Brianne Henry

What a whirlwind year this has been. One year ago tonight, we told our close friends here in KC that Cooper was on the way and had just told our families one week before on Christmas Eve. We were scared, excited, sick (oh wait, that was just me) and anxious for what the year would hold. And here we are, one year later. With a 5-month old Cooper-boy sleeping soundly in the his crib. This is the first year in five that Luke and I haven't hosted a New Year's Eve party. The first year we won't be up past midnight, in fact, I'll be lucky to make it to 10pm. But, I can honestly say, that really doesn't matter to me anymore. We are blessed beyond blessed with our little family of three. Even if it means no more late nights. Wait, we still have late nights....but it's a whole new meaning! I have a little black tin that holds an index card for each day of the year. On it, I (try) to write important things that happen. Then you can look back and see what you were doing ...

Remember when Christmas was at Grandma & Grandpa Wollerman's house? Remember how it was an all day event? It felt like we got there in the morning and it was dark when we got home! Remember how we never ate on time? Remember how you got really hungry, so you went in the kitchen? Remember how you made the mistake of asking when it would be time eat? Remember how you got shooed out of the kitchen? I think it was usually by Aunt Deb, but I could be  mistaken? :) Remember how we lined up youngest to oldest when we finally got to eat? Remember when I was towards the front of the line? Well, except for Jesse...she ALWAYS got to go before me... Remember how yummy the food was? Well, it still is. We are blessed with great cooks! Remember how we took up every room in the house to eat? I remember eating on the porch, always! Remember how I used to race to the entry to make sure I got some of Aunt Jodi's pudding dessert? I've tried to make it before, it's j...

I never quite realized Until I had a baby How much I missed my family Do I sound a little crazy? I didn't say I wanted to move I didn't say I wanted to go I am simply saying How much I miss them so Photos and FaceTime Are how we stay in touch And each time they see him they say, Wow, he's grown so much! My baby doesn't know What fun awaits him soon His family in Illinois Loves him to the moon! The holidays are coming And I am so excited to see Cooper give his gummy grin And their faces fill with glee. All his big cousins will love on him His aunts and uncles too What a lucky guy he is To be part of this great crew. Grandma Moe is usually Busy in the kitchen But she drops everything When Cooper's name is mentioned. When he gets a little bigger He will ask if he can stay At Grandma and Grandpa's Because they really know how to play! To the farm he will travel To see horses, donkeys and cows Cooper and Grandpa Mike Just mi...

Disclaimer: I am not here to complain about my job - although it may seem like that upon reading these first couple paragraphs. Most days I love my job! I am here to show you the difference between a lost person and a person who knows the complete forgiveness and grace of God.  This past Sunday, Pastor Michael preached about forgiveness. He challenged us to read a passage of Scripture and write a paragraph thanking God for His complete forgiveness. He also challenged us (read: me) with ACCEPTING the forgiveness God has given me. My sins are washed away, completely forgotten by God, never to be brought up again. How amazing is that? I spent Sunday going back to the morning's sermon and just being grateful for the fact that I have been forgiven AND that I can forgive others through the grace, mercy and forgiveness God has granted me. Fast forward to Monday morning. I don't want to go into too much detail here but, my place of employment needs Jesus. There is a Jesus-sized wh...

I wrote this on August 15 in a journal app I downloaded. I didn't realize it at the time, but after I went back and read it, I thought it needed to be shared. :) Today is...dealing with a fussy baby. Dealing with not knowing if you are doing an adequate job of feeding your child. Cleaning massive amounts of spit-up out of a car seat when you are running late for a doctor's appointment. Looking at your child and wondering how you could love anyone more. Feeling inadequate and scared because you have such a weight of responsibility to feed, clothe, nurture and rear this child. Forgetting that you are a child of God and therefore, are never inadequate. Forgetting that you just have to give it to God and He'll take care of it. Forgetting that you aren't doing this alone. Forgetting that God gave you this child...He obviously knows you would be the perfect mother for him. Forgetting that you have an amazing husband who is willing and wanting to help in any way possible...

