The Sherrill's

Look who's one!

2011-12-27T01:44:00.017-07:00

I really can't believe that it has already been one year! They say that the first year with twins is the hardest, so I guess we should celebrate our accomplishment! :)

Bre and Bryn are really good babies. They sleep like champs and they don't cry too often. Some days we fall in bed with nothing accomplished, but at least our kids were fed and alive. However, we really feel that this year has not been as hard as we had psyched ourselves out for. And we are VERY grateful for that.

It is not very fun to have a birthday the day after Christmas. I am going to have to figure out how to make this better in future years.

Today's celebration for them was not as cool as it could have been, or probably should have been. We'll just be glad that they will only remember what they see in pictures. And then we'll make sure the pictures look awesome! :)

The day started off pretty slowly. We were all wiped out after Christmas. Eventually, the girls opened some new clothes and we got on our way.

We went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch, then to Wal-Mart, and Target. We are trying to upgrade them to front-facing car seats, but we weren't able to find the ones we wanted.

After our errands, we came home, opened some more gifts, and had some cake. Like I said, nothing too fun or profound, but we got some cute pictures. :)

Here's Aubree...

And Brynlie (remember how she learned how to cheese?)

More cheese!

And some more! I was trying to get a good picture of both of them together and Brynlie kept making this face! I promise we love both of them the same amount, even though there is an overload of Brynlie pictures.

Wal-Mart. We have to push 2 carts when we come here, and Luke thinks it's really cool to have one foot in each!

When we got home, we tried to get a good picutre of them together. It was going really well...Until Bryn smacked Bre in the face!She recovered. Opening gifts from Gma/Gpa Cook... New shoes! (I don't know why I don't have a picture of them but they're super cute!)
This is mostly for our families... Just singing Happy Birthday. Poor Brynlie grabbed the candle and burned her finger. :(

Let them eat cake!

The results...Looks like they might have eaten too much.

Aubree

And Brynlie.

Happy Happy Birthday! We are in love!

