Pictures From Our Lives Lately

Alyson took pictures of Bronwyn!

Aftyn reading books to Bronwyn . . . in her way

Lots of snoozing for Bronwyn

Aftyn seeing all her baby accessories for her birthday. Thank you Mark and Dalana!! She LOVES them all !!

Daddy and Bronwyn taking a much needed nap

I love how I am not in any of these pictures.  I should probably get Reed to take some with me and Bronwyn. 
   Life is pretty normal right now, normal for having an 11 day old baby.  She is up a few times a night to eat, I'm definitely getting more sleep than I did with Aftyn at first but it is still kicking my rump.  I'm tired.  Luckily I usually take a nap with Bronwyn when Aftyn takes her afternoon nap and that helps. 

Aftyn is being her little 2 year old self, already trying to push boundaries.  Good thing we love her and are here for the long haul.  ;)  We're just trying to spend more time with her and being very firm with her when needed.  We're looking forward to our summer with GRASS in our backyard this year for Aftyn.  Should be lots of fun for all of us. Sorry this is short, but my attention span in the morning isn't that long.  :S  Enjoy the pictures!

Would you believe 2 WHOLE years?!?

Tonight at her 2 year birthday celebration

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mary'D

Many weeks ago, as many as 3 but possibly longer, Aftyn took one of her soft blankies and put it over her head like she was a shepherd in Jesus' time. 

I told her that she looked like Mary mother of Jesus. 

Talk about not thinking about the consequences your words can have.

  For at least 2 weeks following, she proceeded to do this dressing up of herself over and over and over, always reminding us that she looked like "Mary, mudder of Jesus".

In those exact words. 

Finally, now she just calls herself "mary'd".

Or any of her toys, dollies or stuffed animals that she also dresses up in this way.

She thinks its so funny to dress up her toys as "mary'd," using even baby wipes to dress up the very smallest of her toys. 

Fast forward to last night, as I went in to do my nightly check that she was covered with a blanket and all was okay after she'd fallen asleep. 

 Here's what I found:

                                                                  She'd been mary'd.

Our Firstborn

                 What Aftyn looked like when I peeked in to check on her. I love how she has her "special baby" snuggled and her puppy.

I had the sweetest conversation tonight as I put Aftyn to bed.

  Mommy:  Mommy loves you, do you love mommy?
 Aftyn: Love Mommy.
        M:  Daddy loves you, do you love daddy?
       A: Love Daddy.
          M: Bronwyn loves you, do you love Bronwyn?
           A: Love Daddy.
          M: Bronwyn loves you, do you love Bronwyn?
          A: Love Daddy.
          M: Baby sister loves you, do you love your sister?
          A: Love sister.
(By the way, all of Aftyn's answers were whispered.  Not sure why, but it made it all the more cute!)

Aftyn has done so well with all the changes this week has brought into her life.  She really does love Bronwyn.  She has had a hard time with the fact that mommy had to do so much sitting down this week, and couldn't be as helpful as normal. 
 We have been enjoying being silly and including Bronwyn in our silly play.  We have had Bronwyn "jumping" for Aftyn, pretended to "eat" Bronwyn, anything silly but normal for us that included Bronwyn.  Aftyn tries to be helpful and loves to give smoochies on the head to Bronwyn and maybe even secretly likes the smoochies I help Bronwyn give to her.

Can you tell I'm getting sappy?  I just love my girls so much and am grateful for the opportunity to love them and care for them and help them grow.  I love being a mom.

Picture For Today

Reed, enjoying Bronwyn being wide awake. 

He would probably have me add that she cooed at him ! 

Something so sweet about Daddies and daughters.

Our Newbie

                                                               Bronwyn Sophia

Bronwyn decided to show up a little early, for which we are grateful.  It's been so nice to have a little extra time with Reed (since he has the week off) and even nicer that it's time to spend with our new little family member!

