27

I turned 27 on March 23rd.

My inlaws were in town and took us out to one of my favorite pizza places the night before. Brent and I went out on my actual birthday. We came home and Brooke ran out in the garage yelling, "it's a surprise party, Mom!" HA.

Oreo Cake and bluebell ice cream plus a brand new watch from my husband.

I'm excited for 27.

But mostly that I still have three more years until the big 30. PHEW.

Dad's 60th Birthday Party

My sisters and I threw a party in my parent's backyard for my Dad's birthday. We wanted it to be a laid back fun time with lots of sugar and just plain ole' fun. We rented a bounce house, snow cone machine and a cotton candy machine. We played all afternoon and ended with a great barbeque and a big hostess cupcake cake... his favorite!

Grandma and Grandpa with their grandkiddies

The three of us and debuting my baby bump on this blog. Oh except this was taken at 18 weeks and I am now 28 weeks - so much more LARGE AND IN CHARGE.


She actually didn't love cotton candy like I thought she would

Grandma Lou going down the bounce house slide

Brent and Brookie eating a snow cone

60 year old Grandpa finally comes out of the house in his swimming gear

Amy at the top of the bouncehouse

Steve, Ethan, Krista going down the slide

Barbeque - see my dad's head as part of the decor?

Ethan eating a fruit kabob

Make a wish, Daddy-o!

Good times and happy 60th Dad!

June 2010

Wow.

We are in September.

Preschool started (today) and dance class.

And guess what?

I have some energy back!

Can't tell ya'll how good it feels to not be dead on the couch at 6 p.m. anymore

So I have a whole summer of blogging to catch up on.

Highlights of June:

1. Brent's 30th Birthday

What was supposed to be a greater celebration than it was turned out to be a nice dinner with just the two of us. Brent got a nice new watch and black dress shoes and I think he was a happy man.

2. Young Women's Retreat: I Didn't stay overnight but this was lots of fun, and I love this picture of some of the girls.

3. SWIMMING almost every day! There have been weeks when we have been at the pool at least every other day but it was always more fun when we could go at night with Daddy. Brooke has become an awesome swimmer because of it. She can swim probably 15 feet by herself!

4. Swim Lessons: I think this was what helped her get right into swimming. She was still terrified of the water at the beginning of the summer and I can't believe how far she has come.

5. Sunday dinner for Alyssa's 24th birthday... these people are our family, hence why you hear about the Griffeths on the blog a lot!

June was also a month of lots of morning sickness and brent traveling to the Netherlands for business. A fun month but we're glad it is through for those two reasons.

I finally got my birthday wish...

Me with two kind visiting friends on my 26th birthday in the hospital

I wanted two things for my birthday this year: 1) to go out to dinner with Brent and 2) to eat a birthday cake (that I didn't have to make) with friends that I love.

The first one happened prior to my birthday and the next thing a few weeks later.

I apologize that this post has only pictures of me but I want to remember this birthday just as it was.

Even though being in the hospital sucked (sorry Mom) bigtime, I still felt so loved. Look at all the flowers and cards in the picture!

I mean, I am loved and it felt great!

Okay, sorry-

The slew of wonderful things people sent while in the hospital

So, why was I in the hospital?

In case you care, here's what happened: Um and this is a really long story. Sorry, K?

