California!

We went to California to visit my family at the beginning of April. We flew there for a change, and Brynleigh was great on the plane! She hated TSA, though, ha. She screamed and screamed both times while we were waiting in line and going through security. It was probably because she was too hot in her carrier. But other than that, she was great!

We were only there for the weekend, so it was a short trip. We took her all around Placerville to meet family! She met both sets of her great-grandparents on my side, as well as my aunt and cousin and my cousin's kids.

Sterling and I also had our first date without the baby while in California. We left her with my parents while we went down to Folsom for some delicious sushi. Besides family and friends, I think sushi is definitely what I miss most about California.

Here are a few pictures!

Us with my grandma. Baby was so tired from all the excitement!

Great-grandma with all the great grandkids.

With my parents in Tahoe.

Tahoe! Momma needs a tan.

Brynleigh's Blessing

WHEW, do I have a million things to blog about or what? We'll start with Brynleigh's blessing. We blessed her the weekend after Easter in our ward here in Grace. Sterling's sister, Mandy, and her family came for the weekend so Brynleigh got to meet some cousins!

On that Saturday, we all went over to the pool in Lava Hot Springs and swam. We even got Brynleigh in the water! Dad and Grandma Suz were both swim teachers in Lava, so this little girl has got to be a swimmer. She wasn't sure of the water at first, then she seemed pretty content in it and liked watching what everyone was doing.

Her blessing went great. She didn't cry or anything. She started being pretty squirmy I guess, but nothing bad so Sterling was still able to give her a beautiful blessing. So sweet :)

Here are some pictures from that weekend!

Love this picture.

Checkin out Cousin Lizzie

She loved eating her blessing dress.

One year ago...

I have to give a talk in church this Sunday. As usual, I'm super nervous. And again, as usual, I'm procrastinating writing my talk. Instead of getting started on it, I'm going to blog. I meant to write this post yesterday, so pretend today is the 24th, alright?

One year ago today, Sterling and I found out that our lives were about to change forever. That's right, April 24th, 2012 was the day we found out I was pregnant. I don't think I've ever told the story of how we found out I was expecting, so here we go!

We weren't planning on trying for a baby for another year, once I graduated. BUT, my birth control was making me sick all the time (I have problems with all hormonal BC), so we decided that I'd go off of it and instead try tracking my cycle, and figured if I did end up getting pregnant, it would be fine since Sterling was about to graduate and already had a good job lined up, so we could handle it. Well,good thing, because that cycle-tracking didn't work so well. Just a mere few days after going off the pill, I was pregnant. I ovulated way earlier than expected (based on an average cycle), and I knew it when I did, so I told Sterling I just ovulated and so we probably made a baby earlier. That whole last part was probably TMI :)

For a couple of weeks after that, I had a bunch of little weird symptoms and was googling everything, and they were all possible symptoms of early pregnancy.  I knew I was pregnant, but Sterling thought I was just being over-dramatic. He didn't believe me. HA, showed him.

One night I had this really weird dream where I kept taking pregnancy tests and they all were negative. I woke up feeling sad and disappointed, which was weird because I didn't think I wanted to be pregnant yet. So anyway, when I woke up, I knew I just had to take a pregnancy test....so I told Sterling I was running to Walmart and I'd be right back. It wasn't even 6am yet.

Came home from Walmart, took the test, and it was positive immediately. I called Sterling in and showed him, and he was surprisingly calm (I wasn't expecting that, since we weren't planning on a baby for another year!). I raced back to Walmart to get another test to be sure. I also picked up some cereal and things for breakfast. Got home, realized I didn't even have my bags. Yep, I walked out of Walmart empty-handed after paying for my groceries. I was THAT hyped up. So back to Walmart I went, and as I walked back to the cashier to ask if she had my bags, she just held them up once she saw me coming. ANYway, got back home, 3 tests later and I was still pregnant!

That's about it for the story. We're just so thankful we have this sweet little girl. A little while back, Sterling told me he was glad we didn't end up waiting another year or so to have her. He is so very right. I can't imagine life without her and I think she came exactly when she was meant to!

3 months!

I'm actually doing this update a day early because, well, I have time to. Who knows if I'll get a chance tomorrow! Anyway, my baby is 3 months old! Gosh. Quit growing, little girl.

Let's see, where to start with updates. Well, we moved into our house! We've been here for about 3 weeks now. We love being homeowners! It's a lot of work though, too. The first week+ that we lived here, Suzy (Sterling's momma) and I spent tearing down wallpaper in our kitchen, dining room, and hallway (P.S. I DESPISE wallpaper now.) that was held on by pounds of glue and took forever to get off. Then we primed and painted. Then I refinished my countertops in the kitchen, which I am SO proud of, by the way. I'm not exactly a great DIY-er, but the counters look pretty dang good...especially compared to the fact that they were olive green before.

SO our kitchen and dining room are done now, with the exception of some finishing touches in the decor area. We bought new carpet, but it's taking forever and a day to get here, so it's not scheduled to be installed until the 15th. Ugh. But I'm beyond excited for it, seeing as our current carpet is red/orange/green/yellow shag. Delicious. Suzy and I have more projects to take on, still. We need to paint the master bedroom, family room, and guest bathroom. The guest bathroom is wallpapered, so that will be another nightmare. But I'll be happy when it no longer screams 'Pepto Bismol puke'. Heh :)  So anyway, all is good in the house area!

