Happy Thanksgiving!

Today I am thankful for...

My amazing husband - he truly supports me in everything I do, is an awesome father and day-to-day life would not be nearly as fun without him. He really is my best friend.

My adorable, sweet toddler - he makes me laugh daily, melts my heart constantly and is truly a blessing in our lives. We're so lucky that he's a healthy and happy toddler.

My wonderful family - my siblings are my rocks. All of our parents are awesome, constantly helping us when we ask and always there for us when we need them. My extended siblings are just as awesome, and Brody loves having so many Aunts and Uncles.

My friends - no matter how far and how close I know I can count on them whenever I need them. Even if we don't talk everyday, when we do catch up, it never feels like time has passed. I'm lucky for such long-standing friendships.

My Job - Not everyone is lucky enough to be employed, so I am thankful for a job that is both fulfilling and helps me provide for my family.

And many other wonderful things in my life, like being healthy, and living in a free country.

Today I will be celebrating with wonderful family and cheering on the Packers! Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

When Brody Grows Up...

He wants to be just like his daddy...

Love.Them.To.Pieces.

Sometimes I Forget...

To remember how lucky I am...

Between the naptime and bedtime struggles as well as a preview of "terrible twos"...Brody has been a little more stressful than usual. And with a long winter ahead with less and less time outside, I imagine we'll have plenty more stressful days ahead.

So yes, sometimes I need to remind myself...

The sleepy boy who refuses to take a nap is the same boy who loves to cuddle in the rocking chair and read books or sing a song.

The boy who can get frusterated to the point that he'll scream or cry is the same boy who says, "love you mama."

The high-energy toddler that loves to run around like crazy, pulling out everything onto the floor is the same toddler that will let you tickle him until he's laughing so hard you think he'll stop breathing. Then when you stop, he'll yell' "more!" because he loves to giggle.

He makes my heart melt on a regular basis with his love, smiles and personality. So -- when he's crying because I did something as simple as breaking a piece of bread in half instead of giving him the full slice -- I just need a simple reminder of how lucky I am to have him.

Chatty Brody

"Between 18 and 20 months, his pace will pick up as he acquires ten or more new words each day. If he's especially focused on learning to talk, he can add a new word to his vocabulary every 90 minutes!" -BabyCenter.Com

As much as I was surprised to read this statistic, I am also not very surprised. Even though Brody is almost 22 months, this describes him perfectly. He constantly is saying new words that I had no idea he knew! Even when we're not intentionally teaching him a new word, he's learning it by listening to us.

Aside from the fact that I need to watch what I say (and do!), it's amazing watching him pick up every little thing. Somehow in the last couple of weeks Brody has learned the word "Coffee." So every morning he points to our cups and says, "Mama coffee/Dada coffee." And I swear we don't drink THAT much! Then we were out to dinner and he asked for our "fries." I think he gets fries at daycare, but he's never had them at home or out with us before. So I had no idea he even knew what those were! Guess I should probably start watching what I eat too...

He also likes to put ownership to everything. It's "Brody's milk", "Mama's coat" etc. He also generalizes certain things. Mommy and Daddy is universally applied to anyone that looks like a Mom or Dad....in books, at daycare, at the store... It's akward the first time your child points at a strange man and yells "Daddy!" I just keep repeating, "yep - that's one of your friend's dads" and hope one day he'll catch on.

You know you're the mom of a toddler when...

When I first started working after Brody was born, it made me laugh at the stuff I had at my desk with me in my laptop bag.

Today I was reflecting on how I am so used to carrying around stuff for Brody that it doesn't phase me, but it's amazing how different life is with a toddler. A year and a half ago I blogged about having onsies, bibs etc. Check purse today:

--Toy Cars
--Pacifier (that's being hidden in a zipper so Brody won't find it)
--Hand sanitizing wipes & bottle of hand sanitizer
--iPad that Brody refers to as "Elmo" because that's what he uses it for
--Lots of advil

And on the weekends you'll find a spare diaper and wipes, sippy cup and a snack.

It's not a glamorous life, but I love it.

