7 months already!

Since when did my baby turn 7 months old... oh, yeah, yesterday.  That just doesn't seem possible!  We're on the down hill slide to his 1st birthday.  What happened to my little newborn?  Oliver is getting so big and is learning so much everyday.  It's amazing to watch him!  Since we're a few monthly pictures behind on the blog I'll update all of them for you.  This is his picture from when he was five months old.

 This one is his 6 month picture.  I could not get him to take that thumb out of his mouth for anything.  So I just took the picture with it :)

 And this is the most recent monthly photo.  7 months old!  My Mom and I made his this onesie yesterday just for his picture.  It turned out so cute!

Here are some fun facts about Oliver at 7 months old:

• He rolls over all the time and is starting to get into everything
• He is trying to learn to crawl.  He can get up on his hands and knees and rock back and forth.
• He's doing better with solid foods, so far he likes sweet potatoes, avocado, banana's, mashed potatoes, and french fries :)
• He waves bye.  It's so adorable
• He loves watching scooby-doo with me
• He loves the dog (she tolerates him)
• He is such a technology baby.  He always wants your phone, or computer, he loves playing on grandma's iPad or my iPod.  

Well that's our update for now.  I'm loving being home with Oliver and I wouldn't trade it for anything!

The First Four Months

Oliver is now four and a half months old and I haven't done an update post yet! So I thought I would do an all in one type thing and then hope I do better for the rest of his monthly posts!  This picture with his tie onesie is his one month picture.  I can't believe how skinny his legs look!

 This next picture is his two month old picture.  It's amazing how fast they change!

 Brandon was able to bless him on September 25th and it was absolutely amazing he did such an awesome job!  I realized after we were all done and had changed him out of his little outfit that we forgot to get a picture of the three of us (talk about feeling like I had a little Mommy fail moment) but at least I remembered to get a picture of each of us with him!

 This is his three month old picture.  His little smile gets me every time!  He is such a little cutie!

This is his most recent picture at four months old.  I can't believe how big he is getting already!  At his four month old checkup he weighed in at 16 pounds 10 ounces and was 26 inches long!

A few little fun facts about Oliver right now

• He rolls over every time you lay him down on his back.  He used to roll from his tummy to his back but now that he has figured it out the other direction he can't quite remember how to get back to his tummy!
• He is still very serious about everything but has the most adorable giggle ever when you can get him to laugh!
• He is starting to figure out that if he can pick something up he can put it in his mouth and he sucks on just about everything!
• He's getting more cooperative about taking a binky but he still prefers his hand or his binky clip or the back of his binky or his blanket

Well there is a quick update on our little man (who's not so little anymore).  We love him so much!

Year #3

Can you all believe that we've been married for 3 years already? I know I can't. It seems like just yesterday I was sitting in the celestial room with Brandon holding hands while we were waiting to be sealed. It's gone by so fast and I wouldn't change a minute of it! This year has been a big year for us, we've had a lot of changes, all of them good! The biggest change that this year brought us was our little buddy, Oliver. Being parents changes your whole life but we love it. This little guy has become our whole world and I'm so glad he's part of our family. It's different being a family of 3 with a dog instead of just the two of us, but different is good! Another big change this year brought was sending both of our brothers on missions. I'm so proud of the two of them and the choices they are making. We still managed to make it to the state fair this month and had just as much fun as ever! We also took our first real vacation with just the two of us this year to Hawaii and we had so much fun that we can't wait to take Oliver back when he's a bit older :) I can't believe how fast this year went by, it's seems like every time I blink another month has gone by. I've loved our crazy, busy, changing year and hope that this next year brings just as many adventures! (With Oliver around I'm sure we'll have plenty of adventures in store for us) Happy Anniversary Brandon, you're just as awesome of a Dad as you are a husband! I love you!

