My 18 month baby.

Brooklyn is now 18 months old. I can't believe my baby girl is a year and a half. She has grown so fast and she's doing/saying new things every day.

Here's a list of things she's up to these days:

- She loves the word "No" and goes around saying it CONSTANTLY. She says it in answer to our questions but also when there is nothing to say no to. She also will say it to her baby and then spank her. That's pretty funny when she does that. I wonder where she got that from...

- She says "hi" and "bye" to almost everyone. This includes people in stores or if she sees people getting in their cars and driving away. She yells it! It's cute. She also says it to us first thing in the morning when we bring her to our bed after she wakes up. I'll try to close my eyes and rest a little more in bed and she will be right in my face saying "Hi! Hi! Hi!" It's hard to be irritated with her at that point because it's so darned cute!

- She has 15 teeth and is cutting her 16th!

- She still takes a bottle in the mornings and at bed time but we are working on weaning her off that.

- She can tell us when she has a poopy diaper, but sometimes will confuse a poopy diaper with just having gas.

- She says "peas" for please any time she wants something or we ask her a question and her answer would be "yes". She hasn't figured out "yes" yet so she says "peas" instead.

- We occasionally spank her (usually a not-very-hard pat on the diapered bottom) and she has now taken to spanking herself! I'll ask her (when she's being naughty) "Do you want a spank?" and sometimes she'll nod her head yes and start patting herself on the butt. It's really funny and completely undermines the authority of the spanking!

- She has started doing this thing with her pointer finger when she wants something. She will point at whatever it is and wag her finger up and down like that makes it more emphatic that she wants what she's pointing at.

- She can name several body parts, including: nose, eye, and ear (eow) and can point out those three plus her mouth, hands, feet, hair and belly button. She's a smart girl!

She's growing up so fast and becoming a little girl instead of my baby. Once Layla comes in April she will be the big sister and that part makes me a little sad. I didn't think it would be so hard to watch her grow up and not be a baby anymore. But she is a barrel of laughs and cute as a button!

I'll leave you with a picture I posted on Facebook of her a few days after turning 18 months.

There's my princess! 

We love you Brooklyn Alivia! I can't believe I lived 28 years of my life without you and I look forward to watching you grow into a beautiful young girl!

Good Morning Girls - An exciting journey

I recently (like 2 days ago) discovered and joined a wonderful online ministry and Bible study group called the Good Morning Girls. It's exactly what I need at this point in my life. I have longed to be in a study with other women, sharing and learning, but haven't had a schedule which allows for it. I have considered BSF as well and when my time allows me to, I will probably join one of their groups in my area. For now though, while I can't physically meet with other women for a Bible study, I'm thrilled to share about the Good Morning Girls. You can click on the link above and it will take you to the site which explains how they operate. In short, it's an online community of hundreds of women, from all over the country and the world, split into small groups, going through the same study (this 12 weeks we are going through the book of James) and keeping in contact with each other via email, twitter or facebook and holding each other accountable in our daily devotional time. It's a wonderful idea!! I encourage you to go check it out right now. They give you every resource you need to get started, including print outs for the each day with the passage you are to read and the break down of their S.O.A.P. study method. It's simple, easy and can be done quickly if you're busy like me, but can also be something you spend a little more time on. I can't say enough how excited I am to be a part of this.

The official start date of it was January 17th, but it's not too late for you to get started and catch up. You can also do it at your own pace. I've connected and become a group with two other young ladies that have a lot in common with me through the message boards on the GMG website. If you're interested in joining a group, I would be more than happy to have you in my group and add you to our email list. If you aren't ready for the pressure of being in a group and being in contact on a daily basis, then please don't let it stop you from going through the study on your own. The book of James is a wonderful book to study and I'm really looking forward to everything I will be learning from it and from the insights of the other ladies in my small group.

I will try to post once a week about what I'm learning in my study. This post won't include anything about my lessons so far, I just wanted to get the info out there for my small group of followers. :) I hope you will consider joining in on this! If you have any questions, Angela, the leader on the GMG website has shown to be very quick and attentive to the questions posted on the message boards. Or you can ask me and I can give you an answer if I know it!

A blog post about posting on my blog.

