Brenna Allie Sandlian

At 2 in the morning on September 29, I woke up to contractions. First they let me sleep in between them staying about a half an hour apart. At about 6, they were ten minutes apart. Jeffrey and I both calledin sick, pretty sure that we were going to be going to the hospital pretty soon. Whenwe finally decided it wartime to load up to go to the hospital, I strategically planned that I would get out of bed and load in the car aftermy next contraction. So we waited. And waited. And waited. 45 minutes later I had my next contraction. WHAT??!! Jeffrey andI decided to try and jump start the contractions again, so we went for a walk. We walked for a long time. We went down the dugway, back up, all around town. It did not jump start my contractions. We went back home. I was consistently having contractions every half an hour. I spent most of the day curled on the couch trying to survive my contractions. I was just hoping and praying that my water would break so we could go into the hospital. No luck. We decided to go to the volleyball game to keep my mind busy. Jeff had his cell phone out timing my contractions. Ten minutes apart, fifteen minutes apart, eight minutes apart, seventeen minutes apart, nine minutes apart. There was nothing consistent and not close enough yet. I'm sure I was a sight to see. I would be holding a conversation and then randomly hold on for dear life and quit talking. Come on baby!! We went home from the game and I went back to my spot on the couch. At this point, I was ready to google how to break my own water! Contractions a maximum of 30 minutes apart ALL day was really starting to wear on me. About 2:30, my water FINALLY broke! We called Allie and asked her to come pick up Bryell and then took off to Kemmerer. We got to Kemmerer about 4. When we got to Kemmerer I had a contraction on the way through the door. A nurse came up to me and asked if I was okay, I said "I am in labor and need an epidural now!" She led me to the room and got me hooked up on the machines. About an hour after I got there, Dr. Krell came walking in to check on me. He told me that I was going to have a baby before the sun came down. I was extremely excited to hear this! I was in a very relaxed state, considering the epidural was in. I had a nurse come in, look at my monitor and leave quietly. Then the doctor came in, looked at my monitor and left. The nurse came back in and hooked me up to oxygen. The baby's heartbeat was a bit too slow and they wanted to get me on oxygen to help her heartbeat. About a half an hour later, I felt a lot of pressure. I called the doctor in, who checked me and hollared quickly for the staff to get in! It was a very awkward time as they were having a shift change. I had two of every position in the room as the outgoing was filling in the incoming. There was a nursing student that decided she wanted to stay since she had never seen a birth before. Her eyes were the size of basketballs the whole time :) Anyway, we did about 3 timed pushings and were taking a break between the two when suddenly I realized that there was a lot of pressure, I told the doctor and he told me to keep pushing!! At 7:24pm on Friday, September 30th, Brenna Allie Sandlian entered our lives. She weighed 6 pounds, 1 ounce and was 20 inches long.

Bryell and Brenna meet

26 months and 27.5 weeks

Well, Bryell is 26 months. At 26 months she weighs 26.2 pounds and we are yet to measure her! We have been working with her on asking her her name. In the past, she has always just repeated 'Name" to whoever asks. We decided to help her understand that her name is Bryell. Jeff would ask her "whats your name?" After just a few times she replies "BYell." Jeff gives her high five, knuckles, and we both clap and yell "YAY!!" She now walks up to Jeff and just says "BYell." and holds up her hand to start the high five knuckles and clapping. She is so proud and it is so cute to watch her!

We went over to our neighbor's for a barbecue and to light of fireworks yesterday. They are neighbors that we really like but our schedules never seem to work together. They have 5 kids, all of which are wonderful. Jeff taught two of the girls his first year here and one of the boys last year. He coaches the oldest girl in basketball. I had one of the boys in reading group. An amazing family. It was so fun watching Bryell open up and run around everywhere with them last night. They took us out to their land and Bryell got to pet a horse and see chickens. She loves "neighs" as she calls them but was a little hesitant getting that close to them. I have to admit though, she did pet them (and I, of course, didn't :) ).

I am working on getting some more pictures up! Bear with me they are coming, I promise!

