Summer Time!

I am making it a goal of mine to start blogging more! One blog post since Brady's First Birthday is pretty much the definition of a non existent blog, considering he just turned 3! We have had so much going on over here, so I thought it would be fun to fill y'all in!

Happy 3rd Birthday Brady Gene!

We had a birthday party for Brady about a month early since my mom and dad are traveling in Europe the whole month of June. The Star Wars theme was a given and we even had a guest appearance from Brady's favorite character, Boba Fett! Brady had a great time and he is blessed with so many amazing people in his life that love him so much! 

Brady's actual birthday was this past Tuesday (June 17th) and of course, we continued the celebration! We had breakfast at Ruby's and then headed to Target to pick up a copy of the Lego Movie (which just so happened to come out on DVD that day) and a new Lego set. After swimming lessons that evening we went to Baskin Robins for some Birthday ice cream. It's hard to believe that our baby boy is already 3 years old! Brady never ceases to amaze us and his curiosity for life is out of this world. He is definitely in the "why?" stage and although his million questions can drive me a little cuckoo, I love his desire to know more. 

We have a fun Summer planned ahead of us! This is our first year participating in Vacation Bible School at our church and it started today! Brady is attending the preschool program while I volunteer as a Crew Leader. It's amazing to see how much work goes into serving so many children, many of which are learning of Christ's love for the very first time! 

Brady had a great time at his first day of VBS!

Cory's friend, Matt is getting married in Flagstaff, Arizona this weekend so we will be heading out of town for our first road trip as a family of 4! My sister, Becky is due with her fourth baby in July, so we will be heading up to Chico to visit the Konkin Family in August. We are excited to spend lots of time with cousins and enjoy some outdoor farm living! We will also be going camping with my family and extended family in Central California over Labor Day weekend. 

I took a position as a part time Instructor at Chapman University in February, teaching one class, and I thoroughly enjoyed teaching this past semester at my Alma Matter! We live a block from campus so the commute definitely doesn't suck. They offered me two classes for the Fall semester so I was faced with the difficult decision of whether or not I was going to stay working part time at In-N-Out as well. I have worked in the HR Department for In-N-Out Burger since graduating from college in 2005. I was so fortunate that they allowed me to work part time after Brady was born but after the way the job at Chapman totally fell in my lap, I knew that this was the direction the Lord was leading me. It is definitely a bittersweet move but the schedule will be great now that we have two little ones at home. Speaking of which! How have I gone this whole post without mentioning our little spitfire, Annie Joy?! 

5 months old!

Annie was 16 pounds, 5 ounces at her 4 month appointment. She was in the 78% for weight and 88% for height. She LOVES to eat, is super smiley, and very squirmy! She kicks her feet all the time, just like she did in my belly. And she is definitely not the greatest sleeper; hoping she figures that out soon! 

High five to you if you are still reading this. Sorry for such a long post! Hopefully I can keep this up on a more regular basis and keep the posts short and sweet :) 

xoxo

Mandy 

Welcome Annie Joy!

I have been hesitant to share my story…. Or I should say, Annie’s story.  I want to write it down before I forget it. Because honestly, when I think back to that night, it feels like a nightmare that is  s  l o w l y being forgotten.  Each contraction, each push, each thought “this baby is never coming out”… disappearing as if it never even happened. I love reading my fellow mommy friends' birth stories so I decided to share ours.... Here goes. 

I should preface her story by stating that Annie was drama from the start. Straight. Drama. Long story short, I had crazy morning sickness and a subchroinic hemorrhage in the first trimester, abnormal results at my 20 week ultrasound and mild placenta previa  in the second trimester, and extreme discomfort (think crazy heartburn, numbness/pain in my hands, a baby ninja in my tummy, the list goes on and on) in my third trimester. I was pretty certain she was a girl before we knew for sure just based off how different I felt than when I was preggo with Brady. Go figure.... girls are drama!! Let's just say her entrance into this world lived up to her reputation! 

