The Best 6 months

To say our lives have changed would be the greatest understatement of the century. Our lives have been imprinted with love, laughter, and endless memories!! We had our little miracle join our family on October 27, 2015 and ever since then I can't remember a day without a heart overflowing with love. I am so grateful for this little angel in our home. She means so much to her mama and daddy!

Welcoming our sweet daughter, Rowynn Mae Jones born October 27, 2015 at 2:51 a.m. weighing 9 lbs 9 oz and 21 inches long.

This little girl is our angel. 

Our Pregnancy Journey

There are times in your life when things just happen that you don't necessarily expect to happen... for example the way this pregnancy came to be  I haven't been very good at keeping things written down so I thought why not try to get some of the highlights, lowlights, and memories written for us to reflect on later. Here is our pregnancy journey!

First Trimester: (1 week-12 weeks)

The beginning of my pregnancy was not easy. I was very sick and ended up missing more work than I was ever hoping. Luckily we still made it with the income we did have and things worked out. They always do when the Lord is on your side.

Oh man... talk about being nauseous all the time. Smells were the worst. James couldn't even cook meat in our house without me gagging. Many foods (meat especially) I didn't want at all. I hated any kind of food that had garlic in it. I basically lived off crackers and fruit for a long time...

The first time we saw the baby’s little heart beat on the ultrasound was truly a miracle, such a tiny little body but full of life. It's true it kind of looks like an alien or something. Dr. Holmes has always been so great.

I hated when people told me that my morning sickness (which was at night for me) would go away by 12 weeks because it didn't leave until 19 weeks. I was sick way past 12 weeks. Each person is different.

Second Trimester: (13 weeks-27 weeks)

I started feeling our baby move very early. By 13 weeks I knew we had a very active child. Due to the baby’s positioning and how low they sat, I was lucky enough to feel movement at an early stage. Dr. Holmes said that many women don’t have their babies sit this low until their 6^th or 7^th child. I loved being able to feel them move. It helped me stay positive and motivated to work hard even though I didn’t feel that great. Every time the baby moved it felt like butterflies in your stomach, which were very small. I couldn't wait for James to feel them move.

At 20 weeks we had our gender ultrasound and let me start out by saying... I was a nervous wreck  haha. I was set on having a little girl first but wouldn't be disappointment in a cute little boy. I wanted our angel no matter what. Well our little baby was being very stubborn. We couldn't get it to move where we could get a confirmation. Then it was confirmed... a LITTLE GIRL! Dr. Holmes was very excited for us and said she looked healthy. We couldn't wait to tell our families.

I got 3 little onesie t-shirts and wrote "Grandma's little Diva", "Grandpa's Little Angel", & "Auntie's Little Sidekick" in pink on them and we wrapped them up. They all opened it at the same time. My mom was so stinking excited. Goose was ecstatic and dad was excited (he can't wait for a grandson...) but he loves little girls as well.

Here are a few fun memories: I remember one day I was sitting on the couch and it was so hot outside. My feet were swollen and I was very tired. I had an ice pack on my feet and one on my back. I took the ice pack off my back and set it temporarily on the top of my tummy. Oh man was she upset. She started kicking so fast and so much in the same spot as the ice pack was. She does not like the cold that's for sure. We have also noticed she has a similar personality to both James and I. We were not ones who liked to be in trouble (we avoid situations just to avoid the chance of getting in trouble). Well our daughter seems to be the same way. If you push on her where she is she retracts and holds very still on the opposite side of my tummy. Most babies will interact with you by kicking back, she likes very gentle interaction and very soft voices. She seems to be soft hearted already :).

At 26 weeks we had a little scare and ended up in the hospital for some testing. Luckily we both are doing fine and no complications were found. We had an ultrasound while at the hospital and she was playing with her feet. She would open her hand and grab her foot and wiggle around, then let go, and do it all again. We watched her for a few minutes as the ultrasound tech was measuring things. We also noticed her little ears stick out just a little (another thing she got from mom). She has the cutest little face and I can't wait to kiss her chubby cheeks!

Third Trimester: (28 weeks-End)

Well, this has been quite the trimester. I have felt really well but I have gotten very uncomfortable. I am at 38 weeks right now and I am feeling huge. I feel like my stomach can't stretch any further. My diagram is very squished making breathing a very large task. I always joke with James maybe Heavenly Father is teaching me not to talk so much... but I still seem to breathlessly finish my conversations anyway ;) haha. Sleeping has become a chore in some ways. I have to get up to use the bathroom at least every 45 minutes. Sometimes I don't even make it back to bed without having to use the bathroom again. These are things you cry about on some days but mostly just make you laugh.

Our daughter has already become wrapped around her daddy's finger. James gets home from school and will come say hi to her and she goes crazy. The kicking and rolling begins. She loves her dad and they have a game they play each night before bed. James will gently push on my belly button (which is still an inny belly button hooray!!) and she will kick back each time he does this. The game will last about 20 minutes then she builds her nest (just like her dad) and falls asleep. She is a good little sleeper she has never kept me up in the night. Hopefully her sleep pattern will continue. (I know its wishful thinking).

Some of the things we are always smiling about are: she gets the hiccups every time I eat. It doesn't matter a small snack or a meal she gets the hiccups. Must have gotten that from mom. She rolls over every time I do when I am sleeping she loves to be laid against the mattress/pillow. She must be sweet because all I have craved this pregnancy is fruit (and I have always been a veggie person).