3 Year Anniversary

Its strange, these three years feel like there really haven't been three years on one hand and on the other hand they have flown by. We have an amazing 2 year old daughter, an angel baby, and another daughter on the way. Maybe that is why they seem to have flown by... but I have to say going through all of the things we have gone through has only made our relationship that much stronger... maybe that is why it seems to still be like our first year. Jeffrey is definitely my best friend and I am so lucky to have him in my life!

Happy Anniversary, Jeffrey! I love you!

First Trip to the Dentist

Bryell went to the dentist for the first time. She did amazing!! We went to a place in Evanston that a friend of mine works at. I was referred there because of a tooth pain I have had for YEARS and this was the only dentist (after going to quite a few) that was able to solve my problem. I instantly liked the dentist so decided my family could go there as well. :)

It started out Bryell watching Jeffrey get his teeth cleaned. While she was watching him, they made her a balloon animal and painted her nails. This instantly got her to trust them. She got to go into her own big chair. They first made her go really really high up... and then they tilted her back... and she got to lay down under the lights. They brushed the balloon animal's (a puppy, named "puppy") teeth and then worked on hers. She opened her mouth when the asked and smiled and let them do everything they needed to do! I must admit, I was a proud mommy!

The last few months...

Hmmm.... where to start? A LOT has happened in the three months that it has been since I posted last.
First:
Bryell turned two! Her birthday was over Easter weekend so we celebrated it while back home for the holiday. Joel and Annie let us have the party at their house and we doubled it with Karlee's since her birthday is 5 days past Bryell's. It was really fun watching her play with the cousins, as this was the first time she actually played with them rather then played on her own and stared at them when they got too close. Her and Hailey are really close in age and watching those two play was really cute. Bryell definitely has a little attitude. You can definitely tell she is officially two now :)

Second:
We decided that when we were back home, it would be a good time to announce that we are expecting! Our due date is October first. We are expecting another little girl and are soooo excited about it! The first few months were really hard and nerve wrecking. We changed hospitals and went to a more 'up to date' clinic but plan on going back to our last doctor here soon. We have started slowly to transform the office into Bryell's new 'big girl' room. Here is a picture of me at 14 weeks:



Third:
Bryell is smart. She is beginning to know that she is Bryell. We were looking at a picture of Bryell and Jeffrey. I asked her who was in the picture and she said "daddy and me." I said 'Yeah, Daddy and Bryell." She replied, "My Bryell!" She does say my for any form of me or I.

such a little helper!

Daddy: "Bryell can you help Mommy get up?"
Bryell: "Yep!" she says as she walks over to me leans down in my face and yells, "MOMMY, GET UP!" so helpful!

23 month stats-

25.2 pounds
34.5 inches

21 Months~

I can't believe that we are 3 months away from Bryell turning two!! I am a bit behind in this post, but wanted to post her current stats:

Size 3.5-4 shoes
18 month pants (getting too short though!)
9-12 month onesies- tall and skinny, with all her height in her legs!
33.5 inches
23.8 pounds (FINALLY starting to gain weight!!)

She still sleeps every night with Lambie, who she absolutely loves! Lambie goes everywhere with her, including daycare! She started sleeping with a pillow over Christmas vacation when she got a pillowpet- it is the perfect size for her!

Her and daddy spend a lot of time snuggling. I get to snuggle when she is sick, and that's about all... but I'm hopeful my time will come :)

Speaking of sickness, we have had it running through our house. Jeff has been on the verge of a cold for awhile. It finally caught up to him and he spent the past week coughing and exhausted from the cold. Bryell woke up Wednesday with a fever. Jeff stayed home with her as a good excuse to try and rest also. She still had the fever on Thursday so it was my turn to stay home with her. Jeff took off for his weekend basketball trip at Worland and Lander and Bryell and I rested up! I have tried to keep up on switching out sippy cups and sheets in an effort to stop this sickness!! We are hoping that it ends soon!

Glory Baby- Mandy Mercer

A friend showed me this. Here is to all of you that have babies waiting for you in heaven...