Who I have met!

Here are some pictures of who Naomi has met :)

First meeting Daddy


First meeting Mommy


First family photo


First meeting Nana


First meeting Auntie Eden


First meeting Tuyen Cortus, Brodie's God-Mother


First meeting Amber Sanchez


Naomi has met her Grandpa, but the picture I believe is on our other computer and not on my laptop. I'll have to post it later. :)

8/28/10

Since Ben works on Saturdays, I'm going to TRY to do something with the kiddos every Saturday. No promises though :)

Anyway, this past Saturday since it was nice out Brodie, Naomi, and I went to Deanna Rose Farmstead. It's a petting zoo type place. You can bottle feed baby goats, you can fish, there are wagon rides, pony rides, you can watch someone milk a cow, and you can have birthday parties there. The place is HUGE! And it was only $2 to get in.

I packed up the kids and off we went. Naomi pretty much slept the entire time, except when we were going over some rough patches she'd kind of grumble and groan but that was it.

Brodie had a good time I believe! :) He liked watching the ducks. There was one point where we were over by the playground area and we were the only ones over at this little slide. I took him out of the stroller and we walked around a bit, him holding my hand. I let go of his hand thinking he'd go on the little playground and he turned around and ran back to the stroller and tried to climb back in it!! haha So, I hooked him back in and walked around some more. :)

I had a really great time! It's a nice place to go to with the kids, and since its so big it was good exercise!

Here are some pictures from the farm:






After the farm, the three of us went to Daddy's shop to visit him. Brodie loves visiting him at his shop, he always plays around on the spare keyboards around there. :)

Ben closed the shop early and we headed home. We hung out at home for a little bit and then we decided to go to the park.

Ben and Bro would go down the slides and Brodie loved it so much! He also loved swinging. Naomi, again, slept the whole time. We played on the playground for quite awhile and we strapped Bro back in the stroller and walked around the pond there. There were quite a few people there fishing.

Ben hadn't been to that park yet and after going Saturday we decided that one of these weekends we'll have to BBQ there. :) It's a really nice park and super close by!

Here are some pictures from playing at the park:









It was a really great day! I can't wait for next Saturday to see what the kids and I are going to do! :) I'm thinking maybe a museum? Who knows :) Hope you enjoy the pictures!!

2 weeks & 16 months update

Brodie turned 16 months last week and Naomi is now 2 weeks old! Crazy how time flies. I said it with Brodie and it's going even faster with Naomi!

Brodie is still adjusting pretty well to his baby sister. He'll give her kisses when we do and he'll touch her on the head, legs.

Other than adjusting to his new sister, Brodie is doing really well! He is throwing things, which we're trying-unsuccessfully-to get him to stop. Yesterday he threw a toy at a little girl at daycare, and it hit her in the face! Then this morning he threw one of his toys while I was holding baby sister and it hit her on the head! I do not like him throwing things, at all. He threw a ball (a hard plastic one) at my face this evening and if I wasn't wearing my glasses it would have hit my eye. Not good. It may be that he's acting out with the change that's going on, perhaps just a phase that all kids go through? Who knows but it does need to stop.

When Brodie's jabbering to you, it really sounds like he's having a conversation. Sometimes you can make out words/phrases, such as "I did it". I'm not quite sure what else he's been saying, so much to keep track of and update you all on :)

I don't think he has any more teeth coming in. He hasn't been acting like it, nor have we noticed any new teeth in his mouth.

We've decided that Bro's not going to have any more hair cuts. Ben was sad at his last hair cut because it was so short, so we're going to grow his hair out from now on :) I think he'll look SO cute with long hair!

Bro's also finally settling back into his routine since bringing baby sister home. Which I am so happy about! He was off schedule for a couple weeks but he's finally getting back on track. My mom is coming to stay with us next week but I'm going to still take Brodie to daycare, only because I don't want him to get off schedule again.