We have her nursery 100% done and we love sitting in her room. It is so peaceful and we can feel her spirit in there. She is so loved by so many and she will be spoiled rotten. We are enduring to the end of this perfect little angel's creation. We can't wait to meet her, hold her, and love her even more. Our sweet miracle will be here so soon!

We love you baby girl and are ready for you when you are ready to meet us. We will of course post pictures J Until next time.

XOXOX

Brooklyn, James, and Baby Girl

Maternity Pictures 09/19/2015

As many of you know we are expecting on November 6th of this year :) We are so very excited for this new adventure and appreciate all your support and love towards our growing little family.

We had Caitlyn take our maternity pictures and here are a few of our favorites!! A new blog post regarding pregnancy and the many adventures involved with that will follow soon.

Enjoy the photos!

XOXO
Brooklyn & James

Festival of Trees!!!

Each year James and I love going to the festival of trees. The spirit of those angels, the love of their families, the generosity of the people there fills the air with the smell of fudge, scones, and roasted almonds. It is definitely a tradition James and I have started and will continue for a very long time. We love it. This year we took lots of pictures and I have categorized our favorites for all of you to see.
CLASSICS:

These nutcrackers were for the tree right below. The theme was rock n roll! It was so cute. 

This was a darling Coca-Cola Tree. We really liked it.

This tree was called "Retro". All the toys were classics from long time ago. This tree was so beautiful. 

This tree reminded me of my Grandpa Madsen. It's a John Wayne tree. All over the tree are John Wayne quotes, and underneath the tree are all his movies. So cute!

HOME:

This category is full of things James and I loved that we would enjoy in our own home. 

This Lantern was so beautiful. I have been looking for one for a very long time. This is exactly what I wanted. 

These cute little Moose are under the Mooseltoe, wishing everyone a Merry Kissmoose!

This Tree has temples all over it, and as you can see is was titled Stand in Holy Places. It was so very pretty.

BOYS:

These trees were all for little boys. They are darling!

This tree had all this little boys artwork of Dragons, and included a whole bunch of Dragon stuff animals, as well as the entire series of How to Train Your Dragon books. 

This tree reminds me of James. It's a future Engineer Tree. All the ornaments look as follows:

Yep, they are made from legos, or computer boards. James thought it was so clever!

This was the Hot Rod tree. See all those hot rods on the ground there was about 300 hot wheels. Can you imagine having to pick all those up?? Some little boys is going to be VERY happy. Holy smokes!

This was the Ninja turtles tree. The little boy standing in front of us thought it was the coolest thing!

This is the space tree. James would have loved that telescope! Santa that was a hint haha 

Yes, Santa is holding a chain saw at the top of this one. This tree is covered in tools and sports. Definitely a "guy" tree.

This one is our favorite boy tree. The train tree. So darling and I love the Conductor hat at the top of the tree. This was the sign on the floor. It's true, ALL ABOARD!

GIRLS:

These are the cute little girl trees. Not as many as the boys, but still darling.

I don't know if you can tell that ALL of these are beanie babies. I bet there are about 200 beanie babies. Holy cow, they were so cute!

This was a darling cow girl tree. So stinking cute!

I loved this frog tree. I thought it was very well done.

This is the puppet tree. So many cute homemade puppets. All the little kids wanted to play with them. They had security people there watching it all. What a good idea!

MOVIE:

These trees are all based on a movie. 

Everyone knows the Grinch! I thought they did such a good job with this one that Dr. Seuss would be so pleased!

This one is Monster University. The little kids were scared! haha

Of course we have to have a Marvel tree, what would life be like if we didn't have our superhero's?

This one topped them all. This Narnia tree was breath taking. Look at the Lion head it was carved out of wood. So beautiful. My favorite of the movie trees!!!

BROOKLYN'S FAVORITE TREE:

This tree is by far my single favorite tree. I loved it!!!!

Look how cute they made the tree out of baseball bats. Each baseball team's hat is on the tree and the rest are just baseballs. But look what was on the floor!!

Collectible baseball cards. There were so many! Such a neat idea. I loved it. 

JAMES'S FAVORITE TREE:

This is Jame's favorite tree. I thought it was super cute as well.

This tree had tons of car gears, and I couldn't believe it but they were all moving!!! James loved it. I was amazed everything was spinning. Very neat! Good job!

Last but not least here is the last category.

OUR FAVORITES!

These three trees were our favorite ones of all together. 

This tree was donated in remebrance of the police officer here in Utah County that was shot and killed on scene. It was so cute, the outfits for kids, the gift cards for families, the tree covered in toy police cars and flashing lights. It was definitely a popular one there for people to see. So sweet.

This you might not believe me, this is a Nemo tree. As you can see all the Finding Nemo characters are there, and the christmas tree has a fish tank in the middle! Don't believe me look really close. The core of the tree is a tank full of water! Do you see the bubbles? How cool is that???

This is the Mickey tree that went with this...

A freaking cute Mickey and Minnie playhouse. See the shingles? They are also minnie. They have a fireplace inside, with leather chairs, and everything was full of Disney toys and Mickey and Minnie sleds for sledding. We loved it! 

We love going to this each year and are so grateful for the spirit of Christmas it brings into our lives. I hope you felt just a little bit of it as I shared some of the fun memories with you. Happy Holidays everyone!!