Happy Halloween

We're a few days late - better late than never!

Happy Halloween from the Gardner house!

Sleep

On one of my night shifts, Roger sent me this picture in the middle of the night...

Brooklyn had been awake for a couple of hours. Not needing anything, just awake.

The picture below was taken the morning after she came home. We were loopy from lack of sleep (monitors beeping, middle of the night bottles, stress, having a newborn home for the first time, etc.)

Well last night she fell asleep at 6:00pm (in her clothes, no diaper change).........and slept until 8:00 this morning!! Total 180 from those first few weeks.

I'm sure she was wiped out from our day yesterday. I had a few doctor appts for myself (more to come on that another day), which resulted in little to no naps. The timing just didn't work out for her to sleep well. My fault. Mother of the Year award coming right up.

It still catches me off guard just how much sleep babies need to be happy and functional. Lucky little things. Aren't we all jealous?


Other fun stuff going on in our lives - Brooklyn and I left Rog home this last week and tagged along for a trip to Vegas with the parentals and Meg. (Yes I do that a lot. No eye rolling please. I know I should just stay home, but we can't pass up an opportunity for fun!)

Figured out Brooklyn really doesn't like loud noises. The water show didn't go so well for us. But sun hats look cute on her, even if we spent the entire time in the shade. Call me paranoid. Also not helping my pasty white skin to tan at all.

Lunch with Debbie, my next door neighbor growing up! Her and Jerry are mission presidents in Las Vegas. Thanks for chatting Debbie, we'll come visit again!!

We also gave the baby rice cereal for the first time. So darn funny. We're not sure she liked it. But it sure gave us good entertainment!

And finally, all dressed up for church! Have I mentioned how fun it is to play dress up with babies? So fun.

Excuse the lack of quality in some of the pictures we post. A lot are taken with my crappy cell phone because the moment will be lost if I take the time to grab my camera.

Date Night

I LOVE date nights!

I've missed Roger this week. It feels like we're married, but just going through the motions. We say hello and goodbye as we both come and go from work.

So last night was a great boost for us...Cafe Rio and pumpkin carving (of course I made choc chip cookies as we carved. You know me and my awful sweet tooth.).

Brooklyn fell asleep at dinner with this lovely death grip on the side of her carseat. And literally slept like that until we got home an hour later. Classic.

Her bald head matches the roundness of the pumpkins!

Don't I get to carve one? (Sad to admit this, but we forgot to get Brooklyn a pumpkin. We honestly didn't even think to get her one. Oops. I'll be making another trip back to the store.)

Some bad pictures. That's what you get with the nighttime lighting and a camera propped on a toaster. Haha.

We had every intention of creating awesome pumpkins. But we lost steam. Carving gave us sore hands. Can ya tell we were watching the Jazz game while we worked?

And Roger ran out of room and ended up with "Utah Jaz" instead of "Utah Jazz"...so no one look too closely when you trick or treat at our house this year!

Happy Halloween from our pumpkins to yours!!

First Laugh

I dare you not to laugh with her!

First laugh caught on video...

Gratitude

I feel so much Gratitude...

For this princess.

Today we went to her pediatrician again - time for shots. Hate those. Hate to see her cry. But she recovered quickly thank goodness. I've seen enough pokes and needles in her to last a lifetime.

She is 13lbs. 3 oz - yay for a chubby girl. Of course, we're not on the growth charts yet, but her chin is a good indicator of how well she's growing.



Before going home we made a stop to visit my OB...his office is one floor below Brooklyn's doctor. He hasn't had a chance to see the product of his hard work all those months ago. I could have hugged the man. He saved her life; therefore saving ours in the process. I walked out of the Riverton hospital this morning feeling so much gratitude. For the miracle that took place in that exact hospital six months ago.



The delivery experience, the NICU experience, the stress, the grief, the fears, the absolute heartbreak we felt back then feels like a bad dream. Yet I look at the tiny scar on my stomach and am reminded of the journey we went through. And that little scar is my daily reminder to acknowledge the people that got us to this point.

--My OB - who came in on his night off at 2:00am - to deliver a tiny baby girl...and calm two totally stressed out parents.

--Dr. Duffy, Brooklyn's pediatrician, who accepted her as a new patient, though he wasn't taking new patients at the time.

--The kind nurses and medical staff that treated us like family.

--The family, friends, coworkers, neighbors and strangers that loved our baby the instant they saw her.

--My religion. The one thing that allowed me to admit that life sometimes doesn't go as planned. That sometimes life isn't fair. That things aren't always in your control. That allowed me to believe things would work out, no matter the outcome. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints...we believe that families can and will see each other again. This belief allowed me to accept whatever Brooklyn's fate would be, no matter what her ending may be.



So today I'm grateful. Brooklyn is a perfect, healthy little girl. Her personality is emerging, she's gonna be a spitfire! The grief I felt on this day was as strong as the gratitude I feel today.

All worn out after 4 shots...


And just because she's so funny, some great tub pictures...notice we have to lift her chin out of the way to clean her rolls! Haha.

Difference of Opinion

Roger and I have a few things we differ on, as every married couple should. But these are kinda random things.

For example:
Roger likes chunky peanut butter and strawberry jam. I like creamy peanut butter and raspberry jam.

Roger uses Crest with mouthwash toothpaste, I use Colgate total.

Roger likes 2% milk and wheat break, I like 1% and white bread.

And the list goes on.

But we do agree on one thing for sure....we did good work with this peanut! We love our chubby cheeks girl!!

Three Years and Counting

I've been a Gardner for 3 years as of Sunday.

Happy Anniversary Roger! I couldn't be happier to claim you as my own!

3 is apparantly our lucky number......married the third of October, been married three years - now a family of three (after Brooklyn decided to come three months early). Can't wait to see what three more will bring!!

Last year we celebrated at Stein Erickson Lodge just the two of us. This year we packed up practically the entire house and brought the baby with us! Definitely different vacationing with a baby in tow...this time we hot tubbed with the baby monitor sitting on the table right next to us. Love it.

Dad and Brooklyn, watching football...what else? :)

Wonder if she'll grow up to be a Ute or a Cougar?!

After a night alone, the rest of the Firth/Rasmussen clan joined us at Stein for loads of eating, shopping, relaxing and watching conference. This is a yearly tradition and one we look forward to so much! Thanks Doug and Michelle for organizing it!

Heather and Brian's baby - Kaden Cole! What a stud. I thought about packing him home with us.

Brooklyn looks so fat here. She has no neck. It's hidden under her double - turning into a triple- chin!

Brooklyn watching us pack everything up. She was bummed to leave, too.

Like I said, lots of eating was done........

And sleeping..........

I'm missing lots of pictures, but don't have time to find them all to post. Life is too busy these days to play catch up. But I'll just mention that our princess of a baby is sleeping through the night as of a week ago! Oh heavenly sleep. We've missed you...