TAGGED!

Ok - so, I wasn't actually tagged by anyone, but I decided to CHEAT and tag myself! HA!
I saw this on another blog and decided to start it on mine... Here goes nothin'!

Here's the idea: Read through the list and BOLD those that you've done or experienced! How fun is this!? Enjoy!

Started your own blog (thanks to Brookie!)
Slept under the stars (with Emily Pecora at her family's camp in Bradford! I think that was in middle school!)
Played in a band (middle and high school band count?)
Visited Hawaii (2 times! Big Island and Maui)
Watched a meteor shower
Given more than you can afford to charity
Been to Disneyland/world (I can't wait until Brooke is big enough and we'll take her!)
Climbed a mountain (with the Key Club a million times!)
Held a praying mantis...NOPE, but I touched one by accident!
Sang a solo
Bungee jumped
Visited Paris
Watched a lightning storm at sea
Taught yourself an art from scratch
Adopted a child
Had food poisoning
Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
Seen the Mona Lisa in France
Slept on an overnight train
Had a pillow fight (college dorm rooms - you just never know what might happen!)
Hitchhiked
Taken a sick day when you’re not ill (guilty!)
Built a snow fort (Katee Shinskie and I used to build forts on every single snow day in elementary school!)
Held a lamb
Gone skinny dipping (Stacie!?)
Been to a Broadway show in NY
Ran a Marathon
Been in three states at once
Ridden in a gondola in Venice
Seen a total eclipse (I remember seeing this when I was young from the porch in Poe Valley!)
Watched a sunrise or sunset (OBX sunrises are the best!)
Hit a home run...NOPE, but Zig used to hit them just for me in high school!
Been on a Cruise (and I miss the boat!)
Seen Niagra Falls in Person
Visited the birthplace of your Ancestors
Seen an Amish community (they're all around me! An amish buggy drove up my street the other day!)
Taught yourself a new language (the French teacher I had in high school - I basically taught myself!)
Had enough money to be truly satisfied
Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
Gone rock climbing (on the wall at the Rec Center in college!)
Seen Michelangelo’s David
Sung karaoke
Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt (Summer 2006)
Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
Visited Africa
Walked on a beach by moonlight (OBX, North Carolina)
Been transported in an ambulance
Had your portrait painted
Gone deep sea fishing
Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
Kissed in the rain (I love my husband!)
Played in the mud
Been to Grace Kelley’s grave in Monaco
Gone to a drive-in theater (only once, but I hope to do it again!)
Been in a movie
Visited the Great Wall of China
Started a business (the husband is in the process...stressful!)
Taken a martial arts class
Swam in the Mediterranean Sea
Visited Russia
Served at a soup kitchen
Sold Girl Scout cookies
Gone whale watching (in Maui!)
Gotten flowers for no reason (on my first completed day as a teacher - from a former teacher of mine!)
Donated blood, platelets or plasma
Gone sky diving
Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
Bounced a check
Saved a favorite childhood toy (Digger Dog and my Puffalump are in Brooke's room!)
Visited the Lincoln Memorial (When I was little, and I asked my Mom if a Memorial was going to be built for my uncle who had just passed away!)
Eaten Caviar
Pieced a quilt (I've tried to help my mom...)
Stood in Times Square
Toured the Everglades
Been fired from a job
Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
Broken a bone (a toe - does that count?)
Been on a speeding motorcycle (Zig's 'crotch rocket' in high school!)
Seen the Grand Canyon in person
Published a book
Visited the Vatican
Bought a brand new car (I love my Jeeps!)
Walked in Jerusalem
Had your picture in the newspaper
Read the entire Bible
Visited the White House
Killed and prepared my own meat
Had chickenpox
Saved someone’s life
Sat on a jury
Met someone famous
Joined a book club
Lost a loved one
Had a baby (the most amazing experience of my life!)
Seen the Alamo in person
Swam in the Great Salt Lake
Been involved in a law suit
Owned a cell phone
Been stung by a bee (Meg - do you remember that wasp that got my ear on the paddle boats at Poe Valley!?)

