Happy New Year!!!!

Date Night - Happy 4th Anniversary :)

Rob took me out on a fantastic date for our anniversary on Thursday night. We went up to Seattle and went out to dinner at Anthony's. We got the "Sunset Dinner" (which we have never gotten before). It's from 4-6PM and I HIGHLY recommend it. You get:

Appetizer

Soup or Salad

Entree

Dessert

All for $18.99 per person! I know this sounds like a commercial, but we've gone to Anthony's before and spent that much PER ENTREE!!!! I had shrimp cocktail, clam chowder (so creamy and yummy), shrimp fettucine and chocolate mousse!!!! Oh my! So yummy.

Then we went to the Space Needle. We went last year and let me tell you I enjoyed this year a whole lot more. Last year it was kinda windy and I could feel the building swaying when were at the top, I was nauseous the rest of the evening. This time, it was so clear (very cold) but we could see all the lights of the city....and I only got scared when I started looking straight down and started thinking of how long of a fall it is. Then, I got over that and loved the rest of it.

We saw some of the Christmas lights while were driving.....very pretty. We didn't have time to go walk around and see the lights, but at least we caught a glimpse of them.

Rob gave me a very pretty necklace too which was unexpected. I felt like he definitely exceeded my expectations. It was a very calm and relaxing evening with no children and just the 2 of us. We need to do that more. We had a lot of really fun conversations and learned things about each other that we didn't know about one another. That's hard to do when kids are around and you're just trying to scarf down dinner, nurse one of the kids, keep the other from making a scene....i think we should save going out to dinner to be a special couple time from now on :) I had lots of fun.

Our actually anniversary is the 16th, but I'm leaving my hubby on the 15th to head over early to Colorado for Christmas......maybe that's being a bad wife, but if so, my sister is a bad wife too :) (JK Michelle!!!! She's leaving her hubby early too and missing their anniversary which is the 18th!)

I love dates!

Pics of the kids

He's becoming very curious and wants to touch everything! Thank goodness he can't crawl yet, I need to start re-baby proofing ASAP :) He's getting stronger and can kinda sit by himself for a couple seconds before tipping over. I think it's the beginning of the end.....soon Breanna will not know what hit her when he starts coming after her toys...aaaah!

She really likes pbs.org for computer games, we found it on Thanksgiving and she is really good at some of the games. Her favorite are Thomas the Train and Bob the Builder.

Ethan figured out how to jump in this thing, but he likes the other one better b/c it has toys attached. I hid this under the bed b/c even though Ethan doesn't want to use it, Breanna does.

Peanut Butter playdough......we made Minnie and Mickey Mouse, some squares, elephants...etc. She had alot more fun then her face shows.

Memory game that we got......she really likes it. Kinda doesn't follow the rules, but lots of fun.

Oh glorious trampoline! Great for getting her energy out and she took a nap 2 days in a row after she got this! To bad the napping trend hasn't continued..........

Babysitting

I need to stop complaining about not having family nearby!!

Yesterday I had my sister Michelle "babysit" my kids while I took a shower. There was no screaming, crying, hurting, etc. I had a shower in peace.

Yes, Michelle, this is your new job so I can get my shower without worrying about the kids!!!

NOTE: Michelle lives in Sacramento, CA and babysat my kids via the internet, webcam and Skype :) And, yes it worked! Breanna talked to her, ran around and showed off for her and Ethan jumped in his jumperoo (without crying) the whole shower!!!!! It's a miracle.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here's a shout out to my awesome hubby who cooked ALL of our Thanksgiving dinner!!! (I thawed a frozen loaf of bread and placed it in the oven.....that's it!) What a great day.

I'm so thankful for my family, a place to live, cars that work, food to eat, healthy kids, husband, children, parents, Jesus, the gospel, and lots more. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving too!

4 Months

Well Ethan is 8 days away from 5 months old, but I just had his 4 month check up today! He did very well and Breanna was excellent throughout the whole appt.....yeah!

