Morgan's Birthstory

Morgan Lotte Bryan – Wednesday, Dec. 11^th, 2013.  

Morgan’s birth story starts on Sunday, December 8^th when Opa and Oma fly in from the Netherlands: they hope to be here for her arrival!  Her due date was December 18^th so we were hoping to get them here on time (I had had many false labor contractions in the weeks before) to be able to watch Andi and Tristan for us when we would head to the hospital. Turns out the timing was right!

On the afternoon of Tuesday December 10^th I was starting to get a little antsy and decided to do a whole bunch of squats (an exercise I never do). No signs of labor yet other than that a little bit of my mucous plug came out (this never happened with Andi or Tristan so this was new to me!). December 10^th was also Oma’s birthday and that evening we went out to celebrate her 61^st at Texas Roadhouse. I ordered a full rack of ribs and remember thinking “this could get messy if I go into labor tomorrow!” (turns out it wasn’t a problem J ). That night, the annual Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show was on TV (something Ben and I watch together every year J) and while watching that with Oma and Ben I noticed I was having some mild contractions by the end of the show at 10pm. I went to bed but didn’t think much of them; they didn’t feel much different than earlier false labor contractions I had had that had stopped after about an hour.  In bed though they didn’t go away and got a little stronger and closer together.  Even though very sleepy I was not able to fall asleep. By 1:30 am I woke up Ben a little and told him that I had been having contractions for the last 3 hrs or so, but that I didn’t know if they were “it” or not so to just go back to sleep for now. By 2:30am I had been timing them for a while and they were about 40 seconds to 1 minute long and about 4 minutes apart but still I was not sure if it was labor or not. I am very indecisive you know!  Ben however was up at this point and showered and said he was heading into work because things had been extremely stressful right before Christmas and he had left some things open ended. I said “Honey, it is 2:30am and I may be in labor. You are not going to work.”.  J  I showered shortly after because some contractions had become painful and because a friend of mine had told me on Sunday at church that she was praying for a quick 6 hour labor….at that point I had been laboring for 4.5 hrs. In the shower though my contractions didn’t seem too horribly painful anymore so I went back to bed. Yes, yes, VERY indecisive mommy. While in bed I had a few pretty painful contractions and Ben says “We are going now, it is time. Wake up your parents and I will pack the car.” Good thing Ben knows me so well or we would have had a baby in the truck!   I wake up my parents to watch Andi and Tristan and we head for the hospital at about 3:15 am. In the truck my contractions are about 2 minutes apart and pretty darn painful. The drive is usually about 30 minutes but Ben is great at speeding J. We end up sitting in the ER for a while, huffing, puffing and squirming through my contractions and by 4 am I am in my hospital room.  They check me at about 4:15am and I am 4cms. To be honest I didn’t think that was very much! I seemed to be in a lot of pain already! Contractions get very intense and painful at this point and in the meantime I try to answer their seemingly endless health questionnaire and a nurse tries and tries to get an IV started: the 4^th time she finally got it, somewhat. Another nurse in the meantime tries to draw blood from the other arm which totally ends up failing; nothing comes out. This all does not add to my comfort level and meantime I am still trying my best to breathe through these darn awfully painful contractions. Shortly after that my water breaks and the nurse checks it and sees meconium in the amniotic fluid: baby girl pooped. This makes me panic a little as I know that is not a good thing! But, I pray over it. Our God is good! I am thankful I can put this at His feet and can focus on labor again.  The nurse checks me and I’m 8-9 cms. They wake up Dr. Jessica McCullough who is asleep in the hospital. At this point my whole body is shaking from all the intensity (4cm to 10 cm in less than 45 minutes). By the time I hear myself saying “I don’t want to do this” and think “I sure wonder what the experience with an epidural feels like!” I realize that I am in transition and I try to draw strength from that: the end is near! Ben is at the other side of the room at the foot of my bed mouthing me encouragements and this is perfect: he knows me so well. When I need I can look at him and re-focus. When it truly becomes unbearable I remember to pray through my contractions and that never fails. Shortly after I get the urge to push and I tell the doc. She tells me to start pushing over the next contraction! “Almost there, hang in there!!”  I keep thinking to myself. Ben in the meantime keeps telling me I am doing great and encouragement is good to hear at this point. I push 2x in the first contraction and the doc tells me I am almost there. She massages me a little which I appreciate…I would like to not tear so much. And then, by the next contraction Morgan is out in the 2^nd push!  

