Catch up time, busy summer...

We've been so bad in updating our blog so this entry will catch everyone up to speed on what has been going on in the last few months. 1st off here is a quick clip of Brynnley at 5 1/2 months and her new favorite thing to do... talking to herself while playing in her exer-saucer thingy....

We had Brynnley's blessing and the Allen Family reunion in early August. It was the 1st time we've been able to attend the reunion since we were married so it was great to be able to see all the family. We then spent the rest of August and September squeezing in as much lake time and wakeboarding that we possibly could. We had Noelle's cousin Erin come spend a few days with us. Thankfully we've completely brainwashed our good friends Brad and Sharee into thinking that wakeboarding is life so they were there to share in most of our fun time at the lake. Here's a few pictures.

Brynnley, 3 months old, getting used to the water... Erin and Noelle at Lake Roosevelt Brad and Sharee double wakeboarding Adam and Noelle double wakeboarding Brad wake-to-wake jump Brynnley, 4 months, learning how to drive the boat Just out of reach

In the midst of all that fun we did some work on the house. The deck in the back yard was very old and needed quite a few boards replaced and the whole thing sanded down and repainted. Instead of saving some money and just sanding and painting we decided to upgrade. Adam got it in his head to redo the existing deck and build a pergola over the top. After almost a month of working on and off, and a ton of help from Mr. Bradley Moss, we were able to finish it in time for the last few weeks of fall. We still need to do one or two small things but overall we love it. Adam had a lot of fun and it kept him busy, which is always a good thing, he needs that. In between the posts holding up the pergola is a bench in the middle and two planter boxes. Adam came up with those ideas all by himself and they turned out very good, he's very proud of himself :-D

The back of the house before... What a mess... Final product

AND THE WINNER IS.....

Our friends, Brad and Sharee Moss, hold an annual Halloween Party at their house. It consists of a haunted house, lots of decorations, yummy food, lots of adults in costumes, overall a good time! So Adam and I decided that we would be Popeye and Olive Oil and Brynn would be Swee' Pea. I had everything figured out that we needed in order to make our costumes a success...then Adam came up with the best idea ever....I would be Popeye and Adam would be Olive Oil. I informed him that he would have to wear a skirt and when he said okay, I went running with it. I found a skirt that was WAY way way too big for him at the thrift store along with a men's red dress shirt. I cut them both apart and turned it into a killer Olive Oil costume. Once his costume was done, I made the Popeye muscles, sailor collar, buttons, etc. We found a cute pea costume for Brynnley and she did look sweet!

Part of the party includes awards given out to the best costumes. The categories are: best overall, funniest, sexiest, most original, and scariest. AND THE WINNER FOR FUNNIEST IS.....OLIVE OIL!!!! Adam even got some votes for sexiest...that is scary :)


Olive Oil, Popeye, and Swee' Pea


Olive and Swee' Pea. (Such a frightening picture!!)

Popeye and Swee' Pea

Brad and Sharee..... A pirate and his Booty (treasure)!!!


Adam took a picuture of the awesome food. We had eyeballs in the punch and salsa, flies on the bloody hand jello, and a green brain with blood all over it!!! There were also some really yummy food that wasn't so gross looking. We've got to say a big thanks to Brad and Sharee for putting everything together. It was a fun night :)

Blessing Day!!!!!

I know, I know, Denice....I'm finally posting pictures!!! Please dont fall out of your chair :)



It has been over two months since we blessed our beautiful little girl. We were up in Utah for Adam's family reunion and decided that we would bless her at my parent's house. It was so neat to bless her in a more private environment with so many people that we love. Both of Adam's sets of grandparents who live in Idaho were able to make it. It was such a special day and Adam gave her the sweetest blessing. There were so weepy eyes in the house :) So here are some pictures from that special day.








Brynnley





Brynnley's Blessing Dress and Accessories




Adam's side of the family




Noelle's side of the family



Pround Parents!!!

