Salt Lake City

Addy had her first airplane trip this last week. We took a 1 hour flight to Salt Lake City and Addy did great! It was interesting to stay in a hotel for the week but luckily we got to stay with my Aunt Deb and Uncle Scott during the weekends. Addy enjoyed meeting their dog, Duncan, and waking up at 4am each morning. :)


She is getting so big and has started to be really entertaining. She started making rasberries with her lips today and enjoys to be tossed, fake dropped and bounced around on the bed. Is she too young for those things? I don't know but she giggles and squeals when I do them. She also started to 'get' peek-a-boo. Below is a video of her laughing at this game in our hotel in SLC.

One last walk. . .

Brody went for her last walk today. She was just one week shy of her 12th birthday. We hoped she would make it to Christmas but when we returned from 8 days in Salt Lake City, it was clear that she was in a lot of pain and her medicine wasn't helping. She was really struggling to walk but we knew she would want to go for one last walk before she died. She was really excited to go but had to be carried back to the house. Her legs just couldn't carry her anymore. We took her to the vet and sat with her while she died. Addy even seemed to know something was wrong because she sat very quietly watching Brody while she died. What a horrible way to head into Christmas. We're going to miss Brody's snooring, barking after C-A-T's, running to the kitchen when she hears the cheese bag open or a yogurt container or spoons scraping the bowl of ice cream. I'm going to miss her following me around the house and sitting in Addy's room while I feed her. Brad's going to miss wrestling with her, teasing her and hiking with her. Once Brody led Brad to the summit of Mt. Harvard and back to the base in the middle of the night. She kept to the trail and kept Brad out of trouble (even if he shouldn't have been hiking a 14er in the middle of the night by himself anyway!!!). What a great dog. We'll miss her.

It's been 7 months since Brody started really struggling to walk. We're grateful we got to enjoy her those few extra months. The video below is of her last walk.

Thanksgiving Road Trip

For Thanksgiving we drove to Gunnison to my parents' house. It was Addy's first road trip and she really did well. We stopped halfway to and from to feed her and she cried a little but she slept most of the time. Here is Addy as we took off from our house on Wednesday night.

We enjoyed being on vacation, eating good food, and seeing lots of family. Even though Gunnison is generally the coldest spot in the country, we were able to get out for walks because the sunshine made 13 degrees feel like a heat wave! Addy was so cozy n her snow suit that she fell asleep on our walk.

Here is some of the family who joined us for Thanksgiving: (L to R and F then B) Dad, Grandpa Hulsbos, Me, Addy, Jenny, Papo Bursch, Brad, Auntie Zana, and Mom. My cousins Stella, Danny and Kaitlyn and my uncle David were also there. It was a good time and it was neat that Addy got to meet both her great Grandpas. Addy sure was the center of attention though. . . good grief! We need to have another kid quick or she'll think the world revolves around her! Wait, actually right now it does! :)

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Two Months Old!

Last Friday, Addy turned 2 months old. Just in time for her birthday, she started sleeping through the night. . . well, most nights. A few times this last week she woke up early in the morning super hungry. We wanted you to enjoy the early morning entertainment we have when she gets up that early. After I feed her, change her diaper and put her back down, she tends to 'sing' herself back to sleep. Push play below and listen to what that sounds like.

Here are just a few photos of the last week or so. . . Addy is getting so big! Push play to see the photos.

8 Weeks Old!

We have had a busy couple of weeks as Addy is changing so much! We also had our first BIG snow storm of the season. We had at least a foot of snow at our house the week before Halloween. It was the 4th storm of the season. I enjoyed staying in my PJ's all day and Brad enjoyed working from home for a couple of days. It was wet, heavy snow and we still have some in the backyard despite temperatures in the high 70's since then!

Right after the snow storm, Bill and Judy Slease came to visit their new granddaughter. It was a big weekend because Addy went to church for the first time (she woke up crying during the sermon and we headed of to the cry room with 12 other babies in the church!). After church we even managed to go out to lunch at a restraunt and Addy slept the whole time! Apparently church was exhausting for her!

For Halloween, Addy had a fleece costume all lined up from my cousin Michelle. We're not actually sure what animal it was (paws, round tail, long ears, round belly . . . bunny?) but it was really cute. Addy pretty much hated it though. Maybe she was just hot but she only wore it for about 15 minutes while our neighbors, the Sullivans, came over. The look on Addy's face pretty much sums it up. She ended up screaming her head off not long after this picture was taken!

Here is Olivia Sullivan as a giraffe, and Addy as a . . . ?

