(I tried posting this the night of Ayden's birthday(Wednesday), but my computer got a virus, and I wasn't able to post it until now.)
My baby turned two today!! Well, I guess it would be considered yesterday since it's now 12:15 a.m. I am so thankful the Lord has blessed him with another year of life. Tonight, at exactly 10:59, Ayden was laying with his head on my chest, sound asleep...the exact minute he was born two years ago. I will never forget the moment they laid him in my arms for the first time and I felt his little body against my chest. His little heartbeat was one of the most precious things I've ever heard.
The last two years have flown by so fast. I love watching him grow every day. He tee tee'd on the potty for the first time the Sunday before last!! He was SO proud of himself...I think it made him feel even more proud when his big sister kept cheering for him! He went to the potty once yesterday and twice today!!
Ayden loves to help us with anything and everything...whether it be picking up something I drop on the floor, sweeping or mopping, getting clothes out of the dryer, or cracking eggs for me...he loves to help his mommy!! He is constantly walking around "tidying up." He puts stuff in the garbage and straightens up things that are a mess! It is so sweet!
He also loves going to get firewood with Daddy and keeping an eye on the fire so if he sees one piece of wood drop, he runs to his daddy, screaming, "Da Da! Look!" His favorite thing to do with Daddy is wrestle!
Ayden loves his big sister so much! Even though they are starting to fight like brother and sister now (lol!), he does almost anything she wants him to do (except give her the toy he's playing with!) Just like even before he was even walking...he goes and gets her anything she wants..her blanket, her cup...it doesn't matter! He stops whatever he is doing to get things for her.
Ayden,
I can't believe you are already two. But these have been two of the best years of my life. You and your sister have made our lives so wonderful, and I thank Jesus every day for giving both of you to us. You already have such a sweet personality..you always want to help, and you always love Mommy to hold you. Sometimes when I am tired, I love when you just fall asleep in my arms. I can just sit there and feel your heartbeat and feel your breathing against my chest. It is so peaceful because I know before long you will be too old for Mommy to hold you! I love the moments when you just look at me, smile, and give me a big kiss!! I also love when you act like a puppy dog and lick my hand!! It's so funny because when you get excited about something, you start panting like a puppy dog and try to lick us! I also love to hear you singing your little heart out. You love singing "Jesus Loves Me", and you aer getting pretty good at it!! You have loved to sing ever since you could make a noise, and I can't wait until the day I can watch you sing in church.
When you have been sick the past few weeks, and the doctor said something could be wrong with you, my heart was broken in a million pieces. I couldn't bear the thought of knowing you could be seriously sick or hurting. Thank the LORD, you are ok! Your daddy and I are so thankful you are a healthy, happy little boy!! I pray that you always keep the sweet, joyful spirit that you have. More than anything I hope that you will know Jesus as your Savior one day...and we will do everything we can to raise you in HIS love. I love you so much, my little man. Thank you for the laughter and love you have brought to our lives.
Love,
Mommy
Waiting (painfully!) for Ayden to arrive!
Our first family picture!
Mommy and Ayden
Daddy and Ayden
Ayden's 2nd birthday invitation
I am going to paste a blog on here that I had posted on my myspace after Ayden was born. It is pretty long, but it is the whole story of the day our lives got even better:
It was just a normal Sunday morning...I woke up like usual...running late, knowing I would have to rush to get to church on time. But this Sunday morning felt different. Every few minutes I would have to lay down on the bed because I felt so bad. I also noticed the baby hadn't moved all morning. All during church I was just praying the baby was ok. It was normally so active I would just hope it would stop moving for a few minutes to let me rest! I was 38 weeks and I always heard that the baby stops moving as much the closer you get to having it, but I didn't think it was supposed to completely stop moving. As soon as church was over, I came home, fed Gracelyn, and I was in bed by 1:30. Michael was working, but told me to call him as soon as I woke up to let him know how I was feeling. I didn't wake up until five, and I was scared to death. The baby still wasn't moving. I tried playing its music on my belly, eating peanut butter, drinking coke...everything. On the way back to church that night, I felt one little kick. That relieved me for just a little while, but then I started worrying that I had just imagined it moving b/c I wanted it to so bad. I talked to Michael on the phone on the way to church and cried the whole time. I was so scared. Something in my body just felt different and I was so worried something was wrong with the baby. I got to church and dried my tears before I got out of the car so nobody could see I had been crying. As soon as I got out of the car, my parents met me at my car and asked if I had felt the baby. I told them I had one time, just barely, and as tears filled my mama's eyes, she told me she had been crying and praying all afternoon b/c she was scared something was wrong. So, of course I started crying again, too. This baby had been a part of me for nine months and I couldn't imagine it not being a part of my life...for the rest of my life.
