Good Grief....

Oh.My.Gosh. I am so sorry it has been FOREVER since I've written on here. Life has been keeping me pretty busy. Blogging wasn't so bad when Elizabeth was a teeny tiny sleeping baby. But one day, long ago, she started crawling... then pulling up...now she's darn near walking. I'm busy from 7 in the morning to 9 at night. I have time for... nothing. Only sometimes do I manage to shower and clean my house. ;-) Not alot of time for blogging. BUT, here I am. I won't even bother to try to recall everything that's happened in the last 6 months, but I can tell you it's been a blast. These babies keep us on our toes, but WOW! we are so blessed and we love every moment of this life.

Today is my little son's birthday. He is 4. Such a big boy. :) So smart and handsome and sweet. Such a joy. Thank you God for my perfect son. It's also been 2 years since my dad passed. Actually, Jenna, Zach, and I were all together today which was nice. Zach's visiting Jenna in Kyle, and they drove to Hutto to spend the day with us. This morning Keith watched the kids while I went to do a little retail therapy. I thought I was ok, but once I got by myself in the car and was driving, I broke down into tears. I always listen to "positive & encouraging" KLOVE (the Christian radio station) now, and what a blessing that was today. My God is faithful and I must never forget that.










Right now, we are looking forward to the Christmas season. I'm super excited because it's Lizzie's 1st Christmas, and Bradyn's 5th Christmas actually.... should be fun! I promise, I'll try to do better updating this thing. Lots of love to everyone!!!

funniest.thing.EVER!

Ok, so I've gotta write some of this stuff down before I forget it. Ya know the saying, "Kids say the darndest things!", why, yes... they do! Bradyn has been saying some of the funniest things lately. He makes me smile everyday. :)

**The other day I was waiting for him to get finished on the potty. I looked in his bathroom mirror while I was standing there and patted my lovely post-partum belly and said, "ugh". Bradyn said (with complete sincerity, and as a compliment), "Wow Mom, your belly is so fat!" Now understand, Bradyn is likely the ONLY person on the planet that could say that and get away with it! I chuckled and said, "Why, thank you Bradyn." (Wait, it gets better...) THEN he said, "Who's livin' in there Mom?" Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!!!!!!!!!! I said, "Oh.. no one's living in there anymore, it's just fat." He said, "Well, somebody's gotta be livin' in there." LOL!

**When he gets dizzy, he says, "Whoa!!!! I gettin' BUSY!" (busy instead of dizzy) :-)

**He coughed today and insisted I take him to the dr. so he could get a "check out". (a check-up, gets it confused with "checking out" at the grocery store) ha ha!

**Yesterday we were coloring and I said, "Bradyn, I love you. I'm glad God gave you to me. You're my special little guy." He said, "Aw, Mom. You're my special guy too."

**We saw Heidi and Spencer Pratt's wedding on TV and Bradyn said Heidi "looked like a Princess". I explained to him that they were getting married and that they loved each other. The next day I told him I loved him and he said, "Yes, and we're married." he he he... I told him that mommy and daddy were married. So, now he thinks that mommy and daddy are married and "Bradyn and Ewizabuf" are married. :-)

**We went to church at Hutto Baptist last Sunday and the Sunday school teacher asked Bradyn his name. He introduced himself as "Bradyn Becker, the Superhero". He even showed off his muscles. :)

Thank you God for my little son. We've had a difficult time with him lately, but the little things, like this wonderful, innocent, constant comic relief makes being a mother ALL worth it. :)

Swimming and other fun things!

Memorial Day weekend was low-key for us, we pretty much spent the weekend and Monday with ourselves. :-) I love family time and hanging out at the house. On Saturday afternoon we did actually go swimming with Kevin out in Manor. It was Lizzie's first time wearing sunscreen and a bathing suit, and her 1st time swimming. She liked it very much; she was so interested and alert. Bradyn had a blast too, of course! We got washed out by a big storm and rainfall, but we still had tons of fun! Thank you Kevin for inviting us!

Sunday included a family trip to Super H-E-B. Wow. Always an adventure with 2 kids! We came home and Keith grilled out pork chops. Here's a shot we got after it rained on Sunday....


