Long Weekend

Our long weekend seemed longer than long!

Thursday Brode was diagnosed with pink eye and and ear infection so he was pretty wiped out. Friday night wasn't anything exciting as Brode went to bed early and I sat around. Saturday morning Brode still wasn't feeling well so we had to skip swimming lessons and he slept until 8:30 (14 hours!). He woke up with a fever so we did his antibiotic, eye drops and tylenol and he spent the morning relaxing. We ran an errand for some paint and Brode went right down for a nap. We're doing some major projects around the house so we rearranged for some of those happening this week and hung out outside. 3 hours later Brode woke up fever free and happy as can be. We spent the afternoon outside and playing in the neighbors pool! They're so generous to let us jump in and through this heat we have needed it. The water is extremely warm and Brode loves jumping and shooting at the basketball hoop on the side. He loves being home from day care with the family so much that we had a great time playing.

Sunday Brode slept in once again and got up to play. It was uncomfortably humid that morning so Brode and I played toys inside while grandma and grandpa did projects. A rash had slowly been developing on Brode cheeks and I was really nervous it was an allergic reaction. We already know he is allergic to amoxicillin and this rash was everywhere. He has had this medicine before so with the heat, sunscreen, a virus, and medicine we had no clue who the culprit was. I called so be sure we could continue the medicine and they thought it was best he be seen. This poor kid had red spots on his cheeks, forehead, between his toes, all over this stomach, down his back and every inch between those! We found it was only a rash from the virus that caused his cold, ear infection, and pink eye so there was nothing to worry about! After another long nap we packed up the car, gave into the heat and headed up to the cottage for the afternoon and night.

Brode loved playing at the cottage. We spent the afternoon sitting around while he played balls and trucks then grilled out for dinner. He was in bed late but after 3 days of long nights and naps we had room to spare. We played some cards after the little guy went to bed and I won a whole $1.80! Woohoo. This morning Brode had the house up at 7:00. We ate breakfast and got our things pack to come home. We still had a lot of prep work to do around here so we had to cut it short.

This afternoon Brode napped while we cleaned, emptied, and did homework. Once he was awake we were in the clear to do some demolishing. The wood floors in our foyer needed to be ripped out so Brode and I played outside and picked weeds while Grandpa, Daddy, and Grandma made a mess inside.
**Sneak Peak**

Our house is completely taken apart so tonight we had a nice picnic in the living room, Brode got a bath, and the rest of the night is relaxing. We're all very worn out. Every day seemed twice as long and all the sun wore us out! Wish we could have beautiful weekends all the time.

Lately = Multiple Titles

I started writing a post and it was ALL over the place. I will spare the confusion and give what everyone wants to see, the pictures and videos:

90 Degree Days: Sprinkler time

Blackhawk Cheering In All Its Glory
Learning To Save: One Penny At A Time

Daddy Brings Home a Giant "George" Cookie: Happy Baby on a Sugar High

(The videos were taking hours to upload - Ill try and update later)

Have a good long, warm weekend!

Quick and Silly

Brode learned to "pound it" (you know, bump the fists together) the other day from my dad and Matt when they were watching hockey.

He had to do it to everyone in the room numerous times he loves it so much. This weekend we were at a friends pool and he did it to all of the people that were there. The boys thought he was so cool now that he is out of the baby stage and can give "knucks". Last night at my cousins baseball game, same thing, to everyone.

This morning I'm brushing my teeth upstairs and I hear "Brode, you can't pound it with Libby. No, don't pound her in the face. Brode, Libby doesn't like your fist in her eyes" downstairs. I couldn't help but laugh and shake my head.

That little boy just wants to "pound it" with everyone and anyone. Poor Libby.

We Forget

One of the best things about having a one year old is watching his curiosity. We forget that everything is new to him so he is extremely aware of his surroundings and always exploring. Simple things like the sound of the planes and the trains that blend in every day catch his attention and he jumps up and down "PANE! PANE!" or "CHOO CHOO!!!" Other sights like the horses across the street or an annoying dandelion we've seen a million of get a big smile and he can stare forever!

Today we were playing outside and every plane that went over and train that went by had Brode stopped in his tracks listening and pointing. Then there were the bugs - every caterpillar or ant caught his eye immediately and he exclaimed "BUG! BUG! BUG! BUG!" until he somehow managed to squish them. Then came the tantrums.

He managed to get a sticker off of his John Deere tractor today and took a good thirty minutes sticking it on, under, behind, and inside his car, tractor, chair as well as putting it on the cement, door, his hair, and the bushes. Who knew it could be so intriguing?

What else caught his attention? A band aid. He scraped up his elbow at day care today and got a bandage to keep it clean. Everyone so often Brode stopped bent his arm almost backwards and took a little peek at it, just to make sure the sticky was holding up!

We had a little summer fun as well. I got Brode's water toy out from last year and just those few months it was in the basement had completely cleared it from his head. He loved figuring it out again yesterday and today we took it a bit father. Some days running in a sprinkler and swimming is all I can think about, but on a cloudy day in the shade I may opt out, "No Brode, I don't want to stick my face in the squirting water and get my work clothes all wet." The little boy on the other hand was all for sticking his head in the water and having a little fun:
(Yes I joined after that cute face looked at me, "Do it, Do it, Do it?")

Sometimes we just forget to take the time to enjoy those small things, to notice things, and take a break. Brode may be a fast moving wild little boy, but he allows for slow down in life to notice all the little things and crack a smile.



Just another note from our afternoons outside: BRODE LOVES HOCKEY (for the millionth time). I took a lot of pictures and videos of him hitting the balls today - hopefully one day you'll see them playing on the news when he is famous or getting an Olympic gold medal!!Doesn't he look so much older in this picture? Such a little athlete.

Shoes

Love is an understatement for the amount of emotion Brode has towards his shoes.

We have never had this before, he has always been fine with wearing other shoes.

He has now been in the same pair for quite a while and he is extremely attached to them. It's adorable and every so often, frustrating.

Brode wears his size 5 and 1/2 velcro black Airwalks everywhere. He puts them on when the sun comes up and takes them off when the sun goes down. They are his little boy play shoes.
Days like this past Sunday come around - we were getting family pictures done at the park - Brode is wearing a nice polo and plaid shorts but once his brown deck shoes were on he threw himself on the pavement kicking and screaming scraping his legs and scuffing the shoes. He only wanted his worn down fraying and fading Airwalks. We went back in the house, put on his beloved shoes as tears fell down his cheeks. I pushed down the last strap the tears immediately stopped Brode sprung up like it was Christmas morning and started running towards the door starring down and giggling at his favorite shoes.

He does have a perfectly white, comfortable, sporty pair of new shoes waiting to be worn but he refuses! He won't even give the poor guys a chance to break in. He also has a few pairs of sandals and water shoes but those are collecting dust as well. This little boy is NOT ok with change.

What am I going to do the day there is a hole right through the bottom? I hope Payless has BOGO and black velcro Airwalks to get Brode through high school. Heck, he'll probably be wearing them on his wedding day!

"Only my child...."

Have you ever had those "only my child would..." moments as they do something goofy or outrageous.

I had three large "Only my child" moments today. One nervous, one funny, and one "WHAT?"

1. We're playing outside and get Brode's rollercoaster out. I only put one of the steps on so as Brode is trying to get on he tips right off the side and takes the long fall to the cement. I'm not a 'gasper' but this one got me and I gasped, Brode got up and said uh-oh as blood started running off of his hands from scrapes, climbed back up and did the same exact thing but got up faster this time and skipped the uh-oh. He then decided there was no point in even having the car and he would just run down the track - I then moved the track to the grass as I thought... "Only my 19 month old child would run down a roller coaster fearless land face first on the cement twice and not care"

2. We were all finished with dinner, Brode is still sitting in his chair after he inhaled all of his food screaming "MORE BROCCOLI" even when there wasn't any left. I just asked myself, "is he serious?" and said... "Only my 19 month old would demand more broccoli after he already had 3 servings worth"

3. Last, Brode is taking a bath splashing, playing bath-ketball and throwing rubber ducks. After he was all clean I let him play and watched. It wasn't long until he was whipping the foam 7 around so I asked what he was doing, "Hockey! Hockey!".... "Only my 19 month old child would flip the 7 upside down to make a hockey stick"

Brode is a great relief to finals studying.

Mother's Day Weekend

I know - I need to catch up on a lot.

My Mother's Day weekend was great! Friday night I spent the night in, relaxing, getting things done for finals this week. Saturday Brode went to his usual swimming and play time with Grandma Beth. After he got home and had lunch he took a 4 hour nap! When he finally woke up we headed over to my grandma's to visit and give her a little something for Mother's Day! Brode always takes a while to open up but he love playing will all the toys she has over there and running around! Afterward we had dinner then my mom and I headed to the high school show choir's big "Finale" performance so I could get up on stage and do our alumni song! As if it wasn't a long enough day yet I came home to take off my wild Waldo shirt (a Vintage Show Choir tradition) and get Matt then we headed to a friend's 21st birthday party down the street and got to see a lot of friends!

Sunday morning we woke up bright and early and got things ready for the day. Our whole family was headed up to my grandparents cottage for the day so we had to get a few things packed, get Brode a bath, and run some errands. We got there around 11:30 so Brode could eat lunch and take a nap. The afternoon involved some cleaning from the re-modeling and relaxing outside. Before we knew it it was bedtime for Brode so we got him in jammies and headed home. After putting him to bed Matt and I were watching our usual Sunday shows when I realized I hadn't opened my backpack all weekend and had finals this week - Great!

Here are a few pictures from the day at the cottage:

Mother's Day continued today at Brode's day care. They had a breakfast celebrating Mother's Day so we were able to stay and eat with the kids. It was very entertaining to watch all the kids in his class together. Brode behaved better than I thought he would, he sang me a song, and gave me a flower. It was a great start to a long day of work and studying!

Studying - that's about all this week is. I have to squeeze in all the study time I can. I usually use a few hours when Brode is at day care or after he goes to bed, but this week I have to use it all. This means Brode is often sitting close to me. Today after work he sat at the counter and was my little "study buddy".... he looks all cute and innocent coloring by himself - WRONG! He kicks the counter wood, loud and hard, he colors on my paper, he asks me "color? color? color?", he steals my pens, he pushes everything off the counter, and his nose has to be wiped every 3 seconds - not ideal studying conditions for finals! Oh well he was entertaining for most of the time.

Now just a few random Brode stories for all those girls out there across the state who wish they could experience all Brode's little growing up moments -

Brode is all ready for summer with his new chair:

Brode's vocabulary is quickly expanding and he loves to identify and point everything out. Having the last name "Rivet" we have quite a few frogs in the house. Brode knows "frog" pretty well, but we are working on "ribbit" and "libby" at the same time so somehow he continues to yell "Libbit, Libbit" when he sees a frog. It is almost too cute to correct. One of those I have to get on video before it is gone!

Lastly, the "embarrassing" and personal one. I don't know where it came from, but it has me optimistic! The last 3 or 4 days Brode has been playing quietly by himself in another room or on the floor, comes walking over to my feet, bats his eye lashes, points at his little behind and says "poop". I look at him - "come again, what?". "Poop, mama". He raises his hands up in the air and insists we go right upstairs and get changed. Sometimes it backfires and his diaper is empty, but he is uncomfortable in his dirty diapers. Maybe when that times rolls around months down the line potty-training won't be extremely difficult. (yeah right) We're always quick to praise and thank him for speaking up, but it is hard not to smile and laugh because he is so darn cute.

The Past Week

I don't know where this week has gone but it was a quick one! I thought these last two weeks of school would drag out, but I can barely keep up!

We haven't had much going on, just a few random updates.

First, Tuesday's storm. For those of you here you know exactly what I'm talking about, for the rest of you let me explain. We got home around 4 and the only prediction was rain, a little thunder but pretty much green on the radar. 6:30 rolls around and it is looking pretty dark a bit north of us. Matt is giving Brode a bath as I am watching out the window "Matt, I think the storm just split in different directions and one is coming right for us now?" He gets Brode in pajamas and I take care of the brushing the teeth, etc as I keep one eye out the window. By now my dad and Matt are on the deck taking pictures and I'm peeking out the window thinking "those clouds aren't starting to spin, they aren't starting to spin, you are seeing things" about the same second the tornado sirens start going off. Somehow in the second we discovered it was coming towards us and it was spinning was the same moment the weather channel changed it from a storm to a tornado warning, put some red on the map, and sounded the sirens. Great warning. We live in the middle of nowhere so they are very faint and we would never hear them if we are sleeping. For this reason we also have a weather radio that sends off an alarm when a watch or warning changes. This starts ringing, the sirens are going, you can hear the winds whipping and where is everyone - on the deck. It took a while for the rain to come but it was going completely sideways. We watched the neighbors falg pole go all the way around as the wind shifted in many directions. Luckily it passed over us quickly, a tornado did touch down a few miles away, but nothing too serious. The storm moved east and we finally got Brode in bed. Here are a few pictures:

Next, glasses update. We're doing horrible. Brode will not put them on AT all. Every once and a while you get ten minutes but it is extremely rare. Very frustrating.

Also, in one of my recent posts I mentioned Brode does not say Grandpa. We have all been practicing every day listing off his friends at day care and sneaking it in there, but he stays silent. Finally tonight my dad is pointing to our family picture and says "who is this?" Brode quickly replies with... "mama". "Brode, who is this?" "Grampa!" out of nowhere. Now that it came out once he said it another 20 times. That first time and it is his favorite word! Here is us trying to catch it on video in case he rebels against us again.

Can you guess who's name is next? Correct, Grams is also a word that has never been in Brode's vocabulary.

This weekend is going to be a busy one for us. We've got some fun play time scheduled, my high school show choir's final performance of the year on Saturday, a big birthday party afterwards, and then we're heading to the cottage for Mother's Day!

This Mother's Day should be fun with Brode. He made me a great art project in day care and sang me the song they've been practicing. He is so much more fun so it makes the day so much more enjoyable. Tuesday day care is having a Mother's Day breakfast on Tuesday morning as well and I just can't imagine Brode being one of the only motherless children so I'll be joining him that morning for some fun!

Next week is finals so hopefully I'll find some time to get some good studying in and end the semester strong!

Busy Days

We had some busy days this weekend! Not bad busy, fun busy! We each seemed to take our turn with Brode and by nightfall he was worn out!

Friday we had a Tornado Watch all day that continued until 8:00. Matt was working in Manitowoc and since he is driving he clearly had not seen any of the news and decided he wanted to go out to dinner. He couldn't understand why I wanted to stick to dinner then rent a movie instead of going to one because of the storms - it all started to make sense when he figured out there were tornado watches. Brode stayed home with Gramps and Grams and got to stay up late to watch the storm. It was getting a little hairy and they didn't want to have to wake him up if it got really bad. He went to bed late and I thought it would throw off his whole day - no way, he was up at 6:45 (early for him on a weekend).

Saturday Brode went to swimming with Grandma Beth at the YMCA, then with Gramps to a friends to get some tools (boy stuff.... you know). He came home and played outside, ate lunch, and napped for 3 hours! I used this 3 hours to scrapbook and do some card making. It was also National Scrapbooking Day - I'd say I celebrated correctly. After Brode woke up we played outside for an hour in the beautiful weather. I tried to teach Brode how to pick weeds, but he just likes to throw the rocks in the bucket instead. Matt was playing in a hockey tournament this weekend and after a morning loss he was scheduled to play again at 3:50. My dad, Brode and I headed over to the Family Ice Center and watched him play. Brode LOVED it. He loves hockey and always watches it. At this particular arena you are able to sit right against the glass so Brode's nose was up to it in the majority of the time and he yelled and couldn't stop talking. After Daddy's game we stopped at my grandma's for a quick second then headed home for more outside time and dinner. By 8:00 (late bedtime again) Brode was tired, tired, tired.

Sunday was just as busy (although we weren't in the car quite as much). We spent the morning playing. We played inside for a while until it was finally warm out and then we ran around outside, picked weeds, and jumped on bubble wrap. Brode ran in circles yelling "fast fast fast" for a while and tired himself out for nap. After a lot of fresh air we went in for lunch and a nap. While Brode napped I patched a bunch of tiny holes in the wall, picked weeds, mowed the lawn and showered - and Brode was STILL sleeping. After another 3 hour nap Brode woke up and went to Home Depot with Gramps and Grams and stopped to see if my Grandma (his Great Grandma) was home while I went to the scrapbook store and ran a few other errands. After running around Matt, Brode and I all went over to his Aunt and Uncles for a cookout to celebrate his grandpa's birthday! Brode loved playing with bubbles and it was perfect to sit outside and enjoy the weather!

Here are a few pictures of our outdoor weekend:

I had to check them for bees and bugs first because he likes to get really close to smell!

Two more weeks of school and the semester is over! (for two days, then I start interim, but I'm still going to enjoy the end!)

Vocabulary

Brode has a good vocabulary if you ask this biased mother. He gets a lot of it from day care and we try and use similar words so he can learn their meaning easier. Brode has this weird way of learning the harder words first and catches on pretty quick when you say something directly to him or multiple times in a different context.

We joked when he started talking that mama, dada, and gramps/papa were competing to see who's name he would say first. Gramps practiced every day on the way to day care so we were all convinced he would be first. Nope, and guess what, to this day Brode has no name for Gramps. We try. We practice the G's and P's and he just refuses. Brode does well going through a list:
"Brode say hockey" - "Ockey"
"Brode say Libby" - "Lib"
"Brode say music" - "moo-gic"
"Brode say football" - "foo-ball"
"Brode say gramps" - silence (sometimes even a snicker)

He has an attitude that is for sure.

He picks things up easily and you know that whole "he hears you no matter where you are" thing. Brode is becoming a mini me. He is like one of my girl friends that I hang out with too much and we start saying the same expressions. What can I say, he is my best little bud:



Oh yeah and for all you girls in LaCrosse that miss waking up to "OPEN! OPEN! OPEN!" a little reminder at the end to fix your withdrawls.