Where we got Tenlee's name

We have had many many people ask us where we got Tenlee's name. Everyone just assumes it is from the TV show The Bachelor, but it is not. We got it from this movie

Jessica Biel's character name is Tenley Parrish. Ever since the first time I saw this movie I loved her name. I've remembered it all these years and have wanted to name a baby Tenley. I told Austin the name when we were first married and he instantly loved it too. So as soon as we found out we were having a girl, there was no question on the name. As for the spelling I like the ley but wanted something a little different. We had talked about doing Tenli since my name is spelled with an I. We also talked about Tenlie. We went back and forth several times, but in the end went with Tenlee. I always hated it when people pronounced my name wrong and we figured with Tenlee there really isn't a question. It's spelled exactly how you say it, so that was our deciding factor. We also went back and forth on whether or not to have a middle name. My sister and I don't have middle names and I kind of liked it. I just kept my maiden name as my middle name when I got married. We just decided on no middle name this time.


This week we had a few surprise visitors. Tuesday evening around 5 PM there was a knock at our door. Austin went and answered it and when he opened the door there was a baby in a car seat and nobody else was around anywhere. I walked to the door to see who it was and I said it's Farrah!! Shannon and her family had driven to Utah from Arizona with out anybody knowing they were coming!! It was such a fun surprise. Farrah and Tenlee are exactly 7 weeks apart. It was so much fun seeing them together. Although it was a quick trip for Shannon's family we sure had fun getting the cousins together for a little bit.

First time meeting

 

 

Tenlee in Pink & Farrah in yellow. Tenlee looks close to the same size as

Farrah, but I think only because she is closer to the camera

We attempted to do some cute pictures together

but Farrah woke up, so it made it a little harder

plus Tenlee spit up everywhere. It's ok though

We will try again in May when Shann comes for

Blakey's graduation

 

 

Little T by herself. We will be taking her whole set of newborn

pictures this week. This is a small preview of one of her outfits

 

 

I just had to add this picture because Tenlee is growing so fast. We went in to the doctor for her 2 week appointment and the PKU test. She hardly cried when they poked her little foot. She weighed 8.6 at two weeks old (fully clothed and a full diaper I might add). The doctor said they typically like to see babies back to their birth weight at two weeks..... Tenlee weighed 7.2 at birth :) She certainly is gaining weight and it's showing in these big cheeks. Yay for chubby babies.

TENLEE HOFFMANN

            FEBRUARY 25, 2013 7 LBS. 2 OZ. 19 INCHES LONG 6:13 AM





             After looking back at these pictures, you can tell she was a little swollen in the face

She is here!!! She is so much fun and we are in love! We are so lucky to be parents to this sweet baby girl. Here is the story....

