Dear Baby

Dear Baby Fortuna:

We love you so much already! We have only known you were in my tummy for 2 months, but we have been waiting for you our whole lives! We are so excited for you to come and be a part of our family. We know you will bring so much joy and happiness into our lives. We found out about you on December 21st 2012, and we have loved every minute with you since then. On February 6th 2013 we got to hear your precious heartbeat for the first time. That was the most beautiful sound I have ever heard!  On February 28th we got to see your first pictures. You are absolutely perfect! I stare at those photos of you all day and I really cannot believe that in just 6 short months you will be here with us! On March 4th we got to hear your little heartbeat again and dad recorded it on his ipad so we can listen to it whenever we want.  Daddy is so excited to meet you! He has already started looking at little tiny rock climbing gear for you. We have so many big dreams and hopes for you, but right now all we hope is that you grow big and strong and healthy so you can come home from the hospital with us after you are born. We hope that we can be the best parents to you and give you everything you need. We love you little baby!

xoxoxoxo
Love, mom and dad

We're having a BABY!!

Yes, its true; Brad and I are going to have a baby!! We are so so excited and we feel so fortunate that we get to be parents. This is something we have both wanted for a long time  and we are so excited that it's finally happening! :) We found out I was pregnant on December 21st 2012. I probably peed on like 6 pregnancy tests...I was so excited and anxious that I took one almost every day haha. I had taken one on December 20th and I was waiting the 3 (very very long) minutes it tells you to wait and about halfway through I thought to myself; this is stupid, I'm not pregnant, I don't need to wait for this. So I threw the test away. Later that night I had this feeling that I just needed to check the test, so I pulled it out of the trash and looked and my heart skipped a beat. Two Lines. I didn't know what to do. I had been looking forward to this moment for so long, and I had it all planned out in my head how I would surprise Brad - all of that went right out the window. I ran out of the bathroom like a crazy person waving this stick around in the air, jumping on him and shoving it in his face. He had no idea what it even was. I explained that it was the stick I peed on earlier and that it was positive! He just looked at me like I was mental and said, "no, there is no way you are pregnant, that test has been sitting in the trash all day, you can't believe those results." Definitely not the reaction I was hoping for. I was so sad but I realized he was probably right, so I sadly threw the test away...again, and began telling myself I wasn't pregnant. The next day Brad asked me if I had taken another pregnancy test. I was so confused that he thought I needed to do that because he seemed so sure that I wasn't. I bought another test and I waited the whole day and finally decided I would face reality and take it. I was beyond excited when I saw two lines again and I asked Brad to come look because I "wasn't sure if I could understand the results" He came walking in so confident it was negative and he looked at the test and then said "OH SH**" :) and that's how it all began! It goes without saying that Brad was slightly shocked, he didn't think it would happen so quickly, but a few days later he couldn't contain his excitement! He is so cute and loves to tell people we are expecting. I know he is going to be the best dad ever...he already is! That baby isn't even halfway here and he/she is already so spoiled. It has already changed us for the better and brought us closer than we could have ever imagined. We love this little baby so much and we can't wait for September 1st to get here so we can meet our precious angel!

My life...

It is 4:20 am and I am sitting, bored out of my mind. Why am I awake you ask, don't worry, I ask myself that approximately 6 times a month when I am forced to work the night shift. Yes, its true. I am working right now, while the rest of the world is in a deep heavenly sleep in the comfort of their beds, I am sitting in a dark and cold room with 2 little babes snuggled next to me. It sounds all great and wonderful, and for the most part it is. I probably have one of the best jobs in the hospital (I deal with tiny baby poop and not giant, overweight, sweaty, stinky cranky adult poop) but yet I dread coming to work when I work night shift. I have no idea why, I really shouldn't hate it but I have just become such a homebody and super attached to Brad over the last 2 years that it is really, I mean REALLY hard for me to leave for work at night. Did this strange attachment and sudden love of being home happen to anyone else when they got married...or am I just weird? Anyway, if anyone knows of a job that pays more than a nurse, allows me to work when I want and still give me health benefits, then please, by all means, feel free to sign me up!

