Aww poop!

Yesterday I decided to feed Braden lunch before Brenna and I. So a warmed his sweet potatoes and started. He has become a bit picky lately with his cuisine. So he makes the nasty face, then blows raspberries, so the sweet potatoes become an aerosol and make a fine mist like spray for the surrounding area. I tried to alternate formula and potatoes but he is fussing. Then he does a big poop. Great I think, I will clean him up and he will eat his lunch. I take him to the changing table to find poo oozing between the snaps of his overalls. It has squished out of his diaper, past his onsie, and through his pants. At this time I hear my opportunistic daughter in her room saying "it's raining". I hear money hitting the floor, so I know she has taken the stopper out of the hippo bank (B calls it a butt plug, lol) and is throwing it all over the place. All I can do is yell pick up the money but as expected my request falls on deaf ears. I begin Braden's wipe-a-thon and its all down his legs and of course he grabs a foot to hold, so now its on 3/4 appendages. After I get him cleaned up, we go help Brenna pick up the money. Then back to finish lunch. Except when I get back to the kitchen, Tater has helped herself to Braden's lunch. She is sitting next to his now empty bowl licking her chops. Can I get a break I say? Brenna and I both have a cold thanks to church school this week. So, we share a bowl of soup and at least that is nice. After lunch things are beginning to feel a bit under control so I called mom and while I'm on the phone Brenna (who is mostly potty trained) poops in her panties.

No break.

This week has gone by soo fast. Matt went to Ft. Rucker to study and take his ATP test. He passed with flying(ha ha) colors. Now he just has to take the check ride portion and he will be a licensed transport pilot. Anybody want a charter?

Matt's maternal grandparents were in town visiting from Washington state the past couple of weeks. They did lots of shopping and beaching and snuggling with Braden. It was so great to spend time with them.

whats been going on

Okay, so there has been so much going on lately I hardly know where to start. I will start with Matty. He is finally finished with his EMBA. It was a long, hard road for him getting this Master's. Instructing full time and going to school, and homework left him and the family with very little time for fun. It's great he's done but I know there is always something else around the corner to take up time. He is looking forward to moving on to Japan. We should be heading out in early February if all goes according to plan.

We are still trying to sell the house. We are in quite the predicament with this place. We, like much of the country, are upside down. So we can take a huge loss up front, or try the rental market. We are now leaning toward renting. Keep us in your prayers. Worst case scenario would be the kids and I would stay behind and Matt would go to Japan for 2 years unaccompanied.

I had some much needed fun a couple weekends ago in the form of a ladies weekend in Nashville. I drove up the Huntsville, dropped the kids off with Mimi and Tutu and wished them well. (Big ups to Mimi and Tutu !!) I had the best time catching up with my Chi-O's. Good friendships are hard to find and I am so thankful for each of them. Due to geography we can't get together often, but when we do it's just like old times. This is a picture from dinner one night - Shelley, Rebecca, Jennifer, Christina, Rebecca, and me.

Brenna is smart as a whip and learning something new everyday. I am always amazed by her. She is currently deciding on what to be for Halloween. This is a big decision for her and she is not taking it lightly. She has been carrying around a Halloween costume catalog searching for the perfect one for her. Still no luck in the potty training department. My hope is that by her birthday we will be there.

Braden is doing well with his bottles and formula. Mimi got him on a schedule while I was in Nashville. I have just been maintaining it. He is taking cereal and some veggies too. I am making his food, I know-I deserve a culinary award right? The thing is, I bought all those conveniently packaged little foods for Brenna when she was a baby. I though Gerber had to make better food than me. My sister was telling me how easy it is and how much $ it saves, so I gave it a whirl. I can't believe I didn't do this before. It is easy and he seems to like it. Although, my little guy might eat poop off a spoon if I smiled and served it up. He likes to eat. On a sad little note he is sick right now. He has some sort of intestinal bug that has left him with diarrhea and a wicked diaper rash. It has been a day and a half so I hope the worst is behind him.

Thats all for now. Jessica

Braden

It's been a while since I posted an update so here goes. During Braden's medical screen to go to Japan, the Dr. suggested his eczema could be related to allergies and scheduled allergy testing. Today Braden had his appointment with the allergist and it turn out he is allergic to eggs, and milk. Poor guy had been on breast milk and I eat and drink everything. I feel kind of sad that in trying to do what is best for him, I was making him sick. We were told to go ahead and wean him and start him on a hypoallergenic formula. Matt and I drove around buying bottles and formula today. Unfortunately this special formula costs twice as much as regular formula. Even worse the first few tries have not been pretty. The Dr. said this formula doesn't taste as good as the others. I think Braden agrees. He would take a few sips, give a nasty little look to whoever was holding the bottle and spit it out. I am sure he just needs a little time to transition, frankly I need a little time too. Gone are the days of always having food available, and cleaning bottles was done with soap in the shower. He should have a pretty quick improvement to his skin and frequent spitting up, once he is exclusively formula fed. My hope is that in time he will out grow these allergies. He can be retested around 2 with a blood test to see if it has resolved. In the mean time I have a lot to learn about shopping and cooking without dairy and eggs. If anybody know of a good recipe or website please let us know.

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.