15 month update!

15 months, 1 week

We 'celebrated' Brock's 15 month birthday visiting my family (aunts, cousins, dad and Pat) in Grove, Oklahoma. We didn't do anything to celebrate it really, but we were there! We had QUITE the adventure getting down there. About halfway there we stopped to stretch our legs, use the restroom, etc. We got back into the car and Nick's check engine light came on. We just so happened to be in the same parking lot as an O'Reilly auto shop and we stopped to have it checked out. It came back as being something wrong with the transmission. We were in tiny Ft. Scott, KS with only one shop that could even try to help us. Lucky for us, the guy was there. Unlucky, he was about to leave for the day and leave town. Thankfully, he drove the car so he could at least tell us what was wrong. He confirmed the issue was with the transmission, but that it wasn't major and we could make it to Grove and get it fixed there, without causing any further damage.

Nick was so upset but we got back on the road (now about an hour behind schedule and right on time for Brock to get hungry for lunch). We had about an hour to go before we were meeting my parents for lunch so we had to just start feeding him cookies, crackers and goldfish until we got there. Meanwhile, Mia and I both started frantically calling shops in Grove only to learn NO ONE was open on Saturday and no one could get us in that afternoon. We found one shop about 30 minutes away that could get us in Saturday, but Nick just didn't want to chance it. We called every place in the next closest town we would pass through, Pittsburg, KS with no luck either.

We were stopping in Baxter Springs, KS for lunch (population like 4000 - not kidding). We made it there and ended up arriving around the same time as Dad and Pat. While we were waiting for them to get there, I took Brock out to walk around and get some exercise after sitting in the car all day. Nick was still upset about his car and just happened to google transmission shops in Baxter Springs. There just so happened to be a shop literally around the corner (which really in that town, everything is) from where we were eating and he could fit us in! We were all just floored...we had called every shop in the towns along the way (that were much bigger) and no one had any openings.

Sure enough, we dropped the car off, ate our lunch and he was almost done with the car. He had a little bit left to do on the car, so he suggested we visit their little museum a couple of blocks away. I'm a sucker for a museum so I was so excited! It turned out to be this cute little museum with all these little rooms set up to look like different things you would have seen in the early 1900's (a farmhouse, a dentist office, an operator, newspaper press, etc). It was so cute! And it gave us some good quality 'stop and smell the roses' family time.

We got back on the road (for only $140 to fix the car no less - amazing!) and finally arrived in Grove around 4. We left our house around 9:30 and probably should have been there closer to 1, but hey, we made some memories! We only had a short amount of time before Nick and I had to hit the road and drive over to see my best friend Rea and meet her beautiful baby girl Monroe. We spent a few hours with them catching up and Brock loved the little baby!

It was love at first sight!

Saturday was just an all day family day. We hung out at my aunts house with my cousins and Brock loved feeding the fish in the pond, wandering around the land and we even walked him down to the lake where I used to swim as a kid. It was really awesome to be able to show him a place that makes up so many of my childhood memories. He had some great time with my dad too. We Facetime with my Dad and Pat at least once a week so he's used to see them over the phone and saying their names. We were curious to how he'd react in person, but he just loved it! He went to bed Saturday night just saying their names, and mine and Mia's over and over. It was so cute!

While we were there, my aunt got out some old photo albums. My aunts just kept saying how much Brock looks like me when I was younger. That's totally different for us to hear because everyone always says how much he looks like Nick. However, we couldn't believe it when we saw the pictures! He definitely looks a lot more like me than I think we realized!

Me as a toddler (not sure what age)                                        

                                         

Brock at 15 months, same crazy hair!

                                          

