3 Months and Counting!

I cannot believe how fast these last 3 months have flown by. It seems like just the other day that we were bringing Brinley home from the hospital. The past months have been extremely busy and I have completely fallen behind in my posts. I try to spend as much time playing with Brinley when I don't have to work and there just doesn't seem to be enough time in the day to get everything accomplished as I had wished. Now I know first hand exactly what my parents were talking about when I was growing up. Sad thing is that I only have 1 child and they had 3. This past month has been very eventful and we got to experience many new things as a family of three. During the month I was scheduled to work a lot of day shifts at the hospital. The original thought when I took all these day shifts was that I could be at home to help at night. However, ever since about 1 month old Brinley has been going to bed around 8 pm and sleeping through the night. I am very happy that she sleeps through the night, but on days that I worked I would leave before she got up and when I got home it was time to put her to bed. I just felt like I was missing out on so many things while at work. These are just a few pictures from the last month.

The month started off with a visit to the doctor for our 2 month check up.  Everything was great and Brinley was now 10 pounds, 3 ounces and 23 inches long. She is getting to be such a big girl. The bad part about our check up was that Brinley had to get her first immunization shots.  

We took a trip to Indianapolis to work the 7-on-7 camp with Aunt Andrea and we made a stop by the YMCA to see some of our good friends, Tony and Myra Duritsch. Our visit just added more fuel for the fire of Myra's baby fever. We didn't get to spend too much time together, but we are looking forward to seeing our friends more often because they are moving even closer to us in the next few weeks.

Brinley got to spend a lot of time with Mommy in Indianapolis because I was busy working the camp. They did make a few stops by the office to see me. Indiana was Brinley's first state that she traveled to outside of Kentucky. She only has 48 more states to go before she catches up to me.

One day while Brinley was napping I was just playing around  and seeing how many Swedish fish I could put on her with out her waking up. Looks like 6 is the number to beat.

I took the girls out for dinner while in Indy and we asked the waiter what some tourist spots were in the city. After some thought and asking his co-workers the only thing he could come back and tell us was the monument at the square. So we stopped by to have a little photo op. In fact Brinley had already been to the square once before. This is where the roman numerals were at during the Superbowl festivities this past February and Brinley was still in Jennifer's belly. 

I picked this little football rattle up one day when I had to pick something up at Babies R Us. This has by far been one of Brinley's favorite toys. Only problem that we have is that Brinley tends to try and eat the football as opposed to throwing it. I have plenty of time to try and teach her everything I know about the sport.

Our big accomplishment of the month was finally getting to where Brinley could hold her head up enough to be able to sit in her Bumbo. She has really enjoyed her time in her chair. It also gives her a different perspective and allows her to be amazed with her toes.

Our little girl loves to play with her ears while she is eating. 

Aunt Andrea came to visit after we worked the camp together in Indy. We enjoyed spending time  with Andrea and getting to celebrate her birthday even if it was a week or so early.  McKinley is still trying to learn how to hold a baby, especially one that enjoys to move around while being held.

We had some sparklers that we forgot to use on the 4th of July so we had a little fireworks show on the back deck. As you can see Brinley wasn't that amazed with our display.

Mommy and her girl before having to go into work. Jennifer was not excited about having to go back to work after having 11 weeks off to spend time with Brinley.

I was supposed to take many pictures and send them to Jennifer on her first night back to work so that she could see what our baby girl was up to while she was at work. I took this one right before bedtime with all of her stuffed animal friends.

Brinley also enjoys books. This really makes Grandma very happy.

We have tried so hard over the past month to get Brinley to spend time on her belly and she doesn't like it for more than a few minutes at a time.

Brinley sitting in the rocking chair for the first time. We put her kangaroo with her to kind of prop her up a little bit.

Brinley got word of my Swedish fish picture and decided to get a little payback. So Brinley and mommy got me good one morning while I was sleeping.

By far the best investment that I made was picking up this football rattle. Since she can't pick up things as well yet this fits on her wrist and she practices her touchdown dances all day long.

Mimi came to visit Brinley one weekend. Brinley enjoyed getting to spend some time with her. 

Jennifer snapped this photo with her Curious George stuffed monkey. This is such a happy little girl.  She is getting so big.

Brinley really racked up the gifts for her party. Her favorite gift by far has been the toy elephant that Aunt Andrea gave to her.

I have to take credit for the smile in this picture. It never fails that I can get Brinley to smile by making funny faces and silly noises. 

