1 half craft + 1 half craft = 1 whole craft

This is my weekly crafting post, although I don't do crafts every week. I don't even do crafts once a month, but other awesome blogs I have seen and thoroughly enjoy do weekly posts(i.e. weekly questions, crafts, song, and style). So here is my weekly...looks like it is Tuesday...so I'll call it Terrific Tuesday craft. And I fully intend on not doing a craft every Tuesday.
My first craft I did is a magnet board with ribbon on it. The use... hold Elanora's hair bows. Technically my friend from work gave me the magnet board. I painted the frame and added the ribbon and voila, a hair bow holding thingy. Now this is what I call a half craft because my friend did most of the work.


My next craft that I did is Elanora's name to hang on the wall over her crib. I painted the letters, the frame I found at Hobby Lobby. I painted that too. I put material that matches her crib quilt(I have the material but have no idea how to make a quilt, so the quilt is pending)behind the E. Now this is also a half craft because my talented husband(who also has a nice butt among other talents) painted the detail on the 'E'.

So there you have it, 1 half craft + 1 half craft = 1 whole awesome Terriffic Tueday craft!

3 strikes and I'm out

Sunday was the big day...little Nora's first time at church and let's just say it did not go as planned.
I had anxiety all week about going, but was excited to get back into the swing of things and what better time. Elanora is on meds for acid reflux so she no longer cries that sad, loud, pain cry. She had her first round of shots, so she would be able to fend off all those awesome nursery kid germs. And I was ready to run down the street screaming because of cabin fever. Really everything was in place for a perfect day at church. Right?
Things did not start out quite as I had planned. I wanted to make a handout for my calling so I could pass it out at church, but because I worked on the handouts I was behind in getting me ready...Strike one.
The cute babyface woke up later than usual, throwing her eating schedule off, so she ended up needing to eat at 11:30. I had wanted her to eat at 12:30 so I could get her to sleep before church, now she was going to be hungry right in the middle of church...Strike two.
I had wanted to drive her around before church so that she would be nice and asleep before we got there, but because I made handouts I did not get ready until 12:30 and by the time we got in the car it was time to be there...Strike three.
Three strikes, I was definitely out and I had not even started the game yet. Oh boy. This was going to be fun.
Now the sweet little doll has colic so when she starts crying sometimes it does not stop and she is loud. I was nervous. I had a baby who was wide awake and does not like to just hang out, she is a mover and a shaker.
We did not even make it to the Sacrament. She was tired and fussy, so we had to walk out, then she was hungry, then she had a complete blowout in the diaper region.
Chris had to give the Bishopric message in Primary so I was trying to carry my baby(who was very messy and fussy because of said diaper region), her carrier, and the diaper bag. I don't know how you mothers with 10 kids do it.
We did not make it very long at church...But she looked cute and there is always next week :)

DON'T MAKE ME BUST OUT THE NAKED PICTURES!

I have always thought that the first time I would traumatize little Nora would be on her first date. The door bell will ring and I'll anwser it, so she can make her grand entrance. As the cute boy waits for his beautiful date... you better believe I'll bust out all of those cute, naked baby pictures of Elanora, embarrasing her to no end! But alas, I'm traumatizing her now :(
Yesterday she had to get shots and it was horrible! I hated every second of it. Chris took off work because I figured it might be a little tough to deal with and we would need big, strong daddy to get us both through it.
It was so sad! The nurses put her on the table and as they were talking to Chris and me, telling us what was going to happen, Elanora was looking at them talk and thinking they were talking to her, she smiled and smiled at them. Not knowing they were going to stab her violently in the leg (a little drammatic...I think not, it was that horrible).
I watched the nurses put the needle in her leg and everything was in slow motion. I looked at babyface and her smile faded and she got a confused look on her face. I thought for a minute she was not going to cry, but then the pain hit her and she let out the most horrible cry I have ever heard. Now we've heard a lot of crying from my sweet little girl because she has acid reflux and colic, but this is the worst thing I have ever heard. Chris grabbed her fast, he held her tight and I grabbed her from him with tears filling my eyes, listening to the most horrific noise I have ever heard. The nurse was talking to us about the next appointment, I did not hear any of it(hopefully Chris did).
I thought I was doing good with just a few silent tears as we walked out the door, but when we hit the pavement of the parking lot I completely lost it and started sobbing along with my baby girl. Eventually we both calmed down, she was so tired that she fell asleep, but when she woke up an hour later she was hurting and crying that worst-cry-ever cry, so we gave her baby tylenol and she calmed down. Boy did my heart hurt, she was traumatized (as I write this she is sleeping peacefully in her swing and I'm tearing up, but it was her that was traumatized).
I guess showing her boyfriends her naked baby pictures won't be her first traumatic experience :) and for fun, here are the cutest bath pictures ever!

