Kids Pictures!

Is it impossible to get all four kids to look and smile at the same time? Yes, yes it is.

Creed is 6 months OLD!?!?!?

Vegas Baby!!!

Do you recognize this guy!?!? Ha ha...yep it's HAM from the Sandlot! We were sitting right next to him at the Winn Buffet in Las Vegas. My heart was racing, but I was brave and asked him for a picture! I knew that Connelly would LOVE to see it! He looks the same as he did back then! It was really funny. The other two girlies (Jo and Leslie) were scared and RAN AWAY! Thanks Suz for staying! Ha ha.

We had an absolute blast at the Lion King. It was awesome. I want to take the kiddos back to see it.

I love hanging out with these girls. It is easy to be friends with such fun, amazing people.

If Suz would stop swearing, it would help though. What a bad influence she is. ;)

These two kids were Nala and Simba at the Lion King. So, we had to take a picture with them!

We had a blast, and the baby even took a bottle while I was gone. I was soooo worried. He is a little picky, but it all worked out! Thanks Babe for watching the troops. I had a blast!

Londyn's Hair!

Connelly's Kingergarten program

Connelly is growing up so fast! He is now a "First Grader" as he informed me on his last day of school with the biggest look of pride on his face. I am so proud of him. He is such a good boy. He is growing like a weed. The pants that we bought him for Christmas are already too little. I can't believe how tall he is getting. I'm glad he still likes to snuggle because I sense that it won't last much longer.

Connelly's favorite things right now:
Playing with friends. He thinks he should play every day, ALL day.
T-ball. He loves t-ball, and he is a very good little hitter.
Riding his bike. He can zip around the neighborhood a million miles an hour.
Pizza. He loves pizza, and can eat a lot of it himself. Every time we get pizza he tries to convince me to buy him his "own" pizza. I haven't done this yet, but I think he's serious.
The Wii. We don't have one, but he is obsessed with it.
Angry birds on Dan's phone. He loves to play angry birds.
His best friend is Sam Jackson. He and Sam play and play and play. It's really fun.
He told me that he has a different girl friend every week. (We are in trouble). He's very girl crazy.

 Connelly met a lot of friends in his class this year. Tiago lives on our street, and Logan (not in this picture) just lives a street away. How fun!

 Mrs. Guynn was so awesome. Connelly LOVED her.

Now on to first grade!

Oaklyn's Dance Team

Oaklyn's Dance Videos

The first one cut off, so I had to hurry and start it over.

Nate Berkus!

Something REALLY fun happened this week. The Nate Berkus Show contacted me to come to NEW YORK and come on their show.  They have been checking out All Things Thrifty and they said that they LOVE what I do. WHAT!?!?

I. ABOUT. DIED.

The lady was extremely nice and said that they were finalizing their schedule and that they wanted me to come on the show for a thrift store challenge. I was so excited!!! I might have jumped in the air. :) I talked to her on Wednesday and she said that I would be flying out on Saturday...yep three days later. I was freaking out. I have a nursing baby for heaven's sake. (I would never have said that). I instantly said ABSOLUTELY, and I figured I would pump and dump while I was there. She asked me to find two friends that could leave at the drop of a hat that had been my "thrifting friends." So, I asked Liz and JoLinn if they would come with me.

Then we waited...and waited...and waited...it seemed like forever.

She told me to "not get my hopes up" because they were still figuring out what they were going to do. I waited for a few days and it didn't pan out. They sent me a reply that still made me feel special:

Brooke!

I am so sorry I didn’t respond yesterday. That is beyond rude of me. I sincerely apologize.

Unfortunately the segment got turned in another direction so we won’t need you for this one.

However we LOVE LOVE LOVE you and all that you do. We are wrapping up here for the season but we would love to have you on next season. Please keep in touch J

Thank you so much!

So....Maybe next season!!!

Now, I must, I must, I must decrease my bust! I am starting my Nate Berkus Show diet today. That was the only thing that kept crossing my mind when I was talking to the producer. "REALLY...right after I had a baby....REALLY?" My chubby-ness to be broadcasted on National Television!?!? CRAP. So, I am motivated (to say the least) to get my BUTT in gear!

Creed's blessing Day!

