It's been a "Good News Week"

When I saw this picture my heart smiled!!! It makes me think about the future with our little Brooks. I plan on seeing him sitting at a little table like this at my house A LOT!! I know I said I wanted a little girl and I still want a granddaughter and I am sure I will have one someday, but knowing that Sarah and Bennie's baby is a boy has made all of this grandmother business so much more real to me. It's no longer just a baby...it's our little baby boy Brooks!!! I can't wait to tell this little boy how wanted he is and how grateful we all are to have him in our lives. I want to rock him and read to him and help him plant his first flower and watch him play ball and go to his school programs and anything and everything else he wants me to be involved in. He's not even here yet and he's already made my life happier! I wish every child born in this world could be born being as loved and cared for as this little boy will be.

The picture below I found somewhere on the Internet and it just summed up how I feel today. GRATEFUL!! My heart is so grateful and in love with the world.


Something else happened today to make me happy (how much happiness can a heart stand in one day???)

These pictures are of Wendell and Emily. Those of you who have read me for a while know the story of Emily so you can appreciate how thankful I am to have her in my life on a daily basis (even if she does live 12 hours away!). She brought Wendell home to meet us last summer and we all loved him. He is an answer to a mother's prayer for her daughter. They are so happy together and he is so very good to her.


We got a call tonight...THEY ARE ENGAGED!!! He took her on a trip out of town and while out to dinner he got on his knees in the middle of the restaurant and proposed to her! We knew this was coming this weekend because he called earlier and asked for our blessing. What a sweetheart he is and we look forward to welcoming him into our family. Emily is over the moon and I can't wait to see her! Sarah, Austin and I are planning to go visit them over spring break in April. Can't wait!


And the frosting on the cake of my good news week is that I'm off work till Tuesday!!!!! So much to do around here and all I want to do is sleep and eat!!!

I saw my grandbaby again today!

I went with Sarah and Bennie for her ultrasound today. The technician told us right up front that we probably wouldn't be able to determine the sex of the baby today. She said that at the next ultrasound appointment in four weeks we'd have a much better chance so we resigned ourselves to the fact that today would not be "Reveal day"!



Just look at this precious little baby. It was stretching and moving and kicking all over the place. I wish I'd taken a picture of Sarah and Bennie's faces as they watched this. It was one of those priceless moments in life. Bennie was in absolute awe, and the expression on his face is one I will never forget. So sweet! We just couldn't get enough of looking at this precious baby.



Pardon the tilt of the picture. Sarah was so excited when she was scanning it that she didn't get it in the scanner straight.








And then, she moved the wand and what should appear on the screen?











Are you ready?








Are you sure?








Wait for it.....








Wait....








Wait....








It's sooo worth the wait....


























IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!!!





It's Benjamin Brooks Hoskins and the technician said there is absolutely no doubt about it!





Did I mention that I fell in love on the spot? I'm in so much trouble! I can't wait to hold him and spoil him absolutely rotten.

This picture has nothing to do with what I'm going to write, I have just made the decision to look at pretty things, preferably pretty things that speak to me of warmer weather. Aren't those roses pretty? I can almost smell them!



I have to work today. I will go in at 3:00 pm and get off at 7:00 am. As usual, I've not had the proper amount of sleep but maybe I can make it up tomorrow. When I get off in the morning I am going to hang out at the hospital for breakfast and then meet Sarah and Bennie at 9:30 for her ultrasound. Cross your fingers that Jellybean gets in a position so we can tell boy or girl. I'm dying to start making blankets and gowns and anything else "baby" that I can come up with.



Have any of you seen the show "What would you do"? They stage these scenarios that put people in a position where they have to make the decision to get involved, protect someone, speak up or call the police. I love the show and look forward to watching it every week (isn't DVR wonderful!). It will really make you think! I am someone who avoids confrontation like the plaque! This is not necessarily a good thing, but it's how I am. While watching this show I've had to confront this about myself and it's caused some very real internal dialogue.



First of all I wonder why it is that I avoid confrontation. I don't have an answer to that yet. I think that I've spent so much time around people who seem to relish confrontation that I've come to see it as a negative. So, maybe I've over compensated for it. I've actually not really been in a position anything like the scenarios they've showcased on the show so I can't actually say what I'd do if I were in those situations. My gut tells me that I would step in if a child's safety were involved, in fact I know that I would. Another of the situations that really made me angry was when they had an elderly person in a wheelchair and the "caretaker" was being verbally abusive. That would also get my ire up. I detest cruelty. So, these two things are no-brainers for me. The nurturer in me would step up. However, if I saw my best friend's husband out in a restaurant kissing another woman I don't think I'd confront him. Would I tell her? It would depend on the situation and the friend. Human behaviour is a very interesting thing isn't it? What would you do? Does watching this show make you think?

Yes, Melissa, there is a thing called Spring!!!!

I simply have to have some "pretty" today! So I'm going through some pictures from my yard when flowers were blooming. Call it therapy. Call it whatever you want but you have to agree that the colors are good for the soul!!

I have been looking through gardening magazines and I have such big plans for this year. I can't wait to smell the dirt and cut off my fingernails in anticipation of playing in that dirt.

These are my lilac bushes beside the garage. They will be the first thing to bloom and I can be found with my face buried in their sweetness for loooong minutes at a time. I love to bring in dozens of bouquets and fill the house with their sweet smell. Ohhh I just can't wait!

I can't take it anymore!!!!

I am alive and well. But I'm so sick of winter I could scream!

Since starting the new work schedule at the beginning of December (2 double shifts a week eight hour shifts every other weekend), I feel like a zombie. I am like a newborn baby that has it's days and nights mixed up. It's been the most frustrating thing. I think the fact that it's winter hasn't helped at all. I need sunshine and hot weather and flowers to play in outside. When I'm not tossing and turning in bed trying to fall asleep, I'm either at work or trying (emphasis on trying) to get house and home work done as I yawn non-stop and crave my bed and sleep. I just can't get it all together.

As I have tossed and turned, I've thought of soooo many things I'd like to blog about. But I'm supposed to be sleeping and I convince myself that if I get out of bed and turn on the laptop I'll never get to sleep. So, I stay in bed and toss and turn and then an hour later I'm reminding myself that I could have already posted it by now! It's making me lazy, it's making me frustrated and the dark circles under my eyes now have their own dark circles.

I'm thinking (hoping) that when the weather breaks I will come out of this funk and that my body will figure it all out. Something has to give, that's for sure.

Enough whining!

Sarah Kate is doing great!!!! She is now 15 weeks. She is still battling the nausea and vomiting but we're hoping that surely she is about to be finished with that. She's had two ultrasounds so far and the baby is just fine. This Wednesday she is having another ultrasound and we're hoping we'll know if it's a boy or girl. Of course all we want is a healthy baby but I've gotta tell you that if I could push a button and get the one I want I'd push the girl button! This is a little unusual for me too because I adore little boys (I think they're easier to raise!), but I am just so ready to have a little girl around to play with and do girlie things with. Actually, Bennie wants a girl too. But Sarah very much wants a little boy. If it's a girl her name is going to be Elliana and we'll call her Elli. If it's a boy his name will be Benjamin Brooks and we'll call him Brooks. But, like I said, I don't really care what it is as long as it's healthy and happy.

I've been thinking about so many things lately (tossing and turning is very conducive to thinking!) and I'm hoping that I can step out of my comfort zone enough to post them here in the near future and see if the world keeps on turning!

I've been so bad about getting around to visiting everyone lately, it will take me weeks to get caught up. Don't give up on me. I'll get there.

Everyone stay warm and please join me in manifesting a verrry fast arrival of Spring!