Asthma & Mother's Day

We are learning more and more about Braylen having asthma. I had to take him to the doctor on Saturday morning because he woke up feeling horrible! The inhaler helped a little bit but he was just struggling to breathe and didn't want to do anything! The doc told me that his body is zapped of energy because it's working so hard to breathe. Poor thing. They gave us a nebulizer and he has to do a breathing treatment every morning. He's doing pretty good with it. It really does help him. It's like as soon as he is outside he starts coughing or sneezing. I just feel really bad for him. Hopefully as the spring season goes away, so will his symptoms! Another funny part about Saturday-Guy had to go down to Louisville for Amy's graduation ceremony so I was alone when I took Bray to the doc. They gave him that breathing treatment and he was as good as gold. Walking around, saying hi to everyone, eating suckers. He was a new kid. Then I went to Kroger Pharmacy to get his prescriptions and while we were waiting I did some shopping. We were in the produce section and then Braylen threw up. All over himself. Right by the salad bar. GROSS! There were some napkins so I did the best I could. No one saw it either. He started dancing right after. I was like Braylen! hold still! ha.

That's a good story to lead into Mother's Day. I love being mom. Throw up and all. Braylen is such a wonderful blessing. He brings so much joy to our lives. Watching him grow up (he's dancing right now while I type this!) is one of the most amazing experiences. I guess I should be "watching" him instead of blogging. :) Recently every time I tell him that I love him, he says thank you. Wow. You are welcome buddy! You are the sweetest little babe.

Thanks mom for being a great mom too! I certainly wouldn't be who I am today if it wasn't for you and your prayers, patience, kindness, and loving example. I really have a great mom and mother in law too! Braylen sure does love his ma-ma and grammy!

Looking forward to seeing Jess and Vince this weekend! We've been trying to come up with a few things to do! Kings Island, Starlight Bowling, Aquarium, Zoo, Museum.........Maybe we'll just hang out and play games. Or maybe we'll make this delicious dessert.

There's something strange in the neighborhood

A few weeks ago, I woke up out of the bed, with the lights on, and Guy was hugging me. My heart was throbbing and I was completely terrified. I just woke up from a night terror. Ever heard of them? Night terror's or sleep terrors are when you have a horrible dream that you can't wake up from and it usually involves sleep walking or screaming. They are terrifying.

I started having them when I graduated from high school. I remember one night when my parents ran into my room and turned on the light. I sat up holding my stomach and looked around the room. All of my covers were off the bed and my dresser had been knocked down. My parents said that I was banging on the wall screaming for help! And I had these red markings on my stomach. I had no idea what happened! How crazy is that!

I have had a few night terrors since Guy and I have been married and they are so scary! Guy says that I wake up screaming and screaming. What usually happens is he thinks that I'm being attacked, so he jumps on top of me and gets me out of bed to protect me-which you're not supposed to wake anyone up when they are having a night terror. When I finally come to, I actually think that I AM being attacked so I freak out even more! It's usually dark and he is shaking me to wake up. It's so horrible.

I have read up on night terror's but there is really no way around them. Has anyone ever dealt with this? Strangely Braylen has them too! You can hear him crying in the middle of the night. Like a painful, scared cry. We'll go up to check on him but he never wakes up. He just stops crying.

Well, this is one random post but it's just something that has been bothering me lately. It's such a strange thing to deal with. I bet if the ghostbusters were real, and if it was a ghost haunting me, that they could totally get rid of it for me. :)

Processed Food: To Eat or Not To Eat......

Ever since we watched the Food Revolution with Jamie Oliver, our family has been trying to eat out less and we have minimized how much processed food we eat. That also means less fried foods and soft drinks! I don't know why I've never questioned what I eat but watching that show (we actually bought the book too!) has really inspired me to cook with all natural items. I don't mean organic, I just mean using items that are fresh! I have always cooked with "convenient" food items so it's been really fun to be creative with our meals. I remember that when Guy and I were newlyweds (I guess we're still pretty new!), I was going to make pancakes one morning when Guy said, why don't we make them from scratch? I thought- you can't make pancakes from scratch! Silly boy! You have to buy it in a box! Guy-very lovingly mind you-told me that you can make pancakes from scratch along with most processed foods. WHAT???? Like I said, I don't know why I never thought of that before, but here I am ready to conquer the cooking world.

