Friday, November 30, 2012

Thanksgiving

18 months, 1 week

It has been an absolutely insane week at work and home after the short holiday week so I apologize for the late blog!

First let's start with Brock's 18 month check up last week:
Height: 32" - 50%
Weight: 28 lbs - 94%
Head - still a solid 90%
No shots and the doctor was floored by his vocabulary!

Thanksgiving this year was wonderful! We had lunch at Judy and Gary's with Judy's family, then dinner at my mom's. We were STUFFED! We thought Brock would be so excited about the food, but all he really ate was bread! LOL! His nap schedule was all thrown off so each meal was right after waking up and he was just not in the mood for anything that was on a spoon or wasn't in the form of a roll.

Nick and I ventured to Toys R Us after dinner to check out some deals on a few gifts we had in mind for Brock for Christmas. The line was around the building, but it was very organized and calm and we were in and out in 30 minutes! I was a little unsure about my feelings on stores being open ON Thanksgiving, but I would definitely do it again. It was late enough that everyone had plenty of time to spend with family.

Friday we put up our Christmas tree and all our indoor decorations. It just makes the house so cozy and warm. Brock LOVES the tree. He looks at it and says 'lights' and points to his favorite ornament. It's a Baby's First Christmas ornament with a picture of him in it from last year! LOL! He points to it and says 'Brockie' or 'Bear' because there is a bear on top of it. So cute! He's been pretty good about not touching the tree. I made him his own felt tree with felt ornaments to play with - yeah, he just tries to rip it off the wall. We are working on getting him ready for Christmas. He still calls everything 'Halloween' - snowmen, anything Christmas related, he calls it 'Halloween'.

My dad and Pat came up Saturday morning and we went to the aquarium in Crown Center to see what the fuss was all about. I have to say, it was incredibly overpriced in my opinion for what you see. However, they did have Santa 'diving' in their big tank and that was very cool and festive! Brock LOVED the 'pishies' so it was definitely fun to see him take it all in. He'd say 'Bye pishies' when we left each room or fish area.

After the 'pishies', we went across to the Crown Center shops for lunch at Fritz's. It was a zoo! However, they had a big snowman, penguin and Crayola crayon dressed up at the front. Brock totally loved the snowman and penguin. As we were leaving, the penguin knelt down and we told Brock to go give it a hug. And boy did he ever. He gave him the longest, most awkward, never-ending hug! It was hilarious and so cute that he wasn't scared of him!
 The poor penguin didn't know what hit him!
The snowman or 'Halloween' as Brock calls it
I got a terrible cold all weekend so Sunday we just went to breakfast and my parents headed back home while we all crashed hard at our house. This week has been busy with a visit to Grammie's on Tuesday, dinner with Suni, Brian, Jax and Blue Belle on Wednesday and the Prairie Village Christmas tree lighting with Kristin and Madison last night. We are ready for a nice quiet weekend at home!

Brock is finally giving real 'hugs' now and most of the time says 'awwwww' when he does it. Melts my heart! He has moved to the 'big boy' cots at daycare after climbing out of the pack and play last week so the adjustment has left him a little more tired than normal. He'll be fine all night, then just hit a wall and if you tell him no on one thing, it sets off this absolute hysterical melt down. Monday night was the first night it happened and we got him to calm down by Mommy rocking him to sleep. I sat there long after he fell asleep just taking in his sweet face. He doesn't let us hold him that long anymore so I savor every second of it!

We had our first big boo-boo today at daycare. He fell on the outdoor basketball court and scratched his lip,  nose and cheek, along with having a huge fat lip. When I saw the picture I just lost it and started bawling at my desk! His perfect little face looked so damaged! Luckily, he's been acting fine and in 18 months with that wild animal, we are lucky this is the first big mishap. Cynthia is wonderful and loves him so much so I  know she took wonderful care of him after it happened. It was just hard on Mommy not being there to kiss it all better.


Thursday, November 15, 2012

Man in charge


17 months, 3 weeks

Brock may have gotten many of his daddy's physical traits, but we've suspected for awhile he got a lot of mommy's personality. The sass, the bossy pants and sadly, the temper. He's a strong willed little dude and he knows what he wants. It's been so fun to watch his personality just get bigger and bigger as he grows.

Now it seems he's taking his 'bossy pants' role to the next level. As he's become more verbal, he is getting more demanding. A few weeks ago, we started a small 'dance party' in the living room. He still has his favorite song (Some Nights' by the group FUN) and we turned it on and him and I danced to it. Now he asks for either the 'song' in the car or he asks for it at home, then sticks out his arms and gets upset if I don't get up to dance with him. So we have our little dance party and laugh and wiggle around and he thinks it's just the best.

He also likes to push mommy around the house now. He just started this little gem this week. I was standing between the living room and dining room when he said 'coming' and came up behind me, put his little arms on the back of my legs and started pushing me toward the living room. Last night he was just wanting to push me all over the house. I have no clue where it came from, but it's pretty hilarious.

He has reached the stage where he just becomes fixated on things. Case in point - Puss in Boots 'Meows' that we get asked to watch repeatedly. Now he has learned how to say 'again' and he'll ask 'again' whenever you are doing something he likes. Last night, it was riding on Nick's leg up and down over and over. Night before last it was going up in the air with his stomach on my feet and flying like Superman.

I have an awesome video of him reading off some of the animals in his animal picture book, but being as completely technology clueless as I am, I can't figure out how to get it from my phone and onto the computer. It's just a little too long for email and Facebook so it may just stay on my phone forever!