2nd Halloween

Last year we were able to do quite a few fun Halloween activities with Brody, but with each year I know it will get more fun to do new things with him as he grows older.

So this year, we tackled pumpkin painting. I'm not brave enough to carve pumpkins with Brody yet, but since he does a lot of art projects, I thought painting would be perfect. But first, we had to head out to get a pumpkin...

We didn't end up finding a weekend to go to a pumpkin farm with hayrides, pick your own pumpkins and corn mazes. So instead, we headed to a farm nearby where all their pumpkins on are near the road. I also believe this is the cheapest way to go too.

Despite the low-maintenance pumpkin picking, Brody had a great time. He was able to pull around pumpkins in a small wagon, ride in a bigger wagon and pick out his own pumpkin.

Then we headed home to paint our pumpkins. Brody had a great time painting his pumpkin and my ever-so-patient Mom sat next to him to make sure paint did end up all over the floor and so Jason and I could paint pumpkins as well. The finished products:





Halloween at Brody's Daycare is also a big celebration. Every year they host a Costume Fashion Show. Parents attend of course, but it also draws a crowd from many others in the office. By the time we got there it was standing room only!

All the kids walk (or are pushed in a stroller if they're too little) across a stage. Walking is so much more fun, so I was excited that Brody was out walking on his own. He actually did a great job and I snapped a picture of him when he saw me. He pointed and yelled right away of course, but didn't try to run over. Many other kids get pretty upset when they can't run over to their parents right away, so I was glad that Brody did such a good job.

Our Little SpiderMan!

Friday night we headed to a Haunted House/Halloween party that my sister helps host every year. While it was cold, we were still able to stay for awhile, which allowed Brody to go through his very first haunted house. While it was a good/scary haunted house (which they do in a garage), when we took Brody through, we used a flashlight and all the people in the haunted house were extra nice to him. So, it wasn't truly that scary, but we still got a chance to check out all their hard work.

Since Halloween was on a Monday this year, our city chose to do Trick-or-Treat from 6-8pm on Saturday night. At first I was annoyed that it was so late. (Brody goes to bed by 6:30!!) Then I realized that at least it wasn't a weeknight and reminded myself that it's not the end of the world if Brody stays up until 8pm. We were in the middle of weaning the pacifier (more on that another day), so any disruption to bedtime was worrisome.

I personally believe that a 1 year old is too young to trick-or-treat (especially since he's not allowed to eat any candy). However, Jason disagreed, so he headed out to take Brody to a few houses. It was a great way for Brody to get the experience with some of our nearby neighbors, without doing too much. Although, he still ended up with a ton of candy! Apparently they thought he was cute.

Then they headed home and he helped pass out candy. This was by far his favorite activity. He would run down to the end of the driveway with a piece of candy to drop it in a kid's bucket. Then when it would quiet down, he would yell, "More Kids!!"

Toddler Talk

Conversations with Brody:

Jason: "After we get a haircut, we're going to go to Kohl's"

Brody: "Cole!!!" (Brody's name for Aunt Nicole)

Me: "No Brody, we're going shopping, at Kohl's Department Stores"

Brody: "Cole's!!!"

Me: "Boy, he's going to be pretty dissapointed when he realizes Nicole won't be there and he has to go shopping for Kitchen gadgets..."

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Brody: "Ben? Where Ben?" (Ben is one of our chocolate labs)

Me: "Ben is upstairs, Cody is right there" (Cody is our other lab)

Brody: "No, Ben!"

Me: "Is Ben your favorite?"

Brody: "Yes"

Me: "Is that because you can only say 'Ben'? "

Brody: "Yes!"

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Me: "Brody, what do you want for breakfast? Waffles?"

Brody: "No! Cereal."

Me: "Oh, you want cereal?"

Brody: "No!!"

Me: "What do you want for breakfast?"

Brody: "Waffles!!"

