Colin's 3rd Birthday

Knucklehead turned 3 last week. This year I wasn't nearly as emotional as I was the past two years on Colin's birthday. I think with the first birthday you feel this big sense of accomplishment. I mean you watched this tiny little person grow into a mobile, babbling ball of joy and you made it through with no permanent damage. On the second birthday there was the realization that your 'baby' is no longer a baby; he talks and is becoming independent. I had a hard time with this last year.  Letting go of the baby phase is tough.  On Colin's 3rd birthday though I mainly just felt excitement. To say that he amazes me on a daily basis is the understatement of the century. Some of the things that come out of his mouth are just so incredible. I love that after years of wondering what he is really thinking now I finally know what is actually on his mind. Now don't be confused into thinking that I understand why he is thinking the things he is or that I know where he comes up with some of his ideas the point now is simply that he can communicate with us in at a much more advanced level. I know it is silly to say you are proud of a 3 year old but I really am proud of the little person he is becoming. He is so smart and he is really becoming interested in finding out how and why things happen.  And you should see him with Tess, he really does love her and he loves making her laugh and smile.  I love the way he is just absorbing the world around him.  Knowing that he is watching Keith and I and looking at us and our behavior to help mold the kind of person he will become pushes me to want to be a better person. And the funny thing is that one of my greatest hopes in life is that one day my children will think back on their time with me and say that they are proud of the person that their mom was. Ok, ok, ok, maybe I am a little more emotional about this whole birthday thing than I thought I was. But really what better time is there to look back and reflect a little than when you are celebrating a birthday?  Colin Joseph Street I hope you had the happiest of birthdays, I can't wait to see what your next year brings. We love you.

The cake was supposed to be a purple dinosaur.  It was one of the two things that Colin actually requested for his birthday.  I think this looks more like a blue dragon but luckily Colin didn't seem to mind.

The second thing Colin requested for his birthday was for all of his cousins to be there.  Here is a picture of all of the cousins who were able to attend.

I thought we should try and get a picture of Keith, Colin and I for the special day.  Why can't we ever all be looking at the camera at the same time?

How stinking cute are these chairs??  They look like little adults sitting in them.  I love it.

And so the summer birthday run around at the Street house has officially begun.  In less than a month Tess will be 1!!

On an unrelated note, I officially de-friended facebook.  So if you are trying to get a hold of me shoot me an email or give me call.

Spring Pictures

A couple of weekends ago we had a friend of mine take some photos of the babies. These are the first professional photos we have had taken that include both of the kids. Getting both of them to smile and stay still long enough to take a photo is no easy task. Lissy (my friend who took the photos) did a pretty good job though if you ask me. She came armed with Smarties to help occupy Colin. Obviously she is a good Aunt and knows how to work with little kids. :) Anyway here are the pics. Enjoy

updates

Keith told me tonight that he felt like I should do a post.  I told him that he is welcome to come on here anytime and post if he is interested.  He didn't seem too excited about that idea.  So in efforts to post something as a way to keep this up to date I am going to do a quick list of things that have been keeping us busy as of late.

1.  Tess is six months old.  Can someone please explain to me how this is possible? 

2.  Colin tries to put Keith and I in timeout.  He counts to three and then tells us to go to timeout.  This is how he counts "one, two, three, four, nine, thirteen".  Please let it be noted that Colin can in fact count to ten but when he is mad he can't seem to take the time to say all of the numbers so he jumps around a little.

3.  Tess got her first haircut today.  And by haircut I mean I held her and Keith took two snips and cut off her mullet.  I didn't want to have to cut her hair but as evidenced by this picture it had to happen.

4.  After spending more time then I would like to admit planning out the kids Christmas outfits I come to realize that I do not have a single picture of Tess in her Christmas Day outfit.  I have several of Colin but none of Tess.  Family are you reading this?  If so and if you happen to have a picture of Tess from Christmas Day can you please send it my way?  I have plenty of Christmas Eve it is Christmas Day that I am looking for.

5.  This is the only picture I have of the four of us from Christmas.  Not our best moment.

6.  Sleep.  We aren't getting much.  Enough said.

7.  Any time the Brooks cousins get together we try to take a picture of all 14 of us.  This year my Mom surprised all of the cousins by giving us various framed versions of this photo.  It was hilarious looking back at some of the outfits and hairstyles that we all used to sport.  I am going to have to be honest here, in many of the pictures I am the one who seems to look the most ridiculous.

