A message from Brayden...

So mom and dad informed me that today was my original due date. I say "Yeah well...that wasn't my plan...only the doctors"... What can I say...I take after mom and decided I couldn't wait to be born....so I decided to be born 9 weeks early! Ha, I showed mom and dad who the boss is now! Life's been pretty great so far...i get food when i want it...snuggle time on command...and i get tons and tons of attention from all those who are suckers for cute babies like me. I have to say that being in the hospital for 5 weeks wasn't so great. I really didn't appreciate all the doctors who kept sticking me with needles and some of the mean nurses but i guess i didn't really have a say in it.

Mom and Dad are doing a great job so far. I'm gaining weight like crazy. The doctor has me on a high calorie formula and guess what...I'm 8 pounds now! I'm getting huge! Heck, my newborn clothes fit me now! I thought I was going to be forced to wear clothes that drowned me forever. I guess mom and dad know best.

Mom and Dad tell me that we are moving from Hawaii and I am so excited! I can't wait! I mean it was cool to be born in Hawaii but I can't wait to live on the mainland.

What can I say...Life is good as a baby!

Uncle Paul's Wedding

Jason, Em, and Brayden
Brayden was the little show stealer in his cute tux
Paul, Anya, and Malik...the happy couple at their reception.

This weekend was Uncle Paul's wedding (Jason's youngest brother). He married Anya Barton at the chapel on Saturday afternoon. Malik is Anya's 2 1/2 year old son. Jason was the best man and Emily was the matron of honor/bridesmaid. Grandma Sessions bought the 3 cousins that attended the wedding matching tuxes with tails. Brayden's tux was a newborn size but Grandma and Emily still had to majorly alter it and take it in. The coat and shirt were adorable but there was no way they were going to fit Brayden. Congrats Paul!

Rub-A-DUB-DUB...a Brayden in the tub...

8 weeks after being born, Brayden finally took his first real bath. He had been getting sponge baths since he was so little. Brayden wasn't sure what was going on since he had never been so wet before and then he figured it out and began to cry becasue he was cold. Oh well...Mom had fun giving him his bath....and he liked being warm and dry and playing with mom after it was over.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA RUPP!

Brayden sent Grandma Rupp a birthday e-mail to wish her Happy Birthday. This is the picture that he did for her. What a cutie!

THE MCWIGGLES CHRONICLES: PART 1

May 4, 2008-May 19, 2008

A First Time for Everything...

This week was a big week for Brayden filled with lots of firsts. On Thursday, Brayden took his first plane ride over to Hilo on the "Big Island: aka: Hawaiian Island. He did great! He slept through the whole thing both ways. We went to help Jason with the houses he is building over there. Brayden also took his first trip to Home Depot with Dad (I have a feeling they will be spending a lot of quality time there together. ) and had his first time going to work with Dad. Not that Brayden did a whole lot except wiggle around in his pack and play but that's ok. It was great to see the houses coming along and see what an amazing job Jason has done on them. He is so talented!

Brayden...6 weeks old and 6 pounds!

Brayden is now over 6 weeks old and I can't even believe it! He also passed the 6 pound mark at 6 lbs. 2 oz. He is growing so fast! He's almost doubled his lowest body weight. He kicks and wiggles and even rolls over if the blanket isn't too slippery. He dosn't cry much...He's a good baby! We are so blessed.

Labor of Love...

Let me tell you...being pregnant is a labor of love! haha it's no walk in the park but it also has its good moments too. Like watching the ultrasound and seeing your baby's cute little face or finding out what you are having. Those are the moments that keep you going.

Brayden Keith Sessions was born on March 30, 2008 at 4:59a.m. Brayden was born nine weeks early and weighed 4 lbs. 2.8 oz and was 17 inches long. I was hospitalized twice before he was born due to complications and put on bed rest. We are so grateful and blessed that he is healthy and doing so well!

My water broke Tuesday, March 18, 2008 in the afternoon. I was so surprised that I stood there wondering what the heck was going on. Then I realized there was a problem and called Jason and told him to go to the airport and get on a plane and come to the hospital and then I called the doctor. It was my biggest fear that Jason would be on another island working and that I would go into labor in the middle of the night and he would not be there since the airlines do not fly inter-island during the night. But he got a flight and made it fine with a couple of days to spare. My friend, husband's cousin's wife, and next door neighbor: Trisha took me to the hospital. Since my water had broken, the hospital informed me that they would not be discharging me until I had the baby.

So we waited and waited...and tried not to go crazy. We are not the most patient people in the world and it was a challenge especially for Emily to just sit in the hospital. I went into labor several times and then it stopped so on Saturday evening when I started into labor once again I tried not to get my hopes up of something happening. I must have set some record because the sign on my hospital room door said I was laboring for 6 days.

