The last thing we expected to be doing Thursday night....

First of all, I have to begin by saying thank you to everyone for the constant prayers and well wishes being sent our direction. I can honestly say that I have felt the outpouring of love and the blessings that are coming to our family just through all the many prayers being said in our behalf. For those who haven't yet heard, our little baby girl decided to make her way into the world WAY sooner than anyone ever expected and 13 weeks early to be exact. I was just coming into week 27 of pregnancy. I'm not even sure if that's technically the third trimester, or if I hadn't made it that far yet.

We aren't sure yet what caused me to go into labor, we probably will never know, but it came as quite a shock. Thursday night we came into the hospital and they did everything they could to try to stop the labor, but she was insistent on meeting us and wouldn't let anything get in her way. So I proudly introduce you to our baby girl:

Eden Noelle Justice
Born Friday, June 5th, 2:06 am
Weighing in at 2 lbs, 5 oz
14.5 Inches long

From the birth she sustained some pretty good bruising on her head and face so you'll see in the pictures that she looks a little beat up. Because she was so small she was a lot more susceptible to the bruising, but it's nothing too serious. It has already improved a lot and she continues to look better and better as time goes on.

While still in the labor and delivery room, once they had a chance to clean her up and get her a little stabilized, they let Brad take a couple pictures of her. I couldn't wait to see her and was a little anxious to know what was happening on the other side of the room.


Though it was extremely brief, maybe just a minute or less, I was so blessed to be able to have my new mommy moment and hold my precious baby. They had to continue to pump her lungs while I held her, but I can't explain how I felt that moment and how special that one minute will forever be in my life. Before she was born they had given me the warning that if there were any major complications that they may have to take her to the NICU immediately without me being able to see her, so I felt very blessed that they were able to stabilize her enough for me to be able to hold her first.


Here's the proud new daddy with his little baby girl.


Here's a shot of her taken right after she was settled in her new bed in the NICU. We were able to get a couple shots of her before they completely covered her up with the incubator to help regulate her body temperature. She has continued to stay completely covered since this picture was taken.


Eden's precious little foot in my hand.


So for a quick update, the timeline we are hearing is that she will most likely need to stay here in the NICU until her due date, which puts us here for about the next three months. If all goes well, we may go just a tad sooner, but we will take that one day at a time. Eden has been amazing since the moment she was born. All the doctors tell us that we are seeing the best possible results that we could expect to see. She has been on a ventilator and some oxygen since she was born, but as time passes they have been able to turn them down and she is preforming so great on her own. In fact, all has gone so well yesterday and today that they will be taking her off the ventilator tonight and putting her on a C-Pap which is an awesome sign! She has taken so well to weaning her from the ventilator throughout the day that they are ready to take the next step already. The doctor has also said that they have not seen any infections of any kind, and that the x-rays have all come back looking great.

Again, thanks for all the many prayers on her behalf, they really are working and we hope that you will continue to keep her in your prayers as we take the next steps. I will continue to post updates as we go along.

The Fun Month of May!

We had some fun activities this month but I didn't have time to post them sooner, so you'll get them all at once!

My mom's birthday was this month so of course we had to celebrate her and all her years of wisdom. Brad also suggested we make her his favorite birthday cake because it's the best. :o)


Brody enjoyed sucking all the frosting off the candles.


For memorial day we had so much fun! We drove up to a good picnic/hiking area in the Sandia mountains, just east of Albuquerque. Unfortunately we were missing Dallen who was home in Arizona, and Tiff and Cam's family were also unable to make it. But we were able to gain Michael's company! We were so excited to see him and spend time with him while he was home for a week from Kansas. It was beautiful weather and such a fun day.


First thing my dad did when we got there was to hang up the hammock. I didn't dare get in though because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get back out!


And here's why... we're growing!


Michael and Jaxon prepared the fire pit, but to Jaxon's dismay we never did build a fire.


Cute little Brad exploring our picnic site.


Here's the hiking group. Some made it a little farther than others, but it was fun.


And of course, we had to have a picnic while we were up there.


Dad and Erin, chilling in the camping chairs.


Michael and Brad, being the mischievious boys that they are, discovered a big ball of sticks really high up in the tree. Getting that thing to fall became the mission that had to be accomplished. First, they began with throwing rocks...