Other than everything that's been going on, he's been doing pretty well! He's still getting attention and love like he was before. :)

Now Naomi, already 2 weeks old! Pretty crazy considering her due date is tomorrow!! haha She's looking around more, lifting her head up more, and she gets up about 3 times at night to feed/get a diaper change. During the day, she mostly sleeps. She may have her nights/days mixed up. When she is awake during the day, she likes to look around and make the funniest faces!

I do have to say, she does look more like me than Ben :) Not just saying that because Bro looked and still looks more like Ben, but it's true. When my mom comes down I ask that she bring down some of my baby pictures so I can compare but she says that Naomi is the "spitting image" of me, hehe :) We each have our own little "mini-me's" haha!

All in all, we're all doing great! We're starting to get into a routine with the four of us. :) Everything is fine here. :) We can't wait for everyone else to meet little Naomi! Though we won't be back to Ellsworth/Salina until Thanksgiving. All the pictures we have of Naomi are on our phones, so I'll try to post some tomorrow. I have some good ones of Bro too! Sorry I haven't been able to post any pictures lately!

First week being home

Well, one week ago today we came home with little miss Naomi. Things have been going really good! She doesn't really cry or fuss. She wakes up about 2-3 times a night to feed/get diaper changed.

We're SO lucky to have the family that we do! Ben's mom was able to drop everything and come down the night we had Naomi to care for Brodie. She stayed with us through Sunday and then took Brodie back with her. He, of course, had a great time in Ellsworth :)

Then Nana and Grandpa came back up here Tuesday and stayed through Thursday. Nana and Auntie Eden are coming down tomorrow and leaving Sunday. :)

Our first week though has been, like I said, really good. Brodie's adjusting well to his new baby sister. He'll give her kisses and touch on her head. Yesterday afternoon was my first half day alone with just the kids. At one point, I was in the kitchen fixing Bro and I some lunch. He ran to the living room and I watched him, he went right in front of his sister and squatted down and just started jabbering at her. It was SO cute!! I didn't have my camera close by otherwise I would've gotten a picture.

The only times that Brodie really fusses/throws a fit is when he sees her eating from a bottle. We're trying to transition Bro from bottle to sippy cup. Now, usually he's really good and would only take a bottle when going to bed--that's what we're trying to transition. But, after talking last night, Ben and I both agreed that because there's a big change happening in his life, to be more relaxed on him having a bottle. It has only been a week since his sissy has been here.

Other than that things are good. Naomi's eating a lot and sleeping a lot. :) We did have to get her blood drawn Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week! :( Because she was looking a little yellow-for jaundice. When she left the hospital it was low, but then Monday it was up and Tuesday it went down, and Wednesday it went down so they said that it's ok and they'll see her again when she's 3 weeks old.

We can't wait for everyone to meet Naomi! She's the sweetest little baby girl. She's starting to really open her eyes and look around more. She smiles SO much when she's sleeping! Yesterday, she was sleeping in my arms and her head was tilted back a little and she laughed! It was probably one of the cutest baby laughs I have ever heard!! :)

Today is my first day with just Naomi. Ben took Brodie to daycare this morning and he's off at work. So far so good! But, I do have to cut this post short as I hear her grumbling over there from a dirty diaper. I'll post more pictures soon! If you have me added on facebook, I do have quite a few pictures of her on there!! :)

We proudly welcome to the family...

Naomi Maxine Gwinner
8lbs 1.2oz, 20" long, and a head circumference of 14"
Born 8/11/10 at 1:44am

We had her! Two weeks early too! :) She is the most adorable, beautiful baby girl I have ever seen! And I'm not just saying that because she's our daughter ;)

The labor/delivery went great. It was a very different experience than with Brodie. I started having contractions at 4:15pm while at work. I didn't really think much of it because the day before I was having contractions too but they weren't very close together. These I had on Tuesday (8/10/10) were about 5 minutes apart.