Hello all! It's been a few weeks since my last post where I complained about being pregnant. No, I don't necessarily miss being pregnant...so I'm not eating my words as of yet! :) Mr. Cooper Patrick Henry made his entrance to the world on July 30, 2013 at 1:55pm. He weighed in at 7 pounds, 14 ounces and was 21 inches long. Here's the story if you care to listen... ...I chose to be induced. Yes, how selfish of me! I know that some people frown upon using Pitocin and think it's the devil but I had a good experience with it. When I headed into the hospital I was already 3 cm dilated and 80% effaced. I think since I was already making progress it made the whole Pitocin process easier on me. Anywho...we got to the hospital about 5:50am. I signed one paper, then was escorted to my room, handed a grown, told to take off all my clothes, put the grown on and get into bed. Well alrighty then, they don't mess around! Once that was accomplished, the nurse started my IV ...

Hello blog-land. It's been a while. Eighteen or so weeks to be exact. I'm not so good at keeping up with my blog. But, I shall try harder! It's currently 5:11am; I have been awake since before 3:30am; and am currently 38.5 weeks pregnant (gotta get that .5 in there!). My throat is burning - I have named the heartburn I deal with throatburn, because that is where it lives. My stomach is harder than well, something that's really hard - have you ever felt a contracting uterus - way weird!!! Don't get too excited, it's still just Braxton Hicks at this point, I think. I obviously have trouble sleeping - although this is the first night in a while. And I have to pee, again. Well, aren't I just a Debbie Downer? This post isn't meant to complain, it's meant to be real. And in being real, I will tell you that being this pregnant, well, it isn't all that great. Now, there are some who say, "I never felt better than when I was pregnant." They ...

Well friends, we are halfway there (in the pregnancy, that is!). I feel like I've been pregnant for a really long time and it's went really fast all at the same time. I know that time flies by, I think I have just forgotten what it's like to not have a kid kicking you most of the day from the inside! :) Halfway there! I keep thinking that once this (insert event, day, moment here) is past, life will stop being so busy. But no, it's really not. Between school stuff, church stuff, fun stuff and baby stuff we are just all over the place! I have been on Spring Break this week (whoo hoo!) and have spent the week packing up the house for our big move next weekend. We have hit a snag in the loan process (not our fault) so our closing may be getting pushed back a couple of days. However, we should still be able to move next weekend. I look forward to hanging things on the walls, organizing, painting and having a place to call our very own again! As far as the pregnan...

Well I think it's been almost a month since I have written anything. As usual, it's been a crazy busy month with lots of changes and excitement! The steps leading up to the front door First, after no snow last year, I had 4 snow days in a 7-day span. I'm not sure what the final amount of snow was but I believe it was around 12-17 inches. It's been a long, long time since I have seen that much snow! I enjoyed 4 days off work (and thankfully, I won't have to make up any of them at the end of the year) but it's nice to be back in routine. Hopefully spring is on it's way!!! Here's a few pictures of the giant amounts of snow we had. Luke's car - this is just after one snow, not both! In other news, we bought a house! Once we found out in December that we were having a baby, our desire to buy a house just kept growing (it was already there before!). We got with a guy we know well who also happens to be a realtor and started looking. We knew we...

Hello friends! Before I started writing, I thought it didn't have much to write about. Then, after thinking about it, I realized there are always updates to make to the blogger world. First of all, the pregnancy is progressing along quickly it seems. I'm currently 16 weeks. I actually head back to the doctor tomorrow. We'll get to hear that little heartbeat again! This Saturday, I am having an ultrasound at the Liberty Women's Clinic. This is our first peek at our little boy or girl (hopefully we can say for sure after Saturday!). I'm so excited to see that little baby wiggling around in there! I should be far enough along that we can find out the gender. If not, we have an ultrasound at our regular doctor March 5 and should definitely know then. We will be sharing the gender of the baby with everyone; but the name will be kept secret...mwah, ha, ha! That is, if we can keep our mouths shut! 15 Weeks. Apparently it's bigger this week...my students said toda...

Well friends, it's been a little over four super busy months since I have updated this blog. Our lives are SO busy! But one of my hopes is to keep this updated better. Maybe I should set a reminder in my phone? That's what I do for everything else! As many of you know, big changes are headed our way! Baby Henry is coming! Allow me to share the story... In August, Luke stopped working at Dick's and I started working at PRHS. At the end of August, I ran out of insurance and my school insurance didn't start until October 1. Of course, my yearly doctor's appointment just so happened to be in that range. I called to reschedule and they couldn't get me in again until the end of November. After doing some research (we'll see how reliable that was!), Luke and I decided to "go with the flow," if you will. My research suggested that it took over 60% of couples at least six months to get pregnant when they weren't using birth control. So, six months.....