Meet Your Family Mr. Wyatt

Dear Wyatt,
Now that we live near family you have the blessing of getting to know your realitives right from the get go. Here's some photos of all the family visitors that came to meet you when you were just a few days old.


This is your Uncle Chris. He will help you learn all that you need to about jumping on the tramp and playing games.


This is your Aunt Alyssa. She was taken with you and your strawberry blonde hair at first sight.


These are your aunts Chelsea and Brooke. Both of these lovely ladies live close by and are itching to spend time with you-- lucky man!


This is Grandma Dona. She loves you to pieces and can't wait to teach you all about turtles.


This is your great grandma Ruby. She predicited that you'd look just like your daddy. I guess grandma's have a special intution.


This is Papa Clay. He couldn't be more pleased to have a grandson.


This is Grandma Penny. She loves babies and can't get enough of you already.


This is Uncle Casey. You two are going to have a great time wrestling and playing together when you get older.

Ruby's Second Birthday

Our little Ruby Girl turned two on January 31! We celebrated in the most fitting way-- with a penguin themed party. The week prior to her party all she wanted to talk about were the penguin cupcakes and multicolored balloons that she was expecting (toddlers are fairly easy to please).







She had a great time eating pizza, carting balloons around the house, and playing with her grandparents, aunts, and uncles. She got all kinds of fun presents: play dough, books, clothes, Disney dvds, and even a penguin backpack. The hit of the night was her tricycle, though. She immediately wanted to "pedal, pedal" everywhere. She really is a Daddy's girl-- it won't be long before she's hitting the mountain biking trails with him.









We really cherish her. It seems like we fall more in love with her everyday that she's a part of our lives. She makes us laugh, and smile, and melts our hearts every time she gives us unsolicited hugs and kisses. These past two years have been wonderful. We look forward to watching her grow and develop into a young lady (but just hope that it doesn't come too quickly).

What's in a name?

So, as you've probably figured out by now, we decided to name our son Wyatt Paul. We had a really difficult time deciding on a name for him. We searched and searched for something that 1) we could agree on and 2) meant something special to us. About a month before his birth we stumbled across Wyatt and it continued to grow on us until he was born. It immediately made us think of Texas and all the fond memories we had while living there. We also love that one interpretation means "little warrior." You really do need to be a warrior to survive and succeed in the world we live in. Paul is a family name-- it is Brandon's middle name as well as the first name of Wyatt's great great grandfather. Hopefully, he will look to these exemplary men as he grows and matures and develop some of their characteristics.
Just as a side note, we spent months diligently searching for the perfect name but typically call him little man or the baby. Ruby prefers to call him baby brother, and occasionally Whydat. I guess he'll grow into his name...

Wyatt's Birth Story

Anxiously awaiting Wyatt's arrival

The last few weeks of this pregnancy I started to experience moderate pregnancy induced hypertension. Every day got a little more uncomfortable than the previous. I had elevated blood pressure, a huge amount of swelling, and a tingling sensation in my hands and arms. I was admitted to the hospital twice for stress tests and was ready to schedule an induction because I was beginning to seriously worry about my health and that of my unborn baby.

Needless to say, I was relieved when my body went into labor 11 days early. It was exactly a week after we moved into our new home in Draper. I woke up to use the restroom at 1:30 in the morning. As I was walking back to the bed my water broke. Brandon must have sensed something was wrong because he asked me if I was okay and I replied, "Yeah, I think my water just broke." He popped up out of bed and insisted that we get our belongings, wake up the baby, and head to the hospital. On our way there we called my mother in law and made arrangements for her to meet us at the hospital to pick up Ruby.

Upon arrival the hospital nurses confirmed that my water broke and immediately admitted me into labor and delivery. Brandon and I waited and rested while my body tried to further dilate. By 9:30 that morning I still hadn't dilated past 2.5 centimeters, so the doctor started giving me doses of pitocin to induce labor. I was nervous that it would speed up labor significantly and I wouldn't have time for an epidural, so I ended up getting my epidural at the same time I started the pitocin. Just before it was time to push my epidural wore off. The nurse explained that I could push and quickly get the labor over with or get a second dose of the epidural-- I took the epidural (and am so glad I did). As soon as it took effect I started pushing and little perfect Wyatt Paul was born with in 10 minutes (1:32 pm). The moment I felt him enter the world and heard him cry I was overcome with so many emotions. It never ceases to amaze me how spiritual the birthing experience is. Brandon and I will forever cherish the moment we met our son for the first time.


First precious snuggle


Little man looks like a mini Brandon

He weighed 7 lbs, 12 oz and was 19 inches long. Did I mention that I'm so grateful he was early? Had he been on time (or 5 days late like his sister) he would have been huge!

We spent the next 2 days recovering in the hospital. It was wonderful to have so many family members stop by and meet Wyatt while he was still so new to the world. Ruby loved him from the moment she laid eyes on him. She came by every morning we were there. Each day she wanted to hold him, kiss him, hug him, and pet his head.







We feel so blessed to have such a sweet new addition to our little family. He has filled a void in our lives that we didn't realize exsisted. While we can hardly wait to see who he'll be, we are thoroughly enjoying snuggling and cuddling him while he's tiny and mellow.

Catching Up

Hey Ya'll,

Here's a quick update. In the next few weeks I hope to get completely caught up on all the exciting events that have been happening in our lives, but hopefully this will do until then.



On Thursday January 27th we closed on our house in Draper and moved in on Monday January 31st when the movers arrived with our furniture and other belongings. The 31st was also Ruby's 2nd birthday (time flies, right?). Since we knew the movers were coming on the 31st we celebrated her birthday the Saturday before.



We had a great time with all the aunts, uncles, and grandparents. She still occasionally talks about the penguin cupcakes and balloons. More pictures to come...



For the first week that we were in the house I had tons of helpers. As much as I like to organize and put things away on my own, I was soooooooo grateful for all the help. Within a week almost all of the boxes were crushed and the majority of our belongings were out of the way.



And it all happened just in time, because exactly a week after moving in I went into labor (11 days early). Baby Wyatt was born on February 7th. He weighed 7 lbs, 12 oz and was 19 inches long. Oh, and did I mention that all three of us fell in love with him right away? He's so handsome and perfect-- an incredible addition to our family.



The past few days we've been making lots of trips to the hospital and doctor's office because of his elevated bilirubin levels, but they've gone down significantly and it looks like we're finally going to be able to just enjoy his newness in our warm comfy home.