Mother's Day Weekend: Saturday

Our Mother's Day weekend festivities continued on Saturday with a trip to Tautphaus Park Zoo in Idaho Falls. Tyson, his mom, and I took Angie and Steve's kids, Dustin and Erika's kids, and Brycen to the zoo and it was a blast and a half. We had so much fun and the kids loved it! They were all so happy and really enjoyed seeing all of the animals. It was a perfect day all around.

At one point during our walk through the zoo, Tyson's mom overheard a couple of women talking on a bench. They saw us all walking by and one of the women said to the other (something like), "Look at all of those kids. And she's expecting another one!" Apparently Tyson and I looked like we were taking our six kids to the zoo and we've got one on the way! (The latter being the only true part of the moment.) I thought that was pretty funny.

 

 The otters were a big favorite.

 They put on a little show for the kids and they just loved it!

 Those big turtles were amazing!

 Jack getting a better look

The petting zoo was really fun for them as well. Those goats really wanted some food!

 Jack and Brycen loved watching the goats eat the food.

 the kids play area

 The lions are always one of my favorites!

Brycen liked them too!
"Kitty!"

 It's a must to take a picture of the kids on the tiger at Tautphaus! I had to make this one big so you can see all of those cute faces. (The tiger at the zoo recently passed away so it was sad not seeing him there. The kids sure missed him too.)

 The penguins were another favorite and one of the last stops at the zoo.

 We went to Arctic Circle for lunch after the zoo and the kids enjoyed chicken rings, fries, and chocolate milk. They each got a toy in their kids meals, which happened to be zoo animals. They were so excited about that! (In this picture, everyone is looking and smiling at Brycen because he's such a mess when he eats chicken nuggets and fries ha ha.)

 After some serious napping and relaxing, we celebrated Mother's Day and Steve's birthday with a bbq. I made a Cookies and Cream Cake for dessert, which is a pretty awesome dessert if I do say so myself. You can find the recipe here! Cooper and Easton helped put candles on the cake.

Steve blowing out the candles

 Jack and Brycen wanted to help as well.

 Present time! We got Steve a BYU t-shirt.

 After Steve opened his presents, we all gave Julie her Mother's Day presents. She really liked the card we made for her. Here's a close up:

 We made these for our moms this year, as well as great grandma versions for our grandmas. Everyone loved their cards from Brycen!

 The kids really liked it too.

We gave Tyson's mom some jewelry from ShopLately. It was hard not to get some for myself! I love that site so much.

 In the meantime, Brycen enjoyed some trampoline time with Easton.

 Dustin and Erika made Julie the best gift for Mother's Day. They went through thousands of old pictures of the Miller family (Milan, Julie, and their kids) and put a book together in Shutterfly. We're talking from the time Milan and Julie were married up to when the youngest (Clark) went on his mission. They did such a good job on the book. We're all going to be able to enjoy that for years!

 Dustin and Tyson catching the moment on video

Each child wrote a letter to their mom and the letters were put in the book. It was so fun to read them all! One of those moments where you laugh and cry at the same time.

I love this picture of everyone looking at the book!

 Brycen had other plans during present opening time.

 Jack and Brycen

Cute boys! They're six months apart in age.

 We weren't going to be in town for Kate's birthday the next weekend so we decided to give her birthday present to her that night. We made an "All About Me from A to Z" book for her, full of pictures of her and other family members. She loved it!

She kept wanting to look at her book. I was very flattered that she liked it so much!

 Time for bubbles! Brycen loves playing with bubbles.

 After everyone cleaned up and went inside, Gramps stayed outside with Brycen to jump on the trampoline. He sure is loved!

And there's nothing like snuggle time with cousins and a little "Phineas and Ferb".

We spent the rest of the evening playing games and laughing hysterically as we usually do. We just needed Tacie, Ryan, Clark, and Kristi and we would have been set! Sometimes I catch myself laughing out loud at random times just thinking about funny moments with Tyson's family. 

After everyone left, Tyson and his dad gave his mom and I our Mother's Day presents. I told Tyson I didn't want him to buy me a card, I wanted a homemade one that Brycen colored. This is how it turned out:

 I love Brycen's pictures! And I love this card.

For a Mother's Day present they got me this precious Willow Tree statue. They also gave me a box of See's chocolates (handpicked) but they didn't last long enough to get in a picture. This Willowtree is called "Quietly". It shows a mom and her two little boys sitting together. I cried when I opened it. It was a perfect Mother's Day present! I'm so excited for our baby boy to join us in a couple of months. I'm so happy we're adding another boy to our little family.

Mother's Day Weekend: Friday

We had a great Mother's Day weekend! We were able to spend time with both families and we really enjoyed every minute. I decided to document it by date to break things up.

Tyson was able to get Friday off of work so we headed to Idaho Falls that morning. We stayed with Tyson's parents this time around. We got into town around noon and met up with Tyson's mom to have lunch during her lunch break. We enjoyed some Wendy's then went our separate ways. We had to get a few groceries for the dessert I made for Tyson's family bbq so we headed to the west side Walmart right after lunch. We went to my parents' house and I made a Cookies and Cream Cake (recipe found here) as well as a dozen Oreo Pops. (That was a first-time experience and it was interesting!) That evening Mom ordered Sandwich Tree for dinner and Aaron, Britney, Boston, Amber, and Tayen came over. Dad, Che', and Amy were all working that night so they were the only ones missing. We ate dinner and spent the rest of the evening outside before Brycen had to go to bed.

Boston loved Grandma's little toy car! It's just his size.

Brycen loves being outside! He especially loves having grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins to play with.

We got to go out and see the horses. They're all so friendly! It's always so fun going over to pet them.

 Brycen loves the horses!

Brycen got to pet a horse with Dad's help.

 Grandma came outside with some apples to feed the horses. 

 Boston is such a happy boy! He was loving being thrown into the air by his mom.

 Brycen loved playing ball with Uncle Aaron!

 Running through the yard with Grandma

 Brycen couldn't get enough of the horses.

 

 And Tayen slept through it all. 

He's such a sweet little baby!

Later we took Brycen back to Tyson's parents' house and put him to bed. His parents had been at a dance recital for our niece Kate and they ended up coming back with Dustin and Erika and their kids. It was fun visiting with them!

Yep. More About Brycen!

We have to have the tub all ready for Brycen when it's time to take a bath because he loves to play in the running water. For awhile we were letting him sit in the tub while the water filled up and he loved it. But now every time we turn the water off he freaks out and cries. So we've started filling up the tub before he gets in. He still cries and wants the water on, but it's a lot less dramatic. This reminds me that he needs some new bath toys.

These days we're SO confused on a few things that Brycen could be saying. If he says "Wody" we know he wants to watch "Rescuers Down Under". If he says "Woody" he wants to watch "Toy Story". If he says "water" he wants some water. And if he says "Wa-ye" he wants to watch "Wall-E". The problem we're having is that ALL of these words sound so much alike when he says them. Especially "Wa-ye" and "water". We end up going through all of them before figuring out what he really wants!

New words:

• cool - This weekend when something would happen that Brycen was excited about he would say, "Oh cool!" He's been saying it nonstop since. Anything that happens that's "cool" he likes to say that it's just that.
• banana - Tyson opened a banana on Friday night and Brycen wanted a bite. Tyson asked, "Do you want some banana?" and Brycen said "banana" plain as day! He says it like the minions on "Despicable Me" say it (baw naw naw). We have a good laugh every time he asks for one. And he's wanted a "bawnawnaw" every day since! He used to hate bananas.
• Toodles - He still really likes watching "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse", and last week he started saying "Toodles". When he says it he calls Toodles "Toody". Whenever the characters say, "Oh Toodles!" Brycen will say "Toody!" 
• done - I asked him if he was done with lunch today and he said, "Done". 

This and That About Brycen Lately

Brycen watched "The Rescuers Down Under" for the first time the last week of April and he loves it. The other morning we were watching it as a family and after the part where his mom yells, "Cody! Cody!" Brycen started saying, "Wody! Wody!" Now every time he hears anyone say "Cody" on the show he says "Wody! Wody!"

At church  on April 29th I decided to sit in on music time with the nursery. Brycen was having a hard time and crying so the timing was right. I held him while my friend Erin (the primary chorister) sang with the kids. They were singing a balloon song when I walked in. The kids came up one at a time to pick out a color of balloon to sing about. Then they decided if they were going to make it a big or little balloon. Everybody pretended like they were blowing up a balloon. Then they tied it off and held it above their heads. The song was really cute and specified the color of balloon they were waving. Then it floats down and pops. When the kids get to that part the say "Pop!" while clapping their hands. Brycen came home from church and was doing the "Pop!" part all night, with the hand clap and everything. It's so fun seeing him do things at home that he learned in nursery! It's weird how grown up he's getting.

Brycen recently said his first sentence. His milk was gone out of his sippy and he said, "Uh oh, all gone!"

Brycen loves drinking milk and water. He gets milk with breakfast every morning in a sippy cup. He doesn't eat cold cereal yet, he really likes eating cereal bars and wants one every morning for breakfast. He drinks his milk as well as water in another cup throughout the day. Every now and then he gets juice, but we give that to him as a treat. Sometimes we give him tastes of sugar free and caffeine free soda as another treat. But he's been so good with his water and milk, it's been great!

Brycen loves to pretend like he's talking on the phone. He has a toy cell phone that he loves to play with, but he also uses the nunchucks for the Nintendo Wii as phones. Today he was using the plug in for my blow dryer as a phone. He'll start his "conversation" by saying, "Awo? (hello)", and then for those who are ever around him, he starts talking his fluent jibberish. Every now and then we hear a familiar word in the conversation. It's so funny what kids pick up on!

He's almost completely out of 24 month clothing now. He has a few jammies that are 24 months as well as a couple of t-shirts. But for the most part he is wearing 2T now. My baby is turning into a little boy!

Some of Brycen's favorite snacks:

• Ritz crackers
• Saltine crackers
• fruit snacks
• dry cereal
• string cheese 
• yogurt

Some of Brycen's favorite meals:

• chicken nuggets and baked fries/tater tots
• shepherd's pie
• burritos
• hamburgers (especially Warrens or Burger King)
• peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
• turkey sandwiches from Subway
• spaghetti and meat sauce
• macaroni and cheese

A Passing Grade

I'm excited to say that I passed my glucola test this morning! I have been really worried about it and trying my best not to eat sugar. Who am I kidding. I've been trying my best not to eat A LOT of sugar.

My appointment was this morning and I felt ready. At about 7:45 I had a piece of toast for breakfast and started getting ready for the day. Then it dawned on me that I just ate something and my blood would be drawn at 10:30. Crap. I never received any special instructions on whether or not I should fast for a few hours before my appointment. But I remembered back to when I did the test with Brycen and I was told not to eat anything three hours before the drink. I needed to have the drink at 9:30-less than two hours away. Crap again. I thought for sure I had messed up my test results and I was so mad.

I got to my appointment dreading the test. I got to see Dr. Lister and she was awesome as always. She answered the questions I had, listened to the baby's heart (which was awesome and perfect and all of those other great words), and she measured my stomach. Everything looks and sounds really well and right on track. She also gave me a sheet with information regarding preterm labor signs. Where Brycen was a preterm baby, she wants me to be extra cautious that I know when to go to the hospital if it happens again. We're praying that this little guy stays in longer! So far so good with everything. I have had a few contractions here and there, but nothing out of the ordinary. By this time, Dr. Lister says, I will be having "regular irregular contractions" and I just need to monitor what's happening. It's amazing to think that we're already this far. I'm getting so excited yet so nervous!

At almost 10:30 the nurse came in to take my blood. I told her about my breakfast error and she wasn't concerned. She said if I had put jam on the top of my toast that could affect my results. But I didn't, so I should be fine. Yay! However, that didn't mean I was out of the woods for gestational diabetes. She did the blood work (Which was the best experience I've ever had getting blood drawn, by the way. I barely felt the needle.) and told me that they would call me today if I needed to go in for the three hour test. And I didn't hear from anybody! Woo hoo! I'm so excited about that. What a relief. We celebrated by making some cookies tonight. What better way to celebrate passing a glucola test than with sugar! They were wonderfully delicious.

Keyword being "were."

Popcorn, Eyelashes and "Cheesh"

Last Saturday night we decided it would be fun to have a movie night with Brycen. We ate dinner at a decent time so he could have plenty of time to watch the movie. We found out back in March at Tyson's sister's birthday party that Brycen LOVES popcorn. We don't ever eat it at our house so we had no idea he liked it so much. So I bought a box the last time I was at the grocery store and Brycen has loved having popcorn as a treat ever since. He sat between us and was in charge of the bowl while we watched "A Goofy Movie." What a great movie! Brycen loved it!

Yesterday Brycen fell asleep on my bed while watching "The Rescuers Down Under". (Also a great movie!) He looked so peaceful lying there with his favorite blanket. I've been wanting to get a good picture of his eyelashes because they're so beautiful and long. This was the perfect opportunity! I'm very jealous of this boy's eyelashes. Women pay good money to get this length!

Brycen LOVES brushing his teeth. He brushes them multiple times a day. He'll come up to me and say "Cheesh?" (teeth) then guide me into the bathroom to get his toothbrush. He waits patiently with a huge grin on his face, waiting for his toddler toothpaste to go on so he can brush away. Then he'll point to me and say "Mom cheesh?" He likes it when I brush  my teeth with him. Two or more times a day we'll stand in the bathroom together brushing our teeth. We're all going to be cavity free, thanks to him! (He had just gotten out of the bathtub, which explains the out-of-control hair!)