The Cotton Family

Mackenzie 19 months old

2011-08-20T10:01:00.001-07:00

Mackenzie's 1st Birthday- 1/9/11

2011-01-31T18:32:00.001-08:00

Mackenzie Lynn Cotton born 1/9/10 at 9:18am

2010-03-13T11:06:00.000-08:00

Sweet baby!

The Cotton Family

6 pounds 12 ounces

19 1/2 inches long

more baby shower pics

2010-03-13T10:52:00.000-08:00

Leslie and I with our baby girls!

me with the hostesses minus Jennifer HoJo.

Brad and I

Mackenzie's Baby Shower- 11/15/09

2010-03-13T10:41:00.000-08:00

All baby girl's stuff. we are super blessed with such great family and friends.

My mom, me, and my sister

Me with the 4 west girls- past and present

me with the ortho girls

Her room is starting to come together!

2009-12-03T09:18:00.000-08:00

I got her name letters as a baby shower gift from 3 of my dear friends and co-workers, Paris, Mandy, and Deanna. Brad and I decided to tackle hanging them a few weeks ago. It was fairly easy until the spacing got off between the letters. We made some adjustments (no new holes in the wall to my delight), and it looked great! There was only 1 true "mess up" and you can't even see it. Anyone that knows me knows how I am about my house, walls, etc...I am told that I am going to have to get over it after baby girl comes. I'm sure that I'll make the adjustment just fine!

Here are the letters along with the bedding. I think it matches perfectly!

Mackenzie at 30 weeks in 4D

2009-12-03T09:02:00.001-08:00

Brad and I decided to get the 4D US. I just couldn't wait to see her little face. People that have seen the pics and DVD say that she has my nose and Brad's lips, but as soon as Brad saw her he said, "Jenn, she looks just like you!" I thought so too, but am seeing more of Brad's features too.

Here she is yawning. I love this and think it is so sweet. We thought we were going to have a hard time seeing her because she wouldn't stop putting her hands in her mouth or on her face. She moved her hands just a bit down, and the tech was able to get this shot.

In this picure you can see her features better. Her little eyes, nose, and lips are too sweet. She's going to have healthy, chunky little cheeks! Brad and I really enjoyed this!

Baby Shower Goodies: November 15, 2009

2009-12-03T08:45:00.000-08:00

My baby shower was November 15, 2009. It was, of course, a ladybug theme. This is the cake that my dear friend and co-worker Kara, and her sister-in-law Bre made for me. It was truly a sight and tasted good too. These girls are very talented, and go above and beyond. Thanks so much for making this day so special, and for making me this beautiful, tasty cake that I didn't want to cut and mess up.

These are the cupcakes they made for the kiddos at the shower to eat. Can you believe the time they put in on just the cupcakes. Thanks again, so much Kara and Bre!

This is the diaper cake that I assisted Kara in making. She actualluy did most of the work. I just handed her the stuff.

This is the corsage that my other dear friend and talented co-woorker Nicole made. It is made of baby socks, and of course, has lady bugs on it! I just love this! Thanks so much Nicole!

This is her baby book. We covered it and made it match her bedding and colors in her room.

There are many baby shower photos thanks to Mandy Davis's phtography skills, and Kara's camera. They will come as soon as I get them!

28 1/2 weeks

2009-12-03T08:40:00.000-08:00

So, it's been awhile. The only recent belly pic that I have is this 28 1/2 week pic Brad took, and it's really not that recent because I am currently 32 weeks, so we really need an updatesd belly shot. My belly has grown a great deal in 4 weeks.

25 Weeks Preggo!

2009-10-26T14:11:00.000-07:00

This is my most recent preggo belly pic. I was 25 weeks at the time of this photo. I am currently 27 weeks and next week is the dreaded glucose test for me. I don't really know much about it other than the instructions that I was given during my 26 week visit, but I hear it is not very fun. I'll let you all know how it goes.

BABY BELLY PICS

2009-09-25T11:41:00.001-07:00

This is me @ 16 weeks.

This is me at 22 weeks. We were getting ready to leave for the Auburn vs. West Virginia game.

