Trusting Him

I’m not one to worry about the weather. I’ve grown up hearing my Grandparent’s along with my mom and dad’s stories of the tornadoes they were in throughout their lives.  In college (I think or high school) a tornado touched down not even a mile from our house, it just missed us leaving only small debre in our yard. I’ve honestly just never been afraid. In fact I find the weather exciting. When the sirens go off most times that means in my head “Lets go outside and see what is going on”. Anyone else reading this from the Midwest don’t judge me, you do it also! :) However, over this last week the Lord has definitely been testing my faith.

Joplin Missouri is only about 2 hours from here and the devastation is just incredible. I have a few friends who’s family live there and lots of them are either dead, homeless or still missing. It’s some of the saddest conversations I’ve ever had with anyone. The part that has bothered me the most is how the hospital in that city was torn apart. I know tornadoes can do whatever they please but I honestly never thought they would take out a hospital I guess. We practice "Code Grey" at the hospital often (it's called when tornado warnings go into play) but really, who really thinks actual damage will be done. The hospital that was hit is one of our sister hospitals and the stories we keep hearing are horrific! All I keep thinking about is how I would ever be able to stay in nurse mode working, not able to go home and be with my family. As I try to wrap my brain around that sole thought the Lord continually has been asking me, "How much do you trust me? Where is your faith?" It was so easy to trust when it was just Mike and me, but now with Brody, it's a whole nother story. God promises to take care of us, I know that. If that means on this earth or with Him, because we have a relationship with Him, we will be fine. I can only do so much to protect my son, ultimately he is the Lord's and I have to remember that. I need to stop worrying and begin clinging to His words, "May the God of hope fill you with joy and PEACE as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

All this to say, last night there was more bad weather. Again Mike needed to keep reminding me that I had to trust the Lord. The sirens went off and for the first time I think in my life we took shelter. Mike, Brod, Gunner, Trig and I crammed into our bathroom (it's the center most room in our home)  and waited out the storm for about 30 minutes. The storm passed and we were fine :) Thank you Jesus! I do wish I would have snapped a picture of all of us. I still don't know how we crammed into the bathtub. Also earlier this week Mike and I developed an emergency plan involving a family contact person in Iowa and a place to meet if Mike and I were separated. Hopefully we will never need this plan...but we are ready! :)

Finally below is some pics we had taken while we were in Iowa last month with my sweet niece and nephew. Enjoy :)

Sick

I'm not sure what I was thinking but I truly believed that when you became a mother all sickness just disappeared from you. Well.....I got a great dose of how wrong I was this week! Monday morning I woke up sicker than sick! I had it all fever, chills, vomiting and other things I don't care to mention. Lets just say the whole day I was either in bed or camped out in the bathroom! Thankfully Mike was able to work from home and hang out with the B man. It just killed me hearing that sweet little boy play and laugh and not being able to kiss, tickle or love on him. Mike is a great nurse though! He definitely wins the prize for Mr. Mom! He did it all! Laundry, dishes, Brod's bath, kept the house picked up, various runs to the store for Sprite, Gatorade and soup, and yet still had time to hand me a cold rag every time I visited the bathroom! I'm so thankful for such a great husband! The fever broke Monday night, Mike took the morning off yesterday as I was gaining some strength back, I still napped every time Brody layed down and today...well we are almost back to normal. I'm having a hard time eating/drinking anything but I'm forcing it down due to my poor son needs to continue to eat meaning I need to produce an adequate milk supply for him. So all in all we will all survive! Needless to say....YES....mommas do get sick and how cruddy it is!! But with a great and loving husband it's not the end of the world :) I'm not sure why the Lord has blessed me with such a perfect guy, but I'm beyond thankful for him!

