Started Our Summer Adventure Up North

Well we've officially arrived and started our summer away from home again, but this summer we're spending it up in northern Alberta in Fort McMurray for May, Grande Prairie for June and Red Deer for July- August.  We tried to get in some good family time before we came up and I wish I had more pics to show for them.  Apparently Nana stole the spotlight for time with Mak before we came :)  Maklyn loves her Nana!

 I believe this one was taken during conference... Nana got a lil distracted :)

 Two of the cutest lil babies around!

We took our time driving up to Fort Mac by stopping in Calgary on Thursday and then Edmonton on Friday night till Saturday and we got to spend some time with some great friends!  Maklyn and Renne got to hang out again and Ashton and I can't wait till they start playing with each other instead of their moms shoving their faces into each other trying to create that best friendship haha

 

We even got to do a dinner with a bundle of friends including Braeden and Kenzie, Chris and Robin, and Ash and Tim.  We had a lot of laughs and great conversation!

Maklyn did so great on the drive up.  She slept most of the way from Edmonton, which was really nice!   

They tried to put us in these 'crack house' looking apartments and we said heavens no to that.  We were very uncomfortable with the set up and luckily had another option for a basement suite that it pretty tiny, but in a great neighborhood and very nice landlords.  Renting it sooooo expensive up here.  I was talkin to the lady upstairs and she told me that she charges $2100/month to live down here.  Back home, this place would maybe be $800 a month.  But we're happy where we are and are starting to figure out the place.

 This lil lady is 4 months old now and is growing so fast!  Her hair is longer, she's gaining weight and she's continued to move and groove!  She's so happy and loves to hear her own voice!

 She's started to giggle a little and loves having tummy time on her pillow and mat!

 She always slants to the side in the bumbo chair we borrowed from Lynz and she is slobbering and sucking all over her arms and fingers.

 She likes to fold her arms while she sleeps sometimes and is so much fun to have around all the time!  We took her swimming on Monday at the leisure center here and are planning to go tomorrow too.  She wasn't too sure about it the first time, but I'm sure she'll learn to love it throughout the summer!

 We love our lil Maklyn!

Baby Girl is 3 Months Already!

It's crazy how fast time flies when you're having fun!  Maklyn is already 3 months and has changed in so many great ways! 

She now loves her bath time and starts getting fussy when 9 o'clock comes along because she is ready to get in the water and splash away.  She is sleeping through the night!!! :)  Whoo hoo.  Not that she's ever been a bad sleeper, but it's great to not have to wake up during the night at all now.  She goes to bed between 9:30 and 10:30 and sleeps till 8:30!  It's soooo great and I can only hope her future siblings follow her lead :) 

 

 

She got blessed on February 3, 2013 in a dress that her great Granny Hill made for her and all the other great granddaughters.  We had tons of family come to celebrate her blessing day and it was such a great day!

 

She went for her first swim with mommy and even did the dunk :)  She did great!!!  Her swimsuit and swimming diaper were a lil big, but we still managed to get them to stay on her haha  She LOVES the water!
 

She got her two month shots at the end of February and I think I took it harder than her haha  It was the saddest thing and it knocked her out for the remainder of the day.  She just snuggled with mom and dad and snoozed the whole day.

 

She got to meet her new best friend, Renne, and Ashton and I just know they will be such great friends!  They're already holding hands hehe

 

Maklyn also got her ears pierced when she turned 3 months.  Her daddy was against it the whole time, but mommy convinced him finally and she looks cute as ever!!!  Grandma Hill and Aunt Kait came to help support.







Mak is holding her head up so well and has shown the beginning stages of turning over!  Won't be long now!







 
She also loves sitting in her bumbo chair that we borrowed from Lynz.  She just chills in it while momma cooks or cleans.
 
We've also started reading books to Maklyn and she loves looking at the pictures!

She's starting to finally not look half the size of Jeter and we're convinced they are going to have a lot of fun together in future years.  Aren't they the cutest!!?!?!?!?








We also experienced her first sickness... the flu :(  Last Sunday morning she seemed so tired and I wondered if she was going through another growth spurt, but I noticed her temperature seemed really warm, so we brought her home early and took her temperature and she had a fever.  She ended up throwing up twice that evening and once yesterday, but we're hoping today goes well and that she gets back to being healthy and happy.  She's been such a trooper!


She is smiling like crazy these days!  My favorite time with her is when she's just woken up in the morning and I walk into her room and say 'Good morning pretty girl' and she gets the biggest smile on her face :)  Then after I feed her we smile back and forth at each other for a good 45 minutes.  It's the best!