 I hope to keep this more updated in the future. Brinley is definitely getting big and she is developing more of a personality everyday. We love her so much and I enjoy getting to share just a few of the many pictures that we take. Thanks for reading and God Bless!

Pictures from Brinley's First Month

Here are just a few pictures to highlight some of our adventures in parenting. Everyday we are learning new things and it seems like every day Brinley gets to experience something new. I am trying to keep track of all of Brinley's new experiences and I even try to take a picture to help us remember it. Here are a few from her 1st month.

Our 1st trip out to a restaurant. We went to Mi Mexico when Brinley was 8 days old. We were tired of being stuck in the house all day. Brinley slept the whole time we were there, so we decided that since she was going to cooperate we should probably go out more often while we were both off from work. This was the day that Jennifer discovered your umbilical cord had fallen off during one of your diaper changes.

 Brinley's 1st Church service at Southland at only 9 days old. Happy Mother's Day to Jennifer! (May 13th)  Brinley didn't even make a single noise during the service. This was not duplicated on our next 2 trips to church.

MiMi even came to visit on Mother's Day.  I treated the women to lunch at Saul Good, which has quickly become a favorite of Brinley's since she has made 2 return visits.

Our 1st stroller ride around the neighbor hood. (5/15) Brinley even met her first neighbor, Patrick, while out on our walk.

Lance and his girls, Shelby and Hayes, came to visit Miss Brinley (5/15)

Brinley's 1st trip to the grocery! She was pretty snug in her little holder.(5/17)

Met the other recent NICU employee babies at the March of Dimes at Keeneland. (5/20) We only made it about 1 mile because it was really hot and we thought that Brinley was getting a little too hot. 

Brinley got hungry waiting for the doctor to come and see us. Today Brinley weighed in  at 7lbs 4oz (5/21)

Finally Brinley got to meet her Aunt Andrea. She flew in from New York City to spend Memorial Day with us. (5/24) Brinley stayed out really late to meet Aunt Andrea at the airport in Cincinnati around midnight due to some flight delays.

Grandma and Grandpa took Brinley for a walk around the neighborhood.  (5/25) On this day Jennifer and I both left Brinley for the first time. She had plenty of babysitters in Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt Andrea and Uncle McKinley.

Chris arrived in Lexington late and he got to hold you before we put you in your crib for the night. Chris was nervous because it was the youngest and smallest child that he had ever held. (5/26) Today we had our first outdoor BBQ, complete with homemade ice cream and watermelon.

Brinley enjoys football just as much as me. She can be found signaling for a touchdown  almost everyday. Brinley actually slept in her own bed during the night for the first time. (5/31)

We got a quick little photo opportunity with Brinley and her blocks.

Brinley was getting hungry while being burped, so she was trying to eat her arm.

Brinley got her first real bath in her tub. (6/1)  Today was also the first time that I noticed Brinley having  real tears. After getting a bath we took Brinley to her 1st movie. We went to the drive in and watched Men in Black 3 and The Avengers. Brinley slept during both the movies and woke up during the intermission for a snack and diaper change.

We celebrated our 5th Wedding Anniversary and decided that instead of hiring a babysitter, we would just take Brinley with us. We went to Malone's for the first time and it was probably one of the best meals that I have ever had. 

Brinley is one month old! The first month has really flown by so fast.

Brinley with her gifts and smores cake. She got a new book, rattle and some money from Aunt  Andrea and Grandma and Grandpa Heflin. (6/4)

Brinley has been such a blessing to Jennifer and I and we can't wait to experience many different things with her as she grows up. The 1st month was sleep deprived and hectic at times, but I wouldn't change a single thing. I can't help but smile every time I see our little bundle of joy. Thanks for reading and God Bless!

Father's Day 2012

Father's Day is one of those holidays that sometimes gets overlooked. It is by far overshadowed by its counterpart holiday, Mother's Day. But for the first time, Father's Day was much more to me, of course because it was the first time that I was a father. We decided a few weeks ago we would pack up the car and head to Western Kentucky for Father's day. My parents were extremely excited about this because not only would Jennifer and I be coming home, but it would be Brinley's first trip to McLean County. 

