Please Tell Me Tomorrow Will Be Better...

Let me tell you a little about my day today.

First, let's rewind to last night. After a great visit with my dad and brother and families, Brayden was happily playing with his new toys. And I start to smell something. No big deal...we've changed at least a million poopy diapers by now. I go upstairs to grab something and my brother yells up, Brayden needs his diaper changed NOW. I know, I smell him...no, he says now. Look at him. Oh yes, all the way up the back of his pretty striped shirt is a brown stain. Lovely. So I take him upstairs to change everything and into the tub he goes. Gross. But he seems perfectly happy and no fever. Later that night we are sitting around watching TV with Andy. I see the poop face starting. I warn Andy, he had a bad one earlier. What do you think is next? Yep, poop all over our couch because he was only wearing a onsie. So into the bath again with Daddy while I scrub the couch. Again, no fever. Now it's bedtime.

Wake up this morning to him happy as can be asking to eat. Bananas, he's chanting. So he gets his banana and we get ready for the day. He's really hungry, eating up the banana and a whole waffle right away. I figure this is great, he must be feeling ok and off to daycare and work we go. When I don't hear from the daycare by around noon, I'm guessing the day is safe and he's all better. I'm super busy at work and really can't afford to miss any days or time this week. But around 4pm I get the call. Brayden has had 3 runny diapers today. But is playing happily, so no big deal, just wanted to let me know. So I go pick him up and we head home. He's a little lazy, but a happy little guy.

We head home and hang out on the couch watching TV and eating toast with juice. My mom comes over to visit and play with Brayden so I can work on finishing up something for Christmas. So they are watching TV and I'm working on the table with some fabric. Brayden comes over and wants to see what I'm doing and then lays down on the fabric. I didn't think much of it and he was playing with it for a little while. Next thing I know, it's time for a bath. He's sitting in the tub playing and I'm doing all the little things, getting his clothes ready and stuff. I look over and his face is BRIGHT RED with PURPLE SPOTS!!! All over it. The only place that looked normal was right under his nose. I called my mom back over and from what we can guess, it looks like an allergic reaction to rubbing the unwashed fabric on his face! So now I have a poopy, purple spotted baby. And it's 2 days til Christmas. Just what I wanted! Off to bed he goes and I check him occasionally. Fast asleep and the spots are fading.

It's about 11pm and I'm getting ready for bed now. Turn off the TV and finishing some laundry. All of a sudden there is a loud rumbling. Now, I recognize this...it's the same rumbling we had last week when someone's carbon monoxide alarm went off and about 4 firetrucks were parked in my street. So Nibble and I go out to see what's going on. No firetrucks, but a large dumptruck and bulldozer are parked running right next to my house. At 11pm. On a Monday night. And my entire house is rattling and rumbling. I go out to ask what's going on. Oh, nothing major, they are just repairing a damaged underground line. SERIOUSLY?!?!? NOW?!?! I ask, are people without power or something? No, nothing wrong, it's just a bad cable line. And they have to heat the ground or something for at least 2 hours before they start digging. And he was nice enough to warn me...it's going to get way louder than the rumbling dump truck when they start.

So if you see on the news tomorrow that a crazy mom started attacking Comcast people in the middle of the night for waking her sick baby. It wasn't me...you never read this.

And It Begins...

Toys...lots and lots of toys are coming our way this year. The Christmas fun started yesterday when my Dad and Edie and my brother Mark and his wife Katie brought my niece over to have a little early Christmas celebration. Since we don't usually see my Dad and his family on Christmas day, it's just easier to have them over earlier. So they all came to our house for some yummy spaghetti bake and some presents! It was a lot of fun! Brayden got the Little People Farm Playset and Leah got a doll and a vacuum cleaner. Of course, Brayden was alot more interested in Leah's vacuum (shut up Megan, we don't need one). And then he opened this present from his Pap-Pap. THE MOST ANNOYING TOY IN THE WORLD...

