Pumpkins, Piano and Swings

Last night our camera got a workout. When I went to plug in the camera to the computer I found we had taken 28 pictures! It's so nice to live in the days of digital cameras. No more taking a few pictures and then waiting for them to come back from the developers. Now we have instant gratification! And if the picture stinks we can delete them...Woo Hoo!

First up we have some pictures of Owen and I carving his pumpkin. OK...I did all the work. Owen just sat on my lap for a few pictures. He wouldn't even stick his hand in the pumpkin to pull out some pumpkin guts! At least we got around to carving his pumpkin this year though. Last year I got a huge pumpkin and no knifes sharp enough to carve it. So it just sat on our porch until a squirrel decided to eat it.

The finished product is below. I've never been a great pumpkin carver, so don't judge me too harshly!

These pictures were a surprise to me. They must have been taken after I went to bed. I thought they were pretty funny though. I've got a little Elton John living in my house...or Stevie Wonder...take your pick.

Here's Holly hanging out with her favorite daddy!

And here is Holly in motion, swinging away. She loves to be in her swing! Owen likes to help her swing sometimes too. We just have to make sure he doesn't push her too hard.

Now it's a beautiful Halloween, so we are going to go out on a walk before we go trick-or-treating! Check back later for some pictures of the kids in their costumes! Happy Halloween!

Thanks Mom

Yesterday my mom had to leave us...it was a sad day. Things haven't been as tasty around here since then either. I don't know why, but I never caught the cooking bug like most of my family. Scott really enjoyed getting some real homemade dinners for 10 days or so....not to mention the great breakfasts she made. Of course she did more than just cook. She also cleaned, did the laundry and helped keep Owen happy while I was trying to keep Holly happy. She bathed and got clothes on Owen too, which isn't always an easy task....especially since he is getting closer to that 2 year mark and likes to have temper tantrums. Not fun!

I'm sure my mom was thrilled to leave our crazy house and to not have to cook and clean all day. But we miss her. She was kind enough to leave us lots of food to keep us going for a while, so thankfully we aren't back to my cooking yet. So thank you mom for everything. I do really appreciate it, and now I realize I have a lot to learn before Holly starts having kids...thankfully I have a bit of time before that happens! It's nice to have a talented mother who takes care of you when you need it the most!

2 Weeks Ago

Two weeks ago today Owen enjoyed his last day of being an only child! I wanted to post these pictures the next day, but obviously Holly had other plans for me. So I'm just getting around to posting them now. It was a beautiful Sunday, and Scott and I decided to spend the afternoon walking around with Owen. I think it was the long walk that got Holly here the next day. We went to a local park first...it's a little park with lots of benches and flowers, a great place for Owen to run around and be a kid. He really enjoyed the little benches made for kids.


Two weeks ago was also the last time I thought Owen was still small. The next day when I saw him next to Holly I realized he is pretty darn big!

The leaves were really beautiful along the walk too. I tried to take some nice pictures, but I don't have a great camera to capture their beauty. This is probably the best picture I got.

Luckily Scott was also able to get one last picture of me pregnant with Holly. He kept making me turn to show more of a profile view...I can't believe how huge I look!

It was a great walk...I'm glad we got to enjoy our last day before our lives changed again. Changed for the better of course!

Trunk-or-Treat Fun

Last night Holly took her first official trip out of the house...besides going to the doctor! Our ward was holding their annual Trunk-or-Treat so we decided to dress the kids up and go. Unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera : ( So I didn't get a picture of Owen before he took off his costume (He had to put it on and take it off at the church because it was too big for his car seat). So I will put some pictures of Owen in his cute costume around Halloween time.

Before the Trunk-or-Treat my mom took us out and treated us to dinner at Carabba's. Yum Yum...also Holly's first time at a restaurant. She sleep through it though. There was lots of loud music and dancing at the Trunk-or-Treat. Holly slept through that too. Owen and Grandma made a cupcake...Owen got loaded up with sugar!

They had a costume parade/contest. I took Owen up to be in it, and my mom decided that Holly should be in the parade too. Isn't she just the cutest little pumpkin?

The judges thought she was a cute little pumpkin. She won the award for the cutest costume! She just barely pulled it off though. If you look at her award closely you can see that Iron Man was initially going to be the cutest costume!!! Iron Man is cute, but Holly is definitely cuter. Hehe...Iron Man won the next award for the best Super Hero though, so don't feel bad. I think they just wrote the wrong name on the award.

