So proud of my hubby!

David was quoted in the Washington Times today! I'm so proud of him, and really admire his passion for politics. I honestly don't understand a thing about politics and government but David has always done such a good job of taking complicated political issues and "dumbing them down" for lack of a better term for me. We are so thankful for our hard working David! He works just as hard at home being a Daddy and Hubby as he does at his job day in and day out. We love you hun!

(click link below to see David's quotes)
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/oct/21/cain-tops-field-again-nevada-gop-straw-poll/

We Love you Daddy!

crawling, standing, cruising, climbing and 1st tooth...

October has been a busy month in the Mansdoerfer household! We started the month out in CA for my beautiful roommate Christina's wedding then decided to just stay an extra week and visit with friends and family. One of the major perks of my awesome hubby working from home! While we were in CA Sawyer stopped doing his inch worm crawl and started doing a real, get anywhere I want fast, crawl! He quickly became bored with crawling and mastered pulling himself up and standing, then moved on to cruising the furniture. Poor kid has more bumps on his head from this stage. I think he has finally learned he can't just let go when he's done but he has to sit down on his bottom instead (this important lesson has significantly cut down on the amounts of bumps and bruises he was getting!) He is now trying to master the art of climbing...oh joy! He also sprouted his first tooth! I told you, October was a busy month! Lots of new first for our little guy. Sawyer is officially into EVERYTHING...and by everything I mean everything. This kid never stops moving, I think that's why he's such a good sleeper, he wears himself out from his constant moving during the day! David and I are so surprised at how active and mobile he is, as a little baby he was THE most mellow baby. He would literally just lay there and hang out wide awake watching his little world. He was the most content baby to just hang out and do nothing...until about 5 1/2 months! Suddenly he is frustrated all the time because he wants to do more than his little body will let him do, he is constantly moving and trying to figure out the next thing. Gone are the days of just sitting around and hanging out happily! Silly little guy. He is still such a happy little thing and such a joy to us. David and I end each night laughing about funny things the little guy did that day, we are so in love with our little boy! 

I took this video a few weeks ago when he first started pulling himself up to a standing position

Stinker is climbing this to get to higher things. I turned around and  found him like this, trying to climb onto his changing table!

Eating sand at the beach...yuuuummmm!

I got this Mom

Spa time with Cousin Naomi! Soy LOVES the water!

Playing with Nana

pumpkin boy!

6 months already!

Our peanut is 6 months old already. I cried the night before as I was boxing up more clothes he has outgrown. I know everyone says it goes so fast but man they are not kidding. I felt like I was pregnant FOREVER but since the day our little Sawyer was born the days are just flying by. Our little man is sitting up, crawling, giving the sweetest kisses, eating solids, saying "mama" and "dada" (he only says Dada in the crib, it's so cute. David thinks Sawyer is begging him to come rescue him out of his crib! haha), smiling at anything and everything, and FINALLY laughing! He used to never laugh but recently he laughs at everything, it's so fun and the best sound in the world. We fall more and more in love with our little guy each day. We feel so blessed that God gave us our sweet Soy Bean!

B-A-N-A-N-A-S! (& carrots, peaches, green beans...)

This post is so so late, but better late than never right?!

We started solids a few weeks ago when we were in AZ visiting Grammie and Opa (David's parents!) Sawyer was one hungry baby to say the least. From the moment we started he hasn't looked back! He grabbed the spoon out of my hand and started shoveling it in on his own...apparently I wasn't moving fast enough. We started with Bananas and have since conquered many other fruits and veggies. David is just dying to give the kid meat but I'm just not quite ready for that! I don't know why but I feel like once he starts eating meat he is officially a big kid (I'm desperately trying to hold onto my baby days).

Below are some pics of his first foods and our sweet visit with David's family!

I got this Mom

 

 

 

 

Are you serious? I really get to have this?

He loved their little dog Lily, every time she barked he would just laugh and laugh

 

Giving Grammie kisses. He loves grabbing your face and giving big kisses!

Trying to crawl...

