It's a . . .

GIRL!!!

We think she 's pretty cute! Her name is Brooklyn Rebekah. Brooke D'Lynn Nichols was one of my best friends that passed away almost five years ago. I can't think of a better person to name my baby girl after. She will have some pretty big shoes to fill. My prayer is that Brooklyn will have the same passion and love of life and family that Brooke did.
We are doing Rebekah after my Mom and my middle name. We thought about having her middle name be Faith since we have really had to rely a lot on faith throughout this pregnancy. But I have pretty much decided that she needs to be named after Mom too. I have always liked that Rebekah was a part of my name and I think Brooklyn will too.
I can't wait to meet Brooklyn. Only 20 or more weeks!!
We told Weston tonight while he was playing with play dough his response to "Weston you are going to have a baby sister" was "Yeah, I'm making a baseball" He's not quite as impressed just yet. The funny thing is he has been talking about his baby sister long before we knew what she was.

Our big news. . .

With thankful hearts we get to announce that we are having another baby! Due the 4th of July! One of the reasons I have been so behind on my blogging is because I had hyperemesis. It's a condition where the normal morning sickness is greatly elevated and lasts all day. Thankfully there are all sorts of medications and they helped immensely. I had a pump that went into my thigh and pumped anti nausea medicine into me continuously. I had to wear it for about two months and finally got to take it out yesterday! I am doing much better and it's all well worth it. We also had quite a scare in the beginning of the pregnancy. My HCG levels were not doubling like they should have and after much blood work and a change in doctors this baby is doing fantastic! We are so thankful. By God's amazing grace this baby hung on and we learned that the only thing to get us through was faith. Sometimes we just have to be reminded of that.

Jeremy should definitely win Dad and Husband of the year. He did an amazing job taking care of us. There were a couple of times where he went to work at 4:30 in the morning so he could come home during the day. He cleaned, he cooked, took care of Weston and was an amazing support. Jeremy we LOVE you!
I felt a little guilty since Weston can now turn on the TV get a DVD out put it in and turn on the DVD player. But in the last two months he has learned most of the letters and the sounds they make. So at least he was learning something. He also started speaking some spanish after watching Dora and Diego for the millionth time.

Pictures

This is what Weston usually does when I tell him I want to take his picture. The kid just won't smile for the camera. I don't feel like we have gotten a good picture of Weston in about a year. I'm worried he is going to look back at pictures someday and think he had a miserable time as a two year old. I decided to think of the time he is the happiest and it's bath time!! So here are some pics from his bath the other night.


















January has been pretty cold and rainy here and we are both going stir crazy! I joined MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) we have had two meetings and I think I am going to really like it. Weston loves going to MOPS church as he calls it and has fun as a little Moppett. We have also started going to Second Baptist after visiting several of the churches around here I think this is where we feel we belong. Jeremy has been working a ton so Weston, Mom, and I all headed to Dallas for the week. We left in the middle of the "Artic Blast" that hit Dallas and was headed to Houston. We waited to leave on Monday and as it turns out the Dallas and the Houston news were just a little dramatic. No big surprise! It did snow while we were there though and it's always fun to see snow. We stayed with Sheila and it was so great to spend time with her and the boys. I miss those boys! I got to go out and eat dinner with all my friends that I miss so much and had a great time! Weston and I also got to go to Frisco for playgroup! He and I have really missed our friends and we had so much fun getting to see them. Overall it was a great trip and I think we are going to head back in March for a friend of Weston's birthday party. Sheila and the boys are coming up here in February and we are looking forward to that!

Christmas

This Christmas was so much fun this year because Weston really got into it! We had our own Christmas here then drove to Midland for Christmas with the Gilliam's. We braved the Christmas Eve service with Weston and Parker and both boys did great. They loved holding the candles and the end of the service and especially liked blowing them out. We would ask Weston whose birthday it was and he would yell out Jesus'! and then he would say it's my birfday too! At least he got the most important birthday right.
















Weston's Christmas Party at School




























I finally broke down and got a blow up snow globe for the front yard. With me so sick in December it was about our only Christmas decoration. Jeremy and Weston did put up a tree, since Weston kept saying he forgot his Christmas tree. I'm not sure whether the snow globe or the Christmas tree was his favorite, he has missed them both.

Update in Pictures

So it's been awhile since my last post, my own mom doesn't even check my blog anymore. I will be better about keeping it updated from here on out. I decided to update some in pictures.

