Brooklyn Rae Weatherspoon

February 16th, 2011
7 lbs 5 oz
20.5 inches long

She is absolutely beautiful.

"Hold your horses"

I know, I know... Brooklyn has been in this world for exactly 3 months 11 days and 13 hours. I get it. I'm behind.

Just so you know before you read on, I won't be posting any pictures for your enjoyment just yet. I'm working on organizing and editing them at the moment. Unfortunately, as soon as I get semi-caught up, I get behind again with new pictures.

But, I promise there are ADORABLE pictures headed your way. Seriously.

Patience.

Life Update

Alright, so I realize that I left the blog on a bit of a negative note...

Time to update everyone and change the tone.


So, Its a girl. We couldn't be more thrilled to welcome a cute lil' lady into our home in February. We are about 99.9% positive about her name. Brooklyn Rae Weatherspoon. Ross loves it, I like it. Pregnancy has been going MUCH better since week 15ish. Brooklyn is an INCREDIBLY active little gal. She beats up my stomach on a regular basis, jumps on my bladder, kicks right into my hip bone regularly, and all of the other lovely things that a little lady should NOT do. We'll have to work on the attitude a bit after birth, eh? ;)

Ross is staying busy with online classes, work, and helping me clear the 2nd bedroom out and organize it for the baby. I'm going to school, and working about 10 hrs a week watching the same 2 cute little girls that I was nannying for before. We're staying busy, but keeping our heads above water. Thankfully.

Okay, so I realize that I have deprived everyone of pictures for quite a while and should probably fix that.

Here goes.

Ross's 1st EVER Jiu Jitsu Tournament- 1st Place Men's Intermediate

I'm super proud of my hubby. He's pretty studly and wonderful indeed.

The boys and their hawks... studly, eh?

Yes, That's Ross looking like he's about to punch the guy...

Last picture I got of his score in the final fight... I believe it ended up being 21-0 though.

Rehydrating between the fights

Emily trying to look tough like the boys. Failing at looking tough, succeding at looking cute.

One of the very few pictures that I took from my family's camping trip in the NC Mountains. We explored around Pisgah National Forest, saw 5 waterfalls, the men+Becca went down sliding rock, 3 hr canoe/kayak trip down a river (I forgot the name of the river), made dutch oven dinners and desserts, roasted marshmallows for s'mores, and enjoyed each other's company. The better, and more thorough pictures are on my sister Becca's facebook page.

One of the many cute bows I've made for Brooklyn thus far. She also has an abundance of post-summer clearance dresses and other cute outfits in her closet. She's going to be one well-dressed little lady.

Last but not least, we flew out to visit Ross's parents, brother, sister-in-law, and nephew for 5 days! It was a blast. Ross drove me around Baker City to show me all of his childhood sites, we went apple and peach picking in an orchard, and we went to Wallowa Lake with everyone for a night. All in all, it was a great trip.

The boys, skipping rocks on Wallowa Lake

The lovebirds.

A short (yet slippery and steep) hike we took to see the view.

Thanks for a great trip!

Life Update

I will apologize ahead of time to anyone who's not in the mood for a bit of a downer. Whoever said pregnancy is wonderful is insane. Between exhaustion, nausea, tears, and a ridiculous amount of stress, I don't see how it could be fun in any way. Besides that, I start working full-time next week. Whew. We'll see how long that lasts! Oh and my Statistics final is next week as well. Lovely :)
On a positive note... Ross has been an angel. I walked in the door from school this afternoon, and he had done the dishes and was in the middle of vaccuming for me. What a sweetheart. I think he may be the only way that I stay even half way sane right now. He's wonderful... I sure am one lucky lady.
Our next appointment is Wedn July 28th. We're excited to see how everything is progressing and we'll update you after the appointment!

A dozen life changes at once...

Ever feel like life just keeps changing and you're having a hard time keeping up?
Me too.

Actually, I've never seen our apartment so disorganized. Ross's parents were in town, watching some of our nieces and nephews, so we were over there pretty much everyday for 10 days. Then, we left to go to the beach with my family, and I had a big statistics test and Ross has worked almost everyday since. Yep, our apartment is a disaster. Anyways, on to the changes...

First, my job with the Crosby family ended. Cayden and Landon are such adorable boys, and I will definitely miss watching them! Cayden's energy and love for life, and Landon's sweet smiles and cuddles will be missed on a weekly basis. I'll have to be sure to drop by regularly and see those cute boys.


