Dakota's 1st vacation..

On 03/19 we headed to Burbank, CA to surprise Chadd's dearest friend JR, who had a precious baby girl on 03/18, Halo Grace. We were in touch w/ Mommy, Kadee, the whole time and were just waiting on the phone call that they had gone into labor. We flew into Burbank and headed straight to the hospital. Chadd put on his hospital attire from when Dakota was born and got their nurse in on the surprise! The nurse walked in the room and asked Kadee and JR if they would mind if another nurse followed her around that day.. of course they said they didnt mind and then Chadd walked in the room. D and I waited in the waiting room cause babies werent allowed back, but I was on the phone w/ Kadee the whole time so I could hear the surprise and Kadee captured the whole thing on video. JR's reaction was priceless!!! 2 grown men in complete tears, hugging and JR in just total disbelief, GREATNESS!!

We really enjoyed visiting w/ them and seeing Halo!! We would go visit them in the hospital every morning and then we were able to do some touristy things as well. Thankfully Chadd's other great friend, Nick, also lives in LA and went w/ us 2 of the days to show us around. Here are some pics of our fun times in Cali!

D was amazing in the plane!! She looooves looking around and checking things out! She slept for a lot of it, but when she was awake, she wanted to just look around, smiling and laughing at everyone. She was the little entertainment of the plane ride :)

And here is sweet Baby Halo!!! Dakota's new BFF!!!!

We love you and cant wait to see you guys again real soon!!

Dakota Grace is here!

Dakota was born on November 28, 2009 at 1:45pm. She weighed 6 lbs 7 oz and was 19 in long. She was due Dec 17th so when my water broke it was a huge surprise!! Here's my birthing story..

It was the day after Thanksgiving and I had a full day planned, since I was off work for the holidays. I woke up that morning and went to an AMAZING prenatal massage that my wonderful husband had given me as a surprise. After my massage Chadd and I went car shopping for my Mommy SUV! Luckily we came home w/ one that day!! Thankfully we also took my new car by the firestation that day to have the car seat installed. We joke and say Dakota was just waiting for her new car and car seat to be installed before she arrived! ha! We had a birthday party for one of our friends that night, but I wasnt feeling all that great and decided not to go. Chadd went for a little bit and came home around midnight. I was already asleep in bed.

About 2am I felt a gush of warm water. I got up and went to the bathroom. It wasnt a whole lot of water so I honestly wasnt sure if it was my water breaking or maybe I potty'd myself?! :) I wasnt contracting but I just knew it was my water breaking so I woke up Chadd. He couldnt believe it was time! I took a shower and we finished getting things together for the hospital. We finally got to the hospital around 330am, where they tested me and confirmed that it was my water breaking! YAH!!!! We were soooo excited and thrilled our little girl was arriving that day!

They got me into a room and hooked me up to all the monitors. They turned down the lights and I got a little sleep since I hadn't had much. I still wasnt contracting so they wanted to see if I would start laboring on my own, or if they needed to start me on some pitocin. At 730am I still hadnt had many contractions so they started me on pitocin. About 10 min later, my water fully broke. Pretty much immediately after the pitocin and my water breaking, I started having pretty hard contractions. So, I'm pretty much a wuss, haaaaa!!! The nurse had come in prior to my contractions and told me I could get the epidural whenever I was ready. I told her I would hold off until I started actually having contractions. So I started having my very FIRST contraction,,, yes my first one... The nurse happened to be in there when I was contracting. After it was over, I told the nurse if thats how they were going to feel I wanted the epidural right away! haaaa!! Keep in mind I was still at a 1! ha!

So around 830am, I had my epidural. Thankfully I chose to go ahead and have it that early, cause my labor went extremely fast. Around 10am, I called the nurse in my room cause I could feel the contractions.. not too painful, but I could still feel them. I was worried the epidural was starting to wear off. The nurse checked me and I was at a 9!!!! No wonder why I was feeling the contractions. She came back 30 min later and I was ready to push! We started pushing around 11am. So, basically I labored from 730am-11am... I pretty much had an AMAZING labor!!

I only wish the pushing part was as wonderful as the labor, sigh. I pushed for over 2 hours with absolutely NO progress what so ever. Dakota didnt even move an inch. At that time, the Dr said we would need to have a c-section. They wheeled me into the surgery room and while they prepped me, Chadd changed into his surgery gear. They brought Chadd in to sit by my side. He was absolutely WONDERFUL through every part of my labor, pushing, and during my c-section. It wasnt long before I heard the huge cry from my little baby girl! At 145pm she made her appearance into the world and we both cried and cried with tears of joy. Her cry was the most amazing sound I have ever heard!

