Christmas in Iraan

We spent the second Christmas weekend of the year (there's never just one with us!) with Cameron's family in Iraan. The girls were spoiled even further, and we enjoyed 3 days of family.
This christmas was so much fun with D'Laney. She talked about Santa for a solid month. She asked to call him about twice a day, and would tell us that he was going to bring her PINK presents! About a week before christmas she decided that she wanted a barbie house from Santa (where was that request before I shopped?!) and kept saying, "Momma, can Santa bring me a barbie house, pleeeeeeeeaaaase?" I bet she asked me 10 times a day, and Santa wasn't doing any more shopping! I was really worried about her reaction when she woke up christmas morning and Santa hadn't brought her what she wanted, because she doesn't forget anything. But she never said a thing! Maybe next year!
What Santa did bring both the girls were adorable, brown mini rockers with their names embroidered in pink. I love them, and so do the girls! Brynna climbs in and out of them all day. Santa also brought them lots of movies, to go with the new bluy-ray/dvd player that we got them for their playroom. We didn't get them much else, we knew the grandparents would go overboard, which of course they did.
I didn't take many pictures this weekend. Cameron is still having vertigo issues and wasn't able to help with the girls, and I didn't have a free hand to hold the camera. But here's a few:

progression of a photo

How hard is it to get one picture!
Things haven't changed in 20 years.

Christmas with my parents and the Barn

This christmas season is off to a great start! Friday night, we had christmas with my parents. The girls got lots of goodies, including dvd player for the car (yay!! momma and daddy were pleased!) and the cutest little one piece, old fashioned red long johns. Cameron got a pair, too, and he was so excited! They're great to work in when it gets really cold. I'm so bummed that I didn't get a picture of the three of them, maybe later. And we also got a red, kitchen aid artisan mixer! I've been wanting one for years! I can't wait to bake!
Saturday, we had our Barn christmas with my dad's side. It wasn't very cold, which was nice. The girls got even more goodies, and I finally got the PW cookbook. Cameron got the George Bush book, and I'm anxious for him to get through with it so I can read it.
Sunday morning, since we were all there, we had Landon's birthday party. Lan actually shares a birthday with Brynna. It's the 4th time in our family a baby has been born on someone else's birthday. D'Laney sat in Lan's lap while we sang happy birthday to him, and then insisted we sing to her as well. And everyone obliged! Can you say rotten?!
OK, less words, more pictures. I'll post a link to the whole album at the end










All of our pics on facebook: CLICK HERE

12 month stats

~wears 12 month clothes and size 3 shoes
~just moved into size 4 diapers
~still has the same 6 teeth she's had for almost 6 months now, but two more are just below the gums.
~is in bed by 9 and sleeps until 8 or 9 (momma LOVES this, if only her sister would do the same! D'Laney is up around 6:30 every single morning!)
~takes 2 naps a day
~eats anything and everything, except bananas. I don't think she likes the texture. Her favorite foods are chicken, waffles, and cheerios
~So far, we've only seen an allergy to apple juice, sauce, and slices. It gives her a killer diaper rash. Hopefully she'll outgrow this.
~LOVES milk. She would subside on nothing else if I'd let her.
~walks 90% of the time. She's still a little wobbly, and walks with her hands up like a monkey, it's so cute!
~can climb up onto the couches, but has a little trouble getting down.
~laughs constantly. She's always giggling at her silly sister.
~plays so well with D'Laney. They'll hole up in the playroom and empty every box and bin into the floor, but it keeps them occupied.
~loves to play with baby dolls. She holds them and pats them on the back.
~has begun putting purses over her shoulder and walking around with them.
~loves to give big, open mouth, tongue out kisses.
~waves when you say bye-bye
~blows kisses when you say night night.
~loves to clap and cheer
~is trying to sign some. The only ones she has down is throwing her hands up when she is through eating for "all done" and of course milk. She claps for "more."
~loves to be sung to. Her favorite songs are ones with hand gestures. We sing "itsy bitsy spider," "little bunny foo-foo," "fuzzy little caterpillar," and "this little light of mine" over and over again. She actually does most of the gestures with me.
~is trying so hard to talk. Her vocabulary (and how she actually pronounces them):
Momma (that one is very clear) Dad (also clear, DAD, not Daddy) D'Laney (EEEE!!!) No, Ball (baw) dog (daw) milk (mmmmm!!!) And I really mean the !!!!!s, her voice inflection is really becoming evident.
~says no when she's doing something she knows she shouldn't. She'll sit in front of the dvd player and reach out to touch it, looks at me, and says, no, no, no, no... it's ornery and so funny!

No babies around here!

Today, Brynna is 1 year old. I now have a toddler and a pre-schooler, how did that happen?!
This morning has been an uneventful day. Cameron is still home with an inner ear infection that has caused vertigo, so it's nice that Daddy got to spend the day with the birthday girl, even if he doesn't feel well.
We don't have any plans for the rest of the day, either. Brynna and I will probably go finish up our christmas shopping this afternoon, and we might get some ice cream or something to celebrate.
So happy birthday, sweet Brynna Belle. I love you more and more every day. And I'm so glad you weren't a boy!

Brynna's 1st birthday party!

We had a great birthday party for miss Brynna Belle! The theme was snowflakes, and I chose them for 3 reasons: a)each snowflake is unique, just like my sweet baby, b)it snowed alot the winter she was born, and c)I just thought it would make a cute party!
We had lots of family come in and Brynna got lots of clothes, books, and only a couple of toys. Yay!