This little cutie was blessed by his Daddy last Sunday.We had a lot of people come to town for the blessing, and it was an absolute blast! I loved every minute of it. Dan did a great job with his blessing. It was honestly the best day! I felt so loved!

We had a little BBQ before church to start off the day since our ward doesn't begin until 2:30. We wanted to let those that needed to get on the road be able to leave as soon as they could. We had hamburgers and hot dogs and some delicious salads that people brought! We ended with some strawberry shortcake. I wish I would have taken pictures of the BBQ...darn.

I snapped a few pictures of the little guy in his blessing outfit today to document how stinkin' cute he was in his white shirt, white tie, pants, and hat! He looked so handsome! Everyone kept coming up to me telling me how cute his outfit was.

Creed is named after my brother Courtney. I wanted to document some of the traits that Courtney has that has always impressed me:
He loves his family and makes a constant effort to make sure all of us are ok.
He has a tremendous amount of patience.
He is a very driven person.
He has an unwavering testimony.
He has the ability to solve problems easily.
He always has a way of keeping his priorities straight.
He is a great friend and always thinks about others' feelings.
He is unselfish.
He is generous with his time, knowledge, and resources to help others.
He sets goals and achieves them.
He is very likable. Everyone always seems to like him. :)
He has a great smile.
He is dependable.
He is a great listener.
He tends to look on the bright side of situations.
He is level-headed and has ZERO dramatic bones in his body. (I wish I could say the same about myself, but unfortunately I can't!)

Overall, Courtney is a great example to all of us. Dan and I felt like he would be a perfect person to name the baby after.

Creed has been an angel (on most days) for the past two weeks. It was like he woke up one day and the colic was gone. It is so fun because he is starting to smile and coo at us. It makes me smile every day. What a little cutie pie. He will smile at anyone who talks to him. I think he's going to be a social kid. He loves attention!

From the perspective of a three year old.

The other day I was nursing Creed in bed and Londyn came in. She said, "Is he eating his breakfast?" I told her yes. Then she looked funny for a minute and then pointed to the other side and said, "That's his lunch." Yep...yep, it is. LOL.

She has decided that one side is water (when he's thirsty) and one side is milk (when he's hungry). This was about two weeks before the above incident by the way. She remembers which one is milk and which one is water. She announces, "Creed is THIRRR-STY!"

She makes me laugh every single day.

Oaklyn Dancing

Oaklyn is quite the little dancer. It is so fun for me to watch.

She loves going to dance, and she has danced with On Stage since she was three years old.

It doesn't seem possible that she is turning 8 this year. NUTSO! She is such a beauty.

Today we went on a Mommy/Daughter date to see Justin Bieber "Never say Never." It was really cute, and Oaklyn was so cute. She secretly likes Justin Bieber, but she doesn't dare tell me. Ha ha. She gets embarrassed when she watches him. She definitely has a crush.

Creed 6 weeks.

He is the cutest baby on the face of the planet. :)

Londyn is adjusting....barely.

Londyn has struggled a bit since Creed was born. In fact, she started peeing her pants and for two days straight we cleaned up pee. I bribed her again with "potty treats" and she's been ok since. She still wants me to come with her into the bathroom, so I try to accompany her when I can.

She keeps calling Creed "Frankenstein" because Dan told her that is what we were going to name him. (Ahem...thanks Daddy). It sounds funny to hear her say, "Frankenstein is crying" or "Frankenstein is awake." She says it with this little mischevious look in her eye, like she knows she is being funny. It cracks me up.

The other day she decided to call him Buddy the Elf.  Where does she come up with this stuff!?!

She has decided to be creative in her ways to demand attention. In fact, she has started to ask me to scratch her back about ten times a day. And lately, she's been asking me to scratch her arm pit, and even scratch her bum. What!?!?

Then she keeps telling me that she needs medicine on her bum. I'm guessing it's because she sees me putting diaper cream on Creed's bum. So, we put it on her bum too.

She continues to call herself  "Sunshine" and demands that Dan refer to her as such. The other day she named all the kids by pointing at them, "That is Oaklyn, I am Sunshine, that is Connelly, and that is Creed."

She is fascinated with how Creed eats (breastfeeding) and has decided that one side is "milk" and one side is "water".  If he is drinking from my water side, she says, "He's thirsty. He's drinking water!"  What!?!?

