Moments to Remember: She's Cracking Us Up!

Brookelynne has started not wanting to go to sleep in her bed once again, and as always, I am still making her do it. Each time we cycle back through this fight, I end up having to find a new way to get her to stay in her bed and go to sleep. The most recent thing keeping her from going to sleep is that she's pitching fits once I close the door behind me. So we went through several ideas of things to keep her in bed, including talking about it, time out and spankings for screaming at me, giving her extra toys to take to bed with her, and yet, nothing had worked.

Sooo, last night I had gone back into her room to put her back in bed, tucked her in, kissed her head and said "Sweet dreams, baby doll" (like I always do) and before I could make it to the door, she had sat up in her bed, screaming at the top of her lungs, kicking her feet and slamming her fists into her mattress. [in case you were unaware, that behavior is not acceptable lol]. So I immediately turned on my heels, going back to her fully intending on putting her in time out. As I reached for her and started to speak, I saw "Baby Doll" (her baby doll she was sleeping with) and remembered what my friend Angela had started doing with her daughter, which was putting the toys in time out instead of her daughter, and it had worked great.

Soooo, I grabbed Baby Doll instead of Brooke and said "You know not to act like that, and because you're pitching a fit, Baby Doll is going to time out and baby bottle is going too" (the baby's bottle) At which point she screamed "NOOOOOOOO" I stepped over to the time out place, which is on the other side of  a big piece of furniture and not visible from the bed and sat the doll up against the wall in the same place we sit Brooke for time out, with the bottle in her lap, and stood up to see the funniest. thing. ever. :)

Brookelynne slid off her bed and 'ran' over to where time out is (it was only a few steps) and looked around the 'corner' so that she could see Baby Doll and when she saw Baby Doll, she screamed "Noooooooooooooooo!!!", covered her eyes with both hands and turned her back to 'the sight of Baby Doll in a corner", crying. I literally had to turn away from her to stop from laughing but it was just so pricelessly dramatic!

She's such a mess! Don't worry, Baby Doll got to come out of time out a minute later and everyone went to bed shortly after.

On a side note, I thought I would keep using this technique as needed, but tonight when I tried to put Baby Doll in time out, Brookelynne got all excited and jumped out of bed to 'do it herself'. Saying "I'm Mama, I do". Not exactly what we were going for Brookelynne....

FBC Preschoolers Fall Festival

This year our church had a great fall festival planned for our preschoolers, complete with tons of crafts, different age based games, bounce houses and a hayride! When I saw the flyer, I knew I wanted to take the kids, but since it was on a Friday night, I didn't know if we would be able to make it once Mitch got off of work. The kids had both had ear infections for the week before, so it wasn't even sure we were going to attempt it Friday morning, but I told Mitch to hurry home anyway, and if the kids were acting well, we'd go. :) Sure enough they were great! Mitch was able to get off around 4:45 and we were on the road to church at 6.

They had coloring sheets and thank you trees set up at all the tables, and Brookelynne enjoyed those for several minutes. Once she was done coloring we moved to the texture bins in the back of the dining room. These were so fun for both of the kids since they  had multiple bins set up with different items hidden in beans or corn or sand. Here's a shot of Brookelynne fishing something out!

Braxton enjoyed these too, but we had to keep an eye on him, because [as usual] he wanted to eat everything! lol While we were there, Shelly got up and spoke about thankfulness and how God wants us to be thankful. They had a slide show as well as a 'table talk' packet for all the parents that was filled with different Biblical topics to discuss with your preschoolers at the dinner table as well as how to explain those topics in their language.

Once the presentation was over, we went into the 'Under 2' room to play. :) Braxton went straight to the ball pit, and loved it! He was picking up all the balls and kept rolling around in them. Daddy would pick up the sides and shake it a little so that it would move all the balls around and Brax would laugh, it was soo cute! Here's a shot of him and his friend Davis sitting together! Look at that grin on my boy!

Then we moved onto some of the other toys which included a tunnel. Brookelynne showed Braxton how to crawl through it, and he followed suit very well! :) Here's my little man coming through the tunnel, laughing as he comes!

As we got out of the tunnel, I picked up Brax and saw blood running out of his ear. I was definitely not happy. As I mentioned, both of the kids had had ear infections that week, and we had been 'cleaning ears' every night before bed, and by 'we', I mean 'me', but Brookelynne saw things differently. Right before we left the house, I heard Brax scream, ran into the room and found Brooke holding the little tool I use to clean their ears, and when I asked her what happened, she said "I clean Brax ears". At the time, I calmed Brax, looked in his ears and didn't see anything, so we came to church like planned. At this point, after seeing the blood, I decided to call the doctors office. While waiting for a call back, we migrated to the craft tables, and Brookelynne took advantage of many of these. Here she is making a turkey. She had to place the tissue paper and then press it down :) She had so much fun making it and the teachers assigned to the tables were very impressed with her!

Braxton and Brookelynne both did hand prints and Daddy helped them so much!  We put them on the fridge and LOVE them! After the hand prints were done, we moved to the next room and Brooke did more crafts in the older room.

When the doctor called back, they said that we should probably go to the ER just to be safe, so we rounded up the kids and hit a few more 'attractions' before heading across the bridge. Brookelynne did the blow up slide outside (even though she didn't want to at first) and once she had done it once, she didn't want to get off! She slid at least 10 times after that!

And of course, we got a family photo at the wagon! :) We had a great time and were so thankful that our church planned something so sweet for their youngest members! Can't wait for next year!

And for those of you who are dying to know what happened with Brax's ear, we went to the ER where they put us in a 'fast track room' and a doctor came and checked his ear out. He had to clean out the blood several times (like 5 or 6 cue tips worth) and still couldn't see well, but was sure that Brooke had not punctured the ear drum, but had scraped the side of the ear wall and caused it to bleed. This was later confirmed by his pediatrician when we went back for the ear infection follow up. (Which hadn't cleared up, so we're onto another antibiotic. See if this works)



A trip to the Zoo.....

Mitch has been on vacation this week, so we've been trying to get a lot done. Unfortunately, we really haven't. lol. But since we weren't getting stuff done around the house, I figured we should get out of the house all together! So we took a trip to the zoo! We love going to the zoo with Brookelynne because she loves it so much and now Brax is getting to the age where he is starting to notice the animals, so it's becoming even MORE fun! This was the first time we've gone as a family of four!

We had a great time and started by heading toward the back instead of taking the African loop, and before we even got 15 yrd down, we saw a very active leopard pacing in his habitat. :) We got both kids out of the stroller and were so glad that he kept pacing. Braxton saw it and watched it very intently! Then we stopped at the giraffes, because we wanted the kids to feed them. It's one of our favorite exhibits, especially when its not crowded (which it wasn't), so we got to go up to the giraffes all by ourselves, and not worry about people pushing or rushing us. :) Brookelynne and Braxton both got to feed the giraffes and Daddy helped them do it! Of course, we stopped by the giant metal elephants for a picture, and then headed toward the Jaguars.

We stopped to see the flamingos, one of Brooke's other favorites, and Brookelynne reminded us how they stand! :) It was so cute! And then we headed to the bird sanctuary there. We went in and saw several birds bathing at the entrance, as well as some very active HUGE turtles in the water. Then we walked over to the otter window and were delighted to find two otters playing and swimming. They played and swam for 15 minutes while B&B watched them and chased them back and forth. Mitch took about 100 pictures of this, but I'll just give you a few :).

On our way out of the exhibit, we let the babes stand on a bench and look at the group of ducks sitting together. They really liked that! Then we checked on the jaguars (which weren't there, as usual) and headed into the "Lost Temple" exhibit. We saw snakes and frogs, as well as a lizard eating. Then we saw some very active bats, and 2 very funny armadillos! They were chasing each other around in circles and Brooke thought they were very funny! Then the kids got to stand and watch the anteater pace in front of them. Brax really liked that!

