Easter Pics

Here are a couple more Easter Pics...our family pics and a group shot of all the Westmont Alums...Bodie was in true picture taking form. the only difference is that i don't really care anymore...i think its kinda funny...i think when he is older and looking back at all of these pictures he may ask me why he looks so miserable...and i will just explain to him that is because he was! bodie does not smile unless bodie wants to smile. the end.

i do love my little dapper men in their bow ties...bryson had taken his off by then - it is a little too small for his neck, but they do look oh so handsome! but they dont need bow ties for that...

i already want to go back. i miss santa barbara so so much. its nice we still have friends that live there and a good excuse to go up every so often!

Easter Weekend Egg Hunt

we had another amazing time in santa barbara with good friends. i don't typically look at holidays as relaxing, but spending this holiday with dear friends makes this holiday one of my favorites! don't get me wrong - i love my family and love spending time with both my side and my husband's side, but unfortunately most of our families are not geographically close...

here are all the littles hunting the eggs...so fun this year! last year i dont think most of them quite knew what all was going on...but man...they picked it up this year!

the eggs were filled with *mostly* healthy snacks...bryson quickly put them back...we had *special* eggs for him, mostly with money in them...he was quite happy about that!

i get a little nervous about egg hunting because i feel like Easter is such a special spiritual holiday and I worry the eggs over-shadow that in the kiddos mind. its like stockings and presents at Christmas. I tried to tell them the Easter story before bed each night...but after the third time Bryson rolled his eyes and asked, "do we have to hear this again?" *sigh*...the balance between planting the seed and overkill...guess i fell toward the latter...

speaking of parenting...sorta...i marvel at my friends and what amazing parents they all are. it is so much fun to watch people you have known since you were in the early stages of becoming an adult and figuring things out to finding that person they want to be with to becoming a family and now having to parent...which they all do amazingly and i love having good friends to help figure stuff out with!

brothers unlike another

every day i marvel at how different these two are. you would think it wouldn't surprise me as much, but i am constantly blown away. blown away i tell you! i think that when you we had bryson, we didnt know a lot of people with babies (or kids) and so we just thought it was normal for a baby to cry for hours at a time. we thought it was normal for kids to throw tantrums until they puked, to make constant noise from the time they woke up to the time they went to bed, to be constantly moving and expending energy-energy-energy! we thought it was normal for them not to cuddle and freak out when being hugged, or rocked, or held still in any way. i guess...not normal like its the norm, more like that is the type of person you get when you mix my energy with bryan's energy...:)

then came bodie. as much as bryson loved to fight sleep, bodie would let us know when he was tired. i have NEVER heard the words "I am tired" uttered from bryson's lips...still...but bodie knows and now that he can speak he lets us know. but as loud as bryson is...bodie is just as quiet. as boisterous and smiley and all over the place as bryson is, bodie is solemn and calculating and watchful.

we were at the park the other day and were only there for about a half an hour when bodie said, "i wanna go home...take a nap". i was so shocked i started laughing. then he puckered his little lips and furrowed his brow even more, if you can picture it...and told me again. i took him into my lap and there he sat for the next half an hour....which is probably the amount of time bryson has ever sat in my lap in his 5.5 years of life combined.

i love that they are this way. i love that they compliment each other so well. i love that bryson brings out this goofy and boisterous side in bodie that few get to see. i love that they teach each other things because they see the world through such different lenses. i love that bryson's independent nature coincides so well with being the oldest brother. he is a natural leader and i think he is going to be an amazing big brother...if only we can temper the bossiness...hmmmm...(i realize these are my genes here mother!)

its so fun to watch their very distinct persons come out...and i can't wait for bobby to be in the mix (what am i saying? of course i can wait!) but this brother thing is very new to me and it is so fun to watch...well...that is perhaps an exaggeration...sometimes it is fun...the other day when bryson took bodie down a big twisty slide in a headlock i started to scream...then bodie came off the slide laughing...i dont get it...i dont get boys a lot of the time...but they are decent teachers :)

sickos

we are sick...again...but on the mend...which is why i can be vertical now...and type this. and think.

