Birds...peck peck peck peck

To give mom some needed rest, I took our girls up to Salt Lake to visit the Tracy Aviary for the first time. I highly recommend going there (especially if you have the entertainment coupon book). We got in for $5, and paid an extra $6 for a great interactive display called the amazon adventure.

Every hour, the aviary does a feeding demonstration where you enter a cage of beautiful birds. The host gives you some chopped apples on popsicle sticks. You hold them out and pretend to be a tree. The birds come flying down and land on your arms to snack on your apples.

Ali went crazy. She thought it was the best thing in the world. Even Lydia calmed down and laughed at how the birds tickled her arms. Needless to say, I became the "best daddy ever". Getting chased by the frisky peacock was kinda fun too.

A Week with Grandma!

My fabulous mother came to Utah from Washington for a week to help out with the new baby. Of course the girls were thrilled to have grandma around for a week. She got up with the girls (and let me sleep in to 10:00), fixed all meals, got kids dressed, bathed Bryant, cleaned my house, read stories, and entertained the girls. I pretty much only had to feed the baby. On top of all of that she took the girls somewhere everyday to keep them entertained. They had loads of fun this week. Tuesday we all went and watched the new Pixar movie "Up". It was a great movie, fun for the kids while still enjoyable for the adults. I recommend it. Bryant slept through the whole thing, but he does sleep all day (not all night though). I realized that I'm not ready for outings, so on Wed. mom took the girls to the pool without me. Now, the pool is pretty much Lydia's favorite place in the world. For nine months out of the year, Lydia asks when is summer so she can go to the pool. She trotted off happily with Grandma, Ali, and her best friend Ellie. Thurs. was a little rainy, so they went to IKEA, Lydia's second favorite place. Ali is still too short to go into the play place (even though she has been potty trained for over a year), but she is a good sport about it and still likes to play in the children's section of the store. Friday our whole family went to the new Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house. Tim held Bryant and got a lot of attention with such a new baby in his arms. Tim doesn't like attention...ok, he does. The girls favorite parts were the princess room (the bridal room), the chandeliers, and the player piano at the reception at the end of the tour. We all had a wonderful week. Thank you so much mom for all you did for us. It is a shame we don't appreciate our moms as much as we should until we become moms ourselves and realize what they sacrifice for us and that they know more than we think they do as teenagers. I love you mom!! The girls even had to sleep in "grandma's room" one more night because they missed her. Luckily, we will see her again in a few weeks as we go to a family reunion.

Bryant Timothy is Here!

Bryant Timothy arrived last night around 5:30 pm. After 8 hours of not doing much, the last hour of labor was very fast and intense. For all of you out there who claim that labor must include some pain, don't worry I had my share. Epidurals only work partially on me. Don't get me wrong, they are wonderful and really take a lot of the edge off, but I can still feel my contractions, my water break, and certainly all the delivery part. My progress was very slow all day. Finally around 4:30 pm I was about at 5 cm and my wonderful nurse was sad she was going to miss "the party" because her shift ended at 6:00. She left to take another patient downstairs. Right after she left I started getting a LOT of back pain and contractions started getting much harder. Tim rubbed my back and helped me relax. I suddenly became very nauseated and he frantically looked for a bowl. He grabbed a garbage can just in time. Another nurse came in and said, "Well, at least vomiting is a great way to move the baby down." Boy was she right (though she said laughing works too, which I would recommend over the vomiting). By the next contraction I knew he was about ready to come. The nurse came back in and ran back out to get the doctor. After several good pushes, Bryant took his first breath. My cute nurse who wanted to be there for "the party" came in just as Bryant arrived. He is 7 lbs. 2 oz. (right between the size of my 2 girls) and 19 1/2 in. long. He has dark hair and at least one dimple I've seen so far. He looks like his daddy, who I think is pretty darn good looking. He's healthy, strong, and perfect. The girls visited last night and Lydia is just in love with him already. She cried because the baby couldn't go home with her. She called him her "angel baby"! Ali thinks he's cute, but I think she would be more excited if we brought home a puppy. I'm so grateful for our third little miracle and now pray we can show our gratitude for him by raising him well and returning him to his Father in Heaven. We have received an out pouring of love and support from wonderful family and friends through this journey and we feel so blessed that each of you are in our lives. Here are some pictures of our new angel and his adoring family.

We're Here

I'm here with Angie at the hospital and we're getting started. The hospital called us this morning at 7:35 to tell us to come on in. We have a great nurse, the hospital has been great, and Angie is nice and numb. Luckily, they offer internet access here, so Angie is enjoying staying in touch on the Ipod Touch and me on my laptop. Wouldn't the pioneers be jealous!

Fishing

Tim took the girls on a little fishing trip. He borrowed a canoe from a friend, found some worms, and took the girls out for some quality time. They didn't catch anything, but they saw a lot of fish and had a wonderful time. As he was on his own, and juggling a canoe and 2 kids he only took this one picture. What a cute dad Tim is!

Did your dad take you fishing as a kid?

Help!

Here we are 2 weeks away from the expected arrival of our baby boy, and he still doesn't have a name. I know I did the poll to the right, but nothing we've found so far really seems to fit. I am asking those out there who view my blog to list some of your favorite boy names. Hopefully we'll be inspired by them and this child won't have to go through life being called Hey You. Thanks!

Tim, MBA

Tim's graduation ceremony from the University of Phoenix was today. He did finish his classes at the end of October, but they didn't have a ceremony until today. Neither of us walked when we received our bachelor's degrees, so we really wanted him to walk this time. He looked very handsome and regal in his cap, gown, and master's hood. I am very proud of his accomplishment.

We decided not to take the girls. Three hours in a small area is hard for adults much less little ones, so we got some pictures with them and dad in his "silly dress and hat" then they got to play with friends all morning. Thank you Arnold's for watching them! I'm sure they had a LOT more fun at your house.

This is as he walked in. Ok, funny dumb pregnant moment(I'll miss being able to blame my dumb moments on my pregnancy). Last night I got out the camera to charge it and the video recorder to check the battery and place on the tape. The battery was fully charged, but when I checked the place I forgot to take it off of play mode. This morning when I tried to record the processional, the video recorder was dead. Ah well, I got pictures at least.




Tim's mom and sister Steph came to support and cheer Tim on. After the ceremony they and some friends came to a bbq to help us celebrate!! Congrats Tim!