thankful

Happy Thanksgiving!! For thanskgiving dinner today, we are all going to share something that we are thankful for - and not allowed to just use a cheesy typical answer. As I've been thinking about it, there are so many things that I am thankful for and I thought I would share a few....

1. Jesus. Okay so this can be a typical cheesy answer but let me go on. I am nothing without God. I believe that my life would be serving no real purpose without Him. I live and breathe because of Him. I can be a good wife, mother, and friend because of Him. I have something to look forward to beyond this life because of Him. I don't have to worry because of Him. He is everything that I need. I couldn't be thankful for anything else if I didn't have this to be thankful for.

2. My husband. He makes me a better woman. He goes to work everyday to provide for our family. He loves me unconditionally. He loves God. He makes me laugh. He's the most wonderful man I could ever have asked for.

3. My daughter. I never knew how much love you could have for someone until I had Lily. I get the privilege every day of being a mother and raising her the best I can. She brings a smile to my face everyday.

4. God's provision. I worry a lot about money. And really I shouldn't because God has always proved faithful and has provided for our needs. We surely aren't the richest of families in financial terms, but we are a loving happy family. God continues to show us that he's faithful to us even when we aren't faithful to Him all the time.

5. The hard times. If I didn't experience hard times, how would I really enjoy and appreciate the good times? How would I become a better person? I am thankful for the struggles and difficulties this past year because they have taught me so many lessons.

I hope everyone takes time out today to really think about what they are thankful for. We are so blessed. Even if you might be in the darkest of times, there is always something to be thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving everybody!!

Lily's 1st Birthday Celebrations

Wow has it been crazy busy around the Bruns' household the past few days!! As everyone knows by now, my baby turned 1 on Friday! So here's the run down on the celebrations...

Friday morning Matt was able to go in a little late to work so he could be here when Lily woke up to sing her happy birthday and give her her big present. She was so smiley when both of us came in to say good morning and we sang to her. Then she got to go out in the living room and see her big present from mommy and daddy: a big girl chair from Pottery Barn Kids with her name on it! She has since fallen in love with this thing. She knows how to climb up in it and sit and will watch her baby einsteins in it with tigger. It's SO stinkin cute! She also loved her peek-a-boo card from mommy and daddy.

Then after morning nap, grandma and grandpa arrived. They took us to lunch at Bob Evan's and then we picked up Lily's birthday balloons. I have found out that she loves balloons!! Ever since we have had them at home she always wants to go over and hit them.

Then that afternoon, my sister and her family arrived so we went over to the place they were staying at to hang out with them for awhile. Can I just say that her kids are just the cutest (besides my own that is)! Cecilia and Owen are turning in to real lively little babies and Ava is just adorable and fun as always.

Then it was back to the house for dinner. Lily's Nana, Aunt Missy, and cousin Aaron arrived next. Her Papa and Uncle Jake couldn't make it because they were sick. After dinner, we did cupcake time. We got to sing her happy birthday and blow out her first birthday candle. My wonderful creative hubby made Lily's cupcakes for her. She had a little bit of cake but wasn't really that much in to it. Then we did presents. She, of course, was excited about all her new toys and books!

Saturday morning was very busy. Basically getting ready for Lily's big birthday party. We had it down at our clubhouse thanks to the funding of the grandparents. MUCH more room and it worked out really great! Her cake was absolutely gorgeous!! My friend Alicia's friend does cakes on the side and she agreed to do one for me. I had seen Andi's birthday cake and loved it! It turned out so great!!

We had pizza for lunch and then did more presents. Lily is well stocked now and got lots of really fun neat toys! Then it was cake time. Everyone sang her happy birthday again and she dug in. Okay well she didn't dig in... she was VERY gentle and nice with the cake surprisingly. She didn't eat very much of it again - I don't think she's very in to sweets oddly enough. The cake was delicious though!!

During the party, Lily and her bff Andi migrated to each other and were just sitting in the floor sharing their snacks with each other. It was so stinkin cute:

Here's who came and made her party special - my parents, Matt's family, my sister's whole family, my best friends from college Vicky and Tara, Tara's mom, Alicia and her family, and Kathy and her husband (my good friend from work).

Everything went so incredibly well and Lily had a great birthday overall! The rest of the weekend was just spending time with family. Well, want to get off of here and go watch our movie. We're headed to Virginia Beach tomorrow for the thanksgiving holiday. To see all the pics from her birthday you can check on our picture website.

the ticker

and if you're reading this blog today (the 21st), look up at Lily's ticker. It says "Happy 1st Birthday!" Yeah!! Even my ticker is celebrating. :)

Happy 1st Birthday Lily!!!!

I went back in my blog posts to find where I had written about Lily's birth story. And in the midst of the craziness of having a baby, I realized that I didn't blog about that! So in honor of Lily's 1st birthday today, I will retell Lily's birth story. Here's what I wrote in her baby book:

I was scheduled to be induced on Wednesday November 21st but ended up going in to labor on my own that morning at 2:30AM. I woke up to contractions that were about 10 minutes apart. I at first couldn't believe that it was actually happening! By 6AM they had been coming every 4-6 minutes for awhile so we called the midwife and headed to the hospital about 6:30AM. They hooked me up to all the monitors and did a cervical check. I was only 1-2cm. I thought for sure I was at least 4 by that time! So they didn't want me to get the epidural yet until I was a little farther along. I got in the bathtub for awhile which really did help some but it was still the most incredible pain I've ever felt! I finally got the epidural at 10:30AM which was a breeze and not painful at all. DEFINITELY glad I went that route. It was wonderful not having any pain at all! Around 5cm I slowed down and wasn't progressing so the midwife broke my water. That didn't help so they started me on just a little bit of pitocin. That did the trick and started making things progress really quickly. Around 6 or 7PM I was fully dilated but my midwife was delivering a baby next door so I had to wait for her to get done. I was starting to feel pain again so they sent in the anesthesiologist to give me a booster shot and that got rid of the pain really quickly. I started pushing around 7:45PM. Matt and a nurse held my legs up for me to push and they had a mirror which helped me to see my progress and Lily's head starting to emerge. Since I had the epidural and didn't feel the contractions the mirror helped me to know I was pushing good. I pushed for about 45 minutes and she was out! I tore (level 2) because Lily's arms were crossed across her chest. Matt got to cut the cord and then for a minute they let me have her up on my chest before they took her to clean her off, do vitals, etc.

She was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life. No words can describe how you feel in that very moment. Here is my beautiful baby girl when she was born and now at 1 year old!

this time last year

This time last year I was spending my last day as pregnant with Lily. Little did I know a year ago how much love you can have for your child and how holding her for the first time could be the most amazing incredible feeling you can have in this life. It really is true that when you have a child your heart is walking around outside your body. I always think back to when she came out and they laid her up on my chest. I was in awe and overwhelmed at the love I felt for her in that moment. I hope I never forget that moment and I don't think you can when it's that emotional.

How in the world did my little 6 pound 4 ounce beautiful baby girl turn in to a 23 pound beautiful toddler so fast??!! It's true that a lot of days seem to go by VERY slowly but in the scheme of things - time flies!

I may or may not post tomorrow seeing as it's Lily's 1st birthday and it's all about her tomorrow! But I guess every day is now, isn't it?