Preschool

I'm taking Bret to his future preschool tomorrow for a preview and registration. I am still on the fence about it because of his birthday.....it's one of those right before the Dec 1 deadline. So he can either start kindergarten when he's 4, going on 5 or wait until he's 5, going on 6. Tough choice because he'll either be one of the youngest or one of the oldest in his class.

I think he'd like it....different people, different things to play with/do and it's only for two hours, 2X/week. He's still a bit shy around new people, so that concerns me a bit. I'd hate to leave him crying - that will just break my heart.

I just don't know how I feel about him being in preschool for 3 years. I want him to start kindergarten when he's 5 going on 6 and Jason doesn't agree. We'll see how it goes :)

Love / hate relationship

Things I love about toddler stage:

- Communication is MUCH easier!

- Get to play games with someone more animated

- Feeds himself

- Hugs and kisses me back

- Copies everything we do

- Shows love, compassion and empathy

- "I do it"

Things I hate (yes, I said hate) about toddler stage:

- How long things take when he does it

- Changing diapers

- Tantrums

- "Mine"

- "No"

- Thinks that it's ok for Elmo to be on repeat

Bret cracks us up on a daily basis....he turns his golf clubs into leaf blowers and edgers....he pretends to pull-start his tools (like Jason) and it takes about 50 pulls (like Jason)!! HAHAHA - He feeds his Elmo doll "soup" out of a ladle and chases us around the house with his toy saw. Maybe I should be creeped out about the last one! HAHAHAHA....Bret, you're awesome!

Update

It's been awesome-crazy around here....I absolutely LOVE having two boys; especially since Bret is such a great big brother and Kyle is such a great baby. I've been VERY, VERY blessed :)

Not too much going on....thinking about going private. Don't know yet.

We're celebrating Jason's parents' 60th birthdays on Friday. Saturday and Sunday are free days, so far. Next week Jason is taking his last unpaid vacation week (thank God). That means he automatically gets an 8% pay increase next year!! YIPPPEEE

Bret gets his MMR shot on Tuesday :( I just hate when kids get shots. Almost as much as I hate circumcisions. How wimpy am I, right?!

We had a family photo session last week. I love the work that Tara does...she's pretty much one of the sweetest persons I have ever met. A couple of sneak peeks for you.

Cider mill season is almost here!!! YAY :)

I've been doing a lot of research on cider mills around my area (NW OH). I've decided to make this fall very fun for Bret (and me/Jason) because I know I'm going to feel super guilty once Baby #2 is born.

I am determined to take Bret to a cider mill/apple orchard every week in September, up until the baby is born. I've picked 4 or 5 so far!

If any of the Detroit girls are planning on a trip somewhere around there, then let me know! Bret and I would love to tag along!!

21 months old!!

I can not believe how much Bret's vocabulary has exploded in the past 2 months. He went from saying 'mama', 'dada', 'this' and 'that' to saying:

-ball
-yes
-no
-elbow (Jason always teaches him crazy, off-the-wall stuff)
-elmo
-more
-go
-yellow
-fish
-juice
-hot dog
-Gigi (my grandma)
-auntie

Words he tries to say:
-truck (sounds like he says "duck")
-I do it ( I doot)
-please (leeeese)
-tractor (dat - dat)
-cheese (eeeese)
-water (wa-wa)
-yellow (lellow)

It's amazing how much I understand him now. He's becoming VERY independent. He wants to buckle his seat at the table, his carseat and any cart buckle.....he wants to drink out of a cup - not a baby sippy cup - and he eats with 'real' utensils. It's so cute but sometimes very frustrating because he wants to do EVERYTHING. Bret is such a great kid and a huge blessing. Jason and I still can not believe how fast the time has gone by....he's going to be 2 years old in 3 months!!!

The haps

SIL, Ashlee, and me at Fricker's before the reception. Don't we look HOT?!


Justin, Jason's bro, and him at Fricker's....Yeah, we're married to these guys. So sexy :)

My baby's WT moment.