Sawyer is 5 months and 3 weeks old and is trying SO hard to crawl! I fear my life is going to get much busier in the very near future. He is hilarious now, for a while he has been getting up on his hands and knees but he has just been hanging out stuck in that position. Tonight he started really trying to move all around. He gets so frustrated because he just wants to go but doesn't know how yet! My sweet girlfriend Natalie was here visiting tonight and she got to see Soy in action! She got some great video clips of him really moving around, hopefully I can get those up here soon! Here is a video of him trying to figure it out. He is not crawling yet but he is definitely moving all over! Go Soy Go! You are almost there buddy! 

Houdini Baby

We have our very own Houdini Baby. Seriously, this kid can break out of anything! Even in his newborn days, Sawyer would bust out of his tight, special swaddle blankets. We never knew how he was doing it, but he would somehow pop his feet out and get at least one, if not both arms out. When we used disposable diapers he would wiggle so much in his crib that his diaper would wiggle right off of him, it would be still fastened but down around his knees! And now his favorite thing is busting out of his clothes during "nap" time! Almost every time I go to get him he is only semi dressed! I don't know how the kid does it...I would love to set up a camera in there and watch him so silently wiggle out of his clothes! This was him today when I went to get him...one arm completely out of his long sleeves and one leg sticking out of his snap up jammies! He is so proud of himself when he manages to break free, when I go in to get him he just smiles and laughs so proud! He is such a silly little guy...definitely keeps us laughing!  

(sorry for the fuzzy picture, I snapped it on my phone!)

Talking Sawyer

Soy Bean has found his voice in a big way! All day today he has been "Scream talking", it's hilarious! He is yelling at his toys and at his hands. I keep thinking he's working himself up but when I go to pick him up I see he is smiling huge and just figuring out his little voice. Here's a little video of him telling me all about his nap time. He's such a joy! He is 4 months and 1 week now! I cannot believe it!

Sawyer tummy time- videos

Sawyer LOVES, LOVES, LOVES tummy time. He sleeps on his tummy, he only wants to play on his tummy, if he ever rolls over onto his back he screams his head off until I go flip him back over to his tummy. Tonight he was pushing up onto his knees and scooting. It was so cute! He was getting frustrated that he wasn't taking off like he wanted. Of course by the time I found the camera, deleted all the (cute) photos to make room, and started taping, he was over pushing up onto his knees and just want to talk and smile. Still pretty sweet though! We love our little guy! Enjoy the videos!

Sawyer and Cousin Naomi Baby dedication

We absolutely LOVE our sweet church, Calvary Chapel Malibu, and wanted to make sure and have Soy dedicated there before we moved. It was such a blessing to be able to have him dedicated at the same time as sweet little Naomi (Ben and Kristine go to the same church). David and I have grown so much in our relationship with the Lord the last few years and we have Pastor Bill and the our church family to thank for their encouragement and devotion to the Lord. We are going to miss everyone there so much.

When David and I found out we were pregnant with our precious Sawyer we were overjoyed but terrified. With Lupus, you have very high rates of miscarriage and still birth and I think we both just assumed our first pregnancy would end in a loss. We were cautiously excited throughout the whole first trimester (who am I kidding, throughout the whole pregnancy!) But I will never forget that first night we found out, we were laying in my sister Laura's guest room in CO not sure what emotions to have, and David just started praying over our little baby. He acknowledged to God that this baby is His child before he was ever ours and however long he decided to bless us with him we would be blessed and thankful. I remember as he was praying that prayer, an overwhelming peace covering both of us. Throughout the whole pregnancy any time I would have these little panic moments or start to freak out I would repeat that prayer and remind myself that this baby is God's child, not mine. I cannot hold onto him and control everything. Every night I was pregnant I prayed that he would grow to love the Lord and be a man after God's own heart. Now that he is here, we pray the same prayer over him every day. Sawyer loves when I read the Bible out loud to him, and he loves singing hymns, it makes my heart so happy that he is praising the Lord with his happy sounds as a little baby! Having him dedicated at our church was such an emotional and beautiful moment, we were again reminded that this child is God's child and however long he is here with us on earth we are vowing to raise him to love the Lord and be good examples to him. We have been blessed beyond words with the little guy, he truly is such a joy to us. Thank you Lord for our sweet, sweet son!

