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Thanks to the two people who have checked this site in the last six months; Jessica & Heidi. For you, I will update this site. LOL. Brooklyn is 18 months old now and about three weeks ago she finally began walking!!! Yeah! Better late than never right? The child is absolutely into everything. Nothing is safe! Nick and I have excelled in learning to put the toilet seat down after every use (which is just plain good to do anyway). We have child-proof latches on most of the drawers and cabinets. However, she has learned how to open the computer cabinet and push the button to turn it off (whether we are finished using it or not; how thoughtful). She is, for the most part, getting better about the whining. She is getting four more teeth so I'll cut her a little slack right now :). Lily is four months old and is just about to roll over. She is such a happy, content, and smiley little girl. Everytime Brooklyn sees her, she waves and says "hi." I'm trying to teach her how to put two words together. So far nothing, but I think it will come soon. She's a pretty good talker! Lily is too. She loves to babble and lately she's been getting louder and louder. I can't wait to dress them up for "trunk or treat" at our church's halloween alternative. Brooklyn is going to be a chicken and Lily is either going to be an egg or a cow. We'll see how my homeade egg costume turns out! Today we had our first young marrieds Sunday school class. We had 20 in the class; very exciting. Please pray that God will bless this new class. Not sure if I mentioned this before, but Nick is no longer the youth director. He is now the Asst. pastor and is in charge of this new young marrieds class. We are so excited about this new opportunity! God is good. Nick and I have our fifth anniversary coming up in about two weeks and we are planning on getting away for a couple of days without the kiddos. Thank the Lord for Grandmas! Nick's mom will be watching both of them while we spend some quality time together. It's well needed. That's about all for now. I'll try to keep my fans updated about our lives more often!
Lillian is 6 1/2 weeks already. Man, time flies when you're feeding, burping, changing, and doing it all over again! She is a great baby just like Brooklyn was at her age. All except the gassy times at night. She is holding her head up pretty well for a newborn and is smiling more and more each day! Brooklyn is another story. She is very whiny and has been waking up in the middle of the night occasionally due to some nasty molars coming through. I feel like I'm taking care of two infants! Everyone asks me how I'm handling being a mom of two. The adjustment was hard the first two weeks or so because I was so tired, but now I have more energy and it's not so bad! Nick, on the other hand, tells me at least once a day that he is not having any more kids! But I'm enjoying them both right now, but I can't wait to see my two little girls start playing together! I'm praying that they will be the best of friends! Next week we will be going to camp at the Bill Rice Ranch. Brooklyn will be staying with my mom and I am taking Lily with me. Please pray for the safety of our group and that God will speak to all of us through the great preaching!
Lily is two weeks old already and the transition from one to two kids is going some what smoothly- knock on wood! Lily sleeps all day and I thank God because I would be one frazzled mom if she didn't. Brooklyn is doing a good job at being a big sister (besides wanting to poke at her). However, she is getting increasingly whiney! I need to learn how to divide my time and housework in a way that she gets enough attention. I don't even know if that will help, but I figure it couldn't hurt either. Lily is an excellent eater. She is 90% in weight and 85 % in her height, which is something new. Brooklyn is on the other end of the charts! She was 3% in weight. The first outing we went on was to get some ice cream at Young's Jersey Dairy. Brooklyn was whining on the way there, while Lily slept. I wish I could have slept throught it too! We went to church on Wednesday and today I took the girls over to Nick's parents house so Brooklyn could go "swimming" in a kiddie pool with her cousin. Nick's aunt watched Lily while I took Brooklyn to play in the water. As soon as I put her in there she cried and cried. I had to hold her on my lap wet because she cries if she touches grass too. She is becoming one prissy little girl and I have big dreams for her to play t-ball one day! Does anybody out there have any pointers for this type of problem? I know this sounds like all she does is cry, but she really is a good kid. I just can't wait for her to get out of this stage- I hope it's a stage!
