Something I never thought I'd say

"Hey, buddy.  Did you remember to tuck your weiner back into your underwear?"

We were working in the garden this weekend and, of course, Brock had to 'go pee-pee osside'.  From my vantage point it didn't look like he had tucked himself back in and I had to ask.  He was completely unfased as he answered me with a very quick, 'yep'.  Greg on the other hand, gave me the strangest look and shook his head mumbling something about how much therapy is gonna cost us later in life.  I don't see the problem.  I asked a legitimate question and Brock knew exactly what I was talking about.  Is it strange that sometimes my almost 3 year old understands me better than my husband?  Wait.  Don't answer that.

Outdoor fun

Since it has been so nice outside, we have been taking advantage of the sunshine and warm weather and doing some stuff outside.  Both of the kids really love to swing, but Brock is having a hard time giving up the baby swing.

Riding his 4-wheeler while wearing his beloved Sponge Bob helmet

We are still learning how to steer . . .

OMG!  How yummy are those little cheekies?!

Brock LOVES throwing things down the slide.  While wearing his helmet.  You really just have to choose your battles.

Such cuteness I can hardly stand it!

Okay, I alluded to the fact that Brock is not the best at navigating his 4-wheeler.  One minute, he was happily zipping along in the backyard.  The next he crashed into the slide.  As we were pulling him off the 4-wheeler, he was crying, "The slide bite me, mommy.  The slide bite Bwocccccccckkkkkkkk."  Those big fat tears do make me sad, but you can't help but laugh when your child is crying about the slide biting him.

Pure Magic

A few weeks ago we took Brock to the Magic House in St. Louis.  When I was pregnant with Adrianna we said that we wanted to do something special with just Brock one day per month but time has definitely gotten away from us because now Adrianna is 8 months old and we have only done things like this with him a few times.  But now that we are both home on a much more regular basis and have normal hours, we can formulate a plan to spend more one-on-one time with both of the kids.  Also, I highly recommend the Magic House.  There is SO MUCH to do for a wide range of ages.  There were kids younger than Brock and up to the ages of 12-14ish running around having just as much fun as the 2-year-olds.

Brock was showing off his musical talents

Playing in the "bubble room" with daddy

Warning: the bubble room is just like it sounds.  Messy, but very fun.

This thing is awesome!  There is a much larger version of this at Shryock's farm/corn maze outside of Columbia (which I also highly recommend taking kids to)

Look at those muscles!

Learning all about magnetic pull

Brock was not all that impressed with this little girl.  He wanted to put the balls in specific places, she had other ideas, words were exchanged . . . at the end of the day he was a gentleman and stomped away sporting a massive pouty bottom lip.

This man was not happy about having his picture taken.  Then move outta the way, ya old grouch!

Brock is actually sitting in front of me in this picture, you just can't see him.  I pinky swear.

Ah, the giant static ball.  I loved it.  Brock was not impressed.

The joys of having a son

Last weekend Greg taught Brock how to pee outside.  Last night as we were getting out of the car, Brock told me that he had to go pee.  I told him to run to the house and I would meet him there.  I grabbed the diaper bag and turned around to see that my sweet little son had dropped trow on the front porch as he proudly proclaimed, "Brock go pee-pee outside, mama!"

Sadly, I did not have my camera on me at that moment, but you can bet your sweet Aunt Fanny that I went back outside and took pictures of the aftermath:

I know that this will definitely not be the last time that something like this happens but I just hope that we can get through Brock's childhood without the police being called for public nudity.

I like a nice warm shower, just one with a little less pee

Poor Brock.  Poor sweet little Brock.  A few nights ago I was riding his case pretty hard about not whining because I've gotten plenty of it from him lately.  As I stated in a previous entry, the green-eyed monster can be a real bitch and he is most whiny when I'm holding Adrianna.  She can be around (in her jumperoo or sitting on the floor) but if she is in my arms, he whines and cries and makes sure to tell you, "Bwock cwying"  Last night I decided that rather than yell at him to stop whining, I was going to try to have an honest discussion with him.  After a few swats on his hind-end coupled with a few time-outs (one of which lasted 15 minutes), he comes into the living room and says to me, "Bwock done whining now, Momma".  Good.  Now that he was ready to listen, I was ready to talk to him. 

