NICU

As I mentioned before, Bowen and Faith were taken directly to the NICU after they were born. At the time, we weren't sure what, if anything, was wrong with them but we did know that Faith weighed 3lbs, 12 oz which was a little on the low side.

I was in recovery for quite a while because I had a bad reaction to some of the medications so I don't have much memory of the rest of that day, but I did get taken to the NICU later that night and supposedly I was the first person to hold them. I have no memory of this and I was shocked when I saw the pictures of myself holding the babies that night. Let's just say they won't be posted on here or Facebook any time soon. Or framed in my house. Or shown to anyone. Ever.

Surprisingly, Faith's weight was never a problem and Bowen was the one who needed more attention. He was on oxygen for a few days, IVs, some antibiotics as a precaution, heated bed for temperature control and an NG feeding tube. Faith didn't need the oxygen or the antibiotics but she had the IV and feeding tube as well. Neither one was ever in an incubator so we were usually able to hold them whenever we wanted, but it was still scary to see your child hooked up to so many monitors and all the alarms that were constantly going off.

One of the things I wish I would have known going into the NICU was that we needed sleepers with buttons and not zippers because all of their cords had to hang out the bottom of their clothes.

Bowen had his IV in his inner arm and they put a board on his arm to keep him from straightening it out. It looked super uncomfortable and it was almost impossible to change his clothes. As soon as they removed it he kept his arm stick straight (see above pic!)

Faith's IV was often in her head and it was quite the sight. They called it the "unicorn" and that's exactly what it looked like. Except that it was a scary needle in a teeny premie's forehead. Ouch!  

I compared the NICU to a casino because it was always the same lighting and temperature whenever you were there and you could never tell what time of day it was because there were no doors or windows. Plus, all the alarms did sound similar to slot machines. I also compared the NICU to a baby jail because the place was so secure, had strict visitation rules and you had to scrub in and wear the protective gowns at all times.

Faith rocking her "unicorn" on the side.

When I was released from the hospital it wasn't as difficult as I imagined to leave our children in the NICU.  It was obvious at first that they needed to be there, plus my recovery wasn't the smoothest and I definitely still needed a lot of care myself. But, about two days later we were ready for them to come home and it just about drove me crazy when they were kept in the NICU for another week. Bowen and Faith were pretty much always considered "Feeders and Growers" which is the last step to conquer before being released from the NICU. Basically it means that the baby is healthy, but the sucking reflex needs to be more developed and usually the baby needs to gain some weight. If you want to know how aggravating it is to leave an otherwise healthy baby in the NICU just google "stuck at Feeder and Grower stage" and you will see message board after message board of mothers complaining because their babies are not being released from the hospital. It's beyond frustrating and I don't even have words to describe what it feels like.

The best part about the NICU was that I was able to learn a lot about how to care for Bowen and Faith. Most of the nurses were so nice and each of them taught me some little trick about burping, feeding or swaddling. And when I say best part, I mean that's probably about the only thing I liked and I'm only saying it now after being out of that place for a month. I think when you have a baby in the NICU it's soul-crushing and most days I spent in tears.

I have a whole new respect now for moms and dads who have to spend months in the NICU with their children because it is not a fun place to be. Excluding all the ups and downs that your own children are going through, there is so much sadness there. There are drug babies who have been abandoned by their mothers and never have anyone to hold or comfort them, parents who sit by the bedside of their infants and cry and babies who are so small that you can't imagine how they will ever survive. In fact, if I'm ever pregnant again, I will be even more careful as I near the end of my pregnancy because I do not ever want to live through that again. 

Both Bowen and Faith had a lot of tape on their faces and it was not the cool doesn't stick to itself athletic tape that we're used to at my house. It was the doesn't come off even with alcohol pad type of tape. Plus the babies were constantly pulling at the tape and tubes and so they would have lots of scratches and rough places on their faces. It looked so painful.

