Counting with the Browns:

1. bed made all nice and neat that needs to be made.

2. loads of laundry waiting to be put away.

3. hours until our weekend starts.

4. days of school for Jeremy each week.

5. aprons, rarely worn, hanging on the wall.

6. running/congested nostrils. 

7. hours of peaceful sleep for us most nights.

8. yard sales on our list to visit tomorrow. 

9. cards waiting to be mailed.

10. pounds of baby weight still hanging around. 

11. pair of pants that won't stay on Itty Bittys tiny little body. 

12. unorganized clothing drawers in our home. 

13. hair bows and flowers that go unworn.

14. inches I wish I didn't cut off my hair.

15. meals eaten as a family each week.

16. miles to school each day. 

17. or more carrots eaten each day.

18. hours of sleep a day (by Scott).

19. plus one freezing toes.

20. days until Portland. 

21. School days before Jeremy's summer break. 

There is a first time for everything. We tried a few new things today...

1. Kale chips, they were super good.

2. Sleeping until after noon with my baby.

3. Realizing our sliding glass door was left unlocked all weekend long, while we were gone.

4. Locking ourselves out of the house. 

We were invited to dinner at our bishops house tonight. When we left Jeremy took Scott out while I found a sweatshirt so I locked the door behind me (knowing he was already in the car, with the keys). 

At about 830 we get out of the car at home and Jeremy realizes he grabbed the wrong car keys, the ones without the house keys.

After some thinking and trying to break in (if only we hadn't realized the sliding glass door was unlocked early and locked it) we decided we needed to call a lock smith or go to a hotel until our rental office opened. We decided to call the locksmith, we were back in our cozy little home by 9:10.

1. Today was a beautiful day. We went for a walk around the neighborhood then came home put on shorts and opened all the doors and windows.
2. I'm slightly disappointed in the birth announcements I ordered.

3. This kid likes to stop breathing while he is sleeping. Oh and he makes these goofy little noises. I noticed it one night and kind of freaked out on Jeremy. He got out all our books and read that it was normal, so I put it on our list (it was the only thing on the list) of things to ask the pediatrician at our appointment. Well while my parents were here for his blessing they both noticed it (at separate times) and said he does it more than any baby they had ever seen (and they have seen lots) and they were worried about it. So the next morning at our appointment I asked our doctor. He watched Scott sleep for a while and called it periodic breathing and said it was completely normal and not to worry until he stopped breathing for 20-30 seconds or turned blue. Well my mom was still worried, especially if those things were to happen at night and helped us find this monitor. He really doesn.t mind it, even though this picture would tell you different... Anyway it vibrates after fifteen seconds of him not breathing to rouse him, and if he doesn't breath for five more seconds it starts alarming like crazy! We haven't gotten the alarm yet, but it has buzzed a few times. It is kinda of a cool little gadget.
4. I really need to pack for our little weekend trip.
5. Scott also thinks it really cool and cute to be wide awake at night, when we should all be sleeping. He does his normal, sleep, eat, get changed, be wide awake for a little while thing all day long. But in the evenings he forgets the wide awake part and just goes back to the sleeping part, same with the late mornings. Because when bed time comes (between 10pm-1am, depending on his feedings) and he is wide awake for at least to an hour, during this time he expects to be talked to, with the lights on, he prefers to be laying on our bed with both of us there talking and playing. And then when he finally goes to sleep he wakes up between 2 and 5 he wants to be changed and feed then held and sung too and that can take up to an hour to get him back to sleep. Not every night is like this, but the past few nights have been pretty bad. But he is pretty dang cute, regardless of what time it is and how tired we are.

Blessing Day

Scott was bless on March 4th

I realize now I forgot to take a picture of Scott in his outfit, I think we will be playing dress up this week.

Brown Family

Gma Brown, Great Gma Tavey, Scott, Great Gma Baker, Gma Baker

Gpa Brown, Great Gpa Baker, Scott, Gpa Baker, Great Gpa Tavey

Gpa Brown, Scott, Jeremy, Uncle Justin

Uncle Dakota, Aunt Shelby, Scott, Gpa Baker, Uncle Robert

It was a beautiful and perfect day. After church all our family came over for lunch.

I really need to get better at taking more pictures.

Welcome Scott.

Our birth story, hopefully without too much detail. 

On Sunday, February 12th, while at church I started noticing signs of early labor. I couldn't sit still, I spent most of sharing time out in the hall and in my class room doing whatever I could think of because I just couldn't handle sitting for that long, I needed to be doing something. I was having irregular contractions and getting antsy.

Sunday evening contractions kept coming, same with all day Monday and on Tuesday. 

On Tuesday I had a weird feeling. I don't know how to explain what I was feeling but it was a feeling of being ready. Jeremy and I went to Michael's when he got home from school and we walked and walked. When we got back in the car we just sat for a minute, unsure of what to do, it was the day before Valentines so we decided an early Valentines dinner was necessary (neither of us wanted to make dinner and I had a feeling of now or never if we were going to do something).

