Zach and Bailee:)

I know that hospital pictures are super tacky sometimes but my dad took this of Zach and I with the camera on his phone. I was just so happy to have Zach by my side.

One week ago...

This morning, as I kissed Zach goodbye, I became aware of a post I had written just a week ago. Oh how things have changed in one week...my life turned a little upside down, but everything in my little realization last week has stayed the same. Life still comes down to family. I'm glad I remembered that last week, before I became so dependent on them. How lucky am I that my family happened to be here the one week I needed them the most. It's not just luck that my dad had plans to fly into SLC hours after I was admitted to the hospital. My sweet dad stayed the night in what looked like the most uncomfortable chair known to man so my hubby could go home and get some rest before his 6am shift at work. My mom came down and braided my hair so I didn't look like such a diasaster in my quaint little room. Not to mention all the friends and family that came to visit and my entire family relocating Thanksgiving dinner so I could be there. What a great life I have! Yes, I have a blod clot that runs from under my knee all the way up to my pelvis and yes I am in a lot of pain...but I have a family, a good docotor and a loving heavenly father!

I hope everyone enjoyed the sweet time with their friends and family this holiday break as much as I did. We all have a long road ahead of us but they'll get us through...family is just that great:)

Baby shower

I sure do love everyone in my life. My mother in law, Aunts and Rachel threw a baby shower for me today and it was such a fun time. Not because of all the great gifts (bonus yes) but all the fun and excitement. We had a blast playing some pretty interesting games that Rachel put together. The first was a quiz of nursery rhymes...not just any old quiz but one that had even the most seasoned mom stumped. The second game, appropriately named "My Water Broke", was a race to get a tiny plastic baby from his ice cube. The winner was Teri Allred followed closely by my cousin Amber and my mom. The last game was the baby twist on musical chairs, aka musical bottle. Participants sat in a circle and passed around three bottles, each containing about 7oz of water. Whoever had a bottle when the music stopped had to then race and drink the entire bottle. Out of the three constants, the winner was chosen by the first to finish. The finalists: Ashley Jones, Brittany Jones and myself. Unfortunately for those cute girls...I finished first. With a cramped mouth I vowed to never rush my sweet baby boy when feeding...it's not an easy task. We were plumped up by some delicious food provided by the Stailey family. The party fav: Pumpkin roll (and how fitting for the season:) After eating and visiting, Bethanie and I opened gifts. A quick shout out to all who contributed...everything was just perfect and such a help as we get ready to welcome Canyon!!! Thanks!!!

The one gift Zach was especially excited to put to use was a prenatal heart monitor given to us by my Aunt Jill and her family. The coolest part: you can record the heartbeat to the computer. Zach recorded a little and put to a short little video. See if you can hear the little but strong heartbeat!



Thanks again to all who were there and those who couldn't make it but sent their love and wishes (you know who you are:) We love you so much and appreciate all you do!

Ps..I'll post pictures as soon as I get my hands on some!

Simple

It's funny that Thanksgiving hasn't really even hit me yet and some mystic force nudges me into thoughts of what I am grateful for. I'll be honest, the events of the last two weeks have been...humbling. Late last night I called Zach after he was supposed to be off work. His short and bitter tone clued me in that yet another brick had taken a fall off the wall. He had a flat. A flat tire on any old day isn't all that bad but when money is tight, family is in the hospital and school is stressful, it's one of those "please push me off the edge" occurrences. The flat seemed to cause a couple more issues because it was just a tad too worn to fix. We were able to finally find a tire store that offered us a used tire for an affordable price. Poor Zach is such a great husband and, I will venture to say, father and strives to make life comfortable and cheerful in our home. He was a little down in the dumps today and I started to think. (I know...that could be dangerous:) I went through our list of trials....and then my eyes were opened to all the blessings we have. I went to work, all the while thinking of the good things in life. I have come to a most certain conclusion. A conclusion that I hope I never lose sight of or forget. It's all about my family. No matter what happens, I have them. I have Zach who loves me no matter what. I have my mom who drops everything to drive up and see me. I have my dad who stepped out of doing interviews today to call me back and help me with a problem. I have an adorable little sister who tells my mom she's excited to see Zach and I (and possibly most of all, Bruce). I have an extended family who cares so much about my welfare they'd do anything for me. I have a son on the way, a blessing I can't fully comprehend but something tells me it will be one of the greatest joys in my life. Last but not least, I have a brother. He hasn't left my side since birth. I can't wait to meet him.

So, excuse my long, possibly depressing post. I guess I just wanted to share the simplicity of happiness. It all comes down to something oh so simple...Family.

29 Weeks

Only eleven more weeks to go:) This past week has been pretty eventful. I was having a hard time sleeping at the beginning of the week...hence I didn't feel very good during the day. By Thursday I was doing much much better but that same afternoon we received some bad news. Zach's step dad David was hospitalized for a brain infection. We're still waiting on/for results but in the meantime, David is in the ICU. There were some improvements today so we're going to just keep on praying.

