BR at 4 Months Old

Brantley Rae will be 4 months old tomorrow. I'm in Ashley's wedding tomorrow so I'll be way to busy to post but I have time today so I wanted to go ahead and post.

Weight: 11 pounds 12 ounces (25 %tile)

Height: 24 1/4 inches tall (75 %tile)

Diapers: Size 1 and 1-2

Clothes: Size 0-3 and some 3-6 month

What is Brantley doing at 4 months:

-smiling all the time

-starting to laugh (it's adorable!)

-loves to lay in the floor and kick

-likes her changing table (not sure why)

- likes being held

- loves swinging on a porch swing

-trying to learn how to roll over

-napping 3 times a day

-eating 7-8 times every 24 hours

-still sleeping swaddled

-still likes her pacifier, cant fall asleep without it

-starting to really like bath time

Brantley dislikes:

-having her nose suctioned out

-being left in the Jumperoo too long

-being on her tummy too long (she needs to learn how to roll over)

How cute is that? This is her new thing. FINGERS! She loves putting those two fingers in her mouth. Wednesday night she fell asleep in her PawPaw's arms while they were swinging on the front porch.

Dr. S said she looks great and she's growing just fine. On the skinny side but she's still healthy, thank goodness! I love my little stinker-belle. She's the greatest!!!

Highchair and Cereal

Today, this big girl got to try out her highchair for the very first time. She actually liked it a lot even though she isn't smiling in these pictures. ha!

She also got to try rice cereal for the first time and it was a success!! She actually swallowed most of it. Granted she only ate maybe 1 tablespoon but for the first day I think that's pretty good. I'm not sure if I'm going to actually start solids quite yet. I may wait another month even though she seemed okay with it.

Nummy Num!!

Bachelorette On The Loose

This past Saturday night was Ashley's lingerie dinner/bachelorette party. Sadly, I didn't have my camera so I had to steal this picture from Ashley W. We had dinner and the lingerie shower at Cocina Superior. After dinner we went out to Rouge Tavern downtown. We had a great time and I'm pretty sure Ashley had the best time ever.

This apron lingerie is adorable.

Only 4 more days until she becomes MRS. Jeremy L. Kimbrel. Get excited!!!!

Okay It's Time to Update

So I've been neglecting our blog for over a week now because I've been a bit lazy. Chase was out of town last week so I had a lot going on while being a single mom for a few days. I haven't really taken any good pictures of BR either. Bad Mommy! I tried to take some last Thursday but she was sleepy and wouldn't give me any good smiles. Even though they aren't that great I'll share them with you anyways since I know you don't care what I write anyways, you would rather just see the pictures. Ha! Bring on the pictures!

Oh, and this sweet dress was made for me when I was a baby by one of my Dad's cousins.

Funny face! She wanted me to stop taking pictures and put her to bed.

So what's been going on lately at the Williamson's?

Not a whole lot for Chase and I. He is staying busy with work as usual and helping his dad with his house on the weekends when we don't have other plans. Speaking of houses...we haven't done anything else to get ready for our house addition so far. Next is to have the new septic tank and the field lines put in the back yard. Chase has called around to a few places but just hasn't made the final decision yet. Hopefully we'll get that done in the next month.
I have been sorta kinda looking for a job for possibly this summer and definitely this fall. I hate it but I've got to be working to help out during our house addition. I haven't had much luck yet but I'm still looking.

What's Brantley up to?

She's getting cuter and cuter every day. We are totally in love! She is smiling A Lot and she's even started laughing a little bit. It's so cute! She will be 4 months old on Friday. I can't believe it! Oh how life has changed. About a month ago I stopped nursing BR and have been pumping 5 times a day to still be able to provide breastmilk for her. My milk supply started to decrease and BR just wasn't liking to nurse like most other babies do. It really made me sad and hurt my heart to know that she didn't like nursing but I've gotten past that now and I'm just glad that I can still provide for her even if it is through a bottle. She has also been gaining weight slowly and we finally figured out what the problem is. She just doesn't eat enough during the day. SO I've been having to wake her up 1-2 times every night to feed her. It's been pretty tough and really tiring, but I've gotta do what it takes to get some meat on her bones. I know that she will probably always be little since I have always been little but I don't want her to be unhealthy. So I've been doing this for a week and a half and she's gained 10.5 oz! That's amazing for her, considering she used to only gain 3-4oz in a week and a half.
Setting my alarm for 11:20 and 2:20 and 5:20 pretty much every night is absolutely exhausting! I'll admit that sometimes I sleep through one of the alarms or turn it off in my sleep and then I wake up later and realize I missed one of her feedings. Oops! Thankfully, it's not a huge deal and I just pick up there and carry on for the rest of the day. She's doing great with the bottles. She's a much happier baby!

Any new tricks?

