My Little Brookie

So, I am grateful that Camilla set up a little photo shoot for the cousins. Otherwise, poor Brooke would not have any professional pictures of herself for more than a year! (And we know that the photos I take do not come anywhere near professional!) Anyway, here she is - in all her silliness and girly-ness (the doll was supposed to distract her so she would sit still - it ended up being a cute little prop for her as well!).


Last but not least, I had to get one with my little sweetheart! (I told the photographer I didn't want my preggo belly in it!) I LOVE BROOKIE HUGS!!!

My little man's first week

I can't believe that Brody will be 2 weeks old tomorrow. This is just reminding me of how quickly time flies and how he is going to grow so fast. It reminds me that I need to cherish every day! Brody has definitely been changing with each day. He is such a good baby. I seriously am so thankful for that! I was really nervous about having him because I know how hard it can be to have a newborn, and then add a 2 yr old to that! I seriously didn't know how I would be able to hand things. He is soooo good and sweet though! He usually eats every 4-6 hours (quite different from Brooke's 2 1/2 - 3 hour feeding schedule) and has been sleeping 6-7 hours at night. I feel so blessed!

My mom came into town last week to meet the little guy and help me. It has been so nice to have her here and she has been a big help!

Here's some pictures from his first week. He has the cutest little dimple when he smiles, I just haven't been able to catch a picture of it yet! He also has these amazing deep blue eyes, which we are seeing more and more of as he is becoming more alert. (Excuse the amateur photography!!)

Brody on his birth day

4 days old
5 days old

6 days old
1 week old
My two babes

As far as Brooke, she has been doing very well with Brody. She is protective of him and loves to show us how soft she can be. She is very good at not touching his face and loves to give him kisses on his head. The first night we had him home she was trying to figure out exactly what we had here and pinched his cheek. It really made her feel bad because he screamed (didn't cry though) and she realized this little guy was different from the dolls she has! She has been the best big sister!

This is a picture we had taken about a month ago. She looks so old!

Introducing.......

Brody Tyler Workman!!

He was born April 28th at 11:54 am. He weighed 7 lb 11oz and is 20 3/4" long. At first we thought he looked a lot like Brooke did when she was born, although I didn't think that he looked as much like Tyler as Brooke did. His hair seemed to have some strawberry color to it, but every day it seems to be darker and has lost the tint of red.

I need to write down the details of his birth since I'm not good at journaling any other way.

Monday the 27th was my last day at work. I was very tired that night but looking forward the days ahead when I would have time to catch up on things and get the house all ready for the baby. Because I wasn't due until Saturday and I went 6 days overdue with Brooke, in my head I thought that would be the case with this pregnancy as well. I had Braxton-Hicks contractions and some that were definitely real over the previous 2 weeks, but nothing consistent. I saw the OB the week before who said I was only dilated to a 1, which was normal for 38 1/2 weeks but my cervix was still very high.

Tuesday morning I woke up about 5:45 with a lot of lower back pain. I had pain before so I thought that I was just getting to the point that I needed to sleep with a pillow behind my back. I tried to change position and finally got another pillow to put behind my back. As I laid there I started to have pain in my belly like some bad cramps. I laid there for about 30 minutes then decided to get up and see if that made the pain go away.

Tyler and I went downstairs, I had some Cheerios and just kind of waited for the contractions to go away like they always had in the past. As time went on they definitely were not going away and I knew that it would be the day. I started to kind of freak out about all the things that I was going to get done that weren't done yet.

I went upstairs and started packing a bag (I had it in my head so much that I would go overdue that I didn't even have a bag packed). I packed one for Brooke also and Tyler called my sis Emily to see if we she could watch her while we went to the hospital. I decided to shower and get ready and just keep track of the contractions. The last thing I wanted to do is get to the hospital and have them tell me that I wasn't far enough to admit me and to go back home. As I was showering and getting ready I was having steady and worsening contractions. By the time I was done and dressed it was about 10 and I was definitely needing to get to the hospital. We dropped Brooke off at Emily's and Tyler dropped me off at the door of the hospital.

