September 2011 Update

Fall is almost here! I am always ready for fall. It’s my favorite time of year. When we lived inAlbuquerque, I loved the smells and sights of fall. Living here in Maricopa, I just look forward to the temperature getting below 100 degrees!

Ashlynn is now 7 months old. She is just getting to be too big! She loves to play with her toys and talk to anyone who’ll listen. She says, “Mama and Dada.” Then she babbles on like you know exactly what she’s saying. It’s so cute, if I do say so myself! Ashlynn loves to lay on the floor and play with her toys. She likes to be on her tummy and will crawl in circles to get all her toys. She has yet to move forward. I so want her to crawl like a normal baby since my other two didn’t ever crawl. I’m determined to have one crawler! Ashlynn is all around a wonderful baby and I’m so thankful that God gave her to us to raise!

Brittany has the best news to share! Last night she decided to give her heart to Jesus. As part of our bedtime routine we read the kids a Bible story and they learn a Bible verse. We have a children’s Bible and just read one story every night. We have read it so much that it is literally falling apart! Last night we were on the story of when the Holy Spirit comes on the Day of Pentecost. We have talked to the kids about the Trinity before and have told them that if they ask Jesus in their heart, they will get to live in Heaven forever when they die. Brittany and Logan have seemed interested, but neither of them have ever gone beyond that. Last night I was at a church function (MOPS) so Brett did the bedtime routine. (He usually reads the story and we both discuss it together.) Brett told them again about the Trinity, and this time Brittanytold him that she wanted to ask Jesus in her heart. He led her in the prayer and told me about it when I got home. I admit that I was extremely disappointed that I was not there to share in that life changing moment, but on the other hand, I am so happy that her Daddy got to lead her to salvation! She has a special bond with him as it is, and this event makes it that much more special!

Logan is a great brother! His sisters are so blessed to have him for their sibling. I have seen a definite difference in him lately. I was watching him put together a floor puzzle. Usually when he does puzzles and can’t figure out where a piece goes, he gets mad, throws the piece down, and starts crying. This time when that happened, he just put it down and got another piece. He never seemed frustrated. I was so proud that he persevered and he made me realize just how big and mature he is getting!

Brett and I are doing well. We are waiting to see what God has in store for us in the next year. As you may know, we are trying to move to Austin next year. Brett is trying to get a job out there, but we have just put it all in God’s hands. If God can better use us here, then we are so willing to stay. However, I know that someday we will be given the desires of our heart, and we will be able to live close to our family. We just want to do things in God’s timing, not ours!

Thanks for reading our update! We love you all!

Love,

Brett, Cherise, Brittany, Logan, and Ashlynn

Ashlynn loves the camera

We went to a water park. The kids loved it!

Ashlynn loves to eat!

Brett and the kids love playing together!

Our Summer Fun

Hello all!

I know it’s been awhile since my last update. Things have been so busy around here. I suppose you can expect that when you have a family! Since my last update Brittany turned 4, we saw our family in NM and met up with Brett’s family in CO, and Brittany and Logan started preschool.

Brittany turned 4 in July. We had a small party for her and Brett and I made her a princess castle cake. It came out pretty good, but I could have done better if I had more time and access to stores. She loved it and that’s all that matters. Brittany is still very much into princesses!

Logan is well, all boy! He has recently gotten into Superman. It’s funny how kids just naturally gravitate toward certain things. Our friends gave us a Superman costume, and he wears it all the time. We also bought some Superman cartoons. Both Brittany and Logan enjoy watching them, except they only like the parts with Superman, not Clark Kent or Lois Lane. They also dislike the villains. It makes it quite difficult to watch a superhero show without the villains and the alter ego.

Ashlynn is growing up so fast! She is already six months old. She can sit by herself and loves to watch Brittany and Logan play. I know she can’t wait to join in the fun. She has started eating baby food (a few months ago!), and loves the meat or fruits. She isn’t as fond of the plain veggies. Brett says it’s because she’s his daughter! We finally made it to our community pool to swim for the first time this summer. It was a first for Ashlynn, but you’d think she was part fish from the way she was acting – she loved it! She was kicking and squealing so much I almost lost my grip on her a few times. Brittany and Logan also had fun. It’s nice when the water is above 85°F!

We had a great time visiting with our family in NM and CO. We were only able to stay in Albuquerque for a day, but we were able to see most of the family. My cousin had a baby a day before we had Ashlynn. We were able to see them while we were in Albuquerque. It was neat to see how different they were even though they are the same age. Lorelai was almost crawling and would roll around to get toys. Ashlynn on the other hand just lays there. I hope they grow up to be good friends!

