BWYP

me: Hello, my name is Brandi.
you: Hello Brandi.
me: I have been living in Texas for 4.5 years. I have been a legal resident for almost 2 years. I am the parent of 2 children who were born Texans.
you: Welcome Brandi.
me: Thank you, it's taken me a long time to admit it to myself, but I can now, and I'm ready to grow now.

So as with many other parts of my life, I feel like I need a support group sometimes to get through these things. I need words of wisdom and support and usually just a swift kick to the rear to get me in line. But I'm tired of living a double life. So that's why I'm here today. I love Arkansas. I miss it. I miss so many people there. Family, friends, the Razorbacks, restaurants, mountains, so many things that just aren't the same as they are down here. And now as people complain about the snow they are getting in Arkansas it just makes me want to thump them in the head. I will always, always be an Arkansan. But, there's more to me now.

I like Texas too. Before my family and friends freak out on me, let me clarify. I still can't stand UT and their burnt orange obnoxiousness. And I don't like that there aren't really seasons per se. But I do like my life as it is now. And a big part of that is because of where I am.

For a long time I lived in denial. We were foreign missionaries in Texas just trying to get our edumacation and get back to our roots. After we were done with that we were willing to engage in a little experiment where we start a family, I work full time and Stanton works more than full time to start a company. Still on the ready to go back to AR at the drop of a dime, hoping that's where God was getting us back to. But now, there's no denying it and I'm actually embracing it. My family is living in Texas. My children are Texans. And I'm not going to apologize for it any more.

God has blessed us beyond what we could hope for. And as my dear friend so eloquently put it, but being apologetic and denying what was going on for us, we were diminishing God's glory and grace in our lives. And I'm done. A while back I was able to say that I really enjoyed a lot about our lives, I just wanted Waco to be transplanted about 6.5 hours to the northeast. While I would still love for that to happen, it's really not very likely. So I'm just going to fully and completely embrace my life here. Yes, I live in Waco, TX. Yes, my children are Texans. Yes, I miss out on a lot of family things. Yes, I like the attention of being the event when we do make trips back home. Yes, I am happy.

I have a great network of friends. I have a part time job that I love. I have the ability to be at home 5 days a week with my kids. Stanton is doing a job that he loves and finds great value in. We are in a good place for our kids to grow. Our kids are healthy and happy. And quite frankly if I don't change my attitude soon, my kids might grow up thinking they are second class citizens because of where they were born. While I do want them to know how much we love AR, what it means to us, and all the great things about it. I've got to stop being so reactive to the few Texans I know who think they are somehow privileged because they were born here. It should just be a non-issue. There are some pretty neat things Texas has to offer. And we need to take some time to enjoy them.

On that note, part of this shift was due to the realization that we can no longer escape back to AR whenever we want. Stanton's job keeps him BUSY. He is allotted a good number of vacation days, but by the time you take some time for Christmas vacation, a summer vacation, a spring trip and a fall trip, there's not many days left. We no longer have the luxury of academic schedules. And we also want the kids to have more experiences than just traveling to and from Arkansas once a month (though we're not sure how this balances with how much we value their time spent with family). We want to go to zoos, maybe some camping, do short day trips when we can. Unfortunately, this means we won't see our families as much. But hopefully they'll be able to make some extra special time for us when we do come. And maybe start making even more trips down here.

It's a hard shift for me to make. But I'm not going to apologize any more for living in Texas. We truly believe that we're here because of God's grace and provision. And as another blogger put it, it's time for me to BWYP - Bloom Where You're Planted.

p.s. Speaking of being unapologetic, my background will remain Christmas-y until my house is no longer decorated. I set the minimum amount of time based on bowl games. Christmas lights and tree stay up and on through bowl season. Stanton is out of town this weekend, so I'm guessing you may see a switch around the 20th or so. :)

Dinner Theatre

Filling in the blanks

So I asked Stanton to do Jacob's 8 month update and he did a marvelous job on telling what he did over the last month, but I felt it was somewhat lacking in some of the details. So here's the skinny.

