We May Be In Trouble...

Since turning two in March, Harrison seems to have made it his mission to make us laugh. He does it all of the time. Nothing makes him happier than to get a good chuckle out of us.

You know, with kids, sometimes, you ask them all sorts of questions just to get them to talk to you. Here is a sampling of questions and answers that occur at our house on a daily basis

1. What color do you want to paint the bathroom? You know you and the baby are going to share it for a very long time. Pink! No way, I don't like the color pink. Plus, that is a terrible choice for a wall. Choose again. Orange! Never mind.
2. Where do you want to go today? Wal-Mart! Absolutely not. That place makes mom crazy. Chick-fil-A. Milkshake. Mine. Ice Cream. Drive-Thru. No, inside. No, drive-thru. No, inside. No, eat on porch. (all of that streaming in 15 seconds). Ugh, let's just go to Wal-Mart. That seems easier.
3. Harrison, what do you say, when mommy says "Thank You?" My pleasure. (so cheesy... I know). Later that afternoon, Harrison tooted and said, "My pleasure" afterwards. I think he may have mistaken "My Pleasure" for "excuse me." We are trying to correct that immediately.
4. Harrison routinely points to his belly and says, "Baby, My Belly." The other day, he asked his Nana if she had a baby in her belly and then proceeded to say, "cut it out." I promise we have never mentioned the idea of cutting a baby out of a belly. Just like we never mentioned buying a baby at Wal-Mart. I have no idea where he comes up with this stuff.
5. Harrison, would you like some water to drink? Juice. I need it now. Again, no idea where he learned the idea of needing juice, or for that fact, needing anything at all.

OH HAPPY DAY!

Gosh, I've been thinking about this post for quite a while now. It is true. The Brantley Family will be expanding to four come January. Hallelujah! It has been such a task getting here, but so worth it. Every setback that I've encountered, I've never doubted that God is good. And HE is indeed Good. We've known for too long. I found out way to early. I actually had sworn off pregnancy tests after the two months prior to it, having two positive pregnancy tests both months, and then no baby developing. I was sure that I wasn't going to take one. Then, I had to take an antibiotic and as I was reading the instructions, it said not to take if you are pregnant. I thought, "maybe I should just take one to be sure." I had one left over from my value-pack purchase in the previous months and it was positive. Immediately, I was not excited. After all, I had positive pregnancy tests the two months before. The next 10 days consisted of blood work every other day and 5 ultrasounds to confirm that it was in the uterus. Lo and behold, it was. After my last ultrasound (4 weeks ago), I had a high risk of miscarriage because of the blood in my uterus and I was asked to take it easy (this risk of miscarriage is very normal). Taking it easy with a two year old around is laughable. So, I was still a little nervous.

But, every time I prayed about it, I kept on hearing the word, hope. And so I never lost hope. Even during the failed pregnancies over the past year, I never lost hope. One of my sweet friends here in Pawleys prayed for me and she heard this verse which has been my verse that I've clung to,

"May the God of HOPE fill you with all joy and peace as you TRUST in Him, so
that you may overflow with HOPE by the Holy Spirit." Romans 15:13

And I've hated keeping it a secret (I'm the worst secret-keeper ever). I told my family after this ultrasound, we can start telling people. If you look at the ultrasound, it has the dates of Jan 14 and Jan 15 as a due date. I'm going to stick with the 15th, but hope for the 9th!!!
So, Harrison is going to be a big brother. It is still hard to imagine your only child as the oldest sibling. And he has been so sweet about it. We've been talking about the baby in my belly and he usually looks at my belly, then leans in, puts his eye up to my belly button and says "Hi Baby," and then kisses my belly. It pretty much melts my heart. Until he points to my belly and says, "Baby, Mine." Ugh...not exactly. But he puts the "mine" stamp on anything that he can these days. Oh, and the button in the picture he is wearing was a button that we came across when unpacking our new house. Adam wore it when his brother, Matt was born. Love it. This is why you keep stuff around.

Bon Voyage!

This afternoon, I dropped Adam off on his uncle Sid's sailboat for a little sailing adventure to Miami this week. I'm hopeful for lots of sailing without too much adventure. Harrison and I are going to miss dad like crazy while he is gone. And actually, I was supposed to go, but because of my work schedule over the next month, I just couldn't stomach leaving Harrison for a full week when I'm going to have to do it for work a lot in the near future. I was super jealous and sad that I wasn't going until I sat on the boat (while at the dock) in 100 degree heat for about 10 minutes. Immediately, I realized that it was a trip for Adam (who loves to sweat) and not for me (who loves the A/C). So, everyone who reads, please say a big prayer for safety for my sweet husband and Harrison's dad. You know, when Adam and I were on our way to his uncle's house today, I asked him if he was nervous. He said he wasn't, but that it was different than when he did an identical trip in college. His words to me were, "You know, when I was in college, I had almost zero responsibility. Now, things are a little different. I have a wife and son back at home. The stakes are a little higher." I may have replied, "Darn right, they are higher." Anyway, coming from Adam, those were major words of affection and it made my day. So here is a picture I snapped of Adam and Harrison before he left. Harrison wasn't feeling like smiling for the camera so we bribed him with a gummy bear. Yep, that's right. I'm all about bribery. So, the smile you see is due to gummy bear overload in the mouth. Cute nonetheless.

