1 Year Old

Where does the time go? Brookie turned one on Sunday. It seemed like she really started growing up and changing the few days before her birthday until now. Here are her current stats :).

Age: 1 Year

Weight: Somewhere right under 15 pounds (I know, she's tiny)

Loves: Jelly sandwiches, yogurt, grilled cheese, guzzling juice and anything sweet (she rarely gets sugar though), dogs, her thumb, being outside in her stroller, cheerios

Vocabulary: Daddy, Ball, Uh-Oh, Thank You, Doggie and in sign language, please

Disposition: Content and happy though the sin she was born with is starting to come out! Mommy is working on that!

Dislikes: Milk by itself, being alone, honeydew melon

Brings: much joy and happiness to our home. Nate and I love sitting there and watching her play and then she will look up at us, open her mouth, stick out her tongue and laugh. It's the cutest thing. God has blessed us so much more than we will ever deserve!

Party Time!!!

Last night we had a birthday party for Brookie since her first birthday is on Sunday. I can't believe how a year has flown by! She has brought so much joy and fun into our lives and I'm so thankful to the Lord for giving her to us. I know that there are many people who would love to experience the joy of kids and are not able to and I don't take our little gift for granted!

I decorated with a pooh theme
Opening Presents. Timothy and Uriah helped a lot :)
She was so happy the whole night which was surprising cause she only took one nap. I think it was all that sugar!
She would only pick off the little white balls
Looks like she's had a little too much! :)
I made a huge pot of sauce with meatballs, sausage and pork and it was delicious. There was also Italian bread with oil to dip and a big salad. It was a lot of work but it was worth it and the whole night was so much fun!

God is good...all the time!

I have been fretting about us moving, living with someone and all that will entail. Before it's even happened, I envision frustrating situations that will occur and I'm all ready getting annoyed about them, working myself up and thinking about how upsetting it will be...and we haven't even moved yet!
I asked the Lord to give me something yesterday before my devotions concerning it because I knew I really needed it.
The Lord is so good, and of course not only gave me a verse immediately, but gave me about 3 more after that. I wrote them down so that I can reference back to them later when situations do come up. The situations that I was already worrying about. Now I know that there is no sense in worrying about it and when they do come up we can deal with it then.

For now, I'm packing my house up and trying to decide what to keep with me, put in storage, or throw away.
Since I'm in the throwing away and let's start fresh mood, I'm getting rid of a lot. It feels really good!
I'm so thankful for a God who gives you just what you need exactly when you need it. Sometimes, all you have to do is ask, but most of the time he gives it even when you don't ask.

There's something strange about that

For almost 20 years of my life, most meal times were a frenzy. Supper was usually calmer and more organized, but breakfast was: eat whenever you make it downstairs, lunch: if you don't want what Mom made, make something yourself, supper: sit down, more organized, but got pretty crazy when we were in institute and had to leave at 5:30.

Snacks: a totally different thing. After Wednesday night church was the worst. Seriously, we were making meals. Different meals. All of us. Well, except Mom who took one look at the chaos and headed to bed.

It was leftover chicken from dinner, chips and salsa, potato chips (free from church of course), oreo cookies, fried potatoes, fried eggs, toasted bagels with creme cheese...I'm serious. Anything and everything we could get our hands on because for some reason we were starving.

And now I'm married with one child. Tonight I made some pasta and a salad and sat down, all alone, to eat.Brooke had already eaten and Nate had to work late, so there I was all by myself. No competition. No fighting for my food. I could have had as much as I wanted. I saved some and it won't be gone in 2 hours.

There is something strange about that. I'm still not quite used to it, especially that I was just home for over a week and was reminded that food is your source of survivial and if you don't get some in, hmm, about 45 seconds, you won't get any at all.

One of those days...

Yesterday was one of them.
First of all I was still really tired from my trip so when I went to work I was the worst nanny ever I think. I watched the kids play without adding any input or enthusiasm and then when they went in their rooms for quiet time after lunch I conked out on the couch for about 30 minutes. I had a headache and cramps (the joys of not being pregnant--but I'll take it) and on top of it Brooke still wasn't feeling good so she was fussy and clingy.
The hours dragged on because I was so wiped out and when I came home I put Brooke to bed and fell into bed to take a nap. My house was a wreck but I didn't even care, which is rare for me. Brooke woke up screaming, which she never does, wouldn't eat and continued to whine on and off, with intervals of screaming.
This is when you have to pray for wisdom. She was just getting over a fever, still has a cold, is probably teething...so is she like this because she is sick or because she's being bad?
Ok, who knows and at the time I didn't really care.
We were planning on going on a date and I called Nate to tell him that I really didn't want to; I was so frustrated and felt like there could be a better night to do it than tonight. I told him to just make a decision and he texted me a little while later and said "we are still going. I think it will be good for both of us."
Thank God he said that. Little did I know, he had a very bad day at work too--everything was going wrong and he made some (was he said) dumb mistakes. (I tried to tell him that he was being to hard on himself and that he's human and everyone makes mistakes!)
So, around 6:30, our babysitter showed up and Nate and I left.
I think from the moment I walked out the door I didn't even care about my whole long, drug out day because I was so happy to be going out with him and no screaming child!
It took us a while to decide where we wanted to go, but eventually we went to P.F. Chang's, which is an expensive, nice Asian restaurant. The food is not like typical Chinese. It's hard to describe but it was excellent and that's all that matters!
Afterwards we went to the mall to look for an outfit for me. We laughed and talked and walked together. When I tried a dress on that looked really cute on the hanger (but NOT on me), Nate looked at it and said, "It looks like it started out as a really good idea, but somewhere along the line somebody dropped the ball."
Of course I laughed and hung it back up. I didn't find anything, but I'll take a rain check. :)
When we got home, Brookie was in bed and we had the rest of the night to ourselves. Hallelujah!

Blessings

When I was in N.Y. I went to the Ladies Retreat at Old Paths. Although it was only a short weekend, it was packed with a lot of great devotions, free time to catch up with my friends, and really taking time to focus on where I am as a wife and a Mom.
My Mom and 3 other Pastor's wives spoke on the fruit of the Spirit. Of course I needed to hear each one again and it is sad how short I fall.
My theme here for a little while has been focusing on the good in life and everyday situations and the Lord spoke to me yet again concerning this.
It was suggested to start a blessing journal and that is what I am going to do. It will help me focus on the good that happened that day and how the Lord blessed me. It's amazing when you look back on your day and realize everything that the Lord did for you even though you definitely didn't deserve it.
I made a few commitments that weekend, but this is one that I wanted to share with you because I thought that you might want to do it too.

My blessings from today:
1)The house was spotless when I got home! What a great husband!
2) Nate bought me a new flat screen monitor for my computer for Mothers Day! What a huge surprise and something that I have been wanting for a while!
3)Although Brookie is sick, she has been really cuddly today so I've gotten to spend more time with her than normal
4)I got to take a nap today :) Any Mom's know that these are rare and treasured :)

Beale Street Blast

I was so happy that Nate and I were able to go this year! I couldn't last year because I was 9 months pregnant, but believe me--I begged Nate to go. It was still 4 weeks away from my due date but he was not about to let me go out there without him since he couldn't go because of work. So I stayed home and sat my fat self down and sulked and planned that I would go next year no matter what, and I did! We had such a great time. The messages were so good and timely for me and I will probably post about one later that really spoke to me.
We stayed in a 2 bedroom suite with my family and T.J. and had some crazy times together at night. Lord only knows how we all act when it's 2 in the morning and we didn't get much sleep before that. It was pretty out of control; I will say that much. :)

Brookie was so well behaved in the car

Anna and her sweet shades

During the parade on Beale Street

Nate is such a great brother-in-law! :)

The first night on Beale Street it poured cats and dogs almost the whole time. We were totally drenched!

All of us drenched on the way home!

I love this picture of my favorite guys and me :)

Pat witnessing on Beale Street

Thankfully it didn't rain the second night and we stayed nice and dry and had a great time. There were a lot more people out there too, obviously.
Claire and I on the way home

The ride back to NY wasn't too bad and I am going to be in NY now for 8 days! I'm really excited and know that I will have a great time although I already miss Nate something fierce! I hate being away from him. Thankfully the next time I come he will be able to come with me.