Got milk?

Unfortunately, in an attempt to free our dear Brody of his colic and us of his screaming, I have gone off dairy. And if any of you really know me well or even not very well, you know how much I love a good glass of milk. It is quite sad actually! But the fact that it has worked after only a few weeks makes it worth it. I can tell a difference and one night I had a Hot Fudge Sundae and the next day, Brody let me know and his poop was green which is a sign of too much lactose in his diet. I knew right away that my love for dairy would have to take the back burner until I'm done nursing.

In other news, I have decided to lighten my load by getting rid of a good and longtime friend...my hair! And all I can say is "HALELUJIA!!" and it's about time. I have been debating it for a long time but the last string was when I caught Brody with a handful of hair in his mouth. I seem to find hair everywhere and can't vacuum enough. But I was always so fearful because of several past experiences where I cut my hair and hated it and internally vowed to never chop the hair again. I always said I wanted to be the grandma with long gray hair. Well, I do have a small gray streak but I'm not gonna wait until I'm a grandma...I waited way too long to be a mom making the wait for grandmotherhood too far away. I'd rather have my sanity! So here's the new do. It's way easier and I like it! I was going to wait to tell people but I fear I will slip and divulge the info accidentally while on the phone and spoil the surprise I was anticipating at our August trip to Oregon. Oh well! Whatever!

Growing up so fast...

Our darling baby girl, Brylie, is getting so big so quickly. I'm sad that she's getting older (even though it means Brody is getting older and maybe will grow out of his colic...yes, I think he's just colicy and not cold. Nuts!!) and I fear that I will wake up and she'll be 12 years old and in that stage where they hate their parents. There are so many little things she does that ages her like pooping on the potty (only happened once but still!!), going to bed very well, usually falling asleep when we are saying prayers with her, waking up in the morning ornery (I think that comes with age!), talking more and more (her latest is "oh jeez!"), and becoming more aware of us leaving and worrying we won't take her with us. There are always going to be little things that make me mad but I'm so glad for the 100 things that make me smile and laugh for every one of the bad. Kids are truly a blessing and even though I complain about Brody's colic, there is not a single day that I don't repeatedly thank Heavenly Father that he is in my life. I am constantly surprised by how much love I feel for these 2! When I first got married, I was so overwhelmed at how much I loved Brad. I remember actually worrying about when I had kids because I had heard the love is even more for them. I've found that to be true but there are some other things I found out too. When Brylie was born, not only did I love her more than I knew how to deal with, my love for Brad had increased to the nth degree too. And then when Brody was born, my love for Brylie increased as well as my love for Brad. I've heard a lot of moms worry that a 2nd child will take away from the love you have for your 1st but like my mother-in-law told me once the new babies always bring with them love. She didn't mention love enough for the baby plus some for the other kids and the husband too. Just another reminder that Heavenly Father knows what He's doing and will do it if we let Him. Please bless I can get over myself and let Him!!

Baby Trivia...

We have been really stumped with Brody and his crying for almost 5 months now. It will get better for a while and then get worse without explanation. There have been many times that I'm at my wits end and have to let Brody figure it out in his crib. Trust me, I'm doing him a favor!! But I think that last night I had a break through! There have been 3 occasions where we have been at church and he has been screaming without explanation or end and within a few seconds of going outside into the hot humid weather, he stops. But immediately after coming indoors, the crying will start again. So again, into the heat and it stops. He will usually fall asleep after a very short time there (like seconds) which leads me to this conclusion. Correct me if you think I'm wrong or if you have another idea as we are at a loss and grasping at straws here. I think he's cold. Because we are in hot Texas, and I am always hot, I just assumed adding a blanket will make him more hot not thinking that he could be cold. I don't consider the A/C being on everywhere we go. So last night I put 2 blankets on him in the crib so when he kicked off the 1st one, there will still be a 2nd and he slept better. I tend however to make these conclusions after just one night of good behavior only to realize it was a good phase of his life and there are plenty of bad ones ahead.

Again, if you have any suggestions or ideas, I am up for it!

Two mobile kids!?!

