YES, Brooke has arrived & is 2 months ALREADY!

I know, Brooke is 2 months old and I am just now blogging about her for the first time. What can I say about our daughter... She is WONDERFUL!!! I love being a Mommy and James is enjoying Fatherhood. Brooke had her 2 month appointment this week and weighed in at 11 lbs 3 oz and 21 3/4 inches long. She has been steadily gaining since she was born. She also had her first round of shots since the hospital and Brooke was not happy about them at all. She screamed so loud the nurses heard her at their desks down the hall. Her tears made me want to cry. I could not wait to scoop her up and console her once the doctor was done. She is a very alert and active little girl. The doctor said she holds her head like a four month old. We are already proud parents as we watch her grow, learn and achieve new skills every day. Here are some picture of little Miss Brooke over the past 2 months...

Our 1st Christmas!

My silly Auntie's Lisa & Lora

We're waiting for Santa!

Brooke with her Wonderful Grandma's!
She loves her Grandma Bern & Grandma Dee

Mommy & Brooke on Christmas Eve

2 Months old

Brooke's Baptism 12/19/10 - held on her Grandpa Mike's birthday

Pictured with her Godparents Aaron & Loni and Parker too

The best Christmas gift ever!

Brooke and Daddy doing sit-ups

Brooke's 1st Thanksgiving

4 Generations - Nanna, Grandma, Mom, Me, Auntie Lora, & Auntie Lisa
Thanksgiving Day



1 Month Old - Nov 24, 2010

Me & Auntie Crystal - I'm so cozy...

My Birthday Buddies, Landa and Steve!

Happy Halloween - 7 days old

5 days old

Brooke's friend Gracie! I love this picture of her!

Stephen & Brooke - He was so excited to meet her.

Brooke, all ready to go home!

Brooke Noelle Perkins - October 24, 2010 / 12:43 pm / 7lbs 4oz / 20 inches

Brooke's Birth Story

I went into labor with Brooke at 12:30 am on October 24, 2010. She was determined not to be born on her due date! After laboring at home for 1.5 hours, James and I loaded our bags and headed to the hospital. James' Mom was down visiting from Oregon and hoping Brooke would arrive while she was here. Denise decided to stay back at our house until we made sure the hospital deemed I was in active labor and was going to admit me. My Mom and sisters decided to waste no time and started their 3 hour drive from the Bay Area. On our way to the hospital we called our close friends to inform them. With contractions 3-7 minutes apart the hospital admitted me at about 2:30 am. Laboring while standing and walking felt a lot better then when sitting, so with James' help I walked the halls until 4:15 am. At this point I had to head back to my room so that the nurse could check me. She hooked me up to fluids and told me I was about 2 cm. Around 7:30 I had progressed to 4 cm and was given an epidural. Wow, epidurals are fantastic!!! I felt great and without pain once on the epidural constant drip, however it slowed down my labor to contractions every 10 minutes apart. To help speed things up they put me on pitocin and broke my water. At about this time, 9:30 am, I began to feel discomfort again. I mentioned it to the nurse, thinking at first it may have to do with the pitocin and breaking my water. It did coincide with these two things, but also had to do with the fact that my epidural had COMPLETELY STOPPED WORKING! They tried everything, including giving me other drugs, which only made me drowsy but did not kill the pain. They were contemplating re-doing the epidural when i told the nurse that I felt like I needed to push. She checked me and I was at 10 cm, Woohoo! I pushed for about 20 minutes and Brooke was born! In the end it was well worth it!

Count Down - 9 Days From Due Date

With only 9 days till my due date, when do you think I will go into labor? I am taking a poll, just for fun, to see when YOU think Brooke will arrive. Just so you know I had an appointment this past Monday (10/11/10) and my doctor informed me that I was "almost at 1 cm." I think he was just being nice. So... take the poll at the right of the page and let us know when you think our little girl will be gracing us with her presence!

More Preggo Pics

October 12, 2010 - 38 weeks & 4 days / 9 months

Only 11 days till my due date!

I'm carrying a "pumpkin"!

