Pregnant moments with Brooklyn #3

Who's coocoo for cocoa puffs?  She's coocoo for 'em that's who.

Our baby

It sort of looks like an alien doesn't it?  Before you say yes just remember that's my baby your talking about! Haha

Celebratory job cake

I made a cake!  Much better than my previous attempt a few days ago.  Would you like a slice?  Comment yes or no.

Pregnancy moments with Brooklyn #2....and Update info.

     I posted to the side a link to see all of Brooklyn's Photos she's been working on.  Go on them and tell your friends.  Also Tell our family and anyone that is interested in reading our blog where to find us.

I also have another..

                             Pregnancy moment with Brooklyn

     The other day she and I went to see my friend Caleb in his appearance in "Le Mis" and there is a part where Caleb came out and was a drunk man.  He performed perhaps the most hilarious drunk man we had ever seen and I look over to her and she is laughing so hard that she was crying.  She later told me that she had to really concentrate so she wouldn't pee herself.

    That's it for now.  Keep your eyes out for us in further posts and further updates!

TTFN  ta ta for now!

             .... this is blue leader signing off

Pregnancy moments with Brooklyn #1

   Ok everyone...who ever that may include, mom, Kirsten etc.  So this is my first time attempting to make a blog and I have no idea what do do.  Brooklyn and I made this to keep our families informed.  So news from us..
  We are happily expecting a child here soon and went to get the sonogram and just I have to say, it was really exciting!  I could not stop smiling at the thought that I would be a Father and that my child was in my wife's belly!!  She has been "nesting"  lately, coming to me with all sorts of questions like, "What do you think about a Superman theme for the boys nursery?" and "I was thinking about pink and gold for the girl's.  What do you think?"  Like the good and careful husband that I am, I tell her that I love her and give my input and tell her things like, "I'm just a man what do I know about colors and coordinating them?"  I mean really!  My mom knows that my style isn't all that reliable.  (maybe blonde highlights might shed some light on that)
  In other more immediate news, I got TWO jobs.  One is painting someones house which i am starting tomorrow and that job will pay me $500 total.  The other is my more stable one, I am going to be working as a full time window washer.  It was great!  I went in for the interview and was really nervous hoping to get the job, considering I have all the equipment and I have experience with it as well, I thought I had a good chance.  I talked to the lady and they offered me the job then and there.  I got the two jobs within 10 minutes of the other! Can you believe it?  I was looking on the BYUI website and found the paint job so I called and then I saw the window washing job posted right under that one.  I was so excited.

   Ok now time for the little insert I will now and forever call,
                                         Pregnant moments with Brooklyn

...Brooklyn is just lying there on the ground with a box of scalloped potatoes. I am still waiting to find out what she plans to do with them.
....Cravings still not any big ones but she is downing popsicles like there's no tomorrow!  we just went to the store and bought her a huge bag of them and since then she has had two.
...While in the store she would get mesmerized with all the different foods and I had to drag her away because had I not it would have found it's way into the cart.
And that concludes this session of pregnant moments with Brooklyn.

   Ok I know that there are some out there who want to see the pictures with Brooklyn holding her belly.  To that I say they are on their way.  We are planning on them by the end of this week so stay tuned for that.  We will be posting them periodically as they come. Ok well I have to wrap this up.
From the Whitton's we say "Love ya"! 

