We Love You, Kodiak!

Kodiak, this blog is dedicated totally to you. I want you to know how much you meant to me and your daddy. We miss you so much and you will be forever in our hearts! This is a very hard time for us; especially yesterday when we had to make the best decision for you; which was to send you to be with Jesus before we were ready to let you go. I know that you understand because of the condition that your body was in. I am so glad that we were able to be there with you and love on you while you took your last few breaths on this earth. I know that we'll see you again in Heaven - make sure to take care of Grandma & Grandpa Brown, Sam and Josey up there. As I think back over all our memories and I am just so blessed to have had you. I don't know why God decided to take you after 5 years, but I guess that you were done on earth. I will always remember you and will never forget you. We love you so much, Kodiak!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Yay! I just love this time of year. It is a time of celebrating the birth of my Savior, Jesus Christ and a time to be with family.

This blog is going to be a hodge podge of things...........I totally need to update, so here we go!

Here is a picture of my girl, Kodiak, and I chilling on the couch. Daddy took a picture of laying together on the couch. She had her head resting on my neck and daddy thought it was too cute to pass up. This was taken a few weeks ago. Kodiak has been doing pretty good, but the cold has been hard on her hips (she needs her hips replaced, but too expensive), so she receives shots whenever she needs them. She had a few rough days, but she is back to her old antics again. It's definitely hard to keep her down!!!!! Kodiak is a mover and a shaker..........LOL :)

This past Tues, we started our 3rd trimester and I can hardly believe it. Here is the 28 wk "belly" shot. I look at the picture and can hardly believe it. I only see one view and that's looking at the top of my tummy and that's NOT what I see. I get excited when I see the pictures b/c then I can see what other's see. :) I had my monthly check-up this past Monday also. I had my glucose tolerant test (GTT) and I passed! My blood count was a little low, so my doc told me to take an Iron supplement, so I have started that. When we were at the check-up and before the doc came in, Les and my mom were talking to the baby and they each had a hand on my tummy. Les got to feel the baby for the 1st time and was quite amazed by the little living thing in my tummy growing. He has got to see my tummy jump, but that was the first time he actually felt him. He just smiled; which made me smile too. Now he can kind of see what I feel, but I feel it internally. ;)
The baby stats were:
HB: 138 - 142 bpm
Weight: a little over 2 lbs
EDD: March 17th
I am now scheduled to see my doctor every 2 weeks and I can't believe how quickly we have arrived at this. Seems like just yesterday we were finding out that we were pregnant. I have a huge range of emotions that hit me at different times, but overall, we're very excited about meeting our little Baby C.

CHRISTMAS BAKING!!!!!!!!!

Here are the iced sugar cookies that I made this year. My husband LOVES these cookies and I'm not kidding when I say that he has eaten probably 60% or more of them. I think that there are 5 left and NO I'M NOT KIDDING!!! I am married to a man who has a HUGE sweet tooth. The other things that I have made this year are choc truffles, oreo truffles, peanut butter and choc truffles, and fudge.

Here are the cookies; they turned out cute and here they are:

You can see that we each have our name on a stocking cap,

here is Baby C's, Kodiak's, and Bear's cookies.

Here are mine and Les' cookies.

We hope that you remember the real reason for Christmas and that is Christ's birth. He is the real reason for the season.............Merry CHRISTmas from our family to yours!!!!!!!!!

Coming into the home stretch!

WOW, I can't believe that we'll be starting the 3rd trimester next week. I have no idea how the time has passed me so quickly, but I praise the Lord for having such a smooth pregnancy so far. We start our birthing classes in 3 wks from yesterday and our class is 7 wks long. It's not all birthing stuff, but there are 3 other classes that don't have anything to do with that.

I'll have Les take a picture of me in the next few days and post a new one soon. Maybe I'll wait till Tues and post a 28 week picture/belly shot. What do you think?!

Picture Tag

Okay, so I totally took this off the Steece blog. I really enjoy reading what Suz blogs about because she is one of the most up beat people. I don't personally know her, but what I do know about her from her blog - she a very kind, loving, Christian woman.

The object of the picture tag is to:

1) Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer

2) Select the 4th picture in the folder

3) Explain the picture

4) Tag 4 people to do the same

NO CHEATING! (cropping, editing, etc!)

