There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.
~Albert Einstein~

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Sleepless In (The) Cincinnati (Area)

Oh..........well, Easton started rolling over last week at 3.5 months. I thought this meant he was a genius, future Mensa member, etc. What I didn't realize was that it would be a complete nightmare! The poor baby rolls over in his sleep and then starts crying when he gets "stuck" and can't roll back over. This happens every 2-3 hours if I'm lucky...if not, it's even sooner! So, needless to say I'm exhausted. And Brendan's no help - he tried to "help" me last night by holding him for the customary 30 minutes after a meal until his reflux issues settle down.....2 hours later (at 3AM) I found them both snoozing away on the couch. So, every night Easton starts off in his crib but ends up in our bed because after the second time he gets up, I'm too tired to do the hour-long meal process that is required for an acid-refluxing, breastfed baby. So, I lay down with him and let him nurse until he falls asleep. I do keep him on his sleep positioner, though so that makes me way less nervous about having him in our bed. Speaking of the sleep positioner...that thing is supposed to keep the boy from rolling off of his back...can I get my money back? That little peanut wiggles off of that thing and is on his stomach all upset every single night - that's what wakes him up!
Anyway....even though he steals my beloved sleep I miss him terribly every day while I'm at work and can't wait to get home to see my eacie-peacie...I don't know how to spell that out phonetically...I guess it's kind of like ECPC....derived from Reese's Pieces but kind of changed for my purposes. I have weird nicknames for people I guess.....Zachary used to be Zachary Wackary which turned into Wax. I called him that for the longest time. Sadly, I guess the older they get the more the nicknames start to fade. Brady was Pumpkin/Pumpkin Head for the longest time. Now he's just Big Boy.

But, I digress....here are some pictures of Eacie (I guess that's how I'll spell it??) on his elephant blankie from "Aunt" Molly....don't know where the scratch came from - he woke up with it the morning AFTER I cut his nails??? Why do I even bother?? ;)

Check out the guns.....

I guess he figures he's such a cereal expert now...he might as well go for the elephant ear!!

On Monday, Brady brought me one of his animal books and kept saying, "what animal is that, Mommy?" even though he honestly probably knows more animals than I do! So, I asked him to show Zachary some animals so those two sweet boys sat on the couch with that book for quite a while while I fed Easton!! I'm sure they were fighting again within the hour, though! Boys will be boys...or so I'm told!!

Monday, July 27, 2009

Busy, Busy, Busy!!!

So, we had a very fun weekend. Friday, I went to lunch and did some shopping with my mom and sister. (My parents were in town for Easton's baptism on Saturday night.) After lunch, I took Easton to the doctor for his 4-month check-up and shots. He did really well with the shots. The doctor increased his Xantac dosage because he's been spitting up A LOT lately. Other than that, it was pretty uneventful.....except, we got the green light for solid foods! So, we started with rice cereal mixed with a little formula. He wasn't quite sure what to think but I think it's growing on him!
It's hard to take a picture of yourself feeding a child.....that's why this one is so blurry. Plus, he kept trying to grab the spoon - I guess he thinks he's ready to feed himself!

Saturday night was Easton's baptism......

Proud parents making a rare photo appearance....

Here he is with his Godparents - James has been one of Brendan's best friends since they were little...allegedly, Brendan was James' "bodyguard" in elementary school. I bet that was interesting. I met Molly shortly after I transferred to MU in 1999 and we've been friends ever since. Her son, Jack, is 2 months younger than Zachary - although he looks older. He's the cutest little thing - he has the most adorable, curly hair! They'll be great Godparents!!!

After mass, we all went to dinner at a local restaurant - it was too chaotic for pictures I guess!

On Sunday afternoon, we went to my sister's house for dinner and some major fun for the kids. Brady LOVES going to Aunt Amy's to play "with" his cousins. Their house is like an amusement park compared to ours. Plus, they have a long lane on their property and are so far from the street that we don't have to worry about Brady taking off - he's a major flight risk.