Sunday Feb. 24th Austin and I had a relaxing day, I was feeling good but extremely tired so we decided not to go to church and just stayed home and didn't do too much. We went to my parents and when we were leaving my Dad said lets get that baby tonight, and mentioned it was a full moon haha apparently that brings out the babies. I had been having contractions all week long, but this particular day hadn't had one contraction. Austin and I got home, got things ready for the next day of work, watched our Sunday evening shows and I went to bed around 10 PM. Around 10:50 PM I woke up and had to go to the bathroom, Austin was still awake watching TV. When I went into the bathroom I noticed my garments were wet... I thought it was strange because I was pretty sure I hadn't wet my pants. So I kind of sat there for a few minutes trying to decide if this was my water breaking. After about 5 minutes I went back into our bedroom and told Austin, "I think my water might have broken." Austin's face was PRICELESS. I wish I had gotten out my camera before I told him. He jumped out of bed and said WHAT??? You think? how do you just think, how do you not know for sure. I showed him my garments and said I don't know.. what do you think? haha he immediately started shaking, while I was rather calm. Not knowing for sure what to do, he called his brother who is a Physician's Assistant. He told his brother what was going on, and his brother recommended we head to the hospital immediately. I told Austin that was great, but I just want to jump in the shower and wash my hair really quick, because I hadn't washed it that day since we didn't go to church. Austin would not let me shower! He just wanted to get to the hospital. He did not want to deliver the baby in the car like his sister did :) So I changed my clothes, he unloaded the dishwasher and I straightened up some things in the living room, and we headed to the hospital. By 11:01 we were on our way, and I called my Mom to let her know. I wasn't having any contractions or anything until we got to about 30th street, but they were slow and not too painful. Austin shook the entire way to the hospital, while I was surprisingly still very calm. We pulled into the ER and walked inside. They had me get in a gown and lay in a bed in triage. First they had to do a test to "make sure" my water had actually broken and they told me I was dilated to a 3+. The first test they tried they were unable to tell if it had or not, so they had to do a different kind of test which involved sending a sample away to the lab. The nurse told us this would take about 20 minutes to get the results. So Austin and I just hung out in triage, while my contractions became a little more painful and strong, but still not awful. 20 minutes somehow turned into about 60+ minutes. The ER had gotten a little crazy, and there were several women coming in thinking they were having their babies too. My doctor just happened to have 3 of her patients there all at the same time. One was going in for a C-section, the other got sent home because it was false labor, and then me. Which we were just praying they would not send me home. We had prepared ourselves for this baby to come now. So after a long wait, the nurse finally came back in and said YEP your water broke. Lets get you up to labor and delivery. So they got us into our room, and we called our parents and let them know the baby was coming for sure. Then they started me on pitocin, because they said when it's your first baby and your water breaks on your own, they like to start you on pitocin to help labor go a little quicker. This was certainly true, as I was lying in the bed trying to fill out all the paperwork my contractions started getting very strong and painful. I sort of felt like a wuss because I thought I'd be able to hold out much longer before asking for my epidural but it felt like I needed it soon. My contractions were hurting pretty bad so Austin went to find the nurse to see if I could get the epidural. She said the anesthesiologist was in the middle of a C-section so it'd be just a few minutes. She said I wasn't being a wuss, because my water breaking and being started on pitocin is a double wammy. Those few minutes waiting for the epidural seemed like hours! Once he came in and gave me the epidural everything went great!!

Waiting patiently in the delivery room. Very excited! It's pretty dang early in the morning. Had to wake everyone up to come to the hospital

 

My parents arrived around 2:30 AM and we all just hung out and waited. Austin's mom was recently diagnosed with breast cancer and was scheduled to have her lumpectomy that morning at Mckay Dee. She was supposed to be there at 6:15, so we called Austin's parents and they came up at about 4:30 AM. We just kind of hung out for a bit, the nurses were in the middle of switching shifts so I had 3 different nurses in 3 hours. They checked me and I had dilated from a 4 to a 7 in 30 minutes. When my 3rd and final nurse got there she checked me and I was about a 9+ so we were getting very close. They told me they'd be back to check me in 20 minutes. 45 minutes or so later they came back in and I was fully dilated and ready to go, so they called my doctor and had her start making her way. I think had there not been so many nurse changes we could have gone at least an hour earlier, but it worked out just fine and it went by extremely fast. My nurse had me start doing some practice pushes for a few minutes until my doctor arrived. Once my doctor got there, I pushed 3-4 times and Tenlee was here. Fabulous pregnancy, fabulous labor!! Everything was perfect. Funny side note... when Austin was cutting the umbilical cord he and the doctor were just chatting and he cut the cord and blood shot all over my face from it. Kinda gross but it was hilarious. While in the hospital everything was great, we had a few set backs with me, I ended up having to get a catheter and staying an extra day due to some taring, swelling, and stitches. But everything was great with the baby, she is healthy and right where she needs to be.

