One Year Well Check.......

Breck had his one year well check today, he is 31 inches long and 23 pounds. His height puts him in the 90th percentile and his weight is only in the 50th percentile...I always call him why chunky baby but I guess he's just right. He has def slimmed down, he used to be in the 90th percentile for weight. Developmentally he is ahead of the game and a smart little cookie. He wasn't too happy to have his blood drawn for the iron, vitamin d and lead levels but he really didn't like getting the one vaccine we did this time. He cried for only a second though, he is a trooper for sure. So overall it was a great 1 year well baby check for our adorable, healthy baby boy!

I survived......

Parenthood is one of those things you love 99.99 percent of the time. And each and every day I am so super thankful to be a mommy and to have my littles snuggled up next to me when I wake up in the morning and giving me kisses before we fall asleep at night. But for 2 days I was at the edge of mommyhood! On Monday we flew to AZ to visit our friends. Kayden was SO excited about this trip. He had been asking to go visit Tula, Tatum, "Milla" and Audee since we moved 6 months ago. So timing finally worked out and we booked the trip. I of course wanted to go to see my friends but I was so excited for him to see his friends b/c he had told me so many times "turn this way and go to XX's house". So Monday, November 1st (2 days after Breck turned 1 and 1 day after Halloween!) my mom dropped us off at the airport. After getting thru security (taking shoes off of 2 kiddos, plus me, jackets off, ergo off, baby out of ergo, liquids in bag, purse, luggage, backpack in buckets, sippies litmus tested....after all of that we finally got thru security. really? would I really put a bomb in my 12 month old's shoe? does his soft robeez really need to come off?....anyway) we got thru. The flight was delayed about an hour. So our 1.5 hour wait after security, became a 2.5 hour wait after security. Fun times. It all started here. Kayden was not enjoying being stuffed in a small waiting room, full of people and luggage waiting to get on an airplane. We were flying out of Grand Island, it's a small town airport, so the waiting area is tiny and they stuff the planes to AZ so the waiting area was PACKED. So between knocking down our luggage over and over, pouring his food on the floor and terrorizing Breck I was ready to call it quits before we even got on the plane. Well, I should have listened to those cues and stayed home!!
During our trip Kayden decided he was not going to listen to mommy. Anything I said, he would argue with and time outs, rewards, talking to him, none of it worked. On top of not listening to mommy he also was having difficulty being nice to Tula and Mav. So Tuesday we went to bed and I was exhausted from dealing with him. Well, Breck decided this would be a good night to get the tummy flu. So tired mommy was up all night with a sick baby. A sick baby in someone else's home. Not fun. A sick baby is no fun. But a sick baby in someone else's home is even worse. So we woke up the next day, tired and not sure how the baby would do. Packed the kiddos up and headed to the zoo. Kayden continued with not listening to mommy routine and fed his entire lunch to the ducks, despite all of my attempts to get him to eat his darn food. That night I had Kyle book us flights home to KS. We flew out early the next morning. During the night Breck threw up again so I wasn't sure how the flight would go. The flight was not good. Breck was sick and crying the whole flight. Kayden was wired and ready for the day b/c it was a 7am flight (I usually fly during nap times!) and was not enjoying sitting in his seat. Thankfully Breck didn't puke ON the flight, but managed to hold it until Daddy picked us up and we were walking in to eat lunch and threw up all over the floor of our chosen lunch spot. Nice way to make everyone not hungry!
Well after a crappy trip and a crappy flight I was so excited to be home and clean my house and enjoy life at home. Surprise. Not in the cards! Friday evening Kyle came home sick. An hour later I was sick. 2 hours later Kayden was sick. We spent all night Friday up sick. Taking care of sick kids. And all day Saturday sick. By Sunday we were better but still tired. Poor Kayden though wasn't so lucky and was sick until Monday! So I got to spend the whole weekend sick and then the next few days doing laundry and cleaning up Kayden's sick spots.
I have decided I will never fly anywhere again with the boys by myself. Okay. Maybe at some point I will. But right now. I. Can't. Imagine. It. Not sure what would be so important that it would make me want to do it! Thank You God that we live a drive away from our family. If we didn't, we would never see them bc my days of flying every few months like Kayden and I did are OVER. God has a way of knowing what you need and he knew we needed to be close to our family. THANK THE LORD.

Trick or Treat!

With Roary and Obi in Kearney, NE. Kayden would not pose for a picture in his costume, but Roary was more than happy to smile in his lion outfit! We started at Uncle Mark and Aunt Carrie's townhouse and then walked to Auntie Janine's house and trick or treated on the way. Kayden loved getting candy and Breck enjoyed the sights:) They went for a few houses after Janine's and then he was done. They had a whole crew with them trick or treating, G&G W, Uncle Mark, Aunt Carrie, Uncle Kurt and Sarah all came for the fun. We went back to Janine's and Kayden helped hand out candy for awhile. He LOVED this job and would sit the bowl on the porch and hand out candy to each kiddo. Then we got in the tahoe and went to Brandon Kershner's parent's house and Auntie Martha's. The night was a classic, chilly halloween night. I loved being in the midwest for halloween again, it felt like I had always remembered halloween feeling and I am so happy my littles get to enjoy hot cocoa after a night of trick or treating (or that I get to enjoy hot cocoa....they have plenty of sugar in all that candy they get!)

But he did smash....

the next day! So I got some pics afterall!

Breck's 1st Birthday Party

Breck's first birthday party was at my parent's house in Kearney. Grandma had to work that weekend so we moved the party to Kearney so she wouldn't miss this milestone with the little man. I had known for about 6 weeks that our theme would be a lion one bc Breck had started roaring like a lion whenever he saw one or we asked him to and I thought it was adorable and decided we'd go with "what he liked":) So lions it was. His Auntie Carrie designed his birthday invite and cupcake toppers and they were super cute. His cousin Sarah designed his lion cupcakes and decorated his #1 smash cake, we are so blessed to have such talented family members!
His birthday fell on a Saturday. And a Saturday in October means.....HUSKER FOOTBALL. So between shouts and screams from his football loving daddy, uncles, cousins and grandpa........baby Breck didn't get much of a nap. He was a trooper though as long as mommy was close by during his party. We had pulled pork sandwiches on Grandpa's grill, beans, chips, and salad for dinner and of course cake for dessert. He had all of his most important people at the party, G&G Westerbuhr, G&G Hingst, Uncle Kurt, Uncle Mark and Aunt Carrie, Auntie Janine, Uncle Dan, Alec, Auntie Martha, Sarah and Amber were all there for the big event. Erica and Chelle are college girls now and couldn't make it and we missed them lots! He got lots of fun presents and some $$ too and big brother Kayden helped him open them all. He decided he liked ripping the paper too and I'm pretty sure he'll be a pro by Christmas time!
During his gift opening someone clapped for him and he decided he liked this. Well he joined the clapping and then would scan the whole room to make sure we were all watching and we were all clapping WITH him. It was adorable and I hope I can remember that moment forever. So everytime we wanted to get him to smile the rest of the night....we'd all clap:) It worked great and he loved it.
During cake time, he enjoyed us singing to him and wanted to check his cake out. He also helped blow out his candle with lots of cues from me "blow it like we blow hot food".....but when it came to cake smashing, he wanted nothing to do with it. He wanted OUT of his seat and didn't even want to taste his cake. I was pretty bummed to not get the famous cake smashing pics that you always take at first birthdays. But our little guy was too tired from his football party/birthday party day and just wanted some mommy cuddles. Who can argue w/ that?
You had a great 1st birthday party baby boy! Surrounded by lots of people that love you so much!

Dear Brecken Cole,

Tonight as you slept in my arms I looked at your toes and fingers and couldn't believe how much they have grown in a year. A year. A year changes so much when you are only one. It really shows us grown-ups the meaning of time.
Happy 1st Birthday my baby boy. You turned one on Saturday and I can hardly believe it. I would swear I just had you. You were just placed on my chest and our eyes just met, you just looked at me for the first time and calmed your screams because you knew I was your mom and we had always known eachother. Our hearts beat in a rythm together for 38 weeks and 6 days. I felt every kick, hiccup and roll inside of my tummy. And now you are a 24 pound baby boy turning 1!
This past year with you has been amazing. You teach me everyday about happiness. You are such a sweet, happy little soul, you wake up with a big smile and go to sleep at night with that same smile on your sweet little face. Everytime you see me your face lights up and I get to see that perfect smile again on your adorable face. You giggle all day long and if you hear anyone else laughing your giggle begins even if you don't know why you should be laughing.
You love to cuddle, your little head knows just where to lay on my chest to cuddle in just so. You often pat my back as your snuggling in for some mommy love, I love that so much and it always makes me smile to feel your little hand patting away.
And of course, you are such a smartie, you love learning your animal sounds and growl when you see pictures or toys that are Lion, Bears, and dinosaurs (or if we ask you what those animals say). You "moo" like cow, "woof" like a doggie, and pound your chest like a gorilla (but you prefer to come and pound my chest if I'm around:). You say mama, dada, hot, bye bye, and hi and sign eat, bath, more, drink and all done. You started walking a couple weeks ago but you still prefer to crawl, you think your faster that way. But when you do walk you are so proud of yourself and smile from ear to ear. You love puzzles and blocks and cars and trains. And bring me books all day long to read. Your FAVORITE book is "Barnyard Dance", if I'm reading you another book and you see that book, you'll grab it and open it and start pointing for me to read that book. That is another thing you love doing, pointing, at everything you see and everything you want us to look at with you! Any toy big brother likes is your favorite right now too. You LOVE your bath and could play in the water for hours. You love to be outside and get upset if someone runs something outside and you don't get to join them for some outside playtime! You are getting less tolerant of big brother taking things from you and let us know when you aren't happy. You sleep with mommy and daddy most of the night but take naps in your crib. You nurse on demand and eat 3 meals a day, you feed yourself most of the time, the only food we really still spoon feed you is your yobaby yogurt. You've had pretty much all of what we do other than peanuts/nuts and honey. You've had organic, whole milk and you'll drink some! Your a little stinker when we change your diaper and roll around and get cranky with us about it. But you are a champ in the car and we are so thankful for that! In the Tahoe when we are driving and you are tired you hum yourself to sleep:) You love your big brother and always want to play with/by him. You also love your daddy and get super excited when he gets home from work. But right now, your greatest love is for your mommy:) You prefer to always have me in your sight and if I'm playing with you or holding you or sleeping with you, you are completely content. Mommy loves this stage. I love that I am who you want when you cry or when your sad, or when you want to laugh. I adore you too little man and enjoy every second that I spend with you!
Happy first birthday baby boy. It has been a wonderful year and we are so very blessed to have you in our family. I have cherished each moment you've slept in my arms or cuddled up next to me, each smile you've given me, and each laugh we've shared. I feel so very thankful everytime I look at you, my heart swells up and it feels like it's going to burst. You were made for me little man and I am so very thankful to have you as my son. We all love you to the moon and back a million times!
Love,
Mommy XOXOXOXOXO

"married?"

The other night Kayden SLAMMED his head into my nose (it still hurts!). So hard that I cried and ran to the other room so he wouldn't see me. He comes and starts climbing on me and begging me to go back to his room to read his bedtime stories. Kyle proceeds to get kind of cranky with him and tell him to leave me alone b/c I was hurt. So after I pulled myself back together we went to read stories. After stories we were laying together in his bed and he said, "mommy why was daddy so mad at me for hurting you?", I didn't really know what to say because daddy wasn't "really" mad as he said, just a little stern. So I said "bc I'm his wife and he doesn't like it when I'm hurt." He then had to ask me when we got married, "Did you get married when I married Carrie?" (yes, he still thinks HE married Carrie...not his uncle Mark!), I said no, we got married 6 years ago, before you were born. He then stood up in his bed and danced in a circle and said "did you do that when you got married?", and I said, "why is that what you do when you get married?" he said "yes". And I laughed. So funny to me that he thinks dancing in a circle is what you do when you get married (especially because he was JUST at his Uncle's wedding!). But I love that in his 3 year old mind, you dance in a circle and get married:)