The Crumb Family

A couple of Firsts for Molly

2011-12-07T15:16:00.006-05:00

So yesterday was a milestone for Molly....good and bad!

She got her first timeout and she also peed on the potty for the first time!!

First....her timeout experience......

She has always been a good listener. At this age, Brody was already starting to get timeouts because he heard me when I told him to do something, but would do it on his terms. Well....guess who is starting to the same. Normally, we have been able to tell her something, maybe twice, and she ends up doing it. Lately, it is with her and the DVDs that we are having an issue. In our TV stand, she likes to open the cabinets and take the DVDs out. She got in trouble for that a couple of times this weekend. Well, last night, she wasn't listening when we asked her to get out of the kitchen while we were cooking. So after telling her for the third time, Ted took her to timeout. Whew! That was an experience. She wouldn't sit and would not stop crying! After about 5 minutes of Ted sitting there with her, I finally went over there and poor thing had the "yuckas" (when you can't catch your breath after crying so hard). She sat there for me and I told her why she was in timeout and she calmed right down. After about a minute, I finally let her get out and she was much better. Ted said that she reminded him a little of Ethan when he was younger because he was so stubborn sometimes when you tried to discipline him. We both said that Brody was never like that. Now when he goes into timeout, the first thing he says is "I want to listen....can I listen Mommy?" even when he may not have had an issue with listening to put him there in the first place! Anyway, that was our timeout experience.

Now for the more exciting part! She peed on the potty!! She has been obsessed with sitting on the potty for a while and constantly says she has to pee, but when we put her on the potty, nothing happens. Last night, before her bath, she said she needed to pee, like always, so we put her on there! Well....lo and behold, she tinkled.....just a little bit, but still.....she tinkled! We were so excited and she started to get a shy look on her face. I don't think she knew what to think. Even Brody was cheering for her. It was pretty cute! Hopefully, this is the start of something because I can tell you that I am tired of buying diapers for her!!! I am hoping she will be just as easy as Brody to potty train. Once he got, he really got it!!

Here are a couple of cute pictures of my little princess!! I can't believe she will be 2 years old on Sunday!!!

My girlfriend Connie watched the kiddies for me one day so I could work and she bought her a dress up kit, with a skirt, tiara, jewlery, purse, and furry little heels! She loved it. Here she is sporting her bling!!!

I love how she is looking up at Connie's son Jack......her prince! :)

And finally, here is a picture (of a picture) of the kid's school picture. They turned out great. I had a hard time picking the ones I wanted. They had a couple poses of each of them separately and two of them together!!

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-01T12:21:00.011-04:00

Happy Day After Halloween!

Last night was a lot of fun. Ted is out of town for the week hunting in Charlottesville and his Mom has been here for the past couple of weeks. She was gracious enough to stay another week while Ted was gone in case something came up at work and I had issues getting the kids. She is so sweet!!

We had a house full of people last night. My parents came over to go trick-or-treating with us and my sister, brother-in-law and my niece and nephew came over too. My neighborhood is nice to trick-or-treat in because there are plenty of houses and lots of candy!!

I got some great pictures of all the kids, and my sister did too. Unfortunately, I left my camera at home so I only have the few I took with my phone. Brody went as Spiderman and Molly was Minnie Mouse. Luckily, the weather was pretty nice and not too cold. I only took Molly to a few houses and then she went back home with my Mom for her bath and bed. I let Brody stay out later and he got lots of candy! It was great to see him get excited. While he was excited last year, he was a little scared to go up to some of the houses, but not this year. He is such a big boy. And, during school yesterday, his teacher talked to all the kids about the importance of staying with your Mom and Dad and not running off. He told me "I have to stay with you or someone can take me. Mommy, they are not nice people if they take me!" He is so smart!!

I didn't get any pictures of Anthony and Ashleigh on my phone, but Anthony was the guy from Scream, with the scary mask that has blood on it. Molly wanted NOTHING to do with him. Everytime he got near her, she freaked out, and kept saying "I scared!" Poor Anthony.....he would take the mask off and try and reassure her that it was just him, but she was having nothing to do with him!

Here are a few pics.......

Tab sent me the picture below of Mallory! ADORABLE! I love how she is standing in this picture.

New Post

2011-09-30T13:54:00.001-04:00

Well, things are starting to heat up again at work. As much as I love my job for the most part, this is going to be a pretty stressful Fall/Winter. Plus, next week we are supposed to find out if we won the big project I was working on a couple of months ago. To say I am nervous is an understatement! But, what will be will be!

On the home front, things are good. Hunting season officially opens up this weekend so Ted is happy. He has really started getting into fishing since he got a kayak so between that and hunting, I am hoping to see him a little bit for the next three months! HA!

Kiddies are doing great! Brody is doing really good in his class and he is growing up too fast. His vocabulary is crazy and sometimes it is hard to believe he is only 3½. I bought Ted and iPad for our anniversary and right now, Brody is getting more use out of it than he is. When Hurricane Irene was preparing to hit our area, Ted downloaded some shows on it to occupy the kids if the power went out. Well, the power did go out and stayed out for 5 days. Luckily, our neighbors have a generator that is hooked to the gas line so they pretty much had all their power so we stayed over there a majority of the time. Well, now all Brody wants to do is watch his shows on Ted’s iPad. We bought him a few games on it the other night and he loves playing them. It is crazy how much he is able to pick up the first couple of times he plays it. I hate to admit that sometimes it is nice for him to be able to occupy himself for a little bit at night so I am able to do things when I get home from work. :)

Molly is growing up way to fast. Her 2nd birthday is right around the corner and I can’t believe my baby will be 2 years old!! She has started showing some interest in the potty so we put her on it right before her bath each night, but of course, we have had no luck so far. I am glad she is showing interest in it though. The next class up from hers at school is the potty training class so similar to Brody, once she moves up, we will start concentrating more on that. I know she is still young, but hopefully she will be just as easy as Brody was to potty train. She is also starting to become picky about her clothes, or I should just say her shoes! I went shopping for her last weekend to get some winter clothes and I bought her a couple pair of shoes. She wore one of her new pair to school yesterday and when we got home, she refused to take them off. Of course, Ted walks in and tells her to sit so he can take them off and of course, she does it! I swear……I think she is going to listen to her father more than me, which will be a problem! She also has the best sense of humor. She laughs at everything and has the greatest smile! I think our next transition will be transitioning her from her crib to a toddler bed. The only problem I have is that she has not even showed the slightest bit of interest to climb out yet. She LOVES her sleep and I think she is in love with the crib so it will be interesting to see what she does when the time comes to transition her.

We got Ethan last weekend for the first time since the summer. He stayed with us for a month and ½ over the summer and it was great having him with us. The kids love him and constantly ask where he is when he isn’t home. He is in 8th grade going on 18. I can’t believe how grown up he looks and sounds! I know I say that all the time, but it still amazes me how much more grown up he looks every time I see him!

I have been horrible with the camera but I did take some cute pics of the kids yesterday. I will try and remember to post them this weekend!

Out of the Mouth of Babes

2011-09-14T13:44:00.002-04:00

Okay...I know I need to post some more recent pictures, but unfortunately, I don't have my camera with me. But I wanted to post a funny story so later in life, I won't forget this.

Last week, I was getting ready for work and Brody was up. Ted got his clothes out and he was getting dressed. Ted left and Brody had headed downstairs to get a drink from him and say bye before he left. I knew he was down there and figured he would come up after Ted left. After a few minutes, I realized he hadn't come up so I went out to the hallway and here is how the conversation went:

Me: "Brody, where are you?"
Brody: "Right here Mommy?"
(I still can't see him so I am not sure what he is doing)

Me: "Come up here while I finished getting ready"
Brody" "Okay....coming!"
(a couple minutes pass and no Brody....)

Me: "Brody, I said come up here!"
Brody: "Okay....I am coming. Jesus!"
Me: "What did you just say?"
Brody: "Chuck-E-Cheese's?"

Okay...first of all, I couldn't believe he said that. Secondly, I can't believe he is already smart enough to try and cover for himself when he knows he did or said something wrong! Crazy!

But....gotta love him! :) He is just too darn cute!

Random Pictures

2011-08-12T14:45:00.009-04:00

Here are some random pictures of the kids that I have on my computer at work. I need to download the ones from my camera and post them. I haven't done that in a while. I really am starting to stink with the picture taking! :(

This picture cracks me up. Tab sent it to me. It was taken during Mallory's birthday party. Not sure what the expression was about, but he looks a hot mess!

This is a better representation of my little man. This sums him up perfectly! He is always happy! :) Love it!

See? Another day, another great smile!

Here is my sassy little girl. Sarah - in this picture, I think she resembles Joseph a little!

Daddy and his little girl. She is going to give him way more gray hair as she grows up!

Here she was coloring at the Children's Museum. I am pretty sure we have a lefty on our hands!

Whew! Time for a Breather

2011-08-12T14:44:00.001-04:00

So my monster project finally went out the door. It is now in the hands of Massachusetts and we now wait to find out what happens next. I am keeping my fingers, toes, legs, arms….everything crossed in hopes we win. I think we definitely have a high chance of winning and retaining this piece of business, but we never know what is going to happen. I will be on pins and needles until they announce the winner.

I took off a couple of days this week to catch up on things. My intention was to clean the house and do stuff that I have neglected over the past 2 months….but guess what? It didn’t happen! I ended up being pretty lazy and sleeping. I told Ted that I can’t believe how tired I have been the last week or so. He told me to just relax and it was probably my body trying to catch up from all the late work nights, the travel and the stress. I am definitely feeling a bit better now that I had a few days to rest up.

The kids are all doing great. Ethan went back to his Mom’s this past weekend and will be there for the remainder of the summer. Loved having him at home! Like I said in a previous post, it feels like we are complete when he is there. The kids have been asking about him a lot because he was with us for over a month. I love that they do that! :)

Brody and Molly both moved up in their classes at school. I had a brief meeting with Brody’s new teacher last week, since I didn’t know who she was and wanted to introduce myself to her. I LOVE HER! She is awesome and we had a great meeting. She said that she is a pretty strict disciplinarian (yay!) and that whatever Ted and I have done with Brody, we need to keep it up because he is so well behaved. That made this Momma smile! It totally warms my heart to hear that. It makes me realize that when we have to get on him for things and punish, the results are paying off! In his new class, they go on a field trip to the movies down the street every Tuesday. She said she was impressed with Brody considering it was his first time. I have always been hesitant about taking him because I am not sure how he will act. He watches movies at home, but normally he gets ¼ or ½ through and then wants to do something else. The only time he will watch the whole thing is when he is in his room. But, she said he did great and Brody loves going!

As for Molly, she has the same main teacher that Brody did when he was in her class so I know her pretty well. A couple weeks ago, I asked them how she was in the class with the other kids. The reason I asked is because my little girl has a TUDE! Yes, a big fat attitude! She is the sweetest thing one minute and then the next, she is throwing a look at you and if looks could kill you would be dead. She definitely bosses Brody around when we are at home. (He will be my sensitive one….she will be the more strong-willed one!) They said she is the leader of the pack, but not in an aggressive way. They said she gets along great with all the other kids. They love her there! All the teachers love to love up on her. I am thinking that she is holding it all inside until she gets home at night. Don’t get me wrong….she is a sweet little girl, but she can be mean. And like I said, when she doesn’t want to eat something, or she doesn’t want to do something, she lets you know! Sometimes, we laugh because it is pretty funny and other times, we aren’t sure what to do with her. She is too cute to get mad at, that’s for sure.

She has started to say love you (although it comes out “low-you”) and it makes me melt. Last night, after we read our books before bed, I asked her if I could rock her before I put her to bed. Initially, she said no, but when I get her paci, she came right up and just laid on me. I rocked her for a little bit. I could have stayed like that forever. I told her “Molly – don’t grow up…..just stay this small forever!” She said “Yes!” If only that could happen!

I am in such a baby mood lately and can’t believe my babies are growing up. I could have 4 more, but unfortunately, I need a man to do that and Ted said he is done. I definitely respect his decision….we do have 3, but I could have many more Brody’s and Molly’s. Knowing our luck, we would hope for good babies like they were and getting the holy terror!! We thought that would happen with Molly but she turned out better than Brody. But, I am not complaining. I have the 3 best kids in the world and could never ask for anything more! :)

Not funny....but I had to post

2011-07-17T13:13:00.003-04:00

Okay...the parent in me does not think this is funny, but the other part of me is in disbelief and had to post this. Brody is a very precocious child. I think the child has been cursed with my smart mouth and it really scares the crap out of me. Here are two conversations we had this weekend: 1 on Friday after school, and 1 on Saturday.

Friday
I picked up Brody and Molly from school. Brody had a note in his cubby from his teacher that said that he had a rough day on Friday. He wasn't listening and she asked that we speak to him about hitting his friends. Brody never hits his friends so I was definitely taken a back.

Me: Brody - what happened today? Ms. Kendra said you weren't listening and you hit your friends.
Brody: Well, Alex pinched me.
Me: You know you aren't supposed to hit your friends. You know better than that. Why did you get in trouble for not listening?
Brody: I did listen to my teachers.
Me: Well, apparently you weren't listening or else I wouldn't have gotten this note.
Brody: Well, apparently I was!

Yesterday
We took the kids to my girlfriend's daughters party at the local children's museum. When we passed the park at the front of our neighborhood, Brody asked if we could got to the park.

Brody: Mommy, can we go play at the park?
Me: Not right now, we need to get home and start dinner. Maybe another day.
Brody: Why Mommy?
Ted: Because we said not right now.....
Brody: Daddy, I wasn't talking to you....I was talking to Mommy. Mommy why?

Both Ted and I sat there with our mouths wide open. We were in shock that he actually said that. I am not sure what we are going to do with him..........He has been so good for so long, but this week, he has had a hard time listening at both school and home. I am hoping this is a short-term thing and he straightens up soon.

It has been too long....

2011-07-10T13:33:00.004-04:00

I can't believe I haven't posted anything in over 2 months! Crazy. Life is crazy. Work is crazy.....

I would say that in the last 2 months, I have been on the road traveling more than I have been home. I am working on a very large project at work right now (a $500 million contract in MA) and have been traveling back and forth to Boston alot. I also had to travel to Connecticut a couple of times. Luckily, I don't mind traveling to either one of those places, so it hasn't been too bad. And Ted has been doing really good with the kids. I just find it funny that when I have to travel, sooooo many people come up to me and ask "Since you are traveling, who is taking care of the kids?" I look at them like they are stupid, I am sure, and say "Uh......their Dad!" It is almost like it is totally not expected that their dad would be taking care of them while I am gone. What is wrong with that picture. I actually get offended by the question because it almost makes me feel like people think I shouldn't be traveling when I have small children. I am a very career-driven person and I don't think that having small children should hold me back from opportunities at work. UGH! Sorry for the ranting, but sometimes it really frustrates me. My good friend, who is much higher up in the company as me, said the next time someone asks that, I should respond with "Would you ask a man that question?" Of course, I am not that quick on the draw like that, but still. I can have both, right? A career and family? I think it is possible and I think I am doing a pretty darn good job at it. I am not saying it is easy all the time, but luckily I have an extremely supportive husband who never complains when I have to stay late or when I have to travel and I have a supportive family who can help. Anyway, I don't know who I am trying to convince....maybe myself, but I intend to stay at it so I can have both.

On the kiddie front, I posted new pictures of the kids on the right of the blog. Ethan is growing up way to fast. He turned 13 last month and has sprouted a moustache and is now my height! His voice is deeper than his Dad's and I would like to know where the little, blonde headed boy went..........oh, that's right. That is now Brody! The other day, I was looking at Brody sitting in his car seat on the way home from school and had flash backs to Ethan at that age. I think Brody resembles Ethan at that age so much sometimes. Of course, Ethan doesn't agree, but what does he know? :) We have Ethan for the summer, or atleast a good part of it, so it makes me happy when he is here. I feel like we are one complete unit and all the pieces are finally all together when he is here!

Of course, Brody is growing like a weed too. He is start to get skinny too. I know that when others look at him, they don't see that, but I definitely do. A couple of weeks ago, I was getting him dressed and had the hardest time finding him some shorts to wear.....all of his shorts were too big in the waste. Pretty crazy. He has changed sooooo much over the last couple of months it is hard for me to believe that is still just 3 years old. He is definitely becoming more of a lovebug with Molly too, which makes me soo happy. For the most part, he is so sweet with her, calling her sweet names and hugging her alot. Of course, she is not always digging it which I will get to later. But, I have to share this moment I had with him the other day because I never want to forget the feeling I had.

Last week, I left on Tuesday to go to Connecticut for work for a couple of days. I ended up getting home really late Thursday night and Ted ended up taking Brody to school Friday morning since Molly had a doctor's appointment that I was taking her to. So, I didn't really get a chance to see Brody since before I left so I definitely wanted to peek in and see him when I dropped Molly off at school after her doctor's appointment. Ted told me that they were having a little parade at school right around the time that I would be dropping her off so I figured I would see him anyway. I walked into the school and all the kids were in the main area singing and chanting. There were other parents standing around and when Brody looked around, I could tell he was looking for me. I peeked around from the parent standing in front of me and the look on Brody's face when he spotted me literally took my breath away. He broke out in a huge smile that lit up his entire face and as he was running to me, he started to tear up! I am actually tearing up right now as I type this because it was a moment I will NEVER forget. I could just tell how excited he was to see me and I was only gone for a few days. I swear.......these kids are the best thing I have ever done and they make me so proud to be their Mom every day!!!

Anyway, now that that sappy moment is over, let me get to little, miss attitude. Yes, attitude. Whew....Ted and I are going to have our hands full. Brody is going to be our sensitive one, "momma's boy" is what Ted calls him sometimes, but we are definitely going to have our hands full with lil' miss Molly. The looks she gives sometimes are to die for and like the saying "if looks could kill" we would have been dead more times than I can count. In saying that, she is also the most laidback, funny, cuddly girl I have ever met. That sounds so weird to say, but it is true. When Ted and I went on our vacation, which was the best time EVER, my Dad said it was so strange because Molly could be running around one minute, playing, and then when it was time to go to bed, you tell her it is "night-night" time and she is up the stairs and asleep in 5 minutes. I can't remember when Brody started climbing out of his crib, but she is now 19 months old and I don't think she has ever stood up in her crib when we weren't in there. At this point, I might keep her in her crib until she is 5! HA! She loves her sleep and her crib....I have never seen another child like that. And funny......man she is funny. The faces she makes, the way she imitates us, she is pretty hilarious! But when she has a 'tude, you better watch out. My parents keep saying she gets that from me. I guess they got their wish. They used to tell me that they can't wait until I have a kid just like me. I think it finally came true.

She had her 18 month check up the other day (she was actually closer to 19 months) and here are her stats:

Height - 31.1 inches (25%)
Head - 18.1 inches (25%)
Weight - 27.1 lbs. (75%)

So, she is short and stocky, just like her Dad and brother. But, she of course, looks more petite to me.

She had to back to the ENT after our last appointment for a check-up, but she ended up going back earlier because she got a double ear infection. They checked her out a couple weeks after she stopped the antibiotic and said that they would go ahead and do the tubes. They said I did have some time to decide because we are going into the summer months when ear infections are supposed to be rare. But they said if she continues to have issues, we need to go ahead and do it. It has been almost 3 weeks since she was seen and the other day at her check-up, her regular doctor said her ears look fine so I think we will wait. I really don't want her to have to have tubes, but of course, if she does need them, I won't wait. But I think right now, we will see what happens.

I will post some recent pictures I have taken of the kiddies later this evening. Sometimes, it takes a long time to post them and I am not a very patient person when it comes to that. :)

Molly Info - 16 1/2 months

2011-05-06T16:39:00.002-04:00

This is more for my benefit later one when I look back and wonder what Molly was doing at 16 1/2 months!

Yesterday, during Molly’s ENT appointment, they asked me how we felt her hearing and speech development was. I said “everything seems to be going well!” He said “does she say about 6-10 words?” I said “Oh yeah!” Ted looked at me shocked. He didn’t think so but I started to rattle off everything she is saying now and I started to realize that she is saying a lot:

Mommy
Daddy
Bobo (for Brody)
E-tan (for Ethan)
Book
Apple
Eat-eat
Night-night
Pop-Pop
Mamee (instead of MeeMaw)
Go
Shoe
Juice
Papi (for paci)
Baby
Elmo
Fishy

In addition to her expansive vocabulary :) she now has 7 teeth! Four on the top (including the two middle ones with a big gap in between) and three on the bottom. Unfortunately, her teeth look a little jacked up right now, but it just adds to her beauty! :)

A little more about her right now. She was fully clothed yesterday (including shoes and jeans) and she was 26 lbs. and 30 inches tall. She is growing up too fast!! She climbs on everything, including stairs, and her Grandma taught her to go down the stairs on her behind rather than try and walk down. She still loves her bath and gets really excited about brushing her teeth. Of course, she is still an amazing sleeper (even now when she is sick!) I am so thankful for her every day!

Cooties!

2011-05-06T15:32:00.004-04:00

Okay…it has been almost a month since my last post and there is lots going on.

First, the good news. Ted and I are going on vacation! We are heading to Cancun for about a week at the end of this month for our anniversary and I can not wait! We will be celebrating our 6th wedding anniversary on May 28th! It seems like we have been married longer than that! My parents are going to watch the kids that week for us. Ted and I have both said we are not planning anything except relaxing, beaching and pooling it, drinking, and sleeping! Ahhh………sounds so nice. I know I will miss the kiddies though, but they will be in good hands. In 18 days, we will be here!!

Now on to the bad news. We are all sick! That is everyone except Ted. Not sure how he escaped that one. Last week, Brody was coughing, mostly at night, and I thought it was just his allergies acting up. He is like his Daddy in that respect. When the pollen gets bad around here, which it has been the last month, their allergies are real bad. On Saturday morning, he was laying with me and I could hear him wheezing so I decided to take him to the doctor. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get in with my doctor’s office so they told me considering his symptoms to take him the urgent care. We got there, they did a chest x-ray, said that looked good and gave him an overall check up. They said they couldn’t see anything that would be causing it so they said he might have just picked up a virus and it would have to run its course. Then Sunday morning, I got a call from them and they said the radiologist ended up looking at his chest x-ray and said he had the beginnings of pneumonia. I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe that the doctor at the urgent care missed it. I thought something else might have been wrong and should have trusted my “Mommy instinct” They told me they were going to call in an antibiotic and that he needed to start using his inhaler again. So we did that and he seemed to be better on Monday morning.

