Baby Talk- 22 Weeks

22 Weeks

The weeks are moving right a long. As we enter into Spring, longer days, and a busier time of year, I am thinking that the rest of my pregnancy will go a lot quicker. Spring and Summer seem to do that. I am excited for all the Spring and Summer holds and to welcome our sweet baby in July. With that, I am also left feeling like there is so much to do before she gets here.

I am wearing a maternity shirt in this picture, but regular jeans. I feel like a lot of maternity clothes make me look bigger, because they draw attention to the belly area, but they are usually so much more comfortable. This picture was taken Saturday,which is when I actually roll over to the next week. We went out to eat dinner and while we were waiting several people offered their seat to me while we were waiting. So, I obviously look pregnant now. It was sweet of people. I like to think people are good in general.

I thought about cropping Brady out of the picture, but I love his sweet face. This is how he looks at my belly every day.  

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 22 weeks

Size of baby: length of spaghetti squash

Total Weight Gain/Loss: about 6-8 lbs on my scale. It varies from day to day, based on how many oreos or doughnuts I have eaten the day before. Just kidding, sort of...

Clothes: It is about 1/2 regular and 1/2 maternity.

Gender: Girl! Presley Lynn Barrett

Movement: I feel her throughout the day some, but especially at night. When she moves, she moves big and kicks hard!

Sleep: it seems to have improved lately. I am sleeping pretty good these days.

What I miss: being able to play in the floor with Brady. It is getting increasingly harder and more uncomfortable to get up and down from the floor. Brady will say, "I will wait for daddy to play this, because the floor doesn't hurt him". Sweet boy.

Cravings: Nothing really. Whatever it is, it has to be in small portions.

Symptoms: same as always, nothing new

Best Moment this week: Just seeing how excited Caleb is about having a daughter. He had a meeting at work this week and he had to share a piece of good news. His was his baby girl. He came home and told me all about it. (He isn't one for much details or information, so it was special.)

What am I looking forward to: enjoying time with Brady and planning for our new baby.

Recent Happenings

• The weather has been beautiful recently. Brady has been really big on picking me a flower. His daddy is teaching him young. So sweet!

• We hiked walked to a waterfall on some land my parents bought to sell this past weekend. (My parents are and have been for a long time in the real estate business, so it isn't odd for them to do this.)Brady loved it. We went to the easiest one to get to because we had a preggo and a 3 year old. Ha! The waterfall was pretty, but difficult to get a great picture of.

• Tuesday was National Pancake Day, so we went to IHOP for free pancakes. Brady ate his entire stack of 3 regular size pancakes. The waitress was shocked, he ate them all. I told her he would, he loves pancakes!

Before

After

• Yesterday, we met my sister, Noah, and my grandmother for lunch. Caleb was off so he tagged along. Amy had her husband meet us as well. We all had a good time. I forgot my camera so no pictures.

• After lunch, my grandmother took us and Amy to Wal-mart. She had each family get a cart and said, "O'kay, get what you need, paper towels, laundry detergent, snacks, whatever." It was so nice of her. Brady had no trouble picking out some things. We came home with doughnuts, oreos, Capri Suns, fruit snacks, and Kool-aid packets. Ha Ha! Of course we got some other things as well. She kept telling us we needed to get a little more. It was so nice of her and unexpected. It was a little harder than it sounds because we didn't want to overdo it or get too much.  I am so blessed to have 2 living grandmothers.

• Today they are predicting severe storms and tornadoes in our area. I have never been one to  get real uptight about storms, just aware and cautious at times. However, when Brady was just months old our town got hit by a large tornado and a young mother and her infant baby were killed. Many families we know had severe damage to their homes. Since, I have been a little more scared of storms. It is worse when you have a family anyway. Brady and I are trying to figure out our plan for the day. Well, I am trying to figure out our plan for the day. We don't have a basement or real safe place other than the central bathroom or closet. Hopefully, it won't get as bad as they say.

