Until Next Time

Saying "Goodbye" is never easy and for some reason that word just seems like it's the end. I know it's not, but knowing that you may not see your brother for the next two years is pretty difficult to swallow. So I'll just see you next time! I'm used to my brother, Scotty, not always being around. Growing up he stayed with my grandparents during the summer so that my mom had less kids to care for while we were all out of school. He then lived in Colorado during the time that we would've been in high school together and then traveled Europe for a month. It was fun listening to all his adventures and stories. It allowed me to live vicariously through him because his adventures weren't anything I will get to experience. Even through all his experiences we've always remained to keep things normal and continue an awesome sibling relationship. The thing about Scotty living in Australia is that I can't just get a plane ticket and go visit him for the weekend. So the time will come when I'll have that feeling in the pit of my stomach meaning that I miss him and I can't do anything about it. It's a lot easier dealing with him living so far away because I've gotten to visit and see what his life is like. Scotty has always made a point to save money to come and visit and spend time with his family in the States since he's lived in Australia. I want to thank him for doing this! I hope there will come a time that I can do the same and make Australia my second home. Your always in my thoughts and prayers. Please don't lose sight of who you are and where you came from. I love you!

Hailey Nicole Hammerling

Hailey Nicole Hammerling was born on July 19th 2008 at 8:18am. Hailey was born a whopping 6 pounds 6 ounces and 19 inches long. I was a bit surprised because I was expecting to have a 7 1/2-8 pound child. She came a week early. She has a very mild mannered demeanor (unless she's hungry) and is strong. She lifts her head when she's on her stomach and really likes to grab onto your finger. She came out holding her umbilical cord, which almost put me into a cesection because her heart rate kept declining. Overall, I had a great labor, delivery, and so far my recovery has gone well. I have to thank the person who created the epidural, because that drug is amazing. I praise any women who had a natural delivery with out any help for the pain. So far I've learned that swaddling is very effective in getting an infant to sleep longer. I'm very excited to be a parent and feel blessed to have this opportunity. Having a child is such a miracle!

Influencial Adults

I'm a pretty indecisive person! So I often look to others for advice, suggestions, and feedback when it comes to making different decisions. However, that doesn't mean I will always listen. I don't believe that I got this way on my own so I would like to introduce you to adults in my life that have helped me become who I am.

Meet my "Pops!" Beyond all his crazy adventures in life, he's a very traditional man. He's always worked very hard and believes in earning what you want in life. I feel I have adopted my father's heart and soul. He's very sensitive, caring, and empathetic. My dad knows what it's like to be the oldest. He is one of 11 sibs!

Meet my dearest mother, Ms. Debby Beachy! Anyone that can have seven children and look the way she looks is amazing and has some good genes. Unfortunately, I didn't get those specific genes! She is very passionate about everything she does. She's extremely creative and when she wants to do something and sets her mind to it she will succeed at it. She's determined and this is probably the one thing that I've taken from her!

Here is my grandma Pletcher and her pup, Henry! I have a lot of my grandmother's attributes; same eyes and body structure. I spent a lot of time with my grandma growing up. She has a special place in my heart. She's always encouraged me to be who I wanted to be and the one the led me to be a social worker. Her faith in God is evident in everything she does through out her life. She is a strong-willed(very similar to my mother) individual and about the only one I know at her age that has kept up with our technological world and taught herself how to use the computer!

Brian's Parents: Mird(Pat) and Dird(Harry). They've adopted me as their daughter from the moment that Brian and I have been together (It will be about 11 years in August). They've always been supportive of our relationship and have always valued family coming first. They gave me Brian!

I come from a large extended family so their are many other individuals who have also played an important role in my life some way, some how. The hardest part of getting married was knowing that I no longer would have the "Winkelman" name. Being a Winkelman is something to be proud of because of the history. I have two step-parents, Nina and Tim, who took on the challenge of adopting seven kids into their life! Crazy, but somehow they've managed being successful with this challenge. Now I'm a Hammerling and I have the best In-Laws I could ever ask for! So, I see it as a "win-win" situation :)

Siblings

I'm the oldest out of seven of us; Me, Scotty, Leslie, Tom, Emily, Stephen and Phillip. Their is a ten year gap between the oldest and youngest. We were all born in Northern Indiana and the twins(Stephen and Phillip) were the only one's born in a hospital. My mom had a midwife for everyone else. I would say that the first 13 years of my life were the simplest. We lived in a lot of different houses, but the most memorable one was on a pig farm. We had a lot of land, which allowed us to be creative when playing. I can vividly remember the time I hated being the oldest(around my middle school years) so I attempted to spend a lot of time with friends. I really started to appreciate my role as a big sister towards the end of High School and when I moved on to college. We are very unique in our own ways. Neither one of us are alike, and after you get to know us you can guess what characteristics we took from our parents. I love my brothers and sisters very much and no matter where we are in our lives we will always have eachother. The other cool thing about my life is that I have two sets of parents as well as two step-brothers; Avery and Andrew. My parents divorced when I was 15 years old. My dad met Nina and then my mom met Tim and they all got married in 2001. It's different being the oldest of so many kids because what I experienced growing up is very different then what my twin brothers experienced.

THANK YOU!!!!!

Over the last couple of months, Brian and I have been showered with lots of gifts. We had a fantastic time celebrating with friends and family. I wanted to say Thank You to all of you! I can't wait to show her off :)

Best Friend and Lover

Meet my husband, Brian, also known as "B" or B-Pod." We met through a mutual friend when I was 18 years old. We've been together since then. We are completely different and often laugh at how we can answer a question two very different ways. The one thing that we agree on is how much we love each other and will always be there for each other no matter what. He has allowed me to be an independent thinker and decision maker. He has taken care of me since I was 18 years old; protected me, loved me, and challenged me. When we were both attending college at UW-Stevens Point we decided to take austronomy together. I've always been challenged academically and of course school came easy to him. I needed to get a good grade on my final exam so he quizzed me to death which got me the grade I needed. He first told me he loved me while in Aruba after six months of dating. I would say my favorite memory is our wedding. It was such a day of celebration and sharing that with lots of family and friends. Our challenging moments are few and far inbetween, but I think that's because we compromise and don't put a lot of pressure on having to come up with the perfect answer. A marriage is a growing relationship that is always being challenged by elements around you. As long as you have faith and trust each other things will work out. You may be reading this and question if I'm for real and may say, "just wait until you have a baby." We'll, bring it on!

Infertility Pains

I found out I was pregnant around Thanksgiving 2007. I woke up early in the morning to take a pregnancy test, which finally came out positive. This was after two years of trying including several months of fertility assistance. The first person I told was Brian, obviously, but then it was my mom. I was then forced to immediately tell my grandma or my mom would spoil the excitement for me. I honestly feel that I got pregnant after lots of prayer and booking a ticket to Australia to visit my brother, Scotty, that I missed dearly. I have been blessed with the best pregnancy ever! My first trimester was a breeze. I was able to fly across the world during this time and had never gotten sick. The only think I couldn't eat was pizza. I almost forgot I was pregnant, but was quickly reminded when I took a dive into the ocean and my stomach stretched out more than it should've. I never did that again. My second trimester was the hardest because I had some major growing and stretching pains. Now I'm in the third trimester and I'm awaiting the excitement of meeting our first child to be, Hailey Hammerling! I know you can never be prepared for parenthood, but at this point, Brian and I are ready for it. This is one of my favorite pictures with my sisters. They are very excited to meet her as well. The coolest feeling in the world is all the support that I've had while trying to get pregnant in addition to everyone's anticipation for her debut.