Last Thursday June 7th at 10:19pm we welcomed our little Jayda Faith Bryan into the world.  She is happy, beautiful, and healthy.  She was born at 37weeks 5days due to cholestasis of pregnancy.  I was started on pitocin at 9am and already dilated to 3cm.  I progressed throughout the day and finally got my epidural in the afternoon.  It seemed to take forever for me to dilate to 5cm, but one there, I went from 5cm to complete in 45min.  Four pushes later, our little girl was born.  She weighed 6lbs 4oz, which is exactly what her big sister weighed.  What is even more ironic is that she was born at 22:19hrs in room 2219.  Pretty crazy!  I had a beautiful delivery, and I am so very grateful for our midwife Stacey!  She was incredible to say the least!  Her and Tim took turns massaging my back, getting me ice chips, and cheering me on. Thank you Stacey! 

My fabulous sisters made a beautiful and delicious dinner the night before we went in.

We did a little strawberry picking



9am and ready to get the show in the road!

Boy does labor hurt!  

Tessa meeting her little sister for the first time

Thank you so much Stacey!  We love you!

 Such a good big sister and a great little helper!

A very proud daddy!!!

Oh how the time goes by...

Our last few weeks of being a family of three have absolutely flown by.  In fact this entire pregnancy has flown by, and here we find ourselves approaching the end.  Over these last few weeks we've spent wonderful and quality time with family.  We have celebrated my cousin Ryan's 30th birthday, little Fi's 1st birthday, my other cousin's second birthday, and my nephew's 3rd birthday.  We've had family movie nights, shopping days, spa time, date nights, trips to several parks, we've enjoyed ice cream EVERY NIGHT for the last two months, and much much more.  Here are just a few pics from some of the fun we've had.  I've taken many more, but have no time to post them all.

Fi with her grandma...can't believe she is one already!

Taking full advantage of the warm weather

Having fun with her cousin Rebecca

My hilarious cousin James

These were taken a few weeks ago at 35 weeks...thank you MFA!

A life celebrated

This last weekend was spent celebrating my grandpa Cliff's life.  It was a weekend filled with beautiful memories and tears for the loss of a grandpa, great-grandpa, dad, husband, and friend.  In  my 29years of life, I have attended several funerals.  I must say that from my point of view there is quite a big difference in what is called a funeral and what is called a memorial service.  It has been my experience that memorial services' focus more on the celebration of a life lived, where as; a funeral focuses more on the loss of life.  I'm sure many people will disagree with me, but that's why I said it's "my point of view".  The reason I voice this subject is because I would rather celebrate the life lived rather than the loss.  Don't get me wrong, I spent my time morning over the loss of life, but I don't want that to be my focus moving forward.  With that said, I have to say that my grandpa's memorial service was touching and beautiful.  We had the graveside service Friday night where we all shared many fun and happy memories of my grandpa.  We also sang some of my grandpa's favorite hymns, and finished off the night with dinner at the Old Spaghetti factory.  Saturday was the actual memorial service at the church, where we also celebrated a beautiful life lived....We celebrated "Norton" style.  My grandpa was a rather large Yankee's fan.  So, in lew of the norm, we enjoyed a ball park theme.  One that he would have been very proud of!

The Babe...

 Tim praying over my uncle John before the service on Saturday....I know I've mentioned it before, but wow, what amazing man I married!!!

My cousin Ryan and sister Amy speaking of the legacy my grandpa left for us all

 The flag being presented to my uncle Bob on behalf of the president of the USA



"Johnny Quebeck"....a rather unusual song to finish off a service, but very normal for our family.

Like I said, Yankee style

Change

As I step back a minute and look at what this year has put upon our doorstep, I'm a little taken back.  Change after change has taken place.  Tim and I both feel as if we stepped onto a roller coaster Jan. 1st 2012.  I will spare you all of the change that we've been through over the last few months with the exception of one very important change. 

Last week, Tim felt the Lord tugging at his heart.  He had a sense that he should get on google and look up his adoption information.  It was at that moment that our lives changed forever.  After doing a little digging (btw, it's a little crazy at how quickly you can find all sorts of info on just about anyone), Tim found out who his birth mother was.  All these years, he thought that his birth mom's name was Jolene Halsen, when in reality it is Johnene Lynn Halsen but maybe Johnene Lynn Dragon now.  His birth father's name is Michael J. Galeazzi.  It turns out that his birth mom has been looking for Tim for quite some time.  Do to the fact that Tim's name was changed at birth, she has been unable to locate him.  Tim's name at birth was Richard Brian Halsen.  After hours of research, we found out that Tim also has two sisters.  Based on the information we found, he has one sister who is in her mid 30's and her name is Emma.  We don't know anymore information about her other than that.  We also found that Tim's other sister's name is Rosie L. Halsen and lives in Nampa, Idaho.  Thanks to facebook we were able to find a picture of her, but are still trying to contact her as contact info is very limited.  It's pretty incredible to think that we have a whole other family out there.  Tim is still trying to wrap his head around all of this new information and change.  He wants to meet his biological mom and sister so very badly.  If anyone reading this blog has any information that can help, please post a comment in the comment section.  Tim's sister Rosie, also goes by Rose and we believe she is 28 years old.  We are not sure if his birth mom is still alive as she had a very bad heart back in 2001, We think she maybe in Emmett, Idaho or in Nampa, Idaho. 

This has been such an incredible God ordained opportunity!  Everything has fallen into place perfectly, and we are so excited and nervous to see what doors open next.

A Mother's Day weekend

Mother's Day weekend couldn't have been more beautiful!

Saturday morning we strolled around our local farmers market.  We look forward to the opening day of the farmers market every year. 

 My dear hubby and sweet little girl picked out these gorgeous flowers for me while we were at the market.

The smell of freshly cut grass takes both Tim and I back to long summer nights as children.

There's nothing quite like kicking off our shoes and running around in freshly cut green grass to make us feel like kids again. Tessa has grown accustomed to this activity, and every time she sees grass, her shoes fly off. 

Tess loves her little purple quad, which she calls her beep beep; However, she is quickly out growing it. 

Visiting the beach is a summer time favorite of ours.  The smell of the air, the feel of the soft sand in our toes, and the sounds of the water against the shore all make for a delightful afternoon.

We couldn't have asked for a better ending to a fun weekend....  When we got home Sunday evening, two blacktail deer welcomed us.  Looks like they were both relaxing after enjoying a sun filled weekend too.  We sat back and watched them for hours on our patio.  

While motherhood has it's challenges, it also has it's rewards.  I'm so very grateful to be able to be a mom.  The bible tell us that children are a gift from the Lord, and what a gift they are!  Thank you babe and Tess for a fabulous weekend!  I love you both so very much!  Thank you heavenly Father for blessing me with my beautiful family!