Labor Day Weekend...

This is way late but I wanted to post about it anyways! Labor Day Weekend we decided to take Braylen to Chestatee Preserve (or something like that) up in Dahlonega. She got to see several animals and we especially got to see the Zedonk (Zebra Donkey...it made national news....and he is SO CUTE!) Braylen thoroughly enjoyed herself but was skiddish around certain animals! Below are some pics of our day!

Braylen has also done extremely well with her Potty Training. I am going to have to brag on her because I never thought we would have made it this far or had done this well! On a personal note....she even loves to POOP on the potty....lol! She has started back her Mother's Morning Out program (school) and is doing okay in it. The teachers have really wanted her to be in pullups, and I said NO....so we have all sat down and talked and worked out a schedule where they take her every 30 mins and document whether she went or not. Since they have started to do this....she has had ZERO accidents. In fact, since she started school.....she has only had ONE and that was on the playground.....she didn't know where to go potty at...poor thing! She is the oldest in her class though, which is a tad bit frustrating because we are working so hard with her for her to know that she is a BIG girl not a baby.....! I think she will be okay but time will tell on how quickly she wants to be a baby again when Carsen arrives. Below are some pictures of Braylen just being SILLY!

My next post will be about Braylen's birthday...wahoo! She turns TWO on Sunday and we are having her an IceCream Party that very day.....she is VERY excited and we are too! Then after that.....hopefully I will be posting about our newest addition,, Baby Carsen. Our family of THREE is soon to be a family of FOUR....we can't wait to meet her!

5 weeks left....

So I went to the doctor today and I am getting routine ultrasounds prior to my normal appt. and everything looked good except her size. Ms. Joyce (the technician) kept saying to me well as long as you can make it full term her lungs will be good but she just might be small. She actually said this a couple of times and I was like....I feel fine, I don't doubt I won't make it full term. And then she mentioned well the only reason they would take you early is if she isn't growing anymore or your fluid is low....fluid is in check....yay...but growth isn't so good. The only reassuring thing she mentioned was that sometimes babies just grow better outside the belly.....I guess that is somewhat reassuring but I think Carsen is going to be okay. So then I went on to my regular appt and saw Dr. Franklin (I am apart of the midwife program but none were available so I saw her)....she looked through my records and the ultrasound that was just done and wants me to go back to the MATERNAL FETAL SPECIALIST....what???? Just when I thought I didn't have to go anymore they want me to go back....no fair....! They want the specialist to monitor the growth again and do a full scan to make sure Carsen is growing right.....! Along with that, since Carsen has only a TWO VESSEL cord....I have to start getting an Ultrasound TWICE EVERY WEEK....what again? TWICE a week....geez....who has time for this....lol! I know it is all for the betterment of Carsen but didn't know I was going to have to be seen this much!

So that is the update on baby Carsen and I. I do feel great.....I had a rough few weeks a few weeks ago but I am a lot better now.....a little tired and uncomfortable but I do feel good! I am ready though....didn't think I would say that now but if she came today, I would be okay with it (minus her not being full term and small.) Well let me take that back....maybe just TWO more weeks so I can nail down the potty training with Braylen and she can start Mothers Morning Out Program again (school!) Speaking of potty training...check the blog below and also I promise to have picturess of Braylen's big girl room soon! It is ALMOST done.....I still want to put her curtian up, a couple of shelves and then find a fun bookcase or shelving unit (which I can wait for...this doesn't have to complete the room) before I get to snapping and sharing the photos. I will say though, she loves her room and LOVES her bed....as do I....it is SUPER comfy!

This is a picture of Grant and I last weekend celebrating our 5 year anniversay. So I am 34 weeks pregnant here....!

This is just a fun photo to share of Braylen on our way to Charleston to visit Uncle Howie and Aunt Jojo! She was very excited!

Potty Training..

So this is going to be a brief update on Braylen's potty training. I failed to grab pictures but always wanted to but it was the last thing on my mind when she was making such great progress! So it all started this past Sunday.....I wanted to at least have a little help from Grant so that is why we started that day. We chose to do the 3 day potty training bootcamp. You can google it if you want but ours was more of a 5 day bootcamp...lol! So Sunday was pretty discouraging.....you start them out with a bare booty....so she had a shirt on but nothing on the bottom. I would ask about every 5-10 minutes, do you need to go potty? Or let's go sit on the potty? Every time we did it, she never went but she always had accidents.....thank goodness all the accidents were on the hardwoods. But anyways, we ended Sunday with success she actually went potty in the potty and got her first REWARD (a silly band) and actually I was SO EXCITED...she got a sucker too! :) BELOW IS THE PICTURE OF HER SILLY BANDS....EVERYTIME SHE WENT SHE GOT A BAND...not sure the face but she wanted to take the picture....wierd!

