Big Man on Campus and Baking Brookelyn

Today was Braedyn's 1st day of school! He is going to First at Firewheel, the same church school that Brookelyn attended this summer (Brookelyn is going back to the school she attended last fall). Braedyn will be going every Tuesday and we are wait-listed for Thursday.

This morning we started with a good hearty breakfast, pancake on a stick:


And then headed outside to load up the car! Here is Braedyn carrying his nap-mat to the car:

I tried to get a picture of him carrying his backpack, but it was just to big and heavy, and Brookelyn got him interested in tormenting a poor cricket, so this is the best I could do:

And here he is just looking cute!

Brookelyn and I took him to his classroom and handed him off; she told him, "It's okay Braedyn, be a big boy and have a good day!" It was so sweet! He cried, but my friend whose son is in the same class texted me not even 2 minutes later to say that when she dropped off her son, Braedyn was happily playing.

Brookelyn and I headed off to Target to get groceries and most importantly cupcake mix to have some mother-daughter time. Here she is mixing up the batter:

We had a great time together, and ate way too many cupcakes before heading back out to pick up lil' bro. Braedyn came right to me smiling when we went to pick him up. Both of his teachers said he was great, conked out for an hour on his nap mat, ate all his lunch, and only cried when they had to go inside from the playground.

All in all it was an amazing day!

Braedyn's 15 Month Check-Up

This morning at 10am Braedyn had his 15 month check-up, but before we could make it to the doctor, I HAD to go to Walmart. (We had been stuck at home yesterday waiting for workmen who never showed up.) As soon as the kids got up I dressed them, gave them milk, and stuck them in the car with the promise of donuts as we shopped at Walmart. Braedyn kept signing "cheese-ball" furiously until I looked him the in eyes and explained that donuts had chocolate icing and sprinkles on them, and didn't that sound yummy?! He smiled and nodded at me through his bottle. After almost TWO HOURS in Walmart we finally finished--I don't know where time goes while I am in there?! But, we did manage to buy Braedyn a Spiderman backpack for school next week, and Brookelyn got some candy that she could only have if she was a strong, brave big sister while Braedyn got his shots (in case you haven't read about our last experience with Brookelyn when her brother got his shots you can scroll back to Braedyn's 12 month check up--let's just say it wasn't fun). I couldn't believe how long it took us to shop, so I had to just pull up outside the house, leave the kids in the car watching the DVD player (thank you Target for putting that on super-sale during Black Friday), and quickly unload the groceries, only putting away the cold stuff and leaving the kitchen looking like it had been throughly ransacked. We finally got to the doctor. Here we are in the exam room waiting for the doctor--looks like fun, huh?!

Good news is that Braedyn is doing much better with his weight! He topped the scales at 22.4 lbs(he was only 19 lbs at his 12 month check-up)-25%; he was 31 1/4 inches long-55%; and not surprisingly, his head was 19 1/4-90%. Everything else looks good--we just need his soft spot to close on the top of his head by his next appointment, and I need to wean him from the bottle (this means naptime will probably say "bye-bye", so I think I will wait until the week before his next appointment). H1N1 vaccines are not available yet, so we are waiting to see what the protocol will be for those. Braedyn did get two shots. He cried for maybe three seconds, and with the sucker in her mouth and promises of her Walmart candy, I managed to hold Brookelyn to a little whining and about two seconds of sobbing for her brother. So, now I am off to de-ransack the kitchen, make lunch, and wait for the workmen who BETTER show-up today. Otherwise, I will be making the builder entertain these caged animals all day while HE waits for those workmen--something tells me everything would be finished in record time if that was the case!

AM Dance Party

Since the TV is currently out of order (and yes apparently life does continue even without Dora and Diego) we have been listening to the radio. Here is a video of the kids busting a move:

Happy Braedyn Video

Braedyn got his tickle-box turned over last night. I was telling Allen the story of Braedyn running with Brookelyn's pink princess golf club across the room, toward his sister, and whacking her several times on the head with it. While I thought this was a horrible story, Allen thought it was hilarious! He picked up the golf club and started whacking Braedyn's highchair with it (great example Allen), which caused Braedyn to start laughing hysterically. Check out the video: