What a Difference A Year Makes

Memorial Day 2008

Memorial Day 2009

Oh how I love my boys! :)

Wordless Wednesday

He fought the stairs and the stairs won.

(He was up and running around in no time.)

Completely unfazed.

Tim's 10 Year High School Reunion (And Congrats to Meredith!)

Yes, that time has officially arrived. The 10 year reunions are upon us! This last weekend was the first, Tim's reunion for Glenpool High School. Not only am I happy that his is first so that I can officially call him "older," but it was good practice to see what worked and what didn't so that my 10 year reunion next month may go a little more smoothly.

Friday night we headed out to Clubhouse, a bar and grill, for a meet and greet. We had a great time chatting with everyone that showed up, which was about 20-25 people. Good for a first night! Right as we decided to leave the skies opened up and a million gallons of water fell from the sky. It was like buckets of cool water. Soaked doesn't even begin to cover what we looked like. Drowned rats sounds more appropriate. Somehow I didn't take even one picture of the entire night, but I'm hoping to steal some from Brandi very soon. :)

The next day was a picnic at Black and Gold park in Glenpool. It was a little windy and overcast, but it wasn't raining. Whoo hoo! Tim had rented a bouncer, which is the first thing Brenden sprinted for. From then on I have no idea what anyone else was doing. Brenden was either in the bouncer, sliding, or swinging. Once the other kids showed up I made him share and he didn't like that at all. We shoved a few hotdogs in our mouths and then Brenden and I headed home. He was long past nap time. I think Tim and the people that showed up had a great time even though it was a lot less people then they thought. They were lucky and took back everything they didn't use so they have a jump start on their next reunion funds.

Bouncers are FUN!

In between the picnic in the morning and the dinner that night I took Brenden to Meredith's (Justin's girlfriend) graduation party. We were unable to go to the actual graduation but I'm glad we got to see her that day. Congratulations, Meredith!!! Her nephew, Cooper, was there, who is almost 2, so Brenden was excited. They ran up to each other and hugged at least 15 times. They met once before at my brother's birthday in March but they really don't know each other. I'm glad they are both so friendly. So what should have been all about Meredith turned into a playdate for Brenden and Cooper. :) I think she had a great time, too.

Cooper and Brenden, instant friends.

I had to leave to head to downtown Tulsa and my navigation decided to lead me on a random trip though Tulsa side streets. I gave up and just headed in what I thought might be the right direction. Thankfully I made it to the right spot and headed upstairs with Tim to the 28th floor. After a quick stop to get a nametag and have our picture taken ("Just like prom! ") we headed in to enjoy super yummy Mexican food, drinks, and an iPod dj. (Hey, no tipping required.) :) Tim was a social butterfly so I made myself at home at the table and chatted with a few new people. Thanks for entertaining me Lora, David, Jeremy, and Katherine! We made it home around 11:30 pm, exhausted and totally happy.

The only picture we took Saturday night.
(View from the 28th floor of the sunset.)

It was a fabulous weekend and I had a great time meeting all of Tim's high school friends. I know he had a great time as well and he's looking forward to the next reunion, especially since next time he's letting someone else do most of the work. :)

Wordless Wednesday

Several of the blogs I follow post pictures on Wednesday with little or no writing, just a few pictures that are especially funny, or even completely random. I've wanted to join in for a long time, so here I go! I'll try to do my best to keep it up. :)

Our First Wordless Wednesday!

The Random Sleeping Habits of Our Crazy Toddler

Happy Mother's Day!!!

To all the wonderful mothers in our lives...know that you are special, appreciated, and absolutely amazing. We love you!


And a big THANK YOU to everyone for the flowers, cards and for just being there to make my Mother's Day special. :)

I could not resist...they were showing me their "cheese" faces. HEHE!

Kerthunk! (A Tale of Toddler Rails)

There are so many milestones that parents get to look forward to; rolling over, first smile, first laugh, waving bye-bye, saying the first word, pulling up, walking, using a spoon. But all of those are baby milestones. (Yes, I know walking made Brenden a "toddler" but it was still something he did as a baby so that's where it falls in my head.) Then there are bigger milestones, like teeth falling out and the first day of kindergarten, that are reserved for when your baby is is absolutely NOT a baby anymore.

I thought we were far far away from anything that could qualify Brenden as a little boy and not a baby. Potty training? Um...not yet. I do not have the patience for that yet, although I may try to do it this summer when life isn't so crazy. He already shows some signs of being interested. I thought that would be our next big step. Well...he thought differently.

