Just some thoughts...random and scattered!

I am going to try and post about our engagement and wedding this weekend. I'd like to go though the"travels" of our marriage up until this point too. Then I plan to go back and blog about Tate's first 4 months...but for now, just some thoughts on this rainy Saturday morning.

Today we plan to take Tate to the fall festival at the church we have been visiting, and will most likely join in the next few weeks. She is going to be a giraffe! My dad took pictures of her yesterday in her outfit and another Halloween outfit. They turned out really cute! We did 3 outfit changes, so by the third one she was pretty finished! He loves to take pictures of her and my mom and I get to act like crazy nuts and try to get her to smile! We did get some really cute ones though! I'll have to post them, once I get them. He had printed a few copies, but I don't have them on the computer yet. She will just smile away and we have gotten some really cute pictures!! I wanted her to be Snow White, because of her dark hair, but it's so hard to find tiny costumes (she is just now in 3-6 month sleepers.) And she can't sit up yet, so I'm hoping to have her be Snow White next year maybe!

We took Tate to her 4-month appointment on Thursday. Ben came too, thankfully! She had to get 4 shots and a tasty drink! Her little face when she got that first shot was horrible!! She looked so sad!! Ben held her, he volunteers to do that, thank you Ben! I don't want to do it, but I'm sure one day I will have to!
She weighs 14 lbs and 10 oz! She is 24 1/2 inches long too. She's come a long way from the 6.7lb 19 1/2 inch, 4-week preemie!! She is looking SO big!!

Tate wore her first pair of blue jeans yesterday! I hope she loves them as much as I do! Although the day I put her in her denim overalls she peed in them!! And then when I put her in a denim jumper she puked all over that!! I'm hoping it was just a coincidence!! I like LOVE jeans! Friday's are my favorite because it's 1. Friday!!! and 2. I get to wear my jeans!!!! I lived in them ALL summer long. If I ever stay home I will be living in jeans! I wonder if there is some kind of Jeans AA for people like me??

I can't believe it's the end of October already!! Time flies by and some days I am very thankful for that! I was out last Friday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week because of the flu. Thankfully, Tate and Ben didn't get it! Courtney (my team teacher) and I both got it. She came in on Monday morning and Thursday and missed the rest of the week. I was in only Thursday and Friday. I thought the doctor was crazy when she said I'd be out until Thursday of this week, but I felt awful! I still have a cough and get tired kind of quick, but am MUCH better. Our kids in our classroom survived the transitions too. It took us almost the whole day to re-group from being out for 4 days. I kept finding things in random places in the room, but at least we had all our documentation and everyone and everything was still in one piece. We have some challenging students and at times it is very difficult to deal with all the various behaviors, when you feel "good". When you feel sick it's hard to concentrate and be "ready" 24-7! I was glad that others can now understand what it is like in the Brinkley/Joyner classroom. Or as our instructional assistant calls it, "Brinkley Bootcamp"! He loves to tease me about that, I am pretty strict and it works for us!

While I was out sick and at home I spent a lot of time on the computer, hence the big posts about me and Ben. I also was trying to find the name of a pattern of Limoge dishes that I have. My dad's parents, Grandma Dorothy and Papa Doc both have passed away in the last couple of years (since Ben and I have been married). And Grandma gave me some dishes that she inherited years ago. I had gotten some at two different times and when my dad went to help clean out the house, he found more of them. I have a huge set with 12 dinner plates, serving bowls, teacups, little bowls, butter chips (little plates), a cream and sugar set, gravy boat, 12 smaller plates, a huge platter...anyways, lots of pieces. I also was able to get a curio cabinet that was always in her house. It didn't belong to her, she was keeping it for someone, but they didn't want it and I always thought it was hers, until recently when I found out! Now, the cabinet and all of the china is in my living room and I love it! It is Limoge and it was bought by her uncle. I can find the stamp of the place of manufacturing and on the internet it says that company's items was made between 1880 and 1920's or so. The story is that Grandma's uncle bought it to impress a girl, who he had invited over for dinner. He didn't marry her, but the dishes did stay in the family. She said it was around 100 years old, which seems to be the case as far as the "stamp" on the back. I can't find any pattern that matches what I have though, I spent a couple of hours looking. It's driving me crazy! I want to know what they are worth and am so curious! I need to take one piece to an antique store and see if I can find it in a book or something. Ben says sell them if they are worth a lot of money...which I thought about, but it would have to be LOT....I love them. But, I know that my grandparents would say if they are worth that much, sell them! Papa Doc was very practical like that!! Maybe I'll try to do that this weekend.

