First Hair cut!

I bought a brand new hair trimmer the other day. It's supposed to be for Christmas, but Ethan really needs a hair-cut, so I opened it early. :) Soon after opening it he told me that the comb attachments weren't long enough to cut the top of his hair. Of course. So I have to go buy some longer ones. I figured though, that since I had opened it I didn't want it to go to waste, so I'd cut Bryson's hair. The back was getting a little too long and starting to look like a mullet.
It was a crazy first experience, and I made a few mistakes so I ended up cutting it a lot shorter than I originally planned. Before looking at the next few pictures, remember that it was my FIRST time ever. Clearly I have some stuff to learn. But what better way to learn than to experiment, right? Hopefully I will not make the same mistakes with Ethan's hair, but at least he knows how to hold still... If I still mess up, we can always shave it. ;)

This is Bryson before his very first hair-cut...done by mommy. He looks so excited!
I was so nervous, and he kept squirming around, which was making it worse.
MISTAKE No. 1: I used a shorter comb attachment thinking I'd get a better cut around his ears. He moved his head right as I was about to start, and I cut a big section really short. So I had to cut the rest of it that short as well.
MISTAKE No. 2: I pulled off the comb attachment and started using a regular comb to get a little more precision...bad idea. It was not more precise and I ended up cutting this little section even shorter. I didn't want to cut the rest of it this short too, so he still has this little section that is too short. Oh well, live and learn. And besides, he doesn't know any different anyway. Thank goodness...
All that hair cutting sure took a lot out of him. He fell asleep, which made the rest of the cutting much easier.


Here's the finished product, and my cute little boy! Fresh new hair-cut, and a whole new look! He looks like a different baby now that he's almost completely bald. But he's still adorable as ever. :)
The mullet is finally gone! And, by the way, this was not my mistake, that's just his bald spot.

Pumpkin Carving and Halloween

The night before Halloween Brynlee, Kenadee and I carved some pumpkins.


I was originally only going
to do one, but when Kenadee called, we had to go get a pumpkin for her, so I got a few more to carve. When I first carved the top and pulled it off to show her what was inside the pumpkin, she freaked out and asked what it was. I told her it was pumpkin guts and for her to put her hand in to get some for herself; she refused. She did, however, want to dig everything out with a spoon, but when she got some pumpkin guts on her hand she said, "Ewww! Mommy! It got me! Get it off! It's yucky!" Once we got past all that yucky part, she had fun drawing on her pumpkin and trying to carve it herself. When i asked her what she wanted me to carve into her pumpkin, she said, "A pumpkin!". What a silly girl ;) I gave her a few options and of course she chose a princess. As you can see I have some mad pumpkin carving skills. Ha ha! Brynlee liked it anyway. Then I carved a silly face pumpkin for Bryson, and one with a bat in the moon for Ethan and I.

She was so excited about her princess pumpkin. She even gave it her crown.
It looks better lit up at night.Here are the pumpkins I carved for Bryson and Ethan. Bryson couldn't care less, but I still had fun carving it anyway, and Brynlee was adamant on him having one.

As for Halloween, it was a bit of a busy day! Brynlee and Bryson both woke up very early, and I was not ready to get up. But with them getting up earlier, they were able to take earlier naps. :) Bryson has had a bit of a cold for the last few days, so I was a little apprehensive on going anywhere, especially after hearing that Kenadee was feeling really sick. She had been at our house the night before, so I was worried that whatever she had, she might have given it to Bryson. Luckily, it wasn't too bad, and he didn't have a fever, so I felt comfortable enough to go to our annual family get together. After laying the kids down for a nap, I decided that since I was lame and didn't get a costume before, I'd better hurry and find one asap. I went to my mom's house to rummage through their costume boxes and see if there was anything I could put together last minute. I found a cute pill hat, matching mask and cape. Good enough right? Next year we won't be so lame and we might even have matching costumes.

We ended up showing up late since Brynlee was still napping. I, like a total dummy, forgot to put my memory chip to my camera back in after downloading pictures onto my computer, so we didn't get any pictures of the kids, or ourselves in our costumes. :( Hopefully all the people that did bring their cameras will email me some of them. I will post them later. Brynlee and Bryson were supposed to be bumblebees but Brynlee changed her mind and wanted to be a fairy princess to match Kenee. Luckily, we had a tutu skirt, fairy wings, a crown and wand for her to wear. And of course some matching princess dress-up shoes. She looked so cute! I even put a little make-up on her. Bryson was still a little bumblebee, but since he's such a chub, his costume was a little tight, and I couldn't get the bottom snap to stay shut. Ha ha! Ethan dressed up as Grumpy from Snow White. Brynlee was not a fan; she was scared of the mask he wore for it.

We went trick-or-treating to a few houses, and that was it. Thank goodness, only a few, less treats to bring home. :) Brynlee had so much fun trick-or-treating with Marmee, once she realized that she got a treat after knocking on people's doors. At one of the houses they gave her a treat that she didn't want so she started yelling "I don't want this one!" Ha ha! What a funny girl.