Here's a picture of Owen...since I don't have one in his costume. My mom brought home a cupcake from the Trunk-or-Treat that was baked into an ice-cream cone and then decorated to look like a witch. It was cute, I should have taken a picture before my mom gave it to him for breakfast! How nutritious is that? I told my mom that I let her get away with a lot more than I would ever let my mother-in-law get away with. I also told Owen to enjoy his cupcake breakfast while it lasted because there probably won't be another one anytime soon....at least not until we go to Utah in January. He made quite the mess of himself with all the green and black frosting that was on it. Owen seems to make a mess a lot doesn't he?

Pretty in Purple

It seems like a lot of people are really against little girls wearing anything pink these days. I like pink...but purple works too. Scott's sister bought Holly some cute little purple clothes. Doesn't she look stylin'?

And here is Owen...looking Great in Green! What cute kids I have.

Blessing Dress

Holly's grandma made her this beautiful gown and bonnet to hopefully be blessed in. We decided to try it on today to see how it fits. I think she looks like a little angel in it. It was a bit big, so that's good. We will be blessing Holly in January when we go to Utah. So hopefully she won't be too big for it by then. If she is we might just have to cram her into it! I'm definitely going to take her down to get some professional pictures taken of her in it though. This is a dress to be passed down from generation to generation.

Pictures and Swings

My mom seems determined to get Owen to hold Holly so we can take a picture...her plan isn't working too good though. This is the best shot we got...and she had to tickle Owen to get him to hold Holly for this long. Don't worry, poor little Holly survived the ordeal!

Scott also finally brought our baby swing down from the attic. Holly was really enjoying the ride! Of course her big brother Owen though that he should help the swing along and started pushing it himself. So I guess we will have to work on keeping him away from it when she is swinging. He doesn't understand that the swing goes all by itself...with the help of a few batteries.

Owen decided I was taking too many pictures of Holly this morning too. He was probably right. So he kept getting in front of the camera. It's hard to believe how big my little boy is getting!

1 Week Old

Well, Holly has been here for a week now. It's hard to remember a time when she wasn't here though...it seems she's always been part of the family! She is doing very good...she sleeps a lot! Owen is adjusting very well to her, and he's always wanting to help out. Today he saw that I was changing her diaper and he got the wipes for me and tried to wipe her down.

Today Holly also got to take her 2nd car ride! The first was when she came home from the hospital, and today she got to go visit the doctor for her one week check up. She is up to 7 lbs 4 oz and 19 1/4 inches. She's a little small compared to what Owen was at this time. He was always in the 90th percentiles, she is in the 30th for height, weight and head size. Overall she is doing good though!


My mom got into town on Saturday night and she has been a great help around here. She has made us big breakfast the past two mornings. She made a great dinner last night, and she's at the store right now getting things for tonights dinner. It's so nice to have my mom here helping out! I will be sad when she has to leave. Owen warmed right up to her and they have been having a lot of fun together. Mom's are real life savers!

Mommy Eyes

I know I've got mommy eyes...but I think my Holly is the cutest thing to ever come around! I'm having a hard time getting things done because I just want to sit and look at her while she's still so little and sweet. They grow up too fast! With Owen I couldn't wait until he could smile, sit up, crawl...all the usual mile-stones. Not with Holly though. I just want her to stay little! I love to just sit and watch her sleeping. She makes so many faces when she is sleeping...and the little noises that come out of her when she sleeps are too dang cute to want to miss them while doing something else! So if you come over and my house is a complete mess you'll know why!!!

Brother & Sister

Owen is starting to warm up to Holly! We were pretty amazed when he voluntarily went and laid down next to her tonight. Yesterday he wouldn't get close to her, he would just point from across the room and say "Baby." He threw quite the fit tonight when Scott tried to take him outside to go for a walk. He started screaming for me and wouldn't go outside with Scott. So finally Scott took Holly and I went for a walk with Owen. So we think it's great progress that he wanted to lay down next to her!

On another note...can you believe how huge Owen looks??? I remember my mom telling me how amazed I would be at his size when I brought Holly home, and she was right. I was convinced that he just ate cake and gained 10 lbs while I was in the hospital, but he's still wearing the same size clothes! I guess Holly is just a little peanut. It's hard to believe Owen use to be her size.

Holly is Here!

Holly Colleen Sheaffer is here! She was born Monday, October 13th, at 8:15 AM. She weighed in at a whopping 7 lbs and 1 oz. I thought she would be much bigger considering all the cookies I have been eating, but 7 lbs is good for me! She was 19 1/2 inches long.