Again there are no words to describe this feeling. They put her on my belly right away and I feel relief, I feel thankfulness to God for another little miracle, and, I feel in love!

They suck out her mouth and nose a little while she is on my chest but the meconium in the fluid seems to not have done any damage: Praise God!  

I only have a teeny tiny tear and the doc puts in one stitch.  (I realize in the days after how wonderful it is not to tear!!).

After about an hour they take her to wipe her off (she is kind of covered in green meconium after all), measure and weigh her and take her footprints.  6 lbs 4 oz, 20.5 inches long. Head 13.5 inches.

Welcome Morgan Lotte!

Running a Marathon Pregnant!

Colorado Marathon 2013 Recap.

Prelude:

For 4 months I trained my buns off for this race. Every morning I ran before the kids woke up, once a week doubled the morning run with an afternoon run during Tristan’s nap time, and twice a week doubled the morning run with a core and strength workout. Then, most importantly: the weekend long runs, including a couple of 18 milers, three 20 milers and a 22 miler. I had a specific time goal in mind and dreamed of crossing the finish line in this time! Training was going well: I was feeling strong, confident, injury free and confident of my time goal.

Then, two weeks out from the race I had my last semi-long run scheduled and wanted to make this a marathon pace run (or at least several miles of it) to give me confidence for the race. But, it was hard to hold that pace: I was very out of breath!  The feeling felt slightly familiar, but I didn’t think much of it…some days you just can’t run as fast as others.  The next day was Sunday and as I was cutting raw chicken early in the morning for an after church lunch a wave of nausea came on. Now that feeling was very familiar!  ….  Within seconds I had a positive pregnancy test in my hands J  Surprise!

While I (we) was very happy with this news (a #3, and a surprise even, what a God given Miracle!) I couldn’t help but feel very bummed about the timing as I knew this meant racing the marathon and all my hard work were out the window (and trust me: these are all the emotions and thoughts on that in a tiny nutshell).

After two weeks of contemplating what to do race weekend was here and I decided to run the race anyway. Even if I couldn’t race it I could still just run it: my body was prepared for the distance.

Race Day:

3 am wake-up call in a hotel in FtCollins.  Eat breakfast, get ready, leave hotel by 3:45 am.  I boarded the mandatory shuttle bus at the FtCollins bus depot at 4:15 am, which brought us up to the start 17 miles into the Poudre Canyon.  I arrived at the start at 5am, and had to wait 1.5 hrs in 30F for the start time of 6:30am.  COLD!
6:30am: we’re off!  It was still really chilly at the start so I ran with 2 of my throw-away layers on. We ran East into the rising sun so soon it started warming up. What a beautiful day and place to run: Sunrise in the Canyon, running all along the Poudre River!

Bib #219 Somewhere in the Poudre Canyon - pace around 8:30 min/mile

 

I don’t have a detailed mile by mile coverage (unlike last year's marathon), as really this “race” was all just about running comfortably with no pressure.  There was no mental rough parts (Can I do this? Can I keep the pace I need to PR?), just enjoying and running whatever pace I wanted. Part of the no time pressure was really slowing down past all the aid stations to make sure I drink enough and stay PLENTY hydrated for the little one on board!  Apparently I did a good job at this, because I made 5 (!!) bathroom breaks along the course!

Around mile 18 - checking in with Ben "I'm gonna finish!"

 

 Mile 17 marked Ted’s Place along highway 287, the first place where spectators (Ben!) could watch.  There was Ben, with some gold fish crackers for possible morning sickness :)   I had originally thought of the possibility of dropping out at the half-marathon mark, but after I realized I “had to” run until 17 miles anyway because that’s the first point to catch up with Ben I figured “already did 17, only 9 more to go…let’s just finish this!”.  I talked it over with Ben really quick and he also said: “go for it!”.  I did slow down considerably though. By mile 21 things were starting to get painful…not internally baby-wise, but overall 'I-m-running-26.2-miles-kind-of-pain'.  In training you train yourself to push through this pain and focus on keeping your pace and getting to that finish line in the time you want, but pregnancy is NOT the time to push through that kind of pain, so I slowed down even more.

I knew this was most likely going to happen and that was actually the biggest reason I wore the “Baby on Board” sign on my back:  usually during the end of a race when the going gets tough fellow runners will spur on runners that seem to be slowing down to push through and I didn’t want people to do that to me necessarily as I wasn’t going slow for MY sake, but for my baby’s sake.  Instead, the sign got me some wonderful comments and that made going slow a lot more fun!

Eating some goldfish crackers against morning sickness. Baby on Board!

When I finally crossed the finish line I felt proud! I’m not just a marathoner, but a pregnant marathoner! 

 

However….. I had no idea in what time I crossed the finish as I completely forgot to look at the clock (was looking for my kids and Ben instead!) or stop my garmin. So when that night I looked up my official results I still couldn’t help but feel bummed by the time listed behind my name. Yes I was proud of crossing the finish in ‘my state’ but that was NOT the time I wanted to see and what I trained so hard for. To be honest, I think that is OK….it just means I have the drive to do it all over again someday! I’ll be back, hopefully with three beautiful kids and husband awaiting me at the finish!

Denver Colfax Marathon Race Day Recap!

Night before:  Got the kids in bed at 8pm, I went to bed after at 8:30pm. Tossed and turned until midnight when Tristan woke up  and nursed a little bit...he’s been teething and wakes up crying a lot these nights. Back to bed, finally fell asleep for a little bit when Andi was up at 2am with a dream. 3am Tristan woke up again but now right at the time I had to get up anyway, so that was good!  He nursed really well which I was happy about, because I know he won’t take a bottle, and I wouldn’t see him again for 7-8 hrs!
Got up, made strong coffee and ate breakfast: my standard ham and cheese sandwich and 2 strong lattes! Took care of things J.  Important things before running 26.2 miles, if you know what I mean J.  Pumped the girls completely empty and left a bottle for Tristan just in case he would want it (turns out: no). Took a shower, got dressed and got in the car!

5am arrived at the park, walked to the start area with Ben and hit the porta potties. Located the bag check and then Ben took off.  5:30am went to the porta potties one more time then dropped off my bag. 5:45 went into my corral and waited for the start! I was in corral B, knowing I could hold a pace of 8:45 min/mile comfortably. 6 am: start!  First wave was off and I followed shortly after. Found a pacer for 3:45 marathon and stuck with her for the first 3 miles but started noticing her pace was much faster (more like 8:20/mile than 8:45/mile) than what I wanted to stick to. Stayed with her for a little bit but finally made the wise decision to stick to my own pace and slowed down a bit. Enjoyed next few miles along the creek through downtown Denver and got to run through a fire station! Then along the creek towards Mile High Stadium. Men were going into the bushes left and right to pee…sure convenient to be a guy!  At the stadium I also took a quick pee break as a single porta potty was just opening up (turns out another good decision as I only saw ONE more porta potty along the entire course!). Then we ran through Mile Hile Stadium!  Was looking out for some Bronco’s, but didn’t see any J. Back onto Colfax and running West towards the mountains. Took my first Gu around mile 6 and worked on that for a mile or so. I was carrying a small bottle of water and 4 Gu’s. Carrying my own Gu’s turned out another wise decision as I never saw them hand them out at mile 10 and I definitely already needed some before then.  (Second spot they would hand out Gu was mile 20 and I did take one there.) Sipped from my water bottle and took water and/or gatorade at the aid stations which were every other mile on the even mile markers.