Help!

Over the last week or so, Brynlee has been having accidents. Nearly every day... She was potty trained in May, so it's been about 5 months now. Is this normal? What can we do to stop it!? She has done so well so far with very few accidents, but just recently she's had quite a few, so I'm not sure what's going on. I know what you're thinking (MOM)...payback right? Well I was feeling pretty confident that it wouldn't happen...but it did. :( Anyway, we need some help. I don't know what to do, it's so frustrating!

Anyone have any good suggestions?

Cornbelly's

Last week Ethan took a day off from work, and we took Brynlee and Bryson to Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point. We all had lots of fun (Brynlee especially). She especially liked the cow train, jumping pillows, slides, and pumpkin princess patch.


The jumping pillows were the first thing she saw so we went there first. There were a few different sizes so that kids of all ages could enjoy one. They are a lot like a trampoline, and since Brynlee is a big fan of that; she loved it.








The pumpkin princess patch is something I've never seen before. They had lots of princess dresses for the little girls to dress up in (a little girls dream come true). There was a castle themed jumping pillow, a lit-up horse and carriage, and of course a stage for all the little princesses to show off their moves. :) Brynlee soaked it all up. We couldn't leave that section for about an hour. She had so much fun dancing on stage in her princess dress, and sitting in the carriage, and showing off how pretty she looked. She kept spinning around saying "Mommy, look at me! I'm WONDERFUL!"







The slides were not so fun for Ethan and I, but Brynlee loved them so we kept going down them. She didn't want to go by herself, so I went down a few with her and then Ethan went down a few with her. We came shooting down them and nearly toppled over at the end every time. I don't know why. There was one that was a bunch of rollers, and that one was actually quite painful for Ethan and I. Needless to say neither of us did that one again. ;)

Brynlee loved the cow train ride. She went on it a few times and kept asking to go again and again. Her lovely cow's name was Ashlyn. As you can see, she is very excited! ;)



It was a pretty good day overall, and Brynlee hasn't stopped talking about it since. Every morning when she wakes up, and after her naps, she asks me if we can go to cornbelly's again. Hopefully she'll forget about it soon enough...

Brynlee's smile cracks me up! This is what she does when we ask her to show us her "happy teeth". What a goof ball!

A Miracle!

About a week ago, Bryson decided to start sleeping through the night... YEAH! It has seemed like a very long two months, with all the sleep deprivation. He now sleeps anywhere from 8 to 10 hours at night, and it is SO amazing! Unfortunately my body has had a hard time adjusting to such a jump (from about 4-5 hours at night), so I've had to pump about 3 or 4 hours after he goes to bed. It's not the worst thing, and keeps my milk storage in supply, but I would love to sleep those whole 8 to 10 hours as well. :)

With this new sleeping plan, he has pretty much put an end to daytime naps. He takes a few little cat naps, and rarely sleeps more than about half an hour at a time. This is both good and bad. I would definitely rather him sleep more at night, but I also depend on the time he and Brynlee nap to get my homework done. I suppose I will just have to find a better time. I really can't complain too much.

Swine Flu?

On Wednesday Brynlee and I went to get our annual flu shot. She was not the least bit happy about it, but we had her distracted until the nurse poked her leg with a needle. Poor Brynlee, she was really upset for a few minutes, but luckily she got over it quickly. She still wont take off her band-aid and every time she gets a glimpse of it she starts whining thinking it still hurts...

Well yesterday I woke up with a massive headache, chills and body aches...great. I was thinking, great I get a flu shot and then get the flu the very next day? Then shortly after thinking that, I started thinking it might be swine flu...even worse. I did a little research and, thank goodness, it's not the swine flu. The distinct symptoms of that are a little different than the flu. So check that off my stress level. Then I started doing a little research on the flu shot to see if getting a few symptoms was normal. No, not really, but I guess the shot takes a couple weeks for full effectiveness so it's possible to still get the flu in that time.

None of this was making me feel any better about the fact that I was feeling like garbage, and Ethan was gone all day at school and then work so I had no help with the kids. Then I realized that every time Bryson ate on one side, it was really painful. So there you have it, I've got mastitis...again. I got it with Brynlee and now with Bryson. And boy is it painful! I did a little research on what to do about it at home, because of course my health insurance coverage ended the day before, and I can't afford to see a doctor... I've tried some of the things suggested, and I'm feeling much better today than I was yesterday. I am still in pain, and my headache and fever come and go as they please, but I think I'm slowly getting better.

It's time for Fall!

Well today marks the first day of Autumn. I am actually kind of excited! I know I will miss the nice warm sunny days of Summer, but the season changes are one of my favorite parts of living here. I'm excited for the leaves changing color, and the cooler days with a little crispness in the air.

Today is also my brother Cameron's Birthday. He turns 24 today, and that seems so crazy to me! It seems like yesterday we were kids, riding our bikes and playing with ninja turtles. Now we are both grown up with responsibilities and children of our own. It's crazy how fast time flies. Happy Birthday Cam! Love you!