Brillante Weblog- Premo 2008 Award!!!

Here are the rules: I have to answer the following questions with one word answers and one word only! Then I must pass it on to seven others.Here are the questions:

1. Where is your cell phone? Desk
2. Where is your significant other? Work
3. Your hair color? brown
4. Your mother? gayle
5. Your father? david
6. Your favorite thing? cuddling
7. Your dream last night? Unsure
8. Your dream/goal? retirement
9. The room you're in? Office
10. Your hobby? Scrapbooking
11. Your fear? injury
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Spokane
13. Where were you last night? home
14. What you're not? rested
15. One of your wish-list items?
16. Where you grew up? Oklahoma
17. The last thing you did? Painted
18. What are you wearing? clothes
19. Your TV? plasma
20. Your pet? cats
21. Your computer? Lifesaver
22. Your mood? Overwhelmed
23. Missing someone? Adam,
24. Your car? altima
25. Something you're not wearing? shoes
26. Favorite store? Aeropostale
27. Your summer? Short
28. Love someone? Family
29. Your favorite color? Red
30. When is the last time you laughed? Today
31. Last time you cried? 3oth

I am passing the award on to:

My mom
Jin Hee
Brad & Sharee
Denice
Melissa
Jan
Tara Sinclair

I have rotten luck!!

Being a mother is wonderful....but sometimes frusterating. According to babywise Brynnley should be sleeping through the night, but she isn't. We have tried letting her cry it out for a few nights, but it hasnt worked. Adam and I decided that she must be hungry, so we are feeding her when she wakes up at 3 am. I just assumed she is not capable of sleeping through the night yet and that she really does need to eat. Just when you think you have it figured out.......

Well I caught Brynn's cold and started feeling really crappy on Saturday night and all Sunday. Sunday night/early Monday morning I woke up at 230 am with a painful ear infection. I dont think I slept for more than an hour between 230 and 730 am. I just laid in bed hoping the pain would go away, but it didnt. Adam told me to get him up when Brynnley would wake up and he would feed her a bottle so that I could try to rest/sleep. Well guess what....Brynnley didn't wake up until 730 am!!!! Of course it had to happen the night I couldnt get any sleep. Well I got up first thing on Monday and went to the Dr. to get diagnosed with an inner ear infection and then the the pharmacy for some lovely antibiotics. Monday night (last night) comes around and I my ear pain is starting to go away so I am hopeful for some sleep and that Brynnley might be on a new schedule of sleeping until 730 am. Well so much for wishing because the little girl woke up at 3 am and then 630 am. No sleeping in for me!!! So the quest for sleeping throught the night continues :) I am just happy the Brynn isn't sick anymore and that her cold was a minor one. She is a wonderful baby and we are so blest that she is as happy as she is!!!

Weekend at the River

Adam and I have been wanting to get back out to the river all summer. We went once last year and had a blast. With a long winter, having a baby, too much snow run off, and a list of other things, we haven't made it out...till now!!! The three of us headed out Friday evening after work. About an hour and a half later, we made it to the camp ground. Adam set up the tent while I got the little girl ready for bed and the next thing you know, we were ready for bed. We got up the next morning, made some breakfast, walked down to the water front and took some pictures, packed up some lunch and put the boat in the water. The whole campsite set up is awesome!! There is a boat launch within the campground, so access to the river is super easy. Once on the boat we relaxed a bit, wakeboarded, ate lunch, and enjoyed the sunshine...FINALLY!!! Brynnley did great, as usual:) We then went back to our site, took a little snooze, ate dinner, and headed back out on the boat to cruise around and watch the sun set. On Sunday, we woke up, ate breakfast, spent some more relaxing time together, took a nap, packed up and headed back home. It was such a fun weekend and we feel so blessed that we live in such a beautiful area. It was great spending some quality family time together, doing things we love!!

The waterfront....beautiful!


Our first family camping picture!!


That's right...even better than milk!! Don't worry, its a completely empty can, but we had to represent :)

Our little princess snoozing in the shade on the boat.

