Our New Addition - Brylee Dell

On Wednesday (9/8) morning I woke up at about 1:30am with contraction pains different than just plain old Braxton-Hicks. They weren't terrible or anything but I was still up for 2 hours. I went back to sleep and woke up still having them but I went about getting things done I needed to for the day. Bobby and I ran errands when he got home, well to Sonic at least...haha. We were going to have our last date night b/c I was scheduled to be induced the next night so it was our last chance. I was definitely not up for it. We were timing my contractions then and they were about 7-8 min. apart and 15-20 seconds long (doesn't sound bad unless you're the one having them!). So I voted no movie - I knew I wouldn't be able to sit in a theater and focus so we still decided to go to dinner at Olive Garden. I dealt with it - because I wanted salad and bread sticks of course! We came home, watched a movie, and went to bed about midnightish. Around 1:30, I woke up again. The contractions were so painful now I cried through them. Finally, I couldn't bear them any longer so I woke Bobby up. Every time I had one I pinched his nipple or grabbed his arm so tightly :). He loved it. We timed them and they were now 5 minutes apart and lasted more like 30-35 seconds. I told him we should go in. I was scared though because I didn't want to look like some idiot and them be like - wow what a loser...if she thinks this is bad...just wait. You know? But, we got everything loaded, I looked like CRAP (not exactly what I pictured myself looking like when I went in - hoping for a shower, hair that was done make-up, clothes instead of scrubs, etc....nut when the time came, I didn't think I could do anything), and drove to the hospital. We got there about 4:30, went up to labor and delivery, signed in, and the ladies there were like...you don't look like you're in enough pain to be in labor. You're smiling and walked in here like nothing was going on but we'll check you out. So I went to triage, changed into a gown, and they had a nurse come check me. After 15 minutes she came in, did her check and told me I was at a 5. She said I was indeed in labor (as soon as she did I began crying of course. It was all too real now and there was no turning back) and so they began admitting me into the hospital. I went into the delivery room about 5:30, got settled on the bed, and they asked me if I wanted my epidural. Of course I said yes...as I said before the contractions SUCKED. So 5-10 min. later the anesthesiologist came in, did his thing (which wasn't too bad at all), and almost immediately I could no longer feel any of my contractions and my legs went numb. It was amazing. My parents got there at about 7 and hung around. Dr. McKernan came in about 7:15, did a check and said I was at 7-8 and he broke my water...grossest thing ever. Especially if you're diagnosed as having excessive amniotic fluid. I was laying in a bed of my own bodily juices. There were like puddles, literally. It was so gross. And it would randomly just keep coming out. He said it would be about an hour per cm left (so 2-3 hours) before I would be ready to deliver. Well, after about 20 minutes of my water and juices flowing onto my bed I couldn't take it anymore so I told the nurse and she was like...."oh yes you are swimming! let's clean that up." So, she got new pads, sheets, etc. and switched everything out. Then, she asked me how I was doing. I told her I could feel some pressure so she said...ok I'll check you out before I leave really quick. She did and said, "Wow, you're at a 10 and I can feel her head. We better start pushing and get ready to deliver." Panic moment #2. So, she left and got the extra cart and other stuff. She came back in and within minutes she was telling me how to push and when to start. Pushing was probably my biggest fear of anything. I didn't want the horror stories I had been hearing of pushing for 2+ hours and the epidural losing its steam, etc. I pushed through 2 contractions (probably took 5 minutes) and she said I was ready for the Dr. to come back and push the baby out. So, we waited for him to come from his office. Finally, he got there, I pushed through 1 contraction and then 1 push on the next and her head was out. It was so weird and happened so fast. After she had her shoulders out, he told me to pull her the rest of the way out....which was weird but very cool. I pulled her out screaming! Bobby almost passed out. He had this unexplainable look on his face - half smile, half "what the crap did I just see". It was a very cool experience. I loved it. And practically painless! I couldn't believe how much different it was than I thought it would be. She came at 8:33 am and weighed 6 lbs, 3 oz and was 19 inches long.

We came home on Saturday and relaxed through the afternoon and evening. She slept really well at home...it was a much better experience than the 2 nights at the hospital. Sunday, Bobby went to church and my mom, sister, and nephew came over. They hung around the whole day, watched her while I showered and took a nap, and made dinner. It was another easy, relaxing day. Monday and Tuesday were the same - pretty good sleeping (she wakes every 2-3 hours to eat but that's what I expected so I can't complain - sometimes I have to wake her up b/c she is so out of it). Every time I check her in her bed she has either scooted almost completely off her positioning pad or is completely off...I'm thinking she doesn't like it :). She is quite the funny little girl.

