Never a Dull Moment

Whew! I'm finally finding a minute to sit down and do a post! The kids keep me hopping, both are like full blown tornados whirling through the house, starting from the minute they wake up! They start the day at a full gallop...where as, given my choice, I'd have a slower paced morning. But nope, before my feet can even hit the ground I'm assaulted with questions and demands... "Mom! It's morning! Get up! The sun is shining! I'm hungry! Will you make my brekspis? What's taking you so long? Can we do a project? Are we going anywhere today? Can I watch TV?" And Noah, yelling "MOM!" from his crib. Meanwhile, I kind of grunt in response, get Noah out, shuffle into the kitchen and try to down some coffee and convince Bree she needs to eat breakfast before anything else. And, while Noah is less verbal, he still gets in on the act. He'll grunt at me and grab my hand and lead me to the kitchen and point to the pantry, or point to the fruit bowl and say "ba-ba" (banana).

Noah's really growing like a weed and is learning and doing new things left and right. He's also becoming such a boy! For example, some of his most frequently used words are: stuck, help, ew, and ow if that gives you any clues to his daily activities. Not to mention, he's also discovered that essentially male thing, peeing standing up... it was after bath time one day and after I wrapped him in his towel, he immediately took off down the hall. I wrapped Bree in her towel and then went to grab Noah and get him dressed. When I reached him though, there he was in the buff standing next to a little puddle. "Noah," I said, "did you make that puddle?" His response? He bent his knees a little and stuck out his hips in an unmistakable pose. I guess they catch onto that pretty young.

Noah's also decidedly male in his social interactions...he's the classic little brother. Brianna builds the blocks, Noah likes to topple them. Brianna wants to play imaginary stories, Noah just wants to wrestle her. He likes playing cars and yelling.

He's just a little busybody, and is getting into everything! He really thinks he's a big boy and should get to do everything his sister and parents do. It seems like I'm always following him around trying to stop him from doing something he shouldn't like: dipping wash cloths into the toilet and scrubbing things with them, climbing onto the top of the couch, reaching through the passthru into the kitchen and playing with the faucet, or chasing the cats down and trying to brush their teeth.

He also continues his odd love affair with coffee. He'll watch me closely to see if I leave a cup within his reach and then, pow! the minute I'm not looking he slurps up what's left in the bottom of cup. One time, I even caught him dipping his tooth brush into my coffee and brushing his teeth with it!

Of course, Brianna's keeps me hopping too in her own way and keeps on finding new things to say that keep me laughing and/or scratching my head, like telling me I had bought an "unusual yogurt flavor" (I'd gotten boysenberry instead of the usual strawberry), or, while playing Playstation exclaiming, "I've got skills!"

No wonder I drink a lot of coffee! It's my only defense! Although, I do have a secret weapon lately. When I need a break I've been popping in a Laurie Berkner DVD. It's great because it's all kids' music and it's catchy. Whenever I put it on both kids are immediately dancing away. So it's great, I get a break and a show while I'm resting.

So you see, my life was full and busy enough with 2 kids, but adding a puppy to the mix has made it even more crazy! Actually, we're really enjoying our Niko though. He's starting to learn his puppy manners, sitting and coming on command. And he's fitting in quite nicely, although, the cats still remain skeptical about him, but they've at least reached a live and let live type arrangement. Yes, so far the benefits of dog ownership are really worth it, although, Niko's influence on Noah is a bit questionable. These days Noah is often crawling along the floor, playing puppy, and has started just walking up and licking people... I dunno.

Our New Family Member

Well, once again, it's been awhile since I blogged. But this time I actually have a really good reason! You see, I've been a little bit busy with our new family member!

Everybody, meet Niko! (You say it like Nee-Coe) Our new Miniature Australian Shepherd puppy! Isn't he a doll?

Yes, at long last, Brianna's dream has come true... she's only been asking to get a dog since she learned to say the word. And finally, Mom and Dad felt ready to take the plunge! We took it seriously though, we want to be responsible pet owners and we wanted to make sure to get the right dog for us. So, after doing lots and lots of research on breeds, we decided that the Australian Shepherd was the breed for us. They're good natured, good with kids, great family pets, and are gorgeous dogs. We wanted to get the Mini Aussie though since we thought that would be a better size for our lifestyle and yard. So, long story short, I spent lots and lots of time online reading through shelter listings and newspaper ads until... we found him!

He came from a great family just outside Billings who own both his mom and dad. After talking with them on the phone, we decided to make it a Valentine's weekend trip and hit the road! And the rest is history... There were actually 2 little puppies to choose from, but Brianna instantly picked out this guy.

I mean, who could resist this face? Bree also had some ideas about names...first she wanted to call him "Chocolate" and then suggested "Flipster" but, we vetoed those.

He's one good looking dog! And so sweet-natured too! He's been wonderful with the kids and seems to have decided that we're okay as "his people." He even likes our cats, although, they're not too sure about him yet.

Mini Models

I've been doing a lot of sewing for my little Breeno Baby shop lately. It's been a fun way to pass the time this winter, not to mention I want to have a lot to offer when the local farmer's market rolls back around. So, I've been beefing up the inventory. Recently I decided it was time to list some of my items on Etsy. And lucky for me, I have the perfect little people to model my things living right here with me. As their completely unbiased mother, I think they're the most adorable little models that I couldn't resist sharing some of the pictures Travis took of the two of them displaying some of my favorite Breeno Baby products, aprons.

Here they are both wearing little aprons. I love this picture because of how Bree's looking over and smiling down at Noah.

A close up of one cute little train conductor!

And here he is with his "Blue Steel" look. (Yes, a Zoolander reference.)

I've made a few coordinating mother/daughter aprons sets lately as well. I like this shot for the way Bree is looking up at me, it's a sweet moment.

Aren't I lucky to have such sweet little models to help me show my crafty stuff off? :)

Breeisms

Been awhile since I've done an installment so here's a fresh batch of stuff for you that amuses me about my daughter:

At 4 Bree actually has a pretty good vocabulary, but she's still young enough that she gets things wrong here and there. It's just so darn cute and always makes me smirk. A couple of her most recent verbal mishaps? Well, there was the time that she was telling me all about the "tree slob" (tree sloth), and then the day when she was singing along to the Mickey Mouse theme song with much gusto "L-I-C-K-E-Y L-O-U-S-E!"

But then, the other end of the spectrum provides me with just as much entertainment. It's just as amusing to me to hear my small girl telling me about things using big words and in a very serious tone, which is often the case when Brianna's talking about her emotions. She's a dramatic and outgoing little gal who experiences the full gamut of emotions with intensity, and knows how to express them! Just check out some of the things she's said to us lately...

- After having a bit of a meltdown about which chair she wanted to sit in when out to dinner she said, "Sorry I was being so complicated and shy in the reskeraunt."

- "I'm shy!" This one she says quite often when she doesn't feel like doing what you're asking of her. Too bad for her, everyone, and I mean everyone, who's met the kid for more than 5 minutes knows she's the complete opposite of shy!

- "You're embarrassing me!" Yes, you're never too young to feel embarrassed by your parents or your little brother in public.

- "Dad, you're exasperating me!" No idea where she picked that one up, but it made us laugh!

Even though she's quite good at talking about her feelings, there is one thing that just leaves her quite speechless, where she just growls and grumbles. You see, she has answering machine rage. She finds it quite frustrating when she tries to call someone and they're not there. Therefore, some of our loved ones have gotten messages that go like this, "MOM! What the heck?! She's not answering! She's not there! Not again! AAAAGHH!" And then me in the background saying, "Well, leave a message sweetie." And her going, "I don't want to leave a message! Why isn't she there!..... okay, CALL BRIANNA!" click.


Then there are those times when she throws a word in there that's just a surprise. A word I didn't know she could say, let alone use properly! For example, when she wanted to take a bath and wanted Noah to join her. I was on the phone when she asked me so I told her she could go ahead and get the water running. Then she said, "Oh, so the water will attract Noah in the bathroom?" Or there was the other day when she wanted a morning snack, but wanted to make her own. I wasn't too sold on the idea, having just cleaned the kitchen and not wanting to face a preschooler snack-making mess. But, she was so cute trying to talk me into it... "Mom, just give me some bread and some peanut butter and all kinds of ingredients to put on top!" So, she ended up decorating her PB slathered bread with cheerios, raisins, mini-marshmallows and goldfish crackers.

TV shows continue to be a source of fresh material for Bree as well. She absorbs everything (we have to be very careful what she watches) and incorporates it into her play. Lately she's really been into the show "Imagination Movers." In the show, there's a character called "Knitknots" who plays the boring neighbor. He always wears beige and hates anything that too exciting. So, sure enough the other day Bree informed her dad that he was, "boring like Knitnots." (He'd been taking a few moments to rest on the couch, quite boring for our high energy gal who's always on the go.)

One of her other favorite programs of the moment is a cartoon called "Phineas and Ferb." (Which, I admit, is one of the few kid shows Travis and I enjoy as well and will sit down and watch with her.) In this show, there's a platypus who's a secret agent and his nemesis, Dr. Doofensmirtz, who always has whacky plots to take over the city. Well, the other day when Bree was playing with her little brother she decided he would be "the bad guy" and started referring to him as "Noah Doofensmirtz," much to her parents amusement.

Alas, Noah often gets transformed into crazy characters that are part of Brianna's vivid imaginary play. Recently she refuses to even call him Noah, referring to him only as "Checkson." In fact, when I call him Noah she'll quickly jump in and say, "You mean Checkson?" I thought it was pretty cute although, a bit baffling why she was suddenly deciding to rename him, and why "Checkson?" After some thought, I decided it must be because we know several little boys name Jackson and this was her version of the name. Then I noticed she had also renamed herself Paula. I still didn't make the connection... it was Travis who figured it out. Paula and Checkson... You see, Travis is an American Idol fan and a new season has started up. So it's not uncommon for us to turn it on in the background some nights while eating dinner. After all, our kids love music and usually just dance around and stuff. But, apparently the other details about the show haven't slid past Bree, and she's even made note of the judges PAULA Abdul and Randy JACKSON.