Father and daughter...might be the cutest picture ever!!

Sunset..... sweet.....

Growing little girl

In the last few weeks Brynnley has become much more alert and much more "talkative." She loves the ladybugs in her mobile above her crib and responds really well to our voices. It's a lot of fun. She still has her fussy times during the day but her favorite times are 1st thing in the morning and after she takes a bath at night. She was especially talky last night so we broke out the video camera. She is learning so fast, it's amazing!!!

New cars, yeah!!!!

We have been wanting to replace my 1999 Toyota corolla for a car that is newer, has less miles, and is bigger. With Adam being as tall as he is and having to drive it for work and a new baby in the family, the Corolla just wasnt suiting us so well. We went to a nearby car dealership and test drove a couple cars. Adam stopped by after work to test drive a Nissan Altima and the Infiniti caught his eye. The sales guy mentioned that if we bought both they would give us a good deal because both cars were going to auction at the end of the week. So, the next day we walked in, test drove both cars and walked out with a KILLER deal on two new cars. So we ended up with a 2006 Nissan Altima and a 2004 Infiniti QX56. The Infiniti is basically Adam's dream car so he is a happy little boy at the moment. The xterra was a great car, but we didnt realize how small the interior was until we had to put a car seat in the back seat!!! It will be great for Adam's work since he has to carry so much product in his car. He is loving the extra space.

Brynnley is getting bigger and is a great baby! She has her fussy times but she is a trooper and has already seen multiple wakeboarding trips, her 1st Hoopfest, her 1st Camping trip and her 1st road trip (to Montana). All that and she will be 8 weeks old tomorrow. Time flies and she is growing too fast. But here is a picture of a happy daddy holding his little cutie.

Oh...Helena!!!

In mid-July Adam had to go to Helena, Montana for work. It turned out that he was going to be out of town for 3 nights!!! Brynnley wasnt even a month old, so we decided that we would all go on a little road trip. We left in the late afternoon on the first day and stopped in Missoula. The drive was absolutely beautiful..I had no idea there could be so many pine trees for such a long stretch. We had to wake up early the next morning so that Adam could make it into Helena by about 8 or 9, it was only a 2 hour drive thank goodness. We were lucky that the hotel let us check in that early in the morning since you usually cant check in until 3 pm. I took a nap while Adam had to run a couple of errands. Oh yeah....Adam had to go to Montana "in case something came up." In other words, there was nothing on his schedule to do and we were hoping it stayed that way so we could hang out together. Nothing came up the whole time we were there. So here's what we did to pass the time: We went to a local park and Adam shot some hoops to get ready for the biggest 3-on-3 basketball tournament in the nation, did a little shopping, enjoyed the beautiful weather, and ate some AWESOME FOOD!!! It was kinda like an all expense paid mini vacation. Obviously Montana really isnt very exciting, but it turned out pretty decent. Oh yeah...Brynnley did great. She slept for nearly the whole drive; just woke up to eat!!!

The view from the side of the road...green pine trees everywhere!!

This picture pretty much sums up Brynnley the whole trip. What an awesome baby!!

Hayden Lake

Our good friends have a cabin on Hayden Lake in Idaho and they invited us to spend Father's day weekend with them. Adam's parents were in town and they came, too. The drive was great. It only took a little over an hour to get to the cabin and Brynnley slept the whole time. We spend the rest of the night visiting and playing some "blong ball" (the best game ever!!!) Adam also took a wakeboard ride in the evening. The water was about 56 degrees. It was wetsuit temperature, but a lot warmer than the 45 degree water we got in last year...BBRRRR. Saturday Adam, Sharee (one of our good friends), and I all took a turn on the wakeboard. I decided not to do anything too gutsy since I technically shouldn't have been wakeboardning because it hasnt been 6 weeks since my c-section. It was still nice to be outside and on the water. Adam landed his first tantrum (backflip) of the year. Oh yeah, this is the first time we have been on the lake this year (pretty depressing that it took till mid June.) Brad (our good friend, and Sharee's husband) and Adam's parents had a great time watching and enjoyed the wonderful weather. Brynnley did AMAZING!! She spend most of the time sleeping inside, but we got her in the boat a few times and she loved it. She pretty much slept the whole time on the boat...must like the sound and vibration from the engine! Hopefully she will love the lake as much as we do. We left the cabin Sunday morning and made it back in time for church. It was such a fun weekend and we can't wait to do it again!!!