While on my way to get Brodie from daycare I called Ben and told him about the contractions I had been having and how close they were. I got Bro and we went home. Ben called and he was going to go to another shop to drop something off but I told him that he had better come home instead, just in case.

I was already trying to get our hospital bags rounded up just in case. When Ben got home I hopped in the shower and Ben started getting more things ready too. After the shower I called my doctor and told him about the contractions and how close they were, still about 5 minutes apart sometimes three minutes apart. The doctor said to go ahead and go on to the hospital, they'll check me out and determine if we need to stay.

We got to the hospital at about 7pm, I was dilated to 4cm and 70% thinned out. They called the doctor and after about an hour came back and said that they're keeping me! :)

That's when the ball started rolling. About a couple hours later I went ahead and got the epidural, took a nap, and then around midnight the doctor came in and broke my water. Around 1:30am I started feeling a lot of pressure down there. I was ready to push!

We had to wait on the doctor though because he was doing a c-section on another mommy. There were three babies all born within 2 hrs of each other that night/morning! :)

After the doctor got there and everyone suited up and got ready, after two pushes she was here! Such a little sweetheart. My first reaction was "wow that's a lot of hair!" And then my second reaction was "wow, we have a daughter!"

While we were in the hospital, Tuyen & Scott took care of Brodie until Nana got to town. Then she took him back to the house and they came the next day to visit :)

So far, Brodie has been good to his baby sister. He'll give her kisses and gently touch her head or legs, but then run off and become uninterested very quick. haha :) He'll be a great big brother though, no doubt about that.

It's great having our daughter here, in our arms. We've been waiting so long for her arrival. It all happened so fast! We can't wait for everyone to meet her. She's such a sweetie!! Just as good as Brodie was when he was that little :)

Naomi's baby shower pictures!

Nomi's baby shower was SO much fun!! Thank you everyone who came! It was so wonderful to see everyone!

Amber & Tuyen were great hostesses! They made some delicious snacks and the place was nicely decorated :)

And we definitely wore Brodie out Saturday! He slept on the way home and Sunday afternoon slept from like 11am-about 3:30pm! He would get up a little and play and then go back to sleep!

We played a couple games and both Nana and Grandma won! Grandma won the first game and Nana won the second game! They each got a candle for winning :)

The snacks that was made for everyone were these delicious strawberry cupcakes, mac & cheese with sausage, perogies-a pasta like ravioli, and rotel. Everything was so good!!

It was just so nice to get out of the house and see friends and family. And all the family was surprised by how BIG I am. :) Great-Grandma K asked if we were sure we're not having twins, Great-Aunt Rita was joking saying we're going to have a 20lb baby! haha

Here are some pictures from the shower, enjoy! :)

Nothing...

Well the baby is still baking. No more contractions today, as of yet! But some pains. We'll see.

We're going to go to Costco tonight since we didn't go last night. Hopefully that'll speed up the process.

Our next OB Appt is 8/19 in the morning--if we make it that far! :) If we go to that appointment, that will be our last appointment before the baby is born on the 23rd!

:)

Maybe our last doctor appt until Naomi arrives?

We had our weekly doctor appointment this morning. Still doing good, I'm 3cm dilated and 50% effaced (thinned out). He said that I probably won't make it to the 23rd-our induce date!

After our appointment, when I got up from the table there was this big wet spot where I was sitting. I told Ben that I had hoped my water didn't break while the doctor was checking me and of course, Ben who doesn't really know says "well, if your water broke I'm sure there'd be a bigger spot". Not necessarily there smarty :)

Anyway, on the way to work driving and while at work, I had been having contractions, and pains, and feeling like I was leaking. I waited until the afternoon to call the doctor's office, because I wanted to see how my contractions were going, etc.

Well, I talked with one of the nurses, they said they'd talk to the doctor and then call me back. They called back and told me that the doctor had stripped my membranes this morning and that I needed to walk A LOT! So, I've been trying to walk more while at work, but it is hard! My hips hurt so bad, but I'm trying.

