You would think that I would be able to keep up with this better....

Wow, again it's been over a month since I've posted!  Where does the time go?  Here's what's been up....

Tanner:  My two and a half year old is a singing, dancing, running machine!  He is never still!!  (Boys!)  He loves to sing "Jingle Bells" and "Mr. Turkey" that he learned in school.  We went to his school's Thanksgiving program, where he did not sing, but did point to to me and say "Nonny's here."  At the dinner afterwards, his teacher handed out his turkey place mat that he made that says "I am thankful for my daddy."  Needless to say, Bobby is so proud of that one!!!  He is obsessed with all things Christmas.  We have seen Santa 3 times and he has sat on his lap twice.  His favorite Christmas movie is Frosty, followed closely by Elf.  Elf is my fave, but after watching the first part about 20 times, I'm getting sick of it!  Tanner has many cute sayings that I should have written down after he said them, but a few are "yuuuuun more" (one more), "moniecycle bin" (recycle bin), "I'm gonna need this....,"  "Ninkle Little Star" (Twinkle little star) for any star that he sees, "yatch dis" for watch this, followed by some sort of jump, "Bodice" for Thomas the train, and he still calls Brennan "Dede" or "Deedle" but calls other babies, "baby."  We are still working on using the potty.  He now likes to sit on the big potty, but is still telling us when he needs to use it every time.  He had his first big fall at school last week.  He was playing on the playground and fell and bit his tongue.  It bled quite a bit before I got there, but was done by the time I came to get him.  No stitch needed, in fact, we didn't even take him to the doctor because there is usually nothing they can do for the tongue and it heals quickly.
Brennan:  My baby is now 10 months old and just as spoiled as can be!!  He is starting to army crawl (just like Tanner did), but would rather be held.  Daddy has been the main spoiler, but it's hard to resist that "Bundle"-Bobby's nickname for him.  He continues to be the happiest boy around.  He loves almost everything we do-walks, the park, shopping, etc.  He LOVES to eat!!  I haven't found anything that he won't eat yet.  After he takes a bite of something he really likes, like mashed potatoes and Vovo's gravy, he says "mmmmm."  He still does his happy squeals and babbles non-stop.  He loves his big brother and gets so excited when Tanner comes into the room!  He now has three teeth and is working on the fourth.
Halloween:  Tanner was a monkey for Halloween and Brennan was a tiger.  Bobby was supposed to be a monkey too, but never ended up dressing up, and I was a leopard.  We had a few friends and neighbors over for a party here.  It was fun!  :)  The boys and I went trick-or-treating with Emma and Leslie.  I was hoping that Tanner would be a good listener since Emma was there, but it was a tough one!  I didn't take the double stroller-big mistake!!  So Tanner walked, and well, he liked when we rang the doorbells, but didn't really want to walk and hold Mommy's hand.  Oh, well.  Live and learn...double stroller next year!!
Thanksgiving:  For Thanksgiving this year, Bobby wanted to stay here.  Our first time having Thanksgiving here!!  My mom came and stayed for about 4 days.  I loved it!  She had just bought a wii, so we played bowling and it was so fun!!!  Bobby fried the turkey for us, mom, Jon, and Kas.  We ate delicious food and had some drinks.  :)  We decorated the tree with my mom while listening to Johnny Cash's Christmas album, and Tanner really liked putting on the decorations (over and over).  My Uncle Steve, Auntie Lynn, cousin Stephanie and her fiance came to visit.  My cousin had never met Brennan, and she wanted too!  Brennan was a bit fussy and teething, but it was fun none the less.  Jacqui, her mom, Tony, and Curtie B came over too.  Such a fun night with friends and family!!  :)

OK, gotta make dinner, so that's all for now!  Stay tuned for Christmas updates and some exciting news!!!!!  :)

Busy, busy September

As you can tell, things have been busy, busy around here!  Here's what's been going on!

