Memorial Day

For the first time since I've been living in the US, yesterday I actually celebrated Memorial day!  And it was really nice!  We went to the national cemetery here in Phoenix.  Jeremy's grandpa served in the Navy in WWII, and he told us a little bit about what that was like.  It was really moving to see all the graves of the soldiers and remember the sacrifices that have been made so that we can enjoy the free lives that we do.  I am grateful for all those brave soldiers who served in protecting our liberty.  I am thankful for their 

bravery, and I pray that our young men, husbands, children and friends will never be called upon to make that same sacrifice.

In the afternoon we went swimming, and Brenna got sunscreen in her eyes!!  It was really sad!  She cried for about an hour before we could finally calm her down.  But, not to worry, she's ok!  All in all we had a very nice day and got a chance to remember some important american history!

She could barely open her eyes!  It was sad!

Sewing Add On

After I posted pictures of the dress I made for Brenna, a friend of mine (thanks Jaimie!) sent me a pattern for some shoes that would match well.  I decided to give it a try.  They aren't as perfect as the dress, I ran into a problem with the strap being too short so I had to lengthen it... I could have done this in a much prettier way, except I tried the shoes on Brenna and they're a little too small anyway.  I decided to finish them quickly and maybe make her wear them on Sunday but her toes have to be pretty scrunched to fit!  Anyway, they are cute shoes, and not too hard, I will definitely try some more, I will just have to make the pattern a smidgen bigger!  Brenna's birthday is in two more days now, and I'm very excited to give her her dress and shoes! :)

Sewing Success!

Well, while my mom was here with me this past week I decided it was once again time to try my hand at sewing some clothes!  So I got out a pattern I bought a while back for Brenna and got to work!  I needed to do it while my mom was here so she could help me, and so she could be a perfectionist for me.  If I make a mistake and it was taking too long, I usually just decide it isn't a big deal, but not my mom, and because of her this is the most flawless (not flawless, but close) sewing project I have ever completed I think.  And I only had to re do a few things!  So, without further ado, here is Brenna's birthday present from mom!  (Shhh... it isn't her birthday for another week!)

Turns Out, Hardly Workin!

Well, incase you hadn't heard, it turns out I don't have to make a choice between working or not at all!  The choice was made for me!  I got a call later in the evening after I wrote my last entry and was told that they had found someone who could do my job as well as another employee they had all at once so they could let both of us go and end up saving a lot of money by doing it with one person.  So, I'm not going to cry or jump up and down (mostly I can't jump up and down in front of Jeremy)!  So this is more of a "just so you know" thing, and if you want to hang out, chances are I'm up for it!  :)

Workin' Hard or Hardly Workin'?

I have to write and say what a wonderful couple of days I have had lately.  I had Friday off of work because of Brenna, and then yesterday and today I got off as a welcomed surprise!  We had sort of settled in to the routine of transferring a sleeping baby into her car seat and dropping her off at the sitters for the morning.  It is going really well too, I have no real reason to complain!  I am working which means we have a little extra money to have some fun date nights on the weekends, and I still got to spend the afternoons with Brenna!  I have to say though, these past couple of days have really been great for both of us.  I have been getting lots done around our house (which has been pretty neglected since I started working) and Brenna has been getting on a good nap schedule, and I've really loved spending the time with her, and especially being rid of the guilt of ditching her every morning!  There are lots of positives to working part time, in fact if I made a list the positive side would be a lot longer than the negatives, I just can't decide for sure which side would win on a scale.  The negatives are fewer, but heavier, and the positives are many, but MOSTLY (not all) just really 'nice to have's'... but they are really nice to have!  I know, life is full of tough decisions, right?

Westgate

I was told that I need some more pictures on my blog, so here are a few from this weekend. We had the chance on Friday night to go over to Westgate. Westgate is just a sort of entertainment area with a theatre and a few pro sports stadiums and stores and restaurants, and right in the middle of it all there is a little water spout park for kids to play in. I've been excited for a while to take Brenna there, but it always seemed to cool down and get windy on the weekends and she would be too cold to get wet. This weekend it worked though! She got to wear the swim suit that Grandma got her for the first time, and we decided to be brave and get her back in the water (despite our mishap with water on Thursday). We were careful and cautious, but she seemed to enjoy it. She mostly just liked running around the outskirts of the water trying to keep up with all the big kids, but we helped her to get wet a couple of times! This is one of the pluses of living in Arizona!

Our Trip to the ER

Last night we had a bit of a scare as parents! I walked in the door from a young womans leadership meeting to find daddy and Brenna fresh out of the shower. Brenna was laying on our bed all wrapped up in a towel, so I went to her and said hi and she smiled and reached for me! Nothing out of the ordinary there, and I was glad to be home and ready for bed! Then I looked at Jeremy and saw the relief in his face and wondered why. Nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Then he explained that he had just been about to rush Brenna to the ER before I came in. I guess while they were in the shower, Jeremy put her head under the water to get her hair wet (nothing weird, we do this ALL the time) but this time when she came out from under the water, something was wrong. As he describes it, she went totally crosseyed and he said "Brenna, are you ok?" and then she kept trying to refocus, but couldn't seem to. By this time he noticed that her arms were sort of stiff and in a weird position with her wrists pointing down and she didn't seem to have any control over them. Also, her mouth was just hanging open and it was like she was trying to talk but couldn't do it. Then he said she just sort of dropped her head and stared right through him. So he gave her a blessing right there in the shower to be healed (he said he was sure that somehow he'd twisted her wrong while he was holding her and paralyzed her or something and was close to hysteria, which if you know him is scary, because he really doesn't get worked up about anything), then after the blessing he got out of the shower and laid her on the bed and then I walked in and I guess that's the exact time she snapped out of it, and why Jeremy looked so relieved that she popped up and wanted mommy.
So, we called a few nurses, and all of them agreed that we should take her to the hospital ASAP. One even thought we should call an ambulance instead of driving her ourselves, but since she was alone in that opinion, we just drove her ourselves. Anyway, after a bit of a wait, and just after Brenna finally drifted off to sleep (it's about midnight by now) the doctor came in and eventually decided that she had had a "breath holding spell that caused a small seizure". She said that it was very minor and not really anything to worry about, although very scary for parents, she said it will most likely happen again, and if we freak out every time then by the time she's 1 and a half or 2 she will start to do it for the attention. It apparently happened because she was startled by the water on her head, and so she held her breath to avoid getting water up her nose and stuff. She said it happens in about 25% of babies and will last till somewhere between two or three most likely. She said the reason it didn't happen until now even though we do this in the shower all the time is because it's really rare for children under 1 to do it because it is a conscious decision she made to hold her breath initially.
Sufficeth to say we were scared, and we had a long night in the ER making sure everything is alright with our baby. We are very glad that she is ok, and hoping that we don't have to do this again, but that if we do we'll be better prepared and not freak out! On a lighter note, she said it usually happens in babies who get a lot of attention... Brenna doesn't get that much attention... does she? Ok, but give me a break, she's my first child, I'm allowed, right?

Brenna's Walking!

Well, a quick update on our family, is that as of April 26th, Brenna is walking! She is now getting around quite sufficiently where ever she pleases! We are now constantly watching her, and thinking either how adorable it is that she's walking, or "Oh crap, we need to baby proof that too!". I have made a video collage of her walking progress... It's a little long and probably boring to most of you, but it was fun to make and fun for me to watch! I apologize for the poor color quality.. I only recently realized that for the past week or so our camera has been on night mode, so it wasn't showing up color very well. I hope you enjoy!