Baby Talk- 21 Weeks

21 Weeks

I am wearing all regular clothes in this picture. I am pretty excited about that. It makes me feel a little better, when I haven't felt too well the past several days. My face is a little swollen from all the sinus problems. Brady insisted he be in the picture. He loves to touch the baby. I am not sure what is up with his face. Ha!



Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 21 weeks

Size of baby: length of a carrot

Total Weight Gain/Loss: about 6 lbs on my scale.

Clothes: It is about 1/2 regular and 1/2 maternity.

Gender: Girl! Presley Lynn Barrett

Movement:  I feel her throughout the day, but especially at night. When she moves, she moves big and kicks hard!

Sleep: as good as to be expected. I have had severe sinus and allergy problems which have interrupted my sleep more than anything this week.

What I miss: being able to take sinus/allergy medicine that actually helps.

Cravings: Nothing really specific. My appetite is down from all the drainage and sinus issues. I have been drinking a lot of liquids.

Symptoms: same as always, nothing new

Best Moment this week: I got a lot of  look at your cute belly comments this week. At this point it is a good thing, at least people know I am not just getting fat. Ha Ha! In a few weeks, I will probably hate these comments. Ha!

What am I looking forward to: enjoying time with Brady and planning for our new baby.

Baby Names

Choosing a name for a child is hard. It is with them forever, it is part of their identity, and it is a huge responsibility to the person naming. People can be just plain mean when it comes to the name you chose for your sweet baby. Between pregnancy hormones and the insane amount of time and thought that goes into naming a baby, you would think people would be a little more respectful.

I know not everyone will not love or even like the name I(or anyone) chooses. However, it isn't their baby and they can name their babies whatever they like. It would just be nice for people to be a little  more kind in the matter.

Stepping off my soap box now....

I didn't have a lot of mean or disrespectful comments about Brady's name, but a lot of "you must be a fan of Days of Our Lives" comments. I am not, by the way. In case you don't know, Brady is Caleb's middle name and was his grandmother's maiden name.  I wrote about his name here way back when I first started blogging.

Shortly after Brady was born, I began thinking of future names for any future kiddos. I would casually run them by Caleb and 9 times out of 10 he vetoed them. The 1 out of 10, he didn't love, but didn't turn down immediately. When we starting thinking about trying to grow our family, the name game, became more and more of a conversation piece.

We still rarely agreed on names.

I had came across some names I liked, but would hesitate to share with Caleb, because he never liked them. I was at a Christmas party with a couple of new moms and expectant moms, when names came up. A name was brought up, by my sister for another couple, that I had seen recently and I really liked it. One member of the couple it was suggested for didn't care for it, and I had never shared it with Caleb. He wasn't at the party so my sister text it to him and Caleb loved it. He was done. If baby was a girl that was the name he wanted.

I was hesitant to confirm for certain, because I still had a couple names floating around in my head that I had grown attached to. The week of the ultrasound, we agreed to this particular name if baby was a girl. We didn't have the first boy name. We could not agree on anything for a boy.

We have always had a middle name for a girl, Lynn. The middle name is my middle name, which was also my aunt's middle name. It just so happens Caleb's dads name is Lindrell, which fits well with Lynn.

Baby girl's name will be...

Presley Lynn

We are pretty excited about our baby girl and her sweet name. We both love it! I really love it when Brady says it, Pweswee! So sweet. He is not as devastated as I thought about his baby sister not being named Spider. ; ) Ha!

Baby Talk- 20 weeks

20 Weeks

I am halfway there to meeting our sweet baby girl!

She weighed 12 ounces at the ultrasound last week.

We are all so excited about a little girl. I think it has taken the entire week to really set in.

Yesterday was a rough day. I felt terrible, sinus congestion, headache, extremely tired, and nausea. I felt like I slipped back into the first trimester for a bit. I am not sure what all that was about. Hopefully, it was just a one time thing.




Pregnancy Highlights:


How Far Along: 20 weeks


Size of baby:  length of a banana


Total Weight Gain/Loss: about 6 lbs

Clothes: I can still mostly wear regular clothes, but am pulling out the maternity more and more.

Gender: Girl! Name post should be up tomorrow.
Movement:  I feel her move every day and when she does it is strong. It is mostly when sitting or when I am in bed at night. She moves a lot in the morning around breakfast time.


Sleep: I fall asleep fine, but have still have trouble falling back to sleep if I wake up from a dream or a bathroom break. Then I feel so sleepy the next morning.

What I miss: Not sure.

Cravings: Nothing really specific. I have to eat small portions or I am miserable.


Symptoms: it varies day to day. Mostly,I am uncomfortable, random aches and growing pains, and trouble breathing well after meals. (again the small meals and lots of water help)

Best Moment this week: planning for a girl and watching how excited Caleb is about having a daughter.


What am I looking forward to: preparing a girl nursery.

Weekend Updates (a catch-up post)

Friday

My sister and Noah came and joined us at the Discovery Center. My sister also brought me a Starbucks coffee. So nice!

The boys had a great time, as always.

They had a dentist come and talk to the kids and then gave out free stuff. We love free stuff! The lip therapy is awesome!

We came to my house and had a quick lunch. The boys took a nap while Amy ran to the grocery store.

Brady was so upset they were gone when he woke up. :(

Saturday

Caleb had to work. I had a gift card left over from Christmas to Target and I have been dying to buy something girlie for baby girl. Brady and I loaded up to head to Super Target.

I love Super Target. We found a couple sweet little outfits.

I am so excited about her growing wardrobe.

We came home and Brady napped. After Caleb got home we headed to the monthly kid devo with our church.

Brady loves the kid devotionals!

The kids are so sweet. They say the prayers and lead songs. Brady always volunteers. It is so sweet.

Mommy and Daddy enjoy getting to spend time with the parents as well, while the kids play.

Sunday

We went to church, came home and had a quick lunch, then Caleb was off to work for a few hours. Brady and I took a nap.

 (Saturday night, I woke up at 4 a.m. very uncomfortable, so I moved to the recliner and never really fell back to sleep. Needless to say, I was tired on Sunday. I don't usually take naps, because they usually make me feel worse, but this one was needed.)

My mom was in KY this weekend visiting my bro and SIL. She brought back a couple of goodies for baby girl. She got both things for great prices. I promise I won't show every little thing. I am just excited right now.

Sunday night, we all three headed to church. After church we watched Courageous with any one who wanted to stay. They had childcare available. Brady had the best time.

After the movie was over, he did not want to leave. They painted, watched veggie tales, built a cardboard house, played with shaving cream, colored, ran, and so much more. He talked the whole way home about what a good time it was. :)

 



It is a...

baby girl!!!!

We had our gender reveal party last night. We had my parents, Caleb's parents, both sets of my grandparents, my sister, her husband, and Noah, and our Taylor. Then, my brother and SIL skyped in for the fun as well.

Caleb's brothers were unable to make it due to work, but we filled them in quickly after we discovered the gender along with my brother and other friends and family.

Everyone got to our house about 6. We had pizza. I decorated the house with pink and blue. Everyone guessed the gender. Caleb had to work until 7, so he brought the cake when he got off. As soon as he walked in the door we attacked him and ripped into the box with the cake. We knew the outer decorative icing would be in the color of gender.

I am certain I screamed it is pink at the top of  my lungs. I have had a feeling that this baby was a girl from early on. The differences in the pregnancy, the lower heartbeat compared to Brady's, and just my gut feeling left me feeling girl. I just knew I was going to be wrong, though. I would catch myself calling her a she and really struggled with coming up with boy names for this baby. It sounds crazy, but I just felt like this was a girl baby.

All day I doubted myself yesterday, but when it came time to vote I threw my chip in the girl cup and never looked back.  I love, love, love being a boy mom! Now I get to experience being a boy AND a girl mom. I am thrilled.

It was WILD at our house last night. After everyone else, I had a hard time winding down. It was just exciting. The whole thing. I am so glad we did this! I would highly  recommend a fun gender reveal with your loved ones. So fun!!! I loved that Caleb and I didn't know either. It was just exciting!

