10 Months!!

Today Brenna had her 9 month appointment (at 10 months old). She is 16 pounds, 4 ounces and 27 and 3/4 inches long! She cried most of the time that the doctor was touching her. She checked out healthy though! Bryell was very well behaved and Dr. Starr gave her some princess stickers, which she was pretty excited about!

She rolled over!

Its 3 in the morning. Brenna is up, extremely happy. She is talking and cooing and giggling. Next thing I know....she rolls over! Bryell has been working with her on this for awhile and she has been SO close! But this morning it is official. :)

Baptism

Over our Christmas break, we decided to set it up for Brenna to get baptized in Alliance. Unfortunately, Robyn, her Godmother was unable to come as she had a brand new baby at home. However, we were extremely excited that her Godfather, Kyle, was able to come! Kyle and Donna were back in Lingle for Christmas and drove down to be with Brenna for her baptism. Jeffrey's parents also came down. We had a nice dinner at my parents house with Kyle and Donna, Craig and Lennie, my parents and Father Lou prior to the baptism. Our Christmas break was quick, as Jeffrey had practice. We drove to ALliance and spent two nights there and then drove back. It was nice to spend time with my parents, but that much driving with two little ones was hard!

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...

Full of Spunk!

Bryell is growing so fast! She has learned so many words. Here is a list of her 'regular' ones:
mommy
daddy
puppy
kitty
juice
thank you
'here you go'
tree
shoe
boo
no
mine
don't
stop
teeth
bath
binky
ball
spot
stuck
meow
woof-woof
baaa (like a sheep)
cookie
beep-beep
poop
potty
stinky
down

When she has smelly diapers she pinches her knows and tells us, "stinky." She is beginning to get more and more interested in her potty and likes to practice sitting on it.

She definitely is not afraid to tell you whats up. She was sitting by Jeff a few nights ago and then decided to go play. I took her spot while she was gone and she came and yelled, "spot! bad mommy!' She is beginning to become quite controlling of her spot!!

Christmas was really fun, but it flew by! We spent two days with Jeffrey's family and two days with mine. Bryell discovered that she loved opening presents and seemed to open everyone's for them! :) She also learned that there was something in the box after she unwrapped it so would stand and wait for us to get whatever was inside the box out so she could check it out before she moved on to the next gift. Here are some pictures from it. The last picture is Bryell on a rocking horse that my Grandpa made for my brother!

A Sad Update

It has been an extremely rough few months. At the end of October we found out we had a miscarriage. It was so terrible, by far the worst thing we have ever gone through and something we would never wish on anyone. Not a day goes by that I don’t think of my baby, that I don’t replay everything and try to figure out what could have went wrong. All the doctors tell me that it is not my fault. As much as I want to believe them, I still can’t stop blaming myself.
I get so sad when I read facebook statuses about being pregnant. I know we are supposed to be excited for them, and that I am, but it also brings back the memory of what I had, and of what I lost. I have had people come up to me and tell me that I’m lucky that I was so early in my pregnancy. I guess unless you experience it, you never really understand. I was so attached to that baby already. Whether you are a few days pregnant, or a few months pregnant, you love them just them same. That baby I had inside me, it was a baby, and it was OUR baby.
Every day I cherish Bryell more and more. I truly know now how much of a miracle she was. I know that God planned for us to have her in our life. Whenever I begin to feel sad, I go to her and give her a great big hug. I am so blessed to have her with me in this life and I know God is so blessed to have our other baby with him to love, hold, and take care of.

"Daddy please don't look so sad, Mama please don't cry. Cause I'm in the arms of Jesus and he sings me lullabies. Please try not to question God, don't think he is unkind. Don't think he sent me to you and then changed his mind. You see I'm a special child, I am needed up above. I'm the special gift you gave Him, a product of your love. I'll always be there with you, so watch the sky at night. Look for the brightest star and know that's my halo's brilliant light. You'll see me in the morning frost that mists your window pane. That's me in the summer showers, I'll be dancing in the rain. When you feel a gentle breeze from a gentle wind that blows. Know that it's me planting a kiss upon your nose. When you see a child playing and your heart feels a tug, Don't be sad Mommy, that's just me giving your heart a hug. So Daddy don't looks so sad and Mama please don't cry. I'm in the arms of Jesus and he sings me lullabies!"----- I still wonder who you be today. Would you have look like your Father or would you look like me? Even though I never got a chance to hold you or kiss you, I still love you to this day!!

Time sure flies when you're having fun!

Well our updates have been horrible! Our computer has taken a turn for the worse, so until we can get it fixed, we are borrowing computers!

