Leyton James Brillhart

My son, Leyton James made his debut to the world this afternoon. At 4:31 on January 28th. he came and graced us all with his presence. He was 21 and 1/4" long and tipped the scales at a whopping 8 lbs 1oz. Mom and Leyton are both doing wonderful and resting.

Ill keep you updated in the next few days. But thank you to everyone who kept Anna and Leyton in their prayers over the last few months. They were definitely heard as we were blessed with a great delivery and great health!

Any day...

We had another appointment today. Anna is officially 39 weeks pregnant tomorrow. The doctor listened to the heart beat and measured her belly and said everything looks and sounds great. He said that she is 1 cm. dialated. Then he ended it by telling us that she could go any day now.

At home I have the nursery 99% of the way set up. I got the crib and both dressers all put together. Also we have the glider (rocking chair) set up and all the wall hangings and decorations on the walls. Anna has laundered all the new clothes, separated them and put them away in the dressers. My mom and dad came over this past weekend and helped us get the rest of the house ready. My wonderful mother and wife spent most of their day cleaning the house from top to bottom. While they were cleaning dad and I anchored all the wall hangings and decorations to the walls. He also helped me move some of the heavy furniture to exactly where we wanted it. So the house is as ready as we can possibly make it. I had a sit down and heart to heart with the dogs. Roxi and Hurley were concerned about what bringing a baby into the house would do to their mommy and daddy time. So I assured them that Anna and I would still have time for them.

Now here's my problem... A while ago I blogged about the things that I do know about babies. Between then and now I have learned some things but I'm still in the dark about what to do with this baby when I get him home. How often do we feed him? When does he go to bed at night? Will he eat regular wings or do they have to be boneless? When he starts to cry what does he want? How many times a day does he go to the bathroom? Which is the front side of the diaper? How often do we give him a bath? Some of these questions are jokes, but honestly some are real. Anna and I are incredibly thankful for the wonderful friends and family who have shared all of their valuable wisdom about the above topics with us. Because without all of you we would be very lost. I'm sure we would eventually figure it all out but at the expense of our son and our sanity I'm sure.

So, to all of our friends and family who have been so helpful to us during this whole pregnancy we can not say thank you enough. For all of your wisdom and insight, for all of your time, dedication and prayers Anna and I would like to say thank you very much.

Keep Anna and our son in your prayers over the next few days. Who knows the next blog I write may be as a new dad!

One last hurrah

Tonight Anna and I went out on a date to our favorite steak house. Heinnies steak house is about as good as it gets for steaks around here, so we went for one last hurrah still single date. She got the prime rib and I got a fillet! The steaks were great and the company was even better. Its hard for Anna and I to really grasp what we will have very soon. We have never had children before so we're not sure what to expect. So we took the free time we had tonight and a gift card she got for Christmas and took one last childless date.

All day today I was busy setting up the bassinet and the crib. So now we have the bassinet in our room ready for when we bring him home and we have a crib ready in the nursery for after that. Anna will be 38 weeks pregnant on Wednesday so it could be any day now that she goes into labor. We're hoping that he decides to hold off for those last two weeks, we could use the time to finish setting things up around the house and in the nursery. Tomorrow Anna and I are going to finish hanging all the wall hangings and other decorations down in the basement. I would have gotten all that done already but was told that I'm not allowed to do it without her. So tomorrow we are going to do it all together.

The baby could be here any day and Anna and I could not be any more excited! Please continue to pray for Anna and our son and we'll keep you all updated.

One last blog before Christmas

This past weekend I was fortunate to have my best friend Chris in town from Indianapolis with his wife and son. While he was here we got some time to go out and run errands, just the two of us and catch up. Also later that day Anna and I got to go over and watch a movie with him, his brother, dad and his son. It was really nice to get to see everyone again. We are all grown ups by day now and don't have the time that we used to have to hang out. So it was really nice to get this time with everyone. We also had the opportunity to get up too early on a Saturday morning and myself, Chris and his dad and brother went out to breakfast. We sat there for probably a couple hours just catching up and telling stories. We talked and laughed as we listened to one anothers tales of life and work and going skiing. It was really great to have this time with my friends.

I'm thankful for good friends and the times we get to catch up. I'm also thankful for the times when we can get away from grown up life and laugh at each other and ourselves for some of the crazy things we've done!

Merry Christmas

Tomorrow (Wednesday) at about noon Anna and I are heading out for St. Louis for our Christmas with the Westwoods. Anna and I alternate years for Christmas since she is from St. Louis and I'm from Goshen. So one year here and one year there. When we leave tomorrow Anna will be just about exactly one month from her due date! The doctor gave us the all clear to travel that far from home that close to the due date. We are fortunate that Anna has had great health as far as her blood pressure and recently weight gain. They have both been right on track for where she should be at this point in the pregnancy, so our doctor had no problem letting us travel.