Mother's Day

My first Mother's Day was fun. I surprisingly didn't have to work but Mike did (big bummer!) being a Sunday. B decided to sleep in an extra 30 minutes longer so I enjoyed a great cup of coffee on the patio while reading my Bible. I couldn't of asked for a better beginning to the day! Once B woke up, I dressed him in a onesie that seemed very fitting ;) (See pic below) and headed to church. After church we went out to lunch at one of my favorite Chinese places. Once home, I opened a very sweet card that Brod made along

a hummingbird feeder! The feeder is something I've always wanted but never really thought of getting until B was born and I began imagining the fun we would have watching the tiny birds drink out of it this summer. We'll see if it works out as planned. If not, I know I'll have fun at least ;) Mike then told me to go take a nap (one of my all time favorite things to do!!!). I quickly ran off to our room where I slept for 2 hours! Once waking up completely refreshed, we all went on a walk and then off to small group. What a great day! I love being a mom and am so glad the Lord has blessed me with such a perfect boy! 

A growing boy

The Brodster had his 4 months appointment yesterday. He weighs in at 13 pounds and 7.5 oz and is 23 inches long (I think). He continues to hang out in the 25% for height and weight. He received two more shots :( but did so much better this time around. We gave him 2 does of Tylenol yesterday and that's all he needed! Praise the Lord because last month he was fussy the rest of the week and Mike and I were both on the edge of a meltdown.

We forgot a blanket for the sweet man and he gets striped down to his diaper and it was a bit cold in the room. We thought daddy's jacket would be the perfect remedy :)

The last week we've noticed that B was not satisfied by any amount of milk he received. He woke up every night (which is highly unusual) and would scream his little head off as soon as he sucked me dry. We ended up giving him additional frozen milk in a bottle to try to satisfy him. All week I thought I was failing at giving my son adequate milk and I hated thinking he needed a bottle after nursing because I wasn't good enough. I pumped and pumped like crazy to get my already dripping like a cow milk supply up more. We were very glad we had a Dr. appointment coming up. So all to say we brought our concerns to the Dr. Low and behold we leaned Brody is simply showing classic signs of being ready for food!! Who would have thought?! First timers!! We hurried off to buy some rice cereal for our starving son. Again, these first timers are so naive! Who would have thought there were a million different types of rice cereal?! Whole wheat, regular, apple, banana, etc!!! Thankfully an experienced mom was in our same aisle laughing as she overhead Mike and I in panic over these dumb cereals. Needless to say we settled with the plain old original rice cereal.

We waited until almost bedtime to feed our son his first bite of food. Rice cereal is a hit with the B man (not a hit with his momma though, don't judge me, yuk!!) He's a pro at eating, we never had any doubts though :) This rice is also a fan of filling B's belly, all three of us had a very sleep filled night! Well I guess at 4:30 am I woke to B chatting with his friend monkey on his bumper in his crib for about 15 minutes before re falling asleep. Such social boy!

It was a beautiful afternoon today and my pasty white skin wanted to get out an enjoy it. So B and I made a fun little fort for him to play in. Success! He was happy and I was happy :)

Four months

There aren't too many changes from three months to four months expect for:

• We look for a new love rolls daily on you :) Your such a chunk!
• You now have fun during tummy time.
• Lately, you have no clue what a stranger is. You will chat it up with anyone who is willing to listen. You become bashful though quickly or you turn on your flirting charm ;)
• You love, love, love being outside! 
• Anything and everything goes into your mouth. You have quite the slobber gobbers coming out of you mouth also. Lots of times we resort to placing a bib on you to save your clothes :)
• Your so close to rolling over! You just need a bit of a nudge from us and your over. The look on your face in priceless. You get so happy!
• You had your first few giggles!
• You hold things great in your hands and can bring everything straight to your mouth (your so smart!).

 The look of innocence.

The classic hand in the mouth.

 Grandma K made this Noah's Ark blanket for Brod. He loves looking at the ark. It's such a great opportunity to tell him all about Noah's Ark.

 

Trig and B have finally become friends!!!

 He loves looking at this picture book. There is a pic of a monkey he is looking at and Brod can never stop talking to him. His face lights up as soon as the page is turned to his monkey friend.

