Hudson Brendon Alexander!!

Wow I can't believe that my baby boy is 3 weeks old today!! Here I am sitting at the computer holding my sleeping baby and I keep thinking I can't believe time has flown so quickly!! I need it to just freeze!! I decided since Hudson is 3 weeks its probably about time that I update the blog on his birth story!!
So it all began on 10/3/10 which is Bren's b-day!! Haha the whole pregnancy we kept saying we didn't want him to be born on Brendon's birthday because we want them to have their own birthdays but at this point both Brendon and i were exhausted with this pregnancy! So it was conference Sunday and we went to my parents to watch conference and eat lots of food and I just hadn't felt good all day! I started out with a major headache that wouldn't go away and I just felt nauseous. I had my mom take my blood pressure cause it had been pretty high at the doctors a few days before and they said if I ever got a headache that wouldn't go away along with my high blood pressure I needed to call. My BP was still really high but i kinda just brushed it off for a bit and we finished conference and celebrated Brendon's big day! When we left to go home I was feeling super nauseous and just not myself but Brendon had been on a kick this week to make us go walking every night to hopefully put me into labor and he suggested we still take our walk and see if contractions would start and if they did we could call and see what the doc would have to say with the BP high and all. So we went walking.. And sure enough contractions began. To me they were uncomfortable but nothing like people described them so I just figured they were the Braxton Hicks contractions i had been having. Anyway they continued and I contiued to feel sick so I asked Bren if we could go back and just sit for a bit. We did and I called the doctor and told them my symptons and they asked us to come in because of the high BP and the combined headache. So at 10:30 pm we went in to the U of U hospital and they hooked me up to the monitors and sure enough they were real contractions and coming every 3-5 minutes! I was just super tough is all!! :) haha. So they kept an eye on me for a bit, did blood work and kept checking my BP which wouldn't go down and decided they were going to go ahead and admit me because I was 38.5 weeks pregnant and showing signs of preeclampsia. At this point I got so nervous! We were gonna have our baby!! The day we had been waiting for had finally come and I was kinda starting to freak out! I didn't know how to be a mom!! I didn't want to push a baby out of me!! Ahhh! What was I gonna do!? So they took me into the delivery room at 1:30 am and started me on pitocin to get my contractions going! Brendon gave me a sweet priesthood blessing to calm me down and then I asked for the epidural ASAP! haha I figured I hadn't felt horrible pain yet why feel it now! Well the epidural was amazing! It didn't hurt at all and it started taking effect quickly!! They told me to get some rest so me Bren and my mom (who had been working next door at primary Children's) took a little nap until the Doctor came in at 6:30 to break my water. Everything went quickly from there! Dr. Sharp my doctor got there about an hour later and checked me and I was already at a 9 and then an hour after that it was time to start pushing! At that point we asked my mom to leave so it would be just me and bren and the rest of the process was just amazing!! My doctor and everyone else in the room were so great and fun and Brendon was so sweet and helpful! I didn't feel a thing! Sure enough at 9:47 am on 10/4/10 our little Hudson Brendon Alexander made his entrance into the world weighing a whopping 8.2 lbs and was 20.5 inches! The look on Brendon's face when he saw him come out was amazing and I can seriously say I fell more in love with him at that moment then ever! They took Hudson over and weighed him and tested him and then Brendon brought him to me and placed him in my arms and at that moment life couldn't get any better, He was so beautiful with so much hair and cute chubby little cheeks and he just started talking away telling me all about his journey! And he hasn't stopped talking ever since! He is so noisy it is hilarious!!
The rest of the time at the hospital went great! We had a great staff who took good care of both me and Hudson. He had to be under the bililights the last day because of jaundice and has recovered great! We went to his 2 week check up last week and he is already 8.11 lbs and 22 inches! Such a big boy!!! And these last three weeks have been heaven. I am so in love with him its insane. I never knew I could love 2 people so much. Brendon is such an amazing dad and I absolutely love being a mom! Hudson is such a sweetie and has such a personality already! And I will brag... He is gorgeous!!! I know i am his mom and I have to say it but I really think he is the cutest baby ever he is such a looker!! Haha anyway enough enough!
Thank you to everyone who has made this new transition into parenting so much easier! My family has been great especially my mom coming at any moment i have needed her! And we were lucky to have Brendon's mom come and stay with us last week so she could meet Hudson and she was so amazing and helpful to us as well!!! We are getting ready to move this week and she helped us pack and also just played with Hudson so we could get things done! We love you guys!!!
Thank you Brendon for all you have done! for putting up with me being so crazy during that pregnancy and also a little crazy and obsessive with our little baby now too! You are amazing and such a great daddy it makes me cry just thinking about it!!! I love my boys!!!
Sorry for the picture overload but I have to show off my sweetie!!!

