Do You Etsy?!

Have you ever visited etsy.com? It is one of the coolest sites I have ever become addicted to. When I was first told about this site about 2 years ago by my friend and colleague, Ann, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. As soon as I entered the site, like many who are newbies, I felt like I had died and gone to Heaven. Why? because it's like your own personal craft show 24/7. I have had to hold myself back from buying so many cute things on this site. This is where I found the ONE onesie in camouflage for Baylen and the one in pink/brown polka dots for Miss Calleigh. What's great is that you don't bid, you buy right away off the site and then the person who makes the item will send it to you in a matter of days. I have had nothing but pleasant experiences with every item I have purchased from this site. I mean where else can you find a lady who decorates All-Star baby/toddler sized shoes with skulls on the toes? Pure awesomeness.

Here are just 3 of the thousands of cool items you can buy from etsy.com:

Happy Easter one year ago

This was Miss Bee one year ago. Can you believe she used to fit in an Easter basket when she was nearly 1 1/2 years old? yep, that would be my little Princess Peanut. She is tiny for life. :)

Btw: you should have see them try and stuff the "big" boys in that basket...hilarious! (that'd be like them trying to shove Baylen in one of those. He'd be bigger than the basket! haha)

Hippity Hoppity Easter's on its way...

hehe this is just a preview of what's to come...I love the look on Baylen's face in this pic. I had been looking everywhere for our set of matching ears we bought last year, but couldn't find them. And then, when I went to Target this last weekend, the ears in the dollar section were already all sold out! I like this pic but I really wanted matching ears...after buying another 2 sets at Party City, this weekend while cleaning, Dj finally found our matching set of bunny ears (in the cupboard under the sink in our guest bathroom w/ the shamrock headband!!!) so we took another round of pics last night...they turned out cute! :)

Funny Convo #222

SCENE: Daddy and Brynn laying on our bed (Baylen is cudding w/ dad) watching basketball while I'm curling my hair after a shower.

Brynn: Daddy, I'm drama.

Dj: Oh really, who told you that, your mom?

Brynn: Yeah. I'm drama

Dj: So are you really?

Brynn: Yes.

Mister, Mister

isn't normally a fan of wearing a hat, but this one he kept on. :)

Papa Kevin

I am refusing to sleep in my crib for a nap since you left. I wonder why...

Reading together

Baylen and Brynna enjoy reading books together. Baylen is in that stage where he isn't too interested in me reading to him, but he'll sit and look at books for quite some time after a bath in the evenings. Then there's Brynn who would sit for hours letting me read to her. She loves books and always has. Maybe this is one of the many differences I'm seeing in boys and girls?? hmmm

Bathing at our house

happens in twos. We bathe both of the kids at the same time. It's faster. They enjoy taking a bath together. It's our routine. The tricky thing we're running into now is that since Bay's surgery, we were instructed to try NOT to get water in his ears, even during a bath. Thank God he doesn't have an afro-head full of hair b/c then we'd be in trouble. It's hard enough already to try and wash his head without getting any water near his ears. Our best solution so far is that Dj cups his hands tightly over Bay's ears and I dump the water over his head. Notice in one pic Mister is making sure his "parts" are still there. I told you he has a thing for that lately.

A couple of "pro" pics from Baylen's bday

Here are just 3 of the 100+ pics I took the night of Baylen's first birthday with Dj's "FANCY" Nikon camera. I love his big camera b/c the pictures are just beautiful and really capture a person's expression and a moment. Anyway, I like to get a pic of my children every year on their birthday in their party hat. As you can see in one of these pics, Brynn was SO excited to help celebrate Baylen's birthday. She was so giggly and jumping around all day long and singing "Happy Birthday dear Baylen!!!" many, many times.

Who's Yo' Mac Daddy?!

