Outside at School and Messy at Home

Dear Brantley ~

Today was a school day for you, and your teacher said you had a great day! I can't remember her name. It's Miss Jolie and Mrs. Kasey's mom. You've been real shy with her ever since you moved up to her class. Today she said you really started breaking out of that shyness. It was a beautiful day, so you got to be outside quite a bit. You attempted the slides on your own today, and you loved them!! She said you got pretty confident and started to go after the bigger slide, but she stopped you because she was afraid you would hurt yourself. I was so excited to hear you were having a lot of fun and coming out of your shell!

When I got you home I decided to let you have a little messy fun. We started by me painting your hands green and doing a handprint St. Patrick's Day shamrock craft. Since that left me with a lot to clean up I decided we'd just continue the mess. I got out a bowl of Jello I had made a few days ago and I put it on your highchair tray. At first you were very careful with it like you normally are.

Then you started to realize that I was going to just let you have fun.

Then you really started getting with it and having a ball.

I decided, why not add supper to the fun? So I plopped some chicken spaghetti down for you. I gave you a spork, but you had no interest in using it since you were getting to have fun with it.

And this was the final result before I rushed you to the tub for a nice, long bath.

I'd say you had a good time! Haha! We played and played in the bath, and you had a blast in there as well. Overall I'd say you had an awesome day! Let's see what fun we can get into tomorrow!

I Love You So Much!!

Mommy

Mommy & Me

Dear Brantley ~

You and I go to a Mommy & Me dance class on Friday mornings at Page & Co. in Cabot. Liz Coker teaches it, and Addison is always there. You're always the youngest one, and you're the only boy, so you are pretty shy in the beginning. You won't let go of me for the first 10-15 minutes, and it's only a 30 minute class. By the end you start getting more comfortable and you start to have some fun. Today you held onto my legs as I walked across the room to put my phone and keys down and then back. Mrs. Liz took a pic of you because it was so cute. 

By the end, though, you were having fun going through the tunnel.

You're still trying to learn how to feed yourself with a spoon. Today you were trying for awhile, then you just got frustrated and started sticking your hand in your mashed potatoes to feed yourself with you hands. Haha!

I Love You So Much, Sweet Pea!!

Mommy

Learning to Read

Dear Brantley ~

I bought Your Baby Can Read for you when you were born. We've worked on the flashcards off and on for awhile, and you love watching the DVDs. Yesterday I was clapping and telling you to clap. You looked across the room, saw the flashcard that says "clap" (not the picture... the word), walked over to it, picked it up, carried it to me, and handed it to me. I was amazed. So today I decided to test that. I laid out several of your cards like this:

I asked you, "Where's clap?" You picked up the one that says clap and handed it to me. I praised you and then said, "Where's hi?" You picked up hi and handed it to me. I praised you and then asked, "Where's tongue?" You picked up tongue and handed it to me. I sat them all back down and asked, "Where's clap?" You picked up clap and handed it to me, and then you walked off. Wow! Brantley, you will be 14 months old tomorrow! Do you realize how incredibly awesome that is??? I am SO proud of you! You are awesome!

Today was my first shot at putting you and Asher down for a nap at the same time in the same room. It only lasted 45 minutes. You woke up with a dirty diaper, got noisy, and woke Asher up. So I hung out with y'all in your room for about an hour because Daddy was napping, and I didn't want us to wake him. After about an hour I took y'all downstairs. You were in such a good mood. I got you a bath, and you just played and played. You never want to get out of the bathtub. You love your baths!

Another big thing of yours right now is opening and closing the refrigerator. Every time I get you some juice I hold you on my hip so you can help. I tell you to open the door, and you open it. I get the juice out, and you always close the door on my arm before I get it pulled out. Haha! Then I get it out and tell you to close it, and you close it. I get your juice, mix some water in it, and then have you open the microwave door. I put the juice in, and then you close it. You do the same when we put the container of juice back in the fridge and when we get the sippy cup out of the microwave. Today you started trying to put the lid on the sippy, too. It looks like we'll be working on that one tomorrow. :-)

You and Cleo have become so close. She was real skiddish around you in the beginning. I used to always tell her you would be her best friend someday. When you started picking up your food, she started to figure out what I meant. You started throwing food to her. I got onto you for it, and then you started sneaking food to her. She absolutely adores you now, and you love climbing on her and laughing at her. Today you were wallering all over her as you drank your sippy. She was loving it. Of course, by the time I grabbed the camera you had quit so much cuddling, but it was still cute.

