This is what it's like...

when you...

attempt to...

get a picture...

of my 2 under 2.

Christmas Day

I'm doing a quick recap of Christmas day!

Brayden's big gifts from us and my parents: a trike and a John Deere Gator. It's motorized and he loooooooves it!

We managed to get a semi decent family photo on Christmas night:

Brody had a question about what all was going on!

The boys got lots of great things and Brayden had a ball opening gifts this year. Last year he was a little confused about what was going on but this year he dove right in and enjoyed ripping the paper off all the gifts!

Christmas Eve Eve and Eve.

I can't believe I said Eve three times in the title, but there you have it.

I'm breaking Christmas up into 2 posts because I don't think I'll have time to write it all in one sitting! Currently, Brayden just went down for his nap and Brody is asleep in his bouncy next to me. This golden silence usually lasts only a very, VERY brief time!

So on Christmas Eve Eve (the 23rd), Chris' mom and stepdad came over and we opened gifts with them. First we went to Olive Garden...is it only our Olive Garden or all of them that seem to designate part of the restaurant to people with young kids? I always feel like we're at Gymboree or something instead of OG, because they sit us in the kiddie room (understandably, seeing as we've got 2 young ones!).

Anyway, off my soapbox. We came back to our house to open gifts.

Brody opening his first presents on his first Christmas Eve Eve!

My MIL got me this neat printer that you can hook your camera or your phone up to! I can't wait to use it! The boys, of course, received way too many gifts including brand new wardrobes. My little clothes horse (Brayden) was so excited!

On Christmas Eve we headed out to our families cabin, per tradition. I didn't take many pics, but I did get the boys in their little outfits.

Brayden:

Santa...I mean Brody, in his "Baby's First Christmas" outfit!
More later! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

One Month Old!!

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Brody is one month old today!! I can't hardly believe it's already been a month!

Brody, what are you up to?

- You started rolling over tummy to back at 9 days old, and have done it just about every day since!

- You are wearing a size 1 diaper and are over 9lbs!

- You love to eat! A lot!

- You recently started sleeping 4 hour blocks at night.

- After a little work, you are sleeping in your pack and play in our room instead of your bouncy seat!

- You are so sweet and even tempered!

We love you so much!

Christmas Card 2010

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I'm excited to show you our Christmas card for this year! It's half Christmas card...

and half birth announcement!
I was either going to have to address 2 separate cards at the same time to the same people, or combine it into one, so that's what we did! Alicia, who did the photo shoot also designed the card. I love how it came out!

All I Want For Christmas...(Santa Visit)

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First, thank you all soooo much for the potty training advice! We are taking it really slow - I didn't even want to start just yet but Brayden keeps begging us to use the potty so I caved! Your tips are great, please keep them coming!

Alas, it was "let's go take the kids to see Santa" day. It was a 50/50 shot - Brayden was either going to LOVE him like he did last year, or hate him with a passion.

I'll let you be the judge:

He did however let him know that for Christmas he would like a "sweet tea, light ice please." Seriously. He's never had sweet tea - he just hears me order it all the time so apparently he thinks it is a present. Haha!

Brody really wasn't that bothered by him...of course that could be because he never opened his eyes to take a peek:
Our last ditch effort at getting B to smile was having all four of us get in the shot. He didn't smile but at least he wasn't screaming bloody murder...
I have no idea why I leaned over like that...apparently I though I wouldn't fit in the shot or something. Ha!

Hopefully next year will go better! It was still fun, and we let Brayden ride on some of the little rides they have there at our mall and he was quickly over his bad mood!

Lots of Lights

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One of our favorite things to do at Christmastime is to drive around and look at lights. It's quickly become Brayden's activity of choice. He asks us all the time when the "lights come on."

We've made a few trips out but I had to share this picture first - inflatables galore!