Double Shift

As the title states, tonight I worked a wonderful double shift at work!  And I am EXHAUSTED.  Basically I'm going to write until Josh gets home from babysitting for our friends.
As you all know by now if you saw the facebook post, we posted the first photo of our adorable little baby!  He/She is growing nice and healthy, and was really fun to meet for the first time the other day.
Wednesday morning we went to the Temple since I didn't have to work until the evening.  For the first time I got to do sealings with Josh, which was a really neat experience.  We were able to go for about an hour before I started to get morning sickness.  So after doing as many names as we could we went back to the Celestial room for a little bit and just talked until I knew it was getting close to the time when I needed to eat or I'd be really sick.  I joked that the baby was just really excited about going to the Temple as a family for the first time and must have been doing little dances and flips inside me.  It was such a wonderful date!
Immediately afterwards we went to Broulims (the grocery store) to get more bread for me (since toast and butter seems to always be a safe bet for me).  That was great for me, because I was craving nearly everything I saw and smelled, rather than becoming nauseated by all the aromas.
We then went home and relaxed until it came time for our appointment.  We are going to Seasons Medical, which is the place I went to before I was married and during the first part of our marriage when I was having my medical issues that had stuck me in the ER that one night.  I was ecstatic to learn that the Doctor I had been seeing every time at Seasons Medical could also do deliveries and follow through my entire pregnancy!  So my first visit was with him (Dr. Codd).  Oh, and I forgot to mention:  Seasons Medical switched into their new building which is huge, beautiful, and looks much nicer than any other doctors office or hospital I've ever seen... so I'm a lucky duck!  Plus the entire staff are the best doctors and nurses I've ever had too, so that's enhancing the experience all the more.
First we weighed me in, and sadly I still have not gained any more weight (but my belly is really starting to bulge!).  Then we went in for the ultrasound and got to see and hear our baby for the first time!  It was one of the best things I've ever seen.  As soon as the baby came up on the screen I couldn't believe how well we could see him/her!  And the baby was waving and squirming like crazy!  It put on quite the show for us, the nurse even had a bit of a hard time getting photos because it kept moving so much.  We also got a video of the heartbeat, and I'm hoping I will be able to get that off of Josh's phone and somehow loaded on here since it didn't work on Facebook.  I was so happy to see the baby for the first time though!  I was too excited to cry, and I couldn't stop smiling for the rest of the night.
After the ultrasound I got to talk with Dr. Codd a little more, and he let us know a little more about their staff and how the actual labor would go along when it came time.  Basically there are three doctors that work there, and Dr. Codd had nothing to say but good things about the other two (one of which he joked has delivered half the babies in this county).  If we have a preference on the doctor we want we can certainly try everything we can to get them, but of course if they're out of town or can't come in the second the baby is being born, one of the other two will step in.  So Dr. Codd recommended that we meet with each of the other doctors in visits so we could get more comfortable with the entire staff (even if we just want Dr. Codd to deliver, which is where I'm at right now).
Once the first doctor visit was over I uploaded the baby's photo to Facebook then had to get ready and leave for work.  Fortunately they were overstaffed so I was able to go back home and spend more time with my wonderful husband, but not before I told my boss the big news!
Bryan (the owner/manager) was thrilled!  He gave me a hug and then gave me some advice as a friend.  My favorite bit was his advice about money.  "Don't worry about money," he told me, "The Big Guy (God) knows when a baby is on the way, and he's going to take care of you guys."  He then told me how worried he was about how they'd be able to afford and take care of a baby with his first two kids, but they did get by, and believed that the same could and would happen for me and Josh.  It made me feel much better about that since money is obviously a major concern to us!  It was nice to hear it from someone who I didn't realize was religious.  After giving me the friendly advice he got excited and went and told the staff I was pregnant.  Everyone was thrilled for me!  And since then have been even nicer, easier, and have been feeding more than usual.  I have the best coworkers!
So speaking of work, as I said before, today I pulled my first double shift.  It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it'd be since it was really really really really really slow.  I had a total of 6 or 7 orders today.  And I was at work from 8 am to 10:30 pm!  But on the bright side, after I got all the random jobs we could think of done I was able to watch TV and chill out on the couch!  I also watched Amber's kids chase around the other waitress, Kristy, with our squirt gun, so that was amusing.  At the end of the day, my body isn't as physically tired, as it is "I was bored all day and just wanted to nap" tired.  Luckily I was able to get some more practice on drinks today, which greatly contributed to my tips tonight.... At this rate we will be able to pay our bills!  haha :)
Well, I am so excited about our little baby Whitton!  The pictures are up on the fridge, but my favorite is the one we posted on Facebook.  I look at it all the time, and it helps me feel so much more connected actually seeing the baby!  I'm glad everything is running so smoothly so far (of course, besides the morning sickness).  I can hardly wait to meet our little blessing!  Is it weird that I think that the baby looks cute just based off that photo?  Maybe it's just because I'm so relieved that all the limbs and toes were accounted for... I bet this baby will be perfect.  And if it's as good looking and as charming as its Father we are headed in the best direction possible! :)
Josh is not home yet, but I am extremely tired and need to be up early again tomorrow for my morning shift!  So I am signing out!  Love you all so much!
Love,
Brookie Wookie

Hello Friends, Family, and the Random People of the Internet!

This is my first official contribution to our wonderful blog!  Josh and I created this in hopes that our family and close friends could keep close and updated with important (and let's be honest, not so important) things in our lives!

We are both very busy trying to keep up with the constant changing of schedules, plans, and activities in our day to day lives.  Some days one or both of us can sleep until noon, sometimes we go the entire day without seeing each other until we return home to crash for the night.  

Until today Josh has been been very active and busy in his schooling.  Today he took his last final, which makes him officially done with school until January when he starts again for winter track!  Hooray!  I was very excited at the thought of being able to see my husband whenever I was home until I remembered that he is currently looking for a job here in Rexburg, and will probably start one soon (which returns our schedules to a miniature chaos).