Other than that our life is pretty great. We are enjoying our new home. It was home for Zeus before it was home to us. That little guy loves to run circles in our backyard. Brad started school this week - he is loving it for sure...NOT. We are both looking forward to the day that he graduates. He is excited to be done with school and finally starting his career, and I am just excited because that means I get to stay home in my pajamas all day and bake cupcakes and watch daytime television... :)

We bought a HOUSE!

Well, Brad and I did it, we are official home owners! :) After looking at probably 60 plus houses we finally found the perfect one! We walked through the house on a monday night, tuesday morning we submitted our offer and wednesday afternoon we found out our offer was accepted! It was such a crazy experience, and we can't believe we really own a house. It is a cute little red brick rambler in Cottonwood heights. We really love the area; it is close to both our parents' houses and close to work and school too. The neighborhood is really nice and it is a "true" neighborhood-lots of variety of people and wide age ranges.
    
     The house had just recently had a new kitchen put in and new bathrooms too. They left a hideous rock fireplace in the front room though, so Brad worked so hard and pulled many late nights and early mornings to rip it out and build us a new one! I am so proud of that guy! He works so hard to build us a beautiful home and a beautiful future! He never complains and he often does much more than he needs to. He woke up at 4 am to go finish the fireplace before the carpet guy came that morning. He told me he was just finishing the tiling and then going to work, when I went over later that day I saw that he had not only tiled the fireplace but he also painted the whole thing! I am so thankful for a husband who knows how to do that stuff, he truly is amazing! :)

and now for some pictures...

Signing our life away

Our new home!

Ripping out the ugly rock

The (almost) finished project!

home. sweet. home

2 years

2 years ago I somehow managed to trick Brad into marrying me, and it has been the best 2 years! :) I am so lucky to be married to him, and I am so glad that we have many more years to go!
  We went to Rodizio grill for dinner. If you haven't been there, I highly recommend it. It was delicious! You get real full way too fast, but it is totally worth it. Brad tried rattlesnake sausage...and liked it! I was definitely not that brave. My favorite item there was grilled pineapple. After we ate we got some chocolate at the chocolate factory, we were so full that we didn't even eat it until the next night. We stayed at Little America hotel (where we stayed on our wedding night). It was such a fun night, and nice to "get away" for a little bit. Thanks Bradley, for an amazing 2 years, and for being the best husband ever! xoxo

We saw "Charlie" the dancing chocolate chip pancake when we went out to breakfast the next morning :)

While the boys were at priesthood session the girls went out to dinner at Pizzeria Limone. It was great food and even better company.

Little Dell

A few weeks ago Brad and I went hiking and decided to take Zeus along. We went to Little Dell up Parleys canyon. We hiked a pretty easy trail since it was Zeus's first time. He did great! He stayed right with us and we were even able to take him off his leash because he was being so good! We had a picnic by the river and surprisingly Zeus played in the water!

I'm officially a NURSE!

I finally graduated on August 3rd!! It was the best day! I had a final that morning at 8:00 am and after that was finished my study group and I celebrated by going to Ruth's diner for breakfast. We rolled down the windows and shouted "we graduated today" the whole way up and down the canyon! It was the best feeling knowing all my hard work had finally paid off. Pinning was wonderful. It was at the Jordan Campus. We had some speakers and the graduates walked across the stage and received our pins, we did the nurse's pledge and then had a slide show. After pinning all of my family went to Spaghetti factory for dinner. It was so great to be able to celebrate with the people who have supported me the most! On August 29 I took my NCLEX exam to become an officially licensed nurse. I was so nervous the days leading up to the exam, but on the actual test day I was quite calm. My sister Melinda came with me and waited there the whole 3.5 hours while I was testing! She is such a gem! My friends took me and Brad to dinner and a movie on Thursday night to get my mind off of the test. Finally that night at 11:00pm my friends texted me "Congratulations Nurse Leah!" Brad and I hurried and logged onto the website to see and sure enough my name was posted saying I passed the test! I AM A NURSE!! :) and the best part is I got my dream job in the newborn ICU! I start on September 11 and I can't wait! Thanks to everyone, especially Brad who helped me get where I am! I couldn't have done it without you!

Ruth's Diner with study group
Jen, Nich, Steph, Brooke, Me, Devon

My amazing study group (minus Jen)

Devon, Brooke, Lynette and Nich

Our biggest Fans!
Rocky & Devon, Chris & Brooke, Lynette, Nich & Steph