Sadie's Big Day!

Brian blessed Sadie this last Sunday and it was so touching to hear all of the wonderful things he blessed her with. Sadie looked beautiful in her white long dress and foofie head band and Brian looked like a VERY proud dad!

It was really great to have all of our immediate family there (except my brother Brian who is livin it up in Hawaii and my little sis Julianne). We both had a family reunion this last weekend so we thought it would be the perfect Sunday to bless her.

Our ward has a rule that blessings can only take place in Sacrament on a fast Sunday so we had a lovely ceremony in the Relief Society Room after church. I think it worked out even better that way because Sadie and I got to sleep in and then get everything ready for the "after party."

Here is my sister Katie and her family. We each got to hold a baby! She has got three energetic boys and I can't wait until Sadie is big enough to play with her cousins. Caleb and Sadie are only two months apart.

Here are more of Sadie's cousins, Rylee, Anna, and Madison. I like to ask the girls what they are going to teach Sadie... it mostly consists of dancing, singing, and how to be a princess :)

And what more can I say other than I have some great friends with some wicked cooking skills. Thanks for the support guys!

Baby Blessing

Let's hope that Sadie enjoys her blessing more than taking a family picture!

We are blessing Mercedes Rose this next Sunday, July 27th, at 4:30pm in the Relief Society room at the Rosewood Bldg. We would like to invite all of our family and friends to attend. After the blessing we will be having a light meal and refreshments at our home.

We hope to see you all there...first 100 people get a free Lagoon pass!!

All Things Sadie

Sadie's sweet personality has really shown through in the last two weeks. Here are some things we have learned since meeting this little girl:

1. She loves to be bundled up tight, but have her hands loose so she can keep them up to her face in order to sufficiently claw herself. If it is sunny she will drape her arm over her eyes. She is a little dramatic :)

2. Sadie usually prefers Dad's pinky finger or Mom's thumb to a binky. We bought three different styles of newborn binkies and up until recently she rejected them all. A little high maintenance I must say! Once in a blue moon Brian or I can get a binky in this girl's mouth.

3. She has her dads wide palms and her moms long fingers and toes. We have high hopes of her being a volleyball/basketball player :) I sure hope Idaho Falls has some competitive leagues because we both have this feeling that Sadie is going to be very tall and athletic. Other than her extremities we are still trying to pin down where some of her features came from.

4. Sadie likes to grunt! I can always tell on the baby monitor when she is trying to break free from her tightly wrapped blanket because that is when the grunts really start getting loud. I usually go and pull one little hand out so she has something to nibble on throughout the night.

5. Sadie is very lady like most of the time until a toot slips out and she can be heard from across the room. I took this video of her one afternoon waking up and it almost sounds like I dubbed in the noise, but no this is a Sadie toot at it's finest!

6. This girl loves her tummy time even though she doesn't quite have it down yet (her tummy never really touches the ground since here knees sort of keep her propped up). Mom has had a few photo shoots with Sadie during these times and has seen almost every face Sadie can pull.

7. UB40 is her favorite singing group at the moment. She likes dad to hold her and dance as they get down, reggae style. She always gets really excited and alert when she hears any kind of music. She was the same way in the womb. She especially liked hearing the opening credits on American Idol.

8. Poor Sadie gets the hiccups after almost every feeding. She's one tough girl, but if she had her choice, there would be no such thing as hiccups.

9. Burping is one of the best things in the world to Sadie! She leans her face to the right hand side and has a look of complete contentment as milk comes drooling out of the each side of her mouth.

10. Sadie hasn't quite got the swallowing thing down yet. She chokes a lot. Every time I feed her or even when she is swallowing in general she gags. It is really scary for us when it happens, but it doesn't seem to faze her!

We both can't wait to learn more about this little girl!

Sadie's Birth (the long version)

I had been having a lot of contractions the weeks leading up to my due date, but Dr. Isbell doesn't check dilation until the 39th week, so I didn't know if anything was progressing. Also my contractions were never too painful. They were just more annoying than anything. I had an appointment to see Dr. Isbell on Tuesday, July 8th, but on Monday I woke up still getting contractions, so I decided to take the day off from work and see if I could get these contractions to be a little more consistent and painful. I was so happy that Brian could also get the day off.

We decided to go walk around the river and it was so nice to just talk and be together. About half way around the river I started getting some powerful contractions that began hurting more than usual. I even had to stop once and sit on a bench. Brian was standing close by me to block the sun and this lady walked by asking if everything was alright. I think that made Brian a little embarrassed. My appointment wasn't until 3:30pm so we still had a few more hours to kill.

I had been craving a Sonic Slush so I ate/drank one of those while we walked around Wal-Mart. I had read that sometime breast pumps help to start contractions and we were planning on buying one anyways, so we slapped down $80 bucks for a breast pump. I am pretty sure that didn't help at all, but I will use it in the future when Sadie starts to teeth to we have it now.