A lot has happened since the last update. Denise, a counselor that helps with the teens, threw a suprise baby shower for us after church. She invited all the teens and singles and it was really great. I was completely shocked! Thank you , thank you, thank you to Denise. Last weekend, Nick's mom and my mom threw a diaper shower for us. It was a huge blessing because that's what we really needed. It was at Nick's mom's house and she had a great spread of food. My mom came up with creative games and things to do. Everyone decorated plain white onesies with fabric markers for Lily to wear later on and they are so cute! Then we played "baby scrabble" with wood blocks and tried to come up with the longest word we could out of the blocks we picked from. Then another game, we had to make as many words as we could out of Lillian Cordray. It was a small shower, but I think everyone had a good time and it was for personable for everyone there. Thanks moms. Brooklyn still isn't walking yet- everyone and their brother has been asking- but I think it will come soon. I went to the baby doc. yesterday and I was so happy when he told me I was dialated 2 and a half cm. and 40% efaced. He said the head was way down there and I have a 30%-50% chance of having Lily this week. If I don't have her this week, I am going to be induced on Saturday, May 24th. Only 8 days away! Believe it or not, I'm not at all nervous about the labor- except if I go naturally that it might be to late to get an epidural when I get to the hospital (that's my worst nightmare!) I'm WAY more nervous about trying to take care of two babies while Nick's at work- but I need to give that worry over to the Lord because he has given us another child and I know He'll enable me to take care of both of them!
We had a wonderful Easter- I know it was forever ago, but I don't update this enough! We attended church and had 50 teens in Sunday School, then we went over to Nick's aunt and uncle's for their famous ham. I wish I was eating it right now! A couple weeks ago I went to a ladies retreat where I heard different ladies sharing their testimony and giving a lesson on different topics that women deal with. I'm really glad I went- I forgot how nice it can be to do something for myself. Nick & I went to TN two weeks ago for Crown's Bible Conference. My mom watched Brooklyn for the week- Thanks mom! Nick & I really needed some time alone- especially since we really won't have any time to ourselves with another baby coming. We heard amazing preaching. Nick & I went to Gatlinburg. We got our fill on one of our favorite restraunts- The Japanese steakhouse! Yummy! One afternoon we spent going around downtown Knoxville. We started by eating at this weird, healthy conscience, little bistro, then we visited an old, very old, mansion, then we rode on a trolly and went around town. We stopped at the sunphere and went up in it and looked out all around Knoxville. We took a really LONG walk to the Chocolate Factory and then rode on a trolly back to our car. Besides spending quality time with Nick, the best part was that everything was free, except for lunch and the chocolate we bought! We couldn't believe that we lived down there and never explored like that before. It was nice to see our friends Tim and Kelsey and talk about the good ole days. Since then, The weather has been great up here in Ohio. I've taken Brooklyn on lots of walks. We bought her a water table to play with outside (Natalie always talked about how much Noah loved his). I've also been hard at work on Lily's nursery. It's almost finished so I'll post pics when I'm done. That's enough for now!
Let me update everyone in order, starting with Valentine's Day. Nick sent me a bouquet of blooming Lillies and I was so touched with his thoughtfulness that it finalized the name Lillian (we will probably call her Lily) for our next daughter's name- which by the way, is only two months away! Aaaahhhhh! I'm getting scared again at the thought of having to take care of two such little ones. Babies can be so needy! Just kidding!
Last Saturday we threw Brooklyn her first birthday party. It was a princess theme party, although there were more princes than princesses. It turned out great. First, everyone ate some food, then the kids decorated their gold crowns with stickers. We had to take a group pic of course after that of all the kids wearing their crowns. Afterwards, I read them a story about
The Prince & the Pauper. Then we played pin the candle on the cupcake. I just have to tell you this cute story about the game. The younger kids were blind folded, but not turned around when it was their turn to pin their candle on the cupcake- they had a hard enough time. But the three older kids, 5, 8, & 8 were spun around so it wouldn't be too easy for them. Well, the last older boy to pin his candle was so disoriented that he stuck his candle out to pin it on the cupcake and completely missed it and stuck it (velcro was on the back) in one of the younger girl's hair! If your not chuckling I guess you had to see it for yourself. I'm still smiling about it. Anyway, after that we had cake and ice cream. Brooklyn had her own pink cupcake. She delicately (just like a princess would) touched the icing with her finger and licked the icing off. After about a half hour or so of licking the icing off her fingers and spoon we took it away from her for time sake. She wasn't very happy about that! She got over it though when it was time to open all of her gifts. She was spoiled. She received so many cute clothes and neat toys. I've been having fun playing with her! Shortly after that the guests left. The party was wonderful. The only down side to it was that it was so crowded. We have a pretty small house and the were 42 people there! Cramped and Noisy! But hey, it will only happen once a year- OK make that twice a year with two girls now!