Our visit to CO was so much fun! There are tons of things for kids to do at the place where Brett’s parents stay. We took all three kids on the paddleboats. They loved them and asked to go back every day. Brett took Brittany and Logan fishing a couple of days. They have a guarantee catch lake there. They were so happy when they finally caught one, but then were a bit traumatized when they learned they were going to eat their fish. We took the fish to the guy to gut and the kids suddenly were all excited to eat them. The kids loved going on walks and they ask to go back all the time!

Brittany and Logan have started preschool. Brittany went there last year, and Logan is so happy to get to go too! I just can’t believe they are old enough to be in preschool. Although I do have to admit that it’s nice to have a couple of mornings with just Ashlynn. I do find myself wondering what to do with my time! I’m sure I’ll figure it out very soon!

Things are going really good! Brett is working on getting a job in Austin. He has talked to a guy but he hasn’t gotten an actual job offer yet. We really want to move closer to family, but we’ll just have to wait and see what God has in store for us!

I hope you all have had a great summer!

Love,

Brett, Cherise, Brittany, Logan, and Ashlynn

In Colorado

Fishing

"Which fish do you want to catch?"

My 3 cuties!

Ashlynn couldn't stay awake any longer!

Hey everyone!

I can’t believe it’s already the end of May! Things have been so busy around here, as usual! But busy in a good way! This month we celebrated Brett’s 29^th birthday and Logan’s 3^rd birthday.

Ashlynn is now (almost) 4 months old! She will be 4mos on the 27^th! I can’t believe my last baby is so old already! She is such a wonderful baby! She is really good at sitting up with help. She loves to be up high where she can see everything that goes on. She is such a people person! Her absolute favorite thing to do is look at you and talk! She will smile really big and coo at you for as long as you’ll sit and talk to her. I can definitely tell she has Waterbury blood in her. She loves music and will “sing” when she hears music. Ashlynn just loves life in general! She is easy going and goes with the flow really well! I know that this is probably her just smiling because Brett was talking to her, but it’s still a cute story. One day when Brett was talking to Ashlynn, he asked her, “Do you love Angie?” When he said that she got this knowing smile on her face. Then he asked if she loved Brittany, Logan, Mommy, and Daddy. Each time she had the same face. It was so cute and the only time she’s ever done that particular face. Ashlynn loves to play with toys that she can make do something. Her favorite toy is this duck toy that is actually for crawling babies. The ducks spin around and the toy rolls. She loves to make the ducks spin and watch them go round and round. It’s so fun to watch her play!

Logan turned 3 this month. It’s hard to believe that he is 3! We currently have 2 children who are 3 years old in our house. Logan thinks it’s so cool that he is 3 like Brittany! If you ask him how old he is he says, “I three like Bitany.” He is such a fun little boy. He loves to play with his sisters and make them laugh. He definitely knows how to make people laugh. Brett and I joke that he is the next Tim Hawkins. For his birthday we had a Cars theme. We ended up just inviting 2 families over for dinner and cake. It was nice to have a low key party for once! Brett and I made Logan a race track Cars cake. It came out pretty good, if I do say so myself! I had this idea in my head, and realized that the cake I had in my head was about twice the size of the cake we actually made. Needless to say, I had to nix some of my ideas. Now it’s time to start planning Brittany’s cake. I have a month and a half until her birthday and she wants a princess castle cake. Brett, Brittany, and Logan always go into Brittany’s room and “talk” each night before bed. I am not allowed in there. It’s a time for just the three of them. Apparently at the moment they don’t actually talk, they do shadow puppets on the wall. I figured out what they did in Brittany’s room when one day Logan was doing puppets with his hands. He had his index finger and thumb talking. He used both hands and one had a high voice and one had a low voice and they took turns saying, “Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello.” I cracked up and had no idea where he got that until I told Brett about it and he told me about doing shadow puppets with the kids.

Brittany graduated from preschool, for the first time this month. It was fun to see what they have worked on all year! She did much better singing and performing this time. We think that she did so bad at Christmas because she was just having a really bad day. Brittany loves school and loves her pre-school teacher. My goal for her this summer is to teach her to read. She is so ready for that. I bought her some little reader books and we started on the first one. She is doing really well so far. I got the first book out and read it with Brittany. When we were finished, I put the book away, and Logan came up to me and wanted to read the book too. Apparently I’ll be teaching him to read this summer too! Brittany loves to dance and sing. She is always prancing around the house making up her own songs. It’s quite funny to listen to her. You never know what she will be singing about. I really want to put her in dance in the fall. Hopefully that will work out!

Brett turned 29 this month. The kids and I went to a pottery painting place and painted a coffee cup for him. I put Brittany and Logan’s handprints and Ashlynn’s footprint on it. It turned out really good! While I painted the cup, I had the kids pick something out and paint it. I had the people turn them into a magnet and they gave him that for his gift. They were so proud to show him what they made!

