Brinley's Only Christmas as the Only Child

As most of you know from my last post we had a lot of "surprises" this past Christmas with our big announcement. However, in between announcements to our different family members we tried to create new holiday traditions as a family. Jennifer and I also tried to soak up everything because this would be our only Christmas as a family of 3! We started the Christmas season by decorating the inside and outside of the house. We even kept a few traditions that we started when we got married. Each year we make a gingerbread house and this year Brinley got to help. We also get a new ornament each year to put on our family tree. This year Brinley got to put her 1st Christmas ornament up on the family tree.

Brinley helping decorate the family tree.

Brinley putting up her 1st Christmas ornament and trying to eat the tree.

Grandma even helped with the decorating. Grandma was in town to baby sit so I could go to the football game in Atlanta.

Brinley really enjoyed making  the gingerbread house.

Jennifer had to work on Christmas Day so we decided to celebrate with just the 3 of us on December 22, which was a day that we were both off from work. I woke up early and made a big breakfast. After eating breakfast we started to open our gifts. Brinley was far more interested in eating the wrapping paper and playing with the tree than she was with the actual gifts.

Brinley thought the wrapping paper was delicious!

Brinley looks really happy to be opening gifts.

Brinley's favorite toy that she got from mommy and daddy. A little Ferris Wheel for little tumbler people.

A family photo after opening Brinley's gifts.

Jennifer got a Cricut to help with  her scrap booking and craft projects.

I got a new grill!

Brinley trying on her new hat. 

 That afternoon after we all took a nap we got ready for our second Christmas celebration with Jennifer's family. We ate lunch and before we opened gifts we made our big announcement. After the initial shock wore off we opened gifts. Once again Brinley really enjoyed the paper.

Brinley surrounded with all of her presents.

Aunt Amanda helping with opening gifts.

Brinley got her very first play kitchen.

MiMi and Brinley.

Aunt Sarah, Jennifer, Brinley and Aunt Amanda.

Our next Christmas celebration started when my family arrived on Christmas Eve. We started our festivities with decorating sugar cookies. Everybody started out as novices and quickly started to get the hang of it. Grandpa was even able to do a cookie portrait of the Mona Lisa, at least that is what he said it was supposed to be. We followed up our cookie decorating with the "BIG" reveal which I was able to record and most of you have seen the footage I am sure. We ended our night with a trip to the horse park to see the Southern Lights. Brinley really enjoyed getting to see all the light displays that were set up. However, I can't decide if she was more happy about the lights or getting to be out of the car seat during the drive through the lights.

Grandpa's first attempt - it says G-PA in purple.

Grandma is deep in concentration.

Brinley even got into decorating.

Aunt Andrea working on her Christmas stocking.

Uncle McKinley working on his sugar man creation.

 Since Jennifer had to work day shift on Christmas we waited until she got off work to open gifts. It was definitely a unique Christmas because we spent the day doing a little bit of everything. Aunt Andrea and Grandpa went to a movie, Uncle McKinley and I went to his house to workout, and Grandma enjoyed some time with Brinley.If you noticed in the next few pictures, Brinley had multiple outfit changes on Christmas. This is because she had so many outfits and we wanted to get as much use out of them because she will only get to wear them once in her life. Before Jennifer got home from work we began cooking our Christmas dinner. We cooked a turkey and all the fixins. After dinner we gathered around and started exchanging our gifts.

Grandma and Brinley enjoying some time together.

Uncle McKinley playing with some of Brinley's Christmas toys.

Mommy finally got home and we started opening  presents.

Uncle McKinley's gift. It even came with a coupon for a free babysitting.

Brinley really liked Aunt Andrea's gift - it's a little ball that rolls away from you so that you crawl after it.

The Heflin Family - Christmas 2012

The whole family got to stick around for a few more days before Aunt Andrea had to return back home to New York. We really enjoyed getting to spend time together. The days that we get to spend together with all of us are getting fewer and further between. I know that Brinley didn't tell me with words, but I know that she really had a great Christmas. I can't wait to spend many more Christmas seasons with all of my family. Next year I am sure that Brinley will enjoy opening her gifts even more and she can even show her younger sibling the way to do things. I just hope that over the years we are able to instill the TRUE meaning of CHIRSTmas to our children. Thanks for reading and God Bless!

