Summer!

Wow! I can't believe summer is almost over already!

This summer went by pretty fast. We mostly stayed home, but did end up doing a few things. 

The biggest thing we did this summer was a trip to Neah Bay to go fishing. 

Danny couldn't take a lot of time off so we were only able to actually be there for 2 days of fishing. 

However, the fish just weren't being caught. While we were there they only caught a few fish to keep the first day and zero the next!

On the way there Danny, Brooklyn and I went to the Woodland Park Zoo! 

It was so much fun. The highlight of the zoo was the bear! He decided to cool off and have a little swim. Luckily for us we were right on the other side of the pool! 

He swam right up to Brooklyn :) It was so cool.

The other animals were really fun and awesome too of course. 

Brookie loved the monkeys and hanging from the vines by their cages.

 She also loved the carousel.

At first she wasn't so sure about it, but when it started going up and down she smiled tons. 

If you haven't been to a Claim Jumper, you need to go. 

It was so delicious and the restaurant itself was way nice. We loved it. 

We also spent the night in Seattle so we would only have to drive four hours a day. 

Brooklyn did pretty great on drive. We cheated and let her watch Baby Einstein the whole way though.

 It worked out for everyone. She normally cries and cries in the car so it was nice to have a happy baby for the 8 hour car trip.
The rest of the summer consisted of trips to Walla Walla, fairs, boating, swimming and parks.
Brooklyn is growing growing growing! Well, she is still pretty small but is hitting milestones like crazy.
She is crawling everywhere and she is fast. I will turn my back for a second and she will be clear across the room. She has also been pulling herself up on everything in site. She is so naughty getting into everything. She loves wires of any kind! I never thought I would have to be baby proofing our house this soon.
She is so much fun now. The newborn stage is precious but this stage is so fun.
 Although chasing her around the house pretty tiring its so fun to watch her. She is always learning. She takes everything around her in. I can see her little brain soaking up everything whenever we go anywhere new.

For some reason it cut the standing part off...Kambria these videos are for you!

I have just been busy taking care of Brooklyn but she is a handful.
I have been able to read a lot of really great books during her naps and the house actually stays clean.
I love being a stay at home mom. So much better than teaching. I can do things that I never had time for.
I have been trying lots of new recipes and working out every day. Danny and I have also started to watch less TV and it's so nice to just have time together to play games and exercise together.
Danny has been busy working both of his jobs. I don't like his night job. I love the people he works for but I hate that he works nights. I don't like to be alone at night so I have been staying with family the nights that he works. He is trying to get into the HVAC career but it's harder to get in than he thought. We are really hoping for something though so he can get started on it. Even with his busy schedule he still has time to do sweet things for me! He always gives me massages when I ask him. He told me that even though it annoys him sometimes he still does it because he likes to make me happy. This morning he woke up early and I thought he was taking a shower but right before he left he told me he had a surprise for me and handed me a clue for a treasure hunt around the house. I then fell back asleep. I woke up and remembered about the clue so I went on a little treasure hunt around the house! It was so much fun. In the end my prize was two tickets to Beauty and the Beast for a date night next month! The broadway show is coming to Kennewick and we are going! Ladies, I got a keeper :)

Mother's Day

We have recently discovered the joys of Baby Einstein.

Brooklyn loves it. She can be super fussy and we will turn it on and she calms down. 

I especially love putting it on during the day for a little while so she can be entertained while I am cleaning or getting other stuff done.

I also have been able to do a few crafts lately.

I used Brooklyn's feet and some ideas from pinterest to make this one :)

We also celebrated mothers day for my first time.

It was really nice. Danny cooked all day for me. Breakfast,lunch, dinner and even dessert! Okay I helped a little bit but he did most of it. We had steak and pasta for dinner! It was delicious. He also made Andes mint cookies which turned out great! I got a cute hand painted mug with Brooklyn's foot print on it, a necklace with her birthstone, some perfume and a massage! It was an awesome day :) 

While you were sleeping...

Baby was awake for 4 hours today without a nap!

That's the most she has ever gone so far...

Needless to say someone, or someONES were cranky.

Finally, she slept.

I decided to make dinner so I went to get the rice cooker.

I keep it on the highest shelf and therefore, couldn't reach it .

Luckily Danny was home to rescue me in my shortness.

As I called for him to help me I looked down and saw this...

I heard him coming and quickly armed myself with a can. 

I later realized I should've grabbed both cans.

Brooklyn's Grand Entrance

Alright people keep asking me to write about Brooklyn's birth so that all may know what all went down.