I am still working at Out of Bounds as a waitress and LOVING it!  It seems like all the coworkers I spend the most time with have very compatible personalities with mine, so all of us fit together like one disfunctional work family.  As I have taken the time to get to know each of them and where they come from I have come to remember that you cannot judge a book by its cover or history!  Some of these people are the most kind, loyal, generous, hard working, and good-hearted people I have ever come to know.  But if you just looked at a resume I could see where people would judge, and never get the opportunity of knowing them like I do.  Some come from humble backgrounds in smaller towns, some work other "unimportant" jobs just to pay the bills, some have rough pasts with the law, some never went to college or even graduated high school, some are covered in tattoos, some have never been able to settle, some have just always worked in bars, etc. etc. 

But as I said, these are some of the greatest people I've ever gotten to know.  All of them care about each other, and it seems like everyone has each other's back.  Just the other day I forgot to add a strange additional side to an order and the man made a very aggressive complaint, but when I went to apologize to the head cooks one of my coworkers stepped up with me and said it was our fault (when he didn't even have anything to do with that table or order).  It was very touching to me that a coworker would step up for something he didn't have to just to keep me out of trouble.  

The other thing I love about these people are their stories and their kids!  One new coworker told me he has 21 (yes, 21 folks!) kids!!!  There is no way I can see myself having anywhere near that number.  That is way too much.  Another coworker was telling stories to me today about her son who just quit/lost his job and was trying to get back home.  For the last week and a half the poor 20-year-old has been basically homeless and eating at fast food places while he waited for money to try and get back home to Idaho.  He's having to trek all the way back from Texas.  (So if anyone of you who have a dollar or two to spare and just happen to cross a homeless man or musician, please put in contribution for me!  It was just a reminder that not all homeless are homeless by choice, and some have very good intentions on how to use that money.)  But my favorite employees-and-their-kids award goes to my coworker Amber!  (Amber was the one that interviewed me, basically hired me and looks over me, and has been a big help in trying to train me and get me situated with the bar.)  First, her daughter came up to me and demanded I get the water gun.  Yes, we have a water gun at my work.  And yes, when the kids are playing in the water with it, we use it on special occasions at the bar to give shots to people via the water gun.  It's really hilarious looking, and I can't believe people pay for it, but I think it's funny!  Tangent!  Anyway, the other funny thing that happened was with her son.  I walked out back to get my phone out of the car, and her little boy was running around flooding the grass with tons of water via the hose.  When I walked by he exclaimed, "You're leaving?!?"  And I replied, "No! Just had to get something from my car!"  When I started walking back, the little stinker got the biggest grin on his face and tried to nail me with the water!  I had to run back to the deck just to get away!  But he did make me smile for the next while because of that incident.

At work right now I feel like I've caught up on how most everything works.  I've learned how to open and close, restock, where everything is and goes, how to make all the random sides and common drinks, but I still have to learn the bar.  Mom and Dad, you did TOO well trying to protect me from alcoholic beverages, because I am the worst bartender on earth!  I am determined to learn the drinks though, because bartenders make about a dollar or two per drink.  And many people who come in like several rounds of drinks for them and their buddies.  Do the math, and that's much more in an hour than I make in several as a waitress.  While I'm on my rant about tips, please please please always remember to tip your waitress well!  Because that's pretty much all we make sometimes! haha :)  Back to the bar!  So I've slowly been learning.  I've learned which drinks are domestic, which are imported, what's a draft, the prices of bottles and cans, and how to pour several kinds of drinks.  The education of my drinks has not made me curious about drinking though!  No sir!  If anything, it's just solidified the decision to never drink.  First off, beer?  Nastiest smelling thing ever.  And the stupid machine always splatters or splurts and drenches me in it!  (Mom and Dad, now I get why Grandpa always says, "I could never get it past my nose to get it down my throat.")  The next nasty thing is the Bloody Mary.  Do you guys have any idea what's in that drink?  It's disgusting!  Basically, it's tomato juice, vodka, garlic, some other weird powder mix we have (I think it's like an onion or something), green olives, and asparagus.  And people enjoy drinking that?  I think before you acquire the taste for a Bloody Mary you need to be a little drunk to make it go down... I think I'll keep to the only two things I like off that list: garlic and olives.  So gross.

Now for the fun stories you've all been waiting for about my *drumroll please...*  pregnancy!  I'm officially 11 weeks today, making one week from now the end of my first trimester (and hopefully the end of my morning sickness)!  At which point I will make an announcement to everyone through Facebook and messages about my pregnancy, and you guys can tell anyone else you've been holding out on.