 

Proud Grandma of 8

                                                                  Fun family visits

not my best picture. They wouldn't let me wash my hair

 

Sorry we missed a few visitors. Brett and Amber came to visit, Uncle Blake, Grandma and Grandpa Hoffmann, Great Grandma and Grandpa Ballif ,Austin's uncle Lyle and lots of Austin's friends/co-workers from the hospital and Grandpa Vern was with us everyday. Thanks everyone!

 

We had some fabulous visitors while in the hospital, and wonderful nurses. We were lucky and ended up getting a nurse that is the mother of one of Austin's friends/coworkers. We got to have her 2 of the days and we just loved her!! Overall it was a great experience and I wouldn't have had it any different. We are so in LOVE with our baby girl. She has been so great since we've come home. She is a great sleeper, eater, and pooper for sure. We are enjoying our time as a new family of 3. Austin gets 2 1/2 weeks off with us and we are loving his company.

 She looks so chubby in this! I love it

 

Daily non stop heartburn was worth it, check out these locks/mullet

 

 

just finished her first bath, she loves having her hair washed!

 

 

 

Getting ready to head home

 

She looks so tiny in her carseat

Tummy time at home

 

She loves her little bouncer

 

 

 

We love zebra

 

she has such nice skin, I look even more ghostly

 

 3 AM snuggle time with Momma

 

Lots of polka dots and a headband that is much too big

 

Cute little hands

 

 

 

Tenlee and Dad's favorite spot. I often find Dad holding her when she's supposed to be sleeping in her bed.

 

39 Weeks

Post written Saturday February 23, 2013

We're getting down to the last couple of days. I've still been feeling really well. I've said it before, but I've had such a great pregnancy. I've been dilated to a 2 and 80% effaced for over a month now. At our appt. this week nothing had changed so the doctor decided to strip my membranes (it's about as fun as it sounds ;) ) she said a lot of times this helps women go into labor quickly, or it just makes you contract a lot and not progress and makes you hate your doctor for doing it.  I've had contractions a lot this past week anyway, but after having my membranes stripped I've been contracting quite a bit, but nothing too drastic. I'm in no pain, so I assume it's not labor. Sleeping is getting a little bit harder, my belly still feels like it's stretching a lot, so as long as I don't roll over it is just fine. Work days are getting longer and longer :) I'm doing everything I can to make it through the next few days of work. People keep asking why I don't just take next week off, but I'd rather spend everyday of maternity leave with Tenlee, rather than sit home and wait for her to come. We've got everything completely ready.... at least as far as we know. ha ha I'm sure there will be a few trips to the grocery store for things we had no clue you need for a baby, but we're ok with that. Our house is as clean as can be from top to bottom, and I even got a few deep cleaning projects finished last weekend that I was planning on doing while on maternity leave. We're trying to be ahead of the game. Our bag has been packed for weeks, and last night we finally decided we'd put the bag and car seat in the car.. (secretly hoping that since they were in the car, then I'd go into labor) Nothing so far. We are patiently waiting though. Due date is in 6 days. Yesterday at work I probably had 20 people ask me how much longer I had..... followed by I thought so you look ready... backhanded compliment?? Oh well, at least I haven't had any strangers try to touch my belly or anything. I've heard horror stories of creepy people asking to touch pregnant bellies, or people saying weird things to you when you're pregnant. Luckily I have had neither, until the "you look ready" comments this week. I feel like I look tired, even though I feel good, and my face is certainly starting to get puffy. We just can't wait for our little munchkin to be here.

