Merry Christmas

Here's hoping you all had a wonderful Christmas. Here's just a little of what our holidays were like:

Mommy and the kids after church on Sunday

Scarlett's new kitchen

cutie pie cousins

Daddy helping Clark open his stocking

the family in our jammies Christmas morning

Sweet kids

Ho Ho Hmmm...

This morning Brody volunteered to take Scarlett to school. I love when he can do that because I get to actually finish my morning coffee and don't have to wake sweet Clark up from his morning nap. As soon as they left this morning Brody calls me. He tells me to go look outside because he thinks someone left something for us on the front porch. Imagine my surprise when I open the door and see this....


What?!!? There really are only two options: 1. someone left it as a gift and didn't include a tag...which is highly unlikely, or 2. it is a prank
I just really hope that if some random teenagers took it out of someone's lawn to put it on our porch, no one thinks we stole it. I guess I am going to put a sign on him saying he is lost, and hopefully the rightful owner will come back to claim him.

Like a weed...

That's how fast I feel like this little guy is growing. He was four months old on the 9th, and I just can't believe how quickly the time is flying by. I am sad that he is not a tiny little bundle anymore, but he is laughing, and rolling, and every day is better than the last, and for that I am truly grateful. I did not do this with Scarlett, but you live and learn, so this time I am taking a monthly picture of him with his blue bear so that I can see how much he's grown.

one month
two months

three months...finally a grin!

four months

and finally one with Mommy

(don't you love the double chin...his. Mine...not so much!)

My Fashionista

Here is Scarlett's favorite "new outfit". These jammies are from Mimi last year. For some reason, every night she requests her "new pink (or yellow...she has both) jammies". She will even ask to put them on for nap. Last night we went to Brody's work party and someone gave her this lovely headband. It has now become a part of the favorite ensemble. Since we don't have anything to do today, I'm just going with it...let's just hope I can get her to take it off in time for school tomorrow!

Small Problem

A while back, Brody and I noticed a few cracks in various places on our ceiling. They weren't that big of a deal to me, but really seemed to bother him, so after a few calls and visits from our home builder, they agreed to come and fix the problems. I honestly did not think it would be that big of a deal because the cracks were small and they were all just cosmetic repairs. Well...I was wrong. The workers were here all day. Talk about the fun of trying to keep the whole family in one room. It ended up that every room in the house had something that needed to be repaired, so thankfully, Brody took the day off to help and keep the workers from walking in on me nursing Clark. Anyway...it all got worked out, but due to some old paint and the fact that painting wasn't the repairman's forte, we have now hired a painter to come and repaint our living room. I will say, though, that there was a lot to be thankful for even in the chaos: 1. the repairs were covered by our home warranty 2. Brody was home to help me 3. The workers completed the job in one day 4. I am going to have a freshly painted living room next week

Birthday Boy!

Today is Brody's 31st birthday. I still feel so lucky that he chose me to be his wife. He is an amazing husband, father, and provider. I think I posted once about things that I love about him. So today I will post 31 little known facts about him:

1. His first name is William (that's pretty well known, but oh well)
2. He spent weekends and summers growing up on his family's ranch in Wimberley, TX.
3. He is good at riding horses
4. When he was young, he and his brother participated in team roping
5. His family used to host rodeos on their ranch
6. He almost drowned as a child in a canoe
7. He can play the saxophone
8. He got in trouble a lot in elementary school, and made his fourth grade teacher cry
9. He has milked a goat
10. He is afraid of spiders
11. He gets motion sickness
12. In high school, he drove an orange Volkswagen "Thing"
13. He falls asleep by rubbing his feet together (drives me crazy!!!)
14. He is a very light sleeper
15. He is a gadget guy
16. He has VERY curly hair
17. He does not like green beans
18. His favorite food is Mexican
19. He is a morning person
20. He learned how to play piano from a nun

21. He always has to have the TV or stereo on

22. He cannot dance to save his life

23. He was in ROTC at Texas Tech

24. He almost joined the Air Force

25. He is not afraid to ask for directions

26. He is not a fan of sweets

27. He uses more hair products than I do

28. He gets squeamish watching any type of surgery

29. However, he watched when both babies were born

30. He always wanted a daughter

31. He cried tears of joy when Clark was born

Happy Birthday Brody...I love you!!

Yes, I am fully aware that we are a week into November, but there was a lot going on in October that I wanted to share and never got around to. So...here's our October in pictures:



Scarlett the cowgirl all ready for the church Fall Festival

This was the first year I gave in and let her try the bouncy house. She had a ball, and we timed it just right...there weren't any big kids in there at the same time.

Here we are at the Pumpkin Patch...Scarlett looks to be having a little more fun than Clark.

Daddy came home early one night to carve a pumpkin with Scarlett. I am so thankful that he was willing to cancel a lesson to make a memory with us!