We are flying to California this weekend for a quick trip to see my family. I'm being really optimistic about how Brynleigh is going to handle the airplane, so please pray all goes well there and I'm not in for a serious disappointment. Any tips for flying with a baby are greatly appreciated. My plan is to have a bottle in her mouth the entire flight and hoping she'll love to eat as much as she usually does.

And now for the Brynleigh 3 month update! We took her to be weighed yesterday, she's 10.23 lbs. That's only in the 10th percentile, which worries me, but the nurse seemed to think it was fine. She looks a lot chunkier lately though! She's a genius baby, too. She talks constantly and is such a happy baby. If you just leave her to play by herself, she'll sit there chatting away with her toys (Simba, the lion on her bouncer, is her favorite). She's getting really good at grasping, sometimes she can even put her binky back in her own mouth if it falls out. She also loves getting a tight grip on a handful of Mom's hair. She smiles a ton if you talk to her. She can roll to her side from her back, but just can't get over that arm yet to roll all the way over. She's still not a huge fan of tummy time, though she tolerates it a little longer if she does it on her Bobby. She's really good at holding her head up, if you carry her around in your arms, she's turning her head around looking at everything.

She wears 0-3 month still and probably will for awhile longer. She loves sitting up, if you hold her lying in your arms, she's always trying to lean forward so she's upright. She loves her hands and is chewing on them constantly, sometimes both at the same time. She's pretty much mainly formula fed now, much to my dismay. I just don't have enough milk for her, so she gets really frustrated and won't stay latched on. So I try to nurse throughout the day, but the only time she really stays on anymore is when she wakes up in the early morning and I'll bring her in bed with me and she'll nurse until she falls back asleep. Speaking of sleeping, she now sleeps in her port-a-crib. She falls asleep for good between 9-10:30, and she'll sleep until about 4-5am, which is when I bring her in bed with me and she stays there until we wake up around 7am when Sterling goes to work. She still has acid reflux, and we just switched her to better medicine for that. Other than that, she's been a super healthy baby. She's never even had diaper rash!

That's about all I can think of. Here are some pictures, first of the before and after of our kitchen/dining room, then a bunch of my cute girl! Actually, they aren't in order. Whoops!

This makes me laugh. Looks like an angry face but it's just a yawn!

Dining room before

Kitchen before. Holy wallpaper!

Another view of the before kitchen

Holdin tight to that blankie!

Chattin' with Simba

Watching a show with Dad on the laptop

I love this outfit

Shot of my lovely olive countertops before I redid them

tummy time!

Silly girl, melts my heart!

Easter!

Dining room after....missing a chair, ha

Kitchen after

Kitchen after...notice we knocked down half of the wall so the bar is totally open.

Close-up of my new counters

Another close-up...love how they turned out!

Dining again

Gnawing on her rattle

Zonked out last night

2 months!

So, um, my baby turned two months old over a week ago and I'm just now getting around to blogging about it. Whoops. Aaaanyway, here's a little update:

Baby B turned 2 months last monday, the 4th. We celebrated by going to get shots. She wasn't a fan. We found a great new pediatrician in Logan, and though I had a near-breakdown trying to find his office (plus just driving in that town is a nightmare), we were very happy with the new doc. Brynleigh got all her 2 month shots and it actually wasn't too horrible. We opted out of getting the Hep B shot at birth (a crunchy-mama decision) so these were her very first shots ever and I almost cried when they stuck her and she started screaming. BUT we got very lucky and didn't have any of the post-shots chaos that most babies have--no extra fussiness or anything. 

Oh, and we also moved. We moved out of Shelley and to Grace the Friday before last. We closed on our new home on the 1st, but the elderly couple who owned it before us can't move into their new house down in Utah until the 16th, so we're staying at Sterling's parent's house until then. We are super excited to have a house. I've been on Pinterest 24/7 (when Baby allows) looking at house ideas. I've got a lot of projects planned. We already ordered new carpet for our living room, but it won't be here for about 2 weeks. Ugh. I can't wait for that, though! 

Sterling started work on Stoddard Farms last week and that's going well. He works alongside his dad, which I think they both really enjoy. Hopefully they don't start driving each other crazy though after awhile :)

And Miss Brynleigh is growing up fast and healthy! The doctor actually said she's small for her age. Height, weight, and head circumference are all small, but proportionately so, so he's not worried. She's gaining weight steadily, she's just a little girl! She weighed 9 lbs 6 oz, but I can't remember exactly how long she is. The doctor said she's a feisty little girl, too, haha. She's still wearing some newborn-sized clothes, but I'm trying to switch her over to 0-3 months size, though they're a little big on her still. We've made the switch over to size 1 diapers completely. She's still on both formula and breastfeeding and eating well both ways. We switched her to a bit stronger of reflux medicine and I think it's managing really well. And here are some recent pictures!

She's learning how to hold her own bottle! Genius baby, I tell you.

Happy girl!

We think she's beginning to teeth. She's constantly chewing on something!

Church outfit

This is how she falls asleep on me lately.

We went to a Vandals game at ISU a few weeks ago. B was great!

Little Vandal :)

Zonked out while Mom's vacuuming.

Her UFC pose haha

Silly faces :)

Chewin' those hands again.