Hopefully, I'll be posting more this weekend...stay tuned!

Dating

     I'll pick up here with where I left off. Ben and I began dating June 21, 2002. He was in Richmond until around the middle of August and then he had to return to Dallas for school. Even though we knew when we started dating that it would be long distance, the actual reality didn't hit until he was about to leave. I can remember driving back from a day trip to Potomac Mills Mall with a friend and realizing that Ben would only be in town a few more weeks. I guess I hadn't thought about that when I said I'd date him!!
     Ben left and returned to school at Dallas Baptist University for his sophmore year. I started back at J.Sargeant Reynolds Community College full time and worked at MLC throughout the school year. We had daily phone conversations (I ended up getting my own cell phone! Imagine why?! haha!) and lots of IM chatting online. Oh the chatting we did. Ben's comuter used to save it and he printed it. We have over 500 pages of chat, with 3-columns to a page. It's insane. We talked about anything and everything from likes to dislikes, future plans, school, etc. We even used to watch tv together. We'd both watch the same show and talk to each other about it as we watched, sounds rediculous, but it was fun!
     When Ben was leaving Richmond, he wrote me a letter and in the letter (which I read in the airport) he basically said he thought he would marry me. Of course, as flattered, excited and scared out of my wits as I was, I wasn't sure how or if/when that would really happen! I figured we'd see each other before the year was out, but we didn't know when or how at that point. I knew he wanted to return to Richmond to work at MLC the next summer, but other then that, there was no "plan" in place for visits.
     Ben decided he was going to visit his family for Christmas in Peru that year and wanted me to join him. Around October, I had to make a decision. It was very tough for me to decide. On one hand, I wanted to go to Peru again (we left and didn't know we would not be returning), meet his family, and most of all just to see him! But, going to Peru meant Christmas without my family-which was a HUGE deal. I am extremely close to my family and agreeing to go meant that I would be "alone" for Christmas. Let's just say, it was quite a monumentous time in our relationship and a real test for us, not without arguments and disagreements. My parents wanted to be supportive of me and let me make my own decision. I had a very hard time bringing up the conversation, how do you do that? Oh, by the way, Mom and Dad-I want to go to Peru, with a guy, (who I haven't dated for even 6 months yet!) to meet his family and well spend Christmas with them. It's funny to think about now, but I was scared to death!! I was also talking about buying a car and I knew I needed money for that. (I did buy my car, 1999 Pontiac Sunfire)
     I ended up writing a letter, I think my mom still has it, which told them how I felt about Ben and that I did want to go. I said that I thought I would marry him and wanted to take the opportunity to go with him to meet his family, bla bla bla....and they didn't say no. They didn't really say "go" either, but it was "ok" if I wanted to go. I can remember my dad saying, "It's your money and your decision." So, I decided...I went. I spent $1,200 on my ticket and had a great time. Oh and we had been dating 6 months, on the day we met up in Miami, to fly to Peru, Dec. 21, 2002. Craziness!
     In February, I decided to go and check out DBU, to see if that might be where I wanted to continue my education, after J. Sarg. I went to check out the campus and met a lot of Ben's extended family. At this point, the thought of moving to Texas was very scary! I knew that I wasn't ready to move and what if we broke up? There I would be in Texas, with no one I knew and no boyfriend. When I returned home I was not convinced of going to DBU. I liked the campus, and I was serious about Ben, but I did not want to move yet.
     Little did I know that around March of that year, Ben decided to make a rather large purchase. You see, he was sure, very sure that he was serious about me. Very serious...serious enough to buy an engagement ring with the wedding band. We had talked about getting married, but we were 19 it seemed a little soon for me to "plan" on it. We had spent lots of time looking at rings online, discussing future plans, what we were going to do in life, etc. Never in a million years did I have a clue that he had a ring, in his posession!
     Fast forward to May of that year (2003) and Ben was to return to MLC for his second summer as an intern. I had been working there as a temp all year long. Around the time that he was supposed to come I received news that MLC would no longer be able to give me consistent hours or a regular job basically. I was heart-broken, not only because I knew I wouldn't see Ben much, but because I loved working with the teachers and getting to take care of the kids. Being an MK is a huge part of my life and I love being around MK's, even the little ones! I was able to volunteer though, so that's what I did. My grandfather, Papa Nathan said he would give me money for my car payment each month for the summer. This was such a huge blessing, in more ways then one. I needed to be busy that summer and every door was opened to allow me to do it.
     So began the second summer at MLC, I figured it would be like the last summer of busy days filled with rocking babies, watching toddlers on the playground, changing diapers, cleaning up from snacks and lunches. It was just as much fun, but that session I was placed in the 2nd and 3rd graders class. Not exactly what I expected, but I ended up loving it too. Now, I had no idea that Ben had an engagement ring up until this point. Soon after he arrived, someone told me that they, "saw my ring". I was very confused and asked what ring they were talking about, to my surprise I was told an engagement ring. I tried to block it out of my mind and not think about it! I thought that person must have been confused or teasing me or something that couldn't be true!

