Father's Day

13 months!

I know I'm a couple of days late, but our 2nd Father's Day has come and gone! We had a wonderful weekend in Wichita. Brock was awake pretty much the entire way down there, but for the most part, was pretty chill in the car.

He learned how to say 'cookie' and was saying it over and over and over to get more 'coo coos'. It's so cute when he says it, we have a hard time not giving in. We got all the old toys out from my sister and I, and my niece and nephew and he just went to town! He even gave my dad an early Father's Day gift. He learned how to say 'Poppy' and said it for him all weekend!

Saturday we went to Brigdon's 14th birthday party. They had a 'Wipe-out' style obstacle course set up for all the boys at the party along with lots and lots of water balloons. Brock thought those were pretty sweet. He liked to pick them up and really thought it was funny when they would pop! He also fell in love with Teea's big dogs (both boxers). He loved that he could stand up and be right at their level. We even gave him a new hair-do for the party! His hair is still pretty thin, but we were able to maneuver it up into a mohawk!

Sunday was going to be a super long day for us. We had the big family Father's day lunch with my family, then were hitting the road to go straight to Nick's parents for dinner with his ENTIRE family. We were hoping with all the sun and excitement from Saturday, that Brock would sleep in. HAHAHAHA! Seriously, why do parents ever think that works?!

Our little maniac decided to not only NOT sleep in, but to wake up much earlier than normal at 6:30. And not just the stirring, maybe he'll go back to sleep wake up. Like full blown standing up in the pack 'n play talking and bouncing around.

Since it was Father's Day (well and since I usually am the one to get up with him), I drug my half-asleep self out of bed to start the day with him. We got his 'coo coos' and milk for his little morning snack and since everyone else was still in bed, I took him to eat them outside so we didn't wake anyone up. My parents live on the outside edges of Wichita and there is a big field behind their house. I've been out there a million times, but it was just a whole new experience. As tired as I was, it was the most perfect morning. It was so peaceful out there and Brock and I just sat and talked while he ate his snack. We watched the trees and the birds. He'd push his head back against my chest and tilt it to look up at me and just smile.

It was one of those times you just wished you could push pause for a second. I am so terrible about thinking about the future that often I have a hard time really just soaking up the moment I'm in. But then there are moments like that that just demand to be enjoyed. Make you really focus on what's important and be so thankful for everything.

We enjoyed about 30 minutes of peace and quiet and then people started to wake up and the day begun. My dad took Brock for a 'walk' around their backyard, we had lunch with the family and then hit the road. Brock waking up so early came in handy for the ride home. He was tired and ready for his afternoon nap and slept about half of the way. We got to Nick's parents and had a wonderful dinner with his family and then headed home to get back to our little routine.

We were all beyond exhausted but it was a wonderful weekend!! Brock is repeating more and more words by the day and starting to put 2 words together. 'Bye bye mama'. He's a 'busy bee' and constantly moving. He's starting to not want to eat his veggies as much lately so we've got to work on that!

Band of Mamas

Usually my blogs are just updates on what Brock is up to, what new things he's done or tried, his newest words and milestones or just fun things we've done as a family. I'm terrible at putting up pictures and making my blogs very exciting. But, being a full time working mama, it's the best way for me to document his little milestones - not only so I can remember, but for my other mama friends to see if things their little ones are going through are common.

With all that said, I follow some wonderful blogs from other friends. And the funniest part is, most of the other 'mama' blogs I follow, are from acquaintances. Girls I knew in high school, but wasn't close with. Or an old co-workers wife, a friends friend, etc. They are all fabulous in their own way and tell their own journeys.

They all inspire me in one way or the other with their creativity and totally different ways of documenting their journey as parents. There are funny ones, deep ones, ones full of pictures, etc. Many of them always make me feel like my blog is just plain 'ole boring! LOL! But, regardless of how they tell their story, they inspire me. They inspire me to be a better blogger, and even more, a better mom. Some of them have kids older than Brock and I learn so much from their stories and adventures.

Even those mamas I may never speak to in person, I feel an immediate connection. Almost proud of them. I am so impressed by how wonderful they all are as moms and so grateful to follow their stories and hopefully use them as tools for my own parenting. It's amazing how bonded you feel to other moms, because you share such a special thing in common - being a mama. And I think it's important to feel that way. We should be encouraging and supporting each other. Everyone takes their own journey and has their own way to parent. We can all learn from each other and sharing all these experiences is such a valuable tool!

Blogs are such a great format for moms to share things with each other, while at the same time, keeping little journals for themselves and their kids as they grow. We are some of the first generation to have this so readily available and I think it will only help us be better. Better moms, better wives, better friends.