Her debut was quite a surprise. I felt really good on Sunday and figured I was in for another 2 weeks of pregnancy. It was a beautiful fall day on Sunday, so Scott and I took Owen for a nice long walk and played in the park for a while. I still felt fine after the long walk. I went to bed around 10:00 with no thoughts of having a baby any time soon. At 11:00 I woke up for a bathroom break, and when I sat up I felt a gush of water and thought I had peed my pants! So I thought I had better get to the bathroom soon. By the time I go to the bathroom I was pretty soaking wet. I thought, "Hmmmm...my water must have broken" but it wasn't a huge gush of water like you always think of when your water breaks. So I got myself cleaned up to see if I was still leaking water, but there was nothing else. I wasn't having contractions, so then I thought maybe I just can't hold my bladder anymore...how embarrassing! I went back to bed.

About 2 hours later I woke up with the start of contractions, so I knew it was happening. I didn't want to go to the hospital too soon though. When I had Owen I went to the hospital and I was only 1 centimeter dilated, so they made me walk around for hours, which was pure torture! I didn't want to go through that again. So I decided to ride out the contractions until it got closer to morning. Then I could call my mother-in-law at a decent time to come and watch Owen. I tried to stay in bed, but that was very uncomfortable. So I decided to try a hot shower, they say that's a good thing while you are in labor....and it is! I stayed in the shower for about 45 minutes just letting the hot water fun on my back. I finally got back in bed around 4:00 and I rode out the contractions there for another hour. At 5:00 I knew my mother-in-law would be awake, so I called the doctor. He told me to come on in to the hospital. We called my mother-in-law, she came right over and we headed off for the hospital!

Let me say, if you are ever in labor don't call my husband to drive you to the hospital! He is not a graceful driver. And the roads around here have horrible bumps that you don't notice until you are in labor and in complete and utter agony! We got to the hospital around 6:15...they made me sign papers and answer all sorts of silly questions...they shouldn't do that to pregnant ladies! There is plenty of time for question and answer time after the baby is born. I got sent in to see how far along I was, and my doctor was already there...surprise surprise! He checked me out and I was 6 centimeters dilated...Woo Hoo! No walking around for me this time. He sent me up to my room to get my epidural and said I would have the baby within the next few hours. I didn't believe him, with Owen it took 2 hours just to push him out! By 7:40 I finally had my epidural in, it seemed to take forever to get in this time. The doctor said he was going to break my water, but there was no need since I guess my water had actually broke the night before. At that point I just had to wait to be fully dilated. The doctor came back in at 8:10 and I started the fun process of pushing. I pushed through 2 contractions and there she was! It was so quick compaired to Owen...I could hardly believe it! I think I'll try and have quick deliveries for the rest of my babies too!

Holly has been such a wonderful baby so far too. She took right to nursing, so she always has a full belly when she wants one and sleeps the rest of the time. Owen doesn't quite know what to make of her yet. He hasn't gone near her, he seems a little leery of her. He will point to her and say, "Baby Holly" though. So I don't have a picture of the two of them together yet, but I will get one once he gets a little more comfortable with her. I don't want to push it. Here are some pictures of her that we did get though...

This is Holly's 1st picture, taken about 5 minutes after she was born. I think she looks a lot like me when I was a baby.

Here is Holly and her proud daddy!

This is Holly right after her 1st bath. It's so interesting to see the nurses giving the baby a bath...they just toss them around like a football, scrubbing them all over the place...I guess they are use to it though.

Here's Holly all snuggled up after eating this morning. She looks so dark...but so did Owen when he was that age...she will grow out of it.

Here's Holly at home! She's probably wishing she was still at the hospital where the nurses know how to swaddle her properly, but she's still sleeping away just like that...so I guess we didn't do too bad!

So there you have it...the story of Holly's birth. Hopefully we'll get lots more pictures in the next few days and weeks so you can see her as she grows!

Oh Baby

I just got back from the doctor...I'm 1 centimeter dilated. Woo Hoo! I'm pretty confused about what is going to happen next though. I told the doctor that my mom is flying in on the 18th, to which he replied, "Well, let's make her useful!" So he scheduled me to have another ultrasound next Tuesday (the 14th) to make sure the baby isn't breech. And I can make sure the baby is still a girl...I don't know why but I have an irrational fear that it will be born a boy. Probably because I have a closet full of pink. The ultrasound will be in his office, so he said he would see me right after it. He told the receptionist to set up an induction on the 21st at the hospital. She called the hospital and they were all booked up for the 21st with inductions. So the doctor told her to schedule it on the 28th instead. She did...but then she said, "Don't worry, you will have the baby way before then. The doctor will tell you to go to the hospital and say you are in labor." Ummmm...OK. I'm pretty sure they will know if I'm in labor or not, but I will just do what the doctor says. Holly is getting closer though...I'm getting excited!