The NICU also robs you of a lot of the normalcy of the end of your pregnancy. I know there is no such thing as normal, but it is shocking to your system to be pregnant one moment and not the next. When I think about how my babies were taken from me like that it does make me sad because I wasn't the first one to comfort them, talk to them or hold them (even though they say I was). I don't have pictures of myself crying tears of happiness after having birthed them, I didn't do skin to skin contact, get to change their diapers for days or get to try nursing them when they were first born. Faith's cord fell off while they were in the NICU and I wasn't even wheeled out of the front door of the hospital holding my babies. It sounds petty, but when you go through years and years of infertility these little things meant a lot to me. But I say all this because no matter what I would do it all again. From the very beginning of this journey I have wished that our story was more "normal" but I do think my family is where we are supposed to be and this is our story, no matter what. So, I'm glad that it's unique and we have lots and lots of stories to tell Bowen and Faith about their first days of life.

After two weeks we FINALLY got the okay to come home with our babies and this was after a good 72 hours of around the clock care that Brad and I attempted at the NICU. To this day, I think if we had not stepped up and managed their feedings ourselves we would have spent several more aggravating days scrubbing ourselves into the NICU.

I didn't take this pic of my backseat for the blog, I was just so happy to see carseats on the way home from the hospital that I snapped a pic of them on their first ride ever.

It turned out to be pretty funny looking back because this is what happened by the time we made the ten minute ride home. Faith was screaming her head off and like any level-headed, non-hormonal, and recovering C-section patient I climed into a ten inch space at a stop light. I think that pretty much sums up what I was willing to do to get them home at the time.

Birth Story

Good thing I did one pregnancy blog entry since I didn't get around to doing any more of those :) I honestly did mean to do a Week 34 or 35 post, but I was so overwhelmed with wrapping up my work duties before my maternity leave that I never got around to it. Below is the last known photo of me before the babies were born (tear).

Friday, May 4 was my last day of work and there is no telling how long I worked that day but I know it was very late into the night and I still didn't finish everything I wanted to get done. I figured I would wrap everything up over the weekend but on Sat I woke up and decided work could wait until Sun. I wanted to enjoy the first day of my maternity leave! Brad and I drove to Greenville to get some baby shopping done and later that afternoon my friend Bridgett and her husband Michael came to visit us and we had a great Cinco de Mayo eating Mexican that night.

This picture isn't from that night, but it was only a few weeks before. Bridgett and I both pregnant with twins on the day of my baby shower.

 

After Bridgett and Michael left Brad and I watched some tv and I started to feel a little strange. I tried to time the contractions, but I couldn't so I let my fears go and when I got sleepy around 2am I just went to bed. A few hours later I woke up and the bed was soaked with fluid so I woke Brad up and told him we needed to change the sheets. He just looked at me and said he thought we should call the doctor first. I don't know what I was thinking at the time - I didn't feel anything so I was just going to go back to bed. I was told by the nurse to go into the hospital, but I still didn't feel anything. I even wanted to take a shower but Brad wouldn't let me. I think I was lucky just to get my contacts in!

At the hospital I went into a triage room where we sat for a very long time. I was so hungry, tired, bored and thirsty. It was clear the nurses didn't think my water had broken and were going to send me home. Brad and I talked about going to Bojangles for breakfast on the way home and if we should go to church that day or not. Really I just felt so dumb for coming in or even calling because at this point it looked as if I had just wet the bed. Right before I thought they were going to release me I asked for my urine to be tested for protein. I'm not really sure what made me ask for this, but looking back this one question actually changed the course of that day, and really my life, forever.

Since my doctor had been out of town the week before I knew, that on a Sunday morning at 6:30am, he did not know that my previous urine test had shown some protein. So when they did find blood and protein in my urine they called him back and sure enough he came in to check me out. After checking my reflexes and taking one look at me his exact words were "It's a good day to have babies".

Shortly after I was moved into a labor and delivery room and the process was started with IVs, epidural, etc. It was close to noon at this point and I was told that it might be late into the night before the babies were born. I did not know how I was going to make it because if I thought I was hungry and thirsty before, the ice chips had only made it worse. Plus not getting the Bojangles, obviously.

