Brody's BIRTHday!

mama & Lindsay

There's LOTS of love in this picture...Daddy, Mama, my sisters, niece & brother-in-law, just minutes before we meet baby Brody.

Rylee entertaining us, snapping pics

On October 9, 2014, I was totally honored and humbled as I witness the birth of my nephew.  My sister's 2nd baby, Brody was born at 9:04am.  I was also honored to be present during her 1st born, Rylee's birth.  It just tickled me down to my soul to see these angels be born.  Brody's BIRTHday was full of unexpected surprises.  After being induced all night, Brody flipped, coming out feet 1st...that was the cause of her c/s, but in hindsight it was nothing but God intervening...He always knows best.  There were some things that were discovered that could've caused major complications....however Lindsay delivered a healthy baby boy at 9:04am.  His weight and length was exactly the same as his big sister!!! 

7 pounds 15 ounces and 21.5 inches long.

Lindsay took great care of my Lindsay.  She is just one of the precious friends that I miss seeing!
If your looking for adorable camera straps...Check out Lindsay's Etsy's store!

I love our family and I love that it is growing and expanding.  Yes the noise & chaos is also expanding...but so is my heart and all the love that's woven our family together makes this life so much more enjoyable! I see our children creating relationships that they will always cherish.  As close and I am with my sisters, we are together as often as our busy life allows us to be.  Which means our children are always together as well.  Right now our girls can't help but be best friends.  And we love it that way!  I know this sweet little boy will just fall right in with them.  

Welcome to this crazy world, little man.  

We will hold you close to our family and love you forever & ever!

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Las Vegas!!

I would love to say that we went to Vegas for Jacob's 30th birthday, but truth is he had to go for business meetings and I tagged along for the fun! We still celebrated his birthday there. Every second that he wasn't in meetings, we were enjoying Vegas!  When he was in meetings, I was hanging out by the pool at the Mirage, where we were staying.  It was beautiful!  I must say....Alabama has hot summers, but Nevada has hot summers too! Everyone kept saying that with the decreased humidity there that it wouldn't feel as hot, but with temperatures over 100* everyday...it didn't matter...it was HOT!

Staying on the strip was so much fun.  Everything was at our fingertips.  We walked the strip every  night.  Going into almost each casino, giving them a little of our hard earned cash.  We gambled a little and lost every dime.  We mostly played the 25 cent slots and 3 card poker.  I can see how people get addicted to gambling.  It can be fun...but it really hurt my feelings to lose our money and never hit it big.  We didn't get carried away and lose too much.

 While I really did enjoy every minute of our little get away, this evening was my favorite of the entire trip....

We ate dinner at Top of the World restaurant, which is more than 800 feet in the sky. It had breathtaking views and the food was delicious.  We watched the sunset as we slowly revolved in the sky, getting a full 360 view of all that Las Vegas had to offer.  Even though it was a splurge, it made for a very romantic dinner and wonderful evening.

After that amazing dinner, we hit up Fremont Street which was different than the strip.  Jacob and I thought it was super fun and we stayed until the early morning hours.

I really enjoyed The Golden Nugget casino, I thought it was a very classy and beautiful casino.  However I wasn't able to get rich quick while we were there.

We stayed at the beautiful Mirage

We went one day to the Hoover Dam.

 Of course we walked the strip quite a bit...

And we rode the roller coaster at New York New York

watched the gorgeous water show at the Bellagio

This is just too funny to not share...conversation between me and my sisters.  They keep me rolling!

Random act of kindness: Jacob & I had seats on the last row on our connecting flight (Dallas to Bham), which means that then engine would've covered our window. It was ok-at least we had seats together. Before boarding, a flight attendant got our boarding pass, we didn't know what she was doing with them. After about 10 minutes she came back with 1st class/priority tickets, turned around & walked away, never saying a word! We still don't know why she switched our seats on the full plane or why she chose us. But we thanked her! We plan to pay the random act of kindness forward

I was so excited. Drinking my diet coke from a REAL glass, eating my snack mix and spreading out in the roomy seats....Jacob slept.

We had a blast in Vegas!  I'm happy as long as I'm with him!

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the prep work is over.

When Dr Sawyer suggested last fall that I become a lactation consultant for her pediatric clinic, I liked the idea.  I had 9 years experience working with breastfeeding mothers, nursed my 2 children & thought that breastfeeding IS the best form of nutrition for baby & has many health benefits for mom as well.

Little did I know how intense the journey would be. I wrote about it in March. It's easy to say that you know a little about breastfeeding, but being an IBCLC (International Board Certified Lactation Consultant) is a much more intense, in-depth expert in lactation and breastfeeding.  I have spent the last 9 months preparing for this international board exam.  I have been blessed to share this journey with 5 other former co-workers.  Starting in January we did monthly 4-hour study group sessions.  The 2 weeks immediately prior to the exam we have met for all day study sessions. Of course I have been independently reading and studying on my lunch breaks and when the family goes to bed and the house is quiet.  I have looked at disgusting images, answered hundreds of practice questions, read tender stories and been totally amazed at what God made the body to do.  I've learned some amazing things on this journey.  It has only validated my original feelings of the importance of breastfeeding.  I hope to support, educate and help mothers in our area (where we currently have NO lactation consultants) to breastfeed their baby's.  And to also help my nurse friends navigate through what is best for our patients and babies.

In just a few short hours, I will be taking my lactation consultant international board exam.  Please pray for me and all my potential colleagues that will be testing today around the world.  That's right, today there will be people in China, India, England, Argentina, Mexico, etc!  Isn't that cool!?!  I guess the point is that we all have the same goals.  

I am nervous.  I am battling the self-doubt.  All I can hope and pray is that I have prepared enough.  Thank you in advance for your moments of prayer for me...I greatly appreciate it.

Here are memories of my preparation journey...

Study group with Marie Biancuzzo during a Exam Review course in Atlanta

After 11 hours of studying...our minds were so tired.

Studying in Atlanta at a Exam Review course in March

Our study corner where we met to do most of our studying this year.  

During our last 2 cram sessions, Chris was nice enough to invite us into her home.

Midnight snack while studying

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