Christmas Tree

We got our Christmas tree really early this year. We got it yesterday. I grew up going and cutting down my own tree, but the kids are too little to deal with all the walking and everything that goes with cutting your own tree down. So for now, we go to a really cute farm place and get one that is already cut. The people that own this place aer always incredibly friendly and have a dog running around...which Brooke loves!!

So we got the tree and put the lights on it yesterday. Today we decorated it. Brooke was into the whole decorating process this year. She loved digging through the storage containers, pulling out the ornament and seeing what it was. After she was done, we did have a little re-decorating to do.

As far as Brandon and the tree....surprisingly he didn't eat it. He could care less about it and didn't even try to grab it. It would have made for some fun pictures, but oh well!





Her favorite branch....I must have taken 10 ornaments off this very same branch!





Some fun X-Mas PJ's....They were not into having their picture taken....but they look cute anyway!

Thanksgiving Weekend

Well, I think we can say we had an interesting car ride from NJ to my parents house in PA. I decided to go down on Tuesday so that we could take our time in PA, and make the day trip to the Please Touch Museum....which was awesome by the way.

Well I should have known we were in trouble when we hit traffic on a Tuesday in the middle of the day....but we survived. While sitting in stop and go traffic, I was doing just about anything I could to keep to troops happy. Brooke had her DVD player so she was fine. Brandon on the other hand decided that he was going to try and stay awake the whole ride. So it didn't take very long before my toy collection in my diaper bag dwindled down to about nothing.

As you may have read he is eating a lot of solid food these days, so I tried feeding him in the car. I know it isn't the smartest, and he could choke and all of that, but to keep us all sane, I did it. God forbid something would have happened, I would have put my car in park and been back there with him out of his car seat in 10 seconds. So back to the feeding him in the car. I drive a stick shift sedan, so I can reach back to his car seat pretty easily to feed him a tiny piece of chicken nugget at a time. It was going pretty well and he was eating a lot, until finally I gave him a piece and he had his fingers all in his mouth so I couldn't really give it to him. I figured he was just getting full, so I pushed it in his mouth a little and put my hand back on the wheel.

It wasn't until a few moments later, that we stopped (in traffic still) and I looked back and realized that I had shoved the last bite into his ear. He was indeed done and was turning away from me so I wouldn't put anymore in his mouth...I had to fish a M&M size piece of chicken nugget out of his little ear. Oops.

That was only the first adventure of the car ride. I dont' feel like typing the rest right now, so if you are curious, check back tomorrow.

As far as Thanksgiving in general, Brooke opted for mac & cheese, while Brandon actually ate mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, turkey and stuffing. He probably would have had dessert too, if I would have let him. He is such a good eater so far...lets hope he keeps it up. He is almost self-weaning....sad, but good at the same time. It was fun, but the trip went by way to fast.

Ear Infection - Round 2

Always trust your instinct. I had been debating taking Brandon into the doctor today since last night. I called and made the appointment this morning anyway and I am glad I did. He woke up Friday with green boogers and was very cranky, but seeing how today was only Monday, I thought it was a little premature for an ear infection to develop. If you read my previous post, I suggested I would be at the doc at the end of the week. But, with the holiday coming up, and just my "gut feeling" I took him in and we indeed have our 2nd ear infection for the little guy. Four more in the next 11 months and we will be getting tubes for this little guy too.

I am proud to say I walked out of the office thinking to myself that I knew it. I wish I was wrong and he wasn't on more med and uncomfortable with an ear infection, but I knew it. He was just way too cranky when he was off the Tylenol for it to be just a cold even if it was only day 3 of boogers. Before you have kids you wonder how you will figure all of these things out....but you do...

Jinx

So I am never going to post that not much is going on ever again! Last night Brooke was up twice in the middle of the night saying that she wasn't feeling good, and Brandon woke up this morning with green boogers! Lovely.

So far today Brooke has been okay, so I am not sure if it was just dreams, but it usually means that she is getting sick. Last time she woke up in the middle of the night, the next day both of her ear drums ruptured. That can't happen this time because of the tubes, but it doesn't mean that her ears won't drain nasty infected fluid (pretty much the point of the tubes). I have to give a big shout out to infants Tylenol, without it, Brandon was have been strapped to me in the Ergo all day long. He absolutely refused to be put down, and was even considerably fussy in the Ergo, which he never is. With that said, i bet in about 7-10 days we will be at the peds. office for ear infection number two. That is always how it happened with Brooke. Every cold.

Besides the kids being a little out of sorts, we put a bookshelf in Brooke room. Up until today she just had piles all over the place of her books. It makes it look much nicer and it is something that she is excited about for now. Enjoy some pics of Brooke in the leaves earlier today. Excuse the hair, and the scratch on her face (I have since cut her nails)

Not Much Going On

So I haven't had much to write about the kids recently, but I guess that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Everyone is pretty healthy (lets hope it stay that way because my SIL has H1N1 and we were exposed) so we are crossing our fingers for the next few days that we dont get sick. No new teeth for Brandon to report, no other major milestones to report either....still no crawling.

I am not too worried because their doctor isn't worried, but I really feel like he is falling a little behind as far as motor skills go. He crawls backwards, but really doesn't like having his knees under him to push himself forward. He will sit up and lean over like he is about to crawl, then he just starts to yell. Maybe he will go right from sitting to walking? I don't know. He can stand up holding on to toys pretty well when I stand him at them, but he won't pull himself up on his own. I am hopeful that I will be posting soon that he his crawling...

We have started signing with Brandon the past few weeks the way we did with Brooke. We are really only working on "more" and "all done" at this point.

Brandon is also babbling a lot this month....it really sounds like he is trying to have a conversation....nothing that we can understand at this point. He usually starts to laugh when I try to get him to say "Mama" or "Dada"

It is cute in the car now because Brooke can get Brandon to laugh at her. It is the cutest thing driving along and hearing them laugh together, and seeing them make each other laugh.

We have been checking out pre-schools (for next fall) for Brooke the past few weeks. It is so hard....I don't feel like any school will be good enough for her...We are checking out a Montessori school after thanksgiving, hopefully I will like the teachers there. Some of the teachers I have seen have been less than impressive. I will keep you posted about this.

That is pretty much it for now...

XMAS Reject Pics

For fun, here are some pics that won't be making the Christmas card this year....

Pictures

For those of you who have more than one kid (or pet), you know it is virtually impossible to get a good picture with both of them looking at the camera....fat chance of getting them both to smile. We are attempting the X-mas cards soon, but here are some I got of the kids together this morning. I realized last night that I have very few of the two of them together. I need to get working on that! Enjoy!