Being okay....

Lately I've been faced with things that keep reminding me (or smacking me in the face with the fact) that there is a season for everything. I'm not a huge fan of change. Never have been. 
However, without change you have no growth, and who wants to be complacent? Not me. Without change you have no movement forward, and who wants to stay sitting still? Not me. 

 Ecclesiastes 3:1-9

1There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under heaven:

2a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,

3a time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to tear down and a time to build,

4a time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance,

5a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

6a time to search and a time to give up,

a time to keep and a time to throw away,

7a time to tear and a time to mend,

a time to be silent and a time to speak,

8a time to love and a time to hate,

a time for war: and a time for peace. 

11He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

 The part that I never ever remember is that change is God's plan. He's made everything beautiful IN ITS TIME! Wow!! So, even though people leave us, even though things hurt us and make us sad, there is always the knowledge that it will pass. A hard thing for me to realize and remember is that time doesn't stand still. When "bad" things happen to me I feel like I will be in the moment forever. But I'm told that there is a time for everything. That "this too shall pass". I wont stay in that moment forever. Whew! That's a relief. Why cant I remember that in the moment? Why cant I feel that relief then? Maybe cause I rebel against the change so much. I hope I can continue to learn that CHANGE IS GOOD. CHANGE IS OKAY. Its okay for things to happen, people to change, tears to come, loved ones to leave... it will always be made beautiful in its time! It will ALWAYS be made beautiful in its time! Always! Not sometimes but always.

It's a...

Yesterday was such an exciting day! Okay, well let me actually give you a little background and some truth. 

The Tuesday (6-5-12) we got back from Vermont I had an appointment for a sonogram to check and make sure everything was developing correctly and possibly be able to tell the gender! I was so excited. Nathanael decided to stay home with Lydia while my mom and I went to the appointment. I laid on the table as the technician looked around taking pictures and measurements. Everything checked out great. She then let me go to the bathroom (she was a saint I'm sure) and called my mom back to the room. We sat there waiting for the line... "It's a ______!!" She kept saying, "I don't see boy parts but sometimes its just so hard to tell. I will say that I THINK its a girl. I'm about 98% sure that its a girl but I wont give you 100%!" 
Well, anyone who knows me knows that didn't fly. I needed that 100% (Call me crazy, I don't care! :D) I went home to tell Nathanael. He was really excited but I kept dancing around the idea that we "knew" what we were having. When we went to my latest midwife appointment Nathanael and Hillary both told Kim (my midwife) what the technician said. She said, "Elysia, 98% is REALLY good! Stop calling the baby IT! Now lets listen to HER heartbeat!" 
Yeah, yeah. I still wanted that 100%. My mom said we could go to the moms-to-be spa and gender determining sonogram  place that I went with Lydia. I was so excited and made the appointment right away. 
I held out telling anyone really what the baby was. I kept saying, "we aren't 100%!" Even the few people that I did tell knew that it was a girl. 
So, yesterday we went to the spa place (its so nice there) and sure enough my baby girl was laying with her feet on her face (literally!! Just like her sissy!) and there was a VERY clear shot! The technician looked at me and said, "Its for sure a girl! 100%!!" 
 We had already planned a gender reveal party for after the appointment. I was very excited to get home and ice the inside of the cake with pink icing!! When everyone arrived I had them choose a mustache or some lips. Then I gathered all the mustaches, "Team Blue", together and took a picture and than did the same for "Team Pink". There were A LOT of people on "Team Blue". Sorry guys!! You'll have to take that up with Nathanael! :D Here are some pictures!!

The table

Cake

Which one did you pick?

Lots of people on team blue

Not so many people on Team pink.... and my brother just wanted to be right! :D

The party ended up being very nice! Everyone is excited! 

Cant wait to meet you Leonora Amelia Mae Brandt! :D Yep! Watch out were gonna have another LAMB! 

First Family Vacation

What a whirlwind five days we had!! So much fun! 

Last Wednesday we embarked on our first family journey! It was Lydia's (and the new baby's) first plane ride! We packed the car Tuesday night and headed off to begin our trip Wednesday morning. We arrived at Orlando airport and after paying their astronomical baggage fee (our bag was 15 pounds over the limit) we headed to our gate. Security went smoothly and so did check in. We even got our seats switched to have three instead of just two since our plane wasn't full. Our connecting flight was the tiniest plane I had ever flown on. It was a 50 passenger plane that wasnt full. SUPER tiny!!
 

One really awesome thing about flying and having kids is they let you board first! That rocked!! Lydia did great on the plane rides. This was the very first one shes ever flown on. She fell asleep shortly after take off and slept for all but ten minutes of the plane ride. WOOT! She LOVED looking out the window with her daddy. She was in awe of the clouds. 
We got to Connecticut around 6:30pm Wednesday night. 

Seeing Papa right after getting off the plane

Then we started our hour and a half drive to Vermont. It was a long day of travel but we were all excited to be there. When we got to the house Cindy was home and had made us a delicious dinner! Lydia stayed up until almost ten o clock (which is pretty unheard of from her. Shes usually in bed by 8:30pm at the latest.). 

 The next morning we decided to hike my dad's property. He has 42 acres on a mountain so it literally was a hike. It was awesome. 

Sherman

Waiting for the guys to start our hike

The start of the hiking trail

Bull frog

Salamander

Camp site

Honking Papa's nose

Chipmunk

Edge of dad's property

Clearing some limbs

 

Heart shaped hole in the leaf

After our hike and Lydia's nap, we decided to take Nathanael to Brattleboro, a cool little town that is about twenty minutes from dad. Dad actually works downtown there too.

Connecticut river

Hanging with Papa

Lydia and Papa

Bummed that it rained the day of the strolling so we couldnt go... There was even a cow named "Dairy Godmother"

Dad's store

Headed back to the car

After Brattleboro we headed back to Putney to rest up. Lydia got to play with her toys that Papa and Grammy had for her and we made dinner and waited for Cindy to get home!

 The next morning we got up and took the boys for a walk up dad's drive.

Heart stones

LL cool chop with her low pants

It was beautiful out!! Perfect weather... even a little chilly! Lydia loved it! 


It was time to rest after our morning walks and then we would get back to it!

Crazy hair!

 After a quick rest dad decided to take us to a gorge. It was absolutely beautiful!!

Hiking down

Pretty sure Lydia ate some moss off the rock.

So the lower bridge was washed out due to the bad storm they had to once we hiked down we had to turn around and hike back up!

Lydia's rock

 

 

Beautiful!

 After the gorge dad took us to this really cool mom and pop grocery store. It was cool to support an independent grocery store. 


We were all ready for a little more down time after the hike and shopping so we went home to play with some toys.

 Then is was time for dinner

She helped herself to my corn and green beans

Nathanael built us a beautiful fire that night

Lydia only tried getting the dog food once... and we caught it on camera!

This is the waterfall right outside my dad's front door

Eating cherries and grapes

Help daddy!

Sitting in the kitchen with Reuben

Playing with Grammy! Thats right my baby is putting the correct shape in the correct hole!!

 The last day we were in Vermont dad and Cindy took us to a place called Burlington. It was really neat. They had a jazz festival that we didnt even know was going on. We didnt get many pictures because we forgot the camera in the car but we did get one awesome one.

 Lydia got to meet a horse for the first time!! She wasnt too sure about Wispy but Wispy loved her!!

The last night we were in Vermont was pretty low key since our trip to Burlington was a long one and then meeting Wispy was a bit overwhelming. We really did have a fantastic visit. We got to relax, enjoy great weather, and see some beautiful places. 
 The next morning we started packing to head back to Florida. 

Lydia helping mommy pack!

She LOVED looking out the window!

Playing at the airport waiting for our connecting flight!

The last flight we were on was the biggest plane I had ever been on. It was HUGE, about 224 passengers, and it went SUPER fast. Despite taking off late we arrived on time to Orlando. They did end up leaving Lydia's car seat in Atlanta but they lent us one and then delivered ours the next day. We had a fantastic time on our first family vacation! Lydia did great on all four flights! Thank you to dad and Cindy for everything. It was a wonderful time and we are happy to be home! Hope you all enjoy the pictures! :D