Two Weddings and a High School Reunion

We had a fun fall with two of my best friends getting married. I got to be a bridesmaid in both weddings and they were both so much fun! Congratulations Monica and Buffy, Jay and Todd are two very lucky guys! We also went to my high school reunion. Ashley and I ended up on the Reunion Committee and that was an interesting job. It was fun getting to do it with Ashley but I am glad we have 10 years before the next one! After much drama and a year of planning it all went great! We had a good turn out and it was a lot of fun. Here are some pics from Monica's Wedding and the Reunion.










Buffy, Monica, Emily, Robin at Monica's Wedding








LHS Reunion'96
Staci, Monica, Robin, Emily, Ashley










Buffy, Emily, Ashley, Robin -Reunion

Hanging Out With Hayden-Bo

Hayden came to spend the weekend with us in September. He and Weston had so much fun together. Hayden is such a good kid and a lot of fun to be around. Sheila and I met in Centerville it's half way between Dallas and Houston and an easy trip. On the way back to Katy, Weston was looking at a Thomas the Train book. He kept saying "Hayen look, look at dis" Hayden would look over say "Yes, Weston that's Thomas." He would look at Weston and say "mmm...hmm" It was so funny because it sounded like a much older person talking to a little kid! Whenever Weston would use the potty Hayden said "Good job, you're a big boy now!" Hayden and Weston are almost exactly 9 months apart. Hayden has always done a great job at looking out for Weston. We took the boys to the Houston Aquarium I think the big hit was the Nemo fish and the train ride through the shark tank.

Weston's Words

Two and half year olds are funny! This age can be so challenging and so much fun all with in the same half hour. Weston has been cracking us up lately with the things he comes up with. Jeremy took him outside the other night and he said "Look Daddy the moon turned on!" He picked up an old cell phone 'called' Dado and said "Dado? Dado? I'm talking to you!"
It's still pretty hot in Houston; I put Weston in the car and he said "Mom, I need some air." I'm not quite ready for him to be calling me Mom yet. I still prefer Momma or Mommy! He has also been calling me Robin a lot lately. Jeremy was changing his diaper and he kept saying "I want my Robin, I want Robin!" He'll say "Come on Robin, come on" Today I told him "Weston I am Mommy" and he said "okay Robin." It's kind of like when he was 14 months old and I would say Weston say Momma and he would go "Dada"
Granna sent him his very own email on Halloween, today he told me he needs to check his email!
He will run up to me or Jeremy and say I miss you! He also grabs his pooh bear gives it the biggest hug and says I miss you, I miss you, I miss you. When he was taking a nap today I heard him singing "Jesus love me, strong, Jesus love me I know" then it went into "ABCHIJMNOP, wheels go roun and roun" I think that's how his mind works, constantly thinking of something else to say or do. This kid is also 90 to nothing ALL day long. He will stop come get a hug snuggle for about 15 seconds and take off running again. His only speed is definitely fast forward! When we sing together he says "Mommy my turn sing" sorry Weston Mommy wants to sing too. "No no singing" For the most part he loves to sing and be sang to. Lately he always talks about a bear coming. As in "Mommy there's a bear in our new house" "we need to run!" "Bear comin, Bear comin" sometimes he acts scared of the bear sometimes he laughs about it. No idea why he thinks there is a bear after him. Even in the car he will say "Momma I see dat bear" Every once in awhile it's a shark or a lion coming but most of the time it's a bear. He also is saying things scare him now. Sometimes the bear is scary, or he will say "dat scare me!" "Mommy is that scary?" It's been raining like crazy here and one night we woke up with him and said "that under (thunder) toooo loud! That under scare me!" We brought him to bed with us which meant Pooh Bear, Elmo, Night-Night, and Maymay came along. That doesn't leave much room in our queen size bed! He gets attached to something new everyday and wants to sleep with it. He always sleeps with night-night, may-may, pooh and elmo but lately it's also been an extra crib sheet, a froggie Elizabeth gave him and whatever toy he has just been playing with. I just say whatever it takes to get him to sleep!
At night he loves to pray and joins in. When we leave his room at bedtime he says about three times "I love you Mommy, I love you Daddy" When it's been a rough day that makes it all better.
Favorite phrases:
Mommy make it better
All better!
Wait, wait for me
I'm comin'
Mommy that's funny!
I have fun
PoooperMaaann! (super man)
Let's go Sonic get french fries, chocolate milk, sit outside
I don't like it (he could even be eating ice cream and say this)
That for me? That mine? That yours?
I want Chocate

What you talkin' bout?

