26 May 2012

Brooks' First Week

We are a bit camera happy right now. We took hundreds of pictures of Brooks this week. Here are a few dozen of my favorites.

**Remember we are first time parents and we have a really cute baby, so don't judge. 

Our first family portrait. 
Daddy giving Brooks his first bath. 
Admiring his squishy face.
Watching the Thunder-Lakers game with daddy. 
I cannot get over how cute he is.
He did not like the car seat at first.
Once we got the blanket on him he didn't mind it anymore.
Brooks with his Granny Reeves
Brooks with Grandma and Grandpa Pickett
Brent showing Brooks off to our nephews, Corgan and Greyson. They were not allowed to come back, which made me very sad.  Corgan said he thinks Brooks looks like a kitty.

Home Sweet Home. Brent gave Brooks the grand tour of the house.

His first bath at home. Brooks does not like baths, but he loves having his hair washed.
Brent's favorite part of being a dad is snuggling in the love sac. 

Thank goodness for Skype! Corgan and Greyson skyped with us a couple of times this week. One day Corgan told his mom, Ashley, that Brooks wanted to see all of his animals. So he showed Brooks all of his animal toys over Skype. I am so glad Brooks has such great older cousins. I am excited for them to be good friends. 
Granny Reeves got Brooks a little monkey rattle and he LOVES it!
and now for some close ups:




















birth story

Over the past few months I have been obsessed with reading birth stories. At one point Brent had to forbid me from reading any more because I would panic after reading the difficult ones. While I appreciated those who posted the intimate details of their birthing experience, I want to tell our story in pictures.

I guess I should start by saying the whole experience was completely different from what I expected. I thought the day would be long and stressful. The whole day ended up being very relaxed and peaceful. It also went by very quickly.

Saturday Morning 7:00 am -- We checked into the hospital. I had contractions all night and was not feeling well.

 This machine monitored the baby's heart beat all day. 

Here I am waiting to see if they were going to keep me or send me home. 
 9:00 am -- The doctor came and decided to break my water. Our baby was on his way!

 They kept my fluids up all day through my IV. 

Our nurses were amazing. There were very few people around, so we got a lot of attention.

 Brent held my hand through every contraction. He was incredibly sweet.

 Here I am between contractions. We were both incredibly excited.

 I was allowed to eat all of the Popsicles and ice chips that I wanted. At first this was fine, but by the end of the day I was starving. I may have shot Brent a couple of dirty looks when he came back from the snack room with bags of chips. 

The view from my bed.  

 11:00 am -- We decided it was time for me to get an epidural. Labor was going to take awhile and the contractions were miserable

More tubes hooked up to me. 

 Brent enjoyed his day. He watched a couple of playoff games and got in a good nap.

 My ID bracelet
Here I am after the epidural, waking up from a nap. I never thought I would take a nap while in labor. I was feeling very relaxed.
4:45 pm-- Time to start pushing.  

7:07 pm Brooks August is born. 
He has darling blond hair and is perfect in every way.

The doctor and nurses were surprised that he was 8 lb 2 oz. Everyone asked where I put the baby, because I was so small.  

 Brooks crying while they weigh him and wipe him down.

Holding my baby boy for the first time. 

Admiring how sweet he is. 

So in love with our baby boy

 It was love at first sight for Brent. 

 He is so excited to be a daddy!


Brooks August Pickett
8 lb 2 oz
20.5 inches
Born 05/19/2012
7:07 pm

25 May 2012

pregnancy photo shoot

Brent and I did a pregnancy photo shoot while I was 9 months pregnant. Thanks to my sister for letting us use her front yard for the pics. Here they are:













This last picture was a few days later, my first craving in the pregnancy was orange sherbet ice cream cones. Throughout the whole pregnancy I had major sugar cravings.  


03 May 2012

April Recap

I blinked and now it's May! April was a busy month for us. Here is a quick update on everything that happened:

The first weekend in April was General Conference. We went down to see my family. We had a great time listening to the talks, relaxing and my Mom helped me finish my quilt! Here we are pinning the binding:
My sisters and sisters in law threw me a really cute shower! They went with a "pop" theme and we had lots of "pop" foods. (Think popcorn, cake pops, etc.) It was a blast and everyone was very sweet and generous. Of course none of my pictures turned out :(

The next weekend we were down again for MY BEST FRIEND'S WEDDING! My cousin Chelsea was tying the knot, so of course I had to be there. Chelsea moved to Utah when I was in junior high. Even though she was older than me, we totally clicked. We spent a lot of time watching movies, making special K cookies, dancing and partying. She joined the army a few years ago so I don't get to see her as often as I would like. I was really glad that her wedding was in Utah so I could be there!

