BRANDON IS 3!!!

Today is Brandon's 3rd birthday! I can't believe how fast the time has gone by. I remember so much of his birth day and can't believe that it was 3 years ago! He was born at 9:15am, so I keep thinking of what stage I was at this time on that day. I think I was getting my epidural since I was 8cm. I started pushing just before 9am and he was born 20 minutes later!

We have a lot planned for today. We are going to the zoo this morning and then we'll have a picnic in Brackenridge Park with his buddy, Preston. Later tonight we are taking him to Chuck E Cheese for dinner, it's his birthday tradition, he's very excited about that. Tomorrow is his big birthday party at the house. I'll update more later. We need to get ready to go see some animals!

Soo busy!

We've all been so busy around here. Last weekend Jason and I flew out to Las Vegas together. I went for the weekend and came back on Monday, he stayed until Friday, attending a computer related conference. It was great to get away, just the two of us, but I really missed my kids! We stayed at The Palazzo. MY GOSH! Sooooooo nice. We had a Strip and pool view. I don't know that we'll ever stay anywhere that nice again, lol. We didn't do too much gambling together, I wasn't really feeling lucky. We did a lot of shopping and it was nice being able to do things at our own pace. On the flight back I got to sit in the same row as local "celebrity", Mike Yuchnitz, the "My Econo 39.95 Optical" guy . Wow, that guy is something else. Pretty full of himself to say the least. I'll never buy glasses from him, that's for sure. The kids seemed happy to see me but I think Brandon was a little upset with us for leaving, he didn't understand it I think. One thing is for sure, they kicked my mom's butt, lol. She is awesome, though, I know she was exhausted, not used to having them for such a long time, but there is no one I trust more (well, maybe my sister) to watch my kids. I didn't worry about them for a second, just missed them like crazy!

Wednesday we met up with some friends at Kiddie Park and had a picnic in Brackenridge Park. That was a lot of fun, Brandon did NOT want to leave. Thursday Brandon had a bit of a runny nose so he didn't go to preschool. Friday I took the kids to the zoo, again, Brandon did NOT want to leave. I got the kids in the double jogging stroller in the parking lot there and noticed it wasn't pushing as well as it normally does and then realized that the tires were almost totally flat! I let Brandon walk next to it while we were there, I knew he would be so upset if we had to leave, so now he doesn't want to ride in a stroller anymore. He really loved looking at the fish, we stayed in the hippo exhibit for quiet awhile. Jason got home that evening. Yay! Saturday we celebrated my mom's birthday! Happy Birthday, Mommy! (today is her actual birthday) And Sunday we met friends out at Sea World. It was sooo nice! Not too many people, I love it like that!

So, this will be another busy week for me, too. Brandon's 3rd birthday is Friday, Sept 26th. We are having his party on Saturday. I want to get his picture taken and I still need to get all the odds and ends for his party. He is sooo excited about his Wall-e cake, he asks about it everyday. On Thursday I'll be taking cupcakes or cookies to his preschool so he can have a little party there. I think Friday night we'll try to take him to Chuck E Cheese, that's what we've done the last two years on his birthday. I can't believe that my baby is going to be 3!!!

We've had some issues with his language these last few days, lol. The other day he called our cat, Abbie, "my stupid cat" and showed her his "stupid raisins". UH OH! We kept telling him NOT to say that, and I haven't heard him say it since, but we'll be on the lookout for that. Then, yesterday at Sea World, we were watching a whale show and one of the performers jumped in the water and he said, "holy crap!". I know I'm guilty of that one, but I think most of the blame has to go to Dad on it. Sigh, no one said anything about the *terrible threes*!!

New Pics

Brandon

Jack

Jack finally got the ball in the hole!

Jack's first boat ride. Don't Brandon and Carter look a lot alike?

Brandon and his Aunt Courtney. He LOVES her and she's so good with the kids.

Jack (9 mo) and Brooke (15 mo)

My boys drink a lot together, lol

Just like Mommy and Daddy, they LOVE to read.

Jack is 9 months old

Jack celebrated 9 months on Wednesday. We had our well check the same day. He weighed 18lbs 9oz and was 27.5 inches long. I believe he was in the 25% for both. Dr. Wilke said he looked great. Typically there are no shots at the 9 month checkup, but we went ahead and got him the flu shot. We've been so sick this summer, and with Brandon going to preschool now and the odds of him bringing home all kinds of things, we thought it was a good idea. I was shocked that Jack didn't even cry during the shot. After, the nurse was squeezing his leg to see where he poked him, so he could put the band aid on, and Jack stuck out his little bottom lip, it was so sad, but no crying. He did destroy the paper on the exam table though, as you can see in the picture above.