Doesn't she look precious?! I just stumbled on this outfit long after I chose to do snowflakes. It was perfect!


The goodie table. We had brownie bites, cupcakes, and cookies.


D'Laney helped blow out her candle, but Brynna was only interested in eating that cake!


Digging in!


She would have eaten the whole thing if I hadn't taken it away from her!

Here's a link to the rest of the pictures!

Poor Cameron missed the whole party. Yesterday he came down with a case of vertigo, and it only got worse today. He spent the whole day sleeping. Hopefully that will cure him.

Happy birthday, Aunt Cadye!

This cheesy 3 year old and her little sister sure are lucky to have you as our aunt! We love you!

Let's play a game!

So we all share a love of The Pioneer Woman, right?
Her book will be released in February, and the movie will come out sometime in 2012. (Is it sad that I know that?!)
Chey-Anne and I were talking (typing?) about it yesterday, and Mrs. Cullen is so sad that her beloved Rob Pattenson won't be cast as Marlboro Man. Reese Witherspoon has already been cast as PW, but let's play a little game. Who do you think should be cast in the movie?
While I'm sure they'll be a large cast, the only ones that I can think of that would have a lot of screen time would be MM and Mike.
Who would make a great Marlboro Man? Should Mike play himself? I think so! And I think MM should be someone built like he could actually do ranch work, and who can pull of the strong, silent type.
Maybe Chris Hemsworth (Kirk's dad in the new Star Trek)

Or maybe a short haired Taylor Kitsch (Friday Night Lights.)


What do you think? and if you think I'm a total dork with too much time on my hands and not enough on my mind, you can tell me that, too!

Hope everyone had a great Turkey Day!

We had a wonderful thanksgiving, but since I forgot my camera and I've recently been scolded for no pictures in my posts, I'll just say we ate too much, Brynna still refuses to sleep away from home, the cowboys lost (but just barely!) and we enjoyed 4 days in angelo with my family.
Today, we have all of our Christmas stuff spread out on the front porch to air out, and as soon as the girls take a nap (Brynna began sleeping perfectly as soon as we got home)I'll get some of the decor up. When Cameron gets home, we'll get the tree up! I'm so excited! And I'll have pictures in the next post (Cadye!)

My aunt did send me this pic of the girls. It's not great, but it shows their absolutely precious turkey dresses. Thanks, Nana!

Prayer request

Many of you remember our cousins, the Grigsby's. In October of '08, they had precious twin boys, Landon and Eli. The boys were born early, with a mild case of TTTS, but after a few weeks in the NICU they were sent home and have been healthy and happy ever since. Seriously, I've never seen two boys with more energy than those two!
Dustin and Amy are now expecting their third child, a little girl. Yesterday an ultrasound revealed a congenital heart defect. I'll let you read Amy's post for more details, I'm sure I'd get something wrong.
Please pray for this sweet family. They have an amazing faith and strength in the Lord. I have no doubt that God chose Dustin and Amy to be the parents of this baby girl, knowing that they, and their families, would not only be able care for her, but be an example of how God expects us to live, through blessed times and troublesome times. They showed that with Eli and Landon, and will continue to do so with "sister baby." (what the boys have been calling her, isn't it cute?) And we know prayer works. They have two smart, sweet, rowdy little towheaded boys running around proving it!

I won!!!!

I absolutely love the Pioneer Woman.
I enter all of her giveaways, and yesterday I actually won! I couldn't believe it, I never win anything! Ever!
The giveaway was for these lovely ladies

To enter her giveaways, you have to answer a question, and the question was "who would you give these boots to?" I don't wear boots like this. My calves have always been too big, even when they were all muscle. And I don't like the skinny jeans tucked into boots on me. On other girls, it's adorable, I love it. But I just don't think I have the body type. So the answer was pretty easy for me, I'd give them to my sister. However, when I won, I thought, do I really want to give them to Cadye? They are awfully nice boots, maybe I would wear them myself. In reality, though, I knew that they would be wasted on me. In the rare event that I did wear them, they'd be under bootcut jeans, so you'd see about 4 inches of the boot. And I have some nice pairs of cowboy boots that I wear 99% of the time, anyway. It would be pointless for $300 boots to sit in my closet and rot.
So, my sister gets a pretty awesome Christmas gift. Or birthday, since that's in a couple weeks, it depends on when the boots actually come in.

This really IS news!

Brynna Belle just walked!! All the way across the living room! I walked into the room and she was walking away from the coach, towards her sippy of milk across the room. I've been keeping the video camera handy because I knew it was any day now, so I grabbed it and got a few steps, but then she kinda quit. She'd take a couple steps, fall and then crawl. I thought, man I wish Cameron were home to see this! But I thought, I'll just record it on my phone and send it to him! As soon as I pushed record, she went all the way across the room again! Don't you just love when kids perform when and how they're supposed to?! Mine rarely do.
Cameron was bummed he missed it, but glad he got to see the video of it.
I tried getting her walking more on the actual video camera, but she wouldn't take more than a few steps before she remembered that crawling is much faster than that wobbly walking.
I'm so glad she's finally getting around on her own. The last few days she has been pretty cranky unless I was holding her hands walking with her. My back is killing me! Plus, I don't have hours to spend walking in circles. I'm just worried now about D'Laney running through and knocking her down before she really gets her sea legs.
So my baby is walking. However glad I am, it makes me more than a little sad.