If you are not into long drawn out stories then feel free to exit your window and just know that in the end the baby came out healthy and everything is great :) 

Here we go.

Saturday, March 15th:

We wake up and anxiously wait for the hospital to call us in for our scheduled induction. It's 10 am and still no call so we decide to call in and make sure that we are even on the list. I made Danny call because if we didn't get to go I was going to be super sad. I watch his face for any signs of good or bad news...he looks crestfallen and starts asking where we are at on the list and if she knows when we might be able to go in after all. I start to cry...meanwhile he hangs up the phone and comes to give me a hug and says that we are #4 on the list. #4!!!! This is horrible news to me to have to wait even longer than I have already waited for my little one to come. The nurse told him that by Sunday afternoon we should get to go in. 

Sunday, March 16th:

We wake up anxiously waiting for the call to come yet again...and wait and wait and wait and wait and wait. Then, Danny decides to call again. He talks to the lady and she says we are now #1! Yay!!! She says that we will most likely be called in that evening to be induced :) We are super excited. They tell us to come in and do an NST to make sure that baby is ok. We go and get the test done but they send us home with the promise that early Monday morning we will for sure get called. More crying ensues... so Danny needs to take off work. Danny tells his boss he isn't coming into work. 

Monday, March 17th (Morning):

We wake up at 9am...(not early) and still no call. Danny calls the hospital to find out what is going on and she says that the earliest they can get us in is maybe maybe that evening but most likely Tuesday. He hangs up the phone angrily and I cry yet again...

He calls work to try to get his shift back but they have already given away the first half of the day. We decide to eat, shower and get on with our day even though we are both unhappy (I was devastated at this point). When I got out the shower Danny came running up the stairs yelling "Yatta" (from Heroes meaning I did it). He tells me that we both have a missed call and voicemail from the hospital! We get to go in :) :) :)

Monday, March 17th (afternoon):

We get to the hospital at 12:30 pm and get checked in and are told that they will be RIGHT with us...yeah, right. We are in there for 3 hours waiting. Finally the nurse comes back in and gets all our information. Then the doctor comes in and says that they are going to try to soften my cervix by using this pill that is not taking orally...no fun. The pill takes 4 hours to work. The doctor says she'll be back at 8pm to check. It's 4 pm. So Danny and I decide to play games and watch movies to pass the time quickly. At about 6pm I start to really feel the contraction hit every 2 mins. The doctor comes back at 8pm and checks. I am now dilated to a 3. She says that the next step they want to try is this weird string thing that also is not taken orally. But, she says that my contractions are too strong and too close together to try it yet. It's 8pm...they want me to eat dinner and let my contractions lessen. What the heck? Why do they need to lessen? I thought that they were a good thing. Apparently the contractions weren't moving the baby down and if they tried the next thing right then the baby would most likely be in distress from too much going on. So I was to eat dinner and wait an hour...

Monday Night 11Pm:

Doctor comes in and puts in the string thing and says that it take 12 hours to work. 12 HOURS!!! So I have to have this weird thing that she described as a string but really it's more like a half and inch ribbon that is like 6 inches long...up in my business for 12 HOURS! O and by the way, this whole 12 hours is late at night when I should be sleeping but instead am in active labor with 2 mins apart contractions that are hurting...like crazy. I could've gotten an epidural at any time but I didn't want one because the labor process was already slow enough as it was. 

Tuesday, March 18th (Morning):

I get out of bed to use the restroom at 7am...the ribbon thing falls out...it's not supposed to come out til 11am. I call the nurse and she says its fine and it happens all the time anyways. 8am the doctor comes in and says that I am now contracting on my own and she wants to wait and see if I progress any further before trying the last thing: pitocin. 

So here I am laying in bed with really fun contractions...(not really) and just waiting to see if it does anything. 8am-12pm....more contractions more waiting. Still nothing. 12pm the nurse comes in and offers me some pain medication but not the epidural...just fentanyl. But it kicks in and feels a lot better than I did before. 1pm: The doctor comes in and says they are going to start me on pitocin now to see if that will kick me into gear because apparently I am having these contractions for no reason...as in they aren't even helping the process just making me hurt. They offer me an epidural before the pitocin and I decide to take it. At this point we have already been in the hospital for over 24 hours so if I get slowed down by the drugs who cares. The anesthesiologist comes in to give me the epidural and has to poke me in 4 different spots before he finally finds the right one. The pain instantly goes away and I am floating in bliss :) except still no baby. 