I know this is way over due, but we had a wonderful Christmas! Brooklyn enjoyed all of it and Nick & I really enjoyed Aunt Janet's Christmas ham! She was extremely spoiled. She received books, an excersaucer, stuffed animals, toys, a car walker, clothes, and the list goes on. I bought Nick a dvd video camcorder to capture all of our family moments, and he bought me a computer armoire. We had our comp. in the spare bedroom but that will soon be another nursery so we are putting the armoire in the living room. We celebrated my birthday on the 11th of January with family and friends and had a great dinner, then came back to our house for an intense game of Taboo with Brian & Taryn and Rick & Nat. I am in the process of clearing out our third bedroom for the new baby. It was basically a big walk-in closet. The previous owners left all of their organizers up in the room and we managed to fill that room with all of our junk! This past weekend we went to Gatlinburg, TN with our teenagers and 4 other adults. We had a wonderful time with no problems. It was nice to see our friends Tim, Kelsey, and their two boys; Beau & Judson. Brooklyn has learned another word- hello. We have no idea where she learned it, but it is so cute to hear her say it. So her vocabulary consists of babbling, DaDa, and hello now. I am 22 weeks along now with this pregnancy. Everything is going well. Two weeks ago we found out that we are going to have another little GIRL! Nick and I were both shocked-not disappointed, just shocked. We already had it in thick heads that we were definately having a boy, so we were stunned to hear the ultrasound tech say that it is definately another girl. I think it's going to be great though. Brooklyn and this one will be so close in age and now that we know it's another girl I think they are going to grow up being the best of friends (I hope)! I always wished that I had a sister and I'm glad Brooklyn will get to have that chance. We are thinking of the names Emma and Lillian (among others) so let us know what you think, or if you have any other ideas for a girl name- We are having a hard time with it. Well, I guess that's enough for now.
Well finally, it is happening. Brooklyn's first tooth is breaking through! I have been checking regularly and havn't been able to feel anything; until yesterday. She kept biting her sippy cup- which isn't out of the norm, but I thought I would check her gums again and there it was- a sharp little tooth! She has been a little whiny lately and that would explain it. Also, she is getting closer and closer to crawling. Right now she army crawls. She loves to play with the vertical blinds in the living room so she scoots herself to them so she can swing and move them around. My goal is still to have her crawling by Christmas, so we'll see if that happens!
It is a winter wonderland around our house! We woke up to a couple inches of snow this morning and it hasn't stopped yet! It's really pretty outside. Nick opened the front door and Brooklyn got her first glimpse of snow.
Before Brooklyn was born, some one at Nick's Mom's work bought her a cabbage patch doll as a gift. Well, the other day I decided to open it for her to play with. Her baby's name is McKenzie. I sat Brooklyn up on the couch to play with her and to take some pictures. After a little wrestling, Brooklyn was holding her hand and talking to her. It was SO CUTE! Here's a video of some play time with McKenzie, Brooklyn, and myself. It cracks me up everytime I watch it! I'm still trying to figure out how to put our family pics on here- I've put a lot of time, energy, and aggravation only to still be frustrated because I can't do it-I'll keep trying though!