The story of the twins

2011-12-27T00:26:00.004-07:00

It all started when I went in for my first appoint with Luke. He was my first baby, so the doctor wanted to get a little background on my family and such. One of the questions he asked was if I had any twins in my family. My mom has twin sisters, and I have 2 cousins that both have a set of twins. When I told him this he said, "I'm going to put you in the high-probability range of having twins." We then went in for an ultra sound and saw that I was only pregnant with little Lukey. However, from that day, I always felt like I would have twins one day.
When we learned that we were pregnant again, I immediately had the thought of "what if it's twins." Nate would just laugh it off, and I would convince myself that maybe it was just wishful thinking or something, and that we were really only having one baby. We had just moved to California, without insurance, so we were trying to explore all of our options before we went to the doctor. We went home to Idaho in August for a family reunion and decided to set up an appointment with Dr. Isbell while we were there. We couldn't get in to see him, so we saw his daughter, who also works in his office. I was about 14 weeks so we were able to hear the heartbeat. While she was listening, I said, "Make sure there's only one heartbeat, okay." Nate rolled his eyes, and she listenend a little harder and said, "I only hear one, but that doesn't mean anything." The ultra sound tech was not in the office that day, so we didn't have that option. It's hard to explain, but I really felt like we were having twins. At the same time, I was scared to be confident of that feeling. So everytime I would think I was having twins, I would immediately talk myself out of it. We had moved 9 times in our 3-1/2 years of marriage, so even when I told my mom that I felt like I was having twins she would say, "your life is too crazy for twins."
At the family reunion, we announced that we were having a baby. We went back to California, went about life, and decided that we were having a boy. So, I was in total boy mode. I was thinking about boy names, and how I needed to get coordinating bedding so Luke and the little guy could share a room. ALL BOY!!! Nate's internship ended, and we headed back to Idaho/Utah. Our plan was to do Christmas lights in Utah, and then move to Idaho in January. Since I was due in February, and we didn't want to switch doctors, we decided it was best to just keep seeing Dr. Isbell in Idaho Falls. We had 3 weeks until we were going to start doing Christmas lights so Nate flew out to Texas to sell pest control for a bit. I had scheduled my 20 week ultra sound, and soon realized that he wasn't going to be back in time. We discussed changing it, but decided not to because 1) We would have to make a trip to Idaho in the middle of all the craziness of Christmas lights if we rescheduled, 2) Nate had seen the ultra sound with Luke, and in his eyes if you've seen one, you've seen them all. And 3) we were sure we were having a boy, so it's not like we would be surprised or anything. :)
The day of the ultra sound came and I decided to take my mom and my sisters, Lindsey and Cortney. The ultra sound tech, Rod Anderson, came in and my mom knows him so they talked while he prepped everything. When it was time to do the ultra sound, he turned to me and explained what he was going to check for: ie, making sure the baby was growing as it should, that it had all 4 chambers of the heart, and so on. Of course I added, "and make sure there is only one." My mom and sisters all laughed/rolled their eyes. Rod put the wand on my stomach, started laughing, and says, "You know, I know you were kidding but guess what? You have 2 babies in here!" WHAT?!? You can imagine the flood of emotions from this point on. I immediately got Nate on the phone and he was even MORE shocked than I was. He stayed on the phone while we learned that we were having 2 GIRLS. I have to admit, I was more shocked that we were having 2 girls than I was that we were having twins. What a fun day! I was really sad that Nate was not there with me, but it was fun having my mom and sisters there.
Thursday, December 23, 2010, I had a routine check-up with my doctor. I was 33 weeks pregnant and feeling miserable. Someone, somewhere (I really don't remeber who- maybe I made it up), had told me that 34 weeks was the magic number for twins. So, I was sure that I would go to the doctor and he would tell me that my babies were big and healthy and that he felt sorry for me so he would induce me in the next week or two. HA! Doesn't everyone wish for that toward the end of the pregnancy? Anyway, the appointment was quite the opposite. The doc said that everything was great and that he wanted me to have a "good 15 or 16 pound of baby" in me! Are you kidding me?!? He also told me that he would not even think about inducing me until I was at least 38 weeks! Needless to say, my doctor and I were on 2 completely different pages. I, of course, was happy to have healthy babies, I just didn't want to be pregnant anymore.
We went about our Christmas festivities as we would have. On Christmas day, I came to my senses and realized that Christmastime would be a horrible time to have a birthday. I told Nate, "Today would be the worst day to have a baby. And tomorrow would be the next worst."
Christmas came and went. I was exhausted, so I went to bed pretty early and Nate stayed up playing games witih all the boys. I woke up at 3 AM with the most horrible pain in my leg. (I have no idea what it was, or if it was even related to my labor.) I woke up again at 5AM and the pain was gone. Then, I woke up at 7 AM to my water breaking. Things went so fast from there.
I had Nate, my dad, and my bro-in-law, Jason, give me a blessing before we headed to the hospital. I was so nervous, realizing that 33 weeks was pretty early to have these babies, but I was comforted through the blessing and I knew that everything would be okay.
We got to the hospital at about 8 AM. They checked to make sure that it was amniotic fluid, which it was, and then called my doctor. He got there about 8:30 or so and did an ultra sound. The presenting baby/baby A/Aubree, was breach, so we knew that a c-section was going to happen. However, they wanted me to hold on as long as I could so they gave me a shot of steroids and then a shot to try to slow down my labor. Their goal was to give me one more shot of steroids before I delivered, but there had to be at least 12 hours in between, preferably 24. By this point, I was feeling some contractions and thinking that they were crazy if they wanted me to wait 24 hours.
Around 9:30 AM the nurse came in and told me that the shot actually sped up my labor instead of slowing it down so they were going to prep me for a c-section at 10. So, from 9:30 to 10:00 is kind of a blur. The charge nurse from the NICU came in and explained to me that they would just pass my babies through a window to the NICU. The guy that numbs you (I don't want to attempt to spell that word) came in and had me sign my life away. :)
We got in to the operating room had a little Sunday school lesson. Not really, but Dr. Isbell was a counselor in his stake presidency and happened to be the only one in town because it was the day after Christmas. He had something like 2 missionaries reporting, and one leaving, and I conveniently went into labor that day. :) I was grateful for him as he shared his testimony about the gospel and the organization of the church. He knew that it was the Christ's church, and that his stake would still function without him. My nurse then told everyone that her son just received his mission call to the same mission that the numbing guy's son was in. Only in Idaho Falls, and probably Utah, would the entire staff of the O.R. be members of the church. It was such a tender mercy to me.
I HATED the c-section, but lived through it. I heard Dr. Isbell say, "Incision time: 10:28" and then Aubree was born at 10:31, and Brynlie at 10:32. Aubree weighed 4 lbs 14 oz, and Brynlie was 4 lbs, 11 oz. We laugh now because I was out of the operating room by 11, and we're sure that Dr. Isbell still went and performed his church duties that day.
We were blessed to have healthy babies. They both came off their oxygen the first day. They stayed in the NICU for 12 days to eat and grow, and then they both came home on the same day. We were told that never happens with twins. Of course, hind sight is 20/20, but looking back, we realize how fortunate we were to have things happen the way they did and go as smoothly as they did. I'm so glad I was oblivious to all of the things that could have gone wrong. We have had a few friends have twins this year, and things didn't go as well for them. We feel so blessed to have Aubree and Brynlie in our family. I can't believe they are 1 today.

