The best two years

Caleb "bubba" James Brewer

You came out, squealing like a pig, and have not stopped since.

You peed all over the nurses and your daddy, but not me, so thank you.

You are so sweet, and give THE BEST hugs.

You very rarely stop moving, but I suspect that goes with the territory of boy/toddler/being your father's son.

You really are mostly good with your sisters, and play along with the girly schemes and they love it.

You l.o.v.e. nursery, and despite my concerns, you get excellent reports.

You love Jesus, and love looking for pictures of him.

You love all your bears. It was one of your first words.

You loves CARS, racing as fast as you can, and driving with the windows down.

You ALWAYS have a bruise on you somewhere. ALWAYS.

Monster, we love you to pieces. Happy 2nd birthday!

And now, a picture montage (of just the last 8 months. Ha.):

Joe insisted I spoil myself a little for the birthday last week. I started to resist, and then after seeing these little beauties again, I couldn't resist.

After a few hours in them: still LOVE the crochet. Glad I didn't go a size down, I guess my feet are a little wide. From my view, I think they make my feet look long, but not too bad? Comfy, but they don't give the support that I hear everyone rage about. I have exceptionally high arches..... Like kinda freakish. So I wasn't expecting much there, it's just fine. Overall, I think we'll be very good friends. Did I mention how much I love the crochet?


If we weren't trying to save money right now, I might have grabbed a second pair in coral.... Or light blue.

Success

Im not saying transition has happened just yet, but little man slept in his bed last night! Aaaaand both kids slept til almost 8. The mattress was just on the floor because we didn't get to finish setting up the bed, but he only cried for 10 minutes before going to sleep.

Did I mention that the night before he climbed out of his crib in the middle of the night? So, pretty much I know how my kids work and what they're all about.

And ikea is my definition of a love/hate relationship. Ugh, that place is awesome, but really the worst. Trying to buy a lamp is a nightmare. And buying two is like pouring shards of glass in my eyes.

Happy Saturday!

big head

this is katelyn, one of my kids i babysit. shes a cutie for sure. we bonded great at first, went through a rough patch for a while, and now are on great terms again. we have an understanding now. shes close to bubba's height, but very petite, and extremely girly. 

her parents think she has a big head.... and one day they dropped her off wearing this. i didnt think it was that big until that day. 

Hungry boy

Loooove the very hungry caterpillar. Bubba-love does too. And the doggies outside playing in two inches of snow.

that's right. Haters complained enough, and got some stinking snow. I was rather enjoying my balmy fifty degrees, no coats, windows down and sunshine,thankyouverymuch. I was starting to think it was April. I'll just keep de-junking anyways I guess. Not that anyone can tell....

Only child

I think bubba monster likes all the attention, with not having his sister around. And getting to play with whatever toy he wants. He's been going from toy to toy, thrilled that mama lets him play and doesn't try and take anything away. And he slept in, waaaaay past his normal wake up. But I think he misses his sister. Sorry for all the one-photo posts. Promise lots of good ones are forth coming. Mi madre has my memory card. I'll snatch it next week! Someone has to pick up Claire....

Missing

this little blondie. I heard she was in texas, with an aunt, grandparents, and two puppies. Anybody seen her?

meet the asian

susan is a roomie from my freshman year in the dorms.

susan is a rock star for so many reasons. 

she is asian. 

she is the only member of our church in her family, and is such a good example.

she finished her nursing degree, after having a baby.

she has the fattest asian baby ever. (it takes everything i have not to eat her)

she has some sweet dance skills.

she likes HP more than i do.

she is kind, sweet, smart, funny, and lets me watch her fat baby.

i love staying connected with this girl. we see each other regularly. i watched her kid while she went to school. but we got the husbands to watch kids, went out to lunch and lost track of time talking. i love having a friend that i can do that with. in fact, i saw her three times that day, and we still had things to talk about. how? and how did we end up living just on other sides of the freeway, and we dont manage to see each other more?

and she is an incredibly good cook. legit asian food- i still drool thinking about her chow mein feasts she cooked up for us. and anything she bakes. i couldnt resist saying yes to some of her cookies last night, after we already went out and had ice cream.

gotta love a good friend. 

birthday girl

remember how it was the big girl's birthday, like a month and a half ago? oh yeah.....

claire loves being 3. pretty much the best thing ever. i had already planned on doughnuts for her birthday, and then lindsay showed up before work with the sweet UGE doughnut just for the girl. it was fitting, because we always got the UGE doughnuts from across the street when we lived in CA. she loved it, duh! everything that day was pink, balloons, cupcakes, decorations, so it was great. love this girl.