I explained, as best I could, how Mommy has more than enough love for two babies and how special and important he is to Greg and I and how we will always love him no matter what.  He nodded along, said yes in the appropriate spots, he even gave me a hug and said, "I lub you Mommy" when we were done with our discussion.  He even went to bed with barely a fight.  Well, at almost 10pm that night, I was just getting ready to fall aslep when he started to cough.  As history tends to repeat itself, I flew into his room because I could tell by the tone of his cough that he was going to throw up.  Sure enough, he did.  Luckily, we made it into the bathroom first.  When he was finished he was covered in snot, tears & vomit and he (of course) wants nothing more than to snuggle his momma.  After I wiped his sweet little face clean, he looks at me and says, "Bwock not whining no mowa momma".  ::tear::

I went to bed feeling pretty bad thinking that maybe I'd been too hard on the little guy.  The next morning I sat him on the potty (like usual) just before I got him dressed.  My feelings of regret were fading rapidly because he does not like to be woken up (he would much rather wake me up at 5:30am on a Saturday) and he does not like to go pee first thing in the morning.  So, true to form, he was whining and crying and telling me that I'm a "bad girl" and that I need to sit in time-out for 5 minutes.  Apparently I sat him too far back and he did pee.  All over my scrubs.  Minutes before we were supposed to walk out the door.  Brock: 1.  Momma: 0

After months of coaxing

and TONS of other words, our sweet baby boy said something that he has NEVER said before.  Greg and I are constantly badgering Brock & Adrianna with kisses and "I love you" and we always follow it up with some variation of, "Can you say, 'I love you'?"  Until yesterday this was always followed by a shake of the head or a "Noooooooooooooo!"  Don't misunderstand--when we asked him if he loved us, he would always nod his head 'yes', but still.  Would it hurt the kid to actually mutter those three little words that we so desperately want to hear? 

Finally, yesterday Greg said, "I love you buddy" and without even missing a beat, Brock replied, "I lub you too, guys!"  Oh em gee.  My heart totally melted. 

::Sigh::

This kid has impecable timing because I was ::this close:: to spanking him for getting his toys out for the umpteenth time after I had just cleaned the living room.

Sissy-ana

This is Brock's newest name for his baby sister.  This morning when I was trying to get the kids ready, Adrianna was in her jumperoo and Brock was running like a mad man trying to avoid getting dressed.  All of a sudden he stopped in front of her and said, "Hi sissy!"  So I said to him, "Brock, can you say 'Adrianna'?"  "Nope."
 "C'mon buddy, please.  Say, 'Aaa-driiii-aaannnaaa'"
"Sissy-ana.  Did you hear that?  Hi, Sissy-ana!  Hi, Sissy-ana!  Hi, Sissy-ana!"

And that's what I heard for the next 10 minutes solid until Papa Dave rang the doorbell.  My Gawd, I have the cutest kids evah!

Just because your weiner fits in there . . .

I cannot belive that I am having to say these things to my 26 month old son. Tonight I was dropping the kids off at Dave & Pat's house before I came into work. While I was feeding Adrianna, Pat decided to give Brock a bath. She has lots of toys for him to play with and one of the things that he likes to play with is an empty bottle of liquid dish soap. She was washing him off and I walk into the room and he wanted me to take the lid off. She couldn't do it because her hands were slippery from the soap so I took the bottle, took the lid off and handed it back to him. Out of the corner of my eye I see her start to straighten up. Then I look back down at Brock and I see why. He has put the bottle up to his weiner and has the tip in and is LAUGHING while saying, "Pee pee, bebe. I put pee pee in dere." (BTW: He calls me bebe. I don't even try to understand this child anymore.) I immediately blurt out, "Brock! Just because your weiner fits in something doesn't mean that you should stick it in there!" I'm realizing just how that must have sounded as Pat says, "It's a little early for that kind of advice, don't you think?" Oh. Em. Gee. I have no other words.

Adrianna is officially 3 months old!