Lake Powell-Pregnancy update!

Well a couple weeks ago we took a trip to Lake Powell with my family! Yes, I know super daring and kinda dumb/silly of me considering I was 36 weeks pregnant and could have gone into labor there.. Ya that would have been interesting! But here I am back and safe and now 38 weeks pregnant and still no baby..Haha can you tell I am defiantly ready to meet our little man?! I can't wait to hold him and cuddle him and let's be honest I just want to stop feeling pain!! haha. Anyway back to our trip! Well the doctor cleared me a couple days before to go so we decided lets do it and we will just play it by ear and see what happens and if that means we need to go home early we will. My parents made a plan to park the houseboat pretty close to the marina just in case anything did happen we could get back quickly and get help or get home! Also the short drive would save gas so that we could keep the generator on the whole time to give me and my huge belly lots of AC!! Well we got there and the AC was broken :( I was not too happy about it but luckily September is not the hottest time to be there so I think I did pretty good. I only had one big melt down on a really hot day and it was because i didn't keep hydrated as much as I should have and didn't get in the water as often to cool down. Before we went Bren went and bought us these awesome floaties so that I could relax in the water all day since I wasn't able to do much/any boat riding. That floaty was a life saver! It was so much fun and felt so nice to just relax in the water! My parents, Trev, Kenzie, Corinne and Bren did a lot of wake-boarding waterskiing and surfing and had a lot of fun! We took a few close adventure rides on the boat so that I could come and enjoy the lake a bit with them. All together the trip was so fun and It was so nice to get away and not have to stress about work for a week. It was also nice to come home and be out of the heat and stop stressing about going into labor in Page, Arizona! Haha. Thanks again mom and dad for such a fun trip!!! We love you guys!

As for a quick pregnancy update: I am 38 weeks now and as of last week I was dilated to a 2 and 85% effaced! I have been having a lot of back and leg pain and lately cramps and small contractions! Unfortunately they are not big enough or constant enough to go in and have our little guy but i hope it's progressing! I go into the doctor in a couple days to get checked again and either hopefully the baby comes before the doctors appointment or very very shortly after! I am defiantly tired of being pregnant! haha. Don't get me wrong.. I love feeling him move around and feeling a special bond with him but I am so ready to just meet him, cuddle, kiss, and just be with him! I also can't wait to see Brendon be a daddy! He is gonna do such a great job! He has been really anxious this week especially since the doc told us most likely the baby would be hear early! He has been egging me on to do anything and everything to get this little guy to grace us with his presence! We can't wait! I will try to be patient a little longer though!! Now here are some pics from our trip! I only have one of me on the float cause that's all you need to see!! hahaha

Me Bren and Rinne floating


Dad and Harley in the boat


My dad is such a great skier! So fun to watch!


Rinne Wake-boarding


Bren and Harley hanging out


Mom, Dad, Harley


This is our beautiful view every morning! It was always this glassy!


Trev and Kenzie


Bren Wake-boarding


Picture from top of sandune everyone climbed while I floated below!!

Trip to Oregon!

