The Honda

This is a sentimental post. About a 1993 Honda Accord.


When I turned 16 I was lucky enough to have a brother going on a mission, which meant that the extra family car was available for my use. Dad generously let me drive the Honda from the day I turned 16.

It was a great high school car, and I would say that the majority of the miles I put on the Honda are from driving around Riverton on Friday and Saturday nights.

The Honda survived me backing it into a wall, a tree, and having Ashley spill Dr. Pepper directly into the air vents. I almost died in that car at least two times, a moth viciously attacked me in that car, and though it was cleaned more since I met Rich (by Rich), it was a pretty dependable little machine!

AND NOW IT'S GONE.

Rich sold the Honda last Saturday. Sadness. I'm still wiping away the tears. And reserving the right to be dramatic about the whole thing.


IT'S LIKE THE END OF AN ERA.

2 Week Mark

Devin made it to 2 weeks despite us not really being the best parents!

The doctor loved Devin and thought he was a miracle baby, of course.

Devin wasn't back up to his birth weight, but his current stats are:

Weight: 7 lbs 13 oz

Height: 21 inches


Growing is super hard!

Devin isn't sleeping as much as I would like. Not that I expect him to sleep through the night, but it would be great if he would sleep during the night hours without having to be held. But really, I can't complain, he's a pretty good kid. We like him lots.

In other, non-baby news, for the past two weeks Rich and I have been hanging out, relaxing, getting things organized, and letting my mom cook for us. I feel pretty unproductive a lot of the time, but I am grateful for the time we get to spend cuddling and loving Devin!

Newborn Pics

I'm playing catch up with all the pictures of Devin. (Of which there are many.) I really wanted to get newborn pictures taken, but I never got on the ball and called Allie's husband (go check him out, I love all his pics!). So instead Rich, being the good husband he is, used Mom and Dad's new fancy camera to take some pics. They turned out pretty good, not professional, but I was happy to have them!


Rich also created this little collage to show off our boy. I was going to make them into announcements, but again, I didn't get on the ball and get it done.

Whirlwind of December Goodness

There were many things I meant to post about in December. I did not accomplish much in December. I worked on a freelance most of my free time, and the other time was spent doing the normal holiday things. I'm just glad the baby waited till after Christmas to come!

I will attempt to summarize December.

Highlights:

We got together for several dinners with many of our friends to celebrate the season.

Cody ordered a really big steak.
(Thanks to Lindsey/Brett, Melinda/Rob, Selina/Cameron, Toni/Cody, and AnnDee/Devon for the great catch-ups, sorry I only have one picture to remember these times, and that it's of Cody holding his steak. )

We went to The Nutcracker production that Troy, Conner, and Nicholas were in.

We treated ourselves to a fancy pants dinner at Fleming's to have one more Rich and Brianne date before having the baby, afterwhich we knew may not happen for a long time! We dressed all pretty, ordered yummy food, and even splurged for dessert!
(The picture is not the greatest bc the waiter was lame and acted all weird about taking our picture.)

The dinner was many-faceted celebration. We were celebrating Rich's graduation from BYU, his entering the adult world (it sucks, you're gonna love it), the baby, and the Britton coolness that we generally embody.

We had a Millett family Christmas party, where the chimes were involved, and where I was looking very pregnant.

We celebrated Christmas with the Brittons (srsly, can't ever remember to take my camera to Britton get togethers! We only have pics of the Milletts bc the party was at the place where we live). Someday I will have photographic evidence of our fun with the Brittons! Rich's dad and Coralie blessed us with money to put towards our deep freezer--that's right, a freezer and a baby! We are officially grown up people!

I went shopping for Rich's Christmas on December 23rd. At the mall. While I was having intense round ligament pain. I'm pretty sure the people (and oh, there were many people) who saw me thought I was going to go into labor right then. Rich is lucky he got Christmas. Because I had to go shopping. And it was the 23rd. And it was the mall. And I was very pregnant.

We had our traditional fancy Christmas Eve dinner with my parents. Prime rib, sweet potatoes, Rohtkohl in honor of Rich, a repeat appearance of last year's Brussels sprouts, and cranberry Christmas muffins. We sang Christmas carols and had a great evening.

We had Christmas morning, where Santa brought us wonderful things. Santa really listened when I said I needed a jewelry box to keep all my stuff in! Santa brought Rich some golf shoes, plus I got him a new watch. My parents gave us this beautiful, handmade quilt from the Philippines. I love it!

We also got the Jolley family history books that I so adamantly refused to receive several years ago whilst single. I promise I'm not spoiled! And that Rich was super excited to get the books this year!

There we have it.

December 2009.

Labor Story--The (Relatively) Short, and not Gross at all Version

I don't want to share tmi on the Internets, but I do want to have a brief (and when I say brief, it's in my terms, which means not really brief at all) relation of the labor/delivery process so when we make our blog into a book it's there for all time:)

Rich had previously made a deal with the doctor (that was not Brianne-approved) that I would be induced before the end of the year if I got dilated to a 3 so we could get the tax write off. I really didn't want to be induced because I wanted to try to go natural. At our appointment on the 29th, I was to a 3 so we discussed being induced the next day, but I opted out. Of course the whole tax write off thing was a joke, sort of, but in the end Rich got the tax write off and I didn't have to be induced--because the next morning, at around 4:45, I woke up with contractions. It took me a minute to figure out that's what was going on, but I was excited when I realized it!

