Change is Good

 SO much has happened in the last few months. First and most important, the cute girl below turned two! I am not really sure how this happened but I can guarantee it is happening WAY too quickly.

                      This is how we spent her actual birthday. At In-N-Out. She is my kinda girl!

Two huge things are happening in the Kilpatrick family. After much thought and prayer, I have returned to school and I am pursuing a masters degree in education with an emphasis in adult education. Most days, I think I am crazy. But I am continually reminding myself that I wanted this. I have already completed four months and have about a year to go!

Our big news.....we are moving! I got job at the University of Phoenix, in Phoenix Arizona, as an Enrollment Advisor! The whole job process and prepping to move has been such a blessing. When we were out in Arizona for my interview Sean said, "it makes no sense for you to get this job and have us uproot our family. If you get this job, then for whatever reason, we need to be out in Arizona." And we must really need to be there because everything is falling into place so seamlessly. It really humbles me how our Father in Heaven is taking care of everything.

On New Years Day I told Sean, I have a feeling 2013 is going to be our year. And it definitely is.

FYI.....I'm "Perfect"

Life just seems to be slipping through my fingers. I tell myself that I want to keep this online journal and yet somehow laundry or dishes always wins the battle over blogging. But for some time now I've wanted to blog about why I initially stopped blogging for 10 months. There were many reasons after the first incident, but the first was big enough to make me almost walk away for good.

So, there is this person, I'm not even going to say if they are male or female or give any indication who this horrible person is. I know that is mean to say, but it's the truth. If you, horrible person, for some reason read this, then good, you know who you are.

Moving on......

So, this person, who I know, after months of them being rude to me, amongst other things, somehow found my blog. I do know that even though my facebook is private, I leave my blog address up so that others can learn about my adoption experiences. My post, over a year ago, where I talk about "C"'s 5th birthday, this person read that and decided to attack me about it on Facebook. The Facebook status went somewhere along the lines of, "Don't you hate when someone thinks they are so perfect, but then give their kid away, just so they can get married and have another kid and have a perfect life. That is so selfish."

Ummmm....excuse me....what? I'm a Christ like person now. I've turned my life around and I don't act the way I used too. But I've gotten in quite a few fights in my past and have a great right hook. I was so upset, I was ready to have a beat down! Placing "C" is something so special to me, and for this person to tarnish that because of their jealous issues just sent me over the edge. I had some of my amazing friends who had my back, but this person tried to play it off like their were getting information for a college class. My friends and I aren't stupid. And this person continued to say how selfish it was for this birth mom to give up their baby just so they could get married. Yes, I got married after I placed "C" and had another child. Should I have not? So, it was selfish of me to cry everyday for the first year? It was selfish that I wanted my birth son to have a mother AND a father at birth? It was selfish that I didn't want him raised by a father, who wouldn't have been there and who had been in and out of jail? Then golly......I guess I'm selfish.

What I soon realized, was that this person thought they found some dirt on me and were trying to make others agree that it was "selfish". Whats funny is....it's OBVIOUSLY no secret!! And no one agreed with this person!! And my wonderful and amazing friends brought my a HUGE bouquet of flowers to my house the next day and some In-N-Out. (yes my friends are amazing). I was still pretty upset and occasionally daydreamed of punching this person in the face, but I would just say a pray and try to ask our Father in Heaven for peace. And whats funny about this person saying that I think I'm perfect,  I want to pattern my life after the Saviors, and He is perfect. So, in a way, I was receiving a compliment from this person.

I do not regret the decision that I made. "C" is were he is suppose to be. And while I know that some people think they can tare me down by trying to tell me that I'm selfish and I think I'm perfect, well they can't. My decision to place "C" was 100% for him, not for me. And thank you person for thinking that I'm perfect and have the perfect life, because I do!! I have a wonderful and handsome husband and we are SOOO in love. I have a beautiful daughter, who is the light of my life. I have a handsome and well adjusted birth son, who saved my life and taught me about sacrifice. I have a great relationship with my Father in Heaven and with Jesus Christ. So, yes....my life is perfect....thanks for noticing! Again, just to clarify, no ones life is really perfect, but it's nice that someone noticed that I'm trying to be more Christ-like. (hehe)

After the dust settled and I finally got over being so upset, that thing called life got in my way again and that's why blogging has been sparse. But I've gotten over it and I really feel sorry for this person. They have a sad sad life. And it's a shame that instead of trying to build people up, they are trying to tare them down.

