Brian Loves Books

they are delicious!

He quite likes reading them too. We have been reading books to Brian since we started a bedtime routine and he has a few definite favorites. Ever since we started, he has enjoyed Your Personal Penguin but Sandra Boynton (side note, I love her books). There have been times when he will be all fussy and when I start reading it, he calms down immediately and listens (Thanks Emily and Troy cousins!). He also really likes Moo, Baa, La La La by Boynton. He smiles at the animal sounds and I know it's only a matter of time before he starts making them himself.

A little bit ago, I put all of Brian's books on the bookshelf in the living room. It didn't take long before he started pulling them off. 

Now it's one of his favorite things to do.

 Interestingly, he doesn't pull any of our books off the same shelves, just his. I'm liking this trend. 

Brian was here.

My Man

Today is Jason's birthday and in honor of that, here, in no particular order, are 31 things I love about him. Don't worry, it's not too mushy.

1. He makes me laugh.
2. He makes my kids laugh.
3. He is very punny but doesn't say the same ones over and over, he has new material.
4. He supports me in my desire to be a stay at home mom, even when he was out of work.
5. He repeats my movie quotes even if he hasn't seen the movie or know what it is.
6. We have the same geeky humor.
7. He never gives me a hard time about going out at night with friends.
8. When I went away to college, he still had dinner with my family every week.
9. We can discuss the difference between periwinkle and cobalt and where to use each.
10. He is very driven and focused on his goals.
11. He is willing to try whatever I make for dinner and eats it even if he doesn't love it.
12. He is a champion cockroach slayer.

13. I love watching him play with the kids.
14. He laughs at the newspaper, and not just the comics.
15. He quotes comic strips.
16. He takes care of the kids in the morning before work so I can sleep in a bit.
17. He has a strong and personal testimony of the Savior.
18. He's not afraid to ask for things or information.
19. He encourages me to be more outgoing.
20. He enjoys reading Nibley and McConkie.
21. He'll go clothes shopping with me, is helpful and takes my tastes into account.
22. He has a great sense of adventure.
23. He does the dishes every night.
24. He has a great taste in music.
25. He has a job where he can leave the office at 5 pm.
26. I love that we went to high school together.
27. We make really attractive babies.
28. His favorite flavor is chocolate.
29. He likes to play.

30. He loves me.
31. And he's cute too.

I asked Anna if she had anything to add and she said she loves that he's funny, he's sweet.
Happy Birthday Jason!

Brian On the Move

One day after Brian's bath, he was playing with his towel. Who knew a towel could be so fun?

Brian is also crawling now. Here he is from when he first got started earlier this month.

He moves a lot faster now and is all over the place. He loves being able to explore his own things (although most of what he really wants we take away from him) but can still be content to just sit on my lap or snuggle. 

Halloween Wreath

Anna and I just made a new Halloween wreath completely out of googly eyes. I got the idea via Pinterest from this site. I liked it because it is creepy without being gory or anything like that.

I started out with a floral foam wreath (mainly because I didn't want to go to the craft store and this is what they had a Walmart) and surrounded it in black duck tape. Then it was time for gluing. We used three sizes of eyes: big, medium and smaller. I didn't get any of the really little ones because the site I got it from said they would be too small.

Anna working on gluing. Sometimes I would hold the eye and sometimes she would.

I kept meaning to do it at night when the kids were in bed but somehow it never happened so Anna got to be a part of it. I was wary but she did really well. She even took a turn with the glue gun. Naturally it was her first time with a glue gun and we had strings all over the place and a few burns but all in all there were no problems.

Placing the eye where is goes. She did a good job of keeping them close to each other.

We started with the biggest ones and evenly spaced them around the form. There were 12 in the package and we used them all. Then we took the medium size ones and just surrounded the big ones with the medium ones. Once they were all surrounded like creepy flowers I added a few more along the sides. These ones came in packages of 150 and I used one full package and a handful of the second package.

Showing off after the first pass. Someday she will look at the camera when her picture is being taken.Sigh.

