Bragging

So I don't post very many blogs, but I wanted to brag on Brenden and his counting skills. See below.

Brenden Counting.

Wordless Wednesday

Chicago 2009!!! I promise to get around to posting the whole, wonderful trip soon. Right now, exhaustion is KILLING me. :)

The Bean!

The beautiful bride!

This Eggo is Preggo!

Baby Kelly #2 is on the way!

And yes, I'm quoting Juno, and I always thought that line was so funny! So I was so excited I could use it.

The due date, at the moment, is April 18th, 2010. For some reason I feel like it will be a little sooner. All of the grandparents are ecstatic, as well as the rest of the family.

From the above font color you can see we're hoping for pink. I know Brenden will be a fabulous big brother. (he already knows to point to my belly when I ask where the new baby is)

So far, I'm feeling OK. I am completely and totally exhausted and so very lucky that Tim lets me sleep when I cannot hold my head up and feel really awful.

I will apologize in advance for any complaining about all things pregnancy. I'll try to stay away from that. :)

Stay tuned for more news!

Wordless Wednesday

Happy 3rd Anniversary, honey!!! (of our 2nd - REAL - wedding) I love you!!!

First

I'm ridiculously excited that our house is sold, although it felt as though we sold it the day they moved in on the 13th of July. I know that they could have backed out at any moment, but why would they want to? Who would want to move all their things after the military just moved them? It felt finalized the day that they signed off on the inspection.

Being excited doesn't mean that there haven't been moments when I've broken down. I cried the other day knowing that we would never walk into that house knowing it was ours. I cried because it was hard to imagine someone else living there, even after the awful tenants lived there for 9 months. (I cried when they moved in, too.) I cried because that house holds so many "firsts" for us. So many memories.

It was the very first house we looked at, EVER. We looked at roughly 25-30 (we lost count) houses after that but that very first house was the one we came back to.

It was the first house we ever put a contract on. The first house we "closed" on. The first house that was OURS.

It was the first place we had lived that did not have air conditioning. That will NOT happen again.

It was where we first learned that the 2 of us would become the 3 of us. I can still remember exactly where I was when that 2nd blue line showed up, staring at myself in the mirror with happy tears running like a river down my cheeks.

I miss that border and the elephants I spent hours cutting out. I loved his room!

It was the first place we drove Brenden to after we left the hospital. The place where we first learned how to be parents. The place where we became a family.

He was so little! And already learning how to appreciate an OSU football game.

It was the house where Brenden learned how to roll over, smile, laugh, eat solid food, say "da da", sleep through the night, and hold his own bottle. It was the backdrop of so many of his early milestones.

4 months old...already wanting independence!

5 months old..."Look Ma! Only need one hand!"

It was the first house we had to put on the market, the first one we staged. The house that we struggled with, argued over, worried about, lost sleep over.

It was the first house we ever sold.

CHEERS!

I know that we have bigger and better things to look forward to. I know we will not be stuck in the 900 square feet that we currently live in forever. But that doesn't mean it was easy to let that house go. The mortgage payments...those I can live without.

Wordless Wednesday

The surprise lillies (aka: Naked Ladies) in our backyard. Would love to dig some up and bring them with me. The pinky purple...so pretty!

Happy Birthday Connie!

A very Happy Birthday to Connie! You are a fantastic mom and wonderful grandma and the absolute best mother-in-law. (I'm pretty sure "best" and "mother-in-law" are rarely used together in the same sentence so I know how lucky I am!) :)

Have a fabulous day! We love you!

Happy Birthday Meredith!

A very Happy Birthday to our soon-to-be sister-in-law/aunt, Meredith! Anyone who can make my brother as happy as he is now deserves a VERY happy day!

Love you, girl!

Who is this child?

From the time Brenden could walk he's been testing his boundaries. What child doesn't? Touching outlets while looking me right in the face and listening to me tell him "no", grabbing the dog's feet, ears, or nose, screaming for milk/poptarts/ice cream when he knows there is no way we are going to give it to him. But lately, his behavior has gone from normal to straight up demon child.

There are days that, when he doesn't get his way, he refuses to listen for hours at a time. His selective hearing drives Tim and I crazy. (I don't feel so bad for Tim, which sounds awful, but he's been doing that to me since Brenden was born, which seems to be when that trait kicked in.) When we stop him or refuse what he wants he'll screech, kick, flail, fall down and just be totally awful until he finds something else to obsess over. Then, if we refuse him that, the cycle starts over. Crying, snotty, possessed child takes over his body. We try to ignore it, or put him in time out if he gets violent. We don't give in and just hand him whatever, or feed him ice cream for breakfast, or let him slap Pete's water until it's all over the walls, carpet and table. When he does it in public I try to look him in the eye and tell him that I have no problem letting him scream but that it will not get him the ball/milk/whatever else he wants. I have no idea if that is the right way to handle it.

Bed time has turned into a battle of the wills. He usually has a great time during our pre-bedtime ritual of milk and a book/flash cards. He's learning a lot, like how to pick out the numbers 1 through 10, so I know he doesn't hate it. He'll give his dad a kiss good night, tell him "bye bye" and "love you" and then grab onto my neck like a crazed monkey. Usually he'll let me put him in bed, tell me "night night", and lay down. Almost as soon as I shut the door I hear his feet pounding on the floor, headed towards the door. Then the banging begins, and the screaming. The other night he yelled for so long that his voice got hoarse. When this first started happening I would go in, put him back in bed, and walk back out. An hour later we would be trading off turns putting him back down and trying to figure out what we were doing wrong, and it turned out going in to his room at all was the problem. After a few days of just letting him get it out of his system he'll yell for a few minutes and then get back in bed, pull up the covers, and go to sleep. I'm hoping we can call keep this up.