Mackenzie Lynn Cotton at 18 weeks

2009-09-25T11:31:00.000-07:00

Here are the US pics we got at 18 weeks. This is her with her little sweet legs crossed at the ankles. She was trying to hide her little parts, but we found them. We were so excited she was a GIRL, even Brad. I can't even believe she is growing inside of me. I feel her all the time now that I am almost 23 weeks. Everyone loves feeling her move around. She is very shy around her daddy (he says it's because he has a calming hand), but he's felt her kick really hard once!I went to the doctor Wednesday for my 22 week check-up. I was hoping I would get to see her again, but they just listened with a doppler. Her heartrate was 150. I saw a different doctor today, and that was fine because I had seen him before when my doctor was out before the pregnancy.

This is a shot of her sweet, little foot.

This is a profile shot of her sucking her thumb.

And, this is her profile.

Skeeter's Wedding

2009-09-07T15:27:00.001-07:00

Stefanie (AKA- skeeter) was married saturday, August 22. This is a pic of us, me being 18 weeks pregnant. I was NOT pregnant when I ordered the dress in February, so I ordered the dress as I normally would, not accounting for the baby weight I would be gaining in months to come. So, when it came to the big day for skeeter, I made it in the dress, but it was like "fat guy in a little coat" so to speak. The wedding was beautiful, and I'm so glad I got to be apart of it. CONGRATS...

This is me, Skeeter, and my sister, Lindsey

BABY COTTON IS A...

2009-08-26T09:47:00.000-07:00

We went to the doctor on Monday, August 24th, and found out that this precious little being growing inside of me, AKA-baby cotton, cotton-ball, cannon-cotton ball, is a sweet little GIRL...We are so excited. everyone is, especially my manly, football loving husband. After we found out, he said he was "going to the cafeteria", and he snuck to the gift shop to get a pink AUBURN shirt and matching booties. He is so proud of his little girl, and can't wait to hold her. She was being modest at first when we were trying to see if in fact she was a boy or girl, but quickly arose to the challenge. I will post US pictures as soon as i transfer them from my phone. We are so proud and blessed!

BABY COTTON!

2009-08-23T20:30:00.001-07:00

So, haven't mentioned this yet on Blogspot, but today I am 17 weeks 6 days pregnant. Tomorrow is the big day where we are finding out what "baby cotton ball" is. Brad and I are so excited. The ultrasound below was the first US we got of the baby. I was 9 weeks pregnant. I haven't blogged about baby cotton yet, and I can't sleep because i am wired and my husband and his friend are downstairs playing PS3 NCAA 2010, so I am going to tell all about baby cotton. I found out I was pregnant at about 1AM on May 21 (2 days after Brad's birthday) at St. Vincent's ED, and here is the story of how I got there. Brad and I were watching the DVR'd season finale of American Idol and I of course fell asleep. I had this weird/horrible dream about a spider and actually thought it was real. I ran around the bedroom in my sleep, and ran into something and knocked myself out. I was awakened by Brad shaking me, telling me to wake up. I started flipping out, and sweating, running around the house with this splitting headache. I passed out again in the bathroom, and Brad carried me to bed, and called my dad. He came over immediately and we went to the ED. Brad and I had been joking on the way there about how crazy the story sounded, and how everyone would think I was crazy, or he is a wife beater. We got there, and everyone was real nice. They got a CT of my brain. The lady asked me "is there any chance you could be pregnant", and I said no. Keep in mind I had previously taken 7 urine pregnancy tests and they were all negative, and I was only 2 days late. I just thought my body was coming off my birth control pills. so, i got the CT scan, and the doctor wanted labs and fluids because my heart rate was up. they stuck me 5 times and was able to get labs but not an IV. The doctor came and told me there were some "abnormalities in my tests" My CT was normal from where I hit my head, but I have a "congenital arachnoid cyst", meaning I have had this cyst on my brain ever since I was born, but he said it was small and an "incidental finding", and it was probably nothing, but I just needed to see a neurosurgeon. that really scared me. then he said, "oh, you are pregnant". all i could think about was the CT scan I had and i just started crying. to make a long story short, i was pregnant, and I went to the OB that next monday and was 5 weeks pregnant. Baby cotton's heart rate was 176 at the 9 week visit, and 170 at the 13 week visit, and tomorrow is the 18 week visit, and hopefully baby cotton will reveal it's privates to us to see if the baby is a brad or jennifer junior. We are very excited and nervous all the same with anticipation. We will find out soon enough what "BABY COTTON" is...TO BE CONTINUED...