Addy has been busy growing and changing. She held a rattle for the first time, she squeals on a regular basis now, and she even SLEPT 8 HOURS LAST NIGHT!!! I didn't sleep that long since my super sonic mom ears hear every blasted peep that kid (or the dog, or Brad!) lets out! And let me tell you, Addy is not a peaceful sleeper! She peeps, squeaks, grunts, cries and squeals all night long in her sleep! Good grief. But, she did sleep all night long and woke up happy and very hungry! Yeah!

We're off to church again today and we'll see if we can do a better job of paying attention to the sermon today! HA HA!

Big Weekend for Addy!

This weekend Addy turned 6 weeks old and according to the official hospital paperwork, we could venture into crowds with her! Her first official outing besides our brief trip to a few stores last week (that was an adventure with me carting that huge car seat around!) was to our friend Lyle's wedding. Brad and I even got dressed up (contacts and make-up!) and tried to pretend like it was a date. The fact that we don't even have a picture of ourselves shows how well that worked! Addy did great for most of it but we were pretty focused on her instead of our date. Oh well. Congratulations Lyle and Bethany DeVries!

This weekend we also made our annual monster batch of apple butter. We started with 24 lbs. of apples peeled, cut and cored. . .

While the weather outside turned snowy we steamed up our kitchen with our production line. . .

Addy did what Addy does best. She napped. . .

and she played with us. Brody barked at the door every time a seal on a jar popped!

Brad slaved away over steaming apples processing them in the food processor to make the applesauce.

I was in charge of the canning pot and processing the jars to seal them.

By the end of the day we had a major mess in the kitchen and 51 jars of apple butter! What a great day and all that with a 6 week old!

Proud Mama of a One Month Old!

On Tuesday, Addy turned 1 month old! She has changed so much even in the last week! She has started smiling, not just in her milk coma, but also when she notices things and people.

This was the first time Addy really noticed the toys on her floor gym. She discovered that she could bat at the animals with her hands and she just giggled up a storm!

Addy sleeps most of the time but we've discovered that when she sleeps in pants instead of a sleep sack, she walks her way sideways in the crib. When her feet reach the side she tends to wake up pretty mad!

Goofy milk coma strikes again!

After waking up with dried spit up all over her head, Brad offered to wash her hair before he went to work. He'd never done it before but he was a pro! What a great dad!

Addy is practicing holding her head up. She's been able to do it since she was born (she has crazy strong muscles!) but now it's for longer periods of time. She really likes being on her belly on the boppy because she can scoot herself with her feet and look around.

After a week of round 2 of Brody not being able to walk again (we doubled her steroid dose and the pain and lameness in her back legs went away), she's back following me around and coming to hang out during each feeding. She really likes to lay on whatever is on the floor. So much for clean laundry!

Addy continues to gain weight and she's officially out of newborn clothes and into 0-3 month clothes already. This shirt was pathetically small on her and after she ate she had a serious pot belly problem!

Brad's mom, Grandma Lynn, is visiting right now. She's been sharing her wisdom and experience about Addy's gas fits that I couldn't figure out. I'm learning a lot and Addy is enjoying her time with Grandma!

3 weeks old!

Adalyn is heading into her 3rd Week birthday tomorrow and she's pretty excited about it! We went to the pediatrician this week and she weighed 8 lbs 6 oz. already. She was 7 lbs at birth and 7lbs 3 oz. 4 when she was 4 days old. The Dr. said she looks healthy and strong and is gaining weight like a pro. She ought to be, she is a serious eater!

Brad went back to work last Monday and so my mom came into town to help with that transition. She kept us fed and got to spend some time with Addy in her very brief awake times. My dad flew back to Denver on Thursday night to make sure he got some face time with Addy as well. They are loving being grandparents!

Last week we ventured outside for a walk with Addy. This time she didn't cry at all (we tried before and she melted down before we reached the end of the driveway!) and we even made it down the trail a ways. It felt really good to be outside and our stroller is awesome on the trail!

Most days this is what you would see if you came by to visit. Addy is only awake about 45 minutes each time she eats and then she's off to dreamland. And dream she does! Addy peeps and squeaks all through her naps and if you watch her she has quite the array of facial expressions. She's starting to get the difference between night and day and occasionally going 4-5 hours between feedings at night. Those are great nights!

I'm feeling almost normal (except there is nothing normal about getting up in the middle of the night!) and falling into the milk lady role for Adalyn. I haven't taken Adalyn anywhere by myself yet (yikes!) except I did try out the Baby Bjorn today to walk around the neighborhood. I'm going to need some practice gettting her in and out of that thing. . . I jostled her enough to cause her to lose her lunch all over my sweater once I finally got her in! Oops! Oh the learning curve of motherhood. :)

Push play

Look for the Elvis at about 1:20.

Here's Addy!

This is a slideshow, push play!

