Conversation between two sweet boys

Dylan to Brody: "I'm sorry for hitting you."
Brody to Dylan "Okay, Dylan."

A real conversation between them, how cute!!


They say the funniest things, these kids.

I've been trying to write them down as they say them, and have a little collection of things to post.


Dylan looking at a jet stream in the sky "Is that Buzz Lightyear?"


Me: "Dylan, where does God live?"
Dylan" "In his house."


Dylan: "Mommy, I need medicine. Brody hates my feelings and it hurts."
How sad is that??


Dylan: "Mommy, I need medicine. I ate my boogers."
I told you they would make you sick! 


Brody, as we drove by the hotel where the shuttle bus to O'hare stops: "Kelly, Kelly, Kelly!!!"
Impressive recognition skills, young child

Dylan, as I'm folding the Farm & Fleet Toyland catalog in half "Don't fold it, that's what I read when I'm pooping!"

Pumpkin Carving

Tonight we carved our pumpkins. We continued the tradition from last year of carving pumpkins, watching The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and sharing some candy corn. The boys hang out in the kitchen for awhile, watching the action, but once we put the kabosh on them handling knives, they lose interest pretty fast and move to the living room to watch the movie.

We searched through hundreds of possible carving patterns, but Dylan wanted Blues Clues - the same one we did last year!

Brody's pumpkin is a ghost, and mine is a scary skeleton. Brian helped Dylan with the Blues Clues pattern, and was out of carving steam by the time he finished. His pumpkin shall remain on our front porch, untouched!

I remember this age (just over 1 1/2 years old) as the year we caught Dylan on video "oohing" and "Gross!"ing over the insides of the pumpkin. Brody gave us no such show. He touched it once, grimaced. Licked the inside of his pumpkin top once, and was done. He is my child that likes to have clean hands and doesn't like to be messy or icky. He was not impressed with the insides of the pumpkins.

As I was cleaning out Brody's pumpkin, he kept trying to put the top back on.

Doesn't he look like such a big boy in this picture? As this fall goes on, I just can't believe he will be two in January. Where has the last year gone?

The doctor is in

Saturday night we had a Halloween party for adults only. We had a lovely break from the boys, who were picked up by Grandma and Papa and spent the night at the cabin. We had a lot of fun getting dressed up and spending time with friends.

I love Halloween! Well actually, I just love getting dressed up. And every year is a new opportunity to try a new costume. Such fun!

To the limit

Brody pushes everything to the limit. He does everything on level 10. He's either blisfully happy or excruciatingly angry. He spends half his day screaming, writhing around on the floor. It's been said before, but Brody proves it to be true; just when you think you have kids figured out, they change. Or, in my case, just when you figure out one kid and think you've got it, number two comes along and is so different that everything you thought you  knew about techniques just doesn't matter.

Similar to Brody's moods, I find myself fluctuating between two main emotions where Brody is concerned. Complete, total adoration or feeling like I want to slap him. He is funny; every time he goes upstairs he'll turn around and say "no biting," which I think means I'm not to tap him on the bottom to get him moving a bit faster. He talks A LOT. I think he takes after his big brother in that department. These two chit chat all day long. He can be so sweet and loving, he'll just lean over and say "kiss" randomly. Usually when his face is messy with food, but still quite endaring. He gets so excited about seeing "big birds" in the sky, or horses in a field, or sadly, I  must admit, McDonald's. He shouts out "Donald's" whenever there are golden arches in sight. But he also has a temper quicker than any I've seen before (or maybe equal to his Auntie Kelly's). He's instantaneously, completely irrationally angry. Flopping around on the ground, screaming, howling and making a variety of other noises. He lays on his back, pulls his knees up and scoots across the room while screaming. Multiple times a day.

It's getting old. I usually deal with it pretty well. I tend to ignore it instead of giving him attention for it. But I'm really starting to believe it's not so much to get attention as that's his natural reaction. He's been doing it since he was six months old. How can such a small baby be so angry? Today I am SO over it.

EachTuesday and Thursday when we drop off and pick up Dylan at school, the other mother's know to block the door to the classroom, otherwise Brody runs in there, reaches his hand into the rice/bean/cotton ball table (whatever it happens to be filled with), makes a mess and throws a fit when I make him leave. One mom even said to me this week, "Here comes trouble."

