Weekending, MCM, and a big FIRST!

The weekend was swell. We spent time doing chores (yawn), making traditions (yay!), and hanging out (awesome).  Saturday was literally spent all day deep cleaning the living rooms. I can't thank my hubby enough for vacuuming the blinds and helping me move furniture to clean under. I know he would have rather done a million other things, but the fact that he helped me and didn't once complain means the world. 

Saturday night we started a new tradition: letting Charley stay up late so we can all watch a movie together. We got Liza down then the three of us cozied up on the couch with some popcorn and watched "The Lego Movie".  Hilarious! Char made it until about 9 pm (two hours later than her normal bedtime) and then requested we read her a book. :)

Sunday we went to the store early (now that I think about it, that happened Saturday...) met Meemaw and Papaw for breakfast, and hung around the house. We went to Sarah and Dusty's house to watch the USA vs Portugal match where we ate amazing trout and spinach. The kids had a blast, and as usual, I had the sweaty kid :) <--- She plays hard!!

^^^soooo much cuteness here!!

^^^Mallory put stickers all over Liza's chubby legs!! 

^^^best momma in the making <3

Definitely want to shout out to the hubs on this MCM!!! He's been soaking in the newness of his new position at work and still hasn't skipped a beat at home. I certainly couldn't do this whole parent thing without him and I'm thankful I don't have to. I'm also thankful he understands my sensitive heart and gives good hugs ;)

Today Charley Cate had her first ever dentist appointment!!! It went as well as expected, with some crying and big alligator tears, but I really think all my hype leading up to it along with the goodie bag the dentist provided and the toy I provided made it an overall pleasant memory. She proudly told anyone that would listen, "I have clean teef!"  Plus, she just about broke Dr. Youngbloods heart when she cried and then followed it up with her super good manners!!! I was a proud mommy! 

In the waiting room with Grandma. 

Getting LOTS of goodies at mommy and Grandmas office! 

I think as far as dentist appointments go, this was really just a trial visit that, if followed up regularly, can help teach Charley that the dentist isn't a scary place but it's a place to have fun (well, not really fun, but it's necessary for a healthy mouth!) I seriously doubt that at her age the ten minutes she was "in the chair" (aka, my lap) will make or break her dental hygiene but it did put my mind at ease that, yes, we are brushing enough, and no, her teeth aren't rotting out from the candy and occasional juice. It's a good feeling to hear someone else who doesn't see you that often say, "Good job, you're not half bad at this parent thing and your kid doesn't have to have silver capped teeth..."  ;)

Just a plug: If you're in the Midland area I highly recommend Dr. Youngblood at Children's Dental Center. He is SO nice! I taught his son when I worked at Goddard and he's just a regular, sweet, down to earth guy :) He is really fast yet thorough and has even looked at (and cleaned!) my teeth for me ;) He only works a few days a week though, so make your appointment early and specifically ask for him. 

Last thing...a Bran in Real Life moment: 

The nurse called back "Charley's mom", to which I am, so I went back with her (me and Charley and my mom). She told me to have a seat in the red chair which I thought was really odd, as there was only one chair (and three of us) and a girl sitting in the dentist chair near the red chair. The nurse then asked me, "Charley, your oldest daughter?", and I was thinking, yes...Charley is my oldest daughter...how did she know that! Then I stared at the red chair again and thought, this must be some demonstration or something, like to help Char not be scared. So I sit in the red chair and this little tween girls says, "that's not my mom!" Hahaha!

Yaaa...I'm Charley's mom, just the wrong Charley. I was a little embarrassed and my mom had been trying to call me back the minute we walked through the door. Guess I was nervous too! Anyway, that poor girl called her mom and those nurses probably thought I didn't have a clue! (I didn't.)

Happy Monday, Friends!! 

Regression

For the last 9 months our pediatrician has talked to is about this terrible word, Regression. That Charley might regress when her baby sister arrives, either wanting a bottle for herself or refusing to give up her pacifier or wanting to wear diapers. Well, my friends, the time has come and we have officially hit the regression stage (which I so naively thought we had bypassed!) in the world of potty-dom...

For the last several weeks Charley has been peeing in her panties a bit and then telling me potty. Like she just waited too long and a tiny bit slips out. Once I thought she had a UTI, but after a urine culture it was discovered that she didn't. (Thanks for making me paranoid, google ;) This week she has had nearly one accident a day. Like pee on her legs and dress! Grrrr...

This child is highly intelligent and I KNOW she knows what to do when she needs to potty. She is not able to go unassisted, but we haven't had any problems getting her to tell us when it's time. Now it's a daily fight to get that first pair of undies on because she "want a diaper like Lizie".

