Noteworthy {funny}

A conversation with a 4th grader yesterday caused a great laugh, and I certainly don't want to forget it...

We had a 70's Disco Dance at school as a reward for the past six-week's grades, and several classes, including my own, stopped at the restroom for a break before returning to class.

I was visiting with another teacher when a little boy from another class came over and tapped me on the arm... I looked down to answer him, and this conversation unfolded:

M:  "Ummm... Mrs. Selena, have you gained a little weight lately?"

Me:  "Why, yes, M, I have gained a little weight lately, 27 pounds to be exact"... pause... he had a confused look on his face...  I then asked, "M, do you know why I have gained a little weight lately?"

M:  "NO!"  Still looking very confused...

Me:  "I'm going to have a baby soon!"

He began laughing with excitement as he loudly announced to his teacher, along with everyone else in the hallway that, "Mrs. Selena is having a baby!!"  :)

It was so funny, and oddly enough, he is not the only student to recently ask this.  35 weeks today, with a hopeful induction date that is 4 weeks from Friday... 29 days and counting!  We are so excited, and have so much for which to be thankful as we celebrate this holiday season!  Baby Barnes, you better hang tight for 29 days - by December 27 your mama and daddy will surely be ready.  :)

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family, and thanks to M for such a great pregnancy memory!

Fun Photos on Friday

Hello, and Happy Friday!

I know it's a huge shocker that you're opening a new post from the Bragg Family, but you know, life is busy, and full of fun, causing the computer and blog to be neglected from time-to-time.  Thank goodness the camera doesn't receive that same neglect. ;)

I just downloaded 1,219 pictures, which is quite overwhelming, but thought I'd put a few fun ones up for today.

Weston came to play a few weeks back... the boys adore him, to the point that he is a little scared of them from time-to-time. :)

He has gotten so big, and is so sweet...

A pregnant pic for the mix... still growing AND going strong... Hopefully, six weeks from today, we will have Baby Barnes in our arms.  EXCITING!!  :)

We stopped on the side of the road for a pic of the full moon shining above the bean field.  Pretty.

We've recently celebrated both grandmother's birthdays.  We celebrated Mama B's 80th birthday the end of October with a party for friends and family, alike.  Here is the crew of grandchildren that were present.  We are missing three granddaughters and their husbands, and two sweet children.  I can't imagine how proud Mama B must feel when she looks at this picture of all she and Daddy Denton started. :)  It was a super fun night, and the wild kids were great!

And this past weekend, we celebrated Russ's grandmother's 98th birthday!  Is that crazy or what?!  98 years old... unbelievable.  We met them at Kentucky Dam Lake, and had catfish for lunch.  The food was great, and we all enjoyed it very much!

Is this sweet boy precious, or what?  We love our Weston!

And lastly, Emmitt is taking the snack basket on a quick hay ride... he was so funny!

And that's all for tonight... I will be working on other updates in the coming days.

Enjoy your weekend!!

A Baby Brother

Three children. Three little boys, or shall I say, three little Bragg boys! :)

The last part of the above statement makes this mama's heart smile!!!  Russ and I are so excited about this sweet baby boy that's growing stronger each day, and we sincerely look forward to that special day that he joins our family.  We already love him... so much that it's crazy.  It seems as though we thoroughly understand the love for our boys, and how much stronger it continually grows, that we can hardly wait to hold and cuddle this sweet baby boy.  We are very excited!

Lawson and Emmitt are also excited, and to be honest, I was a little concerned about the possibility of having to tell them that we were having a girl as Lawson has continually said, in a confident manner, "We will be doomed if it's a baby sister!!!!!!"... Ha!  It has been so funny, (and somewhat concerning), mainly because we have no clue where he heard the word "doomed", and furthermore that he understood the meaning, combined with the reality that it COULD be a girl... who knows, but he seemed relieved that it was a boy. :)  And as a good friend said, "more horse trailers", and I then added... more baseballs, basketballs, bats, etc... they don't yet realize that they will have another person to share all those things with since it's a boy. :)  They will figure it out.

Many have asked about his name... his name will be Haverson Barnes Bragg.  We aren't sure what we will call him just yet, but as of today, we will call him Barnes.  :)  As to the significance of his name, Haverson is an older man's name whom Russ has played golf with in South Carolina on a few occasions, and we simply like it.  Barnes is from Russ' college roommate whose life was cut short due to a car accident, and is very special to us.  His name warms our heart and makes us smile, and we love it.  I look forward to a few blankets with his initials on them soon.  And since I have no baby boy things as we thought we were "done", I have already picked up some new things... even though this is the third round of baby boy blue things, it was still so much fun to pick new things out; they are so yummy to me! :)

And a little record for my memory:

How far along: 16 weeks, 1 day
Total weight gain/loss:  4 lbs.
Belly button in or out:  In... hoping for it to stay that way as it did with the first two.
Maternity Clothes:  Absolutely.  Since like 5 weeks!!
Sleep:  Sleeping great!  If only Emmitt would get past his routine-wake-up every morning between the hours of 3:30-4:30 A.M.
Movement:  every now and then
Food cravings:  cereal with milk is SO good to me, pancakes, KN Cheeseburgers and tater tots, Hostess (!!!) powdered white donuts (my excitement for the return of Hostess is indescribable!), pizza, grape juice, water.   Thankful for caffeine free Coke. :)  None of this is very healthy, is it? :)
Aversions:  No Mexican since about 4 weeks pregnant, no sausage - which I love, any hamburger-meat-combination, like taco salad or spaghetti or homemade hamburgers/cheeseburgers, BBQ, ice cream/milk shakes which is crazy, I know.
Labor signs:  nope
Best moment:  ultrasound to confirm gender
What I miss:  skinny ankles... seems SO early for swollen ankles, sleeping on my stomach, my cute p.j.'s and gowns as I refuse to spend so much money on big prego mama p.j.'s, and my natural posture.  My stomach is already pulling me forward when sitting for long periods of time.
What I'm looking forward to:  working on the nursery and the boys' new room that they will be sharing, my sister's wedding showers, and our long weekend camping trip that's coming up.
Wisdom at this point in time:  Remember to enjoy the exhaustion, weight gain, side sleeping, chubby ankles, maternity clothes, over sized t-shirts for sleeping, tightening seat belt, etc., as this will be the last pregnancy, unless God has other plans.

And that's all I've got tonight.  Baby Barnes, we love you.  Very much. :)

Thank you, Lord, for this sweet baby... we pray we will both be healthy.

Thanks for reading... it's almost the weekend!!

Happy Birthday, Emmitt! {3 years old}

A long, long time ago, we celebrated Emmitt's 3rd birthday! ;)

I sincerely hoped summer break would lend plenty of time to catch up on blogging, but that hasn't been the case.  So, better late than never, here are the memories from Emmitt's birthday party on April 28, 2013!

We celebrated in Mickey style, and he had SO much fun!

The party started at 2:00 on Sunday afternoon, and we enjoyed tasty finger foods, birthday cake, and ice cream!

Singing "Happy Birthday to you!"

=Our sweet birthday boy=

The house was full of family and friends!

=Aunt Julie and Uncle Luke=

=Granny=

=Misti, Aunt Shelia, Brittany, and Mama B=

=Mom, Emmitt, Mrs. Anita, Abby, and Aunt Julie=

=Weston!=

And now time for gifts... why is it always so crazy?!

He had cried for this book for a few weeks at Wal-Mart, and was so happy about his new Little People farm book!  :)

A fishing pole!

=A quick family picture=

SO excited about his new fishing camper set!

New tractors, too, of course...

Lastly, a "grandparent" picture.  Our boys are fortunate to know their great grandparents...

I believe that's all!

Thanks to Aunt Erin for taking pictures. Thanks to Russ, my mom, and my sister for your help prior to the party.  And thanks to everyone who came out to celebrate our sweet boy's special day.  I love birthdays.  I love that our boys continue to grow and develop, and that we are able to celebrate another year of life!

We love you, Emmitt Bragg, and pray for many, many more Happy Birthdays!

Five

It's with a full heart that I post this picture of our sweet boys sharing the news of "Five"...

We will be a family of FIVE sometime around January 1, 2014!!

{yes, this was planned for those of you thinking what most others have been thinking/saying, "WHAT?!"}  :)

So excited and thankful for this new bundle who is growing stronger each day... will keep you updated as we move through the coming months. Praying for a healthy baby and pregnancy.  Trusting our loving Savior. 

As to our big brothers - they are very excited and are full of, "I think we should name our new baby this -----".   And you can only imagine the names they are suggesting. So funny.

We already love you, Bragg Baby #3!

For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

Psalms 139:13-14

A few things

Over the past few days many funny conversations have taken place with our boys.

I don't want to forget them, so I am going to record them here right quick.

We were having pizza on Wednesday night before church, and the "When I Grow Up" conversation began.  And I must preface this by saying that we've had many conversations regarding this matter, and nonchalantly I once told Lawson, "you can be whatever you want, but you can't be a bum."  This has stuck.  I haven't yet decided for the good or for the bad, but it has stuck.  And so much, that he later said to me, "remember mom, you used to be a bomb when you just stayed home with us, but now you're not a bomb, you're a school teacher", all with a little pat on the back and a smile as if to say, "bless your heart".  :)  I corrected him to be sure he understood bum, NOT bomb. :)

Back to Pizza Hut...