 Everyone is so excited. We are fairly sure we have a name picked out for her, like 99.9% sure. I will probably do a separate post on that at a later time.





Here is the video if you want to watch it. It is the same video from Facebook, so if you watched it there, you may not want to watch again! :)



Baby Talk- 19 weeks

19 Weeks!!!

 

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

This is a big week because we had our ultrasound today. At this moment, I don't know what the gender of our baby is. I do know that baby is absolutely perfect! Things are devolping well. Thank you for any prayers for our baby.

Because baby was being a little stubborn and difficult, we do have to have a second ultrasound next month just get some better looks at the heart and lower spine. Baby did not like its space invaded. No concerns, they just couldn't get a clear look and would like one. : )  She assured me that she got a good, clear look at the gender!

We, along with our families, will find out the gender of our sweet baby tonight together. I am so excited. I am trying to stay busy, busy.  The anticipation is killing me. The ultrasound lady had us close our eyes and I wanted to "accidentally" open them, but I didn't!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 19 weeks

Size of baby:  about the size of a large heirloom tomato

Total Weight Gain/Loss: up about 5 lbs on my scale, about 6 on Dr. scale

Clothes: Mostly regular clothes. I am wearing maternity shirts or really long shirts only.

Gender: I will do a special gender post tomorrow! I am excited!

Movement:   More and more each day.

Sleep: Sleeping o'kay. It depends on the day. Still having crazy dreams

What I miss: Not sure.

Cravings: Nothing really specific

Symptoms: Just beginning to get uncomfortable at times.

Best Moment this week: Ultrasound and gender reveal party. More to come....

What am I looking forward to: planning for a specific gender

 I feel like I have so much to do to get ready for baby.

Story Time

Today was the first Story Time of Winter/Spring 2012.

Our library does "semester" type story times, meaning they do 2-3 months at a time, then break for 1-2 months.

It works out great because we get a little break and every one is excited to start back.

Brady moved up to the three year old class today.

The only difference is the books are a little longer, the songs are different, and they added a craft.

Brady was so so so excited to start back!

He loved the craft, but was a little thrown off by the new songs and different kids. He was a little more bashful than usual and clingy. He half way participated.

I forgot my camera, but here is a picture of him when we got home.

He always wants to check out a movie. Today, he picked Bob the Builder.

The theme today was about polar bears, so we all made polar bears. He loves to glue so he loved this project.

The polar bear lost an ear while I was trying corral Brady to stop running and pulling out books, while looking for a particular book to check out. I didn't find it and I accidentally bit my lip while looking. So polar bear also has some blood on his white fur. You would not believe how much it bled.

We finally made it home with Bob the Builder,  bloody lip, the one eared, bloody polar bear, 2 tummys growling,  and no book for mommy. Ha Ha!  

That is just the way it goes sometimes.

We love our library and our story time, even if we are a little crazy sometimes. We always return. It is good for Brady to learn to sit, listen, and interact. It is completely free. It gives us something to do each week that is close to home. So despite the crazy, it is worth it.

The good always outweighs the bad.

I also just found a smiley face sticker on my stomach. I am certain that was there while we were at the dollar store. Oh well.

Baby Talk- 18 weeks

18 Weeks!

Each week when Caleb takes my picture, Brady says, "my turn" after he takes mine. Here is Brady's picture this week. Silly boy.

He is still loving the baby and has decided the baby is a girl. We shall see.

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 18 weeks

Size of baby: the length of a bell pepper

Total Weight Gain/Loss: up about 4 lbs

Clothes: Regular clothes mostly. I am wearing some maternity shirts because they are longer. The clothes fairy :) (aka my mom) bought me some new maternity clothes this weekend. They were having a BOGO sale, so we got several things for good prices.  

Gender: scheduled to find out Feb 14

Movement:  Baby is moving more and more every day. Caleb was able to feel it move the other day just a little.   It is still not regular, though.