Procrastination

Hello, my name is Brianne, and I'm a procrastinator! Do they have support groups for procrastinators? I think I need one. OK, I don't procrastinate at everything. If you gave me a cookie I wouldn't procrastinate eating it. And when I was in school I never procrastinated doing my math homework. When the teacher would give us our math homework and all the kids were groaning because there was too much, I was groaning because there wasn't enough! I always got stuck with the teacher who never gave out enough math homework. I was jealous of the kids whose teachers told them to do all the problems! I've just always loved math...I should have been a math teacher so I could do it everyday! Weird I know.

Other than those two things though I pretty much procrastinate at everything. If I ever had a paper to write in school I always had the best intentions of getting it written 2 weeks ahead of time, but I never looked at it until the night before it was due. The most dreaded calling for me at church is teaching because I always had the best of intentions to start preparing the lesson a month ahead of time, but I always waited until the day before. I don't know why I can't stop procrastinating. I always pack for trips at the last minute. We always eat dinner late because I procrastinate making it, and I have a hard time with e-mail because I love to get e-mails, but then I procrastinate writing back. It's a serious problem!

So this past weekend I had big plans to get everything all ready for Holly. I was going to pack my bag for the hospital, get her car seat installed, get her room cleaned...I had lots of plans. I didn't do any of it! All I did was move Owen's car seat to make room for Holly's. I'm not too worried about her room. Right now it's the guest room, and it's going to stay that way for about another month. I want my mom to have a bed to sleep on when she gets here, and Holly will be in our room for a few months anyway. But the room is a mess with tissue paper and bags and all sorts of stuff from me trying to organize all of Holly's clothes, blankets, etc... Of course I have had big plans to do all this stuff for the past 3 weekends! Instead I spent a lot of the weekend outdoors trying to clean up the yard. This is also something I've been planning to do...since the beginning of the summer! Our bushes always need one good trimming each year. I usually do it at the beginning of the summer, this year Scott and I finally got it done at the beginning of the fall. Neither of us are landscaping type people though. We just try to keep the yard looking somewhat neat. We'd probably get kicked out of Utah. There just always seems to be something better to do...like reading!

So there you have it, my one biggest flaw...at least in my eyes! Maybe someday I'll kick the habit, but I wouldn't count on it.

National Pet Peeve Week

While surfing the web and wasting some time this past week I came across an article that said October 5-11th is our National Pet Peeve Week! Interesting. We only get one day to observe the birth of our Savior, but a whole week to vent all our pet peeves. That seems a bit messed up to me! Could that be a Pet Peeve of mine? I decided to look into it a little bit more. I had a hard time finding much on National Pet Peeve Week though, some places said that National Pet Peeve Week (NPPW from now on) is actually October 12th - 18th. At least we all know for sure when Christmas is celebrated! I also found out that celebrating NPPW for a week and Christmas for one day could not be a pet peeve of mine because pet peeves focus on a specific behavior rather than some general dissatisfaction.

Since General Conference is starting in a few hours I decided I would vent some of my pet peeves now. That way they will be out of my system and I can focus on more spiritual things this weekend. So here is what I came up with as my Top 10 Pet Peeves at this time in my life. Feel free to vent your Pet Peeves this week...maybe it will make you feel better too!

10. Pregnancy Comments...This one hopefully won't be a pet peeve for much longer. It seems as if I can't walk through the office here at work without being stopped by every other person to tell me, "You are HUGE!" or "Look how cute you are" or "When are you due?" (Even though I told them yesterday) "You are carrying high" or "You are carrying low" or "How are you feeling?"...well, you get the point. I know people are just trying to be polite, and I know I've done the same thing to pregnant women (Sorry Jocelyn) but it gets old answering the same questions and looking interested in the same comments over and over again! But...I'm not one of those pregnant ladies that gets mad when people want to touch their stomach! I figure this might be the last time I have a rock hard stomach, so touch away and be impressed!