Road trip

We took our first road trip and visit home with the B man this last weekend!  We figured this was the first trip and the next 5 months a trip is scheduled  monthly and so B had no choice but to like it ;) He did GREAT! We were so proud of the 8 hours he put up with hanging out in his car seat. The way to Iowa it took us 10 hours and the way home 8.5 hours (we're not sure how we did such great time the way home). Meghan came with us so it was great that we always had someone sitting by him which I think helped a lot! We discovered traveling with a baby is kinda relaxing. When it was just Mike and I we tried to get to our destination as quick as we could. There was no stopping unless we ABSOLUTELY needed to. And now, we stop for meals and even eat in the restaurant! We walk around and even play! I kinda like this new road trip life :)

Anytime we stopped was some major play time for Brody. There were HUGE smiles anytime he was out of his car seat.

There was lots of family who haven't met B yet. They ate him up. By the end of the trip Mike and I were missing our boy because he was always with someone and not us. I selfishly loved that I had to hold him 4 times a day to nurse :) We started to place B in the middle of our table when we are eating at a restaurant. He loves it. Well he was only in the middle of this table for a very short while because there were very eager hands to snatch him up!

B loved meeting his grandma!

I couldn't wait for B to meet his great grandma and grandpa!

Brody has a fussy time between 8-9 pm every night! We were truly on vacation this hour because thankfully Grandpa missed his grandson so much he gladly took this shift :) He discovered B likes the piano and enjoyed playing it.

We had such a fun time showing off our boy! He definitely was a hit :) We are so proud of him how great he did during the whole trip. This puts our minds at ease a lot for the next few months of traveling. On the agenda is California in May, youth camp in June, family camp in July, and vacation to Colorado Springs in August!

Three months.....really???

Oh our sweet Brodster! How in the world are you three months already? We feel like we've known you forever but yet it's only been a few short weeks. It's amazing how quick you are growing and developing into such a perfect little man the Lord is creating. Each day we both wake up somehow more in love you then the day before. I say "somehow" because we go to bed saying "there is just no way we can love you anymore because our hearts are so filled!" Again how true God is when He says, "Blessed is the one with children." (my own translation of course). So true!!! We are so blessed to have you in our lives! Our hearts are busting at the seams with love for you sweet B :)

At three months:

• You love sucking on your fists, you sometimes take your soothie but definitely prefer your hand
• You love watching TV. Sometimes we use it as our last resort when your crying and we have no more tricks left to try to calm you
• You love your mobile friends that hang above your head in your crib. You spend alone time with them once a day chatting it up :)
• You are still not a fan of tummy time
• You are a great talker and love to make noises
• You love to smile, you melt our hearts every time :)
• You are nursing every 4 hours during the day
• Your bedtime feeding is at 9 pm, after eating and some singing your asleep by 9:30. Most of the time you sleep then till 8 am!! Sometimes you wake up at 6 am for a quick feeding then back to bed. This only happens once or twice a week though.
• After a feeding your awake for two hours and then sleep for two hours
• Your favorite song is "I'm in the Lord's Army". It's a guarantee when we want you to smile, so funny!
• You recognize your mommy and daddy and can spot us from across the room
• You just started to make purposeful movements with your hands and are able to grab objects

We love you sweet boy!!

Too cute!

 I forgot to mention in the last few posts that I'm back to work. My first day was two weeks ago and it went really well. I did a whole lot better than what I thought I would. Getting ready in the morning went fine until I had my shoes on and two of my favorite guys staring at me, Mike and Brod. That's when the tears began. I was able to compose myself by the time I got to the hospital, but I saw a friend and the tears returned. I was fine after a half hour because the floor was crazy busy and I was not left with much time to think about my sweet son. Each day has gotten easier to leave. For me it's been nice to work. I'm only gone two days a week but it's been enough time away that when I return I'm excited about changing diapers again :) Also I'm able to not take my time with Brod for granted and truly cherishing every minute with him. I love being a nurse and I'm so glad I get to continue my job. Because the first few weeks of B being here were so difficult, I thought returning to work would only make me feel sorry for the new mothers. Yea no, not true. In fact it only makes me want more babies! Imagine that :) Stay tune I guess........

