A Pet Peeve...

I don't know if this bugs anyone else as it does me. You are in a public place and your baby decides to have a dirty diaper- you go into the bathroom to change the baby and there is NO changing table!! This happened to me tonight and I am still annoyed over it. This is one of my biggest pet peeves.

Sean had school on the night of Brooklyn's Preschool Graduation and had told her that when the movie UP came out we would go to Ogden and eat at the Pizza Factory (if you have never eaten there you need to- their Breadtwists are to die for- they also have a fun little arcade) and then see the show. We did eat at the Pizza Factory- but couldn't get tickets in Ogden so we made the little drive to Layton. Before the show started Sean mentioned that Gracie had a messy diaper and he was taking her out to change her. He came back in and said there wasn't a changing table so I took her to the women's restroom thinking that it would be in there- nope it wasn't. This theater has I think 18 theaters and we were in the back- so I walked to the front restrooms and no changing table. The manager was standing there and I asked him if there was a family restroom somewhere. He informed me that they didn't have changing tables. (I was quite baffled and thinking to myself- there are 18 theaters, 2 or 3 different places to buy treats, a huge room for birthday parties, but no changing table. That makes sense!) So I asked him what he suggested I do- lay her on the ground? His response, "probably just take her out to your car- I'm sorry we don't have anything else to offer you." I was so annoyed- I found a little secluded area that looked somewhat clean and set up shop and changed her there. Anywhere that is a public place should have a changing table. Now that I have got that out- we had a blast tonight- the Pizza Factory was as good as ever and UP was super cute!

All About Brooklyn...

Our little Miss Brooklyn has had a busy week. Last Saturday she had her first ever dance revue. She took dance this past year at Tueller's. I liked it because they don't do competitions and the revue was the Preschool classess and Kindergarten classes. So it was all about them. Brooklyn looked so dang cute with her hair all done-up and her green tutu was to die for. She did FANTASTIC and we were so proud of her.

Pops went and bought Brooklyn these flowers

And then this past thursday, Brooklyn had her last soccer game and then her preschool graduation. After her soccer game when I was getting her ready for the graduation, she looked at me and says, "Today is all about me, huh mom?" She has been going to Little Star Preschool for the past 2 years. We have LOVED this preschool and her teacher, Janae has been so good to her. I can't believe that my baby is going to Kindergarten next year. It is CRAZY!

(And on a side note- this past week on Monday I had Gracie back into the Doctor and she had another double ear infection- her 3rd in 4 weeks. The week before I had Brooklyn into the Doctor with an ear infection. And this week something hit me full force. I didn't hardly function for 3 days- THANK YOU everyone who helped me out with the gals. On Wednesday, I woke up without a voice and my throat was SO sore. I got into the Doctor and have a sinus infection and have been miserable. For anyone counting, that is 8, yes 8 times that I have had the girls and myself to the doctor in 4 weeks. Plus, Sean went once. My sister pointed out that I didn't mention that we did pay a $25 co-pay each time we went. Also- Gracie has had 3 antibiotics, Sean, Brooklyn, and I have each had 1, and I had a special mouth rinse to help my throat. We are hoping that after we are all off our antibiotics we will finally be feeling better and able to enjoy this Spring.)

Happy Mother's Day!

I just wanted to wish all the women out there a Happy Mother's Day! I don't think that you actually have to have had a child to have mom attributes! There are many women around me who have not had that chance yet to have their own child, but they love my girls and I want to thank them for that!

These 2 sweet little girls are the best thing that have happened to me. I don't know why they have been entrusted to me, but I thank my Heavenly Father daily for them and their sweet spirits! I love you Brooklyn and Gracie! Thanks for letting me be your mommy!

I don't know what I would do in my own life without my mom! I could go on and on and on about my mom! But to sum it up best I just wanted to say, "Thanks mom for all you do for me and my family. We all love you so much! I know that I am the person I am because of you and your example to me. I love you!"

I also wanted to wish my mother-in-law a Happy Mother's Day! Thank you for raising the son that you did- who has become a wonderful husband and an amazing father. Thank you for all you do for us. We love you!

There are also a couple other women that I would like to say Happy Mother's Day! First, is my Aunt Paula. You do SO much for us and we appreciate it so much! Thank you so much for being my second mom and for being my girls other grandma! We all love you!

Second- To my grandma's- I miss you both so much! There is so much I would love to share with you and I know that you would love Brooklyn and Gracie! And they would love you! I think of you both daily!

And finally- to my grandma's on Sean's side. Grandma Harris and Grandma Maynard- Thank you for loving me like you own granddaughter! I feel blessed to be a part of your family! I love you both dearly!

What a great day today is to pay tribute to women!