Amy and Jim recently invested in an inflatable water slide - good investment! Brady always sleeps so well after a day at their house....

Zachary finds the waterslide too overwhelming so Aunt Amy set up the water mat for him.... that still took some persuading from cousins Justin and Jarrett...


We were so convinced that he'd stay dry, we didn't have a chance to put his swimsuit on...oh well!



Then it was off to the backyard for more fun....I was so proud of Zachary for tryng the big slide for the first time! I'm not sure if he knew what he was getting into but he seemed to like it!


As we were leaving last night, some of Amy and Jim's "pets" were spotted in the yard...if you look closely, you can see some baby bunnies, too....
Brendan must love to make me worry because he was quick to point out that these were baby deer and their parents were nowhere to be found. :( I'm sure they were just hiding in the trees...at least I hope so!

Thursday, July 23, 2009

So You Think You Can......Make Me Cry!

I just watched last night's episode of So You Think You Can Dance. Brendan told me about the dance tribute to breast cancer at the end but oh my - it still got me! I just can't stand to see a grown man cry! And I love the song they danced to - that song was on the soundtrack to a movie I used to love which was, ironically (now), about a woman struggling to get pregnant! I hadn't thought about that movie in a long time - I can't remember the name of it but I had the soundtrack in casette tape form so that'll tell you how old the movie is!


Breast cancer has actually been on my mind a lot today. I got a forwarded email from a co-worker today that included this image....


I immediately thought of our sweet friend, Suzanne, who's been battling breast cancer since the fall of 2008. I wondered how she would feel if I forwarded the email to her so I didn't....at first. This afternoon, I got an email notifying me that she had updated her Caring Bridge page....and it was the update we had all been waiting for! She had her last treatment today - she has officially kicked breast cancer's booty! She has been through more in her "29" years than anyone should ever have to endure so I'm so glad that this phase of her life is OVER! She deserves only good things! So....then I felt okay about forwarding the email!!

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

I Don't and Rolly Polly

I love lists!!! Great idea, Jenna!
Jenna’s Journey Blog
Here are some things I DON'T do...


  • I don't know the authors of the majority of the blogs I read...but I feel like I do!
  • I don't like popcorn
  • I don't drive slow...ever. And I like to be the leader
  • I don't eat any food that I could eat if I didn't have teeth (pudding, apple sauce, jello, etc.)
  • I don't have much patience....but luckily my husband does
  • I don't clean my own house and that makes me so happy...every other Saturday!
  • I don't like to go to the movies
  • I don't like to be outside
  • I don't floss
  • I don't like to exercise which stinks because I don't like to be overweight, either!
  • I don't answer the door or the phone unless I know who it is
  • I don't think I'll ever run out of things to add to this list so I better stop before it gets really ridiculous!!

Easton had a big day today! He started rolling from his back to his tummy this afternoon! He's a rolling machine!! I'm so proud of him - he's come so far and is such a big boy!





And who knew a cardboard box and hooded towel could be so much fun??



Fun stuff!



Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Natural Brunette....I promise!

So, I feel really stupid. I work from home on the weekends/Mondays and was convinced that my laptop had died on Sunday. No matter what I did, I couldn't get it to turn back on. I made sure it was plugged into the wall, into the laptop and that that outlet was working. Nothing I tried worked. I called the help desk....nothing they tried worked either. So, I piled all 3 kids in the car and drove the stupid thing up to the office (half an hour each way) so that the IT gurus could work on it and have it fixed in time for me to use it this morning. We have an intern helping us this summer so I had her come out to my car and get it so that I didn't have to try and take all 3 boys inside. Brady cried when the intern took "Mommy's computer" away. I was shocked at how upset he was. Anyway, I got home and checked my email on webmail and had an email from the intern saying that the IT guy called and said that he plugged the laptop in and it worked just fine. Huh? It was completely dead for me?!? So, the only thing I could think of was that I had a bad power cord.