Then Monday rolled around....went potty in potty twice that morning and then from there till lunch, nothing but accidents. I called Grant at lunch time and told him...I give up....she just isn't grasping it and isn't ready...! I was really calling to get the okay from him to give up but he really didn't say much except for can you at least just finish out the 3 days? So feeling down and out...we go upstairs to get ready for her nap....and I put her in her pull up and she runs into a corner and just looks at me...I said..."Do you need to go potty" and she said "YES" so we go and she POOPED....it was like a MIRACLE....ha! So when she went down for her nap, I was excited and ready to finish out the day with nothing but good potty stories. So she woke up and pottied and it all just started clicking. We had an accident that evening but I was SO OKAY with that.....accidents are going to happen.......! Then Tuesday rolled around and she was doing FANTASTIC! We decided to get out for a bit to test her in public and we went to Walmart and visited that bathroom 3 times and never went but when we were checking out....she is standing by the candy bars and there she goes to peeing. This is where the challenge is....she doesn't know how to tell me she has to go! So on the way home....we pulled over 3 times with the hatch up and her trying to go potty...it was actually funny because someone even pulled over to see if we were okay....lol! Wednesday....still going strong...except for at gymnastics she had an accident, fortunately I caught her grab herself and so I swooped her up and she couldn't hold it any longer. However, that accident was my fault....I didn't have her go potty right when we got there, I guess I didn't see a need since she just went right before we left. My mistake but mark my word we potty right before we leave, when we arrive, several times while we are there, before we leave, and when we get home. That is the new routine until she fully tells me she has to go or she can hold it. So then today is Thursday and I had a doc's appt (that will be in the next blog) and she went right before we left, right when we got there, I was about to get an ultrasound and I asked her and she said yes...so we leave everything so she can go, the when we are leaving she goes POOP and then I make my appts for next time and then I take her to pee one last time.......the best part about this morning is we didn't have ONE PUBLIC accident....she did such an amazing job and is becoming such a BIG GIRL! She loves being called a "BIG GIRL" or a "BIG KID" like her friends Caleb, Reese, Pierce, and Mason! PICTURE BELOW IS BRAYLEN DOING THE POTTY DANCE.....she loves the dance and leads GRANT AND I BEHIND HER doing a TRAIN AND doing the dance together....too fun!

So we aren't perfect yet but we have made some HUGE progress and we AREN'T going back to diapers. So as much as it takes out of me to get her to the potty every 10 or 20 mins...I will do it until she has this thing nailed down. I am SUPER PROUD of her and she has made transitioning seem easy breezy....well not so much easy breezy but a lot less stressful than I once thought it was going to be. So TWO THUMBS up for BRAY!

A Lazy Day!

Wow, TWO post in one day....this is unusual...it is usually TWO post in ONE month....!

Anywho, I wanted to share a lazy morning that we had with Braylen recently. She loves to color, paint or really just do anything that is messy! So we decided to finger paint. She cracks me up because she loves to put it all over her hands and rub it around like it is lotion or soap......!



Grant helping her get paint on her hands to create her master piece

I was trying to teach her to make hand prints but she just wanted to smear it instead.

Her beautiful work of art.....don't you think it is frameable....?!? lol

Beach Trip 2010

Our Annual beach trip was WONDERFUL and VERY relaxing! This post will mainly just be pictures and small comments to explain, however, the pics are in reverse order so if you choose you can start from the bottom and work your way up....sorry but ENJOY! :)

(Braylen wiped out after a LONG day at the pool and beach. Side note, she sleeps in a BIG Girl bed now but that will be another POST along with pics of her NEW Big Girl Room!)


(Braylen and Mommy playing in the sand......I am not always a fan of sand but I wanted her to be able to enjoy the beach as much as possible....mommy would rather be at the pool!)


(Mom and Sis watching everyone play on the beach and in the water)


(Bodie trying to figure out if he should EAT the sand or not.....love this kid....he is a TRUE BOY!)

