Wrenda had her baby!

For those of you who know our friends, Wrenda & Justin, we just got a phone call that she had her baby last night around 11pm. They had a little boy and named him Gavin Lee. He weighed 7 pounds 1 ounce. Sounds like her labor went quickly for a first time mom. Less than twelve hours! I'm jealous! :-)

Houston's Check-up

Apparently Houston partied a little too hard for his birthday this year because he came down with a nasty cold last night. He threw up several times last night and this morning and he took three naps today. We had an appointment for his two-year check-up today. He fell asleep on the way there and it took me a good 10 minutes to get him to wake up enough to get out of the car and walk in to the doctor's office. I couldn't carry him because I had to carry Brody. Dr. Mas says he just has an upper respiratory thing ("the common cold"). Other than that she said he looks great. He weighs 30-3/4 pounds which is the 85th percentile and he is 36 inches tall which is the 93rd percentile. Big boy ... go figure! That's just how we do it.

In other news, I went to the gym tonight for the second time this week ... go me. Brett and I made a deal that every monday and wednesday he comes home and watches the kids so I can go to the gym and then when I get home I keep them out of his hair so he can study for his PE exam. The exam is October 27th so he's got a lot to do in only two months. You should see the stack of study materials and reference manuals he has to go through! Better him than me. I can't seem to stay focused on one thing for very long at all. You should see my stack of unfinished craft projects and half read self-help books. Yikes.

Houston and Brody at Houston's birthday party yesterday. Shows you how big Brody really is sitting next to a two-year-old. And Houston is big for his age too!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HOUSTON!!! I can't believe he's two already! We had a great birthday party yesterday afternoon. He had a great time and got lots of great presents.

The Cousins: Lindsay, Eric and Celena

Houston learned to swim in the pool at Queen's Gate. He has to have his water wings on but he can swim all the way across the pool! I'm such a proud mama!

From left to right: my cousin Lindsay, my cousin Eric, Eric's wife Tai. We had them over to our cottage at Queen's Gate for dinner. That was a fun night. Makes me miss living by some of my own family. Or at least makes me want to visit more often.

Isn't his hat just the cutest?!?! I found this outfit at Target in Gainesville. The fabric has an SPF so it was great to wear in the pool and I only had to put sunscreen on his arms and legs.

Brody is ready to go to the pool. He really enjoyed swimming in the pool. Unfortunately, he didn't get a chance to dip in the ocean because of the red tide.

Brody was getting some quality thumb sucking time in while Brett was enjoying a lazy afternoon reading a book.

Houston and I sat in the rocking chairs in front of our room at Queen's Gate waiting for Daddy to bring back some breakfast. This is where we stayed for the last three nights of our vacation. It's a great little place on Bradenton Beach. You can check it out at www.queensgateresort.com.

Me and Brody

Brody kicked back enjoying his vacation.

Austin and Houston. Got some strange flash thing going on in their eyes in this pic but it's the only one I got of them together.

Here's Tonia and Austin at my mom's house. Tonia is married to my cousin Robbie and Austin is their son. I think that makes Houston and Austin second cousins.

mmm ... yummy cake

My mom had a family party for Houston and Brody the day we got back from the beach house. Here is Houston feeling a little shy as everyone sings happy birthday to him.

Here's Brett wishing he had a boat like Pappy Tom's.

Houston enjoyed the boat ride back to the mainland so much that he fell asleep and drooled on himself!

the view as we headed back to the mainland

Brody chillin' at the beach house

Pappy Tom's beach house on Little Gasperilla Island. This is where we spent the first few days of our vacation. It's a really neat place. You have to take a boat to get there. Everyone drives around the island on golf carts. And as the sign says at the dock, "this is an island. if you didn't bring it, you don't have it."

Pappy Tom and the boys

a day on the beach ... with a litte red tide ... yuck!

i'm cool

Brody's first trip to the beach

Headed to the beach

The sunset on Little Gasperilla Island

Brody's Blanket

Look at the beautiful blanket my grandma crocheted for Brody. It is sooo comfortable. I think Brody really likes it too. He likes to be wrapped up and his new blanket drapes over him nice and snug. She made up the stitch pattern herself. Isn't it pretty? It looks like ripples and ribbing at the same time. Thanks Grandma!!

Brody has become very playful and expressive over the past week or so. I love this stage, it's so much fun just to make them smile and laugh.

I've got another thumb-sucker on my hands.

"i'm cool"

Brody enjoying his new swing.

Brody's Check-up

Well the stats are in ...
Weight: 15 pounds 7 ounces
Length: 24-1/2 inches long
I didn't write down his head circumference but all three measurements were still "off the charts" as the nurse put it, meaning he is in the greater than 95th percentile ... which I could have told them that. Have you seen the size of this youngin'?!?! Craziness I tell you. I bet he is only going to fit into his size 3-6 months clothes for another week. What two-month-old wears 6-9 months clothes!?!? Mine, apparently!

Mowgli

Brody Forrest is two months old today. On one hand i'm thinking "where did two months go?" and on the other i'm thinking "it's only been two months! it seems like i've known him forever"

Washing dishes ... oh if only he were old enough to actually do this successfully

don't know what the expression was for but i thought it was cute

Camping out on sleeping bags in the living room since Houston's bed is under construction.

bunk bed frame. the room is so small that it makes it difficult to get a full picture of the bunk beds. you get the idea though. after I touch up the stain where the top and bottom bunks attach (they are stackable) they will look pretty good. i like the way the stain turned out. just the color i was going for. it matches the trees i painted into the corners of the bedroom.

bunk bed frame

bunk bed frame

yes, he is sleeping like this

Brett laying out the ladder boards. We thought we were going to put the whole thing together inside in the AC. Well after we carried all the ladder boards into the house we realized we needed to use the uncut plywood to lay the boards out with. So back into the heat we went for several more hours.

