No tubes yet!

As some of you know, Brett was suppose to get tubes put in his ears last Wednesday. He has only had one ear infection, but since December he has had lots of fluid in his ears that just won't go away. Due to the fluid, his pediatrician told us that he would not pass a hearing test. Then when we went to the E.N.T. we were told that his hearing is probably only about 40% on his right ear. No wonder Brett is hard to understand sometimes! Poor little guy! So, we were more than ready for Brett to have the surgery last Wednesday. But, just our luck, when we woke him up bright and early the morning of his surgery, he had an awful sounding cough and was wheezing, just like when he had croup. He even told us, "I'm sick, mommy", I knew right away that we would have to cancel and reschedule the surgery. We took him to the doctor later in the day and found out that he had strep throat. No wonder he had been sleeping so terrible the past few nights! After a few days of being on antibiotics, he was back to his happy self and sleeping MUCH better again. His surgery is rescheduled for next Wednesday, may 30th. Now if he can just stay healthy so we can get this over with!

Once he was feeling better, life went on with fun activities. In the past few days we've gone to soccer, Gallup Park again, the petting farm at Dominos Farms, swimming class, and checked out a beautiful park by the river in Dexter. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera for most of those activities, but of course, I do have a few pictures to share :-) I love taking pictures! :-)

Here are some more shots of our little soccer player! 

These balls are all MINE! HA!

Notice Brett passing all the other kids to catch up to his daddy! Priceless.

Yesterday afternoon I got out the Lincoln Logs expecting to build a house or building of some sort with Brett. But no, my creative little boy had other ideas. Here he is making cars and boats :-)

And then when he finished that activity, it was time to make some music!

Gallup Park!

Last week Brett and I ventured to Gallup Park for the afternoon!  I have always loved this park and every time I go it brings back memories from when Kyle and I were dating. We used to go there often as a new couple - and Kyle liked to surprise me by taking me there for picnics and canoeing. So much fun!!! Since Brett was born I've enjoyed taking him there on occasion, and every year he just seems to like it more and more!I think we'll be going there many times this summer - and maybe even take him on his first canoe ride!

Our friendly greeter, Mr. Goose :-)

Quite the pair!

Enjoying our picnic lunch on the bench by the water

Throwing bread to the ducks and geese. We made lots of friends!

Why hello, Mrs. Goose

Like me, Brett could've hung out with the geese and ducks all day. They made us happy!

The best part was when these cute babies came right up to us to see if we had anything good. So cute!!

Mother Goose says "Don't mess with my goslings!!"

Do you have any goodies for us? Pretty Please?

After spending almost 2 hours watching and feeding the ducks and geese, we decided it was time to go over the big bridges! 

Lots to explore!

We had such a great day there and already can't wait to go back!! Maybe if we're lucky we can convince some friends to join us next time!!

Brett's FIRST soccer practice!!

Well, today was the big day....Brett's first soccer practice and Kyle's first day being the coach to a bunch of rambunctious 3 year old's!! I have to start out by saying how PROUD I am of Kyle for stepping up to the plate to coach his son's first soccer team :-) Soccer has always been Kyle's sport of choice, and he played all throughout middle school and high school, and even a bit in college. He always told me that he wanted to coach Brett's teams if he played soccer as a little boy - but I thought he meant when he was older, like atleast 6 or 7! So, I was very surprised when Kyle came home one day and told me that he had volunteered to coach a bunch of 3 year old's! My first thought was, does Kyle know what he is getting himself into?! He was up for the challenge though, and today he showed me, yet again, just what a wonderful dad he is!! He was able to keep all the kids attention (most of the time), and did an amazing job!!! One of the moms came up to me and said "you're like the 'First Lady', being the wife of the coach!" - and ya know what? That is exactly how I felt --- proud to be his wife, proud to show him off, and let everyone know that he was MY husband :-) And yes, I know it was only 3 year old soccer - but in my mind, any man who can pull that off is one GREAT guy!

