Happy Birthday to Me :)

My 32nd birthday was on Saturday. I share my birthday with my brother and he just turned 30 so we got together with a bunch of friends and family and celebrated at Wild Horse Pass. We had a great time. This was the first time that I've been away from my kids overnight, with the exception of the times I was in the hospital while pregnant and having Trenton. It was nice having a little weekend away! Too bad my internal clock is set and I couldn't take advantage by sleeping in :)

This was Kurt and I before we left.


I was spoiled with a bunch of cool birthday presents and gift cards. And Kurt surprised me with a new camera since mine has been acting up. I love it! It's an upgraded version of what I had before... still shock proof so it won't break if dropped, waterproof, etc. I love it!

I was testing it out today and Trenton thought he'd show off by showing me his snack. Gross!

I was playing around with a ton of cool settings. They were pretty neat, so thought I'd share.

Watercolor mode:


Shaded edges:


Pop Art: (made the colors super bright)


Drawing mode:


Soft focus: (made it sort of blurry around the edges)


Sparkle mode: (Look at the edges of her blanket. I want to play around with this one more)


Punk mode:


And this was just cute. Brooklyn was in her shopping cart and Trenton pushed her all over the house. I would have thought she was too heavy, but he's pretty strong I guess.


I can't wait to play around with my camera more! It seems I'm never without it wherever I go so I sure am happy to have a reliable one again! It was getting pretty frustrating with the old one. Thanks to my honey for picking up on that and getting me a new one :)

Successful Transition

Our transition from the bottle to the sippy cup was a successful one... and completed in just over a week! That makes me one happy mommy! I packed up the bottles today and he is officially only drinking from a cup, including his night time milk :)

I think this makes him happy too! What do you think? OK, maybe it's Bailee that makes him happy...


I only wish it would have gone this smooth with Brooklyn. I guess it was easier this time around since I started early and since he had big sister to look up to.

Holding Balance

This little boy is being stubborn about walking. I know if he just tried he can do it. He still walks all over the whole house if he's pushing something or has a finger to hold on to. But when it comes time to doing it on his own, he's lacking the confidence. He is getting much better at standing alone though.



I catch him standing up all the time without holding on, even when he's in the bathtub. He sways his arms back and forth "dancing", he claps, he catches his balance when he's about to fall... but he just doesn't want to move those feet. He's taken a few steps here and there, but this boy doesn't want to take off and go just yet.

The Big Birthday Boy!!!!

Happy 1st Birthday to our sweet baby boy Trenton! We love you!

We had his party this weekend. This is the only picture I took of the decorations. They were cute. And instead of ordering food, I made it all this time! It was a lot of work, but I was pleased with how it all turned out. I think everyone had a good time!


The birthday boy having some snacks. He and Brooklyn ended up missing the first part of the party because they were sleeping. I went in to wake Brooklyn about 3 times and she kept telling me "I need a few more minutes to rest please" It was so cute!


Opening presents... He got his own big boy chair since he kept stealing Brooklyn's pink princess chair. He loves it!


He got a lot of other cool stuff too (trucks, books, clothes, trains, puzzles, etc). He has been playing with it all nonstop. He really loved playing with the balloons at the party too!


His birthday cake, to match the polka dot theme!


And his own special cake.


I don't give my babies any sugar the first year so cake was new to him! It was so funny. He didn't know what to do with it. He put his fingers in the frosting then started flinging it everywhere trying to get it off his hands. It was on the floor, on the chairs, on the wall...


Digging his finger in. Brooklyn had a front row seat and kept asking if she could have a bite!


He wouldn't even take a bite of the cake until we gave him a fork. I tried putting some in his mouth and was trying to get him to lick his fingers, but he wanted nothing to do with it. Once he had a fork, he went to town! It was hilarious :)


Mmmmm, yummy! And oh so messy!!!!

The aftermath. He went straight to the bath after this!

The kids having a snack on Trenton's new picnic table. This gift came in handy at the party so the little kids could have their own spot.


He LOVES this table. He climbs up and down all by himself and sits there like a big boy. He even tries to sit on top of it, but mommy doesn't let him. He really has gotten the hang of it though... only fell off once :) He's not going to be happy when I put it away....