On Monday we all got to sleep a little bit late. Bradyn normally wakes up every morning at 7am, but since the sun has been rising earlier, he's been getting up earlier. He graced us with his presence at 6:29 am Memorial Day morning. Poor little guy. If it'd been just 30 minutes later, one of us would've gotten up with him, but 6:29? Baby still asleep? Eeeek! Couldn't do it. Keith told him it was NOT time to get up yet and to go back to bed. Normally that would've elicited a fit, but he only whimpered a little and said "OK"--- slept till 8:15. :-) I spent the morning looking at and trying to decide which new cloth diapers I was going to order for Lizzie. We bought Bradyn a little pool with a slide on it and he played outside while Keith smoked a Boston Butt. No, our pool isn't as cool as Kevin's, but it'll have to work. Bradyn had the best time swimming, sliding, playing with water squirters, and running around.

When Lizzie woke up from her LOOOOONG nap, we went outside and played with brother in the pool, not even bothering to put a swim suit or swim diaper on her! That evening, we had the most delicious pulled pork sandwiches. My husband is becoming a master at grilling and smoking. Everything he makes is so delicious and I am glad he has so much fun cooking out!

Elizabeth is now obsessed with putting either her hands (more specifically her thumb)or her feet in her mouth. Yes, over the weekend she learned to suck on her toes. It's HILARIOUS and quite adorable.

Look at that flexibility!


Bradyn's new thing is he lays down by Elizabeth and looks into her eyes and says, "Ewizabuf, I wuv you. You're my best friend Ewizabuf." SOOOO sweet! She loves watching Bradyn as he's playing too. Bradyn can provide her (and me) with hours of non-stop activity and excitement. Keyword: non-stop. :-)

Last Sunday, on Mother's Day, May 10th, Keith and I had the children baptized at Redeemer Lutheran Church. It was a very special, memorable day (ah, memorable, thanks to Bradyn... in a nutshell: a 3 year old and a temper tantrum, enough said). In other news, Elizabeth has blossomed the last 2 weeks! She hit 3 months and all of a sudden started doing everything at once! She now: sleeps through the night (AMEN!), touches her toes, looks at her hands (and I think she's starting to realize they're connected to her body!), supports her weight on her legs when we pull her to standing, and at exactly 3 1/2 months (5/15/09), she rolled over for the first time, back to belly!!! She is such a joy and I am constantly amazed by her. The one thing she hasn't done yet is grow hair. :) I love her bald little head though! I call her "Peach" because her hair/head feel like peach fuzz when I kiss her. sooooo soft! It's one of the many names she has, along with lovebug, princess, lizzie, sweetheart, Liz Beth, sweet girl, baby, fluffy butt, and the list goes on!


Bradyn has one more full day of preschool left and then has his end of school program on Thursday, May 21st and we're done! I can't say that I'm sad; I'm ready for this school year to be over with. For the last month, Bradyn has been throwing a fit when I come to pick him up in the afternoon. He's sees me coming down the hall and shouts, "Noooooooo! I don't want to go home Mom!" Then it turns in to a big fight to get him out of the church. NOT fun with a baby and a backpack and a lunchbox and the day's art project. Oh.... being a mom sure humbles ya. If you have a thing about being embarrassed, having children will pretty much force you to get over it, eh, or at least deal with it more often than you wish you had to. Bradyn's at a hard age/phase right now, stuck between being a "little" boy and a "big" boy, having a new sibling in the house, not being the center of attention anymore, etc. On top of it all, he's headstrong, difficult, stubborn, determined, whatever you want to call it. We've talked to him, taken away privledges, spanked him, threatened him, reasoned with him, prayed, yelled, cried, and nothing phases him. Hopefully he'll mature over the summer so when he goes back to school in the fall we won't have this problem. If we do, I will pull him out of the program, it's that simple. I'm not paying $165/month to be mortified every Tuesday/Thursday. Forget the terrible 2's, the terrible 3's are way worse! Gotta love the kid though. Surely this hard-headed determination will serve him well later in life... (crossing my fingers!)

Oh.My.Gosh!

Aaaahhhh!!!! :)I got a FULL night's sleep last night!! I got in bed at 11pm and my feet did not hit the floor again until 7:39am! That's only because Keith had to leave for work and I had to get up with Bradyn; Lizzie is still sleeping! I cannot believe this! I'm so excited, but honestly, I feel like I got run over by a truck... hopefully I'll feel better when I wake up a little and drink my coffee. By my calculations, I figure I'm about 150 hours short on sleep since Jan. 28. :-)It was so nice to REST last night; thank you GOD!

