Look Who's Four Months Old

Yesterday the love of my life turned four months old.

His smile turns me into a puddle.

His giggle is enough to make me laugh every single time.

He's rolling all over.

He's grabbing for toys.

He already looks up to his Daddy.  He loves his voice.

He turns his head to find his brother or sister.

He loves his Mommy the mostest.

I love him more than I ever imagined I could.

When someone else is holding him and he turns and

 smiles at me it takes all I have to not reach out and get him back.  

He's a chill little baby.

He's perfect!

I'm That Lady

Today we met my friend Shauna at Giggle Factory for a play date.  We were originally going to have a picnic in a park but since it's nearly 100 degrees out and super humid, we opted for an inside play date. Brecken had his four month shots this morning and he began to really feel them about 1:00.  That was about three minutes before I pulled up to the Giggle Factory.  I couldn't believe how upset he was.  Finally, I gave in and went to the car to grab the Tylenol I brought along - just in case.  Gave him a quick dose, held him, smooched him.  Shauna held him and smooched him and I rocked him in the carseat and he dozed on and off in between fussing.  Shauna rocked the car seat as I was googling a fancy spa we're going to try to swing for our annual "Mom's Gone Wild" one night away.  (Really we sit and talk over a lot of beer until the sun threatens to come up.)  When some lady walks quickly over and says, "Your little girl just threw up over there."  My first thought is my girl is the oldest in this whole place.  So I actually begin to tell her it can't be my kid.  Then she stops me, "Yes, it's yours!"  I get up and then I hear her, "Mommy!!!!"  Her voice was whiney and scared.  Problem was I couldn't freaking figure out how to get to her.  It's a maze so I started to climb up the slide in my bare feet.  Yep, I was that lady.  Then the woman says, "No, go this way."  I did and then ran into a net.  Finally I get to her to see she was climbing down and threw up and it landed on two different steps.  It was a pretty big mess.  Good thing was (yes I found the silver lining in my child throwing up all over in a public play land) she had just drank several cups of water with her friends, so the puke was pretty much just water.  She wasn't actually sick.  I helped her down.  Poor Shauna was still rocking my fussy/crying baby and I went to tell the owner.  He came over with a bottle of sanitizer and and stack of rags.  I asked to clean it myself.  Who in the hell wants to clean up somebody else's kid's puke?!?!  And I couldn't bear the thought of standing back watching him do it.  Three soaking rags and one more to make sure it was totally sanitized and I looked over my shoulder at the guy.  He said, "Here's the test.  Would you let your own child climb up there?"  I looked at Christian (yes everyone stood there and watched me bent over cleaning this) and said, "That one's mine too."  He smiled a huge smile and said "YES!" and ran right up.  The party went on.  V took a short break and then started running again and I went back to googling the spa.

I was soooooo that lady!

Brecken's Baptism

Brecken was baptized on June 9, 2013.  It was one of the most spiritual days of my life.  I was soooo looking forward to it.  Since he had such a rough start to life.  Since some family members had yet to meet him.  Since we had two older kids who were so excited to be a part of the ceremony.  We had so many reasons to be so excited.  

We had a different Pastor at church since we got married and Victoria and Christian were baptized.  It made me nervous because I LOVED Pastor Craig so much and actually considered trying to convince him to make one last appearance.  The new (however, he's already since left the church) Pastor Chris wanted to meet with me and get to know us ahead of time.  Brecken and I went to meet him one rainy May morning.  My main thing I said to him was that I wanted the other two kids involved.  I wanted them to stand up there with us. 

He took that to a whole other level.

He had all the children present go to the back of the church and carry small cups of water to the baptismal font to fill it up for Brecken.

Here's Christian and Matthew with their cups.

And Victoria with hers.

That's my cousin Connor in the foreground and a stranger to the right.

I just love how they all got involved!

Christian standing next to Aunt Molly.

We had Brian hold Brecken this time.

Molly got to hold the other two when they were baptized.

I love the way Brian looks at Brecken with love in his eyes.

Brian Steven holding Brecken Steven.  :-)

*A special thank you to Tegan for taking the pictures for us!

I remember being so in the moment. 

It was so intense and emotional for me.

We had already been through so much medically with him and I've prayed more for the little baby than anyone in my whole life.

And now, here he was getting baptized.

I don't remember noticing the congregation. 

I was just in the moment.

Pastor Chris used a lot of water, but Brecken didn't seem to mind.

Molly's patting his little head dry.

At one point during the ceremony my arm touched Molly and I glanced at her.

Suddenly, my throat was tight.

Here she was, yet again, by my side.

She was by my side on my wedding day and she was by my side becoming the Godmother of all three of my children.  

I couldn't be any more grateful to her for her friendship to me, 

but especially the wonderful role model she's been for my children.

 A prayer and lighting of the candle.

