Dear Brennan,

Yesterday you turned 3 1/2 years old! I'm not sure I'm going to keep doing these updates each month now that you're getting so big. I might just start doing more of a list version or just a recap of some the funny things you're saying or doing. You are wearing mostly 3T clothes, but I was just saying the other day that we will probably start buying anything new in 4T. I love this time because you can wear such a wide range of clothes. Some things that say 24 months will still fit you, but 4T still fits fine too. You did have to get new shoes this past month! I was putting your shoes on one morning and realized they were really tight. You're now wearing a size 8! You still wear a Pull-Up at bedtime and most mornings it's still wet. I'm hoping you won't be a seven-year-old that needs to wear Pull-Ups!

In last month's update I mentioned your attitude. I am so happy to say that it has been so so so much better this past month. If that was the extent of your terrible 3's then I think we have gotten off easy! You have been super pleasant and I love it. You are such a good helper with your brother. Sometimes I'll be back in the nursery and realize I left the baby wipes or something else I need out in the living room and you bring it right to me. You still seem to like Bryce, but aren't a fan of when he rolls up to you and touches you while you're standing up. I always remind you that you're bigger and can move faster than him so you just need to move to a different spot. Bryce still adores you and lights up anytime he looks at you!

You attended VBS at the end of July. In the past you stayed in the nursery while Mommy worked, but this year you went around with the preschool crew. You're supposed to be four to do that, but they made exception for you and you did great. It was totally cool to see you singing and dancing while I was leading worship on stage! We've been talking about school starting back up and you seem super excited for it. You'll be going Monday, Wednesday, and Friday starting at the beginning of September.

Your obsession with numbers continues. You seriously LOVE numbers. You still love exit numbers. You always want to see how much battery power is left on the iPad or my phone. At the mall we have to walk in Old Navy just to see what checkout lane numbers are lit up and open. You love the checkout lane numbers at Target and the commissary too. I thought the commissary was going to be dreadful this summer since I'd be going most weeks with you and your brother, but it is so super easy because you get so excited to see which lanes are open and to go up and down the aisles in order. Just recently you have started to hold my phone during our grocery trips and will check off the items on the list for me as I pick them up.

When I was putting you to bed tonight, I realized I haven't really talked about our bedtime routine in quite awhile. You get a bath almost every night before bed. You like Mommy to give you your bath, but we've made progress to at least let Daddy start your tubby as long as Mommy does the washing after I put Bryce to bed. You are super good about going to bed because we still just tell you what the clock will say when it's bedtime and you don't put up any fight. After we brush your teeth and go potty, you always get to pick out two stories. It's so cute to watch you stand at your bookshelf and decide what books you want. Lots of time you'll pick out books from the library. For the past week or so we've read the story Emily's First 100 Days of School at every nap and bedtime. It counts to 100, so it's no surprise you like that one! After those two stories, we pray together, Mommy sings you "Jesus Loves Me" and "One More Minute" (a Mommy original), and then you go to sleep. You don't ever get out of your bed at nap or bedtime. Most days you'll stay in bed until 4 at naptime and you always stay quiet until 7 in the morning. If only your brother was as good of a sleeper as you!

Your reading continues to blow us away. You read signs when we are out that have words we had no idea you knew. You are learning to sound things out. It's really amazing. We've been practicing writing your letter and numbers. You are just such a smart dude!

You say some of the best things! Here are a few of my favorites right now:

• "Turn your head over!" - said when I'm not looking at you.
• "You're so beautiful." - you've started saying this when you know I'm frustrated with you!
• "Pay attention, Rachel!" - you told me that the other day when I messing up on an iPad game.
• "We've never done this in a while." - said when we haven't done something in awhile.
• "Look at this booger, Mommy! It's a good one!" - you just said that one today after nap!

You just got a new car seat. You love it! Bryce is using the one you were in, so you got an upgrade. Things like that show me how quickly you're growing up! I feel like this is just such a fun age. You take in everything around you and don't forget anything. You talk constantly and are getting more and more energetic. You don't sit or stand still for very long periods of time anymore; you're almost always bouncing around. You're such a sweet little dude!

