Swift Kick in the Butt

This is exactly where I am at lately. I was up to about four miles and then laziness happened. So now I'm starting back over and it HURTS. I went to a nearby high school tonight and forced myself to run two miles. Then after the two miles, I ran the stairs on the bleachers eight times. There is something about counting down laps in your head that makes it feel like it's going to be okay if you can just get down to that last lap. And I LOVE that point in your run when it stops hurting (at least a little bit). Some where around the first mile mark (for me), I finally get my breath and it sort of (said very loosely) becomes fun. 

So today I'm starting over and recommitting myself. 18 more pounds to lose until I am at my goal weight.  Here goes nothing...

 

Source: simplysadiejane.com via Kristen on Pinterest

The Addiction That is Pinterest

I love this website!  It's amazing.  It's everything crafty, recipes, DIY projects, home organizing, fashion and style, all rolled in to one. I am completely addicted.  I've gotten so many great ideas off of it (a lot for Brantley's party which I completely forgot to take pictures of).  And I wanted to show what I've been up to...

This one might be one of my favorites because it is so personalized.  I spent about $55 on supplies to make a knock off version of a Pottery Barn number canvas.  I got a great tutorial from this blog which I found on Pinterest.  It was so helpful and now I have a canvas in our living room with or personal dates on it.

I did this at Brantley's first birthday party and I think it was a hit!  Craig and I had so much fun looking through these pictures and reminiscing over the last year with him.

Made this one just now.  Literally just finished making it and I am in love!  I want to make more and attempt to sell them during college football season.  Just don't know how to go about selling them.  Etsy maybe?

This one looked so easy.  I mean, really, how hard could it be?  And it wasn't hard - just extremely time consuming.  I made three trips to Hobby Lobby to get more ribbon.  I used a larger base wreath than in the picture which added to the length of time to complete it.  Pinterest directed me here for awesome Dr. Seuss First Birthday Party inspiration.

I didn't take a picture of it but I also recently tried a super easy Poppy Seed Chicken recipe.  It turned out great and has been added to our menu rotation!

Looking forward to finding more ideas on Pinterest that I can "swipe" and make my own.

Dear Brantley

I wrote this to Brantley a few days before his first birthday and I'm just now getting around to posting it...

Dear Brantley,

We are a few days away from your first birthday.  Your very first year of life is almost complete and I have mixed emotions all around.  Celebrating because it is such a huge milestone, but in shock because I blinked and my “baby” was gone.   I was going through pictures the other night in preparation for your party this weekend and came across one of us that literally pulled at my heart when I saw it.  You are tiny, curled up in my chest.  My hand covers half of you.  I’m not looking at the camera because I’m way too in awe of you.  My head is down and my nose is on your head, because the first four months of your life my nose stayed pretty glued to the top of your head.  I loved your baby smell and knew I should soak it all up because one day you’d be a little boy and not a baby.

You have grown so much this last year.  I’ve taken your pictures each month and looked at how much you have changed.  Watched how your personality has developed and seen your sense of humor come about.  I’ve seen how strong willed you have become and been amazed at the new things you have learned.  This year is most definitely about you and how proud of you we are as your parents.  But a small part of this celebration is also about us as your parents. 

I have always wondered what type of mother I would be.  How I would handle the pressures and responsibilities of caring for another life.  I won’t lie – I’ve worried I wouldn’t be good at it.  While a lot of my friends just took to babies and caring for them, I was never around them much and didn’t have the experience of feeding, diaper changing, entertaining, nurturing, etc. that a lot of people I knew did.  Looking at this picture I can go back to how I felt this day.  It was only a week after you were born.  A week exactly.  My emotions were everywhere (which resulted in crying on this park trip with your dad because a fly landed on my sandwich – true story).  I was overwhelmed with them and in such a good way. 

You really don’t realize how much you can love someone until you have a child.  I felt like my heart came out of my chest and began to exist outside of my body the moment you came in to this world.  I realized it didn’t matter how much experience I had with other children, maternal instincts are a real thing and they just became second nature with you.  I’d do anything for you and loved you with everything in me within seconds of you being placed in my arms. 