My poor, poor D'Laney

*Bloody pictures at the end of this post! Just letting you know!*
We had a rough day yesterday.
Around 10 yesterday morning, I heard D'Laney scream from the kitchen. I ran in there and found her sitting under the table holding her head. I figured she had stood up underneath and hit her head, which happens to all kids. When I picked her up, she held up her hand and it was covered with blood. I thought she had cut her hand somewhere, so I ran it under some water and looked for the cut, but I couldn't find anything. It dawned on me that she had been holding her head so I sat her on the counter and took a peek, and sure enough, blood was running down her hair. She wouldn't let me touch her head, but I was able to catch a glimpse of what I though was just a scratch. Although it was bleeding quite a bit, I know that head wounds bleed more than other parts of the body, so something less severe would still bleed a lot.
I wiped what she would let me with a paper town and let her calm down before I looked any further. It took some persuading, but she finally let me pull her hair back and get a good look, and it was no scratch we were dealing with. I pulled a strand back and that gash just laid open. It was about half an inch long, a quarter inch wide, and a quarter inch deep, maybe deeper.
I called our little clinic here in town and asked if they did stitches or if we needed to go to an ER in town, and they said that the doc did do them, but couldn't until 2, which was perfectly within the time frame allowed. So I called Cameron and he finished what he could at work and headed home, and I called a friend from church and asked if she could come watch Brynna so that Cameron and I could both go.
D'Laney did really, really well at the doctor. She sat on Cameron's lap and I held her hair out of the way. Of course she cried, but she sat really still.
She got three stitches, and will keep them until monday. The doc didn't have to cut any hair, which I was so glad for. Afterwards, we had to go to the drugstore to get some hydrogen peroxide, and our little drugstore has a soda shoppe counter with the best ice cream. So D'Laney got some, which I finished for her. Win all the way around! When I was five, I busted my chin open and had to get stitches, and I remember my parents letting my lay on the couch and eat ice cream afterwards. When I was around a year, I hit my head on some bricks at the babysitters, and I have a pretty puffy scar on my scalp, in the exact same spot that D'Laney will have one now.
I'm still not sure what she hit her head on. There are some screws under the table, but they're fat and blunt and don't stick out very far. I guess she could have hit the edge just right, but she must have hit it really hard for it to have done that kind of damage.
None of this has slowed D'Laney down any. She was fine about 10 minutes after it happened. And was fine about 2 minutes after the stitches were in. That kid is tough as a boot.

This first picture was just a few minutes afterwards. Totally fine!


The gaping wound:




Three little stitches, all in a row.


Poor baby, she didn't get a nap all day, and this is how we found her at 8 last night.

Prayer request

A sweet family from church camp lost their 28 year old daughter last night. From what I understand, Tracey was crossing a street in Longview when she was hit by a car, which then fled. She died shortly thereafter. Please pray for this family. It's such a sad, tragic loss, and, because the driver fled, it's now considered a homicide, which could drag out for months. Tracey leaves behind a beautiful little girl, Rylie, who is 7 or 8.

This just in...

You know I'm a sucker for all things Nicolas Sparks. I just came across some pictures of Zac Efron staring in "The Lucky One!" It's not that I'm a huge Zac Efron fan, in fact, I don't know that I've ever seen him in anything, but he was looking pretty good in those pictures! But, I am a huge Sparks fan, and The Lucky One was one of my favorite books of his. I've been pretty pleased with the movie adaptations, with the exceptions of Dear John and Nights in Rodanthe. I wish they'd make all of his books into movies. I've never been one to say, I hate the movie, the book was so much better. I enjoy them separately. I don't know a release date or who else is in the movie, but I'm excited!

BABY STEPS!

Just for documentation sake, I needed to post that Brynna just took two steps! She has taken one step here and there, like from the coffee table to the couch, or from Cameron to me, but never two in a row!
D'Laney walked 3 days before she hit 11 months, so Brynna has about 10 days to walk faster. I don't know if she'll make it, she's still pretty wobbly, but you never know! D'Laney kinda stumbled around for just a couple days, and then took off like she'd been walking for years. Brynna has done absolutely everything earlier than D'Laney, but we would help D'Laney walk a lot, and poor Brynna just doesn't get that kind of attention. There is only so much attention to go around!
I guess I need to get the video camera out and just wait for it to happen! I missed the first time D'Laney walked, but I ran and got the camera and she did it again almost immediately.
And, for the record, I'm not happy about this. It means that I no longer have a baby, and won't ever again. It makes me more than a little sad.

Halloween

Let me start off by saying that I despise halloween. I have always hated halloween. My husband, on the other hand, gets all giddy and googly eyed about it. How does this marriage work, I ask you!
Anyway, halloween has become a bit more bearable with the addition of the girls. This year was the first year that D'Laney was really aware of any of it, and a lot of it really scared her. I'm hoping next year she'll understand it's all pretend. We're still having to assure her that there are no ghost in her room or monsters in the bathroom when the light is off.
When I asked D'Laney what she wanted to dress up as, she answered princess without hesitation. And she wanted to wear the dress and tiara from her birthday party. For Brynna, I decided to recycle D'Laney's first costume, a chili pepper. D'Laney was just a few weeks old, and wore it for about 2 minutes while I took pictures and that was it. So we managed to not spend a dime on costumes. We more than made up for it in candy and favors for the church party. Each family was assigned a booth, and I had the ring toss. I ordered a large balloon spider and twisted and taped pipecleaners to make sturdy legs to toss the rings onto. I also decided to bring 3 little light up pumpkins for the really little kids, and it's a good thing I did. About 5 seconds after I had everything set up and took a picture, my balloon spider popped. Thank goodness for those little pumpkins!


