Rollin, Rollin, Rollin

Brinley turned 4 months on April 12th. Three short days later she rolled over! She can roll over either shoulder, but she prefers to roll over her left shoulder from her back to her front.  It started a little slow, but now she almost rolls automatically when you put her on her back!  It's so great.  Cayden never really rolled over.  It's fun to watch, and you know Matt is proud of this milestone!

Fourth Trimester

On this hour (7AM), 3 months ago, I was in labor and had been in labor for a very long time.  We had gone to the hospital around midnight and I was dilated to a six! I had been laboring at home the entire day before.  Cayden was at our sweet neighbor's house and I made Matt go to work!  He kept calling and wanted to come home, but I wouldn't let him!!  I wanted to labor at home and alone!!  My friends (especially Ashley & Breanna) were basically freaking out that I wouldn't let Matt be there.  I heard  a knock on the door.  I thought it was Matt.  It wasn't.  It was my mom!  She wanted to be there.  Good thing she was because we left in the middle of the night and left Cayden and her both sleeping soundly.  Shortly thereafter, Matt's parents came and relieved my Mom.  They kept Cayden at home until the baby came.
It was almost at this exact moment when the doctor on call came in and said he needed to break my water because my labor was "failing to progress."  Those are the dreaded words that they use when they are about to make an excuse for why you need another c-section.  Although I was terrified of having my water broken, I allowed it. We waited with anticipation to see if my labor pains multiplied exponentially.  When they did not, that concerned me even more.  God knew the desires of my heart.  He knew how I longed to deliver my child without drugs via the birth canal!!  I know I shouldn't, but I felt cheated in some way with Cayden's birth.  I desperately wanted to have this baby the way God intended babies to be born, and I wanted to do so naturally.
The strange thing that happened when the doctor broke my water was that instead of making the contractions worse and 'jump-starting' my labor, the contractions stopped! "Are you kidding me?"  The doctor said he had never seen anything like it, but that his shift was ending and he was going to be leaving me in the hands of another doctor on-call who was not at all in favor of a VBAC delivery without drugs.  Excellent!!  I was terrified.  When that doctor came in and told me she was giving me one hour to "progress" before taking me to a c-section, I was broken.  I had been in labor for almost 36 hours at this point and I was exhausted, but not willing to give up.  She started "pit" at a level 2 and left the room annoyed, but not before giving us the run-down of horrible case scenarios and 'what-ifs.' After praying with a dear friend and my family, the contractions started up... and boy did they start!  My sweet nurse kept turning the Pitocin up and before long, the contractions were right on top of each other.  The nurse was doing all of the work, Matt, my mom and my dad were in the room with me.  They cheered me on through each and every contraction. My Dad was breathing with me and giving me ice chips, Matt was calling out the contractions and my mom was keeping the baby's heart monitor in place.  Matt and my dad made several jokes back and forth- I guess trying to make me laugh.  After 36 hours, I could barely even see straight- much less laugh.  After a little pushing, Brinley made her very quick appearance!  ...and I will never be the same again! (In more ways than one!)  We were SHOCKED to see that it was a girl. SHOCKED! 

A good friend of mine calls these first three months the fourth trimester.  We have officially completed the fourth trimester.  I think it has taken me this long to actually believe that I have a baby girl and that she is really here!  She is perfect for us.  God knew exactly what we needed, and he was faithful to give me the desires of my heart during labor.  Don't get me wrong.  I first and foremost wanted a safe delivery, but if at all possible I wanted to avoid another c-section.  Praise God!  I did!

*Brinley, we love it when you smile.  Your giggle is so sweet and cute.  We all (including Cayden) laugh when you laugh. Cayden loves to make the baby sounds that you make.  He points at your belly-button, eyes, nose, toes, hands and likes to name them.  Every morning Cayden says, "Brinley!" and you get a big smile on your face.  We pray that one day you will both be strong believers in Christ and find other strong believers to marry.  We have prayed that since our wedding night, and we continue to pray that over you.  We know we are not perfect and our home will not be perfect, but Christ's love is perfect, and we will do our best to follow in his lead.
At only three months, you can go from a horizontal position to sitting and then standing, just by grabbing our thumbs.  You are so strong!  One day you will rollover, crawl, walk, run and jump, but I am enjoying you today- right now- just the way you are! You are such a good eater and sleeper, sleeping around 8-12 hours a night and several naps throughout the day.  Hopefully that will continue!  Brinley, I don't ever want you to feel like you are living in anyone's shadow.  God made you to be uniquely you, and all of His creations are good. 

Visiting Cayden in his crib this morning

Brinley Denise- 3 Months Old!

Psalm 36:5, "Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies." (NIV)

Psalm 36:7, "How priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings." (NIV)

John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (NIV)

1 John 4:16, "And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him." (NIV)

Whirlwind Weekend

This weekend we made a whirlwind trip to Beeville to celebrate Ky & Kerri's birthday.  I wanted to go to a baby shower Sunday, so we left late Saturday night.  We had so much fun visiting Matt's parents and seeing all of the cousins.  In only a few short years, Cayden is going to LOVE his cousin times.  I have the best memories of trips to Memaw's house with all of my cousins.  We used to get into so much trouble and have so much fun ALL at the same time!!  I love that Cayden is close in age to cousins on both sides of our families.  Cayden had a blast at Gigi & Pop's house.  They played outside on the Gator and even in the hot tub.  We had a surprise herd of goats that Cayden had to check out.  Having fun was the main objective. I don't think there is any other option when grandparents are involved!  Most of these pictures are of Brinley.  She was a big hit, of course... and so was her bow, courtesy of Gigi.

Cheese!

She's smiling... more and more everyday! It started around 6 weeks, but I never had the camera within range when it happened. We can almost always get a smile out of her when we talk to her now. Cayden, on the other hand, has started saying, "CHEESE" when we get the camera out. It's pretty funny. He'll actually smile on cue (if he wants to, of course)!

She's not smiling in the first picture (obviously), but Cayden was cheesing it up!

Where shall I begin?

Blogging is so overwhelming. I have ideas all day long. Often, I grab the phone and call the person (or persons) I feel would most appreciate the story or the laugh. That has become increasingly more difficult since an extra little person is demanding more of me! Where do I start? I want to write about all of the funny and exciting things that have happened since we were married, but I would never do it because that would take too long. Let's face it... There are probably very few individuals who are going to read this blog. Having said that, I think I will just pick up with the present and do a few flashbacks every now and then. I apologize now for grammatical errors or errors of punctuation. This is straight from the horse's mouth and it is what it is. Enjoy!

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We are instructed to count our blessings "one by one." Some of those blessings are ones that we expected and others were surprises to us! The two best surprises lately are Cayden and Brinley. Matt and I talked about kids before marriage. We agreed that one day we would like to have them. When I was pregnant with Cayden, we were told I was having a girl! I bonded with the beautiful baby inside of me for months on end. I was seven months pregnant when we found out it wasn't a girl at all! As crazy as it sounds, I went through a period of mourning. I felt a loss for the little girl that I had been talking to and dreaming about for the last several months. It didn't take long to connect to Cayden. After all, it was him who I had been talking to and feeling. I hadn't actually lost a child. Joy soon overwhelmed me and we began redecorating the nursery and preparing to live a very different life! I went from dreaming about tea parties and dress-up to camping trips, smelly socks & bugs! Reality hasn't ended up being ALL that different. Cayden LOVES to be outside ALL the time, his feet stink and he thoroughly enjoys sticking things in his pockets (grass, dirt, bugs).

Brinley, on the other hand, started off as a surprise from the beginning!

(More to come on that later!)