Brenden James

First off, I love this little boy! He is just so dang cute! I took him to a play group this morning and the little girl he was playing with would throw a ball and Brenden would just giggle and laugh until he fell over. Hilarious! I love it! He has the most contagious belly laughs I have ever heard.

What Brenden can do at 17 months old:

He's starting to form 2-3 word sentences!
He can walk all over our apartment
He sleeps in a toddler bed
He is still taking 2 naps everyday
His motor skills are awesome
He loves to be outside
He continues to amaze us by using sign language on his own, even words we don't remember teaching him
He wants to go potty by himself, mommy wants him to walk first
Feeds himself with a spoon or fork
Tells mommy when he's all done eating
Helps mommy vacuum and do the laundry
Combs his own hair
Sits in his chair to read books
Learning to put toys away
Likes to help change his diaper
Knocks at his door after a nap telling us he is ready to play with us
Plays easily on his own
Shares well
Climbs on top of everything
Brushes his teeth all by himself
Throws balls to us
Can throw garbage away
Helps mommy and daddy undress him
Can open doors
Talks to himself and on the phone

In some way I just feel like Brenden is so advanced and can do anything he sets his mind to, I also feel like he is stubborn to doing things that I know that he can do, but refuses to do them. Like walking. He's had the skills to walk since he was about a year old and this week just starting to walk on his own. He is just s stubborn little boy sometimes. But putting words together to form sentences already, brushing his teeth all by himself, and taking his clothes off I feel he is so far ahead of the curve. He is such a smart little boy and I enjoy watching him grow and learn new things everyday.

30 weeks

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I have seriously loved this whole pregnancy! Brenden's pregnancy was more difficult with having morning sickness for so long in the heat of the St. Louis summer, only to come back to Idaho to still have it and have to worry about switching doctors, starting my third trimester, and preparing for everything during the holidays. I was just so stressed, tired, and complained about everything while I was pregnant with Brenden. With it being a first pregnancy, I'm sure it just wasn't what I was expecting and didn't know quite how to deal with everything that comes up in pregnancy.

This time around I feel so great and just so relieved. I never had morning sickness, some mild nausea here and there. I haven't really had any heartburn, only a little when I eat tomatoes or dairy. I know, weird. And I don't have to worry about switching doctors mid-pregnancy because I have a pretty great one here in Rexburg already. I don't have to worry about getting medicaid figured out in a new state which is wonderful! Although, I do need to order a new medicaid this week because Brenden went through my wallet, took out all of my cards and lost my medicaid card and my credit card. No worries, credit card was cancelled the first night and a new one is on its way. I don't even really have to worry about setting up a nursery because Brenden is still so young that most of that stuff is already done! I feel awesome.

I have a baby shower in a few weeks where I'll hopefully be collecting and stocking up on all of the girl things which is really all that I need other than a double stroller and a few small things that I wished I would have had with Brenden, but didn't.

I have less than 10 weeks to go and I think I have entered into that phase of pregnancy where I'm getting really excited to meet this little girl. Sure, I still have those thoughts in the back of my mind telling me that I am not ready! I know that I still have a ton to get done that I want to have done in the next 6 weeks or so in case this little one decided to come early, but I know that I can do it and I know that everything will be great!

I just have to take it easy and spread everything out that needs to be done. I was cleaning up a little yesterday afternoon before Chris and I had people over for dinner. He was at work, so he wasn't home to lend that helping hand. I just wanted to clean the kitchen, de-clutter, the living room, fold some laundry, and vacuum. Wishful thinking. I felt like every time I stood up to get something done the contractions would set in, not the braxton hicks contractions I've already been having, but this baby wants to come out kind of contractions. It was a little scary, so I would sit down for a few minutes and they would subside, and I would get up and try to get something done again and they would set in again. A little unnerving, but I know that they aren't labor contractions, because if they were they wouldn't stop just because I sat down. I do know that I have to take it easy and not push my body these last weeks of pregnancy. I don't want her coming any sooner than she should.

Less than 10 weeks left, and I am pumped!

Brave!

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My mom had gotten Chris some movie tickets for Chris for Christmas this year and we hadn't found the right movie to see yet. That and we had been using up gift cards for a theater in town that I had gotten for my birthday from Chris' parents last year. Since having Brenden, it is safe to say that we don't go out to the movies as much as we used to. We love movies!