This weekend was full of ups and downs.....we had a wedding on Saturday, which was fun, and some bad news on Sunday.

First - the wedding. The ceremony was at Toledo Botanical Gardens and we couldn't have asked for more beautiful weather. It was sunny with a little breeze; just gorgeous. My SIL sang at the ceremony and sounded great (as always). Reception festivities were held at a hall downtown Toledo and was decorated beautifully. The food was good but the DJ left something a little to be desired. Don't get me wrong - he wasn't AWFUL but he definitely wasn't the best I've ever heard either. It was a lot of fun and it was the first time I felt really pretty in a while :)

Sunday AM we got news that Jason's uncle had a massive heart attack while up north and he's not doing very well. No brain activity. Bummer. God will take care of him if the doctors can't. So, we're preparing ourselves to attend a funeral some time this week.

Lastly - I have to share a secret......Bret is a nudist-in-training. This is how he wanted to play outside a couple of days ago....He wouldn't step foot outside until I put on his socks and shoes. I was slightly embarrassed but it was HILARIOUS at the same time.

'Bout to go ghetto on yo' a$$

You know how you become super protective of your kid(s)?
You know how you try to teach your kid(s) manners?
You know how you expect other kids to treat yours with the same type of manners?

Well, sometimes that doesn't happen and you almost go ghetto.....

Bret and I went to the zoo today to check out the newly opened Nature's Neighborhood. *Very cool, by the way* There was a big steam with rocks and fake sticks and plastic fish and colanders for the kids to wade in and play around. This little boy (about 3 or 4) walked up to Bret and threw a rock at him and hit him in the chest! At first I was shocked because I couldn't believe that boy did it. Thankfully Bret didn't freak out and start crying but he put his head down and gave me this look like "that kind of hurt but I don't know if I should cry or not". I turned around to the kid's mom and she had the nerve to say "Oh he's fine, it just hit him in the chest." OH NO YOU DI-INT JUST SAY THAT TO ME!!! I was pretty much close to decking her. So I did the next best thing. I asked the woman if it would be alright for me to throw a rock and hit her son in the chest. She didn't like that very much because she grabbed her son's hand and said "c'mon Caleb, let's go". I looked at her and smiled. Unfortunately, that pretty much ended our zoo trip. Bret thought it was now ok to throw rocks in the water. So after asking him three times to stop and not listening, I had to do the mean mom thing by taking him out of the water kicking and screaming and we left.

We had a great time though...the weather was BEAUTIFUL!! Pictures to follow :)

20 Months Old

Bret is turning out to be a very loving, energetic and stubborn child! He's definitely got a soft side - if you get hurt, he'll hug and kiss your boo-boo :), but underneath that softie there's a toughie. He grabs things out of my hand, yells at me when he's not happy and gives me some rotten faces. It's actually kind of funny sometimes. I try not to laugh but you know how that goes.....He's got some new words - mine, wow and yellow (sort of - he says "lellow"). I love when he says wow. Whenever he sees something big or interesting he shouts wow!!! It's hilarious.


*Disclaimer* - this is the part where I am going to get mushy and brag about my kid.

Jason and I are so extremely lucky and grateful to have such a wonderful child. We get so many compliments about Bret's good behavior in public (obviously he's a kid and he has his devilish moments) and his overall disposition. I don't know what we did but Bret is an awesome kid. There are some days when I look at him I just want to kiss him until I stop breathing, hold him like he's 2 months old again and cry because my baby is getting so big. He's my big boy *sniff sniff* :) I want him to be this age forever.

Just pics

Future engineer??














My mom, dad, uncle Jeff and Pipi have nothin' on me. I can figure this thing out with a sippy cup in one hand and a screwdriver in the other.












Future helicopter pilot














Stayin' cool, poolside.

19 months old

I'll post pics later.....

Bret is turning into a typical toddler. Listens when he wants, has no fear and is lovable and playful as ever.

He has begun to give Jason and me the biggest, sweetest hugs and kisses - the ones that really melt your heart. When he's in trouble with me, he does this thing with his hands that cracks me up (and he knows it). Bret is a huge helper. He helps put dishes away, laundry, vacuuming, etc. It's cute. He loves to mimic Jason. Yard work and laughing like his dad are two favorites.

He's awesome and we love him :)

You're not going to believe this...I still can't

I was putting groceries away this morning and had to put some stuff in the freezer that's in the garage. I didn't want Bret to follow me so I closed the door behind me. Very much to my surprise, Bret locked me out of the house. I was instantly panicked because we don't keep a key in the garage or anything. All the doors are locked and the windows are closed and locked because I turned the A/C on. My neighbor across the street was home so I asked him if he knew how to pick a lock. He said 'no' but gave me a bunch of small screwdrivers to try. None worked so I called Jason to tell him to come home. In the mean time, I knocked on the locked door and heard Bret whining behind it. I tried to explain to him that he locked me out of the house and I couldn't open the door. I asked him to open the door for me, knowing he wouldn't know how to do it; although for some reason it made me feel better asking anyway. In utter amazement - he twisted the knob and unlocked the door. HE. UNLOCKED. THE. FUCKING. DOOR. I seriously can not believe he did it! Never in my wildest dreams did I think that my kid understood me that well; let alone knew how to twist a door knob. I am still shocked as I write this.......Oh, wait. Damn. Now we have to put the knobby-things on the doors so that he doesn't walk out of the house. Shit.

Going backwards

For the past couple of weeks it seems like Bret needs two naps again. On some days by 9:30 or 10 am, he's just a terror - yelling, throwing his toys, wants me to hold him a lot and rubbing his eyes. There have been days when I've held him in a recliner and he's fallen asleep on me. I don't want to revert back to two naps. I'm confused.

Nothing has changed in his routine. And I know he's not sick. I noticed today that he's getting four teeth (upper and lower canines). Maybe that's the problem. Who knows?! All I know is that he's been a handful for the last few days! PHEEEWWW

18 months old!!

Seriously, Mom, enough with the pictures. Can't you see I'm trying to get some work done?

I am Daddy's big helper.

This is how my dad has to cut grass from now on......Aren't I a little stinker?!

Check out my new sunglasses!! Too bad I rip them off after about 30 seconds.

What do you want now, Mom?? Another picture?? Geez.

Today was his 18-month wellness appointment. He's still on the low-end of the curve. Weight: 22 lbs, 1 oz; height: 30" (which I think was measured wrong at his last appointment because he did not grow one inch - impossible). He's about at the 5 - 10 percentile. His DR said not to worry, the curve doesn't represent how he'll be the rest of his life, just a estimator. Jason, at Bret's age, was 34-1/2" long and 24 lbs, 4 oz. Who knows what I was since my family didn't keep records of that stuff.

He did well, although he got 2 shots today. The last of the PCV (pneumococcal) and DTaP series. His next shot is at 2 years old and it's the MMR. That'll be the only one he gets that day. Then he'll get the HepB vaccine before he starts school. I changed my mind and decided not to give him the chicken pox vaccine. So, two more shots then no more until he's a tween or teenager....I didn't get a chance to tell his DR since we were talking about her pregnancy!! She's due in July. I was glad to find out that she's going to be a mom. I feel like she'll be a better pediatrician because of it since she'll know what it's like to have her own. Different perspective, ya know?

I'm super excited for mother's day.

Random thoughts

There are a ton of differences in my pregnancies! The most noticeable one is the red, blotchy dry skin patches on my left side. I started noticing them about 3 weeks ago on my leg. Since then, they've spread up my side. They don't itch, per se, but they are really gross looking. I mentioned it to my DR and he said it was hormones. UGH. I asked if it would go away and he said "maybe not until the baby is born". Ha, ha, that's funny.....no, not really.

I'm carrying a little higher than I did with Bret. I don't sleep as well this time around and I'm not as hungry with this pregnancy as I was with Bret. So strange!! I am convinced that it's a girl. I was right with Bret so we'll see if I'm right with this one.