Once we get there we will have the Westwood family Christmas on Christmas Eve at Anna's mom and dad's house. Anna's dad's whole family will be there and we do the gift exchange and spend the evening with family! Then Christmas morning we get up and have Christmas with just Anna's immediate family. We read the story of Jesus' birth out of the bible as well as read a little cloth childrens book of the story of Jesus' birth. Both are family traditions. Next day Andy and his brothers and dad, as well as Joel and I are going to play paintball at Andy's dad's house. I can not wait to get the paintball guns out and run around shooting family the day after Christmas!! December 26 is also Kerry's birthday and we'll get to go out with her for her birthday and give her her presents there too.

I am really looking forward to our Christmas holiday this year it will be nice to see all the Westwood's and spend Christmas with them!

I hope all 6 of you out there that read my blog have a wonderfully merry Christmas and a fun, but safe new year!

The world through a child's eyes.

One of the things I love most about children is their outlook on the world. I love how kids always see the good in people, and the good in the world. As adults we have a different outlook on the world and the people in it. People are cynical and wait for the bad to come out of others. We expect the worst and grumble about it when it comes. Kids on the other hand see the best in people. They seek out and define people by their goodness and good deeds. Kids kind of see the world with rose colored glasses, to be cliche. They believe that their parents are flawless perfect people and want to be just like them when they grow up. They believe in Santa and the Tooth Fairy. They are innocent and the innocence of a child is a beautiful thing. They are carefree and not concerned with the National debt, the conflict in the Middle East or how we are gonig to pay the bills this month. The great thing about that is that none of those things are their concern. Their concern is playing with friends outside and what mom's going to make for lunch today. They are more concerned that the peanut butter is crunchy than where it came from or who paid for it or the long hours dad puts in to blah blah blah. Children should not be concerned with the everyday affairs of adulthood.

Unfortunatly there is going to come a time in the life of every child where a piece of that innocence in taken away from them. By someone who tells them that it's their mom and dad who put the dollar under the pillow not the tooth fairy. Or when they actually see and comprehend people hurting other people. Slowly as they grow they will lose that beautiful innocence that children posses. Some will be stripped away from them and they will chose to lose the rest. That is the truth about adulthood, as we get older our responsibilities become greater and more people depend on us. Dont get me wrong, I love adulthood and all the responsibilities that come with it. I love my wife and my life, I love everything about it. There is just something special about being a child that should be left as long as possible

So let your kids be carefree, let them run around outside all day and be responsible for nothing. Let them see the best in EVERYONE. Let them think that their dad really is a superhero and that no other dad is better than theirs. Leave your bad opinions and bad attitudes about others and the world at the door when you come home and marvel at how wonderful the life of a carefree child is.

My son...

I spend a lot of time thinking about my son. Anna and I talk all the time about what we think he'll look like, what traits he'll get from me and what he'll get from her. Is he going to have my nose and her eyes? Is he going to have her apporach toward schooling? (I really hope he has her approach towards school!) Is he going to have my work ethic? There are tons of strengths and weaknesses on both sides. I wonder what kind of child he'll be. Will he be a child like I was? I was quiet, a little shy and when I was told something that was the law and I did it. Or will he be a child like my little brother was? Steven was and still is very head strong and set in his own way of doing things. Steven was always looking to make a deal. If you asked something of him many times he would respond to you by saying "lets make a deal."

Anna and I really look forward to seeing our son for the first time next month and then seeing him grow. Every morning when I wake up at 4:00 am for work I get my clothes around and go out to the living room to get dressed. When it's time for me to leave I give myself a few extra minutes and go back into my bedroom and I pray over my wife and son as she sleeps and hes in the womb. I pray for Anna's health and safety for the day, that she has a good experience and work and that she makes it home safely to me in the afternoon. Now I dont know my son so there is so much to pray for. I pray for his health and safety also. I pray that he continues to grow and develope perfectly until the delievery and everything go off without any complications. I pray for his future, I pray that he grows big and strong and is a fearless leader in whatever endevours he chooses in this life. I pray that he grows up and plays football for The Ohio State University! I also pray for his future wife, that somewhere God is already preparing the perfect compliment for him.

Anna and I are totally thrilled with the potential that our son has and can not wait to walk the journey with him starting next month! Thank you for all of the thoughts and prayers that everyone has given so far, and please continue to keep Anna and our son in your thoughts and prayers for the next six weeks or so!