The finished product

Halloween night. Scarlett really "got it" this year. She was telling all the kids "Happy Halloween guys...come with me!" In fact, she even walked in someones house she was so excited. It was pretty cute :)

It was a crazy but really fun month. Scarlett was pretty hyper for a lot of the activities, but I had to keep reminding myself that I used to act the same way...it really is a fun time for kids, and her excitement was pretty contagious.

Memories

My good friend Lisa tagged me to come up with some of my memories, so here goes:

In honor of Halloween, I remember going to a haunted house with Jaime and my grandparents. Jaime got scared before we even went in and I freaked out about 10 seconds after entering. My grandpa asked for his money back

I remember sitting on the front porch with PawPaw eating red Popsicles and watching the cars go by

I remember going to the beach with my family

I remember sitting in front of the TV on Saturday nights watching Hee Haw and getting my hair put in sponge rollers

I remember the day my mom told us she was going to have another baby...we weren't thrilled

I remember Maw Maw answering the phone in the middle of the night and saying " eleven-eleven!!!" ( that's how much Jordan weighed when he was born)

For my friend Marta, I remember being at the James' house on a Sunday afternoon when we heard that Rachel Lane Fenter was born

For my friend Lisa, I remember going to dinner with her for my birthday and having her say that she was having a hard time driving...little did we know what was ahead

I also remember the doctor coming out of surgery and Don telling us that she was doing OK and would be fine

I remember trying out for the dance team as a freshman in high school. My dad told me to dance like no one was looking and I could do anything I put my mind to. I made it :)

I remember going to California with the dance team during Spring Break. Half of the squad got food poisoning during our trip to Medieval Times. I had to do the routines the next day without my partner...I looked like a dork but at least I wasn't one of the ones in the hospital!

I remember hanging out with Kim, Suzanne, and Amy in the LCU dorms. No one wanted to come to my room because my roommate had a foot fungus and it was stinky

I remember going to dinner at the Adam's house for a blind date with a guy named Brody. I figured since they had six kids, if we didn't hit it off, I could always play with the kids and ignore the guy...needless to say, I liked the guy

I remember our wedding day. Everything was perfect until after the wedding when we discovered someone had broken into the dressing room and stolen all the purses

I remember coming home from a PTA meeting to take a pregnancy test (positive)

I remember 33 hours of labor and finally getting a C-section

I remember hearing "it's a girl!!"

I remember coming home from Ladies Bible Class to take another pregnancy test

I remember hearing crying and "it's a boy!!"

I remember sleeping through the night...oh how I miss that :)

It was fun walking down memory lane. I hope that I help Scarlett and Clark make as many happy memories as I have. If you have the time, I tag Suzanne and Marta.

(by the way...I don't know how to make Lisa, Jaime, Suzanne and Marta's names link. If anyone can tell me how to do it, this dummy would appreciate it! )

Finally Fall

Well, it looks and feels like fall is here...for a few days anyway. Monday we were supposed to go to the Pumpkin Patch but had to skip it because of the wet weather and high winds. So to fill our morning we made hot chocolate and decorated cookies. Scarlett had never had hot chocolate before and seemed to like it. I think she really just liked that I served it in a coffee cup for her. And, in true Scarlett fashion, she did NOT like the marshmallows in the hot chocolate. They had to be on a plate next to the mug.

mixing the "coffee"

sampling the marshmallows

cheers!

her decorated cookie (like the new smile?!? it's all I can get her to do these days)

sweet Clark, hanging out in his chair while we were in the kitchen

Wild Weekend

This is going to be a crazy month. I think we have something planned every weekend. This past weekend was no exception. It started on Friday with Jordan's birthday. We all went over to my parent's house for cake, ice cream and presents. Scarlett and Beck had a great time singing to Uncle Jordan and even helped him blow out his candles.

Saturday morning Brody had to work a tournament so my dad joined me and the kids at the zoo. Scarlett has been asking to go forever and even though it was SO hot, we had a good time.

I think next time I might just take her to ride the train because honestly it's her favorite part of the zoo.

The most exciting (and exhausting) part of the weekend was on Sunday. Jordan's fiance Maegan was having a bridal shower so Mom, Jaime, Clark and I hopped on a plane to Dallas. We made it just in time to grab some lunch, go to the shower and get back on a plane headed home. Clark was a champ and hardly made a peep. I must admit, though, I had never flown with my mom and to say (as I did in my last post) that she is not fond of flying would be a vast understatement. I had no idea!!! I will not go in to details because the humor we all found in her fear would really not be understood in a post. I will just say that she was a trooper and we all got a few laughs out of it.

I didn't get any great shots of the shower because I was nursing Clark for part of it, but here is a picture of Maegan (in red) with the hostesses.

This coming weekend will be another busy one with two more showers and our church Fall Festival. I am looking forward to all the fun, but hate that it is making October fly by so quickly!

Happy Birthday Mimi!

