Love my little boy

Some days, he's cranky when he wakes up, and some days he's not.  Brody must have gotten a great night of sleep last night!  My sweet lil' angel was right by my side as I got dressed.  Mr. Coat and Tie gave me his honest opinion on my outfit.  I just got a vest with a little faux fur hood.  He was adament that I did not wear it.  I had the perfect solution...unsnapped the hood off, then suddenly I became "fableeus"!  Brody loved my new boots and helped me zip them up, "Here Shan, let me help you, that looks cute."  Yes, he calls me by my name.  I love it and don't have the heart to tell him to stop calling me by my name.  I am just savoring these last few days of Brody being three.  I am so thankful that my prayers were answered in deciding if our family was complete.  Brody was part of His plan for our family.  He keeps us laughing and we can't imagine our lives without him. 

I had to snap this moment, regardless of the messy background.  Brody just asked me to marry him!  Melted my heart! 

It was a BoSox and bow-tie kinda day, he dressed himself!

Three Brodys 

Cousin time at lunch today.  Brody just can't get enough of Jemma and squeezed the heck out of her and always tries to hold her!

Playin' in the leaves

Happy 40-months old!

When all my babies reached two-years old, I sadly no longer referred to them as a certain number of months old.  Instead it's was just two years old and not twenty-four months.  Just this week, Sydney wanted to know how many months old and how many days old she was and she's almost eight.  She was also asking about Brody and as it turns out he's exactly 3 years and 4 months old today (40 months) old, hehe!!  Well, since this is a big year of 40 for both Tim and I, I couldn't help but do a 40 month post for Brody!

40 months ago, we welcomed a fifth member to our family, our sweet little Brody!  As much as I LOVE being a mom, adding a new baby left me feeling like a zombie!  I have cried in my closet more times than I can count, I have been overwhelmed beyond measure trying to juggle it all...being a wife, mommy, maid, chef, poopy diaper changer, bottle feeder, throw up cleaner upper, homework helper, sports mom, car pool queen, laundress, and having a home business to top it off! 

I have given up on trying to be perfect, which is hard for this perfectionist!  There are days when there are dishes in the sink {shudder}, days and piles of laundry with no end in sight, dinner menus that don't always get followed, clothes on the floor that don't get picked up, beds that go unmade, toys that might not get picked up for days, and the list goes on and on.  Oh, and did I mention, these are the days where people just happen to come by my house, when our abode is at its WORST!  Of course, it's never on a day where my house is all clean and sparkly!

40 months - I feel like it's FINALLY a turning point from the last few years of all things baby and sheer nuttiness!  Brody is finally able to find his own quiet time, playing or watching a movie.  He's his own little person!  Brody has supplied us with loads of laughs and we love how he has rounded out and completed our family!   I just can't imagine that we had plans to stop at two.  It's so fun to watch how he acts with Blake and Sydney, he adores his bubby and sissy!  I feel sooo blessed that I have been given the gift to stay home with my little man and watch all his milestones since I was a working momma with the first two. 

At LAST, I am beginning to get little portions of MY life back now and it feels good to finally be able to breathe again!   A happy momma=a happy family!!

Happy 40 months old my sweet lil' monkey man!  I wouldn't trade the last three years of craziness for anything!!

"Amy"

I'm a bad blogger, it's been almost four months since a post!  It's 9:19am and my little Brody Monster is still in his sweet slumber.  It just seemed like the perfect blog opportunity.  I was in the kitchen and he woke up a few minutes ago crying, "Amy", "Amy"!  For the longest time, I couldn't understand or figure out what he was saying.  Finally, it hit me.  He's still sooo sleepy and he wanted me to lay with him, or as he was saying, "lay with me" (Amy).  As soon as I came to cuddle up with Brody, he went right back to sleep!  I'm so glad this night owl momma has a baby who likes to sleep in! 

I'm in love with sleeping baby pictures and love to stare at my babies when they sleep!  Here's Brody this morning. 

Brody's Obsessions

This is SUCH a fun time with my little man!!  Brody is such the little chatterbox lately at 2 years and 2 months.  Right now his favorites are cars, trucks and motorcycles (he calls them michaels).  Everytime he hears or sees a motorcycle, he FLIPS out and gets this look on his face that cracks us up!  Other favorites=Yo Gabba Gabba still, Handy Manny, coloring on floors, walls and in coloring books, putting on his coboy (cowboy) hat, talking about his girl cousins, playing with his MDO friends (one little girl in particular Madilyn), talking about his daddy being at work, riding bikes outside and eating fruit snacks (stawbies he calls them)!

 Lining up the cars keeps him busy for a good 20 minutes and they have to be so precise!