Today was a big day for such a new little human. We actually woke up...and Mom (that's me now :)) did her make-up AND hair (I can't tell you the last time that happened) and we took her to Chick Fil A and met Bobby's sister there for breakfast. She did pretty good - only got fussy at the end and when I walked her outside she was instantly calm. She loves the warmth and sunlight (form what I've gathered so far anyway!). Then, she took a nice long nap and had her first dr. appt. Everything was fine...she weighed 6 lbs. 6 oz (and she was 5 lbs. 13 oz. when we left the hospital) so that was a chunk of weight she gained! They did her little heel prick and she screamed bloody murder. It was horrible and had a trill to it. I'm not looking forward to her shot appts. Ugh...hard to handle. We even went to the grocery store after that and she was good as can be.

She is laying in my left arm right now and I love it. Even if my life revolves 100% around her and it's nearly impossible for me to get anything else done right now, and if there is already pee and poop stains on my carpet and couch, I wouldn't change a thing about it. Bobby and I love her to death and can't imagine our life the way it was a week ago!

Last picture of me pregnant - 4 days before delivery.

Brylee's first picture ever.
Her first "weigh-in".
The Parks first family photo.

Just a cute pic. of her face not so swollen.

A cute body shot.
Snuggled in her favorite blanket to sleep in - a Swaddle Me. I love this thing.
Ready to go home from the hospital!
Another cute face:)
Her going-home outfit.
Cute eyes ( and headband - thanks to Alyssa!).
In Grandma Parks' sleeper all stretched out.

More pics to come soon - some from the last 2 days aren't uploaded and I'm not in the mood to go downstairs for my camera!

A Whole Year....I'm Pathetic

So, looks as if this year I haven't exactly become addicted to the blogging thing like I thought I would. We have had a very busy year though (just not a lot of time to do THIS on the computer). Even now I should be doing summer work for my job or writing the Primary Program. Oh well...

MOVING: First things first...we moved in with my parents in the beginning of July as the house hunt/buying process wasn't working out in our favor. After 4 1/2 months there (my parents probably feel like it was a year at least), commuting 45 minutes to and from work, and sleeping in my childhood bed, we finally moved into our house on November 21st. So, we've been here for 7 months (still have LOTS to do) and we love it. My work is 5 minutes away and Bobby's no more than 15 so it is a good location for our jobs now.

Here's our house.

SCHOOL: Bobby finished up his last year at GCC in May and now has an associate's. He refused to walk even though I told him it was the really COOL thing to do (since I did it...4 years ago :)). He is hoping to get a job at University of Phoenix in Decemberish and go to school there. He officially decided not to go to ASU last night even though he did get in. Free school or $25,000 in debt and 2 more years of Parks and Sons were his options.

This was Bobby celebrating his "graduation" from GCC at Texas Roadhouse.

WORK: Bobby is still working at Parks and Sons. He is not loving it to say the least :). But, it helps pay the bills, has great hours, and the benefits we need. We'll see how much longer he can last. I am still working at Carden. I finished my second year 2 weeks ago (I never thought I would have a first year so finishing my second is a BIG shocker). It's weird how summer affects a teacher. It makes it seem like the whole school wasn't that bad...it's kind of like after a woman gives birth - they always have more kids forgetting what it was like...I don't know if that makes sense but it does in my mind! I'll be headed back in August unless some miracle happens in between.

BABY: Probably our biggest news in the last year is we are pregnant with a baby girl and VERY excited about that. We found out on January 22nd after being rear-ended...and feeling like crap for 2 weeks. I took two tests in two days to make sure they both came out positive. Bobby went ahead and took the 3rd test (since it was a box of 3) to make sure we were reading it right. It looks like we were because mine were both positive and his was definitely a negative (thank goodness, right?). My first dr.'s appointment I was petrified I wouldn't really be pregnant and they would think I was an idiot for thinking I was. Luckily they found a little bean and it's been growing ever since. The first 3-4 months were horrible. I was constantly sick and shoving crackers down my throat at work to keep myself in the classroom. My kids thought I was crazy. We finally spread the news the day of my dad's birthday. We didn't want to start telling everyone and then something happen. I'm at 27 weeks now and everything has been normal so far. We keep praying everything will still go well and she is growing healthy and strong. (I'm still slightly concerned she is missing fingers but Bobby tells me to stop). We enjoy sitting on the couch just feeling her move around. It's such an odd sensation but probably my favorite feeling ever. At my Dr. appointment last week my dr. said she had long, skinny legs (huh? have you seen mine and Bobby's legs???) and big cheeks (now that one makes sense). It's been fun :)! The only depressing thing has been the weight gain. Although last week I hadn't gained a pound since my last visit. It was a miracle.

Here I am at 27 weeks.

Here are those long, skinny legs.

And Brylee's face...they said she looks just like her mom (poor girl).

