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!

1st Birthday Bash

The Pregame Show

Introducing the competitors and arena 



Rachel (Jan 8th), Jacob (Jan 19th), Brennan (Jan 13th), Seth & Miles (Jan 19th)

Let the games begin!

Brennan started out with the early lead, knowing just what to do.

Then the twins went head to head over a chocolate one.

Meanwhile, as the one and only girl, Rachel politely consumed in her own corner.

But with the big finish, Jacob, with a much older brother as his trainer, was able to snatch the win!

Go Jacob!

Much thanks to the referee, Brennan's daddy.

And the aftermath

And now for some cute pics of my little Brennan...





And I'd say that makes for a pretty wonderful birthday: friends, chocolate and fun.

One Year

Brennan survived his first year and so did the rest of our family. Which is really saying something since his 1st birthday falls on Friday the 13th. Happy 1st, B!

Brennan’s Favorites (by the Alphabet)

Apple Juice: loves to chug it down from his sippy cup (yes, I do half it with water)

Balls: loves throwing the balls out of the pool in the basement and watching them roll across the concrete

Claps: loves to clap his hands especially if you start to sing "If You're Happy and You Know It..."

Dishwasher: loves to slide the drawers in and out holding on for dear life while I'm emptying and loading

Ear Infection: first one (and only, fingers crossed) survived last week. AWFUL!

Food: anything and everything all the time. Luckily, he's got eight teeth to devour meat (his favorite)- summer sausage, taco hamburger, cheese-burgers, breakfast sausage, hot dogs.

Don't miss his accessories!

Grin: it's kind of crooked, and I love it!

Hands: loves to wave hello and goodbye enthusiastically

Independence: has pretty much given up nursing except for a few swallows at 5am & 7pm

Joyful: he's mostly a smiley, happy, fun-to-be-around kind of guy

Kicking: HATES diaper changes and getting dressed - flailing, kicking, screaming... you can't imagine.

Laughing: loves to laugh - giggly-contagious laughing

Monkey Mike: his sock monkey who always gets his arms chewed on

Naughty: very mischievous and frequently chooses to disobey Mom with a huge grin across his face

Open: his eyes are usually open - except for 30 minutes each morning, barely 2 hours each afternoon, and about 10 hours at night

People: loves lots of people, noise and commotion. he'll go to any stranger and try to get them to pick him up.

Quiet: he sleeps long (like 90 minutes or so) only in the dark, silent closet in our room

Remotes: and anything else with buttons to push (like cell phones)

Shoes: we always find him chewing on the laces of my tennis shoes. Yuck.

Television: loves to stand at the tv table while watching PBS each morning

Uninterested: he has complete disinterest in his own toys; he only wants what Collin has at all times.

Vroom: this kid can crawl; he's a SPEED demon!

Water: LOVES bath-time - splashing maniac!

Xoxo: crawls over to me while playing during the day and gives me hugs and kisses - the big, sloppy, open- mouth ones. Sooo cute!

Yogurt: all day, all the time... if Mom allowed it

Zoom: he's already growing up faster than Collin did; he just wants to be able to do everything his Big Brother does!

Collin's a Sunbeam!

To say I fretted a bit about Collin's first day in Primary would be an under-statement. Mostly I worried he was too young to sit for so long, but I also worried because he is such a "don't-mess-with-my-routine" guy, and I was afraid he'd freak.

But guess who didn't bat an eye and did absolutely wonderful when I dropped him off in the Primary room instead of the Nursery?

And yes, I did okay too. No tears from either of us.

And since I serve in senior primary, I even saw him in the hall with his class during "switch time." Somehow, I resisted the urge to run over and give him a big hug and kiss, and I just waved and said hi from a far. 

Go me. I guess I'm growing up too.

Washington Trip

After 16 days on the road, we are all exhausted. We saw LOTS of family and had lots of fun, but it's time to be in our own home, in our own beds, with our own bathrooms.

Saturday, December 17th - Departure drive
First thing in the morning, we drove to St Louis. We got to my parents' home just before noon. That day was filled with Christmas and birthday celebrations.