Video of our little Soy Bean

Singing with Nana about Jesus!

Sawyer loves his Nana! (He's 6 weeks old in this video)

Happy Easter!

She's here!

Naomi Kay Brookshire arrived on April 15th at a tiny 6lbs 11oz 18 1/2 inches long. She is itty bitty with tons of beautiful dark hair. This little peanut has more expressions, within a span of 1 minute she will smile, frown, yawn, hiccup, smile again, pout...it's hilarious! She is absolutely perfect and healthy, praise God! All the babies have safely arrived, 3 boys and 1 girl! As my sister Laura says "She is going to have to be one tough princess!" We love you sweet Naomi!

Naomi and Sawyer

3 down, 1 to go...

Babies, Babies, Babies!

Most of you know my 2 sisters and my sister in law (my brother's wife) were all pregnant and due within weeks of each other. Pretty much all our conversations the last 9+ months have been about growing bellies, swollen ankles, puking, growing out of clothes, heartburn, and all the other joys of pregnancy! It has been SO fun to go through this experience with my sisters. My oldest sister Laura (8yrs older) and I always wondered if we would ever get to be pregnant together and always hoped that the timing of her last and my first would coincide...and boy did they coincide! We would have been happy for any of the 9month period to overlap, instead we were blessed with being due just 1 day apart and giving birth just 2 hours apart! We have been loving having babies the exact same age and it's been wonderful to call her with any questions/concerns/frustrations and hear that her baby is doing the EXACT same thing!

We have been anxiously awaiting for my other sister Anna and sister in law Kristine to join in on the fun with their little ones. On March 29th, Anna welcomed precious Jesse Nathan into the world. He measured a whopping 6lbs, 7oz, 19in long...their biggest baby yet! He is absolutely perfect and Mommy is doing beautifully. We just have one little lady left to join the cousins! Kristine is due in less than 3 weeks with the only girl of the bunch! We cannot wait to meet her!!! I'm already so excited to get them all together and watch them interact! Praise God for 4 healthy babies and the blessing they are to us. Like I said above, 3 down, 1 to go...I can't wait for the post where I am introducing Baby Girl Brookshire! Here are a few pics of our trophies!

Sawyer Davies- March 1st, 7lbs 7oz

Luke Joseph - March 2nd, 6lbs 11oz

Jesse Nathan- March 29, 6lbs 7oz

Introducing....

SAWYER DAVIES MANSDOERFER

7lbs 7oz 19 inches long

Seconds old...

