Brooks Baby Watch

A Proverbs 31 Wife

2012-01-16T12:09:00.004-06:00

So, a couple of weeks ago, in our ABF class we read a little bit from Proverbs 31. For those of you that don't know, this passage in the Bible is all about what a Christian wife should be like. One part of this scripture, verse 27, says "She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness." This sentence just resonated in my mind and heart and really got me to thinking about how I use my time. There are many times when we are just hanging out, watching tv, etc. that got me to thinking about how often I am eating the bread of idleness. I decided that I needed to change and try harder to be a Proverbs 31 wife. (Note: I am in no way saying it is bad to lounge around the house and watch tv, I'm just saying I feel the need to be more productive with my time.)

Here are a few things I have implemented into my life to make me become more like the woman that God created me to be.

1.) Take some time each day to read a devotion and scripture. The church handed out some free books one Sunday and I grabbed one. It has a scripture to reflect on and a short devotion to read as well. The past few days have been all about the Holy Spirit and his role in the Trinity.

2.) Helping Kyle with his classes. Sometimes this means I help him by reading his responses and checking them for grammar and spelling, and sometimes it means keeping Ava out of his hair for a while so he can concentrate. As I mentioned in a post before, I've offered to take care of cooking dinner, cleaning it up, and getting Ava bathed and ready for bed so that he can work on getting his assignments done and still have time to spend with us before bedtime.

3.) I've offered to take over the finances again for Kyle. I know it is a stress for him and it takes quite a bit of time. I'm still waiting on an answer though.

4.) I've created a calendar to organize our life. On it, I have listed the meals for dinner (this makes shopping for groceries SO much easier!), little chores for each day of the week (that way our weekend is spent having family time/homework time), and important dates. I really like our new calendar! I printed it off for free on Pinterest!

I am so excited to be starting off a new year in a new way. I think these little changes will help me become more like a Proverbs 31 wife. I know there are plenty more things I need to add to my short list though! (Later on this year, when I get a spare chance, I'm planning to read the book shown below! I hope to find even more ways to improve myself!)

Proverbs 31:10-31

Epilogue: The Wife of Noble Character

¹⁰ ^[b]A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.
¹¹ Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.
¹² She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life.
¹³ She selects wool and flax
and works with eager hands.
¹⁴ She is like the merchant ships,
bringing her food from afar.
¹⁵ She gets up while it is still night;
she provides food for her family
and portions for her female servants.
¹⁶ She considers a field and buys it;
out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.
¹⁷ She sets about her work vigorously;
her arms are strong for her tasks.
¹⁸ She sees that her trading is profitable,
and her lamp does not go out at night.
¹⁹ In her hand she holds the distaff
and grasps the spindle with her fingers.
²⁰ She opens her arms to the poor
and extends her hands to the needy.
²¹ When it snows, she has no fear for her household;
for all of them are clothed in scarlet.
²² She makes coverings for her bed;
she is clothed in fine linen and purple.
²³ Her husband is respected at the city gate,
where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.
²⁴ She makes linen garments and sells them,
and supplies the merchants with sashes.
²⁵ She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.
²⁶ She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
²⁷ She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
²⁸ Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:
²⁹ “Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all.”
³⁰ Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
³¹ Honor her for all that her hands have done,
and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

Almost Done....And Just Gettin' Started

2012-01-13T17:50:00.003-06:00

I'm almost done with my Masters! I have a one hour course that I will be taking later on this month and my comprehensive exams in March and then I AM DONE!

Excitement does not even begin to describe my feelings about finishing my classes. I have a huge sense of relief and accomplishment when I think about how close I am to being done. And then there's a hint of nervousness when I think about taking these exams in March. I don't know what to expect, but I'm hoping that with everything I have learned, along with my teaching experience from the last 4.5 years I will be able to pass! I am really looking forward to not having to worry about homework and grading papers on top of my number one priorities-being a wife and mommy! I wonder if I will get bored? I doubt it! I'm looking forward to getting to do some of my hobbies again!

As you notice from the title of this post, I haven't explained the "Just Gettin' Started" part yet. Time to explain. Kyle started his masters classes. It's weird that our roles have reversed now! He really had to kick it into high gear because he had to be halfway done by the end of his fifth year of teaching (which is next year!).

I'm trying to really help out with things as much as possible now that he has started his classes. Two nights a week he has to have a live chat with his classmates and teachers. These chats last about an hour and a half. He has lots of quizzes to do and a lot of reading as well. I try to get him to go to another room after we eat dinner and I clean up and take care of getting Ava bathed and ready for bed. It is a good system, but I already hate how it takes away from our family time. I know it's gotta happen, and at least he is home with us instead of on campus late at night. He's taken a couple of quizzes so far and I'm really proud of his grades!

Kyle is going through the University of the Cumberlands for his masters. He is getting a Masters in Special Education. I really like this college because it is over half the cost of mine at WKU. He can take 2 classes each bi-term, so he's getting 4 classes in each semester! At that rate, he will be done before we know it! I can't wait for him to finish already!

Top 3 Sayings of Christmas Break

2011-12-29T16:38:00.003-06:00

Since we've been home together for two weeks, I thought it'd be really fun to update everyone on what some of Ava's new top sayings are. They are random. They make no sense. But they always make us laugh!

1. I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine.

2. Actually.... (most of the time it end with "that's mine")

3. I'm not mad.

She must be the funniest child on earth. These past two weeks have been such a blessing. We have had countless hours of family time and I wouldn't have had it any other way! Even though I have the best job ever, I'm kinda wishing we could have just a little bit more time off together! (Christmas Break is just a sneak peek of summer break!)

Christmas Break is Here!

2011-12-17T16:12:00.002-06:00

Today is an exciting day for us! It was the first day we didn't have to wake up to our alarm clock. It started out with Ava waking up a little to early for a Saturday, so we all climbed into our HUGE full sized bed and slept for almost two more hours. Ava woke up and she and I spent several minutes talking and laughing and whispering "secrets" like "wake Daddy up." We giggled and laughed so much and the whole time we were just being silly and lazy, I couldn't stop thinking of how blessed we are. I hate when I realize how many things I take for granted.

I am so so so excited about having the next two weeks off together as a family. I think the #1 best thing about being a teacher and being married to a teacher is our breaks off together. We LOVE doing everything together! I am so fortunate to be married to someone I can't stand to be without!

Our plans for Christmas Break include finishing up our Christmas shopping and wrapping, taking naps every day that we can, catching up on our DVR that we've been neglecting, cooking, cleaning, and enjoying every single second together! I am so excited! Ohh....we are also planning to use some of the gift cards Kyle got from his sweet students and go on a couple of dates!

I'm really hoping that the next two weeks go by super, SUPER slow!

And P.S.-today is our 5.5 year anniversary! CRAZY how time flies!

I Love How She.....

2011-11-18T14:41:00.003-06:00

I've been caring for my sweet, sick baby today. Even though I've been thrown up all over multiple times today, I just can't help but reflect on my sweet child. Therefore, I have come up with a list of things I love about Ava. (This post will have to be continued over several posts because it's crazy how wonderful she is. These are just some things I've been thinking of since about 3 o'clock this morning.

I love how she.....

1. falls asleep each night. (Talking and singing like crazy, covering me up with her blanket, a letting her feet plop down hard on the bed, over and over.)
2. dances. (It's a little provocative, but totally cute.)
3. calls suckers "popasicles".
4. talks about the people she loves when we are laying in bed.
5. says yes...which for the longest time came out as "nes," and now has developed into "nest."
6. tells me and Kyle not to look at her when she is about to do something wrong.
7. sings a song and stops abruptly to ask "What's next?"
8. loves her friends and teachers at daycare.
9. asks me to feed her shredded cheese like a "little birdy."
10. tells me not to talk on the phone, when she wants to talk to me.
11. fights with Whitman and tells him not to eat her food, when all he's doing is sleeping.
12. says she needs to "make mousies" instead of saying she needs to go poo poo. (She made it up on her own.)
13. eats a pack of Smarties and holds every piece up before she eats it and asks, "What's that?"
14. says "hide, hide, hide when she hears someone coming in the garage.
15. thinks the best hiding place is the most obvious place of all!
16. requests songs to sing in the car. Right now her favorites are by the Doodlebops.
17. wants to look at pictures of herself all. the. time.
18. recognizes letters on signs.
19. always wants us to trace her hands.
20. sings her ABCs.
21. counts to 13 starting at # 6.
22. can't stand it if her shirt sleeves get wet after washing her hands.
23. wants to sit on the counter and watch me cook.
24. say's 1-2-3 and runs and jumps on Kyle!
25. wants to put lotion on every time she walks into our bathroom,
26. calls Whitman "little Whitty boy," or a "Cutie Pie."
27. talks about going to church and Sunday School
28. sings Jesus Loves Me
29. says I love you
30. has changed our lives forever in the BEST way imaginable!

I'm sure there will be a part two of this list coming one day in the future! I thank the Lord for this girl every day of my life.

Our Two Year Old!

2011-10-30T11:01:00.009-05:00

Wow! It still feels insane to say that our little girl is two years old now! We just can't believe how fast the past two years have flown by! We have cherished every moment with her and truly enjoy parenthood. It is a beautiful gift from God.

I've been terrible about updating things lately, and have literally been meaning to do a birthday post for about 3 weeks now. Better late than never though!

Ava's birthday was on a beautiful Saturday and we had her party at our house in the back yard. Lots of family and friends came out to celebrate. I'll just let the pictures do the rest of the story telling!

The spread. Mmmmm.... Tastefully Simple Beer Bread (made with Sprite), veggie tray, apples with caramel dip, chips, cheese, olives, crackers, meatballs four types of dips.....I could eat like this every day! (And then I'd be on the Biggest Loser).

The gift table. Enough said.

The beautiful birthday girl.

Let's get this party started. It's time to get serious.

William came to the party. They really enjoyed eating apple slices together. Emili and I believe they are in love.

Ava's buddy Kinsley came too! She was sooo excited. Kinsley loved Ava's new Tinkerbell purse. I think she was ready to go shopping in this picture.

Aubrey also got to come! Ava loves Aubrey so much!

Maggie came too! (I can't believe that this is the baby I used to keep all the time! She's so grown up. And beautiful!)

Mason also came to the party. I love this picture, and think it should be in a magazine somewhere.

And of course, Whitman was at the party. He was Ava's big birthday gift, so he ran around with a pretty red bow on all day!

The kids worked on painting cupcakes to take home and decorate their bedrooms.

I think there's some real talent here. Let me know if you'd like one sometime :)

Then it was time for presents.

And cake.

Yum :)

I just had to include this picture because it makes me laugh every time I see it. What's going on here? I think it could be on Ellen's "What's Wrong with these Photos" photos.

Our New Little Addition!

2011-10-03T07:01:00.007-05:00

We have had a new addition to our little home. His name is Whitman Nash Brooks and he is the sweetest dog I have ever been around. Let me tell you the story about this sweet little dog and how he became a part of the Brooks family.

For Fall Break, and to celebrate my sister's birthday, we went on a little trip to Nashville. Our main purpose was to 1) eat at Chipotle and 2) take Ava to the Nashville Science Center. For some reason, I woke up way early on Saturday and went ahead and got ready, got everyone else to get up and get ready, and we headed to breakfast and then the Science Center. It opened at ten and we got there at nine. A few minutes after we parked, a huge truck and trailer pulled in, and the trailer had a dog on it and said Nashville Humane Society, Mobile Unit. I got out and asked if there were really dogs in there and if I could take a look around. I went in and there were three wild puppies and one little white dog, named Whitman, that looked at me pleadingly. He wanted me to take him out and hold him.

I knew for sure there was no way we would be taking any dog home. I have been wanting one a little, and Ava has been asking for one occasionally, but Kyle said no. Then I turned around and Kyle, Mandy, and Ava were coming into the trailer. I showed them the white dog and asked if they thought it was as cute as I did. They agreed.

The man who worked there said we could get him out and take him to a special room where we could play with him and get to know him. The sign on his cage said he would not be good with young children, so we were a little nervous. I don't have to tell you how he behaved with Ava. I'll let you see for yourself.

Well, that was fun. Ava found a dog she wanted. But we were not there to get a dog, so we headed into the Science Center. The whole time we were in the Science Center we talked about that sweet little dog. Ava called him Whoopin, and kept saying she wanted to take him home. After a couple of hours in the Science Center we headed out, and who did we see? Whitman. He was just laying outside waiting for someone to take him home. We stopped and petted him some more and talked about how sweet he was. Then we loaded up in the van for lunch.

All through lunch we talked about Whitman and how wonderful he was. Then we went to Ross and somehow ended up in the pet section. We started discussing if we should really be getting a dog. We weighed the pros and cons. Somehow during this discussion, an empty shopping cart ended up with a dog bed, a beautiful dog bowl set, and a dog food container. We decided to go ahead and get the stuff and see if Whitman was still there at the Science Center, and if he was we would go and ask a million questions about him. If we decided we weren't going to get him, we could just return all the dog stuff.

Once we got there, we saw him again, and all these people were petting him. He still had not been adopted. In a few moments, we were filling out paperwork and gathering up his things. We were taking Whitman (Whoopin) home! We were a little shocked and excited at the same time!

Whitman is a three year old Lhasa Apso/Pekingese mix. He weighs 12 pounds and is the calmest dog we've ever been around. Ava loves him and hugs him all the time! This was a welcomed change in our home.

Beautiful

2011-09-20T19:10:00.003-05:00

The lyrics to this song are simply beautiful. We are sitting on the couch, playing with Ava, and spending some quality time together and Kyle has this song playing and it just makes me want to cry....so beautiful.

I promise my posts aren't just going to be song lyrics from now on, but I wanted to share this sweet song!

Its always been a mystery to me,
How two hearts can come together,
And love can last forever.
But now that I have found you I believe,
That a miracle has come when God sends the perfect one.
So gone are all my questions about why,
And I've never been so sure of anything in my life

Oh I wonder what God was thinking,when he created you.
I wonder if He knew everything I would need,
Because he made all my dreams come true.
When God made you, He must have been thinking about me.

I promise that wherever you may go, wherever life may lead you,

With all my heart I'll be there too.

And from this moment on I want you to know,
I'll let nothing come between us, and I will love the ones you love.
So gone are all my questions about why

Oh I wonder what God was thinking when he created you,
I wonder if He knew everything I would need,
Because He made all my dreams come true.
When God made you He must've been thinking about me.

He made the sun He made the moon,
To harmonize a perfect tune,
One can't do without the other they just have to be together.
And that is how I know its true,
Your for me and i'm for you and my world
Just cant be right without you in my life

He must have heard every prayer I've been praying
I've been praying

He must've knew everything I would need

When God made you, He must've been thinking about me.

I have really been trying to stop and thank the Lord for my many blessings. I've really been trying to cherish the sweet times with my family, and I pray you do the same. We take so much for granted-stop and thank God for what He's done in your life. :)

If You Want Me To

2011-08-16T19:01:00.002-05:00

I have always loved this song. It is just simply beautiful. I was listening to this song, by Ginny Owens, this morning and I really listened to the words, and the song became so meaningful to me. We have gone through a lot in the past few months, and I know that the Lord has a lot more in store for us. Things are always changing and always will, but the one thing that will remain the same is God's love for us. We have to trust that He has a perfect plan for us, and that everything we are enduring, or everything we will endure is for His perfect plan. While it seems bad now, in the end, it works out for the best. I never in my life thought that the mess we were in a few months ago would turn out so perfect. We are so happy, and to God be the glory!
Take a moment to read these beautiful lyrics and listen to the song on YouTube. I hope that it touches your heart as much as it has touched mine!

The pathway is broken
And The signs are unclear
And I don't know the reason why You brought me here
But just because You love me the way that You do
I'm gonna walk through the valley
If You want me to

Cause I'm not who I was
When I took my first step
And I'm clinging to the promise
You're not through with me yet
so if all of these trials
bring me closer to you
Then I will walk through the fire
If You want me to

It may not be the way
I would have chosen
When you lead me through a world
that's not my home
But You never said it would be easy
You only said I'd never go alone

So when the whole world turns against me
And I'm all by myself
And I can't hear You answer
my cries for help
I'll remember the suffering
Your love put You through
And I will go through the valley
If You want me to

God Hears Our Prayers

2011-07-18T06:42:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone! I've been anxiously waiting the day that I could let everyone know that I found a job! I'm going to be a third grade teacher at an awesome school! I'm so very excited and I have lots to learn in the next three weeks!

I feel like the last three months have been such a roller coaster for Kyle and I. Yes, I say Kyle and I because a job loss does not just affect the person who loses their job, it affects the whole family. We have learned so much during the past three months. We've learned how to be strong when the other is weak, we've learned that we have a lot of prayer warriors/friends, we've learned so much about patience and prayer, but MOST importantly we have learned how the Lord can take a not so fun situation like job loss, and make that a blessing. Kyle and I have grown so close to the Lord throughout this time, and closer to one another as well. The Lord has richly blessed our marriage in the last few months and has provided in every way. We could not have gone through this without Him.

