R&R

As many of you know, Brian was recently home for R&R! He was home from March 3-22, and we had an AMAZING time together! I will start from the beginning....

Sunday evening (March 1), Brian called to tell me his flight arrangements. He was scheduled to land in Dallas early Tuesday morning (March 3) and was to catch a connecting flight and arrive in Houston sometime Tuesday afternoon. Impatient as we are, Brian's parents and I decided that we would leave Houston at 2am on Tuesday morning to meet him when he landed in Dallas. The original idea was that Brandon would just sleep in the car. Wow, were we wrong! Brandon decided that he did NOT need to go back to sleep, so he was awake the entire almost 5 hour drive from Houston to Dallas. When we arrived in Dallas, we had to figure out what terminal we were to pick Brian up in, and finally were able to get situated at the gate to wait for him. Shortly after we arrived at the airport, Brian's family in Dallas showed up to help us welcome him home. We were fortunate to only have to wait a short time before the plane landed and soldiers started trickling through the gate. It seemed like the entire plan deboarded before Brian came through the gate. FINALLY, he came through, and immediately I started tearing up and jumped on him! I was SO excited to see him! He said hello to Brandon, who was wearing his adorable "Welcome Home Daddy I Missed You" shirt, and then proceeded to say hello to the rest of the family. He was quite shocked to hold Brandon for the first time. The last time Brian held Brandon, he weighed only 16 pounds, and he now weighs in at close to 35 pounds. After the initial hello, we all decided to get some breakfast. After a lovely breakfast at Cracker Barrel, we headed back to Houston. Another 5 hour drive that Brandon decided he did not need sleep. He did fall asleep for about an hour toward the end of the drive, but overall, he didn't sleep much.

That evening, Brian and I had dinner reservations Maggiano's Little Italy and hotel reservations at The Westin at the Galleria. We enjoyed a beautiful evening of wonderful food, drinks, and music at Maggiano's and then went back to the gorgeous Westin. Around 8am the next morning, my mom called to tell us that Brandon was not feeling well the night before, and suggested that we make a doctor appointment for him. I got up and called his pediatrician, and we got an appointment for that afternoon. When Brian woke up, he was regretting his three drink the night before. He had quite a headache, and was not feeling too good. After some asprin, toast, water and rest, he felt better. We checked out and went to lunch before heading home to take Brandon to the doctor. Brandon ended up having a cold and was prescribed a decongestant. The rest of the day was spent hanging out.

That following weekend, Brian and I had a date night out, and we had a lovely visit with Brian's Grandpa, Aunt Debbie, and Uncle Ralph. Saturday evening, we had a date night planned. We had reservations at the Intercontinental hotel in the Galleria area, and were planning on having dinner and margaritas at Cafe Adobe, and follow up with drinks and games at Dave and Busters. Dinner and margaritas were amazing. Then, we headed over to Dave and Busters was a huge disappointment. We were under the impression that it was for 18 and up, but apparently if you ar with your parents, you can be there. So, the place was swarming with kids, and packed with people. So, all of the games had a ridiculous wait, and we were tripping over kids that were being left unattended because their parents were losers. I mean, really, who takes their kids to an adult arcade and keeps them out after 11pm? Craziness. The next morning, we went to visit Brian's Dad's side of the family. We visited with Brian's Uncle Ralph, Aunt Debbie, and Grandpa. One of the anticipated events of that gathering was getting a generation picture. It was so great to get a picture of the 4 generations of the Hays men. We all sat around and caught up on our lives, and just generally hung out. It was a very great day.

Yet another outing we had planned for Brian's R&R was a trip to Fort Hood. Brian was recently promoted to Sgt., and since I was not there to pin his new rank on him, we wanted to drive out to Fort Hood to buy some rank. Brian also wanted to eat at his favorite mexican restaurant there, and we wanted to drive around and narrow down the areas that we wanted to live in when and if we are stationed there. It started out to be a horrible trip because it was downpouring when we left Houston. About an hour into our drive, the rain stopped, and things were looking better. It was still FREEZING though. We had a great time at Clothing and Sales, and then went looking for areas that we wanted to live in. We met some friends in the area for dinner. We met with Seth and Jen James. Jen had twins 2 days after Brandon was born, so it was SO great to meet her babies and for her to meet Brandon. After a wonderful dinner, we headed home. We had an awesome time in Killeen.

The rest of R&R was spent doing random things that we wanted to do. We took Brandon to see the animals at the Bear Creek Park, and then took him for his first ice cream sundae. Brian got a "Mom" tattoo, we went shopping, rented movies and ordered pizza, and spent time together. I think my favorite memories of R&R were every night when we put Brandon to bed. Brian read Brandon a bedtime story while I rocked him and he drank his milk. Then, we both took him to his room, gave him hugs and kisses, told him that we love him, and put him to bed. It was such a sweet time spent together. We had such a great time!

He left Sunday March 22. It was sad to see him go, but fortunately he will be home again in June for a month. Then, he has to go back to Germany until the beginning of September. We just can't wait to have him home for a considerable amount of time.

Opinions please!

I am having a bit of a disagreement, and would like some opinions for clarification. Please feel free to chime in!

The question:
Are all babies blessings?

For example, if a 16 year old girl gets pregnant, is her baby a blessing? Now, I admit that the initial fear a 16 year old must be faced with when she discovers she is pregnant is probably overwhelming. I acknowledge that fear, and understand the gravity of it. I am well aware that the situation is not ideal, and that she will have to figure out the financial aspect and a number of other responsibilities will need to be addressed. That being said, does that make her baby any less of a blessing?

What about the woman that has 5 kids and is on welfare and gets pregnant with her 6th child? Is that baby a blessing as well? Understandably the baby will be another baby supported by welfare, but is the baby any less of a blessing?

I suppose my point is, that the situation set aside, the circumstances aside, is the BABY any less a blessing because the circumstances are not ideal?

I guess I ask this because I feel that all babies are blessings. The mere fact that an innocent, beautiful baby is created overshadows the fact that the situation may not be the best. I am aware that not everyone is going to be excited about having a baby, but I cannot see how it makes the baby any less than a miracle. I believe that if one does not want to conceive a child, don't. I know that accidents happen, condoms break, some are not responsible enough to take their birth control, etc. However, there are WAY too many people that are damned with infertility for me to consider that babies are anything less than a miracle.

Also, it is not the baby's fault that they were conceieved when the timing isn't right. Why should that baby be forced to hear how they "ruined everything," or "forced [the parent] to grow up," or "is the reason [the parent] didn't have a normal teenage life or money for this, or whatever.

What do you all think?

B's first haircut!

I know that I haven't posted any pics from Brian's R&R, but I want to wait until he leaves to gather a good collection of the best pics to share. I don't want to gloss over today's big event though. Today we had Brandon's hair cut for the first time!! His hair has been really long for awhile now, but I had been waiting for Brian to come home so he could participate in one of B's "firsts." So, today was the big day! Brian's family has been going to the same hair stylist, Edith, for over 20 years, so we took B to her for his first hair cut. It was quite sad watching her cut his hair. His hair is so soft and gorgeous! I LOVE his little curls, so Edith was given strict orders to leave the curls and just trim his bangs a little and trim a little off the length. His hair needed to be trimmed to keep it out of his eyes, so I am glad that it is done, but I miss my little baby! He looks like such a little man now. He still has the curls though! I made sure of that. Anyway, here are some pictures:

Sitting in Daddy's lap!


My two boys.


Daddy keeping B entertained.


Mommy and Daddy's big boy!