HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRODE

Well I'm a day late, but things were hectic. Yesterday our little Brode turned ONE! I can't even believe it!

We have sure been through a lot in the last year, and things have definetaly changed! Matt and I were laughing at how the first few weeks we HATED then the sun went down because everyone went to bed -- except Brode. We never thought those dreaded weeks would end!

I love this age! Everything is new, and Brode is so curious! He is just starting to put things together and work on some new words. He entertains me all the time, it should be a fun road to 2!

I'm am extremely excited for this fall! I can't wait to get Brode out by the pumpkins, play in the leaves, and go trick-or-treating!

Yesterday we had Brode's party with some family and friends! The little guy did great until presents time... then he was tired. He loved his cake and made a mess of it! I'll get some pictures up soon!

Happy Birthday Little Guy! --- You're ONE!

Videos

Just a few... to put some smiles on some faces...

EVERY kid.

Today was not a typical Thursday. Today was the day that Brode was admitted into the "everybody" category. You know, the "everybody" that is going to the movie, the "everybody" that is going on spring break, and the "everybody" that has that outfit-- according to teenagers. Brode became part of the "EVERY" kid has a cozy coupe. My aunt, uncle, and cousins were generous enough to give Brode their cozy coupe from when the boys were little. Along with the car came a gas pump and a little tractor with a pull behind trailer.

Brode's new toys were dropped off at our house around 5:15PM. This is also Brode's dinner time, but he didn't care. He screamed and screamed when I brought him in to eat, but you can believe we were out there until 7:45 playing with those toys!

Wednesday

I despise Wednesdays. Half way through the week... yes, good. 10 hours of classes... not good.

This is my first full week back at school. Although it didn't take long to adjust back to classes, I don't think I'll ever adjust to how long my Wednesdays are. Starting at 8AM and ending at 6PM with a 1 hour break makes for quite a long day. This particular Wednesdays my morning (which seems like 5 days ago now) started great, going from class to class. I learned a lot, and each class went fast. At 1:15 everything came to a grinding hault and the clock refused to move. My last class starts at 3 and goes until 6. Our teacher decided to show us a movie regarding consumer health. There I sat for 3 hours (well 2.5 as she was nice enough to let us out early) watching a movie I didn't seem to catch the theme from thinking I just couldn't wait to get home and play with Brode. The hardest part isn't sitting for 3 hours, or paying attention for 3 hours, it's accepting that I can't go get Brode and bring him home to play and feed him dinner. I cannot complain about the entire day or class. The high point, our teacher of this last 3 hour class annouced that it will now be hybrid and half of it will be online, turning in small assignments every few weeks. This was a huge piece of news as I had been thinking I would be there late every Wednesday, and it was now cut down to 1 or 2 Wednesdays a month!

All things aside, Wednesday is over, and I survived. The best part, I only have 1 class on Thursdays so it's an easy day after the hard ones!

The rest of this week and this weekend isn't looking too eventful. I'm finishing up school for the week, then this weekend we have our usual routine of swimming lessons and hopefully some outside time!

Monday we're going back down to Milwaukee for Brode's follow-up. I haven't been thinking about it much, but after talking to my teachers today it really started to sink in that we're doing CT scans to see how everything is healing. Although the plates are still in his head and it hasn't been given much time to heal the news can vary. My biggest concern that I hope to calm is his stitches. Lately he has been getting little white bumps and one large area that looked like he had an incision infection starting on the inside and working out. After calling it was determined there were a few stitches that the body rejected and pushed to the outside. More and more of these spots have been showing up so I am anxious for them to actually see them and reassure me that I am not paranoid.

Have a good rest of the week and weekend!

End of Summer

Summer is ending, but it seems like it is just getting started. We have finally been able to do some fun summer things. Brode has been to the park a lot lately, we're back into swimming, playing outside all night, and swinging. This weeks summer first with the nice weather was a ride on Daddy's longboard. He loved it. All of the pictures show a grumpy face, but he was laughing and screamed when we had to take him off for dinner.

I officially started school for the 2009-2010 school year. My first day was extremely long, but luckily my last 3 hour class got cancelled! It was a good first day. So far I like my classes and my professors so hopefully that will make the semester go smoothly. I have a lot of classes that require a lot of memorization which means a lot of reviewing every day!

We're getting closer to Brode's birthday! This week I've decided I NEED to finish his presents and today I made a good dent on his scrapbooks so everyone can see his first year! Then I'm only left with menu planning! I am very excited for his first birthday party, but not for him to be 1 already!

Labor Day Weekend

What a weekend! A long, beautiful weekend needed nothing but to be enjoyed. I went to LaCrosse and had a very good time. I headed over there on Friday night around dinner time. The weekend days consisted of beach time, rollerblading, ice cream, cookouts, yard games, and girl time. It was so relaxing to enjoy the sun and have nowhere to be. Today, Labor Day, we headed straight from LaCrosse down to the Brewer game in Milwaukee. We hung out for a while, then sat through the very uneventful, almost no hit game. It was a great day to enjoy the game, but we weren't good luck, as they lost. I then continued from Milwaukee back home to Neenah after a tiring weekend.

Brode throughout my time away got to spend time with all of his grandparents and his daddy. He had a very fun trip to the grocery store and slumber party with Gram and Gramps on Friday night. Saturday he spent the afternoon and night with his Grandma Beth, then continued Sunday to spend time with his daddy. The little guy seemed to grow 10 inches when I was gone! I was very excited to get back to see him, and he sure was entertaining. He learned some new noises that Matt said they practiced all weekend., and he still jabbers non-stop.

It was a great weekend away, and a great "Back to School" weekend. My next few days will be organizing and starting classes for the 2009-2010 school year. I'm excited to get back down on campus and have something different to do, but I don't feel the same way about the homework!

Neighborhood Party

This past weekend was fun for all of us! Friday night Brode stayed with Matt while my LaCrosse friends were in town for Kelsey's 21st birthday. It was nice just to get to hang out with the girls. Saturday morning I had to donate plasma, and had my first, no problems what-so-ever donation! Finally! The rest of the day Brode and I hung out.

Sunday was our neighborhood party, and that took up our entire day! Many of the activities were in our yard so we worked on cleaning up, setting up the baseball diamond and helped with tents and games all morning. Many of the neighbors were there, the weather was perfect and there was a lot to do! The ladies had arranged a whiffle ball tournament, a volleyball tournament, a relay, and a belly flop contest. Recently we had many new families move it so it was nice to get to meet everyone as well!

The past two days have been wonderful with warmer weather again. This is my last week of full time work, but we've had time to get outside after dinner and play and go for walks!

Don't get me wrong, I love spending time with Brode, and mostly on the the weekends because I dont get to see him during the week, but I'm going to LaCrosse this weekend, and am very excited! We made some plans to go to a Brewer game on Labor day, and I always want to get there multiple times a year so it worked out that I could go before everyone started school then right down to the game with them!

Have a great labor day weekend! Pictures to come later!