My Lilly is walking!!

Well...not all the time, but she does when she wants to! She started last week taking a few steps here and there and now she will pull herself up to something and I'll look over and she is walking towards me laughing, like "what is this I am doing??" Asher on the other hand thinks it's all a big game. We will stand him up and try and get him to walk to one of us and he takes one step , maybe two and falls into our arms laughing. Lilly is so tiny, she really looks funny walking, almost like she just shouldn't be doing that yet! Another new thing we are trying is getting rid of the bottle, which I have just put off because I knew it wasn't gonna be easy. Lilly doesn't seem to mind when I hand her the sippy cup with milk in it, but Asher on the other hand is not happy about it at all! He takes the cup as soon as I give it to him, and throws it. I'll lay him back to try and make him at least taste what is in it, thinking if he knows it's the same as what is in his bottle, things will all be fine...but nope! he is refusing to drink it unless we put it in a bottle! So now what??? any suggestions? Just keep trying?? Should I put it in a bottle if he won't drink it or just stick with it and not switch back and forth? I'm thinking I should just keep offering the sippy and not switch back to the bottle, but I feel bad because he won't drink it. Anyway....let me know if ya'll have some good ideas!

Getting settled in Indiana...

Well, we are here! Still unpacking and getting things in order...but we live in Indiana now. Crazy. I think the babies are finally starting to realize this is home and we aren't just at some one else's house visiting. The first few nights trying to get them settled was rough...speaking of rough, let me just tell you how the move went! ...My sister and her husband came down to Smryna the Friday before we left to help us load up the truck, do last minute touch-ups/painting/repairs and cleaning. Well, even after all the work we had been doing, there was still soooo much to do. I have no idea why we thought we could get it all done before we headed out on Sat. but that was the plan. So we had Shelly, Tom, our friends Rob, Kyle, Joel and Anita all there, helping us load up the truck, clean, do repairs, etc. (I don't think I left anyone out, I'm sorry if I did....those two days were a bit hazy and overwhelming for me!) Thank the Lord for Joel...Mr. construction himself! He did tons to help us with repairs while his awesome wife Anita helped my sister and I clean, she even went back and vaccumed the house after we left! What awesome friends. Anyway....I was doing all of this while being sick of course, because that has been my year, I have stayed sick it seems like. So Friday night the house was empty, we slept on matresses on the floor, got up the next morning to finish cleaning, the guys were working on stuff outside and we didn't get out of there until 2:00pm! We were really rushing because we had people from the church here waiting on us to unload the truck when we arrived in Indiana which wasn't until 9pm. So Brad drove the big truck with the two dogs and Shelly and I hopped in the car, looking just like we had been cleaning for two days and drove my car with the two babies. Lilly pretty much cried off and on the whole 6 hour drive! We thought we were gonna go nuts! The girl wouldn't fall asleep, just cried and cried and cried unless I was feeding her cheerios. So the closer we got to Indiana the worse I started feeling. Waiting at the house for us were Brad's parents and about 20 people from the church! They had the truck unloaded and our beds set up and the crib set up in like 20 min. it was crazy. So in we walk, looking quite scary, I might say and having to meet all these people with no make up on, my hair a mess, sick and I might have even been in my pj's. I can't remember. All I could think about was going to bed because I knew I was getting worse. Thank you sooo much to everyone at Hope church for helping that night...it was such a huge blessing. So we finally got the babies to sleep after a rough couple of hours and we all crashed. Brad's parents spent the night with us and we were all gonna wake up and go to church the next morning. Well, I woke up a little earlier then planned, oh about 3am with a huge ear ache. It was all muffled sounding and just throbbing, so I woke Brad up and he got me a hot wash cloth to put over it and it just kept getting worse. All I could do was rock back and forth or pace the floor. I couldn't sit still, it just hurt too bad. So he wakes his mom up and tells her we may have to go to the emergency room (yes that is how bad it hurt!) We remembered that our insurance hasn't kicked in yet though....oops....so he went to a 24 hour CVS pharmacy and told the guy what the problem was and he gave Brad some sweet oil to put in my ear. Well that was a very strange feeling...anyway, soon after that I felt so much pressure in my ear and it hurt soooo bad I pretty much was whaling, so we got my jacket and shoes and I was trying to get myself up off the couch in between screams and then it happend....the absolute worse pain I have ever felt in my life....a big pop and lots of hurtin'! I knew my eardrum had just burst. It was strange though after it happend, it started feeling a little better, I couldn't hear out of it at all, which was scary, but It wasn't aching as bad. So we waited until the next day to go to a clinic because the pain had gotten much better. So Brad and his parents and the babies went to church while I stayed home in bed with a bleeding ear. I know that's gross, but that is what happened when I woke up that morning. After they got home Brad and I went to the clinic and sure enough , a hole in my eardrum, which happened because of the pressure of the sinus infection I had (and never got treated for :( ) So she put me on antibiotics and get this....oh it's not over yet....I was allergic to them! I am actually allergic to many, so it's hit or miss when I get put on one. So I just happened to be really allergic to this one! I woke up about 4 days into it and had broken out in this really red rash all over my chest, back, neck and FACE! Can you believe that! So there was my big fat welcome to Indiana! Sorry I know this is really long...but you had to get the whole story , right?! I'm sure I'm leaving stuff out that I had wanted to write, but I'll save it for another blog. Oh, about the rash, it's just now going away after what....2 weeks? So the babies are doing good, not crying anymore when we put them to bed like when we first got here, we love the house! It's nice and roomy, I'll post pics of it later, but for now here are some pics of our house in TN, didn't we all do a good job!!