Lawson informed me that he wanted to go to college at Chicago (?), or UTM, or Tennessee Vols, or Vanderbilt.  He then asked if he would need to work while he was in college, and I told him that he would need to work unless he was involved in sports or if his grades were struggling.  He then told me that he wanted to play baseball for Vanderbilt, and that when he grows up he wants to be a "baby nurse so that he can take care of babies like Weston, and that he also gets to stay up ALL night because hospitals never close"... :)

Emmitt then piped up and said he was going to college at Vanderbilt, too, and that he was going to be a cowboy in the rodeo.  Hmmm... I'm not sure if Vandy has a rodeo team, but by all means I told him that sounded great.  He says he will be a rodeo man when he grows up.

Goals.  That's where it starts.

***

Unfortunately, Emmitt is still not potty trained.  We spent a good 28 hours in big boy underwear before I gave in and pulled the diapers back out.  It was terrible.  Although he was dry all night, and only had an accident or two during the day, he cried for his diapers.  And when I say cried, I mean grieved for them.  He begged me not to throw them away, not to give them to Charlie, {a friend at school who was also potty training}, and to please change him with a diaper.  It eventually made me cry which is when I gave into the diapers.

Fast forward about three weeks to this past week... Lawson had fully dressed himself when Russ complimented him with the whole, "you're such a big boy!", which immediately followed Emmitt declaring he was also a "big boy".  Russ responded with, "big boys go potty and wear underwear."  Emmitt says, "oh, yeah, I'm a little boy"... :)

We will eventually get there, I'm sure.  It has caused him a lot of anxiety so we've decided not to mention it again until school is out, and summer break is in full-swing {11 more days!!}, and then the potty training boot camp will begin.  Praying for potty training!

It's almost Friday ~ thanks for reading!

The "Big Shoe Award" {Lawson}

A few weeks ago as I picked Lawson up, and signed him out, there was a note stating that his "big shoe" was to be picked up in the office, and that he would know where to find it.

Sure enough... he knew right where to find his "big shoe".  This big shoe is his trophy, of sorts, for learning to  tie his shoes all by himself.

To say he was proud is an understatement.  He ties them very well, and is now able to fully dress himself.  The big shoe trophy is hanging on the wall in his closet, and will be there for years to come, I'm sure. :)   

Keep growing, big brother, you're almost FIVE, and we're loving every minute of it!!

National Sibling Day

So, another National Holiday was added to our calendar, and someone forgot to tell me...
"National Siblings Day"!  That's pretty neat, and although I'm a few days late, that's alright as I am sure my sister doesn't mind, and I am sure that our siblings should be celebrated every day.  I mean, we did spend thousands of days and millions of hours with them growing up, right?! :)

Here's to my sibling... my little sister, Julie Anne.

Thankful for a "National" day to celebrate you {sorry it's late} :). Thanks for the memories. I love you, Jaboobala!

xo

Easter 2013

I hope you've enjoyed a great day celebrating with family and friends, but more importantly celebrating the beauty of eternal life because our Savior LIVES!!  

We've had a great day that began at 5:45 this morning when Lawson awoke to see if the Bunny had visited... {we are tired ;)}

And indeed he had visited and left a few surprises for the boys.  It was very exciting, if only mom and dad could've kept their eyes open. Seriously, we were sooo sleepy, but we made it through the day even arriving early to church.  Wonders never cease.

Here's the loot from the Easter Bunny...

{kites, rakes and shovels to help dad with the new landscaping, Hot Wheels cars for the iPads, coloring kits, books, new TN basketball jerseys, and candy}

I'm pretty sure that E was coloring around 6:10ish AM.

And a few Easter morning pictures...

They were sooo silly!!  Sleep deprived, I'm guessing! :)

Easter eggs weren't the only eggs involved today.  We discovered that our Winter wreath is housing a few Robin eggs.  The winter wreath will be "in style" for a few more weeks, right?!  It will have to be... I'm not throwing them out.

We enjoyed the afternoon with Russ' family at the annual Easter gathering, and had a great time!

Sweet Weston - he's almost crawling!

Granny looking pretty...

Weston's FIRST Easter egg!!!

The rain finally subsided, and the sun peeked out for a quick egg hunt along the sidewalks... Let me tell ya, there was major excitement about this decision!!

{we didn't take our Easter baskets due to the rain... an ice cream bucket worked just great, and he never questioned using it!  Emmitt borrowed one from someone else.}

Brayden, Lawson, Emmitt, and Jack

=Weston=

Time to count eggs!  

Candy and change... doesn't get much better than that!

These pictures are so cute to me...

I'm off to bed as my pillow is calling my name, and my sweet husband is about to fall asleep on the love seat waiting for me to post these pictures.

Happy Easter, thankful for God's plan and the promise of Heaven.  Blessings to you.