Photos

 Play area/tummy time area I set up for Justace.

 One of Justace's stuffed animals...a little dragon lizard thing, rides on him during tummy time.

 Some of Justace's many cute onesies.

 It was so hot recently the flowers shriveled up and died.

 Sunrise with a red sun.

 Insects in Idaho can be scary and huge. Good thing Robert didn't see this guy!

 It finally got cool here after a thunderstorm so I bundled Justace up for his morning walk.

6 Weeks

The magic 6 weeks. When everything is supposed to be better and easier and I'm supposed to officially be healed enough to start doing things again. Honestly I felt fine before but I guess waiting just to be sure didn't hurt anything. Are things easier? Yes. I've gotten the hang of things a bit. The baby has a somewhat sort of kind of schedule going on although he doesn't always stick to it. Some nights are good and I will get sleep with him only waking me twice to eat and then going right back to sleep again and other nights...like last night...are horrible with him crying and crying all night long and me not getting much of any kind of sleep at all. I don't function well on little or no sleep.

It's nice that he sometimes makes sounds other than crying when he's awake. When he's awake and not upset about something he'll coo or go ha ha ha and sometimes he'll smile at us although I think right now that's probably more him experimenting with his mouth muscles than a true emotional smile.

Reading

 Love this picture. Reminds me of why I love reading so much and have sine I was a child. I spend a lot of time reading to Justace...fairy tales and nursery rhymes and whatever novel I happen to be reading at the time...right now the Women's Murder Club series. I know right now he doesn't understand a word I read to him but I'm hoping in time it'll foster a love of reading in him too.

Superhero

4th of July

 Three generations of Young women at the 4th of July parade.

 I don't know this little girl but I thought she was so adorable I couldn't resist snapping a photo of her.

 Shay and her daughter Mackaya... I have plans for little Mckaya and Justace when they get older. Just kidding.

 Josh with Shay and her mom and daughter.

 Tristan, Shay's brother and Josh's best friend, walked in the parade as a mountain man. He stopped to say hi on his way by.

 Mike, another friend and mountain man, walks in the parade.

 Mackaya likes riding on mommy's neck.

 We had burgers and potato salad and this cake that looks like a burger and corn on the cob. They were all super delicious.

 Justace all wrapped up while sitting outside to watch the fireworks.

 Sunset in the backyard.

 We shot off our own fireworks in the street. Here are just some shots of that.

Bella in the box for Justace's swing.

5 Weeks

Justace is 5 weeks old today. I've done something to my hip and can't walk so have spent the whole day in bed next to him only getting up every few hours to limp to the kitchen to make him a bottle. He's still sick though Josh thinks he's getting better. I've given up on the humidifier. It's too hot to use it since we can't have fans on and must keep the windows closed for it to be effective which just makes him and everyone else miserable since it can get up to almost 90 inside this house with the windows closed. It's cooler outside than it is inside so I try to take him outside to cool off in the afternoon and evening time. Justace smiles sometimes but never for very long. He can hold his head up and even turn it for much longer though now.

I have my 6 week checkup tomorrow. I'm going to ask about getting back on birth control and hopefully get the go ahead to start working out again as soon as my hip gets better. I really can't believe it's been a whole month since we came home from the hospital. I'm so much better. I remember the day after the C-section trying to get up and out of bed and the pain and exertion it took just to walk to the bathroom causing me to throw up. I had to wake up every 4 hours to take more pain meds or I'd wake up in excruciating pain for the first few days. Now there is no more pain. Other than today's hip problem I can walk without a problem and do chores and move heavy things. I can't believe the difference a month has made.

I'm really worried about this cold Justace has. The poor little guy seems miserable. I tried using a humidifier in the room to help him breath but it's just too hot for that. We use saline solution and the syringe to clean out his nose twice a day and at least once a day I turn the bathroom into a spa by turning on the hot water and letting the bathroom get all moist and sitting in there with him for about 15 minutes. I want to take him to a doctor to have him tell me he's going to be ok but with every visit costing $100 we can't afford to take him in for every cold he gets. The doctor said as long as he's eating well and he doesn't have a fever it should go away in a week or two. It's been 1 week so far so if it's not gone in 1 more week I will probably give in and take him in anyways.

The 4th of July was fun. We went to the parade downtown in the morning. Justace slept through the whole thing in his carrier while I took photos. We watched the baseball game and some movies while Josh cooked dinner...hamburgers and potato salad and cake he bought. Then, we lit some store bought fireworks once the sun went down. All in all it was a fun day/night.

I had a job interview at a call center in Rexburg this week for a proofreading job. I felt the interview went well and thought I was qualified and perfect for the job but I got an e-mail back today letting me know I didn't get it. It's so incredibly frustrating to get nothing but rejection and rejection for every job I apply for. I feel like giving up. I feel like nobody will ever hire me again. I know I have to keep looking but it's so depressing to keep trying and keep failing. I couldn't even get hired at the local grocery store. They chose to hire a bunch of teenagers for the summer instead. The other problem is nobody hires full time anymore. Everyone would rather hire 2 part time employees because then they don't have to give any benefits. I need a full time job with benefits but those just don't seem to exist anymore.

Photos

 Justace does not like tummy time but I make him do it a few minutes each day at least to build some muscle strength.

 He has so many cute outfits but it's been so hot I've mostly just kept him in his diaper all the time.

 Daddy catches Justace in a baseball glove.

 Another sunrise in East Idaho.

 Justace on mommy's guitar.

 Justace turned 1 month old this week.

 Pip plays with a teddy bear we brought home from the hospital.

 Mommy feeding Justace...this is pretty much my whole day. Feed, change, hold and do it again a couple hours later.

Dad cooks dinner on the grill he got for Father's Day.