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.

Something :)

Well yesturday's doctors appointment went pretty well. We found out that I am 1 cm dilated and 90% effaced. They also decided to strip my membranes to see if that gets the ball rolling. Hopefully that will do the trick, if not, then I go in next week for another visit and set up an induction date. It is crazy how fast this last trimester has gone!!!

....Nuthin!!!

So today I went in for me 38 week appointment (actually a fews days past 38 weeks)!! The past two exams havent revealed much. At my 37 week appt. I was informed that I wasnt dilated or effaced at all...but that my cervix was softening. I've been feeling a bit more discomfort in the pelvic region, so I was sure something must be happening down there...but NO!!! Still not effaced and still not dilated. BUMMER!! The Dr. brought up the "c" word today...(c-section), which I dont like the idea of, but if thats what we have to do then that is what we have to do. So much for being diligent with going to the gym and going on walks...they havent done anything to speed the process up!!! Next weeks appointment will hopefully reveal some progress. We will keep everyone posted on any progress, or lack thereof :)

Preggo Pic!!

So my friend Amy once told me that she hated taking pregnacy pictures....and now I understand why!!! I feel so unattractive in all of the pictures. Well I've had many requests to post a picture or two, so here's one. This was taken about 2 or 3 weeks ago.



I went to the Dr. today and I am still measuring big...about 2 weeks. They will continue to keep an eye on me. Hopefully this baby isnt huge :).

Life is going great with Adam and I. Spring is taking its sweet time getting here, only got in the mid 40's today. We had snow on our grass this past Saturday...we are so sick of the snow! Adam is ready for golf and boating season thats for sure. I'm still working 3-4 days a week and will be cutting down to only 2 days after next week. I have developed carpal tunnel syndrome, so Im not sure how long I'll be able to work as a dental hygienist. I might have to quit all together pretty soon if it keeps acting up.

Well Adam took a funny picture of my foot after church two sundays ago. Do you think they look swollen? It's kind of a gross picture, but we were amazed at what pregnancy can to do a person.

It's almost complete

So here it is...a near complete, remodeled bathroom!! The only thing we have left is to sand and paint the cabinets white. We are so happy with the end result. Now I just need to find time and motivation to finish the cabinets...preferably before the baby is born!!

It's a work in progress!!!

We decided that we better redo the guest bathroom before the baby comes , so we have been working on that for the past few weeks. The tile was previously a peach/white marbley swirl with flowers on it...YIKES!! The countertop was a lovely peach/pink color, and we decided it all had to go. Supposedly if you hit the tiles with a hammer they will crack and then detach from the wall, but we didnt have much luck with that. After trying it for about 30 minutes, Adam decided that it would be easier and faster to just cut the drywall with the tile out and re-drywall and then tile. It was a little scary, but it worked so much better and saved us a lot of headache also. So far we have re-tiled the shower, countertop, and backsplash. We still have to finish grouting, sealing, caulking, refinishing the cabinets, paining, and tiling the floor!! Here are some pictures of it so far, and we will post some more when it is all finished.



Pictures of the bathroom before we start tearing things up!!

Attempting to hammer off the tile!!



Bare bones...no its not moldy insulation, just a lot of dirt!!

New drywall goes up

Let the tiling begin.

The shower is finally tiled!! We still have to grout and tile the countertops, but it is getting closer :)

It's still a Girl!!

Adam and I went to the first ultrasound at the beginning of December. At the time I was only 17 weeks along, so we were a little leary when the technician told us it was a girl. We know a few people who were told the same thing early on and the baby turned into a boy :) Yesturday we had another ultrasound and the technician said... "Oh yeah, it is definatly a girl!!" The technician got a good shot of the proof, but we decided not to post that picture!! We are ready to start decorating the room now what we know we wont have to repaint and pick out new bedding! As the decorating gets closer to completion, we will be sure to post pictures of the nursery. Adam is excited...although he is pretty nervouse about the teenage years!! Guess I can't blame him, it's a scary world out there.

Our little girl's face and hand.

Arm and hand



Her spine and ear

Streched out arms and legs

Unfortunatly, we weren't able to get a good 3D picture of her. Her hand was in front of her face the entire time. The technician even shook my belly, poked at her a little bit, and had me change positions, but she wouldnt move her hand away from her face. I think we know where she already gets her stubborness (...Adam, although he will tell you that it's from me!) Either she was being stubborn or the girls likes her sleep. Oh well, we are just happy that so far things are looking great and she seems healthy!!

Vegas trip in November!!

We decided that we needed to go on a little trip before the baby comes. Adam has wanted to go to Vegas for awhile and Noelle had never been, so we decided it was time. We went for a long weekend trip and had a blast. The weather was a nice change from Spokane!! We went to the Cirque de Soilel "Mystere" show, which was amazing, went shopping, ate some good food, saw the sights, and Noelle went to the spa while Adam tried his luck with a poker tournament and actually won some money!! We were sad to come back home, but it was soooo worth it. Here are some pics from our trip!

Here we are at the Venetian in Las Vegas. It is amazing how much money is put into the lobbies of these hotels...WOW!

Striking a pose in the Venetian again.


We went to FAO Schwartz in Ceasar's Palace, a HUGE toy store with even bigger stuffed animals. We decided we needed to snap a few pictures with some of the residents in the store. Adam got a little too close to the octopus :)

Don't need to say much here...Noelle with a baby in her pouch too!!