Job update: After several conversations and making a list and budgeting everything out after we lost our daycare. We went back and forth a lot on whether or not we could have me go down in hours, and we finally realized by the time we pay $500+ a month in daycare, i'd be working 40 hours just to pay for the daycare. So I now get to go down to 30 hours a week!!!! I can't even wait. It will be SO nice getting to stay home a little more with our baby.That being said, I let my boss know what I was thinking, and let her know once I got back from maternity i'd be watching for 30 hour positions to become available that I could apply for. She and my VP decided it would be best to just open my position and fill it now, rather than wait 12 weeks and try to find coverage from other branches while I was on maternity, which makes the most sense. So they opened my position and have now filled it, and my VP will be finding me a new branch. Kind of a little scary I don't technically have a position for the next 12 weeks, and have no clue which branch I will be going to, but I trust that they will put me somewhere I will be happy! I'm looking forward to more new adventures coming our way. Life is just so unpredictable it's insane. I never could have imagined how many things in our life would change during one pregnancy. I never expected I'd have a job change, let alone 2! Wish us luck :) We keep crossing our fingers Austin can find a better job that will allow me to stay home. But I am happy to work as long as I need to.

Happy 60th Birthday Dad!

My dad turned the big 6 0 on the 12th. A few of us celebrated with him by going to his new favorite restaurant Bumbi... (Rumbi Island Grill) for some reason the crazy old man cannot remember what it's called. He always calls it Bumbi.

I asked him to smile.. this is what I got

 My Dad hates when people call or text him and he doesn't know the number, so it's always funny on his Birthday when people text him happy birthday. He calls all of us to see if we know who's number it is. So we were enjoying a nice dinner and Jen from across the table texts him and says Happy Birthday, and for some reason he doesn't have Jen's phone number in his cell phone. So he asked if any of us knew who it was... we all said we didn't, so we told him to text them back and ask who it was. So he text back and Jen said her name was Todd... my dad looked around at all of us like who in the world is Todd... so he text and asked the last name and Jen told him, Todd Perkins. My dad is going crazy trying to think of who in the heck Todd Perkins is. Saying well it could be this ladies boyfriend from my retirement party..... not sure why in the world this ladies boyfriend would be texting him Happy Birthday, but whatever Vern. Meanwhile Scott who is sitting next to my Dad starts texting him from his work cell phone that my dad doesn't know the number. My dad is still trying to figure out who in the world Todd Perkins is... this goes on for quite a while and the rest of us are laughing hysterically because we all know it's Scott and Jen, and my Dad just thinks we're laughing at him. Scott is giving him clues that only the people who were at the table with would have known we were talking about. This went on for probably a good half hour before we finally gave in and told him it was Scott and Jen. He was convinced it was Abbie or Broc at some point.. then some random person he met one time. So funny. I have not seen my Mom laugh so hard in my whole life. It was hilarious. I think my Dad was kinda hoping we'd do something bigger for his 60th Birthday..... little does he know we are doing a surprise party for him at Maddox this Saturday!

 

Trying to figure out who in the heck is texting him.. hilarious. I love Scott's face in this pic.

 

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! WE LOVE YOU :)

 

Where has the time gone

Wrote this post on January 10th...... been saved in my drafts for a while... sorry

 