Then we headed on back to the Austrailian loop, because I really Mitch to see the exhibit where you can feed the birds and they land on you. Because, well, that's just awesome. lol. We didn't buy any nectar this time because the last few times I've been in there, the birds were full, and I've come to the conclusion that if you arrive after about 9:45, then there's no point because the school kids have all fed them. Anyway, we walked in and I was happy to see only 3 other people in the exhibit. And there were several birds, right by the door at eye level or lower for B&B. I got one to step onto my finger, but Brooke was not going to get close to it! lol. Brax liked it, but I'm not sure he was even aware that it was an animal and not a toy! We walked around with Brooke pointing out the birds and then she saw another lady feeding a bird, and she was VERY interested in that. A minute later, as the lady was about to leave, she asked if we'd like the rest of her bird food, to try and feed one. We happily accepted! While still holding Brax I went around until I found a bird I thought would like some food, and sure enough he did! So I showed Brookelynne how to hold the cup, and then let her feed the bird! It was soooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooOOOOOOooo SWEET! :)

After a minute or so, I got the bird on my hand so that we could move away from the corner we were sitting in. Once we sat down, Brax was bound and determined to get that bird. And then he saw another cup. One that only had a little bit of nectar in it, and started reaching. I was really hoping that he wanted to feed the bird too and had decided to do it, but alas, he only wanted to eat it. (Which I didn't allow him to do, of course!) But he was sure cute trying!

When we left the Australian bird sanctuary, we went to see the penguins. Once again, we found some very active animals. There were 20 or so penguins swimming right in front of the glass. Brooke got Daddy to pick her up to look down at them, but Brax enjoyed just looking up at them from the ground!

Before heading home, we stopped at the petting zoo. Something I RARELY do, lol. Anyway, I took Brax in and kept him from falling in the gross stuff and touching anything dirty, and we let Brooke pet/brush/see the goats. :) Here are some pics of that too!

I'm loving the days we have to go to the zoo as a family and am very thankful that my sweet husband took pictures most of the day, so I'm actually in them! lol :) Hope you enjoyed seeing the zoo through our eyes!

Braxton is 9 months!!!!

Okay, so I have to apologize, because I didn't do an 8 month post, and life has been sufficiently hectic that I've almost forgot to do a 9 month one, but alas, I couldn't let another month go by wit

At his appointment, he was 20 lb 5 oz, 28.5 in

* He can stand all on his own!
* He started pulling up around 7.5 months and since then has been standing up on EVERYTHING! He loves to pull up and look around. It wasn't long before he started letting go and standing all by himself!

* He's eating 2 times a day. He's not as good of an eater as his chubby cheeks would suggest, but he eats well enough. To be completely honest, he'd probably be a better eater if I were more consistent in feeding times/amounts/scheduling. But that's neither here nor there. lol.
* He's still not sleeping through the night consistantly. But he's getting close! He'll sleep great 2 nights, and then wake up for 3. It's totally random, but hopefully it won't be much longer! The last week or so, he's been pretty consistent, sleeping from 8-5.
* He still drinks 6 oz bottles during the day and then a 10 oz bottle right before bed.

* He's outgrown all of his 6 and 9 month clothes! We pulled out his 12 month clothes a week or so ago and most of them aren't even 'big' on him. They fit just fine. :)

 * He pretty much never wears shoes. I keep trying to put them on him and they're either too big or too small, but never seem to fit well. I'm trying more often now though, because he'll be walking before too long and will need shoes!!! :)
* He's still a super happy baby. We're so thankful for that!

