Weekend Fun

This weekend, we have been pretty busy. On Friday night, we went to my friend's surprise birthday party. We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant at the beach. We had a good time. Brody was really good, especially considering we were out past his bedtime. I fed him his cereal at the restaurant and then we stuck around for about another hour and then fed him his bottle once we got home. We were totally expecting him to fall asleep as soon as we started the car but he stayed up almost the entire way and fell asleep about 5 minutes from home. I got to see my friend Emily's baby and he is so adorable. Ashton is going to be 8 weeks tomorrow! I held him for a little while and it is so hard for me to remember Brody when he was that small. Actually, Ashton is about the size that Brody was when he was born! CRAZY!! :) Anyway, we had a good time!

Saturday, Ted went up to his hunt club in Charlottesville to get ready for the hunting season! Fun, fun, fun! I took Brody to my parents house so they could watch him while I ran some errands. It is so nice having them right down the street to do this for me! Then, they watched him while I went to a friend's house for a Labor Day cook out! I had a really good time and it was nice since it was about 10 minutes from my house. I went and got Brody about 8:00 and he went right down. He had started to get a little fussy before I got to my parents house, which is unusual for him, so I wasn't sure what I was going to have in store for me when I got home, but he went right down and slept until 6:30 this morning! That has been his routine for about the last week and a half and it has been real nice! :)

Today, we went to my parents again and I saw my grandmother. She is in an assisted living place down the street from my parents and my dad picked her up this morning and brought her over the house for a little while. Since my Mom had surgery, she hasn't been able to go there for the past 2 weeks so my Dad decided to bring my grandmother over to my mom today. He earned some major brownie points for that one! She will be 95 in October and she gets around okay. Today, she seemed a little out of it, but she absolutely loves to see Brody. He smiles and laughs with her and she gets the biggest kick out of that!

Here is a picture of my mom and my grandmother!

Here are some pictures from this weekend! In one of them, you can see where Brody fell asleep in his excersaucer! It was so cute!!

Brody and his bear

Brody and Mee-Maw

Mee-Maw and Pop-Pop - The best parents in the world! :)

Brody hamming it up in his highchair

Having fun in the excersaucer!
All that fun tired him out!

Brody standing up....he does really good!

Brody and Daddy hanging out!

Hope everyone had a safe and happy weekend! :)

Almost Friday!

I am so happy that tomorrow is Friday. My last blog was so blah about Monday and today I am so excited that that weekend is here. Better yet...it is a 3 day weekend! YAY!! No work on Monday!!! Although, I am going to hate going to work on Tuesday because of the traffic. It seems like the traffic is so much less on my way to work during the summer, but once school starts, all hell breaks loose! I am so looking forward to that!

Work has been crazy stressful this week, but I am hoping it has calmed down, atleast for a few days. We have a new girl starting on Wednesday and I need to get my butt in gear and start getting stuff ready for her. Also, we are still down one more person but hopefully we will fill that soon.

Today was exciting day for me....I actually wore my pre-pregnancy jeans! :) YAY! I am so happy that I fit back into them, you can't even imagine. I was of course hoping this would have happened sooner than now, but I haven't really been actively trying so I can't complain that it happened in 5 months. Especially considering how large I was towards the end. You know, I think I lived in a state of denial because I never thought I was that big. Well....in looking at pictures, I was humongous! Just to reminisce, the picture below was taking right before they took me for my c-section.....Good God!!

But look at the precious gift I got for all of that! I would have happily grown twice the size just for him! :) (well...maybe not twice the size, but a little bigger!) He still has that crooked little smile! :

Brody Day 1

Brody Day 160

UGH! I can't believe it is Monday

I can't believe it is Monday and this is the start of a new week! Work is really crazy right now and I didn't leave until 7:30 tonight! Ted picked Brody up tonight and gave him a bath and got him ready for bed! I missed most of that, but made it home in just enough time to feed him his bottle. I so look forward to coming home and seeing the smile on his face when he sees me. He smiles just as much as I do! He makes all my work stress disappear. :)

A couple of weeks ago, he started to become difficult when he ate his cereal. Not sure if he just wasn't interested or what, but at one point, he threw a fit and didn't want anything but his bottle. He has also realized that by making razz noises he spits the formula all over. That was fun! But he has been doing much better the last couple of days and he hardly makes a mess. I also bought him the rice and oatmeal cereal with the bananas in it. He didn't see to be more or less excited about it, which surprised me because I thought he would love it more!