We know that God has put us through this job loss as another way to connect to lost people. This chapter in our lives adds to our testimony and will give us a chance to show people just how safe you are when you are in the hand of God. I truly believe that if we were not fully reliant on God, I would be the same place I was, when I found out on April 15.....bitter, angry, hurt, sad, doubtful, scared, uncertain. These feelings are true and not fun to feel. Like I've said before, Kyle and I had a weekend/week of these feelings. They literally made us ill. We would still pray that we could move past it, but I think our prayers were probably just generic and not deep. We had to make the decision that we would treat this situation in a positive way, that we would no doubt rely on God, and that if we got to a point where we were feeling all those old ways again-we'd talk about it, and let the other one shake us out of it. Our prayers got really real, deep, and specific. I'm so glad that we made the choice to follow our heavenly Father through this time of need.

I have to share this with you, because this was the icing on the cake when it comes to getting this job, and I feel that it is such a sneak peek to how wonderful it will be at this school and how caring the staff and teachers are.

After seeing my classroom and going on a tour of the school, the principal, vice principal, and I went back into the conference room to wrap things up. I wanted to take the time to thank them for hiring me (because I still see myself as a disposable and replaceable teacher), and going out on a limb to hire someone they've never seen teach and who will be getting their tenure on the first day of school. I told them that I am a very dedicated teacher, and that I would do my best not to let them down! Their response seriously brought me to tears......
1. Rebecca, I know that you're a good teacher, but more importantly I know you're a good person, and that's what we need at our school.
2. Dedication is great, but what you need to be most dedicated to is your family. Family comes first at our school. If you can't make it to something because of your family, we understand. If Ava ever has an awards ceremony or something like that....don't hesitate to ask. I've never said no when it comes to things like that.

Ok.....number one made me feel good, BUT number two made me feel even better! Of course I know that family comes first, but to have your BOSS say that made me start to cry! I really admire that in a leader and truly feel blessed to be a part of that school!

Last week I met 2 out of 3 of my team, and I spoke to the other one on the phone. Even though we have just met, they have truly made me feel welcome on the third grade team. I am so excited to start this journey at my new school! I can't wait to see and meet my students and just get this all started! To everyone who has prayed for our family at this time....thank you! God heard our prayers and answered them in His perfect timing!

Potty Training in 3 Days

2011-07-15T11:16:00.007-05:00

As most of you know, Ava's been using the potty for many months now. We wanted to take things slowly so we could get her acquainted with the potty and she's been going on it every day for a while. This week, however, was the big week! This was the week that we say bye-bye to diapers and hello to big girl panties! This was such a big step, but we were down for the challenge. We used Lora Jensen's 3 Day Potty Training Method. This lady is known as the Queen of Potty Training, and I must say, the title fits! She had five boys and she used this method with all of them and it worked like a charm! Let me tell you a little about the past few days....

Day One
Ava woke up when she was ready to, at about 7:00 (I think). We ate breakfast together and kept telling her that she was gonna have a great day and that she is such a big girl. After breakfast we got a trash bag (Kroger bag) and went on a hunt to find any kind of diaper in this house. We found them in her room and diaper bag and we threw them out. She's a big girl now, and she doesn't need diapers anymore! Then we went to the bathroom and put on her big girl panties. We told her that it'd be gross to get them wet with pee pee or dirty with poo poo and that if she needed to go potty, to tell Mommy or Daddy and we would run run run to the bathroom. If she went pee pee, she'd get a little Dora sticker and if she'd go poo poo, she'd get a big Dora Sticker. All day long we would say, "Tell mommy/daddy when you need to go potty." No kidding, I think we said that about 4 million times the first day. We were never to ask if she needed to go potty. If she had an accident we would never say No, or Bad. We could only sweetly say, "Next time tell me before you go in your panties." For this three days, you can not do anything to take your attention off of the child. You have to watch for signs of accidents. If they have an accident, you have to run them to the potty, and if they get anything in the potty, you praise praise praise them. This is a brief summary of the method. I highly suggest you get the book (it's an ebook that you can download!)

Stats for Day One:
5 pee pee accidents
No accidents during nap
Woke up the next morning a little wet but not soaking, and went potty for a long time when she woke up.

Day Two
This was a much better day. We spent a lot of time outside on the porch talking and coloring. We kept using our gentle reminders. Long day, but better.

Stats for Day Two:
1 pee pee accident
No accidents during nap
Completely dry during the night

Day Three
So far, this is by far the best day! We are going a little stir crazy staying at the house all day, but we are making it. We have taken turns running a couple of errands.

Stats for Day Three (it's only 3:00 now, but....)
1 pee pee acident
Dry for entire nap

This has been a fun time for the Brooks family. I'm not gonna lie, this is tough, but I know it's gonna be sooo worth it! Since we've been home so much with few distractions, we've have been so connected and it's really sweet! I absolutely love being a mother (and a wife, but Kyle came potty trained), and it's so fun and exciting to see how our sweet little baby is growing into such a darling little girl!

Our next big adventure.....finding a big girl bed and new furniture for her big girl room! We are thinking a really cute white twin bed and white furniture!

Potty Training Fun

2011-06-20T13:27:00.005-05:00

Ava started sitting on the potty when she turned 1, thanks to my sister. She thought it'd be a good idea to just introduce her to it slowly, so when Mandy would babysit her, she'd put her on the potty right before bath time. She went potty in December, for the first time....I think. Anyway, this past month we've gotten a little more serious about it. She will tell us when she needs to go, and we rush her to the potty. I'm one proud mommy! Take a look at her potty chart at the beginning and now! (She likes to pile them up in the same place, there's a ton of stickers on there!)

Once things settle down (my WKU class is over) we plan on using the 3 day potty training method to get all this diaper stuff over with!

God's Promises

2011-05-16T05:59:00.001-05:00

I am so thankful to have an Almighty Father who has made promises that will never be broken. I've been reflecting on some of these verses and have found them so encouraging during this time of trouble. Yesterday, our pastor said that there are mountains and there are valleys in our life. When life is good, that's when you're on the mountain, and when life gets tough, that's when you're in a valley. The good thing about both the mountains and valleys, is that God is in both of them. You just have to seek him.

I wanted to share some of God's promises with you. Perhaps you are in the valley as well. I pray that these will encourage you and help you to persevere through whatever journey you're on in your life.

*Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. (Psalm 23:6) (I read a paraphrase of this verse online and it said "My goodness and mercy will chase after you all your life. I thought this was just beautiful).
*You, Lord, will keep the needy safe and protect us forever from the wicked, (Psalm 12:7 NIV) I love how this points out how He will keep me safe and protect me forever.
*I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13 ESV)
*Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6 NIV)
*God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.(Psalm 46:1 NIV)
*Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. (Romans 8:26 ESV) How many times have we been longing to pray but can't find the words? I'm so thankful for the Holy Spirit.
*The LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; (Numbers 6:25 ESV)
*Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.(Psalm 139:7-10 NIV) I am so comforted by this. So thankful that I am never, ever be away from God!
*“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. (John 16:12-13 NIV) Once again, so thankful for the Holy Spirit who intercedes for me!

I hope you have taken the time to read these promises! Our God is so good!

Super Husband

2011-05-08T20:00:00.000-05:00

I just have to take a moment to brag on my husband. He's really great and deserves to hear about it every now and then! ;)

Ok. So, the past few weeks have been some of the hardest in my entire life. I have totally been knocked off my feet with this job loss junk. It really stunk to tell him about it all, to see him upset (not at me...I didn't do anything wrong!), sad, worried, and out of it (literally). This is how we both felt three Friday's ago. It was like the life had been sucked out of us. We were both really mad and really upset. We would go from crying to staring at each other, and then we'd go back to crying and then staring again. We were both very weak for about a full week.

But....we have slowly picked ourselves up off the ground, and are moving on. It's ok to be upset about a life changing event like this. However, we have learned that moping around doesn't make us feel any better and it definitely does not make our situation change. It's time to move on.

Kyle has been amazing through all of this. I truly think God is using this situation as a time for learning and growing in Christ. I know that this is another thing to add to my testimony, and I know the Lord has a plan for this.

Back to Kyle. He's been the rock I've needed him to be through all of this. He's let me cry, let me yell, let me sit and be quiet. He's done more than his share of laundry, dishes, cleaning, baby caring. He's let me sleep at the most random times. (I actually fell asleep for some reason yesterday and Ava was sitting on top of me and pulling at my hair and I didn't even notice. I have never, ever been so tired in all my life.) He's been so encouraging and motivating and has helped me with figuring out insurance information and application information. He's called the board to ask questions that I simply could not understand. He's picked up Ava when I have needed to run and get things done after school. He's been so loving and such a good husband.

I'm not saying things have been perfect. I'm not saying that this messy ordeal has not caused arguing and bad moods. But what I am saying is that I am so blessed to have married this man. I am so excited to see what the Lord has in store for us next.

I love you, Kyle. I am honored that you chose me to share your life with.

What's For Dinner?

2011-04-25T15:00:00.000-05:00

I'm getting a little irritated about my meal plans! I feel like I make the same things all the time! So, I'm asking you to leave a comment on my blog telling me what some of your family favorite dinner recipes are.

Here's the criteria....

1. Quick

2. Easy

3. Tasty

Let's see what you have to say! Please leave a comment on the blog instead of FaceBook, so that my other blog readers (who aren't FB goers, can try out your ideas as well!)

Thanks Everyone!

God has a Plan! A Perfect, Perfect Plan.

2011-04-22T15:00:00.000-05:00

I'm sure most of you know this by now, but if not, let me update you on the last week of our life.

Last Friday, I found out that I will no longer have a job at my school. I'm devastated about this. I have been assured that it has nothing to do with my teaching or anything other than money. Which stinks pretty bad too.

On the first day of school next year, I would be tenured. If I get a job in the county, I can still get tenure, so that is a positive. As of right now, mine and Ava's insurance will be cancelled in June, and it is soooo pricey for us to get on Kyle's plan so, I'm praying through this situation.

Things are so uncertain right now, and that is scary. However, I put my trust in my Almighty Father, and I am trusting that He will provide as He has done all these years.

Remember a few posts back? One called....The Good News? That bad day was referring to this news. In that post I said that there are 3 things I know for sure: 1. Jesus loves me, 2. God has a plan for me, and 3) His plan is perfect. I will not waiver from these 3 things.

Please pray for our family right now. We'd really appreciate it. And thank you, to those who've already been praying. We have felt those prayers. We know God is at work in this situation, and we are clinging to His promises.

A Parent's Prayer

2011-04-11T20:40:00.033-05:00

Many years ago, before Kyle and I were married, we volunteered at our church in the three year old classroom on Sunday mornings. We loved teaching those sweet kids and always had a good time on Sunday mornings. We had a curriculum that taught the Gospel and how awesome Jesus is. We sang songs that taught them about Jesus too. While outsiders may read that and think...you cant teach three year olds too much when you only see them for an hour once a week. Well, to those of you who think that, you are way wrong! I've seen God work in the lives of those kids and it is amazing!

Over the past couple of years, we have been able to watch so many of those children profess that they love Jesus Christ and have asked Him to forgive them of their sins, and be Lord of their lives. Each time I see one of those sweet kids step into the baptism pool, tears well up in my eyes, and I feel so much happiness in my heart.

As expecting parents, and new parents, it was a daily prayer that the Lord would bless our pregnancy and our unborn child. We prayed for a healthy baby and a safe delivery. Each day after she was born we prayed for her health and safety because if we didn't give that to God, we'd never be able to rest for we would spend all our time worrying about her! One thing that we have prayed for for Ava is that she would become a follower of Jesus Christ and live her life for Him. As a parent, what greater gift is there than to see your child accept Christ? We so look forward to that day, and we strive (although stumbling at times), to set an example of what a Christian is and how a Christian should live. Just recently when we are done praying she will say, "amen," and that never ceases to put a smile on our faces! I pray that one day, our sweet little girl will tell us that she has made that decision. I can't wait to see her excitement about living for Jesus! I can't wait to see her make a public profession of faith through baptism so that her family and church family can celebrate that decision and encourage her in her walk with the Lord!

I encourage you, moms and dads, aunts and uncles, and grandparents....really anyone who is reading this.....pray for your child's salvation daily. (And don't just stop with your kids! Pray for the non-believers that you are friends with, co-workers with, or related to as well!)

Our Mini Vacation

2011-04-06T20:46:00.003-05:00

Kyle and I are so blessed to be teachers and get the opportunity to have breaks from our jobs throughout the year. We decided that for this Spring Break we would take a mini vacation to Nashville to take Ava to the zoo, and go shopping at some great places!

We had a blast! We stayed in the airport area and took little trips all around Nashville. We left on Sunday after church and headed out to the zoo. We had a good time, but boy was it hot! Ava enjoyed it, but I think as she gets older she will like it even more! We saw the elephants and girraffes, exotic birds and apes, tigers and alligators! Oh My! While we were looking at the anteaters, Kyle heard a rustling in the trees and lo and behold there was a real life snake hanging right next to his head! Kyle's #1 fear is snakes and I thought he might pass out, but he didn't! He just walked away really, really fast! We told some park employees, but they said they weren't going to do anything about it. Scary!

That evening, we went for a swim in the indoor pool, and decided to get something to eat and bring it back to the hotel so we could rest. We decided on Chinese food, which wasn't too great, and went back to eat. We sat on the bed eating our food, and somehow.....Kyle spilled the sweet and sour sauce all in the sheets! That was gross! I asked the lady at the front desk for extra sheets and we changed those and got back to eating. At that moment, our lamp light started flickering and the alarm clock wouldn't stay set. So, after we made this huge mess, we got moved to a different room! Ava slept better that night than she has in a long time and we were so glad because she's been teething and not sleeping very well lately.

The next day, we loaded up in the van and headed to the Lebanon Outlet Mall. It was a very, very windy day. We hung out outside while the shops were getting ready to open, and then the shopping began. Of course, just about everything we bought was for Ava with the exception of 8 cookie cutters, and a pair of shoes for Kyle. When we were done at the outlet mall, I suggested we find a Ross store nearby and see if we could find any deals. We went down to Mt. Juliet and shopped for a while at the Ross store. While I was trying on a huge load of clothes, a tornado warning started up and everyone was told to go to the back of the store. People were pretty scared, but I was just excited because a.) I was finding lots of clothes on sale that actually fit, and b.) Ava was sleeping so I got to try things on at a normal pace! I ended up with several things and a really cute pair of shorts for Ava.

We went to the Old Spaghetti Factory that night for dinner....which is always really good and then headed back to the hotel for some play time and bed time. Ava refused to sleep in her pack and play so she slept with us for the first time. It was not a good nights sleep that night. We frequently got kicked in the face and elbowed, and it seemed like she cried out in her sleep every 15 minutes.

On Tuesday we ate breakfast, swam, got cleaned up, and headed to Rivergate for just a smidge more shopping, and then headed home.

It was a great little trip! It amazes me how much fun I can have with Kyle and Ava. I love, love, love our family time and would not trade it for anything in the world! Being a wife and mother is the greatest!

The Good News

2011-03-15T16:02:00.002-05:00

Ever have a really good day where everything seems to go smoothly. No frustrations, no drama, no worries, and then BAM....bad news hits you like a ton of bricks? Or maybe like a dump truck carrying a ton of bricks? We've all had those types of days and today was like that for me. I've wallered around in self pity, doubt, sadness for a good hour and then I remembered that there is good news! (Why don't I remember the good news before I get sad?)

Here's the good news....
1. Jesus loves me.
2. God has my life planned out.
3. His plan is perfect.

I've gotta keep repeating this to myself!

There's lots of other good news too! For example...
1. I have a loving husband and a precious daughter...the two people on this earth who I love most!

If I really had the time I could list about a million other pieces of good news, but the ones mentioned in this post are gonna keep me going.

So thankful I chose to follow Christ. He's blessed me in countless ways.

So Totally In Love....

2011-03-13T18:59:00.002-05:00

This daughter of ours is the number one best thing that has happened to us since we got married! I say it all the time, and I can't say it enough....I love this girl! Her personality is growing and growing each and every day. She's really funny! She's learning how to see how far she can go before getting in trouble. She taught herself this week how to get on the love seat and laughs and giggles so much when she finally makes it up to the seat. She loves to stand on the love seat and completely understands that she's not allowed to do it. But, she does it anyway...and when we start counting to three she throws herself down and just laughs and laughs! Funny, huh? Some people think it's an attitude, and while we should probably be getting frustrated about that, we cant help but laugh because she's so stinking cute!

She's growing up before our very eyes! I can't believe she will be a year and a half next month! I don't know where all the time has gone. It seems lime just a moment ago I was seeing her and hearing her cry for the very first time....and I blinked and she's running around, talking, singing, laughing, and making me love her even more!

What a joy being Ava's mommy is! What a blessing! I can only praise my God for placing her in my life!

Above are a couple of recent pictures of my cutie patootie!

Sickness Update

2011-03-03T15:30:00.002-06:00

We just got home from the doctor because Ava's cough was much worse. He let me know that now she doesn't just have RSV, she has an ear infection in one ear, fluid in her other ear, and bronchitis. He gave her an antibiotic, ear drops, and a new cough medicine that works for 12 hours.

We are going to keep doing everything else we've been doing and of course praying for her to feel better soon. Just thought I'd give you readers out there an update.

Super Sickness

2011-03-03T10:50:00.002-06:00

Our poor, poor baby has tested positive for RSV. We are so sad, but thankful that she got it when she was older versus when she was younger. If she would have had it when she was really little she would've had to be put in the hospital. Kyle stayed home with her one day this week, my dad and step mom watched her the next day, and I'm home with her today. Her cough sounds terrible.

The doctor said she felt that the worst was over because her chest sounded good and all. She gave us instructions to give her some medicine for her cough called Corzall, tylenol and ibuprofen for fever and pain relief, Vaporub at night, nasal spray and suction all day long, and have her sleep with a cool mist humidifier. So we've done all that for about three days now and I feel so discouraged that her cough is not any better.

Although I don't understand why she's not doing better, I am so thankful to know that God is in control of this situation! He is perfect and holy and able to do anything. We keep praying that He would remove this virus from her so she can get back to her old self! Please pray that Ava gets to feeling better soon! Prayer is powerful!

Blessed

2011-02-11T12:12:00.002-06:00

Having so many days off of work has really given me a lot of time to reflect on just how blessed I am. How blessed WE are. The Lord is good, all the time, and I just want to kick myself when I sit still and realize how He has impacted our lives, and how ungrateful I am. I think about all the complaining I do on a daily basis and I realize that there is nothing to complain about.

The Lord has blessed me with an amazing husband who I have so much fun with. He's blessed me with an incredible baby girl, who makes me smile and makes my heart melt. He's blessed our family with health and has provided for us financially and physically and every other way. I should constantly praise Him and glorify Him and tell others about Him. But I don't always do this, and it's frustrating. Many times I get caught up in worldly things and routines and schedules and that's not good. I'm really trying to change. I am so thankful to have a Christian husband who can encourage me to do better.

Have you ever stopped to think about how much time you spend during your day complaining and grumbling, gossiping and talking bad about others? What about putting yourself down? I am the queen of all of this as much as I hate to admit it! All of these things are from Satan. How does he sneak into our lives so easily?

So, as I said before, I'm working hard to change. I want to catch myself, and instead of falling into those sinful ways, I'll try to turn whatever is being said or thought into a positive and remember the perspective I have right now. I am blessed. So blessed. All of these blessings are from our perfect Savior. I need to glorify our awesome God in all that I do and say.

Snow Day #13

2011-02-09T20:16:00.002-06:00

Today is our 13th snow day and tomorrow is number 14. I love spending time at home with Kyle and Ava, but I'm really sad thinking about how many days of our summer break will be spent making these snow days up.

Yesterday we all three bundled up and headed out to the doctor's office. I knew for a fact that Ava had a sinus infection and Kyle went to make the call. Before he did, he said he really thought I should see the doctor as well. I do not like going to the doctor! I try not to complain too much when I don't feel well and just try to let my body fight off any sickness that may come. However, I had told Kyle that I had a lot of tight, pressure in my chest and it really hurt to breathe. My whole body was achy too, and he knew that wasn't a good sign. I started to worry that I had pneumonia. So, Kyle went ahead and made a doctor's appointment for all three of us. (His ear was hurting badly.)

We were seen pretty quickly at the doctor's office. Ava went first. Everything looked and sounded good, but guess what? She had a sinus infection. I asked if we could have amoxicillan since it's the only antibiotic that seems to work, and she went ahead and prescribed it to her.

Next it was my turn. She said my lungs and chest sounded fine, but she seemed a little shocked when looking in my throat. She said I had a LOT of drainage in my throat and told me I have bronchitis. Fun again. I was already on an antibiotic for a bladder infection we discovered last week, so she went ahead and prescribed me a different one that should clear up the bronchitis. I still have quite a bit of pressure in my chest and it doesn't feel very good when I breath, but I definitely feel better than yesterday.

Kyle was last. He's got fluid on his ear. No infection, just fluid. She gave him some weird nose spray.

While we waited for our prescriptions to be filled, we went to the mall to kill some time. We ended up eating lunch there. (Me-Subway, Kyle and Ava-Wendy's). After we ate we let Ava ride on the carousel and the duck and Nessie the dragon(?). She had a good time. We were also able to get some clothes for her, which is good because she's outgrown everything!

So yesterday afternoon and today we've been resting and playing and trying to get over all this junk. It's no fun to see your baby sick.

Also.....what about all this snow? I mean, seriously, I don't know when I've ever seen so much snow. We were really looking forward to going to small group tonight, but went ahead and cancelled it for safety's sake.

I made some snow cream tonight and Ava loved it! Kyle's already begging for more, so maybe I'll make another batch tomorrow for them!

Well, with all these snow days maybe I'll find some time to blog a little. However, I don't have too many topics since we're snowed in! Oh well! Stay safe and warm, everyone!

Our Funny Daughter!

2011-02-06T14:41:00.003-06:00

Ava is growing up wayyyyy too fast! In the past few weeks she has learned a lot and seems to have gotten funnier as the days go on. Let me update you on our funny girl!

Goodbye! Ava has said bye-bye for a long time now, but lately her goodbyes have become so much cuter! We will tell her to say goodbye to someone and she starts waving and saying bye. Instead of it coming out bye, it's more like bah, bah, baaaaahhhhh, and she continues saying bye for a very long time after whoever has left. She is soooo southern when she says bye! I love it!
She thinks it is funny for us to smell her feet and then she will smell own and says shew, shew like they really do stink! She's taken it a step further now. We will be sitting there and instead of smelling our feet, she starts to try to put our toes in her mouth! Yuck! How do you teach someone that it's not nice to put someone's toes in your mouth!?!
She thinks it is so funny when we ask her to give us a kiss. She will run away, and when we start going after her she runs toward us with a big kiss right on the lips! Sooo sweet!
She gives us random hugs....right around our neck and squeezes us tight. It literally makes our heart melt.
I don't know if she's ready for a baby brother or sister, or just ready to be a babysitter, but she has really been loving on her baby dolls lately. They have no clothes on because clothes really bother her, and she carries them all over the house! She pushes them in her stroller, she shares her milk and snacks with them, she begs for me to put her in her crib with one of the babies and she covers it up and pats its back. It is tremendously cute!
A few of her new words are yellow, purple, and backpack. I think it's pretty amazing that she can identify things that are these colors!
When I'm wearing my pink, fluffy robe, I get countless hugs! I know she just really loves the way the robe feels, but I love the extra loving!
She got a new toy ram at Target that she loves! She takes it all over the house and we keep finding him in random places in our house including: The pantry, our bathtub, our bathroom scale, and standing in front of the refrigerator. Ava's also had a nice tea party with the ram. Weird huh?
She is really into Dora right now! She tries to sing the theme song and it is super cute!
Her new thing is to go to the TV and turn it on and off! She thinks it is hilarious! Not so fun when she got her hand stuck in the VCR in our bedroom though! But that doesn't stop her from doing it again!

Well, this was a slightly scattered post, but I hope it brought a smile to your face like it does ours!

Resolution Updates!

2011-01-30T17:35:00.003-06:00

I am so happy to inform you that so far so good when it comes to our New Years Resolutions! I am really proud of ourselves!

We have done excellent with not going out to eat. Since the beginning of the year we have actually gone out to eat 1 time. We went to Ruby Tuesdays with a great couple. We still ate pretty healthy, even though I splurged and ate some fries. I did not feel good after that so in the future, I may just stick to a salad or another healthier side item. When we were in TX a few weeks ago, Kyle's sister Karen's mother in law did bring dinner to us one night....Olive Garden and one other day while we were there we had another dinner from a cafe that we love down there. But I'd say that three dinners not made by us is pretty good for the first month, plus it's hard to not eat out when you are traveling.

I've been taking salads to school every day and I truly love them! I try to make them exciting by using different toppings and low cal/fat free dressings. We've really gotten hooked on spinach salads! Which is awesome because I've read that regular old lettuce isn't as great an option since it doesn't have as many nutrients as the darker greens.

Also, working out three times a week has been a success this month. There have been days when we've been out of town, or stuck in the house due to the snow, but I've made it work! Thanks to OnDemand Exercise TV and Karen's workout room, I've stuck to my plan! I go to Curves Fitness for Women and just recently they have started having Zumba there two days a week. It is so fun and really helps me get those workouts in!

As far as the diet cokes, I still haven't had one since Christmas Eve, but it is SOOO hard for me! I crave them all the time! I need lots of encouragement on that one! Kyle's fine without them and says he never ever thinks about them, but its a different story for me! Oh well! I won't give in!

I hope you are all sticking to your resolutions as well! What did you resolve this year? I'd love to know!

Stomach Virus

2011-01-12T09:10:00.002-06:00

The stomach virus entered the Brooks home for the first time in a very long time, and it took on the ladies of the house last weekend. I seriously do not know where I would have been without my husband! Let me give you a rundown of our sickly weekend. (Read with caution, I've tried not to give too many details!)

It all started on Thursday. I picked Ava up from school, and her teacher let me know that she just didn't know if Ava felt very well. I knew she was snotty that morning and figured it was the start of another sinus infection. I took her home, we played, ate, gave her a bath, and we put her to bed at her normal time. We were all sleeping soundly til we heard her coughing and crying at around 3:30 Friday morning. We both ran to her room and saw her laying there, looking pitiful, with throw up all around her and on her. She's never thrown up before, so it made me really sad. I had one moment of gagging, and then Kyle reminded me that I can not do that, and we got into action as our awesome team of two. I stripped Ava down and threw her in the bathub, Kyle stripped down her crib and got the laundry started. After her bath, we got her all warm and cuddly in new pjs, new sheets, fresh blankets, and laid her back down for bed. I went back to bed and and started typing up sub plans in an email to my awesome teammate and friend at school. We got all settled in to get a few more hours of sleep, when all of the sudden....Ava was throwing up again. We got into action once more, repeating the same steps we took half an hour ago: bath, strip the bed, new sheets, laundry, new pjs, paci, back to sleep. Thirty minutes later....more vomiting. :( Do it all over again....except no bath this time, she managed to only get it in the bed. After getting her all cleaned up we decided we'd keep her upright for a while, since every time she laid down was when all this started.

We all piled in our huge full sized bed. Ava laid in my arms for a while and then we turned on some cartoons, and she seemed fine. For a while we thought everything was getting better. And then.....she threw up....all over me and her, luckily, sparing the bed! We hopped in the shower, cleaned up, and called Kyle's mom to see if she could pull some strings at our pediatrician's office to get us one of the earliest appointments possible. Kyle had the news on, and our good friend the Polar Report, showed that Warren County schools had been closed! Whew! Thank goodness! Now we could both be home and take Ava to the doctor and see what was making her so sick.

We took her to the doctor early that morning and he said she had some sinus stuff going on and the drainage was probably what was making her throw up. He called in an antibiotic and a decongestant to the pharmacy and said she should be feeling as good as new, pretty soon! We went to the pharmacy to get the medicines and stock up on some Pedialite, tissues, and baby toothpaste....you know, the essentials! It took FOREVER at the pharmacy, and I am not exaggerating! When I got out to the van Ava was asleep and Kyle informed me that she had gotten sick again, all over her pretty pink coat (which is dry clean only, booooo). We headed home, poured her some apple Pedialite (which I tried and gagged on, and she didn't like it very much either). She slept a little bit that day, ate barely anything, and more than anything, she just wanted to sit in one of our laps and watch the same episode of Sesame Street(The Beach, OnDemand) over and over. Which we allowed, since she was sick, and it kept her still. (We were afraid if she was up and running and rolling around, her stomach would start up again.) The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. Just lots of rest.

We woke up the next morning (Saturday), and Ava acted like she felt tons better! She ate very little, but drank her milk quickly! We still thought we'd keep her home so she could recover the rest of the day.

Kyle and I needed to go to the grocery, so we called his mom and she happily came over to watch our girl while we headed out for a couple of hours. We went to Stakz first for a quick yogurt date, and then headed to Wal-Mart. Shortly after we got there, I got a really bad headache and told Kyle I didn't feel well. I was extremely nauseous and felt sick to my stomach. I could hardly pick out any groceries because I felt so sick. We finished up and went home. I took some Excedrin migraine and Kyle told me to go lay down for a while. I felt so sick.

After a couple of hours the nausea wasn't going away and other things started happening. Kyle ran out and got a Zofran from my sister (thanks), I took it and waited anxiously for something to happen. Nothing did.....still felt sick. After a few hours I threw up, and felt a little better. I thought I was on the mend. Little did I know, it was just getting started. Ava was having nasty diapers, frequently, so Kyle called the doctor on call and she prescribed me some phenegran and told him to pick up these granules to put in Ava's drinks to help her keep things in her system. We called my dad and he came to sit with me and Ava while Kyle went to not one, but two pharmacies. Thank goodness, for my dad sitting with me, because I was getting sick and so was Ava.

When Kyle got home he gave me a pill, I took one, and then it came back up. I took another, and it came back up. I took the same medicine in different form and I think it stayed in my system long enough to work, because I was knocked out. I couldn't move or do anything but sleep.

At around 11:30 I heard Ava getting sick and Kyle running to her. I got up and felt so disoriented, I didn't know how to work my arms and legs and my head was throbbing! I looked at him and he was holding her and they were both covered with throw up. He was begging me to help him and I just couldn't. I didn't know how to help. I was so mad at myself and then I started getting sick again. After much work, and several attempts, I finally found a phone and called his mom to come help us. She came quickly and I could hear them getting things cleaned up and then everything was quiet. I took another phenegran around 1 AM because I was feeling queasy again and then I was fine. I still felt gross, but I was fine.

Kyle's mom stayed with us most of the day on Sunday, making sure Ava and the house was taken care of. Kyle worked all day on laundry and disinfecting and changing sheets. I slept seriously, all day long.

Now we are all better! We've been so thankful for the snow days this week so we could get all the way better. However, the past couple of days we've been ready to go back to school, so it doesn't mess with our summer plans!

I know this post is gross, but I just have to let everyone know how great my husband is. I do not know what I would have done without him. It is so amazing to be part of a team where work is shared and not just one person's responsibility. I'm so thankful that God has blessed me with Kyle! I always wanted to be married, but I don't think that I ever knew just how great it would be!

And it all started with a salad bowl....

2011-01-04T19:08:00.007-06:00

Weird title, huh? Well, last week we loaded up the van and went to Nashville for a day of fun! We started off our morning grabbing a quick breakfast at McDonald's (which I planned to get this.....)

But ended up getting this...
and this....
and because I gave up diet cokes last the week before.... I got this to drink instead...
I know, I know.....heart attack in a sack! I love bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches and it was just begging me to order it, so I did. And I regretted it to the last crumb. And still do.
After a short drive down I-65 we were in Nashville, and our first stop was my all time favorite store...Ross. I was super sad because everything was sooo picked over. However, as I was surveying the goodies in the kitchen aisle, I found this little treasure for only six bucks!

Isn't it awesome?!? At the bottom you put your lettuce and toppings, then comes the ice pack to keep everything nice and cold. In the lid there is a special container that holds 4 tbsps of salad dressing and on the top of the lid, that oval shaped white thing turns into a fork! I was amazed! I informed Kyle immediately that my new goal was to pack healthier lunches when school started back! I was excited (and still am) about my new salad bowl!

After going to several more stores....Old Navy, some shoe stores, Toys R Us, and maybe a couple of others, Ava started to get hungry. So did Kyle and Mandy. I wasn't too hungry because I think my belly was still full of regret over my breakfast, but since majority rules, we headed on over to one of our favorite places for lunch. Chipotle. Man, that place is good. I had a burrito and a few chips, and I was still grossed out with myself for eating all that junk.

We did a little more shopping and then started to get bored with the Nashville scene so decided to head home. But we stopped at a yogurt shop on the way back. (I just got plain with blueberries and it was delicious!)

The whole way home I was talking to Kyle about how I felt about myself. My weight, my health, etc. We agreed that our New Years resolution would be to eat healthier. We went to the grocery that evening and got the fixings for salads, which we have had at least one each day since then! I made salad and dressed it up with hard boiled eggs, fat free cheese, low fat dressings, and banana peppers. I have to admit, it was tasty!

