Here's Your Brody Fix

While we were in Miami, someone gave us a full tuxedo for B. He's the right size to wear it now, but we have absolutely nowhere for him to wear it to. So, we pulled it apart yesterday and used the shirt and tie for church. He looked quite dapper with it and his little faux hawk.

Brody is also starting to roll over a little more without any prompting! It's fun to watch him when he gets really determined and then to see how excited he gets when he finally makes it back to his back.

One more, can't help it:

Conversations With My 2 Year Old

L: Mommy, I want to be a pirate so I can say argh!

Mike: Logan, help mommy pick your books up.

L: No, thank you, sir dad.

Logan, while looking at nursing bras in Motherhood: You need some new boobs, mom? (um, let me die please)

After the kids go to bed, I usually treat myself to a bowl of ice cream. It's my glass of red wine, if you will. I was eating one the other night and Logan came in the room...

L: You eating ice cream in your bowl, mom?

Me: umm...no.

L: What is it?

Me: Water?

L: You're eating water? Out of a bowl? That's strange.

That'll teach me to lie to a 2 year old.

L: I probably can't watch that Harry Potter stuff. It will probably scare me. (I must say probably a lot)

Logan, while carrying a large pack of pull-ups to her room: I'm going to put my pull-ups in my room. I'll probably need them when I pee in this one tonight, ok?

All of Logan's stories begin: "One Pup Time" also known as, once upon a time.

And as Logan was going to bed the other night, I heard her talking on the "phone": Hi, somebody. Yeah, I doing great. Yeah. You want to go to Target tomorrow? No? Kohl's? No? Walmart? Mebe (maybe)? Ok, great. Target. Doodbye.

Me: Logan, please don't grow up, stay little forever.

Logan, 5 minutes later: Mommy, I don't want to grow up. I want to be your baby.

Logan has a bandaid on her thigh and when you ask why it's there, she replies: umm...I watched Brody get a shot in his leg so I needed a bandaid.

Saying Goodbye

Yesterday, we drove over to Ft. Bragg to spend the day with Uncle John before he deploys next week for 8 months. It was so bittersweet because we always have a great time with him but we just didn't want to have to say goodbye.

Two peas in a pod:

Logan just adores Uncle John, though, it took her all day to warm up to him.

Logan has learned how to "cheese" and it's starting to make it really hard to get a good, natural smile from her.

Playing.

Hanging out.

Brother and sister holding brother and sister:

Saying goodbye for a while.

We're so proud of you, John!

It hits a lot closer to home when it's your own family heading over there. Made it all the more real that we'll probably be doing this when school is over. Keep our family, especially Lindsey, in your prayers in the coming months as we anxiously count down to his safe return.

Sweet Siblings

Yesterday, we had Brody's 4 month well checkup! Brody is 15lbs, 12oz and in the 55% for his weight, is 25 inches long and in the 60% for height and is in the 90% for his head. Perfect little man. Usually they suggest trying rice cereal at 4 months, but B is eating well during the day and is sleeping 10+ hours a night so we're going to keep doing what works doing for a little while longer. Other than that, he's meeting all of his milestones and is a healthy, very happy boy! Except right now...he's a little sore from his vaccinations.

Big sister accompanied us to the appointment and kept asking "Where's Mimi?" Because she knows that Mimi is a nurse who works with doctors.

My favorite time of the day right now is in the morning, after we've gotten breakfast all cleaned up, the kids and I sit on the floor and play for a while.

Such sweet times with my babies, I'm so blessed to get to see every second of it!

Swimming Lessons

After spending 5 weeks in the pool in Miami and seeing how fearless Logan became, we decided to go ahead and get her in some swimming lessons this summer so she can start learning the basics of water safety. The local Y here has a great program that starts with moms and tots which B will actually be able to start next year while Logan swims in a preschool class.

It's a three week program that has two, hour long classes a week. So, we go M-W from 9:30-10:30. Here's L getting ready for day one on Monday:

She has two instructors but they mostly facilitate and instruct the parents and then grab the kiddos to do things every once and a while. Mondays class helped acclimate the kids to the water (which is frigid, by the way and is indoors so there's no help from the sun). They learned the buoyancy of their own bodies.

Today she learned how to kick her legs while only holding on to two of my fingers. She was SO proud of herself when she got it! She did so well with it that the instructor went ahead and gave her a kick board to practice her kicking. I think the next class we will be working on submersion...which Logan already has nightmares about--she came into the room last night around 2:30a and woke me to tell me she didn't want to go underwater at swimming lessons. Oh boy. They don't push them, though, so we'll wait until she's comfortable and then try it.

Of course, we love a chance to show off our fun bathing suits. :)

She's so worn out when she gets home that I practically have to beg her to stay awake until naptime. Today we got home, worked on her school activities for the day and then turned the TV on to keep her awake. Hopefully she takes a good nap!

We have B's 4 month checkup this afternoon, so I'm sure we'll have a post later!

4 Months Old!

Brody is FOUR months old today!

Time is FLYING by!

Brody is a wonderful sleeper! He sleeps 12 hours a night with maybe 1 interruption around 10p to get a quick snack and then goes down until about 7a. It's amazing. I think time is flying with him because of how much sleep I'm getting! Time dragged a little with Logan because she. hated. to. sleep. Still does. So, for those that hate me because he sleeps so well-- I promise, I paid my dues with #1 who didn't sleep all the way through the night until she was 2 years old.

Brody is crazy about his hands. I think if he could fit both fists in his mouth at the same time and just live like that, he'd be happy as a clam. For now, he's sticking with sucking on a finger or two at a time. He takes a pacifier at night and when he naps, but otherwise he wants his fingers in his mouth as a soother, instead.

He is not a big roller yet. He has gone from back to tummy a few times, but almost flat out refuses to roll the other way unless I leave him on his tummy until he screams bloody murder and flips out of sheer distaste for that state of being.

He loves his big sister. They are seriously best buds. She comes in the room and he lights up, and he especially loves it when she lays down next to him and holds his hand. They hold hands in the car all the time and it melts my heart when I look back at them and see the two little hands clasped together.

Brody is one of the most content babies I have ever been around. He's been in the nursery the last two weeks at church and both weeks we've gotten several comments on how happy, smiley and calm he is all the time. Though, I think he does show off a bit for them since big sister isn't around to steal the show.

He likes to hear his voice and frequently you'll hear him just singing away.

Sometimes he feels like he's bigger than Logan was, but then I see pictures and compare and realize he's not all THAT big. We have his 4 month check up on Wednesday and we'll see how he compares then.

He definitely got very distinct things from both mommy and daddy but I think he looks JUST like my brother when he was a baby. I'm going to get pictures to compare but B could definitely double for John.

He is not a clingy baby. He loves mama and at the end of the day just wants me to snuggle him, but has no problem being passed around so long as he's not tired or hungry.

He is just the sweetest thing and we are so glad that he belongs to us. We love to watch him grow, but it would be wonderful if someone would tell him to stop doing it so quickly.