Can you blame me...

...for just loving this little guy to pieces? Seriously. Babies are the best. It's really a shame that these perfect creatures turn into occasional beasts as they age.

Guess where I am going?

In eleven days, Mr. Brady and I are headed to Phoenix to have a girls weekend with Melissa and Elli! Elli, Melissa, and I have been friends since junior high. We have been in each others' weddings, gone through boyfriends, breakups, and just about everything you can imagine. I love these two like crazy. We are staying with Melissa's parents (aka: Vick and Jim) who have a beautiful home in Phoenix. There is a gorgeous pool, a beautiful view of south mountain, and room for us all. Not to mention that Vick and Jim are like a second set of parents who happen to make me laugh like crazy. Seriously, I can't tell you how excited I am to have our old gang back...

This is a first for me. However due to the events in the last couple of months, we decided it was important to hangout, soak up some sun, and just relax together. I told the girls that I would have to bring Brady. I can't leave a little (wait: HUGE) three and a half month old. Plus, I am still nursing so obviously he is almost literally a part of me. I was concerned about having a baby in Elli's face the whole time, but she swore she was fine with it. Both girls have toddlers, so I think all they want is a little away time from that madness.

Unfortunately I can't find pictures right now of the three of us either. Go figure!

PS: Thank you to all of you for your eczema advice. I am currently using lanolin on his patches to block the itching, scratching, and scabbing. It's gross. I am going pretty much milk free to see what happens. The funny thing is, I have never been a milk person. So if it is milk, it's a good thing I don't really care for it anyway!

Need a little advice

In the last week, I have heard from two sources that there is a direct correlation between eczema and a dairy allergy.  Brady has bad eczema on his head. This morning, the poor guy had red patches all over his forehead and head. 

I have been told that when you are nursing, it's a good idea to cut out dairy products if there is eczema.  If I think about it, I have tried to drink more milk & have been eating a yogurt a day. Could I be making things worse?  My hands have been bad lately too. I have red patches that even the thickest lotions won't help.

I know that many products sold in stores aren't good for babies even thought they are said to be. I am now researching and switching to 100% natural skin stuff for him. Even that hasn't completely cleared it up.  Products like baby oil, etc, are really not good at all.

If any of you have experience with this, please let me know. I have spent a lot of money on this, and seem to be getting no where.

And, yes, for some reason today, "blogging" is working here at work....

Thad and Bonnie

AJ: This is a great idea. You motivated me!

1. Who is your man? Thad
2. How long have you been together? almost 17 years
3. How long did you date? We dated for 6 years before getting married. It will be eleven years in May.
4. How old is your man? He's 35 much to his dismay
5. Who eats more? Uhhh....probably me.
6. Who said "I love you" first? He did.
7. Who is taller?Thad. I am 5'4 and he is 6'1
8. Who sings better? Considering Thad makes fun of my singing...ME
9. Who is smarter? It depends on the subject.
10. Whose temper is worse? Thad
11. Who does the laundry? We both do. I initiate it more though.
12. Who takes out the garbage? Mostly Thad. Since he is gone tonight, I am
13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I used to. Then I got so sick of being awakened, I switched. That didn't help. Regardless, the kids go to the mother.
14. Who pays the bills? Most definitely me
15. Who is better with the computer? Thad would say he is...I prefer to have Corey deal with problems
16. Who mows the lawn? I do more often because I love to. It's so wonderful to put on my ipod and go. I love doing things that people expect me to not do.
17. Who cooks dinner? Mostly me.
18. Who drives when you are together? Thad. He thinks I am a horrible driver
19. Who pays when you go out? I give him the check or he uses his card.
20. Who is most stubborn? We are both stubborn, but since this is MY blog, I am going to say Thad.
21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? I would say me
22. Whose parents do you see the most? Both: Jo does daycare and goes to everyone of Ryan's hockey games. My parents stop over a lot and watch Brady & Olivia sometimes too!
23. Who kissed who first? Thad kissed me. It was at Steve Tobalt's house...party...
24. Who asked who out? He called me the next day after he kissed me. We went to White Men Can't Jump with Danny and Jessica
25. Who proposed? Thad
26. Who is more sensitive? I am more sensitive to feelings. Thad's ego and pride is much more sensitive
27. Who has more friends? It's pretty equal I think? Maybe me
28. Who has more siblings? Thad
29. Who wears the pants in the family? Probably me, but really he does too. We really balance each other out.

