Growin'

"Momma! Look at my legs! They're big and strong! They were growin' in the middle of the night last night!"

For some reason Brody has started of every morning for the past few weeks by showing me his legs and telling me that they grew overnight. I think he is going thru a growth spurt right now. Not only am I suddenly hearing words that I've never before heard from him, "I'm still hungry!", but every day he'll show me something new he can reach. He can now pop his pop tart in the toaster without using the stool to reach the pull-down-lever-thingy (what is the proper term for the handle you pull down on a toaster?!?).

He's always pointing out the fact that he can get things off of the kitchen counter while standing flat footed...and he's at that dreaded "hit your head on the corner of the counter" stage. It's fun to see the surprise in his eyes when he can reach something that he used to need a stool for. He'll look up at me and exclaim, "I'm growin'!!!" Then he'll get a slight look of disappointment in his eyes and say, "but I can't reach the sky yet."

I asked him this morning if he'd stop growin' and stay my little boy forever. He looked at me like I was crazy and said, "No thanks. I will be a big boy...just like Daddy."

One Crazy Day

5:20 am - Crawl out of bed. It's too late to make it to aerobics class, but I still went to the gym and did the cross trainer. Had my quiet time (aka Bible study time) while I was on the cross trainer.
6:10 am - Home from the gym. Make breakfast for me and Mike. Make a lunch for Mike.
6:30 am - check email
6:35 am - hop in the shower...stay in there too long because I'm dreading getting out of the warm shower and being hit by the cold air
6:50 am - throw on some fleece and make some hot cider.
6:55 am - start gathering ingredients for the dinner I'm making to take to our friends that just had a baby and put potatoes in oven to bake
7:20 am - Barrett wakes up. As I'm changing his dirty diaper (and he's crying b/c he's hungry) Brody walks into the living room. I send Brody to the potty and then tell Brody to get himself a pop tart while I nurse Barrett.
7:50 am - Go get pop tart for Brody (who hasn't "grown enough during the night yet"...his words...to be able to reach them in the pantry).
8:00 am - Put Barrett in exersaucer and try to start cooking while Brody eats.
8:20 am - Turn on Thomas the Train for Brody (who watches 3 minutes of it before he's back in the kitchen pushing his stool to the cabinet so that he can be stuck to my side while I try to cook)
8:40 am - Put Barrett down for a nap. Try to continue cooking with my "little helper".
9:20 am - Decide that it would be a good time for Brody to have roomtime so that I can finish cooking (meatballs, cream corn, twice baked potatoes, and cookies)
10:00 am - Barrett wakes up early. Get him out of bed and then go get Brody dressed. Alternate between drying hair and checking on meatballs.
10:20 am - Try to keep Barrett happy until the cookies are done.
10:30 am - Feed Barrett
10:45 am - Throw on some clothes and finish fixing my hair
11:00 am - Call Mom (I was supposed to be ready at 10:30 am, luckily she was running behind too) Feed Brody some of the extra food I just cooked for our friends.
11:30 am - Namaw shows up. I run out to grab the paper (that I hadn't had time to get yet) and the mail. Pack up the diaper bag and the food while she loads the kids in her car. Drive to her house to drop her and Barrett off (it's his nap time again) while I borrow her car to deliver the food. (This is when I'd usually head to work.)
12:00 pm - Brody and I stop by the grocery store to pick up rolls to go with the food and head towards our friends house.
12:40 pm - Arrive at Kasi's house. Give her food and talk for a little while.
1:10 pm - Get back in the car. Brody tells me nonchalantly that his ear hurts. I take notice because he never complains about being sick and he's had a cold for a week now.
1:20 pm - We're stuck in traffic because of some construction. Brody tells me he has to go to the potty. When a 2 year old tells you he has to go potty...you find a potty!! We stop at a gas station.
1:30 pm - I realize that I'm starving (why didn't I eat any of the extra food?) so I pull into Burger Street. After seeing that there's a long line I back out and drive to Brahms instead. Brody is still complaining of his ear hurting. I'm trying to calculate how I can still get 4 hrs of work before we have to leave for church tonight.
1:35 pm - Call mom to make sure Barrett's not starving. He's awake, but will survive until we get there.
1:40 pm - Stop at CVS. Wait in line to talk to the pharmacist to see if there's an OTC decongestant that I could give Brody to help prevent an ear infection. He tells me to talk to my doctor because there aren't any OTC decongestants for 2 year olds (said they make them so hyper they can't sleep).
1:50 pm - Get back to Namaw's house. Start feeding Barrett while Brody starts crying about his ear (and wanting me to hold him...kinda hard when I'm nursing Barrett). It's VERY unusual for Brody to act like this. I decide to take him to Care Now.
2:00 pm - Realize I never ate my burger. Scarf it down while trying to console Brody.
2:20 pm - Check into Care Now. Brody plays with the toys and alternates between telling me that his ear doesn't hurt anymore and then a few minutes later telling me that it still hurts. He entertains all the people in the waiting room with his talking and antics.
3:15 pm - See the doctor who tells me that Brody's ear is very red. She gives me 3 different prescriptions (antibiotic, ear drops, & cough syrup/decongestant)
3:45 pm - Stop by Namaw's house to get a CVS coupon.
3:50 pm - Go to CVS to get prescriptions filled. Find out that the cough syrup is $36 there rather than $4 like at Kroger. Decide to go to Kroger instead.
4:00 pm - Arrive at Kroger. Find out ear drops are $160! Tell them to just fill the other 2 scripts (I'll just give him Tylenol for the pain. Sorry kid!)
4:10 pm - Mike stops at Kroger on his way home to pick up Brody and take him home. I go back inside to get the meds. They filled all 3 (including the $160 one!) I inform them of the mistake and the clerk tells me I should get the $4 generic. Sure! I'll pay $4 for it! So they start the process of calling the dr to get approval to fill a different ear drop prescription.
4:50 pm - Finally leave Kroger and head for home.
5:00 pm - Stop by our house to give Mike the meds for Brody
5:05 pm - Get to Namaw's house to pick up Barrett
5:15 pm - Back home. Feed Barrett while Brody lays crying beside me. Mike calls Terry to ask him to teach the HS focus group for us tonight.
6:00 pm - Heat up the extra meatballs, cream corn, & twice baked potatoes for our dinner. Eat with Mike and Brody while Barrett plays in the exersaucer.
7:00 pm - Try to interest Brody in Home Alone...he doesn't bite. He'd rather talk to us about how much he's growing and tell us that he's well now (the Tylenol and ear drops are doing their trick). I start typing this post. We forgot about doing our Jesse Tree devo. Oops!
8:00 pm - I give Barrett a bath while Mike gets Brody ready for bed.
8:30 pm -I feed Barrett while Mike puts Brody in bed.
8:47 pm - This very moment. I'm typing this post and watching Home Alone on our DVR.