     On our 1-year-anniversary (June 21, 2003) Ben was taking me on a date. I had a horrible time getting ready, I couldn't find anything to wear and I was so frustrated. I ended up wearing a skirt (I never wore skirts) and we went to dinner at The Grapevine and then we were supposed to go see a movie. I was so nervous all through dinner that it was our 1-year-anniversary, he's going to propose, I know there's a ring, etc. (I had told him previously, please don't propose ever on the same "anniversary", I just didn't want that.) Well, he had made up his mind to drive me crazy...and he kept "pretending" he was going to ask me. I was hyper-sensitive to any movement that looked like bending down at this point, any time his hand went towards his pocket, etc. I was a wreck! So, on the way to the movies, in the car I said, "I have to tell you something". Of course, Ben is like well go ahead and then I said, "No, never mind."  He hates when I do this (do this day!) and so he tells me to go ahead and tell him. And so I try to beat around the bush and finally I just blurt out, "I know you have a ring!" I can't remember the look on his face, but I know that he wasn't happy that I knew. He wanted to know how I knew and who told me and I finally told him. He just kind of played it cool and said he wasn't proposing then and don't worry about it. We went to The Byrd movie theater and had a great rest of the night, without all that pressure!!

Next post....The Engagment!!

How it all began...

     I thought I would go back and document how Ben and I met and how our family began. Weird to say, family, that is what it is, but I still am adjusting to thinking of us as a family of 3, not a couple of 2! I know I'm a little behind, Tate is four months old already! So, let's travel back in time...way back, to 2000.
     When I was a junior in high school I had the opportunity to go to an MK Retreat in Bolivia. While I was there I met Ben briefly. He was dating a girl that I had known in Costa Rica. So, I met him that week.

BIG Sidenote: My family served as IMB missionaries in Peru and Chile. We left the US when I was 7 and returned when I was 16. A long story for another day! Ben also grew up as an MK, his family was in Bolivia and Peru (not at the same time we were though). They left the US when he was 4 and he returned when he was 17 for college. His parents are still IMB missionaries in Peru.