We decided to go to the Bellagio and take a peek at the water show. It was so awesome!! Each song they play has a different show that goes with it and they go off about every 10 minutes or so. It was pretty amazing to watch and you could feel the air tempurature cool down as soon as the water show started (since the water temp was a bit chilly)

Fall is here

Well, it's a sad time in Spokane, at least for Adam. The short summer was unbelievably busy. We spent nearly every weekend at the lake, camping, mountain biking or traveling. It was tons of fun. But, starting in September, the weather started to change and the cold started to move in. We are still waiting for the first big freeze but high temps near 50, grey skies, and rain is cold enough for me. It is actually a really nice time to be in Spokane. Being outdoors, even for just a walk in the park, is really nice. Golf is outstanding this time of year. The only real depressing part is having to put the boat away.

It was a sad day indeed. This was our last day on Long Lake in Northwest Spokane. As you can see, not another boat in sight and calm water, can't ask for better. We ended up putting nearly 70 hours on the boat which is pretty decent for our first summer. We'll definately be ready to go come next April, well Adam will at least. Noelle will definately have to wait until late summer to get on the wakeboard. But we can get the little one used to the boat a little early ;-) We'll be winterizing the boat in the next few weeks. Adam is still holding out for one more indian summer day but chances aren't great.

The other cool part about this time of year is that the trees have started to change color. Our street is lined with big trees so we are able to enjoy the colors everyday. I imagine all those leaves will be a pain in the butt in a few weeks but they're fun to look at now.

We are extremely blessed to live in such a beautiful place and we are definately trying to take advantage of it.

As far as baby news goes, there isn't to much to report. Unfortunately, this is taking forever!!!! It's going to be a long 6-7 months for us. Neither one of us has any patience. But, as far as we know, everyone is happy and healthy. We'll keep y'all up to date as we go on.

It's Official!!

Hey all! As you can tell by the picutres, WE ARE PREGNANT!!! Big smiles all around :-D We went to the doctor today and had the very 1st ultrasound so we thought it was time to let all our family and friends know. We are unbelievably excited! It is still really early but we couldn't take the excitement any longer. The original plan was to surprise our families at Christmas which would have been a great present for everyone. But, since the baby is going to be due at the end of April, we thought it might be a little mean to wait until we were 5 months pregnant to spread the word.

Noelle is approximately 9 weeks along as of today which puts the due date as April 28th, 2008. Yeah us!!

We were really worried that it would be difficult for us to get pregnant since Adam had to go through Chemo 2 1/2 years ago. But, the Lord has blessed us with some mighty strong swimmers!! We are truly greatful and still, honestly, blown away by what we've been blessed with.

In the picture of the ultrasound, you can see the sac (dark circle in the center). Inside it is a small sphere on the bottom, which is the egg sac, and a little jellybean, aka the baby. Technology is pretty cool. We were also able to hear the baby's heartbeat which was just trucking along, that was pretty amazing. According to the doc, everything appears to be just great.

Again, it is still very, very early and we have a long way to go. We'll keep ya posted with updates as they come along.

The Spokane Shock!!!

Here we are at the arena football stadium of the Spokane Shock. The shock is supposedly one of the best arena football teams in the nation. Arena football is very fast paced and pretty exciting. Instead of having 100 yards on the field, there is only 50. The final score was something like 60-30, we won!! We went with some friends and we were actually standing on the floor, we were leaning in the wall that frames the field. Here Adam is "cheering on the team!!", according to him. He is acutally flinching from a pinch on the arm from me ;)
Here is part of the half time show which was pretty entertaining. How fun would that be?!?!
A shot of the action. We are the blue team...about to score another touchdown.
It only took about 5 tries to get a picture of us with 1) both of us in it, 2) no heads cut off, 3) Adam acutally smiling instead of making funny faces....like the one below.
He sure looks happy huh!! I guess the is the look he was going for, but he didnt know it would be this good. We were laughing for a few minutes after we saw it.

Bathroom remodel!!

Before:

Here are a few pictures we took before....well more like in the process of the remodel. The cabinets were the same color as the door frame and the countertop was a lovely pine/hunter green color. I guess that just isnt our taste, so we decided to redo it!! Oh yeah the tile backsplash had to go too. Well we had a little more drywall damage than we wanted trying to get the backsplash off, so we had to do some patchwork.

After:

Here are the after pictures. We still need to put the baseboards and door frame back on, plus get some pictures or something to put on the wall, but here is close to the end product!! We had a few issues with the vanity, but a few trips to Lowes and Ace hardware fixed the problems. Overall we are very happy with the end product. A half bath done, and lots more to go!!

This is a record!!

I cant believe it has been almost 2 months since the last blog. Definatly a record high!!! Well here is a picture of our house, sorry for those of you who have been waiting to see it! The styles of houses here are totally different from Texas....they dont have all brick houses here. Well they do, but they were built about 1950!! We are loving the house and the surrounding area. There is a lake about 10 minutes away, which is great to take our new boat to. We are so excited for summer, the days are finally starting to warm up. I think it was in the 70's everyday this week, for the first time this year.

Whats new with us....not a whole lot. Adam is still enjoying work and Noelle is now working 4 days a week. We just wish we didnt have to work so much so that we could play more. We've been to the lake a few time and have been camping this spring. I'll have to save those pictures and stories for the next blog.

We have slowly been updating the house. My parents were here in March and helped up paint over some of the awful paint!! I'll have to post some before and after pictures, too. Well it is a beautiful Saturday, so it is time to go play!!!