Brandon had a rough day at preschool yesterday, it was hard on mommy, too. In the morning he said he didn't want to go and he's been telling me a lot about other kids crying, so of all days, I'm not too surprised it was yesterday that was hard for him. They had a PTC meeting in the morning, so I stayed at school after I dropped him off, and was able to peek on him in the window. B and Luke were really upset and I think they were both feeding off of each other. They both stayed the whole day but I'm worried about how next week will go. Jason and I are leaving for a trip to Vegas in the morning and I'll be coming back on Monday and I'm not sure if Brandon will want to even go to school on Tuesday when I've been gone all weekend. We'll have to play it by ear.

Pulling Up

Yay, he finally did it all by himself. Jack pulled up for the first time today. He's done it before but with a little help. This morning he did it three times in a row. Brandon and I clapped for him. Dr. Wilke said he should be pulling up by his 9 month appointment, which is on Wednesday, so we are just barely making it. He's also taking steps while holding hands. I think Brandon was doing these things a little bit sooner. Jack is also wanting to eat real table food. I keep trying him on stage 3 foods and it just makes him mad, but he'll eat little bits off of mine or Jason's plate.

Brandon is still doing great with his potty training. He's only pooped on the potty that one time this week, though. I love that he's telling me everytime he has to pee, it's great! He's even going potty when we are out and about. And he's waking up dry each time from naps and overnight!

Brandon's First Day of Preschool

Brandon had his first day of preschool on Tuesday, his second day was today. He did really well both days and, as far as I know, he didn't even cry. We talked a lot about the fact that I was leaving him there and he would stay with Luke and his teacher, so I think that he was okay with that. When the teacher walked him to my car she gave me a brief rundown of his day. Apparently Brandon and Luke were being rough with each other and they had to put the kids apart some of the day. Jackie called me later in the day and said that Luke went home with Brandon's cup and was wearing one of Brandon's pullups (the teacher labeled the kids name on them). We both were a little concerned that the teacher might have mixed the boys up. On Friday Luke had grabbed Brandon's name tag and put it on himself and the teacher's assistant called Luke by Brandon's name. Both Jackie and I walked the boys in to class again this morning to make sure the teachers knew which kid was which and they of course had a reason/excuse for everything. I, of course, don't mind Luke wearing Brandon's stuff but it doesn't make sense that they would have run out of diapers (which is what they said) for Luke. I know Jackie and she is ALWAYS prepared...plus I'm wondering if they didn't think she packed enough diapers, why didn't they tell her she needed to pack more? Anyway, that was about our only issue. I enjoyed my time with Jack, but was ready to pick my little monkey up. I'm really glad we decided to put him in school.

Aaaack!

Ok, so, I'm a little bit of a wreck. Tomorrow is Brandon's first day at preschool. He'll be going Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9am until about 2pm. Jason and I went on Thursday night to meet his teacher and see his classroom. He is in a class of about 11 kids with only about 3 girls! Man, those teachers will have their hands full! On Friday we took Brandon to meet his teacher and for him to see his classroom. Brandon and Luke dominated the kitchen center and I tried to get them to meet some of their classmates. I'm not sure that any of the other kids know each other like Luke and B do. I guess I should have mentioned that they ARE in the same class afterall. I hope they can both listen to the teacher while they are at school. They tend to tune everyone and everything out when they are together. I've been telling Brandon that I'm taking him to school and that I'm going "bye bye". I asked him later if I was staying or going "bye bye" and he remembered that I was leaving but that he was staying, so hopefully he won't freak out tomorrow when he realizes that I've left, since only one of us need to be crying, lol. I'll post more about it tomorrow, hopefully about pictures.

In other Brandon news, he's been doing really well with potty training, at least the part that doesn't involve pooping in the potty, lol. We ran a bunch of errands yesterday and he was wearing a pullup. On our way home he said, "Mommy, I need to go potty!" and he was really, really trying to hold it, it was obvious. We were still about 10 minutes from home and I told him it was okay if he really couldn't wait since he was wearing a pullup but I could tell he didn't want to pee in it, although he eventually did. Then today he wore underwear all day and was actually telling me every time he needed to go! Huge improvement!! Now if we can just figure out the poop thing! I spoke to his teacher and she said to bring him in to school in a pullup. I'm crossing my fingers that something will click with him there. It seemed like most of the class was potty trained at orientation.

Mr. Jack is doing great. We felt like we were out with a celebrity with him yesterday. He got a bunch of attention while we waited for a table at a restaurant yesterday. This one lady kept telling me how adorable he was and that he should be in commercials, lol. Jason wasn't in earshot for that comment so she had to tell us again when she left the restaurant. I love that other people think he's as cute as I do ;) He's also close to saying his first word: "backpack"! I swear! I must sing wayyyy too much Dora if he's saying that before "mama" or "dada", lol.

Annnd, I finally finished the Twilight series. Ah, it was soooo good! I even cried at the end, I think I'm gonna re-read the whole saga. Soooo good!