Meanwhile, he deleted a bunch of stuff and made all kinds of changes so when I got there this morning, I went to pick it up and he realized that his changes screwed a couple of things up. This led to two more hours without my computer which I totally depend on. So, it worked fine the rest of the day and I brought it home tonight to catch up on some of the work I had missed due to my incompetent computer. I plugged it in here and, of course, it wasn't working for me. So, I went to unplug the cord so that I could take it in tomorrow to have it "tested" and realized that the power cord is actually two cords that have to be plugged into each other for some reason. I'm going to blame one of the boys for unplugging these which led me to believe that it wasn't working at all (Brendan's expecting me to blame him). I had checked to make sure that the power cord was plugged into the wall and into the laptop but I had failed to make sure that the two cords were plugged into EACH OTHER! Why are there two cords in the first place? I feel like a complete idiot. I just hope the IT guy doesn't call tomorrow to see if I brought the cord in for him to test. Let's just pretend none of this happened, shall we?

On a lighter note, my mom got this Willow Tree figurine for Brendan when Easton was born because she was worried that no one got him anything??? Hello?? I'm pretty sure no one got ME anything and I'm the one that had my body sliced open to give birth to an almost 9-pound baby. Anyway, so she got this for Brendan. Very sweet. It's sitting on the hutch in the dining room and I heard Brady in there talking to it yesterday. Telling it hi, etc. And then I heard him telling Zachary, "look, Daddy's sitting on the potty with Easton." Ha!


Friday, July 17, 2009

"It's Normal"

We've had a crazy week. A stomach bug found its way into our house. It started with Zachary - when I went in to get him up Sunday morning, I noticed the distinct smell of vomit in the room. He had thrown up in his crib and on the floor at some point in the night. Then, the next night Brendan was complaining of feeling "queasy" which I immediately dismissed because he's a big wuss and I thought he was trying to slack off on his fatherly duties. Ha! A little while later, Easton did a little gag/cough combo and threw up quite a bit. I convinced myself that he only threw up because maybe he ate too much and that gag/cough just made it all come up. So, Brendan left for softball and I put Easton to bed.


Around 1:30 in the morning, I heard Easton cough...just one little cough but I went in to check on him anyway. Somehow, in his dark little room, I noticed that his sheet was wet. So, I reached down and moved him to check and sure enough he was laying in a puddle of vomit. I still can't figure out how that happened since he doesn't roll over but it is what it is. So, I got him up to change him and woke Brendan up to tell him what was happening. He went in and changed his sheets while I changed his jammies and tried to feed him. Easton was too tired to eat. Wait...what??? That never happens! Let the worrying begin!


So, I kept him in bed with us because I was too worried about him throwing up and choking in his room. So, it was a long night. I had already decided that we needed to call the doctor and that I'd, at best, be going in to work late. But, after I got up with him the next morning and he threw up again I knew I wouldn't be able to be away from him. His pediatrician asked if he was vomiting blood (like I'd just casually call if that was the case) and, since he wasn't, said to just "keep an eye on him". Well, I kept my eye on all-day puking. Around 2-something, I had had enough and we were off to the ER at Children's - the same "campus" we took him to when he started vomiting blood at 4 days old...I told him in the car that we would not be leaving in an ambulance this time and that he better straighten up!!


Well, he kind of listened.....the doctor ordered a "belly x-ray" and, much to my dismay, it looked "funny". Brendan met me there but had to leave to pick up the big boys - when he left, we thought everything was good but he missed the radiologist's "funny" findings. So, the radiologist thought it was best to send us to the main campus but they "let" me drive him myself this time. The ER doc was convinced that he was fine and told me that he regretted ordering the x-ray since anyone with just a stomach virus would have "funny" looking x-rays. He even went back to the radiologist and asked if he would've thought the scan looked "funny" if we hadn't been through the whole malrotation and volvulus issue and the radiologist told him "sorta". So, off to downtown Cincinnati we went for an upper GI scan.


