You always hear that being a mom is hard but now I know for myself. I can't really complain either since besides cort not nursing, he isnt a hard baby at all. He hardly ever cries, when he is hungry he will either make smacking noises and/or make short wimpering noises. He didnt ever cry when we took him in to get circumsized, that made me feel so much better and happy that he was such a brave little boy. But I have come to realize how much of my time he now occupies. I feel like I am constantly feeding, pumping, and changing diapers. He isn't too bad at sleeping, I usually get at least two two hour stretches of sleep at night, sometimes three and then at least one nap during the day. Not being able to nurse it hard on me, it takes time to pump and clean up after each pumping and it makes me sad which isn't good with the whole hormonal changes going on in my body. I cry a little here and there when I am frustrated but I hear that is normal right after having a baby. I really am doing quite well and so isw Cort, it will be nice to get past the hormones and always be able to remember how blessed I really am that so much has gone so well for us. Its an exciting, fun, and worthwhile adventure becoming a parent!

William Cort Browning is now a reality!

I woke up Saturday night at 11 pm with contractions that were harder than I had had before but not real bad. They lasted for an hour coming 10 minutes apart so I woke Clif and told him. We spent the next two hours timing more till they were six minutes apart and getting harder. We headed to the hospital (an hour drive) around two thirty Sunday morning and got there a little after three (yes there was a little speeding). The hospital wasn’t very busy so we got wheeled up to a room and hooked up to all those “wonderful” things like IV’s and blood pressure cuffs right away. I spent the next three hours squeezing Clif’s hand to death as I strained through contraction after contraction (no epidural by my own choice). I dilated at a pretty good rate we believe and by six thirty in the morning I was at eight centimeters but my water hadn’t broke and the doc was just barely getting in town from being away with family for Easter weekend. Around seven I started getting the urge to push and that’s when I started really struggling, It was so hard to not push, my body wasn’t obeying my brain telling it NO, not yet. After about a half hour of that (a horrible half hour, but at least only that long) the doc came, I was dilated to ten and they were going to break my water since it wasn’t doing so on its own. I pushed for about fifteen minutes is all and our son was born at 7:42 am (which is cool I think since I was born at 7:59 am) weighing only 5 lbs and 9 oz, 19 inches long. They put him on my tummy all covered in white goo still and I remember thinking, “well, he doesn’t look like what I expected”. They asked if I wanted to hold him after they cleaned him up but I was still on my back getting stitched up so I told them not yet (does that make me a bad mom if I wanted to hold him when I could do it comfortably?). I made it through all the afterwards stuff and was happy to finally be able to relax some and get to hold him. My stay in the hospital was not real enjoyable afterwards since my tailbone hurt A LOT! But I didn't have much pain besides that so I am not going to complain too much. Clif has been a great daddy changing diapers, feeding him, and helping out with all sorts of stuff while in the hospital and now that we are home. Currently we are struggling with nursing since his mouth is small and his tongue is a little “tongue tied” but we are working on it and eating only breast milk now.

I hate this picture but its tradition. I was so red, either from sunburn the previous day or just being over heated and flushed during the whole labor and delivery.
Probably not the best pic to start with but its one of our favorite characteristics so far, he has my long toes but is already talented enough to bring his toes all together as if grabbing things with them

Another attractive one but this is what we felt like in the hospital.

Aunt Keara holding Cort after we dressed him to go home.

Very tiny kid for the car seat, we had to put it on the smallest setting to fit him.

Oops sorry this one is not right side up. He likes binkies.

He has big eyes!! I love it!

Skinny Legs!

First bath time, we did pretty well.

We have a "sweet" Uncle that came up with a nickname already: Gollum!! Probably since we are so skinny! I am hearing "My Precious" now.

Big eyes again and can you see why people keep saying he has red hair?

Busy Waiting

We have been busy during our last month of pregnancy with Baby Shower, getting our baby room remodeled, starting garden stuff up again, and many more things.


Pictures of all my loot! People were really kind and I got a lot or really nice stuff!!
I really appreciate it!

Holly's beautiful diaper cake! and my teddy bear decor!

Clif holding the quilt my mom made for Cort

Ashlyn enjoying food at the baby shower

The old garden spot needed some cleaning before tilling

we are doubling the size of our garden and Clif is chopping at the bit to start planting.