Ashton and Houston

Brody and Houston's cousin Ashton came to visit them yesterday.

We Did It!!!

Well almost. The frame of the bunk bed is finished and assembled in the boys bedroom. It looks really good too! I'll post pictures later on today. We still have to cut the plywood that goes under both matresses. I also have to touch up the staining in a few places and then put a final coat of polyeurathane on. Hopefully that will all be finished up in the next few days and we can go buy matresses. Until then Houston is sleeping with us so our bed is pretty full. Good thing we have a king and Brody doesn't take up much room yet. He likes to be balled up on his belly when he sleeps. Houston always liked to be sprawled out on his back. It always amazed me how much room he could take up when he was so small!

And this is what these two were doing while we were staining boards ... sleeping peacefully ... must be nice. :-)

And the staining is finished at about 10 pm. You can't see all of the boards in this picture but you get the idea. Brett stepped in to help me out with the staining so we knocked it out in about 2 hours. Way to go teamwork!

And the staining begins ... in the dark at about 8 pm.

Brody finally decided to chill outside with us for a little while so I could finish sanding the boards. As you can see in the pic, he doesn't look very happy about it but at least he is not crying.

YAY!!! I finally finished sanding all the bunk bed boards ... wooohoooo!!!

The Haircut

Swimsuit Shopping ... EEEeeeeckkkkk!

Anybody know of the existance of a super skin-shrinking miracle cream I can buy? I went swimsuit shopping today ... 7 weeks after having a baby ... not the best idea but it had to be done. Since we are going to the beach this month and I really don't want to wear my maternity swimsuit nor my pre-baby bikini, I was left with the option of going swimsuit shopping. As far as my weight loss goes, I'm doing even better this time than last so I really can't complain. (I think it's because I just don't have time to eat much.) Only problem is all the extra skin on my belly. Carrying a 12-pounder really did some work to the skin on my belly. My Aunt Audrey pointed out to me that it was the equivalent of carrying twins, if not more. And she has a point ... no wonder strangers kept asking me if I was carrying twins every time I went to the grocery store while I was pregnant. Especially in the last month ... happened almost every time I left the house!
It was an interesting trip to say the least. We really only have two stores in Lake City that I can find clothes at ... Penney's and Goody's. Well Penney's had some plumbing trouble on monday. A pipe broke and flooded the store so they had to close for clean up. Then on Tuesday the equipment that was cleaning up and airing out the store released too much carbon-monoxide and caused the mall to be evacuated. They were up and running today with only two ladies dressing rooms available and the place smelled like a public restroom that had not been cleaned in a while. Pretty nasty but the swimsuits were all 70% off so I couldn't pass that up. Not too much to pick through though since it's back-to-school shopping time and not get-ready-for-your-summer-trip-to-the-beach shopping time. I did manage to find something wearable though.
Next we went to Goody's where they had these huge sale racks. I immediatly found a really cute green and brown skirt that I just had to have and then spent about 20 minutes digging through everything to find a matching brown tank top. And of course since i'm in the "after-baby" phase of clothes shopping I have to have everything in three different sizes before I head to the fitting room. So at least 30 minutes after walking into the store with Brody riding along in the sling and Houston in the stroller, we head to the fitting room. Now keep in mind that i'm tired, Houston is getting tired and fussy and I have to pee ... but I really want this skirt so here we go. I take one step into the fitting room and this store employee stops me and says "no strollers aloud in the dressing room" ... which is news to me since i've been bringing a stroller into this same dressing room for about two years now and as recently as last friday. I tell her this and she says it's a new policy and that she will watch Houston for me ... yeah ... like that's gonna happen. When I go into a dressing room Houston plays with the hangers and Brody sits in the stroller ... that's how it works. So I tried arguing my point with her and she points at the stack of clothes I have and says "yeah well you're also only supposed to have 4 items in here at a time". My blood pressure is rising at this point. So we have a short discussion about their "new policy" of a stroller being a "safety hazard" and how they are now placing someone there to monitor the dressing rooms, which they have never done before. So I inform her that because I am a mom with two small children, their new policy means I will never be able to shop here again which is a loss for them because I do a lot of shopping here. I then hand her my stack of clothes and say "and now you are going to have to put all these back" and I then walked away. On my way out of the store I found another employee and told her I wanted to talk to a manager. I got an assistant manager and told her what I thought of their "new policy". She said the stroller thing was because of the people coming in with the "big cadillac strollers that have places for bags in them" and that my stroller would be fine. (my stroller is a small umbrella stroller that doesn't even have a place to hold a drink, much less any shopping bags) So much for the "safety hazard"? She offered to go tell the lady in the dressing room (who i'm sure would not be happy to see me again) to let me in. I said "no thanks" and told her that i'm not going to buy anything here today and that I just wanted to make sure they knew my thoughts on their "new policy". So much for my beautiful new skirt! Oh well, it was principle at this point. And what about only letting us take four items into the dressing room? I can't even try on a whole outfit that way right now. I had three sizes of the skirt and three sizes of the top ... that's already six items!