Monday was Brock's 15 month check up at the doctor. He got a few shots, but luckily didn't cry nearly as long as the last time on these. Here are his stats and some other fun facts about Mr. Brock at 15 months:
- Height 31" (50th% - big drop from last check up!)
- Weight 26 lbs (90th%)
- Head 88th% - still huge
- 8 teeth (all front 4 on top and bottom)
- says easily over 30 words, probably more
- Knows the difference between Ernie and Elmo (his 2 faves and the only ones he can say, but he knows the difference!)
- Says 'Thank You' when asked and even sometimes on his own if you give him something he wants, we're still working on 'Please'
- Knows the names of a few people at daycare - CC, Dainan and Riley (ri-wee)
- We're still taking the binkie, but only at night - it never leaves the crib
- He's not only fully walking, but running, walking backwards and climbing stairs like a champ
- Still a great eater and loves using a fork and spoon as long as there is already food on it
- Still the best sleeper out there, we are so hoping that never changes!
- Loves most veggies, but still not a huge fan of fruits - textures throw him off - still HATES bananas, is a huge fan of carbs just like his mama
- Bug bites are a huge problem for us - he gets TERRIBLE reactions to them, like huge swollen, red welt looking things whenever he gets bitten
- Wearing a size 5-6 in shoes
- Wearing 18-24 month clothes
- Loves to hold up the phone (or remote or even a graham cracker) and say 'Hello' like he's talking on the phone but totally clams up when he actually is on the phone with someone
- Has a bit of a temper and will try and hit or grunt when he's upset - we're trying to work on this!

Our 'first' baby

15 months

It's no secret that our dog Oscar isn't the friendliest dog in the world. He's a little black chihuahua who we completely spoiled rotten his whole life. He was my dog when I lived on my own and Nick fell head over heels for him the day I brought him home. He was our baby. Slept in our bed, ate off Nick's cheeseburgers (yes, seriously), went everywhere with us. He's now 8 years old and a little grumpier than he used to be, but still our little snuggle dog.

He's very territorial and protective.Of us, of his food, his toys, his bed, his spot on the couch, anything he thinks is his, which is pretty much everything in our house. He tries to make up for his small size by being the 'alpha' in every situation. He's not overly aggressive and his bark (or snarl) is worse than his bite (most of the time). However, he has bitten a few people in situations that he felt threatened or felt like I was in danger. He's not a huge fan of new people, dogs he doesn't know and small children.

Enter my state of total panic while pregnant. How is he going to deal with the baby? Is he going to eat his face off if we aren't looking? Are we going to have to get rid of him? All these questions ran through my head on a quiet, yet constant cycle. I was even a little nervous to leave the hospital and go home with Brock. Not just because of the dog, but the overall fear of how we were going to mingle this perfect new angel that had taken over our world in a matter of days, into the life we already had and loved. A big part of that life being Oscar.

We read all the tips on how to introduce your old dog to a new baby. We had family take blankets from the hospital that smelled like the baby to the dog so he would recognize the scent. We left all the baby items out for the dog to get used too, etc.

Our first day home, Nick set Brock on the floor in his car seat and Oscar went over and licked his baby hand. I literally cried - tears of joy, relief and probably hormones. The next few weeks are still kind of a blur, but I do remember Oscar being just completely out of sorts. You could tell he was frustrated that his sleep schedule was being constantly interrupted and that he was no longer the center of attention. Usually, when people come over, he demands to be paid attention to immediately. Now, people didn't even know he was there - they just wanted to see the baby.

Oscar was definitely nervous and cautious around the baby. What was this thing? Why did it move and make such awful noises? He kept his distance as much as possible. And then I started to notice that if I would walk out of the room and Brock was sleeping on the floor or couch, Oscar would go up and lay next to him. Almost like he was protecting him while I was gone. Of course he'd get up and run as soon as I got back - God forbid I catch him warming up to that thing!

As Brock has grown, he has only gotten more and more interested in Oscar. In fact, one of his first 'real' words was 'dog'! Oscar likes to be near him, but not touching him. If Brock gets too close, Oscar will usually head for the hills. I was nervous with each new milestone - crawling, walking, exploring - that Oscar would feel territorial toward something Brock was getting too close to and then growl at him or even nip at him. We've had a few incidents where Oscar showed his teeth, but he knows to just remove himself from the situation (and we obviously keep a close eye at all times).

Now, Brock will throw the ball for Oscar and Oscar will bring it back to him. And Brock's new favorite activity is to walk the dog. He likes to hold the leash when we go on walks. Given that Oscar is only 12 pounds and pretty chill, he can't pull Brock over. Last night we went to the park and just let Brock hold the leash and wander around with Oscar. It was so amazing to see how far we've come and made me so proud of Oscar. I know it wasn't easy to adjust to all the newness of a baby and while he's not this super kid-friendly, ready to play dog, he's done better than I thought he would.