He has 2 top molars that have come through in the last week explaining his waking up in the middle of the night fussing and crying lately. It got so bad last Friday night, he woke up in the middle of the night and was standing up in his crib just screaming bloody murder. We put him in bed with us and he fell back asleep. After a couple hours of kicks in the face, Daddy was done so we put him back in his own room.

As mentioned last week, Brock had his first haircut on Saturday
and it went really well. Ok, it went good. We were so happy with the results! It looks so much better  He didn't mind the haircut too much until she got out the electric razor around his ears and on his neck. He started crying and trying to duck away at that point. It made for some pretty funny pictures! Here are some before and after pics:

Before: check the wings and wildness (which I loved)


After: still have those beautiful curls, but cleaned up (Daddy loves)




Thursday, November 8, 2012

Halloween and then some

17 months, 3 weeks

I know, Halloween was over a week ago. Clearly I'm way behind on this one!! So, we'll do a little update (with lots of pics)!!

Halloween was a great success! Brock's homemade Bamm Bamm costume came out perfectly! He looked so adorable and we got so many compliments on it! We started the afternoon trick or treating at my office. He really got the hang of picking candy out of the bowl and putting it into his bag. What he didn't quite understand, was just 1 piece! LOL! We left my office and went to see Great Grandma Elsie for a bit. He learned where her secret stash of cookies are - watch out!

We had a big night planned with trick or treating and then all of the girls and their kiddos coming over for some Halloween activities! Brock was a little out of sorts and being very 'clingy' to Mommy, but we decided to give it a go with trick or treating anyway. Brett, Kristin and Madison came to trick or treat with us, along with Aunt Mia, Grammie and Uncle Drew and Aunt Erin. When we first started out, both the kids were fussy and so not into it. But after a slight mishap (Brock fell and while trying to get up, fell back and hit his head on the sidewalk), we were finally in action. We hit about 4 houses around us and decided to call it good.

Once all the kids came, it was just the best kind of chaos ever! Toys all over the house, all the kids just having so much fun. Snacking, doing crafts, playing with each other so well and finally, watching 'Meows' which was probably the highlight of the night for Brock and Carter (who was dressed as Puss in Boots). It was a great night overall! Here are some pictures:
Trying on his costume. The only way we could get him to stand still was giving him Daddy's phone.

Trick or Treating shots!




Pebbles and Bamm Bamm




 The whole gang! Madison James, Carter Bucl, Marlee Hugunin, Tripp and Charlie Herman, Jackson Bucl, Brock and Carter Hugunin


 Below are 2 pictures from last year to this year. Hilarious to compare the 2 with the same kiddos!




Halloween 2011: Madison (duck), Marlee (dinosaur), Carter (dinosaur), Brock (bat)











Halloween 2012: Madison (ghost), Marlee (Pebbles), Brock (Bamm Bamm), Carter (Puss in Boots)




In other Brock news, it seems we've got another 'Mommy phase' starting. He's been very clingy and wanting Mommy a lot more lately. Again, I'm trying to soak it up, while also not encouraging it too much. I know I'll miss these moments, but I also want him to feel comfortable with other people. 

One of our new nighttime routines might be my favorite so far. I usually sing 'You Are My Sunshine' and 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' to Brock before I lay him down. I never thought he really paid much attention until this week when he started singing it before I did almost to remind me. So I sat down with him and we just sang to each other before I put him to bed. It was one of the sweetest moments.

He's such a rough and tumble boy that doesn't like to just snuggle very often. He just doesn't sit still long enough! But his little sleepy voice was so sweet and we just sang back and forth while he snuggled up to me. So we've started doing it every night. Usually it's just me and Brock, but now he wants to make sure Daddy stays in the room too. I know we will cherish these moments forever!

He has started really picking up on identifying things. He knows Elmo, Big Bird, Ernie, Cookie Monster, Jake (from Jake and the Neverland Pirates), Mickey and Goofy - and he knows that each one of them is different and which is which. He also says 'Cookie' in a gruff 'Cooookie' Cookie Monster voice.

We have an animal picture book and he can now either name the animal or the sound it makes for the following animals: bunnies, pishes (fish), meow meow (cat), quack quack (duck), bawk bawk (chicken), moo (cow), whooo whoo (owl), rawr (tiger, lion or bear), and monkey. The one that puzzles us is dog. He knows dogs, that was one of his first words. He knows dogs when he hears them or sees them. But for some reason, he doesn't seem to recognize the dog in the book as a dog. It's pretty funny. 

Speaking of dogs, for some reason, Nick and I have called Oscar 'Little' for who knows how long. It was a random nickname that just kind of stuck with him. Well, now Brock calls him that too and has to say 'Bye Little' and pet him before we leave every morning. It's so cute!

We took him to the zoo last weekend and he just LOVED it! It seems every time he likes it more and more as he's really starting to understand the concept. I think his favorite part was probably the lions. He also learned how to say 'elephant'. 

In addition to adding more and more words, he's starting to speak in more multiple word sentences. We're also pretty sure he's added 'I want' into his vocabulary. Not clearly and not all the time, but there have definitely been some 'I want X' moments. He has really started learning to respond to questions also. 'Yeah and ok' are constant responses and it's so cute! I don't think he totally understands it yet but when you ask him a question, he knows that requires a response.

He's getting his first haircut this weekend and this mommy is a little sad. His wild and crazy curls fit his personality so much! I'm going to be sure and tell them not to cut them ALL off. But, Daddy's been pushing for a haircut for awhile now. And when his hair is wet, it is getting pretty long (we're talking hanging over the ears and down his back long). It's just so cute when it's all wild and curly!