Naked Babies

Last night Mike learned an important lesson. Never leave a baby without a diaper on! He decided that Brody needed to "air out" and was holding him without a diaper on. I was in the bathroom when I heard Mike yell "NO!!!!" and saw him run with Brody towards the changing table. I guess Brody had started peeing while Mike held him on the couch. Mike then left Brody to go get the blanket off the couch and I heard an explosion! I asked Mike if he'd put a diaper on Brody yet and he said no! I just started laughing and told him I'd heard something in the bedroom. I hear Mike saying, "NO!!! What are you trying to do to Daddy?!?!?" LOL!!! Let's just say that Mike learned that babies need their diapers (and mommies need their oxy clean)! Brody intensely watching Mike as he talked to him.

Sleepy baby. He'd just had a bath, meal, and a clean diaper :)
There was no waking Brody up to get him to eat more. He was out!

 

Littles Come to Visit

Sunday night Julie and Malachi got here from Colorado. It has been fun getting to spend some time with them. Malachi thinks "Baby Brody" is fun to entertain. I think he wishes Brody would stay awake more and play with him!
Malachi also loves the kittens (Hank & Buster). They seem to like all the attention he gives them too!

I took this pictures of Brody early this morning after he finished eating.

Around lunch time Brody spent some time in his bouncer. He is starting to pay more attention to things around him and was reaching for the toys hanging down!

 

Saturday/Sunday

Saturday Mike and Dad spent the day working on the bathroom upstairs. By 4:00 it was time to make a run to Hutch to get more supplies. This meant we'd be in Hutch for dinner....and that means TACO BUENO!!! It was Brody's first visit to the legendary restaurant. He slept the whole time ;)




Dad spent some time playing the guitar for Brody while Mom held him.


During our trip to Lowes we let Brody try out the John Deere lawn mowers.

Today Brody went to church for the first time. Here's a picture of our family after church today.
Mike thinks that Brody is already working on football plays in his dreams :)

For Audria

Audria does this weird thing with her toes. She sits there and just flexes her big toe back. I know that Brody's only related to Audria thru marriage (not blood)...but somehow he got the toe thing from her!

Here are 2 pictures where you can see that he's sitting there with all his toes relaxed except for the big toe! 

First Outing/Birth Story

Last night we took a road trip to Hutch. Mike needed to go to Home Depot and Mom & I needed some stuff from Target & Wal-Mart. I think some people thought I was crazy when they asked how old Brody was and I replied with "2 days"! I guess they thought we should still be home in bed.

The picture below is for Mykeal & Angi. I know they took Adam to HD when he was just a few days old. Here's our picture with Brody at 2 days :)

I've had several people ask for the "birth story". Read at your own risk!
I woke up around 11:15 pm on Sunday night with contractions. I slept off an on until around 1:00 am. At that time I prayed asking God to let me know if this was it or not so I knew whether or not to go into work at 4:30 am. As I got up out of bed to start timing contractions my water broke. I knew then that I didn't need to go into work!

I called Debbie (the dr) and told her I was having trouble timing contractions b/c they seemed almost constant. She told me to go to the hospital when they were 5 minutes apart. By 4:00 am they were 3-5 minutes apart and I told Mike we better hurry. They were starting to get more painful! We stopped at Mike's office on the way to the hospital so he could grab his bag that he'd packed with clothes.

As we reached the Lyons city limits I suddenly felt nauseous. Within 5 seconds I was throwing up. Luckily I had a pillow in my lap (and only cantelope and water in my tummy!) This made the contractions even more intense! Mike began driving a little bit faster to get us to the hospital.

We arrived at the hospital around 5:00 am. Mike parked around back and we went in the emergency room entrance. By this time my contractions were anywhere between 30 seconds to 2 minutes apart. When they checked me I was surprised to hear that I was only dialated to a 3! The contractions were so intense that within the next hour I was dialated to a 6.

Mike and I had decided beforehand that we wanted to do labor & delivery naturally. By 6 am I was begging Mike to let me have the drugs! LOL! The contractions were right on top of each other and so intense that I was wearing out quick! The anesthesiologist was in Wichita (1.5 hrs away) and the nurses told me that by the time he could get there it would be too late for me to get an epi. I decided to take some stadol. It didn't do anything to decrease the pain of the contractions, but it helped me to relax inbetween.

By 9:00 am I was dialated to a 10 and ready to push. After 1 hour and 16 minutes of the most excruciating pain of my entire life...our precious Brody Michael made his entrance into this world! 

Brody Has Arrived!

Brody Michael
Born August 14, 2006
10:16 am
8 pounds 8 ounces
21 inches long

more to come....I'm tired!

 

It's Time!!!!

