Used Things and New Things

Ahhhh, the end of March. It's a beautiful time. Do you know why? Yard sales, people! Yes, yard sales are back in full swing here in Moore County! It was heaven to my eyes when I looked in the newspaper and saw that looong list. Then I had to pick and choose which ones to go to on Saturday. I packed Brianna up after we had both woken up and eaten breakfast, and we were on our way! Normally I would post a picture of the items I purchased but some of them are for Brianna's birthday (shhh!) so I will post pictures of them after she opens those presents at her party.

At the first stop, I did get Bri some cute outfits ($1 each), but I really felt like I hit the jackpot when I came across a barely used Medela electric breast pump!! With Brianna, I used a manual pump until she was about 9 months and then my milk supply was decreasing so I rented an electric one from the hospital in a futile attempt to bring my milk back. It didn't work and within three weeks or so Brianna was totally weaned. Not the plan, but we rolled with it. I thought that I would love to have an electric pump with the next child(ren) but I really hadn't thought anything about it in forever. When I talked to the woman that was selling it, she had used it only about 4 weeks with her 7-week old and then gave up, so it was barely used. She was selling it for $75 so I gladly wrote her a check!

As I was driving away I called Stephen - remember, I had been gone about 10 minutes at this point - and said, "Well, I already spent all my money." And he said, "Really!?" I said, "Actually, I spent more money than I had... I had to write a check!" He was like, "Holy cow!" When I told him what I got he was so excited and he knew that was a great price too. But my work wasn't done. I still had six yard sales to go.

Brianna hit the jackpot, getting several outfits and a toy, including several pairs of blue jeans for $1 each. So nice! I didn't get a single thing for myself. I don't need anything but anytime I can get clothes for Bri for $1 or $0.50 each, I'M THERE!

So.... that breast pump will really come in handy in about 6 1/2 months...

Remember when I announced I was pregnant with Brianna? Yep, this is one of those!

We decided in January that we were ready to start trying to have another baby. We weren't sure how fast or slow it would happen, but we were ready whenever it happened. Long story short (and many details skipped for your sake), one night I knew we should try, and just a few weeks later I knew I should take a pregnancy test. When I did, and it was positive, I was blown away. I couldn't believe I had followed my instincts correctly!

I wanted to tell Stephen by putting Brianna in a cute little "Big Sister" t-shirt. Unfortunately, the one store that sells them (not, Walmart, Belk, Peebles, Ross, TJ Maxx.... etc etc) didn't even have them in Brianna's size (only 2T and 3T) and they were over $30! Yowza! So I compromised. I wrote a big sign that said "I'm the BIG Sister!" and tried to get Bri to hold it while I took her picture. I tried to upload the pictures to show you how well that worked (not well) but Blogger won't let me upload pictures right now. She wouldn't sit still and she kept bending and eating the paper. I finally got good enough pictures. That night when Stephen got home, I said, "Oh, you've GOT to see these cute pictures of Bri that I uploaded from the camera today!" So I mixed in all these other pictures to show him and when he got to those he was like, "What does that say? I can't read it." I just sat there shaking my head and laughing. Finally he was like, "Big.... Sister.... I don't get it." I just started laughing again and FINALLY he was like, "Wait... what!?!?!?" He was so excited!

We told pretty much everyone else in a small time period. I told Jenn of course before anyone else. We were going to GA anyway so I told mom and dad just before then, and told Stephen's family while we were in GA. Then I went out with Granny and Granddaddy to tell them, went to work and told them, and went out with Steve and Kathy to tell them. Then we went out with our preacher and his wife to tell them and then he announced it to the church yesterday. Then it was definitely official today when I posted it on Facebook. You know it's public information then!

I was 12 weeks on Saturday so pretty much through my 1st trimester already. Whee! This pregnancy has been just as smooth as Brianna so far, so I certainly hope that continues. Brianna is the absolute 1000% joy of our lives, the center of our attention, the most fun person in our house, the reason I laugh so much during the day. I can't wait to have another baby!!

Weekend Update

Wow, so much has happened in the past few days. I thought I should force myself to blog before too many more days go by and then I forget to blog about any of it.

On Friday, dad's birthday, Stephen, Bri and I headed off to Georgia. This trip was very hush-hush because Stephen's sister Jenn was going to be performing in Seussical the Musical and we were driving down to surprise her! I didn't ever say anything to anyone except our immediate family that we were going! I was so nervous about her finding out! We made it down in really good time, and after a delicious dinner all of us kids headed off to the play. Leila and Corky babysat Brianna which I'm pretty sure they didn't mind doing. The play was really cute! It is a mixture of three major Seuss stories, but if you listen closely you will find the Cat in the Hat, Horton the Elephant, Gertrude McFuzz, Mayzie LaBird, the Whos, Yertle the Turtle, Thing 1 and Thing 2, and tons of other characters! The night we went there were a few technical difficulties with the sound but you could still pretty much keep up with what was going on. We were hoping Jenn could come right out into the audience after the play so we bought her a bouquet of flowers to surprise her with. Unfortunately, she saw us, but their director had told them to change clothes before going out into the audience. But she was definitely surprised! It was hilarious.