Oliver Daniel Phillips

Introducing our little peanut Oliver! Oliver was born on July 21, 2011 at 12:54 p.m. He weighed 9 pound 9 ounces and was 21 inches long. He was exactly a week overdue and we had quite the adventure getting him here! Because I was a week overdue my doctor and I decided it was time to induce labor. We went in to the hospital on Wednesday (the 20th) at about 9:00 at night. We were prepared to be there for quite a while because that's what my doctor had said. She was hoping that by having me go in the night before then he would hopefully be here by dinner on Thursday. When we got to the hospital I was dilated to a fingertip (so basically nothing :) ) and at 9:30 they got me started on a medicine called Cytotec which helps prepare your body for labor and can also start labor more naturally as if you had just gone into labor yourself. The nurse had told me that they would keep me on this giving me a dose every 3 hours until morning and then they would start me on pitocin. So at 12:30 in the morning the nurse came in to check me and give me the next dose, well surprise I was already dilated to a 3, which is normally when they like to start pitocin and break your water. Everyone seemed really surprised because normally it takes people all night to get to that point. So I was really hopeful, especially because I hadn't been feeling any of the contractions that I had been having. So at 1:30 Thursday morning they broke my water and started pitocin. About an hour later my contractions were coming right on top of one another and were really painful so I decided to get an epidural. They checked me again after the epidural had set in and I was already dilated to a 5 and feeling much more comfortable :) At about 3 ish in the morning I was finally able to fall asleep until about 6 when Oliver scared us because his heart rate kept dropping during contractions and then wouldn't recover back up to where it's supposed to be. They put me on oxygen and we were finally able to get him stabilized again. When they checked me at 6 I was already dilated to an 8 so they decided to help him stay stable and since I was progressing so good they would take me off pitocin. The next time they came and checked me was at about 9 Thursday morning and I was dilated to a 10 and it was time to push! I couldn't believe it had gone that fast, since I had prepared myself to be in labor for almost 24 hours. At 9:30 we started pushing and kept pushing for 2 hours. At this point I was completely exhausted since I hadn't slept much the night before and hadn't eaten anything since dinner. When my doctor came and checked on us she was really concerned because Oliver hadn't made any progress in the birth canal since we started pushing. So at this point we decided it was time to head in for and emergency c-section. I was terrified, I had no idea what to expect and to be honest the thought of a c-section had never even crossed my mind. By this point though I just wanted him here safe. We started the prep for the surgery and headed in. Oliver was born at 12:54 and hearing him cry for the first time was the most amazing sound I have heard. Brandon of course was awesome through this whole process and was right there with Oliver from the second he was born and was able to sit there with me and hold him the rest of the time I was in surgery. Everything went well and we both are doing awesome. Recovery was hard at first because I couldn't even get out of bed for the first day, but I've been getting better every day and even though I'm still sore every once and a while I feel a hundred times better.

As for Oliver, he is absolutely wonderful! We couldn't be happier with him. He's absolutely adorable and is such a good baby. He makes the cutest little facial expressions and is already holding his head up. He is such a little cuddler and already is doing really good at sleeping through the night. Although I have to say that I can't think of anything that makes being up at 2:30 in the morning more worth it then looking down and seeing that little baby grin!

Well, here are some pictures for you all. I can't believe he is already 2 weeks old today, it's going by to fast already!Our first family picture.

This last picture is from today. He really is a little heart breaker!

Hello there due date!

Well, today is my due date...and still no baby! Oh, well. I guess he's just going to be stubborn like his Mom :) My doctor does say that everything is still looking really good and that we both seem to be doing just fine. Good news is that if he hasn't decided to make his appearance by next week I'm scheduled to be induced on the 21st so he'll for sure be here next Thursday! Woo Hoo! It's nice to finally have an actual real date to look forward to, it makes the "I'm going to be pregnant forever" feeling not quite so bad. I'm working on just staying positive and trying to get as much done as I possibly can before then and just enjoying being pregnant. I told Brandon that I'm surprisingly not that uncomfortable, and most days don't mind being nine months pregnant, but that the really hard part is just that I want him here so I can snuggle him and take care of him and get to know him. I want to see what he looks like, I feel like he has such a little personality already, and I know it will just become more pronounced once he's actually here. We have the nursery all put together and ready to go, I'm going to take pictures and get them posted in the coming week, it's one of the things on my list of activities to keep me occupied until Thursday :) I guess that's all for now, just figured I should update everyone! Hopefully my next post should be introducing our new little man!

