling on an airplane. She did so good on the airplane that people did not even know she was on the plane. Some passengers even complemented Ray on what a good baby Kristen was. Our little Kristen is a treasure and we are so blessed God gave her to us. She has a wonderful temperament and is very easy to travel with. Below are pictures of Kristen on her first airplane ride from Denver to Detroit.

Ray holding Kristen on the airplane

Teena holding Kristen on the airplane

Once we got to Buffalo New York we then drove another four hours to Collinwood Ontario in Canada. Needles to say it took a tole on the family and we needed the rest of the night to relax. Once Kristen was fed Ray put her on his shoulders and the two had a great time in the room.

Kristen having fun on her dad's shoulders

Kristen is wondering why her mom is taking a picture of her and dad

The following day Ray, Kristen and I met up with Boyd, Carrie, Angela, Jason, Sabrina, Garrett, and Cierra at the hotel that they were in. At that point it was decided to break into two groups. Carrie, Angela, Kristen and I would go shopping for food and clothing while everybody else went bowling. I'll let Ray make his own post on this unique type of bowling. Below are some pictures:

On Monday the sixth the entire gang headed to Niagara Falls. This drive was two and half hours from our hotel. We then had some time to eat and relax before we started driving again to Buffalo NY for the hockey game between the Detroit Red Wings and the Buffalo Sabers. Kristen again showed us what a wonderful baby she was. The only time she cried was when we had her car seat covered with a blanket. When we removed the blanket and propped the car seat up a little bit Kristen had a blast watching the hockey game. During the game Carrie noticed Kristen was wearing the opposing teams colors and did not like it (I did not know the cute red and white suit were the opposing teams colors when I picked out the outfit for Kristen in Rifle). This minor problem was easily corrected when Carrie came back with a Buffalo Saber jersey for Kristen. Needles to say she was even more adorable in the home team colors. Below are some pictures:

Hockey rink before the game

Hocke rink during the game

Ray holding Kristen

Kristen watching the hockey game from her car seat

Kristen wearing her jersey that Aunt Carrie gave her

Garrett showing he is having a good time at the hockey game

Cierra and Sabrina feeding Kristen at the game

Ray, Kristen and I getting a family picture at the game

Boyd and Carrie enjoying themselves at the hockey game

Cheri, Ray, Boyd, Cierra and Carrie at the game

After the hockey game we all went back to our hotel room in Niagra Falls Ontario. Angie, Carrie, and Boyd came to play with Kristen at the end of the night before going to bed. Kristen had a lot of fun with her Uncle Boyd and Aunt Carrie. She also enjoyed Angie playing with her. That night Kristen started to get sick. She woke up about every two - three hours and cried. We fed her and put her to bed with us. Knowing she was in bed with mom and dad helped her, but she still did not feel all that well. Since it was freezing cold and the wind was blowing Ray and I decided not to take Kristen to the falls. We did not want her to get worse. Instead Ray took pictures of the falls from our room. Below are those wonderful pictures that Ray took.

Tuesday night was horrible. Kristen was getting worse and Ray and I did not know what to do. We called our Doctor but was unable to get a hold of anyone. We were going to take Kristen to the emergency room but decided to get a different perspective from Angie and Carrie. It was a good thing we did. Boyd, Carrie and Angie came over and took a good look at Kristen. They told us everything was going to be alright. We just need to prop Kristen up in her playpen at night, boil water and have Kristen in hale the steam to help her congestion problems. Ray and I did everything that Angie and Carrie told us and the next morning Kristen was doing better. She was still sick but you could tell she was doing so much better. Wednesday morning we drove to Toronto and went to the day show of Medieval Times. In short we learned that the dinner shows were far better then the day shows for what you pay for. Below are some pictures from the show:

Family Picture

Our Red Knight

Kristen and I watching the show

Cierra getting her picture taken by her Uncle Ray

Ray and Teena just below the King's thrown

Ray

The family had a wonderful time in Canada. We are so happy that Boyd and Carrie invited us. Thank you Boyd and Carrie for allowing us to go with you.

