Brooklyn is 4 months old!!

I can't believe our little Brooklyn Dawn has been a part of our family for 4 months now!! She is truly a ray of sunshine!! She is a such happy little baby!! She loves to smile and coo and talk!! She is already acting like a girl- what a little talker!! She is a pro at holding her head up, pushing up while on her tummy, and loves to bat at objects in front of her!! She hasn't quite mastered rolling over yet, but she is so close!! She is a very active little girl and I can definitely wait for her to get mobile because I am sure she will be in to everything!! Yesterday we took her for her 4 month check up! She did great!! She weighed 14 lbs 8 oz (75%), was 24 1/2 in long (50%) and her head circumference was in the 25%!! Her hernia has gone down drastically and her heart is all clear!! They said she was doing perfect and growing right on her growth curve!! So thankful to God that our little girl is doing so well!! We love her and can't imagine life without her!! She is such a joy!!

 

Brooklyn's 1st Zoo Trip

Everyone was out of school on Monday February 17, so I decided to be a brave Mommy and take all the kids to the zoo by myself!! It was a little cloudy to begin with and I was hesitant about going. But I am so glad we went!! It turned out to be a perfect zoo day, and believe it or not my kids were pretty much as perfect as you can get!! Brooklyn did great- she never cried or was fussy! Brantley walked the whole day by himself without having to be carried or pushed in a stroller! Jackson was so good and such a big helper!! The 2 things that I really had to get on to Colton for was 1. looking were he was going and 2. to tell him to stop saying, "It Stinks"!! Other than that, they seriously were SO good!! So good that we stayed 4 hours!! I enjoyed myself so much and was so glad I didn't let the weather or my fears about how hard it would be with all 4 keep me from going!! Here are some fun pictures of our day:

Snow Day

It seems like every where else in the country has been graced with snow except Memphis! But today we finally got some!! Sure it wasn't much but it was still enough to have some good family fun!! We took Brookie out so she could see her first snow but we didn't keep her out long. We took her next door to Grams' house so she could stay warm and out of the cold air while Mommy and Daddy had some fun with the boys!! We had snowball fights, swang, and watched the boys slip on the occasional patch of ice! We had so much fun just being together and playing out in God's creation. Jackson was so excited! He said, "God has answered my prayers!" So glad that we got to enjoy this day together as a family even if there was only a tad bit of snow!! And now here are some pics of their smiling faces:

A Typical Sunday Morning

Sunday mornings at our house are CRAZY!! John has a staff meeting every Sunday morning, that way each minister can get his area prepared for morning worship and activities. So for us that means Daddy leaves before the kids get up and it's Mommy's job to get the other 5 (herself + all 4 kids) ready by herself! Church begins at 9:30 which typically means Mommy has to get up by 6:30 to get everything ready to actually leave on time. Part of the morning is spent nursing Brooklyn and pumping, so Brooklyn will have enough milk for Mommy to go to church and Sunday School without having to miss any to feed her. The boys typically take showers or baths at night so I don't have to fool with it in the mornings. However sometimes they have such bad bed head that it is easier for them to jump in the tub, get their hair wet and brush their teeth. It takes less time to do that than to try and calm their crazy hair down. I have already gotten their clothes out but I think I probably have to tell them 5 times a piece to get their socks on, shoes, etc. And it never fails that either Brookie will have an explosion and need an impromptu bath or Brantley will have peed his bed. I always have to factor in an extra 30 minutes for the "unknown". And every week I think we use that extra time. Breakfast is usually eaten in the van on the way to church, and sometimes if we have enough time we may stop and get donuts. I usually bribe them with donuts to get them to hurry up and get ready the first time I ask instead of the 3rd or 4th time!! Brantley has to have at least one glass of chocolate milk before we can leave. I tend to let them watch cartoons or turn on a movie so that I can finish getting ready and pack the van. We usually get to church right on time. We rarely ever get there early, but I am doing the best I can! I try and remember that the most important thing is that we are going, and try not to let the other cause me to be so stressed that we get in bad moods. Satan is against everything God is for. And God wants us to get up and go worship at His house with His people!! So the devil is going to try and do anything and everything to corrupt that. I try and hold my cool if I am frustrated when they are not listening. Sometimes I am able to and sometimes not. We always pray on the way to church to prepare our hearts for worship and for Sunday School. I pray for each kid's salvation and that they would learn more about Jesus each time we go! If it is a morning when I have not been able to keep my cool, I always pray for forgiveness (out loud) as well as asking for the boys' forgiveness too. Even though it is a lot of work, I would not have Sunday mornings any other way (well maybe the part of Daddy not being home with us)!! I am thankful that we still have the privilege of actually going to church and worship freely!! I am thankful that Jesus loved us so much that he died for our sins!! I am thankful the kids have such wonderful teachers to add to the teachings they are already receiving from home! I am so thankful for such sweet friends that John and I have made to encourage us on our journey together!! In conclusion Sundays are crazy and absolutely amazing at the same time!! We love Jesus, we love church and Mommy loves Sunday Naps!!!