Brooklyn's Birthday

(It's only taken me a week to get this post done) Brooklyn had a FABULOUS birthday. Brooklyn got a new Princess bike for her birthday. She was so excited for it. We wanted to get her a bike last year for her birthday, but she wanted nothing to do with it. (I think she may be the only 5 year old that doesn't know how to ride a bike.) She loves the bike and we have a hard time keeping her in the house and getting her in when it is time. She also had a field trip with her preschool class. For her 2 years of preschool I have gone on every field trip with her. She informed me that she did not want me to fo with her. I have to say I was quite sad. But she had a blast. Before her birthday Sean had asked her if you could do anything or go anywhere you want for your birthday, what would it be. Brooklyn's reply was, "Jenny's bowling alley." (I have to preface this- Sean had the week off of school and work and was really hoping Brooklyn would say Disneyland or something.) She didn't choose Disneyland, instead bowling. My cousin and her husband own the bowling alley in Tremonton and have invited us over so many times. We had a BLAST!! We had lots of good food, fun bowling, and GREAT company! Brooklyn is such a lucky girl- she has so many people that love her. I have tried to help her realize that it doesn't matter how many presents she got or what they are- she has a great support system behind her. Thank you to all our family and friends that took the time to come and support our sweet girl on her Birthday!

My aunt Paula made Brooklyn a Sleeping Beauty cake and we had Princess cupcakes

One spoiled girl

(My friend Rachel and her family showed up at the bowling alley for FHE. It was funny that of all places we would run into each other would be the bowling alley in Tremonton.)

The girls were exhausted when we got home and went straight to bed. At 3:00 in the morning, Gracie woke up and was BURNING up. She had been on an antibiotic for a week- so I knew that this wasn't good. She just layed around all morning and I called the doctors office and they said I should bring her in again. When we got there her temperature was 103.5 and that was on Motrin and Tylenol. The doctor did his exam and said that her ears had healed up from the infection and that she had another infection on top of that in ther left ear. The doctor asked me if she had had a flu shot this year and if anyone else in our family was sick. I told him that she had had a flu shot. He then goes on to ask me if I had heard of the Swine Flu and told me that she had all the signs and symptoms that was leading him to think that she could possibly have that. WHAT!?! So they had to do the AWFUL flu test. It took 10 minutes to get the results back and I was so relieved when he poked his head back in and said it was negative. What a relief. She is on a much stronger antibiotic and is slowly getting back to herself. This has gone on for 2 1/2 weeks now. So I am hopeful that she will be completly over it soon!

Past 2 Weeks

The 15th was my dad's birthday and we had a great party! Sean had to work so the gals and I went out to my parents house to spend the evening with them. I know I have said in previous posts what a great dad I have- so I will say it again! I feel so blessed to have the dad that I have. He is such a great person and example to me. My gals are so lucky to have him as their pops. They adore him and love him so much- and so do I!

I love this picture of Pops and Brooklyn looking at each other

It has gotten to the point that Gracie prefers Pops and Grandma over me. My dad was holding her the other day and handed her to me and she had a complete and total meltdown. It made me feel great!

On 17th Sean, me, and the gals headed up to Island Park. Ric and Paula have a TimeShare up there that they weren't going to use and if anyone didn't use it- they would just lose the week. My dad headed up earlier that day and we went when Sean got home from work. We had a few setbacks and didn't leave until later than we had wanted. It takes about 4 hours to get up there if you go the right way. When you get to Idaho Falls you are to take an exit that will take you through Rexburg and to Island Park. About the time we were supposed to exit- Brooklyn had a MAJOR meltdown and I wasn't paying attention. About a half-hour later Sean asked where we were supposed to go. I told him we would go through Rexburg and it would take us right there. To make a long story short- we missed the exit and ended up adding an hour onto our late trip. We did make it there- and the gals were thrilled to be out of the car- as was I. On Saturday we had a delicious breakfast and then we all went swimming. Brooklyn had the time of her life- Gracie not so much. I finally got out and got her and I dressed and she was content to watch Brooklyn swim. After swimming we decided to drive into West Yellowstone- Brooklyn was really wanting to see a buffalo (not likely so see one between Island Park and W. Yellowstone). As we drove through town a noticed a sign that said Yellowstone Park now open. So we went to check things out and sure enough it was. Brooklyn LOVES Yellowstone so you can imagine how happy she was when we drove in. It was a successful drive in. We saw lots of elk, lots of buffalo- taking their sweet time walking down the road, a beautiful waterfall, and to top things of when we were heading out we saw a huge grizzly bear. Brooklyn remembered seeing bears this summer when we were there and was saying she wanted to see one. We kept telling her that we probably wouldn't because they might still be hibernating.