I called my sister to see if she could take care of the big boys so that Brendan could come downtown. Luckily, she didn't have any plans and was on her way to our house within an hour. By the time Brendan got there, it had been around 2 hours....they wouldn't let me feed Easton so he was upset and crying....they stuck us in a tiny room where we had to wait and wait to see the surgeons so by that time I was crying, too. Brendan got there just as some surgical resident - a man of VERY few words who just stood there and watched me cry - came in to tell us that the the fear was that Easton's intestines were twisting again and that there appeared to be a blockage of some sort on his x-ray.


A few minutes after the silent resident left, a familiar face showed up - one of Easton's surgeons appeared. I probably scared the first guy so much that he ran back and got the other guy but regardless, we were happy to see a familiar face that remembered us and Easton...and was quite impressed with his size! He was the doctor that we saw every day for surgical rounds in the NICU - at first I wasn't that impressed, but then I ended up being a fan. He's very young - not sure of his "rank" or whatever...in fact, I'm realizing now that I don't even know his name. But, he always had confidence in Easton and he let my little Peanut guide him in his treatment plan when he wasn't really following the rules. Anyway, he said that he had seen the x-ray and wasn't that concerned but wanted to go ahead and have the GI scan done which Brendan and I both agreed with - we're all about being safe...not sorry!


So, in addition to the upper GI test, they wanted to start an IV to make sure Easton stay hydrated - they also wanted to run some blood tests. This almost put me over the edge. I so vividly remember the last time we went through this - I sat in the corner of his little ER room bawling my eyes out, listening to my 4-day-old baby screaming like I had never heard him scream before while they tried to get blood out of the poor child and start an IV. That took 5 attempts. This time, it "only" took 2 tries which actually made me quite happy .....that is, I was happy AFTER the IV was in and they got all the blood they needed (up until that point, I was absolutely miserable). Honestly, the IV and the "no eating" were the hardest parts for ME....and probably for Easton, too!! I was pretty convinced that we weren't in an emergency situation this time; however, I realized that this could all be a coincidence and the vomiting could be due to a virus and that there could be a problem with his intestines that he wasn't showing symptoms for - yet. We obviously hoped this was not the case.

So, more waiting - Easton hated being in the little exam room so we took turns walking him up and down the hall. Finally, the poor baby fell asleep.....so, of course, a few minutes later they were ready to do his GI scan. This time, they gave him the Barium via a bottle rather than a tube through his nose - since they hadn't let me feed him in close to 8 hours at this point, he was more than happy to drink the Barium solution. He laid perfectly still while they gave him the bottle and did the test. The radiologist told us "so far, so good" and then ordered an x-ray after 5 minutes and sent us back to the ER to wait. We thought it'd only be a few minutes but it ended up being closer to an hour - finally, we got the word that his test was NORMAL!!! YEA! Man...this is a long story....anyway, sounds like it was a bug of some sort but what a roller coaster. And too much deja vu - we had one of the same ER nurses as the last time and we recognized one of the downtown ER docs although (luckily) we completely bypassed him and went straight to the surgical team....can't imagine how long we would've waited if we had to go through the ER docs before the surgeons.


Obviously, we're EXTREMELY grateful for NORMAL test results! And, ironically, this puts some of my fears of a recurrence to rest. I had always wished they had done another GI test after his surgery before we brought him home - just to make sure everything was okay in there. But, it was such a great feeling to be able to bring him home from the ER this time!!! We're soooo lucky!

Monday, July 13, 2009

God Knows Best

Three things most people don't know about me....