 

I just cannot get enough of this lil lady!  She is so much fun and such a blessing in Dust and my life!  I can't wait to continue our journey with her and fall more and more in love with her every day!!!

My #1 Main Man is Getting Old ;)

We met many years ago and had no idea of the love that would grow between us.  Today is my best friend and hubby's bday and he is the big 27.  I'm glad he's finally the same age as me because he always comments on how much older I am even though it's only 6 months :)  I must be 6 months wiser than right!?!?!

Yes, I was the first to have a crush on my handsome devil and it began young for me.  A high school crush.  I loved watching him play basketball.  He was so athletic and such a smooth player. He was tall and studly and I wanted to hang out with him, so I began making friends with some Cardston girls hoping that someday I would get lucky and get to hang out with my lil crush.  That never happened as he ALWAYS had a gf throughout high school.. lil stinker :)

But we found our way to each other in college.  My best friend, Jarah, grew a crush on him and she drug me over to the house he lived in with some buddies.  I had mostly got over my crush on him especially because my friend now had a fresh crush on him, but it was always stirring around.  Then he left on his mission to the Philippines.  So I spent the next couple years dating various not-as-good-as-my-hubby men that never seemed to last.  I also became best friends with Dustin's lil sister, Kenzie.  When Dustin got home, I was a flirty gal who thought it was funny how uncomfortable most returned missionaries were when they got home.  Kenzie and I went to a pool party with a bunch of friends and Dustin ended up coming to try to get back in the swing of being around girls :) I gave him a hug and made a joke that I would help him get over his awkwardness with girls...so smooth haha

That fall he ended up living with my lil bro, Carson, in Calgary while they played football at the University there.  He, of course, found me irresistible and while we were at home during Christmas, he put the moves on.  I had spent New Years with Kenzie and her fam and we went out sledding with the boys.  Later that night, Kenz, Dust and I were watching a movie and, of course, Kenzie fell asleep (she never could make it through a movie) and Dust couldn't keep his hands off me ;) We ended up having our first kiss right there in front of my sleeping best friend.  This led to Dust coming up to Edmonton to seal the deal, but I had other plans... committal issues.  He left Edmonton frustrated and gave up on the idea of he and I.  I, of course, had many regrets of letting him go so easily.

Who knew a couple years after this happened that we would go for round two and that it would work out as a happily ever after story.  We joke around all the time about whose fault it is that the first round didn't work out so well, but I truly am so thankful that he took another chance on me because I know I would never be happier with anyone else!

Dust is my best friend!  He has my back through the thick and thin.  He loves me through all my faults and shortcomings and makes me feel like the most beautiful woman in the world on a daily basis.  He has amazed me with how naturally he has taken on the fatherhood role.  He adores our beautiful daughter and I love watching him with her.  It's an unconditional love and she has him wrapped right around her lil finger. 

 

 

He brings out the best in me and pushes me to be better and strive for greatness in our life together!  I very much dislike when we're apart and can't wait to be back by his side at any opportunity!  I feel so blessed and can honestly say I have the best husband and friend for me in the whole entire world!!!!!!

I love how goofy he is...

 I love how he can always make me smile...

 I love that he's a pretty darn good cook... especially breakfast!

 I love that he looks pretty darn sexy on a horse...

 I love that he can sleep ANYWHERE...

 I love that he's a Mr. Fix It with ANYTHING...

Dust... I love you eleventy-five and am so grateful to have you in my life every day!!!!!!

I've Been Busy... I Promise :)

Introducing Miss Maklyn Serine Sheen...

She has been stealing all my time since her birth and I'm not complaining one bit!  We have quite the little birth story so I'll start with that.  So on December 24, 2012, Christmas Eve, I had a doctor’s appt with Dr. Godwin. Everything looked good.  I was still measuring small, but they weren’t worried because of the ultrasound I had previously gotten.  She checked to see how dilated I was and said the baby's head was REALLY low.  She did her checking (very uncomfortable) and said I was maybe 1 cm and that I may spot a lil because of how she had to check me.  After the appt, Dust and I headed out to Raymond to spend Christmas Eve with the Hill family.  We went up to the cultural hall where the boys were playing some basketball and I decided to jump in and play a little myself.  So at 39 1/2 weeks I was shooting, jumping (or at least trying) and running as we played bump a few times.  I was feeling pretty good and agile.  Dust was pretty impressed too :)  We went to bed that night and I woke up at 4 a.m. and thought I needed to go to the bathroom, so I got out of bed and while walking there, I felt like I had pee’d my pants a little (oh dear), so I got to the bathroom and cleaned myself up and noticed that it wasn’t a yellow liquid but was clear.  I then wiped again and my mucous plug came out.  I had no idea what was going on.  I started having some contractions in my front and back, but tried to go back to bed.  I heard Aunt Lynz get up to feed Jeter, so I got up and told her what had happened and she wasn’t sure what was going on either because she had been induced with Beckam and Maddox and Jeter came through contractions.  So back to bed again I went until we were woken up by Santa ‘HO HO HO’ing.  By this point, I was feeling the contractions a little stronger.  I told the rest of the family what had happened and mom said that when her water broke it wasn’t very much either and that she thought my water may have broken.  Then Dr. Tollestrup came over to say hi on Christmas morning and I told him what happened and he said I should plan on having our baby in the next 24 hours.  I was freaking out a little.  The only day I didn’t want to have her was on Christmas haha  I timed my contractions and they were very irregular, so Dust and I headed to Cardston in the late morning to go spend some time with the Sheens. 