You are the most amazing gift I have ever been given and I am so grateful God picked your dad and I to be your parents. You’ve been so patient while we figured this whole parenthood thing out. I am so amazed at how much you have grown over this year and am so anxious to watch the boy you will become.  Our life is so much more fun with you in it.

We love you so much, Brantley. 

Brantley's First Birthday!

We had Brantley’s birthday party this weekend.  Overall, I think it was a success!  I really wish that we had taken more pictures of decorations and people.  I definitely should have handed my camera off earlier on, but what we did get was awesome (present opening, cake smashing, and clean up).  He was a little unsure of all these people in his house at one time, but eventually warmed up and loved being the center of attention. 

He’d open a toy, push the button on it, and laugh while he looked around the room to make sure everyone was in on how funny it was.  Red cake icing was coming out of his nose hours after I had cleaned him all up.  We laid him down for a nap at about the time people started heading out and when I went in to get him later I thought he had a bloody nose (red icing had worked its way back down his nose after being shoved up in it during cake smashing).  Terrifying and hilarious all at once.

Our little baby is gone and we have a little boy.  I am so thankful for this last year and what this amazing kid has taught me about motherhood.  And we were so excited to celebrate with everyone who loves him.  It was a great party and definitely worth the work that was put in to it. 

He had a pretty big weekend.  Friday I took a half day at work so Ashley and I could take the kids to the zoo.  Brantley was free because he was under two, so that was a bonus.  I wasn’t sure how much he would “get”, but he picked up on a few things.  The bird house, the tiger, the bear, the pandas, and the pigs were highlights for him.  His favorite part was going through the mist fan.  He and Kinley were cracking up.  Briley had a great time, too.  And Ashley and I laughed most of the day about her knowledge of the “Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake”, monkeys not apes, and her near death experiences in the bird house.

I spent most of the day in the kitchen on Saturday getting the food ready for Brantley’s party.  Once that was finished we took the kids to park and came back to hang out with Brad (who was in town) and watch football.  LSU got their first win for the season and it was fun for all of us to be able to watch it together.

Sunday was the munchkin’s party.  After the party we headed to Pappadeaux’s with Greg, Ashley, Briley, and Kinley for a really good dinner.  That night we came home and relaxed at the house.  Greg, Craig, and I got in to a game of basketball with some balls in Brantley’s ball pit and his two foot Fisher Price basketball goal.  It might have been one of the highlights of the weekend.  I told Ashley it was one of those moments I wish we had a camcorder going behind us to capture it all.

Monday we relaxed most of the day until we got a little bored and Brantley got restless (but wouldn’t nap – probably due to the sugar high he was on from Sunday) so we headed to Best Buy to do a little shopping for a new digital camera.  It was VERY hard not to purchase a new one but I’m going to shop around for a little bit until I can fully commit.    It’s been a lot harder than I thought it would be because I take way too many pictures to be without my Rebel.  I have reached for it a few times now and been disappointed each time when I realized it was broken. It just stopped working after Brantley’s party on Sunday.  At this point, it’s either pay $200 plus shipping to have it fixed or spend extra to get a new model.  The last few months it has paused a decent amount of time if I’m shooting fast and gives me a “busy” flashing signal.  Which makes me angry because it always happens to do it when Brantley is in a full on smile.  Then when I’m ready to shoot again I can’t get him to pay attention.  Never fails.  The new ones also do HD recordings.  So there are definite pros (new camera, new features) and cons (the extra expense).  Until I weigh all of that out, I’m sticking with my point and shoot.

Giving Kisses

The other night I was giving Brantley his bottle before bed.  We were rocking, he was eating, I was singing (he’s the only person who likes my singing or can’t complain about it), and I was soaking my time up with him.  He tried to offer some of his bottle to me and I turned my head away and said “I don’t want that, you drink it.”  He would crack up and do it again.  Until he eventually popped me in the eye with it. 

Rewind to about an hour prior.  He was sitting in his high chair watching cartoons and eating a snack while I got dinner ready.  I would walk in there and sneak a kiss every now and then (while he’d bat me away).  Every time I steal a kiss I say “kiss”.  So that hopefully when I say it in the future he will start to give me some.  (I’m determined to get a little sweetness out of him even though I recognize that he is a tough little independent dude.)

