August

August brought many visitors. We loved it! The day after Xander was born, we relaxed in the hospital for the morning, then Garrett went home to take care of Bekah, who had stayed the night with Chelsey and Cody. Brett came back, this time with Jess and Baer. They visited us in the hospital for a bit then followed us home. I felt great, but soon realized that I still had far to go before I was back to normal! Brett and Jess cooked dinner for us and cleaned the dishes. It was great to have them visit us. That night I was up a lot with Xander. Every time I'd sit down to nurse him I'd get butterflies in my stomach as I realized that this was the new normal. I was in heaven!! Bekah was amazed when Xander was still here the next morning, but she didn't seem to think it was weird to have him around. She just thought it was great that I was too exhausted and busy nursing to say no to TV!

Sunday afternoon my parents came to meet him. It was so great to introduce them! Nothing gives me more joy than to have my family love my children! I just feel so happy when all the people I love most are together and loving each other! As my dad and Xander stared at each other, I suddenly realized that I was seeing the same profile! Bekah may have been born all Brinkerhoff, but it looks like I had the dominant genes this time! 

My dad had to leave that night so he could work in the morning, but my mom stayed for the week. It was great for Bekah to have her here to shower her with gifts, love, and attention. She got more books read to her in a couple days than I had read to her for the last month! She was in heaven with Nana at her disposal. I was also in heaven with so much help and love. 

On Wednesday, Heather and her kids came out and stayed till Saturday. Bekah went wild with joy to have her cousins around! She can't get enough of them. We did a BBQ in the back that night. The kids were too hyper to really eat, so at 9:30 when we realized they should already be in bed, they started begging for food. So we sat them down with some grapes and crackers then sat in the living room talking. Suddenly we heard a loud smack and Lydia started crying. We ran in and found she'd fallen off her chair and broken her arm! So so sad! Heather and my mom took her to the emergency room and I had Garrett come home from work to help me get Bekah, James, and Xander to bed. It was a really long night, but Lydia was well taken care of. She was exhausted and in pain the next day but we still managed to have a decent time. 

Lydia cuddling Heather and Xander with her broken arm.

Saturday the 10th, Lon and Sherrie came to meet Xander. And of course, they also showered Bekah with gifts, love, and attention!

Sunday night the Coopers and Howcroft (minus husbands) came to Logan. They all (2 women and 7 children, plus Chelsey and Cody) stayed at Chelsey's house! They had a blast and I'll admit that I was slightly jealous of their giant slumber party! We went to Bear Lake that week and it was a great day on the beach and all the kids were happy and had so much fun. It felt great to relax there all day.

Bekah stole all her cousins' stuff and came up with her own new style.

                  Timothy and Xander (who looks like a grandpa with his bad hair and grey sweats!)                                        

She wanted to sit by Xander so she dragged the bouncer over.

On Saturday the 17th Sarah and her family came to visit till Monday afternoon. 

While the Porters were here we went to Tony's Grove. It was beautiful!

After all our visitors left, we made it back to our yard to play in the pool. It was so nice to finally be where I kept imagining I'd be all through the long spring and summer semesters.

Xander's hand at a couple weeks old

Bekah's hand at a couple weeks old

Bekah's hand at 2 years old

Every time she gets hold of paint or markers, they go immediately onto her skin, no matter how many other materials I provide for her to decorate!

Several times a week, Bekah asks if she can hold him. 

Nothing makes me more glad than to have her like him!

On the 26th we dove back into school. It seemed simple enough at first, but then teachers expected us to turn stuff in....

Alexander

On August first, I woke at 5 am (after tossing and turning in nervous anticipation) and got ready to go to the hospital. by 7:10 I was all checked in and ready to be induced. I wanted to put off the epidural as long as I could because it seemed like with Bekah it really slowed me down. Well around 1 pm I gave in and asked for the juice. Oh sweet heaven! It worked like a charm this time (it didn't go well with my first labor) and I was able to take a short nap from 2:15-2:45. At 3 I started pushing and at 3:50 he was here!! I was so in love from the moment he was born. With Bekah I kind of didn't know what to expect, but this time I was prepared and my arms ached to hold him as soon as he was delivered! They handed him to me and I just started crying in amazement. I love how it feels to meet my child for the first time and know immediately that I would give my life for him!
It all went so smoothly and quickly compared to last time, and it was nice that it happened from morning till afternoon rather than middle of one night till the middle of the next! I felt so good after it! I had the chills a tiny bit, but part of that was just excitement. Chelsey and Cody brought Bekah at about 5 and then Dynelle, Camille, and Brett made a surprise visit! They were so sweet to drive up and meet my baby the day he was born. They kept apologizing and saying they hoped they weren't overwhelming me, but I was on an adrenaline high and was just so excited to have more people there to admire my gorgeous son!

Ready to strip down to my exposure gown!

So much curly hair! He was 8 lbs 4 oz and 20.5 inches long

Our first photo as a family of four! Garrett and Bekah are wearing their USU shirts because Garrett said that it was game day. Looks like we won!

July

Ah, July. What a wonderful month! This year it brought the promise of the end of a hectic semester and the tantalizing hope of a new baby in our home. I had been having Braxton Hick's contractions since mid-May and was just sure that the baby would come a week early. 

On the 3rd we went to the Freedom Fire show with Chelsey and Cody. The band that played was a cover band for ABBA. It was pretty fun but man was it HOT!!! We were sitting facing the west and right about 8:30 I thought I was going to melt right into the bleachers! Finally it got dark and we had an amazing firework show. I had been prepping Bekah all day, letting her know that the fireworks were loud but safe...she still freaked out a bit. She kept pulling at me saying, "Should we hide?" She finally decided that Cody was a good protector and snuggled into his shoulder, peeking out now and then before hiding her face again. 

Poor little sweaty girl! But she did so great waiting for the fireworks.

Three patriotic girls. (And two boys in the bellies!)

On the fourth I took a picture of Bekah wearing my old night gown before dressing her in her flag shirt to go to the parade in Hyrum.

She loved that people threw candy to us from their cars and floats. She talked about the candy parade for weeks!

We were somewhat shocked that she didn't get scared by the sparklers since the fireworks had scared her so badly, but she loved them. When the firework show started that night she got scared again and hid her face in our blanket.

All the talk about Baby Xander coming any day got Bekah into baby mode. I couldn't find her one day and finally spotted her rocking her baby and singing to it! She's going to be a great big sister!

Whenever it's time to have a new baby, Garrett starts feeling like life is ending and has to pack in as much fun time as he can. So on the 19th til the 21st, he, Brett, Riley, Jack, Isaac, Jacob, Josh, and Kevin went on a backpacking trip to Red Castle. They had a great time and it got Garrett's wiggles out.  :)

June

June brought loneliness as we felt the continued absence of Garrett on his field camp. It also brought more classes making it so I was gone from 7:30-5 rather than getting home by 3. Bekah was a trooper, but I could tell it was difficult for her. Garrett rarely had cell service or battery on his phone so we rarely heard from him.

Garrett and Cody on top of a huge rock during their field camp. They had a good time but it was so great to have them back on the 16th (Father's Day!). 

We went to Bear Lake on the 22nd with the Watkins. It was so cold and windy! We stayed for about two hours then gladly climbed into our sun-warmed cars and drove away to get shakes!

Beautiful, even though it was cold.

Wearing her "pretty dress" Garrett put on her. (It's really just her favorite blanket held on with a paper clip)

June 27-30th we went to the Brinkerhoff Reunion near Manti. What good times we all had together! There's nothing like getting family together for love and laughter.

Bekah and Eliza hit it off and posed for us as we praised them for holding hands so adorably! 

We found a waterfall to climb around in. Bekah was pretty impressed and let Garrett carry her up into it. She's almost always up for an adventure with her Daddy!