Wow, how my life has changed since the last time I posted. Bentley Grace Thornburg was born on September 22, 2011 at 10:05 am. She weighed 7 pounds 10 ounces and was 20.5 inches long. With one look at her beautiful face I was instantly in love. I will always be amazed and how intensely I loved her the first time I set eyes on her. She is absolutely perfect in every way possible. It is hard to believe that she is over a month old now. It already makes me sad to think about how fast time is flying by. I want it to slow down because I know she will only be this little for a very short time. I am soaking up every second I have with this baby. I am holding all I want, even though people are accusing me of spoiling her, because I know of all the years she will be my baby I will only have months to hold her like this. I love you so much Bentley!!

           I know that I haven’t blogged in months, so here is a very real, honest, eye opening blog about what has been going on in my life/head these days. I am now 21 days away from due date, and I promise I am very, very excited about meeting Bentley Grace for the first time. I have wondered who she will look like. Danson says she is going to look just like him… so we will soon find out. I have been so emotional the past two weeks. I told Danson I feel like there is an alien in my body and that I have no control over my emotions. Welcome to pregnancy, I guess. I’m sure Danson is so ready for me to have this baby too. I can’t tell you how many times in the past two weeks he has walked into a room only to find me sitting there with tears rolling down my cheeks for no reason. When he asks what’s wrong, all I can say is I don’t know.

            On top of the emotional roller coaster I am on right now, I also feel like the most insecure person in the world. Now, I have never been insecure before so this is all new to me. I have never put too much thought into my appearance before. Don’t get me wrong, I do like to look presentable, but I have never been one to spend 2 hours getting ready or a person who steps on the scale every morning. It is hard not to focus on your weight when you get weighed every week or two at the doctor. I tell Danson all the time that I am the size of a billboard. So, if you have any marketing to do just make me a shirt to wear, I promise you can’t miss me these days. I think one issue that I have is not knowing if, or how hard it is going to be to lose the weight once the baby comes. I also can’t tell you the last time I went to church and didn’t have at least two people comment on my weight or size… mostly older men. What makes an old man think he has the right to comment on a pregnant woman’s size is beyond me. Do they really think it is funny to me? Do they hear me talking about how pruney (sp?) they look or how their belly is just as big as mine, or the fact that they have no hair? I did tell one of the greeters the other day how I felt about it. As I am walking in the door, that he holding open for me, he says, “oh, let me back up so have enough room to get in.” I just looked at him and said, just wait until you are in the nursing home. I will not be organizing any trips to come see you. Luckily he thought I was joking, even though I really wasn’t.

            I will wrap things up by saying that I can’t wait until I feel normal again. I can’t wait until getting out of bed doesn’t take three minutes and I’m not getting up four times a night to pee. I can’t wait to be able to walk and not waddle and every piece of food I put in my mouth doesn’t give me heartburn. I can’t wait to be able to take this fat suit off. But, most all, I can’t wait to look Bentley Grace in the eye and tell her how much I love her and that I would have stayed pregnant for 9 more months if that’s what it took to have her as my precious daughter.

*** Nursery blog and pictures are coming soon. J  

The last couple of weekends have been pretty packed with a whole bunch of fun stuff. Weekend before last, on Saturday, I spent the day with Daniley and Brayden swimming. They both loved the water. Daniley looked like a little fish swimming around and Brayden loved his float.

Then on Sunday, Father's Day, Brayden had his baby dedication at First Baptist Church Columbiana. He looked so handsome and he did such a great job.



Giving Dad some love on Father's Day



This past weekend Danson and I took a very entertaining beach trip with his parents. Here are some of the pictures Danson took one night at sunset.

Danson also found him a new shirt while at the beach. I have to admit, he does look pretty dang cute in it. :-)



For those of you who that don't know Daniley Connell, our niece, you are missing out! She has a way of looking up at you with her beautiful blue eyes and asking for something in the sweetest, most angelic voice. Saying no to her is very hard, if not impossible to do. She spends every Monday night with Danson's Mawmaw, so every Monday night that is normally where you can find us. Last night while visiting, she asked if she could come to our house for a little while. Once we got home, she pretty much had the freedom to do whatever she wanted. At one point I walked into the nursery and she had the Johnny Jump Up attached to the rail of the crib and was in the process of climbing into it. I told Danson to keep an eye on her so I could get supper started. I was in the kitchen and I heard this, "Unc, you are doing such a good job. It looks so gorgeous!" I rounded the corner and this is what I found.



I think Bentley is going to have a pretty great Dad!!