Sleep:  Pretty good except for CRAZY dreams.

What I miss: not sure

Cravings: nothing specific just good food.

Symptoms: Crazy dreams and a little trouble breathing at times.

Best Moment this week: baby moving more.

What am I looking forward to: The ultrasound on Valentines Day. It is exactly one week away! Yippee!!!

If you get a chance this week, please pray for a healthy, growing baby!

Take it Easy Mondays

Mondays are pretty lazy around here. We spend a lot of time resting, cleaning, and playing at home. The weekends are rough on Brady. He rarely gets a nap on Saturdays. Between church, playing with other kids, going to my parents, and playing with Noah, he is usually wired on Sundays and doesn't always take a decent nap. Weekends are so fun and we love them, but we need a little while to catch up. Yesterday, he had a great nap at my parents!! Still, Mondays are kind of our days to refresh and get things done at home.

Keeping with the easy Monday theme. I have been loving watching these "stuff" ____ say videos. The original is "stuff" girls say. It is funny and oh so true. I stumbled across this one today made by baby center.

Despite the title, it is clean. You will notice I changed the title on the blog to be a little more appropriate. :)





I am fairly certain I have said most of these things. My favorite part is when she pulls the entire bunch of bananas out of her diaper bag.  So true. I once pulled some big boy underwear  (clean, of course) out of my lunch box at work! Ha! Not kidding! I accidentally put them in there instead of my purse. Yes, I keep a spare pair of little boy underwear in my purse!

Happy Monday!

Big Brother Love

Now that I am home all day and Caleb works really long hours, Caleb has pretty much taken over the bedtime routine. Occasionally, I still join in, but most nights it is just the boys. It is a sweet time for them and I feel like they need a few minutes without me each day. It also gives me a few minutes to myself before spending time with Caleb.

Before the bedtime routine begins, Brady comes to me to tell me good night and get a hug and kiss. Over the past week or so, Brady has added a kiss to my belly and the sweet words, "I love you, baby!"

It is so sweet. No one told him to do this. He just started on his own.

Since he has began doing it, he never forgets to do it. I often forget and am confused when he leans in to kiss my belly. Then I quickly remember what he is doing.

It melts my heart how much he adores this baby already. He hasn't seen the baby and I am not even sure how much he understands. He knows there is a baby in my belly and he loves it. That is all he needs to know. There is question, no concern, or doubt, just love.

Around the same time, he started adding the baby to his bedtime prayer. Although, I don't participate much in the bedtime routine each night, I do overhear his prayer and memory work each night. Again, no one told him to add the baby to his prayer. Caleb includes the health of me and the baby in his prayer, but has never specifically told Brady to pray for the baby.

The pure, simple love and excitement of a 3 year old is remarkable. It is infectious.

I am posting this so I can remember how excited and how much he loves this unborn baby. It is that simple. He loves our baby. period.

I may be digging this out when the kids are 13 and 16 and at each others throat. Ha! Hopefully he will always love our baby as much as he does right now.

Baby Talk- 17 weeks

17 Weeks

I am really closer 18 weeks. I roll over to the next week on Saturdays. Oh well, at least I am getting them posted during the actual week.  

 

 

 

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 17 weeks

Size of baby: about the size/weight of a turnip

Total Weight Gain/Loss: up 3 lbs per Dr. office, I haven't stepped on my scale since. :o

Clothes: Regular clothes. I am having to wear longer shirts and my pants are starting to get more and more uncomfortable, so it won't be long. I did pull out a couple maternity shirts the other day.

Gender: scheduled to find out Feb 14

Movement: A little this week when laying down. Nothing regular or consistent, just a little here and there. 

Sleep:  I am sleeping pretty good. I wake up several times, but usually go right back to sleep.

What I miss: energy. I keep expecting my energy to come back, but it hasn't. I am not exhausted, but just don't have as much energy as I expected to by this point.

Cravings: nothing really 

Symptoms: sinus headaches, some heartburn and reflux after eating, and a little fatigue. I have a few other symptoms if I don't drink enough water, so I am trying to keep that under control.

