Spring Time

A few things that I love about Spring...


The kids playing outside for hours... a new love: street hockey. Ethan is practicing on his rollerblades so he can skate and play hockey soon. Darren says that just to watch Ethan skate makes his own tailbone hurt!



The flowers are blooming and the skies are such a bold blue. I love trees and the ones growing in our yard are getting so big. It made me nervous when it snowed last year- we kept trying to shake the snow off the leaves for fear that the branches would get heavy and break. We can't have that! Where would the kids climb?


All three boys are getting into baseball mode. More pictures to come of the older two who are on teams this year.


Ice Cream!!!

Hmmm.... wonder who's going to be on the bottom of the Dog Pile?! Something tells me that it won't be Blake.

There are many things that I'd like to remember about this pregnancy- I will try and write those down later. As for this post, I want to single out one of my favorite moments leading up to Nash joining our family.
On Sunday morning, when Blake and Ethan were at church with friends, Keaton and I got to spend some 1:1 time together. He's my buddy! We went on a walk, went to the park, and came home and got cleaned up together as I could tell that it was time for our baby to come. When I'd have a contraction, I'd lean over and try and breath through it. After Keaton had watched me do this a couple of time, he became my labor partner! I bent over with a contraction and all the sudden I hear Keaton doing lamaze breathing! I wasn't aware that he had been so observant! Then he asked me "are you okay?" and I told him that the baby was going to come today. You know what he said!? He patted my belly and said in his coo-ing baby talk voice: "I'm so proud of you baby. It's okay, don't be scared." Already a great big brother...

Our Newest Addition...Nash Bailey Bryan

Our Newest Addition...How It All Went Down

So dang cute!


We were followed by a perinatologist for most of the pregnancy due (mostly) to a hole in the heart and an arrhythmia. This is a follow-up EKG.



Look at that beautiful hair.


Weighing in at 7.1 lbs and measuring 18 3/4 inches. He's a little one.


Little bit of oxygen after the tight nuchal. (It's funny to say that...I feel so official.)


Ready to roll.


Triage...take two.

When we were on our way to ward temple night on Valentine's Day, I told Darren that my contractions were a bit more painful than usual. They started coming every ten minutes and it was funny to watch Darren look over at me and keep motioning for us to leave. We finished and headed home, only to have the contractions space themselves out a bit. I couldn't decide what we should do but we did end up at the hospital around mid-night. After two hours of no progress, they sent me home with a sleeping pill. The next morning I took a walk with Keaton while some friends took Ethan and Blake to church. By the time church was over, we were sending Keaton with those friends and Darren and I headed over to the hospital again. We got there at 1:00 and they let me stay this time.
We had awesome nurses and my doctor came in to deliver even though he was not on call that weekend. He's an awesome guy and he did a great job making this a great experience. We all made bets on what gender we thought the baby was. I bet on boy and Darren bet on girl. The nurses loved our name selections and one of them just might use Nash, too. (We had chosen Shae as our girl name.)
When it was show time, Darren told the doc he didn't want to cut the cord because he was afraid of chopping off the babies toes. The doc assured him that he could do it fine. However, when Nash's head was out the doc told the nurses that there was a tight nuchal (basically the cord around the neck) and the doc had to clip the cord before the babies body was even out! It was amazing to see them all work and keep calm even though our sweet baby was almost grey at this point. I got to move the cord out of the way and that's when we found out we were adding to our personal basketball team- it's a boy. Yeah! After a quick hug from me he was whisked away to get some screams out and have a bath. He was born at 3:54.
I love this time. For those first life moments I feel a closeness to heaven that only babies can deliver. I have bonded quicker than I thought possible with this little baby and I know he was meant to be a Bryan Boy!

Our Newest Addition...Brotherly Love

Ethan is the Protector. He is the one that wants to hold him right when he gets home from school and right before he leaves. He also reminds the kids to be careful!


Blakers is the Giddy brother. He laughs at everything that Nash does. His laugh is so contagious because you can tell he is sincerely entertained by yawns, squeals, the tongue...


Keaton is the Coo-er. He likes to pet Nash's head and say cute things while he puckers his lips and talks baby talk. He will say "he loves me".

I can't believe how awesome everyone has been with Nash. Ethan, Blake, and Keaton all can not get enough of this baby! If I am trying to feed Nash, I usually have Keaton by one side with Blake laying on the other side...and if Ethan is around then he's in the mix, too. They are constantly asking to hold him even if he's already busy eating or sleeping. All of this brotherly love has made this new addition to our family more smooth than I expected. Yeah!

37 Weeks and Counting

Okay, so the photo isn't super flattering. I had Darren take this picture when I was 37 weeks prego. Truthfully, I didn't plan to ride my bike along with the kiddos this long into the pregnancy. It has just become our tradition every school morning. It is fun for everyone and will be a good laugh when we look back on our pictures in 20 years. Keaton has the best seat in the house...


The picture is a bit blurry but it shows my nice full profile...


The boys kissing my belly. We did this pose when I was pregnant with Keaton and I thought it would be fun to do another one...

Even though it's a little weird handing your body over to the pregnancy process, I have to admit that for the most part I love being pregnant. I will miss the kicks and body movements coming from within. I will miss the anticipation of when our little one arrives. I will miss the boys' excitement when they feel and see the baby move. I will miss all the stomach kisses I get from my kids and when Keatons says "Oh, little baby!" in a cutsie voice while hugging me.