1 Month

January 11th marked Brenley's 1 Month Birthday! What a crazy and fun month it has been with our little girl. She has gone lots of places and met lots of people and has changed our lives forever.

At 1 month of age she is eating ever 3-4 hours (somedays every 2, if she is extra hungry!) and just in the last week she has started doing a 5 hour stretch in the night -- which gives mommy about 4 hours of solid sleep -- thank you. She loves to sit in her vibrating bouncy seat and bats at the toys that hang down. She also smiles alot, but I am not sure if she really knows that she is smiling. It sure is cute though! She is a trooper about going places with mommy and loves to snuggle with her Daddy at night.

I plan on taking pics of her in her chair each month to see her growth. Here is her first!


Polo wanted in on the photo shoot, but got kicked out due to licking the birthday girl!

Brenley's First Christmas

Christmas seems like a blur to me...I guess because I had a 2 week old and was VERY sleep deprived. But I know it was fun and was a good time spent with family. Brenley slept through most of it, but had fun being passed around by all of the family members.

Brenley and Santa

"My First Christmas" Outfit

Cousin Cade

Cousin Corbin

Cousin Cohen

Uncle Chris

Brenley and Polo's stockings

Polo loved her present

Brenley's first Christmas present

Brenley's present to Daddy

White Christmas at the Soto house!

It was a fun Christmas and we look forward to 2010! Next year will be fun chasing a 1 year old around. :)

Brenley's First Photo Shoot

Brenley had her first photo shoot when she was 12 days old. Our friend Rachel Ledbetter came to our house and did them and we are thrilled with how they turned out. Thanks Rachel!

Brenley Marie has arrived!!

I cannot believe it has been 5 weeks and I am just now blogging about our little girl's entrance, but better late than never, right?

I am so happy to finally say that our little girl, Brenley Marie Soto, has arrived into the world. She was born Friday, December 11th at 10:56am, weighing 8lbs 10 oz and 21 inches long! She started to try and make her entrance on Thursday, the 10th, which was her actual due date, but time slipped away and she did not come until the next day. It all started around 3;45am on Thursday, when I woke up with some light contractions. At first I thought I was dreaming about having contractions and then I realized they were actually real. They were so light that I did not want to wake Bobby up about them yet. So I layed there and continued to have them. Then around 4:30am I grabbed my computer and starting timing the contractions online. They were very inconsistent, but I knew they were probably the real thing. Around 5:30 I decided to go ahead and wake Bobby up since he would be getting up for work soon. As soon as I told him, he asked if we needed to go to the hospital yet. :) We decided to go ahead and get up and get ready for the day, but I asked Bobby if he could work from home that day in case things progressed. He agreed, but did run up to work for a couple of hours to get some things to bring home. So, the rest of the day consisted of me having contractions and with the computer near by (so I could time them), while watching TV and Bobby working at the kitchen table. To say the least it was a LONG day.

The contractions got worse throughout the day, but were still inconsistent in their timings. My nurse said they needed to be 5 min apart for an hour before we headed to the hospital, so that is what I was waiting for. Finally around 4pm, they starting to come every 6-7 minutes. To me that was close enough and Bobby and I decided to head to the hospital. By this time, the contractions were pretty hard and were making me grab the nearest object to brace myself. :)

We arrived at the hospital around 6pm and were admitted. By the time I was "checked" they said I was at a 5! I was really surprised at this for some reason, but happy at the same time. I recieved my epidural about an hour and a half after we arrived and it made life much better. :) Slowly, but surely our families started to arrive and we just waited for progression. Around 9 or 10pm that night I think I was at a 7. Things were going slower than we all had hoped, but they were not going to give me Patossin until the morning. So we continued to wait and Bobby and I slept off and on -- our families in the waiting room did not sleep however...in fact they stayed up all night in the waiting room.

So then morning came and I was given Patossin to try and speed up my contractions. By around 7am, I was finally at a 9, but Brenley was still positioned really high, so they had me try all of these crazy and uncomfortable positions in the bed to try and help her drop lower. The doctor also finally came in and broke my water. We thought once this happened that I was would for sure progress to a 10 and Brenley would be on her way. Well...after staying at a 9 for 3 HOURS and Brenley not dropping low enought to push, the recommendation/decision was made to have a C-section. So after 31 hours of labor, Brenley came via C-section at 10:56am.

I must say that was not my plan, nor a decision I wanted to agree with, but by that point, I was just ready to have her in my arms. I was a wreck during the surgery, but Bobby was so great and helped me breathe and kept me calm. All I really remember is the doctor pulling her out and saying "she is so big and has so much hair!". I thought to myself..."great, I have a big, hairy baby" ;) Bobby went and checked her out and was able to show me some pictures of our 8lb 10 oz girl, with a FULL head of dark hair. I was thrilled she was finally here!!

Our life has been a whirlwind the last 5 weeks, but definitely in a good way! I have learned that Motherhood is hardwork, babies eat and poop a lot and I DO NOT do well on little sleep! :) I am finally getting the hang of this "mom thing" and Brenley is getting better with her sleep so things are on the up and up!

We love our little girl so much and think she is the CUTEST thing in the world. Her hair and eyelashes are to DIE for!! Eat your heart out boys!! -- well not too much or her Daddy may get you!! :)


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