Spread the word folks!

2349 Wavetree Lane

Located in Summerfield Subdivision-(Features playground, swimming pool, basketball and tennis courts!)

3 Bedroom 2.5 Bath

Fenced in Backyard with area for patio table

2” blinds throughout

Updated lighting

Bright open kitchen with additional large pantry

Large master with vaulted ceilings, garden tub and walk in closet

Large family room with fireplace and chair-rail molding

Very clean and well kept, non-smoking and pet free owners!

Great Location! (Convenient to I-75, Kennesaw State University, Swift-Cantrell Park, Downtown Kennesaw and Downtown Acworth. Grocery store is 1 minute away!)

Call Bo Bryant for more information at 678-313-5709

OR Ruth Allen Bryant at 770-633-8394.

Bryant March Madness

Dog Park
I took the kids to the park the other day. (Our local park is awesome. There's a great walking trail, two cool playgrounds, a skate-park, and even a dog park.) Caroline just has to visit each spot at the park. We walk, we swing, we watch the boys skate or "skape" as she calls it (and we hope that they don't drop a heinous cuss word while we observe their amazing tricks that almost always end with a thud.) And we look at the dogs in the dog park. This time, however, I let her go inside the small dog area. (Which was really sweet of me because I don't love pets.) The area was fenced in and I had been toting 20 pounds of John Robert all over the place, so I parked it in the grass while Caroline ran around and harassed the small dogs. There was a poodle with clothes on the size of a large rat that did not seem to care for children and a few other dogs further away in the field. I began to talk a mom that I had been walking around with and the next thing I know all the dog owners are looking at me like "is that your child?" I turned around and Caroline had her head down in the dog water fountain licking it. She looked up at me and was like "this for Caroline!", "this my water fountain!", "turn on the water mommy". I have heard that a dog's mouth is cleaner than a humans. Let's hope that is true.

Time out!
Bo and I just started a series of videos on parenting. We need it. Parenting is challenging. There are days that completly suck the life out of me. Tuesday was one of those days. We have been using time out or "room time" some lately with Caroline. When Bo got home on Tuesday I told him that I needed some room time. Caroline looked at me and said "oh Mommy, what did you do?" "Did you hurt John Robit?" "Did you hurt him??"

Clean-up, Clean-up
I was cleaning up the kitchen the other day and Caroline was "helping me". I let her have her own squirt bottle of water which I thought was a brilliant move....you know...so she wouldn't keep asking me for the Clorox or some other chemical. Next thing I knew everything I didn't want "cleaned" was dripping wet. The television, the furniture, etc... So the next time we cleaned, I let her have a sponge. She was busy scrubbing away with her sponge, while I worked with my back to her cleaning the counter tops. When I looked up I noticed that she was no longer cleaning with her sponge, she had grabbed a used coffee filter full of coffee grinds and had "cleaned" the floor, an upholstered chair, and her brothers exersaucer with it. (Which if you do not know what an exersauser is, it is basically a contraption he sits in that has toys with all kinds of nooks and crannies for coffee grinds to sneak in.) I am still finding them everywhere. Upon being caught, she of course looked up at me and said "I cleanin' mama!". No telling how many coffee grinds John Robert has eaten while gnawing on those toys. She can make some serious messes while cleaning.

Speaking of John Robert...
If the dog bowl story did not make you gag, this will... I was at my Mom's the other day and John Robert fell asleep in my arms so I laid him down on her couch. When he woke up I picked him up and noticed that he smelled terrible. I was like "mom, you have to smell him, he stinks!". She said "maybe he pooped". I was like like "no mama his head stinks". Then I noticed that there was poop on his head. I was like "what in the world!?" I looked at the couch where he had been sleeping. Then I realized what had happened. My mom's little dog was sleeping on the couch too. She had a "dingle-berry". She got too close...it plopped on the couch....transferred to his head. Enough said.

ER
We had to take poor Caroline to the emergency room last night. She got a fever of 105 degrees and I don't mess around with that kind of temperature. The doctors (and I) suspected a UTI and needed a sample from her. She was a big girl and went on the potty which was awesome because the other option would have been a catheter. She was promised a popsicle if she could go on the potty and sure enough she was rewarded with a grape popsicle, the test was positive, we got a perscription for an antibiotic, a stuffed monkey and a pinwheel and headed home at 1:30 Am. It was a late night party for us all. Even John Robert stayed awake for each moment. The kids enjoyed being bounced on the hospital bed and watching Peter pan and The Lion King.

