Happy Birthday Kate!!

So when thinking about Kate turning 3 and this past year I have a broad spectrum of emotions. Kate is such a fun little girl who's larger than life personality keeps us laughing and just brings us a lot of joy. She loves everyone and hardly ever meets a stranger. The way she went from saying few words to having full on conversations is amazing. And I never knew that a two year old could be so opinionated about what she was wearing and have total melt downs when her shoes get wet! This past year has also been extremely hard as learning to parent/discipline has been a HUGE journey. The journey though has been more about the Lord revealing my sin to me then anything else. Through raising Kate I have had more of my pridefullness, self-righteousness, anger and desire for control exposed...and that has been really hard. But I am thankful that the Lord is kind and uses these things to mold us and causes us to be in complete desperation to draw us closer to him.

I am in the middle of reading a book by Dan Allendar called "How Children Raise Parents." A lot of what I am learning and my views on this past year can be summed up in an excerpt from his book. He says in the book, "No other arena in life holds us more hostage to hope, more afraid to dream, more defensive about our decisions, and more open to receive help - all simultaneously. The intensity and passion of parenting bring the potential not only for our worst but also for our very best as human beings. It is the space in our lives where we are most open to the work of God to change us - if we will only allow our children to lead us into spiritual maturity."

The song on this slideshow is by Laura Story and is called "Make Something Beautiful." My prayer is that He would take my brokenness and failure as a parent and "make something beautiful" in me and in Kate.

Happy Birthday Kate! We love you very much!!

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

Oozing with Sweetness

I just can't get enough of this sweet little boy! Whit has really just been an absolute joy!

I just wonder what Whit thinks everytime Kate holds him or tries to help take care of him!!

Some good friends of ours (the Glazes) are in from LA and we are spending lots of time hanging out. We had a little playdate with friends so that we could all play and hang out and also meet the Glazes new little one, Piper!! She and Whit will be getting married in 2032 if I have anything to do with it!! I mean, Whit and Piper...don't they just sound cool together?

All the kiddos...in just three years, things have really changed...its like a zoo when we are all together.

Whit, Piper, and Geer in the corner...we will be competing with him for Pipers heart).

Graham was Kates first real friend. We miss her so much and were so glad to have some time to play together this week.

Family Time at the Beach

We just got back from spending some great family time at the beach. Jason has been busy with work so it was great to get some time with him and the kids all together. Monday was also our 7th wedding anniversary! Jason's mom and sister were down there as well and we just had a really great time all around.

Much Needed Bonding

Kate and I headed off to Alabama Adventure Water Park the other day for some much needed mommy/daughter bonding. I left Whit behind with a babysitter so I could spend the day just with Kate. Kate and I had a really great day and she was very obedient and just a lot of fun. There was a fun little toddler water park and then Kate LOVED the lazy river.

A friend of ours built a play set for his kids 12 years ago and modeled it after one of those backyard adventure play sets. Now that his kids are grown he passed it on to us. Jason has spent a lot of time taking this play set apart, sanding it, restaining it and now finally assembling it! We are still missing the roof but that will be on soon. The slide is called a "turbo" slide and it is true to its name. Kate goes flying off of the slide when she goes down. Needless to say she now only goes down if there is someone to catch her! But there is a great climbing wall on the other side too. Only downfall is this is a pretty intense play set. It is very tall and should be rated for ages 5 and up!

On a very positive note...Kate is finally pooping in the potty on a daily basis. Or at least for the last 4 days. I am not sure what clicked but we are having success and I will take it! Now hopefully this won't jinx it :)

Oh the Joys of Children

Someone please tell me that I will survive the toddler phase. I am finding myself on my knees before the Lord in complete desperation much more these days!
This sweet face is a joy. I realize that he too will test my limits one day but right now he is just about the sweetest thing and I am thankful for how easy he is.We got to have some adult fun the other day. Some friends of ours bought over 100 feet of plastic tarp and created a super fun slip n slide. I have some great video of it but my computer won't cooperate enough to let me load it on here.

Last week my entire family was in town which meant all the cousins were here. Bryce, Hannah and Kate were really fun to watch. Now that they are older they interact and play with each other so much more and it is just sweet to watch them love each other. Hannah and Kate were attached at the hip by the end of the week after Bryce had to go back to Atlanta. The morning that they were leaving I asked Kate if she wanted to go on a walk with me and she replied with "mommy I can't, I waiting on Pop and Hannah to come get me." So needless to say she was very disappointed to find out Hannah wasn't coming to play again and was headed back to Texas.

