pretty random...

but i've got nothing else interesting to share. I haven't posted in a awhile and oddly don't have any crazy, and usually too long, stories to share. Here are just a few pictures and i'm going to use up one of my bragging moments (us mom's get about 1 million a year, right?)

Braden was 7 weeks and 7 days old (ha, details, details) and he was crying, as usual-i love my boy to death, but man he crys a lot-and anyway, my sister in-law lisa was over for our new thanksgiving morning tradition of "chocolate breakfast" (we made DELICIOUS chocolate waffles and regular pancakes with chocolate chip happy faces and whipped cream, and were planning on hot cocoa but braden was crying and riley wanted in and out of her high chair about 200 times, each time i had to wipe all the chocolate off of her so ya, we didn't do as much as planned because i was going a little crazy, back to the story) braden was crying and we were trying to cook so i stuck him in Lisa's baby's carseat just to set him somewhere. and before you know it Lisa tells me to look and Braden is totally batting at the toy haning from the bar! I was soooo excited, i took pictures, which i didn't post yet...and i took a little video, i am so PROUD! Riley didnt' even try to grab things until she was 3 months haha so i was shocked and ya, here you have it my bragging moment that i was able to turn into one of my infamous "too long stories".

Random Pictures of the past couple weeks:

Above:Lately I find my fridge like this, with any of the magnetic letters or pictures stuck inbetween the door of the fridge and freezer. riley likes to put them there for whatever reason...

This week's message to me. D.O.A.= Dead On Arrival. Is this what she thinks of my cooking?

I did a fun mom thing and as i was putting riley to bed i showed her the rain out of her window and decided to let her play in it before her nap :) She loved it, and was soooo thrilled to wear her rain jacket.

I'm not sure she understood the rain was coming from the sky, if i told her to touch it she would stick her hands int he puddles on the ground...

A little lovin. Man does riley love her brother but i think he loves her more. When he's crying and i ahve things to do i often just let him cry on our easy chair. Nothing stops it but me picking him up or His lovely sister laying next to him, talking to him, singing to him and just cuddling, it's really amazing. He will be full out crying and she just lays next to him and he hushes immediatly and stares at her. It's really sweet to watch :)

a "whoops!" moment

-Josh has been wondering why our grass is getting so brown, i mean it does that a little in the winter, but it hasn't been that cold here lately...well he figured it out yesterday. I turned the sprinklers off on riley's birthday so she could play with her new bounce house outside on the grass. Yep you guessed it, i never turned them back on. It's only been a couple or 3 weeks! whoops :)

-a little comfort that came to me in the car just a week ago and might help comfort other cold weather haters out there. Your carmax chapstick stuff gets super hard in cold weather so when you squeeze it, it doesn't come flying out and get everywhere like it does in the hot summer! At least one good thing about yucky cold weather.

-I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, although the end may still be quite a few miles down the road...braden didn't wake up until 6:30am this morning to eat! He went from about 9:30pm the night before alllllllllllll the way to 6:30. I have SO much energy today it's crazy. Just getting a few consecutive hours-anything over 4- feels FABULOUS.

-Braden smiled for the first time on purpose for his aunt crystina last sunday! It was sooo cute. Now i try allll the time to make him do it. He loves screechy kiss noises right in his open mouth, or if you kind of grab his lower gums and give a little shake :)

-Another feel good thing for cold weather despisers like myself. HOT TUBS. oh ya, nothing feels better than a hot hot hot, hot tub in the winter. awwwwwwwww

-Riley had her 2 yr check up, she is completey healthy thank goodness. funny part is that she is in the 10th percentile for heighth and 25th for weight...our little shrimp!

-Those are all my random thoughts for now, enjoy the pictures!

Now that will brighten up any day i'm having!

My silly boy enjoys looking at josh WAY more than looking at me. He seems to always look right above my hair line...I think he's staring at my halo-that's my best guess ;)

So hard to get the smile on camera, but this is basically it, sometimes it gets bigger. I LOVE IT.

Looks like he's thinking "ok crazy lady, bring it on. I'm not smiling until you are acting COMPLETELY foolish."Riley and Opa (German for Grandpa-what their grandkids call him) in a niceeee hot tub

Our flamingo (thank you to katie!) and our little pumpkin, sort of, just in halloween p.j. thing.

I've been waiting...

For the day i felt over whelmed beyond measure with LOVE for Braden. When he was born and i first saw him i felt unconditional love but i knew there was more room in my heart for him and i just had to wait for that to be filled up. It takes me longer then most people i guess, or at least friends i've talked to. With Riley, i specifically remember on day 3 of her life i had this moment where she just became undescribably perfect to me. I love my kids with all my might from moment one but for some reason to feel it completely it takes me awhile...well with Braden, it was when he was 5 weeks old. Quite a long time! I wasn't nervous, i knew it would come, but that was a long wait. I tried to think of reasons for this...maybe because he only let me sleep in about 2 hr intervals, and we are just now at 3 some nights! (no sleep makes it hard to be emotional in a good way and to get attached to something, it makes it easy to be grumpy though!)I know he only wakes up to eat-not his fault and something i love to provide for him but after a few weeks of no more than 3 hr of consecutive sleep i think my body goes into survival mode :) Maybe because i already have a child and so it was hard to sit and hold and talk and bond with braden when i have Riley to also take care of and love on and execute her demands. Who knows what it was but it's over. I looked at him one day last week and couldn't stop looking. I finally took the time to not care about the 100 million different toys scattered around the entire house(just typing that makes my skin crawl...ocd my friends...), about the dirty kitchen and laundry that has been in the washer for two days. I sat and held and stared into his sleepy eyes. A leaned to josh and said "Babe, i finally fell completely in love" aww what an amazing feeling...