After finishing my day shift at the hospital I came home to begin the packing that we had put off until the last minute. We decided that we will never try to do this again because it is much more difficult trying to pack for not only yourselves, but for your 1 month old daughter, while she is fussy the whole time and just wants to be  held. It made for an interesting hour of running around the house and praying during the drive that we didn't forget anything of vital importance (We actually didn't forget anything, lucky for us). We grabbed a bite to eat and headed out on the 3 hour drive. Thankfully Brinley took a full bottle before leaving the house and she slept the whole trip. We arrived around midnight to the house that I spent the majority of my childhood in and waiting at the door with a big grin on her face was my mother, but at the moment I think she was a happier grandma. I emptied the car and put together Brinley's pack-n-play so that Brinley would have somewhere to sleep. We fed Brinley a little snack and then called it a night. 

Brinley got up at 6:30 so we decided to give her a little bath so that she would be nice and clean for church that morning. During the bath time, Jennifer asked me if I noticed anything during the night. I of course didn't because I had been up all day the day before. She said that grandma had come in during the night with a flashlight to check on Brinley. I thought this was probably going to happen during our stay because my mother had told me on many occasions that she would wake up during the night and come watch us in our cribs. She said that she just couldn't go back to sleep until she saw for herself that we were OK. Before getting dressed we decided to weigh her. She weighed in at 8 pounds and 12 ounces, which is 2 pounds more than her birth weight. The scale was vintage, being that it was the same scale that my mother was weighed on when she was a baby. After breakfast we decided to give grandpa our gift that we got him. Brinley and Jennifer then gave me my first Father's day present and it was great. I got a new book to read Brinley that is called "My Dad Loves Me!" and Jennifer made me a picture frame that had the first picture that was taken of me holding  Brinley and it had the words to the song by Stevie Wonder "Isn't She Lovely". I also got a card that Brinley signed with some help from her mother. 

My gifts from Brinley and Jennifer

We then headed to Buck Creek Baptist Church, which is where I grew up attending my entire life. Some of the members are like family to us and we always enjoy getting to see them. The most excitement came as we were entering the doors of the church. I was surveying the crowd to find somewhere to sit when Jennifer said in a very frantic voice that she had seen a spider in Brinley's car seat. I quickly put the car seat down and unbuckled Brinley and began the search for the spider. I was unable to find it until I got Brinley out and then I spotted it run out from under a cushion. I quickly grabbed it and threw it out. Jennifer was frantically brushing off Brinley's clothes and I asked her what she was doing. She said she couldn't see it. I informed her that the spider was found and I got rid of it. The spider search had now completely woken Brinley up, which didn't look good for her cooperation during the service. (The last 2 times we attempted to attend church Brinley decided that after the music she wanted to do anything but listen to the preacher. So, we had decided that we would try watching services on TV until we felt comfortable sending her to the nursery or if we thought she could be calm during the services.) When telling the story later to some family, I found out that Jennifer had felt something on her neck and had went to scratch her neck, when she felt something move, she flicked it off and the spider went right onto Brinley. For any of you that don't know, Jennifer is petrified of spiders which made this even more scary for Jennifer.

So instead of putting her back in the car seat, I decided that I would just hold her because I figured that she would get fussy and we would have to step out into the hallway. During the service they gave all the dads a little gift for Father's Day. Then they said that they were going to recognize a few extra dads. They gave away an extra little gift for the dad with the oldest child, most children and youngest child. I was lucky enough to win the award for having the youngest child. We then listened to the sermon and Brinley didn't even make a single noise. She slept soundly through the whole service. Afterwards a lot of people stopped by to see our little girl and tell us congratulations. We even stopped in a few classrooms to see the people that weren't in the first service. We decided to not press our luck with trying to stay any longer, so we headed back to the house to rest up before heading out to lunch. 

We ate lunch at Applebee's and of course we saw many people that we knew. We finished lunch with desert at Orange Leaf because they were giving 5 ounces free for just being a dad. Next we headed out to my cousin Tricia's house to spend some time with family that hadn't gotten to see Brinley yet. Brinley met many new people today which included Tricia, Rossy, Amanda, Rickie, Mary Ruth, Hugh, Bernie, Luke, Keegan, Michelle, Whitney, Morgan, Taylor, Gretchen, Kevin, Owen, Abby, and Sarah. Everyone enjoy seeing her and they all enjoyed passing her around so that everyone could get a chance to hold her. We spent the majority of the afternoon just talking and catching up on everything that had been happening lately. Brinley really enjoyed getting to meet some of her cousins and Great Aunt and Uncles.