For a few weeks prior to Annie being born, I had been consistently having high blood pressure. I went in for my 40 week check up on Monday and I was only 1 cm dilated and 80% effaced. Although all my labwork came back normal and the baby didn't seem to be in any kind of fetal distress, they had decided to most likely induce me Thursday if I didn't go into labor on my own. Enter Operation Get This Baby Out. My best friend, Whitney is an OBGYN resident at UCLA and she was actually with me at my 40 week appointment. Although she was trying to ease my mind at the thought of induction, I still wanted to try everything to get my labor going naturally. She laughed when I told her we had buffalo wings for dinner and said that spicy food inducing labor is an old wives tale. Laugh she may, but another friend, Michelle, also had buffalo wings (both from WingStop) two days before going into labor! Anyways, Tuesday morning we decided to take Brady to Chuck E Cheese for games and pizza. The day came and went and it wasn't until 4 PM when I felt my first contraction. It was pretty strong so I knew it was probably a sign of what was to come. About a half an hour later, I had another one and for a few hours after that, they remained about 20-30 minutes apart. The contractions were getting increasingly stronger, but were not getting any closer together. Cory decided to go to bed around 10:30 and I stayed on the couch watching TV, bearing through each contraction. My doctor had advised us to go to the hospital when the contractions were 5 minutes apart for an hour. And seeing as I had a normal, textbook labor with Brady, I was expecting the same! Finally around 1 AM, I called my parents and told them they needed to come over to stay with Brady so we could go to the hospital. I woke Cory up and he was definitely skeptical when I told him we needed to go to the hospital even though my contractions were still 10-15 minutes apart and not really even very consistent. Each contraction was so unbearably painful, I knew something had to be happening. I got an epidural when I was 7 cm dilated with Brady and the contractions I felt prior to the meds were NOTHING compared to what I was feeling, all from the (dis)comfort of my own couch. Once Cory got up and saw how much pain I was in, I think he realized we better hurry. My parents arrived and although my mom planned to be at the hospital while my dad stayed with Brady, she stayed home and told us to call her once I was checked in and they checked me. I have never taken any natural childbirth classes as natural childbirth was never part of my plan but I am pretty darn sure I experienced what they call "transition labor" in the car on the way to the hospital. A contraction that lasted about 2 minutes and pretty much felt like my insides were being ripped apart-- the most painful one of all. Since it was 2 AM at this point, the normal hospital entrance was closed so we had to go through the ER. Cory pulled up and I insisted he get me a wheelchair (I denied it when I was in labor with Brady and regretted it after having to stop to breath through each contraction on the way up to L&D). There was absolutely no way I could walk through these contractions. After a long ride up to L&D and questioning in triage, they got me into a delivery room. A nurse came in and informed me that "my" nurse was at lunch but she was going to start getting me checked into the computer and my actual nurse would check me when she got back. She instructed me to change into the gown in the bathroom. As I stood up, the pressure that I felt was so immense, I thought she may just fall out right then and then. When I came out of the bathroom, the nurse could tell I was in a lot of pain and said she would go ahead and check me. I will never forget what came next.... "Well you are 9 cm dilated, no wonder you are in so much pain". Wow. I knew I was in pain but I definitely was not expecting that! The first thing out of my mouth was "is it too late to get an epidural?!" As her and other nurses were scrambling around, trying to get everything ready she said that it should still be ok. I told Cory to call my mom and have her come right away! They hooked me up to the blood pressure cuff and my blood pressure was sky high (think 200/100-- normal is 120/80). The nurse said that there was no way the anesthesiologist would give me an epidural with my BP being that high, without seeing the labwork and that wouldn't come back in time. Panic sets in. This was not a part of my plan. I never considered not being able to get an epidural. I always envied those strong mamas that birthed their babies naturally and loved the idea of it but I wasn't strong enough to turn down pain meds! The nurse checked me again and at that point I was 10 cm and ready to start pushing. In a very matter of fact voice, she said "I'm going to have the doctor come in, break your water and you are going to start pushing." I was so incredibly scared and couldn't help but break down in tears. Thankfully my mom was there by then and I asked her to stay in the room with us. She had done this naturally 4 times; I needed her encouragement. Well, 40 minutes of pushing and what I can only describe as a pain unlike anything else, Annie Joy Barrow was born. All 8 pounds, 14 ounces and 21.5 inches of her. 1 hour and 20 minutes after we got to the hospital! A perfectly healthy baby girl who fits in just perfectly in our family. All those months of discomfort and unnecessary worrying and even that ridiculous labor and delivery.... all a thing of the past. Really, with her previous 9 months- we shouldn't have expected anything different from our little drama queen! 

Annie Joy, you gave us (especially mama) a run for our money! So far, you seem to be a pretty mellow baby just like your brother was. I can't wait to see how your little personality develops and we love you so much already! 

Brady is 1!

Brady Gene is 1 Year Old!

It's hard to believe that my baby is already 1! Where does the time go?! I know everyone says this, but it seriously feels like just yesterday that we were the proudest parents ever, bringing our little bundle home from the hospital. Brady has brought us more joy than we can ever imagine over the past year and it's hard to remember what our lives were like before he came into the world. He is definitely keeping us busy these days. Crawling at super speed and trying to walk, every chance he gets! He is curious about absolutely everything and wants to get into every drawer and cabinet in the house. A few months ago, when we started to baby proof the house, we debated getting a toilet lock. At that time, he wasn't that interested in the toilet so we figured we were okay without one. A month or so later, he became obsessed with the toilet but we were able to distract him by closing the lid. He now knows how to open the toilet lid, so we went out and got a childproof toilet lock :) No more toilet fishing for Brady :) I'm looking forward to the day that he is interested in his toys and hoping that means less cabinet rummaging for him. He has become quite the little parrot these days and attempts to say most of what he hears us saying. Some of his favorite words, as of recently are:

• Da Da (his first and favorite word)
• MaMa (only when he really wants something from me :) )
• Dodee (doggie)
• PaPa (grandpa) 
• Ma (more)

He also says some pretty funny phrases. They aren't super clear and probably only we would understand, but he is consistent with them so at least he is trying :) He says:

• Thank you
• Get down (something we tell our dog a lot)
• All done 
• Ni Ni (night night)

Cory was determined to teach Brady "tricks". He actually has a few that he has gotten really good at recently. He claps every time he hears "yay" or the word clap. He lifts his hands above his head when we say "SO BIG". He waves if you say "say bye bye" or " say hi".  And he "gives five" when you hold out your hand. Our dog can't do any tricks... so at least Brady can :)

Brady is an eating champ these days. Gone are the days of baby food purees; he wants real food! He loves to feed himself and any kind of meat is his absolute favorite! He will eat pretty much anything we give him-- so far, he's not a picky eater, like his daddy! I know kid's tastes change super quick though, so I'm not getting my hopes up. We are working on getting him to drink more water in hopes that it will help ease his digestion issues. He definitely doesn't love it :(

We had a big 1st birthday party for Brady last weekend. It was a blast! So many friends and family members came out to love on our little guy. He is blessed with so many wonderful people in his life! 

 Love this smile! 

Yummy cake! 

 A little red wagon themed party, complete with our wagon from when we were kids :)

 Mommy and the big guy

 He loved playing on the big kids playground!

This summer should be a fun one! We signed Brady up for swimming lessons and I just got him a little splash pad for the backyard. His grandpa Bob, got him a fun little slide set for his birthday and his grandma Diane and Aunt Shannon got him a Cozy Coupe Police Car! So much fun stuff for him to play with! We will also be going to Lake Arrowhead with my family for a week in July. My mom found a cabin that sleeps over 25 people-- crazy times ahead! :)

Sorry for the crazy long post! Our little man is growing up before our very eyes and I can hardly believe it. I love you so much Brady man!

It has been way too long!!

Just when I thought about abandoning this blog all together, I discovered the blogger mobile app! Not only do I never get the chance to sit down at our computer but our laptop is on its way out and usually just ends up frustrating me! So... This is perfect! I can blog from my iPhone and hopefully keep you all updated on our happenings :) I can't believe the last time that I blogged, Brady was only 8 weeks old.... He is 9 months old now!!! Where does the time go?!! My precious little baby is now making his way all around the house doing what we call his "seal-crawl". He pulls himself up on our legs because he just has to be amidst all the action :) He LOVES to eat, anything and everything. He gets oatmeal and fruit in the morning and veggies at night with plenty of puffs and dried fruit snacks in between. I have been making his food and so far, he has liked everything I have made him! His favorite veggie is probably butternut squash and he really likes bananas. He loves our dog, Lucy and Lucy loves him :) He says Da-Da, Uh-oh, and YA! It's adorable hearing him say da-da to Cory even though I'm jealous he can't say ma-ma yet. He loves books and it's so cute to see him get excited about his favorite pages and pictures. His smile lights up the entire room and he is always such a happy guy. It is so fun seeing his personality develop as he discovers the world around him. Cory and I feel so very blessed to be his parents- he brings us so much joy! We are in Yuma, AZ right now, visiting Brady's new cousin, Avery. She is adorable and Jason and Rachel have been amazing hosts! And in two weeks, we will be leaving for Florida to visit Cory's sister, Shannon and her husband, Charlie. We are so excited to see them and their new house!! Ok, I will leave you all with a few recent pics of the big guy... The love of my life :)

8 weeks!

It's hard to believe that Brady is 8 weeks old today! In just 8 short weeks, he has turned our worlds upside down in the most amazing way. I can't really remember what life was like before he came along and I'm ok with that. His smile lights up the entire room and melts my heart each and every time. I am so in love with this little guy and can't imagine anything better than being his mom.

I love watching him focus and stare at things and imagine what's going through his little head. It's so fun to see him become more and more aware of his surroundings every day. 

Recently, we got to visit Cory at work! This was my first time seeing him "on duty" and I love this picture :)

Will Brady follow in daddy's footsteps?? :)

I know many of you have followed the Taylor family's story of sweet Ruby Jane.  In the midst of their sorrow, I am reminded of how precious life really is. We have so many blessings in which we give thanks to above. Brady is the ultimate blessing and I thank our Father each and every day for him. 