TRIPS: Let's see...I guess Bobby and I have done a few things in the last year. We went to L.A. for our one year back in October. We went to Six Flags, shopped, went to the LA temple, and walked the beach a lot. It was a fun trip (besides the ENDLESS traffic LA brings). In January we flew to Texas to make our debut visit to Bobby's family in Tyler. We spent a few days there hanging out and seeing what their life is like. It was a pretty and rainy visit. We'll be going back for Christmas this year. Our last little trip was over Spring Break. We just drove up to Sedona and stayed a night. We had lots of fun though! It was very pretty and the weather was very nice.

CHURCH: We had a nice break from callings and such when we lived with my parents (since my dad was in the bishopric and knew we would be leaving at anytime, they pretty much left us alone). Starting in our new ward, we were both very happy to be called to be team teachers in the Primary for the 10-11 year olds. That was like our dream calling. A couple weeks later I was lucky enough to be called as a Den Leader in the Scouts. I didn't even know they called girls to such a thing! That was quite a shocker. Oddly enough, 2 weeks after being called to that (and not going to ONE activity) I was called in again and put in the Primary Presidency which is where I am now. It is quite the eventful calling - always something going on somewhere. As relieved as I was to be out of Scouts, I didn't like being released as Bobby's co-teacher. We had fun in there. But, he loves his new partner and the kids so it's a good place for him to stay.

LIFE: Now, we are just working on getting our house prepared and ready for our life and the baby. We have been constantly running errands, baby shopping (although I only am buying stuff I find on clearance), and working around. I still have a huge job of endless reorganizing and sifting through junk I thought I needed to keep as a child in our extra bedroom. We finally planted our '6' required plants in our front yard last Saturday. We bought paint for our extra bedroom and family room today which will be our big task for next week. Then, I need to start actually sewing the baby bedding instead of just "looking" at the fabrics over and over. We enjoy all the time we get to spend together over the summer. Since Bobby gets home at about noon M-F and doesn't work on Wednesdays we have a LOT of time together (but it sure doesn't allow me to get much done!). It's especially nice since we know we will not have this time alone ever again. I have the lovely responsibility of writing our ward's primary program which needs to be done in 2 weeks so that will be my life as well as finishing some summer work for school. Everything has to be done at the end of June so maybe the beginning of July will be a nice restful time. I'd eventually like to get some reading done and laying out by the pool. :)

Random, but Bobby and I got the WORST gifts at the white elephant game at Christmas: pig's feet and calf liver. What?!

At Bobby's friend Matt's wedding...

And my friend Lindsey's wedding.

So, I haven't posted as much as I would have liked to, but I will eventually become addicted I'm sure. Since the last post, we've been pretty busy. We are in the process of house hunting/buying. It's not fun AT ALL. I hate it, but hopefully soon we will see the light. Bobby finished up school and started summer school, which I have been assisting him with due to my abundance of free time. He has a highly feminist professor and everything basically has to do with how women are treated poorly. It's been really really weird. School has been out since May 29th. I LOVE being home and having lots of free time to do whatever I want. I basically do everything I couldn't do while I was teaching including sleeping in (my very favorite), staying up late, watching daytime television, reading, eating lunch with my husband, taking naps, cleaning (it's been pretty nice), swimming, bowling, and puzzles (which may sound pretty lame but we are having fun with it). We finished our first one of Las Vegas yesterday. And considering that's the only one we own, we need to go and buy another one. :) Here we are at one of our bowling nights (every Tuesday).Last Tuesday I had jury duty and could have been called for a trial lasting 5 weeks - basically my whole summer but luckily I got dismissed in the first group. So, Bobby and I booked our incredible summer vacation for the next day all the way at 7th Street and Cactus - we decided to go a little cheap this summer. So on Wednesday we first got up, packed, then went and bought a couch that we love love love. It's in my parent's storage unit however since we have no where to put it and are moving in two weeks anyway. But, we are excited to use it someday! After that we went to our resort and hung around for a few days but not without getting a horrible sunburn! I couldn't even wear shirts it hurt so bad. It started its peeling yesterday and is very unattractive. I plan on wearing sunscreen the rest of the summer.This is basically the only picture we took there before our "nice" dinner out. I made Bobby try out Oregano's for his first time and he of course loved the pizza cookie (basically the only reason I made him go there). We also ate at one of the restaurants at the resort which may have been a mistake. There was only like 10 things on the menu and every one of them was a little too fancy for us and included some ingredient we didn't like. It was pretty funny. Bue we had lots of fun relaxing and not cooking for a few days. On Saturday we went to the Dbacks game with Lindsey and Sean, first going to Friday's Front Row (Bobby did not know Friday's Front Row was just a TGIFridays which was pretty amusing). Diamondbacks lost which makes them 0 for 2 for the games we've gone to this summer. Bobby has of course not been happy about that. Lifehouse played after - we knew exactly 3 of their songs but that's ok - it was fun and free. It was a good night. Here we are at the game.Now, we're just waiting and working on the house business and preparing to move into my parent's in 2 weeks until we have one!