Here's Luke announcing he is going to be a big brother! He looks thrilled, doesn't he?

Bryn-L, Bre-R

Bre is in front, Bryn is in back

I love how they are in the exact same position here. We would have to get them tested to know if they are identical or not. We don't want to pay for it, so we'll probably never know. :)

Bre-L, Bryn-R

No more tubes or wires! Getting ready to come home.

Aubree, Luke, Brynlie

Finally home! I can't believe how small they were.

Luke was not able to come into the NICU, so this was really the first time he got to meet them. He was really excited to have 2 baby sisters. So excited that he even carried them to us twice. We were grateful that they were only 5 pounds then. We learned to put them where Luke couldn't get to them. :)

We are so blessed!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-26T22:58:00.018-07:00

Christmas this year was a new experience for us. It was a cozy little Christmas with just our little family of 5, and some close friends that we pretended were our families. :)
On Christmas Eve, we went to our friend's, the Parma's. We ate a delicious meal, sang some fun Christmas songs, read the Christmas story, decorated sugar cookies for Santa, and opened pajamas. Luke and his friends also kept tabs on Santa on Google. Seriously, how did we ever survive without technology? :)

Apparently not ALL of the cookies were for Santa.

This is not a great picture of Luke, but it's the only one that shows off his way cool Toy Story PJ's.

Aubree front and center, Brynlie is in the back.

Everyone excited about their jammies. Luke is holding Bre, Bria is holding Bryn, and Calie is holding Liam.

Santa did, in fact, come, even though we threatened Luke a few times that Santa wouldn't show up if he continued to tackle his sisters. That threat worked...the first time... for about 10 minutes.

We all slept in on Christmas morning, which was so nice. When we did wake up, we opened presents and then headed to church. Sacrament meeting was great. We had 11 total musical numbers, all of which were AMAZING!

{Funny story... Nate was singing in the choir. The choir was singing the last 2 songs of the meeting. So, Nate gets up and, immediately, Luke tries to tackle Bryn so she starts screaming. I try to get Luke off of her, which makes him yell. I'm holding Bre while this is going on and she gets squished, so she starts screaming. AGHH! It is a perfectly spiritual meeting, and just like that, my family ruins it. :) Luckily, the ladies on the bench in front of me (all single, older ladies) turn around and say, "Give me a baby!" As I'm handing Bre to them, another lady, that I have only met one time, comes and sits at the end of my row and takes Bryn. Luke decided to move on to the next thing and was calm so I got to enjoy the last 2 musical numbers without a child on my lap. I don't know what I would have done without helpful people in my ward. There really aren't too many times when all 3 kids cry at the same time, but it is a pretty helpless feeling when they do...Especially when Nate's not around to help.}

After church, we came home and changed our clothes and headed out to Forney to visit our other "orphan friends." We ate another delicious meal with the Tillotson's and the kids just played all day. Nate and Tom satisifed their childhood nostalgia by playing Mario Kart on the Nintendo 64, and Kelly and I just chatted away. It was so relaxing and pleasant.