...

I had spent the last month asking the baby when he was going to come, not really asking him to come but when. I just wanted to know when! Well around that time my belly button turned into the shape of heart, telling me he was coming on Valentines day. When I sent Kelly a picture she agreed. Jeremy said it wasn't possible and kept saying even while we were sitting in triage. He said the baby couldn't come until Thursday because he had midterms.

...

While sitting at Red Robin eating my half of our Burnin' Love Burger, my contractions kept coming and getting a hair stronger. I started timing them just for fun but they were still super irregular anywhere from 6 to 30 minutes apart. After we got home they started to settle down and come less often, I was a little bit disappointed.

At 6:01am on Valentines day (the day Jeremy had a biggish midterm) I woke up with this strange pain and feeling of having to pee (too much information?...it might get worse).  I thought to my self, I've never had to pee so bad that it hurt like this, weird! Well after relieving my bladder and crawling back into bed, my belly growled, then the pain came back. I looked at my phone, it was 6:06. I realized then that it was contractions.

I got out of bed opened my contraction timer app and went to poor myself some cheerios. I sat in the lovesac for an hour timing my contractions. 

6:09. 6:16. 6:28. 6:31. 6:35. 6:40. 6:50. 6:55. 6:59. 7:05.
They were still irregular, our doctor told us when contractions were happening every 5 minutes to go to the hospital, but I decided it was still time to wake up Jeremy. He uttered the words, "It's not Thursday yet, he can't come," and fell back asleep. I told him that this kid didn't care what day it was and I was getting in the shower. 

I sent my Momma a text message telling her it might be the day. And before I got in the shower I had a phone call from her, she told me not to wait very long before going to the hospital because with my brother Bryce (her first pregnancy which she says was a lot like mine) she didn't realize she was having as many contractions as she was and within four hours of getting to the hospital and just minutes of her water breaking he was born. That made me a little bit excited.

After showering and making my hair all cute and junk, I finished packing the last essentials in our go bag while Jeremy called the BirthPlace. They told us that my doctor was the doctor on call but to call her office and tell them my situation to see if I should go in. That was a mess and a half, the answering service (they weren't open yet) said that I didn't need to call just to go into the BirthPlace, after patiently explaining to her that they told me to call she said she would have someone call me back. That lady told me to do what I wanted, no joke those were her words.

Jeremy really wanted to go take him midterm at 10:00 but I didn't want him to leave me at home, espcially after what my mom told me. So he emailed his teacher and went to the BirthPlace. We checked in at 9:14. 

Our nurse Siri (one of my favorite people while at the hospital) hooked us up to monitors and checked me. I was still only dialated to 1cm and 70%, which is what I was at my appointment the week before. But she told us to sit and wait for the doctor. At one point Siri came in and told us that normally they would sent people in my situation home to labor, but the baby's heartbeat was dropping with contractions they might want to watch me on monitors for a while longer. Well it was almost noon before my Doctor got in to check me and I was 3cm and 90%. Which is good progress and because the baby's heartbeat was dropping they were going admit me. And she wanted to break my water. My nurse kindly reminded her that we were still in the triage room and that she should wait a while, thank you Siri!

Siri quickly moved us into room 5 and put me on wireless monitors, asked us questions about our birth plan (pretty simple: as natural as possible, skin to skin and breast feeding) then she left us with orders to walk the halls and nap.

At 2:00 she came in and said that she had been covering the whole floor and as much as she liked us we were her newest patient and needed to turn us over to a new nurse, MaryJane (not my favorite person). MaryJane was very pro natural birth, which was good for us, but she was very...IN YOUR FACE...and that really annoyed me. I got very frustrated with her on multiple occasions (not sure if that was obvious) and really just started to ignore her all together. While she was telling us about all these things she wanted us to do, my mom and Jeremy's parents walked in, with lunch! 

We ate our sandwiches and started walking and walking.

The next seven hours were pretty uneventful, I talked to my sisters on the phone, walked, watched tv, drank a milkshake, walked some more, played SkipBo, got a saline lock, rested and drank lots of water and they kept watching baby's heartrate.

At 7:00pm my Doctor came in (as her shift was ending) and checked me, I was at about 5cm and gave me four options.
1. Break my water (obviously her favorite option).

2. Give me morphine and let me sleep all night.

3. Let me sit and simmer.

4. Start pitocin.

I was all alone in my room when she came in and felt very overwhelmed with the options. I asked the few questions I could think of and I went with the break my water option because it was the one my doctor most strongly suggested.

Right after my new nurse Edi came in and introduced herself. My mom asked her for a birthing ball for me and I started those exercises. About an hour later things started getting very painful. I got in the bath (which did not bring the kind of relief I was hoping for). I was miserable and I stopped watching the clock. I laid in bed for most rest of the night, squeezing Jeremy's hand with contractions, vomiting from pain and eventually buzzing nurse for pain medicine. She put something in my IV and it helped me sleep between contractions. I was getting very tired and grumpy. I asked for medicine two more times, I was checked twice more and at midnight my dad got there, I was happy to see him. 

