Reasons Brennan is Freaking Out

Today Brennan is 43 months old. Instead of doing a traditional "Dear Brennan" post today, I thought I'd do something a little different.

Inspired by the blog Reasons My Son is Crying and an article I recently read entitled 46 Reasons My Toddler Might be Freaking Out I thought I'd compile a nice little list of reasons Brennan may be freaking out. These are very specific to Brennan, so they might not be funny to everyone, but he likes things the way he likes them and you better watch out if you don't do something right.

Reasons Brennan May be Freaking Out:

 1. His bathroom stool is facing the wrong direction.
 2. His dirty clothes are not in his hamper.
 3. His light saber is upside down next to his toy box.
 4. His Bible isn't in the right spot on his bedside table.
 5. His penis is wrong in his underpants.
 6. His pillow fell down onto his bed.
 7. There isn't a pink ____ to choose when picking a prize.
 8. His fork won't pick up his food.
 9. The outside of his cup is wet.
10. Bryce is touching him.
11. I didn't let him press the buttons on the microwave.
12. I forgot to put socks on him at bedtime.
13. I didn't hang his backpack up on the hook in his room.
14. He rolled (spun) a 6, but is only 4 spaces away from the finish in a board game.
15. I didn't go down the aisles in numerical order at the commissary.
16. Someone skipped a number when counting.
17. I told him bath time is at 7:15, then we start playing and realize the clock says 7:16.
18. There is hair on his hand.
19. We need to go on I-95S and he wants to go North.
20. We didn't drive him by the newly renovated blue house in our neighborhood for the fiftieth time.
21. I need to clip his fingernails or God forbid his toenails.
22. I didn't put his peach oatmeal in the matching orange bowl for breakfast.

I'm sure I could think of some more, but 22 is a pretty good place to stop. 22 is just over half of how many months old Brennan is today and since he is 3 years old, he could also be freaking out that the opposite of all these things are happening. ;)

Brennan, momma loves you and all your little quirks!

Sunday Mornings

I shared both of these pictures on Instagram yesterday, but I just think they are so cute so I'm sharing them here too.

I took these yesterday before church. Sunday mornings are LONG for us. We are at church for over 4 hours each Sunday because we have worship team rehearsal, Sunday school, and church. It is NOT easy to get up and get two young kids ready for that each week. And sometimes, like yesterday, Kyle has duty and I have get them there all by myself. It's especially hard when they are Bryce's age and still taking two naps/day because he doesn't get a good morning nap at church usually. It's something we are committed to doing each week and I'm so glad we do it.

It teaches Brennan patience because he has to sit and wait for us while we rehearse with the worship team. (Yes he usually has his iPad, but still he sits still and plays it nicely most weeks). Brennan LOVES his class at church. Brennan was (is??) a Momma's boy and had pretty bad separation anxiety for awhile, but we persevered through that and it's paid off. I love hearing about what he did in class and when he sings songs he's learned there it makes my heart happy.

I love singing on our church's praise team. It's fun getting to learn new songs. And I get to do it alongside one of my best friends and my hubby, so that's a bonus. Just this week, I transitioned from teaching first and second grade Sunday school to volunteering in the nursery during the Sunday school hour. I'm looking forward to this new job and giving the littlest kids a familiar face to see week when they get dropped off.

Last night Brennan started something new too; it was his first night of AWANA. And even though he's only three, he's been invited to join the children's choir. I'm so glad he has all these opportunities to learn about Jesus at such a young age!

It's such a blessing that we found Groton Heights Baptist Church. It's not easy for military families to find a church home and we have found a great one where we get to hear a wonderful, Bible-based message each week.  We've found a great place to get plugged in!

Happy Sunday

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Ledyard Fair

I wanted to share a few pictures tonight before I went to bed of the fun we had at the Ledyard Fair. When Brennan woke up from his nap, we told him we were going and he was so excited. He had a great time riding rides. I think this kid will love roller coasters when he's older!