Sunday, December 18th - Departure flight
We attended Church with my parents in O'Fallon and took naps afterwards. We left for the airport about 4:30 to start our long night. You wouldn't believe the quantity of crap we had to haul: one large suitcase, two car seats, one carry-on with wheels, one duffel bag, 4 winter coats, one boppy, one stroller... and two kids, of course. It was nuts.

First thing when we got to our gate, this old man sat down next to us and yelled at Collin to hush. I knew it was going to be a long night.

The first leg of our trip was to Salt Lake, so there were lots of families with BYU apparel on and young kids. Luckily, the grumpy old guy was in first class and nowhere near us. We were assigned two seats on one side of the aisle and one on the other. Ryan took Brennan on his lap, and I sat with Collin. It was rough. We took off at Brennan's bedtime, and my kids refuse to sleep when being held. Not a good combination when flying. He screamed a lot, and finally after nursing him twice, he fell asleep on the boppy. Collin played on Daddy's phone.

Our layover required us to switch terminals, but we had plenty of time. Unfortunately, Collin was exhausted and refused to walk. At some point during the first leg, Brennan lost both shoes, one sock and spilled baby food all down his front. He looked homeless.

By the time we took off for the second leg, they were both grouchy and fussing (11:30pm our time). Luckily, our three seats were altogether which helped a little. I nursed Brennan, and he refused to sleep. He screamed and screamed, and Collin joined in. It was by far the worst thing I've ever experienced - even worse than child birth.

After standing in the back by the bathrooms for almost an hour, Brennan collapsed in Ryan's arms. Collin watched movie after movie on the DVD player, and as we taxied to the gate (no joke), he fell asleep in my lap (1am Illinois time).

Seeing as both the kids were asleep, we took our sweet time deplaning and were the last ones off. As soon as we exited TSA, Nana and Papa were standing there ready to greet us and help carry our babies and stuff. I've never been so relieved.

Monday, December 19th - First Day
In typical-Brennan fashion, despite going to bed at 1am local time, he was up and screaming at 5am. (Up and screaming - a good summary of the last 2 weeks.) Ryan and I made a pact to alternate mornings getting up with the kids, changing their diapers, and getting them breakfast. He took the first shift. After a lazy pajama morning and nap time for everyone, we headed to the grocery store for diapers and kid-friendly food.

Tuesday, December 20th - Stardust & IKEA
We headed to the Stardust Diner for breakfast. It's the restaurant Ryan's Uncle Tracey owns. They have the best fresh-squeezed orange juice on the planet. I also love their hot chocolate, Denver omelet and country potatoes. The best! Afterwards, we headed to IKEA for a few birthday presents for the C-Man.

Wednesday, December 21st - Collin's birthday!

Side Story: Collin did something amazing this night, and I want to make sure it's documented. Nana bought each grandchild a toddler cot, with handcrafted fleece blanket, fitted sheet and foam pad. Her plan was for all the "older" grandchildren to sleep in a room together, but I doubted Collin would do it. When we got home from Chuck E Cheese, I asked him, "Do you want to sleep downstairs with Mom, Dad and Brennan, or do you want to sleep upstairs with all the other big kids?" He quickly answered he wanted to sleep with the big kids. I got all excited... and super nervous. But we moved his cot upstairs, and he slept in there most of the rest of the nights.

Unfortunately, Collin inherited my need for sleep and my temperament when tired. It makes for a bad combination when going to bed late and wake up early on a trip.

Thursday, December 22nd - Chore Day
Ryan and I went shopping for stocking stuffers in the morning and started our anniversary celebrations.

Side Story: Collin really enjoyed playing with his cousins, particularly James, who is about 6 months older than him.

One day they were playing good guys and bad guys, and Collin "shot" James (with an empty wrapping paper roll), and he "died."

When James got up, Collin announced, "James is resurrected!" I guess he remembers that Easter lesson.

Friday, December 23rd - Girls' Day!
All the girls headed to the salon for manicures and pedicures. Since I'm a biter, I got a set of acrylics. I haven't had nails since our wedding, and I've missed them. They're great! Afterwards, we headed to Olive Garden for unlimited soup, salad and bread sticks. Delicious! Emily had some coupons she wanted to use, so we headed to Kohl's and Target too. It was a mad-house, and we were gone for seven hours altogether. (Good thing Brennan is almost weaned.)

