The Lambeth's

Thanks Aunt Tara

2010-03-27T10:30:00.000-07:00

Tara invited us to attend an event in Queen Creek. We had a super time and Elese even pet a ginormous boa constrictor. Of course, I was doing everything possible to not completely freak out.

This is Sunshine. According to her owner, she loves people, especially children. Ha!

A little American pride with some great friends. If you look really close, Elese looks like she might actually crack a smile.

2010-03-21T12:56:00.000-07:00

Last year I bought Elese a splash pad. She was a little bit too little for it until now. The water was freezing and her lips were blue, but that didn't stop her from jumping in.

2010-02-25T11:58:00.000-08:00

Nana bought Elese a tunnel and she just loves it. She and our kitty Dune, spend hours crawling through it.

Daddy's Home

2010-02-21T17:14:00.000-08:00

Elese was so happy that her daddy came home that she had to climb all over his suitcase. He went on a hunting trip for 4 days. While he was gone, she roamed the house saying "Da-Da".

2010-02-20T11:39:00.000-08:00

I took Elese, James, Emily (cousins) and Nana to the Arizona Science Center. We intended on heading out to the Wildlife World Zoo but it started to rain. Needless to say, we made a slight detour and had an awesome time despite the rain.

Elese loved playing in the playhouse. She had a really good time running around. We actually had to pry her from the blocks.

Elese walked on this balancing mechanism. Her favorite part was sitting down and pulling off the knobs. She also enjoyed licking this metal pole that was slathered with germs.

Emily, Elese's cousin, laid on a bed of nails. She said that it felt like a massage.

James and Nana played a little game of tug-o-war. James won and Nana was a sore loser. She could not figure out how a scrawny little 12 year old could possibly have beaten her. I finally pointed out the sign that explained why. James was pulling from the top of the beam and Nana was pulling from the middle. It's easier to pull from the top due to the fact that the rope is being pulled on a pivot system. It was pretty funny to watch my mom become so flustered. Sorry Mom!

Nana, James and Emily went behind this screen to catch rocks. Of course, when Elese and I went behind the screen.... nothin'. I guess we're just not the rock catchin' type.

In the same room they had a face morphing screen. It was pretty fun to see the different ways you can morph yourself. Elese was so fascinated with the buttons that she never even got to see her ginormous head.

This exhibit was modeled after the movie Robots. They had all the robots from the movie and some robots from the past like R2D2. The kids got to play with domino's and walk around in robot shoes.

Elese just was fascinated with watching the kids create a dam using water and sand.

Elese loves being held by James.

2010-02-19T19:30:00.000-08:00

Elese and I went to the Arabian Horse Show at West World. We mostly walked around and admired the beautiful horses. It was a fun little mommy and me outing.

2010-02-17T17:45:00.000-08:00

Elese loves spaghetti! She makes such a huge mess.

Super Bowl

2010-02-07T13:04:00.000-08:00

Elese, Garrett and I went to a Super Bowl party at the Dehmer's house. We had to tag along with Garrett while he ran some real estate errands. Elese grew tired of her car seat rather quickly, so I gave her a break and put her in the front seat of the car while Garrett was pumping gas. She had a blast trying to put the key in the ignition and trying to turn the car on. I had a quick flash that had something to do with a teenager and driving.... scary. Anyhow, we had a great time hanging out with daddy.

Elese and Brynn turns a year old!

2009-10-24T17:13:00.000-07:00

Elese and Brynn were born on the same day. Brynn was born roughly 6 hours before Elese. We had a birthday party for the girls. Tara, my B.F.F., had no idea that the party was for Brynnie, too. It was fun being able to surprise her.

We had a ladybug themed birthday. We had chocolate suckers, made by Auntie Jen , black and red M&M's, black and red licorice, red hots, and hot tamales.
Elese and Brynn had their very own "smash" cakes!

Elese was very spoiled by all her presents!

Elese, Nana and Emily getting ready for her grand entrance!

And the party continues:

The gifts!

2009-05-24T14:16:00.000-07:00

We went to visit my grandfather who is very ill. He loves to see Elese but can only take visits in small doses. Hopefully he enjoys the time he spends with her.

2009-04-01T21:56:00.000-07:00

I know you can't even see it but trust me it's there. Today I was leaving my house with an arm full of stuff, including Elese in her car seat. As we were walking out the door I dropped a water bottle on her head. She of course cried but she wasn't the only one. I think I cried more than she did. I have never felt so bad and she took it like a champ. So here's the evidence that her mom gave her her very first bruise.