Me on Christmas 31 weeks

I cannot believe how quickly this pregnancy is flying by. I'm loving every minute. Our little girl is super active. I love feeling her kick and wiggle all the time. Austin also enjoys when she'll give a kick for him. We had a great holiday season and now our focus is everything BABY. We've got the room painted, crib up, had 1 shower and 2 more to go. We're getting down to the last few weeks. So crazy! One of my favorite times of the day is when I get home from work at night after we've eaten dinner, Austin and I just sit and look at my stomach as Tenlee just rolls back and forth. It is hilarious. Doctor's appts. keep going great :) Our doctor keeps saying how much HAIR our baby has. I think I was bald until I was walking to school for kindergarten. We will see if her hair stays, maybe she got my sister Shannon's hair somehow because I certainly do not have much. Baby is about 4 1/2 pounds now with less than 6 weeks to go. I hope she continues to grow healthy and strong, but not to exceed 8 pounds. Besides seeing all our babies hair at the doctor we have learned that she is much like her Momma... she always has her hands in her face. We've had a hard time getting some good pictures at our last few appointments because of her silly little hands in her face. Austin always teases me because when I sleep I have to have one of my hands on my face. We are so anxious to see what she looks like. Is she going to have my blue eyes and blonde hair, or will she look like her daddy with hazel/brown eyes and dark hair. Will she be more Garner or Hoffmann?? I'm kinda leaning towards Garner because if you've ever seen my nieces and nephews... the Garner gene is pretty darn dominant. Who knows though. It's just so exciting. My sister Shannon had her baby this week too, which has made me even more excited to see our little girl. Her little Farrah is so cute and her and Tenlee are going to be great cousins. People have kind of been giving us a hard time lately because our doctor HIGHLY recommended that anyone who was going to be around our baby get the T-dap/pertussis/whooping cough vaccine. She said there are so many babies dying from it right now that she wouldn't take any chances. I think people think we're being a little too paranoid, which naturally we will be because this is our first, but when your doctor is so passionate about it and has seen babies die, we just can't help but take it seriously. It's funny to hear how many adults are afraid of getting shots! There are a lot of you out there :)
A lot has happened in the past few months with all the holidays and such. I'm loving my job as branch assistant manager and I'm learning a TON. I keep trying very hard not to let my prego brain get in the way of my job, but I do feel bad for my co-workers often. I say weird things too, just ask Austin. I am having heartburn everyday just like always, no signs of that going away, could be the reason for all her hair I hear. The weird dreams just keep coming and coming. I had a dream the other night that Channing Tatum and I were hanging out at this water park going down slides and Austin was there and I was super pregnant and the lifeguards were getting mad at me haha last night I dreamed I was a trick snowmobile rider, also pregnant snowmobiling going off jumps and doing flips.... who even knows where they are coming from. I feel excellent though!!! I cannot be more grateful for how perfect this pregnancy has been. I'm starting to get more tired at nights, but feel pretty good during the day and I'm sleeping OK for now. Wish I'd have blogged a little better during this pregnancy, but pictures say it all. 

Here are a few random pictures of us getting her room ready

 

 

 

 

First Shower

 

 

37 weeks

 

Fun Shower gift from my Romer Twins

 

 

Work shower

 

Old work friends/High School friend shower

                                                               My family/friend shower

 

 

We are so grateful for all the wonderful people in our life!! We got amazing things at all of our showers. Thank you to EVERYONE!!! We love you.

 

We have had a set back in our grand plan and still aren't sure what we are going to do. When I accepted my new position at work everything fell right into place with a daycare. We had a perfectly located daycare, that just happened to have a spot available coming the first week of May which worked our great, so she was saving us a spot. We went and met with her and discussed the upcoming months, then out of nowhere heard that she'd decided after doing daycare for 15 years she was ready to go back to work full time and got a job with benefits. Which I do not blame her at all. Daycare for 15 years would be extremely hard. But now we do not know where we're going to take Tenlee. So hopefully during my maternity leave we will figure things out. I'm pretty sure I've called every daycare from North Ogden to Layton and they're either not really what we're looking for, or they don't take infants, or they are already reserving spots for women who are currently pregnant. So we're crossing our fingers something will workout. If not, my Dad may have to watch the baby for a few weeks ha ha for any of you who know my dad.... this is rather hilarious. Looking forward to the next few weeks!

Baby Poll- Girl or Boy??

                      The night before our appointment we talked to most of our family members
                     to get their guesses on what our baby would be... Girl won by just a few votes

               For those of you who haven't heard on Sept. 25th we found out our sweet baby is

 For some reason I felt like 100% it was going to be a boy all along. I've had a feeling since about 8 weeks, not sure why. Austin's brothers have both had boys first and both of my siblings with kids have had boys first so I kinda just thought the pattern would stay. We went to the doctor and she began our ultra sound, we'd told her we wanted to find out the gender and that we had a for sure girls name picked out but weren't sure on a boys name. She said it was probably a boy then haha as she went on everything was looking great, baby is growing like it should be and finally she said I think..... from this angle it looks like a girl. Then she kept moving it around and from another angle she said yes this definitely looks like a girl! Finally one last view... yep it is a girl haha we are so happy. We didn't care if it was a girl or boy, we just wanted a healthy baby. We're extremely excited for baby Tenlee to join our family in March. Now we just need to start preparing. We have yet to buy anything except a diaper bag which I bought before we knew it was a girl. We wanted something that would work for either gender and I love it. I'm a little obsessed with turquoise.

