Preparing Brody

In less than two weeks we are expecting Ryder, baby boy number 2, at our house. We have tried to explain this to Brody and I think he kinda gets it....that is, he gets it as much as a 2 year old can, well, at least I HOPE he does because ready or not, Ryder is coming, and possibly sooner than that.

When you point to my belly and ask Brody who is in there he says, "Ry-er", and lately he'll even say "baby Ry-er." Nearly every night he makes me pull my shirt up and he'll rest his hand on my stomach or gently rub his hand back and forth and say the baby's name. He is so sweet, but I just don't know if he realizes that there is an actual baby in there. An actual baby that is going to come and invade his world!

When we pulled up to the dr.'s office last week he pointed at the door and said, "mommy...ry-er." Its so funny to me that he knows so much. When we went in and heard the heartbeat he would tell the nurse, "ry-er noise.." and during the week if we asked him what kind of noise Ryder makes he makes this growling type sound that I think is supposed to be a heartbeat!

Most days I think Brody is going to love this baby. Yesterday while he was sitting on the bathroom counter I was combing hair. Unfortunately for Brody his Mommy's round baby bump is right at his eye level when he sits there. Totally unexpected, Brody leans forward and gives my belly a big kiss. I know what a sweet and tender little Brody can be, but I was really surprised at this. He got a big grin on his face and told me, "Bowie kiss Ry-er." Talk about melting my heart!

Hopefully having Ryder come live with us won't be too much of a shocker. I'm thrilled to have these two boys grow up and be buddies and play together, but I do worry that initially it might be a little rough for our Brody boy. We have talked a lot, so we'll keep our fingers crossed for smooth sailing!

Brody Turns 2

Yesterday was our little man's birthday! It is so hard to believe that Brody is already 2!!! We had a pretty awesome day. It was Brody's RED birthday. He doesn't say red is his favorite color, but we have noticed a definite preference for red.

Usually in the morning Brody stays in his jammies for a while, but Trevor and I went into his room and put him in his clothes first thing. He was so mad at us. He cried and threw a little fit. "No, shirt....no, shirt." He kept telling me. Finally he was dressed and I carried him down the hall to show him all the decorations that had been set up after he had gone to bed the night before. As soon as Brody saw the balloons his mood dramatically changed. A big grin came across his face and he said, "boon!!!" Then we turned to the kitchen and he got even more excited and said, "more boon...tan-ee (more balloons and candy)!!!"

We still had preparations to make before the grandparents and everyone else came over for lunch so we got busy. I made 24 cupcakes the day before, but Trevor wanted me to make a whole other batch. Why? Well, because he informed me that cupcakes taste SO much better than cake and he wanted to have some leftover. Almost 5 years of marriage and I barely find out that my husband thinks cupcakes are SOOO good. These cupcakes were a little more special than normal too because I made them the colors of the rainbow, with red the last layer so you could see it on the edge under the icing. Brody ended up mostly just licking the icing off of his cupcake, but made up for it later on that night when he ate a whole one for a bedtime snack! Everytime you ask him about his birthday he'll tell you about the "nummy cake."

Things were kept pretty simple. Altogether we had the 3 and 1/2 of us, plus 3 grandparents, brody's Uncle Adam, Uncle Kade, and Aunt Taylor. We ate a lunch of beans and sopapillas while toy story was playing. After that it was opening presents and then cake.

Brody was spoile, of course. Trevor and I had tried to not get very much because we knew he's get things from everyone else, and we were right. We got Brody Toy Story 2, a book, and some toy story legos. Toy story seemed to be the theme because nearly everything he got was toy story. Truthfully we should have gotten Brody nothing and let everyone else give him presents because he got way more than necessary. We had to practically bribe him to open the presents. He was more interested in stacking the packages.

Happy Birthday to our Brody boy!!!! We love you SO much. You have brought more joy and happiness into our lives than we even thought was possible. There has never been one stage of your life that we haven't enjoyed. It has all been great. You wake us up almost every morning by walking down to our room and announcing, "Bowie's up!!!" as if to say I'm awake so you need to be too! At night you like to settle down in our bed with us while we watch tv before you go to your own bed. Everytime we go to the store or do anything it all revolves around you, and we wouldn't have it any other way. Thank you for being such a sweet, cuddly, happy-go-lucky little boy!!!

We can't wait to celebrate years and years of birthdays with you!

Our Big Talker

Just a few months ago Brody was saying a few words. All of my friends that had daughters around the same time I had Brody said their girls were saying tons of things! Most of my friends with boys said just the opposite....their boys said only a few things.

Things have drastically changed at our house. We aren't just hearing a new word everyday, we are hearing like 4 or 5 new words a day. Sometimes, okay maybe a lot of the time, Brody says things that only mom and dad can understand because we're with him all the time. It can take a translator to understand what he wants at times. These are some of his current words that you may not understand at first:

gare = scare

dop it = stop it

cock = clock (this word usually makes Trevor die laughing for obvious reasons, but it gets even better when Brody adds word like nice or daddy so its something like this, "nice cock." Yeah, you know you're laughing too)
da-ee = daddy
dumpeen = jumping

tan-ee = candy

murning = burning

I tried to count all the words he's saying but I just can't keep up because he's learning so many new ones everyday. I'm pretty sure that we are up to 125 words if not more. The most exciting part of his talking is that he is grouping words together to try and form sentences. The not so fun part is having a bossy kid telling us what to do. If he thinks we are being too silly or he just doesn't like what we are doing he tells us to "dop it, mommy (or da-ee)." Then yesterday afternoon I guess I hadn't fed him enough because he yelled to me, "Mommy...eat!" I asked him if he was hungry and wanted something to eat and he said yeah and ran to the kitchen. Another funny thing he says now is when he sees a bug he'll tell it, "way, bug!" and wave his arm in the air. This means go away bug, and if I was the bug I would go away.

Of course there are sweet things he says too. When Trevor walks in the door after work Brody looks up at him and in the sweetest little voice will say, "hi da-ee!" It makes Trevor's day. I love when he says, "Bowie, happy!" translation = Brody's happy.

We still cannot get Brody to say anything we want him to say. I'm pretty sure he's capable of even more, but if he doesn't want to say something he's not going to. He chooses the words he says not us.

Brody's 2 Yr. Pictures

Its hard to believe, but our little baby is turning 2 in less than two weeks! Its amazing how much he has changed and grown in the last 2 years. Truthfully, it seems like he changes daily to me. When I look at the pictures from Easter to now he seems so much more like a little boy and less like a baby.

We haven't always been the best about getting pictures done at milestones. There are always pictures being taken, but not always nice pictures. I made it a priority to get these taken. How often does your kid turn 2?