Crawling

(Bode wasn’t putting my phone very far away in these videos, but Owen can crawl longer distances. And don’t mind his bed being a wreck. Bode and his friend Gabe had been jumping on it earlier in the day. :)

 

This big boy can crawl! I may have shed a tear or two today because I can’t believe how fast he’s growing up. He’s been able to get around for quite some time now (think turning, rolling, scooting, crawling backwards.) Today he crawled real crawls. Not backwards, forwards. It’s really cute because it’s like a mix between an inch worm and army crawl style. Bode was SO happy that his brother was crawling and he was being unbelievably sweet about it. Owen’s favorite thing to shove in his mouth is my cell phone. Bode had been playing games on it and so it was in the middle of the rug where he left it. I was doing the dishes and through the window I noticed Owen was working extra hard at something in the other room. I watched him crawl right to it! My jaw dropped, I ran into the living room and I said, “Bode!!! Look! Owen is crawling!” Bode immediately started ooooooing and ahhhing and saying what a good boy he was. I ‘m not even sure Bode knew what crawling was, but he knew by my reaction that it was an exciting thing.

Way to go cute kid. You rock.

Family Time

Clint’s brother, Reuben, flew in from Florida to visit his daughter for her 15th birthday. We had such a great time hanging out with him and everyone else! We ate at Bonsai for a really yummy dinner with everyone, the next day we met for lunch and then his sister Kindra’s baby shower.. and then a few days later we met up at this awesome place called Planet Play. Bode loved seeing all of the family so much. He loves hanging out with his cousins, especially his cousin Jaysen! Poor Jaysen couldn’t have gotten rid of him to save his life. He was a good sport and was super nice to Bode. I loved spending most of that week with everyone. It’s just a bummer that having Clint’s brother in town was the only thing that got us all together. We make sure to hang out with the family, just not all at once unless it’s a holiday or something. We need to do better!

This is Reuben and Mikayla.

Owen was a pretty good kid. He sure gets fidgety though! He’d much rather lay on the floor and scoot around than be held.

 

Kayla blowing out her candle!

Above is the only picture I got with all the kiddos (besides Owen). From left to right: Mikayla, Jaysen, Abron, Bode, Drextin, Mason, and Braxton. Reuben has another 4 girls at home plus his wife Jess who couldn’t make it out. We would have loved to see them!!! We need more girls around this bunch of boys.

Bode’s cousins thought it was really funny to hide his dinosaurs from him most of the night. Bode did NOT appreciate that! It’s good for him to get picked on a little because he’s pretty spoiled. Owen took advantage of the little game and chewed on the dinos for a bit.

Reuben and Clint’s mom, Cozette.

I didn’t get a picture of the whole gang, so I thought a picture of this picture was the next best thing. Bode was the only one not in it. Go figure.

We were all hanging out in the parking lot saying our goodbyes and Clint’s sister, Ali, came up to Bode and grabbed him to fly in the air like an airplane. Bode screamed and kicked and freaked out the ENTIRE time she was trying to play with him. He was so grumpy. I told him, “Ok – fine. You don’t want to have any fun so let’s go. Go get in the car.” He perked up and said, “I want to have fun!” He ran over to Aunt Ali, jumped in her arms and said, “Fly me!!!” And just like that he had the time of his life flying with her. He’s such a crazy kid.

I didn’t take any pictures of the lunch we had the next day. It was really fun though because Clint’s dad was there with his step mom, Bonnie. Jodi, Andy and their kids were there as well… and Reuben and Kayla. We ate at Noodles, as usual when we meet with his dad  - and it was yummy. Bode was kind of out of sorts…. He never goes pee until he’s about to burst. He can hold it forever so I really don’t bug him about going because he always says no. He doesn’t have any problems and just goes when he has to, but he ended up falling asleep on the way to this lunch and peed his pants. Clint was asking me if I had spare pants and underwear and I was like no way! I hadn’t needed those in like a year. It was the craziest thing. So the poor thing had to air dry. That sucked.

The boys had to drop off the girls to the baby shower and so for a few minutes they were there with all of the siblings. Cozette asked me to take some pictures.

Mikayla and Cozette.

Left to right: Top – Clint, Kindra, Andy, Reuben. Bottom – Ali, Cozette, Rachel.

Somehow a family picture always ends up with the boys tipping over the girls.

This was the best sibling shot and of course Clint is making a farting noise. Classy huh?

I snapped this picture from Planet Play with my cell phone. It’s pretty crappy but it’s Bode and his loot. Rachel sat Owen down last minute so he could be in it too. :) Bode had such a fun time. The food was pretty good, and he played games and followed Jaysen around the whole time. We didn’t have any tickets to get anything at the end, but lucky for Bode his cousins are awesome at the games and they had lots. They were nice enough to give some to Bode and he got THREE dinosaurs! He only wanted two and Rachel kept saying, Bode you can get one more. She finally talked him into getting a third one for Owen. Sometimes I just don’t know about him.