The title: "Jacob-E" is Chaselyn's term of endearment toward her little brother. And so it's become our nickname for the little man too. Other versions inspired by our sweet girl include "Jacob-E-O" and "Jacoboy" and "Jacoboy-E-O". (I'll have to do another post to update Chaselyn's ever expanding cuteness). My personal nickname is Buddy Bear as in "Hey there Buddy Bear" a la Tigger pouncing Winnie the Pooh.

The food: Jacob is eating the stage 2 foods and handling them quite nicely. He generally has 4 oz. of cereal and some fruit for breakfast around 9:00. Lunch is around 2:00 and consists ofa jar of some meal type concoction such as chicken noodle, turkey and rice, etc. along with half a jar of veggies (As Stanton mentioned, we have nixed the sweet potatoes. He likes them, but they seem to be to blame for many fussy days.). Dinner is a little more flexible. Sometimes he eats his meal around 6 and sometimes not until around 8. For dinner he eats the leftover fruit from breakfast, the leftover veggies from lunch, 2 oz. of cereal and either a jar of meat or another meal jar. I have great ambitions to become less dependent on Gerber for Jacob's food, but for now, it's what I can manage. He also takes about four or five 4 oz. bottles throughout the day.

The sleeping: Jacob goes to bed around 9:00. He has been waking up regularly around 3am for a little snack, then up again at around 6. At this point he can either wake up and get going for the day or snuggle back into bed and snooze until around 8. We are hoping to have him out of our room (finally) by the end of the week. That will be our opportunity to try some of the tough love to get him to sleep through the night. He was supposed to be out by the 6 month mark, but some redecorating issues are just now being addressed. He has been taking pretty good naps in the mid-morning and late afternoon. We're just getting it worked out after the crazy Jacob that was taking over my sweet boy for about 2 months.

The tricks: Jacob is mobile. He can roll in any direction and scoots a little to get toys that are just out of his reach. He babbles and coos and makes raspberries to show excitement. The newest trick is sitting up for nice long periods of time.
And since we got the fussiness worked out, he's able to play more contently. He also likes to make noises by rubbing his arm across his mouth while he babbles. It's cute I'll try to get some video.

As you can tell both Mommy and Daddy are very happy to have their little man back to normal. Who knew something with sweet in the name could cause so much sadness?!

Jacob,

You are a growing little man. We are so happy to hear your coos and laughs. We are so relieved that you are back to being the joy that we knew you always were. And above all, we're happy that you aren't uncomfortable anymore. Your smile is amazing. And we love to see your curiosity as you roll and scoot your way around to get into all kinds of trouble. We know that in a few short months you'll probably be a bit more curious than we're ready for, but we'll try to let you be as free as we can. Just take it easy on us. We love you so much and were reminded during our Christmas break of how many other people there are out there who love you too. You are blessed with a great network of friends and family who want only the best for you. Keep growing and learning, we're all watching.

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

Jacob-E

Stanton here to tell you about our 8 month old little guy.

He started out the month completely crazy, which is how he has spent the majority of his awake time. Just look at that mad look in his eyes.


This month he had his first Christmas season which means pictures in front of his first Christmas tree. He enjoyed it most when he wasn't being smished by his sister.



He enjoyed mommy's birthday and a special visit from friends.



He saw Christmas lights and his very first Razorback basketball game.



He had his first Christmas and visit from Santa at the same time he was showing off his new floor skills.



And, he finally joined Mommy's Tigger collection.

Jacob has ended his eighth month crazy happy. Brandi seems to have solved the great mystery of why he was constantly fussy and overly needy. The culprit? Sweet potatoes. There is still some experimentation left, but he is an amazingly happy little boy now. Now he has time to play in his seats and on the floor with his toys, and in the last two days seems to be catching up on his previously missed learning time. It's very exciting and I'm very happy for him to be feeling better.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

We had an awesome kick-off to our holiday season. Finishing finals and working the last few days of the year nearly did us in, but we made it and we were handsomely rewarded. We kicked off the holiday with Christmas on 5th street. An annual production by Baylor that includes some great concerts, Santa, a live nativity, treats, a big tree, and Chaselyn's favorite, a petting zoo.