So, now you know the reason I intially stopped blogging. But I'm back now and I will continue to live my "perfect" and "selfish" life!

                                                 And for your viewing pleasure
                     My "perfect" family went to Disneyland! It was Brielle's first time!

Brielle; 18 months

Since Brielle will be 19 months on July 18th, I want to post about her cute 18 month self.


                                      These pictures were taken at the Santa Barbara Zoo

       Our sweet Brielle is growing so fast! She is the BUSIEST person I know. Literally, she does not stop moving unless she is eating, or sleeping. People must not believe us when we tell them, because we tell people how busy she is, and then they acted shocked when they see it in person. She makes me tired just watching her sometimes.

                                                             Brielle's 18 month stats:

* At her 18 month appointment, she weighed 23 lbs 14 oz (50%). Her height was 33 in (90%)
* Brielle is so tall that all her clothes fit kind of funny. Weight wise, she can still fit into 9-12 month clothes. Height wise, 18 month pants are high waters on her. Poor girl is going to have to deal with high waters for awhile. But we have been keeping her in a lot of dresses lately.
*She is SOOOO smart. Now, I know I'm her mom and all mom's say that, but seriously, this girl is a genius. At her 18 month appointment, the doctor asked how many words she knew. We guessed about 15. He was quite impressed and said that the average is 4 words for her age. We decided to count all her words after we left the doctor's office, and we counted almost 30!! The doctor would have never believed us, so I'm glad we guessed low. Now, she is close to 50 words!
* She loves to wave hi and bye to EVERY single person she sees. She is very social and my mom calls her Miss Congeniality.
*She has zero interest in T.V., which I definitely don't mind, but sometimes when I really need to get something done, I wish she was interested in some kiddy show. But nope.
* She loves to eat fruit. Blueberries, strawberries, pineapple, watermelon, are just a few of her favorites.
* We let Brielle have fruit snacks one day......that was a mistake. That's all she wanted to eat for the rest of the day. So, she only gets them on the rarest of occasions now.
* She is semi potty trained. When we see her start to push, we will say, "poo poo?". She will repeat the word poo poo and most of the time, she will hold it till we get into the bathroom. She also tells me when she has peed by saying "wet" and grabbing her diaper. We are not pushing potty training on her. We know she is still young and will get the hang of it soon.
* She still uses her binky. I was going to take it away at 18 months, but I decided not too. I try to do things in a loving and natural way with her, instead of just suddenly taking something she loves away. She mostly only uses it when she is tired and at night.
* She still nurses. I can't believe I still have milk!!! She stayed with my parents in Oxnard for 2 days. When they got back, she asked to nurse and I saw milk! I thought for sure I would dry up! The human body is an amazing thing! I am going to let her self wean. She asks for it less and less, so I know our nursing journey is getting closer to the end and that makes me kinda sad.
* She drinks almond milk instead of whole milk. I did a lot of research on this and the first few times she had whole milk, she threw it up. So, I talked to a few friends who had used almond milk instead of whole milk and decided that was the best for her.
* She has still only been sick once!! Yay for breast milk keeping babies healthy!
* She is getting hair! And it's curly! I love running my fingers through it.
* She will not let me put her hair in pig tails. She gets so mad when I try. But she will let me put bows and headbands on her.
* She loves shoes and you can often find her wearing my shoes or trying to put on her own.
* She loves to go for walks.
* She LOVES the ocean.
* She loves water and has had a great time at the water park.
* She loves other kids and gets so excited when she see's them.
* She likes to pretend to put on make-up like mommy.
* She has started the "mine" phase. Everything she touches is "mine".
* This girl is FEARLESS! She climbs on everything and jumps off everything. She gets so many bumps and bruises. She nearly gives me a heart attack every day. I just know that she will be my child that is always breaking something.
* When we say prayer, she will refuse to fold her arms until after the prayer. We are convinced that it's because she wants us to see her folding her arms.....silly girl.
* She finally started sleeping through the night about 1-2 months ago. I wasn't worried that it took her so long. It's something that each child learns on their own and it's a milestone that we are very grateful that she finally met.
* She loves to give kisses and hugs.
*She still has tiny feet for her age. Currently size 4.
* She loves books and likes to pretend to read them.
* Sometimes, to be silly, she will say "night night" and lay down and pretend to sleep wherever she is. I'm just glad she hasn't done this at the grocery store yet.
* She has all her teeth but her 2 year molars. BUT...the bottom 2 year molars are currently breaking through. I got all my teeth really early, so she takes after me.
* She is so beautiful and every where we go, people tell her how beautiful she is.
* She will not sit still to take a good picture. She is either making a funny face, like above, or staring blankly at the camera. But she really is the happiest little girl ever.