Happy Birthday Nana!

2009-03-29T17:53:00.000-07:00

Today was my Mom's birthday, my Aunt Robin flew into town for the weekend, and we all went to breakfast at Mimi's Cafe. Yummmy! Elese typed up a little message for her Nana but she thought it was best to try to eat it first.

Elese's Hosptial Visit

2009-02-06T23:28:00.000-08:00

Elese was exposed to RSV. My mom took her to see the pediatrician on Thursday. He said that she sounded fine and the likelihood that she would develop RSV was pretty slim. So she came home. By that evening she was wheezing and I felt like something wasn't right. I took her to the ER and they did a chest x-ray and tested her for RSV. The x-ray came back clear but the RSV test was positive. The PA was not very nice to us. She treated us like we were crazy for bringing an infant to the hospital for a cold. Oddly enough, once she found out that her RSV test was positive, she was really nice. So we took Elese home with no direction other than wait and watch.
Friday I stayed home with Elese and as the day progressed, so did her symptoms. She began labored breathing, and was really wheezy. It was apparent that breathing was becoming work for her. So, back to the ER we went. This time they were much nicer to us. Elese's pulse ox was 85 and her respirations were in the 190's. The Dr. decided to admit her which to anyone who has ever been admitted into a hospital knows that mean an IV. So the fun began. Thank God Garrett has a much stronger stomach than I do. It was awful! The nurses tried to place Elese's IV in her 8 times (2 times in each foot, 2 times in each hand, both arms and a few other places that I can't even remember). Finally they got the sense to call the NICU nurses down to the ER with an ultrasound machine. All her available veins had been blown, so they went for her head. Elese was exhausted and I was in psychical pain watching her endure this. The NICU nurses were able to find a vein in her head. Once we got her IV figured out and two hours later, we were told that the Peds. ICU was full and that we would have to be transported to Banner Desert Hospital. So off we went by ambulance. Once admitted, Elese did well. Her IV stopped working and the nurses tried to put it back in her head and then finally they got a vein in her arm. They put so much tape on, there was no way she was getting it out. Her arm was on a board for 3 days. She slept like a champ and never tried to pull her IV out. She seemed happy as long as her needs were met and I never left her side. I held her Against the nurses advice, I held her all night long.

Elese's picture day with Jackie

2008-11-03T14:13:00.000-08:00

We're Finally Home!

2008-10-27T15:14:00.000-07:00

There is nothing more exciting and more scary than bringing a brand new baby home.

Getting ready to go home and see the world!

2008-10-27T14:42:00.000-07:00

We were so happy to go home. I kept asking, "Can we go home yet?" but they held us hostage for 48 hours.

Other people who came to visit us in the hospital.

2008-10-26T14:00:00.000-07:00

Uncle Bryce and Aunt Melissa (our friends)

Patricia and Charlie (Garrett's Aunt and Uncle)

Uncle Chad and his girlfriend Renee (Garrett's brother)

Great-Grandma and Grandpa Walters (Garrett's grandparents)

We also saw:
Aunt Jen (Kelly's sister)
James and Emily (Kelly's niece and nephew)
Vicki Hester (Kelly's Principal)
Milli Turley (First grade teacher who works with Kelly)
Tami Warren (Secretary from Kelly's school)
Brendan and Jessica Christansen and Jeff Duncan (Garrett's Real Estate Team)
Wendi Cleckner and Sarah Sheller (Our Midwives)

This is why we love Garrett

2008-10-25T19:05:00.000-07:00

Garrett was so overwhelmed with emotions that when he saw Bryce he just couldn't keep them in anymore. He's such a proud daddy.

Elese meets her Nana , Grandpa and Grandma Lambeth

2008-10-25T18:59:00.000-07:00

Elese with her Grandma and Grandpa (Garrett's parents).

Elese and her Nana (Kelly's mom). The only person missing, my dad. I know he would have loved her the very minute he saw her.

WOW! Not what I was expecting.

2008-10-25T18:51:00.000-07:00

Yes, I look like a chipmunk. Silly me, I actually thought that once the baby came out that I wouldn't look pregnant anymore, hah!

Drum roll please! Elese Makenna is here!

2008-10-25T13:44:00.000-07:00

I actually can't believe we made her! What an amazing moment! I have never loved someone so much in my life.