 We don't have pics yet, but last weekend Mike and I bought our first real "toy" a pop up camper! We've been wanting one for a couple years now and got real serious the last month. Well on Sunday a new Craigslist ad popped up and it was our dream camper (honestly) for 1/2 our budget! Too good to be true! So Aunt Meghan watched B as Mike and I drove 4 hours each way to pick it up. Friday the inside of it will be bleached and cleaned like crazy, some minor repair work and then hopefully in two weeks it's first camping debut :) We can't wait!

 The Brodster has a new toy, and goodness does he view this saucer as his job. He has lots of playing to do. He is beginning to make purposeful movements which has been great to watch.

 He also loves his jumper thing. We don't think he knows yet that he gets to control himself in this. He's always so surprised when he bounces or swings around.

He has begun to grab things in his hands! This is his first ever picture of him carrying a ball! :) One step closer to him throwing a ball for Trig :)

Doctor visit

Our sweet little man had his 2 month (yea a bit behind considering he's 11 weeks) doctor visit today and is growing like the cutest weed you've ever seen! He is officially 11 pounds 10 ounces and 23 inches long! He has gone from the 10% tile in height and weight to the 25% tile! We are so proud of our little man :) He received three shots today and I think momma cried more. Just thinking about it makes my heart split into two. Brod was so brave! Everything else checked out perfect! Next visit we'll discuss beginning rice cereal, so crazy!

 Mike and Brod were having a deep conversation I guess. I love how he loves staring at his daddy! This pic reminds me again of how much Brody has taught us about God's love for us. In the Bible it says to take on a childlike faith, we have learned what that childlike faith is. Brod trusts us to take care of his EVERY need without even thinking about it. Here, he is listening to his dad's every word. It's just insane thinking how much I love Brody. I would do absolutely ANYTHING for this kid of mine but yet....God loves Him and me more than I love Brody.  It's so hard to wrap my brain around that kind of love the Father has for us! Also with his shots today. Even though it hurt me so much more than Brody, I allowed them to happen to save him from diseases/illness later on. So many times the Lord allows us to go through hardships/trails that hurt deeply but He has a plan later on down the road that we have to trust. And just how I swept Brod up as soon as those shots were complete and held him so tightly, the Lord sweeps us up and holds us in His arms. Thank you Lord for teaching us so much through our son!

 Brody having some Trigger time :)

 We thought it was time to ditch the car seat in the stroller and try just the stroller. Brod loved being out and seeing everything! Yes, he's a little flimsy and needing to be held up with blankets, but oooohhhh so cute!

 Such a sweet face!

 

I think this may be the 1st all family picture taken. We've attempted them sooner, but it's just way too hard to get 2 pups and a baby focused long enough.

Great times

The last few weeks, well 9 to be exact, our sweet little man hasn’t enjoyed naptime one bit. He would wake up crying after 20-30 minutes. Words can’t express the amount of frustration this brought! I began to hate any mother’s advice on napping when your child naps because I thought, “How do you nap when your child is screaming?” Anyways…..Mike found the cure. We never swaddled B with his arms in because we thought he hated it. Well that was the code for naptime and bedtime. Turns out he loves it and has taken on the saying sleeping like a baby :) I have had a few very regenerating naps lately also :)

We also found Brody his first pair of sweet little newborn sized jeans! He has 0-3 month ones but they don’t fit yet. Let’s just say he was one stylish boy at church Sunday. 

Brod and I head to my sister-in-law’s house Mondays. His cousin (my niece), Ashlyn, LOVES baby Broody (no typo, that’s what she calls him). She made this picture for him and insisted he look at it while he slept:) Too adorable! It now hangs on our refrigerator.

The 3 of us ate at Red Lobster tonight. MMMMM so good! Mike ordered some crab legs and Brod couldn’t stop staring at them :) He was either freaked out by them or he was dreaming of the day he gets to eat them :)

Side note now....our little man is sleeping a solid 8-9 hours at night! Our newest schedule for him that started this week is 9 am to 9pm. He is eating every 4 hours. He does wake up at about 6 am to be fed and then right down till 9. We are so proud of him :)

Hollywood came calling.......

