Sleep...

Collin has been sick for the last week. He's coughing so hard that he throws up, usually in the car. We thought he just had pink eye, but that has cleared up and he is still really struggling. He doesn't sleep well at night, which makes for very hard days because both of us are tired from being up so much.
This whole new baby thing would be much easier if Collin wasn't sick, and we were all getting sleep :)

Pictures

Here are some pictures I took of Landon yesterday. He's a cutie and a fatty- we went to the doctor on Wednesday and he is back to his birth weight, 8 lbs 6 oz. He pretty much just eats all the time.

Update :)

Here's a quick update on how life is:
Landon is a fantastic eater and a pretty good sleeper. He also as the ability to be awake and not crying, something that took Collin several months to learn :) He does cry, especially when he has a dirty diaper, but has been very good the last few days.
Its hard for me to remember that he is 72+ hours old. It seems like he's been here forever. I am so grateful for all the help I've been getting. My mom is always happy to hold Landon for me so I can play and be with Collin still. Collin has been...ok. He still looks surprised when I walk in the room and am holding Landon. I feel like he looks up and thinks, "wait, he's still here? Ok." Collin will talk and look at Landon during the day, but gets pretty annoyed when Landon crys while we change his diaper, especially if Collin is trying to watch TV.
Collin has had a few major tantrums which is a little unusual for him. But I'm hoping it will just get better as Collin can help more and when Landon starts responding to Collin.
As far as me- I'm actually feeling much better then I did after I had Collin. My body seems to be healing better after this labor then Collins. I am really grateful for that as it would be hard to take care of Collin, me and Landon if I was having a really hard time.
Thats about it. Here is a few pictures we took when we got home from the hospital. I'm sure they are going to just be best friends. I'll take more pictures of Landon once his face starts clearing up.

Free at Last!

He's here!!! Baby Landon Douglas Brimhall was gently encouraged to leave the comfort of his mama's tummy today!

Before we get to that though, we'll tell you the story. We arrived at the hospital this morning at 6:45 a.m. to check in and do all of the paperwork. By 7:00 we were in the room and I got all ready for the bed and the I.V. By 7:30 I was put on Pitocin. At around 8:00 Dr. Nance came and broke my water (which, by the way, is not as pleasant an experience as I thought it might be--you know, because you're just all wet and kind of have to just leave it). At that point I still hadn't had an epidural, so I began to really feel the contractions and wished the anesthesiologist was around. By the time he finally came he was my favorite person, and there really wasn't a more pleasant feeling than my legs going numb one after the other, along with the fading of the contractions. I fell asleep pretty quickly after that, and I was asleep (off and on) for about three hours! (We watched the BYU game on TV along with Dr. Nance when he came in to check on my progress.)

After a few nice cat naps I woke up really nausiated. Dr Nance checked me again and said I was completely dialated, and the nurse said I was nausiated because I had progressed from a 5 to completion in 20 min. By 1:20 I was ready to push, and two pushes later--a really cone-headed Landon was born at 1:29 PM! The cord was wrapped around his neck, just like Collin, but he was fine after a minute of crying.

Compared to Collin, he is a bruiser! (Especially considering the fact that he was born at 39 weeks!) He is definitely more chubby than Collin was, and he's figured out a little bit of the nursing gig right off the bat! He has a cute little mellow cry too.

He was 8 lbs 5 oz, and he is 21 inches long! He was clear to mama that he definately needed more room to work with!

Grandma King brought Collin to visit, and he seems ok with having Landon around (but that is only based on the 2-minute attention span he gave to actually looking at him--we'll see how things progress this week). He'll probably think the rug is being pulled out from under him in the next few days though. Chase is kicking himself because he forgot to take pictures when Collin first saw Landon. We'll get a few in the next few days though!

Induced!!!

My favorite words I heard today were "I'll see you at 7:00 am on Thursday, and we'll get that baby out of you."

I love my doctor. He checked me again today and said I was much closer to having the baby, and when he looked at my record he said- well, you'll be 39 weeks on Thursday. Do you want to have the baby on Thursday? My first thought was- you better not be teasing me. I said yes, he called the hospital, and I'm all set to be induced Thursday morning.

Timing could not be better. Thursday and Friday are Chase's "slow" days and then Saturday and Sunday we will be able to spend the whole weekend getting to know the baby. On Monday my mom is supposed to baby sit my older brother's kids so now she'll be able to help out with watching Collin while Chase is at the hospital with me, and still be able to watch his kids.

Life is good. Except that I'm having tons of contractions. But that's ok.

My age

About a month ago Chase brought to my attention that I will be turning 25 this month. I was very surprised by this news as I thought I was only 23. So that means logically I would be turning 24 this year. Not that I don't want to turn 25, I just didn't think I was.

Since I have already been unintentionally been lying about my age for the last year I'm pretty sure that will continue.

Also, I'm really hoping that I will be in the hospital or just out of the hospital on my birthday. How many times do you hear someone say that?

(insert imaginary picture of me 38 1/2 weeks prego.) I'm not taking any pictures anymore because I don't actually want to see them.

Stake Conference

We had stake conference yesterday and today. Elder Oaks presided. He is super funny. My favorite thing was he would tell a story and then say "I probably shouldn't have told that story in stake conference."

He talked a lot about desires and how the Lord can tell the intent of our hearts. It was a wonderful conference, and even though Collin had a hard time during the session today because it was during his nap time, it was great.

Bundt Cake

For our Relief Society birthday party they asked about 10 sisters to sign up to bring a bundt cake for dessert after the program. I decided to sign up to do one and did a blueberry cream cheese. I had never made it before, or tasted it, so it was totally on faith that it would be good. I should learn from past experiences when I try to make something really fancy that I've never tried before that they never work out.