Irritated

Just so you know, I find it frustrating that Blogger doesn't update on my page when new posts come in. Does it for you all? It might, but it's a day or so late normally. Grrr

Kate's dance recital

I have tried a few times to post a video from Kate's dance recital, but it wouldn't work. Here are a few pictures of the big day. The girls did very well. They had only practiced three times. Kate is extremely happy being back at her 'old' dance place. She hasn't said ONE negative comment since she started.
Thad is gone until Friday night in Duluth. Of course last night Olivia woke up with a fever. Luckily my mom was fine with taking her along with Brady. She plans to again tomorrow. I am so blessed. Today was the first day of 2nd semester, so it was especially difficult to miss. I have all new kids, and a sub couldn't have helped me get through day one. Then again, I have felt guilty all day about leaving a sick child. At least she was happy to go to grandma's and hang out. Grandmas have a special way about making a miserable day fun!

Wow

Wow is the word to sum up what I am feeling today. If you didn't watch the inauguration today, I am sorry, but you really missed out. If you don't ever watch an inauguration, you are missing out. They are amazing. To think that we as a nation have a relatively seamless transition of power every four years is remarkable.
President Obama's speech was inspiring, calming, and overall, just darn good. I hope that our nation can move forward, upward, or whatever. Without sounding too political, we can't go a lot further downward in my opinion.

A new blogger

Much to my dismay, Ryan has created a blog for himself. He would like me to spread the word about it. Feel free to leave comments on his blog.
I told him that he should try and write often so people keep reading it. Together we will come up with good topics.

His blogsite is at: www.rws1299.blogspot.com

Note: Ryan has been obsessively checking for comments. I was giving him a hard time, and Thad said it's no different than the way I obsess over travel research. I guess I know where Ryan got those behaviors from!

I am on a roll!

Wow three posts in three days! I should get a reward for this! (I actually have a mini-build up of blog posts so maybe I should just post several while I can)

Seriously, though, this is why I am posting this morning. After getting Brady up to eat, showering, and Kate ready for Ryan's game, I realized it wasn't meant to be. Olivia was crying, thrashing herself on the floor, screaming at everything, and saying how tired she was. No hockey game for the remaining four of us.

Folks this is a downside to having many kids. Someone is always dictating what we do. Normally it's the oldest. Everyone goes to his games, activities, etc. On a morning like this, the little ones do. So here I sit, playing with Kate and Brady. I have taken another 40 or so pictures. Olivia is in her bed reading. Hopefully she will fall back to sleep. She needs to perk up before skating, groceries, Target, and Kate's dance recital.

**Of course as I am uploading pictures, the crying three year old just came down with a new crisis. She can't seem to rest if Katie is watching tv in any area of the house. This could be a long day!**

Note**

**Update on previous post....apparently tonight at hockey, it was revealed that Ryan DID NOT kiss a girl. The other boys started the rumor.
Now I am really feeling bad. Well, not really. I told Ryan that this is a learning experience for us all.

Back to normal....

Ryan is back to his old self. Case in point: Last night I asked Ryan in a joking fashion about him kissing a girl at a Sunday night birthday party. I kid you not.

The mom and Thad were talking. Apparently her daughter told her, she told Thad, Thad told me, and I was asked to talk to Ryan. So I did. To write that he flipped out wouldn't do it justice. He started yelling that I was a liar, she was a liar, it never happened, etc. Then came the throwing of anything near him. Of course, being the awesome mother I am, I told him that he was the one lying, and that wasn't acceptable. I said, "Ryan no one is even mad about this. I just am asking. Seriously you are too young for this." Then-proud parenting moment here--he throws a doll at me. It wasn't a hard throw, but Thad sent him to his room for the night. Apparently in cop land, throwing something at some one with the intent to hurt someone is illegal.

After my dear child was calmed down, I went in again. I explained that I wasn't trying to upset him and that I do respect his privacy (which obviously is important to him). He is still denying it, which ticks me off. That is a LIE. I hate those.

Anyway ever since then he has been sassier than ever. Since I threatened to pull his playing time in tomorrow's hockey game, he has cooled a bit. I was starting to worry that I really was positively impacting him!

Ryan saved the day

Ryan woke me up this morning at 6:30am. I had to be at work for a 7:10am meeting. Mr. Rise and shine was wondering why I wasn't up and at 'em yet. Uh...I guess you have to turn on the alarm to wake up.
So I bolted out of bed, hopped in the shower, scrunched my hair, and applied makeup. Ryan comes in to the bathroom to see if I needed help. I was buck naked (scary to envision I know) and told him I was fine. He said, "but your back is all wet." Ryan proceeded to grab a towel and dry off my sorry looking backside.
Then he went downstairs and made me coffee. In the coffee maker. I kid you not. He poured me a bowl of cereal, got my breast pump stuff out of the dishwasher, and gathered more bottles for me.
My little man saved the day for me. We left the house at 7am. He wanted to be dropped off at Jo's to enjoy a little early morning time with her. How could I deny him that after all he had done? I made it to work and the meeting on time. I enjoyed a fabulous cup of coffee made by my son. I looked rested, and was clean.
Ladies, you wonder how I do it. That is how. I flub my way through the days and rely on my children to take care of me. How is that for being on the ball?!