September 11, 2010 - 34 weeks / 8 months

September 11, 2010 - We just returned from a 9/11 memorial that was held in Fresno

Luncheon Baby Shower

Natalie, Me, Jean, & Amanda

The 3 women I am sitting with are wonderful friends that I came to know during my time working at the preschool. They were so kind to throw me a little get-together at Red Robin's on Saturday, September 25, 2010. Yummy! When I arrived the table was cutely decorated with balloons and "BABY" blocks. Our waitress had planned some fun Red Robin games for us to partake in while there. The first was to find the one and only picture in the restaurant that is turned completely upside down. I guess every Red Robin has one picture this way. It is not the same picture at each location. This challenge turned out to be harder then we thought it would be and ended up having to ask which one it was. The other game she had us play was diapering a stuffed animal. The "diapers" were the triangle paper sleeves that they wrap their hamburgers in. Apparently these are called "diapers" for the hamburgers. Who would have thought!?!

It was great to see these friends and get to catch up. The next time we get together I will be a Mommy and they will get to meet little Brooke! Thank you ladies, it was a lot of fun!

Bay Area Baby Shower

My amazing Mom, wonderful friend Loni, great cousins Kathryn and Koryn, and terrific Aunt Liz threw me a beautiful baby shower on Saturday, September 18, 2010. The shower was held at my Mom's house, which was the perfect location. It felt so nice to be back "home," celebrating with those I care about. The sun shined threw on us (it even turned out to be a little on the hot side) as we ate a fabulous brunch, played a few games, opened gifts, and guests decorated scrapbook pages for Brooke. I felt very loved and truly lucky to have such wonderful family and friends surrounding me, and supporting James and I in our next adventure in our life together... having a baby! Brooke doesn't know it yet but she is entering into two large families!

This was the favors handed out at the shower. There was a total of 8 different designs on the handmade soaps.

Sick Day

Let's just say that Monday, September 13th, was not a great day for James and I. I woke up not feeling good that morning and ended up puking. It did not feel like morning sickness, and thought that I may have eaten something the night before that just didn't settle right. James was on his second day at work so I called him just to fill him in on how I was feeling. Next thing I know, James was home. He wanted to check in on me and then return to work, but within the hour he began to throw-up himself. We both ended up having the flu! Luckily, it only lasted 24 hours and we spent Tuesday recovering from the body aches before even attempting to face the world on Wednesday. Neither one of us have come down with the flu for at least a good 5-7 years, so good thing we got it out of the way before Brooke is born.

New York - Here We Come

YES, we traveled across the country to New York while I was 32-33 weeks pregnant! This means I was 8 months and in my 3rd trimester. With a final approval from my doctor two days before we left and a note from him saying I could fly, we were packed and ready to go. However, we did make sure to travel with a birthing kit in our carry-on... just in case.

Visiting New York was a first for both James and I. Aside from knowing we were going to be in New York City from August 28 - Sept. 1 and then in Buffalo from Sept. 2-5, we did not go with any itinerary. We figured we would make it up while there depending on what we wanted to see. This worked out great for us as we were able to see everything we had hoped to, plus more!

After a red-eye flight from San Jose to NYC, that landed at 6:50 am, we wasted no time in hitting the pavement to see the sights. Our first stop was seeing the Empire State Building. We decided to get the full tourist experience and go up to the observatory on the 86th floor, that overlooks all of Manhattan. There are 3 elevators that everyone takes to get you as far as the 80th floor and from there you have a choice to either wait for the single elevator that will take you the remaining 6 floors or you climb the 6 flights of stairs. We were given a 20 minute wait time for the elevator, which was ridiculous to me, so we decided to take the stairs. I felt pretty good as I went through the door that led to the stair well, and looked back to watch person after person chose the elevator. Come on people there is an 8 month pregnant lady choosing the stairs!

James climbing the 6 flights of stairs

86th floor, here we come!

On the 86th floor of the Empire State Building, over looking Downtown Manhattan where the Twin Towers used to stand.

Our first day in NYC (Sat. 8/28) also included: Times Square, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and dinner at PJ Clarkes. Which I have to mention we walked 20 blocks to get to. Lets just say I made sure we took a taxi back to the hotel that night!

Visiting the M&M store in Times Square.

After spending two days by ourselves in NYC we were joined by Jason and Krista. They are the whole reason for this trip, because their wedding was going to be held in Buffalo on Sat. September 4th. Jason's family also traveled to NYC, where we all vacationed together until we flew to Buffalo later in the week for the wedding. Those that joined us included: Jill (Jason's Mom), Brad, Erin and Emily (Jason's Uncle, Aunt and cousin), Tutu (Jason's Grandma), and Jay, Elaine, Cage and Casey (Jason's Uncle, Aunt, and cousins).