Weekend Getaway

So after the craziness at work, I just wanted to hibernate with my favorite boys. So...we headed on yet another vacation!!
Over Labor Day weekend we hopped in the car and drove a couple hours north to Green Bay. We had a couple things in mind for when we got there, but the best part is that it was one of those last minute vacations where every minute wasn't already planned.

We got there Friday afternoon for lunch at Lambeau Field and a tour through the Packer Hall of Fame. It was my first time, as well as Brody's, and it was pretty fun. Obviously Brody will enjoy it more when he's older, but he did a great time hanging out in the stroller while we looked around. He also didn't sleep the whole car ride up there, so it was a miracle he wasn't melting down. Waiting for lunch & playing his first arcade game

Checking out the Lombardi Trophy (Super Bowl Champions '10-'11)

That night we just went out to dinner and headed back to the hotel to get Brody to bed at a normal time. There was also a pit-stop to get eye drops since Brody had developed pink-eye. Though he gets sent home on a regular basis for "pink-eye" this trip was the only time I actually think he had it. Let me tell you, classic pink-eye is actually pretty nasty. Luckily he was able to get medicated right away so that he didn't spread it to us or anyone else.

We also learned the key to success in hotel-ing it with a toddler. Separate bedrooms!! We stayed in a suite (in the middle of nowhere, this was still a pretty cheap room), which had a separate bedroom, with a fridge/microwave/sink area separating it between the living room. We were able to put Brody to bed and we could actually stay up. He slept great both nights in that hotel room and napped as well. It made things so much easier.

Then on Saturday we headed to Bay Beach. This was actually our main purpose for picking Green Bay, so I was a little dissapointed when we woke up and it was raining outside. For those who don't know what Bay Beach is (I just learned this recently), it is an amusement park directed at younger kids that is super cheap. You don't pay to get in and each ride is about $0.25. The most expensive ride we went on was $0.75 per person (Merry Go Round). Many of the rides are geared towards younger kids, but children up to the age of 8 could easily be entertained there. And we struggled to spend $5 in about 3 hours.

At first I was a little nervous. Brody had never been on a carnival ride and the first one I saw didn't have a seatbelt. I really thought he might try to climb out during the ride, so we went to look for one where he'd be belted in. Though, there really was no reason to worry. Here's his first ride...

He LOVED it!

By the end of the morning, he was a pro. Jason even yelled out to him, "put your hands in the air!" So, he did...

The best part was, he wouldn't put his arms down until Jason told him to. It was pretty funny.

The weather wasn't ideal, but Brody didn't mind at all. We headed back to the hotel for lunch and nap thinking we'd go back to ride more rides in the afternoon if the weather cleared up.

Unfortunately it rained all afternoon. There was no way I was getting stuck in a hotel room with a toddler on vacation. So we pulled out the laptop, did a few google searches and found an indoor place with inflatables to bounce around in. This also was another first for Brody. He was a little hesitant at first, but quickly got the hang of it. Especially when he figured out that one of them had a basketball hoop and ball in it.

Turned out to be a great couple of days and we loved the more laid-back vacation. Definitely think we'll head back there again in the next couple of years.

Working Mom Struggles

As I mentioned before, the end of our summer got a little crazy at work. For a few months I was working crazy hours. At least 6 weeks of it Jason was basically a single parent, when I never even left town! I easily thought about quiting my job daily. (OK not really since I knew it was only temporary and I love my job).

I've gone through busy periods in my career and had jobs that never seemed to not been in a busy time. Everytime that happened though, there was only one person I was leaving at home. When it was just Jason and me, he was very understanding when I had to work late. Sure I'd get the occasional complaint, but at the end of the day, he understood that I enjoyed my job and sometimes that required a lot of hours.

Ever since Brody was born, I've been in a job where we have busy times, but that really only amounted to 50 hours a week. And I've been very lucky where I can work at home at night instead of staying at the office late.

Then we had an unexpected thing come up at work (it was accounting related, so I won't bore you with the details), that not only did I have to work late and work weekends, it wasn't optional. For the first time in my career, I was told that I had to work all weekend. We were here for 15 hour days for over 10 days straight. Which = not seeing Brody for most of those days.

