2nd Anniversary!

Tuesday, June 24th, was our second anniversary. Time has flown by! That morning, we had to go to Alameda to enroll Kayleigh as a military dependent. While we were there, we bought each other gifts at the exchange. We both got to pick out something we wanted since neither of us planned ahead and bought gifts. I got a new Fossil watch, which was on sale, so I love it even more! Brett got a new game for his PS3. On our way home, we decided to avoid traffic and drive around Berkeley. We drove through the campus, which was really pretty. It made me miss school being in a college town again, but I must say Berkeley was totally different than Georgia! There were hippies, cross dressers and all other sorts everywhere! We also drove by the tree sitters to get a look. Actually we drove by about 6 times so Brett could see...ha! What tourists we were. For those of you who don't know about the tree sitters, this will acquaint you with our crazy fellow Californians! http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/06/17/politics/uwire/main4188661.shtml If you read the entire article, you will find that they are now pouring their bodily waste onto the Police below. Seriously, that is just gross. Even though there is a court order for the tree sitters to be removed, they are so high in the trees, the police don't want to risk physically removing them. I don't blame them. I couldn't believe how high they were! They have built basically a tree house way up at the top of these trees! Anyway, that was quite exciting for us (we don't get out much!). After we drove around Berkeley a while, we headed back to our part of town, which is a little more tame. We headed to our favorite sushi restaurant to have a nice anniversary dinner. We have a tradition of having sushi on our anniversary. Well, when deciding where to eat, we both were contemplating sushi when we realized we had sushi last year, on our honeymoon, and in fact I even had sushi for lunch the day we got married, so we decided it would be our new tradition. For me it saves the trouble of having to decide where to eat for our anniversary, which if you know me, it could take a while for me to make up my mind. It saves Brett the anguish of listening to me weigh my options for 2 hours before finally picking where to eat! ;) All in all, it was a nice anniversary! I love him more every day and we can't wait to celebrate with sushi for 70 more years!

So do you have any anniversary traditions?

Mommyhood

I knew being a mother would be amazing and I would love her unconditionally, but I never could have imagined how much I could love her. Don't get me wrong. I love Brett. I love my Mom and Dad, and even my brother and sister-in-law, but having a child opens your heart to a totally new kind of love. A totally selfless, overwhelming, make your heart feel like it will explode it's so full kinda love. It is absolutely amazing!

So basically I love being a mom! Even when I am so tired and she won't go to sleep or when she spits up all over my outfit as I walk out the door, I just look at her and my heart swells with love. Now that she has learned how to smile and even laugh, my heart just melts even more! Being a parent is definitely the most rewarding thing in life! While some things in mommyhood come naturally, there is definitely a lot I've had to figure out as I go, thank goodness for the internet and my Mom!

While we are staying pretty busy with Baby Einstein, tummy time, baths, and snuggling, I would love to hear what were your favorite things to do with your little ones!

"Something Creative"

So I have come to realize that I am totally uncreative. While Kayleigh sleeps (when I should be getting things done around the house), I am perusing the internet. I am facinated with other people's lives on blogs or forums, even people I don't even know (I think that might be creepy except that everyone does it...or so I think). While reading and browsing through my usual sites, I realized that I am totally uncreative. Everyone else has these interesting, meaningful usernames or blog names, and me...I stick with the ole' jennab or brett and jenna or something lame like that. So it got me thinking, and I realized that I think it is just my personality. I will think of something totally funny or clever but then I analyze and then analyze some more and finally decide that other's won't get it or that it is lame, so instead I use something even lamer like my name...how boring?!? Now I know it is definitely a female trait to analyze things excessively, but I really think I take that to a new level. Now I also think this is a result of my crazy perfectionist tendencies. I spend so long trying to think of the perfect thing, that I just give up and go with something ordinary. Now Brett on the other hand is exactly opposite (which I greatly admire). He likes to be different and creative. He doesn't stress if it is funny or not or if other people get it...basically he doesn't analyze the heck out of everything. He just does what he wants, and somehow, it's always funny or clever. I really hope Kayleigh gets that from him.

After this realization, I also decided that I have missed the point of blogging. Yes, I would like to keep everyone updated on our life here in San Francisco since we are so far away and post lots of pictures of Kayleigh so everyone can watch her grow, but isn't a blog also to ramble on about whatever you feel like at the moment? I think I will try adding a few ramblings (I'm sure Brett would appreciate me rambling on here rather than saving it up for when he comes home from duty!). I'll let you know if he notices a difference...

My final realization of the day is that I really should spend less time online while Little Miss is sleeping and more time getting things done around house, pursing my hobbies and most importantly exercising! So, I am off to exercise...maybe. :)

Busy, busy, busy...

Well, I am long overdue for an update, but we have been very busy with Kayleigh, as you can imagine. Kayleigh was born May 5 at 8:39 AM. She was 7 lbs 13 ozs and 19 inches. She is absolutely beautiful! We were blessed to have our parents in town to share the experience. She has already grown so much! We are headed back to the pediatrician next week for her first set of shots (I'm already dreading it!), but right now she is already up to 24 inches long and at least 10 lbs. I can't believe she is already 6 weeks old!

