Mud Run 2008

Brent and some friends from work participated in a Mud Run this past weekend... Mud Run is a combination of regular citizens, Civil Servants, companies, teams, colleges and some military personnel competing together through a series of boot camp styled obstacles that have been surrounded by (or consist entirely of) mud. The race is 10K and really dirty! They had a great time, but Brent's chiropractor has his work cut out for him this week! Brent is already talking about the Spring sign ups, so I think this will become a regular event for them.

http://www.mudrundfw.com/

The Fire Department hosing them down:

Blue Steel Baby

Luke's uncle Chris lovingly gave Luke his first nickname this past weekend... "Blue Steel". I didn't know what this was either, until they refreshed me on the movie Zoolander-- Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson are runway models and when Ben Stiller strikes his pose during their "walk off", he makes this face:

1st Week

This first week has been amazing... the love we have for our little boy is hard to explain. My Grandmother sent Luke a book that sums up this feeling so well, called Through and Through. It says "I love your top side, I love your bottom side, I love your inside, and outside... it goes through fingers and toes, etc. and ends with the sweetest last page: "I love you through and through... yesterday, today, and tomorrow, too." It is so amazing to love this little guy more and more every day as we learn more about each other. We didn't understand how life would change with a baby and loved the season of life Brent and I were in enjoying our marriage and each other, but I have to say, life just got more full and meaningful for us both. Luke is a sweet little boy- his deep blue eyes are so calming and thoughtful, his pudgy legs are so kissable and touchable, and his hair is so fluffy and soft. Luke recognises our voices and calms when we hold him... it is such a rewarding feeling to have his trust.

We have been struggling this week with elevated bilirubin levels that started with treatment at the hospital, but levels rose again over the weekend. We are all physically tired and feeding is our first priority right now to get the jaundice under control. Luke's pediatrician thinks the worst is behind us, so we pray that is true-- I feel extremely helpless when my baby gets so tired, he can't get through a feeding without falling asleep, but trust with extra pumping and God's lead, Luke will be strong in no time. My mom has been a HUGE help this week teaching me baby how to's, driving us to doctors, making dinner (every other night that our wonderful Sunday School friends don't), running errands, and constantly doing laundry... learning from the best is one of the things I am thankful for this week :)

Luke's Pediatrician (first check up):

Watching Dancing With The Stars with Granna:

Playtime:

Dinner Time:

Naptime:

Our SON, Joshua Luke Brewer is here!

Our sweet Luke arrived at 37 weeks and 2 days... my water broke just as I laid down to go to sleep Monday night, so we knew this was finally the real deal (we had 4 false alarms and Labor and Delivery was just as sick of us coming in as we were!). Labor went very quickly at about 6 hours (and much easier than the horror stories everyone tells)! My Doctor was the one on call, so she got to deliver him... we had one scare where his heart rate dropped really low to 60 BPM from 130 for about 5 minutes-- I have never seen a staff work so efficiently. They stopped contractions to give Luke time to recover and started them up again with Pitosin... during my first push, I could see the nurses beginning to rush and lots of staff showing up-- his heart rate was dropping with every contraction (which later we found out his cord was around his neck), so I had about 8 rounds of pushing and Doctor used forceps to turn him and get him out quickly. To look down and see this wonderful baby who had been a part of me for 9 months is truly indescribable-- he was (and is) perfect, soft, wonderful, beautiful, lovable and adorable. Brent was amazing at getting us to the hospital, participating in delivery (wow!), and calming his son when he is too upset to eat... we joked that he is the "baby whisperer", but in all honesty, I am so blessed that he is the father of our son... what a great example that Luke will have in his life. Here are a few pictures we have taken over the last few days. We just got home Friday afternoon because Luke has jaundice and they treated him under the fluorescent lights over night- very emotional for me to see him under lights for 18 hours all by himself when all I wanted to to is hold him and tell him he is okay. They are let me feed him every 3 hours, so we get to hold him and talk to him then which probably did more for me than him:). He was circumcised Thursday morning and didn't cry or bleed! Tough kid, but pretty sleepy afterwards! My OB was the one who did the circumcision, so I was happy about that!

Thank you for the phone calls, emails, gifts, pretty flowers, visits, and well wishes... we feel loved and blessed that you all share in our excitement... we are so mindful of the gift God has given us and hope you know we appreciate you all in our lives. If I haven't picked up my phone to answer, it is because we are sleeping, feeding, or crying but I do plan to return phone calls this week :)
Joshua Luke Brewer
6 lb. 13 oz., 19"
October 28, 2008

Grandparents:

(Deb- still deciding name and Dwight "Granddaddy", Karen "Granna" and John "Pops")

GREAT Grandmother, Honey:

Four Generations:

Dr. Sigman:

Drew (born 5 days earlier at 9#) and Luke (6# 13oz) BFFs:

Biliruben Light Therapy:

Going Home!

Allie greets Luke... true love!

New Patio

We are in Phase 1 of our backyard project. We had the patio extended this week and we are pleased with how well it turned out... now maybe we can get a bigger table to host more than just ourselves for outdoor dinners :) All in due time!

Baby Drew is Here!

Our friends, the Carpenters just had their baby, Drew, yesterday and we are thrilled! He was a big baby at 9#, so I know Sarah is happy she had a planned C-section. We are excited our kids will be so close in age and look forward to watching them grow. We went to see them last night at the hospital to celebrate-- their link is in my Friend's Blogs-- and I am sure Wade is working on getting pictures posted soon! I won't tell their story, but Drew is a tough boy and he is in our prayers. We are excited to hear if today brings good news for their family! I bet it does! Here is the diaper cake I made to take to them... Brent started pulling on stuff when he saw it, so I am surprised it is all still in one piece!

As we were leaving the hospital, I started getting strong contractions and must have been walking funny because Brent said he saw 2 nurses look at each other with a "Why-is-she-leaving-the-hospital?" look. So, hopefully this is the last pregnant picture I post and Drew and Luke/Elliott can meet soon!

36.5 Weeks... Looks like we made it!

My Dr. has taken me off of all meds and bedrest, so we should be having this baby soon! She thinks it will go pretty fast as I am 80% thinned and contractions start pretty rapidly if I am not on the Terbuteline. She told me to labor one hour at home and then get on to the hospital because she thinks it could be a quick labor (4 hours!) since my body has been ready to go the last month. So, we will keep you posted when our little one arrives! We are so thankful for your prayers and love over these last months and are thrilled we were able to hold off labor to this point! Brewers and Allisons, pack those bags! We may have a baby by the weekend!

Fall Fun!

Brent and I had a pumpkin carving contest last night... each of our missions was to beat out the other, so we thought it only fair to post it to our blog for an unbiased vote! We will reveal the winner Halloween night, so don't ask us before then who carved which one... just vote!
The rules surrounding the carving were as follows:
1. You MAY only use one pumpkin
2. You must finish your pumpkin in 1 night
3. You MAY NOT use props
4. You MAY NOT reveal which pumpkin you carved before the votes are counted
5. You MAY use a pumpkin carving kit and a drill
6. ACORN is not allowed to participate in the election process (I just threw that one in there since I am excited about the presidential debates tonight! :)
(The voting is closed) The winner is ABBEY! I get a new pair of shoes! Thanks to all who voted!

Brent's Pumpkin (48 votes):

Abbey's Pumpkin (50 votes):

Happy Halloween!

Gig Em's and Hook Em's

We won't be outnumbered in our own home! The Carpenters came over to watch some football and the air show from our backyard this weekend... they will be welcoming their own baby Drew in 1.5 weeks!

What's a Girl to Do?

On bed rest?

I made our baby a stocking! I am already excited about Christmas, and Christmas is not complete without these felt/ sequin stockings that I grew up loving to pull out year after year. When Brent and I first got married, I made ours, then I made Allie one (hers is not quite as intense), and now Baby Brewer gets one. These usually take quite a few weeks, but I was able to hammer this out in 1 week since I don't have much going on :) The only thing left to do is get baby's name embroidered on there in a few weeks!

Melody CrossFits!

My sister has never been in better shape, so I had to brag on her for a minute! She made the mistake of sending me a link to her workout facility where they post pictures of their workouts, so I just had to post it (if she is making me post pictures of my belly, I thought it only fair to post her picture too! :) She is second from the front in the green :) They are in the middle of a rest break between maxing out on sit-ups.

34.5 Weeks- Tick Tock!

My Dr. apt. went great today... I am still on bedrest for 2 more weeks, still at a 2 (no progression is good!), baby's heart rate is 144 which Dr. said is "perfect" with a smile :) I gained a pound and got a flu shot to give baby antibodies for at least 2 weeks until Dr. takes me off of Terbuteline at 36.5 weeks (Oct. 22). My company is setting me up on a laptop to do some admin. work from home to keep my regular salary coming and so I do not have to dip into FMLA until the baby comes. We are so thankful to have made it to the 34 week mark and appreciate everyone's concern. We will try really hard to keep you all posted as things change/ progress. We are pretty excited we get to meet our baby soon and can't wait to know if we have an Elliott or a Luke!

Homebound

Since Brent and I are sentenced to our house due to bed rest, our weekend was pretty low key- this was much needed because I think Brent was still running on fumes from the last two weeks events. We had some friends come over Friday night and brought us Chili's for dinner and gifts- thank you Kalli and Phillip! And Saturday, Brent dug up some pipes in the backyard (getting us ready to extend the patio). My mom also left him with a rack of ribs to grill, so that was his project for Sat.-- making the perfect Memphis style rib rub and slow cooking them for 2 hours... they were SOOOO fall off the bone good! Brent also installed the baby's car seat base in my car, so we are totally ready to bring home our little one-- bags are packed and we are in wait mode. Don't tell my Dr. but Sunday, we went to a furniture store to find a glider and they pretty much told us we waited too long to custom order (the story behind that is that I don't procrastinate on much, but I hate the way gliders look, so have not really wanted to shop for one. We know we need one for late night feedings, so we are at an impasse). After lunch at the Olive Garden we headed home and I found a glider online at JC Pennys that will do the job. It will be arriving on Wednesday, so the sales lady at Stacy Furniture can breathe easy... I will have a glider in time.

Tiffany/Wanda, check out the "baby" in the carrier :)

THE Glider:

33.5 Week Check Up

We have made it another week! My Dr. says I am measuring 33 weeks now and baby's heartbeat is strong. I am on bedrest until week 36 (2 weeks and 3 days from now), then she will take me off of Tributeline on Oct. 19 and see what happens. The biggest news is that I am holding at 2 cm and seems like baby has moved back up to my belly a little more-- it is definitely getting bigger which I have never been happier about! My mom has committed to another week with me, so I am pretty happy about that (my nurse and my driver:)! We will keep you all posted as things happen! Thanks for the prayers and well wishes!