Saturday, December 24th - Christmas Eve
My grumpy day. I don't really remember all that happened, but I was a grouch this day. Ryan left with his dad to scout out a place to go shooting, and Brennan was a NIGHTMARE all day. Collin's lack of sleep was starting to catch up with him, and my nails were super sore.
Side Story: Aunt Mallory asked Collin one morning how sleeping with all the big kids was going. He accurately described each night: "Weeell, there is a... craziness of talking." He sure can tell it like it is.

Sunday, December 25th - Christmas Day
Collin was moved back into our room to sleep so he could go to bed earlier and sleep better. Unfortunately, Brennan cried all night. Not a successful night of sleeping for any of us. We also ran out of Children's Tylenol. More grouchy Mommy.


Monday, December 26th - Boys' Day
Ryan and the dads went shooting in the morning. They shot skeet, and he got 13 of 15. I never knew he was a crack shot! After crying all night, Brennan cried most of the day too. Teething? Grumpier Mom.


Tuesday, December 27th - Our 8th Anniversary
Fabulous (almost) kid-free day.


Wednesday, December 28th - JJ Jump
That afternoon we headed to an indoor blow-up toy place (Thanks Heather for the info!). It was nap time, so Collin was pretty scared and hesitant at first, but he warmed up to all the people and noise about 30 minutes into it all.

Brennan, as usual, was super daring and willing to do everything, even though he was tired too.

There were slides and a jumping house, and it was super fun (even for Ryan and me!).

Thursday, December 29th - Drive to Seattle
We were awakened in the middle of the night to a barking cough from Brennan. Oh crap. While the cousins packed up and headed home to Idaho, we headed up to Seattle in hopes that Megan would have her baby before we had to head back home. It was a pretty pleasant drive, except that Brennan threw up 7-8 times. Yeah. We think he was just choking on his own phlegm, but it was gross and wet and bad nonetheless. We had a late lunch at Fat Burger (delicious!)

Friday, December 30th - Baby! and drive back
Baby Charlie was born! Megan was induced at 4am, and their first little girl was born at noon. We arrived at the hospital at 2:30, and she was still in the delivery room with numb legs.

We started the long drive home about 3:30pm. There was lots of traffic and rain and B screaming, but no puking so that was good.

Saturday, December 31st - Return flight to St Louis
Synopsis: Brennan screamed then napped. Collin didn't. We had quite a scare during our layover in Salt Lake. the pilot came out to the gate and announced there was a burned-out light bulb whose sealant glue would take two-hours to cure. The offered everyone food vouchers, and everyone scattered. Ryan started walking with Brennan in the stroller to get him to sleep, and I took off Collin's socks and shoes hoping he'd nap in my lap. Not 10 minutes later, the pilot returned and announced that the mechanics had decided the glue didn't need to cure and that pre-boarding would start immediately. I called Ryan, and we boarded. We had to wait for them to round up all the passengers who were all over the airport eating,  but we were only delayed about an hour. Whew. My parents were super flexible and met us and all our crap at the airport with our van. We gratefully crashed at their house for the night.

Sunday, January 1st - Church & return drive to Peoria
We went to their sacrament meeting, where my dad spoke about the atonement. Great talk, Dad! Then we started the last and final leg of our long, long trip. The wind was vicious, and Ryan had the wheel turned at almost 11 o'clock just to drive straight. Before we owned our van, it looks like someone broke into the passenger door, and it whistled the WHOLE trip. I had the worst headache, and Brennan screamed a while too.
And we are home. Sixteen days is a long, long time. Thanks to all our family. It was so great to see so many of you. We had a great time, but we're ready to be home now. Love you all!

Our 8th Anniversary

And if you don't think we've had enough festivities this month, Ryan and I celebrated our eighth anniversary too.

... and in the tradition of this year, why celebrate just once?

First Celebration
Last Thursday was Ryan's older sister's 10th anniversary, so we joined her and her husband at the movies.

We all saw the new Sherlock Holmes movie and LOVED IT. Super good. I can't wait to see it again.

Second Celebration
On our actual anniversary, we took the day off from parenting. Thanks, Nana!

