Brenner's all of our favorite chanel to watch.

It's amazing that are no batteries included in the boy. Beckett's favorite toy is his brother. When it's time for naps I have to send him away. Beckett hears him once and nap time is history. He looks and looks for brother to entertain him. Nursing him is painful for me when Brenner is around. Beckett tries to take his meal on the go. As he is still needing to watch brother at all times. Here are some very excellent examples.




And also one fine example of a wonderful Dad. Some big tough dad's do the tea parties. Brenner's dad does the dance off competition with him. In his defense this was just days after High School Musical 2 came out and we were so into it all.



We are not at all excited nor wanting anything in his mouth that would be food. As you can see he is really not happy with it.

Half way to deployment

Alright if you're an Army wife you'll understand this joke. The title that is. I had a "situational problem" with the car. But no one is sick and the washer is still working.

we're trying to get anywhere and it's the wrestle
Today we were on our way to the post office. Cue the music for the Start of Wrestle Match 8000. AKA get Beckett into the carseat, the boy into his shoes without laces flailing behind him and having gone to the bathroom while still remembering the two things to carry to the car. Amidst all of this the keys got locked in the car. Luckily no one, meaning Beckett, was inside the black hot car in the sun. Back inside we go. Beckett's call from the Governor comes in and he's let out of the car seat. He gives me this look like "Heh! Knew I'd get outta this one." I'm looking for the spare key and WHAP! Water all over the floor. Lesson 1. Beckett has a reach of more than 10 inches. Lesson 2. Beckett likes to swat at things. Lesson 3. Beckett thinks it's funny to see mommy squeal. Laughed and laughed. Lesson 4. When asking 6 year olds to get a towel for you tell them why so they don't walk through the invisible water on the floor in their socks and say "sorry mom." This is the "Learn something everyday" thing for me today. I wonder if everybody else's was just as interesting as mine? Hmm.

At that point I caved and put the baby to bed and the brother at the TV. The lock smith was now on his way from Honolulu. Guess there are no lock smith's near the northern end of the island. We thought you would enjoy seeing the ease it took this man to pop open our door. Brenner took the pictures as soon as he was there and clicked away and in 90 seconds he was done. I was still filling out my address and he was done. Mind you I was holding Beckett at the time but still it was really fast. We actually asked him to stand by the car for a posed photo op of him working on the car.

So now that the car has had it's problem we now turn our sights on the major appliances to break or a major cold/flu to wash over us. I'm putting my money on the sick.

Big news on the Beckett mobility report. As you can see we are now officially nosy enough to be
needing to go somewhere. We are liking the forward way of travel. He's pretty tough though. Tucks his head in a little bit extra right before he hits the floor before he wacks it. Not even a cry. Now, when the nose is struck we cry real hard. His ticked off cry in fact. So it's to his great advantage that his nose is tucked in closer than his forehead. Brenner thinks he's really brave for not crying. Told him, "Dude, Beckett, you're super tuff for not cryin'. " Beckett got his first tuff guy props from bro tonight. Clap for Beckett.

Your Simply the Best

Okay so I have the absolute best boys ever. They are totally in love with each other. Some of these reasons you're going to think that I've made up. But no. I have not. These are all true and the most heart felt genuine pure love I've ever seen. Should we start with the beginning? Yeah why not.

PRAYERS. Brenner has been praying for a sibling for years. Literally years. We lived in ID when he was 2 and he prayed about twice a week then. Move to NY and about the same until we were past Christmas and we moved up to three to four a week. They were the cutest. Heavenly Father please send me a sister/brother to play with. Please bless us with a sister to love. I want to be a big brother. That's when he decided upon a sister. He said he wanted a sister to take care of and love. With all the miscarriages he knew that the babies were coming and prayed that they would stay with us and would cry that they went to heaven before he could see them. So pregnant with Beckett he would pray every prayer that baby would grow safe and that mom would be safe too. He never complained about helping with anything or not being able to be picked up by me.

INTRODUCTION. In the recovery room I was holding Brother and he and Nana came in. Brian was holding Brenner when he first saw him. His eyes lit up and he covered his mouth and said. "He's here. Oh he's so precious." Then throughout the next two hours I heard these wonderful things from him. "Is he really okay?" "Can he really stay?" "I'm your brother. I'm Brenner. I love you." "He's so tiny." " I love you so much." "Thank you mommy." That was the best moment baring Beckett's first cry. Seeing him hold Beckett was amazing. Brothers. I finally saw brothers. His prayer was answered.

skip ahead to now.

AFTER SCHOOL. Every day after school, in kindergarten, he would read to him. Practicing without anyone critiquing him. He just loved showing him everything he does. "Brother do you want to see how I wash my hands after school" "This is how we get ready for (fill in the blank for everything he does)."

BED TIME. They both get into bath and showers at the same time. He is talking to Beckett the whole time to see at what part of the bath Beckett's at. "Are you washing your feet yet? Is it play time now? Are you wrinkly yet?" Then as they get jammas on and Brenner sits with Beckett and reads to him. Brenner's room is a Beckett free zone. For safety reasons. Brenner's Legos and small toys are only to be played in there. So, Beckett sits in his little chair at the door and Brenner reads scriptures to him. Showing him the pictures and explaining what's happening. When he cries he'll help him with a Binky or tell him he's not allowed to get out of his chair. He hugs him and tells him he loves him so much.

PAYBACK. The other night when I held Beckett down towards Brenner to have Brenner give Beckett a hug and kiss goodnight Beckett reached out and hugged Brenner so tight around the neck he wouldn't let go. Brenner was so happy that he was loved back by Beckett. Beckett loves it. Now he keeps reaching for his brother to love on him.

I've never been so in love with these little boys in my life. I'm so please to see that all those years of wanting a little brother/sister he finally got one and is totally in love with having one.

Line for Disgruntled Tenant forms here

Little did I know this morning I was managing the counter for the Disgruntled Tenant counter. I've been looking at this most of the day. Lets begin the list of major complaints.

1. No gum before lunch.
2. No video games in the morning.
3. No grabbing poop .
4. No putting said poop in mouth.
5. No spearing your brother.
6. No eating brother's sword.
7. No clawing brother's face.
8. No flinging body out of arms.
9. No wearing full Captian Jack Sparrow gear to the commissary.
10. Naps are non negotiables
11. Love and kisses to everyone after any fight ... even the little one.
12. The cereal doesn't have enough sugar on it.
After going over the rules again I got this look from Brenner and this exact reaction from Beckett after flinging himself on the ground. Nice.

I asked Brenner to baby sit Beckett so I could jump into a 5 minute shower. He is six years old and they normally play in the living room while I get dinner started so I thought it should be okay. I asked Brenner how it went and he said it was really hard. There's a lot to do to keep a baby happy. "Mom Beckett has head ick powers too. I have to go lay down. My head hurts."


Our super Ta Da moment of the day is brought to you by Beckett. My little baby who is evidently showing me that he's now becoming a big boy shows us that some things you just teach yourself. I'm so glad I was there to see it the first time. Now he's also on all fours and low crawling to something else he can grab and pull up. Seven months old. Yeah BECKETT!!

Aargh isn't just for piarates

"Hello there. Can I help you? These are all my toys. They all taste very good. Some allow slobber to roll down and some soak up the slobber. Take your pick. But just stay away from the duckie." Beckett's greeting for the day.

I turned around for a second and saw him get up on all fours and then back to the sitting. I tried to get it again but he's too quick. This is pretty cute too. He's really becoming his own little person. Just listen to him tell you all about it.


Today we were quite content playing in his satchel of toys. A good twenty minutes. I didn't really make good use of the time today. But you better believe I'll be doing this again. He's toppled over a couple of times pretty hard and he's not fussed too much. I remember Brenner having this really solid head. Run into things all the time. Can't remember if he started out with it solid or it got solid from all the bumps along the way and evolved that way as a survival technique. Could be genetic. It's not that hard to think it could be from my hard-headedness. (Is that even a real word? IS now.) Anywho; he's reaching for things like Legos, and Crayons, and dirty brother feet, and dirt. This is when we really got the reaching and grabbing down. He's almost got a whole sit-up now. He'll be mobile in days.

I came downstairs a little did I know I'd been shivered me timbers. Captain Jack Sparrow had come for his bootie. He's such a character.

So as the day went on we just got more and more rambuntious. I think it's Dad being gone, General Conference, staying in the house, sugar, no school for a whole week, and being 6 years old that is making our house a zoo. Or at least a pirates deserted island. So next time you Yo-Ho-Ho head on over our way.