Kate's New Chair, Father's Day, and A Name!

Brandon's grandparents wanted Kate to have a new chair for her birthday... so this is the one we picked out! This is the Pottery Barn Kids Anywhere Chair, and she is in it all the time now! There is a My First Anywhere Chair that is smaller, but we figured that she is only going to get bigger, so we went for the bigger one. We also went with Navy and White gingham to be an Auburn theme because the pink was just a little too bright for us and I thought that stains would show up more on solid pink. This way, Kate can share the chair with her brother someday. She loves climbing up in the chair and wiggling her way back into the corner. Bailey has desperately been trying to use this chair too, so we turn it on it's side at night so she won't be tempted to hop in. I am trying to salvage one piece of furniture that is only for humans!

This is Kate's ball blowing factory that she has just re-discovered. She got it for Christmas from Kelly and Heath, but she didn't know how to load the balls or press the button until recently, so she had given up on it. But now... she is definitely into the button. We will round up all of the balls and put them back in the pipe, and then Kate will press the button to send them flying off again. She laughs- and I am pretty sure it is because I am running around trying to keep balls from rolling under furniture- and she squeals when she leans over the top and lets it blow her hair. I think this toy is extra fun to her now that she is up and walking, because she stands over the top and then she walks around to pick up the balls and loads them right back in there for more fun.

This was Father's Day night at our house! We went to dinner with my family to celebrate with my dad, and then we came home and Brandon and Kate watched golf (notice Brandon enjoying the new chair too). Kate and I gave Brandon the afternoon at home to study and we went to my parents' and grandparents' houses to visit. He has some pretty big tests coming up, and he was going to spend the day in the library, but the thought of him sitting alone in a library made me sad, so we left him home. As of this Friday, Brandon will be a 4th year medical student- almost done!!! He took a few weeks off to study, so we are going to the beach on Saturday. He is loading up the computer so he can take advantage of wireless internet at the beach and study while we enjoy the sun and rest!
So- Brandon and I have been hung up between a few baby names, and we could not decide because we liked them the same. For Father's Day, I told Brandon that his gift was that he could make the final call on the name (not much of a gift, I know) and he picked it! Our new baby's name is Brandon Blake Slagley, Jr., but we are calling him Blake. I wasn't sure about having a Jr. because I don't want him to be called "Jr." or "J. R." and I didn't want confusion of wondering which Brandon people were talking about (big Brandon or little Brandon). So, we are just going to tell people that those are NOT his names. Also, Kate is really Kathryn, and it has not been that confusing to explain. I am really glad he chose this name though, because I kept thinking that if we were going to use the name Blake, it needed to be with the first son, so it worked out perfectly. By the way, I got over the obsession with the meanings of names, mainly because there are so many references telling you different things and because the meanings of the names I liked were horrible! For example, the meaning of Brandon is "from the broom hill" and Blake means "dark" in some references and "pale" in others. Those are terrible- couldn't they have made up something that just sounded a little better? That is exactly why I got over it and just decided that he will make his own meaning of the name for us!