This morning I woke up at 11:15 (I guess that was really last night) to contractions. They weren't very strong...but they were keeping me from sleeping. I got up a few times to go to the bathroom and at my 1:30 am potty break my water broke! I called my doctor at 1:40 am and we both got a laugh. She said that lately all the girls she'd been delivering had called her in the middle of the night because their water broke! I guess I'm just following suit ;)

I called Dad & Mom around 2:20 and it was the first time Mom has answered the phone lately without saying, "Is it time?!?!?". I guess calling in the middle of the night kinda threw her off. Before our 3 min. 40 sec. conversation was over....Dad was already out of bed and in the shower! Mom said her bag was already packed and ready to go :)

Hopefully sometime today we'll be holding our little baby boy in our arms!!!!
Here's the last belly picture. It was taken yesterday at 39 weeks 3 days pregnant 

Naps and Phones

Today I'm 39 weeks pregnant! Only 7 more days until we reach the due date. So that means he'll be here in 7 days no matter what...right? LOL. We can only hope!

I was going to take a picture of it last night...but I forgot. I just wanted to let you know that my bag is packed for the hospital. So many of you were emailing me and getting on my case about being so far along and not having anything ready to take to the hospital. Well last night I was having some non-Braxton Hicks contractions...so Mike made me pack the bag.

I'm sure you'll also be happy to hear that I got a nap yesterday afternoon :) It was a serious nap. That means that I didn't lay down on the couch in front of the TV. Instead I went to the bedroom and took a nap in bed. I didn't wake up until Mike called to tell me he was on his way home from work. (I know I'm making a lot of you jealous. I'm sure I'll get comments telling me to enjoy it now because before long I won't even know what the word nap means!)

In other news the phones at work are STILL out! We have been without a phone at work since LAST Friday! I don't know why MCI is taking soooooo long to restore a phone line to a business...but I'm sure we'll have to deal with a lot of unhappy calls once the phones are back up and running. I do have to admit that it's been kinda nice not to have to answer the phone at all during the work day!

Because many people find blogs boring without a picture...here's a random picture of us in TX last September...just after Tyler had proposed to Ann.

Dreams

Those of you who have been pregnant will understand how I'm feeling right now. I'm am utterly exhausted! As I'm sitting here at work all I can think about is how many more hours I have until I can go home and curl up on the couch. I'll have to be sure and put a blanket on top of the couch pillow because I'm so tired I KNOW that I'll drool ;) (At least I still have a sense of humor...right?)

Last night my legs were aching and my hips were hurting as I was drifting off to sleep. I guess it affected my subconscious. I had a dream that I went into labor. I forgot to call anyone at work so the gym didn't get opened and all the members were mad at me. Now that doesn't seem like too weird of a dream...right? The weird part is that all of my contractions were in my legs. My dr. kept telling Mike that he needed to be rubbing my legs to help with the contraction pain. We were supposed to meet her at the hospital when the contractions in my legs were so bad that I couldn't walk. Dreams! I can tell right now that you're ready for me to get off work so I can go home and have another crazy one :) LOL

Rainbows

We finally got some rain the other day! After the rain & wind calmed down Mike went outside to check on things. He came running back inside looking for the camera and told me to follow him. I walked outside to see a gorgeous double rainbow that arched across the entire horizion! It was breathtaking (this picture really doesn't do it justice). There was still a light rain falling as we stood outside taking in the beauty of God's creation. The sun was setting behind us making the wheat stubble glow a beautiful gold color. The colors of the rainbow were vivid. Enjoying it with the person I love made it even more special.

Today is our 7th wedding anniversary! We have had so much fun together over the last 7 years. We've climbed mountains together, hunted together, prayed together, and just truly enjoyed being married to one another. Our life is about to change drastically and we are both so thankful that we've had 7 years to build a solid foundation for our marriage. I love Mike with all my heart and look forward to each and every day that we get to spend together. I look forward to the many years we have ahead of us!

Here's a picture of me yesterday (for those of you who were asking to see me pg again) at 38 weeks 3 days pregnant.
 

I Knew It!

Do you remember the sleepless night that I had a while back that was made even worse by the grasshopper in my trash can? I had trouble sleeping thinking that it was gonna jump out of there and attack me! Well....last night it happened! I knew they were after me!

I wake up to feel something crawling on my face. It was on my cheek just under my left eye. I reached up for it and felt a grasshopper! Of course I flipped out a little bit trying to get rid of this killer bug. Imagine the waves that a whale would cause if it flipped out....well I must have made those waves in the bed because Mike woke up in a panic asking what was wrong. When I told him there was a grasshopper on my face he just laid back down. I was feeling around in the bed (in the dark) to see if it was still in bed with me. Finally I felt comfortable laying back down. This time I turned towards Mike in the bed. Just as I was about to put my hand under my pillow I felt the grasshopper! I guess this time Mike realized he needed to turn the light on so we could get this monster out of our bed. By the time he turned the light on it was gone and we were both awake enough we had to get up and go to the bathroom.

I don't think Mike actually believes that there was a bug in the bed. By his reaction...I'm guessing he thinks it was just my imagination. But I know the truth. Until the first freeze...I won't be safe. I'll have to watch my back every night to make sure I can fend off the attack of the killer grasshoppers!

Saturday in Pictures

Sometimes a picture says more than words. So to tell you about the wedding on Saturday, I'm posting a bunch of pictures :)

The girls got up early on Saturday and spent the morning in Ann's parents' suite at the Hilton having our hair done. Every hour before the wedding (starting at 8:00 am) Tyler had a present for Ann to open. This is the last one she opened. She is a huge Precious Moments fan and this present (along with most of the other ones) brought on a flood of tears. It's a good thing she hadn't done her make up yet!