In the morning, we headed out on the four-wheelers for some exploring. Unfortunately, we had to share one since one's battery wouldn't stay charged. Then the "good one" broke down, and Ryan had to push it home. Oh well, it was still fun - while it lasted - to hug my babe while speeding around.

In the afternoon, we headed to the movies again. This time we saw the new Mission Impossible movie. I liked it, but Ryan was bored.

Then we headed to dinner at Black Angus. We had a coupon, so we got way too much food: the sampler appetizer platter, each our own steak and sides, and chocolate fudge cake. Delicious!

Flashback (August 2003): After Ryan and I decided we wanted to get married, coincidentally both our parents came to Provo for our older sisters' graduations. We figured they should meet, so we arranged for us all to meet for dinner at - you guessed it - Black Angus. What was planned to be a simple meet-and-greet became a detailed planning of our wedding and reception - dates, times, colors, flowers, dresses, hotel stays, etc. All Ryan and I remember of the dinner is feeling small and insignificant. Most of all we felt silly - We weren't yet engaged!

Happy Eight Years, Babe! Here's to many more. I love you!

Christmas - Takes Two & Three

Christmas - Take Two

Amid Collin's Birthday #2, we squeezed in Christmas #2.

Collin received a double helping of Lincoln Logs, and Brennan got an adorable white polar bear.

And if you are wondering if Collin is confused with all this gift-opening... Last night I was reading to him a book about Clifford's Birthday and he said, "But what did Santa get him for his birthday?" Yep, it's all pretty muddled for the poor kid.

Christmas - Take 3

On Christmas Eve, all the kids opened their new pajamas from Nana. They each got a pair of matching pants and a black shirt with their name on the sleeve.

 They are adorable!

Ella (almost 6) holding Brennan (almost 1), Grant (7) holding Sylvie (7 months), James (3-1/2) and Collin (barely 3)

After all the photos, we ate appetizers and listened to a CD of The Forgotten Carols, while Emily showed the pictures. The kids listened for a while, ha ha.

After we put the kids to bed again and again... and again, it was finally Christmas morning. We had the kids open their stockings before Church.

Inside they found a tie or skirt from Nana, as well as some little toys to play with in sacrament meeting. Each mini-family matched. It was dang cute.

After some serious running around and cleaning up, we headed off in our matching attire.

Like most of you, Church was just a short one-hour meeting, consisting almost entirely of singing by one of the largest ward choirs I've ever seen. Sigh, I could get used to that! We headed home for more photos.

Nana and Papa and all the kiddos after Church

 Mallory, Ryan and Emily

We were sad that Megan couldn't come down from Seattle. She was due with Baby #3 on Christmas Day, but little Charlie has yet to make an appearance. Miss you, Meg!

 Me & Ryan, Mallory, and Dan & Emily

After the photo shoot and a little snack, it was FINALLY time for presents. 

Collin opened some cut-able fruit (Velcro) with an accompanying plastic knife and cutting board. It was the hit of the party!

We also got this cute Snowman Kit from Emily. Here's Ryan modeling the hat and scarf. I guess I can finally say I'm looking forward to some decent snowfall in Illinois in order to put it to use. The buttons and eyes are awesome. I'll make sure I get a pic when we use it all.

Brennan got more MegaBloks to add to the ones we have. This was kind of a gift more for me, since every time I build anything I'm frustrated there aren't enough.

Collin also got a set of kitchen tools and mixing bowls. You can also see his new Little People race track in the background. It was also a hit.


After SEVERAL melt-downs from my kids during present-opening, it was finally nap time.

When everyone was up again, it was time for the big Christmas dinner. By my own request (hey, I missed real Thanksgiving dinner, remember?), we enjoyed the most delicious turkey I've ever had. It was by Butterball and seriously amazing. Of course, we also had stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and peas. Here's Brennan enjoying the caramel sweet potatoes, Nana's specialty.

And last but certainly not least, here are the adults of the house. Ryan's grandmother lives just down the road, so she joined us Christmas Eve, at church and Christmas Day.

I'd say it was quite the perfect ending to all our Christmas partying. Oh, and I got a food processor I can't wait to get home and use. Yahoo! Merry Christmas!