The party was a lot of fun. Cameron and the other men made a haunted house out of the classroom wing of the building, and I don't know if the kids had fun going through it, but I know that all the men had a blast putting it on. Mom, Cadye, and her boyfriend Wade came up for the weekend and got to see the girls all dressed up.
So overall, it was a good weekend, but I'm soooooo glad it's over now.



Poor Brynna, the things we make our kids go through to get a cute picture!


Princess D'Laney


This is the first picture we've taken of the 4 of us since Brynna was just a few days old! (that's almost 11 months, if you're counting.)

Messmaker, Messmaker, Make Me a Mess...

I'm trying to become a better housekeeper. It's truly the thing that I struggle with the most. Sounds silly, right? If they house is messy, just pick it up. But there's coloring to be done, and tickling, and kissing and hugging, and phone calls to make, and new recipes to look for, and birthday parties to plan, and....
What's weird is that I'm totally OCD about a lot of things house related. My pantry has to be completely orderly and organized, with cans stacked and lined up perfectly, everything sorted and shelved and just so. I have to wash dishes in a certain order. If I'm washing sippy cups and Cameron walks by and throws a spoon into the dishwater, I almost have a panic attack. Organization magazines and websites are like crack to me, I can't get enough. I would love to have a bin and cubby for everything, but I don't, and I can't just blame it on the fact that that kind of thing can get really expensive. I've always been a walking contradiction.
We all struggle with embarrassing things, I guess, and that's mine. My husband, half lovingly, once said that I was a great wife, but a terrible roommate. But anyway, I'm always trying to do better, and have decided it's just habit. So I'm trying to form new habits, they only take 28 days, right? I keep referring to my Coke habit, I used to drink a six pack a day, and now one sip makes me sick to my stomach, so if I can kick Coke, I can do anything!
So, along with just trying to keep things better picked up during the day, we've created a new nightly routine. D'Laney always goes to bed at 9, so now at 8:30, we turn off all TVs and pick up the playroom, living room, and her room. Right now she's at an age where she loves to help clean, so I'm hoping to make all this habit for later when she's not such a fan. After everything is picked up, then we do the normal PJs, teeth, and bed dance. If Brynna isn't already in bed, I put her down, too, whether she's acting tired or not. I've never been one to push a schedule at her age, but she's getting old enough now to follow one, even if it is way loose.
After the girls are in bed, I make sure the kitchen is done, sweep, swiffer, vacuum, and for the last few nights, gone straight to bed. So far, so good, but it's only been a few nights.
Why am I telling you all this? I'm not really sure. I hate to have anyone think less of me, and believe me, from the outside, that's exactly what I think. I guess maybe if I put in out there, share my dirty (hehe) little secret, I'll be more accountable for it? I'm not sure, but I have to be better about this stuff. If other people did their job the way I do mine, they'd be fired. It's really as simple as that. And hey, cleaning more will burn more calories, right? Maybe this will help me get in shape faster, cause I've been dropping the ball there, too. Surprise, surprise!

It was nice knowing ya!

I'm a little behind on blogging because I've been dying. At least I thought so. I finally went to the doctor Monday morning thinking I was getting strep throat and was diagnosed with a sinus infection and allergies. I wanted to say, listen here, Miss Resident-not-quite-a-real-doctor-yet. I know allergies, and this ain't it!! But anyway, she gave me some antibiotics and sent me on my way, and sure enough, a couple days later, nice little white polyps spring up on my tonsils. I WebMDed step and the course of treatment is what I'm on anyway, so I decided not to go back to the almost-doc and wait it out. My sweet husband really helped with the girls, by calling his mom and asking if she could keep them for a few days, lol. So, Brynna's first night away from home was not ideal, but she's doing great. Thank goodness she was already weaned!
Today, I woke up a new woman! I hate when it happens like that. So Cameron and I are out the door to Iraan to pick up our babies! Hope everyone has a good weekend!

3 year milestones

~talks. all. day. long.
~weighs around 30 lbs
~wears 3T clothes and size 7 shoes
~can almost recite the whole alphabet
~can sign several letters
~can verbally spell her name, but never on command
~pretends to write
~pretends to read
~can draw a circle and a square
~knows left from right
~has no interest in learning to tie her shoes (so we have no shoes that need to be tied)
~wants her hair down most of the time, but if it must go up, she prefers one ponytail, with a ribbon or a bow
~we haven't cut bangs, but she has a row of baby hair that looks like really really short bangs.
~hair is still curly underneath, straight on top (makes it hard to just leave down)
~calls her sister "lil' fella"
~still takes a nap, usually around 1 or 2, and will sleep anywhere from 1.5 to 4 hours
~goes to bed at 9, and wakes up at 6:30, every.single.day, so I turn on disney in our room, she sits in the recliner and I go back to sleep for another hour or so.
~is very, very picky when it comes to food, but I think that's my fault. I haven't been very good about making her try new things, but she's getting better. Her favorite meal is meat of any kind, mashed potatoes, green beans, and salad with no tomatoes and only italian dressing. I can't say the kid has bad taste.
~likes to wear dresses, or nothing but panties. most days we go through several dresses before we settle on just panties. she especially loves princess dresses, tiaras, and accessories.
~looks so much like me at her age it's a little scary (but not as scary as how much Brynna looks like Cameron!)
~acts so much like Cameron it's VERY scary, lol. I'm kidding of course. A little.
~what I mean by that is she is very social. she'll talk to anyone, anywhere, anytime. Cameron is like that now, but says that at her age, he was scared of his own shadow and very shy. No one believes him, though.
~is very tenderhearted. she hates to see any other child crying or upset.
~likes to color, but doesn't even try to stay in the lines, loves puzzles, and playing with her baby dolls.
~loves to cuddle now, which she hated when she was younger.

there ya go, a short, scattered run down on what laney-bug is up to as a big ol' 3 year old.

worst mother of the day, month, year!!