Dear Bryce,

My crazy little Brycey you are eight months old today! It's been quite awhile since we've called you "Baby Bryce". Now we usually say Brycey, Brycey-Brucey, or Brycey Britches, and Daddy calls you Bugaboo. We try to throw in a plain ole Bryce now and then too! :) I haven't weighed you recently, but I can tell you are growing. You're still long and thin. You wear mostly 6-9 month clothes and are in size 3 diapers now.

I'm still nursing and that's going really well. You typically nurse four times during the day and STILL wake up once in the middle of the night to eat. I'm so used to waking up one time now, that it doesn't even phase me anymore. You usually wake up somewhere between 2:30-4am and I've tried letting your cry it out, but eating is what puts you back to sleep. I know one night (maybe in the near future???) you'll start sleeping through the night. You are also doing pretty well eating solid foods. You love your rice cereal and most fruits, but aren't big on veggies right now. You have gotten really good at feeding yourself puffs now and also like "drinking" from your sippy cup. It seems like you're growing up so fast doing all those things already!

The biggest changes over the past month are that you can now sit unassisted indefinitely and you started army crawling. The crawling thing is completely new to us because Brennan never did it. You still aren't up on all fours, but you can move quick. You are all over the place exploring with the bathroom being one of your favorite go-to spots. You can transition from sitting to crawling too. You haven't pulled yourself up to standing yet, but are very close. We went ahead and lowered your crib the other night just to be safe.

It seems like you always want to be on the move now. You don't like your exersaucer very much anymore. Thankfully you'll still let us put you in your bouncy seat sometimes with "Praise Baby" on TV because sometimes I just need a way to keep you still for a little bit! Up until this past month, you've been sitting in your high chair with no straps or tray on it. That definitely doesn't work anymore! I have to have the tray on there to contain you! You are also a wild one in the bathtub. It's so hard for me to control you in there even in your little inflatable duck tubby. You are constantly flipping over onto your stomach or trying to put your face in the water.

The last few days I have felt like you're showing some signs of separation anxiety already! I'm so not ready for that stage to begin. You have been crying when I walk out of a room, but if I come back and pick you up, you immediately stop crying. You don't have any teeth yet, so I'm hoping some of your fussiness is because some teeth are getting ready to come in. In fact you're crying in your crib right now as I type this when you should be napping! Grrr!

Sometimes you can be pretty grumpy at home, but thankfully you are almost always an angel when we are out. You love the Ergo and rarely make a peep when in it. You are still great in your car seat too, so it makes it easy to take you places. You moved up to the convertible car seat like a big boy!

I'm excited to see what this next month holds. Will you pull yourself to standing? Will you start climbing the basement stairs? Maybe even a first word or first sign will happen? Whatever it holds, it'll be great (and super frustrating at times). You are such a cute, smiley baby and I love how different you are from your brother! You are very special and I love you so very very much!

Love,

Mommy

Bryce last month at 7 months old

Bryce today at 8 months old. He's a pro a these pics now!

Back to School

I figured Brennan would have no trouble going back to school this morning since it was his 2nd year at the UMCCC, but it never hearts to throw up a little prayer. We've been praying for school and his teachers for about a week now and he walked right in this morning talking the teacher's off about his new backpack and his newest iPad game.

I might try to get some better pictures after school because the lighting wasn't very good this morning, but here he is before school.

Here's what he had said to say about some of his favorites this morning:

Favorite Color: pink
Favorite Snack: lollipops and suckers
Favorite Book: Emily's First 100 Days of School
Favorite TV Show: "One Way Jesus" (a music video by Hillsong Kids)
Favorite Movie: Hop (I was surprised he said that one)
Favorite Food: Oatmeal and Lunchables
Favorite Animal: Alligators
Favorite Song: "Jesus Loves Me"
What do you want to be when you grow up? A doctor

Happy Sunday

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