Jason has to take unpaid time off again - 1 week per quarter for the rest of the year. That equals almost an 8% pay cut for '09. I've decided to start thinking about my next career move after this baby is born. I'm pretty sure what I want to do, but I don't think I'm going to do anything until this baby is sleeping through the night. I don't want to say anything now but I will some time soon. It's got me excited about taking classes again, learning something new AND a profession that's pretty flexible depending upon where I work.

I went on a shopping spree for Bret to get ready for summer/Charleston trip. He got a whole summer wardrobe - thanks to my awesome Old N@vy coupon and the great sale they were having last week. He also got a new squirt pool, sunglasses, 3 swim diapers, sandals and a sun tent. I love buying stuff for Bret!! I think he's got more clothes than I do!!

I've decided on names for the baby. Now I just have to run them by Jason and see which ones we agree on. Yes, we are going to find out what we're having but I think we're not going to tell people this time. We'll see :)

This

Bret has a new word - this. Everything is "this". I ask him what he wants and he says "this". I tell him to pick up his toys and he looks at me puzzled and says "this". It's cute!

He's trying to climb out of things now. He likes to be put in his toy box so that he can reach all his toys. Once he's done, he swings a leg over the side - yikes! Now I'm just waiting to hear the thud in the middle of the night when he tries to climb out of his crib.

Things with the pregnancy are going well. I still feel like I'm going to vomit at any second. I hate the prenatal vitamins that I'm taking. They're not the same ones I took with Bret. My DR had to change them because the mail order pharmacy didn't have the originals. So instead of taking one a day, I take two; one in the AM and one in the PM. Needless to say, I sometimes forget to take one of them. So annoying. At my next appt. I'm going to ask the DR to switch back the vitamin.

Other than that, it's same ol' same ol' around here. Getting ready for spring and yard work and emptying out the baby's bedroom. I thought I never say that we'd run out of room in this house but we are and quickly!

Lots to talk about - Updated

**The prenatal appointment went as expected. The heartbeat was 178 which makes me think it's a girl. Who knows. The due date is still October 22. That'll make Bret almost 2 years old when the baby is born!!**

I ended up taking Bret to urgent care on Saturday (thanks AJ, I didn't even know they existed). Bret was so miserable; couldn't drink, eat, sleep. The doctor listened to his breathing and looked at his ears; tried to look at his throat but Bret was freaking out and crying. The DR asked me one question and came back with a RX. This took all of about 3 minutes. He didn't even tell me what he thought was wrong....so I asked, "Does he have a throat infection or ear infection?"

The DR said that he wasn't for sure since Bret wouldn't let him look at his throat but the RX will cover both, just in case. It was a three-day dose and it stunk so badly!!! Bret took it like a champ but still wasn't feeling great. I was getting sort of nervous after the meds were gone because he still wasn't eating very much. Thankfully he started drinking more fluids so I was happy. He REALLY turned a corner last night/today. He ate really well at breakfast and even ate a snack before nap time!! YAY!! He's almost 100%. I was going to take him to Chuck E Cheese today but I think I'm going to wait for another day, just in case.

Today is my first prenatal appointment and I can't wait......I keep having this freaky feeling that the DR is going to tell me that we're having twins. That's always my "fear" though since I'm a twin!! LOL I'll make sure to update tonight :)

In other news - I picked up my dress for J & A's wedding. The alterations cost $38! Doesn't that seem kind of expensive? I do. Plus, the dress stinks of cigarette smoke. I wasn't too happy. I probably shouldn't have burdened the bride with that information but I wanted her to know because a huge majority of the bridesmaids are getting their dresses altered at the same place.

Lastly, we've asked Jason's cousins to babysit Bret on Friday for the rehearsal. How much are sitters going for these days? We've never had to pay someone yet and I don't want to be a cheapskate. The kids are 15 - 17 years old.

Other than that, I'm just waiting for Bret to wake up so we can go play outside!! Enjoy the gorgeous weather!!

