Loving Himself

Beckam has noticed other babies for awhile but just recently he has really gotten into showing his reflection attention. He has a toy that has a mirror and he gets right up, nose touching mirror, to it and starts talking and smiling. Well the other day I had the shades open on our back windows, and Beckam must have seen his reflection because he was giving kisses to the glass. (Beckam kisses are with his mouth completely open attacking whatever or whoever. So they are pretty slobbery.)

The thing that made this so funny to me is Brandon had just cleaned all the windows.

Dinner with The Smiths

Our dear friends Ryan and SaLeah were in town this week from Idaho and cleared a night in their busy visiting everyone in Utah schedule to have dinner together. When Ryan called Brandon last week to say they wanted to hang out sometime while they were here, I wanted Brandon to call Ryan right back and nail down a definite time and make concrete plans. We haven't seen these guys in years and it's been toooo long. They now have two kids and with our two kids we knew we had to find a family friendly restaurant. (Family friendly means either a place for the kids to run around and not bug other restaurant patrons or something going on that entertains the kids. You would think in Utah there would be a ton of restaurants that fit either or both of these criteria, but with Brylie we've only found two non-fast food restaurants that work.)

Ryan asked where we take our kids out to eat and we had to let our little secret out of the bag. We don't take our kids out to eat. We are a family that loves take-out. That's right, with the restaurant manners Brylie has, we prefer to go pick up the food and bring it back home. (I'm surprised some of the restaurants near our house don't have our orders memorized.) Well after Joe's Crabshack was vetoed (the music, dancing, and balloon animal maker there really kept Brylie entertained) we decided on the Mayan with the divers and waterfall.

Other then the slow service, the dinner was a success. The adults were able to talk and catch-up, the kids were entertained, behaved, and even ate a little, and Brylie made a new friend. Ryan and SaLeah's little boy Malik is a couple of months younger then Brylie and they got along great. If one was doing something the other wanted to do it to. That also made dinner a little easier. When it was time to say bye Brylie wanted to know if Malik was coming to our house and since then has asked when we're going to see Malik again. All I can say is hopefully soon. It was great hanging out with Ryan and Saleah again!

Snack Time at the Farm

Yes when my kids whine for a snack I just pour some cheerios on the floor and let them have at it. Seriously though, Brylie was trying to get some cheerios for Beckam and they spilled. Beckam was in snack heaven and Brylie just wanted to make piles of cheerios. I wasn't in the kitchen when the spill happened and Brylie tried to cover the box with her blanket.

I am quickly coming to the conclusion that I can no longer turn my back for a second, blink, or use the bathroom. When I do something always happens.

Whirlwind Weekend

The past few days have been oh so fun. I really mean that for Saturday and really sarcastically for Friday, Sunday, and yesterday. Early, early Friday morning (I'm talking 3:30am early) Brylie got sick. This continued until around 4:00pm Friday afternoon when normal Brylie reappeared. She was fine Saturday morning so when we got invited to go to the zoo with Randy, Viv, and Britton we jumped at the chance. We had been cooped up inside all day Friday, so we needed to get out and enjoy the nice weather. Well the weather turned out to be a little too nice and we baked at the zoo but still had tons of fun!! We saw the bird show which we had never seen before and now I wonder why we've passed it up on our other visits.

Sunday seemed to be a normal day as well. Beckam was a little cranky, but I'm sure he's teething so I attributed his less then cheerful demeanor to that. Well about 3/4 of the way through Sacrament Meeting (it's the last meeting of the block) I'd had enough and we left. As I got to the lobby Beckam puked all over me and him. And he continued not to keep anything down for the rest of Sunday. With him sick, Beckam and I stayed home while Brandon and Brylie went to a cousin's birthday dinner. I'd been bribing Brylie with the dinner all day for good behavior so she had to go. Well Monday began with Beckam being pretty much back to normal but me not feeling so hot. Yesterday was a long day. Now I'm feeling better, and as long as Brandon doesn't get this, we're back to normal life here.

Park Fun

We've had a pretty nice weather week here, so I thought, along with some prompting from Brylie, we should put the park next to Brandon's office to use before his last day. The kids had a lot of fun being outside and Brandon was able to spend some time with us. Now we'll just have to find something like this close to his new office.