This is the motorcycle (michaels) look if you talk about them or see them.

 Coloring and sure it can be on the ground by the car!

 Brody is so excited to see this everytime we go to the grocery store!

One of his favorite little toys he loves to hold!

The Pumpkin Patch

Several weeks ago, Sydney's little Girl Scout group (Daisies) had an evening trip to the pumpkin patch. 

I was so excited to get my annual pictures, but almost right after we got there, I was juggling so much in my hands and dropped my baby aka my Canon Rebel on the ground.  I had my big lens on it and when I went to take a picture, I noticed the view finder was all distorted and blurry although it still takes pictures.  The timing was lousy and I'm SOOO sad as much as I take pictures.  My camera is like my 4th baby!! 

We took an evening hay ride under a full moon, roasted hot dogs in the firepit, made smores, fed the cows hay and played on the playground.  The girls wore their Halloween costumes and they all looked so cute!  Brody had so much fun playing with all the pumpkins and wagons.  Blake had a baseball game that night or else he would have loved to be there. 

I'm Baaack and Mother's Day Out!

Note:  This post was written last week, I just never got around to publishing!

Wow, it's so hard to believe how fast the summer went by and how crazy busy our lives are. I have been such a bad blogger for neglecting my writing.  Blake, Sydney and Brody kept me on my toes for sure this summer.  By the end of the night, I had no energy to do anything except hit the fast forward and play button on the remote to catch up on DVR'd shows.  

What a week this has been.  Bittersweet.  Brody's first week of Mother's Day Out and my first week to be alone during the day in nearly two years.  Brody has been my buddy, my someone to talk to, someone who makes me laugh, my non-napper, my sidekick, my lil' messy man!  He's my first baby to have separation anxiety since he is not a daycare baby like Blake and Sydney were.

I have thought about Mother's Day Out for soooo long.  How would he manage, how would I manage?  I knew it was BEST for both of us.  It would give me a break to run errands, to work on orders, to get a pedicure, to read at Barnes and Noble, to lunch with my mom and sister, to catch up with friends, the list goes on an on.  It would give Brody the chance to socialize with other kids his age, to have fun and to do something different besides watching Yo Gabba Gabba ten times a day.

Last Thursday was Meet the Teacher.  He had so much fun meeting his teachers, Ms. Kelly and Ms. Ali.  They are very sweet.  Ms. Kelly has two kids of her own and very close in age to Brody and Ms. Ali is in college studying to be a elementary teacher and she is also a nanny for triplets on the side.  So, he is in very loving and capable hands.  He played and played with the other little boys.  It turns out that there are 7 boys out of his little class of ten.  Wow!!  He played with the cars and the bubbles and we were actually the last ones to leave, he didn't want to go.

Ms. Ali, Brody, Ms. Kelly

Brody discovering his new classroom!

Tuesday was our first official day of Mother's Day Out.  We had talked about "school", his teachers, his backpack and his new friends for several days.  He was excited to be back when we arrived.  What happened to my little baby,  he looked like such a big boy.                                                                                                                       

When we got to his classroom, he actually reached over the door to go in.  Wow, how nice if it would be this easy every day.  I was able to skedaddle on out really fast while he played.  All I could think of was, what was he going to do when he turned around and realized mommy wasn't there.  I did not cry like I thought I might.  I think I was so excited to be able to go anywhere and do anything I wanted.  My friend Kara also has two little boys who are there.  So, we hung out the entire day.  We shopped, talked, lunched and Starbucked it.  It was such a rainy,cozy and nasty day.  It was perfect to enjoy my first "me" day.  Is that selfish?

Brody's teachers said he did good.  He cried for about 20 minutes after I left and then he had a great day.  When I went to pick him up, he looked at me and studied my face for several long seconds.  The minute he recognized me, he began to let out the sweetest cry of relief.  I grabbed him and he held on to me so tight.  It made me feel so warm and fuzzy.

I feel like I can now be more calm and be a better mommy.  Isn't that crazy what 10 hours alone a week can do for you??  I feel refreshed and renewed!!!!

This morning, well, it was not so good.  B wanted me to hold him tight.  Finally, like I have heard, you can't do the long goodbye.  I just had to walk out as quickly as I could.  It hurt my heart.  As I type this, I have about half an hour left and I can say, all day long, I have had this sick feeling that he thinks I abandoned him.

I know it will get better as time goes on and I shouldn't feel that way.  But this is a big change for both of us and it will just take some time getting used to this.

Here is Brody's first artwork.  I'm so proud of my big boy!!  

Messy Lil' Man

I'm sure every mom has the pictures of their kids making a mess or the famous spaghetti pictures.  Here are mine!!!  Brody loves spaghetti and there's nothing clean about it!!  He sure enjoyed himself and he made me laugh soooo hard by the time he was done rubbing it all in his face and hair!

