In for a Rough Ride

Look at this poor guy.
He looks so happy.
Not a care in the world. It's summer time.
We are at a concert.
Out with a Major babe....how could life get any better?
Little does he know life is about to change.
He doesn't even know what is about to hit him.
He might as well be a dear in headlights!
But here for a moment, he is happy and ignorance is bliss :)

He has no idea that after we get married,
and I mean SHORTLY after we are married,
we will be parents. What???
How can that be? Well folks, this guy
knocked up his wife... and I can assure you
He is not ready for what is in here.
Bless his heart,
He is a complete rookie.

We are havin' one of these (no I still don't know boy or girl...just love this lil one)
Note: I am not giving birth to a 5 year old, like my husband seems to think.
I know I am by no means "ready" to be a momma bear, BUT I think
I might be a few steps ahead of Poppa Bear. I will let you be the judge....

Last night, both Michael and I were laying in bed, talking and watching TV
(even though NOTHING was on), so mostly just chat chitting
(ya that's right I switched them around...words don't own us)
and my sweet lil' hubby asks me this:
Michael: "So when the baby is here do we like have to put it to bed and stuff?"
Me: Long pause...(thinking in my head...did I hear that right? Is he serious?
he has to mean something else...maybe i didn't understand his question...)
"um....ya who else is gonna do it?"
Michael: "well, when do we put them to bed?"
Me: "They sleep all the time. That's all they do when they get here. Eat. Poop. Cry. Sleep."
Michael: "well that sucks for you...you are gonna have to get up a lot I guess"
Then he rolled over and started to fall asleep and snore :)
I laid there mostly is shock about what just happened.
Is this guy for real? He kept a straight face the entire time, so I don't think
he was kidding or playing a joke. I think that was a sincere question.
Oh SNAPS! I am in for a rough ride!
Now, in his defense, all I can say is that Michael is basically an only child.
He has not been around kids, let alone infants. I haven't been around
either too much myself, but I do understand that while they
don't come with an instruction manual,
I do not expect my newborn to let me know when the appropriate
bedtime for him/her will be. I am excited for this little one to come, but
now I realize Michael and I will have quite the learning curve on how to
be parents! It will no doubt come with frustration, lack of sleep,
but I am sure there will be tons of fun, funny stories in the future!

Husband, I love you. I love all your funny questions about
our baby. I know you will be an amazing father, but I promise you I am
not giving birth to a 5 year old, like we watch on Super Nanny.
We have to take care of our little bear, so that bear can grow up
to one day tell us they don't want to go to bed. Bear will no doubt plead and
beg one day to stay up like a big boy/girl just like mommy and daddy.
But for now, we (yes WE) get to watch our little one eat, sleep and poop
for the first little while. So while you enjoy your last 2 months of
"peace and quiet" just remember, when bear gets here we will be the ones
that put bear to bed, and get up with bear in the middle of the night,
and then put bear back to bed as well :)
Welcome to the life you have always dreamed of: Parenthood :)

Plump with a Bump

While I was home in CA a few weekends ago, I was able to take
some maternity pictures with the most wonderful Carly Daniel,
and even though I wish Michael could have come and joined
in the fun, I was excited to have my auntie, sister and mom all there
with me! My good friend Jenn did my hair, and off we went to explore
a new park that is 5 minutes from my house, but yet have never
ever seen in my life. It was quite cool to have a new discovery!
Carly is so amazing and always does a fabulous job!
Here are my favorites from the day...

Gotta have a little sass!

P.S. Can you believe how white I am? I need some Vitamin D ASAP!!