At around 3:30am I started begging for an epidural, I think everyone was ready for me to have one. Jeremy was falling asleep and I think was sick of me yelping for his hand every three minutes. And lets be honest I wasn't being super nice to everyone around me. I hadn't really slept in almost 22 hours and I just wanted to sleep and pee (the baby was in a position that was keeping me from relieving my bladder and after trying 6 different attempts to pee I still couldn't!)and hold my baby. My mom asked the nurse to check me before I got the epidural (know that I wanted a natural birth and still did even though I was dying), I was only a (small) 7 and it was hard to say how much longer it would take because I wasn't dilating as quickly as they would like. 

after the epidural...

At about 4am the anastegialongist came in (another one of my favorite people at the hospital, not just because he had the good drugs). He told me I had a slight curve in my spine and my cartilage was ridiculously thick. It took him two tries to get it in a spot he liked (my IV took two tries as well). And I fell asleep during the process, while sitting up trying not to move. When the medicine finally kicked in I had a window in my left hip so they had me sleep on it. The window never really went away, but I felt so much better so it was ALL worth it. 

At six my new nurse, Krista (another one of my favorite people) came in and told us that my contractions had slowed to about every 8 minutes while I was sleeping that the doctor was probably going to want to start pitocin. And she did. Krista said something about a c section, which I ignored and around that time pitocin had to be stopped because the baby's heart rate was dropping more than before. Around 9:30ish the Doctor on call came in and checked me I was a 9.5 and she said I could probably start pushing in the next half hour. And I did.

When I had been pushing for about an hour the Doctor came back in to see how I was progressing. And she was not pleased. She told me I had less than an hour to get the kid bellow my pelvic bone or else she would try once to help him and then it was c section time. Krista looked at me with her sweet little face and said as politely as she could she said something like: Lady, get mean and get this kid out or I'll just call the Doctor back in and we will prep for a c section now. A c section was no where in our spectrum of acceptable or ideal, so Jeremy told me to get serious, as if I wasn't! Come on people...

Krista went and got the squatting bar and had me stand up and push for a while. After about 15 minutes she called the doctor in and it was go time! Dr. Brooks was shocked! She really didn't think I could do it. She ended up having to use vacuum extraction, resulting in a fourth degree tear (too much? oh well.) At 11:50am Scott Tanner Brown was born weighing 7lbs 13oz and 19.5 inches long. 

first bath

he really liked it

I'm sad that we didn't get more pictures of this board as it changed.  My dad kept writing on it (Come on Scotty Boy!) The 22 was Ken's guess on how long Scott would be and he wrong but felt like he still needed to win.

Cute hair Jeremy

Car Seat test before going home. :D

 I appologize for the lack of pictures in this post. I wish we had taken more throughout the whole process...well at certain times during the process...

This picture was taken a few days ago but I think it sums up perfectly how our little buddy feels today.

 

It is safe to say that today was a pretty rough day in our house.

At around 3am Scott woke up hungry (totally normal) and my head was pounding and pulsating (not sure thats a word to describe head aches, but that is how it felt) with the head aches I have experienced since Scott was three days old. It had been a few days since I had had one so I was hoping they were gone for good, no such luck. Luckily after feeding him and going back to sleep it went away. 

Yesterday Scott's belly button started bleeding, which we read was normal so we weren't worried, we just kept cleaning it the way his doctor told us to. Until this morning, it started to smell. I was hoping it would fall off before his doctors appointment today so he could get a real bath before his appointment, but it didn't.

So when Jeremy got home from school we gave Scott a sponge bath, he HATES sponge baths. He loves being naked but hates water, don't know where he got that.

Then we went to the doctor. It was circumcision day.

Good new first: Scott gained almost a pound since his last appointment he was 8lbs 1oz, he is above to his birth weight! And in the 30th percentile.

As soon as we got him naked and weighed he started getting mad, I think he new what was coming.

The doctor came in and asked if we had any questions and went over the things that can go wrong. Talk about trying to worry someone to death...obviously there are risks with everything, there is probably a reason they had Jeremy read the paper and sign it and not me.

After about a half hour the doctor came out and told his that everything went really well and he did great, but he did bleed a little bit at the end. :/ 

Then the doctor happily told us that he cleaned up his belly button for us and it fell off! So glad I didn't have to deal with it when it fell off. They have always grossed me out beyond belief. 

When the nurse brought him out to us he was not happy, not even a little bit. He wasn't crying but you could tell he was sad. He just wanted to cuddle and did not want the nurse or doctor to open his diaper again. He just wanted to be left alone.

After the 15 minute wait for the bleeding check and getting all the instructions we put Scott back in his car seat and luckily this babe loves his car seat. Once we were in the car he just settled right down (until the first stop light...).

 I think Jeremy feels like the worst dad in the world. He was almost in tears hearing his crying at stop lights and said he is not sure he can have any of our future sons circumcised.

