Conspiring Cousins

We have the pleasure of watching Finn (my nephew & Bailey's cousin) twice a week while Blake & Liz are at work. I love having family so close and having the opportunity for Bailey to be close with some of her cousins. Bailey and Finn love each other and for the most part they play really well together...they even find time to cause a little trouble!

Relay for Life

On April 23rd we had the opportunity to be a part of the Queen Creek Relay for Life Cancer Walk and it was a blast. A good friend of mine in our ward was diagnosed with Non Hodgkins Lymphoma about 2 years ago, and I am happy to say that today she is cancer free and has been for a while. So Team RBug was formed in her honor while she was going through treatment, but this year she was walking in person as a survivor! Rashelle is such a sweet gal, such an inspiration to me, and I am so happy to be her friend!

The QC walk is only about 5 years old and so it is only a 12 hour walk rather then a 24 hour one. The walk began at 6pm and after opening ceremonies our little family took to the track and walked our hour from 7:00-8:00. Bailey rode like a champ in her stroller lap after lap, while Clint & I kept trying to decided which delicious treat we were going to buy on the next go around. After our hour of walking we hung out with the team, danced to the live music, and ate some good food. Bailey and Clint stayed til about 10:00pm...but then it was time for the little Holloway to get to bed.

After they left we were entertained by a hypnotist, more dancing, raffle drawing, and some karaoke!!! I stayed til about 1:30am and then decided to call it a night...light weight I know! Next year I have decided my goal is to make it the whole night, because why wouldn't a 30 year old with two kids want to stay up ALL night!!! Really it was a blast hanging out with all the girls and being a part of such a great cause. On top of fundraising with the team I got to help Rashelle with some of the decorations for the Survivor Dinner they have at the walk. So about 4 days before the walk I was on Puff Ball duty! I made over 100 tissue paper balls (had some help with fluffing them) and made them into chandeliers that hung over the dinner tables. It was a TON of work, but they looked great and really that is all that matters right...at least I did my part!

Our Team Captain Rashelle (and my puff balls) &

Rashelle & I with two of our Young Women

One of my favorite moments from the walk was the hour when they turned off all the lights in the stadium and lit all of the luminaries. It was so beautiful! On one side of the stadium the bags spelled out CURE and on the other side it said HOPE, and then they had individual bags lined around the track that people dedicated to friends and family members they have lost from cancer. It was a great reminder that life is so precious and we really need to enjoy every moment we have been blessed with! So here's to my friend Rashelle & my mother-in-law Sandi...two cancer survivors I am blessed to still have in my life!

Precious in His Sight

Tonight we went over to Blake & Liz's house for dinner, and while we were eating Bailey was chatting away as usual. Then out of nowhere I hear Liz say, "Yes, that's Jesus." I look over and see Bailey pointing at this picture on the wall saying, "Jeejus...jeejus."

My heart melted immediately! We have a couple of books for Bailey about Jesus, and I always tell her who Jesus is when we read them and she will say his name back to me...but she has never recognized & said his name on her own. Tonight reminded me just how close to the veil her little spirit is, and of the scripture in Matthew that says,

"And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them...And said, verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven...Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven."

I feel so blessed to be a mother and I pray that I can learn to become like the little spirits we have and will be blessed to have in our home. I love my Heavenly Father, I know that Jesus is my Savior and that he lives, and I hope Bailey will continue to recognize their love for her throughout her life on this earth so that she can return to live with them someday.

Easter & a Visit from Grandma & Grandpa Millward

So I have given up on back tracking, from this point on I will hopefully be better at updating & recording our lives...so here is a little of what we've been up to lately. We headed out to California a couple weeks ago for Easter and to meet our new twin nieces, Saylor & Ruby. The weekend went by way too fast, but we had a lot of fun relaxing and spending time with family. On Saturday, the grandkids colored Easter eggs with Nana and had an Easter egg hunt in the neighbors yard across the street. Bailey loved coloring the eggs, but slept through the Easter egg hunt...so unfortunately we don't have a any pictures to document her big Easter experience this year.