I walked into the Woman's entrance of the hospital and walked up to lady that was sitting at the desk. I was in so much pain I couldn't talk and she said something about registration and to have a seat. I sat down, Tyler came in. After a few minutes I told him to ask how long it would be. He went up there and the lady hadn't told them I was there yet. The hurried and got a wheelchair and took me back into the labor and delivery triage. I was thinking I was at like a 3-4. She checked me and said it was at a 7-8 with a bulging water sack and the baby's head right there.

They immediately got me back into a delivery room and had the anesthesiologist there in minutes. I was so grateful for that epidural! Those who can endure that without one are amazing! A short time later Dr. Beck showed up and told the nurses to prepare for delivery. My water still hadn't broken, so he broke it. On the next contraction they had me push. One more contraction and we had a baby! The hospital has us checking in at 10:54 and he was born at 11:54. It definitely was a different experience than with my 17 something hour delivery with Brooke.

When Brody was born he took a big gulp of amniotic fluid. The nurse suctioned out 25 mL of fluid from his stomach (that's about 5 teaspoons). He has been such a good baby, the only time we heard him really cry for the first 24 hours or so was when he was first born even when they kept sticking the tube down his stomach to draw out the fluid. He also had bruising on his nose and upper lip from being delivered so fast. He caught on to nursing right away.

The first night in the hospital he went 6 hours without eating- I would try feeding him and all he wanted to do was sleep. The only way I knew he was hungry is that he kind of whimpered. We ended up staying an extra night just to make sure all the amniotic fluid was out of his stomach.

The first time Brooke saw Brody she kind of didn't know what to think, she just looked at him. Once she sat on the bed with me and I helped her to hold him she didn't want to stop giving him kisses and saying "My baby". She is such a good big sister, always showing us how she can be soft and helping to burp him.

We are officially a family of 4!!
Brody had lots of family visit him in the hospital, including: Grandma and Grandpa Workman, Grandma and Grandpa Carling, Deena, Landon, Ryan, Camilla, Kayden, Sherri, Mallory, Taylor, Kylee, Emily and Kyden.

Comparison of Pregnancies

Okay, this is a post that I started a while ago (obviously the news is old!) but I was waiting until I could get pictures up. So, I'll do that later for journaling purposes but while I'm trying to catch up here's just the text for now.

As this pregnancy is fast coming to a close (scary!!) I've been thinking about the differences in this pregnancy and my first with Brooke. So I decided to write down some of the differences in the two. So here goes, we'll see how well my memory serves me!

- First and foremost was the "morning" sickness. With Brooke it was all day, every day for 6 months. I lost 15 lbs. before i started to gain any weight. This pregnancy has definitely not been that bad. I had some weeks that were better than others, but nothing close to how it was with Brooke. I have not been sick since about 20 weeks.

- Water retention: With Brooke, I had to wear compression stockings all day every day or I couldn't even get my feet in my shoes. This time around my ankles have been swollen, but nothing nearly like what it was before. It wasn't until the last 2 weeks with Brody that I really got swollen, although it was only in my legs and not up into my face the way it was with Brooke.

- Sleeping: I remember having to sleep with a pillow behind my back and a pillow between my knees last time. That made it pretty annoying every time I had to roll over! This time so far I am able to get by with just the pillow between my knees. Still looking forward to being able to sleep on my back!

- Cravings: Haven't really had any this time, although I have started to eat peanut butter which I never really cared for before. With Brooke I ate EZ Mac like it was going out of style and constantly craved Sonic ice (I guess it also didn't help that I had low iron).

- Size: I am definitely feeling like I have been bigger with this pregnancy than with Brooke, although looking at my pictures maybe it's just because I got bigger faster with Brody than with Brooke. I gained a lot of (water) weight in the last month with Brooke though. I have been lucky enough though with both pregnancies to be able to wear my regular pants.

Brooke- 37 weeks

Brody -35 weeks

Brody -35 weeks

Brody -39 weeks

And the final comparison: With Brooke I delivered at 40 weeks, 6 days. With Brody I delivered at 39 weeks, 3 days.

