Crimped Hair and more funny convo's

Brynn's teacher sometimes braids the girls' hair if they are waiting for others to wake up from their nap. We left her braids in for two days and it turned out to be really crimpy of course and very 80's. haha


Brynn: Mommy, can we play the Hungry Hippos game?

Me: No, not right now, honey, we are getting ready to go. We can play it later tonight.

Brynn: But the hippos are hungry!!!


Brynn, dressed in her Barbie dress....: (holding up her blue Cinderella dress and talking in a higher and higher voice standing in front of him and looking at him): Who wants to wear this blue dress??? It's really pretty....

Baylen: No response.

Brynn to Daddy: I'm wearing a beautiful dress! :)

Daddy: It is beautiful.

Happy V-Day Part II

I did not have time to get photos sent out in the mail for VDay but thought I'd try and create what I had originally planned to do and just never got around to it until it was too late. I must say that what I envisioned the photos to turn out like, did not become a reality. However, despite some very difficult subjects who were also very crabby and uncooperative, you probably would not believe me based on the evidence below. Subject B1, AKA Monkey 1, was not thrilled to hold the X, she wanted the O. Subject B2, AKA Monkey 2 tried eating the O, hence the wetness and bleeding black marker you'll see at the bottom on some of the pics, which also caused him to have black lips. B2 also refused to sit still for nearly all the photos so it's amazing any of them turned out in the end. I'd say it was more of an exercise workout to get them to actually sit in the chair together vs. an actual opportunity to capture a few "natural" shots. haha Anyway, I had some fun with most of the photos, messing around with some in Photoshop and others in iPhoto.

We hope you had a day full of Hugs and Kisses! :)

XOXOXOXO

New Robe

Brynn got a new robe. At first she wasn't too sure about it. But now she really enjoys wearing it after her baths. :)

Poor little Miss B

Is feeling under the weather. :( She's got a fever and says she doesn't feel good and her tummy hurts. Tami, you were right: it is so much easier when they can communicate what's wrong or why they don't feel good. :( Poor girlie.

My sweet girl

is awesome. She's been recognzing colors like a rockstar! She knows all of these colors and can pick them out from a row of items and identify what color it is.

Here are all the colors she knows:

-red
-yellow
-orange
-green
-purple
-pink
-blue

:) It's so cute now that she recognizes pink b/c she looks at something she's wearing and say (without any of us telling her or mentioning anything)..."Look mommy, my shirt is pink!" or, "Mommy, your cheeks are pink!" (after I put on blush) so funny!

Also, today she was informing me about the color of her hair.
Brynn: "Mommy, my hair is brown?"
Me: "Yes it's brown." T
Brynn: "Noooo it's blonde, not brown!"
Me: "Whatever you want, dear."

Also, we have much to celebrate. For the past 2 years, Brynn has been deathly afraid of anyone or anything resembling a mascot. She can't stand the sight of Santa. She won't usually go near any of this kind of stuff and often hides her head or starts crying/throwing a fit. So this story is personal success for her: she was finally able to get close enough to Red, the Robin when we were eating at Red Robin on Friday night. Red is a big, red bird (well, a robin) that is the Red Robin restaurant's mascot. It was so cute. She talked to him (said a few words) and then gave him a high five. He gave her a balloon. She was so excited. She keeps talking about him and now thinks that Cy (when she sees him on TV or on one of my ISU shirts) is Red. So she'll say, "Mom, that's wed wrobin." And I'll say..."no, honey, that's Cy the Cyclone" "Ohhh Cy the Cy-kah-lone? Not wred?" :)

Thank you Uncle Paul...say cheese!

for the great camera!!! Brynn LOVES IT!

We've got a Biter...

Today Brynn got caught biting another child at daycare. She was caught biting an older girl on the arm. I don't know the whole story, but I intend to find out more tomorrow. When I asked her who she bit, she told me she bit Hudson b/c he took a toy from her. But when the director of the daycare was talking to her, she mentioned another girl who B. had bitten named McKenna. Now I am trying to figure out why her and McKenna would be near each other, since M. is 2 years older than her. That is why I am going to investigate more tomorrow.