Yep, Trenton got a new chair so Brooklyn could have hers back... but what do you know... Brooklyn likes the new one better. Everything that comes into the house is hers, right? She's having a hard time understanding all the new toys belong to brother!


Having a morning snack at his table.


Trenton had a wonderful birthday party. We were so excited to celebrate his special day. I still can't believe he's one! This year has flown by. I remember the day he was born like it was yesterday. I can't imagine life without this sweet boy. We love you buddy!

Bye Bye Bottles

Those of us with children know that the first one is trial and error... you do your best, but sometimes look back and think of things you could have done differently. When #2 comes along, you adjust based on how they went with the first...

Well, saying goodbye to the bottle is one of the things I am choosing to do differently this time around. Brooklyn had hers until she was 20 months and it was SO HARD to get her off of them. She associated milk with a bottle and juice with a cup and absolutely refused to drink milk out of a cup. It got to the point where she was dehydrated and not going potty because she just wouldn't drink. And since she was older and talking, she would argue with me about it and would cry for a bottle. Of course she got over it and eventually drank milk from a cup, but it was a battle I don't want to do again.

This guy is turning one next week so I thought I'd start weening him from the bottle!



It's actually going very well. I don't give him juice yet, so he doesn't have that association of flavored things in a cup. He's only had water in the cup before. He's always trying to steal Brooklyn's so I figured it was worth a shot switching him over.



I'm still giving him his bedtime milk in a bottle for now, but the rest of the day, it's strictly from a cup. And for the most part, he's drinking about the same amount, it's just broken up a bit throughout the day. I think this just might work!!!! Yeay! I'm very excited to get the bottles packed away!


And since he didn't really care for a binky, that was put away when he was just a few months old. Binkies were another hard one to break with Brooklyn, so I'm glad we don't have to go there with Trenton!

If You're Happy and You Know It

This is one of Trenton's favorite songs right now. Whenever it comes on his video, or when someone starts singing it to him, he drops everything and starts clapping his hands. He is getting to be so much fun. I can't believe he'll be turning one next week!

Yes and No

Here's a cute little video of Trenton. He learned yes and no. He will nod his head and say "ya" for yes and shake it side to side and say "na" for no. It's adorable! Of course he wasn't cooperating the same once I pulled the camera out, but you get the idea. He got more interested in doing his "tricks" instead.

Proud Momma

I am so PROUD of this little girl. Today I told her "I'm so proud of you sweetheart" and she responded "I'm not sweetheart, I'm Brooklyn." :)


It has been 2 months since she's been potty trained and she is doing so awesome! I still put a pull up on her for bedtime, but for over 2 weeks now she's been waking up dry in the morning (with a couple exceptions here and there, but hey).

No matter what fun thing she's doing, she stops and tells me when she has to go. She'll even get out of the bathtub or swimming pool. No matter how far away we are, she'll hold it until we get to a bathroom.

And lately she has been getting herself out of bed around 1 to potty. I'm not too fond of that since I'm not used to being woken in the middle of the night, but I'm so happy that she's learning to get up. And it doesn't interrupt her sleep either. She climbs right back up into her bed, closes her eyes and I don't hear another peep until morning.

I am so proud of you Brooklyn! You're such a BIG girl now! Maybe one of these days I'll actually take the pull ups away altogether.... I guess they are more convenient for me so I don't have to worry about changing bedding in the middle of the night :)

My Daughter is One of a Kind :)

I came home from the gym and Brooklyn was watching cartoons.... wearing a jammie shirt, panties and snow boots! I just love this little girl to pieces :)


She LOVES her snow boots and apparently they make her run FAST!


Another thing she loves is to dance. Here she is shaking her booty!


I caught her mid twirl... nice action shot with her hair flipping around.


And more dancing. She makes me laugh with all her moves!


Doing her puzzle. She had all the pieces out and sorted by color before putting them back where they belong. She definitely has some melancholy in her!


This was just too funny.... Who needs clean up service when you have a dog! Got crumbs? No problem. Bailee isn't allowed to sit underneath the high chair and beg while Trenton is eating, but she sure gets over there fast when he's done. She knows she'll find something!


And what is a post without a picture of this cute little ham. I guess he was pretending to be a puppy like his sister does!


I love these kids!