So thank you ladies, for being so wonderful with your words and sharing your experiences.

Our little Parrot

1 year, 3.5 weeks

Well, luckily, the Hulk has left the building! As painful as that little phase was, I'm so grateful it wasn't very long!! I think it was the teething more than anything. No more teeth have popped thru, but the diaper rash is fading!

He is repeating EVERYTHING we say now!! It's so cute! He's added some more words to his little vocabulary:
- Cookie (sometimes sounds like cookie and sometimes sounds like coo coo)
- Mickey (more like Mimi)
- Poppy
- Stop
- Milk (which sounds like 'mo' and it applies to anything liquid in a cup)
- Car ('ca' and he says it when he sees his little blue car)
- He's got one more word that sounds like 'go' and we aren't really sure what he's trying to say yet...he says it at all different times so we haven't really been able to narrow down what he's saying

The biggest (and probably scariest) thing for us right now is watching him test his physical abilities. He uses his little rocker to climb on the couch, he likes to stand up in any chair he's in (including his stroller if he's not strapped in yet), he seems to have very little fear. While I want him to try new things, it makes this mama soooo nervous! But it's also amazing to watch his little brain work. Over the weekend I had him out on our front deck and he crawled over to the edge, to the small step and as soon as he got to the edge, he stopped, sat on his butt, and slowly worked his way down the stairs that way. It was amazing to see the gears turning in his little head and see how quickly he figured it out!

This weekend is Father's Day and we are headed to Wichita to see my dad. My nephew is having a birthday party so Brock will get to watch all the big kids run around in the water. Something tells me he'll be fully entertained!!

Baby Hulk??

1 year, 2 weeks

Sorry for the missed post last week. My mom had surgery and I was out most of the week taking care of her! In the meantime, however, I think Brock drank some sort of radioactive rage juice and is now Hulking out almost daily!!

I know they have 'terrible twos' but no one really talks about this stage. The tantrums are insane!! All of my research (aka google) says that this is normal. They are finally realizing they can be independent, but aren't quite there yet in terms of talking, walking, etc and communicating their needs clearly. Which all makes perfect sense, it just doesn't make it any easier when he's screaming as loud as he can because I just told him he couldn't have or do something. He totally rages out - fists clenched, shaking and just forcing the loudest scream he can manage. It's totally different than his normal cry, it's full of anger. Sadly, he got his mama's temper!

We think he's also going through a growth spurt right now because he's been more tired than normal. Which only makes the problem worse because tired baby + not getting what he wants = immediate meltdown. He is much more easily agitated when he's tired (hmmmm...sounds like me).

On top of all this fun stuff, he's got more teeth coming in. And the poor little guy has the worst diaper rash I've ever seen. He's not super fussy about it, but you can tell it's painful for him. We've had lots of naked baby time to try and air it out. But, the first of the top front teeth has broken through and the 2nd should be any minute now!

In happier news - he's standing on his own! He can't go from sitting to standing, but if you stand him up, he can stand by himself for a couple of minutes. You can tell he wants to take a step, but he just doesn't trust himself yet. If he's walking between furniture, sometimes he'll test himself and get himself to standing without holding on. I know walking is just around the corner and right now, we aren't pushing him at all. It will come, when he's ready. He can do it, he just needs to trust himself and have confidence.

He's also added more words and tricks:
- he picks up the phone (cell or house) and says 'hello'
- now not only every Sesame Street character, but also pretty much any book he sees is Elmo...LOL! Most of his little books at home are Elmo so now every book is Elmo
- he may not say bye bye when he leaves or when you leave, but he'll say it over and over and over after leaving and a lot of times in the car
- he's starting to repeat 'thank you' more and more

He also went to his first Royals game this week! He loved it! We were in my company's suite and he loved crawling around inside, but also loved being outside and watching all the people, the game and the big screen. Walking into the stadium, his eyes were just huge and he was just taking it all in, totally silent.

1st birthday!

1 YEAR OLD!!!!

The day has come and gone and I didn't even cry 1 time!! I got a little choked up from time to time leading up to it, but no tears were shed by this mommy! My little angel boy is a year old! I'm no longer the mom of a newborn or an infant. Now I have a toddler!

I took the day of his birthday off to spend as much time with him as possible. It's a tradition I plan to continue for as long as he'll let me! We got up and opened his presents from Mommy and Daddy. Had a little 'pre-breakfast' and watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Then sent Daddy off to work and Brock and I headed to Chick Fil A. I try and go every year on my birthday for breakfast - love those chicken minis!! While we were there, the ladies at Chick Fil A found out it was his birthday and brought him out a balloon tied to a stuffed little cow. He was so excited! He ate a little bit of his food, and then we went to play in their play area - by the way - it's PERFECT for little ones! It's only for kids 3 and under so lots of ground level fun!

