7 lbs 11 oz!!!

Meet our new addition.... 

Brooklynn McKenzie Witzel

Born: April 25th 11:23 pm

Weight: 7 lbs 11 in

Height: 20 in

Well, we did it!! Our little baby girl is here, and we are loving every second! I started having contractions around 1:00 pm on Thursday, and told Nick that he should probably stay home from work. I was so sick, that at first I thought I had the flu. We ended up at the hospital around 4:00 pm, and was hooked up to a bazillion monitors... and then the contractions stopped... just my luck! Since I was scheduled to be induced the next morning at 6:00 am they just decided to keep me there and get things started. 

During the labor process, I had 4 big hurdles coming in the back of my mind...

1. The IV (I hate needles, and if anyone knows of all my problems not being able to get my blood drawn during my pregnancy, I had a pretty good reason to hate them!) However I only had to be stuck twice before they got it in... check!

2. The epidural... I knew it was necessary, but the thought of having a huge needle in my spine always makes me a little green. I did have some pain when they were doing it, but it was worth it in the end .... check

3. throwing up... for some reason after I get hooked up to all the drugs I usually throw up... this time it was only once!... check

4. obviously is the delivery... once things got going, I started shaking horribly (I probably had the shakes for over an hour!) After that the pain wasn't manageable for my wussyness, and I had to have an extra dose of pain meds, which resulted in complete numbness from my stomach on down. Even though it was supper weird to be that numb I didn't have any more pain!!

CHECK!

All in all it went pretty smooth, and at the end I did have something pretty amazing to show for it!

We think she looks just like Kaylee did... I guess I'm really good at making doubles!

My family was watching Kaylee, so once they heard that Brooklynn was here they rushed over. Kaylee is such a proud big sister! She did a really good job keeping Brooklynn's name a surprise for the whole pregnancy! (even after being bribed a number of times... and with peanut butter m&ms!)

It's crazy to think that in one day we doubled the amount of children we have!!

Kaylee got to pick out Brooklynn's bow, and even got an extra one that grandma then sewed onto her stuffed animal.

Our hospital was amazing, the nurses were so attentive and nice, we even got a candle lit dinner for 2 (which turned into dinner for 4 now!) complete with martinelies, and crystal glasses.
They even had complementary spa services... how could I ever say no to a foot rub and pedicure?!

Nick and Kaylee surprised me with a "push present"... 

Brooklynn did end up being Jaundice, and we had to do 6 hours of light therapy at the hospital, and take home lights as well... I think she looks cute, kinda like she is just working on her tan!

I'm so grateful for our beautiful little girl, and her big sister, and her daddy... and so grateful it is over and we are home and resting! 

Seven

                            You make me smile like the sun, 
                                             fall outta bed

    Sing like a bird,

    Dizzy in my head

     Spin like a record,

         Crazy on a Sunday night....

You make me dance like fool,

Forget how to breathe

Shine like gold,

Buzz like a bee

Just the thought of you can drive me wild

Oh, you make me smile!

Here's to 7 years!!! Can't believe its been that long.... love you babe!!!

4th Birthdays

Today my little baby turned 4......4!! I know time goes by so fast, but I really couldn't wrap my head around the idea that it has been 4 years already. Kaylee has grown into a beautiful, funny, creative girl, who loves animals, camping, and playing with cousins. She is a very girly girl, but also loves to help dad fix and build things. Kaylee wants to be a veterinarian or a builder when she grows up, and informed me the other day that (if it was okay with me) she isn't going to be breast feeding her kids when she is a mom! Kaylee loves watching blues clues, and anything Disney. She is a good helper, and loves to help clean and cook. Kaylee loves her ballet dance class, and swim lessons. Her favorite food is Chinese and Cafe Rio (and happy meals at McDonalds with grandma). Kaylee can't wait to be a big sister, and loves singing and telling stories to my tummy. 


Happy Birthday to the cutest little 4 year old ever! We love you!