On Sunday after eating breakfast, I started having terrible stomach pain in my lower abdomen. At first I thought I was suffering the effects of the nacho's I'd eaten at a youth activity the night before and I was about to have what Brent and I call the "cha cha cha." Oh dear was I wrong. So wrong! I continued to have pain and cramping over the next 12 hours. I even made Brent stay home from church because the pain was so bad. I told him that if by midnight I was not significantly better, we were headed to the ER, because who can handle more than 12 hours of that kind of pain? Sure enough, midnight came, we called a neighbor (thank you, Emily!) to come sleep at our house, and we were on our way. I hate the ER. Really really hate it. It takes F-O-R-E-V-E-R to even be seen by the doctor and know what the heck is going on. So, there we waited, more pain, more awful pain. Did I mention it was really painful? A cat scan was done and we waited another two hours and they put an IV in me with morphine...finally, peacefullness at last! Okay, I'm going to make this story shorter, because who cares? The doc came back and said I had free air in my abdomen which was an indication of a perforation but they didn't know where or how severe it was. An emergency surgery was in order, and I was admitted to the hospital. Brent and I were pretty scared. The surgeon came in and told me I would have a 12 inch incision done verically on my abdomen. He also said there was a chance I would have to have a colostomy. If you don't know what this is, google it. Terrible. By this point, there were probably a dozen people in the room asking me questions about my insurance, prepping me for surgery, and it was to say the least, overwhelming. I could tell Brent was nervous and scared by the way he paced the floor as he made phone calls to our families, our bishop, and made arrangements for Brooke. At one point, we asked that everyone leave the room, because we both knew it was time to call on Heaven for help. The bishop sent someone over from the ward and he assisted Brent in giving me a Priesthood blessing. What an incredible blessing that was in a moment of great need. Even through all the pain and nervousness I was experiencing, a feeling of overwhelming love from our Heavenly Father flooded my entire body and all I could feel was gratitude. No less than 15 minutes later did the surgeon enter the room, announcing, "we're not doing surgery!" and relaying to the nurse, "don't put the catheter in!" Brent walked in with him and he explained the situation. Now I should also quickly add that something similar to the incident happened last May. I had the same pain and was in the ER. They did the cat scan but the doctor said it was normal. They gave me pain meds. I felt better in a few hours, and actually left on my girl's trip the next day. Anyways, upon telling the surgeon earlier about what happened in May, he said he went and looked at the cat scan to compare with the one I had just done. Incidentally, the one from last May was indeed not normal (dumb ER doctor!) and his reasoning was that if I was able to get better last time, then they would opt to not do surgery, keep me in the hospital on pain meds and antibiotics to see if I improved on my own. We were grateful beyond anything! I have no doubt in my mind that the surgeon was inspired to go and look at the old cat scan so that we wouldn't have to do surgery. This was definitely the better route. They started all the fluids, meds, and antibiotics and I was kept there from Monday morning until thursday morning. SIDE NOTE: I also must note I did not eat from sunday morning until thursday morning because they didn't allow me to. It was very strange reintroducing food into my body and foods that I would usually consider very bland were making my taste buds crazy! By wednesday afternoon, I was feeling significantly better but they wanted me there one more night just to be safe. I went home on thursday and felt more sick than I ever did in the hospital... go figure. Apparently I had a reaction to one of the antibiotics and had a metallic taste in my mouth and was more nauseous than I had ever experienced. After feeling like that all day, I finally stuck my finger down my throat for the first time in my life and threw up 7 times. We're pretty sure I threw up most of the fluid, antibiotics and 32 ounces of the crappy drink they made me take before the 2nd cat scan. Sorry to be graphic. So I was finally on the road to recovery. It took about 5 days to get a lot of my strength and appetite back which then took us to Easter and when we finally had birthday cake. So, just in case you are still reading.. what's next? Well, I had a cat scan today to see if the free air is still in my abdomen. Then I will have a colonoscopy next month that will really get to the bottom (no pun intended!) of this and will tell us if this is 1) worst case scenario: Crohn's disease or Ulcerative Collitis or 2) a bleeding ulcer(s) that caused the perforation which could have been caused by the medication I've been taking for my rheumatoid arthritis. We're sure hoping and praying for the latter! So that's the story...

And lastly, I just want to mention and remember all of the lovely and kind people that helped us during that week. There were many kind visitors, long-distance family who sent flowers and cards, people who watched Brooke, people who brought in meals, multiple people who called from the ward to check on me, a friend in the ward who came over the day I got home to blow dry my hair because I was too weak to do it myself, and of course, my wonderful husband, Brent for giving me that beautiful priesthood blessing, who was back and forth at the hospital multiple times a day, while taking care of Brooke and the house while I was gone, working, and of course nursing sick little me back to normal health when I got home. In times of need and adversity, it is so nice to feel the support of friends and family who care about you!

My hostess cupcake cake donning 26 candles

Nothing better than cake, bluebell ice cream and friends to celebrate and play games with

YAY.

Next up:

Easter and our trip to Utah!

TWO Years? What?

What a doll this little lady is... so much I've thought about surrounding Brooke's birthday, being her Mother, having the opportunity to raise such a bright, strong, darling, and animated girl...

WOW.

Her birthday was almost 3 weeks ago but a journaling post is necessary. For pictures of her 1st birthday and a few when she was born see here. If you click, you'll see... she looks SO DIFFERENT!

The morning of her birthday, blowing out two candles at breakfast. She knew it was all about her and loved it.

I hesitated posting this next picture......

but I always want to take pictures the morning of birthdays and who doesn't wanna see the bedhead that results from a head full of luscious curls?

In all her glory, having just woken up on her 2nd birthday.

