Since June

Instead of trying to blog every event/thing that I want to (and trust me, I have a list and it's long), I'll just start at August and give a few updates.

Haze Andrew Allen was born on June 16 at 9:03 AM and weighed 7 pounds, 9 ounces and was 21.5 inches long. Labor & delivery went pretty smoothly (even though it hurts a lot a lot). The short version of the story: My water broke at 11 PM on June 15. We didn't know if that's really what it was since I wasn't swimming around in a puddle and flooding our house like the movies, so we Googled it. Went to the hospital at 1 AM. Epidural at 3ish AM. Baby at 9 AM.

In my journal I wrote, "I felt immediate love for Haze. I remember rubbing his little head over and over and holding his hand. He just stared at me and cried once in a while. Bryan looked at me & Haze over & over. He was crying when I would look up at him. He also stroked Haze’s hair and held his little hand. What a spiritual, happy, exciting moment to get to see and touch your baby. He really was perfect. We both immediately noticed his little nose. We were both in love. Bryan told me again how great I’d done and how much he loved me. I really can’t describe the moment except to say that it was just filled with pure love. Love for each other, love for baby Haze, love for the Gospel and for our new little growing family."

Andlie's been the best big sister! When he's crying, she says, "Hazey! Hazey! That's enough, little buddy." She's always making sure he's around and is very sweet with him. I'm just happy there haven't been any face kicking or pushing off the couch episodes like people warned me about.

Shortly after Haze got here, we had a little family photo shoot. Thanks, Lenzi! You can see more of our family shoot here and more of Haze's newborn shoot here.

Andlie & Daddy went on their first Daddy-Daughter date to "Cars 2!" She has had a rough time taking off her "Car Mator" shirt ever since.

Bryce came home from Honduras! Our camera died shortly after we made it to the airport, but we were there! (And so was he.)

We celebrated the 4th of July! Andlie rode in the firetruck during the parade! She loved it until the end when she told Bryan, "I don't want to wave any more, Dad. No thanks."

We tried potty training. Tried. After two days and pee everywhere in our house except the toilet, we decided we'd try again later.

Andlie fell/jumped off a wall during play group and pushed her tooth back and up into her gums. Poor girl. The only thing that made her teeth feel better was the "big bandaid" on them.

Tooth incident meant that she had her first trip to the dentist! She did great and we've even been back since and had the little pearlie whites cleaned with no crying fits!

We spent some time at Woods Ranch at the mountain.

We blessed Haze. Well, Bryan did. He did an excellent job.

Here's little man in his blessing attire.

We've spent lots of summer nights at the park!

Haze has learned to smile!

We celebrated five years of wedded bliss!

Andlie is learning and growing more every day! She speaks to us in full sentences and keeps us laughing and happy all day long. She has such a fun personality. She loves swimming, running around, being outside, and climbing.

Haze is growing like a weed! At his 2 month appointment, he was 12 pounds, 4 ounces (64%) and 24 inches (96%). He's a pretty happy baby except at 9:00 each night. He loves being held, eating, pooping (sometimes), and looking at Bryan's hair.

I think that covers it! I'm sure I've missed some pictures/events since I just loaded 904 pictures to the computer from June 16 - August 1. We've sure had a full summer, but it's been full of fun and love. Though we haven't gotten much sleep this summer, (and I now put my makeup on at 3:00 PM every day and sometimes our house smells of old diapers and breast milk) we feel so blessed to have both Hazer Man and Andlie in our family and can't believe all the fun we're having with them every single day!

More Comparisons

30 Weeks:

34 Weeks:

36 Weeks:


Only 27 days! We're so excited!!

(P.S. Don't judge me for my lack of blogging. I swear I'll catch up someday soon.)

Belly Updates & Cute Andlie

These little ears didn't leave Andlie's head for three whole days!

We love swimming! Oh my darling in her new Spring shirt! 20 Weeks

26 Weeks

28 Weeks

Comparisons

Artwork

Items labeled as described to me by the artist, Andlie Allen. Illustrations done on white paper with black pen on March 25, 2011.

A Cute Prayer

Andlie's prayer on 03/02/11:

"Dankful Bear movie. Dankful Lion movie. Dankful giraffe. Dankful hippo. Dankful Jasmine. Dankful Ariel."

Milestone & Funnies

Milestone: Andlie went to the full two hours of Nursery for the first time all by herself today!

Funnies: During the morning prayer, Andlie said, "Dank-ful Mickey Mouse."

During the bedtime prayer tonight, she said, "Dank-ful balls."

At our Sunday visits to my Grandma's house tonight, Andlie noticed a picture much like the one below.

Wanna know what came out of her mouth? "De-sus!! Wipin' his nose!" Yes, honey, Jesus is wiping his nose in this picture. (You gotta give her credit for this one. It kinda looks like it.)

We love her.

Maybe it's Only Funny to Other Moms

Andlie's been coughing a lot lately. You know that kind of cough where you cough so hard that it takes your breath away? Well, us adults can just cough up the phlem (ewe) and move on.

