Life is Good

This was a few weeks ago, but life is still going great. Brandon is as busy as ever, and barely has time to sleep. At least he's a deep sleeper and doesn't hear Emily most of the time during the night so he can get some sleep. My mom went home this last Thur, and we miss her a lot. But we are surviving. Isaac has been very good all things considered. He still adores Emily, and always wants to give her hugs and kisses and hold her. Sometimes I have to tell him to back off. He has been very helpful though, taking diapers to throw away etc. And Emily is still a very good baby. She never cries without a reason, and is easily consoled. She is such a sweet baby and we are so blessed to have her in our family. We are so grateful for all the blessings in our lives. Like I said, life is good!

A Little More Detail

Okay, Sorry this is such a long time in coming, but you're a lot more tired with two than just one.  We have been very busy and any time I do have time, I want to just rest.  But it is so nice to have Grandma here.  She has been a lifesaver. 

Anyway, here is my side of the story of how she was born, with a little more detail.  So Wed I had gotten most of the house clean.  I had cleaned the bathroom, done all the dishes and gotten everything cleaned up.  Then around 8:40 I had a stronger contraction.  (I'd been having tons of smaller ones for a while now.)  So I just kindof figured I would see what else came.  Then about 15 min later I had another one, and I still just wanted to wait and see.  Brandon was getting Isaac ready for bed, and I was just laying on the couch.  Over the next half hour a few more came, and they were getting stronger, but I really didn't want to be in labor, and I didn't want to go into the hospital only to be sent home, so I was waiting to see if they would stop.  We said prayers with Isaac, and Brandon was talking to his mom on Skype about something.  I really didn't want to have to call someone to come watch Isaac and then come back home, so I really wanted to be sure I was in labor.  After about 2 more really strong contractions I decided we needed to go and now.  So we called Brandon's sister, and then we called our neighbors to come immediately while Brittany was on her way.  This was about 9:35.  Luckily we live like 2 min from the hospital.  We got there and got checked in.  Actually, we didn't really get checked in, they just had us sign a permission to treat form and then we went back to the room.  My nurse took a while to get into the room, but once she got into the room she was awesome.  She got into the room and put me into the computer while I was walking around the room groaning in pain.  Finally she was like, okay after your next contraction, lay down so I can check you.  At that point there wasn't really an in between, but I layed down and got checked.  She ran to the door to call, "She's like a 9+"  So everyone rushed into the room and started getting everything ready.  I really wanted an epidural, and my nurse was so awesome.  She was like, "we can get you one, and he'll get you comfortable in like 5-10 min, but I think you will have this baby before then.  You can do it without.  You've done all the hard part."  At that point I responded, "No I haven't the baby's still in there.  I still have to push it out!"  She was so awesome, she just kept telling me I could do it.  And Brandon was awesome too, he was so encouraging.  I am really glad they were cause the baby come 12 min after I got into the room.  The in-house doctor barely had time to get into the room and get his stuff on.  The nurse was like, "Don't worry, if the doctor's not here in time, we'll just catch this baby."  Two real pushes and she was out, thankfully.  It was not what I had planned for, but it all worked out.  It was super fast, but she was perfectly healthy and I didn't have to worry about the after effects of the epidural which was really nice.  And now I know that I can handle pretty much anything else that comes my way. 

Emily is such a sweet baby, she almost never cries.  (Tonight on the way home from dinner was her first time.)  She has been such a blessing in our family.  Isaac absolutely adores her.  He is forever giving her kisses and hugs, and is very concerned when she starts to fuss.  We are so blessed to have such good family and friends who are willing to help us out at a moments notice, literally. 

And here are some more pictures for all to enjoy...  This was right before we left the hospital.

Isaac and Dad visiting at the hospital, Isaac is semi holding her.

Isaac holding her at home.  He got done and then instantly wanted to hold her again.

I think Dad is a little smitten...

This was her first Sunday at church.

Emily arrives!

Well, a lot has happened in the last 27 hours, and being that we are exhausted, here's a quick update:

Emily Garner
Born: Jan. 20, 2010 22:02
Weight: 7 lbs. 7oz.
Length: 19.5"

Michelle wanted to go to the hospital at 9:35pm and she was in the delivery room at 9:50pm. Emily was born 12 minutes later. Exciting! Never a dull moment. ;)
We are way stoked to have this addition to our family. She is very special and loves her big brother. He held her and she opened her eyes to see him and was quite content. I was pretty sure she smiled after seeing him. Here's some awesome pictures...and there are more on the way.

