Secret confessions of a toddler

Ethan sitting on the potty last night.

Ethan: Mommy, I don't want to drop my rocket ship in the toilet.
Me: That's right, Ethan. You don't want to drop your toy in the toilet.
Ethan (leans over to whisper to me): I dropped a toy in the toilet at school.
Me: You did? Did you tell Ms. Shawna?
Ethan (still whispering): No. I flushed it.

A little update on my Bradley

Time is seriously flying by with Bradley. I feel like everything was slower with Ethan. I have always heard that, though, that with your first child you pay attention to every little detail, but with your second you're so busy chasing around two kids that time seems to fly by much faster. Well, it's true. Bradley is such a little happy, joyful baby, though. He makes the thought of having a third baby an actual possibility, haha. I always knew I didn't want an only child, so no matter what kind of baby Ethan was, he was getting a sibling. But depending on what kind of baby Bradley was was definitely a determining factor for if we have a third. This is all, of course, very far away from right now. Like years. Years and years away. Which I'm totally fine with. Two and a half years is a great gap, but I have a feeling if we have a third it will be an even larger gap. But I digress.

So here are just a few little updates on my Bradley:

1) Bradley is doing awesome. He is growing healthy and strong. At his four month check-up he weighed in at 16 lbs 6.5 oz (just a little over double his birth weight!) and was 25.7" long.

 

2) He has awesome neck control and loves his tummy time. He has rolled from his belly to back, but not his back to belly yet. He has slept through the night twice, but usually he wakes up once or twice in the middle of the night to eat. He hasn't quite started sitting on his own, but once he does, I'm going to see if he's interested in trying his first bites of food.

3) My poor little guy started cutting his first tooth earlier this week. That hasn't made for the easiest nights lately, but teeth are teeth and they have to come at some point, so I figure let's just have them cut through and get it over with!

4) He started attempting to blow raspberries in the air this past weekend. It's the cutest little pbfffff sound ever, if you can imagine, haha.

5) Bradley did awesome traveling to the beach in June. With already two round trip flights under his belt before even hitting six months old I have a feeling he is going to be an expert in no time. :)

6) The verdict is still out, but I have a feeling Bradley will be my second blue-eyed boy. They've lightened up since birth (when they were a dark gray-blue), but they are still blue. I'm not sure they'll ever get as light as Ethan's, but only time will tell! :)

7) He is always full of smiles (especially for his Daddy), but over the last few weeks he has really started to giggle, which is just awesome. Matt can really get him going with some of his silly faces. I absolutely love it. Smiles and giggles from a baby are just the best thing ever.

And here's just a few random pictures of my Bradley:

Helping me get some work done early one Saturday morning

My not-so-baby baby boy is almost 3 years old. Holy cow.

Ethan will be three in about five weeks. Three! Is it just me, or did that happen fast? I am loving every step of watching him grow, though. He is truly such a sweet, compassionate little boy and I love him to pieces. So this post is just a little update on my not-so-baby baby boy.

1) Back in June, Ethan started sleeping in his own "big boy" bed (aka a twin mattress on the floor). We decided to skip the toddler bed step, just because, but weren't quite ready to put him on a bed frame up off the floor, so this was our idea for a transition. So far he has only really completely fallen out once and that was his second night in the bed, so I have a feeling we will promote him up to a real bed frame sometime soon.

2) Ethan is officially potty trained! We switched him from pull-ups to underwear almost two weeks ago and have not looked back since. It definitely takes more awareness on our part to continually ask him if he needs to go, but he is really doing amazing on his own. He'll get up from playing and run to use the potty all by himself. Even this past weekend when we were at Walmart he told me he needed to use the potty, so we rushed to the public restroom and had no issues at all.

3) A few nights ago Ethan had his first real night time scare. I'm not sure if it was a nightmare, or if maybe the cats made some noises in his room that scared him (based on what he's told me, I think maybe Natty is to blame). But he is of the strong belief that there is an elephant in his room (under his old crib that is still in his room because eventually Bradley is going to go into the crib and they are going to share a room). So we've had to continually reassure him (night after night) that there are in fact no elephants in his room.

4) Ethan's current obsessions include: the ever constant Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, a new favorite Thomas the Tank (and all things train), anything that flies (especially rockets) and, of course, sports. You name it and he likes it (baseball, golf, soccer, basketball, football, hockey...). I have a feeling we're going to have a little athlete on our hands, just like his Daddy. :) He also really likes puzzles, books and stickers (which he has about 10,000 of).

5) There are big static display airplanes on base as you drive through the gate. We see them everyday, but yesterday Ethan asked me why they couldn't fly. So I told him it was because they were just for decoration. His response? "Decoration for boys?" And I asked, "Why is it just decoration for boys?" And he said, "Girls can't touch airplanes." Which I, of course, asked him why and he said, "Because they'll get dirty." Lol. Umm... where does he come up with this stuff?

6) Ethan (after going #2 on the toilet and feeling ever proud of himself) shouts to Matt, "Daddy! I pooped on the potty!" Matt says, "Good job, buddy!" To which Ethan replies, "Daddy! Come see it!" So, as any good father would, Matt goes into the bathroom to look. And as Ethan is still sitting on the potty, but lifting up his leg to look in the bowl he says, "It looks like a hot dog." Lol.

Catching up...

Okay, so my blogging last left off after the boys and I got back from our visit to Maryland and I know this is going to be cheating a little, but I think I'm just going to make this post a catchall and get myself up to date. Otherwise, I may never be back to "real time" blogging. So here are some fun highlights of the last two and a half months:

At the end of April, I'll be honest, we didn't do a whole lot. Matt was gone and I was alone with the boys, so just getting everyone fed and bathed was a daily success for me. And speaking of bathing, the boys took their first bath together in April. It is totally the norm for us now, though, because one bath is way easier than two baths. :)

Then at the beginning of May, Matt finally came home - whew! A few of our highlights from May? Ethan came down with Scarlet Fever (who knew that was even possible anymore??) and we did fun stuff, like shoot off rockets.

Next up is June, and I really can't say I was sad to see May go, it was just a long, rough month. So in June the boys' had their school pictures taken (adooorable), I got to meet my dear friend's newest little bundle and we took our first vacation together as a family of four to South Bethany, Delaware, along with my family and Matt's Mom.

 

After 24+ hours of traveling home from Delaware (2.5 drive to the airport, 7 hours on the plane [including a 2 hour delay boarded on the plane, sitting at the gate], an unexpected night in a hotel and a 3.5 hour drive from Albuquerque to Clovis) we had never been so happy to see Clovis, ha. :) That brings us to July (almost up to date!!!). So for the 4th of July we celebrated by going to a squadron party, which was a ton of fun (but I sadly took no pictures). It was a little crazy because everyone buys their own fireworks around here and just shoots them off all throughout the night, but the party was still fun. Ethan, however, made me lie in bed with him until he fell asleep because all the booms and bangs going off outside his window had him a little unnerved. Poor guy.

Then the following weekend (aka three days ago) was a squadron pool party, which Ethan LOVED, but again, I forgot to take pictures (boo!). I was just so happy to see Ethan loving the pool, he didn't even want to get out. I think we're gonna need another trip to the pool to strike while the iron is hot and make a water baby out of my not-so-baby baby boy after all. :)

And that is that, folks. I am finally up to date! Yippee!

A TDY husband = a trip to Maryland

When Bradley was six weeks old, Matt went TDY for four weeks (aka Temporary Duty, aka he went away for a short period of time). Since I was still on maternity leave and didn't want to spend all that time alone with the boys, we packed up and flew back East to spend two weeks with my family. It worked out kind of perfectly because Candice and Matt were flying home from Clovis, so we didn't have to travel alone (at least to get to Maryland) and a lot of my family got to meet Bradley earlier than they would have this way, which was cool. Here are some pictures from the visit (in no chronological order at all):

Gigi and Pop sharing their Rita's Italian Ice with Ethan and Jemma, lol

Candice and Rifat on the porch

Pop and Ethan playing with the Lincoln Logs

My grandmother meeting Bradley for the first time <3

My Dad with his brother and sister and their spouses

Both my boys on my lap (Bradley is hidden in the wrap)