Kyle and I had not set high expectations for Brett...we just wanted to get him there and hopefully, maybe, have him kick the ball once! Like me as a child, Brett gets anxious and nervous in new situations, and at times when we would talk about soccer he would tell us that he didn't want to go. Fortunately though, when the day came (today), to put on that cool soccer shirt that daddy was wearing too, blow the whistle, and practice kicking the soccer ball on our back porch, Brett was beyond excited! He kept saying, "he shoots, he scores!" over and over. How cute is that?! When we arrived, he was a little overwhelmed with all the people and chaos going on around him, so it took a little coaxing to get him to walk across all the fields to where our spot was. As soon as he saw the huge bag of soccer balls waiting for him though, the excitement came back and him and Kyle started shooting goals while they waited for the other kids. Brett was having a blast! When everyone got there Kyle corralled them all and started 'practice' which is really just a bunch of fun games. Brett did great for about 15 minutes, following directions (with a little help from me) and giving me some Kodak moments. It was funny to see all the other parents out there as well, making sure their kids were doing what they were suppose to. After the water break, Brett decided that he wanted to "just watch for a little bit" - so that is what we did. The first 30 minutes consist of warm-ups and games, and then the last 15 minutes the kids play 4 on 4 with the other 3 year old team. A couple of the kids just wanted to watch, including Brett, and the rest ran, pushed, picked their noses, and chased after the ball, Seriously, watching 3 year old's TRY and play a real game is just hysterical!! Overall, I think Brett did a great job, and I am so proud of BOTH my boys :-) 

Scoring some goals while he waited for the other kids to arrive

Running across the field!

Reach your hands up to the sky!

Brett showing of his Toe Taps 

After the game we all went out to lunch at Brett's favorite restaurant - Bagger Daves! Here he is looking up at the train that goes around and around while you eat :-)

 Yummy ice cream for our little soccer player :-)

Funny Brett stories I don't want to forget

Brett is talking up a storm lately and seriously cracks Kyle and I up with some of the things he comes up with. For instance, a few weeks ago he started swim lessons. Once he is there and in the water, he has a BLAST - but because he was scared the first time he went, that's the feeling that he remembers. So, GETTING him there is the challenge. He usually tells us that he is scared and then goes and hides....and let me tell you, hearing that little voice say "I'm scared, mommy" just breaks my heart - but I know how much fun he has and how good it is for him, so of course I don't give in. This past Wednesday, Brett's cleverness came out and he had some new lines to pull on us -- I was in the bathroom getting ready, and Kyle was reminding Brett how much fun he has in swim class, and then all the sudden I heard words that I thought I wouldn't hear for atleast a few more years...he started to pretend cough and then said "I can't go to swim class daddy. I'm sick daddy." Fortunately I wasn't in the room because I could not hide my laughter! Then, when that didn't work, he told us both that he was really tired and needed to take a nap! Seriously, this is one strong willed little boy, and as you can see, he does NOT give up easily! I actually think this is a great quality that will take him far in life, just not right now when he is only 3 years old! After a little more coaxing (and distracting him by talking about trains), we were on our way, and like usual, once we got in the water, the smiles and laughter did not stop. Now, if only he could remember how much FUN he has so we don't have to go through this every week!

Another funny story...yesterday evening Kyle, Brett, and I were just hanging out together in the living room.  I was writing a few things down, and when I was finished Brett picked up the pad of paper and started drawing "train tracks" on some of the pages. I then excitedly said "Wow Brett, you are making your own book!". His face lit up with pride as he drew a bit more. Then he showed us the book and said "This is my very own book! I am going to hold it. I call it The Book". He then brought it over to me and asked me to read it. How cute is that?! I quickly made up a story about trains and train tracks as he listened intently next to me. After "reading" the pages he had "written", he wanted to hear more of the story so he asked me to draw some trains, and he added some too. It was such a great moment and I loved seeing how proud he was of himself. I think I will keep The Book forever :-)

The other day Kyle and Brett were playing and for some reason Kyle asked Brett to only bring out 4 cars. Well, that is a hard task for a 3 year old that usually wants to play with them ALL. So, being the smarty pants that he is, he started counting out 3 cars, then stopped, and counted out 3 cars again, and repeated this process until he had the number of cars that he wanted! I have to admit, I was definitely impressed with his logic --- as long as he never got to 4, he was all set, right?

