Potty Training

That's right, I pulled the cord and this crazy kid went straight to big girl panties today. I must say that putting a kid on the potty every 10-15 minutes makes the day go by VERY slow but we are having great success. I knew Kate was pretty much ready but I was still taking a risk. However, all morning she has told me that she needed to potty and I haven't even really had to ask or make her go. And besides first thing in the morning where she straight up tee-teed all over herself when we first put her big girl panties on, we haven't had anymore real accidents. We have changed her panties a few time because she will start to go and realize it then she will run herself to the potty to finish. So after our first 6 hours of potty training we are having great success but it is going to be a long next few days!! I will have to keep you posted.

Update on baby: went to the doctor yesterday and heard a good heartbeat! we will find out next time what we are having! I know everyone says it is because it is my second baby but I am only 14 weeks pregnant but look 20 weeks. And because I have lost so much weight from being sick I know its baby related what is sticking out from me but seriously, isn't it just a little too early still??

Halloween and My Best Find EVER!

We had a really fun Halloween. Our neighbors had a cookout for all the families beforehand and then afterwards all the kids went trick-or-treating together.

Most children were eating dinner with their parents. Not Kate, she was content eating cheezits and then she found the candy stash of M&Ms. She was thinking she hit the jackpot since she was getting to eat M&Ms and didn't have to tee-tee on the potty to get one.

We didn't do any original costumes this year. I went with something we already had and that I could make warm since it was going to be cold that night. So an Auburn Cheerleader we were. At least we didn't have to hang our head since Auburn pulled off a victory against Ole Miss earlier that day!
Kate went trick-or-treating at one house then was "all done." Oh well, maybe next year she will be more into it.

We had a great time on our street as afterwards we had a small bonfire going and all the kids continued to run around and play until bedtime!

I cannot believe that I have not posted about this yet. It has to be my best find EVER! Every year Smith's Variety in Mtn. Brook has Rosalina come and they do a 2 day tent sale of smocked dressed. Good dresses, good prices...nothing super spectacular but a great deal if you can make it. Well this year I went and found dresses that were already put together and pleated, just not smocked. Now you can find things like this but usually you are going to pay around $40. I love to smock and I love to sew but as any mom can tell you time is off the essence these days. So when I saw these dresses in every color, shape and size and all I had to do was smock them and then put them on Kate I was super excited. Then I went for the price tag to see what kind of damage I was looking at.....$8 a dress. Yall, I almost fainted. I can't buy fabric for that price, much less the fact that I was saving time on cutting the pattern out, pleating, and then sewing the dress together! I figured it was better to ask for forgiveness then permission from Jason so I bought a ton of dresses for Kate and then pleaded my case of what an amazing deal they were to Jason later that night!

Here is what the dresses looked like. It is wonderful, you just sit down and smock whatever you would like! The pain of then knowing you have to sew the dress is all gone and its make the process so enjoyable!

Here is one of the dresses that is a sundress. I smocked these cute cows on there and can't wait for Kate to wear it next spring.

And I smocked this one with fall leaves for her to wear now!
I usually try and make this sale every year but you better believe that I am never missing it again!!

I love our neighborhood!

Most of you know that we moved back in the beginning of summer. Where we live are two streets that are somewhat secluded from the larger neighborhood and both are dead ends. There are probably 20+ kids on the two streets and the families are just wonderful. So all that to say, we have no traffic and all you have to do is walk outside to find someone to play with or talk to. As we are finding out, the families on these two streets do a lot of fun get togethers. When we were buying the house they invited us over for the big Easter Egg Hunt. And this past weekend was the Annual Fall Block Party. It was great. You brought food to share and a blanket to sit on. They house we were at had a bonfire to make smores and the neighbors brought over their tractor to do hayrides for the kids. There were pumpkins for all the kids to paint and decorate and for the adults there was good ole fashioned food and fellowship. We had a great time and it has been wonderful getting to know our neighbors...not to mention a lot of fun. (ps. they do a big halloween thing too so I will have pictures up of that after this weekend!)