The next day, or maybe it was a couple days later we were at the mall trying to spend more Christmas money, and I told Kyle that I wanted to go to Lifeway. Something just made me want to check out their books on health. When I got to the women's section, Candace Cameron's new book just stared me in the face. It was on sale, and I picked it up and read the back. It is a book called, Reshaping it All, and it talks about her struggles with food. The book looked good, so I wrote down the title to see if maybe I could get it on my Nook. I got home and it's not available digitally, so I just wrote it off and thought, "Oh well." The next day it turned out that we had to return something to the mall because I got something for Ava in the wrong size. Kyle was gonna run in and exchange it real quick and I asked him to pick that book up for me. He came back with it a few minutes later and told me it was the last copy. I thought that was pretty weird but was excited about getting it, either way!

I started reading the book and became pretty impressed by Candace Cameron (DJ from Full House, if you didn't know). She is a very strong Christian woman, and I think that is so impressive because she is a well known actress living in California. All of her success she constantly praises the Lord for! Each chapter is loaded down with scripture and little assignments and readings for you to do. At the end of each chapter, she also gives a recipe from her own kitchen! (I've tried her chicken noodle soup, and it is wonderful! Get the recipe from my cooking blog.)

I've read several chapters and so far I have learned quite a bit about myself. First of all, as silly as this may sound to the majority of readers out there, and as embarrassing as it is to admit, I am in bondage to food. I love food. I eat when I'm happy, when I'm sad, when I am stressed, and when I am bored. This is not a good problem. Secondly, I have learned the #1 problem I have had when it comes to losing weight....I've been doing it for all the wrong reasons and to please the wrong people. Losing weight, I have learned, has been very prideful and selfish for me over the years. Now my focus has changed. I don't want to lose weight to look good, to fit in my old clothes, and to please others (although those are the perks), I want to take care of my body because the Lord has given me this body and I should care for it just as I should care for any other gift from Him. I look at Ava, and I am overwhelmed with happiness because she is a gift from the Lord. I care for Ava. I am very particular about what she eats....must have at least one fruit or vegetable at every meal, no sweets (she has had 3 suckers total because she had just gotten shots), and absolutely no sugary drinks....not even juice! Okay, if I am this particular about my daughter, I should be taking much better care of myself!

So, my new journey has started! I'm not counting calories or points, I'm not killing myself in the gym. I'm simply thinking about what I put in this body! I can already see a huge change in my thoughts and attitude and outlook. I hope to share some of the treasures with you along the way! One treasure from the book is below,

"Stop abusing yourself with food, start making healthier choices, and get serious with God. Move more, control your portions, make wise choices, and keep God close by your side." That last part is what I was forgetting. God is my cheerleader!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-02T19:26:00.003-06:00

Wow! I can not believe that 2010 has come and gone and we are now welcoming a brand new year! Time really does fly!

We rang in the new year with some of our most special friends! Our small group! Boy, I don't know where we'd be without them! We had a great night! We had a potluck of Italian food, salad, and dessert! We finished off the night by playing games like Things, Scribblish, and your good old fashioned Charades! It was a blast, but I'm not gonna lie...I missed putting Ava to bed and it was terribly hard to stay up that late, but still....so much fun!

Kyle and I are really excited about making some positive changes in our lives this year! He hates making resolutions and normally never does, but this year is the exception! Here are our resolutions!

Rebecca's Resolutions
1. Say so long to diet cokes and any other type of soda.
2. Continue exercising a minimum of 3 times per week.

Kyle' Resolutions
1. Be more honest (not that he lies or anything, but he has a tendency to sugar coat things!)
2. Floss daily.

Our Resolutions
1. Do not eat out as much. (Wish we could not eat out at all, but we've got to be realistic here.)
2. Eat healthier.

I don't think these resolutions are over the top, and they are totally doable!

Happy New Year to all our friends and family!

Shutterfly Fun!

2010-12-13T19:37:00.003-06:00

I love to send out personalized cards each year at Christmastime and this year there is no exception! This year, Shutterfly has given me 50 free cards because I am a blogger, and all I have to do is to tell you about all the great deals you can find on this awesome website, so here goes!

I started using Shutterfly right after Ava was born. The pictures we had taken at the hospital gave us a gift card to use with Shutterfly, and when we ordered a second batch we got another gift card as well! On top of all that, we got a third gift card from registering at Target. Add it all up and that made $30 in gift cards! I used the gift cards to create and send out Ava’s birth announcements! You can do the same by clicking on this link: http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/announcements/birth-announcements?c=60401! There are so many unique styles to choose from!

Another purchase I have made from Shutterfly in the past year was a really BIG purchase. And when I say BIG, I don’t mean pricey….I mean LARGE! I had Shutterfly enlarge some of our first family portraits so that I could make a beautiful photo collage on our living room wall! See the picture below?

Shutterfly had the best prices around when it came to enlargements. They also shipped everything so carefully that it made it to our house in tip top shape! If you need to get any prints enlarged for a gift or for yourself click here: http://www.shutterfly.com/prints/large-format-prints!

My sister has made Ava two really special books with Shutterfly. One of the photobooks was a present to her when she was first born! It has pictures of all her family members and pictures of where she lives and everything! It was the perfect gift! The other book she made for Ava is an alphabet book that has pictures of Ava holding everyday items that begin with different letters of the alphabet. These photobooks are the best gifts because they really come from the heart! If you’d like to make one, you can get all the details by clicking this link: http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-books

Finally, my most favorite thing Shutterfly has to offer! Christmas Cards! You have got to take a look at the hundreds of different types of Christmas cards! You can personalize the sayings and edit pictures and decide how many photos you want on the card and even where they are placed! It’s like you own your own card making studio, and of course it’s all at a terrific price! Click the link below to see all of the magnificent cards you can choose from! I’ll reveal my own personal cards in the mail of course! Unless, we run out, and if that’s the case I’ll post it on here so that everyone can see how great Shutterfly does! http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards

Well, that’s it for now! I am so happy I had a chance to tell you about all the great deals on Shutterfly! Check it out for yourself and make something special for someone you love! Merry Christmas!

Christmas is Near!

2010-12-07T09:26:00.003-06:00

I can not believe that it is almost Christmas! It's pretty crazy to me that the year is coming to an end! It has been a crazy, exciting, and busy year! One thing that Kyle and I are planning to do is to sit down and make a list of all the big things that have happened this year. I hope we get around to do it so that we can reflect on all those memories! Perhaps we will share our list on our blog so you can get a glimpse of our lives this year!

One thing that our family has committed to doing this Christmas season is to sit down as a family each night and do our Advent Family Devotion. This is a special time each night where we get together and light candles in our "Advent Wreath," (which is just a plate with five votive candles on it, next year we will do something more extravagant!), anyway, we get together, light a candle, and read scripture, a devotion, pray, and then sing a Christmas hymn. We have been faithful to complete our devotion each night, and I believe that Ava likes it quite a bit as well! It's a struggle to keep her still for 10 or 15 minutes, but she normally loves when we sing. She "sings" along with a pretty serious expression on her face and it is so sweet.

Our goal for this special time of year is to keep our focus on Christ and the true meaning of Christmas! This Advent study has really helped, and the Lord is moving in our home. I can not wait til Ava gets a little older and we can have actual conversations about Jesus and how he saved us from death! It has also really made me have more specific and meaningful prayers. It is a constant prayer of mine that Ava will ask Jesus to be Lord of her life, and I can not wait until that day! A man at church got to baptize his daughter this week and it was so beautiful to see! I pray that we can have that experience with Ava one day! I think that is the ultimate gift as a parent! I am so thankful for our church family and all the people who are shepherding her and teaching her about Jesus. (Even though she absolutely can not stand going to Sunday School right now :), I know this will change as she realizes how fun it is! ) I praise the Lord for this precious gift and I love her with every inch of my being.

It's crazy to think that God loves his children even more than that! What an awesome God we have! And to think that he sent his only son, to die for me....how unfathomable! I've always known this, but really got a better understanding of how great a sacrifice this was for our Lord once I had a child of my own. So amazing!

If you're reading this, I challenge you to keep in mind the TRUE reason for this season. It has nothing to do with gifts and Santa, or parties and delicious food.....the reason is to celebrate our King's birthday! I pray that you will prepare your hearts for this wonderful day!

Home Sweet Home....Finally!

2010-11-14T12:29:00.002-06:00

We are finally moved in to our new home! We are so happy and are loving every second so far. Except when you break the glass in a ginormous picture....and except when somehow your brand new white towels have mysterious pink splotches on them! But other than that, we are loving our new home!
Monday morning we came and did the final walk through of the house and then we went and closed on it. Since then, we have been moving machines. My awesome dad helped us get all of our heavy furniture from our storage building and our super small group friends helped us get all the boxes from one house to the new house! We still have a garage full of boxes to unpack, but I think we are moving at a steady pace. In my mind I thought it could all get done in about a day, but reality hit me like a ton of bricks and I'm hoping we'll be all settled by next weekend.
Ava loves her new house! She walks around from one room to another exploring. She especially loves our master bathroom and her bedroom. One other thing she really looks forward to is helping me water the yard. She thinks it is funny to go with me to turn the water spickets on and then run away before the water hits us. We got splashed a lot last week, but since then, I have learned the art of following the spray around and then turning the water off. I may look like a big goofball out there, but it gets the job done!
I'll post some pictures once everything gets settled! Gotta go get back to work!

One Year Photo Shoot

2010-11-02T13:54:00.000-05:00

Last week, our photographer got Ava's one year pictures to us. I was amazed when I looked through the pictures because Ava was not feeling well at all and was really fussy! Once again, our photographer didn't let us down and got some wonderful shots of our precious baby! Take a look at some of our favorites! (Of course they did not upload in the order I wanted them to.)

Sick Days!

2010-10-26T09:00:00.001-05:00

For the past three days, Ava has been very sick. We stayed home all day Sunday and Monday and we are going to be here all day today with the exception of running to the doctor. She had had a pretty high fever and a bad cough and she's been cranky. Her cough started on Friday, we took he to the doctor and he thought it was just allergies. He gave us some medicine to clear it up. It wasn't any better on Saturday and was worse on Sunday. We called him an he gave her a prescription for amoxicillin. That afternoon she had a fever of 102.5. We started giving her Tylenol and motrin to keep it down. She hardly slept at all Sunday night and I checked her temperature again at about 1:00 am and it had reached 102.9. Terri texted the doctor and we were told to keep giving her Tylenol every four hours and motrin every six hours. Her temperature went down and stayed down all day. She was still a little fussy but seemed a bit more like herself. She was even acting a little mischievous and had to go to time out two times for doing something repeatedly after being told no (this includes trying to stick her finger in a socket and laughing when I said no and throwing a water bottle off the coffee table after being asked to stop). At two thirty all of her medicine should have worn off so I took her temperature again and it was still normal. I was for sure she was better. She slept like a rock last night and even slept late this morning. I checked her temperature this morning and it was 100.9-much too high to go to daycare. So here we are....on our third sick day. The doctor wants me to bring her in so he can test her for the flu. (She's already had her first flu shot, but hasn't gone back for the second dose. They break it up into two shots and spread it out over three weeks. She would have gone back to get part two on Thursday but won't be able to if she's still sick.)
Even though it stinks to have a sick child, I really do treasure every single second I get to spend with her. She's been so loving and sweet and has even learned some new things since we've been able to spend so much time together! Yesterday she learned the word No and night night. I can tell her to go night night and she will pretend to go night night and say "Night night mamma." Ohh it is sooo sweet! As far as the word No, I guess she just picked that up from me telling her not to pull on electric cords and what not.
Well, that's it for now. I'll take her to the doctor in about an hour and see what he has to say. Hopefully she'll be back to her old self again really soon!

Birthday Girl

2010-10-12T10:51:00.006-05:00

I like this because it shows the dress I made for her. I did it all except the monogramming! (Thanks to Granny for teaching me!)

Mommy, Daddy, Ava, and the CAKE!

Yummy!

I love this picture because her reaction is priceless!

Ava after opening just one gift! She was tired!

The delicious cupcakes (someone had already helped themselves)!

Smash Cake

The Main Cake! (Isn't it adorable?)

Our baby girl is now a one year old! The big day was last Friday, and I just can't believe how fast she has grown! One special thing about her birthday is that we will most likely always be off for Fall Break so that we can all celebrate all day (or week) long! We had a fantastic time on her actual birthday! We had a pancakes for breakfast, a picnic in the back yard, and went to the Paintin' Place to create a masterpiece using her handprints (the first handprints we have of her!). That night we opened presents. Mommy and Daddy got her a Radio Flyer wagon that she absolutely loves and stays in constantly. We also got her an adorable talking tea set (with an English accent) that she loves to have tea parties with! That night, Ava also got her very first haircut. Her Aunt Katie came in for the celebration and we decided it would be a good time to get a trim. It is much more manageable now! After all that fun, it was time for bed, because the next day had a fabulous party in store!

On Saturday morning, we were busy with all kinds of party preparations. We got everything done in the nick of time! There were so many friends and family members at her party and they loved on her and gave her some amazing gifts! We were especially excited that Kyle's sister, Karen, could Skype in from the hospital in Texas! (She's expecting twins and has been on severe bedrest for several weeks.) Ava enjoyed having everyone there to celebrate her big day and I wanted to share some of my favorite pictures with you! (I apologize for the out of order photos, I still haven't quite figured out how to do this perfectly yet!)

A Fun Night Out

2010-09-20T06:49:00.003-05:00

Saturday night, our family had a wonderful night out! Kyle's mom and her boyfriend invited us to go out to eat with them and we took them up on the offer! We went to You and Me restaurant downtown and had a delicious dinner outside. Ava loved spending time outside eating bread and watching the cars go by. She was in the best mood and waved at all the other diners. While we were eating, we saw a horse and carriage pass by. We decided that when were finished we'd see about taking Ava on a ride. We went to the square and there we found the horses. It was way after Ava's bedtime, but she was in the best mood so we ventured on over to the horses. She was so excited, she was laughing and squealing! I held her between the two horses for Kyle to snap a picture, but the horses kept trying to nudge me and it scared me quite a bit so I kept screaming and running away. Ava thought that was really funny, but we finally got a decent picture. Ava looks concerned about my behavior in it though! Kyle held her up to see the horses and she pet them and smiled at them. Then we loaded up on the carriage and Ava was ecstatic! She sat wide eyed and looked at the horses the whole time! The people who owned the horses knew Terri and asked if they could hold Ava during the ride, and she went right to them. She sat in between them all snuggled up in the lady's arms and held on to the man's shirt the entire time. The last ten minutes of the ride she fell asleep. It was such a fun time! I highly recommend others take a carriage ride with their families! It really makes you slow down and look at our community rather than hurry on through.

Hello Again!

2010-08-13T14:18:00.005-05:00

Well, once again, I haven't been doing a good job at posting new blogs lately. We sold our house and now we're living with Kyle's mom while our new house is being built. We don't have internet for the next few months, but we're not missing it too bad!

Ava is ten months old now! She still doesn't have any teeth, but she is crawling now! She started late last month and now she is so fast! She started going to daycare again and absolutely loves it! It's so hard to be away from her all day, but we know she is in good hands.

Last month, Kyle, Ava, and I all went to Texas to spend some time with his sister, Karen, and her husband Scott. They are expecting twins and we had a lot of fun shopping for the babies and registering with Karen! It brought back lots of memories when we did all that last year! We had a blast in Texas and can't wait to go back again at the end of the year to see those babies!

School started up again last week. It is really tough getting back into a routine. Ava's having a hard time adjusting too. She's been waking up even earlier than we do. I guess she worries that we won't wake up to our alarm! She absolutely loves living at her Grammy's house! Grammy has two cats and Ava loves to crawl around with them and pet them. She also likes to play with their toys. I'm scared that by the time we are ready to move out she will think she is a cat!

We can't believe that in two short months Ava will be turning one! She has grown so much over the last ten months! We can't wait to see what the next year has in store for us all!

Our new home will be built by Thanksgiving, and while we are really enjoying this time at Kyle's mom's house, we are really excited to get moved in to our own place! It is going to be fun watching the building process over the next few months.

Well, that's all for now! Sorry for this post being so scattered! Too much going on in my head right now and I wanted to make sure I got everything in. Hopefully I'll be able to post more frequently. These pictures are a few of our favorites from her nine month photo shoot and one is just one of my new favorites from home!

We Sold Our House!

2010-07-03T20:47:00.002-05:00

Great news! We sold our house in less than a month! We are super excited about it and can't wait to dive right into packing up this place, living with Mom for a while, and starting the process of building our new home! Our official last day in this neighborhood is August 3, but since we think that is the first day of school, we'll most likely try to be done a few days before. Just had to share the good news!

Back After a Much Too Long Break!

2010-07-01T13:36:00.004-05:00

Family Trip to Cincinnati
Ava Watching the Fish

Swimming in the Pool

Meet Harold

Well, it has been way too long since I updated our Blog. We've had a lot going on, so now it is time to catch you up.

First of all, the reason why I finally have time to update you is because last night I finished my 2 classes for my masters. I never knew that a psychology and geography class could require so much of my time and energy, but it did. Every day I had several papers and quizzes and projects due. I finished my finals 2 days early and I am pretty sure I ended up with A's in both classes.

A couple of weeks ago, we took a mini vacation to Cincinnati to take Ava to the aquarium and to go to IKEA. We had never been before and my sister presented us with an opportunity that was so inexpensive, we just couldn't pass it up. Ava loved the aquarium and absolutely adores penguins now. She got a stuffed penguin, which she picked out at the gift shop and we named him Harold. I don't really know why that's the name, but it is. I really didn't think an eight month old baby at an aquarium would be such a fun time, but she really took in the sights and waved at all the animals. It was pretty cute.

I guess the most exciting news that is going on right now is that Kyle and I have decided to sell our house. We are ready to get out of Shawnee Estates (which feels like I've lived here for ten years, since I lived here in high school and college too) and we're moving out Three Springs Road to a subdivision called, McCoy Place. We have bought a nice lot out there, and as soon as we sell our house we're going to start building our home. It will take about 3 months for the house to be built, so we're going to live with my mom for those months. We're all really excited and can't wait to get started. We've had several lookers at the house and many people want it, but have to sell their house first. We know God has a plan and a time when all this will take place, so we're trying to be patient and see what he has in store for us.

So, what's Ava doing these days? Well, let me tell you. Ava is enjoying lots of time with Mommy and Daddy. She's really gotten into taking all her toys out of her little boxes and throwing them around the room. She's trying really hard to crawl, but right now she lays on her belly and pushes herself backward to get from point A to point B. She's pulling up to stand and walking when someone holds her hands. She started drinking from a sippy cup and is eating Puffs. She can pick them up and put them in her mouth like a pro now. She really likes when people watch her do her tricks and she gets tickled with herself a lot. She went swimming for the first time and then several times after that and she absolutely loves the water! No teeth yet, but we think they will be here soon. Her hair is getting really long, and we're just hoping she'll make it til she's one before she needs a new hair cut. We've really enjoyed being home with her this summer!

We sadly said good-bye to Lola recently. We could not give her the attention she deserved, and the dog hair was getting too much to handle with a baby that is on the floor all the time. We found her a nice home and her new friend is a six year old girl that she sleeps with, drags around the yard, and makes smile all the time. We are happy that our sweet dog made someone a happy person and love hearing all of the updates about her.

That's all I can think about as far as updates now, but there will be more posts to come soon!

Children are a Sweet and Precious Gift

2010-05-20T18:59:00.002-05:00

Okay, lately I have just heard enough when it comes to parents talking about their children. On TV, in the community, everywhere! I just have to get on my soapbox for a moment and get some things out there in the open!
The number one BEST thing that has happened to Kyle and I since we got married has been the birth of our daughter, Ava. This experience has been incredible. My love grows daily for the Lord and for my husband and daughter because of this terrific blessing!
I am so tired of hearing parents all over the world complain about their children! Lack of sleep, lack of energy, go go go all the time, potty training, teething, etc., etc., etc.! I am surrounded by kids who have parents that seriously don't care enough to feed them, keep them clean, discipline them, meet their basic needs, and love them. It breaks my heart! And what breaks my heart even more is listening to parents who have perfectly healthy children, who are able to provide for their children, and have their basic needs met.....complain about being a parent! If you are a parent, or are about to be a parent, or someday want to be a parent....please don't complain about petty things! Love your children, care for your children, teach your children the Gospel, and Praise the Lord for your children!
I look at Ava and my heart swells with love for her. I have never in my life felt such joy and praise be to our Mighty God! It is my prayer that parents all over the world will take a look at the big picture when speaking of and thinking about their children.
That's it!

Mother's Day

2010-05-14T13:50:00.003-05:00

This was my first Mother's Day where I could hold our daughter and kiss her and hug her. Of course last year we celebrated, but I guess this was our first "official" one. And was it a special day! Not only was it Mother's Day, it was baby dedication day at church as well. With it being so busy the morning of Mother's Day, we forgot to take tons of pictures of Ava and I. I'm pretty bummed about it, but I know my memories won't fade away. Let me tell you about my first official Mother's Day!

The morning started off with a hungry baby that needed to be fed. I fed Ava her milk and rice cereal and then we started the celebration. Kyle made me sit in the living room while he prepared the gifts. I heard him going from one room to the next, opening and shutting doors, and muttering to himself. Finally, he told me I could come in the kitchen where an adorable green flower pot waited for me. It wasn't just a flower pot, it was a flower pot with seeds and soil to grow my very own sweet pea in. It was Ava's gift to me. I lifted up the heavy pot and underneath was a slip of paper that read:

Clue 1: Roses are red, violets are blue, somewhere cold another clue is waiting for you. (I had heard Kyle open the freezer, so I checked there! Giggling I opened the freezer and read clue 2.

Clue 2: Roses are red, flowers are sometimes green, look somewhere where you keep your mouth really clean...(Checked my toothpaste/toothbrush drawer and there was an envelope that had a gift certificate in it to get my nails done at my favorite nail salon! And underneath the envelope was Clue 3.)

Clue 3: Roses are red, flowers do not bring gloom. Go to the place where clothes sometimes sit. Possibly the Laundry Room? (In the washer was clue 4)

Clue 4: Roses are red, flowers can sometimes be cut with an axe, go to the place where you can relax.

At this point I searched the bedroom, followed by the living room, followed by the office. Could not find the next clue! I searched for what seemed days and then I thought, "the bathroom?" Sure enough, the clue was in the bathroom (in the bathtub). But it really wasn't a clue at all! It was a silver box with a gift certificate for an hour long massage at SunSuites and a sweet little note from Kyle and Ava. I could not have asked for anything more. My husband (and daughter) is so thoughtful and sweet. He always puts so much thought into my gifts. My back has been killing me for weeks and he knew I would enjoy a day of pampering. I love him and I love Ava too! They make my life so wonderful! I am so thankful for the blessing God has given me.

Oh wait! Baby dedication went great! Ava did not cry or fuss. She just looked like a little lady and was beautiful throughout the whole thing. Here's a picture of our family + our pastor on Baby Dedication Day!

Flood Day 2010

2010-05-03T18:16:00.004-05:00

Ava bouncing after all the hard work of putting this thing together! Yes, she's basically naked because she was soo hot!Ava bouncing at the store in the display bouncy gym! She loved it and begged us to buy it for her. We gave in! Actually, I was talking to someone and the next thing I knew Kyle had loaded it up in the cart and was wheeling it off to the register!

I can't believe we were out of school today due to flooding. Well, actually I can....especially after seeing some of the streets even here in our own neighborhood. I seriously saw kids swimming in the street. Bathing suits and all! Kyle, Ava, and I had a great day! Let me share with you our adventures today!

We started off our day with a trip to a childrens clothing store to find Ava the perfect dress for baby dedication. I know the dress doesn't make the day, but in my mind I had a sweet long white dress with smocking and I could not rest until I found it. It will make for some beautiful pictures!

Then, we all went to Logan's for lunch. After my medium well steak came back super bloody and mooing 3 times, the cook finally got it right and I enjoyed my steak. To make our lunch even sweeter, the manager said all we had to pay for was Kyle's coke! I couldn't even believe it. It was very nice and we had a gift card from Christmas so we weren't out a penny. (Which was good because we had an expensive stop ahead that we didn't even know about!)

After a great lunch we went by the Jewelry Barn so I could visit some awesome people. Boy do I miss working there! I had the best bosses a girl could ask for and some wonderful co-workers! I visited for a while, and dropped off my engagement ring and wedding band to get cleaned while we did some more shopping.

Next stop....Sam's Club. We used my mom's membership and had a blast just wondering through the aisles. We had several things on my mind but just left with 12 packs of Orbit gum ($9.06) and a really big box of laundry detergent ($15.64). We intended on buying some diapers and baby food but they did not have the size we needed or the right stage of food. Oh well.....we got what we needed at our next stop.

Toys R Us. They have the best deals on diapers. We got a huge box and we were ready to go, but our daughter has us wrapped around her little finger and talked us in to buying her this bouncy gym. She played in the display and after just asking if we could get it any cheaper, the manager said he'd give it to us for 20% off! It's amazing what people will do if you ask! Diapers, Bouncy Gym, Batteries and we were out the door.

Back to Jewelry Barn to get my rings. They looked brand new and sparkly!

Target....my turn to get a dress for Mother's Day. We also picked up a sweet little gift for our mothers while we were there. (Don't forget Mother's Day is Sunday everyone!)

Home....Set up bouncy gym, feed Ava milk and veggies, fix vegetable soup, hunt down the dog who had run away to sniff out a friend. Lola's new nickname....Dumbdog!

Rest and Relax with my husband! Gotta go do that now!

Hope I didn't bore/wear you out with our day. I feel like I got tons accomplished. I am not looking forward to making this day up on a Saturday though. Booo!

My Cup Runneth Over

2010-04-25T16:10:00.003-05:00

My cup runneth over.....that saying describes my life so well. I feel like my heart is just bursting with love for many people! My Lord first off, my husband, my daughter, family, friends, and church family. I am so excited and feel very blessed. I love our family weekends and they always remind me of the blessings God has given me.

I have enjoyed a lazy Sunday afternoon with Kyle and Ava. We went to church this morning and it was so nice to fellowship and worship with our friends who are really more like family.

I am sitting here typing up this short blog while listening to Ava squealing at her daddy in the living room while they play together. I love listening to them interact with eachother. Kyle is an exceptional daddy. I have been reminded this week over and over at how in love with him I am. I am so grateful to have him as a husband and Ava is so blessed to have a very "hands on" daddy. Like I said, this will be short so that I can be a part of the family time!

I just wanted to include a few of my favorite pictures of Ava's six month photo shoot. This was by far the best photo shoot! The photographer really captured lots of smile and personality. If you'd like to see the rest you need to check out our album on Facebook.

Happenings!

2010-04-18T15:54:00.003-05:00

Hey everyone! It's me, Rebecca! Once again, we've let too much time go by without updating our blog. I'm going to take a few minutes now to tell you what's been going on.

Spring Break was just a couple of weeks ago. Kyle and I, Ava, and a couple of great friends loaded up the van for a fun trip to Savannah, Georgia. We thought it was something new and exciting...and it was! We spent a couple of days walking on the Riverstreet exploring shops and getting samples of delicious treats, and we spent another day at the beach. That had to be our favorite day! Ava loved putting her feet in the sand, but didn't care for when she got splashed by the cold water. Although the day we went to the beach was cooler than the rest of the days, it was peaceful and nice to bask in the sun for several hours. We were sad to leave the beautiful city of Savannah and sad to get back to the real world of work, work, work.

While we were on our trip, Ava started saying Da Da and Ma Ma. She said Da Da first, and it is so sweet to hear it come from her mouth. She always has a smile on her face when she says our names and there is nothing like it in all the world. She rarely says Ma Ma unless she's eating green beans. Weird, huh?

Both Kyle and I are beyond ready for summer break. Spring Break was amazing and I can't wait to spend so much time with my husband and daughter for several weeks in a row. We're planning to spend some time in Texas with Kyle's sister and husband and we're really looking forward to that. My WKU class is exhausting, and I am taking two more courses this summer. Hopefully they won't be as bad as the one class I am taking now!

Ava got her six month pictures taken yesterday and I am so excited to get them back. The photographer showed us a few of them and they looked great. There are several of her wearing a big, fluffy pink tutu I made for her. These were the first pictures where she really captured lots of her personality and smiles. Oh, how I wish time would slow down. I can't believe how fast she's growing. She'll be dedicated at church on Mother's Day in a couple of weeks at 11:00. If you can, you should come out and see this exciting event!

Wow, I feel like this is the most random post I've ever done. Oh well, just wanted to keep you posted on what's going on with the Brooks Family! Enjoy the pictures of Ava and us at the beach!

Fatherhood :)

2010-03-21T16:43:00.012-05:00

Hey Blog World! It's Kyle.

I haven't posted in a while so I thought I would take this opportunity. Both girls are asleep and so as I am not sleepy, I shall post.

Ava is so amazing! She is almost 6 months old and we cant believe how fast time has gone. Everyday there seems to be something new that she does. I had thoughts of how this would be but never did I imagine that having a child would enrich our lives so much. Rebecca and I truly thank God for her everyday. She is a gift from God and we owe it all to Him. What an Everlasting God we serve. I am constantly thinking in my mind "Am I doing enough?" and Rebecca reminds me of how great of a father I am. That just is the best gift she could give. I literally can't wait each day for the 3:30 announcement at school saying that we are dismissed so that I can hurry home to see her. What an incredible blessing!

Rebecca and I enjoy every second with her and realize that time is going so fast and we make sure to soak in each moment. Each day we spend with her is our favorite day. There is not a certain thing or day that is more special than the other. Each second of every day with her is the best. Each thing she does or look she gives us is special.

Many people have asked "How are you adjusting?" and the statement "It will change your life" or "It is hard work" has been brought up time after time after time. Our answer: Our baby girl brings so much joy to our lives and hearts that even though it has been an adjustment this experience was something that we were completely ready for and prayed for since even before we found out we would be welcoming her into our life. Also, it has changed our life but for the better! She brings so much love to us (have I mentioned that?) and has deepened the love Rebecca and I have for each other. We honestly don't consider parenthood to be "hard work". Work is where we go each day. Work is a building. Work is not having a child. We have to work with one another each day but realizing the love we have for our child and family is the best GIFT we could have ever received. When you go into parenthood your responsibilities change and you see things differently but to say this is hard is almost insinuating that we weren't ready and didn't know what we were doing. We knew that we were called by God to be parents and to bring Ava into this world and raise her to be a child of God. That is the WORK I am focused on. Sorry if this sounds like I am on a soap box because I am not intending that in any way. I just am expressing my feelings about our child. Also, I don't want people to think we are perfect or have it all figured out but we sure try hard each day to do what is best for Ava. What a blessing she is and an incredible journey that has begun. She has so completely blessed our lives.

Until next time....God Bless and thanks for following us through each exciting and fun stage.

Kyle

Ava's Feet

2010-03-10T07:34:00.001-06:00

Ava found her feet on March 1st. Here she is trying to eat it!

Firsts....

2010-03-08T21:07:00.003-06:00

This post is dedicated to 2 firsts for Ava: daycare and ear infection.

Last Monday, Ava went to daycare for the very first time. We had mixed feelings about her starting. We were sad because our awesome babysitter would no longer be coming to watch her each day. We were happy because we've been on this waiting list for over a year now. We were sad because we knew she would be prone to more illness, but we were happy that she would be around new kids and people. We were sad because we knew it would be a BIG adjustment for all three of us, but we were happy because there will now be more structure and more people to love her. I could go on and on about these pros and cons, but who has the time?

Her first week was a success. The first day went well. Her teacher was out all last week so she had two different people filling in for her. Tuesday and Wednesday were rough because her schedule was misread and she was overfed which led to an upset belly and lots of spit up. Thursday and Friday she was back on schedule and was much better all around. Then Saturday came. She was a bit stuffy so I called our doctor who informed me that since she had no fever and was still eating and sleeping, the only thing we could do was to give her saline drops and suction stuff out of her nose. Then it was Sunday. She was up in the wee hours of the morning coughing a horrible cough and sneezing a lot as well. We decided a full day of rest would do her some good. We stayed home from church to make sure she had lots of TLC. And then Monday came. She didn't sound as bad as she did on Sunday so Kyle loaded her up for daycare. I called after lunch to check on her and they said she didn't act like she felt well so I went ahead and made an appointment after school.

I took her on in and after the doctor checked her ears and throat, she determined Ava had her first ear infection. Booo!!! She screamed quite a bit while the doctor cleaned out her ears and then went straight to sleep in my arms as we were instructed on how to take care of it. She prescribed Amoxicillin and said she should be feeling better in a couple of days. Kyle is going to take off work tomorrow to stay home and take good care of her. I feel bad for not staying, but if we are ever going to have any more kids I gotta start seriously saving these sick days! I pretty much drained mine after taking my extended maternity leave (which was worth it...every single second!) and Kyle has quite a few accumulated. So, he's playing daddy and doctor tomorrow. I have no doubt in my mind that he will take excellent care of our girl!

Hopefully Ava will feel better in no time. We are thankful that it is nothing serious and glad that it can be treated with some anti-biotics.

Those are two firsts and I am sure there will be more to come!!!

Love is in the Air!

2010-02-12T17:41:00.002-06:00

Ok, so everyone is updating their status on Facebook saying all about their special someone. I was getting ready to update mine and decided instead of writing it on my status for a day or two, I would post it on our blog. Most of you know our story but for those of you who don't, here goes...

Kyle and I met a long, long time ago, when we were twelve years old in Mr. Reeder's science class. I think back to the day I met Kyle and it's funny to me how I had no idea this would be the man I would marry when I "grew" up. It makes me smile to think of how God placed this man in my life at such a young age and how he's been with me through so much throughout our lives. Travel back with me in time!

My parents decided to divorce when I was in seventh grade. The day after they told us they were going their separate ways we stayed home from school because we were pretty upset. When I got back to school after a day off, I was still upset. Visibly upset. I couldn't concentrate on anything really and I spent the day in tears and very quiet. (Which is NOT me at all.) I was sitting in science class, and I guess we had some free time, because all of a sudden, this tall red headed boy comes to my table and asks me what's wrong. I explain that I just found out my parents were getting divorced and I was really upset about it. I distinctly remember him saying, "That's okay, my parents are divorced too." And then he spent quite a while explaining to me his broken and blended family story. I have to admit, I felt comforted knowing another person had experienced what I was embarking on.

I never remember seeing Kyle before that day. I think God placed him there to be a friend when I felt so confused about what was happening in my life. From that point on, Kyle and I were great friends....best friends. He's probably going to be embarrassed for some of the things I post on here, but it is all out of love. Let me just tell you how great of friends we were. We both LOVED to sing....we would sing together on the phone. We both had a PASSION for Dumb and Dumber, so we spent lots of time quoting lines from the movie. We talked on the phone a lot, which was crazy because I wasn't even allowed to call boys at that time, (but my mom let me)! We never really did anything outside of seeing each other at school, but we always had a blast together.

We continued on with our friendship for many years. Even when we were dating other people, we still made sure to keep up with one another. One day at the start of our senior year of high school we were talking. I had broken up with my boyfriend that summer and was talking to Kyle about it in the hallway. He was single at the time too. This is when we first started hanging out outside of school. He would come over and watch Dumb and Dumber at my house and we'd go get Sonic sometimes, and then one night he invited me to go bowling with him and his friends. Our bowling night was a turning point in our relationship. We started hanging out more and more after that. One night, he asked me to go to TGI Fridays with him and I did and I was so excited about going out with him one on one. I was also nervous, however, because I knew I was going to order spinach dip since it was my fave, and was trying to figure out how to keep the spinach out of my braces. (Gotta love those wires!) After dinner we went and hung out at the park. And later that evening he took me home. It was a great night!

We finally became an official couple on September 24th, 2002. He asked me to be his girlfriend at the waterpark and I said yes. I wanted to celebrate by him giving me a piggy back ride back to the car. When I ran to jump on his back, I knocked him down and his arm started bleeding! All I can say is....sometimes love hurts!

We dated all through high school, went to prom, and started college together! We took all our courses for the first semester together, because he just knew I'd get lost if we weren't together. How sweet. Although, not something I'd recommend because we both did really bad that first semester. I got my first D and Kyle got his first really bad grade that maybe I shouldn't post! Our line of thinking was always, why go to biology when we could go to Subway?

One night in August of 2005, Kyle took me to the waterpark to go on a walk before we went to dinner. We were going to try out this new restaurant called Buckhead Cafe, but before that he wanted to take a walk. He proposed to me in the exact spot he asked me to be his girlfriend. It was amazing! It was so romantic and sweet and I totally thought I was on Perfect Proposal.

We got married June 17th, 2006 and it was a beautiful and sweet day. Now we have been married for a little over three and a half years, and still going strong.

Both of our families have been broken, but we hope to leave a legacy for our children's children's children. I am still so in love with Kyle Brooks and am so thankful of how God has blessed me and continues to bless me.

4 Months Old

2010-02-10T14:30:00.002-06:00

Ava turned four months old this week. How did we celebrate? By going to the doctor for a well child checkup, of course! Ava weighed in at 13 pounds 14 ounces and measured 23 3/4 inches long! She's really growing like a weed! It's weird to think that she's almost 2 feet tall, 3 more feet and she'll be my height! Strange.

The doctor said she looked perfect! Her weight was in the 50th %ile and her height in the 30th. He gave us the go ahead to start feeding her cereal once a day, and said that if she does well with that, we can start vegetable baby food. It brings a tear to my eye that she is growing up so fast, but I know that with each stage comes new and exciting things. We tried the cereal last night and she did not like it. So, as directed by the doctor, we're gonna wait a week and try again. I think she'll be more into it once we get the high chair set up-we just tried it in the Bumbo last night. So, last night was her first time using a spoon, trying to eat cereal, and wear a bib....lots of firsts.

We'll see how it goes next week! Until then....

January's Over.....What?!?

2010-01-29T13:56:00.007-06:00

Where has the time gone? I can not believe January is just about over. Things have been crazy busy in our home, but still great nonetheless.

Ava's getting so big! She's rolling over from back to belly and belly to back, she's playing with toys (her favorite is a monkey we named Milo), she's laughing and "talking" all the time; her personality is really starting to shine through. I can't believe our baby is going to be 4 months old in about a week. CRAZY! Other updates on our girl.....she's sleeping through the night, we were blessed that she started doing that at 6 weeks (Babywise really helped with this!) She's getting rice cereal in two bottles a day during the week and she's also taking Prevacid. Both of these are because of her horrible reflux. They seem to be helping quite a bit. She spends the weekdays with our wonderful babysitter here at home and they love each other! In March she'll start going to daycare. I am a little nervous about how that will go, but Ava's adapts well to change after a couple of days, so hopefully it won't be a tough transition for her.

Kyle and I picked up with leading our small group again. I don't know where we'd be without this group of fellow believers. God has truly blessed our lives with great Christian friends. We also started going back to Sunday School again. Our Sunday mornings feel like a marathon. We start out going to the 8:00 service and we take Ava to church with us. After the service, we come home and feed her and then she's ready for a nap. Around 10:30 one of our awesome family members comes over for an hour or so while we go to the 11:00 Sunday School. With it being flu and RSV season, we're just not ready for her to start going to the nursery at church yet. We're grateful for our family who wants to take care of her so we can go back to church. After Sunday School, our marathon is complete. People look at us with puzzled expressions on Sunday morning and ask us where Ava's at, or why we come back two times.....that's why. :) Kyle's also started going back to choir. Last week was his first week back and he was so glad to be back.

Work is good for both Kyle and I. We both book it home as soon as that bell rings so we can get home to Ava and one another. We wish there was more time for family time. There is nothing better than when the three of us spending quality time together!

I started my WKU class last week. It's an LME class and it's a lot of work. I just hope I can make it through. My plan is to take a class or two this summer. I am so ready to be done with my Masters. I didn't realize how much time it would take....but oh well...it's gotta be done.

I also started going to a Bible study on Thursday nights at church with my great friend, Lindsey. God is really working on my heart and teaching me so much through this study. I am so thankful that our church has a great women's ministry where I can connect with other Christian ladies and learn more about Him. If you're looking for a new study, I highly recommend Beth Moore's Breaking Free.

I'm trying to think if there's anything else I can update you on, but I think that's about it. I promise I won't wait so long for the next post! Below is a video from when Ava was really tiny and first started using her voice. Enjoy the video and if you want to see pictures, check out Facebook.

A New Year!

2010-01-05T20:07:00.002-06:00

Sorry it's taken forever to update our blog. We have been super busy with things, but I've made a few minutes to update you on our happenings.

I can not believe it is 2010! Kyle and I are still trying to figure out what to call it-do you call it o-ten, or twenty ten, or ten?!? This is a tough decision. I think I've decided to just call it two thousand ten and Kyle for some reason has named it aut ten. Why's that? I have no earthly idea.

Our New Years Resolutions are kinda silly, but definitely do-able. For starters, we don't want to eat out as much. Cooking meals at home is much healthier and cheaper. We've gotten pretty bad about eating out since Ava was born, mainly because we were either too sleepy to cook or just didn't want to take time away from playing and taking care of Ava to fix something. Our second goal is to have a schedule for cleaning our house so that we won't have to clean on the weekend. We love our home to be clean, but hate spending all weekend doing it, so Kyle cleverly came up with a schedule and so far we're sticking to it. The third resolution is one that has to do with our careers. We are striving to be more positive with our students. This is probably the hardest and definitely a high priority. So far, we have been successful!

Our sweet baby girl is just about to turn three months old. Where has the past three months gone? It is so crazy how fast time goes once you have a child. We have loved every single minute though.

Now that I am officially back at work, Ava stays home with a great babysitter during the day. She's adjusted nicely to being taken care of by someone other than Kyle and I. Although I loved every second I was home with her on maternity leave, I think it was best that I returned to work. It's nice to have adult conversations with my co-workers. I have some wonderful people that I teach with that have become true friends. Even though it is work, there's not a day that goes by when I don't laugh, smile, and truly enjoy my time with them. Plus, being at work makes coming home to Ava so special. When I open the door after work, I am welcomed with a beautiful smile and a sweet little laugh....(and good reports from the babysitter!)

Kyle and I are looking forward to 2010. We don't know how it can get any better than 2009 though. Becoming parents was the best thing that we've ever experienced together. Our love has grown for each other as we have entered this new stage in our life. The love that we have for Ava is indescribable. We are so thankful and grateful of how God has blessed us.

Alrighty, I kept it short and sweet. Hopefully we will get another update on here sooner than later!

Time Flies!

2009-11-22T10:59:00.005-06:00

Wow! I can't believe it's almost been a month since our last post. Time is flying by and I sure do wish it would slow down!

Things are going great right now. We are working hard to keep Ava on a schedule and even though it can be tough at times, it's going great. Last week we stopped waking her up for her two thirty feeding and let her wake us up when she got hungry. The first two nights she woke up at two and two thirty and then she started stretching it out to three or three thirty. One night she slept until four and she did that three nights in a row. Six hours of sleep felt so good for all of us! What's even more amazing is that last night she slept from 10 to 5 a.m. She is well on her way to sleeping a full eight hours.

Many of you know that Kyle and I have decided to use the Babywise method so that Ava will start sleeping through the night at about eight weeks. Lots of you moms out there know what Babywise is, but some of you may not. So, I'll tell you a summary of what this method is all about. We use a continuous cycle called feed/wake/sleep. Ava is on a three hour feeding cycle during the day. She first eats at 6:30 and continues eating every three hours until 9:30 at night. That is our last predictable feeding as of now. After each feeding, we try to play with her for about an hour before we put her down for a nap. She takes a nap at 8, 11, 2, and then goes down for bed at 6:30. We wake her up at 9:30 and feed her for the last time of the night. Normally she naps for an hour to an hour and a half. We've been struggling with naps lately. We put her down and she cries for a long time. We check on her every ten to fifteen minutes and eventually she'll cry herself to sleep. It is very, very hard to listen to her cry, but we know that it is what's best for her. By doing this she will learn how to put herself to sleep and eventually she won't cry at all.

So that's what we're working on. Basically training our baby to sleep. By the time we get it all down pat, we'll have a happy, well-rested baby and who doesn't want that?

Ava's belly is also doing so much better since I last wrote. I can't remember if I wrote about her having to go to the doctor and the hospital for x-rays of her belly or not. So, I'll tell you the shortened version. She just hit two weeks and the weekend after that she was really fussy. So fussy that Kyle and I couldn't calm her down (pretty uncommon for Ava.) We called and got an appointment that Monday morning and the doctor could tell her stomach was messed up just by feeling her stomach. He did a rectal exam and realized her bowels were backed up a couple of days. He told us to give her 1/2 of a pediatric suppository that night and another 1/2 two days later. We did that and didn't have a lot of results. The next day she screamed uncontrollably for hours. My sweet mother in law, who works at our pediatrician's office held the phone up to the doctor's ear. He could tell she was in a lot of pain and ordered x-rays for Ava at Greenview. Frantically we went and had that done-it was awful for Ava and me too! Luckily there was not an obstruction in her bowels just "severe gastric distention"-or as we call it, lots of gas. We were relieved it wasn't as serious as it could have been. She was back to normal in a little less that a week. (I don't know if that was brief or not...but you all know I talk a lot so that's ok!)

Last night we went on our first big outing...our Small Group Thanksgiving Dinner. It was so fun to be around our friends again. We still haven't taken Ava out in public but that will come in a couple more weeks, after she's had her first round of shots. We really look forward to going back to church as a family. That is the number one thing we have missed the most, but we know we'll be back soon.

I go back to work in three more weeks. I'm not too excited about it. I know I will miss her terribly every second of every day, but I know it is what is best. She needs to learn how to be around new people and other kids and what better way to do that than start early? The first week I go back to school Ava will be staying with three different people. Her wonderful Granny on the first day, my best friend, Katie's sweet mom for the next two days, and her regular babysitter for the last two days. She'll have a babysitter for the first two months of childcare and then she will start daycare in March. I'm so thankful to our family and friends for helping out this first little bit. God, once again, has provided for our needs and we know that it is because of Him.

We had our first professional pictures taken of Ava and family ones too. I'll put a few of our favorites up on here and you'll have to check out the rest on Facebook or come by.

That's it for now!

Loving Life!

2009-10-24T11:47:00.003-05:00

Snuggle time with Daddy.
I love this girl!

Wow! Two weeks has passed since Ava was born. Lots has happened in those two weeks. Let me see if I can catch you up!

This week, Kyle went back to work. We have really missed him being at home, but we are also having wonderful days together! Kyle has done a great job adjusting to work and being a daddy. He still helps a great deal at night too which blows most people away. I am so grateful to have such a wonderful husband.

Ava has quickly gotten on a feeding routine and is eating every three hours during the day. At night she eats at 9:30 and then we have to wake her up around 2:30 to eat and then wake her up again at 6:30 to eat. I think if we didn't wake her up she'd probably sleep until morning, but we gotta make sure she's getting the calories she needs to gain weight at a healthy pace. Last Wednesday we took her to the doctor to get her weight checked. She had only gained two ounces since we left the hospital. We went back to the doctor yesterday and she's back to her birth weight. She is a good little eater just like her mom and dad!

We are absolutely loving being parents. We couldn't have asked for a more perfect little baby. Just when you think life is good, God blesses you with a child and it gets even better. We are so thankful and blessed.

Totally In Love....

2009-10-16T17:04:00.003-05:00

Well, since our last post, I gave birth to our first daughter, Ava. We are totally in love with her. She is perfect and beautiful and amazing. We can't thank God enough for this precious blessing.

Let me update you on the last week. Last Thursday morning, we went and checked into the hospital at 9:30 for my scheduled C-section. The surgery was scheduled for 11:30. I felt pretty good up until the hour before the surgery happened. At that time, I got the nervous shakes. I was scared of going under the knife for my first time ever, but I was pleasantly surprised at how well everything went. The doctor was late so everything got pushed back about an hour which made the nerves really kick in. At a little before 1:00 I was wheeled in to the OR. Kyle had to wait in a little room until a nurse came to get him. I had to get my spinal tap and he couldn't be in there for that. I warned the nurse that I was going to squeeze her really hard because I was scared to death of that needle. I was for sure it was going to kill me....so I wrapped my arms around this sweet nurse and she told me everything that was happening. I felt the anesthesiologist's fingernail poking around my spine and then it was time for the shot. I felt a little prick for a second and then I was numb from the chest down. They laid me flat on the table and started getting me ready. The doctor asked if I felt anything and I said no and she informed me that she was pinching me incredibly hard with some clamps. I was amazed that I didn't feel a thing.

The next thing I knew Kyle was sitting right beside me. I was totally calm. This is due to the amazing anesthesiologist who was right next to me the whole time. He told me everything that was happening. He was the nicest person....I joke about my "strong feelings" for him because he made me so comfortable at a scary time.

During the operation, the only thing I felt was a heavy feeling in my ribs. I describe it as a 600 pound man sitting on my rib cage. As soon as they pulled Ava out I felt immediate relief. It was like the feeling you get after holding your breath for a long time under water and then taking your first breath.

At 1:14, Ava Layne Brooks entered into our life. I let out cries of joy when I heard the doctor say she was here and I heard her cry for the first time. Kyle brought her over for me to see and even though it was difficult to see her because of all the drapes and people in the way, I could see that she was perfect and beautiful. She was screaming so loud....everyone commented on her healthy lungs. Then, Kyle and Ava were off for her big debut. He took her out to meet the family and then spent time in the nursery doing skin to skin with her. She also got her first bath and they weighed and measured her. She weighed 8 lbs 5 1/4 oz at birth and she was 20 inches long.

Meanwhile, I laid on the operating table getting closed up. Everyone in the OR kept saying how great my incision looked and my good friend and anesthesiologist, Jonathan informed me that everything was looking good. He even said "Girl, you are skinny now." I just knew I was going to look like a Barbie when this was all said and done. (Boy was he exaggerating a bit when he said that.) After that, I was wheeled to the recovery room where I had to lay for an hour with a really nice nurse named Michael. My anesthesiologist, Jonathan came and told me how great I did during the surgery and made sure that I felt ok. I'm pretty sure that every nurse and doctor and patient in the recovery room probably thought I came from the crazy floor because I just laid in bed laughing and crying hysterically for an hour. I got to drink a coke...which was wonderful because I hadn't had anything to eat or drink since 8:30 p.m. the night before. They gave me some pain medicine in my IV and it made me feel divine.

After waiting the long hour in recovery, I was wheeled in to my room. I was wheeled right past all my family and friends. Kyle was there in an instant. I just remember asking him if she was okay and he kept telling me she was perfect. Several of our family and friends was in there. And then, the most magical moment of my life happened. The nurse brought in our daughter and I got to hold her for the first time. Just thinking about it now, 8 days later, makes my heart swell and tears stream down my face. I was and am so happy.

The nurses and technicians took such great care of us while we were in the hospital. We left on October 11th and set out for our first days at home.

It was neat going home. Kyle drove really slow and who can blame him? We had a precious gift in the backseat. When we got home we unpacked our things and put Ava down for a nap in her crib. We spent time together at home as a family and everything felt so perfect.

We've really gotten into the swing of things. Kyle is an amazing husband and father. He helps with everything...feeding, diaper changes, and getting up to check on her every sound throughout the night. She's doing such a great job. We are feeding her about every three hours during the day and at night we try to feed her every four hours. Although, she sleeps really well and sometimes goes five hours before we have to wake her up to feed her. She loves sleeping in her crib.

Each day we are learning more and more about her. What she likes and what she doesn't like and how she likes things done. I have enjoyed and cherish every second that she has been in our life. God has truly blessed us with Ava. It is amazing to think about how He knew everything about her before she was even conceived. She is a miracle and a blessing. We praise Him for this gift and strive to worship Him and thank Him for her daily.

Enjoy the pictures and if you are dying to see more, you need to check out our albums on Facebook.

The Week is Here!

2009-10-05T09:27:00.002-05:00

We can't believe this is the week we will see our daughter. Some of you may be thinking, "What? How do you know? Your due date isn't even until next week!" Well, let me update those of you who may be thinking this.

Last week, on Wednesday, we went to the doctor, hoping and praying that my body would be showing some progress towards having a baby. The doctor checked and informed us that the baby is still kinda high, and that I'm not 1 cm dilated, but I'm not 0 cm either. So she told us it was time to make a plan. Here's what she came up with. She said that if I am dilated 2-3 cm by this Wednesday, then she'll send me over to the hospital right then and start inducing me. But, if I'm not 2-3 cm then the following day, Thursday, she would do a c-section. She knew we were going to be on Fall Break and that we'd love to spend a couple of free extra days off with Ava so she said we could do it this week. She's going out of town on Friday so we didn't really have a choice on which day, we had to do what we had to do. And I definitely didn't want to have to go back to school after Fall Break...so that makes this week THE WEEK! We're still in disbelief because it's here. We are so excited we can hardly contain ourselves.

That brings me to the second topic of discussion. We are praying constantly that this will be an old-fashioned birth (that is the term I use so I don't offend any male readers out there! The other word is gross according to them! :) ) There are many reasons why we don't want a c-section but we understand and accept that if that is what God has planned for Ava's birth then that will be how it happens. So, for any of you reading this, we ask that you pray along with us that Ava will either come on her own or that I will be induced.

For all of you who know me, you know that I am a planner. I would like to say that I'm spontaneous, but going out for ice cream or pulling over at a gas station for a Dr. Pepper is about the extent of my spontaneity. Kyle and I both love having a schedule and calenders and To-Do lists. We find great joy in crossing things off our list. So, we think the doctor giving us this specific week to expect our child to be born is God's way of getting us prepared! We know it could happen at any minute and if it doesn't then we know for sure it will happen by Thursday. So, back to my planning problem. Normally, I would be a nervous wreck at this point...I think. Just trying to get everything together and making sure everything is ready for her would stress me out to the max. But, I have never in my life felt so much peace. I am simply waiting, waiting, waiting and praying, praying, praying. Yesterday, church was amazing and so special to me. I knew it would be the last time I went to church for several weeks and Kyle stayed in the pew instead of going to the choir. The music that we sang were reminders of who God is and how faithful He is. My heart was so full. I am so thankful to be a daughter of the King of Kings.

Finally, I have to give a shout out to my awesome husband. Right now as I read this he is doing the chore he hates more than anything....mowing. Since this will most likely be my final post as a pregnant woman, I feel he deserves a bragging session. He has been a wonderful husband since the day we said "I do," but has been the epitome of perfect throughout this pregnancy. He has taken on every chore and insisted that I just let him. This has been so hard for me. I am a pretty independent person. I like things to get done in a certain way at certain times. I would much rather do things on my own than ask someone to help me with something. As a pregnant, short woman, there are many things I cannot physically do because they are too dangerous. For example, climbing on chairs and counter tops to get items out of reach-just shouldn't do that pregnant. But even little things Kyle has taken over. He has waited on me hand and foot since the day we found out we were expecting. He has taken care of all the yard work, laundry, and cleaning-and he does a pretty good job of it. It is so hard for me to just sit back and watch him work, but that's what he asked of me. Ever since we got married, we split up the household chores and each did our part, I felt so selfish just sitting there, but I know that's what he wanted. (Don't get me wrong. I still managed to get food on the table and occasionally, on a wild burst of energy, would scrub the house down!) So, to my amazing husband, I say thank you, and I love you. I hope that every woman would be as blessed as I am.

Ok. We're about to head off to get some last minute things done for Ava. Please be praying for us at this time. Pray for a healthy baby and a safe delivery. We love you all!

Ultrasound #2

2009-09-24T15:49:00.002-05:00

Yesterday Kyle and I went for our second ultrasound. Our doctor was not 100% sure of Ava's position so she ordered us another one. We were both excited and anxious to see Ava again. Boy, is it different from 19 weeks to 37. She looks so smooshed in there! We got a picture of her beautiful profile and another that ensured us she is still a girl! We got to see her spine, her brain, her heart beating rapidly, and even her full little bladder. (Mine was about to pop since I had to wait 2 hours without using the bathroom. That was no fun at all!) The ultrasound showed us three main things. 1. Ava's definitely in the heads down position, 2. it looks like I am 37 1/2 weeks pregnant instead of just 37, and 3. She looks like she weighs about 7 lbs 9 oz. as of right now. The ultrasound tech kept telling us that her weight is an approximate. He said sometimes they are so close it's scary or so far off it's embarrassing! Anyway, she sounds like she's at a healthy weight to me! Both her daddy and I were almost 9 lb babies so we kinda hope she doesn't take after us in that aspect!

We got to meet with the doctor after a long bathroom break for me! I am unfortunately 0 centimeters dilated and she thinks Ava is kind of high still. So, my goal for the next 6 days is to walk, walk, walk as much as I can! They say that helps. If I don't show some progress by next week, I think she will schedule an induction or c-section. Now this is where I ask for your help. Please pray that I will show progress by next week. I really want to have a childbirth the old fashioned way. Not to say that there is anything wrong with c-sections, I just do not prefer to go that route. I'm seriously considering making a T-shirt that says "Don't cut my gut!" and wearing it the day I deliver! No, just kidding. The doctor says she fully respects our wishes and if I want to try labor I can, and if it doesn't go then we'll go with a c-section. But, prayers would be so appreciated. I am so thankful that God has a plan for our daughter's birth.

Our next appointment is Wednesday, September 30th. Maybe I'll go into labor before then! We can hope!

Showers, Doctor's Appointments, Tears, and Updates

2009-09-02T16:16:00.005-05:00

We have been so busy lately we feel like we never stop going. Let me take a moment to update you with what's going on at the Brooks home.

First of all, we have had two wonderful showers in the past couple of weeks. One was hosted by my dear friend Jenny, at church, and the other was hosted by Kyle's former job...the doctor's office. We have started a big collection of things we actually need. We are slowly starting to feel like we are actually ready for the big day and the day we bring Ava home from the hospital. One of my biggest fears was that I would go into early labor and not be able to leave the hospital because we wouldn't have a car seat. Well, that has been resolved because this week we got it along with our stroller. We love it! We put it together immediately and started strolling around with it. We also installed the car seat base in our car and feel pretty good about things now. Our friends and family have truly been blessings during this time by helping to supply us with sweet clothes and necessities. Showers are so much fun! Who doesn't love fun games, awesome snacks, and spending time with friends and family? We actually have 3 more to go. We're both so excited!

So, here's a funny story of something that happened to me just yesterday. We had our doctor's appointment. This time it would be different because I would be seeing another doctor from the office we go to. My doctor, along with many others, thinks it is best for you to have at least one visit with the other doctors just in case one of them have to deliver the baby. Yesterday's appointment was routine: all he had to do was check the baby's heartbeat, position, my urine, blood pressure, and weight. So, please picture this in your mind. I'm laying on the exam table with my big, round, striped belly (bad tan line still from the pool incident) up in the air. He starts pressing on my stomach to figure out the position of the baby. Then, he grabs the Doppler to listen to the heartbeat. I'm trying to be very quiet so I can hear, and as he is rubbing this wand across my belly, he burps right there in my face. I have never thought anything was as funny as this, but I didn't want to make him feel bad for his gas. So I pressed my lips together and tried to stifle my giggles. I thought I was doing a pretty good job of hiding how hilarious this was until I looked down at my belly. It is shaking so hard and going up and down because of my hidden laughter. So, I know he knows I was dying laughing inside and he simply says, "Sorry." There are just two words for this experience...HILARIOUS and AWKWARD! I love it....

And the good news is....Ava is in position for birth! We've been coaching her to be head down- she's already so obedient! Our next doctor's appointment is September 14th and after that, every week! I never thought I'd be so excited about going to the doctor's office.

Another thing I have been experiencing a lot more frequently is tears. I will break down and bawl over the silliest things lately. For example, I'm sitting at school and the teachers are eating lunch like we do every day and I look over at my coworkers tray and see a bag of Goldfish crackers. Huge tears well up in my eyes and I sit there staring at my own food trying desperately to hold them back. What would make me so emotional you ask? Here's what went on in my mind at that moment. "One day, Ava will be old enough to eat Goldfish crackers and it will be a regular on my grocery list." She's already growing up way to fast. I know, I know...very silly. Another crying moment you beg....ok here goes. Early August I go to get my hair cut and highlighted and before I left I said, "I guess I should go ahead and make my next appointment because I want my hair to look good in hospital pictures." I scheduled the appointment for September 25 and immediately started crying. Good thing my sunglasses were on my head. I put them on and apologized for being so silly. But I was thinking...that could be the last time I get my hair done before I'm a mom. Ava may be here two weeks after that. My hair dresser felt for me and hugged me and rubbed my belly....it was a touching moment. Kyle just stood there smiling and shaking his head. I guess he's used to my silliness. But sometimes my tears aren't for sweet reasons like Goldfish crackers and hair appointments. Sometimes they are just tears of anxiety. For example...one early morning I went to the Minit Mart to get a wonderful Dr. Pepper (don't get too many cokes these days). As I walked in I noticed a man with a pony tail paying for a bag of ice. I paid for my drink and walked out of the store. The pony tail man was getting his ice out of the cooler. In my mind, I pictured myself falling (as I often vision) and going into early labor. What if the man used his cell phone to call Kyle and Kyle didn't answer his phone because he didn't know the number? What if the pony tail man had to take me to the hospital and he was in the delivery room when I gave birth? What if Kyle never made it to the hospital until she was already born and didn't get to experience any of it? This was an awful feeling. I cried on the way to school as I took precious swigs of my Dr. Pepper. I could tell it was going to be a tough day. I texted Kyle and he assured me that he would answer his phone no matter what the number. That relieved me for a bit....but what if.......

Aside from showers, belching doctors, and crazy crying spells, we just can not believe that we are 34 weeks pregnant. I can not believe that in six weeks (or less, hopefully not more) Ava will be here! It's hard to believe, but I can not wait. We're so ready to see her.

If I hear it one more time.....

2009-08-07T19:13:00.005-05:00

Let me start off by saying, I am not one of those women who get depressed because they gain weight during pregnancy. If you don't want to gain weight, don't get pregnant. However, this is the week that I have had it with comments from people. So, I decided to blog about the rudeness of people.

I know that short people who get pregnant carry it differently than normal size people who get pregnant. My weight is in my belly. And I look big. Period. I wish other people could just use their brain and realize that all women are different BEFORE they open their mouth.

This week at open house, every person who passed by me said I looked like I was about to pop. Women at church, Wal-Mart, and everywhere else say I look miserable (and I can be laughing my head off at a joke when they say this), I am compared to every other pregnant lady that has walked this earth, and I am asked over and over how many babies are in my belly. This week at school a man teacher came into the faculty meeting and looked straight at me and called me fat. I can't take these rude comments anymore!!!

I want to set the record straight for all of you readers out there. 1-I am pregnant, not fat. 2-I am due in mid October. 3-There is only one baby. 4-Yes, I am sure!

I just had to get that out!

On a lighter subject...

We are T minus 10 weeks until we get to see our daughter. We are so excited! We've finished her nursery and I'm posting pictures on here pronto.
Jenny is throwing me a shower at church on August 23rd and I'm so excited! It will be my first shower and I am so thankful that she's coordinating it all!
I felt Ava get hiccups for the first time last week. It's pretty funny. I hope she doesn't end up with chronic hiccups like me. They last for hours it seems.
I've been nesting, I think. One night at 10:30, I decided it was high time to re-organize the silverware drawer, label each slot for the appropriate utensil, and scrub the dishwasher. One morning at 6 a.m. I felt the need to organize all the tupperware containers and glasses and mugs. Tonight I just had to clean out my pajama drawer and finally get rid of my old cheerleading T-shirts and shorts. I wonder what could be next....
I'm feeling extremely hot right now....not looks wise but temperature. I feel like I sweat all the time and I can never cool down. For a hot natured person, this is not fun.
Kyle and I both started school back this week and it has taken its toll on us. We are planning to do nothing this weekend and get re-fueled for next week.

Well, this was the most random post I think I have ever published, but that is one word that best describes me...RANDOM! Until next time...

2 Down, One More to Go!

2009-07-24T07:40:00.002-05:00

Well, we are officially in the third trimester...just three short months until we get to see our daughter. We can't wait! Now that we have her room almost complete, we are starting to feel impatient about waiting these next three months. Of course we want her to stay in there as long as possible, but we're so excited!

This week we went to the doctor for the sugar test. They couldn't find blood from my arm so they had to get it from my finger. That hurts! I am so sorry for all the diabetics that have to do that several times a day! I asked when we'd know the results and the nurse said that no news is good news, so I'm guessing I don't have gestational diabetes. That's good because I don't know how I'd live without bread for three months!

Kyle and I are keeping busy in our classrooms. He had to move his room to a new one down the hall, so that took a while at the beginning of the summer. I have been working on getting my lesson plans done for August-December because I know I am not going to want to spend lots of time planning in these next few months and I want to be really prepared for my maternity leave. Ohh, about maternity leave...we've decided I would take off until the week before Christmas break. That means maybe 2 weeks of extra time to spend with our baby girl. I originally wanted to take off until January, but we realized I wouldn't get a paycheck for Christmas break, and there was a chance of losing some benefits there as well. So, I think it will work out with me going back the last week of school. That way I can plan with my team mates for after the break and I get to be part of my class Christmas party. Those are always fun.

All this means we are on the hunt for a baby sitter for some weeks during the winter. Ava can't start day care until February as of right now, there just aren't any openings. It could change however, but we want to be prepared. We are looking for someone for one week in December and 4 weeks in January. I know there has to be a sweet lady out there some where, we just have to find her!

Well, that is about it for updates. Pictures of Ava's room will be coming soon. All the painting is done, now we are just waiting to get the fan put up, the curtains put up, and the dresser, which should be coming in next week! Can't wait to get it finished!

99 Days to go!

2009-07-08T08:47:00.002-05:00

I can not believe we are actually under 100 days until Baby Ava gets here....well, hopefully she won't hang out in there too much longer than that! We are so super excited about meeting our daughter. This past week we began putting furniture in her bedroom. As of right now we just have the crib and a storage shelf put up furniture wise. But we did get her bedding put in the crib and it looks awesome! Now we just need the dresser and of course our sweet baby to go in there and then her room will be complete. I am so excited and Kyle keeps saying he's getting really impatient with all this waiting.

We went to our second birthing class last night. It's always such a fun experience. We love meeting new people and learning about birth. Kyle was thrilled he didn't have to practice pushing this time....he complained that he was sore for days after the last class.

Our next doctor's appointment is coming up soon...July 21st. This is the one where they test for gestational diabetes. We are hoping that I don't have that!

Well, that's all for now. Nothing too exciting...except for the fact that Ava's going to be here in 99 days! Woo Hoo!

So much to catch up on....in no particular order

2009-06-24T19:20:00.003-05:00

WOW! 20 days since the last blog and the Brooks family has been very, very busy! I guess I should tell all you followers out there that this is Kyle posting the blog. Rebecca suggested that I post this blog and has since then fallen asleep, so I guess here goes.....I would like to first start by saying that I have officially felt Ava move. Each time I would go to feel her move she would not kick and as soon as I would walk away she would make a movement. I finally told Rebecca to let me tell her when I felt a kick so that I could distinguish between the movements. This past Saturday I was finally able to feel her precious movements and she actually kicked three times in a row. We went to the doctor this past Monday and everything is just fine. It was an informal appointment with an amazing sound at the end...Ava's heartbeat. The next appointment will consist of Rebecca completing a sugar test. This means there will be a nasty drink involved and needles! After that we will begin going every two weeks (crazy) it is already going so fast.

We also started our baby classes this past Tuesday. It was a great class full of information and even practice methods of breathing. Oh yes, there was also an opportunity for me to practice pushing to have some small idea of what Rebecca will go through. It really wore me out!

The room....Well the babies room is finally done as far as the painting and the woodwork go. We were out of town last week (more on this later) and my dad came over for three days and painted the bedroom. The top part is pink and the bottom part is brown. We had already put the chair rail, baseboards, and crown molding up before we left. Steve (Becky's dad) finished putting the crown molding up. Debbie (Becky's mom) came over and filled in some spots and put some finishing paint on the nail heads. A huge thank you to everybody who has helped out so far. My mom has already promised to help us put together the furniture once it arrives. We also have purchased the bedding set and the curtains for the room. Pictures to come soon....

The trip....So I told you that I would tell you about our trip. My sister Karen and her husband Scott graciously opened their house in Dallas, Texas for us to stay. Of course they would be there while we visited. Becky has always wanted to take a road trip (I prefer to fly) so we thought this would be the best time. On Wednesday, June 10th, we packed up and headed out. We drove for 11 LONG hours and finally made it. Honestly, the drive was not that bad I am just typically tired of being in the car longer than 1 hour. We had an amazing time and were able to see many things. It was nice to get away for about a week and RELAX. We came home with more than we left with. Did I mention that Ava is not at all going to be spoiled :)? We had an amazing time and it was awesome to spend time with some of my family out of state.

WHEW! I didn't realize all this had gone on. Sorry if you are exhausted from reading this. We will have pictures posted soon and we will keep you updated as well. Thanks for taking this journey with us....Kyle

Heeeeeeyyyyyyy Macarena!

2009-06-04T07:08:00.002-05:00

Ava's getting stronger and stronger every day. That's what the books say and that's definitely what I'm feeling. I started feeling little flutters several weeks ago, and now they are turning into strong movements and rolling. I love feeling her move around inside of me! Kyle can't wait to feel her. He sits patiently on the couch with his hands on my belly-just waiting for her to kick. Unfortunately, I have to learn to control myself when she does because I get so excited and say, "Did you feel that!?" and his answer is,"I don't know because you were talking." So I gotta either work on that or wait until she gets even stronger.
I know it may not seem like a very exciting post, but we are really excited about it!

Now Introducing Ava Layne Brooks

2009-05-21T20:39:00.008-05:00

Kind of fuzzy, but a great memory!

It's a Girl!!!

One of the only pictures of the cards I made!

Yesterday was a pretty big day for Kyle and I. We had our first ultrasound and found out that we are having a precious baby girl! We were so shocked when the ultrasound tech. said it was a girl because everyone had convinced us it was going to be a boy. We were shocked but so very excited.

This day was extremely emotional for me. As soon as I left school I was sobbing with joy. I just could not believe that in a few short minutes I was going to see our baby! I have honestly never been so overjoyed in all my life.

The ultrasound was so fun. I laughed and cried the whole way through it. She was bouncing all over the place. We were really hoping we would get a good view of whether or not the baby was a boy or a girl and the first thing she did when the camera was on her was show us her stuff. Then she continued to do it about 5 more times throughout the ultrasound. It was so funny! She was basically saying, "You wanted to see it.....here it is!" I am going to attempt to post the video on here so our out of town friends and family can see her for the first time. There is actually one point where she is giving a thumbs up to us! (Be patient with the video, it pauses for several seconds while he snaps a picture of her.) (By the way, I can't figure out how to put the video from DVD to the Blog, so I will have to find someone to help with that. I'll hurry I promise!)

We went to tell all of our family as soon as we could. We wanted to share the news with them in a unique way so I made some cards for each of them. The first side said Baby in silver and inside in pink letters was her monogram. We wanted to see if they could guess her name. As always, it took them quite some time to get the fact that the pink stood for a girl so that had to be explained to them, and they mostly guessed Abigail, with the exception of Allie, Anderson, Ashley, and one Abraham! Everyone loves her name and can't wait to see her.

Stay tuned for the ultrasound video...we think it is pretty awesome!

Let the Construction Begin!

2009-05-08T16:00:00.001-05:00

We have officially started working on the baby's room.! We have quite a few things we'd like to do before he/she gets here. Here is our short list:

Remove and replace baseboard with new that matches the rest of the house.
Put up crown molding to match the rest of the house.
Put up chair rail.
Replace the fan.
Paint.
DECORATE!!!!

As you can see, I am pretty excited about all this!

This week my mom came over to rip off the old baseboard. She is a hard worker! She and Kyle knocked that job out in about 45 minutes. She has even said she would paint and put up the new for us as well! We are so thankful for all her help.

Kyle and I are not gifted in the fix-up-your-house department. We are very fortunate to have such a large, talented family who can help us if we need it...which we do!

Here are pictures of Kyle and Mom working on the baby's room. More to come soon!

My Lovely Baby Bump!

2009-04-28T16:38:00.001-05:00

My belly is getting bigger and bigger each day. Even though I haven't gained any weight by the doctor's scale...it's definitely growing. There has been a request to see the baby bump, so here it is in all its glory! Enjoy! This is me today at 16 weeks.

A Speedy Doctors Appointment

2009-04-22T07:36:00.000-05:00

We had the fastest doctors appointment in history on Monday. It was so fast, Kyle almost didn't make it in time for it! But, he got there thankfully just in the nick of time.
This appointment was pretty uneventful. They just checked my weight, blood pressure, and urine, and then we got to hear our baby's beautiful heartbeat again. This time it didn't take any time at all to hear it. It was 170 beats per minute again--same as last time. Once I commented on the fact that it was the same, it dropped to 164. The doctor laughed and said it was listening to me.
We were really excited about this appointment because we got to schedule our ultrasound. We will know if we are having a boy or a girl on May 20th! We are both so excited we can't stand it! Kyle just knows it will be a boy, I on the other hand haven't said what I think it will be because I just don't know. However, I am getting convinced it may be a boy since everyone else is just so sure of it. Either way, we are just praying for a healthy baby.
Stay tuned to find out how we tell our family the gender and find out the special way we tell them!

One Down, Two More to Go!

2009-04-15T17:44:00.000-05:00

This week, we reached the second trimester of the pregnancy. I was very excited to meet this milestone for two main reasons...1st you can breathe easier because the baby will most likely be healthy and less chance of miscarriage and 2nd there is hope that morning sickness will be gone! Don't get me wrong, I wasn't as sick as some people who throw up 3 or 4 times a day, but just about every day all day I was nauseous and queasy-I only actually got sick 3 or 4 times a week. It really is true what women say, it seriously goes away as soon as you hit the 2nd trimester! What a relief!

Not too much is going on here. We are just trying to be patient and wait to find out the gender of our baby. Some days it seems like the days and weeks are flying, but then other days it seems like it is going slowly. I just can't wait to call and pray for our baby by name.

On a much funnier note, I think I will now include some of the awesome advice I have recieved from my 4th grade student, we'll call her A, for privacy sake!

The day I told my students I was having a baby, A came up and said (in a rough, manly voice), "How many weeks are you Mrs. Brooks?" I answered "11." She responded, "How's that? You can only dialate 10!"
"Mrs. Brooks, you better watch out when you go to the bathroom, or that baby will fall out! You gotta be careful!"
"Mrs. Brooks, when you have that baby, you're gonna bleed a lot. I just want you to know. That happened to my sister, she bled all over the place and had to take a shower!"

How a nine year old student knows all this is beyond my understanding. I am sure in the next month she will give me plenty more advice and I will try to remember to post it for your entertainment.

Can You Hear It?

2009-03-24T19:26:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, Kyle and I went to the doctor's office to see if we could hear the heartbeat. As soon as I got there, the receptionist said that our doctor was out delivering a baby and it would be about 30 minutes before she got back. No big deal, I just waited. Then Kyle got there about ten minutes after I did, and we waited some more. And some more. Two hours later, we were taken back to a room where we waited for about 20 more minutes. And finally the doctor was there! No complaining, she's a busy lady! And I had my best friend there to keep me company. What more could a girl ask for....except maybe a cheeseburger-I was STARVING. We were so happy when she came in. I thought I was going to jump off the table.
She started telling us about finding the heartbeat and how it could be difficult to find. She told us that if we couldn't hear it, we would schedule an ultrasound so we could SEE it. Well, as soon as she said that I started to get nervous we wouldn't hear it. (Thanks to Marley and Me, I was a nervous wreck!) She rubbed the jelly on my belly and we sat quietly listening. She kept moving the wand across my belly and we couldn't hear anything. I was really starting to panic. I just kept praying "Please let me hear this baby, please let me hear this baby." The doctor kept saying "It's hard to find, it's like looking for a pea in a swimming pool." Still nothing. What was probably only two or three minutes of quiet seemed like days. And finally, we heard it. 165-170 beats a minute. The most amazing sound I have ever heard....our baby's heartbeat. It literally took my breath away. I was speechless and teary eyed. I was so shocked I couldn't even cry...until we left the office. Kyle video taped a little clip of the heartbeat for us to always have. We've already watched and listened to it several times! This was one of the most exciting things I have ever heard! I just had to update everyone about our great day!

So Excited!

2009-03-19T18:46:00.000-05:00

Well, Kyle and I have a long 4 day weekend and then it's back to work on Monday. We can't wait until Monday because we finally get to hear our precious baby's heartbeat. I know that in that instant, everything is going to become even more real! I wish I had more patience than I do right now. But I am really trying to just enjoy each day of this pregnancy and not wish for the time to go by so fast. My Mammaw Gerl told me one time to stop wishing my life away. It didn't make since to me when I was younger, but now it definitely does. So, that's what I'm going to try to do! :)
Since our last post, Kyle and I have purchased a car. We felt that the Camry was on its way to dying so instead of fixing its many problems, we decided to get a more reliable car. We got a great deal on a Honda Civic and it's the perfect size for my short self! Even better, we most likely will be able to pay it off before our baby gets here. Yay! So we can check dependable car off our list of things to do before October.
Well, a new post will come on Monday to give a full report of our doctors visit!

Just Call Me Dad

2009-03-07T20:21:00.000-06:00

Hello World!

I wanted to post this on the blog at the beginning of the pregnancy so that it can become that much more real. I really have no words to describe how I am feeling right now. I do know one thing that God has so richly blessed our lives that it is just an amazing feeling to understand that in a few months I will become a dad. I will admit that there have been some moments when I have been so excited and overcome with joy that I can hardly stand it. I have not cried as of yet but I am sure it will come. I hope that doesn't sound girly, it is just the feelings I am having-thinking of being a father and Rebecca being a mother (she will be awesome). What an amazing journey God has put us on, from Rebecca and I meeting in 7th grade, Senior year of high school, The Proposal, Wedding, and now understanding that we will be parents. It is an amazing time and God is blessing us each day. It has become more real being able to tell people we care so much about, the blessing God has given us. The next 7 months are going to be so great. One thing I would ask is that you continue to pray for Rebecca and I that we would continue to remain healthy, patient, and to take each minute in. Also, pray for our little one as it is developing and growing. Pray that it will continue to be healthy and continue in God's plan. We are so Blessed! Thanks so much for all your support and we our so excited for this Journey. ~Kyle

First Doctors Appointment

2009-03-04T20:49:00.000-06:00

On March 2nd, Kyle and I went to our first doctors appointment. Boy, was it fun! Let's just say that funny things seem to happen to us no matter where we go. I won't go into specifics, but just know that peeing in a cup, while difficult, is quite hillarious!
We found out our baby's official due date....October 15th. Right in the middle of the month. The nurse informed us that instead of us being almost 9 weeks along, we were really only 8 weeks. We thought it was weird that we were off a week, but it's no big deal!
At this visit, they confirmed that we are pregnant, drew blood (which is a tramatic thing for me always!), and gave me a TB skin test. It wasn't that bad, Kyle said he was proud of me when it came time for the needles! I am trying to become courageous because I know that is the least of the pain that I will be experiencing in the next 7 months!
Before we left, we scheduled our next appointment. We are really excited because we get to hear the heart beat. We scheduled it for March 23rd-just 3 more weeks! I will be almost 11 weeks pregnant and the nurse said that we should be able to hear the heart beat loud and clear by that time.
Every time I think about this next appointment, I get really teary eyed and excited. I just can't believe that there is a tiny baby growing inside of me. And, that it has a heart beat. It is just amazing! God is amazing! I am so thankful for all of the blessings He is pouring upon Kyle and I.

The Family Now Knows!

2009-02-14T20:45:00.000-06:00

This has been a great week for us. We told my mom, Grant, Mandy, and Sarah on Wednesday night after small group. Mom was totally surprised and excited. Sarah was excited too! Mandy said she guessed it so she wasn’t that surprised. Mom couldn’t wait to tell her mom, so we all loaded into Grant’s CRV and drove over to Granny’s. They were really excited as well. We were so glad we could tell that news with part of our family. The next night we were going to tell Kyle’s mom and sister, Katie. They were ecstatic!
Now that we have told some of our family, this pregnancy seems to becoming more of a reality every day. Now I can talk with my mom and Kyle’s mom about what I am experiencing and it is awesome to not have to keep this a secret from them anymore.
My sister, Mandy (Amanda to everyone else but family), asked if I wanted to go to a big sale at a consignment store yesterday. I said yes just to have something to do knowing that I wouldn’t buy anything because I am already starting to get a belly. However, they had a whole maternity rack. Mandy picked out an armful of clothes for me to try on. We found several winners-2 pair of dress capris, a cute blue GAP top, a pair of jeans, and an adorable dress. I can not wait to wear them! Who knew that you could buy such cute maternity clothes at a consignment shop? Not me! But I am sure glad she took me.
Mandy has made her prediction that our baby is going to be a boy. Kyle thinks the baby will be a boy too. I have no idea what to guess. But lots of people say it’s a boy. Except Kyle’s sister-she guesses a puppy!
I am so excited and can’t wait to tell the rest of our family. It is so hard to keep secrets! We are thinking about telling our dads this week.
I am so thankful that God has blessed us with this baby. I have never been so happy in all of my life.

We're Having a Baby!

2009-02-06T20:28:00.000-06:00

Pardon the hair and the outfit, this was really early in the morning!

The Results Are In!

Proud Father Holding the Test

Kyle and I found out on Sunday, February 1, that we are pregnant! We had made the decision in November to go off the pill at the beginning of the New Year. We had talked a lot about starting a family, and prayed a lot about it too. We had always said that we wanted to wait until we had been married five years before we wanted to start trying, but one day in November, we just started talking about it. Both of us felt a stirring in our hearts and felt God saying that this would be a good time.
We were excited about getting off the pill, but had a constant thought in the back of our minds that it would probably take months for us to get pregnant. We prayed that God would bless us with children and it was a constant conversation that was going whenever we were alone-it was our secret. We didn’t tell anyone that we were not using any birth control, and we were so excited about this big step in our life.
The month of January was an exciting time for us. We were secretly trying to make a baby! It was so unreal to think about. However, in the back of our minds, we thought we would have to try for several months. We were just hoping to get pregnant before summer. We did! Just one month was all it took.
We woke up on Sunday morning and we had decided to take the test first thing. I had been extremely sleepy for a couple of weeks, and had some lower back pain. We tried not to think about it constantly and came up with other excuses about why I was so tired: stress, not sleeping good at night, the weather…but secretly I was praying it was because of a tiny baby growing inside of me. My prayers were answered on that Sunday morning. Just thinking of it right now brings tears to my eyes.
I have always known the power of prayer. Over the past year in my life, I have really seen God working in my life. I have learned how to have a more intimate relationship with Christ and had begun journaling my prayers. It is so amazing to see how God has answered my specific prayers.
Right now, the hardest part of this pregnancy is keeping quiet. I am in my 5th week and I am dying to tell my family, Kyle’s family, and our friends. We have only told 2 people, our dearest friends, Stuart and Jenny Borders. Their reaction was awesome! It was the best feeling in the world to share the news of our baby! Boy, were they shocked and excited!
I feel like my mind is spinning. I want so badly to share our good news with the world, but we have decided to wait a little bit longer…we’re going to try and wait it out till 8 weeks, right before my 1st doctors appointment, but Kyle’s sister Katie will be coming in next week, and he really wants to tell her and his mom at the same time. So, we’ll see.