A Song For Gaelyn

So, Gaelyn finally got to meet her cousins, Alec and Arianna. Well, Arianna has no fear, craves attention/the spotlight and is quite a cute little pistol all in all. She made up a song just for Gaelyn and performed it live for us all...over and over and over angain! LOL.

Gaelyn's First Restaurant

We are in Florida visiting Sasha's side of the family for the holidays. We went to Longhorn Steakhouse with Nana and Papa. This was Gaelyn's first trip to a restaurant and ,as anyone who has met her would guess, she behaved beautifully. Mom and dad had steak while Baby G had a bottle of breast milk on the go!

Papa Joe, Gaelyn, Nana

Party of 3....aww

Gaelyn loves ceiling fans and lights. She constantly stares at them and coos at them...its really cute.

Sleeping Beauty and Bedhead

Oh my freaking goodness, our baby girl is so darn adorable!

This little beanie was the one the hospital put on her the day she was born...it was big on her then. My baby is growing up so fast {sniff sniff}.

Baby girl can get some pretty impressive bedhead...so cute!

Physical Therapy

While working at the physical therapy clinic I met some really great people and made some wonderful friends. One of the therapists, Renee (and her husband Brad), hosted a Christmas party giving Glen and I a chance to get out of the house and socialize. We had a lot of fun hanging out with everyone.

Auntie Chelsea holding baby Gaelyn

John, Antonella and baby Tyler

Taylor, Eric and baby Bristal

Derick and Carolyn. They got our white elephant gift (it is a festive sign that says "Irish Pubis"...lol, we found it at Ross)

Renee and Brad...the lovely hosts

Happy Holidays

Broadway Kitty

Onyx loves his opera!!!

This Momma Has No Shame

Yes, I know we've already made a post with pictures from Gaelyn's blessing day, but we took some more pictures after everyone left and she is just too adorable to not share them. Just click "Fullscreen" on the black box.

Baby Blessing

Gaelyn is officially blessed. It was a very nice blessing. My bishopric was in the circle as well as Ron, Devin, Paul and myself. Gaelyn didn't fuss or anything, she even fell right asleep with no bursts from either end. Here are some pictures. The dress was made by my mom especially for this event.

Thanksgiving Holiday

Thanksgiving has come and gone. It was a wonderful holiday this year. Most of my immediate family came down for a few days. They didn't come for the turkey though, they came for Gaelyn's blessing. That took place this morning and it went just fine. After sacrament meeting we took some pictures and said our goodbyes and now Paul, Melia, Devin, Ron and Kathryn are on their ways home. I took a quick nap with the baby and now Sasha is asleep and the baby is asleep in my left arm and it is way too quiet. I can sympathize with my mom much more now. Now I know what it is like to have a house filled to the rim with laughter and noise one minute and dead quiet the next. Come back soon. We miss you all dearly.

One month.....ish

Gaelyn has been with us for about a month now and everything is just great. She is gaining weight, eating, pooping and not sleeping. A perfect little baby. Here are some more pictures. I know that is the real reason you are checking today.




Come back soon... wink wink!!

Home again, home again

Sasha and I are finally home. Gaelyn was born on October 19th at 3:52 PM. She was 7 lbs 1 oz and 20 inches long. She is very healthy and so is Sash. But I know the real reason for this post is pictures so here they are!!!

Baby Time

Well folks, tomorrow at 1pm is officially baby time. We check into the hospital at 11am tomorrow and get to meet little Gaelyn at 1pm. We're very excited. I'm sure we'll have plenty of pictures to post soon. Don't worry, we will make calls as soon as we can. Thank you for all of your prayers!

Hummingbirds

The Hummingbirds have finally returned. We've put up a feeder for them and they are guzzling that sugar-water down! We love to sit and watch them, they're so pretty and honestly the way they fly is really cool. The cats really enjoy watching them too, maybe we'll post a video of them going nuts over hummingbirds.