When delivery time came, you would have thought my room was the most popular room in the hospital with all the doctors that were in the room. 14 people to be exact. Brayden finally came and then was rushed off to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. 6 hours later I got to go down and see him. Jason and I got to hold him for a few minutes. He was so tiny! His arms and legs were like toothpicks but he was (and is) absolutely perfect!

After a week, Brayden was taken off all of his breathing aids. After a week and a half he began bottle feeds and was taken off his IV's and supplements. And then we waited for 3 1/2 more weeks for Brayden to learn to eat. He would do well some feeds and then horrible the next. Emily went down in the mornings to feed him and then both Jason and Emily would go back at night to feed him. We clocked a lot of miles since the hospital was 30-45 minutes away each way. It was hard to see smaller, younger, babies go home before Brayden but his time finally came.

On Sunday, May 4, 2008, Brayden was discharged from the hospital and got to come home. Finally, after 5 weeks! It was wierd and wonderful to finally have Brayden home.

Jason loves it because he can sit and watch TV and hold Brayden and still be spending quality time with him. He also can't wait for Brayden to get big enough for real toys. I think Jason is more excited to play with the toys than for Brayden to play with them.

Emily loves having him home so she can take care of Brayden and not have to sit at the hospital. She loves to sit and play with him and watch him kick and wiggle.

Brayden loves his grandparents. He got to spend lots of time with Grandma Sessions in the hospital and loves his grandma time he gets now at home. Emily loves the babysitting so she can get stuff done. Grandpa and Grandma Rupp and Aunt Lizzie came to visit the family and to see Brayden April 26-May 2. Emily had to moderate the holding time between Lizzie and Mom but loved them being here. They loved the 10 hour flight from Atlanta to Hawaii. (j/k) Thanks for enduring it to come see us!

Brayden is such a blessing in our lives and we are so grateful he is doing so well! It's amazing how much more you appreciate your parents once you have a kid of you're own.

Jason and Emily...How We Met

Jason Session and Emily Rupp met May 11, 2007 in Modesto, California at AmyAnn Rupp Taylor and Brooks Taylor's wedding reception. AmyAnn and Emily are sisters and Brooks and Jason are best friends from High School. Jason spent the whole night trying to talk to Emily but Emily was busy helping with the reception and being on "single boy patrol" for AmyAnn.

Emily wrote Jason off until the next day at AmyAnn's Law School Graduation dinner at Leatherby's in Sacramento, California. Emily ate all of Jason's french fries and had a fun time at dinner. But, it wasn't until after dinner when Brooks, Jason, and Emily discovered that Jason's car had been broken into that Emily really took notice of Jason. Emily was impressed with how Jason handled the situation.

Jason got Emily's e-mail address from Brooks and her cell phone number from BYU's stocker net. He called and e-mailed Emily two days later on Monday. Emily called him back and they haven't stopped talking since.

....16 days later on May 27, 2007 Jason asked my Dad to marry Emily while visiting Emily in Atlanta, GA.
...29 days later on June 9, 2007 Jason proposed to Emily while Emily was visiting Jason in Hawaii. Emily said "YES!"
...106 days later on August 25, 2007 Jason and Emily were married in the Mount Timpanogoes Temple in Utah.
...127 days later on September 21, 2007 Jason and Emily officially found out that they were expecting a baby (A honeymoon baby nonetheless).
...324 days later on March 30, 2007 Brayden Keith Sessions was born.

We clocked a lot of miles traveled to see each other while dating and engaged and we racked up the cell phone minutes as well. We figured out that while dating and engaged we...

...have talked over 175 hours on the phone. That's over 10,500 minutes! Thank goodness for sprint mobile to mobile or we would have been in big trouble!...

...have flown approx. 28,000 miles to see each other between Hawaii, Utah, California, and Atlanta. That's 8 round-trip flights in 4 months. That would not have been possible if Jason hadn't been his own boss and could take time off when he needed to. Which, worked nicely since our limit was not being able to go more than 2 weeks between seeing each other...

...sent lots of text messages and at least one to two e-mails a day...

As much as all of the miles and hours add up, we hated the distance between us...especially the time zone difference. It made phone calls tricky. We know that we didn't know each other long before getting engaged and getting married and at times that was hard. However, we both knew and still know to this day, that it was absolutely the right thing to do. (We both came to this realization while we were in Atlanta.) Hence Jason asking Emily's Dad to marry Emily while in Atlanta.

We originally planned to get married October 12, 2007 but after a week or two that was thrown out the window because we hated being apart and so we changed the date to August 25, 2007. We were limited on wedding dates since both Jason's sisters were pregnant and due in September 2007 and his sister-in-law was due in July 2007.

Of course it all had it's stresses and frustrations but it all worked out perfect. Our wedding day was awesome and the best day of our lives. We both agree that getting married was not only the right thing to do but also the best thing we have both done.

Our life is crazy and full of adventures. And that will never change...it will only get more exciting!