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?? :)

Jason Mraz rocked our socks off!

Ready for some Mraz!

Ok, I kept my socks on, and so did Tim, but WOW! We've seen Jason Mraz in concert before in Colorado Springs but I could go watch him every week and never get tired. He's funny, happy, upbeat and gets everyone in the crowd involved, even the people who just stand there most of the time. On top of that, he's an amazing live singer. I'm not sure if everyone has had the experience of watching a band or artist they love and realizing that they are absolutely terrible live. (One person told me Nickelback wasn't so hot.) Jason Mraz..not like that at all. He even throws in some opera, which is just crazy.

Our night started out with a short drive and a long wait. We sat in the turn lane to get into the Spirit Event Center for at least 30 minutes and by the time we got to a parking space it was 7:30, which is when the concert started. We weren't terribly worried since there was an opening act. Pulling into the parking structure prompted Tim to explain to me that they had not used Auto Turn, which is apparently like an engineering video game where you pick a vehicle and then try to turn it into a virtual building to see if the turn radius is wide enough. I'm so glad he loves his job. :)

We walked into darkness and with the help of one of the event staff found our seats, only 10 rows from the stage. The first act was Anya Marina, who was what Tim called "whiney" although I thought she was pretty good. Kind of folksy. She did her version of T.I.'s You Can Have Whatever You Like which I thought was awesome. After she was done there was about a 30 minute break until the Plain White T's came out. They were SO loud, but really fun. They played Hey There Delilah and I was happy. It wasn't a long set, only about 45 minutes, but they were energetic and fun.

The Plain White T's lead singer, Tom.

The funniest thing during the Plain White T's was the flash nazis...the event staff that ran back and forth screaming at people taking pictures. I was glad to have my camera put up at that moment because that woman looked livid. It would have been just as easy for someone to walk on stage in between performances and announce "no flash photography" instead of combing the crowd. By the end of the night they seemed to have given up, both on checking for flashes and checking people's hands to make sure they had stamps. Anyone could have walked in, and probably did.

We knew there would be a bit of a break before Jason Mraz came on so we headed to the bathrooms. Oh my gosh the women's line was looooong. I was lucky and made it in and out rather quickly and met up with Tim, who had found one of his fellow workers from Wallace. I've heard Jordan's name a lot but I've never had a face to put with it. We also got to meet his super sweet girlfriend, Audra, and passed a few minutes chatting away.

Finally we headed in for the main act and, like I already said, we weren't disappointed. He played several of our favorite songs, The Remedy, Live High, Lucky, and of course I'm Yours, which is his big hit right now. During one of the songs his brass trio went into the crowd, which was tons of fun, and during another he had us all dance along.It was fabulous.

He sings with his eyes half-closed most of the time. :)

Take a bow!

At the end of every show he takes pictures of the band members with a Polaroid and then throws them out into the crowd. At the last concert Tim caught a drumstick and this time he caught a picture of the trombone player. I'm not sure how he does it! I thought the tall blond lady in front of us was going to beat him up but she eventually just laughed and asked to look at the picture.

Way to catch that picture, Tim!

After the concert we decided not to fight our way out of the parking structure and instead headed to a bar and grill near the event center for something to eat. We snacked on nachos for about 45 minutes and were totally surprised to see that people were still battling their way out to drive home. The level we were on was almost empty so it was easy for us to get out, we just had to wait a bit to get out at the lower level. Someone got smart and had the police show up to direct traffic (maybe someone complained?) so it went much smoother than when we showed up.

We made it home around 12:15 am, which was almost exactly when I predicted. (I thought probably midnight) We were exhausted but probably not nearly as tired as Connie, who watched Brenden for us. She and Mike took him to the mall where he ate 15 tortillas at El Chicos and played. He feel asleep pretty easily so I'm glad that part was good for her.

All in all, amazing night and a wonderful birthday present. Thank you so much Tim!

For more pictures, please click HERE! :) (they are towards the end of the album)

My Next Top Model

Brenden has always been fond of the camera...the buttons, the flash, the videos I take and then let him watch on it. But just recently he's realized that when a camera is pointed at him he is supposed to smile, and that smile is the cheesiest grin you have ever seen. All teeth and scrunched up eyes, head tilted back so you can see all the way up his nose. I've noticed in the last few days that when he is handed a camera or a camera phone, or something that resembles a camera or camera phone, he holds it out in front of him and cheeses away.