The doctor came to break my water and he attached a monitor to the top of Baby A's head. It was pretty busy in my room with a lot of nurses coming and going and Brad on the phone with everyone and their brother. I told one of the nurses that I was still feeling some contractions and some weird vibrations and they did a cervical check and found out that Baby A had switched to a breech position. It turns out the monitor on the head was not appreciated. At this point everything was kicked into high gear. They put an oxygen mask on me, had me rolling onto my sides and people were suddenly rushing into the room. I really didn't know what was going on, but I guess my blood pressure went up very high and so at that point the doctor suddenly appeared and said we were doing a c-section. Everything happened so fast. Within a few short minutes I was put onto another bed, rolled to the operating room and the anesthesiologist was there again.

The nurses were all great and tried to keep me calm the entire time. They were telling jokes and making guesses about the sex of the babies. I was just trying to process how I went from peeing in the bed to delivering babies within a few short hours. I was supposed to have taken juice to Sunday School that morning, I had meant to finish work that afternoon...I was planning on spending a week or two of my maternity leave writing thank you notes, organizing and cleaning. Plus I had been looking foward to doing nothing but dreaming about my babies coming, reading books on how to take care of babies and sit in their nursery and just do nothing!! But instead I was on that operating table embarrassed because I hadn't taken a shower or prepared in any way for this birth. 

I couldn't see how many people were around me, but it felt like a lot. I knew I was naked or mostly naked and it felt like everyone was staring at me. I think this picture supports that theory.

I guess they weren't really staring, but it felt like it. At some point Brad showed up again and by miracles of all miracles he had sent my mom to our house to get the camera and she had shown up and found a nurse who delivered it to Brad while he was waiting to come in to see me. He sat with me behind the curtain and we just waited.

It was only a few minutes later and then we saw Baby A - the one who started all the chaos. It was a boy - just like I had suspected!! Bowen Cooper Sain, weighing 5lbs, 1oz born at 3:10pm.

Baby B was a little girl - also like I had guessed!! Faith Catherine Sain, weighing 3lbs, 12 oz born at 3:11pm.  

It was a moment I will never forget as the doctor held the babies over the screen and then the nurses called out their weights. We heard the babies cry a little and then the NICU nurses wrapped them up and showed them to us again as they were whisked out the door. That's all I remember about the c-section. Everything was just a blur after that!!

I was taken to a recovery room and the babies went directly to the NICU. It was a little sad that I didn't get to hold them or touch them before they were taken out and I will always be somewhat heartbroken about that. Brad was able to take some more pics later that night at the NICU, and they are a little scary looking, but it's just appearance. The babies only needed some extra TLC and I'll write more about that later. 

Bowen

Faith



31 weeks



So I figured since I am almost done being pregnant it might be a good idea to actually write down some facts before I forget everything. I stole these questions from another girl's pregnancy blog, but I'm really too lazy to think of my own topics.

Size of Baby: As of March 21st (week 29), Baby A weighed 3lbs, 2oz and Baby B weighed 2lbs, 10oz. The doctor says it's normal for one to weigh more than the other by now. We don't get them weighed every week so I won't find out their weight again for another two weeks or so. But, in my mind I like to think of them as "heavy". Just kidding, I'm actually really glad they are so healthy.

Total Weight Gained: I really hate to admit this, but I'm hovering around the 30lb mark already.

Maternity Clothes: I actually only have a few things I like to wear at this point. I'm super uncomfortable if anything is tight on my waist and most of the maternity pants are. I probably should have spent more money on nicer clothes earlier on, but I didn't and now that I'm this close I'll just get by with Brad's clothes during the week and the few things I do have on the weekends. Shoes are another problem. I have trouble fitting into anything other than flip flops and even those leave indentions on my swollen feet. It's pretty embarrassing, so I wear pants or long dresses everywhere I go.

Gender: We are definitely still waiting to find out the sexes at this point. I feel like I'm having a boy and a girl, but we'll just have to wait and see. I already told the doctor that I better not be asleep when they are born and he just laughed. I got the impression that wasn't high on his list of concerns. So, I made Brad promise that if I was asleep when they were born that he can't tell ANYONE until I know. I think that's fair, right? Fair or not that's the rule.

Belly Button: Belly button is half in and half out. It's not a full outtie, but you can kind of see it sticking out under my clothes.

Wedding Rings: I haven't worn my rings in about 3-4 weeks. My mom gave me this fake ring that was sort of loose in the beginning but now it's also tight and leaves imprints. I don't think it's going to stand the test of time either.