I wish I could have captured him running around, carrying this box and smiling, but I was too late. Thus, Mister is dreaming of following in his father's footsteps working for Apple. :)

By the way, if you have never used a Mac Mini, you're missing out. Those little guys ROCK. Actually, if you don't use a Mac at all, you are totally missing out. Shamelss plug for Apple? of course. But at least I'm honest. Every Apple computer I've ever owned has been durable, dependable and downright fabulous. I've never had one die on me. Mac's don't get viruses. Mac's have awesome photo libraries and editing tools, as well as movie editing tools that are super easy to use. Mac's rock my world.

Therefore, Mac's and Apple will rock Baylen's world too. And his wardrobe.



Baylen is sad that you are still using a PC.

Post-surgery update

Baylen's surgery went well. He's been a little sleepy today, but overall, it was a smooth procedure. He was very scared when I took him into surgery and they put the gas mask on his little face. Luckily, they let me hold him until he had inhaled enough of the gas that they could lay him down and he wouldn't struggle or start crying. Talk about a freaky moment. Then I kissed him and as I was leaving, I became emotional...after all, this is my little mister we're talking about here. As I exited, we were told to go back to the waiting room and they would call us back when he was close to waking up. Bay was in there all of 10-15 minutes and then we were called back to recovery and as soon as we arrived, he started waking up. He was definitely confused and a little disoriented when waking up, but he recognized us quickly and clung on tight once I was able to pick him up. He was SO hungry by the time the surgery was finished so he drank 8 oz of formula quite quickly. Dr. S. mentioned that he had quite a bit of fluid in his left ear, so we're thinking he had another ear infection...glad we got the tubes when we did. We have to put ear drops in his ears for the next few days and he had tiny pieces of cotton in them when we woke from surgery. I'm hoping he'll sleep well tonight.



Baylen was TOTALLY laughing at me when I put on the "scrub" outfit. He found it quite hilarious and was so curious, wondering why mommy was wearing such a weird get-up.

Funny Convo #198

Brynn: I go pee pee at home

Me: Yes, and you go poo poo at home on the toilet too.

Brynn: Yeah. It was huuuuge!

Me: What was huge?

Brynn: My poop!

Me: laughing hysterically. Oh yeah? It was big, huh?

Brynn: yeah. It's big like a dinosaur!

:) (they are learning about dinosaurs at school. otherwise, I have no idea how she decided her poop was the size of a gigantic, extinct reptile.)

Surgery tomorrow

I don't think I've mentioned this at all, but Baylen is having surgery tomorrow morning. He's getting tubes put in his ears. We're hoping it all goes well and that this will help our little Mister and solve this awful mess of ear infections we've had to deal with for the past 7 months. The actual procedure will only take about 10 minutes but he'll have to be put under. We are hoping and praying that all goes well tomorrow morning. I'll keep y'all posted.

I miss you Uncle Daniel

♥ , Baylen

Funny Stuff

So Baylen has been obsessed with his boy privates lately. Seriously, every time we take off his diaper, his hand is down there trying to figure out what all that stuff is. It is sooooo hilarious to watch and tonight I heard Dj tell him, "Baylen, dude, your body is not a playground!" The other night, he was playing with a book while I was changing him and he kept trying to touch the book to his privates. I told him no one wants to read that book after it has touched his junk. He just giggled at me and smile his big, goofy smile. :) Ahh the joys of having children. :)

Our weekend and week so far in a nutshell

1. My parents, my brother, Daniel and Dj's dad arrived safely here and then left Monday a.m. and arrived safely in IA.

2. Our new floor was installed: mohagany laminate in our kitchen and dining room. (no more carpet in dining room) It's beautiful.

3. We celebrated Baylen's first birthday Sat. night. It was so much fun and he had a great day. Highlights included: a cool camo cake, lots of cool ISU gear, a FUN collection of plaid shorts, a basketball hoop and a sandbox.

4. I went shopping with my mom this weekend. We shopped until we dropped. Literally.

5. Baylen is teething but surprisingly sleeping well. We put his bumper up in his crib. Dj found a new one on super sale from PBK and it's so plush and nice. He loves it. I love it.

6. Brynn is rockin' the potty-training. She's been staying dry ALL day and napping in her big girl undies for over a week now at daycare. Awesome.