A Handy Manny Power Tool Set. I already want to hide it away. Not only does it speak in Spanish to me nonstop, but it sounds very much like a real saw or drill. But this is the best part...it "breaks" on it's own every once in awhile. So that you can get out your niftly little toy pliers that came with it to "fix" it by tightening the screws. So here's how it goes...GRRRR...ZMMMM...GRRRR...ZMMMM for about 5 straight minutes. With random spanish phrases throughout to let you know you are doing a great job at sawing or drilling or chasing the poor dog around with it. Then CLANK, CLANK, CLUNK! UH-OH! Following by your toddler chasing you around yelling "Mama OFF OFF" over and over again until you tightened the dumb screw that is set to unscrew itself again in 5 minutes to "fix" it. And don't think you can watch TV or anything because this toy is LOUD and there are no volume controls. So, if I can warn you ahead and you bought this for your kid, you will hate it. Please give it to some other poor parent that you wish to torture because it's horrible and you will want to tear your ears off. Ours is going on 12 hours old and I already was trying to think how bad it is of me to hide it away. So let's see what we are going to get that can beat this one...lol.

If I don't have time to say it again...I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and lots of love to you all from our family!!

18 Month Check-Up

On Friday, we went to Brayden's 18 month check-up at the doctor's. We were a little late going (he hit 18 months a few weeks ago) but due to his shot schedule, we had to wait. But everything went well and he is doing great! When he was weighed, he is supposed to just sit on the little scale. Well, when he sat on it, it wiggled and he panicked! I guess he thought he was going to fall off, so he was then terrified for the rest of the appointment. Everything was a battle. But he only weighs 24 pounds, 4 ounces which is less than a pound more than the last appointment! So he's a skinny little thing, but he's just under 34 inches tall! That puts him in the 10th percentile for weight and the 85th for height. I wish I had that problem....lol. Then it was time for the shots and those weren't a big hit either. But overall, everything is going well and we're so happy. Now we don't go back until he's 2!

Only 2 More Weeks!

Is everyone ready for Christmas yet? I'm getting there. We have the tree up. I have alot of my shopping done. I have baked my cookies and we had a fun cookie exchange so I now have a ton in a great variety. And Brayden knows what Ho-Ho means! My mom got him a small, stuffed Santa Claus to carry around and he now points at any Santa he sees and says "Ho-Ho." But he whispers it...and it sounds exactly the same as when he points to the stove and says "Hot-Hot." But hey...we're getting there! We also have an outstanding (sense the sarcasm) light display outside our house. You'll have to see it to understand...lol. Andy was NOT in the mood to decorate the day I made him hang up the lights. We still need to take Brayden to see Santa Claus. I'm hoping to try and get that done this weekend. I can't wait. I'm guessing it's not going to be a pretty little picture like it was last year. Because I can tell you, we have stopped by to visit with Santa, just not sat on his lap yet. And while there is no tears, there is a lot of No-No-No's from him when we get close. But yes, I am going to torture my child and get a picture of him sitting on his lap, crying or not. So keep a watch for that one coming soon!

Here's a few pictures from our recent "photo shoot" with Brayden's Grandpa, Todd. I think they turned out great!

Don't Blink...

Many of you probably know of the song, "Don't Blink" by Kenny Chesney. If you don't, it's a country song about how fast time goes by. And I never truly knew exactly how fast time goes by until I had a child. Can you believe that Brayden is 18 months old? A year and a half old already. And it just flew by! My baby is no longer a baby...he is a toddler. There doesn't seem to be much baby left to him these days. He is doing his best to do everything he wants to do when he wants to do it and without any help from me. He is all over the place...climbing the stairs, trying to plug in the Christmas tree, unloading the dishwasher, climbing into his highchair, he's a maniac. I can't even keep up with him most nights. But then there's that moment. When he's crying in his crib after waking up...and you go get him and he will just cuddle in next to you. He'll lay in bed quiet with me and just snuggle and I can look at him like I did when he was just a tiny thing. Where did the time go...