Last night I made my first homemade marinade for chicken! It was teriyaki chicken-I used 1/4 cup of water, 1 tbsp of light soy sauce, 1 tbsp of lemon juice, 1 tbsp of packed brown sugar, 1 tsp of veg oil, 1 clove of garlic chopped, and S&P to taste. Mix it all together and marinade chicken (or other meat) for at least one hour and no longer than 24 hours. My super cool husband grilled the chicken along with sliced pineapple! If you've never grilled pineapple before, DO IT RIGHT NOW! IT'S SO GOOD! We had brown rice and zucchini as our other sides. Braylen ate like a champ too! I hate to pat myself on the back, but I was pretty pleased with how things turned out. I'm still pretty new to cooking but I have enjoyed finding new meals to make.

I never realized how bad processed food is for you! I've been looking at nutrition labels and have no idea how to pronounce some of the stuff that is in certain foods. Crazy! I've been really mindful of this while shopping at the grocery store. Although there are some things that I'm not ready to give up. Like tortilla chips, frozen waffles, juice drinks, fruit snacks, to name a few.

On another note, Braylen has been so much fun lately. He has come up with this super funny fake laugh. And he does it all the time. Especially if he feels shy or if a stranger says hello. It is so cute. He is so friendly to people. He is saying his ABC's too. Well.....kind of. He sings "a, b, c, d, e, e, e,...a, b, c, d, e, e, e,.... over and over. And then sometimes he'll say "p" or "v" or "me" like it's the end of the song. so cute!

On Tuesday while we were meeting for bible study, Bray was looking out the window and waving to cars. We had the window open, so when our friend Rick showed up for study, Braylen said "Hi! Hi baby! Hi baby!" It was so funny. Sometimes when he's playing by himself I can hear him say "hi mommy, hi daddy, hi baby." He just brings so much joy to people. I am so blessed to be his mom.

Happy Day!

The past few weeks after New Orleans have been so much fun! My sister Jessica and brother in law Vince were here for a whole week in the beginning of April! We celebrated Easter with my family by going up to Madison, IN to hear my uncle Bob preach at his church. I love doing that every year. It is so amazing to see how the Lord continues to bless their church in growth and fellowship. I was encouraged by the message of "Doubting Thomas" and I really loved the worship. Thank you Jesus for the cross!

Here we are after the service. I have the most handsome boys!

Jess and I took Braylen to the Red's Opening Day parade. It was so cool (not like Mardi Gras cool but still fun) and I had no idea how popular it was! Braylen did not like it at first and was scared to even watch it.

But he eventually warmed up to it.

We had two weddings in one day! On 4/10 Jess and Vince were in Keenan and Jen's wedding, which my mom also made their cake, and Guy was the best man in Stephen and Susan's wedding. The weddings were no where near each other! But Braylen and I were able to attend both of them-well 50% of each. :) Braylen was such a trooper and a very handsome date.

We were both super exhausted and slap happy by the end of the night.

Thankfully, daddy was there and he gave us the energy we needed (well mommy needed) to continue our fun night!

We also enjoyed some time playing Just Dance on Wii with my family. I mean it is the coolest game ever! Even Braylen got into it!

Braylen also knows how to play video games while wearing these suckers......

Those are mommy's shoes buddy!

We are teaching him the difference between girls and boys. :)

Until next time, I will leave you with a little blast from the past. Stay tuned for updates on my time at my 10 Year Reunion! Can you believe I've been out of high school for ten years? Look how short my hair used to be?

Have a great week!

Trip to NOLA

Hello friends and family! We have been super super busy and this is the first time I've had to sit down and write an update. I'm going to break a few entries up so that it's not a super long one. But before I share about our trip to New Orleans, I wanted to update you on Guy!

Over the past few months, Guy and I have been praying about God providing him with a new job position. God is always faithful and we have been really blessed by AWE (where Guy has been these past 6 or 7 years) but A LOT of things have changed and with the economy being so crazy, Guy knew that it was time to start looking for another job. Well, a great organization called Master Provisions has offered him a wonderful position as Operations Manager. You can visit MP's website to find out more info. Guy is so exciting to join their team. MP provides clothing, accessories, jobs, etc to economically devastated countries while presenting the gospel and sharing God's love with the lost! How cool is that! Guy will be working in their warehouse packing, organizing, shipping clothes and monitoring groups who come in to volunteer. He will also travel to different churches in the US to pick up clothes and share with the church what MP is all about. He will even go on mission trips over seas! He is so exciting to be joining MP's team. I'm so excited for him. If everything works out, he will be able to start in June! We will keep you posted.

