Mary, Joseph, and Jesus in the Burbank Nativity Festival

Our family had an amazing opportunity to take part in the Burbank Nativity Festival (Hosted by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) this weekend.  The stake organized the amazing two day event to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.  It involved a display of around 350 nativities, musical groups from the church and community (local middle and high school groups performed as well as local churches), and a live nativity.  Each of the three pieces (nativities, music, and live nativity) would have been amazing by themselves, but it was spectacular to have it all together.  Around 2,500 people attended.

Our family was invited to portray Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus for the live nativity for one of the days.  Brooke did a good job of passing as a baby boy.  A lot of work went into making the live nativity like it may have been in ancient times.  A beautiful set was built, live animals were brought in, the wise men, shepherds, angel, and innkeeper and family were all portrayed.  We live in the heart of the entertainment industry so many of the people involved used their professional skills to make it even better.

The spirit could be felt as the nativity was reenacted with the shepherds and wise men coming to see and worship Jesus.  Many people were moved as they were able to feel as if they were really there.  We were touched as we experienced it first hand and were able to imagine how Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, and the wise men may have really felt.

The local newspapers, the Burbank Leader, put the event on the front page of the Saturday paper.  

In our stake there are only 2,400 members of the church, which means there were many people who were not members that were able to come feel the spirit as they viewed the nativities, listened to musical performances, and viewed the live nativity. The goal of the event was of course to bring people to Christ, and it was truly fulfilled. 

A lot of work went into the event.  Many people sacrificed many hours to make it possible.  And we are very grateful for their sacrifices.

 

 

 

The cutest baby in the whole world part III

 I did 3 posts all at the same time since we hadn't posted in so long so if you want to start at the beginning you will have to go to part I. 

What a face!

 Our problem now is that she is having a hard time sleeping.  After about 2 months she started sleeping 5-8 hours each night which was nice, but it only lasted a couple weeks because when we switched to only breastfeeding she decided that she didn't want to sleep anymore.  So now we battle for her to sleep during the day and night.  I know most parents will say that this is normal, but Brooke won't take naps either.  And we end up with a very tired unhappy baby all the time.  We're really hoping she starts taking longer naps and goes back to sleeping better at night, because our sanity is suffering.

We thought this would be fun, but she hated it.  It's a pumpkin diaper!!

Can't get enough of that face!

Life is hard. But we are surviving, and we know things will get better. Besides, Brooke is just such a cute, special baby. We are excited to have her, despite the hardships, and we look forward to watching her grow up!

The Cutest baby in the whole world part II

I'm adding a few blog posts all at the same time.  So you may want to read the next post as well to get the whole story. 

We wonder if the collar bone has contributed to an extremely difficult time of nursing, since Brooke was in pain at first.  It was extremely important to Leslie that she breastfeed instead of use formula, but Brooke must not have gotten the memo, because right from the beginning Brooke would scream at every attempt to nurse.  

Leslie deserves an award, because when most moms would have said this is really not worth it, she continued to work hard at it.   It wasn't until about 1 week ago that Brooke finally gave in and started nursing.  During the first week Brooke lost much more weight than she should have, but Leslie really didn't want to use a bottle because she feared that Brooke would never go back to nursing. 

The breastfeeding consultants suggested using something called the SNS, which involves a bottle with a very small tube attached that you tape to your finger and then the baby sucks on your finger to get the milk from the tube.  Kind of a weird system, but Brooke was a fan.  So for almost 3 months Leslie would nurse when Brooke was willing, and pump and use the SNS for most of the time.  She never did use formula or switch to a bottle, even though it was extremely hard.

Mom reading monster stories to Brooke for Halloween!  I think Brooke looks scared.

Her super cute Halloween costume.  She wasn't a fan.

The cutest baby in the whole world!

We have seriously neglected our blog since Brooke was born almost 3 months ago.  Then again we weren't avid bloggers before that.  We feel though that at least in the last 3 months we've had a good excuse.  It's been a rewarding, yet difficult 3 months. 

First we need to make it clear that we feel that our baby is the cutest baby in the whole world.  All I have to do is take a look at her and I know it's true.  I'll post a lot of pictures, but they don't do her justice.  In fact, sometimes I don't even take pictures because I know they'll never look as good as real life.  (or maybe we just have a really bad camera)

Her Mom made her this cute onesie for Daddy's birthday.

Most of you probably know that Brooke was born with a broken collar bone.  It healed very quickly, but we could tell she was in a lot of pain at first.  Hence why in some of the earlier pictures she is always wearing a wrap to hold her arm down.  

A happy family!

I totally think that in this picture she looks like her cousin Riley and her uncle Zak when he was a baby.

We were blessed to have both of our moms come visit and help with Brooke.  They were a huge help, especially because I had to work a lot after Brooke was born.

Pictures of Cookie

I just want to nibble on these toes!

Pictures by Inga Bowen

Love my family!

First bath!

Poor broken baby!

With Mumma!

Those wide eyes melt my heart!

Cutest baby bum ever.

Everyone loves sleeping with the baby.

Such a cute crying face! She was very mad.

My beautiful sleeping baby.

Posing for the camera.

Brooke has had the benefit of having both Gramma's visit her and love her.

Can you tell we like our baby? :)

And 2 becomes 3!

 We are so excited to announce the birth of our little girl!



Born on Aug. 22, 2012 11:59 AM
8 lbs. 3 oz.
20 1/2 inches

 
On Aug. 21st Leslie went to her doctor for her regular check up before her due date on Aug. 23rd.  Since the amniotic fluids were low the doctor decided to induce her that day.  The induction started at 3:00 PM on Aug. 21st and our little baby was born on Aug. 22nd at 11:59 pm.  Leslie was tough and made it through a lot of hard work, and I think it was well worth it.  

I couldn't resist posting this one!

My scrubs that I got when we were in the audience for "The Price is right"

Being held by her grandma Fernandez

We still don't have a name yet. 

We are so excited to be parents and to have a new addition to our little family.  It truly is a miracle that we can have children, and thank our Heavenly Father that he provided us with this little girl!