I just realized how extremely Brynna-heavy this blog has been lately. The only D'Laney post in the last few months has been about her birthday party, with one dinky little picture of her (although there was a link to more.) How negligent of me! I promise we don't send D'Laney to a tower while we ooh and aah over Brynna, but to look at this blog, you'd sure think so! I could justify it by saying that, at this age, D'Laney doesn't really hit any milestones or anything, so there's less to document, but that's really not true. There's probably more to document, especially what comes out of her sweet little mouth. I'm going to fix this.

9 months!!

Brynna turned 9 months a couple of weeks ago, but I was waiting to post anything about it until after her well baby on friday.
Here's what my not-such-a-baby is up to:
~has 6 teeth
~crawling, fast, everywhere
~standing for several seconds at a time, and sits down with complete body control
~has begun eating table food. I'm still making her food, but I'm processing it less, leaving it more chunky. She's also feeding herself some. Her favorite foods to eat herself are peas, carrots, green beans, waffles, mac and cheese.
~is drinking from a sippy cup
~says Momma... over and over and over again. But she's saying the word, not just making the sound.
~is very shy in public, but pretty vocal at home.
~waves bye-bye and beckons with a "come here" hand movement.
~is trying to clap, but ends up missing her hands and slams them on her legs.
~has the bluest eyes and BLONDE hair!!
~loves loves loves her big sister. She follows D'Laney everywhere and laughs at everything she does and says.

Brynna got a gold star from Dr. Patyrak. He was very impressed with her gross motor skills, saying she was about 3 notches higher than was average for her age, and is absolutely healthy... except for her weight. She had only gained 3 ounces in 2 months. Now, it's not uncommon for babies her age to have not gained much during this stage, due to crawling and becoming so much more active. But it's usually more than 3 oz. I wondered not if, but when we were going to get this report. You might remember this, when D'Laney turned a year and my milk had apparently dried up, with out my knowing, and D'Laney wasn't getting the nutrition she needed. I had intended to ask Dr. P about going ahead and starting Brynna on whole milk now, I really wanted to skip formula. He basically said that we needed to do something different, that my milk was probably beginning to dry up. He said that since she is only 9 months, starting her on whole milk is fine as long as I supplement with a poly-vi-sol multivitamin with iron until she is a year. So we've begun the weaning process. Brynna loves milk, which I'm so glad for. I'm still nursing her 2 or 3 times a day, when it's time for her to sleep. I don't think that putting her down without nursing her will be much of an adjustment, but I wanted to wean a little less abruptly this time, and thought since she usually falls asleep at the breast, those would be the best times to keep nursing. And let me assure you, my milk is just beginning to dry up, I'm still producing, and even though Brynna is still nursing some, I'm in so much pain! I've said it before and I'll say it again, I do NOT envy large chested women. Hopefully over the next couple days my body will take the hint and stop producing so much and cutting back will be a little easier.
Other than that, Brynna is doing so well. She has the sweetest, gentlest personality. I never knew that two siblings could be so different, but their last name is about all my girls have in common. They have such different looks, mannerisms, and personalities, and I love it. I think it will balance very well.
I'm starting to plan Brynna's first birthday party. I'm so excited! I love planning parties.
OH! I wanted to wish a huge congratulations to Lane and Page Boyd! Baby Sawyer was born yesterday! Bless this sweet boy, he has 3 older sisters! But I know they'll love him to pieces. Page let Lane chose Sawyer's name, and he didn't even tell HER until he was born! I could never have done that, but I could never be super mom to 4 kids in 5 years either, and Page does it so well! So congrats Boyds, we love you and are so happy for all 6 of you!!

Things on my T shirt

~poop
~butt paste
~dissolved yogurt bites
~dissolved puffs
~snot (Brynna's, D'Laney's, and mine)
~chicken and sweet potato puree
~sprite
~flour
~milk (from Brynna's cup and my own "cups")

And I've only had this shirt on for about an hour! I think I'll go change now.

Iraan Homecoming

We went to Cameron's homecoming this weekend. Iraan does homecoming like I've never seen, it's 90% about the Ex's coming home (I guess that's how it should be, given the name.) Our niece Loren was chosen as the freshman duchess, so she got to get all gussied up and looked absolutely beautiful! The game was pretty exciting with the Braves winning in overtime. Of course, Brynna and I left right after the halftime presentation, so I missed all the excitement. Saturday was a parade and a tribute to Lucky Floyd, who was the band director there for many years. During the tribute, several ex band members, including Cameron and his sister Amy, performed and sounded really good! I was really surprised, some of those people have been out of school for nearly 30 years! Here's a link to all the pics that I took, but here's our sweet Lo, as D'Laney calls her. She's such a beautiful girl, inside and out, and we're so proud of her! And the boys, too!

