Whew... another month (oops and a half) have gone flying by.

We celebrated our 4 year anniversary on May 13th, CRAZY. We've known each other for almost 7 years now. How amazing.

In May...

We celebrated lots of graduation open houses with our seniors from church. So proud of them all! And sad to see them go.

My friend Michelle and I (and Sadie) snuck a quick trip up to Minneapolis to visit Ikea. It was a very productive trip and we had an awesome time. They were having a super sale on some things we both wanted. We even waited in a long line for one of the things. Yes, we are crazy. It was fantastic.

On the 25th was my Golden Birthday... and Ben threw me a surprise party! And I had no clue! IT was great!! I've always wanted to have a party for my birthday, but as you know you can't throw one for yourself. The party was complete with great people, balloons, CHINESE food, and delicious cake (many other things as well, but those were the things that excited me most).

In June...

We began the month by getting two new (to us) vehicles. We traded in our Expedition and our Taurus and got a 2005 Nissan Quest (mini-van) and a 2008 Subaru Legacy. Both dream cars of sorts for us.

And our friends Dominic and Julie, and their daughter Madelyn came and visited us for the weekend. Ben hadn't met Madelyn yet so it was a great visit.

Ben had a campout with a fun group that he's been helping lead called Pathfinders.

And Ben took some of our highschool youth group to Colorado, and while he was gone I headed to Davenport for a few days. While I was there Brie and Sadie got to have a playdate with our favorite set of twins M & S! We also got to have lots of good quality time with Nana and Papa.

The 20th we went to a wedding of a friend that I used to work with, it was lovely. She looked beautiful, and Brie had fun dancing on the dance floor!

The 21st through the 26th we spent the week up at Pine Lake Christian Camp where Ben helped lead a camp called Centershot. There the kids learned Archery skills and he helped teach some outdoor cooking and lead worship. It was a HOT week, but thankfully our cabin had airconditioning. And best of all, I didn't cook ALL WEEK! hehe. It was lots of fun, because it is also the camp I grew up going to and so I felt right at home.

The 27th we hit up the annual Des Moines Art Festival with our friends Ryan and Michelle. Some beautiful pieces of art were seen this year, my favorite are still the marble works type sculptures.

We've all got colds right now but as long as they clear up we are headed to Davenport for the fourth for a BIG family party, including meeting our new NEWPHEW! Who was born 6 days before Sadie Mae.

July looks to be just as busy as June so I'll hopefully get a post in.

But be sure and check out some (not all) of the new pictures at our flickr site:
www.flickr.com/photos/massung

Thanks all!
-b-

oh and...

I almost forgot...

TONS of new pictures are posted at our flickr site
www.flickr.com/photos/massung

*check out the new post below*

Over a month...

Who knew being a mother of two could make me soo busy?!?! Woah.

Samantha Adeline Mae Massung graced the world with her presence at 12:15pm Monday, April 6th. She weighed in at 7 pounds 7.4 ounces and was 18 3/4 inches long. Our csection and hospital stay were FANTASTIC, especially since we had a nurse we wanted for all of our daytime shifts! It's great to have a nurse who anticipates and knows your desires.

We are calling Samantha, Sadie and sometimes Sadie Mae. We basically combined the first name and the first middle name. We think it's pretty cute! She is now 5 weeks old and has already grown leaps and bounds. She had a bit of jaundice at the start of life, but we worked that right out of her system. She's currently in the sleeping portion of a growth spurt! So we know the all the time eating portion is soon to come.

Brieanna is doing fantastic with her, she was born to be a big sister! She is constantly trying to give her her pacifier and "help" when she cries. She is fairly gentle with her and I'm excited when they begin to communicate with each other. Brie spent a week at my parents when Sadie was born and during that time she gained MORE and more confidence to walk and is now walking EVERYWHERE! It's fantastic, I even caught her doing a bit of running today. Well almost. She got her first ear infection and has been a bit miserable but is getting better, the occasional tylenol has been helping for sure. I'm pretty proud that we made it 18 months with no ear infection or major cold!

Our April was filled with lots of fun, my parents came when they brought Brie back to Des Moines and got to coo over Sadie. Our friends from Michigan, J and K came and stayed over the Easter weekend and helped us out with the girls, but for the most part we just enjoyed spending time with them. My mom came back at the end of April to help me out with the girls while Ben was at an overnight youth event. She was a huge help and it was great to let her bond with Sadie. My dad was in town two weekends ago for our state wide church conference annual meeting, so he was able to spend a bit of time with the girls.