I timed contractions in bed for about an hour, and they were between 4 and 6 minutes apart, so I decided to start getting ready. After showering and organizing some things, and the contractions staying pretty constant, I woke Rich up to get ready! I was all ready to be at the hospital in about an hour or so, but after we ate breakfast and I sat down to rock and concentrate on relaxing through the contractions, they slowed down to between 8 and 10 minutes apart. I was a little bummed, but this also gave Rich time to get the car cleaned off, a cooler packed, and everything ready to go. We just hung out the rest of the morning timing contractions, walking, and watching TV. Rich was great in rubbing my back and reminding me to relax. My plan for going natural really just consisted of relaxation, concentration, and relying on Rich to help ease the back pain--and all my labor was in my back, so it's good Rich was there to help!

At about 1:30, though the contractions were still only regularly 7 minutes apart, I felt a little different and thought maybe we should go to the hospital even though the doc said to come in around 5 minutes apart. Then all of a sudden the contractions were 3 minutes apart! It was definitely time to go!!

We got to the hospital at exactly 2:00 p.m. (we know bc someone called right then--we did not answer the phone). I was dilated to a 6, and 45 minutes later when my doc came I was to an 8. Around another hour later the doc came back and I was to a 9, so he broke my water and was sure I would go fast. It took some time to get to a 10, and around 4:15 or 4:30 I started to push. this is where the going natural was brought into question. Up to this point I'd been able to deal with pain, but after an hour of pushing, me asking the nurse if I was even making any progress, and her telling me it could be another hour, I was not happy. Rich continued to be supportive though, and when the doc came back to check me, he told me I wasn't going very fast because the baby was face up, with his head back, thus the more intense than usual pain in my back. He tried to turn the little one, but couldn't, and then it was too late to turn him because he started to come down a little. I pushed for another 30 to 45 minutes, but this time I could feel that the baby was actually moving down, then Devin was here at 5:40!

I was exhausted after, but so happy. The entire process from start to finish was pretty much exactly 13 hours, and we were only at the hospital for 3 hours and 40 minutes before he got here, and about an hour and a half or so of that time was spent pushing. I was really happy how the whole thing went, though I could have done without the being face up. Devin probably would have agreed too, since he had the bruises to prove he chose to come out the hard way. I'm pretty sure he had a headache that first night. His poor little head was bruised and his face was a little scratched (you can see some of this in the pics Rich first posted), but he was still perfect.

Rich was amazing and breathed and labored with me the whole time, I couldn't have done it without him. Our labor nurse was fabulous too, I'm going to write her a thank you note. But Rich really deserves a lot of credit for his part in all of this. I love him so much!

Those first moments together as a family were so great, and I loved feeling the spirit that came right after Devin was born. It's crazy to think that he came from inside me! We're so happy that Devin got here healthy and safe and that there were no complications in the delivery.

We are very blessed!

Week One

It's hard to believe that it's already been a week since Devin joined our family. What a week it's been though! He is already keeping us on our toes and me, for one, out of bed. But I'm loving all the moments together. It's great that Rich is able to be home with us all the time too, and honestly, I wouldn't be able to get through everything without him. He's adorable with Devin, and our first week as a little family has been such an emotional, wonderful, growing experience.

Devin's first week has been full of cuddling with his dad.

Being loved by grandma.

And grandpa.

Being accosted by millions of camera flashes.

Taking a bath.

Proving that he has eyes by keeping them open for longer than two seconds.

Ringing in 2010, and caring a lot about it.
Curling up in a little ball.

And generally being pretty cool.

Jaundice

Because Devin chose to enter the world face up, he had these lovely bruises on the top of his head when he was born.


Made his mama so sad!

The bruising, once it started to break down a little, gave our little guy jaundice. When we left the hospital we knew we'd have to go back to have his levels checked the next day. Thankfully, though Devin's bilirubin numbers were up a bit the next day, he didn't have to be under the lamps. Instead the doctor just told us to strip him down and put him in the sun. So, on Devin's third day of life he sunbathed.



It must have worked because on the fourth day his numbers hadn't gone up and no special lights were needed! He hung out in the sun a few other times just to make sure he'd be alright. I think he liked being naked and all warm!

Little Devin Richard is here!

Devin Richard Britton was born at 5:40 PM on December 30, 2009. He weighs 8lb and is 20in long. Brianne is doing great. She went all natural and did amazing! The nurses refer to her as "the one who went natural" so apparently it is not too common. I'm not sure yet if she'd recommend going natural, but she definitely earned the tax write off!

Devin is doing great also. He has really strong lungs, which he uses frequently and it kinda hurts daddy's ears a little bit :) Enjoy a few pictures. It seems like he changes a little more each second.