We decided that on Sunday we would go to church and then go have a picnic at Old Faithful. I have never seen Yellowstone with snow or Old Faithful. (Gracie woke up that morning with a nasty cough.) The highlight of the drive there is when we passed a coyote running down the road. Brooklyn of course loved this. When we got to Old Faithful it was really windy and quite chilly and we had over an hour to spare before Old Faithful went off again. We went to the Durango and had a picnic in it. By the time Old Faithful went off, both girls had had it. And didn't quite enjoy it as much as I thought they would. But it is still an amazing sight.

That night, Gracie became one sick girl. She was running a high fever, coughing, and had a runny nose. We were going to stay until Tuesday, but decided to come home Monday. I got her into the doctor and found out that she has double ear infections. So it has been a couple of longs nights. But I think that she is finally feeling a little better.

It was fun to go up there as our little family and spend time together and get to have some time with Pops. Thanks dad for everything- we had a blast!

Brooklyn's Birth Story

*Really long post with lots of pictures

I can't believe that my baby is going to be 5 today. I decided that since I have never written down her birth story I would do that. I still remember it like it was yesterday. About 3-4 weeks before she was born, I found out that I had Toxemia and had to go and bed rest. Those were a long couple of weeks. The last 2 weeks of bed rest- I was having to go into the doctor every day to get my blood pressure checked and to make sure there wasn't protein in my urine. So I was ready for her to come. My doctor decided that he would start me a week before was due. A couple days before, he stripped my membranes. It also happened to be my sister's college graduation. I really wanted to be there for her and got permission from my doctor to go. At the time, my grandma had a wheel chair so we loaded it into Paula's van, got my grandpa, and we were off. My grandpa, bless his heart, decided that he was taking care of me. He pushed me everywhere in that wheel chair and wouldn't let anyone else. It was really sweet. So the night before I was going to get started Sean and I were laying in bed talking. Like we could sleep knowing that in a couple of hours our sweet baby girl was going to be with us. I still remember the exact conversation we had. We were discussing about how some babies when they are first born really aren't that cute and we were worried that our baby might not be. (I know silly- but I think it is a valid concern.) We had to be there on the 27th at 7:00 in the morning. They got me hooked up to the Pitocin and started my labor. It was a slow process. They couldn't turn the Pitocin up because everytime they did, her heartrate would slow down. Eventually, I was given an oxygen mask that I had to wear for the rest of the time. At 6 PM they informed me that I was fully dialated. They informed me that most first time moms push for about 2 hours and then gave me the option to start pushing then or let the baby sit and descend for an hour. I chose not to start pushing. My nurse came in after the hour to check on me and was shocked because the baby was there ready to come our. She informed Dr. Heiner that he better HURRY. At this point I was kinda getting nervous- I had my mom come in to be with us. The nurse told me I was to relax and not to push at all. She told me that the baby had A LOT of hair. As we were waiting I really thought that the nurse was going to end up delivering Brooklyn. When Dr. Heiner got there at about 7:15, it is like you see in the movies he kicked off his shoes, ripped off some clothes, and got geared up. I pushed through one contraction waited for the next and did half a push and Brooklyn was born. She was born at 7:31 PM- she weighed 7 lbs. 1 oz. and was 19 inches long. She was perfect and FAR from not being cute. The first time they put her in my arms, I was so overwhelmed that Heavenly Father would entrust this beautiful spirit into my care. My grandma Vone had died a year before and I knew with every fiber of me that Brooklyn had just come from being with her. As I looked into Brooklyn's eyes- I felt as if I were looking into the eyes of my Grandma. That was a tender mercy from my Heavenly Father. At that exact moment, as I looked in those eyes, I knew that my Grandma wanted to tell me that she loved me. It was a very spiritual and emotional moment in my life. My family was there waiting to see their first grandchild and neice and Paula and her family were there and brought my Granny Ila. When Sean went to give Brooklyn her first bath, we have the sweetest pictures of my Granny watching from the window and the look on her face in priceless- she was thrilled with this new baby. She came into my room and told me how proud she was of me. It was also a special time having her there. We decided to name her Brooklyn (after the Dodgers) IlaRee (after my granny). (It was quite cute my Granny couldn't believe that we would give Brooklyn her middle name and was thrilled. She would tell anyone she could that we gave Brooklyn her name. Every so often she would ask, "So what is her middle name?" She knew darn good and well what it was, but liked to hear it.)

The following day Sean had finals so my sister came to hang out with me and then my mom came. We had the funnest time playing with Brooklyn's hair and enjoying time with her. Her hair was amazing from birth. She was born with a headfull of dark curly hair. The ends looked like they were frosted with a light brown. It was such a great day with lots of visitors.