On the way home, Brian got his favorite summer treat, a Maui Wowee from the Snow Shack off of Broadway. When we got home, Brian decided to watch some Wings episodes while I started to walk on the treadmill while watching Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. The treadmill decided to just stop working (probably because I was so HUGE) and I broke down when Brian was trying to fix it. Oh the drama :) We decided it was time to get out of the house and go walk around Sam's Club before the appointment.

3:30pm had finally arrived and Dr. Isbell said I was dilated to a 2 and that we could go to the hospital in the next hour or so. We were both surprised and stoked! We were both ready to meet this little girl and I was ready to lose at least 20 pounds of baby and whatever else was in there.

Since the doctor didn't say go right over to the hospital we went to the Hallmark store in the mall and listened to some music cards. That lasted for quite awhile. I recommend doing that some time. We had a lot of fun! It is amazing how many musical cards they have in that store. By that time I started feeling more contractions and we were ready to go the hospital.

We got to EIRMC around 5pm and the nurse took us to a waiting room while a room was being cleaned up for us. Once we were in the room and the nurse checked me she said the doctor had been very generous saying I was dilated to a two and that she thought I was closer to a 1.5 or something. I was worried at this point they were just going to send us home, but no...they instead decided to try some Pitocin out and see if that would speed things along.

Sadie's heartbeat and my contractions were on the screen and I could see I was having a contraction every five minutes or so, but it didn't hurt at all. Every once and awhile the nurse would come in and up my Pitocin level. The nurse, Brian, and I watched the season finale of The Bacherlotte. Even though I hadn't watched any of the previous episodes it was still very entertaining and the nurse and I were shocked when DeAnna picked the snowboarder dude! What was she thinking?!? Brian suffered through the two hours without complaining once. He's definitely a keeper!

Around 2am is when I finally started feeling the contractions. My water broke slowly after that, but the nurse was hesitant about giving me the epidural since I still wasn't dilating and the epidural only last for a certain amount of time. Brian told me I said "There has got to be a better way!" I just remember being really impatient at that point and wanting everything to be over. Sadie's heartbeat started to dip a few times so for awhile I had an oxygen mask on.

The nurse offered me an Ambien around 2:30am thinking I could sleep through some of my contractions, which I will definitely will not take the next time around because most everything is a blur after this point.

Around 4am the nurse started a Fentanyl drip and at some point I dilated from a two to an eight in about 40 minutes! I do remember getting the epidural around 5am and that didn't hurt a bit.

Then around 8am the nurse said it was time to start pushing. She thought it would take about two hours, but I ended up pushing for a little over an hour. My legs were completely numb and useless so Brian held one leg and the nurse held the other while I pushed. They asked if they should bring the mirror over to walk and Brian said yes! Looking back it is surprising he said that because in the months leading up to Sadie's birth he was convinced that he didn't want to see anything happening at that end ;) I'm glad he said yes and it was pretty amazing the see her little head trying to come through the birthing canal.

In between contractions and pushing I completely fell asleep to the point that I was snoring! I had the oxygen mask on and was probably a pretty funny site. I blame it on that darn Ambien. The Fetinol probably didn't help either. When I fell asleep I had many vivid dreams, but the only dream I remember now is Eva Campbell (a lady in my ward) trying to sell me Mary Kay makeup. Then I would wake up from my crazy dream land and push for about 20-30 seconds.

Sadie emerged at 9:19am and Brian said I asked him two questions. First I asked if it was a girl and then I asked if she was alright. I guess I just was worried that we had all of this girl stuff and maybe the ultrasound tech was wrong! Who knows... Brian cut the umbilical cord and the doctor held Sadie up for a second and then took her to the table to clean her off. Finally they brought her over to me. It was an incredible moment! She had a little swollen face and tiny body! She was blowing spit bubbles and her lower lip was hanging like an Elvis Presley lip! Brian and I both were instantly in love with this little girl!

What A Week!

This week has flown by! I really can't believe that this sweet little girl has been with us for a week. I also can't believe how much her features have changed as each day passes. The swelling in her cheeks and around her eyes has gone down and her smashed little nose has popped out. I love when she opens her eyes really wide and just stares into mine. I feel so blessed to have this healthy beautiful baby! She is the answers to a lot of prayers!


This week my mom and sister came to visit and help me adjust to my new mommy schedule. For the first few nights my mom would tag team it with me. I would feed Sadie and then mom would burp and calm her down until she was asleep. It really helped me feel refreshed and recover much faster to have all of her help. Lisa was a great auntie and would always pick up Sadie when she heard little peeps and grunts. Her and I also had two fun outings to Hancock to pick out fabric.



My mom taught me how to sew! I was happy that we started off on such a easy project. I am also happy that my mom is so laid back and wouldn't make me unstitch all of my errors. She definitely has the gift of patience. They left yesterday and I miss them so much already. I picked up a lot of baby tips and tricks while watching her take care of Sadie. Thanks so much. WE LOVE YOU!

