Random Facts

A few fun facts as of late. 

-Gaines loves fried chicken.  He doesn't totally understand the concept just yet though.  I had to fish chewed up pieces of bone out of his mouth tonight at dinner.

-Reed told Beau tonight that he should buy me a new ring.  I swear I have never said a word to Reed about rings.  Reed thinks it should be pink.  He's under the impression its my favorite color.  I like pink and all, but if I'm getting a new ring, I don't really want pink. 

-We are kind of updating our den at home right now.  I'm having two chairs recovered in green velvet and I'm really nervous about it.  I had a dream the other night that they looked like mud.  Weird.


-Gaines' speech is coming along.  His latest thing is to poot, laugh hysterically and say "Poot".  Total boy.

-I got up and ran this morning (its just too hot at night).  I wondered when I became a person that willingly gets up in the 5:00 hour to exercise. 

-Did I tell y'all that my sister had a baby?  His name is Aiden and he's precious.

















-Gaines went to Pump It Up today with Kristin.  He wore a pair of shark gloves and some frog rain boots.  These are the same shark gloves that Reed wore to church a few weeks ago.  In the dead of summer.

-I believe that I have seen every episode of The Fresh Beat Band 4000 times.  I've had their song "Here We Go" in my head all day.  I think I might start trying to learn their dances.

 -In the car the other day I was talking to Beau and I guess I was kind of animated about whatever I was saying.  Reed said, "Mom, can you just settle down?"  He was totally serious.  He had probably heard that same statement directed towards him about 700 times that afternoon.  Boy's are wild.  Did y'all know that?  Cause I had no idea. 

That picture kills me. 

I really thought I had more to say tonight but I guess that's it. 

Love to all,

Brittany

Reed's Trip Around the World

We've been on an adventure this afternoon.  While Gaines was taking his afternoon nap Reed told Beau and me that he was going on a trip around the world.  We had a fairly lengthy discussion about how he was going to get around (walk), what he was going to eat (pizza), what he'd do if he got thirsty (he was going to take a "nice, cool drink of lemonade" with him) and what he was going to pack. 

This question prompted him to get his little blue suitcase out of his closet.  With our advice of not to pack too many books because it would be too heavy, he decided on:  one book, baby jaguar (a stuffed tiger that we call a jaguar), 1 matchbox car, 4 pairs of "baseball shorts", a t-shirt and 6 pairs of underwear.  He figured he'd only be gone 5 days, so that was enough.  I asked where he planned to stay and he told me he'd just stay at the first good place he came too.

So, once he packed up I walked him to the door and kissed him goodbye.  I watched out the window to see what he would do.  When he was halfway down the driveway I grabbed the camera and ran outside.  He didn't know I was watching him as he walked up the neighbors' driveway and stood at their front door.  While he was figuring out what he was going to do, their dogs gave him away and our neighbor came out.  She talked to him for a minute or two before I went over and suggested we go home for lemonade.  He wasn't really into that...he wanted to go inside.  I mentioned their big dogs and we decided it was best that he move on.  Some how he got it in his head that we needed to visit five houses. 

So, with Reed in the lead and me following only to take pictures and keep him from getting run over, he stops at another neighbor's who is out cutting his grass.  Reed told him what he was doing and the guy was nice but went back to cutting his grass.  Reed approached him again and the guy stopped again.  This time he turned the mower off and I heard Reed say, "Aren't you going to let me in?"  Embarassed, I kind of excused us and suggested that we visit another neighbor out working in his yard. 

He got invited in at this stop and was given a little snack for his bag.  He discussed with both neighbors what he was doing for a minute or two before we moved on.  All this time Reed has not been one bit afraid to approach these people.  We know them all, but I wouldn't have thought he would be this un-shy.  Anyway, after this stop, I suggested the lemonade again as I'm trying to wrap this little trip up.  I didn't see anyone else outside and I hated to knock on someone's door.  Sunday afternoon naps and all.  So, I convinced him to go back home and take his daddy with him. 

He and Beau left and hit neighbor number 4's house.  She was in her backyard and came around and Reed filled her in on his trip and they moved on to house number 5.  This part is hard for me to believe.  He and Beau just marched up to this older couple's house who we kind of know...but not really.  Anyway, they ring the doorbell and the older lady invites them in.  They march on in and sit down.  Reed unzips his bag and proceeds to show her everything he has with him.  All this time I was at home with Gaines and kind of starting to wonder where they were.  Oh, they were just sitting in a semi-random lady's living room having a leisurely Sunday afternoon chat. 

On the way back to the house, Reed looked at Beau after visiting 5 houses and said, "Taking a trip around the world sure is a lot of hard work".

Anyway, that's about the extent of it but I had to write it all down before I forgot.  Hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did.  Also, there is a post from a few days ago under this one that updates you on most of our goings own as of late. 

Love to all,

Brittany

            

Catching Up

Well hello again blog-world. I know…long time no post…it’s been brought to my attention several times. Life has been pretty busy the last several weeks. I’ve been out of town for work 25 of the last 35 days. Luckily, I was able to take Beau and the boys with me a couple of times which I’m not normally able to do. I don’t know that I would have made it if not. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a nice break to be gone from time to time but I do miss them terribly when I’m gone. I imagine they tend to think it’s nice to get a break from me as well since I seem to be a little heavier on the discipline than Beau. But anyway...June is always my busiest month so I’m glad to have it behind me.