I told Kyle today that sometimes I feel bipolar in the emotions I feel raising Brett right now. The two's weren't so terrible, but the THREE'S -man, he's got me here! I almost feel like he is too smart for his own good, and the testing he is doing drives me crazy sometimes. But, in between the moments when I feel like I could loose my mind, he is the most lovey, sweet, funny, entertaining little guy that I know. He makes me LAUGH like I've never laughed, LOVE like I've never loved, and brings more JOY than I've ever felt. The ups and downs of parenting are hard, but the rewards are far greater than anything I've experienced before.

Our week

Brett had a bad cold this past week so most of our days were spent at home in our PJ's doing lots of nothing. One or two days at home isn't bad, but after that I start to get stir crazy and BORED! Brett would appear to be feeling a little better so I would suggest some different things we could do - but every time I suggested something he had the same response, "I just want to stay home mommy". And I really knew he still wasn't feeling good on Wednesday when I asked him if he wanted to walk to Zou Zou's for a sprinkle cookie (something he NEVER turns down because those sprinkle cookies are his favorite), and he gave me the same answer as everything else - that he just wanted to stay home. So, we watched too much TV, snuggled a lot, played, and did a fun art project. Even though Brett wasn't feeling good I could tell that he was starting to get bored by mid week too- and both of us would get even more excited than usual when Kyle got home! We were so happy to see another face and have someone else around to entertain us! Finally, on Thursday morning, Brett seemed to be feeling better and more like himself  - so I excitedly invited some friends over to play in our backyard and have a picnic lunch. And this play date just MAY have been more for me than Brett :-) I think I jumped back to an activity a little too quickly because when everyone was over he didn't play much and was pretty clingy and quiet. Our friends only stayed about an hour and a half, and that afternoon Brett napped for over two hours. We didn't do much on Friday and finally, FINALLY by Saturday he was back to the happy little boy that we know :-)Thank goodness he was feeling better because that afternoon we took him over to my parents for a sleepover so Kyle and I could go over my best friend's house for a get together. Lots of fun was had and it was so strange coming home that night to a quiet house! Oh, and sleeping in wasn't so bad either! Thank you mom and dad!!!!

Brett loved the shaving cream art project we did when he was sick! First you put shaving cream in a baking tin and squirt some food coloring on top.

Next you stir it all around...

And then you press a piece of  paper on top...

And lastly you scrape the shaving cream off the paper and...VOILA! You get a masterpiece like this :-)

Brett is really into mixing and stirring these days, so of course, he had to add more food coloring afterwords!

And he DID get a little messy....

But it was so worth it to see the fun that he had!

Brett gets so excited when Kyle gets home and they often have daddy/Brett time of just talking about their day and snuggling. And like I said above, we were EXTRA excited this week when Kyle would get home. Here are some shots of my two favorite boys.

Hugs..

talking about their day,

 and smiling :-)

Since Brett was feeling better this weekend we spent LOTS of time outside. One of his favorite things to do it fill up the bird feeders...first the one in our backyard

 And now the one in front :-)

"I filled it all the way to the top!"

It was a bit of a long week since Brett wasn't feeling good, but it was nice to spend quality snuggling time with my favorite little guy! Now I'm ready to start the week off with a healthy boy and hopefully lots of warmth and sunshine so we can enjoy the outdoors - something we both love :-)