Stretch Marks: I don't see any yet, but honestly I can't even see my whole belly. When I ask Brad he says no but I'm not convinced he would even admit it if they were there. I do have these weird red spots all over my body. They are mostly like red freckles but because I'm so fair skinned they are really obvious. Another reason I don't like to wear just anything because a lot of them are on my shoulders and upper back. Supposedly they just disappear after birth. Fingers crossed.

Movement: The babies move all the time! I thought I would be obsessed with counting kicks but I actually never even do it because they move constantly and easily move ten times in a minute or so. I can mostly tell which baby is moving, but I was getting a little concerned about Baby A and today I made the doctor show me where his feet were and they were much farther to the right than I had thought so now I'm a lot less worried. Before I was thinking that Baby B was performing some kind of aerobic exercise, but now I know that some of that was actually Baby A kicking as well. My movement is definitely slower now. It's actually somewhat difficult to stand up if I've been sitting down for a while. I guess all pregnant women feel like that - just like your body cannot stretch all the way out or something. Otherwise, just the getting in and out of the bed or the car is not so easy. But, thankfully I don't have to do too much so that's the best part. I don't even try to exercise at this point anymore. I've just given up.

Sleep: I don't really know what to say here. Sometimes I sleep fine and other times not so much. I slept on the couch one day this week and that was actually very comfortable but then I tried more pillows on the bed the next night and that was also better. I do have to get up to go to the bathroom about every 2-3 hours so that sort of stinks. But since I don't feel overly tired during the day I don't worry too much about it.

What I miss: I miss sleeping on my stomach, but I also miss breathing normally. I've had some congestion problems through most of my pregnancy and I'll just be glad to sleep with my mouth closed and not wake up with my lips and tongue all dried out. Gross, I know. I also sort of miss walking at a normal pace. I saw these ladies walking fast the other day and it made me wonder if I would ever be able to move like that again.

What I'm looking foward to: I'm really looking foward to the whole month of April. My work has slowed down a little bit, I have my maternity pictures in a few days and my shower to look foward to! Part of me wants the next few weeks to fly by so I can meet these babies but the other part of me wants time to slow down so that I can enjoy the last little bit of pregnancy.

Cravings/Aversions: I don't have a lot of cravings per se, but there are things I'll want to eat more than others. I was also doing a decent job of eating healthy but lately all I want is unhealthy foods. I'm trying to keep it under control, but it's like something has invaded my body and I have lost self-control over my diet.

Symptoms: I was so lucky during the first trimester that I wasn't constantly feeling sick, but now that I'm super pregnant I pretty much am a textbook case of every symptom. Mostly the congestion, red spots and swelling are the biggies. General tiredness, etc. But, I am not having any signs of early labor so praise the Lord for that!

Best moment this week: Our cribs came in much earlier than expected and we got a bigger discount on our stroller than we expected so both of those were nice surprises. But really just going to the doctor every week and finding out everything is okay is the best part of each week.

Looking Back

I didn't want to do a "2011 Year in Review" post because most of the truly important things that happened to me in 2011 I didn't even blog about, but I really wanted to address my life right now as opposed to this time last year.

On December 29, 2010 I was told by my dr's office that I was pregnant. On January 3, 2011 I was told by the same dr's office that something was wrong. At the time they really didn't know what what the issue was and it wasn't until several weeks later that they figured out I had a blighted ovum. This just meant that there was a yolk sac, but no baby inside of it.

I can't really express in words what my life was like last winter. Celebrating the New Year and thinking I would hold my long-awaited baby in my arms that year and then only days later finding out that wouldn't happen was so devastating. It really seemed like the days and weeks of January drug out so slowly as I had to go to the doctor several times a weeks for bloodwork or ultrasounds and it was so heartbreaking for my first/second/third pregnancy ultrasound to be an empty sac and empty uterus. There was a horrible snow storm during this time and so the roads were messy for quite a while. It just made the trip to get bad news that much more difficult.

I remember very clearly that I had my actual miscarriage the first weekend in February. It was over Super Bowl weekend so I'm not sure if I'll ever look at the Super Bowl as a fun time ever again. I think miscarriages are different for each woman, but mine was actually almost as physically painful as it was emotionally. I don't really want to get into the details because it's not pleasant and it's difficult to talk about.