Things I learned:
1. There is a reason I work where I do...this was a rare situation, where other career paths I could have taken would expect this on a regular basis.

2. I'm not emotionally capable of handling being absent from my family for long periods of time. There were a lot of tears shed... (Also, working 90-100 hours in a week is exhausting)

3. I have the BEST HUSBAND IN THE WORLD! Ok, I already knew that, but, he's always been there for me when I needed it and this time was no exception. I normally take Brody to daycare every day. But in order for me to get home before 10pm at night, I had to start coming in earlier than daycare opened. So he had to go to work late a couple days a week, just so I could be in at 6am. His job is important to him too, so it wasn't easy to have to balance that as well as taking on Brody full-time.

On the weekends when I was at work, Jason didn't just sit at home with Brody staring at the TV, he actually took him out to do things. Our zoo passes were awesome because they would just head out to the zoo for a few hours and then head home when they got bored. He really is a great father.

4. We have a great family. Again, I already knew this, but we had a few people have to come and babysit last minute because I couldn't get out of work. It's a huge help having them around and knowing Jason wasn't in it alone.

5. I do really work for a great company. There were many people who had to go above and beyond this summer and they made sure to recognize everyone.

Family Vacation

Every summer, my Dad, Stepmom and as many children that can make it, head to Grand Haven, MI for a family vacation. Between my Dad and Sara, they have 7 children, 2 extended children (Jason & my step-sisters long-time boyfriend) and 1 grandchild. So we end up with quite the crowd (all pictured above).

Last year, when Brody was about 6 months old, we took him for the first time. It was fun to bring him along, but there were a lot of things we couldn't do with him. He was barely eating solids and couldn't even crawl yet. So, this year, we had a lot of things we were excited for him to do.

First, we decided we were going to take a ferry across Lake Michigan, instead of making the drive around. We had to take a 6am ferry there and an 11pm ferry back to get the best deal, but it seemed worth it to save on sitting in a car for 6 hours. We were wrong...

The ferry ride to MI was great. Despite getting up early, Brody was happy and unlike an airplane, you could actually move around. It was rocky of course, but he was able to walk around and we even went on the top of the boat to get some fresh air and check out the water.

The ferry ride home? Awful! I'll spare you the details, but it was stormy and the lake was choppy. Needless to say, it was 11pm at night, Brody was tired and seasick and I was on my own in taking care of him since everyone else on the boat wasn't doing so well either. I'm never complaining about the 6 hour car ride again!!

Aside from the ride home, the rest of the trip was a blast.

There are several traditions we have for this annual trip. One tradition involves ice cream at a place in town that has a huge variety of yummy flavors. So, despite the fact that I generally don't give Brody much for dessert, he had to have ice cream with everyone else. I did make the mistake of getting his in a bowl when everyone else got a cone. He ended up finishing my ice cream cone instead and I had to eat out of the bowl!

Second tradition is a place called "Pronto Pups." They batter and fry corn dogs in a stand on the road and while completely awful for you, they taste great! Brody's first experience with fried food was a good one of course.

We stay at a home a block away from Lake Michigan, so there is a lot of beach time while we're there. Last year, Brody freaked out when we tried to expose him to the lake. The water was even relatively warm and he wouldn't go near it. So we were a little unsure how he would do this year, especially when I wouldn't go in because it was too cold (and this was in the middle of August!!)
So we walked him to the water....

He checked it out...

And within minutes he was laughing like crazy and loved running into the waves. This is the kid the can't handle it if his bath is lower than 98 degrees. Yet he went running into a freezing cold lake with no problem. What a crazy guy.

We knew the sand would be his favorite part and it definitely was. He even let Jason bury him in it. All was fun, until he ended up with sand in his eyes...

The best part about vacations with the entire family is not only the fun we have together, it's also a huge help when you have a little guy. Everyone there is more than willing to help take care of him and keep him entertained. And since we stay in a house, it's easy for him to adapt to a "home away from home" atmosphere. It's by far the easiest vacation with a toddler. And next year he'll be able to do even more!