Tonight you ate Butternut Squash & Brussels Sprout Frittata. You devoured it! I love your healthy tastebuds! I hope that continues as you get older.

Tonight is Asher's first night in the bedroom with you. I am so excited to see how it goes. I think it will be so neat for y'all to sleep in the same room together. Speaking of sleep, I'm exhausted. I'm heading to bed.

I Love You So Much!!

Mommy

Walking and Loving

Dear Brantley ~

Tonight you hardly crawled at all. It has been the longest transition from crawling to walking of any baby I've ever seen, but I think you are officially primarily walking. You took your first steps so many months ago. You have a mind of your own, though. You want to do things on your time, not anyone else's. We had no doubt you would be walking full time at 8 or 9 months, but you just continued to walk some and crawl some. Tonight you were all over the place on your feet, not your hands and knees. I think you've finally decided it is much harder to carry things when you crawl than it is when you walk.

Today Asher was in his bouncy seat watching tv. Your "recliner" was next to him. You went over to it, climbed into it, said "Asher" a few times, sat facing the tv, and reached over to pet Asher. It was so sweet. You haven't quite figured out why you can't hit him on the top of the head over and over, though. Haha!! You are so sweet and such an awesome big brother!!

This morning I was in the bathroom getting ready for the day. You were in there with me. You kept talking to me in your language, and I would repeat every word you said. I tried to trick you and throw in a "Mama" so you would say it back to me (because the only time you ever say it is when you're upset). You looked me straight in the eyes and said, "Dada." Then you started laughing so hard. You are such a little stinker!! You knew exactly what you were doing!!

Yesterday you weren't feeling good. I think you're teething, plus you have a cold. You were really fussy yesterday morning, which is very unlike you. You, Asher, Daddy, and I cuddled up together in mine and Daddy's bed for a large portion of the morning. You and Asher are so incredibly sweet together! As soon as we put both of you between us, you laid over on Asher. Then he started reaching out and touching you, which is huge because he's just starting to learn control of his hands. Y'all ended up cuddling between us for quite a while.

Later in the day you two chilled in your chairs next to each other watching tv.

I can't even begin to explain to you how much I love you boys!!!!! You two and your daddy are my world!!

I Love You So Much!!!!!

Mommy

Taking Care of Asher

Dear Brantley~

You are such an awesome big brother! Your love for Asher is amazing. It absolutely melts my heart to see how much you love him and how good you are with him. Today I sat him in the bouncy seat. He had been in it awhile when he started to fuss. You immediately started going toward him, so I stepped back and watched. I wish I would've grabbed the camera quicker because it was so picture perfect. By the time I got it you were backing out. But you sat Clifford (the paci with the red dog attached to it) on him to try to cheer him up. When he didn't calm down you then climbed into the bouncy seat with him. You were so careful to not get on him, but you were on all fours around him. You loved on him until he started calming down, and then you backed out of the seat. He started to fuss again so you got near him, but when you saw me watching you stopped from getting in the seat again with him. I tried to encourage you to go ahead and get up there, but you didn't. You are so incredibly sweet!

Later I had him in the floor changing his diaper. You were about 5 or 6 feet away from us. When I finished I left him there while I got up to throw the diaper away. I watched as you walked toward him to make sure you didn't accidentally fall on him or anything. You got to him, knelt down, put your forehead against his forehead and loved on him like that for a bit, and then you kissed him on the face. You got up and played with one of your toys for a minute, and then you knelt back down, grabbed his hand, and kissed it.

I cannot even begin to tell you what you do for my heart. You are such an incredibly awesome little guy!! 

I Love You So Much!!