This morning we had a mini photo shoot on the living room floor. He sat in my lap and every time I turned the camera towards him he was ready for his close up. Unfortunately my camera is slower than his smile, and the fact that I have to hold it out in front of both of us probably slows down my reaction time. He wanted to see every picture and he giggled up a storm every time I turned the camera around.

Here are a few of his funniest shots. :)

Scrunch!

A more serious look.

Would you call it a Pop-eye look? :)

This isn't from today...it was from a few weeks ago in Colorado. But it shows his cheese in full force! :)

Weekend Warriors

This past weekend was the Kelly Men Fishing Trip. Tim, his dad, his uncle and his grandpa Kelly all ran off to Arkansas to catch some big fish...or at least TRY to catch some big fish. I think their biggest catch was an 11 lb bass, or something that looked like a bass to me. Tim caught a 3 lb bass. And...that's it. 2 fish in 3 days. They weren't thrilled with their haul, but they had an awesome time. They even had their very own Nascar moment when the boat trailer blew a tire. Tom, Tim's uncle, was very impressed that they had the tire off and changed and back on the road in 15 minutes. Since I'm not an expert on changing tires (ok, who am I kidding, I don't change tires) it sounds fast to me. I'm just glad they made it back in one piece and not smelling too horrible. Tim did bring back a nasty beard, but that was gone the next day. I'm so glad he's not a fan of facial hair. It's hard to kiss something that feels like a Brillo brush!

While they were gone I spent the weekend with Connie and Ginny. We shopped, watched movies, and ate junk food for almost every meal. It was fabulous! Brenden was totally spoiled, of course, and enjoyed running in the back yard, swinging, climbing the stairs, chasing the cats while yelling "kitty!", playing tug-of-war with Riley, and learning how to play croquet.

That weekend started off what I will from now on call "The Busiest Month EVER". The weeks may not be too crazy, but the weekends are totally full. Here's a rundown:

Tonight we're headed to Jason Mraz! It starts at 7:30 with an opening act so I'm sure we'll get home at the early hour of midnight. So worth it!

This weekend Tim is "play Army" as my dad likes to call it (I call it paying rent) and I am headed to a birthday party for my friend Alice's son Logan, who is turning 2. Then on Sunday I'm supposed to go to Bartlesville to watch the Children of Light Choir at my church.

The next weekend is my friend Susan's bachelorette party, which is a weekend long event from the 8th through the 10th. I won't be staying the night with them on the 9th (sad face) because the 10th is Mother's Day. I'm not sure what the plan for Mother's Day is yet but it should be busy.

The weekend after that is Meredith's (my brother's girlfriend) graduation party, along with Tim's 10 year reunion in the morning and at night. That is the worst day so far. I think we get a break on the 17th but I'm not counting on it.

May 22nd is rehearsal and the 23rd is RPM to MP3, my studios Spring show. 8 million things need to happen before then so we're already scrambling. That's also Memorial Day weekend so I'll be headed to the lake on Saturday night to meet up with Tim, Brenden and Tim's parents.

After that I can rest on the weekends and maybe get some of the sleep back that I'll miss on my normal Saturday sleep-ins!

Would you like to see some April pictures? Check them out HERE!

Playgroup = FAIL

I have been trying to find a playgroup for months that was relatively close to the type of playgroup that I went to in Colorado Springs. A group of stay at home moms that got together around once a week just to let their kids play and to have actual adult conversations. I've looked into a few on meetup.com but none of them sounded like what I was looking for. Then this weekend someone started a new one and the first meeting was at the Tulsa Zoo at 10 am. I thought, "Hey! Let's try this one!"

So this morning we got up (around 8 am...so nice!) and got ready to head out. Brenden has been drooling again, biting on his fingers, and waking up at night. Evil 2nd molars! I was a little nervous he would be a mess but a few teething tablets helped with the screeching. We got to the zoo at about 9:57, which for me is good! The parking lot seemed really busy, which is strange since it's Tuesday and school is still in. Well school was exactly what made today so difficult! I walked up to the gate and realized there were about 10 groups meeting there, some with school aged kids and others with kids around Brenden's age. I asked one of the zoo employees what was going on and she said that the last few weeks of school meant that everyone, including preschools, was bringing their classes to to the zoo for field trips. Uh oh.

I wandered around outside for awhile, trying to find someone that matched the picture I saw online of the organizer, who I knew would be there. After about 15 minutes I gave up and went inside. We looked at a few animals and I kept up my search for the missing playgroup. I didn't realize that she had put her phone number online, but I'm not sure I would have called. I don't know these people and I'm not sure if they are the type that would understand or make fun of me. I wasn't in the mood to be made fun of.

