The Pepperlings

ummm why do I have this thing?

2012-01-08T00:57:00.001-08:00

Way too much has happened since I've written last. The best thing is my Harpers birth. She's 14 Months now. Born Halloween 2010. Here's a picture of my beautiful girl

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Update.

2010-02-18T16:18:00.000-08:00

Yes, I am here.

Wanted to write a quick little update. We purchased our first home! We got a good deal- two for the price of one. :) haha we bought a duplex, for investment purposes.

(Danny tearing up the nasty carpet.)

(The sad kitchen.)

Well really because we were sick of paying rent for forever and want to get that money back. It is in need of some major repairs. We got a good loan where the costs of repairs are included in the loan. Which as allowed us to get started on some big projects already. So far we have
- Torn out the carpet.
- Gotten all new windows, and each unit has a sliding glass door in the master.
- Torn off the old disgusting roof.
- And hopefully by the end of this week we will have our new roof totally done. Thankfully the weather has been decent lately. Which makes the work that much more do-able.
We were going to live out at the property... But thanks to my parents we are staying in their travel trailer or toy hauler, out side their house. This makes showering and staying sane much more manageable. The toy hauler does have a shower... it's kinda small, way nice being able to shower in their house! Also cooking, and living in the tiny area. I can't imagine all of us cramped in there and surviving too long. Once we get a working bath room we'll most likely head over to be at the property.

Hazel. My 10 month old daughter, is now walking. :) She has been for about a month. She is such a smarty pants. She can point to her "piggies", she does some of the motions for the itsy bitsy spider. She waves bye bye, says DADA all the time. and Mama when shes hungry or upset mostly. Hugs her baby dolls and calls everything bebe. it's funny. She's opening every drawer and cupboard you can imagine. Constantly unrolling the toilet paper. ha And is finally eating solid food. well pureed food really. of the applesauce texture. You know, baby food. But I am SOOO happy about this.

I would jokingly tell Danny that Hazel is going to be telling me when shes low on milk so I can pump and send it to her when she's moved away to college.

(haha Her face when the thought crosses her mind that in college, there will be no more breast milk for her... Hahaa)

Other things she does is give the BEST hugs I have ever had in my entire life. She wraps her little arms around my neck and rests her head down on my shoulder and squeezes and pats my back. Such a great feeling! LOVE LOVE LOVE Hazel hugs! She also growls and kinda quickly goes to people and tries to kinda scare them. I could really go on and on and on and on and on. She's just growing so much and way to fast!!!! She is going to be a year old in March! It does not feel like it has been a year. I feel really lucky to be her mama. I really truly do. She's amazing.

(some random pictures taken from the last month or so.)

Hopefully it wont take me as long before I come back. I wanna keep updating how the duplex is coming along. And of course how My Little Hazey May is growing.

New post...

2009-10-28T20:18:00.000-07:00

I know it has been a long time since I have "blogged", and there is a reason. I have no problem looking at every one's updated blogs, but to me if felt a little weird blogging about the good things that are going on in life. Because honestly that's mostly what people blog about. kinda like pictures, they mostly capture the happy times and smiling faces. Ya know the good stuff. Since my brother passed away I didn't want to blog about life, because it just felt weird and too early to say hey look how happy we are. When we are happy, but still sad everyday that my big brother Gary is no longer with us... It's weird and I don't know if I am explaining it right for others to understand. My big brother. Was awesome. And he completed my "original" family, the one I was born into. He started us. Gary Pool Jr. very simple guy. He was super smart about so many different things. He was a out doors guy. Loved to work on cars, it was so good to have a private mechanic, loved hunting, especially bow hunting. which caused my Dad to discover a new hobby,( he joined Gary bow hunting) and spend hundred's of dollars getting all the gear that goes along with it, including a jeep. He loved taking his HUGE boat to waters. Even if his little truck at the time looked silly hauling it there. He loved doing all these things with his little babes. In his last year I think he really developed a new love for Wal-Mart. :) He was definitely not the type of person to sit still.