So this last week Brody has decided to be Mr. Mobile and is giving us an idea on how fast he will learn and grow! Yes, he is now rolling over and he also scoots himself while laying on his back or on his stomach. I thought he hated being on his belly because he couldn't hold his head up for very long but he now is pretty good at it. He is also very interested in toys which Brylie loves to give to him. She is very helpful and tries to give him his binky in his mouth quite forcefully. In fact, I think Brody's new trick has developed in an attempt to get away from his sister who has started trying to pick him up. Yikes!!!

He has been quite a little pill this last week by crying bloody murder when he's mad! I've learned that if he's tired, put him to sleep before Mr Hyde or Dr Jekyl (whichever one is the devil's friend)comes out because he is not fun! I had a funeral to help with last week and Brody would not let me help when it was critical...leaving only 3 ladies to clean up! I was so ticked especially by the fact that when I would walk outside into the humid heat, he would stop. But the minute we stepped indoors, he would cry again. I finally had to leave. He also seems to get madder when I try to give him the binky and he doesn't want it. It's as if I can hear in his crying, "How dare you give me the binky!?!" Please bless he gets nicer or I think our family numbers will only increase with more pets! On the other hand, Brylie is such a dollface!! I just love her! She learns so quickly and has picked up the voice changes you do when you talk to a baby, for instance, I will often say "hi Doze" to our dog Dozer in a slightly higher pitched voice and she will copy me and say "hi Doze" in her high pitched voice...it is darling!!! After we realized what she was doing, we started saying other things for her to copy! It has been quite fun and entertaining. She will also come over to me and cuddle and say "baby" because when she won't let me cuddle her I will hold her and say, "my baby" while rocking her playfully. I quite enjoy it! Another thing she is doing is CLIMBING everywhere! She can move the dining room chairs out from under the table and climb on them only she is very unstable going from the climbing up position to the sitting position and I have had a "practice" heart attack several times. Speaking of heart attacks, I had another "practice" one when I gave her a carrot to try now that she has molars and she ate the whole thing and then didn't swallow any of it so she had this huge mouthful of half chewed carrot and then she realized if she coughed a little, it would get my attention (you can imagine a "practice" heart attack reaction) because I worried she was choking so she would cough and then refuse when I would almost beg her to spit the chewed carrot into my hand or onto her tray! I had to leave the room so my heart attack "practice" course would end. I don't know how many practices you get before the real thing happens. And I don't want to find out! But it may happen the rate we're going and with Brody now mobile! Despite my "practice" everythings, I absolutely love these kids and the time I get to spend with them. It's been hard to have Brad gone as much as he has been and I hear that it will only get worse but I think I can handle it as long as I have these guys here (and I can continue to handle them!)!! Wish you were here to join in our fun. Until then, we'll keep you posted!

P.S. our intruder, was only a wolf spider...come to find out, I'm not an entomologist like I thought! Thank goodness!!!

Our intruder...

AS many of you know, Brad is in law school which is quite time consuming to say the least. Often, we go to bed without seeing him and wake up to a kiss goodbye in the morning. This has only gotten worse and more frequent as we approach finals. Well, this afternoon , I was getting ready to change Brody's diaper and saw something in the carpet...this happened to be a spider...if you don't know my history with spiders, click here for a quick updater. This time, I had the wipes right there so I grabbed one and squashed the little rascal. Then I looked at what I had squished. Now I don't usually like to look at my kill but for some reason I did and I am almost certain that it was a brown recluse spiders...in our house! And I have to be the calm and collected one while Brad is not here. I hope the bug killer we got takes care of these spiders as well as the other 69,572 we have living in our house or I might become a fan of the Orkin man. In case you don't know what a brown recluse looks like, here's one.

Do a little dance...and laugh a little...

So I let Brylie watch Blue's Clues on the television because she loves it and I think she likes it only because that's the only show she watches...go figure. So here is a cute video of her singing/dancing to the song in it. I think it's so cute!!



Here is a video of Brody laughing. This is the first time I got a real "guffaw" out of him and he only did it once which I plan to work on. His smile is so infectious and Brad just loves his "smiling eyes".