1. I DID NOT want to adopt....until I needed to. Growing up with adopted siblings, neither of my sisters looked like me. A little background - deja vu...my parents were also told that they couldn't have biological kids so they adopted my two older sister and then, poof...I appeared! So, I always wanted my kids to look alike. After a devastating miscarriage and tons of fertility treatments, we were told that we wouldn't be able to have a biological child together - our "issues" just weren't compatible. So, we were running out of options and Brendan was finally willing to consider adoption - I had surrendered to adoption after the miscarriage but Brendan wasn't ready yet. Now, I'm so grateful for 401K loans, parent loans and God for leading us to our little Brady all the way across the ocean in Russia! We decided on international adoption because neither of us were comfortable with open adoptions which are now so common in the US...plus, I'm not that patient! It took a year for Brady to be ready for us but he was worth the wait. Who wouldn't love this face? This is the first picture we ever saw of him....it's the one our adoption agency sent to us in October, 2006 - I think they were amazed when we accepted the referral given his medical problems...



2. When we decided we'd get a second opinion, I was much more relaxed because I already had a child. IVF cycles are very long and involve lots of shots, ultrasounds, blood work, appointments, etc. Since I have PCOS, my ovaries completely overreact to the follicle stimulation drugs that are so common with fertility treatments so we came very close to wasting our time and ending up with a cancelled cycle. Toward the end of the cycle, my doctor had to let me "coast" because I was at risk of hyperstimulation which can be very dangerous. Unfortunately, I'm so sensitive to the drugs and so in need of them (or so we thought at the time) that coasting caused the majority of the follicles I had developed to kind of die off and my hormone levels completely dropped. Our genius doctor had a feeling we should go for it anyway so we did. I specifically remember standing in my bedroom, talking to him on the phone when he told me that he had another patient that had been in the same situation as me and she had ended up pregnant.....of course I told him that didn't mean it would happen to me and he agreed. So, the day of the retrieval, I expected them to get a ton of eggs - good or bad.....they only got 7. Given my previous IVF experience, I knew that the odds of any of those 7 being "good" were slim. When they woke me up and told me the results I was devastated - I cried the rest of the day. They called the next day to tell me how the fertilization went - only one of the embryos was worth even attempting to implant and, since there was only one, they wanted to do it the next day. So, we gave it a shot. During the implantation, I was awake but Brendan was out in the waiting room with Brady so I was on my own. I made a CD of relaxing music to listen to during the procedure - once they were finished I had to lay in the room by myself for about half an hour to give the embryo a chance to settle. So, I laid there listening to my CD and one of the nurses came in and gave me the little "dish" that the embryo had been in and told me that it was the baby's first crib. Then the waterworks started. I held onto that thing and laid there crying by myself in that room until it was time to go. I had no hope for that cycle - 8 months later, Zachary was born. We named him Zachary because it means "God remembers".....we thought it was totally appropriate since we had asked God for a biological child but he needed us to be Brady's parents first...but he remembered what we originally asked for...and He was right anyway!

3. A few weeks after Zachary was born, I realized that I wanted another baby. But, given all of our trouble, I figured we'd have to do IVF again which meant they'd probably want to implant two embryos (that's the norm for my age - but w/ Zachary we only had the one embryo that was "good"....really great)....I didn't really want (nor could we afford) twins at this point but I knew I wouldn't want to have to choose if we had more than one embryo so I was torn. I secretly hoped that by some miracle we would be able to conceive on our own - I didn't pray for it because there were more important things to pray for. I remember when I went in for my post-partum visit my OB asked what we'd be using as birth control. I reminded him that I had PCOS and he said, "oh, that's right" and that was the end of that converstaion. About 4.5 months later (while still nursing Zachary) I miraculously got pregnant with Easton. God is sneaky! :) Easton's middle name is Nathaniel which means "gift from God" which he truly is....we had no idea how much of a gift he was until we almost lost him....

I wouldn't change ANY of this for ANYTHING! We have a really interesting story and 3 amazing boys that we love dearly!



MckLinky Blog Hop


Something Else


I was talking to Brendan on the phone this morning and Brady wanted to say, 'hi' so he rambled for a minute until I took the phone back then he said, "I want to say something else." So, I handed the phone back to him and he literally said, "something else" into the phone and gave it back to me! Pretty funny!!

