The Funny Thing Is... (Video of the Week)

Bradley has been able to roll over for a few weeks now.

Jeremy and I both know it.

The funny thing is Bradley won't let us catch him in the act.

But we know he can.

He does it at night while "asleep" in his crib.

He does when Jeremy leaves the room for a glass of milk.

He does it when I leave the room to walk Parker.

However, he never does it while we are watching, cheering him on.

No. Bradley is humble and extremely independent. He prefers to roll over on his own like any big boy.

Having us there would only solidify that he is indeed a baby and not a little man.

I just hope that I don't wake up one morning and find him walking around with a cup of coffee and a newspaper.

A Hippo Kiss

We all know my love for hippos.

They are cute, large, and in charge. Just my kind of animal.

It seriously is a dream of mine to touch one. Or even to have my picture with them. Or even to see one's face at a zoo.

You see, on mine and Jeremy's honeymoon our first stop was the San Diego Zoo. I was so excited because I was going to see a hippo up close. I was a kid in the candy store.

We arrived at the zoo when they opened and immediately I got sick. I was insistent that we continue onward. How often would we really get to the San Diego Zoo?? And I was determined to see my hippo.

Honestly, this is how I spent most of the day.

 

It wasn't ideal, but the zoo is HUGE.  We would walk to one exhibit and then stop for a while. I'd puke. We'd move on. It was a great way to start a honeymoon. Jeremy is only so lucky.

We finally made it to THE Hippo. By that point, I could barely walk. I had already been asked by a security guard if I needed any help. And Jeremy had begged me to go back to the hotel to sleep. 

I responded that I didn't come all the way out to California to the San Diego Zoo to miss out on what may be my only chance at seeing a hippo. 

So you can only imagine how I felt when this was all I got to see of the hippo.

Yes, its rear-end and its poop. I sat right in front of it for over 30 minutes waiting... begging... praying... and not once did it turn around. Not once. All it did in that time was poop. I was heartbroken. You'd think this would hurt my love for the hippo since it betrayed me. But somehow we have survived. And my dream to see a hippo face-to-face lives on.

But that story really doesn't have anything to do with this post other than to further share with you my love for this dear creature.

This post is about Bradley.

Have you ever seen a hippo kiss?

Isn't it precious?? How could you not love hippos?? How could you not want one for Christmas??

Well, Bradley has decided that he loves hippos too. He loves them so much that he likes to imitate them by giving us hippo kisses.

Every time we go in for a kiss, Bradley opens wide to kiss us back. And there really is nothing better than a hippo kiss from one's baby.

Three Months!

So I took an almost two week hiatus from blogging. Wondering why?

This guy.

Can you blame me?

 

He is just too cute.

Month 3 has been quite fun. Bradley is just growing so fast! He is talking more and more, now recognizes and watches his hands and feet, and loves to fly around the house.

 

He also loves to nap with his mommy and daddy.

Be Gone

Remember when I was so excited to fit into these again??

Well, let's just say they are now developing dust.

If I were to be completely honest with you, I'd have to admit it's been one of the hardest parts about post-pregnancy.

I mean, I literally worked my butt off to get into those jeans. I took away all sweets, ate a lot of fish, and worked out hard for at least an hour each day, sometimes twice a day.

And now, I'm starting back at square one.

Except this time it's going to be even harder to lose the weight. Now, I have a child attached to my hip, whom I must feed (enter more calories), AND an addiction to sweets.

Side note: Let's just say that during the third trimester, which happened to be holiday season, I went a little crazy and ate a lot of sweets - hence my addiction. Who wouldn't when they have such a great excuse??

But I am determined.

Problem number one was finding a way for me to take Bradley on my workouts.  Solution: jogging stroller.

I was so excited about getting this in the mail. It was going to encourage me to take Bradley to the tracks while I trained for my 5k.

And of all the strollers I researched this one was the definitely the coolest. It came with an iPod hook up and speakers that would allow Bradley to listen to whatever I was listening to. It also had great storage, two cupholders, and a child's tray.  This thing was going to revolutionize my workouts.

Then, I was informed by a friend that you aren't supposed to use it until your child is six months old.

I figured I could work around that. I would recline the seat, wouldn't jog until he could sit up on his own, and I would use a head rest thing.

I was not to be deterred.

I was also just as excited when the box arrived.

I was also just as excited as I started to assemble the stroller.

And after two hours of putting the thing together, three broken fingernails, bruises all over, and a box of thin mints eaten, I was still excited.

