*GAG*

If you have a weak stomach, or have just eaten, or are simply not in the mood to be grossed out, there is a little red button on the top right of your screen with a white X in it. Click it.

Tonight, Shannon and I decided to steal a couple of minutes sitting together on the couch. The boys were happily playing in Ryger's bedroom (a normal activity in this house) so we were good....we thought.

After about 5 minutes of silence, I decided to go check on them. (Every mom knows that silence=not good unless the kids are asleep.)

In this case, things were definitely not good.
Ryger, being the potty trained boy that he is, pooped in the potty.
Braylen, being the curious, I'm-going-to-get-into-everything-that's-less-than-2-feet-from-the-floor 8 month old boy that he is, decided to play in it.

*gag*

I called for Shannon, handed Braylen to him with strict instructions to not let him put his hands in his mouth. (Yes, I figured it was already too late for this precaution and judging by the smears on his cheek....ew. Moving on.) His hands were clutching little brown chunks and his long sleeved tee shirt was soaked up to his elbows.

*gag*

I started cleaning up the floor, and emptying the potty while Shannon stripped Braylen down to his diaper. Then, I gave the little stinker (no pun intended...okay, it totally was intended...) a bath, in which he sat and splashed and chewed on plastic bath toys...and peppered me with smiles and giggles.

Rotten child.

It's hard to be mad at someone who's so cute.

So, soon he was warm and cozy in his pj's and smelling like Johnson's new Shea Butter baby wash. (That stuff is heavenly, I tell you!) I gave him extra cuddles tonight when putting him to bed.

Soooo...my lesson is learned. From now on, the babygate will be put up in the doorway between Ryger's bedroom and the bathroom.

Happy New Year!

2011!!!

There's just something about the first day of a new year.
It makes things seem so fresh and new and clean and...well, promising.
Everyone talks about making resolutions and wanting to change this
or stop doing that or start doing this....and this is all well and good.
At least until January 7th, when all these ideas go down the drain
and 98% of people go back to doing what they were doing on December 31st.

So, instead of a New Years resolution, I'm going to make goals for myself.

First, I want to lose at least 15 pounds.
I was doing well at weight-loss until the holidays hit,
so I'm pretty sure that once I get back on track things will go well in that department.
My goal is to lose the 15 lbs by the end of March.
That's 12 weeks to lose 15 lbs, totally doable.

Secondly, I want to commit myself to spending at least 30 minutes a day
in prayer and/or reading the Bible.
I have fallen away from the closeness I used to have with God
and I am desperately wanting that back.

Thirdly, and this kinda goes along with the weight loss,
but I am going to strive to fix healthier meals and
keep away from a lot of processed/fast foods.
I feel that my family deserves the best, and so I want to give them the best.
I already puree Braylen's baby food myself instead of buying the jarred baby food,
so there's a start. This goal will be healthier for the whole family,
as well as help me manage our budget since I'll be making meal plans
and won't have to buy a bunch of random stuff at the grocery,
only to find that I STILL have nothing in the house to fix for dinner!

So, here's to hoping that 2011 is a great year!

Time flies....

Okay, so despite my well-intentioned promise to keep up with this thing,
I've obviously not been doing a very good job at it. :o)

Ugh.

So, in order to keep the natives happy (And by natives, I do mean you, Tami!!! LOL),
I'm going to give this thing yet another attempt.

I'll start tomorrow. ha!

No, really, Braylen had his shots yesterday and some kind of mixture of shots plus teething resulted in him having a 102-103 degree temperature all night. No amount of tylenol would bring it down. My poor baby. He was up and down all night long, about every hour or so. And if he was awake, so was I. (Of course.) Cheers to my darling husband, who willingly took over baby duty this morning so I could get a few hours of uninterrupted sleep. But I'm still dragging tail,
so I'm headed to beddy bye.

But I can't go without a cute picture. So here you go.


Luvs ~n~ Huggies.
(and yes, for those of you who are looking a the screen with a confused
look and your head cocked to the side...
Luvs and Huggies are both brands of diapers.)