Orange Chicken Recipe

Tyler found this blog that has this awesome Panda Express Orange Chicken recipe. We have made it every week since finding the recipe, and everyone that tries it loves it. I have improvised and substituted as I have not had all the ingredients. It also makes a lot so the last time I froze the extra and will just warm it up the next time I make it. I also just cooked up some cut up chicken breast and didn't bread it, so it doesn't taste exactly like Panda Express, but healthier.

Here's the recipe and blog:

http://dinnersonme.blogspot.com/2008/01/orange-chicken-success-at-last.html

Orange Chicken

Sauce:*

1 1/2 cups water
2 Tablespoons orange juice
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/3 cup rice vinegar
2 1/2 Tablespoons soy sauce
1/4 cup plus 1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp minced water chestnuts
1/2 tsp minced fresh ginger
1/4 tsp minced garlic
1 rounded tsp chopped green onion
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
7 1/2 tsp cornstarch
3 tsp arrowroot**
4 1/2 Tablespoons water


In a saucepan over medium-high heat, combine all of the sauce ingredients, except the cornstarch, arrowroot and 4 1/2 Tbsp water. Stir often while bringing mixture to a boil. When sauce reaches a boil, remove it from heat.

In a small bowl, combine cornstarch with arrowroot. Add 4 1/2 Tablespoons of cool water. Stir until cornstarch and arrowroot have dissolved. Pour this mixture into the sauce and set the pan over high heat. When sauce begins to bubble and thicken, cover and remove it from heat.

**Arrowroot is similar to cornstarch, but better for you and thickens at a lower temperature than cornstarch. Here's a link with some interesting information about arrowroot. I found mine in the spice section of my regular grocery store. If are unable to find any arrowroot, I'm sure you could substitute cornstarch.

Quick Update

I have so many pictures I need to put on here, just haven't gotten around to it. I'm starting to get a little panicky knowing that I only have about 4 1/2 weeks before our big arrival so I've gone into a little bit of nesting phase.

A couple weeks ago I potty trained Brooke. So far, it has been a success, she still has her accidents but I would say on average she only has one a day. I decided I had better do it now before I have ZERO energy for that. I used the H.E.A.R.T. method -"How to Potty Train Your Child in Five Hours" by Christopher Westra. So far I feel like it has been a success, but only time will tell. Brooke has seemed ready for this I've just been debating on the timing.

We've Got Wheat!!

Grandpa's Grain is proud to offer, straight from my dad's farm in Idaho....... (be excited!)....... Premium Hard White Wheat!

Why is this exciting? Well, for one, white wheat has been hard to get - even from the cannery. They have had some available recently but I called today and they don't have any more and do not know when they will get more because Salt Lake has ran out of it. Grandpa's Grain will not be running out any time soon!

Another reason this is exciting is because you know where the wheat is coming from. The wheat is grown, treated with an organic powder to control bugs (completely safe to humans), cleaned (in a six part dry cleaning process to ensure you receive the cleanest wheat available), and packaged - right there on the farm that I grew up on. It has a minimum of 14% protein content and no more than a 9% moisture content - that makes this wheat PREMIUM quality!!

The main reason to be excited about this is because you will not have to worry about it in your food storage (I know, I'm too young to be all excited about food storage!) We offer 45 lb. buckets that are made of 100% VIRGIN plastic, sealed with o-ring lids and packaged with oxygen absorbers. They truly are made to store for 30 years! Buckets that are made of recycled plastic (aka, the ones you see being sold at Costco) will start to allow oxygen absorption within 3-5 years. Oxygen absorption = critters = no good.

We also offer 50 lb. sacks. The sacks are triple-layered with a mylar lining, and although they are designed for short term use, are a great way to start incorporating wheat into your every day use.

Wheat is one of the essential ingredients in building up your food storage. To get an idea of the church's guidelines for how much food storage your family needs, click here.

We are making monthly deliveries to the Phoenix area, with the next one scheduled for March 28th. The sacks are $22 and buckets are $27. For more information or to place an order, contact me at grandpasgrainaz@gmail.com.

If you are not in the Phoenix are but are interested in wheat,contact me at grandpasgrainaz@gmail.com. We are making deliveries all throughout the West.