(the picture in the center is one of my favorites. After he just got his motorcycle, he was really happy)

My brother got Leukemia around May 2008, it took a long time for doctors to finally diagnose him with this disease. I think 4 months later in September is when they were done guessing and going back and forth and said yes, Gary, it's leukemia. He had a very hard battle because his type of leukemia came along with a Philadelphia Chromosome. I don't know much about all the science behind all of this stuff but it made his bodies job a lot harder to fight off the cancer. But Gary did his best, and he did a good job.

I guess there were a lot of times when things were looking bad, (more than I know because my parents tried to only report the best news when things weren't looking well) and for whatever reason, probably his two children, Emily and Ethan, he would come back fighting.

What my brother needed because of the philli Chromosome was a blood transplant. And I was Lucky enough to be the exact match he needed, what an honor! It was scary and such a great feeling knowing that my body, my blood could potentially save my brothers life. But I was pregnant so we had to wait, and wait, and wait. We can't be sure if Gary would of made it if he had be able to get the transplant sooner, as with most things in life. You can never be sure about the "what if's". What my family tries to think is that we were just blessed to have him around as long as we did. Because a blood transplant is such a serious medical procedure and would of wiped his body completely of practically everything, and (the goal would of been) for my blood to take over and take the job of his blood and make him healthy. There is a chance that the person getting the transplant wont make it. So we never know, maybe the reason I got Pregnant with Hazel was to prolong his stay with us.
Gary left us on September 17th, 2009. We had his funeral on September 22nd, 2009.

My family is so blessed to have had the 30 years with Gary in our lives. I am lucky that he was my oldest brother, and I am so so thankful that I got to share so many memories with him. So greatful that he got to be at my wedding and be there for the birth of my daughter. I thank God that he gave me such a great family, and that I am Gary's little sister. "ankle biter" as he and his friends used to call me.

Anyway there is a "brief" reason as to why I haven't felt like blogging. I know it's weird. It's just blogging. posting pictures of my baby mostly. But the things that you think about when you lose someone close to you. It's unimaginable. I will miss my brother, Gary, forever. And these holidays are going to be just absolutely bazarr... But we will get through with the memoeries that we have as a complete family, and I know that is memory will live on. (cheesey but as a family we love talking about him, and how unique he was.)

- Gary's little sister.

sorry if my puctuation and writing and all that is messy. I don't really worry too much about that stuff unless I am writing papers that need to be graded which has been awhile...

my baby...

2009-08-09T21:01:00.000-07:00

My baby, is rolling all over the floor.
tri-podding herself up with her hands,
turning in almost circles, and...
doing push ups!

WHAT?

I can't believe that she is growing so quickly!
Danny is really trying to help her get there, it's so funny.
we think she will be crawling sooner than we know.
love being able to watch her develope.
she is so amazing.

Hazel

2009-08-06T18:22:00.000-07:00

I was just looking around on the web today, and I came across this web page the baby name wizard. I looked up the meaning of Hazel. Here's what it says. The first part is obvious...

Taken from the name of the hazelnut tree, which is derived from the Old English hæsel (hazel). Alternatively, the name can also be derived from the Hebrew hazā'ēl (God sees).

I just thought that was really neat especially because she was named after her Daddy's eyes...

4 month check up...

2009-07-27T08:19:00.000-07:00

Here is Hazel, waiting for the nurse to call her name. I love this picture, almost looks like a baby mug shot. :)

We went in for her well child check-up last Wednesday. We missed her 2 month one. The nurses thought that she was 6months old until told otherwise...
She weighed 18.9 lbs, and was 26.3 inches long. Doc said she was off the charts but that didn't matter because someone has to be at each end. Anyway she is a healthy happy little baby.

She did really well, she only cried when the nurse stretched her out to measure her length. I thought that was kinda weird but as soon as I picked her up and carried her back to the room she was happy and giggly again. Oh yeah... she can giggle now. Danny discovered this the other day, and it is the most beautiful sound I have ever heard!

Summer time

2009-07-14T22:19:00.000-07:00

These are backwards... But on the 3rd of july, Danny and I decided to Take little Hazey baby to the lake. Foster. We didn't have a bathing suit so we decided to just dip her naked bum bum in the water. It was a little too cold for her liking, but she didn't mind too much. Her first trip to the lake. We didn't stay very long. The ants drove us away.
In these pictures she is modeling her new bathing suit. She likes it.

