Allergic

Apparently, Kate is allergic to fire ant bites. Brandon went to get her from Sunday school this morning and they said she was in the office. I had gone to get Blake and when I saw him walking towards me empty-handed, it kind of freaked me out. They will page you if your child is bad or sick, but I had not been paged. She was sitting in the lap of the nursery director eating a sucker smiling, so I figured that whatever had happened was ok now. Then, the director asked me if Kate always reacts this way to ant bites, and I realized that these may be her first ones. (Mosquitos are a different ball game, she is covered in them!) Her foot was fat, red, hot, and tight! Her sandal wouldn't fit over it, so she was carried to the car. We went to Walgreens on our way to lunch to get some Benadryl, and then met my family. Kate was a ZOMBIE the whole meal! My whole family could not believe that she was that quiet and zoned out. She passed out in the car on the way home, and then slept for 3 hours once we got home. When she woke up from her nap, she played for a little bit, but then collapsed on the couch and covered up. Brandon was reading her some books and snuggling with her and said she was hot, and she had a fever of almost 103! She is now dosed up with more Benadryl and Motrin, and she is off to bed! Poor thing!

On a more fun note, Blake is all over the place! He has taken a few steps at a time and then sits down once or twice, but he is climbing all over the couch, the kids' chair, and trying to get onto the coffee table! He is busting out teeth everywhere too- he is showing you his top 2 (and tip of 3) teeth here. I can't believe he is already this big!

Playtime

Turner came over today and he was a little less excited than Blake to play. Blake was a little too in his face!

A sweet "hug" from Blake and a gentle "high five" from Turner, and somehow Kate slept through it all.

The stare down. It is funny to watch kids this age stare at each other and make noises like they are actually trying to communicate.

New Projects and Bossy Kate

These are some new projects I have been doing lately. The little dress is so cute on! It has little side vents that button and it just makes it hang so cute on Kate. The john-john was fun to make, but I am not used to so many details! The smocking part was fun, but the actual construction of the outfit was tedious! It turned out very nice though, and it is fully lined, so I feel like it will hold up nicely. The pattern can be unsmocked and reversible, which is my next venture! The john-john took so long that I don't think I am going to sell them on my sewing blog because I barely have time to make one for my own child! But, I will probably end up selling that style of dress once I make one or two more and get comfortable with the pattern. I really do love smocking and sewing but my love of sleep has suffered lately to get these finished. :)

Kate loves "talking down" to Blake. She is constantly saying, "No No, Bub!" and "Don't bite!" when he is just putting toys in his mouth. She just doesn't realize that is what babies do! We laugh that she has started calling him "Bub" because it sounds like a northerner- my dad still has a touch of a Michigan accent and we like to say that is where she got it. She has gotten a little mean recently, I hate to say. She has this evil little giggle and I know she is torturing him. Yesterday she was pinching his cheeks so hard they turned bright red, and she pulls his ears (like they need to stick out more) so hard. I get more upset than he does. For some reason, he puts up with it. He may whimper a little bit, but he just looks at her wondering what she is doing. I had to explain that if she loves him like she says she does, then she cannot want to hurt him. Then she gets tender-hearted and hugs him and tells him she is sorry. She got so sad that she cried today, but I had to explain that he loves her and forgives her even if he can't tell her. It has made me tear up more than once to see her realize that she is hurting someone (I know it sounds cheesy, but I can't help it- I used to say the random tears were pregnant/nursing hormones, now what can I blame it on?) She really is sensitive, but I am hoping she will learn soon to not hurt him in the first place. The picture of him by the jumperoo kind of reminded me of Brandon's brother, Christopher. Some of Brandon's family has said that Blake looks like Christopher since birth, so I thought I would show this little glimpse that we saw. More and more people have been saying that Blake looks like Brandon lately- it is funny because we look at him and only see Blake!

How can Kate hurt this sweet face? :)

They Will Hate This Later...

"I will help you in."- Kate
"No thanks, I can do this myself."- Blake
I couldn't resist the bottom pictures. They couldn't wait for the water to fill up. Blake was dying to get in. He watched Kate hike her leg up and he thought he could do the same. They won't love these pictures later, but they made me laugh.


















Before the splashing began. They had a blast in the tub tonight. Brandon is on call tonight and it is sad when I use bathtime as an activity just to pass time until bedtime. I let them play until they were little prunes!

After the splash fest... all smiles (for Kate). Blake does love playing but sometimes he looks at me like- can you stop her from splashing me now?

Best Buddies

These kids crack me up! They are really enjoying each other these days. Kate gets a big kick out of playing with/torturing Blake, and he gets a kick out of all the attention. She loves dressing up- notice the nice dress over some pink play pants- and putting her dress up stuff on Blake too. If I hear her giggling and him whining, I know that she has put something on his head, and today it was her mesh laundry bag. She also wants to go with me to get him from naptimes, and I let her get in his crib to play and she pretended to put him "night night." He is doing his whiny face saying, "get her out of here." I really think this is getting more fun everyday. But, they are wearing me out. That Kate is something else. She just decided that she didn't want to sleep in her big girl bed last night and cried, screamed, and threw herself against her door until after midnight. She said she wanted to sleep in Mommy's bed- which she has NEVER done in her life- so I was not giving in. Until Brandon reminded me that the morning was coming sooner than we would like and we needed sleep, however we could get it. So she slept with us for the first time, and then today she got a night light so she would have no reason to be afraid, and she is quiet so far... fingers crossed. Anyway, sometimes I couldn't smile more because of them, and sometimes I want to sell them on Craigslist.