This past weekend we went to Pella Iowa for the annual Tulip Time with our friends R and M! We've been getting together with them on a weekly basis to enjoy cultivating our friendship. R is a new intern at our church and his wife M is a pastor's kid, so it's been fun to chat Pastor's Kid talk with her and laugh about kid songs we used to sing, she and I have very similar personalities. It's great to have a set of friends to be 100% honest with and who don't mind us having kiddos go everywhere with us! God has encouraged us through this friendship.

Tomorrow is our 4 year anniversary. Can you believe it? 4 years already! God is soo good. 3 years ago our anniversary was on mother's day and that was the day we found out we were pregnant with Miss Brie! Who knew she'd be born 5.5 months later, and that this year for mother's day we'd have two little blessings! Incredible.

I hope all is well with you, hopefully I will keep up a bit more with this blog! Being a mother of two and being back to working 9 hours a week is busier than I expected.

-brenda-

April Fools Joke from inside the womb!

Well, baby decided to play a lovely April Fools Joke on us today, even though we were ready and prepared for her to come, Today's test revealed again that she was not ready. The amnio did say that her lungs were in the transitional state which is a good thing! So onto plan C (or is this D, E or F?) I'm not sure I've lost track at this point.

Monday Morning April 6th sometime around 10am she will be delivered. They will not repeat the amnio, they will just perform the csection. The only way this would change is if between now and then my water were to break, then we will go in for basically an emergency csection instead of a planned one.

Just thought you all would love to know what a great April Fool's joke this little one is playing on us! FOR SURE We'll see her Monday!

April Fools

Have you ever heard the phrase... If you want to make God laugh tell Him your plans?

Well God decided to laugh at me today, we went in for our amnio this morning and afterwards had our Non-Stress Test. Then we went back down to the perinatologist's office to wait for the results from the amnio and she was in a bit of shock, baby Massung revealed that the wee little lungs are not yet mature enough to make a grand entrance.

So thus a change in my well layed out, well manufactured plans for my new baby's life. (You would think I would have learned about this whole changing plans business with Brie being born).

So be praying for next Wednesday, April 1st when we have another amnio done at 9:15 in the morning. Following this amnio we will have another Non-Stress Test and we will again wait for the results. If all is well with the lungs at that point then we will stay at the hospital and deliver at 1:00pm the same day, April 1st. (This is where my Uncle Dave will be jumping for joy because he'd get to share a birthday with the baby, just like I share a birthday with his wife.)

So April Fools all...
Hopefully we'll be looking at our beautiful baby next week,
Brenda

Cradle

Well it is finished and it's gorgeous - and it's done just in time for baby. Today we are 37 weeks and tomorrow we will have our amnio and another NST and then if all goes well delivery will be on TUESDAY!

Ben took some cute new pictures of Brie and we took my last belly shot today - unless we were to have to wait another week. They have all been uploaded to our flickr site: www.flickr.com/photos/massung

Unless the amnio does not go well, this will be my last post before baby Massung arrives. The next post will have stats, a picture and big smiles from us. If the amnio says we need to wait another week, then I'll be sure to post that info, otherwise delivery is planned for Tuesday at 7am!

35 weeks 5 days...

I can't believe we have gotten this far, I am thrilled and just so excited about bringing home a giant baby without a LONG NICU stay. 35 weeks 5 days - only 10 days until the amnio and then if all goes well there we will deliver the next day - March 24th! WOO!!

Ben has been working his tail off today getting the cradle finished - you can see the pre-finish-finished cradle on our flickr site - www.flickr.com/photos/massung And I will post a picture of the finished product when it is all dried and upstairs in our room. It is beautiful, I am so proud of his talent to create such a beautiful piece.

Brie is doing fantastic, she weighed in this morning at 15 pound 12 ounces and had her final synagis shot EVER! Thankfully we don't have to do synagis next year with either kiddo. She is beginning to understand what it means when the nurse comes over, so I'm glad this was our last visit.

She still hasn't started walking, she has taken a few steps, but hasn't started walking yet. Who knows how long it will be, but we aren't pushing her.

So it's March... and it's probably time to update. WOAH ... it's MARCH! It's baby month! YAHOO! We are thrilled for this little baby to be here. Lately I've had a foot sticking out my right side and a rump at the top of my belly. It's quite fun to watch. It's incredible being pregnant this long. We are 34 weeks and 1 day!!