My dad is extremely great with kids. Here is one reason why...who else thinks to throw the kids in a wheelbarrow and roll them around? Hannah and Kate couldn't get enough of this.

2 Months

I can't believe its been 8 weeks already. However I did tell Jason the other day that having another baby had been fun but that I was done...ready to sleep long periods of time again and not worry about feedings every 3 hours!

Whit's stats from his doctor visit today:
Weight 12 pounds 1 ounce
Length 22 inches

Kate has decided that she likes swimming now. We went to the river this past weekend and she had a blast swimming once she realized the life vest would hold her up. And then she and I went to the pool Tuesday and it was like she flipped a switch and now she loves to go under the water and "practice her kicking." So we have stopped crying about going under the water but now we cry that our eyes hurt. DRAMA!

Swimming Lessons and Puke Fest 2010

The Brantley household has been under the weather this past week. Kate got the stomach bug Friday, I got it Sunday and Jason got it Tuesday. Needless to say it has been a rough week over here!! Props to moms out there with lots of children. Caring for two kids while being sick was about to be the end of me.

Kate is in the middle of taking swim lessons and let me just say it is comic relief for sure! The first day she woke up from her nap and brought me her bathing suit and towel and couldn't get out the door fast enough. Then she realized that she would have to go under the water the whole time so after much screaming and crying, the second day she hid from me after her nap! When we are actually at the swim lessons Kate will sit there and repeatedly say/cry, "not my turn yet" and "I don't want to go under." The instructor has to help me wrangle her into the water when I have Whit with me. But here is the funny thing...Kate is a great swimmer. She instantly kicked her legs and used her arms to swim. So for being petty young she is really doing a great job and swims short distances by herself. Anyway, everyone swears that in a few days they quit crying and start actually asking for their turn...I will have to let you know if that holds true for us!

And here is just some sweet pictures I got of Whit and Kate the other day. Whit is still doing great and is such a sweet baby. I am really enjoying him.

Summer Fun with Doodles

A sweet family on our street moved to Mississippi last week and we had a fun little neighborhood party with all the kids before they left. The talk at first was just to do popsicles but I couldn't let happen. So I made a phone call to "Mr. Doodle" (the people who own Doodles are the sweetest and most kind people ever) and thus appears the Doodles truck in our neighborhood for the party. It was a great time and the kids were THRILLED about Doodles.

Whit was sacked out for the party. Soon enough, he too will know why everyone loves Doodles! (If you can't tell I love this place, great italian ice and sorbets, fun atmosphere and great place to take the kids! And I have been eating Doodles since I was in high school so a lot of it is nostalgia too)

Of course, our neighborhood get together wouldn't be complete without the driving of motorized vehicles!

snippets of our life

Kate loves to clean...

Sweetest thing happened Sunday...Jason was walking out the door with his golf clubs to go and play golf with a friend when Kate saw him and she ran as fast as she could and grabbed her clubs and wanted to go with daddy. It was so sweet and sad at the same time as she stood in the doorway crying while he left.

We obviously forgot to tell Kate that she is too big for the bouncy seat!

Playing at the pool with friends...

Whit slept the whole time at the pool...must be the battery operated fan I bought at Walmart for him.

Well, sleeping is something he does best these days actually.

A New Low

You know how people tell you that when you have a baby you lose all modesty? Well I experienced a new level of that this past week. A bunch of girls and I met at the pool with our kiddos. As you know from previous posts Kate is not fond of getting her bathing suit wet so I just knew that she would want to only play on the steps of the pool all day. I had just gotten this really cute bathing suit cover up for myself at Target and was very excited about wearing it and realizing that Kate wouldn't be getting in the water I decided to wear my two piece bathing suit under the cover up. Now I don't wear two piece bathing suits anymore period so the fact that I even still have one is rare.

Now let me get you to the pool. We get there and Kate is playing great on the steps and I am sitting on the side soaking up the sun wearing the cutest bathing suit cover up! Then I notice that Kate is asking complete strangers to take her out into the water! I tried to get her to just keep playing on the steps but, no, she wanted to "swim!" My child who has been freaking out when she gets wet now wants to submerge herself in the water and swim. That is when I realize that my life was coming to a new low. THREE WEEKS after giving birth to a baby I was in a two piece bathing suit swimming with my child.

I mean, I have lost all shame at this point!