Easter Pictures of Kristen

2009-04-19T15:51:00.007-06:00

Before the family went on a vacation to Canada Grandma Doud, Kristen and I went to get photos of Kristen done at Kiddie Kandids. Below are the pictures of our beautiful daughter Kristen.

Kristen gets her first set of earrings

2009-02-23T18:43:00.024-07:00

On Saturday February 21 Ray and I took Kristen to get her ears pierced. We went to Grand Junction and had Clarie's do it. When we arrived at the store Ray went three quarters around the building trying to park where he normally did. We had know idea where Claire's was, so we were anticipating a couple of minutes of walking around the mall. To our surprise Ray had parked very close to Claire's so we did not have to walk very far.

We were not sure if Claire's was going to do Kristen's ears or not, but when we saw a lady in a chair getting her ears pierced, we knew we could do it. The manager of the store gave us a contract to fill out and sign. Once signed we waited to have our daughters ears pierced. Once the lady was done with her ears being pierced it was time for her four year old daughter. She noticed how the gun pierced her mother's ears and how sharp the earrings were. She was frightened and excited at the same time. Her parents comforted her and assured her that the ear piercing would only hurt for a little while. Moments later the little girl was ready to have a go at it. The moment her ear was pierced the poor girl started to shriek and cry uncontrollably. I felt so bad for the little girl. I immediately asked myself if I wanted to put Kristen through such pain. Ray noticed my worries and told me everything was going to be alright and that Kristen would be fine.

Two minutes later it was Kristen's turn to get her ears pierced. Ray sat down with her and held her, while I checked the marks the lady had put on Kristen's ears. I think the hardest part was trying to get Kristen to stop turning her head so that the marks could be placed on her ears. Once the dots were successfully placed the lady pierced our daughters ears. As previously seen the moment the gun shot the earring into Kristen's ears she began to cry. A moment later she got stabbed by the other earring. Ray did such a wonderful job comforting our daughter that after about thirty seconds she was fine again, almost as if nothing had ever happened. This reassured us that we had made the right choice on getting our daughters ears pierced. It did not hurt her near as bad as the four year old, and when Kristen is older she will already have her ears pierced.

Below are some pictures of Kristen getting her ears pierced.

Kristen is moments away from getting earrings

Seconds before Kristen's first ear is pierced

One ear pierced and one to go

One happy baby with beautiful earrings

One day after her earrings, Kristen is still happy

Valentines Day

2009-02-23T18:33:00.013-07:00

Like every year with Ray, Valentines Day was wonderful. I woke up that morning having to take care of some items before we left town. While I was away my wonderful husband put out a beautiful card with a box of candy. I was also surprised with the beautiful heart necklace that he bought me. I am so thankful I have a wonderful husband. He doesn't need to get me anything, but when he does he easily sweeps me off of my feet with thoughts and his love.

Before Ray and I went out for our Valentines dinner we stopped by and spent some time with Ray's aunt Jeanne and his cousins Logan and Kelsey. We really enjoyed spending time with them. Like all good things, time passed by quickly and Ray and I had to get ready for dinner. Ray's aunt Jeanne and cousin Kelsey took care of our adorable Kristen while Ray and I went to Russet's (I can't thank them enough for doing that). We had a wonderful evening talking about our family and discussing how blessed we are to have one another, and to have Kristen in our lives. Below are some pictures from Valentines Day.

Kelsey holding her cousin Kristen

Aunt Jeanne holding her great-niece

Family picture before heading off to Russet's

Valentines picture of Ray and I at Russet's

Valentine's Day card of our beautiful daughter

Cheshire update after 3-months!

