My cute kids...Wow, I've got KIDS!!

Thanks to my dad, here are some cute pictures of Carson and Brynlee. Carson can be a challenge to photograph (like any 2 year old), but I think my dad got some good ones. It was a little challenging getting pictures of Brynlee too. My dad wanted her awake, but that happens only every so often. She pretty much sleeps and eats (while still sleeping) all day long. She has been pretty good at night too. We are really enjoying having her around, she's a pretty mello baby right now and we're enjoying that. Carson really likes her too and gives her lots of love and kisses...too cute!

Welcome Baby Brynlee!

Brynlee Rebecca Loveridge

Born 9/18/07 at 6:34am

8lbs 11oz, 19 1/2"

Sorry about the delay in posting our exciting news, but our Internet has been down for days (that's a whole other story!). Our baby girl was born this past Tuesday and she sure did make a grand entrance. I was suppose to be induced because she was getting pretty big, but she decided to come earlier. A lot of you already have heard all the details, but for those who haven't, here is an approximate timeline of events leading up to her birth.

9/18/07

12:30am: I woke up with some contractions that were mildly painful.

1:00am: Woke Dan up and asked him what I should do. The contractions were only a little painful and not regular at all.

1:30am: Dan and I looked on the internet about "false labor" trying to figure out what was going on. Still the contractions were only a little painful.

2:00am: Called the on-call doctor to see what we should do. He said if we wanted to check we could to to the hospital to see if i was dilating and actually in labor.

2:10am: Decided to go back to bed and see if they got any worse.

2:10-4:30am: SLEPT. Obviously the contractions weren't THAT bad if I could sleep.

4:30am: Dan woke up for seminary and I got up to. Still had the not too painful contractions.

5:15am: Dan left for seminary. I told him to call me afterwards, before going to work, to see if they were getting any more intense or regular.

5:30am: Starting packing my bags for the hospital, just in case. Took a shower. Contractions were now getting a little more intense.

5:45am: Called Dan during seminary class and told him he should come home now. contractions were now painful enough that I was moaning and wanted to be getting to the hospital for drugs!

5:55am: Contractions now SUPER painful and frequent and I was paralyzed in pain and literally screaming as loud as humanly possible!! Oh, and Carson was still sleeping in his room.

6:00am: Was able to somehow lay down on the top of the bed...still screaming in pain!

6:03am: Water breaks on the bed...yuck!

6:05am: Dan gets home and sees/hears me screaming in pain and I tell him to call 911. Oh, and by the way, Dan remained calm the entire time, bless his heart.

6:10am: I am screaming, pushing, did i mention screaming!?! Carson wakes up and Dan takes him downstairs. Luckily our neighbor was outside and took care of Carson. Dan watches for ambulance.

6:15am: Paramedics arrive. One ambulance and two firetrucks! They hear me screaming from outside and rush upstairs. Dan sees that the baby is crowning and shows the paramedics. They say "looks like were having a baby here". I'm still screaming!!!

6:15-6:34am: More screaming, more pushing, more screaming, screaming, screaming and more screaming!!!!! Dan being very helpful during all of this.

6:34am: Baby girl is born on our bed....yuck....double yuck!!!

So, there you have it! It took a little work to get her to cry, but she did and we were all so happy. They packaged us all up and took us to the hospital (a different one than we were planning on having her at). The paramedic was pretty excited about his first delivery. I congratulated him and he did a great job! When we got to the hospital I felt like a celebrity. All of the ER staff were lining the walls and clapping and cheering as they wheeled me in. It was actually kind of embarrassing. Throughout our 2 day stay, people kept asking me all about it...it was pretty funny. So, I guess I'm now one of "those women", who somehow don't make it to the hospital in time and deliver their babies at home. Thank goodness we weren't in the car somewhere! I never, EVER thought it would happen like that...so fast! We feel very blessed that everything turned out great! But, I tell you, I would NEVER recommend doing it that way...it was soooo painful! Why would anyone want to have a baby naturally?? My next baby, I'm going to the hospital extra early and getting lots of drugs...maybe I can get an extra epidural to make up for the one I missed this time :) Anyway, we are loving our little baby girl...here are some pictures...