My contractions are about 20-40 minutes apart and some are more intense than the others. We'll see how tonight goes! Maybe she'll be here by the end of the week!! :D I know we'd be OK with it!! :)

Wow! Awesome Surprise! :)

Today, 8/6/10, my work threw a surprise baby shower for Naomi! :) I had absolutely no idea at all! I guess they've been planning it for awhile now too.

One of the girls in my department, Keiko, she IM's me and says "Emergency meeting in the blue room, from Crystal". I was like "what?! why?!" So her and I start walking down the hallway, and there are a few people from other departments here waiting in the hallway too. Kevin, our IT guy, made me a homemade wheelchair! haha They were still talking about this emergency conference call. Which when they were talking about it I thought that we might be getting laid off and I was getting very nervous.

We get to the blue room and there it was, decorations for a baby shower for Naomi! I was SOOOO surprised, they really got me! My boss who was laid off in May, Nancy-she's like a second mother to me, was there with her granddaughter! I screamed "Nancy!!" and gave her a huge hug and started crying! :) I've really missed her.

Anyway, so there was food and cake and presents and decorations... It was awesome! I feel so lucky and loved at my job. I really couldn't ask for better co-workers and friends. :)

Here are a few pictures from my work baby shower!

Dr visits, every week!!!

Yesterday we had the first of our weekly doctor visits. We see two doctors and a nurse practitioner, every other week. This week we saw Dr. Hodes (the dad doctor, his daughter-Dr. Nauser, and then the nurse-Collen). It was so funny Dr. Hodes and Ben are always talking about their iPhones and technology, etc. So, when Dr. Hodes came in one of the first things he said was "Well, I got it" reaching for his iPhone 4 to show Ben! haha He also made the comment that when he saw that we were on his schedule he got excited--so he and Ben can talk about their phones LOL.

So our doctor visits with him are half technology, half baby talk. Which is fine by me!

As I was laying back down so the doctor could measure me, Dr. Hodes asked how big Brodie was. I tell him a little over 8lbs, and then he measures my belly and feels to make sure she's head down and goes "WHOA! This is going to be a nice sized baby!" and I yell out, "I knew it!" haha The previous night Ben and I were in our bathroom checking out our baby belly--which has gotten very huge. I asked Ben if he thought she'll be an 8lber like Brodie was and he goes "no, I think she'll be smaller". I will be VERY surprised if she's not an 8lb baby. You never know, I have no idea... But I just feel like she'll be big. But that's fine, big chunky babies are SOOO cute! :)

Everything was checking out fine though. My blood pressure was up just a little than usual, but nothing to be concerned about. I was also huffing and puffing walking back to get weighed and my blood pressure checked.

I'm still able to get around, just not very well. I still use a cane at work. It does help when having to go to the bathroom right at that very moment! haha :) I have been having a lot more Braxton Hicks contractions, and man do I hate them. I don't remember having them when I was pregnant with Brodie. I may have, but not as intense. They're not contraction-contractions because they're not every 5 minutes or so, they're usually just a few times a day, sometimes none a day. But when they happen it sucks!

I have most of our bags packed for when we have to go to the hospital too. Naomi's coming home outfit, her blankie, her hair clip and headband, her baby book. I have my pj's packed and robe. We brought the infant car seat inside-as it was in Ben's truck and the base in my trunk. It's sitting in our kitchen right now, but we'll soon have to rearrange the back seat for both car seats-aaahh!! :) But as of right now, while it sits in our kitchen on the floor, Brodie LOVES playing with it. He will lay there and just play with the buckles and jabber. He tries to lay in it backwards, like from the top and it has flipped him a couple times-poor baby. But he'll go back right to it! He'll even sit in it and try to rock himself. It's SO funny to watch him play with it. We tell him all the time "that's for baby sister Brodie!" and it just goes in one ear and out the other. :)

Things are going good though. Just growing and waiting :) Baby Naomi will be here soon enough!! :D And we cannot wait!