Well, we are ready for Christmas around here! We've got alot of our shopping done, but still have more to go. We had our family pictures taken & I think they turned out really good if I do say so my self. Hopefully I can post them on here- we'll see. After those pictures, Brooklyn had pics of just her taken and then we went to the middle of the mall and she met Santa for the first time. She did really good. She just looked at him- I think it was all that white facial hair! So her picture is of her and Santa looking at each other instead of looking directly at the camera- we thought it was cuter! Brooklyn isn't crawling yet, but I'm hoping in the next couple of weeks she'll get the hang of it. She sits up really good and she can get up on her hands and knees, she just doesn't go anywhere. She can also pivot and turn on her belly really well, so it's a matter of time before she's going to be crawling all over the house, getting into everything! The bun in the oven is doing well too! I'm about 14 weeks and praise the Lord again for no morning sickness! We should find out the gender in about 3 weeks or so. Nick is set on a boy, but I honestly don't care. It's going to be crazy around here either way!
Yesterday was baby dedication sunday at our church. Brooklyn looked so adorable in her pink little "winter wonderland" dress. I made the bow in her hair. She wore lacy socks with bows on them and sweet patent leather shoes. The only thing that didn't seem to go with her cute outfit was the awful looking scratches on her face! She had one by her eye and one on her forhead! Ahhhh! The good thing is that you can't tell in the pictures! It was a great service though. Please pray that we will be the Godly influences and parents that we should be for Brooklyn. God has intrusted us with so much responsibility in raising her. It is a privilege to be a parent, and yet overwhelming at times. We thank God so much for giving us Brooklyn and for the one on the way!
Well, like every one else it has been really busy here lately. Brooklyn is doing well and sitting up by herself now and said Da Da for the first time yesterday.Oh and also we found out that I am pregant. Yes pregant!! Well it most definitly wasn't planned, but God decided differently. We are excited and praise the Lord for Him allowing us to have another child. The Baby's due date is May 20th. Please pray that all goes well and Nick says pray for a boy!!! But besides all that Nick and I went to Galtinburg with Brian and Taryn and had a wonderful time. It was very hard to be without Brooklyn for those four days but I had a good time. The church and youth minisrty is going well. Our church hosted it annual Trunk or Treat and had an hugh crowd for it. We also started a teen Bible study once a month at our house and it has been a blessing to have our teens over.They are wonderful young people and we feel very blessed to be apart of their lives. Well that's all for now, we will talk later. Thank you for your prayers.
Nick's been on my case for a while now about updating this, so here it is Hunny! Our little baby doll is SIX MONTHS OLD! WOW! It was so sad and depressing for me the other day when I had to pack her 0-3 mo. clothes away. Seeing those tiny outfits made me want another newborn baby! It's crazy how fast they grow. A lot has happened between now and the last time I wrote. Nick's parents & I threw him a college graduation party- lot's of fun! Nick turned 26 right after that. Brooklyn is eating baby food. So far she has had (in this order) squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, and is now on green beans. She is not so crazy about the green beans. She makes a couple faces and only eats a few bites and it takes her forever to even get those few bites down! I think she is getting a tooth on the bottom. I say I think because she has this little white speck on her gums, but it's been there for a little while now. I'm not sure how long they take to break the surface though. She's been doing great. We went to my mom's house Sat. She was having an auction and then went to the Pork festival. Brooklyn didn't hardly make a peep all day. She was soooooo good. I had to put her winter hat on because it has been really chilly here the last couple of days. She goes back to the doc. for her check up and some more vaccinations. I'm always anxious to see what she weighs in at and what her percentiles are. So far she's on the small side. That's fine with me if she's on the petite side- as long as she's healthy right?
Brooklyn is now a little over 4 1/2 mo. old. It has been a hot summer! I'm trying to keep her out of the heat. We went swimming in a heated pool about a month ago. She loved it! She actually fell asleep while she was floating in it. Nick bought us a pool this week. It's a small one, but it will be nice for next year. Brooklyn is eating rice cereal. She's been on it for about two weeks now. She didn't get the hang of eating off of a spoon at first, but now she's doing much better! She is such a sweetie! After our neighborhood Bible clubs, we took the teens to Cedar Point. I had to leave Brooklyn with Nick's parents overnight. She did really well taking the bottle and I did pretty good as far as missing her. It was a busy day so I was able to let loose and not just think about her the entire time. I am throwing Nick a grad. party (from college) on Sat. Aug. 25. I've got a lot to do between now and then.