Clif tilling the new garden spot.

36 weeks prego above

One more pregnant tummy picture before the end, few days from 40 week mark! So Attractive :(

Baby's Room, Clif's been busy and we are getting closer and closer to it being done.

Another Angle. Just hoping we get it ready before the baby arrives!

As a final note: Still no baby, Clif calls me several times a day asking if my water broke, he is so excited and I love seeing it! It is frustrating just waiting though. My doc appointment two and a half weeks ago resulted in me being 75 percent effaced. My appointment earlier this week, they didn't check me so I have no idea where I am at. As far as I know I have not felt hardly anything that could be contractions, maybe a tiny bit yesterday but nothing to really report. My doc doesn't like going past 40 weeks so by next wednesday, my next appointment, we may have to consider some kind of inducing if Cort is still being stubborn. I guess I can't blame him much for being shy to come into the world, I have always been shy and he probably just gets it from me. I am excited, anxious, nervous, scared, and pretty much just obsessed with thinking about it. I almost crave the idea of feeling contractions just so that I would feel like something might actually happen soon. It's just hard to believe it is coming so soon when I haven't gotten any signs of it coming. Patience and Distractions are my friends right now, I am better at the second then the first though. Work keeps me busy somewhat and then I try spending time with Clif and other family members to distract me the rest of the time. Hopefully next week I will have more to report but I guess we will just have to wait and see!

February was a rough month for me. I had a cold for the first three weeks, my first sickness during my entire pregnancy. My grandpa died which was sad but it was nice to see family and go on a little trip. My baby shower got rescheduled for a week later, but it did end up being really fun. Holly and my mom (and Mel came and helped a lot) did an awesome job on the whole affair: decor, food, drink, etc... I got a lot of nice things too, and it is fun to now see all the baby stuff around my house. And the last part of the month I ended up with some freaky version of the stomach flu that lasted over a week!!! I even went to the ER during that time to make sure I wasn't dehydrating myself and Cort but everything seemed to be fine when they checked me. Better safe than sorry I guess. The physician thought it was food poisoning but I KNOW it wasn't, I have bad luck with doctors I think. I had a doctors visit yesterday for the first time in two months. The only person in the office that really knows who we are I think is the lady that has to keep rescheduling our appointments :). I was prepared for a more embarrassing exam but both the nurse and the doctor think that I am only 34 weeks pregnant. HOW ON EARTH DID THEY GET THAT CONCLUSION. I am due April 1/March 30 so correct me if I am wrong, but that would make me 36 WEEKS PREGNANT. Anyway, since I am only "34 Weeks" he did just a tiny check up. Everything was ok, Cort is head down, and my size and weight seem fine along with everything else. I have another exam next thursday which is supposed to be the more thorough one but who knows, it might get canceled and rescheduled knowing my luck and then the doc is gone out of town the next week. After that I could "calve out" as my husband says anytime but the doc won't be expecting it!! Maybe next pregnancy I really will consider a midwife like Clif keeps trying to tell me to do. My doc isn't a bad doc, almost everyone around here likes him. He is just BUSY all the time! So due to all this going on during the last month, my house is a wreck due to me spending all my time in the bathroom during stomach flu and then now my husband and I are finally working on getting the nursery ready which means that my old computer/craft/piano room is now empty but the tons of stuff that was in that room is now scattered throughout my house along with all the baby stuff since we can't put it away yet. We even have a stroller, carseat, swing (thanks to my siblings in Utah, thanks guys), crib, and changing table now which all create a confusing maze out of our living and dining room. Someday I will be organized again, and that will be nice. I am always happier when things around me are clean. But for now, I just have to be patient while we finish things up!

Flowers

Snow and Brownings Means Playtime!

Saturday was tubing day for the Browning Family. Elwin, Julie, Allen, Holly, Ashlyn, Amie, Afton, Tashia, Caleb, Clif and I headed up the mountain for some snow fun, we found a fun spot to stop, go tubing, build a fire, and even do a little snowmobiling.

Ashlyn and Amie didn't hesitate at all to try out the new tubing grounds
Caleb and Afton were far behind!

Even if we had to let them down on a tub with a rope so we could get them back up the hill without going down ourselves.