I love you!

Love,

Mommy

Happy Sunday

via

Newport, RI

Last weekend we drove up to Burlington, Mass (about a 1 hour 45 minute drive) because that's where the closest Chick-fil-a is located. We do that a few times a year. It was a fun little family trip and afterwards I said we need to be better about doing more fun stuff on the Saturdays when Kyle isn't working.

So last night we decided that we'd spend some of our Saturday in Newport, RI. Kyle and I went there for a few days back before Brennan was born. And Kyle was recently up there for some classes he had to take, but we wanted to go with the boys. There really isn't a ton that's geared for kids, but it was supposed to be a beautiful day and we thought they'd have fun just walking (strolling) around.

We headed up this morning and it really isn't a bad drive at all; only about 45 minutes. Kyle first drove us around the Navy base up there so we could see where he had gone for his classes and where he could possibly go to the Navy War College after he's done with this current tour. Then we headed into downtown Newport and parked near the Cliff Walk. The Cliff Walk runs along the water and many of the famed Newport mansions. You really can't see many of the houses on the walk because of the high shrubs, but the walk was nice and the boys were great in the stroller. We did a little extra walking to try to get a better view of the mansions, but then we were getting hungry so we loaded up back in the car and went to grab some food.

We ate lunch at The Red Parrot. Kyle and I had eaten there when we visited before. We had planned to walk around a little more after lunch, but Brennan said he didn't really want to, so we hopped back in the car. We thought about parking in a different spot and doing a little more walking so Brennan could look at some boats, but Bryce had already fallen asleep in his car seat, so we just decided to drive on home. It was a short, but fun visit and we even made it home in time for Brennan and Bryce to still take a good nap!

I snapped this pic on my phone as we were about to cross the bridge into Newport. It really was a beautiful day to be outside!

The boys are ready for the Cliff Walk!

And here's a blurry pic of Bryce sitting in a restaurant highchair for the first time!

Here's a picture of when Kyle and I were in Newport back in February of 2009. The funny thing is, after we got back home today and the boys went down for their naps, I went and got my hair cut almost the same as in this picture without even realizing that until right now!

Tubby Time!

It's been awhile since I've shared any bath pictures of Bryce. I just love babies in the bathtub and thankfully Bryce loves bath time just like Brennan always has. He's in the duck tubby now and loving it. He can sit up well in the tub, but also likes to lay down and kick his feet like crazy. Today he even rolled onto his belly and laid like that for a little bit. I'm glad I grabbed the camera this morning to capture these!

I took this one this morning too of him sitting up and playing with his workbench. He's getting better each day at sitting up for longer and longer periods of time.

Hugs

Gosh I love these boys!

And yes, Bryce is wearing My First Christmas jammies. They won't fit him in December and we have very few 9-month footed jammies, so he gets to wear these now.

Dear Bryce,

You are seven months old now my wild little man! You are definitely getting bigger, but at your six month check-up you weighed 15 pounds 6 ounces, which only put you in the 20th percentile. You were 40th percentile for length. You are currently wearing mostly 6-9 month clothes. The clothes I already packed away because they were too small are now officially gone. We sold them to a friend, so that means there's a a very very good chance you'll be my last baby. You're crazy enough to make that seem ok though. :) You still wear size 2 diapers during the day and size 3 at night.

You are still nursing. I'm hopeful to make it to a year with you, but you eat so quickly most times now I sometimes wonder if you're getting enough. You still get solids twice a day. Somedays you act really hungry and eat everything up I give you and other days you seem to care less. I don't really push it. If you don't act interested then I just get you down. I think I'm much more relaxed with you than I was with your brother. You did enjoy eating the squeezy pouch foods a few times when I tried those. You're showing a lot more interest in using a sippy cup, so we are going to try to be more consistent about using that this next month.

