Baby Eli

On December 6, Chris and I went with our parents to Columbus and found out what gender Baby Branson is. We are having a boy!! His name will be Elijah (Eli for short) Alan Branson. We have always wanted Elijah, but after seeing what it meant, it makes it that much more perfect. It means "My Lord is God." The prophet Elijah is also someone in the Bible who is often overlooked.  If you don't lnow much about him, read about him.

I am going into my 19th week and time seems to be standing still.  Everyone keeps saying to enjoy being pregnant. I have been sick, sore and just flat out exhausted. I want May to get here as soon as possible. I don't see how anyone who is pregnant can say time is flying by. I just guess I want him here. I have waited so long to get married and have a family, so I guess I just have to be patient.... I have been so far in my life.

Recently I have started feeling little kicks. It's the most emotional thing- just knowing that a human being is in there moving around. I cry sometimes when I feel it. 

We have picked out a theme for the nursery-sports, of course. It is not going to be babyish though. I am going to decorate with some things that can transition into his toddler years and older. I am thinking of red, black and creams/tans for the colors. I got something for the nursery already,  but Chris hasn't seen it yet. I want to surprise him for Christmas.  He is going to love it.

I am so excited to be on this journey even though I have been sore, sick and tired. I am even more excited to be sharing it with the most amazing husband. I can't imagine not having him there for all of this.  God has truly blessed me with a great family, husband,  a home (with room for three if we want), a job, and soon a child.

Baby Eli

He has his first Reds shirt and glove already. Thanks Gram and Gramps (my mom and dad)

Sucking his thumb and showing us he is a boy... look between the umbilical cord and his legs :-)

My family- my parents, husband and in-laws. Eli is going to be spoiled rotten!!!

Baby Branson Coming Soon

I have not posted an entry in a long time, but  A LOT has happened. On September 14, I took a pregnancy test after taking a negative one the previous week. It was positive.  Chris and I were both shocked and overwhelmed with joy. A couple weeks later we told our family at our Anniversary/ Chris's birthday party.

We have had our first and second appointment already and got to hear the heart beat. I bawled like a baby. It became real when we heard the heartbeat. We go again the first week of December for another appointment and then we have an appointment to find out the gender on December 6. We want a boy, but will be excited either way.

I can't believe how blessed I am. God has been there for me during lonliness,  hard times and when I felt like I was never going to find anyone to love. He answered my prayers first with Chris and now with a baby.I can't wait to share this journey with my best friend.  He is the love of my life and I can't wait for him to be a daddy. I am so excited, scared, and nervous to be a mother,  but I had a great example and I hope I can follow in her footsteps.

Same Ol' Same Ol'

As the number of days and months get longer that Chris and I have been married, it is easy to forget about this blog, but the whole reason why I started this blog is to keep track of the memories, even the mundane every day life.

I shouldn't call every day life mundane, but people in the blog world usually don't care to read about the every day things. People usually want to read about big events or take a life lesson with them. I sadly do not have either of those to offer at this point.

What I will say is this (for those of you who care)- Chris and I are doing great! I won't lie and say that marriage has been exactly like it was before we got married, but it is going well. The reason why it is a lot different, is because Chris and I didn't live together before marriage. I know.... it is a bit old fashioned, but old-fashioned never hurt anyone, plus, statistics show that people who don't live together before marriage are most likely to last. I know it sounds like a "statistic," or "old school"  but my parents didn't live together and they will be married 37 years. Anyway...  Chris was over at my condo quite a bit, but living together 7 days a week 24 hours a day is a big adjustment. I also grew up an only child, so I was alone a lot. Having someone there all the time is definitely different. I wouldn't trade it for anything though.

Another thing that is happening is that we are talking about when is the right time to start our family. We had started talking casually about it after we got engaged, but once we got married, we started talking about when we would start planning to start a family. Around November/December is when we really started talking more about it. By January it seemed like more and more babies were being conceived, announcements were popping up and 2014 seemed to be the year of the baby. The more we talked about it, the more we thought we should wait for awhile longer. There are still some things that need to be done and we are waiting on the perfect time- God's time. I have really been praying about it and just seeking God about when He wants us to start our family. I am putting God as the top priority in my marriage and I definitely want Him at the top when I decide to move in to parenthood.  Everyone is asking us when we are going to start having kids, so that is my answer for now. Everyone will definitely know when we do get pregnant and if anyone wants to babysit, sign up now! HAHA! There is already a waiting list.

In other, more current news, I am going on the Emmaus Walk in a few weeks. I have been trying to go for years and I guess Chris had to go before me so that I could get someone to sponsor me! Just kidding, but I am excited to finally go. I have not really had a time to really connect with God  in this kind of setting since my time at Lee. I am also looking forward to going because my friend, Des is going. I am hoping she is as excited about it as me.