Best Moment this week: Brady's birthday party and spending a lot of sweet time with Brady. He has been really sweet the past few weeks. I have this overwhelming desire to just sit and snuggle with him as much as possible.

Also, feeling baby move for sure.

What am I looking forward to: The ultrasound on Valentines Day. It will be here before I know it!

Brady's Late Birthday with Friends

As I have mentioned before, Brady's birthday falls 2 days before Christmas. Because December is so crazy, it is nearly impossible to plan a birthday party with his friends and they be able to attend. Not to mention the added stress that puts on Mom. We did have a family dinner on his birthday at his restaurant of choice if you will remember here.

It just so happens one of Brady's best friends, Grady, has a birthday on New Years Eve. Grady's birthday puts him in the same boat. (I know Grady and Brady, we didn't know each other when they were born.)

We decided to team up and throw a late party together, since their birthday's are at such an inconvenient time and we will be inviting almost exactly the same people.

We originally had wanted a pool party, but it was booked way in advance(like 2-3 months) and we didn't book in time. On to plan B, we decided to have the party at the church fellowship hall and the only Saturday available was January 28. It has seemed like it has taken forever to get here!

 The party went so well. It was also nice to have someone to share all the responsibility and planning with. The kids seemed to love it!

Here are some pictures from the day...

 Thanks to my sister who hijacked my camera while I was busy to snap pictures. :)

Brady's Brobee cake I made.

Grady's batman cupcakes.

Food Table, the sun made the picture a little dark

Boys in the bounce house. Grady and his sister got this as a Christmas present last year. It was perfect for the party!

Our little family.

More bounce

Brady really enjoyed being sung to and blowing out the candles.

Grady did not and got embarrassed, so his sister Addie blew them out for him. I love how different their little personalities are.

Brady was so excited!!!

I am very thankful for this sweet family and the friendship we have with them. They are one of those rare families that all members of our family enjoy being around. I hope to have many, many more special days like this with them.

Also, thanks to everyone who came to help celebrate our sweet boys 3rd birthdays! Brady is so blessed to have so many wonderful friends!

Maybe next year we can have the pool party, but we will probably have to call in September. Ha!



Special Delivery

A special package arrived yesterday on our front porch.

I had ordered Brady's bedding for his twin bed last week when pottery barn was having a free shipping on all items day. That saved me $21!!!

We also had a couple gift cards from birthday and Christmas, so I didn't end up actually paying much at all.

Brady was so excited!!! He would not get off his bed. Ha!

He said, "I love the UPS man, he brings us fun packages."

It was so funny especially since we rarely order things online. I guess that makes it more special. I think it is exciting to get packages delivered, too!

The bedding looks great with his bed. I even like it with the green walls, so we may not paint them. I am still thinking on that.

Now, I need to get something for the window, a chest of drawers or other piece of furniture, and a few more things to hang on the walls.

His "big boy" room is slowly coming together. The key word being slow.

Baby Talk- 16 Weeks

16 Weeks

I don't have a picture this week. I had to get this post up before I am 17 weeks. I promise to have a picture next week.

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 16 weeks

Size of baby: about the size of an avocado

Total Weight Gain/Loss: up 3 lbs per Dr. office

Clothes: Regular clothes, but some shirts are getting snug and I am having to wear my longer shirts.

Gender: scheduled to find out Feb 14

Movement: Not yet, but could be any day now.

Sleep:  This past week we have had some awful storms due to the unseasonably warm weather. The storms have woken me and I have had a hard time going back to sleep. One night the storms woke me around 2 am and lasted an hour or so, but I couldn't fall back to sleep. I think I finally fell asleep around 5:30 or 6 on the couch. I was so tired the next day, I went to bed at 7:30. Ha! I never ever go to bed that early.

What I miss: Nothing really

Cravings: No cravings really. I have items I definitely do NOT want, though.

