Kids say the funniest things. For those of you familiar with kids tv shows, Brenna likes Yo Gabba Gabba. Just one of the many. I think it's on Noggin. Anyway, so today we went up to the Walmart (yieppee) for a few things. When were leaving she asked the greeter/cart/ return guy for some stickers. He was very kind and gave her two. We skipped to the car and she was saying Gabba Gabba give me stickers. I started cracking up. The Walmart guy was a tall, skinny black man, and here is a picture of the host of Yo Gabba Gabba.

Another funny Brenna story. Brenna has developed a little habit of counter surfing. She sees an apple in the fruit basket and she takes a bite. She sees a measuring cup, she thinks something yummy must have been in it. This morning she grabbed a measuring cup off the counter and licked it. I'm sure she saw dark brown and thought chocolate, it was coffee grounds. She made a terrible face and said " I don't like it" She wiped her mouth off on the towel but here is her pict. She may be a little more cautious next time.

Some say "the early bird catches the worm" at my house, the early bird catches the wrath of mommy. Unfortunately for me my little Brenna has been waking up a little earlier each day until now a consistent 0515 has been achieved. There has been no change to her routine, in fact we put her to bed at 2000, and she chats to her babies and sings until almost 2100. She takes one 2 hour nap after lunch and all had been well. So this new wake up time is not only unwelcome, it is resented. I get up 2-4 times a night with Braden already so really starting the day in the 5 o'clock hour is just not okay. I am not unreasonable, 0600 is a perfectly acceptable wake up time. 0630 is better, but you get the idea. I try very hard to say the right things to her and be the best mom I can be. Lately though, fatigue has gotten the best of me and mommy is a short tempered, unhappy camper in the morning. I have upped my one cup-a-day coffee to almost 2 cups. Matt has been having early briefs so at least he is spared from my attitude. At first I tried turning on Max and Ruby for her, but it turns out that Max is a rotten little bunny and Brenna has picked up some bad behavior for him. Today I deleted all our saved recordings of Max and Ruby. Until Max can get his act together, I don't want him teaching Brenna more bad manners. Another bummer is my nap schedule. I have a 15-20 minute nap a day to keep me functioning. I can do without it but it makes such a difference in my quality of life. Too bad lately Braden and Brenna have been out of nap sinc, leaving me with no nap.
I digress. First I had to tell Matt his siren of an alarm clock, that goes off at o dark thirty, has to be turned down or moved closer to him. That thing will go on and on while Matt leisurely strolls over to turn it off. So, now my big plan is to shift her nap and bedtime to the left. Everything is 45 minutes earlier. I think it may be working. It could be a fluke but today Brenna came into our room at 0559. This is progress! Even better, Braden only woke up to eat 1 time. I usually get up 3 times and then bring him into our room at the 0400 feeding. I have been so afraid I won't get to his room before his warning cry is over,and the ear piercing scream begins, waking Bren. (He is like his father this way, he gets really mad when he is hungry and food isn't presented to him in the acceptable amount of time, immediately. So, my kids were sleeping last night and I was checking the monitor, awake, waiting for them to wake up. I guess I am not sleep training them, they have sleep trained me. Wish me luck and if there is free space on your prayer list, I am asking for sleep ;-)

Matt's 30th birthday

Yesterday was Matt's 30th birthday. He took a personal day from work and stayed home getting done some desk organization and taking care of car registrations. The 4 of us met his parents at Carrabbas for his birthday dinner. It is always a gamble going out to eat with the kids. Sometimes it works out flawlessly, other times the whining and misbehaving just gives us heartburn and leaves us wondering why we even try. Braden was the offender last night and despite being held and attended to started the shrieking just as my seafood dinner arrived. I excused myself and battled the gauntlet that is Carrabbas to get outside. They have the most narrow, patron unfriendly walkways ever. Only one person at a time and with servers stopped at every other table the whole restaurant got an earful while I was impatiently waiting my turn to get out of there. Just as expected as soon as we stepped into the breezy evening air, all screaming stopped. We walked around for a while until I thought it safe to return. Of course everybody was finishing up their meals and I was just starting on my no longer warm dinner. It was still good though. Ohh well, better luck next time I tell myself. After our meal we went back to Matt's parents house for his birthday dessert. One of his favorites, chocolate eclair, was the dessert of choice this year. For those of you who don't know, Brenna loves all things birthday. She loves the balloons, cake, gifts, you name it. We sang, Matt blew out the candle, and cake was eaten. Matt then opened the gift from his parents. It was a $100 dollar bill wrapped up in a box. He showed Brenna the bill expecting her to say it's for the ice cream truck, but when asked who was on the bill she said " that's grandpa" . We all got a good laugh out of that. I think overall Matt enjoyed his birthday. He has been reluctant about turning 30 for sometime now. I hope the transition to the "other side" isn't too painful for you Matt. Embrace your 30's , I bet it will be even more exciting and fun than your 20's.