Miles 6-10 were through a neighborhood and around Sloan’s lake. Very nice, enjoyed the pace. Miles 10-16 first back onto Colfax where I got to cheer on some of the elite runners who were already on their way back!!!  Then into neighborhoods and through the College of Art and Design campus where I passed the half way point (13.1 split: 1:54:24).  Started on another Gu and kept taking water/Gatorade at aid stations. Bands played on campus for entertainment. Then ran through the hilly, but beautifully green Glens neighborhood. Many spectators cheering on and handing out oranges and candy J.  But, this was a tough area and got a mild panic attack (tight chest, difficult to breathe!) on some of the hills: “Can I really do this?” Even during training runs, these 'middle miles' tend to be tough on me mentally: you feel like you've already been running for a long time, yet you have many (the hardest) miles ahead of you still!  Time to recall on some of the mental training:  “Yes, you can do this, you ran 22 all by yourself (my longest training run) carrying your own water and food, so you can do this with all the support!” and: "you gave birth twice, you can do this too!"  “Take some deep, slow breaths and calm down!”. Thought of my smiling kids and my man at the finish line…my happy place J. I really do believe that a huge part of marathon training is the mental training!
Miles 16-20 Calmed down, ran out of that hilly neighborhood and back onto Colfax to head back East towards the city! Finally!!  Great views of the city and downhill running for a while! More bands playing along the street, and got to see “cowbell guy”  (a guy strangely dressed and enthusiastically banging on a cowbell for everyone’s entertainment who drove to 4-5 spots along the course to cheer everyone on!) again: indeed, entertaining J.  I did start to feel the overall exhaustion of the race towards mile 18 and slowed down through an aid station there to take in more water and Gatorade. Took another Gu. "You are strong!"

Mile 20 -22 Grabbed a Gu from aid station at mile 20 but also dropped one of my own, so net number of Gu’s still 4 J.Got to run through the Stadium again!  Still no Bronco’s J. Little boost with more spectators. Back along the creek things started getting rougher and I started getting nauseous. I think I was getting too dehydrated: too little to drink the first 2 hrs of the race.  Walked through the aid station at mile 22 (away from the creek up into town) and took in a full cup of water and Gatorade…burst of energy!  Then through downtown Denver past all the highrises! Pretty cool. But, my stomach was churning with nausea at this point and the smells of all the restaurants firing up their greasy grills for lunchtime was almost too overwhelming. Started feeling my left hamstring tightening up and tried to fight it off mentally: “no, you leg, you will NOT cramp up!!” . But, apparently that doesn’t really work because at mile 23ish my left leg completely cramped up…had to stop and stretch it out. For the next 3 miles it did that every ½ mile. I was pretty bummed about that, as I was still feeling strong and wanted to keep running and give a little final kick, but my leg wasn’t cooperating!! Grrr!!!  Tried my HARDEST to force down my last gu and take more water and gatorate…still nauseous! Mile 24: “past downtown, almost there, you can do it!” “Please leg, cooperate!”. Looked at my watch and saw that even with pausing to stretch I would still be able to make it sub-4 hours. Possibly. Stop and stretch again L. Passed mile 25….almost there!  Those last 3 miles really were a mental battle: all my body wanted to do was walk, but I sure kept telling it: “no, you keep running and finish strong!” “Plus, if you walk, the agony will only last longer!” haha. About 800 yards before I would turn the final corner I had to stop again to stretch out my left leg…so frustrating, I really lost a lot of time. I was trying to not let that get to me. Because really, what does it matter?!?  Finally, turned the corner to the park where we started and the finish was in sight!  “Please leg, please don’t seize up on me in the final finish shute!” J  It didn’t J.  Finished strong with my arms in the air and a smile on my face J! I did it!  3:57:19!!!
Looked around for Ben and the kids and Tom and Marilyn but never saw them at the finish L. Kind of a letdown, but they tried. They didn’t see me finish either, must have just missed me L. Hobbled over to bag check to get my bag and called Ben.  Met up near finishers area and got a huge bouquet of yellow roses and hugs from my smiling kids J.

Walked to the car and saw that Ben got me a 26.2 bumper sticker!  Yay! Pretty proud of having earned that!  Got in the car to drive home but little Tristan was not having it after not nursing for 8 hrs J. Stopped at a gas station to nurse. Amazing how a body can run 26.2 miles and then can nurse a baby right after!

Lessons learned: 1) drink more, early on in the race. Risking a quick bathroom stop to pee is still better than 3 miles of leg cramps!  2) Still, after telling myself to pace myself, I started out to fast (see splits below).  3) Need some other form of energy besides just the sweet stuff: I couldn’t stomach the sweet Gu on top of the sweet Gatorade anymore towards the end! Maybe a baked potato with cheese in my fanny pack? ;)

Other than that:  GREAT RACE!  But, like labor: don’t want to think about going through that pain again in the near future J.   

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overall place:	367 out of 1165
division place:	29 out of 157
gender place:	94 out of 500
time:	3:57:19
pace:	9:04
13.1 split:	1:54:24

Garmin Summary

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Distance:	26.30 mi
Time:	3:57:23   (stopped it after the finish to smile for cameras :) )
Avg Pace:	9:02 min/mi
Elevation Gain:	2,749 ft
Calories:	3,125 C

Elevation Gain: 2,749 ft Elevation Loss: 2,751 ft Min Elevation: 5,174 ft Max Elevation: 6,110 ft

Split           Time           Distance      Avg Pace

1              8:34.3    1.00        8:34

2              8:23.5    1.00        8:24

3              8:17.2    1.00        8:17

4              8:24.2    1.00        8:24

5              8:37.7    1.00        8:38

6              8:36.0    1.00        8:36

7              9:19.4    1.00        9:19

8              8:40.5    1.00        8:40

9              8:43.0    1.00        8:43

10           8:38.5    1.00        8:38

11           8:37.9    1.00        8:38

12           8:46.9    1.00        8:47

13           8:32.3    1.00        8:32

14           8:44.6    1.00        8:45

15           9:02.7    1.00        9:03

16           8:54.4    1.00        8:54

17           9:00.0    1.00        9:00

18           9:10.2    1.00        9:10

19           8:52.3    1.00        8:52

20           9:16.5    1.00        9:17

21           9:10.1    1.00        9:10

22           9:14.1    1.00        9:14

23           9:41.9    1.00        9:42

24           10:56.0 1.00        10:56

25           10:40.7 1.00        10:41

26           9:50.3    1.00        9:50

27           2:37.9    0.30        8:51

I DID IT!! WOHOOO!!!

Tristan 2 months - and a comparison with Andi

Our little man is 2 months old! Over the last few weeks he has learned how to smile and coo, and it is so much fun! Andi gets a kick out of it too, when she gets him to smile :)

Tristan is doing great, nurses well, and acts like a typical baby. He usually gives me one stretch of about 4-5 hrs of sleep at the beginning of the night, but from then on it can be all over the place. Unfortunately, Andi still wakes up 1-2 at night still as well, so that makes nights a little rough on mom sometimes....

We took Tristan camping on his first camping trip when he was almost 9 weeks old, and he did great. Destined to be a little outdoor man!

Below 2 pictures of Tristan at 2 months, and 2 pictures of Andi at 2 months. They look quite different in these shots, but in others there is definitely more of a resemblance. Andi of course was bald for the first year+ of her life, and has my square/butt chin, while Tristan has dark hair, and has Ben's pointy chin. I think just like Andi though, Tristan is going to be a little chunker with lots of rolls :)

We had Tristans 2 month well visit this am, and he did great. Here are Andi's and Tristan's stats for comparison:

Andi:

weight: 10 lbs 8 oz (50th %tile)

height: 21 1/4 inches (13th %tile)

head: 38 cm (30th %tile)

Tristan:

weight: 12 lbs 2 oz (50th %tile)

height: 22 1/2 inches (25th %tile)

head: 40.3 cm (90th %tile)

Introducing Tristan Thomas Bryan! - His birth story.

God is so good! We are happy to announce the arrival of Tristan Thomas Bryan, born on July 4th, 2011 at 1:22am!

Tristan’s birth story really starts at my last OB visit, on Thursday morning June 30^th. I was 38 weeks and 5 days at that moment, and had not had any contractions. The doctor checked me, and I was still fully closed, and hardly effaced. Even 2 mile walks in sunny 95F would not bring up a single contraction. This lead us to believe that it was safe to go up to Laramie for the 4^th of July weekend as Tom and Marilyn had a big party planned at their house on Saturday the 2^nd. Partly as a joke though, we do decide to bring my hospital bag and the infant car seat.

The party was a big success and I was on my feet all day. We went to bed tired at about 10:30pm, sleeping in the camper. Around midnight I woke up and noticed contractions! They were about 15 minutes apart, but not very painful, just cramping. They remained regular until morning, when some of them even came at 10 minutes apart. Sunday afternoon we decided to go to an LVC picnic to catch up with friends. I was still having contractions, but in a denial that it could be actual labor as for one, nothing was happening yet the weeks before, two, I had not lost my mucous plug or anything, and three, the contractions just didn’t seem that painful yet! I had Andi’s labor and delivery in my mind, and those contractions had been severely painful for quite some time.

At 3pm we do decide to take off for the 2.5 hr drive home, and I keep having contractions about every 10 minutes. We get home and I go about the normal routine, unpacking after the weekend away, and fixing some dinner. I go to bed early at 9pm because I was exhausted from the night before staying up with regular contractions. Still in denial that I could actually be in labor! I mean, it wasn’t time yet, right, a full week early, and I needed a good night sleep first ;). Never did fall asleep though as contractions became stronger and stronger, and closer together, and finally at 10:30 pm I came downstairs to Ben telling him about the situation. We decide to call the hospital, and they say it might not be a bad idea to come by. We call Marilyn at this point, who is a 3 hr drive away, as we had planned that she come over when I go into labor to watch Andi. But, we just give her a heads up, telling her not to leave yet, as I am still thinking we’ll be sent home at the hospital because I have no other signs of labor starting.

We pack our bags, and have no choice but to wake up Andi and take her with us to the hospital. It’s about a 20 minute drive, and during this drive the contractions get stronger, so we decide to call Marilyn back and tell her to come drive out!

We get to the hospital, and I walk in with just my purse, hoping to forgo the embarrassment of taking in all our bags etc., and then get sent home with false labor. We check in just before midnight, walk up to the labor and delivery floor (“no, I don’t need a wheelchair, I’m fine!”), and I buzz in, saying “uhm, I think I might be in labor?”. I get settled on the bed, and after a first round of questions the nurse checks me … her face turns quite surprised, and she tells the other nurses that I’m at 8 cms already, my bag of waters is bulging, and to call the doctor RIGHT away, and get the room ready for a little baby! At this point we definitely know that Marilyn won’t be here in time to watch Andi, so we call Ben’s brother Grant, who is staying with family in Westminster, about 45 minutes away.