Jordan, Jennifer, Brinley and Baby makes 4!

Last September we had the privilege of informing our parents and immediate family about our little bundle of joy that would be arriving the following May. We told our parents at about 4 weeks, and boy did they have a hard time keeping the secret. We didn't want to tell everyone because we have had so many friends and co-workers who have had trouble with pregnancies and we didn't want to have to answer all the questions if something bad ever happened. Every night when they called to talk I was anxious to see if anyone new had "accidentally" found out. They were extremely glad when we got to about 11 weeks into the pregnancy and felt comfortable releasing the information to the public. Being their first grandchild, I can only imagine the number of people that were informed of the great news by my parents.

  

Which brings me to my next bit of news. On Halloween of this year Jennifer informed me that come July of next year we are in fact going to be a family of 4. We talked about this and immediately decided that we would keep this information a secret again. This has proven very difficult because it seems like at the end of every conversation that I have with people, which mostly consists about Brinley, they almost always ask if we plan on having any more. If anybody ever was to pay close attention they would catch me with the quick smirk that comes across my face. However, nobody has noticed it or maybe they just didn't expect us to have back to back kids, well neither did we.

Brinley didn't really want to cooperate for this picture, and it was hard to get it just right with the self timer on the camera.

So of course most of the talks around our house have been about what the upcoming year holds for all of us. After thinking longer about having kids that will be roughly 14 months apart, we have come to realize that it might not actually be that bad (however, ask me next year if I still agree with that comment). Andrea and I are only 18 months apart and my parents were able to handle, so why can't we.

First family photo of all 4 of us!

After figuring out that our due date was July 14th, 2013 we realized that 12 weeks would be right around the start of the New Year. So we decided that we wouldn't tell anybody, including family until Christmas. For any of you that know me, you know that this task would prove to be a very difficult one for me. While on my recent trip to Atlanta to watch the Falcons and Saints football game I was texting and I sent a message to Jennifer that referred to something about the baby, or at least I thought I sent it to Jennifer. A few minutes later Andrea looked over at me and said what is this about? (I had accidentally sent the text to Andrea instead of Jennifer) I was in a complete state of shock. I don't think I spoke for the next few minutes. However, I gathered all my thoughts and then I broke the silence to Andrea, who of course had figured it out because of the text. So the rest of the game and the entire 5 hour drive home we talked about the future little Heflin. She promised to keep it a secret until Christmas, she found out that this was a very challenging  task, but was able to keep it on the down low until Christmas Eve when we announced it to my parents.

One day I remembered that my brother found out about Brinley over a text message and he was the very last person in the family to find out about her. So, one day when mom and dad were in town visiting we went over to McKinley's house and after mom and dad walked out to the car to leave I went up to Uncle McKinley and simply said I have some news for you. That is all that it took, he immediately said no way and I said yeah and then walked out to drive mom and dad back to our house. He sent me a few texts that night, but the next morning he sent me a text that said just whatever you do don't wait five years and then have a mistake like me. (As mom would always say - McKinley you were a pleasant surprise.) A few other people found out before Christmas, but we tried to keep our mouths shut as much as possible.

The weekend before Christmas was set to be our first reveal with all of Jennifer's family coming to visit to celebrate and see Brinley. I was scheduled to work day shift that weekend which would make me miss Brinley opening her gifts and seeing her family's surprise when we announced that baby number 2 was on the way. However, a very gracious friend at work agreed to switch shifts with me. The Bolton's arrived and we ate lunch and then decided that we would put Brinley in her Santa outfit for the gift exchange. Under the Santa outfit she had on a shirt that Jennifer had made that simply said "Big Sister". We figured that it would be clear enough. Brinley was sitting on the couch and we told them that she had another outfit on that we wanted everyone to see. Sarah opened up the shirt and immediately looked over at us and said "no way!" and then turned Brinley so that everyone else could see. Amanda said that she started to tear up a little bit and Kara could hardly believe it. So then I went and got the iPad out and showed pictures from our first ultrasound.