Don't Judge Me

I really did not mind being preg-o, I never got too miserable. I was still feeding horses the night before I went into labor. But there were a few simply pleasures that were a little hard to give up. It has been one long year of not doing this...

So rain, rain go away come again another day, so that I can ride my big, blue horse!
Another one of my simple pleasures that I'm glad to have back(do not judge me), raw hot dogs. I love to eat raw hot dogs. I just can't wait the point three seconds it takes to cook them in the microwave and frankly,(the pun is for Chris who thinks this practices of eating raw hot dogs is disgusting)I love them and their yummy, slimy goodness! Now don't judge me, you should try them(although my judgment might be a little off because I have licked a giant slug for $5 and on Mother's Day I licked a snail so that my niece would lick one.)
Even though giving up riding my horse and eating raw hot dogs was hard, look at the perfect baby that two very imperfect people made.

Exciting Adventure or Just Dazed and Confused?

During this pregnancy I really wanted to have the exciting adventure of going into spontaneous labor and having to wake Chris up and rush to the hospital, feeling excited and terrified all wrapped up into one.
But those of you who talked to me the Wednesday before my due date was able to hear the disappointment in my voice as I recounted what the Dr. told me, I was not even inducible at this point and that I would most likely be induced(when I was close enough to be induced) so that meant no exciting adventure rushing to the hospital. I came to the conclusion that I was in negative labor, not close at all and would have to be induced. (I may be a little dramatic but it is only for your literary enjoyment :)). I really was disappointed though.
So imagine my surprise when on March 28 (my due date) I woke up at 1:40 feeling not quite right. My stomach was feeling crazy so I got up and had a warm bath. After the bath I was still in pain. It was at this point that I thought it might be go time. It was also at this time that I realized yes it was my due date, and no, I had not packed a bag yet. I also had no laundry. So I put a load of laundry in and I dug in the very bottom of our storage closet. I pulled out sleeping bags and blankets and under all of it I found my hospital bag.
It was 3:00 in the morning and the pain was pretty good and pretty close together so I woke up Chris and told him I might be in labor. He got up and timed the contractions, they were about 6 mins apart. The pain was really bad but not screaming, yelling, crying bad so we were really confused, was I in labor? We got out all the books and started reading. They were no help. We were so confused but seeing or feeling that the contractions were 3 to 5 mins apart and each lasting 30 to 60 seconds, we decided to go. So the ride to the hospital was not so much of an adventure, we were more confused and a little dazed rather then excited and terrified. I thought they were going to send me home. This is right before we left to the hospital at 3:00 am.