Dj and I both did some role-playing tonight to try and teach her other methods besides biting to tell someone to stop doing something she doesn't like. This summer, she bit Parker 3-4 times for various reasons--he took her toys a couple of times and the other two times, he was pulling on her arm or doing something to her she didn't like. We kept giving her timeouts and also telling her that teeth were not for biting. Mom brought home a book from work with that title and we read it several times. She seemed to get it and did stop the biting. She has been doing really well at home when Baylen grabs something of hers..she just says "Nooo Baylen, that's mine. Stop, Baylen!" Until tonight when we got home and he was trying to grab a puzzle piece from her, he grabbed it and she started screeching and then aimed her little teeth and mouth for his hand and bit him. I saw her do it and she was put in a time out immediately. We had another talk about why we do NOT bite, and that it hurts kids--it gives them owies. Later, Baylen tried to take away her sippy cup and she was freaking out crying, but wasn't moving...just saying..'nooo stop!" But, of course, he continued to grab it from her. Finally, we showed her ways to use her words instead of her teeth to tell someone to knock it off. She also repeated everything we said. Hopefully it will work and we won't have any more biting.

The girl, Meagan, who fills in for B's teacher at the end of the day told me that the kids have been taking a lot of toys away from Brynna lately...which is probably one reason why she is retaliating--it's the only way she can keep her stuff. It's tough being the smallest kid in class! Regardless, I am still going to find out more info. tomorrow about what actually happened.

Check-Up Recap

This weekend is full of recaps. Brynna and Baylen had their 2-year and 6 month appointments yesterday morning. Brynna weighs 23 pounds, 12 ounces. She is 32 1/4 inches tall. Her weight and height place her in the 10th percentile. Baylen is 21 pounds, 12 ounces and 27 1/4 inches tall. He is in the 90th percentile for both weight and height. I can't believe Bay has only 2 lbs before he catches up with Brynn. It will be interesting to see when he'll catch up and surpass her! I am sure he'll be 30 by a year, if not more.

Our Ped. was impressed that Baylen was crawling already.

Baylen has moved into size 12-18 months and Brynn is in sizes 12-18, 18-24 in pants and 18-24/24 months and 2T in tops. A couple of nights ago, Baylen's pj's were either too small or all in the wash, so we put on a pair of Brynn's on him (they are unisex in colors and content...no worries) and they totally fit him. He also wears bigger sized diapers than her, now wearing a size 4. Brynn is still in a size 3. We had to move him to the next size b/c his thighs were too chunky for the 3's and they were cutting off his circulation! :)

Besides growing like a weed, Baylen is also quickly outgrowing his bucket/baby carseat. Next weekend we're going to buy a bigger carseat. We'll move Brynna to the bigger one we're buying next weekend and then Baylen will move into the big boy, smaller Britax seat. I think he'll enjoy the move. He seems pretty uncomfortable in the bucket.

School Starts Tomorrow

School is here! We start tomorrow morning. I am never "ready" for the kids to come but once they start arriving, and as the days start to fly by, it starts to click about week 2. My room is ready, all of my copies are made, and the posters that need to be up are on the walls. I should be ready. But I'm not. I think it's because now that I have been in meetings for the past week and a half, and then coming home and being with the kids, I realize how much I miss being with them and all of our days we spent together. Yes, some of those summer days were crazy, and yes, sometimes I wished I was working right then and there, but now that work is here, I don't want to go. It's not that I don't love my job...I do. It's not that I don't love the kids...I do. It's just getting back in the groove that's always the most difficult.

B & B are doing well and enjoying being at "school" with their friends. I think Baylen is definitely one of the biggest babies in the baby room and he's starting to like his baby food again the past couple of days. He has agreed to eat applesauce and sweet potatoes. Hopefully he has decided to end his baby food eating strike.

Brynn is getting excited for her birthday and talks about it quite often. Sept. 14 will be here before we know it. She is almost done with the pacifier...we're down to bed and that's it, which is a long way from where we were in March.

Attention, Brynna...Brynna? Brynna, can you hear me?

LOTS of posts tonight...I know...making up for the weekend and we started meetings today for back to school, so who knows when I'll have time to get on here this week!


