Welcome Baby Grady!!!

Grady Smith Allen was born Friday morning at 9:36am weighing 7lb. 12oz. and was 20in. long.

Here's the story. By about 5 am on Friday I was pretty sure that Grady was going to make his enterance into the world that day, so I tried to sleep more, got ready, and packed up my stuff as well as I could. We got to the hospital around 8:20 am, and all their whole OB wing was full! The nurse could tell I was in a lot of pain, so cleared out the snacks and personal items in the Nurse's Break Room, brought in a gurney from the sugery department and all the other necessary things needed to deliver a baby into the Nurse's Lounge. They checked me and I was already dialated to 8cm! That's when they first told me that there might not be enough time for me to get the epidural I was planning on. I wasn't worried though, because when I got to the hospital with Luke I was an 8 and was still able to get my epidural. They got going on that as fast as they could, but when they checked me again about 20 min. later I was completely dialated and it was time to start pushing ready or not! After about 20-25 min. of pushing, without an epidural, little Grady was born face up in the Nurse's Lounge on a gurney! I'm just grateful that he came fast! Grady's doctor jokingly said that where he was born was about 1 step up from being born in the hospital parking lot!

I've been amazed by how good I've felt and how much faster my recovery has been with this baby than with Luke. With Luke I was pretty much miserable for about 2 weeks. I can think of a lot of factors that probally have made my recovery a lot easier with Grady. I am feeling quite sleep deprived though. Grady's really got his nights and days confused. He won't sleep for longer than 1.5 hours at a time at night, but will go for 3 hours and need to be woken up during the day!I'm hopeful things will get better with sleeping. My mom and Ty have been wonderful and I'm really greatful for all their help. Luke has been funny with his adjustment. At first he wouldn't even aknowledge that the baby was there. He wouldn't pay any attention to the baby, and would ignore any questions asked to him about his baby brother. Now he's starting to take a little more interest in his little brother. His favorite thing is to, not as gently as I'd like, put the pacifier in Grady's mouth to make him happy. Anyways, I'm so happy that Grady's here now. He's already such an important part of my life and our little family.

Grady just a few hours old.

The nice sign they put on my door to keep the nurses from coming in.

Luke's 1st encounter with his little brother. They wouldn't let him in the hospital because of the swine flu.

A rare moment when we first got home!

Happy Father's day to Ty!!!

Random Update

Well, today's my due date and I'm sitting here writing this still pregnant, but I'm trying not to focus on that. I have now spent roughly 1.5 years of my life pregnant and only have one kid to show for it, but like I said, I'm trying not to focus on that. Two of my friends who were pregnant, one due 2 days after me and the other 1 week after me, both had their babies this weekend, but I'm trying not to focus on that. I know I just need to be grateful that I've had a good pregnancy and both the baby and I are healthy, but I just can't help being tired of being pregnant and feeling ready for this baby to come!






Me and my sister-in-laws, Chantel and Sara, all sporting ever expanding bellies. Chantel is due July 27th, and Sara is due August 1st. These little ones are sure to be close cousins!

My Little Princess
I used no coercion to get my son to wear these 2 princess dresses at once. He came up to me and asked me to put them both on him at once. One day he'll probably be embarrassed about this, but for now it's just really really cute (well, Ty doesn't think it's that cute)! Luke just loves playing with his cousins Riley and Cambree!





Notice the shoes!!!

Our Big Project
Ever since we moved in we've wanted to take down the sorry excuse for an awning and put in a real patio. In February we took down the old shabby thing and prepped for the cement. In March the patio and little side walk was poured. In May we took out the window and replaced it with a sliding glass door. A big thanks is owed to Ty's brothers, Chad and Curtis, for all their help with that project. Over the last few weeks the patio roof was finished, and we've been enjoying it ever since! Nothing beats being able to eat dinner outside. There's still a little bit of finish work that still needs to be done. Thanks to my husband for all his hard work and making this happen!






