Family Pics and Homemade Pretzels

Here are a few family pictures from Christmas Day, 2011. We were lucky enough to catch Andrielle and Grayden while they were both cooperative and happy.








There is something about the colder weather that just makes me want to bake! Today, I made homemade pretzels and pretzel bites. Oh man, they are SO yummy! They're super easy, too. I'm going to post the recipe, mostly because I want to pin it on Pinterest (my new favorite thing!) so that I have it to always remember (lol!).


Homemade Soft Pretzels:
Ingredients:
1 package active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
4 cups flour

Dissolve sugar in water and add yeast. Add salt and flour and knead 5-10 minutes (no, that's not a typo - and you really do need to kneed the dough that long!). Divide into 10-12 pieces. Roll out in ropes and either twist into pretzels, or cut into pieces for the pretzel bites. Brush with melted butter and bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes for pretzels (or until the bottoms of the pretzels are a nice light brown), 8 minutes for pretzel bites. Brush again with butter after baking and sprinkle with coarse kosher salt, parmesan, or cinnamon & sugar. Enjoy!

Halloween 2011

I know it's late, but here are our Halloween pics. We decided to dress "Goth" for Halloween. Gavin even let me do his eye make-up. Pretty fun. Best part is I got Andrielle's costume for $1!! Yep - I got a coupon code for an online Halloween costume site, it was originally a $50 costume, but it was on sale and after my coupon code and shipping costs, it only cost a buck. Love it.

Here we are at a pumpkin patch in Orem, UT:

Another blog

I've been debating since I first set up another blog (about 2 months ago) whether or not I wanted to share it with others or keep it as my own personal journal. And I've decided now to open it up. It is mostly about Andrielle and everything we have been dealing with. If you would like to follow our journey - the blog link is: http://www.thislittlefish.blogspot.com

Note: I will still be keeping up with this blog :)

Crazy

Today probably could have gone a little smoother, but what would life be like if we never had any challenges, right? I was rushing around trying to get her ready for her playgroup this morning, got a couple of phone calls and texts and left the house a little frazzled. Well, with everything going on I forgot my diaper bag. We got to playgroup and of course Grayden has a major messy diaper that explodes all over the place. His clothes were disgusting and I had no change of clothes for him or a new diaper. Luckily for me, I did have an emergency bag in the car for Andrielle (I need to get one together for Grayden - on my to-do list for tomorrow for sure!). So I put Grayden in a size 5 diaper and one of Andrielle's shirts. He looked like a very nice girl - lol. I would have taken a picture, but I didn't think he'd appreciate that later in life :)

Thanksgiving Point Farm

Andrielle, Grayden, and I went to the Thanksgiving Point farm with my mom and Carson today. It was really fun. Andrielle loved looking at all the animals that she's been learning about in her preschool/playgroup and did a great job at imitating most of their noises.


Here we are on a horse-drawn carriage ride


Andrielle and Carson are playing in the pretend jail. Carson is such a good uncle to play with Andrielle! :)

Andrielle in the jail

Here's Andrielle feeding the ducks with Grandma

This was a cute little playroom with pretend food cards that they could pretend to plant or pick from the ground, put on a conveyer belt to send to the big truck, or sort at the market. In this picture, Andrielle is sitting on a pretend tractor.

And, of course we can't forget the pony ride! Andrielle wasn't so sure about it at first, but I think she enjoyed it once it got going. Grandma is watching Grayden for me so that I can walk beside Andrielle.

Daddy, Grayden, & Andrielle

Daddy, Grayden, & Andrielle

Daddy & Grayden

Andrielle & Grayden

We're all adjusting to life as a 4-person family. Andrielle is doing pretty well, but I can definately tell she's jealous of the attention that Grayden has been getting from everyone (including Gavin and myself). She's had a few melt-downs this week, I think she's finally realizing that Grayden isn't going back - he's here to stay. But Gavin's great to take extra time with her when he comes home from work. Hopefully it's uphill from here!

