Long time no Post!

Well, here it is . . . September. Lets see how long that took; about 5 months for the procrastination to end. OK, this time I really am going to do better. This is going to be a long post, but only to get you caught up to what's been going on in our world. My last post was at the beginning of April, so lets just start there!

April:

This was a busy month for our little family. Well, there was an addition to our family in late March/early April. Yes, we heard a new pitter patter of little feet around our home. No, we didn't spontaneously have a 2nd child (although that would be fabulous!). No, my WONDERFUL mother-n-law decided to treat Brandt to his 1st pet! Meet, Rodrigo . . .

He is Brandt's new Guinea Pig, and he adores this thing! It is a daily ritual to wake up and "go see Rigo". Brandt loves to feed him lettuce (Rigo's personal favorite) and squeal at the top of his little lung capacity (because it makes Rigo jump . . . me too sometimes!).

Brandt also got his first Big Boy haircut this month. It did not go over well. Thank goodness I am friends with my hair dresser because I can almost guarantee she really wanted to make a slip with her scissors! The cold water severely upset him, and a Root beer sucker was no consolation. Needless to say we have not attempted that situation again thus far. Here is a small reminder of that terrifying day!



We were lucky to have our first experience with a MAJOR milestone in Brandt's young little life.We started POTTY TRAINING! (Mind you this has continued as an ongoing project, some, 5 months later - boy is he stubborn about that) Brandt could personally care less if his diaper/pull up is dry or is carrying enough weight to cause him to appear bow legged as he waddles down the hall only to avoid the bathroom . . . again! But we are making progress and he even pottied at the mall the other day. I am still leaning on the piece of advice that "it takes boys longer to potty train than girls", but I really must insist that he learn to potty on his own by age 18. As for now, we will take the continuous answer to "Do you need to go potty?", which is a whined "Okaaaay . . . I finished.". ( I opted here, per Brandt's request, to hold on the potty pictures . . . for now!)

May:

May was fairly uneventful. Anthony and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary on May 17th. We didn't do anything to celebrate, actually I think we had dinner at home that day. Our gift to each other was a trip to Chicago (in August) to watch the Cubs vs St. Louis Cardinals (go Cards by the way).

At the beginning of May we took Brandt to his first Ringling Bros. Circus. He loved the Tigers, but overall was not too impressed. He did get to have his picture taken on an Elephant (of plastic not real), which he was thrilled about!

Discovery Island is the Preschool that he attends. They are an amazing facility. They have a great learning curriculum for the kids and high levels of activity. They have a fabulous playground (which of course is Brandt's favorite), and nifty little activities for the kids throughout the year. In May they celebrated "DILC Spirit Week". It was reminiscent of our CHS Spirit Weeks, and I think that is why I was so excited for Brandt. They had things like ambulances and firetrucks come by and the kids go to play on them. They had movie days and a picnic day. Each day the kids dressed up and it was a hoot. Day 1: hat & sunglasses day, Day 2: sports day, Day 3: western day (my fave), Day 4: PJ day, and Day 5: DILC day. Here are the pictures of Brandt's clothing choices . . .

June:

June was a biggie for us. Of course it was Father's Day, which is definitely important, but at the top of our list was Brandt's 2nd Birthday! I can't believe that my baby is 2 years old already.

We spent Father's Day with Anthony's family at their house here in Jonesboro. We cooked out on the grill and swam all day long. It was beautiful thank goodness. It is always fun to have the whole family together, no matter what the occasion.

On to the big day. Brandt's 2nd birthday was June 17. That was during the week, so we decided to do something, just the 3 of us that day and save his party for the weekend. We woke up that morning and of course sang "Happy Birthday", which he proceeded to sing to himself the rest of the day. His fave is chicken so we made a trip that morning to Chick-fil-a for some Chicken Mini's and hash browns. After breakfast we opened our gifts, on of which was a new Tricycle he had been asking for for months. I guess the new wore off quicker than I thought it would. He climbed on, couldn't figure out how to make it go, and he was done. Oh well, the pictures were cute anyway. After Anthony got off work that evening we took Brandt to Chuck E. Cheese and had a blast.