Her two year old stats:

Height: 35 inches - 75th percentile

Weight: 28.6 pounds - also 75th percentile

Can't believe she weighs 4 times as much as when she was born. And one more inch and she can ride the rides at Seaworld (ha!) , some of them at least.

This is such a classic face for Brooke. When we're trying to take her picture, we tell her to laugh. Works every time, although we usually are going for a more toned-down smile than this one.

My Mom sent matching dresses for her and for a doll to wear. Soooo pretty for church today.
Checking to see if the baby needs her diaper changed.

One of the things we love about Brooke is that she can be very loving and affectionate. I am constantly asking her to "give loves" all day because I simply can't get enough hugs from her! She loves to give kisses before nap and bedtime and we go through almost every noteable body part. Except when we started doing that months ago, I would say, "kiss my nose," and she would touch nose to nose and do that with eyes, ears, forehead... everything on the face. Now it is in the routine before bedtime. So very sweet.

You all don't mind if I comment on this last picture that she's the most beautiful girl in the world, do you? Ok, good. Thanks. Really, though... look at those eyes, and that expression!


Some things to note:


Things she inherited from Brent: awesome skin complexion, problem-solving skills, mostly his looks, cautiousness
Things she inherited from Bethany: mouth, persistence, being outgoing
Most entertained by: WATER! water... water! Water! playing in it, pouring it, drinking it All. Day. Long.
Loves to: be busy busy busy, playing with friends Olivia and Maile, bossing Daddy around, doing her own thing, sitting back and observing, going to nursery, LAUGHING!

What we love about her: her sensitivity to others, her wittiness and sharp mind, her many facial expressions, she has always been an amazing sleeper, keeps us on our toes, how she has both of us wrapped around her finger!


Nothing can replace the joy of being a mother and I'm just grateful to even experience that in my life. Happy happy two years to our Brooke Elen.

Brought to You by the Letter 'B' and the Number '2'

Hello 3bg's blog readers.... all three of you. Just kidding. No, but seriously!

Crazy news here... the little lady who has been the STAR of our blog since we started it over two years ago has turned TWO years old. Can you believe it?!?! A party was in order for this little girl especially since we didn't get to do one for her first birthday seeing as how we had just moved here. And who better to center our celebration around other than our favorite red, furry friend...

ELMO!

She just adores him. And to be honest, so do we. If it is bedtime, you may sometimes find the three of us cuddled up on the couch winding down to a few minutes of Elmo. He sort of intrigues Brent and I. His ability to reach out to these kids and love them, and all from the television screen. K. Please don't think we're weird.

On to party pics...!

The Queen herself, sitting on her throne..

front of invitation


inside of invitation

Cute kiddos eating Elmo's favorite food... pizza!

Daddy love during the party

Banner with actual scrapbook paper that I actually bought myself. No, I do not scrapbook and yes, I am proud.

Mom and the new 2 year old


Elmo pull-string pinata


Pin the nose on Elmo

Randi, Brooke, Grandma during the party

K, you guys. Here is the real reason I took that cake decorating class in April. So I wouldn't be a complete failure for birthday cakes. 6 hours start to finish. Awesome.

Oh and party favors with "Elmo's favorite things" that had goldfish and crayons in the sack... like Elmos's song... "lalalala... Elmo loves his goldfish, his crayon, too...that's Elmo's world.."

You've heard the song, right?

Blowing out the candles

Attempting a picture of the kids. Quite unsuccessful.

This is what Brent gave her for her birthday. I like to say Brent gave it to her because I don't really want to admit that I had part in giving my little girl a basketball stand for her birthday. But... she does really love it. The best part is that she got these darling princess shoes with a crown and earrings at the party and she'll put them on and then go and shoot a basket. At least she can take on both roles in her play, right?

Happy Birthday to our Brookie-Bear!!!!!

29

Can you believe he is one year from turning 30? We celebrated the big 29 by having friends over for a Panini bar. Topped off by his favorite desserts: Key lime pie and a peanut butter cream cheese pie, and 29 candles to blow out, it made for a perfect night. Happy Birthday, babe!

25

On March 23rd, I turned the big 25! WHAT??? Brent says I say this every year, but I swear I just graduated from High School. Craziness!

I wasn't feeling well, but still made the most of this milestone. Alyssa took me out to lunch and to get pedicures! What a great friend she is - seriously. I felt so special. Brent took me to Tresca and I had the most delectable chocolate molten cake for dessert. I was spoiled bigtime as Brent surprised me with a new camera and Brooke gave me the memory card for the camera. :) I had a really good day and felt loved by my family and friends.