Here is a collage of pictures that shows some of the fun from her shower and wedding day. Chelsea slept over with my sisters and I and we stayed up singing songs by the piano and watching chick flicks. So much fun :)

Here we are with Chelsea and her sister, the MOH, Hilary. I love the colors from her wedding, it was so beautiful!


Chelsea got married on the Friday before Easter. So my sister Maren and I decided to try "tie-dying" some Easter eggs. We got the idea off pinterest. You cut up old silk ties, wrap the eggs in them and then boil them in water with vinegar. It turned out well. The eggs were really pretty.


On Saturday, the day before Easter, we got news that my Grandma Reeves had passed away. Grandma Reeves was an incredible woman. I remember her telling me stories about her childhood and about getting married to grandpa. Grandma had Alzheimer's and for the past several years she has not been able to tell stories. I am glad that Brent was able to meet Grandma last spring break, but I look forward to him meeting her again someday, so he can meet the smart, funny Grandma I grew up with.

I love this photo of her with my aunts. Looking back at old photos Grandma always had the best style.

Because I was in town, my parents offered to let me drive out to California with them for the funeral. Brent was a good sport and sent me on my way. I am so grateful that I was able to go. My Grandpa Reeves and my mom's parents live about 10 minutes away from each other. I was able to spend time with all of them and some of my cousins too. 

I got to stay at my Granny and Granddad's farm, in my favorite bedroom. I was visiting my grandparents right after Brent and I started dating and I remember sitting in this room thinking about how I could totally marry someone like Brent. :)

My first morning at the farm Granddad got up and cut a rose for me, my mom and my Granny. He put them in vases and had them on the kitchen table. It was very sweet of him!

This is all of us out at the farm with Granny and Granddad. My brother Cody flew out from Iowa and my brother Justin drove out with his wife Ashley and their two boys. 
Ashley helped me do a pregnancy photo shoot on the farm. We haven't edited any yet, I am not sure how well they turned out because the humidity in California makes my hair go all sorts of weird. I did have a lot of fun taking pictures with Justin, Ashley and their boys though. The farm is absolutely beautiful. I'll have to post more pictures soon. 

Timing worked out so it was my cousins' spring break while we were there. My aunt Amanda took us to Color Me Mine and we did some really fun projects. I had a blast! I also got to spend a fun afternoon playing games with the Bell kids. I don't get to see them much, so I was glad I got to hang out with them. 

This trip was the longest Brent and I had ever been apart. It was hard to not see him for a week. Thankfully we were able to facetime a couple of times.


After a nice trip to California, it was very nice to be home again! The past couple of weeks have been lost to many hours of studying, writing papers and working on projects. We discovered that joy that is Instagram too! 

Here we are after I got back from Cali-

Oh and a little pregnancy update. We are officially 38 weeks pregnant! On the one hand I feel like I have been pregnant forever, but on the other this really snuck up on me. I had a crazy spurt of nesting energy this week and spent two days cleaning out the baby's room, which has been a storage room for the past two years. We had accumulated a LOT of stuff. A couple of DI trips later and it is looking good! I'll have to take a picture of the tetris-storage job we did in the closet.

Brent was a good sport about helping me out with all of this during finals week. We aren't done with all the projects I want to do for the baby yet, but I feel like we have a place for him  for when he gets here. Here is a picture of his little room so far:

We cannot wait for our little boy to show up. As anxious and excited as I am, Brent is even more. He has been getting lots of practice with little ones lately and does such a good job! Here he is playing with the nephews and holding my cousin's little girl, Ruby.

He is going to be such a good dad! He worked super hard this semester taking way too many credits and working 3 jobs. I am so proud of all that he does! He has also been very supportive of me. This was my last semester at Utah State. I graduate with my Master's this weekend. But I won't be walking... I mean waddling, through graduation ceremonies.

And that--- was April.