Brady is 4 months!

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Happy 4-month birthday, Brady!

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At 4 months you have mastered rolling over from your back to your stomach and from your stomach to your back. You love to suck on your fingers - typically your index finger and your middle finger! You have the sweetest smile and you use it to your advantage, already! Your sisters are still very enthralled with you and you rarely get a moment's peace when they are around! You've started to daycare and are doing great! You just smile when I give you to MiMi Carolyn in the morning! I'm sure there is more to say - we just love you to pieces!!

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Brady goes to the pediatrician next Thursday for his 4-month well-visit. I will update the scrap page then with his stats and post about the visit then.

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Bella - future photographer?

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A couple of Saturdays ago - Bella started arranging her "friends" and she told Brannon she wanted to take their pictures. So he obliged and she took pictures of her "friends".

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Later that evening - she was posing a select few again and asked for me to take their picture. So I did.

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Then she wanted to pose with them and for me to take her picture with them. So, of course, I did.

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Then she proceeded to tell me I should put them on the blog (is it odd that my three year old knows what a blog is?)

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Trying to get one with all three....

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A Visit from Mi-Mi

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Mi-Mi came into town for a quick visit - she came down Saturday morning and went back Sunday morning!

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We headed to the outlets in Foley when she arrived. We stopped at Mellow Mushroom for pizza before hitting the shops!!

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Here is the best group photo I could get of the kids and Mi-Mi!
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Brooklyn and Mi-Mi
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Brooklyn and Mi-Mi coloring together..

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Sleeping Beauties...

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We've been transitioning Brooklyn out of the crib and into the "big" bed. She's done really well with it! The first night I tried it she ended up back in her crib by about 11:30 pm...but since then she has slept in the "big" bed all night! Brannon must have snapped these pictures one night when he got home from work....

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I had their room set up so that their beds were separate with the dressor in between them - looked very cute for room decoration purposes - but they decided they wanted one big bed and my thoughts were "whatever works"! So their two twin beds are pushed together.

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What do you wear to stroll your babies?

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Isn't this what you wear to stroll your babies around town?
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My husband...

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Brannon told me yesterday "I don't want you to freak out, but we have mice in the laundry room. But don't worry the snake in there will take care of them!"...

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I don't do mice and I don't do snakes - I told him I wasn't going back into the laundry room until they were gone! Just a side note - our laundry room is a completely separate room under our carport...He cleaned the entire laundry room today and told me the mice were gone (he only saw 2 and said they were tiny) and therefore the snake would be gone soon! We had an open bag of birdseed and lots of stuff for the mice to "hide" in! No more bird seed and no more hiding places either!

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More of Brooklyn's 2nd Birthday

The cake and presents (remember we didn't have a party per say - we went to the zoo the day before her birthday to celebrate)!

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Watching Daddy light the birthday candles (just FYI - these letter candles melt really fast)!
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The Birthday Girl!

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Singing "Happy Birthday to Brooke"
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"Gimme some of that cake, already!"

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Bloggy Absence

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Sorry for the absence over the past week! We've been a bit busy it seems. The girls and I drove home to Anniston on Friday, October 17th to see my dad who was in the hospital. It was a nice trip but it is a lot of driving for one person - especially when that one person happens to be 8 months pregnant! We came back that Sunday and it was back to reality getting ready for the school/work week, etc. Luckily - the girls and I had cleaned the house the Thursday night before we left - so there wasn't much to do as far as cleaning goes!
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When we were on our way to supper that Sunday evening (just after returning home from Anniston) - we got a call that they had decided to do a heart cathedar and a "start and stop" procedure on my dad on Monday morning. They did the heart cathedar and found that he had 4 blockages; therefore, he was scheduled for open heart/quadruple by-pass surgery for the following Monday, October 27th.
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We all drove to Anniston again this past Sunday and came back on Tuesday. He is doing well and was moved out of ICU yesterday. He is having to undergo another procedure in the morning as his heart as gotten out of the regular rhythm it had gone into after the surgery (he had an irregular heartbeat prior to surgery) - so they will be doing the "start and stop" procedure to try and fix that. In addition, he is being treated with medication for congestive heart failure.
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Between travelling the past two weekends, working full time, having 2 very active little girls and having another baby on the way - blogging had to take a back seat! I will try and get back on track with posting on a more regular basis! For now, I will leave you with some random pictures taken within the past couple of weeks!
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Mommy and Brooklyn
Mommy and Bella
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Sleep Training - Night 5