i took bodie and bobby and myself to my sister's office today and she put all 3 of us on antibiotics. this is bobby's first time, but truthfully i probably should have started him on it a while ago. his lungs are gunky and gross...ditto for me and bodie. the good news about antibiotics is that after 48 hours you are no longer contagious...which our friends should be thankful for since we are going to see all of their kiddos this weekend...and i do need to see people. i realize this. i have had to cancel my dance class and MOPs and a Jr. League meeting and while that may sound like a break for me...its not. i get a lot out of each of those things and hate to miss...i think without some type of group like that (they all happen to be exclusively female BTW) i start feeling a little cabin fever.

the thing about having a sick kid...it stinks when your kid gets sick...but then you have 2 kids and they pass all sorts of stuff to each other and that sucks...but then you have 3 kids...and sickness just cycles and gets passed to both the parents too and it is a month long process...its awful. before this bobby slept through the night. i was just beginning to feel more human...i was getting motivated with zoodies and even sewed other stuff for the first time in forever...i was working out and eating SUPER healthy...oh goodness...my mom would be shocked...but like all good things...

and i know better now than to have expectations like sleeping through the night...i know better than to think my crafting motivation will last, which is why i take advantage when i do feel that way...i know better than all that, but i still feel so...so....so...i dont know...angry? frustrated? defeated?

the past 4 nights at least 2 different children of mine woke through the night...bobby is now waking 3x a night and on 2 different nights all 3 were up at different times. not to mention the past 2 nights i have had insomnia...because that is EXACTLY what i need is to NOT be able to sleep when i should be! plus - the sickness has completely killed the whole pumping thing. my fever and not being able to move from bed for about a day and a half helped that. bobby is now officially weaned. i have so many emotions over this, but i think that i have almost come to terms with it...still working through it...bryan has been a big help with this.

sorry to be so whiney...this is what happens when i get holed up in my house with 4 boys for 2 weeks and no female counterparts to release to :)

i know too that through these rough patches there is always a lesson i am learning, and i am trying to be open to that. i think down the line this time in my life will teach me something through retrospect...but right now i am just tired and sick and sick of being sick and sick of being tired!

the shark

for those of you who have the pleasure to know bryson...he has 2 switches..."on" and "off"...nothing in between. ever since he was born he has been this way. there are times where this is completely endearing and wonderful and i love his exuberance and joy for life...and then there are times when i just want to scream "STOP!!!" and confession...sometimes i do...

today i told him..."bryson...you are like a shark...if you stop moving you will die"...he thought this was the funniest thing ever...he said, "yes mom...i am a shawk...hahahaha...a shawk mom" and then we tried to teach him to say "shark"...didnt pan out...but i love that kid in all his craziness! i am also loving 5 years old. how fun is 5? do you remember being 5? its kinda hazy for me, but oh man...the love for learning, the obsessions over newfound joys...the excitement of EVERYTHING...and not to mention...MUCH less tantrums and whining and pulling my hair out...dont get me wrong...we still have days...but 5 is a cakewalk compared to 3!!

you knew this was coming...

bobby's new favorite toy in the backyard...he gets very upset when bodie tries to take it from him...would you believe he scootches over to the net and hits balls with it already? its true...he more waves it around rapidly looking to hit anything...but still...looks like daddy has his foursome he has dreamt about!

Sweet Bobby B.

Bobby! here in his highchair...where he is *very quickly* learning to love food...and wooden spoons. Growing so fast! right now he has a nasty cough....but he is still so sweet and happy despite the gunk. nursing is not going so very well right now (either is pumping) but he seems to be thriving and happy despite mommy's stress over it! i just look at these pictures and remind myself - its not about me...baby boy is doing great and can't wait to mix it up with the older bros.

i am finding myself challenged and humbled as a mom right now. i am trying to let go of the things that are out of my control, which is hard for a control-loving person as myself. ultimately, i know that God is using these kids to help me be a better me and i am trying to be open to that message. motherhood is amazing in that way - always a new challenge - always a new day - and kids are amazingly forgiving...which is a good lesson for all of us!