     Anyways, we meet and then go our separate ways. Fast forward a year or so to August 2001. My family had just moved to Richmond, VA. My dad took a job at the International Mission Board's home office. I had completed my senior year of high school in Arizona and that summer we moved to Richmond. I was able to attend the MK Re-Entry Retreat, which was in Louisianna that year. I was very excited to see my best friend, Jana, who I hadn't seen in a year. That was my main purpose in going, and I always loved getting to meet other MK's. Well, Ben was also there at that retreat. (See a pattern here?) We hung out some and talked. We were in the same small group for break-out sessions, and he rescued me off the zipline when I couldn't unhook my harness! We emailed and chatted a few times during the Fall semester of our Freshman year of college (2001-2002), but nothing more then that.
     During our second semester of our Freshman year, while talking over chat, I discovered that he was applying for an intern position at MLC (Missionary Learning Center). I didn't think much of it but we talked about the different people we knew of that lived in Richmond that we both knew. In April 2002, I got a job as a temp for MLC. By this point, Ben knew he was coming to work for the summer and I was excited to get to see him again and catch up. Ben arrived in May and began working in the Preschool building where I was. There were 5 interns that year and me. I was not considered an intern because I didn't live on campus, I lived at home.
     Ben and I spent lots of time talking and hanging out during the kids naptime and after school as well. It didn't take me long to realize that I liked him. He had an ex-girlfriend in town and was talking to her, so I didn't say anything to him at first about liking him. Eventually, it did come out that I did like him (in a chat conversation). He was surprised to say the least! After about 2 weeks he finally let me know that he did like me too.We officially started dating June 21, 2002, that was the day he let me know that he wanted to date me. He left to go to Dallas for July 4th on vacation to see his family. I picked him up from the airport when he got back and received my first kiss! Ben was my first and only boyfriend and obviously my first kiss.
     The rest of the summer we had a lot of fun hanging out and getting to know each other even better. One funny story is when we went on our "first date". I can't remember what our real first date was, I think it was actually dinner at TGIF and a movie, and we were seen by another intern. We didn't want it to be known that we were dating, because we weren't sure how it would be recieved by our bosses. So, only a few people in the Preschool building even knew we were dating. It took one of our bosses half the summer before they realized. One day, I was taking Ben into town (he didn't have his car his first summer) to deposit his paycheck. In return, he bought me dinner, and we went to Taco Bell. I had borrowed my dad's car because he was at MLC that day and when we returned to give my dad the keys, he looked at our cups and said to Ben, "cheap date!" We have laughed about it a lot, because it wasn't a date for us, but I guess it probably looked and seemed like it!

Here's our first official picture together...right before we started dating.
Well, there's the "how did you meet" part of the story.
Stay tuned for more!

It's been awhile

      It's been a busy week for me at school. Each time I wanted to sit down and write I was too tired to think!! I teach for the Elementary Intervention Programs for Henrico County Public Schools. Each week brings new students and daily challenges. This year, thankfully, I get to team teach with Courtney. This was a huge change and I love being able to work this way. It makes things so much safer and calmer with two adults in the classroom. The other huge change was that we got to move from both of our "tiny" classrooms, into a much larger one! It took us almost a week to sort out our things and find a "home" for each thing that we both had brought in. But, we finally did it!
     Last week, we added more students to our room and that changed our class dynamic in a huge way! Some days it's like popcorn, you get one child settled and they are being successful and then another one decides it's their turn to be challenging! Our students come from all the elementary schools in Henrico (45, I think) for various reasons. Usually because they are having a hard time making good choices in their classroom, whether that is following directions, being disrespectful, hitting or hurting another person, or flipping furniture. Because we never know what will happen on a day-to-day basis, it makes for an exciting job! Some days are more eventful then others, but each one is different.
     Yesterday I had to go home sick. My throat was hurting on Wednesday, and by Thursday I knew I was getting something. I was freezing all night long and when I woke up yesterday (Friday) morning and had a fever. I went in to get the kids work in order.  Each student comes to us with lesson plans from their teacher, which means 6 kids = 6 lesson plans! So, I went to get all of their things ready for the day. I felt terrible leaving, because Courtney is out of town, but I didn't want to stay and get everyone else sick!
     Ben took me to Patient First (where we waited for an hour) and if I wasn't sick before, I sure am now! I sounded like everyone in there! I have influenza they said, the flu. Yuck! Mom kept Tate all day yesterday and just came to pick her up this morning. I don't want her to get this, so she's off for a day of fun with the grandparents! Ben gets to take care of me!! I'm sure he's thrilled! = ) He did go get movies, Gatorade and a strawberry creamslush last night, so that was nice!
     I will probably do lots of blogging this weekend, since I have to lay low. I am hoping to do some posts about how this branch of the Brinkley's was established. (dating, engagment, wedding, etc.) We'll see how far I get!