February and March of 2011 are really just a blur to me now. I can't even really remember what I did to get through the pain of losing my child except that I prayed and cried all the time. I would even burst into tears if a break-up song came on the radio. I especially got upset when I would hear the Sara Evans song "A Little Bit Stronger" and, at the time, it was on the radio almost every other song. I usually don't listen to the radio that much, but we took a road trip to Savannah and Charleston the last week of February and it seemed like that song would not stop coming on. That particular song was really emotional for me because it talked about knowing that things wouldn't work out and being tired of hoping for the best and being disappointed and that was exactly the way I felt at the time because of how long it took for the dr to diagnose my miscarriage as an actual miscarriage instead of something just being a little off and everything working out fine. But probably the worst part of having a miscarriage, for me, was having to pretend that everything was okay. I can remember I would wear sunglasses outside to walk my dog even when it wasn't sunny because I didn't want any of my neighbors to see that I was crying or that I had been crying or to just look me in the eyes at all. I hated work because it was so hard to care about anything other than what I was going through and even on the phone it was almost impossible to pretend to be fine. After a while I did stop crying as much but then I was just left with anger because I had been trying for so long to get pregnant that it just wasn't fair. I was really, really mad and jealous of others. Why did other people get pregnant when I couldn't? Why did people who weren't trying get pregnant when I was already seeing a dr who specialized in getting women pregnant and I still couldn't?

I really did feel like everyday I got a little bit stronger, and as they say, time heals all wounds. I remember I made a list of things I had to look foward to but the list was mostly things like "going to the dentist". You know you are in the depths of despair if that's what you have to look foward to.

But eventually I began to be more hopeful. No damage was done to my body and there was no reason to think I wouldn't ever be pregnant again. In fact, most statistics said that women who had a blighted ovum usually carried their next baby to term with no issues. I began seeing a new doctor that spring and it really made all the difference in the world. I began to feel special again and I just had a renewed sense of faith. I started to feel like my prayers would be answered and I just had a distinct feeling that I would get pregnant in the fall.

Flash foward to September 30, 2011 and I received the same call I had received almost nine months before. I was pregnant. But this time, the nurse was probably more shocked that I didn't squeal with joy and I didn't burst into tears, but questioned her over and over again about my hormone levels and making my next appointment. I can remember walking outside and just feeling the sun and it seemed as if I had never seen the sky and the trees before. It was so beautiful. And I remember thanking God and saying how happy I was and how scared. I was really paralyzed with fear that the same thing would happen again. I made Brad promise that we wouldn't tell anyone until we were absolutely sure that everything was okay.

This is me at almost 21 weeks pregnant. I have two healthy, wonderful babies inside my belly that I cannot wait to meet. I think about them all the time and love feeling the kicks and movements. They make me very tired and sometimes a little uncomfortable, but it is a dream come true.

So yeah, 2012 is a little different for me than the start of 2011. I have more blessings than I could ever count, but at the same time there are still some scars left from the miscarriage. As much as I hated going through my miscarriage, I know that it happened for a reason. I appreciate this pregnancy on a level that I never could have without having had a loss. I know that everyday I stay pregnant is a miracle and a blessing straight from God and that it is only because of His graciousness that I have been blessed while so many others still wait. My heart aches for women who I know are trying to get pregnant and couples who face infertility. It really is a silent, lonely disease. I wish that every loving couple who wanted a baby could become pregnant as soon as possible. Or be matched with an adoptive baby if that is their wish. But we have to trust in God's perfect timing and His plan for our lives. I actually thank God now for my miscarriage because of what I learned and how I grew from it. I appreciate my blessings even more because of the pain that I experienced and I know that was part of my plan all along. I really do feel that I am a different person now because of having to go through such a stinging loss, but I hope that I am better because of it. At least I no longer have to look foward to dental visits - I have much more important doctor visits to look foward to and for that, I am forever grateful.

Goodbye November and Goodbye Football!

I wish I would have blogged in November because November is such a fun month to me. I celebrate my birthday and my sweet nephew's birthday and of course all the family time with Thanksgiving and gearing up for the holidays.