Yesterday she wanted a treat really bad. I told her that she needed to eat her lunch first, but she confidently proclaimed that the "Prophet said I could have a treat!" I guess she expected me to say, well, OK! No such luck.

What a cutie.

The story of Creed!

I have been meaning to document Creed's birth for weeks. He is already three and a half weeks old! I can't believe it! So, before the details get fuzzy, I figured I'd better sit down and write it down.

It's no secret. I. was. miserable. Yep. Between my coughing (that has still not subsided by the way) and my hernia, I. was. done.

We had a scheduled induction for Sunday January 23rd. I was really surprised that Dr. Chalmers wanted to work on a Sunday. But, he said he'd rather do it then because Sundays are less busy. Plus he was headed out of town. We got called at 5:15 am and they said to be there at 6:00 am. I really didn't think we'd go in that early, so I was really excited!

Dan was snoring on the couch the whole time. :) I should have taken his picture. Everything was going great and by 10:30 the dr. had broken my water, and things went pretty fast from there.  By the time I asked for my epidural, the contractions were getting really hard, and at 11:30, I had my drugs and things were great.

At about 12:30, the nurse checked me and I was at a 7-8. I had warned the nurse that I go really fast at the end. So, when she said I was at a 7 or 8 I knew it was getting super close. By 12:45, I could feel a LOT of pressure, and I knew it was time. I woke up Dan and called the nurse back in. She checked me again, and I could tell something was wrong (not emergency panic, but something was bothering her). She finally told me that she had called the dr. and that he had just ran home, so he was on his way back. She had warned the Dr, but I guess when I said "fast" he thought he had at least a half hour. So, he ran home to Santa Clara! Santa Clara is at least 20 minutes away. The nurse didn't leave the room from then forward. She called a bunch of other nurses to bring in supplies, and she said that if she needed to deliver the baby, that it would be ok. Holy Moly! So in a blur, about five nurses rushed in and set up the room in about 3 minutes flat. They were all joking around, and the mood was pretty funny. They made sure to tease the Dr. when he got back!

So, the Dr. walked in the door at 1:05ish and we had the baby by 1:09. My epidural was different this time. When I started to push, it hurt. It didn't hurt like crazy, but I could definitely feel pain. So, when I started pushing the first push, I remember saying MAN, this hurts! The Dr. said something like "Don't worry, he'll be out on the next push anyway." He was right. I'm super lucky and only have to push a couple of times. The Dr. was teasing me the whole time about how important it was to have a baby with "long, dark, flowing hair." I bet my face was in shock because he started laughing and said, well, he's pretty much bald anyway.

The Dr. was also in shock that the baby was so little. He was betting on a baby that was at least 9 lbs. I guessed he would be about 8 lbs. He surprised us all and weighed in at 7 lbs 14 oz. (WITH a long cord still attached). So, who knows what his weight should have been.

He was perfect!

Here is his scrunched face!

Dr. Chalmers said that we were really lucky and that we had a "miracle" baby on our hands because there was a true knot in his cord. If the knot gets tightened even a little bit it is very dangerous and the baby's nutrients and blood flow cuts off resulting in still born babies. I feel so blessed, and I can't imagine how awful that could have been. Dan took a picture of the knot.

 My Mom and Dad came for about four days and it was great. The thing I LOVE about my Mom is that she is a "doer." She doesn't wait for instructions, she just does. I got home from the hospital to a clean house and all the laundry done and folded. I loved having them here. It was hard to see them go.

My Dad became Londyn's right hand man. He played games with her, and she bossed him around like crazy. It was great because she got that extra attention that I couldn't give her. Both Grandma and Grandpa spoiled the kids rotten with treats. I think by the time they left, Londyn had 4 packs of gum! They got some new movies, new hair bows, some new games, and they had a BLAST playing with them.

All in all, everything went very smoothly. I am very blessed to have such a great family. Dan and my Dad gave me a blessing the night before we went into the hospital, and I felt the spirit really strong. I knew that my Heavenly Father was watching over us.

One last thing....the food at the hospital was sooo good. Weird, I know. I have been craving a turkey sandwich from there ever since we left! :)

Two week old picture

I can't believe this little darling is already two weeks old!