I also bought him a bunch of food this weekend and I think I will start feeding him veggies at lunch and dinner time. I am excited because we are actually going to get on a breakfast, lunch, dinner and bottle before bedtime schedule. I am not sure about him, but I am pretty excited! :)

Not much else is going on. Ethan was with us this weekend and he decided to pull a "Tabatha." He went to the Sam's with my Dad and Missy and enjoyed some free samples during his travels around the store. Well, he decided that he would suck on the cup to suck all of the air out of it and it was suctioned to his face. He kept it on just long enough to get a little hickey on his chin. Well....what we thought was a little hickey turned into a huge hickey that got worse on Saturday and was still there on Sunday. This morning, it had pretty much faded away, but it was pretty funny. I tried to take a picutre, but he got embarassed.

Now...I am sure you are wondering why I call this a Tabatha. When Tab and I were in high school, she came to school one day with this huge red circle on her forehead. I asked her what had happened, and she told me she got hit with a golfball. Now, of course, I did not believe her but had no clue what it could have been so I didn't worry about it. A couple of weeks later, we were at her house and she was messing with this suction cup. Her mom said "you better put that away because you know what happened the last time you decided to play with that!" I said, "What happened!" Her mom then proceeded to tell me that Tab was on the phone and decided it would be fun to stick the suction cup to her forehead and she left it there for about 30 minutes. What resulted was the red circle on her forehead! I busted out laughing and told her I can't believe that is what it caused! It was pretty hilarious! So...Ethan is definitely related to her! :)

Here are a couple pics from this weekend! Hope you all have a good week!

Surgery Went Well

Well...my mother's surgery went really well on Wednesday. I got to the hospital around 6:00 on Wednesday morning and was able to see her before they took her into surgery. It started at 8:00 and the doctor came out to see at exactly at 9:00. He told us that the surgery itself went well and he was able to remove the disk with no problems. However, he was extremely concerned about my mother's weight. We all are worried about her weight, but as crazy as it sounds, I was really glad to hear the doctor say that. I hope this is her wake up call! He said that her skin on her back is starting to break down because she is skin and bones. He suggested having her see a nutritionist, which I think is a great idea, because she needs someone to tell her the appropriate things to eat to gain weight. She is about 93 lbs. right now, which is not what a woman should ever weigh! Children weigh that...actually, Ethan is about 85 lbs., and he is only 10!!!!

She was only scheduled to be in the hospital for one night, but she was having some issues this morning. She starting getting nauseous and had a killer headache, which they said sometimes happens for those that have spine surgery. They wouldn't let her go home until she was 100% better, which is good. So she is in there for one more night. She was doing much better when I saw her tonight than she sounded on the phone this morning. So, hopefully she is on the mend!

I was so tired yesterday from getting up so early and the fact that Brody didn't sleep well the night before last. His right bottom tooth has officially broke the skin so he has been teething alot and I think they are bothering him right now. We put Baby Orajel on them last night and tonight so I hope that helps. I went to bed right after I fed him and when my alarm went off this morning at 6:00, Ted turns to me and says, "Did you get up with him last night?" I said, "No, did you?" He said, "Nope!" We both couldn't believe it since he had woke up the past 2 nights! He slept until 6:45 this morning, which was great! :) Let's hope this continues!

Here are few pictures from the last couple of days! Hope everyone has had a great week! Tomorrow is Friday! YAY!!!

What is going on?

The last two nights, Brody has decided to wake up at 3:30, ready to eat and then once we feed him his bottle, he wants to keep playing and not go back to sleep. Yesterday morning, it wasn't too bad because he eventually fell back asleep after "talking" and playing for about 30 minutes and didn't wake up until I went to get him to drop him off with my Dad. Well...this morning, it was different! He would not go back to sleep. He was so loud so we brought him in our room and had him laying with us and after about an hour, he eventually fell back asleep! Whew....I am tired!