I got the kids ready on Monday morning for school, dropped them off and headed to work. Got to work around 8:00 and sure enough, at 9:02, I got a call from the kids’ school. It was Molly’s teacher asking me to give her a call. I wasn’t sure what was up…figured she had just gotten hurt or fell or something. Nope! When I called, they said Molly was running a 101 fever and she was fussy ever since I left. I thought that was strange because she was absolutely fine that morning! She didn’t give me any inclination that she wasn’t feeling good. My mom went and picked her up and kept her for the day. When I headed home from work, I left a little late and told Ted to keep her up because I wanted to see her. My mom said she was fine in the morning, but in the afternoon, she was running a fever again and was real clingy. When I got home, I almost cried. She looked horrible. When my little girl doesn’t feel good, it is written all over her face. She gets dark circles under her eyes and she just looks beat down. I swooped her up and she was burning up. I took her temp and sure enough…it was 102. She was breathing real funky and I was worried about her getting pneumonia since the last time, she got it right after Brody. So I decided to take her to the doc. Since I was still pissed with our urgent care, I took her to the ER at Children’s Hospital for them to check her out. When we got there, she was running a 104 fever and they immediately gave her a Tylenol suppository. Poor thing! When we got back to the room, all she did was lay on me, sweating up a storm. The doc checked her out and said her lungs sounded fine and that she was probably just fighting a virus. Luckily we were in and out of there by 8:00. On the way home, I was joking with my Mom, who was so gracious to come with me, that Molly has never been in the car and not home in her bed after 7:00-7:30 in her life! Crazy! Anyway, she ended up staying home all week and today was her first day back at school. Considering it is now 3:00 and I haven’t gotten a call, I consider it a success.

Yesterday, she had her ENT appointment scheduled because her pediatrician said she needed to be seen since she was having recurring ear infections and persistent fluid in her ear. When we were at the ER the other night, the doctor did say something to me about her right ER and when I mentioned that we had the ENT appointment this week, he decided not to do anything about it. The first part of her appointment was a hearing test. The first thing they do is a tympanogram, which I wrote about in a previous blog. This test assesses the movement of her ear drum. She failed both ears at her pediatrician’s office, but luckily, this time she only failed on the right side. The next thing they did was the actual hearing test. They had her sit on my lap and made noises in speakers to her left and right. She did really good with that, but they said that they think she is hearing more out of her left than her right. She might have minor hearing loss in her right ear, which is caused from the fluid sitting behind her ear drum. Once we got called back to see the doctor, a resident came in first to assess her situation. He took a peek at her ears and then decided he needed to clean them out. My poor baby was screaming her little heart out the entire time. I felt so bad for her. I finally had to have Ted hold her because I couldn’t do it anymore. Not only was I emotional, but she was making me sweat! The doc came in and said that considering we are going into the summer months, which means it is not ear infection “season” he wanted to give her a little bit of time to see if the fluid goes away on its own. He said it generally happens in 9 out of 10 children. She has a follow-up appointment on June 30th to see what has gone on and if the fluid hasn’t gone away, she will probably need tubes. UGH! We avoided this bullet with Brody and I was hoping the same thing would happen with Molly, but not sure. Hopefully the fluid will disappear and all will be good. We shall see.

Now, I am not feeling so hot. I stayed home with Molly on Tuesday and on Wednesday, I started to have a sore throat and a cough. It has stayed around and while it doesn’t seem to be getting worse, it isn’t getting better. If it is not gone by next week, I will be heading to the doctor to get some meds so I can be good and healthy for our trip.

I really need to blog more......

2011-04-08T12:28:00.002-04:00

Yet again, I totally suck at blogging. I swear…I say I am going to be better about it and I totally cherish the fact that I blogged so often the last couple of years because I look back on what I posted all the time. Especially looking to see what Brody did at certain ages and (dare I say) compare him to Molly. There definitely is no comparison. Other then the fact that they were both easy, they are 2 totally different children!

The biggest news right now is that Ted will possibly not be working next week if the Government shuts down, which according to what I have been reading, is inevitable. As of right now, they have about 12 hours to come to some agreement or Ted will be getting on Monday, heading to work to get his furlough papers, and then heading back home! UGH! We were planning to go on a vacation at the end of May for our anniversary, but of course, that has been put on hold because we don’t know what will happen. I am hoping some miracle happens in the next 12 hours and he will still get paid next week.

Other news….Molly has another ear infection. When I took her for her 15 month check-up when I took Brody for his 3 year check up, unbeknownst to me, she had an ear infection in her left ear. Of course, like Brody, she gave me no indication that she was having issues so I had no clue. Well, when the doctor looked back at her other appointments, she has either had an infection or fluid in her ear since January. She prescribed an antibiotic to try and knock it out and said we needed to come back in 2 weeks for a re-check. Well, her re-check was on Tuesday and guess what – the ear that had an infection still had yellow fluid and her right ear was the same way. The other issue is that when we first went back, the nurse did a tympanogram test on her. I don’t remember Brody ever having that done, at least not in the pediatrician’s office, so I was surprised when they did it. The tympanogram tests the middle ear the mobility of the eardrum. It doesn’t assess her hearing, but it measures the eardrum’s response to sound at different pressures. Well, both of her ears came back abnormal which means we are headed to the ENT. I was able to schedule an appointment with the same practice Brody went to on May 5th so we will wait to see what happens. I am hoping that they are able to solve the issue without having to do tubes, which is what happened with Brody. I know that I shouldn’t be freaked out, but anytime someone says a test came back abnormal with my kids, I get a little scared. Then of course, I thought back and remembered that in the hospital, she failed her first hearing test, but passed the second. Of course, in my warped brain, I am already associating the 2 and they probably have nothing to do with each other. So, now we wait. Of course, you take one look at her and have no clue that anything is wrong. She is still her happy go lucky self. Such a lovebug. The following list is just for me because I want to document some of the funny things the kids are doing now:

Brody

The other night, I was getting Brody ready for his bath. I told him to take his clothes off and he looked at me and said, “Okay little girl…..little girl named Mommy!” Of course, it is not as funny as I am typing it because the funniest part was the look on his face and the way he said it! It cracked me up.

Brody is doing so awesome at school. I definitely think he was more than ready to move up to the next class. When my parents picked him up from school the other day, my Mom asked how he was and his teacher said “Brody is always good!” Makes this Mommy smile. He has been so good the last couple of weeks with listening and doing what he is told. His time-outs have been few and far between and he just seems to have matured so much recently. Crazy to think of him as mature at 3, but I don’t know another way to describe it.

I have started to relax a little about his schedule. Anyone that knows me well might be falling out of their chair right now as they are reading this, but yes, it is true. The nap times are limited on the weekend and he is able to fully function with no nap so if he misses it, I am not that worried. We still send him upstairs in his room at his normal nap time, but we let him watch tv and have now referred to it as “rest time.” At night, same thing, but he has been hanging out with us a little more at night and the other night, I actually let him stay downstairs and we watched cartoons and it was 8:00 pm! I know…..sometimes I shock myself. But he is a well-adjusted kid and I have learned that we can modify the schedule a little bit and guess what? The world doesn’t fall apart like I thought! Of course, I can’t say the same thing about Molly’s schedule. She is still too young.

Molly

Similar to Brody, Molly is doing really well at school. She has definitely adjusted to going there every morning and I can’t honestly remember the last time she cried when I dropped her off. That used to just be a staple in our morning routine, but not now. I can’t tell that she is picking up more and more language. She can pretty much imitate most words we say to her and has come to call Brody bo-bo. It is pretty cute.

At night, for a while, we would bathe her, put her jammies on, and then I would rock her for a few minutes before I put her down at night. She would just lay on me with her head on my chest and those were one of my favorite moments of the day. Well now, or atleast for the past couple of nights, we do the same thing and I will go to sit in the rocker and she will fight to get off of me. Once she is down, she will walk right over to her crib, grab the railing, look at me and say something in her Chinese, and hike a leg up like she wants to get in the crib. The first time it happened, I couldn’t believe it. It was like she was trying to tell me that she was ready for bed. Well, she has started doing it more and more. I guess our rocker time has slowly faded away! That is like a knife to the heart for me because it is yet another sign my little baby girl is growing up! :(

Molly definitely loves her brothers. She and Brody play together pretty well, but of course there are those times where they fight. It is crazy to think about a 16 month old and a 3 year old fighting, but trust me it happens. Molly started this new thing last week where she would break out in a high-pitch scream when Brody would take something from her. She is a little feisty……….I think it is pre-cursor of what is to come. She is definitely my more laid back baby, but she has a mean streak in her and as she gets older, I am sure we would find it as cute as we do now at this age.

Last weekend, Molly was out in the kitchen while Ethan was emptying the dishwasher. She fell and started crying and I was getting ready to get up and go in there, but Ethan had scooped her up and she immediately stopped crying. It was probably one of the sweetest things ever. She was just staring up at him, with this look on her face that said “Thank you so much for saving my life!” It was adorable! I love those moments….they definitely can not be re-created!

I think that is it for now. I am going to get back to work. I just wanted to take a little brain break and post something since I haven’t posted in a while! Ciao for now! :)

A Few Pictures

2011-03-30T09:47:00.004-04:00

I don't have many pictures with me here at work, but wanted to post the few that I had! This first one cracks me up because Brody was so excited to eat his Shrek cake!! I just wish the spoon wasn't in the way!

15-Month Comparison

2011-03-25T15:26:00.003-04:00

Okay...as the kiddies get older, they are starting to look more and more different. Here is a comparison of both of them around 15 months! Crazy how they both can look so different! Sorry they are both so blurry. They were taken on my phone and then of course I wanted to make it big enough to see. Such cuties!

My Baby Boy is 3

2011-03-25T10:14:00.003-04:00

Holy crap people! My baby boy is 3 years old! When did that happen? I have been pretty slack with the blogging lately. Work is absolutely crazy and I am just so tired when I get home that all I want to do is relax and read before I go to bed. But anyway, enough about me!

Brody’s birthday was last Saturday and we decided to do something small at the house. We had my parents, Chris and Rick and the kids, Tab and Mallory, Nana and Grandma Cappy (Tab’s grandma and Mom), and my neighbors and their kids over. I originally wasn’t going to do a theme or anything, but at the last minute, decided I would do Shrek. He LOVES Shrek and has watched it so many times that he recites pieces of the movie. Sad, I know! But anyway, it was a pretty nice day so he was outside playing with the kids and overall, it was a great day! I love the fact that he is growing up, but in the same vein, I hate the fact that he is growing up! One day, my baby boy will be bigger than me, but I can’t think about that stuff right now. I am just going to enjoy these moments and cherish that fact that when he hurts himself or he is sad, Mommy is the one to make him feel better. A bandaid has nothing on Mommy’s kisses! The other night, I was doing some work at home and Ted and I went up to tuck Brody in for bed. I was going to head back downstairs and Ted was going to lay with him for a few minutes. When I said I was going downstairs, Brody clung to me and said “No Mommy. You stay here!” I said “Daddy is going to stay with you!” He said “No, Daddy can go downstairs…..you stay with me!” It definitely made me feel good (although it did upset Ted). Ted headed downstairs and Brody ran and got him and brought him back in the room. It was pretty sweet!

A couple of weeks ago, Brody moved up into the next class at school. I had my parent-teacher conference with his teacher and she said she knew Brody was ready to move up. She said he had mastered everything in her class and he would get bored quickly. Right before they transitioned him, he was acting up too, even at home, so I think he was ready for the challenge. He has been SOOO much better since transitioning and his teachers have said he is doing awesome. Puts a smile on my face, that’s for sure.

So, he had his 3-year check up on Monday. They did his weight and height and then checked his vision. He did so great. They gave him the black cover to put over his one eye and I said “Look Brody. You are a pirate!” He just turned to me, looked up and said, “Arggghhhh!” It was pretty funny. So here are his 3-year stats:

Height – 39 ½ inches (85%)
Weight – 43.8 lbs (<95%) (he did have his shoes and jeans on that day, so I just wanted to make that known) BMI – you ready for this Sarah? 19.7! As I am with all of his appointments, I want to make sure weight isn’t an issue. His pediatrician is the same he has had since he was born so she knows how big he was when he was born. She has always told me that I can’t just go by his weight. He has his Daddy’s body type…….short and stocky. She said that although he is above the curve on the BMI chart, she is not worried about his weight at all. She said he is not overweight because she is considering his body type. She asked what he drank to which I replied “the only thing he drinks is 2% milk, water, and watered-down crystal light. She said that is good. I said he has fruits and veggies with every meal and he NEVER gets sweets. I have always been worried about giving him sweets and since my parents were with me at this appointment, my Dad piped in and said “Yeah, she is a really strict Mommy when it comes to sweets. She is mean and won’t let him have any” I really don’t want to start him down the path of eating that junk so he hardly ever gets any sweets. Call me what you want to call me, but he started off as a big baby and I do not want to be having conversations with his doctor down the road where I have to put my 6 or 7 year old on a diet because he is too heavy. I just feel like he doesn’t necessarily know what he is missing. It also makes it a better surprise when he actually gets to eat some sweets so that is what I focus on! The last thing before we left the doctor was his shot. He needed to get one shot and they decided to do it in his upper arm. They had him sit in my lap and I held him while they did it. She did the shot and Brody tensed up, looked down and just said “Oww!” He didn’t cry and did awesome. They put a bandaid on and sent us on our way.

I am posting this at work while I am taking a break so I will try and post some pictures from Brody’s birthday this weekend. In the mean time, I will leave you with this for a Friday. Brody doesn’t really like for me to take pictures of him anymore, but my Molly is a cheeser. She says “Cheese” when you take her picture and loves the camera. Hopefully that will stick. I will fill you in on her checkup in another post. Hope everyone has a happy Friday!

A Picture Says 1,000 Words!

2011-03-09T11:00:00.001-05:00

Work is crazy busy, kids were sick last week, and this is how I have been feeling lately.......

Deja Vu!

2011-02-28T14:57:00.004-05:00

Okay...I am starting to think that there is a method to Brody's madness! So, last year at this time (which happens to be my Birthday week), Brody got the norovirus and passed it on to the rest of our household (with the exception of Molly). Remember this? Well, yesterday morning, Brody came into our room around 5:00 am saying his tummy hurt and he needed something to drink. Ted got him something and went back to bed. A little later, he came in our room again and said he had pooped in the potty and he needed help. I helped him with that and sent him back to bed. Well, around 7:45, he was yelling from his room "Mommy, I need to froke (his way of saying throw) up!" I ran in there and he said he felt sick and needed to "froke" up. He didn't get sick, but when I gave him his breakfast, he wouldn't eat much. I gave him some ginger ale, hoping it would settle his stomach, but after his second glass of it, he told me he didn't want the "green juice" anymore. All morning, he would go from telling me he was going to get sick to running around and planning. Initially, I thought he must just have a sour stomach because he has had a runny nose and thought the drainage was making his stomach hurt.

Well, for lunch, he didn't eat much, if anything. I took him up to his room after that to lay down in his bed and watch some TV. He called me up there twice telling me he was going to sick, but nothing. I told him he needed to lay down and take a nap and that he would feel better. He ended up falling asleep for about an hour and he told me he felt better when he got up. But, the same thing happened in the afternoon - one minute he was telling me he was going to get sick and the other minute he was playing and having a good time. I was stumped.

I also forgot to mention that he ended up peeing in his pants 3 times yesterday. He hasn't had an accident in forever, especially during the day. This was not like him. I kind of thought that since I was pushing alot of liquids, he couldn't get to the bathroom fast enough.

So, last night, we gave him a bath and put him in bed a little early. He was asleep by 7:15 and I had to wake him up this morning for school. He seemed okay this morning (just a little grumpy, which sometimes happens) and Ted took the kids to school so I could drop Ethan off at his Mom's house for school. Well, I was on my way to work and Ted called to tell me that Brody had an accident at school. He had pooped his pants! I mean really? I am totally thinking something is up now. But, Ted said he was fine when he left. I was waiting for the call from daycare, because I figured it was just a matter of time.

Well, that call came at 9:00 this morning. I was in a meeting so they called Ted. Brody got sick twice at school and had another accident. Ted picked him up (I absolutely could not leave work today because I have a deadline of today on a big project I am working on). I have called Ted twice now and he said Brody seems to be okay. He hasn't gotten sick again and he has had no accidents. We shall see what the night brings. I am probably going to be home with him tomorrow just to let him relax one more day.

I am really hoping this isn't deja vu and the same thing happens last year. Ted and I are playing to go out for my birthday Saturday night and I am hoping we won't have to cancel. It seems like everytime we try and plan something, it either gets cancelled or it doesn't work out because one or both of us is sick! I am keeping my fingers (and toes) crossed that this doesn't happen!

Stop the Presses..........Molly Now has 3 Teeth!

2011-02-22T19:21:00.004-05:00

Holy crap! I never thought this day would come. At almost 15 months, Molly finally got her 3rd tooth. I mean.....I thought she was going to go to Kindergarten with just her 2 bottom teeth! I checked her mouth out, like I always do at night, and lo and behold....there it was! She cut her top left I-tooth, the one right next to where her 2 front teeth go! They have not shown any sign of coming in soon, but this one is about half way through! YAY Molly! I got so excited and she was clapping for herself! It was real cute!

Of course, just like her brother, her 3rd tooth was not the top front ones, but the one on the side. Weird! Just for comparison's sake, I looked back to see when Brody got his third tooth. He was 8 months old!! By this age, Brody had almost a mouth full of teeth. But Molly walked at 10 months and Brody was just over a year. I guess it just goes to show how different kids are.

Now.....we wait for the others to arrive......

Pictures

2011-02-22T09:52:00.008-05:00

Here a few pictures from this weekend. My parents came over yesterday for dinner and my mom was in the playroom playing with the kiddies and reading them a book. In the one picture, it looks like she is popping Brody in the head, which she was. She was ready the book about the monkey jumping on the bed and every time she got to the part where it says "one fell off and bumped his head" my mother would tap Brody on the head and he would just laugh and laugh. It was pretty cute! (Please excuse my playroom. I feel like as soon as I clean it up, they trash it again!)

When I was getting the pictures off my camera, I found a few cute pictures below that I took a couple of weeks ago. Molly loves sitting at the table and chairs Brody got for his birthday last year. There are sometimes that she just walks over and sits there for a while, on her own. It is pretty cute.

I love these next two pictures. Brody had brought his lovie and blanket down stairs one day and wanted to lay on the floor and watch some TV. Molly loves pillows and will just plop down on them. Well, Brody was asking her to lay with him and I wanted to get a good picture of it because it was so cute. Brody was even rubbing her back at one point! I love the fact that they are interacting more and more, but sometimes, Brody is just too rough with her. I know he doesn't realize it and most of the time, she just goes with it. There have been a few times that she just wants nothing to do with him and he doesn't quite understand it. I remember being worried that Brody would never take to her, but I can now say that is definitely not the case. I am excited to see the type of relationship they will develop over the years. Brody is definitely the big brother, but I think she is going to give him a run for his money. I think there might be a mean streak within her little body that Brody will witness sooner rather than later! :)

Nice Family Day

2011-02-21T18:05:00.004-05:00

Today was a holiday (President's Day) and both Ted and I had off work. The kids were out of school too because it was a staff training day. So, we decided that we would try and do something to get the kids out of the house. The past couple of days, Molly has had a runny nose and she did have a slight fever, but the fever seems to be gone now (fingers crossed). The runny nose is still there, but I am hoping it is just from the weather change. Last week, we had a few days in the 70s and then some in the 50s. Today was a beautiful 73. So after the kids naps', we decided to go to a bounce house for Brody to play (wasn't sure how Molly would do). Well, when we got there, of course, Brody started crying because the man at the front door wanted to put a wrist band on him. Molly cried too, but they both stopped pretty quickly. Well, it took Brody a little while to convince him to go in one of the bounce houses, but once he did, he had a blast. After about 20-30 minutes, he was done and said he was ready to go. When we got in the car, I asked him if he had a good time. He said "no." I said you didn't and he said "no" again. So, I asked if he wanted to go to the park. Of course, he was super excited about that and started talking about going on the swings.

A few of the parks we went to first were pretty crowded so we found one that had no one on it. The kids decided to swing first and then after that, Brody went to slides. He was climbing up this one ladder and got to the top and couldn't figure out how to get off and onto the platform. He said "Mommy, help! Help me!" I said I was coming and the next thing he said was, "Mommy, ayudeme, ayudeme!" Now, my many years of Spanish knew what he said but I couldn't believe it! I asked Ted if he heard him and he said "Yes, what does that mean" I said, "He just said Help Me in Spanish!" We both busted out laughing! I couldn't believe he said it, much less the fact that he used it in the right context! Now, this made me feel a little better about the fact that he watches Dora the Explorer and Go Diego Go because now I really feel like he is learning something! Anyway, it was pretty hilarious!

So, we ended up getting something to eat on the way home and I actually broke down and let Brody get ice cream! Now, for anyone who knows me well, they know that I do not give my children sweets! I would much rather they eat fruit or sugar free treats, but I thought "What the heck!" I really think it was frozen yogurt anyway. Well, Brody got some and I gave Molly some too! She was like a little birdie, constantly with her mouth wide open ready for a spoonful! Now, both kids are bathed and in bed......Molly already asleep and Brody watching some TV.

I am just going to relax now until bed time because I have been having a hard time waking up the past few days. I have been waking up to Brody in my face saying "Mommy, I have to pee!" Don't get me wrong......I am super excited that he is coming to tell me rather than going in his pants because I can now officially say that he is potty trained! He has done an awesome job of not going in his pants at night and of course, we have had no accidents during the day for a while now. Whew, it is such a relief not to have to buy two big boxes of diapers when we go to the store.

I am going to upload some pictures tomorrow from my work computer. I tried here and it is just too slow. Not sure what that is about! Off to do some cleaning up and I might read a little before it is time to ready Brody a book and head to bed! Hope everyone has a great week!

Busy, Busy....Again!

2011-02-16T11:49:00.001-05:00

Well, I am really stinking at posting lately. This have been pretty busy at work. The week before last I was in New York for 3 days for a big presentation. Then last week, my boss and I had to go to Florida for a meeting. Unfortunately, the meeting ended up getting cancelled but the announcement didn’t come until after we were already in flight. Once the plan landed, my boss checked her e-mail and just busted out laughing. So, we ended up getting a free trip to Tampa for the night! It was great weather and we ended up staying at a hotel in Clearwater, which was right on the water. All in all, it wasn’t a bad trip.