Her name: There is no real rhyme or reason to the name Bronwyn.  I had read it in a book by a favorite author as a teen, and Reed's bro and sis-in-law had a friend with the name.  It's of English/Welsh descent, I believe, but we just liked it. Her middle name is a family name, which I just like to do for my kids - give them a family tie to their name, and boy was it hard to decide which family name would grace the middle of Bronwyn's name.  Even up to a few weeks ago, I was starting to flounder on the name Bronwyn but luckily when she came out she looked like a Bronwyn and so her name stuck! :)  I'm sure that relieved Reed a lot. 

She has been such a sweet little baby thus far in life.  She eats, she sleeps.  Sometimes she poops.  We just love to hold her and snuggle her, with lots of in-between time of doing some holding and snuggling with Aftyn too.  Aftyn seems to like Bronwyn and we're excited to watch them grow up and become friends. 

I'll write more later, but for now, just know we're having fun as a family!

How To Tell If You're Near The End of Pregnancy

• You feel like the baby is NEVER coming out!  And in that same hour, talk yourself into believing it will all happen much sooner than you think and it will all be worth it.  Do this several times over a 3 hour period, especially after a visit to the doctor that you get your hopes up about and then don't hear the answers you thought you would hear.
• Nothing fits right.  Your shirts ride up in the back because of your protruding belly in the front, and may not in some cases even cover your whole belly in the front.  That's when you start wearing your husbands big t-shirts. And looking like you're wearing a tent.
• You get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, and have to stand and wait a minute for gravity to help your bones to shift enough to begin the walk to the bathroom. 
• You're used to waking up several times a night just to turn over.  And your husband gets used to
• waking up due to the groaning and moaning coming from you when you turn over.  
• One word.  Swelling.
• Can't seem to make short-term goals, or commit to any kind of project due to the fact that the baby could come "any day" and you would hate to be interrupted and leave a big mess for yourself to clean up after having a baby.
•  
• Having the baby comes up in every conversation you have with anyone.  All. Day. Long.
• Every night you dream you're in labor, only to wake up and verify that it was, AGAIN, just a dream.
• Have a name planned out for baby, only to suddenly begin to wonder if it really IS the right name for her.  Go back and forth several times before delivery.
• Wonder if the ultrasound could have been wrong, and what if she's a boy?  Should I pack boy clothes for the hospital just in case?  ;)
• You get your hospital bag all packed before you go to the doctor, just in case you're not aware of the fact that you're currently in labor and possibly dilated to a 5 ?!? (If only)
• Your husband keeps telling you the perfect days to go into labor, for him. 

Aftyn Funnies

I think there were a couple I wanted to share, but I can't seem to think of them right now. The main funny that sticks out right now has to do with the bathroom.  I can't help it.  Sorry for all those who are offended by bathroom humor.

It's all Reed's fault.  He asked her one day when she told him she had to go potty, if she had to go "bad".  And now all we hear is, "Potty, bad".  Humorous yes.  Is it a true gauge of how badly she really has to go.  No. 

Lately, she loves to go to Grandma's house.  She's not partial, either grandma's house is equally fun for her.  I love to hear her say as we pull down the lane or into the driveway, "Grandma's *pause* House!" It's almost as if she needs an extra breath to put the "H" on house.  But very cute.  And should we not go in, or leave what she deems too early, there are tears for quite awhile all about "Grandma's *pause* House".  She is becoming very aware of the world around her. 

Last, but definitely not least, since it's spring we've been doing plenty of yardwork, including of course our backyard.  On Saturday, we weeded our front flower beds, planted some canna bulbs, and Reed mowed and fertilized our yard.  Aftyn was having SO much fun.  She kept saying "running" over and over and running all around, usually in big circles taking up the whole yard.  She truly loves to be outside!

Happy Mothers Day

Love this message from Elder Holland

On My Mind Today

Some of my thoughts today include:

Today is my birthday!!

I don't want to be pregnant anymore

It doesn't really matter when I have this baby because either way I will still get to hold her and snuggle her and she will still be cute and smell yummy.  That helps me try and feel a bit more patient when I think about how I will probably be waiting a few more weeks. I'm just being realistic.

Happy birthday to the person with whom I share this birthday - can't believe my age now starts with a 3! Good thing age is relative and doesn't deem how you should think or act or respond to people.  :)

I really wish it was Aftyn's birthday because:

I can't wait to give her all the presents we've had stored up for awhile.  I know she will love them!
I would more than likely be having or have had this baby!

Can't wait for Reed to get off of work - birthdays are meant to be spent with your family!

I'm in somewhat nesting mode, so I have a list of things I want to accomplish today.  None of them written down though which drives me a little crazy because then I'm apt to forget some of them.

Only thing I want for my birthday besides : a baby, tickets to see Wicked, is Adele's latest album.  That girl has some incredible emotion going on in her songs. I love the edginess of her voice.  And since I'm making wishes for things, I'd like to be going to the Oregon Coast this summer.  :)  Thing is, if I got all I ever wanted there would be no fun in life and no enjoyment of finally getting something you've wanted and worked for.

Anyhoo, now you can see how random my thoughts are sometimes!
Lots of wishes for EVERYONE to have a happy Friday!

Measurements From The Midwife

Well, everyone. 
Here's the heads up. 

I'm dilated to a 3, but it funnels down to a 2 and 60% effaced.

 I know, it means nothing other than my body has been working!

But maybe just maybe it means I'll have the baby this week?

The Happs

I feel that there may have been entirely too many bodily functions discussed on this blog lately, and so, I'm putting up a new post!
This week marks my 37th week of pregnancy, in case you hadn't noticed the ticker at the top of our blog.  I actually thought a few days ago that the big event might have been starting. Turns out our little girl just likes to do the limbo and see how low in Mommy's body she can go.  This has created some funny issues.  Such as my belly bumping into entirely NEW things that I could usually go right over before.  Poor Aftyn usually bears the brunt of this as her head is exactly the same height as my belly sometimes, specifically when I'm helping her in the bathroom.  Luckily it's a soft bump and she gets enough bumps anyway with her head that she just shrugs them off.
Our backyard project that we thought would be so easy has turned out like every other backyard project we have ever taken on.  But we really think that by tomorrow Reed will have the grass and fertilizer finally down.  He finished raking the whole thing last night.  Poor guy.  He gets home from a hard day at work only to go outside and work hard for a few hours more. We sure appreciate him and all his hard work in getting us our backyard full of grass!
Yesterday the girls of my family who live in this area got together to celebrate my birthday early at a local restaurant.  It was so much fun! I got a free meal because of my birthday, but part of the package was me standing up, looking 10 months pregnant so the staff at this particular restaurant could sing to me with balloons, an ice cream sundae and a nice long sundae spoon.  They kindly let Aftyn hold the spoon for me while they sang, and also kindly placed the sundae directly in front of her.  In the middle of the song, I looked down only to see Aftyn doing what any other person would have done: she was digging right into all the sprinkles and whipped cream on the top of that sundae with that nice long sundae spoon! She managed to get in a couple of good bites while they finished their song, and my sisters and mom and I all just laughed at her ingenuity.  I would have done the same thing!       :)

I have really got to get my camera fixed! We need pictures on here again, I know.  I'll work on it today!

Floaties In The Bathtub

Today, after almost 2 whole years, Aftyn accidentally pooped in the tub for the first time. 

It all started with her just tooting, making bubbles.  I think that's what kept her going because they sounded funny.

Next thing I hear from the bedroom as I gathered her lotions, combs, and clean clothes was crying. 
Crying is never associated with bath time at our house.  So I knew something was up.

 I went in to her, only to see her holding one leg up in the air, looking afraid of something floating in the water.  Actually, there were 2 somethings floating in the water. Along with all of her bath toys.  Oh well.

 It had to happen sometime, I suppose, and at least now she knows she doesn't like it.