Here is a little video, and once again I filmed it the wrong way. I promise I will get better at this.

I do realize that "video cameraing" is not a real word. LOL!!!

Fun on the Farm



One thing that Brayden loves to do when he comes to visit is go down and see the chickens. He crawls over to the door, bangs on it really loud, and says, “bock, bock!!” He continues to do this until we have loaded up in the stroller and have headed down that way. Once we get there, I park the stroller in front of the coupe and he happily sits there and watches the chickens. I think he could be content to sit there for an hour, but I don’t have that much patience.

Here is a little video of him talking to me and the chickens

Sorry. I can't figure out how to flip it. :-(

So, Danson and I are expecting our first child on September 21, 2011. It's a girl and her name will be Bentley. We haven't decided on a middle name yet and I'll let you know when we do. I have had a ton of things running through my mind since we found out it was a girl. I have never doubted the pregnancy for a minute, but it seems like it has taken on a whole new meaning now knowing what the sex is. The baby is not an "it" anymore, it is a "she". I have thought many things and prayed many prayers for Bentley. My main prayer has been, "Lord, please do not let her act like me. Please give her the gift of her daddy's soft, sweet, easy going personality. Allow her to develop his gentle spirit that hardly ever gets angry and never speaks a harsh word about anyone. I pray that she will develop his skill to manage money. I pray that you will mold her into the child of Yours that she is, and I pray that she will see You through the way her Dad and I live. I pray that we will be able to teach and show her how to surrender to Your love one day and I hope that she strives to become more and more like You...." I have also said numerous prayers concerning Danson and me. I pray that God will shape us into the parents that He would have us be. I have worried about so many things. I was caught so off guard by this pregnancy that I have had the feeling of not being ready pretty much the whole time. I have also realized that this pregnancy was in God's plan so therefore, He will make me/us ready. I have wondered if I will instill in Bentley what she will need to be successful in life and successful in her daily walk with Christ. Will I give her too much or too little? Will I discipline enough? Will she know that no matter what I will always love her? I have looked back on my childhood and the way I was raised. I remember getting things that I wanted, and going shopping for clothes before school started every year. I remember making out my Christmas list and then rushing into the living room to see what was under the Christmas tree. However, while those memories are wonderful, they are not the memories that really stand out. The fondest memories I have are times spent with just family. I remember when the blizzard came through in 1993 and we all had to sleep in the living room. It lasted for about a week, and every night a member of our family would tell a story while we were falling asleep. I remember the countless afternoons Mom, Bethany, Jordan and I would spend in the backyard playing baseball, and the time my Mom took the time to plan a scavenger hunt through out the whole 4-H club for me to find my birthday present - a bike. I can't tell you what color the bike was or if it had a horn, but I can tell you the fun my Sister and I had figuring out the clues to each spot and looking for the next clue card and then finally rounding the corner to see my Mom standing beside a bike with a huge bow on it.
So, I have decided that I will make mistakes with Bentley. I will do things the wrong way, I will say the wrong thing, and I will learn that just because she thinks her world is crumbling around her because of something her father or I have done, she will, despite what she thinks, live through it. I know that Danson is going to make a wonderful father and I know that I will make a great Mother. I know that Bentley will have more love from family that she will ever know what to do with. And I also know that God is preparing Danson and me for September 21, 2011 every single day. I can't wait to meet you Bentley!!

So, this last weekend was a rough one. If you've been reading my blog, you know that I got the "stomach virus" back in Feb. of this year. It was terrible!! Danson, Bethany, Mom, Meemaw, Pawpaw and me all came down with it within a 24 hour period. It was one of the worst ones I have ever had and it was the first one that Danson had ever experienced.

Well, Saturday was my nephew's first birthday party. I woke up Saturday and started to get ready and about half way through I started feeling really nauseated. I just assumed this was another lovely side affect to pregnancy and continued on with the process. I  got to the party and was feeling horrible. I was able to stay for about an hour before I knew that I had it again, the dreaded stomach virus. I drove home absolutely heart broken because I was having to miss Brayden's first birthday party. Actually, I am tearing up as I type this. The sickness lasted all day Sat. and then Sunday was Mother's day. I was very weak on Sunday but I was feeling much better. I was able to spend then day with my Mom and Grandmother's and even got to spend the afternoon with Danson's Mom and family. By the time we got home I was completely drained. Needless to say, I am praying that I don't get this a third time during this pregnancy. I'm sure Bentley was wondering what in the world was going on when I made my very frequent trips to the bathroom. :-)