3 Months

I can't belive how fast time goes by, and how fast Josie is growing. I had a wonderful 12 weeks off of work, but then reality started again. I started back to work last Tuesday. I am so grateful that Jon has an easy schedule and he is able to watch Josie. I should be approved to work from home any day so that I can be around. Especially since Josie isn't a huge fan of bottles.
Last month we blessed Josie. I had worked really hard to make a blessing dress for her, and I finished at 2 am the morning off. It was a wonderful day. We had a lot of family and friends here to help us celebrate that wonderful day. Jon gave Josie a beautiful blessing, and I was happy that he didn't suprise me with a different name for her.
Josie is such a happy baby. She is always smiling and talking to us, and she is even starting to laugh for us! We just love watching her grow. Last week she rolled over from her tummy to her back for the first time! I was so amazed and excited. She hasn't done it again, but I keep watching. Even though I get so excited when she learns something new Im sad that she wont be so little for very long.
Here are some pictures from the blessing, and a few others of the cutest baby in the world.

3 Wonderful Years

Almost 9 years ago my mom introduced me to Bro. Goss, our new home teacher. He shook my hand and told me he had a son, Jon, who was my age. I didn’t think too much about it, but I did hope he was cute, especially since there were no guys in my ward my age. Jon wouldn’t be moving in until after his current school semester, but I was excited to meet him. The day came and all my friends crowded around to meet this new boy. There were 8 girls wanting his attention but somehow I was the lucky one to win his heart. I had no idea how much life would change after that Sunday afternoon when I shook his hand and said, “Hi I’m Rachel”.

I had no idea that…

I would spend the rest of my teenage years growing into a better person because of your example, love, and forgiveness.

You would be the standard that all other boys would be measured against.

As I grew up and moved onto college and you on your mission that I would not be able to stop thinking of you, and hoping that our paths would cross again.

You would forgive me before forgiveness was ever asked.

We would have 3 first kisses. Even though all of them were memorable; 3rd time’s a charm!

I would be happy if we were left on a desert island together.

I would be happy being poor for the rest of my life if that meant I got to spend it with you.

You would get down on one knee and ask me to marry you.

We would plan our wedding together,

We would go to the temple and make a covenant with God to cherish each other forever.

We would make a lot of mistakes together, but that we can laugh at them today.

Our marriage would be the best thing in my life.

You would be my greatest support and motivation.

We would have children together.

You would be the one the one to make me laugh every day.

You would be the one to dry my tears.

You would be the first one I want to tell my news.

You would be the one that I want to grow old with.

You would be the one I get to make and keep traditions with.

You would continue to be my best friend, even after 9 years.

We would have a lot of firsts together.

We would get to learn how to be parents together.

Jon, I am so thankful that I have been blessed to have you in my life. I honestly had no idea that life could be this wonderful. Even at 3am in the morning when I'm feeding little Josie, life is perfect because you are next to me rubbing my feet, or dreaming about rubbing my feet. Jon, I love you so much and I continue to enjoy everyday with you. At night I go to bed excited to wake up next to you and spend another day with you.
-Love you FOREVER

BATH TIME!

Josie lost her umbilical cord yesterday so I decided to give her a real bath. I had been noticing a lot of gunk coming from the umbilical cord and eventually I found it in in her jammies. I have given her a few sponge baths, but it had been a few days...and she probably smelled like rotting milk. I probably smelled(smell) like rotting milk. She was a little fussy when I took her clothes off, but once she felt the warm water she relaxed and really enjoyed it.

Just look how cute she is!!!

Josephine Omeara Goss

Josephine Omeara Goss was born August 2, 2009 at 8:18pm. She was 9 lbs 2 oz and 21 inches. Sunday morning August 2nd I woke up around 5:30am and realized that I was having very painful back labor. Almost immediately the contractions were 3-5 minutes apart. We took our time getting to the hospital because I didn't want to be sent back home. When we did arrive at the UVRMC hospital it was 8am and I was dialted to 3cm. They gave me an epidural around 9am and I was so happy! I tried to take a few naps, but that was pretty unsuccesful. We talked about names and watched Beauty And The Beast to pass the time. At 4pm our nurse came in and said I was fully dilated and the baby was at a +1 so I could start pushing. At first it was a little exciting...it meant that our baby was really about to come. I had prepared myself to push for 2 hours. Well, 1 1/2 hours came and our sweet baby had not moved at all. She was posterior and was hitting my pelvic bone. We also found out that I have a little curve at the end of my tale bone that was getting in the way. The Dr. tried turning her over twice, but she flipped back both times. At this point he told us our best option would probably be to use forceps. We tried for another 20 minutes or so and then there was a shift change for our nurse. Our new nurse had me try different positions but nothing was making a difference. After 2 1/2 hours of pushing we were ready to have the Dr help out with the forceps. Unfortunately, there was another shift change for the Dr. so the new Dr. on staff wasn't able to make it to my room for about an hour. Even though I pushed for about 4 hours, and I was extremely exhausted, I think this was a blessing in disguise. I still was not able to push her out, but somewhere along the line when my epidural was wearing off I could feel the need to push and I found the energy to push her just enough where she turned and stayed. Even with the forceps I think this really helped her come into the world safer and easier. Josephine Omeara Goss was born August 2, 2009 at 8:18pm. Little Josie had already pooped so the NICU was there to make sure she didn't breath any maconium. I wasn't able to hold her right away but hearing her cry and seeing her for the first time was so unbelievable. Josie had a lot of cuts and bruises, but she is perfectly healthy.