Mark and I both paused not knowing who was going to reach out.

I finally did and Christian looked up and me and whispered, 

"Be careful with that thing."

You can see both kids are nervous about the candle.

We were given a beautiful hand-made white blanket that was blessed with a prayer before it was given to him.

It was actually given by our daycare lady's stepmother so that made it extra special.

I love this picture!

This one is framed in Brecken's room.

Brecken (barely) fit into Christian baptism outfit.

Christian was THRILLED to share!

Brecken and his Godparents.

We're all laughing hard because originally I stood next to Brian for some reason and then I looked up at him and said, "Is it weird I'm standing here?"  He politely said, "Maybe a little."  We all cracked up and I moved over next to Mark.  Not sure what I was thinking there.

So cute!

My three children.

All three as cute as can be!

We had everyone over after the baptism.

*A super special thank you to Molly and Brian for coming over the day prior and setting up your huge tent for us!  

Oh, how I love my Theresie!

She loves our kids almost as much as I love hers!

My cousin Chris and her daughter Grace with Brecken and me.

Papa and Brecken.

He laid him right on the food table and they giggled away.

Grace seven months and Brecken three months.

Eventually he changed into something a bit more comfortable.

And he laughed a big ol' gummy laugh!

Especially when his sister plays with him.

Before everyone left Mark and I opened his gifts.

He received many generous gifts.

I chose to share two of my super faves.

From Mama Jeanne and Papa Mark Steven:

A gorgeous silver block that has A, B and C on the other three sides.

And then it opens.

That my friends, is PERFECTION!

Aunt Molly, Godmother Extraordinaire is know for her gift giving.

Family members comment on her amazing gifts.

They are always so personal and well thought out.

She (and Brian) didn't fail to deliver.

This may actually, in my opinion, be the best gift she's ever given.

It's a framed personalized Irish blessing.

(Even though he's not technically Irish, he was born on St. Patrick's Day - and Molly's is Irish)

I had left a spot on his wall open thinking I wanted something 'just right' for the spot.

Sure enough, this now hangs there.

Uncle John was at the baptism but didn't come to our house after so I took this one a couple days later.

Brecky looks so cute hanging out.

It was a beautiful day I hope I always remember the details of.

Last Day of First Grade

I've been a teacher for quite a while now and have had a lot of students come back to me over the years.  I've had parents that have wanted to hug me, take pictures with me, give me flowers and gifts and written me very nice letters.

This year, though, I was on the other side.

Here's my daughter writing her rough draft of her good-bye letter to her teacher.

Please don't tell her I shared it. ;)

The actual last day.

I could never thank this teacher enough for al that she has done.

She is the best as differentiating and making kids feel super duper special every single day.

After seeing all she did to make my daughter feel so special,

she inspired me to kick it up a notch this fall.

We could never thank her enough for all she did to make Victoria's first grade year so perfect!

Brecken's First Sleep Over

Brecken had his first sleep over last weekend.  He spent the night at Mama Jeanne's and he slept soundly from 7pm-5:30am.  This baby is such a good sleeper he blows me away.  It made me feel so good that he was happy for her and slept so well.  When we got there he was asleep in her arms.

Last night I put him down before 6:30.  He ate at 4:30am and went right back to sleep until 8am.  Then he napped from 10:00-12:00.  He took two other one hour naps through the day and was still ready for bed at 6:30.

Today was the first day of the whole summer we stayed home.

But only to gear up for tomorrow. . .

Beach Baby

One of the very best things about having summers off is definitely going to the beach.

Last summer I remember sitting at the beach having just found out I was pregnant and I wondered and worried what this summer was going to look like.  Would we even be able to go to the beach?  If so, how much stuff would I need?  How long would we be able to stay?

I am pleased to say our three month old has been to the beach four times already and he has yet to be the reason we left.  Once it started to rain, once my butt was sore from sitting on the sand for more than three hours, once it was super hot out and even the beach couldn't beat the heat and once we all were just ready to go.  

But Brecken.  Nope, he's our little trooper.  

He's our Go With the Flow Baby.

*Even though I always dress him in a swim diaper and swim suit he has yet to feel lake water.

Pool water yes, but not lake water.

Sometimes he gets passed between friends.

Sometimes he finds the perfect spot in the sand and can sit up by himself.

Sometimes he naps in his carseat in the shade.

Either way, he hasn't slowed us down one little bit and I love him even more for that!

Fill 'Er Up With Her Milk

I asked Christian to help me carry my milk downstairs to the deep freeze from the freezer upstairs today.  I reminded him over and over, "Don't drop them.  Don't drop them."  I opened the freezer and he said, "Whoa!  That's a lot of milk Mommy!  How much milk do you need?"  "I want the entire thing filled with milk," I told him.  "That's why you pump all the time.  That's why you're a good Mommy."

*This was typed while pumping;-)