 

When I got to Cardston, Lyndsey called and said that if my water had broke that I needed to go to the hospital because there is a chance that the baby can get an infection if you wait too long.  So Dust and I headed to the Cardston hospital where I told the doctor I was supposed to get my fluid checked.  I also told the doctor what had happened and he did a stress test on the baby.  He proceeded by telling me that I wasn’t in labor and it wasn’t my water that had broke AND that I probably wouldn’t have the baby for at least another week.  We left the hospital and I was disappointed!  I even cried, I know surprising that this emotional preggo mom cried yet again :)  I think I just had built it up that we were finally going to meet our baby girl and the doctor just slammed it down.  So we headed back to the Sheen house and continued to enjoy family time.  I continued to have irregular contractions and felt like they were getting stronger and more uncomfortable.  I barely slept that night as I was VERY uncomfortable and in pain from the contractions.  I was dreading the idea of going through the next week or more feeling like that. 

The next day we had pictures with the Hartley family (Brenda's side), so we headed back to Raymond for that.  We got there earlier than everyone else and were just hanging out.  Riley was goofing around and was trying to do a cartwheel.  He then turned to me and said ‘ok Kris, your turn haha just jokin’, but I took the challenge and did a full out cartwheel at almost 40 weeks haha.  I wasn’t gonna let Riley think I couldn’t do one :)  I felt a little dizzy after, but was pretty proud of myself and again Dust was pretty impressed too :)  Shortly after, I went to my mom and dad's house and was talking to Lynz about how I felt like I needed to call my own doctor just to let her know what had happened.  She agreed, so I called.  My doctor, Dr. Watke, responded by saying ‘uh that doesn’t quite add up to me.  I want you to go to the Lethbridge Hospital and get your fluid checked’.  Oh boy.  So I called Dust who was watching Riley play at Sugar Bowl and we finished watching his game and then headed into Lethbridge with our truck full of Christmas presents we had been given.  We got to the hospital at about 5:30 pm.  I was sure we were going to be sent home and it was going to be nothing.  About 10 minutes later, the nurse came back and said that my water had broke and that they were going to put me on the drip so they could get our baby out quicker.  WHAT!?!?!? I was shocked, nervous, but excited! 
 
Dust went home to get our hospital bag and anything else he thought we’d need and I started on the drip.  At 9:30 my contractions were getting stronger and more painful and I got an epidural!  Best decision ever! The nurse checked me and I was still only 1 cm dilated.  At 12:30 a.m. she checked again and still 1 cm.  I thought for sure they were going to have to do a c-section because of how long it had been since my water had broke.  I went to sleep and woke up at 2 a.m. feeling A LOT of pressure.  I told the nurse and she said it’s probably nothing, but that she’d check me.  All of a sudden she was like ‘uh your fully dilated and we’re gonna have you start pushing’ WOAH!  I pushed for 20 minutes and they had to tell me to try to stop pushing because the baby's head was coming out and my doctor wasn’t there yet, so I tried my best to just breathe through the contractions (again I cannot imagine doing it without the epidural!!!).  The doctor showed up and two pushes later... ta da... there she was.  She was absolutely perfect! She was wide eyed and beaming at us.  She had so much hair just like I did when I was a baby and your Dust had quite a bit too.  I couldn’t believe she was actually ours.  At first glance, I thought ‘holy cow she is all Sheen!’ and I still think she looks a lot like a Sheen baby haha  She was beautiful and so happy.  They laid her on my chest and Dust and I were so in love!  She measured at 6 pounds 8 ounces and 20 inches long.  Dust held her in his arms and I could just see his heart melt.  She had him wrapped around her finger in no time.   My mom and dad just couldn’t hold back their excitement and they ended up driving in at 3:30 a.m. to come meet her!  They didn’t stay long as it was late and we were exhausted, but they already could not get enough of her!