Coming home with Adalyn

So, its been quite a week to say the least. Kim went into labor Saturday night around 9:30 pm. We were watching a movie and she said the contractions were starting to hurt. I said we should start timing them which was a bit of a joke since I'd been saying that for a couple of weeks and Kim would tell me that the contractions weren't the right kind. She didn't say that this time. We started timing them and they were 3-5 minutes apart lasting about 45 seconds. She hadn't really had any up to this point. Well we went into freak-out mode (all of our "you can have the baby-at-home training went out the window), called the doctor who told us to come to the hospital. We got there at 11:30 and Kim couldn't walk because the contractions were hurting too bad and she was getting the shakes. I have to say Kim did an amazing job. Several times during the night I thought, "No way I could do this" along with a few, "Thank you, God I don't have to do this". At about 5:00 am, she was exhausted and I was as well. With the contractions getting harder and Kim unable to really relax due to the shaking we were getting nervous about how the delivery would go. Luckily, we had a great nurse named Katie who kind of took over and helped coach Kim with her breathing and positions so that she could deliver naturally. When the pushing started everything went really fast. I didn't really want to watch the actual birth cause I thought I'd pass out but there I was right in the middle of it. I saw the whole thing and even cut the cord. I also took pictures of the placenta. which is the strangest looking thing. We spent a couple of days in the hospital while Kim healed and we learned how to swaddle (still working on that, spatial relations was never my thing). Kim and Adalyn are bonding through breast-feeding and she's bonding with me cause I'm the diaper man. She's definitely more excited with Kim at this point but someday she'll want to know how to spit a loogie or skip a rock my time will have come.

"Final" week!

Our official due date is this Sunday! The time has flown by and now we're really settling into waiting for the arrival of Baby Slease. We're actually prepared with everything we think we'll need (but what do we know?!) and we only have one more parenting class left.

Brad is ready for Baby Slease to come so he can 'take a break.' He means from work for 2 weeks but I've never heard anyone say bringing a newborn home is a break. :) Work has been going well for him (really busy with all the crazy weather we've had in Denver this summer!) but I think the anticipation of having a baby along with all the prep work we've been doing has him pretty worn out. He's yelling out weird things in the night (a sure sign of stress for him!) and he's ready for bed at 8pm.

I've been spending my time enjoying the fact that school started a week and a half ago and I'm not there! :) I'm sleeping in, taking naps and taking my time getting anything done. I'm guessing this will be the last time for a few decades I'll be able to do that. It's great!

Baby Slease really is getting big and moving around a lot! However, it appears that my body is taking it's time getting anything going toward getting this baby out! Baby Slease is going to be well done and probably late. Oh well. . . I'm still feeling good and enjoying these last days/weeks of pregnancy. What an amazing ordeal!







Brody is also enjoying me being home from work. She naps constantly and even though she is still on steroids and pain meds is keeping up her sass. She's enjoying short walks with me every day and her daily wrestling matches with Brad (these are pretty lightweight these days though!).

We'd appreciate your prayers over the next few weeks for all the adjustments and newness. We'll keep you updated!

Baby Shower

On August 16th, Becky Johnson, Amy Howie and Anneliese Begnfort threw me a baby shower.

We had a great time eating yummy goodies,


opening lots of presents (thank you again to those of you who sent gifts from out of town!),
seeing Amy's new baby, Brooklyn,

playing games and chatting!

It was great fun to see everyone!

1 Month Left!

Technically, we're 1 month from our due date. . . however, I'm beginning to re-train myself in how ho I think about this due date thing. It really means nothing and being a planner, I'm trying to let go of the expectation that the baby will be here in a month. Really, we could be looking at more like 6 weeks! Nevertheless, here's the belly at 35 weeks.

This morning we had an ultrasound. Last week my Dr. thought that even though I was measuring fine, the baby felt small to her. So we scheduled an ultrsound to make sure everything is fine. It is. . .

Here's baby Slease at almost 36 weeks. The two dark spots are the eye sockets and just below that is the nose and mouth. I think it looks kind of piggy but the ultrasound technician assured me they're cuter when they come out. :) Although we don't know whether it's a boy or girl (the technician said she couldn't have told us if we wanted to know today because the baby was wound pretty tight inside me), she did point out that the baby has chubby cheeks, hair!, a small head and long limbs. Brad says the baby takes after me. :) Size-wise, the technician said the baby is well within normal ranges. She estimated 5 lb 10 oz and about 19 inches long. It doesn't look like we have anything to worry about. Praise God!

Family Reunion in Gunnison

Last weekend we headed to Gunnison for the Hulsbos family reunion. 18 of us spent time at my parents house eating, telling stories and taking advantage of all Eagle Ridge Ranch has to offer. Mom even threw us a baby shower for Baby Slease!