The next morning when the pediatrician, Dr. Visick came to check her out he mentioned that she looked really yellow and probably had jaundice. He wanted to get her blood checked to see what the levels were. When the results came back we found out that our perfect baby girl had a blood incompatability and had a disease called Cummes Positive. What happens is that my body created antibodies against her blood cells so when she was born they attacked her blood. This disease only effects babies at birth- and has no long term effects. They immediately put her in the NICU under lights and started these treatments from Primary Children's. (It was kinda funny to see- because she was in by all the premies. Here she is this 7 pound baby- she looked like a horse next to them.) It was so hard to watch her. She had a tiny IV in her arm. At first they would bring her to my room when it was time to feed her and then we would take her back when she was done. Then they told us that she needed to spend as much time as possible under the lights- so we would walk down there to feed her. Then right back under the lights she would go. One day I was walking down to feed her with my mom and when we got there- she had an IV coming out of her head. I had never seen such a thing. At this point I lost it. (I had been strong up until then.) I would have given anything to take her place. The nurses felt really bad because they thought I knew they had moved it there. They informed me that her little hand just couldn't keep the IV in any longer and that the head is really a better place for the IV to be. After the first intial shock of seeing that- I realized that it was better for it to be in her head. At this point I was released from the hospital. They offered us a hotel stay where we could get one of the rooms at the hospital and stay there. I couldn't imagine having to leave my baby. I felt for the moms whose babies had been there for weeks. We had quite the routine while we were there- we would go every 3 hours to feed Brooklyn and get to hold her for a half-hour. All I wanted to do was to hold and rock and love my beautiful little girl. It was torture not being able to. She was given a blessing by Sean and my Grandpa and told that she would overcome this quickly and be a healthy girl. Every day I waited for this to happen. I learned then that this was all on Heavenly Father's timetable and not mine. I had to learn a GREAT deal of patience in the following days. Days went on and Sunday came and we were told that the hospital had filled up and that we would have to leave. On came another breakdown! How could I leave my baby? I couldn't talk without bawling. We became close to the nurses that were taking care of Brooklyn and Mel told us that we should go home and get a good nights sleep because we wouldn't be any good if we kept going the way we had been. We went home and did sleep relatively well. When we got to the hospital the next day- we got the news we had waited 6 days for. She would get to come home. She still had to stay under the lights at home, but we got to have her home. We were ecstatic. Watching Sean and I bathe her and get her ready to come home was comedy central.

We lived in my Granny's basement at this time and I got to help take care of her. It wasn't long before her and Brooklyn became the best of friends. Granny would sneak Brooklyn licks of her popsicles, give her tastes of her "Krispie", and sneak her anything else she could. When Brooklyn was walking every night after we got Granny in bed Brooklyn would go walking in there and we would hear my Granny say, "HELLO THERE!" This soon became a fun game for Brooklyn and would go in there multiple times. I know that Brooklyn gave my Granny an extra year of life.

I feel so blessed that Sean and I are the parents of this beautiful, sweet firecracker. She has touched so many lives in our family and is the light in our lives. She is such a good big sister to Gracie. A great cousin. And a good friend! She is 5 going on 18. She is STILL in love with Troy from High School Musical and informs everyone he is her husband. When she turns 18 she informed us that she is changing her name to Gabriella. She loves all animals- especially our dog, Sandy. She loves to hold my hair. She is ALL girl- she loves lip gloss, necklaces, bracelets, purses, pink, make-up, high-heels, dresses, etc. Happy Birthday Sis- WE LOVE YOU!

7 lbs. 1 oz. - 19 inches long

First Bath

I love how Sean is adoring his beautiful baby girl and you can see my Granny at the glass- the look on her face is priceless.

I Love my Granny

Finally to our room- you can see how puffy and swollen I had gotten from the Toxemia

Meeting Grandma Sue and Pops

I think this is my favorite picture of at the hospital. Brooklyn looks like a little Eskimo.

Brooklyn meeting Grandma Gisele and Great-Grandma Harris

NICU

NICU

The day I came down and found the IV in her head. She still has it in her hand too.

NICU

Day 6- we get to bring her home

Her blessing day

Birth

1Year Old

2 Years Old

3 Years Old

4 Years Old

5 Years Old

Brooklyn's First Soccer Game

I have great memories of playing soccer when I was younger and have been so excited for the day Brooklyn could play. Thursday was her first game. I wasn't sure how she would do- but she actually did REALLY good! She got some good kicks and did a corner kick and kicked it hard. (I am having a proud parent moment) She plays on a 5 year old/6 year old team. The 5 year olds are definately smaller and less cordinated than the 6 year olds. I think her team won 10-1. Here is to a great season!

(Her new face for pictures)

She is number 14, just like her daddy

We couldn't resist getting her these cute black and pink cleats

Gracie enjoying the game with Paula