I do want to say, though, that my husband is awesome! He has been so good with Brody ever since he arrived, but he has gone above and beyond what I expected!! :) He has been the one to feed him when he wakes up at 3:30 in the morning and let me go back to sleep since I have to be up earlier than him. He is so good to me! :) The fact that he helps so much is one of the main reasons why I hate it when he goes out of town! It is so nice to have that extra pair of hands and the way that Brody reacts to him when he is around is so sweet! :)

Ethan is officially State Champ!

Today, Ted and I went to Ethan's testing for his next belt in Karate. He got his red-decided belt, which means that he has two more belts until he gets his black belt! Can you believe it? He has done so well with this and for the most part, I think he really enjoys it! After the testing today, the instructors gave out new uniforms and Ethan officially got his State Champ uniform. He is the 2008 State Champ for sparring and his uniform now has a patch on the back of his uniform. They weren't expecting to get it today and he was really excited. Also, today was his last time testing on Saturday with the other kids and now he will test with other black belts. At the end of the testing, all the kids have to bow to their senior instructor and they made all the kids bow to Ethan since he was the most senior kid in the class. It was pretty cool and he ate it up! :) Here are a few pictures from today.

It was crazy hot in the Karate studio today and we had Brody with us. He did so awesome, as usual, considering the heat and the fact that he didn't get a morning nap. He napped in the car on the way there, but didn't sleep at all once we got there. Needless to say, he took about a 3 hour nap this afternoon. After he woke up, we had him on the blanket and he kept rolling over and over. I was happy that Ted got to see it because he hasn't seen him do it since he has been home. Every time we had him on his back, he would roll to his tummy! He is on the move now....no stopping him! :) Next thing we know, he will be crawling! Here are a few pictures of him from this afternoon!

Teeth have officially arrived!

Brody cut his first tooth today!!!! His bottom left tooth is just peeking out and you can barely see it, but you can definitely feel it! I can't believe he has a tooth already! (Sarah - I find it hilarious that Brody seems to be doing most of the things that Samuel is doing, just 2 weeks later! Maybe it is in the genes!) My dad has been a freak about checking his gums everyday and today was the lucky day. He told me when I was on my way home from work. I couldn't wait to check it out and sure enough, it was there! :) He didn't really give me any inclination that it was coming. The only thing that tipped us off that they might be on their way was the fact that that he has been drooling like crazy the last couple of weeks. He has a bib on most of the day and we go through about 5 a day! He hasn't been fussy or acting different so I didn't have any idea that they would be coming now. So...Brody has had 2 milestones this week and he turns 5 months old next Tuesday! I can't believe how fast time is flying by!!

So...Ted comes home tomorrow night. Yay! I was debating about whether to bring Brody to the airport with me or not because Ted's flight comes in at 8:30 pm. I am such a freak about his schedule, especially his night time schedule and routine, that I am afraid that will screw him up. My parents told me that I should definitely take him since Ted hasn't seen him in 3 weeks. I think I am going to. Worst case scenario is that he gets screwed up tomorrow night, but the good thing is that Ted and I are home on Friday (I am finally going to work from home this week, damn it! I have been going in the last 2 weeks and it sucks!) I think he will be pretty excited to see Brody especially since he has changed sooo much in the last three weeks. He is laughing at everything, and really grabbing and playing with his toys. I can definitely tell a difference in him and I can't imagine that Ted won't!

I saw Ethan Tuesday morning when I dropped Brody off Ethan's Nana's house. She watched Brody while my parents went to the spine doctor (more on that later). He said he has been having a good time at his mom's house and they went to Busch Gardens on Monday. He said he had a good time and he is actually old enough to ride all the rides now. When Ted and I took him last year, he wasn't tall enough to ride all the rollercoasters, so we were only able to ride 3. It was nice to see him....I have missed him this last 3 weeks. He has his karate belt testing this weekend so that will be cool. Ted got home just in time to see that!