Well, Nick, the counselor's, and all the teens made it back safely from camp last week. They had a great time and no one got hurt- praise the Lord! This week we had our neighborhood Bible clubs and then a rally at our church on Wed. night. Rick preached to the boys and Natalie gave a lesson to the girls. They both did a great job and a lot of children ( I'm not sure how many exactly) got saved. Thank you guys for everything. Tomorrow we are going to take the teens to Cedar point as a reward for helping out during the Bible clubs. Brooklyn is going to stay overnight with Nick's parents. Ahhhhhh! It's going to be really hard leaving her. I miss her already! She going to be in good hands though. We took her to the doctor last week for her 4 mo. check up and shots. She did great again. Thank the Lord for Tylenol! She weighed 12.1 lbs. She is in the 20 & 25 percentile for height & weight and 55% for her head circumference! She's just got a big brain I guess! Nick also had his eye surgery last week. He is doing great too. He constantly has to put in eye drops, but other than that it was a cake walk. I was able to see the surgery on a T.V. screen too. The Lord really blessed us too because he was able to get it done for free! Yes, free! The doctor's office is right next door to our church and Nick went in there about 9 mo. ago for a routine eye exam and the doc asked him if he had ever considered lasic eye surgery and Nik told he would like to but we just couln't afford it and the doc told him that they do it for free to full time ministry workers! God is so good! The next day after his surgery, Nick could already see 20/20! That's about all the exciting news we've had lately.
Tomorrow, Nick will be taking all of the teenagers to camp in Tennessee! Brooklyn & I are going to stay behind here in Ohio. It's just too much to take her down there and with the heat, I decided we better stay here. We are going to miss daddy so much! We will be praying for him, the teens, and our awesome counselors. We will be parying for decisions to be made and that our youth group would be more unified. Have a great time- we will miss you guys! God has been blessing us so much these past couple weeks. Nick has finished College! Not to mention with a 4.0! Brooklyn is "talking" so much. She just amazes me. God is so good to give us such a sweet babydoll. On the 16th she will be four months!
Happy 4th of July to everyone! I know it's been a long time since I've updated this. A lot has happened since the last time I wrote. Brooklyn really likes play-time now. Last week was a milestone week. On Monday, she reached for her toy for the first time! Nick and I were watching her play and when she reached out to grab her toy, we both looked at each other and said "Did you see that?" On thursday, she rolled over from her back to her belly. When I went in to get her this morning, she was on her belly, pushing up! I don't know what's going on with her sleep though! She has regressed back to waking up at about 4am again.
Nick has finally graduated from college! Yeah! I am so proud of him. This year has been especially tough on him, but he endured and kept on studying. Way to go Babe! His father's day gift was going white water rafting in West Viginia two weeks ago. He had a great time.
Tomorrow I think we are going to try to see some fireworks. I don't know how Brooklyn will do though, because she gets scared of loud noises and usually cries. She is getting so long. she is three and a half months now. We go back to the doctor in a couple of weeks for more immunizations. Poor thing! She giggles and coos so much now. I love to hear her laugh. I love being her mommy
Brooklyn is almost 12 weeks old! She is smiling more everyday and observing her surroundings. I think she is the most beautiful baby girl in the whole world and I tell her that all the time- I just hope she doesn't grow up to be conceited! She has slept through the night 5 nights in a row now- yahoo! She has been out a lot this week. We went to her uncle Lee's grad. party and his graduation, where he gave a wonderful speech in front of thousands! He was vice president of his class and is going to go to Ohio state in the fall. We are so proud of him! Then we went to church from Sun. to Wed. for the mission's conference. On Tues. we went to Brooklyn's great grandma's house. She was having an auction there and we got some good stuff! Please pray for Brooklyn. Tomorrow we are going to the doctor. A couple of weeks ago I noticed a bump at the botton of her skull. When i touch it, it moves. It's a little scary, but I have faith that it won't be anything bad.
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