After church, I got my mama to drive me and Gracelyn home because I was feeling really bad. My sister Kortney rode with us. At exactly 8:00 p.m., I had my first contraction. I didn't know for sure it was a contraction at the time, but Mama and Kortney started getting so excited, saying I needed to go to the hospital. I had this fear of going to the hospital and having false labor, so I just said I would wait b/c that contraction had not been that bad. So Kortney started timing them. My next one came exactly five minutes later. It was a little worse. I went in my house and changed clothes, got clothes for Gracelyn, and decided to go on to my grandma's, where everybody was eating. Michael wasn't home and I definitely didn't want to be at home by myself! So, we went to my grandma's and as soon as we got there, I laid on the couch with another contraction. This one was MUCH worse! By this time, they were still five minutes apart, but I was hurting bad enough I knew I had to get to the hospital. I tried calling Michael FOUR times, but he wasn't answering!! I thought I was going to have to leave without him. I had an hour drive to get to the hospital and I knew I didn't have any time to waste. Michael finally called back and was already on the way to my grandma's. I told him he better hurry b/c we had to I had a feeling we didn't have much time to spare!
This was a night I was VERY thankful my husband is a state trooper! We started to Hattiesburg going 130 mph. Mama was in the backseat, scared to death, and I was in the front seat screaming GO FASTER!!! I was in such pain and now the contractions were only two minutes apart. I really thought for a few minutes that I was going to have my baby right there in the trooper car. I was screaming at the top of my lungs and beating my fist against the window through each contraction. We ended up making the one hour trip in 25 min.but it felt like the absolute longest ride of my life!! It was just like a movie, flying into the parking lot with lights flashing and the horn blaring.
They brought out a wheelchair for me and wheeled me into the hospital. I saw my doctor sitting there and I was so thankful she was the doctor working that night. The first thing I asked her was, "When can I get my epidural!?" They told me I just needed to get in a room first and then we would worry a/b everything else. Easy for them to say! I would've taken the epidural right there at the nurse's station if they would've let me!! They took me to the room, and I went in the bathroom to change into my gown. I fell to the floor in pain, and Michael had to pretty much drag me to the bed. The first thing they did was hooked up the monitor so we could hear the baby's heartbeat. I heard it and asked the nurse if it was the baby. She said it was, and immediately so much relief rushed over me. Thank the Lord the baby was ok. After not feeling it move all day, all I could think of was the worst. Just hearing it's little hearbeat took away the pain of the contractions...for a few seconds anyway!
They gave me my IV and immediately gave me some pain medicine that was supposed to "take the edge off the pain." Well, let me tell you...it didn't take the edge off anything!!! All it did was make me feel like I was in a different world...but the pain was in that world, too! They checked me and I had dialated six centimeters. So they went ahead and started to give me my epidural. Michael was holding one hand and the nurse was holding the other...the doctor had to stick the epidural in my back four different times b/c it kept hitting a vein. Getting it once is bad enough, but FOUR TIMES??? Combined with contractions, I was beginning to wonder if I was capable of doing this. My labor with Gracelyn was so easy, and I didn't feel much pain...but now, I was starting to doubt that this was possible. I just kept praying over and over that the Lord would help me make it through this and the baby would be ok.
All the sudden, I realized Michael wasn't standing beside me anymore. I looked behind me and he was on the floor...getting fanned by a nurse!!! He had passed out!!! Of course, he was hot b/c he was still in his trooper uniform with his vest on and everything. But he said to see me going through so much pain and hurting so bad, just made it worse...and all the sudden he couldn't stand up anymore. He finally was able to stand up and came back over to be by my side.
The nurse gave me another dose of pain medicine to help me out until the epidural kicked in. Well, the pain medicine just made me feel even farther out of my mind, and the epidural....NEVER KICKED IN!!!! My worst fear was coming true!!!! I kept asking the nurse...when will it start working?? She kept saying...well, your body is just changing so fast. It's just taking longer. After I asked her the about the 10th time and she didn't answer me, I knew that I was about to feel every bit of childbirth.
It was time for the first push. I was scared out of my mind. All I could think about was how I was not capable of doing this. A million thoughts were going through my head at one time. I felt like I was going crazy!! Michael, Kortney, and Mama were on one side of me and a nurse was on the other. I was screaming to the top of my lungs. I remember at one point, I actually thought, what in the world am I doing? Am I really screaming like this?? I sound like a crazy person!! But that thought quickly passed by and I continued my hysterical screaming. I think I almost tore Kortney's sweatshirt off and I apologized to the nurse afterwards for probably leaving scratch marks on her arms.
Then came another push...and I heard my doctor say, "Brooke, look down here..." I raised my head up and for the first time ever, my eyes fell upon the little precious little baby I had carried for nine months. At that moment, every bit of pain seemed so far away, and all I could do was thank God for this little miracle He was bringing into my life. One more push...and then I heard it..."It's a boy!" I was so glad we had not found out what we were having. This moment made the long wait worth it.