And NOW, the fun part!
I get to tag a few others that I'd like to take part...

Megan
Amanda
Emily

All you have to do is copy and paste the list onto your own blog, and do your own BOLDING!
I hope you get a few free minutes to do this...If not, just enjoy mine!

On another note, the kitchen...
Lots of details and pictures to come... My house is a mess, but we're almost done!

Part Devil!

Notice that Daddy isn't holding on! She stands by herself!

Our most recent play date with Malaina and Caleb!

One of my new favorite pictures!

She's Daddy's girl...

I thought I'd share a few recent pictures... My last post was a little selfish of me, so I wanted to be sure I added a fun update really soon!

The title of my post is very fitting...

Brooke is definitely developing a personality already! I've read that babies might start repeating sounds and make their first attempt at language soon after 4 months... So, Zig and I have been chanting "Momomomom" and "Dadadadadad" to her, while all she does is smile!

As it turns out, she's part devil. She growls. Literally...

I'm doing my best to catch it on video and figure out a way to get it into my blog...maybe my sister can help me with that. It's unreal.

No other news here...

The princess is sleeping and I'm waiting for Daddy to get home so we can eat and hurry out to Lowe's for a few last minute things for our painter tomorrow!

Kitchen updates soon!

Happy day!

Absolute MADness!

I'm stealing a phrase from my sister when I say that I'm officially 'hijacking' Brooke's site to vent... So... GRRR!!!

For those of you who know me well, you know that any kind of mess - anywhere near me - could send me over the edge! I'm a neat freak...not necessarily a 'clean freak' but a 'everything needs to be organized and in it's place-freak!' Maybe that comes with the territory of being a sixth grade teacher - order is a must! So now that my house is COMPLETELY turned upside down and EVERYTHING is out of order, I feel like someone is trying to push me over the edge!

It's quite funny, actually... and I'm doing much better than I would have thought, but JEEZ! I just want my organized house back!

Honestly, I can't believe that Zig and I have even made it this far with the kitchen remodel!

We've been wanting to start this project since the day we signed on our very first home - Don't get me wrong, the existing kitchen is in wonderful shape! The cabinets were beautiful, the flooring was relatively new, but the counter tops had 30 years of grime while the appliances were still the 1970 original! Yikes... Notice the before...

And the after...
I know that it could be a lot worse, but talk about hiding things behind closed doors! No such thing at my house!

The wonderful woman who is restoring our cabinets is a dear friend of mine. As I said in an earlier post, she is the owner of my favorite country store around here and has agreed to take on our large kitchen task!

She came to get all of the doors and drawers last week and she is probably painting and staining them as we speak!

She'll be here bright and early on Wednesday morning to refinish all of the existing woodwork... I honestly can't wait to see what everything looks like!

In the mean time, Zig and I have been working quickly to prepare for what will happen after the cabinets are finished!

John was here with us yesterday and helped remove all of the old appliances... Yep - that means I have no means of cooking for a few weeks! Thank goodness for Crock Pots, toasters and microwaves! Otherwise, I'd be living on Subway and McDonald's for 3 weeks - and that would be awful!

We also had a custom cabinet made to make better use of our kitchen space. This whole thing was Zig's idea and I have to say that I like it more than I thought I would... The following is a picture of the new cabinet sitting almost in place. We removed a small desk area underneath the existing cabinets where I used to keep my microwave and all of Brooke's bottles. Now, we'll have a large cabinet with a big drawer, microwave built-in, a storage nook and 2 doors hiding storage shelves underneath! Cool!

There is still so much to do! I swear, we've had a Lowe's 'to-d0' list running for weeks!

We've picked out a beautiful shade of red for the walls - we think it will be perfect with our steeple-white cabinets, black counter tops and back splash, black appliances and tan flooring!

So - painting, laying tile, packing up, unpacking stuff, moving things from one room to another...I've about lost my mind - but I have to remind myself of the end result - and I can't wait to post pictures of our FINISHED and BRAND SPANKIN' NEW KITCHEN on my blog!