Cousin Tricia

Cousin Rossy

Before heading home for the night we stopped by to see Aunt Sarah and her boyfriend Chris. Sarah tried her hand at feeding Brinley, but she might need just a little more practice with burping. We talked for a while and then made plans for dinner the next night. We called it a night and headed back to my parents house to finish up my 1st Father's Day. I can't wait to spend many more Father's Days with my little girl. Thanks for reading and God Bless!

Wedding Bells are Ringing

June 2 will always hold a special place in my heart and it is due to 2 very special women that have been a part of my life. Growing up, June second was a special day because every year on that day we celebrated the birthday of my Mamaw. After Mamaw passed away, June 2nd just became a day to kind of reflect on the life of a really great women, but it never had the same celebration as it had before. So, 5 years ago Jennifer and I changed that once again for me. At that time, June 2, 2007 became the most important day in my life because Jennifer became my wife. Jury is still out if it was recently surpassed with Brinley's birth, only because without that marriage Brinley would have never graced us with her presence.

Jennifer and I had been dating for 7 years and had been engaged for 2 years, so we decided that it was time to get married. We had originally said that we could just get married on our dating anniversary date and had even decided that October 10, 2010 sounded good (10-10-10), but that was another 3 years down the road. We were still both in school and neither one of us had jobs, but we couldn't wait any longer to be husband and wife. We tossed around some dates, but ultimately decided on June 2, 2007. I love numbers and decided that 6-2-2007 was great because it contained the digits for both my football numbers (72-high school and 62-college). I figured that this would be a date that would be easy for me to remember later on. We then started the great debate about how big of a wedding we wanted. Like I said we were on a tight budget, so we wanted to go small, but then my parents started putting in requests for guests that they thought should be there. We sent out invitations and about 225 people said that they planned on attending. To save on money we Jennifer made almost everything for the wedding, including invitations, programs, favors and we even went out and purchased the food for the big day. We had such gracious friends and family members that helped out with the wedding decorations and my cousins Rossy and Tricia did our photography for us as our wedding gift!

The wedding weekend started with the arrival of some out of town guests and the rehearsal on Friday June the 1st. We had the rehearsal at Buck Creek Baptist Church (where I have been a member since birth) and the rehearsal dinner was in the old fellowship hall. The rehearsal practice was good, except for when I messed up the words while repeating my vows (which made me even more nervous for the big day). At our dinner that night, my parents had tried to recreate the city we were engaged in, New Orleans. The dinner theme was a surprise to both of us and my parents did a pretty good job. There was a fortune teller, mime and gypsy for entertainment and dinner consisted of alligator, catfish and best of all beignets. The biggest surprise of the night however was for my parents, since their 25th wedding anniversary was a few days later on June 4th and we wouldn't be able to celebrate with them. We (Andrea, McKinley and I) had a cake ordered for them that were the colors of their original wedding cake. I had even found the photo album of my parents wedding pictures to bring for everyone to see. We even got them a certificate for a little trip to a bed and breakfast in Bardstown. After seeing everyone that night, Jennifer and I headed to our childhood homes to get a little sleep before the big day.

Mom and Dad reliving their big day!

That morning I woke up like any other and just tried to relax around the house. I had some good friends that had stayed at the house with me (Tony and Lance) because they were groomsmen in my wedding. We had made some good memories over the past couple years at Georgetown College and now they would stand beside me on the big day along with my best man, my little brother McKinley. We didn't have any hair appointments or anything that we had to rush around for, so we took our time and then headed to the church about 3 hours before wedding time. Knowing that it was going to be a little time gap between arrival and wedding time, we decided to bring a PlayStation and some games to keep us occupied.

McKinley and I relieving a little stress

We took some pictures before hand of the groomsmen and even with the bridesmaids. Of course we even got a few goofy pics in too. However, I am very traditional and I said that I did not want to take any pictures with Jennifer before the ceremony because as we all know, you are not to see the bride before the wedding.

Best groomsmen picture

Before the ceremony was to start, we had our gifts for each other sent to one another. We had decided that we would make something for each other because it would mean more and of course we didn't have much money. I made Jennifer a picture collage of us over the past 7 years and Jennifer made me a picture frame that had picture hole cutouts that spelled out Bahamas, which is where we were going to go on our Honeymoon.