James and I in Times Square

Our hotel was only 3 blocks from Times Square so we spent most nights hanging out in this area.

The rest of our time in NYC was spent doing the following:

Sunday, August 29 - Took the subway to Downtown to see:

• The World Trade Center - Museum, "Remember" Tour, & 10 House fire station
• Financial District - Wall Street
• Battery Park - Statue of Liberty, Castle Clinton Fort

Monday, August 30 -Took the subway to Uptown to see:

• Central Park - We all walked across the width of it
• Central Park Zoo - The girls did this
• O'Leary's Bar - This is how the guys spent their afternoon instead of the zoo
• Times Square for the evening

Tuesday, August 31 -

• Rockefeller Center
• FAO Schwartz
• Grand Central Station
• The Addams Family - Broadway show

Wednesday, September 1 - James and I enjoyed Downtown so much that we went back for more

• Canal St. - all of the "knock-off" shops
• Museum of American Finance
• Trinity Church (1 block from World Trade Center)
• St. Paul's Chapel (across the street from World Trade Center)
• Cross beam found at the World Trade Center site

Then on Thursday, September 2, we flew to Buffalo, NY for the remainder of our trip where we did the following:

Thursday, September 2 - Krista was our Tour Guide!

• Oldest tree in Buffalo
• Saw part of Lake Erie
• Dinner at Cheryl's house (Krista's sister)

Friday, September 3 -

• Rehearsal at the Avanti Mansion (James was Jason's Best Man)
• Niagara Falls
• Wet Jet Boat Tour (Pregnant women not allowed, but I hear it was a great time from James and everyone else)
• Rehearsal dinner

On the Maid of The Mist boat with Niagara Falls behind us. Soaking wet, but good times!


Saturday, September 4th, Jason and Krista's Wedding Day!

James spent the day with Jason and the other guys taking pictures, getting ready and doing his Best Man duties. I on the other hand, enjoyed a relaxing day getting my hair done and getting ready for the wedding.

Here is a picture of my swollen feet (they did not swell till we reached Buffalo) in the 3 inch heals that I wore with my dress. What can I say they went with my outfit... and after 1.5 hours I changed into silver sandals so that I could dance the night away!

Here we are with the newlyweds Mr. & Mrs. Todd! Jason and Krista are an amazing couple and wonderful friends. We were very excited to spend this special day with them. It was a beautiful wedding!

James and I dancing to FOOTLOOSE!!!

On Sunday, September 5th, we enjoyed a brunch with everyone before boarding our flight to head home. I am proud to say that Brooke and I made it home safely and James did not have to use the birthing kit. Thank goodness!

Fresno Baby Shower

On August 22, my good friends Tina Erikson and Danyel Tarrant threw me a baby shower for little Miss Brooke. It was such a beautiful day, not too hot, wonderful location, amazing decorations, and wonderful friends surrounding me! There was good food, presents, and then a relaxing afternoon filled with swimming, massages and manicures. It was a shower like no other that provided pampering for the mom-to-be and all guests. A big "THANK YOU" to the hosts and all that came to celebrate.

Everything's Looking Good

This past Monday 8/9, James and I went for my routine prenatal checkup. Everything is going great and Brooke's little heartbeat is going strong. We are getting more and more excited as the due date approaches. During this appointment my doctor felt around my stomach (as he normally does), however, when his hand got toward the bottom of my stomach he pressed down hard and jiggled his fingers back and forth. As I lay there I thought...Ok all part of the check-up. Then the doctor told James to place his fingers in the same spot, press down hard, and move his fingers from side to side. I was not sure what my doctor was doing, but of course went along with it. He then asks James, "Can you feel that? That is your babies' head." James was able to feel Brooke's head, which by the way at this appointment was located down at the base of my stomach near my pelvic bone. Wow... what a neat experience!

Our Summer Adventures!

Your probably wondering...Where have they been?... When is there going to be a new blog post? I'm sitting here now, typing away, to fill you in on all we have been doing. For those of you that may not know I am officially a "Stay at home Mom." I know it's a little early, but I left my previous position as a preschool teacher at the end of the school year, so that James and I would be able to spend the summer together before little Brooke arrives. You could call it an extended "babymoon," our last vacations taken before the baby is born.