Then it was onto the little ones. I used these and just filled in all the rest of the space. I used the whole package of 300.

Finished wreath waiting for the ribbon.

Once it was all done, it was ribbon time. I learned this trick from my sister Kristen when we lived with her to hang and wreath by a ribbon stapled to the top of the door. I think it's brilliant because then the door closes easily (I hate it when you use a wreath hanger and the door sticks), you never see the holes and it's pretty. I chose a black wired ribbon with silver speckles and added a bow. Side note: wired ribbons are great for making pretty bows. Especially if your bows always look wonky (like mine do).

On the door. It even fits between the door and the screen. 

So here is our new wreath. I love it. It's fun on the door and I get to see it lots since our door is literally always open. Interestingly enough, the sun glints off of the eyes and adds an unexpected bling.

Miss Anna's Beauty Spa

Anna loves the Fancy Nancy books. She likes to look through them and wants her room to look just like Nancy's (or her friend Bree's). In the book Bonjour Butterfly there is a page where the family is staying in a motel and Nancy likes the little bottles of shampoo and such. She says, "Ooh la la! It's like being in a beauty spa!" Well, Anna has taken that page to heart and made a beauty spa in our bathroom.

She set the book out and wanted it to look exactly the same. I wouldn't let her use all the towels though.

Her self-done manicure.

My moisturizer globbed on to look like a face mask.

Even her doll got her nails done.

I love,,,

little boys in plaid shorts.

Brian loves sitting up. These were taken in July and he doesn't need his hands to hold him steady anymore. Leaving them free to play.

Whatcha got there Mom?

This is his face that the Aunties at church go nuts over.

They are just so fun and cute!

Happiness is...

 having your own swing.

All the different ways she likes to play. Siting on it...

  We finally figured out a way to put up the swing that we got for Anna for her birthday. She loves it!

swinging on her tummy...

 She loves to sit on it when I'm hanging up laundry. For the most part, it doesn't get in the way of the clothes but I try to put short things on the line between the chains so she's not running into them. 

standing up...

It's turned into her place to go to be alone if she's having a hard time. Sometimes she asks us to push her and is working on learning to pump.

and of course twisting up the chain...

Definitely a hit of a birthday present.

and letting go! 

Organizing!

I love organizing things. Lately I've been working on different areas and when I get it done, it makes me so happy. Here's what I've done lately.

I got this idea from a pinterest post about a well stocked craft cupboard. It's just an over door shoe organizer on a closet. The things I don't want Anna to be able to get on her own (like the scissors and glue) are at the top. Although she has figured out she can just pull up a chair to get them. Oh well, it was a good thought. She is good about putting things back with like things sharing a pocket and different things in separate pockets. The anal retentiveness in me is resisting the urge to label each pocket so there is only one 'right' place for each thing. This way Anna can change where things goes based on her mood. The things that don't fit (like pads of paper and such) are still in the cupboard where they were before. They are kind of just thrown in there so that is on my list of things to do.

Next is my canisters. I have two sets and love putting things in canisters. When Jason kept asking me where things were or what was in which one, I knew it was time for labels. Since some of them can change (like with the rices and other grains) I wanted chalk board ones. I was going to paint it on but then I found these dots at Target. They are made to go on the walls so I have some that are way too huge but there smaller ones that are just right. I especially like the dual circles.

I've done other small organizing projects around but those are the big ones. 

Old Man Shorts

Whenever Brian wears these shorts, which are a bit big on him, they turn into old man shorts. Cracks me up every time.

Playing Easter

I'm beginning to think Easter is Anna's favorite holiday. A bit ago, when we were organizing our crafts (more on that later) she got out all the paper Easter grass, sprinkled it all over the floor in the kitchen then added white pompoms for eggs and had an Easter Egg hunt. Hours of entertainment.

The "eggs" waiting to be found in the "grass".

Prancing around the "grass" with her basket.

Putting the eggs in her basket.

Toes!

 Brian is quite into chewing on his toes.

 Sometimes it's hard to change his diaper because he will not let go of his foot.