My gift to Jennifer

We also did the traditional something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue. We also included the part that usually gets left out - which is a sixpence in her shoe. The something old was a handkerchief that was once a bonnet that Jennifer wore when she was a baby (Brinley got one of these from Grandma and Grandpa Heflin after being born). The something new was the wedding band that she was going to receive. Something borrowed (which is supposed to come from a happily married couple) was a pocket watch that my dad carried on his wedding day and Jennifer wore my mother's pearl necklace and bracelet. Something blue was Jennifer's garter. The sixpence in her shoe was brought back from England by Andrea while she was studying abroad. The sixpence was dated 1928, which just so happened to be the same year my Mamaw got married.

Dad letting me borrow his pocket watch

The ceremony started at 2:30 (which is another tradition because a wedding should start at the half hour so that your wedding starts on the upswing). It all started with the seating of parents and grandparents, followed by lighting of memorial candles for my Mamaw and Jennifer's dad Bobby Bolton.

Lighting of memorial candles - lit by eldest daughter of both

After waiting patiently for the bridesmaids to slowly walk in, the moment arrived for me to see my bride for the first time. Jennifer looked absolutely beautiful in her dress, which was nothing new, but today she just had a little sparkle in her eye. I still to this day can't actually believe that I was lucky enough to find someone as amazing as her.

My beautiful bride!

Jennifer carried a bouquet of roses with some pictures of her dad dangling from them.

Jennifer's bouquet

This was so that her dad, who had passed away the year before, could still walk her down the aisle. I met her halfway down the aisle and helped her the rest of the way. Brother John Galyen was the pastor who married us, but unless I watch the tape, I couldn't tell you one word that he said that day (other that you can kiss your bride). I spent the whole time staring at my bride and at that time nothing else mattered in the world. We tried to have many unique features to our wedding, since we didn't like a few of the traditional ideas. For one we didn't have a flower girl because they typically have a temper tantrum and I didn't want anyone stealing the attention of our guests, because it was our day. So instead we had our guests throw out rose pedals before Jennifer walked down the aisle. We also didn't like the idea of the unity candle, so we decided to do a sand ceremony. This is a similar idea, but with 2 different colors of sand (white representing Jennifer and black representing myself) combining they could never be separated, just like our love.

Sand Ceremony

We exchanged vows and rings and then I got to kiss my bride. It was a fairly quick ceremony and then we had everyone else head over to the reception hall while we took some pictures.

First kiss as husband and wife

Newest addition to the Heflin Family

While taking some of our outside pictures we noticed my cousin Gretchen come out of the reception hall crying. We didn't have any idea at the time, but we soon found out that my little cousin Owen had knocked over some lattice and it had fallen right onto our wedding cake and grooms cake. Word from the reception hall was that when the lattice started to fall it was almost in slow motion and nobody could get to it in time. Without missing a beat some of the men pulled the lattice work off the cake and the women immediately started working on the cake. The lattice also broke one of our toasting flutes and even broke the veil off the cake topper. Sandra Worman quickly drove to her house and got the flutes that she had used on her wedding day so that we would have something to toast with. The veil got super glued back on at a later date. The only downfall was that Jennifer never got to see our wedding cake before the lattice work got a hold of it. It is still pretty funny when we talk about it and I am always quick to recommend to couples about to tie the knot to not put anything behind the cake that could potentially fall.

Our cake before the accident

Grooms cake - before deflation

After accident - no veil on bride, messed up top 2 layers and new toasting flutes

After cutting the cake and drinking our sparkling grape juice for a toast, we tried to say hello to as many of the people as possible. Then we got all the single ladies and gentlemen around for the garter and bouquet toss. We each grabbed a quick bite to eat and then we took off for a quick little car ride for a photo opportunity before everyone left. We chose not to have people throw bird seed because I was afraid of the retribution that was in store for me. As a young child I thought it was funny to empty about 20 of the little birdseed bags into a cup at one of my cousin's weddings. It wasn't that bad except that I waited until they were in their car to throw it at them. They said that they picked birdseed out of the car for the next year. Sorry Michelle!

We changed into some more comfortable clothes and then headed off on our first adventure as husband and wife. We drove to Nashville in the decorated car to spend the night before flying out the next day to the Bahamas. Our first meal was at Ruby Tuesday, where apparently the food took too long (didn't really realize it because we were just so happy talking about how wonderful our day had been) so they cut our bill in half. Pretty sweet start to this marriage!

Mr & Mrs Heflin

Today is our 5 year anniversary and it seems like just yesterday we were exchanging the vows. I guess they say that time flies when you are having fun! Jennifer and I have had many exciting adventures and formed many great memories and we can't wait to have many more together. Thanks for reading and God Bless!