More Photos of Our Little "B"

My girlfriend Lindsay with her 3 week old, Drew, and our 1 week old, Mr. Brenner on the right.

Drew and Brenner with their daddies

Best Buddies

Getting burped by Daddy


Daddy and his two favorite people

Mommy and Brenner

So Completely in Love

Brenner is one week and things are going great! We get to have Wade at home for a nice long weekend before he goes back to work. I couldn't have asked for anything better. It's been very weird having him home 24/7, but I am certainly not complaining. Emmy's been loving it too. She gets her Daddy all day long. We'll be getting visitors soon which I am very excited about. Wade's sister gets in next weekend, and my mom will be here in about 3 weeks. Can't wait to see you 2! Here are yet a few more pictures of our precious Emberlyn and Brenner.

Bringing Brenner Home

It's our 3rd day home, and it's going very well. Brenner sleeps all day, and prefers to be awake at night. He's not fussy during the late night hours; his little eyes are just wide open trying to figure out the world around him. And it's hard for me to be asleep because I just want to watch him. It's been a little adjustment for Emmy, but she's doing awesome. She's very excited to have mom and baby home, but I'm still trying to explain to her why mommy can't hold her. She knows that mommy has an owie, but then soon forgets. So, I just have to constantly remind her. But she's been an incredible helper. She brings mommy diapers, pacifiers, and blankets. Everytime she sees her little brother, she starts ooooing and ahhhing. She carries her two dolls around the house. She has a cradle that she puts them in. And she even burps her dolls while Mommy burps baby brother. It's the cutest thing. Wade's been home with us this week, and that's been an amazing blessing. I don't know how I would have done it without him. He brings me my meals, he keeps me medicated, he helps entertain Emmy while Brenner's feeding, he's kept up with all the laundry and dishes, and I can't thank him enough. He gave Brenner his first bath this morning. Brenner is not as much a fan of bathtime as Emberlyn was when we brought her home. But as soon as he was getting his hair washed, he loved it! It was just the initial getting wet part, that he didn't like. I get peed on almost every diaper change, which takes some getting used to. I try to blow in the diaper before I change it, or put a wipe on top of it, while I'm wiping his hiny, but nothing works! Mommy and all the blankets around him get soaked! We had his first doctor's appointment yesterday, and everything looks great. He weighed 6 lb. 8 oz. And he's going in tomorrow morning for another weight check. He's nursing really well, and has consistent wet/dirty diapers. So, I think we'll keep him! He's amazing! Wade and I are so blessed to have two fabulous children! I couldn't be happier. Mommy and Daddy love you Emmy and Brenner!!!

Welcome to the World Baby Brenner

Whew...what a weekend! It all started with our doctor's appointment last Thursday. We found out that the baby was breeched. So, we scheduled a lovely c-section for September 10th. Very exciting...but very scary! So, we called our friends and family and told them the wonderful news that we'd be meeting our little man in exactly 2 weeks. But Brenner had other plans... Early Friday morning at about 2 am, I started having contractions. I didn't think much of them, so I just tried to sleep through them. Then, at about 4, they were still coming but irregulary, anywhere from 5-12 minutes apart. So, I woke Wade up, and began timing them. By 5 in the morning they were about 10 minutes apart, and I called my doctor. She wasn't sure if this was true labor, so she wanted me to come into her office at 8:30, if I was still contracting. So, we packed our bags, just in case, and brought Emmy to the office with us. They hooked me up to monitors and about 30 minutes later, the doctor looked at the sheet, and said, "You're having a baby today!" What?!?!? We did NOT see this coming. He had a scheduled date, and it wasn't for another 2 weeks! She told us to drop Emmy off at a friend's and head over to the hospital. So we did just that. We got to the hospital at about 11 am, and by 1:00, I was being prepped and rolled into surgery! I was scared out of my mind, but I had the most incredible support. They wheeled me in the operating room and Wade wasn't allowed to enter until I was numb and ready to go. I was super relaxed the entire time. Wade came into the room with camera in hand, and the show was on the road. Soon after, Brenner popped his little hiny out. What a feeling! It was very bizarre, but so worth it. He cried right away and they lifted the drape to the side so I could see the doctors wiping him off. Wade got some good pictures, I bawled my eyes out, just not believing that he was actually here! The surgery didn't take longer than an hour and a half and I was wheeled off to recover. Brenner didn't have a name right away, he was the "nameless baby" for the first day and a half. He was taken directly to the nursery, so I didn't get to see him until later that night when they wheeled me into the nursery. I wanted to see his little face first, so we held off until then. He had a little bit of a rough start. His respiratory rate was high and his blood pressure was low. They didn't know if he had an infection, but they went ahead and started antibiotics as a precaution. Being 3 weeks early, he had a little fluid in his lungs. They kept a very close eye on him. I didn't get to hold him that entire first day, which was really hard, but I knew what was best for him, and that was to be taken care of by the professionals. By the second day in the hospital, he was still not allowed to stay in my room. So every couple hours, Wade wheeled me to the nursery to feed him. And then by the 3rd day, he was in the clear and got to come into my room, which was wonderful! He's a good little baby with a sweet little cry. After some bonding, we quickly decided on the name Brenner, determining that it was the perfect fit! After much research online for a middle name, Jameson is what we came up with! So, we can now introduce our little guy...Brenner Jameson Ashley Born 8/28/09 at 1:49 pm weighing 6 lb. 13 oz. and 19 1/5 inches long. Emmy was so excited to meet him. She initially met him through the nursery window with Daddy and immediately squealed! We are so happy to have this little guy in our family! Welcome to the world Baby Brenner!