However, Ted called me that afternoon and said that daycare called and Molly had a fever (103). I was shocked because she was completely fine when I dropped her off. Ted ended up staying home with her on Thursday and I stayed home with her on Friday. She was still running a fever, with no other symptoms, on Friday so I scheduled a doctor’s appointment. I was sure she had an ear infection or something since she had a fever, but our doc checked her out and everything was fine. They checked her ears (no ear infection) and they did a flu test (which came back negative). The doc said she must have some type of virus that her body was trying to fight off. She still had a fever on Saturday, but by Sunday, it was gone. Then Sunday afternoon, she started getting a rash on her belly. I had heard that sometimes when kids get a fever, a rash develops after, but I never had experience with that with Brody. She went to school on Monday and that night, when we were eating dinner, she lifted her shirt and the rash was all over! I freaked out and called the after-hours number for her pediatrician. When the nurse called back, she asked me a bunch of questions and then said that she was pretty sure it was something called roseola. I had never heard of it but when she described it, it was exactly what Molly had. It starts with a sudden onset of fever, then once the fever goes away, a rash develops, which can last a couple hours or a couple days. Well, by yesterday morning, the rash was gone. Pretty crazy, but she is all good now!

We ended up not doing much for Valentine’s day. We typically never do anything, but this year, Ted was home sick. He ended up getting what I am assuming is what I had a couple of weeks ago. He did get me a gift certificate for a couple of massages, which I am excited about using! So thoughtful!

Anyway, that’s really all that is going on with us. I have been pretty horrible about taking pictures lately, but I will try and get some pictures of the kiddies this weekend and post them.

Almost Forgot.....

2011-02-03T20:22:00.003-05:00

I can't believe I almost forgot to post this. This should have been the first thing I posted in my previous blog post. Drum roll please....................................................................................

Brody is officially potty trained! Even at night! He has not had an accident during the day in over a month and he has gone a little over a week without an accident at night! YEAH! We are so proud of him. He will even get up and go on his own, which is mind boggling to me! We are now leaving his door open at night, which has always frightened me because I was afraid he would wonder around the house at night. But we now have a gate in our hallway which will hopefully help with that. Although, he loves to close it. Not sure he can open it though. But I wouldn't put anything past him!

Brody, we are so proud of you. You have done an amazing job and you can stop growing up at any time now! :)

Busy Bee

2011-02-03T19:16:00.006-05:00

Geez....where do I start? Since the last time I posted, alot has gone on. Let me start from the beginning.

A couple weekends ago, I went out of town for a girls weekend! My fabulous neighbor, Michelle, and I went with three other girls down to North Carolina for the weekend. Our one friend arranged to get her in-law's condo for the weekend so we decided to head down a little early and make it a long weekend. There were 5 of us in total, and between the 5 of us, we have 14 kids! Needless to say, we all needed a weekend to get away. I took off Thursday and Friday of that week and we headed down Thursday afternoon. We took a picture of the back of my truck once we were all packed up and ready to go and it was ridiculous!! We all brought so much stuff and ended up not using/eating/drinking half of it. We got down there Thursday night, had dinner, and grocery/liquor store shopped. Then Friday, we walked around one of the little towns near by and had a fabulous lunch. Then, on Saturday, we weren't planning on doing anything, and thank goodness because we got 6 inches of snow! Yes, snow at the beach! It was crazy! We headed back on Sunday and a good time was had by all.

Well, when we were there, two of the ladies were checking in at home and a couple of their kids were sick. One of our friends, Erin, ended up not feeling that great, but she was a trooper and hung in there. On Monday, I woke up for work and didn't feel that great. My throat was scratchy and I was coughing. Since I had been out, I really couldn't afford to take more days off so I thought I could head the sickness off at the path and go to the doctor. I was also worried about pneumonia since my grandmother, mom, Brody, and Molly had it recently. They did a chest x-ray, tested for the flu and strep and that all came back negative. The doc said I had an upper respiratory infection/bronchitis and prescribed antibiotics. I went back to work after that and when I got home that night, I felt awful. I ended up not sleeping much/if at all Monday night and felt horrible Tuesday morning. I could not even get out of bed I felt so bad! I ended up being home Tuesday and Wednesday sick. I have to say that this was probably the worst upper respiratory infection I have ever had! I have been sick with it before, but this one really whopped my butt! I ended up getting back to work on Thursday and thank goodness I was feeling better because I had no idea what was in store for me when I got back.

So, on Thursday, I was assigned to work on a presentation for a $100 million dollar deal we are going after in New York. Typically, our department has only been responsible for responding to proposals, but since we now have a new CEO, we are taking on more responsibility. So, I get pulled into a meeting on Thursday afternoon, and Friday morning to discuss our strategy. One of the big issues is that the presentation was scheduled for today, so we had a week to pull it all together. On Friday, they decided that we needed to get all of our Chiefs together on Tuesday (this past Tuesday) in my office for an all day face-to-face meeting to work on this thing. On Friday when I left work, that was the plan. Well, on Friday night, I was checking my work e-mail and saw that they changed the meeting to New York. At this point, I assumed I was going to be going, but wasn't 100% sure. My boss' boss called me on my cell on Sunday and said we had a conference call Sunday night (yes, Sunday night) at 8:00 to discuss all the details. I attended that call, which ended up lasting 2 hours, and the decision was for all of us to meet in New York on Tuesday morning because they were expecting snow there and everyone was worried about travel. So I headed to work Monday morning and attended our scheduled call at 11:00 am. Well, during this call, the weather situation was brought up again and our CEO decided we needed to head to NYC that night! So, there I was, scrambling around, heading home to pack, and then heading back to work to fly to New York that night!

Needless to say, the past 3 days have been pretty hectic. I have worked until 12:00 each night, but the upside was that I was able to enjoy New York (a little bit) and our hotel was freaking fabulous! The coolest part is that the bar/club downstairs was hosting Brooke Shields for 2 weeks. Apparently, she does a cabaret show! Unfortunately, I didn't get to see her (which is okay because I have never been a huge fan) but it was pretty cool. Then, this morning, when I was at the aiport, stripping down to go through security, freaking Philicia Rashad was in front of us. Funny story about that.....

So, my colleague and I are standing in line, organizing all of our stuff to go through security. There were 2 younger guys behind us and as we are getting our stuff together, he jumps in front of us and the lady in front of us. She turns to him and asks him if he is from New York. He says yes, and she says "I figured that!" After she says that, she turns around and looks at us. At that moment, I thought she looked familiar, but I wasn't 100% sure. Well, I ended up sneaking a peek at her boarding pass and sure enough, it said Philicia Rashad! One of the guys ended up staying behind us and after we made it through security, I turned to him and said "Hey, your buddy just cut in front of Claire Huxtable!" He didn't believe me, but once he looked at her, he started laughing! It was pretty hilarious!

Anyway, I am now home, safe and sound, and was sooooo happy to see my kiddies! They were pretty excited too, which of course, made my week! Ted left today to go to Florida for the weekend, so we basically just did a switch-a-roo. While I was in NYC, he took care of the kids, and now he left, and I am here. I haven't seen him since Monday morning and won't see him until late Sunday night! Absence makes the heart grow fonder, right? I do miss seeing his face. But he will be home before I know it.

I am off to read Brody a story and tuck him in for bed!

Random Pictures and a Video of Ms. Dancing Queen

2011-01-17T10:38:00.016-05:00

Here are some random pictures from this past weekend.

And here is a video of my tiny dancer. She must have picked this up at school and I am assuming they must be doing some kind of dance. Everytime music comes on, no matter what she is doing, she gets up and dances! I love it!

Molly's 1 Year Stats

2011-01-13T08:20:00.003-05:00

So, I am doing this now just so I don't forget. This is really just for me so I can look back and see her 1 year stats

Height - 30 inches (65th percentile)
Weight - 22.3 lbs (60th percentile)
Head - 18 inches (60th percentile)

So, she is a little above average on all fronts. I am not sure how correct her head measurement was though. She was crying when they were doing it so I don't think the nurse was able to get a good measurement. Also, I can't imagine that her head grew enough to go from the 20th percentile at 9 months to the 60th in three months.

I was actually surprised at her length too. She looks so short to me, but again, the only comparison I really have is Brody. At 1 year, Brody was 1.25 inches taller than Molly and 6 lbs. heavier. When I went back and looked at pictures of him from then, he was much bigger than her. I never really noticed his size until now! Pretty funny!

On a side note: Daycare is getting better. She has napped the last couple of days and her crying is a bit less when I leave her in the morning. The ladies there have been really great helping me walk out the door in the morning. I know she is well taken care of! :)

Molly's First Day at School

2011-01-11T19:23:00.003-05:00

Well.....the day finally came. Molly started school yesterday. I have dreaded this day for many months, but I knew it would eventually come. First and foremost, I was worried about how she would react. Of course, having experienced this was Brody, I was more prepared, but I wasn't fully prepared for the feelings that came. She has always been such a good baby and I knew she would do just fine, but I never want to feel like I am not there for my kids. Since family members having been watching her up until this point, I always knew that was somewhat of an extension of me. This was going to be a different experience for both of us. With that said, I knew that Brody has thrived at this school and I tried to stay positive. And, of course the cost of having two in daycare was a shock! Whew.....we could own another house for what we are paying for both! But, I know it is a good school and they have a very structured program so it is worth it.

So, I got both kids ready yesterday morning and figured it would be best to drop Brody off in his class first. That of course went fine. (Side note: he has been so good with the potty. He has not had an accident at school yet! I am so proud!) I then went into Molly's class, dropped her stuff off and hung around for a bit. I had an eye doctor appointment after that and knew I had some time to stick around. She immediately went for the toys and I thought, "Wow......this may be easier than I thought!" Well, I went to leave and she turned to watch me and immediately stuck her lip out and started to cry. Of course, that pulled at my heart strings and I picked her up and started to play a little bit more with her. I thought, "maybe she just needs a little more time." Well, that happened a couple more times and eventually, I started running out of time and knew I had to go. I bit the bullet and left her with the teacher. I heard her cry and as I was signing her out, I just lost it! I tried to hold it together until I got into the car, but I couldn't help it!

Now, of course, I called a couple of times throughout the day. The first time I called it was about 9:30. They said she stopped crying about two minutes after I left. She ate her breakfast well (which I was worried about because she still only has two teeth!) and they said she was getting along well. I knew nap time was around 11:00 so I wanted to wait until she was up before I called again. Well, I called at 3:00 and her teacher said she did well at lunch, but she never napped. Huh? What? That's not my kid. She loves sleep and never misses her nap! They said that she just laid there but never fell asleep. (Another side note: When I dropped her off, I asked the teacher where the cribs in the class were. She said they didn't sleep in cribs anymore; they slept on cots on the floor. When Brody was in the same class, they still had cribs. I remember thinking, "How in the heck will that work. She tends to curl up in the corner of her crib when she sleeps.") Anyway, they said she didn't fuss....she just laid there and never fell asleep. They said she had a good rest of the day. I was totally expected to see a fussy baby when I got home from work, but she was just fine! She looked tired, but didn't act like it. She was my normal, happy baby!

So, in conclusion, her first day was great! And her second day was even better! She still cried when I left but they said she was fine soon after I left and even took a nap today! I knew this first week would be hard and even though Brody has been going to school for almost two years, he still has his moments where he doesn't want me to leave! Of course, as a Momma, you hate to see that, but a part of me feels pretty good about it! I would probably wonder about him if he didn't do that sometimes.

On another note, Brody has really started to bond with Molly and I love it! Like tonight.....after I gave them both a bath (separately, because together is extremely difficult), after I got them both dressed, Brody was walking with Molly and he just stopped and started tickling her. She was giggling up a storm and so was he! Ahhh........a pretty good end to the day! Then he gave Molly a kiss before she went to bed. These are the moments that melt my heart! I have so much love for my kiddies that I can't even put it into words!

These are a Few of My Favorite Things..........

2011-01-05T19:23:00.002-05:00

These are a few of my favorite things right now.......

the look on Brody and Molly's face when they see me at the end of the day,
the sound of Brody's laughter,
the sound of Molly's giggle,
the smell of the kiddies fresh out of the bath,
the way Molly snuggles into the nape of my neck right before I put her in her crib,
the way Brody says "we will read it tomorrow" once we are done with his book at night,
everytime Ethan comes to visit,
the way Ethan pats Brody on the head when he comes home,
the way Molly kisses right now (open mouthed),
the fact that Brody puts an "s" on underwear,
the way Brody says "lithen" instead of "listen,"
the look on Brody's face when Ted comes home after a long weekend away from home,
when Brody says "I love you Mommy" out of the blue,
the way Molly shakes her head "no" when you tell her no,
looking at the monitor and seeing my babies sleeping at night (Brody with his arms wide open and Molly on her belly with her butt in the air),
the fact that Brody was all about Molly tonight, wanting to be around her, hug her, and feed her,
when Brody asks me to sit right next to him in the chair to watch a movie,
the way Brody soothed Ashleigh after she chipped her tooth, rubbing her back and telling her it was going to be okay, and
that no matter what time they wake up, either by themselves or when we have to wake them up, my kiddies always wake up with a smile!

Oh, there are many more, but these are just a few things I can think of right now!

A New Year

2011-01-03T12:01:00.008-05:00

Happy 2011!! I can't believe it is already the new year. This last year has gone by sooooo fast! Today was Brody's first day back at school and I know he was ready. I was home all last week and was able to spend a lot of time with all the kiddies (or as Ethan has corrected me, he is a "smallish" man, not a kiddie) and we had a good time. We were couped up in this house for most of it because the weather was not that great, but the kids had plenty of new toys to keep them occupied.

One good thing to come out of last week is that Brody is pretty much potty-trained during the day! YAY! Since Christmas morning, he had only one accident and wore big boy underwear all day long. We even went out a couple of times and he was so good. I can't even tell you how proud I am of him. I know that everyone said it would happen when he was ready, but I am impatient and of course wasn't so sure. But he has proven me wrong! Today is his first day at school and he has his big boy pants on so I am keeping my fingers crossed that he does good!

Another funny story about Brody last week. After his nap (or what he calls, his "rest time") I went up to go get him and bring him down stairs. When I went into his room, he told me that his lovey was in the corner. I looked over and this is what I saw:

I asked him what happened and he said "I don't think lovey was listening so she is in time out!" It was hilarious! He was so matter of fact about it. He has such a great imagination! Here are a couple of pictures of him playing around with Molly and his cousins over the past week:

I love Brody's look in this picture. Molly was crying because Anthony and Ashleigh were trying to hold her back so we could get a picture of them. Brody looks like "I am not doing anything!"

Molly finally goes for her 12 week check up this week. She had an appointment scheduled last week, but since she still seemed sick, we decided to postpone her well check and get her checked out. Luckily, the antibiotics they had her on for the pneumonia seemed to knock that out, but she was still snotty and coughing. Well, she ended up having an ear infection so they put her on another antiobiotic to knock that out. Luckily, she is feeling much better. The only bad thing is that she hates this new medicine. The video below is how she reacts when she takes her medicine. Ted's mom was trying to feed it to her and take a look at her reaction once she gets some........

The last thing is today is my Dad's birthday. Unfortunately, he is spending it taking care of my Mom, who has gotten the stomach flu from all the rest of us who have been sick. It has gone through our family like crazy. Happy Birthday Dad! We will definitely celebrate this weekend when everyone is better!

2010-12-27T19:41:00.001-05:00

1 Year Comparison

2010-12-27T16:00:00.005-05:00

Okay.....here is a comparison of Brody and Molly at 1 year. As much as they looked alike when they were born, the older they get, the more they differ to me. What do you think?

Christmas 2010

2010-12-26T20:27:00.001-05:00

Before I get into Christmas 2010, I thought I would recap what happened last week after Brody got pneumonia. Well, he didn’t go to school at all the week before last since he still had a fever so his first day back to school was this past Monday. On Sunday, Molly got a fever and was coughing a considerable amount. Then Sunday night, she started wheezing and it sounded like she had a hard time breathing. We almost took her to the ER that night but she fell asleep pretty early and slept good that night. I had already scheduled her 12 month appointment for Tuesday morning but I called Monday morning and they were able to see her right then. Well, guess what? Molly had pneumonia! Really? That is 4 people in my family within the month that had pneumonia! I couldn’t believe it. The only good thing was that her doctor said it was in the beginning stages so she was on an antibiotic and an inhaler like Brody. She seems to be doing much better, but I think the runny nose will be a staple this entire winter season.

So, if you are thinking that was it……..think again! That would be just too easy! On Wednesday night, Brody woke up around 12:00 and Ted went in there. I was still half asleep so I wasn’t sure when he got back to bed. The next time, it was around 1:00 when I heard him crying again. Ted went back in there and all I heard was “…..in the trash can!” I got up and headed towards his room, hoping I didn’t hear what I thought I did. I was hit half way down the hallway with that awful smell and when I got to his room, he had thrown up all over his room. Apparently he hadn’t gotten sick at 12:00 and Ted cleaned it up and then he went back to sleep. I went downstairs and got some pedialyte and he drank two glasses of it. I ended up sleeping with him just in case he got sick again. Luckily, he didn’t. Since he didn’t have a fever, he was acting fine Friday morning so we decided to send him to school. I was on high alert every time my phone rang on Friday, hoping it wasn’t the school calling me to tell me Brody got sick. But, it never happened. He was fine all day on Friday. It took him a couple of days to get his appetite back, but he seems to be much better. I guess he just ate something that didn’t agree with him (atleast that is what I am hoping). At this point, the rest of us seem to be doing fine.

So, anyway……that all happened the week before Christmas! Luckily, everyone was good and healthy for our Christmas celebration. My parents, Christy and the kids all came over Christmas Eve day and spent the night. That is our Christmas tradition so we can all get up in the morning and celebrate Christmas morning together and have our annual Christmas breakfast. As always, it was a great time. The kids of course were extremely excited and it was so much fun watching them open all their presents. Brody did understand Christmas a little more this year than last. Molly, of course, would have been happy with just a box and some paper! But, we all had a good time!

The best part of the day was that Brody did an awesome job of using the potty. We decided since there were many people at the house that we would put him in big boy underwear and get him to use the potty as much as possible. Well, we went through a couple pair of underwear in the morning, but he did a great job in the afternoon and had no accidents. Then today, we did it again and he had no accidents!!! I am so proud of him. I am off work this week since Brody’s school is closed and I am hoping that by the time he goes back, he will close to being potty trained during the day. I can’t even express how proud I am of him. And I love to see how excited he gets when he goes! He is so darn cute!

I am including some pictures from Christmas in another post! I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Grand Finale!

2010-12-16T12:48:00.003-05:00

So the grand finale to our week is that Brody has pneumonia! I couldn't believe it. He was coughing earlier this week and had a runny nose but I was assuming that it was because it was so cold outside. We have now had snow two days this week, which is extremely rare for us in December. And the temps have been extremely cold. Well, he started acting real lethargic on Tuesday night and spiked a fever Wednesday morning. Ted stayed home with him yesterday and I scheduled a doctor's appointment for him. Ted said the doctor checked him out, said he had pneumonia and an ear infection. Great combo! They gave him two breathing treatments in the doctor's office and they sent him home with an inhaler and an antibiotic for the ears. I am hoping he starts to feel better soon. Nothing like being sick for the holidays!

Whew! What a Week!

2010-12-13T13:57:00.002-05:00

Whew! What a week!

This past week has been rough. I will start at the beginning. Again, prepare for a long post……Let’s start at Thanksgiving…..

My grandmother came over for Thanksgiving dinner. My parents picked her up and of course, we were worried about all the noise and commotion that is normal for us at the Crumb house. She was in good spirits and she was doing pretty good. After dinner, my parents took her home and that was that.

Well, the next day, she apparently started to get sick. My Mom said she had some type of cold but the folks at her assisted living place weren’t worried too much about it since she didn’t have a fever. They just told her she needed plenty of rest and hopefully she would kick it soon. Well, that was Friday. The following Tuesday (November 30th), my Mom called and told me that she was going to pick up my Grandma and take her to the doctor. The staff at her place called and said she had a fever and she didn’t seem to be getting better. My Mom took her to one of the small ERs we have near our house and her pulse oxygen was low. They said they wanted to transport her to the hospital and that she would probably be admitted. At that point, they weren’t sure what was going on, but they were running some tests to see what she had. After the tests came back, they said she had pneumonia and she was jaundice so her liver was starting to fail. Additionally, they said her gall bladder was inflamed, but since she was so weak, they couldn’t do anything about the gall bladder or the liver until her pneumonia was better and she was a bit stronger. That was Tuesday-Wednesday, and by Thursday, she still wasn’t doing better. My Mom was up there everyday and helping her eat her meals since she couldn’t do it on her own. Well, Friday morning, my Dad called me and told me that Grandma took a turn for the worse and that I should get up to the hospital pretty quickly.

Sidebar: Now mind you, my Mom watches Molly so I had to figure out what to do with her since she couldn’t watch her. I ended up taking off work on Wednesday, and luckily, my neighbor’s daughter was able to watch her half a day on Tuesday, all day Thursday, and half a day on Friday. At this point, we weren’t sure how long my Grandma was going to be in the hospital so we called in reinforcements – Ted’s Mom! I am so thankful that she was able to come out and help take care of Molly. We are officially putting her in daycare in the beginning of January! More on that later.

Okay, so Friday morning, I immediately left work and headed up to the hospital. When I walked into the room, I was not prepared to see my Grandma the way she was. She was having such a hard time breathing and you couldn’t understand what she was saying. She did answer a question I asked her, but that was it. After that, she pretty much went into a semi-conscious state. The doctor’s told my parents that her organs were starting to fail and that they were pretty much making her comfortable at this point. They prepared us and told us she had about 48 hours to live. I couldn’t believe it. I mean, she was just at my house for Thanksgiving!! So my sister and I stayed up at the hospital all day long on Friday (Ted offered to pick up Anthony and Ashleigh from school and let Christy stay. So sweet!) and my Mom and Dad stayed with her Friday night. We got back up to the hospital Saturday morning and she actually looked more comfortable to me than she did the prior day. My Mom said that she had a few scares the previous night where her heart rate plummeted but it went back up. Her breathing was worse, but she was still holding on. The doctor came in around 11:00 am and we asked about the oxygen mask she had on and if that was keeping her alive. Since my Grandma had a living will, she did not want any extraordinary means keeping her alive. The doctor said it wasn’t hurting or helping and he took it off. She took her last breath around 11:30 am. I am so thankful we were able to be with her and say goodbye to her one last time. I can’t even imagine how hard all of this has been on my mother, having to say goodbye to her Mom like that, but my Grandma was a strong woman who had a full life of 97 years! We will miss you Grandma!

So that was Saturday. Like I said, Ted’s Mom was able to fly out and take care of Molly and we picked her up on Sunday afternoon. My Grandma wanted to be buried next to my Grandfather back in Ohio and apparently arranged and paid for everything 25 years ago. We arranged for her to be flown back and the funeral was scheduled for last Thursday. So, my parents and I, Christy, Ashleigh and AJ booked our tickets and headed to Ohio last Wednesday. Well, that morning, Christy apparently kicked her suitcase and thought she broke her toe. When we got to the hotel in Ohio, we asked where the nearest urgent care was because she wanted to get it checked out. Little did we know how important that question would be.