The BIG reveal!

Aunt Sarah and Aunt Amanda were thrilled with the news.

Mimi was excited for grand baby #2!

The next big reveal happened on Christmas Eve. I had worked the night before and after I got off work I knew that there were a lot of things that needed to be done and I couldn't sleep. So I made the decision to stay up all day so that I could get on a normal schedule. So after finishing up all the last minute things around the house the grandparents, Aunt Andrea and Uncle McKinley arrived and we decided to go get a late lunch at Olive Garden. After eating we headed back to the house for the big surprise. We once again dressed up Brinley in her Santa outfit with the surprise onesie underneath. We said that we just wanted to make sure and get plenty of pictures with everyone while we were all in town together. Andrea and McKinley were taking pictures while I was filming the whole thing. After a few pictures I said that she had another outfit that we would like to get some pictures with Brinley in. After a bit of a struggle getting her outfit undone, they both had a total look of surprise on their faces and immediately looked at Jennifer and then looked to me for verification. Then the tears flowed down a little bit, no surprise at all if you know the two of them. Then grandpa began trying to figure out if Andrea and McKinley already knew, which they both did. Then grandpa started telling us about a dream that he had recently in which we were expecting a child again. (This is pretty wild because he had a similar dream before we told him about being pregnant with Brinley.) Grandma even verified that he had told her about this dream before hearing the news. They were totally shocked when we told them that we were already 11 weeks along. Their next questions were when was this going to go public and when could they start telling people. We told them that we wanted to wait until after our 12 week ultrasound that we had scheduled on January 2nd. Grandma and Grandpa's reactions were priceless.

The Heflin's on Christmas

We had our ultrasound this morning and they said that the little one looked healthy with a heart rate of 155 and 7 cm long. The whole time the ultrasound was being done the little one was bouncing all over the place and the lady doing the ultrasound said that somebody needed to inform them that we don't jump on trampolines in January. Brinley took this as a challenge because she almost immediately started jumping up and down in my arms, maybe just her way of saying that once this one gets here she will show them how things are really done.  We are so blessed to have Brinley in our life and now in 2013 we will get to welcome the next beautiful addition to our family. Jennifer and I look forward to the adventures we will have with 2 little ones running around together over the next few years. I know for sure that there will probably never be a dull moment in our house.Thanks for reading and God Bless you in 2013!

Little Heflin #2

Brinley and her little brother or sister

Profile view of little Heflin #2

Happy Turkey Day

Brinley's turkey bow that Jennifer made for her.

This year Jennifer and I were both fortunate to be off from work for the Thanksgiving holiday. We decided that we should head back to Western Kentucky to visit family and friends. We spent three nights with grandma and grandpa. We started out our visits on Wednesday with a trip to Evansville to see Jennifer's older sister Julie and her children Maci and Micah. We really enjoyed getting to see them and I think Maci really enjoyed having a little baby to play with.

Brinley with her Aunt Julie and cousins Maci and Micah.

Next we headed out to my cousin Tricia's house to see some of our cousins from Ohio and my Aunt Angelena. This was the first time that my cousins Crystal, Kyli Jo, and Kasey were able to meet Miss Brinley. They were all fighting for time to hold her. We then went back to grandma and grandpa's house to rest up for the real fun of visiting 3 different Thanksgivings.

Cousin Crystal couldn't get enough of Brinley. She was really excited to finally meet little Brinley.

Aunt Angelena even got a turn, but Brinley got upset because her shirt wasn't as interesting  as Crystal's.

Kyli Jo also really enjoyed getting to meet Miss Brinley.

Cousin Tricia waited her turn, but tried to make Brinley skip Thanksgiving and head straight to Christmas.