2009-02-17T15:32:00.005-07:00

Well, it has been a while since we last posted anything on our site, almost 3 months to be exact. It is amazing how fast time goes by, I believe an update is definitely long overdue! I lost count on how many people have asked for us to update our family blog, so here goes:

Where do I begin? These past months have been incredible watching our little girl get bigger and bigger. Kristen is almost 16-weeks old. I can't begin to tell you how blessed Teena & I are to have this wonderful ANGEL in our lives. Everyone tells us that they would be glad to watch Kristen at any time due to her easy going temperament. (She gets this from her mom!) Did I mention that she also has the most contagious smile! We are very lucky to have a baby that sleeps 6 - 8 hours during the night, and has a mild whimper when it is time to be fed.

Teena recently returned back to work after her Maternity Leave was officially over, I actually returned back to work in December. Fortunately I spent an entire week with Kristen, while Teena began working. This helped a lot with the transition of both of us working. Teena dropped Kristen off to her first day of daycare at the end of last month. This was VERY HARD! I was returning back to work in Wyoming, while Teena was trying to hold back the tears. She called the daycare a couple of times that day just to make sure everything was alright. The daycare lady said that Kristen was a joy to watch, and that she was a very easy baby to take care of. This helped ease our minds a little bit more; although, it is very tough to place your baby in someone else's care.

I'm going to post a few more blogs starting with the following: 1st month at home, Thanksgiving in Casper, Christmas with our family in Denver, trip to Vernal & Salt Lake City, and updated family pictures. Kristen has had quite the fan club, and everyone has had their turn in holding her. I don't think for a second that she has minded the attention.

Hope you enjoy the posts!

Christmas - 2008

2008-12-26T20:40:00.147-07:00

Teena, Kristen, and myself went to Denver, CO to stay with Grandma & Grandpa Doud for the X-mas holiday. We had a great time visiting all of our family, Grandma Polly & Grandpa Skip absolutely addored our little girl. So did Grandma Phillips, Aunt Debbie & Uncle Tom, Cousin Rich, and Uncle Dean. Rich said that he wants Kristen to know him as "Uncle Rich". It is wonderful having our family so close to where we live. I would say that were pretty lucky to have both our families within a small distance away. We also had the opportunity to visit Marla & Shawn and see their new baby boy; as well as, our friends Lori & Milan in Lakewood, and Paul & Peggy in Highlands Ranch. It was very nice to see everyone in one trip.

Teena & I bought each other a stocking stuffer this year which consisted of watching the Denver Broncos take on the Cleveland Browns. Grandma & Grandpa Doud watched Kristen for us while we attended the game. Ah the game.......it was only 3 below with the wind chill at Invesco Field. We were leading by 14 points after the 1st quarter, then all of a sudden, the Browns came back and took the lead at halftime. The rest of game is history, we actually went in to the gift shop with 5 minutes left in the game. This was when the Broncos were literally self-destructing after losing three games after leading their division. Needless to say, the Broncos lost to San Diego a week after, knocking them out of the playoffs. I'm still a faithful fan at heart, don't know yet on their new coach, I think that it is a good move overall. Can't wait for next season.

Christmas was very special, especially with it being Kristen's first X-mas. We took her to the mall and had her sit on Santa Clause's lap. They took the most priceless photo of her, in fact, we used it on our holiday card last year. Everyone asked us if the photo was touched up somehow. Grandma & Grandpa Doud got a kick out of us taking pictures and video of opening up gifts for Kristen. I know that we were probably going a little overboard, but it is all about the memories. We even got Kristen a i-pod shuffle so that she could have her nursery music with her at all times. It makes it a heck of a lot easier than packing around a big album of CD's. She made out like a bandit, everyone spoiled her silly. Teena and I even bought her a cute little pink & white Denver Broncos helmet for her room. I would say that it was definitely a special holiday. Check out these pics:

This X-mas card is one in a million. Kristen started to fuss shortly after this picture was taken w/ Santa Claus

Grandma Polly with her very cute grand daughter

Dorthey is a very good friend and neighbor of the family, she really enjoyed holding Kristen.