School:  Tanner started back to school on Sept. 1st.  He has 11 children in his room and only one of them was from his class last year. Luckily for her (?), Tanner has decided that she is his girlfriend!  He kisses and hugs her throughout the day.  He teacher said that he was "really loving, I mean, REALLY!"  I started to get concerned that he was turning into the creepy kid.  I asked the little girl's mother about it and she said that she didn't mind a bit.  So I guess it's fine!  :) Tanner had a few days of crying when I dropped him off, but now he is over it and loves school, like I knew he would!!  Tanner is not the only one who started school.....I did too!  I am going to school online and getting my master's in Early Childhood Development. I am hoping that this degree with insure my K position when I go back to teaching (in a few years).  I could even be a director of a daycare or preschool with this degree, so who knows!!  So far, the program is good.  There is a lot of reading and a lot of reflecting on my teaching practices.  (No wonder I haven't posted in almost a month)  :)

Brennan:  Mr. Brennan is 7 months old now!  He now likes to sleep on his belly, which worries Bobby a lot.  But "they" say that once a baby can roll there, they are fine sleeping like that.  He loves to eat baby food and I haven't found anything that he won't eat!  That explains how chunky he is!!  Hehe!!  He is always interested in what his big brother is doing and he lights up when Tanner comes into the room!  Tanner is still very sweet with him.  I love seeing my boys interact!!  His best friend is his paci, but we will worry about breaking that habit later!  He LOOOOOOOVES to be carried around in the carrier facing the front.  He squeals and squeaks the whole time!  Such a happy baby!

Tanner:  Tanner likes to be Mommy's little helper.  He likes to carry the reusable bags into the grocery store for me.  He even plays pretend while at home by filling up his bag with toys and saying "Bye bye, going to the grocery store!"  When I ask him what he's going to get, he says "Dede Oatneal" (Baby oatmeal for Brennan).  I created a chore/behavior chart for Tanner.  He puts foam pieces into the chart when he cleans up, wears his seat belt, brushes his teeth, or refrains from hitting and scratching.  He loves to do the chart, and is really proud when he gets to put a piece in!  (I have pics of the chart, and will try to upload them later)  He also helps me put away the laundry and burp the baby!  Such a good helper!!

Beach:  Bobby's parents bought a beach house in Carolina Beach and we went there for a few days this week.  The house is still pretty bare, but it was fun nonetheless.  We went down to the beach twice.  Tanner loved getting in the water and building sandcastles with Daddy.  Brennan had a better time this time at the beach.  He liked watching the big waves!  It rained a couple of the days that we were there, so my in-laws and I took the boys to the Fort Fisher aquarium.  Tanner really liked seeing the fish and Brennan babbled to the fish as well!  Bobby and I got to have a romantic dinner just the tow of us one night, which we followed up by having some drinks on the pier.  :)  I am looking forward to many more stays at the "Hotel Meroney Beach House"

Terrible, I mean Terrific Two's!!!

After my last blog Tanner has done a 180.  We went from the terrible two's to the terrific two's!!!  Instead of hitting or scratching me when he gets angry, I say "make a good choice or you will go into your room" and he hugs me and stops fussing!  This basically happened out of the blue.  I hadn't even started using the booster seat as a time out seat yet.  (That was my plan if he hit, bit, or scratched.  He gets sent to his room to "cool down" if he is yelling for no reason.)  Bobby started talking with him about the rules and having him repeat them.  "No hitting, no scratching, etc"  and we have added "Always keep on your seat belts" as he can somehow get his arms out of his straps, no matter how tight we have them!   :/  I think it has also helped that we have been keeping busy.  Since he is not in school, I need to get him out and about as much as possible to avoid the meltdowns over being bored.  This week, we did gymnastics twice and Monkey Joe's twice!  It was really fun for Tanner, but poor Brennan had very short morning naps and was not feeling up to par, so that meant tired arms on Mommy from holding him constantly.  I have also been making my alone time with Tanner more fun and giving him choices of what he would like to do during that time!  It is so nice to see him assert his independence!!
Mr. Brennan Burger can sit up for a little bit on his own now, before toppling over.  He likes to play with any toy that Tanner is willing to share with him.  He went to the doctor's today for his 6 month check up and shots.  He is 26 1/2 inches long and weighs a little over 20 pounds.  He is in the 75th percentile for weight and 50th for height.  He took his shots like a champ and only cried for a min afterwards.
Today is Bobby's birthday.  I will not mention how old, but let's just say it's a bit of a milestone birthday.  :)  Bobby would not let me throw him a 30th birthday party (waaaaaaay back when he turned 30).  So this weekend, I decided to throw him a surprise party!  Let me go into the back story of this.  The girls and I were supposed to be going on our 2nd annual girls beach vacay this weekend.  Well.......Hurricane Irene cancelled that!  I was bummed!  I am reading this book from our book club (my pick, just saying), The Happiness Project.  (I highly recommend it).  In this book, the author focuses on different aspects of her life in order to become happier.  Well, one of the things she talks about is turning a negative into a positive.  Beach weekend is cancelled....that provides me with the perfect opportunity to do something nice for someone else (in the book she talks about how it makes people happy to do things for others) by  throwing Bobby a surprise party.  I was a little anxious about it, but it all turned out well!  Thanks to Marc for being my wing man and Maggie for helping me set up!  Bobby was surprised and really enjoyed his party!
I don't know why I feel like I should give each post an ending, but I just do.  So....that's all for this terrific post!!  :)

The latest......

I haven't posted a "new" blog in a while, so I thought I'd update everyone on what's been going on!

Tanner:  "Nanner" (as he calls himself) has hit the terrible twos!  :(  He has been hitting, scratching, biting, and pinching us when he is upset.  This has been a very hard time for me.  I hate to see him so upset and acting like this.  Where did my sweet boy go?  I know it is just a phase, and he is "acting like a two year old," but I struggle with how to stop this behavior.  Should I ignore it?  It's hard to ignore when he is hurting the baby.  Should I put him in time-out?  That's not always an option (like when we are in the car). I know that I am not the only parent to go through this.  Any advice you have to give is welcome (as long as it comes without judgements)  :)  On a better note, Tanner has many cute sayings......bug bug bite, he calls me Nonny, he yells for Bobby and I by saying "Honey,"  he calls Thomas the train "Bach Train,"  he says animal names by the sounds they make (meow-meow, nah nah).  He went camping with Bobby last weekend and did so well!  He didn't nap, but he did sleep all night in the tent!  Tanner and I had a day out with just the two of us last week.  We had a play date with his friend Tom ("Bach").  We played at the mall, then went out to lunch at Olive Garden.  Then we finished up by going to the grocery store.  He did so well the whole day.  No tantrums, no hitting.  It was lovely!  I know that he misses spending quality time with Mommy and I miss it too!  I have made a mental note to do more of those!

Brennan:  "Dede"  is 6 months old now!  A half a year....wow!!!  His napping is wonderful now!  I rock him, give him the paci, and sing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."  Then I put him in his bed and he goes right down!  He sleeps anywhere between 1-3 hours per nap!  YAY!!  He is still just the happiest baby and is only fussy when he needs to nap.  He loves the Exersaucer and can somehow move it across the floor in the kitchen to get to the table.  He loves to watch his big brother.  He LOVES when he is facing out in the carrier or Moby and we go shopping or for walks.  He squeals the whole time!!  He is a good eater, just like Tanner.  I haven't found anything that he won't eat.

Guess that's all for now!  :)

Flashback Blog: Our Wedding 8-8-06

In honor of our 5 year anniversary on Monday, I thought I'd write about our wedding week in Jamaica, Man!

We decided to do a destination wedding since it had been a while since either one of our parents went on a nice trip.  We left for Ocho Rios, Jamaica on Sunday Aug. 6th, 2006 (which is also my mom's birthday).  We flew with my mom, Bobby's parents, Tonya and Bobby Buchanan.  We were meeting my dad there, since he lives in Denver.  We got to Couples and realize that my mom picked up the wrong bag at the airport!  Luckily, her bag was also in Ocho Rios (at Sandals) and we got it with little trouble.  That evening, the resort had dinner on the beach and entertainment, which was fun.  The next day, we met with the wedding coordinator and went over details of our wedding with her.  The gang all had planned on going on the Catamaran cruise, and as Bobby and I were walking down to the boat to meet everyone, his sister, Shannon surprised us and came walking up the beach!  I was so excited to have her there!!  :)  Then we all did the cruise, drank some really strong rum punch and jumped off the boat!  Bobby jumped off the boat first, and I made Tonya hold my hand and we jumped together.  On our way back to the resort, Shannon and I danced.....such fun memories!!

The next day was our wedding day!!!!!  We got married at 4 in the afternoon, so for the first part of the day, we just all hung out.  Then I went to the salon to get my hair done, and that was when I started to get nervous.  Not nervous about marrying Bobby, just nervous about walking down the isle and saying my vows. (I knew Bobby was my soul mate) After my hair was done, I went to my mom and Shannon's room to get ready.  Shannon, my mom and Bobby's mom stayed with me and helped me get ready.  Bobby's dad and the Buchanan's helped Bobby (gave Bobby beers).  The wedding coordinator called Shannon and my soon to be MIL to go down and meet Bobby.  After a few minutes, they called for us.  This is it!!!!!  I wanted both my mom and my dad to walk me down the isle.  I owe so much of who I am to my mom, and I like the tradition of the father walking the daughter down the isle.  On the looooooooong walk to the gazebo (we were married in the garden gazebo), my mom whispered some sweet words to me that made me tear up.  Then, I walked around the tree and saw my husband waiting for me.  He looked so handsome!  We chose not to write our own vows because I was afraid I would cry too much when saying them, so we just repeated after the Jamaican minister.  By the end, both of us kind of took on a Jamaican accent.  During our vows, there was some random chicken cock-a-doodle-dooing in the background, which kept us girls laughing!  :)  We did our first kiss, and YAY, we were finally married!!!!!  Then we went to the gazebo for toasts and to eat the world's worst cake ever! Shannon made a great toast that made Bobby and I cry.  My mom cried A LOT, and at one point, I asked her if those were good tears....she said yes!  We did our first dance, and the father/daughter, mother/son dance. (Bobby's mom was crying quite a bit too-shocker!)  We did pics, ate a good meal (after they finally found our reservation) and Tonya helped me out of my dress and took my hair down.  Then Bobby and I enjoyed our first night as a married couple!

The next few days we hiked the falls, swam, and just had fun with our family and friends.  Everyone but us left on Friday.  We stayed until Sunday and enjoyed a couples massage and some quality alone time.  When we got back, Bobby still had some vacay days and we laid in bed and watched movies and just enjoyed being with each other as husband and wife!

It's hard to believe that Bobby and I have been together for 9 years, married for 5 years, and have 2 great boys.  We are so blessed!

In your child, you will see yourself

The more Tanner's personality comes out, the more I see myself in him.  He is shy (in new situations), emotional, and loving.  He started summer school 3 weeks ago.  Summer school is more like a camp.  They have a cooking day and a water day each week, plus, they go Mon-Thurs.  The night before his first day, we talked about going to school (he had been out for a month) and meeting new friends, playing, etc.  He started kind of whimpering, but didn't cry.  Then, the next day, he was up really early (I think because he was anxious about school).  On our way to school, he continued to whine/whimper and suck his thumb.  I could tell, it would not be an easy goodbye.  When we got into his new classroom, we didn't see any of his friends from last year.  So, we meet his teachers and I sit down with him on the floor and show him a fire truck.  There is another little boy playing with a train beside of us.  He is older than Tanner and starts talking to him about trains and trucks.  Tanner played for a second, then I told him that I had to go bye bye......That's when things went south!  He started really crying and screaming.  I kissed him and told him I would be back in a little while.  His teacher, Mrs. Martha, picked him up and I left him still crying.  On the way out, I saw the director, Mrs. Katie.  She asked if that was Tanner she could hear crying.  I said yes and that his last teacher got him with snacks in the beginning.  Mrs. Katie said "Ok, I'll try that and I'll call you if I need too."  So I left feeling like I wanted to cry too.  When I came to pick him up, Mrs. Katie said that he calmed down after a few minutes and going into the gym to ride a bike.  When I walk into his room, he yells "Nonny" and runs to hug me.  Best moment ever!!!!
That night, we talked about school and his new teachers.  Anytime I said anything about school, he would fake cry.  I tried to tell him no, we say "yaaaaay" when we are talking about school.  It didn't work, but was worth a try!  The next day, same thing on the way to school and same thing when I dropped him off....crying, screaming, sad Mommy.  When I picked him up, Mrs. Katie told me that from now on, his class (the ones and twos) will be dropped off in the gym because Tanner and a few others do better in there.  So the next day, I drop him off in the gym and he runs away, right over to a bike.  The rest is history.  He has been so excited to go to school and ride on the bikes!  Today was the last day of summer school, so he will be out of school for the month of August.  But, when he goes back, a few of his friends from the summer will be in his class, so that will be nice.  Hopefully, we will have an easier transition, but I am not holding my breath about it.   I can sympathize with how Tanner feels because I am also nervous and shy in new situations.  Even as a teacher, I would get anxious about the first day of school.  Thankfully, it gets easier the more you do it, and Tanner will have plenty of practice before Kindergarten!  :)  

Flashback Blog: Tanner's birthday

In honor of my big boy turning two, I thought I would do a flashback blog about his actual birthday (June 26th, 2009).
On Thurs. June 24th, Bobby and I were scheduled to be induced at 7 am.  The induction was because of my high blood pressure and protein in my urine, which is a sign of pre-eclampsia.  The night before, Bobby and I ate at Olive Garden and tried to go to bed early.  He seemed to sleep fine, I was sooooooo nervous.  I even told him that if something happens to me, tell Tanner that his mommy loved him very much.  The hospital told us to call in the morning to make sure that they had room for us, and they did!  So off we go!  I tried to eat a little breakfast, but that didn't really happen.
We get to CMC-Pineville and they tell check me.  I am 80% effaced and a whopping 2 centimeters dilated. Do the midwife puts cervil on my cervix and tells me to walk around.  Bobby and I walk a few rounds, then his parents arrive.  They walk with us a few more rounds, then my mom get there.  We all walk around a bit more and my sis-in-law gets there.  At this point I am sick of walking so, we go back to my room and chill.  I am feeling some slight cramping, but nothing major.  They check me, I have dilated to 3 centimeters.  Now time for the pitocin.  They give me the pitocin, the contractions really start, and I request an epidural.  After the epidural, all I kept saying was "Now this is the way to have a baby."  By this time, it's dinner time for everyone (except me, of course) so the crew gets Japanese take out and a dish for me for after the birth.  Then I rested for a bit.  The nurse kept checking me and at 11:00 pm, I was at 10 and she said I could start pushing.  The midwife was in another labor when I started and the nurse said that she can see the head, and he has hair, so if I am a good pusher, she will have to have me stop and wait for the midwife.  I guess, I was not a good pusher because it took me 1 hour and 16 mins. to have Tanner.  When Tanner was born, Bobby, his mom and sister, and my mom were in the room.  What a special moment!  :)  Right after he was born, he had a busted blood vessel on his umbilical cord, so they had to take him over and work on that.  Then I delivered the placenta and that's when things went downhill.  After the placenta comes out, my uterus should have closed, but instead, it didn't and therefore, I hemorrhaged.  I knew something was wrong because the nurse had all of the visitors except Bobby leave and suddenly there were TONS of nurses in there.  I kept telling Bobby that something was wrong, but he said no, everything is fine (even though he knew it wasn't, he was trying to keep me calm.)  They worked on me until about 1:30am and Bobby stayed by my side, holding my hand, the whole time. They still could not getting to bleeding to stop, so they put a sponge in me and told me no food or drink until the morning after I go into the Operating room.  The doc wanted to have more help just in case I was still bleeding  and they had to take out my uterus (aka a hysterectomy). That night, I was on bed rest as I was too weak to get out of bed.  Therefore, Bobby held Tanner all night long.  Tanner slept on his chest and Bobby was smitten!  My mom also ended up sleeping in our hospital room, I think she was worried about me and didn't want to leave.
In the morning, they took me to the OR waiting room, where I waited for almost 2 hours to go into surgery.  They ended up giving me a blood transfusion since I had lost so much blood, then took me into surgery.  When I woke up, they said the bleeding had stopped and I did not have to have a hysterectomy!  YAY!!! I was finally wheeled back to my room to be with my new baby!  Finally, it was my turn to love on Tanner Boo Boo, and I've been doing it ever since!  :)
The difference between Tanner's birth story and Brennan's is like night and day, but in the end, we got two healthy, happy babies....what more could one ask for?