Twilight

I am a happy girl right now. I just watched a new trailer for Twilight on www.perezhilton.com and I am sooooo excited I can't stand it! I would post it for you guys, but the quality is crappy and I haven't been able to find it anywhere else yet (the official movie site is jammed). Baby this month and my fictional boyfriend next month....good times!!! LOL

Here is a link for a much clearer video, oohlala!
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=44287812

If Easily Offended Don't Read This

So, Glen heard a saying tonight that neither one of us has ever heard before. A customer said it during a conversation they had today, Glen shared it with me and now I am sharing it with all of you. I laughed for a good 5 minutes when I heard it. Even now I'm smiling just thinking about it. Anyhow, here it is. The guy was referencing how the company Glen works for has got he and his wife cornered in a contract. He said "they've got us by the short and curlies" with this contract! Hopefully some of you find that as hilarious as I do, if not, I did warn you so you shouldn't complain. Maybe next time you'll listen to me, everyone else enjoy the laugh...or at least the smile. Short and curlies...LOL!

Big Question For Everyone

Ok, I know we've asked this in the past, but we still don't have our baby girl's name nailed down. Well, the name is set, but the spelling is still up in the air. We thought we had settled on Gaelyn, but we really don't know...all spellings look "off" to me. So, the name (however we end up spelling it) will be pronounced like "Gaye + Lynne" after my mom. Given this info, please please pretty please cast your vote or suggest an alternative spelling to the following:

1. Gaelyn Kate Hannibal
2. Gaelyne Kate Hannibal
3. Galyn Kate Hannibal
4. Galyne Kate Hannibal

Big Baby!!!

Yesterday at the OB appointment I got to feel the baby in Sasha's tummy. The doctor told me where to put my hands on her stomach so I could feel different parts of the baby. It was a really great experience. And I thought, "That baby is big!!!" She has a really hard head...just like her mom. All joking aside, it really was a great experience to know that I am going to hold that baby in a few weeks.

Last Sunday

Sasha and I bought 3 paintings last year but the paintings were just the canvas. We knew it when we bought them and we thought we would get them stretched and life would be great. Things don't always go as you plan though. We called around to find someone who could stretch them but everyone wanted like $80 per painting and that was more than the 3 paintings in the first place so we thought we were just out of luck. So the paintings sat in a closet for many moons until last week we saw some painting stretcher things at Michael's. We gave it a try and it turned out wonderful. The only bad part was that the paintings didn't necessarily go well where we thought they would so I (Glen) had to re-arrange our entire bedroom so that 3 dumb paintings looked good! BLAH!!! Anyway, after all the work the room looks really good so I guess it was worth it. Here is a pic of the paintings.

By the way, I started moving the furniture at 10:00 PM Sunday night.......this must be the "nesting phase" that Sasha makes me go through. BOO!!!!

THE ROOM!!!

Sasha decided one day that the baby room was not up to standard so she decided to rearrange and organize after she washed the baby clothes. In the middle of her project our washer decided to spew water all over the floor so this is what we were left with.

The room has since recovered but we don't have a final picture so you will all have to come visit to see it.

Prego Pictures

Last month Glen and I went to Portland for Melia and Devon's wedding. It was so much fun to see everybody and spend time with family...out of the 115 degree heat of AZ! As you can imagine, we took some pictures during the trip. So, for everyone who has been waiting for some pregnant pictures...enjoy.

During our trip we got to spend a lot of time with Glen's brother Bryce and his wife Sierra...they're tons of fun! On one of our outings we decided to go to a driving range. Golfing is a lot harder than I thought it would be. I couldn't get the ball to go very far...of course it wasn't easy getting my swing around my belly. Glen did great and had tons of fun.

All dressed up for the big day.

Crunch Time

Sahsa's due date is quickly approaching and we are very excited to have an addition to our little family. Once she is born then there will be 5 mouths to feed (cats included!). We have many of the things we need but the more we think about it we realize that we still don't have everything, so I pose a question: What helped you the most when your baby was tiny? I feel like I need to ask you real people because the books you read tell you to get EVERYTHING in the world and that seems just dumb. So what should we buy? I am up for anything!!!
Sasha and I just got back from my sister's wedding in Portland and it was really great. They all complained that it was really hot but it so much better than Phoenix. We spent a ton of time with our *family there and we loved it. (I was going to write step-family before the asterisk in the previous sentence but many things happened during our time in Portland and when I think about it, we really are just one family. Just like it should be!!!) Hopefully we can all be together again soon because it really was a great stay. I start my last year of my Master's degree on Monday and I am really excited. Only one more school year and you will all stop reading about the crappy weather on our blog!!! And you can all rejoice knowing that.
Keep in touch cause we love you all!!!