Grandpa Skip liked to hang out with his grand daughter

Grandma Phillips with her new great grand daughter

Picture of Grandma Phillips with Grand daughter (Teena); Great Grand daughter (Kristen)

4th Generation Photograph: Grandma Phillips, Grandma Polly, Teena, and baby Kristen

Ray joining in a picture with all of the ladies

The new babies: Marla holding Kristen; Teena holding Micah

Daddy displaying presents for Kristen from Marla's family

Uncle Dean posing with his great niece

Uncle Dean with Teena and Kristen

Uncle Dean with Ray & Kristen

Kristen's 1st ornament

Kristen's own Christmas tree. We couldn't resist getting this tree, it is lavender and matches her room perfectly

Kristen adoring all of her gifts on Christmas morning

Look at the all of these gifts for this precious little girl

Grandma Polly holding Kristen on X-mas morning

Uncle Dean displaying his gifts from us. He really enjoys painting in his spare time.

Aunt Debbie feeding Kristen with Teena looking on

"Uncle Rich" is all smiles when ever he holds Kristen

Our family picture on X-mas Day

Daddy hanging out with his favorite little girl - Look at those bright blue eyes

Milan, Lori taking their turn at getting a picture with Kristen

Peggy and Paul also enjoying their time with Kristen

Thanksgiving - 2008

2008-11-30T12:39:00.004-07:00

This year's Thanksgiving holiday consisted of spending a little time in Vernal with our family and then traveling to Casper, WY to see our grandparents & relatives. This was the first time that we had taken Kristen on a trip more than an hour. She was a great traveler! Teena and I fed her before getting in the vehicle, and like magic, she was out for at least 3 hours. This was enough to get to Vernal, but not enough time to travel to Casper. So, we made one stop on the way to feed her a bottle, and again, she was asleep once the car was moving again.

It was very nice having all of my family in Vernal meet Kristen for the 1st time. Mom was the only one that was present when she was born in Colorado. (By the way, I don't think that we had thanked her enough for all the help when Kristen was born.) It was great to be able to travel to Casper and see our grandparents & Aunt Linda's family. Time goes by way too fast, we need to make an effort to see them more often. Overall, the trip was great. Crystal is very good with kids, I know that we have a great babysitter for future trips. Also, we took a wonderful family picture with Grandma & Grandpa Lammers. They loved holding our little one.

Dust, Ellen, & Marni adoring Kristen for the 1st time

What a proud Mommy feeding Kristen

Uncle Ray w/ Marni and Josh

Aunt Rhonda holding our new baby girl

These next pictures were all taken in Casper over the Thanksgiving Holiday:

Crystal was a "natural" at taken care of Kristen

My sister, Linds, is a real natural at motherhood.

Sierra is taking a picture with her new cousin.

Picture of the two new babies: Kristen & Carter

I love this picture of Teena & Kristen

Uncle Ray w/ Maddie, Sierra, & baby Kristen

Great picture of Leroy at Thanksgiving

Grandpa Jerry & Dad - This picture is priceless!

Lindsey w / Mom & baby Carter in the kitchen

Grandma Mary with her new great grand daughter

Grandpa Jerry taking his turn at holding his new grand daughter

Another Priceless Photo: Very proud great Grandparents!

Had to have a family picture with Grandma & Grandpa Lammers - Will cherish this photo.

Breed & his son, Carter - Looks like a proud daddy

Grandpa Don had to have a photo with new Grand daughter also. Another proud Grandpa.

Kristen's 1st month at home

2008-11-19T17:39:00.013-07:00

Kristen's second week at home went a lot smoother. It was the first time Ray and myself would be left alone to take care of our little girl. Ray took my mom to the train station and then went to Glenwood Springs Middle School for a choir concert that saluted and thanked all the veteran's for their hard work and service in the military. I stayed home with Kristen to ensure our little girl would not get sick from anyone at the school. With Kristen doing better we decided to take a couple of pictures of her to make a baby announcement. Ray shot a really good photo of her and we ordered the prints to be sent out. Most of the week past fairly quickly with the feeding, burping, changing and sleeping of baby Kristen. Ray and I love our little angel but we had no idea how hard it would be just to meet Kristen's basic needs of every day life. We are still learning but all in all I think we are doing a good job.