Proud Daddy

Beautiful Josephine

Going Home

Bottoms Up!

We went to the dr a few days ago for my routine appointment. Our little baby is perfect! She has even turned so her little bumm is up. She is loving my ribs and seems to cuddle up against them as much as possible. Being pregnant has, for the most part, been a lot of fun. It is exciting to watch our little baby grow and feel her moving around. I can't believe that I am down to only 1 month left. I already have her "going home outfit" picked out and her clothes washed, but I still need to organize everything and make our 2nd room a suitable baby's room instead of a storage unit. I have also decided to make her blessing dress. I never thought about it until a woman in my ward showed the Releif Society the Heirloom dresses that she has made and offered to teach classes. Well, the classes never happened, but I fell in love with the style of dress and decided to make my very own. I have had fun trying out new sewing techniques and attempting to make this dress. I really like what I have done so far, but it will definetly be prettier from a distance.

We moved into our new apartment...and we love it. We don't have internet set up yet, so sometimes I feel like I'm disconnected from the world, but in some ways it is really nice. Jon is taking the summer semester off from school since the baby will is due around the time he would have finals. So he is working and enjoying the summer...It is a good break for him. We are both very excited and eager for him to finish up this last year of school.

Expecting...The Unexpected

Time has been going by so fast. I can't believe that I am aleady 32 weeks pregnant. I only have 2 months left to go, and I don't have any time to relax (at least not yet...probably never will).
In May we found out that there was a possibility that we would get kicked out of our current apartment. The house that we live in is not registered as a two family dwelling. Basically we are living illegally! The city put one of those embarrassing yellow "Public Notice" signs on the front lawn...it's amazing how many people actually stop their car and read it. Our landlord appealed the cities decision, but it was denied. He has now hired a lawyer, and requesting the city relook at his case. The soonest we could find out a definite "YES" we can stay would be the end of July. After doing my research and looking at the notes from the meetings, I do not trust that his appeal will be approved ... which would leave us moving after the baby is born. Moving is a lot of work with out a baby, I can't imagine adding that to the scenario. So last Thursday we decided to move now...which was a very hard and stressful decision. Especially since we have two dogs. After spending so much time looking on http://www.ksl.com/ and http://www.craigslist.com/ for apartments, calling to ask if they allow dogs, and then looking at nasty apartments, Heavenly Father answered our prayers. I found a 2 bedroom 1 bathroom apartment that is awesome! I am supper excited because we will get a dishwasher, bathtub, and a few other luxeries that make life easier.
We are moving next weekend, and I am supper excited to get moved in so I can finally set up the babies room and get our home ready for our little girl. We were hoping that our apartment now would be our last provo apartment, but I guess the Lord has other plans for us. Dispite our excitment we are really sad to leave our ward and our calling (Sunday School Teachers for the 12 & 13 year olds).
So that is our unexpected news ... today I am off to pamper myself just a little. Im going to get an hour massage, oh I can't wait.

Garden Time

Jon and I decided a few months ago that when it got warm enough it would be fun to plant a garden. We have a really good landlord that allows us to do pretty much whatever we want. In our backyard there is this 6X6 peice of land that was covered in weeds and small trees, it was just ugly. After all the raining we took an afternoon and dug out all the trees and pulled out all the weeds. We could not believe that we chose to do yard work. Neither of us have ever liked yard work, but as it turns out ... it's not as bad when your parents aren't making you.
Our upstairs neighbors were excited about the idea as well, so we combined forces and planted a combination of plants. We planted 4 tomatoe plants (Roma, Big Boy, Husky Cherry), 3 peppers (green, yellow, red), 1 banna pepper, 6 jalepanos, 1 salantro, 1 basal, and a section for red and green onions.

It's been about 1 1/2 weeks since we planted our little garden and everything is still green and getting better. It definetly helps that we have a sprinkler system to do the watering for us, but Im so proud of ourselves for what we have done. I love coming home from work and just staring at how big the plants are getting. This could be the beginning of a new found love.