PANIC!!!

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later, I suppose. On Wednesday morning, Brady and I were getting ready to go to Ikea and I decided to go put my bag and stuff in the car so that I wouldn't be juggling so many things trying to get Brady into the car. I went through the door that leads from the kitchen to the laundry room(and left it open) and then out the door that leads from the laundry room to the garage. This particular door is usually left unlocked BUT I decided to lock it earlier in the week since Alan is in Germany (apparently I forgot this!!!!). So I take my stuff to the car, feeling VERY organized and on top of things and smart that I had thought of this and then I went back to the door to go back inside and IT WOULDN'T OPEN!!!! It was LOCKED!!! And Brady was inside!!!! And I was in the garage!!!!! PANIC, sheer PANIC went through me for about 10 seconds before I started running things through my head...."who do I call, my brother or Vivianne"(the 2 people who have keys)...."crap, I don't have my cell phone"...."I can go to the neighbors"...."I know Alan said there was a key in the fridge out here at one point, but I don't think it's there now"...."will Alan even answer his phone if I call him"...."what's he going to do for me anyway"....."I'm an idiot". Then I realized that Brady was at the door so I say, as calmly as possible, "Brady, can you unlock the door for mommy?" "Can you turn the knob"? Then I hear noise like he's just turning the knob back and forth, but I went ahead and tried to open the door and GUESS WHAT??? He had managed to unlock the door!!!!!!!!!! SHEWWWWWWWWWW!!!! I immediately drop to my knees and thank him and tell him what a good boy he is, all the while tears are coming down my face and he's looking at me like I'm crazy!!!!!!

Needless to say I was/am VERY impressed by my little pumpkin!!! 

Now, here's the funny part....in hindsight of course.....I am pretty sure that my keys were in my bag which was in the car the whole time!!!!! But I'm not 100% sure. I mean I don't think I'd be that flighty and not think of that, but maybe the panic just made me forget everything, I really don't know. Either way, Brady did a GREAT job and I'm super proud of him!!!!

Guess what we're doing this weekend?? Yep, we're having another key made and we're finding some place to keep it in the garage in case this ever happens again!!!

Here's a cute picture of Brady with his new haircut!!! 

CHUCK E CHEESE

Yesterday Brady and I met our friends Kristi, Kyle and Kayla at Chuck E Cheese and had a really great time. It was Brady's first time there and my first time there since I was a kid myself so I wasn't really sure how it would go, but all was fine. They have LOTS of stuff for the younger set to do and since every game is only one token (25 cents) you don't mind if the kids "don't get it"! The other good thing was that we went right at 10 when they open so it's basically empty, which was really nice. I have a feeling we'll be there a few more times until the weather warms up!!

Brady LOVES slides these days!!

Despite the look on Brady's face, he did enjoy this ride and said, "more" when it was finished.

Brady and Kyle on the waverunner ride

Brady in the "vet mobile" (there's a dog in the car too, but I guess you can't see him)

Brady and Chuck E Cheese!

Chinese New Year

Last weekend we went to a REALY great Chinese New Year celebration at Fair Oaks Mall. I don't think Alan and I were expecting much, but we walked away saying that it was probably one of the best celebrations we've seen!!! This is DEFINITELY going to be an annual thing for us to go to , that's for sure!! We decided to watch from upstairs and I think it turned out to be a great decision as it gave us a birds eye view!! To our surprise the Lion Dancers even came right by us, so that was cool. Brady LOVED the whole thing and really moved to the music (as much as he could from his stroller).  Enjoy!

Brady and Mr. Bear enjoying the celebration

The Lion Dance

The Dragon Dance

The Lion

The Lion right in front of us!!

PRESENTS

A few pictures of Brady opening his birthday gifts from Grandma and Pop Pop. He's got some more gifts from them waiting for him at their house in Florida too!!! I should also tell you that Brady now knows that Grandma and Pop Pop live in Florida!! He was asking about them a lot last week and I was answering him by saying they were at home. Well when we pulled in our driveway he said, "Grandma Pop Pop" and I had to tell him that they weren't here, that they were "at home in Florida". I had him repeat the word Florida. The next day he was talking about them again so I asked him, "where do Pop Pop and Grandma live?" and he answered with, "Florida"!!!! I'm impressed!!! He never ceases to amaze me!!! (  I forgot about my backward posting, so these are in the wrong order......again!!!!)

A cute outfit with jeans, a long sleeve tshirt and a sweater. The tshirt has drums on it, so he loves it!!!

a cute little dog that he has been calling "Gramma"

Let the opening begin!

He's a very delicate opener!!