I didn't get any hours at my job today...instead I spent lots of time "working" as a mom! It may have been a crazy, long day, however, I wouldn't trade my job for any other job in the world. I love being a mom! I'm gonna go bust into the sack of Oreos that I bought while I was waiting for the prescriptions to be filled at Kroger and do absolutely nothing but veg on the couch!

Santa Barrett

Here are a few pictures that I took to get you in the Christmas spirit...

Breakfast Conversation with a 2 year old

Brody -"I lost my daddy this morning Momma!"
Staci - "You lost him? Where did you lose him?"
Brody - "In Ft. Worth! He went to work."
Staci - "Oh."
Brody - "Did he take his work key with him?"
Staci - "yes"
Brody - "Will he bring it back home to us?"
Staci - "yes"
Brody - "When he gets home I'm gonna pull the thingy on his work keys out really far!!!" (Mike's work "key" is a magnetic thing on a retractable cord.)
Staci - "ok"
Brody - "Is he driving home right now, Momma?"
Staci - "no, not yet"
Brody - "I love my daddy so much! Do you know that?"

5 months

I can't believe that our baby is already a little over 5 months old! It's amazing all the new things that he's been doing in just the last few weeks. He can now sit up by himself for a few minutes. The picture below isn't the best one of his posture...but his smirk was just so cute that I had to post it!

He has also started with the army crawl! I'm always surprised at how far he can move across the room just by scooting on his belly. I'm not really ready for him to start crawling. I like that I can lay him on the floor in the living room, leave the room for a minute, and know he'll still be there when I get back.

Saturday morning Barrett had rice cereal for the first time while he was at Daddy Steve & Namaw's house. They told me that he liked it, but I have yet to get a spoonful down! He just keeps spitting it back out at me! Now that he can sit up he gets to sit in the highchair at the kitchen table! He looks so tiny! It looks like he's thinking, "Are you sure I'm big enough to sit in this thing?"

Barrett loves his brother. The other night Barrett was watching Brody play with a ball and just started laughing big belly laughs! It was so cute! Brody would holler, "Barrett! Watch Barrett!" and then he'd bounce the basketball. Barrett would just laugh and laugh! Of course, we were all laughing along with him. A baby's laugh is contagious!

Date Night

Last night Tyler and Ann invited Caleb, Audria, me, and Mike over for dinner and a movie. Mike picked out a few recipes from Pioneer Woman and emailed them to Ann. She went shopping yesterday and then Mike, Ann, and I cooked the dishes when we got there. It was yummy!!!!