Mom is such an amazing trooper!

Mom & Emily are home now and they are both doing wonderfully!

Christmas

Warning.. this is a long post!

We were able to make is safely to Oregon for Christmas, and we had an awesome time! We were able to see both families and it was so much fun to spend time with them all. Isaac absolutely loved all the attention and all the time to play.

I never did get a picture of either family all together, I am so bad at remembering to do that. But I did get a lot of great candid shots! I'm sure our families will love these!

This was Isaac's present from Grma and Grpa Brown. He was and still is in Heaven.

At least I got a nice shot of Wayne's family!

Grandma and Isaac and of course Sky. Isaac loved the dog, though wasn't too fond of the kisses...

This picture cracks me up. Brandon was helping Wayne with something on his phone and the crowd just grew till they all had their phones out trying it... It was pretty priceless!

Isaac had a blast, but he didn't get much sleep. He fell asleep watching a movie, which almost never happens...

This was presents at the Garner's.

The Brown's Christmas tree. It was beautiful as always.

We were also able to go to Jackson's birthday party. I can't believe he's 3 years old already. He is such a fun, energized, loving boy. He definitely loved his party. We had cupcakes, decorated sugar cookies and opened presents. Plus had a ton of Goodies which Shauna made by hand! She is amazing and crazy. She is about a month ahead of me in her pregnancy, plus she has two little boys. I have no idea how she does it! But everyone had a blast.

Of course, you have to lick off the frosting...

And enjoy the cookies!

Isaac had fun decorating them.

We had so much fun, and as always wish we could have staid longer... Such is life. Thank you families for such a great Christmas.

Getting to Oregon

I never did post about our big purchase a few months ago, but we bought van. It's a 99 Honda Odyssey, and it's a forest green. Sorry, I don't have a picture of it right now. But we were very excited about it, and felt good about it. Well, about 2 weeks before we were supposed to leave for Oregon for Christmas, the trasnmission started slipping. So during finals time we spent our time searching for and installing a new trasmission for the van. We wanted to get a remanufactured one directly from Honda, but apparently they are fresh out and won't have anymore for a good long while. Luckily Brandon was able to find a really good one for a comparable price from another company. Actually, we would never have been able to do it without our friend Nate who is a mechanic. He literally saved our van and our trip. He was able to get a better price on the transmission, and he helped Brandon install it. Actually, Brandon helped him install it would be more accurate. But, in the end we now have a very reliable van, we were able to drive to and from Oregon with sibilings and still had tons of room, and we're $3,000 poorer! It all turned out okay in the end! It just reminds us how fun life can be sometimes! Though it also helps remind us how watchful the Lord is of us, and how things will work out all right in the end, no matter what.

It's definitely winter!

Even before we left for Oregon it snowed a nice healthy amount for us. It started out like this...
And then eventually we ended up with about a good 8-10 inches off and on. But we were able to go out in it with Isaac one day, and he loved it. Brandon even got him to make a snow angel. He wasn't too thrilled about it at first.

In all reality Isaac really just wanted to throw snowballs at the neighbors who were also outside shoveling snow. They were really good sports and played with him for a good long while.

But while they were busy throwing snowballs, I did make a snowman, carrot nose and all. In the end Isaac appreciated it a lot. For days afterward he would be so excited to see it. He was especially enthralled with the carrot nose. He had to check to make sure it was still there every time we went outside. But we had a lot of fun. Now we're just getting used to the idea of having snow for the rest of the winter. I'm not too sure I want 3 more months of snow... Sigh

Thanksgiving

I know it has been forever since I've posted anything, so here is a nice catch up...
For Thanksgiving Brandon's brother Bronson was able to come out from Rexburg and spend the week with us. Isaac had sooo much fun with him.
On Thanksgiving day we were able to have almost all of his siblings here (minus Corbin who is still in Oregon) for dinner. We had lots of good food, watched some football and some movies and just had a good time. Everyone was very tired...
This was our lovely lunch spread. We just did snacks and such because you have to save room for dinner! They were all watching football, even Isaac was getting into the game.

And of course, Isaac adores his uncle Bronson.