We then went to Old Navy in search of outfits for our one year pics that night. He had fun checking himself out in the mirror in the dressing room! We came home to have lunch, meet up with Daddy and take a nap! We ran a few errands in the afternoon and then it was off to take his one year pictures! He was having so much fun crawling around in the grass and got his first taste of cake! Those pictures should be coming soon!

Saturday was his big birthday party! The weather was absolutely perfect and the party went wonderfully! The food was great, the park was perfect for the kiddos! They all loved the pinata! Brock got so many fun toys and gifts! We are still trying to get them all unpacked and put together! Lots of fun summer outdoor activities for him to do!

Before I go on with pictures from the party, we had his 1 year check up yesterday. He was not a fan of the shots and was pretty tired and grumpy all night after that. Everything else checked out great and here's the rundown on this big bad 1 year old!
Height: 30 1/4" (75th percentile)
Weight: 24 lbs (85th percentile)
Head circumference: 93rd percentile!
He loves to walk with assistance - a toy, along the couch or having someone hold his hands
The doctor was mostly impressed with how many words he can say. So we don't forget, here are all the words he can say (he knows what almost every one means): Mama, Dada, Dog, Oscar, Apple, No, Hi, Bye bye, Thank you, Uh Oh, Elmo, Moo, Woah, Mia, Night Night
He has some other rambles we can't understand and he also can make noises - roars, makes 'car' sounds when driving his cars on the floor, says 'ohhhhhh' at balloons and other things that float
Some of his favorite things: cars, Sesame Street (everyone on there is Elmo), bath time, making faces, walking holding someones hands, going for a walk in his new car
Feeding - he totally feeds himself finger foods and is a great eater! He'll eat pretty much anything - he doesn't like bananas but loves green beans, sweet potatoes, chicken and ice cream!

He's been an absolutely perfect little man this past year! As sad as we are that it's going by so fast, he's made it so much fun that we are excited to see what he'll do next!! Walking is definitely in our near future!

Now for the fun stuff...here are just a few pictures from this weekend...there were so many great memories it was hard to pick just a few!

This is the morning of his birthday (note the sleepy eyes)

 Before the party, checkin' out all his presents!

 Digging into his cake!

 Proud Mommy and Daddy with our 'big' gift for the birthday boy!

 All the kiddos! No chance of getting them all to look at the same time, but they are cute regardless!

Tazmanian Devil

11 months, 3 weeks, 5 days (just not ready to count his age in years yet!)

We are rapidly approaching the big day!! My sweet angel boy will be a year old in 2 days!! I can't believe it! His party is on Saturday and I am SO excited! We have been going crazy getting everything ready and getting his gifts! I got a little emotional over the weekend at Toys R Us. Before the craziness begins - I want to thank my amazing husband. He has given in to my crazy and allowed me to be a little over the top with some things for the party. He has been nothing but supportive and helpful! He's even been sucked into slave labor a couple of times!

I'm just so unbelievably proud of my little man and to get to be his mommy! I can't believe it's been a year and at the same time, it feels like longer! It's like our lives didn't exist before him. We had a wonderful life before but it just doesn't seem possible since he wasn't there. He makes every morning better, every evening more exciting and every day happier.

We've had quite the week at the Barbosa household. Nick knocked it out of the park for my first 'official' Mother's Day. Brockie got me a sweet card and a Michael Kors clutch I'd had my eye on. Since he had completely outdone himself for my birthday, I didn't expect HIM to get me anything for Mother's Day, but of course that morning, Nick had a card and season tickets to Starlight Theater for me! I have never felt so special as I have these last few weeks! We enjoyed brunch with my mom and sister, a little down time in the afternoon, then dinner with Nick's entire family. Brock enjoyed all the food that's for sure!!

Brock has always been pretty 'wild' but it seems like it's kicked up a notch! He seems even more mobile and somehow louder all at the same time! Nick and I looked at each other at one point on Sunday and just laughed. He was totally entertaining  himself crawling all over the living room/dining room, yelling and talking along the way. At one point, he even looked up at the TV and was yelling at the people on it!

He really has started to like Sesame Street and has a few little Elmo books. He picked up saying Elmo really really quickly and would always repeat it. But on Sunday night, he picked up his Elmo book and said Elmo without any prompting!!! I was so proud of him. It's truly amazing to watch their little brains in action!

We are officially DONE with bottles. They are all put far far away and he didn't even notice! Such a rockstar! He's drinking whole milk with some meals and with snacks.

We are so close to walking it's not even funny! He wants you to walk around holding his hands constantly and gets a little upset when you stop!! He LOVES to laugh and talk. He's such a vocal little man! It won't be long before we're having full on conversations with him!