We always hear something different about who Weston looks like. Sometimes it's me, sometimes it's Jeremy and most of the time no one can tell. I'd say he's a pretty good mix of us both. But here he looks like Arnold. As in the "What you talkin 'bout Willis?" Arnold from Different Strokes! His facial expressions crack us up! He has been so funny lately with the things he says and comes up with.

Answered prayers and Nemo

A few weeks ago we had Weston's blood work done to check his IgG levels. I had Nana go with us and I don't think she knew what she was getting into! We had to both hold him down and then they had to stick to him twice. For Weston I think holding him down is worse for him than the actual blood draw. We got the results in and it was well worth it! His IgG levels were in the normal range!! Low normal but we'll take it. We are so thankful, it was definitely an answered prayer! His levels will continue to go up and we will check again in a year just to make sure. What a relief it is to know he no longer has an immune disorder. He quit taking his antibiotic the end of June and has only had a few colds since then. Nothing major and nothing that has required antibiotics. He still takes prevacid for reflux and nasonex for his allergies.

I figured out a good way to get pictures of Weston since he never wants to be still long enough to take pictures. In this case I told him I wanted to take a picture of his big Nemo and if he wanted to sit by Nemo he could. This is the big huge Nemo that Jeremy won and Nemo does all but sleep with Weston! He had just woken up and I love the sweet little sleepy look he has. He got the Pooh Bear slippers from his little girlfriend's birthday party last year and still loves to wear them! We went to my parents house last night for dinner and he said "Go to Nana and Dado's wear pooh slippus (slippers).

Fun weekend

This would be a good story about the fish that got away.

When Sheila, Eric, and the boys came in town we fit a lot of stuff into one weekend. Weston has really missed his cousins and we had a great time with them here.





All the boys are really into pirates right now, so if you don't have a pirate telescope (I guess that's what you would call it) a roll of saran wrap works just as good! Hayden was running around looking through a roll of shelf liner!

Finally in Katy!

Pictures from our first month in Katy.

Summer Pics

A few of things we did this summer. We went swimming, had bubble fights, moved, went to baseball games, and lots of trips to visit Daddy in Houston.

Summer Wrap Up

***WARNING*** Long post!
This summer has gone by so fast and so much has happened. Here is a brief (well not that brief) wrap up and summer pictures. We spent the 4th of July at Eric's parents lake house. Weston and I spent lots of time in Houston to visit Jeremy. Since he lived with my parents it worked out good to see them and him! Weston and I stayed with Sheila for a week before we officially moved to Houston. We had a blast at Hayden's 3rd birthday party and enjoyed spending the week with them. I even got the playgroup bunch to meet me for one last playgroup that Weston and I could be at. We had the 2nd annual Peterson Reunion at Meme's house the last weekend of July.
We met Meme's fiance for the first time and decided he's a pretty good guy and he makes her very happy, which makes us happy! My cousin JJ and his wife drove in from Phoenix so we decided our Houston trek wasn't so bad.
Weston completely quit sucking on his 3 fingers sometime in August which meant many restless nights for all of us. I guess cramming three fingers in his mouth finally proved uncomfortable. I really wondered if it would be a bad thing to get your 2 year old hooked on a paci (we really needed the sleep!) but he wasn't interested. I don't know if I would have gone through with it. . .
We learned 2 year old's don't adapt to change very well and had an interesting and challenging time with Weston.
We lived with Mom and Dad a week and finally got in the new house August 4th! After a few weeks of new construction crazies (to put it mildly) we are really enjoying the new house. There are pools, splash parks, and playgrounds so always something to do. I spent a week brown bagging the walls in Weston's room and am very pleased with how it turned out. I wasn't sure about half way into it and asked Jeremy if I should rip it down and just paint it. He said do what you think you need to do. Not exactly the answer I was looking for. I had everyone from my parents to our builder look at we all decided it's pretty neat looking. Even Jeremy has come around and now he likes it. It was very easy but ridiculously time consuming. Sheila, Eric, Hunter and Hayden came to see us they had to sleep with boxes in their room ( I thought if I left them they might unpack them. . . didn't happen! he he). We went to the Kemah boardwalk, ate at the aquarium , rode the train and Jeremy won the biggest blow up Nemo you have ever seen. We all piled in the Sheila's suburban and it made a tight fit coming back home with the huge Nemo. Weston insisted on holding it and wouldn't let anyone touch it. That was a fun car ride home. We also went to Lupe's Tortilla's with them. Sheila is the one who told us we need to try it out and I think it's now our favorite place. There is a HUGE sandlot out front with lots of toys so the kids can play while you wait for a seat. The food's not bad either! We have now been there the last 3 Friday's! We went to On The Border in Frisco every Friday night so guess we are starting another tradition. Jeremy's Mom and Dad came in last weekend and brought up the pool table. Jeremy helped pay for this pool table while he was in high school and has wanted it since we've been married. That was his only request when we were looking for a house, that it have a game room big enough for his pool table. The Gilliam's graciously paid to have it broken down and put back up and hauled it in a u-haul from Midland to Katy. Gary had an unfortunate accident with the u-haul door and ended up at Katy Urgent Care Center most of Saturday for a tetanus shot and some surgical tape. We went to the pool, the playground, Lupe's, Bolli Brother's and even fit in some games of pool during the weekend. Weston loves to roll the balls on the pool table. He even woke up in the middle of the night and all we hear is "i wanna play balls!"
Weston started preschool for the first time and I think he's is going to enjoy it. The mornings are pretty rough when I drop him off. Usually both of us are in tears. I hope he gets to where the drop off isn't so hard on him. He tells me he likes it and that he wants to go back. I always call about 45 minutes after I drop him off and he is always very happy. When Jeremy asks him about school he says, "I pay outside, I pay basketball, and Mommy come back" At least he's got the important stuff down!
That pretty much wraps up our summer.

