Nani and Duckie

This weekend my Dad and step mom came up to visit. We had a great time and went to Clown around and I cooked every night for them :) Previous visits I was working and taking care of Brooke, so we usually got take out. I made and awesome meatloaf, which Brandon loved, and pulled pork which took forever. It was a fun time, and Brooke loves it. Here are some pics.

My Favorite Things

-The way Brandon smiles so big that his eyes completely close and his face squishes up
-The way he reaches out for me when he wants me because he can't crawl to get me
-The way Brooke tries to be a little mommy and give Brandon toys when he is cranky, or tries to give him his nukie, or tells me he may be hungry
-The little things that make Brooke smile and laugh....like showing her how to do "cheers" tonight for the first time

There are so many things I love about these kids I can't even keep track. They are my world and my everything. XOXO

Christmas

Christmas this year was by far the bext since Brooke has been born. It was the first year that she really "got it". She was so cute the night before and in the morning running out to the tree. It was a really great feeling seeing her so excited.

Brandon could really care less. He just wanted to eat the paper. He was actually fairly cranky on Christmas. He didn't want to go down for his first nap (do you blame him) and finally went down around 11 or so. He only took ONE nap all day. I don't know how he made it up from about 12:30 to 7:30 or so....but he did Mommy a big favor and only woke up ONCE that night!! Ever since then he has only been up one time a night to nurse. It is such a huge help to me. I guess he sleeps better when he is teething....go figure! Cry it out isn't an option for me, so I am so glad he is figuring it out on his own finally.

Another new thing for Brandon is that he has decided to sleep on his stomach these days (no still not crawling yet, but getting better). I know he is old enough for it, but it still drives me crazy. I wish he would just sleep on his back...ohh well. I am not going to wake him to roll him over, so his stomach it will be.

So back to Christmas....we were at it for about 2 hours in the morning. Brooke opened up everyones gifts and then tried to guess who they were for. She was more excited about the Rudolph the Red Nose wrapping paper than she was about some of the gifts. Having the two of them really brings back a lot of the excitement during the holidays! I can't believe they are almost 1 and 3. Time is flying!

My Favorite Things

These are just some random things I don't want to forget:

-Brooke was pretending to be an elf and make a dog toy by banging a pot lid with a wooden mallet
-Brooke laughing at Cody and Trevor sled down the hill and throw snowballs at the front door
-Brooke is a little mommys helper, trying to explain to Doc why Brandon is fussy, or tries to give him toys. One of my most favorite things is seeing to two interact with each other and seeing how gentle and caring Brooke can be with him (I know this will change)
-The way Brandon LOVES his blanket and smushes his face against it whenever I give it to him
-The way Brooke asks me to cuddle or snuggle with her at night, and the way she hugs and talks to me when I do....melts my heart..love it
-The way Brooke gets really excited when I tell her she can have a treat...I LOVE the way she says "thank you mommy for letting me have a treat" in her cute little two year old voice...

I wish they could stay little forever...

3rd Ear Infection

We arrived at my Mom's house in PA on Thursday, followed by a visit to urgent care on Friday the 18th, for little Brandon. Poor little man has the third ear infection since the beginning of November. Yes...That is 3 in two months. Not to mention that he is getting about 2 to 3, maybe 4 teeth, so he has been quite to vocal little guy the past two days. Not very fun to deal with all of this when you aren't in the comforts of your own home, but we are managing. He has been living in the Ergo, and I am passing him off when he lets me, which isn't very often. When I do pass him off, it is usually short lived followed by loud screaming which can be heard in every room in the house.

So back to his 3rd ear infection. It was so much fun dealing with urgent care.....NOT! They obviously don't see pediatric patents very often. After the diagnosis of a left ear infection, 15 minutes later the prescription followed....15 minutes spent doing division, multiplication, and referencing the little book they use to find medicines? Lets just say when i heard her say, "oh wow, they make pediatric infant drops of amoxicillian, lets try that"....the next thought that came into my mind was...."we are so calling our pediatrician as soon as we get into the parking lot". For those of you that are curious.....they don't even make that anymore. Glad to know she was using a book that is current and up to date!

So in between calls to the pediatricians, and calls back, then calls to the pharmacist, the poor boy finally got the correct script. and a dose of meds into his body around 4PM. We left urgent care at 10AM.

So here we are in PA, lets put this lightly (with a pissed off 10 month old) and an almost 3yr old with a cold. Thank goodness for grandparents, relieving me for a few minutes, and here I am updating my blog when I should be chugging a glass of wine.

Well Brooke just found me, so I am done for now..........

Preferred Way of Eating

He just loves to try and shove the whole thing in his mouth. I made the mistake of actually giving him the whole thing and now I have to hide when it is time to eat or he wants it. Look at his concentration!

More.... not crawling

Always getting stuck UNDER things.

Santa

We saw Santa today. Brooke was really cute talking to him. She told him her name, but wouldn't tell him how old she was. When Santa asked if she was going to college, she replied with "yes" :) She proceeded to tell him what she wanted and sit on his lap for pictures.

Brandon could have cared less about the whole thing. He was just staring with a dumb look on his face. He was probably trying to think of a way in which he could try to eat Santa, or for something to chew on. We got the picture with no tears (it would have been more funny with some tears) but anyway, Brooke was really into it.

I tried to get a picture of the look on her face when she was walking up to him, but I couldn't. If you could have seen the smile on her face, it would make you melt. She looked so cute, happy, and excited all in one.

Crawling

No...not yet (10 months)....but this is what happens when all you do is crawl backwards! Kinda funny watching him until he gets stuck. He tried to make it under the fridge and ended up doing a straddle split up against it. Poor guy. I opted to rescue him before I took a pic of that one.....

SNOW

Much like the rest of the east coast....today we had our official first snow. (We had one in October but I am not counting it because it started at night and was gone in the morning.) Brandon has been a little cranky today so I didn't torture him and put him in the snow (tomorrow is a different story), but here are some pics of Brooke.

Camera

I just uploaded pictures from my camera to the computer and for some reason they were a little out of order. After looking at them I realized it is because of how many pictures I have taken with the camera.

We got the camera right before Brooke was born, so it will be 3 years in January. As of today, I have taken over 10,000...........yes......10,000 pictures, so the camera had to start over with the numbers...hence some of my pictues are a little out of order.

Wow...10,000 pictures....a little crazy.

Cuteness

So I just got Brandon's onesie in the mail from a seller on Etsy and I am in love with it.

Standing

Yay! Standing and letting go with one hand, trying to walk along things....still no crawling.....