Grayden Lyle

Grayden Lyle Brush was born August 20 at 12:47 am. He weighed 7 lbs 9 oz and was 20 inches long.

I'd been having contractions since about 4 on Friday, but they got pretty intense while we were having dinner at my sister in law's home. After leaving Andrielle at my parent's home, we got to the hospital at about 9:00 and got checked in. I was dilated to a 5 and having contractions about every 3-5 minutes. They called my doctor, he showed up and broke my water around 11:30. About an hour and 15 minutes later, Grayden was born. I decided not to have an epidural again, and because of how quickly he came, I didn't get the pain killer through my IV this time like I did with Andrielle - so I really went completely natural. Everything went great and I was able to hold and feed him right after he was born.

Grayden is doing really well. His biliruben scores are a little high, and he's been tested 5 times now but the levels are going down and he won't need the bili-box. :)

Andrielle is a good big sister. She's still acting a little confused about who this new little addition to the family is but for the most part has been really good.

Grandma and Grandpa Brush brought her dry erase crayons while they were here and she has loved playing with them. Lucky for us, they clean up really well.

35/36 weeks

Last week I started having lots of contractions and major back pain, so even though I wasn't scheduled to see my doctor for another week, I made an appointment. We were supposed to leave for my grandparent's cabin to spend the weekend with my family Friday, and I didn't want to risk anything. So I went to the doctor Thursday evening, he told me I was dilated to a 2 and put me on bed rest - no cabin trip for us (though we did sneak up to spend the day there on Saturday). 5 weeks early is just a little too early to be going into labor. My mom was kind enough to take Andrielle every morning for a few hours and then picked me up and took me back to her house. It was nice having the extra help with Andrielle since I wasn't able to pick her up, and really do anything else, for that matter. However, it was super frustrating to not be able to do anything. I feel like I still have a huge to-do list before the baby comes, and I haven't been able to get any of it done.

I had another appointment last night (36 weeks). I am now dilated to a 3. Contractions still haven't stopped, I'm even more uncomfortable, and the back pain has only gotten worse. I'm now on a modified bed rest, I'm allowed to get up and move, go on short shopping trips, do a little cleaning - but still not supposed to pick up Andrielle (or any other heavy things), go running/jogging/swimming or basically do any excercise. My doctor said as of today, if I were to go into labor, he wouldn't stop anything - but it would be best if this little guy could wait at least one more week to make his entrance. He did basically guarantee that I won't be going full term. Kind of exciting - a little bit scary. I'm still not sure if I'm ready to be a mom of 2! Ready or not, I guess, huh?

Day in the Sun

Andrielle and I had a day off yesterday with no therapists or preschool/playgroups, so we tried to take advantage of the sunny day. We went to the neighborhood park and then I set up her pool in the backyard.

I found these little sunglasses at a swap meet we went to in Vegas for $1 :)

Las Vegas Trip - Mandalay Bay

Our family took a little trip to Las Vegas over Memorial Day weekend. Gavin's sister was nice enough to let us stay in her home, and even gave us free tickets to the Shark Reef at the Mandalay Bay hotel. It was really a nice getaway.\

Andrielle by the Rays


Gavin with a Komodo Dragon

Andrielle by the crocodile tank

Andrielle and myself in front of the jelly fish

23 Weeks

Gavin and I found out last Thursday that we are going to be having a boy! We're very excited about it :) I'm 23 weeks along in my pregnancy, and due Sept 2.

I'm quickly finding out that there are not as many cute boy crafts as there are girl crafts. No hair bows and ribbons for this baby. But I have found a new craft for boys. Pee Pee Teepees - Check 'em out :)



Aren't they fun!? If anyone wants the instructions, let me know! They're super easy to make :)

Christmas

Christmas 2010


Andrielle got lots of Fisher Price Little People toys for Christmas this year:

Here's Andrielle in her Christmas dress: