5 Years

Today Deron and I celebrated our 5th Wedding Anniversary! We went to the movies and out to lunch at our favorite restaurant, Chevy's. I can't believe it has been 5 years already. But, 5 years and 2 kids later, here we are! I am lucky to be married to such a great man. We've had to endure a lot as a couple and family over the last year, and I wouldn't want anyone else by my side. I love you very much Deron, and look forward to many more years together!

Brendan - 5 1/2 months

Brendan is just doing so much more these days. And, I realized the other day that it has been a long time since I have taken pictures. So, here are a few pictures from today.

Brendan is such a smiley baby. He loves laughing at his brother, and has been trying so hard to sit up. I think within the next few weeks he should be sitting up pretty well. He LOVES to eat baby food. We cannot feed it to him fast enough, and he gets so mad when it is all gone. We are pretty sure that he is getting a tooth. His drooling has increased quite a bit, he's really chewing on his fingers and he seems to have a lot of discomfort when he is drinking a bottle. Hopefully, we will see something pop up soon! He is growing up so fast and we are loving watching his get bigger. He really loves his brother and wants to be involved in everything Liam is doing. I can't wait to see these two boys as they grow older.

1st Week of Preschool - Complete!

Liam started preschool this past Thursday, and he is having a blast. I will admit that when I dropped him off on Thursday, I spent the rest of the day worrying and hoping that he was going to have a good day, and wouldn't tell me he never wanted to go back when I picked him up. All my worries were gone when I went to get him and the director told me that he acted as if he's always been going to school there. He ate all his food, took his nap, played well with the kids, listened to the teachers and even helped clean up! The cleaning up part baffled me because we cannot even get him to do that at home! The whole way home all he did was talk about school. He really had the best time. On Friday when I dropped him off, he sorta freaked out and started crying. But he was fine by the time I got to the car and did great once more kids started getting there. He gets reports sent home each day and everything has been positive. He even seems to favor one kid, Wilbur, since that is who his teachers says he's been playing with each day. It makes my heart smile to see my little boy enjoy something so much, and since that something is school, it makes me even happier. Hopefully he will always love school :)

Here is his first project: a caterpillar, from the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar

When I picked Liam up on Friday and we were going to get his stuff, he said to me, "Mom, did you know that caterpillars turn into butterflies? They are hungry, then they turn into butterflies!"

Water Fun

The other day we took a walk with Auntie Leanne and Kara at the University of Redlands. It was so hot and we happened to come upon that great fountain near the quad. Liam had so much fun running around in the water, and hasn't stopped talking about how much he wants to go back to the water!

5 Months

Brendan is 5 months now and it feels like he is growing like a weed. He is loving baby food. Sometimes he just gets so angry when we give him a bottle because he would rather have baby food. He is so interested in what we are eating, and have started letting him gum on some Mum Mum treats. Everything that he touches go into his mouth. This kid is all about having something in his mouth, whether it be edible or not. He just wants to be like his brother. He watches everything Liam does and could laugh at him all day. He cannot even just lay around. He needs to be sitting up or standing in the action. He is rolling over like a champ. One day he rolled over during his nap, and had been doing ever since. Brendan also seems to really like books. One night I was reading him a book and just got so excited and was turning pages and making cooing and laughing noises. His hair is also growing. He never really lost too much in the back since he has been sleeping on his stomach since he was about 5 weeks old, so it is really growing! I think his hair grew over night one night when I was closing. When I woke up with him in the morning, it looked like his hair had grown about a 1/2"! We are so excited to see how his personality it growing and how well these two little boys are interacting. They love each other so much and you can really see that they will have a great friendship!

life has gotten the best of me!

Wow! Just realized that I haven't blogged in quite some time! We've been super busy around here since I've gone back to work. There literally is no time left in the day anymore! I've been back to work for about 4 weeks now and things are going well for the most part. My schedule has changed significantly compared to before I went out on leave, and I am now closing 8 times a month. This was hard on me the first few nights, but Deron is doing a great job taking care of the boys at night. In addition to the closing shifts, I no longer have the same days off each week. My days rotate every 4 weeks, so my days off are not consistant. We are adjusting to these changes though. It's been a little tough considering I worked the same schedule for 7 years. We have also been trying to find a good preschool for Liam to start going a couple times a week. Our regular babysitter injured herself and hasn't been able to watch the kids since I went back to work and Liam is dying to get out and play with friends. He is so determined to go to school too. That seems to be the only thing he talks about these days. We are going out on Friday to observe in a couple of places, so hopefully we will be able to find something perfect for Liam and us. There aren't any pictures with this post... I haven't had time to take them off the camera. Hopefully I can download them soon and get another post up here for you all.

15 1/2 weeks

Brendan is 15 1/2 week now and growing every day! He is changing so much, it just amazes me. He is starting to be more content sitting in his bouncy chair (except when mommy is at work, then he doesn't like to be put down...). He loves grabbing toys and playing with them now, and is showing a HUGH interest in our food. I was eating a piece of bread the other day and he looked at it, spit out his pacifier and started making the motions for wanting a bottle. I let him gnaw on it a little bit, and he was loving it! I think we will be starting rice cereal any day now! This is the first week back at work for me and I am missing the boys. But, Daddy is doing a great job taking care of them. They are all working on getting used to each other without mommy around during the day. Brendan is having a hard time adjusting to having some independent time. He is a little man that wants nothing more than to be held constantly, but obviously that is not something we can do with a 3 year old, housework, cooking, etc. to get done in the house. Smiles are all over the place with Brendan. He loves to laugh and give us his shy little smiles all the time. He LOVES his brother. The other day Liam and Brendan were just sitting there talking to each other and laughing. It was the most adorable thing I have seen. Liam has really been a lot more helpful when it comes to his brother too. The other morning I was getting ready for work and Brendan was tired, but wouldn't fall asleep. When Liam woke up I asked him to lay next to his brother and tickle his back, and Brendan fell right asleep! Liam was so proud! We have a check up next Thursday to see how big our little man is getting and for more shots....

Here is a picture of our adorable smiley boy!