FINAL DAY...

Today is the final day for our baby girl to be 5.  Hard to believe it...but tomorrow our first miracle turns 6 years old!  Hard for this mama to say that.  Slow down baby girl, you're growing up way too fast.

LEGOS...

Gotta love Legos.  Bailey would probably play with the small ones for hours, but I'm too nervous that Brandon will put them in his mouth so I guess it's the larger Duplo Legos for us...at least for the next couple of years :0)    I'm not too worried though, Boo still plays with these things.  This particular night (last week) she and the little man played with them for a good 45 minutes.  Fun stuff and a great way to bring together two siblings that are almost 5 years apart.  Now...wonder if we'll be able to do that when they're both teenagers?  ;0)

So focused!

So wild! :0)

Note the bruises...his "walking wounds"

FRANKENSTEIN WALKING...

Our little man is officially a "walker" :0)   He's really improved over the last couple of days, but even so...I still call it the baby "Frankenstein" walk.  Super, super cute to watch :0)

The first video we took last night, right before bath time.  Brandon was pretty tired and when that happens, he usually only wants mama :0)  The second video I took earlier today.  Yes, he is in the same pants but...they were out and clean this morning so, sometimes a mama's gotta do, what a mama can do.

Enjoy these; while they are not his "first" steps...they're not too far behind those first few.  And another, just as important event....HAPPY BIRTHDAY YIAYIA!  We love you!!!

CHEER...

Bailey signed up for the basketball cheer squad through Upwards Sports; the first game was this past Saturday and she LOVED it.  She's working very hard to get the cheers down and she even got to call out the half-time cheer (which means she started the cheer).  Tom and I think she looks so stinkin' cute in her cheer uniform and we love that fact that basketball is climate controlled...no sitting in the blazing heat or extreme cold :0)  The only "oops" from this first game, was her pom-poms.  I had taken them out of the package right before the game; we were running (almost) late so we were in a rush to get her inside.  It wasn't until I saw the other girls, that I realized that you could fluff the pom-poms (the package they came in had them very compressed).  Sweet girl....her "pom-pom's" were pathetic!  But, thanks to Daddy later that afternoon, we are pom-pom ready for this Saturday's game :0)

14 MONTHS...

Wow...why does time have to go so fast?  Our little man is already 14 months old!  I've said it before, but I'll keep on saying it...Brandon is a wonderful, wonderful joy.  He is SUCH a crack up and so, so sweet.  I love it when he says hello to someone.  He waves his squishy little hand and in this high sweet baby voice you hear, "hi".  Soooo sweet.

Brandon talks to me.  It's pretty funny.  He'll yell for me if he's in a different room; actually, he'll yell for me if he's in the same room but is focused on something else so he doesn't realize that I'm right next to him :0)  He'll go "MAMA" and then baby babble, baby babble...baby babble.  Melts me every time.  As sweet as he is, he also had quite the temper and really no patience at all.  It's my daily prayer over him.  That he be considerate and slow to anger.  Unfortunately he picked up this no patience and easy to irritate trait from his daddy.  Did I say Daddy?  Well, okay... he got it from me ;-)   Bummer for the little man, I know.  From his father, he is learning football.  He knows that if daddy walks into the living room and grabs the remote, chances are a football game will show up on the big box....and with sissy, he's learned that being chased by her is just about the funniest thing ever :0)

Brandon loves to read books.  His favorite is "How Do Dinosaurs Clean Their Rooms".  He will sit in your lap and let you (or should I say make you) read this book 6 or 7 times. Loves the silly thing.  He also LOVES to tear apart the tupperwear in the kitchen.  We have two large baskets (one for lids and the other for the bottoms) that he can completely empty and spread all over the kitchen floor in 2 minutes flat.  Nice thing is, he'll play with them for the 30 or so minutes it takes me to make dinner so, those tupperwear baskets really have been a life saver :0)

Our little man wears size 12-18 month clothes, size 5 diapers and weighs 24 lbs.  He is a speed crawler and walks along walls, cupboards, appliances, pant legs like it's no one's business.  Newest trick for this past month....steps!  Yep, our little man has taken his first steps!  Two weeks ago he took 2 steps and then this past week, he took 8 of them.  He's growing so fast.  His hair is a dark blond and his eyes are still a pretty blue. His belly and cute little thighs have leaned out some, but he still has these deliciously fat little hands and a rubber band roll at his wrist.  He has 4 teeth on the top and 3 on the bottom.  He eats just about everything, but really seems to like cheese, bread, ice cream and sweet fresh fruit (i.e. nectarine).  He faced his first flu this month and while it was a yuckie one, Praise God he's doing well.

The picture below was taken a month ago.  I had put him in his highchair so I could take care of a couple of things in the kitchen. He was finishing off a couple of cheerios when I stepped into the office (one room away) to send off a quick work email.  I could hear him saying "Mmmm"  "Mmmm" in this cute little baby voice.  Started off on a high note and trailed off as if he was really enjoying his cheerios.  Two minutes later I came back into the kitchen to find that our little man was not enjoying his cheerios, but rather a cookie that he had grabbed off the kitchen counter.  Little stinker.  Can't really blame him though...the sweet tooth?  Yeah, that's another trait he got from me :0)

FAST DRIVER...

A couple of days ago, it was finally warm enough (and, more importantly, we felt good enough) to spend some time outside.  I found this little car at a garage sale when Brandon was only a few months old and we finally got the chance to try it out.  Both he and Bailey LOVED it.  Actually, I'm not sure who loved it more!  While it made me nervous to watch, Boo loved pushing him as fast as she could go and Brandon loved going fast!  I'll have to grab the video camera next time; it's pretty great to watch :0)

Such a serious driver! :0)

Brandon was less than thrilled
with sissy stopping for a picture...haha :)

LOVIN' SOME...

Disney parade videos :0)

Brandon can be a mama's boy (no complaints from this mama!) but in a pinch, we can usually pull him away from me...with the promise of Daddy putting a Disney parade video on his computer.

Love my little Disney boy! :0)

MOMMY, HAVE YOU EVER LOST YOUR MIND?

Bailey asked me this question yesterday.  We were in the car, at a red light, and from the back seat I hear:

"Mommy?".
"Yes?"  I say
"Have you ever lost your mind?"

I had to laugh out loud.  What a silly girl.  I answered her:

"No, but almost.  Have you ever lost your mind Boo?"

She laughed hard and said "no, of course not" :)    After the past few weeks of sick kiddos, a sick husband, myself being sick (yep, lots of sickness) and still having to work and maintain a home.... I may not have lost it, but I've come pretty darn close.

M.I.A...

Sorry... we've been having some computer issues and Boo has been really sick, so I haven't had a chance to chime in on life lately.  We're hanging in there and excited to see what 2013 brings. Here are some random videos from the last couple of months.  Just silly stuff to give our family some "face time".  Our little man is "the star" because big sister is either at school, or too busy to stop and be filmed :o)