Speaking of God, we are having the children baptized at Redeemer Lutheran this weekend. We're having a private ceremony after the church service. Bradyn's godparents are David and Hafida Becker (my sister-and-brother-in-law) and Elizabeth's godparents are our good friends Tammy and Travis Allen. My mother, brother, and sister are coming in tonight to stay the weekend with us. Zach and Keith are going to hang out Travis' house for a "guy's night" in celebration of Travis' birthday. Keith, David, and my father-in-law Larry are going to play golf tomorrow morning, and then in the afternoon we're having a BBQ in celebration of Zach's 21st birthday (tear, :-( can't believe he's 21 already..). Then Sunday is the baptism and Mother's Day! What a fun-filled, busy, blessed, exciting weekend we have planned! I've gotta get busy making a cake for Zach and getting this house cleaned. Happy Mother's Day to all you mommas out there!

a formal announcement...

Well, just to make it official and to make myself really accountable, I'd like to announce that I'm currently training for the San Antonio Rock-N-Roll 1/2 Marathon on November 15th!!! I made this decision shortly after my birthday, and after I ordered my jogging stroller. I wrote in one of my blog posts that it was time I did this, and it really is. I need to quit just saying that and DO IT already! I found the race through something I was looking at on the internet and decided right then and there that I was going to do it. I've even gotten a couple of friends on board with me and I'm so excited that we can all train and be in this together!

So, I've been running every other day for the last 2 weeks and it feels soooooooooo good. I've missed it. The first few days were hard; I felt clunky, sloppy, and completely uncoordinated on the road. My right knee hurt, my left calf got some weird twitching pain in it, and my breathing was heavy and not patterned with my steps. I'm starting off VERY slow: run 1 minute, walk 1 minute for 20 minutes. Then I ran 1 1/2 min., walked 1 1/2 minutes. Today I ran 2 mintues and walked 1. I'm already getting it back; it gets better every time I go and things are starting to feel familiar again. My mind just goes like it used to back in the day, and I find myself thinking of all sorts of things besides when my time is up or when can I walk again? I really can't believe that I can consider myself a runner.... In high school I was always the "fast little white girl" and consequently, did short, fast races when I was on the track team. Ariel and I used to HATE long distance days (and Ariel is one of the girls doing the 1/2 marathon with me now!). I've also lost 3 lbs. and 2% body fat already! I have about 5 lbs. to go before I'm back at my pre-pregnancy weight. Thank goodness something is working.... this baby belly hasn't been as easy to get rid of the 2nd time around!

It feels so good to have a goal and something to work towards. It feels good to do somthing I enjoy. It feels good to do something for myself. I've been considering making a separate blog on the joys of running :) and my journey to the 1/2 so I don't bore you with the details in the family blog. That way, if you want to read it you can, and if not, you don't have to. I want to because I think it's going to be interesting to see myself evolve as a runner and an endurance athlete over the next few months. I'm soooooooooooo excited, ready for the journey, and up for the challenge.

Anyways, hmmmm. Kids are doing good. Keith's good. I'm good. I've been pretty freaked out about the swine flu thing. It's very scary, especially when you have young children. I pray we don't come in contact with it, with all the places we go and all the people we see and all the things we touch. With Keith traveling, Bradyn going to school, and me going to the grocery store------AAAHHHH! I get queasy just thinking about all the germs we come in contact with. Hopefully it'll pass and won't come back in the fall.

Bradyn has 5 more full days of school left and he's out for the summer. May 21st is his end of school program. He's such a smart boy and has grown leaps and bounds since September when we put him in the program. I am so proud of him. Bradyn can usually be found stripped down to his underwear being a superhero. Every morning he takes his PJs off and announces, "I have to be a superhero now Mom!" LOL. Lizzie is doing great also; growing like a weed! We got on the scale today and I think she's already weighing about 14 lbs! She is coming out of the newborn phase and getting such a little personality. She has a beautiful disposition and is usually a very content baby. She is holding her head up now, no problem at all, and can roll over with a little assistance (she holds onto Keith's finger and pulls herself over, back to tummy). She sits in her Bumpo chair and looks around. SO cute!!! I am grateful to God always for these kids (even on days when I want to pull my hair out!); I have been blessed beyond belief and I have so much love in my heart for my wonderful, amazing husband and precious babies. :)