Stay tuned!

4 Month Doctor's Visit!

Good Morning Everyone!

Yesterday was a rough day, but I'm happy to report that we've survived and I think our entire family is finally on the mend!

Sunday evening was a normal evening spent with my husband and daughter - a little girl whose darn teeth are really giving her trouble! Lots of slobber and constantly a toy in her mouth! We finished our evening with oatmeal and a bottle, as usual, and she was fast asleep by 10:00! Around 11:00, we heard from her - just a little whimper that usually means she needs her bink! Well, it went downhill from there. Bless her little heart, she didn't get much sleep after 11:00... Every time I would get her calmed down and back to sleep, she would be OK for about 15 minutes before waking again...screaming! I was up with her at 12:00, 12:30, 1:00 - 4:00, then Zig took over from 4:00- almost 5:00. He got her back to sleep and she slept until 6:45, then was up for the day again at 7:45. Something was really bothering her! It was one of those cries where she was just trying to tell us that something hurt! I prayed and prayed that I would be able to make her feel better - and apparently just holding her close to me and singing to her softly was the way to go...
So overall, no one in our house got much sleep which equalled 'dragging rear ends' all day long!

Somewhere around 5:00 am, Zig and I decided that we weren't going to make our 9:00 doctor's appointment since we didn't want to wake her if she finally fell back to sleep! It's just not good to rush around in the morning with a fussy baby!
I was on the phone with the Doctor's office at 8:00 and eventually was able to squeeze into another cancelled appointment at 2:00! Perfect!

Zig and I were both really nervous about getting her all wound up after 4 more shots - we were just so worried that her teeth were particularly bad, or that maybe she was working on her very first cold, given to her by her Mommy and Daddy! There was no way that we were going to agree to giving her any shots if she showed any sign of infection, so we were anxious to get her checked out!

So, Daddy came home at 1:30 and we headed to Belleville to see Dr. Sheilah! Our good friend, Crystal who had her son Hunter on the same day that Brooke was born, was our nurse! We had such a good time visiting with her and were glad that she would be the one helping to take care of Brooke! She plopped her right on the scale to see how big she was, and to my surprise - she weighed (drum roll please!!) 13 pounds, 12 ounces and was 24 inches long... Um... I would have bet my life savings that she was at least 15 or 16 pounds! She's still a little runt! She just feels so much bigger to me! I actually made Crystal weigh her again - I just couldn't believe it!
It turns out that she is in the 50% for her weight and 39% for her height - so, like my Mom said, "She's compact!"

When Dr. Sheilah came to check her out, she was enjoying some milk, so taking the bottle away didn't fare well for any of us. Sheilah let me keep her in my lap while she checked her ears, eyes, head and belly, but eventually had to lay her on the table for a better look! Brooke was angry and was sure to let the doctor know - but as long as she could see her Mommy, she was OK and stopped crying.
Sheilah assured us that there was no sign of infection and talked us through the steps of what to do to help her little teeth and also what we can do to help her if we suspect a cold brewing! Dr. Sheilah always makes me feel better about the job I'm doing as a Mom - she's great!

After the check was over and we knew we were headed for a few shots, Crystal came back and was sad to have to 'shoot' Brookie! Overall, she did really well! Crystal went really fast and it was over in less than 5 seconds! I scooped her up and held her tight for a few minutes until she calmed down! She had a big burp and spit up a little - which could have added to her fussing...
I passed her off to Zig while I got her things ready to head home, we got her dressed, made our next appointment, and she was asleep before we were back in the truck!

She slept in her car seat for a few minutes until I got everything unpacked and then I put her into her crib, where she slept for over 2 more hours. She was obviously wiped out after a terrible night's sleep and a traumatic afternoon!

She really did much better with shots this time than last time. She didn't seem achy at all last evening! She was standing up and playing just like she normally would! We tubbed her at 8:15 and she had her bottle and oatmeal and was asleep in her Daddy's arms by 9:30!
It's 8:45 am now and she's still sleeping! She slept through the night last night! God love her - she really needed a good night's sleep!