35 and 35

Well folks, 35 weeks down, only 35 days left to go! Although I know that is being extremely hopeful that he actually comes on his due date...which probably won't happen but I'm staying optimistic that he'll just be a very punctual little guy :) ! I know the blog has been pretty much lame and nonexistent for two months, but I think growing a human being is a pretty good reason to slack a little bit in the blogging world. Everything is still going really good, in fact I would almost say abnormally normal. I think I could probably be a textbook example of a normal pregnancy, which I'm pretty happy with! I haven't had any contractions, I'm not dilated at all, Oliver's heart rate sounds awesome, and my blood pressure is the same as it always has been. I had a doctor's appointment today and she said she thinks he weighs about 5 1/2 to 6 pounds and that I should just get ready to expect a 7 to 8 pound baby. I really think that the closer you get the slower the days go, it seems like each day has just been dragging on the past couple weeks! We're getting so excited though and just need to be patient I guess.

25 Weeks!

Well today is officially 100 days to go until Oliver will be here! I can't believe it. It seems like it's gone by fast but that we also still have a long time to go. I finally took my first picture of my belly to show you all :) I took this last Thursday when I was 25 weeks. (And I'm just getting it posted even though I'm almost 26 weeks!) I don't feel like I look that big in real life but who knows, maybe I do! I'm just grateful that we're both healthy and doing good. I have another doctors appointment coming up this week and I get to have my glucose test done so hopefully that all goes good. We also got the nursery started. It's still empty pretty much but at least we got that far and we were able to get the walls painted. We painted them a really soft gray and then I'm going to make a crib skirt/bumpers from a really cute fabric that is bright blue and green with gray accents.We've also been starting to work in our yard, well at least we were until it decided to snow this weekend. Getting this annoying tree out was Brandon's latest accomplishment. It's been growing right up against our fence and sidewalk since we moved in. The little thing was stubborn though, he ended up breaking his shovel and having to use a pocket knife to finally get it out! After all that we just had to take a victory picture! Well that's about all we've been up to recently! We loved watching general conference this weekend, like always, and it seemed like it had just the right messages for me. It's always so uplifting to hear from our wonderful leaders! I can't wait for it to start getting warmer, I'm hoping Missy and I can start going for walks after work soon, I'm craving the spring weather!

Well...

We're having a boy! We're excited to announce that we will have a new little man of the house come July. We couldn't be more happy and excited! Brandon was a little shocked at first (he was convinced it was a girl) but then he got the biggest grin on his face! Everything looks healthy and is going good. Our due date is still July 14th and once I can scan our ultrasound pics I'll post them on here. We're going to name him Oliver Daniel Phillips. Can't wait to meet our little guy!

I still feel like it's January...

So this post should count for then! I'm still going to try to get at least one post each month just like I did last year so I suppose since it is technically now February you will just get to hear from me at least twice this month. First I want to start out with the quote I was going to share with you in December but didn't get around to. I really like this one and feel like even though I'm a slacker you all should still get to hear it. It says...

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." -Eleanor Roosevelt

Love the message of this.

We have been having a really good 2011 so far. I have been feeling much better and I'm excited to have my energy back :) Brandon has been so awesome, without him being so willing to help, our house would be a disaster zone! We have our "big" ultrasound coming up next week and we can't wait to know what our little peanut is! Tomorrow is the halfway mark, and I'm finding it really hard to believe. Even though July seems so far away it also seems like it's going by so fast. I'm really starting to get a baby bump so tomorrow I'm going to start taking my belly pictures! I'll be sure to post them on here periodically. Lots of new adventures are headed our way this year and we can't wait!

Hawaii

So in the beginning of November we got to go to Oahu, Hawaii! We had so much fun. It was amazing! We can't wait to get a chance to go back. I know it's taken me a while to get a post written about this but I always like to say better late than never! So without further ado here are our favorite Hawaii memories!

The first day we were there we went and visited the USS Arizona Memorial. It was very humbling to be there and we both really enjoyed getting to see it.