A new camera makes Mama feel goooodddd. :)

How many people have gotten a new camera and found themselves taking picture of everything they can see? That sounds a lot like me these days :). Last year on Black Friday, we picked up a great Canon camera for a really good deal. It takes really good pictures and while it's a little bit bigger than my older camera, it's still small enough to put in my pocket or carry around my wrist. I've really enjoyed it. Mitch decieded to get it because he was having trouble getting good pictures of ebay items on the older one and thought this would be better. It was. But it's still not perfect, but since we still hadn't actually started listing much, he wasn't going to invest any more into it. Luckily for me, he started listing recently, and we've been doing pretty well, so he started looking into getting an even better camera. :) lol

In talking to his co-worker, he was mentioning how he had been looking on craigslist and ebay for a Nikon D3000 or a Canon Rebel, his co-worker mentioned that he had a new Nikon D3000 that he had bought last year because he wanted a really good camera, but once he got it home and realized how big it was and difficult it would be to keep handy, he put it in a closet and hadn't touched it sense. He then followed with the sentence that has had me grinning for a few weeks now... "You can borrow it if you want". :) YAY for me! :) He brought it to work the next day and Mitch brought it to meeeee. Haha.

I've been loving all the pictures that I've gotten. For those of you wondering what difference it can make, here are some comparisons!

New Camera :

Brookelynne is 2!!!

 

Brookelynne Starr is officially 2 years old and *big surprise*, I can't believe it! She's growing like a weed and amazing us each day with all that she's learning and doing. She's surpassed all the milestones that are 'average' for her age to be learning and is saying new words every day. It's been such a joy to see her turn into this little girl before me, from the helpless infant that I brought home from the hospital 2 years ago. Here are some stats from her 2 yr visit

Height:              35.5 inches         
Weight:             26lbs

Here are some more facts from Brookelynne's every day life!
~She loves being the center of attention, and will squeal, shout, nudge or sneak to get your attention back if she so desires it.
~ She's day time potty trained. While she still uses a diaper during naptime and overnight, she's completely in panties during the day, any accidents she's had have been few and far between. The biggest source of 'accident' is when she gets to the potty but either can't get her pants down fast enough or doesn't pull them down far enough, and ends up with damp underwear, but usually, its not even bad enough that it gets through her panties and on her pants. [On the potty trained note, the doctors have been EXTREMELY impressed with her. I remember when I told them at 18 months that we were starting potty training, no one was very optimistic and said things like "don't get your hopes up" or "well it's fine to try, but remember she's still young". When we went for her 2 year appt, and a week later with a different doctor for an infection, both of them asked if we had 'just started wearing big girl panties', to which I replied, "No, she's been potty trained for about six months". :) Both Dr Kim and Dr Baker were very surprised and impressed. It was definitely a proud day for this Mama! ]

~ She's a great big sister! She loves 'helping' with anything I'll let her help with, from changing diapers to picking things up for Brax. She loves hugging him and kissing him, sometimes to his detriment. We have to keep an eye on her and occasionally say "Let go of your brother" or "Don't squeeze him so tightly please". lol
~  She can't pronounce her 'f's. Instead of making an 'f' sound she makes an 's' sound which is absolutely adorable! :) We're eating it up, since we know it won't last forever. It's only a matter of time before 'no suss' actually sounds like 'won't fuss' :)

~ She LOVES football! Each week when we turn on college football, she gets very excited and starts saying 'sootball' over and over! She says that it's "gameday" and "Go Noles" each week and LOVES doing the chop!
~ She knows all the words to "Jesus Loves Me" and will sing it with you (even though she calls it 'This I know") And she'll come to me and say "Sing This I know, This I know" :)
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~ She's becoming quite the little mommy. She has 4 baby dolls now and plenty of accessories to go with them. It's not unusual to see her pushing her shopping cart with Baby Doll around the house, or changing a diaper at her changing table.
~  She is doing really well in all of her classes. She's been very good about going into her class on Sunday mornings and behaving well. On Sunday and Wednesday nights, she's been up on the third floor with the kids a few months older than her and she's been keeping up easily! Her teachers a few weeks ago told me that she was wonderful, participating fully in each activity and doing everything they asked of her, and she was one of the only ones who is potty trained.
~She LOVES sweets! She will eat candy all day if you would let her and rarely turns down any other sweet.

A morning locked out of the house....

So yesterday Mitch and I laid sod in most of the backyard, and it looks fantastic. One of the most important things about putting down sod is making sure that you water it enough that it's not dead in a month. And therefore, it was a priority this morning to go out and set up the sprinklers, and then move them accordingly. I had gone outside 3 different times to set up/adjust them and went out to turn them off and while moving the hose, Brookelynne was knocking on the sliding glass door. So I hurried to turn off the water and went back to the house to get inside. When I reached the door, it was locked. No, no I'm not kidding. Brooke was right there so I tried to get her to unlock it, but she wasn't understanding me.

I ran around the house and opened the garage. I never, NEVER lock the door from the garage to the laundry room, but Mitch apparently locked it last night because it was locked. I looked for the key where we keep it hidden, and it wasn't there. I ran back out of the garage, and tried the front door, just to be sure, but as I knew it was, it was locked. I ran next door and asked to use my neighbor's phone. I tried Mom's cell, but she didn't answer. I don't know her work number and Mitch is in the middle of the ocean going deep sea fishing today, so I didn't know what to do. I went back to the back door and Brooke was standing there crying. I called Mom again and then he (our neighbor) looked up the number for the church and I called Mom at work. When she answered, I told her what was going on and she got on the road immediately. I stayed at the back door, trying to get Brooke to calm down.

Braxton was asleep in the swing, and I could see him from where I was, so I just tried to get Brooke to calm down. We sang her songs, and then she had to go potty (something that she doesn't think she can do on her own anymore) so I told her to take her pants off, and then I told her to go. She cried, but she did. When she came back she sat down in front of the door, and then Brax woke up. He started crying, and I told her to go help him. She wouldn't. When I told her to go hug him, she started screaming. Once she went in there, she didn't hug him, or kiss him, she just cried and they both cried louder. At some point, she decided she was okay, got a book and went and sat on the couch. I'm still sitting at the back door singing their favorite songs at the top of my lungs, hoping to calm Braxton. It wasn't working. He wasn't calming, and Brooke didn't want to help. Then Braxton started to throw up. He gagged a few times (something I can  hear from a mile away since Brooke throws up EVERY time she cries hard) and then he started to throw up all over himself and the swing. He was in a reclined position, so I immediately started to think about how quickly I could break the bathroom window, climb in and get to him. I waited for a moment after he stopped throwing up, and he didn't cry immediately. I threw myself against the sliding glass door and it didn't break, but he did start to cry again. I called mom again and she was getting off at our exit. I called Brookelynne and she stood up on the couch and looked toward me. I told her to get down and give Braxton a toy, and she looked at him and looked back at me, said "No" and sat back down. I once again almost came through that door. I yelled her name again and told her to come to me. She did. I told her to get Brax a toy and she did. About the time she handed Brax the toy, my mom drove into the neighborhood. I kept singing until she came around the corner to our house, and then I ran and met her at the car. She gave me the key and I ran back to the front door, unlocked it and ran inside to Braxton. My mom started laughing as she came inside to the sight of Brookelynne sitting in the middle of my big couch, with a book in her lap and the phone up to her ear. She didn't seem to be the least bit bothered by the whole thing. (Little Stinker).

Mom helped me get Brax bathed, the swing cover washed and some bottles cleaned (because he needed to eat and they were in the sink) . When Brax was eating, and Brooke was playing with mom,  I just started crying at the sink. I was just so glad it was over, and they were fine, and I didn't freak out during it happening. I handled it well, without getting weepy, or acting rashly. And I'm glad of that. I'm also very thankful for my neighbor being home, and outside at the time, and for Mom being at her desk.