I'm so thankful for my little girl.
As frustrated as I was at 4:00am yesterday morning - after watching her struggle with shots and her teeth yesterday, I was reminded of my job as a Mother. I think I said a few times yesterday, "I don't care if I never sleep again in my whole life, I just don't want her to hurt!"

I hope she had a good day today! Nana is coming to watch her this afternoon while I go to the dentist (yuck!) and again tomorrow while I got to a meeting at school (double yuck!).

Michelle, Leah and I are working on another play date this week too, so hopefully lots of pictures to come from that! I'm looking forward to some Mommy time! I had to cancel twice last week because of my dumb cold!

Also this week, we'll be starting to the remodeling of the kitchen! Our current oven and cook top will be coming out in preparation for the new ones and our fridge should be coming any time! I can't wait!

As Brookie starts to wake up right now, I'm already excited to open her door, lean over her crib and be greeted with her awesome smile! It's my favorite part of every day!
The princess awaits! I'm outta here!

It's been a while...

She's 4 months old! Can you believe it!??

I've spent a lot of time recently looking back on the last 4 months of our life as a family - and MAN do we have a lot to be thankful for!

Although there is never enough time in the day to get anything done, and I'm now realizing how selfish I was in my prior life - we are adjusting to being a family as best as we can!

In the matter of 4 months, Zig and I went from being a young married couple to being PARENTS! PARENTS!!! Who would have EVER thought that the dramatic, high school sweetheart couple would have grown up to be more in love than ever before - and now the parents of the most beautiful child ever known to man??!! Amazing...

Zig and I recently celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary (Dec. 29)! We didn't really do anything special, since frankly, there isn't much to do around here. Zig had worked extremely late the night before and slept through most of the day. When it came time to have dinner to celebrate, we were both too tired to really go on a date! We ended up grabbing sandwiches at our favorite dive, then doing some quick shopping for New Year's Eve, and heading home to enjoy a quiet night with our daughter. It doesn't get much better than that!

These two years of our marriage have been incredible!

We have an incredibly strong foundation of marriage, a beautiful home that keeps us warm and cozy, and now a daughter to complete our love for each other and challenge us every day!

We're moving ahead around here! We've taken on our latest project - the kitchen!

Faith, the owner of my favorite country store (that I'm pretty sure I pay the light bill for with my weekly shopping trips!!), has agreed to re-do our kitchen cabinets! The cabinets are in great shape, although over 30 years old, but just in need for a little make over! She will be working on all of the cabinet doors in her shop, which equals a goofy-looking kitchen for about a week! She'll then come a few days later to paint all of the existing woodwork in the kitchen! How fun!

We've already ordered new counter tops, back splash, a custom cabinet, all new appliances, fixtures, and flooring! Whew! It's a good thing I'm not working right now - I think I'd be OVER THE TOP STRESSED if I had to work around the mess that is bound to be my home!

Over all, we're psyched about this new project - it's something we've wanted to do since we bought our home - and we can't wait until it's finished! Stay tuned for some fun 'before' and 'after' pictures! We're expecting it to be done by the first week in February! Here's to hoping anyway...

In the world of BEAMER:

~She's not only officially 4 months old and 1 day, but she's wearing all 6 month clothing! YIKES!

We received some cute 6 month outfits for Christmas that I was excited to try on her, and before we knew it, I was shopping my heart out for more 6 month outfits because her 3 month-ers didn't fit! Her pants were 'high waters' and the sleeves on her onesies were half way up her little arms! I swear - she's growing like a weed!

~The growing has to be the result of her eating habits these days! Weeks ago, I blamed the change of schedule on a growth spurt that normally happens around 3 months, but this 'spurt' lasted the entire third month! She went from eating 4 ounces every 4 hours, to eating 5-6 ounces every 3 hours!

I think part of her issue is those darn teeth already! Poor baby slobbers like a dog and constantly is sucking on her fingers and her toys! We've not been afraid to load her up with Tylenol when we can tell she's just off - and we've tried Orajel once...she didn't like it...