Then we got to go visit the Polynesian Cultural Center that same day. It is so fun there! We got to go to the luau they have for dinner (they even cooked the pig in a pit in the ground)!We had the once in a lifetime experience to go to the Laie Hawaii Temple Open House! What a gorgeous temple.Then we went to Pali lookout. Brandon didn't believe me when I was telling him how windy it is there, but I think the picture of my hair says it all :)We also got to visit the USS Missouri while we were there.We went to the Dole Pineapple plantation which was a lot of fun. We got to have a dole whip which is basically frozen pineapple ice cream heaven! We actually ended up going back our last day to get just one more before we left.Our last day watching the sunset over the ocean. That's diamond head in the background which is one of the volcanoes on the island. We didn't get a chance to hike up to the top so we're going to save it for next time we get to go :)

November Quote

Well it's officially the last day of November and I'm just barely getting around to posting the monthly quote. I really like this one and I think it speaks for itself so I'm not going to say much about it. It is:
"If you think you can win, you can win. Faith is necessary to victory." - William Hazlitt
It's a good reminder on how important our faith is in everything we do. As I'm sure you know we went to Hawaii at the beginning of the month. I have finally gotten our pictures on my computer and now I just have to find time when I have that and the Internet to post about it. Don't worry, I'm hoping it will be this week. :) Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday, it was good to stop and think about everything we are blessed with.

October

I love October. It's such an awesome month, and the quote of the month this time is just as awesome. It says...
"Think big, for there's no greater delight than living your dreams." -Anonymous
I think I may frame this one somewhere. It's just so inspiring and is a good reminder to always think big so you can live your dreams. Well, that's all for now, I just wanted to share the quote with all of you. (since it's now almost the end of October and it will soon be time for the November quote. :) )

Anniversary #2

Wow! 2 years already! This month was our 2nd anniversary and I can hardly believe it. I guess time really does fly when you're having fun! We have accomplished a lot in the past year and have had a lot of fun adventures while doing it!

First was that we bought our house! Yay! We moved in on Halloween and spent the next 2 months fixing it up and basically completely re-doing the upstairs. We're talking paint, carpet, deep cleaning, and new trim. But it was so worth it, we love where we live and it was well worth the wait.

I graduated from college. Woo Hoo! and Brandon started college the same semester I finished...which was a little stressful but we made it work.

We each hit a milestone birthday. Brandon turned 25 and I turned 20!

We went boating a lot this summer and had some really fun times.

We went to Moab.

We got a rat, and said goodbye to our fishy friend who has been with us since the very beginning.

We kept up our tradition of getting a foot long corn dog at the State Fair!

It has been an amazing year. I'm more in love with Brandon every day and I wouldn't give up the life we have together for anything. Happy anniversary to my best friend for eternity!
P.S. I will be adding pictures on Saturday...but I wanted to get this up when it was still September! :)

Nina the rat!

Meet our new hood rat! We got Nina just before the fourth of July and we love her! She is adorable and has some of the quirkiest habbits. I think Brandon and I attract odd pets. I mean Missy is way cute but she is such a goofball and now Nina is the same way! It's okay because that just means they fit in perfectly with us. :)

London. Paris. Moab!

So maybe some day we'll get to visit those first two places, but we can now say that we have been to Moab! And it was so much fun! So this vacation was like clear back in June...but we've been so busy since then that I'm just now getting around to telling you all about it. We went for a combined graduation trip for Nathan and I and we visited Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. It is so pretty down there, it just made me love Utah even more. We had such a blast seeing everything, there are some really amazing and beautiful landscapes down there. Here are some of my favorite pictures. Brandon and I made sure we go a picture in front of every arch we hiked too, some of them were a pretty big accomplishment! Enjoy!

September!

September is my very most favorite month for a lot of reasons. September is the beginning of autumn, which is my favorite time of year. I love seeing all of the changes going on in the world and I love the weather cooling down. Have you noticed that everything smells different in autumn? And there are a lot of wonderful sounds too, everything from crunching leaves to rain drops on the window. It's a happy time of year. Another reason is that September is when I got to marry my best friend in the most wonderful place on earth. That is used a lot when talking about Disneyland, but having been to both places I beg to differ. There is nowhere happier or more amazing to be then in the temple. These are some pictures I took when we went to Temple Square for date night this summer. (they have the most awesome concerts in the Brigham Young park across the street from Temple Square during the summer months.) Also here is the quote of the month, I really like this one!

