Amy's blog

Happy Birthday to Gabriel

2010-03-01T08:28:00.010-05:00

It has definately been a very long time since I have posted anything on this blog. Gabriel's 1st bday is the perfect occassion for me to catch up, right? Gabriel turned one on Friday, and we had his party on Saturday. We have all just fallen in love with this little guy's personality. He is so so cute. He melts me with those baby blues every time. Here are the photo's from his party:

He squints every time the flash for the camera goes off

He loved his ballons that had his name on them

Alyssa and Gabe

Gabe did not like the cake. He couldn't stand the feeling of the icing on his fingers and cried until we got rid of it

Brendon with his other broken wrist

Mommy and bday boy

Unwrapping new stuff

Gabriel still refuses to walk, but will take steps and is very firm on his feet. He now says "uh-oh" in addition to "ma ma" "da da" "no" and his on version of yes, "leh". He continues to eat absolutely anything and everything we put in front of him. Defintely not a picky little guy. I now have him completely weaned, and next we are going to try and get rid of the pacifier's. I am not sure how well that will go over. Gabe continues to sleep alot, and takes two naps a day. We went to the doctor and got his stats for the year.

30 1/2 inches tall- 75th percentile

22 1/2 lbs- 50th percentile. Keep in mind that he was in the 25th just two months ago! He is def. an eater.

I really cannot believe that the little guy is 1! When he was first born, and not sleeping, it seemed like it would last forever. Now here we are, a year later. We all love him more and more every day. I am so glad we get to enjoy him every day:)

Halloween 2009

2009-11-09T10:55:00.008-05:00

I really cannot believe that Thanksgiving and Christmas are almost here. I will also be turning 30 next week. Really, where did the summer go? Anyway, we are moving right along over here. Gabriel is getting bigger every day. He is now walking around furniture, standing for short periods of time on his own, and eating everything in sight. Really, there is nothing I have found that this kid doesn't like. He can eat and eat and eat. Right now as I type, he is eating an entire Gala apple that I steamed for him. He is lucky that he is thin like his daddy;) Gabe is also now sleeping 11-12 hrs. a night.

Halloween this year was pretty uneventful for us. I usually have big plans and go to some huge party, but we just stayed at home this year. We took Brendon and Gabriel to a festival in Mt. Holly during the day, and then Eric's mom took Brendon to trick or treat, while we put the baby to bed. Brendon was a ninja from GI Joe (the bad guy wore white???) and Gabe was a chicken, costume courtesy of Lora.

My boys

Chicken and Daddy

This was pretty neat. Brendon was standing in line to do the jousting, and there was a kid in front of him the exact height and weight and age as Brendon in the opposite GI Joe ninja costume. His true doppelganger. Brendon and this little boy decided to joust each other in the competition.

Brendon won the jousting and knocked him off, and then showed good sportsmanship and helped the other little boy up and gave him a high five.

This is a dreadful pic of me, but I wanted to include at least one of me and the babe

Smooches from mommy

Busy, Busy Baby Boy

2009-10-27T08:49:00.005-04:00

Oh goodnes, Gabriel is into everything. He has started so many new things in the past month.

He started pulling up on all of the furniture at 7 months
He sometimes will wave bye bye
He says mama and dada, sometimes he gets the right parent, and sometimes he doesn't
When I tell him "No", I can tell he understands me completely
He has begun to "gum" some solid foods in his high chair
When he is standing holding onto something, he will let go and stand for a second
He will sleep at night anywhere from 9-11hrs straight, nurse, and then go back to bed for a couple more hours.
I can lay him down at naptime, and he goes to sleep with absolutely no protest at all

We went to Ocean Isle with my parents two weekends ago for the Oyster Festival. Gabriel made it clear that he doesn't like to travel. We had some rough nights while we were there. Here is a pic of my mom and Gabe on the way to the festival.

Here is Gabriel in his new space saving high chair. He loves it.

As for Brendon, he has gotten very active in Boy Scout b/c he couldn't play baseball this season since he broke his wrist. Last weekend, his troop went hiking at Mt. Mitchell. They went on a six mile hike up the mountain. Only a few kids made it to the top, and Brendon not only made it to the top, but he was in the very front the whole time. He had a great time, and is looking forward to more hiking trips. Brendon gets his report card today, and that will determine how many trips I will allow him to go on.

As for the parents, Eric and I have been taking a class called Crown financial. It is basically a study for how God wants us to use our money. We had no idea that there are more than 2500 verses in the Bible about finances! It has been very eye opening and an extreme blessing for us. We are now working with a financial advisor to get everything in order. As it turns out, we are not as bad off as many people she is working with. I got a part-time job at Outback Steakhouse for extra money. I am really enjoying getting out of the house and earning some extra income. I only work about 3 nights per week, but I really like it.

Christina's Baby Shower

2009-10-27T08:39:00.004-04:00

My cousin, Christina, is expecting a little baby boy in early November. We had a baby shower for her a couple of weeks ago. My aunt and I both have birthdays in November, so we are hoping that the little guy arrives on one of our birthdays.
Christina lived with me for awhile after her mother passed away six years ago from breast cancer. Back then, Christina was just incredibly sad and depressed b/c she was so close to my aunt. She has matured and grown into a beutiful woman, and I am so proud of her. I know she will be a great mother, and I am saddened that my aunt cannot be here to see her new grandbaby.

Christina

My grandmother and the spread of food that the Russell's are famous for

The cake

My cousin, Linsey's little girl

The sixth and seventh months

2009-10-02T08:44:00.008-04:00

Well, Gabe has done alot in the past month. He started crawling about a month ago, and now he has it down. Then, the other day when we went into his room, he was standing in his crib. Yesterday, when I left him alone for a sec, I came back and he was standing up holding onto the sofa cushion. Yes, I think he will be walking before he turns 9 months. I did not expect these things so early, so the house is not childproofed in any way, shape, or form.
Most days, Gabriel is a blast. I am completely in love with that little baby. Right now, he is getting his second tooth on the bottom, and he has been very very cranky. He gets more fun each and every day. I also love to see the relationship that he and Brendon have developed. He gets so excited to see his big brother every day. Brendon has shown no signs of jealousy at all. He loves his brother so much. When it is time to do homework, I have a very difficult time peeling Brendon away from playing with Gabriel. It is really so sweet. I love the brother bond that they have, even with them being so far apart in age.

This is not really a good picture of me, but I put it up anyway. Last week my mom kept the baby so that me and Eric could have a night on the town. We really enjoyed ourselves and look forward to doing that again sometime.

I have been trying to remember to take more pictures of Gabriel than I did of Brendon when he was a baby. So here they are:

I decided to try to find a part-time job, since Eric has had difficulty finding something a little more permanant. Unfortunately the job market is terrible right now. I applied at Outback Steakhouse, and I got a job! I have never worked in a restauraunt, but I am going to try my hand at it. I really love the hours b/c I don't even have to be there until 6. I am going to go in 3 nights a week, and stay for 4 hours. It is really ideal for our family b/c I can still stay home with my kids and make some extra income. I am very excited, and it will get me out of the house after a long day with the kids.

On the Brendon front, we have been have some difficulty with laziness. He has decided that he doesn't want to study or do his homework. I am starting to let him make more decisions on his own, but he will have to pay the consequences for bad grades. On his midterm report, he was still on the honor roll, but this laziness will catch up with him. I am trying to make him learn a little responsibility and accountability. Those are life lessons, that he needs to learn. Unfortunately, sometimes we have to learn those things the hard way, and I am afraid that is the path Brendon is taking. He wants to become very active in Boys Scouts, and he won't be able to if he cannot keep his grades up. I have already told him this, but I think he is testing us to see if we will follow through. Just pray for Brendon as he approaches his teenage years. Actually, you may want to send your prayer to me and Eric:) I want us to teach Brendon to be a good man one day, and sometimes that can be a long and difficult process.

Tooth

2009-09-23T08:17:00.001-04:00

Well, it finally happened, Gabriel got his first tooth last week. After a week of no sleep, it finally broke through. I have no pictures of it b/c he will not let me look at it. It is on the bottom. He has also in the beginning stages of crawling. He can crawl for a couple of seconds, and then falls over. Cute baby pics will be posted soon. Stay tuned.

Birthday and a half birthday for my boys

2009-08-29T06:42:00.014-04:00

Yesterday I took Gabriel to the doctor for his six month checkup. All is well with the little guy. He weighed 16lbs 8 oz (35th percentile) and he was 27 inches long (75th percentile). He is growing well, and learning new things every day. His temperment has definately calmed down alot, and he is playing in his crib and pack and play with more contentment. Gabriel is on a regular napping schedule, and sometimes will sleep up to 2 1/2 hrs. in one nap. Gabe still wakes up at night to feed, but usually only once or twice. The first feeding is around 10, when I am still up. Mommy and Daddy are definately getting more sleep these days. Gabe is currently getting up on his hands and knees in a crawling position. I do believe he will be crawling in the next month. If you put and object in front of him while he is on his hands and knees, he will try to go after it. He is such a joy and blessing to our family. God has really blessed me with a wonderful family that I love so much.

Brendon had his 11th birthday on August 26th. He decided that instead of just having a couple of friends go somewhere, that he wanted to invite everyone to our house. We had about 30 people over here, and I did a cookout. Brendon had a fantastic time, and got some great gifts. Me, Eric, and Becky got Brendon a new bike (Schwinn), and he can't stay off of it. He really loved it.

Here he is thanking my dad for his game Cornhole. He loves that game, so dad bought it for his birthday. We have played with it alot. It is really a fun game.

The same lady that made my cakes growing up, has made most of Brendon's birthday cakes. She also did my wedding cake, and is incredibly talented. The cake is always moist, and the icing delish. Here is Brendon about to blow out the candles.

I think that Brendon's 11th year is going to be a challenge. He is really starting to develop that teenage attitude. All in all, Brendon is such a great kid. I love to be around him, and do things with him. I can't believe I have a "tween"! He will be in middle school next year...

Happy Birthday!

2009-08-26T08:09:00.002-04:00

Happy 11th Birthday to Brendon! Time has flown. I cannot believe that Brendon is a "tween". Oh, and today is Gabriel's half birthday! My babies are getting big! I love you both soooo much. I will post pics later today of the birthday party.

Update

2009-08-06T07:17:00.003-04:00

We went in to the Dr's office on Tuesday for Brendon's 11 year checkup! Wow, I cannot believe he will be 11 in a couple of weeks. Everything checked out well. Brendon is now 4 '10 and weighs 77 pounds. He is in the 75th percentile for height and the 50th for weight. The translation, Brendon is tall and thin. Even though he is thin now, the doctor talks to all kids about obesity. He told Brendon that the main culprit in obese children is empty calories from sugary drinks. Brendon's BMI (body mass index) is a 16.5, and the average for his age is 20. So, he is doing well. Staying active, and eating right. I have made sure that Brendon is health conscious, considering I used to be obese. My BMI before my surgery was a 43!
On that note, I have decided that I must become more proactive to lose this baby weight. I have about 13 lbs. to lose to get back to my prepregnancy weight, but I need to lose about 30 lbs. I put on about 15 lbs. before I ever got pregnant. When I graduated college, I wasn't walking near as much before, and put on some weight. I have now joined Weight Watchers and the YMCA. I am really determined to lose some weight, so wish me luck:)

Gabriel is like a new baby

2009-07-22T14:50:00.004-04:00

Ever since starting rice cereal, Gabriel has been a completely different baby. He isn't fussy and crying all of the time, but happy and smiley. I love it! I think he must have really been in some pain from that reflux. The GI doctor said that solids should really help. I cannot believe the turnaround we have had in the past couple of weeks. We have so much fun laughing and playing. Gabe's sleep schedule has also gotten much much better. He is now only waking twice a night, and taking regular naps. We are so grateful that God has given us this beutiful little guy.

It's a little belated...

2009-07-15T09:06:00.002-04:00

It's a little late, but I wanted to post the stats for Gabe's 4 month appt. He is 14lbs 8 oz, and is 24inches long. 50th percentile for both length and weight. The GI doctor had me start him on solids a couple of weeks ago so that his reflux would get better. So far, he loves pears and bananas. We picked squash from our garden and made baby food with it that he will try in a few days. I like making my own baby food.
Gabriel is more and more adorable every day. God I love that baby:) Even though he is very demanding, he is so stinking cute. I am completely in love.
As far as sleep is concerned, we are still not getting a whole lot. Gabe wakes up every 3 hrs to eat, and my lactation consultant said that I need to just feed him when he wakes. The good news, is that we have finally worked out a good napping schedule. Gabe goes down at 9, 12 or 1, and then again at 3 or 4, and sleeps at least an hour just about every time. Since he has become well rested, he is very pleasing to be around. He smiles and talks to us all of the time. I think that he is going to be an early crawler. He is already trying to scoot around the floor. I can see that I will have my hands full with this one. Friday Lora is taking some pictures of me and Gabriel, and so be on the lookout for great pictures.

Belated Vacation Post

2009-07-07T16:10:00.015-04:00

I have really just been lazy about this post. We had a fantastic time at Ocean Isle at my parents beach house at the end of June. My parents and I stayed with the kids for a full 9 days. It was kind of long, and I was ready to get back home. Gabriel got a bad ear infection halfway through the week, and the urgent care gave him an antibiotic, but it didn't cure it. He is all better now, though.

Gabe and Daddy

Gabriel absolutely loved the beach. He layed on his blanket just as content as he could be. Afterwards he would take a long nap.

Gabriel loves uncle Jason, just like Brendon.

The view from my dad's boat in the ocean. It is really hard to send a 10 year old boy out into the ocean when you see how vast it is. I was just always praying he would come back in one piece.

This is the king mackral that the guys caught. 35 lbs. total. We are still eating it!!!

This is Brendon's king mackral

Jason weighing the fish

Nana and Gaby on the beach

Me and my kids. Yes, there is still baby weight for me to lose.

Gabe fell asleep on his grandpa

Brendon on the beach.

He did it!

2009-06-14T09:18:00.007-04:00

Gabriel rolled over yesterday! He was so excited, he has done it over and over. I could barely get him dressed today b/c he kept rolling.

Gabriel, just like me and Brendon, loves the water. He is my little water baby. We have been going to the pool almost every day, and he loves it. It also wears him out, and he sleeps for a really long time afterwards. Here we are getting ready for our daily swim:

Gabe and my dad. My dad adores his sweet grandson.

Gabe coming out of the water with a big smile on his face.

Congrats to Brendon for great acedemic achievement!

2009-06-13T11:24:00.002-04:00

Brendon's last day of school was the other day. I am so incredibly proud of him for all of his acedemic acheivements this year. On his last report card, he was only 2 pts. from having straight A's. He did have straight A's for 2 quarters this year, and AB honor roll the rest of the year. I also received his scores for End of Grade Testing. Brendon got a whopping 98th percentile on the math EOG! That means that he did better than 98% of kids in NC on the EOG. Out of 370 problems, he only got 3 wrong! He also did well on the reading portion of the test, considering he is dyslexic. He got 356/370 problems right. I am just a very proud momma right now. He worked really hard this year, and did a great job.