Rain In Phoenix?

We love the Monsoon Season. It rained twice this week. The rain brought a little bit of a relief from the 115 degree summer weather and glaring sun. Even the birds were throwing a party while it rained, chirping and singing like crazy. Glen did almost get the car stuck in a flooded street the first night it rained. But he was lucky and made it home without killing the car. I want it to rain every day. Well, maybe not every day. I'm just so sick of feeling like I'm literally living in an oven set at 500 degrees with no relief from the heat. You know how you can see "heat waves" in the air around the grill when you're cooking something on a hot day? Those heat waves are in the air everywhere all of the time every day. The best we get at night is something like 102 degrees. It's sick. Thank goodness Glen only has one year left! I hope he gets a job in a place that is green and has no heat waves soon after he graduates.

Cats gone wild!!

Our cat Onyx really hates to be disciplined. He is just like everyone in that he just wants to do whatever he wants. This is a video of what he usually does after he gets yelled at by either Sasha or myself.

She Moves!

Ok, so I have been able to feel her moving around in there for a little while now (which, in itself is weird), but tonight I saw her move. Very strange, cool, but strange. It was nice for Glen because he hasn't been able to feel her move yet. Every time he puts his hand on my belly to feel her acrobatics she immediately stops and refuses to move until long after he takes his hand away. I've even tried "poking" her to get her to move for him, but she's stubborn. So, that was a nice little Sunday bonus for Glen.

It's NOT a girl it's a BOY!!!!

Naw, I am just kidding about the title. We are really going to have a girl. The reason for this post is to continue my unceasing hatred toward the heat here in Phoenix. Yesterday it was 114 degrees and today it was 113. Tomorrow it will get up to 113 as well and Thursday we will see it cool down to 112. All this outrageous heat sparked an idea in my little brain. I thought, "I should take a frozen burrito in the car with me and while I install a security system (that is what I do for work) I will see if it heats up enough to eat." Sure-nuf, that baby was delicious as ever after an hour and a half on my dash. So I guess the heat isn't that bad after all......but only if you have frozen burritos.
Stay cool!!!

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!!

It is true, we have a little girl in the oven. Sasha is about 20 weeks now and everything is going just fine. We were kind of nervous for this ultrasound because this is the one where the tell you if there are any abnormalities in the baby's development. They looked at her head and neck, spine and little limbs and everything else and she looks great. They were even able to get a cross section of her heart and stomach. I had no idea how they do that so I asked the ultrasound technician how that worked and she had no idea either. Oh well.

Along with telling the world about the gender of our first-born, there is another reason for this posting. We know what we are going to name her but we haven't decided how to spell it. Her name is going to be Gaelyn Kate, or Gaylin Kate, or Gayelin Kate, or Gayelynne Kate, or something like that. The name comes from both Sasha and my mom's names. We thought it would be cute so if you hate the idea then you are just going to have to deal with it because it is MY baby!!! Anyway, let us know how you think it should be spelled. We will also be mentioning whose spelling we liked the best in a future post so make your suggestion count!!!
Here is a picture of her foot and her body.

And you thought YOUR life was bad....

It is common knowledge that there are many things that are wrong with every city in these, the United States. Phoenix has it's fair share of maladies but I happened to stumble across the worst one this evening. It isn't the murder rate or the horrible traffic on every road. It is simply this....I turned on the kitchen faucet to the cold side and warm water came out of the tap. I thought, "I will just let it run for a while and it should get cooler." The water ran and ran and contrary to what I thought, the water got hotter. All I wanted was cold water out of my tap. All I wanted was something cool to touch my skin. That's all. I am in the middle of a desert and I just want to feel cold and all I get is hot water.....

Anyway, Sasha is doing just fine. She is tired all the time but not that sick anymore. That is about it. Stay tuned for future happenings!!!

Early Halloween!!!!

So, I wore a hat today. I never wear hats. I only own one hat and I had very little time to get ready today so I threw it on. Needless to say that I had hat hair this evening. When I took off my hat and Sasha saw me she said that I looked like Count Dracula because of my widows peak and my hair all slicked back. I was then talked into putting baby powder all over my face and subjecting myself to the camera. Here is one of the results. I am not too fond of it but Sasha assured me that it would be fun so look at me........I'm having fun.