Girls' Weekend

I had another weekend with NO kids! Brandon stayed home with the kids so I could go surprise a college BFF (best friend forever- for those family members who may be reading and not know) after she got engaged. Melanie and I went to Oxford, MS, on Saturday afternoon and showed up shortly after Lauren and Christopher got engaged. It is hard for me to call her Lauren, because I have only called her by her last name since I have known her. Anyway, he proposed and had her family waiting back at his parents' house for a little party. She had no idea that friends were coming too. Melanie and I were the outsiders, being her Auburn friends, so we had to wait and meet some of her MS friends to make sure we were in the right place. (Because Melanie's GPS told us to go way down the opposite end of the street... glad we can read good ole street signs and house numbers ourselves!) We were just kind of hanging around outside of Christopher's parents' house and then he came outside to let us know we were in the right place. Nevermind the fact that his parents' house looks like a major historical landmark and I just couldn't believe it was their home! Beautiful! Anyway, we walked in the front door and Lauren's back was to us but she turned around when she saw other guests' reactions. She really stared at us for at least 10 seconds before giving us a hug... I felt like I needed to re-introduce myself to her. Oh yeah, one reason it was such a big shock is that I have been MIA as a friend since I have been pregnant or with a newborn for over 2 years. I did get to see her last summer, but I am sure she was not expecting me to show up! So she was very excited that we could be there to share in such a fun weekend. I was on CLOUD 9 all night, just being with old friends and being around so many of her friends and family that I feel like I know because of living with her. Did I mention that I lived with Lauren and Melanie for 3 out of 4 years of Auburn? So, I was thrilled to be with them all night again. (And maybe that old bond is so deep down and that is why we all had white jeans on?)

The couple in the bottom picture is Lauren's parents- I love them! They were so much fun to be around and they have always treated me like I was one of their own. And no, I am not sitting in Donnie's lap, I was on the arm of his chair. Also, I am not a wino, but just happened to be carrying around my wine glass because the caterer snatched it up the one time I set it down. Lots of the guests were amused at the fact that I have 2 kids, so one guest didn't know my name and I was dubbed "2 kids."

The lucky man- Christopher! Can you tell he and Lauren had been in the sun all day? I guess that day was worth the sunburn! I got to know Christopher better this trip, and it makes me laugh how perfect he is for her. Lauren is one of a kind- she knows what she wants and doesn't take anything less... and he takes it all in stride. I can't wait to be around him more in the years to come!

Ok- more on the party... when I think of a party to celebrate the night of the engagement, this is not what I think of. I think of maybe a few appetizers and some drinks on a countertop. Keep in mind that we got engaged at Brandon's hunting land and I am pretty sure there was camouflage somewhere on his body (hat maybe?), but that totally was perfect for us. This house was straight out of Southern Living or House Beautiful, inside and out. And, the party was catered with great food (better than I have had at some weddings), and a cocktail bar. We thought we would be going out to celebrate later, but there was no need to leave, the party was so much fun. We took a tour of Christopher's parents' house and saw their wine cellar, movie room, and I was AMAZED at the mirrors in their bathroom. If you want to watch television while you get ready, you just aim the remote at the mirror and a tv appears inside the mirror. I was pretty baffled by it, it took me a few times of turning it on and off to really believe it. I am sure they were laughing at me, and at one time someone asked where I was from and when I said Birmingham, they just nodded and said "oh." Still not sure what that was all about! Anyway, this weekend was so much fun and I was so glad I got to be a part of it. I love you Lauren, congrats again!

PS- I love you Brandon, thanks for taking the kids all weekend so I could feel like I was in college again! (To brag on him, he was on call Friday night, and he offered to keep them after he had been up for 30 something hours just because he knew how badly I wanted to go.)

Birthday Treats

My birthday was this past weekend and I got some fun treats! My mom gave me some Trish McEvoy makeup and some new necklaces and earings (these aren't the exact ones, but pretty close). Some sweet friends brought me beautiful roses that were light pink turning to hot pink on the tips- beautiful!!! Then, my brother gave us a night of babysitting and paid for our movie, so we went to see The Proposal, and it was GREAT! We laughed so hard, and Brandon even enjoyed it! Brandon took me to a great dinner at Brio, and it is so nice to sit and enjoy a meal and talk to each other. Plus, the food at Brio never disappoints! I got some money from Brandon's parents and grandparents and my grandad, so I ordered a new carseat for Blake. It doesn't sound too exciting, but trust me it is! We needed one and don't have a lot extra in the budget these days, so at least I could get the one I wanted! So I am very excited to see this coming soon. My parents took us out to eat at PF Changs last night, which was also great. And they are watching both kids this weekend so that Brandon and I can go to the beach with a friend from college. I am excited to read and relax all weekend! Last week wasn't the best at our house (Brandon's schedule was awful and he was only home 2 nights), so these birthday surprises were a nice treat!