When we got home he took him out of his car seat and cuddled up on the lovesac with him. I tried to take Scott so Jeremy could eat dinner and he wouldn't let me. Jeremy said Scott needed some serious manly love. And I think it is true, he gets frustrated with me and cries and cries (Scott doesn't cry a lot, only when he is super hungry, or really doesn't want his diaper changed, he is a good baby).

So here is to hoping the next few days go by very quickly and little guy heals quickly. I realize that one day he won't appreciate me writing about his circumcision online for the whole world to read, but hey it's kinda our journal when I forget to write in our real one).

Scott has just been doing okay. He is taking his medicine really well (I can't blame him). He has been sleeping since we got home, and when he isn't he fakes it, he just doesn't want to be bothered. When we wake him up to eat he just cries and doesn't want anything to do with me, until he realizes he is kinda hungry then he will eat, but goes right back to sleep.

Things to remember for our next son: have the circumcision done in the hospital when he is itty bitty itty bitty (the birth place I delivered at charges an extra 200 dollars for the surgical tray so pediatricians refuse to do it there). And we would have done it earlier if his insurance didn't take so long to get straightened out.

Because no one wants to remember our baby as sad, here is a picture of little bear from last night when he was much, much happier than he is tonight.

Did you know that if our neighbor was one the FBIs top 10 wanted fugitives we would have no idea? We honestly have no idea what is going on the world. We know that the super bowl is coming up, only because of commercials on hulu, status updates on facebook, and grocery store displays. When it comes to current events and news we are completely clueless. In the check out line at the grocery store today we were surprised to hear about a cruise ship sinking over two weeks ago? Had NO idea. We really do live in our own little world up here, and we both kinda like it. It makes the world seem like a happier place and we can't complain about that.

We are working on squeezing in some dates before baby gets here and are hoping to make it to the temple this week. 

I was hoping to post pictures of the nursery today, but they will have to wait until later this week. I am very happy to say that it almost done. All we have left to do is hang pictures and put batteries in the swing and bouncy seat and we will be 100% ready for this baby.
I'm excited to go to my doctors appointment on Thursday and see what she has to say. Tomorrow I will officially be 37 weeks aka full term. But this whole five week span of being considered full term is kinda starting to kill me, the idea that this kid could be inside me for over another month is horrifying. I am so ready to hold my little guy and cuddle him and kiss him and stare at him! His closet is full of adorable clothes, his bed (both of them) is made, his swing, stroller and bouncy seat are assembled, his car seat is sitting by the door waiting till the last minute to be installed, his diaper bag is packed and he has more clothes, blankets, hats, mittens and socks in our "Go Bag" than Jeremy and I have (of everything) combined. My goodness come on baby!
I have been growing increasingly uncomfortable. It has gotten easier to breath but my hips and back ache. Sleeping at night doesn't really happen for me. I'll be tired and fall asleep around midnight and wake up sometime between three and six wide eyed and bushy tailed. Sometimes ridiculously hungry (it usually hits a while after I wake up), with a full bladder, hot and sweaty and feeling nauseous. Sometimes I wonder if I am going to die, okay not really, but it is miserable. My best sleep comes from my "morning" nap from around 8 or 10 until noonish, which makes me feel so lazy and like I do NOTHING all day. Jeremy usually gets home around the time I am finishing getting dressed and doing my hair for the day. I wear yoga pants as my every day attire, even when we go places...only because I am too lazy to put on jeans and tennis shoes have been a lot more comfortable lately and they look silly with boot cut jeans. I am running out of shirts that cover my belly completely and I now have six stretch marks, each about 1.5" long on my lower belly, three on each side. None of these are among my proudest moments. I was a little bit excited for my first stretch mark, just so I could say I had one, but then more showed up and all the excitement fled. Completely.
I have had a few contractions over the last week, usually a couple each night, but nothing too exciting. Braxton hicks contractions seem to be happening all day, every day. My hips are spreading, and so are my feet. My gums are grossly sensitive (it just started this week, probably because I have had a stuffy nose and sleeping with my mouth open). I only weight about ten pounds less than my husband. I have cleaned a good portion of our house in the passed couple days and I am growing impatient. All signs that this baby better will be here soon. Get excited people, there are only 22 days until his due date!

One a more important (to some people) note: Star Wars Episode I in 3D comes out in TEN days!

Holy smokes people! I just thought I should share, it has been a common topic in our house lately. Jeremy's biggest concern: "What if baby comes before we get to see it?!" My biggest concern..."What if he doesn't?" Just kidding, I'm a little bit excited for it too. But really if I am that pregnant at a movie can I sit for that long (I couldn't even sit at church the other day I had to stand/walk the whole time)? I guess we will have to wait and see.

Is anyone still playing our name guessing game? If you are, and you haven't figured it out yet let me give you some hints...