This year for my birthday Brad surprised me with a dinner with several of closest couple friends. I think he had a little help from one of my besties, but I was so surprised! I had no idea and it was great to see everyone. I don't have any pictures since I had no idea I was going out to a special dinner that night but it was so special to me that they all came and I wish we did that every year for everyone's birthday!

My nephew Grayson turned 4 this year and I cannot believe it! I know everyone always says that about the children in your family but it does seem like they grow so fast. He had a small party at his church with his friends and we went to support (and get cake).

Here is our birthday picture for this year. We always take a picture together because my birthday is on the 18th and his is on the 19th.

Here is our picture from last year. He looks thrilled, right?

Finally, I am SO HAPPY today because today is the first day of the rest of the year to me. It is honestly like a New Year's type feeling at my house because Football Season is over today!!! Whoo-hoo! Brad works at a high school that dominates their Div 1 4A division and every year they usually make it to the championship game. We could not be more excited to end this phase of the year and officially begin celebrating the holidays and enjoying more time together. Although it's nice to work for a winning sports team, it's different when your team wins every year (it's exhausting) and it's different when you are the Sports Med guy and not the coach. Coaches have some time off to regroup and rest before the next season. But right now the trainers have actually already been working double-time at keeping up with not only football but the rest of fall sports and dealing with the start of wrestling and basketball season. Trainers show up several hours before practice and games and they are the last people to leave the stadium after practices and games. Plus, when you work at such a large school it's not unusual for almost every team to make their state playoffs. So, when a major sport like football ends - you celebrate! Today is a happy day for us, and whether the team wins or loses, there is always next year. We'll feel the same way after basketball and baseball so don't worry winter and spring sports - we have equal disdain for you too :)

I just can't believe that most colleges have already ended their sesasons as high school football starts for us way before college! It's just crazy. But, at least we can enjoy the remainder of college ball from our cozy couches and maybe we can start eating dinner at a normal hour again! Yeah! It's the little things.

Truth is, as tired of it as we get, we both actually love football and just like always we did end up going to several college games this season and here's a flashback at some of our adventures.

First Brynes home game back in August. I only went to two home games and they lost both of those so I didn't go to anymore and they won the rest. Go figure. Team must have mutual feelings towards me - ha!

We try to go to at least one UNC game each year. It makes for a long day, but it's worth it to go reminisce and eat at our fav spots. 

We also try to go to at least one South Carolina game a year and this year we went to the away game at Georgia. We easily had the worst seats in the whole stadium but they were still plenty expensive! I must have been a bad luck charm for Georgia too because they also won out the rest of their season after this loss to SC. 

See you next year football - I'm taking my marriage back :)

Orange You Glad

After our crazy trip I was so glad to be home and I had a lot of things on my to-do list. First thing was to decorate and paint my bonus room. All year long I have been into the color orange and after we bought a brown couch for the room I knew orange would look great for the walls.

 

I don't really have any before pictures, but the room was basically tan and had random junk sitting in it. This is the only picture I could find and it was taken right after we bought our home three years ago. Just imagine a bunch of junk in it and that's what it looked like. Minus the curtains.

I have to recommend this painter's tape that we used on the ceilings. Because I'm crazy I cannot stand to see mistakes in my painting and because of these slanted ceilings we have in the room we splurged on this new painter's tape that is a little more expensive than the blue tape that most people use. It's called Frog Tape and it's AMAZING! I had it up for almost a week while I finished the room and when I took it down the ceilings were spotless. I totally recommend this tape for anyone who is doing any type of painting because it WORKS!

So here are the final pictures. Not everything is perfectly matched, but with a new ceiling fan and a little TJ Maxx love, the room is now a much more comfortable place to relax. We spend a lot of time in here now, especially at night. I'm so happy with my orange room!

Denver

So, I know this sounds crazy, but immediately from Chicago we flew to Denver for my brother in law's wedding. Brad flew out early in the day, but I met him there later that night after work. It was a long day but we had a couple of fun things planned so we were ready to get the trip started.