Our Labor Story

2008-10-25T10:51:00.000-07:00

Many are aware that we were planning a water birth at home, let's just say it didn't quite work out that way. So here's a little insight as to how that all played out. I was due October 19th and as usual with your first I was "late". I woke up at 1:35 Friday (the 24th) morning with contractions that were a little more regular then they had been prior to that day. Honestly I didn't pay attention to the duration of the contractions because I figured that they would do what contractions are supposed to do, intensify as the labor progressed. So I decided to sleep between contractions and let Garrett know when they were coming and when they were over. We also called our midwife and were instructed to call her when my contractions were 3-4 minutes apart for one hour. As my labor progressed I decided it might feel better to get in the birthing tub, and it was amazingly relaxing. The tub was so relaxing that I fell asleep several times. At about 8:00am my midwives and Doula showed up. Upon being checking I was only at 4cm which at that time I had the urge to push and was beginning to become really uncomfortable. My water broke at 4:00pm and I had only dilated to a 6. There are a lot of details in the middle that I will spare you from, so long story short, I labored at home with the urge to push for a total of 20 hours and only dilated to an 8. By 9:30pm my midwives felt at that time the baby was trying to tell us something (like "there is no way I am coming out this way.") so we made the decision and headed to the hospital at 10:00pm. Once at the hospital I received and epidural and continued to have contractions but my dilation reduced to a 7 and she "backed up" the birth canal. At 6:00am Saturday morning I was given pitocin with no progress and the her heart rate started to show signs of stress. Finally the Dr. suggested that I have a c-section. It was definitely not what we had planned for the arrival of our baby girl but knew it was going to be the best decision to get her out safely. Finally she arrived at 1:21 p.m., a healthy 8lbs 12 ozs. Come to find out she was facing the wrong direction, posterior, and had she been smaller I may have been able to get her out the good ol' fashioned way. We are so excited to be parents and are loving every minute of it.

3-D Ultasound

2008-09-04T10:42:00.000-07:00

We decided that we couldn't wait to see our little girl's face so we had a 3-D ultrasound done. It was amazing to see the little one who was growing inside of me.

We have a foot!

2008-05-20T16:05:00.000-07:00

Today we went for the big ultrasound to find out what we are having. It has been a long time coming. I have to tell you that I don't like surprises, so when I was told I had to wait until I was 18 weeks pregnant to find out the gender, I wanted to pull my hair out in anticipation. So the dad to be took a little wobbly footage to have for a keepsake.

This is our peanut!

2008-03-04T11:12:00.000-08:00

I went to the doctor at 7 weeks to have an ultrasound. Although we still had our doubts that this pregnancy would stay, we were so excited to see a heartbeat. To date we had never had a heartbeat with our previous pregnancies. It was such an overwhelming moment for us. We both were pretty choked up over that fact that we will finally be blessed with a baby and be called mama and dada.

It's a miracle!

2008-02-06T19:36:00.000-08:00

As many may or may not already know, we had some issues with getting and staying pregnant. At the recommendation of my doctor, I was scheduled to have a hysterosalpingogram and was required to bring a negative pregnancy test to the procedure. So one fine February evening (the 5th to be exact) I went to the pharmacy to purchase a box of pregnancy tests. My procedure wasn't for another week but I figured what the heck, I'll take one to just see and since the box had come with three tests and I figured I had to use them at some point anyway, I took one. I took the test and walked away figuring it would say what all the other tests had said in the past "not" pregnant. I gave it 20 minutes to make sure it had enough time to decide what it was going to say. I approached the test with a glimmer of hope and I couldn't believe what I was looking at. The first revolutionary pee stick said pregnant. All I could think was "where's the not." So long story short we have a baby on the way.

We're Bloggers

2008-02-05T18:52:00.000-08:00

So we finally took the leap and became bloggers. I'm not sure what we're getting ourselves into, but here goes nothing!

Our Wedding

2002-11-15T23:13:00.000-08:00

The Story of Us

2002-11-14T18:56:00.000-08:00

A little bit about us. Garrett and I met in high school in 1996 when we were 16. He was in Flagstaff with his baseball team and I was a hostess at Chili's. Garrett, some of his team mates along with their parents came to Chili's for dinner. Garrett of course caught my immediate attention and vice versa. As the night went on I continued seating customers and gawking at this very handsome guy all while a wager was underway. Doc, Garrett's friend, bet Garrett $10.00 that he couldn't get me to call him. So long story short, Garrett approached me with a phone number written on a torn piece of a napkin and a very shaky hand. His exact words were "Call me if you want to do something." By the time I had the chance to look up and respond, he was gone like the wind. I think his nerves got the better of him. Needless to say, I called him, we were engaged on Halloween of 2000, married November 14, 2002 and we have been living together happily ever after.