I have been struggling a lot with my blog lately. I have had the strong desire to write, and even think of several things I want to write throughout the day, BUT, when it comes down to actually sitting down and typing the words in, I draw a blank. Maybe it’s because I only have times in the late evening to do this and by then my brain has turned to mush and I’ve forgotten half of what happened that day, let alone what quickly entered and left my mind. *sigh* This brings me to the fact that if I truly want to keep my blog up, which I do, then I must come up with a plan to keep up with my thoughts and ideas for posts and things I simply want to share from my heart and mind.


I know that one way to do that is to just keep a small notepad on hand and jot down the ideas as I think of them. I know several people who do this for different areas of there life, such as to-do lists and work related things. I’ll have to try this. My problem will be remembering to get out the notepad and actually putting pen to paper with the thought I had at that moment. Forget the fact that, most of the time, when I have these ideas or thoughts, I’m not really in a place where I can stop and write it down. Often, thoughts come to me while I’m in the middle of teaching a lesson. Something funny/frustrating/”insert description here” will happen in my classroom which leads to me thinking of something else or some profound (yes, I have those sometimes!) concept in life and I’ll think “That would be a great anecdote to blog about!” or “I should do a post about this concept”. But then, my 20-something students that period will distract me from thinking about my blog by needing my mental capacity for their learning (gasp! How DARE they!) and I’ll forget all about it and go on with my day. Some days something like that will happen almost every class period. That’s 6 times in a day that I had good blog fodder and completely let it pass me by…oy!

Not that this means I want to constantly be thinking about my blog and coming up with ideas to write on it, BUT, I do want to have an interesting one that people want/look forward to reading (besides my immediate family who I know sit around wondering when I will post next! Haha).

One thing I enjoy about blogging is simply the catharsis it brings me to get things “out there” for someone to read, even if it’s just one person, or two – my mom and my sister. *smile*

I also am constantly inspired by some of the other blogs I read of women who are amazing writers with beautiful pictures and words that just flow together like music. I’ve never been one to write eloquently. I can write a good research paper and score an A, but inspirational writing just isn’t my gift. I’ve often considered taking another writing class just to improve that area. In fact, I won’t be surprised when community colleges begin offering a “writing for bloggers” class or something. Now THAT would be something I would definitely be interested in and that I believe would be a big hit with the up and coming blogging generation.



So, en lieu of this post about my blogging hopes and desires, here is a list of concrete goals I’m setting for myself in terms of blogging:

1. Write one post a week and maybe work up to 3 per week by the summer.
2. Keep my notepad handy for when ideas pop in my head for my blog.
3. Write meaningful posts that will inspire, help or encourage others out there who might be facing the same struggles/obstacles.
4. Be and honest blogger.
5. Blog in a way that is pleasing to God and, if that ever changes or it begins to take away from my serving Him, stop and re-evaluate whether I should keep one or not.
6. Have one day of the week where I have a theme or specific topic I blog about. I already have some ideas in the works.
7. Work ahead on future posts and get the ideas going so that I don’t have posts with too many different things going on in them.
8. Begin posting over at my other blog “What’s In My Coffee” again. Yes, I still have it up and yes, I still want to keep it up.
9. Take more pictures of my beautiful daughter and second daughter (coming in April!) and post them so you all can ooh and ahh over them with me.
10. Find a free layout I love or pay to have one designed for me. I'm so sick of not having a blog design that I like. It discourages me from blogging. I know that sounds silly, but it's true!

I'm working this evening on a couple of different posts with specific topics and one of them will be solely dedicated to Brooklyn as she will be turning 18 months on Sunday. I'll also probably do a post solely dedicated to my pregnancy as tomorrow I will be 25 weeks and am approaching my 3rd trimester with a vengeance!

All this and more coming up very soon! Stay tuned!

It's coming...

And there is nothing we can do to stop it.

Are you nervous about this new year?

Are you unsure if things will continue as they have been, or take a new path?

Do you have a long list of goals you plan to accomplish this year, only to find the list daunting and impossible now that it's down on paper?

Do you long for change but don't know how to make the change or you're afraid you won't stick with it?

Do you know things are about to change in a big, big way and are fearful of how it will all turn out?


You may have guessed, but these are all things going through my mind about the upcoming new year. 2010 was a very tough year for many Americans, myself included. Along with a bad economy making life financially more difficult, our family found itself in the midst of many trials. 3 car accidents, several trips to the ER, the loss of a beloved family member (my uncle Mike Rodgers lost his fight against cancer early Christmas morning), personal struggles, marital struggles, parental struggles, disorganization, chaos and just overall frustration. Yes, these are all things that happen in life, but for some reason it felt like everything came crashing down on us in 2010. I'm thankful to see this year leave and to welcome the new year and all the newness it brings to the table.