Just before the end of school, they had an awards day. Brendon got an awards for being the best in math, an award for the ecology club, and an award for the chess club. Here he is with the principal from his school:

Here he is with the vice principal:

Update

2009-06-02T17:30:00.003-04:00

Well, we are starting to fall into a routine at the house. Most nights Gabriel sleeps from 7pm-2am and then eats and goes back to bed until 5am. Then he thinks it is time to get in bed with mommy and daddy. That is going to change soon. Gabe has to see a gastroenterologist in a couple of weeks because he has really bad acid reflux (GERD). If we forget his medicine, he will scream the whole day. Otherwise, he is cute and pleasant. At the present time, we are teaching Gabriel how to nap in his crib. He doesn't like it. He will learn someday.

Brendon will be finishing school next week. One more year, and then middle school. He is going back to private school next year. I just didn't feel as though the public school was challenging him enough. We made the decision to cut off the cable and send him back to private christian school. I think he will like his new school. I am ready for Brendon to be home more. We can hang out some over the summer.

That is all for now...

Happy Anniversary to us! It's been one crazy year...

2009-05-19T07:31:00.007-04:00

Eric and I celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary yesterday. It has been a crazy year. 2 weeks after we were married we closed on our house, then 3 weeks after the wedding, I was pregnant. We moved, in January, Eric lost his job, then in Feb. we had a baby, then Eric got a job to get us through for a few months. It has been a wild and crazy year for us. I think we crammed as much life change in one year as we could. We are happier than ever, and hoping that all of the future years are not this crazy. Eric, I am so glad I get to spend my life with you:)
To celebrate our anniversary, we went to Mt. Airy and Yadkinville to visit the NC vineyards. Those of you that know me, know that I am a wine conniseur (sp?). We had a fantastic time, and stayed at one of the nicest Bed and Breakfasts around. The cabin was beutiful and the breakfast was great! It was nestled in the woods of Pilot Mountain. The best thing about this Bed and breakfast, is that everyone has their own cabin, with it's own entrance. We took lots of pics, and we were able to reconnect. It is hard to spend time with your spouse when you have a new baby. Both of the kids stayed at my parents house. Gabe did fantastic away from home.

This picture was taken at The Old North State Winery. We took a tour, and got to see how they make all of their wines. We also did a tasting, and all of it was really good. My new favorite wine is Muscadine wine. It is actually better for you than red wine. This place also had a great story. Before it was a winery, it was a hardware store, and they carried explosives. In 1904, the building exploded, and in 1914 when they went in to excavate the building for the winery, they found an arm in the basement. She showed us exactly where the arm was found. That was neat.

This is a picture of our room a the Bed and Breakfast. Obviously we had already made ourselves at home. You can see all of our stuff lying around. You can still see how lovely our room was.

This is me standing on our own private walkway up to our cabin. Drinking some wine, of course. It was a trip about wine, after all.

Pics of me and Eric sitting on the porch of our cabin. We really enjoyed sitting out there. When it started to rain, it was so peaceful. Did I mention we all had tin roofs? The rain sounded awesome on the roof.

Love Birds

Kissy face

Blurry

This was me in the breakfast room drinking my coffee

Eric drinking his coffee

This was the view of Pilot Mountain from the breakfast room. It was a beutiful scene to look at while eating our yummy breakfast.

Gabriel and Colin playdate 05/12/09

2009-05-19T07:25:00.004-04:00

Last Tuesday, Lora, Colin, and Lily came over for another cooking lesson. We made lettuce wraps and they turned out great. In the meantime, Lora took some awesome pics of the babies. The Bff's seemed to really enjoy their playdate. Today we will be having another cooking lesson, and making one of my favorite Thai dishes with red curry. Pics to come later.

Congratulations Brendon White!!!

2009-05-11T18:28:00.008-04:00

Brendon officially became Brendon White on April 22nd. Yay for Brendon. Now we are all one big family with the same last name. We must thank our small group for giving us the funding to afford to go through with the adoption. It was a gift we will never be able to repay. God has blessed us so much with the people in our small group. We are very lucky to have them.

We had a small party for Brendon, complete with a slip n slide that we borrowed from Cody. The kids all seemed to have a great time.

And we have alot of other new pics to post too:

Me and Brendon (I am still attempting to lose this baby weight.)

Gabe and Daddy

Gabe and bathtime

Brendon and Gabriel on the floor playing

Daddy and Gabe sleeping on the couch

Time for the slip n slide

Brendon and his ribcage

Brendon and Cody

Eric's dad
Me, in a bad picture

Cody

Brendon

Maddox

Playdate

2009-04-29T08:26:00.008-04:00

Yesterday Lora brought Lily and Colin over for a playdate and cooking session. I am teaching her how to shop for and cook nutritious meals for her family. Since cooking is a passion of mine, I gladly obliged. It was a little chaotic with the kids, but we managed to shop and get everything cooked by the late afternoon. We are going to try and do a new recipe every week. When we took breaks, Lora snapped some great pictures of the boys with her awesome camera.

This one is my all time fav of Gabe

Sleeping in my arms

Baby Colin and Gabe propped up on my couch

Gabriel lying in Colin's lap. It was hilarious!

BFF's

Huh?

Catching Up with lots of pics

2009-04-20T08:02:00.010-04:00

I have been pretty bad about updating lately, so here is a big one. Gabriel continues to grow big, and we are so in love with him. He now weighs 11lbs and 1/2 oz. We were having some problems with alot of fussiness, like he was in pain. It seemed he was always crying, and I noticed that he was spitting up all of the time, and he screamed when we lied him down flat. I called the doctor, and we found out that b/c he is a vigorous nurser, he has acid reflux. As soon as they put him on the medicine, it was like we had a new baby. It was so bad last week that I was up with him til 4am 3 nights last week. We are hoping that this will change things. He is in the 50th percentile for weight, and the 75th percentile for height. Exactly the same as Brendon.

Last week Lora and Colin came over along with my sisiter in law, Cookie, and her kids. It was definately a fun and wild day. Lora took some great pics of the kids and I posted them below.

For Easter, my parents invited us to the beach. Eric had to work, so I thought it would be a good break for him if I took the kids, and let him stay home and rest. We had a really good time with my mom, dad, and brother. The baby did really well with his first trip to the beach. We are going back down there in a couple of weeks. Brendon decided that he was not too old to dye Easter eggs or to do an easter egg hunt, so we did one. It was alot of fun. On Easter morning, we dyed eggs and hid them, while my parents prepared and Easter feast. It was a great day, but I was ready to get back home to my husband. We were gone for 5 days, and I got a little homesick. Brendon and Jason took lots of funny pictures, and here they are.

This morning Gabriel was cooing and smiling at me while he was in his bouncy seat. It is very hard to get a good smiley pic, but I managed to get a pretty good one.

Finding a Routine

2009-04-06T17:42:00.008-04:00

Well, we are starting to fit ourselves into some sort of routine around here. I have been trying to wait patiently for Gabriel to get on some sort of schedule. I think he is getting there. Here lately he naps most of the morning, except for feedings, and then some in the evening. Then we put him in his crib at 10, and he goes about 4 hours, eats, and then anywhere from 2-3 hours after that. He seems to dislike when I take him out all day, I think he prefers to be at home (who could blame him). At his 4 week checkup he weighed 9lbs. 6oz, and he was 22 inches long. That is 40th percentile for weight, and 75 percentile for height. Looks like he is already following in Brendon's footsteps. Tall and thin.
We had to let Gabe cry some in his crib for a few nights. It just about killed me, but I am already glad that we did it. He still has some rough nights, but he will mostly stay in his crib and sleep without crying now. All in all, it is going well now.
Here are some cute pics:

Gabriel's Slide Show

2009-03-30T07:26:00.003-04:00

Since Lora found a good slideshow creator, I was able to do my slideshow over in the same page that she used. Sorry that the video is in the bottom corner, but I wanted to use this song. Enjoy.

Some pics of baby and family

2009-03-21T10:25:00.004-04:00

Well, we are still adjusting over here. It has been so long since I had a newborn, it is taking more time than I had expected. Gabriel is now 3 weeks old and the love of my life (besides Eric and Brendon of course). I am still working with the breastfeeding. I feel like baby is attached to me 24-7. So far I have been unable to store any milk in the freezer, so the baby has been with me all of the time since he was born. My goal this week is to store enough milk so that Eric and I can go have a relaxing dinner together, and I can leave the baby with his nana.
I am having alot of guilt lately about Brendon. I feel like I am falling behind on all of my responsibilities to him. I am always having to sleep when he is at home. I miss my other baby:( He doesn't seem to mind, but I really do feel like I miss him. We had 8 yrs. of just the two of us, and now we have a family to share with. It was time for us to have a family, but sometimes I miss just having mommy and Brendon time. Anyway, here are some pics:

Maternity Pics

2009-03-16T15:47:00.006-04:00

I know that I already have the baby and all, but I did have some professional maternity pics taken, and here they are...Sorry to everyone about the slideshow, I don't know why the html codes wouldn't work. I will try again later when I have some time:)

Some baby pics

2009-03-05T07:39:00.010-05:00

Well, Gabriel is one week old today. I never could have imagined becoming a mother a second time could be such an absolutely wonderful experience. Even with all the stuff that happened this past week, I don't feel stressed. 10 years later, I have infinately more patience and maturity. Being up in the middle of the night has not really bothered me b/c I lived with insomnia for years. Baby Gabriel has already put himself on a regular schedule. He nurses every 2 hours like clockwork. In the night, he wakes up every two hours to feed, and then goes right back to sleep. Eric has done an absolutley wonderful job at handling a newborn. He has definately changed more clothes and poopy diapers than I have. He is great a swaddling, and adores his new little guy. Eric has also been paying extra attention to Brendon. Brendon has been handling this transition well. He loves to hold the baby, and kiss him on the forhead. He has also done really well with the nursing thing. He is glad to leave the room or cover his eyes for me to get started, and then I get covered up so he can return. All in all, we are doing really well.

Labor and Delivery of Gabriel

2009-03-04T08:31:00.003-05:00

It has taken me a while to post this because we have had a rough time the past few days. On Saturday we came home, and I have a terrible cold that I cannot seem to kick. As most of you know, Sunday it began to snow. By Sunday night, our power had gone off, and we had no power for 8 hours. We took turns just holding the baby to keep him warm. So now for the birth story.

I went in on Thursday morning to be induced at 7:30am. The nurses prepped the room and then they prepped me. I told them that I wanted to be as mobile as possible throughout my labor so that I would not be on my back. This was going to be difficult b/c I had to be hooked up to moniters and the pitocin drip. I was still able to go to the bathroom and walk around the room. They started my pitocin at 9am, and Dr. Lucas came in to check me and break my water at 10am. After he broke my water, I went into strong labor pretty quickly. I held off on the epidural as long as possible. I made it for 2 hours, and then asked for drugs. I got epidural #1, and it didn't help my pain at all (It only numbed my legs). The doctors weren't sure what had happened. They came in and tried to adjust it, and it just didn't help at all. The anesthesiologist decided it would be best to try and redo the epidural. She came in and redid the epidural, and it took the edge off of the contractions, but I still had alot of pain. The nurse checked me at 2pm, just before my second epidural, and I was still only 3cm. The epidural eased my pain enough for me to be able to dilate. By 2:45pm, I was in terrible pain, again. They paged the doctor, and they were going to work on the epidural again, but it turned out I was already 10cm and ready to push! I had to wait for about 15 minutes for them to find my doctor. The doctor arrived in the delivery room at 3pm, and I pushed until 3:07 and that is when Gabriel was born. I was immediately in love with him. Eric did great throughout my labor and delivery, and I was glad that he stayed so calm. I pretty much had an involuntary "natural labor", but it was much shorter this time, and I barely had to push. All in all, I would say that this labor experience was a great deal better than my labor with Brendon. Now I have two wonderful kids, and I am so happy. Gabriel is gorgeous, and a very sweet little boy.

Welcome To The World

2009-03-01T09:08:00.007-05:00

Gabriel Lucas White

Born February 26, 2009

8lbs, 7 oz, 21 inches long

Born at 3:07pm

Thanks for all of your support and prayers

Final Belly Shot

2009-02-25T16:40:00.003-05:00

Well, there it is, the last belly shot before labor. I saw the doctor today, and I asked about using Cervadil, but he really said that my cervix was already ready for labor. Baby has dropped even more since Friday, and the doctor said that he could probably break my water with just the slightest touch. I am going to go in tomorrow morning and they will start the pitocin around 8am. He promised me that he was not going to have to put the pitocin on at a high rate. Who knows, I may even go on my own tonight. I somehow doubt it b/c the baby seems stubborn. I have been having contractions for two weeks! I am now 3cm dilated and effaced about 70%. Next time I post on here, I will have a new baby boy! I will keep everyone posted.

Baby is coming this week

2009-02-20T16:08:00.004-05:00

I went to the doctors office today for an ultrasound to see just how big this baby is. We found out that he is weighing about 9 lbs. +/- a pound. He is a big boy! We also found out that the ultrasound showed a massive amount of hair on the head of this child. She said he may come out needing a haircut. Anyway, above is a picture of his very smooshed face that she took, and he looks like a little chunky monkey. My doctor stripped my membranes in hopes of inducing some contractions, and here I sit having some contractions, but nothing I can time. My doctor wants to go ahead and induce me on Thursday if I don't have the baby by then, so we went ahead and scheduled it. I am hoping not to make it to that date b/c I hate pitocin. I will keep everyone posted:)

The Time Will Be Here Soon

2009-02-13T06:51:00.003-05:00

On Wed. I went to the doctor for my weekly checkup. I was 37 1/2 weeks. I was already 2cm. dilated, but not effaced at all. He checked me, and then measured baby. He believes that our little one is already about 8 lbs. He said that he would like him to stay in the oven for about another week, and then he would like to take measures to get him out. After my exam, I began to have contractions at regular 10 minute intervals. The contractions continued all day yesterday, and seemed to subside last night. I am not sure when baby will decide to come, but we will be ready when he does. I am going back to the doctor a week from today, and he will strip my membranes to try and make labor begin a little early. If that doesn't work he would like to do Cervadil, and then pitocin. I don't want pitocin at all, so pray that it doesn't come down to that...

Eric's Birthday

2009-02-10T07:07:00.008-05:00

Yesterday was Eric's 32nd Birthday. It was a good day. We just kind of hung out, and his mom took us to lunch, and the weather was perfect. Yesterday was also a full moon, so I was kind of hoping that this baby would possibly decide it was time to come out. However, he didn't share that same sentiment.
Here is a 37 weeks pregnant belly:

Eric's family came over for cookie cake and ice cream after dinner. We had a good time hanging out with all of them and talking.