7. Dad and Dj visited the casino Sat. night for some gamblin' action.

8. The yearbook is due March 24. I am stressed to the max but we'll get it done. The kids are really stepping up to help and doing everything I ask of them. Great Journalism class this year.

9. Brynna's time outs have become minimal lately. She's really been a good girl.

10. This weekend was a ton of fun but also very exhausting. I am dragging this week. Every morning I wake up and feel like I have not slept. I need to go to bed earlier. But I never do.

11. Cammy (one of our cats) has been hacking up a storm. Seriously this cat gets hairballs or sneezes constantly.

12. We are out of beer. This is a problem.

13. Baylen has been doing well without bottles during the day. He had one today at daycare but yesterday and rest of week, NONE all day (with exception of morning and evening bottles). We'll be working on transitioning away from morning bottle next and finally that night bottle before bed. I think that bottle is going to be the hardest to get rid of.

14. Baylen has also "officially" moved into the Waddlers next door at daycare. He's loving being with the movers but is exhausted by the time he gets home. He's doing well with one nap after lunch and usually naps about 3 hours during that time.

15. I still need to fill out my brackets for NCAA tourneys. I am SO going to win this year. It's my turn. After 3 years of losing, I need to get back on top. :)

16. I am hoping the UW Huskies go FARRRR in the tourney. The team is SO GOOD this year.

17. The ISU women got screwed on where they are playing their games this year in first couple of rounds...not cool.

18. Brynn did really well with understanding it was Baylen's birthday party and not hers. Despite that, she still received a couple of little gifts so she didn't feel left out.

19. I have meetings rest of the week and on Friday, I'm presenting with one of my favorite colleagues in front of part of our staff and we're presenting on student accountable talk. Looking forward to it.

Happy St. FITZPatrick's Day!

May the luck o' the Irish be with you today and always. ♥

Preview

of a great bday party! more pics to come later!

New Floor

This past weekend, Dj, his dad, my dad and my brother worked hard and tore out the carpet in our dining room and put laminate flooring in our kitchen and dining areas. It looks lovely and we are sooooo excited to have such a nice change to our home. It makes our dining and kitchen areas feel so much bigger now. Thank you to all of you who helped with this big project and sacrificing your bodies to do it. :)

Happy Birthday, little Mister!

Happy First Birthday, Baylen. :) I can't believe a year has passed. Look how tiny you were and now you are 24 pounds of goodness: this little person walking around and being your goofy little self. We've watched you overcome some adversity that many babies never have to deal with and you've been such a trooper through it all. You are one tough cookie who is strong-willed and full of endless energy. You're all boy and such a sweet little cuddle man. :) You fly in like a bull in a china shop and let the world know you have entered the room. You have been such a wonderful addition to our family and you make me smile and laugh every day. Your daddy and I love you buddy. Oh, And you are my little Mister. ♥

Convo #186.5

Me: Brynn, you're so drama!

Brynn: No you're drama.

***********************************

Me: Brynn, yay you went potty! I'm so proud of you! Good job!

Brynn: (chanting and dancing: Think of the movie Bring It On) Oh yeah; went potty! oh yeah, oh yeah!

Funny Convo #185

ME: Brynna, did you go potty in the potty today?

Brynn: yeah I'm a big girl!

ME: That's so awesome! I'm so proud of you!

ME: Did you go poo poo in the potty today?

Brynn: No I went poo poo in my big girl underwear, Mommy.

ME: Oh no! Where are you going to go poo poo next time? In the toilet?

Brynn: Noooo, I go poopie in my underwear and plastic pants!

Funny Convo #178

Brynna: "Mommy, I wanna be xcused please."

Me: "Are you finished?"

Brynna: "Yes."

Me: "Do you need to go potty?"

Brynna: "No I need to get down."

Practicing Dental Hygiene

Mickey Pancakes

Dj made Mickey Mouse pancakes for Brynna last weekend and she loved it! She normally doesn't eat pancakes all that well, but when they were in the shape of Mickey's head, she ate every bite. :)