:o)

Tendinitis

About 2 weeks-ish before I had Braylen, I woke up in the middle of the night and felt my thumb on my left hand pop. But it wasn't really my thumb...I felt it down in my wrist. Ever since then, I've had wrist pain. One day, it gave out on me while I was picking Braylen up out of his crib and I dropped him! It was only a few inches and he landed on his mattress, but that was the final straw for me. I bit the bullet and went to the doctor.

An x-ray and about an hour later I had a diagnosis.

Tendinitis.

I was given a cream to rub on it. (Which wasn't covered by my insurance. And considering I'm not made of money, I could find something better to spend $150 on!)

I was also given a prescription for pills to take. BUT since I was nursing, I couldn't take those either.

So I pretty much toughed it out and the pain started slowly going away. The past few days, though, it's been hurting more than usual. I (playfully) smacked Shannon on the arm yesterday (he deserved it, I promise!) and just about cried because it hurt so bad. Today, I have a bruise on my wrist, right where the pain is.

Tendinitis doesn't leave bruises.

*sigh*

Happy Fall!

Ah...that was the best picture I could get of the two of them. :o)

My little Monkey and Banana! <3
They won the "cutest costume" prize at our church's
Fall Harvest Fest this past weekend.
I was pretty excited.

Guess what?
It's FALL!!!!!
I'm pretty excited about that, too.

We've been doing all sorts of fall activities around here.
I'm teaching Ryger about the change of seasons
so he will tell you that when the leaves change colors
and fall down...
it's Fall!


He's adorable and I love him. :o)


We've also roasted pumpkin seeds.
Which Ryger absolutely loved.
(Making AND eating them.)


And, of course, Braylen is keeping me on my toes.
He's growing so fast!
I can't keep up.


How cute is he? :o)

Fall Down Go Boom?

Ryger fell out of his bed last night for the first time since we converted it from a crib to a toddler bed. Shannon, Steven, and I were sitting in the living room and heard a thump. We thought it was Cotton, who was chilling out on the front porch, until we heard a little cry coming from Ryger's room. Poor kid had somehow managed to slide out of the middle of the guard rails. He was fine, of course, and back asleep within 10 minutes. (Thanks to Daddy's cuddles and belly rubs.)

It kinda makes me nervous to know that we had just bought him a raised twin bed for his birthday. You know, the kind with a ladder with the play area under it? Yeahhhh...

Let's hope he gets all the falling out of his system before his birthday...

5 months old already???

Braylen Cade is 5 months old!

My sweet baby boy is growing so fast, I can't keep up with him. He amazes me every day learning something new. I'm so in love with this kid!

A few stats on my big boy...

***He is still nursing like CRAZY, every 3 hours during the day.

***After turning his nose up (and making the most pitiful faces imaginable) when trying rice and oatmeal cereal, he has decided that avocado is his best friend. He eats about 1/4 of the avocado every morning.

***He started taking Zantac for his spitting up issues and has gone from spitting up tablespoons at a time to barely spitting a little trickle. (He'll still get you good from time to time though, so always be armed with a burp rag! )

*** He sleeps from about 9-9:30 pm until around 3-4 am, eats, then goes back down until about 7-8. I can usually get him to sleep again until 10-ish.

*** My little chunky-butt wears comfortably 3-6 month clothes, but has been known to rock out in 6-9 months if he so chooses. (Or if it's the first outfit I grab out of the drawer...either way...)

*** He can roll both ways, but is better at rolling from his back to his tummy....or he just likes being on his tummy, maybe? He sits up for probably a minute or so at a time before falling over.

***He LOVES his little activity chair (see above picture). Considering the chair will convert to a booster seat for the table, I think it's well worth it.

*** He is a very happy baby and loves to blow raspberries....usually while eating. :-p


P.S. I actually started this post yesterday, on his actual birthday, but it never got posted. So better a day late than never at all, I guess! :o)