The White House

2009-02-06T03:31:00.002-05:00

Well, it won't be long until we have two little 'White' boys. Today we go into social services to meet with the adoption lady. She will then have to do a home visit, and the adoption will be final. Brendon will finally be Brendon White. We are trying to have this all accomplished before our new baby gets here, so wish us some luck. Brendon already writes his name as Brendon White on everything, but I know he will be ecstatic when he has a new birth certificate with his name on it. I will also be glad for Eric to be his legal dad, just in case something happened to me. It will really make him feel like we are all a family, and he is not the only one with the odd name. Anyway, we are all really excited!

Update and Baby Shower

2009-02-04T17:19:00.008-05:00

Today was my 36 week checkup. I wasn't surprised to learn that the baby's head is completely engaged in my pelvis, and ready to go. Friday evening I actually felt him drop. I am now 1cm dialated. The MD said I really could have the baby anytime. I was worried about that b/c I am not quite full term yet. He reassured me that the baby would be just fine if he were born now. I still hoping that he stays put a little longer.
Last Saturday, I had my baby shower at my mother-in-law's house. I had a great time, and got lots of wonderful gifts. Everyone was so generous. I don't really need much more to do. The nursery is almost finished. Here are the pics from the shower:

Unemployed

2009-01-31T10:06:00.001-05:00

Well, my husband lost his job yesterday. Not exactly good timing. We are trying to keep our heads up and figure out a game plan. Please pray for us...

Baby Update

2009-01-24T07:27:00.003-05:00

Well, tomorrow I will be 35 weeks pregnant. I have been quite uncomfortable the past week, and I was having alot of trouble sleeping. I found that the remedy for the sleep, is to go to bed one hour past my regular time, and take a hot shower before I go to bed. It seems to calm me down for bed. I went to the doctor yesterday for my checkup, and all went well. I kind of freaked out at first b/c the baby's heartrate was low, but then the doctor came in and it measured normal. My belly is measuring normal, and I have gained 22 lbs. The most exciting part: Baby is head down and ready to go!

Next week is my baby shower, and I am very excited. I still need a few things for the nursery, but I figure it will all fall into place. The next few weeks are going to be very busy for our family, so maybe we can keep our minds off of the impending arrival of our new baby boy. I have pretty much gotten over my anxiety, and now I am just excited. I was wondering when that would happen. I think getting the nursery together eased my mind.

I have started to become worried about weight loss after baby is born. I know I have not gained that much weight, but I want to get all of it off as quickly as possible. I am going to be nursing, so I must make sure I get the nutrients for the baby. Eric and I have devised a plan to lose weight, and I am really going to try to stick to it. I am just a little paranoid since I had major surgery to insure I would never be overweight again. My gastric bypass surgeon said he would like me to have lost all of my weight by the time baby is 6 months old. I think that should be do-able. I am going to work really hard to try and get extra weight off.

I was not going to get maternity photos done b/c of the cost, and we don't have alot of money right now. After seeing Lora's pretty photos, I decided to make an appointment with a photographer. I will be going there on Tuesday. As soon as I have the photos, I will post. them.

Some Pics of the Unfinished Nursery

2009-01-13T08:11:00.007-05:00

Well, the nursery is definately not finished, but I posted a couple of pics of it anyway. Eric painted 3 of the walls baby blue, and one wall green. I still have a couple of ideas for painting other things on the walls. I am also still trying to convince my husband that the baby's room is not our "storage closet" anymore. He hasn't gotten that yet, but I am sure when the baby gets here, he will understand. I posted a pic of the crib, the dresser, and our new "travel system". We are definately more prepared than we were a month ago. Putting together the nursery was very exciting. I will post more pics as we get the nursery ready to go.

NST

2009-01-10T08:51:00.004-05:00

I had to have a Non Stress Test early yesterday morning. I have been having lots of contractions when I get up and move around, and the doctor just wanted to make sure that everything was ok with the little guy. It turned out that all was fine, and my doctor said it is normal to have up to six contractions an hour at this point in my pregnancy. I was just kind of worried b/c I never had Braxton-Hicks with Brendon, and it is a little scary. Luckily, everything was good, and baby looks great. Eric is painting the nursery today, so get prepared for pictures.

In other news, we have gotten Brendon a therapist and a mentor. He is obviously coping with too much for him to deal with right now, so we thought it would be best to get him some help before he becomes a teenager. I think it will be a great experience for him. They have recommended a female therapist b/c he is coping with issues of abandonment from a man (his father). They have given him a male mentor, so that he can take him to play and to games, and it is a man he can trust. I have to say this behavior couldn't have come at a worse time with me expecting a new baby and all. My heart really goes out for Brendon and everything he is going through, but I cannot let his acting out continue. Let just hope he will actually open up, and let the therapy work for him. Otherwise we are in for some very long years ahead of us... Please pray for Brendon and his healing. God is the only one that can heal that brokeness in his heart...

Scared, Excited, etc.

2009-01-03T08:32:00.004-05:00

I went to the MD the other day for another appointment. My iron is still very low, despite being on an extra supplement. She measured the baby, and says he is perfect. My blood pressure is still incredibly low, 100/60 to be exact, which is good since I was preeclamptic with Brendon. I was kind of bummed when the MD told me they probably wouldn't do another ultrasound unless there is some sort of issue. I don't want issues, but I would love to have another one. She couldn't tell if the baby is turned the right way, so I have another appointment in two weeks to try and determine that.
I have been having panic attacks almost daily. I am not sure why I am so apprehensive about having another baby. This baby was planned, down to the day, and I really want another baby. I just don't know why I am so nervous. I mentioned this to the doctor and she said that she could medicate me, or wait to see if it goes away when the little guy is born. I went off of all medication a few years ago, and I don't want to be medicated again, so we will just wait.
The nursery is getting there. Eric cleaned out the room, and we are going to start painting this weekend. I now have my stoller/travel system, changing table/dresser, and my crib. Things are really starting to come together. Our colors for the nursery are: lime green, baby blue, and navy blue. Maybe I will feel better when the nursery is all done. I promise to post pictures when all is said and done...

A Very Merry Christmas

2008-12-28T08:21:00.015-05:00

Well, we had a very good and busy Christmas this year. I can't believe it has already come and gone. Next year at this time we will have another little one to celebrate Christmas with. It was nice not to have to pretend Santa is real for Brendon any more. We didn't have to wait until he was asleep to lay out presents, and Brendon knew all of his toys came from us.
On Christmas Eve, we had to pull double duty. My family and Eric's family have big Christmas
Eve parties, so we had to go to both. We started out at my uncle Jerry's in the early evening.

Eric and I posed for a pic

Me and my mama

My protruding belly

Brendon opening a gift that he got from my grandma

We then left my uncle's house and made our way over to Eric's mom's house. She always has a huge blowout on Christmas Eve. Of course, we all had a great time. She really spoiled Brendon. She bought him a new Ipod, and many, many other gifts.

Brendon can't wait to get started going through his bag of gifts

Opening the first gift

Here is my niece, Hailey, amongst total chaos

Hailey's sister, Ava, happy to get her gifts

This is a picture of Eric's mom, Becky, after opening one of the pictures that we framed for her

On Christmas day, we decided this year we wanted to hang at our house. We invited my family over, and it was a great day. My mom gets a free meal from Reid's fine foods from her work every year, so we ate that and didn't really even have to do any cooking. It was truly a great day.

Brendon insisted on wearing camaflouge pajamas for Christmas night. Here he is discovering his gifts.

Look at all of his stuff. His "big" gift was a new digital camera and he got a pair of rollerblades

Here is Brendon opening gifts from my parents

He got lots of Panthers gear, including a Julius Peppers jersey. He was soooo excited.

It was definately a good year at The White house...

Fridays Appt.

2008-12-16T09:19:00.004-05:00

I had an appointment on Friday with the MD that I had been dreading since I found out I was pregnant. I had to take the glucose tolerance test to see if I was diabetic. Most pregnant women dread this test anyway, but since I had the gastric bypass surgery, I was especially dreading it. After I have alot of sugar, I get something called dumping syndrome, and I pretty much stay sick for about 30 min. For this particular test, you drink 100mg of glucose, and one hour later they test your blood glucose level.
The test went very well. I only got sick for about 15 min. After the test, my blood sugar was actually very low, and I had to go get lunch immediately. I passed, and don't have gestational diabetes. I also got my Rhogam shot. The pregnancy is going well, and I only have about 10 more weeks to go. So far, I have gained about 15 lbs. and the doctor said I should gain about one lb. every week until the end. I will probably gain around 30 lbs. total. Considering I gained about 100 lbs. with Brendon, that is pretty good.
We are getting the nursery ready, and I will post pics as soon as that is done. We are definately getting excited for the new littly guy to come into our lives. I can't wait to meet him...

It's time for Christmas

2008-12-10T08:38:00.006-05:00

Brendon continues to do well in school. He just brought home his progress report for the second nine weeks. He didn't have any grades below 96. He is also progressing nicely with his reading. I believe he has learned to overcome his dyslexia. He is reading 200 page books over the course of a week and comprehending everything he reads. I am soooo proud of him.
However, I think that Brendon has become bored with this school, and his teacher says that he is getting in trouble all of the time. She said he always works ahead in math, even when she has asked him not to. She did start to have him tutor the other children that are having a harder time with the math they are working on. The school is going to have him tested for AG classes for next year.

Here is Brendon's school picture for the 4th grade: I think it is cute.

The White family has begun to get ready for Christmas. I just love the holidays. I love to bake goodies and make baskets for friends and family. My mother-in-law has asked me to make cookie tins for her realtors, so that will definately give me something to do.

My church also opens a toy store every year so that those less fortunate can come in and purchase toys for their children at a significantly lower price than they cost originally. I will be doing alot of work with that, so I am excited about helping. I have also continued to work at the Crisis Pregnancy Center, and I feel like my experiences there are going to have a great impact on my life. I know that God works through that center, and through me and the other volunteers to help women through their tough situations.

I have really been wanting a real tree this year for our house, but with me out of work and the holidays approaching, I really couldn't justify spending that kind of money on a tree when we have two perfectly good artificial trees. On Saturday, Brendon and I went to my mom's house and decorated for Christmas. When we came home we found this:

Eric had gotten us a real tree and decorated it! I was so touched...

My husband

2008-12-01T08:27:00.005-05:00

My husband is so wonderful to me. He has taken such good care of me since we started dating, and even better care of me since my pregnancy began. Sometimes I wonder if he does less for himself in order to care for me and Brendon. What I haven't ever mentioned on here is how talented of a writer/poet Eric is. He began writing at the age of 8, and has totes full of books of poetry and short stories that he has written. He used to write every single day, and now it seems that taking care of the family has taken priority, and he has no time to write. I have never been a fan of poetry, but when Eric writes, I get lost in his poetry and how he ticks. He really should be a published writer, and if asked what he would choose to do the rest of his life, he will say "be a writer". I was looking at some of his old stuff and I came across this one that he wrote shortly after we started dating:

hypothetical..................

part one.

if the wind were to take me,
and push me and pull me
towards
the edge of this cliff,
would you be there,
offering a delicate hand
and a slight smile, a smirk,
as you pulled me up again?

if the sky was to open and
try to swallow me, with it's
air of blue and it's clouds
silver-lined and hopeful,
would you hold my feet
to the ground
and not the fire?

if the earth were to split me
in two beings, one falling to
the left,
and one falling to
the right.
would you split yourself as well
to save the both of me
that would save the
both of you?

part two.

if i touch your lips again,
if my fingers feel the skin of
your face, the rise and fall
of cheekbones, the softness
of eyelids. the curve of lips
and the delicate nature of the
nape of your neck, will you
pull me back from the edge?
will you take me from this
moment? if i touch your face
as if i am sightless, only to know
you better, will you stop me
before our lips meet again?

How could I not be in love with him???

Oh, BTW, a name change for the baby is in progress. No one will know what it is until he is born.

Issues

2008-11-20T16:10:00.002-05:00

Brendon got in trouble at school the other day, and it was the worst it has ever been. I got a call from the vice principal yesterday letting me know that Brendon would be in In School Suspension for 3 days. I was in complete shock.
On Tuesday, Brendon was supposed to have ecology club after school, but he forgot to bring home the note to me so I could give him permission. When he went to school on Tuesday, he asked his teacher repeatedly if he could call me and get permission to stay for ecology club. His teacher repeatedly said "No". It is policy not to let the children call their parents during school unless it is absolutely necessary. At the end of the day Brendon lined up to go get on the bus, but he instead went to the front office. He then proceeded to ask the secretary if he could call his mom. She told him, "No, go get on the bus, Brendon". When she turned around Brendon had picked up the phone to dial the number to call me. He then proceeded to go to talk to the lady in charge of ecology club to ask her if he could stay. She said "No, Brendon, go get on the bus. You will have to make better arrangements next time"
Brendon's teacher wrote a note for me to read, and he was lucky he didn't miss the bus. Unfortunately, he didn't bother to mention any of this, and didn't give me the letter explaining that he was in trouble. I didn't find out until the next day from the vice principal!
I have never seen Brendon so blatantly ignore the people in charge of him. I had a long discussion with Eric and we had to decide on the best way to punish him. We had to come up with some solutions so that he will never do anything like this again.
We made Brendon write down what he did wrong, why it was unsafe, and what he thought his punishment should be. He definitely knew he was in trouble, and the only thing out of his mouth was yes ma'am and yes sir. We decided that for 2 weeks he will not be allowed to watch TV or play the Wii. He is going to stay after school for an hour to help the janitors clean the school. He is then going to come home and do his homework. Any spare time that is left over will be spent helping me do housework. Yesterday he cleaned the kitchen, swept the floors, vacuumed and dusted. I will definitely be keeping him busy to ensure that he doesn't have any big issues in the future.
The one thing that I did learn from this story is that when Brendon is determined to do something, he will stop at nothing to do it. That could be really good or really bad...

Belly Shot

2008-11-18T07:40:00.001-05:00

Yep, my belly is growing. Here is a pic that Brendon took of me the other day. 25 weeks pregnant:

Belated Halloween/Late October Post

2008-11-10T07:46:00.009-05:00

For some reason I have had issues with wanting to post blogs lately. I have been trying to get motivated for the past week to make this post. I am now combining a few posts into one b/c of my laziness. I have alot to cover, so here goes:
The week of Halloween I bought Brendon a very large pumpkin and I let him and Eric carve it with a template Eric got off of the internet. I think they did a great job.

On Halloween, we of course decided to go Trick or Treat with Heather and her two kids Cody and Maddox. Brendon and Cody are only 2 months apart in age, and have become very good friends over the past year. Cody was some sort of psycho clown and Brendon was Darth Vader.

Maddox looked adorable in his chicken suit, but b/c he had not had a nap he was pretty ticked off that his mommy kept trying to put the hood on. He really did look adorable.

I think that Heather and I did pretty well keeping up with the kids considering we are both pregnant. We made it to the retirement home, through her neighborhood, and then another neighborhood before it was just too cold to do any more. When we got back to her house, we dumped all of the candy out over top of Brendon and Cody. This is Brendon's new favorite thing to do on Halloween.