We are loving having her home with us!  She has been such a good baby!  She sleeps great most of the time.  We put her down at about 11 and she wakes up at 5 and then sleeps till 8:30 or 9.  She feeds great too, which is awesome!  She loves to smile just before going to sleep and making kissy faces!  I am absolutely loving being a mom and Dust a dad!  We can't imagine our lives without her anymore and feel so blessed to have such a beautiful and healthy daughter!  It's still kind of weird to think of myself as a mommy, but it's so fun and I just can't get enough of the lil angel!

Crunch Time or I mean SQUAT Time!!!

Well the end is getting near and I cannot wait!  Last Wednesday, Lynz volunteered to take some pics of my 38 week belly and I've been wanting to get some cute pics done before the lil one arrives, so Dust and I headed out there and got some done.

I have to admit... I very much dislike looking at myself in these pics, but it will be cool to look back and show lil baby sheen how big my belly was and how excited we were to meet her!  Dust struggled a little in the beginning... he must of left his photogenic loving self at home haha, but we still managed to get some cute ones along with some funny ones to go along with them.  Here's a lil peak at some:

  

Seriously what a goof :)

 

 

 

I am now a week and a half away from my due date and am getting more and more uncomfortable by the day.  I finally got to packing (or at least partly packing) my hospital bag, but haven't worried too much about it as I figure we only live a few streets away from the hospital and I have an amazing husband and family that I'm sure won't mind making the short drive to pick up any left out items I may want/need.  I have all her clothes and blankets washed and prepped, but tonight as I was going through them and organizing them into the dresser and closet, I realized I have only a couple newborn outfits... oh crap, so back to shopping tomorrow hehe  Dust is excited for that :)

We had an amazing baby shower that my mom and sis' put on.  I have zero pics from it cuz Lynz was the official picture taker, but we had a great turnout and felt so loved and blessed to have such amazing people in our lives.  My mom and sis' did an amazing job at putting it on and decorating the house so cute!  It was a blast.  Wish I could have one every month leading up to the actual due date haha

We've had a couple lil scares this past month.  I went in for my appt at 37 weeks and was only measuring at 32, which the doctor found strange because 2 weeks earlier I was measuring 33 cm, so they sent me in for an ultrasound that day and I didn't really know what was going on, but it made me worried that they would rush me in for an ultrasound on the same day and the ultrasound tech wasn't giving us ANY information.  So when we got home, I called our family friend and doctor, Dr. Baker in Raymond and told him what had happened and asked if he could get any info for us because my doctor was out of town till the following week.  He, or course, was amazing and did some calling around.  We heard back from him a couple hours later and he said that everything looked normal and that she must've just dropped.  He asked me 'you're feeling her move right' and I replied 'ya, she's kicking the crap out of me' haha  He said as long as I was feeling her move, that everything should be fine.  A couple days later, Dust and I had gone to bed later than usual and I hadn't felt her move in a few hours, which was REALLY weird because she's usually the most active at night time before we got to bed.  I tried to relax and not think too much, but when I woke up I still hadn't felt her move.  I got up and ate some cookies and drank some orange juice and tried to stay busy for a couple hours, but still felt nothing.  I began to worry as I remembered what Dr. Baker had said about making sure I was feeling her move and I immediately started getting emotional.  I called my mom and sis and broke down crying and they reassured me and told me to get my butt out to Raymond and have them check for her heartbeat.  I did just that and an hour later, I had tears of joy in my eyes as her heartbeat was strong!  I tell ya... this baby business can be stressful!  I went back to the house and was holding lil Jeter, and she gave me a firm boot just to let me know she was there. :)

We can't wait to meet our baby girl!  I am still feeling great, but am growing impatient.  It's such a busy time of year and I have mixed feelings about whether I want her to come now so that we can have her for the holidays or if I'd rather have her after and not have to worry about all the family gatherings and activities that take part around Christmas.  I have a feeling I don't have much say in this, so we'll leave it up to Baby Sheen and make the best of whatever happens :)

Life's a Dance

I have yet to write about my experience going to the Calgary Temple open house a few weeks ago.  First off.. it was amazing!  Mom, Aunt Danielle, Shantel Hofer and I headed up Friday afternoon and it was quite the adventure trying to figure out the best way to get to the temple.  We made it without getting lost and found that the temple is placed in quite a unique place.  It is placed in the middle of a neighborhood with houses all around the temple grounds, but it is placed high and when it's dark out, you can see the lights of the city below.