I Cry at Work

I work at Novell.
It's not that exciting and sometimes downright boring.
BUT, when it is boring, I get to surf the web.
i LOVE to blog surf aka blog stalk.
I look at photography blogs (I one day want to do that)
I look at wedding blogs...no I'm not having another wedding but I love
to see all the new creative ways people celebrate together.
I look at friend's blogs,
and friend's of friend's blogs who cousin married this
guy and now they have kids the same age and go to the same
pre-school so she knows Bethany type of stalking.
I sometimes wonder how I got to someone's blog but I love
reading about people, about their life, what they celebrate,
what they do during their day,
what trials they are going through, why they are frustrated,
why they are grateful, what their crazy kids do,
basically I am a total "people watcher" only in this sense
it comes from the world wide web.
Maybe that makes me creepy but every now and then I come
across someone, or something that makes me grateful
for these online journals we call blogs.
Sometimes it's a funny video that makes me laugh,
but today there is a girl, who lives in HI, that I do not know,
but I admire her. I admire her strength.
I admire her faith.
I admire her honesty.
I admire her outlook on life, and that has forever
changed mine as well.
Reading her blog made me cry at work.
Call it hormones, but I am pretty sure any girl in my shoes
or hers, just might shed a few tears as well.
They were tears of sadness for her, but also tears of joy
because she knows what I know.
I am grateful for my knowledge.
I am grateful for a loving Heavenly Father,
who watches over us come pain, sadness, happiness and joy.
I can't imagine going through the trials that she has,
but I also know she is a strong enough woman to overcome them
or else she wouldn't have been faced with that trial in the first place.
Quite the sucky compliment from Big Guns upstairs,
but a compliment and test rolled into one none the less.
I hope and pray that I can one day be a strength to others
around me, the way she has been for me today.
I also will remember to love the ones I care for more dearly,
deeply and completely because we never know when
the time will come when their time is up, or when my own time
is up. I want those around me to know I love them and I love
them whole heartily. She has taught me that I too can be strong
when faced with challenges, if we lean on those
around us, and lean on the one who knows just what we
are going through. He knows it all.
So, Natalie thanks for being an example to someone
you do not know, but is grateful
for people like you.

Note to Self

I read this email Monday morning. About 36 hours too late.

30 Weeks Pregnant
"You may be feeling a little tired these days, especially if you're having
trouble sleeping. You might also feel clumsier than normal, which is perfectly understandable. Not only are you heavier, but the concentration of weight in your pregnant belly causes a shift in your center of gravity. Plus, thanks to hormonal changes, your ligaments are more lax, so your joints are looser, which may also contribute to your balance being a bit off. Also, this relaxation of your ligaments can actually cause your feet to spread permanently, so you may have to invest in some new shoes in a bigger size."

What they should have emailed me on FRIDAY was....

Brooke,

Take it easy. You are not a D1 soccer player anymore, and if you
haven't noticed, you are also 30 weeks pregnant.
You probably should be aware that your ligaments are more relaxed,
and this can cause things that may seem easy or normal
to your "pre pregnancy" body to ache or
throb after you do them now. We promise that if you warm up
your goalie for a game on Saturday afternoon
(with your wicked hard shots no less...wink wink),
that you will pay for it Saturday night and the rest of the weekend there after.

Your danger zone ligaments will feel just like THIS! It will NOT feel awesome.
Your eyes will water when you stand up or attempt to walk anywhere.

You will look like a 90 yr. old who broke her hip and you will be in more pain than
you want to be in. So just take it easy girlfriend! You only have 10 more weeks
left. Enjoy it. Don't try to be super woman (although let's be honest you are ;) Don't
try to do everything yourself. It's ok to ask for help (just don't abuse it).

Walk slower. Embrace all the new curves (and we know there are lots... ESP. since
you had to go out and buy new soccer shorts just FOR the game because your
LARGE rear doesn't fit in any old soccer shorts you normally wear). Enjoy
the time you have to yourself, because once this kid is here there is no turning
back! Enjoy your time alone with your wonderful husband. Your life is about
to change in the next 10 weeks. Enjoy your time now, but embrace the time that
is to come. Motherhood will be amazing and you will love it regardless of
the ups and the downs and the sleepless nights (and we all know how you LOVE
your sleep, and be quite cranky without it).

Sincerely,
Baby Center

Humble Abode

We have been in our 2 bedroom for almost 2 months now,
and I am still as in love with it as the day we moved in!
We moved from our rather small one bedroom,
to what feels like a mansion now. It has 2 bedrooms,
1.5 baths, and W/D. It has hardwood downstairs on the
main level, and carpet upstairs. I love all our new space,
and love that one day (hopefully soon) we will have a dining
room table to actually eat family meals on!
I am so excited to be able to bring bear home where he/she
will have its own(and rather spacious) room filled
with lots of Ikea furniture and fun goodies!

Front Porch.

Living Room

View from the dining room toward our front door.

Our empty dining room....can't wait to put a table there!

Kitchen with SUNLIGHT!!!

The Boudoir ;)

No pics yet of little bear's room cuz it's not all done yet! I have
a few more things to add and clean up! So more to come later!

A Photoshoot with Grandma Kip

Grandma Kip aka The Kipster has some skills.
We both have a love for photography and never leave home
without a camera. I went home this last weekend to see the fam and
my auntie threw me one heck of a baby shower while I was there!
I was also lucky enough to take some maternity pics with the always
great Carly Daniel, who always inspires both my mom
and I to get into the photography business!
My mom, sister and aunt all came along to the new secret spot
we found in Costa Mesa (who knew Costa Mexico had an awesome park).
My mom brought her camera to somewhat shadow and learn
from Carly, while I tried to observe as much as possible too and
learn how she poses people and watch her in her element!
Carly is crazy talented and such a natural behind the camera lense!
She is the best to watch and observe and has so much to teach!