Everyone warned me before I had Brock that the dog would lose his place a little bit. He wouldn't be our 'baby' anymore. I swore up and down that would never happen. But, of course they were right. He's still our first 'baby', but the amount of attention he gets is far less than it used to be. Nick has been so much better than I have about giving him love, treats and affection. And as we've settled into our parent roles, I feel like I'm getting better about making sure he still feels loved from his mama. I know I probably didn't do right by him during the first few months, but hopefully he knows he'll always be my first baby!

I do want to get another dog when we have a bigger house. One that is a little more 'kid friendly' and will let Brock pull on his ears and lay on him with no issues. There is no doubt that Oscar is our dog so I feel like Brock should have one that is all his. But until then, it's fun watching their relationship grow and learn from each other.

July wrap up

14 months, 3 weeks

Ok, so I know it's not July anymore. And I know I haven't updated this in a couple of weeks - sorry! There has been a lot and a lot of nothing going on at Casa de Barbosa! We've been crazy busy but not much has changed with Brock.

Probably the most exciting (for me) is that he finally gives kisses!! All my friends that have daughters were getting kisses long before us. They were so gentle and sweet. Brock would punch me in the face before he'd give a kiss. He is so sweet, he just doesn't realize his own strength sometimes! But finally, last week, I randomly asked for a kiss, and he walked over to me and gave me a kiss! It melted my heart and I'd be lying if I said I didn't tear up a little.

He's starting to learn to use utensils more and more. He thinks forks are the greatest things ever! He hasn't quite figured out how to get food ON them, but he loves to get it off!

We're still obsessed with shoes and saying more words by the day. Some of the newest additions are cool ('coo'), outside ('side'), book ('boo') and please ('pees'). He tries to say I love you, but it's kind of a cute little jumbled mess. He also has what we're calling his 'alien' language. He says so many words, but then he has this other little language he speaks when he wants to talk in more than just single word fragments. It's pretty hilarious. He'll pick up a book and just go to town like he's reading it. It's so cute!

He has finally figured out how to ride his little dinosaur toy he got for his birthday. Granted, right now, he only knows how to ride it backwards. He is getting more social too. Now, he's ALWAYS been a super happy, social baby. But now, when my mom, Nick's mom or Mia come over, he reaches out for them to hold him. That's huge since he didn't used to want to leave Mommy. I love how much he loves them.

It's finally cooler here so we're going to try and take advantage and hit up the pool, zoo, whatever we can before summer is over!

Houston, we have a...biter?

14 months

No mom wants to have the 'biter' at school or daycare. I used to think the 'biters' must be bad kids. The moms must either spoil them or does not pay enough attention to them. Something had to be wrong with the parenting skills in that situation. Ah, yet another foot in mouth moment of a new mom. You think so many things about parenting BEFORE you have kids. And then you have them and BAM, all your little 'ideas' of what's right and wrong kind of go out the window!

Such is the lesson we learned yesterday when I got a text from our daycare provider saying Brock had taken up the habit of biting the other kids. Just walking up to them and biting! No provoking. I, of course, panic and call Nick. I didn't know if we should just go pick him up so he didn't hurt any of the kids or what we should do. My logical next step is to start Googling like crazy! But everything I was finding was saying how many toddlers and kids bite out of frustration, and that just didn't seem like the case. He wasn't upset or angry, he was just biting!

After talking it over with Cynthia, we think the main problem was he was super tired and has some more teeth coming through. He was fussier than normal over the weekend, but since we are blessed with a baby who doesn't drool when he's teething, we can never really tell when his teeth are hurting. Other than being fussy (which is very rare for him), he doesn't pull at his ears, stick his fingers in his mouth or drool like they say babies do while teething so it's hard to tell what's bothering the poor guy! Keep your fingers crossed for us that it was an isolated incident!!

Along the line of teeth, Brock's new favorite thing at home is brushing his teeth. We don't do it every night, usually every other night or so. But he LOVES it. If he's in the bathroom he'll start saying teeth (sounds like tee) and wants to brush them! I'll usually tackle his 5 little teeth and gums, and then let him play around and do it himself. He just loves it! Like his love of the bath, I'm sure this won't last when he's older, but we enjoy watching him light up now!

We took him to the Prairie Village pool for the first time this weekend and could totally kick ourselves for not going sooner. He had a blast. They have the perfect 'baby' pool. It's not like the shallow, pee-filled baby pools of my day. It was this big 'beach style entry' pool that at it's deepest only comes up to Brock's waist. There are low chairs for parents to sit and watch the kids, fountains of water coming out of the pool and little areas of shade. He walked around the pool for probably an hour and a half. At first he was a little hesitant and just sat with his toys but before long, he was off! If it wasn't going to be as hot as the surface of the sun here this weekend, we'd totally be going back!

I'll leave you with one final nugget from the weekend. We are having a garage sale this week and in preparation, we're cleaning out the house. Well, Brock found one of my old t-shirts and Daddy put it on him. Total blackmail material but also so cute and hilarious!

Shoe fetish

13 months, 4 weeks

If you know Nick and I, you know it's no secret that we both LOVE shoes. Nick used to wait in line for HOURS for the newest pair of Jordans that came out. For a curvy girl like me, shoes are the only wardrobe necessity that always fit and look cute no matter what!

Knowing all of that, it shouldn't be surprising (yet somehow it still is) that Brock is OBSESSED with shoes. It started a couple of weeks ago when he first noticed the shoes in his closet. He quickly learned how to say 'shoes' and would start bringing them to us to put on his feet. And then it upgraded to wanting you to change the shoes already on his feet, to yet another pair he would bring to you. One night, I think we went through 3 pairs of shoes!

At first, we were hesitant to put them on very often since he was just really starting to walk at the time. He was still wobbly barefoot and we wanted him to really get comfortable walking before we threw shoes into the mix. Well, he mastered walking within a week or so and it just felt 'right' for him to have shoes. We were more comfortable letting him walk outside as he became more stable, so it was time to find him some shoes that fit! I bought a cheap little pair with soft soles from Target to get him used to walking with shoes on.

About a month ago, we had him measured and he was a 4. Most of the shoes we already had were either too big or too small. Now that he's a walking machine and wants his shoes on all the time, we decided he needed a pair to wear to daycare each day so we hit the mall last night to find him a new pair of kicks.

Little did we know the shoe fetish would be in full force! We stopped at a couple of shoe stores and he was in HEAVEN!! He would see walls of shoes and just say 'shoes? shoes? shoes?'. We'd pick up a pair and inspect them and if they weren't put on his feet, he was NOT a happy camper!!

We had his feet measured again and he was at a solid size 5. Yes, you're reading that right, in less than a month, his feet grew at least an entire shoe size (so we thought). We found a pair we liked and handed them to the store clerk to get his size. Cue the meltdown about taking the shoes away from him! When the clerk came back with the shoes, the size 5 was almost too small so we had to go with a size 6! Brock was so excited about his 'new' shoes, he was pointing to his old shoes to be taken off and holding his new ones up to be put on. He even puts his foot in the air so you can put his shoes on.

I know he may not always love to have shoes on, and quite frankly we're pretty shocked he has this great love of them as he was a sock removing ninja last winter, but it's the cutest little phase. He was so proud of his new shoes last night, we let him wear them out of the store. It was a little later in the evening and the mall was pretty quiet so we let him walk by himself down the mall. You could tell he felt so proud of his new shoes and so independent to be walking on his own! We even took him to Build A Bear and got a little bear made for him. I swear, he was more excited about the shoes than the bear!! 


In other news - we had our first little 'bout of pink eye this weekend. As usual, he was a total champ about it. Never got fussy or upset. However, he HATES the eye drops we have to give him. Seriously - who knew kids eye muscles were so strong? Once he clamps them shut, it takes all my strength to pry them open! We took him to the Children's Mercy Urgent care on Saturday night and in true Barbosa form, they recognized us from the last time we were there! In our defense, we've only been there twice and both times were AFTER his first birthday. 


I feel like I say this in every blog, but this kid's vocabulary is crazy! He repeats so much and easily says more than most kids at this age. I would say we are easily over 30 words at this point.


We also now have 4.5 teeth! Both front top and bottom teeth and as of yesterday, one of the top side teeth is poking through. 

Aspiring nudist?

13 months, 3 weeks

Ladies and gents, we have a future streaker on our hands! Since it's been sooooo ridiculously hot here lately, we've been letting Brock sleep in just his diaper. Full on white-trash baby style! Our house is old and has terrible insulation so his room gets so hot! We keep a fan on him at night, but to make sure he can sleep comfortably, we've let the pj's take a little summer vacay. So far, it hasn't been a problem at all. Until Saturday night. We put him down as normal, all seemed fine. I went in to peek at the monitor and just check on him and saw a nice full moon!! His sweet little naked booty, straight up in the air! Nick and I went in and couldn't help but laugh at his little naked body laying ON TOP of his diaper. We finally composed ourselves and got his diaper back on. We thought it was a one time occurrence until this morning when we woke up to those sweet little cheeks again! Lesson learned - we'll be putting shorts on over the diapers from now on. But I gotta say - that little booty is the cutest thing I've ever seen!