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So last night...Well - Brannon works late on Thursdays (as I've mentioned) so it is just the girls and I. Last night I just grabbed them a happy meal and we went home - I didn't eat because I didn't get to eat lunch until after 2, so I really wasn't hungry. They were quite happy with their dinner and watched Wizard of Oz while they ate at the "little table"! While they ate, I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. I cleaned up both their rooms, straightened their beds, vaccuumed, cleaned the bathroom, cleaned the kitchen, living room and our room. This is a lot to do after working all day (in my opinion)! In the midst of all this, I was putting clothes in the washer (at least the little bit that Brannon hadn't already done for me!!). By this time it was approaching 8 - bedtime! I put Brooklyn in her crib - such an easy method!!! She went right to sleep. Bella then started walking out towards the living room saying she didn't want to go to bed. I explained that it was bedtime and she had to. She wanted me to lay down with her - so I did for a minute and then explained that Mommy had to get up to do a few more things. She cried and didn't want to stay in her bed - so I hugged her and kissed her, told her I loved her and closed her door - at which point screaming ensued - but it only last a bit. I went about ironing Brannon's clothes for work and when I was done with that I went in and checked on her again - which only caused her to start crying again. I closed her door and decided - I'd just let her be. She was asleep within a half hour clutching her little lamb. I opened up her door and went about climbing (i.e. folding) mount laundry! I went into Brooklyn's room ever so quietly (or so I thought) to put their clothes away and she woke up. So she helped me put their clothes away and then I sat in my rocker with her for a few minutes and snuggled with her (something I don't seem to get to do that often) and then put her back in her crib with a few extra hugs and she was out!

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Finally around 10:30 last night - I finished all the clothes, putting them away included. I was exhausted. I went to sleep. I was so asleep - I didn't even hear Brannon come in from work nor get changed or anything! I'm not sure what time it was but I felt Bella climbing on top of me. She apparently did hear Daddy come in and he put her in bed with us, where she slept the rest of the night...

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So for Thursday night - Kid - 1; Parents - 0!! Oh well - they'll be nights like that!!!

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Sleep Training - Night 4

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Sorry to leave you "hanging" with our exciting life of transitioning our 3-year old out of our bed and intot her own - things were a bit crazy at work (that will be a whole other post at another time). This would be Wednesday night. Wednesday was a bit off the routine because Brannon didn't get home until a little later than usual and I didn't have it in me to cook (like I ever do)...so we were late getting to supper thus late getting home. When we got home Bella said she was still hungry (tactic, if you ask me) but she did eat another piece of toast and then had to finish coloring a picture. I went to bed! Brannon put her in her bed and closed her door - she cried, of course, but only for a few. Then during the night she was only up twice and I did lay with her both times but it was only for about 5 minutes each time. Then she did get in our bed at about 5:00 or so Thursday morning - but like I said, I get up at 5:30 anyway, so I don't mind that snuggle time!
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So, while we are not completely there - we are still headed in the right direction (at least that's what I'm telling myself)!
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An Unexpected Visit....

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On Saturday morning, I received a phone call from one of our friends in Atlanta asking if we'd be up for visitors later that day! I was very productive Saturday morning having done 4 loads of wash, cooked breakfast, cleaned out the girls' toys (again), cleaned both their rooms and the bathroom - all before she called! Of course - I would not have told them no if my house had not been cleaned, but it was nice that it had been cleaned!!! The girls and I went on with our day - had some lunch, took naps and waited for Daddy to get home. Then we had supper and waited for our visitors to arrive!

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Brannon and Scott are both Chiropractors and they met at Life and when they finally decided to introduce us wives to each other - we all became fast friends! Miche and I are both accountants! They have three kids - Jacob will be 6 in October, Lauren turned 3 this past April and David will be 1 in October (Lauren and Bella are 14 weeks apart)! I used to be Jacob's girlfriend - but then I went and had a baby and couldn't devote all my attention to him, so he dumped me!!

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Here are some pictures from their visit!

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All the kiddos: (L-R) Jacob, David, Bella, Brooklyn, and Lauren


Jacob, David, Bella and Brooklyn

David and Bella

Playing in Brooklyn's room

Bella has a Mumbo (from Happy Feet) stuffed animal that makes the dancing feet noise when you push his paw and Jacob liked it - so they proceeded to wrestle over it!

Somehow Bella prevailed!!

Jacob "catching a fish" with Brooklyn!

Brooklyn was fascinated with David!!

Giving David a kiss....
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While the visit was short - it was great to see them all!!!

A Trip to the Library

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The girls love to go to the library. When I was home with them - we would go every Thursday for Wee Ones Story Time. Bella can point out the library on the way to school - with no prompting from me!! And she is always asking about Ms Dorothy...

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On Friday, we stopped by for a few minutes and got to see Ms Dorothy and, of course, check out a few books!

Not sure why the pictures are so dark - guess I should have changed the setting it was on...oh well - you get the idea!