On a side note, Sasha is near the 15 week mark and everything is fine. She feels a bit better these days which means that I get to see her gorgeous smile most of every day. I love it!!! She is getting bigger which is also fun. I think this whole thing is just super fun. If you want Sasha's opinion on the whole thing, you will have to ask her because I think she is routing for adoption in the future. KIDDING!!!!!!!!

I caved...

I just couldn't stand the pressure from my pants anymore, so I did it. I bought prego pants for work. The waistline is higher than Olivia Newton John's spandex pants in Grease, but the pressure is gone. Unfortunately the urge to spend the day with the Porcelain God hasn't left me, but the fat pants definitely help a little bit...and I'll take whatever I can get. I also bought a couple shirts, the kind with no shape at all. I found that breathing was getting hard in my old shirts. All you moms know what I'm talking about. I got dressed for work in my new duds yesterday and had to laugh when I looked at the final outcome in the mirror. I just look like a fat chick with really bad hair who woke up and decided to throw on a pop tent. Sexiness at it's best! And no, I'm not just being hard on myself, Glen laughed too. Whatever, I'll pay the ugly price for a bit of comfort and the ability to inhale without fear that I'll bust through my top like the Hulk. Also, for all of you who have written comments and notes, I'm sooo sorry that I haven't responded. Honestly, I've probably gotten online 4 times in the past 6-7 weeks (reading didn't help the nausea, but I think it's getting better). You're all amazing and I enjoyed Glen telling me what everyone had to say, so thank you and I love you all! Hopefully I'll be on here more often now.

OOPS!!!!!

It seems that I forgot to post some new ultrasounds that were done on the 25th. They baby still looks like a little blob thing but it has some shape....kinda. Here they are. The second one is super zoomed in. SWEET!!!!

The Results

A day or so after the ER visit, the results to one of Sasha's blood tests came in. It turns out that Sasha is Rubella Equivocal. They didn't tell us what that really meant so we looked it up ourselves. We discovered to our horror that having rubella while in the early stages of pregnancy can cause many birth defects for deafness and blindness to severe retardation and even still born babies. So we pretty much freaked out and called everyone we knew that could give us a good answer to this new development. Paige Herschi was the first to our aid. She said that Sasha may or may not be immune to rubella and it doesn't mean that she has it. Thank Goodness!!! All Sasha has to do now is stay away from kids with rubella. I think that will be quite easy.

Later that day we went to her OB and she thought the doctors at the ER were CRAZY that a pregnant woman came into the ER, all dizzy, and they didn't even bother to give her fluids. She was pretty upset. Sasha and I both thought that was weird too. Anyway, after another ultrasound it looks like the hemorrhage has healed itself and everything is ok. The baby is fine.

Speaking of the baby, on the last ultrasound the OB kept the baby in the screen for a while so we could see him/her move. And after a few seconds he was punching and kicking away and even did some nice buckin' bronco action. It was a life changing moment for both of us.

EMERGENCY!!!!!!

Ok. This is what happened. It was March the 20th. Sasha was having really bad stomach pains that made her vomit all over the place and she was very dizzy. We knew it was too early for her to be in labor but we went to the ER anyway. We checked in at 9:00 PM and waited for Sasha's name to be called. An hour later they called her name and had her go into a small room where they took her blood pressure and asked for a urine sample. So she went into the one bathroom in the waiting room and did her thing and then sat down again and waited for her name to be called again. Another hour went by and her name was called again. This time a different room full of computers and cubicles. They asked her for her address and phone number and insurance card and then told her to go back into the waiting room and wait for her name to be called. An hour and a half later her name sounded and yet another room where they took 4 vials of her blood. A quick "thank you" and, you guessed it, "have a seat in the waiting room, it shouldn't be much longer." Another hour and Sasha was called into the first room again where they had to take her blood pressure. (Maybe they lost the results of the first test). Once again to the waiting room. It was now 1:00 AM and needless to say, a cranky, pregnant Sasha was hungry, dehydrated and shaky. A vending machine saved the day with slightly salted pretzels in a tiny bag. Sasha was not able to eat all of the pretzels because, GASP!!, her name was called. A doctor was ready to see her! It turns out it was a false alarm. The ultrasound was first. After the ultrasound she was escorted to a small room where we waited for another hour or so.

It turns out that the first "doctor" to visit us in the small room was a nurse and the second "doctor" was another nurse but the third "doctor" was really a doctor and ill-prepared at that. She looked at everything and said that it was possible that Sasha had a kidney stone. That was too bad because they can't do anything about it because she is prego. She also reported to us that she had some kind of infection. They weren't sure what it was exactly but even if they did they couldn't do anything about it because she is prego. Finally she told us that there was a small placental hemorrhage. Obviously they can't do anything about that so she sent Sasha on her way with a prescription to help the nausea. So we still aren't sure why she had intense abdominal cramps or was vomiting along with the cramps but whatever. At least we got to spend some time together.......in an ER........with sick people all around us......and it was late.......really late.......3:30 AM by now.......

Good thing we are going to pay a lot for this. It was worth it.

The First Ultrasound

Sasha and I went to a new doctor today and she was the best of all of them. She was cheery and super friendly and really was concerned about us. The doctor thought we were there for an initial pregnance visit but we told her that we were there for an ultrasound. She was happy to get us in that day instead of making us come back some other time when it was convenient for her. So without further ado..... the pictures!!!



Yep, that is it. The blob to the left inside the big black mass is the baby. I know it is not much yet but its little heart was going like crazy. It was really great to hear the heart. I guess a baby's heart beats at about 180-190 bpm normally when it is in the womb. It was at 182. Perfect!!! It all seems a bit more real now. It was a life changing visit. So Sasha is officially 9 weeks along and is really excited for the first trimester of barfiness to be over. She is still working but will only be working as long as she feels like it. I am getting ready to take more work because I hear that babies cost a lot. Woo Hoo!!! 'Cause we just got money layin' around all over the place!!! I was looking for a way to get rid of it all!!!

The News

These past few weeks have been very monumentous for us. Finally we have something blog-worthy. Sasha is going to have a baby!!! As of now she is about 8 weeks along and the due date is October 18th. We are very VERY excited!!!!! She is going to have her first ultrasound in the next week or so, so when we get those pics we will probably post them. Sasha is doing fine except for the pending barf that is constantly knocking on the door. Seriously though, she has felt like she is on the verge of brfing for three weeks in a row now. Day and night. We have tried a ton of things from gigner cookies to saltines to preggie pops and nothing has touched it. She went to the doc and they gave her some prescription shuff that helps a little but she has accepted the fact that she is just going to be sick for a while. So now we have something interesting to post about and that is exciting all in itself. We will keep you all updated as soon as anything else happens.

Adventures in taxes

I guess it isn't a surprise that Pinnacle, the company I work for, does not have their act together. All I want to do is my taxes. They were supposed to send me my 1099 form last week but they had a different address on file for me. The address happened to be of the apartment that Sasha and I lived in when we were first married. Yes, that was 3 years ago. Nevermind the fact that I have been employed by them for four years and I have been in different parts of the country each of those years. The best part of the story is that the company regularly ships equipment to me at my current address and yet they send my tax forms somewhere else. I guess they could say, "We thought you had a house in Rexburg and Arizona." Then I would have to say, "No, no how silly of you. If I really had 2 homes, I would have to be a sales rep and not a service technician!!!" Well, Sasha and I are still in Arizona and it is quite lovely here. I has been a little chilly here the last week but the temperature is great now. Today it was 75 degrees and the there was not a cloud in the sky. I hope you are all jealous. I know I would be.

Sasha and I spent our Christmas in Portland and it was great. We got to go to the temple there and take some great pictures. That was where were married so it was fun to go back.

I am still going to school and Sasha is still making us wealthy. She works all the time and I love her for it. She recently went to the dentist and it seems that she is going to need to get her wisdom teeth out. So we are trying to get that all arranged. I told her that having your wisdom teeth pulled is one of the greatest experiences ever. She didn't believe me because she saw a youtube video of someone getting theirs taken out. Needless to say that she is not the slightest bit excited about it now. Anyway, that is about it for us. Stay tuned for future updates but don't hold your breath!!