Funny Bryant Story...

I just have to share this funny little story with everyone. I and all of the kids were on our way home from the YMCA last night and all the way from the 3rd seat in the back Bryant says "mom, can I tell you something"? I said "Sure" and he said "I'm ready to meet God" and I smiled a little. I asked him to repeat it which he did and I then just said "Well Bryant that is very grown up for you to say" and left it at that. I thought it was so cute and interesting at the same time that just out of the blue that a 3 year would say such a thing...

We are Pirates...Not homeless children!

Yes, the boys had Pirate/Princess day at Mother's Day Out today. However, mommy didn't really prepare enough for their pirate costumes. Therefore they look like they just fell off of a Rock Band tour bus or have been living under the freeway. It was obvious of their disappointment because Bryant didn't even want to show his face in the picture...you can just see his disdain for my enthusiastic picture taking. Brantley on the other hand wanted nothing to do with the picture at all and was all about leaving the scene.

A day at the Nashville Zoo

My mom was in town for a few days and we took the boys to the zoo one day. Here is a picture of the Elephants at the zoo. I think the boys' favorites things were at the "Unseen World" where the snakes, fish and bugs were...they were so excited about each thing in there.
It was a great day at the zoo and Bryant was asleep in the car 2 minutes after leaving...it's a good day when the kids are that tired...more peace for mom.

Ummm....Ice Cream....

Ahh...the joys of warmer weather. Here are the 2 older boys eating their ice cream. It was a special day because they really don't get it that often. You can tell they were enjoying it because they didn't really even notice I was in their face with the camera.

The Invisible Mom

I received this in an email recently and thought it was so great that I wanted to post it so others could benefit from it. It is so very true...Moms really do makes lots of sacrifices.

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of
response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room
while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store.
Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?
'Obviously not; no one can see if I'm on the phone,
or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my
head in the corner, because no one can see me at all. I'm
invisible; "The Invisible Mom."Some days I am only a pair
of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tie this?
Can you open this? Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm
not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is
it?' I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the
Disney Channel?' I'm a car to order, 'Right around 5:30,
please. 'I was certain that these were the hands that once
held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind
that graduated summa cum laude - but now they had
disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen
again. She's going, she's going, and she's gone! One night,
a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return
of a friend from England. Janice had just gotten back from
a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the
hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at
the others all put together so well. It was hard not
to compare and feel sorry for myself as I looked down at my
out-of-style dress; it was the only thing I could find
that was clean. My unwashed hair was pulled up in a hair
clip and I was afraid I could actually smell peanut butter
in it. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned
to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I
brought you this.' It was a book on the great cathedrals of
Europe. I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me
until I read her inscription: 'To Charlotte, with
admiration for the greatness of what you are building when
no one sees. 'In the days ahead I would read - no, devour -
the book. And I would discover what would become for me,
four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my
work: No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we
have no record of their names. These builders gave their
whole lives for a work they would never see finished. They
made great sacrifices and expected no credit. The passion
of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes
of God saw everything. A legendary story in the book told of
a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was
being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny birdon
the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man,
'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a
beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see
it.' And the workman replied, 'Because God sees. 'I closed
the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It
was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you,
Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even
when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've
done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is
too small for me to notice and smile over. You are
building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now
what it will become. 'At times, my invisibility feels like
an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my
life. It is the cure for the disease of my own
self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong,
stubborn pride. I keep the right perspective when I see
myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up
at a job that they will never see finished, to work
on something that their name will never be on. The writer
of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could
ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few
people willing to sacrifice to that degree. When I really
think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend
he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My Mom
gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and
then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses
all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built a
shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to
come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to
his friend, to add, 'you're gonna love it there. 'As
mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be
seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very
possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we
have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the
world by the sacrifices of invisible woman.

My Three Sons...

Here is a picture of all 3 of the boys together. It was a challenge, as all of you moms know, to get a decent picture of all of them at one time. Bryant and Brantley love their little brother and want to kiss on him and hold him all the time. It is actually a little overwhelming at times how much they want to be involved with him. So I decided to take a picture of them kissing him because they really love him so much and they both like getting their picture taken with him. I wish they liked getting their picture made more often....

12 Pound Baby!

I weighed our little (maybe I should say "big") Rylan this weekend and he is already 12 pounds...I can't believe he is growing so fast. He does like to eat so he will soon catch up with his 2 big brothers. He will be a month on April 12th which is hard to believe that he is almost 1 month old! He has been such a wonderful baby and a joy to have as our newest and last addition to our large family.