We still are seeing our OB weekly, a specialist monthly and we have now added non-stress tests to the weekly list of appointments. We had our third one today and baby performed very well. We have 2 more left and then we will have our amnio the day before delivery.

This week is my last week of cleaning houses and so I'll have two full weeks off before baby comes. I'm already finding that my belly runs into the counters of bathrooms and kitchens and it's hard to reach the tops of mirrors, I'm sure I'm a humerous sight to see. I am planning to go back in May after taking this time off, we have just been blessed by the 5 houses that have hired me.

I've been nesting like crazy around our house - I've gone through boxes that haven't seen sunlight since we moved from Michigan, and some from my parents house from WAAY back when. It feels great to be even more organized and I'm glad to get it out of the way. I've got some sewing and cooking projects that I'm hoping to get done before the baby arrives. Ben has requested some enchiladas to go in the freezer for after baby is here.

Brie is doing great things lately - we added new pictures to our flickr site: www.flickr.com/photos/massung - she has learned a new word, "Gobble." We started singing the gobble gooble gooble fat turkey fat turkey song... and she picked up on it right away. We were in Target about a week and a half ago and she was sitting in the cart while Ben was pushing her and I seperated from them to go look at something, and I found them in the store again by hearing her sing her Gobble gobble song. I'm hoping to catch her doing it sometime and get it on video.

She's very close to walking, she will stand up all on her own in the middle of a room and just hasn't been brave enough to take that first step. We are close though. She likes to dance, and loves helping the OB at the doctor's appointments. He just gave her a little gift today of her own tape measure to pull out and push the button to make it zip back in. She turns on the doppler to hear the baby's heartbeat and helps measure my tummy every week. She is adorable.

We are soaking up our last few moments of having her as our only child and in a strange way I think she knows that something is coming, some sort of change. She's been very affectionate lately and snuggly. And CLINGY! We are enjoying it though. She's going on vacation to Nana and Papa's for a week when baby comes so that we don't have to worry about her care or bounce her around from place to place while we have our hospital stay and then when we are trying to figure out life with a newborn and a c-section recovery. I have no idea how to do the two together - since Brie was in the hospital for 109 days after her birth, I was able to recover without having to take care of her full time.

Hope all is well with all of you, I'd love to hear from you! Feel free to leave a comment!

January & February

Well it has been over a month since I updated- whoops sorry about that! Great news is we are STILL pregnant!!

We began our 32nd week yesterday and are doing marvelously. We have begun non-stress tests at the hospital once a week and had our first one today. Nothing to exciting, they got what they are looking for and we’ll go in weekly until baby’s arrival on March 24th.

Brieanna continues to amaze us with all she does. She has 5 teeth (3 on top, 2 on bottom). She is completely off bottles and baby food! wOOHoo! She loves milk and juice and feeds herself most all of her food, we haven’t quite mastered things like yogurt yet. She crawls everywhere and walks behind a walker. She is getting better and better at standing on her own for longer periods of time, but has not tried taking a step without support. She talks a lot to herself and to the cats. She has a gorgeous smile, although she doesn’t use it in public very often.

So let’s see I’m sure you are curious about what we’ve been up to over the last month.

In January our whole family went to our camp’s High School Winter Retreat. Brie got to stay up late in the night (1am) and did really well for all of the lack of sleep she endured over the weekend. We had lots of fun and are glad we went.

We also went to Davenport for a weekend for my brother, Brad and his wife Stephanie’s baby shower. They are due March 24th and expecting a little boy. Ben and I are very excited to be an Aunt and Uncle! We were joined by my Aunt and Uncle for the weekend and Brie of course showed off all of her moves to them.

At Brie’s 15 month appointment she weighed in at 15 pounds 2 ounces. Still tiny, but getting bigger. She goes back to the doctor at the end of April for her 18 month appointment. Next week she will turn 16 months old – I can’t believe it!

For Valentine’s Day we were supposed to have Brie’s Aunt Elizabeth here at our house, but for her drive up we ended up getting 7 inches of snow, so we changed out plans a bit and drove down to Kansas City on Valentine’s Day. We spent time at the Kansas City Market and then we went and saw Ben’s Grandparents in Leavenworth Kansas. They will be moving out of state soon, so it was perfect timing to visit. We are so thankful that they have lived so close to us during Brie’s first year, it has enabled us to be able to visit with them several times. We will miss living so close.