I had not eaten and knowing that I would not get to once in the hospital we went through the McDonald's drive-thru to get me a fruit and yogurt parfait, contractions and all.(unfortunately, I could not eat it because the pain was too bad)
We went to the emergency room, we were supposed to go to the labor and delivery wing, but we didn't know that so they had to wheel me there. As we were going down the hall we noticed no lights were on, it was like a horror movie going down a very dark hospital corridor. Not knowing where we were going, it was a little eerie. The power was out in the hospital. Rocky Mountain Power had accidentally cut the power. While Chris did the paper work I had to change my clothes with a flashlight in a dark bathroom by myself all while have contractions. Now I love scary movies but it was a little unnerving.
They decided to keep me and the Dr. did not want my labor to last forever seeing it was my first, so they started me on pitocin. When I was dilated to a six the nurse, Amber(who was so amazing I would not have made it without her! I had an interseting bra situation that she helped me with and she helped me be ok with my biggest fear, which was not the labor, if you don't know what it was, you will have to ask me later. (the night nurse Sarah was just as amazing, so nice, so wonderful. Everyone should deliever at Ogden Regional just because of them!)) came in and told me that because the power was out they had not been able to fax my file over from the Dr. office but that it had just come in and I has tested positive for strep and they needed to stop the pitocin to slow down the labor and give me antibiotics so the baby would not get an infection. But even without the pitocin I was dilating very fast and was at a nine, I got the first dose but I would not get the second dose of antibiotics.
Soon the Dr. needed to break my water and she found out that the baby had swallowed meconium and the NICU Doctors would need to be there during the deliever in case they needed to suction her lungs.(Luckily they did not have to!)
When they brought all the equipment in Chris started to get very antsy and nervous. He was pacing all over the place and starting to fidget. I looked over at him and unbeknownst to him he had the epidural button(yes there was not way I was not going to have one :))in his hand and was about to give me an extra dose, Luckily I caught him before he did. He was so nervous.
I will not fill you in on the gory details, we all had bets that Chris would pass out, but he did great and there was only one part that made him sick(I'm not writing about that part, but I'm super glad I could not feel anything).
Now as they say the rest is history! Introducing the newest and definitely the cutest member of the Brown Family, weighing in at 6lbs 3oz. and 19ins long... Elanora Brown. Now the fun part, pictures!!!

celebrate, good times!!!

It came with ribbons. It came with tags. It came with packages, boxes and bags.
Some of my best gals threw me an amazingly creative babyshower! The theme was Dr. Seuss. Oh man they went all out. It was so great.





Getting Christmas or birthday presents is pretty fun, but man oh man getting presents for this little baby that I've yet to meet doesn't hold a candle to me getting presents! It was killer! I received so many wonderful things. Thanks to everyone that came and made the night so much fun!














I don't have pictures of everyone that came(or if I had a double chin in the picture, which is more pictures then I would like to admit, I did not add those:)). so if you are not in one of the pictures I'm sorry, but still luv ya! And thanks so much for your gifts! I can't wait to try everything out on the baby face :)


These are the amazing gals that did this for me

Feel Free To Skip The Boring Parts!!!

Most of my posts have been about the cute baby face that we have coming in March. So I have decided to venture out from my regular genre for this post. Unfortunately I have decided to tackle a subject that encompasses a life time. It might take a while so feel free to skip the boring parts:) I will try to keep it short and to the point!

For Christmas my mother-in-law gave Chris and I beautiful journals with a talk by Elder Henry B. Eyring called 'O Remember, Remember'. It is a wonderful talk about writing down what we are greatful for, so we don't forget all our many blessings(my synopsis doesn't do it justice, it's a wonderful talk!). Along with the talk, she gave us personalized letters that she wrote. While reading them on Christmas morning, more the one eye was filled with tears. After the cats dried their eyes (Chris and I are much to macho to cry) we started to talk about all our many many blessings. Just a small fraction of them are listed below, we truly have been blessed!


First and foremost is the blessing of both of us being born of goodly parents. My mother-in-law with her steadfast example of faithfulness, which helped our faith stay strong! My father-in-law with his quiet devotion to his children. Who else would drive an hour every couple of saturdays to help Chris with the baby room remodeling? My mom with her unceasing compassion, waking up at 1 am to rush to the hospital when I sliced my foot open. My dad with his humor and support, who still comes to my horseback riding lessons and takes pictures of me(I'm 28 mind you),and feeds horses with me almost every day because I'm prego. They all have taught us how to gain our own testimonies by building a foundation with their testimonies. Even loving us through the crazy teenage years!

Chris and I were blessed to find each other in a distant land far, far away. At the College of Eastern Utah. How Chris ended up at CEU is quite a story, but you don't have enough patience for that story right now (those of you that haven't skipped this part). Call it fate or serendipity, but we know the real name "blessed".
Our 8 years have been amazingly wonderful! But most of all fun!!!
We have been blessed with a cute little house, that my need a little work here and there, but it is home sweet home. Silly pets(and a big stubborn horse). The opportunity Chris had to go to school and get his masters and be able to do something that he truly loves! Cars that run, work that pays the bills. Brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews that support us, Friends old and new, Church callings that help us grow. For the past and for the future, which is currently hybernating in my belly :) We have been truly blessed!