Prayer Request

I have a friend from junior high, Sunny, that has a beautiful, sweet baby girl named Cameryn. Last week, Cameryn started having seizures, and after an MRI, her doctor rushed them to Cook's Childrens Hospital. They've diagnosed her with Cryptogenic Infantile Spasms, meaning there's no medical cause of the seizures. They were sent home with a series of steroid injections, and in two weeks will go back to Cook's to see how well they've worked. Sunny and Lance, and their whole families, have had an amazing faith throughout this whole ordeal, and know that God is the Great Physician. Prayers are being said for this sweet baby all over the place, but I'd like to ask for yours, as well.

Warning: kinda gross pictures

My sister had a tonsillectomy yesterday. Since my parents are in their first week at new schools, they decided to only take yesterday morning off for the surgery, and asked if I could come stay with Cadye for the rest of the week. I've had two C-sections, but I think Cadye's poor throat is in far worse shape than my gut. It hurts her to swallow, eat, drink, talk, even breathe. She's staying on top of her pain meds, and she's really doing pretty well considering, but, man, I'm glad it's not me!






Lol, kinda sums up how she feels!

8 months!!

I'm a few days late for this post, but we've been a little busy.
My sweet Brynna Belle is 8 months! How?! Just 4 short months away from 1 year old!! This baby has changed so much in the last two months, it's crazy! She went from a quiet, timid, stationary little thing to a loud, notice me, into everything, totally mobile big girl!
~at her appt last month, she weighed 17lbs, 6 oz. (The last time I reported her weight, I said she weighted 12 something, when I should have said 15 lbs. We haven't had a massive growth spurt in the last couple months!)
~has 6 teeth! 4 on top, 2 on bottom, and she knows how to use them! She likes to bite my shoulder, hard! and laughs when I get on to her. Fortunately, she's only bitten me while nursing a couple times.
~With the biting has come her first discipline. Verbal discipline has only made her laugh, so I've tapped her hand a few times.
~still nursing, but not as much as she was. When we started solids, my milk production took a little bit of a dive. (Something else returned at almost the exact same time, and that was probably the real reason. And can I just say that I think it's totally unfair that I can no longer have kids, but I still have to deal with girly stuff like that!)
~anyway, lol, because of the dip in my milk, Brynna is eating solids four times a day. Oatmeal first thing in the morning, lunch and dinner of vegetables, and rice cereal right before bedtime.
~the cereal before bedtime is an attempt to get her to sleep better, and it's not working. Brynna was sleeping through the night at 2 months old, and not just through the night, about 10 or 12 hours in a row! But about 2 months ago, she started getting up 3, 4, sometimes 5 times a night. And let me tell you, this momma is tired! Finally, a few nights ago, she slept from 10:30 to 7:30, which was awesome, but the next we day we left for my parents house, and she's been up several times a night every night we've been down here. Maybe when we finally get home and get back into a regular routine, she'll be better about it again. I could really use the rest!
~she is crawling everywhere, and fast! Most of the time, she crawls on her right foot and left knee. She pushes up on her hands and feet a lot, too, and doesn't understand why she's not moving.
~she's pulling up on everything, and in her monitor, I watched her take about 4 steps cruising around her crib.
~loves walking while holding onto your fingers, but she's still way wobbly. If you try to sit her on the ground, she locks her legs and won't sit, she wants to be up all the time.
~her only word right now is dada, but it's not just a sound anymore, she uses it correctly. But she talks all.day.long. And she does this long, drawn out grunt thing that is hilarious. I thought she was going to be my quiet little child, but it looks like I'm going to be the only quiet one in my household for the next 18 years or so.
~sort of waves and says bye-bye, but I think it's one of those things that we think we hear just because we want to.
~loves, loves, loves her big sister, and the feeling is absolutely reciprocated. My girls are giddy when they see each other first thing in the mornings. It melts my heart.
~has the biggest blue eyes, the softest blonde hair, and is becoming a beautiful little girl... not that I'm biased or anything ;)



Brynna had to get in on the action of Sister's princess party, too. "If the tiara fits..."

What a 3 year old looks like

What will she look like as a teenager?!?!?!

1st 3rd birthday

Today we had the first of two birthday parties for D'Laney. She's turning 3, THREE!! I can't believe it, and I'm doing my best not to think about it. I just can't handle it. With Brynna turning 8 months yesterday (more about that tomorrow) and all the changing and growing that she's doing daily, I'm just having a little bit of trouble dealing with my firstborn now considered a pre-schooler!
We had a fabulous princess party for D'Laney with my side of the family. We'll celebrate again with Cameron's side while we're on vacation with them next weekend, on her actual birthday. The party was complete with tiaras, big diamond rings, and beautiful princess dress, and a castle cake made by yours truly. The cake turned out a lot better than I thought it would, so I was pretty proud of it! I have friends who are very talented when it comes to cake making, and their stuff looks very professional. My cakes are about as far from professional as they could be, but I love making them myself for my loved ones, however homemade they may look.
I'm just going to post the link to my facebook page for all the pictures, but here's my Princess D'Laney and her wonderful daddy.

What a mess...