Sunday morning I woke up at 9 am and immediately started worrying. Brenden hasn't slept past 8:30 am since before he was 12 months old so this was completely out of character. I crept in to check on him and he was fine so I went back to bed to lounge around and read messages on my phone. At 9:30 am I heard him wake up and not 30 seconds later I heard a huge THUD and a piercing scream. I ran into the room as quickly as I could to find him sprawled on the floor, his head towards his crib, which meant that he had flipped on his way out. After checking him out and calming him down I called Tim to let him know it was officially time to put on the toddler rails, which was about 5 months earlier than we expected.

Taking the front of the crib off was easy and so was installing the rails. Brenden watched me the entire time and as soon as the side was off he was on his bed bouncing around. He even laid down on his pillow for a little while, which I thought was a good sign.

Cheesing for me in his big boy bed.

That night I went to my parent's house so we didn't get to try the new bed out until Monday night. (He slept fine in the crib at their house and didn't try to get out...lesson learned?) By the time I got home on Monday night he had already been asleep in the car so getting him into bed wasn't difficult. He did get up a few times but the baby gate we had across his door kept him in his room and he eventually fell asleep in his bed. I thought for sure he would roll out of it so I had pillows in front of the opening. They weren't necessary. He slept until 8:45 am and really only woke up because he had a bad dream.

Not too bad for the first time!

Naps...those are a different story. Yesterday he spent an hour running around, playing with his toys, until I went in, sat next to his bed, and kept him there until he fell asleep. He had no problems going to bed last night, so I thought the concept might sink in for today's nap. Boy was I WRONG!

Today he went to lay down at 10:45 am, just like every other day. By 11: 15 am I was about to go in and keep him in bed again, but then I decided that wouldn't help much He really needed to learn how to get into bed and fall asleep on his own. By noon I was going crazy. He had played with every toy in his room, including the foam floor made of alphabet letters, and I had no choice. I took EVERYTHING out of his room - the toys, the floor, his books - everything. All that is left in there is his bed, his changing table, some blankets and his clothes. I moved as much of it as I could to his playroom but some things had to go out to the garage, like the over abundance of stuffed animals and his fire engine ball pit. When we have a bigger house I'll put them back out. I would say that when he figured out how to fall asleep without playing I would put them back, but I think we'll move before that happens.

Sad, empty room.

He did fall asleep, eventually. And he fell asleep in his bed, which is good. I just hope the 2 hours I spent sifting through his toys and rearranging his playroom pay off.

So my baby is mostly a little boy now...a little boy in diapers. When did this happen?!? Just yesterday he was this chubby baby that rolled everywhere. Just yesterday he was learning how to hold a bottle. Brick? Head? Yeah...I see what you were saying mom and dad.

3 months old...boy time flies!

Considerate and toddler don't normally go together.

This morning, like most mornings lately, Brenden woke me up with a chorus of, "Mama! Dada! Mama? Dada? Maaaamaaaa?!? Daaaadaaaa?!?" and I wandered in, bleary eyed, and laughed at him when he jumped up and down ready for the day. (Oh, to have that kind of energy.) And, like most days lately, I had to change his sheets because SOMEHOW his hand snuck it's way into his diaper and when it came back out dirty he wiped it on his sheets. Disgusting, right? I'm just glad we aren't finger painting, which I hear is just a wonderful way to start your morning.

We got the dirty, nasty munchkin cleaned up and headed in to let the dogs out and make breakfast. For some reason, Brenden decided the hall door needed to be shut, so he shut it, which isn't a normal occurrence but I didn't think too much of it. I don't normally let him back there due to the floor furnace but usually we just put up a gate. Ok...maybe he doesn't like the gate? Who knows....

After breakfast was finished and we had let the poor, wet dogs back inside (it's rained for 4 straight days...I'm going crazy) I had to go get my cell phone off of my night stand. I opened the hall door and put the gate up so I could still see Brenden. He likes to go where I go and since our house is tiny there is always a way of blocking him and still being able to see him. As soon as I set foot in our bedroom Brenden started freaking out. "Dada! Dada!" he screamed. Um...what? Your dad is at work. That was when I realized that Brenden had woken up after Tim had left and since he hadn't seen him yet he assumed that his dad was sleeping in. THAT'S why he shut the hall door, so we wouldn't disturb him. After turning on the light and pulling back the sheets to prove that I wasn't hiding dad I called Tim to tell him how cute it was that Brenden was trying to let him sleep in.

Now I'm just curious why Brenden doesn't do that for me?? :)