8.  The cousin picture tradition has continued on to the next generation of Brooks cousins.  I wonder if these kids will look back years from now at these photos and think that they look ridiculous. 

9.  I got the Jeep detailed today.  Is it weird that there is little in life that makes me happier then taking my car to Waterway?

10.  I feel like this list should have 10 things but I can't think of a last one so I will end with this.  My babies continue to grow faster then I feel like I can keep up with.  I wake up each day loving them more then I did the day before.

Quick Updates

After this weekend I have a renewed sense of confidence that I should continue blogging.  Keith and I spent our first night away from Tess and I saw some friends who let me know that they are checking in on the blog to see what has been happening lately with our family.  I needed this boost to keep me going.  I like knowing that people are stopping by here occasionally.

I don't have much time right now (or ever really if I am being totally honest) but I wanted to hop on and give some quick family updates.

Keith

A lot of people have been asking about Keith's new job.  Last week was his first week and he is liking things so far.  He is still learning about what his day to day activities are going to look like but so far things are going well.  On a personal note I need to mention that Keith did an excellent job of spoiling me on my birthday.  He brought home a sushi dinner and borrowed a projector from a friend so that he could play a movie on the side of the house outside.  It was a very romantic night under the stars.

(looking a little sweaty while waiting for the movie to start in our backyard)

Colin

Colin continues to be the one who is really running the show at our house.   It is incredible how much energy a 2 year old has.  We have had some major ups and downs over the past week with potty training.  He wore big boy underwear and had very few accidents for almost a week and suddenly he started having lots of accidents and we are back in diapers and are trying to take a little potty training break.  I am waiting for him to be interested again.  Maybe in a week or two he will be ready.

(at the zoo with Phil the gorilla)



Tess

Tess is such a sweetie pie.  People keep asking if I am getting any sleep.  Although I am still waking up every 4 hours or so things with Tess have been going great.  In the middle of the night I fed her, change her, and she goes right back to bed.   I am up for 30 minutes tops.  I am so grateful for this!  She is growing up fast and I finally am starting to think that she looks like one of us... Colin. 

I know I promised a non baby related post.  And I assure you one is coming.  I just wanted to pop on here real quick today for some mini updates on the Street Family.  

Let's try this again

So remember last week when I posted about how nervous I was about being alone with the kids for the first time?  Well it turned out that I wasn't alone with them at all.  Keith went into work on Tuesday to find out that the vacation time that he had originally requested that he thought he wasn't going to get because he is in the process of switching jobs was in fact approved.  So I had Keith home with me all week last week.  And thank God for that. 

Colin woke up on Wednesday with a 101 fever.  We gave him Tylenol and put him down for a nap, hoping he would sleep off whatever bug he had.  Well he woke up with a 104 fever.  Off to the doctor we went.

 

(This is Colin in the doctor's office.  I know I should feel bad about taking this picture b/c he was clearly sick but it was just too funny not to capture.)

We get there and are told that he is breathing VERY fast and that he needs a chest x-ray.  This is easily the most scared I have been as a parent up to this point.  The x-ray reveals that Colin has pneumonia.  We were sent home with antibiotics and instructions to use a nebulizer every 4 hours.  Oh and we were told to keep Colin and Tess away from each other just in case Colin was contagious.  Apparently pneumonia in little kids typically is not contagious but it is better to be safe then sorry especially when you are talking about the health of your newborn baby. 

Keeping the kids separate was not the easiest thing in the world to do especially because these are some of Colin's favorite things to do these days.

Tess and I spent Thursday over at my parents house and Keith stayed home to take care of Colin.  We must have caught on that Colin was sick very early because by Thursday morning Colin was literally running circles around the house.  I am so grateful that he was back to his normal self so soon.  That being said I am just so happy that Keith was home last week.  I don't know how I would have gotten through all of that without his help.

With Keith's new job he will be working 8-5 Monday through Friday.  In his previous position he worked 6:30-5 Tuesday through Friday.  He starts the new job next week so this Monday was the last Monday that Keith will be at home.  Yesterday I spent the day over at my parents house.  The grand kids, all 9 of them, spent time over at Grandma's yesterday.  It was a fun, but slightly hectic day.