So I guess I just take her to the potty often like we did when she was training? I have no clue! I spank her (and then feel bad, because what if there is some medical reason she's doing this and can't help it...?) and offer rewards for keeping her panties dry all day. Today she's had two "medium size" accidents today -it's noon! (not full blown pee on the floor but not just a tiny bit of wetness either) and I'm already on the laundry pile hoping she doesn't pee again before it gets done so we have clean undies. :)

In other news, the big storm we had Wednesday night was lovely but is making my backyard weeds grow uncontrollably. 

Charley has finally learned to say "Charley" rather than "Carly" and refers to all her babies and animals as "Charley Baby" or "Charley Penguin". Here is Charley Baby being worn in her peanut sling...watch out Charley Baby, your momma keeps slamming your head into walls. 

Bella has a new spot in Liza's room! She adores Liza and I think it's because they are sweet kindred spirits. 

This World Cup fan freaks me out and makes me laugh all at the same time ;)

Until later, 

xoxo

Weekending

The weekend actually started for me and the girlies on Friday as we met up with some sweet dear friends for a swim date! Charley had SO much fun and Liza was a happy camper too. Considering we had three two year olds and a six month old baby, they did excellent!!! They all played well together and the only major meltdown came from my child as she threw a fit because we had to get out of the pool to get ready to go home. Ha! It was so fun to have mommy time too and talk a little bit about grown up stuff ;) (even if it was repeatedly interrupted with squeals of laughter, various calls for mommy, or the impeccably timed potty breaks ;)

Baby Liza is a fan of the water! She floated around quite contently and all the kids enjoyed her float while she wasn't using it! 

Goodness gracious! These kids are seriously soooo sweet!

Everyone has their "sungwasses" :)

"It's wocked"... 

Just a mid-swim snooze. Lucky baby ;)

Thank you again Mrs. Sarah and Ami for letting us swim! 

Saturday was my 29th birthday! I'm not sure if any of you watch the show, "New Girl", but the character Jess always goes to the movies by herself every birthday. She does it because she's very much of a fantastical/gypsy personality and she always has super high expectations that she knows people will not meet. So she goes to the movies and just enjoys her day spent by herself. Well, friends, I should have maybe adopted Jess' attitude and not always think I'm a princess and deserve a big shebang every single birthday. Actually, after my day Saturday, Joseph told me he has very low expectations for his bday since it's a lot harder to get things done (that you actually want to do) when you have kids and responsibility! Haha! 

All that being said, it was in no way a terrible day. It was just another day. We had breakfast at Loris (only one potty break!), came home and built Charley a sheet tent in the living room (she was uncharacteristically whiney so we needed to bring out the big guns for something new and exciting for her), watched the X games on the tele, and I got a pedi with my mom. After I got home Joseph was a bit perturbed that both girls wouldn't nap at the same time for him to nap, so I took the girls into our room and watched Frozen (for the zillionth time!) while he snoozed. Was I jealous that he got a nap and I didn't and it was my birthday? Ohhhh you betcha. Bratty Beeotch Brandi kicked in and threw a bit of a pity party for myself. In hindsight it was so unnecessary and super bratty, but while I later napped with Liza in her glider (my neck still has a little crick) Joseph and Charley went and got me my favorite little bouquet of flowers and some candles. Then Jojo picked up our favorite takeout food (Basin Burger!!) and put a candle in my burger :) 

It was super sweet and I was super stubborn and sassy. Not cool. My friend posted this link to FB recently and it's a great reminder that even though I can't go do what I want to do when I want to do it (even if it is my birthday) that at least I can share my day and life with these goofballs! 

http://www.ignitumtoday.com/2014/06/05/kids-ruin-life-draft/

This is the tent. Or as Char calls it, "Charweys Cwubhouse". 

Sunday we all spent the day at the house and did house work. Jojo mowed. I painted the front door! I've always wanted a red front door and with my absolute favorite paint EVER, it became a reality!!! 

This paint: Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. Google it now. Go ahead. I'll wait ;)

It might not look so glamorous, but I adore it because it makes like super simple. No sanding, priming, or prep. Just plop your paint on. The red was a bit tricky. 

This was our very bla front door. 

One coat of paint...I was totally freaking right about now. The paint can be thinned by adding water or thickened just by leaving it open for a few minutes and it usually dries very fast and even. This is not even. 

Two coats...

And finally four coats of paint and one coat of wax later! 

I ordered a door knocker and new hardware to get rid of that ugly brass and we hope to install a new screen door this weekend. It was a fun day project for me and I've told Joseph I would be a perfectly happy lady if I had every color of ASCP there was ever made :) 

Aaaannd, speaking of weekends...I am happy to announce that Joseph earned himself a promotion at work that will allow him to work a normal work schedule! He will be home with his girls every weekend (except maybe every 13th weekend) AND get off on holidays! He hasn't had a holiday off since he has worked for this company so this is a true blessing to our family! 