kate and maddie at the bonfire
abby, myself and kate on the hayride

Beautiful Day

I wish we had more fall days like today. The sun feels wonderful on your face and the cool breeze is perfect! When we got home from church today we spend the next hour or so outside playing and it was just so nice and refreshing. Refreshing that it wasn't raining...refreshing that Jason was home for a bit before he set back out traveling for work...and refreshing that this weather put me in such a good mood and made me feel so great I think I will cry if it goes away too soon. I have decided pregnancy, or at least the first part of it, is for the birds. I don't know how people do this over and over again. Being sick and tired and taking care of a two year old is about to be the end of me most days. But then the Lord is gracious and I will have a day like today where I feel like I can keep going and that we really are going to make it through these next 6-7 months.

Girls Night Out

Each month my high school girlfriends get together for a girls night out and this month we went to sips n strokes. The irony of it is that four of us are pregnant so there wasn't much sipping unfortunately! It was nice to get a shower and put on make up and get dressed to go out. We had a great time and left with some cute paintings. I am thankful for these girls in my life and think it is so fun that after 17 years we are all still friends!

Oh, and I have not disappeared totally. This pregnancy is better than Kate's but I still have rotten days. However, I do have some good days too. But the reality of my life at the moment is that my house looks like a bomb went off, we barely have clean clothes and dishes are piled in my sink. I am ready to have my energy back and start feeling better all the time!!!!

A Preview of Coming Attractions...

Coming May 2010...

Baby Brantley #2

We are pregnant again and very excited! Got to see a strong heartbeat at the doctor and wanted to share our fun news with everyone. Kate and this baby will be 3 months shy of three years apart. The Lord couldn't have planned this more perfectly for me since I had always thought that I wanted my children 3 years apart! Morning sickness is in full affect but besides that things are great.

Just a little late...WAR EAGLE!

Well it only took my 4 days to post this but WAR EAGLE! We have been at home showing our spirit for these past 2 games but have enjoyed the comforts of our home with a 2 year old as we watch them on our tv!

Here is a Kate in a little cheerleader outfit I found at a consignment sale!

We watched the Miss St game with our friends Beth and Jeff and their little girl Addie Jane. Kate loves her some babies so she was more than thrilled to sit with Addie Jane and have her picture taken.

So here is the dress that started all my sewing in the first place. I had seen a cute tiger smocked dress on a little girl once and that is what got me into smocking classes which in turn got me learning to sew the dresses...and finally after many months of having this dress smocked I finally sewed it up so Kate could finally wear it. (and of course she ripped the hem in the dress only hours after I put it on her....AHH!)

War Eagle! Hope you are enjoying football season as much as we are right now!

Kate's First Day of School

Today was Kate's first day of school! I would say it was somewhat of a success. She cried the entire walk to the classroom and screamed bloody murder when I passed her off to the teacher, BUT she ended up have a good day and had a great time playing with the kids in her class! I also did very well with my little girl going to her first day of school...I do believe I am really going to love Mondays and Wednesdays!!

Here are the other kids in our neighborhood who go to the same school as Kate. It was fun getting them together to take pictures of the first day of school!!

Two Year Old Pictures for Kate

My good friend Lauren Winter came over the other day and took some pictures of Kate around the yard and neighborhood. She does an amazing job and I love how she does the lighting on her pictures. I did a slide show of some of the pictures since they were too large to upload on blogger and I wanted to share so many!

If you are intersted in having her take pictures of your little ones you can email her at laurenwinter@bellsouth.net

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Vintage

While I was at my parents the other day I found a tub of clothes that were mine when I was a little girl. A lot of the clothes my mom had sewn for me. Below is one of those dresses. I love that Kate is wearing dresses that were mine and I think it will be fun for her little girl to one day wear dresses that were hers. What I love most about the dresses that were mine is that the style back then was to have the dresses really short...I love that I can see her fat little thighs while she is running around playing!

I mean is Kate ready to go or what? She had her phone, purse, keys, and the baby in the stroller!