Natalie Is Home!

Grandpa Mark and Natalie




Wow, it has been a while since I last updated our blog. A lot has happened in the last few weeks. Natalie finally made it home on November 7th after 32 days in the hospital. It is great to have her home, but was quite an adjustment. We are still adjusting to the parenthood thing. I never realized how hard this was going to be, but Jeremy and I both love being parents. We would not trade Natalie for the world, not even at 3:00 in the morning:) My parents came to visit for about 2 weeks. It was sad to see them go. Then Jeremy's parents came for a week. It was also sad to see them go. It was also scary once Jeremy's parents left because then we knew we were really on our own because there would be no family coming to visit for a while.
When I took Natalie to the Dr. on Monday she was 5 pounds 4 ounces. She continues to gain weight and grow. You can really tell in her cheeks and chin. Feeding continues to go well.

Natalie Update

Natalie will be 4 weeks old this Sat., Nov. 3rd. Time is flying by, it does not seem like I have been a mom for that long. She continues to gain weight. The feeding is another story, she has not made much progress with that, but we are continuing to work on that. Grandma Julie is here visiting and is spoiling Natalie rotten. Grandpa Mark comes in tonight. We hope to be home soon, but it may be awhile.

NATALIE'S FIRST HALLOWEEN

Our not so peppy cheerleader.

Go Team!

Grandma and Grandpa Endres got Natalie her first Halloween bib.

We dressed Natalie up in a cheerleading bib that Aunt Melissa got for her. I do not think that she is a very big fan of Halloween. She cried and screamed the entire time we were messing with her, but she looked cute doing it:)

NATALIE'S FIRST BATH

More Pictures of Our Cutie Pie

Natalie sunbathing in her Mask of Zorro

Natalie in her first outfit.

Natalie Corrine Endres Is Here!

Natalie Corrine Endres was born on Oct. 6th at 11:02 pm weighing 3 pounds 6 ounces. She decided to make her appearance 6 weeks early, which came as a surprise to her father and I. We could not be happier that she is here. She is currently in the NICU. She did not need any oxygen after she was born and has been breathing room air. She had an IV for the first few days, but is done with that. She spent the first week in an isolette. She also had to spend 4 days sunbathing because she was jaundice. She is in an open crib now. We started drinking from a bottle this week and she seems to be catching on. It is a lot of work for her with the cleft lip and palate. She is not able to get the sucktion that most babies do. We are using a special nipple, called the Pigeon. This nipple is harder on the top and softer on the bottom so she can use her tounge to express the milk from the bottle. We are very proud of our little one and the progress she is making. She lost 5 ounces after she was born, but has put that weight on and more. She is currently 3 pounds 9 ounces.

Only in Alaska

Yesterday I was at school working on getting my classroom ready for the year when I looked out my window and saw 2 baby moose and a mom.

Jason's Visit

Our friend Jason came up from Minnesota for a visit. There is always so much to do and so little time to do it. Jeremy and Jason went fishing at Bird Creek one day. Jeremy caught a silver salmon and also got a hook in his finger. We also went down to the Kenai River and fished and camped for three days and two nights. None of us caught any fish while we were there. Jeremy and Jason also went out to Matanuska Glacier and hiked around one day.

Jason and I fishing on the Kenai.

BFF's (Best Friends Forever:)

An amazing view on the drive back from Kenai.

Jason admiring the beauty of Matanuska Glacier.

More Baby Pictures

The doctors were trying to get a good picture of Natalie's face but she would not cooperate. She was covering her face with her hands and feet.

It is hard to believe that she has so much force with those tiny little feet.

IT'S A GIRL!

For those of you who have not heard yet, we are having a baby girl. These are pictures of baby Natalie at 20 weeks and mom at 21 weeks. When we had our ultra sound we found out that Natalie will be born with cleft lip and palate. These can both be fixed with surgery. We are very excited for the arrival of our precious baby.

Adam, Jeremy, Ben, and Andy on the beach in Beluga


Adam caught about a 20 lb king salmon

Jeremy's Fishing Trip to Beluga

Jeremy and some friends, Andy, Ben, and Adam, flew over to Beluga to fish for king salmon in the Chuitna River. I took them to the ariport around 6:00 am and spirits were very high for it being so early in the morning, they were all ready to catch the BIG one. They left on a Thursday and came back on Sunday night. In all that time they caught three fish. All of the guys except Jeremy caught fish, but he still had a good time. When I picked them up on Sunday at the airport the guys were stinky, sunburned, and full of bug bites. After roughing it for three nights the guys were all ready for a shower and a warm bed. Jeremy is going over fishing again this weekend. Hopefully he will catch the BIG one and I will have a picture to post of him with the one that didn't get away:)

8 weeks

We're Having A Baby! Here is a picture of our first untra sound. The baby was 8 weeks and 3 days old. Our predicted due date is Nov. 16th. There will be more to come. We will be getting another ultra sound July 2nd and find out the sex of the baby.