Symptoms: Sinus headaches. The changing pressure with the storms has made my sinus' go crazy. I looked it up and apparently sinus symptoms are worse during pregnancy due to increased blood flow, meaning swelling of the blood vessels near the sinus cavity. Apparently, it is one of the same reasons for blood noses are common during pregnancy. Go figure.

Best Moment this week: Hearing the heartbeat and having a great appointment.

What am I looking forward to: The big gender reveal on Valentines Day!!!

Park, Peer Pressure, and Proud Parents

Today, Caleb was off and the weather was so nice. We decided to pack a lunch and head to the park. Brady literally jumped at the idea. He loves the park! He loves his daddy! So, daddy plus park is a win win.

After we ate our lunch the boys played baseball for a little while. The wind was a little chilly on that side of the park, so they stopped.

Brady spent some time on the playground. Brady and I frequently visit this playground when the weather is appropriate. Brady has discovered how I expect him to act and knows what he can and can not do. I have invested a lot of time and efforts redirecting him from undesirable behaviors. Most of the time I feel like it is pointless, especially with all the other kids around. Some parents, like me, continually watch and monitor their children. However, others seem to open the van door to let the kid out and then open the van door to pile them back in.

As Caleb and I were sitting on the park bench observing the kids playing, we noticed Brady had picked one particular little boy to play with. The boy was a little older than Brady and a little bigger. Brady was the follower of the friendship, chasing the kid and doing particular park activities when the kid suggested them.

 As I casually watched while reading my Kindle, I noticed the boy Brady playing with climbing up the slide. This is a huge pet peeve of mine. The slide is made to slide down. It is dangerous for one kid to go up while one goes down. I have relentlessly taught Brady we do not climb up the slide.

One of my most vivid childhood memories is of my sister going down the slide at a fast food play place at a birthday party as another child climbed up the slide. One bloody mouth and nose later, I decided I, nor any children under my care, would be climbing up the slide. I was a little girl, but it made an impression on me.

Back to today...

The other child yells down to Brady, "hey climb up here." It took every ounce of my being to not jump up and scold Brady before he had even done it. I believe I actually said out loud to Caleb "oh he isn't allowed to do that". However, Brady looks at him and says ok, but walks around to the ladder. Caleb and I were so impressed. 1 point for Brady. I was so happy I didn't interfere. Lesson learned, sometimes you need to see how it plays out before you get involved.

Several rounds around the playground and the situation was replayed with the exact results. 2 points for Brady.

Then the other child decided maybe this kid physically can't climb up the slide, I should help him. We watched as the wheels turned inside his 4 year old or so brain. He grabbed Brady's hand and proceeded to try and pull Brady up the slide. Before the "ady" of Brady left Caleb's mouth, Brady was maneuvering his hand free from the grip of peer pressure and continued to run around to the ladder.

Homerun for Brady.


This was much bigger than him climbing up the slide or not.

I have had many proud moments during this parenting journey, as well as some embarrassed and not so proud moments. I am certain more of both will show up in the future. But for today, I am proud! I am proud that my tiny, baby boy is becoming a secure, confident, strong,well- behaved little boy. I am proud that he remembered what he was taught and to apply it even when it wasn't popular. I am proud, I let him. I am proud, I was able to witness him obeying without me constantly reminding him.


 I hope I can remember this when he is 16 and hopping behind that wheel for the first time. I pray I can remember when he is picking up that girl for his first date. I hope I can remember when he moves his things our for college.

I want to be the type of mother who teaches by words and example, then trusts her children to follow her. I don't want to preach and smother, but with a toddler, it can feel like that is all I do.

I needed to witness this today. I needed a glimpse of the child we are raising. I needed a boost of confidence that maybe there is a chance he might turn out all right.

Brady amazes me every day.  I am often in awe of things he does or says and have no idea when, how, or if I contibuted to his amazingness.  He is truly a special little boy. I tend to blame myself for his faults, but not for his strengths.


 At least today, I feel as though we are doing something right and I can sleep a little sounder. Whatever that "right" thing is, I pray it sticks around and this was only a preview of Brady's reaction to peer pressure.

Today was a good day!