I wanted her to really feel how thick the sheeps' wool was, so I showed her how to make a claw with her hands so her fingers would really get down into the warm sheep fur. So she did it and after she was done she said "I tickle sheep!" and went in for another turn. It was so hilarious. Santa on the other hand was not a hit. Jacob was intrigued, but Chaselyn would have nothing to do with the nice Claus couple.
Christmas on 5th was actually pre-holiday vacation time. Our official holiday break was started when this amazing present arrived in Waco.
Yep, that's MA in the flesh. Back in TX. And I was one of the lucky ones who got to enjoy her radiant smile for a few days as she and her little tot made the rounds on their trip back from Indy. And to top it all off, the Mister showed up on our doorstep a couple days later. While she was in town, we visited some favorites that she had missed since the move in May. But most exciting was being able to take her sweet little girl to HEB. I have never seen anyone so excited to visit a grocery store. (Well, my Dad does enjoy some grocery store touring, but doesn't have quite the excitement exuded by a 7 year old girl.) We also made a late night trip to do some Christmas shopping while Stanton stayed home with the kids. And we were able to top it all off with a lovely dinner with one of our favorite mentors. But the bestest bestest parts were moments like these





Just chilling out around the house was so fantastic. Sure we exchanged a few little treats for Christmas and tried to get as much as we could for as long as they were here, but it just wasn't enough. I'm not sure if it could ever be enough. I already miss the whole sweet family. I can't wait to see them again. But for now my heart is full. And we have some great times with family to look forward to over the Christmas break, not to mention solidified trip planned for the Greer's to invade Indy in March. So I'm managing, with only what I consider to be a minimal number of tears.
Don't we make a fantastic looking group?

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope your Christmas is as fantastic as mine is shaping up to be.

Jacob starts showing his Jacob-ness - the 7th month report

At Jacob's 6 month check-up (which wasn't until November 12) I was happy to report he was reaching all the milestones as usual. He would grab toys, he was starting to sit for a few seconds unassisted, and he was rolling. Well we really thought he was. He had been rolling from his back to his belly for a long time, but we had only see the end result of a belly to back roll. We would leave him on the floor and he would be in places he only could have gotten to by rolling completely over. And as of his 7th month birthday on Thursday, the same was true. Fortunately, last night, we finally actually saw it. He was being kind of sneaky, just like a certain other Jacob had been.


Jacob is also showing that he's going to do things on terms that seem illogical to those looking on. Just before his 6 month birthday, he was rebelling. It started by biting while nursing. It continued with demanding to be held in a certain way. And soon into the month of December he was essentially out right refusing nursing and bottles. He scarfed down the real food though. He loved cereals and veggies. But a boy needs his milk. So throughout the past month we've been having kind of a stand off. I cut him back from 3 cereal/ veggie meals per day down to 2 to encourage him to drink more milk. In response he refused to nurse and now drinks only formula when he does take a bottle.

In addition to this food battle (or perhaps in response to it) his daily napping has been out of whack which generally makes it hard for him to be happy. So a lot of time has been spent holding him and walking with him and just generally trying to entertain him. It has been a hard month for both of us.

But amidst all the crying and fussing, there were always the most amazing smiles just when I thought I couldn't take it any more. So this month has been a rough one, but we're working it out. And all in all, he's doing great.

Jacob,

You are so loved and so adored. And though we've hit a few rough patches, it only proves how deeply you are loved. There were times when Mommy thought she was the worst. Hearing your sad little cries and not knowing how to fix your problem was simply heart-breaking. It drove us to the edge. But more than wanting reprieve for ourselves, we wanted calmness and serenity for you.

We truly believe that your name was given to us by God. And as we studied Jacob from the Bible, it seemed we would have our hands full with our little Jacob. But we also knew and continue to believe that although Jacob was somewhat troublesome in his youth, as he matured he became a great servant of the Lord. And that is worth any minor troubles you may have in the near future.

For now Jacob, we pray that you will be comforted from pain and that you will grow healthy and strong. We pray that we will know how to share our love with you and that you will know the love of God. We pray that we can understand your needs and help you.

Chaselyn's Second Year.

A collection of some of my favorites from the past year.