On Saturday everyone (except for me (prego), Stella (4), and Grandpa (89)) went for a horseback ride around the lower ranch. Here is Brad on Layla. As much as he really doesn't like horses, he actually enjoyed riding her. :)

Gearing up to go. . . Brad, Jenny, Carol, Ellen and Zana.

This was round 2 of the riders. Only 8 could go at a time. Dad ended up going twice so his horse didn't have to be left behind.

What summer at the ranch would be complete without going for a canoe ride around the pond? Brad and I ended up fighting the wind the whole time but it was fun.

Brad fished the pond as well and while he 'caught' 3, he only landed one of them. Those are feisty fish in that pond! He lost 2 flies in the process.

This is a crummy picture, I know, but on our way home we took Kebler Pass from Crested Butte to get to I-70 and on our way we saw a Momma Bear with 2 cubs! They were off in the forest a ways away from the road. It was so neat. However, we were driving past lots of campgrounds and it was 2 in the afternoon. I was thinking I might not want to camp around there.

We had a great time with the family and it was nice to get out of town. With only about 5 weeks left until Baby Slease gets here, it wasn't the most comfortable car-ride (especially because it took us 7 hours to get home because I-70 was closed and traffic was moving 1 mile an hour for about 15 miles! Luckily we did find a dirt road to take around the accident, but it still took a while!). I think I'm not interested in any more road trips until after this baby comes out!

Baby Slease at 34 Weeks!

The Dr. says the baby has turned head down and will probably stay that way. Regardless, the movement has not slowed a bit! The baby is constantly shifting butt to the right and then butt to the left. I've also felt parts sticking out that feel like the shoulders, the foot or maybe even a little knee! How cool!

We started another series of birthing classes. This time they are actual natural childbirth classes. It is the Bradley Method of birthing, also known as Husband Coached Childbirth. It has been really practical. We are, however, squeezing a 12 week class into a 5 week series. We've enjoyed the private classes to ask whatever questions come to mind and we are feeling a little more confident to do this without drugs.

I also bought a small load of cloth diapers yesterday. If you are picturing big white pieces of fluffy fabric magically wrapped around a baby with a huge safety pin, check out www.modernmommygear.com and click on modern diapering. The new cloth diapers are really amazing! They basically function like disposables but you wash them and use them again. When I was wrapping up choosing the styles I wanted, I realized I was buying diapers for OUR baby and I kind of freaked out. :) Is it possible to be so close to delivery and yet have no real sense that we are actually about to have a baby?! YES!

Neighborhood BBQ

On July 11th, our neighbors, Pat and Kesa, organized a neighborhood BBQ in the greenspace behind our house. We had a really good turnout and TONS of food! The weather also cooperated and we didn't have any rain ruin the party.

Here are some pictures of the event. . .

We really enjoyed getting to meet new neighbors and the food was great! We love our neighborhood!

Crazy Fourth of July

Friday morning at 10am, I noticed I had a phone message from mom. Basically, mom was letting me know that she really thought we should drive down to Albuquerque for the Fourth of July to spend time with my grandpa (Papo). She gave the 'no pressure' plea. :) So, by 11am, we were on the road on our way to Albuquerque.

We considered going a few weeks ago but Brody has been so weird lately, and kennels are so expensive, that we decided it would be better if we stayed home. So much for that. We took Brody's kennel along and planned to banish her to the kennel as soon as all the other dogs, kids and food showed up.

Unfortunately, I-25 was closed at Walsenburg for construction (of which there was no evidence of except for the orange cones blocking the highway!) and all 10,000 cars heading south were routed through town. What normally takes us under 7 hours took us 9!! What a day!

Saturday morning we had breakfast with Papo at the restaurant in his new assisted living place. We got to see his apartment and all the neat activities and people there. After breakfast, we headed back to his house to go through all the stuff he wants to get rid of now that he won't be living at home anymore.

Papo has such amazing historic treasures tucked away here and there in his house. If they were related to cars/trucks, he remembered the stories behind them. But everthing else. . . we're left to guess where they came from. :) After the major sorting, we took naps to gear up for the big event!

This is everyone (minus Brody - who was locked in the bathroom! and Pixie - Papo's pug that seems to be MIA) who came over for dinner and fireworks. As always, there was way too much food and the fireworks put on by Rio Rancho were fantastic. (That's not to mention the firework display grade fireworks being set off by all the neighbors! They are totally illegal but . . . it's New Mexico!) We did have a crazy thunderstorm right before the fireworks started but luckily the downpour stopped in time for the show. We had a great time with the family and really enjoyed seeing and talking to Papo.

Sunday morning we got up early and headed north. We did make it home in 7 hours (having to stop every couple of hours for Brody and me to go to the bathroom makes road trips LONG!). As soon as we got home we flopped on the bed and took a 3 hour nap! So much for our planned relaxing 3-day weekend at home! :)