Super Saturday!

What a fun day I had! It was Super Saturday for the women at church. This is where we all get together and do fun craft projects. I made a cool clock and another craft that I'm going to give to my mom and sister for Christmas ( so I better not put a picture here ). It was a lot of fun to hang out with friends and do crafty things. The clock was fun and a pain to make, but Michelle (one of our young women) helped me do it...she did a ton and it looks awesome! It was also especially a fun day b/c my good friend Tami came up and went to Super Saturday too. She is the best and we always have fun together. All the boys (Dan, Carson, and Tami's husband Scott and son, Kyle) hung out at home while we were there. When we got back we hung out and then went to dinner...it was great! It's fun having awesome friends...you guys are the best! Here's a picture of the clock....

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I have some really sad news...I am currently sewing-machine-less. This is terrible!!! I have two machines and they are both messed up. It's my own fault that I have two that don't work at the same time b/c my newest one has been having some issues for months now and I just barely took it into the shop to be looked at. Well, only 2 days later, my older one (which has been having some other issues) died on me....arrrgghh!!! I was NOT happy at all....really sad actually. I have soooo much fabric and so many plans for it and now I have nothing to use to make it....bummer! Hopefully I will get my one back from the shop next week, but probably not before I have a baby. This baby better like to sleep so I can get some sewing done :) Here's a picture of my new favorite dress I made last week. I just need to sew a couple buttons on the back. I love the way it turned out...i just hope it fits her okay.

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We also got our carpets cleaned yesterday...yippee!! We hadn't had them really cleaned since we moved into our house 3 years ago and they were NASTY! They had serious oil and grease stains that I thought for sure would never come out. We had the carpet cleaner guy that our neighbor uses come do them and they look AMAZING!!! He spent 4 hours doing it all and he was drenched in sweat by the time he was done. But, I tell ya, they look as good as new. I was seriously astonished that he was able to get them looking so good. Our house is still turned up side down from moving everything off the carpet, but we feel so good about how clean it looks. We both agree that it was money well spent (and it was a good price too!). Here are some before and after pictures.

Look....a Pirate!

So, lately Carson really likes Pirates. Dan decided that he should be a pirate for halloween. Now he talks about it all the time...."Arrrr". Today while we were walking into the library a lady was walking out wearing a patch on her eye. Well, guess what Carson said.....yep, you guessed it....."look Daddy...PIRATE, PIRATE!!!". Dan was soo embarrassed and quickly responded "yes, Carson you're going to be a pirate for halloween". We're not sure the lady even realized what he was talking about, but it was pretty funny/embarrassing. I'm pretty sure this is just the beginning on embarrassing things our kids will say.

On a different note. I had an ultrasound today to see how big the baby is getting. They were thinking she may be larger b/c Carson was 8lb 10oz and this pregnancy I was close to having gestational diabetes (i barely made the cut off, so they thought i might be a little glucose intolerant which can produce bigger babies). So the ultrasound estimated that she weighs about 9lbs!!! YIKES!!! The u/s can be off by a pound, so it's not a perfect thing, but either way, she is on the big side. The funny thing is that I've only gained 10lbs the whole pregnancy and the last 8 were this last month. I have been feeling great and don't feel any bigger this time around than I did with Carson. But, he was a good size...but also 9 days late. So, the plan is to induce me to give me the best chance of avoiding a c-section. I'm totally fine with that. I'm now waiting for them to schedule the induction, they are hoping for Tuesday night next week. Crazy stuff! I'm excited to have her. It's weird though, I don't feel like I've prepared much b/c we have everything from Carson. But, I think we're ready...i hope :) I'll keep you updated on the latest.

Happy Happy Birthday!

What a great birthday! I was hoping to have my baby on my birthday, but no luck! I had a great day anyway. Carson was especially cute (except at playgroup when he was especially NOT cute) and he was even nice enough to take a nice long nap on my birthday. That's something that he doesn't always do lately. After our play group, we all went to Chipotle...yum! Thanks Irene for buying me lunch! And later, once Dan got home, we went shopping at "Baby's R Us" looking for a double stroller and then to dinner at "Friendly's". Speaking of double strollers....does anyone have any recommendations?? Anyway, thanks to everyone who called and stopped by with treats...you are the best! It was a fabulous birthday and now I'm another year older :)

My Memories of 9/11/01

I just thought since I am using my blog as my "journal" type thing, I would write about my memories of September 11th, 2001. A week before, my mom and I went on a trip to DC so I could interview for jobs at various hospitals. I had just graduated from nursing school in August and was at home in Rochester for a month. We almost went to DC the week of 9/11, but decided to go a week earlier. We stayed two days in DC and slept over night in a little town called Laurel, MD. We picked Laurel on the map b/c it was in between DC and Baltimore and one of the hospitals was in Baltimore. We actually stayed at a motel called "The Valencia Motel". Ironically, this motel is only about 5 or so minutes from where Dan and I live now....and was also the motel that some of the 9/11 terrorists stayed at....scary! So, I interviewed and was told that I needed to let them know if I would except the job by September 11th. I remember waking up the morning of the 11th and my mom telling me what was going on. One plane had struck a tower at that point. Of course we were glued to the TV and saw as the 2nd plane hit and then later the one in DC and Pennsylvania. It was unbelievable and very frightening as the events played out. Still on my mind though was accepting the job in the ER at George Washington University Hospital; a level 1 trauma center right on Washington Circle in downtown DC. I had decided that I wanted to work there, but after seeing what was going on, my mom wondered if I was sure I wanted to go there. I was definitely sure and called them to accept later that morning. They didn't answer the phone and I remember saying on the voicemail "I'm sure you are busy now, but I would like to come work for you". I'm not sure how busy the ER's really were that day since there didn't end up being as many survivors or even people to save and bring to the hospital. How sad. So, for the following days to come, I think most Americans were doing the same thing....watching the news. The news was the ONLY thing on for the next week, but it was hard not to watch. I can remember the images of the planes hitting the towers being shown over and over again and then the horrific pictures of what happened soon after....the towers collapsing, people running covered in gray dust...injured people...and most horrific to me at the time, people jumping from hundreds of feet high out of the buildings. Then soon after that came all the stories of peoples loved ones that were alive or those that were missing. There were pictures by the hundreds of those that hadn't been found yet. It was so sad to watch. A few weeks later I was off to DC to live and work. I jumped right into working at the ER right when the Anthrax thing happened. There was so much terrorism talk and everyone came in thinking they had been exposed to Anthrax. It was a pretty crazy time. It was also interesting to be so close to the Pentagon. I would drive by it on my way to work and there was always a army tank with a soldier in it with a machine gun. I remember thinking how weird that was. Anyway, 9/11 was such a sad and scary day. When I hear of such sad things, I always think "Can't we all just get along?". I guess that's not gonna happen anytime soon. But, there is still a lot of good and that's what I'll focus on. So, there you have it, my memories of 9/11/01.

Big Boy Bed and Baby Shower!