A good change & some others

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After battling with Kate for months about dance, I decided to pull her out of dance. Her friend's mom did the same thing with her daughter. We asked and they agreed to go back to the place they danced for two years. That place is Just for Kix. JFK is more like 'danceline' if you remember that from high school. It's all jazz. The teacher is amazing, the pace is faster, and right now, it's the perfect fit. I am so, so happy that Kate is happy. It's one issue in life that I can check off of my 'concerned mother' list. If only I would muster the time, energy, and money for Olivia to dance. For now she is settling for tagging along and watching from the sidelines.

Ryan had four games this weekend. He played so well. As proud as I was of his goals, energy, love for the game, and overall zest for the tournament, there was another moment that stuck with me. His team made it to third place championship. The game was back and forth each team scoring until the very end. Our team lost. As the final buzzer went off, Ryan bolted off the bench, skated toward the crying (yes it's true) goalie, and tapped her pad with his stick. Ryan might be one heck of a difficult child to parent, but the kid knows how to win AND lose gracefully. That, to me, is even better than playing well.

I have a funny story about Saturday. Erin brought her kids to Ryan's game. Right when she got there, we realized that Hope likely had pinkeye. I offered to watch Grant and Ross for the day. So I dragged them to Kate's figure skating practice, fed them lunch, played, and then shlepped five kids to Ryan's game. I was concerned with getting pictures of Ryan, so I left the kids to play. Suddenly, they brought me Olivia crying. She had slammed her fingers in the steal doors at the Youth Arena. At least she had gloves on. They were pretty bruised, but she recovered quickly. Off the kids ran again. While talking with another parent, I heared Ross crying. A man was holding this sobbing 35 lbs poor boy. The man said to me, "Whose kid is this?" Sheepishly I answered, "Oh that would be mine." It was time to go. We finished watching Ryan's game, and I brought the boys back to Erin. Get this: I thought Ryan's team lost by four. Turns out they were the team that one by four. I just can't be "every woman" like I was hoping I guess.

Catching up

I am back at work, and life sure is busy! Things are coming along. Last Friday and Monday were difficult for me. Brady was fussy, I was sad, but things are coming together. I will forever be indebted to my mother for watching Brady these two months before going to Jo's. There is nothing like Grandma giving her undivided attention to your baby to make you feel so grateful!
I also want you all to know that if you are a fellow blogger, I am still reading about you! I can't post anything from work. "Safari" is our browser, and it must not be compatible. I am reading, cheering you along, laughing from the sidelines, and giving you all "blog love." I apologize for not having time to go back and write on all your posts.
Lastly, Kate's first grade class was class of the week with WDAY. Rob Kupec, one of the meteorologists did a presentation, interviewed the kids, and said it will air Friday night!!!!! If you live here, it will be on Channel 6 right before the weather. If you don't, go to WDAY.com and look for their blog or something about Class of the week. Here is a link to hear the audio interview that he does: http://www.wday.com/contests/classoftheweek/ Kate is just before the halfway point. She answered a question about winter.
Ryan has three games Saturday and one Sunday. He is beyond excited, so I am hoping to get some pictures with my new camera that Thad got me for Christmas. Thank goodness he isn't one to complain about being tired, because he will be exhausted!

All good things must come to an end

Happy New Year! Today marks the last day of my maternity leave with Mr. Brady. Because we had a storm day a couple of weeks ago, tomorrow we now have school. I view it as a good trial run for me. It's much easier for me to go back to work for one day, get the weekend off, and start the new week fresh. It's nice for the kids too. Of course Kate has complained a little bit, but like I told her, there is nothing that we can do about it so it's not worth complaining.
Brady is three months old today. He is the chubbiest little bugger you could ever see. I had to change him out of his outfit two nights ago, because it was too tight over his thunder thighs. His cheeks are so chubby-- there is nothing better than kissing them all day long.
I am looking forward to seeing my students and friends. What I am not looking forward to is all the, "Your back!" comments. I am also dreading the fact that nothing fits. Oh well. That will come in time. All I have to do is take a look at that face and remember that it's all worth it!
Best wishes to you all as you begin 2009!