View from the back of the cabin


Adam braving the cold water with just a wetsuit top

Noelle getting back in the boat after her first ride

Brad lending a helping hand and feeding Brynnley

Adam's First Father's Day!!!

How exciting, Adam's first Father's Day!! We headed home from a friend's lake cabin that morning and luckily made it back in time for church. Adam had to go home early because he was feeling pretty sick. Thank goodness he felt better after a nap. Poor guy must have overdone it this weekend. Adam's parents are in town (will post more of those pictures later) and they took some cute pictures for us!! Well my mom wanted to see some more pics of the little girl, so here they are :) I will try to post more later, time to finish getting dinner ready.

Here Adam and Brynn are after church.

The three of us with one of his Father's Day gifts from his parents.

Let's go to the Lake...or NOT!!

So Adam, some friends, Brynnley, and I decided we would go to the lake on Thursday evening (since it stays light outside till well after 9 p.m.)!! Adam was going to take a few rides on the wakeboard and the rest of us were just going to enjoy being outside on the lake. Well the boat launch we usually go to is closed because the dock is about 2 feet under water since there has been so much winter run off. So we decided to head down the road a bit to the other launch. We get everything in the boat ready and hop in as Adam backs us down the ramp. Well, it didnt work out quite like we wanted it to. I notice that the xterra is as far down on the ramp as it can go without being submerged and the boat isnt anywhere close to being in enough water. So it turns out that this part of the lake doesnt have enough water in it to be able to launch a boat. We all had a good laugh and poor Adam still hasnt gotten out on the water and it is almost June!!! Hopefully we will get him out soon. It's a little depressing knowing that last year we got out on the lake the first week or so in APRIL!!!

Well the past couple of days have been great. My (Noelle) parents just left this morning after helping out since the delivery. It was great to have their help, support, and advice; and are glad that they were able to come down.

We took our daughter to the pediatrician yesturday and she is doing fabulous:) She was 7 lbs 5 oz when she was born, 6 lbs 15 oz when she was discharged, and at yesturday's appointment she was 7 lbs 13 oz. The doctor is pleased with her progress and everything seems to be right on track. We dont have to go in for a 2 week appointment since she isnt jaundice and she has passed her original birth weight. She did great at the appointment, too. She sat there butt naked for awhile and didnt cry at all. What a trooper! We did have some good laughs while we were there. As I was undressing her, she pooped in her diaper. I had her lying on a blanket so that the table wouldn't be so cold on her back. Well, I take the diaper off and wipe her off and as soon as I finish, she poops more (all over the blanket)!!! We then put her on the scale where she sat patiently for a minute or so and then peed all over. Well, at least that 2 diapers we didnt have to use.



Adam has been a great husband and dad. He usually takes over one of the night feeding before he goes to bed so that I can get a good chunk of rest. That has been great. He has been great about trying to make me take naps so that I dont get exhausted, even though I try to fight him on this one. It has been so fun watching him interact with her. He's a natural! It's amazing how well he is doing with her, especially since he hasnt had much, if any, baby experience till now.

Here is Adam aftering feeding Brynnley her first bottle


As for me, I am doing great. I had my staples removed on Thursday and the incision looks great. I have been up and about since Thursday!! I still have to take it easy for awhile, but Adam and I were able to go out to dinner and the mall while my parents watched her. I definatly thought recovery would take a lot longer, but I'm not complaining!!