She makes Sean and I so happy. She truly is the light of our lives. And she brings so much joy and happiness to those around her.

All Is Well...a recap!

 Well, I'm back again! Life continues to be busy for us and I must admit that blogging is at the end of my "to do" list. But it is something I want to try and do because it's a good way for me to document our lives. So, since the last time I REALLY blogged was August of last year, I'm going to give a quick re-cap of our last 11 months.

                                          August 2011

Brielle was so fat and chubby at 8 months!! We loved it! I also celebrated my 28th birthday in August.

September 2011

One of my favorite people, Julie, retired in September. She was my social worker when I placed "C". She has been the most amazing counselor and friend for 5 years. I love her like another mother and I was seriously so sad to see her retire, but she deserves it!

I also started a really hard 5 week math course in September. It was intense and took ALL my time! I had no life for 5 weeks. But I passed with an 88%!!

October 2011

I was still in my math class in October but we did get to celebrate Brielle's first Halloween. She was a cute pumpkin and loved trick or treating (all 5 houses). She also took her first steps in October at 10 months old!

                                          November 2011

In November my class ended(YAY) and Sean and I celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary. Sean celebrated his 28th birthday in November. For his birthday I surprised him with Boise State (his favorite college team) football tickets. It is also my dad and brother Bens favorite team. Boise just happened to be playing San Diego State the weekend of his birthday, so it worked out perfect. We also had our pictures taken by the amazing Tracy at www.aprettypeople.blogspot.com/. She is seriously so good and a lot of fun!

December 2011

In December we celebrated Brielle's first birthday! We did a candy cane theme since it was a week before Christmas. She had fun but did not nap the whole day! So, she was pretty tired during her party. What was so special about her party, was Sean's dad and step mom coming, with Sean's other siblings. Since we've been married, we've never had everyone together so it was a real treat to have Sean's dad there.

We also had Christmas Eve with Sean's family at our house. Sean's mom, siblings (except Chanel...she was working), uncle, aunt, cousins, grandpa and my parents came. We had a really good time.

                 And Christmas day was on Sunday and we enjoyed a beautiful time at church.

January 2012

In January, we went to Carlsbad for a week with my parents. We took Brielle to Sea World again. She enjoyed it much more this time around. I also got bronchitis again in January.

Side note: If you wonder why I get sinus infections and bronchitis so much, we found out why!! Its my hypothyroidism! More on that in another post. Anyways, I had bronchitis for a month! So, I was not feeling that great in January.

February 2012

In February, Sean, Brielle and myself got in a pretty bad car accident. I don't want to go into the details of it because it was a pretty horrible experience, but long story short, someone hit us going 50 mph +. I was driving and Sean was in the back with Brielle. We were hit in the wheel well of the front of the car, which I later learned is pretty much what saved our lives because it's one of the best places to get hit, if there is a "best" place.  Sean and Brielle were fine, but Brielle did start throwing up soon after and Sean and my mom rushed her to the ER. But the doctor said the adranaline most likely made her sick to her stomach. I ended up breaking my sternum, from the air bag or seat belt, or both. I don't remember a whole lot. I am just barely now starting to get back to normal. I was out of work for 3 months. So, the bright side, I got to stay home with Brielle for 3 months! But I couldn't pick her up for a month. This is picture is me at a birthday party, sitting on the floor with Brielle. I pretty much had to live like that for awhile. I couldn't clean or pretty much do anything that involved me lifting or bending. So my dear husband pretty much did everything and was so great to me! I've been in physical therapy since February and I am currently still going. I still feel some pain if I bend over for too long or if I do something really strenuous, but my doctor said with time, that should go away.
Since our beloved 2008 Dodge Charger was totaled, we got a 2010 Chrysler 300. We love our new car and were very grateful to get another car so quickly.

