It's the Small Things in Life!

Do you remember when all a child wanted were crayons and a piece of paper?  I remember when crayons were all that made me smile.  Not that I was ever very artistic, Cheri got all the "artsy" our family had!  But, it was so much to see the colors transform that piece of white paper.  Trey never was one that liked to sit and color, however Marlee enjoys coloring and that makes me smile!  We spend a lot of our evenings outdoors and the crayons sometimes have to join us on the porch.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that she inherited some of the "artsy" genes from the Bryan family........

Halloween 2012 - A FAMILY HALLOWEEN

This year we celebrated Halloween a little different than we have in the past.  In years past I have rushed to get the kids costumes made and wanted the perfect candy bucket, to only fight off mosquitos and knock on complete strangers doors.  This year we had the idea of staying home and doing Halloween differently than society claims it should be done.  This time of year is a busy time for Lee at work, therefore he is seldom home before bedtime and works 7 days a week, most weeks.  So, it was a HUGE treat for us all for him to be home in time for dinner, as silly as that may sound, it is true!  Daddy came home early, we grilled dinner, carved pumpkins and Gram and Pa even stopped off for a visit.  I put together a Halloween Bucket for Marlee and Trey and we enjoyed each other! Hmmmm, what a concept, I am shameful that I haven't thought of this before.  It turned out amazing, the weather was perfect, the kids had a blast and still got lots of goodies!  

Gators vs. Kentucky

Trey and I were blessed to be given tickets to this years Gators vs. Kentucky game, and they were great seats to boot!  Trey was so excited to get to go to a Gator game!  We loaded up and headed to G-ville around 6am on that Saturday with my parents, who also happened to have tickets to the game.  All dressed in our orange and blue, we were ready for a great day!  I loved spending the day with my little man and seeing his eyes light up as we entered the SWAMP, it was priceless.  Even though he had been to a game last year, he acted as if it was his first time.  It was worth every bit of last minute planning to make it possible.  Thanks to MeMaw and Pa pa for letting us take along and to Gram and Pa for keeping Marlee that day.

Marlee's Dedication

It was an amazing day to be able to dedicate our baby girl to the Lord. All of our family and friends helped us celebrate and the ceremony was beautiful.

Family Pictures 2010

Big thankyou to Angel for taking our family pictures once again this year.

2 weeks

Marlee has now been present in our family for almost 3 weeks. Of course we all love her dearly and wouldn't trade her for the world! We have had lots of visitors and she is now the most spoiled little girl on the planet. LOL....

I took some quick shots of her and Trey, just to capture this moment in time and thought I would share. We are so proud of our family and are truly blessed by God!

Hope you enjoy!

Nikki

As you all know by now, Marlee Nicole has arrived. I am a little behind on the blog and facebook, guess I have had a better way to spend my time this first week home. :-)

The C-Section was not as bad as I had anticipated, and being one week later I do feel pretty good. There were a couple days that I worried had the right decision been made, but I feel good now. I guess childbirth in any fashion can not be painless. We all know I was scared as I could be and I was good at holding back the tears until Trey got there. When he walked into the room I lost it. I'm not sure why, it may have just been hormones. But there was something about seeing him and holding him that broke me. At that point I am not sure everyone else in the room wasn't crying as well.

Marlee arrived at 9:18am that Thursday morning. She weighed 6 lbs. 14 oz and was 21 1/4 in. long. She is already tall and skinny. LOL..... AND.......Trey was right!! She has the most beautiful complexion and a head full of black hair! Lee said it was amazing to see them pull her out and realize that Trey was right, she was just as he had described her.

Lee was wonderful through all of it, he was a trooper and took some great shots of her being born. Lee really is a great daddy and husband. He did everything he could possibly do to make me feel better and he couldn't have treated Trey anymore special on that day. Marlee is now the light of his eye, along with Trey. We all tried to tell him there will be that something special between a daddy and his little girl. But, I guess you don't really get that until you are in that situation. He is a proud daddy, once again.

Marlee is a great baby, she only cries if there is a reason and then it really isn't too bad. She is so tiny and holding her is like holding a baby doll. Trey is still awesome and hasn't been jealous of her. He loves her, you can see it is in his eyes and the way he holds her and kisses her. He is and will be an amazing big brother.

I want to thank our family who has been there for us through all of this. Our family has helped us with Trey, helped get the house ready before we came home. Picking Trey up from school, hanging out with me at the house in case I needed help, helped entertain Trey when he gets home from school and driving us to the places we need to go. Thank you we are blessed to both have an awesome and supportive family.

I hope you enjoy the pictures!