So Wednesday night, we decided to venture out and get something to eat. On the way there, my Mom started complaining of chest pains. We all told her that it was probably stress or anxiety and that she had a lot going on, but it probably would be best if she got checked out. So after dinner, we headed to the urgent care and they said that if it was chest pains, she needed to go to the hospital. The nearest hospital was about 10 minutes down the road. So off we went. I stayed out in the van with Anthony and Ashleigh while my Dad and Christy took her in to get checked out. The plan was for them to get her settled and then my Dad would take me and the kids back to the hotel. So he came out about 30 minutes later and said that she was waiting to be seen. So I put the kids to bed when we got to the hotel and waited to hear.

My Dad called around 8:00 and said that they had her back in a room and that they weren’t sure what was going her. Her vitals were funky and they were going to run some tests. At first, they thought it might have been a pulmonary embolism. Luckily, the tests came back negative for that. After all her tests came back, they ended up admitting her with pneumonia. She was trying to fight with them telling them she needed to go to the funeral the next day, but they weren’t letting her go. She needed to get antibiotics into her system.

So, while all that was going on, my sister got her foot checked out and apparently she dislocated her toe. She came home with a boot on. So, here we are, in Ohio for my grandmother’s funeral and my sister has a boot on her foot and my mother is admitted into the hospital with pneumonia. I mean….when sh*t hits the fan with us, it hits hard!

My sister and I, plus Anthony and Ashleigh, attended the funeral, which was sad but I am glad we were able to go. We were able to see relatives that we hadn’t seen in a while, which was good. My mother, of course, was heartbroken since she wasn’t able to go, but we brought her back some stuff and I was able to take a video of the ceremony at the cemetery for her. After the funeral, we headed up to the hospital and luckily, my mom was able to be discharged Thursday night. So we flew back Friday morning and made it home safely Friday afternoon.

After we got back, I had my department Christmas lunch/dinner, which I was thinking about not going to, but I am glad I did. I had a good time and it was nice to be able to do something happy for a change. Then, I went home and crashed and prepared for Molly’s 1st birthday party the next day. Yeah, I forgot to mention her party was scheduled for this past Saturday. I went back and forth about cancelling it, but I decided to go forward with it anyway. Again, I wanted to do something happy and I really wanted Molly to have her special day. My next post is dedicated to Molly’s Birthday so read on and enjoy some pics from her special day!

Molly's 1st Birthday Celebration!

2010-12-13T13:55:00.015-05:00

Saturday, December 11th, my baby girl turned 1! I absolutely can not believe that she is 1 already. Time sure does fly around here. Considering all we had going on the last week, I am so glad I prepared alot of stuff early for her party! (Thanks Tab for pushing me to do so). I was pretty much prepared but just needed to get up early and get the house straightened up. My sister was gracious enough to take Brody Saturday morning so I could concentrate on cleaning first thing. It is definitely a lot harder to clean with a 2 1/2 year old running around. So I went a little crazy with the invitations and invited about 40 people, including 15 kids! It was a mad house on Saturday but we had a good time and I hope everyone else did too!

Here are some pictures from her happy day. She has her 1 year checkup on Friday and I will post her stats then. I am definitely curious to see how much she weighs because she seems sooo small to Ted and I. But I guess looks can be deceiving!

The Birthday girl in her party dress!

Molly and her BFF, Mallory!

Molly and her Pop-Pop!

Brody was having fun having people blow up the balloons and let the air out.

This is what Ethan and my neighbor's son Benjie were doing during the beginning of the party!

My super-talented friend Lisa made Molly's cake! It was so stinkin' cute! This was her theme. You can see the plates in the top right corner.

And, she made Molly her own special little owl cake!

Here we are singing happy birthday. She looks like she is ready to dive right into the cake.....

There she goes........

And this is what she looked like after her second bite. She did not like it! I think it was too sweet for her. Or she is just like her Mommy and doesn't like sweets. This was pretty much the extent of it!

I am so thankful to all my family and friends who were able to make it and celebrate her special day with us. We had the best time and loved spending this special day with everyone!

Letters to My Kids

2010-12-02T16:42:00.008-05:00

I have been pretty emotional these last couple of days. I know it is a combination of a lot of things, including the fact that my daughter will be turning 1 in 10 short days. I remember being sad when Brody turned 1 because he was turning into a boy too fast. With Molly, I definitely feel more emotional because this is my last one. I am 99% sure we are not having anymore kids, which means I will have no more baby cuddles, baby cooing, baby drool, baby smell, and no more BABY! I definitely feel like these last 2 and half years have gone by way too fast and it makes me sad. Don’t get me wrong, I am happy to see all my children grow and develop, but the other part of me wishes I could freeze them in time and not let them ever grow up. The other day, Ethan was standing in the kitchen and I can start to see hair on his upper lip! I mean really??? He is 12. His voice is changing, he is almost taller than me, and is starting to become a man! It is crazy!

Anyway, I have been writing some things down about the kiddies that I would like to post so one day I can look back and remember these times. I also want the kids to read these one day when they’re older and know how much each one means to me!. It is like the Trace Adkins country song…. “You’re gonna miss this. You’re gonna want this back. You’re gonna wish these days hadn’t gone by so fast! These are some good times so take a good look around. You may not know it now……but you’re gonna miss this!” Ain’t that the truth! I definitely don’t want to forget these days/moments!

Brody:
Right now, at 2½ almost 3, you amaze me everyday! You look and act much older than you are and your personality has definitely blossomed into a spirited, sensitive, loving little boy who smiles with your whole face, not just your mouth! You have the biggest heart and when you think I am not looking, I see that heart as you give your little sister a kiss, or you grab her hand and walk with her around the house or down the hall. I love how you want to feed her and you can’t stand it when she wants to take the bottle from your hands and do it on her own. I love how you call her “sweetie” and you tell her “everything will be okay” when she starts crying. I can already see you and Molly developing a bond that will grow stronger and stronger everyday. You constantly say “Molly is funny” when she laughs at something and your laugh is infectious. When I am having a bad day, I take one look at you and immediately smile and laugh with you. It is definitely the highlight of my day.

Your vocabulary is huge and people often think you are much older than you actually are by the many things you can say. You can carry on full conversations with us and can understand everything we say to you. You don’t always listen, but we are working on that! I love how you always want both Mommy and Dad to put you to bed, with one of us reading you a book (that you don’t always let us finish before you turn the pages). You always want a kiss and hug from both of us before we leave the room (with Daddy giving you a “roar” hug and Mommy giving you a “right” hug). You don’t always look forward to going to school in the mornings, but you end up having a great time once you are there. I love how you always come running to me when I pick you up like you haven’t seen me in days and you are excited to go home and just be with us.

Brody, you were our miracle baby and we prayed and waited for you for almost three years. We could never have imagined how much joy you have brought to our lives and you have surpassed any expectation I could ever have imagined. I am so proud to be your Mommy each and every day! I love you to the moon and back, Brody!

Molly:
Molly, you are our angel baby. Your brother set the bar extremely high for being such a good baby and I have to say, you beat him! Having you as a baby made your brother look difficult and that was an extremely hard thing to do. I remember when I was pregnant with you and we were going to the doctor to find out what we were having. I honestly was okay either way, boy or girl, but was so happy to find out we were having you. However, my excitement was overshadowed by the look in your Daddy’s eyes when they said “it’s a girl!” He lit up like a Christmas tree and from that moment on, I knew you were going to be an extremely special little girl.

From the moment you were born, you came out on a schedule (eating every four hours at night, and every three during the day). I think God knew what he was doing because I am such a planner when it comes to you kids. You have always been the more laidback baby, going with the flow and only crying on occasion. You are NEVER fussy, except when you are extremely tired, and that is rare. You are the best sleeper I know, sleeping for almost 14 uninterrupted hours, with one 2-3 hour nap during the day. In the morning, regardless of if you wake up on your own or we have to wake you up, you wake up in the best mood, kicking your legs as we grab you from the crib. You are happy from the moment you wake up until the moment we lay you in the crib at night.

You have now been walking for over a month and you get better and better with it each day. You are the prettiest little girl I have ever seen, on the inside and out, and you have the best personality. You think Daddy and I are the funniest people on the planet and we love to hear you laugh and giggle. You have the greatest little laugh and when you smile, we can’t help but smile right back at you. Right now, you only have two little bottom teeth and we are anxiously waiting for the others to arrive. Hopefully they will show up soon so you can start eating more solid foods! Right now, you are not a big eater, but you definitely understand the word “eat” and get excited when it is time. We are starting to introduce more and more foods to you every day, but right now you don’t seem to like mashed potatoes or noodles. I am sure that will change.

Molly, it is hard to believe that you will be turning 1 in a little over a week. It seems like you were born just yesterday. I remember thinking when I was pregnant with you that I could not imagine loving someone as much as I loved Brody. Well, it is true that we are capable of spreading the love amongst our children and I could never, ever explain the amount of love I have for you. You are now, and will always be, our little baby girl! :)

Ethan:
Oh, Ethan, where do I start?! I have been a part of your life since the day you were born, and I am extremely blessed to be such a bigger part of your life now as your stepmom. I remember the blond haired little boy who used to throw horrible tantrums one minute, then smile and walk around in my shoes the next. When I look at you now, it is hard to believe that you are still that same little boy. Over the last year, you have started to mature and grow, almost too fast for me. Your voice has deepened and you are almost taller than your Dad and I. You are starting to enter the “teen” phase that so many people dread, but a part of me is looking forward to it. I am excited to see your interests and to see the type of man you are turning out to be. Pretty soon you will be driving and doing things with your friends so I am trying to enjoy having you around as much as possible, knowing you have no other option than to be home! :) I know that’s wrong, but it makes me happy.

Watching you with your brother and sister takes my breath away. I remember when Brody first came home from the hospital, we asked if you wanted to hold him and you said you didn’t want to….you were scared. That first night, you sat in the chair with Kevin and he helped you hold your little brother for the first time. It totally melted my heart. You have been such an awesome big brother from that moment on! I loved to see your face when Brody started to recognize you and when he started to laugh at the things you said. I even have the video from my first official Mother’s Day, when we were all in our bedroom and you gave Brody the toy you picked out for him. Those moments are the ones that will be ingrained in my brain forever. Even though he can’t totally express it, I know how much Brody loves you and how much he looks up to you as his big brother. He is extremely lucky to have you in his life, like we all are!

With Molly, you were a little older and more secure being around babies. You took to her almost instantly and held her more in the first month than I think you did in the first six months of Brody’s life. You interacted with her from the start and even talked about how you were going to quiz her boyfriends when you come over to our house for Sunday dinners when you are older. I love that about you. I definitely see you as a big protector for her and with you and Dad there, I definitely feel sorry for any guy that wants to take her out on a date! :) I watch Molly light up when she sees you and I see you do the same. Thank you for being who you are and never change!

Ethan, you have turned out to be such an awesome kid and you have made your Dad and I so proud. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to take on the role of your stepmom, a role that was both unfamiliar to you and me, and I love you more than you will ever know. I only hope that as your teenage years approach, you will always remember that your Dad and I will always be here for you, day or night, for whatever you need and that we both love you very much.

Better Day

2010-11-15T13:02:00.014-05:00

So yesterday was MUCH better. Brody still didn't take a nap (which I am starting to wondering if he is starting to weed his naps out. I need to ask if he is having a problem with naps at school) but Brody was much better with the listening and all together better than he was on Saturday. We did run a few errands yesterday morning and took the kids to the park twice, so maybe that helped. I have alwasy dreaded going out with both kids by myself, especially before Molly started walking, but I am starting to realize that getting out of the house makes the day much better. Also, as much as I question myself and how I am mothering my children, I just need to remind myself that he is just 2 and is testing his limits and that I am doing everything I can as a mother to teach him right from wrong. It is just so hard because I have these crazy expectations about how my kids are going to act and I need to realize that it is just unrealistic for me to think they are going to act the way I want them to. That is part of my controlling personality and I definitely want them to develop their own personality and I need to just embrace who they are rather than trying to make them who I think they should be. If only I could always remember that then I probably wouldn't have this problem, right?

Anyway, on a lighter note, here are some pictures from the park. Molly got on the swing for the first time and she loved it. Brody was never a swing person and pretty much hated it from the first time he got on one. He tried a couple times yesterday, but within one swing, he was asking to get off. He definitely got that from me. I don't like swinging either. I sent the following picture to Ted yesterday and he said it made his day. I know Ted misses the kids like crazy when he is gone and they feel the same way. Brody is such a daddy's boy. I hate having to tell Brody that he isn't here when he asks for him. And of course, Molly's face lights up when she sees him. I absolutely love those moments!

This next picture and video crack me up. When we first put Molly in the baby swing, she wouldn't stay towards the back of the swing and moved her self forward. At first, I thought she might fall out or that it would be uncomfortable, but as you can tell, she loved it!

Here is a picture of Brody. He wouldn't look at the camera so this is the best I could get. He loves slides!

Here is a picture of the kids at the park yesterday. It is so nice to have them around and for Brody and Molly to get to play with their cousins! Brody was talking about Anthony and Ashleigh when we got up this morning and it makes me smile!

And finally, I wanted to add this picture because it was too funny. I bought Brody a Dora DVD yesterday. He LOVES Dora and Diego. Well, I popped it in and normally, he will just watch a few minutes of it and then go on about his business, playing and running around. Well, he sat just like this for atleast 25 minutes. I couldn't believe it. He also quotes Swiper, the fox who steals stuff from Dora and boots. Yesterday, he tossed his cup and it landed behind the couch. Before I could tell him not to do that, he was saying "You'll never find your cup now......ha-ha-ha!" I had a hard time keeping a straight face! It was pretty funny.

Trying Day

2010-11-13T19:32:00.002-05:00

Today has been one of those days. I don't feel like anything I did was right and found myself getting so frustrated with Brody at moments that I started questioning my mothering skills. I hate when that happens. From the moment he got up, he has not been listening. AT ALL! Everything I tell him, he does the opposite. Everytime he says he wants to watch something and I either turn the channel or put a DVD in, he wants to watch something different. He tells me he wants one thing, then turns around and says he doesn't want it. I know that the more I get frustrated, the worse it gets but DAMN....sometimes I can't help it. And now I am feeling guilty for that. I know that we are entering the Trying 3s, which I have heard is worse than the Terrible 2s, but when you are in the moment, it is hard to remember that everything he is doing is normal. He is testing his limits and I give him an A+ on that! He is too smart beyond his years and I am starting to realize that I can't get over on him too many times before he figures it out.

He can get me so upset at times by his actions and then turn around and say the cutest thing. For example, the other night, he was being difficult and when I took him to the potty before bed, he told me he wanted to sit and try and go potty. Normally, he pees standing up, but I said whatever. So he was sitting there and he asked me to sit next to him on the side of the tub. Then, as he was balancing on the toilet seat, he looks at me and says, "Mommy, I can't stick my butt in the toilet!" I just busted out laughing because I had no idea where that came from. Well, the next day, when I dropped him off at school, I was talking to his teacher and I told her that and she laughed and then said "Oh, there is a little boy, Davin, who is in his class with Down Syndrome. Everytime he goes potty, h lifts both lids up and essentially sits down directly in the water." They tell him not to do that, and Brody picked it up. Then the next night, same scenario, except this time, I was telling him something and he looked at me and said "Mommy, what you talking about?" It is these moments that I constantly remind myself of when I get upset because these are the moments that I will remember. The other stuff is just gravy!

Then, there is my angel baby, Molly. I hate to say that like I am comparing her to Brody, but she is so good that I sometimes have a hard time believing she is mine! She is walking EVERYWHERE! She no longer likes to crawl and will crawl a few times, then stop and stand and start walking. I guess she has figured out that she can get wherever she wants to go faster by walking than crawling. She is still such a laidback baby and just goes with the flow. She definitely has her daddy's personality. I can't believe that she will be a 1 next month! Where does the time go??? It is often bittersweet with her, as it was with Brody at this age, because I am so excited to see her grow and develop, but the other part of me is sad to see the baby disappear in her everyday. Everyday presents one more 24-hour period where she is distancing herself from the baby into a little girl! I could get emotional just thinking about it.

I can't believe there is a little over a month before Christmas. I need to get on the ball with my Christmas shopping. Tab keeps reminding me everyday! I just need to make my list and start knocking it out. But like every year, I will probably end up doing all my shopping 1-2 weeks before Christmas. That's just how I roll, I guess.

Well, I am off to relax and watch a little TV before I fall asleep. Today really tired me out.

Growing Up...Too Fast

2010-11-01T09:03:00.004-04:00

So we now have a walker and a big boy who pee-pees on the potty. Yesterday was an eventful day in our household. Not only was it Halloween but Molly took many, many steps on her own. She has been able to get into the standing position by herself, without holding onto anything, for a couple weeks now, but she officially started walking. Now, she is everywhere. Here is a cute video of her first real steps!

On the Brody front, before his nap yesterday, he peed on the potty. Then, last night right before bed, he went again. THEN this morning, when I woke him up, his diaper was completely dry and he said he needed to go. We headed into the bathroom and he went again! I am so proud of him. I have been waiting for him to start going potty here. He has gone at school a couple of times, but has yet to go here (with the exception of a really long time ago, which of course, was a fluke!). So, hopefully, this means more good things to come!

Last night was really fun. The kids were dressed up and we took both Brody and Molly to a few houses, but then my Mom took Molly back home to get her ready for bed and Ted and I kept Brody out for a little longer. He did so good! There were a few times he got scared, but he started saying "No one can scare me! No one can scare me!" It was so cute. He got lots of candy, but mean Mommy is probably not going to let him have a lot of it. I did let him have a sucker last night, which was pretty monumental!

Here are some cute pics of little Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion!

Also, I am going to post some other pics this weekend a little later. I had all three kids (Brody, Molly, AND Mallory) and a pre-teen whose voice is deeper than his father's (Ethan) on Saturday morning by myself. Tab went to get her hair done and Ted was hunting. It went pretty well with the exception of a few moments. Those, of course, were courtesy of my kid! At one point, I couldn't find Brody. I searched all downstairs, upstairs, in every room and immediately my blood pressure was elevated. When I went into our foyer area, the flip-flops that he had on were strategically pointed towards the front door and I ran outside. I immediately checked my neighbor's house and sure enough, my little Brody was jumping on their trampoline! ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I have Mother of the Year in the bag this year! He just looked at me and said "Mommy....I'm jumping on the trampoline!" I was so happy to see him, but of course, I wanted to beat him for walking out of the house without me knowing. My parents suggested putting a lock on the top of the front door, but our alarm has a chime on it that will ring when the doors open. I think I am going to try that first and see what happens. The funny thing is that I didn't even hear the door open. And, he closed it completely so I did not even think that he made it outside. Whew, that was scary!

And finally, here is a cute video of Brody singing! I am thinking I am going to start posting these on YouTube and hopefully, Justin Timberlake or Usher might see them and Brody can be the next Justin Beiber!

No More Paci

2010-10-28T13:43:00.003-04:00

So we are now on Day 4 of no paci and I can't believe it was that easy! He has not asked for it for the past couple of nights and has fallen asleep with no problems. I actually think he is sleeping better without it. There were some nights where he would wake up in the middle of the night trying to find it, but not now! We are officially paci-free (atleast with Brody....we will cross this bridge with Molly at a later date!) I am so proud of him. When I was outyesterday running errands, I bought him a new movie to reward him for doing such a great job. He loves Backyardigans so it was a new movie. He was really excited!

Tab and I were having a discussion the other day that sometimes we underestimate our children. What we think might be a hard thing for them to transition to or from, sometimes they actually surprise us and do much better than we thought. I have to say....with Brody...that has been most everything. I remember thinking that it would be hard to get him out of the swaddle. Nope! Then I thought it would be hard to transition him from the bottle. Nope! Then it was from the crib to the toddler bed. Nope again! The only thing that has been a little bit longer than I hoped is the potty training. But then again, I know he will get it when he is ready. He has been doing really good at school with it and I made a little potty chart for his teacher to start recording when he goes. Then, at the end of the week, I am going to give him a little toy or something to reward him. His teacher said that worked with another kid in his class so we shall see!

As for Molly, she is still my laid back angel. She is SOOOO close to walking on her own. She has a good center of gravity and can bend down and pick up a toy and then stand back up without holding onto anything. Last night, she was walking around the kitchen and was holding the wall, but just barely. She is still clapping alot and has now started to wave. It is funny because she will only wave with her left hand. She is talking soooo much and is constantly laughing at Brody. It is really cute. Every morning, when we go to wake her up, Brody climbs up the side of her crib and says "Hi Little Sister!" or "Hi Sweetie!" It melts my heart. He is really starting to take to her more and more everyday! And she is smitten with him....thinks he is the coolest thing since sliced bread!

I am definitely blessed and thank God everyday for my children! :) They are the best thing that I have ever done (of course, Ted helped with that too!)

1st Day of No-Pacifier - Success

2010-10-26T12:14:00.002-04:00

Okay...I don't have much time to post, but I wanted to remember this day when I look back 20 years from now. Last night was a successful night for Brody. We decided to bite the bullet and take the pacifier. He has only had it at night for the last year and we decided that it was time for him to give it up. We had a conversation with him about it, telling him that he is now a big boy (who is now sleeping in his big, full bed) and he doesn't need it anymore. I told him that it was time to give it the babies who need it. He said ok and that was it! THAT WAS IT! He slept all night without it and this morning when he woke up, he mentioned it but when I asked "where did we say your paci was going?" He said, "I gave it to the babies!" Oh, I hope it will be this easy tonight!

Updates......

2010-10-20T13:46:00.002-04:00

Wow….I haven’t posted in a while. That stinks! I think I have told myself to sit down and do it, but then I get distracted or end up doing something else. I really need to get better about posting. I think that this blog will definitely be a memory book for me, especially as the kids get older. I find myself going to back to older posts from when Brody was younger and already, I find myself reminiscing and thinking about how much he has changed. It is crazy how fast they grow up. My girlfriend Katie’s son will be 1 tomorrow and she asked me today, “Do you remember being sad on Brody’s first birthday? Just the fact that it goes by so fast?” I said absolutely. Of course, I couldn’t be sad for too long because I found out I was pregnant with Molly not even a month after Brody’s first birthday. But, I do remember thinking “Where did my baby go?” He really started looking more like a little boy and even more so now.