Kim and Chris Clark's Wedding

2009-07-17T10:07:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of Brad and me with the beautiful bride, Kimberly Goodwin Clark. Their wedding was Saturday night, 7/11/09 at Bluff Park United Methodist Church. The reception was as the Carraway-Davie Conference Center. It was really nice! Congrats to Kim and Chris!

This is Brad with his "rookies"- Josh (far left), and the groom, Chris (in the middle). He really loved training these two, and they love hanging out with eachother "on their off days"!

This is the G'dale PD's finest: (from left) Brad, Josh, Chris, Steve, and Sgt. Scott.

Look what was in our drive-way!

2009-07-15T13:45:00.000-07:00

Look what was in our drive way the other evening! We were inside and taking the picture against the window, so of course, it flashed.

Now, this is the deer running from the flash.

Skeeter's Bridal Tea

2009-06-15T07:30:00.001-07:00

Skeeter (Stefanie Conner), my bestest friend from my Jeff State (Jeffy Tech) softball days, had her bridal tea this past Saturday in Hartselle. It was so good catching up with her and her family. It has been a while since I have seen her. I can't wait until she gets married in August! Love you Skeeter, and congrats to her and Wes!

Bowl-A-Thon at Lightening Strikes

2009-06-08T11:23:00.001-07:00

On Saturday the Ortho Dept. made up 2 bowling teams for the Birmigham Bowl-A-Thon benefitting Spina Bifida. We all had a great time, and it was for a good cause.

Shelby Lynn at the lake!

2009-06-07T10:17:00.000-07:00

Brad took Shelby fishing the other day. This is a dog they met at the lake. Brad named him "Pepper" for some reason. Pepper kept following Shelby around the lake. The only way she could get away from him was to jump in the lake. He wouldn't follow her in. She was playing hard to get! Anyways, her jumping in the lake wasn't too good for Brad and his fishing buddies, but they had a good day.

Shelby walking down the peir.

Shelby watching the fish bite.

Shelby swimming. She loves the water, but for some reason she hates the hosepipe at home when we try to give her a bath. That's why we just take her to Mrs. Holly once a month for a professional pampering.

Shelby Lynn relaxing on the peir. I love my baby girl so much! Isn't she big? We took her to the vet the other day for her yearly check up and shots. The Vet said that she needed to lose 10 pounds! She weighed in at a whopping 85 pounds. He told us to put her on a low-calorie dog food formula, so I guess we'll try that.

MMA Fight

2009-06-07T10:03:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I posted. I wanted to catch up and post pics of some recent things we've done. We went with some friends to Cullman to watch the Southeastern MMA Fights. There were 10 fights in all. We ate at All-Steak before the fight. It was wonderful! We had a great time!

BLOG AWARD

2009-05-02T09:52:00.000-07:00

Here's the rules...1. When given the award, you list 7 things you love

2. Pass the award on to 7 bloggers that you love.Be sure to tag them and let them know they've

won. (You can copy the picture of the award and paste it on your sideboard.)Things I love...1. My husband Brad 2. My family 3. My 3 year old chocolate lab Shelby Lynn 4. My Friends 5. kids 6. shopping 7. eating out I would like to give the blog award to the following families:

1. The Stoddard Family

2. The Reid Family

3. The Davis Family

4. The McCaleb Family

5. The Burgess Family

6. The Watson Family

7. The Barckley Family

My 26th and Comans 30th Birthday Party!

2009-03-23T06:30:00.000-07:00

My birthday was March 19th and Comans's birthday was March 21, so we had a birthday party together at the Fox and the Hound for dinner, and went bowling on 280 after. We had so much fun! Thanks so much to my wonderful husband Brad, and my dear friend Brandy Comans (Comans wife) for planning such a perfect party for us. I did not get an entire group shot or pictures from bowling, so I will have to get pictures from people later. This is a picture of my mom, my dad, and my sister, and me at the Fox and the Hound. I am so glad they got to come! Love you all so much!

