Birthday Cake

My family (minus my sister Angie and her family) celebrated my birthday this past Friday night with a birthday dinner and cake at Mom's & Dad's. Shelby grilled pork chops, and we had baked potatoes, salad & french bread...it was JUST what I wanted!

One of Mom's signature cakes is her famous layered strawberry cake. We ALL love it. My nieces Mary Katherine & Caroline wanted to help blow out the candles...
My dad, or Paw Paw, is famous for feeding sweets to the grandkids. Sometimes he tries to sneak it and then sometimes he just doesn't seem to care if momma is watching or not! I should have known that when Dad finished his meal before everyone else and got Georgia out of the booster seat that cake would be soon to follow...I took these pictures in progress of Georgia getting her first bite of Grandma's strawberry cake.

Getting the first tiny bite...I think she's licking her lips!
Grabbing the spoon to get the cake in her mouth...
Paw Paw taking a bite himself, instead of giving it to her...her mouth was watering BIG TIME!
And, mean ol' Momma taking her from Paw Paw after she had had several bites...she was so mad she started crying! She got over it soon though, but I think her face is PRICELESS! Poor baby!
It looks like the cake will be around for generations to come. I guess I know what cake Georgia will have for her 1st birthday!

Happy 34th Birthday To Me!

Today is my 34th birthday...my first birthday as a mom, my first birthday pregnant...it's been a great day! I am so blessed. The best gift I received this year, hands down, by far, without a doubt is sweet Georgia Claire.

Tired and clean baby ready for bed early last night...
I had to take a picture of one of the things my sister Kathy made me...she cross-stitched this...notice the question mark under the baby...LOVE IT!
Tired momma and tired Georgia rocking before bed...my absolute favorite thing to do with her! Thank you Lord, once again, for the gift of LIFE that Julia gave Georgia and the gift of LOVE she gave Shelby and me. We are humbled by your mercy and love.

First of all I want to apologize to all of our out-of-town family and friends who check the blog regularly...as you can see it's been 10 days since I've blogged...SO SORRY! I've been having morning sickness, or "all-day sickness" as I like to call it. Just trying to stay caught up on housework and laundry and my tutoring after school is about all I can handle these days. I'm beginning my 11th week so I hope and pray it will be over soon and I will get my energy back. Today has been a good day. I've learned that I just can't let my stomach get empty...must eat a handful of pretzels or something every 30 minutes to an hour during the day and eat a few saltine crackers and flat Sprite before I get out of bed in the morning! Sounds yummy, huh?! I have to give a "shout out" to my wonderful hubby. Shelby has been my rock...taking care of Georgia and me. I am so blessed to have such a caring and compassionate husband. We are both ready to get past this part so we can really start enjoying this pregnancy! We have a to-do list of things that we want to do to our home before Baby #2 arrives. I can't wait to get started, yet I have no desire to right now! Georgia continues to be the best baby on the planet! She is so much fun these days...babbling, learning to eat finger foods, laughing, playing. She has become "grabby" as Shelby & I call it...reaching for anything and everything she can put in her mouth! She loves to read books and to be "scared" by her puppy toy. We hide him and then pop him out from behind a pillow or chair or box and she just cackles...it's SO FUNNY!

Here she is this morning waiting on Momma and Daddy to finish packing her bag so that we could go to church. And oh is she a hit at church--everyone loves our little Georgia Claire! She has an extended family that loves her so much!

Happy Daddy and Georgia before we head out the door for church. Shelby loves his little girl more than words can say. His boss's wife gave us the book, Just In Case You Ever Wonder, by Max Lucado and it is just the sweetest book and there ever was. We were all hanging out in the living room yesterday when Shelby decided to read it to Georgia. I think he made it to about page 3 or 4, closed it suddenly, and in a weepy voice said "I can't read this book!" We both started crying and talking about how precious Georgia is and how grateful we are to have her in our lives! Julia, and her courageous decision, was such an incredible answer to prayer.

Momma & Georgia heading out to church...I look a bit pale in this picture! I think I've lost about 8 lbs now...ready to gain it back...I know it won't be long!
One of Georgia's favorite past times...hanging out with her Daddy playing with toys. Is this child laid back or what?! And another favorite...her crib aquarium that plays classical music and moves with fish and turtles. We received this as a gift and it has been on her crib since she was born, but it's like she has just really started paying attention to it. She just smiles and talks to it...such a sweetie!

And Baby Makes FOUR!

Yes, that's right folks, Georgia's going to be a BIG SIS! Are we adopting another baby? Nope, not this one anyway. As of now I am officially 9 weeks PREGNANT! After 3 rounds of IUI and two rounds of InVitro Fertilization with no success, Shelby and I thought my chances of getting pregnant were slim to none. I was really OK with it, thinking that God had plans for us to grow our family through adoption only. In fact, Shelby and I were already talking about our next adoption. BUT, now we know that God had other plans in mind for our little family! "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." -Isaiah 55:8-9 I love those verses because it just reminds me that God is SO BIG and He always has something better planned...better than we could have ever imagined!