So after all of that.... today is officially my first day alone with the kids.  I made it through the morning.  The kids are both napping.  I am using my 'me' time to do a little blogging and we will see where the afternoon takes us. 
I promise to work on posting something non kid related soon.  I assure you that although kids are running my life right now that I am capable of adult conversation that doesn't revolve around nap times and diaper changes.  Thanks for being patient with me.

Wish me luck

Well the day has finally arrived.  Tomorrow is my first day at home alone with both of the kids.  So far Keith has either been home with me or Colin has been in daycare so it has been just Tess and me.  Colin officially had his last day of daycare last Friday. 

This is really a bitter sweet time for me.  Of course I am SO happy to have Colin home with me while I am on maternity leave but I do recognize that there were some good things about daycare.  For example

1. He got to play all day 3 days a week with a bunch of other kids his age.
2. He would come home and start talking about a song or book that he read at daycare that Keith and I had not yet introduced him to.
3. Honestly it was nice to have a break from chasing around a very active 2 year old. 

All of that being said though there are some things I will not miss about daycare

1. The horrible guilty feeling in the pit of my stomache when I would drop him off in the morning.
2. Feeling like the workers at daycare weren't really on board with potty training.
3. Shelling out hundreds of dollars a month to have someone else take care of my kid. 

I have said all along that I wanted to be able to spend time at home with my kids.  I have also always acknowledged just how hard I know it will be to stay home all day everyday with two kids.  It is also hard because I don't have many friends who are in this position so I don't have a lot of people to talk to about what I should expect.  A friend posted this article on facebook a couple of days ago and it really speaks to where I am in my life right now. 

Carolyn Hax - TELL ME ABOUT IT ®

www.washingtonpost.com

 

So what exactly am I trying to stay here...  Tomorrow is the first day of what I think will be the most challenging and rewarding 10 weeks of my life.  I get to spend the day with these two cuties, I couldn't be happier. 

It's been 'One Week'

My guess is that most of you are familiar with the song 'One Week' by The Barenaked Ladies.  It is probably the groups most well known song.  I want to say that this song reached the height of its popularity sometime in 2000.  All I know is that I was either a freshman or sophmore in high school when The Barenaked Ladies played a show in St. Louis at the Fox Theater.  I went to this concert really only knowing the song 'One Week'.  The show was AMAZING.  They were/are such a fun group to see live.  I was hooked on their music from that night on.  I have tied their music to some of my fondest memories of high school and college and even post college.

Much to my dismay one of the lead singers of Barenaked Ladies left the group.  As far as I knew the group was totally split up and they would no longer be producing music or touring.  On our 3rd wedding anniversary Keith surprised me by getting me tickets to go see a Barenaked Ladies concert.  I was SO excited.  Although one of the main members of the group was gone I was pumped that they were still touring.  We had been looking forward to the night of the concert for several weeks.  Minutes before Keith's Mom arrived at our house to watch Colin so that we could leave for the concert we found out the most amazing thing ever.... I was pregnant!!!  Excitement doesn't begin to describe our feelings that night.  All I know is that we will never forget that concert or that night!

Now it has officially been 'One Week' since our beautiful baby girl was born.  My eyes are filling with tears of happiness now as I think about how wonderful this past week has been.  Filled with many firsts; first night at home, first bath, first family walk, first trip to the grocery store.  As I sit with my newborn baby girl I am so aware of how precious this time with her is.  I know that things will never be like this again with her.  I will treasure every second I have with her in these early weeks of her life.

When I let myself think about the future with our two wonderful children I can barely contain myself.  I love that anything really is possible for Colin and Tess.  I can easily get too ahead of myself so for now I am just going to love them like crazy. 

We're home!

We were released from the hospital yesterday and I have to say I have never been happier to be home!  Right now I am watching my beautiful baby girl napping in her swing, my sweet 2 year old Colin is working on hour 2 of his afternoon nap and my wonderful husband is outside mowing the lawn.  I have never felt so blessed.  I am sure that Colin or Tess will wake up at any minute now though so I will keep this short and sweet.  There are just a few things I want to cover today:

1. I am a total sucker.  At the hospital there is a photography company who comes around and does photos for all of the newborn babies for free and then they offer the prints for sale to the families.  Well I just couldn't help myself; we had to have these pictures. 

2.  Colin is such a good big brother.  I was very worried about how Colin would adjust to having a new baby in the house.  He has been so cute!  He is always trying to give her kisses and he brings us her blanket or paci anytime he hears her crying.  While we were at the hospital he was a little standoffish, especially towards me.  I am so relieved that he has gone back to his normal self now that we are at home.

3.  I have the best family in the world.  If we didn't have my parents and Keith's parents I don't know how we would have made it through the past few days.  Between taking care of Colin and Brooke and being there for us in general they have been real life savers!!  We love you guys!

All in a day

This morning we woke up to a bit of a surprise.  When I went to let our dog, Brooke, outside I ran into a minor roadblock.  Colin's little pool had been moved from its original location here...

to right outside the back door here...

For reference here is how far the pool moved.

There are a few things to note here.  1. The pool was empty and flipped upside down when we went to bed.  2.  There was a serious wind/rain storm last night. 

I can't believe that the wind was able to pick up the pool from the patio and move it all the way up on to the deck right outside the door.  And look how much water was in the pool when we woke up.  Crazy!  I can't believe it didn't make more noise.  I certainly heard the storm last night but I for sure didn't realize exactly how powerful the wind really was.

We have been wanting to do something special with Colin before the new baby gets here so this afternoon we went to the Cardinals game.  We kept telling Colin that we were going to the game but I don't think he really understood what we were talking about. 

Look how surprised he looks here.  This is right after he saw the field for the first time.

What is it about a Father and Son at a baseball game that is so stinking cute?  I just couldn't get enough of these two today.

Even when he isn't smiling I think he is still so cute!  This little face melts my heart.

Colin was so well behaved at the game!  We were able to sit in our seats for 5 full innings.  Actually it was Keith and I who were really ready to leave (well maybe more me... remember I'm 9 months pregnant).  It was pretty hot out today so it didn't take too long for us to get our fill.  I was really amazed that Colin was willing to sit relatively still for so long.  But even more impressive then that... he went pee on the potty not once but twice at the game!!  While we were watching the game he looked at me and said 'pee pee' so I took him to the bathroom as quickly as possible and he went!  So incredible!  He has been doing really well with potty training while we are at home but for him to do so well while we are out in public was taking things to a whole new level.  I know we have a long way to go before he is fully potty trained I have to say that I am so proud of our little guy and his big achievements today!

Colin's 2nd Birthday

Colin turned 2 on June 3rd.  It truly amazes me how quickly our sweet baby boy has grown into such a little man.  The past 2 years have really gone by so quickly.  Although time seems to be flying by it is hard for me to remember a time before Colin was a part of our lives.  He has brought us more happiness then we could have ever imagined.

To celebrate Colin's birthday we had a Dr. Seuss themed party.  We decided to keep things simple this year and just had our immediate family over for some BBQ and cake and ice cream.  Here are a couple of pictures from the big day. 

                                        

Opening presents.

Playing with the stool that Grandma and Grandpa Brooks got for Colin that has his name on it!  I had this exact stool when I was growing up with my name on it.  Colin has loved playing with my old one when he is over at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  We are so excited that he has his very own stool now that he can play with at our house!!

  

Blowing out the candles on the cake from Lubeley's.  Keith and I may or may not have eaten all of the leftover cake ourselves.  (Hey things like that will happen when you are 8 months pregnant.)  

Check out Colin's Dr. Seuss t-shirt.  I ordered it off of etsy.  If you don't know what etsy it I suggest that you check it out immediately.  http://www.etsy.com/ Fair warning... you may become addicted.

 Riding his new awesome motorcycle from Grandma and Granddad Street. 

Hanging out in the pool!  (This is seriously the best $15 purchase we have ever made!)

Loving the sprinkler! He probably would have played in this thing all day if we had let him!  Thank you to Aunt Heidi, Uncle Ted, Addis, Evan and Hayla and Uncle Don, Aunt Jen, Nora and Luke for the sprinklers!  I have no doubt that they will get a lot of use this summer!

Thank you to our families for helping us to celebrate this special day! 

And Happy Birthday to the coolest 2 year old we know!  We love you Colin!