So, my mother is scheduled for surgery next Wednesday. She went to see her spine doctor and they compared an MRI that was taken on Monday night with one that they took 2 months ago and they are not seeing any improvement. The doctor said that her herniated disk is in a weird location, but he is pretty confident that he can fix it with the surgery. He said that depending on how it looks when he goes in, he may have to do a spine fusion which means her recovery time will be longer. Right now, he is expecting her to be in the hospital overnight and she has to either limit her activity or stay off her feet (I can't remember which one) for 2 weeks. Either way, it will be tough and I know she is nervous and scared. But, everything will be better once she has the surgery and she is on the mend.


So...that is what has been going on here for the past couple of days. Hope everyone has had a good week so far. Can't wait for the weekend! :)

Another Sumo Man

A couple posts back, I posted a picture of Brody as Sumo man and said that this picture reminded me of my nephew when he was little. I asked my sister for the picture and she found it! Here is the picture of AJ when he was bout 6 1/2 months old. Look at the rolls!!! :) I love it! I can definitely see a resemblance.

Also, tonight was a milestone night for Brody. He rolled over not once, not twice, but three times. All from his back to front! The first time he did it, my parents and I clapped and screamed so loud it startled him and he got a little scared. He did it one more time at my parents and then did it once when I got him home! Yay for Brody! I wish I would have gotten a picture of it. Shocking to think that the camera was not right next to me, I know. But....this is just the beginning. I am sure now that he has started, I won't be able to get him to stop!

Pictures

Yesterday, Tab, my mom and I took Brody to get his pictures taken at the little portrait studio in BabiesRUs. I was a little disappointed in the place because they only let me choose 8 poses, but the 8 that I got are so stinkin' cute! I was telling Tab last night that for Brody's 1 year portrait, I am going to see what my wedding photographer is doing and see if he can take some pictures! He was awesome and I loved the way my wedding photos turned out.

Here are the pictures! Darlene - I am going to send you a few! If you want others, I can tell you how to order them!

TGIF!

I can't even express how happy I am that it is Friday! What a week! Work has been unbelievably stressful and I feel like all I have done is work, work, and work! I am working on this project that is pretty difficult and there aren't enough hours in the day to get things done. Also, I feel like I am not spending enough time with Brody everyday! I have been working a little late and by the time I pick him, as soon as I get home, I am feeding him and putting him to bed.

I typically work from home on Fridays but I have had to go into work the last 2 Fridays. Today, I worked from home in the morning and dropped him off with my dad around 12:30 and off to work I went! I called as I was leaving work today and Brody rolled over from his back to his front! He has been working on it for a couple weeks now and finally did it! My Mom said she didn't help and he did it all by himself! I am upset that I wasn't there to see it!!!!! When I got there tonight, he was trying again and was almost there but didn't quite make it! I know that once he starts, he won't stop!!

This morning while I was working, I put Brody on the boppy on my bed so he could "watch" TV. I turn on the cartoons for him and he looks like he is watching it...I think he really likes the bright colors. Well...he was watching the TV and the next thing I know, I look over and see this.......

I had to take a picture because it was so cute. He took a nap like that for about an hour and a half. :)

Well...I am off to bed. I am tuckered out! Hope you have a good weekend!

Brody-less Tonight

So...I am Brody-less tonight and it is really strange being in the house without him here. I had an appointment tonight after work and I wasn't sure what time I was going to get home so my we decided that he would stay at my parents house so as not to disrupt his schedule at night. I am all alone and it is completely weird! Although, I did get a chance to run up to the mall to exchange a shirt that I have been trying to exchange for the past 3 weeks and haven't had a chance to. That was nice! So, I decided to try and work a little bit tonight and get some stuff done so I won't have to do it tomorrow. Other than that, I am going to watch So You Think You Can Dance (which is my absolute favorite show right now) and catch up on some other shows that I have Tivo'd.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that Brody will be good for my parents tonight and not wake up too early. My mother is still having issues with her back and more than likely will have to have back surgery for her herniated disk, which stinks! She is supposed to find out more about the surgery next week when she goes to the doctor, but it is looking like the surgery is going to happen. They told her to expect to be out of work for about six weeks!!! We will see what happens!!

Already Wednesday?