Our daughter is addicted to the television. At this point, we were limiting her to only a couple hours of TV during the day in the summer because I didn't want her to think that is all life is about when she's not even 2 years old yet. However, at this point, I know she's addicted. She loves Sesame Street. She loves Barney. She loves Mother Goose. She loves Elmo's World. She loves Baby Einstein. When I try to get her attention when she's watching one of these programs, she totally ignores me and falls into this deep stare just totally involved with the TV. If I stand in front of the TV and try and talk to her, she doesn't make eye contact with me and instead, looks around me like she's saying ("you're a better door than a window...") It's crazy, but true! I think she would watch TV all day if I let her. (The pic above is of her staring at the TV watching one of her favorite shows.)

Mister Porkchop and Princess Peanut

Lots of random things to write about today:


Mister Baylen Boo is quite the star at our house right now, because he is doing so well sleeping on his back. Last night, he didn't want to sleep in his carseat at all. REPEAT: he wanted nothing to do with his carseat. :O) He went down about 10 and up at 3:30. He didn't really want to eat and really I think just woke up b/c he had a full diaper. An hour of messing around later, he finally went back down to sleep on his back and was still sleeping when I went in this morning at 8 to check on him. I had to wake him up at 9!

One thing that is very scary though about this sleeping in the pack-n-play..when I went to check on him at 8, he was sleeping on his tummy. That little smartie rolled over and was sleeping soundly. It SCARES me to death that he has figured out how to roll over and sleep that way, just because SIDS scares the hell out of me. I know I am going to have to go check on him several times in the night now just to make sure he's okay...he can lift his head up really well and he's really strong, but still, I don't like it!!!

Brynn loves her new teacher and her new teacher LOVES her. She is one of two girls in the class, and the rest are BOYS. Those boys are sure wild little things! Anyway, Miss Kathy loves Bee because she is so sweet, polite--says please and thank you, and because she listens. (I'm glad she listens to someone!) Brynn has finally mastered the art of jumping off the ground and there's actually air underneath her jump. It's just hilarious to watch. I did manage to record it, so I'll try to get it up later tonight if I have time.

Bee's birthday is fast approaching...Sept. 14 she'll be two years old already. It doesn't seem possible that in about three short weeks, we'll be celebrating. Dj and I have bought her a lot of little gifts this year, although part of me wishes we would have looked into getting like a slide or a sandbox or something like that...a bigger toy. But, I think she'll like the things we picked out for her. Dj really wanted to get her a Baby Alive baby doll, so after much thought, we chose the wets 'n' wiggles doll b/c the baby wets her diaper and it can be changed. We also bought her another set of Melissa and Doug cutting food, a couple of books, a cute little sweater dress with polka dots from Gymboree, and a Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See? puzzle.

I am thinking we'll do a Sesame Street theme and I liked Kati B's Elmo cupcakes she made for Tyler last year, so I think I'll make those for her daycare friends and the party at school. I just hope this year she isn't sick as a dog like she was last year. :(

First Day of School

I have a lot of posts here today--3 already and who knows? I might get to more later. There are so many I need to catch up on from our Iowa Trip. I finally loaded all the videos and such and so now I will work on them little by little in iMovie and try to post a few.

Anyway, both kids had their first day of school today. (Well, Daycare, but we always refer to it as school). Brynna remembered instantly everyone and started saying, "Look, Nicky!" "Look, Jacob!" "Look, Colby!" and also saw quite a few of her favorite teachers from last year and the year before. We took her into her new classroom and immediately, the boys started circling around her and pulling at her pigtails and just kind of getting in her face a little bit. I think they were excited to have her back. She was trying to ignore them pulling at her, and had to push a couple of them away and out of her "space." Anyway, as soon as I left out the classroom door, she saw me and ran to the door and started sobbing calling "Mommy!!!!!" It was so heart wrenching. Of course, all I wanted to do was go running back in there and pick her up and tell her it was okay, but I know from experience that was not the right thing to do, b/c it would make it worse. Plus, I was going to be back to pick her up in 2 hours. Also, Brynna has to wear a bike helmet now when they go outside to play b/c they are playing on more cemented areas. While it scares me that she'll fall or get pushed down and get all scraped up, it does make me feel better they wear helmets for more protection. We bought a cute one at Target for her and she actually likes wearing it. She wanted to wear it to daycare this morning in the car!

Baylen's drop off next door went smoothly. He had a great time playing with all of the other babies and his teachers told me he did a great job and was a good baby. Let's hope he continues to be a good baby for them! He's such a sweetie when he's in a good mood. I am sure he had a lot to look at and there were babies crawling all over the place! :) It makes me happy to know he's one of the younger ones so he'll get a little more contact time b/c he's not so mobile yet. I was sad to leave him, but I know his teachers really well, and I know he'll be fine with both of them. It wasn't as hard as I thought, but then again, it was only for 2 hours...I was back in a short time to pick them up.