3pm. The doctor comes back in and breaks my water. He tells me that the "water" in my baby's amniotic sack is actually non existent because the baby had apparently pooped in there awhile ago and is swimming around in it. They decide to pump a liter of saline in there to try and thin out the poop so there is less chance of the baby inhaling the poop and getting pneumonia when she comes out.   He then tells me that if she does have pneumonia she will be taken directly to the NICU and I won't even get to see or hold her until I can walk myself over there. He then leaves the room promising to return soon. 

The nurse that is monitoring everything tells us that the baby's heart rate is remaining the same throughout this stage of active labor and it should be changing going up and down with contractions. She says that if it remains the same we will have to do a c section. She also checks the baby and says that it is "molding" which I guess means that it's head is starting to take on the form of the opening of my pelvis from pushing against it so much. 

4pm: the nurse comes back in the room and says that it's not looking good. She goes to get the doctor. Meanwhile, I cry...surprise surprise. 4:30pm the doctor comes into the room and tells us our options. Option 1-Stop pitocin and wait 20 mins and then start the WHOLE process over again and see if it works the second time. And if not then they will end up doing a c section. 

Option 2- C section ASAP. 

He tells us that he will give us a few minutes to decide. I start to cry...again. We decide that a c section is probably the best thing for the baby at this point. We don't want her to go into distress and have to be an emergency c section with all that stress. I was really scared. Mostly I was scared that something was wrong with the baby and that's why she wasn't coming out. I was a little bit scared for me as well. I mean, a c section is a big deal that's major surgery. Danny and I said a prayer and then he gave me a blessing. I felt a lot better after the blessing. 

4:45 pm: The doctor comes back into the room and asks us what we wanted to do. The nurse already has scrubs waiting for Danny to change into. We tell him the plan and he leaves to go get everything ready. Then I get the REAL drugs. They come in and numb me basically from my chest down. I loved that feeling. It helped me relax and made me super sleepy. 

Next, I get wheeled into the OR and get transferred to the operation table. The doctors and nurses go over all of my information and then they bring Danny in to sit by me. 

5:15 Pm: the first cut happens. The doctor asks if I felt anything...I was feeling nothing at the moment. It was great. Then they start telling me that I will feel tons of pressure and they started to push the baby down from the top of my uterus out the incision. They weren't lying about all the pressure. It was crazy how hard they were pushing. I was sure that they were going to squish the baby. I was told later that the female doctor was up off the floor pushing with all her might. I heard the doctor say "Hair, I see hair" and then "This isn't a newborn, it's a toddler!" I was getting a little panicked thinking my baby was going to come out weighing 15 pounds. They kept saying how big she was. Then I heard it...the tiniest of sounds. The baby was crying, at first it was just a little squeak and quickly turned into louder cries. I instantly started crying. I looked at Danny and he was a little teary eyed as well. I saw them take the baby to the corner and signal for Danny to come over. I was sad that I didn't get to see her closer or hold her on my chest like most women get to. The NICU people were there and checked her out and said that she was healthy and that she had no problems. Then they cleaned her a little and handed her to her daddy. He was so happy. The look on his face was priceless and even though I was/am jealous that he got to hold her first it was the cutest thing to see her in his arms. He asked if he could bring her over to me and they said absolutely! So he brought her to me and placed her little face next to mine and I gave her a kiss on the cheek and tried to snuggle her with my face a little bit. Then, they had to take her away to weigh her and stuff while I got all sewn and stapled up. The doctor told me that there was no way that her head or shoulders would've fit through my pelvis without causing harm to her or me or both. 

About a half hour later I got wheeled into the room and saw my mommy in the hallway. It was really comforting to see her there and I'm glad that she knew I was ok. Then I got to hold my precious daughter and I cried some more. It was the best feeling in the world. It was a super long wait and a complicated journey but Brooklyn is worth anything and everything I had to go through and will ever go through. 

She is my baby and nothing can replace the feeling I have when I hold her or look at her. 

Brooklyn's first picture Ever :

On the table:

P.S. For those interested Brooklyn had her 1 week appointment today. Here are her current stats:

9lbs (90th percentile)

20.2 inches (76th percentile)

Head circumference 14.4 (97th percentile)

37 weeks!

Ok Baby B....it's time to come out now.

As in...NOW! Anytime would be good for me. 

Tonight...in an hour...a minute...a second....Come out!

OK you can stay in there as long as you need to but really I would love it if you came soon :) 

We are at week 37 and everything is ready for baby to come. 

We have all our essentials ready to go. Now it's just a waiting game. 

To anyone reading this, pregnancy is not as bad as I thought. 

