We have a baby!

Sawyer John Hall
8lbs 2oz 20 inches long
Born on 2•29•12 at 5:35 pm

We've genuinely, never been happier.

Super pregnant.

{photo by my one and only Mele.}

I thought you should know, I am still alive AND still pregnant.
So pregnant in fact, that I now have to roll out of bed. It ain't pretty.
So pregnant that I waddle more than a duck. Just ask the flock of baby ducks that follow me around.
So pregnant that I can finish my meal, my husbands, and yours too. Hand me the Whopper and nobody gets hurt!
So pregnant that it feels like this little guy is playing peek-a-boo in my nether regions. How's that for a visual?
I am just super pregnant.
I hope you picked up on that.

A stroller.

We finally got our act together and ordered a stroller. (Actually, I won it off of eBay for a smokin' deal.) I was dreading the day it came because I was not looking forward to putting it together. This is the kind of stuff I tend to miss about Chellis' used-to-be-body. You know, all those honey-do's? Most are a defeat to Chellis now, since it is hard to do those things with just one arm.

So Friday, I came home from an afternoon out. My body was exhausted and the end of the day was no where in sight. I made my way into our room. It was covered in cardboard, plastic and styrofoam. In the middle of all the mess, sat our stroller. New, shiny, and perfectly put together.

Chellis spent three hours that afternoon putting it together all by himself with his one arm. It was the most sweet and sincere act. It made me teary all weekend thinking about it. And it still does.

That stroller has landed a special place in my heart because I know every time I use it, I will think if how wonderful my man is.

How to know you're a Little Mommy.

Maddix has become quite the little Mommy. She was basically born into this role, but just recently has taken upon herself the real art of it. I feel as though I could leave the house and turn her loose, whipping the boys into shape.

My favorite little Mommy-isms of her consist of...

"You're making me crazy, you know!"
"Chew your food with your mouth closed!"
"You shouldn't do that, that's really inappropriate."
"You need to worry about yourself."

She knows where everyone is at all times. I asked my brother Cayton where my other brother was and he didn't know. She chimed in, "He's at Bass Pro Shop with his friend Jake." Daaheck!? She's five! How does one five year old know more than two adults? And his friends name?

Then, to top it all off, she said to me last week as I was cleaning the kitchen, "Mom, you're not supposed to do that. Your doctor said you had to rest on the couch for three days!" Reminding her Mom that she's on bedrest? Oy vey!

It cracks me up. But my favorite part is how caring and compassionate she is. She's always giving someone a hug, making sure everyone is happy, scratching my arm softly and saying the sweetest things. I love my little Mommy!

A New Year.

I feel like 2011 was another year of huge growth for me.
As a friend, as a Mom, and as a wife.
{photos courtesy of ashley from the Bagley's annual New Years palooza}
{Yes, we were "dressed up" as Singing in the Rain. Turns out, it is hard to think of a costume for a pregnant girl and guy in a wheelchair.}
{No, I'm not drunk.}

Our marriage seemed to go through a roller coaster of emotions last year. It is so hard being the caretaker to your husband. And I attribute the trials of last year to that. We had to find our niche. What works for us and what doesn't and I love where we ended up.
I also grew as a Mother and I grew as a friend. Of course growth means that you went through something unpleasant but came out on top.

{aileen, me, reachel, beth}

I can only hope, as the all the years before have proven, that it will just get better and better. That I will grow each year. And that, like I always do, will respect the things I've learned but would never want to go back. That I will always love the here and now because yes, I miss some things about the past but the present is so much more promising.

One thing is always for certain.
I will always feel beyond lucky to have my family and friends.
I'm obsessed with them.

This year...

I want to be more patient.
I want to be more balanced.
And I want to be more kind.

Cheers to a great new year!

Oh, this guy!

{photos courtesy of cardigan empire from my super fun girls date with reachel and beth}

I have six weeks left. Six weeks!

Things have been going wonderfully, besides a brutal run in with heartburn and the forfeiting of my lungs who can longer assist me up one flight of stairs.

This last weekend, after a morning with Belle and her Beast boyfriend, I came home and discovered some spotting. A quick call to Dr. Layton confirmed what I already knew was next. A trip to the hospital. Once there, they monitored me and our little guy. Dr. Layton was on call that day, and said his heart rate was higher then what they like to see and that I was having steady contractions. They put me on an IV and I got an ultrasound just to make sure nothing freaky was going on. After 2 hours on the IV his heart rate got much better but the contractions were still going on. So they gave me the dreadful terbutaline shot. It's every preggers dream to be sitting in a hospital bed whilst feeling like you are on crack, right? No. It was awful. But I got to come home shortly after, and with our hyper-doesn't-stop-for-a-second baby boy still cooking in the womb.

Contractions have been making an appearance regularly now, but let's cross our fingers and toes, and say a prayer that he can hang tight for at least two more weeks!

Better late?

We hope your holidays were as great as ours. Cheers to a new year. And for us, a new baby!

Thank you Mr. Buble.

This month has been filled with lots of swiping of the debit card, strep throat, and those horribly addicting "Kiss Cookies". You know the ones. Not to mention, the chilliest winter I can remember. Scarves by day, sweat pants by night. But amidst the weight gain, half pregnancy induced other half cookie, I have been kidnapped by the spunk of holiday cheer.

I would be naive if I didn't realize that my kids determine the magic of the season. Every morning, they throw the blankets off of their warm bodies and excitedly talk about where they will find Elfie. (The now very trendy, Elf on the Shelf) They scrub the morning breath out of their mouth while singing Jingle Bells and run downstairs to rip one more chain off of their Christmas chain advents. It's my favorite part of this season. Watching the anticipation build up for a whole month and then watching it all unfold in 30 minutes at 6:00 am on Christmas morning. Oy vey!

So yes, I would like to thank my little ones for making me believe for just one second, the way I used to believe when I was their age. Most definitely. Yes. I would like to thank them and Michael Buble because his Christmas album has been rocking my world.

Anniversaries galore.

Chellis and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary this last weekend. And by celebrated I mean that we went out to eat, very lavishly, twice. Baby is satisfied.

Last Wednesday, we celebrated the 10th anniversary of the day of our meeting. At Target. On Black Friday. We celebrated that by going to Target and toasting ourselves over Dr. Pepper. And by finishing our Christmas shopping! *high five*
Yesterday we celebrated the 3rd anniversary of getting sealed in the temple as a family. We decided to start a new tradition by going to the temple lights and grabbing some Dairy Queen after. The first year was a chilly success.

As you can see, we have a lot to celebrate this time of year. All of it has to do with us becoming a family. I am so thankful for all three of those days. It was the day our family met, the day our family began and the day our family made it eternal.I love my husband and I wouldn't want to be on this crazy ride with anyone else. He's the ying to my yang. The salt to my pepper. The bread to my butta.

Tears on the toilet.

The other day Bronson came out of the bathroom with tears on his face.
Worried, I exclaimed,

"Aww! What's the matter buddy?"

He laughed.

"They are not real tears. I just had to push really hard on the toilet that fake tears came out."

A laugh came up out of my gut that was so loud that it scared him.
Pray for his digestive system.