All in all things are going great here in Arizona. We are enjoying being a family of five and so thankful for all of God’s blessings! I hope you are doing good.

Love,

Brett, Cherise, Brittany, Logan, and Ashlynn

My little thumb sucker!

Lounging in the backyard

Logan and Ashlynn playing before bed

Brittany and Ashlynn talking about their day

My snuggle bunny!

Going on a walk

Brittany's graduation

She is so proud of herself...and so are her parents!

Logan's cake

March update

Ashlynn is now 2 months old! She is getting to be so big! She loves to go for walks and absolutely loves music. She is seriously the easiest baby we’ve had. She has put herself on a schedule and is starting to sleep longer in the night. She always wants her last bottle about 6:30 or 7 and last night she slept until 4:30! It was amazing, but not normal. Normally she wakes up about 2. The nice thing is she wants to go to bed about 7:30 or 8, which is when Brittany and Logan go to bed, but the downside is that she needs to wake up during the night. I guess it’s a nice trade off, so Brett and I can have time together like we’ve had for the past several years. Ashlynn is getting better at holding her head up, but still has the baby wobbly head. She now weighs 10lbs 9oz.

Most of you all know that Ashlynn had RSV and ended up spending four days in the hospital. We were so blessed to have my grandmother come down and help out with Brittany and Logan. It was nice to have the extra help!

Brittany and Logan are such a crack up! Their new favorite game to play is “Kitty.” Logan pretends to be a kitty and Brittany is apparently the human. Brittany will ask Logan a question and Logan answers with, “Meow.” Somehow they manage to communicate with each other this way. I have no idea how she knows what Logan is saying, but she does. It reminds me of when my cousins from Missouri came down, they always liked to play “Cougar.” Those were great times!

Since the weather is so great this time of year, we’ve been going on walks in the evening. Brittany and Logan ride their tricycles while Brett and I push the stroller. Brittany and Logan don’t use the pedals on their bikes. Brittany uses her feet like a “normal” kid does with both feet pushing the ground at the same time. Logan rides his bike like he’s walking. Brett says that he does it Flintstone style.

Brett has started a new schedule at work. He was working 7-4, but now he’s working 8-5. When he first told me this, I thought I would hate it. I didn’t like the idea that he wouldn’t get home until almost 6, but I’ve discovered that I love this new schedule. I’ve been getting up with Brett in the mornings and we both do our Bible studies, then we pray a little together, and by then the kids are up. They love seeing their daddy before he leaves. We’ve even taken him to work a few times. Last Friday we took him to work and then ate out after work. It was great!

All in all things are great here in the Best house! I hope that you are enjoying the beautiful spring weather!

Love,

Brett, Cherise, Brittany, Logan, and Ashlynn

They love each other!

Ashlynn is supposed to be doing tummy time!

Ms. Smiles!

All snugglie

Brittany and Logan love to help around the house!

Ashlynn is already 4 weeks old. Time is going so fast. She is such an easy and wonderful baby so far! She only gets up twice in the night. When she was first born I decided to try and breastfeed again. You may remember that I tried to breastfeed Brittany, but after 10 days my milk still had not come in. I joke that we have Logan because I couldn’t breastfeed Brittany! When Logan was born I had decided that I wasn’t ready to attempt breastfeeding again. Since Ashlynn is our last baby I decided to give it another try. Well, she got 2 weeks, but I could never get my supply up to where it needed to be to satisfy her. When we went in for her 2 week check-up she had not gained any weight at all. So we decided to forget breastfeeding and just go back to the bottle. I’ve found that there are some benefits to bottle feeding. For one, I don’t have to do all the night time feedings. Ashlynn only wakes up twice in the night, but I only have to get up once! Also, it forces me to keep up with the kitchen since I have to wash bottles all the time! There is a part of me that regrets that breastfeeding never works out for me. I have no choice, but I’m so grateful that we have the resources to bottle feed. I’m thankful that I don’t have to make formula like my grandmother did when she had babies!

Ashlynn is such a happy baby. She always smiles when she sees me. It makes my heat melt. I love it when my babies look at me and smile! It's one thing that never gets old!

Before Ashlynn was born, I thought that Brittany would adore the baby and Logan would be jealous of her. However, in the last month Logan has grown to adore his baby sister. Logan loves to give Ashlynn her pacifier when she starts to cry. He is always making sure that her pacifier is close by in case she needs it! Brittany on the other hand usually doesn’t pay too much attention to her sister. She loves her, but she’s more interested in playing with her princesses than paying attention to Ashlynn.

