Things you may or may not know of a little someone.

1.  He is brilliant.

Seriously...Who thinks of this kind of stuff? He insisted on helping me carry our tomato cages to the car. I turn around to this. Makes me want to cut off the top and drape a dress on him :)

2. He has a twin from another mother.

They get along great and have crazy imaginations. Most days, my only intervention is to remind them to remember to share. The weird part? Reminder to share their pretend cookies....and apples...and friends. They seriously break down to tears when the other won't share something that in reality, doesn't exist. I never had much of an imagination so I find it sightly weird.

3. His photography skills are becoming quite fantastic.I enjoy downloading pictures on to the computer and seeing what he has been up to.

4. On our last flight, as soon as the "fasten your seatbelt" light went off, Brycen stood on the chair and started dancing and singing, "I like to move it, move it! I like to MOVE IT!"  It was quite the scene.
He then fell asleep like this.

Too bad it was on the landing of the 4 hour flight...
5. He is amazing with his little brother.

Oh Texas!

My first journey flying solo with the boys took us to Texas to see my oldest brother graduate from Texas A&M Medical School.

  

Joshua, his wife--Laura, Cian and cousin-Liala.

The big event brought my whole family together--and we got to meet Brycen and Cian's first cousins on my side of the family. Our kids are no longer the only grandkids.

Cian with 12 day old Liam.

 

It made things a bit more crazy but still good since I was husbandless (grad school sure keeps him busy), I called dips on the two younger uncles and thus, had two extra sets of arms.

Grandpa-ing up during the graduation ceremony.

Announcing: Dr. Joshua Shields! Brycen LOVED it!

With the proud parents...

Sure love my 3 year old.

Josh also was commissioned into the Air Force!

The progression of the following pictures crack me up. Our attempt to get all the grandkids with the grandparents. Notice specifically Brycen and Cian in the first couple.

Cian loves to pull hair! But really, what baby doesn't...

Solution. I guess happiness trumps getting all to look at the same camera.

On a side note, our hotel had a huge indoor bathtub (temperature and all) that Cian went in for his first official swim! He LOVED it!

Flying SOLO

Why flying with two kids is barely possible for me:

1. Brycen LOVES flying. So he is usually happy and easy.
2. He loves to help with Cian. So whenever I needed to fold up the stroller, Brycen gladly flopped on the ground and held him.
3. I consider myself to be an amazing multi-tasker and capable of patience,when needed.

BUT, when a 4 hour layover is thrown into the mix, that is seriously pushing the limits.

Brycen's energy never ceases to amaze me though and then of course his total lack of shyness. After going through security at the airport in Indy, Brycen literally weaved through crowds, sprinting to our gate while greeting everyone he came in contact with--completely not comprehending that his mother with the double wide stroller had no where near the ability to keep up. More than once I heard the comment, (while chuckling) "Who's child is that?" Once he arrived at our gate, he literally jumped in the air repeatedly while shouting, "Yes! We made it! We are here!!!" The front row of elderly people got a hoot out of it.

Once we took the 18 minute flight to Chicago (maybe not that short, but we were practically told to chug our drinks it was so short), Brycen exited the plane with both hands waving like he was the President of the United States, greeting the crowds.

So, what do you do for 4 hours?

1. You find these handy water bottle stations, every airport in the World should invest in them. I LOVE water and this is just brilliant. Not to mention that it is purified, yummy water not chilled tap water...

2. Act out "The Terminal". I have a deep love for quarters, I'm not sure why... so when I saw an abandoned airport cart and then further down, a station to return it; I jumped on the idea of having Brycen earn a quarter while wasting some good time.

  

It literally took 45 minutes to direct Brycen and the cart through crowds just to find out that they NO LONGER GIVE QUARTERS!!! Cheapos. Major disappointment. Good thing Brycen had no idea of the quarter thing (it was going to be a surprise that he would've LOVED).

3. Moving sidewalks. One after one after one. I'm not sure Brycen quite understands that when he runs while riding, it makes it near impossible to keep up..there was some BIG lecturing followed when I did finally keep up...that was too scary. You know it's bad when a TSA member says, "Is that you child up there?" Yes. Yes...I'm coming!!

4. Stickers.

5. Of course, food.

 

Cian does not seem to love flying quite like his brother does, needing constant entertainment--singing, bouncing, feeding, finding new anything for him to play with (that is okay for him to put into his mouth--everything goes into his mouth these days) you name it-I tried it. And then Brycen needed to use the bathroom. Yes, we all three fit. While holding Cian, I managed to help Brycen pull down his pants, climb onto the toilet, wipe, get dressed and hands washed all in an area that I'm pretty sure I couldn't even touch my toes.
 
End result: We DID make it safely to Texas with one mentally and physically exhausted Momma. VERY grateful helpful family members were on the other side.

Brycen's Account

Daddy walks through door.