We had seen the previews for Brave on tv and thought that it looked super cute. We came up with the idea to take Brenden and see it this weekend with our free movie tickets. Chris only had to work until 3:30 on Saturday, so it was really the perfect day! We went and got our movie tickets and sat down in the nice cool theater. It has been so warm outside this week! Brenden got a booster seat so that he could sit and see in his own seat. It was wonderful! Chris had bought some sour patch kids, Brenden wasn't a fan. He would try one, suck off all the sour and spit it out. He did this probably 4 times. Funny kid. The previews started and he was just so excited! I'm excited that they have dollar movie days over the summer, so we'll definitely be going back. Brenden had such a blast. He was a little squirmy, but what do you expect from a little boy.

I won't spoil the movie for anyone. I'll just say it was fantastic! And if you've been thinking about going and seeing it, GO!

Outside!

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We had just bought our new camping chairs and it was such a nice day outside that Brenden and I enjoyed a few hours just sitting outside. He loves being able to sit in chairs all by himself. I'm sure that he feels like such a big boy! And he is such a little cutie!

Kmart Trip

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I know it's gross, but here's the story. Kmart was having this fantastic sale on camping chairs and we wanted to pick up some more for when we have people over! They had some really nice ones on sale last week for under $15. And for camping chairs, that's a fantastic deal!!

Well, I have officially entered into a stage of pregnancy that is new for me. I never experienced this with Brenden the whole time I was pregnant with him. But I have entered that stage of pregnancy where I can't see my own feet that are connected to my body as I am walking. Bad, bad, bad! I'm clumsy to begin with, add the fact that I can't see where I'm walking and we have a walking disaster!

Well, Chris, Brenden and I are walking through Kmart to the back of the store where all of their camping gear is and I stub my pinky toe on the shopping cart wheel and it takes off a couple layers of skin. I thought I had just stubbed it and that it was hurting, but no, I look down and there's blood all over my toe and stuck to my flip flop. Talk about disgusting. Chris wanted to go home right away, but I told him that we probably wouldn't make it back out to kmart before the sale ended the next day and that I really wanted camping chairs. So I walked through the pain and the grossness. It really wasn't that bad, it was just throbbing a little bit.

We went back and picked out our chairs and headed to the front of the store to pay for them. This was the best part! We have a kmart loyalty card and I happened to remember that our points were expiring at the end of this month and so we decided to use them, hoping that these points would save us a few dollars. Who doesn't like to save a little bit of money here and there. Well, we had never used the points on the card before so had no idea what to expect. We walked out of there saving over $14 just using our kmart points. Way to go us! Made my toe feel so much better.

Garage Sales!

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I have been going to a ton of Garage Sales the past few weeks kind of in preparation for this little girl in my tummy. Brenden and I usually go early Saturday mornings while Chris is at work and he loves it! A few weeks ago Brenden and I dropped Chris off at work in Idaho Falls and came back to Rexburg and hit up a ton of the garage sales in town. We didn't really find anything we wanted to spend money on, but it was still a lot of fun to get outside int he sunshine and enjoy our time together. I keep thinking, I want to spend as much time just Brenden and I as I can because before long, it will never just be Brenden and I, it will be Brenden, Aria, and I. I just can't get over that fact if you can't tell. Anyways, last weekend Chris and I hosted a garage sale with a couple families that are in our ward and walked off not selling a whole lot, but we made over a hundred dollars. Not bad for a Saturday morning. With that money, we bought some fish. That will be for another post later on. Well, on Friday Chris, Brenden, and I all decided to wake up super early and head out to Idaho Falls and hit up some of the garage sales out there in hopes to find some baby girl clothes to fill up baby girls dresser with. We scored! We only went to a few garage sales, and found baby clothes at 2 of them and walked off with probably 30 different outfits ranging from newborn to 12 months all for around $20! Awesome!!!

11 weeks to go....

Not long enough,that I can tell you that for sure. Brenden still isn't completely walking on his own or going to bed like he should. I just need some more time so this little one can stay in my tummy as long as she would like! That is for sure. When I was pregnant with Brenden I just couldn't wait for him to come and I tried everything once I hit that 37 week mark. Talking long walks, walking lop-sided on curbs, bumpy car rides, spicy foods, castor oil, bouncing on a birth ball all day long, and none of these showed any progress to Brenden coming anytime soon. In fact, he was almost a week late. What gives? So I think that this time I will refrain from doing those things and see what happens in hopes that she'll decide to be on time if not a little late. I need all of that extra time that I can get. I will be thrilled once that time comes, don't get me wrong, I'm just a nervous wreck! I can't even imagine myself being a mommy of two. I know that I'll do a stellar job, just like I hope I have done with just Brenden, but I can't help but be nervous and anxious about it!

Love Dr. Jones!

I seriously have the best doctor in the world! Thank you, friends for recommending his office. The nurses in the office are all so sweet and wonderful and they are able to get me in to see the doctor so quickly. I hardly ever have to wait in the waiting room at all. The best part, Dr. Jones never ever tells me that everything I go through being pregnant is normal! That was my one and only pet peeve with Brenden. Everytime I would go into the office to see the midwives, I would ask questions of concern with it being my first pregnancy and they would tell me everything I was going through was completely normal and that everyone else being pregnant went through exactly the same thing. Not true! That's what made it worse, I just felt like I was being lied to all of the time and finally started going to other people that had been pregnant before asking my questions. And the response was always, no, I've never experienced that before or yes, I have experienced that, but its not normal. I knew my body enough to know that everything I was asking about was not normal and really didn't appreciate not being validated for my feelings. I really felt like the questions I was asking were silly and that I shouldn't ask any more. I was very wrong and being hormonal during pregnancy I was outraged that a medical professional would treat someone that way. And it is because of that experience that I decided to look else where for my prenatal care with this little baby. I'm so glad that we found Dr. Jones' office. We switched Brenden over to his care just because we liked him so much. We go into the office every few weeks and voice any concerns that we may have and I always walk out feeling so relieved and validated for my concerns. I'm always told that if anything arises with my concerns not to wait for my next appointment, but to come in right away. I'm always told that I'm the model pregnancy because my numbers are always so great! My uterus measurements are always right on at every appointment, no morning sickness, fatigue, nausea or anything like that. I have gained exactly 14 lbs. this pregnancy which is about 1/2 a lb. each week which is perfect! My blood pressure is right on. My kidneys leak some protein, but it's okay to leak a little. My baby's heartbeat is always between 150-160 bpm, which is just lovely. And today, I was so worried about not passing my blood glucose test. I figured I wouldn't pass and would be stuck with gestational diabetes. Which would royally suck! But I was very lucky, they wanted me to test under 140, and I got a 103! Awesome! That made me feel so great to know that I'm taking such great care of this little baby and that she's growing so well!

Blogging?

Maybe I should blog more than I already do. I got to thinking today about what I like about blogging the most. And to be totally honest, I just mostly like to read about other peoples lives. Kind of like a virtual stalker. Haha. I'm sure everyone else is the same way, but I love to read up on what's going on in peoples lives, and different experiences and events going on in their lives. And sometimes that's a whole lot easier than talking to everyone every day. I'm kind of a slacker that way. I enjoy writing and blogging about our own little family, but since this is all happening to me I just don't feel like its all too interesting. But I'm sure a lot of other people find my life interesting. I just feel that since Chris spends all of his time either at work or at home doing homework that we're a relatively boring family. Not true! I've realized over the weekend that we're able to do a lot together and we have a ton of fun just hanging out with each other. Most of our time is spent either hanging out with each other or inviting people over to hang out and play games. I hate being productive. I'm a time waster and I like it that way. Sure, I find time to get things done, but I don't like running errands and going shopping, I would rather spend the day outside with Chris and Brenden rolling around in the grass. Do I think that makes me a bad wife or mommy? Heck no! Sure, my priorities may be a little bit out of whack, but family to me, is the most important thing that I can focus my time on. If I have to wait until the end of the day to get the house all cleaned up because I spent all day taking care of Brenden and play, in my mind that is alright because I was able to spend the day seeing my little guy grow and develop and interact with me. I am so thrilled that I get to spend everyday with Brenden and get to see his little baby smiles and see him grow more and more everyday. I'm excited to have another little baby to stare at in the next couple of months. I'm excited for summer and to be able to play outside all day with Brenden. He is such a good little boy and I just can not wait until he wakes up from his nap today!