Saturday was my mom's birthday. I had fully intended to bring a camera to our breakfast and get a shot of her with the kids, but since it was breakfast, I wasn't awake enough to remember. Anyway, here are some random pictures of her with the kids over the years. We celebrated her day by going to eat at LePeep. Jaime, Ben and the boys couldn't come because Ben's brother and niece were in town. They were missed! My mom is an amazing wife, mother, and grandma. So...in honor of her day, here are ten fun facts about my mom:

1. She is a great seamstress. She can make just about anything which is why I have yet to learn how to do it myself. Plus, right before the big kids were born she got a monogramming machine so we have TONS of personalized stuff!

2. She is afraid of elevators. She was stuck in one as a child so she will take the stairs any chance she gets.

3. She loves shoes. She rarely buys things for herself, but shoes are her weakness.

4. She rarely watches TV, but when she does it's either the food network, HGTV, or the classic movie channel.

5. Not long after she and my dad got married, he went to Basic Training for the Army and she had to move back in with her parents and share a room with her 5 and 12 year old sisters!!

6. She claims as a child she used to drink coffee every morning for breakfast.

7. I think that's funny because now all she ever drinks is decaf.

8. She is very self disciplined. She gets up to go to the gym at 5:00 every morning...no wonder she looks so good!!

9. She loves to travel, but is not a fan of flying.

10. Now that I'm a mom, I realize how much she worried about, sacrificed for, and prayed over me. I am so lucky that she's my mom, and my kids are VERY luck to have her as their Mimi.

We love you Mimi! Happy Birthday!!!

Second verse, same as the first...

I know it's been a while since I posted. I haven't really had the time, and honestly, there hasn't been that much going on lately. It's funny how foggy your mind is with lack of sleep. I think that I'm alert and fine, but I already can't remember a lot of when we first brought Clark home from the hospital. The funny thing is, he's a really good baby. He wakes up about every three hours to eat, but sometimes will go four and he sleeps great in between the feedings...so we are thankful for that. Other than sleeping, eating, and pooping, he has started smiling. They are few and far between and we have to act like fools to get a grin, but it is definitely worth it.
Scarlett started school in September. She loves it. There are 10 boys and only 2 girls in her class, but she doesn't seem to mind. She even told Brody that she "yikes dose boys". Yikes!! We had decided to only send her one day a week, but there was a spot open for her to go two days and we went ahead and signed her up for that space. I think they have a great curriculum and honestly she was just wanting to watch TV a lot since I don't have much time to give her my undivided attention right now. Ladies Bible Class is on Tuesdays but I don't know how often I will be able to make it depending on Clark's schedule, so at least I know she is getting out of the house to do something fun two days a week. Plus, I really like the alone time with Clark. Scarlett got all of me for three whole years, so it's nice for him to have me all to himself at least two days a week for a few hours.

This last picture is from Sarah Jones. We used to go to Mac together and she was kind enough to come to our house to take some newborn shots of Clark and three year old pictures of Scarlett. She sent me this one as a teaser, but they all turned out great. If you are in need of some pictures I highly recommend her. Her website is www.sjphotos.net . Sarah, I hope you don't mind the plug...it's just hard not to want to show off your kids when you make them look so good!!

Well, that's pretty much what we've been up to. Nothing too exciting, but it has been busy. Now that Clark is seven weeks old I think we are starting to get more into a groove, so maybe I'll have more time to blog...we'll see! :)

Hook 'Em!

My two little longhorns. The dress that Scarlett is wearing was mine. My mom made it for me when I was Scarlett's age. Brody would prefer they wear Red Raider outfits, but he did actually think they looked cute in these. I played the " I carried them for nine months I can dress them how I want" card, but I will be on the lookout for Tech outfits just to be fair.

Three Weeks

It's hard to believe that Clark is three weeks old, and yet at the same time I'm already having a hard time remembering what life was like without him. He is really such a good baby. He still sleeps a lot, so maybe that's it. On the first day we got home from the hospital he cried a lot and I was worried he was not going to be a happy baby, but now he really only cries during diaper changes and when he's hungry.
At his two week check up he weighed 9 lbs. 15 oz. and was 23 inches long. When we left the hospital, he was down to 8 lbs. so he basically gained 2 pounds in 2 weeks. At this rate he will be one big baby, but I'm pretty sure the weight gain will slow down a bit.
Scarlett is very sweet with him and says "I yuv my baby bwother" and "Hey Buddy" a lot. The only negative thing she's said so far is when we're in the car and he's crying she says "Calm down, Buddy, you hurtin' my ears". She's had a cold, so we've been trying to keep them apart, but she's starting to get better and really loves kissing his head and holding him.
I'm getting a little restless at the house, but pretty soon I'm sure we'll be in a routine. Right now I'm just trying to soak up the newborn-ness of Clark and enjoy every minute because Scarlett is proof that in the blink of an eye they are big kids.

The New Addition

For those of you who had not yet heard, Clark Sullivan O'Bryant was born last Thursday afternoon. He weighed 8 lbs. 10 oz. and was 21.25 inches long. He is such a blessing to our family already.

Mommy's first glimpse

Daddy and Clark

cute little blondie

a family of four

heading home