Pasta Carbonara (I could've eaten 1/2 of this bowl in one sitting it was so good!!)

Mike and I had made these yummy shrimp before. You put the pan on the table along with a loaf of french bread and go to town peelin' and eatin' shrimp. You can soak up the juices with the french bread. It's messy, but delicious!!

Audria made salad for dinner and cheesecake for dessert. Can you find Audria in this picture?

After dinner (and a very competitive foosball tournament between Mike, Caleb, & Tyler) we headed to the movie theater to see Australia. The actual movie (after the previews) didn't start until 10 pm (my normal bedtime)! It was a 2 hr 45 min movie...so we were all really tired by the end. It was a long movie, but it was really good! Here's me with my sisters before we headed home. Can you tell we're tired?!?

We had so much fun last night! Thanks to Daddy Steve and Namaw for watching the boys so that we could go out for the night!

Home

****EDIT - SEE BELOW FOR POSTS ABOUT OUR TRIP TO KS****

We made it home. We went to KS on Wednesday and got home last night about 9 pm. We got to see lots of family and friends in our short trip. More to come in the next few days. I have laundry to do and the boys aren't sleeping in this morning!

Visit with Friends

Friday we left St. John and headed to Sterling to stay with Chris & Teri. Their kids were really excited to see us when we arrived. Hans was so cute with Barrett. He'd lay there and talk to him for a long time! He really loves babies! Erin was really excited to see Brody. Remember this post?
Saturday morning Mike and Chris left early to go hunting. Goose hunting with Garet was first on their agenda for the day. Teri and I stayed behind with the kids. We were surprised to look out the window after breakfast and see big snowflakes falling from the sky! The kids ran outside to watch the snow. I think Erin knew that it wasn't going to stick (notice her bare feet and short sleeve shirt!!)

By mid-morning the kids were starting to get a little stir crazy. Teri and I loaded up their minivan and drove into town. We took the kids to the Broadway Market (an amazing coffee shop for a small town). I love this quiet little coffee shop! The kids got hot chocolate and Teri and I had coffee (I think it'd been awhile since I'd had so much caffeine and it made me a little jittery...sorry Barrett!)

Staci, Barrett (in the sling...you can see his hand if you look closely), and Teri at Broadway Market.

When we got back Debbie (their neighbor and my former midwife) came over to see the boys. Brody, of course, turned shy and wouldn't say anything...but Barrett was all smiles.

Around lunch time Mike & Chris showed up. They'd had a very successful goose hunt and were happy hunters. They ate lunch and then headed back out to go pheasant hunting.

Saturday afternoon Brandi (our former preachers wife) and her kids stopped by for a visit. It was fun to catch up with her! After she left Brody went down for a nap, Chris & Teri's kids went downstairs to play, and Teri and I decided to take Barrett on a walk (you can do that when you live out in the middle of nowhere...leave the kids at home for a little bit to go on a walk down the desolate, dirt road). It felt great walking away from the house, but when we turned around to walk back the wind had a bite to it!

Just before dinner time the guys arrived and announced that they'd had another successful hunt. Mike told me that it was a perfect hunting day. They saw lots of birds, the weather was nice, and he got to hunt with one of his best friends!

Here's a picture of them cleaning the pheasants. Notice Alan looking on. He's an eager future hunter if I ever saw one! I think he was in every picture that I took of the birds!

While Teri prepared dinner and the guys cleaned the birds, Erin and Collin showed Brody how to jump on a trampoline. He thought it was so much fun! I hear lots and lots of laughing from their direction.

And then all of the sudden I heard loud crying!!!!

Brody bounced and somehow busted his top lip. It was bleeding pretty good! He stopped crying when I cleaned him up and then he immediately asked to go back outside and jump on the trampoline!

Brody played and played and played with all the kids. Several times different kids would comment to me, "Brody wears me out!" I would just laugh and tell them it was payback for all the times we'd babysit or just come over and play with them! Brody especially loved the Spiderman dart gun (however he had to have someone cock the gun everytime he wanted to shoot it...he's just not strong enough yet).

Just before bedtime the Wilsons stopped by for a visit. Here's a picture of Erin, Brody, & Sydney.

Sunday morning we went to our old church. It amazed me how much children can grow in just a few months! I didn't even recognize a few of them because they'd grown so much! It was harder to leave on Sunday than either of us had anticipated. We finally had to take one last deep breath of country air, climb in the car, and drive away. We miss the country and our friends there but were soon reminded of one of the many reasons that we moved to Texas. Teri told us that Brody said to her, "I'm not going back to your house today. I have to go back to Texas to see Daddy Steve and Namaw!"