She got a 9.5 on her apgar, which is a rating they give babies on how well they are after birth. The highest is a 10 so she was doing SO great! Chadd was able to watch them clean her off and swaddle her and brought her over so I could see her beautiful face and kiss her chubby little cheeks. She is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life!!! I'm sooooo in love!!!!

Overall, I had a pretty great experience. The recovery has been quite hard, but its all going away day to day. We want to thank everyone who came to the hospital to support the most amazing day of our life.. we had soooo many of our family and friends who were there for the arrival of Dakota and sooo many visitors at the hopital and when we got home. We are so thankful for each and everyone of our family and friends and couldnt be happier to spend and share our lives and new family with you guys!!! We love ya'll very much!

Here's pictures from our day!

We're having a baby today!!! YEAH!!!

Daddy's all ready for the c-section


Our 1st family photo!

Just born! Look how beautiful I am!

Such a proud Dadda!!

Dakota's hospital pic.. she was 2 days old here!

Our 1st Couples Baby Shower!

My girlfriends put on such a beautiful baby shower for us this past weekend :) We had about 25 of our closest friends and had an AMAZING time!!! Here are some pics from the shower:

The cupcakes were DELICIOUS and I LUV the cupcake stand Neal made for us!! :) We're gonna use it in her room and for her 1st bday party!!

Next to the diaper "guest book" which ended up having some pretty funny stuff written on these little diapers by the end of the night. Alcohol + sharpies= no good!

Table w/ yummo food, beautiful flowers (thx Melissa), and hanging onsies across the windows

Momma (Nana) and I

Steffanie, Muah, and Andrea - I got hot in my sweater and had to change :)

Chadd & I.. course Piper had to be a part of the pic :)

Look at the GREAT gifts we got from our friends!!! We are truely blessed with AMAZING friends!!!

Thank you so much to the girls for putting together such a beautiful shower: Steffanie, Andrea, Staci, Jennifer, Shelly, and Ashlie... thanks again girls.. We love you SO much and appreciate more than we could ever express!!!!

33 weeks!

Holy cow.. I cant believe I only have 7 wks to go before my due date!!! Its sooo crazy how time has flown by. I absolutely cannot wait for Dakota to get here.. I cant wait to hold her in my arms and kiss her little cheeks... but I know that I'm also going to miss her moving around in my belly. She is rolling around like a little gymnast as I type now! I LOVE that feeling and LOVE to sit at night and watch my belly roll around. Its honestly one of mine and Chadd's favorite things to do!! And everytime she is moving around like crazy... I tell Chadd and he rushes over to feel. She likes to play games w/ her Daddy... its kinda funny! She'll be kicking and moving around like crazy and as soon as he puts his hand on my belly, she'll stop. Then he'll take his hand off, and she'll move around again. He likes to try and fake her out too.. I cant til she's here and I get to see Daddy and Dakota play together!! Chadd is going to be such an amazing father!!

So, alot has been going on since I've posted last.. we have been working on the nursery like crazy and had a muralist come in to paint on one of the walls.. someone my Mom knows and does an AMAZING job!! Here's some pics of the room.. the painting was finished this past Tues, but I haven't made it back upstairs to take some more pics of it.

We are SOOOOOOOO in love w/ her room!!!! It is exactly how I pictured it to be!!

We still have a lot to do.. I'm getting a wall decal to go on the other side of the room and still need to get some things set up on the shelves, etc. I'll definately get some more pics posted as soon as its more done :)

New Table & Engagement...

Yeah, I know its been a while...

We finally got the "anniversary table" so I figured I would post a pic of our new addition... the pic doesnt do the table justice at all.. it looks much bigger in person. Oh, and I'm in the pic.. preggo and all! I added in a couple extra preggo pics for your enjoyment, hee hee!!

On another note, my BF Ashley that was my neighbor growing up (since the 3rd grade) is engaged!! Her boyfriend (now fiance) took her to Santa Fe, NM where she wants to get married and proposed next to her favorite church.. CONGRATS ASHLEY!!! I'm really looking forward to your wedding next July!!! We have LOTS of weddings coming up... Justin & Rachel are getting married Oct 9th, Jerod & Rachel Oct 17th, then we have Erika/Thomas, Nicole/Aaron (hurry up and propose Baron, ha!), Ashley/James, & Matt/Aurora. How exciting!!!!

2 years ago..

I walked down the aisle and said "I do" to the most amazing, wonderful, caring man in the world! I really can't believe it's been 2 years.. 2 AMAZING years! I can honestly say it's been 2 of the most wonderful years of my life.. and I am looking forward to many many more together.

This morning Chadd gave me the sweetest card with a surprise inside. I LOVE what the card says:

"Many anniversaries from now, when we have been together for a very long time, I wonder what it will be like. Will we share extra blankets to keep warm? Count the stars from our front porch rockers? Dream older, wiser dreams, or be contented with the memories we've made?