Teena & I both loved this picture of Kristen on the couch

This shot was the one we used on our birth announcement. It only took 20 different pictures to get the perfect shot. Isn't she Precious!

Kristen's Birth Announcement

The Frandsen Family (Boyd, Carrie, Garrett and Cierra) came to visit us on 11/15/08. They all enjoyed meeting Kristen for the 1st time. Cierra said it was the smallest baby she has ever seen. It was a very quick trip for them, but we are so glad that they took the time to make it. It's tough when we live so far away from each other, they are part of our family. We will definitely make any sacrifice in the future to see one another.

Below are some pictures of them when they were here.

Cierra with baby Kristen - looks like a future babysitter!

I think Garrett was a little nervous holding the baby at first, but he did just fine.

"Uncle Boyd" said its his turn

"Aunt Carrie" told Boyd he had her long enough.

Ray feeding baby Kristen with Cierra & Garrett.

Kristen's - 1st week home.

2008-11-19T16:27:00.010-07:00

The next few days went about as good as the 1st night. Teena "attempted" to breast feed Kristen, but had a very hard time due to the absence of her milk. Our baby girl would pull away and get really upset every time she was nursed. At this point, we really thought something wasn't right. So, we ended up taking her to the Rifle clinic on 11/01/08, because she was still crying uncontrollably and hadn't had a bowel movement in over 72 hours. Kristen had some lab work completed prior to her visit with the physician. Her belly count came back at 16.0, so we met with the "on call" physician and discussed what was going on with our baby girl. We couldn't believe what the doctor had told us.......she explained to Teena and I that everything was just fine, and that they don't start worrying about the belly-ruben count until it is 25. Also, that Kristen would probably have a bowel movement anytime, they even tried to stimulate her bowels unsuccessfully. I know for a fact that my nephew, who was born 4 months ago, had a belly count around 19. The doctors were very concerned with his jaundice. He had to go underneath the lights everyday for a week. Needless to say, this doctor did nothing to help with the situation.

The next day was a little bit calmer, but Kristen's skin was more yellowish in appearance. Then the unthinkable happened at 12:30 AM on 11/3/08...........Teena was feeding Kristen a bottle when all of a sudden, she stopped crying and her arms & legs went lifeless like a rag doll. Teena rushed Kristen upstairs where I was sleeping. I set her on the bed and saw what no person should ever go through, our little girl was looking up at us, but her body was limp. It looked like she was getting enough oxygen, but her breaths were real short. Teena immediately got on the phone to the physician. I was getting Kristen loaded up in her car seat, while Teena was on the phone. By the way, the doctor was the same one that saw us at the clinic. She was trying to tell Teena to relax and work things out over the phone. I told her to hang up and that we were taking our daughter into the ER. Luckily, when we got there, we didn't have to deal with the same doctor. The nurse needed to take Kristen's temperature, so she used a rectal thermometer. We finally heard our little one cry and now she started to finally have a bowel movement for over 3 days. It was like magic, our beautiful girl was back again, the doctor had blood taken again, and found that her belly count was around 19. This doctor was up front with us and said that he was not a Pediatrician, but called the experts in Glenwood Springs. They said that we should be alright to take Kristen home, since we were seeing our family doctor for the first time later that day. What an experience!!!