This is a picture of the cake. The picture on the cake was at the 2008 beach trip for Leslie and Cornbread's wedding. This was not one of our finer moments. Thanks so much for reminding us!

This is a picture of Brad and me with my sister Lindsey and Tyler (her boyfriend).

This is a pic of the birthday boy and birthday girl with our wonderful spouses! Brad and I have had so much fun knowing Brandy and Comans, and I am so glad that we were able to have this special night together with family and friends. Brad and Brandy's Birthday are also close together (May), so Comans and I are going to have to put our thinking caps on and try to beat this party that Brad and Brandy were able to pull off! We better start now if we are going to even compete.

This is a picture of Comans and me blowing out our birthday candles! It was a great night!

Snow Fun!

2009-03-02T07:19:00.001-08:00

Shelby loved the snow Sunday morning! She loved rolling in it, eating it, and running through it. If you know me, you know how bad this stressed me out. Shelby stays in the house, so she needed a massive cleaning when she got done playing.

I love this picture of her!

This is her rolling in the grass. She loved it!

This is a picture of the house. I thought it was so pretty covered with snow.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-14T15:50:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day to all! Brad is in bed sick with strep throat (we think), so we are hanging out at the house for valentine's day. I did get up this morning and take shelby to the doggy beauty shop. the flavor shampoo of the month in honor of valentine's day is chocolate covered cherry. she smelled so good, but as soon as we get home, she rolls in the grass! it never fails! she always does it after she gets groomed. Miss Holly (the dog groomer) always gives shelby a bandana around her neck (grandpaw cannon calls it a "necklace")! this time miss holly gave her a white one with red hearts. it was so cute!

"SCRAPPING"

2009-02-09T11:42:00.000-08:00

i was tagged by Loni Hodge scrap about myself. the rules for "scrapping" are: first list 10 honest things about yourself 2. pass the award on to 7 bloggers that you feel embody the spirit of the Honest Scrap.

1. I Love my husband and family more than anything! My husband and I live next door to my grandparents and parents. that's how much we love them!

2. My dog is like my best friend! Shelby Lynn is my now 3 year old chocolate lab. she loves me unconditionally and feeds off feelings that brad and i are feeling. she is the smartest and most beautiful animal i have ever known!

3. I am a little bit OCD. things have to be a certain way on my desk, in my purse, in my car, closet, you get the drift! I AM CRAZY! no, really, i am a very neat person and can't sleep if i feel that things might be out of place or if i might of forgotten something.

4. I wash my hands way too much and I know it, but i can't resist myself! (another embaressing aspect of my OCD). my hands will get so dry and cracked, and they hurt really bad sometimes, but i keep on washing. my theme is: I have the cleanest hands in the hospital.

5. I am addicted to several things: shopping, purses, shoes, jewelry, and mountain dew.

6. I love eating at Surin West. I love the super crunch suschi, crab angels, egg rolls, and Thai noodle. Me and my co-workers love to go eat there during lunch. it is truly one of my favorite places to eat.

7. I am like Loni also a people pleaser. i used to work extra shift after extra shift at work for the money, but also because i couldn't stand to say no for the fear that the nurses would be short. i also have never called in for work because i can't stand for the nurses to be short staffed. i also am not a good conflict manager. i will keep my mouth shut and keep enduring and enduring until i bust before i will ever speak up. I am very fortunate to have very outspoken friends (you know who u r), a very outspoken husband that takes up for me, and very outspoken co-workers. so i remain the people pleaser thanks to these people! It's all their fault that i am like this.

8. I love being a nurse! i have been a nurse for over 3 years, and couldn't imagine doing anything else. I worked on the floor for 3 years and just recently moved to the orthopaedic dept. (both jobs @ children's). i love helping kids and their families.

9. Brad and I have been talking about having kids soon! (we have the discussion on a regular basis) i'm not sure exactly when, but i believe that we are really serious about it this time.