Mommy

Bathtub Drain

Dear Brantley ~

So... you've probably figured out by now that you (and Asher) are pretty much the most precious things to ever walk this earth! Y'all are too perfect! This morning we woke up late (all of us, believe it or not) and we had to rush like crazy to get to daddy's doctor's appointment at the VA in Little Rock. You, Asher, and I dropped him off at the door of the hospital because we were too afraid to take you and Asher into the hospital because of all the sicknesses going around right now. I drove around with you and Asher while Daddy was in there. Y'all were amazingly wonderful. After we picked him up we drove around for awhile with y'all, went to Chik-Fil-A to eat, and then drove around some more. Y'all were absolutely awesome the whole time!!

Again tonight as I was fixing dinner you went to the pantry, grabbed a thing of baby food, brought it to me, and just handed it to me and looked at me. Lol! You are way too cute!!! I told you I was fixing dinner and would feed you in a few minutes. I set that container of food on the counter. You looked at me with a disappointed look, and then walked back to the pantry, grabbed a glass jar of baby food, and tried to bring it to me (but you dropped it before you could). So I put you in your high chair and went ahead and gave you the veggies I had planned for dinner tonight. You were just too cute to pass up.

During your bath tonight you cracked up as I pulled out a container of bubbles and started blowing them at you. This was the second night that you've thought those were hilarious. It's so stinking cute to see you get so tickled at them. Then when I pulled the drain stop out and set it on the side of the tub, you figured it out. You grabbed it off the side of the tub and stuck it back in the drain. Then you pulled it out, put it back in, pulled it out, etc., until all the water drained out.

I finished getting you ready for bed, and I got milk in a sippy for you and held you in the recliner so you could drink your milk until you fell asleep. Asher started crying just as I did, and Daddy was trying to do something, so I had him put Asher in my lap, too. You reached over to touch him as soon as he got in my lap. You love him so much! You are such an awesome big brother!!! And I have to say, holding both of you in my arms at the same time is heaven. Seriously... heaven! I have never been happier!

I Love You More Than You Will Ever Know!!!

Mommy

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Dear Brantley ~

It's your second Valentine's Day! You, Asher, and Daddy are the best Valentine's I could ever dream of having! I can't even begin to tell you how much I love you, and that love grows by the day. You have the sweetest, most loving, amazing personality. You are so much fun! Today you took off walking even more, but you still keep reverting back to crawling. I guess you will just wait until you decide you're ready to give up the crawling altogether. You've been walking for months.. like 6 months... but you still keep going back to crawling. Today you walked more than crawled, though, so I think any day now you'll decide to primarily walk. 

You still love to push the dining chairs around. Your ride-on Mickey Mouse firetruck is probably your favorite toy. You love to pick up items in front of you on the floor and put them behind your back. You will do that over and over again with items until there is nothing left in front of you, then you turn around and do the same thing putting them back where they were. You are still obsessed with opening and closing doors and drawers. You pull diapers out and strew them across the room several times a day. Playing "Where's Brantley" behind my back is your favorite game. You'll stand behind me when I sit on the floor. I'll ask "Where's Brantley" several times, then you'll peek your head around me and smile real big at me. I exclaim "There he is!" and you start giggling. You also love for me to get on all fours and then lower myself to the ground. You'll climb over my back from one side to the other and land on your head, do a roll, and get up to go back over. You still like the song Skidamarink, but If You're Happy and You Know It is beginning to rank right up there. You enjoy riding on my shoulders, then doing a front flip to get down. Your favorite word is Asher. 

This morning Daddy went to meet another wounded warrior at McDonald's for coffee, so I cuddled in our bed with you and Asher. You were so incredibly sweet! You kept rubbing his hands and face, and you'd bury your face into his belly. You rubbed your face against him over and over again and just kept giving him love. It was absolutely precious. You have no idea how much you melt my heart. 

For some pics from today:

You wanted to help me vacuum this morning, but you didn't want to get out of my way in the floor. So I put you on my shoulders, and you rode there while I vacuumed.

Here you were pushing the dining chairs around:

And then mesmerized by the crystal in the curio cabinet:

Of course, I have to throw in the sweetness of your Daddy. He gave me an incredibly sweet card, an angel to go on my momma bracelet that represents the babies we lost while trying to conceive you (because it already has charms to represent you, Asher, and Connor), and these beautiful flowers. Take note, son. Learn from your Daddy. You don't want to be one of those boys who doesn't get something sweet for your girlfriend/wife for Valentine's Day. 

I Love You SO Much, Sweetpea!!!

Mommy