We were fortunate enough to have both Brett’s and my mom come for a visit after Ashlynn was born. Brett’s mom came first and his dad actually came for the weekend too. It was so nice to see them! My mom came the day after they left. After she left Logan said, “Grandma takes a lot of pictures!” Brittany responded, “Yeah, but Grammy K doesn’t take that many.” I thought that was so funny because my mom really is the picture queen. She is always asking Brittany and Logan to pose for her so she can get a picture. I guess she just wants to remember every moment she spends with them. The kids always love to see their grandparents and always ask to see them when they leave.

I'm a person who doesn't slow down, even when a new baby is in the house. Three days after Ashlynn was born, we went to church. Everyone was amazed that we actually came to church that soon. I figure the sooner you jump back into life, the easier and less daunting it will be. We were about to walk out the door and suddenly remembered that we needed to pack a diaper bag. I guess we couldn't leave the house without some baby necessities! We finally left the house and I looked at the clock. It was 10:30 and church starts at 10:15. I was shocked to see that we were so late to church. I'm happy to say that we haven't been late since!

So far life as a mother of three is not nearly as difficult as I thought. Brittany and Logan are so understanding when they have to wait for me to help them with something. They play so well together so they don’t even miss having all of mine or Brett’s attention. In fact even before the baby was born, they would often tell me to go away when I would ask to play with them. They do love to play games with Brett and I. They love Candy Land and Hi Ho Cherry-O. It’s so fun playing games with them!

God has truly blessed me with three wonderful kids! I hope you have had a wonderful month!

Love,

Brett, Cherise, Brittany, Logan, and Ashlynn

Daddy and Logan playing

Brittany loves to play dress up!

Logan loves Buzz

A moment to treasure!

Ashlynn

Ashlynn's Birth

Our baby has been born! Ashlynn Grace Best was born on January 27, 2011 at 2:30am. She has quite a story to tell about her birth! I first woke up at 11:30pm on the 26^th with a huge leg cramp. I then noticed that I was having contractions. I decided to start timing them and noticed that they were coming every 7mins. Up to now I figured that they were just Braxton Hicks. After an hour of timing them I decided to wake Brett up and let him know. We sat there for another 30mins and finally decided that we should head to the hospital. We had arranged for our good friend Angie to watch the kids when I went into labor, but she had taken a Benadryl and didn’t wake up to the phone ringing. I knew that she was working that day and would be up at 4am. I wanted to just wait at home so we could drop the kids off, go to the hospital, and not have to make several trips to and from Chandler. Brett decided that we needed to go to the hospital and decide what to do with the kids later. I reluctantly agreed. As we got closer to the hospital my contractions became harder and harder. We arrived at the hospital at 2:15am. Brett checked me in and they took it to the back. They were trying to put the monitors on me, but the contractions were so bad that I couldn’t sit still in the chair long enough for her to put the monitors on. She decided to take me to a bed and told me to put the gown on when I could. I put the gown on and she came back to see how far along I was. She told me that I was at 10cm. I was of course begging for an epidural. They said that they would try, but I knew that it was too late for one. The lady then wheeled me into the labor and delivery room. When we got to the room, there were a bunch of nurses and the dr. in there. I was still begging for an epidural , and they kept telling me that they would try. Although I knew it wasn’t going to happen, it gave me hope and got me through the process. They told me to hold my hand still so they could put in the IV. It took everything I had to not move my hand while they did that in the middle of a contraction. All of the sudden I realized that she was crowning. I asked if I could push and the dr said yes. I pushed as hard as I could and then the dr told me to stop pushing. I said, “I can’t!” In another push she was born. I heard them say the time she was born, but nobody told me what the gender was. I asked what it was and Brett said, “It’s a girl!” It was an amazing experience! I am so grateful that I was forced to experience a completely natural birth, but I would have never chosen it.

Brittany and Logan ended up being in the room with me when I gave birth because there was no time to take them back to Maricopa. I would have never in a million years wanted them in the birthing room, but it ended up being ok. They sat on the bench seat with their blankets and were fine. Brittany was mesmerized by what they were doing to the baby after she was born, and the nurse even let her listen to the baby’s heart. The staff was so great! As it turns out, it would have been really bad if Angie had heard the phone. We wouldn’t have made it to the hospital if we had stopped to drop off the kids. We would have gone in and set the kids up, and by the time we got to the hospital, Ashlynn would have been born! Brett would have delivered her on the side of Hwy 347.

Angie arrived to the hospital just in time for me to go to post partum. Breanna stayed home from school and watched the kids. It was nice to know they were in good hands!

As I mentioned earlier, we had nothing prepared for the baby. We loaned our car seat to a friend who lives in Casa Grande. We were supposed to meet them for a play date on Fri, but that didn’t happen! Brett ended up driving to Casa Grande to pick up the car seat so Ashlynn and I could go home!

When all is said and done, I’m so grateful that God is in control. When I would start to panic that we had nobody to take the kids, I would always hear God telling me to trust him. I did and it all worked out just the way it needed to. Praise the Lord!