On our way home, we stopped off to see the Romney's and then came home and put the kids to bed.

Santa had it easy this year because our kids are still too little to really care about Christmas. Luke did get a bike though. He has no idea how to ride it, but we'll get there. And we'll laugh at his lack of coordination in the meantime.

Brynlie turned into a cheezer overnight. Everytime we get the camera out, she makes that face. This started on Christmas morning. Makes us laugh!

Cute Kids!

Basically Luke is obsessed with Angry Birds. The irony lies in the fact that WE DON'T EVEN HAVE ANGRY BIRDS! He has played a few times on other people's phones/ipods and such. Apparently he thinks it's the greatest thing ever. He will randomly get this mad look on his face, start running around, and yell, "I'm an angry bird!" Hilarious and embarrasing all at the same time. My sister, Cortney, sent him this game. Watch the video below to see his reaction. Too bad it isn't longer... my memory card was full. :(

This was our first Christmas without our families so it had high potential to be a sad one, especially because my ENTIRE family was together in Idaho. Thankfully, we are extremely blessed to have good friends here to help fill that void. And we know it is times like these that make us appreciate our families even more.

Hello...

2011-12-19T03:04:00.004-07:00

I just wanted something new to show up when I looked at my blog. :)

California

2010-05-23T19:09:00.001-06:00

Just wanted to let you all know that we have made a move, yet again. We now live in Bakersfield, CA. Nate got a job with a company called EuroPro, and we moved here a few weeks ago. While Bakersfield is not the most exciting place in California to live, we don't hate it. We are in a really good ward and already have some promising friendships in the works. We love the weather, which apparently has been really mild (has been below the 90's,) and we love the fresh fruit. We have made a few trips to LA, which is only 100 miles from us, and have plans to do a lot of exciting things this summer. We do not have our internet set up, so I'll blame that on my lack of blogging. :) We LOVE visitors so if anyone feels adventurous, feel free to visit!

Finally, a title besides "Luke's Birthday Party!"

2010-02-16T17:46:00.004-07:00

I appologize, yet again, for my lack of blogging. I am horrible at this! We just wanted to let you all know that we are alive and well. We have moved back to Boise where we actually plan to stay for more than a few months. {A shocking concept, we know.} Nate is in school again, and is almost finished! I spend my days trying to keep Luke fed, clean, and entertained. And Luke?

Luke is still cute!

A more detailed update is in the works. Until then...try not to let the suspense kill ya! :)

Luke's Birthday Party!

2009-09-15T16:06:00.002-06:00

Here are some pictures of Luke's big day.

We figured we should take advantage of the heat and the pool so we went swimming.Luke telling everyone that he is 1!The Boys

Luke's friend, Phoenix, and his cousin, Talmage. They all thought they were so cool sitting on the rocks.

After we were finished swimming we had some cake and ice cream.

Don't judge! It would have been really cool if the frosting wouldn't have melted. :)

"Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday dear Luke. Happy Birthday to you."

He thoroughly enjoyed himself.

Next up... Presents!

Everyone was so nice to bring gifts. Some of the items on the list...

...Really cool balls...

...A cell phone of his very own...

...And some sidewalk chalk!

Also on the list (sorry no pictures)

-Baby Einstein

-Books

-Clothes

-and lots of cards and phone calls!

Thanks everyone! Let's do it again next year. :)

Talmage, Phoenix, Caroline, Luke, and Paige.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

2009-08-22T13:56:00.005-06:00

Today is my dad's 26th birthday. ;) Happy Birthday Dad! We hope you have a great day. We're sad we can't be there, but we will see you soon! We Love you!

Can You Believe It?

