Nora's birth from an Aunt's perspective

After 33 1/2 hours of labor, much pain, and an epidural that failed 1 hour before the kid was born, Nora Grace Whitehead was born on 5/15/10 at 11:58 pm. Kristi will tell you that giving birth to a baby "au-naturale" was NOT the funnest thing she's ever done in her entire life.

As someone who was with her all during the two days that encompassed this wonderful event, I can say that Kristi is now my hero. She went 31 hours without any pain medication at all. Whenever a contraction would hit, you couldn't even tell. She was a trooper and that particular word doesn't even begin to describe her. There was never any complaint or worry, she was simply wonderful. She honestly made pregnancy look easy. Now, I would guarantee that she would beg to differ once that last hour hit. In fact, when we walked into the room after the birth, she announced that this would be the ONE grandchild that mom was getting. But with what I saw, she was just wonderful.

My favorite event of the entire pregancy that I'm allowed to tell ( :) ) was this - As soon as they got into the room on Friday morning, Daniel wrote "Welcome Nora!" on the whiteboard on the wall. After about 31 hours of labor when she was finally given morphine for the pain, we walked into her room to check on her. At that point, Kristi, completely drugged, pointed to her belly and said, "Nora is no longer welcome in HERE!" :)







Isn't she absolutely beautiful? I love her so much already!
Love,
B

Yumm...Litter!

So right now, Grey is resting his head on my shoulder, begging me to tell you all about little Franklin.

The topic of discussion? This little guy:



Little Franklin is a five week old gray kitten with black stripes down his back. Grey has claimed him as one of our two that we're getting from the litter. Well, Franklin accomplished something major today. Before today, going to the bathroom for little Franklin consisted of pooing on the floor and then having Momma cat lick his butt to clean it. So what might this great accomplishment be?

Little Franklin officially used the litter box! And then he ate some of the litter... :)

Amazed.

These days, I am constantly amazed - constantly amazed at how good my God is to me.

Some days, I feel like the pressure to be overly consumed by things or to become a worry wart is so strong, that it's hard not to fall to the pressure. People keep asking me if I'm stressed with the wedding planning, if not having a job is killing me, if I'm going psycho trying to study for my comprehensive exam on Wednesday...etc.

Well back off. :)

I won't lie. I'm a little stressed about things, but they're not consuming me like people are expecting them to do.

Proverbs 16:9 says this. "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps."
Psalm 94:19 - When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul.
Isaiah 40:28-29 - "Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.

and finally,

2 Corinthians 12:9 - "But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

Amen. I have such a comfort knowing that me in all my human sinfulness, can not screw up God's plan for myself. Even if I fail my exam, screw up the wedding, and don't get a job, Christ will be made stronger through my weaknesses. So am I consumed by worry? Nope. Am I overwhelmed with everything that's going on? Nope. I'm relishing in the fact that the Lord has a plan for me and that He is sovereign and in control. His grace is sufficient for me. What comfort and peace is brought when I dwell on that!

-B

Happy Mother's Day!

Top 10 reasons why I love my momma:

1) She out cooks/bakes Martha Stewart
2) She gave me two wonderful sisters that I love and adore
3) She used to make all of our Halloween costumes (ladybugs, clowns, mermaids...etc)
4) There is not a conversation we have that she doesn't tell me that she loves me
5) She taught me how to sew, cook, clean, and hopefully be a good wife one day
6) She is still married to and in love with my dad
7) She used to do my hair every morning and pack my lunch for school
8) In high school, she hosted all of my state breakfasts, first non-annual Chinese Christmas party, and what not. She and my dad were quite selfless in what they gave my friends and me.
9) She's a hero to others - As a nurse for over 30 years, she has spent most of her life sacrificing her own wants and needs to help others.
10)She's kind of like Jesus...she knows all my faults and yet she still loves me unconditionally :)

Love you mom! Happy Mother's Day!
-B

A New Invention

Grey and I went to Grace's soccer game on Monday night and his father, mother, and nanny accompanied us. It rained cats and dogs during the entire first half (40 minutes of playing time) which Grey's nanny proclaimed to be, "Just a warm summer shower."

At one point, she looked at me and holding something in her hand, she said: "Becky, have you seen this new invention? It's paper towels on a roll! And the neatest thing is that you can tear them in half sheets OR whole sheets. Isn't this great?"

:) Gotta love her. So here's to our new invention, paper towels!

mom speaks:

Our little Becca is a very funny girl! Keeping the house temp at 78 is the right thing to do to save resources and energy and inheritance for her future. In other words sweat baby sweat! Love you darling!!!

Happy May!

I like May because:
1) NORA IS BORN!
2) Baseball really gets going (GO BRAVES!)
3) I get my kitty!
4) Contracts go out for school...bring it on. I'm gonna make me a workin woman.
5) Everything gets greener
6) It's officially summer!
7) After May 12th, I'll have completed (not necessarily passed, but completed) my comp exam for my master's
8) Ice cream tastes sweeter
9) I get to stay at my parents house during May and they've decided to keep the air at 78 degrees, so I never stop sweating while I'm here.
10) It's Relay for Life month in Lexington! Go Women - fight that cancer!
11) Wedding planning officially begins
12) Kait and Kent celebrate their one year anniversary!

YAY! Happy May!
-B