My darling primary class came over tonight and surprised me with a really cute blanket they tied. Sister Martin is always trying to tell me that she is not a crafty person and doesn't know how to do girly things.....YEAH RIGHT! She is so sweet to put this together and I have loved having visitors since I am a little cooped up!

Here are Brian and Sadie bonding while watching MacGyver. I probably would have fallen asleep too!

Our Little Rosebud

Sadie is such a sweet baby and we are loving every second with her. It all seems somewhat surreal that she is finally here in our arms and not in my belly! Here are some pictures of Sadie at the hospital. Thank you everyone for all of your comments and congratulations. I will have Brian post a little about how it all went down this last Monday/Tuesday because the Fentanyl sort of took my memory away!

Sadie Update...

I figured I would post a couple of pictures of Sadie while I'm at home taking care of a couple of things. Kelly and Sadie are still doing well and are completely enjoying each other. They are probably going to be discharged tomorrow morning and it will be nice to have everyone home.

She's Here!

Mercedes Rose Stewart (i.e. Sadie) was born today at 9:19 am. She weighed in at 7 lbs. 14 oz. and was 20 1/2 inches long. Both her and her mom are very tired but are doing very well. Her Dad is also a little tired so he isn't going to say too much more at this point other than he thinks he has the cutest little daughter ever. I am sure Kelly will expound much more in the days to come.

The Largest Fireworks Show West of the Mississippi!

Sadie is still deciding on when she would like to make her grand appearance, so no news yet. We had a great Fourth of July. We went to a neighborhood breakfast at 7am and Brian helped cook the hash browns (they were delectable). Then for lunch we had a BBQ at the Stewart's house (do you see the food theme going on here). That night we picked up Arby's (Beef n' Cheddar for me of course) and then drove to an industrial park right to watch the fireworks. We had a few competitive games of UNO before the big show began. I played with the settings on my camera and ended up with some fun shots of the firework. After the show, we went back to the Stewart's to end the night lighting off a few more fireworks. Brian found some fireworks that were about 10 to 15 years old and had some really short fuses! He thought it was fun to scare us by lighting the firework and holding onto it as long as he could before he threw it up into the air. Luckily he made it through the night all in one piece! (To see more pictures of the fireworks click here.)

Can Someone Pass Me A Tissue?

I have been laughing so hard I am all teary-eyed! If only my office was this funny!

Dwight: Why tip someone for a job I'm capable of doing myself? I can deliver food. I can drive a taxi. I can, and do, cut my own hair. I did, however, tip my urologist, because... I am unable to pulverize my own kidney stones. (So true!)

Michael: Guess what, I have flaws. What are they? Oh, I don't know. I sing in the shower. Sometimes I spend too much time volunteering. Occasionally I'll hit somebody with my car. So sue me... No, don't sue me. That is the opposite of the point that I'm trying to make.

Dwight: I have been Michael's #2 guy for about 5 years. And we make a great team. We're like one of those classic famous teams. He's like Mozart, and I'm like Mozart's friend. No. I'm like Butch Cassidy, and Michael is like Mozart. You try and hurt Mozart; you're going to get a bullet in your head courtesy of Butch Cassidy.

Michael: Okay, so Dwight, in your own words - [reads from complaint paper] "Someone replaced all my pens and pencils with crayons. I suspect Jim Halpert." [flips to another paper] "Everyone has called me 'Dwayne' all day. I think Jim Halpert paid them to."

Jim: [laughs] Yes! Five bucks each. And it was totally worth it.

Michael: [reading] "This morning, I found a bloody glove in my desk drawer and Jim Halpert tried to convince me I committed murder. I think he may be the real murderer." [flips to another paper] "Jim Halpert said there was an abandoned infant in the woman's room. When I went to save the child, I saw Meredith on the can." Gah. "This morning, I knocked myself in the head with the phone."

Jim: That actually took a while. I had to put, uh, more and more nickels into his handset, till he got used to the weight, and then I just... took 'em all out.

Michael: [reading] "Every time I typed my name, it said 'Diapers'."

Jim: Just a simple macro. You know, these actually don't sound that funny one after another. But he does deserve it, though.

Michael: "By the end of the day, my desk was about two feet closer to the copier."
Jim: Yeah, I just moved it an inch every time he went to the bathroom. And that's how I spent my entire day that day.

Here Is The Update...

A whole lotta nothing is going on! I went in for my 39 week appointment yesterday and my cervix is softening and all, but I wasn't dilated. I know that doesn't mean a whole lot, but I have been getting false labor pains for the last five days and have just been uncomfortable in general, so I was expecting a little more progress.

We are very excited for this little girl to come! Brian has been taking the camcorder and I have been taking the camera to work everyday in anticipation. It is very cute to watch his excitement grow as the days countdown! Every time I call him he thinks it may be time.

Brian is going to keep the blog updated so check back and maybe next time we will have some REAL news!

Have a great Fourth of July!