Well it is 2013 already; can you believe it? My how the time flies! I should have posted this a long time ago but I just wasn't able to get around to it. It is so fun to just stop and think about all the good and rough things the Lord brought us through in the last year. We certainly have a lot to be thankful for in the Brainard household.
Our biggest blessing of the year was welcoming our first baby Austin Lee , April 15th. He has been the most wonderful gift that the Lord had given us so far. We can't stop thanking Him enough for blessing us with him. He has brought so much joy and laughter to our house these past months. We will never be the same, but that is a good thing. The Lord has taught us so much through the little life he has entrusted us with. Austin has also brought us closer together and with a deeper love for each other than we had even before. It is so funny the new feelings I have. No one ever told me these things but they are truly wonderful.
Austin is now 10 months old and is has been a little bit of a rough journey. When he was just a couple of days old he started staying up a lot at night and the when he was three weeks old he started to cry a lot and I could tell he acted like he was in pain. So I took a lot of stuff out of my diet and slowly started adding it back in and I narrowed it down to dairy. That was easy enough. I just went dairy free and no more pain crying. He was how ever still a more fussy baby who spit up a LOT, and still didn't sleep a lot a night. He nursed every two hours like clock work for the first five months. Well he kept his mommy in shape with all the walks we went on. Praise the Lord he was born in the spring! He now eats food like crazy out eating both his older Velie cousin Caleb and Joshua. He can crawl, walk along things, say: hi, bye, dada and mama. He waves, claps and took his fist step two weeks ago. He loves to play with Jamel and Jasper (two little boys from church). I can't thank the Lord enough for all the wonderful things that people gave us and all the help I have gotten. I surely didn't do this alone.
Noah and I also celebrated our first anniversary on the 28th of May. We went on a little weekend get away in the end of January before the baby come. We went to a number of guitar stores, the mall, skating in the middle of town of town in a public park. Ate at a few different places. My favorite was the Thai Palace and Noah's was the little sandwich shop we eat at called Potbellies! We had a wonderful time. Then for our actual anniversary Brianna came by to watch Austin and Noah and I spend a day on the lake fishing and canoeing. I packed a picnic lunch and we had a wonderful time. I of course got a sun burn. It was a fun time and nice to just spend a couple of hours of just Noah and I time. Being married this last year has been wonderful with all the new found joy and wedding bliss with all the usual ups and downs as well but with the grace of God we came though everything with no fits flying ;) God is good and I have learned so much from Noah in the time that we have been married.
We went on a trip to North Dakota in August for Austin to meet Grandpa Brainard for the first time. We had a lovely trip. Austin had already gotten the privilege to meet Grandma Brainard as she had already came and stayed at our house and met Austin. Grandpa was already making plans to go on back packing trip and camping trips with Austin. It was so fun to see them together. That is all we did for family trips these year. However Noah did fly Austin and I out to Colorado in October to see the newest member of the Velie family. Luke Bryan Silverberg born to Jason and Nicole on September 18th. He is just a cutie. We flew out there with my sister Brianna and stayed for a whole week. Austin did so good on the plane. I was very worried but he was a trooper and if he started getting to fussy food is always a sure fix for this little guy. The first thing that Noah noticed when he picked up Austin after we got back was he was heavier. We helped Nicole pack and move and clean. We had such a crazy busy time but it was so very fun. Went for walks and held the cute little Luke. Was such a blessing to be able to see Luke while he was still a baby.
Well those are the biggest highlights of our year and we have so much to thank the Lord for. I have learned so much about parenting and being a wife in the last year and I pray it is all to the glory of God. I am a blessed women and can't thank the Lord enough for the amazing things I have been given.