And I'm not just talking about my house. Actually, it's rather spic and span right now, except for the laundry. (I'm choosing to believe it's done, too.)
No, the mess has been pretty much everything else around here. Some of it has been good, some not so good.
The good mess is our wreck of a back yard. We've torn down 63% of the buggy shed, otherwise known as the garage, and we're just waiting for a weekend where Cameron can bring some heavy equipment home from the yard to get it finished, and pray no neighborhood kids walk through and the whole thing collapses. This past weekend we tore down the backyard fence, which was buried about 4 inches and the post were cemented into their holes. So now we have a small, waterless mote protecting our backyard from cats and hoodlums roaming the alley. Cameron plans to start rebuilding the fence tonight and hopefully get the garage torn down this weekend.
The bad mess has been our Internet service. It's been pretty sketchy over the last two years, but I fully believe in supporting small town businesses, so I let it slide. However, after 2 weeks of almost no service, I had enough. I cancelled and switched to a major provider. We got everything going and set an installation date. That came and went. After 2 days I called to see what the problem was, and after an hour and a half on the phone, we finally got it all set. As of yesterday, I now have even faster service, plus a brand new home phone line. That isn't working. So I'll be on the phone again as soon as my cell charges. Ugh! It's been almost a month dealing with the internet problems, and who knows how long it'll take to get the phone going.
Going without internet for a short time shouldn't turn my life upside down, but it sure seems like it does. I can't birthday shop (it's much easier looking online and then going to the store for something specific,) I've missed a couple of emails that I really needed, and I haven't had a way to check on bills, etc. So frustrating!
Ahh, that feels so much better. I love having this to rant on. My husband loves it, too, saves him from having to hear it. Again.
I'll post later today or tomorrow on what my sweet little girls are up to (hint: a lot!)

something new every day!

It's been a big month for Brynna.
She turned 6 months old!
Her first little tooth poked through, quickly followed by another, and two more will be crowding their way in over the next few days.
She has started sitting up by herself. She skipped tripoding and sits very straight, although she falls backwards often.
And biggest of all, since we hit the 6 mo. mark, she had her first taste of something other than momma! We started rice cereal last night, and she did really well! She acted like she liked it for a couple of bites, but then decided it wasn't so great. I think the cereal might have gotten cold though, so we'll try it again tonight and make sure it stays warm. Daddy did pretty good too, for a little while. His ultra sensitive gag reflex did kick in, though, so momma had to take over.

6 months one way, half a year the other

However you want to look at it, my baby is growing way too fast!
~12 1/2 lbs. (80%)
~24 inches (60%)
~on her knees rocking, but doesn't move yet
~doesn't really need to, that kid can roll across our big living room before you can blink!
~if she would be still, she could sit up, but she's too busy reaching for something, anything, or craning her neck to watch her silly sister
~has two teeth that have broken through, the bottom left and top right. I've never known a kid that has teethed in that order, it's going to look so funny when they come down further! And the companion teeth don't look like they're coming anytime soon. Teething has been a little more difficult for Brynna than it was for D'Laney. She's been fussy, run some very low grade fever, and wants momma to hold her all day long. But she's going through all of this 3 months sooner than D'Laney did. I have to admit that I'm a little bit sad about the teeth. She's my last baby, and the sweet little gummy grins aren't going to be around much longer.
~she's learned to blow raspberries with her tongue, and does so 90% of the time she's awake. Combined with the insane amount of drool from the teething, and anything within a 2 foot radius is going to get soaked.
~still sucks her thumb, and I love it.
~she is such a happy baby. She smiles constantly, and she'll kinda giggle, but we canNOT get that child to laugh. I think she's going to be kinda serious and a little shy, which should balance her crazy sister out nicely. But I wish she would laugh at us, it's always such a sweet sound.
~we'll start rice cereal when daddy gets home later this week.
~Keva will take 6mo. pics for us next week. So excited! Hopefully she'll sit up a little better for her.

We've been pretty busy around here. Camp is next week, and packing for two kids is hard! Getting all the clothes together is easy, but finding things to entertain an almost 3 year old (!) and a 6 month old is the hard part. I have plenty of water toys, but it'll get too hot for even that, so I also have to pack movies, books, puzzles, coloring stuff, etc. to keep them occupied in the cool camper. I have to pack a lot of food, too. Not just for D'Laney, but with my food allergies, it's hard to eat a lot of what comes out of the cook shack. My mom and sister came and stayed with me this weekend to help get some stuff ready, so I'm almost ready! The only things left to do are last minute things, like buying groceries and packing toiletries. So excited!!

I drank the Kool-Aid

I've never really been one to follow trends. I resist things, due to pure stubbornness, simply because it's popular. Texting, wedge shoes, even this blog, were things that I didn't want to have anything to do with, and now they're a part of my every day life. You can add two more things to that list.

I kinda have a thing for *ahemtwilightahem*

What was that? Didn't catch that?

I said TWILIGHT!

I know, I know, I'm a little embarrassed. And it's really not a thing. Cameron and I finally watched the movies a couple weeks ago, and they were pretty good. So I decided that since Cameron was going to be out of town for a while and I might actually have time, I'd read the books. And I did, all four in about a week and a half. And my house might have suffered. And D'Laney might have watched a tiny bit more TV so that I could read during the day. I really don't know if it was the material, or if I was just wrapped up in reading again. I so love to read, and I haven't done much of it in the last 3 years. I'm not a fanatic now, I certainly won't be at any midnight showings of Eclipse or wait in line at all. But I might try to find a sitter and see it in the theatre. I might even try to drag my husband to it. He'll never admit it, but I think he enjoyed the movies just as much as I did (he watched them both twice.) I know the reasons that I enjoyed the stories had nothing to do with all the supernatural mumbo jumbo. I liked the fact that the kids weren't drinking, smoking, messing around, etc. It was so refreshing!

