Happy 26

So here it is...the rare appearance of the mysterious co-blogger in the Estep family (this is Matt...if you don't know by now, Heidi does all the work around here). BUT...Heidi can't very well make a post about her own birthday (such a thing would be uncivilized), so here I am.

As she put it herself, "It was a pretty normal day." But we did have some family fun. We went out to Mimi's Cafe with our good friends, Nick, Marcie, and Meagan (and Hudson, of course) and shared some laughs about old Christian music (you know your favorites: "The Great Adventure," "Jesus is Still Alright with Me," and "My Place in this World"). Then since my beautiful wife was feeling "spunky" we rented "Fireproof" from the old Redbox at McD's. (I mean, we all loved Kirk Cameron back in the day, but the dude can still act...no Oscar's coming for this one but a great story line nonetheless.)

Anyways, we had a great time celebrating Heidi, and rightly so. I wish I could tell the world (which I guess I'm sorta doing right now) how much she has meant to me and especially our little family this past year. She has been our backbone. I knew she'd love spending the year with Braeden, but she has done so much more than just "be here." Sure, she's loved on our little boy endlessly, fed, changed, washed clothes, played, woken up in the middle of the night, comforted, EVERYTHING moms do. But she's also been behind the scenes working 2 jobs, volunteering for me at church, taking ENDLESS pictures and video, scrapbooking, and doing incredible things like keeping this blog going so the whole family (and world out there) can keep up-to-speed with us. She really is Superwoman. And I don't think she knows it (or believes it). Maybe she needs a cape...

So from the bottom of my heart, thank you, sweetheart. You've been my hero this year and I never could've made it this far without you. You have truly carried us. I always knew you'd be an amazing mom, but now I know this is something you were truly born to do and I love watching you do it. Happy birthday, baby.

Wide Open Spaces

This morning we spent some time over at Nick & Marcie's helping them move out of their house. While we were there Braeden, Hudson, and Miley Kate had some fun playing together in the very open spaces of the Nitsch household. We had a great time and are excited for Nick & Marcie and their big move! Although I have to say that it was somewhat bittersweet as their house was our first home in Goodlettsville. ;)

(Old blue eyes!)




A sleepy Miley :)

What is it about toilet paper?

Many of our friends have mentioned in passing or posted on their blogs about their child's fascination with toilet paper and now our son has joined the club! Of course it's not just toilet paper...he can and will pull up on just about anything and the toilet is no exception. I can agree with Kristen that I have never in my life cleaned a toilet more vigorously or frequently! Ah, the joys of mommyhood! :)

Update (a different Valentine's day)

I thought it would be a good time to say thank you for your love, prayers, and support over these last few weeks as we've been through a few rough patches with regard to Braeden's health. Many of you know that since Braeden was just a couple of months old, he would have breath holding spells where he would cry so long and get so upset that he would pretty much forget to breathe and would pass out. However, on two recent occasions, Braeden had what we call an "episode" where he displayed seizure-like symptoms after a breath-holding spell. Of course, we were completely floored when this happened the first time and immediately got in touch with Braeden's pediatrician. (We've been very blessed to have an awesome doctor who has not only offered medical advice but who has listened to us and given us encouragement and suggestions on how to deal with this.) After carefully examining Braeden and having us describe in detail what had happened, Dr. Eidson explained that sometimes a baby will go into what looks like a seizure after holding his/her breath but that it doesn't mean that he/she is having an actual seizure or will be destined to have seizures in the future. Just to be safe, he referred Braeden for an EEG at Vanderbilt and we had our appointment this past Monday. We received word yesterday that Braeden's test results came back normal and we won't need to go for any further testing. So, that's a huge praise that we wanted to share! :) Of course, we'll continue to keep an eye on him and make sure that any other episodes are noted with the doctor's office.

Having said all of that I've really spent a lot of time, especially this past week, thanking God for the blessing of this beautiful baby boy. Walking through Vanderbilt Children's Hospital and seeing young children who obviously knew their way around because they were what you might call "regulars" gave me a whole new perspective. I am so blessed to have a healthy little boy who is not facing any chronic or life-threatening illness. It's so easy in our day-to-day lives to get caught up in the negative or the things we wish were different. But personally, I want to be more intentional about recognizing blessings in my life that I don't take the time to be thankful for often enough.

And so, with that I want to say thank you for being one of the people we are blessed to call "family" or "friend". You are more appreciated than you know. We know that you have prayed for us and are continuing to do so and we can't thank you enough for that. Please know that we do the same for you.
We love you.

MDO (not to be confused with MTO hehe)

Many of you know that Braeden goes to Mother's Day Out 2 days a week and I thought it was about time I shared some pics of him there. I love being able to help our family financially by working there and as an added bonus it's wonderful to still be with Braeden and watch him interact with the other kids!

His favorite toy!










Here's Braeden's latest dance move. We call it "the Crystal". :)

An afternoon in the park

The weather was absolutely gorgeous on Sunday so we decided to take a walk in the park! We also got a chance at the end of our walk to introduce Braeden to the swings. He seemed to enjoy himself on the swing but he was especially intrigued by the kids running and playing around him. Here's some video and pictures from our lazy Sunday afternoon...ahhh...lazy Sunday afternoons are my favorite!

I didn't realize it until I looked at these pictures but we REALLY let his hair get long. In case you're wondering, yes, we did finally cut it!