2009-08-19T21:31:00.012-06:00

I can't believe Luke is 1 today. Wow! Time goes by so fast. He is such a good boy, and we are so blessed to have him. Here is a look at his 1st year:

August 2008

Such a sweet baby, born on August 19, 2008 at 1:04 PM

September 2008

One Month Old

October 2008

Two Months Old October 12, 2008, Luke was blessed.
Luke's first Halloween was a fun one. We attended our ward Trunk-or-Treat, where we won first place in the Chili Cookoff. Even though I was the one who made it, Nate got all the glory. What? :)

Luke was a hit in his referee costume.
GOAL!

Nate and I decided to join the fun. Nate was a football player, and I was a cheerleader.
We also got to go the the Corn Maze with our good friends Amber and Brady. Luke slept pretty much the entire time.

November 2008

Three Months Old

On November 1, 2008, Luke got a new cousin:

Meet Faith. She belongs to Nate's oldest sister, Jessica.

Luke's first Thanksgiving could have been the most exciting Thanksgiving I've ever had. My little brother, Kade, played in a football tournament in Las Vegas, so my entire family spent Thanksgiving in Vegas/St. George. We stayed our first 2 nights at the Stratosphere Hotel and watched Kade play. His team ended up taking 2nd place in the tournament. It was fun to watch. On Thanksgiving Day, we decided to go to a buffet in Las Vegas. It was really good, but didn't satisfy our craving for Thanksgiving dinner. On Saturday, we all went back to St. George to my sister, Valerie's house, where we had a real Thanksgiving dinner. It was delicious.

Playing some slot machines. Don't worry, we didn't play for real. In fact, right after I took this picture a man came up to us and told us we had to leave because babies weren't allowed. :)

Go Kade!

It was a little wet at times, but we stuck it out.

It is always so fun to have my family all together. It's crazy how fast our family is growing.

December 2008
Four Months Old

All I can say about December is weddings, weddings, weddings. I won't post any pictures, but we went to Scott and Julie's wedding on December 13 in the Salt Lake Temple. Then on December 20, we had 2 weddings. Grant married Zaundra, and Jules married Nate. We were very lucky to have both weddings in the Boise Temple. It would have been really hard to choose between those two. All of the weddings were amazing. We feel very blessed to have such great friends, and we're really blessed that they choose great spouses. :)
While we were in Utah at Scott and Julie's wedding, the transmission went out on our Civic. It made life a little crazy, but we ended up buying a new car just in time to travel to Spokane, WA for Christmas.

We had so much fun with Nate's family for Christmas. It is always more fun when there are a lot of kids. Luke wasn't old enough to really care about Christmas, but he had fun getting better acquainted with his cousins.

He also got to be Baby Jesus in the Nativity. Not sure he liked it too well, but he played the part. :)

All the new pajamas on Christmas Eve.

Merry Christmas!
This year in Spokane, they had record breaking snow. It was so pretty, but made our drive home extremely difficult. We made the drive to Idaho Falls in 10.5 hours. This could normally be done in about 7 hours. Even though I was pretty sure my life was over, Nate was a champ and we made it safely.

January 2009
Five Months Old We spent New Year's with my family in Idaho Falls. We played some WII and just hung out. Too bad Luke couldn't stay awake to welcome in the new year. But he did find his toes.
On January 10, 2009, Luke tried rice cereal and HATED it!

February 2009

Six Months Old
On February 7, 2009 Luke got another new cousin:This is Brock. He is my sister Valerie's son.

Nate's mom and sister came to visit us, and we got to feed the ducks. Ann Morrison Park in Boise is one of our favorite parks. There are always a ton of ducks. It was pretty cold, but Luke loved the ducks!

We also went to our first BSU basketball game. Some man was very nice and gave us his tickets, so we had decent seats that we didn't have to pay for. The game was against Idaho, which is a HUGE rival to BSU. It came down to the buzzer, but Idaho won.

On February 19, 2009, Luke got his first tooth! (the 2nd one came a week later)

He graduated to a crib in February

Yay for his mom and dad!

And he became entertainer of the year. See for yourself...

