Life Before Baby

All the time I hear people say things like, "We don't know what we did with ourselves before (insert baby's name here) came into our lives." I never knew how true that would ring until I had my own kid. Every aspect of our life has been invaded with baby stuff! Even my blog that used to be funny and sarcastic has become more like a shrine of our little Brody. I really don't mind it all. I'm sorta glad that our world revolves around this sweet little guy, but every once in a while I feel like there is not one drop of me left for myself!

What does that mean exactly? Well, it means that my blog used to be fun and people commented, now its all about Brody everytime and no one ever comments....which then (this is so lame of me...)makes me occasionally pull out the pity card and think, "I have no friends anymore!" It also means that everytime we go to the store we get more excited about buying clothes for Brody than just about anything else there is to buy. And lastly-and this is my favorite thing of all-

It means not even going pee in privacy! If the door happens to get shut all the way we get to listen to a very upset little boy that feels extremely left out. He then sticks his face and hand as far under the door as possible. Instead of being annoyed that you can't even go to the bathroom in a little bit of piece and quiet you end up laughing and this face pressed against the floor peering out at you.

When we went to the valley for Spenser's wedding I decided to take a bath (something that NEVER happens, almost always showers), and apparently I didn't close the door all the way because pretty soon the door flings open and here comes the Brodester. Yep he decided to come for a visit. I just figured that rather than climbing out to get him out I'd just let him stay. This was all fine and dandy as Brody reached over the edge and splashed my water a little, but then he decided to be a little more brave. Brody began to hitch his leg over the side and join me. I gently pulled his fully clothed body out before it really got in. Before I knew it, Brody dove head first in the water! My legs caught him so he didn't completely crash, and it could have been worse.

Brody wins again. No privacy for mom, and he ended up getting stripped down and in the bath like he wanted all along.

15 Month Stats

Today was Brody's 15 month wellness check up. He has been 15 months for 2 weeks now, but we barely got in to the doctor today. I love going to these check-ups because I love seeing how much Brody has grown, and also seeing what percentile he falls in for his age group. Unfortunately for us, the doctor's office whole computer system was down. That meant we did find out his stats, but couldn't chart it on the computer and see where he was for his age.
As of today Brody weighs 25.8 lbs. That is up 2 pounds since his last appointment 3 months ago. He has also grown a half an inch, which puts him at exactly 31 inches tall. He seems to be growing well, learning, and changing each day.

Brody is still a pretty pleasant kids. He likes just about everything, but I'll give a short run-down of some of his favorites. He loves: balloons, mom & dad (of course), being outside, dirt, riding tractors with daddy, wearing shoes and anything on his head (weird for a little kid, but that's Brody for you), wearing nothing at all, bathtime, cuddling when tired, lights of any kind, bottles of things that he can organize, dogs, other kids, books, the list goes on.

The list of things Brody strongly dislikes is much smaller: food (that is when he is getting teeth like the current 4 molars), being told no, getting his diaper changed, and getting clothes put on (once there on he's fine, but before that....), and milk in a sippy cup (that only goes in bottles apparently).

Brody can do lots of things now too: run, climb, point out his head, eyes, ears, nose tongue, tummy, and toes when you ask where those things are, he nods yes all the time when he wants something, he says dunt, nop (sometimes dop), gog, and nononono which roughly translates to don't, stop, dog, and no-no (yeah thats right....no nice words like mommy or daddy) he tells my mom's dog to shush, Brody gives squeezes and kisses (our favorite!), and high fives followed by "pounding it" or knuckles as some people say.

I could go on forever about this kid, but thats all for now. Besides, I don't think anyone besides Brody's mommy and daddy really find this stuff remarkable!

Halloween 2009

I cannot believe that October has come and gone! Seriously, where was I? We have been so busy it seems that we didn't get to fully enjoy the month! I love fall, and especially October. Everything we did seemed a little rushed because we put things off to the last minute!

We didn't get Brody's Halloween costume until the week before Halloween. It wasn't that I didn't look its just that I never could find anything that I loved. Trevor is such a scrooge and all "bah-hum-bug" about holidays too that I felt a little discouraged. He didn't want me to spend money on something Brody would only wear one time for a few hours. He also kept telling me that Brody wouldn't remember it anyway. Finally after pouting about it Trevor said it was fine, I could go ahead and get a costume...of course, if you ask him he'll tell you that he never said I couldn't get a costume. Technically, I guess he didn't say NO, he just made me feel not so excited.