Just as we were getting settled into our new life with Kayleigh, we headed to Red Bluff for a visit and then back East for a long vacation. Kayleigh did great on the plane to Georgia! She slept almost the entire flight. We flew to Atlanta for a few days before heading up to Hatteras for Bob and Hadley's wedding. We had a wonderful beach vacation with Mom and Dad, Jared and Nicole, Tony and Louise and Grandmommie! We took Kayleigh to the beach one afternoon and Brett dipped her toes in the water! She loves water already! She floated in the hot tub with Daddy (before it was heated up...) and took lots of baths! Bob and Hadley's wedding was absolutely beautiful and all the wedding festivities were lots of fun. It was so much fun to see everyone again!! Although it was hard to leave the beach and our friends there, we all headed to G.G.'s house in Cullowhee. Kayleigh got to meet her Great Great Grandmother! That is such a rare and special thing and I think Kayleigh enjoyed snuggling with G.G. as much as G.G.! The boys worked hard in the pasture and the yard while the girls took care of things inside. G.G. came back to Georgia with us and we spent the rest of the week with friends and family. Kayleigh is definitely spoiled now and wants to cuddle constantly! I guess that's what grandparents are for!

We got some amazing pictures of Kayleigh while we were home. You can take a look at http://www.juligordonphotography.com/. Click on Client Proofing and enter the password "bonner".

We flew home on Saturday and spent Sunday celebrating Brett's first Father's Day! We watched movies and ate pizza and hot wings (his favorite!). Brett is back at work today and life is back to "normal." We miss everyone so much already! We are heading up to Red Bluff soon to pick up Lily, so it will be nice to be around family again. Randy and Lesa have had Lily for at least a month and we miss her terribly! As you can imagine, Brett is itching to get up there to get her!

I will try to post pictures and keep everyone updated on life here in San Fran!

Still waiting...

After one week of labor, we are still waiting! After having contractions for six days straight, we decided to go into the hospital Sunday night because they were so painful I couldn't take anymore. We were convinced it was time. When we arrived, the nurse couldn't believe I still hadn't had her since they thought it would be Wednesday or Thursday. She had actually been looking to see if I had delivered. Well, I was still having good strong contractions but I was still not dialated, so they suggested trying pitocin to try to jump start things. Since I was having my own contractions, pitocin was our only option. Well, after a day of pitocin and lots and lots of pain and contractions I was only at 1 1/2 cm!! They discussed trying more aggressive methods, but by this time I was exhausted and tired of all the pain. We decided to go home last night and wait some more! I have been sick today and still having contractions, so hopefully Kayleigh decides to make her arrival soon!! Mom flew home today, so I'm sure she will decide to come when Brett is on duty! Everyone keeps telling us that we must have a really stubborn baby, but that's no surprise considering I'm pretty stubborn myself! We will be sure to update everyone as soon as we have some exciting news! Keep us in your prayers that something happens in the next two weeks before I have to be induced. We are definitely hoping to avoid a c-section! Hope everyone is doing well!!

Labor!

I am 38 weeks and in labor! It all started last Friday when I started feeling a little sore and had a terrible lower backache. Lesa was in town cleaning our house so it was be sparkling when the baby arrived. We are so lucky to have family like that! Well, I told Lesa and Brett that I think she might be coming soon. Then, on Sunday, Brett got a runout from the station and around 6 contractions started. Just as soon as we were going to head to the hospital after about 2 hours of solid contractions, they stopped! So we went to bed and decided to get some rest. Well, Monday morning they began again. Brett and I got the car packed and the car seat in the car and decided to go to walk around before heading to the hospital to make sure they were going to last. Sure enough, after about 2-2 1/2 hours, they stopped again! By this time, I had already called my mom to tell her that I thought it was time. She was headed out here on a long 5 hour plane ride and the contractions were gone. Brett and I had a nice quiet evening and picked Mom up from the airport Monday night. I felt so bad that she came early and the contractions were gone. So we were determined to walk and try every home rememdy in the book. Tuesday, the three of us went to the Golden Egg in Novato (our favorite breakfast place ever!). I had an eggplant omelet, as eggplant supposedly helps induce labor. Now this was maybe my third time ever eating eggplant, but hey...it was worth a shot! (By the way, it was quite good, but I don't think anything they serve could possibly taste bad.) We also tried acupressure, which our childbirth class teacher swore by, and we WALKED! We shopped and shopped some more. We even paced Home Depot with Brett. We came home and walked the neighborhood. Then, around 6 pm the contractions came back with a vengence, but of course we were excited for pain. We continued to walk until I couldn't take anymore. Finally around 11 pm, we headed to the hospital. By the time I was on the monitors, I was having very strong contractions every 2 minutes or so. The doctor said they were beautiful...what a compliment! Ha! I was thinned but only dialated 1 cm...oh so far to go! After 3 hours at the hospital, they gave me a shot for the pain and let me go home to try to get some sleep for the long day ahead. The shot worked wonders! I am still contracting, a lot actually, but the pain is definitely not as bad with a morphine shot! I am at home laboring as long as possible before we head back to the hospital today. While it is possible for this to last a day or two, the doctor is convinced we will have a little one today! Brett and I (and our entire family) is so excited about meeting her. It seems so surreal that we are going to actually meet Kayleigh Lane! I will update more about her arrival as soon as I can! We love everyone and please say a few prayers for a good delivery!

Brett made heavy weather!!

Brett has made Heavy Weather Coxswain! We are so excited and before we know it, he will be a Surfman. For most of you this may be hard to understand how big of a deal this is but there are many at his station who have been here for years and still haven't made it, so it's a huge testament to how hard he works and how good he is at what he does that he made it this quickly. It is an even bigger deal that they expect his to make Surfman soon, depending on the weather. So I think for the first time ever, we are praying for bad weather!

I am finishing up my last two weeks at work before my maternity leave begins. I am busy training the person who will be taking over my position while I am out. I am ready to begin my leave, and I certainly have a lot to get done at home before Kayleigh arrives. I can't believe my due date is so close! I really can't believe in just over two weeks I will be full term! Where has the time gone? Brett and I are so excited about meeting our little girl!