My parents, Jenny Beth and Sydney...

Ryder eating cake in my hospital room...

Poor baby was so sick...

Granny and the kids...

Ryder loves his daddy...

Sydney Ann Scott; 8pds 2oz, 23 inches long...

Daddy bringing her out of the operating room...

Proud Daddy...

Our baby girl...

She was hooked up to a breathing machine, IV's and a feeding tube; maybe the scariest day of our lives...

Sydney is here....

Just wanted to let everyone know that we now have a baby girl! Sydney Ann was born Friday morning, 8pds 2 oz, 23 inches long and absolutely gorgeous. I ended up having a c-section and everything went very smoothly. Yall were so right about the recovery; I took a shower yesterday morning and am now able to walk downstairs by myself (don't need the wheelchair any longer). As for Sydney, she is doing really good, but has been in NICU the entire time. Long story short, they're not exactly sure what's going on but it has something to do with her respiratory system. She was requiring too much oxygen and they ended up putting her on a ventilator yesterday. Technically, it's breathing for her but they have assured us that it's different than an adult being on that type of machine. They said it's not as bad as it sounds. Originally, she was covered with an oxygen tent and we couldn't get a good look at her, but the ventilator at least allows us to touch her and see her entire body. For the past 48 hours, her CO2 and O2 levels have fluctuated instead of continously getting better, however I just came from NICU and they said that she had a really good night with steady improvements. The nurse said that they plan on feeding her this morning (for the first time) via a feeding tube. While she has done really well over the past 12 hours, they're still not exactly sure what the problem is, but are beginning to eliminate certain things. The cardiologist did an EKG last night and determined that her heart is fine, so we can check that off the list. It may be nothing more than she needed a little extra time to "bake" and her lungs just weren't mature enough. With that being said, we don't know how long she'll be here, but I should be released by Tuesday. Colt and I are doing really well and know that everything is going to be fine. Any daughter of ours is automatically going to be a stubborn little thing, so this is probably par for her course. Anyway, we just wanted yall to know what's going on and I will keep this updated with any news that we get. Pictures will come soon, I promise!!! Again, we're doing really well, but would appreciate your prayers. Give all your babies tons of hugs and kisses today and I'll post again soon!

The latest news....

I leave the room for 2 seconds and come back to find him stripped naked, digging through my purse

Just enjoying the view....

Just like daddy....



Well, only 4 more days and we will have two children. I'm scheduled at the hospital either for induction, or c-section on Friday morning. We were quite suprised that she has been breech for the last week. I'll have another sonogram on Thursday and that will determine what kind of delivery we'll have on Friday. I'm not looking forward to the idea of a c-section simply because of the recovery. Then again, I'm not too fond of the idea of having my stomach split open and organs temporarily removed from my body...all while I'm fully conscience. Either way, it will be fine and there's nothing I can do about it. I've said from day one that girls are TROUBLE and she's supporting this theory; already giving us problems :)

Only a few more things left to do in her room and I will post pictures. I know I've been saying that for weeks, but I really mean it this time. It was just a lot more work than what I had figured, but I have a tendency to get in way over my head with a lot of things. Thankfully, my wonderful friends threw us a shower (they totally went above and beyond and it was awesome) a couple weeks ago and that really finished out anything that we might need for the baby, so now we'll just sit and wait. We'll take lots of pictures of Miss Sydney and I'll get them posted over the next couple of weeks. Have a great week and keep us in your prayers.

Cystic Fibrosis Foundation

This is kind of random, but I've been meaning to write this blog for a while. For those of you that know Amy VanVranken, she has worked for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation since graduating from LCU. I have agreed to lead another team for the Great Strides Walk that will be next month on the LCU campus. It would be wonderful (for those that live here) to have several people volunteer to walk and raise some of their own money. However, if you can't walk, there are always financial pledges. I sent out an e-mail to several people and didn't get much of a response, so I thought I would try this way. If anyone is interested in donating at least $10, I would be very appreciative. I hate asking for money, volunteers, help and stuff like that, but I know this is for a very good cause. CF is a deadly disease; they are still working to find a cure and that is what your money would go towards. If you're interested, you can go to the website www.cff.org/great_strides and look up my name to donate directly. If you would rather pledge an amount to give next month, e-mail me and I will collect it over the next few weeks. My address is txbrowneyes99@yahoo.com
Yall are wonderful! Have a good week.

28 days left....

NBA, here I come...

Mama's boys...

Easter morning...

Hunting eggs...

Those are diapers on their heads; they make me laugh...

It's so hard to believe that I'm down to a few weeks. As I mentioned in the last post, I still have SO much to do. Hopefully the nursery will be completed by the end of this week and that will take care of a lot of my list. That just reminded me that I'v got to get our tax stuff together so that we can do that next week too. It's funny because we always used to file by the end of February, but that's because we would get a nice return. When you know you're going to pay, I guess you wait until the last minute.
Anyway, we had a great Easter. My parents and Colt's parents came to our house to watch the kids hunt eggs and celebrate Larissa's b-day. Ryder did really good collecting eggs until he realized they were full of candy. He refused to put them in the basket and left a trail of hershey kisses all over the yard because he opened every egg he could find. I didn't get any wonderful pictures because he was in "one of those" moods.
Not much to talk about other than leg cramps and swollen ankles and that's not very exciting...all in good time; I know!!!! Have a good week.

My Prince....

September 30, 2000...

Engagement Pics, June 2000...

Honeymoon in Puerto Vallarte...

Our first born son; Maverick...

Our family today; March 08...

I know, it's been awhile. This past month has really flown by, and I've come to the realization that we're having another child 6 weeks from today. It freaked me out because I realized all the things that I haven't done yet. I've been scrambling around trying to do things that should have been done 2 months ago. Colt and I are going to work in her room this weekend; there's a lot of sanding and painting to be done, but we're down to the wire. Anyway, other than being fat, I feel really good, but am SO ready for this to happen.
On another note, I was supposed to write this blog last month, but just got the pictures scanned in. A lot of people don't know much about Colt or how we met...so here goes!



I graduated Dec of 98 and moved to Dallas to teach in Garland. About that same time, Colt moved to Lubbock and was living with his sister, right across the street from Jason Copeland, Josh Bailey and Justin Brown. For the next few months, Jason was always telling me about "his buddy Colt", I said NO WAY, he's too young and I'm not hooking up with anybody that you would recommend. When school got out in June, I came home to visit and was on my way to see Jason and Josh who were across the street at Colt's house. I walked in (meeting him for the first time) to find him in his dirty work clothes, backwards baseball hat, eating supper on a TV tray. I immediately thought he's really cute, but he was rather preoccupied with his food. That night, several of us went to midnight rodeo, and he technically was there with someone else, but that's a long story :) I don't know what it was, but I decided that there was just something about him and I GENUINELY tried to stay away from him, but we ended up innocently dancing. This was a Thursday night in June of 99, he kissed me on Saturday, we decided to start dating the next week, he moved to Dallas in August, he proposed the next May of 2000 and we were married Sept of 2000. Talk about a whirlwind romance; it's hard to believe that we've been together 9 years this June. I can't think of anyone who thought it was a good idea that we got married. In fact, a few of my guy friends pulled him aside and gave him "a talk!" Everyone loved him, just not with me. I guess I should have been given a little more credit because here we are, 9 years, 2 dogs, 2 kids and several pounds later...happier than I would have EVER imagined. He truly is my best friend and we really do love each other more every day. All I need it a white picket fence and the fairytale would be complete.
So, there you have it; our story! These pictures are between 8 and 9 years old (except for the last one) and I never realized how skinny we both were. I love them dearly and wouldn't trade them for the world, but these damn babies have really screwed up my girlish figure!!!! Have a good week.