Bryell is just about 18 months old and is so smart! She knows how to say and do so much! Her favorite word of course is NO and boy does she say it a lot! She is successfuly signing to us and is now converting some the the signing to words. She tells us please, thank you, and juice with her words. Her vocabulary is getting quite large and she is so curious about the names of things around her. She brings us things and says 'here you go.' We can tell her things and she understands us. She loves helping out around the house. She took a load of her dirty clothes clear across the house and put them in the dryer. :) If we ask her to go get something, she will go get it, or take things to different places. She is definitely a drama queen in the making. A few days ago we were almost late to work because Bryell wanted to wear her pink boots and of course, we could only find one. We ran all over the house looking for it while she said 'boot, boot, boot.' the whole time. We never found it and it took some seriously consoling as we put on another pair of shoes.

As of 17 months, Bryell was 32 inches tall, and 21.3 pounds. As of today, she is wearing 12 month onesies, 18 month pants, and size 3-3.5 shoes.

Bryell has a lamb that she drags around with her everywhere. She sleeps with it and as a comfort thing, she sticks the ear in her eye. There is lots of drama when it is time for it to be washed.

July Came and Went!

Where has summer gone?! We have been so busy that it seems as though summer hasn't started! Here is our July in a nutshell:

We started the month off with Bryell taking her first steps on her own. July 3rd she started the 2-5 steps at a time thing. We were pretty sure it was going to be our anniversary present from her- her walking on her own! On the 4th, we had our friends Tom and Autumn and their four children over for lunch. We grilled hotdogs and hamburgers- it was definitely the fullest our house has ever been! But it was a lot of fun. We took off on the 5th to Salt Lake City for a few days. While in SLC we went to the zoo. Anything big Bryell could see and loved but the smaller animals did not interest her. Oh, except the cat! She LOVED the cat! That was the first time we heard her say 'kitty-cat' and 'm-ow.' It was pretty adorable. We stayed next to the cat for a while so she could admire it and talk to it.







Other that that, we laid pretty low, we went and played at the park and went for walks.


On our way home we went through Ogden so we could take Bryell to the Treehouse Museum. It is such a great museum. Bryell was the most impressed with a bridge there and crawled back and forth over it for quite a while.







When we got back from Salt Lake City, we decided to head back home for a week. We stayed three days at my parent's house and three days at Jeffrey's parents house. While in Alliance, I went golfing for the first time in a long time- it was a lot of fun, I have definitely missed it.




While in Lingle, Jeffrey, his brothers, his dad, his Grandma, Brecken, and Trevor all went golfing. Bryell and I rode along and played on the greens.




After getting home from Lingle, my parents came up to visit for a few days. Jeff and my dad went golfing at a golf course outside of Park City that my dad has been talking about forever. They said the course was amazing! I also got to go golfing with them on the next day in Kemmerer- always a fun time. While my parents were here we had a first. Bryell, who still wasn't walking more then 5 steps at a time, would go up to my dad, grab his hand and take off walking. They walked EVERYWHERE together!





My parents left, we spent two days up at school and then took part in the annual softball tournament. We play on Heidi's team. It is her family's team, but she is nice enough to invite us to play with them every year and we have a blast! We were the consolation champions this year! After the tournament, Heidi had a barbecue at her house. We went over and ended up staying quite a while. We were all pretty into a game and Bryell was just playing on her own. We turn around and she had walked completely across the room! On her own! Thus the start of her walking!

We had one day between the tournament and leaving for California to see Kyle and Donna. On the way to California we drove about 7 hours then stayed the night. We took off the next morning and got to Kyle and Donna's about 2pm. It was so great to see them and get to know Dylan- who is absolutely adorable!





We hung out and laid low there. Dylan is only two weeks old, I couldn't believe Kyle and Donna were so spirited! The lack of sleep hadn't gotten to them at all! They were so happy and it was so fun to get to spend some time with them- the time is few and far between since we live so far apart from each other.


While there, Bryell got to go swimming at an amazing pool!



She also realized how alike her and the puppy were :)






I also got to see my cousin, Jessica! She lives about 10 miles from Kyle and Donna. We went up to their house for dinner. It had been a LONG time since I had seen her. She hasn't met Jeffrey, I haven't met her husband. We spent a few hours there catching up. Although I brought a camera, I didn't take any pictures :(

We left for home on Saturday. We decided to drive straight through. Thirteen hours straight of driving! And can I say, that Bryell was an absolute ROCK STAR!

The rest of the week we have spent catching up on our sleep before school starts. We have laid low, slowly going up to school getting things ready...

School starts on Wednesday. Our summer will officially be over. I'm not sure when it started....


Here are some random pictures from this summer...