Tender Heart

So May is a big birthday month for this little family. Between Brandon's side of the family and my side of the family we have six birthdays. Needless to say we always have something birthday wise going on. Well this week we have a cousin's birthday with a party. Brylie and I got his present a few days ago, and I should know better then to do this, but I left it out in plain sight. (Partly so I wouldn't forget I had already taken care of getting the present.) Brylie wanted to keep playing with it and I kept telling her no and trying to explain that it was a birthday present and couldn't be played with until after we had given it. I guess the temptation was too much because today she came back inside holding part of the present. I asked her if that was part of Bridger's present and she said yes. I continued to reprimand her and told her take it back outside and not play with it anymore so I could clean it up. She came back inside crying and I thought for sure it was because she got in trouble. When I asked her why she was crying she said, "I ruined Bridger's surprise." All sterness in me left right there. My sweet girl wasn't worried about getting in trouble, getting out of the mess she was in, or what might happen to her. She was worried she had ruined something for her cousin and friend. After a few minutes of convincing that she hadn't ruined anything she calmed down and actually fell asleep. (Nice little treat for me.) This is one of those instances where I want to ask where she learned this and if she could help me care more about others in my life. I definitely learn so much from her.

Trip to the Dentist

So I've been a really bad slacker on getting Brylie to the dentist. It was something I know I needed to do, but at the same time was dreading it. Well she just had her first ever dentist appointment and it went great!! Brylie has the best company manners ever and they were shining through during the appointment. I can't get her to hold her mouth open for me to brush her teeth without a fight, but when the hygienist wanted her to open her mouth, I don't think Brylie could have gotten it open any wider. And she held it open until they told her she could close it. She took x-rays like a champ and that's what I thought we would have the biggest issue with.

When she was done she got a special take home teeth care kit and toy. She also got her picture taken for the no cavity wall. She thought it was all great.

Then because she was so good, she chose to go to McDonald's for lunch. Nothing like a little french fry to go on those new clean teeth. First visit down, many more to come!

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers I know out there. I've just celebrated my 4th Mother's Day and they just keep getting better. Brandon worked extra hard this year to make the day special and get me something great from the kids (well really from all of them). I'm so grateful that I get to be a mom and have two great kids. (I know the picture is a little outdated, but it's the last one of only me and the kids.) I'm so very grateful for a mom who raised me with the understanding and compassion she did and showed me through her example how to be a great mom. Also, thanks so much to a great mother-in-law who raised a great son who is now a great husband. Every mom deserves more then just one day a year to be celebrated, but I'll take what I can.

What Happens when Mom isn't Watching

Don't let the angelic face fool you!!

So a few days ago I went upstairs for a few minutes and left the kids alone. I thought for sure mommy Brylie would let me know if Beckam was getting into anything or bugging her. Well I was wrong. When I came downstairs I found this. And I hadn't heard a peep from Brylie.


I had forgotten about a small bag of Doritos that had been in Brylie's car seat. She didn't see them and I didn't think Beckam would see them, but I learned my lesson. Beckam gets everywhere now and is curious about everything. I don't know what it is, but turning 8 months old seems to have flipped a switch in him as well. He finally has a couple of teeth (the second followed the first after a day). He has figured out how to get some of the cupboard doors open and likes to let them slam shut. He crawls everywhere and gets into everything. He is now pulling himself up on stuff and reaching for whatever my be a little out of his reach.

(Notice the tippy toes)

I thought I had at least a couple more months until he started all of this. What am I in for?

It's Official

Brandon has a new job!!! He just signed and sent the offer letter back so in a couple of weeks he will work for Overstock.com in their corporate office doing computer stuff. Obviously I don't have all the details and title down but I am so happy!! For those of you who talk to me pretty regularly you know I'm fed up with his current employers and all the junk they put Brandon through so I'm thrilled this new opportunity came along. And it means we get to stay in Salt Lake County which I really wanted all along. Let the house hunt begin!!! Congrats Babe! I'm so proud of you!!

It's Party Time!!