Today we were actually running a little ahead of schedule and I was able to snap a few photos before we left for church!!

"But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.” (Mark 10:14, 15 NKJV)

Brooklyn's Birth Story

October 16, 2013: I began the day getting ready for my 37 week OB appointment. The week before I was 50% effaced and 3-4 cm dilated! I was anxious to see if I had progressed anymore!! As the days grew closer and closer to meeting sweet little Brooklyn, my heart began to stress because I didn't want a hospital experience like I did with Brantley. I wanted a healthy baby with NO lung problems and NO NICU stay!! Because this was weighing heavy on my mind, my blood pressure was elevated. They decided they would let the doctor check me and then they would recheck my blood pressure. Dr. Mestemacher came in and checked me. I was now 5 cm and 50% effaced!! However when they checked my blood pressure again it was still high. Since I was technically full term and had had steroid shots to help with lung development, she decided that today would be Brooklyn's birthday!! I could go home and get my stuff but had to be back at the hospital in 1 1/2 hr. As soon as I left I called John and told him to come straight home with the two younger boys because it was going to be baby day!! Before heading to the house I had to make a quick stop at Toys R Us to get Jackson's present. I have always gotten the older siblings presents on the day their younger sibling was born. I had Colton and Brantley's but didn't have Jackson's. I could not go without getting his present first! The doctor had ruptured my membranes while in the office and I was starting to have contractions. Of course I get the checker who has only been there 1 day!! In my head I was like please hurry up, I am about to have a baby!! Once we got home we had enought time to get our bags and get loaded up. Janet, John's sister, met us up at Baptist Women's to take the boys to eat and let us get settled without all the commotion! By the time I got registered and hooked up on the monitors, it was around 1:30 pm. 

The nurse started me on pitocin and my contractions were coming pretty regularly. I had always said if I ever had another baby I was going to go "all natural" with NO pain meds. It was something on my Bucket List that I wanted to achieve for myself. So I went in with that plan. I knew I wouldn't have the baby until she came and broke my water. My water had never broken on its own!! At 5:35 the doctor came in to break my water. I was 7 cm at the time and still about 50 % effaced. It took her 3 try's to break my water. We had to stop every time I began to have another contraction. After breaking my water, Dr. Mestemacher left to go check on another patient at Methodist Germantown. Not 2-3 minutes later I was telling the nurse that I needed to push!! I don't think she believed me, but when I kept insisting she decided to check me. I don't think she expected to see what she saw!! Frantically she started pushing the emergency call button for help!! She said "I need someone in here STAT!!" I was in intense pain at this point and I remember saying, "I can't do this!" But my loving husband looked at me and said, "Yes, you can!" At that point there was no turning back anyways. Whether I wanted to or not I was having this baby with no pain medication!! My aunt and sister were in the room but had decided to leave since they could tell I was hurting pretty bad. But they never made it out the door!! 6 minutes after the doctor broke my water, Brooklyn made her grand entrance into the world with 1 push!! There was no doctor, no breaking the bed apart, no time to get the camera, no nothing!! She just came out and flopped on the hospital bed! In that instance I felt so much relief, it is indescribable!!

(My sister started the stopwatch on her phone as a joke just to see how long it would take to have baby Brooklyn! We had no idea it would happen this fast!)

I look up and see my aunt and my sister both crying. I was so glad that they were both in there to experience the miracle of birth!! Here is a description of what my sister experienced in her own words:

Despite the pain, it was all worth it to have sweet little Brooklyn in my arms!! It doesn't matter how many times you give birth, it is just as amazing as the first time!! A perfect little being came from nothing, grew inside you, and just came out of you for you to forever love and take care of!! Every time I see my sweet babies for the first time, I can't help but think about what an amazing God we have!! 