-It is a boy name-
-It's not a family name, as far as we know-
-Jeremy picked it-
-It is not from Star Wars-
-It is five letters long-
-It starts with a consonant-
-That consonant is S-
-There is only one vowel- 

Eleven months ago today we were married in the Oakland Temple for time and all eternity. It's crazy to think that in a month it'll be a full year! And that we will most likely be celebrating it with our baby boy. 

This evening we went to Sportsmens Warehouse to look for an antler mounting kit, they really need more options, I think we decided to create our own mounting technique. Then we went to Costco, mostly for the exercise, after wondering the electronics for 30+ minutes we remembered we needed light bulbs, we got a CRAZY good deal on them by the way. Energy efficient vanity bulbs for 1.99 for a box of 4! We were a little bit excited and we are hoping it helps with our electric bill.

Baby update:

At my doctors appointment yesterday baby had a heart beat of 130.

I had a weight gain of 1.

My blood pressure was, in the nurses words, "just perfect like usual".

And as of today we have exactly four weeks until this babe is due.

As we started a new (old) season of the Biggest Loser on Hulu today, we realized that baby could be here before we finish it, crazy!

I am excited! Jeremy is getting nervous.

Today I noticed it was a little bit easier to breath and my ribs didn't hurt nearly as much, I'm thinking this baby is getting ready to come, I know it could still be weeks and should be at least another one. 

I feel a lot more movements around my hips (which is VERY different) and there have been sore lately. All good things from what I understand.

Oh! and you know how I was saying I hadn't felt the baby have hiccups? Well I was talking to Jeremy and he was like "I feel them every morning, while your still asleep and I've never been able to figure our what they are!" Well since then I have felt them. It is kinda cool. 

I am still crazy tired. All the time, except when I should be... and I have started craving sweets more, not such a good thing.

and the count down continues...

With only 40 days until our due date:

I am extremely tired. every. single. day.

I am hungry all the time. I heard that was supposed to go away toward the end of pregnancy, nope. Not for me. It has gotten worse.

I want cake. I think about it constantly, I don't think I have eaten any since I have been pregnant, weird. (lies, at my parents anniversary party but that was before I knew I was pregnant). 

I had to sleep on the lovesac last night. Killer heartburn. The worst I have ever had. I think it was from the spicy cup of noodles I had for lunch.

My back kills. Almost every day.
I don't appreciate whoever decided to put the seat adjusters in cars just out of reach of pregnant ladies. Not funny, if you thought it would be.

I woke up on Sunday with what I thought was pink eye, Jeremy disagreed. But since then my eyeball gets red and goopey. I don't know what it is but it is almost gone, I'm not worried.

This week I went to a breastfeeding class. I dreaded going (it was a WIC thing, sometimes those people are too nice and get on my nerves...wow I sound like a horrible person) it started at 10am (which some days seems way early than it should) and Jeremy's school started at 1030 twenty miles away and we only had one car...more on that later... Anyway I am so glad I went I learned so much, she talked a lot about stuff I had already read but wasn't sure about and it really helped clear somethings up. I do wish Jeremy was able to go though. She also talked a lot about birth.

I started off the week working a lot on the nursery. Now I have two half finished (okay, more like quarter finished) projects on the living room and dining room floor. And Jeremy has one. I am really trying to get the energy (and flexibility, oh how I miss being able to reach stuff and bend over, I know those thing won't come back until the baby comes...) to finish.  Our new goal for a finished nursery is February 1st (our original goal really wasn't attainable, let's be honest). 

I still love being pregnant. Even though this post may not seem like it. Baby boy is as wiggly as ever. I don't think I have ever felt him have the hiccups...is that normal? I thought about that the other day when I read that someone loved feeling their baby's hiccups. Maybe he hasn't gotten them or he gets them while I sleep? Or maybe I just don't notice. 

I still get a lot of kicks in the ribs and some random punches in my sides and the rolley polley feeling I have gotten so used too. My favorite is when he pushes out on my belly and stretches and I can feel his tiny body parts. And when he tries to bump something off my belly...like a computer or book. But oh man am I ready to hold my itty-bitty baby and cuddle with him and kiss him.

Jeremy's started school back up this week. He is really enjoying it. His schedule is a million times better compared to last quarter. That should help with the job search. (Both of his seasonal jobs ended, by the way).

The next item I need to speak to you about: the first snow of the year. It is supposed to happen this weekend. Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday actually. I'm a smiggin more than excited. As much as I hate snow we need it to complete our Family Bucket list for this month. Snow that close to my baby shower makes us a little bit nervous, but the moutain roads should be cleared by then so no need to fret. And I am so excited for this weekend because I'll finally be able to wear my rain boots!...and not just for fun! And I am really excited about my baby shower!

Jeremy is sick. He even said it. He tried to cover up that he said the words "I'm sick" but he couldn't. He just has a little head cold, and he says he feels just fine. But being around sick people makes me miserable, I get grumpy. The sniffles and nose blowing...hopefully he starts feeling better soon.