(Braylen wanting to throw the ball with the kids)

(Trying to teach her how to dip a hole in the sand)

(Everyone went to Lamberts for dinner.....they are known for throwing rolls all throughout the restaurant.....but here are the little cousins after dinner)

(Bray's new game is RUN from Mommy when we are trying to put our clothes or jammies on....I am not fond of her new game but I love her little naked booty.)

(Another day on the beach....she doesn't care for the OCEAN but she is okay in the sand)

(Bray and Bodie watching Elmo one morning before we left to go down to the pool.)

(Braylen LOVES the pool and LOVES practicing her swimming)

(Bodie just LOVES everything.....constantly on gaurd on what he is going to do next.)

(Braylen trying to put Bodie's shoes on. She also likes to tell him what to do! Boy are we in for a treat on how she treats Carsen Faith Schmeelk---practicing saying and writing it...lol)

(Great Grandkids minus TWO and the ones in the Bellies.....Granddad and Grandmom are the only ones on the Bray side that are GREAT Grandparents. Man do all the Great Aunts and Great Uncles have some catching up to do)

(All the Bray cousins, some of us are first cousins and some are second.....this is a combined picture and there are some missing as well)

(Most of mom's first cousins)

And then of course I don't have the picture of Granddad's brothers and sisters (where we all began outside of his mother and daddy, however, I never met them.)

Hope you enjoyed some of the pics from the beach. This is all of them but I am sure you got the hint of what our vacation was like...workout, pool, lunch, games/naps, beach (or shopping or games), dinner, nightly strolls on the beach.....you know the good life in Gulf Shores.

Activities in the Summer...

So before we head off on our annual Beach trip I wanted to blog about some of the happenings that Braylen has been involved in this summer.

I will start with Gymnastics! We go every Wednesday morning at 9:30 and it is only 30 minutes. Can you imagine occupying a toddler any longer than that....or trying to teach them....man! We start out in a group circle doing activites then we move on to circuit training learning how to do the balance beam, the bars, front rolls, cart wheels, trampoline....etc. We then end the class in the circle again where they lay on their stomachs and sing a "Bye Bye" song! This has been a fun experience and I plan on keeping her enrolled through the end of August and then taking a break since she starts back Mothers Morning Out in September.

Our next adventure was SWIM lessons! Mrs. Jill is the swim instructor and she is known as the SWIM WHISPER....how funny is that! Anywho, she believes in starting the kids out at a VERY young age and then their progress will be less difficult the older they get. The video I am going to post is Braylen swimming to the ladder. They start out up and down until they can gain control to put their heads in the water and float on their stomachs. She loves floating on her back and is very good about swimming under water and kicking her legs till she gets to the side of the pool or your arms. We are VERY pleased with how she has down and will continue to keep Braylen in swim lessons once a week starting in the FALL....! Grant was a swim baby and did swim team growing up and would really like to see Braylen enjoy that sport! Swim lessons lasted ONE week and were about 15 minutes each day (she charges a $1 a minute,) I think if they are older the lesson last a little longer but it is hard on the little toddlers. Oh and parents aren't allowed in there until the last day...so this is the video I got....and of course she was crying for me to rescue her....lol! Ever since her lesson, when we go to the pool, all she wants to do is practice her swimming. That just blows my mind because Mrs. Jill mentioned not to over do it with them at the pool...just review it a little in the beginning and then just let your kids play like the others.....however....all Braylen wants to do is practice and swim....so neat! And one last thing....every time we talk about the pool, Braylen says "Jill gives suckers" that was her reward after every practice...Mrs. Jill gave them suckers and that sure got Braylen through it....lol! This is a picture before we go into the lesson and then the video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlrWhHrEu9c

I have more videos of her lesson but they are too short to share but once again we were super impressed with Mrs. Jill and look forward to Braylen continuing her journey of swimming with her. Oh and this picture is her eating her lunch after swim lessons.

Outside of going to the pool and playing this summer we have also enjoyed the sprinklers. She is so funny about them....she would rather drink the water than run through them and play. Well whatever floats her boat but she sure was cute doing it.

We also have been with a lot of our friends this summer and the babies below are my best friends from highschool kids. Addie is Nikki's little girl and A.J. is Nicole's little boy, they are only 3-4 weeks apart.....they are about 8-9 mths old. Braylen loves treating them like they are her babies. I am sure we will have NO problem with her playing with our new addition!

