Back to Work

I had the "joy" this week of going back to work. First thing Monday morning long before bright and early I got back into the routine of work. BOOO. I'm just joking, I am very blessed and happy to have a job during these difficult times but it is hard to leave my wife and my new born son at home all day while I go back to work. I have found that I cant put pictures up of him on my computer or anything because I find myself sitting there looking at his picture wishing I was at home holding him and talking to him, explaining the infield fly rule to him... But it's important for me to get back into that routine and making money, not much but money none the less. Being back at work makes coming home from work my favorite time of the day. Pulling into the driveway and seeing Anna and Leyton waving to me from the front window is the best sight I will have seen all day. Walking up the porch and into the house and getting to hug and kiss my wife and hold my son, usually followed pretty closely after by a diaper change because, "Anna has been changing them all day." But that is my favorite part of the day.


Leyton had his first doctors appointment on Tuesday with Dr. Borrelli. He tipped the scales at 8 pounds and 14 ounces! Gaining over a pound since he had left the hospital. He got a good once over and the doctor said that everything looked great! We get to go back in about six weeks and have another check up and he'll get his first set of shots since leaving the hospital. Not looking forward to that. Other than that not a lot new. Lots of eating, sleeping and pooping and he is very good at all three!

Time together at home.

Leyton, Anna and I got to come home Saturday afternoon. After two days of checkups and tests the doctors and nurses decided that Leyton and Anna were healthy enough to come home! We packed him up in his car seat, covered him up in blankets and headed home. Anna's mom is staying with us for a while helping out around the house. We are figuring out his sleep pattern and how often he eats and how much he eats. He is a great sleeper, eater and pooper. Those three things he has down! He is not a fussy baby, he only really lets us know hes upset when we are changing him. I have this week off work so I am here all day helping out where I can.

It has been a pretty smooth transition from hospital to home. We had been told over and over that we need to sleep when he sleeps so we have been doing that and sleep has not been an issue for us yet. We worked out an on and off pattern where I stay up with him after she feeds him so she can sleep, and she lets me sleep while she is feeding him. It has kind of worked out for us so far. We just try to remain patient and flexible because I'm sure it will not always be this smooth.

Anna and I both have posted some pictures on our facebook pages. Feel free to check them out there. I will keep everyone up to date and try to blog again in a day or two. Please continue to pray for Anna and Leyton and I as we figure out schedules and routines. Pray for continued good health and wonderful times spent together.

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!