Why packing is hard with a two year old!

A lot has happened in the Gilliam household the last month. Jeremy accepted a job offer in Houston, we found a house in Katy, we put this one the market, got a contract after nine days, and Jeremy starts on Monday. We definitely can see the Lord's hand in this and things have really gone very smoothly. We got our house ready to put on the market in four days, that may be more than enough time for most people but for us . . . we didn't sleep much in those four days. We had to clean out all of the closets because I am of the mind frame that if you can't see it don't worry about it. Our realtor asked me if it was possible for one person to wear all of these clothes when he looked in our closet. This was after Jeremy and I spent several hours making in presentable. Thank goodness I married a man that likes to organize because I can't stand it. Give me a broom, a mop, a paint brush, a toilet bowl brush, whatever, just don't make me organize something. So Jeremy did most of the work while I just wandered around in circles not sure of what to do. But by the Grace of God we got it done and a nice couple wants to buy our house! I think the Lord knows me well because I was getting frustrated looking at houses in Katy (even though Mom warned me not to) then we find one we both love and it's currently being constructed. I was already tired of having the house on the market (yes it had only been a week) then we get an offer. We are extremely thankful this has gone so smoothly. I have been pretty upset that Jeremy will leave for Houston before Weston and I can get there and at least now I have a date and it's only a month away! I have a feeling we will get to know highway 45 between Dallas and Houston pretty well by the time July 20 rolls around. We are really looking forward to the new opportunities that wait for us in Katy and are very excited about our new house!!
Back to the picture of Weston - I was clearing clothes out of the closet (have I mentioned our new closet in twice the size of the one we have now? Not sure who is more excited me or Jeremy) and had filled this crate up with clothes that I don't need right now. Jeremy and I sat down for a break and started to watch the Mavericks game. Here comes Weston pulling the now empty crate into the family room and sits in it to watch the game. At this point we just laugh what else can you do?

Mother's Day

I know it's late posting about Mother's Day but we got some cute pictures and I wanted to post them. We had a wedding in Houston over Mother's Day and spent the weekend with Mom and Dad. My parents live across the street from a huge waterfall and Weston loved it! He was constantly asking to go see the waterfall and usually their was someone willing to take him. One because it's really neat to go see and Nana and Dado had fun taking him over there and two because it was a constant "I go see waarer fall, I go see waarer fall, I go see waarer fall. . . again and again
and again. This kid has persistence!
Jeremy went all over Dallas looking for a Mother's Day shirt for Weston to wear. He found this one Gap and it says Rock on Mom, I loved it! I am so thankful to be a mom to Weston and to have such a wonderful Mother. We are very blessed!

A little bit onery, a lot of bit precious

I have tons of pictures to post and lots of stories to tell. Hopefully tonight I can update more. Can't believe it's been a month since my last post! We have been very busy at the Gilliam household!!