At the Park

We were actually able to do some fun stuff while my parents were in town. The spokane river runs right through the middle of downtown and it GUSHES in the spring due to all the winter run off. Since we had so much snow this winter, there is more water than usual. They are anticipating some possible flooding problems. Anyway, we thought we would go check out the falls and see what all the hype was about. It was amazing how strong and fast the water was flowing. We also went to a nearby park for a little walk and got some cute pictures taken. Thanks mom and dad for coming down, for the meals, yard and car port work, driving me around since I cant, and for all your love and support!!

Grandma, Grandpa, and Brynnley
The Falls downtowon

Adam's family will be coming down in a few weeks and we are looking forward to it.

Life is GOOD!!

I'm so proud of Adam for blogging while I was still in the hospital!! :) As Adam stated, labor was long and hard and ended in a suprise c-section :( According to the doctors, she didnt want to come out that way either. They had to use the suction on her twice to get her wedged out of my pelvis withouth breaking her neck. Unfortunatly the epidural didnt work too well and I felt them cutting me open...three drugs later and I was out. It definatly wasnt the c-section you see on TLC where whe husband and wife are holding hands, talking, and smiling at each other anticipating the new arrival. Instead, Adam comes in after some of the drugs are taking effect and I can't see straight and can feel them cutting me. So it turns out Adam is holding the hands of his unconscious wife and we dont get to experience new life coming into the world together. When Brynnley came out she scored 2 on her apgar scores, the the neonatal team took her to the NICU. Since I was out and they still had to close me up, Adam went with Brynnley to make sure she was alright. After awhile Brynnley came around and the doctors were pleased with how she was improving. Two hours later, I finally start waking up from the drugs...slowly. Adam was able to wheel her in to my recovery room and helped me hold her for the first time. It was a neat experience, but my eyes still couldn't really focus. Adam was wonderful...he is already such a great dad and has done so much for me through labor, the surgery, and recovery.

Aftery the recovery room, I was wheeled into the mother baby unit. I was informed that we would stay at least 3 nights in the hospital. As it turns out, the doctor came in early wednesday morning and after his exam, told me that I could stay in the hospital for another night, or I could go home a day early!!! Well, since Adam is so tall and had to sleep on the most uncomfortable bed, and I wasn't comfortable in my bed either...we decided to pack it up and go home :)

We are all doing well!! Brynnley has been a champ and is a great baby. She has been nursing great, sleeping well, and is a pretty happy baby (most of the time). Adam is having SOOO much fun with his daugter and has been very helpful. Poor guy had to get up everytime we had to nurse her or change her diaper in the hospital because I couldn't get out of bed. I'm so greatful for such a wonderful and loving husband. As for me, I am starting to feel much better. I can get around without too much hobbling around and am getting better at getting in and out of bed by myself.


Although we had some diffucult times the past few days, we feel so blessed with the outcome and are so grateful for our daughter. LIFE IS GOOD!


On a side note...Adam's mom and sister and my parents all live in SLC. So they jumped in the car to drive up here as soon as they found out I was in labor. They arrived and were able to see Brynnley shortly after being cleared from the NICU. It was so fun to have them there and to share this moment with them. We look forward to the rest of our family members meeting our new little girl and know they are just as excited to meet her. We appreciate everyone's love and support, we are truely blessed.

Baby Brynnley

It finally happened. We have a baby girl!!! This Adam, Noelle walked me through how to do this so hopefully it works. Noelle is still at the hospital and doing great. About 36 hours of labor and a 20 minute C-section we have our little girl. It was a rough Mother's Day for Noelle but it was all worth it. She was born on May 12, 2008 and was 7 lbs 5 oz and 20 inches long. The poor kid was just trying to come out forehead first and sunny side up and it just was not happening. Here are a few of the first pictures, she's got a sore forehead but has been eating well and is doing great. She's so laid back it's really unbelievable

That's all for now, I'm sure Noelle will post more when she gets home from the hospital.