Stats:

Height: 26 1/2 inches = 75th percentile

Weight: 14 lbs. 11 oz. = 75th percentile

Head: 42 cm. = 50th percentile

*He rolls from tummy to back

*He's NOT sleeping well at night (we're working on that) he wakes up every 3 hours and multiple times before I go to sleep. He's learned that mommy is a better pacifier then a real pacifier :) Dr. said he should be sleeping at least 6-8 hours (made me motivated and feel better about helping him get used to falling back to sleep on his own.)
*He has 2 bottom teeth ready to break through...we'll see when it happens

*He really likes being held

*He's a momma's boy, clings onto me when I hold him

*Happy baby 90% of the time, yeah!

*Loves his sister, he will crack up laughing at her and then I'll try to do the same thing and I just get a smile :)

*He has discovered his feet.....hands and feet are ALWAYS in his mouth

*He's drooly, but not too bad

*Learned a high pitched horrible scream, which gets me running to him, but it's just to get attention!

*Loves grabbing things, trying to grab hair, toys, anything that gets close to him

Question.........does anyone else feel super pressured at their doctor appointments about vaccines???? I felt VERY pressured today when I declined the rotavirus vaccine. It is a live vaccine and since my dad had a bone marrow transplant he can't be around anyone who has just had a live vaccine, well we're going there on Dec. 15th and staying at their house. I told my Dr. this and she proceeded to say, oh it should be fine, not a big deal, blah, blah, blah and tried to convince me to get it for Ethan. I wanted him to have it, but I WILL NOT RISK MY DAD'S HEALTH!!!! I told them this and she tried to make me feel it wasn't a big deal and my dad would be fine. Not cool.

Last time I also told Rob the limit on shots for Ethan was 3 and they tried to convince him to get 4 b/c one was oral. I had said 3 only, he had it written down and said 3 only, what don't you understand about my wishes and concerns for my child. Personally I think 3 shots is ALOT to give a 2 month old baby. Yes, it's safe blah, blah, blah, I don't care, they are so little and don't need all those shots right then. They can have them spaced out. I have 5 years to get all his shots before kindergarten. Why do I feel that I'm doing something wrong when I ask to limit my baby's shots? Or protect the risk of the live vaccine to my dad?

Anyone else feel this pressure, or is just my Dr.? I am definitely thinking of switching pediatricians and just want to know if this is a silly reason to switch or if all Dr.s are like this and I should stick with her.

Besides this, it was a good appointment :)

Rewind to September

These are from our trip to Colorado this September. They make me look forward to leaving for Colorado for Christmas :) Only 27 days.........and yes, I'm counting :)

Adventures at Church

Today at church my friend was kind enough to keep Ethan with her while I ran Breanna to Nursery. I was excited b/c I was really quick dropping her off and Breanna went straight to the toys, with no issues. I was going fast b/c my friend has a baby Ethan's age and I imagined both could be crying and that would be no fun.

Then I took Ethan to the nursing lounge b/c he was starving, well not really, just super tired and a little hungry. He zonked out and I was just rocking him a little bit and I got interrupted by the Relief society president. "Your daughter needs her diaper changed."

I thought, well that stinks b/c she doesn't wear a diaper!!!!!!!! So asked her to bring Breanna in and Breanna was soaked on her tights and shoes. "Sorry mommy," she said. Then I thought, oops, it was MY FAULT, I forgot to ask her if she needed to go before I dropped her off at nursery!

So, then I tried to figure out how to get her tights, undies, shoes off while nursing Ethan. Then, cleaned her up. Then I realized........I had no back up undies!!!!!

This was a short story and it turned long......I squished Breanna into a SIZE 2 diaper and sent her back to nursery with no shoes or socks (her dress thankfully was nice and dry).

I did all of this while nursing Ethan.........pretty impressive huh? And, on the way home from church Breanna asked for undies.....guess the diaper was a little small :)

biting?!?!?

What do you do when your child bites your other child?

Any advice is welcome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks!

Kinda Awkward

I guess I'm just an awkward person.....situations seem awkward to me that might not to other people.

I was just at Walmart because I desperately needed nursing pads (***was wearing my last pair***) and so I also did some grocery shopping. While checking out the cashier was actually looking at the items I was buying (ususally I swear they don't have the time to or don't care to look at what people are buying).

So, the cashier was a young guy, maybe 20 years old, who had earrings and looked just like maybe even a teenager. While he picks up and places the nursing pads in the bag he says, "Wow, I didn't know they made these!" as he smiles at me.

I just kinda smiled and kept loading the bags in the cart b/c I was thinking, this guy probably had no idea what he's commenting on right now and is mistaking nursing pads for something else.

Then he puts the other box of pads in the bag and says, "well good thing they make them, they must be essential huh?"

Akward smile from me and then I say, "yep they are." Great response Brooke, but what else are you supposed to say to a 20 year old guy commenting on breast pads!!!! I thought, what in the world does this guy know about nursing and why is he talking about it for "small talk?" Don't cashiers usually just ask you how your day is going, or the weather or something! Then I I got flustered thinking about it and he told me to have a nice day and then I started heading out the wrong way....stopped, turned back around and headed the other direction and he commented, "forgot which door!?"

All I could think was this was really awkward :) But, I also thought, what a fun post for my blog! I'm also glad that I didn't load up on any other feminine products at this trip to walmart :)

Random

Breanna loves taking pictures with the camera.......this one turned out all right, it's fun to see the other blurry/random pics that she takes b/c it's like looking at the world through her eyes :)

We went to the zoo 2 Saturdays ago with the Kirkwoods. It was lots of fun and a beautiful day. This is the only picture I took.....my camera batteries died right in the parking lot. Cool peacock!

I got out this airplane exersaucer thingy for Ethan last week. I thought he'd be too young still, but he LOVES it and it was perfect timing. His favorite thing right now is to try to stand, so this is great for him. He also spins around in it and plays with the toys. Thanks Monica for handing this down from Brendan, to Breanna and now to Ethan! Maybe I should get out the door jumper thing for him soon. He's kinda cranky this week due to a cold we all have, so I'm happy he's taking a nap right now. He's still trying to smile as much as possible though through the tears too :)

Breanna graduated into a toddler bed last week! She finally decided to climb out of her crib for the first time in her life last Wednesday and so we set up her bed on Thursday! I thought I would never have to change her b/c she LOVED her crib so much, but with her climbing out that all ended quickly. She loves her new little bed (another gift from Monica and Brendan passed onto Breanna). She loves to have Ethan come in her bed and listen to her music with her. She also will read him books and let him play with toys in her bed, it's really cute.

Halloween Fun

We went to the mall for trick or treating...which I think is GREAT if it's cold outside and you have young ones. Super busy, but fun. We also went to the ward "trunk or treat". That was fun too and quick. I was worried Rob would miss the trunk or treat if he didn't get off work on time, but he was able to come, yeah! Ethan was a great sport chilling in the stroller through the mall and then he loved watching everyone when he stayed with me to pass out candy at the trunk or treat.

Breanna decided to draw on her face b/c she saw me putting whiskers on my face.....so she drew bumblebee's on her face (just in case you can't tell what it is :).

Question...did anyone get trick or treaters at their house? I was really worried b/c we ran out of candy at the trunk or treat and it was only 7PM when we got back to our house. I just decided we'd give Breanna's candy to the trick or treaters who came by (i know, i'm a mean mom) but we only had 5 show up! And they all came at once.........so, what's up with that? Everyone in our neighborhood I believe did something similar where they went to a church party/mall/YMCA/etc. instead of door to door. Is door to door a thing of the past, or was it just our neighborhood? I talked to another lady who had no one show up, she's in a different neighborhood. Just thought I'd ask to see what happens where everyone else lives!!!

And I'm so excited....the countdown to Thanksgiving is on and then Christmas!!!