Well, we switched Carson over to his "Big Boy Bed". We've had Dan's old twin bed in Carson's room ever since we moved to our house, so he's always seen it there. But, we started talking it up and telling him that he could sleep there so the baby could have the crib. He didn't seam to care too much until we let him pick out new sheets for his bed (he picked Diego...no surprise) and then he was super excited. We put the sheets on the bed and installed a bed rail and he was so excited to play/sleep on his new big bed. After much playing on the bed and reading and singing songs, we told him he needed to stay in the bed and go to sleep. He got a sad frown on his face and started to cry. I think he was a little scared about the whole thing. We left his room and shortly later, he came walking into our room. Dan went and reassured him and a little bit later Dan and I went downstairs (2 levels below) thinking he was calm and would stay up there. Not very long after we went downstairs, down came Carson. He looked so cute that we both started laughing. Dan took him back upstairs and laid with him. He went to sleep soon after that. When he woke up in the morning he was so excited to tell me that he slept in his big boy bed with Diego sheets. It was really cute. He had a hard time taking a nap yesterday in his bed (okay, he didn't nap at all), but today was much better. He took a nap and went to bed at night with no problems. So, maybe switching him over won't be as bad as I thought. He's just getting so big and old now...although he looks so small in his big bed. My little man is growing up!

Big Boy Bed with Diego Sheets

Jumping on the bed

Fast asleep...

Saturday was my baby shower and it was a blast! My friends Mary and Gwyn threw it for me and it was perfect...yummy food, cute decorations, and tons of fun friends! Thanks ladies!!!! It was so fun to hang out with friends and of course open fun gifts full of pink and purple things! I love baby girl stuff! Everyone was so generous and I'm so excited to put my little baby in all these cute clothes! Thank you everyone....you all are the best!

Cute blankets...one for baby...one for Carson!

Look at those awesome decorations...good job Mary!

Awesome friends!

Happy Prego Lady

What a Weekend!

We’ve had some fun and exciting times this weekend. On Friday night we went to my friend, Robyn, from work’s Tastefully Simple party. She invited girls and guys so Dan and Carson came too! It was fun to taste all the food and Carson had a blast with their fun toys, pool, and dogs. We even bought a few things...yum!

On Saturday we went swimming in the morning, which is always fun. We sure are going to miss going to pool after it closes tomorrow. In the afternoon Dan had to go fulfill his assignment at the cannery. Shortly after he left the house, I was upstairs in our bedroom with Carson and he was pulling out the drawers on Dan’s dresser. He sometimes does this, but not very often. I usually tell him to push them back in and he’s pretty good about it. Well, all of the sudden....CRASH!!! I don’t know what he did to pull it down...b/c there is a TV on top so it’s not super light...but somehow he pulled the whole thing over. We have a few of our dressers and shelves bolted to the walls, but apparently not this one. The whole thing came down and knocked him over, but luckily didn’t really land on him. He was just to the side of the TV and I easily pulled him out from the drawers. He was scared...as was I...but we all quickly recovered. He had a good talking to and he kept saying all day that he “broke the TV...drawers fall down...hurt....scared”. Boy, that was a close one!

Once Dan got back and Carson had taken his nap, we went to the Maryland State Fair. It was a lot of fun and Carson loved it! We totally expected to let Carson ride one ride, but he was so good and didn’t whine or totally beg us to ride anything. So, we just looked at them and he was totally happy with that. He also especially loved the animals! They had some super cute little piglets, baby chicks, llamas, cows....etc! We had a great time and even tried a deep-fried snickers!
And today something crazy/awesome happened. A woman from church called earlier this week and said that she had some fabric that she wanted to donate to Crafts For Claire. Well, I went over there today and she wasn’t kidding....she had TONS of fabric!!! She truly was a mini “Joann Fabrics” store! She was soooo generous and let me pick out anything and everything I wanted. I kept asking her if I should stop and she told me to keep going. I felt kinda weird taking all of this, but I was like a kid in a candy store...I wanted everything! She was sooooo kind and generous and I ended up taking 57 bolts of fabric....plus more that was just folded....and binding....and ric rac....a couple patterns.....a sewing table.....and more!!! Can you believe all of that??? This is seriously hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of dollars worth of fabric! I am still blown away and feel guilty about taken so much....but she was so giving. The crazy part is that I didn’t even make a dent in her collection! Am I crazy and greedy for taking so much????
What a weekend! Tomorrow we hope to have some more fun with Dan home, then I’m off to work for the evening. We hope you all have a great Labor Day!!!