This is my mom's UPS guys house. It's been on CNN twice! Brayden LOVED it! We drove by it a few times and he just stared and talked about the lights!
We decided to drive the boys up to Branson to look at the lights up there. There was one place we went every year but we found out once we got up there that they aren't doing it anymore, so we had to find a few place. We ended up at Shepherd of the Hills. It's a 2.5 mile drive filled with light displays. It would have been great but the guy in front of us literally would put his car in PARK and stare at things forever. It took us over 30 minutes to get through. People were honking and it was just distracting! But B enjoyed it and that's really all that matters!

Do you have any great light displays near you?

Potty Time

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Mr. B has been asking to start using the potty, so we decided to let him try!

So since, we've never been down this road before, if you have any potty training tips for boys, please let me know!

He was very proud of himself (though he didn't do anything on the potty yet!):

And then, very seriously, he said "Mommy, Bubby's magazine? Bubby's mail?" ... so I got him a magazine. I have no idea why he wanted reading material, but I thought it was hilarious!

So if you've got potty training tips, please share!!

Better Late than Never

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So this is way late, but better late than never right?

These pics are from Brody's one week appointment which was on December 2nd.

Brody, you were back up to your birth weight already! You also grew an inch and a half - well that, or somebodys measurements were off! Haha!

You didn't get any shots which we were all pretty happy about. Dr. H was very happy with your progress!

Your big brother was not thrilled to be there until he realized we weren't there for him this time. Once he figured that out, he was pretty thrilled! When Dr. H came in the room he started talking his leg off - usually he's pretty quiet there. Dr. H couldn't believe his vocabulary! I told him that he talks NON STOP at home! He loves the sound of his own voice!

2 Under 2

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So life has been a little hectic lately. Good - great, but hectic!

I feel like we are really starting to get into a routine though. And I only have a little over a month left to say that I'm a mom of 2 under 2, so I need to document this!

I'll be honest. I had my expectations of what 2 under 2 was going to be like.

This isn't exactly what I pictured in my head:

I call this smooth sailing.

Not that having an infant and a 22 month old is a cake walk - it's not. But in my head I was going to be bringing home another baby like Brayden - when we brought him home he was on medication for reflux and he was a zombie. He literally would stay awake 24/7 and scream the entire time. I had him down at the pediatricians office every other day. I had to watch his weight, monitor his diapers and meticulously track all of his feeds, not to mention that all of his bottles had to be thickened to the perfect consistency otherwise he would aspirate them into his lungs. That's a lot of pressure for a new mom.

This time I brought home what my friends are telling me is a normal baby, haha. He sleeps. He eats. He dirties diapers. Then he sleeps some more. It's amazing.

And the cherry on top is that Brayden LOVES him. He adores his brother. He makes sure he has a blanket, he offers him his binkie if he is crying, he lets me know "Mommy, baby cry! Brobee cry" every single time Brody makes a peep.

So 2 under 2 is not exactly what it was cracked up to be - it's a whole lot better.

Wordless Wednesday - More pics from the shoot!

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More pics from Brody's newborn photo shoot with Alicia!

Sneak peek

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Today we had Brody's newborn photo shoot!

I spent a long time reviewing photography websites and looking for the right newborn photographer for us. Right before I had Brody, Brayden got sick and I took him into our doctor's office and it dawned on me who I wanted to photography Brody. Northwest Photography Works has these awesome newborn pics hanging up all over our pediatricians waiting room and every time we are there I love looking at them. On the way out the door I grabbed Alicia's card and when I got home I booked Brody's appointment!

We spent a good 4 hours at her studio today getting pictures taken of Brody, Brayden and the four of us. This is actually a picture that Chris snapped with his cell phone believe it or not! Alicia was still setting up which is why the bink is in his mouth! So you get a little sneak peek of what's to come!

Sweet Brothers

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We let Brayden hold Brody the other night since he is just so in love with his baby brother! I've gotten a lot of messages asking for new pics - I'm trying to keep up I just don't have as much time as I used to to upload my camera and sort out the pictures!

Also, I need to make a note for myself since I don't scrapbook, and I use this blog to document everything...Brody rolled from tummy to back at 9 days old and again at 10 days old! He hates tummy time and apparently will do anything to avoid it.