The BEST valentines day gift :)

Broderick surprised mike and me with the best valentines day gift we could ever ask for! he smiled for REAL for the first time today, (mind you, he is only a little over 6 wks old). he woke up with a huge grin on his face and as much as it melted my heart i assumed it was just a reflex. throughout the day though, he's been smiling back every time mike and I smile and talk to him. what a sweet little gift from our little guy. I get teary eyed every time he surprises me with another one.

of course we tried to capture his cute smile with our camera but haven't been totally successful. here's what we did capture...

Broderick's 1st month update

Our first month with Broderick flew by so quickly; and I have to say he has been wonderful to take care of. although a little colicky at first, our smart little guy has learned quickly to release his burps and gases on his own to avoid tummy aches which is such a relief for all involved in the feeding and burping process. lol

He's sleeping through the night which makes all the difference in the world with how i go about my day. i actually have energy and can function properly and poor mike can actually concentrate during school and work without yawning.

he has gained over 3lbs since birth which is crazy to believe. since I'm with him every day i don't really notice how much he's growing so I'm only aware of it when i have to put away another outfit that no longer fits him...sad:(.

he's still deciding if he likes bath time. i know...weird? i was told that all babies love bath time but the first time i bathed him he screamed, not cried but SCREAMED the entire time. i was so confused and stunned that i had to ask the doc if there was something wrong with him. he, of course, laughed and said not to worry about it and to give him a bath every other day until he decides that he likes bath time. Up until now, we are still awaiting the verdict. so far though, Broderick would like to go without bath time lol.

Here's some helpful info for all future parents of baby boys that I wish I would have been told about circumcision. First of all, circumcision is not the simple procedure you might think it would be - Mike is very traumatized, to say the least. Second, if you are going to circumcise, do it the first two days after birth. The doctor said that if done early there is little to no blood versus a lot of blood that almost made Mike faint when we had Broderick done on his twelfth day (Funny, the nurses had to bring him a juice box since he didn't have breakfast before - that should be tip number 3, HAVE breakfast). Fourth, unless you are the very curious type, do not - i repeat, DO NOT - witness the procedure if you don't have to. Like i stated before it's not the simple "pull and slice" we thought it was. Our recommendation is, wait in the other room and in a little while they will bring him back to you calm.

Here are some more pics of Broderick's first month:

Our little monkey

This broderick in his monkey outfit asleep in the car.

Broderick Michael Westover is finally here!!!

Broderick was born December 31st at 11:30 pm (6 lbs 14 oz). it was the longest and most painful thing I have ever experienced. I was in labor for about 36 hours so by the time I was fully dilated I felt EVERYTHING because the epidural had worn off. I have to say the easiest part of labor was when I had to push. I know that sounds weird but it kept me distracted from the horrible contractions. on the bright side we will be getting a tax break that we hadn't been counting on and we get to enjoy our little guy sooner than we had expected. We LOVE him so much and can't imagine our lives without him. he truly makes up for everything I went through.

Baby Broderick's profile pic

TWILIGHT

My 2 sisters and I are huge fans of the Twilight books so we decided to have a girls night and attend the Twilight premier party at the megaplex theaters. We had the time of our lives. It was great to share this together, we danced the night away and later saw the first showing of the movie. It was soo fun to be in a theater packed with only women...crazy women!!!

I cant wait to repeat something like this for the sequel.

3 years later...

Our 3rd year anniversary just came and went Oct. 14. We couldn't celebrate much on that day because it was the middle of the week and we were both loaded with school work, but we had a fun little getaway to Park City this weekend that more than made up for it. It was lots of fun even though it is the off season for Park City. the hotel we stayed in featured an outside heated pool which Mike thoroughly enjoyed as i slaved away in their gym. We walked and shopped the downtown Main Street which i must say is filled with the cutest boutiques and art galleries I've seen. I fell in love with that shopping strip. the restaurants were all delicious but twice as much as we are use to paying down here. our favorite thing we did though was the zip line and tour we took in the winter Olympic sports park. I must say this getaway was much more fun than the Las Vegas trip we took 2 years ago. VIVA PARK CITY!!!

the aspen trees were breath taking so

I forced Mike to strike a pose!!

BEAUtiful Main Street

the infamous "xtreme zip line".

Oh...did i mention it snowed

and Mike went skiing!!! ha ha