One Month Old

He is so hansome!

Snow!

 We went up to Pinetop a week after Christmas to celebrate the holidays and my Mom's 60th birthday with my whole family. It was a good trip to be surrounded by family. I wish Daisy got to see her Merrill cousins more often, she had a blast. It also snowed while we were up there. It was beautiful and so fun! Daisy loved playing in th snow.

Santa

Daisy got to see Santa at our Ward Christmas Party. She didn't cry or freak out, but I don't think she quite understood why she was sitting on Santa's lap.

I think her face tells it all.

First Days...

I love the spirit a new baby brings into a home. Everything just feels fuller, like there was a hole that you didn't even know existed. Anyway we had a bumpy start with Rockwell's first few days at home. Our poor Daisy got sick. She was sick for about 10 days with a fever, congestion, a cough and everything that goes with being sick. So I was worried Rockwell would get sick, especially since I caught the bug too. However, he never got it! Little blessings make a big difference to a new Mom of two. Since Daisy was sick and hadn't been at home for days on top of having a new baby brother in the house, she had a rough first week of being a big sister. Luckily Aaron was super Dad and took care of his little girl, I think she liked all the extra attention from her Dad. She eventually got better and has been a very good big sister. She is always concerned about Rockwell. She will repeat his name over and over and over... the cuteness wears off after the 20th baby brother Rockwell, but I love that she likes him. She has only smacked him the the face twice  ; ) But really she likes to make sure he has his blanket and pacifier.

I love how my little babies look snuggled on their Dad's chest.

This was the first time she got to hold him, and she loved it. Had to keep a close eye on her for a few days after so she wouldn't try and pick him up.

He likes to keep his hands curled up next to his face, so cute.

I think he was only a few days old in this picture, he was is so small.

Cute little face...

Sleepin...

Siblings

With Rockwell being born in December I was worried that Daisy wouldn't be able to come a see him for the first time at the hospital because of RSV, but she did get to go! And it was so sweet! She was so interested in him and had the cutest look of curiosity on her face. I am looking forward to seeing how they grow together, I hope they will be good friends.

She has a big smile on her face.

She wanted to see his toes.

I love this picture, I love my little family.

I loved her expressions!

Newborn Pictures 8 Days Old

Rockwell Michael Brooks

Rockwell was born on Monday December 10th, 2012 at 10:45 AM, weighing 7 pounds 3 ounces and was 19 inches long. I had felt for a while that he would make his debut before his due date of the 20th. So when  I went to my appointment the Wednesday before he was born and was at a 4, and had my membranes stripped, I was positive he would be here within the next few days if not hours. I was also contracting a lot and had been for a while, nothing consistent but fairly strong. These contractions stayed the same for days! I would think I was in labor but then they would stop. So we went about life just waiting and walking. We went to our ward Christmas party Saturday evening, then went home and prepared talks for sacrament the next day. We gave talks and still no baby boy. So we went over to Aaron's parents house that evening for a change of senery for our walk. We had been walking everynight by then. We walked from their house to his Grandma's house and by the time we walked back I was having more contrations closer together. They weren't as strong as I remember when I went into labor with Daisy, so I wasn't sure if this was it. However they weren't going away so we decided to go to the hospital. We checked in around 8:00 PM. I was contracting and at a 4 and a half to a 5. The doctor on call decided to keep me even though I wasn't in major labor yet because I was strep positive and it was my second baby. So the next step was to keep walking. We got our room and then Aaron and I walked around the labor and dilvery floor 60 times. I know it was 60 times because by then it was almost 11:00 and we were very bored so we counted. After walking I was at a 5 and it was time for bed. I slept until about 3:00 in the morning then I had to go use the bathroom. When I was leaning over the toilet my water broke, how convinent I know. I called the nurse and she checked and said that there was definently less pressure but that my water had only partially broken. So I went back to sleep and when I woke up I was at a 6. I had gotten all the way to a 6 and hadn't had any real pain, I was pretty happy about that. I decided to get an epideral because they were going to fully break my water and then let labor progress naturally. So around 8:30, 9:00 I recived my epideral while Aaron got breakfast. We knew from last time it was best he wasn't there or he may have passed out. I remember being so hungry at this point, I hadn't eaten since five the day before and was starving. Anyway once my epideral kicked in they gave me a tiny bit of petosin, then the doctor came in a broke my water. Aaron and I were watching the Price is Right and when it finished at 10:00 Aaron went to the bathroom. Within the time he went to the bathroom and came out I knew he was coming. I felt him drop, it was the strangest feeling. So I called in the nurse and I was right, he was about to come out. I still can't believe how quickly my body switched from kind of in labor to full on labor with in a few seconds. I felt more this time than with Daisy. It wasn't painful but I could feel so much pressure and him. I liked it. I asked if he had hair like Daisy when he was crowning and he did. I pushed probably for a total of 15 maybe 20 minutes and he was here. They handed him right to me and we did skin to skin right away. When Daisy was born I felt this overwhelming feeling of love and happiness and this was more of the same. It was more like I revisiting a very familar feeling, it wasn't new like it was with Daisy but it was still wonderful. They just left him on my chest while they cleaned up and I loved having him finally in my arms and not in my belly. Although it was kind of gross becuase they literally handed him staight to me, so you can imagine it wasn't very clean. I think he cried, I remembered he had a loud cry and was afraid that he would be one of those babies that comes out crying and never stops. He stopped : ) and has been a wonderful baby. He is another little Aaron clone, even more than Daisy. Good thing their Dad is cute. He is 6 weeks as of yesterday and now we are very used to having baby brother Rockwell as Daisy says. I have been falling more in love with him everyday. He just gets more cute with every hour I feel. He is a great nurser and hasn't been very fussy. He sleeps at night, but grunts and toots the whole time, so sleep has not been my companion for the past month and a half. I also have been peed on more in the past 6 weeks than with two years of being a Mother. Little boys will be boys I guess.  Needless to say we love him!