Our family does have a lot of changes headed our way. For one, I will be bringing another beautiful daughter into the world. Layla Paige, Lord willing, will be joining us sometime around the 3rd-4th week of April. Since I will be having a planned c-section this time around, it will be before my due date of the 30th but I don't know exactly when yet (I'm hoping we will discuss this and possibly set a tentative date at my next appointment this coming Tuesday). We are obviously overcome with excitement to welcome our 2nd child into this world. Brooklyn doesn't know what's going to happen but I believe she will be thrilled to have a "beebee" around the house (her word for baby). She loves all her baby dolls and I know she will love her little sister.

But with a new baby coming there are a lot of preparations to be made which I began over this Christmas break. I haven't made any huge progress by any means, but, I got a start. The logistics of fitting a crib and a toddler bed along with a dresser, organizer and changing table have yet to be ironed out!

I do plan on breast feeding Layla as I am mentally prepared for how difficult and painful it will be. I was nowhere near prepared for the frustrations and difficulty of starting the breast feeding process. I gave up all too soon and if I had a chance to do it over again, I probably would stick it out more. I truly believe it is completely the parent's choice of whether to breast feed or formula feed and I'm fine with either (obviously!), however, I would like to give my child the benefit the breast milk does provide along with the financial savings it brings along. I will also try to cloth diaper again since I quit a while back with Brooklyn. It was hard to keep up the cloth when I was the only one wanting to use them and the one who took care of her the least (once I went back to work). This time around, I will be with my girls more and working less and it will be worth the effort and time to do it (as well as the money saved and getting the use out of the diapers I bought!)

Which brings me to my next big change for 2011...we are working towards me not having to work full-time and being able to work part-time only (and hopefully VERY part-time!). I haven't turned my resignation in or anything of that sort yet. All the details aren't worked out yet and we will need to be very sure that this is what God is leading us to do. Right now we feel like it is, but we know things can change so we are keeping it in prayer and our hearts open. It's hard for me though, I'm not going to lie. I get completely giddy at the thought of only working part-time and getting to be with my kiddos more and actually feel like a real housewife!

With the new year always come goals and resolutions to make changes in our personal lives. I have for a long time had the desire (admittedly the desire comes and goes in waves) to make daily Bible reading and devotional time a habit that I can't live without. Sadly, I have failed miserably after many attempts. I always start the new year off strong and then, quickly, life's daily grind distracts me and I allow myself to be pulled in different directions and never end up following through. I think the longest I've managed was getting through February...how sad for a pastor's child! I believe that part of the reason I've always failed at this is because I go from not reading daily to trying a reading plan that is too ambitious and unrealistic for me. So this year I'm taking this challenge in a new light. I'm looking at two different reading plans which both pull at me. One is reading through the NT in a year along with Psalms and Proverbs (you read through those all the way through every month). The other is a topical reading plan that focuses on different aspects of doctrine. For example, the first quarter of the year focuses on theology, the study of God. All the reading passages focus on just that. I'm not sure what the second quarter is about because it has not been posted to print off. The passages of the second reading plan are shorter, so I wouldn't be reading as much, however, they are focused on a topic and I could easily make my devotions more focused and write in my journal with a purpose more-so than if I'm reading straight through a book, which lends itself to reading quickly and not focusing on what I am reading (at least that's MY personal experience). You can get both reading plans here at Kathy Howard's website (she's awesome by the way!). Make sure to look at her recent post titled "What's Your Plan" to get the links for the free downloads for each plan. I'm hoping that with either plan, and a lot of leading from God, I will stick with this and begin a habit that will enrich my life for years to come. Waylon is also joining me in a Bible plan and he will be using one of our yearly Bibles we have. It's a great habit we can do together and hold each other accountable to. I'm looking forward to it.

It feels good to write about my goals and hopes for the new year. It brings me some excitement, after all, it's only days away! How are you feeling about your upcoming new year? Please share!

This girl...

Makes me happy.
Loves M&M's.
Loves her rocking chair.
Makes messes constantly.
Is going to be an amazing big sister.
Loves to dance when any type if music is on.
Is a mommy's girl AND a daddy's girl.
Gives the best kisses in the world.

Will always be my baby girl no matter how many more beautiful children I have.

I love you Brooklyn Alivia Perryman!