These are a few pics my mom snapped of me, and no I can never
be serious in front of my mom's camera!

What's a photoshoot without a lil' Bakken Booty action?

and of course the always famous Double Peace!

So the next day we decided to try out Kip's camera skills and put our creative
minds together and went over to Edison, my old stomping grounds
for HS soccer, and take some pics with some cleats and a ball just for fun.
It was so fun to do something like that for my mom and to just be
her test dummy to practice on. We took about 50 pics and I chose
the ones I liked best to put on here. We messed around with different poses,
different angles, and of course a few different props! I think my
mom did a great job for this being her first attempt at taking pictures
as if I was an actual client not just her daughter who she shamelessly
loves to embarrass her girls in front of friends trying
to get "the perfect picture angle"!! We don't have any editing
software for now, so these are all without any editing
or photoshopping all my flaws! Kip is the bomb and I can't wait to
see her skills and creative side develop even more now!

Kait has twins...while I just have ONE. One LARGE one.

Hatching "the next Mia Hamm"

Who doesn't wear pearls to soccer these days right?

I have some serious plumber's crack going on behind the scenes!
It was quite "breezy" back there! :)

P.S. We need to get my mom an actual name for her photography business
if she wants to get serious about it. Any suggestions??

A Lil' "Round" Up

Round is an understatement....
I haven't posted any pictures of the progression of my growing belly
in a while! It gets more "round" by the day!
I must say though that this pregnancy has been a dream and has been
so easy for me. Obviously I don't have anything to compare it to,
but compared to some stories that are doozies
out there, I feel incredibly blessed. I have yet to experience
back pain, but then again I am only a week into my third trimester.
I still sleep well at night, complete with a snuggling kitty that
likes to sleep ON my face or shoulder. The baby is still
kind enough to get lots of his/her movements out during
the day and sleeps with me at night :)
I still have a pretty high level of energy (compared to the first 3 months)
and I am even coaching soccer now after work, and I still
have enough energy to do that as well 4 times a week.
I feel like this pregnancy is going by so fast, and can't believe
there are only 75 days left on the calendar until bear's due date.
I am excited about the hospital I will be delivering at (Timpanogos Hosp)
especially after my most recent trip there for my glucose test and
Rhogam shot! Much to my surprise I have a negative blood type, hence
the need for the shot. But once again, something I had no idea,
nor did it ever occur to me, about pregnancy. There are so many
things I have learned, and changes I have seen with my
body that blow my mind. A few of them
scary, that I am pretty sure if these were spelled out
during sex ed, there would be less 16 and pregnant chicks!
Just sayin' is all. Sometimes I don't feel qualified or old enough
to be pregnant, so I don't know how girls younger than me
or even single girls do it. It has made such a huge difference to have
Michael by my side reminding me I am pregnant when I just feel
fat, and telling me I am beautiful, and when he tells me "thank
you for carrying our baby" it melts my heart. Despite his tough
guy exterior, he is a big softy on the inside :)
I am so lucky that our kids will be 50% Michael, and hopefully
mix in a few good parts of Brooke.

I start going to the doc's now every 2 weeks, and then after that every week!
That means the end is getting so close! I swear it was just
yesterday I was staring at that dang stick in complete SHOCK.
Bear still kicks and moves all the time, and now we can say that bear
had the hiccups yesterday (4-12-10) for the very first time.
At first I had NO idea what was going on. I just knew there was
this like pulsing/rhythmic feeling going on down there and it was
completely new. I remembered reading about girls feeling their
baby's hiccups right around this time, so I of course
booked it to Babycenter.com
to check it out and sure enough, BAM! Bear had the hiccups!
It is so funny to think about the baby having the hiccups INSIDE
my tummy! But once again, just another sign that baby bear
is still growin' and still healthy :) We love healthy babies!

As always, I am still grateful to be blessed with this little one inside
my tummy and grateful for the opportunity to become a mommy!
Big guns upstairs either REALLY trusts me or is playing a cruel
joke and sending me a little taste of my own medicine
that I once gave to my mom!
Let's hope for everyone's sake it's option A!

26 Weeks and growing....

Rockin' a beer gut...minus any beer!

Lookin' ROUGH and PUFF one Sunday morning.....
27 Weeks

Easter=7 months! 7 months ago Michael's men
went on an egg hunt a little early! ;)

My door bell belly button!

29 Weeks in CAli!

Round lil' butterball!

Still more to grow! Yikes!