3/20/2009

Spring Break

Last week was Greg's spring break. We had a wonderful time and just loved not worrying about school for the week. Brinley thought she was heaven because she got to play with her Daddy all day.

The first day we took Brinley to the park. She had never been on a slide before! She LOVED it. At first we would go down with her, but after a while we started laying her on her back and then I would push her down by herself and Greg would catch her at the bottom. After each time she would get a huge smile on her face and point up to the top of the slide to go again. It was so much fun watching her. I honestly don't know who had more fun Brinley or us.



On Wednesday, Greg and I left Brinley with a babysitter and we went to New York to see Wicked!! It was "wicked" awesome!! Right after it was over I told Greg that I will be seeing it again before we leave here. I LOVED it.



On Thursday night Greg's parents came into town for the weekend! We had a great time with them and Brinley enjoyed every second of the attention.

3/07/2009

Happy 1st Birthday Brinley!

Today our baby girl turned 1! I can't believe it. We had a great day with her and only wish that we could have enjoyed it with family and friends, but here are some pictures and video of the day. It was 70 degrees today so I took Brinley on a walk in the stroller Then we went out and got some good ole fashion Cheesesteaks! Next it was time to open presents!!! She got a lot of clothes! Thanks Grandma Julie! Here she is in her new princess chair with her new bath toys. And finally on to the cake!!

3/01/2009

IT'S FINALLY MARCH

I have been looking forward to March since February 1st! February for Greg is midterms and that means that February for me is being a single Mom and having no husband. I think Greg had somewhere around 9 tests this month. Anyway, I knew that this month would be very long and difficult, but little did I know just how difficult is was going to be.
WE made it through the first half pretty well. I had many dates with our local Red box and caught up on a lot of scrap booking. We managed to have a nice dinner at home on Valentines Day and I thought that I would just coast through the second half of the month just fine! WRONG!! On the 16Th Greg and I were woke up at about 4am to Brinley throwing up. We went into her room and both she and her crib were covered! As soon as I got her all cleaned up she, of course, threw up all over again and again and again. We couldn't get her to stop! WE tried giving her something to drink to keep her hydrated but she wouldn't take anything. After calling the Dr. we were told to take her to the nearest ER. Well, it so happened that Greg had a BIG test that day so he couldn't come with, so I ended up calling my friend Miranda, who is a teacher but had the day off for Presidents Day, and she came with me. Thank heaven for good friends that will still love you even after your child throws up on them. We were in the ER for about 6 long hours. After a few rounds of an IV, Brinley started to act like her normal self again and she began to drink. They let us leave and being very tired we both came home and slept.
The next day was pretty normal, Brinley still didn't feel great but at least she was no longer vomiting. I spent most the day trying to get all our throw up clothes and sheets cleaned. I went to bed that night thinking that everything was going up hill. WRONG AGAIN!!
Brinley woke up at about 11:00pm with a very high fever and very congested. I gave her some medicine but it still didn't seem to help. It was a VERY long night for both of us. I think she slept maybe 3 or 4 hours and that was on me. The next morning her fever got up to 104 so the Dr had me bring her in. She told me that there was nothing for us to do but just wait it out and keep giving her Tylenol and Motrin. The next two days were the longest of my LIFE. Brinley would only sleep if I was holding her and during the day all she wanted to do was to be held standing up! I felt like was I pregnant with a 20 baby because she was always attached to me. I was so sore from holding her. The only time she would let me put her down was when she was watching her baby Einstein DVDs!! Those DVDs were a life savor!!! On Friday morning she woke up and seemed to be doing a lot better. Her fever broke and other than her being really tired she was her normal self! I finally felt like there was a light at the end of the tunnel......WRONG!!!!
On Saturday evening just before Greg and I were about to go out for the first time all month, she got another fever and became very lethargic. We cancelled our date and just kept an eye on her for the rest of the day and made sure that she was drinking. On Sunday morning I went to church and Greg stayed with Brinley. When I got home she was laying on his shoulders with this far off look in her eyes. All she wanted to do was sleep and that is NOT like her at all. Greg called the after hours Dr. and they told us to take her to the ER to run some tests! So we got in the car to go to the ER... again. We got there and they took her in to take some X rays of her chest to make sure it wasn't pneumonia. After she got done with the X-rays I was putting back on her shirt and she threw up ALL over me! After doing a few more tests they came back and told us that she had the influenza B virus. So much for getting her a flu shot this year. They told us that as long as she would drink we didn't have to admit her. That night I put her in her crib to sleep and about midnight I went in to check on her and again she had thrown up all over herself and her bed. At that point I had pretty much reached my limit! I had been doing really well dealing with taking care of a sick baby by myself and not getting much sleep, but when I saw the huge mess I was going to have to clean again I just couldn't do it by myself! I woke up Greg and he called his parents and the next day PAPA MIKE was here to save us!!! Thank goodness he can fly for free whenever he wants! He took Brinley from me and slept with her all night! She got up about 3 times or so but he would always get her back to sleep so I could rest. The next morning she was doing much better and she never threw up or got a fever again. That night she slept all the through the night in her own crib, which was a huge milestone!!! Papa was able to leave the next day and now all of us are doing much better. Greg has one more test tomorrow and then he is all done until April!!
So here is to March being a better month than February!!