Just 1.5 more days in TN...

Well, it's almost movin' time and boy have we been busy! Painting, painting and more painting as been our life for the last couple of weeks. We do most of it after the babies go to bed so that means late nights for mommy and daddy. It's been a tuff couple of weeks though, with two babies fighting colds and mommy, once again got sick, it's been a sick year for me and the babies! UGH! So while Brad worked and took care of the babies during the day, I rested to feel better so I could work at night. We still don't know if the house is going to be in tiptop shape to sell, but it will have to do. Brad has done so much work with so little rest. I really can't believe he is still standing. Getting up with the babies and letting me sleep a couple more hours, the pretty much working on stuff until 11pm to midnight. I sometimes sneak a nap in when the babies lay down, but there was so much to get done he really couldn't. We have had some friends and family help us pack and help us with yard work, etc. I have no clue what we would have done without their help so THANK YOU GUYS!! It's hard to believe we only have a couple of days left and it's looking like we may not get to say goodbye to everyone we wanted to. Hey if you are ever in the Indy area, look us up! We will miss our friends here in Nashville and will never forget the support and relationships we had here. Well....it's almost 9pm so let the painting of our bedroom begin! Here are a few farewell pics of the babes I took over the last couple of weeks. After the house is empty I'll take some pics and show ya what all we did! So long Nashville...

Happy Birthday Lilly and Asher!

The babies turned a year old on Jan. 11th! It was a fun day that we got to celebrate with my two sisters, mom, cousin and nephew. They got in on Thursday night about 11pm so the babies woke up Friday morning to a house full and were very excited about that! They had planned on coming one weekend in Jan. to help us pack and this weekend worked out perfect because of their birthday. Friday we spent shopping at Walmart for birthday presents and NEW CAR SEATS!! The babies are now facing forward and Asher is really likes it. He was getting to the point where he would cry every time we put him in his car seat, but now he seems to really like the new one and being able to have a different view. We all went to dinner Friday night at Demos' Steakhouse and then came home and gave the babies their cupcakes! We didn't really have a "party" for them, but thought we would have a little celebration since some of my family was there. As you can see in the pictures Asher loved it, Lilly hated it. She really got mad when we tried to put some of the cupcake in her mouth. Asher ate almost a whole cupcake and mommy was really scared he was going to wake up with a belly ache! He slept just fine the whole night, thank goodness. Saturday we woke up early and had breakfast, let the babies play with their new birthday toys and got to work. We got soooo much done. I don't know what Brad and I would have done without them coming to help. We thought we had a pretty good start on things until my family started cracking the whip! The babies took an unusual 3 hour nap that day as well, which was a total Godsend because we were able to work that whole time. Thank you so much Christy, mom, Becky, Shelly and Brennen for all you did! Here are a few pictures of the birthday babies!