Kaylee wanted to help make her cake... she wanted a butterfly cake, that had watermelon and strawberries inside (we settled on strawberry and chocolate frosting instead!)

Kaylee got tons of awesome gifts... barbies, barbie motor home, horse and carriage  golf clubs, hello kitty bath toys, a camera, a rag doll, a princess crown with earrings, new outfits, and new shoes... what more could a girl want?

We had her birthday party at Jungle Jim's in Salt Lake city... 

I think the adults had a pretty good time too!

Kaylee, Kate, Mickey & Nick

Kaylee & Maddie

Since Kaylee's favorite food is Chinese we had Birthday dinner with my family at a Chinese Buffet... Kaylee loved it!!

Grandma, Papa &Kaylee

Kaylee loved the shrimp (who knows why?) and the sesame chicken.

Out door family time!

 Easter 2013 was a blast. We woke up super early on Friday morning (5:00 am!) I have to admit I can't remember the last time I was up that early! We packed the last few items into our motor home, and headed to Goblin Valley UT. Kaylee was so excited, and couldn't quite figure out why we were leaving in the "middle of the night." It took us about 4 and a half hours to get there... and being 8 months prego the ride was pretty uncomfortable! We finally made it, and found a fun camping spot right up next to the beautiful sandstone walls and caves. Nicks sister Kelli, her hubby Jason, and their cute cute daughter Maddie arrived latter that night. The girls spent the whole weekend playing in the dirt and sand... at one point Kaylee started making "sand angles"... I gave up trying to keep her clean at that point. My favorite part of our little getaway was watching the girls find their Easter baskets and eggs that were hidden in the rocks. We went for a couple of "hikes"... more like walks, through some slot canyons... I was pretty proud that I made it the whole time without going into labor. :) The whole weekend was wonderful... good food, weather, and friends... until the way home. We decided to leave on Sunday afternoon, and see if we couldn't find a cool spot by a river to camp for the night. Nick did some re-search and we headed to Green River Utah... DON'T... I repeat...DON'T ever go to Green River!! It was the creepiest ghost of a town I have ever been to! I can't for the life of me figure out why anyone would ever want to live there. All of the businesses looked like they had been closed for 10 + years (except for a few gas stations) and there was one normal looking home we saw while driving through. Well, following the directions we had found on some random web site... there was supposedly a cool little beach to camp on the river just outside of town. We found the little dirt road, and our first sign that we shouldn't go down the road. However we stupidly kept going... thinking it can't be that bad right? Wrong! After about taking off the roof to our motor home, due to a huge overgrow tree... we got high centered on a huge rock we somehow missed.  After successfully getting off the rock we decided maybe we should turn around... (it takes us a couple of times before we get the hint!) So we (being very stressed out at this point)... decide to make a 106 point turn around with a 30 foot motor home... on a tiny dirt road... Ya it only got worse. After our wheels got stuck in the dirt/sand, and finding we had no cell service, all I could think was "please don't go into labor... PLEASE!" ... After 2 hours of digging... crying.. praying, and saying a few choice words... we were finally able to get unstuck! What a relief .. but now how to get the motor home turned around?! Nick was so "done" by this point, that we just decided to back the motor home out the whole mile onto the main road... very stressful, and scary, and kaylee just kept on saying "we are gunna be stuck here forever!"  Finally we made it back to Green River... I was actually glad to see the creepy old town again, but we weren't staying, and got the heck out of there. Green River Utah is where vacations go to die!! And the whole time driving on that dirt road, I couldn't stop thinking about the movie "Rat Race" when the two women are in the car, trying to find a short cut, (after not buying a Squirrel from crazy lady)... and then flying off a cliff .. and seeing signs the whole way down why their car is flying that said "You should have bought a Squirrel!!!!) Now that is our motor home motto... I have it on a posted note by the steering wheel! After all that mess we found a nice little spot at a rest area about 23 miles from Price to stay for the night. I guess its not really a road trip unless something goes horribly wrong... right?  All in all we had a great time!!