What’s been going on with us? Well, we finally made our way up to Tab’s house to get the full mattress for Brody’s big bed this past weekend. We have tried to plan going up there a couple of times now and it hasn’t worked out so Ted and Ethan met me and the kids up there on Saturday night and we brought the mattress home with us on Sunday. We set it up on Monday and it looks great! Brody was really excited to sleep in it. He has done so well in the toddler bed that we didn’t foresee any big issues with the transition to the big bed and we were right. Our only concern was that the bed is so much higher than his toddler bed so if he fell out, he would have a long way to fall. But we put pillows on both sides of him and he has pretty much stayed in the middle of the bed both nights. He is such a big boy and I am so proud of him. Now, if we could only get the potty training down so I don’t have to buy 2 boxes of diapers every time, that would be even better. He has gone potty a couple of times last week and once earlier this week at school, but he still won’t go at home. We sit him up there, but he starts to play around or he tells me he can’t. But, I am trying to remind myself not to rush it because he will do it on his own time. I mean, he won’t be going to school in diaper, right??

I mentioned that we went up to Tab’s this past weekend. I brought the kids up with me and we all had a good time. The only issue was Molly. Saturday night, I was feeding her bottle before bed time and got up to burp her and put her in the pack’n’play. I tried to give her her pacifier, but she wouldn’t take it, which I thought was odd. Well, a few minutes later, she threw up all over me. Not just spit up, THROW UP. It was almost like projectile. I ended up putting her in the bath and she didn’t seem like it bothered her. I was freaked out all night long and kept checking on her, but (knock on wood) she seems to be fine. She didn’t another episode after that so I am not sure what it was.

Her two bottom teeth have officially come in, but that is it! She will be 1 year in a little less than two months and I think I will have a two-teeth 1 year old. Very odd to me since Brody had a bunch of teeth by this point. It is also difficult to offer her other foods besides baby food because she doesn’t seem interested. I have tried bananas, which she didn’t really like to begin with, but she is getting better about. I have given her small pieces of pasta, which she won’t touch, and she has had some green beans. I am kind of at a loss of what else to give her. She eats the baby food like a champ, but I feel like the poor thing doesn’t get any variety. I am going to see what else I can try. But, it is also a little difficult because I have to find things that are soft enough that she doesn’t have to chew. Whoa is me, right! J

Ethan is getting braces on Thursday. I am not sure how long that has been on the horizon, but Ted found out last night. He said he is pretty excited, but I am sure that will wear off in a short period of time. I remember when I first got my braces on, I thought I was too cool for school, but not long after that, I couldn’t wait to get them off. His teeth don’t look too crooked so hopefully he won’t have to have them on for a long period of time. I guess we will see. I am going to call him tonight and wish him luck tomorrow.

So, Halloween is right around the corner. I was trying to figure out what the kids were going to be because I wanted to coordinate their costumes. I ended up finding a Dorothy costume for Molly (with little ruby red slippers) and Brody is going to be the cowardly lion. I can’t wait to see them together. Hopefully, it won’t be as hot as it was last year because poor Brody was sweating like crazy in his monkey suit. Remember these pics? We only go to a few houses in our court and the court next to us so they won’t be in them long, but I will definitely take lots of pictures.

Anyway, that is the update for us. I will leave you with these pictures of the kids. I had a work dinner last night so Ted was in charge of the kiddies. He sent me these two pictures of the kids, which of course made me smile from ear to ear. I could eat them up they are so stinkin’ cute, but of course, I am partial!

Molly's Cool Trick, Cool Trick!

2010-10-02T09:02:00.006-04:00

Sorry....the video quality is not that great because I took this with my phone.

Getting Ready for the Weekend

2010-10-01T14:10:00.003-04:00

Considering the rain we have had for the last few days (including the torrential rain ALL day yesterday) the weather today is just about perfect. It could be a little sunnier and a bit warmer, but I can't really complain. We got hit with rain from Tropical Depression Nicole (not saying I minded the name!) and alot of the areas around us flooded bad. Today, our school district was closed but at our house, it wasn't too bad. When I went to leave the house this morning, I was a bit shocked at how breezy it was. I kinda felt bad taking Brody to school in shorts, but I know he gets nice and sweaty as he runs around and plays.

So the potty training is not going so great. Brody has no problem sitting on the potty, but he hasn't gone since the other day at school. At school, they said he will sit and try, but he doesn't go. Everyone keeps telling me to relax and that one day, it will just "click." Considering my personality, I would like to know the exact day and time it will click. I think this is one of those situations where I am having a hard time because I can't control it. I have pretty much controlled everything in Brody's life up until now: when and how much he eats, when he goes to bed, when we takes his naps, what he wears. Unfortunately, this is the one thing that I can't control and it is driving me bonkers. I am constantly asking him if he needs to go and most of the time he will say no. Do I make him go sit? I don't want this to become a negative thing for him so I haven't been forcing him to go. I am just trying to be patient (which it definitely one of my weaknesses) but I am struggling. I am just trying to remind myself that there is no way he will be going to school with a diaper on so he will eventually get it.

Molly has a new trick. She has started clapping and it is hilarious. She pretty much claps all day. And no, I am not exaggerating. I got it on video last night and I will post it this weekend. I could just bottle her up right now.....she is such a doll. She is happy 99.9% of the time, laughing and smiling all the time. I don't know what Ted or I did to deserve 2 such good babies, but we are definitely blessed. I told Ted the other night, "If we would have had Molly first and Brody second, we would have thought Brody was bad! And he was a very good baby!"

I have been pretty emotional the last couple of days and I am constantly thanking God for all he has given me. A good friend of mine at work, Jackie, just buried her 27 year old daughter last week. Apparently, they think she had a massive heart attack. AT 27!!!! Can you believe that? I have seen a woman who is larger than life with such a bold personality crumble and it breaks my heart. I can not even imagine what she is going through right now and I know that her life will never be the same. While I firmly believe that all things happen for a reason, I definitely have a hard time believing that when a mother has to bury her child. It is not supposed to work that way. Mother's aren't built to withstand that kind of grief. Women are strong. I mean, for God's sake, we grow a human being in our bodies for nine months and then give birth to them. There is not much that a woman can't handle. But I don't care how strong you are, we are not meant to feel the pain that my friend Jackie is feeling.

Anyway....enough emotion for today. I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Rainy Monday

2010-09-27T13:01:00.006-04:00

Today is such a rainy day. We were supposed to get rain this weekend, but it waited until Sunday night and has been raining all day today. I know we need it, but I really don't think it has stopped pouring for the last couple of hours. I love rainy days......but it was much nicer when I had no responsibilities and could just lay around and do nothing. Not today.....trying to get some work done now that Molly has been taking her nap for the last hour. She is getting so mobile now and I really think she completely tires herself out by the time naptime rolls around. A couple of months ago, I was fortunate enough to get her and Brody on the same nap schedule, which definitely makes life easier on the weekends. Luckily, she only took 2 naps for a short period of time and has been on a one nap schedule for a while now.

I am happy to report that her two bottom teeth have finally cut the gum. I was starting to get worried that she was going to be a toothless walker. She is very, very close to walking. She has taken a few steps while holding on to something so I feel like it is just a matter of time before she takes that first step on her own. She is definitely become really active which sometimes makes it difficult to watch both kids, especially since Brody is all over the place.

Speaking of Brody, he has become real cute with Molly sometimes. She of course wants whatever he has and he is not down for it. That really is the only time he gets upset with her. He always looks for her in the morning and when we go in there to get her ready, the minute he walks in her room, he says "There she is! Hi Molly!" Of course, her face lights up big time when she sees him. I posted a picture of Brody feeding her before, and yesterday, he wanted to feed her again. It only lasted a few minutes before he was shoving her off of him, but I was able to get a cute picture. He gave her a kiss on the forehead and tried to get that, but my camera didn't work fast enough! :(

Also, on Wednesday last week, I picked up the kids and when I went to pick up Brody, they told me that he peed and pooped on the potty during school! I know...TMI, but I was so freaking excited! I couldn't stop telling him how proud I was and he looked pretty happy himself! Of course, he hasn't gone since, but hey.....once is going in the right direction. I am really happy that they are working with him in school that way he is getting it there and home. I am hoping that it won't take too long, but I have to keep reminding myself that this is one thing I can't control. This is all Brody......I had a video I was going to post where we were talking about it, but for some reason, I keep getting an error when I try to post it. Oh well.....

New Computer

2010-09-20T12:03:00.004-04:00

Last week when I got home from my work travel, I came in and saw a bunch of my computer keys sitting on the fireplace. I asked Ted what happened, and of course, he says he wasn't sure, but we both figure it was Brody. Not sure how that all happened, but Ted tried to fix it and it didn't work very well. So yesterday, we went out to look for another laptop. I hated to spend the money, but since I work from home on Mondays, I need a computer. So, I ended up getting a Sony and I LOVE IT! It is hard for me to get used to the keyboard though, because it has the number key pad on the right of the keyboard, which means I have to type the left side of the keyboard rather than the middle. But, other than that, I am very excited. It is also so much faster than my other computer. Anyway, that is what is going on with me!

Last night, shockingly, Brody said something about feeding Molly her bottle before bed. Of course, I ran to get the camera, hoping he didn't lose interest quickly. My Mom was standing right there and I got these pictures. Priceless!

Molly's 9 Month Checkup

2010-09-18T09:35:00.023-04:00

Yesterday, I took Molly to the doctor for her 9 month checkup. Here are her stats:

Weight - 20.0 lbs. (50-75 percentile)
Length - 28 inches (50-75 percentile)
Head - 17 inches (25 percentile)

So, her weight and height are pretty proportionate, but her head is still on the small end. It is crazy because her head doesn't look considerably smaller or disproportionate to her body. Poor thing....she carries all her weight in her thighs right now. Her upper body is small, but her thighs are huge! She is right on the verge of walking though. She is constantly pulling up and has mastered standing on her own without holding on to anything. I am just waiting for the day she takes a few steps. It will be soon.

So, I mentioned a couple of posts ago that I got their pictures taken a couple weeks ago. Here are some of the pics. Poor Molly, she was starting to get sick that morning so a few of the pictures, you can tell because her eyes are red, but she did pretty fantastic during the photo shoot. Brody, of course, was the more difficult one. He would not just smile......he was doing this weird thing with his tongue every time they tried to take a picture. Anyway, I was pleased with these pics and I think they turned out great! (Grandma Crumb - I have some for you that I will either send to you or give you when you get here. You let me know which you would rather me do!)

Rough Day.....

2010-09-16T19:29:00.005-04:00

This is how Molly fell asleep tonight.......

Molly's First Sickness

2010-09-12T18:54:00.007-04:00

Brody went 14 months before he got sick for the first time. And, of course, that was one week after he started daycare. I, of course, knew that it would probably be hard for Molly to avoid getting sick especially with Brody hanging around and bringing home all the germs from daycare. Well....we made it 9 months before her first sickness and this one kicked her butt. It started last week. She had a runny nose for a couple of days, but I assumed it was just allergies since Ted's allergies were bad and so were Brody's well. Well, last Saturday, I made an appointment to get their pictures taken and she seemed to be fine during the session. Well, that afternoon, this is what she looked like!

Even as sick as she was, she was still smiling and laughing. The next couple of days she was miserable and started to run a fever. I scheduled an appointment for Tuesday afternoon. Well, turns out, her doctor said that essentially, everything from her neck up was infected. She had an ear infection, her eyes were infected, and she had a sinus infection. Luckily, her chest was fine. Well, she was given an antibiotic, and by the next day, she was looking and feeling SOOOO much better. It was crazy how fast she started to recover. So, now she is basically back to normal. Thank Goodness. So I guess I am lucky that she made it 9 months before getting sick for the first time.

Not much else has been going on. My big project finally shipped and I was off last week from Wednesday to Friday. I was able to focus on cleaning the house, which was extremely overdue so I was glad that I was able to get that done. Now, I am leaving tomorrow for a couple of days for a 2-day work training. I will be back late Wednesday night so it is daddy daycare at our house for the next couple of days.

I had to post the following video because it cracks me up. Molly has been crawling for a while now but she has sometimes struggled to crawl when she is wearing a dress. This is how she has overcome that struggle. And she is pretty fast with it too.....

Here are a few other pictures.....

Pictures and Videos

2010-09-04T13:01:00.007-04:00

Here are some pictures from this past weekend. Most of our Molly, of course, because Brody won't sit still long enough for me to get a picture....

I finally brought the camera in with me when I fed her because when I give her her lovey at night, it really looks like she is hugging it! So sweet!

This video cracks me up. I absolutely love her laugh!

Finally.....A Break

2010-09-03T10:29:00.003-04:00

For the last month or so, I have been working soooooo much. I am working on a big project for the State of Connecticut and I am happy to say, it is finally finished! Whew! Even though I actually enjoyed the project, I don't think I have ever worked late and on weekends as much as I have the past month. But, it looks good and it looks like we have a great shot at winning it, so it makes it all worth it.

Ted has been taking on Daddy daycare while I have been working and has done a great job. He has had the daunting task of feeding both kids dinners, giving them baths, putting Brody down, and feeding Molly before bed. Some nights it can be overwhelming, but we have a really good schedule down with both kids and they are typically in bed by 7:00 each night, so atleast there is some down time.

I have been really slack with the pictures and videos lately. I do have some, but of course, they are at home and I can't upload them here at work. So, I will have to try and upload this weekend. Brody has been really good lately. He moved up into the next class at daycare and they are starting to work with him on the potty training. He has peed once at school and they are getting ready to go hardcore with him. When I dropped him off the other morning, I talked with his main teacher for a long time. I told her "I am one of those Moms that thinks my kid is never going to get it!" She started laughing, saying she gets that a lot. As I was talking to her, one of the kids got up and used the potty and washed his hands. She said "You see him? I never thought he was going to get it, but look at him!" That made me feel a little better. She stressed to us the importance of getting Brody into a good schedule of sitting on the potty at home and we have been doing that more regularly now. He hasn't really gone alot, but he does know what he is supposed to do. His teacher also said "Brody is so smart and he talks so much better than all of the kids in his class.....he should have no problem!" So, we shall see! In the next few weeks, we are going to transition him to his big full bed. He has been in the toddler bed (which we transitioned from his crib) and he has done great. I am now ready to transition him to the big bed and get new bedding for him. Also, I think we are going to start weaning him off the pacifier at night. He still uses it only at night and he never asks for it during the day. I was reading online about some strategies and I also talked to some other moms who went through this. I think we are going to start poking holes in them and then seeing what happens. Apparently, by doing that, it is a psychological thing and they should give up their pacifier themselves rather than us having to take it away from him. How awful is that.....I feel like I am tricking him! But, if it works, then I am all for it.

As for Molly, she is on the move ALL THE TIME. She is able to pull herself up onto everything and is most happen when she has free run of the house. I definitely think that she will be walking definitely before Brody did (he started walking right after his first birthday). She is already able to take a few steps holding on to something. Also, the weirdest thing....she has no teeth yet! I am super surprised about that. Brody got his bottom teeth when he was 4 months old. By this age, he had a whole mouth full of teeth. But, Molly is still smiling a gummy smile! She will be 9 months on the 11th and I am going to ask her doctor about it when I take her for her 9 month checkup. She is still wearing 6-9 month clothes, which of course is strange to me too because at this point, Brody was wearing 18-24 month clothes! HAHA! I will be interested to see how much she weighs. Ted and I still think she is small, but I know that our perception is a little jaded because of how big Brody was.

Ethan starts school on Tuesday. He will be in the 7th grade! Crazy! Where does the time go? Also, he is definitely starting to go through the change. The other night, when we were eating dinner, I couldn't believe how deep his voice was. It is strange to hear. Also, he is already taller than his Nana and is just about my height! Pretty soon, he will be towering over both Ted and I. Hopefully, he will have a good year this year and continue making good grades.

Ted started his new job last week. He is now a government employee and really likes it. The best part is no travel! Atleast, no long trips. If he does travel, it should only be for a couple of days, if that! I am happy that he now has a secure job and that is deifinitely a stress reliever.

And finally, my sister moved back and is now a VA resident as of yesterday around 4. YAY! I am so happy she is finally home. Hopefully, we are going to get together this weekend.

Okay....I think that is all my updates. I am going to try and post some pictures this weekend. Hope everyone has a nice and safe holiday weekend!

Famous Last Words from Brody Crumb......

2010-08-13T20:45:00.002-04:00

I just had to post this because 1) I thought it was hilarious and 2) I want it documented so I will always remember it.

On Wednesday, I was on my way to drop Molly and Brody off at their respective daycares! (Sorry Mom....I know you are not a daycare! :) Whenever I am driving and Brody is in the car, I always adjust my rearview mirror so I can see him and talk to him. So, I am looking at him in the mirror and this was our conversation......

Me: Brody, what are you doing?
Brody: I am going to see my friends.....
Me: Tell me what friends you are going to see....what are their names?
Brody: (pause)
Me: Brody?
Brody: He looks at me and says..."Don't look at me in the mirror, Mommy.....why you looking at me in the mirror?"
Me: Because your handsome and I like to look at your face!
Brody: I said stop it Mommy. You hear me? What did I say? I said Stop it!

Of course, he doesn't say any of this in a real mean way and I couldn't help but bust out laughing. At first, I wasn't sure where he got all of that from. And the dialogue above is not exagerrated. He said each and every one of those words and clear as day. After thinking about it, I realized that of course, he picked it up from Ted and me. When he isn't listening, we say that to him all the time...."Brody, don't do that....I said stop doing that. Do you hear me? What did I say?"

All if I have to say is Oh dear! He is going to be T-R-O-U-B-L-E when he gets older. I guess it starts young! He gets it honestly.....from me!

Busy, Busy, Busy

2010-08-07T13:36:00.014-04:00

This past week has been crazy. I am working on a really big project at work and I had a deadline by COB on Wednesday. I ended up working on Monday, instead of working from home, and then stayed late Monday night and Tuesday night. My office is a little creepy at night, when it is pitch black and no one else is there! But, I am glad that my draft got out and I was able to relax a little bit on Thursday and Friday. I actually was able to take off on Friday to spend the day with my sister since she left this morning. She will be back in 3 weeks for good, which is exciting. I am so glad she is heading home. It will be nice to have everyone close again.

Yesterday, since I had the day off, we decided to take the kids to the Living Museum. Ted was able to take the day off too so it was a large family outing. I decided to be a bit adventurous and stay out all day, instead of having Brody take his nap. In his whole 2 and half years, I think he has missed his nap maybe 3 times......so I wasn't sure how he was going to deal. He did great! He never napped but was really good. Last night, he zonked out pretty early, which we pretty much expected because we knew he had to be tired. The living museum was cool and it was so much fun to see Brody's reaction to some of the exhibits. There was a fake turtle shell that was big enough for kids to climb in, but Brody would not get near it. My sister tried to take his picture, but he wasn't having it! I definitely plan to take him there again.

Ted's birthday was on Wednesday and Tab and Kevin came down today and we are going to go out to dinner tonight to celebrate. My parents are going to watch the kiddies, so it will be nice to have an adult outing. I can't wait.

In other good news, Ted ended up getting the government job he wanted! He found out last week and he officially starts on August 16th. He definitely wanted to be a government employee so he is really excited. The best part too is that he won't have to travel nearly as much as he has in his current job. Thank God! As much as it was nice for him to travel, it will be nice for him to be home more. I am really proud of him and I hope he ends up enjoying the job.

Other than that, not much else is going on. We have started encouraging Brody to use the potty more, but he really wants nothing to do with it. He will sit on it, but he won't go. Then, other times, we will ask him if he wants to go, and he will say no. I think this transition might be a bit difficult. At school, they will be working with him too so I am hoping that once he starts seeing the other kids go, he will start. But, I am not going to force it. I don't want it to be a stressful thing for him so we will see what happens.

Molly is officially crawling now.....up on her hands and knees. She is trying to pull herself up too. We are going to lower her crib here soon because she is constantly sitting up and pulling up on the side of her crib. She has started to become more vocal now and is still real laidback. Brody still doesn't really have much to do with her yet. He has interacted with her more, but not as much as I was expecting. I hope that as she gets older, he will have more to do with her. It will be nice for him to have a little play buddy (except for Mommy and Daddy!)

Here are some recent pictures.......

Ashleigh and Molly....I can't believe how old Ashleigh and Anthony are now!

I was waiting for this to happen one day. We put Brody down for his nap, and sometimes, he will get up and get a book from his drawer. He must have grabbed one, decided to look at it on the floor, and fell asleep. He slept like this for almost 2 hours!

Mallory looking all cute and posing for the camera!

This is what Brody looked like after playing outside for like 15 minutes last weekend. It was digustingly hot and humid. I don't even know how he could stand it out there

This is her supermodel pose......

I love this picture of Brody and Molly.....they were watching TV. It didn't last long......

We started introducing the sippy cup to Molly...she does pretty good with it.

I love both of their looks in these two pictures. We see this often from both of them....

Hello Stranger!

2010-07-26T11:19:00.003-04:00

It is that time again.....time for the corral!

Molly is all over the place in the living room and it is hard to keep her in one spot so we have broken out the corral again! Since we took it down after Brody, we were using it as a gate on one side of his play room. It did serve that purpose but now, it is time to use it as originally intended. She isn't quite sure what to think of it, but it is nice because atleast when I leave the room, I don't have to worry about her getting into something she shouldn't. It should be interesting to see what Brody thinks of it when he gets home from school today.

It has been record temps here this past weekend and this morning, they said we will have a break....it will only be 90! Since when is 90 a break! But, it actually does feel a little better than it has for the past couple of days. It was stifling out there! I mowed the grass and weeded the front yard yesterday while Ted played Daddy Day Care and I was dripping before I even got started! Then, as my reward, Ted watch the kids, plus my neighbor's 2 kids, and she and I went to the movies. We saw Grown-Ups. It was funny, and had a nice message. Good times..... Today she is off work and is taking her kids to the beach and Ethan is going with them. It is so nice to have great neighbors!

Other than that, I am working today and trying to do a little housework in between. I feel like I can never get a hold of my house with 2 small kids running and rolling around. One day....one day! Atleast that is what I keep telling myself!

One more week until my sister gets here and then a couple weeks after that, she will be here for good! I am so excited! :)

Changes...Changes

2010-07-23T08:34:00.006-04:00

Things are changing in our household. When I dropped Brody off at school yesterday, they told me that he would be moving up into the next class beginning August 2nd. That is the class where they will be working with him on potty training. We have been letting him try for a while now, but he has yet to really go on the potty. I figured since he is at school all day, I wasn't really going to get into it until he moved up. Well, that time is coming! I am hoping that it is not a real long drawn out deal. I know it will take some time, but I am hoping that by him seeing the other kids go, he will be more interested. I am happy that he is moving up, but I am sad to see him leave his current teacher. When she handed me the sheet yesterday, she had a sad look on her face. I think she is going to miss Brody! She says he is such a huge help and offers to do alot of things in the classroom. Such a lovebug! He is always wanting to do everything by himself, or do things for you. I hope that part of him stays as he gets older. I still can't believe that he is almost 2 1/2. Where does the time go?