Well I'm not sure that it counts but last Thursday while I was icing a cake BR rolled from her tummy to her back twice and I missed it both times. I laid her down on her tummy like I usually do for tummy time and then went in the kitchen for a few minutes start icing the cake. I could hear her talking and playing. Then she got quiet...I looked around the corner and she was on her back!! Wow! I walked over to her and she smiled SO big and started kicking like crazy, as if she was saying "Look what I just did, Mommy!" I was so excited! I put her back on her tummy again to see if I could catch her doing it again. I watched, nothing. Then I went back into the kitchen for about 1 minute, then I heard a small thud and then a little cry. I looked back and she had flipped over again but in the process hit her head on the floor. Poor baby! She was totally okay but she hasn't tried to do it again since then. I guess she's scared. 

Other than that she's just been smiling a lot and starting to giggle some. I can't wait until she really starts laughing a lot.

So that's all for now. I need to blog about Ashley's Bachelorette party and Lauren's graduation from Vestavia. Once I get some pictures I will.   Ta Ta for now!

Wednesday Funny

I saw this on another blog that I read and I thought it was pretty funny so I wanted to share it to. Enjoy!

Number 85...Check

Number 85 on my list of 101 in 1,001  was to help host a wedding shower for my friend Ashley.  Yesterday was the shower and it went really well. Ashley got lots of great gifts. Now all she and Jeremy need is a house so they will have somewhere to put all the wonderful gifts they received.

We all had a great time! After the shower, Ashley and some of us other girls went to a mexican joint for some celebration chips, dip and drinks. We had a great time talking and catching up with each other. The next two weekends are going to be so fun. We're having the Bachelorette party next Saturday night and then the wedding is Friday, May 28th. Only 11 more days!!

I love you, Ashley and I'm very excited for you and Jeremy!

Do Dah Day and Number 28

On Saturday, Chase, BR and I went down to Do Dah Day with Marley. We'd never been before and it was actually really fun. Very HOT, but still fun! We weren't as prepared as we should have been because we didn't take a quilt or food/drinks. Next year we'll do better. Brantley was pretty good to start off with but then she was tired and hungry but WAY to hot to eat or sleep. Screamed for a little while but then she finally slept in my arms for about 30 minutes. My arm was about to fall off when she woke up. 

Actually the real reason I wanted to go to Do Dah Day was because Act Of Congress was playing that afternoon. They are the band that played at our wedding and we love their music. I can't wait for them to release their new music. Hearing them play again was #28 on my list of 101 in 1,001.

Our Saturday afternoon ended up being very fun despite the heat. There was so many dogs, some were little like Marley and some were huge Great Danes. I can't wait to go back next year. BR will be old enough to run around and enjoy it more and hopefully we'll recruit some other friends and their dogs to go with us. 

It was a wonderful day! We were all overly exhausted from the heat and all the walking that we ate dinner and then went to bed at 8:30. Crazy, but that sleep was totally needed.

WarEagle, Baby!

(This is one of my favorite pictures of BR and I so far.)

Yesterday, Brantley Rae got to wear her first Auburn Tigers outfit. It's a little baseball/softball outfit and it's totally adorable on her. We all ended up wearing Auburn gear last night so we decided to snap some pictures before leaving the house to go to dinner.

We ate dinner at the new Beef 'O' Brady's in the Target shopping center on Highway-150 in Hoover. It was packed and the food was really good. Chase had boneless wings and I had their chicken fingers.

It was totally a coincidence that the Auburn women's softball game was on the TVs at Beef's. Pretty cool since we were all supporting our Tigers!

War Eagle, Hey!

My First Mother's Day

I had a very fun first Mother's day. After church we headed out to Tannehill State Park with my Mom and Dad to have a picnic and walk around. We had a yummy late-lunch and Mother's day cake.

I hadn't been out to Tannehill in years and had forgotten what it was all about. We got to walk through the Ironworks museum, see the restored blast furnace and lots of other cool stuff, like some old restored cabins. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time!

3 Generations together on Mother's Day 2010. So special!

BR loves her Nana!

Family photo-op. Stupidly, BR and I didn't take any pictures together of just us. I'm actually really disappointed about it. So to fix this problem Chase is going to take pictures of us in a few days. I can't wait!

She likes to play with her rings now. This is her newest developmental milestone.

I love this sweet baby girl and I'm so blessed to be her Mommy. God is SO very good to me! Thank you, Lord for my sweet family.

Show Us Your LIfe - Your Kid's (or future kid's) names

I haven't done one of these in a long time but I wanted to do this one. Today over at Kelly's Korner is Show Us Your Life Friday. The theme for today is 'Your kids (future kid's) names. I'll start with my sweet baby girls name.

Brantley Rae Williamson

Back when Chase and I first started dating he told me about his mom and how wonderful she was. She had passed away a couple of year before then from breast cancer. He told me how sweet and caring she was and how much he missed her. Once we were further into our relationship he told me that he wanted to name his first born in her memory and honor. Her name was Donna Jo Brantley Williamson. Brantley was her maiden name. So whether we had a boy or girl, his/her name was going to be Brantley. 