After having our hair done at the Hilton, we headed over to the Gaylord where they provided a room for us to get dressed in. Audria took this picture of Ann. Isn't it gorgeous?!

She also took this picture looking off the balcony of the room we were getting dressed in. You can see the beautiful wedding venue in this picture. Tyler and Ann were married under the bell tower.

This is a picture during the ceremony (courtesy of Audria's parents, David & Daina)

I was lucky to have the best looking groomsman walk me down the asile for the recessional :)

Immediate family: Mike, Staci, Caleb, Audria, Ann, Tyler, Mom, & Dad.

The reception was held at the Hilton Hotel. The food was delicious and the room was beautiful! This is Tyler and Ann eating their first dinenr as husband and wife!

Lauren and Katelyn were enjoying the wedding and reception.

Lauren couldn't wait to dance. She finally got Dad out on the dance floor. I didn't know if he was ever gonna get a break!

I found that it is somewhat of a challenge to dance 9 months pregnant! I had to turn sideways so that I could dance. This is me dancing with Tyler during the dollar dance. I'm hoping someone got a picture of me and Mike dancing...I just haven't seen everyone's pics yet.

Daddy Ken and Grandmommy had fun dancing together. It's fun to see them still so in love after so many years of marriage. I think Mom picked a perfect song for her and Tyler to dance to. The title is "A Long Line of Love" by Paul Overstreet. We are so blessed to come from such a long line of love and I look forward to watching Tyler and Ann's love grow over the years to come.

Rehersal

Friday was another busy day. I went with Ann, Audria, and Carrie (maid of honor) to pick up our dresses from Lela. I'm still in awe of the dress that she made for me. She did a wonderful job! If you live in the metroplex I'd definately recommend her. She also does alterations REALLY cheap! Just ask Audria!

After picking up our dresses, the girls dropped me back off at Dad & Mom's house where I got to watch Mike, Caleb, & Tyler play X-box for a little while. Then Tyler and Caleb left to go have lunch with Ann and her friends (even though Mom had made a huge lunch for all of us...sorry...that was kind of a sore spot. Mike, Dad, Mom, & I really enjoyed the lunch of spiral ham and homemade rolls! Yumm!). They got back just in time to pick up the groomsmen that were waiting for them at the house, Mike, and me and head to the Hilton.

The wedding party stayed at the Hilton on Friday night, so I checked into the girls rooms and took a short nap while I waited for the girls to arrive. Once they arrived we all got ready for the rehersal and then headed to the Gaylord Texan.

Rehearsing the cremony at the Gaylord.

Mike & Staci at the Gaylord

Caleb & Audria at the Gaylord

Tyler & Ann at the Gaylord.

After the rehersal we headed to Cozymels for a wonderful Mexican dinner! The food was delicious as was the atmosphere! It was fun to get to meet so many of Tyler and Ann's friends. Cal & Kristen gave a speach and then the floor was opened up for others to talk. It was neat to hear about the impact that Tyler and Ann have made on the lives of their friends and family.

Staci, Grandma, & Caleb at the rehersal dinner at Cozymels

The Beginning

So much happened over the wedding week that it's too much for one post. Today I'll tell you about Wednesday & Thursday.

Wednesday we left KS by 6:45 am to drive down to TX. Our doctor told us to stop at least every 2 hours for me to get out of the car and walk for just a few minutes to keep the circulation going. Mike followed her orders to a T and we made 4 stops on the trip down. Luckily it still only took us 7 hours to make the drive! When we arrived, Mom and I headed to Babies 'R' Us and Mike went to get Tyler & Ann's wedding present (I can't tell you what it is since we didn't see Tyler much and haven't have a chance to give it to him yet!)

Wednesday evening Paula had us stop by her clinic to get one last peek at the baby before he's born. Everything still looks good (and yes...he's still a boy). After the sonogram we had dinner with Dad, Mom, Caleb, & Audria.

Thursday morning Audria, Mom, and I went to Lela's house so she could fit me for my bridesmaid dress. Audria and I spent the rest of the day getting things ready for Ann's lingerie shower and bachelorette party. The shower went really well. You can see Ann in the picture below with her new wardrobe. She's holding spray cheese that Tyler gave her. I won't elaborate on the cheese ;)

After the lingerie shower, the girls headed to Johnny Carino's for a good Italian dinner. It was fun getting to know Ann's friends and family. Three of her cousins went along with us for the dinner party. Audria decided that Ann needed to have a little spice added to the dinner...so she bought a "Miss Bachelorette" sash for Ann to wear along with a candy necklace. She told Ann that she needed to have people eat the candy off the necklace! After having our waiter and the bartenders eat some candy...two of her cousins offered to help get rid of the candy.

After dinner we all headed home to get some sleep. We would need it because Friday was another very busy day! (Oh...Thursday night I also FINALLY got to see Tyler...even if it was only for a few minutes before we went to bed!)