10. I have a big heart. i can't stand it if i hurt someone's feelings, or make them mad. i'd rather hurt myself than have someone else be mad or hurt. some people say this is a good quality to have, but i don't know. it kinda stresses me out, but I've managed!

Now, time to list people to scrap:
kara reid
mandy davis
nicole stoddard
missy mccaleb
jamie carnes
kelly watson
jennifer spahn

Happy Birthday Shelby Lynn!

2009-02-05T16:00:00.000-08:00

Today is my baby's 3 year old birthday! (for those of you who aren't dog lovers, you probably think I am crazy). This is a picture of Shelby as a puppy the day after we got her! There is a big picture at the bottom of the blog of her now. (she has gained a ton of weight, huh?) Brad and I love her so much! Just wanted to wish my furry child a happy birthday! We love you Shelby Lynn!

I've been TAGGED!

2009-01-04T16:56:00.000-08:00

So, I've been tagged by Jamie (Wheless) Carnes & Kara Reid. The object is to pick the 4th album where you store your pictures on the computer, and pick the 4th picture in the album and explain it, and also you tag 4 more people to share their pictures. So, here is mine. This is a picture of the Gardendale Police Department's 1st Annual Charity basketball team. The team was put together in 2007. The police dept. played the fire dept, streets and sanitations dept, and parks and recs dept. for charity. The police dept won the tournament, but Brad had to cut the tournament short. He went out in the second half of the championship game with a torn ACL & MCL. It was not a good day for The Cotton's but for the Police Dept. it was a victory. I am tagging Nicole Stoddard, Nikki Runnells, Mandy Davis, and Jennifer Spahn.

More Gatlinburg!

2008-12-14T07:35:00.001-08:00

Here are more pictures of brad and me at ober gatlinburg. the mountains and snow were beautiful! in this picture we are on top of mount harris at ober gatlinburg.
this is another picture of us on the mountain!

This is us on the ski lift going up to mount harris. i was super scared because: 1. i had on shoes that were slides and i was afraid of losing them. 2. the lift we sat on was lop-sided because brad and my weights are so different, i was up in the air! it was so scary, but i had fun and going down the mountain was much easier than gonig up.

Gatlinburg 2008

2008-12-14T07:21:00.000-08:00

We went to gatlinburg last weekend with some of our police friends. the is a picture of the boys in the hottub after a long night.

This is me and brad getting ready for a long day at ober gatlingburg. that place was amazing. we shopped, watched the ice skaters, and rode the tram and ski-lift all at one place.

This is Pauline Cotten, me, and leslie billings watching the boys play pool

This is a group pic of all the police guys: (from left to right)- cornbread, hannah, chris, don, and brad

This is our beautiful 5 bedroom, 5 bathroom, 3 level cabin for the weekend. thanks leslie for finding this for us! we couldn't of asked for a nicer place to stay!

Jeff Hannah's Birthday Dinner and Movie

2008-11-10T17:38:00.000-08:00

This is Jeff Hannah, Daniel Billings (CORNBREAD), and Brad at P.F. Chang's for Jeff's Birthday. We ate dinner and went to see SAW V at the movies. It is Jeff's favorite series of scary movies, so we decided to all go see it.

This is Brad and me at P.F. Chang's.

This is the Billings (Leslie and Cornbread), Jeff, Pauline and Chris Cotten, and the other set of Cotton's (me and Brad) outside P.F. Chang's before we went to the movies.

Playstation 3

2008-10-27T18:09:00.000-07:00

This is Brad playing Playstation 3. He is playing call

of duty 4, talking to someone in Colorado Springs. This is what he does at night while I get motion sickness on the couch next to him. he and his friend clint play 2 or so games, then switch and let the other one play. this is an all night, on going thing. i never thought that he would be so into this, but i was wrong. he could play this all night.

New Job

2008-10-27T18:03:00.000-07:00

Well, today was my first day on the new job! It was pretty good, I was just trying to get my desk situated. I am not all about change, so the whole desk thing just made me nervous. I've never had my own desk. Anyways, this was the cake that Mandy Hartline made me on my last week on 4West. it was wonderful. The party that they threw me was great. Thanks Lainerz for heading it up (as usual- resident party planning girl!) Again, thanks to everyone!

