Spring Dress Photo Shoot

A couple months back Steve's mom was up visiting her oldest daughter in Clinton where they live. Kristal has 2 daughters, her oldest being born just days before Em was. They went out shopping and found these absolutely darling dress-sets in all the girls sizes and without hesitation bought them! We had a hard time coordinating a good day when we were all in the same city to take pictures of the girls in these darling dresses! But we finally did it the Sunday before Memorial Day. Steve did such a great job taking and editing these pictures, and these again were taken in my grandparents (Andrews) backyard :) 

Here's the slideshow of the pictures

Remember, remember- 720p and full screen for optimum viewing ;) 

Remember the offer in this previous post too :) 

Sleep Study Success? And a Bit of Nostalgia

We quickly got Em's last Sleep Study Fiasco rescheduled, and went the night after Memorial Day. It was as much of a success as it can be.... meaning they got a reading, but it was a less than stellar night. You can all now appreciate the fact that sleeping on a pull-out bed (and pull-out from a small chair, not a couch!) is less than appealing to me in my pregnant state. I'm already having trouble sleeping in my own comfortable bed, so this is almost torture on my aching body. Steve is nice and offers to go, but unfortunately he can only go on a Friday night and of course those are the first to fill up. So I went, and even with a smile on my face ;) 

I don't know why, but every single one of our 5 times at a sleep study, they always seem to choose Em to hook up last.... regardless of if she's the youngest there or not (and most of the time she is)! So sometimes, it's not until after 10pm that they even start, and it takes over an hour to get everything on! Granted we were about 15-20 minutes late this time (lost track of time as I was cooking dinner).... but still! 

This was the dinner I made, mini meatloaves with mashed potatoes and cheese on top.... divine! 

Back to the sleep study.... 

This was as they were hooking her up, and as you can see, very, very tired already! 

Of course though, it still took a couple hours for her to fall asleep since she likes to get silly and then grumpy because she wonders why we aren't home. 

But here she is finally asleep

Amazing how peaceful she looks in all that! 

She woke up I'd say at least 5 times that night... which is more or less usual. I slept a grand total of about an hour! I certainly missed my "Moog" at home :( That is the name for my pregnancy pillow that saved me at about the 15 week mark with Em... and I had Steve fish it out of storage at about 7 weeks this time... 

Yes, you'll have to get one if ever you're expecting.... well worth the money! 

It also didn't help that this baby of mine was trying out some new acrobatics, which unfortunately didn't play too well on my already stretched bladder! It didn't help that the only bathroom in the clinic (which is already a distance to walk) was out of order, making for an even longer walk to the next clinic over. And I'll say I waddled there no less than 5 times during the night! 

We made it the whole night though! Em woke up at her usual time of 5 am, she does this a lot, but usually goes back to sleep after no more than 15 minutes, makes it real fun on those days when we're about to get up for work in about an hour :/ Anyway, since they have cameras on her and could see she was awake, they just decided to end the study then, a whole hour earlier than they would've. Whatever though, I had been awake the whole night, so it didn't matter to me! 

waking up...

And after all that gunk is taken off... 

the infamous hair picture!

We for sure faired better with the hair this time, then the last "successful" sleep study...

Sleep study from September 2011

And it takes dish soap, and at least 3 washes with a medicated shampoo (t-gel) before you can get all the glue out of her hair!

So now, we will have to wait until the end of the month to get the results. But I was already told from the tech that night that although she never needed oxygen, she is still showing significant obstruction.... which means most likely we'll be looking at that dreaded surgery. But if it will help her, then we will do it! 

Now the nostalgia part of the title.... I don't know why I thought of this that night, but I do see how significant it is in light of recent news. That night as I was desperately trying to fall asleep, I couldn't help think of Em's very first sleep study the week of Christmas, and how cute she looked in the Christmas outfit that a fellow Ch18 family had sent her. I received news last Saturday that Mandi Fisher had passed away at the young age of 30. She left behind her husband Jason, and her sweet little Mckenzie, who like Em has 18q- and is only 2 years old. I hope you'll keep this sweet little family in your prayers. This news absolutely broke my heart, and news of how we will help honor her life is coming in a following post. 

