Bradley Too

So yes, I've had lots of posts on Luke and hardly a mention of Bradley. Don't worry, he's still here too. Bradley has been, well, adjusting I guess, to the baby. I can see the frustration on Bradley's face when he wants so badly to touch the baby, but has chosen the wrong moment (like Luke is nearly asleep or feeding). Then mom says no and Brad throws a fit, or well throws anything in his arm's reach. Hard, but just a fact of life. We're all getting better at balancing Luke time and Bradley time, and Bradley Luke combo time. (Clearly Bradley is out with dad right now, and the baby is sleeping otherwise there would be no posting because Mommy time is nonexistent!)

In other Bradley news, we had the fortune of getting Brad's arm x-rayed again... yay. After a stealthy "sneak away and climb the shelves to get Brandon Roy's shoe" move, Brad ended up on the ground with a bin of toys on top of him and shrieking. Five minutes later the Missionaries arrived at our door for dinner. So we had a nice, calm dinner with a inconsolable toddler holding his arm and repeatedly yelling "ow ow ow ow ow ow." Was he liking the attention...? I think so. But the Missionaries were good sports and helped distract him so he wasn't focusing on his arm so much.

No break. Just a soft tissue deal.

He's better now, although any fit ends in him holding his arm and yelling "ow ow ow ow ow." So this should be fun for the next few months. I automatically feel horribly guilty when he does this because there is a good chance something does hurt but I can't help! The pic above is day two of "broken arm" time. A blanket, band aid and grapes makes everything better. Maybe a little Jake and the Neverland Pirates helps too.

Today has been a good Bradley day. I managed to not horribly upset Bradley when I was holding Luke and so Brad has been in a good mood all day. (I won't count the 10 minute fit on the way out of Target. That was more a product of late lunch and not getting what he wanted.) Hey at least we got out of the house today!

For the Grandmas

And Heidi.
I figure it has been a while since my family has seen Luke in action. Here he is at one month old! What a little kicker!

This is a pretty typical post diaper change experience. He likes being naked for a bit and moving his limbs around. Any grunting you hear, well that is just how he communicates these days.

Antelope Valley Fair

I know. We are crazy. But I'm going crazy staying home all week long! So we went out today. Of course we chose the most clean and germ free place to take our family this weekend... The fair!

Five years ago Brian was interning at Lockheed here in Palmdale. So we went to the local fair to kill some time. Who knew years later we would come full circle and bring our family of four to the same fair! Life is funny. Completely aggravating at times, but funny.

Anyways, we had a blast. It turns out toddlers LOVE carnival games, rides, and food. We let ourselves spoil Brad a bit by giving in and just having some fun despite some of the ridiculous carnie prices.

Brian took Brad in the googly mirror funhouse and the pirate adventure fun house. With some convincing, I took brad on the giant slide! (Brian had to convince me!) So much fun! I don't think Brian had as much fun in the fun houses as I did on the slide.

Then of course we had to visit the animals, booths, and arts and crafts area. This is such a cute, small town fair. Complete with quilt, collection, and table scape contests. They were judging a cheesecake contest while we were there. So small town and sweet.

We had planned on getting dinner buuut then we got dessert instead. Funnel cake! I've never had a funnel cake before. Brian didn't disappoint, he got "the works" which included strawberries, apples, pudding or cream, chocolate chips, and whipped cream. It was an epic sugar experience. Brad got an ice cream cone. We came home very sticky and full of sugar.

Luke didn't enjoy the experience as much as the rest of us and told us the whole way home. Oh well. We all lived.

Screaming, car driving, baby torture

I made it. That's almost all I can say. I survived my first kid dr appointment with both kiddos. Luke had a three week check up today. Yesterday Brian told me that he wanted to attend something at work and could I do both kids on my own.

Now or never I figured.

So the morning went great. The night was great too- which I now see was a tender mercy of the Lord. We were all up, fed, dressed, and ready to go by 8:30. We even arrived on time and the baby was asleep. I thought, "this isn't sooo bad. I can totally do this. " then we were called in and things started getting more complicated.

The act of getting Luke naked kinda put him in a bad mood. Which made brad crave a bit more attention too. After a quick weigh and measurement Luke was mad and Brad wad madly driving his car everywhere. Soon the doctor came in and began his examination.

I found it increasingly hard to hear the doc as Luke got more agitated and Brad drove his car on the chairs. But things still were pretty okay. Brad wasn't jumping off the chairs or throwing them, or trying to ride the doctor's spiny chair. So I can't complain.

Then the doc tells me he needs to fix part of Luke's circumcision. Hmm. I guess that is fine as long as I don't have to see it. I hate watching them give my babies vaccine shots let alone watching a knife go to my baby! I know. I'm the baby!

The doc leaves and I am able to calm Luke for a bit. Brad really isn't being bad. It is just really loud when he drives his car on certain surfaces in that office. So I compliment him on his good listening and patience even when the baby is sad. This makes him smile.

The doc and nurse come back with a bunch of pads and supplies in their hands and begin to instruct me on how and where to put the baby on the examination table. Then they start laying the pads down and swabbing Luke. I knew this was going to be complicated.

The doc reassures me that he doesn't need to cut anything, but I need to hold the baby's arms. This puts my back to Brad. As the baby got louder so did Brad driving his car everywhere. I swear it took all my strength not to break down when he started fixing Luke- which really was nothing. Just loosening some skin. Still. I thought my head was going to burst from all the noise and trying to talk over it and hear through it. I'm sure I missed some valuable instructions but it was the best I could do.

After the torture I fed Luke and sat brad down with some iPhone Blues Clues on Netflix. Luke fell asleep and Brad was chipper and held my hand to the car. At least they seemed okay after all that.

Thank goodness I had pain meds in the car. My head was pounding as we left. But we all made it.

Then I figured we'd go to the store while Luke was sleeping. This turned out to be an excellent plan and I bought a boatload of groceries. Even though I had lots of people go to the store for me there are just some things I never remembered to tell them and so I've been without mandarin oranges and hot dog buns for weeks now!

We even picked up lunch on the way home. Not too horrible of a morning I guess.

No no room

We have one room Brad cannot be in by himself. Of course it is the only room that he wants to play in and it is right next to his room.
We keep all our computer/ office stuff in there, plus all my craft stuff. ( I didn't realize how much craft stuff I had till it was moved into this small room.
At first Brad wasn't allowed in because of the sheer volume of wall to wall piles of books and crap. ( the unpackers really didn't do us any favors in this room.)
Never the less he escaped in there a few time.. Which ended in disaster. Over the last few weeks Brad found, opened, and emptied a bottle of diamond glaze, a bottle of sealant, a bottle of purple sparkle nail polish ( poured on my office chair) and a trial package of liquid fabric softener.
That room smells so weird right now!
I was quite frustrated each time I found brad with these products spread across his legs and the carpet.
Two days ago he squirted the fabric softener on the floor and I decided that was it. I've spent the last two days organizing and kid proofing the room
I found brad spreading crinkle paper around today. Grrrrr. At least I didn't need water and carpet cleaner to fix it. Just a vacuum.