This cake was incredible. Like out of this world. And it may have been that good because I was expecting it to be bad...
I wish I had taken a picture, but I didn't. Here's the recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Blueberry-Cream-Cheese-Pound-Cake-I/Detail.aspx

I followed the suggestions given by the top reviewer, and I think it made a big difference.

Went to the doctor on Tuesday. I'm 80% effaced and at 1cm. I told him I'd plan on seeing him next week.

Collin has gotten his two teeth that he was missing. They are growing in way crooked, and slow. But they are coming in.

Last- Chase did go talk to his adviser and will be walking in April and finishing in June. We are both very excited about that.

I know

I know:
-that this baby is easier to take care of inside of me then outside of me
-that I will get much less sleep once this baby comes
-that I will always have a shirt that has some sort of wet spot on it from spit up or something else for several months after this baby comes
-that I will still be pretty emotional for the first while
-that nursing hurts
-and lots of other stuff that comes with having a new born

BUT
These "fake" contractions hurt. And they keep giving me false hope when they last for hours at night.
And I would really like this baby to come. Now. Like, I wish I could be writing "oh, my water just broke, I guess the baby is coming!"
I still have 3 weeks left. So I probably won't be having this baby for another 2 weeks and 5-6 days.

I'm not going to jump on the tramp any time soon, but I may just have an extra bounce to my step every now and then to start giving him ideas.

Our construction worker

So Collin has started wearing hats for fun. He used to wear hats all the time before he was a year old, and then decided he didn't like them. Now he likes them again, but just for fun. This is his newest hat...

Also, Saturday morning Kim was watching Collin and he spilled some water on his shirt. So she took it off so it could dry and while it was drying she started putting a chest together. As you can see from the pictures, he was a great helper, totally in his element. Especially without his shirt on.

I am a total dork

PS-
So when I went to buy the parts to fix the car I told the guy at Autozone "I need a water pump and a timing belt for my car." He says "Doesn't sound like a fun project." He brings the parts back and the guy behind me says "Do you know how to put those in your car??!!" I say "No, my brother does, thank goodness." Both the guy helping me and behind me say "Oh good. Glad your having some help!"

I told Chase this story and he says "Can you imagine a 8 month pregnant women taking apart the engine!?" and starts laughing. I stare at him for a second and then say "I totally forgot I'm pregnant!! No wonder they were so worried!"

I'm such a dork...

Hope my mom likes us...

So on Wednesday Chase found out that he is missing one class to graduate in April. He will have to take it spring semester which means he won't be done until June. Thankfully my mom is ok with having us stay with her for an extra 2 months. Chase is pretty disappointed, he really tried to make sure he had everything in order to graduate in April. As it stands now he may not be able to walk in August as we don't know where his job will be, so if we are across the country we might not be able to come back.
Also, a few weeks ago we had to get our breaks on our car replaced which was a few hundred dollars- and then yesterday the car almost overheated and when we took it to the shop they said our water pump is leaking which would cost almost $600 to replace (half of that would just be labor alone). Yeah, not so much. So my brother is going to help out with replacing that so it will be under $100 to fix it.
Poor Chase is just trying to handle everything that is being thrown at him. Hopefully we'll get some good news sometime soon about a job as he is still looking for a job as well. :)
I'm trying to find a fun picture or something to end this post, but I haven't taken any pictures lately... I'll have to get on top of that. :)

Cravings

So when I was pregnant with Collin all I wanted was peanut butter. I didn't think I had any really strong cravings with this baby until I realized last week that I'm always craving a chocolate shake. The problem is (I know this is totally lazy.) making a chocolate shake is harder then pulling out a jar of peanut butter and smearing some on a piece of bread. So that meant that I would have to buy a shake, and that would add up fast, plus I would actually have to get in the car and drive somewhere to get a shake, which wasn't about to happen. But I have figured out something from this. The 3 times I have gotten my chocolate shake in the last 4 months I have LOVED them. Collin will want to drink some and I will give him a sip or two and then hid so I can finish it (its not good for him anyway, too much sugar.). So not giving into my craving has led to so very happy moments with my shakes when I get one.

Saturday Chase and I are going to eat at California Pizza Kitchen cause that is where we ate on our first date as a "couple" (ahhhh...) Sadly, I don't think they have any chocolate shakes, so I guess we'll have to find somewhere else for me to get one :)

Heres a picture of Collin and Chase reading on Sunday morning. Collin has gotten to the point where he will pull the books out, get in the rocking chair and just tell me the story (in jibberish). Its really fun.

Talking on the phone

I don't really talk like this when I'm on the phone. We can't find his favorite play phone so he just uses his hand as a phone. Just today has started saying nononononononono when I ask him a question. Its great. I guess who ever he is on the "phone" with keeps asking him questions.

I like the sideways look he gives me and the little dance move with his arm he throws in there about 30 seconds in. I'm not sure where that came from...

Too much pressure!!

So last night Chase and I stayed up talking about baby names. I've decided its too hard. For a while with this baby it seemed pretty easy- we both liked the name Landon except we didn't have a middle name. Once we started talking about middle names, we started talking about different 1st names... augh...
So I've decided we need to decide on a middle name 1st and then go to his first name. I've always felt like the middle name should be a family name, or mean something. I'm not totally attached to using a family name, I just think it would be nice. Its a lot easier to give a family name as a middle name I think. Then if it repeats someone elses name no one cares cause we don't call them by that name. But the middle name has to go with the first name.

When we fell asleep last night the name we decided on was Jackson Catz Brimhall. Its probably a good thing we have another 7 weeks....