It's like sucking your thumb but with your big toe!

 I thought it was a recent thing until I was looking back at the pictures that had piled up on our camera. This has been going on for at least a month. 

I guess toes are the best because they are always available.

And So it Begins

To celebrate Jason passing his LEED exam, Jason bought himself a GameCube. He is teaching Anna how to play Mario Kart.

While waiting for Jason one day, Anna thought Brian might like to play with her. 

Oh my!

The Ill Fated Photo Shoot

One day I realized that Anna and Brian both have giraffe outfits. I thought it would be really cute if they both wore them and I took a picture. I didn't go as planned.


First I waited too long and Brian was ready for his nap. I took them anyway to check on poses and stuff.

She tries so hard

By the end, she was tired to the crying too.

After he woke up, he was much happier. Unfortunately, I discovered it was really hard to see a yellow giraffe on a yellow outfit and her shirt bunched awkwardly when she sat. Sigh.

The lying down ones were better for seeing her giraffe but they still aren't what I had in mind.Better luck next time. 

4 Months

Brian is now four months old. At his check-up on Monday he came in at 12 lbs 11 oz (10-25th percentile) and 25 inches (50th percentile). He has much better head control and holds himself up well.

Yummy hands.

He has discovered toys and loves to chew on anything he can get into his mouth. Fists, toys, feet, anything. Funny story about the toys, for a while he would only chew on his hands. I tried to get him to hold onto toys but he would not do it. One day when I tried to put a toy up to his hand, he kept his fingers outstretched. Once I took the toy away, he made a fist. Looks like I have another willful one.

He was working on rolling over, got half-way and stayed there for a while.

He's not rolling over consistently yet. He was rolling over this morning, I couldn't keep him on his tummy.The funny thing was, he didn't seem to care which way he faced. Once he was on his back it was just like, "oh look, now I can chew on my hands better". I think the problem is he enjoys his tummy time too much. Once I left him on the floor while he was getting fussy to see if he would roll over but no dice. It wasn't being on his tummy, it was being on the floor at all that was the problem.

He loves being on the floor.

We think he might be dealing with teeth. At least that's what we hope it is. He has been drooly and fussy lately. His naps are more erratic and he is waking up more at night. For a while he would only nap for an hour at a time. Now he's doing better with tylenol before he goes down.

The doctor told us that he doesn't need food in the night anymore. I thought, "Woo hoo! Now I can stop feeding him at night". Ah, if only. The first night, I tried feeding him only on one side when he woke up. "It didn't end well" (Princess and the Frog). Instead of him waking up at 2 and 5 (What he's been doing. Even after eliminating the 2 am wake-up, it's back.) he woke up at 2, 3:30, 5, and 6:30. Needless to say, I only did that one night. I guess I'll just keep feeding him and hope for the best.

Of course he's cute as can be so I guess we'll keep him. 

So Patient

Anna likes to hold Brian. Sometimes she likes it more than he does. 

The other day, I was in the kitchen while Anna and Brian were in the living room. When I checked on them, this is what I found.

He is so patient with her. 

I'm in there too

In a lot of ways, Brian is like Jason. He is tall and skinny (more like Jason now than Jason as a baby) and gets the hiccups when he eats a lot.

I don't know if you can tell from this picture but Brian has Jason's coloring. They both have brown eyes, yellow undertones and tan. I'm more pink-y and the thought of a tan makes my skin laugh. 

Now Brian has started sucking on his hands. Generally, he works with whole fists. Trying to get it all in his mouth at once. Now and then, he goes with just a finger or too, like so..

Sorry about the strange colors, it was taken at night and lightened in photoshop.  He looks like he's wondering why I'm taking his picture just after changing his diaper. 

Interestingly, this is exactly how I would suck on my fingers when I was little. I guess, like Anna, Brian is a mix of the two of us.

Mommy Payoff

The other day, while Brian was in his bouncy seat, Anna decided to read to him. She grabbed her Book Of Mormon illustrated story book (what we call her picture scriptures) because she said she wanted to teach him about Jesus.