Happy birthday to me

What a horrible picture! But it's the best I could do - and Bud insisted on taking it. Ugh! I went to the doctor on Monday, Sept 21st because I didn't feel well. The doc thought I might have the flu, did a flu test and sent it to the lab, put me on Tamiflu and told me to stay home from work for 2 days. So I did....doctor's orders. I took the Tamiflu and never started feeling better, actually started to feel worse and running a fever. Each day I called the doctor for the flu test results, but they weren't back yet.

Wednesday was my birthday and I felt pretty bad. I was really sad too because I hadn't held either of the boys in two days and I missed them. I cried off and on all day long. :( But the boys tried to cheer me up. When they got home, they had brought me a cake, flowers and a gift. That was very nice. I made dinner, then opened my gift (gift card to Hobby Lobby - my favorite store, and a bottle of perfume), and had some cake. Again, Bud insisted on taking this photo...pajamas, messy hair, no makeup. Nice. Real nice.

Well I got my results on Thursday and it was negative! Great! I didn't have the flu. The downside? I'd been taking medicine for 3 days to treat something I didn't have. By then I had developed a pretty nasty cough, so he put me on an antibiotic because they figured I had an upper respiratory infection or something and needed to prevent bronchitis and pneumonia. That would be a great birthday present! LOL.

So on Saturday, Bud really compensated. We left the kids with Jane and Chester for the night and went to an early movie. We saw Love Happens which was pretty good, then he caved and took me to a really nice dinner at The Melting Pot. I say he "caved" because he did not want to go there - he was afraid he wouldn't get enough to eat. (That's always his biggest fear when trying somewhere new.) Kelli and Stacie had gotten to him -- telling him that I really wanted to go there, and finally convincing him. He decided that if that's where I wanted to go for my birthday, then that's where we should go. Yay! The Melting Pot was awesome. We had so much fun. We really enjoyed each other's company, and the food was excellent. It was the first time Bud has ever tried lobster....and....he loved it. He said it was his favorite thing on the plate - over steak, chicken and sausage. So proud of Bud for trying something new.

So it turned out to be a really nice, relaxing dinner. And as much as we love our kids, it was nice to not have to worry about eating as fast as we could, before food started flying across the table, or Ryan tried crawling out of his high chair. Haha! Our crazy little life.

This is what LIFE is all about

Sometimes I get so stressed out and bogged down in the daily grind that it's easy to forget about why I'm here, my purpose in life. It's moments like these that I stop and remember. I'm here for them...my boys. This is what God put me here for. He created me to be the best mom I can be for my two little guys.

Life with a 3 1/2 year old and a 15 month old can be rough at times. They're so full of energy, into everything, and they never stop. Luckily they both sleep well at night so I get those few hours to rest. Haha! Sometimes I just feel so drained and start to run low on patience, and at times, I feel like it can be too much. But then we have really great, simple but perfect moments like this, and everything fades into the background, and all I can do is smile. They make me smile.

It's a..........BOY!

Finally! After almost 9 months of waiting, Stacie and Beau had their baby. And it's a boy! They named him Brooks Anderson and he's so adorable. He has a perfectly round little head full of dark blonde hair, a cute little nose that's slightly turned up like Stacie's, and full pouty little lips. He's so pretty that he's already been mistaken for a baby girl.



Stacie had been having trouble with high blood pressure over the last couple of months and when she went in for her doctor's appt on 9/29, he admitted her to Labor & Delivery. He said if she hadn't eaten breakfast that day, he would have done the c-section right then and there. Instead, he kept her overnight and scheduled the c-section for 7:30am the following day, September 30th. Little Brooks wasn't due until my dad's birthday, which is October 18th, so at 2 1/2 weeks early, we were all a bit nervous. No need though...he was born a strong and healthy 7 lbs 12 oz, and 19 inches long. Adorable.

The morning he was born, we rushed to the hospital. We left the house around 6:40am because we wanted to be there by about 7:15 so we wouldn't take any chances on missing the big announcement (Beau and Stacie didn't know what sex the baby was). Well, Bud and I had a little miscommunication (that's too long and pointless to include here) and ended up taking a long and traffic-congested route to the hospital. Very bad decision. That was one of the most stressful hour-long drives ever. We finally made it into the parking lot at about 7:50. We were so scared that we were going to be too late.

Bud literally threw the truck into park, he grabbed JD and I grabbed Ryan, and we ran to the waiting area. We arrived, breathless and frustrated, but we at least we didn't miss anything. We sat there for about 1/2 an hour before we got the....phone call?! Phone call?! Yep, that's right, Beau called in the birth. We couldn't believe it. As many births as he's attended, he should know you don't call it in. But he did. He called Bud and told him that they were in the recovery room and everyone was fine. There was no nurse with them, Stacie was shaking too bad (from the meds) to hold the baby, and there was nowhere to put the baby. So we had to wait. We still didn't know if it was a boy or a girl. But the feeling in the room was pretty strong that it was a girl. Why? Because we found out that the night before a nurse was checking on Stacie and said "so what are you going to name your little girl?" She said "we don't know if we're having a little girl" and the nurse said "oh, I must have confused you with the woman next door." At the point, Stacie thought that the nurse had blown it for them....9 months of waiting to find out, then the nurse slipped the night before. Ugh! So everyone was sure it was a girl.

Anyway, so Beau said he'd be out as soon as he could. About 5 minutes later, the door unlocked, so I quickly turned my camera on, then the door opened and out walked a man in scrubs, and...."Click!" I took the first picture of the new daddy....only it wasn't our daddy. It was the daddy of the baby girl that the nurse had been referring to. He walked by, held his arms out to side, and said "do you want another picture?" and laughed as he walked over to tell his family it was a baby girl.

This is the guy I thought was Beau.




A few minutes later, out came Beau. I got a picture of him too. He came out and we all just stared, but he still didn't say anything. Everyone was asking him to spill the beans. Instead, he asked JD to help him out. JD walked over to him and Beau said "so what do you think we're having - a boy or girl?" JD said "a girl!" and Beau said "well, you're wrong." The whole place came alive, everyone started screaming, and JD ran off crying. It scared him to death. Poor little guy.

So excited that we've got another little boy. Surprised too because we really thought that nurse had let the cat out of the bag. Either way, we would have been so happy. But now that he's here, I couldn't be happier. JD, Ryan and Brooks are gonna have so much fun together.

So after all the initial excitement, two by two, we went back to meet little Baby Brooks and congratulate Stacie. He's just precious.