How you like me now?

Brody is 18 months!

I can't believe my baby boy is 18-months old.  It's so nice that our little guy is gaining some independence.  I love it how you are starting to play on your own and you are your own little person except you can't completely talk yet.  Since you are 18-months old now, you can now go to Mother's Day Out.  I know it will be good for the both of us!  Since I worked with Blake and Sydney, I missed out on so many little things with them throughout the day.  I am so happy to have been with you all day and been able to see everything!!!  This is usually when I stop counting your age by months and now, you're a year and a half.  I feel like the little baby phase is over and we are moving on to the next stage!  You are so much fun right now!

Some things you do:

• At your 15-18 month checkup: you had 5 shots ouch!!  You weighed 24.6 pounds, height was 33 1/2 inches and your head was 18 1/2 inches
• You love to climb up on the kitchen table and stand up, your other favorite thing is getting into the dishwasher
• You hit and throw everything, you're our next baseball superstar and maybe even our ticket!
• Cutting more teeth, the sharp "fang" ones, you now have total of 16 teeth
• Still in 18 mos clothing and size 4 diapers, shoes size is 5
• Love to eat String Bean Chicken from Panda Express, peas, spaghetti and you love to take food and dip (ketchup or chips/queso)
• You love to drink from a straw
• At 17 months you started hitting off a baseball tee and you won't take off Blake's big helmut, you wear it everywhere, even in the car. 
• You love baseball hats and try to put 5 at a time on your head and you point up in the closet until you have them all in your hand.
• You hit the ball, drop the bat and run the pretend bases all the way around until you get a homerun and then you clap
• Words you say: hat, ball, mom, dad, Bake (for Blake) and Siss (for Sydney) sky, more
• You are a poop machine - boy like 5x a day, can I have a break mister?!
• Took you to ENT for snoring, she ordered a sleep study but can't get you in until November, hopefully someone will cancel. My poor little baby, you snore soooo bad!
• You sit on the couch (not for long) and watch Yo Gabba Gabba and you even try to say it on your own
• So cute, you squint your eyes and smile when I bring out the camera, I'm training you well cause you have thousands more pictures in your future buddy!

Brody is 17 months!

Our big boy.  You are a barrel of fun and it so neat how you fit into our family more and more.  We love how you try to be like the big kids and you even try to talk to let us know what you are thinking or what you want.  We all have you watch you like a hawk because you are into everything. 

Here are some things you are doing this month:

• You wear a size 4 diaper, you are 23 pounds, you have 12 teeth and are about to get 4 more
• You wear size 12-18 month clothes and you can even fit into your size 9 month jeans, this is nuts considering we have big babies and Blake and Sydney would have been in 2T by this age, you are our smallest baby by far, guess it's all that running around you are doing
• Hats, bats and baseballs are you favorite toys.  You swing a bat so well for your age and daddy says you bat left-handed even though it looks like you are right-handed.  You throw anything you can find, even the landscape rocks.  You threw one at the back of mommy's head, ouch!!
• You love to open up the dishwasher and stand on it trying to get utensils out
• You started to climb and you can get up on a chair, the couch, even the kitchen table and desk in Blake's room
• You absolutely LOVE being outside.  One mention of outside and you look for your crocs and stand by the door.
• When we tell you to sit down, you listen (mainly to put shoes on), now sitting in a high chair when we go out to eat is a completely different story!!
• You love suckers and if you see one in sight, you let us know how bad you want one
• You light up when we have family jam out sessions to Justin Beiber's "Baby" song.  You dance and smile and bop you head, it's sooo cute!
• When we sing "Stop Talking Bout", you say, "Blah, Blah, Blah"!
• Favorite words of yours are: stop, ball, hat, momma, dadda, Bub (for Bubba/Blake), school, outside, moon, sky, up,
• You let us know you want something when you say "uh, uh, uh"!
• If you think something is cool, you say, "Ooohhh"
• Bathtime is not your most favorite.  You don't sit down anymore and you cry the whole time, until you get out
• You are terrified if water is on the floor since you don't want to fall
• You are starting to run
• If Mr. Moon is out, you get soooo excited
• You have become so interested in reading books right before naptime, we call it Rock and Read.
• When I ask you what a dog says, you bark like a dog and you point up in the air when you see an airplane

We can't see what new and exciting things will be happening in the months ahead our little monkey!