As most of you know, I hate cats! There have only been a select few that I have ever cared for. Well, meet the newest addition to our family. The kitten appeared on our doorstep about two months ago. For two days he sat on our doorstep meowing and I could not get him to go away. After two days, I knew he had not eaten anything, so we fed him, and decided to keep him. I have to admit, he is the sweetest kitty I have ever come in contact with. Brendon loves him. We named him Spagetti Cat, and you will only get that if you watch "The Soup" on E!.

Brendon is now enjoying being a member of the cub scouts. Last week he got to go to a city council meeting, and say the "Pledge of Allegiance" and introduce himself. The mayor let all of the boys sit in a chair of a city council member before they all got there. It was a great experience for him and all of the kids.

In other news at the White household:

Despite having dyslexia, Brendon made straight A's on his report card. His teacher says that only two kids were able to get A honor roll. She also said Brendon is shaping up to be a great leader in his class, and she is giving him more responsibility. (Brendon already says he wants to go to Chapel Hill b/c they have a concierge)
I will be 29 in a week from today. This is my last year in my twenties. Next year is the big 3-0, but this year doesn't really feel any different than any other year in my twenties.
I have most of my Christmas shopping already done, and I don't have to get out in the shopping madhouse to do much more. I am very happy about that.
Eric and I were having trouble finding the $750 dollars for Brendon's adoption considering the holidays are right around the corner and my car needed $700 worth of work done to it. We have been praying about the situation, and told our small group to help us pray. Last week they handed us a check for $750 and told us to take care of the adoption. We were in complete shock. I immediately burst into tears. I have never seen such generous people in all of my life. Eric, Brendon and myself are very blessed to have these guys in our lives. I don't know how we can ever thank them enough. Brendon had the great idea of making some really nice gift baskets for each family, so that is what we are going to do. By the end of December Brendon will be Brendon White. He will even get a new birth certificate!

And that is all I have for now...

Update

2008-10-28T20:28:00.006-04:00

I went to the doctor the other day for my monthly checkup. I also went to see my gastric bypass surgeon last week to checkup with him. I really wish my doctors would work together and communicate regarding my care, but they both are apparantly too busy to do that, so I have to work between the two of them.
With the gastric bypass MD, I learned that my vitamin B-12 is still low after taking injections for over a year. Everything else looked very good. I am only 9 lbs. heavier than I was at my last visit a year ago. He felt that was a good weight gain considering I am 5 month pregnant. He also gave me some other good news; he said that he doesn't think it will be hard for me to lose the weight from this baby if I continue to gain weight at the rate that I have been. That is something that I have been terrified of since I got pregnant. I appreciated the reassurance. He also told me it may be very difficult to take the glucose tolerance test.
Next, I went to my Ob/Gyn. He told me that I really need to have the glucose tolerance test b/c I have been having blood sugar issues since I was at the end of my first trimester. Every day my blood sugar drops rapidly at some point and I start to sweat and feel very faint. My doctor really thinks I need to take the diabetes test, and hopefully I won't throw up from all of the sugar. Overall my appointment went well. Little Lucas is still measuring big, and he is really a wiggle worm. Every time the nurse found his heartbeat, he would move. I can definately feel all of that movement at this point in my pregnancy.
In other news, I have finished all of my training to counsel at the Crisis Pregnancy Center, and I will begin shadowing in the next couple of weeks. As far as service is concerned, the holidays are coming so there will be many opportunities to serve the community. I filled out and application for Operation Christmas Child, which sends out Christmas shoe boxes for children all over the world. I love what they do for all of the children every year and want to be a part of it. My chuch also builds a toy store every year and sells toys for a fraction of the cost that they would be in the regular stores. That way local people that have little money and want to buy toys for their children can come to our store and purchase them for about 1/4 of the price. Our ministry did research, and found that people would still prefer to buy the toys (it gives them a sense of pride) than to have a handout. The toys are bought by my church and donated. The remainder of the money go's back to another local church that helps these people that are impoverished. I am looking forward to getting Brendon involved in all of this. We finally told him that Santa is just mom and dad giving him gifts, so that myth has be dispelled for him. He can try this year to focus on helping other children to enjoy Christmas.

Halfway

2008-10-15T06:48:00.003-04:00

Well, I have made it halfway through this pregnancy. I have finally started feeling baby Lucas kick, alot. This pregnancy has been vastly different from my pregnancy with Brendon. To begin with, I am about half the size that I was with him. Some people still cannot even tell I am pregnant when I am in certain clothes! I didn't have morning sickness with this little guy, but with Brendon I was sick all nine months. I have had to go to the bathroom about 50 times a day more than I did with Brendon. I also had preeclampsia with Brendon and stayed on bedrest from the 4th month to the end. This time my blood pressure has been 110/60, which is so low, it causes me to feel faint almost every morning. I think that Lucas might possibly be lying on my cyatic nerve, b/c my back is already killing me. I am worried about that b/c I am only halfway through. I think Lucas will be a very large baby b/c I weighed 9lbs. at birth and Eric weighed 9lbs., 8oz., and he is already measuring to be pretty big.
I am excited about having another baby, and also very nervous. Just seeing how different my pregnancy is makes me wonder how different it might be with the baby. I thought I knew what to expect with the pregnancy, but so far that hasn't been true. What if that is also the case with the baby? It has been 10 years for me. I haven't even changed a diaper in 7 years. I have gotten used to have regular sleep every night. I am very excited to meet him, and my family is also very excited. We are going to begin work on the nursery soon. Hopefully, I will quickly remember alot of the things that I forgot about.

Fall 2008

2008-10-07T08:30:00.003-04:00

Yes, the picture scanned a little bit crooked, but I have to say that I love this one of Brendon. This is his fall baseball picture, and I think it is one of the best ones yet.

Our family has really started trying to dive more into community. Our church's motto is "A Church for the City", and we have decided that we really want to live that out. I think the whole family has started to realize that we get more out of serving than the people we help. We can turn someones life around just by doing small things to help.

I have begun training to be a counselor at the Crisis Pregnancy Center. I am really learning alot about how to deal with this, and hopefully I will be able to give good insight considering I was a teen when I became pregnant. I am really looking forward to being able to volunteer my time to these women that are going through the crisis of an unwanted pregnancy.

Eric has begun working with Habitat for Humanity to help to home repair on houses in Charlotte that are in desperate need. Many of these people are elderly and have no one to work on their homes. It is a taxing job, and he did it 3 days last weeks. I think it absolutely beat him down physically, mentally, and emotionally. I have the utmost respect for the people that work for habitat as their full-time job.

My small group has continued to work at The Charlotte Rescue Mission once every other month. I wish we could do it every week, but since we have to provide our own food, our group cannot afford to do it that often. Brendon really enjoys the Rescue Mission, and we think it is good to expose him to those less fortunate in order for him to see how much God has blessed our family.

I have to pay homage to Mark and Heather Roberts. Over the past year, our families have become extremely close. Mark and Heather are one of the most giving couples that I have ever known in my life. Despite major ups and downs this year in their family, they continued to have a positive outlook. I really admire their passion to serve the community. I have to admit they are both partially responsible for Eric and I wanted to get more involved. They both just always seem so honored to help others. We are so lucky to have them in our lives.

I feel like we are embarking on a brand new journey. I am excited and scared all at the same time. I feel like we are really going to learn alot about others, and even more about ourselves. I am really excited about all of these projects and look forward to the growth that will come from them.

Ultrasound #2

2008-09-29T15:53:00.010-04:00

Well, we are most definately having a baby boy. After the ultrasound today, we determined he is a big one at that. My baby book says the baby should weigh about 5 1/4 oz. this week, and our baby weighs approx. 10oz. The MD said I was measuring ahead of schedule, but since we know when we conceived my due date will stay the same.
I wasn't showing for the longest time, but all of a sudden my belly popped out a couple of weeks ago. As of today I have gained 0 lbs. overall, but obviously judging from the size of the baby, he is getting plenty of nutrition. This is a picture that Brendon took of me today:

Today's ultrasound was a big day for measuring and looking at all of the organs. My ultrasound tech said the baby has a perfect heartbeat, and she wishes she could use my ultrasound to train the interns because he was a very cooperative fetus. Everything looked great. All of the organs are functioning properly, and nothing looks out of the ordinary. I was told that I have an anterior placenta, which is supposedly a really good thing. I was also told that that could be why I have not felt the baby kick as much as I did with Brendon. The ultrasound tech gave us a DVD of the whole ultrasound. Here are some cool 3-D pictures that the ultrasound printed out for us:

Franciscan Prayer

2008-09-15T08:47:00.001-04:00

Someone in my small group introduced me to this prayer. I love it. I just wanted to share.

May God bless you with discomfort
At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships
So that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger
At injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people,
So that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.

May God bless you with tears
To shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger, and war,
So that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and
To turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness
To believe that you can make a difference in the world,
So that you can do what others claim cannot be done
To bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.

Amen
-Franciscan Prayer

Quick Update

2008-09-09T08:09:00.003-04:00

Well, yesterday I went for another doctors appointment. I am now 15 weeks, and I can still wear alot of my regular clothes. I am not showing, and I have to tell people that I am pregnant. Eric was starting to worry b/c he thought I ought to show by now, but the way I see it, I have 5 more months to be huge. This time around I had gained 2 lbs., and the doctor measured me and said that I was measuring just perfect. I will be having another ultrasound on September 29th to confirm the sex of the baby. If it is a boy, his name will be Lucas Gabriel White. He will not go by Luke. Brendon wants it to be a boy so badly. He is finally getting more excited about having a sibling. He even enjoyed looking at baby clothes with me!

Now for a Brendon update... Brendon is trying to get acclomated to a new school and a new town. He had a little bit of trouble at first, but now he seems to be doing better. I love his school and his teacher. We had a meeting the other day about his dyslexia. I hated thinking that he is in special needs classes, but he has special needs so I am learning to accept it. He is in a regular classroom with regular kids, but has all kinds of special arrangements. He is pulled out of class 4 days a week for and hour to work on reading, spelling, and vocabulary. Every time there is a test, he is pulled out of class, and he gets extra time. They weren't going to have special arrangements for math, but since so many of the problems are word problems, they changed that too. He is pulled out for math tests, and any word problems are read aloud to him. When his IQ was tested, he tested to have a "superior" IQ in math. I think next year they will have to put him in AG math just so he doesn't get too bored. He is better in math than I am!
Also, Brendon has started back playing baseball. These people over here are really serious about baseball. The coach makes them practice 3 1/2 hours on Saturdays! Brendon is still very passionate about playing. This year he has made a tremendous leap. The coach he was put with decided he was good enough to "play up". This means that Brendon plays with mostly 11 and 12 year old boys that play All Stars together. I was afraid he might get intimidated. So far he is proving that he is just as good as they are. Last night was the first game, and his team played great, and they won. Brendon hit one ball way out in the outfield. I am so proud of him. I think this is probably the best coach he has ever had. This is looking like it will be a great season. I can't believe in less than two years he will be playing ball for his middle school!!!

My first ultrasound

2008-08-25T19:09:00.004-04:00

Introducing the little baby White. I had my first ultrasound today, and it was truly amazing. I didn't realise this before, but my doctor has 3-D and 4-D imaging for all regular ultrasounds. It was so awesome. They gave us mostly 4-D pics. We even got to see the little one dancing.
Since I am almost 14 weeks pregnant, the ultrasound technician was able to peek in between the legs. It looks like I am going to have another little boy! Her and another technician immidietly concluded this is a boy, but they told us not to paint the nursery just yet. We will be sure in about 4 weeks when I have my next ultrasound.

It definately does look like a boy to me...

This was really neat to see in 4-D. The baby looked like it was dancing.

Brendon's 10th Birthday Party

2008-08-25T18:22:00.003-04:00

Brendon's 10th birthday is tomorrow. I can't believe I have been a mom for a decade. This is a special birthday so I decided to go all out. I knew that we wanted to have it at our new house, and since his birthday is in the hot part of summer we decided to do something with water outdoors. We reserved an inflatable slip n slide for the party. We had seen this at my niece's birthday last year, and thought it was really neat. Brendon wanted a Pirates of the Carribean theme, even though he has never seen the movie. I borrowed my mother in law's tables and chairs, and set everything up in the carport. It was great! Brendon said it was the best birthday party he had ever had. That is good b/c I am not sure we are going to have anymore big birthday parties like this one. Becky (my mother-in-law) took a ton of pics.

Eric kept taking my nephew, Evan, in the water with him. It was so sweet.

All of the boys loved climbing on Eric

Sweet little Hailey

My family

Evan and Becky

Mindy

I loved this picture of everyone. It is a good one. It is definately going in a frame.

The Birthday Cake

Ava is serious about cake and ice cream

Evan likes cake

My husband is a big kid

Brendon and Cody

I got a pinata. The kids loved it. It was alot of fun.

We bought Brendon a new skateboard for his birthday.

I really had a great time. This was such a good party. It took alot of planning, but Brendon definately thought it was worth it.

Little baby update

2008-08-04T14:11:00.002-04:00

Today I had my second Dr.'s appointment. On Friday of last week the doctor made me come in and have a bunch of blood drawn b/c I had lost about 8lbs. in 3 weeks, and they were worried. I got the results from that bloodwork, and it was not really that great. I was deficient in several areas, and my doctor is deciding what they want to do to get my levels back up to normal. Luckily my folate was perfect, which is a big one when you are pregnant.
I had really wanted to try and hear the heartbeat on the doppler, but the doctor wasn't sure that it would work since I am only 10 weeks. Well, she was able to find it, and I got to hear it. That was such a precious moment for me. Until now, I have known that I was pregnant, but had no real association with the baby. I have been really tired, but had had no ultrasound or anything to show me. I guess it was just something I needed to see or hear to really believe that there is a baby in there. It sounds wierd, but that's just me. I will have my first ultrasound on August 25th. I am so excited! I will post pics after that...

Week 1 of camp

2008-07-28T08:30:00.011-04:00

Well, the first week of camp was a success overall. We missed him more than he missed us. Brendon had an absolutely wonderful time at church camp, and yesterday we sent him off to another camp in the mountains. We drove him up there yesterday, and it was one of the most beautiful camps I have ever seen. They have 2160 acres of land! The average camper walks five miles a day just to get to all of the places they need to go! It looked very nice, and Eric and I wanted to stay b/c it was so pretty.

We had to have another little discussion with Brendon about hygiene at camp. Last week before camp we reminded him that he needed to shower and change his clothes every day. I even asked his counselor to remind him. I packed his clothes in separate ziplock bags, and they each said the day of the week on them. That way, all he would have to do is pull out the ziplock bag for that day, and it would have all of his clothes for that day and that night. I couldn't have possibly made it any easier for him. Well, at the camp they were at last week, they post pics of the kids 3 times per day. Imagine my surprise when I saw him wearing this on Tuesday.
He is in the front turned around with the gray shorts and red shirt
This on Wednesday.
And then This on Thursday. He is the one in the front with the red shorts and orange shirt

He didn't change his shorts for 3 days straight! And don't forget, they swam in the lake and played outside all day every day! The camp that he went to this week also posts pictures, and I told him if he didn't shower and change his clothes I was going to come pick him up in the middle of the week.

Brendon took disposable cameras to camp, and I am going to develop them next week, and I will post those pics after we get them all developed.

Saying Goodbye

2008-07-21T07:44:00.002-04:00

Yesterday Brendon left to go to camp until Friday. I had a much harder time with this than I had expected. I cannot believe that he is old enough to be leaving me for this many days. I know that he is in good hands. After reminding him about 50 times that he needed to shower daily, and brush his teeth twice a day, I sent him on his way.
When we got to the church, we got his nametag, and said goodbye to him. He barely seemed to mind that he was going to be away for several days, he just wanted to go hang out with all of his friends from school. I am glad that Brendon adjusts to these situations well b/c there was a 5th grader that came to his parents crying and clutching his pillow when the buses were about to leave, and told his mom and dad he didn't want to go.
There is a website up and they will begin posting pictures tomorrow so that I can see how much fun the children are having. I know that he will have a blast. Hopefully he doesn't have too much home sickness. The bad part is, I have to turn around and do this all over again next week. My dad signed him up for another week long camp, and didn't realise it was the week after church camp.

In other news, our family is all moved into our new house. We really like how cozy our house is, but I am not sure Eric knew what a pain in the but it would be to mow a yard that is almost an acre! I am going to register Brendon for his new school today. I am hoping that he will make lots of new friends that live in the neighborhood, so that he can have kids to play with. We discovered that he is dyslexic, and a public school is actually better equipped to handle the challenges that come with learning disorders like these.
Once again, Brendon will be starting back to school the day before his birthday. That always seems to happen to him. We are going to have a big birthday party for him at our house the Sunday before his birthday. Eric's mom booked this really cool inflatable slip and slide for all of the kids to play on. I will take lots of pictures.

As far as the baby goes, I have had no nausea. I am VERY moody, and just tired all of the time. My job has really started to wear on me b/c of the pregnancy. I stand on my feet all day long, and some days I end up at work as late as 10:30 at night. I can't handle 12 hour days anymore. I come home completely exhausted and unable to function at any level. My boss says she is trying to work out 4 10 hour days for everyone that wants to do it. That would at least give me a 3 day weekend every weekend.
Brendon only seems semi excited to have a sibling. He has been the only child for so long, that I think that he just has to get used to the idea. I have been showing him the books and pictures, and he told me the other day that the baby looks like an alien. I think that he will make a great big brother. He is very good with little kids. Eric and I have decided I will stay at home when the baby is born. We both want the experience of our child being raised by me rather than a daycare. I had to send Brendon to daycare, and I missed alot. We have already started saving most of my paycheck and put ourselves on a strict budget, so we can be prepared for the financial challenges that me staying at home could present us. I feel strongly that this is the right decision for our family.
Sorry no pics. I have not taken my camera out in weeks.

Ob Confirm

2008-07-08T07:39:00.002-04:00

I had my first Dr. appointment yesterday to confirm that I am pregnant. I am six weeks along. My appt. was pretty short, and the doctor said that he could tell I was growing. He was concerned about the fact that I do not take in enough calories to sustain a pregnancy in the 2nd and 3rd trimesters (b/c of the gastric bypass). He will be setting me up with a nutritionist to see that I can find a way to take in at least 2000 calories a day. I will not be having an ultra sound until my 12th week b/c we know that exact date that we conceived (after all I was on Clomid). I will, however, have several ultrasounds during this pregnancy to ensure that the baby is growing correctly. I haven't really been hit by any nausea yet, but I have not been as hungry lately. I have mostly just felt really tired, like most women in the first trimester. I will keep updating as I move along in this new journey.

Having a baby...

2008-06-23T15:32:00.003-04:00

That's right, after almost 10 years, I am pregnant. I am so excited. Eric and I new that we wanted to have a baby right away, but we weren't sure how long it would take. It didn't even take a month!!! I am now four weeks, and I should be due around March 1. I will be going to see the MD at the begininning of July, and then I will have a better idea of a due date.

We also bought a house a month ago and just moved in yesterday. Our small group helped us, and they were incredible. We love it, and we purchased a house that we could afford so that I can be a stay at home mom when I have the baby.

And, last but not least, I just got a 23% raise at work! I was amazed. I really is alot more money after only a year at The Red Cross.

Anyway, God keeps blessing our lives in many many ways. I never would have imagined that my life could be so great! I want to get up every day and live life to its fullest! I know that Eric has played a very big part in that, and my renewed spirituality has changed everything. I am just so thankful...

A Nice Day For a White Wedding

2008-05-30T07:24:00.004-04:00

We had an absolutely amazing time. I have posted the pics on a Flickr account. Our photographer took 391 pics! Go take a look. Here is the link:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/whitewedding/

Hope you guys enjoy

Bridal Showers

2008-05-04T15:56:00.028-04:00

Eric and I are getting married on Sunday of this upcoming week. It has been hectic and crazy in our lives right now because we are also under contract for a house. We are going to close the first week in June. Planning all of the details of our wedding has been really fun and exciting for me. With my first wedding, my mom planned everything. This time around Eric and I have planned every last detail ourselves. I am really excited to see all of this planning come to fruition on Sunday! I couldn't have done it without my friends Kim and Erica to help me out. Those two have done soooo much for me, and I am eternally grateful to them for everything.
Last week I had two bridal showers. My mom threw me one, and my work threw me another. They were alot of fun, and I was so lucky to get so many nice gifts. I am still writing thank you cards from the showers. These are the pics from each shower.

Me at work with my "bride" hat that everyone signed.

Kinia made some really delicious cupcakes for the shower.

The gift table

Kinia's cupcakes

Look at all of the delicious food

My "bride" hat

My friend, Heather, from my small group came to my work shower and brought some dishes. It was so sweet of her. This is us with her adorable son, Maddox. I was still chewing my food, so it isn't the greatest pic of me.

Some of the girls that I work with hanging out.

Me and Shannell started at the Red Cross on the same day. We have been friends ever since.

Oooohhh, Pretty gifts!

My mom, grandma, and Aunt Debbie threw me a shower the Sunday before my work shower. It was alot of fun, and the food was fabulous! My friend Erica offered to make the cake for the shower, and it was incredible! She made a chocolate petit four cake and it had strawberry cream in the center. Check out her baking skills below.

Beth and her beutiful baby Leah Catherine

The food table. Isn't it pretty?

The girls from my smalll group. We all have an amazing bond.

Megan and baby Annika

My future sister-in-law, and her son Evan. Megan is making a funny face at Annika on the left.

Gift time

We reall just took this picture to show the height difference b/t my little grandma who is about 4'10 and Erica who is 6'0 and has heels on in this pic.

Me and my grandma

Me and mom

My friend, Kim's, dad got put in the hospital the day of my shower, so she wasn't able to make it to my mom's house it time. Erica and I decided to meet her at Phil and Tony's after the shower so that we would get to see her. This is the three of us...

We bumped into my friend Elyse while we were there so we got to hang out with her for a bit, too.

Eric didn't have the money to buy me a ring when we first got engaged, so we waited a little while. My friend's dad is a jewler, and we got him to custom make my engagement back in January. We picked everything from the stones to the setting, and he also got me the wedding band that I will be wearing. I got my ring the other week, and it was well worth the wait. These pics don't even do it justice...

I will be posting wedding pics before long. I can't wait to see Brendon and Eric in their tuxes. I bet they will look so handsome! Brendon will be carrying our rings, and we are including him in parts of the ceremony so that he will know that we are officially a family. I hope that everything will go as planned. I can't wait!!!

The Very Loooonnnnng Florida post...

2008-03-11T06:06:00.038-04:00

It has definately taken me awhile to do this post. We have been super busy planning our wedding, and planning to move soon.

We went to Disney for a week, and I must say that we all had an excellent time. Februaury is the perfect time to go to Orlando. It wasn't too hot, and the lines weren't that long. I never did take Brendon to Disney when he was younger b/c I didn't think he would be old enough. I think 9 was the perfect age. He was tall enough to ride every single roller coaster.

We left for Disney on February 9th, and Eric drove. The drive was about 8 hours. We decided to leave a 5am, so that we could get there before the traffic got bad for the Daytona 500. Our car was packed to the ceiling.

Brendon really enjoyed all of the snacks that I let him eat on the way. He was just so excited to be going to Disney. He had his portable DVD player, his Nintendo DS, and a bunch of snacks, pillows, and blankets in the back seat with him. It was definately snug for him back there.

We decided to rent a house in Kissimmee b/c it turned out to be cheaper than the Disney hotels, and we got an enclosed swimming pool that was heated. Brendon and Eric spent the afternoons in the pool.

On Sunday, we decided that our first park would be the Magic Kingdom. We got there early in the morning and were finished with that park around 1. I think that Magic Kingdom is fun, but Brendon thought the rides were for little kids. We did get some neat pictures though.

We all wanted to take pictures with the characters, so we stood in line and got lots of pictures.

At the end of our day at Magic Kingdom, we went to this really neat candy store. It smelled soooo good in there. There was a barber shop quartet singing, and Brendon wanted to have his picture taken with them.

When we left Magic Kingdom, we went on the ferry to get back to our car. It was a nice relaxing ride, after walking around all day

Monday, we went to Animal Kingdom. I had never been there before, and so I was very excited. We all couldn't wait to ride Everest. It was a roller coaster that had been featured on the travel channel as one of the best in the world. The ride actually switches tracks while you are on it. It was really fun.

Animal Kingdom turned out to be one of my favorite Disney parks. We had a really good day, and got to see alot of different types of animals. We all took a safari ride, and we stood in line for an hour, but it was well worth the wait.

This is a picture of Brendon standing in front of Everest.

Bats!

Hippo

Flamingos

On Tuesday, we went to Hollywood Studios (formerly known as MGM). This has always been the best Disney Park for me. Of course, I still loved it, and they had the best roller coaster that we rode on. It was called "The Mummy". Brendon, Eric, and I all agreed it was our favorite ride the whole trip.

They had the coolest Star Wars ride. Even standing in line was entertaining.

While at Hollywood Studios, we found this really cool resteraunt. It was a 50's cafe, and every table was designed like a kitchen from the 50's, and we had a black and white TV that played classic TV shows.

Our waitress kept telling Brendon and Eric that if they didn't eat their veggies, they will have them for dessert. Brendon ate all of his, but Eric didn't really want to eat his green beans. She actually brought them out with whip cream and sprinkles on them, and had him take a bite. Here he is taking a bite of his "dessert" green beans.

On Wednesday it was supposed to rain all day, so we took a break from theme parks, and that night we went to Medievil Times for dinner. Brendon really enjoyed it. We had a good time and a really good dinner.

On Thursday we went to Epcot, but all of the pics from Epcot I had to buy from Disney, and haven't received them yet. We went to Epcot later in the day, and stayed to watch the fireworks show at night. That night we ate at a Morroccan resteraunt, and spent way too much money. I told Brendon he could order whatever he wanted. He wanted lamb. He ordered lamb with couscous and veggies, and at most of it. It costs $27 for his plate of food!

On Friday we went to Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios. They are both owned by Universal. I had never been to Islands of Adventure, and they had alot of great roller coasters. Brendon was really excited to ride hulk, and I was worried he wouldn't be tall enough to ride, but he just made the height requirement.

In Islands of Adventure, they have a Dr. Suess land, and everything looks just like it came out of a Dr. Seuss book.

After we left Islands of Adventure, we went and ate at a resteraunt called the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company. The whole resteraunt was themed around Forrest Gump. The food there was excellent.

Of course we had to take pics of The Simpsons in Universal.

All in all we had a great trip. We were really fortunate to be able to take our first real family vacation together. I am glad everyone had a good time b/c I won't be able to afford another vacation for a very long time. I am now officially broke, but it was worth it.

In other news, Brendon had to go for a checkup at the Dr's office the other day. He has not had to go to the doctor in 4 years! They had to go search for his chart. Alas, I had to take him in for a chicken pox booster, but the doctor was impressed at how well he has been doing over the past few years. He now weighs 69 lbs, and is 4 feet 7 inches. The doctor said he is in the 50th percentile for weight, and the 75th percentile for height. He is in great health.

Brendon will be having a very exciting summer. He will be going to day camp for alot of the summer. This summer he is going away to two different camps for one week each. First, he will be going to church camp for one week. My parents have also enrolled him to go to another camp for a week. He will also be going to the beach for a week with my parents. I know that I am really going to miss him. He will be gone for 3 weeks this summer! My baby is going away to camp, and I will probably have a harder time with it than he will.

Wedding plans are well under way, and our wedding is about 2 months away. We are getting down to crunch time, and I have had to spend all of my Mondays doing something for our reception. Everyone should be getting their invites in the mail in the next week.

Pics coming soon...

2008-03-05T06:45:00.003-05:00

I have really not had the time to log into the blogger and post about our trip to Disney world in February. We had a blast! As soon as I find the time I am going to update this thing. Eric and I have been busy planning our wedding, and even though it is small, it is still a great deal of planning. A few weeks ago my car died for good, and now I am car shopping, and we are also house shopping. I think that we may have found a house that we are interested in. My good friend, Heather, lives out at Lake Wylie, and she has some houses in her neighborhood that are for sale. Her son is only 2 months older than Brendon, and her and her husband and me and Eric all get along really well. The schools in the area are outstanding, and I would no longer have to send Brendon to a private school. We are just really praying about the situation so that we will make the right desicion for our family.
As far as Brendon is concerned, we have had some problems getting him to focus lately. Every night it seems there is some sort of crying fit over his work. Last semester he had one B and the rest A's on his report card. This semester his grades are not as good. He has told me he just doesn't care. It has put extreme stress on Eric and me b/c we come home after a long day at work, and have to try and work through Brendon not wanting to do his work. It is very frustrating, and we are trying to work on a system to give incentive to do his work. I really don't want to take away his baseball, but the baseball schedule he is on doesn't permit any slack in school. Sometimes we don't get home from games until 9 at night, so his schoolwork has got to be finished before he leaves in the afternoon.
Anyway, I am going to try to post soon if I get some free time. Ta ta.

Wedding update

2008-01-08T08:15:00.000-05:00

Ok, I know some of you have inquired about wedding details, so here go's. The plans are well under way, and I am sooooo exicted. Eric and I will be getting married on May 18th, which is a Sunday. The actual ceremony will be only for immediate family. We feel that we want our joining in marraige to be special and intimate. Our pastor has agreed to marry us, and we are going to have Brendon very involved with the ceremony. The place that we will be married is still undecided. Eric and I haven't agreed on that part yet.

We will be doing our wedding reception at a place called 1523 The Loft, in uptown. It is a very upscale maritini bar with an absolutely beutiful view of the city. The location is perfect for me and Eric's taste. As of right now we are inviting somewhere in the ballpark of 150 people. My mom, grandmother, and aunt have all offered to do the food, so I took them up on it. If we do the food ourselves, I can really save some money. Many of the details have already been taken care of. We have a menu, Eric has designed the invitations, we have most of our addresses, I have bought my dress, my two hairstylist friends are doing my hair and decorating, and I have someone to do my makeup, we are working on getting a photographer, and Eric has begun working on the music (he is doing it himself b/c of his very large arsenal of music). I think that we have a good bit of the details worked out considering it is only January. We did alot early on, so that we could save our sanity as the date approaches. I don't want to be stressed out about my wedding.

When Eric proposed to me, he didn't have enough money to purchase a ring for me. Yesterday, we went to my friends dad, who is a jeweler to design my ring. We spent a long time picking out stones and settings, so that he can get them in for us to look at next Monday. As we were walking out, a really beutiful diamond caught Eric's eye, and he had me try it on. He says he thinks that is "the one". I will know Monday which one he is going to get me, and I will post some pretty pics.

As far as the honeymoon goes, we are not really doing it quite traditional. We figured after all of the hustle and bustle of the wedding, we would be exhausted. We have decided to wait until June to go on our honeymoon. We can have a little break instead of leaving right away for a vacation. We are going to the North Carolina vineyards for 2 days, then coming back for 1 night in order to go to a concert, and then Tuesday we will leave for somewhere tropical. Not sure where yet.

Random notes: In Feb. we are going to take Brendon to Disney World for a week so keep a lookout for lots of pics.

On January 28th, Brendon's father is taking me to court. He is trying to get out of paying his child support. The child support enforcement people will be representing my case, and they said it is actually likely that they will raise his payment instead of lowering it. His employer began garnishing his wages back in October, and since he is $27,000 behind, they have been taking out extra to pay for being in arrears. Right now, I am receiving his regular $340 payment plus an additional $340 payment every month. The extra cash every month has really helped me out. Anyway, I will post something about the outcome after we go to court.

Christmas blog

2007-12-27T07:13:00.000-05:00

Our Christmas began last week with a new addition to our very large family. My cousin gave birth to a new baby girl Jaelynn Paige Robbins. After inducing her labor for two days, they had to deliver the baby by C-section. I had the honor of being at the hospital when she was born. She is absolutely beutiful, and I cannot wait to babysit!

Ten minutes after Jaelynn was born

This is Lindsey's sister, Christina, holding Jaelynn. As you can see, she was crying.
My aunt Debbie stepped in and took over the role of "mom" for Lindsey. Her mother, my aunt Janet, passed away a few years ago. Aunt Debbie is a great surrogate.

When I went back to the hospital to spend time with the baby and Lindsey, I forgot my camera. I didn't get any pics, but I am sure there are plenty to come.

Now, on to Christmas. This year I decided that I would make some very nice gift baskets for my family. I figured that they would really mean something, and Brendon loves to help me in the kitchen, so we did it. I spent about 5 nights baking, and then one nine hour day working on it. Brendon was a great helper, and Eric washed the massive dishes that I piled up. These baskets were truly a family effort. When all was said and done, I was very proud of all of us. They looked great. Everything in them was baked from scratch. The baskets included: Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, Toll house (chocolate chip) cookies, sausage cheese balls, chocolate covered pretzels, peanut-pretzel bark, caramel corn, hot chocolate with marshmellows, a cheese ball with crackers, and banana nut bread.

On Christmas Eve, we all went to Eric's mom's house. She definately went all out for Christmas. I was really blown away by all of the gifts she got us. We had a great time with Eric's family, and I am looking forward to being able to call them family when we are married.

Before we left we took some pics in front of our tree.

This was the beginning of the chaos at Becky's house.

Brendon and Hailey opened their first gifts.

This is what it looked like a little later.

And about 30 minutes into the unwrapping...

After we got home on Christmas eve, we laid out cookies and milk for Santa and all of us went to bed. We told Brendon to come wake us when he woke up. We were expected for him to wake up at 5am, but we woke up before Brendon! He did get up at about 6:30. He was so excited about all of his gifts. He got a Wii, and was elated about it. We played it all day on Christmas, I think the adults like it as much as he does.

Brendon going to check out his gifts from Santa

Mom, I got a Wii!!!

Stocking stuffers...

Look at all that Santa brought for me!

Eric and Brendon checking out how to use his new Nintendo DS

On Christmas day, it was time to see my family. We went over to my mom and dad's house to have a delicious meal. Every year for Christmas, my mom's company gives her a large meal from Reed's fine foods in downtown Charlotte. This year we decided to eat it on Christmas. It was delicious! My parent's gave me and Eric a video camera, and as they gave it to us they said this, "We know that you are going to give us more grandbabies soon, so we thought you could use a camcorder. Hint hint" Anyway, a camcorder means lots of video on blogs. Woo hoo!

Me and my mom in front of her tree

Me and Eric at my mom and dad's house

We truly had an amazing Christmas. I feel very blessed to have such a wonderful family.

In order to remember those that are less fortunate, my small group from church, me, Eric, Brendon, and my brother will all be going to serve 120 men lunch at the Charlotte Rescue Mission next Sunday. Our churches mission is to serve those in need of help. We are going to start really doing alot of community service in the upcoming year. It has become a priority for me and Eric to really start teaching Brendon that serving and helping those in need is more rewarding than any gift that you could recieve.

Christmas Time

2007-12-06T05:52:00.001-05:00

I tried to make this post about a week ago, but the blogger wasn't cooperating.
We decorated for Christmas, and Brendon was completely excited. He loves it b/c every year we turn on Christmas music and light the fire, and decorate. Eric and Brendon put the tree up and then put on the lights, and then we all put on the ornaments. Christmas is so exciting.

Here is Eric putting the lights on the tree while Brendon watches in admiration

Brendon in front of Christmas tree #1

Brendon in front of Christmas tree #2

They were both very tired after we were finished

Life is Fragile

2007-11-25T07:12:00.001-05:00

This is a post that I made on myspace, and I just thought that I would post it here. It happened on Thanksgiving night:
I am very saddened today. Last night Eric and I decided to celebrate Thanksgiving at the Breakfast Club. We left around 2:30. We were driving down South Blvd. and we came upon a terrible car accident that had happened seconds before we got there. The car was still in motion from hitting a utility pole. The glass was still spreading across the ground. The spare tire was still rolling. If we had gotten there 5 seconds earlier, Eric and I would have been involved in this wreck. We immediately pulled over, and saw a scene that pretty much horrified the both of us. There were 3 people in the car, covered in blood, and 1 guy got out of the car dripping blood. I saw that the driver, a young girl, was needing help. She was covered in blood, and glass was imbedded in her face from hitting the windshield. Her friend kept moving her head around, and I just got recertified in first aid and CPR. They teach you not to move someone that has been injured that badly. Her friend decided he wanted to try to move her and we all screamed at him not to All of her friends were so drunk they weren't listening. She was badly injured, but could still talk. I walked over and saw that there were also two young men pinned into the back seat, and bleeding pretty badly. Everyone just tried to keep the girl talking until the ambulance arrived. They finally arrived after what seemed a lifetime, and had to use the jaws of life to get them out of the car. I couldn't even move, I was in complete shock at what I was witnessing.
As they were getting her out of the car, I was talking to the brother and sister that witnessed the entire thing. They said that she was going about 70-80mph, on South Blvd. and hit a curb, lost control of the car, and hit a utility pole. The couple was walking on South Blvd., and were only a few feet from the pole that she hit. If they would have been walking a few steps faster, she would have hit them. I couldn't really tell from talking to her, but I am pretty sure that she was driving drunk. I don't know any sober people that go that fast down South Blvd, and all of her friends reeked of alcohol.
I woke up this morning and read that she died when she got to the hospital. She was only 27 years old. I was devastated. I didn't even know this girl, but I was deeply saddened. This girl pretty much spent her last moments on earth trying to talk to me and Eric, and some others. It really makes you realise how fragile life is. We are not guaranteed another day. I am sure when she walked out the door to go out last night, that she could never guess it would be her last. She was my age. I am sure she had a family that loved her, and will never get her back. This night will always be with me.
An odd series of events kept us from being involved in this accident. First, Eric said he was going to take South Blvd home, and I asked him why b/c it is not really the way we ever go home. He said, "I don't know, I just want to" We then saw a couple fighting at Fuel pizza, and when the light turned green, Eric didn't immediately go b/c he was watching them. When we got up the road to La Paz, a girl stepped out into the road, and we almost hit her. Eric slowed down and rolled down the window to yell at her. I believe that is about the time the large, black SUV went flying past us. I think one of us even commented that they were going entirely too fast. Those odd things that happened took just enough time for us to avoid being in the accident with them. God was really looking after us that night.
People I am begging you to never drive after you have been drinking. This was a major reality check. Eric always drives me wherever I need to go, but I know I have friends that have tried to drive after having a few too many. Please, please, please don't. I don't want to have something like this happen to someone I love or care about.

Giving Thanks

2007-11-22T06:15:00.000-05:00

Today is a day to give thanks for everything we have. Every year we go around the table, and say what we are thankful for. Since I am working today, I thought I would post a blog about what I am thankful for. I have so much to be thankful for. I have a wonderful little boy and an amazing fiance. I have a good job, an amazingly supportive family, a roof over my head, great friends, and everything that I could ever need. God has really blessed me and my family. What have you got that you are thankful for. HAPPY THANKSGIVING everybody!

I vant to suck your blood!

2007-11-01T07:38:00.001-04:00

This year Brendon wanted to be a vampire, so I ordered this awesome costume online. It was great. No large crowds to deal with at Party City this year.
Once again Brendon's good friend, Elijah came over to go trick-or-treat. It has become our tradition for the two of them to go together on Halloween.
After going out, they poured their candy on the ground, and ate plenty of it too. They were running around our house from the massive sugar high that they got from the candy. We had a great time;)

Engaged!!!

2007-10-30T08:47:00.000-04:00

Eric proposed to me on our one year anniversary, and I cannot wait to be his wife. After a wonderful dinner at Zen, an asian fusion resteraunt, Eric took me back to our home. He sat me down on our bed, and asked me to be his wife. It was absolutely perfect, and I gladly accepted his proposal. I immediately called my parents, and they were elated. We are going to get married the first of May. I have already started some of the planning. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful man in my life. I love him with all of my heart, and I cannot wait to call myself Mrs. Eric White;)

The Smokies

2007-10-22T07:05:00.001-04:00

This past weekend me, Eric, and Brendon went to Gatlinburg, TN. Eric had been talking about what a neat place it was, and I had never been there. We had a wonderful weekend, and the scenery was absolutely gorgeous.

On the way, we decided to take a little detour and head to Linville Caverns. I had not been there since I was a little girl. We got there at about 9am, so we had a small group for our tour. If you have never been there I would definately recommend going sometime. It is so interesting to see all of the different rock formations. In this particular cave, there was a little area where civil war men hid and had a fire going every night. There is also an imprint of a sandollar that is estimated to be 30 millions years old! Once you get into the back of the cave the guide cuts the lights off so you can see just how dark it is. You can't see in front of you at all. It is pretty creepy to have absolutely no light at all. This detour was definately worthwhile.

After we got to Gatlinburg, our hotel allowed us to check in several hours early. We took our stuff up and headed out to get some lunch at a local barbecue resteraunt. After lunch we decided to go out to the main street in Gatlinburg. It is really neat b/c you can just walk everywhere. The first place that we came upon was the Wax Museum. We got in there and took alot of pics. It was really alot of fun. It was unbelieveable how real the exhibits looked. We took the most pictures there. Take a look:

After going to the Wax Museum, we walked some more, and stumbled up a space needle. Not really knowing what it was, I agreed to go on it. We stepped into an elevator and started to go up. I then quickly realised that we were in a glass elevator going up about 20-30 floors in the air. I forgot to mention that I am terrified of heights. As we were going up, I started to panic and broke out into a sweat and my whole body was shaking. When we got to the top, I couldn't go anywhere near the edge, but I did get some good pictures of the two that were not afraid of heights.

After walking the streets for several hours, we went to eat dinner, and then went to our room to rest for awhile. After some rest, we headed out to Ripley's Aquarium. It was really neat.

Brendon got to hold a special type of crab

These jellyfish looked so cool

After a long day on Saturday, we slept well, and got up early on Sunday. We headed to breakfast, and then started to head home. We stopped at several of the lookouts on the mountain and took some really beutiful pictures.

The Smokey Mountains are beutiful this time of year. We had an incredible trip, and I hope to go again next fall. I am pretty exhausted so I am glad that I have today off to recoup.

Tonight is my one year anniversary with Eric, so we hope to enjoy a lovely dinner together. He makes me the happier than I have ever been in my life, and I am so lucky to have found him. Eric, I love you more than words could describe...

Third Grade Update

2007-10-12T07:12:00.000-04:00

I haven't updated since Brendon's birthday, so I thought it was about time. Sorry no pics to post. We have been incredibly busy since the school year started. Baseball season is also in full swing.

Brendon is doing very well in third grade. I have been very pleased with his teacher this year. She also has a 9-year-old boy, so she is very good at dealing with them. So far Brendon has one B (in English), and it is a high B, and the rest A's. I am very proud of him for working so hard. He has been spending at least two hours every day on homework and studying. There are lots of tears, but I think that he is finally realizing that he has to establish good studying habits at a young age. I told him that his reward if he gets all A's will be that we will go do whatever he wants to do for a day, and then take him to any resteraunt that he wants to go to for dinner. He seems to really want to work hard to get this reward. His B is an 88, so he has to pull that up in the next few weeks.

Baseball is also taking up alot of our time. This season, Brendon started kidpitch. This has been a very humbling experience. The kids get hit with the ball alot, and are learning how to pitch. Brendon has been pitcher in several of our games, and the rest of the time he is playing first base. His first game pitching was a little rough, and he felt very discouraged. He came home and said, "I am the worst pitcher ever!" I told him to just go out and try his best b/c he is learning. The next game Brendon made all 3 outs in a inning by striking out the other team. Brendon made the Challenge team again this year, so we have started in tournaments again. There was a tournament last weekend and we had baseball every day for 5 days in a row! Brendon got in trouble with his coach several times over the course of the weekend, and he was benched. He copped a major attitude and the coach simply won't put up with it. I like this b/c I feel it teaches him some discipline. I have seen a major change this week in Brendon's attitude. He is starting to realise that it will only hurt him later.

Everything is great with Eric and I. We have found a church that I think we both finally fit into. In the past, we have both stayed away b/c of growing up in southern baptist churches, and really being burned. We love the place that we attending now. It is a non-traditional and very liberal church. They wear jeans Sunday morning, and it is a very laid back atmosphere. Brendon also seems very happy here. I never thought there would be a time that I would look forward to Sunday morning church.

Also, we are taking Brendon to Gatlinburg for the weekend in a little over a week. It should be a perfect time for us to see the leaves changing in the mountains. I am really excited. We are ready to get away for a couple of days. Lots of pictures to come.

Brendon turned 9 years old!!!