Every good and perfect gift is from above

James 1:17

Welcome Brady Gene

Cory and I are so pleased to announce the arrival of our beautiful baby boy, Brady Gene Barrow on Friday, June 17 at 8:21 pm. Brady was born a week early and still weighed 8 pounds, 12 ounces and was 21 inches. 

This picture was taken right before we left for the hospital to have Baby Brady :)

I feel very blessed to have had a pretty standard labor and delivery experience. I had my 39 week check-up on Thursday, June 16 and my doctor checked my cervix for dilation. My OB said that I was already 2 cm dilated and 90 % effaced and said most likely, the baby was coming very soon, probably that weekend. We were excited and nervous at the same time, quickly realizing the reality of what was coming. Cory was scheduled to go back to work that night and he was working graveyards. I was a little scared about going into labor while he was at work but he works pretty close to home so I knew he could be there quick if I needed him. Cory left for work at 7 PM and I stayed home, relaxed and watched TV. Around 10 pm, I felt my first labor contraction but they were not consistent and I was still able to fall asleep around midnight. About 3 AM, I woke up and the contractions were stronger and more consistent. I wasn't able to fall back asleep so I started writing them down so I could track how close they were. They were consistently 10 minutes apart and my doctor said it was time to go to the hospital when they were 5 minutes apart. I watched TV on the couch until Cory got home from work, around 6:30 AM. Since they were still at 10 minutes, I told him to get some sleep and that I would wake him up if anything changed. Meanwhile, I called my mom and mother-in-law to let them know that I was pretty sure Brady was coming that day. Around 8 AM, my contractions slowed down and were only coming about every 20-30 minutes. I thought this was strange so I decided to go for a walk around our neighborhood in hopes that they would speed up. I decided to call my OB to see if they could check my dilation at the office as opposed to going into the hospital and when I went in, I was 4 cm dilated and 100% effaced. They told me to go straight to the hospital because I was most definitely in active labor! By the time we checked in, I was already 5 cm and I progressed to 10 cm within the next 3 hours or so. I was only pushing for about 25 minutes and Baby Brady was born! He is such an incredible blessing and it's hard to believe he is already over a week old!

 In labor- with Aunt Katie and Aunt Laurie and Grandma Janie 

 Cory was so excited and so nervous :)

 Right after Brady was born

 In Love <3

 A big boy!

 Proud Daddy 

I was exhausted but he was so worth it :)

This and That

I know it's been a long time since my last post and seeing as I have pretty much doubled in size, I figured it was time to post an update!

I am now officially 33 weeks; which means only 7 weeks until my due date and only 3 weeks left of work before my maternity leave!

Since my last post, we have been very busy settling into our new house and adjusting to Cory's new work schedule. I will be really glad when Cory is off training and his schedule is a little more stable. Right now, it changes every 3-4 weeks and it's really hard to plan anything-- it's very hard for the planner in me to accept :) We LOVE our new house and are so glad that we decided to move when we did. I'm currently working on the baby's room and can't wait to see what it looks like when it's finished! Here's a sneak peak at the wall collage I'm putting together above his crib. Keep in mind, it's still a work in progress :)

Cory's aunt, Renee is making a quilt for the baby's room and my mom is making a crib skirt, bumper and window valences to match. Since I'm not doing an official "theme" in the baby's room, I didn't realize it would be so hard to find crib bedding separates! Thankfully, I have talented family members that know how to sew!

We had a wonderful Mother's Day yesterday! I guess it was my "first" Mother's Day and Cory surprised me with some pretty flowers when he got home from working the graveyard shift. I hosted brunch at our house and we had a great time with the wonderful women in our family! I am so blessed to have so many wonderful role models and know that they will have lots of great motherly advice to offer :)

My Mom, Aunt Margie and Grandma (can you believe she is 91 years old?!)

Cory's Aunt Denise, Grandma and Mom 

My Mom, me, Grandma and Sister Laurie (4 Generations including the baby!)

For those of you that don't know, we got a puppy about two months ago. After Lilly got so sick and passed away unexpectedly, we couldn't stand the thought of being without a dog (and when I say dog, I really mean pug :))  With the baby due in 3 months, we decided to take the plunge and welcome little Lucy into the Barrow family. Although she will never quite fill Lilly's shoes, she is a sweet little pup with LOTS of energy. She is definitely getting us ready for parenthood and keeping us on our toes. When people see us out with her and then look at my preggo belly, they often ask "What were you thinking?!"

How precious is this face?! 

Lucy LOVES my belly! I think she will be really sad to see it go! 

As I'm writing this, the baby has the hiccups (he gets them at least 3-4 times a day!) and is moving around in my belly like crazy! Lucy is being her crazy self, trying to chew on everything and I am watching the show "Quints by Surprise"-- boy am I glad there's only one baby in there! It's fun and scary at the same time, imagining what our life is going to be like in just a few short months. We can't wait to welcome little Baby Barrow into the world and we love him so much already!