Our sweet baby girl is already 3 months old!  I cannot believe how time is whizzing past us.  Everytime I think of how much she has changed in these past 3 months, I want to freeze every possible second so that I can remember exactly how she is at that moment.  She is getting so close to laughing on purpose at things, most specifically her daddy and brother.  Although, I almost had her laughing the other day when I was tickling her belly and kissing her neck.  But, she is smiling LOTS and also screaming.  Not necessarily crying (although she does her fair share, especially when she is hungry), but she is really beginning to discover her voice.  She has been cooing for quite some time now, but she loves to get in on the "conversation" when Brock is chatter-boxing away.  It is seriously one of the cutest things I have ever seen.  Neither of them have a clue what the other is saying, but they will sit and talk to each other for several minutes at a time.  Which, for Brock, is like several hours because he is usually not sitting still!  Also within the last week or so, Adrianna has learned how to blow spit bubbles & mimic people when they stick out their tongues!  Next month, we go back to the pediatrician for Sissy's 4-month check up which will include ::whispers:: shots. 

We are still *nearly* exclusively breastfeeding which I am both proud of and exhausted because of!  Because of my crazy schedule, I have to pump quite often especially when I'm at work, just getting home from work, just before I go to work, etc.  But, since I've been back to work, I have noticied that my supply is starting to dwindle and I'm still on the fence about what to do.  One the one hand, I want to continue to breastfeed for as long as I possibly can due to the health and nutritional benefits that both she and I will get.  Also, it's free!  Which is a huge plus!  One disadvantage is pumping.  I hate it.  I feel guilty when I do it at work because I have to ask somebody else to keep an eye on my patients while I'm gone.  Plus, when I get off work in the mornings, I have to go straight home and pump rather than go straight home and into bed.  Then I have to pump again when I wake up.  All in all, it leads to AT LEAST one less hour of sleep for me per night (well, day) when I work a night shift.  Another disadvantage is that my supply has definitely decreased since I've gone back to work and I'm struggling to keep up with our little piggles!  I just started (today, actually) taking the herbal supplement fenugreek and I've heard mixed reviews about it.  Some women that I know that have tried it say that it worked wonderfully and others say that they saw very little result.  But, it's not that expensive and I think it's at least worth a shot to see if it helps increase my milk production.

Other than that, our sweet babies are continuing to grow and thrive and are turning into wonderful little people!  Pictures to soon follow, I promise!  I have Adrianna's 3 month pictures, Brock on horses and just some random family shots.

Vhy?

This is the newest response that we get for EVERYTHING. 

Me: "Brock, don't swing your fishing pole!"
Brock: "Vhy?"

Me: "Brock, don't dunk your Cheetos in the ketchup"
Brock: "Vhy?"

Me: "Brock, don't pick up the pumpkin."
Brock: "Vhy?"
Me: "Because, honey.  It's too big for you to carry around.  You will hurt yourself."
Brock: "Vhy?"

Me: "Brock, don't climb onto the table!"
Brock: "Vhy?"

Me: "BROCK DAVID STEMME!  DON'T PICK UP YOUR SISTER!!!!"
Brock: "Vhy?"

That's right, folks.  Papa Dave would be proud because Brock is sporting a seriously thick German accent when he wants to know "vhy" he can't do something.  It is so infuriating, but super cute when he looks up at you with that crazy blonde afro and those huge blue eyes and he is just as serious as he can be.  He literally does not understand "vhy" he cannot pick up his sister by himself or climb onto the table.  It is my (and Greg's) job to teach him these things and I accept full responsibility for that.  But.  It is so irritating when I have told him for the umpteenth time to not do something and the only response that I get is, "Vhy?"

So, in the moments that my sweet baby boy is driving me to the very edge of the breaking point, I try to keep images like this in mind:

This one always makes me smile.  Always.

Update on the potty

Clarification: I just re-read this post title and I want to clarify that I did not update this while I was on the toilet.  The update, in fact, comes from my living room couch. 

This morning Brock woke me up at 4am-ugh.  But after we had been watching Sesame Street for about an hour and a half (well, he was watching, I was trying to fall back asleep) I decided to go ahead and get him dressed.  When I went to change his diaper I noticed that it was almost completely dry!  I couldn't believe it!  Then he says, "Bebe, I go peepee!" So we make a half-naked dash across the hall into the bathroom and he peed in the potty!  He is getting so good at recognizing his cues about when he has to go and (sometimes barely) giving us enough notice.  After we celebrated and got him dressed, he wanted to play in his room for a bit and I started to get myself dressed.  After 2 minutes he comes screeching into my room yelling, "I poop Bebe, I poop!"  I wasn't sure if he was telling me that he had gone or if he needed to go, so we (again) rush into the bathroom while we are both trying to pull his pants down and get his diaper off.  As soon as I got him on the toilet, I saw that he had pooped in his diaper.  And unfortunately, he saw it too.  He almost immediately started to cry & said, "I pooooooped. {tears} I poooooooped, Bebe."  So I spent a good five minutes consoling him, rubbing his back, and telling him that it was an accident and mommy will get him to the potty quicker next time.  My poor sweet boy!  It was sad, but kind of cute, because he is really trying so hard to not have accidents.  I am so proud of what a smart little man he is becoming.