Yesterday, after naps that didn't involve sleeping, we had pictures taken in the backyard. Not-so-graceful Zachary has a couple of bruises on his face and, as you can see in the picture above, Brady has a lovely scratch on his chin from falling out of his chair a couple of days ago. I think we got some really cute ones of Easton. The big boys didn't really cooperate, though.


After the photo shoot, Easton needed a snack and some alone time in the bouncy seat! He was sooo good for the pictures!
Then it was story time...
And later when I went into the kitchen to start dinner, I found the big boys "sharing" the inch worm!


So, we had a good weekend....the boys slept great Saturday night - Easton slept for almost 12 straight hours which is a record for him - but I paid for it last night and today. Easton woke up twice last night (he usually only wakes up once and it's usually not until around 5AM) and the big boys were not the angels I needed them to be after only getting 4 hours of sleep last night! But, we survived and everyone is sleeping....for now.....


Saturday, July 11, 2009

Roll Over


Easton is officially rolling over from his stomach to his back. He did it 6 or 7 times tonight. Such a big boy! He's close to going from his back to his stomach but I think that will take a few more weeks.

I cleaned out my half of the closet last night - I guess I've finally given up on being a size 6 again. Ha! I filled 6 huge bags full of clothes, shoes and purses and we took it to Goodwill today. There will be some very happy bargain shoppers out there - I got rid of some good stuff. Now the closet looks so sad - I'll have to cheer it up by buying it some new clothes and shoes! For the past few years...basically ever since we brought Brady home...I've been consumed with buying things for the boys and haven't cared at all about my appearance or doing anything for me. I'm not sure what happened after Easton was born but that has changed a little. I've been buying clothes, getting pedicures, etc. - if only these things were free! :( Luckily, the outlet mall opens in just a few weeks so at least I'll be able to get some good deals....hopefully!

The boys are having their big photo shoot tomorrow night. Brady has a huge scab on his chin from falling backwards in his chair the other night and Zachary has two bruises on his forehead, one on his eye (fresh - got that one tonight by running into a table at church) and a scratch on his forehead. Uggh! I don't know if photo shop can handle all of that. We'll see. They always get little bruises on their shins, too - can't quite figure out how they're getting those but I'm guessing it's from climbing onto kitchen chairs, beds, etc. Boys will be boys I guess!

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Poor Zachary got a haircut today.


We're finally having Easton's birth announcement/3 month pictures taken this weekend and the big boys were due for haircuts - we'll be attempting to get all 3 in some of the pictures. Zachary went tonight and Brady's going tomorrow night - we have to take them separately because they both absolutely hate it and it seems to decrease the trauma a little if they don't see each other freaking out. I took Zachary tonight...


Brendan will have to take Brady tomorrow night - he basically has to restrain him during the entire haircut.....they'll both be sweaty and covered with hair by the time it's over. And Brady's haircut is always a mess as a result. Oh the joys of raising a child with sensory issues. :) I don't think we'll be taking pictures of that appointment!

Luckily, Zachary recovers quickly from the traumatic experiences we put him through...




Of course, since we're planning on having pictures taken this weekend, facial injuries are inevitable. You can't see it in these pictures but Zachary has a lovely bruise and cut on the left side of his forehead near the hairline. I got home from work two nights ago and the first thing Brendan said was, "I don't know what happened".....I knew what that meant right away and as soon as Zachary turned his head I could see the damage. It's definitely not going away by this weekend.....you can't see it in these pictures but it'll be hard to avoid in the real pictures this weekend.

Then, as we were getting ready for dinner tonight, Brady was sitting up on the back of his booster seat - we've told him not to do this hundreds of times probably - and then we heard a crash as the chair (and Brady) fell backwards onto the kitchen floor resulting in a lovely scratch on his leg....and one on his chin! Uggh! It seems like this happens every time we have pictures taken!

