Halloween

Trick or Treat!

Tracy and Braelyn

The gang!

Awww... so adorable!

K-9 Unit and the chicken!

Daddy took a picture of her in her Halloween outfit before she went to daycare! He's the best!

First Birthday!

Last week was Braelyn's first birthday. The whole week I had flashbacks from a year ago. Does that always happen or was it just because she's my first? Anyways, the story of Braelyn's arrival is quite funny. I was at parent/teacher conferences and all of a sudden I felt like I peed my pants a little bit. I knew that wasn't normal so I tried to end the conference as soon as I could and proceeded to the restroom. Well, I didn't feel like I had to go so I just washed my hands and went back to my classroom. I had two more conferences that I needed to prepare for. As I reached my classroom I felt it again. Except this time there was a little more. Hmmm... I think my water just broke! Um... Yea... Well, I started to walk towards my friend's classroom to ask her what it was like to break your water (This is my friend Shawna who helped me the whole way through my pregnancy. I don't think I would have made it w/o her!) and there was more... I made her come to the bathroom with me and she convinced me that my water did indeed break and that I should probably find a ride home. I thought... naw... I have two conferences left and I could make it through them. I asked her to go to the office and get me some maxi pads so I wouldn't look like I peed my pants (May I please remind you that I taught in a K-6 Elementary School?). She came back with these band-aid thin pads! What leak were these things going to stop? Okay... they were the only things I had so... here we go. I called Heath to tell him that I would be leaving shortly after my conferences and he should get off work and meet me at home. Of course he yelled at me, told me to get home now, and that I was an idiot for thinking I could make it 1/2 hr. As soon as I hung up the phone the flood gates opened! YIKES! I ran to the office, informed the secretary that I was leaving, and started for home. (p.s. I'm running out of the school with wet pants!) I drove the short distance home, switched clothes, hopped in my car, and took off for SF.

We arrived at the ER and the nurse informed us it would be a short wait and that I should sit down in a chair. I was fine until I looked down and saw that my pants were soaked to my shoes. Um... I knew better than that so I asked for a wheel chair instead. I quickly got in a chair! After 1/2 hr wait I was finally wheeled into a "Pre-delivery" room. Okay... so I'm not sure if that is what they truly call it, but they just wanted to make sure I was in labor. I was asked to change my clothes and as soon as I stood up the nurse saw Wild Water West on the seat, asked me to sit back down, and wheeled me to a delivery room.

Well, 12 hrs of labor, 3 puke bags, 2 epiderals, and an oxygen mask later, Braelyn Marie finally decided to join us!

I love my little blessing to pieces and I wouldn't change her for the world! Here are some pictures of her special day!

Braelyn in her Dora Ball Pit!

I know it doesn't look like it, but she loves her wagon!

Birthday Princess!

Opening her nice blanket from Great Grandma & Grandpa

Meredith and Elise came to visit!

Elise!

6-6

Tracy did this and I'm really bad at posting so I thought this would be easy enough. This is Braelyn when she was 5 months old. We thought she'd love an exersaucer, but she played it in maybe a dozen times. Now you're it! Go into your file... find the 6 folder and the 6th picture in it. Have fun!

Update

Um... okay... so it's been awhile! Let me see... Where do I start?

Last weekend I took Braelyn to get her 1 yr pictures taken. Yea... um... maybe 3 turned out. I'm not too happy about it. Oh well. I will order what I like and take her somewhere else to get some better ones.

Braelyn isn't feeling so hot. I mean, she's feeling way hot, but better now. At 4:00 am she was at 99 degrees and now she's down to 98 degrees. She's still crabby, but better than yesterday.

It snowed out yesterday and I'm not too happy about that either. That means winter is near... YUCK!

Heath is gone for guards... again. He's coming home tonight to get a few things, going to class tomorrow, and coming home to be with his family!

Saturday is Braelyn's 1st Birthday!!!! We'll be having Heath's family over for cake and ice cream. My parents and grandparents are coming as well, but we're having a birthday party for my side on Thanksgiving.

Other than that, school is school. Nothing too exciting.