Do you hear that dripping sound? It's my heart melting!

To start things off, Adrianna has starting cooing this week and I had forgotten what a sweet little sound it is!  She is also starting to smile at things (not just in her sleep or just before she drops a big load of poo).  Her favorite things to smile at are her momma, her brother, her daddy (when he's kissing her), and my boobs.  I swear the child stared at my chest this morning for a good 10 minutes and all the while was just smilin' a way.  It was pretty darn cute actually!

The other reason that my heart is in a melted puddle is because this morning Brock said, "I love you, Dada!"  Well, it was actually more like, "I loo Dada" but we knew what he meant.  I wish I had a picture of the look on Greg's face because it was absolutely priceless!  He also said it to sissy and then to Papa Dave when he came to pick Brock up.  Would he say it to his momma?  Nope.  Oh well, you win some.  You loose some.  I'll get him to say it soon and it will be awesome.

Who knew urine could be so awesome?!

Today was Brock's first day at his new daycare and because Greg is off work because of his surgery, he was able to go with us. Of course Brock cried a little at first, but Betty (the babysitter) offered him a chocolate muffin and he quickly made friends with her. After we said goodbye we left and heard Betty talking to Brock about making a construction paper butterfly.

Around 1pm Greg gave Betty a call to see how things were going and she was filling him in about the butterfly and how they played outside this morning, etc. Then I heard her through the phone say, "Oh! Guess what Brock did today!" Then I see Greg's face light up and he mouths the words "potty" to me! Oh. Em. Gee. I cannot believe that my little boy is going potty in the big boy potty! ::Deep breaths in and out::

As soon as Greg got off the phone I made him tell me what happened and here it is: Betty had all of the boys lined up at the bathroom to go potty and Brock looked up at her and said, "Me too!" (insert ooooohs & ahhhhhhs here, please!) so she helped him up onto the stool and at first he wouldn't go. She turned around for a quick second and Brock had peed all over the floor. The second time Betty got all the kids lined up to go to the bathroom and when it was Brock's turn, he did it! My big boy peed in the potty! And standing up, no less. We have a box of new toys all ready to go for just such a day and Brock has his big boy underwear folded up in his drawer just waiting for the right time.

I knew this day was coming and I have actually been looking forward to it. I'm just surprised that on his first day with Betty, she got him to pee. In the toilet. Standing up. ::Sigh:: My little boy is officially not a little boy anymore.

Edit: We had a fairly major setback tonight. This evening Greg went to the bathroom and Brock followed him and said, "I poop in potty, dada". So Greg sat Brock on his potty, walked into Adrianna's room to grab a clean diaper for Brock and when he turned back around Brock was right behind him. About 2 seconds later, pure horror set in as Greg realized that Brock STARTED to poop in his potty but thought he needed to follow Greg. He didn't stop pooping as he was walking. So there was a trail of poop starting at Brock's potty and leading out into the hallway. After several passes with the carpet shampooer and washing the bathroom rugs (I literally just washed them yesterday) I realized that we needed a picture. This is the one that I was able to get. It's a pity I didn't get to take a picture of the poop in the hallway. Or one of Greg's face when he saw the poop in the hallway. Now THAT would have been one for the scrapbook.

P.S. This is my 100th blog entry! I feel like I should get an award. Or fireworks. Or at least a cookie.

Brock's first (real) haircut

On Saturday we took Brock to Moberly to get his hair cut by his Aunt Pee-Pee (real name: Paula but she absolutely HATES to be called Aunt Pee-Pee so it's more fun). We had taken him once before but he was a wild man and we barely got anything cut off. This time he was much more cooperative and was even "helping" cut my friend's (Stephanie) hair with the clippers. We got so many cute curls to put in the baby book and I was able to get a few extra for the grandmas, too! The best part about his cute new hairdo is that he still has the crazy curls but it is much more manageable and he doesn't have knots in his hair!