Here we go:

This is really funny - okay, I had this barbarian blow-up headpiece, but I decided to make everyone put it on. This is Kodiak's turn wearing the barbarian blow-up headpiece. This was taken probably 3 years ago! I am so glad that my picture wasn't the 4th picture b/c it is not the best picture........hahahahaha

The 4 people that I am tagging are:
1. Amy (SIL)
2. Jill (SIL)
3. Kim (friend)
4. Sarah (friend)

I'll be looking forward to seeing your pictures!!!!

Hunting

It is supposed to be super cold tonight and Les is going hunting - be praying for him! He is going to be pretty chilly out there camping. I'm staying home and baking sugar cookies and then icing them. :)

Exciting news!!!

Okay, I will post the exciting news as soon as I can share it, but it is soo awesome! :)

Thank you, God for your many blessings on our lives!

UPDATE:
I can now tell of my exciting news because it has been approved through the bosses at work. After my maternity leave (3 months); then I will be returning to MMI to work part-time. I will be working between 12 - 15 hours a week. I will be coordinating my busiest country; which is Peru. I am so excited about this and so blessed to work at MMI. I am glad that they like me enough to be letting me work from home 6 hours a week (Mon, Wed and Fri) and work in the office another 6 hours a week (Tues and Thurs). I truly feel blessed to be appreciated that much by my boss that they would take my proposal and make it happen for me.

Another exciting thing happening in the family is that Christopher (my brother) will start in January working full-time with Team Impact (muscle men who are christians and go and share the Gospel using their strength). Christopher will be working at of their office and traveling with them from time to time as well. Christopher is very excited about this new opportunity and I am very happy for him that God opened this door for him.

Truffle Making

This blog was going to be all about making truffles, but I have to put in here that Les was able to see my tummy move and see our little guy moving around in there tonight. I was so excited because today my mom got to feel him move also. I was over there at lunch and I told her where he was moving, so she put her hand there and she felt him move 1x. I could feel more times, but she said that she couldn't feel them. So, she got to feel him and Les was able to see my tummy move a few times. This is sooo exciting!!!!

Okay, now on to my original post about truffle making. Every year I always make treats for family, friends, and neighbors. This year I decided to make truffles to add to my list of goodies. I have 3 recipes that I am making and I have 2 recipes down and 1 to go. Last night I made chocolate truffles and tonight I made Oreo truffles. Last night as I was making the balls; it was really sticky. I was talking to this lady at work today and was bouncing off a few ideas of mine to her to see what she thought. I mentioned to her that I had thought about putting flour on my hands to see if that helped with the stickiness and she told me a secret that someone once told her; now I'm going to tell you. SPRAY PAM ON YOUR HANDS! I thought that it was a pretty good idea and I did that tonight and it worked like a charm! I barely had any of the mixture on my hands after making the balls and I was happy about that. I am going to be making my last batch of truffles here in the next few days and will definitely be trying the Pam spray then too.

The other goodies that I will have this year as of right now are:
Fudge - this is already made and ready to go!
Iced Sugar cookies - I have new Christmas cookie cutters this year, so I'm anxious to use them. :)

As I sit here thinking; I guess that is all that I will be making, so I have 3 things done and 2 to go! YAY!!!!!

If you ever want any of my truffle recipes; just let me know!!! I love sharing recipes and enjoy baking/cooking. If I don't have a recipe that you want - I know that I can find something equally as tasty. ;)

Snow? MAYBE!

It's in our forecast to receive snow this evening - we have a 50% chance of precipitation. We'll see! ;) :)

I am so excited because I always enjoy seeing snow!!!!

UPDATE:
We have had sleet at our house this evening and it's VERY windy and cold out there! I'm thankful for the woodburning stove that provides our heat.

No More Triple Digits!!!!

We're now in the double digits! Today marks 99 days till our due date, now who knows when he'll actually come. I can't believe that he will be here in about 14 wks or less. Seems like just yesterday we were finding out that we were officially pregnant. My doctor called us on July 28th to give us the blood work results to confirm the pregnancy - WOW!

Tomorrow we'll be 26 wks along and so far everything has been very smooth. I praise the Lord for that because He has definitely been answering my prayers. He has taught me to rely fully on Him, appreciate everything and on and on. I am enjoying every move that I feel because I know that I will not have that feeling forever. I am just waiting for the day to come when Les will be able to feel him kick/punch/move. I have seen it with my eyes and felt it with my hand, so it's only time now till Baby C will let his daddy feel. When I tell Les to watch or feel, Baby C stops, so not much luck yet.