On the 4th of July, Danny went to his Grandma's house to help haul hay... What a nice guy. Hazel and I came back home and took a nap. We woke up way too early. After Danny was done we came back home and Hazel took another nap with Danny. Not as long as he would of liked. But while they were napping I went to Old Navy and got her a super cute swim suit. I love the ruffles, and the flowers. cute cute cute. She looks like a little girl in it. My baby is getting so big.

I covered her in baby sunscreen. It was so hard to get it on her baby scalp, she has so much hair that it was hard to get it worked in enough to get on her head. So her hair is FULL of sunscreen. It took quite some time getting it out in the bath later.
I LOVE the picture of her and Danny in the water.

We are a happy little family of 3.

Rise and shine sweet baby

2009-06-25T16:12:00.000-07:00

Danny and I love watching Hazel wake up from a nap or in the morning so much we decided to do a little photo documentry of one occasion. It's so sweet her faces and her long drawn out stretches. She's is a very happy baby after a good sleep. Here are the images we took while waking her up from her nap one lazy sunday afternoon.

Here is Hazel May sleeping so soundly.

Here is Daddy eager to wake his sleeping babe. He loves being the first one she sees.

She was in a really good sleep and didn't want to wake up.

So we had to unwrap her from her cacoon made of receiving blankets. To get her to sleep really well we snuggle her up really tight in her blankeys.

Here is little Hazey getting used to having her eyes open again. More funny faces and spit bubbles.

Oh, being parents is such an amazing experience. It's crazy how something as simple as watching someone wake up can make us so happy. So glad that we get to be the ones to great her good morning.

Hazel is growing so fast. We think she weighs around 16 pounds! She smiles, and has been talking a lot more lately. She's been noticing her little hands a feet, and is really holding on to somethings. Here is another thing that made Danny and I so excited to be able to watch together. A proud parent moment. looking forward to all the more to come.

The other night on Danny's birthday we got to watch Hazel struggle to roll from her back to her front. It was really awesome to be able to sit on the couch and witness her struggle and pull through. Such proud parents we were! As soon as she did Danny swooped her up real quickly and scared her and then she cried... haha he was so excited. So now our little baby can roll from front to back and back to front. What a strong baby she is. Growing very very fast and getting very chunky. Lovely lovely little Hazel.

Hazel May is 7 weeks and 1 day old!

2009-05-11T21:41:00.000-07:00

my precious baby girl is 7 weeks! I can't believe that it's been almost two months since she's come into our lives. It's completely amazing being her mama. I love it. She's so perfect.

g diapers

2009-05-05T23:46:00.001-07:00

I got my small g diapers today. I am so excited. I am bad at them though. She has already poohed on the liner and the orange diaper... Ha it keeps scooting to the side and the diaper part is getting out of the way. So luckily we still have diapers from the shower so I can use both until I have the eco friendly g diapers under control. But it is pretty cool that with the push of the toliet handle, FLUSH away goes the poopie and it's not in the trash to be smelly. :) Love Love love it. Also it's not bad for the environment. Hazel will be so happy.

a glimpse of the last 6 weeks.

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

just wanted to post some pictures since I have been so lazy lately with the blogging.
Here are a few from our life after Hazel. :)

This is the day after we brought our sweet baby home.

she loves falling asleep on Daddy.

my 24th Birthday. May 1st.

Hazel's cousins on daddy's side. Chloe and Trinity. This was at Chloe's birthday party. April 24th

doesn't really look like us. Maybe Hazel... ha. Lady was drawing pictures at chloe's party. Papa's pizza.

this was my outfit that I wore when I was a wee babe.

Hazel's cousins on mama's side. Easter. Windy windy windy day.

I love this picture, When Gramma Ro was bathing her.

This is her first bath at home. She wouldn't wake up until the end. Funny. :)

laying in the crib, that she hasn't slept in yet.

Hazel May Pepperling

2009-04-07T15:53:00.000-07:00

On March 22nd at 1:32 in the afternoon, Hazel May Pepperling was born!
She is named after both Danny and I. Hazel is the color of her Daddy's eyes, and I was born in May.