Before:

After:

Exciting upcoming event

Today when Mom picked Brock up from school, his daily form said something about a school concert! I had no idea they were even planning anything and Greg & I are so excited to see our little man performing! The funny thing is, we were just talking about how cute his first school play was going to be! I have to call the school tomorrow and find out some details but we are so excited to see him in action. Although, I have to wonder what they are going to do with a group of 0-2 year-olds in any sort of organized manner. . . oh, who cares?! It will be entertaining!

Brock updates

Today we took Brock to see the pediatric GI specialist and we actually walked out of their feeling so relieved! Dr. Ramirez is a wonderful physician who really calmed alot of our fears about the whole situation. Because we decided to switch Brock to soy milk a few weeks ago, we had a little more data that we could share with the doctor.

He thinks that Brock's problem is that he has a mild case of acid reflux (since he was only throwing up at night) but it was "upgraded" to a more moderate case because of an allergy to a protein in cow's milk. The good news about that is, most toddlers grow out of this around the age of 2. So, he said that we could keep him on soy milk until his 2nd birthday and then switch him back to cow's milk if we want. Otherwise, it won't hurt anything to keep him on soy milk indefinitely. I think that if we switch him back, we will take him to an allergist first and be sure that he doesn't have a "true" allergy to cow's milk. I want to do this because this weekend we ate ice cream and, of course, he was begging for it and we gave him a few bites and now he has a runny nose (which he has not had for a few weeks). So just to be on the safe side, we are restricting the amount of dairy that he has. Don't worry though. I'm not turning into Nazi mom that won't let him eat ice cream at a friend's birthday party. He just can't have some everyday.

Now, on to the part that isn't so much fun. When Dr. Ramirez was doing Brock's physical exam he asked if his belly was always that big. Greg and I both said yes, but I have to admit that this made me feel like a horrible mommy. For quite some time, Greg has mentioned that Brock's belly seems to be sticking out all the time. I just brushed it off to "babies have big bellies" and Greg always stands with his stomach pooched out and I just thought Brock picked that up from seeing him do it. Anyway, Dr. Ramirez told us that he wanted to have some blood work done to test Brock for Celiac's disease. (Go to http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/celiac/ for more information). As it was explained to us, it is an inflammation of the GI tract that is caused by an allergy to the protein gluten that is found in wheat, barley, etc. Most people don't present with every symptom but the "big belly" is a fairly good indication. The good news is that it doesn't require any surgery or medication, just diet modification. The bad news is, most of Brock's favorite foods are filled with many of the ingredients that cause flare-ups (pasta, bread, etc).

The lab results wont be back for 10-14 days so I will update the blog when we find out the results from that. Really, the worst part about today was having to hold my wriggly baby down so the lab tech could draw blood. Let me tell you something, it is hard enough having to restrain Brock when he is the one being poked. It is quite another to hold Brock down and try to calm Greg down at the same time when the lab tech totally misses our son's vein and proceeds to poke & dig around until she (finally) gets some blood. I really think Greg was more traumatized than Brock. But, as usual, Brock came out ahead because Greg felt so badly that we had to stop by Wal-Mart on the way home and pick up a toy and a cookie for the poor little fella. Oh and just as a warning to anyone who babysits him anytime soon, Brock has discovered that boo-boo's get kissed and he will milk it for all it's worth! He scraped his chin almost a month ago and will still rub it and say, "Deeeeeesssseeee" (read: Please) which means that you have to kiss it or he will shove (literally) his chin into your mouth. So now the inside of his left elbow is the new boo-boo.

Other than that, Greg just left a while ago to head back to Kansas City which sucks because he and Brock were buddies all weekend long. It was so cute! Brock was Greg's shadow and anytime Greg left the room, Brock would yell, "Dada! Dada!" until Greg would come back. It got to the point where we had to lock the baby gate just so Greg could go to the bathroom! Don't get me wrong, I am so glad that Brock is lovin' his dada when he is around, but it did sting a little when Brock wanted Daddy all weekend and not Momma. ::Sigh::