Great Two Weeks

Brody has been enjoying the awesome play set we got as a hand-me-down from my coworker Peggy! It was such a great gift!

We started out June by heading to Ludington State Park for a family camping trip. We had a great time biking, visiting a nearby elk farm and enjoying the sunset over the water.

On Saturday, my grandmother celebrated her 96th birthday. It was such a great day!

Last weekend we were lucky to have Jim's mom and dad, sister Sue and nephew Nathan out to visit us from Pennsylvania. Brody got to enjoy a lot of firsts with them: going to a local baseball game and bowling!

Family Photos at my Mom and Dad's

Trip to the John Ball Park Zoo

Ride 'em Cowboy!

We took Brody to the Zoo in Grand Rapids on Friday. It was a beautiful day and we all had a great time. I thought Brody was going to be very excited to see all of the animals, but it ended up that he was a little nervous around all the new creatures. None of us had been there before and Jim got to enjoy feeding the birds and petting the sting rays. Those of you who know anything about me would know that there was no way that I would be feeding the birds and no way that Brody or I would be taking a ride on a camel.

Not too sure about the chickens

Must be the turtle felt like this leg was a little pale

Maybe mommy has a right to be scared!

Brody was brave enough to pet the goat

Look at the sharks!

Just along for the ride!
(This picture is especially for Schon)

My favorite picture of the day

We have started to experience the beginnings of the "Terrible Twos" with Brody. Last week Jim was gone on business and Brody decided to give mom a run for her money. He has started to enjoy throwing food and laughs when he is punished. This all lead to my stop at the bookstore today to pick up a parenting book - this could be the hardest part of being a parent - getting a 1 1/2 year old to do what you want them to...or at least stop doing what you don't want them to do.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Mother's Day

Brody and Jim helped me celebrate a great Mother's Day. Brody made me a beautiful card at Daycare and picked out the perfect present at Hallmark. I received a red cardinal with flowers painted on it - which is the perfect gift from Brody this year because it is a "Ducky".

The Ducky

We had a great time Mother's Day weekend with my parents and my brother. Brody was excited to have so many people to entertain and play with.

We tried to get a family picture, but the only way Brody would smile was if he was upside down!

When I was a child this would have never been allowed...but now that she is a Grandma anything goes!

Brody helped all of us eat our chocolate cake after dinner. He definitely got his mother's sweet tooth!

Uncle Neal is a great play pal! They had fun playing in Brody's new playhouse (a great find for $50) and in the yard.




And then everyone had to leave on Sunday....

Jim and Brody were walking across the street to see the neighbor's new pole barn and I caught this picture - I think this is one of my favorites!

Grandma Sue brought a shirt she had embroidered for Brody - he got to wear it this week and was proud to say there was a Ducky on his shirt!

I tried and tried to get a picture with him smiling...the best I could do was to get him to look at me!

Brody LOVES to be outside now that the weather is nice out. It seems like the end of the world when we have to go in.

We are going camping for the first time this weekend. I am sure that I will have a lot of pictures to update when we get back. I hope everyone has a great Memorial Day Weekend!

Brody is Quite the Helper

Brody has become quite the helper in the last few weeks. He does everything from picking up his toys to weeding the flowerbeds with me. Today he helped Jim clean up after a Baby Shower for our neighbor and showed us that child locks may not have been such a great invention! Brody and I have been sharing a cold for the last week, so not too many pictures have been taken. I will update again once I start feeling better!

Happy Easter

We had a great Easter Weekend. We started it all off by decorating easter eggs (it took a few days to get the green off Brody's legs!)

The Easter Egg Hunt was so much fun! Brody was so excited to keep finding more and more eggs!

And finally he arrived at the best part of the hunt - a 4 wheeler! He quickly learned how to make it go (without constantly jerking) and was styling with his leather jacket (courtesy of Uncle Neal) and shades!

Update

Everything went well with the process of getting tubes. It is unbelievable the difference it has made in Brody! He is now walking without falling down, is HAPPY! and is starting to say so many words (baby, cracker, ball, Jackson (I guess he really likes his friend at school)! Everyone has noticed the difference and at DayCare they are just amazed at how he is talking and eating so much now! I am very thankful that this whole process went so quickly and can't believe what he must have felt like before this. Just wanted to give everyone the updated - I will add pictures in the next few days.

Picasa Software

I just found the Picasa Software available from Google and decided to test it out. It has some neat features that you can use to create collages. I haven't gotten too far yet but thought I would post some pictures from the last week using it.

We go in tomorrow morning for Brody to get tubes placed in his ears. I will update after tomorrow to let everyone know how it goes! I am a little nervous because it requires him to be sedated - but everyone who has had it done says I will be amazed at how fast it goes. The procedure is at 8:30am tomorrow morning and we have to be there at 7am so it will be an early morning for us!

We have an Eater!

Last weekend we went to Detroit to celebrate my friend Barb's daughter's 4th birthday. We had a great time playing with Brody at the Bounce House! That night Brody also decided to start eating like a big boy! We were having pizza and he just started eating it by the slice! His appetite continued this week when my mom and dad came to stay with us while Jim was gone and we scarfed down her spaghetti! I couldn't believe it! He seems to have turned the corner on being a picky eater! Hopefully this will mean that he will grow out of the 25th percentile!

Grandpa and Brody

Jim is finally home (for the time being) and just in time! I took Brody back to the doctor yesterday for a followup on his ear infection and unfortunately it is still not cleared up! He has already been on 2 antibiotics and it has lingered around for 3 weeks...so it looks like it might be time for tubes! I am taking him to the ENT tomorrow to get an opinion and we will go from there.

Not too much has been going on here, we are all just waiting for the warm weather to come! As always Brody is keeping us laughing....here are some pictures to enjoy!

Brody playing with the maracas Uncle Neal gave him

Jim's trying to teach Brody how to be a biker!