Of course, I can't predict the future, but I'll tell you what I do know-- if we use extra blankets, I'll still need to hold you close. If we sit in our rockers, mine will be right next to yours. And no matter how old or wise we become, I'll still want to feel of your gentle hand in mine...

I guess what I'm trying to say is, I look forward to whatever the future may hold-- as long as my future holds you."

He then put a really sweet personal message to me and this was my surprise:



It's kinda hard to see, but its a piece of paper with a picture of a kitchen table that Chadd personally drew himself.. ha ha!!! He's sooo creative, what can I say?! I am SO excited.. I have been wanting a new kitchen table for SOOO long and Chadd knows how picky I am, so he wanted us to be able to pick it out together! How cute and sweet is he?!

I too, cant wait to see what the future holds for us. I couldnt imagine my life w/out him and my life would be incomplete without him by my side.

I love you my Chaddy, my best friend and my soulmate for life!! You make the most amazing husband and I cant wait to see you as a Daddy to our sweet little girl!! You are going to be the best Daddy in the world!!!! My heart belongs to you forever!

P.S. Your PPhead (Piper) and Kitty love you too!! :D

New addition to our family...

My sister had her baby, my little nephew, Brenden Kjerst on June 19th 2009 @ 10:56am. He weighed 7 lbs / 2 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long. I'm sooooo excited about another little nephew. Anyone who knows me, knows how obsessed I am w/ my neice and nephew, Ashlyn and Noah. I cant wait to spoil little Brenden too! :D I'm also sooo excited that Brenden and Dakota will only be 6 months apart, like Jill and I were. I look forward to seeing Brenden and Dakota grow up together and be the best of friends like we were.

For those who dont know... Jill was my cousin, we were only 5 months apart, and the BEST of friends. We were lucky that we lived only about 5 min from eachother, we hung out every weekend, played soccer together, slumber parties almost every wkend and sometimes during the week, made some pretty awesome videos (ha!), and even went to Junior High and High School together. Jill passed in 2000 from a car accident and I still miss her every single day of my life.

I have waited to post about Brenden cause I took some really great pics of him when he was only a few weeks old, but have been so busy I have just now been able to go through and edit them. Here's my sweet precious little nephew!!

These are just a few of my favs! There are SO many amazing pics and even some I haven't yet gone through. I made the pictures smaller for my blog so you might have to click on the pics to see the better image quality. :D

On another quick note.. today was the start of school.. Noah started the big 3rd grade and Ashlyn into Kindergarden. I cannot believe how fast they are growing!! A big props to Aunt Sarah (that would be muuuah) for picking out Noah's shirt and Ashlyn's outfit for their first day of school :D

What a girl wants...

Just some outfits I've picked up for Dakota.. keep in mind these were ALL on sale!! I'm such a bargain shopper!! There are a few more we've picked up that aren't pictured.. not to mention her airplane outfits she'll have to wear w/ a big bow in her hair, ha!! Nana got Dakota the cutest little Sketchers too, her very first pair of shoes!! They are adorable!

I always knew how much fun it would be shopping for a little "me"!! :D :D

What a girl needs..

We went and ordered Dakota's nursery furniture a few weeks ago cause we were told it would take 8-12 weeks to come in.. to our surprise they called Chadd this past wkend and it was ready to be picked up!! YAH!! We have been dying to get her furniture and start getting her nursery together. So, Chadd and his friend picked it up Monday afternoon and were going to surprise me and have it all put together when I got home from work. Poor thing ruined his own surprise... He meant to text his friend and say "Remember, dont tell Sarah we got the furniture today" and accidentally sent it to me instead. I shouldn't have opened my big mouth and came home and acted surprised.. but I did :( He was disappointed but I was still excited to come home and see everything in her room. He got the dresser set up and we actually put the crib together 2 nights ago, well I watched while he put it together :D Here are some pics.. we had alot of fun! Please excuse the wall color... we are waiting on a sample of the bedding fabrics so we can pick out the paint for her room :D

Piper, Kitty and I were supervising Daddy ! :D

The finished product!! :D


And some of the decor I've picked up along the way.. not where they will be going when the room is all put together :D

The furniture is in a black antique.. we are SO in love with it and cant wait for the room to be completely put together. We're hoping to be able to paint this wkend. Well, Chadd will be painting.. My painting skills arent the greatest, ha!

Whoaaaaa Momma!!

Ok fine.. so I'll break down and do it.. I might chicken out and take them back down.. but here they are!!! Sigh. ha ha!

I'm 22 weeks tomorrow!! My belly is definately growing!! I'm sure it has nothing to do w/the desserts, fast food, and cheese puffs I'm grown a liking for :D :D