When we woke up the next day it was a little crazy because our niece had gone to the hospital during the night and no one really knew what was going on. They really didn't want a lot of people at the hospital and Brad and I were sort of sitting around so we decided to go on with our plans and thankfully we got word an hour or so later that everything was fine and it was just a little bug that had caught up with her. We were relieved and it made the whole trip better because we knew she would be okay.

I was SO excited that we got to keep our plans because they were AWESOME!! We had been planning for months (ever since we found out about the wedding) to go to this huge festival in Cheyenne, Wyomming called Frontier Days!!! Cheyenne isn't that far of a drive from Denver and the drive is actually pretty cool because it's fun to see the mountains of CO in the distance and drive through the plains of Wyomming and all the buffalo farms. I had seriously been sweating this festival for months because both of us are in love with going to festivals and fairs. We can't get enough! Plus, ever since my obsession with "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman" and "Little House" I've pretty much wanted to be a cowgirl.

We started off at a PBR event and this is what I was most excited about because, uh PBR is amazing that's why! I got caught up in the PBR Championships on ESPN late one night and decided that I just had to go to a live bull riding event. Well this is the biggest outdoor PBR event in the US so it was the "Daddy of 'em All". There were several roping and riding events and they were all so much fun. The people sitting in front of us were so nice and told us all about each event and what to watch for and that made it even better. They could not believe it when we told them it was our first rodeo - ha! Although I'm not sure how they didn't pick that up since we weren't both wearing cowboy hats, boots and collared shirts tucked into Wranglers like everyone else - no joke. I pretty much sang the Garth Brooks song "Rodeo" the entire time we were there.

It's the gold in his buckle, the white in his knuckles...

It's boots and chaps it's cowboy hats...

The above pic was one of the clowns who actually worked very hard and the below pic are the wrangler type dudes who would chase down the bucking bronco after he threw the guy off. They were very serious-looking.

I don't know how the UCLA t-shirt didn't tip them off. Go figure.

At the end of the rodeo there was an event where a team of cowboys tried to saddle a wild horse and then one of the team members had to ride it around the arena. That was probably the most entertaining thing to watch. It was so crazy the paramedics even came out for one man.

We walked around the festival the rest of the day. It was pretty much like a state fair with carnival rides and lots of booths. There was some Native American dancing and an old timey village you could walk through. We ate some junk food and then went to the Darius Rucker concert that night. It was sooooo great! I know I keep saying that but it was such a fun day. The concert was at the rodeo arena and we had pretty good seats. He sang all my favorite songs and it was just a super nice night.

Kevin Costner was the opening act and that was sort of weird, but definitely interesting. He sang some sort of country-rock style music.

The next day we took a rode trip with some of our family and went to Estes Park in CO and saw some snow. It was definitely crazy to see snow in July and there was tons of wildlife just right on the side of the road.

The wedding was on Sat and of course that was the main event. It was a small wedding but beautiful and of course nice to be with family all together since we so rarely are. I was in lurve with the dress I wore. I also plan on wearing it again to another wedding next weekend and too bad for some of the people who will be there because it will be their second wedding seeing me in it. That's how much I love it.

The bride looked so pretty and her dress was just gorgeous. I really loved it and especially the back of it, but I don't have a pic of that. The one shoulder strap sort of swooped back under the same arm and there was just one other strap that went across so almost her whole back was out. It was very unique!

After the wedding and reception everyone met up in downtown Denver for some food - even the bride and groom! I thought that was so nice of them to spend extra time with the people that had come from all over the country to be with them on their special day. The below pic was another "man" picture I got out of this vacation. Brad and I wanted a pic in front of Coors Field and this is what we got. Geez. I can't remember which brother took it, but it was definitely a man.

We came home right after the wedding and of course I was stoked to see this face when I got home! I counted down the hours until I walked through my doors and saw this baby waiting on me. I missed him so much and in total I think we were gone for 24 days so it was a looooong time to be without my cuddle baby.

For kicks I'll show you what my mailbox looked like when I returned. I had forgotten about this picture but I just found it in my phone. I don't know about you but H-A-T-E going to the post office so I sure enough did make them deliver my mail to me. I'm pretty sure whoever had to stuff all that in was none too pleased because every magazine in there was folded about eight different ways.  Oh well. It was worth it! :)