we also had a mommy-daughter date for some fro-yo, because thats what i was craving. she hated it until we got to the toppings, and she could pick what she wanted. so funny. she keeps me on my toes that one, pushing the limits. i can just imagine the fun, years from now. we'll just think about how much fun she is at the moment :)

preview

hey pretty girl.

you truly are my sunshine. you are getting waaaay too big, and its killing me. there is no baby in your tummy, but there is one in mine, and i can't wait for you to be such a big helper with the baby.

you turn three (what???) in two short weeks, and you are so excited. you want PINK for your birthday, whatever that means. we will probably have lots of pink balloons, and pink cupcakes.

you have a hard time sitting still. i knew you would, from the moment you were born, you were quiet, but holding your head up to figure out the world. i sometimes think the little spirit inside you is vibrating constantly, just waiting until you are big enough to do so many great things. the only time it rests is when you sleep, and even then you wake up and instantly, you are ready to tackle the world. or at least all the furniture. you started walking super early, a clear indicator of the kind of kid you are. you have things to do in this life, and i can't wait to see them happen.

you are everyone's friend. strangers do not exist in your world. you are concerned about everyone's happiness. you are (usually) so great with your little brother. now that he is big enough to, er, fight back, you guys can get a little rough. but you still love him to pieces, and always feel bad after you get rough. you are currently teaching him some of your mad dance skillz, and i couldn't be happier.

baby girl, i love you so much. you might drive your nursery leaders crazy, make a mess with just about anything that you find, and get into all the things you shouldn't, but you light up the world of everyone around you, especially mine. i couldn't trade you for anything.

love, mom.



picture by claire's aunt lindsay. she is not a professed photog, but she does good work with my kids, considering that they don't. sit. still. ever. 

real pictures. what?

doing what i can to embrace fall. definitely some slacking, but i'm trying. the last monthish.  

 claire looking cute with her headband. headband lasted 2.9 seconds. we try. 

take that back. i try. she doesn't.

 model man. and screeching katelyn in the background. but cute bubbers.

 i live like 2.9 seconds from here. GORGEOUS this time of year. and this isn't even super pretty yet. (this was a couple weeks ago.)

 stink bug changed her mind about pictures.and headband.

shifting gears.

family time. thats all five sibs together. missed mom and dad! and happy bday sarah bear. FINALLY 18. that took forever. 

 shifting again.

hee haw farms. i gotta know- are all pumpkin patch/hay ride/corn mazes this ghetto? i was expecting a little more..... either way. both kids had a BLAST. like, giggling most of the time.

 as soon as claire saw this dumb animal train she wanted to skip the pony ride (which was LAME.) and hop into the pig asap. silly girl. joe got in on the action though, so that was kinda fun.

 probably her fave thing after the corn box.

 pig touching. can you spot my little blondie? that was fun for her too.

 corn box. i decided this should be what playgrounds have instead of sand or wood chips. i'm sure it was dirty, but way less dirty than sand and no splinters. no sand in the eyes. awesome.

 sweet hair dude. he was unsure at first, but got into it when he saw claire going to town.

we even did this twice the kids loved it so much.

good times for everyone! we even ran into some friends and picked out pumpkins with them. the kids were kinda done by then, and claire kept getting frustrated she couldn't carry any, but so fun anyways. yay for family time! 

and yay for non-phone or ipod pics! thats a miracle, huh?

back to the byu game. i should probably not watch those. they make me physically ill, i get that into them. probably send me into labor. 

Anyone out there?

Not sure if anyone reads this anymore?

Here's a quick shot of Claire after her dance recital last night. She was being a stink, but danced her little heart out when it came time. Cute little bug. Thanks for coming to watch linds!

Oh and my younger brother is here. Pretty happy right mow.

One

Bubbalicious turned one at the beach. Poor guy was suffering from his first ear infections, and other illness and spent that night screaming and throwing up. He did have some fun at the beach that day, and a great little party with the fam that evening. This guy is all about being on the move and what he can figure out how to get into next. He's brought so much joy into our home that I wouldn't trade for anything. He doesn't try words ver often, but is constantly giggling and laughing, and making grunts and blubs when he wants something. He loves cuddling, and is a pretty good sleeper and eater. And has more teeth than any kid his age, with more trying to pop through.

Love this guy. Love him to pieces.

And Joe. Love him too. Four years today for us. Keeping it low key, which is how we like it.

Since I'm talking love today, love Claire too. What a crazy little chick she is.