2007-08-27T12:23:00.001-04:00

Well, yesterday was Brendon's 9th birthday. I can't believe it. In a year, I will have been a mom for a full decade...How strange is that???
Anyway, Brendon wanted so badly to have a party at Laser Quest, but there was just no way with it costing $13 a child, and that doesn't include anything. We decided it would be best to have a sleepover at our house. The kids could have fun and it was more cost effecient. Brendon was really excited about this idea, so Saturday night we had 6 boys spend the night.
I started feeling a little apprehensive about it after hearing horror stories of sleepovers from other parents. It actually turned out really great. We had a blast.

We let Brendon have his head shaved into a semi mohawk for his birthday party. Here he is showing off his new style.

The first thing that the boys wanted to do was play video games in Brendon's room. We rented several so that they would be entertained all evening.

He is such a goofball.

One of the party guests, Josh
My little cousin Jacob

Holly and her daughter, Alyssa came early in the evening to celebrate with us.

Eric's mom would kill me if she knew I posted this pic of her! She doesn't like her

picture taken.

Eric's adorable little niece, Ava

Eric is scooping up the ice cream for everyone

Brendon had an awesome cake of a baseball diamond.

Digging in to cake!

After cake and ice cream, it was time to open his presents. He really loved everything that he got and has been playing with all of his new things. Everyone was very generous with their gifts.

This is one of my favorite times of the night. Eric and I got Brendon a bat bag for baseball, and when I handed him the gift, he said "Oh, this must be from my mom and dad" He has never called Eric dad, and I was so touched.

After all of the other guests went home we cleaned up the mess, and then started setting up sleeping bags in the living room. At about 10:30 we shipped all of the boys into the living room for a movie. We were hoping to tire them out. I popped popcorn for everyone, and they started to settle down. They were all asleep by 1am, including Eric, who stayed with them in the living room.

This was probably one of the best birthday parties that we have had to this point. I think that a good time was had by all. I would love to do this kind of party next year. It was so much fun...

Summer ending soon

2007-08-06T16:28:00.000-04:00

I can't hardly believe that summer is coming to an end. Brendon starts back to school on August 27th, which is also the day after his 9th birthday. I also cannot believe that my son is about to turn 9! Where did all of that time go??? We have been super busy this summer, and have made sure to fill it full of great activities for all of us. Next week Brendon will be going to the beach with my parents, and I will get a little break. I am going to need it before all of the homework starts back again. Any of you that still have small children, just wait. After all of the dirty diapers, and toddler tantrums have passed, they start to school. Brendon will be in 3rd grade this year, and will have end of grade testing. I am sure you all remember having to do this in school. I would definately say that it has helped me appreciate my parents staying up long nights to help me finish a multitude of projects. Last year we began to get a taste of projects, and it isn't pretty. We just found out Brendon's teacher for this year, and her reputation precedes her. She is known at the school to be one of the best most patient teachers. That is what we need. I am looking forward to a great year...

Last week Brendon had golf camp. Doesn't he look like a pro? He certainly had a great time. He started playing golf at the age of 3. Look out Tiger...

This past Sunday, we went to Eric's nieces birthday party. We all had a great time. Even Eric had his party face on, literally.

They had the coolest inflatable slip and slide. They have definitely improved since I was a kid. All of the kids had a great time, and the adults did too. It was so hot outside many of the adults went on it in their clothes.

Here is Brendon about to plow into a little kid.

Brendon smiled for the camera after landing in the pool at the end.

They also had a pool set up for everyone to swim in. Brendon didn't want his picture taken, so he dunked his head under the water.

Update

2007-07-10T08:04:00.000-04:00

Well, this summer has now become quite busy. I began working a full time job at the American Red Cross as a laboratory tech in the viral lab. So far it seems like an interesting job, and it does pay the bills. Brendon has been staying with Lora a couple of days a week and with my dad the other two days of the week. I am trying to get used to having Sunday and Monday off, as opposed to Saturday and Sunday off. After I am trained, I will be allowed to move to a 10 hour schedule and work only 4 days a week. The best part about the lab, is that they are open 24 hours a day and 365 days a year, so if I need to switch shifts for any reason, it isn't that difficult. Everybody there works a different schedule. I like the idea of that kind of flexibility. Eric has also switched to a new job, and his hours are extremely flexible. I think that things are finally starting to come together.
In other news, Eric and I have decided to start saving for a down payment on a house. We have done lots of number crunching based off of our new salaries, and we have determined that we can probably buy a house by next summer. We will have to live on a tight budget for the next year, but we really know that it will be worth it for Brendon to have a back yard to play in. I am really excited that we have decided this is the best option for us. It finally feels like I am an adult.
Brendon and I are so lucky that we now have Eric in our lives. Eric provides Brendon and I with a stability that I thought we would never have. Brendon finally has someone to fill the role of dad, and I finally have someone that I actually want to spend the rest of my life with. I think we appreciate one another even more since we have both been in terrible marraiges. I am so happy that we finally have a family;)

All Stars

2007-06-18T09:17:00.000-04:00

Well, Brendon has started out on his third baseball team since April. We came home from the beach on Friday night, and had to be at the ballfield at 8:15am on Saturday morning. His All Star team had their first tournament this weekend. They did pretty well considering they have only had 2 practices together. They won 2 games and lost 2 games. We will be having 3 more tournaments this summer, so there is definately room for lots of practice. Brendon played first base just about the entire tournament. Looks like all of the coaches agree that he is best at 1st base.
In the fall Brendon has to move up to kid pitch. I have heard this is a humbling experience because none of the kids know how to pitch, and batters are constantly getting hit with the ball. Hopefully we won't experience too many injuries.
We will get a break this weekend and then next weekend we will be having another tournament. I need to just set up a tent at the ballfield...

Beach Blog

2007-06-16T17:13:00.001-04:00

Well, we are back from the beach and we had an absolute blast. Brendon and I joined with Eric's mom, brother, sister-in-law, neices, and later in the week, Lora and Lily. I took lots of pictures and enjoyed spending time with Eric's family.

Here is a picture of Brendon in a tree at Calabash. It was a popular picture spot. Everyone was putting their kids in the tree for cute pics.

Eric took Brendon down to the dock to fish. I love this pic of my guys;)

This is Brendon and Eric's neice, Hailey, in the same tree from above.

Eric and I on the beach. Brendon took this pic, and I think he did a great job.

Brendon on Eric's back in the ocean.

On Wednesday, we set up the bubble machine and the sprinkler in the back yard so the kids could play. Eric's mom is in the background. Somehow she avoided being photographed all week. I don't think I got a single picture of her...

On Tuesday, Eric had to take off and go back to work. Lora and Lily came to join us on Wednesday. Thursday was a bit to cloudy for the beach so we headed to Alligator Adventure. Here is a picture of Eric's neices with Brendon. Aren't they all sooooo cute?

Brendon pets a huge tortoise at the Alligator Adventure.

Another pic of Hailey and Brendon. I swear they were inseperable the whole week.

I couldn't believe how still the alligators were. At first, they didn't look real.

Water buffalo. When we walked by, the stinch was so bad, I thought Lora might throw up. They were cool to look at, though.

While in Alligator Adventure, we went to see one of the shows. It was a really good one because they were filming for a commercial, so they brought out animals they don't normally bring out in the shows.

Look at this adorable baby Siberian Tiger.

And a baby wolf

Here are all of the children on a statue of an alligator. This is one of my favorite pics.

On our last day, it started out kind of cloudy. We weren't going to leave until Saturday, but Lora and I decided to pack up a day early. Lily was not used to sleeping in a strange place, and we were all exhausted. We packed up our things and then walked on the pier and went on the beach.

Here is Brendon on the pier.

Once again, the dynamic duo.

A blurry pic of Brendon skipping stones in the ocean

Brendon was mad because I wouldn't let him get in the ocean to swim. I didn't want his clothes wet for the ride home.

Here is a pic of Lily's meltdown. She threw a tantrum b/c she didn't want mommy to hold her hand in the ocean. Isn't she little miss independent?

I am really glad that we got to go to the beach last week. It was perfect b/c I start a new job with the Red Cross next week, and I have had a very enjoyable break since school ended. Now it is time for me to join back into the real world.

The Bullets Machine Pitch Champions

2007-06-04T08:05:00.000-04:00

Last night Brendon's rec ball team had their party, and one of the mom's was generous enough to make us all a CD of pictures that she has taken of the boys throughout the season. She is very good photographer. Here are the ones that she took of Brendon:

Lions, and Tigers, and Bears, Oh My!!!

2007-06-03T10:41:00.000-04:00

Well, we went to the zoo on Saturday and had a blast! Lora generously offered to drive me, Brendon, and Eric. This was Brendon's first time to the zoo, and he was so excited. When we got there, we decided to split off from the girls because Brendon is 8 and was soooo excited, that he pratically ran through the zoo. We had a very good time, and my calves are still hurting from all of the walking that we did. So here are the pics:

The elephants were one of my favorite things to see.

Brendon thought so too

I thought this turtle looked so cool with the way he blended in the scenary

This flower just looked really pretty to me, and I wanted a picture

Here is the huge gorilla laying on his back

My guys

The polar bear was also awesome. They were found in a Mexican circus and rescued a few years ago. That is why they are still quite underweight for a polar bear.

This was the arctic fox. Isn't it beutiful?

And the sea lions were my favorite animal that I saw at the zoo. They were the most graceful swimmers and beutiful creatures. It was like they were putting on a show for everybody.

Look how still the alligator is waiting for it's prey...

Ostrich

Giraffes and zebras are really cool looking in person. I had never seen one before.

Eric must have take 20 picture of these lions. They we gorgeous.

Congratulations

2007-05-26T09:22:00.000-04:00

CONGRATULATIONS to the Bullets. Brendon's team managed to pull it together, and they won the championship game. They are #1 out of 14 teams! What an accomplishment. This is actually the 3rd season in a row that Brendon has been on the championship team. Brendon consistantly played very good defense on 1st base throughout the game. As soon as I get the scanner hooked up, I will post the pics that were taken of him during the tournament. I was somewhat embarrassed by Brendon during the awards ceremony. All the kids had gotten Oreos, a drink, and ice cream. When it was time to shake the hand of the director of machine pitch baseball, Brendon was the only kid that didn't set any of his food down to shake his hand. He had ice cream all over his face, and no free hands. Now, all of the other boys set their food down to get their medals, but not my son. Therefore, there are no decent pics to post of him getting his medal.
After the game, Brendon's coach informed him that he had been nominated to play all stars this summer. He was supposed to have to try out, but a coach that knows him, picked him up to play on his team. So much for the end of baseball season... There is one last tournament for his Challenge team this weekend. Four games, 2 Saturday 2 Sunday. I had no idea what kind of dedication was involved for your children to play competitive baseball. It is not just the kids that have to be dedicated, but really the parents too. I just want all of you out there that want your kids to play sports when they get older, that if your kids are really good at a particular sport, and they want to play competitively, be prepared! When Brendon started T-ball, I had no idea that it would grow to this. I just thought it would be fun to put him into a sport. Now, 2 years later, we are at the ballfield at least 5-6 days a week, for about 3 hours at a time. I believe it is good for him, and after all of this dedication and time, I hope that he continues to play ball through high school.

In other news, I think that we may have a somewhat dramatic preteen on our hands. I am not sure what age preteen is, but after finding this letter from Brendon in his room the other morning, I am convinced that he must be approaching his teens. The letter read:

"I left to go somewhere were someone love me. Don't come looking for me.
Your son,
Brendon"

At first, I really had to laugh. I had a long talk with him, and explained that if he left where would he go? There would be nobody to feed him, take him to school, take him to baseball, or do special things with him. He said that he was just mad, and he would never really try to run away. Wow, I am really not prepared for these upcoming years!

Busy Week

2007-05-20T09:33:00.000-04:00

Well, we have been very busy this past week. On Monday and Tuesday, my first days off, I was very bored and I wanted something to do. So Wednesday, I decided to take Lily off of Lora's hands for the day. We had a blast. Lily and I went to Brendon's school to eat lunch with him. After lunch, it was time for recess, and instead of playing with his friends, Brendon wanted to sit out and play with Lily. It was just sooooo sweet. At the end of the day we met Lora at Brendon's game, and her and Lily stayed for awhile.
Brendon always wants to carry Lily around and she loves it. Here is the evidence:

On Friday, Brendon had field day. Of course field day is the best day of the school year for the kids. The kids had noon dismissal and I was a volunteer for the moon bounce.

Brendon doesn't look too happy in this pic b/c he was about to take a spelling test

Everybody loves the parachute. It is sooo much fun!

Here are some picutures of Brendon hanging with his posse on field day.

Brendon was the second person to throw the ball at the dunking booth, and he nailed it. Here he is winding up to make the throw.

After our very big field day, we went shopping and did some other things. Eric had taken the day off, so we got to spend the day with him. It was great. At the end of the day, we were going to have Mommy and Brendon night. This week I decided to do an ice cream Sunday party because Brendon did such a good job on reading this year at school. We watched "Rookie of the Year" and made Sundays and had an absolute blast.

On Saturday morning, Brendon's baseball team started their tournament. They won 21-1. Brendon struck out in the first inning and he had tears welting up in his eyes, so I went to get him nachos to cheer him up. Well it worked. The very next inning he scored a grand slam! I am so proud of him for his acheivements this year.

Last Night's Game

2007-05-15T07:57:00.000-04:00

I don't usually write about all of Brendon's rec ball games because there are just too many to discuss. This week is kind of crazy, he had a game last night, he has a game Wednesday, and then a rec ball tournament this entire weekend. Right now his team is tied for second place out of 14 teams. If they can pull it together against the #1 team, they have a good shot in the tournament.
I have to say last night was a great game. Our kids were playing a really good team, and the final score was 16-3. We had shut the game down by the end of the fourth inning. I think Brendon really stepped it up for this game because there is a kid on the team that he played last night that is on Brendon's challenge team, and he is always really mean to Brendon. He calls him names and tells him his face is ugly. I think that Brendon just wanted to beat his team so badly. It was the third inning and bases were loaded. Brendon was the 10th batter, so he had to run on anything. He hit the ball clear to the fence and made a grand slam. It was amazing! He got 4 runs off the 10th batter. That is almost unheard of. I was really proud of him, and his whole team. They got it together, and did a wonderful job. Way to go Brendon!!!

Graduation Day

2007-05-14T08:06:00.000-04:00

Well, I graduated on Saturday. The day turned out just liked I had hoped, and all went well. We arrived at the school at 8:30, and the ceremony started at 10am. It lasted for 3 hours. My mom, dad, Eric, Brendon, Eric's mom, and Lora all came for the ceremony. They must love me to sit through that long ceremony.
After the ceremony, we went to the legacy luncheon. I felt kind of special because the only graduates that were invited, were the ones that had family members that were alumni. My dad, uncle, and cousin all graduated from UNCC. The lunch was held at the new alumni house, and I got to sit with the chancellor and vice chancellor of the school. I always here about these guys, but usually you don't get a chance to chat with them, or even meet them for that matter. Of course when we got to the alumni house, there were alot of peoples pics on the wall that were alumni, and my dad had been friends with many of them. I just thought that was so cool.
After our luncheon, my mom and I headed out to get my cake, and decorate, and finish the food before my party. I was so excited to have everyone over to celebrate. We had about 30 people or so show up and all of us had a great time. Thanks to everyone for your support over the years. I never could have done this without good friends and family to help me succeed. A special thanks to mom and dad for their continued support.

Almost...

2007-05-08T16:01:00.000-04:00

Well, it is almost over. All of those years of grueling tests and struggling to get through college. I will be able to celebrate with my family on Saturday. Everyone that is on the blogger is invited! If you need directions to my house, then email me, and I will send you directions. I am so excited! I had the last of my hard finals today. I have tomorrow off, and then one simple final on Thursday.
Part of me is scared to get back out into the working world... If any of you know any pharmaceutical sales reps, let me know. That is the field I am trying to break into, and it is tough. I have to build my contacts back up. It's all about networking, networking, networking;)

Weekend of Baseball

2007-05-07T05:19:00.000-04:00

Well, I have to say that the OP Nationals had a rocky start in this tournament, but they pulled through and made 3rd place overall. I know they could have done better, if they had been ready for our first two games. We ended up only playing four games b/c they didn't make it to the championship game.
Friday night, the kids were not ready to go. They were tired and not working cohesively at all. We had batters striking out left and right. Brendon was hitting consistantly, and he didn't strike out even once during the whole tournament. In the Friday night game, the team beat us 10-0, and Brendon had to sit out 2 innings. He was pretty upset.
Saturday morning was really no better. The kids had to play the other challenge ball team from our league, and they have been winning all of the tournaments. Brendon's team went into the game thinking that they would lose, and they did. It was pretty much a repeat from the game Friday night. The kids weren't hitting the ball, and the final score was 10-0. Brendon did catch a popfly in the outfield.
On Saturday, Brendon's spirits were pretty low about these games. See, he plays first base in his regular team, but is in the outfield on his Challenge team. He said that he HATED the outfield and wanted to be infield. I told him that if he wanted to get infield he was going to have to really prove himself to his coach. I also told him that in Challenge ball they put the kids with the best arms into the outfield b/c that is where most of the kids hit the ball. This seemed to make him feel better, and he was ready for game #3 on Saturday evening.
In this 3rd game, Brendon's team looked like a different team. They were fielding and hitting the ball really well. We won that game with a score of 18-1. It seemed that everyone was finally starting to work together.
With a restored sense of confidence, they were ready to play their first game on Sunday afternoon. This was the game I was most proud of Brendon for. He did awesome!!! Remember, I told him he was going to have to prove himself to his coach, and boy did he ever. He batted three times; he had a homerun, a triple, and a double. He got a run every time that he batted. He hit the ball to the outfield each time. Then, when he was in the outfield he was getting the ball in so fast, that the other team couldn't advance their runners. His coach pointed out his success in the outfield several times. He was so proud. He didn't sit out even one inning. Then, the moment he was waiting for; in the last inning the coach called time out, and placed Brendon at second base. He had made it infield, and he proceeded to make the last out by stopping the ball and getting it to first base. The final score was 24-5!!!
After this weekend, I must admit that I am pretty tired. I love these games, but it is really exhausting to spend an entire weekend at the ballfield. I was so proud of Brendon and his team. Unfortunately, I didn' get in enough time to study alot for my finals this week. Hopefully, I have retained enough over the course of the semester to do ok. I cannot wait for graduation...

How Sweet Is This...

2007-05-04T10:21:00.000-04:00

Seriously, I love that Brendon loves Eric as if it were his own father...

This Past Weekend

2007-05-02T08:16:00.000-04:00

Well, I have to say that these two games were a little less eventful than the one on Thursday night. In the first game, we got through all 10 batters in 3 out of the 4 innings that we played. There is a rule in this league that if your team is up by 10 points at the end of the fourth inning, then you stop the game. Brendon's team shut down the Saturday game by the fourth inning with a final score of 24-5. Brendon played a great defense at first base. The game on Sunday was a little better matched. The other team they were playing were actually pretty good, but Brendon's team has very good batters and the other teams defense just couldn't stand up to that. Brendon's team also shut them down by the end of the fourth inning with a final score of 21-11. I have looked at the stats, and right now Brendon's team is in second with having lost only one game. The coach of the team that is in first place, is Brendon's challenge team coach. We lost our game to that team. It will be very challenging to play them in the final rec ball tournament.
I will have lots to report this weekend, because there is a challenge team tournament. Brendon is scheduled to play 5 games over the course of the weekend starting Friday night. On Saturday we will be at the ball field from 8am-3pm! It's a good thing that I enjoy the games... This game I will take some pics.
BTW, Lora says she is going to come be Brendon's cheerleader and dress up with pigtails and a skirt. I think he is really scared that she may actually do it;)

Thursday Night Game

2007-04-27T09:43:00.000-04:00

Well, Brendon's game last night was a real nail biter. His team, "The Bullets" had a rough start. They scored one run in the first inning, and then the other team scored 7. By the end of the third inning they were tied. By the end of the fifth inning the Bullet's were back. They got up 17-11. It was the last inning and the other team was up to bat. They got the score up to 17-15, and we were just hoping for those 3 outs so that they could win. The Bullets pulled it together and won the game.
Brendon played very well last night. He was first baseman for all but one inning. He made two double runs. He only got out once, and that was b/c he was on base, there were two outs, and the batter struck out. There was one play that him and the third baseman kept doing to get outs. The other team would hit the ball to third base, and the third baseman got it to first base in order to get the runner out at first. They used this play three times successfully.
We have two more games this weekend, a game Wed., and a tournament next weekend. The team is looking really nice.
FYI: Sorry if this baseball stuff bores all of you bloggers in blogger land, but I think that Brendon will appreciate having a recap in writing.

Baseball Season In Full Swing

2007-04-25T06:27:00.000-04:00

This season Brendon was invited to try out for challenge team in his baseball league. This is basically an extra team he plays on when he is not playing on his regular rec team. He tried out and made it. Above he is pictured in his all star uniform right before their first tournament. They didn't win the tournament, but the sure did an awesome job. They had to play 4 games in two days, which was rough on the boys. We have another tournament coming up next weekend.

In Brendon's regular rec team he has lost one game (only by one point) and they have won all of the rest of the games. His skills are really improving every day. He has moved up to first baseman, and he is now the cleanup batter in the lineup because he hits the ball to the outfield every time. I am sorry to brag, but he is really good. I think it is good for kids to have an outlet to get out all of their energy. Brendon really loves baseball, and just the other night he spent 4 hours at the field, and still wasn't ready to go.

I have been spending around 5 nights a week at the baseball field, and I just try to bring my homework along with me some so that I can work on it. I really love to go to the games. They are soooo much fun. Eric and my parents also really enjoy going to them and cheering on the little man. This week our Brendon has a game on Thursday night, Saturday morning, and Sunday afternoon, and Challenge practice on Friday night. I am prepared to spend the entire weekend at the fields. Good thing I enjoy it...I will be posting the highlights of these games as he plays them. I know that Brendon will want to read recaps of his games later on...

It's About Time...

2007-04-24T15:56:00.000-04:00

I am sure that some of you have been wondering why there has been no posting from me in a while. Well it is here. The moment I have been awaiting for the past year, I am finally GRADUATING!!!! This may not be a big deal to some, but I have worked sooooo hard to obtain this degree. Trying to juggle full-time mother, full-time student, and most of the time I was employed, well it is hard. The big day is May 12th, and I am having a graduation party that evening. I want everyone on this blog to be there if you can. If you need my address just send me an email, and I will be glad to send it to you.

Now I will be returning to the land of the living. I am going to be posting some pics of Brendon's baseball momentarily. I am so glad to be back!

I've Come A Long Way...

2007-03-14T15:37:00.000-04:00

Well, this is what I look like now. This is how most of you know me to look. It has now been 14 months since I had gastric bypass surgery. Who knew it would be such a life altering experience. It changed not only my body, but my mind and spirit as well. I would do it again in a heartbeat. I dug up some old pics and posted them below.

This is me with my friend that now lives in Scotland. It was taken about a month ago.

Of course you know who this is. We "posed" on New Years Eve.

This picture was taken in May of last year. I had already lost about 70 lbs.

This picture was taken about one month before my surgery. I know it is not a full body shot, but you get the idea.

This was taken about a year ago. I had already lost somewhere in the ball park of 40lbs.

This last picture was taken last Feb. I had lost 40-50 lbs.

Thanks you so much to all the people who have been there with me through this journey. I appreciate all of the support from friends and family. A special thanks to Lora, my mom and dad, and Eric for all of the love and kindness you have shown throughout this past year. The grand total weight loss= 140lbs.!!!

A Day At the Park

2007-03-05T07:55:00.000-05:00

A few days ago, I had the pleasure of joining Lora, Lilykins, Lora's friend Marissa, and her baby at the park. It was an absolutely beutiful day, and Lora took lots of pics with my camera, so I thought I would post a few of them.

Brendon took this picture of Marissa, her son, Lora, Lilykins, and me. He is quite the photographer don't you think?

Lora saw this really cool tree, and took some pics with Brendon in it. As you can see, he wasn't enthusiastic about being the subject of Lora's pictures.

Marissa had to stop and feed that precious little boy of hers, so we took a little break on the park bench.

Me and my all time favorite baby, Lilykins!

Marissa and her adorable ten week old baby...

Here is a picture of Lora and Lilykins.

We really all had a nice time. I have been looking forward to having some "park" weather. With school, I have just been so busy, that I don't find the time to go outside and enjoy a pretty day. It was a nice break for me and Brendon. We had a great time.

Eric is WONDERFUL!!! The sequal

2007-02-10T09:21:00.000-05:00

Look, I am posting more than once in a week. It is a record!
Well, yesterday was interesting to say the least...
After I got home, we all had to take the medicine for pinworms because anybody that has been around Brendon is at risk. I believe I have done approx. 8-10 loads of laundry since yesterday. The medicine we had to take causes extreme stomach upset, and Eric and I didn't really even feel like eating dinner. We had planned to go out to eat, but that stuff was awful. So we ordered Outback, and sat around and played UNO like ten times in a row.
Last night, we were both just exhausted from the long day. I fell asleep very early. Brendon woke me up at 2:45am, and wanted to take a shower because he was itching. Eric then told me, that was Brendon's 3rd shower last night, and Eric had stayed up with him for two hours in his room until he fell asleep just a couple of hours earlier! I asked him why he didn't wake me up, and he simply said that I was tired and needed to get some rest. I feel like I need someone to pinch me. It just doesn't seem real, that I could have found a man to treat me and my son so well.

We were able to have birthday celebration for Eric. I baked him this cake. It was pretty good. The first cake I have ever made.

In other news, I had a conference with Brendon's teachers the other day. They said since Eric has come into our lives, Brendon seems like a new child. He doesn't get the attitude he used to get, and his behavior has improved ten fold. He just seems so much happier. Oh, and get this, he told his teacher that he wants Eric to be his dad one day. That just really touched my heart, and reaffirmed that I have found "the one". As cliche as that may sound, it really is true.

Here are some pictures of Brendon with his uncle Jason in the snow from last week. We didn't stay outside long because it started raining.

Hope you all in blogger land are doing well. I want to try and update at least once a week from now on, but we all know how that goes. I am just super busy with school. I do graduate in May though! Woo hoo!

Eric is WONDERFUL!!!

2007-02-09T10:07:00.000-05:00

I am just posting this blog to tell you all how completely wonderful my boyfriend is. You see, today is Eric's 30th Birthday. I had made alot of plans to try and make it an extra special birthday. I was planning to just skip my one class that I have on Fridays, so that I could spend the day with him. We were going to go out on Thursday night and spend all day today together. Then Saturday night, I wanted to have Brendon sleep over at my parents house so that Eric and I could have an evening together. Well, that is not exactly how it has happened.
My professor decided that he should designate today as Exam day, and then I was ordered to come to seminar in the libraray until noon. Needless to say, we couldn't go out last night because I had an exam at 8am this morning. Then my parents decided they are going to the beach, so Saturday night is out too. Oh, it only gets better...
Brendon has been complaining that his bottom hurt, and last night I figured out that he has pinworms. That means that he couldn't go to school today. And I bet you can guess who is taking care of him... That's right, Eric is taking care of my son right this very moment, on his Birthday, so that I would be able to come to school to take my exam. He got Brendon up, got him showered, dressed, began washing linens and towels, and is taking him to get medication. All on his 30th birthday. I have been feeling incredible guilt about this all day. So much so, that I have been awake since 4am this morning. I just wanted this day to be special for him. He is such a wonderful man!

This One's For You, Lora!

2007-01-23T21:44:00.000-05:00

Lora reminded me that I really needed to update, so here I am. I have taken on 19 hours this semester and I graduate in May. I hope that you bloggers will forgive me if I don't update much again this semester. I don't have any spare time. Right now, I am so deprived of sleep I feel like by the end of the school year, I will look pretty scary.

Anyway, alot has been happening for Brendon and I these past few months. I am finishing up school, and Brendon is moving right along in second grade. The teaches say that his math skills are the best in his class. He can see things spatially, alot like his mommy. His reading comprehension, well, that needs a little work.

My boyfriend, Eric, has begun playing a very important role in Brendon's life. He takes him to do all kinds of fun "boy" things. They hang out and play, and I think that it has really had a positive affect on Brendon.
This is what I came home to the other day:

It is sooooooo sweet. I just love it. Eric is the father figure that Brendon has never had in his life. So here is a convo b/t me and Brendon in the car today:

Brendon: I want Eric to be my dad someday

Mommy: Well, maybe, one day when we get married, Eric can adopt you.

Brendon: Does that mean I am up for adoption???
I just thought that I would interject that conversation because I thought it was hilarious.

Here are some pictures of us at Freedom Park:

Well, that is all of the energy that I have for today. I hope to be back soon. I am going to do my best, I promise...

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures!

2006-12-18T09:28:00.000-05:00

Sorry to everyone that reads my blog. I know that I have not updated in a long time. That is partially due to the fact I was very busy with school, and partially due to the fact that I have been spending alot of time with my boyfriend, and less time on the computer. So here are some of the pics that I have taken this fall...

The is a picture of my boyfriend, Eric. I have known him since I was 17, and we were reconnected in October. We have been inseprable ever since. He is really great to Brendon, and Brendon always wants to hang out with him. Last weekend when I needed to do last minute shopping, he took Brendon to the golf course and to the skateboard park so I could get everything finished. Besides Brendon, he is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I am so blessed.

Here are some pics that I took of Brendon when he was outside playing in the leaves this fall.

Every year on my Birthday, November 17, Brendon's school does a school musical. This year when he tried out, he got a solo! He did very well. What a nice birthday present.

Brendon's class had a big Christmas party the last day of school, and I was class mom. We had a great time. The kids at lunch, decorated cookies, and made angel tree toppers. I really enjoyed myself, and as you can see Brendon did too.

I will be posting Christmas pics tomorrow, hopefully. To everyone in blog world, I will be trying to catch up on reading blogs over the next few days. Sorry if I haven't commented in awhile. I can't wait to see what all of you have been up to! Love you guys!