2/14/2009

Happy Valentines Day



Love,
Greg, Jenna, and our little love bug Brinley

2/09/2009

Bald and Beautiful













And Introducing the newest member!















Don't worry, I will not be joining the family trend!

2/06/2009

Our little fish and Greg's shaved head

A few Friday's ago Greg and I decided to be "fun" parents and take Brinley swimming. She has already been a few times and LOVES it. Here are a few pictures.







So before our little family outing I opted to sit out and be the camera girl. I video recorded a lot of the event and thought to myself how both Greg and I will one day cherish watching this when our little girl is grown up and gone. Well, as soon as we got home I wanted to watch it. I guess I wanted to cherish it while she was still little and at home. Anyway, I turn it on and started watching it and Greg decided to join in. While I'm ewwwing and awwwing over how darling Brinley looks I look over at Greg and he has an appalled expression on his face. After asking what in the world is wrong he turns to me and says, "That's it I'm shaving my head." I kept telling him that his bald spot was more accentuated when wet. He would not believe me.
As most of you know Greg is going......bald. He has been begging me for years to let him shave his head. But I always tell him that it's still not completely necessary yet. He still has enough hair to pull it off, before he hits the comb over stage. Why shave it early when he will be bald for the rest of his life until we can afford a decent looking wig? I'm kidding, I have always known that Greg will make a very handsome bald man, but I just want to enjoy his hair while he still has enough of it.
After a VERY long conversation Greg and I came up with a compromise. He can go through a "trial" run. He can shave his head now, but then he has to grow it back one more time before it becomes permanent. So, we called our local Barber and here are the pictures.
Before


During




























And I'm very sorry to say that his after picture accidentally got deleted so you will have to wait until later to see the results!! Thanks for reading.

1/19/2009

Happy Fabulous Four



Yesterday was mine and Greg's 4Th wedding anniversary. It's crazy to think how much has changed in such a short time, especially for me! Since I've been married I've moved three times, one of those times being across the country. That's a lot considering I never moved once until I went to college. I've had 6 different jobs, visited 11 new states( that's not counting all the ones we had to drive through to get here), learned how to make a meal other than instant PastaRoni with white cheddar shells( which I still claim to make the best ever), watched my first major league baseball game, well I could also say watched my first ever baseball game, memorized every major league baseball team and their city(I'm really good if you want to quiz me), drove my first golf cart, thanks to Greg had my first outbreak of cold sores, and of course the biggest change of all experiencing pregnancy, delivery, and raising a baby.

There have been many other changes but these are the main ones I could think of at the moment. I'm so lucky to be married to such a wonderful, kind person. Thanks honey for experiencing all these things with me, and for always making life so exciting. I love you!!! Happy fabulous four.