The Dance Factory is still our family

Brooklyn has started taking dance at the same studio that I grew up taking at! It has been a wonderful experience to go back there and relive the same wonderful memories that I have from that place. Brooklyn's teacher is the same teacher I had growing up, Debbie (the owner and director). Debbie and The Dance Factory became my second home and my family.

I started taking there when I was 4 years old. My sister Brianne who is off at BYU took there and my other sister Sara who is 10 still takes dance there.

Brooklyn loves dance and I guess if it is only for a year while we are out here that she takes dance at The Dance Factory, it will be worth every minute.

I just hope I can take a few classes here and there after I have this baby, to get into shape and also feel like a kid again dancing my heart out!!!

Not yet baby girl!

For the past 4 days this baby girl has tried to make her way into this world! It all started on Friday night the 28th with some mild contractions that were not stopping. The bad part was that I was 3 hours away from my Doctor... I was up in Tahoe for a friends wedding. It made me really nervous being so far away, so my sister (who was with me) and I got in the car at 1:00am and headed home. Well we had gotten about 20 minutes from the hotel and the car broke down on the side of the mountain road!!! That did NOT help my contractions to say the least. After waiting on the side of the road for about 2 hours, the CHP showed up and waited with us until we could contact our friends that were staying in Tahoe. They came to our rescue, and let us borrow their car to get home.
Oh and let me not forget to mention that we did see a bear while walking to our car in the middle of the night. YIKES!!!

My stomach stopped contracting sometime Saturday, but I was so exhausted from our little adventure. Sunday was an OK day, but I had to go home after Sunday School because the contractions started up again.

Monday morning at 3 am the contractions were getting worse, so we headed to the hospital after Brooklyn was off at school and Landon was taken care of by my wonderful Mother-in-Law. They gave me a Demerol shot for the pain and to try to relax my muscles from the contracting. It worked for about 24 hours but they were back and in full force Tuesday night. So back to the hospital we went and they gave me some Terbutaline; a medication that relaxes the smooth muscles and stops contractions.
They had to give me two shots of this stuff, and then it finally worked and I haven't had any contractions since. Cross your fingers...

This little girl is very busy and wants to come out but we wont let her. I am measuring pretty small still so they definitely want to keep her in at least another week.
So, I am totally BORED!!! Laying down is so hard for me, I am going crazy. I have had a lot of help from my Mom and my Mother-in-law, so that has made life so much easier. Christian flys out on the 19th for the C-section that is scheduled on the 22nd, but I don't know if this little girl (with no name) will wait for her Daddy. So, in the meantime I will be doing a lot of movie watching and laying around. Wish me luck!!!

36 Weeks

Brooklyn's First Day of Kindergarten

Kindergarten here we come!

Brooklyn was so excited for school today. As she walked into school by her Aunt Sara's side, she was cool and confident. Her Aunt Sara who is a fifth grader at Brooklyn's school was more nervous than Brooklyn was.

We headed into Mrs. Hage's kindergarten classroom and Brooklyn hung up her backpack and then spotted her friend Sarah, (the girl she met yesterday) who was sitting down on the carpet waiting for her. Sarah smiled at Brooklyn and patted the ground next to her motioning for Brooklyn to come and sit by her.

I couldn't be happier that school has started and Brooklyn is making new friends. Since our move here and having to deal with all the transitions and also the goodbyes to Dad, Brooklyn has had a rough couple of months. We all need to keep busy so we don't miss Dad so much and with school starting and the baby coming we hope that will keep us occupied.

Landon and I got home from dropping Brooklyn off at school and didn't know what to do with ourselves. We played outside for a while and then I decided I better find something to do. If I wasn't having a baby in 5 weeks I would be looking for a job, I am so bored. Everything is ready for this little girl to come. I don't think there is anything else I can sew, or wash to get more ready for her. If I wasn't holding back I would have the car seat in the car already!!! I feel like I am going crazy with so much time on my hands. But that will sure change as soon as the baby comes.

Don't forget to pray

Today was "Meet the Teacher" day at Brooklyn's school and she is more than ready to start tomorrow! She met lots of friends and is way excited for this new adventure.

There were lots of fun things to see in her new classroom but most importantly there was a play kitchen and food. Brooklyn headed straight over to the kitchen where there were three other kids playing. They played there the whole time while the parents got all the kindergarten information.
After a while Brooklyn and a couple of her new classmates had made their pretend food and were sitting down at the table to eat, BUT wait, you can't forget the prayer! Brooklyn then told all the kids sitting at the table to fold their arms and she was going to say a blessing on the food. As my Mom and I watched as Brooklyn said a prayer on the food we just laughed and smiled as all the kids (not one was LDS) bowed their head and folded their arms as Brooklyn said a long prayer on the pretend dinner they had made. I don't think any of the other parents saw what had happened they were all talking to the teacher, but as I watched Brooklyn I smiled a great big proud smile.

The great thing was that she was not afraid to be herself and second, none of the other children even thought twice to not pray, or thought it was weird.

These are the times in our lives as a parent that really make it all worth it.

Check back later for a post about Brooklyn's first day of school!

Where is Dad?

Since we have moved out to California Christian has been busy doing his Podiatry clerk ships. He was in Santa Clara for the month of June. Then in Oakland/San Francisco for the month of July. We were lucky enough to see him every weekend while he was at these programs but now he is all the way on the opposite side of the U.S., in Allentown Pennsylvania. He had to drive this long trek of 43 hours from California to Pennsylvania. With lots of nervous calls from me, books on CD and some nasty junk food he was able to stay awake and make the trip in 4 days.

This is where Christian is living

These are Christian's shoes lined up in the hallway to show how skinny the halway is. Good thing my pregnant self isn't living there, we would have to make it a "NO Passing" zone.

This is his room, where he tries to spend the LEAST amount of time.

This is where we talk to Christian on the Web Cam.

And this is his Living Room, and roommate. Good thing he has cable!

Oh and don't forget these roommates too!!! YUCK!

thanks for the graphic picture...

Here is at picture of the Hospital where Christian is working at.

We sure do miss you Dad. We are so proud of you and hope you are learning how to be a good foot Doctor. Keep eating that good food!