I ended up having a C section after 32 hours of steady contractions. I was kinda sad that I was going to have to have her that way but after hearing that she weighed 10 lbs 5 oz. I was glad that we did. She would just not drop, even though I was fully dilated. The doc was thinking of breaking my water but said it would be too dangerous because there was a risk of her umbilical cord coming out first. So after a lot of thought, pain, and sleep deprivation, we decided that it must be Hazel's way of saying there's no way she's coming out that way.

Danny getting ready for the operating room.

Daddy cutting the cord.

first family picture. Still couldn't feel the bottom half of my body at this point...

Grammy Ro

Hazel was born on Danny's good friend Bud's birthday.

when?

2009-03-03T20:31:00.000-08:00

in 16 days our baby should be here... I am ready for her to come now. Had baby shower on saturday, and scored big! TONS of amazing gifts that we really needed. I am so cheap I didn't want to buy anything until after the shower. Really don't need to buy much more. My Mama came over last night and helped me clean and organize baby's room. It's starting to look so good. My mama is wonderful.

Side pains... supposedly round ligament pains aren't bringing me to tears anymore. I like this, but it's still achey enough to wake me up every few hours at night. I don't like this. I think baby pepper is too big to be in there anymore... her Daddy is very tall.

I still have a lot to organize... but I want my baby... this belly is only getting bigger. Appointment tomorrow. NST's and BPP's (pretty sure that's what their called). To see baby moving and shaking. I like listening to her heart beat while I sit there and watch what not to wear. :)

I wonder when labor will strike. It's a very weird waiting game.

Thursday will mark 38 weeks... Doesn't she know she's full term now and it's safe to come out?

35 weeks! Updates.... LONG.

2009-02-13T14:40:00.000-08:00

I am 35 weeks 1 day pregnant. (here's a belly pic. taken with phone at work)

34 Days til Estimated Due Date. Please baby pepper, be ready to come out early! ( no not naming daughter Pepper Pepperling... )
I've been having to go in weekly now and along with the weekly doctor visits, I also have to go in to get a biophysical profile done (ultra sound and they test baby to see if she's doing okay in there) and then I have to go to the baby making section of the hospital and get a non stress test on her. Hooked up to a fetal heart monitor and just make sure she's active in there. The reason I have to go in to do these weekly is because I have 1.2 cm of extra amniotic fluid. which is called polyhydramnios There are several different things that can cause this in pregnancy, but I have a mild case and doc says sometimes people just have more fluid that what is considered to be normal so I will just be watched closely til delivery just as a precautionary action.

The first week I had to do this was last week (I've gone in twice now). When I went in the first time they hooked me up to the fetal heart monitor for TWO HOURS! And honestly I am not looking forward to delivering a child in the hospital bed. EXTREMELY uncomfortable. When I was hooked up to the fetal heart monitor they noticed that I was having some contractions. ? "What are you talking about" I said, "aren't they suppose to hurt?" The nurse just asked me when they started... I told her I went walking on a tread mill for like 40 minutes and my tummy felt a little weird at the end so I had to stop, but that's really it. So I come to find out this week they may be braxton hicks. But I thought that you could feel those more too. So I am lucky I guess to not be too bothered by these things. But they did send my pee away to have it tested for drugs since I was only 34 weeks pregnant. Glad to know it came back negative... :) Whew.

With the ultra sounds I had last week (34) they check baby for 10 things. Not sure what ( my H button isn't working properly! frustrating) all they check for but she scored 10 out of 10. She got her first A. :) And this week after the ultra sound Rob the tech guy told me she's got A LOT of hair. My mom said when I was born that my hair was down to my ears. I am a little creeped out by this, haha I guess I better buy some baby brushes. Also he informed me that she's weighing 7lbs! at 35 Weeks... And as far along as I am they are suppose to gain a pound a week... oh I hope that he's off by a few pounds in my favor. Or this is going to be one BIG baby. Thanks Danny! His grandma delivered two 10 pounders and one 11 pounder and Danny's Dad was I wanna say almost 12 if I am not mistaken... What a woman!

Anyway that is the latest Pepper baby update. Other than the fact that I have a little more fluid that what is considered "normal" everything is going great. Can't wait to meet her, I hope she come early and is healthy. Even though she doesn't have a crib anymore. We had it all put up and my Mom came over to look at it and decided she didn't like the plastic on the outside that made the rail retractable. She suggest we take it back and get a new one. I think it'll be here on the 18th. I think Danny is excited to put another one up. ha He's going to be such a great Daddy.

Oh other exciting news for me. I bought curtains from IKEA. I LOVE LOVE LOVE em.

We ( I mean Danny) put them up in our room and it looks so much better in there. Were going to be here a year so I want it to actually look as homey as a apartment can look. It's coming along slowly.

Diaper bag! :)

2009-01-27T13:35:00.000-08:00

I've had the hardest time trying to find a diaper bag. They all look like... well diaper bags. With bright flowery designs, short straps, and just not what I was looking for. I am a practical girl. I like plain things. I've used the same purse, that I got from Old Navy for $10.00, for probably 3 years. If not more. I've definitely gotten good use out of it. Well I've been looking EVERYWHERE. I finally found one that I LOVE. That can double as a diaper bag. It's huge! It's from Moop. I first found it on etsy.com, but ordered it off of moopshop.com because they don't seem to be as limited with stock there for whatever reason. It took me a long time to talk my self into spending the $99.00 (including shipping) on this purse/diaper bag, but I think it will be totally worth it. I am really stoked about the messenger style strap! Good thing the baby is on the way or I probably would of been stuck with the same purse for another 3 years! :)

check out the website, they are really neat hand made purses and bags. Even have organic!

31 weeks, moving... CRIB

2009-01-19T08:39:00.000-08:00

(pictures are from my phone... our new camera was packed up somewhere.... so I didn't get to use it... )

we got the crib delivered to us... I wanna say 2 months ago. We were going to move into a new place so we kept it at my parents house, we were suppose to be in our new place on Dec. 20th. I was really excited because I wanted to start setting things up for baby.:) But the place we were suppose to move into had Cock roaches. I said I am not dealing with that. I'd freak if one was on my baby one day... Anyways so we moved in to a 1 bedroom for a month. we got free rent and utilities so that made us both very happy. who doesn't like free? But still couldn't take the crib out of the box. I really wanted to see it all set up. I guess it just makes this all that much more real.
Well we finally moved on Saturday, and Danny being the good husband/ soon to be Daddy set it up for me that night... :) I am so happy. Now I just need to finish the bedding, and get everything organized for the new arrival...

It's coming Soon! about 8 weeks! :)

Going in for an appointment today and set up another ultra sound to make sure everything is going good... Hopefully we can get that today! :)

New Years!

2008-12-31T09:05:00.001-08:00

I am new to this whole blogg thing, I have been to this website and got us all hooked up but it's taken me quite a while just to figure out how to change the back ground... so this is my first attempt to post something...

Crazy thing, Danny and I got married one year ago today. That's nuts! It really has been a wonderful year. We've definately had our highs and lows, but that's life. I love knowing every morning that there is my handsome red head laying there next to me...

Danny and his guys: Brother Robby,Bud, Danny, Brother Timmy, and Mafera... You can't see his head tho.

Stef and her ladies: Caylan, Ashley, Stef, sis in-law Becky, and Karissa. all pictures by Jelani Memory.

Another cool thing the New Year has to bring besides the year 2009 and our one year anniversay is...

Our first Little Pepper!

She is due around March 19th. I got a fortune cookie that told me that she will be here on the 3rd... so I am hoping that it's right. We both wanna meet her so bad.

Were not telling people her name... One of the reasons is I don't wanna hear people's views on the name. This is what I wanna name her and there is good reason, and I don't wanna be discouraged or think differently of the name before she wears it... She will define the name for us and we wanna let her. Also Danny wanted to announce to the world that his baby was here and say her name... but the more people ask the more he is leaning to tell people. I wanna stick my ground tho, so we'll see if we can make it!

That's our first post... We'll try to stay updated.

Happy New Year!