Less than a week to go I scoured Walmart, Walgreens, and Kmart in their VERY picked over Halloween section. We found a giraffe costume that was pretty cute. It was a 12 month size, but we thought it looked big enough. There weren't any sizes bigger in any costume unless I went really big. One plus side to waiting so long was that I got the costume on sale for only 9 bucks! Woot-woo.When we finally put Brody in his costume, it was a little more snug than we had hoped for! He couldn't walk very well because the seams were stretching in his feet, croch, and head/face areas. If Brody tried to look up it was so tight that it would make his eyes slant down like he was sad. It was hilarious to see him. There was a little Halloween parade that Brody and I walked in the morning of Halloween. We went by and got Julie and Kaitlyn and went together. The kids were given orange balloons and had a great time. Brody couldn't have been more content as I pushed him in the stroller. It was really pretty fun. After the parade we made a few stops visiting grandparents and great grandparents then came home, stripped off the costume, and resumed normal afternoon tasks.

As evening approached we finally sat down to carve pumpkins (yes, another thing we had put off because we were too busy). Brody sat on top of the table and "helped". He didn't really care for the guts of the pumpkin, but he was curious about how the pumpkin itself tasted. He had a little carving tool that he kept poking at the pieces we cut out and after a while he'd try those pieces out in his mouth. It was lots of fun!

That night we stayed in and passed out candy with Brody in his costume. Overall, a pretty fun Halloween!

The Little Chef

One of Brody's favorite things these days is "helping" and watching me cook. If something is on the stove he stands on his tip toes and begs for me to pick him up. Once he gets his way he'll smile and stare at everything going on. I ask him things like, "Should I stir it, Brody?" and since he doesn't talk he'll just nod his head yes. He gets the biggest kick out of it because he thinks he is helping me so much.

It doesn't matter what is cooking or where it is being cooked, Brody wants to be a part of it. If something goes in the oven Brody will stand at the oven window and press his nose all the way up against it to watch whatever is baking.

Last night we had beans and sopapillas (perfect for this dang cold weather the last few days), and Brody had to watch so I put him on the counter and he watched me roll out the dough for the sopapillas. A few weeks ago we made a cake for my mom's birthday and Brody sat on the counter then too. He watched as each ingredient was put in the bowl and then was lucky enough to have his first experience licking the beaters! He LOVED that part. It doesn't surprise me that he is so interested in what is going on in the kitchen because he loves to be in the middle of everything, but I am surprised that he does so well. When he gets to be on the counter he doesn't try to take a dive off, he'll usually stay just where I put him, and he does really well at not putting his hands into everything.

Maybe, just maybe, we have a future chef on our hands!

Seriously? Snow?

Dear Snow,

I know that each year you are bound to come, but let me tell you a few rules on snow ettiquette. One, there is a time and a place for you. It is not on this day October 28th. October 28th is part of FALL. Not winter. We are supposed to be enjoying the leaves crunching under our feet, carving pumpkins, and getting ready for Halloween.

Two, we are in Arizona. Not Maine, Vermont, Colorado, Utah, or any of those other places known for getting lots of snow. I repeat....we are in Arizona!!! Granted, we do live in an area of Arizona that gets snow, we do NOT get it this early, or at least, not usually.

Third, although some people may enjoy you, you aren't my favorite thing. I prefer the sun and warm days. However, I do realize that inevitably you will come but if I could put in one request....I would love for you to come on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. That's it. That shouldn't be too much to ask. I mean, you can't really have Christmas without snow, but after that I have my snow fix. I'm done. I don't need you anymore. This area does need moisture, but could you send the rain instead. I can deal with rain, I even like rain most of the time, but you snow...you can come as little as you want.

Sincerely,

taytum

Cutest little Girls

Okay, so do you remember when you were young and used to watch all the older kids? You know, the older siblings and their friends, or kids in your church, or even just older relatives? I seriously remember looking up to some of the girls my mom would teach at church and think I wanted to be just like some of them.

Well, last week was homecoming here and when I took Brody to the parade we ended up sitting with my Aunt Gina (said like jenna), she had some of her grandkids with her. At one point Kennedy and Avery ended up sitting by me on some steps and I could hear them talking. When I glanced over at them they were both staring at me. I said, "What are you two saying?" Both of them immediatley said, "nothing!" I tried coaxing them just a teeny bit and finally Avery burst out, "We said that you always look so FANCY!" I just about died laughing. I don't know what made them think I looked fancy. I had my hair pulled up and I did have pearl earings in, but I didn't look special by any means, but for some reason they thought that I did.

I have to say that those two little girls kinda made my day. I think that was quite the compliment!

Official Owners

This fine piece of dirt you are looking at is officially ours! That's right. We are the very proud owners of our very own piece of property!

It may not look like much, but we couldn't be more excited. We now own a little over an acre of property. Its a little more than we wanted, but we got a good price and we have been looking for over 3 years for something.

Trevor has been out on a tractor leveling and digging trenches and all of that hard stuff, while I have just sat back and pretty much watched. Brody LOVES to ride the tractor with his daddy. He also has really liked just getting down right dirty by playing in the loose sand!

Being in the small town that we are, we have people constantly driving by to be nosy and see what exactly we are doing. I guess you'll just have to wait and see!