Brycen: "I peed on the floor today. That made Mommy grumpy. She said, "No more movies!" That made me sad. I got dressed all by myself! I'm getting so big! My shirt...my pants (on backwards)..my underwear (on inside out)... That made Mommy happy!"

"What did you do at work?"

Daddy: Says something about his experiments that Mommy couldn't repeat even she tried.

Brycen (giggling): "What else?"

Daddy: more sophisticated stuff....

Brycen (practically falling out of his chair laughing): "That's silly!"

________________________________________________________________________end of account

Brycen is quite the chatter box, and is giving DETAILED accounts these days, it's amazing what this kid picks up and remembers. But back to the whole peeing on the floor thing...so Brycen waits until the very last second and then runs into the bathroom, "I NEED TO GO POTTY!!" If I'm not in position to drop everything I am doing to assist getting his pants off ASAP, Brycen usually doesn't make it. It has happened three times over the last week. Not a huge deal considering how many times he goes a day and that I usually can drop everything I am doing....BUT, it's getting old. Any advice?

And yet he remains adorable...

Birthday BOY!

Brycen turned 3 on May 9th and enjoyed partying it up.

.  

We moved into our new place just 4 days prior so things were a bit crazy but we managed to throw two BBQs/Parties together and he LOVED having so many "friends" over. He is our little social boy. One BBQ was made up of mostly Dad's co-workers as a "end of the semester" celebration with cake to begin our birthday week. Brycen went around and asked, "what is your name?" to everyone that walked into the door. He then continuously jumped and danced during the entire time everyone sang 'Happy Birthday' to him. He loves the attention (whose kid is this??) and blowing out candles is a current favorite activity. 

One of the co-workers took pictures of the event..I will post later.

For Party #2, we combined with another little boy from church that is 2 days younger than Brycen. We were supposed to hold it at a park but it started POURING five minutes before T time and so we held it at our house. 50 or so people....considering everything, went rather well. I can't help to wonder though, what our new neighbors think of us...

Facts about our Brycen boy:

1. He loves his friend Madden. They have been best buds since a year ago last January when I started watching two of my friend's kids so she could go back to work. I have started watching them again just 1 day a week and Brycen loves it.

2. He has a slight addiction to popcorn. Actually, corn period. LOVES corn on the cob. We went to a local farmer's market two Saturdays ago after family pictures and got fresh Kettle and Caramel popcorn. Delish. I don't even like Kettle and I was practically inhaling the bag.

3. I still can't get the camera out without Brycen requesting to take pictures. He is famous for his finger smudges on the lens...

For this particular picture, he pulled the camera away prior to taking it and said, "Say 'cheese' like this!" He then gave the cheesiest grin from ear to ear. It was adorable.

4. He has a habit of taking one bite out of all pieces before eating each piece entirely. He has being doing this with his personal sandwiches and quesadillas and then I left him outside recently with the bowl of watermelon and came back to this...

 

he sure took a great picture of it!

5. LOVES riding his bike. We tried to teach him last fall before it got cold but Brycen didn't seem to grasp onto the concept until now...it all the sudden clicked and he is off!

6. Willingly was given a shot at his check up. He was due for a second dose of something and he did amazingly! So brave. I'm pretty sure he would do anything that Doctor requested. Brycen loved showing him that he could do things. "Can you climb onto this table for me? Can you lay on your back? Is it okay if I give you a shot?" Brycen didn't even think twice. I was shocked! And to think that I have to bribe him to finish his hot dog...

7. It's pant and short. He will correct the following statement as often as needed, "Brycen let's put on your pants/shorts".

Brycen: "Pant, Mom. There's only one".

8. You have GOT to ask him to dance like a penguin for you. It is hilarious. And I request it often.

9. He is a wonderful helper with Cian. We just got back from our trip to Texas where I flew by myself with the two boys (more on that later). In order to strip both myself and the stroller for security, Brycen sat on the ground nearby and held Cian. All the TSA workers thought it was adorable and asked if they could sit on his lap next. Brycen readily agreed, he is so not shy--it's crazy.

10. He thinks that pretending to be a dog justifies peeing on the back lawn. That brings us back to the whole, "I DO wonder what our new neighbors think of us". 

Our Baby

With our recent move to a house (stay posted!!), I never got the chance to document our baby hitting the 6 month mark. Cian continues to be long and lean. 90% for length and head, 30% for weight(17 lbs 2 oz). He is so good natured, just wants to be carried along. He LOVES people and will smile at anyone who will smile first. On our recent flights to San Francisco and Oregon, he loved looking over the seats which is basically how we kept him entertained. He would find someone and stare them down until they looked back and then break into a huge grin and do it all over again.

No stranger anxiety yet and with 3 parties during birthday week at our house, that came quite in handy. So nice to be able to pass him off in time of need and may need this upcoming weekend when I'm flying with just myself and the two kiddos to Texas. Prayers on my behalf are welcome.