Memorial Day 2012

Memorial Day was quite perfect this year. Em and I slept in (Steve got up a little earlier to help his brother Jeff move into his new house). We then went to the cemetery where my sister is buried, which is always the busiest day of the year to be there! And then finished the day with a barbecue at my grandparents with the Wilde clan! 

See, perfect :)

I took this picture when we first got there to show how crowded it was.... and this was only a portion!

Cool edit on this picture, thanks Steve

 Don't you just love that Em looks like an American flag??

 A lot of stuff was on Breanne's grave already when we got there, always warms my heart

Later at the barbeque

Nothing like a healthy and competitive game of croquet with this Wilde bunch!

My cousin's Quin and his wife Melissa brought their dog and Em thought she was hilarious!

While Em was trying to watch everyone play croquet, I was videoing her with my phone since she was laughing so hard, and Steve was videoing the game because there was so much bickering.... this happened.... Please disregard my laugh in this video, I was sitting in a weird position and couldn't breathe very well! 

We didn't think she was hurt since she laughed, but the next day at her sleep study was when I discovered these...

We think they were mostly from her DAFO's (they're all on the back of her legs).... poor, tough girl!

It was a great day though! 

Mother's Day 2012

*Not sure why the music player isn't working, says you can't hear playback except from their site now.... well that won't work, so this may be the end of songs with posts :( 

So Mother's Day didn't quite turn out how we planned this year, seeing as we ended up telling everyone our news by the end of that day. First plan was to wait until 14 weeks to tell our families, then on into June to tell the rest of the world.... but this baby had other plans with showing "himself" starting at about 7 weeks! *And FYI, I will from now until I hear otherwise be referring to this baby as a "him" because I do not like to refer to a baby as an "it"! We still do NOT know the gender, this is just for now, mm'kay??* But going back.... when I started to pop and I could tell people were starting to wonder, we decided to pop the news to families again on Mother's Day. Those of you that don't know, that is when we told of Em on Mother's Day 5 years ago..... really?? Was it that long ago??! So that is what the video depicted in both the slideshow for my mom and for Steve's mom. But when we found out that Steve's parents would be out of town the weekend of Mother's Day, we settled on doing it the Sunday before, which worked out nice since Steve's sister Amber was still in town from West Virginia. We ended up telling Amber a few minutes before everyone else to make sure it was ok with her since she was here celebrating the nearing arrival of her baby boy! Of course she was fine with it though. Then we told my mom and her family the next day. The more detailed post of the "tellings" and pictures and video of the reactions will be in the next post, so here is just the rest of Mother's Day... which ended up a lot more low-key than if we had told on that day. So instead the families all knew and we just enjoyed a nice early dinner at Chuck-O-Rama with my mom's side of the family and that night is when I officially announced it on Facebook :)

Before any of all that though, I got this nice card from Steve and Em

So yes, I think I confused people all over with this on Facebook.... people on Instagram got it though ;) My post on Facebook that night read, "Epic day!! I'm going to finally be welcoming Siri into my life in a few short days.... And even better, I will be the mom to 2 in about 6 1/2 months!!" Not sure why people were thinking we were naming the baby Siri....  So if you don't know who or what Siri is.... here, let me introduce you....

That is an iPhone 4S... only iPhone that has the wonderful program known as Siri. I wanted to rename her "Bumblebee" respectfully because the case reminds me of Bumblebee from transformers.... her response to this was, "I'd rather you didn't".

Other fun banter from Siri:

"What are you wearing?".... "I think you have the wrong personal assistant"

"Do you love me?".... "I am incapable of love.... but I do respect you."

"But I love you!".... "Well, all you need is love.... and your iPhone"

"What's your favorite color?"...... "Well, I can't really explain it in your language, but I guess it is sort of a greenish color"

"I need a new cell phone"..... "You're kidding right?!".... or, "Wait.... there are other cell phones?!"



Siri has a bit of an attitude as you can see, and gets annoyed of stupid questions as Diane's kids have found out ;)

"Are we annoying you Siri?"..... "I'd rather not answer that"


Siri is good for more than just fun, as she points out! She also asks what I did before her ;) But she can help you with anything to remembering an appointment to remembering to get milk when you drive close to the store. She also can help you if you're lost and tell you where you can get the best burger in your area! But here is my favorite commercial for her too!