Big League Dreams 2030

Once again, I have been a slacker in the blogging department.  I can't believe how fast time goes by without a posting.  I wish I was as good as other bloggers are at posting every day!  I have so much to catch up on and post.  Baseball season has once again started.  Brody absolutely looooooves being at the ballpark.  He loves to throw balls, play in the dirt and he even tries to get aluminum bats out of the dugout.  My little slugger gets mad when he gets the bat taken away and cries.  Here are a few pics after our game the other day.  He went straight for the helmuts. 

Brody is 14 months..this should have been posted last month

I can't believe I haven't blogged for over a month, where has life gone...way too fast. 

What a big month this was for Brody.  He took his first steps on January 13th.  I call him my little E.T. since he wobbles from side to side as he walks.  He is still a bit shaky and falls down quite a bit, but he's doing pretty good.  My little guy turned a bit independent overnight.  He still loves to crawl around to get somewhere faster since he can't run.  I will miss how fast he is and how he crawls with his head down.  It always makes me giggle.

Your little personality is shining.  You want to talk so bad and it's so funny when you are telling us your mad about something.  Here are some things you are doing:

• Noticing Mr. Moon and pointing
• You can stand up on your own
• Love to play in Blake or Sydney's rooms
• Sydney makes you mad when she holds you like a doll
• You take all my stuff out from my bathroom cabinets (all my products) and you chunk them in the bathtub one-by-one
• You discovered the toilet flusher handle, you think it's funny to stand there and press the button over and over and stick your hands in the toilet too if someone forgets to close the seat
• You get really mad if a door is closed and you know someone is on the other side
• Very clingy to mommy and you cry when I leave you in the nursery during church
• You love other little people and they always make you smile
• You bite on your finger when you study something
• You wear size 18 months and size 4 diapers
• Still waking in the middle of the night, usually 3am for a bottle and you have had an itchy dry cough like every night
• You snore, tee hee, it's so cute!
• Playing on your own better if mommy is around
• You loooove balls and throwing them
• Always grabbing for daddy's hats and our sunglasses, you try to put the hats and glasses on
• Standing on dishwasher door and you always want the JetDry cap
• Eating more big people food - oatmeal for breakfast, cheese, fruit, cereal, raisins, Chick-Fil-A nuggets, green beans, black beans, anything we eat-you want!
• You love being outside and cry if everyone is out there but you
• You sit quietly in your new red wagon from Nana and Grandpa, you're happy as long as you are outside
• Things you say -cool (school), said that, ball, hat, nigh nigh,

Happy Thanksgiving, Our Little Turkey Baby Turns One!

It's amazing how fast a year goes by.  This time last year, we brought Brody home on Thanksgiving Day after surprising the family when they were all finishing up Thanksgiving dinner.  Although we would have much rather been with our families on Thanksgiving Day last year, I loved the coziness of being in the hospital on a cold day with our new baby and being pampered by all the nurses.

We made up for it this year spending the entire day with the family.  Blake and I stayed up really late last night making appetizers and goodies for Brody's birthday party today.  We finished around 1:30 am and I set my alarm clock for 2:13 am, the time Brody was born.  I had to be awake when he turned a year old and give him a kiss.  As he slept soundly, I remembered back to the past year and thought about how much joy you have brought to our lives.

You were so happy today even though you only napped for about 45 minutes all day long.  Even though today was Thanksgiving, I still wanted you to have cake.  We sang happy birthday and let you dive into your own smash cake.  You were so cute eating it and flicking it everywhere.  We just sat down to dinner when you decided to wake up.  You ate a yummy turkey dinner with potatoes and green bean casserole.  You were so hungry that you ate two helpings. 

After dinner, we opened your presents.  What fun toys you received.  Aunt Steph even found a cute little elf book for you.  I just crack up when she calls you that!  You played a lot and even tried to stand up from being on the floor without holding onto anything!  You had so much fun bopping your balloons and trying to get into Coachy and Grammy's alcohol cabinet (uh uh uh, no no no)!!  The big kids - Blake, Sydney, Jacob and Alexa loved hitting the pinata loaded with candy.  When the bottom fell off, the race for candy was on!!

This month, here are some things you are doing:

• You love to hold balls in your hand and play catch back and forth
• You love daddy's hat and hold it while saying "Dada"
• You have started to hit if you get frustrated
• You love to climb up on the dishwasher door
• You played peek-a-boo with me for the first time and hid your head behind the couch
• You cannot stand to have socks on your feet, you pull them off everytime I put them on you
• You loooove to hold Blake's Tinker Toys and you won't let go - you crawl with them in your hands from the bedroom to the kitchen and back
• You started standing on your own without holding on, I can tell you'll be walking soon!
• Talking so much - the words you say are ball, hat, mama, dada, good

We love you our Little Man, Mr. B, Bubba, Brody Bear, Broy, Brode, Bro, Munchin, Scooter

I am so happy to be your mommy! We love you so much!