Braylen and I spent 8 days down in New Orleans! We flew out with Peggy on Tuesday, Mar. 23 and stayed with Guy's grandma, Mommy I. She has a really nice house and it's close to the airport and the french quarter! Guy's cousin Brooke is having a baby next month, so we went down for her shower. Brooke is having a baby girl and her name is Ava Bethany. How cute is that! The shower was awesome and Ava got so many cute things. We can't wait to meet her. Braylen and I stayed until the following Tuesday-we flew home together-just the two of us. It was really fun! Braylen is so super flexible and he fell asleep on the plane (which was during his nap time) and didn't even wake up when we landed. He really is so sweet. By Tuesday, I was mega homesick and was so happy to see my even sweeter husband. I felt like I was never going to get home! Guy came to pick us up at the airport and we all had a nice little reunion!

B and I had a great trip. I LOVE going down to New Orleans. I really like the city, the people, the music, the food (minus the seafood-I could just eat red beans and rice everyday).....it's just so much fun. We hope to take another trip down to visit Brooke, Wayne and Ava. Next time we'll bring Guy.

Bray with Mommy I

Playing office

Favorite March Madness Memory

A few years ago when Guy and I had been dating for about 6 months, Guy gave me the best surprise ever (well 3rd best surprise ever!)! I can't remember if it was the first or second round of the NCAA tournament but UK and UC were playing each other and the game was in Indianapolis! I am a pretty big UK/basketball fan (not as big as my mom) and since I played all throughout school, I really enjoy the sport. Anyways. The day of the game, Guy had made plans with 2 other couples (Joe and Ashley Hibbett and Kat and Tom Hansen) and we were getting together to hang out all day long and then watch the game that night. They had decided to meet up at the Florence mall to have lunch and so that Guy could pick out a UK shirt. I was frustrated by these plans because I had so much homework to do and was hoping to finish before the game. But I agreed and showed up to the mall wearing my UK shirt with my homework. Everyone else had their UC shirts on. So after lunch, they all decided that it would be fun to go see a movie down at Newport on the Levee. Guy said that he would drive us all because he had borrowed his parents van (his car was apparently "at the shop"). I was stuck! I had to go with everyone and so my plans were put on hold. We all piled into the van and started driving down to the expressway. This when I started to get really frustrated!! Here is how the conversation went between Guy and I:

Me: (I was in the passenger seat) Guy, if we're going to Newport don't you think we should take that exit? You're getting ready to pass it.

G: No, we can cross over the bridge and then get on 471 South.

M: Okay. Wait.........you're passing the way to 471! You're going the wrong way! (ughhhhh, sighhhhhhh, throwing head back in the seat!!!)

G: Oh, I know of another way to go.

M: No, there is not another way. Can you turn around? (we were in Cincinnati)

G: Yea, just let me find the right exit.

M: Okay take this one...........Why did you just pass it???????????? This is so frustrating. (everyone else is in the car with us while this was taking place and at this point we were driving towards Indiana!)

G: Andrea-where does this interstate take us?

M: UGHHHH!!!!! I don't know! Indiana?????

G: Right. And what's in Indiana!

M: I DON'T KNOW!

G: Think about it........

M: The UK game?

G: Right. We're going to the UK game.

M: What???????

Ha ha. It was so funny! And I was so surprised! We had such a great time! And the CATS totally beat UC! And a lot of our friends were there too! Like my sister!

How sweet was my future husband! He's the best. And he knows the way to my heart. :) We were engaged about a year later. I love you Guy!

P.S. Of our relationship-1st best surprise: finding out we were pregnant, 2nd best surprise: engagement, 3rd best surprise: UK game!

GO CATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stalker

So the past few days I have had a stalker. He appears when least expected. I try to avoid him by sneaking into other rooms but he manages to find me.

That's right. It's ELMO! Do you see how he floats around scaring and spying on us all? We got this balloon for Braylen's birthday party in JANUARY! He's continued to "stay alive" since then but we just "cut him loose" from Braylen's chair and he's been terrorizing us since. Braylen loves him. He says "WOW!" as Elmo just floats around the house. He loves Elmo.

Last night when we were going to sleep, Guy said how crazy would it be if Elmo opened our door and came into our room when we were sleeping? We got a good laugh about that one............And then I went into the living room to make sure he couldn't follow us. Seriously. How creepy would it be to find ELMO staring at you in your sleep? super creepy. Have you heard his laugh? Or seen his smirk up close? Here is a better picture.

You've been warned.