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My post-Thanksgiving, pre-Christmas post!

Once again, it's been quite a while since my last blog post. I keep telling myself I need to keep up with this better because I need to record all that goes on in our lives and Brooklyn's growing, but I just find myself so busy and worn out that I don't ever get around to it. So here I am, getting around to it. And what better time to blog than when you are laid up in the lazy boy chair, sick as can be!

I'm not even going to try to put a full update in this post because all that will do is ensure that I never finish it and never actually post it! So...I'll just put a few things and feel a huge weight lifted that I actually did something on here. :)

We went to New England for Thanksgiving break and spent the week with my sister Melissa and her family. My parents and my brother went as well so our entire family was there for the celebration. It was a lot of fun. It was Brooklyn's first big trip and first time to fly and I have to say that she handled it quite well. I expected a lot of crying and squirming on the plane but she really only did a little of that. She slept a good amount and played the rest. She got restless on both trips but never to the point where she was unbearable. Now I won't dread trips with her so much anymore.

We did a lot of fun things while up at my sister's. We went to the Boston Museum of Science, the Festival of Trees and went into NH to show Waylon where I lived for 4 years. We spent Thanksgiving day at my sister's in-laws and ate a ton of wonderful food. It was overall a great experience. Did I mention that it was the first, and possibly only, time my sister and I have been together while we were both pregnant? That was definitely memorable. The fact that we're only a month apart makes it even more fun because we're very close in our symptoms and stages. There was lots of baby talk! Too bad I didn't get to find out the gender of our baby before going up there. My sister found out she will be having another girl. The name will be Jocelyn Abigail, which is beautiful! Can't wait to see pictures of her!

Speaking of baby genders....I have another ultra sound coming up this Tuesday. I go in at 8am and have the ultra sound first thing. Hopefully baby #2 will cooperate this time and not stay curled up in a ball! I'm so anxious to finally find out what we are having this time around and I will be very disappointed if we still don't know after Tuesday! I'm 19 weeks now and I feel like I'm well passed the point where I should know the gender! My patience is wearing out! lol

Brooklyn continues to do and say new things on a daily basis. At his point she says several words: mama, mommy, dada, daddy, nanny (her name for the day care ladies AND my mom), wow-wow (name for the dogs), baby, baba, shoe, No (she is really good at saying this one!) What's that? (says this very rarely) and "here you go" (we've only heard her say this once to my brother when she was giving him a pen at church).  Her strong will is becoming very evident and it scares me sometimes! I think I'm going to have a very head strong daughter! She knows what she wants and does not like to be told that she can't have or do something. She has started throwing temper tantrums and is more curious than ever about all things around her. She sleeps very well at night and rarely wakes up before 6:30 anymore. She has a thing about shoes. She loves to wear them and if she sees your shoes on the floor, she will try to put them on you! So beware, if you're wanting to go barefoot, don't leave your shoes laying around or she will try to make you wear them!

I bought a new Christmas tree this year and I absolutely love it! It's a small tree, which is all we need at this time. It's 4ft tall and fat. I also bought all new ornaments for it this year and have to say that I like them the best of all the ornaments I've bought in the past. This year, instead of trying to be trendy and make my tree a theme (which I've never been good at and has never worked well for me), I tried to just stick to the tradition green, red and white with gold and silver and it really worked well! Instead of buying a tree topper, I bought some ribbon and made a big bow (with the help of my mom) and let the ribbon flow down the tree on the sides and it looks really cute! Maybe later I will get motivated enough to take a picture of it and post it. I've been really slacking in the picture department lately, I know. The problem is that I don't like my camera and it's a pain in the rear to charge and I can never find the charger because we don't have an official "spot" for it. I have major camera envy of my sister's camera but want to hold out until I have enough saved to buy a DSLR camera. That's my goal. Until then, I probably won't be posting a ton of pictures.

I'm currently recovering from a severe sinus infection. I'm not going to get into a ton of detail but let's just say it got bad enough for me to go to the ER on a saturday. The whole left side of my face was throbbing in pain and was like that for over 12 hours. I had finally had enough of it and broke down and had my grandmother drive me to the hospital. (My grandpa Woolbright is a retired military PA and he came over Saturday morning to check me over to see if he could help any. They stayed with me while I moaned and groaned in pain and cleaned my living room and kitchen!) I'm thrilled to say that, thanks to the 4 prescription medications I'm on and many neti pot cleansings, that I'm pain free this evening and feeling much better! I can honestly say that I have never felt pain like that in my face, not even when we had our wreck in July and my face was deformed from swelling and bruising. It was horrific and I hope to not ever have to experience that again!