~She's still showing zero interest in rolling over - I'm a little concerned! She rolls with help with Mommy, but won't roll by herself and doesn't seem bothered by the fact that she's stuck on her back! We work on it every day - as we have tummy time and floor time daily! She's really playing with her toys and showing an interest in how things work!

~The Beam is starting to develop her own language! She squeals and screams when she sees the TV every morning - and she seems to respond to noises around the house! As long as she can see me or her Daddy, she's talking to us, telling us what she thinks about things, and I love it! Pap even got to hear her babbling over the phone and he just couldn't believe how much she was carrying on!

She's quite the giggle box and really seems to be showing more and more of her little personality every day! We can already tell that she's going to be a firecracker! Look out world!

~Her newest nickname is "ScarFace!" Yep - no joke! Her little fingernails are like razors! Even though I trim them almost every day, it seems that every time one scratch heals, another appears! For example, I went to greet her after he nap yesterday and found blood all over her face and fingers! She had scratched her cheek in her sleep and was bleeding all over the place! Luckily, it's not that bad, but JEEZ! She's a modern day Edward Scissor Hands!

~Brooke's sleeping patterns is a little wacky these days! I know it's not nearly as bad as it could be, (Sorry, Meg!) but it's odd - for her! She was sleeping from 10pm to 10am almost every night for a few weeks, and now she's waking up around 3 or 4 every morning to eat! Little piggy! It's not too bad, since she usually goes right back to sleep for a few hours. Even still, 3am is not a good time to start the day! I guess this is just another clue that she's growing...

I reminded Zig of something I said when I was 7 months pregnant with Brooke and couldn't get a good night's sleep - I'm done sleeping through the night for the rest of my LIFE!

~Tomorrow is Brooke's 4 month doctor's appointment. More shots. Yuck.

I can't wait to see how much she weighs and how long she is! I'm betting she's at least 15 or 16 pounds! Hopefully she does well with the shots and we don't have an awful day like last time!

~Zig and I are finally getting over our colds! YAY! I spent a day with my sixth graders last week and I just KNEW that I would come home with cold germs! And I was right! Later that night, I had a sore throat and woke up during the night incredibly congested! It got worse and worse throughout the week! It was so bad that I had to cancel my play-date with Michelle and Leah TWICE! There was no way I was going to take my germs around the other babies and their Mommies!

I'm going to be sure that Doctor Sheilah gives Brookie a good look tomorrow to be sure she isn't developing any of our cold symptoms! Her first cold - yikes!

What a hodge-podge of stuff!!

I think that's all for today...

I'll be sure to post soon about her doctor's report!

Happy Snow everyone!

Quiet thoughts...

January 3, 2008...

January 3, 2009...

January 3, 2008 is a day that will stand out as one of happiness and sadness for the rest of my life.

January 3, 2008 is a day that forever be with me...

January 3, 2008 would have created a completely different life for me and my husband...

January 3, 2008 was the due date for our first baby that now peacefully sleeps in heaven.

Although we never met this baby, knew if it was a boy or a girl (although I'm convinced it was a boy!), or gave it a name, that baby lived inside of me. We loved it and called it our child. Then it's heart wasn't strong enough to beat any longer and we had to say goodbye.

Christmas time last year was hard for me. Earlier in 2007, we were preparing to be parents and wondered whether or not our baby would be here in time for Christmas, or wait until the new year... When the holidays came around, then our anniversary, then New Years 2008...no baby. I could hardly stand to hear Christmas songs or celebrate with my family. All I could think about was our baby that wasn't with us.

On this day last year, I couldn't even bring myself to go to work. I took two days off from school right after Christmas break to be alone, to cry, to remember, and to look ahead into the future. I prayed for almost 2 days straight that Zig and I would be able to have another baby - that we didn't have any problems conceiving again. I didn't know it then, but I was pregnant with Brooke.

Last night, when I realized that today was January 3, and as tears streamed down my cheeks, my amazing husband reminded me of the love that we had for each other, and that precious baby, but also that had we never gone through that horrible experience, Brooke wouldn't be here with us... WOW! That hit me like a brick wall...