Saturday morning we got up and Stephen, Lauren and I went to cheer on Josh at a district band competition. It was really good. The band at his high school is playing at advanced levels and they did great. They played three songs for the judges and then went into a back room where the conductor from the University of Miami critiqued them as well. He didn't even have anything negative to say to them - it was awesome! Then they had six minutes as a group to learn a piece and sightread it. We got to sit in the room while they did that and it was really cool. After that, we went to Zaxby's for lunch. Once we got home from that, we all went our separate ways. Corky and Jenn "ran an errand", Stephen, Lauren and Josh went to a couple of stores, and my job was to distract Leila for a couple of hours, so we went thrift shopping! I ended up getting Brianna a party dress for her 1st birthday party and we both got her a couple of really cheap outfits and bathing suits! When we got home Leila realized why I had been so adamant about her going out with me - Corky and Jenn had picked up a cookie cake for her birthday (which was on Sunday) and everyone had decorated the house for her party!! We celebrated early because me, Leila, and Corky were going back to Jenn's play that night again. The second night was actually 150% better because the sound was better and we were sitting closer. I laughed so much during the play that night! It was really good.

Sunday we weren't in a huge hurry to leave so we were able to stick around for Corky's famous waffles (blueberry, this time) and just relax for a while. We got on the road around 10:30 and by 11:15 we were pulling into Grandpa's nursing home! Dad had suggested that we see Grandpa sometime while we were in Georgia and we thought this was an opportune time because we don't know when we'll be going back before Christmas. I got in touch with Buddy and we worked out all the details. We were able to get in a great 45-minute stop with the two of them!! We didn't stop the rest of the way home and made it home in good time.

Last night was a night out with the girls! It ended up being a very small gathering because of sickness and other issues. It was Meg's turn to host and she aced it! She made these incredibly yummy tacos with things I could never eat with Stephen (he's picky about tacos) and taught me and Jenn how to make homemade cards! I was definitely the least talented in the bunch, but it was more fun than I expected! It really made me wish that I could do things like that more, but I just don't have the time. And like Meg pointed out, it's not nearly as much fun by yourself.

Tonight we were supposed to have practice for our Easter drama at church but we just found out a little earlier that it was canceled. So we ordered pizza which we never get to do and just played around outside - it was so nice out there! Tomorrow we are eating lunch with mom and dad. I'm making a new recipe - cheesy pasta with spinach and artichokes, which sounds delish to me and I hope it's good! Thursday Brianna and I are meeting Granny and Granddaddy for lunch and going to dinner with Steve and Kathy. Friday night we are meeting up with the youth group at church to watch Passion of the Christ in honor of Easter. Saturday night we have dinner with Tony and Jan. What a busy week! NOT TO MENTION that Harris Teeter is tripling coupons all week so I have to fit in a run to the store every day if possible!

I'm excited about this week. I know it's going to fly by with all this fun stuff going on. And then next week.... can you even believe it's already going to be April? I mean... March JUST started, people! This is crazy. Life just never slows down, does it? It's going by so fast.

Enjoy your week!

Life

Laid back!

She gives me sloppy, open-mouth kisses :)

Tuckered out!

Emory, this is my toy, and don't you forget it!

Help me! They're starving me and I'm having to resort to eating candles!

Listening to a birthday voicemail from O'ma:

Hey, I recognize that voice!

O'ma, can you hear me? I know you're trapped in there and I'm sending help!

Excuse me, could you please not bother me while I'm trying to read?

One of her favorites - Noah's Ark. Could it be Aunt Gail's influence?

I had to climb all the way through this other toy to get to my table!

I am so funny!!

Oh man, what a riot!

What came out of Brianna's pant leg when I changed her diaper after Chick Fil-A with Jenn and Claire on Thursday... how in the world did all these get in here? I know, I know... she's saving them for an evening snack!

Spring Cleaning

Every so often I get in the mood to do spring cleaning - even if it isn't technically spring yet. I feel like I am always going through the house getting rid of things, and yet somehow we still just have all this stuff! Yesterday I went thrift shopping for the first time in months and was easily able to pass over most of the stuff in the store.

So I'm trying to clean up/declutter/organize one small space at a time. A few days ago I did the laundry room. Today I tackled one of our laundry room closets. I tried to label this first picture but the writing was so small you couldn't see it on here. So let's just start from the top left:

Top shelf: Some toilet paper and kleenex. Trashbags and gifts for my Secret Sister. Puzzles and games.
Middle shelf: Paper towels. More Secret Sister gifts. More games and puzzles.
Lower level: Picnic basket, wine rack (hidden), craft bag (hidden), bag with miscellaneous items in it (hidden), plastic tub filled with gift bags and tissue paper, huge gift bag filled with more gift bags, massage pad (hidden), random mop, two vacuums, carpet cleaner and stain remover (not in full shot).

New and improved closet:

Top shelf: Toilet paper, kleenex, trash bags, carpet cleaners (out of Brianna's reach), gift bags in one gift bag, tissue paper folded and in a box.
Middle shelf: Paper towels, my Secret Sister gift for March, a box for things I need to mail or return to people.
Lower level: Picnic basket, massage pad, paper towels, plastic tub filled with gifts for Secret Sister, two vacuums, and my coupon bag.

