Ollie Koala's

This past Friday night Jason and I took Brody took Ollie Koala's out at Jax beach. For those of us who don't venture out much - this is like a Chucky Cheese for little kids. My friend Clair who gets out more than I do of course told me about the place. It's free to get in and you can buy a card to play all of the games and they also have a 3 story playland area for the kids to climb in. We drug Brody's Nana and Poppy along for the experience. I'm sure they were so excited!

Brody was in play heaven. He ran around from game to game. He didn't really want to stay on them that long - he enjoyed just climbing in and out of the seats. Of course we bought a card to play the games. The games were only .30 a piece to play - what a deal. We stayed for about 2 hours and even ate dinner there and still had about $11 left on the $20 card we purchased. Here's Brody on a few of the games.

He sure is intense on this roller coaster! Maybe he'll be a roller coaster lover like his mom and dad!

Yes, I know you're supposed to throw underhand but Brody prefers to throw overhand - he has quite a canon!

Wouldn't Uncle Bryan be so proud!!

This ride was an Artic Blast ride and had air blowing out the top - Brody's hair was sticking up

Of course, mom had to get in on the action.

I think he's got the hang of this one!!

Enjoying his first pizza!! I think he likes it -but there's not much that he doesn't like.

Playing basketball was his FAVORITE GAME!!!

Once most of the people had left, Jason had to get in on the action in the playland area. It was actually to get Brody to climb up to the top and come down the slide. I think he had fun though!

Whew, what a night!

We have been so blessed to have a child that has slept through the night since he was 5 weeks old. Brody has always eaten a ton at night which I feel has helped him sleep longer at night. So when he decided to continue to cry at 1AM Friday morning I wasn't quite prepared. If he wakes up in the middle of the night he will go right back to sleep but not this time. From 1AM - 3:30 AM he would cry for 5-10 minutes and then be quiet for about 10 minutes - this wasn't a "I'm hurt cry". I think he finally went to sleep around 3:30 - or I didn't hear him anymore because I was in such a deep somber - but it all started back up around 6AM.

I finally got up to see what was wrong - yes it took me this long - I just kept thinking he would be okay. From 6-7:30 we rocked in his room and I tried to sleep but he just laid there - I can look at it now and think what a sweet time but that is not what I was thinking at the time. He didn't cry at all which I thought was strange. Needless to say he was tired that morning but WOULD NOT take a nap. Of course we had big plans for the day - park and Ollie Koalas so I wasn't sure how that was going to go.

I'm so very thankful he sleeps through the night. I don't see how parents deal with children who wake up all the time and can't put themselves back to sleep. I'm sure our next child will not be so good as Brody.

A day at the park!

Today was my normal day off so Brody and I decided to head to the park in San Marco with Clair and her two girls - Emma and Madeline. Of course Brody decided to get a fever Tuesday night so I wasn't sure how he would feel this morning when he woke up. He seemed okay and I thought being outside would be good for him. I'm not a moper when I get sick and I feel that you need to move around to some extent and it will help you feel better. I guess I got this from my mom.

I feel like a bad mom because this is only about the 4th time he's been to a park. I guess being from a small town we don't have a lot of options. The park was wonderful and had a section for bigger kids as well as smaller ones - of course our kids wanted to play on the big kid section and the BIG slide. As always boys will be boys so Brody thought he could climb on the big section and instead of holding on to take a big step to another level he stepped and took a fall. Of course he busted his lip - what a sight. He's so tough though because only a little bit of crying.

He did so well at the park seeing that he wasn't feeling great. He crashed once we got in the car and slept for a couple of hours. He didn't feel so great when he woke up and ran a fever around 100 for the rest of the day.

Brody has always done so good at taking medicine but this time he DID NOT want it all. You would think we were really hurting him the way he would scream. We had him outside tonight to try and distract him so he would take it but he started screaming so loud that we had to bring him in because we thought the neighbors might think something was up. Since Brody loves food so much Jason came up with the idea of putting a piece of a cookie on a spoon with the Tylenol - WHAT A BIG HIT!!! He went to sleep at 8pm. Hopefully tomorrow will go smoother.

Brody always has to have a ball in hand.

Emma and Madeline aren't so sure what's up with Brody.

After watching Madeline and Emma go down the slide Brody became a pro.

Look at this lip!!! What a sad look :(

A bathtub tale!

I'm sure all parents have experienced this at one time or another and we all sit back and laugh - so get ready. Last night we gave Brody his bath and while he was playing in the tub I stepped out to the dining room. I hear Uh Oh coming from the bathroom and of course I take off running. Brody is standing in the tub looking down at his latest creation which happened to be brown and DID NOT belong in the tub. At least he had enough since to not play with it. I called for Jason to get off the phone and come assist. We got Brody out of the tub and then the question as to what to do now? I put on rubber gloves and scooped it up and flushed it in the toilet. Mom to the rescue!!! Brody kept saying "poo poo in bath" and of course we tried to make him realize that is not where that goes!! Yes, I had to clean the tub AND all of the toys. What a fun time at 8:30 PM.

A few months ago Brody showed a little interest in the potty and I had read that around 18 months is a window of opportunity that they could get potty trained. I am now on potty seat #3 that sits on the toilet and I also have one for the floor. I have been banned from buying any more potty seats. If anyone needs to borrow one just let me know I have plenty to share. Anyways, Brody started off really good at going to the potty before bathtime so one day I got brave and said "I can potty train him today". He wore big boy pants - which are the thick training pants - and I took him every 30 minutes. He would usually go - only a little though and so of course he would have a few accidents. That was a VERY exhausting day. I thought the training pants would allow for no leaks on the floor - this was NOT true. I then tried the plastic pants over the training pants and this definitely helped. However, Brody no longer wants to even attempt to sit on the potty. All he says is NOOOOOOO!!! I know it's early but I know he can do this!!! Boy, the thought of no more diapers..... :)

Finally!!

Okay, I finally took some time to start a blog. It's something I have been wanting to do for awhile for a couple of reasons - 1) to help me to remember the little AND big things that occur in our fast paced life and 2) to help people stay informed of what all is going on in our lives and see how our little boy is growing.

It is truly amazing how fast Brody is growing. He is coming up on 22 months old - yes we still use months to track his age. I guess this will change once he turns 2. Don't worry we won't be saying 36 months old :) Brody is in the repeating stage of life. He will repeat EVERYTHING you say. Boy, does that keep us on our toes. There are times when he talks constantly and half of the stuff you can't understand but he of course thinks we should. We are still fighting with the whining - Will this stage ever end? Just a simple word or two to tell us what he wants would be OK!! Uh, Uh, Uh is just not cutting it!!