Phew that was a long one!

New Toy

 

I feel bad but sometimes when Bode is extra whiney, grumpy, annoying, mean, purposely does stuff I just said not to .... or whatever else I lose my patience and start yelling. I feel like it takes a lot for me to get to this point, but it definitely happens.  I even catch myself yelling at him to stop yelling! AHH. I’m such a hypocrite. I  hate that I do that and I am really trying to work on it. It breaks his little heart when I yell at him and then it doesn’t even matter what he did because he’s bawling that I’m being mean.  One day I sat him down for a chat. I told him that I was really sorry I yelled and sometimes I make mistakes just like he does. I told him I was going to try my hardest to be nice, but that it’s a lot easier for me to be nice to him when he is nice and listens to me.  I tried to go into details about why we have certain rules and what they mean and why they are necessary.  I told him that I was going to try really hard to be nicer and I wanted him to try really hard to be better, too. I praised him for being such a good boy and helper and anything else I could think of and told him he just needs to work a little harder on listening to me. I gave him a big hug and told him he was such a good kid and I loved him so much and it’s ok to make mistakes, but we also need to try harder to do what is right. Both of us! Then I asked him if he wanted to make cookies. Baking makes everything better, right? He lit up and said, “Sure mom! Thanks for asking me!”

I don’t know what clicked for him this time because we’ve had that same chat multiple times, but he really has been trying! It’s been so much more pleasant around here and I LOVE it. I’ve been giving him extra attention and trying to make more compromises with him. Whenever he wants something he says, “Mom! I’m being so nice!!” It’s been a few weeks and although we still have our issues sometimes, we’ve both been much better!

I took him to the dollar store for a new Dinosaur. (Such a great gift, huh?) Clint couldn’t believe I got him another dinosaur, but I just had to do something! It’s all that kid ever wants.

The sun was setting and it was so pretty. I had my camera with me, so on the way home I pulled to the side of the road and snapped these pictures.

It was literally 3 minutes into me taking pictures and he was giving me sad faces. He asked if we could be done and I said, “Yep! We can be done. Thanks for letting me take pictures of you with your new dinosaur!” He grinned this cheesy grin and said, “Oh thanks for asking me mom! Thanks for being nice to me!”

I just love him.

A Date with the Asphalt

Bode was getting in my neighbors car for preschool last week while I watched from the door. He was on the opposite side of me, so I couldn’t see him but all the sudden I hear a blood curdling scream. I didn’t really know what was going on, but my neighbor Janae was freaking out about something! She was in the front seat when it happened, so she didn’t know what was going on either. I guess she was trying to wipe off the dirt on his forehead and his skin came all with it. Once I realized Bode was hurt I ran upstairs to get shoes on (there was snow all over) and ran out to grab him. The poor thing was crying so hard I thought he might puke. He was in the booster seat one second and face first on the asphalt the other. It was SO sad. He didn’t really tell me what happened or talk about it much. I tried to clean it off, gave him some Tylenol, then put Neosporin on it. He wanted to go to school still! I gave him a drink so he’d stop choking from crying and his hands were shaking to hold it so I was kind of worried to let him go, but I did anyway.

I went to check on him about an hour later and his teacher said he was not himself. She said he was really quiet and lethargic and kept to himself, which is not like him. As soon as he saw me walk in he said, “Miss Hollie, my mom is here to get me. I want to go home.” He loves school, so he must have been out of sorts to want to come home. Once he was home I tried to talk to him about what happened and he still wouldn’t really talk about it. He was really sleepy and just wanted to sit on the couch and watch movies. He wasn’t showing any of the signs for a concussion, but just to be safe I didn’t let him nap. Well, Clint told me NOT to let him nap. Over the course of the day it got worse and worse. He kept wanting to look at himself in the mirror and it was so sad. By the time Clint got home from work he was feeling much better.

It took a few days for him to say a thing about it, but we were out and about and someone asked him what happened to his head and he rattled off, “Gabe! My friend Gabe.” The person said, “Well, what about Gabe?” He went on, “I sat on his school bag, but it was an accident. And then he knocked me out!!! He kicked me in the road.” Every person after that to ask about it he would make sure to tell the same story over and over again. The funniest one was our home teacher. He asked Bode about it and he shook his head and whispered, “Gabe.” And that was it! Bode’s little friend denied doing anything so I don’t really know what happened. Those two argue about everything these days. Everything is fine now! It’s not the first time he’s landed face first on the road from a vehicle and I’m sure it won’t be the last. Such is the life of a boy!

Owen

This baby makes my life so much better. I know it’s cheesy, but he really does. Harder, but better. He’s always got a smile on his face and he’s easily entertained. He’s either moving all around the floor, in his saucer, or in his high chair. He is happy as can be to be left alone. It makes it super nice for me because I can get ready for the day, cook a meal.. do whatever and he doesn’t care. I have noticed he gets bored more easily when Bode is not around. The two of them are so cute. Owen can crawl backwards, but not forwards. So sometimes he can’t reach a toy and he will get upset. Bode is always willing to grab something for him. The little pill still doesn’t sleep through the night, but it’s pretty awesome when he falls asleep in my arms and sometimes I rock him a few extra minutes before going back to bed. Last night he slept from 8-12 and Clint and I were both cheering, “Wow!! Four hours!!” Like it’s something amazing or something. I guess 4 hour stretches are way better than 2 any day. Besides the crappy night time sleeping, he’s just about perfect. I love my Owen!

Bode was taking a nap and Owen was so happy just laying on the rug. He had just blown out of his outfit and so that is why he doesn’t have any clothes on. I thought it was so funny that his arms were all spread out like this so I had to take his picture. I sat in my chair and snapped a few more in the course of a few minutes. This crazy kid was all over the place!

 

He’s getting better and better at sitting up and so I thought It would be cute to have him sit in the chair. He immediately leaned over towards the chair rail and started eating it. Silly boy.

Valentine’s Day

Clint got me these beautiful flowers! I have no idea why I look so funny, but the flowers look good. :) Clint got a new wedding band, but he needed one anyway. I’m just saying it was for V-day since I didn’t really do much else for him. 

Bode and I made these delicious, melt in your mouth cookies. Yum! I rolled out the dough and we made a few dinosaur shaped ones, but it was a pain in the butt. My cookie cutter was really a sandwich crust cutter and it didn’t work the best. Bode loved it though.

I asked him if we could take pictures of the cookie and I’m surprised he didn’t run away.

It’s not the best dinosaur shape ever, but Bode didn’t seem to mind!

We had to give away lots of these cookies because I could see myself eating them all.

Bode had a party at preschool and he loved it! He passed out dinosaur “balentimes” and he thought it was so cool. Owen just chilled out all day long as usual. I didn’t get any pictures of him, but he got his first taste of a cookie. He LOVED it. I think that is an understatement. He bawled his eyes out when he couldn't have more. I didn’t really think much of it, but 15 minutes later he was still acting fussy. I was really worried because he never cries! I tried feeding him, I tried putting him down for a nap, he was just plain old fussy. I thought really hard about his schedule and why he could be so upset. The only thing I could think of was that he wanted more cookie. Sure enough.. I gave him a few more bites and he was happy as can be. That baby is so funny when it comes to food! I really hope I’m not starving him and that’s why he’s so obsessed with eating, but he doesn’t look like he’s starved.

Cabin Fever

We have had so many germs in our house for this whole year it’s ridiculous!!!! Since my last rant about how sucky it is to be sick  - we all got the stomach flu. It started with Bode who barfed for a few hours one night. As I’ve said before this is normal for him and I really thought it was just from his cold making him cough really hard. Nope! Definitely the flu this time. I thought I was going to DIE when I got it a few nights later. Seriously, one of the scariest nights of my life! I won’t go into details but Clint was so scared he almost called 911. I was so worried what would happen with that nursing babe, that I told him not to call. So yeah, I still fed Owen through that night. AHH! If it wasn’t for him, I would have totally went into the ER or let Clint call. Luckily, it passed after 4-5 hours. Just when I was starting to get caught up on sleep and feeling better Clint got it. His body wasn’t doing crazy scary stuff, but he still had it pretty bad. Before the stomach bug even hit we were already sick!!! I still had the never ending sinus infection, Clint had the world’s worst cough, and Bode had a cold. Monday morning Clint was recuperating from the flu and finally decided to go to the Dr. After getting x-rays and a breathing treatment he finally got meds for severe bronchitis. I’m glad it wasn’t pneumonia which is what the Dr. thought it would be! I kept thinking my sinus infection was on the mend and about to be gone, but Monday morning I woke up with PINK EYE. I didn’t even get it from the kids! The Dr. said it was the bacteria from my sinus crap spreading to my eyes. I had FINALLY had enough. I got on antibiotics.

We are definitely seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I can’t wait to be germ free for once! It’s been really hard on me and everyone in the family to have so many things go wrong. I’m feeling so grateful that Owen managed to get away with nothing more than a little runny nose.

Anyway, I’m done throwing a pity party for myself. It could have been worse. Life will go on. :)

These are just random pictures of the boys entertaining themselves in the house. Poor Bode was sick of any and all crafts, coloring, games, movies, books, computer, etc. He kept saying, “Mom! Let’s go somewhere, please!!!” He would beg to go to wal mart, chik fil a, McDonalds, Jump on it, the zoo, Dad’s work…. every place he’s ever been I swear he asked for us to go there. I’m going to try and do some extra fun things with him to make up for lost time! He’s been a trooper, he deserves it.

This little kid is so awesome. He pretty much entertains himself and is always so cheerful.

Bode was starting to get sick of playing with his dinosaurs (didn’t know that was possible!!!) and started playing with random household items. For example, paper towels.

I love this little cheeser.