"Act as if it were impossible to fail." -Dorothea Brande

I think that's really good advice and something I'm going to remember. If it were impossible to fail, I think I would try a lot of things I've been nervous to do. How many opportunities do we miss out on in life because we're afraid of failure. This reminds me of how important it is to put yourself out there and be brave. That way you know you won't have any regrets as you're living life.

I hope you have all had a fun summer! There will be a lot of post following this one to make up for everything I've been saying will get posted and never does :)

August quote...

Now that it's almost September...which is weird (time is going by way to fast recently) I'm finally getting around to posting the August quote of the month! It says
"When you have faults, do not fear to abandon them." -Confucius
Words of wisdom I think I could stand to remember. When you really think about it how often do you find yourself saying "I love myself and am happy with who I am." Um, not as often as I think I should. So I've been trying to be happy with myself. Yeah, I have faults. There are things that I want to change about myself. I could make a whole list for you, but I won't. Because I've re-realized recently that to truly be happy, you need to stop dwelling on the negative. You need to abandon your faults and not let them control your life. Now I'm not saying don't set goals for yourself, but be happy on the journey. Don't say, I need to fix this or change that and until then I won't be truly happy. Because I think, no I believe, that if you do that, you're going to end up looking back at your life and realizing how many opportunities you missed. So abandon your faults, and love who you are.
On a lighter note, I finally got my pictures on my computer from my camera. I know, it's been forever since I said I would get them posted, but I'm serious this time. They're just waiting for me! So check back and I'll make sure I'll get them posted soon!

Quote of the Month #5...Finally

Well everyone I'm finally getting around to posting my quote of the month #5. Call it irony but this quote fits perfectly with the fact that I was lagging behind a bit this month. The quote is...

"It does not matter how slowly you go, as long as you do not stop." - Confucius

Love it! It's always good to remember that we should always be moving forward and that life isn't a race. We all do stuff at our own pace and there is no rule that says you have to keep up with someone, just don't stop moving. Kind of reminds me of a certain bunny and turtle, slow and steady.

We have had so much going on this month, I feel like we've hardly been home. And when we are home, our evening consist of laundry and packing for the next adventure. I'm working on getting more posts up with pictures of what we've been doing. We went on a Moab vacation, 4th of July trip, boating trip, and we have a new furry addition to our family to blog about. Woo hoo, lots of fun updates!

Quote #4

"Admire those who attempt great things, even if they fail." -Seneca
It took me a little longer this month to get my quote posted but I think I did pretty good to get it within the first week. :) I really like this quote. It reminds me of the importance of recognizing people's efforts. And of the importance of recognizing our own efforts. This quote can apply to ourselves just as much as it applies to others. We need to recognize that we have attempted something great. Whether we succeed or not.
It's been a really busy week so I'll make sure to post pictures of what we've been up to. We've gone camping, been to graduation (thank heavens we only had to do one, I guess that's the benefits of having your brother and your brother-in-law go to the same high school :) ) and family bbq's, and we still have another party tomorrow. Yay for summer! (And I thought I wouldn't have anything to do now that I'm done with school!)

Quote of the Month #3

"Imagination is far more important than knowledge."-Albert Einstein
I just think this is an awesome statement. Especially coming from someone who is a genius. I think being smart is really important, and I love learning new things but I think there comes a time where you just need to let your imagination take over. There is a new commercial on t.v. now that is for some phone company. But they have the song from the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory playing in the background. I've always felt a very special connection to this movie for obvious reasons and I've always loved this song but it just gave me a new perspective when I read this quote. I'm sure you've all heard this song but here are the lyrics.

Come with me
And you'll be
In a world of
Pure imagination
Take a look
And you'll see
Into your imagination

We'll begin
With a spin
Traveling in
The world of my creation
What we'll see
Will defy
Explanation

If you want to view paradise
Simply look around and view it
Anything you want to, do it
Wanta change the world?
There's nothing
To it

There is no
Life I know
To compare with
Pure imagination
Living there
You'll be free
If you truly wish to be

If you want to view paradise
Simply look around and view it
Anything you want to, do it
Wanta change the world?
There's nothing
To it

There is no
Life I know
To compare with
Pure imagination
Living there
You'll be free
If you truly
Wish to be
So go ahead, use your imagination. Day dream, doodle, create, read a book, be imaginative.