Speaking of friends.... sometimes I feel so out of the loop. Everyone is married, starting to have families, busy, or just forgets about hanging out with friends. I don't know if people think Chris and I are still newlyweds and don't want to bother us, but we really do want to hang out with friends more. I love Chris dearly, but there are times when I just want a girlfriend to go do things with. I guess that's just another thing to get used to while being married...

Well, not much is going on in the Branson family. When something does happen, I will be sure to post here as well as Facebook.

Aimee

Branson Family Update

I haven't updated about what is going on in our little family lately, so I thought I would do a quick little update (for those of you who care).

Chris went to the Emmaus Walk a couple of weeks ago and had a good time. He learned a lot and made some new friends. Chris also went to the doctor a couple weeks ago to get an MRI and find out if his arm needed surgery. It has been hurting him for about 4 years. He dislocated it and it still pops out every once in awhile. On our second or third date it popped out and I about freaked out! Anyway.... he needs surgery and will be getting surgery on April 4. Prayers would be much appreciated. Looks like we're walking (not running) the Walk for Life this year. Kind of relieved about that actually. I think I could have made it halfway, but not the whole 5 miles. I am not ready for that yet.

Dolly is getting so big! She had her last shots for a year and she is going to be spayed in a couple of weeks. She got groomed a couple of days ago and she looks so different. Chris doesn't like it much, but I think she's cute no matter what. It is a lot easier for me to brush and for me to give her a bath.... notice I said ME, because that's who gives her a bath and brushes her. Chris does do stuff for her, so I can't say too much.

Chris and I are doing great and we've had a blast so far in our marriage. I am so thankful for those who have supported us and been happy for us. Those people far outweigh the few who aren't happy for us and have been negative. I know that we'll have hard times and it won't always be easy, but we have God on our side and He's the one that will help us through it.

Last night we watched Fireproof (one of my favorite movies) and as the saying goes, "Never leave your partner, even in a fire."

We have some other plans, but we are waiting for some things to come to fruition. Pray that God's will be done either way. I don't want to go into detail, but if these things work out, it could be an exciting time for us!

New Addition

Chris and I had been talking about getting a dog for a long time. We weren't sure when we would get one, but I wanted to wait awhile because dogs are a lot of work. We talked about Puggles, Old English Sheepdogs, etc. I always heard labradoodles were good dogs, so I mentioned that breed to Chris. No. He was not having a poodle, even if it was mixed with something else.

My dad and mom went to San Diego for a week for vacation (jealous! I LOVE San Diego) and dad mentioned that a lot of people had labradoodles there. Guess who changed his mind about labradoodles? Chris. So we began looking online for breeders and found one in Waynesville where he grew up. Turns out the lady's son played soccer with Chris in high school.

One night Chris told me we were going to go to Waynesville for something. I thought it was to meet up with his nana and papa for dinner or to do something with his mom, but we drove to a road I didn't recognize.  We turned into a driveway and I was wondering what we were doing. I got out of the car and heard dogs barking. I knew then we were looking at a puppy. We walk in and there are two little labradoodle puppies in a pinned area in the living room. One was black and the other was a light red (like my little Holly that I used to have as a kid). I immediately fell in love with the red one. When we left Chris and I talked about it. He told me that we just couldn't swing it and we could keep looking.

I thought about that precious little face for a few days and every time I showed Chris a picture of a possible dog, he said, "We'll find something." I was beginning to get frustrated because all of a sudden he wasn't in to looking for a puppy anymore like he had been prior to seeing the dog in Waynesville.

One night Chris had to go to Beavercreek to run some errands and I was beginning to wonder where he was. I was on the couch when he came in. He said, "sorry I am late. I had to pick up something." I peeked over the couch and there he was with the red labradoodle in his arms. He put her in my arms and said that he had been planning on getting her since the day after we looked at her. I cried because I had fallen in love with her that night and couldn't think about getting another dog. Chris picked her up after he went to Beavercreek and had even stopped at the pet store while he was in Beavercreek and picked up a pin,food, toys, shampoo, collar, etc for her.

We started playing with her and calling her by the name the breeder gave her, Haven. I didn't really like the name, but I didn't know what else to call her. Penny seemed cliche since she was a "red" labradoodle. She is lighter than most red labradoodles, so Penny didn't fit. About an hour later my dad came over to see his new "grandpup." He started playing with her and said, "Call her Dolly." PERFECT! Not only is she a doll, but I love Dolly Parton (yes, I am openly a Dolly fan). So now we have a new addition to our little family. Dolly has been a great dog. She is almost 3 months now. She sits, stays, fetches, lays down, and is box trained (she was trained before we got her!).

                                     This is Dolly as a puppy before we got her. Look at that face!!

          This was before we got her at the breeders. This is what she looked like   (minus          holiday gear) when we looked at her.

                                               My first picture with Dolly. I was still emotional and excited.