We're Back

Still working on my "real" vacation post, but here are some teasers...

Off the plane and straight to the private beach at the hotel

Dinner at the local "Fish Fry"

Riding on a jitney bus to Cable Beach

From the top of the Paradise Island bridge

At the Paradise Island marina

At Paradise Island's Versailles Gardens

Relaxing after a long day on the hotel's patio

Enjoying the quiet evening in a hotel cabana

Stealing some shade in a hotel beach cabana

From floor six's hotel balcony

From the top of Fort Fincastle

Excited to read my full post? Stay tuned...

Checklist

Vacation To-Do List

Nail fill: Check

Brow wax: Check

ATM run: Check

Grocery trip of boys' favorites: Check

Bikini wax: Check

My review after my first time: Super ouchy + Pricey + Major Breakout + Already needed to Shave = Never again

Pedicure: Check
My review after the first time in 8 years: Sweet, relaxing bliss; worth every penny

Pack for the boys: Check

Cut Collin's hair: Check
so Grandma doesn't have to style it or feel the need to pay someone to wack it

Email to my mom outlining boys' daily schedule and tips: Check
Last line reads: If all else fails - diaper, feed, Tylenol, nap. Ha ha

Label diaper boxes for each boy: Check
with the appropriate number of day-times and night-times in each

Pack for myself: Check
completed approprimately one week ago, ha ha

Download audio book for the plane: Check
since I won't have to wrestle my wee ones, yippee!

Purchase traveler's guide: Check
and read chapter thoroughly to plan meals and activities

Spend quality time with my hubby:  COMING SOON!
with no thought of sippy cups and nap time schedules... sigh

Why no blogging?

Why no blogging? We've been busy around here, of course.

Warm Winter
We've had a warm winter in Illinois, so we have actually been going on walks (albeit bundled and wrapped in blankets, but walks nonetheless), playing on the swing set and digging in the sandbox.

We keep reading books from the library about snow - sledding, building snowmen, making snow angels - but I think we've only had one significant snowfall all winter, and it was only five inches. We bought a new snow shovel for this year, so it figures. :-)

Basement Finishing
That's right - We are FINALLY finishing our basement. Ryan has built all the walls (1 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 2 closets, and 1 exercise/craft room), and we are now taking bids from electricians. It's been time-consuming, but I know it'll be worth it.

New Calling
Ryan was called as the new elder's quorum president in our ward the middle of January. For two terrible weeks, he was both varsity scout master (requiring one camp out and two Wednesday nights) and elder's quorum president (requiring two PECs, two HTing meetings, and two moves). ALL IN TWO WEEKS! It was horrible.

Honestly, I figure elder's quorum can't be much worse than scouting.

Business Travel
Ryan's been a traveling man too, and it'll only get worse in the coming weeks. I counted it out, and in the next 31 days, Ryan will be sleeping somewhere other than our home 21 nights. Yeah, that's a lot of nights without our daddy...

Vacation-Planning
And how am I surviving? I've been planning our get-away! Yep, Ryan and I are going on a vacation. A real, much-needed vacation. Pictures and stories are forthcoming, but I've had shopping and packing and planning to do, and that has definitely been more fun than blogging.

Want to guess where we're headed?!

Parenting
Oh yeah, and I've been raising our kids!

Collin had the worst month EVER in January. He was constantly yelling NO at me no matter what I asked him to do and no matter how nicely or firmly I asked him to do it. He was kicking, screaming,  and hitting me and B regularly too. He had stopped putting on his own shoes or doing ANYTHING for himself (like getting his own new diaper and throwing the dirty one away).

Luckily, that phase seems to be ending, and he is back to being helpful, happy Collin. He is potty-training - and finally caring (thank goodness). I'm sure it'll be a long time before he's "potty-trained," but at least he doesn't fight me when I ask him to sit and try, and he is as excited as I am when something (and yes, something has come out of each end) falls out. He is putting on his own shoes again, getting his and B's milks out of the fridge at meal times, trying to get his own coat on, and even brushing his teeth decently. To say I'm glad he's back to himself is an understatement. :-)

Brennan is one rebellious, naughty one-year-old. He intentionally does anything and everything you specifically ask him not to do (pulling hair, taking toys, touching the fireplace, grabbing the screen on the printer, smearing food in his hair, etc). He smiles and laughs and cheerfully continues. I've taken to a quick "slap of the wrist," but he doesn't care. I also give him another toy to distract him, but he always heads back to the bad behavior as soon as I'm distracted. I think I have some reading to do!

And there you have it: What our family has been up to that has equaled no blogging from me!

13 months on the 13th

Double 13s today! Does that make Baby Brennan cursed for bad luck for his whole life? ...or maybe just for today? (Thank goodness he's already in bed for the night, and that I didn't realize he was supposed to have bad luck all day. Ha ha.)

Anyway, I'm a horrible mother who never takes pictures and never makes cool announcements about this crazy boy I have around here, so I'm going to lump them together in this one post:

Brennan walks!
Since about a week after his first birthday, he's been taking steps unassisted. And at least at home, he's walking almost exclusively (ie very little crawling). He falls ALL THE TIME, but he doesn't care. He just pops back up and keeps going. He walks with his bum pushed out and his legs out to the sides, so he's pretty silly looking (think old lady with a walker), but we love him all the same.

Of course, in true Bad Mom form, I don't have a single picture of him walking unassisted. But here's a picture of him before he figured it all the way out with his favorite walking toy: his brother's dump truck.

He stills loves to push it around, even though he doesn't need it.

Brennan talks!
Our boy consistently uses 'mama' and 'dada' to say hello to us when we've been gone or enter a room. It's wonderful! He also has used 'uh-oh' a few times and something sounding like 'this' to mean "What is this called?" or "I want this!" I love when their language starts coming.

Brennan loves his fork...
Brennan uses his fork for all foods - for normal things (like pancake squares, hot dog circles, chicken pieces) and for strange things (bananas, pb & J sandwiches, cookies).

Collin has recently given up using utensils at all (except for a spoon with yogurt), so it's nice to see manners from one of my children, even though they're a bit over-applied.

...and his tongue.
It's adorable! (So much for the manners comment in the last paragraph!) He sticks it out, he blows bubbles, he drools down his chin, and he plays games with us.

I've never seen a kid so obsessed with his tongue, and it's long too!

Brennan does everything Collin does.
Tonight it was somersaults; the other day it was eating potty-training chocolate chips. I think that keeping up with Collin is the only reason he lets his wobbly legs and uncoordinated self walk around. He can't possibly enjoy bashing his head around as much as he does.

Happy 13-months, Crazy!