I'm so proud of the hubster! 

Hope y'all had an exceptional weekend! 

Recently...

I've been wanting to post for a while now to get caught up on life, but then I get sucked into meal planning or tv or the girls. Here are some random tidbits fron our life lately: 

-I got a job! Yup! A part-time gig working for a local clinic helping them set up a new electronic medical records system. So far I really enjoy it :)

-I also enjoy the balance that being a part timer allows me with my family. Being a mommy is the best! 

-Liza has started eating solid foods! Right now just oatmeal but soon we will introduce green veggies. Yummmm! 

-Liza has had more awake periods and loves to play on the floor or in her exersaucer! 

-Charley has some "good/bad" days in this world of toddlerdom... Lately we've been getting a ton of "NO" and "I want it ________"<---insert noun such as hat or Memaw or Cheetos! Yaaaaa, lots of spankings going on...

-On the flip side, her vocabulary is getting more impressive each day! Today we watched Frozen and she told me "wear wear purple dress like Elsa". Then she did this...

Bahaha! 

-I really want a vacation. A mom and dad vacay to the beach or something. {can we make this happen!}

-Super bummed about going to get to go to Austin to surprise the baby sister for her bday only to find out she had other plans. Booo! 

-I've been on a super duper sweet tea kick lately. It's all I want. All the time. Mmmm :)

-

These three crack me up and keep me on my toes! 

A Good Day!

Some days being a mommy is such hard work. The days when you reaaaaaally just want to sleep in but can hear your toddler through the monitor crying "momma, momma". The days when a shower seems like an eternity away since the only thing I seem to get accomplished is making more messes or cleaning up spit up. The days when I would love to hide in the bathroom and pee solo only to...BANG, BANG, BANG..."moooooommmmmma! Where are you!?" {gee, I'm definitely not in the potty...} 

Days like that happen a lot. It's a hard job being a full-time mommy. I sometimes get legitimately angry and jealous of Jojo because he gets to go to work every day. Most weeks the only place I go all week are a trip to the grocery store (so fun) and to take Char to school two days a week. Some days I would give up my daily dose of caffeine to have just thirty minutes to an hour of alone time. 

But today, today was not like those days. I don't know what it was, but Charley and I had the best day! Sure, we pottied at the same time and I didn't actually shower until four o'clock, but beneath all the chaos and messes, we just had fun being silly! And days like that make all the hard times of being a mommy so so SO worth it! 

Here were the highlights of the day: 

-Breakfast at the tiny table while playing playdough with stamps :)

-Organizing my craft stuff while Charley commented "oooo, booful (beautiful)" and painted at the kitchen table. 

-Making an impromptu trip to Target and asking Char if she wanted to go bye bye. Her response? "Present!?" Haha...then she danced around the house saying "yeehaw, Target!" At Target she was so sweet and got to pick out a small present. She picked a red bouncy ball and held it by her head the whole time! 

-Lunch from Chick-fil-a where Liza decided to have a major meltdown in the drive through line. Charley kept singing to her, "Liza bear, Liza bear..." We sang to her the whole way home ❤️ 

-Making silly Instagram movies!!!! @chessaline

-"Paint fingernails", per the request of a two year old! Who could say no? Besides, OPI makes an instant dry spray that makes that task so much easier! 

-Cooking an easy and delicious dinner (fish tacos and cous cous with premade HEB pico and guacamole!) sans the typical nighttime fit.

-Spending just a short time outside watching Charley and Jojo play while I rocked Liza on the porch swing :)

-Listening to Joseph read a bedtime story to Char and her asking him, "what's that?" a thousand times while she points to the characters. 

Soooo many more cute and sweet moments happened today. I'm so thankful! 

 For the mommies who need a major nap (and shower) and margarita and a friend...I totally understand! Hang in there, these good days are what it's all about. 

Home, Sweet, Home

Charley was discharged on Tuesday night and no sooner than we walked through the door both Joseph and I both had nauseous tummies. 

Char gave us a few smiles, Meemer and Papaw brought Liza home, and we even got to hang out with Uncle J for a tiny bit. While the family went to get dinner, Charley and me stayed behind to bathe and do her bedtime routine. She was so happy to be home! 

Then came the fam, with a very miserable looking daddy. Uh oh...

We got the babies to sleep, then both fell asleep on the couch ourselves. I won't go into too much detail, but let's just say that both me and Joseph got the virus, and when it hit, it hit hard. 

We knew we had to send Liza away. I just couldn't imagine going through the whole hospital mess again with a tiny baby. So Papaw Joe swooped in to save the day, taking Liza and plenty of pumped milk around midnight. 

