Joining The Team....

Hi Everyone! My name is Nicole. I guess I am the newest member of the Mommy Mentors. I want to thank Kadi for allowing me this opportunity. This is such a great blog that I wish was around 8 1/2 years ago when I became a Mommy. I am looking forward to this new adventure.

About me....I am a 31 year old mother of two, Kaylyn is 8 and Luke is 4. My husband Chris and I have been married 9 1/2 years. I am a Southern Gal, from a small town, about 30 miles north of Birmingham, Alabama. I am a pediatric emergency room nurse at The Children's Hospital of Alabama. Kaylyn is on a competition dance team and Luke has just started his first year of Tee Ball. I am in school taking online courses to compete the BSN degree I started 10 years ago. Chris works hard to provide for us, and at this time his job is forcing him to travel 5 hours away every week. (I have a new found respect for single moms) He hates it, I hate it, the kids hate it, but with the current economic situation, there's not much that can be done about it right now. That just about sums up the basics.

Now. Down to the nitty gritty. At the ripe old age of 21, Chris and I were married on November 6, 1999, 5 1/2 months after I graduated from nursing school, 3 1/2 months after I started working in the ER. So, in the span of 6 month's I had graduated college, started a career (my first REAL job), gotten married, and moved out of my parent's house. (Yes I was sheltered, lived there until the day I married). To say our first year of marriage was rocky would be a major understatement. We fought constantly over anything and everything. At that time I was working 3pm-3am, which in and of itself is not very condusive to married life. Because of our work schedules, we basically saw each other in passing. On July 4, 2000, it occured to me that I had not had a period since the beginning of May. I started praying. Prayed all the way to the drug store and back home. Prayed while I waited for the results of the EPT I had just purchased (so embarrassed about buying it, I couldn't look the cashier in the eye). Cried when that magic pink line appeared. I had bought a double pack, so I thought to myself, "these things have to be wrong some of the time. What other reason would they have for selling them in packs of two?" Took the second test. Again, 2 pink lines. I'm shaking and sobbing at this point. Still in denial, back to the drug store I go. Luckily there was a different cashier there. I buy 2 more double packs, of different brands. As I pee on the stick four more times, I'm thinking to myself, "Surely ONE of these will be negative." They all, one by one were positive, for a total of 6, yes S-I-X positive home pregnancy test. Yes, folks, those little pink pills must be taken every single day!

At this point I had to face reality, like or not, I was going to be some body's mommy. I began to question God. Why would He do this to me? I can barely take care of myself, how does He expect me to take care of a baby? We can't afford a baby, how does He expect us to provide for him or her? And speaking of Us, we can't stand each other right now. Our marriage is circling the drain, and He has decided now is a good time to bless us with a baby??? God doesn't make mistakes. Things happen on HIS time not our time. He knew I was at the point of bailing out of my marriage, ignoring the vows I had made before Him just a few short months before. God provided me with a permanent link to my husband, one that would never be broken. He knew how important family was to me, and He also knew how I felt about raising children in a loving, nurturing family, with 2 parents who LOVE each other. He knew Chris felt the same way. In other words, He forced us to stop being spoiled brats, and start treating each other with respect. By blessing us with a baby, He provided a reason for us to heal our marriage.

More to come later..... Gotta get Luke to Tee-Ball practice.

Our family. This was taken last summer on our family beach trip.

Visit my blog at http://www.kaylynandluke.blogspot.com/