He has been walking more and more and every day he gets a little better. We had 2 birthday parties this weekend and the first was at an indoor place that had lots of those blow up bouncy houses. Ok, in our day they were just blue/yellow/red squares of death with mesh walls. Now, they have these amazing, HUGE contraptions for kids (and adults) of all ages! I'm talking pirate ships and princess castles, huge obstacle courses, etc. They had one small one for Brock's age group, along with a little plastic house. Nick took him in to a couple of the bigger ones and he had fun. But I think what he loved most was the rubber floor. He took full advantage to practice the walking skills! The floor was hard enough for him to get good balance, but soft enough for any crash landings. He had a blast walking around, watching the other kiddos and eating almost an entire cupcake and getting icing all over his face! (See below)

He learned some fun new words this past week:
'party' - he's had lots of parties to go to lately and now he can say it!
'water' - when he sees a water bottle
'cheese' sounds more like 'eeeee' - he understands that it goes with the camera, but doesn't quite realize you say it when the camera is pointing AT you. Sometimes he waits until the camera is already gone to say it.
'pee pee' - yup, he's a boy, bet you can guess what that one is for
'more' - when he wants more (this weekend specifically it was spaghetti)


I've started 'menu planning' our meals every week. I read it was helpful for saving $$ on groceries (totally true) but it's also helped me organize my brain for meals. Being a full time working mama, if I don't have dinner planned out at least the day before, I'm scrambling. And then I'm usually missing half the stuff I need for the meal. This way, I have everything planned out (weekend lunches and dinners included) and so when I hit the store, I get ONLY what I need for that week. It's saved money not only from not just hap-hazardly buying random things at the store and hoping they make a full meal, but also on keeping us from going out to eat so much on weekends.

An added bonus I didn't plan on with it, was eating healthier. I'm still on Weight Watchers to lose the last 20 or so pounds of baby weight (and hopefully more)  so I have to find meals that are relatively healthy. Well, it's rubbed off not only on us, but even on Brock! I've been trying to feed him as healthily as possible anyway, but now eating at home more and having more fresh produce around from making weekly trips to the store, helps him get full balanced meals. I love the feeling of seeing him eat as many fresh, non-processed and healthy foods as possible! One day, I won't have much of a say in what he likes so while I still get to pick what he eats, I plan on keeping it as healthy as I can!

Ready or not, here we go!

13 months, 1 week

Well, we are officially 'off to the races!'. Brock took his first 'real' steps this weekend!! At first it was just a few wobbly steps here and there, but by Sunday night, it was a full 5-6 steps, followed by the same thing last night!!

It's amazing to see how he went from being totally not ready last week, to now ready to give it a shot and even balance and catch himself if he started to fall. He likes to walk now with you holding just one of his hands and I think will be really walking on his own in no time!!

We also learned he is his fathers son. As if the fact that they look identical wasn't enough, the kid already has an affinity for hats and shoes just like his Daddy! Anytime he sees a baseball hat, he points to it and says 'dada'. He used to pull them off whenever you would put them on his head. Now, not only does he not take them off, he wants them ON! Nick put a hat on him the other night while I was making dinner and he just left it on. So, we let him eat that way.

He also has become OBSESSED with shoes! I caught him last week holding up his foot in one hand, while trying to put a sandal on with the other. We don't put shoes on him very often so it was so crazy how he knew what to do!!

If he sees any shoes, he wants them ON his feet. And if you take them off, prepare to hear about it! He has lots of cool sneakers to wear, but we need to invest in some every day shoes for him. Now that he's walking more, especially outside, we need to get some sandals or something a little more 'summer appropriate'.

He's adding more and more words by the week! Many of them he just repeats a few times, but once he says it, he starts learning more about what it means. We're taking him this weekend to Deanna Rose Farms for a birthday party and I'm so excited for him to go! There will be lots of little farm animals for him to see/feed/pet and I think he'll love it!