I was feeling very overwhelmed at this point! Ben was in the corner of the room trying to entertain Andi, while my contractions are getting stronger, and stronger, and closer and closer together. They sure are painful now! I try to focus on a picture on the wall with a mountain landscape, but the thought of having to go through the whole process without Ben (who is showing Andi movie clips on his phone so she doesn’t really see what’s going on with mom) gets to me at this point, and I freak out a little….this wasn’t how I had imagined things! Ben stayed very calm though, and he said Wiesje, look at our room number, you KNOW what you need to focus on. We were in room 316. He mentioned that in reference to our old church LVC, which is on interstate exit 316, and they always say how fun it is that it refers to the gospel, John 3:16. This readjusts my attitude, and focusing on God calms me down as I pray through each of the following contractions. The doctor comes in and gives me the option to break my water or not, which I choose to do, because I want to make an end to this pain and get delivery over with! She breaks my water and leaves the room to check on someone else and soon I start feeling the urge to push. The nurse checks me again, and I’m fully dilated so she tells me that I can start pushing with her help if I want. Ben is now really trying his best to keep Andi from all that’s going on in the room. I go through about 3 or 4 rounds of pushing when Grant shows up and can take Andi. What a relief and praise, just in time! I see Ben and Grant standing in the hall way as I push…kind of odd. Unlike with Andi, it takes me quite a little while to find a good position to push, as I’m just not feeling like the pushes are being very fruitful. Finally Ben is able to come help, and he holds one of my legs as I’ve finally found the right pushing position. After a couple more pushes later the doctor says “look at that full head of dark hair!” I couldn’t believe it (as Andi was pretty much bald/blonde), so I lean over to see, and I’ll be, a little head of dark hair! I guess heartburn does mean you have a hairy baby! After two more rounds of pushes Tristan Thomas Bryan is finally born at 1:22am, and they put him on my belly immediately. Ben cuts the cord, and I get to nurse and hold Tristan for about an hour before they take and weigh him.

He is a healthy little boy, who weighed in at 6 lbs 15.4 ounces and is 19 ¼ inches tall.

Andi meeting her little brother.


We are a family of four! :) :)

More pictures here.

Update #2!

We got an offer! Praise God!
Now we're trying to get this house under contract and sold! Wohoo!

Bryan Update.

Jer. 29:11 - For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

A lot has been happening in the Bryan household over the last 2 months! 2 Months ago, Ben accepted a job with Lockheed Martin in Littleton, CO. Though we are very excited for this new work opportunity for Ben (what guy doesn't dream of being a rocket scientist :) ... and a job with Benefits, an unheard of word in much of the Laramie work world it seems!), and a new area to live in and explore as a family, we are of course very sad that it also means having to leave our Laramie friends and family! At least we'll still be relatively close by (2.5-3 hr drive), so no need to really say "goodbye".
It has been an interesting time for us as a family, a time of ups and downs for sure. God has been showing and teaching us so many things in this time, that even though it's a trial, we wouldn't want to miss out on any of it. Ben's last workday in Laramie was the end of March, which meant a whole month with no income. But, good news, Ben was released from the Wyoming National Guard, which then actually allowed us to move to another state. Almost immediately, I put up a website http://1809symons.blogspot.com/ to advertise the sale of our house (due to some paperwork details we had to wait on listing with a realtor, though we have now been listed with Century21 for about a month), and we went to the Littleton area (Roxborough to be exact) to start shopping for a new house. We made an offer on a house there, and were under contract with the contingency of our house selling here in Laramie. We got an offer on our house here last month, and things seemed to move along swimmingly (it was even 4 girls....how perfect for our pink house!!) ....until the buyers backed out. Ever since then things seemed to come to a halt.....enter the above verse, which I have repeated to myself many, many times over the last couple of weeks. :) I am a planner with a capital 'P', love to know what is coming on my path, and I may have the best plans in my mind for how I would like things to move along (a hormonal 'want' to nest for a baby boy hopefully joining us in July isn't really helping either!), but God is still the Ultimate Planner, and obviously has something different in mind for us. It has been a time of lots of praying, continuously learning to show our faith in the Lord, and not holding on to worldly things. Like I said, something that is not easy, but definitely something we know we don't want to miss out on as we know that God is refining us. The bible teaches that God brings sifting, testing and refining in our lives to purify us so that He may be magnified in our lives! How awesome is that knowledge?!
And, I've been able to make myself laugh with my ever rambling thoughts: "Lord, is my lesson in patience over yet?" :)
Anyway....Ben started his new job today, which means he will be living in a Denver hotel during the week, coming home on the weekends, and Andi and I will stay behind in Laramie and try to sell our house (at least that's the plan for the next few weeks...we'll see how the plans change as my due date comes closer). No fun. But, we had an open house yesterday to which 6 people showed up, so who knows! We'll keep you posted!