9. Rude Movie Goers...I've pretty much given up going to the movies because people are so rude at the movies these days! Either they are talking, or looking at their cell phones. It never fails, I always sit in front of the person who can't shut their trap for 2 hours, or I sit in back of the person who can't keep their phone turned off for 2 hours. It cost way too much to go to a movie these days to have to deal with that kind of rudeness, so I don't go anymore. The last movie I saw was "Iron Man" back in June. That was the day I had my ultrasound, so Scott and I had the day off and decided to see a matinee. That's the only way to see a movie these days...in the middle of the week and the middle of the day. Nobody is there and it's a little cheaper to see a movie.

8. Rude Pedestrians...This goes for people walking and riding their bikes. It seems like people don't know how to follow the rules of the road when they are walking or riding their bikes. It drives me nuts when they don't follow traffic lights...don't they know they are suppose to cross when the light is green? It's really bad down by where I work. And bike riders who ride on the wrong side of the road really drive me nuts too...I guess their mothers didn't teach them the polite way to ride their bikes!

7. Childless people who think they know what it's like to be a parent...I recently heard somebody saying that they were a much better mother before they had children. So true! It's kind of funny, but annoying when people who have no children try to tell me how to raise my child. I was the same way though...so I try to just smile and thank them for the advise.

6. Pee on the Toilet Seat...this is a major problem where I work. These women hoover over the toilet seat and have really bad aim...and then they don't clean up after themselves! It's so gross.

5. People who "Bang a Left"...I recently found out that this annoying behavior has a name here in Massachusetts, and it's called "Banging a Left." I think only people here in Massachusetts do it too. "Banging a Left" happens when a bunch of cars are stopped at a stop light. The first person at one set of lights is turning left...and as soon as the light turns green they turn left in front of the oncoming traffic when they should be yielding to traffic that is going straight. I've never seen it happen until I moved out here and it sure drives me nuts!

4. My husband's broken arms...OK...Scott doesn't have broken arms, but it sure seems like it sometimes. If he is looking for something in the fridge he will open it up and look at everything up front. If he doesn't find what he is looking for he starts whining that he can't find what he is looking for and closes the refrigerator door. He NEVER moves anything! The other day I came home and he said he was going to take Owen outside but he couldn't find his sweatshirts. I told him they were in his closet. He said he looked there but couldn't find them. So we went upstairs to Owen's room. Scott opened the closet door and just stood their looking at his closet...he didn't try to move one piece of clothing hanging up. So I went over to the closet, moved a few things and WOW there were 4 sweatshirts! This happens all the time...why doesn't he learn???

3. Rude Waiters...this is another Massachusetts problem. Or perhaps it's a problem anywhere outside of Utah. Scott and I don't drink alcohol. Many times when we have gone out to eat and not ordered alcoholic beverages our waiters have turned from sweet people who can't wait to help us into monsters who want nothing to do with us. I understand that alcohol makes a bill bigger, which leads to a bigger tip....but I'm not going to start drinking just so I can get good service. We should all get good service whether we like to booze it up or not.

2. People who park in spots marked for customers with infants who clearly do not have an infant with them...I know that these aren't legally binding parking spaces like handicapped ones, but people should have some common courtesy and leave them open for the people who have to lug babies in.

1. Smokers...I really can't stand people who smoke in public. It's just so gross and stinky. If you are going to smoke, smoke at home where I won't have to smell it. And don't flick your cigarette butts out the window when you are driving...that is littering. And PLEASE don't smoke if you have children in your car. I always feel so sad when I see little kids in cars with cigarette smokers. It's great that most states have banned smoking in all public places...now we just need to ban smoking anywhere near non-smokers and we will be all set!

So there you have it...my Top 10 Pet Peeves! I feel much better now that they are out in the open. Happy National Pet Peeve Week to all of you out there reading this!

Picture Tag

I just got tagged by Jocelyn. Here's how it works: go into your picture file, choose 4th file, open it, choose 4th picture, post it and explain it, tag 4 people.

This picture was taken last year (2007) at our ward's annual Pioneer Day Celebration. Owen was quite fascinated with Jaier's (Sorry...I don't know how to spell his name) hair. I can't believe how much he has grown in a little over a year! He's not quite so fat anymore.

Now I tag Marc, Claudia, Amber and Aleisha!

Baby Update

I just got back from the doctor. It seems Holly has been ignoring all the eviction notices I've been giving her. I'm still not dilated at all...BOO again! I don't remember being this uncomfortable with Owen. I also didn't want Owen to be born early, I wanted him to be a few weeks late. My mom is flying into town on the 18th though (at least I think she is, that's what my dad has told me) and I would like her to be able to see her new grandchild before she leaves! I guess I better start doing some jumping jacks!