I know part of it is the lovely terrible twos. I know another factor is his awful 2nd molars that have been driving us all crazy for months. He's also getting sick, either with allergies or a late summer cold, which is never fun. Plus, I'm pretty sure he's getting frustrated because we cannot understand what he's telling us. His vocabulary has increased so much in the past few weeks but that doesn't mean we understand him when he goes into detail about whatever is on his mind. Several times during the day I have to ask him to repeat himself, which he will do, saying exactly the same random sentence, over and over, until he gets frustrated or bored. I'm sure that's not fun, but he's missing some pretty important consonants which make him impossible to understand. Mainly "s" and "t", which we're working on.

I know sometime soon he'll be chattering at me about everything under the sun. I know there will be days when I want to shove cotton in my ears for a break. I'm just hoping that it will bring a little relief for all of us from some of the tantrums. Plus I'm very curious to know exactly what he's thinking. Maybe he'll be able to watch the videos I have of him now and tell me what he was talking about.

For now I'm considering calling an exorcist when he gets into a mood. If his head starts spinning you may find me running and screaming down Yale. I'm positive that would make the nightly news. Or maybe, if Tim is home, I'll just fix a strong drink. I may even consider combining the running/screaming/drinking, but that could get messy and I already have enough laundry to do. Sigh...

IT'S SOLD!!!!

I still cannot believe this day has actually happened. Our house...is not OUR house anymore. It only took 1 1/2 years, a horrible property manager, crappy tenants, a ton of hard work by Karen and Rick, but it's over.

Wow...we are soooo doing the happy dance now and breaking out the champagne! No more little wiggles...it's a full on DANCE! :)

Happy 3rd Birthday Brysen!!!

We're wishing a VERY happy 3rd birthday to our amazing nephew, Brysen!

Three years ago today his birth surprised all of us. At 2 lbs 5 oz and 15 inches long he was a small bundle of wonderful.

With his daddy in the NICU.

He may be small but his personality is HUGE! :)


Have a wonderful birthday! Wish we could be there to celebrate with you!

(Mostly) Wordless Wednesday

I walked into Brenden's room the other night and realized I hadn't taken a picture of him that day. (The 365 project never really went anywhere, but the need to take a picture every day has stuck.) So I clicked a picture of him snoozing away.


Then I went into my room and saw this:


Like father, like son. :)

Totally Awesome/Kinda Cool

Totally Awesome Things That Happened Lately:

• WE GOT OUR CLOSING DOCUMENTS!!!! Monday morning at almost exactly 8 am the FedEx guy knocked on our door and presented me with the package we have been waiting to see for almost 1 1/2 years. As I was signing I told him that we were so happy to see those documents and I was so glad that it was over because it took them so long to get here...I didn't realize that would come across as a slam on their delivery time. Oops! By 9:30 am I was at Tim's office and we were done signing our names on the blue highlighted lines. Liz, one of the many lovely people that Tim works with, notarized everything and Tim headed over to the bank for the cashier's check. As of right now it should be in Colorado! WHOO HOO! Our closing is scheduled for 4 pm on Friday. Anyone want to join us for a bottle of champagne at 5 pm? :)
  

Tim thought I was crazy for documenting "the signing" but I want to remember every happy moment!!!

Brenden wanted to join in on "the signing" fun!

• Sunday was another Change of Command for Tim's reserve unit. We attended the going away dinner (see below under "Kind Cool Stuff") and I thought that was going to be the last I heard of it. Then Tim came home and handed me a green folder with the kind of smile on his face that says, "This is actually really cool and I'm super excited about it but I don't want to brag." I opened it up and realized that he had received an award. The outgoing Colonel wanted to make sure Tim was recognized for all that he does so he recommended Tim for the Army Achievement Medal. :) Seriously, SO proud of him! Congratulations, Tim! Here is what it says:

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY

This is to certify that the Secretary of the Army has awarded

THE ARMY ACHIEVEMENT MEDAL

To Captain Timothy J. Kelly
1st Brigade (Engineer), 102nd Division (Maneuver Support)

For meritorious service while assigned to the 1st BDE (Engineer), 102 Division (Maneuver Support). Your professionalism and devotion to duty reflect great credit upon yourself, the 1st Brigade and the United States Army.

Kinda Cool Stuff That Happened Lately:

• The night before the Change of Command we headed to dinner at Ti Amo's (which is where we had our rehearsal dinner) for the going away dinner for Colonel James. Let me tell you, it was nice but dang was I nervous. I was not aware that we would be the youngest couple there by about 15 years. All of the other Army dudes were Lt. Colonels, Colonels, Majors (although the one Major I met was sooo funny) and who knows what else that may or may not have outranked Tim. I think I met one dude that Tim outranked, but the fact that he was an E-9 something or the other...yeah, he was super duper intimidating. I mostly kept my mouth shut, trying to pretend I knew what they were talking about when the acronyms started flying (ORB? NCORB? Um...I know what it is now that I asked) and smiling when it seemed like I was supposed to. Dinner was yummy and we made it through without getting salad dumped in our lap, unlike the guy across from me. Eventually, when it seemed like dinner was over, they started handing out presents to the outgoing Colonel. That took another hour. It was great to have a night out, but I could have done without the STRESS!! :)