Nap Time

Leslie took a 2 hour nap in her crib on Tuesday! She has mostly been sleeping in her car seat because she does not like to lay on her back but I'm am trying to slowly work her up to sleeping in her crib. She finally did it. She also took a 2 hour nap in there yesterday so things are looking promising. Here is the picture for proof!

Photo Shoot

Here are some of my favorite pictures of Leslie.

Grandparents

After Leslie was born we were blessed to have both my parents come out to help. They were able to jump on a plane on the 20th and stayed until the 30th. We were so grateful for their help. Thirty years of experience with kids comes in handy when you have no idea what you are doing. While they were here my Dad got to touch the Atlantic ocean for the first time, we saw some turtles and some dolphins, but mostly they spent their time enjoying Leslie. She loved to be held by both of my parents! We had a great time while they were hear and I was very sad to see them go. We will just have to go visit them soon! :)

A week after my parents left, Bryson's mom, Jan, came to visit. I am blessed with the best Mother-in-Law in the whole world so I was way excited for her to visit. She came on Feb. 8th and stayed until the 12th. Her and Bryson's birthdays are on the 9th so we got to celebrate together. We also took a trip to the beach.  Leslie loved bath time with Grandma. It was so much fun to have Jan here. Here are some pictures of both visits.

Right on Time

Disclaimer: I use this blog as a sort of family journal so this may be long and boring for some, but I will post it anyways. :)

Our precious Leslie Sharon Shreeve was born on January 17, 2012 at 10:16 pm. I was sure that she was going to come at least a week late but she decided to come right on time (or a few hours before her due date). Early labor began around 2 am that morning. Then at around 4 am I thought that possibly my water broke so I woke Bryson up and we went to the hospital just in case. Turns out it didn't break. For any soon to be first time mother, when your water breaks it is a LOT of fluid. :) My doctor was at the hospital so he stopped by and told mus I was in early labor and I could stay at the hospital if I wanted or go home. I definitely choose to go home! It is no fun to be strapped to the bed monitors for hours. So we headed home and Bryson went to work and I went to pacing around the apartment and taking multiple hot showers. At around 1 pm the contractions started to get a lot more intense so I called my doctor and he said I could come into his office to see where I was. So Bryson came home and we headed to the doctors office. I was 6 cm dilated and definitely in labor so we headed over to the hospital. We got all checked in and into a delivery room and then the real contractions started. Bryson was so wonderful the whole time. I wanted to try for an unmedicated delivery but if it got too hard I was not opposed to an epidural. The contractions started to get really hard and the nurse suggested I stand up. At first I thought she was crazy but once I got up it was a lot better. After a few hours my doctor (Dr. McTammany) came in to check on me and I was still only at 6 cm! I couldn't believe after hours of contractions nothing had happened so we decided to break my water to speed things up. By that point I was considering an epidural but I thought I would wait till after my water was broken. Bryson was leaning towards the epidural but I wanted to wait. Well, I think it took a grand total of two contractions after my water broke for me to ask for the epidural. :) The anesthesiologist came in right away and put the epidural in. It was not bad at all. I was really worried something might happen but all went smoothly. After I got the epidural it was so nice that I could rest. It was around 7 pm so I had not slept in a long time. So while we waited Bryson and I tried to nap. Dr. McTammany came in and checked me around 9 pm and I was fully dilated and ready to push! I was so ready. :) So the nurse came in and I started pushing. When you push, you push when a contraction comes but mine were very irregular so we had some extra time to talk to the nurse. Finally she said it was time to get the doctor but it turns out he was heading into an emergency C-section right then so they told me to stop pushing and wait. It wasn't too bad waiting and while he was gone they gave me some pictocin to make my contractions more regular. Dr. McTammany came back in at around 10 and we started pushing again. After just a few pushes Leslie was born at 10:16 pm. It was so wonderful when they placed her on my chest. She was so beautiful and I felt so much love for her in that moment. I felt so strongly that she is truly a daughter of God that just left His presence. Bryson and I are so blessed to have her to raise and teach the gospel. After they cleaned her off, Bryson went with her to get her measurements and give her a bath while the nurses moved me to the Mother Baby room. My right leg was still numb so they took me over in a wheel chair. While Bryson was in the nursery he ran into a couple from our ward that had just had their baby too! She was not due for 3 more weeks but she usually has her babies early so we had joked that we might be in the hospital at the same time. Turns out we had our babies 3 hours apart! They had a little girl as well. We are excited for Leslie to have such a close friend in the ward. Here are some pictures from the hospital.