Just getting him into his car seat is a struggle. Each and every time. People must wonder if I'm kidnapping him with the fuss he puts up as I pin him down with one elbow and wrap the straps over his arms. The store carts are another problem. He arches and bucks as I try to wiggle his legs into the holes and plop his bottom down on the seat. Again, pinning him down with one arm or my shoulder while I dig behind him for the belt, only to find there is no buckle on one end. Most of the belts these days are shredded pieces of fabric that look like some toddler gnawed on it for his freedom. So he screams as people in the store either give me a look of sympathy or a look that could burn holes in my jacket. It's getting old....for today at least. This kid wears me out.

Family Pictures

We recently had our pictures taken. You can see them by going to this link:
www.whiteshutter.com/clients

The password is: michelle (all lowercase)

For the grandparents out there - I had planned to purchase some as Christmas gifts, but there isn't a great one of our family, so I'm not sure what to do about that now. If there are some you like, let me know and we might be able to work out a deal ;).

Vocabulary update

Brody is such a little talker now. He's been speaking in three or four word sentences for the past few weeks. Tonight I decided to write down some of what he has said between dinner and bedtime.

"Daddy gave me, Mama....sucker"

"Baby, Mama...crying" (a commerical on t.v. had a crying baby)

"Dylan eating his sucker"

"I want more Daddy, please?"

"I don't wanna! I want grape!"

"Gank you" (Thank You)

"Grink" (Drink)

"I'won more Mama, please." Brody's own new word, combines "I" and "want"

"Come here Dywwan, come here."

What was I thinking?

Dylan has been asking for quite awhile if we could go out for ice cream. Yesterday morning on our way home for lunch has asked again. I promised him that we would go out later in the day and get a treat. Well, later in the afternoon we grocery shopped, and we couldn't stop and have ice cream with groceries in the car. I decided it would be fine if they ate ice cream in the car. I ordered a small dish of chocolate (as you can see) with two spoons. It comes with a tall lid on it, so I scopped some of the ice cream into the lid and gave it to Brody. The boys were happy as clams all the way home.

And wouldn't you know, I JUST washed that jacket the day before!!

More visitors!

I'm a little behind in my blogging!

During my recovery, we've been really thankful too have the help of so many people. After my mom left, my sister came to help us out. We had a nice weekend, and the boys had a lot of fun with Auntie Kelly. She played with them a lot and they loved it.

Here is the "bobsled pull" that Kelly made up.

The boys' faces were so hilarious, Kelly and I were just howling with laughter as she did this over and over.

Of course the boys get there fair share of wrestling with Daddy too.

The day Kelly left, my dad arrived! The boys were surprised that we kept getting visitors, but also sad to see them go. These pictures are from an afternoon walk with Papa Gordy.

Dylan insisted on wearing his hockey jersey, and the boots...well, he's been wearing those for months now.

Papa Gordy pushed the stroller that carried Brody and Dylan's scooter after he tired of riding it.

Turns out I wasn't supposed to be going for walks, but didn't know it at the time. On my dad's third day here I had a check-up. My doctor said everything is healing well, and I could lift Brody as needed. That means in and out of the crib, car seat and booster seat, but otherwise no lifting or exercise at all! I was surprised by that, hoping I would be able to walk on the treadmill at a slow pace, but no, not yet. Having my restrictions lifted meant Papa Gordy was free to head home to MN the following morning. The boys then spent a few days at the cabin with Grandma and Papa, so it really was a nice break for me.

We loved having visitors and it was so nice to have them all in a row! We really appreciate all of the help we received during those two weeks when I was on total restriction. I'm doing pretty well now. I fatigue easily and am sore in the mornings when I'm hustling around getting the boys ready, but by mid-morning things seem normal again. My next follow-up is early November and I'm hoping to be healed enough to get back to normal life. It's hard to not pick up Brody everytime he is crying or upset.

We're still waiting for the adjusted hospital bill to arrive, that is, waiting to see how much insurance is paying, but I was able to check online this week and I think the total out of pocket cost will end up being around $1100. Not bad, considering the hospital bill was about $10,000. Of that, $3800 was the "implant," a 2" x 3" piece of cellulose mesh that is holding my bladder in place. $3800!! I suppose someday I'll look back at this and laugh that the bill was only $10,000!

What a star!

There is a nice article on Brian in the paper today. You can check it out here:

http://www.rrstar.com/news/x1128407551/Newly-appointed-MetroCentre-leader-says-job-is-in-his-blood