At night, we have started letting him watch a little bit of TV before he goes to bed. We were noticing that when we would put him down at night, he wouldn't actually fall asleep until 1 hour a half later. In that time, there were a couple of times where he would get up and cry for us, but he would go right back to bed. We have a gate in his doorway, which I think we have decided that we are going to take down soon. I want him to start learning to stay in his room without having to barricade him in there. It worked good when we first started the big boy bed, but now I think he needs to be able to learn how to stay in his room, even if there is an opportunity to get out. We will see how that goes! Here is a cute picture of him that I took last week. I swear, this picture sums him up perfectly.............he is happy about 90% of the day and I love it!

Now, update on Molly. In my last post, I said she was starting to move around. Well, I think she is moments away from actually crawling. She gets up on her hands and knees and will rock, but then throw herself forward and use her legs and army crawl to where she wants to go. Well, she is now starting to move her arms forward, with her belly off the floor, but hasn't quite mastered how to move her knees. She can also now get into the sitting position from laying down. She has always tried, and I know she is getting a good ab workout, but she now has accomplished that task. Seriously, where does the time go? I can't believe my little baby girl can now sit up on her own and is super close to crawling. It is exciting and depressing at the same time! And to say she is happy all the time is an understatement! She is the most laid back, happy baby I have ever seen. I know it is hard to believe, and truse me, I have been waiting for the other side to come out, but it hasn't! She is always smiling and laughing............she has such an awesome personality!

When I went to the doctor a couple weeks ago, I asked her if I wasn't feeding her enough. It is so weird because with Brody, I was always worried about feeding him too much, and with her I worry that I am not feeding her enough. Of course, the doctor told me not to worry about it. She said that if she is content between feedings and doesn't seem to be hungry, then don't worry about it. Right now, we feed her some cereal and a half of Stage 1 fruit in the morning with a 4 oz. bottle. For lunch, she gets half a Stage 1 vegetable and Stage 1 fruit and a 4 oz. bottle and for dinner, she gets half a Stage 1 vegetable and a 4 oz. bottle (she hardly ever finishes that bottle completely, but we still offer it to her). Then at night, before bed, she gets another bit of cereal and a 5 oz. bottle. I know that is probably much more information than anyone else needs to know, but part of me is writing this so I can look back and remember. I know that at this point, I was feeding Brody much more than that, but I guess I have to consider that Brody was about 8 lbs. heavier than her at this age. Similar to what I have done before, I have posted a comparison of Brody and Molly at 7 months. They definitely look related, but look a lot different to me! Her head is much, much smaller than his, and their eyes are shaped different.

Ethan has been with us for the last month and a half and it has been great! I love having him around and also seeing him interact with his brother and sister. He is such a lovebug with Molly, and plays with her a lot. I have seen him pick her up more in the last month and a half than he has picked Brody up in his whole life! Brody and Ethan are already starting to bicker, and a part of me things it is hilarious. Ethan gets irritated when Brody goes in his room or gets things that he isn't supposed to, and Brody will tell Ethan to get away when Ethan starts bothering him. But then, they have these moments that really show how much both of them love each other. I am so glad that Brody has such a great big brother to play with! I only wish Ethan could stay longer, but I know that he misses his mom and I know she misses him so he will be heading back probably next weekend.

Which brings me to the fact that my sister is moving back home! I am so excited I can't stand it! She will be here next weekend and then will be moving a couple weeks after that. It will be great to have her so close again. And by close, I mean super close......atleast to my parents. She is moving into a condo in my parents neighborhood! She is literally in the next pod over from them. I told them that they should probably go ahead and change the locks because she will constantly be over there! (Just kidding Chris! I mean I really did say that, but you know I am joking with ya!) It will just be nice to have her home! I can't wait.

Anyway, that is enough for my long post. I guess I better get to work! Happy Friday All!

On the Move!

2010-07-18T13:12:00.003-04:00

So, Molly is on the move. She is just about crawling and while it is not the traditional hands and knees moving, she is more of an army crawling. Needless to say, she gets where she needs to go. Here is a video of her doing it.

Also, she is saying Mama all the time! It makes me so happy because Brody didn't really start saying that until much, much later. He would mouth it but no sound would come out.

It is hot as the dickens here so once Brody gets up from his nap, I am going to take him and Ethan to the pool with our neighbor. Molly is going to stay with Daddy because I don't want to take her out in this heat!

Hope everyone had a good weekend!

Molly's Well-Baby Checkup

2010-07-10T10:30:00.005-04:00

Molly finally had her 6 month checkup yesterday. She will be 7 months tomorrow, and it was originally scheduled for sooner, but her doctor has been on vacation. So, here are her stats:

Weight - 17.1 lbs
Height - 26.5 inches
Head - 16.25 inches

Her doctor said that she is in the 75th percentile for weight and height (which surprised me) and the 25th percentile for her head. I was searching on the internet and found 2 sites (one of which is my baby bible, babycenter.com) and they said she is in the 44th for weight and height, and 5th for her head. Either way, she is doing great and growing perfectly!

The difference between her and Brody are amazing! At 6 months, which mind you, her weight is technically at 7 months, Brody weighed 22.13 lbs, which is essentially a whole other newborn baby more than Molly! Her doctor checked her over and she is perfect. She is doing really good and right on target with her milestones. So, all is well!

She had two shots and a liquid and she did great. She cried one brief cry and then was good. I told my mom if she got fussy in the afternoon to give her some Tylenol, and my mom gave her some right around 3:30. Not sure if it was the shots or not, but she she was better after.

I thought I would post this really cute video of Molly laughing. I have been wanting to get it on video for a while and luckily, Tab was here and got a few laughs out of her. The sound of her giggling and laughing is such music to my ears....I wish I could bottle it up and keep it forever. Atleast I do have a video. :)

Lots to Post

2010-07-04T11:34:00.011-04:00

Okay...since I haven't posted in a while, I have lots to post. I started this post originally last weekend and have been trying to upload some pictures on here, but it is taking forever, so I didn't post all the ones I wanted to. I need to figure out how I can somehow get all the pictures i want on here without it taking so long (or it is just that I don't have patience.....which could be the case as well). Anyway, here is what is going on with us.

I will start with Ethan's birthday. He turned 12 (yes, 12!) on June 21st and we got him a cell phone for his birthday. He has been bugging about getting one for a really long time, so after discussion with his mom, we decided to get him one and put him on our plan. Good thing, because we have unlimited texting and we definitely need it now that he is on our plan. Since it is summer, we didn't limit the amount he can text, but we did tell him that he is not allowed to text after 10 pm. Of course, the rules will all change once the school year rolls around, but for now, he is doing a good job following the rules. Plus, we had a talk with him about how he needs to responsible with his texting and that it is his job to keep up with his phone and not lose it or get it taken away. If he does...too bad, so sad! Here are a few pictures from when he opened his gift and from when we had his cake. Yes, the cake has a 2 candle on it but that was the only one I could find so we told him he had to add 10 to it! :)

Last weekend, we headed to Tab's for Mallory's first birthday party. We left Saturday morning after the kids ate and I swear, you would have thought that we were going away on vacation for a week with all the stuff we packed. We had separate bags for each of us plus the pack-n-play, plus Mallory's gifts (one of which was huge) and a diaper bag full of food for Molly. After getting everything ready and in the car Saturday morning, we were already tired! But, it definitely was worth it. Tab had a good turn out and I think everyone had a great time. Mallory go so much stuff....it looked like Toys'R'Us threw up in her living room. All the kids had a great time and Tab gave fabulous goodie buckets for the kids. Brody was having such a good time playing with all of his stuff, and running around. Also, one of Tab and I's friend from high school came the party and it was so good to see her. I haven't seen her since high school and we connected through FaceBook. She has a 15 month old boy and he is so adorable. It was interesting to see the three of us with our kids. It shows us how grown up we are now!

I think Mallory's look in this picture is hilarious!

Brody and Mallory sitting in her new wagon...

Mallory eating the awesome cake Kevin made....he is so talented!!

Other things.....Molly is trying to sit up more and more, but she hasn't quite got there yet. She will sit up if I kind of barricade her with pillows around her. She is also starting to try and get up on her knees, and if you just leave her on the floor, she will somehow manage to move herself around the room. I am sure crawling will be right around the corner. It is funny with her milestones. Somethings I figured she would be doing now, she isn't (like sitting up on her own) and she started rolling from her back to her belly first, rather than the other way around, which is much hard.

She is now starting to hold her own bottle when we are feeding her. She hasn't quite mastered it, but she definitely is trying. She has started more and more food. She has now had bananas, peas, beans, and carrots, squash, and applesauce. She seems to be tolerating everything really well. Her 6 month appointment is July 9th and I will be interested to see how much she weighs. Of course, by that point she will almost be 7 months old but should be interesting. She is still pretty fantastic and has become a belly sleeper. When we lay her down in the crib at night, she immediately rolls from her back to her side/belly and stays that way for most of the night. It is funny to think that both Brody and Molly both were not fans of tummy time, yet they both became belly sleepers.

I love this picture of Molly and Ethan. Ethan stayed home with me last Monday and we were watching a movie. He had Molly laying with him for a little bit so of course, I had to take a picture. I can't tell him enough how much of a good big brother he is. He is so helpful and interacts with them. It is so sweet to see!

Brody has become such a little dude. We got his haircut last week and he always looks so handsome with a fresh haircut. Not like he doesn't before that, but he just looks so different. He is so funny and sometimes, I am shocked at what he says. He sounds so grown up Ted and I have both said that sometimes, it is hard to believe that he is only 2. He has been doing really good at daycare and has a new teacher in his class that says nothing but good things about him. She says that he should be employed there because he wants to help do everything. in his folder last friday, the note said "Brody is such a big help and a joy to be around. Keep up the goodwork!" Makes momma so proud!!

Well....I think that is about it for now. I am going to relax today. Hope everyone has a good July 4th holiday!

Mr. Independent and My Brown-Eyed Girl!

2010-06-14T11:02:00.014-04:00

Brody loves to swim. He has now been swimming a couple of times and he LOVES it! He has no fear either....none....zip....zilch! I am happy about that, but of course that worries me too. Last weekend, I decided Brody and I would have a Mommy and me day....all day. Ted stayed home with Molly and Ethan and I decided to take Brody over to my girlfriend's house to go swimming.
I was also brave and decided to head over in the morning and let him swim for a little bit and then put him down for a nap at her house. Since I am such a control freak, Brody has only missed his normal nap time maybe 3 times and the only place he has taken his nap has been here, my parent's house, and at Tab's house. So, I wasn't sure what would happen.

Well, we got there and he was having such a good time. He has definitely started to want to do everything on his own. His favorite phrase is "Mommy....I do it. Brody do it!" So of course, he tried this in the pool, but of course, I didn't go far. He was doing a great job swimming and kicking his feet and getting places. He had on some floaties so atleast that helped a little bit when he wanted to do some things on his own. I had always toyed with the idea of taking him to swim lessons, but never did. He definitely caught on and I think I might look into it.

So we got there in the morning, swam for a couple of hours, ate some lunch, and then I put him in the pack'n'play in her room and he slept great! He slept for almost 3 hours, which is pretty typical for him. He woke up in a great mood, had a snack and into the pool we went again. All in all we had a great day and I look forward to other days like that again.

Then, this past weekend, my parents were having a cook out in their condo pad and we decided to go over a little early and head to their neighborhood pool. It was not crowded, which was great, because of course, Brody was going to be loud and splashing and I would have felt bad if someone was trying to relax. My dad got in the pool with him for a little bit and my neighbor and her kids came with us and we had a good time. Here are a couple of pics.....

So with Brody becoming Mr. Independent, so has the attitude. I swear....sometimes that kid frustrates me so. He is definitely testing his limits and sometimes I have no clue how to handle it. I will ask him not to do something and he looks right at me, and does it. I know that most of this is typically 2 year old behavior, but I know that I just can't let it go so I feel like I am constantly on him and trying to correct his behavior. From what I hear, alot people say that 3 is worse than 2. Really?? I hope that is just a myth, but I am afraid it will probably be true! But, again, he can frustrate me to know end, but when he tells me that he loves me to the moon and back, or he does something funny, that is all I need! :)

On to Molly......she is definitely a roller now. She has been rolling from her back to her belly for a long time now, but a couple of weeks ago, she started rolling from her belly to her back...randomly. Well, now she is a roly-poly.....going everywhere. Also, she has now started to sleep on her belly. The minute we lay her down, she flips over to her side and then her belly and sleeps like that for a majority of the night. The only problem with that is since she started doing this, which was about a week ago, she has been waking up around 6:00 every morning and crying. She is on her belly and I think she forgets that she put herself there so some mornings I just roll her back over, give her the paci and she will go back to sleep. Other times, I have just brought her in the bed with us. I have been feeling guilty about bringing her in with us because I don't want her to get used to it, but we did the same thing with Brody sometimes and he didn't have a problem.

She is also doing a good job with sitting up, and can sit up for a little bit before toppling over. Of course, she always wants to sit and when she is laying down, she looks like she is doing a sit up because she wants to be up so bad. My parents brought out the saucer and we brought down the jumper for her to start using and she LOVES it. I definitely think she likes the new view and being able to sit up and use her legs. Here are some pics.......

She is also such a love bug! She is happy 99% of the day and when she is fussy, there is normally a specific reason. I have never met a baby that is this happy. I am thankful though because her brother is much more needy right now and she is pretty content being able to occupy herself. I feel bad alot because I do feel like a lot of my energy goes to Brody and she is being shafted, but I am happy that I get to spend Mondays with her since I work from home those days! Right now, i am working (well...not right now, but I have been) and she is asleep right next to me in the swing. She is so smily and lights up when you smile at her. She also laughs all the time and thinks we are the funniest people ever!

I wish I had one of my baby pictures electronically because in the picture above, Molly looks very similar to me as a baby. I think I am going to have to get one just to do a comparison. The only difference is our eye color. Her eyes are starting to turn brown, so it is pretty much official that both of my kids are brown-eyed babies, which is just what I wanted! :)

I can't believe she is 6 months old! She turned 6 months last Friday! Where does the time go? Pretty soon, she will be Brody's age and will be entering her terrible 2s (God help us!) and that makes me sad! I will be happy watching them grow, but also sad that Mommy won't be needed as much!

Like it is hard for me to believe that Ethan will be 12 a week from today. That is just mind boggling! We are going to have him for a month and a half this summer, starting this week. I am excited. I enjoy having him here and love to see him interacting with his brother and sister. They light up when they see him too! I think I might try and get their pictures taken again at some point. We have finally updated our wall with the pics we have taken and it is awesome to see how they have changed and grown.

Okay...this post has become really long, but I guess that is what happens when I don't blog that often! I have been horrible with the camera and getting pictures but I will try over the next month to get more since the family will all be together! Plus, and I forgot to mention this, but my sister is going to be moving back home this summer!! I am so excited for them to be back here. It will be nice for all the kids to be together and for us to have them so close. I can't wait for them to get here!

Just Say No to Drugs!

2010-06-01T19:44:00.005-04:00

I think as mothers, all of us will have one experience or another that will scare the shit out of us and that moment will be forever ingrained in our brain until the next experience happens. For example, my first experience was when Brody rolled right off the ottoman in his room one night after I had given him a bath. He was not a big roller up to that point, but that was the night he decided to really give it a go and he rolled right off onto the floor. I could have sworn he broke something, but I think I felt worse than he did. That experience was soon replaced with the time I accidentally grabbed the petroleum jelly from his basket and proceeded to put it on his toothbursh to brush his teeth, thinking it was toothpaste. That was until I realized, after I brushed his teeth, and I put that cap back on just what I had done. That was my first, and hopefully only time, of calling the Poison control hotline. Luckily, they said the amount was not large enough to cause a reaction and all was right in the world. I could go on, but you get the drift......

Well, I have to say that yesterday probably trumped all of those horrible experiences........combined. Let me back up!

Late last week, Brody started complaining that his mouth hurt. He would stick a finger in his mouth, point to his tongue and the back of his throat and say "mouth hurt Mommy!" Well, considering that his top 2 year molars have broke through the skin, and the fact that he has been drooling like crazy, I was assuming it was his bottom set. I looked in his mouth and they didn't look red, but just assumed that is what they had to be. Starting Friday night, he was waking up alot throughout the night and would cry not a normal "Oh, I woke up...now what cry?" This was a "I am in some serious pain cry!" Sometimes, he wouldn't even be really awake all the way when we would go in there. Needless to say, we were pretty tuckered out. Since our Anniversary was Friday, my parents came over on Saturday night to watch the kiddies while Ted and I went out to dinner. Like normal, he would be fine during the day, with the occasional mention of his mouth hurting, but once he fell asleep, it was no telling how many times he would wake up. On Sunday, my girlfriend Melissa had a cookout and we headed over there for some fun and sun. Again, all was well. When we got home, he fell right asleep, which I assumed was from the sun exposure and actully joked with Ted saying that we should take him over there everyday if he would zonk out like that.

Ted fell asleep around 7:30 and I wasn't tired so I stayed up and read some of my book (which is by my favorite author, Emily Giffin...it is called Heart of the Matter and it is really good! Love, Love, Love her). Anyway, around 9:00-9:30, he started crying so I headed in there and did the normal routine of getting him back in bed and he went back to sleep. That continued about every 15-20 minutes until I finally went to bed around 11:00. From then on, I could not tell you how many times we both got up until I finally decided to go in there and sleep on the floor in his room. I could tell that trying to swallow was painful because when he would, he would start to cry. He was completely restless and could not get comfortable so he and I both had very little sleep that night.

On Monday morning,we looked in his mouth again, and the back of his throat was red and his tonsils were huge. I told Ted that I wasn't about to wait to take him to the doctor today so we decided to take him the Children's Hospital to get checked out. Ted stayed at home with Molly, who has of course, been her usually fabulous and laid back self through all of this, and everyday of her life since she was born, and I went and scooped up my Mom so she could go with me. We got checked in and Brody seemed fine. They tooks his vitals, checked his temp (no temp) and we headed back to the room to wait for the doctor. We waited for about 45 minutes or so, and in that time frame, Brody went from being his normal self, to lethargic and feverish, back to being his normal self. Finally, the doctor came in and checked him out. After examining him from head to toe, she said that he his tonsils were extremely red and swollen, which she diagnosed as viral pharyngities, or tonsillitis, and he had an ear infection. So, I asked her if there was anything she could give us to help get rid of the tonsillitis and she unfortunately, it needed to run its course. She did ask if we were giving him Tylenol and I told her yes, and she said that they could give him a stronger pain medicine, but that was about it. So, the head doc came in and checked him out as well and he said the same thing.

So, the decision was to give him Zithromax for his ear infection and then give him Motrin every 6 hours and they were going to give him a prescription for Tylenol with hyrdocodone in it to help with the pain at night. Considering my reaction to any type of pain medicine, I asked them if he would have any issues. They said they couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't but they really didn't know. We decided not to wait to give him the first dose at night and they gave him one while were at the hospital. That was around 11:00 am. We were waiting to get discharged and he was fine while we waited. I was expecting him to start to get sleepy at any point, considering the drugs they gave him plus that fact that it was getting ready to be nap time. They finally discharged us around 12:00 and he was starting to get quiet and sleepy. We headed to the car and I told my mom that we would stop and get him something to eat so he could eat in the car and then once we got him, I could put him straight to bed.

Well, we got McDonald's and my mom was in the back with him feeding him his food. We got about 10 minutes down the road and she said "Oh my God....Brody, Brody?" I looked in the rear view mirror and he was dripping with sweat. He looked like he had just gotten out of the bath tub. Then, as my Mom was trying to get his attention, he had this glazed over look and he could barely focus on her. Then, the next thing we know, he starts gagging and throwing up. I immediately pulled the car over, started freaking out, and grabbed him out of his car seat, as he proceeded to throw up again. I got him out, stripped him down, and there we were standing in a not so great part of town, with my baby boy standing in only a diaper and his sandles, while I am on the phone with the ER. I could hardly talk I was freaking out. He was really unsteady on his feet and he told me he was going to "froke up again!" He then got sick again and again. They connected me to the doctor we saw and she said that chances are, he was having a reaction to the pain meds and that unfortunately, there was really nothing we could do except comfort him and let him get it all out. She said he was lethargic from the meds as well and the medicine was supposed to last for 4-6 hours. She knew that I was taking him home to take a nap and she that was probably the best thing for him and that once he woke up, he should feel better.

Well, he was doing a little better once we started heading home again, and he didn't throw up anymore in the car. Once we got inside, Ted was in the kitchen and Brody and I walked over to him. He looked at me and said "froke up again, Mommy" and proceeded to get sick all over the kitchen floor. I could not even imagine what was going through his head at the time, but I felt so sorry for him. He looked so pitiful and just looked like he felt like he had been run over by a mack truck. I took upstairs and bathed him and asked if he was feeling better. He said yes and then I laid him down for a nap, with a bucket beside his bed, hoping he completely understood me and would use it if he needed to. His eyes were closed and he as zonked out before I even left the room.

He was down and asleep at 1:00 and I woke him up at 4:30. He is normally a restless sleeper and is constantly moving around his bed when he sleeps. Well, not yesterday......he hardly moved at all. I know I could have left him sleeping, but I didn't want it to interfere with him going to bed last night. He ended up going right to sleep around 7:00 and woke up at 9:00, 1:00 and then 6:00 this morning. Not too bad considering the nights we have had.

Ted stayed home with him today and said that he was pretty much acting normal so I think we are going to take him to school tomorrow. He doesn't have a fever and isn't contagious so he should be fine.

So, that was my latest scare. I am sure there will be many more to come, but of course, I really don't want to think about that right now. I am just happy that it was not more serious and that he was feeling better pretty quickly. Okay...this post was way too long....I am off to watch some TV before bed.

Finally Updating

2010-05-24T09:20:00.015-04:00

Okay, I have been horrible about updating my blog. Things have been really crazy at work and things have been busy at home too. Brody is still doing really great in his big boy bed. His only issue now is that he has fallen out of bed a couple of times. He is such a restless sleeper and is constantly flipping and moving while he is sleeping and he just rolls right off the bid. I am thinking about getting one of those bed rails from the store so it will go across the middle part of the bed and hopefully keep him in. Ted doesn't think we need to do that because he said Brody will get used to it. Poor thing.