Our Last 5 Months Together

So I may have had this blog for quite a long time. And I may not have written a single thing. But, I am planning on making up for that right now. With one really long blog covering the last 5 months of our marriage. Excuse me - 5 months and 3 days. So here we go. To begin, we got married October 18. Here are some pictures to remember that sacred day in history. :) The first one is my favorite picture. The second one is a picture we requested to make fun of my lovely older brother's kissing skills. I could add pictures all day. So two is plenty for the wedding. But, it was a perfect day and we loved every second of it and that all of our family and friends could be there. Now that we are married, we have done some other stuff. First we went on our honeymoon to San Diego. While wearing our hoodies as seen below, we were first mistaken as lesbians (poor Bobby) and then as a gay couple (poor me). Quite embarrassing...for the lady who decided to speak to strangers in an elevator. And, we went to the San Diego Temple. It was beautiful and a wonderful experience. Then, we went to a few Suns games. We have kinda lost interest in them now....cause they have been sucking. But, they won all the games we went to. (I think...haha.) This picture is from one we went to for Bobby's birthday (which was exactly 9 days after we got married, he turned 23...already old and hairy). We actually had good seats - like 9th rowish. The other ones we went to were free, therefore in the back row. I went to Carrie Underwood with my girls in Nov. I think Bobby went and played softball. I have one picture from it and it's of Celina and me.Let's see...after that came Thanksgiving. We ate at my family's and there was a LOT of stuffing. That's pretty much all I recall. We spent a day in Prescott shopping and going to some Prescott Christmas ritual at the courthouse. It was fun but very cold. We saw some missionaries who used to be in our Single's Ward. That was pretty random. And then came Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve at my house and Christmas Day mostly with Bobby's family (what was left of them...and now half of them are gone now). Over our break, we pretty much played Sequence with my grandparents the entire time. We went over there almost everyday. It was quite the competition.
Following Christmas came New Year's. This picture is very personal. Our first New Year's kiss as a married couple. Wait - make that our first New Year's kiss ever. Don't get too emotional. You will also see how well I can center pictures when I am holding the camera and taking the picture myself. Then, school started again. I was back to work and Bobby was starting school. He has already finished his Business Law class - with an A - he's so smart :). I also started a class in January to get my SEI Endorsement. That finished about 4 days ago thankfully. My birthday came in February. We went to Top Shelf with my family and Bobby took me to Outback. Bobby bought me Rascal Flatts tickets for my birthday and the concert was on March 12th. It was so, so, so, so, good. I loved it. Bobby wore shorts because "it was really really hot outside". He shook the whole time because he was so cold. :) It was funny. Two days before this, Bobby performed in the Preacher's Quorum Talent Show doing synchronized swimming.
It was pretty much the only funny thing of the night. I laughed. On March 14th it was our 1 year mark from our first date. On our first (accidental) date, we went to a spring training game. So, we repeated it and went to the game again. It was nice out. The last game we went to like two weeks earlier with Bobby's sister and her husband, was extremely hot. This one was perfect with a nice breeze and everything. This week was our spring break so we went to Vegas. We stayed at the Monte Carlo for two nights - anything longer is too long. We saw the Blue Man Group on Tuesday night. It turned out to be a stressful night cause we were late, weren't 100% sure where the Venetian was, crowds were HUGE on the strip because it was St. Patty's day and we didn't know if we were going to have time to eat. But it all worked out, we ate, we got there on time, and we weren't mugged. We shopped on the strip on Wednesday, did some slots, saw the "it was a waste of our time" Treasure Island show, the Bellagio fountains which I could watch all day, skipped out on our reservations at a restaurant at the Wynn because when we got there the steaks cost $60. We chose a cheaper version just down the hall at $30. It was the cutest restaurant with pink and yellow curtains and couches as seats. I loved it. And Bobby hit the blackjack tables after dinner coming out even. That changed when he went back Thursday morning to the $5 tables. He came out a little less than even ;). But, he had fun. We went to the Las Vegas Temple for temple number 3 (because obviously we have alread been to Mesa). It was very, very pretty as well. We rushed home to my little brother's 18th birthday dinner at Macayo's and were only late by 15 minutes. That pretty much sums up our 5 months in a short blog. Life is perfect (besides the fact that I will have 7 new kids in my class when I go back to work Monday). I plan on keeping up a little better from now on. :)
The last picture is just added because it shows what my husband loves to do everyday when he gets home from work. And he does it well. I love him so much :) Isn't he cute?