Trust Me... I Have a Good Excuse!

Okay, so I haven't posted every week since the New Year.  I really really was going to.... but..... I do have a good excuse.  There was a little drama/ hysteria/ crying/ terror/ laughing/ crying again/ screaming/ dancing going on in the Gillespie house these past two weeks.  You wanna know what it is????? 
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We're having a BABY!!!!!

Ahhhh!!!  If you're surprised, you're not the only one!!  In fact, just this past Christmas, people were asking me, "When are you guys gonna have a little one?"  to which I would respond with a laugh, "Oh, it'll be a while!  We have stuff to do and places to see!" Or something like that.  Insert foot into mouth, because at the exact time I was saying this, I had a little peanut growing inside me.  Have you ever heard the saying, "If you want to hear God laugh tell him your plans"?  Well, that is pretty much the story of our lives right about now.

I noticed a few... ahem... symptoms of pregnancy a couple of weeks ago and started to freak out.  Chris kept telling me, you're crazy, there's no way you're pregnant!  So, finally after two weeks of this, I went to WalMart and bought a preganancy test. 

When I got home, I took the test and waited.  The whole time about to have a heart attack thinking about it.  After the longest 2 minutes of my life, I got up the courage to go look at it and... it was blank.  What the heck does that mean??????  So.... out came the instructions which said if it was blank then the test was void and to take another one.  So.... 2 minutes later.  POSITIVE!!  I screamed for Chris... I was shaking and crying and all he said was, "We have to get more tests."  A trip to WalMart and 6 tests later (yes, I said 6), and our final results were.

2- void (no results)

4- positive

I scheduled an appointment with the doctor to confirm the pregnancy.  The whole office thought it was a hoot that we had taken 6 tests.  After the 7th test came back positive at the doctor's office, it was confirmed. 

So what does this all mean?  Well, the first reaction was complete shock and terror.  After we settled down a bit, it has turned into excitement!  We're both 25 years old, we're plenty old enough :)  We've been married for 6 years this May, so we've had time by ourselves.  We're financially safe and have a home.  The only thing that's been holding us back is fear. 

I have a severe case of White Coat Syndrome (fear of doctors).  So every time I go to the doctor, my heart rate goes crazy and they look at me like I'm going to die.  Then I have to go into the whole thing about how I'm fine at home, it just goes crazy when I'm scared and I'm terrified of anything medical-related.  So, I am really scared about this.  But God made it happen and he'll take care of me and the baby.  I have to keep telling myself that. 

As soon as I can, I'll post about how we told our families... let's just say, we have some pretty great pictures!

- Brooke



Closed In

I'm back!  So far, so good on keeping up with my New Year's resolution of posting once a week.  Not doing so hot on the other resolutions.... you know, the ones about working out everyday..... eating right.... all that stuff that doesn't really matter anyways :)

Up until a few days ago, the side view of our house looked like this. Okay, it's not the greatest picture... at all... I hated that side of the house, so I always avoided it when taking pictures and then I forgot to take a before picture (I promise, I'm gettin' back in the groove).  But notice the two gaping holes in the side where garage doors should be.

After having a cat take up residence in our garage (no way it could go into the basement or upstairs, but still) we decided we had to get it closed in.  So we bought our garage doors and we were gonna wait a little while on the openers, but then Lowe's had them on a black Friday sale.  So off to Lowe's at 6:00am on black Friday we went. 

Chris didn't have to work the week following Christmas, so he worked on the garage doors and got them finished.  One day I came home from work and was greeted with this.

Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah (choir singing)...

There's still work that has to be done, the wood frame that you see will be covered in white trim so they'll look even more finished.  In addition to the garage doors, on this side of the house, we still have to build a retaining wall on the left side, clean up construction mess (and tires???) on the right.  We also need to hang a dusk to dawn light in the peak of the house. 

We have the wiring ready, but we can't find a light that we like.  One of these days we'll come across it.

Here's a few more shots of the beautiful garage doors (inside and out).

To me this change was drastic!  It may not seem that way to you, but after staring at those holes in the wall for so long, it feels good to have them closed in.  Plus, I get a remote for my door to keep in my car... who doesn't love remotes? :)

-Brooke

Christmas, New Years and Beyond!!

Merry Christmas!!!  Happy New Years!!  Yeah, I have a little catching up to do.  I haven't posted in a while and I missed it so much! In the last couple of months, I've been super focused on work.  Haven't had time for blogging, decorating, DIYing, or much time to breathe when I think about it.  But with a new year comes new goals and resolutions and one of my goals is to post on this here blog at least once a week.  Even if I'm super busy, I need to take the time to do something that I enjoy.  Sooooo..... here's my first post for 2012!

Since I didn't post at all during Christmas... and ahem...  I didn't even take one picture of my Christmas decorations... I should be ashamed... I wanted to show a few pictures of the fam during Christmas (I did remember to take pictures of them) :)

We spend Christmas Eve with my family.  We head to Charleston on the 23rd after work then spend the night and next day with my family.  Then we head home that night so we can wake up at our house on Christmas morning.

 

Here's my two favorite boys! Bray and Landon.

Sittin' on the ledge of the stairs waiting to open presents... I remember doing that when I was a kid :)

 

 

 

 Here's the whole crew (well, most of them)... I love the look on Mom's face... haha... she'll kill me later for posting this.

My Daddy :)

On Christmas morning we woke up at our house to open our presents to each other... I'll spare you the pictures of us in our PJs.  Chris got me a new humungo lens and a bunch of accessories (most of which I have no idea what they do) for my camera!  I'm so pumped about taking close-ups.  Oh, but I will share a picture of Mercedes.  We bought her a new squeaky toy which she wanted nothing to do with.  But later that morning, we looked out to see this.

This picture cracks me up!  That little red thing beside of her is her new toy.  I just imagine her scootin' over beside it and saying, "My name is Mercedes...so... how's it going..." Yeah, I regularly decide that I know what our dog is thinking.

Later that morning, we went to Chris' sister's house for breakfast.  After breakfast, Chris said he had one more surprise for me.  He took me to this beautiful hidden waterfall he found to try out my new camera stuff!  Sweetheart :)  We got some really great pics.

Then it was my turn to try out my new lens.

That evening we went to Chris' mom and dad's house to eat dinner and watch the kids open presents.  

We had a great Christmas filled with friends and family and celebrating the true reason for the season... the birth of Jesus.  I hope you had a great holiday with your loved ones.

Thanks for hangin' in there with me when the blog was non-existent.  I'll be back next week with another post, and let me tell you, we made a change to our house that has been VERY dramatic... at least I think so :)

- Brooke