Once the school year ended, I dove right into summer with great excitement. There was no "waiting" period, it started immediately! The very first weekend came (June 5) and I found myself headed to the Bay Area to celebrate Krista's bridal shower. She is one of our good friends that is getting married in September to James' best friend Jason. (For those of you that may not know who this is think the best man at our wedding.) We will be headed to New York for ten days at the end of August for a final vacation to New York City and to Buffalo, NY where James is the best man in their wedding. We are very excited!


Getting ahead of myself... now back to June events...

After attending the bridal shower I headed up to Sacramento to spend the week with our close friend's Steve and Crystal and their adorable children Stephen and Gracie. James had to work most of the week so what not a better reason to spend it with the Thorns' Family. Toward the end of that week Crystal and I headed off to our annual girls camping trip (June 10-13). This was started about 8 years ago by Crystal and has grown in attendance every year since. It is a fun time for just us women to get away from the everyday grind of life and relax for a weekend.


After being home for only two days, simply because James had to work, we were off again. This time we were headed to Tahoe for six days (June 16-21). We recently got a 5th-wheel trailer at the beginning of June and wanted to try it out. With Brooke on the way we figured camping would be a lot easier with a camper, plus it allows you to camp year round. At first we were only going to stay a few days, but decided to extend it to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary while in Tahoe. We are very glad we did. A full six days allowed us the time to visit our friends Dave & Linda, go fishing, bike riding, hiking, take daily walks with Buddy and spend a lot of time just relaxing. Relaxing for us included playing games such as ladder ball, dice, and dominoes and we spent a lot of time just reading.

James reading Dad Labs,

and I'm reading The Hot Mom to Be Handbook!

After a week of fun and relaxation we loaded up the truck & trailer and headed back home to Fresno.

We would spend the next two weeks at home. This included celebrating the 4th of July with friends in Fresno where we enjoyed our own fireworks show by setting off "safe & sanes." One of the perks of living in Fresno = a city that still allows fireworks!

My Mother-In-Law, Denise, mailed me a maternity dress that she made. Here I am at 24-weeks (July 3), wearing her beautiful work. Thank you!

And we're off...again! This time we headed to Donner Lake Memorial Campground in Truckee for a week of camping with the Thorns, DuBose, Props, and Brown families (July 6-11). Steve and Crystal were very nice in letting us stay with them in their camper, since the trip was planned and sites were booked before we knew we would be getting one. We could have pitched a tent, but lets be honest air mattress and pregnant do not go well together. I am okay with the discomforts that pregnancy brings, it is all part of it; however, I am one that NEEDS my sleep. Just ask James :)

Camping at Donner with great friends led to many laughing episodes, which is always fun. We did A LOT of fishing, but all got skunked by the fish except for Stephen. You can see below that he was very proud of his fish.

I hit the 25-week mark on this trip.

After our Donner trip we headed to the Bay Area for the California Firefighter Summer Olympics (July 12-16). For the last 3 years James has traveled North and South to participate with Fresno Fire's Soccer Team. This year the Olympics were hosted by Santa Clara Fire Department. This meant we were able to stay with my Mom and sisters all week and visit between games and in the evenings. It was very nice to be back home and spend a week with my family. After four days of playing soccer and six games later, the Fresno Soccer team took home Silver.

Straight from the Bay Area James and I headed back to the Sacramento area for the first of three baby shower's that are being thrown for me. Since I have lived in three places, Milpitas, Sacramento, and Fresno, family and friends from each place are throwing me a shower. Brooke, James and I are very lucky to have such loving and wonderful family and friends. The first was held on Saturday, July 17, 2010, and thrown by Crystal Thorns, Jill Todd, Tera Props, and Landa DuBose. The shower was beautiful and amazing. I enjoyed spending time with family and friends. It was so great to see everyone!

A picture with all the hosts: Landa, Jill, Me, Crystal, & Tera

My Mom made it, Brooke's Grandma was not going to miss her first shower!

The beautiful cake was made by Tera Props.

The amazing diaper cake was put together by Crystal Thorns and Tera Props.

Thank you everyone for coming!

