5 Reasons Why I Was a Slacker....

I am sure most of you wondered why I didn't start putting up pictures right away after Brody got here....after all, as a person that LOVES to take pictures and display them, why wouldn't I quickly start showing off my beautiful son, right?? Well, that's a GREAT question! After all, I DID take 100's of pictures those first few weeks. However, we had LOTS going on!!! Let me count the reasons down:

# 5

Our internet service is VERY slow and many days doesn't cooperate. I didn't have time to mess with uploading and re-uploading large file pictures. I was amazed in the hospital though at how fast everything uploaded on their service! Not like that here (although I AM looking into getting faster service....). Many days that is also why I can't do posts now because I don't have the time or the patience to wait for it to do what I want it to do!

#4

The main water line going into our house broke AND our dishwasher overflowed with bubbles all within 2 days. Fortunately Mary and Jerry were here to help with getting everything fixed while I concentrated on two things: feeding Brody and TRYING to get in a few naps!

You can see the bubbles are filling the bottom of the dishwasher....

We had to scoop them out of the dishwasher and pour them into the sink....then that was overflowing with bubbles! Bubbles EVERYWHERE!!! =0 We are still not sure why this happened.

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Here's where the source of the water line break was....right in our front yard!

You can see the water is pouring down our yard and into the street.....We are still not sure how much this water bill will cost because apparently the break started the day before but we thought it was just leftover rain water from the rain we had that day! I saw the water meter guy walking around the neighborhood yesterday checking water meters so I suppose we will find out soon! YIKES!

The new pipe is installed so hopefully this will NOT happen again while we are living here! THANKFULLY it wasn't broken under our house! That would have been HORRIBLE!!

#3

Our dryer stopped heating on the day we arrived home from the hospital! So, for THREE WEEKS we were without a dryer and had to hang dry clothes/towels/blankets/burp cloths/etc. while fighting with Best Buy to come and fix our dryer (which was under warranty!). After several hours on the phone with Best Buy by both Dave and me, I am happy to report that we FINALLY got our dryer fixed last Wednesday! I have done several (and I mean SEVERAL) loads of laundry since then. Turns out it was our element that was broken........not good when you have a newborn and lots of dirty little clothes! =)

Mom washed load after load of clothes and hung them all over our house so we could have clothes to dress Brody in. THANKS, MOM!!!

Then, when Mary and Jerry came, they thought to help hang a clothes line outside on our side porch so I could get them to dry faster! Terrific idea!!! They helped hang clothes, and then when they left, Brody helped ME hang clothes! It worked super well, so we still have our clothes line hung just in case we ever need it again! =) We certainly hope not though!! THANKS, MARY AND JERRY!!!

#2

We had to take Cuddles to the farm to stay permanently..... =( This one we are the most sad about but it was the most stressful event for those first THREE WEEKS. We really didn't trust her around Brody, and the couple times she was out of our bedroom in those weeks, she got very nervous when he made noises (she was never around him when he actually cried or who knows what would have happened!). We prayed and prayed about what to do because we REALLY didn't want to have to get rid of her, nor did we have anywhere to take her. So she and Chipper both stayed in our back bedroom from the day that we brought Brody home until three weeks later when my friend Jerrie offered to let us take Cuddles to her farm. We were extremely saddened about the necessity of having to take her somewhere but when we determined we needed to, this seemed like the best option for her. Until she was gone though, we were either both sleeping on the couch or Dave was sleeping in the bedroom while I slept on the couch. That wasn't good for our marriage in the longrun, and we couldn't really start our life with Brody as a normal family. So overall we know it was the best for everyone (including Cuddles because we didn't want to stress her out & we felt bad that they were cooped up). We definitely miss her though!!!!!!! She was so good to us for so long. I'm grateful that God gave us a place to take her and helped give us the strength to do it. It's been one of the hardest things we've had to do!

This was one of two times that she was near Brody but I don't think she realized he was under all the blankets she was laying on. I love these pictures because it shows Dave with his two best buddies doing what he loved best--watching football! =)

This was Cuddles in those last few weeks.....she was always crackin' us up!!! Such a cute little girl! =)

Dave loves her so much! We picture her out on the farm playin bridge or cards with some of the other cats like Paris Hilton or Nicole Richie would do! =)

Since Cuddles has been gone, Chipper has finally come out of hiding. Though he is still pretty unsure of Brody at times, he has come a lot closer to him and even comes up to us a lot more! I think over time he will start being more of a lap cat like Cuddles was, but not nearly as cuddly! =)

And the #1 reason is.....

...LIFE WITH A NEWBORN!! Brody, Dave, and I have been super busy trying to figure out this whole newborn thing. It's been really fun, but also very time consuming and stressful at times. We are figuring it out though and we enjoy Brody more than we ever thought we could. But, that leaves little time for all the other things I used to enjoy doing such as this blog, writing emails, and writing thank-yous for all the nice gifts Brody has received. SO....if you are one of those who has written an email or sent a gift and I haven't responded, please be patient and know that you are DEFINITELY on my mind! I am working as fast as I can now that Brody is a little less needy than he was at the beginning.....

I've been CLEANING.....

He peed all over his towel during his 2nd sponge bath......

Then spit up all over himself and me the 2nd morning home......

....and changing diapers & clothes...

...and watching Dave enjoy his son....

.....and bathing....

....and holding....

...and feeding....

....and preserving memories!

Mom helped me with the scary task of trying to get his hand and footprints for his memory book....we dressed him up in things that we weren't too concerned with getting stained in case he yanked his hands back and touched them with the ink. We also didn't want him to get ink on his skin in case it took awhile to come off...... That would be why in this ADORABLE picture of him smiling he looks like he has a head wound!! =) But, I LOVE his expression!!!!! =) By the way, getting handprints from a brand new newborn is next to impossible thanks to the grasping reflex!!!! We only got the print of ONE hand, and BARELY!! =)