The doctor laid the baby on my chest and the first thing I asked her was why he wasn't breathing. They immediately took the baby away from me and the nurses started working on him. Because I had so much pain medicine in me, I didn't understand how serious the baby's condition really was. I kept asking them if he was ok, but nobody was answering me. Michael was still holding my hand but I noticed him staring at where they were working on the baby with a pale face and tears in his eyes. After what seemed like an eternity I finally heard that precious sound...my baby crying. They took him to the nursery to continue to work on him some because his breathing wasn't quite right. The pain medicine they had given me had gotten into his system. I found out later that they had to put an oxygen mask on him and give him a shot to get his breathing right. I am so glad I didn't know all this was going on. I just thank God that my baby ended up being ok and perfectly healthy. My labor started at exactly 8:00 p.m. and Ayden was born at 10:59 p.m. All it took was three (very long) hours...he was ready to get here!
When they finally brought Ayden back to us, I just held on to him, trying to make it seem real that I now had another baby. Everything just felt like a dream. My daddy, Steven, and Courtney came in with Gracelyn and the first thing she did was kissed Ayden's head. It was precious. I had been so worried that she would feel left out and jealous...but it seemed like in just a matter of hours she had gone from being a baby to being a little girl.
We spent the next two nights in the hospital and on Tuesday morning, we got to go home. Me and Michael couldn't wait to see Gracelyn. We missed her so much. She stayed with my parents while we were at the hospital, and it felt like we had been away from her forever. She had never spent the night away from me before and it broke my heart! We went to my parents, and Gracelyn was so happy to see her new little brother. I laid him on the couch to change his diaper, and right when I took his diaper off, he started peeing a little fountain! It landed right on top of Gracelyn's head! It was so funny! Michael took a diaper and held it over Ayden, but everytime Ayden moved, the little fountain would change directions! I must say, it's much different than changing a little girl's diaper! Gracelyn didn't know what to think. She was just standing there staring at us like we were crazy because we couldn't stop laughing.
We are slowly adjusting to having two kids now. I love every second of it, though. There is definitely never a dull moment around here!
Gracelyn is being such a good big sister. When I am feeding Ayden, she comes and sits beside me and takes my hands off his bottle so she can hold it for him herself. When milk dribbles out of his mouth, she wipes it off for him. She covers him with his blanket..and if there are two or three blankets laying around, she covers him with all of them! I have to watch to make sure she doesn't hurt him...after all, she is only 20 months! But so far, all she has done is loved on him, given him kisses, and said baby a million times a day!! I love that little girl so much. I love riding down the road and just talking to her. She jabbers back, and I have no idea what she's saying, but I am sure it's pretty important! If my hair falls in my face, she comes over and pushes it back for me. Sometimes, out of nowhere, she just comes up and kisses me and gives me a hug. Anything I ask her to do, she does it without hesitating. She always wants to throw things away for me, get me diapers, all kinds of things! Every night I put her to bed, it takes all I can to let go and quit kissing her. Finally she will look at me and say, "No more," and then try to get in her bed. But before I go to bed, every single night, I will go in her room and just watch her sleep. And every single night, I can't seem to hold back the tears. Especially the first night we brought Ayden home...I watched my little girl as she was sound asleep...it seemed like she was just born and already I had another baby. I didn't want her to feel like she was being replaced or wasn't loved as much. That may seem crazy, but it worried me so much. I stood there for 10 or 15 minutes, just crying, watching my little princess while she was probably far away in a dream somewhere. She's the sweetest and most loving little girl I could've ever asked for. She's my little best friend.
You know, every now and then I will think back to before I was married and had kids. For a split second I think how I kinda miss being free, with nothing tying me down. Then Michael, Gracelyn, and Ayden's faces flash through my mind and the thought of my life before them seems so empty. I don't know what I would do if they weren't in my life. Sometimes I can't even hold back the tears because I love them so much. I love Michael more than the day I married him, and every time I look into Gracelyn and Ayden's eyes, I love them even more. God has blessed me so much with my little family. For years I wondered what my family would be like...and now I know...my family is perfect...and more wonderful than I ever dreamed.
Thank God for His unending miracles, blessings, and love.
I am really not fond of this picture of me, but it was the only one we have of us together that night...plus, I kinda felt bad for asking the random girl I asked to take the picture to take another one!
I am showing off my bling-bling Michael got me for our anniversary...it was a whole $4.99!! I found it at a little jewelry store while we were walking around and thought it was so cute. It's awesome because the band is adjustable and everything. (lol)
He will probably hate me for putting this picture of him on here, but I think it's cute :-)
(And no, didn't "tip for photos." I took the picture and ran!) 
