Halibut Fishing

Lisa and Brad surprised us with a chance to go halibut fishing on Saturday (May 29th). At 7:30am we met the caption of our charter while Michael happily spent some one-on-one time with his grandparents. We went about 15miles out to sea and for 4 hours cast our lines overboard, allowing the 2lb weight to sink 200 feet. Any time we had a bite we had to reel and reel and REEL our catch up to the surface where the crew would hook it and bring it the rest of the way up onto the boat. It was fun but very tiring. Jay and I each caught at least 6 halibut (could only keep 2), I caugh one of the biggest fish of the day weighing in at a whopping 50lbs (and boy was it tiring reeling that sucker up, Jay had to finally help hold my pole while I reeled cause my arm got so tired). On the way back to port we incounted numerous birds, a gang of sea otters, and 3 harper seals. The weather was just perfect and all in all it was a very relaxing adventure, and much needed time alone together.

--- My fish is the one farthest to the left (right next to Jay)

--- I caught a fish this big ---

Life Thus Far

I am now the proud parent of a 1 month old 9lb happy and healthy baby boy. After a rough start in the beginning of life Michael appears to have completely recovered from his ordeal and is happily guzzling 4-5oz of milk a feeding and growing like a weed (lol at least weight wise). He's a fairly easy goping child who is fairly happy and content most of the time, calms down quickly when he starts fussing, and usually sleeps 3 hours in between feedings. The cats could care less about having a new addition to the house, and usually look the other way when he's any where near them. Michael just started tummy time this week and has altready scooted himself off his mat and lifted his head a few times before he breaks down crying from frustration (he'll be a strong son buck before long). He has pretty beastly thighs and forearms, hopefully he got his daddy's strength. Life as a parent is great if not a bit tiring and Jay's job/internship is going very well and we're hoping that his boss will allow him to stay on for his 2nd and final internship so once we return back home to Idaho we can just concenrate on schooling and then make a final move to wherever Jay gets a job (instead of moving around for an internship, school, and then job). Alaska is gorgeous (you se Eagles and moose everwhere). Summer has officially set in, blue skies and 50 degree weather now with it staying light out till midnight. All in all life is pretty darn good :-)

---- Below is Michael's most recent pictures (1 month)

Recent Pictures of Michael

Michael Jay Mangum

Michael Jay Mangum
Born: April 20, 2010 at 9:52pm
Weight: 6lbs 13.8oz
Length: 20 inches
Miscellaneous Information: Born at exactly 37 weeks, water broke unexpectedly 2 hours before I was suppose to go in for an ultrasound appointment. Labor was a total of 12 hours, 3 of which was spent pushing. He was born face up and slightly turned, which explains the long time spent pushing. He developed pneumothorax which turned quickly into tension pneumothorax. He had to be put on oxygen and came very close to having a chest tube. He was life-flighted from the Homer hospital to the Providence hospital in Anchorage (5 hours away) where he was instantly put on an oxygen canula and placed under an oxygen tent where he was kept for the next 2 days of his life. He was able to be taken off the oxygen after a few days and appeared to be doing well. The tension pneumothorax resolved itself, he'll be stopping his antibiotics for a possible pneumonia Wednesday (April 28th) at 6pm, and if all continues to go well he should be able to come home Thursday.

UPDATE: We ran into a set back today (April 27th), he has been placed back onto oxygen to help relieve some possible apnea-like episodes that caused his oxygen levels to drop while in deep sleep. Hopefully all will be resolved soon - may your prayers continue to be with little Michael as he heals.

Alaskan Life

I'm so horrible about staying on top of my blog (it seems so much easier plus I seem to get more comments when I update facebook instead) but ... I will try harder especially now that I'm getting closer to one of the biggest changes in my life. I am now almost 35 1/2 weeks along and my ribs and mid back (mainly on my right side) are always aching, the braxton hicks contractions are a lot more cosntant (and of course thanks to my back/rib pain more uncomfortable), and my belly feels like it's going to burst any time lol (I will post pics soon). Aside from my lack of sleep at time (thank you Michael for trying to keep your little tootsies warm under my ribs cage) life here in Alaska hasn't been to bad. I get to see moose and bald eagles on a ragular basis and now that my sister in law is here with her kids I'm outside more often taking walks by the beach and spending time with my niece and nephew. It's been aboiut 2 1/2 weeks since I've seen Jay and still another 10 days (or more depending on the weather while they are traveling) before I get to see him again, we're both handling it a lot better than we originally thought we were going to but it's still torture and I'm counting down the days when I can be held in my sweeties arms once again (FYI it's no fun having to fall asleep alone). Well that's it for now I need to stand up and walk around cause my ribs are KILLING ME!!!! I'll post more updates along with some picture updates sometime this week so stay tuned.

Jay and Britt's Greatest Adventure

We are sooooo nomadic! It appears that we move pretty much every semester either to a new apartment (this is our 3rd one since moving to Idaho) or a new state. As most of you know Jay has to complete 2 construction management internships in order to graduate from his construction/architecture program at BYU-I. We were a bit worried about being able to find 2 internships (let alone 2 that would pay him anything so that we could still pay the bills). We've been praying for quite some time now and it appears that the Lord has heard our pleas. Jay has found an internship in Homer, Alaska for this spring semster (and if all works out accordinly an internship for the fall semster too!). It came as quite a surprise but it appears that we are now alaskan bound this spring. I'll be heading out March 21st (dang pregnancy regulations) and Jay will follow about 3 weeks later (April 8th) once finals are over with. I'll be staying with Jay's parents until he is able to join me. It will be really hard being apart for so long but we're grateful that he has been given this opportunity, especially with the way the economy is. This will be our 4th state that we have lived in since getting married less than 3 years ago ... it should be an interesting life adventure. We hope everyone will continue to pray with us that all continues to go the way we are hoping it does and that there are no unpleasant surprises awaiting us lol.

28 weeks (Already?)

How time flies. I am now 28 weeks along and aside from the ever growing belly I've been feeling pretty good. I'm so thankful that my pregnancy has been so easy and I hope that it continues to be so for the last remaining weeks. The only downfall to my pregnancy is the fact that I was just diagnosed with gestational diabetes (LAME!) so now I have to start on a specific diet to help keep my sugar levels in check (oh well, I needed to start eating better anyways lol --- those 20 years of sweets were so worth it though). Well I gotta go start dinner and finish cleaning the house so I'll end with a few maternity pics, along with a few misc. ones. Enjoy!




Jay fell asleep petting Bella

Bella's favorite spot to sleep (on my pillow!)

School can be so tiring