99 days and counting till Baby C makes his BIG appearance!

Updated Pics of Les & I

These are just a few pictures of Les & I at 25 wks and I wanted you to see that belly shot! :)

Have a WONDERFUL WEEKEND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our sweet baby

Here are pictures of our sweet little guy from yesterday's 3D appt. I think he is definitely the cutest baby in the whole world and can't wait to see him in person!!!!

Here he is sucking on his left thumb. He has his right hand up by his eye.

He always has his left hand by his ear and here he is doing it again. :)

Here is just a face shot, but you can see his eyes, nose, lips, chin, cheeks......so sweet!

Here he is covering his eyes with both of his hands. We said that he was playing peek-a-boo with us!!! :)

This last picture is just a picture of his left hand and you can see 4 of his fingers. I'm not sure what's going on with the thumb, but he might have been sucking on it. ;)

I hope that you enjoy our 25 week pictures! I have some pictures of Les and I to post real soon too. I am still trying to decide on a pose for our Christmas letter, so after I do that; then I'll post some pictures of him and I.

Happy Holidays!!!

Picture Updates!!!

Okay, so here are a ton of pictures that I have been meaning to post, BUT I haven't. :)

This past summer Kodiak made Les and I a stone with her paw prints. Here she is posing with it - she had just gotten out of our pond, so she's a little wet in this picture.

Here are the most recent pictures of Baby C. The first two pictures are exactly the same - sorry! I scanned it twice without realizing it, but cute anyways. :)

Here is my belly shot at 24 weeks - you can see how much I am growing. My doctor said that I looked good and to keep the good work up.

Here are some of the cookies that I made at Halloween time - it's about time I get this picture up since we have now passed Thanksgiving!! hahaha I made pink hearts for Thanksgiving and they were a big hit with both sides of the family. Once I start making my Christmas cookies; then I'll get those posted too, but I probably won't be starting for a few more weeks. Not quite sure because I have a lot of goodies I am going to make this year, but my main goodie is something new that I have never tried before - Truffles.

Here is another picture of Kodiak. I have a picture EXACTLY like this at about 8 weeks.

Hope you enjoyed a few pictures of what's been going on!!!!!!!!!!! :)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

I wanted to take a moment and wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving! I know that I am thankful for many things this year and I have God to thank for my blessings.

Have fun spending time with your families this season and remember who we have to be thankful for; He is the one who gives everything to us!!

24 weeks!

Yesterday we had our monthly check-up and everything looked great! Baby C had a heart rate between 142 - 150. He weighs about 1 lb and 4 ounces, so he's growing! He moved around a lot, but it was fun seeing him move around.

When she first started the ultrasound - he was waving, he sucked his thumb, rubbed his ears, tossed and turned. He was very active and the doctor said that we would be very busy once he was here. :) I could feel him moving around and I pointed to where I could feel something and she moved the ultrasound thing over to that spot and it was his feet kicking me. It's crazy and mind-boggling, but so exciting too! I now feel him everyday off and on throughout the day, but Les can't feel him yet. I don't think it will be too many weeks till he can feel Baby C. We have 3 months and 3 weeks or so till we meet our little guy. YAY!

I do have pictures, but I left them at home and will have to wait till later to post a few of him. I have a few cute shots of me on my camera, but my batteries went dead, so I'll charge them and put a belly shot on there for you too! I have had several requests, so I promise to do that soon - definilely hold me accountable!!! LOL

That's all for now, but I'll post pictures soon!!!

Birthday Celebration!!!

THANK YOU TO MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We had a great turn-out last night and had a really good time. We ate at Rockfish Seafood in McKinney and oh man was it good! They had a birthday cake for me after dinner and everyone sang to me. I had a very special birthday and I really appreciate everyone coming out in the cold to spend a few hours with me on my birthday. :)

I love y'all!
Kimberly

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Today is my 29th birthday - I just love birthdays!

I am at work this morning and then taking the afternoon off to spend with Les. Who knows what we'll be doing this afternoon, but it'll be fun for sure.