I really cannot tell you how much I miss my dad. I wish he were here to see Elizabeth. He'd absolutely fall in love with her.
my dad holding newborn Bradyn

I think most days I've learned to accept the way things are now. Some days though, it REALLY hurts still.... like that day I told Bradyn to lay down on the couch to have quiet time and he said, "Mom, I miss Dada." I stopped what I was doing and sat down by him. The direction he was facing, he could see a picture of my dad. What do you say to a 3 year old about that? I said, "Me too baby," and cried. This is so hard.

Happy Birthday to me!

Yesterday I celebrated the big 2-7. What a great day it was! We actually had a birthday party/BBQ for me this past weekend. Mom, Zach, Jenna, my mother-and-father-in-law, Tammy, Travis, Wyatt, and Kevin all came to hang out on Saturday, the 18th. Keith made a WONDERFUL meal for us: brisket (mmmm! his best one EVER!), salad, beans, and bread. Add a couple of beers and a carrot cake, and what's not to love about turning 27? I received some funny and sweet birthday cards, some money, an Itunes gift card, and the movie "Fireproof." Thank you everybody for coming to hang out, visit, eat, and sing "happy birthday" to me! Yes, I felt special!

Kevin and Zach 

Keith and his dad, Larry

Bradyn and Auntie Jenna

Tammy, Travis, and Wyatt

Elizabeth, fast asleep!

my mother-in-law, Kris

my mom, Vicki

made my own cake, yum!

blowing out the candles!

me with Zach and Jenna

b-day roses from Keith :)  

So, with the help of some birthday cash, my husband let me get a BOB double jogging stroller for my birthday! I ordered it yesterday morning and can't wait to get it! I really want to get into running again. I LOVED running before I had children, and it's a goal of mine to one day run a marathon. I love to exercise, but I never really got back into running much after I had Bradyn. I don't know what makes me think it's going to be easier to run with 2 kids verses 1, except the fact that it's easier to strap them both in the stroller and GO! than it is to round everyone up and make it to the gym everyday. Plus, let's face it... I'm not getting any younger. I sat my marathon goal about 5 years ago, it's time!

Keith got off work early yesterday to spend the afternoon with the birthday girl. :-) Before we got too comfortable, I went out for a quick run. It was more like a run for a minute, walk for a minute, for 20 minutes. Phew!!!!! I was glad when it was over! It's definitely going to take some time to get my running legs back. I came home and we all hung out on the back porch for a few hours; it was a gorgeous day and I couldn't have thought of a better way to spend it than with my sweet little family! Hopefully 27 is going to be a great year!

Happy Spring!!!!!!!!

Well, it's been a while since I've updated our blog, so I have alot to write about today! I guess I'll start with where I left off last... cloth diapers. We've been using them on and off for the last 3 weeks or so. I like them alot, but I'm not a total cloth convert yet. We do cloth during the day and disposables at night and when we go out. Using cloth requires more frequent diaper changing, and if Elizabeth is actually sleeping at night, I'm NOT waking her before I go to bed to change her diaper! They have stay dry liners that I may look into for nighttime. Right now, we're just trying to adjust to this different way of diapering, and I just have the basics. Oh yes, Lizzie has a new nickname: Princess Fluffy Butt. LOL! Here are some pics of Lizzie in her new knickers.

Needless to say, I am glad Keith's two back to back weeks of traveling are over with. TGFS--thank goodness for sisters! Jenna came down the first week when Keith was in Vegas and stayed with us Tuesday-Friday; what a lifesaver she was! She helped out a ton with Bradyn, and on Tuesday/Thursday when Bradyn was in school, we went shopping. It was nice to spend some sister-time together! She's a wonderful sister and aunt. :-)  Keith got home late Friday night and on Saturday went to Academy to buy Bradyn a playscape, a purchase we have been considering for a few weeks now. The thing was a pain to put together, as none of the wood planks were labeled and none of the holes were pre-drilled; it took Keith about 15 hours total (and he had help from our neighbor and his friend Travis). Bradyn was so patient while Daddy worked and I think he thinks it was worth the wait.... he LOVES it! It's not completely finished yet. There are monkey bars, but I don't know if we're going to put those on just yet, Bradyn's still a little small for them.

 

The next week Keith had to go to California. He left on Tuesday morning and got home Friday afternoon. It was just the kids and me that week, but we did pretty good.... the evening gets hectic, but a couple of glasses of wine and I'm ok. ;-p

We had a wonderful Easter Sunday!!!!!!! It was so much fun dressing Elizabeth up and watching Bradyn hunt eggs in the backyard. We got up early that morning and went to church at Redeemer Lutheran in Austin. There was no Sunday school that morning, so Bradyn sat in big church with us and did exceptionally well for a 3 yr. old. I had to hold Elizabeth the whole time, but she did well too. The day started off rainey, but by the time we got out of church at 10:45, the sun had come out and it was a GORGEOUS day! We came home and took some pictures of the family and of the kids, had lunch, then Bradyn went out to hunt eggs. He was so much fun! Last year he didn't really know what was going on, but this year he was so excited and knew just what to do! Easter pics below:

We asked Keith's mom if she would mind watching Bradyn for the night, and she said yes, so Keith and I got to spend some much needed couple time together. Lizzie was there of course, but she can't talk yet, ha ha ha. She chilled on the porch with us in her bouncer while Keith and I talked and grilled steaks. It was a nice evening. Thank you Nana!

I am happy to announce that I actually got 6 1/2 hours of uninterrupted sleep last night! I put Lizzie in bed at 10:30 and she slept until 5:30 this morning. I got in bed at 11 and was SHOCKED when I woke up and saw 5:27 on the clock! YIPPEE!!!!!

Here are some more random pics of everyone:

 

Sweet kiddos!

 

Ok, so it's pretty obvious that Bradyn adores his little sister! He's a great helper when it comes to getting me burp rags, diapers, and washcloths, and he occasionally keeps Elizabeth entertained while I finish up the dishes, cooking, getting ready, etc. Things are going MUCH better with our sleep situation; we are finally in a routine and I'm feeling much better (alot more sane and not so sleep-deprived)! I bathe, nurse, and then put her down and she usually sleeps at least 3, if not 4 hours. She wakes up to nurse around 1 or 2am and then goes right back to sleep. She usually wakes every 1 1/2 - 2 hours after that, so I'm still getting up at least 2X a night (most nights 3X). That's fine though, it's so nice getting to bed at a decent time and being able to sleep 4 hours straight a few times per week.

Mr. Bradyn is doing well. We have exciting news!!! I think we are finally DONE with diapers AND pull-ups! Bradyn's been consistently peeing in the potty since before he was 2, but we've had the hardest time with him pooping in the potty. He (thankfully) would never go in his underwear, he'd just wait until we put a diaper or training pants on him at nighttime and go in those. He adamantly REFUSED to go in the toilet, with the exception of a handful of times. It's been so frustrating!!!!!! The last 2 weeks though, he's done a complete turnaround! This week, he slept in underwear and has stayed dry every night! That's the END of diapers and training pants for him! WOO-HOOOOO (I never thought this day would come!)!!!! I may be done for the most part buying Elizabeth disposable diapers also.... we are going to give cloth diapers a go. They've come a long way in recent years and have some really cute things out there! They are much better for baby's skin and obviously better for the Earth. I've had a tremendous guilt trip lately when changing diapers... every disposable diaper takes 500 years to decompose; I can't take it anymore! We are at home enough that I think cloth is a convenient option for us. I ordered a few prefolds and Bummis (pronounced Bum-ease) covers yesterday, so hopefully they'll hurry up and get here!

Keith is going to be in Vegas next week (all week), then has to go to California the next week for 3 days. I'm not looking forward to it. I do enjoy not having to cook :) but that's about it. It is hard juggling 2 cranky kids at the end of the day, when I'm tired and cranky also. I really miss Keith when he's gone; it gets lonely and overwhelming sometime. We are so blessed that Keith has his wonderful job though, so I won't complain too much.

I'm going to post a few more pictures--ENJOY!

Keith and Elizabeth, 7 weeks

Bradyn playing with Moon Sand

Bradyn and cousin Ephram playing puppet show

    

tummy time for Lizzie!

her first pair of jeans!

We LOVE our Moby wrap!

Mommy and kiddos!

SMILE!

found her thumb!