Braelyn is turning ONE!!!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Apple Orchard

On Saturday Braelyn and I met Tracy, her kids, Grandma Sandy, and Aunt Michelle down at the Apple Orchard. Tracy's kids had loads of fun playing on the inflatables while Braelyn took a ride on the pony. Then the kids rode the train. Braelyn wasn't too sure about it at first, but after awhile she got a smile on her face. As soon as the kids got off it started to down pour! EEEEKKK! After a few minutes it stopped so we got on the hayride to go look for pumpkins. After the Apple Orchard we went to Ground Round to eat. My aunt Kim took Braelyn home with her and Sandy and Michelle took Tracy's kids so we could do some shopping! I had a great time!

Saturday night I had a Signature Homes party. It was good to get some ladies together, drink, and spend some money!

Sunday Heath came home! Yippeeeee! We sat around, watched football, and had supper. Now he's giving Braelyn a bath so she can go to bed. She's been crabby because she didn't get a good nap so she'll be going to bed early!

Braelyn and I before we got on the hayride Dawson and Caymen on the train... Caymen trying to put up her hood b/c it started to rain!
The girls with their pumpkins
My sweets with her pumpkin
Getting these three to cooperate for a picture... um... yea...

Braelyn riding the pony On the train
Not too sure about it yet...
Here we go!

Apple Orchard... Here We Come!

Tomorrow we're going to the apple orchard! Finally! We're going! Yeah!

The Week is Almost Over With!

I don't know if I mentioned this in my last post but........ Braelyn is finally walking! Okay... so not a lot... but she can do it! All by herself!

Whew! This week flew by! By all means, that's quite fine with me!
We didn't do much this week. I had a student's parents visit me on Tuesday after school. I have a difficult time trying to make modicfications for students that need other help that I cannot offer them. I will try what the parents are asking of me; however, more needs to be done. I hope they soon realize that.

Tuesday night we were finally able to make it to SF to buy a bench I've been wanting. I've been trying to update the look of the interior of our house and I think this bench will do the trick in the porch.

My best friend left me for a couple of days. He's gone away for Guards, something he loves and I support. I try my hardest to be strong, but it's difficult. It's hard to come home at nights when it's just Braelyn and I. We play and have fun, but it's not the same. When Braelyn does something cute or funny, I laugh and smile and think I wish Heath was here to see that. It breaks my heart to think of him missing out on so much of her life. I will be strong... for Braelyn.

Weekend!

Friday night I received permission to buy pumpkins! I have this thing about decorating for the holidays and I sometimes start too early. Heath has put restrictions on when I can start decorating for holidays. He thinks some holidays are overlooked because of the bigger one that follows (Christmas). Anyways, I had to wait until October to buy pumpkins so Friday night we went and got some pumpkins!

Saturday Heath and Mark had to be at the Guard Unit so Tracy came to help me with insurance while the kids played. We ordered pizza for lunch and chit-chatted. Oh and she helped with my blog background. Now I need another class on how to get the thing on here. That night my friend Shawna and her husband came to Madison and we met at the Moonlight for supper. A good time was had by all!!!!

Then came Sunday... For some reason I haven't been able to sleep. I'm not sure why. I got up at six and went to the store to get a Sunday paper. I knew there was going to be an article about Heath's deployment in there, but had no idea it was front page! YIKES! It was a well written article. Anyways, Braelyn work up crying at 8. She never wakes up crying in the morning. I changed her and she continued to cry. I thought maybe she was hungry. She ate a muffin and had some milk and continued to be crabby. This behavior is unlike her. I decided to give her a bath thinking that would help. After I got her out of the tub she threw up... a lot! Whatever. Not a big deal. Got her ready for the day. But this whole time she cried. I began doing a process of elimination: teeth, ear, tummy ache... Gave her some teething tablets that numb the pain... no sign of relief... awhile later.... ear drops.... no relief... motrin.... um still nothing. Have I mentioned this whole time she is crying? Not like a feel sorry for me cry... a cry of pain. I had no idea. At 10:45 I decided to take her to the ER to see if it truly was an ear ache or what the heck was going on. Um... as I was signing papers at the front desk... she lost her cookies... AGAIN... ALL OVER herself, myself, desk, and floor. Not cool. Long story short... she had some sort of bug. And the rest of the day she was fine. She took a 4 hr nap and played. And by the way, it was my birthday... nice, right? Oh well, could have been worse!

Picture Overload!

Heath and Braelyn watching the parade


The girls!



Braelyn and myself at SMHS/DRHS parade



First haircut

Way to go Kerrie!

Braelyn and her boyfriend Seth

Braelyn cheering on SMHS!

That's all I had... just pictures... got to go... Grey's is on... My second favorite show...