Let’s see…I guess we can start with Gaines. I can’t believe I haven’t put this on here sooner but Gaines is off oxygen all day long and only gets it at night. Last time I updated, he was still on at naps but now he goes one really long stretch without. We’ve been pretty close to having him tested through the night, but each time he’s come down with a little cold and you can tell he’s not quite ready to give it up all together. Those two sick spells he needed a little help breathing and we were able to put him back on…if we didn’t have oxygen at home, he’d have had to go to the hospital. So…while I am ready to lose it totally, we’ll do it when Gaines is good and ready. And not having it during the day makes life SO much easier. I can’t even begin to tell you how much.

He has such the little personality these days...still plenty of Gaines attitude, but I’m starting to see his sweetness more and more. He LOVES to play with/wrestle with/pick on his brother…I just wish Reed enjoyed it as much as Gaines. He walks around the house calling him all the time, “Ree, Ree, Ree”. I found them this morning with Reed whimpering on the couch and Gaines on top of him laughing. He may be little, but he’s the toughest kid I know. He has been spending a good bit of time in timeout these days. Mostly just testing his boundaries I guess. You can kind of see it in his little eyes. Like, you’ll tell him “no” and he’ll sort of look at you like, “we’ll just see about that”…right before he does whatever he’s not supposed to be doing again. Last night it was banging his head into my face. He thinks it’s funny…my cheekbone and nose will tell you that its not one bit funny.

He is currently seeing a speech therapist twice a week and I can see improvements in his talking. I’ve noticed lately that he’s starting to put two words together, like "bye Ree" or "more please". Now, when I come home in the afternoons he comes running towards me screaming “Mommy, mommy, mommy”. So sweet. He’ll give you a big hug with the tiniest little pat, pat, pat on your back. It's a lot better than him just kind of glancing at you from in front of the tv becuase he doesn't want to miss one minue of Ni Hao Kailan.  FYI...he's also learning to speak a little Chinese thanks to Kailan.  I’d say his favorite word right now is “Whoa!” He gets so excited about things.  Everything is "Whoa!" We are working on saying “Gaines” as right now, whenever he sees a picture of himself (or in a mirror for that matter) he said, “Ree”. He is a total MESS but I wouldn’t have him any other way.

Now Reed…I think it’s a good thing I didn’t type a blog there for a little spell or there might have been some not so pleasant things mentioned on here about that one. I believe that he has turned a corner but he just went through a tough testing his boundaries and my patience phase for a few weeks. Not listening, being defiant and disrespectful…things that are totally not like Reed. I can’t remember what he did but he got a spanking for something recently and he looked at Beau and said through his tears, “But I don’t normally get spankings!” Thankfully, he seems to be back to his old self, for the most part. There was a timeout episode last night for eating his corn with his hands after he’d been instructed to use his fork…but for the most part, he’s acting better.  I didn't even so much care about the corn eating u 

That little joker just has the best week of his life in Disney World. I had some work to do down there but had enough free time on this trip to take Beau and Reed with me. Gaines stayed home (well, with my parents) and while I felt SUPER guilty about it, it was the right thing. He is too little and it was too hot and crowded for him to enjoy it. Also, it let Beau and I spend some time with Reed which was so fun. He’s an awesome little boy. Disney is not quite as magical as I remember, but we had a great time and had so much fun. He and I loved the teacups the best I think…Beau not so much. He sat them out after the first time. We all loved the Thunder Mountain roller coaster that Reed was just barely big enough to ride. Reed is definitely his father’s child and asked for popcorn every time we saw it. He was really so good down there. Oh, he also loved the Pirates ride and LOVED the sword that we let him get. Luckily no one has lost an eye yet. We brought Gaines back a big Mickey Mouse to which he said, “Whoa!” He was so excited to see us…it was precious. He wouldn’t quit hugging us and when Beau went to load the car with his stuff, he climbed in the car and go in his car seat all by himself. He meant we weren’t leaving him again.

Here are a few Reed-isms of late:

“Plenty, Plenty, Please!”

“Mom, you are really pushing my buttons.” –because I was asking him to get dressed for the 400th time.

“Can I have my Silly Puddle, please?”

“Mom, why do mom’s and dad’s don’t have toy’s in their rooms?”

In a public restroom with Beau, the two urninals are being used and there are two stalls. One being used, one not. So they go in the unused stall and Reed says very loudly, “Daddy, it’s really stinky in here” (referring to the man in the next stall). Beau says something along the lines of “ok, lets hurry up” or something and Reed says, “I mean, it’s really, really stinky in here”. Beau said you could hear the guys at the urinal laughing. They got out as fast as they could. On another note, in a different public restroom on the same trip, Beau accidentally opened the restroom door on an older lady using the restroom. Apparently she forgot to lock the door. I find this hilarious and am very thankful that I have boys so that Beau has to handle most of the public bathroom mishaps.

After passing someone that was smoking. “That guy was smoking. That is SO yuck. Mom, if I ever see you smoking I am going to spank your hiney SO hard”. I guess he’s heard that a time or two.

Ok…I guess that’s about it for now. I am really, really, really going to try to keep this thing better updated.

Oh, and Beau and I are fine too.

Love to all,

Brittany