Don't pediatricians know that kids only get sick on the weekends?!

I think I've figured out what is wrong with Bret. Sore throat.

He only puked that one time on Wednesday PM/Thursday AM and his fever finally broke yesterday. Well, starting yesterday at lunch he is refusing to eat. I've tried soft stuff like yogurt, cheese, spaghetti; basically anything he can just swallow. Nope. Having none of it. I asked Jason to get Bret some Pedialyte freezer pops thinking he'll like how it feels going down. Do you think we can find them anywhere when we need them?! No...LOL

I don't like Bret to have popsicles just yet because of all the sugar in them but Jason bought frozen fruit bars. They're actually not too bad and, at this point, I'm kind of desperate for my kid to get a little relief. I've been giving him Motrin/Tylenol every ~5 hours just to calm the pain. He's a totally different kid when he gets meds...He laughs and plays and seems alright. Once it wears off, he's back to being clingy, whiny and just plain yucky. Poor guy.

I wish his DR office had Saturday appointments. It's definitely not worth going to ER over but I wish I could get him on antibiotics so that he could start feeling better. Ya know? I would think that with 7 DRs in the practice that they could give up one Saturday every other month for sick kids....at least in the winter. Every mom's dream.

Sweetness

"You can't catch me...." - I just noticed his pants are unsnapped!! Ha ha ha


"If you stop taking pictures, I'll stop picking my nose"



"I'll give you one good picture"

"Ok, I'm done smiling for the camera"

"Let me eat in peace, please"

"Can I reach that magnet way up there?"

"Fishy want a strawberry?"

"I swear I didn't drop a strawberry in the tank"


Bret woke up at 2:30am and puked in his bed. Gross. First time I've ever had to clean up puke and it wasn't pretty because I wanted to puke. He had a low-grade fever too (99.8) and I don't know why. I gave him some Tylenol and brought him to bed with us since it was 3:30am at this point. He didn't want to sleep....Bret kept tapping Jason on the head and kicking me in the face. Why do kids think it's ok to lay sideways on their parents' bed?! LOL

He seems fine now. Strange. He's so damn cute and is getting so big :) We scheduled his 18-month pics and I can't wait!!

15-Month wellness check-up

Not too much going on, that's why I haven't posted in a while.

Bret had his check-up yesterday - everything went well. He got his last round of polio and HIB shots.

He's still on the low side of the curve but his DR seems to be fine with it since he's still considered "normal".

Stats: 21 lbs 1 oz and 30" long

It is amazing what this kid knows and can do. He goes up and down the stairs without help :(, he feeds himself (except for yogurt - that's still super messy), and he's learned to nod and shake his head! It's hilarious to see him nod 'yes' to a question.

Bret shocked the crap out of me a few days ago.....I tried teaching him how to sign since he was 9 months old. He never seemed interested so I gave it up about a month ago. Well, earlier this week, I was giving him his before-bedtime snack and I asked him if he wanted more and he did the sign for more. I could not believe it! After about 5 minutes of praising he was so over it. I'm still amazed. Why can't kids cooperate when they're supposed to?! LOL

Another reason why no blogg-y lately - Justin's wedding.....one shower down, one to go. The bachelorette party is next and then *finally* the wedding. I've made the necessary appointments (hair, nails, dress alterations) and I purchased my undergarments yesterday. I still have to find some shoes. I need some advice though.....the bride would like everyone to tan for the wedding. I'm trying to be more cautious about tanning and skin care. Does anyone use a self-tanner? If so, what works well without the orange tinge? TY!!

Bret with his playgroup pals, Crue and Lily

Bret LOVES to grab the camera wristband and thinks it's funny, too

Daddy taught Bret that it's hilarious to wear your clothes on your head.....boys!!

Rockband and the tax man

Here's Bret playing Rockband with Jason at Aunt Ashlee and Uncle Justin's

This is our new accountant. He told us that we're getting a huge refund :) Bret says, "you're lovin' me now, aren't you mom and dad?!"