A couple weeks ago Brendon and I took a last minute trip to Oregon to visit his family! It was one of the last times I could fly being pregnant and I have never been there in the summer so it worked out perfect.

We flew into Portland and ate a the yummiest seafood restaurant ever! I wish we lived by it my mouth waters just thinking about it! That night Bren and I slept over at his brother Ryan's house because Ryan was going to have a busy work week so he wasn't going to be able to come to Bend with us for the rest of the trip and we wanted to be able to spend some time with him! We surprised the kids that morning when they woke up for church and found us sleeping! It is so fun to be around those wild things! They are so cute and we wish we could see them more!

Next we drove out to Salem to Brendon's parents house and had a yummy lunch and then got ready to leave for Bend! Bend was so much fun and so beautiful! We spent the rest of the trip there swimming, eating, relaxing, doing crafts with the kids, practicing how to change a diaper and swaddle a baby with our new nephew Brady, and just a lot of playing with the kids! Sydney is such a girly girl and a little princess and Tyler is totally opposite he is such a boy! They are both so funny! Tyler gave Brendon the nickname "Monster Bren" he was "T-Rex Ty" and papa was "Pirate Papa" it was so funny.

To finish off our awesome trip Gayle and Doug surprised us with a trip up the mountain and let Brendon drive Doug's new Porche!! He was in heaven! It was such a beautiful drive and such a pretty view of the lake when we got to the restaurant! We didn't want to leave!

We just wanted to say thank you a million again to Gayle and Doug for the fun trip! They are so sweet and generous and we always have so much fun it is so hard to leave every time!! We can't wait til this Christmas when we get to bring our little guy out there for the first time!!

Pregnancy updates: I am now just about 35 weeks pregnant with just 5 weeks to go! Maybe sooner... But hopefully not too soon! We are so excited to meet our little guy but I am also nervous and need a little bit more time to prepare for him! I just had an awesome family shower and it helped me feel so much more prepared for him and I still have 3 more showers to go! I feel so spoiled! I am getting pretty uncomfortable and I have had a lot of sleepless nights! Brendon has been such a great support to help me get as comfortable as possible and cheers me up when I get to emotional!!! Thanks Bren! I owe you big time!!

Now here are a bunch of pics from our trip!!!

Bear Lake!

This summer has been filled with a lot of work and we finally were able to take a vacation to Bear Lake with my family! It was so much fun!! Our good friends have a cabin there so we went and stayed there during Rasberry Days.

We did some boating in the mornings and the boys and Corinne had some great water to wakeboard and ski! I of course am not able to do any of that so I just curled up in the boat and relaxed! During the afternoons we had some rainy weather so we just played games and ate a lot of yummy food. Brendon dominated in 5 Crowns and Speed Uno and loved every minute of it :)

Since Rasberry Days was going on the town had a lot of activities going on. We went and looked at the booths had fresh rasberry shakes and also went to a rodeo. After the rodeo they put on a firework show and lets just say it was the worst show ever! Haha in lasted like five minutes and the finale had all of the little small fireworks nothing big at all it was kinda random but still fun!

As for me I hit my 30 week mark while we were there and I just can't believe I have 10 weeks left! It seems like I was just barely 10 weeks pregnant! I am getting pretty uncomfortable and I am definatly ready to be done with the pregnant part but I am also super nervous to have our little guy here too! It's going to be so fun but such a change and a learning experience for both me and Brendon. Bren has been super great and so patient with me and all of my aches and pains! He is very protective and always is checking on me to see how I am feeling and what he can do for me. I am so greatful for him he will be such a great daddy!

Anyway sorry this is so long I am not great about keeping up on this blogging thing so it's always overload! Here are a couple pictures from our trip!!

Brendon driving the boat:


Okay I am only putting this up because you can't see my face and so you can see how big my tummy is getting!


Nick Korbin and Vince Tubing


Rinne and Katie


My parents Kayaking