Busy TImes

Why is it that in a few day so many things can happen that you feel like a year has gone by?  We had Easter brunch, an egg hunt, a new swing for buggy, birthday prep, and milestones in potty training all since my last post.  Maybe this is why the past two years have gone by in what seems like two days.

I have so much fun talking and seeing photos of all my pregnant friends.  I think back to when we would hang out after school or on the weekends.  Hiding behind bars...anyone in my family didn't just read that!!  Oh how times have changed.  Now we are all upstanding mommy's and mommy's to be that talk about birthing plans and how times goes by so fast.  I know to some we now seem so boring but I think we all would agree that we are happier now than we could ever have imagined.  I love you all and hope to join the prego club soon!!

I have one little tid bit of advice for all of my fellow mommy's as I sit here thinking that in 4 days my sweet little buggy will be 2!!!  I can't believe how time flies.  Make sure that you relish in those little moments when you know you should be doing something else.  Or the moments when you are feeling very silly or sentimental.  Those are the moments that can slip away so fast and you will never get back so take that time and really enjoy them.  I know I try and don't always succeed on doing this, but I do try and I am so glad that I do.

Love this little face...don't know what he was thinking but love it anyway!!

Love my man...he won't allow this much longer I needed proof.

The big bad bunny!

Now back to our crazy few days.  We woke up Sunday morning and went to a fabulous brunch at Indian Summer Country Club.  They had anything and everything you could imagine to eat.  My favorite (eggs Benedict) and Leyton's favorites (mini corn dogs and chocolate chip pancakes...yes he had them at the same time).  I am pleased to say that Leyton was very well behaved at this fancy establishment.  I think he was afraid if he wasn't the big scary bunny would take him away.

They had a very cute bunny there...and all though he wasn't super scared of the bunny he was very stand offish we will say.  I tried to get a picture and he would have no part of the bunny holding him so Leah did the honors and then he would not take his eyes off this giant creature he wasn't so sure about to look at mommy's camera.  He would sheepishly wave and say Hi to him as long as he was at a good 20 paces but wasn't so sure about anything else.  It was pretty funny to watch and at least afforded some good bliner (a new word Nathan and I made up because he doesn't think brunch works because they had dessert and you only have dessert with dinner) entertainment. 

I find one Mommy!!

Then to my surprise and to Leah and Leyton's happy eyes we found out there was an Easter egg hunt they had set up down the hall.  It was very cute they had laid out straw and hid eggs filled with candy and just loose candy all over underneath.  They both had a good time finding eggs.  I am not sure which of them was more upset by the 3 egg limit however.  After all that craziness we ended up missing church for a much needed nap for Leyton.

My new swing!!!

Getting all buckled in and ready to go.

He laughed, screamed, and smiled the entire time!!

Monday night was a lot of fun because we showed Leyton his new swing.  He was so excited!!!  I told him we had a surprise for him and we took him down stairs.  I covered his eyes and put him right in front of it and placed myself next to the swing so that I could get a great reaction picture.  He was so so happy to have his swing and after about a half hour he was so so unhappy to have to go inside for bath and leave his swing behind.   This will provide hours of entertainment this summer I am sure!!

We also have wonderful potty training news!!!  After a week of one accident a day days we have had 4 days of no accidents at all!!!  I am again so proud of my big  boy and am also starting to run out of Mike and Ikes which by the way are a great potty training aid if anyone wants to know.  He was even walking over to the little potty (the one that has now become a fixture in our living room) and going all by himself.  Now this creates more of a mess for me as he hasn't quite gotten the whole idea of aiming his "water gun" yet, but I can't help but be proud of him anyway.  I don't think being happy and proud of him for peeing on my floor will last for long however :)

Pee, pee, pee, pee in the Potty!!!!

I look at what my life has become and wonder did I ever realize this is where I would be.  If someone would have told me 10 years ago when I had nothing more to worry about than what I was going to do for the weekend and cheer, I would have told them they were crazy....but I would never change it for the world now!!! 

The last week of my life has been totally over taken by pee pee and poopy.  As any one reading this who has gone through the grueling ordeal of potty training can completely relate to.  Who knew that getting a tiny little person to use a toilet could be such a chore?  Asking every 15min. "Do you have to go potty?", doing the potty dance when he does go, and the worst part cleaning up when you don't get him to the potty in time.  It is a crazy time for sure!!

An amazingly cute party!!

I love cheese puffs!!!

I have to say though for a not even two year old my baby...scratch that big boy is doing so great!!  After starting a 3 day potty training system last Thursday, he has done amazingly well.  Something that when I am cleaning pee up off of my floor I have to remind myself but true none the less.  He has been peeing and pooping on the potty since the 2nd day with one sometimes two accidents a day for the past week.  But today was the day...no accidents the WHOLE day!!!!  It is so silly but I can't even explain to you the feeling of pride, excitement, and joy I feel for my little man!!!

Wow this stuff is fun!!!

Hey Knox thanks for inviting me to your party this stuff is fun!!

Taking a rest from Lentils on this rock.

What makes this accomplishment even more fun and exciting is that he did this on a very crazy day.  We had a birthday party...not only a birthday party but an Elmo birthday party (for anyone who knows Leyton you know that's a big deal) at the Hands on Children's Museum.  This was Leyton's first time to the museum and he had a blast.  His favorite part was playing in the Lentils, playing with grape smelling playdoh, and playing at the water table.  He loved it...a place we are going to have to go more often for sure!!

If that wasn't enough to justify an accident we also did a lot of playing at home and went for a walk in the sunshine.  Even with this eventful day he did a great job of making it to the potty and had NO accidents for the entire day.  We have even had dry diapers when he wakes up from naps.  He has woken up dry and waited for me to come get him and take him to the potty and then goes potty (usually pee and poop)!!!  I am a little bias but I think we have a potty training prodigy on our hands!!!

Milestones.....happy and sad times!!

Welcome Leyton Allen Patrick Shockey April 30, 2009

With my son's 2nd birthday fast approaching, and having spent the past week working on potty training, I have been thinking about milestones.  Why is it that we all anticipate milestones?  Things like first steps, first words, first birthday, being potty trained, with such excitement and then almost be sad that they have passed and you won't be able to get that time back again.  It is a bitter sweet pill when you realize that your sweet baby boy is no longer a baby but a toddler in full swing. 

Sweet Sleeping boy!!

Not sure of his first cereal.  Turned out he loved it!!

I can't even express how excited I was today when my almost 2 year old son stood in front of me and to my dismay counted from 1 to 11 all by himself!!  I was speechless so proud and beaming with excitement.  I scooped him up and said "Mommy is so proud of you when did you get to be such a big boy?"  Then with in seconds I realized what I had just said and what was happening and I was a bit sad that he is such a big boy and that he can do that.  I am so proud and excited for every achievement he makes and yet I wish time would stand still at some moments and that he would never get any bigger. 

All grown up my kiddos Jared(13), Leyton(1.5), Leah(8) and Nathan(10).

I think it is very apparent to me how fast time can go by when I look at the Brown kids.  I have been with them loving and caring for them, there to experience all of their milestones, for almost 9 years now....WOW!!!  It is so weird to look at Jared (now 14) so grown up, such a teenager...headed to high school next year ...shudder...and with a girl friend (who is very sweet by the way)...double shudder.  Then think back to his first day of kindergarten or the shy and sweet 5 year old I met when I moved here.  Or to send Nathan (now 11) off to Cispus (outdoor school for 3 days) or think about next year when he will move on to middle school and then think back to him watching the Wiggles with me in diapers (he was in diapers not me...LOL).  And then there is my sweet little Leah only weeks old when I moved here now soon to be 9 YEARS OLD!!!  She is every bit of 9 going on 29 and so grown up.  No longer a sweet little baby but fast approaching being a young lady.  Two phrases come to mind when I am looking at this 1. Oh, how time flies when we are having fun!! 2. Put me back in, Put me back in!!!! (from Look Who's Talking).

My big boy using the potty!!!

How can I not look at my sweet baby boy whom I remember before we had even met him just a gummy bear moving in my belly and wish that I could make time stand still.   Just enjoy him and snuggle with him for as long as I wish.  Maybe invent a time machine so that I can go back and experience all of these milestones over and over again.? Alas, I know time won't stand still and you have to do your best to relish the moments and milestones as they come and look towards the next and new ones to come.   They are so exciting and make you feel so proud it's hard to not look forward to them and be so so proud when they do come. 

Easter Fun!!

How is it that over time we lose the wonder of things like the tooth fairy, Easter bunny, and Santa.  Looking at my most precious gift my (almost) 2yr. old son, I hope he never does...but sadly I know he will.  So my job is to make sure that he gets the most out of it while he can. 

I also have realized that now as our own little family we have the opportunity to make our own family traditions and carry on those that I cherish from childhood.  I remember back to when I was a kid running around my grandparents farm with my cousins or sitting in my grand parents house for a big family Easter!!  I want my son to have those same fond memories.  All though they may not be the same ones I want them to be good. 

That is how April 16, 2011 became Easter for our family...one week early but he doesn't know the difference.  We were lucky enough to have Darlene a.k.a Grammy (Trent's Mom), Tia a.k.a. Auntie (Trent's Sister), and Rob a.k.a. Uncle Rock (Trent's Brother-in-law) all come down from Bellingham to have a family Easter with us.  Unfortunately Jim a.k.a. Papa (Trent's Step Dad) wasn't able to come down because of prior commitments. 

We spent the day dying and decorating eggs, opening Easter baskets, hunting for eggs, and having a yummy family dinner.  Dying of the eggs was  a new experience for all.  Leyton decided that it was better to plop the eggs into the dye instead of gently placing them with the wire metal egg holder provided for us.  So he ended up with his hands and the table cloth (thankfully a plastic one) a wonderful tie dye explosion. 

As pretty much any one who knows us will attest to Leyton has no shortage of love in his life or people who love to spoil him.  That was proven yesterday by his 6 Easter baskets, 3 Elmo baskets made the whole thing very funny.  He had a blast opening them and eating candy.  He then used one of the baskets to hunt for plastic eggs that Daddy and I hid in our basement.   

By the time we were done with the indoor hunt the eggs we had dyed were dry and we did an egg hunt in our front yard.  In a rare change of pace we had a very pretty sunny day yesterday which allowed our first egg hunt outside.  It was so funny to see Leyton's little puzzled face to see the eggs he just worked so hard on in bushes, trees and on his slide.  We all found out that eggs don't do as well sliding down the slide as Leyton does :)

As we finished up the egg hunt dinner finished cooking and we sat down for what I think will be our new family Easter dinner or Roast, Cheesy Potatoes, Corn on the Cob, Salad, and Carrot Cake.  The Roast and Carrot Cake were a new experiment on my part which thankfully turned out very well.  We had a very fun and delicious dinner and spent a lot of great time together!!