Tomorrow is the first visit with the doctor about the baby!  Yeah!  We'll be doing an ultrasound and some other basic tests (probably a blood test, but as you know, I always keep my fingers crossed that one won't happen because of my severe fear of needles), and we'll probably get to see baby and hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time!  I am so excited.  I've been dying to officially meet baby Whitton through ultrasound, because right now all I get is sickness to prove signs of life!

The morning sickness seems to have died down much more since I started my new job.  I don't know if it's because I'm too busy and active now to eat big meals (since I just eat fries, salads, lemonades, and 7up between jobs at work), or if it's just starting to die down on its own, but I am very happy about the decrease in happy bowls!  Happy bowls, if Josh hasn't told you already Whitton family, is my nickname for the bowls I keep near me for those moments when I'm too sick to make it to the bathroom.  I gave the nickname to the bowls for when my Mom was sick, because calling them anything else seemed to make her sicker.  So, they're "happy bowls".

Of course, I haven't felt any kicks or movement yet because I'm not far enough along yet, but I am very excited about when I finally will.  I haven't had too much heartburn, and I've only had really bad leg cramps in the night once (which Josh was nice enough to give me a blessing then stay up rubbing them while he told me stories about when he had growing pains in his legs and would sneak into Sheri and Jason's room so his Mom would take care of him), and as you know the morning sickness was torturous for me at first (I could maybe keep one thing down a day if I was lucky) but is now subsiding, and I am tired a lot!  I'm supposedly supposed to be getting 8-10 hours of sleep at night, and even better if I can get a nap in the middle of the day too, but with my job that doesn't happen!  And I think the baby is a night owl, because I seem to have obtained occasional insomnia.  And as my family probably knows (and as Josh very much knows) when I get tired, I ramble.  A lot.  So the poor guy has been trying to get to sleep at night and I ramble about getting a cocker spaniel as our first dog, or how I'll decorate the baby's nursery, or what we still need to do that week, or how my day at work was, or anything and everything.  He's such a good sport though.  He's going to be an amazing father.  He already does so much for me and our little future family!  I am so grateful for him.

I have a really neat pregnancy app that keeps me updated on what's happening for the baby's growth week by week, gives me daily articles about pregnancy and the baby, gives me daily suggestions about what I need to do to stay healthy that week (take a walk, eat something healthy, call the doctor to make appointment for following week, etc), and also gives me "belly laughs" which are jokes or humor that pregnant women would especially appreciate and get as they're going through it.

So the craving lately have been:  Popsicles (orange and blue raspberry especially, I knew you'd like the blue raspberry one Mom... baby must like them like you!), sour green apples, iceberg lettuce with vinegarette or caesar dressing, toast (smothered in butter and salt), my roommate Ashlee's homemade pickles, guacamole, and burgers and fries at my work (which my coworkers are amazing about, and feed me fries all the time for free).  Meat has remained a major turn-off for me (unless it's the California Burger at my work, which is a burger with bacon and guacamole on it).

Another thing that seems to strangely help:  Watching "Cake Boss" from TLC.  Josh and I both love it, and joked with Cody he should go there since he's in New Jersey anyway.  But watching Cake Boss makes me crave nearly every kind of sugary treat they make, and distracts me from any kind of sickness (because the thought of all those things doesn't make me sick).  That and it's a really cool artistic show!  Josh and I have decided to become professional cake bakers because of it (although our first attempts at beautiful cakes were not so wonderful...)

And now to finish this first post off with the funny, yet gross, story about what poor Josh had to do to me last night.  On Saturday I had to leave work almost minutes after arriving because I felt really sick (and a bug sick, not morning sick).  It carried through until yesterday.  Yesterday I felt pretty good about what I was eating until I had some chocolate milk.  That turned my stomach, and made me very ill.  I was laying down the rest of the evening, trying not to be sick.  I tried eating one more thing, but my stomach was still so upset that I knew the only way I would feel better would be if I threw up and tried to start over by eating something new.  And I knew what would make my stomach churn fastest.  The smell of a sausage pasta Josh and I tried to eat the other night (but I couldn't keep down because of the sausage).  What happened next was so wrong and hilarious that Josh and I felt we should share for the laughs now that it's over.  I clutched onto my happy bowl for dear life as he cracked open the lid of the pasta.  I would take a wiff, and start to gag, so he'd pull it away.  Josh kept saying, "This is so wrong!" because he felt bad for trying to help me be sick.  We did that a couple times, and finally it made me loose my cookies.  After that I was able to eat some tater tots and felt much better.  

Now that I have written my book to keep you occupied for the next little while, I am signing off!

Love you all so much!  We will let you know how the ultrasound goes tomorrow! :)

Love,

Brooklyn  (& Josh)