Baby Bumpers

I just couldn't find any bumpers for the crib that I liked and weren't ridiculously overpriced so I decided to make some. I borrowed my friend's sewing machine, dragged Bryson to Joann's to help me pick out the fabric, and made some of my own. Also, we found a great rocker at Goodwill for $25. It was a great find. I made a pillow for it to match the bumpers. The baby's room is starting to look complete. Now we just need the baby! Here is how they turned out:

My First Homemade Baby Toy!

So you all know, I am not a crafty person. I never have been. Those people that can make everything make me so jealous. Artistic ability was not something I was born with but I decided with the baby on the way maybe I would try it. I found this adorable infant toy that was shaped like an owl online and Bryson and I decided to have an owl themed baby room, so it was the perfect place to start. So I went out and got the materials to make it and with some sewing help of my wonderful friend Lisa, I made the toy! I think it turned out great and it wasn't too hard. I even had fun making it. Imagine that! I have some left over material so I am thinking I will make a pillow for the baby room. Maybe I can be a crafter too. :)  Here is how it turned out:

Kennedy Space Center

We got to go to the Kennedy Space Center for free a few weekends ago. It was open to all Brevard County citizens as long as they brought canned food to donate. They had some very cool 3D Imax movies about the Hubble Telescope and the International Space Station. We also saw all kinds of rockets used through the years, from the Mercury program to the newly planned rockets that will replace the shuttle program. We saw one of the shuttles, the launch pads, and the giant hanger. Also, there was a sweet alligator just chilling in the park's pond. We are both nerds so we had a great time! Mom (Merrell) and Grandma this first picture is for you. :)

These are the engines of the Apollo V rocket (the one that took the astronauts to the moon). It is huge!

The Brevard Zoo

We went to the local Brevard Zoo a few weeks ago. It is pretty small, but we were actually pretty surprised at how many cool things they had there. We got to see some monkeys, African cats, a bunch of birds, alligators, and a whole lot more. The whole zoo was beautiful. There were plants everywhere, it didn't even feel like a zoo. It was especially fun to feed the giraffes and see the three bald eagles they had (don't worry, they didn't cage them or clip their wings, they were rescued birds that cannot fly and would not survive in the wild).

This photo is dedicated to the loving memory of Steve Irwin.

Why we are loving Florida!

Okay..I am SO behind on our blog. I need to get up a post about The Kennedy Space Center, Halloween, the rapid growth of my stomach, and our trip to the Zoo but there is no time now. Those pictures will be coming soon but for now I just thought I should share some of the things Bryson and I love about our new home (besides Bryson's wonderful job that he loves!).

First of all, we have all of our windows open and our sliding door open wide in the middle of November and it feels wonderful in our apartment. Our place does not even have a heater. There is no need. We can use our apartment swimming pool all year long! Here we are in the pool last week:

Another thing we love: it is beautiful here. Everywhere I look there is something green or some beautiful bird flying by! I was driving our sister missionaries around a neighborhood here and saw a flock of wild peacocks! They were just roaming around. It was amazing. And there is no such thing as an inversion here!! :) I am so grateful for this beautiful world the Savior created for us.

We also love our ward here. All of the members are so welcoming. It is very different to be in a non-BYU ward but we love it. We have a lot more responsibilities but I really feel like I am really serving in the church. There are so many opportunities to serve those in our ward and also to help the missionaries. Bryson and I have been introducing ourselves to all of the investigators. We had a family home evening with one this week and we try to go teach lessons with the Sisters whenever we can. It has been such a blessing for me to have more opportunities to share my testimony.

I am so grateful for all the blessings we have. We are sad to be so far away from family and we miss you all but we are enjoying our new home.

Pupusas

Since we visited New Orleans in July, Bryson has had the craving for more Spanish food. He really wanted some Pupusas- a delicious stuffed corn tortilla from El Salvador. We had tried to make Pupusas before, but we didn't use the right beans or cheese. This time, with the help of our favorite Salvadoreño, Luis Chicas, we made a pretty good Pupusa. Yummy!