Meeting our son for the 1st time

Mommy and Baby

Nothing makes my heart happier than seeing this
Birth Story: (Sorry for the long post!) We had our 38 week Dr.s appointment Tuesday morning and found out I was 2-3cm dialated, 90% efaced, baby had dropped and was ready to go. The Dr stripped my membranes and said I'm guessing you will deliver sometime this weekend. This being my first, and knowing that my sisters have stayed at 3 cm for several weeks, I thought I would still be pregnant for at least another full week. I wasn't convinced anything was happening anytime soon. Boy was I wrong! By the time we got home I was having regular contractions but they were not strong at all. In fact my braxton hicks throughout the pregnancy were stronger than these so I didn't think too much of it. David and I went on 3 long walks, I cleaned the house...I felt fine! I finally wore out and decided to sit down and put my feet up and the contractions didn't go away. In the past once I sat down my contractions would stop and they were not stopping! I called my sister (who  was due the day before me!) and asked her what she thought. Her exact words were "You need to hang up now, call mom and dad and get them on the road ASAP" I was SHOCKED! I didn't want to make mom and dad drive up in LA traffic for nothing but she convinced me to just give mom a call and let her know it was a possibility...oh ya and to start timing the contractions. 
David started timing them and they were 2 minutes apart consistently. I kept thinking I was doing it wrong!I thought there was no way my contractions could be only 2 minutes apart and I would still feel fine! I was talking and walking through all of them! I called mom and told her and she said "GO TO THE HOSPITAL. If you are anything like your sisters this is going to be a FAST labor". I did NOT want to goto the hospital until I was convinced it was actual labor, I hate hospitals and didn't want to get all hooked up and poked and prodded just to be sent home so I fought David tooth and nail about going. Finally once the contractions reached 50 seconds apart I knew I couldn't fight it any longer (in hindsight this was ridiculous of me hahaha but in my mind during that time it made perfect sense!) I made David stop at the grocery store and get me an apple and some juice b/c I was hungry and knew once we checked in they wouldn't let me eat anything! David was so mad! He just wanted to get me there and I sent him to the grocery store instead! Once we got to the hospital they hooked me up, checked me said I was still at a 2 and to expect to be here all night. I was so mad at David (poor guy!) for making us come in so soon! I kept saying, "we could be at dinner right now and laboring at home", I did not want to labor for hours in the hospital. As I was saying all this to David the Dr broke my water and withing 15 seconds my contractions picked up and I was in excruciating pain. From that point on it was go time. The contractions were right on top of each other with no breaks in between. The nurse said she was going to check me again in 4 hours to see my progress and I just started crying. I was in so much pain and couldn't believe it was going to be like this for hours and hours and hours. Thankfully my mom and dad arrived just then, my mom convinced the nurse that Brookshire women have extremely quick labors and she should probably check me again fairly soon.After a little convincing, the nurse checked me and was shocked to see I was at 5cm. With in less than an hour of her checking me I started shaking uncontrollably and she said "you are acting like you are in transition labor but there is no way you can be" She checked me again and I was at 7 cm. She started getting panicky and called the Dr, told him he had to come back ASAP. The Dr was saying don't worry she's a first time mom we have hours I'm going to get dinner and she was saying "no, she is going to have this baby soon! Get here now!" She was frantically getting the room ready for baby while I was moaning and shaking trying to decide if and when I should get my epidrual. Finally at 8cm I got the epidural, and it was the best decision I have ever made! I was very surprised at how much pain and deep deep pressure I still felt with the epi. I was expecting to be laughing and pain free and that was not thecase. I was actually happy about that b/c I was able to feel what was going on and know when to push.It took ALL my concentration and energy to push out my little "sunny side up" baby. I was at 10cmwithin 20 minutes of getting my epi and the pushing began. I pushed for 30 minutes with the WONDERFUL encouragement and help from my sweet sweet hubby. He was a life saver through the whole labor and delivery. He never left my side, locked eyes with me and counted me through every contraction. He was my rock! After 30 minutes of pushing our beautiful, precious, son arrived screaming his head off. As soon as he heard our voices he calmed right down and started looking for us. When they took him away to clean him he screamed and screamed then calmed right back down when they put him back on my chest. It was the most amazing experience in the world. I still cannot believe I have given birth. It went so fast I barely had time to wrap my head around it. It was under 5 hours from the time we arrived at the hospital! We went in with the expectation of C section being a very real possibility since he was estimated to be a big boy with a giant head. He was neither to our surprise! We could not be happier with how our delivery went and are praising God for a beautiful healthy baby! We are absolutely in love. I cannot believe it is possible to love someone so much. We are exhausted but so happy. I finally have my baby! He is a spitting image of his Daddy which just melts my heart! Love my boys! If you have made it this far, I promise my following posts will not be as long! Oh by the way, did I mention my sister Laura (who was due the day before me) was in labor that day as well and delivered her son Luke 2 hours after me! We were both 2 weeks early and delivered within hours of each other! What are the chances...good grief! Now we are just waiting for my other sister's baby boy to arrive in about 15days and my brother's baby in about 5 weeks! We are so blessed! 

Welcome to our Blog!

We are quickly approaching the birth of our first son who we will call "Baby Boy Mansdoerfer" until he is born and has an official name. We are beyond excited and overjoyed to meet this sweet little baby boy in just a few short weeks (Due date is March 15th, but if he's anything like his Mama, he's going to do what he wants when he wants...on his own terms!). We are excited to share our pictures, stories, and updates on our growing family with all of you! Thank you to each one of you who have been covering us in prayer over the last 30 odd weeks, we have felt so blessed and loved everyday! 25 days and counting until our due date!!!!