Four Months

 Wow... I can hardly believe it's been four months since you came into our world.

 Your smile is so contagious, and it always looks like you are just on the brink of giving us a big one!

 You love your sister... she really makes you giggle.  And clapping your hands together (with mommy's help, of course) brings out the laughter as well.

 You don't like being buckled up in your car seat, but you love being around people, and smile at anyone who will talk to you.

 You can hold your head up so tall already, and this morning were attempting to look over the bumper pads in your crib to see mommy and daddy in their bed...

I can't believe how big you've gotten... 15lbs already!  And you are rolling over, and "shifting" your way around.

We love you, Bram.  We all love you very much!

(btw, M has started calling him "Baby broder" and sort of saying his name, too!  It's so cute.)

Randomness

 Well, I've noticed my lack of posting photos over the last few months, so I decided I'd let you all into the randomness of our lives through pictures!  :)

 Bram loves his baths... he will actually sigh with happiness when placed in the tub.

 Here is Bram at 3 months.  Yes... this was August... the beginning of August.  I never did post these pics.  Not sure why.  I love his smile!  :)

 I love this one, how he's looking at his hands... shortly before jamming them into his mouth, haha.

 M loves the kitties!  And we have a lot of them on the farm.  My husband brought one in awhile back and she just had a ball with it. And they love her, too!  Funny thing, whenever we go outside, the kitties are there, and they follow M around the yard wherever she goes.

 Went to a barn dance a couple of weeks ago.  M had a lot of fun dancing with everyone... she didn't follow the steps exactly, but she didn't care.

 M is going to be a photographer one day... that or she just is mimicking mommy, haha.

 Bram is trying so hard to roll over.  Would you believe he successfully rolled onto his tummy this morning?  I can hardly believe how fast our little boy is growing!

 We decided to have a fun 'Japanese' night.  Made our own sushi (yes, I have nori sheets and rice vinegar, and we got sticky rice and avocados and imitation crab meat).  We made some soup to go with (mmm... soba noodles).  It was a lot of fun.  Here is M enjoying a Pocky stick... which we had for dessert.

For all you kitty lovers out there, here are two adorable (and very recent... took them 2 days ago) pictures for you to enjoy.  We have some very young kittens on the farm right now, and they are just M's size.  She is so gentle with them.  It's nice to see... oh how she loves animals!

Giving kitty a kiss.

Well, that's all for this particular post.  I've got lots of other photos to post yet, but I'll do that under a separate post... hopefully later today.  As for now, we want to head out, so I bid you adieu!

Have a great weekend!

September already?

Wow... I can hardly believe how time is flying by. The weather has been... yucky lately. I can't get outside due to all the wet, and my lawn looks like it's starting to turn into a field. If I mow, I wonder if I can bale the 'swaths' and feed them to the cows? They might be better quality than half the stuff we got off the fields, anyway.

On to some randomness...

Yeah, life has taken a hold of me and won't let me go... good thing, right? I just haven't spent the time coming to blog, or even reading all of your blogs. I'm sorry, I try to catch up, and then I forget for a week or so and have hundreds to go through, so I haven't been commenting as much as usual.

I'm having some fun, though! We went to the local fair and it was a blast, even with the wet weather. M loved it. Bram didn't really care, though. And we all came away with colds... cough cough. Ah well, tis the season. And I've painted M's toddler bed (white won out... boring, yes, but there are so many decorating possibilities here) except for decorative embellishments, although I'm wondering if I'll get around to that. I just don't seem to have the creative juices right now. Oh, I used chalkboard paint on the back of the bookcases in our dining room... the front of the bookcases face the living room.. so it is a little more interesting for the dining room now! Now for some chalk! ;)

And I recently spent some time (and money) at Micheal's... sigh. LOVE that store. Got two packs of baby type 12x12 paper.. 48 sheets per pack. SOOO pretty. I'll have to scan some of it to show you guys (I may use the scans for digital scrapbooking as well... may not be as high quality, but the paper is SO pretty). I also got a cake decorating tools caddy... everything 40% off. And I have a 50% off coupon I can use this weekend if we go again! Whee!

Lately I've been battling various emotions... some guilt, some bitterness, some hurt, and some joy. It's been a turmoil in my head for the last few weeks. I'm not sure where I stand with myself and my emotional state. I want to sort things out a bit better before I post about them or else it may become a rant or a pity party. Not a good thing. That would be a major reason I haven't posted anything substantial in a while now. Sigh.

I started reading through a really interesting book called "The Seven Pillars of Health" that I got from a garage sale a long time ago. There are a LOT of interesting tidbits in this novel that I hope to post about eventually... mainly outlining my own experiences on the matter. Really... if you see this book for cheap, pick it up.

Oh... and I'm addicted to Petville and Super Mario Galaxy 2. I've defeated Bowser now, and am now trying to collect the last 3 or 4 comet medals, and 3 or 4 stars... I like to COMPLETE a game... thouroughly... haha.

I really want to start scrapbooking some more soon. I found out that I can get my digital album printed out cheaper at shutterfly.com than through creative memories (about 1/2 the price, without the sales that they have routinely). I'm also trying to do more paper scrapbooking since I have everything I need to do M's album now. Anyone else do both digital and traditional scrapbooking? I've even started combining the two...

Bram is ALMOST rolling onto his tummy. SO close. He tries so hard! And whenever he's on his tummy he kicks his legs like he's trying to crawl... and he does get around already... yikes! Where has the time gone!

Anyway, that's it for my randomness today.
Have a great weekend, everyone!

Seriously?

Has it been 2 weeks already?  My goodness.  I've not been blogging much (spending too much time playing petville on facebook... crazy addictive games...).

So, last week my zone was the bathroom, so in keeping with that, my relaxing challenge was to soak in the tub (which I did on Saturday, haha).  I never did go swimming the week prior. We were going to go camping, but the weather didn't cooperate, so we planned to go to the local pool, but it was booked solid and packed (no good with two little kids), so it didn't happen.  Maybe during the week sometime later in the month.  It will have to be a weekday.  The pool is packed on weekends.  Anyway, this week (bedrooms this time) I challenge myself to go to bed earlier than 11pm.  Would seem easy enough... but funny how that is actually quite the challenge.

On another note, my potty training hasn't happened yet, although M is noticing when she needs to be changed much more so now.  I still have to ask her sometimes, but she stops, takes note if she does, then if so she says 'yes' and heads for the change table.  Or the potty.  She likes the potty.  Yesterday at my parents house she actually fell into the toilet, haha.  She was sitting fine, but I guess she moved backwards a bit, then 'splash'.  She wasn't too thrilled.  I'm sure that was some cold water! 

Today I spent some time and effort on the bedrooms.  Rearranging furniture!  Serious!  I moved a bookshelf in our room so we had room for the crib, took the crib out of M's room and set it up as a nursery in ours, then put her mattress on the floor for her to nap on (which she did great, by the way.  Stayed there until I got her up from her nap, too!  Crazy!).  I have her toddler bed washed and sanded, I just need to buy some primer and paint.  Maybe I'll finish that this week.  Oh, we moved the rocking chair into our room too, and placed a NON rocking chair (the one that was previously in our room) into her room... it's much safer in the long run.  It's fun to move furniture! 

Oh, another thing I'm proud of... I cleaned our old fan.  I moved it into our bedroom last night (yes, during the night, 4am, as Bram decided he was hungry and I was sick of having 'hot flashes' due to exhaustion).  I'm not sure what is up with me, but when I am over tired, I get extremely hot at night.  So, I found the fan and put it in our room.  Thing is, it was filthy.  So, after dusting our room, I pulled the thing apart and cleaned it.  Now it's black again.

I feel like a tired ticking time bomb.  Bram has been waking up at 4am every night for the last week... after having been sleeping 10-11 hours at night previously.  I don't feel like he's eating properly during the day, and am exhausted with these wake ups at night, not to mention the fact that I myself am getting overheated during the night and that is keeping me up as well.  I napped today with the kiddos.  Couldn't handle it.  I'm seriously dizzy, eating all the time (I eat when I'm tired... which isn't good), and I feel bloated and blah.  Then I look at the things I want to do yet, and freak... and go take a nap.  Hahaha.  Hopefully we will have him sleeping through the night now that he is in a crib which means more space for him instead of the cradle which he was quickly outgrowing... I can't believe he's 3 months already (I guess I haven't posted his 3mo pics yet, neither!  Or any pics for a long time, actually!).

Anyway, yawn, it's time to hit the hay!  Have a great week!

Challenge

I forgot to post last week... ah well.  Life has been busy and last week was no exception.  I only had one day where I was home all day.  Every other day I was out... either for the morning or all day long.  Which is fine, seeing as hubby is on the field.  All week.  This week too, it sounds like.  Although, I think I'll try to do a little less around town this week and spend a bit more time at home.  It is a scorcher.

That said, for the month of August, I figured I'd take a break from the challenges... that is, have 'restful' challenges.  The kids will be going back to school next month (for those of you with school aged children, that is), and summer just flies away so fast.  So, last week my challenge for myself was to do something hobby related again (I scrapbooked one page in my daughters first year album).  This week I challenge myself to go swimming.  I still want to finish some projects, so for the whole month of August, my challenge is to finish my firepit.  Modify that for yourself in whatever way you will.  If you have a large outdoor project to do, work on it... you don't have to finish my firepit (although I'd welcome the help, haha).

I have a lot of outdoor related things to do, as well one major indoor project.  What is that, you ask?  Repainting a toddler bed!  I wish to move my daughter into a 'big girl' bed shortly.  I may transition her to a mattress on the floor for starters, but I think it's time.  She slept on the couch at my parent's house like a big girl during her nap time, and there were no problems.  She didn't even get up until I came to her and 'gave her permission'... or so it seemed.  She goes upstairs herself when I say 'nap time' and heads right for her crib.  This way, she may go to bed all on her own.  Or not.  At least it will make potty training a bit easier later on this year.  I think I'll attempt that soon.  I'm still reluctant for some reason... so for now it is very laid back.  She sits on the potty and is rather proud of herself.  Last week on Monday she told me "I poop", so I placed her on the potty while getting her bath ready, and she pooped in the potty!  (well, sort of.  It was a tiny teeny little bitty bit, but it's still something).  She's been on the potty 4 times since then, just sitting.  On Saturday she sort of pooped again (I say sort of... it's more like wet farts... yuck...).  I'm thinking of attempting the 'training in a day' method given to me by a friend and a book I read a while ago, but I'm not ready to do that yet.  I think I want to make sure some other things are going to be easier for her first (like a bed she can climb in and out of herself), and give her a bit of time to get used to that before moving on to potty training (too many new things at once may NOT be such a good idea). 

So, what are your challenges for the month?