Anyway, I put Andlie down for her nap this afternoon and heard her in there coughing and coughing and coughing and coughing so I went in to check on her. I could tell she was trying to get something out, so I patted her back and put my hand in front of her mouth. (Yes, at some point, it has become okay for me to voluntarily put my hand in front of a toddler's mouth to knowingly catch some sort of body fluid.) Sure enough, up came the yuckies. Yep, I caught some sort of snotty mess in my hand. So, with one hand I tried to get her out of her bed while still trying to keep a cupping shape with my other hand and make it to the bathroom sink to dump the yuckies. About the time she started walking to the bathroom, she started puking some more. This time it was the milk she had just drank before naptime, but it was no longer liquid. This whole time, I had been using all of my faculties trying not to dry heave and make a big scene. Then my faculties failed. My pregnant self couldn't take the smell of the yuckies and the sight of them all over my carpet and pooled up in my hand. I suddenly used the hand that was holding Andlie's to cover my own mouth in hopes that I could keep it closed 'til we hit the bathroom. I made it. We finally got to the bathroom. Andlie was crying. I was laughing. I started wiping yuckies off of her legs and mouth and then I lost my lunch in the sink - again. I decided it might be best at this point to get a breath of fresh air and get myself together. With no other options left, I left the bathroom. Andlie was still in there with yuckies dripping off of her flesh, crying, and with one arm in her shirt sleeve and one arm out. I took a few deep breaths with yuckies still existing on my being and a wet rag in the other hand. Finally, I composed myself and cleaned up the situation.

I got Andlie a new shirt. I wiped our whole house down. I used a million rags. I washed the bathroom sink. We calmed ourselves down and took several more deep breaths. I asked Andlie if she was okay. She said yes. I hugged her. I said, "poor girl." Andlie repeated me. I called Bryan with a hoarse voice and laughing to tell him what had just happened. Andlie got a popsicle. I got a good laugh. I'm still laughing.

Throw Up + Pregnant Lady = More Throw Up & A Good Story

Pee & Sticks & A Fetus

October 18: Bryan & I were enjoying an episode of "Castle." (Do you watch it? You should. We love it.) I had to pee, so I just went in there. I figured, "While I'm in here, I might as well pee on a stick." So I opened one and did just that. I wasn't really expecting anything, but just thought I should try it out.

The first line appeared. Then I washed my hands. Then a second line appeared. Not a very dark one, but there was a second line. I said (very calmly), "Bryan, will you come here for a minute?" He came in. I pointed to the stick (with my pants still un-done) and said, "Does that look like two lines?" He looked at me. Looked at the stick. Looked at me again. And nodded. "Holy crap!" Then I said it. Then we both looked at each other and beamed. Giant beams.

Over the next few days, this:

led to these:

We both coudn't believe it! We were so excited! For the first couple months, I was sick and always felt like I was getting of a roller coaster ride the entire day. Somehow, we managed to keep it our little secret until November 23. That's when Andlie called Bryan's parents and said, "Big sister." At first, they just thought that was a cute new sentence Andlie had learned. Then they got it. Then they screamed things like, "Wahoo!"

Andlie wore a "Big Sister" shirt to my parents' house. We just let her walk in and play like normal. Finally (after about five minutes), I said, "Does anyone notice Andlie's shirt?" Then there was more screaming and hugging. We told the rest of our family on Thanksgiving Day.

10 Weeks

16 Weeks

We heard the tiny, adorable heartbeat for the first time on December 1 and even got to see the tiny babe. The official due date is June 29, 2011!

Oh, and surprise! We just found out this week that it's a boy!

We're so excited and feel so blessed to be adding another little one to our family!

Andlie Turns 2!

Andlie woke up to a decorated room on her birthday! The first thing I heard her say when she woke up was, "Ba-oons! I so cited!!!" When I asked her what she was holding, she said, "numba toooo."

Then she had her 2 pancake (complete with pink food coloring and sprinkles). In this picture, she's inspecting the cake. Then she said, "Teeny candies."

Next we went to Story Time at the Library. This is pretty much how she looked at the lady reading the books the entire time. After a while, she looked up at me and said, "Let's go."

Next up? Cake time!! She helped me make some cupcakes for her party! "I help ewe. Tir it. Self."

While the cupcakes were baking, we went and played in the snow! Andlie kept saying, "Eat it! Mouth! Snow!" Then she would follow that with a lot of giggling.

"Pesents! Ope um." Andlie got so spoiled. Again. But she totally deserves every bit of it.

We snuck in a quit bite of some pretend food. It was hard to wait all day for those delicious cupcakes.

Andlie kept smelling her cake and saying, "SMEWS SOOO GOO-OOD!" She was being so good not to touch it, but it kept getting harder and harder.

Then everyone came over and brought more presents and played with us. Then Mandy brought Andlie some fish. Live ones. Three of them. Just wait until she has a kid that turns 2. Just wait. Cough, hedgehog, cough.

The next week, we went to the doctor. Andlie cried the whole time. After we left, she said, "I het doctor. I sad at doctor." Who can blame her though? He made her get a shot.

Since turning two, Andlie's become quite the grown-up, independent cutie pie. She can even put her own shoes on and she's so proud! "Look, Momma! Shoes on. Self!"

We couldn't be prouder, happier, more in love parents! We love every single teeny tiny thing about our sweet Andlie and feel so blessed to call her ours! Happy birthday, sweet girl! We love you! (Thanks, Kirsten, for taking these amazing pics!)