My other new thing, which definitely IS a thing, is Glee! I wasn't purposely avoiding this like I was Twilight, I just hadn't had a chance to watch it yet. Oh my word almighty, I am beyond hooked now! (It's not lost on me, however, that it is chocked full of the aforementioned things that I don't like, and then some!) I watched one episode last week, and then spent the next couple of days watching every episode they have online. I've always like musicals, and to do songs that are current! Love it! The singing and the dancing... the whole thing makes me happy.

PS: the whole "drank the koolaid thing" cult comparison was totally intended... some folks are still crazy.

Playroom

A few weeks ago, I decided to completely rearrange the two main rooms downstairs. The smaller room we used as a living room, and the larger room had our office stuff, D'Laney's toys, and our big dining table, with no chairs. So I decided to store the big table, move the living room into the big room, and make the smaller room just a playroom. It's how we should have done things to begin with.

My sister paints things for the girls, and I used a couple of them for the colors in the room. Black, hot pink, and silver. There aren't many options to impliment the color scheme. I'm not repainting because of resale value, so really the only things I can do are add things on the walls, which I have, and change the curtains to black and get a slip cover for the little loveseat, both of which I still need to do.


I usually keep her little table on the other side of the loveseat, but D'Laney likes it in the middle of the room so that she's not stuck in a corner.


That blue loveseat has made the rounds in my family. It (and it's matching couch) is my grandmother's, and she's had them since before I was born. They've made their way to my aunt's, back to grandmother's, back to the aunt's, then to my parents, back to grandmother, etc. My brother has had them, my sister, and now we have the loveseat. It's like a great, worn out pair of jeans. The second we got it into the playroom and I sat down, I just sighed in comfort. They've really held up well all these years.


Bulletin board and some pictures.




Cadye's works of art. I have more ordered.


That treadmill doesn't get much use, lol. And that is my favorite picture of D'Laney. She was 6 months old, almost the same age as Brynna. Man, those two look nothing alike! I'm excited to get Brynna's 6 month pictures made next month and get one hung up beside this one.

Fancy Nancy

A sweet couple at church gave D'Laney this book this morning. I'm totally in love with this little girl! There are 27 other books in the series, and I can't wait to get more for D'Laney and Brynna. If you have little girls, I highly recommend these books!

Woo Hoooooooo!!!!!!!

If you can't tell by that oh-so-subtle title, I'm a little excited. D'Laney seems to finally understand potty training!
Last night, Cameron saw that she was prancing around and took her to the potty, and she went! Just like that! This morning, she came and told me she needed to potty, and went again! A little later I noticed she had taken her panties off, went and checked and sure enough, she had gone completely BY HERSELF!!! And then she went again right before I put her down for a nap! AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!
This potty training stuff has been so stressful for me. D'Laney is really smart, at least I think so, and it made no sense to me that she would be so far behind when it came to pottying. I was told by many people that one day, she would just get it, and it'd be smooth sailing from then on. And that seems to be the case!
I'm a little anxious about going out in public now. Do I put a diaper on her for the next few days when we're away from the house? I'd sure hate to have an accident, say, at the wedding we're going to tonight. I don't think Jenny would appreciate it.
Also, I have a question for all of you moms of girls that are already in panties. Did your girls have, ahem, aiming issues? I did not think that would be a problem with girls, but in all the times that D'Laney has used the big potty, she's hit the bowl once. Is this something that will resolve itself with more practice? Do I need to take the training potty off so that she'll have a bigger target? Is all of this TMI?

4 months old!

Yesterday, Brynna Belle turned 4 months! It's unreal how fast the last 4 months have flown by.
Brynna:
~smiles constantly, especially at her big sister. The second that D'Laney walks into the room, Brynna lights up and kicks her legs.
~has found her feet, but isn't chewing on them yet. She likes to old them and rock back and forth.
~rolls from her back to her tummy, but not tummy to back yet.
~is still nursing really well, every 3 to 4 hours during the day.
~sleeps through the night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (that excites me, if you can't tell) She nurses around 9 and sleeps until 7 or so, and usually goes back to sleep for another 2 to 3 hours.
~isn't going to start cereal for another 2 months.
~has started grabbing at toys that are right in front of her.
~talks a lot. We just thought she was going to be our quiet child.
~laughs a lot, but just a chuckle or two at a time.
~likes to sit up. She loves her bumpo, and likes to sit up in someone's lap. I sat her on the floor and let go of her, and she stayed upright for about 3 seconds before she started leaning forward. It won't be long and she'll be sitting up all by herself.
~tolerates tummy time sometimes. When she's in the mood for it, she kicks her legs a lot and tucks them underneath her and then kicks them out. She'll be crawling soon, too.
~is a very, very good baby. She hardly ever fusses, mostly when she's hungry and I don't feed her fast enough.

That's about it, I think. We don't go to the doctor for a few more weeks, so I'm not sure what she weighs, but I think she has slowed down a little bit in her growth.

This picture is from saturday, but it kinda sums Brynna up. She's content just to sit, with a hint of a smile.

Good Ol' Boys Like Me

Don Williams, one of my favorites!

A couple of weeks ago, the girls and I went over to Coahoma to watch my cousin Jordan play softball. I don't miss playing softball like I do basketball or cheering, but it's still fun to watch.