2 YEAR CHECK UP!

On Wednesday I took Brady in for his 2 year check up. For the first time, we actually did not get called back to a room until after our scheduled appt time, so that was annoying. Although it did allow me enough time to complete the form for developmental progress. As I was filling out the form I started to get worried because I've always had the feeling that Brady was "ahead of the curve", but then I realized there were many questions that I had to answer "NO" to. Well, when we finally got back to see the doctor and it came up, he informed me that I hadn't read the directions properly!!! DUH!!!! I was supposed to stop answering once I answered "NO" 3 times and then look off the right to find out where he was developmentally! He was at the level that 90% of 3 year olds are!!!! WHEW, I was relived and nervous all at the same time because I know I'm not going to be able to keep up with him as he gets older!!!! The doctor asked if Brady knew his colors and I said, "sometimes" and he said "he should know them by 3"....again I was relieved!!! It was funny today though because we went to The Container Store and Brady was pointing out everything that was either orange or green!!! 

Brady is now 34 inches tall which puts him in the 50th percentile and he unfortunately lost some weight since he was sick so he only weighed 23lbs and that puts him in the 5th percentile!!!  I'm not too worried about it though because ever since he's been feeling better he's been eating us out of house and home!!! LOL We're to go back for another check up at 30 months so I'll be curious to see how much he grows by then!!!

MORE ON BABY #2

We found out a few weeks ago that we will be fingerprinted by USCIS on February 17th!! I was actually quite pleased with that appointment time. It only took them a week to get back to us and I think the date is actually pretty quick too!! Once we get fingerprinted then we wait to get our I-171H. At that point we are "eligible" to receive a referral from our Agency!! So, let's hope that we get our I-171H in a relatively quick time, because if I go by what the gov't website says, then we'll be waiting A LONG TIME, and that wouldn't be good!! Believe it or not, I think we're getting close....FINALLY!!!

DANCING FOOL!!!

A little video I took of Brady dancing to one of the commercials during the SuperBowl!

FINALLY BETTER!!

Last Tuesday morning I was woken up by Brady saying "mommy" at 3 o'clock in the morning because he had thrown up! Poor thing threw up 3 more times by 7am, which meant of course, we were doing laundry at that hour!!! Thank goodness for the front load washer we have that has a sanitary setting!!! As if the throwing up wasn't bad enough, we were also dealing with diarreaha!!! After a call to the doctor and being asked to come in, we were told that Brady had the Roto Virus, but luckily did not have strep!!! (the nurse I spoke to on the phone was thinking that he might because he also had a fever and said that his throat hurt).  

We were supposed to fly out Wednesday afternoon to Tampa for the always fun Gasparilla weekend, but we decided that it would not be in our best interest, even though the doctor said we could. As disappointed as we were that we didn't go, we really feel that we made the right decision. Most disappointing was the fact that we had planned to take Brady to Disney World on his Birthday(the 5th), but  instead we were sitting at home.

 In an eerie coincidence, it turns out that by not going we probably saved ourselves hundreds of dollars in home repair costs!!! Let me explain....I was sitting on the couch downstairs in the basement on Friday and happened to look up and notice a fairly large water stain on the ceiling.  Alan reached up and touched it and sure enough it was wet!!! Turns out the water connection to the refrigerator was leaking and must have been for some time. Had we gone out of town we may have come home to a hole in the ceiling!!!

Brady was on the mend by Friday, but we still took it easy over the weekend, even though we did manage to get out and take a walk in the gorgeous 60 degree weather!!! I'd have to say that as of today he's pretty much back to his old self again, with the exception of his sleeping. He's been getting up before 7 for the past  several days and that's just too early for my little guy who really likes his sleep, not to mention his mother who has gotten used to him not getting up until 8 most mornings!!!

And on another positive note, we've rescheduled our trip for March, but this time Brady and I will be home for close to 2 weeks and Alan will join us for about 4 days at the tail end of our trip. We're planning on taking Brady Disney then too!!! I think in the big picture this actually works out better since I'll have more time to visit with friends not to mention that my parents will get to spend more time with Brady.

Here's a few pictures of our walk!

HANGIN' AT HOME!

A few Saturday's ago I spent the ENTIRE day out with some girlfriends!!! Kristi, Margi and I, the 3 mom's, went with our pregnant friend, Cassie, to help her register for all things baby!!! Then we went to lunch and did some shopping before bringing Cassie back home so she could nap!! To top off our day, Kristi, Margi and I then went to a movie!!! Needless to say it was a wonderful day and one that was very much needed!!

Not to be outdone by the ladies, the guys managed to have some fun that day too!! Alan, Brady, Mark (Margi's husband) and his two boys, Ty and Blake started the morning off with bowling followed by lunch, where Cassie's husband Paul and my brother Michael joined them. After lunch Alan, Brady, Paul and Michael came back to our house and hung out until we brought Cassie home!!!

A fun day for everyone!!!

Paul and Brady reading books