I can't believe tomorrow is already Wednesday...this week is flying by! Work has been pretty crazy and I feel like there are not enough hours in the day to do all the stuff I have to do! I also hate that when I leave work late, I only get about an hour with Brody before I have to get him ready for bed and fed! Today, my Dad said he was so good. My Mom and Dad had a doctor's appointment and they took him with them and they said he was laughing and talking and having a good time! He is such a flirt! He slept a little bit this morning and only had about a 30 minute cat nap this afternoon so he was pretty tuckered out tonight. He fell asleep the minute the car left my parents' driveway and he slept on the 5 minute ride home. Then, I played with him for about 20 minutes, fed him his cereal, gave him his bath, then got him ready and fed him his bottle.

While I was getting his bottle ready, Ted called me. Mind you, he is 6 hours a head of us and this was about 7:45 pm, which meant it was 2:45 am Italy time! He went out with some of the guys over there for his birthday tonight and was a little intoxicated when he called me! It was pretty funny. I think he is definitely ready to come home! I had the phone on speaker as I started to feed Brody and Ted was talking to him. A few times, he started smiling like he knew who was on the other end of the phone. Then, he tried to put the phone in his mouth and I figured I should give him the bottle back. I tell you.....I do not envy single mothers!! While it takes us only a day or 2 to get into a routine once Ted leaves, it is definitely much easier when there are 2 people taking care of him. This is especially true as I start to feed him and realize that I left his pacifier downstairs! But, I absolutely love being a mother and would not trade it for anything!!

Here are a few pictures from tonight before I put him to bed! He was watching cartoons on our bed while I was getting changed. He is doing really well with sitting up!!

Road Trip #2 a Success!

Brody and I took a mini-road trip this weekend to see Tabatha. We left yesterday morning and I was planning on staying just for the day, but decided to stay the night last night. I had brought Brody's pajamas and enough food for him just in case we decided to stay. We put him on the futon in their spare room and I had pillows surrounding him just in case he started to do his little crib dance where I put him one way and he wakes up the other way! He did soooo good last night! He went right down around 8:00-8:15 and I heard him about 5:00 this morning. He seems to be a pretty resilient child and handles change really well!

I was a little worried about heading up there again by myself because that last time Brody and I ventured up there by ourselves, he cried the last half of the trip home. Well, yesterday morning I left after he ate and he napped for a majority of the ride (the ride up there is about an hour and half). This morning, the same thing! I was so relieved.

He also did really well when Tab and I were out and about on Saturday. We went to the mall, Target, and the grocery store and it was hot getting in and out of the car, but he was such a trooper! He only napped a couple power naps, but he wasn't fussy at all and was having a good time. Tab had him laughing so hard in the mall.....I wished I had had the camera with me! The woman in the Macy's said he was the happiest baby she had seen!

So tomorrow is Ted's birthday and he will be all alone! :( I am sure he likes it better that way because he says he never wants a big fuss on his birthday! I love my birthday and I can't believe he doesn't. I just assumed everyone does. He said that there are some other guys out there with him and 2 other guys' birthdays are on Tuesday so they are going to all do something together. Atleast he will have a mini-celebration! I plan on celebrating when he gets back home, which (fingers crossed) is next Thursday the 14th.

So here are a few cute pictures from this weekend. Kevin was on the floor with Brody at one point trying to get him to roll over. He was almost there but still can't get his bottom half over! We will trudge on, though! He will get it soon, I am sure! I know I have said this before many times, but I can't help but say it again.......I can't believe how much love I can have for this small little person!!! Tonight, when I was in his room feeding him before he went down in the crib, I was just staring at his cute little face and started to get a little emotional. He was falling asleep, as he usually does when we feed him his last bottle, and he just looked so peaceful and content, I almost didn't want to lay him down! A part of me doesn't want him to grow out of this stage because I want him to stay like this forever, but the other part of me is so excited to see what kind of person he is going to turn out to be! I just hope that I, as his mother, can make him as happy as he has makes me! :)

These last 3 pictures are for you, babe! Kevin wanted Brody to straddle the deer, but I wasn't too thrilled with that idea and there was no way that was going to work, so we decided to take one next to it!!! Happy Birthday!