So back to the one car thing...Some days I hate modern transportation, well not really. I do enjoy having a easy and convenient way to get anywhere and everywhere I want, whenever I want...a lot. But I was getting pretty close to the feelings of hatred when Jeremy got home on Tuesday. Jeremy almost always takes the corolla to school, it just gets a little bit better gas mileage and he says the Jetta is safer for me and baby. Well on Tuesday he was coming home from school and the "check engine" light came on. Then it died on him. Twice. He made it home safe but it was still idling funny. 

A small piece of information: as long as I have had the corolla it has made this goofy noise. My dad had it looked at once and the guy said it was nothing. I have to give a warning to everyone when they go to drive my car and explain it to everyone who hears it because naturally when you hear a friends car making a weird noise you worry.

Anyway on Wednesday morning he took it to the mechanic down the road and he told us that one of the cylinders wasn't working, our battery failed the test, our transmission needed to be flushed and...there was something else. And that it wouldn't be done until Thursday afternoon. Fantastic! Anyway now we have our corolla back. In one piece. And it works. It still makes that goofy noise, for those of you wondering.

My next doctors appointment is on Tuesday and I start going weekly after that. Crazy. I am getting so excited! I really wish these next six weeks would just hurry up already!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!

We are excited for this year! Mostly because baby comes this year!...actually next month, crazy huh?

We aren't up to much these days...

Our Christmas stuff is mostly put away (we had to leave town in a bit of a hurry so some of the mess was saved for another day).

Jeremy's school starts next week...this time next year he will be starting (hopefully) the last semester of his bachelors degree, I'm excited.

At my doctors appointment last week all was well, he is head down and kicking my ribs more often than he was a few weeks ago...we tour the hospitals birthing center this Saturday and the nursery will hopefully be done by the end of the month. Fingers crossed. (We can hope right?) 

Speaking of Baby...Only...

On a side note...for those of you who don't know baby's name yet {okay so we aren't so good at the whole secret thing...} here is your new clue.

-It is a boy name-

-It's not a family name, as far as we know-

-Jeremy picked it-

-It is not from Star Wars-

-It starts with a consonant-

-That consonant is S-

PS a Christmas post might be on the way...if you do ever get to see one it'll be picture-less. 

Happy Winter Solstice!

I apologize for the lack of posts lately. Let me catch you all up. 

We have spent almost every weekend in Redding this month. Just quick trips, some less than 24 hours.

(so if you are wondering why you haven't seen us that is why. Between the planned activities and Jeremy's work schedule we are constantly in the car driving up and down I5. Good news is the trip seems shorter every time, bad news is we are getting very sick of the drive) 

I cut all my hair off! Still getting used to it, but I think I like it. 

{Thank you Jene for working on a Saturday, just for us. Your the BEST.}

We helped at my moms work Christmas Party. 

We chased my parents cat and dog around until we could get this elf hat on them. They enjoyed it, don't let them fool you. We watched Phoebe, my parents polish chicken, try and work herself up the pecking order.

Then we went and watched Amanda's kids for a few hours, it was so fun. We missed them all (and still do), totally worth the extra 3 hours in the car.

The next weekend we hurried to Redding after my Glucose test to see Mannheim Steamroller with Jeremy's parents. It was fun. 

I don't know why people complain about the glucose test so much, I really didn't mind it, and would do it again. They did tell me I am slightly anemic, but other than that I am as healthy as can be.

On Sunday Jeremy had to work. So I went to church by myself. Again.

I was supposed to be teaching the four and five year olds but they really needed me to teach the seven year olds, completely different lesson. So they got a mash up of the two lessons.

Jeremy has worked everyday for the passed two weeks (almost three) which is really good but he is getting tired. On Tuesday I managed to get him back out of the house to go look at Christmas lights with me. And we were very disappointed with the people of Southern Oregon. Jacksonville was beautiful but other than that there were hardly any light, even after visiting most of our surrounding cities.

Our Christmas plans are kinda still up in the air, weather permitting. And Jeremy works Christmas Eve and the 26th.

But we should be spending it with all our family.

We've been working on the baby's room more, I am so ready for it to be done! uhg, I feel so unorganized! As soon as it is all done we will share pictures.

Anything else we have done doesn't stand out in my mind, oh well.

We wish you all the very best this holiday season!

Random facts about two other things happened today:

The first snow of December 2011 happened last night. I missed it, Jeremy witnessed it. As soon as he told me (after he left this morning) I ran to the window, and there was none. Tragic. 

We learned that this guy graduated from SOU in 1993. Crazy Right? Ten years before Jeremy will.

With only 79 days until Baby is due I thought I'd give you another hint if you wish to guess his name.

New Hint: It is five letters long.

Old Hints:

It is a male name (not so gender neutral).

Not a family name, to the best of our knowledge.

Jeremy picked it.

Not StarWars related.

It starts with a consonant.