The Things She Says

Oh the things Emberlyn tells me...

Tonight I was singing our clean up song as we put all the toys away for the evening. "Clean up, clean up. Everybody, everywhere. Clean up, clean up. Everybody do your share." And Emberlyn looks at me and says, "Mommy, no singing." Evidently I was completely out of tune, and she let me know she didn't want to hear it anymore. She also asks, "what's this?" That's been a popular question for Daddy since he's been home. And her other favorite phrase is, "Emmy do it." This sums up her personality pretty well...completely independent! Emmy can do it. She also loves to grab her microphone and sing. But the funny thing is what she says. "Sing-ing!...sing-ing!...sing-ing!" And that's her song. She sings the words, "singing" over and over and over. I have no idea where she got this from. But it's hysterical to watch. Whenever I'm getting her dressed, she tells me, "beautiful." And I'll say, "Yes, Emmy, you are beautiful." I must tell her that a lot, because she's picked up on it and says it all the time. And whenever I'm doing a chore that she wants to do, she'll run up to me and say, "helping!" This means "I want to help." What a sidekick I have! It's really amazing to watch her vocabulary grow. I'm completely in awe of her and I savor every moment because I know how fast the time goes. She's so big, but she's still my baby. Love you sweet girl.

Fun, Creative, and SO Cute!

My friend and I have been working on burp cloths for the little man. I bought some fabric and cloth diapers, and enlisted my friend, Kitty, for help. She's got the sewing knowledge...and well, I didn't bring much to the table. But I did the pinning. So, I was some help. So, technically these were made by my friend and I owe her BIG time! I am just thrilled at how they turned out!!! I may be adding some ribbon to dress a few up, and more fabric because it's just been so much fun!

Always Learning Something New

Emmy's been learning her colors. She can recognize purple, blue, green, black, and orange. She's also been asking, "What is this?" She wants to know what everything is. But the best part is how she quizzes me. She'll start to ask me what color each crayon is. And I'll say, "ummmm...." And then she'll quick jump in and say, "purple!" or whatever the color is. So, she likes to ask me questions, but then she also likes to answer them herself. Her other favorite thing to do is play with her sticker book. There's a page of words and a page of stickers. And I'll say the word such as, "umbrella" and she'll find the sticker. Then I'll show her where to stick it. She gets a kick out of it, and asks to play with it everyday. Wade's been out of town for the last couple weeks. And it seems like I have so many new stories of what Emmy's up to. Just in these past few weeks, she's changed so much! Everytime I put her to sleep at night, I tell her "I love you and Daddy loves you too." And then, she says, "Daddy...hug...kiss" and she blows a kiss. It's the sweetest thing. We're going to be so happy when he gets back home.

5 More Weeks...and I've Got the Belly to Prove It

Wowie! This pregnancy has swept by! I can't believe he's almost here. Everything's been going very smoothly, so we've been very lucky. I've had lots of energy the past couple weeks. Thank goodness! It's been a little uncomfortable at night while I'm trying to fall asleep. But in the past few days, he must be in a good position and nice and settled because sleep has been so much better. We still haven't chosen a name, and we might just wait until we see his little face. I'm anxious to see how Emberlyn is going to handle having a new baby in the house. I'm expecting her to say, "Where's his Mommy?" and "Why isn't he going home?" But at the same time, I know she's going to be all over him and want to help in any way she can. She's a very loving little girl and a little mommy herself, who has been getting extra practice with her dolls.


I'm excited for this pregnancy to be over so I can meet and finally hold this little guy. But it's been so much fun carrying him, that I'm going to miss feeling his little kicks...