Yesterday was an eventful day, to say the least. You may remember back in August I blogged about a movie being filmed in the 'ville starring Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams and Olga K (can never remember the last name). They were back in town over this weekend to finish up filming. I had felt like EVERYONE except me had seen or met any three of these people, I had given up all hope....until I got the phone call ;)

Some friends of ours called us saying that the crew was filming in their front yard and Ben was sitting with Olga in on their sidewalk! We of course quickly loaded up Brod and headed over to the shoot. Thankfully we knew the police officer patrolling the barricade and she allowed us to enter and precede to our friends home. I spent the next 1/2 hour in dream land watching the filming and Ben just hang out not even 20 feet from the window! A knock was heard on the door and a woman from the crew was asking to use our friend's restroom. She came in, did her business and as she was leaving spotted Brody. I told her all about him and she said, "Do you mind if Olga holds him and we get a shot of him?" Okay so mind you I had no clue at this moment who Olga even was. All I was thinking was this lady is going to take me to the crew so of course you can get a shot of  my son! She took me right outside, just feet away from filming and introduced me to everyone! Came to find out this was the directors wife!!! I kept telling myself, "Act cool, act cool, act cool!" Then.......Ben walked by!!!! She looked at me and asked if I knew who Ben was. I took a big gulp, I know my heart stopped for a second, composed myself and said, "Umm, well yea, I'm a fan of his" Remember all cool though :) She then pulled me along saying, "Let's go meet him". He had just gotten into a van to be taken to another shoot but she opened the door and said, "Ben I would like you to meet my friend Ashley and her boy Brody." This was my moment to shine. My moment I had waited for and dreamt about for months. I had practiced and rehearsed all that I would say to him from the moment I heard he was in the 'ville. I was ready!................YEA RIGHT!!! Nothing I rehearsed came out. There was no inviting him to dinner, there was no inviting him to church, there was no autograph signed no picture taken no message for him to give to his wife, Jennifer, none of that! Bummer! No regrets though. I reached out my hand (yes our hands touched!) and welcomed him to Bartelsville. He asked about Brody and thought it was cool that his birthday was New Years Day, and that's about it. The director quickly closed the door and the driver took him away. I stayed cool and collected as my heart was pounding and my head was screaming, "I SHOOK BEN'S HAND!!!! AWWWWWW!!!" The directors wife brought me back to the filming as we watched a lady being shot. That lady then walked over to Brody and said, "It's baby time!" It was now I finally realized they wanted to film Brody for the movie!!!! Could this day get any better!!??? I handed her to Brody and taught her some of his favorite positions of being held. As she walked closer to the camera I whispered to her assistant person, "Who is this actress?" She told me Olga (something) and she was one of the leads in the film. I felt like I should have known her so my questions ended there and knew I would Google her when we got home. For the next 30 minutes I got to be right behind the camera as Olga held B being filming away. It was everything I imagined Hollywood would be! B was terrific, a born star! The second he caught gglimpse of the camera his eye's came wide open and he "did his thang" :) Everyone was in love, especially his VERY proud parent's! After filming I spent some time talking with Olga about Brody, about her start, Bartlesville and her home in Ukraine, she was very friendly. We got some pictures with her and Brody and then we left. Of course on cloud nine!

When we got home I Googled this Olga girl and oh my word! Little side note first off: Mike is a HUGE James Bond fan, HUGE! I've never liked these movies at all and have told him from the getko our children will never watch these movies with you or get involved with them how you do (we own the entire collection by the way). Okay back to the story. Our Google results revealed that not only has Olga stared in many top leading rolls, she was the lead girl in the last James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, AS THE BOND GIRL!!! I thought Mike was going to cry when he realized he had met and his son was held and filmed with a Bond girl!!!! A small dream of his had come true and he didn't even know at that moment! He had so many Bond questions he could have asked her. But it's okay....we still met her! Mike has walked around all day saying, "My son was held by a Bond girl!" And I've walked around all day saying, "I met Ben Affleck!"

So there you have it, our brush with fame. It will for sure be a day we'll never forget about and have so much fun telling Brody about and showing him the pics :)

P.S: we can't post the pics of B with Olga till the movie comes out