On that note, I'm going to sign off. I promise to post a picture or two on my next post...I know, they sound like empty promises right now. But I will deliver. I still haven't uploaded the few pictures I took with my camera from my Thanksgiving trip. Nothing like a good case of procrastination!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas season!

It's been a long time a-comin'!

I'm gonna be honest, I haven't had the desire to blog lately. Quite frankly, between my job, taking care of my active toddler and barely attempting to keep our small house clean, blogging has seemed like one more thing I had to do versus something I wanted to do. To write about my life lately would end up making me more tired than I already am...who wants THAT?? Not me, for sure.

So I'm not going to write about everything that has been going on lately. I'll just try to focus on the exciting stuff...err, well, the semi-exciting stuff that constitutes my life at this point.

I had my 13 week appointment last week and got to hear the baby's heart beat. It was a huge relief! Since moving into the 2nd trimester and not having the nausea to constantly remind me of the pregnancy, it had started to feel like I wasn't pregnant anymore. Hearing the heart beat is always a calming affirmation that there really is a baby growing inside there! It did take her about a full minute to find the heart beat which worried me a little bit but she found it finally and it was loud and strong at 150 bpm. I confirmed with her that I will be scheduled for a c-section about a week before my due date. That puts me somewhere around April 23rd! That's the 3rd week of April so I will be going on maternity leave the week before that, which means I'll only work 1 week in April! Woo hoo!!

A week from tomorrow (Tuesday, November 9th) I'm scheduled for an ultra sound to make sure the baby is healthy enough for my flight to Boston on Thanksgiving AND to try to find out the gender. I am so excited about possibly finding out so soon! I wasn't expecting to find out till probably after Thanksgiving. We are hoping for a boy but I will be perfectly happy with a girl too! We have names chosen (I think). Boy will be Julian Bryce - the name we chose for a boy when I was pregnant with Brooklyn - and Layla Paige. I love both of those names and can't wait to get to use them!

I mapped out the rest of my school year last night to see just how many weeks of school I have left in the school year and what my longest stretches of work would be. At this point, things are looking great! I have three weeks till Thanksgiving break. After coming back from that, I will have 3 weeks until we go on our 2 week Christmas break. Then I come back for 10 weeks (with a couple of 3 & 4 day weekends sprinkled in there) until Spring break during the 3 week of March. After that, I come back for 2 weeks and then I'm off on maternity leave! It doesn't sound so bad when I map it out like that! Now I just have to get my long-term sub situation set up and make sure my disability is all good to go and I'll be all set. Phew!

I'm very much looking forward to my Thanksgiving break in Massachusetts with my sister and her family! We are so excited to see her two girls and Brooklyn playing together. It will be the first time for them to get together and play since she was 3 months old and only sat and slobbered everywhere. We are planning a trip into Boston with one of Mike's friends who is a tour guide of Boston and has offered to take us through the city. Waylon will love that since he loves history and has never been to Boston. We will probably take the T-train in, which will be a fun time as well. Other then that, we plan on spending lots of time hanging out at home and enjoying Thanksgiving meal at Melissa's in-laws, eating yummy food and hopefully playing their annual poker game. I do intend on taking Waylon up to Nashua where I lived for almost 4 years and showing him our old house and my old stomping grounds. I hope it isn't too boring for him!

Waylon has been approved to have Tuesdays off from now on. He is really getting burnt out working the 80 hours a week he's been working. He doesn't get to hardly see Brooklyn or me or his dad who is very sick and dying. He has no time for himself and it's really starting to get to him. He told all this to his boss today and was given Tuesdays off. I'm so looking forward to getting to see him more and knowing that he's getting some rest and being able to see his daughter more. Neither of us want this work situation to be permanent but we do want to get out of debt as quickly as possible so that we have financial freedom as well as job freedom. This job allows us to achieve all of this and we are making some major headway. This has been a great motivator for us and it has felt so good to pay of several debts.

I think this is enough information for one post. I hope it's as positive as I wanted it to be. My goal is to focus on as much of the positive as possible because focusing on the negative is not mentally or physically healthy and I don't think God is pleased by it either.

Have a happy Thanksgiving celebration month! I for one, am thrilled to be pasted Halloween and onto the important holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. My favorite time of the year!