That is until Jeremy came home and informed me it was defective; the brake was not connected properly. I was now going to have to take the darn thing back apart and fit it back in the box it came in.

So after an additional two hours, more bruises, and another box of thin mints eaten, I finally got the stroller apart and back in the stupid box that I swear shrunk two sizes.

Ah- the irony, right? It shrinks, I grow, and now I am still in need of a jogging stroller so that I can work off the baby weight and the additional weight assembling baby items creates.

And in case you doubt, my goal is to get to pre-pregnancy weight by May. Wish me luck!

Being Favorite (Video of the Week)

People say that parenting isn't a competition; it's about teamwork. But let's face it. Who doesn't want to be your child's favorite??

I knew that competing in this arena against Jeremy would be hard. Out of the two of us, he's definitely the nice one. He's also the most laid back and loves to play. I am also pretty certain that if our friends had to choose who to hang out with, he'd win there too. Heck, add my family in and it would be anonymous. Jeremy is just way cooler than me.

I knew that when it came to our child, I'd probably lose out there too... especially when we found out it was a boy. How could I compete against Mr. I'm good at every sport??

Yet, I had hope in the form of two boobs. Two boobs that would meet a need my husband never could. Those boobs were my hope.

But my husband just insists on being fun and cute. And since he's not home all day with our son, he's fresh and new. I just get plain boring by then.

It's true. One look at Jeremy and Bradley starts to smile and coo in a way that makes me want to grab him and run and remind him that I have the boobs. The boobs are supposed to help me out!

But alas, my son is enamored by his father and all things he does.

When your dog turns 21

Let's face it. Parker has had a rough couple of months.

He's had to listen to a crying baby. He's been told "bed" more than ever. And, let's face it, he's moved down on the totem pole.

So I decided to have his girlfriend, Rooster, over for his birthday. I mean, who wouldn't want to see this cute thing??

 

No offense, Rachael. You are just as cute and I couldn't wait to see you either, Lover. Oh and sorry I stole this from your Facebook page. I couldn't find my dog park photos.

The evening started out alright. The boys went outside with the dogs to grill. The girls stayed inside and fed Bradley.

Then, we {the girls} decided to join the boys. Except there were no longer any dogs with the boys.

The boys were talking about who knows what, assumed the dogs somehow gotten back inside the house {magically}, and didn't concern themselves any further with the subject.

Until we came outside asking, "where are our beloveds?"

Yup. Then, it hit the fan.

Thankfully, I saw Rooster in our neighbor's yard immediately.

But Parker... He was gone.

 
This didn't surprise me too much. You see, when we take both dogs to the dog park, Rooster is the social butterfly. She runs and plays with all the other dogs. Parker is the weirdo who is running around the far end of the fence alone and as happy as can be.

And so our night went like this:

Immediately, the boys start walking and calling out to Parker.

Rachael grabs Rooster, puts her on a leash, and starts searching as well.

I grab Bradley, stick him in the stroller, and join them while thinking of ways to destroy my husband if something happens to our precious baby boy...

We all search for about 15 minutes with no luck so Jeremy grabs his bike and starts riding the nearby neighborhoods.

Just so you can get an idea of how frantic we all are you should know that we live on a busy street. It's not a neighborhood. It's a main road. It was also getting dark fast. And Parker is 9 lbs. and spoiled. There's no way he'd survive on his own for very long.

And I knew that the minute it got dark our chances of finding him were going to get much, much slimmer. My next move was to send out an SOS on Facebook.

And a minute after I sent it, my cell phone rings.

"Is this Parker?"

"You have my dog??????"

"Yes. He..uh..  wondered into our yard."

Can I just say that that phone call was the best phone call I'd received ever?? We are sooo fortunate that first Parker wasn't hit by a car, second, that someone didn't just steal him to sell, and, third, that they called me.

We came to realize more of how fortunate we were when we realized just where he had wondered to. It was a half mile down a windy road with no sidewalk and down into a neighborhood.

Our sweet, sweet friend ran the whole way to get him for us.

At the time, Jeremy was still searching on his bike. And when asked if I should call him and let him know, my response was easy, " No, let him keep searching. He needs to suffer a little more."

I mean, really? How do you lose our precious child on his birthday?? 

Now that time has passed I think we can all say we learned valuable lessons that night. Parker thinks he can be wild on his 21st birthday. The boys can't be trusted to do more than one thing at a time. And the kindness of a stranger really does have a huge impact.

We went on to celebrate with a delicious dinner that somehow didn't burn and sugar-free angel food cake that the dogs LOVED.

Let's hope we never have a repeat.

Ok, Parker??