Alright, alright...

Baby's sleeping, house is unpacked (mostly), dishes are clean, laundry is running... I guess I don't have any more excuses. I better update this darn blog.

A lot can happen in 4 months. Let's see if I can catch it all. Here's an update on our family, mainly with pictures of Ellie, since she's the cutest member of our family and a strategically placed picture will cause you to keep reading no matter how boring this gets.

First, I got a new job. I am one of the newest employees at IMC, also known as the Death Star because of it's massive size and super weapon capabilities. I work in the Transfusion Department.

We do all of the testing when people receive blood at the hospital. We figure out what type people are, find out if they have antibodies that will cause problems when they receive blood, and well... I'm sure you don't really care about ALL of the things we do, but it is quite the interesting job. IMC is a Level 1 Trauma Center, meaning it has the personnel and the equipment to handle the worst situations. Gunshot wounds, car accidents, falling into fish tanks, yes... we see it all! Part of our responsibility in the blood bank is to take up emergency release blood to the Trauma Bays when really bad cases come in. Initially, when I signed up for this program at BYU they said, "Now you know as a Med Tech, you won't have patient contact, right?" Ha! No patient contact my eye! Now I'm getting more patient contact than I ever wanted. It's pretty crazy when you are up in the trauma rooms banding a patient and collecting samples, and then you go down to the lab and get online to read more about what happened on the news. As happy as I'd be without seeing some of the crazy stuff I do, it is a really satisfying job. It's easier to see that even though we're down in the lab, we're helping save lives.

The other nice thing about my job is it's a 7 on/7 off position, meaning I have every other week off. The 7 on is killer! But the 7 off is fantastic!

Just a side note: if you have B or AB blood, you should donate more. And anyone who isn't afraid of needles and has 2 hours to spare, donate platelets. Cause there's always a shortage of platelets. (And I'm off my soap box.)

We also moved to a condo in Murray, which is nice since I can get to work in about 3 minutes. Great ward, great location, and our condo is a lot bigger than our last place.

And we're really proud of Mike! He took the LSAT last week and will find out in a few weeks what he got so he can start applying to law schools in October. Way to go Mike! It's such a terrible test and we're both glad it's over! Other than that, he's being a stay-at-home papa, which Ellie couldn't be happier about! She's such a Daddy's girl!

Oh yeah! And then there's Ellie. The cutest baby ever. Here's a few pictures to prove my point.

Ellie is 6 months old now! My how time flies! She's rolling, babbling, grabbing, and getting spoiled.

She's started eating,

And drinking,

And playing,

And sleeping.

Being a Mom just keeps getting better and better!

And there you have it! Our life in a nutshell! Sorry this was so long. I promise to try and update a little more regularly in the future to avoid the Death Star of posts.

Beary Cute

Given the color of her hair, she'll never be Goldilocks. But we think she makes one heck of a cute Baby Bear.

Hunger Signs

Ellie wakes up very happy in the morning...

She likes to play and talk with mama and papa until...

Hunger rears its ugly head and she transforms into this. We call it her "Tiger Face." If tigers liked milk, I'm sure they'd look something like this: hungry, intimidating, and not something you'd refuse to give milk to.

Ellie's Hands

I've become a little obsessed with Ellie's hands. She does the cutest things with her hands, all on her own. I'll look down at her and she'll be posing like a little hand model.

Baby's First Christmas

Ellie's bilirubin levels had been a little high when we left the hospital, so on Christmas day we had to go into the clinic to have it tested again. To our shock, it had jumped up again to pretty high levels and the doctor had her admitted to the hospital. The hospital wouldn't admit her into the NICU, so she was put in the cardiac telemetry wing. All of the nurses commented that she was their first baby patient. She had to spend almost 24 hours under the strong bili lights, but the worst part was they put an IV in her head. They stuck her 6 or 7 times in her hands and feet, but since she was dehydrated, they had to put the IV in her head. I'm not sure if the nurses were just trying to make me feel better, or if this is really true, but they said having the IV in the head is the best place for babies. So anyways, it ended up that the clinic where we had her tested, gave us a falsely high bilirubin result which made everyone panic and she probably would've been ok without going to the hospital. But, better safe than sorry, right?

Little Miss Ellie

Our Little Miss Ellie Sachiko Trowbridge came into the world on December 20, 2009, and what an adventure it was! The day before she came, we had moved out of our apartment in Provo and moved in with my parents in South Jordan.

Around 6:00 am, I started having some contractions, but after having a really long bout of false labor a few weeks earlier, I didn't think much of it. So we got up and started getting ready for church. But the contractions started getting stronger and longer and instead of going to church, we went to the hospital instead. We delayed going as long as possible, because my worst nightmare was being sent home from the hospital. And since we were living in South Jordan, and having the baby in Orem, we really wanted to be sure this was the real thing.

Everything about the experience was a surprise. We got to the hospital at 1:30 pm and to everyone's surprise, I was already dilated to a 9. Surprise #2 came when it came time to push. The L&D nurse was helping me push through a contraction when all of the sudden she yelled, "Stop pushing!" and then "Mike... go get the doctor NOW!" Her head had popped out all of the sudden without the doctor being there. Luckily, our doctor was just outside in the hallway and was able to hurry in and finish delivering her. Surprise #3 was how much hair she had!

My Man & the "Man Meal"

My family threw a baby shower for me, and while we were celebrating the guys decided to go out to Fuddruckers and try their hand at the "Man Meal." This consists of a 1 lb. hamburger, an order of chili cheese fries/bacon & cheese fries, a soda, and 3 scoops of icecream with a brownie. *GAG* Of the 4 that tried, only 2 were able to finish the monstrous meal. I'm proud (?) to say that my husband was among the 2 that finished. Way to go Mike! He was rewarded with a free t-shirt, his picture on the wall, and most likely a few clogged arteries.

The Proof

My brother was the other one to finish, but note the extreme discomfort showing on his face. Mike was nothing but smiles!