Happy 2nd Birthday Andi!! - Part II

And the birthday fun continues...
This morning we had her 2 year checkup with the pediatrician, and Andi is doing great, right on track developmentally, a little ahead on the verbal/visual parts. She speaks in small sentences, uses a lot of words, and is starting to understand counting. Her favorite books and movie (Nemo) include sea creatures, which she knows quite a lot of by now! But really, any animal will do, especially animal families (mom/dads with babies).
She loves running on the sidewalk with me (and kicking a ball), and stretches with me after I run on my treadmill, which is too cute. But, she still can't jump!
She gives the BEST hugs and kisses, and loves snuggling in bed with us in the mornings. She also has a very caring heart, and asks "You OK?" and "You like it?" a lot.

Some of her two year stats:
Height: 32.5 inches - 11th percentile, down from before.
Weight: 25 lbs 6 oz - 35th percentile, up by a lot from before.
Clothes: size 24 months
Shoes: size 5

There are some things we have to work on too though! Little miss toddler can have quite the temper and own will. Also, she still LOVES her pacifier and has it in her mouth as much as possible.

Now, on to a picture extravaganza ... part II of birthday fun:

We start with her traditional 2 year shot with Slungel:


It is actually becoming increasingly difficult to take a picture with her and this bunny :) Little toddlers have their own will! NO mommy, I don't want to take a picture:


To: Ok, this is kinda fun :)


After part I we left you with swimming in the morning. After a nap after lunch, the afternoon was actually nice enough to go play outside for a bit! A few weeks ago I bought this tricycle at Once Upon a Child, and it's been sitting in our garage waiting for some spring weather! She can't quite reach the pedals yet, but she loves riding it :)


Brothers Weston and Tyler also came by to tell her happy birthday, and boyfriend Weston even gave her a beautiful rose...too cute :)


In the evening grandpa and grandma came over for dinner and brought more presents! Sadly grandma had to go home right away as she was sick with the flu :(


Grandma and grandpa got her a little baby doll stroller! She absolutely LOVES it. It works great with the baby doll that she got from great grandma and grandpa Maynard a while ago.

Putting baby Rose (she's called baby Rose because she smells like roses :) ) in her stroller:

Walking all around the house:

Such a great little mommy:

Rocking her baby:

Then for dinner we feasted on roast chicken with french fries (Andi's favorite) and salad:

And of course her birthday cake! We sang Happy Birthday to her and after that she blew out her candle (it was on a #2 stand in case you're wondering why there are not 2 candles).

Mmmm red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting :)

At night we watched cartoons, and Andi got to open one more present...a little potty! We're not really starting potty training, but now we'll have the potty, and she can get used to the idea.

Here some short videos from her birthday.

Happy 2nd Birthday Andi! - Part I

Two years ago today, at 4:49 pm, Andi was born. I remember it as it was yesterday, and can't believe she's already 2 right now! Time flies when you're having fun!

(last year's sign with a 2!)

Here's part I (of II) of her birthday fun...we have family far away who are curious about a sneak peek into her day! .... Tomorrow I will post the second half, with more of an update on her (we have her 2 year checkup with the pediatrician as well).

For tonight we have dinner planned with grandma and grandpa, and of course some birthday cake!
But, first things first. This morning we started the day off with Balloons: wild bedhair and balloons :)

Then for breakfast, she got to have chocolate cereal, her favorite:

She also learned how to say "Andi's Birthday" and answers with "two" to the question "How old are you?". She tries to make a two with her fingers as well, but doesn't quite have that down yet: :)

Then it was time for a present! Unwrapping:

A magnetic drawing doodle pad!

Midmorning we went to the rec-center to go swimming with some friends!

(...so mom is in desparate need of some sunshine on that white skin! ;) )

Andi does really well balancing/swimming on a poolnoodle....

Loving it :)

Here mom, I have two noodles now!

Princess on a pool chair :)