More Beans Please

After the visit to "the farm", we left Plains to head to St. John. Grandpa Jim and Great-Grandma K were waiting for us to eat a late lunch (which turned into more like an early dinner...what can I say...travel takes longer with 2 kids).

4 generations - Grandpa Jim, Great-Grandma K, Barrett, & Mike

Jim was excited to get to see Barrett for the first time.

Brody spent some time playing with Molly the dog before we ate dinner.

When we ate dinner, Brody only had one thing on his mind. Beans! He loved Jim's baked beans...and wanted more! I have no clue how many helpings of beans he ate. I was just sure that we'd pay for it on the car ride to Sterling...but they didn't seem to bother him!

Goin' to the Farm

As soon as Brody found out that LH had tractors, he was asking to "go to the farm". This morning LH and Mike took Brody to see LH's farm equipment. Brody thought it was super cool to get to ride in the front of the pick up.


Mike and Brody climbing on the cotton stripper.

Farmer Brody drivin' the tractor.

Brody playing with all the levers on the tractor. Notice the sucker in his mouth.

"Driving" the bobcat.

Thanks, LH, for showing Brody all your tractors! He loved it!!

Family Pictures

This morning everyone came back over to LH & Thais's house. I set up the camera and we got a picture of the family.

Barrett looked very interested in whatever LH was saying to him.

Mike's cousins (Kelly, Holly, & Heidi) really loved playing with Brody.

LH, Thais, Holly, & Heidi were our hosts for Thanksgiving. We really enjoyed getting to stay at their house. We watched movies, played games, talked, laughed, and ATE!!

Thanksgiving Day

This morning Brody was rarin' to go outside and play! He didn't remember how cold the wind can be in Kansas...but I don't think it really mattered to him. He was finally able to convince 2 of Mike's cousins, Holly & Heidi, to go outside and play basketball with him.

Grandpa and Grandma B arrived just before lunch time and were excited to get to see Barrett for the first time (although you wouldn't know it from the expression on Grandpa B's face! lol)

Everyone else was busy hovering around the food in the kitchen. Ron made an excellent cheese ball that I ate my fair share of...and that was just one of the appetizers! (Notice how beautiful LH & Thais's remodeled kitchen is!)

We enjoyed a delicious Thanksgiving lunch, a great Dallas Cowboys game, a snooze here and there, some domino playing, and lots of talking/laughing. Brody also enjoyed a blue sucker (proof in the picture below).

Nancy brought some Christmas socks for all the girls. Grandma B had a hard time picking out a pair. Here she is telling Barrett that his toes are to little for her big socks!

Driving to Kansas

We left for Kansas today around noon. The boys and I drove to Mike's office to pick him up and then headed out of town. Brody was VERY excited about the trip. He kept asking if he'd get to see Remington. I think he really misses Remy. I crawled in the back seat for a little while to entertain the boys. It was a TIGHT squeeze between the 2 carseats!

Barrett traveled extremely well! When Brody was this age he would cry anytime he was awake in the car. It made the trips between KS and TX very loooong. I was worried that Barrett would do the same. It was a pleasant surprise when he was a content traveler! I think it helped that he had his brother to keep him company in the back seat. The only time he cried was when he started to get hungry.

We typically head straight up I35 when we go to KS. Since we were going to Plains (western KS) we took a different route. I never knew there were mini mountains in Oklahoma!

We stopped for dinner at a small town in OK. Brody was going stir crazy so we found a park to take our Sonic to. He wasn't ready to get back in the car when it was time to go. It was a pretty cool park!

We arrived in Plains a little after 9:30 pm. It was a long trip (9 1/2 hours!). We look forward to seeing all the family tomorrow and sleeping on a soft bed tonight!

Check it out!

Daddy Steve has been having a lot of fun with the boys lately. Check out his blog for posts on:

Mondays at the Library
Look Out!
Campo Verde Lunch
Snocker
Brody & Barrett

Friend Day

Today Megan brought Logan and Camryn over to play. Brody was so excited all morning about them coming. Then as soon as they walked in the door he turned into a shy boy who wanted to hide behind his mommy's legs! He finally came out of his shell and took Logan back to his room to play and then outside to play with all the outdoor toys. There were a few meltdowns over sharing (on Brody's part), but (just as they were about to leave) I looked out he back door and saw them playing together so sweetly! Camryn and Barrett enjoyed having another baby to "talk" to while Megan and I talked. Camryn is such a cutie! She's also a pretty big baby and makes Barrett look like a shrimp!

I'm not sure what Brody enjoyed more...playing with Logan or talking to TWO babies at once!

Megan and I always enjoy our visits...even if they are interrupted by the constant questions of toddlers and being spit up on by babies!