On Saturday we had a birthday party for Brylie. For some reason her birthday creeped up on my this year, so rather then put a party off until next year (like I should have done) I thought it would be fun to pull everything together in two weeks. I'm so thankful for friends and family who let a phone invite suffice until the real invites could get out. Well after much debate and conversation, Brylie decided on a Little Mermaid/Under the Sea party. The invites were little bottles with sand, sea shells and the invitations in them.

We had the party in our backyard/common area. On of my favorite things about our town house is our back area. This is the fourth or fifth family thing we've had back there. I decorated with a little bit of Little Mermaid stuff and a lot of blue and fish themed stuff. We had boys at the party to, so I didn't want to have it completely pink and Little Mermaid.

These were on either side of our little porch area

We also had a bubble machine going (kind of happy when the bubbles ran out), play-doh table, sandbox area, some balls hanging around, a pinata, and rented a bounce house. The kids were entertained and the adults just got to sit back and watch.

I will say I am so thankful for generous family and friends, a sister-in-law who makes an awesome Chinese chicken salad, a bounce house to corral the kids in, an Exersaucer, Little Caesar's pizza, another sister-in-law who made us dinner for some cheap labor (I really didn't want to have to do anything for dinner after cleaning up from the party) and a husband who humors me and just goes along with my whims. Brylie had a blast at her party and after it was done when asked if she had fun said "It was fun, but now it's over". Thanks everyone who came to our little party and helped make Brylie's birthday so special.

She's already planning for her next one. I'll just wait to clue her in that it's not going to involve a big party. I can only do one of these every other year.

Three

My little girl has turned three. If you ask her she says she is a big girl. Brylie started the day by waking up sooo early. Brandon was able to coax her to lay in our bead for a little while, so Brandon and I got a little more sleep. When we couldn't hold her back any longer, we headed downstairs for presents. Well this big girl only wanted a dollhouse for her birthday, so that's what she got with a ton of furniture.

I was happy we opened presents in the morning because she played with her new dollhouse for the rest of the day. She arranged and rearranged rooms, played with the pet dogs that came with it, and took the family different places. When Beckam took a nap, I joined in the fun. (We can't let Beckam anywhere near the dollhouse due to his already pushing it over and dumping everything out.) And Brylie eagerly asked anyone that came over if they wanted to see her new dollhouse. After Brandon got home and some outside play time, we had Brylie's choice of Wendy's for dinner and birthday cake.

Brylie went to bed a happy girl and ready for her party the next day. Turning three seems to be some right of passage to her. She states now gets to go to school, play with friends, and do everything herself. On her birthday I told her she needed to get dressed but to wait for me to help her pick out clothes. She quickly stated rather forcefully, "I'll do it all myself" and she did. She now lets herself outside, she doesn't need to wait for mom anymore. She gets her own snacks, she is after all a big girl. This little girl (I may always view her this way) made me a mom three years ago. Where has is gone? In the early days of her existence when we were struggling to figure each other out and a workable schedule, I didn't quite believe those that said it goes by so fast, but now I am a true believer. I don't know where the last three years have gone. Brylie is so independent yet still needs my attention and validation. She says the funniest things and gives great attitude yet is ready with a kind comment when needed. She has a kind and sensitive personality and constantly hands out I Love You cards (whatever creation she has made that day). I love this sweet girl of mine and will take every day as it comes because it all does go by so fast. Happy Birthday Brylie!!

Some three year stats for Brylie -- (After her doctors appointment I'll post those stats)

Likes: dollhouse, Disney princesses, dress up, digging in her new sand area, baths, playing with friends, dancing in her own way, playing outside with anyone, looking at books, shopping, and playing on the computer.

Dislikes: being told no, Beckam getting in her stuff, going to bed

Favorite foods: french fries, chicken nuggets, apples, orange juice, cereal, celery, carrot sticks, lettuce, ranch dressing, fried rice, mixed veggies, marshmallows, frosting, fruit snacks, bread, cheese, chips, scrabbled eggs, hash browns and almost whatever candy she can get her hands on.

Foods not so fond of: meat, tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, milk (we're still working on this one) and beans.