  But at the same time, I would LOVE for it to be over. Every day I tell the baby that she can come :) Sometimes I even order her to come out. haha...Weird, I know. I am getting impatient and uncomfortable. Also, tired of working...unless she comes early I have exactly 9 more days to work! WAHOO!!! I am so excited to be done. But most importantly, I am excited for my new job. Being a mom. I have waited for this day my whole life and it's finally getting close. Sometimes I am so happy! 

Also, I am terrified. 

What if I'm not the mom that I want to be? 

I guess everyone gets scared at some point and especially at the beginning. I am so happy and blessed to have Danny to support and help me through this new stage in our lives :) 

It will also be nice to have family close by in case I need my own mommy to help me through this :) 

Brooklyn, we can't wait for you to be here! 

Warning...lots of Pinterest Inspired crafts...not professional but I had fun :) 

O big belly...

Beccah, These are the headbands I made that I wanted to show you! 

33 Weeks!!!

I can't believe how far along I am now!

It's crazy to think that in about a month and a half we'll have our own little person :) 

I feel like the pregnancy has gone by pretty quickly but sometimes I feel like the end will never come. 

Thank goodness we are on the downhill side of things. 

As far as pregnancy symptoms go I am doing pretty well. 

Since little Baby B is getting bigger my tummy ends up being uncomfortable all the time. Especially sitting up in a chair cuz it squishes her even deeper into my rib cage ( or so it seems). The past month or so she has found a favorite spot to be but unfortunately it is not my favorite spot for her to be. She likes to be in my ribs on my right side. This is very uncomfortable and a lot of times leads to her laying on my vena cava and putting the right side of my body to sleep or just making it super hard to breathe at times. 

One of the most annoying things is that I have one option for sleep. My left side. 

I have also recently been waking up about 4 times a night having to stumble into the bathroom. And let me tell you, getting out of bed is not very fun as it is but especially at 33 weeks pregnant, in the middle of the night, and when the left half of my body doesn't function because it has fallen asleep from being laid on constantly. 

33 weeks

Enough about pregnancy....

So the holidays were really fun this year. We got to spend time with both families but it was kinda crazy and felt rushed with both. But at least we got to see them :) 

We also went on a date to a hockey game for New Years Eve. It was a lot of fun. We got to sit in the front row right against the glass. The action was right by us the whole game almost! Danny had been whining about wanting to go to a game forever but he always had to work when they played or I had to work the next day so I was sneaky and got some tickets for his Christmas present. It was a lot of fun. 

I have been super busy the past couple of weeks after the break. I had a 2 week sub job in a 6th grade classroom( my least favorite grade to teach). I hate middle school! It is not fun. The kids are so misbehaved all the time and don't have any respect for anyone. It is ridiculous. On top of the bad behavior I had to plan the lessons myself based on an outline of what needed to be covered. By the end of those 2 weeks I was so exhausted! Luckily I get a 4 day weekend to rest before it's back to more subbing. 

Danny decided to take the quarter from school off because for some reason he got dropped from financial aid and we don't have $2000 just laying around especially with the baby on the way soon. So he is currently in the process of looking for a second job to be able to get some extra money when I stop working and have the baby. So keep your fingers crossed and keep him in your prayers so he can find something that will work for him right now and help out our little family that is about to get a tad bit more expensive. 

27 Weeks

So I'm now 27 Weeks along and my belly feels huge and looks huge. 

I have started sleeping less and less due to being uncomfortable. 

I have also started having really bad back pain. 

Baby seems to always be stretched out diagonally across my stomach. 

To sum it up...I am UNCOMFORTABLE!!!

It just barely hit this week. Before that I was feeling fine all the time and didn't know why people kept asking me if I was feeling uncomfortable yet. Now I know and I also know that it is just going to keep on getting worse and worse. But, in the end we will have a sweet little baby girl, which will make this all worth it. 

Only 13 weeks left! It's crazy how slow time seems sometimes and then how fast it seems at others. 

I can't wait for baby to be here with us, but at the same time we have a ton to get ready for still! 

On a completely different note we put up all our Christmas decorations this week and got our tree! It's a little smaller than I am used to but it was like half the price of the bigger ones so we decided we'd better save some money where we can :) We like it though. It's a pretty fat little tree but it's nice because it is bushy and full. We are busy busy right now. Danny is finishing up his classes and getting ready for finals next week! 

I am still subbing every day and running to different schools all the time. It is totally wearing me out. 

All in all, life is great and we are having a lot of fun even with being busy. 

We got to see both families for Thanksgiving so that was nice. It's nice that they are both pretty close to each other so that even when we move a little ways away we will still be able to see everyone for holidays :) 

Well, that's about it for now!