Removal of the window

Mini Photo Shoot

I wanted to take a few pictures of Luke in honor of him being 2. All of these were taken in my in-law's back yard. Here are a few of my favorites.

Horrible Mom!!!

I knew better than to let him try to get out of the bathtub by himself. Both he and the tub were wet and slippery. I saw him falling in my mind an instant before it happened. I reached out to stop it from happening, but I was too late. His face hit the side of the tub with a painful thud and a moment later there was a deafening scream. Now my son is missing a huge hunk out of his front tooth!

Ty's been calling him Chip. Good thing we have a dentist in the family who's offered to fix it for us, so he doesn't have to go through the next 4 years like this.

His black eye from just before his second birthday had just gone away, and I was planning on taking some 2-year-old pictures of him. Oh-well!!!

My Son Looks Like....

Glenn Beck???!!!

Maybe it's just the super blond hair or this particular expression on Luke's face, but I couldn't help but notice the resemblance when I looked at this picture. Ty especially is a huge fan of the Fox News political talk show host and couldn't be prouder! What do you think? Any resemblance?

Pregnancy Update & Luke's 1st Zoo Trip

Me 33 Weeks pregnant with Luke
Me 33 weeks pregnant with baby #2

I thought I was bigger with this baby than I was with Luke, and now I have proof. I'm just crossing my fingers and hoping that it just means that this baby will be a little bit bigger or come a bit earlier!!!

On Friday, I met my mom in Tucson just for a fun day out of the house. She took Luke and I to the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum. It's a small beautiful zoo that has only animals native to Arizona. We all enjoyed it. My favorite animal was the otter, because it just looked like it was having so much fun swimming in circles. Luke loved the lizards and the rocks.

Luke checking out something all by himself.

Getting up close and personal with the Mountain Lion.

Thanks again Mom!

Wa-hoo!!! Luke is Two!!!!!!!

Luke 2 months old.

Wow! These years have gone by so fast! Luke had his 2nd birthday yesterday. When Ty asked him yesterday morning "Luke are you 2 now?", his reply was "No, I six!". I've really enjoyed seeing more of his personality this year. He is quite the chatterbox. He talks all day long, and there's nothing he can't say. Sentences with as many as 6 words are not uncommon for him to say. He has also inherited his mother's sweet tooth. Never will he refuse any chocolate, popsicles, cake, ice cream, etc.. I grew up hearing horror stories about how I would scare my mom by the unsafe things I would try to do as a toddler, so it has really surprised me how careful and cautious Luke is. If something looks dangerous, he won't try it. He is also very strong willed and has quite an independent spirit, which is only exacerbated by the fact that he is 2!!! It drives me crazy most days how he insists on doing everything by himself, then throwing a fit if I try to help him even the tiniest bit. He loves playing with cars, and is happy to push them around all day. He definitely is a little sweetheart too, that still loves to be held and cuddled.

This year he really understood what birthdays are all about (cake and presents!). We celebrated Friday night with my mom and some of my family from out of state. We got to celebrate again last night at the park with all of Ty's family that live here in Thatcher. We had a great time. And yes that is a black eye you see in his birthday pictures at the park. He crashed into the bathtub Saturday night.

3 months old

9 months old

12 months old



19 months old

Luke and my cousin Ryan from Idaho

Opening presents with help from his cousins Cambree and Ridge

Weekend Update

First, Congratulations to Ty! He ran in the 4.2 mile Pat Tillman run in Tempe on Saturday finishing in only 37 min. without any training. Next year I'll run with him.

Luke and I headed up to Lakeside this weekend so I could see my old EAC roomate Meredith. I hadn't seen her since her weddding reception 2 years ago. It was great catching up. Savannah, Meredith, and I were roomates for 2 years at EAC, now the 3 of us are all pregnant and due within 3 months of eachother. We always dreamed this would happen, and that our kids would roomates at EAC someday!