A series of events happened today that made me miss Redding.
one. There are 10 gazillion speed bumps in this city and I AM SICK OF IT! and I might have accidentally scraped the Jetta's bumper on a couple (it was an accident I promise, I was going so slow I though I wasn't going to make it over the speed bumps). But people is it really necessary to have 30 in one parking lot? I may exaggerate a lot but that was not even a little bit of an exaggeration.
two. I miss just about every store in Redding. Those of you who live in Redding and have had to shop in another city know what I am talking about. Lets take Target for example you walk into another city's Target and you think this place is backwards! Well really it is Reddings Target that is backwards, but every other store in Redding is to. But I like it that way, it makes since to my little dyslexic brain. You'd think being dyslexic would make this easier to just adjust, nope. It just makes it more confusing.
three. Living in the same city nearly my entire life resulted in me knowing what parts of town were the scary parts. Still learning where these parts are here...oh and for those of you who don't know I am a little more than slightly paranoid about creepy things.
four. Jeremy started a new job today, thankfully, one with a lot more hours, about the same as the hours he worked in Redding. I like that he has a big person job again, but now what am I supposed to do with my time? In Redding I could go visit Gma, my parents, cousins, go on walks with Dorothy, or sit with Holly, or go visit my favorite sister and her kids for the day but those people aren't here. So I walk through the mall, frequent thrift stores and...well that's it really. I know there are people here I can visit but it's not like going to Gmas and eating pretzels out of a jar.
five. Jene. Yes as in the lady who cuts our hair. We miss her. Terribly. Jeremy is in desperate need of a hair cut and my dead ends have been dead for far too long. {Oh on a side note, a little old lady confused me for Priscilla today and sat down and talked to me, at first I thought she might be one of the lady's in our ward but I remember faces pretty well and didn't recognize this one so I just pretended like I knew her, she sat down and started talking to me, then she realized I wasn't who she thought I was. She said because of my hair I look just like Priscilla, she even asked me if I knew who Priscilla was or if I had been confused for her before. Not the most awkward moment of my life.} Anyway we need to go visit Jene, she gave us a name of friend up here, but lets be honest I have issues just letting anybody cut my hair, I am not sure why, but I do.
I always loved Redding, I wasn't ever really one of those kids who said "I can't wait to get out of this town!" and now I know why...other cities just aren't the same, ya know?

PS I don't mean to sound like I hate this city. In fact there are a few things I really like about it.
one. No sales tax (well that is the whole state I guess).
two. We had an actual fall (Redding doesn't usually get one and I like that about Redding, but not so much while pregnant).
three. All the places I need to go are within a couple miles of my home and all near eachother (with the exception of winco).
four. The ratio of crazies seems to be a more reasonable number here.
five. Not as many bums and panhandlers here, from what I can tell.
six. There are antique stores EVERYWHERE!
seven. a lot of local businesses are closed on Sunday "to enjoy church and family".
eight. It is a pretty city, surrounded by a lot of pretty things.

Happy December!
A few things...
1. We both have callings in our ward.
Jeremy is the secretary in elders quorum.
And I teach CTR 4.
2. Jeremy's last week of school is this week and he is excited to be done.
3. The ward Christmas party is tonight and our house smells like home made rolls. Delicious :D
But I am getting frustrated, the arent rising like they should! Well they did them I put the, in the oven and they went flat. Dumb.
4. My red toms (my everyday shoes...aka my current favorites. My blue ones are bleach stained. And my elephant ones don't fit as nice and every time I wear them Jeremy steps on them and they are white...) have a whole I'm the toe. Tragic. But I have worn them almost everyday for a year.
5. Lastly I am getting larger...not horribly excited about that. I am dying to wrap up in a cocoon and sleep on my belly like I used to do. Also I am always tired. I could sleep all the time and as a result our house is becoming increasing messy.
6. This one is really the last one. We are working on the nursery, I'm excited to share pictures. Hopefully I remember.

I agree this picture is not the cutest. I blame Jeremy.

But really it could be the lighting, our lack of a half way decent camera, the Christmas tree, the missing mascara, or just me...

Nothing really has changed around here. This is Jeremy's last week of school before finals!

Yesterday was the official start of my third trimester. And with that came a few things. I'm pretty sure my belly pocked out an extra few inches, tiredness (there is a better word for that, I just can't think of it) and a little bit of occasional swelling of my lovely ankles (mostly just when I stand for long periods of time and it's not bad at all, thank goodness).