Popsicle Stick "humor"
Caroline talked about THE Popsicle ALL day and so I decided to take her to the grocery store tonight and let her get some. (She is still having fevers on and off and I thought the popsicles would be a fun treat for her.) She was thrilled, she got a box of Dora ones. When we finished dinner we all ate one. John Robert shared mine. It took me back to being a little girl, because the sticks had jokes on them that you had to eat the popsicle to get the answer. I was excited! I read Caroline's joke out loud and then encouraged her to eat up so we could hear the punch line. Her joke read: What has spots and rides on a fire truck? You won't believe the answer....A fireman with Measles. What!?!? Are you kidding me? What child knows what measles are?? That is twisted. I was furious. Bo and I were so disgusted by the ridiculousness of that "humor". My popsicle joke was not much better: Why does a rhino have so many wrinkles?....because they are too hard to iron. Huh? I don't even get that. Whoever came up with that...much less agreed to print them onto children's (DORA THE EXPLORER!!) popsicles??? They need to be fired!

I don't even know what to say....

Caroline + Daddy's electric razor + 3 minutes alone = redneck hairdo (I was less than 15 feet away) I cried my eyes out...not because I am vain...it's just terrible to see little curls (that have taken 2 years to grow) all over the floor and in the potty...don't even know what to say. Pictures can't do it justice.

Quick story: I have mastitis. I feel like I have the flu. I have had to use my breast pump for relief a few times. Caroline looked at me kind of funny and pointed to the breast pump machine noticing it was "getting my milk out" and said "there a baby in there?". I thought it was funny...

So, it's been awhile. I have been keeping a list of "stories" I need to blog about. I am looking over my list and I can't even remember some well enough to tell 'em. Here is what I can recall...

1. Caroline is a complete Tomboy. All she wanted for Christmas was a baseball hat and a skateboard, oh AND a bicycle. She did NOT get the skateboard.

2. This is probably the best right here...Caroline turned 2 in January. I love Mexican food and I use any excuse I can to get it... SO we had a Mexican fiesta and I of course needed a pinata! So I looked on ebay because I thought I might could get a better deal than at Party City. As I was scrolling through the listing of ebay pinatas a certain pink one caught my eye and so I quickly clicked on it. To my horror it was not for a little girls birthday party. It was for a bachelorette party. A kinky person's bachelorette party. Do you catch my drift here?? Yeah it was a phallic pinata people!! In case you are interested...there is an African American version coming soon. AND you can specify whether or not you would like "it" to have a face. The worst part of the whole ordeal was that the next time I got on ebay the homepage "suggested some items I may like" complete with pictures. You can only imagine...

3. Caroline has an interesting imagination. She pretends to watch tv in bed. She sits in her crib, looks at the wall and tells me she is watching tv. She also plays pretend with her baby dolls. The other day she was talking with her doll, she said: "Do you want your mommy?", Then Caroline turned to Bo and said "take my shirt off daddy" She nursed her baby a minute and then announced..."other side". I DO NOT narrate John Robert's meals...

4. I walked in on Caroline the other morning and she had gotten into my ink pens, which is a "no-no". She was startled and figured she'd be in trouble so she looked up at me with a ridiculous smile and said "mornin' , I writin' a email". Thank goodness she was not on my computer!

5. I have been buying organic milk for Caroline. The milk is like $6 or $7 a gallon! I get furious when it gets wasted and so I now recycle milk. If I have it in my cereal, I pour any remainders into her bottle. Isn't that nasty? She still drinks it...

6. John Robert LOVES me. I mean he smiles huge every time he sees me. He is such a little man. He likes to be naked. He likes to nurse. He "puts his hand in his pants to "scratch"... so to speak whenever he has the chance (which is rare, because we all know what little boys can do when that thing is not in a diaper). He has man gas...loud...often...smelly. He goes crazy when he smells food. He's manly. He is sweet as can be too.

7. I had the word "magnets" on the 'things to blog' list and I was like "what in the world???". Ha! Now I remember. Writing must be good for my poor mama brain. This is hilarious.... Ok: Caroline went over to her "Nona's" house (my mom) the other day. Afterward I packed her in the car and headed home. When we got in the driveway 30 minutes later, I heard her say (somewhat under her breath) "I got somethin' for you daddy!" and she had this super excited look on her face. I was thinking "what is she talking about?"I honked and Bo ran out to help me get the kids out of the car. As he approached the car she was SO excited to see him she was kicking her legs, shaking all over and making this little snort kinda noise. Next thing I know she is reaching into her pockets pulling out some magnets (that she had STOLEN) from my mom's house to give to Bo. She was like "Here Daddy these are for you!". Needless to say the excitement was over when she had to return the stolen goods and apologize to my mama. (I had to call mom beforehand and let her know that she had to be serious about the matter.)