We drove up and there was a long line outside the church building.  The line moved fairly fast thankfully because it wasn't the warmest day outside.  Once we got inside we waited to be ushered into a classroom where we got to watch a 10 minute video on the church history in southern Alberta.  Shantel really liked the video as she said she had always wondered why the church was so big in southern Alberta.  After the video we were led outside and then into the temple.  As we walked inside with our white slippers, I was overwhelmed with a feeling of peace and love for the beautiful structure I was entering.  It was a VERY busy tour with it being the second last day to go to the open house and sadly we weren't able to take as much time as we would've liked in each room we were taken through.  It was understandable how quickly they were trying to move us through, but still wish we could've taken more time especially having my good friend, Shantel, who just got baptized over a year ago and has had some struggles in the past few months.  Shantel and I had to sneak into the bridal room because our group was supposed to skip that room and just see the men's dressing room.  I'm soooo glad we went in there though!  Shantel loved it and it was one of her favorite rooms.  I could not believe the detail, grace, and beauty this one room held.  It had a beautiful chandelier hanging from the room and it took me back to my own wedding day with my mom helping me get ready to go out and greet the family as Kristen Sheen rather than Hill.  Every room had a unique beauty and the detail that went into each room was absolutely breathtaking.  I can't wait to go back and take Dustin there!  None of us wanted to leave as the tour ended, but Shantel, mom and I shared a great desire to return as soon as possible!

I feel so blessed to have had this unique opportunity to be able to go and share the experience with three women that I love!  It will always be a special memory in my life.

Pregnancy has been great.  My appointments have been going good and everything is looking good as far as I know :)  I feel like my belly gets bigger every week and can't believe there is only 7 weeks left!  I was having some sharp pains in my lower abdomen last week and they felt like cists as I have a history of them, so I asked my doctor about that in my appointment yesterday and she said she wouldn't worry too much about it unless it becomes more constant and stronger.  She said I may have some scar tissue from past cists or it may just be my muscles stretching, so I'm not gonna worry :)  It's so amazing to feel and see the changes your body goes through to have a baby.  I feel like I have come to accept most of the changes and focus on being healthy for the baby and I'll face the rest of it after the baby come and is healthy :)

I had the opportunity to be a sub-mommy for Lynz' kids for 5 days as she got to go to Atlanta to visit her hubby.  He's in school down there till December and sadly can't take much time off to come home and visit, so Dust and I surprised them with a ticket for Lynz to go there.  I slept in Raymond for the 5 nights and it was nice to spend some time at home with the family.  The boys and I had a blast!  We played with playdoh, went on walks, watched movies, played games, wrestled, and went to the U of L basketball games.  My mom, dad, Dust, and Cars were very helpful during different parts of the 5 days and it was nice to have others around.  I loved every minute I got to hold and sooth little Jeter and I must say, I am feeling a lot more confident about bringing my own baby home after having Jeter to take care of for a few days.  Mom was a lifesaver!  She took the nights with the baby and I got to sleep soundly... what a great granny she is! 

These boys are soooo fun to be around and were such great little helpers with anything I needed.  They play so well together which makes my job as the babysitter much easier.  I loved hearing them have little conversations with each other while laughing and joking.  I had to walk away when the wrestling started because sometimes it gets a little rough, but these tough boys just keep going and didn't hurt each other during the process.  They LOVE wrestling haha.

 Here Beckam at stay and play practicing his car seat placement in the stroller haha... so cute!  He eventually gave up and threw the car seat with the baby on the floor... so Lynz maybe don't let him be in charge of that any time soon :)

 The boys sat down to watch some Harry Potter with Cars and they were sooooo into it haha

I'm so glad that we were able to do this for Lynz and Dust and that they were able to take advantage of the situation and have some quality alone time together!  Lynz has been such a trooper being a single mom at home with 3 kids and I gained a lot of respect for what she does in my babysitting endeavor.  She's such a great mom and her love for her boys is so apparent in everything she does for them!  I've been home with Dust for 2 days and am kind of missing having the lil guys around all the time :)  It was kind of nice to be the one they wanted to cuddle with when they woke up from their naps or got little bonks.

Dust had these flowers waiting for me when I got home with a note saying that he knows I'm gonna be a great mom from watching how I am with Jeter and that he's proud of me for being a good sub mommy with Lynz' boys.  I walked in, saw the flowers, read the note, started bawling (pregnancy emotions obviously) and gave him a GREAT BIG hug!!! I have the best hubby!  So grateful for his love and support in everything I do.