We don’t have any trips planned for between now and when the baby comes, but for now we will continue our weekly OB visits, weekly non-stress tests, monthly high-risk ultrasounds, chiropractic appointments, and Brie’s developmental appointments. Yes, we are BUSY! I am still working 3 days a week cleaning one house a day, and will be done working the 6th of March (this way I have 2 weeks off before baby arrives). To get some sleep under my belt, and to finish all the nesting I’ve started!

I’ve added new pictures to our flickr site – www.flickr.com/photos/massung

woo hoo an update!

Things have been fairly busy around this household, but fortunately we were able to take a bit of a snuggle break yesterday. Thank goodness. Brie has been very affectionate lately, giving lots of hugs, open mouth (and sometimes with teeth) kisses and snuggles. It has been fun to watch the little gal grow up even more.

The baby has been kicking even more and has been very active lately, and I have been known to break out into short burts of nesting sessions. It makes Ben laugh. And quite honestly, it makes me laugh too. My body doesn't know what it is like to be 27 weeks pregnant, I think I'm confusing it. It's fun to think back at what little Brie looked like @ 27 weeks - here is a picture of the night she opened her eyes - right around 27 weeks and weighing in around 1 pound 10 ounces. Which we already know this baby bird is past 1 pound 11 ounces.

Last Thursday, Brie had her January edition of her synagis shot and weigh in. She weighed in at a whopping 14 pounds 14 ounces; and funny enough she is 14 months old... weird... Synagis went well, although she pouted at the nurse for a long time afterwards. Daddy stayed home this time to watch and he thought her little reaction was so sweet when she wanted to snuggle him after getting poked.

She's been eating more and more table food, has a new love for Graham crackers and is trying out some milk every now and then. Our hope is to be 100% on milk, juice, water, and NO baby food by the time baby #2 arrives. This is our hope anyways. So far so good.

Saturday we went to a rocking birthday party for two of Brie's NICU friends. A & O, these boys were born Dec 30th and we got to know their parents really well even though we walked out of the NICU a little over a month later. We had fun watching them eat their cakes and also enjoyed eating a bit of our own. It was fun to celebrate what God has done in our NICU baby's lives.

This week I've got several appointments, but only to get caught up before the baby comes, I have 2 chiropractor visits (yahoo!), an OB appointment, and an eye doctor appointment. We're gonna get these eyes of mine checked out and order some new contacts.

Just so all you davenporter's know - Brie and I will be there at the end of the month for a baby shower for my newphew-to-be so if you feel like getting together - be sure and let me know.

Pregnacy

Well, thought I'd give an update on the pregnacy. Things are going GREAT! We are one day further along than we were with Brieanna. Tomorrow, Sunday we will be 26 weeks along! Yahoo!

Yesterday (Friday) we had an appointment with the perinatiologist who is overseeing the pregnancy along with our OB. We had an ultrasound and the baby weighed in at 1 pound 11 ounces, so already bigger than Brieanna was at birth.

We now see our OB weekly for blood pressure checks and a general check in and at home I am daily testing my urine for protein. This is actually something I really enjoy because it gives me the daily reassurance that everything is going well.

They have rescheduled the amnio for Monday, March 23rd. Pending the results of the amnio, delivery has been scheduled for Tuesday morning, March 24th, but it may happen the afternoon of 23rd.

We are thrilled that everything is still going so well and we are continuing to pray that they go well. Thank you for your continued prayers as well! It does feel great now that we know what to expect in the NICU if the little baby were to arrive. But we are looking forward to delivering a GIANT baby in March.

Christmas Day!

I forgot to mention about our fantastic Christmas.

Christmas Eve we went to our church service at 5:30 and then headed towards Davenport following the service. There ended up being a large accident on I-80 so we were stopped for 2 hours. Thankfully, Ben had reminded me to pack the car with extra blankets, so we stayed nice and cozy during the wait.

Christmas Day we got up and headed up to my late Great Aunt's condo in Chicago. We had an amazing family dinner there with my dad's side of the family. Brie showed off and was adorable in her Christmas Dress from the Howards. She met for the first time her Great Grandma Spitzer and the Chalifoux family (my dad's sister & fam).

Here is an adorable picture from the day, I still need to get the good pictures from my dad. But I uploaded a few on our flickr site: www.flickr.com/photos/massung