Bridgett's Diary Entries Diary Navigation: Choose A Diary Entry -------------------- Latest Entry: 7/2/08 -------------------- 10/22/07 7/19/07 4/21/07 3/13/07 2/20/07 1/6/07 10/25/06 9/6/06 8/28/06 7/25/06 7/12/06 6/26/06 6/14/06 6/5/06 -------------------- Bridgett's Introduction

A little more about life leading up to where were are today.....

June 5, 2006

I will start where I left off in my earlier intro with how we got to where we are today. But of course, I will also give a little recap of life now. Once again, I apologize to those of you who have been readers before and have already had to endure this, but who knows maybe I'll add a little tidbit I forgot to add before and you might learn something new about us. So, the Lord had given us a little surprise blessing, which might I add, I found out about at my new patient physical appointment with the Family Doctor. Let me just say here, Jimmy and I had talked about the possibility I might be pg because my period was a little late, but I never really thought I was. I know when you are going through alot of stress and things it is possible for that kind of thing to happen. In the last few weeks I had been through so much and been so stressed out, it was no wonder my body was messed up. I knew I had several of the symptoms and when I thought back, there was the one night about a week prior that I had finished dinner and was doing dishes when I all of a sudden out of the blue I went from feeling fine to feeling like I was just going to vomit for no reason. Plus, we had used birth control, and it had taken months for me to get pg the last two times, and my thoughts were "it just doesn't happen that easy with me". I don't know if any of you have ever had that "nearly fall off the chair thing" happen to you. Well, believe me, when I got the totally unexpected, nonchalant way she added in the fact that I was indeed pregnant, during our initial conversation, seriously the room seemed to start spinning and I felt as though I was in a dream, the words just kind of echoed around the room. Now that I think back to that day I realize how hilarious I must have looked as I sat there shocked trying to process what Dr. Little had just said to me. It was just so smooth the way she gave me the news. She had been questioning me about my new situation, the move,. marriage, etc. and was trying to be sure with me, before she gave me the news, that my new husband and I indeed had planned to have at least one child together or at least wanted another child. Then, just out of nowhere she just calmly expressed "well your pregnant"! It is a good thing my 4 1/2 yr old daughter didn't understand what the word pregnant meant, for she had been sitting on my lap during this conversation, but luckily she was also interested in the Doctor's stethoscope and a little preoccupied and not quite paying attention to the conversation going on over her head. You know, in a way this is kind of something I had always dreamed of happening. Excitedly, unexpectedly, caught off guard, being told I was pregnant, having to contain myself the rest of the day to go home and wait for my husband to come home to share the news. Oh, and as scary as it was going to be for both of us, I was so eager to tell my husband the awesome news. I spent all afternoon and into the evening (of course this was one of those days that Jimmy didn't get off work much later than he usually did) going about my regular responsibilities of unpacking, taking care of the kids and cooking dinner all while totally preoccupied with the thoughts of just how I was going to announce our news, I just wanted to have the perfect plan. Well, that perfect plan didn't happen as I had always dreamed it would, you know the quiet intimate candlelit moment I always pictured in my head, with the little note with the clue or something. Instead, Brianna was still sitting at the table picking at her food as she always did, when Jimmy finally got home (the boys had already finished their dinner and left the table) and I had waited to sit down to eat until he got home, partly because I was so nervous and excited I didn't fell like eating and the other part because I wanted to be able to sit down together with my husband for dinner and during our conversation about each others day, share the news. Well, little Miss Brianna could not keep quiet as usual. Jimmy and I had no more than gotten sat down and he had asked how my day was, when Brianna blurted out "I went to the Doctor with Mommy today when she had a check-up" I think a little suspecting and a little afraid to hear what I might say, Jimmy replied "you did" as he looked over at me. As he looked over at me I believe he asked something like how were things or did you find out anything, something like that, and then admitted he had forgotten I had had the appointment that day. I hesitated for a moment, still picturing that perfect moment of sharing the news, when I calmly said "Well, I'm pregnant." I think my husband nearly choked on his food, and after regaining his composure from the shock of what I had just said, he said "Really, you are?!" I tell you it wasn't the way I had always dreamed it would happen, but right then it was wonderful enough, when I looked into my husbands eyes and he had the hint of tears building up in them. All he could say was, WOW! Of course then we had to cover up the excitement and all the other emotions we were feeling and act as if there was nothing special going on so Brianna did not keep asking questions. It wasn't that we didn't want the kids to know, we just didn't want them to know for a while, until we had gone to the Doctor and found out everything should be ok. I had had a couple of scares with bleeding and some incompetent cervix issues with my other pregnancies and we had not planned for this pregnancy to happen and i had taken some allergy meds which on them said "do not take if pregnant or nursing", so I guess we just didn't want to get too many people looking forward to a pregnancy that might not be made to last. We want to wait until I want to the OBGYN the first time and made sure everything was at least the way it should be, and see that little heart for the first time and get the first trimester behind us, until we shared the news of the coming baby with a bunch of people. Plus waiting a while to share the news with the kids would give them a few more weeks time to get used to their new life before we threw in another coming change. The problems was, could my changing body keep the secret that long. As I knew oh so well, my belly grows very fast, and as Jimmy was seeing already, this time was not going to be any different. At only 5 weeks my belly was already starting to swell. Wow, here we were, married less than 2 months, still trying to unpack our lives, still getting used to being a family, still getting used to the town I was living in, and now everything thing is changing. I was no longer had time on my hands as far as getting that job, I had to find a job now not wait like the plan was. As I said I show quick and I know how people are when it come to hiring pregnant people, they don't like to do it because it means they just get started and have to take week off. The following evening my husband was talking with his sister and she was asking if I had started looking for a job yet. Jimmy told her no not really, but I would be starting soon. My SIL mentioned the fact that she had just gotten an e-mail earlier in the day stating there was a customer service position down in Charleston, at the main branch of her bank (she was in Columbia at the time), that if I was interested she would give me the information and tell me how to get an interview. Well, there was no time than the present. The next day I picked up the phone and called the number my SIL had given me and scheduled an appointment for an interview. To make a long story short, they loved me and even met my salary demand which figured out to be quite a bit more than the hourly rate they had planned to pay, and more than everyone else was making. Work went well, I was a quick study and learned much in a very short time. I loved my job and I loved my co-worker Elise and totally hated leaving when it was time for me to go on my maternity leave, especially since I knew I wasn't planning to come back, but I needed to leave because it was very painful sitting all day. Elise knew of my plans, she had figured it out, but I never did have to tell my manager because it ended up the we moved away before my extended time of leave (which we had already agreed upon before I took maternity leave) was up. I left work and and nearly two weeks later Asher was finally born.