So, we've done the math, and Georgia and her little brother or sister will be 14 1/2 months apart! Two baby beds, two car seats, etc. etc. It really just makes us laugh. I told Shelby when I was ironing the letters on Georgia's onesie that there was something wrong with putting "BIG SIS" on a 6-12 month onesie! Ha! The picture above was taken the night we told our parents. It took everyone a while to figure out what it meant and then the crying and laughing and cheering began! My sweet dad couldn't even talk about it without getting choked up. How awesome that we will get the chance to experience both...adoption AND pregnancy! God is AWESOME and we are in AWE of His timing.

What a HAPPY 7 Months!

Yesterday, January 17th, Georgia was 7 months old! What a HAPPY 7 months it has been for all three of us! I had to get some new pictures of her today...look at that "drooley" smile!

One word for you...LEGS!
Precious baby!
1 Peter 1:8 "You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him, you trust him; and even now you are happy with a glorious, inexpressible JOY." We trusted our Lord with the adoption of Georgia Claire and we are FILLED with a JOY that is hard to express!

Gotcha Day!

The day we've all been waiting for came last Wednesday, January 6, 2009. Georgia Claire officially became a Braman and our hearts are full of joy! It was "Gotcha Day" for little miss Georgia and we were so happy to share the day with my parents, Shelby's parents, and his sister Heather. We are so incredibly thankful and blessed to have Georgia as part of our forever family! She is truly an angel and we love her more and more as each day passes.

I just have to brag a little about what a great baby she really is...she started sleeping through the night at 6 weeks and now sleeps 11-12 hours straight! She wakes up so happy, she goes down for her naps easily, she loves to play, she loves to read books, she loves to cuddle, and is just plain easy! We are blessed! Everyone tells me it's good that our first is this easy so we think all babies are this easy and we will want to have more. Well, we are not naive and we realize that not all babies are this easy. However, we do want more babies regardless of how easy they come! =)

When we arrived (bright and early) that morning we were met at the door with metal detectors and security officers that told us cameras were NOT allowed in the building because juveniles are on trial...WHAT?! Needless to say I almost cried, but soon found out that a member of the Dallas County Sheriff's Department would escort me back downstairs to retrieve my camera from security before our hearing. Apparently, adoptions are different and families WANT to remember the day! You think?!

This is the outside of the building...

The crew (minus Shelby) waiting...
SO excited and SO ready to get the show on the road!
Because of all of the hoopla about the camera Heather was a bit nervous to take too many photographs in the courtroom...I don't say I blame her. They were pretty hard-nosed in Dallas County! Here we are (with our lawyer Dave), tears are being shed...such an awesome feeling and privilege to know that this baby girl is ours!
Georgia wasn't cooperating and we didn't want to press our luck with more than one photo! =)
Georgia was SO sleepy...we didn't let her get her normal 11-12 hours of sleep! She was fading fast in this picture...
In her comfy new car seat, with her favorite blanket, headed home!
Thank you Lord for this beautiful day that you have given to us! We will REJOICE and be GLAD in it!

Crazy New Year's Eve

This past Tuesday I woke up as I usually do, got Georgia and played a little bit and then went to make some coffee. When I was pouring a cup, however, I suddenly felt sick to my stomach. To make a long story short, Shelby had to come home at lunch to take care of Georgia, my parents had to take her to their house the next day, and I am just now starting to feel better. I had a nasty stomach bug and I am so glad that it is GONE! I don't think I have been that sick since college, or maybe even high school! YUCK! All that to say, I was still feeling weak last night so we had a very low key New Year's Eve at home, just us three. Honestly though, I wouldn't have it any other way!

Shelby and I were talking about New Year's Eve 1999. We had only been married about 7 months and were so excited about our future. Wow! What a difference 10 years makes!

Georgia has now cut her two bottom teeth and is feeling MUCH better. She was SO happy at our "party"!

She has this Baby Einstein play station thing that Shelby and I have nicknamed the "Cirque de Soleil" because it is huge and crazy, but she loves it! These three wheels in front of her in the picture below spin and she has become quite aggressive with it! She will lean forward and with her left hand spin the green one as fast as she can...she always falls back and laughs at herself! It is HILARIOUS! This picture was taken right after her funny move...
As you can tell by my picture, the "bug" I had took a LOT out of me. I always tell Shelby it's times like these that I know he truly loves me! =)
Playing with Daddy...
Cozy 3 by the fire...
"He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God." Psalm 40:3

"Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done marvelous things." Psalm 98:1

"Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." Lamentations 3:22-23

Thank you, Lord for your faithfulness and the marvelous thing you have done by placing Georgia Claire in our life! You have truly put a new song in our mouths and in our hearts. 2009 was a GREAT year, after many years of heartache. We look forward to the new things in store for us in 2010!