This is how Brady "parks" his "motorcycle" for the night....so proud of him for wearing a "motorcycle helmet". I still need to get a picture of him riding his hog! :)

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Gotcha....Blog Hop

This is my favorite picture of Brady and me. It was taken in the orphanage on December 11, 2006 - what we consider to be our Gotcha Day. Our court date was that morning - after almost 13 months of waiting, praying and completing enough paperwork to last a lifetime; we were (finally) granted permission by the Russian courts to be Brady's parents!! After the very intimidating and stressful hearing, we went back to our hotel to email our friends and family with the exciting news and highly anticipated pictures....then we had lunch and we were off to the orphanage to see Brady for the first time as his official parents! We were taken up to see him in the room that he shared with 20 other babies. It was play time so the majority of his roomies were divided amongst 4 large play pens and it took us a minute to find him. Brendan spotted him first so he crouched down in front of the play pen...Brady saw him, smiled and crawled right over to him. It was the first time we saw him crawl. It was almost as if he knew it was official. His demeanor was completely different than every other visit we had had with him on both trips...he was much more outgoing and playful all of a sudden. The picture above was taken that afternoon - you can almost see the relief on my face! We weren't able to take him back to the hotel until the next day - still more paperwork to be done....the picture below was taken right outside the orphanage the following night as we were leaving for the last time.
Brady had his first dinner in a restaurant that night.....





And then it was time for bed - he seemed so grateful to not have to sleep in a room full of babies! It always amazes me that he didn't seem at all upset that we were removing him from the only home he had ever known. Since we've had Zachary, I now realize that 10-month-olds are definitely old enough to know who Mommy and Daddy are (or whoever cares for them daily) and they are definitely mature enough to form bonds with the people they see every day but Brady never looked back once he was with us. Such an amazing little guy. We're truly blessed.


MckLinky Blog Hop

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Motorcycles and Airplanes






It turned out to be a very uneventful weekend thanks to rain, a lack of a babysitter and Brendan's work schedule. It's probably a good thing, though because the stupid fireworks interrupted Easton's sleep last night so we were very tired today! Easton took a 4-hour nap today which, of course, worries me. Especially since he was ready for bed 3 hours after he woke up. I worry when he sleeps too much and I worry when he doesn't sleep enough. :( I can't win!


The highlight for the big boys today was riding the motorcycle (inch worm) and airplane (Mickey Mouse toy) around the house. I was the coolest mom ever for bringing those two toys up from the basement! I didn't get any pictures but I'll get some tomorrow. Brady's still obsessed with the Bengals helmet which magically turns into a motorcycle helmet when he rides the inch worm!

I love this picture of Brendan and the boys! He's a pretty good jungle gym!


Friday, July 3, 2009

Helmet Head

Brady's been wearing this helmet all afternoon for some reason....in the house, in the car, at Target - all afternoon. It was Brendan's when he was little and still fits him...well, sorta. Big man, little helmet. Zachary wanted to try it on....



But Brady wasn't too happy about that, so of course he promptly removed it .....


Poor kid! His hair looks red in pictures a lot for some reason but it's very blonde. Easton's hair definitely has a red tint to it, though....I think he'll definitely have Brendan's coloring. Not sure about Zachary yet but I'm guessing he probably will, too.

I had to wake Zachary up from his nap this afternoon. When I went up to get him, he was sound asleep - completely out - and he looked so much like Easton while he was sleeping. It was kinda scary!

I've been thinking about this whole blog thing a lot lately. Even if no one reads it now, I think it will be great for the boys to go back and be able to read it someday and see what they were up to at such a young age. I really wish I had started it when we were going through the adoption phase - those would be great stories for Brady to read someday! I've never been a diary person so it's kind of weird. I feel like I'm writing to someone but then in reality no one's reading it....except maybe Brendan every once in a while. Anyway, I'm going to try and keep up with it...we'll see how it goes!