The First Few Weeks

The first few weeks consisted mostly of eating and sleeping, and going on long walks with Mommy, but as the days go on, she has become more and more alert. She follows objects, especially faces, really well. She's very strong. When laying on your chest, she lifts her head right up so she can look at you, and when she's gassy, she kicks really hard. She seems to grow and change every day and we can even catch a smile occasionally. Isn't she the cutest?

Baby Time!!!

The last week of my pregnancy was entirely focused on trying to figure out whether I was having contractions or not. I was so worried that I wouldn't be able to tell, and often tried to convince myself that Braxton Hicks were real contractions. Well, when the contractions came, 4 days after my due date, I knew, just like everyone said I would.So we headed to the hospital at 5:30 Wednesday morning, June 16th. Unfortunately, my contractions weren't strong enough. I didn't think they could get any stronger, but after monitoring me for an hour, the gave me a shot of morphine and sent me home. Thanks to the morphine, I was able to relax and go to sleep. A few hours later, I realized they could get worse. After holding off as long as I could, we headed back to the hospital around 4:00 that afternoon. Luckily, this time they admitted me! I got an epidural as quickly as possible, and the rest of the evening was a breeze. The doctor finally broke my water at 7:30 and things went quickly from there. I started pushing at 8:00, but then they told me to stop because I was going to quickly and the doctor was also delivering two other babies at the same time and my room happened to be further down the hall. Once the doctor finally arrived, I had a baby within minutes. It was amazing!

Welcome to the World Aliyah Michelle Brown!!!
Born June 16th, 2010 at 8:52 pm, 7 lbs 10oz, 19 inches long!

The Rest of Pregnancy...

Well it's a little late, but the last month of pregnancy seemed to go for a very long time, maybe because I was really hoping to deliver early and ended up going four days past my due date. Even though I felt huge, most people still told me I didn't look big enough to be due. I beg to differ.
36 weeks
My friend Bec hosted a baby shower/BBQ for Steve and I. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed celebrating the upcoming birth of our daughter with all of our friends. Thanks Bec!


Me-36 weeks pregnant Bec- 38 weeks pregnant


38 weeks
39 weeks40 weeks and 4 days!!! Off to the hospital!

The Browns Go to Mexico...

and El Paso and Arizona. In celebration of Steve's graduation and our upcoming two year anniversary, we decided to take a trip. We had the opportunity to spend a week along the southern border of our country and we had a great time. We started the trip flying in to Tucson and driving straight to El Paso. Here, we were able to stay with my friend Sahalie for a couple days, which was fabulous because we hadn't seen each other since Christmas. While there, we traveled a little south to Socorro, one of the areas Steve served in on his mission. We knocked on doors trying to track down what had happened to a few different families. Finally, we found one family he taught and visited with them for a couple hours, (well, Steve visited with them while I listened intently trying to grasp as much of the conversation as possible.)

After a couple days in El Paso, we headed back to Arizona for the Gila Valley Temple open house. The original purpose of this trip was to go to Steve's mission reunion, but it quickly morphed into many other things, and we didn't even end up making it to the reunion. When we got to the temple, we were just going to take the tour and then go visit people, but as we were walking in, we ran into Steve's mission president and were able to visit with him and his wife for a little while. After the tour, we found out that they were doing Spanish tours that night. As we were walking out, we ran into people from three different areas that Steve taught in, people that Steve had been trying to get a hold of and hadn't been able to. After visiting with all of them for a little while, Steve realized that this may be the only opportunity he'd have to go through the temple with someone he'd baptized. So we headed through the tour a second time, this time in Spanish! After the second tour, we headed over to another woman's house who Steve had taught before leaving the Gila Valley.

The next day, we went to church up in Sierra Vista. This was a very small Spanish branch, but luckily, most people spoke English too! After church, we visited a couple more families in the area. At one house, I got to try minudo (a traditional Mexican soup with cow stomach) for the first time. I must admit that it was not my favorite. It didn't taste bad, it was just more of a texture and visual dislike. After eating a couple dinners in Sierra Vista, we headed to Tucson to visit one more family. It was a really great experience for me to be able to meet so many of the different people that Steve taught on his mission, and see the difference he was able to make in their lives. They were all so caring and wanted to give you anything they possibly could. I was able to meet some truly amazing people and learn a lot more about Steve's mission and Steve was able to reconnect with some of the people he had become so close to. It was a great experiece.

After we finished with all of the mission visiting, it was on to the real vacation. We were able to go down to an amazing resort in Rocky Point, Mexico with two of Steve's brothers. The weather was perfect, the resort was beautiful, we were able to relax and just really have a great time! Other than just laying around on the beach and at the pool, we spent a day out on the Sea of Cortez fishing! I hadn't ever really been fishing before, but I was lucky enough to catch the first fish, and it was definately lucky because it was hours before I caught another one and I probably would have gotten discouraged if I hadn't already caught one. After a few days there it was time to go home. I think we were all sad to leave and get back to real life, but I was definitely grateful for the much needed vacation before this little baby comes.

*Steve did catch bigger fish than that, that just happened to be the first one he caught. :)

33 Weeks! We're Getting Closer!!!

A little blurry, but I thought it was time for an update. The count down is on! I had another appointment today and everything is looking good. They found out that my iron was low at my last appointment, which might explain why I had been so tired, so I've been on an additional supplement. My iron is back up to the low end of normal, but they want it higher so they're keeping me on the supplement. I have another appointment in two weeks, and then it will be every week after that! It's almost time! Woo hoo!

29 Weeks!

Baby Shower #1!!!

Three weeks ago I had the opportunity to go home to Washington for a fantastic baby shower! My mom flew me home to visit as a birthday present and threw me a shower while I was there. The shower was a lot of fun. I got to see a lot of people from church, who probably think of me as a little girl, not someone who should be having a little girl, my sister-in-law Betsy and nieces drove down to see me, and my grandma made the trip as well. We played some fun games, the diapering challenge was the most entertaining. Betsy turned out to be the ultimate diaperer, and she claims the only cloth diapers she ever changed were Steve's. I got a lot of great stuff, thanks to the generosity of all who came, and my mom even made a blessing dress for the baby. It's beautiful.
The trip was a ton of fun. I got to relax, spend time with family, and even check out a few apartments to start getting a few ideas for when we move there in August. And I was reminded how much I really do like Washington! I'm excited to be moving home and to be close to our families. I couldn't have asked for a better trip!