Little Time

Harrison rode on the paddleboard with his dad all day long . They went out a pretty good ways, and every time Adam returned to shore, Harrison would say, "turn back, turn back daddy." This kid seriously loves the water.
I'm sporting my golden sunglasses for my golden birthday.

Our attempt at a family picture while the Reeds were in town. Harrison is about two seconds away from taking a nose dive, which is why I am incessant about Adam holding onto Harrison so tight. The poor kid just wants to be in the water.

Between potty training and traveling, I haven't really had time to snap any more pictures of my cute boy. And while I want to update everyone on potty training and my new method, I'm waiting for it to work, so I can have a positive post.

On another note, you know how Celebrity Gossip magazines have like "most searched for names" which usually start with Angelina Jolie or Lindsay Lohan? At least, "my friend" tell me that they some time have stats like that. Clearly, I would never read that trash while I'm sitting on a plane trying to clear my mind of Chick-fil-A, Harrison, or things that need to get done around the house. I would never do that. I digress. I'm just mentioning the most searched because two of my friends on my blogroll happen to have updates that include the Brantley Family. And since I am unable of crafting a post with my own pictures, I thought I would borrow their photos and direct you to their blogs.So, please visit The Reed Family to find out more about our fun vacation with the Reed Family. And also visit Barbara's posting about Memorial Day Weekend (slash my golden birthday weekend in Charleston). I've stolen some pictures from their blogs so I could have something to put on my blog.

Tackling It

The dreaded time has arrived for me to tackle (not tickle) potty-training. It was a rather last minute decision. Harrison has this week off between his regular school year and summer program. I thought it would be a great opportunity. Going alongside my general thoughts of, you can establish any new habits in three days, I thought giving myself three full days of nothing but potty training would be sufficient. I was wrong. Very wrong.
I knew two plans of action going into potty training:
1. Put him on the potty every 30 minutes even if he doesn't have to go
2. Have a reward planned for both #1 and #2

Tuesday (Day 1):
So, he got right up and went potty in his toilet immediately, that morning. Victory! 30 minutes later...didn't go. 10 minutes later...#1 in high chair...awesome. 30 minutes later....pee and poo in the toilet...MAJOR VICTORY! 5 minutes later...#2 in his underwear....apparently he wasn't done and mommy gagged like crazy. Too gross to clean out. I had to throw out the underwear. I wasn't prepared for this. H had one more accident that day and he was done. I also learned that he loved to go pee pee outside (much to Adam's dismay and adamant disapproval, but I'm doing the training, he isn't). So we played outside a lot with just his underwear on and no drawers (i.e pictures above were from Day 1). It was much easier to just abandon the shorts. He may have pottied on his shoes at one point though. Please note that after 3 hours, I was ready to throw in the towel. For some reason, I didn't. I still want to...sort of.
Major Learning: If he says yes to having to go potty, don't turn your head for a minute to grab something. Stop what you are doing and get him. Once he decided he had to go, there was no waiting. Which, I can't blame him. I'm the same way.
Wednesday (Day 2):
Much better than Day 1. Two peepee accidents in the morning. One was outside the shower after his daddy turned the water on, which leads me to my major learning. Prizes are working like a charm.
Major Learning: Harrison is just like me, when I hear running water, it makes me have to go too. Especially the shower.
Thursday (Day 3):
Well, it is 4:00 and we haven't had an accident so far. Well, not really. I took Harrison to a little store to find a birthday present and he was running around the store with another boy, when I noticed a trickle spot. I immediately grabbed him and put him on the toilet and he peed his body weight. Major Disaster Averted. But this is my fault. He told me 2 minutes before that he had to pee and I took him, then he said no when he realized it wasn't his toilet. I should have made him go on it anyway.
Major Learning: I was really wrong about 3 days. He doesn't know when to tell me yet. Or maybe he does, but since I take him every 30 minutes, he doesn't have a chance to.

So, I was complaining about this to Allison the other day, and she helped me to realize how great I have it. She reminded me that at least I have the opportunity to potty train. She was sitting at Duke Children's Hospital that had very sick kids. Boy, did it help to put things in perspective. It is hard to potty train, but I'm glad I get to.

My next question is: when do they learn how to wipe themselves. I'd almost rather do the diaper. Cleaning a hiney from a #2 is much different now. Makes me gag.

For the record...these photos are on the blog, because I couldn't stop cracking up when I saw him with a stethoscope on a tractor with no pants. It may have made me trickle my pants. Now, I know where Harrison gets it from :)

End of the Year Performance

Well it was the end of the year last week at Harrison's preschool and, let me tell you, they should sell tickets to the public to end of the year performances. They are hilarious. Hardly any kids do what they are told. But the ones that do...oh, man. They perform like they are the next American Idol. I wish I had captured it on video. It was too much.
Harrison was not an over-performer, and I'm sure his dad is more than relieved by that statement. He did a little clapping, a little finger waving (to "this little light of mine"), and some good Ring Around the Rosy. Most of his time was spent looking for mom and dad. But when he spotted us, he gave the biggest smile of the day. Love it. I'm already looking forward to next year's performance.