We then had Brandt's official Birthday Party on Sunday June 22. We invited his friends out to Craighead Forrest Park for a Disney Cars themed party. Anthony cooked hotdogs and hamburgers on the grill and we rented a "jumpy" for the kids to play in. We had a great time and Brandt got more toys than he knew what to do with. It wasn't terribly hot that day, but not breezy either. But that is what comes with a summer birthday. Everyone had a great time and we are pumped for next years birthday!

July:

Not much to report in July. 4th of July was fun. We swam that day and went to the Fair Grounds here in Jonesboro and watched the fireworks that night. Brandt is crazy about fireworks and he wanted to "hold 'em" all. And I can guarantee if we would let him "hold 'em" he would in a New York minute! I am thankful that he is not scared of the fireworks because that is such a fun thing to watch, but his interest and curiosity in them I think is something I personally should have an innate fear of in the future.

August:

August was a fun but busy month. Brandt and I traveled to Crossett in early August. That's right, we headed south for my all time favorite thing in the history of my life . . . The Crossett PRCA Rodeo! Brandt also shares my love of horses and rodeo. He loves riding and, man, he is such a boy. He was thrilled to see the horses and bulls, but his main point of excitement was when 2 men fell from their horses in the Grand Entry, and each time a cowboy was thrown from the bulls or jumped from the broncos. What a little thrill seeker! I am in for many injuries in the future, I am afraid!

Our big time fun in August was our trip to Gulf Shores. The trip included Anthony, myself, Brandt, Nana, Papa (ant's parents), Sara, & Ross (Ant's bro and sis). It was Brandt's first time to the beach and he was absolutely amazed. To him it was the worlds largest sandbox! The waves threw him for a minor loop in the beginning, but he quickly overcame this fear and jumped right in. My favorite thing about Brandt being an infant was watching his face each time he discovered something new; seeing the amazement and perplexity as he discovered a new sound or feel has been my main point of comfort and happiness as he has grown. He is getting so big and knows so much that there are far fewer things that give him that amazement anymore. But our trip to the beach was one "oooh" face after another. It was a blessing I really needed. We had a great time. We stayed in an amazing beach house and ate Seafood until our bellies could have exploded. Brandt tried his first raw oyster (my absolute favorite indulgence), he was NOT impressed . . . and quite frankly I thought it was going to come right back up onto his plate. He was a trooper though. He held it down and chased it with an entire glass of sweet tea. It was quite humorous. We really didn't do a lot of "touristy" things, mainly just hung out on the beach all day, every day. Me, Ant, Sara, & Ross decided to go ParaSailing while we were there. Everyone but Ant has been before, and it was quite funny when it was our turn. For all who know Anthony, you know he is not a conversationalist, but once we were 800ft up, he turned into chatty charlie. I've not heard him talk that much in the entire 8 years we have been together. I wish I could have recorded all the "oh gosh"'s and "WOW! Well look at that!"'s. I can't wait to go back next year. P.S. Sorry the slide show is so small. It is one I already had made and decided to use it here. I will post better (aka bigger) pictures later.

Our other big trip in August was my previously mentioned Anniversary gift. We took a trip to Chicago with some of my friends from work. We went to Wrigley Field to watch the Cubs vs Cards (unfortunately the Cubs won the game we watched!) We ate at the best pizza place I have ever had, Giordano's. It melted in your mouth it was so good. Chicago was beautiful, and I cant wait to go back.

September:

As for September, nothing so far. This weekend we are taking Brandt to another Rodeo here in Jonesboro and the NEA Distric Fair starts next week. So I am sure there will be plenty to share soon. I am so sorry this was so long, but that is my fault for not keeping everyone up. I promise to do better, and I hope everyone enjoyed!

Have a great day!