We continued the weekend with a few fun Holloway traditions...none of which I got pictures of, lame I know! Saturday night the boys went to Priesthood, and we met up with them after at Paul's Place for dinner. This tradition started long before I was around, but ever since Clint and I started dating I remember going to Paul's Place after every Priesthood session. We love that place & wish we could find a place like it out here in AZ to continue the tradition. Sunday was Easter & we just hung out all day watching conference and eating great food! We ended the night watching Ten Commandments which is another tradition of the Holloway household.

Our other reason for heading out was to see Saylor & Ruby, our nieces that were born back in Febuary. We wanted to see them before they got too big, but they have already practically doubled in size. They are the sweetest little girls, and we couldn't be happier for Kevin, Melissa, and Reese. I seriously don't know how they are doing it with two babies...I could barely handle one! Bailey wasn't too sure of them at first, she would point & say baby but keep her distance. She quickly warmed up to them & would run over to them everytime they were in the room wanting to touch & kiss them. We are so happy we got to meet them, but are so sad that they live so far away!

Bailey kissing Baby Ruby

Baby Saylor

After too short of a visit to Cali we headed home to get ready for my parents to come the next day! We had a great time with Grandma & Papa, and are so happy they came to visit & to celebrate my birthday. We shopped, ate great food, went to the zoo, played at the park, and much more! On Friday we met up with my cousin-in-law, Kristi, and her two boys, Ethan & Blake at the zoo. It was so fun to see Bailey start to recognize the animals and make their sounds, it makes the trip so much more fun. The zoo has a kid area with a playground & petting zoo for the little ones, and Bailey LOVED it. We took the kids to the petting zoo to pet some goats, and I wasn't too sure how Bailey would react. I'm mean our dog is bigger then most of them so she shouldn't be scared, and she wasn't. She walked right in, started petting them, and calling all of them doggies. We had a great time with the Kasper's & can't wait to go again!

One of the days we headed down the street to this great park with a duck pond, playground, and splash pad. We tried to feed some ducks, but they didn't really want to come over...maybe because Bronco was there. Bailey is loving the playground right now, she will go down the slide all by herself and loves it. Once she gets to the bottom she turns around, says "agen", and starts climbing up the slide! It was super windy that day at the park, but one little boy was at the splash pad and so I told Bailey to go get the water...really just to see if she would do it or not. Sure enough she did! She loves the water and I can't wait to go to the pool this summer.

I turned 29 on April 11th, and did not take one picture from any of the celebrating we did. But to be honest we really didn't do to much, I'm holding out for the BIG one next year! My good friend Heidi made me this AMAZING shirt for my b-day, and I L-O-V-E it! The saying is a little inside joke with my other Young Women Leaders...love those gals.

We had a great couple of weeks and I can't say it enough, but I love our families and feel so blessed to have so many great people in our lives! I miss everyone already and can't wait to see them again!

Back Tracking...but we are still here

So I admit that it has been awhile, ok forever, since I updated our blog and I don't have a great excuse for it, but a few people have told me to get back on top of it so here is my attempt. I have missed a few big posts so I am going to go back a few months and try to catch up from there. I want to make a book out of our blog so I need to post these, so if you don't want to read I understand, and I will try to hurry and get back to the present day (bear with me)!

Back in November, we had a BIG event take place...Miss Bailey's 1st Birthday (what a great mom I am right...birthday post 3 months later)! We had a party here in AZ a week before the big day with friends and family. It was such a blast, Bailey LOVED her cake and opening all of her presents. Big THANKS to everyone who came to celebrate with our little girl!

Thanks to my Aunt Ashley for my super CUTE b-day shirt!

She didn't really attack her cake like I was hoping, but she did throw a serious fit when we tried to take the cake away. Maybe she was scared at how big her cake was...let's be honest it is the biggest cupcake I've ever seen, I would be scared too.

We headed out to California for Thanksgiving which was also Bailey's Birthday, so naturally we had another party for her out there. I was really bad at taking pictures while we were out there, so I guess I should be thankful I captured a few from the party.

How did a year go by so fast...our little Bailey is a sweet & ever so sassy girl, and I love every bit of her. She is a pro walker, a great talker - although her words aren't the most understandable, and she has become an amazing eater. If you have read past post you will know that eating was something we struggled with. Bailey has a rice allergy that took awhile to diagnois, we are hoping she will grow out it, but she didn't seem all that interested in real food for quite a long time. Now she is eating us out of house and home...love it! So Bailey, Happy Birthday, your mom & dad love you so much and are so glad we have you in our lives!

Bailey's Christmas Surprise

One of our families traditions is to open our new Christmas PJ's on Christmas Eve, and this is what Bailey found when she opened hers...

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and we wish you all a Happy New Year!

Happy Birthday Bailey

I just realized that in the midst and craziness of having a baby a year ago today I never actually documented Bailey's birth story. So I decided that today, her "birth"day, would be a perfect time to document the story for her and for me. It might be a long one so read if you want, and enjoy! Her 1 year post with party and updates will come in a couple of days once we get back home.

I was exactly 41 weeks and was getting ready for a doctor's appt. to check and make sure that everything was alright with the baby, and I noticed that I was feeling kind of crappy. I felt like I was going to start my period, which was a little weird after not having one for awhile, but I went on with my morning thinking it would go away after I ate. Around 9-10am Clint and I headed off to the doctor's and I was feeling what I thought might be actual contractions. Once at the office they hooked me up to the monitor and my midwife, Janice, confirmed that those were indeed real contractions and that she would probably see me later that night to have a baby! So Clint and I headed home to have a some lunch (had to get as much energy as possible for the night ahead) and to do some walking. While walking through the neighborhood I noticed that the contractions were getting stronger (still bearable), and I was having to stop every once in awhile when one would happen. After walking I decided to try and rest for an hour or two, to see if that would help my body relax.

It was now around 5pm, and I was done resting and having trouble finding a comfortable position. About a half an hour later I was leaning over our bed "relaxing", and I felt and heard a pop and then there was water! I ran to the bathroom, where conveniently Clinton was using the toilet, and I just remember saying "move, move, move." He stopped what he was doing, and later asked why I didn't just go into the shower. I'm sorry my water just broke and I am having your baby, next time I will try to think more! We called Janice and told that my water broke and that everything looked good, and asked when she thought we should come in. She said to come in whenever I felt like it, and to know that the contractions would be getting a lot stronger now. We waited around the house for another hour and a half, but I felt my contractions really low in my belly & more in my quads and hip flexors which made standing, kneeling, sitting, you name it uncomfortable. We had decided that we wanted to have a natural birth and to do most of my laboring in a birth tub, so we headed to the hospital.

We got into our room around 8:00pm and got checked...I was dilated to a 4.5, and for the next 5 hours labor consisted of getting monitored on the ball for 15 minutes then back to the tub for 45 minutes. That tub saved my life, I was able to relax so much once I got in the tub. Never once did I think that labor was too painful, but at this point my body was tired and I didn't know how much longer I could go. Around midnight I was in transition, and feeling more pressure so it was time to get out and see how much progress was made. My one fear was that I hadn't progressed and I was going to have to keep laboring, but I was dilated to a 9.5 and it was almost time to push. To get to the much wanted 10 centimeters I walked around the room, sat on the toilet, and tried to push. Finally, around 2:00am the real work began! I pushed and pushed and pushed for over an hour. I remember thinking at one point that there was know turning back now...it was too late, and every time Janice would say just a few more pushes...how many is just a few more! My little one did not want to come out and Janice said that maybe we need to think about an episiotomy. I did not want an episiotomy, and asked her if she was sure I needed one. She told me I had two more pushes, and on the third push Bailey Holloway entered the world at 3:21am. Our little girl weighed in at 9lbs. 1oz., was 21 inches long, and was perfect in every way.

I had a amazing labor, and am so happy with the decision we made for a natural birth. I am thankful for Clint for going to 13 weeks of Bradley classes and being a perfect coach. But really I am so thankful for Bailey and for the opportunity I have to be her mom. So Happy Birthday Bailey, and thank you for making this last year one I will never forget. Your dad and I love you so much, and can't wait to see what the next year holds!