                                              March 2012

In March I pretty much did nothing and just enjoyed my time with this sweet face. Her personality grew so much while I was home with her and I loved every second I had with her.

                                            April 2012

In April it was Easter time and Brielle looked SOOOO adorable in her easter dress. She did so great finding easter eggs. And she sure started talking up a storm during this time.

                                             May 2012

In May, I graduated with my bachelors degree!!!! FINALLY!!!! We went up to Logan Utah with my parents. It was so sureal that I had started there 10 years ago!! Those 10 years sure went fast. I am so happy that I stuck with it, even though I sometimes had to sacrifice fun things. I also went back to work....=(. I love my job but I love being with Brielle more.

On a sadder note, Sean's dear grandpa was diagnosed with liver cancer at the end of the month. They gave him 6 months to live, but he did not make it to the 6 month mark. He barely made it 4 more weeks.

Since we knew grandpa wouldn't make it much longer, we decided to have an early fathers day BBQ. It was great having everyone together and loving on grandpa. Him and I had a nice conversation before we left for the night. I knew it was most likely my last conversation with him (which it was). I thanked him for taking me in as his grand daughter, since I lost my grandpa's so long ago. I told him how much I loved him. He told me that he loved me and has always been proud of me. He then told me that my parents were some of the nicest people he had ever met. I am so happy that I had that conversation with him. It is something I will hold dear to me for the rest of my life.

                                               June 2012
June was busy busy, even though it was our month off. Sean and I decided that he wasn't going to look for another job during our month off. That way we could get projects down around the house. We started June off by heading to Newport Beach for a little vacation. We were only there a few days. Gloom June had set it, so we didn't make it to the beach to swim, but we enjoyed being together.

                       My baby is looking so grown up! This seriously happened over night!

Sean graduated University of Phoenix with his Associates. He did not want to make a big deal of this. And he didn't even want to walk at graudation because his main goal is the bachelors. But after talking it over, he decided it would be a nice milestone in his journey. I'm very proud of him!! Only 19 months to go till the bachelors! (But who's counting)

On June 6th, the day we came home from Newport, Grandpa passed away. He was home when he passed. Sean's mom, cousin and sister were with him. I seriously love this man so much and it makes me emotional just typing this. It has been hard to lose such a great man, but we know that we will see him again someday.

 Sean was a pallbearer and gave a beautiful eulogy. I had the honor and privledge of singing 2 songs. "How Great Thou Art" and "I Stand All Amazed."

We got season passes to the water park and Brielle LOVES it!! She is seriously obsessed with this place! She plays so hard and the second we get in the car, she's knocked out!

My birth mom and half brother came to visit for a few days. We had a nice time when they were here and enjoyed each others company. I seriously love adoption. I have so many people that love me and that I get to love back!

                                            July 2012

We just went back to work this last week, for summer school. A few days before we went back, Sean and I went with my parents to Oxnard. We stayed in this beach house. It was seriously amazing! Our own spa and BBQ. And it was 3 floors. We did not want to leave. While we were there, we took Brielle to the Santa Barbara Zoo (which I love way more than LA), and she was in heaven! All she kept saying was "Oooooo". It was very cute.

Our beach house

I took a lot of pictures at the zoo. And since I'm trying to keep this post short (yea right), here is a cute one of Brielle checking our the elephants.

Mr. and Mrs.

Brielle and I doing our best lion roar!

We put Brielle under the stairs for her naps at the beach house. She started taking her bottle under there and would go lay down and say "night night".

So as you can see, life has been a crazy adventure these last 11 months! Some wonderful things have happened (graduations, trips, family time) and some not so wonderful things, (illness, car accidents, death). But despite it all, "All is Well."