A year of blessings...

It's hard to believe that it's 2008 and the babies first birthday is right around the corner. We waited so long for a baby and God had even bigger plans in store, 2 BABIES!!! Having Lilly and Asher in our lives has blessed us in so many ways. It was a huge change going from a family of two to an instant family of 4 but we survived and are happy to say finally thriving! Around this time last year I was laid up in a recliner with swollen feet bigger then you have ever seen wondering how on earth I was going to stay pregnant another day because I hurt so bad all over! I loved being pregnant up until that last month....ok maybe last 2 months! The babies are growing and getting such cute little personalities and sometimes not so cute! :) Brad and I feel like we have grown right along with them, learning so much more about being parents, about God and unconditional love. It has been an incredible year with them! Another huge blessing was our church family and small group that helped us so much after the babies were born. We had tons of people we didn't even know bring us food. It was a strange thing when all that food ran out and we had to start cooking again! So thank you if you brought us food, I may not have gotten the chance to tell you back then when things were still a little foggy! We will miss our church so much when we leave, all the great friends we have made there. We feel so at home at FBC but know that God has other plans for us. So here is to a new year and a new adventure for us in Indiana! We hope you all have a wonderful 2008!

Love

Amy

Tis' the season to be....fussy? falalalalalalala

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. We did in between all the fussing and crying from our little Christmas Diva! My goodness, who was this little baby! Asher wasn't exactly his smiling goofy self either, but not like Miss Priss! We went to my Aunt Debbie's house for a big family gathering to eat and open gifts from Santa. My mom is one of 7 brothers and sisters so our family is quite big. I think some one counted about 60 people! So we dressed the babies all up, Lilly in a fancy Christmas dress and Asher in khaki's and a sweater vest (hehe) excited for them to meet new family members and have their first experience of a big family Christmas. They didn't have an afternoon nap that day, first mistake! Lilly fell asleep on the ride there which was a whole 10 min. drive. My sister Shelly got her out of the car and I got Asher and in we went. The minute we walked in and some one else wanted to hold her the crying started. Anytime anyone talked to her or held her other then Shelly, she cried. Asher wasn't too sure about the new faces either. We are contributing it to being overwhelmed with the amount of people and teething?? Lilly is getting her whole top row of teeth in all at once. She usually loves people and lots of attention and will go to anyone that wants to hold her so needless to say Brad and I were scratching our heads. Daddy even went over to get her from Shelly and as soon as he did she started crying and gave her back to Shelly and she stopped! I looked at her and said "Lilly, that is not your mommy!", Shelly just laughed. Oh and she really hated sitting on Santa's lap to get her gift as you can see in the picture! They did love all their toys though and got better as the week went on. They must also be going thru some phase because as soon as we got home, they were both very excited to get back and see the dogs. So to all my family that was at Aunt Debbie's and saw our Little Christmas Diva in action, I'm so sorry she didn't want to be held and wasn't in the best mood. She is usually a sweet attention loving baby!

A bitter sweet announcement...

Hey friends and family...IT'S OFFICIAL! We have shared this possibility with most of you and have had lots of people praying for us regarding this, which we greatly appreciate and greatly needed! For about 5 months now we have been talking with the Pastor of Hope Church in Carmel Indiana (outside of Indianapolis) about bringing Brad on as the worship leader of the church. He has felt God calling him into this type of ministryfor a while now and we feel this is where He is leading us. We know that God is working all of this out in His perfect timing and He will continue to take care of all the details and things that need to be done to make this happen. We just received the official offer a couple of days ago which is why we were waiting to send out an email! The church is flexible, but would like to have us there pretty quickly if possible, around the 1st of February which means lots of work for us! We are going to start packing right away and try and clear out as much as possible to be able to have room to do some work that needs to be done to the house. It would be a huge blessing to have anyone willing to help us get the house in order in the month of January. I know this is a busy busy time of year for everyone and we are wondering ourselves just what God has in store for our house in such a short amount of time! If you have any free time in the month of January to help us out with various needs with the house, we would be so incredibly grateful for your willingness! Think of it as a going away present to us! hehe. Also, if you know of anyone that wants to buy or possibly rent a cute house in a convenient area please get the word out that we need to do this quickly! (Brad and I have said for years "if Smyrna would just get a Target, we would never have to leave", and wouldn't you know it, they are opening one soon!) Maybe you know a young married couple living in an apartment that is thinking of buying a house or a small family or single person. It has 3 bedrooms and two baths and a fenced in backyard!! It has been a great little house for us. Again, we have no idea what God's plans are for this house, but we are trusting in Him to work out the details of that so we are trying not to stress over it. About the church in Indiana...It's a smaller church of about 200-250 people located on the outskirts of Carmel Indiana which is a very nice, cute little town. The Pastor is great! We clicked with him right away and felt at home. We visited the church last in October and Brad led worship for Sunday morning service and received lots of positive welcoming feedback. We are excited to be a part of this ministryand Brad already has ideas of what He would like to bring to the church. The church is providing a house for us as well which is right around the corner so Brad could even walk to work! We are excited about and ready for the change God has in store for us. The house is 20-25 miles away from all of my family, which means babysitters whenever we want! haha. It will also put us about 3.5 to 4 hours away from Brad's parents instead of the current 9 hours. We are sad to be leaving Nashville and leaving our friends we have here, but at the same time we are excited. Please continue to keep us in your prayers and let us know if you would like to help us out in anyway with fixing up the house! Oh and remember to let everyone know it's for sale or possibly rent?? We will miss all of you and I'm sure we'll be back to visit as often as we can.

With much love,

Brad, Amy, Lilly and Asher

My favorite childhood memories...

The smell of Strawberry Shortcakes dolls.
Eating spaghettios.
Riding in the basket on my grandma Lois' bike while she peddled us up to the store.
Watching my grandma Daisy "put on her face" (makeup!) at the kitchen table with her big lighted mirror.
Watching my grandpa Spanky make his Christmas cookies.
Singing to Olivia Newton-John albums at the top of my lungs with my friend Jenny.
Thinking I could dance exactly like Michael Jackson.
Spending the weekends at my grandma Daisy's campground with my cousins.
Slumber parties.
Staying home sick from school at my grandma Lois' and watching the price is right with her.
Riding my bike everywhere.
Spending as much time as I could at our small town roller skating rink with Lisa and Jessica and we were some good skaters! It makes me sad that it isn't there anymore...
Going to Kings Island amusement park every summer.
Learning how to ride a bike and crashing into a big oak tree. (The big scar on the top of my foot is a good reminder!)
Watching my older sisters fix their hair and put makeup on and thinking they were so cool!
Spending the night with my cousin Carrie.
How no matter where we lived, even if it wasn't very nice looking on the outside, my mom could make it look so good on the inside.

Tis' the season...

This picture was taken last week....happy healthy babies....this week...not so much! My poor babies have a stomach virus. It started with Lilly two days ago. She woke up at 3am and had gotten sick all over her bed. I cleaned her up, changed her and put her in bed with us and Brad and I spent the rest of the night sitting her up to get sick in a little pan he kept on his night stand :( I could always tell when she was getting ready to be sick because she would start crying right before. The next day she acted a little better, only getting sick two more times and drinking half of her bottles at each feeding, she didn't want food at all. Asher peacefully slept thru all of this both at night time and for naps...until this morning. He was acting just fine so I gave them both a bottle, Lilly drank half again and Asher gulped his down fast as usual, then I heard something and looked and up it all came! He was covered, the floor was covered, it was coming out of his nose...poor guy! I was being so careful not to feed them from the same spoons, dishes, etc....but he still got it. So that was Asher's day today...he spent the day getting sick and rocking with mommy. He was able to keep the last bottle and some oatmeal down. Lilly didn't get sick today but is still not quite acting like herself and doesn't want to eat still. Oh and it's not over....the little angels passed their little virus on to daddy so he has been in bed all day today as well with the same virus. Mommy hasn't gotten it .....yet, but is battling a different virus with a sore throat and coughing. Anyway.....lift up a little prayer for the Beckey home!

A little late getting this post up...

A couple of weeks ago Brad's mom flew in from Michigan to visit us and the babies. It was a great visit and we are so glad she was able to come! The weekend she came was the same weekend our church was having a fall festival so we went to that and had a nice relaxing day. It was so perfect outside, sunny and not too cold. We let the babies pet some of the animals in the petting zoo and we ate hot dogs and cupcakes! I don't know why hot dogs always taste so good at events like that?? Sunday before she left she was also able to go with us when we got the babies 9 month pictures taken by my friend Alison Bynum. It was a great weekend for her to come and we loved having her, come again soon Grandma Chris!! (as you can see in the picture, Lilly did not like the feel of the straw she was sitting on!)

Fun Facts About Me, Lilly!!

I turned 10 months 4 days ago.

I have 3 names, Lilly Emma Daisy (my mommy and daddy couldn't decide between Lilly and Emma for my first name) and Daisy is after my mommy's grandma. Some people in my family call me lil' daisy :)

I fractured my leg when I was 9 months old.

I am a daddy's girl.

I can hum and dance to my toys that play music.

I can give kisses but only when I want to.

I am learning how to clap.

I don't like table food at all!

I am learning to drink from a sippy cup (and getting better then my bubby!)

I have two teeth.

I LOVE books!

I can't crawl yet so I just roll around everywhere.

I am learning how to throw little fits so I get mommy and daddy's attention faster!

I squeal and get excited every time mommy vacuums the floor.

I love my blankie.

I sleep thru the night too and love taking naps with mommy when she lets me.

I have tiny feet.

I look like my daddy.

My nickname is Lillybug.

Fun Facts about me, Asher...

I turned 10 months old 2 days ago.

I have 3 names, Asher James Vincent. James is my dad's grandpa (his mommy's dad) and Vincent is my dad's other grandpa (his daddy's dad).

I am finally getting my first tooth!

I cry when I see my bottle coming even though I know my mommy is going to give it right to me.

I have big feet so mommy and daddy call me a hobbit.

I can crawl now.

I am eating some table food and I love it!

I am learning to drink from a sippy cup.

I am a giggle box.

I sometimes need to be cuddled for a few minutes after I wake up from a nap before mommy puts me down to play.

I sleep thru the night and usually take pretty good naps, which I have heard mommy say she loves!

When I was first born people said I looked like daddy, now they say I look like mommy.

I am two and a half inches taller then my sissy and two pounds heavier!

My nickname is monkey boy.

getting BIG!!

The twins will be 10 months old in just a couple of days! I can't believe in a couple of months we'll be having their 1st birthday party. They are sweeter and cuter then ever. We are so happy to have them in our lives and couldn't imagine it any other way now. Asher boy is crawling now and man is he fast! He can crawl the normal way but most of the time chooses to get around using the "army crawl". You can just look at him and most of the time he will give you a big goofy grin with a crinkled up nose. He has also learned to sit himself back up from a crawling position and is quickly discovering that everything else in the living room is more interesting then his toys! He loves food, including table food and is now trying to master picking tiny pieces up with his fingers and putting it in his mouth. For not having any teeth, he sure can chew pretty good! Little miss Lilly is taking her sweet time on the crawling thing. She hasn't even attempted to get up on her hands and knees and rock back and forth like Ash did for a while. She is fine with sitting up and playing with her toys and occasionally rolling to get to where she wants to go. She doesn't like table food AT ALL!!! As a matter of fact the couple of times we have given her tiny bites, she has proceeded to gag so much that she ends up throwing up! She has learned to shake her head back and forth really fast if you are trying to do something to her that she doesn't like (suction her snotty nose, put a piece of food in her mouth, give her kisses!) so it makes it really hard for you to accomplish it. Her leg is all better, praise God, and the Dr. said she should be just fine from now on. She squeals when she gets excited and is always quick to give away smiles to anyone that talks to her. What fun babies....