Diaper bag I got for a steal on zulily.com

 

 Also, if any of you have any great suggestions on what the heck we should do for the baby's bedroom I am open to any and all ideas. I'm kinda thinking of doing red & turquoise... or bright colors like pinks, greens, turquoises, and oranges, but I honestly just have no idea.

not the best pictures because they are pictures of pictures

Baby girl has her hands up by her head

 

Here Tenlee's little mouth is open ;) our doctor was so excited

about this picture and said our baby was very cute!

18 1/2 weeks

         I'm feeling really great right now. Not nearly as tired, not ever sick, no more heartburn, just lots of eating :) my belly is growing but still kind of just looks chubby to me. I started feeling her move last week which is so much fun. I can't wait until Austin can start to feel our baby girl. We're ready for the next couple of months and pray everything will continue to go well for us :)

Also on another side note, I decided to take a different job at my same place becoming a loan officer. This job I would just do my work and be able to worry about myself and making sure I got my job done, then when the baby comes I was planning to go to 30 hours. On my first day of being a loan officer my boss called me in her office and said I was being asked to go to the Clearfield Branch and be the asst. manager if I was interested!! Wow this kinda of changes all plans we had for the future, but I decided this was a great opportunity for our family and my career and couldn't pass up the offer. So now I am working in Clearfield and will be staying full time when the baby comes. We've already found a babysitter and things are falling into place for our little family. Just hope my prego brain doesn't kick in too much while trying to learn a new job :)

13 weeks-16 weeks

13 Weeks
       Not too much has changed these days. I still eat about every 2 hours, I haven't gotten sick again yet! Whoohoo.  I have had a few new things come up that have been new for me. We ate some pizza the other night and after we ate my throat felt kinda weird. I was explaining to Austin what was happening and he just started laughing and said that is heartburn. What?!? This is heartburn? I have never had heartburn in my life. I had no idea what it actually was. I thought it was like pain in your chest. So that is something new. Also, I've never been one to get sick from like rides, or cruises, or cars, or anything really. I now get car sick! That is not something I ever thought would happen with pregnancy, but it sure has. I haven't really had cravings that I can think of. I love mint chocolate chip ice cream, but that is also a pre pregnancy thing. I just love ice cream in general. Sometimes when I'm walking I feel like I'm gonna tip over and lose my balance. Doctor said weird equilibrium is normal and advised me not to play sports haha.

14 Weeks
        Sometimes I almost don't even feel pregnant. It scares me a little, but I guess that is a good thing. I'm still somewhat tired, but not nearly as tires as I used to be. I don't have to eat every 2 hours. I just eat when I feel hungry, which is pretty often but not like the past few weeks. My belly is growing a little at a time. I don't think it looks like a prego belly yet, just looks like i'm getting chubby.

15 & 16 Weeks

Don't love my face in this pic

wish I had Shannon's tan

       
 Nothing too different these days. We did go on vacation to Arizona and it was very hot. I don't know how pregnant women do it. We were able to spend some fun time with my sister and her family for Mitch's baptism. She is pregnant with her first little girl and she was 21 weeks while we were there. We took this belly pic but you can't really tell where my belly is because of my dress. We also got to spend some time with Austin's brother Kyle and his family. His wife Tricia was about 34 weeks pregnant too. We had so much fun and can't wait to visit again and see all the babies.