Sorry for the long post but lots to share but I also wanted to let my followers know that I am doing GREAT! Went to my specialist appt. last week and there is NO MORE fluid in the kidneys, baby still measures small but not abnormal and everything looks great! They even said I could ask my regular O.B. if I could stop going to the specialist and they could do my ultrasounds monthly to monitor the umbilical cord.......! So I go today and definitely will ask. The specialist did say, don't be disappointed if they say NO...it would only be because of Insurance purposes. So that is that update and one last thing....I THINK WE HAVE A NAME!!!!!

Carsen Faith Schmeelk (we are still working on the spelling of Carsen but I am pretty definite this is the route we are going... can't wait to meet her!)

4th of July Weekend...

The 4th of July weekend was VERY busy for us! We kicked off the weekend Friday night at the Cumming Fairgrounds where they always have a HUGE firework display.....! We met up with all of our friends, grilled out, socialized and watched the fireworks. Braylen was not a fan of the fireworks this year....they were too loud. She would say, "Firework.....BOOOOM!" It was cute but she wasn't liking them at all. However, she did get to enjoy the evening with some of her favorite friends!

The next morning, Saturday, we woke up and enjoyed a nice breakfast together as a family. I usually teach classes on Saturday mornings so we never get to enjoy it together but I didn't have to this past Saturday so it was nice to have family time. After breakfasts, we all got dressed and loaded up and went to the Cumming Parade, where they had over 20 steam engines to lead the rest of the parade participants. The Steam Engines were SO LOUD......! People were passing out ear plugs left and right and sure enough Braylen did not like the noise. It was SO LOUD that even MY own ears were burning. Not sure if we will be doing that again......! The steam engines are also really SLOW so it took forever and they were loud so we were all starting to get a little miserable.....! We might try it out a few years down the road so she can collect fun candy but definitely not anytime soon....ha! The picture below is us strolling to the parade because all the roads were blocked off and then the one after that was after the steam engines had finally rolled by she was able to sit down and enjoy some NERDS......she is sitting quite lady like, isn't she....lol! After the parade, all she kept saying is "ChooChoo is LOUD".......!

After the parade we went home, ate some lunch, and changed into our swim suit! We all went to out good friends, Evan and Tara's house for more celebration of the 4th of July Weekend. Us Moms/pregnant moms all went to the pool with the kids (their pool is VERY kid freindly) and all the guys and some of our other girl friends went on the boat and hung out on the lake all afternoon. It was a great afternoon of sunshine, swimming, socializing, and relaxing, we definitely enjoyed it. After a long afternoon at the pool we all headed back to Evan and Tara's house for some yummy dinner. We grilled BBQ chicken, roasted potatoes, grilled vegetables, corn on the cob, every appetizer you can imagine and then an amazing fruit cookie pizza.....it was all SO YUMMY! Pictures below are of all the kids getting bathed after a long day at the pool, Caleb and Braylen eating some dinner, and then them all relaxing trying to enjoy a movie!

Sunday was an even better day for our crazy, busy weekend! I woke up at 5:00am to get ready to head down to ATL to run in the 41st annual Peachtree Road Race. My race time started at 7:35, so I had to get up, drive to Marta, hop on with TONS of people and get in my placement group in time to run 6.2 miles! I love this race, it is such a FUN race and is a GREAT tradition to start with your family. My family is usually with me when I run this race but this year was a little different. This year, the race was on Sunday and at our church, the guest speaker was TIM TEBOW.....needless to say...they all backed out of the race to go see TIMMY! They got to do a personal breakfast with him, which was super intimate and then he spoke in both services. Hannah has those pictures to share. I was able to make it to the last service to listen to him. It was a crazy and fast morning for me. Oh....I must add...that while I was racing.....I was 3 minutes slower this year than last....which was expected.....because I am 7mths pregnant....WOW...what an accomplishment.....! Oh and the weather was PERFECT! So after the race and church, Grant and I came back to the house, showered, laid around and then went down to our pool for a FISH FRY with our neighbors....it was YUMMY food as well and Braylen got to play with some of the neighborhood kids, which was nice.

Monday, Grant had off and we did a lot of things around the house! He also got to play a lot with Braylen. Braylen is also VERY into her babies....so we always take them outside and play with the babies, or bath the babies, or stroll the babies....it is something with the babies.....and she has like 7 babies that she rotates throughout....! So the weekend was VERY eventful but a lot of fun was had.