So after popping me in the eye with his bottle, I sat with my eyes closed while he faced me in my lap and we rocked.  And all of the sudden I felt these little lips go over mine.  I peeked my eyes open and he’d kiss me, back away, smile, and kiss me again.  It was adorable!  Completely made my heart melt.  

Learning New Things

So while we were on vacation this past week Brantley learned a lot of new things.  I’m putting them in list order because he’s so smart I need to create lists to keep up with all the new things he has learned. :)

1.    He is pointing at everything.  It is so amazing to be able to watch your child learn or acknowledge something new and want to make sure you see it to.  I love that he’ll look at whatever has caught his attention, look at us, and then point to it to make sure we are “in on it”, too. 

2.    He is talking on the phone.  It doesn’t necessarily have to be a real phone.  Sometime he uses empty boxes, the TV remote, his hand, or the spoon he’s eating with.  Whatever is nearby.  He has a play cell phone that he has had for months and not paid much attention to.  But now it is glued to his ear.

 

3.    He is perfecting his “touchdown” stance.  He’s becoming pretty regular about it when we yell “TOUCHDOWN” – his hands go straight up the air, he grins, and then claps for himself.

4.    He is using a spoon and fork (the fork is a rounded edge kid’s fork not the real deal).  I get the food on the fork for him, hand it to him, he puts in his mouth and then chews on the fork until I take it back from him to put more on.  Hasn’t learned that he can do that himself yet, but he gets so proud of himself for just getting in to his mouth. 

Our Summer Beach Trip

We went to the beach this past week for Brantley’s first official beach trip.  I’m not going to lie, I was a little nervous that it would be more work than relaxation.  I based that feeling off of a lake trip we took with the munchkin for the 4^th of July.  Which I came home from exhausted.  But this trip could not have been more perfect!

We left early in the morning (around 5am) last Wednesday.  I figured I’d just transport Brantley from the crib to his car seat, stick the pacifier in his mouth, and he’d go right back to sleep.  But he was just as excited as we were and wide awake.  We drove to Columbus and stopped at Waffle House to eat breakfast.  The boy can down a waffle!  Once we got back on the road it was about time for him to take his morning nap.  So most of the trip down he was either asleep or it was too early in the morning to be grumpy about anything.  After his morning nap we entertained him with a Clifford the Big Red Dog DVD, Baby Einstein, and some goldfish.  We arrived at our condo around 11 am and had the whole day to play. 

Most of our days were spent at the beach or the pool.  The first couple of days we went to the pool.  On Friday and Saturday we went to the beach and it was perfect.  Brantley would wake up in the morning; we’d have breakfast, get his sunscreen and bathing suit on, and head out.  He’d play for a little bit and then be ready for his morning nap, which he’d take on me in my beach chair underneath the tent we borrowed from Anna and Josh.  He never takes naps anywhere other than his crib (or car seat) and he does not like to be held when he is putting himself to sleep so I was a little worried about how it would work.  But he did great and since I haven’t had him asleep on my chest since he was about four months old, I enjoyed that time with him a lot! 

He would wake up about an hour and fifteen minutes later (after I finished High Five and a few chapters of The Help) and be ready to play some more.  There were afternoon showers almost every afternoon.  So we would pack up and head back to the condo, let Brantley take his afternoon nap, watch a little T.V., take our showers and start getting ready for dinner.

We stayed in Seacrest Beach which is about 20 miles from Panama City, Florida.  It is right next door to another cute little community called Rosemary Beach.  I felt like we were on the set of a movie.  It was such a cute town.  Everyone rode their bikes or walked everywhere.  The buildings (businesses, condos, homes, etc.) were all in really cute beach-type colors.  People were so friendly.  It was very family oriented.  The beaches were clean.  I could not say enough good things about it.  I really hope to make it our yearly beach spot.   

The ride home went just as smooth.  He napped, we stopped and ate lunch so he could stretch out a little bit and get out of his car seat, watched some Baby Einstein, ate some goldfish and animal crackers, and now that he’s learned how to “talk on the phone” – that entertained him a good bit. 

I really enjoyed our time as a family.  Craig and I were talking about some of our vacations over the years and how awesome they have been.  But having Brantley just makes vacations now even more fun.  He is so easy going and flexible.  He’s just as happy tagging along and spending time with us as we are with him.