So the day we found out we were expecting, we immediately started calling the baby Brantley, which I thought was really cool. I didn't have to refer to the baby as "peanut" or "baby williamson" or any other cute little names.

So that's how our sweet baby girl got her name. I can't wait to tell her or actually for her Daddy to tell her who she is named after and why we wanted to name her after her late grandma Williamson.

On to her middle name. When I was working at Bluff Park Elementary, there was a little girl named Elizabeth Rae that was totally adorable. I have to admit that she was one of my favorites. I know you're not suppose to have favorites but she was smart, sweet, caring and beautiful. 

I hope that Brantley is like her when she is her age. So I decided that I loved her middle name so much that I would steal it and use it for my baby girl. So that's where we got the Rae part of BR's name.

Our plan is to try again in a year and a half to have one more sweet bundle of joy. Ideally I would love to God to give us a sweet little boy so that we will have one of each. But, God knows best so we'll just wait and see which he gives us. I want to stick with 'Br-' first names so this is what we've thought of so far.

Boy First Name

Brooks, Brody or Braden

I really like the idea of having a boy with a name that starts with a 'Br-' like Brantley's name. I just think they would go together well. The names Brooks and Braden are not family names, we just like them. If we decide not to go with 'Br-' names, we like the names Wyatt, Colton or Connor. Who knows, by the time we have another baby and if it's a boy we may have chosen another first name.

The name that won't change will be the baby boy's middle name. 

Owen

Owen is my dad's middle name and I love it. I've always been a daddy's girl and I just love him so much. I would love to name our son after him, if we can to have a son one day. So his name might be 'Brooks Owen' or 'Wyatt Owen'.

If we have another Girl...

Breanna Michelle

 Breanna is a name I just like that starts with a 'Br-' and Michelle is my middle name. I think it would be sweet to name a baby girl after myself. Is that selfish? I hope not!

Anna Kathrine

 We would call her Anna Kate for short. There are no family ties with this name...we just like it. Chase actually really likes this one, it's probably the most likely choice if we're to have another baby girl one day.

Savannah Kathrine

I just LOVE the name Savannah. I'm not sure where my love for this name came from but I do love it very much. Again, there is no family tie with this name that I know of, I just like it. We would call her Savannah.

I think I could go on and on about baby names. I love dreaming up new names that I totally love. I have an email that I've sent Chase with a bunch of other names that we both like. Hopefully in about 2 years we'll get to start naming another Williamson baby. That will be SO exciting! 

For now I just want to enjoy everyday with Brantley Rae.

(I'm a poet and didn't know it. haha!)

House Addition Projects

This is our To-Do list for our house addition. I know I've left off a lot of things that need to be done but I'll have to have Chase help me out with that part. He knows more about building houses than I do.

1. Have silver maple cut down in the backyard
2. Have new septic tank and field lines put in
3. Have architect draw up plans for the addition
4. Put in footings and the block work for the addition
5. Have addition framed and blacked in
6. Have new roof put on the house
7. Build a new front porch
8. Hang drywall in the new living room
9. Hang drywall in the new mater bedroom
10. Hang drywall in the new master bathroom and closet
11. Install a wood burning fireplace in the new living room
12. Paint the walls
13. Install carpet in the new living room and master bedroom

Bye Bye Pretty Tree

 Tuesday we had a really big Silver Maple cut down in our backyard to make room for our new septic system and house addition. We were really sad to see it go but I'm so happy that we now have a bigger backyard. This was the first step towards having a bigger house. 

Before                                              After

Before

After

We actually have a backyard now that will one day be fenced in with grass and a swing set for Brantley to play on. Yay!

101 List Update

Number 27

on my list of 101 in 1,001 days was to put Brantley in the church nursery for the first time. We took this plunge 2 weeks ago and she did wonderfully.

Number 48

was to have some outfits monogrammed for Brantley. My sweet Aunt Brenda monogrammed two different outfits for her a week or so ago. They turned out really cute!

Number 58

on my list was to get some Friendship bread starter from my friend Sarah. She actually gave it to me yesterday afternoon. I came home and fed it and then I fed it again this morning. I'm going to make my first batch of bread in the morning.

I can't wait to make the bread in the morning. I'll take a picture of it and share! It's SO good!!

Number 78

on my list was to wean Brantley from breastfeeding after her first birthday. Well I'm not gonna make it on this one. Because she has been having trouble gaining weight and she sadly never really loved nursing, I have resorted to pumping everyday and feeding her by a bottle. Half my milk and half formula. Sorry if this is T.M.I.

Number 91

on my list was to take Brantley back to Do It Yourself and have a silver necklace made for me with her fingerprint on it. I took her last week to make the necklace. I actually got to make 2.

They turned out really cute and I love them. They are my Mother's Day present.

Well, that's all the updating I have to do for now. Hopefully I'll get to complete more soon.

The 2 People I Love The Most