Brantley's Cake

Here is Brantley eating his birthday cake on his big day. We didn't have a huge birthday celebration this year. He had cupcakes with his class at Mother's Day Out...as well as his favorite treat - an Elmo Balloon - and we all went to Chik-A-Play (Chik-Fil-A) to eat and play on the playground...he had a great time with all of it.

Brantley Turns 2!

Brantley turns 2 today...

It is very sad to me that my Brantley is already turning 2. It seems like just yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital and he was my little "lap baby".

He is turning into such a little wild man and not such a momma's boy as much anymore. He definitely is able to defend himself from a wild bigger brother.

Happy Birthday buddy! We love you!

New Baby...Finally!

We finally welcomed our new baby boy on Wednesday, March 12, 2008 at 7:24 a.m. at Vanderbilt Hospital. His name is Rylan Bradley Staats and he weighed 9 lbs. 4.5 oz. I was so thrilled because he was 5 days overdue and I was determined this time to not be induced. Since I used a midwife this time and not an OB, I was more in control of my delivery than the last 2 times. I decided that since this was my last hoorah (last baby) that I wanted to do things as much my way as possible. I used a wonderful midwife at Vanderbilt who was very patient and very encouraging to the natural birthing methods. This is how my labor started.... My mom arrived on Monday, March 10 to help with the boys and help me if I went into labor during the night. On Tuesday morning I woke up and was having some signs of beginning labor so I called my midwife who told me to come in to be checked and hooked up to the monitor. Brad and I went in on Tuesday afternoon about 4 p.m. and they determined that my water had broken and that labor would probably be imminent within 24 hours. They hooked me up to the monitor and the baby was responding perfectly so there were no worries there. They told us to go grab some dinner and see if anything happened so that we didn't have to make the 25 minute drive back home in case labor really started. We went to dinner and nothing happened... We arrived back home around 7 p.m. My midwife then called me and explained that if I did not start labor on my own before 9 a.m. the next morning that I would need to come and be induced because they did not want me going more than 24 hours with my water broken without labor starting. So I went to bed discouraged and frustrated because induction was the last thing I wanted to endure for a third time. I hate Pitocin with a passion and wanted as natural a birth as possible this time. Brad and I went to bed at about 11 p.m. because I was not feeling very relaxed and had still not started any strong contractions at that point which made me very disappointed. I awoke about 2:15 a.m. with some strong contractions that were about 7-10 minutes apart. I let them continue without waking up Brad for about 1 hour. Once they became pretty intense at about 3:30 a.m. I woke him up and told him we needed to go to the hospital. By the time we were in the car the contractions were getting closer and stronger - about 5-6 minutes apart and very intense. We arrived at the Vandy ER at about 4 a.m. and got checked in, during which I was having contractions about 5-6 minutes apart. By the time I finally got into a room and was instructed to put a gown on, I was sick and vomiting. I found out that meant that I was rapidly progressing which makes you sick. I never did get a gown on and proceeded to the bed and into labor with just a bra on. When we arrived at my room I was dilated about 7-8 cm. It then took me about 2-3 hours to get all the way to 10 cm. During that time I was able to move around and do whatever necessary to control pain. I finally decided to get some Stadol through my i.v. to help with my tension and some of the pain. However, I did not use an epidural this time and even though the pushing was painful and intense I am glad that I stuck with my decision because I was able to feel the baby and enjoy him more after delivery and I was up walking around as soon as I wanted to be. Let me just add that I did interview several doulas, even though I did not end up using one, and one of them sold me a book on Hypnobirthing. I read this whole book, practiced the things I was supposed to (to my husband's entertainment) and felt very confident in my abilities to get through this delivery relaxed...but when the camera was taping you can hear me say that "this relaxation stuff is crap". I'm not sure how much affect this book had on my experience but I do know that I did what I set out to do...have a more natural experience. The experience was much like I expected it to be and I was pleased with all of my decisions regarding the whole process. It was definitely more intense and painful than I would have ever imagined but at the end I felt a wonderful sense of accomplishment rather than being drugged up or numb from the waist down. My midwife was wonderful and I would use her again without hesitation (even though I know this was the last one).

Thank you to my husband, Brad for being there and encouraging me to stick with things the way I wanted to do them! I love you! Thanks to my mom for all of her help and to our families for coming up and spending time with us and the new baby. And thank you to my friends who encouraged me to do this thing naturally!