They came too close to hitting a car with the falling rocks, and it wasn't accomplishing anything, so they moved on to really big sticks - not tall enough though!


So then the solution to the height problem....


Getting closer...


And success! They got the weird ball of sticks that they worked so hard for. Mission accomplished and then the ball was quickly destroyed and they moved on.



Here's just a random picture of me and Brad, and the baby too who seems to be getting bigger and bigger by the day now.


And earlier in the month we were able to celebrate Mother's Day by spending the day down at my parents house where there are always adventures to be had!

As soon as the weather is warm, Brad can't wait to play in the water with the kids. I think Jade was just as excited and they had lots of fun.




Here's me and my mom. I'm so grateful for her!


Here's our cute little nephew Brody.


Me and my love...


Cam & Tiff were there too enjoying the beautiful weather.


Jade had already gotten back into her regular clothes after playing in the sprinklers, but I guess she decided she was hot again because we looked over and she was dipping her head in this bucket of water!


My sweet parents with Brad and I.

We LOVE our seminary class!

We have the absolute BEST kids in our seminary class! Yesterday morning I showed up at seminary prepared to have a scripture mastery day with the class and was shocked to find that they had arranged a suprise party for our baby complete with decorations, breakfast, and even presents! Unfortunately Brad had to be out of town for work on Friday so he wasn't there to enjoy the party, but he was just as shocked as I was. Turns out they planned this all on their own, with invitations and all.

Here's the breakfast spread... yum!


It just made me all emotional that they were so thoughtful! I'm really going to miss these guys!


We were missing just a couple people from the class that day who had to be away at an orchestra/choir performance. Aren't they a great looking bunch of kids?! Seriously, these guys are the best.


After Brad got back I had to show him all the great gifts that we received and he, of course, had to try a few things on.


I love these guys and I'm glad to know they must love us too! :o)

A Visit from California!

A couple weekends ago mom and dad Justice came to visit us and they even brought Jeff this time! The time passed by too quickly but we are so glad they were able to come out and stay a few days with us. Thanks guys for making the long drive out!





Saturday afternoon we got to go to the aquarium. I was the only one who had been there and it's been a long time so it was a lot of fun.









We went on a drive up to the crest of the east mountains, but we didn't make it all the way to the top because Jeff was starting to get a little car sick. We did get out of the van at a good look out point, but it was cold and breezy up there and we didn't last long [ Jeff's screaming of discomfort from the wind made the decision to leave even easier :o) ]




We had such a fun weekend and are so grateful we were able to host such great guests!

Suprise!!

Well the wait is over and the news is official so we had to go out and buy a couple cute outfits to celebrate!



20 weeks along . . . halfway done! We can't wait to meet our little baby girl. Brad and I both thought it was a boy due to a previous incorrect prediction at an ultrasound when I was 13 weeks along so we were shocked today when we found out that our little guy is actually a girl! We couldn't be happier!!



Little baby girl Justice will be the second niece on both sides of our families, joining the ranks with a total of 15 nephews on both sides combined (hence the stronger feeling that I thought our baby was going to be a boy too!) Now on to the hard part. . . a name. Ahhh!

The Great Seperation

None of us can believe how quickly the time came for our families to part ways! Since the beginning of January, Scott and Cindy and their two boys have been living with us while Scott completed an optometry rotation at the VA hospital. In the beginning, 10 weeks seemed like such a long time and definitely plenty of time to explore Albuquerque and have tons of fun, but now that 10 weeks have passed we are all shocked at how quickly it came and went! Since they left, the house seems so empty and quiet - it's been really weird. We had tons of fun with them while they were here and we hope that they left with a great impression of Albuquerque. I know they were able to make lots of friends while they were here and I'm sure that we aren't the only ones who will miss them! Come back and visit soon Gundersons, and good luck in your next adventure!

Taking after mommy already?

For those of you who don't know, I was very fond of my thumb as a child. I wonder if this thumb sucking will last. In the ultrasound yesterday she was trying to get measurements of the babies hands and arms but everytime she would try, it would stick it's thumb back into it's mouth! It was so cute!



We quickly got a glimpse of this precious little hand before it went back into the mouth!



Our next ultrasound will be in April and we'll get to find out if we're having a boy or girl! We are really anxious!