Our first Thanksgiving adventure as three started out with a trip to Slaughters, Kentucky to visit Great Granddaddy and Memom Clayton. We enjoyed getting to spend some time visiting and ate some delicious Turkey and fixings. As much as we would have liked to stayed longer, we had a schedule to keep and Brinley was ready for a nap. So we packed up the car and headed for Owensboro.

Our 1st Thanksgiving as 3!

Memom Clayton really enjoyed getting to see Brinley again.

Great Granddaddy Clayton proved to be very good with Brinley. He rocked her to sleep while everyone else started to eat.

The little time that no one was holding her she played with some of her toys.

We just don't get to see the Great Grandparents as much as we would like.

We arrived at my Aunt Mary Ruth's house a little after 1 and spent some time with all my cousins and their families. Brinley was really fond of her cousin Bernie, who enjoyed spending time with her too. Again we would have liked to stayed longer but Brinley needed a nap and we still had one more place to go. Brinley was sleeping so good on the way back to McLean County that we stopped at grandma and grandpa's house and took a quick nap in the driveway.

Cousin Bernie is one of Brinley's favorites.

Crystal came back again. 

We had to say thanks to the host for letting us come to visit. Thanks Great Aunt Mary Ruth.

Next we took a quick little drive over to Island, Kentucky to visit with some really good family friends, who were Jennifer's neighbors growing up. We enjoyed getting to spend some time with the Everly's, Tomes', and Mercer's. Of course they really enjoyed getting to meet Brinley (most of them for the first time). I know this may be hard to believe, but we got so caught up talking that I forgot to take any pictures from our adventures in Island. Again the time came that Brinley was getting a little fussy so we decided to head back to Livermore.

Brinley had missed out on all the good food we had been eating all day and we didn't want her to be left out so we fixed her up some sweet potatoes. The picture shows exactly how she felt about them. (Sweet potatoes are one of her favorite foods, as it is mine).

Brinley loves to eat, I think she might have gotten that from me.

As much as we hated to leave grandma and grandpa's house we had to get back to Lexington so that I could work my weekend shifts. Overall we had a great time visiting with family and friends from back home. I wish we lived closer so that we could see and spend more time with everyone. Hopefully we will see some more of you the next time we are in town. Thanks for reading and God Bless!

Fall Fun with Brinley

Outfit and Hello Kitty from Aunt Andrea

This fall we visited a few of the local apple orchards and pumpkin patches with some family and friends. Our first trip was to Boyd's Orchard where we met up with grandma and grandpa. We tried some of their apple cider and apple donuts before heading out to the pumpkin patch. Of course the majority of the time was spent taking pictures with Miss Brinley Kate.

Brinley loved the pumpkins, especially this little one! 

Brinley wasn't really in the smiling mood today. She was a really cute little monkey though.

Brinley enjoying the day with Grandma and Grandpa

Brinley riding around in the pumpkin cart.

Family picture at Boyd's Orchard

Brinley riding the large pumpkins

Jennifer saw this idea on Pintrest and tried it out, problem was that Brinley didn't really enjoy it at all.

 We also met up at Evans Orchard in Georgetown with some of our friends and their children. Brinley had a lot of firsts today. She was on the swings for the first time and we didn't even get a picture of it. Brinley also took her first trip down the slide and even went on her first hayride.

Brinley hanging out on a pile of pumpkins.

We tried again when we were both home for a pumpkin shoot. Brinley didn't really enjoy it but she wasn't crying as bad this time.

Jennifer had been working for weeks on Brinley's first Halloween costume. She was going to be a little lady bug. Grandma and grandpa made the trip up for Halloween, which just so happened to be the same day that grandma retired.

Brinley was the cutest little lady bug!

Our little lady bug!

Going to see the neighbors.

We decided to go to a few houses to show off our little lady bug. We went up to the houses of our neighbors and said trick or treat and then just told them that we didn't want any of their candy because Jennifer and I would just end up eating it, we really just wanted to show them our lady bug. We headed back to the house because it was pretty cold and was actually starting to rain a little bit. Overall we had a pretty great first fall and Halloween with Brinley! No telling what she will be next year. Thanks for reading and God Bless!