4 months

     Well the week is almost over. I'm glad tomorrow is Friday and a weekend is on the way! I am ready for it! It has been an interesting week and it has seemed SO long!

   

      On Tuesday, Tate turned 4 months old. I can't believe she is getting so big! She has started sucking her thumb more and more. That really started last month. When she is happy and relaxed she will suck her thumb to settle herself down or fall asleep. When she is frustrated or crying she has a hard time finding her and holding her thumb in her mouth. So, she will usually just take her paci. She is staying awake more and more. Mama Sherry (my mom) is taking care of her when I'm at work. She is working on getting Tate into a sleeping schedule. She is taking longer naps, less often. She usually sleeps through the night, if she is swaddled.

     On Tuesday, my dad took Tate's 4-month pictures. We took them on my parents front porch with pumpkins, hay and fall flowers. She is so funny, she loves to smile and is was such a happy camper! We got some really cute pictures-as you can see below!

Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Tate

I figured out how to add pictures!

Next to conquer will be the videos!

These pictures were taken on Tate's 3-month birthday.

This one is my favorite right now!

 Tate and Mr. Bear

Sitting in her Bumbo

 All the grandkids in our family used this highchair/rocker and now Tate will!

I can't believe I am old enough to have a baby, and that she gets to use the same things I once did!

Tate and Brown Rabbit

                                                   

Saturday Stuff

I don't have much time to write, but I needed to post something! I am not being very good about updating already! Today is a rainy day here.
Mom and I (and Tate) went shopping this morning. A new Ross store opened in Short Pump and we wanted to go and check it out. It was really crowded and the lines were SO long that we put our stuff back and went down to Marshall's.
Tate got to ride in her stoller the "real" way for the first time! We were at Marshall's and she needed her diaper changed and they didn't have a changing station in the bathroom. It's amazing how many stores and places don't have those handy pull down changing stations! That needs to be a mandatory thing, like a handicap restroom!! What are you supposed to do if there isn't one? We used her stroller (thank goodness we had taken it in!) to change her. Then I just strapped her in and let her ride that way. That is the first time that she has gotten to ride like that (I think-unless she has done it at Mom's during the day). I know it is the first time in this stroller!
We had to replace our stroller (which meant the entire travel system) about 2 weeks ago. I acutally just switched brands and everything because I couldn't get another Eddie Bauer in a decent/neutral color! SO...we ended up with a Graco one that has browns, lime green and tans. I love the colors of the new one, and it's more compact. It also doesn't weigh as much. Anyways, Tate got to ride in her stroller in Marshall's.
Tate has started rolling over "on purpose" when you put her in her tummy. She always rolls to the left though! It's halarious! She did it 3 times last night on our bed. She also rolled (to the left!) in her bed 4 or 5 times this past week. She has also started to realize when other people pick her up or look at her, that she doesn't know. The looking is usually followed by a pouty lip and a screaming cry! I guess she thinks they are going to take her! It is so sad! Once she realizes they are "ok" people (I guess in her mind!) she will smile and talk to them. I think it's so funny that she already does this so young!
We moved her up officially yesterday to 5oz. bottles all the time. We had been giving her at least one 5 oz. bottle at night each day, but she needed to move up. I weighed her today and she is around 14lbs. as far as i can tell. I didn't think she would be that heavy, but she is! She has cute chunky legs!
I'll have to post some pictures-when I figure out how!!