Life withOUT Brooke...

A thought that physically hurts me to think about...

Isn't God great??

Yes, he allowed us to go through the pain of losing a baby, yet he knew what was in store for us! He gave us the strength to go through the dark days of loss and brought us into the bright and beautiful days of parenthood with a thriving, beautiful little girl!

Today, I pray for all of the 'blog Mommies' that I read about almost daily.

I'm praying for Stacy and Spencer and baby Isaac...

I'm praying for Miracle Max, baby Dylan, baby Brenham, baby Nathan and their families who are no doubt missing them today...

Although these families met their babies, knew them, named them, and buried them...I have to wonder if they're all friends...buddies?

If so, I have to hope that our angel welcomed them to Heaven with open arms!

My heart is heavy today with the thought of what life would have been...

Yet I'm filled with joy as I think about my precious baby girl!

I'm thankful for each and every day that I have with her and her Daddy...

We are truly blessed!

Sleep in Heavenly Peace angel baby...

Mommy's Tattoo (now surrounded by a C-section scar and stretch marks!)

P.S. Don't miss my previous post about Christmas! No posts for 2 weeks, then 2 days in a row! This is getting a little crazy!

Christmas in Pictures!

Baby Brooke has officially survived her very first Christmas (and so have Mommy and Daddy - thank the LORD!)

Since I've probably been deemed the worst blogger ever having not blogged in 2 weeks (!!!), I won't try to recount all of the details of the half-dozen Christmas parties that Brooke attended this year - I'll just take you through the best parts through a few of our new favorite pictures!

It all started with 5 whole days with my sister and her family! Since my sister is probably my most favorite person in the entire world, the greatest gift of the season was being able to spend this time with them! Meg, Jason and Joshua came the Friday before Christmas and stayed through Christmas Eve - I might as well have moved myself and Brooke into my Mom's for the week! We spent all 5 days together - playing with the kids and just enjoying our time being together for Christmas! Growing up a Richard meant that Christmas was the best time of the year to be with family...and that's exactly what we did!

All of the above pictures were taken throughout the 5 days at my Mom's spent with my sister and her family!

Of course, Brooke was 'decked out' in all of her Christmas outfits! I honestly had an outfit from Saturday through Christmas Day! She's so much fun to dress...either that, or I'm a little obsessed!

I loved being able to spend so much time with Joshua! He was just awesome and so excited about Santa Claus coming to his house and leaving '2 teddy bears' just for him! I loved seeing his excitement and talking to him about all of the wonderful things that were about to happen on Christmas day!

Christmas Eve went by so quickly that I hardly remember how everything went!

We started the day at my parent's house...

Then to Pap and Freda's with the Richard clan...

Then to Belletown with the Wray clan...

Then to Burnham with the Hertzler clan...

Then home...whew! Brooke was still wide awake at midnight! Not good... She must have been waiting up to see if this Santa character was really going to show!

Time with Gram and Pap Wray...

Brooke's first visit with Santa...

A NAKED Brooke with Uncle Scub and Daddy... (It was warm at Gram and Pap Wray's!)

My Mom and Dad's amazing Christmas Tree...

On Christmas morning, Zig and I woke up slowly, enjoying every second of our baby girl's first Christmas! We had breakfast and spent the rest of the morning putting together the exer-saucer that Nana and Pap got for us! She loves it and spends more and more time in it each day!

The end result - and our most favorite gift - the toy box, hand-made by Pappy Fred and my Dad...the perfect addition to Brooke's nursery! It's filled with toys from all of our family and loved ones that showered Brooke with gifts this Christmas! We appreciate you all so very much and feel so blessed to have you in our lives! Thank you for loving us and for loving Brooke :)

Hope you enjoyed reliving Christmas through some pictures!

As life slowly gets back to normal, I already have dozens of new pictures to post! My apologies for the huge delay between Christmas and now... This 'Mommy' job is hard work - and allows for very little free time!

More soon...I promise!