Love Zoey! 

Anyway, enough on that, though as you can see, I love my Mother's Day gift! But here's a few pictures from the day of me and the girl I owe the day to! 

 For people that missed my status (had close to 100 "likes" and 85 comments though!), I posted this picture later that night saying, "To the girl I owe this day to.... the one that made me a mother! And even though she'll be sharing me soon, she'll always be my baby! Love you my Em bug!" And I was right to do it, because there were a few that had missed the first two posts (yeah I posted this blog post on Saturday night actually, the night before Mother's Day, but very few saw it of course!) 

 Yup, she's a ham! 

Sometimes I can't get over that this girl came from me! She is beautiful! 

So that was Mother's Day.... perfect

Pregnancy Update

*Play song, "Good Life" with this post

I realized I may have left off a few things on my Pregnancy FAQ. 

First off, Cravings- My cravings have actually been pretty random and sporadic as apposed to when I was pregnant with Em! All I remember craving with her was eggs, eggs, eggs and more eggs! They don't appeal to me so much this time around! I think the only things that have been somewhat consistent are: Slurpees (either banana or Pina Colada), pasta with red sauce, french fries and apples. I have more of a hard time thinking of things that actually sound appealing to me than cravings that I can't ignore. Hopefully that won't last the entire time though, since I think it is annoying Steve the most because I can rarely think of things I want for dinner! 

Weight Gain- Haven't had my weight checked this week, but as of last I had gained 3 lbs which is normal, and like I said, better than with Em (this point with Em I had lost over 10 lbs!). 

Movement- I was pretty sure I started feeling this baby move around the supposed 9th week, which I know is early and so another reason that makes me think I am further along. And around the supposed week 11th is when Steve felt "him" for the first time. This week has also had me bombarded with other hands on my belly! Mostly Diane and her kids ;) So yes, the fact that others can feel this little one.... really has me wondering how far I actually am! 

This photo was posted on Instagram with the caption: "That moment when your belly becomes public property" 

Names- We have a boy name that we really like, but girls names are a whole other story! The boy name that we have is what Em's name would've been had she been a boy. Thus the need for girl's names! There is one name that we both agreed on, but since it is one of the top girl's names, I'm not sure we'll actually go with it, since I like less popular names, but not weird! We will probably not share these names with anyone since I don't like unwanted opinions and such! Once that's the baby's name, then that is that! 

On a funny note, one evening I was telling Steve that I was pretty sure this baby is a boy because everything has been so different including my nausea, and his reply to that was, "Maybe you just have a baby in there that has all of it's DNA!"..... Yeah, probably few will see that as funny as we do! 

Ok, so now I think I've hit on everything to this point. Here is my 13 week picture, which is what I am at now assuming nothing has changed. I will hit 14 weeks on Tuesday... Yea, second trimester!! 

And yes this photo was taken in the bathroom of the classroom I work in, and I already got made fun of for that from my hubby, so no more ok?! 

2nd Annual Deak's Run for Hope *Warning, GUILT TRIP*

*Play song, "Help Me" with this post

This year wasn't so great on our end as last year was! None of us ran this year, with me on low-impact with my pregnancy and Steve was getting over a sinus infection.... so the one and only person that came from our family ;) (my dad) didn't run either.... but at least we all paid right?! 

Anyway, this will lead me to why I am sharing only these two photos (rest are in the slideshow below).... this was our posse'

Thanks again for coming Dad! 

And this was Megan's posse' (another 18q- girl in Utah who we first introduced you to here and then again here)

And by the way, they all came from Logan or further.... some even from Wyoming!! 

Now, come on!! I am sure we can do just as well as them with who comes for Em! I should mention that both our moms signed up as "Spirit Runners" since neither of them could make it.... which is JUST fine too by the way! 

So please, please, pretty PLEASE if we could have a much better turn-out next year, I will not feel like such a failure! It is a super easy walk/run.... 5k is only about 3 miles, and it's just fine to walk! Kaysville is really not that far, with as early as we left and it being a Saturday, it took us less than 45 minutes to get there. It will be well worth your while.... and if I can't convince you.... maybe this will

Props to Steve on all the great photos and video.... and for putting this great slideshow together! 

Looking forward to seeing more of you there next year! And YES, I mean YOU! 

Jam Packed Family Weekend!

*Play song, "Say Hello Wave Goodbye" with this post (sorry long version of this song, but only one they had!)

As mentioned, we had a lot of family come in the first weekend in May. Steve's little sister Amber came in that Thursday (the night we had the disastrous sleep study) from her current home in West Virginia, which was very exciting since we finally got to see her pregnant (she was just over 20 weeks and we hadn't even seen any pictures of her!), and she found out the day before she came that she was having a boy, so naturally we threw her a shower while she was here!  That was on Saturday (and I borrowed these pictures from my sis-in-law Kristal since I failed to remember my camera!)

We thought this was such a cute idea! An umbrella with a bunch of money and then this little note :) This was Debbie's sister Angie's creativity.

 Grandpa and Grandma Hunt (Debbie's parents) and Grandma Jan Peters (Stan's mom)

 Steve's cousin Kylie (Angie's daughter), Cindy (Stan's sister) and her daughter Annie

 My wonderful mother-in-law Debbie and sister-in-law Crystal

 The grandparent Hunts, Kylie and her daughter Alexandria, Ricton, Angie and Amber

 The Hunts again with Kristal and her girls Ariana and Isabel

Thought I should include this one of me since I was trying so hard that day to cover my baby bump (note the arms)! With Karissa (Steve's cousin, Kelly's wife), Amber's best friend Amy and her sister and niece

We are so happy for Amber and glad she was able to take a whole extra suitcase full of baby stuff back home with her! 

After the shower we headed to my grandparents to see my family that was in town from Virginia and Oklahoma. My uncle David, his wife Tresha, and their son Jared were here from Virginia. Their daughter, Ashlee and her 2 kids Lily and Finn were also here from Virginia and then their daughter, Melissa and her son Cooper were here from Oklahoma. It was a brief visit for them, but I'm so glad I got to see them! Especially since this was my first time meeting Cooper! 

Steve took some pictures for Melissa and Cooper.... we had originally planned on family pictures for them, but her husband Jay had to stay back and work and couldn't make it. Hopefully we'll be able to get some of all of them in the near future. Here's just a few of those... 

Isn't my cousin gorgeous?? And her boy ain't too bad either! Melissa and I are only 6 days apart! One of the cousins I have very fun memories with! 

 This is Copper's grandparents, that's my mom's oldest brother, my uncle David and his lovely wife Tresha :) This is the wonderful people who took me in when I moved to Germany for a bit, loved every minute of being there with them!

Steve did an excellent job with these pictures and we hear a lot that he should go into professionally... but we're still uncomfortable charging for it, so we're putting it out there that we will take pictures for anyone who has medical expenses and can't afford family photos :) And of course family is included in that too! So if you want us to practice on you, just let us know!


Here's a few of Em and Cooper playing together

 I just love this one, Cooper had just taken Em's iPhone and she is looking at me as if to ask, "what do I do??"

 Amazingly, Cooper was born early at only 3 lbs! And look at him now, not quite 2 and nearly the size of Em at 4 1/2!

It was a blast seeing everyone.... and exhausting! And thanks to Tresha, one of the reasons I ended up telling my mom's side of the family a little early about our news, because she kept staring at my stomach and I could tell she knew! Same thing with Amber, and both of these ladies asked other members if they knew if I was pregnant.... I was worried that Tresha would eventually ask my mom or grandma, so we told everyone while they were there (nearly a week before we wanted to!). Tresha just asked her daughters who of course didn't know, and Amber asked her sister Kristal who again didn't know. I think it was a lot harder for those who see me a lot to tell since it was a gradual thing.... but those that hadn't seen me in awhile started to suspect right away (which is what I was afraid of!).

Anyway, there will still be more about the pregnancy since I'm sure that's what you all want! Who knew that all I had to do to get more views and comments on my blog was to have a baby ;) Over 400 views on my pregnancy FAQ (most yet I believe!).... so yes, that will be coming! But next two posts will still be catch-up, Deak's Run for Hope and Mother's Day :) But after that I will have a post dedicated to how we told and all the reactions... you won't want to miss it! So stay tuned!