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. (Psalm 139:13-16 NIV)

Baby Brookie is 3 months old!!

Our sweet baby girl turned 3 months yesterday!! I absolutely LOVE having a little girl, which is a little surprising since I was always such a tom boy!! And it still amazes me at God's perfect timing. When I was pregnant with Jackson, all I wanted was a healthy baby BOY!! I did not even want to think about having a little girl. But over time, God has softened my heart and prepared me for a special little girl named Brooklyn Dawn! After 3 boys I was so excited to find out we were having a little girl! Not that a little girl is in any way better than a little boy; it's just different! I feel so blessed that God wanted our family to have both: boys and girl! Ever since my mom has passed, I have truly missed having a mother/daughter relationship. Don't get me wrong, I have had so many wonderful people step in and fill that void. And for that, I feel incredibly grateful and blessed!! But here recently I just had a hunger in my heart. One that wouldn't go away. I truly believe that it was God's way of preparing my heart for Brooklyn. Does Brooklyn take the place of my Mom?! Absolutely not!! No one can ever take her place or fill that "Mom" shaped void in my heart. But Brooklyn gives me another chance at that mother/daughter relationship. This time the role of Mother is mine. It is my job to teach her how to become a Godly lady who desires to love Jesus with all her heart and to be a servant to others. It is my job to teach her how to love her husband and love her kids. Don't get me wrong, my desire for all my kids is to love Jesus with all their heart, to love their spouse and their family, and to be a servant!! But my boys are going to look to their Daddy as a living example of how to be a Godly man, not me. Brooklyn, though, is going to look to her Mommy on how to be a Godly woman. My motherhood role just took on a whole new meaning!! I am humbled, somewhat anxious, and excited for this new adventure! I still am amazed that God saw fit not only to give me 3 little boys but also a little girl!! My prayer is that I can be the best momma that I can be to all my kids. That I can be the kind of person that my boys would want to marry and that my daughter would want to become! My verse that I constantly use as encouragement is this: "Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it."(Proverbs 22:6) My job is to train them up in the instruction of The Lord. But there is also a promise in that verse too. "He will not depart from it". My prayer for each of my children is that they will be so grounded in their faith that the world will not be able to shake them. However if the world does get a foothold on them, I claim this promise: that they will return to their faith and to Jesus, the Savior of the world!! With all that being said,these last 3 months have been tiring but also some of the most rewarding!! We love our Brookie and are so thankful that God blessed our family with her!! 

Brooklyn has a Happy, Healthy Heart!!

On Wednesday October 16, 2013 our lives were blessed once again by a new addition to our family!! But this time it was a GIRL!! What a girl?! Not a Boy?! I still didn't believe it until she actually graced us with her presence at 5:42 pm!! (I will post her birth story later because it was just too crazy not to post about!!) 

Brooklyn was born at 37 weeks and although she was technically full term she ended up in the NICU. The NICU was her home for the first 6 days of her life. She was diagnosed with fluid on her lung and we had to wait till it eventually came off on its own. While she was there she was put on antibiotics in case of infection, as well as being put under lights so that her jaundice levels would go down.

(Brookie getting her tan on- such a Girl!)

While receiving care in the NICU, the pediatric cardiologist came in to look at her heart. There was good news and bad news. The Good news was that she was not born with a heart defect! The Bad news was that she had a PFO vs ASD from L to R. The cardiologist Dr. Stamps wanted to follow back up with her in 3 months to see if the issues had been resolved or if we would need to take further action. Yesterday January 15, 2014 we went to her scheduled appointment at 9:30. Once we were called back we had to undress her for her ultrasound. Daddy stayed with the boys and Mommy went in the room with Baby Brookie. She was fine at first. She let the technician look at her her heart, then they moved up closer to her neck to get another angle- still no problem. But when the technician moved to her belly and started pressing in and up, Brooklyn lost it! And I mean lost it!! She screamed for probably 15 minutes and had tears coming from her eyes. It made this Mommy so sad because I couldn't do anything. Even after the ultrasound it took me a while to be able to calm her down. Shortly after her ultrasound, Dr. Stamps came in and told us WONDERFUL news, the BEST present I could hear around my birthday. He said that the hole in her heart had closed and that all her valves were clear!! She has a normal, healthy heart!!! So although Brooklyn shed lots of tears yesterday, they were not shed in vain!!

And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. (James 5:15 NIV)