We ended up going to Redding for the Thanksgiving this year because Jeremy has to work at midnight and Portland just wasn't going to work out, bummer. It was still great though.
On Wednesday Jeremy worked for his parents a little bit and cleaned our head lights, we ate delicious food from Wilda's Grill (so good, you should go...the pastrami sandwich and fries are the bomb!) and then helped my mom put up Christmas stuff.
This morning I woke up right at nine to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, it was as perfect as ever (and so was my cinnamon toast crunch). Then we went to my parents house and had a delicious Thanksgiving dinner. Roasted turkey, roasted ham, smoked turkey (so good), rolls, mashed potatoes, gravy, candied yams, jello salad, stuffing, green bean casserole, coconut cream pie, pumpkin pie, some kinda of chocolate cake and minced meat pie (minus the meat). Although I only eat ham, turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy and rolls...I'm sure it was all perfect. It looked and smelled so good.
We had to leave right after dinner to make sure we could make it home for work tonight, but it was still great to spend time with family. Thankfully the weather was good while we traveling. We listened to Christmas music most of the way home (well, I heard it when I wasn't asleep). Do you know how nice the drive up I5 is when there are almost no cars? It is so wonderful!
I am excited to go shopping while Jeremy is patiently helping crazy, tired people all night long. Not that I am really buying anything but it's kinda necessary to go shopping on Black Friday to kick off the Christmas season. I love the crowds, the cold, the music, and the lines.
I am thankful for my handsome Husband, my healthy growing baby, and all our family and everything they do for us. And the time I had to spend with all of them.

OH! And I got dear antlers! There are my dads from one of his hunting trips to Montana, They need to be cleaned up but they will be so perfect for baby boys room...if you are wondering what the theme of his room is...I really don't know, I just hope it turns out. So far we have a Caribbean blue dress, dear antlers, an old oil can and...old picture frames. If you have ideas for my craziness let me know. That'd be FANTASTIC!

excuse the awkwardness of this picture, Candace asked for one so I took one real quick then never had Jeremy take a better one...

Baby/Nursery Update.
We are working on working on the baby's nursery. Yes as in we are trying to convince ourselves that it needs to get done, we only have 13 weeks before this babe is supposed to be here (holy...that is so soon! but we are excited).

To do list:
Finish Dresser (CHECK!) 
Paint Bookshelf 
Paint Cradle
Get a Crib...
Make bedding for Crib
Make bedding for Cradle
Clean out/organize Room (most of a CHECK!)
Decorate 
Print pictures for family tree wall {Total side note to my Mother in Law: Jeremy is supposed to ask you but never remembers, but either do I...I need a pictures of family when they were babies or little kids, can you help? Starting with Jeremy, you, Ken, Gma and Gpa Brown, Nana...people like that. Scanned copies would be great!...anything you can get me would be perfect, if you can't get them super young that is totally fine}.
Spray paint frames for family tree
Figure out what exactly I am doing with this "family tree wall..."
Find a picture of the temple I like to hang in nursery
Find fabric I like (the WORST task of all!)


I'm sure my list is a million and half times longer than this, but most of you probably don't care any way. I just started and couldn't stop.

I'm think something like this might end up in my childs room...creepy? I hope not.

The baby is still moving like crazy which makes us happy. I'm still sleeping pretty well, minus my limbs falling asleep and me waking up in pain. I crave mostly junk like onion rings, corn dogs, ice cream, milk shakes, pizza, bacon...I have actually only given in to the last two...mostly because we don't have the others. Oh and salsa, but I can't find salsa I like anymore. It all tastes to sweet, to tomatoey (sounds crazy I know) or isn't spicy enough...really I think I just need to go to Redding and eat at Puerto Vallarta or maybe Chevy's. Other than the occasional difficultly breathing and discomfort in my rib cage, we are doing very well. Some days I look a lot more pregnant than others, but I feel pregnant EVERYDAY. Also it is getting a little bit hard to get out of the Jetta.

I decided I should add a hint to make your job a little easier.
Hint: Yes Jeremy did pick a name, but no it is not a star wars name.

As much as he loves Star Wars I won't let him name our child after the movie or any character in it, or decorate our nursery in Star Wars...he thinks he has convinced me to dress baby up as Yoda next year for Halloween...We will see about that. Although I have only seen all the movies once (with the exception of episode one, I saw it with my cousins when it came out, and there is another one I have seen parts of before with my dad...but as you can see with my serious lack of knowledge on the series I don't even know which one it was...the rest is a hazy mess from our six episode marathon... I can't even keep the characters straight...and I have peg dolls (that I made) of them sitting in my entry way and I can't name them) so he could be tricking me into something.

Good Luck with your guessing.

ps. The people who already know guessed as well.

We have a name picked out.

I think we are keeping it a secret.

But if you would like to guess you are more than welcome to try.

Hints: 

It's not a family name. 

It's for sure a boy name. 

Jeremy picked the name.

(well I have always loved his first name but couldn't think of a middle name to go with it, so he actually picked it because I was leaning toward a different name.) 

Rules: 

If  by chance I already told you the name you can't guess.

Two important pieces of information.

Jeremy Brown is employed. 

Be excited. 

He went to training this morning and really liked it, it's only seasonal. But its a job!

And she is here. Who you ask?

 This thing. 

We left her in Redding when we moved hoping to sell it, but after four months decided she must love us to much to leave, and we missed her. And kinda need her now.

We met Jeremy's parents half way between houses yesterday for dinner and to pick her up.

It's safe to say Jeremy is glad she is here.

(Sometimes I think he worries more about his car than me, okay not really...but he would probably still send me through a car wash before his car.)