We finally met with our family doctor. Words can't express how wonderful she was. First and foremost she recognized that Kristen was probably dehydrated due to the absence of breast milk. She actually weighed around 5 lbs 2.25 oz, which was approximately 12% of her original birth weight. Also, her belly count was 18, so it actually peaked at 19 and was heading back in the right direction. She told us not to worry and that everything was going to be alright. She also put us on a strict feeding schedule (formula mostly) for the next 48 hours to get the weight back on Kristen and get the nutrients back in her system. Thankfully the doctor wrote everything down since we were both very fatigued and stressed out at the same time. We were both very blessed to have Teena's mom (Polly) with us during this time. Polly and I took shifts feeding Kristen at night, this gave Teena ample time to sleep and try and calm her body down. We met with the doctor a couple of days later and discovered that Kristen's belly count was under 10.0 and that her weight had come up to 5 lbs 14 oz. This was wonderful news. She put us back on a schedule of feeding Kristen every other hour at night and every couple of hours during the day.

Here are some pictures of Kristen during the 1st week:

1st night in my cradle

Why does everyone keep taking pictures of me?

She's already got daddy wrapped around her tiny little fingers!

Mommy putting me in my favorite swing

My 1st bath at home

Teena / Kristen / Grandma Polly

Mommy / Daddy / Baby Kristen

Don't I look like the most precious girl in the world!

Discharge from Valley View Hospital

2008-11-19T15:13:00.012-07:00

Hello Everyone,

It has been very eventful these past few weeks, that is why it has taken this long to update our family blog. I really don't know where to begin....... so, we'll start from the time we left Valley View Hospital on 10/30/08. Our little girl was a little jaundice before getting discharged. Her belly-ruben count was around 10.0 on the scale, so Kristen had to be put underneath UV lights for 3 hours. She didn't like this one bit, especially having to wear goggles to protect her little eyes. It was funny, she actually learned how to use her hands to hold the goggles since they kept falling off. Thank Goodness, for the pacifier from the hospital, it was a life saver to ease her crying. We finally got discharged around 9:00 PM that night. The 1st night home with our little girl was very tough. She was trying to get adjusted to her new surroundings, I had never heard so much crying in my life. Teena kept trying to nurse her all night, but Kristen didn't want anything to do with her. It seemed like whatever we tried, our little one would not settle down. It was very nice having both Grandma's with us back in Rifle. They helped out tremendously with Kristen, it allowed Teena and I to get a little bit of sleep.

These pictures were taken before getting discharged from the hospital:

Kristen underneath the UV lights

Look how beautiful I am - Please take me home!

Time to get out of these hospital clothes.

Teena & Kristen w/ new Grandma's (Polly & Kathy)

Our new family!

I'm ready to go home now

Kristen Mae is finally here!

2008-10-29T15:51:00.007-06:00

Kristen has arrived!

Teena and I are proud new parents of a beautiful baby girl. She was born on 10/28/08 at 10:26 PM @ Valley View Hospital in Glenwood Springs, CO. She weighed 6 lbs 5.8 oz and 19 inches long. Mom and baby are doing wonderful right now. Kristen has daddy's dark hair and greyish blue eyes. Both Grandma's were present for the delivery as well as Grandpa Skip waiting outside. Kristen has had numerous visitors today, everyone adores her! she likes to sleep any chance she gets, especially after mom finishes feeding her.

Here are some pictures taken last night after the delivery. Hope everyone enjoys the photos. Thanks for all of the encouragement and blessings. We'll keep everyone updated once we are discharged from the hospital on Halloween morning.

Kristen's Nursery

2008-10-05T12:54:00.004-06:00

Kristen Mae Cheshire 3D/4D Ultrasound

2008-09-14T16:14:00.000-06:00

On August 30, 2008 Ray and I went to Baby's 1st Imaging in Littleton, CO to get a 3D/4D ultrasound of our baby girl Kristen Mae Cheshire.

She was 30 weeks and six days old and measured at 30 weeks and four days old. Her heart rate was 153 beats per minute.

Below are some pictures of our baby girl.

Kristen did not have a problem showing us she was a girl. She was however shy about showing off her pretty little face. At first she kept her head in the placenta so we couldn't see her, then she kept putting her hand in front of her face. Near the end of the ultrasound she decided to show us her beautiful little face.

Below is a video of our baby girl: