Lily

here is the newest on Lily. she is smiling now on cue...well if you can make her smile. she is trying so hard to talk. i can see it everytime i say good morning, or hello, or how are you to her. she is great and we love her more and more.

Sending Christmas cards

we are sending christmas cards this year. i am pretty excited about them...if you would like one...please send me your address...i will be mailing them this week!

New Pictures

we decided to get some pictures of Olivia while she was still really little....this is what she got! they aren't the best quality because i can't get our scanner to work...but they are sure cute!

a lot to do...

ok, well i have a lot to do today so i can't post too much, but we had Olivia's blessing yesterday. ben starts his new job next week and will be working on sunday so we weren't sure when the next sunday would be to do it. but it was really nice. Ben did a good job. it was a little scary being out with her. we haven't really taken her a bunch of places. my mom made the dress and it looked really nice!!

off to bed!

it is 1145pm and i am just now going to bed. 10 months ago, i was in bed everynight by 9pm. this sleeping schedule is totally different than what i am used to, but i wouldn't change it for anything. Lily is wonderful and i love her more and more. even when she is crying, i love hearing it! and i LOVE being able to sleep on my back!!!

ben and i have decided that her favorite place to sleep is on my chest. after i feed her and i am in the process of burping her, she always falls asleep, and will stay that way. one night i just layed down with her on my chest, and we took a nap together. it is a great feeling.

We love her!!

my back hurts, my tailbone hurts, and i am always tired. but we sure love her!!! we gave her the first bath last night and she loved it!!... i can't sit for long because of the tailbone soreness from delivery, but i will post more later!

She arrived....

Daddy was so so excited to have her finally arrive. He had a smile on the entire time!

I was exhausted...and still am. but she came and we love her!!

well just an update. our little girl finally came. she is wonderful. Wed night, i kept having this feeling that i needed to get things together and take a shower. i kind of got scared thinking it was going to happen in the middle of the night and i really didnt want my water to break on our new bed...well luckily i listened to that prompting. i took a shower, ben got home that night about 930 from work and we hung out. i went to bed about 11pm and just slept like normal, not very well. the next morning, i had another drs appt and so before i left, i told ben are you ready? and he was like yeah. i said well if i go to the dr and he says head to the hospital are you going to be ready for that? he says...you are so funny, like it is just going to happen that smoothly! well, i went to the drs and he wanted to strip my membranes again. well when he stuck his finger in to check for dialation, my water started leaking. then he asked me if i wanted to be induced today if he could get me in. i of course said yes! he said ok head to the hospital. so i got dressed, and called ben. Luckily he wasn't in class and answered right away. i asked him, are you ready? and he giggled because of what we had talked about earlier, and said yes. and i said ok, meet me at the hospital. he said oh, your ready? what happened? and i said i just asked you if you were ready. " i thought you were teasing me because of what we talked about this morining."says ben. i said nope, my water broke, he is going to induce me today, meet me here.

so i checked in about 9am, got in the room and they started with a vaginal tablet. i had to lay there for 2 hours before they would check me again. then ben got there about 20 min later and just hung out with me. after the 2 hrs, we went to walk around for a while to get things going. well i came back and i was only to a 3. so they upped the induction to an insert. i had to lay there for another 2 hours....still in pain because the baby put so much pressure on my hips, and i am in an uncomfortable hospital bed. after that, only dialated to a 4. about 6pm, started on pitocin. that got things going quickly.... Olivia was face up, so i started into back labor. that was the deal breaker for getting the epidural. i really wanted to see how far i could go with out it. that did'nt last long. i received that about 830pm....around 11pm, it wore off....WORST PAIN OF MY LIFE! the dr came back around 130am and did another epidural. that was wonderful! i was totally numb from the mid waist down. normally it would bother me, but the back labor was so painful, this allowed me to sleep through the night. around 430am the nurse checked me and i was dialated to a 7, went back to sleep. 7am, the nurse checked me and she said, ok there is the head...we are ready to push. so ben woke up, and called my mom. she met us there and we started pushing about 715 and she was born 10/30/09 at 904 am. Ben was so excited once the nurse said it was time to push. he was so tired the night before, and once that nurse mentioned pushing, he jumped right up and had a huge smile on his face.

other than the pain, the worst part was the vomiting. i think it was from the pitocin. i am not a big medication person. so between that and the 2 epidurals, i threw up quite a bit. once being in the middle of labor. i was pushing so hard, all the water i drank to keep my mouth wet came right back up. but it was worth every minute. Olivia came out crying on her own. she was healthy and so alert when she came out. they rested her on my chest and it was just amazing to know that she was mine and i helped create her. She looks SO much like Ben. she is just a cutie. I had GSB (Strep B) for the pregnancy so i was on anti-biotics for the labor and the drs wanted to monitor Olivia to make sure she didn't get it. but we left today about 1230 and she was doing just fine. it is nice to have her home. ben is off work until wed and so we are looking forward to spending time with our new family. we will show her off soon enough, but we are loving her and the whole process of getting to knowing her.

waiting...

i thought this explains it pretty good.... :)

well today is the day! we haven't had Olivia yet. she is taking her time.. i went walking for about an hour today and nothing! if i haven't had her by monday the dr is going to induce me...so we will see what happens. and the hospital bag is all packed..including my camera. so there won't be any new pictures until the baby comes!

elephant feet

well i am to the point of being sick of my feet being swollen....but i have eight days left until my due date... i am excited to get this baby out. we are ready for her. the nursery is done, we have a TON of clothes, and ben and i are just ready to meet our addition. i am having contractions... but we will see what the dr says tomorrow...

Super Saturday and my walls...

A few weekends ago, we had a super saturday at the church. it was fun! i always love these activities. i feel like they are just like homemaking from days of old. well this year, they had a few different things. both of the activities that i signed up for were wall hangings. i made a really cute one with the pictures that ben and i took at the temple, yet, on my way home, i stopped by michaels and got some things, i set the bag on top of one of the pictures and of course, the writing on the bag came off onto the picture. RUINED! so that project in on hold. i am actually waiting for bens brother to send me a copy of photoshop, so i can finish that one. the other project was a tile wall hanging. i still have yet to pick it up. it needed some repair. anywho...well with the skill that i learned from this specific wall haning project( turning a picture into a canvas to hang on the wall, i decided to spice up our wall a bit. i added a little ribbon and VIOLA!! the two center pieces were already hanging on the wall, they just needed a little more. so i added the bow on top of the FAMILY, and then i made the two side pieces. all did was buy canvas at walmart, paint it black, spread modge podge all over the back of the picture and stuck that to the canvas, let that dry and then spread the MP all over the top of the picture and canvas. i then added the ribbon and bows. it was quite a fun activity.

Emma

well friends i have started a new adventure. I have started reading a lot more in the last few months and i LOVE it! i know that my desire for reading in the past has really been non existent, but since we got pregnant, i have read some really good books. so i have decided to keep on with my latest desire. I know that might change some when Lily comes along, but i will still try to get some reading in every day. I just finished the Baby wise book. MAGNIFICENT! i will definately give the schedule thing a try. hopefully i can get some sleep too. with anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks left, i have decided to start reading Emma, Jane Austen. This actually has me very excited. i have seen the movie( with gweneth paltrow) but it was so long ago. i don't even remember the story all that well. I have begun this journey and i can't wait.

yes i did say 2-4 weeks. I went to the dr yesterday and he said that he didn't want the baby to get too big, so he might induce me early. Well she is at 6.12 lbs right now, and i was 9.2 lbs, ben was around 8 lbs, so i expected a 8 or 9 lb baby. well i am not complaining though, i would love to have her come early! it would just make everything else grand! we will see. i am hoping that Heavenly Father will have mercy on me, and help me go into labor early, rather than being induced. it does kind of scare me. i just don't want it to make things get harder or longer....ya know? anywho....back to Emma.

new camera...

i have been looking for a while now to get a new camera. i have wanted one before the baby comes so that we could get some really good pictures and so on. well i finally went to best buy and got one! i love this camera. it takes WONDERFUL pictures and it was on sale. that was the best part! so we will definately have more pictures on the way!

baby room...

we are almost fully done with the baby room. when ben and i got married, my grandma gave me a quilt that she had for over 20 years and it was made by my grandpas mother or grandma.....it is beautiful. it is hand quilted....i didn't want it to get dirty so i am going to hang it on the wall. so i have yet to do that. but other than that, here is the closest finished product.

my new recliner that i found on craigslist for $150...it is great!

we took the doors off the closet so that i could have room for the dresser..i have to still get curtains for this area.

I love fall!

well i know this is a little early but i changed my backround for fall. i love this time of year. it is my favorite. i love going to HS football games, smelling the fresh air, and seeing all the trees change color. they haven't really changed all that much here in chico, but it is september and i know they will soon. today also means that we have about a month left before Olivia arrives. we are excited. the crib finally did come. it is in pieces in the front room, but ben bought some mountain dews, and him and aaron are going to put the set together tonight....so we will update soon!

the baby and the blanket...

I finally finished the baby blanket....it took me a while but it is DONE!!! i am happy about this one!

i had my baby shower aug 22...and it was great! it was fun to see everyone there and i am SO greatful for all the things i received. Here is the cake...it was a costco cake and it was so good. i haven't had one of these for a LONG time! my mom made this salad, actually the same salad we had at our wedding. it was WONDERFUL!!! i loved it. i am just glad that my mom could put this on for me and that everyone came.

a little annoyed!!

well i ordered our crib....and it was supposed to come this week. they said it will arrive between aug 31 - sept 4th... it is the 3rd for cryin out loud...why isn't here yet???

Olivia Ann's first picture.

Well we had our 3D ultrasound at 30 weeks. This is what we saw. She is so cute! I can't wait to see more. the other picture that we have is a little better, but i already framed that one, so this is the next best.

a 4 step program...

Step 1: paint walls yellow...
Step 2: Paint ceiling blue...


Step 3: Paint clouds on ceiling....

Step 4: add grass, flowers, butterflies, and dragonflies...

Soon to come, the finished nursery.....

why i haven't blogged so much....

well here i am almost 7 months prego...just getting bigger and bigger....i will tell you, she is moving all over the place!! so i don't sleep a whole lot at night!

i have been working on crocheting a baby blanket. it takes a lot of time. it isn't hard, just time consuming. so when i am home, i have been trying to get these squares done. but as soon as this is finished, i will be back to life and blogging more.

ft bragg and tahoe

this is ben and i in tahoe. we went this year for ben's dad's 60th birthday. it was really fun. Except for the fact that Dan(ben's dad) couldn't stay. He has a heart condition, and it high elevations, he can't breathe very well. we thought it wouldn't be that bad in tahoe, but it was. so next year, we are definately going to have to stay near sea level. other than that, it was fun. all of bens extended family was there. Lanell, ben's sister rented a house with like6 bedrooms. it was nice to have a bed to sleep in.

in june we went camping...this is ben and i on the beach! it was really fun. we went camping with our friends niki and cevin, and ian and amanda. it was fun to go with friends that were couples. definately a yearly tradition!

old cake pic

ok so the colors are ugly...because twords the end of the class, we started mixing all the colors together and that is what came out...and of course i couldn't get a picture before someone had to eat part of the cake. ps..this is from may!

A new adventure embarks...

Well as many of you know, or don't know, i have done hair now for about 8 years. i LOVE doing hair. i have been at Jecca's Hair Salon for the past 3 years, and i felt like it was time for a change. My friend Vicki Hair( i know, her name is irronic) ownes a salon here in chico, and she had an opening. i was excited to talk to her about it. we came upon a plan that worked for us. well she had an opening for a part time booth and that is what i needed. so i took her up on it. it is actually at 2nd Street Salon on 2nd street, of course. it is a great salon. there are about 6 girls there. so i know it will be fun and i can learn a lot from the other girls. 2 of the girls i worked with when i first got out of beauty school. we all worked together at Laura's Wig and Beauty. that was probably the most awful place i have ever worked( as far as doing hair). So i will be starting there July 15th. I am really excited. i just finished designing my business cards...you all can check them out. i like them, of course.

So for the future, if you want to come in and see me...give me a call!

on another topic, the baby is doing great. i am feeling her kick now, and it is getting more and more exciting. we are going to be painting next month and getting more and more ready!! until next month!

A little behind....

Ok, i know that i have been behind in this blog. and i am sorry about that. i would like to do more, i just have been so lazy when it comes to spending time on this and taking pictures and downloading them and all... i know that will change when we have Olivia. Oh, by the way, all of you that aren't on Facebook, we are going to name our little baby girl Olivia Ann and call her Lily. we are really excited for her. She is due to arrive Oct. 27th and i feel like i am just growing and growing. sometimes i don't even remember i am pregnant until i have to go to sleep at night and i can't sleep on my back( which i HATE!!!! i am a back sleeper), needless to say, another reason that i can't wait for this baby to arrive so i can go back to sleeping on my back...or when i go to put on clothes and they used to fit and all of the sudden they don't fit over my boobs or belly. amazing huh?!? or when i walk up the stairs to our apartment and i am TOTALLY out of breath when i get to the top. anywho...
So i want to get back into blogging....and i will. i am going to start the next day or so. i will start taking more pictures and downloading them, plus i want to update you all, if you really care, about our situations and the progress of the baby room and such. so until then, i will post soon!
*** on a side note, i know that some of you have such cute fonts for your titles and stuff..how do i get those??**

ITS A GIRL!!

We went and had our ultrasound today. it was so fun! she was moving all over the place. waving and kicking....we loved it! we are due Oct. 27th and are so excited!!

TEMPLE!!

well all, we went to the temple this weekend to be sealed!! i must admit, i am pretty happy we are finally sealed! it has been a long road. our pictures are getting ready as we speak...but if you want to check out sneak peaks...you can go to wendy mayo's page on here and check it out!!! thanks again for EVERYONE that came. we really appriciate it!

Cakes Cakes and Cakes!!

well everyone...My sister Molly and i are taking a cake decorating class....and i can't wait!! last night we had our first class and it was so much fun. this next week we will be doing our own and learning more and more. i am so excited about this whole thing. i will keep you all posted and more pictures to come for sure!

alright...i don't know about the rest of you, but i LOVE the salt lake temple. this past weekend, ben and i ventured out to utah. it had been almost 2 years since i was out there and about 3 for ben. it was a long awaited reunion. and being the wonderful picture taker that i am, i didn't take one single picture! so i stole this off of google. our trip began with driving out there on thursday. we left chico about 3pm. we finally reached sandy utah, to where we stayed with bens aunt nancy, about 4am utah time. we had to stop every 2 or 3 hours for me to use the bathroom, eat and then just get up and walk around. i was sick the entire time and we ran into a horrible snow storm in nevada. we put the chains on and by the time we got them on, 10 semi trucks or so, cleared the road, so we pulled over to take them off. we slept in until about 9am and then started our day. we layed around for a while when everyone was at work, and watched a little judge joe brown, then headed to temple square. it was nice to just walk around and hang out. ben and i both love looking at stuff, so we took our time looking at the MASSIVE paintings of Christ. we went to the distrabution center and got ben his first set of temple clothes and me some maternity g's. they are great! then we went to bens reunion friday night. it was fun to watch him. i thought he might pee his pants when he saw some of these elders he served with. and then whole time, they just reminded me over and over that "elder brown was a major sister hater". yeah, funny how we got together. then sat we went to the afternoon session of conference. it was so fun! ben had never been to a conference session. we had really good seats too. we then hung out with family for a little bit and then i went to have a MUCH needed reunion with my friends from high school...beth smailes(taylor), courtney lee and Deanna Madsen(Dickerson). it was so fun! just to hang out and talk! it had been 2 years since i saw beth and i missed her so much! we hung out until midnight and i couldn't stay up anylonger!! sunday we slept in and headed back...it was definately a nicer trip back. it was sunny the entire time! we loved it and can't wait to go again!

well well...

this past week has been rough! we moved in to our new apartment. it is nice to have a small place. we just didn't realize how much CRAP we have! anywho..i took this past week off of work so that i could move and clean and all that...well, this by far has been the worst week ever! i could only clean and move for about 2 hrs before i had to lay down and pull the bucket next to me. i can't eat anything, and then i am starving! the only thing that sounded semi good last night was cheez-its. ben got me some saltines and they have been heaven today for my first day back at work. it was nice to have a week off though. ben just kept telling me not to get used to it. anywho...i feel better today..and i hope it gets better. 3 weeks to go and i will be in the 2nd trimester. as soon as we actually get everything put away, i will post pics of our apartment. just because we moved doesn't mean that we have everything in its place. :)

my baby!

well everyone...this is what our baby looks like as of yesterday! only 223 days to go. i go to my next appt in 1 1/2 weeks. i will post more pics later.

CHICO!!!

We are finally moving to Chico! i am so excited! i will be sure to take pictures when we get settled in and everything decorated!!! can't wait!

baby stuff...

and since we are are now expecting... if there is anyone out there that is finished having kids...and has baby stuff that they would like to donate..or sell we would love to know...please let us know..:)

we love you all and are so greatful for all of the love left on our blog!

newest news!

thats right baby...there is a 2nd line!! the picture isn't as dark as it is in person.

well after much time....well after about 6 months of me trying to get ben on the band wagon, and then him acutally agreeing that it was time, then of 4 months trying and after about 20 tests...we are finally pregnant. we are both way excited. it is definatly time for that new adventure in our lives. now as long as everything goes well, we are due in october. my first drs appt is on wed. so we will keep everyone updated.
this is ben excited. this isn't exactly what he looked like when i told him but he was a good sport for the camera.

New Bedding!!

YEAH!!!! we bought new bedding yesterday. i am so happy. this is the first thing that ben and i have bought together for our new apartment. We are going to be moving to the Joshua Tree apartments in about 2 weeks. next to come is the front room furniture. ben was not wanting anything purple, pink, or flowers. so it narrowed all the options. we went to jc penny, and saw this display, and that was it! ben loved it and i loved the red! anywho...we will send more updates!!

I hate the snow!!

it is snowing in paradise right now and i just want everyone to know how much i hate it!

ok everyone...well i am retarded and i didn't take one picture of christmas or new years... so i am sorry but i have nothing to post. i am really busy though. i am trying to get everything ready. we are trying to make some big changes in our lives. i am trying to really build up my salon clientele, so i can work in there more. we are getting ready to move to chico here in about 2 months and not sure where we are going to go. so we have a lot of kinks to work out. but i will keep you posted. i have been playing a lot on the computer lately trying to make new business cards. i will let you know when i have the finished product! thanks for reading....