So, I know I am a terrible blogger, but I have made it a new goal to get better at updating for the sake of preserving memories! Obviously a lot has changed since I made this two years ago, but a lot has changed in the just the last few months on top of that that deserves to be documented so I will start there!
Jacob: Jake turned one this last month and I am blown away by how fast the time has gone! My little baby boy is not a baby anymore. Especially since he has finally decided to take off on two feet this last week. He's been so close for months and one day he just decided he could walk and hasn't stopped since. He waddles around with his arms up (we call it Frankenstein style) and LOVES his new freedom. He's already trying to run, but that usually results in a face-plant at this point. He brings so much joy into our little family with his contagious cheesy smiles and chuckles. He's started blowing kisses and waving as well, which he has learned to use to his advantage with cute girls we pass on the sidewalk, in the grocery store, at church, and pretty much anywhere we go. He makes Chris proud with his expert flirting at any opportunity. Some of his favorite things are: walks (looking for birds and dogs), playing catch (he is actually very good at throwing a ball right to you, another thing Chris is very proud of!), strawberries, sippy cups, wrestling, swimming (he dunks his head under the water repeatedly with dramatic gasps for air in between), and giving kisses (open mouthed, on the lips, slobbery kisses over and over again). We love our little boy and his funny, blossoming personality!
Graduation: Chris and I both graduated from BYU in April with degrees in Exercise Science (Pre-Dental) and Studio Arts. I am still in a small state of denial over the fact that I am completely done with school. I am so excited to be able to stay home with Jake now and not have to fit classes and added stress around spending time with him. And it will be so nice to be able to paint whatever I want and not have to worry about it being graded! The student lifestyle will not entirely escape us quite yet however, as Chris still has at least four years of dental school ahead of him. It was an eventful week with both of our parents in town along with most of my siblings and some of Chris's. Grammie and Grandfather Merkley were able to squish in our apartment and visit with us for a couple days and Jake loved having some time with them. We also fit Jake's birthday party into all the madness so that Grandparents could be there. It was very busy but very fun to have so much family around at once- we were lucky to have so much love and support surrounding that important week! We love you all :)
Texas: After graduation we spent a couple fun days in Wyoming with the Hendersons then came back, frantically packed everything up in 2 days, drove it all down to a storage unit in Las Vegas, then drove ourselves and the bare necessities for 3 days straight down to Houston to put in one last summer of selling. Chris is the sales manager this year and we have my cousin Sharee and Cody, Chris's brother Tim and Tamera, and Chris's cousin Daniel coming down to sell with us, along with friends from previous years so we are very excited for this summer. It will be a blast (with some incredibly hot, humid days and hard work thrown in, but mostly just a blast!).
House: On top of all this craziness going on, we are currently in the process of buying a house in Las Vegas for the four years Chris will be attending the UNLV School of Dental Medicine. We are close to closing on a 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath house with a cute little grassy yard and fun climbing trees. We can't wait!
I think this is now a sufficiently overwhelming and incredibly long update-post, so I will just end here. We love you all and thank you for your help during this crazy transition period in our lives. We are so excited to move on to new adventures (even though we kind of already miss the old ones..). Happy summer!
ary 9th at 2:15 PM weighing in at 6 lbs 4 oz and 19.5 inches long. She came pretty quickly and unexpectedly 2 weeks early! I woke up around 4:30 that morning with pretty mild contractions 6 minutes apart and continued to track them as I packed a hospital bag and Chris installed the carseat (as I said, unexpectedly early!) Chris continued to get ready for school because I couldn't decide what to do, but by the time he really had to decide to leave or not my contractions were three minutes apart and I could no longer talk through them. So we decided to leave for the hospital at 9 and left Jake with one of Chris's good friends Aaron Stoker and his friend Whitney who happened to be staying with us for a dental school interview (that was lucky!). When we got to the hospital I was in a good amount of pain (I don't know why, but my contractions were much stronger than they ever were with Jake) but unfortunatel
y I was hardly even dilated to a 2. Because I was 2 weeks early, they would not do anything to progress my labor and made us walk laps around the hospital for an hour to see if it would help. After this frustrating and painful hour of walking (during which I became increasingly grumpy) the poor nurse who was trying to be so nice had to inform me that I was still only at a 2 and they were going to have to send me home to wait it out. Luckily, my doctor was in a surgery and was unable to confirm their decision, so we were stuck waiting for his approval for another hour. When it came time to try getting a hold of my doctor again, they decided to check me just in case and were shocked to find that I was now dilated to 6cm. I was finally moved into a delivery room. All I wanted at this point was an epidural (my contractions were now less than 2 
minutes apart and strong!) and I'm afraid I was not being very patient or kind. Because they were planning on sending me home, I now had to wait for them to really check me in and for a full bag of fluid from the IV to go through before they would call in the anesthesiologist. I don't think I've ever been more happy to see a stranger before. I love epidurals. Once the epidural got working I was much happier and actually had to be put on oxygen because I was apparently TOO relaxed! Throughout all of this my water had remained unbroken, and we were now just waiting for my doctor to leave his surgery so that he could come up and break it for me. Unfortunately, he was very willing to let me just wait. So we waited and waited until I began feeling an increase in press
ure and asked a nurse to come and check me again. She was very surprised to find that I was fully dilated and Brook was all ready to go! They called my doctor and told him he HAD to come up now, so he came and broke my water (and commented that he thinks my water will never break on it's own, bummer) and we got ready to push immediately. After waiting so long for him to come up, Brook was already as low as she could have possibly gotten on her own, and it only took a couple good pushes to deliver her. I think it was only a total of about 4 minutes from the time the doctor broke my water to the time she was born! I did end up needing a couple stitches for a small tear, but other than that it was a pretty smooth delivery. They handed her right to me and I couldn't help but cry. She was so tiny and beautiful and i
t was just as special and miraculous as Jake's birth all over again. She had a good amount of brown hair and big blue eyes. She also had a little crooked nose (smooshed a little to one side), but that straightened itself out after a few days. It was pretty cute while it lasted though. Jake came to meet her a few hours later and was very interested for about 5 minutes and then got bored. But he has turned into such a good big brother since! He still just calls her "baby" and will always look for her when he wakes up and remember to say goodnight to her when we're putting him to bed. He LOVES to snuggle with her and give her kisses (which often end up as smothering, but his intentions are always good!). He is also very good at sharing with her and I w
ill often find little cars and other toys in her bouncer or balanced on her head. Luckily Brooklyn is a much better sleeper than Jake was so I have been able to get some rest. She is a very sweet, good little girl and we love her so much! She's got Chris wrapped around her little finger, and has already learned to save her best smiles for him (how come the mom never gets these little victories??). It's a little crazy sometimes as I'm still trying to figure out life with two kids, but we are loving our family of four and feel so incredibly blessed to have such wonderful, healthy children. There really is no greater blessing!