We are also getting ready to start potty training. We have been introducing him to the potty for a while now, but he has not yet started to use it. Yesterday, we put him in big boy underwear and he was really excited, but he peed in it within the first 10 minutes. Here is a picture of him standing proud in his Elmo undies....

I have heard some good things about this method called the 3 day potting training method. I haven't really researched it yet, but I have read about the success rate and it seems interesting. I think we are going to wait to really start doing it until he is in the next class up in daycare. Once he moves into that class, they will work with him everyday on it as well and hopefully that will help. Right now, it is hard for us to try and do something when he is in daycare for a majority of the day and they wouldn't be doing the same thing. I am hoping that like every other transition in his life up until this point, it will be quick and easy! HA! One can hope, right?

Let's see....Molly has rolled over from her belly to her back twice, but is constantly rolling from her back to her belly. Not sure what is taking her so long going back the other way, but her pediatrician isn't concerned. She is trying to sit up and can sit up a little now. Here are a couple of pictures. I love her facial expression in the last one!ure....

Here is a picture of Ethan playing his game and Brody "playing with him." Ethan gives him one of his remotes and he acts like he is the one playing.

Molly standing with her Daddy.....she is getting so big!

Look at those rolls on her arm...

Ethan and his little sister. He is such a good big brother and they light up when they see him!

Brody and Pop-Pop......I can totally hear his laugh just by looking at this picture!

Still Here

2010-05-20T15:12:00.001-04:00

Wow...I haven't blogged since Mother's Day. I really haven't felt motivated to do it, which is so sad, but I do have some stuff to blog about and some pictures to post, so hopefully I can do some later tonight or this weekend. Just stay tuned........

Happy Mommy's Day!

2010-05-09T19:43:00.006-04:00

Happy Mommy's Day! I had a great day and great weekend with the family. I missed seeing my Mom today (she is in Chicago visiting my sister), but I talked to her a couple of times and wished her a very Happy Mother's Day. She definitely deserves it. My Mom and I had our rough times growing up, but I thinking becoming a Mom has really opened my eyes to how much she cares for me and loves me. Thanks for all you have done and do for me Mom! You are the best!!

Today, we had plans to head to the Children's Museum but unforuntately, when we got there, it was closed for renovations. Bummer! But it was a nice down in downtown and they had an art festival going on so we walked around for a bit. It was really nice. Then we headed out to dinner and now the kids are in bed, and we are just chilling getting ready to watch some TV. Ted surprised me last night with two Tiffany's charms for my bracelet - one with the letter B and one with the letter M. It was cute because he had Brody hand me the boxes and he told me "Happy Mother's Day Mommy!" It was the best. I truly am blessed.

Little Miss Molly has started to boycott her bottles the last couple of days and I don't know why. We think she might be teething and her gums hurt, but they aren't red and swollen, but I can't figure out what else it is. She doesn't seem hungry either, which is weird. She just started this yesterday and Ted fed her tonight because I have been getting a little frustrated with it today. She cried pretty much the entire time. We tried to switch the bottle nipples to the fast flow ones to see if that would help and she did take the bottle, but still cried the whole time. I sure hope it is teething and this starts to subside soon. We shall see.

Brody decided to boycott his nap today! (what is it with my kids acting up on Mother's Day!) He didn't cry, but he just wouldn't lay down in his bed and go to sleep. We left him in there for a couple of hours and he played the whole time. Shockingly, he wasn't grumpy this afternoon and he got a little sleepy in the car, but he got his second wind and did just fine at dinner. Then we put him down around 7:00 and he was out at 7:15. Normally he will play for a little bit and then get in bed around 8:00. Not tonight....he was tuckered out.

My computer is slow again so I am going to try and post some more pics tomorrow, but I just want to you see how blessed I am that these two little kiddies have entered my life. Brody, who I consider our miracle baby, since it took us almost three years and multiple negative pregnancy tests to have. And, little Miss Molly, who amazes me everyday with her personality and the way she lights up when I come in the room. I thank God everyday for giving me the opportunity to be there Momma and I can't even put into words the depth to which I love them. I am so thankful for this gift I have been given and I do not take a minute of it for granted. They are my life and I can not wait to continue on this journey and see the amazing people they will become!!

Such a Big Boy!

2010-04-29T20:24:00.002-04:00

I am so proud of Brody! He has done such a good job with the transition to his toddler bed. We are now on night 5 and he sleeps in his bed so good. He does get up a few times right after we put him down, but if we go in there, he will lay right back down. I don't expect him to completely stay in his bed the minute we put him down so that is not a big deal. Also, since he didn't go to sleep right away when we would put him to bed in his crib, I didn't expect him to miraculous start now!

I still can't believe that my baby boy is in a toddler bed already! Time is flying by too fast.

Weekend Pictures

2010-04-28T21:29:00.002-04:00

Message for Grandma and Grandpa Crumb

2010-04-26T20:23:00.003-04:00

Here is a message for you Grandma and Grandpa Crumb.....

Full of Transitions

2010-04-26T09:01:00.003-04:00

There are a lot of transitions going on in the Crumb house. A couple of weeks ago, we transitioned Molly from her swaddle, and with the exception of that first night, she has done great! The last couple of days, she has only lasted until 4:00 am, but I am thinking it might have something to do with her allergies because she is stuffed up and it gets worse at night. But, I also am not sure if she is going through a growth spurt so I am going to increase her bottles and see what happens. Then, we started giving her cereal and she has done great with that too. And last night, we made a huge transition with Brody. We did the dreaded transition from his crib to the toddler bed. In the last couple of months, he has climbed out a couple of times, but it has been sporadic and not a regular thing. Well, yesterday morning, he met me at his gate, and then after his nap, he was in the process of climbing out when I went up there and caught him. So, on a whim, we decided to just bite the bullet and take the front of the crib off. I have to say I was nervous about this decision because I like to prepare for things and this was just a random decision. I have to say that it was probably the best thing because I would have driven myself crazy thinking about it until the day actually came.

So anyway, we transitioned the bed yesterday afternoon and prepared him for it last night. We did our normal bed time routine and when he went to bed, he did everything like normal. We said good night, left the room, and I immediately headed towards the monitor to see what was going on. I wish that I could somehow video what goes on in there because last night was hilarious. He immediately sat up, pushed all of his stuff out (instead of throwing it out like he normally does) and then he slipped out of bed, looked down at his stuff, and just stood in the middle of the room like "Now what?" He stood there for a few minutes and then headed to the door. I heard him open the door and try to open the gate, but he couldn't get the gate open. Then, he yelled for us. I went up there, told him to lay back down, gave him all of his stuff back and then headed out of the room. Then, he threw his stuff out one more time, and we told him to lay back down one last time and that was it! THAT WAS IT! He slept the whole night and didn't get up again until this morning! Can you believe it? I sure can't! I was so nervous but he did amazing! This morning, we went in there and turned his cartoons on and he played while we were getting everything ready. He did so awesome! I only hope this continues and that it isn't a fluke! I am sure we may have some rough nights, but last night was pretty great! I can't believe he is now in a toddler bed. My little boy is growing up.

Next transition.....the potty! He has gotten to the point of telling me when his diaper needs to be changed so I think we are almost there. Plus, he should be transitioning classrooms at daycare in a little bit, which means they will start working on the potty training during the day too. So once that happens, it is on! I am hoping that he will catch on pretty quickly, like he has done with most everything else. We will see!

This weekend, Molly achieved a few milestones too. She has found her feet and grabs them all the time, and she has finally rolled over from her belly to her back. She has rolled over from her back to her belly (which her doctor said is harder to do) for the last couple of months, and Saturday, she finally rolled over from her belly to her back. It happened so fast I almost didn't realize it. It just seemed so natural. Of course, I grabbed the camera hoping to get it on video, but had no luck. She only did it once, but I am sure once she starts, she won't stop.

I took a bunch of pictures this weekend that I will try and post later....including a few cute videos.

Catch Up

2010-04-20T20:21:00.020-04:00

I am starting to get really bad about posting regularly, but I honestly have to say that it slips my mind sometimes. We have been pretty busy. Ted got home last weekend and we started Molly on cereal and then begun the transition of not swaddling her at night. In my last post, I said her first night went just okay. Well....the next night, she slept the whole night and has done that since. I actually think she likes it much better than being swaddled. I remember thinking in the beginning that I wasn't sure if she liked the swaddle but I was scared to try putting her down without swaddling because I know with Brody, he loved it. Well...I think she likes to be free! She actually sleeps longer without being swaddled than she did in it. Weird how different they can be!

She has been doing really good with the cereal and I am wondering if that might be helping as well. This past weekend, I took her to get her ears pierced. I was hesitant about doing it, but I thought it would be better to get it over with now rather than when she was older and knew what was going on. She did amazing. She didn't cry when they did the first side, and fussed for a hot second with the other side. After that, she was just fine and smiling! I swear.......she has been amazing and I thank God for her everyday of my life! She is such a happy little thing and she sure does brighten my day. Here are some pics.....

This picture cracks me up. Tab came down on Saturday to get her hair done and I watched Mallory for her. Mallory decided that she thought it would be funny to hit Molly. Of course, we intervened and told her no, but she thought it was hilarious. Tab said she was going to ask daycare if she was trying to do this with other kids in her class because they haven't said anything to her about it. We said that one day, they will be the best of friends, but right now, not so much! :)

She looks sweet but she packs a mean punch! :) HAHA!

Speaking of Tab, these pictures sum her up. We were outside playing with Brody and she thought she was at a photo shoot! I love ya Tab.....you crack me up! :)

This little dude cracks me up too.........I wish I could keep him this small forever! :)

He has been having a hard time listening the last week or so and is definitely pushing the limits, We are definitely working on it, but it is a continuous battle. However, I guess it is expected at this age and we just need to roll with it. He still makes me smile and laugh more than I could have ever imagined and I love him so much my heart could burst sometimes! We received good news last Friday....he doesn't have to have tubes in his ears! YAY! We took him back to the ENT and they said he didn't have any fluid in his ears, which means that the steroid they gave worked. Hopefully, we can keep the ear infections at bay. Here are some more pics of him....

And finally....two of my favorite guys together. I think this is a great picture of Ted and Brody. Doesn't Brody look like a mini-Ted here??!!

The Art of Un-Swaddling

2010-04-13T20:16:00.012-04:00

So, we have decided to start the transition of unswaddling little Miss Molly. Last night was the first night and it went just okay. She went to bed at her normal time (8:00) with no problems and was out like a light. I heard her crying and looked at the clock and had to look at it again because it only said 12:00! I headed in there and gave her her pacifier and she fell back asleep. The next time she cried, it was a few minutes before 2:00 am. The next time, I didn't even look at the clock but nudged Ted to go in there and give her her pacifier. Then finally, I heard her after I got out of the shower this morning around 5:45 and brought her in the bed with Ted until I finished getting ready. So, all in all, it was not bad, but I would have hoped it would have been a little better. But, we are trying it again tonight to see what happens. She may not be ready to come out, but I also don't want her to become so dependent on it that the only time she will go to sleep is when she is swaddled.

The other good thing to come out of this experience is that my Mom said that she slept for 2 hours this afternoon......in her crib! We have been trying to get her to take naps in the crib, but just like her brother, she is having none of it. She will cat nap for about 30 minutes, and then want nothing to do with it. She sleeps like a champ in the swing (again, just like her brother), but the difference between her and Brody is that she can sleep in the swing even when it is not swinging, whereas Brody had to be swinging to go to sleep. It is so funny how they are so alike in some ways, yet so vastly different in others. I have no clue how God has blessed me with two calm, laidback, great kids, but I am truly thankful. They definitely get that trait from their father, because Lord knows, I am not laidback!

I am going to try and post some more pictures from this past weekend. Hopefully my computer will cooperate!

4 Month Stats and Pictures

2010-04-12T15:21:00.008-04:00

So, Molly had her 4 month appointment today. Here are her stats:

Weight: 13 lbs. 14 oz. (50%)
Length: 25 inches (70%)
Head: 15 7/8 (25-30%)

So essentially, I have a David and Goliath situation on my hands. Brody was soooo much bigger than her at this point, and it is hard for me to get used to her size. At Brody's 4 month appointment, he weighed 19 lbs. 8 oz. Brody was never on the weight chart and his head was always in the 75%. The only thing similar is their length. Molly seems to be long and skinny, and Brody was short and stocky. Pretty amazing how they can be so different. We started feeding her cereal this weekend and she loved it! Her doctor said that we could give it to her a couple times a day. I told her she only gets 4 6oz bottles a day, which I don't think is much, but she is not fussy between feedings, which is every 4 hours. Then at night, she gets her last bottle around 7:30 pm and doesn't eat again until 8:00 in the morning. The doctor said that while it doesn't seem like a lot of formula, she wouldn't change anything because she is growing fine and is happy and content. So, I think I am going to start offering her cereal in the morning and keep the one before her last bottle at night.

Here are a couple of pictures of her gobbling up her cereal. She LOVED it! (We got a new camera and I love it!) She looks so tiny in the highchair.

Ted got home on Saturday and we all are excited to have him home. I took Brody to the airport and he ran to him when he saw him. It was really cute. Then, on Saturday and Sunday, he wasl all about Daddy. We were outside trying to do some yard work and Brody was excited about being oustide and "hanging with Daddy!" Here are some pictures from the last couple of days. Our weather has been beautiful and it has been nice to hang out outside.

My computer is acting really slow. I will try and post more pictures tomorrow. I have many more to post.

Easter Weekend!

2010-04-05T10:37:00.002-04:00

Hope everyone had a good Easter! We sure did. The weather was beautiful all weekend. I absolutely love when it is warm enough to open the windows, but not scorching hot where you are thinking about turning the A/C on. We had a nice breeze blowing through the house!

On Saturday, we went to Tab's Mom and Grandma's house for an Easter egg hunt! Brody didn't know what to expect, but he was excited about going. Ethan was there and Brody was happy to see him (as he always is!) He talks about him alot when he is not here! Once we got there, I went out and hid the easter eggs in the backyard and we all headed outside. Since it was so nice, we put Molly on a sheet on the grass and she was doing good for a little bit. But, it was close to feeding time, plus I think she got a little hot, so she was not a happy camper. Brody had the best time! Unfortunately, I broke our camera Saturday morning before we left, so I couldn't get any pictures, but Tab took some and I will post them once I get them from her. I was really mad about breaking my camera, but I looked online at Best Buy and the newer version of ours is not that expensive so I think I am going to go get it this week. I absolutely CAN NOT function without a camera. Anyway, we ended up eating some yummy dinner there and headed home around 5:30.

Then yesterday, my parents went and got my grandma and brought her over for Easter dinner at my house. Well.....the actually dinner was at my house, but my parents brought the food! Isn't that sad? I had to go to the grocery store so I waited until my parents got there so I didn't have to take the kiddies with me. When I got back, Brody was up and of course kept us entertained. He is so funny.....and he makes me smile everyday! He has been doing much better about listening and he has been really good for the past couple of weeks. We have only had a few issues, but even those weren't bad!

So, today I am working from home and enjoying the nice day with the windows open. Molly is right next to me, fast asleep in her swing! I am proud to say that for the past two nights, she has slept from 8:00 to 7:00! She is such a good sleeper and an all around good baby! She is just so relaxed and she is starting to develop her personality as well. She is always smiling and she talks soo much! I love to here her coo and squeal when she gets exciting. Plus, she is now an official roller! She rolled over for the first time a couple weeks ago, but didn't rally try much since then. Well, Thursday, my Mom called and said that she rolled over again and had done it 4 times since then. Well, I saw it alot this weekend. Still pretty interesting that she rolls from her back to her belly, but she is doing it alot! She doesn't like tummy time as much so she of course gets frustrated when she is on her belly too long. But, she is definitely coming into her own and I am so glad to be her Momma! :)

Video and Some Pics

2010-03-29T20:58:00.020-04:00

I finally downloaded the pictures and videos from my camera. It has been pretty busy the last week with Ted being gone. But again, I am so thankful that my parents are here. They came over Saturday and Sunday and cooked dinner for us! It was really nice!

I took Brody to the doctor yesterday because he was complaining that his ear hurt and he had his finger in his left ear alot over the weekend. He didn't have an ear infection, which actually shocked me, but I was happy to hear that. We are still scheduled to go back to the ENT in the middle of April to see if the fluid is still in his ear. When the doc checked his ears yesterday, he still had fluid in one, but the other looked fine. Hopefully that is a good sign and they won't get worse from here.

Brody misses his Daddy. He cried last Thursday morning for Ted, but of course he wasn't here so I told him that Daddy had to work. That is now what he says all the time. Whenever Daddy pops up in his mind, which is frequently during the day, he turns to me and says "Daddy at work?" I say, "Yes! But he loves you very much!" to which he reply "I love you Daddy!" It breaks my heart that he misses Ted so much, but he will be back soon!

Molly is still doing really good. I finally got her on video batting at her toys. She is becoming more engaged and is such a laid back baby. She is a constant mover though.....she is always moving when you hold her, when she is laying down, in her car seat. She seems to want to try and sit up all the time, but of course, she can't and sometimes she gets really frustrated. I am going to start feeding her some cereal in a couple weeks, which is exciting. Also, I am debating about when to take her out of the swaddle. She sleeps about 9 hours each night, so I am worried that she won't do that out of the swaddle. She has broke out a couple of times, but other than that, she seems to like it. At this point, I had already transitioned Brody out of the swaddle so I am thinking I will try and start the transition around the same time she gets cereal for the first time. We will see how that goes.

Here are a couple pictures from the last couple of days.

Brody talking to Molly. She loves Brody...is always looking at him!

Sweet kisses for Molly!

Brody didn't want his picture taken!

Some cute pics of Molly. She really likes to hang out without clothes on.

Mee-Maw and 2 of her grandbabies! They sure love their Mee-Maw

Brody sitting next to Mee-Maw eating his applesauce. Such a big boy!

A couple pics of Molly smiling! She smiles so big, but unfortunately, when I get the camera out, she is more focused on that rather than on smiling.

I could stay like this all day! Hands down, best part of the day!

Here is a video of Molly talking and batting at her toys!

Brody and Molly Comparison - 3 Months

2010-03-23T16:18:00.005-04:00

My girlfriend Jennifer (or as she thinks she should be referred to, "The Jennifer") said I should do a comparison of Brody and Molly at 3 months. I don't know...you think they look alike? :)

Brody - 3 months

Molly - 3 months

First Time on a Trampoline

2010-03-22T13:19:00.004-04:00

Since the weekend was so nice, we spent alot of time outside (see previous post about his birthday party). My neighbor has a trampoline and I took Brody over their yesterday to see what he thought. He LOVED it! He was being bounced all around, but he had a great time. Here are some pics and a video. And yes, he still had his pjs on! :)

Birthday Party!

2010-03-22T08:31:00.039-04:00

We had an awesome weekend! The weather was beautiful and perfect for Brody's birthday party. It was also nice because the big gifts he got (from us, my parents, and Tab) were outside toys and we set up a whole little play area for him in the backyard. Here is a pic of what he got! We got him the playhouse, my parents got him the sandbox and the toys, and Tab got him the table, chairs and umbrella. He loved it! It will be really nice for him this summer.

Like I said, the weather was great. It was 75 on Saturday and we had the windows open and there was a nice breeze. We cooked out and we all had a good time. Thanks to everyone who came to spend this special day with our little boy! I still can't believe he is 2. He had so much fun!

Here is a picture of his cake. I loved it! I couldn't find a Yo Gabba Gabba cake, so this was the next best thing. He has a car like this already and I thought the turtle sandbox was cute. Tab brought some brown sugar for her baked beans and we put a little inside of it to make it look like sand. I was really happy with the way it turned out!

Here was Brody going outside to see his play area for the first time. He was walking with my neighbor's daughter Kaylie.

Ethan being a good big brother and helping Brody take his shoes off and go in the sandbox.

Opening presents.....

Tab and Mallory. She had on her party dress too!

Brody and Daddy. Brody loves him some Daddy!

Here is he blowing out the candle on his cake....

Sliding down the slide Grammaw Cathy (Tab's Mom) gave him.....I think we are going to keep this inside rather than take it outside.

Mallory wearing Molly's pink bow. I took this picture just for Kevin (he hates hair bows!)

This is how Molly spent a good portion of her time during the party. She had on her party dress underneath the blanket and looked ready to party.

Here she was in her bouncy chair. She loves this chair....almost as much as Brody did!

The next morning, I wanted to try on a few outfits he got. My girlfriend Melissa bought him this bathing suit and rash guard. She has a pool and we are definitely going to go over there this summer and have some pool time!

And finally, here are some pictures of Molly from yesterday. In my last post, I talked about how I receive e-mails from babycenter.com telling me what each child should be doing developmentally for their age. Well, with Molly, it seems like she is 1-2 weeks behind what they say. This past weekend, she has definitely started to follow us more when we walk around and she started batting at toys. It is really cute. I am going to try and get it on video....I haven't yet.

Tummy time does not seem to be her favorite, but she does last about 5 minutes or so. She is lifting her head more and more everyday, but she has really good head control when you pick her and hold her upright. She is also doing really good in the bumbo chair.

Brody still is not that jazzed about holding Molly. He definitely interacts with her well, talks to her alot, but when I ask if he wants to hold her, he initially says Yes, but then when I give her to him, he says no and bounces his legs up and down. I did get them close enough yesterday to get a picture. This lasted about 30 seconds before he was getting up.

I started this post this morning and ran out of time before we went to Brody's 2 year check up. He weighs 39 lbs. and unfortunately, I don't remember his height, but he is in the 75th percentile for height. He is still off the weight chart, but not by much. She asked if I was concerned, and I told her that at this point, I am not that concerned about his weight anymore. She said she thought he was thinning out, which we have noticed as well. When I look at him compared to the other kids in his daycare class, he doesn't look much bigger than them so I definitely think he is starting to slow down. Developmentally, he is advanced in all categories, but is really advanced for his speech. He talks so much and he speaks very clear too. There are only a handful of times when I can't understand him, but once he says it a few more times, I can generally figure it out.

The bad thing is that I think he is going to have to get tubes. We took him to the ENT a the Friday before last because he had a few ear infections over the last couple of months. The doctor said he had fluid in his ears, and he has had fluid in his ears pretty much everytime he goes to the doctor. Sometimes it is clear, but of course other times, his ears are infected. The ENT doctor gave him a steroid to see if he could get the fluid to diappear. Well, he has been on that steroid for the past week and when he went today, his pediatrician said that one ear has clear fluid and the other has yellow fluid. That is more than when he saw the ENT. He only had clear fluid in one ear and the other ear was fine. So, I asked her for her opinion because I really don't want him to have tubes, but she said she thought it was a good idea. We are scheduled to go back to the ENT in the middle of April and he said that if he either got another ear infection before then, or if the fluid did not go away, he was going to recommend tubes. As I said, I of course don't want him to have tubes, but I also don't want this to cause damage to his ear or his hearing. I guess we will see what happens.

Brody is fighting his nap today, but I will prevail (hopefully!). It is now 1:21 and he has been in his crib since 11:45 and he hasn't slept yet. I really need him to nap today. He is so stubborn....I have no clue who he gets that from! :)

Update: It is now 1:29 and he is finally asleep! He needs to realize that Momma knows best! :)

Big Boy!

2010-03-19T22:32:00.006-04:00

I woke up this morning wondering how it was that my baby boy turned 2 today! Time has flown by entirely too fast. He is such a big boy. Here is a picture from last week when we got the kids' picture taken. This is my favorite picture of him!

Back when I was pregnant, I signed up for e-mails from Babycenter.com. The e-mails would contain information about what was going on that week and development milestones they should be working on. Of course, for someone like me, receiving these e-mails is a blessing and a curse. It is nice to know what is going on, but I of course start to worry too much when either one of them is not doing what it says they are supposed to be doing. I have to continue to remind myself that my kids are going to do things at their own pace. Anyway, today, the e-mail I received for Brody said "Your Preschooler this week......." Preschooler? When did he become a preschooler? Last week he was a toddler, and now he is a preschooler. When did that happen?

We went to dinner tonight to celebrate Brody's birthday. He was so cute....they put balloons on his chair and they sang happy birthday. Here are a few pictures......he loved his sundae!

Tommorow, we are having his party. I am pretty excited. It is supposed to be 75 and sunny tomorrow...perfect for a cookout. I will try and take lots of pictures and post them this weekend!

Finally....Pictures!

2010-03-17T20:50:00.013-04:00

Well, I didn't find the adapter, but Ted found the cord to our camera so I was able to finally download the pictures from the last couple of weeks. YAY!! I have included some below.

Also, today was a milestone for Molly. She rolled over for the first time. She has been trying so hard to roll over from her back to her tummy and finally accomplished it today. I have read that babies normally roll from their tummy to their back first, but I guess she wanted to be a little different. I had to work late tonight but Ted said that she almost did it again tonight. I am upset that I missed it....this is why I hate being a working mom, but I guess if Ted and I couldn't see it, my Mom and Dad are the next best thing!

Also, Molly is now sleeping from about 8:30 to 5:00-6:00 am!! She has done that the past couple of nights. Previously, she may have woken around 3:00 or so, but we could give her the pacifier and she would go back to sleep. But not now! It has been nice.

I love her smile!

This picture cracks me up...she really likes her bumbo

A little tummy time...

Trying to roll over......

Brody claims Molly's bumbo is his chair.....

He was getting up to start dancing...he loves dancing.

This is the mustache from his Mr. Potato Head

His signature smile......I love this smile!

Uh-Oh Cheerio!

2010-03-15T20:00:00.004-04:00

Okay...this post is really for me. I wanted to post about this yesterday but I forgot and I definitely don't want to forget about this so I figured I would blog about it.

On Saturday morning, Brody was eating some cheerios and drinking some milk out in the living room. When it is just me in the morning (Ted was in the garage packing up some stuff because he was going to be gone for the day doing some hunting stuff), I will normally give him some cheerios for breakfast and let him eat them in his chair in the living room while watching TV so I can feed Molly. This is the only time their schedules cross so this makes it a bit easier to manage. Well, when Molly got done, I got up to put the bottle in the sink and Brody comes running in after me and says "What happened nose?" Whenever he hurts himself, regardless of the body part, he always says "What happened _______?" This is his way of letting us know he hurt himself. I asked him what was wrong and he said "What happened nose.....Cheerio?" I was afraid to get a closer look because I was pretty sure what I was going to see. When I got closer and looked up his nose, I saw a piece of cheerio stuck up his nose. Of course, my panic button went off and thought "How the hell am I going to get that out?" Of course, once I started freaking out, Brody started to get a little worked up. I tried to push on his nostril hoping that maybe it would come out, but then I was afraid it was going to get pushed further up there. I opened the door to the garage, told Ted what happened and asked him to come inside and help. Next thing I know, Ted is standing there with needle nose pliers. Really? Did he think I was actually going to let him get those anywhere near Brody's nose. I had Brody come sit down with me and Ted went out in the garage to get something else. (He told me later he was going to get a Q-tip and somehow rig it so he could get past the cheerio and pull it out). As I was looking up Brody's nose, still not sure how he got the piece in there, Brody sneezed. Well.....here comes the cheerio and a whole bunch of other stuff. The funniest part was that it was a whole cheerio!!! I was thinking he only got a small piece, but nope! He had a whole cheerio stuffed up his nose!! Once it was all said and done, I laughed because Brody looked right at me and said "No cheerio up nose!" If only he listened to himself more often! :)

Pictures

2010-03-14T20:50:00.002-04:00

I have so many pictures to post, but unfortunately, I can't find the adapter for my computer to be able to download them from our camera memory stuck. UGH! I know I had it the other day and now I can't find it. This stinks because unless I find it, I am not sure how I am going to get all the pics off the camera. I searched all around our room, which is the last place I thought I had it, and still can't find it. I am sure that when tornado Brody blew through here (which is every morning), it moved to somewhere in plain sight, but not where I normally put it. Anyway, hopefully I will find it soon. There are some really cute pics of Molly. She has started to smile so big and while she is not full out laughing, she is doing some giggles (I think!) which are really cute. She is also so close to rolling over. She gets basically her whole bottom part over but can't quite find out how to move the arm underneath her to give her that final push. It is quite comical to watch her try.

Today, we took the kids to get their pictures taken. I wanted to get Brody's 2 year pictures done before his party next week. They turned out pretty cute. We got a couple really good ones of just Brody and just Molly, and then a few cute ones of all three. Of course, it was hard to get all 3 to look at the camera. Poor Ethan just had to sit there and smile the whole time because they were trying hard to get Brody and Molly too look. Unfortunately, Molly wasn't really up for smiling too much, but we did get a few good ones. Brody's were great! I was so worried about how he was going to act because he has been having a listening problem lately. He has decided now that he wants to exert some independence and tell us no, which is not cool with me. So we have been trying to work on that, but it has been exhausting. However, he did so good today. He did exactly what the lady told him to do and he was even posing for the camera. I was very proud of him!

This week, we will be preparing for his party next week. I can't believe Brody is turning 2 on Friday! Where did the time go? I mean, where did it go?? It is ridiculous how fast time has flown by and my little boy looks so grown up. Since having Molly, I am reminded alot of Brody when he was her age. While I don't remember all the specifics (thank goodness I blogged about most things!), I do remember my little boy who used to rely on me for everything....all the basics. But, now he is starting to do more things on his own and while I am so excited about that, I am a little sad about it. I mean, don't get me wrong...it is not like he is leaving for college or anything. But, with every day that passes, it means that he will start to do more and more on his own which means I will be doing less and less for him. Some days I wish I could just freeze time. But of course, we all know that can't happen so I just need to enjoy every precious moment with him.....the good and the bad!

Anyway, I am going to try and look for the camera adapter now before I go to bed. It has to be around here somewhere. Hopefully, my next post will contain some pictures!

As Brody would say....Yucky, Yucky!

2010-03-09T20:03:00.005-05:00

Whew…..what a week. Sorry for the long post, but I treat this blog sometimes like my journal and it is therapeutic for me to write all of this down.

Last week was my birthday and I had a great day. Wednesday was pretty uneventful….went to work, came home, ate some dinner, put the kids to bed, and watched some TV. Thursday during the day was fine, and I got stuck in traffic on the way home. Ted had an appointment to get his hair cut Thursday night at 7:00 so luckily I got home about 6:40. Brody was just getting into the bath and I took over while Ted left for his appointment. I got Brody ready for bed, read him some books and then put him in bed for the night. I went into our room to play with Molly for a little bit before I got ready to put her down. After about 10 minutes, I heard him crying and I went in there and he threw his stuff out of the crib. Nothing out of the ordinary. I gave it back and told him to go back to bed. I was back in our room for about 5 minutes and I heard him crying again. I thought “not again…we are not doing this tonight!” Well, when I went in there, he got sick in his crib. It wasn’t much so I changed his shirt, his sheet and put him back to bed. He didn’t seem sick and he didn’t feel warm so I just thought maybe something upset his stomach. I went back into the room and didn’t hear a peep out of him for the next 30 minutes or so.

I started to get Molly ready for bed and I started feeding her. I was maybe 5 minutes into feeding her when I heard him crying and the unfortunate sound that I did not want to hear…..him getting sick. I stood up, in her dark room, and thought “What the hell am I going to do?” I didn’t want to stop feeding Molly since I just started but I couldn’t leave Brody in there because I knew he was getting sick. And of course, Ted was still not back from getting his hair cut. Well, I put Molly down, gave her her pacifier, and she didn’t make a peep. I went into Brody’s room and was horrified by what I saw. He got sick EVERYWHERE! It was all over him, his sheet, his crib, the floor…..EVERYWHERE! I scooped him up and put him straight in the bath. Got him out, put on his diaper, stripped his bed, grabbed his rug and threw all of it in the bath tub. I took him downstairs and gave him some pedialyte. All the while, Molly is still in her room not making a peep! (Have I expressed how awesome of a child I have……she is soooooo good I have a hard time believing it myself sometimes!). So, we headed up stairs in his room and I had him sip the pedialyte. When Ted walked in, I sent him in to finish feeding Molly and putting her down for the night. Right then, Brody got sick again, all over his room. Orange pedialyte on light carpet is not good! So, after Ted got done, we decided one of us was going to have to stay with him for the night because this seemed like it might continue. Well, Ted was the chosen one because he was able to stay home from work the next day. Brody got sick a few more times and then finally zonked out around 11:00 pm. Ted said he got up one more time during the night to get sick, but that it had been a while when I went in there the next morning. I know Brody had no clue what was going on because we made a little bed for him on the floor next to Ted. He kept asking about getting back in his crib, but Ted told him they were “camping!” Needless to say, the next day, he had a few bad diapers, but it was over as quick as it came. He seemed to be fine, with the exception of a limited appetite, the rest of the time.

So that was Thursday/Friday. Ted and I had made dinner reservations for Saturday night and we were planning to stay out at a hotel. We were trying to decide if we wanted to still go considering what went on with Brody, but since he was fine all day Friday and Saturday, we thought we would try. Ted picked Ethan up on Friday and we had him for the weekend. So, my parents came over Saturday around mid-day and we left for the hotel around 2:00 pm. It was nice to be able to go out with my husband, just me and him. It has been a long time since we have done that! Our plan was to go to the hotel first, take showers and get ready, then walk to dinner. Our hotel was about a block away. Well, we got ready, headed to dinner and as we were walking, Ted started to not feel good. I asked him if he wanted to cancel dinner and he said he didn’t, but that his sickness was coming in waves. I had some nausea medicine in my purse and gave him one when we got to the restaurant. Dinner was really, really good (we went to Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse). We were supposed to meet a few of my friends after dinner for some drinks for my birthday, but Ted said he wasn’t up to it so we headed back to the hotel. My girlfriend’s met me at the hotel bar, that way I was able to check on Ted, but still have a few drinks. Ted ended up getting sick, but slept for most of the night and felt better Sunday morning.

When I woke up, I wasn’t feeling great, but figured it was alcohol-related. Well, shortly thereafter, my Mom called and said that Ethan started getting sick. They got him settled in bed and he was resting. Right after, I started feeling horrible and we checked out of the hotel and headed home. I didn’t make it to the car before I started getting sick and it continued all day. Finally around 6:00, my parents came and got me and we headed to the ER because I was so dehydrated. They put in an IV and gave me some medicine. They said it was the norovirus and that I was the 10th person they had seen that day with the same thing. Apparently, it is running rampant right now and everyone is getting it. After a few minutes or so, my Mom started getting sick so they put her in a room as well and started her on fluids. Thankfully, we were both feeling better within a couple hours and headed home. When I woke up yesterday morning, I felt like I had been run over by a mack truck. Luckily, Mondays are my days to work from home so I stayed in bed most of the day, with Molly next to me. Ethan stayed home from school yesterday as well and he came in and laid with us too. We all were feeling better, but it was rough.

So, today, Molly headed to my Mom’s and around 10:30, my mom called and said my grandmother fell. The ambulance came and got her and took her to the hospital. At first, they thought she broke her hip, but after X-rays and CT scans, they said she didn't and they released her from the hospital and she was able to go back to her place. I swear, if it is not one thing, it is another. Hopefully, we will be able to keep everyone safe and healthy!

Birthday!

2010-03-02T20:20:00.017-05:00

I had a great birthday today. It was pretty low key, but still pretty great. I have always loved my birthday and this year was no different even though I turned the big 3-0. Ted and I are going to celebrate this weekend. We are going to go out to dinner and out for drinks afterwards and stay out all night. I am so excited! My parents are going to come over and watch the kiddies for us. Whenever they watched Brody for us, we always took him over their since they had his room all set up. But now with two, we have decided that it will be much easier for them to stay here since all of their stuff is here and since they are both in cribs (we have not started the transition with Brody to a toddler bed yet and I don't think it is necessary right now....). So I am pretty excited to continue my birthday celebration on Saturday!

I started work yesterday and it was okay. It was hard to leave Molly, but I think today was tougher than yesterday. I think I was so focused on going back to work and checking my 500+ e-mails that it didn't really hit me yet until this morning. It was pretty tiring and I never felt like I had enough time with her, but it will be nice to be home on the weekends and I will be able to be with her all day on Mondays since I will be working from home on Mondays starting next week. I only dropped her off yesterday rather than both kids because I wanted to be able to stay with her for a few minutes before I had to leave and drop Brody off. Whew....this morning was a little more crazy! I told Ted that he is going to have to help me get the kids ready in the morning and his day of sleeping in are limited! He got Molly ready while I got Brody ready and then it was strapping both in the car, heading to my Mom's to drop Molly off, and then daycare to drop Brody off. All of this before I had to be at work at 8:00! I made it with 10 minutes to spare, but that was with me getting up at 5:15! I know that this first week will be challenging but hopefully, we will all get in a nice routine and it won't be so bad. While I do enjoy my job (for the most part), sometimes this working Mom situation is really tough and I get emotional thinking about how I feel like I am missing out on so much. But, if I or Ted couldn't be there for those special moments the first year, the next best thing is my parents and I am grateful for that. I couldn't ask for a better situation.

Anyway, enough of my ranting...here are some pics from the past few days......

I bought Molly a bumbo because I somehow lost the one Brody had. Even though she is still a little small for it, she did pretty good sitting up in it.

My girlfriend at work bought Molly and outfit that came with a head band. It was too big for Molly's little head so I put it on Brody thinking he would immediately take it off. He thought it was so funny and did not want to take it off. He even cried when I asked for it before we went up to take his bath. This will be a picture I am sure he will regret later on in life!! As Tab would say...."Preeeeetttttyyyyy!"

Tab came down this past weekend and I got these cute pictures of the kids....

We then went to my nephews birthday part at Chuck E. Cheese on Sunday. Oh how I hate Chuck E. Cheese, but this year was pretty cool because Brody is at the age where he got excited and enjoyed playing in the toddler area. He kept riding the rides over and over and went down the slide more times than I can count. It was near my sister's house, which is about 1 1/2 hours away and he was out within 5 minutes once we got in the car to leave. I know he enjoyed himself and we had a great time.

Now I Know my ABCs......

2010-02-28T20:04:00.002-05:00

Last Day of Maternity Leave :(

2010-02-26T14:14:00.002-05:00

Today is my last official day of maternity leave. I go back to work on Monday. I am dreading it. For some strange reason, I was hoping it would be easier the second time around, especially since Molly will be with my Mom, but it is not. I am going to miss her so much. She has been such a great baby and she is just now starting to interact....I hate that I am going to miss so much. But I know I can call multiple times throughout the day and my Mom will keep me updated.

Right now, she is taking a really good morning nap and a not so good afternoon nap. That is partly because I am trying to put her in the crib in the afternoons and it is not working out so great. I am not sure if it is because she isn't swaddled or what. For the past week or so, she has been sleeping from 8-8:30 to 4-5 am, which I am stoked about. Since Ted is out of town this week, my Mom has been helping with the kids and I know Brody is enjoying it just as much as she is. It is so nice to have her around and for her to able to do this. She is such a blessing and I am so thankful!

Brody has been doing good too. Last night was the first night in a couple nights that he woke up and threw his stuff out of the crib. That was about midnight and he went right back down. I am starting to think that he is having nightmares. I was looking up stuff online and right around 2, they are getting their molars, have a huge development leap, and they may start having nightmares. He has never woken up like this in the middle of the night, and this is now been going on for about 2 months. It started right before Molly came. While it may have to do with that whole adjustment, I am not thinking that is the case. But again, it is not horrible because he goes right back to sleep after I give him his stuff out. Since he climbed out of the crib once, I am done with the idea of letting him cry it out because I am afraid he is going to do it again. This too shall pass.

I have started to lose more weight, which makes me happy. I gained a total of 42 lbs. with Molly and have lost about 30 lbs. so far. However, I feel like I have much more to lose because my body is definitely a different shape. I guess with 2 c-sections, I am going to work really hard to get that belly bulge to shrink. But, I am sure it will all come off in due time. I am just happy to have lost that much already. I have tried to control what I am eating and I have stopped drinking soda (I cheated today and had a ginger ale and a diet coke last week at lunch, but I haven't had any other soda in about 3 weeks). I think that helped alot last time so I am trying to mimick that.

By the sound of only music coming from the monitor, it sounds like Molly may have drifted off to sleep. Let's hope that lasts! :)

Cool Daddy

2010-02-22T20:07:00.006-05:00

This kid is awesome! He can always put a smile on my face.......

Also, Molly has found her hands and started putting them in her mouth today. She is pretty awesome too! :)

Not Much of a Morning Napper

2010-02-18T09:33:00.004-05:00

Molly does not like to take a morning nap. I am trying to put her in her crib for a nap in the morning, but she doesn't stay in there long. Typically, she eats at 8:00 and then we play for a little until about 9:00 - 9:30 and then I put her in the crib. I normally keep her in there for about an hour and she may sleep for 20 minutes. She doesn't fuss too much so I can generally keep her in there even if she isn't sleeping. However, she naps like a champ in the afternoon. Normally it is a good 2-3 hour nap. But, like her brother, it is in the swing. I remember being so freaked out about Brody sleeping in the swing and worrying that he would never take a nap in his crib. But, he transitioned to the crib pretty easily once he was ready. So, I am not that pressed about her sleeping in the swing right now.

Last night, she slept for a long time. Ted fed her at 8:00 and she was down by 8:30. I heard her start to fuss around 2:30 and I went in there and gave her her pacifier. She made a little noise right after, but she wasn't crying so I didn't go in there. The next time I heard her it was 6:00 am!!! Now, she may have cried during that time, but not enough for me to hear her. When I went in there, she wasn't acting crazy hungry so I brought her in our room and she slept for another hour. I finally fed her around 7:30. So, I guess you could say she slept almost 9 hours last night.

Brody is still waking up at night, but it is not horrible. Last night, it was around 4:00 am and then 5:00. He went right back to sleep both times once we gave him his stuff back that he threw out of the crib. I have constantly questioned whether we are doing the right thing by giving him his stuff back everytime he throws it out, but we tried to let him cry it out about a week ago, and he cried for over an hour before I finally gave in. He wasn't calming down and I was afraid that he would try and climb out his crib (which was never a worry before, but is now). So, I am hoping that this phase will end soon. We have also thought about going ahead and transitioning him to the toddler bed. Not sure I am ready for that, but maybe he is and this is his way of telling us.

I am scheduled to go back to work a week from Monday. I am dreading it. I thought it would be a little easier since I have done it once before, but I don't think so. I am going to miss her! But, since my Mom is going to be watching her, I will be able to call throughout the day and see how she is doing. She will be in great hands and that is comforting!

Here are a few pics from yesterday morning. She was talking and smiling so much.

Talker

2010-02-16T11:48:00.002-05:00

Molly and Brody

2010-02-15T20:22:00.007-05:00

Today, I had Brody and Molly since Brody didn't have daycare. We had a pretty great day with only one meltdown for Brody, which was when he normally melts down right around dinner time. However, he cracked me up after dinner. I was getting him some applesauce and I went to get one of his bowls out of the cabinet. When I grabbed one, a few others fell out of the cabinet onto the counter. Brody of course was looking and immediately said, "Oh my gosh....what a mess!" Plain as day.......I couldn't stop laughing. It was hilarious. I guess I must say that alot and not realize it. It is a good thing that he picked up that phrase and not a few other choice phrases I like to use!

Here are a few pics of Molly. She is cooing alot and smiling more every day. The past couple of nights she has woke up at 3:00 am, which is not as great as the few days before that, but it is not too bad. At this point, she is only getting up the one time, and I can't complain. She has also started focusing on other things, like the flowers on the bouncy seat. She also likes to stare at Brody alot. Maybe it is cause he is so loud....but it is really cute.

Brody is obsessed with Yo Gabba Gabba. I feel as though we have created a monster. I had bought a DVD with shows on it about a month ago with the hopes that he would actually sit still for a little bit rather than going, going, going. Well, now he wants to watch them all the time. We have three and I can pretty much recite them.....Ted can too. Here is a picture of him doing one of their dances.

This is a picture of him sitting on his train table in the playroom. We tell him all the time not to sit on the table, and as he climbed up there, he said "no sit on table." His teachers at daycare have told me that Brody knows all the class rules.....they are now working on getting him to follow them. He knows when he is doing something that he is not supposed to and will pretty much admit to it as he is doing it. Just like when he throws everything out of his crib at night and cries for us to come in there. We will go in there and he will point and say "don't throw things out of the crib." It is cute yet frustrating at the same time. I guess I shouldn't have taken a picture, but I couldn't help myself. He is such an awesome kid and I love him with every ounce of my being......

I am not ready for this.....

2010-02-14T12:01:00.013-05:00

Brody got out of his crib yesterday and I am not ready for this. I went up to Tab's yesterday morning and Ted called me yesterday afternoon after his nap to tell me that he and Brody met in the hallway and Brody said "Hi Daddy!" OMG! I am hoping it is just a fluke and this does not become a regular thing because I am not ready for it. I know that sounds selfish, but putting him in a toddler bed means he is growing up and I would like to freeze time and prevent that from happening. He is just getting so grown it is hard to believe he will be 2 in a month.

Here is the culprit of the great crib escape......

Here are some pics recent pics of Molly......

Molly's bestie Mallory....I can't believe she is almost 8 months old.....

Here is a video of Mallory and Molly. So cute....