(Speaking of good baby, Mister had a good night of sleep--the BEST in a long time, I might add. He slept from 10-4:20 am and then from 5-8:40 a.m.) GOOD BOY! We fed him a 6 oz. bottle of formula (i have to save the bm for daycare) and then I nursed him about an hour later after his bath and he was out. NICEEEEEEEEE. Let's hope it continues. He only made it sleeping on his back in the PnP for about 1.5 hours, but did sleep in his carseat for rest of night. We'll get there on the sleeping on his back thing...step by step. He also loved his new bottles w/ a different nipple...adjusted VERY easily.)

Sat. Night Fun

We had a busy weekend this past couple of days. Sat. night (Dj's bday) we went over to eat dinner with some very good friends of ours. All of us have kids around the same ages, so it's always fun to see them interact and play together. Cade and Brynna couldn't wait to get into the swimming pool and Brynn jumped in with her clothes on! So, after that, C and B decided to shed their garmets and jump in nude. It was quite the funny scene seeing them slide down the slide into the pool naked. So cute! I will not post pics of them doing that on here to avoid any "reporting" of inappropriate pics, but you get my point--they were having fun!
We ate some VERY yummy food (fajitas) and drank some very yummy drinks that were mixed to perfection and had just enough alcohol to create a little tipsy feeling! LOL

Anyway, it was so fun seeing everyone and we hope to do it again soon at our house. Brynna always enjoys playing with Elsi, Sofia and Cade. She LOVEd all of S and E's neat toys both in their playroom and outside! :) Baylen enjoyed being outside all night and loved being passed around to everyone.

Fun in the Tractor with PaPa

A couple of days ago, Brynn and PARKER (thanks, Briana for catching that error!) went with Papa in the tractor to help feed the cows some hay. They had to take Elmo with them along for the ride, so he could have some fun too! The kids had a blast! Here are a few pics!

Fun with the Thetas

On Friday night, we went over to Megan's house and spent the evening having fun socializing with friends: Josh (Wookie), Amy and their new daughter, Ashley, Nikki and Klas, Amanda and Jason, and Abby and Brian. (and of course Megan, Kevin and Lydia). it was the first time for us meeting Miss Lydia and everyone's first time meeting Baylen. It was also the first time we met Miss Ashley. We had so much fun! Spending time with all of them made me miss them so much!

Now, onto the pics! I wanted to get more w/ the babies, so I hope to get some again Sunday, hopefully.

Bouncy House Mania!

Yesterday at the fair, they had a bunch of blow-up toys that the kids could have fun playing on for free. Brynna and Parker LOVED the slide and the bouncy house. Brynn threw an absolute fit when she had to leave because she wanted to bounce in that thing. all day long! I'm trying to re-post a video so hopefully it will upload here soon. Bee was having a little bit of a struggle just staying on her feet but Parker did a great job hopping around! The video is not that high quality so I apologize...if I had a faster internet connection, it would be much better.

On another note, we made it just in time yest. morning for the baby contest. Baylen was entered in the "least hair" category as well as "best smile." He had a great smile for the judges too, and I think he should have won that category also, but he did win for having the baldest head! He smoked everyone! haha

Calleigh won "chubbiest cheeks" so that was fun!

I am so tired today...but we are looking forward to video chatting w/ daddy in a few minutes!

Cousins Meet/Reunite

Parker and Brynna have reunited. They have not seen each other since Christmas time. Calleigh and Baylen are meeting for the first time. All of them are getting along pretty well. P and B have had a few "disagreements" which mostly consist of P. taking something from B. But, they are having a blast together playing and hanging out with one another. P and B are 16 months apart in age. C and Bay are also getting along with each other. They are only 3 weeks apart in age. They have been notcing each other and sucking on each other's arms, grabbing each other's hands, etc. So far we're having a lot of fun, although, I must admit that having four kids age 3 and under is definitely chaotic. Trying to take care of Baylen and Calleigh at the same time is just like having twins. Needless to say, Mary and I agree that having twins would be cah-rah-zeeee! haha