The rope came in handy getting Amie and Ashlyn up the last steep part too. Affie never got tired, she wanted to go over and over and over. She wore Clif, Holly, Allen and I out pretty good.

Caleb had to try it without a tub and was so proud of himself.

After a couple turns Ashlyn and Amie got in the habit of plopping down on their tub at the bottom of the hill and not coming back up the hill. Several retrieval methods were used to rescue them. Clif tried the snowmobil but couldn't convince Amie to hop aboard.

Snowboard was the next rescue method

What a buff and talented dude! A tube, snowboard, and five year old!

Affie had a hard time eating her licorice with her gloves on. She dropped it at one point and didn't realize why it wasnt' in her hand for a few seconds. Young Adventurers! Caleb wanted to start it up and drive it but Affie wanted to just sit on it. She won't go near the snowmobils while they are on and being noisy.

Back Door

Clif installed our new back door last week. The sliding glass door we had was falling apart pretty bad and was a struggle to even get open. We took it out, put in a door and window. We are still adjusting to the differences but enjoying it also. Oh, yeah and Clif had a little helper working on it with him. Holly came over to visit and brought affie and she had fun handing things to clif and watching him.

Sorry the pictures are so dark!

Luck.... not in the plans!!

I noticed I needed an update on here and discovered that pretty much everything that I had to report on falls under that same category: bad luck. First of all Clif has been trying to get his hazmat endorsement for his CDL license for four and a half months but the government lost his file and nearly cost us his job. We did finally get an approval letter which was a wonderful thing, for about a day! All we had to do now was go the MVD in Showlow and get them to print out a new license for him. We went there the next day and discovered that the one and only person that could help us was not in till the next day. That was frustrating but we also had a doctors appointment for me also so we figured the trip wasn't a complete waste. We headed over there with our fingers crossed since the previous doctors appointment had been canceled due to too much snow on the roads. We got there and guess what? Yep, the appointment was canceled, the doc was in surgery. Bummer, this was a frustrating day for us. So.... we drove all the way back to showlow the next day bright and early so Clif could get the license printed. He stood in line in the cold with six other guys for an hour before finding out that the one person that could help them was not coming to work for the entire week. Holy Cow!! Things were not going our way. The end of the week Clif and I and Holly and Allen and my mom and dad got to go to the Temple for a session which was nice since I hadn't been for awhile. I was really looking forward to it since we had planned to go the previous week but couldn't due to too much snow on the roads. I made it through the session and then had a pregnancy hormone attack and wanted to cry the whole way home (for no reason at all of course, darn hormones). The next day, Saturday, Clif was gone snowmobiling a lot but promised me some "Clif and Bonnie" time that evening so I was feeling special. That is until my gal bladder decided that it needed some "Bonnie Time". I was in pain laying down for almost two hours. By seven I finally felt a little better so we went out to eat but I couldnt eat much since it had messed up my stomach. We did get to cuddle and watch a movie together so it wasn't a complete sad evening. Monday morning arrived and Clif called the MVD office to see if it was worth driving over there. The phone message said that the CDL office was closed for another week. :( Well, Clif's job needed the license so we drove three hours to Flagstaff yesterday just to print a new license, but we did get it!!!! Clif woke up that morning with a cold though so he is not feeling well now. I just have a bad case of itcing lately :) weird! Well this could be the happy ending but not quite. So my doctors appointment was scheduled or should I say rescheduled for the second time for today. We got there, happy that is was in Eagar this time in stead of Show Low and you would never guess what they told us!!! The doctor in in surgery and isn't going to make it. I am rescheduled for next week... in show low :(! I am starting to think I won't see the doc until I am actually in delivery, if then. I guess when there is only two baby doctors in the entire white mountains area this is expected. It's just a good thing that I don't have any complications with pregnancy so far. Too bad this doesn't mean it won't be less expensive. Well, That would be the end, not necessarily happy but still better than when I started. I am hoping for a good February and March. I am slowly getting more and more uncomfortable with the pregnancy which isn't fun but at least I have felt descently good for quite awhile till now. And I have a wonderful husband that takes amazing and great care of me! Oh and by the way, we think we are for sure on the baby name now (unless clif or I have second thoughts again). We are sticking with our original choice of William Cort Browning, we will call him Cort!