The following week we headed off for yet another adventure (July 22-25). This time we were Pismo Beach bound. This was going to be our first trip out on the dunes with the camper and the first time James would get to go riding on the sand dunes. Little did we know this would turn out to be quite the adventure. Getting to the dunes, finding a location to fill up the water tank, finding a camping spot (900 spots & it was a sold out weekend), airing down the tires (15psi + 4WD to tow our camper on sand), and setting up. A five hour trip (that should take about 3.5 hrs)... not too bad considering it was our first time. Once we were set-up we had a lot of fun. Our friends Tina & Wiley and April, Alex, & their 1 y.o. Lincoln all came too for a fun-filled weekend. The guys did some riding, and surfing; us girls played in the sand with Lincoln and went searching for sand dollars; and Tina & Wiley went kayaking. Even though it appeared to be overcast some of the days, we all managed to get a little sun and we all welcomed the 60 degree weather over the 100+ that was plaguing Fresno.

James getting ready to ride!

James riding! Alex & Wiley were following behind in a Rhino (5 seater buggy w/full roll cage) and able to take these pictures.

We did not come fully prepared. The guys made roasting sticks out of fire wood. They were a little short so we had to use an oven mitt to protect our hand from the flame while roasting.

Our Pismo adventures continued as we traveled home... it took us 9 hours to get back! We had Alex, April & Lincoln with us in the truck. They were troopers through the whole experience, especially Lincoln! We ended up shredding tread off one of the trailer tires. So, we were stuck on the side of the road somewhere on HWY 41 between the coast and Fresno until the tire was fixed. James and Alex did a great job, but I felt bad for them since it was 108 degrees outside. In the end it was a fun trip that left us with many memories.

July 31, 2010: 28-Weeks, 7 months, I made it to the 3rd Trimester!

With only 12 weeks to go one of the benefits of staying home, aside from all the traveling, is that James and I would have the time to set up Brooke's room and get the house prepared for her arrival. For my birthday, I asked James to paint the nursery and put together all of the furniture. Here is the almost finished project (we still have to add different size dots on the wall behind the crib):Brooke is going to love her room, thanks to her Daddy!

I have a feeling this chair is going to see a lot of hours...

James had to work on my actual birthday, but we had spent the day before together, finishing up Brooke's room and going out to dinner. We went to Red Lobster since I was craving their cheesy biscuits and then grabbed dessert at Cali's Frozen Custard.

So for my birthday some of my friends took me out to lunch at Red Robin, where they had a cake for me and of course the servers sang to me. After lunch a few of us went to the movies and saw Toy Story 3 and then went for a pedicure. It was a very nice birthday, spent with wonderful friends.

The day would not have been complete without a picture with the Red Robin himself!
Back row: Red Robin, Danyel holding Brendon, Tina, Laurie holding Ellie, & Veronica

Tristan & I seated in front

August 1, 2010 - 27 years old

We planned a quick trip back to Pismo just for some ridding and shopping (August 5-6). We met our friends Robert & Loren and their cute kiddos Lil' Robert and Taylor there. Since this was just an over-nighter we stayed in a hotel instead of towing the camper over. During the day James and Robert went ridding, while Loren, the kids, and I went shopping near the pier and at the outlets. We always have a great time when we see the Holsten Family!

Robert, Lil' Robert, & James

Before James and Robert went out onto the dunes for some harder ridding they took Lil' Robert for a quick ride.

On dirt bikes: Lil' Robert, Robert, & James

Sorry that was so long, I really need to try and update more often. Coming up James and I are taking a birthing class, touring two hospitals to see which one we would like to deliver at, two more baby showers, and our trip to New York all before my Due Date.

We are getting very excited for Brooke's arrival. As I am writing this I am currently 29-weeks along, as of yesterday (August 7). We have 11 weeks to go. I am feeling very well as I have entered into the 3rd trimester. One of the only complaints I would have would be the severe leg cramps that wake me a night. I had heard they could be bad during pregnancy, but I did not expect this bad. They are severe "charlie horses" that wake you from a dead sleep and tighten your muscles so hard your not sure they will ever relax, at least during that moment. Sometimes they are so bad it wakes James up too. Other then that my pregnancy is going great,I feel very lucky! Since she is starting to run out of room in my belly, I am feeling her more often now. She still is most active between the hours of 10pm and 2am. Hopefully, she will adjust her days and nights once she is born, or we are in for some T-R-O-U-B-L-E!