It was a joyous time for us. Here we were a beautiful healthy baby, everyone was getting along great, and we were anticipating moving, in just a few short weeks, to the home we were having built near by. Our life suddenly came crashing down, or at least we thought it had when one:my ex just showed up on my doorstep out of the blue one day and two: the morning of what was supposed to be the closing on our newly built home, we got a call saying they were not going to sell us the home that the closing had been cancelled. The Lord prevailed as usual and after panicking over not getting our house and nearly becoming homeless with a baby and 3 other children (our landlords decided to extend our lease and not have another renter waiting to move in so they could finally do the work on the house that need done after we moved out) , a couple months later my husband was offered the job here in North Carolina. The job came at a good and bad time. We had finally found a home just near completion that we thought we could be happy with and only two days before we had signed a contract to buy it. Luckily things worked out and we were able to get out of our contract clean so we were able for my husband to take the NC job. Taking the job would be financially better for us, but it really put us in a rush. Schools here started a couple days before they did in SC so it meant a rush to find a place to live. My Mom and Grandma were down visiting the week we need to come to NC and find a home. One Sunday morning the end of July 2003 Jimmy and I and Asher made an early morning departure from the house and drove to Jacksonville. We had contacted a realtor and plans were made to look at several homes we had seen online. It ended up the first home we looked at ended up being the home we came back to last and at 9:30 that evening we sat in the Realty office signing a contract to by it. We drove home and the next morning we sat the kids down and told them what was going to be happening and showed them all the pictures we had taken of the unfinished house we were going to buy. They were not totally kept uniformed that there might be a change coming, but this was the confirmation it was going to happen, and happen quickly. Belive it or not all 3 of them were excited and asked a million questions. That day we began the packing process and the following week the kids and I headed to Jacksonville alone in order to get the kids signed up and ready to start school here. We arrived at the Middle school where Joshua would go around 2pm and got him all signed up then we drove to the elementary school just down the road to get the other two signed in. The final stop was the hotel that we would be staying in for the next few days while the kids went to school. We got dinner and made sure back packs were organized with all the necessary school supplies and baths were taken, clothes were layed out and everyone tried their best to get a good nights sleep for the day of unknown that was ahead. The week in the hotel really was a neat and fun adventure in making our transition to Jacksonville. Now that I can reflect back on it, I couldn't imagine a neater more fun way to make the move. It wasn't the best place to be for a 3 month old, and wasn't too fun for Mom either, but we made it through, and the older kids had had fun. Friday morning I met the builder and did a little inspection and was given the key to the house for us to be able to take possession when we got back in town Sunday morning. Friday afternoon Asher and loaded up the van and picked up the kids from school and headed back out of town only to get back and have to load up our things onto the U-Haul truck and make the trip back to Jax in just 24 hrs. Once again, it was chaos when we arrived at our new home, the excitement happened all over for the kids and getting them ready to go back to school the following morning was a chore. We had unpacked the essentials in order to have breakfast the following morning, set up beds and the rest was left for the next day. We did what we had to do in order for the kids to be able to make it to school the next day and that was about it other than unloading the truck, which by the time that was done everyone was exhausted. Monday morning we drove the kids to school and spent the rest of the day trying to make our new house a home as quickly as we could and we have so far spent the last almost 3 years still trying to do that and I think we are finally almost done. There of course have been trials and tribulations since we moved here but over all it has not been too bad.

Now a little about life now: The kids have a small network of friends here,  which each years gets changed around a bit due to  friends leaving because of their parents being in the Military. This year it is really bad on all of us, including me.The dearest friend I have here, the Mom I met right near the beginning of our move here, is leaving me. Her husband is getting stationed in Spain and in just a couple weeks she and my children's 3 friends will be leaving us. Our one next door neighbor that we have gotten pretty close to, and my oldest son ride to school, will also be leaving us in a couple of weeks. So, life is going to be a little shaken up for us for a bit, our friends are leaving us and Jimmy will also be leaving us for a few weeks for work all at the same time.Iguess it is a good thing all three of the older kids are being kept busy with baseball and softball and that also make s Asher and I also busy taking them and going to the games ( As if I already didn't have enought to keep me busy just playing the role of both parents). School is not even out yet, and before we know it, Summer will be over and hopefully we can make new friends in the mean time. Right now all three of the kids teams are doing great. Briannas team is undefeated, and basically winning by large margins. Both the boys teams were also undefeated until last Thursday night, they both had really close games, a one or two point difference and low scores, and they both lost.The kids have 4 more days of school left or at least the Elementary school kids do, Joshua doesn't have to go to school on Friday because he doesn't have an exam to take for day.

Well that is it for now, sorry for the long windedness, but I wanted to get caught up to here and now.

Until Next TIme......

God bless,   Bridgett and crew