Happy New Year

Happy New Year from Our Family to Yours!

May you have a healthy and prosperous 2010!

2009 was a GREAT year!

On this day last year, our precious baby girl, Burkley was still in the NICU. We were told that morning that there was a good possibility that she might be discharged later that afternoon or that evening, but if you are/were a parent of a child in the NICU, you know what that means. Cory and I decided to leave after her 11:00 feeding so that we could go home, pump, gather our things, feed/change Brooks, and head on over to my parents house for our traditional homemade egg roll dinner. We had just walked in the door and were shocked beyond belief when my cell phone rang (around 2:00 that afternoon) and it was Burkley's nurse on the phone calling to inform Cory and I that she was going to be discharged. Brooks was quickly given a goodbye kiss and handed over to his Grammy while mommy and daddy hurried out the door. We were SO nervous, yet SO excited. What a great way to kick off 2009!

And here's what we saw as we entered those NICU doors and rounded that corner for the last time! Our sweet baby girl all ready to go HOME! For those of you who do not know, being discharged from the NICU is quite different from a "normal" discharge! She was wheeled down in "her" little bed and when Cory pulled the suburban around, the nurse picked her up and handed her to me and then left! I remember asking Cory how in the world I was suppose to get her tiny little self in her HUGE seat...I'm not going to lie, I was super nervous because she was so dang tiny! Just see for yourself!

See, you would have probably been scared too!

So tiny, so sweet, and so glad to be going home and seeing her brother for the 1st time in days!!!

Being reunited after 11 LONG days!

Gosh, as I'm looking at these pictures, it's so hard to remember them being this little!

Mommy and her tiny little princess!

So glad to have my baby girl home!

Mom and dad doing double duty!

So yes, 2009 was a FANTASTIC year for our family! I can't wait to see what 2010 has in store for us!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

The BEST Christmas Gift

Have I mentioned that this Christmas was the BEST Christmas EVER?!?

We were all together as a family of 4!

And then on Christmas Day (that evening), Burkley decided to do this for her daddy and I (the video clip that I uploaded is not from Christmas Day...although I was able to capture it on video)! Oh, and please excuse my high pitched voice and the toys all over the floor...Cory and I were in the middle of taking the Christmas decorations down and keeping B&B entertained!!

In the NICU on Christmas Day 2008 and walking on Christmas Day 2009! What a difference a year makes! We are sooooooo proud of you Burkley!

Gross

This picture of Brooks just grosses me out! It's not his precious face, it's what is on his precious face and all in his hair! We ordered Mexican food the other night for dinner and I decided to order B&B a child's cheese quesadilla dinner for them to try. They are their mommy's children for sure because they ate the ENTIRE quesadilla, rice, refried beans, and some of my cheese enchilada! Do you think Brooks enjoyed his dinner?!?!?!?

Can someone please tell me how long this "stage" of rubbing your food in your hair and all over your face lasts? YUCK, it's sooooo gross...but it does make me laugh! And just to let you know, that is not Alpo on his tray...it's refried beans (Cory said that's what it looks like)!

Christmas Morning Continued

After we opened gifts and had breakfast with Nana, PaPa, Uncle Kevin, Aunt Mandy, Colton, Avery, PaPa Scotty and Granny Di, we got dressed, loaded up both suburbans and headed on over to celebrate our 3rd Christmas with Pop (my dad's dad).

Pop with all 5 of his great grandchildren!

And Uncle Kyle with a monkey on his back!

And our 4th and final stop was Grammy and Poppy's house (they were at all the other stops, but we celebrated together as a family after Pop's house).

This was our BEST Christmas EVER! It's so much fun being a parent and being able to sit back and watch those little faces light up! Christmas next year at Grammy and Poppy's will look a little bit different...Brooks and Burkley will be BIG cousins and Kyla will be a BIG sister! Not much longer and we will get to meet our sweet baby niece/cousin, Shea (or T3...Teeny, Tiny Tinky)!

And yes, I realize I'm in only a few pictures! I was busy opening alllll the gifts and taking pictures (now I'm thinking I must have used my moms camera to take a bunch). And I just realized that we didn't even take a family picture on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. Oh well...we took one at my Maw Maw's 90th birthday party the Sunday before that turned out great and we will have to take one on New Year's Day (such a special day to us...that's the day Burkley was discharged from the NICU)!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning

I'm finally getting around to posting all of our Christmas pictures. I took a ton of pictures over the weekend and it's taken me quite a bit of time to upload them and sift through them all. I know there are a bunch more on my moms camera, but mine will just have to do for now! I'm so tired...and this nasty weather is not helping me! Enjoy...more to come soon!

Our 1st stop on Christmas Eve was Granny's house (my dad's mom)

Top picture: B&B and Kyla with my cousins boys, Dylan and Cole

Middle picture: B&B, Kyla, Dylan, and Cole with Great Granny

Bottom picture: Uncle Kyle "Uncle" (my brother) with his FAVORITE gift!

After we left Granny's house, we headed on over to Cory's parents house. They have a gameroom above the back garage and every year, they host a great Christmas Eve party for family, friends, and neighbors. It's so much fun! We eat, have "beverages", chit chat, and play games into the wee hours of Christmas morning! Brooks, Burkley, and I called it a night pretty early this year because we wanted to make sure that Santa came to see us!

Top right picture: The Scott Family

Bottom left picture: Brooks and Burkley playing in their rocking Corvette
Botom right picture: Burkley climbing on their presents from Dr. Schrader and Sandra

Since we spent the night at Nana and PaPa's house, Brooks and Burkley thought it might be a good idea if they left Santa a note...just in case! And, it looks like Santa did read the note and remembered because he did come to see them!

Brooks woke up at his normal time on Christmas morning (around 7ish), but Miss Burkley was still asleep. She decided to pull one of her little stunts and have play time from 2 to 4 that morning...leaving Nana and Mommy pretty dang tired! It was hard trying to keep Brooks away from the toys, so we decided to wake Burkley up (after all, she kept us up all night and if we couldn't sleep, neither was she)! Now, I know they have no idea what Christmas even is, much less the true meaning, but the looks on their faces when they saw all the toys was priceless. Burkley was sooooo excited and Brooks just wanted to play with the ball popper!




One of the many gifts Nana and PaPa gave B&B! Once they got in, they DID NOT want to get out!

Christmas at Great Pop's and Grammy and Poppy's still to come!!!