Getting rid of:

• over 40 gift bags
• wine rack
• some makeup bag
• a random metal basket

Moved my craft bag to my craft closet (a whole other adventure in itself), moved the mop with other cleaning supplies, moved the puzzles and games upstairs to our game closet, and got rid of everything in the miscellaneous paper bag.

So if I did nothing else today, at least I accomplished this.

BUT, I had a great lunch today with Jenn and Claire at the Chick. Soooo good. Last night we had a great dinner at Thai Orchid with mom and dad, Jenn, Matt, Claire, and Granny and Granddaddy. We were celebrating mom's 3-year liver anniversary. It was delicious and the babies were so fun! Claire has the FUNNIEST tongue-smacking way of eating solids. Too funny!!! And Bri is quiet now as long as she has food constantly shoved down her throat, so we were good to go. It was so much fun and nice to get out!

Brianna's First Wedding

Brianna's first wedding occurred this past weekend! Steve and Kathy tied the knot on Saturday. I was terrified interested to see how Brianna would react to an overwhelming amount of people and having to sit still for 30 minutes in a row. It was good practice because my friend Meghann is getting married in April, our cousin Paul is getting married in June, and my friend Megan (not to be confused with Meghann) is getting married in July. So, the more practice, the better she will be!

She wore a dress to the wedding, which is the first time she has worn a dress in probably six months or so. It's just soooo much easier to leave her in pajamas... But after seeing how PRECIOUS she was, I put her in a dress for church the next day and then another dress on a MONDAY even though we weren't even going anywhere! Granted, the Monday dress was more of a skort than an actual dress, but still - SO CUTE!!






As you can see, the dress made her feel much more lady-like. Anyway, she was pretty good at the wedding I'd say. Stephen's family from Florida did a couple of songs at the beginning of the ceremony and she sat, staring at them, hypnotized. Totally silent. Of course as the focus turned to Kathy and Steve, and the church became silent.... she began babbling "da da da da da", standing up on the back of the pew and pointing at the couple behind us, crawling all over Mitch, and craning her neck to look at everyone sitting near us. She also kept reaching out to Steve but of course, he didn't see her - he was kind of paying attention to Kathy. Anyway, the ceremony was mercifully short - I was so scared that Brianna was going to scream at an inopportune time or something and then everyone would know forever because it would be on video for the rest of our lives. Actually, we haven't watched our video yet but from what I hear you can pick out Bri's voice on there. At least if that is true it's not crying or screaming. Could have been worse. She refused to smile for any pictures. I don't know why she refuses to smile when professional pictures are being taken. It makes me glad we never dressed her up and took her somewhere to have professional pictures done.

We saw a TON of family Friday and Saturday and it was so nice. We rarely see any of them. The last time we saw them was July, I believe. We'll see many of them again at Paul's wedding in June, so that'll be fun.

Meanwhile, Brianna is getting funnier and funnier. I have taken a couple of videos of her lately but they are pretty long for the general viewing public. She is learning lots of new sounds she can make with her mouth and it's pretty entertaining. She has been standing for a long time now but she's really getting brave now. It's funny to watch her sit down because she'll look down and she has this expression on her face like, "Whoa. That's a looong way down. Do I really want to do this?" Sometimes she'll just look at one of us and start crying. Usually I just scoot closer to her and put a hand lightly on her back and say, "It's okay, just sit down Bri. Just sit down!" And she'll wobble down to a sitting position. Of course then I clap loudly and say, "WHAT A GOOD GIRL! YOU'RE SO GOOD, BRI!" which probably scares her but I smile as big as possible to show her it's a good thing, and she should sit down on her own the next time.

She definitely understands certain things. When she's eating and she stands up (this happens quite often which is why I had to quit feeding her in her high chair) I set the food aside and say, "Sit down, Brianna." and she sits back down. Sometimes she whines but when I reward her with food it's all good. She knows "No!" and "BriANNA!" (that's a warning tone), and "UH-UH!" Usually when we say one of these three things she will look at us and her lower lip will jut out and start trembling. So after we say "No!" and she backs off of the entertainment center, before she can start crying, we say, "WHAT A GOOD GIRL! YOU'RE SO GOOD, BRI!" and she's over it pretty quickly. One day I was in the shower and she opened the bathroom door (I didn't shut it all the way - she's not THAT smart... or that tall) and as she was about to cross the threshold, I just said her name really loudly. She immediately turned and looked at the shower and just started bawling. Then she crawled right over to the shower - I guess she wanted me to comfort her or something. But then she saw one of her toys and it was very distracting. She will also come to me when I tell her to. And then yesterday she was climbing on me and I said, "Go play with your book!" (I was trying to videotape her talking to the book) and she climbed off of me and went straight to her book. I'm not sure how much she really understands but I know once they are this age they really are starting to understand phrases and words and such.

Anyway, that's all I've got for now! I'll try not to go so long without posting again in the future.