On a lighter note...we've finally started feeling little extremities belonging to our active little boy:) He seems to be a little more squished and so things seem to stick out. There was some sort of elbow, knee or heel sticking out the other night and it was such a fun thing to share with Zach. It's funny that he already seems to have such a personality. Man I can't wait to meet him!

This week we have a full week of work and school but a baby shower to look forward to. My mother in law, aunts and friends are throwing a baby shower on Saturday from 3-5. Everyone's invited just email me for more information:) It'll be fun to have both sides of family there and my friends...just wish my AZ family and friends could come too!! It'll be fun and embarrassing. I'm not so big on being the center of attention but I love chit chatting with all the people I sure do love!

Zach....oh Zach...He has been so great. He's been going on long walks with me and putting up with all my bad cooking (not to mention putting up with a bunch of other things that come along with pregnancy:) He's doing so well in school...I'm so proud of him. He also is working very hard and encouraging me with all my new projects that I've started. What a great man!!!

Hope everyone has a good week!

People I love

Lately my emotions have been running a bit....WILD! I was watching an episode of Glee last night and I found a sweet message hidden behind all the humor. To make a long story short someone was affected by the life a down syndrome sister and in return made the life of one a little more normal by letting her cheer on the squad. Needless to say, I was in tears. It reminded me of the downs friends I have made over the years, not to mention family. I remembered how much I adore these people! They are so amazing.

This is my amazing uncle Joseph. He loves bowling, ketchup, hangers and Disney princesses(among many other things). Over the last year or so I've spent a little more time trying to communicate and build a relationship with Joseph. The moments with Jo I cherish most are captured in simple eye contact and a big smile.

This is a good friends little sister, Jana. Those of you who know Flagstaff, know Jana. Here she is holding my little sis Bea soon after my family brought her home. I can't imagine my life in Flag without Jana. Jana loves dress up and cheer leading (again...among so many other things).

Just a little emotional moment from the thoughts of Bailee...remember these people who have touched your life. Remember what they've taught you about life, love and happiness. Act on what you've learned and you're life will be that much more worth while!

I'm always the loser!

So, like many of you, I never win anything...but today my luck has turned! I won on a blog that gives away products everyday!! I'm pretty surprised myself but so excited! I won a $30 gift certificate to a company who specializes in prints. I think I'll by a cute pack of thank you cards:) go and enter....you can find a button on the side of my blog to get to them!

27 Weeks and 2 days!

So I had my monthly check up today and we're up to speed on what to expect this next month..aka lots of aches and pains the rest of the way and then out pops a gorgeous bouncing baby boy! :) There was a little downside to my visit. They did my glucose screening test and the cutoff is 130 and I was at a 133... No assumptions yet...just a little red flag. I have to go in on Saturday morning and do a three hour screening versus the one hour one I did today. Hopefully things will go better with that screening and we won't be dealing with gestational diabetes. If anyone out there has dealt with gestational diabetes any advice/comfort would be much appreciated! Other than that little downer Canyon is doing great! He kicked the fetal doppler quite a few times making it hard for the OB to find a heart beat. Fortunately she found it and it's at 140 beats per minute! I'm measuring at 26.5 inches and everything looks great. Here we come third trimester!

not your typical October 31st

So as hard as I tried to make Halloween fun this year, by Friday night I could tell it was falling apart. I had wanted to throw a little party with other couples so we could have fun dressing up, carving pumpkins and enjoying one another's company. By Friday afternoon everyone had backed out and I was left with just our sad little Halloween costumes. Zach could tell I was a tiny bit bummed out about our lack of fun plans on Halloween. Saturday morning he suggested we go to an art show in Park City. The artist uses only lego's to build his sculptures and it's absolutely amazing! We had such a good time admiring the art work as well as walking around main st. on a beautiful fall day. I can honestly say Zach made this year the best off the wall Halloween ever!

This was "Yellow". The dimension of this piece was absolutely amazing!

This is "Red" Zach and I had a lot of fun interpreting what or why the artist created the things he did and why. It really was interesting and boy howdy, when Zach is evaluating art he can be deep.

Beautiful sunflower....didn't think about this when we took the picture but man I shouldn't stand next to really thin things...:)

This is "blue". As I look back at the pictures I'm pretty sure this one is my favorite. At first glance one might be tempted to say that his arm fell off...but Zach made an interesting point...did it fall of or is he building himself. The more I think about it the more I love it. We all have a chance to build ourselves the way we want ourselves to be...are we trying or neglecting that task?

The exhibit is open until the 16th of November (I think) and I recommend it to everyone! It's in the Kimball center for the arts and you can look up all the info on their website!

Hope you had a fun Halloween!

Welcome November!

Woo hoo this year is flying by!!! Probably not such a good thing but man I'm anxious to meet this little man:) Well Zach and I are busy as usual! School is a killer and getting worse as the semester gets so close to ending. This week we are looking forward to no tests:) the past two weeks haven't been so kind! I have my monthly check up on Thursday. YAY! I loving talking with my OB and getting all my questions answered. Third trimester is only a week away...I can't believe it. Well, needless to say we are excited for Thanksgiving and a much needed break!!!