We went to our friend's, Brooke and Holly, and they have a dog, Toby. This was not the first time that Luke had seen Toby, but for some reason he loved Toby this time. He just started laughing out of the blue. I was so grateful I had my camera! The next few time that he saw Toby, he cried. Why was this time so funny? Maybe he was tired? Weird.

March 2009
Seven Months Old

On March 2, 2009, Luke started on veggies. He liked carrots a lot better than the rice cereal.
During Nate's spring break, we made a trip to California to visit Nate's family. Matt and Janelle came from San Antonio so Luke was able to meet his cousins Caroline and Talmage.

While we were in California Luke got his first cold. It was a horrible time to get sick, but we stll did some fun things...

like taking a ride in Grandma Genie's GoKart.

And seeing the ocean!
We came home through St. George so we could be at Brock's baby blessing.
I wonder what they are talking about?

And Luke won another entertainment award. He loves his bouncy chair!

This was the end result. Too funny! :)

April 2009

Eight Months Old
The weather was so nice in Boise that we spent a lot of time at the park. And we decided that it was time for a haircut! On April 13, 2009, our friend Holly gave Luke his first haircut.
Before

This is how much hair we cut off,

And this is the end result!
So Cute!

May 2009

Nine Months Old
Luke really likes to be thrown around by Nate, even though it scares me!

He also got haircut #2, that was very well needed. I can't believe how fast his hair grows.

At the end of May, we went to Idaho Falls to see my sisiter, Cortney, graduate from high school.

While we were in Idaho Falls, Luke developed a new love for 4 wheelers, and we got our family pictures taken.

And the biggest accomplishment of the month...

On May 25, 2009, Luke finally crawled forward! YAY!

June 2009
Ten Months Old

My brother, Mike, and his family came to Boise to visit us in June. We had so much fun!

Luke is lucky to have cousins close to his age. Hudson thought it was so cool that they both had monkey pajamas.
Luke got to go swimming for the first time. He loved it!

Makenna did Nate's hair; hence the little horns coming out of his head. :)

Luke developed some pretty weird sleeping habits. He moves around so much in his sleep. It's crazy!
And he went from crawling, to climbing on EVERYTHING! We had to baby-proof our house pretty quickly.
Big Boy!

July 2009
Eleven Months Old
We spent the 4th of July in Idaho Falls. I love the 4th in Idaho Falls! We went to the parade, then to Mike and Kendra's for a BBQ. Luke really liked the slip-n-slide.

That night we went to the fireworks. In previous years we have sat at the river all day and saved incredible seats. This year, no one wanted to sit there all day so we watched them from Freeman Park. I am happy to report that the fireworks were still amazing from there. :)It's always fun to spend time with family.

The month of July was a big month for Luke.He got a new booster seat.
And he graduated to a big boy stroller and a big boy carseat.
On July 11, 2009, we said goodbye to Boise and hello to San Antonio, Texas. Nate had a break in school so we decided to come sell pest control again. This is the 5th summer for Nate so he is a pro. So far, it has been really good. I stay home with Luke so we play while Nate works. Sad! :(

I think we have finally adjusted to the heat, but it's helpful to have an occasional rain storm. They have been few and far between this summer though.
Luke got soaked just going to our car. It was a crazy rain storm.

August 2009

One Year Old

We have really enjoyed our time in Texas. Despite the crazy pest control hours Nate has to work, we try to do some fun things.
We went to Dallas for a weekend to spend time with some of Nate's buddies. His friend Tom had a baby, so we got to go for the blessing.

We've been to the Hard Rock Cafe on the Riverwalk with our friends, Scott and Julie.

Luke and I spend a lot of time at the pool with Paige and Pheonix. In case you couldn't tell by the look on his face, Luke always enjoys himself at the pool.

I love watching Luke grow, and seeing more of his personality. He loves to be involved in whatever is going on. If I leave him for one second...

I find him under the sink in the bathroom...

Or climbing into the dishwasher.

One of my favorite things that Luke does happens when he gets really tired. He will rub my arm, or anyone's arm that he can touch, until he falls asleep. I think it is so sweet.