I have figured it out!

2008-10-22T11:15:00.000-07:00

I finally can do the blog thing!! (thanks to mandy davis).

GULF SHORES 2006

2008-10-21T19:03:00.000-07:00

This is us with Cory and April Elliott in Destin, Florida in 2006. We are at Maguires pub. It is such a cool place. They have money all over the ceiling, and the food was great!

BROOKE'S WEDDING

2008-10-21T19:01:00.000-07:00

I was a bridesmaid in my friend Brooke Jernigan Lawson's wedding in February 2007. I really like this picture of Brad and me.

The boys acting up

2008-10-21T18:59:00.000-07:00

This is Brad, Jeremy, and Jeff acting crazy at the Phoenix in Gulf Shores (police friends beach trip 2007). Brad and Jeremy have mohawks! (crazy huh?)

This is me and bradley posing in the water!! we both need a suntan!

The WILD BOYZ

2008-10-21T17:59:00.000-07:00

Brad and Brandon what more to say! Auburn vs. LSU ! Had alot of fun before but not afterwards :( !

Auburn vs LSU 2008

2008-10-21T17:48:00.000-07:00

This is me and Paris at the Auburn vs. LSU game. She is a dear co-worker and friend. This was Paris's husband Jason's first Auburn game (he is a huge fan). Auburn wasn't able to pull it out, but we all had a great time. WAR EAGLE!!! (Hope you had fun Paris and Jason)

This is Josh (Moose) and Kristin Autry. They are really good friends of ours from Pleasant Grove. It is great when we all can get together and tailgate. We always put up the tent and cook when a big group can all go. We had a great time.

Police friends beach trip 2008

2008-10-21T17:36:00.000-07:00

This is at the Original Oyster House in Gulf Shores. We went with the Hannahs for Cornbread and Leslie's wedding. Brad's dad and step-mom were also down there and we ate dinner with them. They were feeding police and firemen for free the night we went. That was so very nice of the people at the Oyster House. In my opinion it is the best restaurant in Gulf Shores! We had such a good time and Congrats to the Billings!

4 WEST girls!

2008-10-21T17:32:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of the 4 west girls! I know that some of us are leaving, but the wild west will always be our "home" and we'll always be the best of friends! I LOVE MY 4 WEST GIRLS! By the way this is a group shot at Corndog's (Courtney Allinder Trapp) wedding.

New at This blogging thing

2008-10-20T08:52:00.000-07:00

Hey! This is our first post. Brad is the one who knows how to navigate and work the computer, so he'll be the one blogging most of the time. Anyways, we will try to get better!!!

The Cotton Family

Mackenzie 19 months old

Mackenzie's 1st Birthday- 1/9/11

Mackenzie Lynn Cotton born 1/9/10 at 9:18am

more baby shower pics

Mackenzie's Baby Shower- 11/15/09

Her room is starting to come together!

Mackenzie at 30 weeks in 4D

Baby Shower Goodies: November 15, 2009

28 1/2 weeks

25 Weeks Preggo!

BABY BELLY PICS

Mackenzie Lynn Cotton at 18 weeks

Skeeter's Wedding

BABY COTTON IS A...

BABY COTTON!

Kim and Chris Clark's Wedding

Look what was in our drive-way!

Skeeter's Bridal Tea

Bowl-A-Thon at Lightening Strikes

Shelby Lynn at the lake!

MMA Fight

**BLOG AWARD**

My 26th and Comans 30th Birthday Party!

Snow Fun!

Happy Valentine's Day!

"SCRAPPING"

Happy Birthday Shelby Lynn!

I've been TAGGED!

More Gatlinburg!

Gatlinburg 2008

Jeff Hannah's Birthday Dinner and Movie

Playstation 3

New Job

I have figured it out!

GULF SHORES 2006

BROOKE'S WEDDING

The boys acting up

The WILD BOYZ

Auburn vs LSU 2008

Police friends beach trip 2008

4 WEST girls!

New at This blogging thing

BLOG AWARD