Let's talk sleep. Or lack there of! :) Knock on wood, the past two nights have been better. I stopped using your sleep sack three nights ago because after a month of being in that thing your sleep wasn't getting any better. You seem to be a belly sleeper. Last night you were only up once at 3am and then up for the day around 6:40 (which is too early, but at least I only got up once in the middle of the night). I am so hopeful that more sleep will come soon. I know this time will soon seem like a distant memory, but some days are ROUGH! You typically take two naps each day. You have been taking an excellent morning nap, but the afternoon one usually isn't as long. You can get pretty cranky at night because if you only nap until 3:00 or so, you end up awake for 4 hours before bed and you get super tired. You also seem to be pooping almost every single morning and I think that's waking you up early.

Still no crawling. I thought you'd be an early crawler, but honestly I'm not sure when you'll do it because you get around really well rolling and turning on your belly. You can move fast and get to anything you want. You are already drawn to the electronics in the living room. You also have several toys you like now including ABC blocks, the workbench, and bowling pins. You're in the living room playing with the blocks right now as I type this. You are supposed to be napping. Oh well. You roll so quickly and sometimes I just need you to be still for a few minutes. Right after you turned 6 months you and Brennan received a package in the mail and the box was the perfect size little "bed" for you. It was super shallow and I put a blanket in it and in you went. You would just lay on your back and play and couldn't roll around. It was nice. For about two weeks until you figured out how to roll out of that too. :)

Your rolling makes diaper changes nearly impossible. I rarely use your changing table anymore because you are all over the place. You HAVE  to have something in your hands in order for me to have any chance of getting a new diaper on. Even then it's a big challenge. I often call you crazy because I just feel like you don't want to stop moving. I think that's what you aren't proficient at sitting up yet. You can do it for just a few seconds, but always want to arch your back and lay back down so you can get to rolling again. I think once you've mastered sitting up that will make my job easier. I can dream, right?

You like books now. You get so excited at bedtime when I grab your bedtime book "Welcome to the World". You just start making these excited almost snorting sounds. You also like the Little Einstein ABC books Brennan always loved. Your favorite thing to chew on is a spout I took out of one of your sippy cups. You still like Sopie too and also like the little star teething cloth we have.

You have moved up to taking baths in the duck tubby now. You are constantly rolling onto your belly during bath time too. You can hold your own bottle if you get one. You took a bottle three nights in a row when Daddy put you to bed while Mommy and Brennan were at VBS. We also took the car seat adapter off the double stroller, so you ride in that like a big boy now. We just installed Brennan's new car seat, so you're about to move into the convertible seat! You have also learned to shake your head "no". I can't believe that's one of the first things you've learned. I'm afraid it mean you're gonna be trouble! :) You like to fly up in the air and will just laugh every time we do that. Ringo also makes you laugh.

I call you wild and crazy, but you are a good baby. You cry when you're tired, but even then it's not a full out cry. You do this cute little sound that sounds like Chewbacca from Star Wars. You put yourself to sleep for naps and bedtime. If you do wake in the middle of the night, you simply eat and go right back to sleep. You are great about playing independently on the floor or in your exersaucer. You are such a handsome little dude too. You still have your blue eyes that get comments wherever we go. I'm excited to see what the next month holds because I know soon you'll be interacting a lot more with Brennan and I can't wait to see what that's like.

Love you wild guy!

Love,
Momma

Bryce back at 6 months

Today at 7 months. It was such a fun "photo shoot". He was so happy!

Shaking his head "no!"

Fort Griswold

I'm really not much of a history buff, but I decided it was time for a little history lesson last week and stopped by for a impromptu visit of Fort Griswold. The old fort has a tall tower that Brennan often sees while we are out driving and he always points it out. I figured it was a good day to stop and let him take a look around. I wasn't about to climb all the way to the top with both boys because I knew Brennan would never make it, but he was still quite the trooper walking all around the historic grounds.

Here are some low quality iPhone pics of our time there.

Both boys were great. Bryce slept most of the time and then they played happily together once we got home!

And just for fun, here are some pictures of the first time I visited Fort Griswold back in August of 2007 when my parents came to visit.