8. I drove ALL the way to IHOP the other day without my keys in the ignition. SERIOUSLY. After I realized I did NOT have my keys I drove straight back to Acworth, and retrieved them from the driveway. My van is super cool. You can take the keys out of the ignition while it is running. So I did...then I dropped them in the middle of the driveway.

John Robert just took a 2 hour nap and Caroline has been asleep for 2 hours and 28 minutes. Amen.

Birthday Do-do!

Today was my 24th birthday. I wonder how most 24 year olds celebrate? I had a super day nursing a fussy 2 week old baby (that has been so pleasant before today) and watching my 21 month old get three shots and three stitches in her right pointer finger. I have never been so proud of my girl. Caroline was so still and sweet when Dr. Schuh initially examined her gash that he decided he would attempt her stitches instead of automatically sending us over to the ER. (I think I would have had a mental breakdown if I had to spend my birthday in the ER...) I was so thankful that a pediatrician would humble himself, stay late and give my girl her stitches. She could not have behaved any better and she watched the entire process. Caroline even sang me "Happy Birthday Do-Do" today, which made the whole day worth waking up for.

He's here!

John Robert Bryant

8 pounds

19.5 inches long

September 24, 2008

4:09 PM

One more week...

I only have one more week to blame my mothering mishaps on the fact that I am a "first-timer". Baby John Robert is "going to be taken out of my tummy by "hi doc" and we are going to "change his diapers" as of next Friday. It is scary to have no clue what Caroline understands about all this. (Although she did pull a sonogram photo out of my purse the other day and say "hi baby bruda" (Brother). Dr. Bardwell, my OBGYN, whom I highly recommend, has been the topic of many conversations around my house these days. He has earned the title "hi doc" by my 20 month old. My mama always tells her to say "HI DOC!" As soon as he enters the room at my appointments, it is "hey hi doc..I want un band-aid. Two band-aids. Thank you!" He plays along so well and Caroline even sang him her special version of Happy Birthday this week. Which is "happy bir-day doo-doo". (A little bonus...she saw a picture the other day of a distant relative of mine and thought it was "hi-doc". She squealed with delight "oh! HI DOC!!!, mommy" as she pointed at the picture. I immediately started laughing so hard I am surprised I did not go in to labor...it was a woman with a dress on. I must say though, she looks a little butch and I can see a resemblance.)
We walked into her pediatrician's office not too long ago and she immediately expected the same royal treatment and then found out you have to get two boo-boos (SHOTS) to get two band-aids. Once she discovered there were in fact two band-aids on her legs she stopped crying and thanked the nurse. Strange.
Caroline has been growing up so much the past few months. She is as busy and hysterical as ever. She is beginning to entertain herself and play pretend. I still cannot leave her unattended, even though every mom knows that is inevitable. Here are a few things she has been caught doing lately:
- Coloring her nipples yellow with a highlighter...only her nipples, it was a sight
- Climbing in the clothes dryer and trying to close the door behind her...it was a real-life game of hide and seek and I had a creepy feeling when I found her in there (I mean if you know what happened to my cat....)
- Taking off her diapers and then screaming "nakie" (naked), or better yet sticking her hand in her poop and coming to tell me she needs a "change" (I always scream like a baby "don't touch me!")
- "Painting" on baby brothers' newly painted walls with sand paper and then adding additional artwork with a pencil - about 30 minutes after daddy finished the job
- Jumping out of the bath tub like a seal and then sliding across the bathroom floor to make a dramatic escape...I know it has to hurt, I mean she just dives right out of it... the "thump and swoosh" sound is incredible (I only turn my back for a second, don't bash my mothering skills...I am now super paranoid about the wet baby, linoleum floor combo...it has only happened twice)

Caroline is full of surprises. She keeps life interesting. I never know what she is going to say or do, which is scary at times. We were at Chick-fil-A with Bo's dad (Papa) and his girlfriend Robin the other night. When we asked Caroline what color Robin's shirt was she looked at her for a second and shouted "it's boobies"! Recently, I was concerned about why she would not count past "eye" (which is not even a number), no matter how hard I tried to teach her "one, two, three", it was "two, eye, jump". Then one day she looked at me and counted to five and a few days later she looked at Bo and counted to 10. Another surprise....we took her to the park the other night and went for a walk. The next thing I know my fearless child is screaming and trying frantically to "get away from this little girl who was following her everywhere"...no matter how fast she ran her shadow followed and I have never seen her so panicked. The rest of the night she just said "bye bye shadows!".

She is also learning several songs these days. Not typical children's songs..... worship songs that her daddy sings. It is the sweetest thing in the world to hear that baby sing. Her timing and tune are actually very impressive.

Well check back soon for pictures of the latest member of our family....