Also, I got a new job! I'm excited and scared at the same time. Ever since I worked for a family up in North Raleigh for a week, only to find out the mom was completely nuts, I have been hesitant about nannying again. The family I'll be working for has 2 little girls, ages 6 and almost 2. They're really cute, sweet, and incredibly intelligent. The 6 year old skipped a grade and will be starting 2nd grade this year. The parents seem really nice and overall, pretty easygoing. With these girls, I'm sure that I'll be hanging out at the pool, the library, and going places like the zoo, and museums more regularly. Gotta love that! Oh, and I'll also get to take online/evening classes while working for them. I'm just crossing my fingers that it works out as well as I hope it does. It really sounds too good to be true, but, I sure hope its not!


Ross will be starting school full-time this fall (online of course). So, life will be getting incredibly hectic around here pretty soon. I sure hope we get to see each other every once in a while.


And last but not least,

I'M PREGNANT.

We're happy, excited, exhausted, planning like crazy, stressed, a bit scared of how it will work with both of us working and in school, but overall, happy, and preparing to meet our little one.

We think I'm due sometime during the first couple of weeks of February, but we'll find out more at the doctor's office this Wednesday! We'll be sure to post afterwards.

Any guesses on what we'll have?

Ross wants a boy, but thinks it will be a girl.
I would love to have a girl first, but have no idea what we're having.
Either way, we'd be happy, and just love them.

Feel free to take your guesses...

Becca's Senior Prom

 So, my youngest sister, Becca, is a senior! She graduates in like a week and a half ??? Crazy how time flies! I actually remember changing her diaper a time or two. I also remember getting yelled at for trying to get her out of her crib by myself when I was 6... I always thought of her as a babydoll that I could play with. Anyways, Becca has grown up to be a gorgeous, confident, creative girl. Hannah, my mom, and myself were lucky enough to get to follow her around before Senior Prom and get some GREAT pics!

Here's her gorgeous self...

I took the first 5 and my sister, Hannah took the last 2.

Love One Another

So... I think everyone can agree with me on one thing... no matter how absolutely WONDERFUL your in-laws are, they can take a bit of getting used to. Thankfully for me, it took almost no time at all. I'm so grateful for the amazing in-laws that I have been blessed with. The first time I met Margaret (Ross's mom), we hugged in the airport. She is so incredibly welcoming and sweet. The first time I met Ross's brother Joe, his wife, Sarah, and their little boy, Rocky... it was a TOTALLY different story. I love them SO much now, and cannot wait for them to move out here, but the first meeting was incredibly rocky (totally just a misunderstanding on all of our parts). I guess what I'm trying to get at, is that my in-laws all seem to portray many of the qualities that I love in my husband. Some of the more important ones:

- They seem to really be attentive to the needs of everyone around them
- They really do think before they speak (my own family is notorious for almost never doing it)
- They are incredibly forgiving
- They are truly the least selfish people I know
- They would never dream of bragging about their kids and trying to one up each other
- They hardly ever cut each other off while speaking
- They are some of the most loving family member I have ever known
- They show that they truly understand the meaning of family, they are always willing to drop anything that they are doing and help each other out, no matter what it takes
- They are truly interested in each other's lives and hardly ever talk about themselves
- They love their nieces/nephews/cousins and treat them as if they were their own children and siblings and would never say a single cruel word toward them or about them

I know that there are many families out there who exhibit these traits... but I am just flabbergasted at the extreme respect that they show for themselves, each other, and everyone around them. I would love to see them every day if I could. Every last one of them is just wonderful.

So, being a Weatherspoon has really gotten me thinking. I came from a wonderful family of my own. My family has their own strengths, unfortunately, my family members don't exactly portray the qualities listed above as well as they should. I for one have an incredibly hard time not interupting others. Its something that I've been working on since 19, but am still struggling with.

So... I have a new goal. I want to become more of a "Weatherspoon", meaning, that I want to develop more of the traits that I listed. I want our kids to have those traits. I want them to be practiced in our own home. One thing that I have learned from the Weatherspoon side of our family is that speaking to others with respect is never overated. If I teach our kids nothing more, I want them to know how much their parents love them, how much their Father in Heaven loves them, that the Gospel is true, and that kindness, love, and respect should always be uttered from their lips. Its the best way to show that we truly "Love One Another". Loving words and actions help to bring the spirit into your home, and I want it to be able to reside in ours.