Cian found his back muscles around 2 weeks ago and can sit up pretty well. Doesn't show any desire to move quite yet and that is VERY okay with me. His hand/eye coordination is outstanding though and he loves to play with everything in sight.

He seems to have been teething for the last 3 months straight but has nothing to show for it. He will gladly chew on anything he can get his hands on. His love for straws and sippy cups runs deep and he has no issues ripping them out of peoples' mouths and shoving them in his own, followed  by intense anger if taken away.

 

Cian continues to tolerate Brycen's tackling and kissing and when happy, finds Brycen absolutely hilarious. 

LOVIN our backyard!

 

The day we moved in, our next door neighbors put this beauty out on the curb.

 

After checking with them, we welcomed it into our new garage. I didn't necessarily plan on using it quite yet since sitting was relatively still a new thing for Cian, but Grandpa (who helped us move) had other plans and put him in it that evening. With the perfect amount of support and freedom (and ease of pushing!) Cian has fallen in love and LOVES to be going places. 

 

And sleeping when not.

Rain boots.

On our trip to San Francisico, we made a brief pit stop to Oregon for Easter! And....necessary dental visits.

Let's rewind back to December, after spending a week and a half with my family in Utah (which I now realized I never blogged about!), we headed to Oregon to visit Bryce's family for Christmas. Shortly after arrival, that night and every night until the dentist chair--very very painful tooth pain kept me from sleeping. I would bawl in bed and count the hours until the dentist could put me out of my misery. So I'm sure you can imagine how grateful I was to conveniently have a brother-in-law and sister-in-law that own their own dental practice in the neighboring community. As much as I have always hated the dentist, I couldn't have been more pleased with the timing of the need for this ROOT CANAL. Not fun, right? So...apparently, pregnancy can be rough on your teeth and/or/combined with spending almost 4 weeks in a non-water drinking country can cause issues down the road. Whatever the reason, I didn't drink nearly the amount of water that I drank when pregnant with Brycen and ended up with several cavaties and a need for a root canal. Pregnant people...drink your water! Brushing teeth two to three times a day didn't cut it for me.

At least that's my theory on it. I have had only 2 cavaties my whole life (and none before the 2nd pregnancy began) and then December rolled around....anyways. Back to the story. Our brother-in-law dentist happily saw me and he is amazing at what he does. I didn't feel a thing (and apparently need 3-4x the amount of numbing material than most)--he made sure I was completely comfortable and I'm still amazed to this day...that I never felt anything. Needless to say, for all my future dental needs...I am flying to Oregon.

So for my root canal tooth, they put a crown on it but it would take 2 weeks to make the permanent crown thus creating the need to fly out again. So we did 3 one way tickets to Portland and then San Francisco and got to spend a wonderful weekend in Oregon. After almost 4 years of marriage and a kind email from Grandma expressing the need for rainboots, Brycen and I went prepared for our first time ever to the always raining Oregon. After all, the weather forcast in San Fran called for them as well.

Yes, loading the airplane in sunny 70 degree weather Indiana decked out in rainboots seemed quite silly but the vision of dry feet and not having to fit them in the suitcases stood reason enough for me.

And then we arrived. To SUNNY 70 degree weather Oregon. Yes, I waited along the arrival curb dressed all in all black and almost knee high rainboots. While people passed in shorts and flipflops. The story of my life.

 

He was way too excited to sleep longer than 45 minutes during our combined 7 hour flights (after getting 6 hours of sleep the night before). So instead, he fell asleep on the way home from the airport and slept through the first hour of Grandma's or until Mommy decided he should wake up and join in on the fun. 

 

While Brycen slept, Cian/Daddy amazed all the nieces and nephews with their balancing act.  

 Brycen woke up and joined right in--walking around the farm with Grandpa and putting the brand new rain boots to use.

 The weather was PERFECT for the family annual Easter Egg hunt 

 

 and eating outside for dinner (the first we have ever been able to attend). Brycen had a blast with his cousins. They picked up with where they left off.

 

Notice the candy bag. Each grandkid found roughly 30 (yes, 3-0) eggs, amounting to quite a stash of candy--hey, we happen to like the dentist, might as well keep him in business :)

While Mommy and Daddy sat in the dentist chair, Brycen stayed back at Grandma's with his "friends" (notice all the boots :). All four cousins were born within the same year and (now) really get along well together. This was the first visit that there was more playing than fighting--growing up and being able to communicate has worked wonders. They followed each other around and loved playing in the puddles. 

Life on the farm is sure messy though. Brycen went through all his clothes packed for the week, during the first 60 hours.

 

The two newest additions. Cian is roughly a month older and was born a pound heavier and yet, has been passed up in the weight category. Quite interesting since he eats ALL day.