Bodie's First Haircut

Before

During....Looking Not Quite Sure

Love this shot!

Still patient

Hold Still!

Enough!

Finished!

Look at my amazing hair...and lips :) 

Modeling his new curly mohawk and my R2D2 phone

he is 27 months old and had his hair cut for the first time...by our resident barber...daddy. I went out with my sister and Liz on Wed Night and got a text during dinner with a picture of the boys' profiles and his subject said "that just happened".

As soon as Bryan shaved his head Bryson wanted in on it too...Bryan was going to shave his rat tail off, but Bryson threw a fit and told him he was growing it "long and long and long so i can wrap it around my neck like a skawf"....uhhh....have i mentioned that we have watched "Tangled" at least 10 times? Anyway, when Bryson was getting his hair did, Bodie said, "Bow-Dee Hay Cut Too Dada?" that is how he talks...he refers to himself in the third person...love it...

Bryan said that he sat super great and still and was super happy when it was done. he is also super excited whenever Bryan styles his hair...

He looks so much cleaner now...for the most part...he had these very wispy side hairs that were getting a bit ridiculous...i love that bryan kept some of his curls too - he is just the cutest thing...can't stand that kid!

Bryson's Tball Game vs. Threshers

this game was special because they had the game on the big field under the lights (but it was still light outside...bur still) and an announcer. so cute. bryson did really well and since he was last at bat he got to run around all the bases (homerun-ish!) so the coach gave him a ball that he wrote on "Star Player of the Game". oh my goodness...bryson was so excited. glowing...and he kept telling us how many homeruns he got!

these are some of my favorite pics that bryan took. the first and last ones are especially near and dear. i love that look in the first picture that bodie is giving bryson. it was super cute actually...i was holding bobby and trying to contain bodie on the bleachers and bodie ran off and next thing i knew he was in the dugout with bryson and bryson was so happy that he was there - he put his arm around him and i let him stay for the rest of the game.

and that last picture - that is bryson's true smile...hard to capture since he has such an awkward smile for the camera smile...but i love his look - it was right after coach gave him the ball...he is so proud...i have a feeling we will be at these fields for a while...bryson LOVES T-Ball...i do too!

Bobby at 7 Months

Bobby - you are 7 whole months old! you are no longer content in my arms or lap...you are on the move!...(like knees under the belly crawling like a pro and doing it fast! he also learned a new trick and likes to pull himself up to standing on dressers, steps, our ottomans, anything he can grab...that is why i included that last shot...to show you his new trick) i dont believe that a 7 month old should do this and try telling you to stop...you just laugh...

you are also starting to make sounds more - like dadadada (of course because your daddy started you on it like day 2). you are also not wanting to nurse this month. (he is doing better...i am still nursing 3-4 times a day, but the rest of the time i pump and he takes a bottle.) this is another shock to me that my baby is growing up...not so happy about it...but he is sleeping through the night most nights and for that i am extremely grateful. i am starting to feel like i can make it through a day and the fog of exhaustion is lifting...so thank you bobby!

you are still such a happy baby and make everyone around you smile - you exude joy and that is always contagious. we can tell you may just be the peacekeeper between your 2 older brothers...you already are in a lot of ways!

you love the backpack and the bjorn (which daddy wears often) you are not such a fan of the ergo...but we are working on that...you love facing the world and you want to see everything that is going on and don't want to miss a second of it!

you helped me model a zoodie this week - you make the cutest bunny ever...sorry if this causes any sort of issues later...i'll help pay for therapy...

you also started taking baths with your brothers...some times...you really only are in there for like 5 minutes until bodie tries to wrestle you or bryson tries to pick you up and then i rescue you...but you love bath time...and you love your brothers...its so fun to watch!

we love you sweet Bobby B.!