Gigi helped Ethan build a fort on the porch

Sweet sleeping baby

Bradley hanging out on the porch

Ethan and Jemma

Ethan ate the first meal on Gigi and Pop's new porch

Alexa and Ethan

Alexa meeting Bradley

Becca's Baby Shower

Jemma, Kayla and Ethan in the sandbox

Aunt Lauren meeting Bradley

Uncle Mike meeting Bradley

Cousin snack time on the porch

Puzzle fun at Gigi and Pop's house

More sweet sleeping baby

More Lincoln Log fun

Snoozing on Aunt Candice

Pop and Bradley

Then on our return trip to New Mexico (which I was incredibly stressed about because I was flying alone with both boys), the coolest thing happened. I ended up knowing the man sitting next to me! He was an old co-worker of Matt's that I hadn't seen in probably five years, but he actually recognized me. He was super nice and when we landed he not only pushed Ethan in his stroller to baggage claim, he also helped me get all my luggage off the conveyor belt and proceeded to escort me to my car (pushing my 4 large pieces of luggage) and then loaded my car. It was the best thing that ever could have happened that day. Once to our car, we still had a 3.5 hour drive from Albuquerque to Clovis, but instead of making the drive right after our flight, I called a friend who lives in Albuquerque and at a minute's notice she took us in, fed us dinner, and let us crash at her house. Another huge blessing. It's pretty amazing how life takes care of you when you need it most. :)

Our second family

After my Bradley was born it wasn't just our relatives that stepped up to take care of us, a huge help to us was our Air Force family here. I truly can not say enough amazing things about the way our Air Force family took care of us after Bradley's birth.

Even before Bradley was born they were taking care of us. For example, when we got 8 inches of snow and I was 38 weeks pregnant and Matt was away for work, three men showed up outside my house, shoveled my sidewalk and entire driveway and drove away. Had I not been home and heard them, they never would've even knocked on the door to let me thank them. It was pretty amazing. And when we spent five hours in the middle of the night at the ER because Matt was having gallstones, our Air Force family was there that night to take care of us.

So it was nothing different after Bradley's birth. They were there for two weeks straight bringing us meals, love and support, and whatever else we needed. It was wonderful and something I will remember for the rest of my life. And something I can only hope to be able to payback to my Air Force family today and in the future.

I get by with a little help from my family

We were so very blessed to have a constant flow of family visiting us before and after Bradley was born. My mother (aka Gigi) was our first guest and arrived about five days before Bradley made his grand entrance. The extra time was great because she 1) helped do the final bit of organizing before the baby got here, and 2) kept me company while I tried to patiently wait for Bradley to decide he was ready to come out into the world. Then once my labor started, she stayed home with Ethan while Matt and I went to the hospital. Then she even relieved Matt and spent Bradley's first night with me in the hospital, which let Matt recharge, but meant I still had help. It all worked out perfectly. And of course, she was here with us for Bradley's first week at home, which was really the best part of all because adjusting to two kids is tough stuff!

After Gigi, our next visitor was Matt's dad (aka Grandpa). Now while Bradley might not exactly acknowledge or appreciate the guests, Ethan always loved having someone special here, especially his Grandpa. From playing with Ethan's Matchbox cars inside, to playing catch outside, Ethan loved having his Grandpa here to play with. The only thing is, I think Matt's Dad might've needed an extra vacation (or maybe just a really long nap) after how busy Ethan kept him. No matter what, though, Matt and I truly appreciated the extra set of hands to help entertain our ever-busy toddler.

After Grandpa, our next guest was Matt's mom (aka G-ma). I can't say enough wonderful things about having family here. Matt's Mom was such a huge help with everything from laundry, to grocery shopping, to making meals for us, to watching Bradley so I could get a much needed haircut. I mean, you name it and she helped us with it. And, as usual, Ethan kept G-ma ever busy with different games and activities. Having family around those first few weeks meant Ethan never really felt a loss of attention because of Bradley, which was important to us. We never wanted him to feel like he was any less important because he had a baby brother now.

Our last visitors to Clovis were my sister and her boyfriend (aka Aunt Candice and Uncle Matt). They came over my sister's Spring Break and were here to celebrate Easter with us, which meant so much to me. The holidays can be hard sometimes being so far away from family, so having family here with us is just awesome. And now that Ethan is starting to really love hunting for eggs, I'm starting to love Easter all over again, the way I did when I was little and got to run around looking for eggs at my grandparent's house. Plus, having Matt here meant the Matts got to do fun man stuff (aka beer, golf, and guns), which they loved.