Here he is rubbing Scott's arm AND Julie's arm. :)

All in all, we try to work hard, play hard, and then we sleep.

Happy Birthday Luke! Here's to many, many more!

WE LIVE!!!!

2009-07-22T20:38:00.002-06:00

You can all stop sending the cards...things are looking up. I am on the fast track to recovery from my recent struggle with hypobradybloggingosis. What is that disease you might ask? The doctors say it is a rare, but serious disease. It is a type of disease that makes it impossible to blog due mostly to a very busy, growing child, but also lack of time, lack of energy, lack of creativity, and a recent move to Texas. However, things are definitely looking up. You will all be happy to know that blogging has now become my #3 priority, following only Nate and Luke. I know you have all been so worried about me, but I thank you sincerely for all of the thoughts and prayers on our behalf. We can't wait for you to get caught up on our lives.

Luke's Blessing

2009-02-05T22:53:00.001-07:00

Luke was blessed on October 12, 2008 in Idaho Falls at my parents house. I went to Idaho Falls for the week previous to spend some time with my family. (Nate couldn't miss school, so he came later.) We had such a good week and weekend.

While in Idaho Falls, Luke and I got to go to one of my brother, Kade's, football games. I am positive that Luke thoroughly enjoyed his time, and made up his mind right then and there to become a professional football player. :)

On Friday, October 10, we went to Yellowstone with Nate's mom, sisters, and neices and nephews. Nate's sister, Jessica, and her family came from Spokane, WA, and her kids had never been to Yellowstone. Nate and I went to Yellowstone last year on our anniversary (in November) and we saw tons of animals, so we thought it would be fun to do with his family. But, typical for Idaho, we had a blizzard. Being the troopers we are, we decided to brave the snow and the cold. We attempted to see Old Faithful, but it was so cold that all we could see was a cloud of steam. Nate's neice, Emma, who is 10, said, "We came all the way here for this?" It was kind of a bummer, but we did see a lot of bison so I think it was still worth it. It was definitely an experience we won't forget.

(I don't think Luke cared too much about the bison or Old Faithful:))

The highlight of the trip was, of course, Luke's blessing. Since most of my family is in Idaho Falls, and Nate's family was going to have to travel no matter where we did it, we decided to bless Luke in Idaho Falls. We blessed him at my parent's house with just family and close friends there. It is such a surreal experience when it is your own child that is getting blessed. What a blessing it is to have the Gospel in our lives, and to have the priesthood in our home. One of the biggest things that attracted me to Nate when I was dating him was his testimony. He is so stong in the church and truly honors his priesthood. I fell even more in love with him as I listened to him bless our son. It was an amazing blessing, and I am so excited for the life that Luke has ahead of him.

This was everyone in the circle. From left to right: Ryan (Nate's bro-in-law), Jason (my bro-in-law), Mike (Nate's dad), Nate, Luke, Dennis (my dad), Mike (my brother), and Bishop Cook (the bishop in my parent's ward).

Nate's dad and his wife, Genie, came from California. His mom and sister, Bekah, came from South Jordan, Utah, and then his sister, Jessica and her family came from Spokane, Washington. Val & Garrett, and Matt & Janelle, we missed you. Thank you to everyone that made the trip to support us. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family.

One Month Old

2009-02-05T19:55:00.000-07:00

ONE MONTH OLD

Luke is such a good baby. We are very blessed to have such a mellow little guy.

At one month...

Luke weighs 10 lbs. 5 oz.

and he is 22 inches long.

He went to church for the first time. Luckily for us, he slept the entire time.

He had his first bath in the tub and he LOVED it!!

Perhaps the biggest blessing for his parents is that Luke started sleeping through the night on September 20, 2008. He went to sleep at 10pm and didn't wake up until 5am. After the initial worry that I didn't wake up for him in the night, I was so happy that my one month old was a good sleeper. I would love to take the credit and tell you all that his good sleeping habits have nothing to do with chance, and everything to do with me being a perfect mom, but I'm sure it is just another benefit of having a big baby. :)
We have had so much fun with all of these first experiences with Luke. Our favorite, though, is when he smiles. At one month, he will only smile in his sleep. They are quick smiles, so you can imagine the adventure we have had trying to get it on camera. We finally had success, and we didn't even wake him up.

WE LOVE HIM!

Luke Nathan Sherrill

2008-11-24T13:47:00.000-07:00

So I am obviously not a pro at blogging yet, but I know you are all dying to see Luke. I am really sorry that I have been so slow. I should have just emailed you all pictures. Who knew that it would take so long to design a blog? :) Actually, I am amazed at how I have no free time these days. I guess that's what having a baby does to you. :) Hopefully I will get better at managing my time. In the meantime, here are pictures of Luke. Oh so sad! :( I'm sure he is wondering what in the heck he is doing here.

Luke was born on August 19, 2008 at 1:04 PM. He was quite a big boy, weighing in at 9 lbs 2 oz, and he was 22 1/2 inches long. Much to my pleasure, labor and delivery went better than I had ever expected. I had to be induced because my sister, Lindsey, was getting married. Nate and I had to be at the hospital at 5:00 AM. I wanted to know what contractions felt like, so I chose not to have an epidural right away. However, by 8:00 AM I had felt enough. (I am a baby.) Thank heavens for epidurals. I really admire those of you who have had your babies without them. Because it was my first baby, and because I had to be induced, the nurses told me to not plan on delivering until 6 or 7 PM. (Apparently those factors make labor really long.) Much to my surprise, and theirs, I started feeling really weird pains around noon. Obviously I had never experienced this before, so I had no idea what to expect. Naturally, I just assumed that my epidural was not working right, so I called the nurse to have her fix it. I felt extremely stupid when she told me that my epidural was working just fine, and that I was going to have my baby soon. She called the doctor and let him know, then decided she would have me try a push or two. After my first push, she looked at me and said, "Um...I'm going to go get your doctor." :) Then Luke was born at 1:04 PM. I consider myself very lucky that I didn't have to wait until 6 or 7 PM. He was everything we could have hoped for. It took him a little while to breathe normally because he swallowed a bunch of nasty stuff as he was being born. Luckily, the little guy pulled through so he didn't have to spend any time in the NICU. And, becuase he was a bigger baby, he had a hard time regulating his blood sugar. The nurses had to prick his heel every few hours to test his blood. It was really traumatic for him, and me. He would cry anytime anyone touched his feet for a few days. It was really sad, but luckily it got under control. We are so blessed that those were the only things that went wrong. Other than that, he was (and is) the perfect baby.

I know you have all noticed the hair. That is what catches everyone's eye. He definately has a lot!

Leaving the hospital

And finally home!

Nate is such a good dad. He'll just stare at Luke and say, "I love him!" It's cute.

Both of our moms were able to come for a few days. It was such a help to have them here. Thanks mom and Dorrie... You were lifesavers. I was really nevous to have such a tiny person completely dependent on me. Nate and I are definately still learning, but it's not so scary anymore. :)

10 days after Luke was born my sister Lindsey got married, so we made the trek to Idaho Falls. Luke traveled really well... He slept the entire time! It was really fun to see family and friends, and to be able to show Luke off. :) Lindsey was a beautiful bride, and Jason was a handsome groom. We love Jason... Welcome to the family!

Luke's clothes didn't quite fit him, but he still looked cute. (Thanks Kendra)

Makenna and Hudson were so cute with Luke. My parents have 3 grandkids now, soon to be 4. While we were in Idaho Falls, my sister Valerie announced that she is having a baby in February. YAY!

We were able to stay in Idaho Falls for a week before we had to come back to Boise and start real life. It has been so much fun to watch Luke grow. He is such a good baby. He only cries when he needs something. :) And, lucky for me, he started sleeping through the night when he was only 3 weeks. We feel so blessed to have this little guy! We couldn't ask for anything more.

It is sad to say that Luke has changed a lot since these pictures were taken. He is getting so big, and his features are starting to show more. I will post another blog soon with some updated pictures.