Then tonight there are going to be about 15 or so of us going to Rockfish Seafood to celebrate! I love seafood!!

I hope you all have a great day too!!! :)

*****Christy - I'll miss you not being there too!*****

Coyote Calling + Pygmy Tarsier

Yep, that's what we did last night!!!! :) We walked in the field behind our house and sat down in the trees to await our coyote. We have been to this very place before and were able to call up a coyote before. Les said the weather was perfect - still and dry, so e set up the caller and had the video camera ready and within 5 minutes, we spotted a coyote. He came out of the trees to the right of us and was running towards the sound. We watched him for several minutes and then he ran off. We have it on tape and it was very cool and in the video you can see the exact moment that he smelled us.

Now onto a story that I read about this morning. This thought to be extint mammal was spotted again back in August. This little creature is called a pygmy tarsier. The last time that they had been spotted was back in 1921, so a very long time ago! Here is a picture of it and to me, it looks like one of stars from the movie, Gremlins. What do you think???

This little guy was found with 2 others (1 female and 2 males) on a mountaintop on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. They only way about 2 ounces and can turn their heads 180 degrees.

5 months.........COMPLETE!

Wow, the time to me has FLOWN by!!!!!! Just to think that in about 4 months; we'll be welcoming our little guy into the world. There are so many emotions that engulf my mind - it's crazy. I was a little moody at the beginning and that has all tapered off now - I know Les is happy! I would be laughing one minute and then not kidding, crying the very next minute. Les would normally start smiling and laughing and then it would hit me, " What in the world AM I crying for?!" Then I would stop crying and laugh with him. hahaha I am so glad that my hormones have balanced for a while - I'm sure that they'll change again in the 3rd trimester; which is only 5 wks away or so. Holy cow - that is wild!

I have an appt in less than a week and if we do an ultrasound; then I will post pictures from that visit. Thank you to everyone who has supported me and given me guidance up to this point so far - I really appreciate it!

Love y'all!!!!!! :)

Action Packed Weekend........ :)

Gosh, is it Monday already????!!!! YEP, it is!

I had a 3 day weekend even though that was not planned by any means. Friday I stayed home on bed rest for the day, but believe me, I am fine! Nothing to be worried about. :)

Saturday I went to a fun 1st year birthday party for my friend, Kim, well, not her, but her daughter, Rachel. The fun thing about Rachel is that her and I actually share the same birthday! When Rachel was born Kim and I were not friends yet and I didn't know her at all, but definitely glad to be friends with them. I have made other friends through Kim too and that is fun also. I just love making new friends! (does that sound cheesy?! YES! but it's SOOO true!) After the birthday party; then I headed to Stonebriar mall for a little bit. I am on the search for a certain maternity sweater, but no success. Oh well, the search continues.....hahahaha After that I ran errands with my mom and then went home and relaxed!

Sunday we went to church and afterwards Les went to work. I went out to McKinney trades day with Kristy and then after that I went and saw my grandma. Last Saturday, the 8th, she fell and broke her hip. She had surgery that Sunday and now she has been moved to a rehab place in Allen. She is doing okay, but still has a long recovery ahead of her. I'm just glad that she survived surgery. When I saw her yesterday she patted my tummy and said that I was growing (she hadn't seen me in about 1 1/2 wks and I saw her a few days before her fall).

My birthday is on Thurs and I am so excited! The year's have gotten better and better each year, so I look forward to this year. A lot of exciting happenings this year and a few things are:
1. Birth of our baby boy in March 2009 (if all goes well)
2. My best friend is getting married in May 2009 (yeah!!!!! :)
3. My Mexican brother is getting married in June 2009

Well, I'll end for now, but if something exciting happens; then I will write more later!!

Amish Friendship Bread

Thank you, Alina! I made my 2 loafs on Monday and they turned out really good. I gave the 4 baggies to 4 new people and gave them the "to do's."

I brought one loaf to work and everyone has been eating on it and I have one at home. Les gets home tonight (YEAH!) and I'll give him some of it too. One ingredient that it calls for is pudding of your choice, so I chose to do Sugar Free Chocolate Pudding and it is so good! Les LOVES chocolate, so I think that he'll like the bread too.

So, if you ever get a starter of Amish Friendship Bread - definitely do it! Now, if anyone starts a sourdough starter - PLEASE GIVE ME A STARTER TOO! :)