The next day was pretty darn miserable. Jojo, Char, and me spent the whole day on the couch watching cartoons and movies and staying hydrated. The good news about being big people and getting sick was we were able to take glorious meds to fight the virus, while most of those medicines are too dangerous for kiddos. 

Today we all woke up feeling super refreshed, a bit weak, but overall better! 

And the best part? After lysoling the entire house down and washing most of the things we infected, we got to bring our Liza girl home! 

We seriously couldn't have done it without Meemer & Papaw! Mom went and got us soup and medicine while dad washed our dishes and cleaned our kitchen. Not to mention, they took care of a 3 month old for 3 days in a row! And unlike when she sleeps with mommy, Lizabear decided to wake up and play one night, then wake up every three hours the next night. That alone deserves a million gold medals! 

Charbear is her usual bubbly (and temper tantrum throwing) self. Daddy is craving ice cream and hamburgers (always a good sign after a tummy bug). Mommy is just glad to have the chaos over. (Well, the chaos is still very much there but we can discuss that later!) 

Can our uneventful life go back to being uneventful? 

We are thankful for two happy and healthy girls and the much needed rest we all needed to recover from this dreadful week. Stay healthy, friends! 

Charbear Update

We are still in the hospital and are anxiously waiting on Charbear to eat/drink and see if she can keep it down so that we can take our sweet girl home. Last night was rough. She was constantly being checked on by the nursing staff (for which we are thankful), but didn't get but maybe three hours of uninterrupted sleep. She would "nap" more or less for thirty to forty-five minutes then someone would come in to check her temp, look at her IV site, or do a breathing treatment. 

Part of this nasty virus is the companionship of a not-so-lovely-cough. We are talking the deep, chesty, wet coughs that really make mommy and daddy nervous. She was given two breathing treatments last night to help settle this. The first one, my mom was able to give her, and she was surprisingly accepting of it. The second, however, she was just so worn out and tired of being messed with it was a little bit of a struggle. She was a big girl though and took it like a champ. 

Now we wait. We wait on her to decide when and if she is ready to eat. She is drinking very little, and I think her stomach is still super upset because she gets grumpy soon after eating and sometimes her chest rises and falls like she's gagging. 

Waiting is hard work. 

A Little MCM and a LOT of Life Stuff

Monday-MCM, and today I love my man crush a whoooole lot. It's been a rough day, but he's been by not only my side, but Charley's as well. Here's a short synopsis of what our weekend entailed: 

Friday- Charley woke up vomiting. She only threw up once, then was her normal bubbly self. We gave her pedialite, juice, and tons of milk (per her request), and just did our best to get her to eat. She only ate dry cereal. 

Saturday- Again, she threw up about 30 minutes after waking up. Only once. Still continued to play and act like our funny girl. One loose stool that evening. We did our best to make sure she was drinking lots and eating what she could. (In this case, 4 saltine crackers and a few marshmallows). 

Sunday- No vomiting. Only one loose stool late in the afternoon. The big change here? Her personality was totally gone. She was whiney, clingy, didn't play, and just acted very, very sick. She refused all food but maybe two bites of scrambled eggs. 

So fast forward to Monday. Joseph took her to our local pediatrician. He said she was dehydrated and gave us very clear and specific instructions: get her to drink 20 oz of pedialite by 2pm or he would need to admit her to the hospital for dehydration. Joseph and I were pushing both grape and strawberry pedialite as often as we could. Not even an hour after they had returned from Dr. N's office, the sweet thing had thrown it up. We both knew at that moment we would end up in the hospital. 

So here we are, the three of us (Liza was here for a while earlier until Meemaw could get her), waiting on this baby to make an insane comeback from what was severe dehydration. Dr. N said he was so shocked at how low her numbers were since she didn't have numerous vomiting or diarreah episodes. But, alas, this horrible-no-good-plus-other-very-nasty-terrible-curse-words-bug has hit our precious daughter and hit her hard. :( 

Please pray for healing of this love big so we can have our bubbly goofball back! 

Daddy & Char watching "Gru"

She's still so sweet, even sick! 

Sleepy seester...please pray that she doesn't get this nasty virus. 

Sleeping beauty. 

And while I wish this was all that was happening in our lives at the moment, it is not. Just a ton of health issues creeping up with the sis-in-laws fam and my grandmother. Plus, Meemer & Papaw had to put Mikey down today. It's just been a whirlwind of emotions these past few days. But it makes me incredibly grateful for the community of family and friends who make all this hurt much easier to handle. 

Stay healthy friends. Hug someone you love. Thank your support system. Call your grandparents or a family member you admire. Kiss the kids. A lot. And please, please, please, wash those hands!!!