We had another event at our house this weekend. On Sunday, Nick got a crazy idea to change up our car situation. I was driving the '03 Highlander with almost 150k miles on it and he had his '08 Escape with low miles. However, I was not a fan of that car and didn't want to drive it myself. Nick had been wanting something bigger, and didn't like the idea of me driving around in the older, higher mileage car, but our original agreement was to wait until his car was paid off, then I would get a new car and he'd keep driving the Escape.

Over a month or so of randomly discussing our options, Nick had this impulsive idea that he wanted to see about selling my car and him buying an older, bigger car for himself. I would then take his car and get a new one. I had been eyeing the Ford Edge for awhile. Well, once he gets an idea in his head, he just goes after it full force and by Sunday night (the idea started Sunday morning), he found a Ford dealership that had an older Tahoe like he wanted and a 2011 Ford Edge like I wanted.

By Monday evening, we had test driven both cars, worked out most of the details for should we decide to move forward and the Edge was sitting in our driveway as I needed time to think and really get a feel for the car. Nick is very impulsive and I am not. When I really really want something, I'll know it. But that is a rare occasion. Normally it's looking at every possible place that sells whatever I'm wanting before I make a decision. And 'big' purchases completely send me into a panic. So you can imagine that I was a little maxed out on Monday. 2 'new' cars and you wanna do it like right now?!

Luckily, I listened to him and as of last night, I am the proud owner of a 2011 Ford Edge Limited. She's white and just gorgeous! The inside is a little like a spaceship. Touchscreen everything, dual AC/heat in the front, my phone like works through the car! All these features I may never fully understand, but seem great to have! The most exciting so far is the ability to change the color of the interior lights from a range of like 6 colors! We are currently on pink and it's pretty sweet! Anyway, without further ado...here she is!

My next blog will most likely be as the mother of a 1 year old!! Hopefully with a full run down of the party (if I make it out alive!!).

Breaking the seal

11 months, 3 weeks (yes, just one more week until my sweet boy is 1)

WE DID IT! Brock spent his first night away from us!! A few tears were shed by mommy as he left to go to Cynthia's for the night. But, after that, I have to say, I was totally fine. I knew he would be fine as he loves 'CC' AND he was familiar with his surroundings. As suspected, he was perfect and had so much fun! He even slept in for her - she finally had to wake him up at 8:30 because I couldn't wait to come get him the next day!

The weekend was AMAZING! My amazing husband planned a weekend full of surprises for my 30th birthday! It started Saturday afternoon with my Dad, Pat and Mia surprisingly showing up at our house! I had a suspicion, but no definite idea that they were coming! It was awesome and I wouldn't have wanted to celebrate my big day without them! The next surprise was everyone - my parents, Nick's parents and all our siblings coming to our house to be picked up in a LIMO! The limo took us down to a bar downtown where all of our friends were waiting for us! Tracy set up these amazing centerpieces and Judy got an amazing cake! It was the absolute most perfect birthday ever!!

While I knew Brock was fine with CC, subconsciously I knew he wasn't home so mommy had a little bit of a hard time sleeping Saturday night. By Sunday morning, I just wanted my boy!! So we got up to get him and came back home. Well, he found the remnants of some of my birthday presents and went to town! Looks like tissue paper is the hottest thing in toddler toys!

My parents came over for a few more hours before having to head back to Wichita. They wore Brock out so we all got a nice long nap in that afternoon! Not before letting them hear him say 'Mia' and him saying 'apple' for the first time! One of his toys says apple and he repeated it!

He also started walking with one of his push toys this weekend! He hasn't mastered turning it, but put him in a straight line and he's off! We had some storms and tornado sirens go off Sunday evening, so we spent much of the night in the basement. After months of watching Brock go up to the bottom step (which is a little taller than all the others) and look up like he's trying to figure out how to climb up it, he finally did it! He only made it up a couple of stairs, but he did it! It was exciting to watch him finally get it because we've seen the wheels turning! However, now we are on high alert anytime stairs are near!

His menu options keep growing by the day! I made spaghetti last night and he devoured it! Couldn't get enough of it! It was so cute! It almost drove Nick crazy with how messy it was, but it was adorable! We also introduced whole milk today! We mixed a small amount with his formula in his morning bottle. He was a little weirded out, but finally drank it down. He's starting to seem bored with bottles anyway so I think at a year, we should hopefully have no problems switching over to only sippy cups!

Swim lessons are officially over and last night we were able to get him under water without much coughing! He likes to do his 'fake cough' even when he didn't swallow any water...it's pretty funny! We have the whole summer to work on it and we definitely plan on that!