Hey there! You're big!

Brenden got up close to an ostrich, watched the penguins swim, and made friends with one of the zoo employees that was driving a cart around. We went to look at the monkeys and there Brenden decided to try to play with another little girl. She was not interested at all. After a minute of being rejected Brenden turned around to run a different direction, right as the little girl went the same way. BAM! They smacked into each other and that poor little girl went down. Brenden, being the solid tree-like child he is, hardly budged. I asked if she was OK and her dad glared at me and said, "She has a bloody lip." Um, ok there dude. They both went running, it's called an accident. I even offered a tissue but the guy just stalked off. I told Brenden to say he was sorry and he burst into tears. That was when I gave up on the zoo for the day.

Brenden went to sleep pretty quickly when we got home. Those molars really take it out of him. I think I'll try to meet up with the ladies again, I did send an "I'm sorry" email, so maybe it won't be a FAIL in the long run. We shall see!

19 Months Old...Whoa! Really???

On April 16th, Brenden officially became closer to 2 years old than 1. It's been a lot more difficult for me to tell people he is 19 months old for some reason. Maybe I'm in denial. That whole, "Wish we could put a brick on your head" thing? Yeah, I get it now. He's so funny and it's amazing to watch his face light up at the smallest things, like a stranger that waves at him or a container of yogurt. So in honor of his 19 month birthday, here is a list of his most recent accomplishments.


His favorite animal noises: cow, dog, panting like a dog, cat, frog, monkey, sheep and owl. Thanks grandma Karen for helping with half of those! :)

Body parts he can point to: ear, eye, teeth, mouth, lips, cheeks, nose, hair, head, foot, toes, hand, fingers, and belly. He can also say ear, eye, teeth, and nose and repeatedly grabs Riley just to show me he can. Thank goodness Riley is a patient soul. I'm not sure many dogs would take kindly to a toddler showing me where the dog's eye is every few minutes.

New words: Chrissy, Bailey, dude, whoa, oww, shoes, ewww, "to you" (as in Happy Birthday), out, paci(fier), bath, hot, baseball, golf, HI, hey and NO. Every time we go out he finds at least one girl to wave at and say "hi" to. It's so funny! He's also getting a few sentences in randomly, like "I blow" when Aunt Chrissy's coffee was hot or "No, no, Riley."

Motor Skills: He is getting really good at puzzles, especially the ones with animals. He is also working hard on getting his shoes on by himself and trying to buckle the seat belt in his carseat. One of his favorite things to do is play our Wii, which takes a lot of hand/eye coordination. His favorite games so far are golf and baseball, which he begs to play every morning when he gets up. Tim just got Super Mario Brothers 3 for the Wii so I have a feeling that we'll be hearing "Mario" soon.

Physical Skills: He has recently learned that climbing on the coffee table is hilarious and once he makes it up there he has decided everyone should join him. He's very aware that pointing to where he wants someone to sit and smiling big works almost every time. He has also turned into quite a quick little runner. He puts his head down and GOES! Both of these new skills have led to a lot of testing of the limits we set for him. He'll still go to time out when we tell him to, but he will lay on the mat instead of sitting on it, or he'll sit there singing, as if to show us that time out is exactly where he wants to be.

Intellectual Skills: I have no idea what else to call this, so that label may be wrong. :) What I'm referring to is his ability to point out shapes, letters, animals and people in books and pictures. He can pick out several animals and cartoon characters (Elmo, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, and Mickey Mouse are his favorites) and can identify the letters "A" and "E" correctly most of the time. He's learning his alphabet and can count from one to three. He's learned how to follow simple directions and loves helping out, especially when it comes to throwing things away. He can also find a diaper and wipes if asked and will even lay down for me occasionally.

Empathy!: Yes, I'm excited that when other kids cry, Brenden feels upset. I think he's finally figuring out that when he hits, it hurts other people. He's not hitting because he's mad....all the time. Most often it's because he's really excited and flails his arms. He's also realized that when people are hurt, or have "boo boos", that kissing it makes it all better. Just the other day when we were in Colorado, grandma Karen hurt her finger on a trip to her office. The next day her finger was bandaged and Brenden walked up, pointed at it, and then looked at her with his head cocked to one side. "It's a boo boo," she said. Brenden slowly leaned forward and kissed her finger lightly, then smiled really big. "All better!" we said at the same time. It was adorable!

So there is my bragging for the month. Obviously I'm very proud of him and could talk about him for hours. This is my way of getting most of that out of my system so you don't have to listen to it later. :)

Our little "man"...not such a baby anymore!